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Debt Rattle October 5 2025

Oct 052025
 
 October 5, 2025  Posted by at 10:09 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  40 Responses »


Vincent van Gogh Corridor In The Asylum 1889

 

• Trump Thanks Israel For Pause in Gaza, Urges Hamas “Move Quickly” (ZH)
• ICE Agents Ambushed, Fired Upon in Chicago Suburb (Spencer)
• US Running Out of Money To Keep Nuclear Arsenal Safe (RT)
• Sen. Kennedy: More Absurd Things Dems Shut Down the Government For (Margolis)
• US To Earn More Than $1 Trillion Per Year In Tariffs – Trump (TASS)
• Putin Blasts French ‘Piracy’ After ‘Russia-Linked’ Tanker Boarded (ZH)
• Shutdown Day #3 – Trump’s Challenge (CTH)
• Putin-the-Unready? (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Vladimir Putin Makes The Castling Move (Helmer)
• How the Israel Lobby Took Over America’s Universities (Paul Craig Roberts)
• Trust In US Media At Historic Low – Gallup (RT)
• UK Energy Chief Claims Musk Fueling ‘Threat’ To Britain (RT)
• UK Parliament Cuts Nigel Farage’s Security Detail (RT)
• Musk Tweets Wipe $15bn Off Netflix Value (RT)
• US Treasury Unveils Draft Design Of Coin With Trump’s Profile (RT)
• Higher Ed Bottoms Out (James Howard Kunstler)

 

 


https://twitter.com/nxt888/status/1973843985824428377
https://twitter.com/RussiaIsntEnemy/status/1974475994716127429

https://twitter.com/ggreenwald/status/1973850555278921988


https://twitter.com/Real_RobN/status/1974543229761843473
https://twitter.com/MAGAStormX/status/1974510704343347569

200,000 SIM cards. That takes up a lot of space. Like all buiildings in an entire street.


https://twitter.com/Megatron_ron/status/1974531487128289740

Martin Armstrong: Trump Taking Us Into World War III

 

 

 

 

Nobody believes it until they see it. But Trump may have had enough damage done to his name.

• Trump Thanks Israel For Pause in Gaza, Urges Hamas “Move Quickly” (ZH)

The Israeli military has been ordered by the Netanyahu government to pause its offensive in Gaza City, according to Israeli army radio on Saturday, just a day after Hamas is said to have agreed to the Trump-proposed peace plan which seeks the release of all remaining hostages, living and deceased. The Israeli military in an official statement said it had been ordered to “advance readiness” for implementing the first stage of Trump’s plan. Army radio noted that military operations in Gaza would be scaled back to “the minimum” – but what have been dubbed defensive strikes will continue. Prime Minister Netanyahu says the hostages will be freed in days. Some of these airstrikes were still observed throughout the day, with Palestinian sources saying at least 55 people have still been killed since dawn.

President Trump himself late Friday urged Israel to halt its bombardment, while also calling on Hamas to “move quickly” on implementing the 20-point peace plan. “I appreciate that Israel has temporarily stopped the bombing in order to give the Hostage release and Peace Deal a chance to be completed,” Trump stated on Truth Social Saturday morning. But he also warned that “Hamas must move quickly, or else all bets will be off,” adding that “I will not tolerate delay, which many think will happen, or any outcome where Gaza poses a threat again. Let’s get this done, FAST. Everyone will be treated fairly!” But Hamas had only said it is ready to enter negotiations on Trump’s peace plan, suggesting there are many more hurdles to go as each condition is agreed to.

Prime Minister Netanyahu in fresh remarks to reporters emphasized that the plan calls for the complete demilitarization of Hamas – but this is anything but certain in terms of whether the Palestinian militant group will actually lay down its weapons. But Hamas did say it has agreed to releasing all 48 remaining hostages that it’s ready to surrender power over the Gaza Strip, but the proverbial devil will be in the details in terms of how precisely this all comes to fruition. It remains an open question the degree to which fighting has actually stopped in Gaza City…

The Palestinian side hopes to see 250 prisoners serving life sentences and 1,700 Palestinians detained without charge released as a result of the Trump 20-point plan. Israeli military Arabic-language spokesperson Avichay Adraee is meanwhile telling Palestinian residents not to return to their homes in Gaza City or northern Gaza. Still, this moment seems the best shot at truce or permanent peace in the two-year long war in quite a while, and the White House seems ready to seize the initiative and push the sides to the finish line.

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“..Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have spent weeks ratcheting up the hysteria and purveying incendiary rhetoric about how President Donald Trump is a fascist and ICE agents are his storm troopers.”:

• ICE Agents Ambushed, Fired Upon in Chicago Suburb (Spencer)

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have reportedly come under fire in Broadview, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, from a woman identified only as a “U.S. citizen.” This comes after Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have spent weeks ratcheting up the hysteria and purveying incendiary rhetoric about how President Donald Trump is a fascist and ICE agents are his storm troopers. Once again, the left’s rhetoric spills over into violence. Fox News reported early Saturday afternoon that according to Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), “federal agents were rammed and boxed in by 10 cars in Broadview, Ill., where anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crowds have been gathering for days.”

They haven’t been just gathering, and this was no peaceful protest: “One of the drivers was armed with a semi-automatic weapon, according to McLaughlin, who said officers ‘were forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed U.S. citizen.’” According once again to McLaughlin, “the armed woman, who was a U.S. citizen, was named in a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intelligence bulletin.” She “allegedly doxxed agents and posted online, ‘Hey to all my gang let’s f— those motherf—— up, don’t let them take anyone.'”The firefight took place as “agents were reportedly performing a routine patrol in Broadview, a suburb of Chicago.” Reportedly, no agents were injured. Oddly, McLaughlin added that “the woman involved drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds.” That’s swell, but was she arrested? The question shouldn’t even need to be asked, but in America these days, one never knows.

It should be remembered in connection with this incident that back in April, Pritzker said: “Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption — but I am now. These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace.” It looks as if in Broadview, he has been heeded. Also, on Saturday morning, Pritzker raised the temperature even more, saying: “This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will. It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.” Once again, this is the kind of language that stirs up the left’s most violent cadres.

And Pritzker wasn’t finished. He charged that the Trump administrations intends to “pull hardworking Americans out of their regular jobs and away from their families all to participate in a manufactured performance — not a serious effort the protect public safety.” He insisted that there was “no need for military troops on the ground in the State of Illinois. State, county, and local law enforcement have been working together and coordinating to ensure public safety around the Broadview ICE facility, and to protect people’s ability to peacefully exercise their connotational rights. I will not call up our National Guard to further Trump’s acts of aggression against our people.”

Now, Pritzker appears to have gotten what he wanted, and the seeds he planted and has been watering for so long have finally sprouted: there has been an armed attack against ICE agents in a Chicago suburb. Yet Pritzker shouldn’t get too elated and start savoring being the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate (or who knows, even presidential candidate) in 2028. While he has been energetically purveying his hysterical rhetoric, he has also, ironically enough, completely undercut it.

After all, if officers of the law are not able to do their duty in Chicago, and come under armed attack when they try to do so, it’s clear that Pritzker is wrong: there really is a need for military troops on the ground in the State of Illinois. And the person who is primarily responsible for creating the need for them is Pritzker himself. The Broadview incident comes at a time of rapidly increasing tensions all across the country. Democrat governors such as Pritzker and Gavin Newsom seem determined to keep the pedal to the medal on the hysterical rhetoric, as if they actually want the violence they’re inciting to break out. In a saner age, their defiance of the president and constant incitement would be considered seditious and result in their being removed from office, if not prosecuted. Today, it has them jockeying for the leadership of the Democrat Party.

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More goodies from the shutdown.

• US Running Out of Money To Keep Nuclear Arsenal Safe (RT)

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright has cautioned that the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) could run out of funding to monitor the country’s nuclear arsenal within eight days because of an ongoing government shutdown. He said operations would be suspended once the money is gone. The US federal government has stopped working for the first time in almost seven years, after Republicans and Democrats failed to agree on a spending bill in the Senate.nOn Friday, the Senate failed to pass either a Republican bill or a Democratic alternative, with both measures falling short of the votes needed. Both sides blamed each other for the crisis. Lawmakers are expected to try again on October 6.

“Eight more days of funding, and then we have to go into some emergency shutdown procedures, putting our country at risk,” Wright said Thursday evening on Fox News, referring to the National Nuclear Security Administration. The secretary said over 20 officials in his department are still awaiting Senate confirmation, blaming Democrats for delaying tactics and prolonging the shutdown by withholding key votes. Before this year’s federal cuts, the NNSA employed more than 65,000 federal workers and contractors nationwide, handling everything from maintaining the nuclear arsenal to non-proliferation efforts and oversight of the US Navy’s nuclear operations.

In its latest shutdown plan, the US Energy Department said it would keep NNSA staff running “critical control operations systems” and those working on nuclear non-proliferation, but gave no figures on how many employees would be included. mUS President Donald Trump has suggested he may use the shutdown to push through major staff and wage cuts, blaming Democrats for the budget impasse. The White House is also using the standoff to target programs opposed by Republicans. Federal agencies have partially suspended services and many employees are furloughed. The last government shutdown began on December 22, 2018 and lasted 35 days.

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$833,000 for transgender people in Nepal.
$300,000 for a pride parade in Lesotho.
$4.2 million for LGBTQI people in the Western Balkans and Uganda.

‘We’re gonna shut down government until you put that back in.’”

• Sen. Kennedy: More Absurd Things Dems Shut Down the Government For (Margolis)

The Schumer Shutdown is dragging into the weekend, with neither side budging. Republicans pushed for a straightforward continuing resolution to keep the government funded through November, but Democrats chose to hold the line for their wish list of radical spending priorities—billions and billions of dollars’ worth—and in doing so, shut the government down. The media has focused on their demand for free health care for illegal immigrants, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot more buried in this standoff that isn’t getting the attention it deserves. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) took to the Senate floor this week and laid out, in his trademark blunt and hilarious fashion, exactly what Democrats are trying to shut the government down over—and it’s every bit as ridiculous as you’d expect.

“Basically, President Trump just said, ‘We want you to take some stuff out of the budget that we think is wasteful,’” Kennedy began. “And we did — and that upset the congresswoman.” That “congresswoman,” of course, is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who, according to Kennedy, went ballistic when Trump and congressional Republicans started cutting some of the more absurd Biden-era spending priorities. Kennedy didn’t hold back as he read aloud what Democrats are fighting to restore. “We found that under President Biden, they were spending $3 million for circumcisions and vasectomies in Zambia,” he said. “We took that out. The congresswoman says, ‘We’re gonna shut down government until you put that back in.’”

And that was just the beginning. “We found $500,000 of American taxpayer money for electric buses in Rwanda,” Kennedy continued. “We found $3.6 million for pastry cooking classes and dance focus groups for male prostitutes in Haiti. I kid you not. I’m not making this up. It was in the budget under President Biden.”

Republicans, Kennedy noted, stripped out each of these items as they tried to rein in wasteful foreign spending. But Democrats—with AOC and the “socialist wing” of the party leading the way—are threatening to shut the government down until every last one of those absurd expenditures is put back in. “I could spend the rest of the afternoon here,” Kennedy said. “We took all that out. It upset Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez. It upset the socialist wing of her party. And now they’re threatening all other Democrats and saying, ‘You’ve got to shut that government down until we get what we want.’” And that, Kennedy concluded, is what this entire budget fight is about—not defending American taxpayers or funding core government services, but holding the government hostage over millions in woke pet projects and bizarre international handouts.

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“..a protective mechanism.”

• US To Earn More Than $1 Trillion Per Year In Tariffs – Trump (TASS)

US President Donald Trump said that the import duties he imposed would bring the United States revenue of more than $1 trillion per year. In an interview with One America News television channel, Trump stated that revenues from new tariffs were just starting to flow in but eventually they could reach $1 trillion a year. Speaking at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly last month, Trump said the United States was ready to conduct trade with all countries provided that the principles of fairness and reciprocity are respected. According to the US president, the tariffs that the US administration has imposed on most countries of the world are a protective mechanism.

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One fake anti-Russia story after another. They come fast.

• Putin Blasts French ‘Piracy’ After ‘Russia-Linked’ Tanker Boarded (ZH)

“The tanker was seized in neutral waters without any justification, and they were apparently looking for some kind of military cargo, drones, or something else,” Putin said Thursday at the Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Sochi, condemning the French takeover of an oil tanker suspected of being part of Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” which seeks to evade Western energy sanctions as an act of “piracy”. “There’s nothing there, there ne ver was, and there can’t be anything,” Putin asserted of the boarding action which took place earlier this week. The tanker was under the flag of a third country and the crew is international, Putin described, adding he doesn’t know “how much it’s related to Russia.” French authorities revealed details for the first time on Thursday, confirming that they arrested the captain, a Chinese national. He’s accused of disobeying orders of the French navy.

Another crew member, the First Officer, was also arrested, as Reuters details of French statements: French police have arrested the captain and first officer of a sanctioned tanker suspected of operating for Russia’s “shadow fleet,” authorities said on Thursday, after the navy boarded the vessel, which may have been involved in recent drone incidents around Denmark. The vessel, the Boracay, was approximately 50 nautical miles south of Copenhagen on September 22 when drone activity forced the closure of the city’s airport around 1830 GMT, according to data from MarineTraffic. It was also observed heading south along Denmark’s western coast on the evening of September 24 when drones were reported flying north of Esbjerg and near several nearby airports. The tanker appeared on on an EU sanctions list for transporting Russian oil, but the whole Denmark drone incursion linkage aspect to it seems highly coincidental, and a big stretch, assuming there’s no further evidence and that no actual drones were found upon searching the vessel.

French authorities would be presenting any such evidence very quickly, but instead they just issued ambiguous statements remotely suggesting the linkage to the Denmark drone sightings.French authorities say that the Boracay has a history of changing names and flags, and is currently flying under Benin’s registry. It’s believed this is part of intentional sanctions-dodging. The Boracay is now anchored off France’s coast near Saint-Nazaire, south of Brest. It had initially set sail from the Russian port of Primorsk outside Saint Petersburg on September 20 and had actually been at one point detained Estonian authorities earlier this year for sailing without a valid country flag. International law allows countries to intercept such vessels which are believed to be stateless, typically if there is suspicion of wrong-doing like smuggling.

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“If liberty and freedom become the priority, the advancement of personal wealth becomes more difficult.”

• Shutdown Day #3 – Trump’s Challenge (CTH)

The professionally Republican wing of the GOPe want this shutdown ended just as much as the professionally Democrat wing. The UniParty cannot allow Trump/Vought this much power. Republicans cannot allow Trump this much power. The Moonbat leftists are not the biggest problem, they never have been. They are ideologues, mostly. Insufferable, stupid, violent at times, but easy to spot. Remember, Democrats quest for power; Republicans quest for money. Always underline this because it’s really important. The Moonbat leftists seek power, seek control of your life, and they are open in their insufferably stupid arguments to get there. When they start to lose, they turn violent. This is their history. That said, they are not the most dangerous. The professional Republicans are more dangerous because their priority is money. As a result, their approaches, goals, objectives and arguments can be purchased.

Republicans have no interests, goals or objectives, nor allegiances, that supersede their primary objective, getting money, growing their wealth. Democrats will come at you with a knife, a gun or a baseball bat. You can see them. The professional Republican guy standing beside you, however, is willing to take a payment to shoot you in the ear when you don’t see it coming. This is also why it seems like Democrats stick together, and Republicans split. Democrats are chasing a common goal, a collective goal, power. Republicans are chasing a commonality, yes, but an individual goal, money, their wealth. Donors contribute to the Democrat agenda because their interest to benefit from power. Republicans modify their agenda to benefit donors because their goal is money. Democrats stay on task, power. Republicans are flexible, money.

You enter a war against Leftists with extreme danger. However, the danger is not the war in front of you, it’s the army beside you waiting to get a payment from the enemy in front of you. Out of a group of 1,000 democrats, 900+ will join in to defend a weakened Moonbat leftist (see Kimmell). Out of a group of 1,000 Republicans you will find, maybe, 5 willing to cover your back regardless of how much bribery is put in front of them. Remember this, understand this and the reality of who presents the most danger to us is accurately framed. Republicans do not simply snatch defeat from the jaws of victory; they sell defeat to the highest bidder! In our lifetime we have watched this unfold. There were Democrats with the same outlook as Republicans, they were known as “blue dog” democrats. The Blue Dogs were willing to compromise power, to sell power, in return for financial payment.

Traditional ‘Blue Dogs’ were names like Hillary and Bill Clinton; their prism was the assembly of money. However, this group faced the introduction of hardline ideological believers, the communists or Marxists represented by Barack Obama. Obama Inc. battled Clinton Inc. to determine the future of the Democrats. The ideologues won, and the democrat Blue Dogs in their tribe, those willing to concede ideology for money, were purged from their ranks. Modern Democrats, post Obama takeover, are now pure ideologues. “By any means necessary” is the operational objective of modern leftists. This is why government under Obama flipped the switch so openly and began weaponizing power. Purging govt agencies and replacing the staff with ideologues. Crushing opposition, by brute force and targeting.

Simultaneously, in the smaller Republican ranks, there was a small group who wanted to face down the same battle inside the Republican party. The original Tea Party represented this group. A smaller assembly trying to put ideology, freedom and liberty at the forefront of the Republican objective. Unlike the leftist effort, the Tea Party effort inside the Republican party failed. Republican leadership crushed the liberty rebellion and went back to business taking money from the ideological Marxists who now ruled the centers of power. People who didn’t quite understand what was taking place stood and watched, frustrated, at the dynamic of Republicans who conceded every battle to the left. What the abused GOP viewers didn’t understand was the core of the issue; Democrats want power, Republicans want money. Each time the Republicans could win on a policy issue, they sold the loss to Democrats.

Battered conservatives grew more frustrated and more frustrated. Now we enter the era of MAGA, represented by billionaire Donald J Trump, who, like Obama before him, began the fight inside the Republican Party. The Tea Party rebellion quickly reengaged Trump and formed MAGA; the ideological fight inside the Republican party, liberty over money, was on again. MAGA represents opposition to the leftist ideological advancement. But the Republican assembly will not concede. In a way their resistance makes sense. If liberty and freedom become the priority, the advancement of personal wealth becomes more difficult. Simultaneously, if retention and assembly of wealth is the priority, liberty and freedom ideologues become impediments. Again, MAGA within Republicanism must be crushed when money is the priority.

This internal Republican battle has been unfolding in various reference points for almost a decade now, while the internal Democrat battle was long ago decided. The root issue the within the Republican apparatus still surrounds the greatest evil. ‘The love of money is the root of all evil.’ This conflict has not yet been fully decided, yet admittedly -and thankfully- MAGA has made some significant gains. The Republican party now has a lower income demographic and a more ideological working-class base. However, don’t be fooled. The top tier of the Republican apparatus is mostly unchanged; albeit they are facing more entrenched ideological opposition from the awakened MAGA forces. The top tier will still sell out the base, still compromise for personal profit, and still take payment for policy. This brings us to where we are today.

Inside the MAGA assembly we are trying to identify which Republican leaders have shifted to the MAGA/liberty viewpoint, and which Republican leaders are playing the long game while retaining their DNA level objective, get money. Each day on these pages and many others, the ‘trust’ factor is raised; this is completely understandable. We have a strong muscle memory for betrayal, and we all bear the scars to remind us. It is fitting and proper that these conversations take place. After all, it’s interesting to watch professional Republicans discuss how agencies like the DOJ and FBI have lost institutional trust of the American people due to corruption, while simultaneously those same Republicans never note trust loss within the Republican party as a result of their willful blindness to it.

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“The Russians simply cannot comprehend that they are targeted as an obstacle to Western hegemony.”

• Putin-the-Unready? (Paul Craig Roberts)

Leaders of European countries with limited military ability are openly declaring their preparation for war with Russia. The Baltic states, Poland, Netherlands, France, Germany, and the UK speak if they look forward to a war that would utterly destroy them. It is a mystery as Russia poses no threat to them and wants nothing from them but a mutual security agreement. I believe Putin himself has responsibility for this state of affairs. Putin’s efforts to restrain the conflict in Ukraine have been misunderstood. Putin is perceived as irresolute and the Russian military as incapable. Trump calls Russia a paper tiger and speaks of Ukraine with sufficient European help transitioning from the defense to the offense and invading Russia.

This extremely dangerous way of thinking is the reason I have often said that Putin’s never-ending, ever-widening war was a strategic blunder, a blunder that Putin continues to make. With European politicians declaring their preparation for war, is Putin paying attention, or will he again be Putin-the-Unready as he was in South Ossetia in 2008, in Ukraine in 2014, in 2022 when Russia was forced to intervene in Donbas, and when the Russian strategic bomber force was attacked on June 1, 2025? Putin’s restraint and Lavrov’s pleading for negotiations have convinced the West that Russia is an easy target. This mistaken conviction is fomenting a major war.

Russians do not seem to understand the situation. This morning on RT political analyst Nadezhda Romanenko attributes the Western war talk to “Western anxieties and domestic political calculations.” It would be more realistic to attribute the war talk to setting up Russia as an aggressor that must be deterred. The Russians simply cannot comprehend that they are targeted as an obstacle to Western hegemony. Everywhere in the West the image that is maintained is Russian aggression. Wikipedia, for example, describes the 2008 Russian war with Georgia as Russian aggression, the 2022 intervention in Donbas as a Russian invasion of Ukraine. Estonia and Poland recently made claims of Russian entry into their air space. Every possible sign of Russian aggression is created. The West is uninterested in Putin’s reassurances. Why is Russia unable to understand this?

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Speeches at the Valdai club are important.

• Vladimir Putin Makes The Castling Move (Helmer)

On June 30, 2021, during his Direct Line programme, President Vladimir Putin was asked what games he liked to play during his schooldays. “I am tempted to say chess,” he replied, “but, unfortunately, it was not chess.” Four years have gone by until his appearance yesterday at the Valdai Club, when the president was asked the same question. He replied: “Well, I loved chess.” Putin was castling.

In the ancient game of chess the move which is known by this name is a relatively new one. The rules to allow it also took centuries to develop. The purpose of castling is defence when the king is under attack and there is safe space between the king and the castle (rook), so that they can exchange places and the king retreat to the safer margin of the board. The opportunity created thereby is for the rook to move more actively into the counter-attack against the adversary. The castling king is delegating the offensive to his rook.

To understand what Putin’s castling means on the board today, read what he said first about the Board of Peace (BOP) Gaza plan of President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ex-prime minister Tony Blair. “Russia always supports and welcomes any steps by Trump,” he told his spokesman to say, “that seek to avert the tragedy that is now unfolding. We want this plan to be realized, so that it may help steer events in the Middle East toward a peaceful path”.

As this was being interpreted outside the Kremlin wall as Putin’s unqualified endorsement, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced it was too soon for that. “We have not seen this plan. We have only heard comments about its contents. You have now outlined its main provisions. I have heard that this international body, which is intended to ‘temporarily govern Gaza’, is planned to be headed by former British prime minister Tony Blair. He himself seems to have already announced this. I reiterate, I am not privy to the details. I do not know what powers he will be granted, nor how the Arab countries view this. I am aware that some of them have already welcomed the ‘Donald Trump plan’. However, a final assessment can only be made once we know the views of all of Palestine’s neighbours, Israel, the countries of the region, the League of Arab States, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and, above all, the Palestinians themselves. I have heard that representatives of the Palestinian National Authority are not being considered for inclusion in this temporary body, even as observers.”

“Regarding the international security forces,” Lavrov went on. “No, we have not been invited to participate. I reiterate, we only became aware of this new plan yesterday. However, I have read that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, commenting on the ‘Trump plan’ – which was announced following Netanyahu’s visit to Washington – said that the plan is good and should not be altered. He claimed that Hamas and everyone else should agree to it. Among the positive aspects of this plan, he stated that Israel would retain control over security in Gaza. This somewhat contradicts the establishment of international forces, so all the details need to be clarified first.”

Lavrov said that at the Valdai Club conference in Sochi. Two days later, Putin has followed him on to the same platform; he also followed the foreign minister on the Gaza plan. Asked about this, Putin started by saying that “now that we are getting acquainted with President Trump’s initiatives, I think there is a light at the end of the tunnel that may still appear”. On Tuesday Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov had mistaken the tunnel for the light. Putin went on to clarify:“The situation in Gaza is a terrible event in history, in modern history. And even someone known as the pro-western Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Guterres, publicly says Gaza has become the largest children’s cemetery in the world. What could be more tragic and sad?”

About Trump’s Gaza plan, “you know, it will probably come as a surprise to you, but on the whole, Russia is ready to support him. If, of course, as we have to look carefully at the proposals made, it will lead to the final goal, which we have always talked about. Russia has always advocated the creation of two states: Israel and a Palestinian state, starting in 1948 and then in 1974, when the relevant UN Security Council resolution was adopted. And this, in my opinion, is the key to a final solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

“Indeed, as far as I know, I have not looked at this proposal so carefully yet, but it proposes to create an international body that will govern Palestine, more precisely the Gaza Strip, for some time, and Mr. Blair should be at its head. He’s not known as a great peacemaker, but I know him personally. Moreover, I visited him, spent the night at his house, we had coffee in our pajamas in the morning, and so on. Yes, yes.”

“Fyodor Lukyanov: Was the coffee good?”

“Yes, quite. But what do I want to say? He is a man with his own views, but he is an experienced politician. And in general, of course, if his activities, his experience, and his knowledge are directed towards a peaceful course, then he can play some positive role. There are, of course, several questions. First: How long will this international administration work? How and to whom will power be transferred later? As far as I understand, this plan outlines the possibility of transferring power to the Palestinian Authority. In my opinion, it would be better, of course, to put everything under the control of President [Mahmoud] Abbas and the current Palestinian administration. It may be difficult for them to resolve the security issues. But so far as I can imagine, my colleagues, with whom I spoke on this topic today, envisage the possibility of transferring control over the Gaza Strip, including to the local militia, to ensure security. Is this bad? In my opinion, this is a good thing.”

“We need to understand, I repeat, how long the international administration will manage there, in what time frame it is supposed to transfer both civil power and security issues, which is very important. And, in my opinion, this should definitely be supported. We are talking about freeing all the hostages held by Hamas, on the one hand, and releasing a significant number of Palestinians from Israeli prisons. Here, too, we need to understand how many Palestinians, whom, and at what time can we release them? And of course, you know, the most important question is: how does Palestine feel about this? That’s exactly what you need to understand. And the countries of the region, the entire Islamic world, and Palestine itself, the Palestinians themselves, including, of course, Hamas. They treat Hamas differently there, and we have our own attitude, but we have contacts with Hamas. It is important for us that Hamas also supports this, and the Palestinian Authority supports it. But these are all issues that require painstaking, careful research.”

“In general, if this happens, it will, of course, be a very serious step forward in resolving the conflict. But, I repeat, in our opinion, fundamentally it can be resolved only with the creation of a Palestinian state. Of course, Israel’s attitude towards this is also important. We don’t know yet either: how did Israel take it? I do not even know of any public statements on this subject, I just did not have time to look at it. But it’s not even public statements that are important, but in fact how the Israeli leadership will treat this, whether it will fulfill everything that the President of the United States has proposed. There are a lot of questions. But in general, if all these positive things that I mentioned happen, then this is, of course, a breakthrough. And a breakthrough can be very positive. I repeat for the third time: the creation of a Palestinian state is a key element of the settlement as a whole.”

Putin was acknowledging that since Peskov’s announcement, he had been briefed by Lavrov and others, and that they had persuaded him to change his mind on what to say. The President concedes now that Russian policy on the Trump plan has not been decided yet; that it will be a collective one with his “colleagues”; and that he is delegating the next moves to them and to their “painstaking, careful research.” This is castling by the king for the rook.

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” The definition of what constitutes anti-semitism has been constantly expanded and now includes truth itself.”

• How the Israel Lobby Took Over America’s Universities (Paul Craig Roberts)

Cornell University, once a place of discussion and learning, is seeking to remove a tenured Jewish professor, Eric Cheyfitz, who permits Israel to be discussed instead of simply praised. The professor’s daughter and granddaughter live in Israel. But this doesn’t save him from being charged with discrimination against a Jewish graduate student. The professor’s trouble was brought to him by an Israeli student who previously served in Israel’s elite military surveillance agency, Unit 8200. None of the students support the Israeli student’s claim. It seems the Israel Lobby is testing how far it can expand its power over America’s universities. If the Lobby can get Cornell University to punish a tenured Jewish professor based on a complaint by a former member of Israeli Military Surveillance, then Israel will have set the standard for American universities that truth about Israel constitutes anti-semitic discrimination and is punishable.

The Israel Lobby took over American universities with large monetary grants. Now dependent on these grants, university administrators have to follow the line. This is how the takeover happened: First came large monetary donations from Jews. These donations led to the appointment of Jewish benefactors to the university’s board of trustees. From here the Jews obtained university administrations headed by Jewish presidents who attached anti-semitism to the woke anti-racist, anti-homophobic, etc. agenda. The definition of what constitutes anti-semitism has been constantly expanded and now includes truth itself.

Several years ago a list was published of the ethnicity of the leadership of Ivy League universities. Formerly a WASP preserve, every Ivy League university had a Jewish president or provost. They may have been outstanding leaders. The point is that for such a small ethnic minority to be in control of all of America’s elite universities cannot be a coincidence. Jews want power and are good at attaining it. In a way you have to admire their determination. It didn’t take the Israel Lobby but a day or two to take over Charlie Kirk’s organization. Presumably, this puts Christian evangelicals back into Israel’s pockets, thus solidifying Israel’s control over President Trump. American WASPs are no longer contenders. Worn out, ambition eroded by trust funds, WASPs have been displaced. Our future seems to in the hands of the Israel Lobby or the immigrant-invaders.

https://israelpalestinenews.org/cornell-cut-classes-by-a-pro-palestinian-professor/

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“..more than 90% of evening newscast stories about [Trump] on ABC, NBC, and CBS were unfavorable.”

• Trust In US Media At Historic Low – Gallup (RT)

Americans’ confidence in the mass media has sunk to a record low, with fewer than three in ten now trusting news outlets to report fairly, according to a new Gallup poll. A poll conducted in September of 1,000 adults showed that only 28% expressed a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television and radio, down from 31% last year, 40% five years ago, and almost 70% in the 1970s. Meanwhile, 36% reported “not very much” confidence and 34% said they had “none at all.” For the first time, confidence among Republicans has collapsed into single digits, with only 8% saying they trust the media. However, 51% of Democrats believed media reporting.

US President Donald Trump’s rocky relationship with the press has reportedly fueled these splits. A Harvard Kennedy School study found that Trump’s first 100 days in office drew overwhelmingly negative coverage, while the Media Research Center recently estimated that more than 90% of evening newscast stories about him on ABC, NBC, and CBS were unfavorable.

On the 100th day of his second term this year, Trump’s administration issued a press release titled “100 Days of Hoaxes,” accusing major outlets of spreading “a nonstop deluge of hoaxes and lies” and listed 48 reports it deemed false. Beyond partisan politics, structural shifts are also eroding traditional media. A Reuters Institute report in June suggested that podcasters and AI chatbots are playing a growing role in news dissemination, with more than half of Americans under 35 relying on social and video networks as their main sources of information.

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Evey Brit knows what Musk is talking about.

• UK Energy Chief Claims Musk Fueling ‘Threat’ To Britain (RT)

UK Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has accused Elon Musk of posing a major threat to Britain, claiming the billionaire backs nationalist forces seeking to undermine the country. Speaking at the Labour Party conference on Wednesday, the former party leader linked Musk to Nigel Farage, whose Reform UK party gained traction in the May local elections. The US-based entrepreneur has expressed support for the party, but has urged Farage to step down. According to Miliband, Farage is “a key part of a global network that wants to destroy the ties that bind our communities and our way of life.” He added: “I can sum up the threat for you in two words: Elon Musk.” Miliband alleged that Musk “incites violence on our streets,” “calls for the overthrow of our elected government,” and enables “disinformation through X” – the microblogging platform that the billionaire purchased in 2022.

“We have a message for Elon Musk. Get the hell out of our politics and our country.” Musk appeared unfazed by the remarks. Shortly after the speech, he blasted Prime Minister Keir Starmer, calling him “an actor with an empty head” who merely repeats talking points supplied by others. Musk and Starmer have engaged in a months-long feud over the UK’s grooming gang scandal. In June, Starmer authorized a new national inquiry into the mass sexual exploitation of British girls, crimes largely linked to gangs of Pakistani men over a decade ago. Musk accused the prime minister of being “deeply complicit in the mass rapes in exchange for votes.”

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When you’re more popular than the PM.

But still… That PM paints a big -political- target on his own back.

• UK Parliament Cuts Nigel Farage’s Security Detail (RT)

UK parliamentary authorities drastically slashed government-funded security for Nigel Farage, an MP and the leader of a major opposition right-wing party, Reform UK, its head of policy has claimed. Zia Yusuf accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of deliberately putting his political rival at risk of attack. Speaking to Times Radio on Wednesday, Yusuf stated that “two weeks ago, the authorities cut Nigel’s security detail by 75 per cent,” without providing any reasons for the decision. The Reform UK representative added that “donors have stepped in [to]… make sure that Nigel is well protected.” However, “if anything was to happen to Nigel, we will hold Keir Starmer squarely responsible,” Yusuf stressed.Yusuf further accused the sitting prime minister of inciting violence against the “man who is the bookmaker’s favorite to be the next prime minister.”

Farage himself acknowledged he feared for his own security and that of other party members after Starmer’s latest attack. Speaking during the Labour Party conference on Tuesday, the prime minister dubbed Farage a “snake oil merchant” who does not like Britain because of his “racist” plans to curb immigration. Starmer charged that Britain must “go into that battle armed, not just with words and condemnation, but with action,” describing Reform UK as the “enemy of national renewal” and the “biggest threat we face.” On Thursday, The Telegraph reported that veteran Conservative MP Sir David Davis had asked Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to “review the decision at the earliest opportunity.”

“It strikes me that Mr Farage is a particularly high-profile target, arguably at greater risk than many Cabinet ministers,” the lawmaker reportedly wrote in a letter. An Ipsos poll last month indicated that Starmer’s popularity had hit a record low, with 79% of Britons disapproving of his performance. Another survey by think tank More in Common suggested around the same time that Farage would become prime minister with 373 MPs if an election were held tomorrow. The Labour, in contrast, would suffer its worst electoral defeat since 1931, securing less than 100 seats in the House of Commons, according to the poll.

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“Transgender propaganda isn’t just quietly lurking in the background on Netflix. They are actively pushing it on users.”

• Musk Tweets Wipe $15bn Off Netflix Value (RT)

US streaming giant Netflix has lost about $15 billion in market value after billionaire Elon Musk accused the platform of “woke bias” and urged his followers to cancel subscriptions. Netflix shares fell 4.3% in a day and a half to $1,140 by midday Thursday, cutting its market cap to $483 billion from $498 billion on Wednesday, trading data showed. The drop came after Musk called on users to boycott Netflix over the animated show ‘Dead End: Paranormal Park’, which features a transgender character. Although canceled in 2023 after two seasons, the show remains available on the platform with a TV-Y7 rating for children seven and older.

Musk’s campaign began on Tuesday when he reposted a clip on X showing one of the show’s characters identifying as transgender. “Dead End Paranormal Park, a show on Netflix, is pushing pro-transgender on CHILDREN. This show is advertised for 7-YEAR-OLDS,” the account said. Musk replied: “this is not ok.” He later reposted messages from users claiming to have canceled Netflix and accused the service of pushing “LGBTQ+ propaganda.” On Wednesday, he wrote: “Cancel Netflix for the health of your kids.” In another post, he said: “Transgender propaganda isn’t just quietly lurking in the background on Netflix. They are actively pushing it on users.” Musk has long railed against wokeism and LGBTQ messaging, which many link to his estrangement from his trans child, Vivian Wilson, who has openly criticized the billionaire for his alleged anti-trans vendetta.

In a Washington Post interview last year, Musk said that to him Wilson was “dead, killed by the woke mind virus.” Netflix has not responded to Musk’s remarks. The company has previously defended controversial content on free speech grounds, including in 2020, when its film ‘Cuties’ drew outrage for sexualized depictions of underage actors. By Thursday’s close, the firm had pared some of the losses, ending at $1,161 a share with a $493 billion valuation. While stock is down 4% this week, it remains up 30% year-to-date. Analysts expect Musk’s campaign will not weigh on the company long-term, suggesting that Netflix shares are too costly to be seriously affected by online backlash.

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“Despite the radical left’s forced shutdown of our government, the facts are clear: Under the historic leadership of President Donald J. Trump, our nation is entering its 250th anniversary stronger, more prosperous, and better than ever before..”

Reason to celebrate!

• US Treasury Unveils Draft Design Of Coin With Trump’s Profile (RT)

The US Treasury Department is considering putting an image of US President Donald Trump on a one-dollar coin marking the 250th anniversary of America’s independence. According to the first design draft revealed on Friday, the coin features Trump’s profile on one side, along with the words “Liberty” and “In God we trust,” and the dates 1776–2026. The other side shows Trump raising a clenched fist against a backdrop of the US flag, with the inscriptions “Fight, fight, fight,” “United States of America,” and “E pluribus unum.” The image is a clear homage to a photo taken by AP’s Evan Vucci shortly after Trump’s failed assassination attempt in July 2024, which was widely republished in US and international media.

“Despite the radical left’s forced shutdown of our government, the facts are clear: Under the historic leadership of President Donald J. Trump, our nation is entering its 250th anniversary stronger, more prosperous, and better than ever before,” a Treasury Department spokesperson said in a statement. “While a final $1 coin design has not yet been selected to commemorate the United States’ semiquincentennial, this first draft reflects the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, even in the face of immense obstacles,” the spokesperson added. According to the Washington Post, existing US law generally prohibits depictions of living people on currency. In addition, the 2020 Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act, which authorized the minting of the anniversary coin, prohibits busts or portraits of people on the reverse side.

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“There are so many disgusting animals in public life that we have allowed to fraternize with the rest of society to our absolute peril.” Aimee Terese on “X”

• Higher Ed Bottoms Out (James Howard Kunstler)

Harvard, apparently, can never learn. It has made itself the poster-child for all the failures of contemporary education, including the racketeering around endowments, government grant grifts, race and gender hustles, and intellectual surrender to ideas that would make medieval astrologasters burst out laughing. Case in point: the university lately announced the hiring of a Boston-area drag-queen to teach a course in the spring semester of 2026 about the TV show known as Ru Paul’s Drag Race. The show features contestants vying for prizes and crowns based on “Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent” (C.U.N.T.). Get the picture? Reach into your Jungian psychology tool-bag.

This backwater of the arts was identified some years ago by the literary pop-star Susan Sontag as “camp” derived from the French se camper “to pose in an exaggerated fashion” depicting “unnatural artifice.” Camp is the theatrical cousin of kitsch, which is the celebration of bad taste, with histrionic overtones of exaggerated sentimentality. Please understand: when you are watching drag-queens, you are not really seeing men posing as women. You are seeing men portraying women as monsters. You might surmise that these are men who labor under “mommy issues.” The giveaway is that they often banter onstage humorously about their male genitalia, and sometimes even attempt sneaky displays of such, which opens that behavior to interesting interpretations.

Harvard’s drag-queen du jour demonstrates all that nicely. Kareem Khubchandani, his legal name, is a professor of theater, dance, and performance studies at Tufts University. He also teaches “Studies in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora.” As a drag star, he goes by the stage-name LaWhore Vagistan. This is how he describes himself to the news media: “[M]y preferred pronouns are ‘she’ or ‘aunty.’ I chose ‘LaWhore’ because my family traces its origins to Pakistan: Lahore is an important city in Pakistan, and well, I’m a bit of a whore. And Vagistan because I see the subcontinent as one, big, beautiful Vag … istan.” Of course, his fascination with female genitalia, of seeing a whole nation in that guise, is a bit odd considering that A) he is a homosexual performer who is ostensibly not attracted to female sexual characteristics and lacks experience with them, and B) he is a male of the species who does not possess such organs himself.

Therefore, on what basis would he have gained so much knowledge of female genitalia and developed such a powerful obsession around them as to imagine the whole country of his ancestors that way? Possibly, it has something to do with mommy. . . something that made her appear. . . unforgettably monstrous. We will probably never know the answer to these quandaries, and they are somewhat secondary to the main question of Mr. Khubchandani’s employment in this connection at Harvard where young minds get molded to become the future managerial class of our nation. Other questions do present, though. For instance, did Harvard’s President Alan Garber know about this hire and sign off on it, and how would he say it fits Harvard’s mission? Or Provost John Manning? Or Hopi E. Hoekstra, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences? Or Harvard’s Board of Governors?

All this underscores an important lesson that America has apparently managed to unlearn, something that we once knew quite well: that marginal behavior belongs on the margins, not in the center of our national life. The celebration of vulgarity for its own sake is arguably not the highest aspirational ideal for the best-and-the-brightest of our society, however amusing it might be in their hours of leisure, when people are free to pursue whatever lights their imaginations. It also raises the question as to why would highly-educated women, say, the female faculty and admins at Harvard, virtually all PhDs, certified geniuses in their fields, go along with such a garish display of farcical disrespect for the female of the species, being officially showcased as part of Harvard’s curriculum? Do they see themselves as monsters who deserve mockery and objurgation?

Do they enjoy watching a man enact such degrading psychodrama so as to diminish his manhood altogether? Does it signify some sort of conclusive triumph over “the Patriarchy?” (And how much of a good thing is that?) Harvard happens to have a Psychology Department, including a PhD program in Clinical Science, Social Psychology, and Cognition, Brain, and Behavior, under chairman Matthew K. Nock, PhD. His official Harvard bio states: “Nock’s research is aimed at advancing the understanding of why people behave in ways that are harmful to themselves, with an emphasis on suicide and other forms of self-harm. . . to better understand how these behaviors develop, how to predict them, and how to prevent their occurrence.” Perhaps President Garber should ask Dr. Nock to audit LaWhore Vagistan’s upcoming course to see, for instance, how it speaks to the epidemic of transgender violence currently plaguing the USA. We need all the insight we can get.

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Kudu
https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1973996436506214643

 

 

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Debt Rattle September 4 2025

Sep 042025
 
 September 4, 2025  Posted by at 9:35 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , ,  42 Responses »


Cy Twombly Shield of Achilles 1978

 

• Trump and Putin Are Closing The Era That Reagan and Gorbachev Began (Lukyanov)
• Mr. President, Tear Down These Walls (CTH)
• The West Has A Big Problem: It Can’t Stop Lying. Even To Itself (Amar)
• The Russiagate Problem (CTH)
• Lavrov Demands International Recognition Of Russia’s New Regions (RT)
• Russia and Ukraine ‘In Direct Contact’ – Lavrov (RT)
• Trump Announces Call With Zelensky (RT)
• Germany’s Merz Demands ‘Economic Exhaustion’ of Russia (RT)
• German Elections Thrown Into ‘Immense Chaos’ After AfD Deaths Rise To 7 (ZH)
• EU Accelerating Toward Collapse (Kolbe)
• Trump Escalates Tariff Fight To Supreme Court, Seeks Expedited Review (ZH)
• White House Has Backup Strategy If Trump’s Tariffs Are Overturned: Bessent (ET)
• Farage Vows Mass Deportations in UK (Salgado)
• Epstein Files Drop: The Left’s Trump Smear Campaign Just Collapsed (Margolis)
• Epstein Victims Hold a Strange Press Conference in Washington, DC (CTH)
• Gabbard Unloads With Both Barrels on Brennan and Clapper (Adams)

 

 

https://twitter.com/Jingjing_Li/status/1963155920076316690

List
https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1963251546386259984

pop

 

 

 

 

100
https://twitter.com/mcafeenew/status/1963030553206096288

 

 

 

 

“Reagan and Gorbachev were unwitting midwives of the liberal order. Trump and Putin are its gravediggers. Where the earlier summits opened the Cold War’s endgame, today’s dialogue marks the close of the post-Cold War era.”

• Trump and Putin Are Closing The Era That Reagan and Gorbachev Began (Lukyanov)

“There won’t be a war, but the struggle for peace will be so intense that not a stone will be left standing.” This old Soviet joke, born in the 1980s, captured the absurdity of that final Cold War decade: endless ideological cannon fire, nuclear arsenals on hair-trigger alert, and proxy wars fought on the margins. Between détente in the early 1970s and perestroika in the late 1980s, the world lived in a state of permanent tension – half-theater, half-tragedy. The Soviet leadership was old and exhausted, barely able to maintain the status quo. Across the ocean, the White House was run by a former actor, blunt and self-confident, with a taste for gallows humor. When Ronald Reagan quipped during a sound check in 1984 that he had “signed legislation outlawing Russia forever” and that “bombing begins in five minutes,” the off-air joke was truer to the spirit of the times than any prepared speech.

The official Soviet slogan was “the struggle for peace.” In Russian, it carried a deliberate ambiguity – both a promise to preserve peace and an assertion of global control. By the 1980s it had lost all meaning, becoming a cliché mouthed without conviction. Yet history has a way of circling back. Today, the “struggle for peace” has returned – and this time the stakes are even greater. By the late 1980s, both superpowers were tired. The USSR was struggling to carry the burden; the US, shaken by the crises of the 1970s, was looking for renewal. Leadership changes in Moscow – above all, Mikhail Gorbachev’s rise – triggered the most dramatic shift in world affairs since 1945. Between Geneva in 1985 and Malta in 1989, Reagan and Gorbachev held summit after summit. Their aim was to end confrontation and build a “new world order.”

In reality, Washington and Moscow understood that phrase very differently. The Soviet Union’s growing internal weakness tilted the balance of power, leaving the United States and its allies to design the order in their own image. The result was the liberal international system that has dominated ever since. That struggle for peace was, in Western terms, a success: the military threat receded, the Cold War ended, and the United States emerged as global hegemon. Four decades later, the cycle has turned. The Alaska meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in August 2025 carried faint echoes of Reagan and Gorbachev’s first encounters. Then, as now, two leaders with little mutual understanding recognized the need to keep talking. Then, as now, the personal factor mattered – the chemistry between two men who respected each other’s strength.

But the differences outweigh the parallels. Reagan and Gorbachev were unwitting midwives of the liberal order. Trump and Putin are its gravediggers. Where the earlier summits opened the Cold War’s endgame, today’s dialogue marks the close of the post-Cold War era. The resemblance lies only in timing: both moments represent turns of the historical spiral. The 1980s saw exhaustion on both sides. Now it is the United States, not Russia, that shows fatigue with a world order it once dominated. The demand for change comes above all from within America itself, just as it came from Soviet society in the 1980s. Trump consciously borrows Reagan’s slogan of “peace through strength.” In English it is straightforward; in Russian the phrase can also mean “peace maintained reluctantly, against one’s will.” Both shades of meaning suit Trump.

He makes no secret of his obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize, a vanity project that nevertheless reflects a real instinct: his method of diplomacy is raw pressure, even threats, until a deal is struck. Reagan’s legacy was to put America on the neoliberal path and to preside over the Cold War’s end, unintentionally becoming the father of globalization. Trump’s ambition is to roll globalization back and replace it with what he sees as a stronger America – not isolationist, but a magnet pulling in advantage from all directions. To achieve that, he too needs a world order – different from Reagan’s, but just as central to his sense of national interest. Putin’s outlook is the mirror opposite. Where Trump sees America first, Putin sees the necessity of reshaping the global order itself – of ending the period of US dominance and forcing a multipolar settlement. To him, the issue of world order is not cosmetic but existential.

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No, not Reagan and Gorbachev cont’d. Sundance is talking here about the walls that separate different parts (silo’s) of the intel communnity. There are many.

• Mr. President, Tear Down These Walls (CTH)

How is it that an insignificant corner of the internet could predict the removal of the U.S. National Security Advisor, specifically as the first administration official to be removed, more than two months before Donald Trump was sworn in as President on January 20, 2025? To understand the complexity of the intelligence information flow, consider: The silo system is made up, in part, of:

The National Security Council (10+ desks, 15 staff/analysts per), the National Security Advisor to the Office of the President, the Dept of Justice National Security Division [DOJ-NSD (foreign review section, counterintelligence export control section, cyber section, counterterrorism section)], Central Intelligence Agency [(CIA), National Intelligence Council, Directorate of Analysis], Federal Bureau of Investigation [FBI (Counterintelligence, Counterterrorism, WMD Directorate, Directorate of Intelligence, Cyber)], the Office of the Director of National Intelligence [ODNI (Requirements, Analysis, Collection, National Counterterrorism Center, Mission Managers)], the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Dept of Defense [DoD, (Nuclear, Chemical, Biological, Industrial, International)], the National Security Agency [NSA (Operations, Technology, Cyber], and many more.

Each agency/office is a silo, with distinct sub-silos, each with equity stakes in the information they gather, review and analyze; ultimately attributing classification level and intersecting analysis with each other agency as mission aligned. Sound ridiculous? It probably is, yet we’ve merely scratched the surface of the networks and information flows that swirl around the Office of the President. How does President Trump frame his world view? Who organizes the information that is prioritized to reach his desk? It is very easy to say, “President Trump has to know about (fill_in_blank),” without contemplating the process by which President Trump would know about (fill_in_blank). The recent remarks by President Trump, surrounding COVID-19 vaccine efficacy, should put a spotlight on this consequential dynamic.

We were all very pleased to see President Trump announce the newly formed President’s Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB), because for more than a decade we have watched how intelligence products were manipulated, shaped and constructed to create the illusion of something that was entirely false. However, we should note the same process of selecting the PIAB membership led to the previous issue of selecting former Congressman Mike Waltz as National Security Advisor. In that example, CTH predicted what would happen several months before it actually happened. There are issues of great DC interest that overlay all names and positions within the Trump administration. The subsequent behavior of NSA appointee Mike Waltz was a great reminder that sometimes those interests or judgements are not in alignment with the common MAGA priority.

Big international policy issues, like support for Israel, Ukraine support, NATO support and opinions on the threat Russia or China represents, are all part of the prism through which White House personnel references are traditionally made. When intended policy runs counter to personal ideology, conflicts arise. The policies of Wall St -vs- Main St, banking regulations, reciprocal tariffs, trade fairness, cryptocurrency and foundational economic nationalism can be challenging to align with the perspectives of the professional political class, in DC. The aspect of there being “trillions at stake” applies here, and being an outsider in DC generally comes down to financial interests and financial relationships. Then you run into the issues of the surveillance state, FISA (702) support, data collection and artificial intelligence.

In short, the interests of maintaining the status quo inside Washington DC, which may be interests carried by those in the orbit of President Trump, can stop information from reaching President Trump. As a consequence, cutting through the enmeshed interests with obvious, albeit painful truth, means delivering critical information in such a manner that, well, it cannot be refuted. We hope this is also the goal of those who have recently been outlining the background of Russiagate. However, given a history of inaction, and the stakes at hand, nothing should be taken for granted. What’s needed is a full spectrum outing of everything that took place throughout the targeting of President Trump.

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“The desperate search for a “Russian footprint” in the murder of Ukrainian politician Andrey Parubiy is a symptom of terminal self-delusion.”

• The West Has A Big Problem: It Can’t Stop Lying. Even To Itself (Amar)

Power and truth are not natural allies. Indeed, every person and institution – be it a government, a company, a university, or a “think tank” – tends to lie more as they become more powerful. And those who stay weak – have no illusions – must lie, too. Otherwise they’d get trampled even worse by the powerful. The truth may well set us free, as Christ told us. But then, hardly anyone is free in this world. Yet there are real differences. Differences that matter. For instance, with regard to the question of who you can trust a little more or should trust even less. Not to speak of another, often crucial issue: Who can one support or be in solidarity with, even if usually only conditionally? One thing should be clear to anyone not perma-brainwashed out of their mind:

The worst – by far – spreader of propaganda, disinformation, fake news, call it what you wish, is the West. Easily, hands down, no contest. Examples to illustrate this simple fact so little acknowledged – in the West, that is – could be adduced ad infinitum and over centuries. From, say, selling the bloody sacking of a fellow Christian capital in 1204 as a “fourth crusade,” to spreading “free trade” and “civilization” by waging a campaign of war and opiate mass poisoning on the oldest empire and civilization around in the mid-nineteenth century, to “liberating” Libya from a functioning state, decent standards of living, and, really, a future in 2011. It makes sense that George Orwell was English and had served the British Empire as a lowly enforcer among its victims in what we now call the Global South: No one competes with the sheer, habitual, deeply ingrained “Orwellianism” of the West.

Its most recent – but certainly not the last – horrific peak performance is, of course, co-perpetrating the Gaza genocide with Israel and calling it yet another fight against “terror” or “self-defense,” while smearing those who resist as “antisemites” and “terrorists.” There is an aspect of this intense and unremitting Western addiction to lying that should not be overlooked because it plays a key role in making Western disinformation so persistently toxic: The West never acknowledges, corrects, or regrets its fake news, at least not while doing so would still make a difference. Bewailing, for instance, the “mistake” – really, enormous crime – of the Vietnam War? Maybe, a little, if there’s a self-pitying (Rambo I, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket) or squarely delusional (Rambo II) movie in it that sells.

Admitting, on the other hand, that the “Maidan Sniper Massacre” of 2014 was a mass-murderous false-flag operation conducted by ruthless Ukrainian nationalists and fascists, such as, prominently, the recently assassinated Andrey Parubiy? Definitely not. Never mind the painstakingly detailed, conclusive studies of Ukrainian-Canadian scholar Ivan Katchanovski, which are easily available as an open-access book from one of the world’s most reputable academic publishers. Because if the West were to recognize this fact, a keystone of the edifice of lies erected to justify its cynical and devastating use of Ukraine in a failed proxy war against Russia would crumble: the silly conceit that the regime change operation of 2014 was “democratic,” “from below,” and soaked in national “dignity.”

Instead we’d have to face the reality of subversion, manipulation, and the betrayal of a nation to the West’s geopolitics, which is mercilessly cruel as well as bunglingly incompetent. And then, what next: Admitting that Russia was indeed provoked, for over three decades? That the Ukrainian far right is powerful and dangerous: a hotchpotch of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and assorted other fascists which the West has “normalized” and armed beyond their wildest dreams? That Ukraine’s leader Vladimir Zelensky is a corrupt authoritarian with a dependency problem?

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“A thunder shock is needed to break down the wall of lies that surrounds the framework of plausible deniability.”

• The Russiagate Problem (CTH)

According to John Solomon speaking with Devin Nunes recently, there is likely nothing much left from the files of Kash Patel at the FBI to disclose to the public, perhaps moving to the Mueller information will be the next steps.nFor most of us, bringing this storyline to the point of accountability is fraught with frustration. Here are some of the issues as they present.

The Big Problem Within Russiagate – Special Counsel John Durham previously indicted Hillary Clinton lawyer Michael Sussmann. Durham said Sussmann misled FBI investigators. The case against Sussmann resulted in an acquittal. During the trial of the Perkins Coie lawyer, depositions and testimony were given by the Clinton campaign. Campaign Manager Robby Mook admitted the Trump-Russia storyline was a false political hit constructed by the Clinton campaign and launched with the full knowledge of Hillary Clinton. Durham’s case against Sussmann was predicated on a baseline that the Clinton campaign duped the FBI into opening an investigation. This was the core of the Sussmann trial; that Michael Sussmann lied to and misled the FBI. Anyone who researched the issues already knew the FBI was not “duped” or “misled” by the information; instead, the FBI were active participants.

However, to make a case against Perkins Coie, Sussmann and Clinton, the Durham prosecution needed to pretend they didn’t know. The jury saw through the pretense and Sussmann was acquitted. At the time of the trial a few of us noted the motive presented by Durham (ie. FBI duped) had ramifications. This predicate claim essentially quashed any later criminal conspiracy as the court records highlighting how the FBI were duped would preclude any reversal of motive toward any other participant. If the FBI were duped, how could the FBI participants be criminally negligent? The Clinton team were direct. Yes, they manufactured a political smear about Trump/Russia, and yes it was all political. The people who manufactured the false claim admitted Trump-Russia was optics and false narratives. So, what? That’s politics.

The fact that the MSM did not emphasize the Clinton campaign admissions does not negate the Clinton campaign admissions, and the Durham framing of motive toward duping the FBI gave the FBI people the ‘out’. The recently released Durham annex showed the Russians were aware of the Clinton operation. The Clinton team admitted the operation, and the jury acquittal of Sussmann highlighted their opinion the FBI were not duped. That was/is the status.Against the backdrop of Clinton team essentially saying, ‘yeah, we did it’ – where is the conspiracy? From the govt perspective, the FBI investigated the political matter, then handed it to Robert Mueller who affirmed there was no Trump-Russia collusion – again, where’s the conspiracy? Boil it down. This is the factual reality facing any current effort by Main Justice to bring the narrative engineers to a position of legal accountability.

Was there criminal activity? I would argue, yes. In both the leaking of classified information to media (McCabe, Comey, Wolfe, McCord) and in the lying to the FISA court (Carter Page warrant). However, the FISA court doesn’t seem to care about the lying (for a host of reasons), including the wrist-slap to Kevin Clinesmith, and every time the leaking to the media was made an issue the DOJ declined to prosecute.The Mueller probe was used to give a patina of credibility to the false premise of Russiagate while they pursued an unspoken obstruction effort against President Trump. Weissmann wanted President Trump to obstruct a criminal investigation of Trump that was not going to find criminal activity done by Trump.

Like Clinton’s Russiagate, the Mueller investigation was built upon fraud. When asked by congress why Mueller never identified Clinton as the origin of the Russiagate matter, Robert Mueller said “it was not in my purview” to investigate Clinton’s activity. We all watched it unfold live. Everything about the Russiagate narrative and subsequent Mueller probe was built on a foundation of lies and DC corruption, and worse yet – a significant portion of the American people bought into the fraud which is still maintained because a duplicitous corporate media apparatus refuses to admit it. In many ways the Donald Trump political targeting had a similar outcome to the targeting of George Zimmerman. Both were/are transparently innocent of the accusations against them. Both were framed by false narratives sold for political benefit. However, approximately half of the American people still believe the lies despite the clear and convincing evidence to the contrary.

I strongly doubt anything can change the minds of those who believe Trayvon Martin was a teenage victim walking in the rain for Skittles and tea. Leaders in government participated in selling that lie, just like the govt participated in selling the lie of Trump-Russia collusion. Additional messaging, information releases, granular rehashing of details etc. is not going to change the dynamic. A thunder shock is needed to break down the wall of lies that surrounds the framework of plausible deniability. The cornerstone upon which Russiagate was built, was a system of surveillance and spying exploited by a corrupt President Obama administration. If we truly want to confront “Russiagate”, we need to strike directly at the heart of why Obama supported it. More very soon…

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“These conditions were spelled out in Ukraine’s 1990 Declaration of Independence, and Russia and the international community used them to recognize Ukrainian statehood..”

• Lavrov Demands International Recognition Of Russia’s New Regions (RT)

Ukraine must recognize its territorial losses, guarantee the rights of the Russian-speaking population, and agree to a security arrangement that poses no threat to Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. In an interview with the Indonesian newspaper Kompas released on Wednesday, Lavrov signaled that Russia is open to talks with Ukraine, but noted that a “durable peace” is only possible if Moscow’s territorial gains — including Crimea, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Kherson Region and Zaporozhye Region — are “recognized and formalized in an international legal manner.” The regions overwhelmingly voted to join Russia in public referendums in 2014 and 2022. Lavrov further asserted that peace hinges on “eradicating the underlying cause” of the conflict, which stems from NATO’s expansion and “attempts to drag Ukraine into this aggressive military bloc.”

“Ukraine’s neutral, non-aligned, and nuclear-free status must be ensured. These conditions were spelled out in Ukraine’s 1990 Declaration of Independence, and Russia and the international community used them to recognize Ukrainian statehood,” the foreign minister said. Another cornerstone of a potential settlement is Kiev’s promise to ensure human rights. At present, Kiev “is exterminating everything connected with Russia, Russians, and Russian-speaking people, including the Russian language, culture, traditions, canonical Orthodoxy, and Russian-language media,” he said. He added that Ukraine “is the only country where the use of the language spoken by a significant portion of the population has been outlawed.”

Since the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, Ukraine has taken steps to sever centuries-old cultural ties with its larger neighbor through legislation outlawing statues and symbolism associated with the country’s past and by phasing out the Russian language in all spheres of life. Kiev is also cracking down on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), the largest Christian denomination in the country, which it accuses of maintaining links to Moscow, despite the church declaring a break with Russia in 2022. Ukraine has also rejected any territorial concessions to Russia and continues to pursue its aspiration of joining NATO.

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“Each side presented its perspective on the prerequisites for ending the conflict. The heads of the delegations remain in direct contact. We expect the negotiations to continue..”

For now, this is only about “prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of the bodies of dead soldiers.”.

• Russia and Ukraine ‘In Direct Contact’ – Lavrov (RT)

Moscow and Kiev maintain “direct contact,” and the Kremlin is open to continued negotiations to resolve the conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. In an interview with the Indonesian newspaper Kompas released on Wednesday, Lavrov confirmed that Moscow’s top priority remains settling the crisis via peaceful means, adding that it is taking concrete steps to achieve that goal. Lavrov recalled that Moscow initiated the resumption of direct Russia-Ukraine talks this spring, resulting in three rounds of direct negotiations in Istanbul, Türkiye. He noted that the sides reached “certain progress,” including prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of the bodies of dead soldiers.

“Each side presented its perspective on the prerequisites for ending the conflict. The heads of the delegations remain in direct contact. We expect the negotiations to continue,” Lavrov added, without providing details regarding when the next round of talks could be expected, or what issues would be on the agenda. The foreign minister also noted that Russia and Ukraine had held talks early on in the conflict, which led to preliminary agreements on ending the hostilities, “but then the Kiev regime, following the advice of its Western handlers, walked away from a peace treaty, choosing instead to continue the war.” Moscow earlier accused then-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson of derailing the peace process by advising Kiev to keep fighting. Johnson has denied the claim.

Lavrov stressed, however, that a durable peace between Moscow and Kiev “is impossible without eradicating the underlying causes of the conflict,” most notably the threats posed to Russia’s security by “NATO’s expansion and attempts to drag Ukraine into this aggressive military bloc.” “These threats must be eliminated, and a new system of security guarantees for Russia and Ukraine must be formed,” the minister said. Moscow earlier did not rule out Western security guarantees for Kiev, but on condition that they should not be “one-sided” and aimed at containing Russia. Russia has, in particular, opposed the deployment of Western troops to Ukraine under any pretext, arguing that this would be tantamount to moving NATO’s bases towards its borders.

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“I have no message to President Putin. He knows where I stand, and he’ll make his decision one way or the other…”

• Trump Announces Call With Zelensky (RT)

Editor’s note: a previous report stated that President Trump would hold a call with President Putin. US President Donald Trump will hold a phone call with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, the White House has said, clarifying earlier remarks that suggested Trump was referring to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.Asked by reporters on Wednesday about the two-week deadline Trump gave Putin to meet with Zelensky, the US leader said he would hold talks “with him” in the coming days to discuss steps toward resolving the Ukraine conflict.“I’m having a conversation with him very shortly and I’ll know pretty much what we’re going to be doing,” Trump stated. A White House official later told AFP that Trump was referring to Zelensky. “They will be speaking tomorrow,” the official said.

Zelensky and European leaders said earlier in the day that they expected a call from Trump on Thursday. “We’ve already taken strong action, as you know, and in other ways as well. I’ll be talking to him in the coming days, and we’ll see what comes out of it,” Trump added. Trump has sought to end the Ukraine conflict since returning to the White House earlier this year. He held a summit with Putin in Alaska last month. The three-hour talks marked a diplomatic breakthrough, though they produced neither a ceasefire nor a formal peace deal. Trump later met with Zelensky and several European leaders, urging direct talks between Putin and Zelensky. He warned he could impose sanctions and tariffs on both Moscow and Kiev if no progress is made in resolving hostilities.

Asked on Wednesday if he had a message for Putin, Trump replied: “I have no message to President Putin. He knows where I stand, and he’ll make his decision one way or the other…” Trump said he has good relations with the Russian president, and that they would find out how strong their relationship is “over the next week or two.” Putin said on Wednesday he sees “a light at the end of the tunnel” in efforts to resolve the conflict. “We’ll see how the situation develops,” he told reporters in Beijing. The Russian leader added he is ready to host Zelensky in Moscow, but noted that the latter’s presidential term had long expired and said the Ukrainian constitution provides no mechanism for extending his powers.

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“Moscow has expressed skepticism that the West is capable of causing any such outcome.”

“One would think they would not do this or that thing to avoid self-harm. But those dimwits do, pardon my words. Leading world economies are going into a recession just to spite us.”

• Germany’s Merz Demands ‘Economic Exhaustion’ of Russia (RT)

Ukraine’s Western backers should accept that military efforts against Russia are failing and should instead focus on undermining its economy, including by sanctioning its trade partners, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday. Germany remains one of Ukraine’s largest arms suppliers and has pledged long-term backing for Kiev. Despite that support, Russian forces continue to make frontline advances, Merz told the ProSiebenSat.1 media outlet. He argued that the priority should now shift toward intensifying sanctions. “We must ensure that this country, Russia, is no longer able to maintain its war economy,” he said. “In this context, I’m talking about economic exhaustion, which we must help bring about. For example, through tariffs on those who still trade diligently with Russia.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the comments on Wednesday, writing on Telegram: “Your exhausting rod is not long enough, Herr Merz.” Moscow has touted its resilience to Western sanctions as a hallmark of Russian economic sovereignty and has questioned the logic of politicians who pursue such policies. “Many of the things they do harm themselves,” President Vladimir Putin remarked at a business forum in May. “One would think they would not do this or that thing to avoid self-harm. But those dimwits do, pardon my words. Leading world economies are going into a recession just to spite us.”

Merz’s government plans to cut welfare spending and rely on credit in order to sustain Ukraine aid and increase German military expenditure. The European Union’s biggest economy has shown little growth for years, with no major improvements expected anytime soon. The rejection of Russian pipeline natural gas in an attempt to punish Moscow over the Ukraine conflict has been cited as a major factor in the decline of the competitiveness of German businesses.

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7 deaths in 2 weeks, and no statement from the AfD?!

• German Elections Thrown Into ‘Immense Chaos’ After AfD Deaths Rise To 7 (ZH)

German elections in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia have been thrown into chaos ahead of a Sept. 14 election – after a spate of candidates for Germany’s right-wing AfD have died in recent weeks – with the total now at seven. And while local authorities say there is no evidence of foul play, officials are now scrambling to shred and reprint ballots as campaigns for the deceased have been suspended. According to Welt, Hans-Joachim Kind, 80, a direct candidate in the Kremenholl district, died of natural causes. There has been no cause of death disclosed for four other candidates in the region that has a population of 18 million – as police told Germany’s DPA news agency that the initial four were either from natural causes, or were not being divulged for over privacy concerns.

Two reserve candidates died following the initial four, followed by the death of Kind. The reserve candidates were René Herford, who had a pre-existing liver condition and died of kidney failure, and Patrick Tietze, who committed suicide. Now, ballots must be reprinted and successors appointed, causing what WELT described as “immense chaos.” AfD co-leader Alice Weidel reposted a claim by retired economist Stefan Homburg that the number of candidates’ deaths was “statistically almost impossible.” AfD deputy state chairman in North Rhine-Westphalia, Kay Gottschalk, told WELT, that “We will, of course, investigate these cases with the necessary sensitivity and care,” however there is “no indication” that this is “murder or anything similar,” as some of the deceased had “pre-existing medical conditions.”

The party – which Germany’s domestic spy agency classified as a ‘right-wing extremist organization’ in May, grew to Germany’s second-largest in February’s federal elections, before pausing that description due to an appeal pending in court. In 2022, AfD polled at just 5.4% in a region that’s home to Germany’s industrial base in the Ruhr valley – and which has suffered steep job losses. Now, the party polled at 16.8% in state federal elections last February, while more recent polls suggest the party could nearly match that today. “Either Germany votes AfD, or it is the end of Germany,” said tech billionaire Elon Musk, who threw his support behind AfD in recent days.

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“.. the private economy is contracting at 4–5%. Calling this a recession would be euphemistic — we are in a depression.”

• EU Accelerating Toward Collapse (Kolbe)

The Chancellor seems to have collided with reality during the summer break. Merz sees the German social system in deep crisis. Meanwhile, his political allies in Brussels are calling for an increase in the very dose of poison that is making Europe sick. Let’s be blunt: Large parts of the political elite have a fractured relationship with reality. This applies equally to the economic decay of Germany and the EU, as well as to the public communication of strategic political goals, which are systematically obscured. Open criticism of the course could cause the political fairy tale to collapse faster than reality seeps into public opinion.All the more remarkable are the warning words of Chancellor Friedrich Merz during his Saturday appearance at the CDU state party conference in Lower Saxony. “I am not satisfied with what we have achieved so far – it must be more, it must be better.”

Hear that! A faint tremor of self-criticism from the Chancellor. Rare, indeed. Yet the statement raises the question: what exactly does Merz mean by “achievements”? Is he referring to the so-called investment booster, supposedly providing marginal relief to the German economy while it teeters on collapse? Or does he mean the massive debt packages and widening financing gaps, most likely to be closed with tax hikes? In his speech in Osnabrück, Merz later spoke unusually clearly about the state of the welfare system: “The welfare state, as we have it today, is no longer financially sustainable given what we can deliver economically.” A blunt diagnosis, leaving little to be desired in clarity. There was, however, no mention of a market-oriented turn, trust in individual solutions, personal responsibility, or rapid bureaucratic reduction. The message seems to be: stay the course.

Merz also spoke unequivocally about citizen welfare payments: it cannot continue like this. 5.6 million people receive the payments. Many could work but do not, he said. A reality that politics usually avoids. A tentative attempt to openly name the precarious state of German social insurance. In times when political sugar-coating is routine, it’s almost a stroke of luck when a leading politician at least partially acknowledges economic realities. Have the latest economic data perhaps shaken Merz and his colleagues in Berlin? GDP shrank again in the second quarter, and the outlook remains bleak. With the state intervening via massive credit programs and new debt hitting about 3.5% this year, the private economy is contracting at 4–5%. Calling this a recession would be euphemistic — we are in a depression.

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Hard to see the Supreme Court take sides against Trump, but this looks vague enough: “..a 1977 law that authorizes the president to impose necessary economic sanctions during an emergency to combat an “unusual and extraordinary threat..”

• Trump Escalates Tariff Fight To Supreme Court, Seeks Expedited Review (ZH)

President Trump has asked the Supreme Court to maintain his tariffs after a lower court invalidated them. “The Federal Circuit’s decision casts doubt upon the President’s most significant economic and foreign-affairs policy—a policy that implicates sensitive, ongoing foreign negotiations and urgent national-security concerns,” wrote Solicitor General D. John Sauer in the DOJ’s Supreme Court petition, which has yet to be publicly docketed but was obtained by The Hill. Last week the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit struck down most of Trump’s tariffs in a 7-4 decision – finding that the president can’t use emergency powers to enact levies on various trading partners.

The admin has asked the SCOTUS to expedite their review – and has asked for an announcement by next Wednesday as to whether the highest court in the land will take up the dispute and schedule oral arguments for the first week in November. Several small businesses and Democratic-led states who filed the lawsuit in question say they have no problem with the Supremes taking up the case or the expedited schedule. The tariffs will remain in place until the Supreme Court decides. Trump slapped various significant tariffs on countries around the world – largely doing so by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 law that authorizes the president to impose necessary economic sanctions during an emergency to combat an “unusual and extraordinary threat,” The Hill notes.

Citing an emergency over fentanyl, Trump has imposed a series of tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico dating back to February. He later invoked the law for his “Liberation Day” tariffs, citing an emergency over trade deficits to issue levies on goods from dozens of countries. Trump’s tariffs face roughly a dozen lawsuits across the country. The battle at the Supreme Court comes in response to two underlying cases filed by a group of small businesses and Democratic state attorneys general. “Both federal courts that considered the issue agreed that IEEPA does not give the President unchecked tariff authority,” said Liberty Justice Center senior counsel, Jeffrey Schwab, an attorney on the case. “We are confident that our legal arguments against the so- called “Liberation Day” tariffs will ultimately prevail.”

“These unlawful tariffs are inflicting serious harm on small businesses and jeopardizing their survival. We hope for a prompt resolution of this case for our clients.” The Trump administration, meanwhile, has warned the courts not to second-guess his decision as it will undermine his ability to use tariffs as leverage in negotiating trade deals.

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“..we’ll be interested in seeing whether the Treasury market comes under any further pressure if the US has to hand back already received tariff revenues..”

• White House Has Backup Strategy If Trump’s Tariffs Are Overturned: Bessent (ET)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the White House has plenty of tools at its disposal to implement President Donald Trump’s global tariffs if the Supreme Court does not uphold his use of a 1977 emergency powers law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled 7–4 on Aug. 29 against the current administration’s decision to invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) as justification for levies on foreign goods unveiled in April. The court’s decision does not take effect until Oct. 14, allowing the White House ample time to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. The IEEPA grants the president broad authority to regulate international economic transactions—regulating imports and exports, freezing foreign assets, or halting financial transactions—after declaring a national emergency.

In a Labor Day interview with Reuters, Bessent stated that while he is confident the high court will uphold the president’s reciprocal tariff agenda, the administration has various options available. “I’m confident the Supreme Court … will uphold the president’s authority to use IEEPA. And there are lots of other authorities that can be used—not as efficient, not as powerful,” Bessent said. He referred to Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, also known as the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act. It contains a trade provision that authorizes the president to impose new tariffs or additional duties of up to 50 percent on foreign products entering the United States for a period of five months if they are determined to threaten domestic commerce.

Bessent said he is planning a legal brief for the U.S. Solicitor General to highlight the urgency of stopping the flow of fentanyl into the country. Pointing to the approximately 70,000 fentanyl-linked deaths per year in the United States, he questioned what would be considered an emergency. “If this is not a national emergency, what is?“ he said. ”When can you use IEEPA if not for fentanyl?”

The senior administration official also intends to argue that persistent trade imbalances will ultimately reach a critical threshold, triggering more immense consequences for the U.S. economy.“We’ve had these trade deficits for years, but they keep getting bigger and bigger,” he said. “We are approaching a tipping point … so preventing a calamity is an emergency.” The last time the United States registered a trade surplus was in 1975. In July, the U.S. goods trade deficit widened by $18.7 billion to $103.6 billion, the largest gap in four months. Imports rose by more than 7 percent to $281.5 billion while exports dipped 0.1 percent to $178 billion.

Long-term U.S. Treasury yields popped on Sept. 2, driven by concerns that the federal government will be forced to repay tariff income and forego potentially trillions of dollars in tariff revenues. Yields on the 20- and 30-year government bonds surged about 5 basis points to around 4.92 percent and 4.98 percent, respectively. “Global trading partners will no doubt find it premature to be celebrating just yet, but we’ll be interested in seeing whether the Treasury market comes under any further pressure if the US has to hand back already received tariff revenues,” ING economists said in a Sept. 1 note. In this fiscal year, the federal government has collected $183.1 billion in tariff revenues, including $31 billion in August.

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He sees a way to win.

• Farage Vows Mass Deportations in UK (Salgado)

Nigel Farage, who aims to be the prime minister of Great Britain, has promised to deport all of the illegal aliens in the UK if he comes to power. “I will deport every single one of them, and that’ll win me the election,” the British politician, head of Reform UK, declared on American television. Unfortunately, because Britain has a parliamentary system, it is even more difficult to vote bad people out of office and good people into power there than it is in America. Farage cannot simply win an election to become prime minister the same way Americans elect their president. However, if Farage does somehow succeed in taking power, he has some ambitious plans for reclaiming his country from the waves of mass migration that threaten to overwhelm it.

Farage went on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News to discuss his goals and strategies for winning elections. And he is certain that mass deportations are a winning message for British voters tired of taking a backseat to violent foreigners. Hannity asked Farage, “One of the biggest issues you are debating is one that Donald Trump ran on here, and he has followed through on. He has secured our southern border. He is deporting criminal aliens. Over a million and a half illegal immigrants have left the country since he’s become president. Tell me what your platform would be on immigration, and do you believe that is the winning formula for you to be the next prime minister and live at 10 Downing Street?”

Farage immediately answered, “Young men come into our country on small dinghies across the English Channel. They throw their passports and iPhones into the sea when they reach the 12 mile line, they come in. They get put in four star hotels. They get three meals a day. And you know what? We don’t know who they are. They pose a threat to our national security. I will deport every single one of them, and that’ll win me the election, oh yes.” Unfortunately, the current UK government just won its court appeal to allow a horde of asylum seekers — that is, unvetted illegal aliens — to remain in an infamous Epping hotel at taxpayer expense. The hotel became a focal point of protests after one of the supposed “asylum seekers” faced accusations of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. Slogans at the protest, which drew thousands of people, included “save our kids” and “send them home.”

Labour Member of Parliament Bridget Phillipson responded to a question as to whether she thought the supposed rights of the illegal aliens were more important than the rights of the local citizens in Epping, and said, “Yes, of course we do.” I suppose she gets points for honesty, but not for anything else. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the UK government seems to agree with her. Hopefully, Farage can indeed successfully inspire such a popular movement in Britain that he and his party will ride to victory in the next election.

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“..as the Speaker said, there are 34,000 pages — we’re doing everything we can to get those uploaded. We want those to be public as soon as possible.”

• Epstein Files Drop: The Left’s Trump Smear Campaign Just Collapsed (Margolis)

Democrats and Republicans have spent weeks demanding the release of the Epstein files. Well, now they’ve got them. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer confirmed that the long-awaited document dump is officially underway, pledging unprecedented transparency and accountability. “Just to give a quick update: I think everyone knows who we’ve subpoenaed thus far in the initial batch,” Comer said. “We subpoenaed six former Attorneys General as well as Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton.” Comer confirmed that the scope has since expanded to include former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who oversaw a controversial plea deal for Epstein years ago. “Acosta is coming in, I believe, September the 16th or 19th,” Comer said. “We’ve got that date down. I know that we’ll have a lot of questions for him with respect to an earlier Epstein prosecution that he was involved in when he was U.S. Attorney.”

The chairman also revealed that tens of thousands of pages of records are now in the committee’s possession. “We have the documents — the initial batch that had been sent by the White House. As you know, we also subpoenaed Pam Bondi for those documents. The White House is working with us — I want to publicly thank the White House for turning over so many documents thus far,” he explained. “We’re in the process of uploading those documents for full transparency, so everyone in America can see them,” Comer said. “As quick as we can get them uploaded — as the Speaker said, there are 34,000 pages — we’re doing everything we can to get those uploaded. We want those to be public as soon as possible.” Those pages have since been released.

Comer stressed that the investigation is far from over. “We’re gonna continue to bring in more people. We learned of some additional names today. We’re gonna do everything we can to give the American public the transparency they seek, as well as provide accountability in memory of the victims who have already passed away, as well as those that were in the room, and many others who haven’t come forward.”Comer noted that the committee’s most recent session was remarkably unified. “This was a two-and-half hour discussion. It was as bipartisan as anything I’ve seen in the nine years I’ve been here,” he said. “I appreciate the Speaker for giving us the authority to seek out everything that I think you all want, and the people that I talk to, as I travel America, want. We’re going to do everything we can to get the answers and to do it as soon as possible.”

For years, Democrats quietly hoped they could weaponize the Epstein saga into a Trump scandal, and have failed repeatedly. But with Comer’s committee now unloading tens of thousands of pages for the world to see, that narrative is dead on arrival. Democrats never released the files when they controlled Congress or the White House. Why not? Let’s face it, for the left, this document dump is a gut punch. The smears collapse in the daylight, and the only people with reason to sweat now are the Democrats’ longtime allies connected to Epstein.

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A press conference to -not- talk about what they’ve been barred from talking about.

• Epstein Victims Hold a Strange Press Conference in Washington, DC (CTH)

Twice the Trump DOJ has asked the courts to permit the release of names associated with the case against Jeffrey Epstein and the victims of sex trafficking therein. Twice the courts have denied the Trump administration the ability to release the sealed Grand Jury records. [August 20th] and [July 23rd] Most of the various victims of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking operation have previously been paid victim compensation amid various lawsuits including a substantial $290 million financial settlement from JPMorgan Bank in 2023, one of the financial institutions used by Epstein. These lawsuits resulted in what has been reported as ‘various non-disclosure agreements’ (NDAs), which the victims signed.

After the DOJ and congress has released all of the available files, and with various courts refusing to break the seals on names and files within grand jury records, and against the background of multiple victims receiving considerable previous compensation, a group of Epstein victims held a press conference in Washington, DC today demanding the sealed names and NDA covered names be released. The victims would not, most likely because they legally cannot, discuss the names; but they did say they would compile another private list of names of the people to whom they were trafficked. What the purpose of that private list would be is unknown. The entire thing now seems really weird. WATCH:

Some have claimed a comprehensive list of the names in grand jury files or prior lawsuits would include Donald Trump. However, it seems ridiculous to make that assertion given the profile of President Trump in 2016 and 2024. If there was any risk to President Trump, the Clinton campaign would have exploited that vulnerability during the height of the MeToo movement in 2016. Assuredly, even without Clinton, the Kamala Harris campaign would have used that narrative in 2024. Neither political opposition effort ever engaged in such a claim. The Occam’s Razor review of the current state of Epstein victims’ status, is one that points toward extortion. The victims having previously signed agreements, would be at legal risk to violate their various NDAs. However, for the purposes of structuring a political narrative, there are likely revenue sources willing to fund an ongoing victim narrative.

I suspect the lawyers representing the victims in the video (press conference) are likely compensated by the same entities who fund large domestic political operations. The “Republicans” who align with the intention of the efforts, seem to hold a commonality with the same financial interests behind former Republican candidate Ron DeSantis. The victims now seem more akin to political operatives looking for some kind of secondary payday by maintaining a story they are not legally permitted to advance in specific ways. The victim group continually says they will not name the people to whom they were trafficked, which is strange considering the high visibility of their performance and their obvious demand to release grand jury names that could be settled by their own statements releasing names.

Additionally, their claims of imminent fear do not resonate truthfully against the backdrop of their quite happy presentation. The DC event seems like a leverage game of sorts, with some financial benefit as the goal for the victims. For the DC politicians, perhaps a construct to position themselves for some electoral benefit. All of it rather unseemly. There also appears to be a media management operation happening with the group. MSNBC appearance below:

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Tulsi risks her public record becoming a broken record. At some point, people want more than “Clapper and Brennan are baddies” every day. They want them indicted.

• Gabbard Unloads With Both Barrels on Brennan and Clapper (Adams)

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Wednesday again decried those working within the government “who believe that they have the right to undermine the duly elected president of the United States because they disagree with his positions or his policies, and that they know better.” In a speech at the National Conservatism Conference in Washington, Gabbard argued that government officials’ “sole focus must be on serving the American people and upholding the Constitution.” In her remarks, Gabbard criticized by name one of her predecessors as director of national intelligence, James Clapper, and former CIA Director John Brennan.

“For me to be here as the eighth director of national intelligence and uncover how James Clapper and others like John Brennan manufactured intelligence to try to undermine President [Donald] Trump’s administration and presidency, and the voices of the American people, and then go back to the founding of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that came about as a result of the terrorist attack on 9/11 and the manufacturing of intelligence to support the regime-change war in Iraq that George Bush led is an interesting bookend,” the former congresswoman from Hawaii said. Gabbard also decried parts of the surveillance state perpetrated on the American people, contending it was abused by some federal officials. “We’ve seen other examples—those that we know of, there are many others that I believe we don’t yet know of—how leaders in the intelligence community and the FBI knowingly use false information to gain FISA warrants to illegally spy on American citizens,” the ODNI chief said.

“These are just a few of, unfortunately, what is a long list of known examples of politicization and weaponization that all point to the truth that many of us here in this room know, which is that the rot runs deep, and it’s not just in the intelligence community,” she said. “I’ve seen examples of this across almost every federal agency, and so it requires us all to confront the uncomfortable truth that we have these conspiracy conspirators, these traitors to the Constitution, who are working within our government, who dangerously believe that they are not only above the law, but that they are above the Constitution and the Bill of Rights,” Gabbard continued. Gabbard, 44, a former Democrat-turned-Republican, argued that these rogue government employees are hurting the American form of government.

“It undermines our Constitution, our democratic republic, if we have people within our government who are not the president of the United States, who are not elected by the American people, taking it upon themselves to undermine, ultimately, the American people and the Constitution,” she said. The intelligence chief urged a reorientation of American life and governance to pursuing truth. “I’m grateful to serve in this position, grateful to President Trump for entrusting me with this mission to truly seek the truth, find the truth and tell the truth to the American people, so that true accountability and true change, lasting change can come about,” she explained. “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free,” Gabbard concluded, quoting John 8:32 from the Bible.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Box
https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1963165423739732163

Spoonbill

Donkey

Pigs
https://twitter.com/Natie2Natie/status/1963041473945076194

 

 

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Debt Rattle August 31 2025

Aug 312025
 
 August 31, 2025  Posted by at 10:45 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,  28 Responses »


Edward Hopper Dawn before Gettysburg 1934

 

• Europe On Path To War Economy (Kolbe)
• Brussels Preparing For A ‘Long War, Not Peace’ – Hunngary (RT)
• US Believes EU Blocking Ukraine Peace With ‘Unreasonable‘ Demands – Axios (RT)
• Assassinated Ukrainian MP ‘Directly Ordered’ Shelling Of Donbass Civilians (RT)
• Deep State in US and EU Criticize Trump Admin for Not Attacking Russia (CTH)
• Donald Trump Still Doesn’t Understand Russia’s Position Regarding Ukraine (LJ)
• Ukraine Operation Will Continue – Russia’s Top General (RT)
• Trump Promises Trilateral Meeting With Putin and Zelensky (RT)
• Could Russia Have Joined NATO? (Ryumshin)
• NATO Should Have Dissolved in 1990 – Jeffrey Sachs (Sp.)
• Can Russia, India, and China Rewrite The Global Rules? (Vaid)
• The War On Reality is Over (James Howard Kunstler)
• Jay Bhattacharya On Fauci, Bioweapons, And Free Speech In Science (ZH)
• To the Parents of Trans Kids: Enabling Isn’t Compassion (C.A. Skeet)
• Tariffs ‘Still in Effect’: Trump Bashes Partisan Court Ruling (Salgado)
• Tensions in US Intelligence Community Rise After CIA Agent Uncovered (Sp.)

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1961958655626235998

RFK

Makary
https://twitter.com/TheChiefNerd/status/1961754604560904407

 

 

 

 

Trump is slowly waking up to the fact that his ‘allies’ in Brussels and Kiev want war, while he wants peace. And that they will do anything to organize a false flag to drag him into their war. Beware.

• Europe On Path To War Economy (Kolbe)

In Unterlüß, Lower Saxony, Europe’s largest ammunition factory began production yesterday. What started clandestinely is now being publicly scaled with full firepower: the European Union is building its own war economy.In the good old days in Germany, recessions were typically masked by state-funded infrastructure programs. The concept worked as long as the state did not overgrow, overregulate, or force the private sector into a destructive ideological agenda, as is the case with the green transformation. In other words: the economy was always able to clear away the debris left behind by the state.In Southern Europe, where the state’s role has traditionally been high, monetary policy generous, and handling of public funds notoriously lax, this policy left nothing but infrastructure ruins and industrial wastelands. Local economies were never able to productively absorb the artificial credit distributed by Brussels.

The fatal consequences of this pseudo-boom still shape the landscape today.For economic historians, present-day Europe has long been a fascinating study object. Crisis followed crisis, with the public sector intervening each time with increasing volume. The attempt to install the Green Deal, a Keynesian pseudo-economy, must be understood in this context. That Germany’s defense company Rheinmetall yesterday launched Europe’s largest ammunition plant in Unterlüß fits into this narrative.The company invested half a billion euros to provide an annual capacity of up to 350,000 rounds by 2027. 500 new jobs are to be created, celebrated by politicians as a turning point and the beginning of a pan-European defense architecture.Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger expressed satisfaction:

“It was not easy for us to invest half a billion without orders. I am very grateful to you”—the words were directed at Defense Minister Pistorius—“for keeping your handshake agreements. You are a man of word and deed.” A heavy dose of pathos and self-congratulation is evident here—politics and the defense industry are long intertwined.Of course, this is only half the truth. Beyond the usual behind-the-scenes deals, politics has made it clear that it is ready to mobilize all means to build a German defense industry and provide sector companies with guarantees and subsidies where necessary. Big business, no risk.After the collapse of the green economy, politics is now betting everything on the next pseudo-economy. The aim is to loosen dependence on America while exploiting the media spin that stylized Vladimir Putin’s Russia over years as a potential European invader.

Whether this fear campaign will work in the long term remains to be seen.Given the deep economic depression in which Germany and large parts of the EU are stuck, the general war fatigue, and social fractures in core EU states like Germany and France, it is clear that despite the reinstatement of conscription, most citizens will rigorously reject military engagement.A glance at EU public finances alone is enough to recognize that a war against Russia is political madness. France, with a debt-to-GDP ratio of 115%, is days away from a confidence vote on the new austerity budget. Bond markets are already punishing these bankrupt states. The signs point to savings, not bellicose adventures.It is absurd in this situation—where Germany has almost fully spent the so-called Bundeswehr special fund of €100 billion and now switches to borrowing mode—to accelerate this path.

Yet Brussels, Berlin, Paris, and London are serious. In fall 2026, Rheinmetall plans to launch its next plant in Weeze, producing fuselage components for the F-35 fighter jet. Cost: €200 million, this time directly publicly funded.Defense factories will mushroom in the coming months and years, producing far beyond civilian demand. Germany plans to raise its defense budget to up to 5% of GDP, which will worsen the impoverishment of its population as the private sector already shrinks by 4–5%. A disaster unseen in Europe since the end of the war.A hot conflict with Russia is economically highly unlikely. Yet a new Cold War, a state of continuous armament like before 1990, seems to be Europe’s goal. They are trapped in an absurd economic theory of central planning and command economy. A new power base is forming: a corporatism between the defense industry and the political complex in Brussels.

Germany has clearly been chosen to finance this economic disaster. The country, previously with one of the lowest debt ratios in the EU at 64%, will double its annual defense budget to €162 billion by 2029. By 2027, the special fund will be exhausted, after which loans up to €400 billion will be required. Germany will become an active player in bond markets, where interest rates are already rising. The European Central Bank will have plenty of work to keep the rapidly growing debt pile liquid. The EU will also participate with new funds, EDIP and ASAP (a term bordering on infantilism in this context), contributing €50–70 billion annually to joint defense projects.

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Hungary has been spot on from day one.

• Brussels Preparing For A ‘Long War, Not Peace’ – Hunngary (RT)

The EU is “preparing for a long war” rather than seeking peace in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has said. The European Commission has effectively acted as the “Ukrainian Commission,” prioritizing Kiev’s interests over those of its own member states, he said on X after a meeting of the bloc’s top diplomats in Denmark on Saturday. “At today’s EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Copenhagen it became clear that Brussels and most member states are preparing for a long war, not peace. They want to send tens of billions of euros to Ukraine for soldiers’ salaries, drones, weapons, and the operation of the Ukrainian state,” Szijjarto said. “There was huge pressure for the fast-tracked EU accession of Ukraine, new sanctions on Russian energy,” as well as to provide €6 billion ($7 billion) more to arm Ukraine, he added.

The EU Commission once again acted as a Ukrainian Commission, serving Kiev’s interests over those of member states.The European Commission entirely ignores “Hungarians in Transcarpathia and our energy security, still refusing to answer the joint letter we sent with Slovakia on Ukraine endangering our supply route,” Szijjarto said. Already strained ties between Kiev and Budapest recently deteriorated further after multiple Ukrainian attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline, a key conduit that carries Russian and Kazakh crude to Slovakia and Hungary. Budapest has also accused Kiev of violating the rights of ethnic Hungarians in Ukraine’s Transcarpathia region.

Hungary has refused to send weapons to Kiev and has criticized Brussels for imposing sanctions on Moscow. It has also opposed Ukraine’s membership in both NATO and the EU.Meanwhile, the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, promised to further arm Ukraine and “increase pressure on Russia,” in remarks made after Saturday’s foreign ministers’ meeting. Moscow has long condemned Western military support of Kiev in the conflict, which it views as a NATO proxy war. Russia has also criticized the EU’s growing militarization and increasingly bellicose rhetoric. Western European leaders “are once again trying to prepare Europe for war – not some hybrid war, but a real war against Russia,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in July.

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Awareness can be a slow process.

• US Believes EU Blocking Ukraine Peace With ‘Unreasonable‘ Demands – Axios (RT)

The White House believes certain European governments are quietly obstructing efforts to end the Ukraine conflict by encouraging Kiev to push for unrealistic demands, despite publicly endorsing President Donald Trump’s peace initiative, Axios has reported. Trump administration officials are increasingly frustrated with what they describe as the EU’s “maximalist” position and its expectations for Washington to shoulder the burden while contributing little themselves, the publication wrote on Saturday. “The Europeans don’t get to prolong this war and backdoor unreasonable expectations, while also expecting America to bear the cost,” an anonymous top US official said. “If Europe wants to escalate this war, that will be up to them. But they will be hopelessly snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.”

“Some of the Europeans continue to operate in a fairy-tale land that ignores the fact it takes two to tango,” another unnamed source said. Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska this month and later hosted Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky in Washington. He pushed for a lasting peace rather than a ceasefire. He also threatened to impose tariffs and sanctions on both Ukraine and Russia if they failed to make meaningful progress in talks. Trump’s frustration with both Kiev and EU allies has also grown in recent days, according to The Atlantic, which reported that the president now sees Ukraine and its European backers as standing in the way of a negotiated settlement. During private conversations,

Trump has reportedly voiced dissatisfaction over Zelensky’s unwillingness to consider concessions and the EU’s refusal to support what the White House considers a “realistic” outcome. “He just wants this over. It almost doesn’t matter how,” a senior official told The Atlantic, adding that Trump has urged Ukraine to “show some flexibility.” Moscow has long insisted on a peace agreement that eradicates the underlying causes of the conflict. It has demanded that Ukraine maintain neutrality, stay out of NATO and other military blocs, demilitarize and denazify, and accept the new territorial reality – including the status of Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye as part of Russia – territories that voted to join the country in referendums in 2014 and 2022.

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“Parubiy and his team were “working directly with the Jamestown Foundation, a former CIA central think tank in Washington, DC…”

• Assassinated Ukrainian MP ‘Directly Ordered’ Shelling Of Donbass Civilians (RT)

Andrey Parubiy, a far-right Ukrainian politician who was shot dead in Lviv on Saturday, directly ordered attacks on Donbass and provoked a “civil war” with eastern Ukraine after the Maidan coup, ex-Ukrainian diplomat Andrey Telizhenko has told RT. Parubiy, an MP and former speaker of the Ukrainian Rada, played an active role in the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, as well as in the nationalist government it brought to power. He had deep and long-running ties to Ukraine’s neo-Nazi movement, co-founding the far-right Social-National Party of Ukraine. “During the cabinet of ministers meetings, [at] which I was present, Parubiy directly ordered the mass shellings of the people of Donbass,” Telizhenko told RT on Saturday.

“He said, ‘We do not care who those people are. Russians, they’re Moscali [a Ukrainian slur for Russians], we should kill them,’” the former diplomat, who was an adviser to Ukraine’s prosecutor general at the time, said. That’s a direct citation from Parubiy during the cabinet of ministers meeting, in which he pushed to provoke the civil war in eastern Ukraine, which has now led to a big massive conflict. Parubiy and his team were “working directly with the Jamestown Foundation, a former CIA central think tank in Washington, DC,” Telizhenko claimed. This is not just a collaborator with the West. He’s a Nazi. He was directly supporting the Nazi movement in Ukraine. According to Telizhenko, Parubiy directly coordinated the shootings during the Maidan coup.

“He was coordinating the radicals on Maidan, when to shoot, who to shoot and how to shoot, even who to shoot [among] their own” and “provoking insurgents within the coup itself,” he said. “His team was responsible for blocking the anti-sniper unit [from] coming to Maidan.” Parubiy “also covered up the shootings” in the subsequent investigation, as well as blocking the probe into the 2014 Odessa massacre, Telizhenko said. “He was responsible for closing down the case and destroying the evidence [of] his involvement in the coordination of that terrorist attack,” he said. The far-right MP was reportedly responsible for organizing, arming, and transporting the militants which burned 42 anti-Maidan activists to death in the Odessa Trade Unions House.

https://twitter.com/Karmabash/status/1961755950551073019

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“Maybe we make peace, and maybe we don’t. If we do, it will be because Steve Witkoff and the President of the United States worked their tails off, in the face of outright lies from the mainstream press.”

• Deep State in US and EU Criticize Trump Admin for Not Attacking Russia (CTH)

Like pathetic children who demand that Daddy Trump step into the chaos and punch Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin in the face, the EU leaders admit to media they coordinated and collaborated on using social media to decry the latest missile attacks from Russia. According to their staff, who reported to Politico, the intent of the EU social media firestorm was to influence President Donald Trump. Think about how pathetic that is in substance. The Presidents, Prime Ministers and Commissars of the EU collective couldn’t pick up the phone to call President Trump and discuss their position. No, instead their best approach, as organized by the group, was to take to social media and protest. These are not serious people.

“A second European official confirmed that the morning messages were an effort to influence Trump’s thinking, although the person was not optimistic that the attacks would lead Trump to ratchet up the economic pressure on Putin.” The discussion of conflict that began as ‘World War Reddit’, has now devolved even further and becomes a messaging war on teh Twitter. Yeah, these are not serious people. I am reminded of how the White House initially responded to the beginning of the conflict in February 2022: I said at the time, “Singh’s remarks outlining the view of the ‘West’ toward defeating Russia are eloquent yet batshit crazy in their ideological context. Daleep Singh sounds like the senior head of a Google Human Resources operation telling the department heads how they need to convey their feelings in order to hire the talent for continued growth in the industry.”

Deputy National Security Advisor Daleep Singh boils down geopolitical power to a cultural issue of social likeability. Pro Tip: Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t care if EU leaders like him. The leadership of the Western NATO alliance and the European Union are reduced to shouting on Twitter, ‘Help us Trump, help us’. Meanwhile, these same leaders wonder why Vladimir Putin doesn’t take them seriously. You just cannot make this stuff up. Germany can mechanize their military and start rolling tanks to the front lines of Ukraine tonight. France can muster 100,000 troops and enter the battlefield by morning. The U.K. can put their fighter jets on the runways in Ukraine by nightfall, and the EU can force the collective nations to send troops into the meatgrinder by the end of the weekend.

Will they? Of course not. Not without President Trump and the full weight of the U.S. military as the skirt they can hide behind. The ‘coalition of the willing’ has limits, and apparently those limits end with strongly clutched Twitter messages. Meanwhile, back in the USA, the professional administrative state is hitting out at President Trump’s Envoy Steve Witkoff for failing to end the conflict or seemingly permit the U.S. Senate to take control of the nuclear weapons. Again, Politico: […] “The thing is, Witkoff isn’t consistently engaged. He will pop in for a visit to Vladimir Putin, say a bunch of stuff, not tell anyone what really happened and then just fuck off to his life again. Meanwhile, the Russians are talking to you about how ‘Witkoff says…’ and you don’t know whether they’re right or not, but you can’t get a readout from the Russians,” the U.S. official said.”

Thankfully, Vice President J.D. Vance and the entire Trump administration hit back: “This story from Politico is journalistic malpractice. But it’s more than that: it’s a foreign influence operation meant to hurt the administration and one of our most effective members.” Notice how all of the people attacking Steve are on background? That means it’s two or three deep staters who are angry that Witkoff has succeeded where they’ve failed. You know what this “reporter” left out to make room for anonymous quotes? The full quote from the sitting vice president, on the record.A quote from the secretary of the state, on the record. A quote from Jared Kushner, on the record. The full quote from the UK’s Jonathan Powell, one of the most respected national security people in the Western World, who defended Steve vigorously from these malicious smears.

The person who wrote this garbage is [@felschwartz]. Aside from the failure to include on the record information directly contradicting her reporting, I wonder if she ever asked herself why these anonymous sources came to her at this moment with this particular story. They have an agenda to blow up the president’s efforts to make peace, and they saw her as a useful vessel to launder garbage into the conversation, truth be damned. There are two possible explanations: Felicia is just not very smart and allowed herself to be used by deep state con men. Or she’s in on it and used her position to willingly participate in a literal foreign influence operation. Either way, it’s disgraceful.

To set the record straight: Steve Witkoff is an invaluable member of our team. He did not mislead anyone on what the Russians told him and what the Russians conceded. (Trust me, I’ve seen the intel.) The fruits of his negotiations are that we have narrowed the list of open issues in the Russia-Ukraine war to a set of clearly defined issues–specifically, security guarantees and territorial concessions. Maybe we make peace, and maybe we don’t. If we do, it will be because Steve Witkoff and the President of the United States worked their tails off, in the face of outright lies from the mainstream press. You know what is driving the Administrative State and the EU collective bananas?

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Says Larry Johnson. Me, I think he’s catching up fast.

• Donald Trump Still Doesn’t Understand Russia’s Position Regarding Ukraine (LJ)

I continue to believe that it is more important to watch what Donald Trump does rather than focus on what he says. However, his remarks during the meeting of his cabinet earlier this week regarding negotiations to end the war in Ukraine are alarming and merit attention. When asked about Sergei Lavrov’s comment that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not legitimate, Donald Trump dismissed the statement, saying: It doesn’t matter what they say. Everybody’s posturing. It’s all bullshit, okay. Everybody’s posturing. He characterized Lavrov’s remarks – and the broader Kremlin rhetoric on Zelensky’s legitimacy – as meaningless showmanship, emphasizing that such claims should not obstruct peace efforts. Trump did not directly defend Zelensky, but instead focused on downplaying the significance of Russia’s statements and suggested that “everyone is just putting on a show” in ongoing negotiations.

I believe that Trump genuinely believes this, and he is dangerously mistaken. President Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov are not posturing when they try to explain to clueless westerners that they do not believe that Zelensky is the legitimate President of Ukraine. While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not explicitly “cancel” the presidential election, as Ukrainian law prohibits holding elections during martial law, which has been in effect since Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, the reality from the Russian perspective is that a negotiated agreement with Zelensky could easily be overturned or rejected once Ukraine holds the required election.

The scheduled presidential election, expected in March or April 2024, was automatically postponed due to this legal restriction under Article 19 of Ukraine’s “On the Legal Regime of Martial Law,” which bans presidential, parliamentary, and local elections during martial law. Martial law has been extended in 90-day intervals by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament), with the latest extension as of July 2025 lasting until November 5, 2025. Based on Zelensky’s multiple public remarks since his last meeting with Trump at the White House, it is clear that he is completely disinterested in reaching a peace agreement with Russia. Stephen Bryen has just published a new piece on his Substack, and it provides an explanation for Zelensky’s recalcitrance… NATO is going to attack Russia. Steve writes:

“While Putin has flown off to meet with his two buddies, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un, in China on an unprecedented four day jaunt, NATO, with full US backing, is stepping up its effort to hand the Russian army a major defeat and, following that, introducing NATO troops to “stabilize” Ukraine. What is the evidence? First and very noticeable is the US decision to ship 3,350 missiles to Ukraine, ostensibly to be paid for (someday?) by the Europeans (which ones is not defined). These are known as Extended Range Attack Munitions (ERAM), a type of air launched cruise missile missile. The Aviationist reports that “Ukrainian Air Force’s F-16s, Mirage 2000s and its fleet of Russian-origin MiG-29s, Su-25s and Su-27s would be able to operate it. This new weapon would be an addition to the AASM Hammer and GBU-39 SDB already employed by Ukrainian fighters.”

According to open source intelligence, ERAMs have a range of 250 miles. However, that is the range once launched by an aircraft. Washington says it opposes Ukrainian missile attacks on Russian territory, and while it is restricting the use of long range HIMARS, it is not restricting the use of ERAM. Reportedly ERAM carried a 500 lb. warhead, far larger than any Ukrainian UAV and more than double any of the different HIMARS missiles (M31 Utility Warhead, ATACMS warhead). It may be that ERAMs can be fielded with cluster munitions, although much about the ERAM is uncertain.”

Ignore what Trump says, watch what he does. Deploying ERAMs is not a gesture of peace or de-escalation. While it is possible that this action was taken without Trump’s knowledge, now that the information is public he has not countermanded the order. Steve goes on in his article (I encourage you to read it in its entirety) to highlight the faulty assumptions that NATO planners and leaders are making:

“NATO has understood Russia’s use of North Korean troops as an admission that Russia faces manpower shortages and instability in the Russian army, and that Russia is taking heavy casualties in the Ukraine war. NATO may be reading Putin’s statements that he has no intention of attacking Europe now or in future as an admission that he cannot attack Europe with an army that is too small and one that has been broken by the Ukraine war. Part of the pushback can be found in the Saratoga Foundation report, “A Systems View of Russia’s Early Failure in Ukraine.”

Now Russian sources are reporting two developments that indicate that a new offensive will soon materialize, heavily supported by NATO, and aimed at Crimea. Those sources say that the US and its NATO partners have significantly increased overhead intelligence gathering preparing for the coming attack.” Once again we have Western leaders – both military and political – wrongly interpreting Russia’s execution of a special military operation as a sign of weakness. The belief that Russia is suffering “manpower shortages and instability” is beyond ridiculous. During the course of the last 42 months, Russia has doubled the size of its army and is now conducting multiple offensive operations in Zaporhyzhia, Dniepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Sumy. Even if we accept as true the false Western claims about Russia suffering massive casualties, the fact remains that even with such losses Russia has 1.3 million men in uniform and carrying arms.

Instead of being “broken,” the Russian army has enhanced its capabilities and developed new techniques, especially with the use of drones, that far exceed anything NATO is capable of doing. Besides conducting the ground war, Russia continues to enjoy a lopsided advantage in the use of missiles and drones. It has carried out massive strikes on missile production facilities and other key logistic nodes in the past week, and shows no sign of weakness on that front. A NATO-backed attack on Crimea will put increased pressure on President Putin to shift from the Special Military Operation to full war footing. NATO’s inability to supply Ukraine with something as simple as artillery shells is just one indicator of NATO’s impotence if it decides to up the ante with Russia.

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No hurry.

• Ukraine Operation Will Continue – Russia’s Top General (RT)

Russian forces will push their advantage and continue their offensive against Ukrainian troops, Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov has said. Russia’s Joint Group of Forces is pushing its “non-stop offensive” on almost all sections of the front line, he said at a Russian Defense Ministry briefing on Saturday. “An analysis of the state of Ukrainian troops shows that in the spring and summer, the enemy concentrated all its efforts on slowing down our offensive, while suffering heavy losses,” he said. “As a result, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are forced to transfer the most combat-ready units from one crisis direction to another to ‘plug holes’. Today, the strategic initiative is entirely with the Russian troops,” he added.

The offensive is accompanied by regular “massive” strikes on Ukrainian arms manufacturing facilities, Gerasimov added. “During the spring-summer period, such strikes were carried out against 76 important facilities,” he said. Targeted massive fire strikes continue exclusively against military facilities and military-industrial complex facilities in Ukraine. Gerasimov also stressed that the advances on the battlefield would not have been possible without “the timely supply” of “high-precision weapons, missiles, ammunition, weapons and military equipment,” by Russian industry.

https://twitter.com/DD_Geopolitics/status/1961783669271756895

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Eventually…

• Trump Promises Trilateral Meeting With Putin and Zelensky (RT)

US President Donald Trump has stated that he believes a trilateral meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky will happen. Following his recent summit with Putin in Alaska, Trump pushed for a one-on-one between the Russian president and Zelensky ahead of any trilateral gathering. The Kremlin has not ruled out a bilateral meeting, but stressed it should serve as the final stage of talks once tangible progress has been made in the peace process. In an interview with the Daily Caller on Friday, Trump was asked whether a trilateral meeting is still planned. “A tri would happen. A bi, I don’t know about, but a tri will happen,” the US president said. “But, you know, sometimes people aren’t ready for it.”

According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, while Russia is still interested in direct talks with Ukraine, preparation for such a meeting is not “very active.” “All our positions have been communicated,” and Ukraine has submitted its own provisions, he said on Friday. “Further discussion is necessary.” Moscow has already agreed to “show some flexibility” on a number of points that Putin and Trump discussed in Alaska, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told NBC News last week. The US president later presented his proposals at a follow-up meeting with the Ukrainian leader and his European NATO backers, but “Zelensky said no to everything,” Lavrov said.

The reaction of Kiev’s Western sponsors at the talks “indicates that they don’t want peace,” the top diplomat said. European NATO leaders have increasingly pushed for “security guarantees” for Ukraine in the form of Western “peacekeepers” or “reassurance forces” – something Moscow has stressed it would never accept, warning of potential uncontrolled escalation. Moscow has condemned the EU’s recent militarization and longstanding military support for Ukraine. It has consistently described the Ukraine conflict as a proxy war waged by the West and maintained that any settlement must address Russia’s security concerns and the root causes of the crisis, including NATO’s continued eastward expansion.

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NATO needs an enemy. China doesn’t fit the job description.

• Could Russia Have Joined NATO? (Ryumshin)

The idea of Russia one day joining NATO has become an international meme. To many it seems so absurd that it reads like a parody. Yet the notion continues to resurface in political debate, like a ghost that refuses to leave the stage. The latest revival came in 2022, when Russia and the West entered their most dangerous standoff in decades. Commentators wondered aloud how relations had sunk so low and whether a different path had ever been possible. More recently, former US congressman and Trump ally Matt Gaetz suggested that Russia should be accepted into NATO as a way to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. Even Der Spiegel added fuel, publishing documents showing that under Bill Clinton the US did not entirely reject the idea of Russian membership.

It was Germany and others in Western Europe, the magazine reported, who feared that opening NATO’s doors to Moscow would mean the alliance’s slow dissolution. So who exactly blocked the path? The closest Russia ever came to joining NATO was in the early 1990s, just after the Soviet Union’s collapse. Boris Yeltsin’s government openly declared NATO membership a long-term goal. There were serious conversations at the highest level. But they didn’t lead anywhere. Part of the reason lay in Washington itself. A powerful bloc of the American elite was against any Russian presence in NATO’s inner circle. From its inception, NATO had been designed as a US project, structured around American leadership.

Russia, even weakened, retained military parity, global influence, and a sphere of interests that could not be subordinated. Unlike Poland or Hungary, it was not a junior partner to be absorbed. There cannot be two heads in one alliance. The other part of the reason was philosophical. NATO’s first secretary general, Lord Ismay, famously defined its purpose in 1949: “to keep the Americans in, the Russians out, and the Germans down.” By the 1990s, the German question had been solved by reunification. But if NATO also gave up the “Russian threat,” it risked losing its reason for existing altogether. With the Soviet Union gone, the alliance drifted into an identity crisis. Accepting Russia would have hastened what many in Berlin and elsewhere already feared – the death of NATO itself.

What if Russia had joined? Let us imagine the alternate universe where Russia did sign up. Would it have resolved tensions with the West, as Gaetz suggests? Or would the quarrels have simply moved inside the tent?To answer, one can look at the example of Türkiye. Ankara has been part of NATO since 1952 but remains the odd man out. Turkish geography, culture, and ambitions often clash with those of its European and North American allies. Russia, had it joined, would likely have occupied a similar outsider role – but on a far grander scale, with nuclear weapons and a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. There is, however, a crucial difference. Türkiye has been tolerated because it controls the Bosphorus and Dardanelles and does not challenge NATO’s overall dominance. Russia never viewed itself as a regional player but as a European power in its own right.

Europe has always been Moscow’s primary sphere of influence – just as it is Washington’s. To coexist peacefully, one side would have had to step aside. Neither ever intended to.Instead of membership, the West offered Russia a “special partnership”: permanent dialogue, joint councils, limited cooperation. But this fell apart quickly. Moscow demanded equality. Washington, triumphant after the Cold War, refused to treat Russia as anything other than a defeated state. Pride collided with pride. The dialogue reached a dead end.Even if full membership had been offered, the story would have ended the same way. Russia and the United States would inevitably have clashed over the balance of power inside the alliance. At best, this would have produced a messy divorce. At worst, Russia might have split NATO by drawing away countries that were themselves uneasy with US dominance.In truth, Russia has always been “too big to join.” The alliance could absorb small and medium states – even awkward partners like Türkiye or Hungary. But not a country capable of rivaling America itself.

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“.. Europe has been at war with itself for 1,000 years.”

And counting.

• NATO Should Have Dissolved in 1990 – Jeffrey Sachs (Sp.)

NATO should have been dissolved back in 1990 as the alliance had fulfilled its mission of confronting the Soviet Union, renowned US economist and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University Jeffrey Sachs said.The interview was conducted ahead of the Eastern Economic Forum, which will take place in Vladivostok from September 3–6. The economist is going to participate in a session “UN Development Agenda Beyond 2030.””First of all, NATO should have ended in 1990 when President Gorbachev ended the Warsaw Pact, the Western countries should have said yes, and we end NATO,” Jeffrey Sachs said. “It became, instead, a mechanism of US power expansion, which is not what NATO should be. This eastward movement of NATO since 1990 has been wholly unjustified and contrary to Western promises.”

Sachs expressed skepticism about Europe’s ability to establish an independent security framework to replace NATO.”The problem with Europe is, as everybody knows, there isn’t really a Europe. There are so many countries squabbling with each other,” Sachs noted, highlighting that Europe has been at war with itself for 1,000 years. In February 2024, Putin said in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson that Russia could become a NATO member in the early 2000s if the US showed sincere interest. Clinton, however, “was cold” to this idea, according to Putin. In recent years, Russia has highlighted NATO’s unprecedented military activity near its western borders. Ukraine’s plans to join the bloc were among the reasons why Russia says it launched its special military operation in February 2022.

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Inevitable. 3 billion people.

• Can Russia, India, and China Rewrite The Global Rules? (Vaid)

In the wake of the Putin-Trump Alaska summit, Russia once again demonstrated that it remains an indispensable actor in global diplomacy. The very fact that Washington and Moscow returned to the table underscored that neither side can afford to exclude the other in discussions on international security. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Delhi a few days later included rounds of strategic discussions. He co-chaired the boundary talks alongside NSA Ajit Doval, held bilateral consultations with India’s Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, and met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, underscoring India’s continued openness to managing contentious issues through established dialogue channels. Coming ahead of India’s participation at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin on Sunday, the visit reflected an important step in rebalancing India–China ties at a time of heightened global trade uncertainty.

Against this backdrop, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s call to revive the Russia-India-China (RIC) format has sparked renewed debate over how trilateral diplomacy could help stabilize Asia. The Alaska summit may not have delivered immediate breakthroughs on conflict resolution, but it was nonetheless a watershed moment. Commentators noted that the meeting underscored Moscow’s role as a decisive actor whose influence cannot be erased by sanctions or diplomatic pressure. Yet for India, the significance of Alaska lies not just in Russia’s return to global high tables, but in what it signals for the larger multipolar landscape. A Russia more confident of its role in global negotiations is also a Russia that seeks to extend its engagement into Asia, creating opportunities for India to reinforce its own regional diplomacy.

Lavrov’s call for reviving RIC is part of this broader trend. By placing India alongside Russia and China, the format reopens a space where Asian powers can coordinate on selective issues. For Beijing, under pressure from escalating US tariffs, RIC provides a forum for coordination beyond the constraints of bilateral tensions. For Moscow, it illustrates that Asian partnerships are increasingly important to balancing global shifts. And for New Delhi, it creates diplomatic space to advance interests without committing to any single bloc. For New Delhi, Lavrov’s RIC revival call resonates but does not automatically translate into endorsement. India has consistently championed strategic autonomy, balancing partnerships such as the Quad and frameworks like the SCO and BRICS+. In this matrix, RIC is one among many platforms New Delhi engages with, neither the sole driver of its Asia policy nor an option to be dismissed.

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“. . . this time the story has escaped the narrative guardrails and some real reckoning looms.” —Jeff Childers

• The War On Reality is Over (James Howard Kunstler)

Unwittingly, that New York Times headline is a wondrous case of the self-solving mystery. You come here to understand the many social and political mysteries of the day. I will attempt to unravel this hairball. Most obviously, the suspect, now dead, in Wednesday’s Minneapolis school shooting was not a “her.” He was a him, a 23-year-old male, Robert Westman, who had been pretending to be a female for some years since undergoing puberty, with the encouragement of his parents and the cultural leaders of his city, including Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey, backed by the expressed principles of the national Democratic Party. The essence of all that was a gigantic game of pretend, a broad and deliberate dissociation from reality for the purpose of maintaining a political racketeering operation, which is what the Democratic Party had become.

Pretend that men can become women. Pretend that Covid vaccinations are safe and effective. Pretend that national borders don’t matter. Pretend that crime is not a social problem. Pretend that riots are mostly peaceful. Pretend that our elections are free and fair. Pretend that “Joe Biden” is president. Pretend that Ukraine is fighting for democracy. And so on. All pretend. Since the Democratic Party has zero useful ideas for improving the lives of this country’s citizens, all it has is pretend theater, which is public performative psychopathology, otherwise known as acting-out. Mass murders of school-children by so-called trans people are the most garish and horrific actings-out, the most offensive to society, a slaughter of innocents. Such an act grabs everybody’s attention.

The New York Times pretends that all this is “a mystery” because to tell the truth would inculpate them in the ongoing criminal racketeering operation of their patron, the Democratic Party. They all know what the truth is in this matter: that Robert Westman became insane, at least in his time of puberty, possibly earlier, and that his parents resorted to persuading their child that he was born in the wrong body — as the trendy theory goes — to remedy his psychological distress. He was thereafter influenced to play-act as a female. Possibly, he was induced to go through some stage of medical “treatment” to supposedly advance his transition to the opposite sex — for instance, a hormone regimen. This has not yet been reported. (Has it even been investigated by police or the news media?)

Of course, “gender-affirming medical care” is a vicious fraud, as is the preposterous idea of “sexual assignment at birth” (as if it is some kind of error-ridden clerical function). Males cannot be changed into females no matter how much their hormones are altered or how much surgery they endure. It is all just costuming and makeup, to an extreme degree, to enhance the game of pretend. It is also bound to be nightmarishly disappointing to the person undergoing such malign rigors.

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A good man to have on your side.

• Jay Bhattacharya On Fauci, Bioweapons, And Free Speech In Science (ZH)

Director of the National Institute of Health, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, sat down for an extended interview with ZeroHedge. Bhattacharya, long known as one of the fiercest critics of lockdown orthodoxy, has gone from blacklisted dissenter to running the world’s largest biomedical research agency. He carries into his new post a distrust of entrenched power, a skepticism of politicized science, and an insistence that free inquiry—not censorship—must guide American health policy. What follows is a candid conversation, in Bhattacharya’s own words, on censorship, woke politics in research, the threat of bioweapons, and why he believes science cannot exist without free speech. Bhattacharya did not hesitate to call out what he experienced during the pandemic years:

“It wasn’t just ZeroHedge that got subject to this censorship. I did too. I was on the Twitter blacklist. It was all true information that was just found inconvenient. That’s what you guys were sharing. That’s what I was sharing. And it was a gross violation of the American First Amendment.” The Stanford professor—blacklisted for co-authoring the Great Barrington Declaration—was among those exposed in the Twitter Files as a target of covert suppression. He says the NIH under his leadership will chart a different course: “We’re no longer in the misinformation detection business. We’re no longer in the censorship business.” ZeroHedge itself was deplatformed during that same period for reporting inconvenient facts on the origins of COVID.

As documented thoroughly in RFK Jr’s book “The Wuhan Coverup”, Anthony Fauci played a pivotal role in ballooning the U.S. biowarfare budget following the post-9/11 anthrax scare, an event still riddled with open questions Kennedy himself addresses in the book. While our previous overlords would espouse morally virtuous stances against “bioweaponry” and lecture us about the importance of “biodefense”, Bhattacharya sees through the sleight of hand and dismisses the entire concept as suicidal. His full answer below which we find incredibly important:

“I think that bioweapons are useless to national security and incredibly dangerous for human populations. The Biological Weapons Convention in 1973 is a tremendously important convention. And I think that the United States adheres to it. But we have to make sure that we adhere to it not just on the letter, but in the spirit. That includes, for instance, research for biodefense. Biodefense sounds good, but often there’s very little line between bioweapons and bio-defense… this line of research is fundamentally useless to protect this country from anything and potentially places the whole world at risk.” The warning is timely. President Trump recently signed an executive order banning gain-of-function research—which some read as only applying to foreign nations but Bhattacharya assured us is indeed a universal ban.

Bhattacharya doesn’t see DEI as harmless bureaucracy—he sees it as poison to science. The problem, he argues, isn’t the stated goal of improving minority health, but the way the system forces scientists to pledge allegiance to political dogma instead of data. “Many universities, before they would hire some people as professors in scientific disciplines, would require DEI statements. It’s essentially like loyalty oaths.” He says this ritual signals to scientists that advancement isn’t about competence or discovery—it’s about parroting the right ideology. That corrodes the incentive to produce results that actually improve health. At NIH, he saw the same rot: tax dollars poured into programs that branded themselves as equity-driven but failed to move the needle.

“There was some chunk of our portfolio that was really huge during the Biden administration of DEI grants… The problem is that this DEI work—I don’t see any evidence that it actually improves minority health. It just politicized the agency.” Bhattacharya’s stance is simple: real health equity will come from rigorous science applied to concrete problems—diabetes, cancer, infant mortality—not from “loyalty oaths” or politically branded grant programs. In his words, most scientists would gladly jump at the chance to “just do your excellent science” if freed from ideological policing. For Bhattacharya, the single thread tying all of this together is free inquiry: “If you were a scientist in the Soviet Union during the time of Stalin, you’d have this guy named Trofim Lysenko who fundamentally believed that Mendelian genetics was false—in fact, that it was a capitalist plot.

You were only allowed to agree with his theories. And so he used his position to suppress the speech of all the Mendelian geneticists around him. Many of them went to the gulag. As a result, science on agriculture basically froze and people were always starving as a consequence of this.” That lesson, he argues, applies directly to America today. “You can’t have science unless you’re allowed to criticize the predominant ideas. And if you have scientific power married to political power in a way that suppresses the ability for lots and lots of other scientists to say, ‘Look, you’re wrong, here’s this experiment to prove it’—you don’t have science. You have something else.”

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I still don’t understand how the trans issue ever became what it did, in no time at all. Not organic, that’s for sure.

• To the Parents of Trans Kids: Enabling Isn’t Compassion (C.A. Skeet)

In a California high school, a male athlete is playing on a female volleyball team. This cheating was allowed by the school district to occur despite on ongoing lawsuit against the state of California for their clear Title IX violations. In other breaking news, the sun rose in the east this morning. The male player, AB Hernandez, has been in the headlines before. Last spring, he competed on the Jurupa Valley High School girls’ track team, stealing two state titles in long jump and triple jump that should have gone to females. Increasingly, high school girls are finding themselves the only adults in the building, and it has fallen upon their shoulders to make a stand for their rights. Rather than play against a school which openly allows cheating, at least two high school volleyball teams have forfeited their scheduled matches. Good for them.

And for the girls – the actual girls – on the Jurupa team who just want to play volleyball and want nothing to do enabling AB Hernandez’s untreated mental illness? Mere pawns to be used by district officials to virtue signal. What a shame you sacrificed years of your fun evenings and free time to practice. If only America weren’t the transphobic, fascist hellhole that it is, those other teams wouldn’t have forfeited.As the controversy rages, AB Hernandez’s mother Nereyda has a message for all us detractors. And the message is this:

I understand the discomfort some may feel, because I was once there, too. The difference is, I chose to learn, to grow, and to open my heart. Believe me, I know some people genuinely don’t understand what it means to be transgender. I’m still learning too, right alongside my child. That is why I choose not to respond with anger or disrespect. Instead, I choose empathy, because learning takes time, and compassion makes all the difference. My baby is petite, what sets her apart is not her size or strength, but her skill and the way she plays the game… This is a child, and I can assure you that she sees your daughters as peers, as teammates, as friends, not through a lens of anything inappropriate. I know it may be hard to understand, but she is just another girl who wants to play. Finally, I leave you with this: My child is so innocent, she didn’t even realize the forfeited games were because of her.

At a school board meeting, she berated a board member for appearing on Fox News, and added, “My daughter is not the problem. The problem is coordinated external efforts often led by individuals that travel from district to district… to spread fear and put parents against each other using religion as a shield for discrimination. This has nothing to do with fairness in sports and everything to do with erasing transgender children.”

Oh boy.

Read more …

It was always going to be SCOTUS.

• Tariffs ‘Still in Effect’: Trump Bashes Partisan Court Ruling (Salgado)

After a federal appeals court ruled that Donald Trump does not have the authority to impose many of his tariffs, the president doubled down on his tariff policy and stated that especially ahead of Labor Day, American workers should be in support of that policy. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit asserted that most of Trump’s tariffs are outside of his power to impose under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, but did delay the impact of the ruling till mid-October, allowing time for appeal to the Supreme Court. Legal expert Mark Levin, cited by Trump, argued that Trump not only has the power to impose tariffs under the act, but also under the Constitution’s Article II, whereas the court did not have the jurisdiction to so rule.

Besides sharing Levin’s argument, Trump added his own commentary on Friday afternoon, posting on Truth Social, “ALL TARIFFS ARE STILL IN EFFECT! Today a Highly Partisan Appeals Court incorrectly said that our Tariffs should be removed, but they know the United States of America will win in the end. If these Tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the Country. It would make us financially weak, and we have to be strong.” In July, tariff revenues reached a record level of $113 billion, representing a significant financial boost and hitting a new high for the year. That trend continued into August. Considering how the U.S. federal government is constantly overspending and usually looks to American citizens to pay the price, it is refreshing to have a president who wants to bring in revenues from foreign countries instead, especially countries that are hostile to us. In fact, in the case of virulently anti-USA countries such as China, it would be great to see higher tariffs.

On Truth Social, Trump continued, “The U.S.A. will no longer tolerate enormous Trade Deficits and unfair Tariffs and Non Tariff Trade Barriers imposed by other Countries, friend or foe, that undermine our Manufacturers, Farmers, and everyone else.” He angrily argued of the new ruling, “If allowed to stand, this Decision would literally destroy the United States of America. At the start of this Labor Day weekend, we should all remember that TARIFFS are the best tool to help our Workers, and support Companies that produce great MADE IN AMERICA products.” Democrats prefer products made using abusive and slave labor in China and other African and Asian countries. Patriots prefer made in America without slave labor.

While other countries imposed very high tariffs on American goods for decades, America was not imposing reciprocal tariffs, until the new Trump administration took over. Trump added, “For many years, Tariffs were allowed to be used against us by our uncaring and unwise Politicians. Now, with the help of the United States Supreme Court, we will use them to the benefit of our Nation, and Make America Rich, Strong, and Powerful Again! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Read more …

“..growing tension and misunderstanding between Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe..”

They’ll be alright.

• Tensions in US Intelligence Community Rise After CIA Agent Uncovered (Sp.)

Tensions in the US intelligence community, in particular between US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe, have risen after the scandal over a CIA agent being uncovered, NBC reports citing sources.US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard had revealed an undercover CIA officer working on Russia-related issues, publishing a list of those denied access to classified information, the Wall Street Journal earlier reported citing sources. The move has rattled agency employees and is the latest example of growing tension and misunderstanding between Gabbard and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, the publication said, citing intelligence sources. According to former officials, Gabbard is likely seeking to curry favor with US President Donald Trump by redoubling her efforts to identify his political enemies, including within the CIA.

Earlier, Gabbard announced that she had stripped 37 current and former employees of their access to classified information for US intelligence agencies. They, according to the head of US national intelligence, abused the public trust by distorting intelligence and unauthorizedly disclosing classified information. According to the newspaper’s sources, Gabbard’s office did not meaningfully consult with the CIA before publishing the list and did not request information from the CIA when compiling it. According to the Wall Street Journal, disclosing the identity of an undercover employee or intelligence agent is a criminal offense, although it is unclear whether the law would apply to government disclosures or whether placing an employee on a list would be considered a disclosure.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/Rainmaker1973/status/1962022538382368984

Owls

Kili
https://twitter.com/WildfriendsUG/status/1961683763793961115

https://twitter.com/Protect_Wldlife/status/1961726970762314091

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle August 16 2025

Aug 162025
 
 August 16, 2025  Posted by at 10:17 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,  47 Responses »


Edward Hopper Tables for ladies 1930

 

• Putin & Trump Find Common Ground as West’s War Party Shut Out (Sp.)
• Trump Pushes Peace Over Ceasefire After Putin Meeting (RT)
• Western Media In Frenzy Over Putin-Trump Summit – Moscow (RT)
• Putin-Trump Summit Went Much Better than Expected — Pepe Escobar (Sp.)
• Zelensky Should ‘Make A Deal’ – Trump (RT)
• Trump Praises ‘Warm’ Meeting With Putin (RT)
• Talks with Trump ‘Constructive’ – Putin (RT)
• ‘Next Time In Moscow’ – Putin to Trump (RT)
• Lasting Settlement Essential In Ukraine Conflict – Putin (RT)
• Judge Napolitano: the Chance for a ‘Grand Reset’ in Russia-US Ties (Sp.)
• A New Security Order Is On The Table In Alaska (Lukyanov)
• Why Putin and Trump Had To Talk In Person (Bordachev)
• The EU Throws An Epic Tantrum As Trump Meets With Putin (Marsden)
• Carefully and Gracefully (James Howard Kunstler)
• Scott Ritter: Two Things Need to Happen for Trump to Get His Ceasefire (Sp.)
• US Has ‘No Right’ To Tell India Who To Trade With – Jeffrey Sachs (RT)
• US Gov’t Ditches Musk’s AI Over ‘Anti-Semitism’ (RT)
• EU Leaders Want To Overthrow Three European Governments – Budapest (RT)

 

 

https://twitter.com/TheRicanMemes/status/1956191505934069769

Loon wing

Wray
https://twitter.com/Real_RobN/status/1956065246138990940

Kash

DC
https://twitter.com/MAGAVoice/status/1956167053649567935

275

 

 

Turley

 

 

 

 

It’s funny. How do you summarize this summit? It’s like there was no tangible “big breakthrough”, but at the same time everything about it was a giant breakthrough.

“..CNN said: “Putin’s isolation ended when his plane landed in Anchorage..”

• Putin & Trump Find Common Ground as West’s War Party Shut Out (Sp.)

Talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump took place at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage, Alaska. Russia acknowledged positive, constructive dialogue between the sides, while Donald Trump hailed significant progress toward a Ukraine settlement. The Putin-Trump meeting shows the West “gambled on an easy victory over Russia and lost,” Mikael Valtersson, a Swedish Armed Forces veteran, told Sputnik. Both Russia and America have signalled satisfaction with the summit as a step forward towards a real peaceful solution of the Ukraine conflict, he noted. “Those that wanted more isolation and sanctions against Russia, if Russia didn’t agree to Western demands, didn’t have their way,” the former defence politician and chief of staff with Sweden Democrats emphasized.

The “Western war party” had hoped for new harsh sanctions on Russia and those trading with it, but instead what can be seen is improving relations between Russia and the US, as well as a continued peace process. After Donald Trump talks with his European allies and Ukraine, they will be faced with a choice, Valtersson said. They can either support the peace process by accepting the realities on the ground and legitimate interests of Russia, or reject it. If they choose the latter, they will isolate themselves from not only the majority of the world, but especially from the US. “Hopefully the cooler heads in Ukraine and Europe will realize that it’s better to follow the US and accept reality, than continue a lost war,” Valtersson concluded.

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’s reunion made clear they’d missed the bond from years past, psychiatrist Dr. Carole Lieberman told Sputnik. “When President Putin and President Trump approached each other… their body language showed a very open and warm receptiveness,” the Beverly Hills best-selling author said. The two leaders shook hands multiple times, touched each other’s arms, and smiled—a clear signal they’d missed the connection they had during Trump’s first presidency. Lieberman noted the direct eye contact, standing close marked an “auspicious beginning that foretold a positive meeting.” Even after three hours of serious talks, their joint press conference carried the same energy. Both turned slightly toward one another, as if to emphasize unity. “They gave the impression that they were facing the press together, on the same team,” Lieberman observed.

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“..not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up..”

• Trump Pushes Peace Over Ceasefire After Putin Meeting (RT)

The Ukraine conflict should be ended through a permanent agreement rather than a mere ceasefire, US President Donald Trump has said, following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, Trump said his almost three-hour talks with Putin in Anchorage “went very well,” adding that it was “a great and very successful day.” He confirmed that he had discussed the summit with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky, several EU leaders, and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte.

“It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up,” Trump said. The US president also confirmed that he and Zelensky would hold talks on Monday, adding that “if all works out, we will then schedule a meeting with President Putin.”

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“..plunged into “frenzy bordering on complete madness” over the honors given to the Russian leader..”

• Western Media In Frenzy Over Putin-Trump Summit – Moscow (RT)

Western media have erupted in hysteria over US President Donald Trump’s cordial welcome for his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska on Friday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. Zakharova weighed in on the three-hour negotiations in Anchorage that brought Putin to US soil for the first time in more than a decade. The Russian leader was greeted at the airport with a red carpet and a flyover of US fighter jets. He and Trump then rode together in the US president’s limousine to the summit venue. While the sides did not announce any deal on Ukraine, Putin described the talks as constructive, with Trump calling the meeting “warm” and suggesting that Moscow and Washington “are pretty close” to settling the Ukraine conflict.

Zakharova noted that Western media had plunged into “frenzy bordering on complete madness” over the honors given to the Russian leader. “For three years they spoke of Russia’s isolation, and today they saw a red carpet rolled out to meet the Russian president in the US,” she said. Western media is attempting to frame the Alaska summit as a diplomatic win for Moscow. The Washington Post wrote that “the warmth of the welcome sent shock through Ukraine and Europe” while pointing to a stark contrast with the reception of Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky at the White House in February, when Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of disrespect, ingratitude over US aid, and of “gambling with World War III.”

https://twitter.com/RT_India_news/status/1956604838650970291?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1956604838650970291%7Ctwgr%5E96fd5db1e5dafa98554807c55448efd1c8b51955%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Frussia%2F623047-western-media-frenzy-trump-putin%2F

Sky News correspondent Ivor Bennett, a former RT reporter, voiced surprise that Putin was first to speak at the media conference “as if he was the host rather than Donald Trump.” Another Sky News reporter had suggested prior to the talks that Putin would “use his KGB-trained powers of deception and seduction” on his US counterpart. Bloomberg reported that “by inviting the Russian president onto American soil and giving him an audience, Trump had already delivered a diplomatic win” for a seemingly isolated leader. The agency also published a separate piece headlined “US-Russia Summit Shows How Little Europe Matters in Trumpworld”, referencing the fact that no EU leaders were invited to the summit. Politico ran the headline “Putin’s Alaska triumph,” while CNN said: “Putin’s isolation ended when his plane landed in Anchorage,” adding, the Russian president “[is] back in from the cold.”

Read more …

“There were even some indications that a serious US-Russia reset could be on the horizon..”

• Putin-Trump Summit Went Much Better than Expected — Pepe Escobar (Sp.)

There are few details about what exactly was discussed in the meeting, but Russian officials have made it clear that they’re pleased with how it went, says veteran geopolitical analyst, Pepe Escobar. There were even some indications that a serious US-Russia reset could be on the horizon. Even according to President Trump himself, they came to agreement on several important points and only a few are left. So this implies. serious discussions not only about Ukraine, a possible resolution in Ukraine, and of course we we have no idea about the terms and the parameters, but a reset, a serious reset of US-Russia relations. [..] The Russian delegation featured Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, and RDIF head Kirill Dmitriev. The US delegation included senior diplomatic and security officials.

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He would have to give up Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye. That would be the end of him.

• Zelensky Should ‘Make A Deal’ – Trump (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky should “make the deal” to settle Kiev’s conflict with Moscow, US President Donald Trump has said following three-hour talks in Anchorage with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, their first summit since Helsinki in 2018. In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump reflected on “a very warm meeting,” adding that the sides are “pretty close” to resolving the conflict. He stressed that Kiev should be on board with the push for peace, for it to have any chance of success. When asked what advice he would give Zelensky, Trump replied: “Make the deal”, adding that he believes that Putin “wants to see it done.”

“It’s really up to President Zelensky to get it done. And I would also say the European nations, they have to get involved a little bit,” the US president added. Trump said that he was ready to mediate direct talks between Putin and Zelensky. “If they’d like, I’ll be at that next meeting… Not that I want to be there, but I want to make sure it gets done. And we have a pretty good chance of getting it done.” Both leaders described the meeting as productive, although no agreement on Ukraine was announced. Putin earlier did not rule out direct talks with Zelensky, but stressed that it must be preceded by significant progress on settling the conflict.

Moscow has also voiced concerns about Zelensky’s right to sign any binding agreements, given that his presidential term expired last year, and that the Ukrainian leader has refused to call a new election, citing martial law. Ukrainian troops have been on the back foot for months, with Moscow making advances in Donbass and elsewhere. Moscow has insisted that any settlement should see Ukraine commit to bloc neutrality, demilitarization and denazification, as well as recognize the new territorial reality on the ground, including the status of Crimea, Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye Regions, all of which have voted to become parts of Russia.

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“The US leader earlier suggested that he would “give today a ten” when it came to the outcome of the summit..”

• Trump Praises ‘Warm’ Meeting With Putin (RT)

US President Donald Trump has described his summit in Alaska with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as a “warm meeting,” and suggested that the Ukraine conflict is close to being resolved. In an interview with Fox News, the US leader praised the three-hour talks with Putin in Anchorage on Friday, noting that they had made progress in talks mainly focused on ending the hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. “Actually, I think we agree on a lot. I can tell you, the meeting was… warm,” Trump said, calling Putin a “strong guy.” The US leader earlier suggested that he would “give today a ten” when it came to the outcome of the summit. According to Trump, the sides are “pretty close to the end” of the conflict, although he added that “Ukraine has to agree” to any potential peace deal.

He would not provide any details of the discussions, saying only that “there’s one or two pretty significant items, but I think they can be reached.” The US president also noted that he had “always had a great relationship with President Putin, and we would have done great things together,” while praising Russia as a land brimming with natural resources. Putin similarly described the talks with Trump as “constructive” and “useful,” saying Moscow was “sincerely interested in putting an end” to the hostilities. He also suggested that the two leaders could hold their next meeting in Moscow, with Trump replying that he could “see it possibly happening.”

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“We have always considered the Ukrainian people…fraternal, as strange as it may sound in today’s conditions.”

• Talks with Trump ‘Constructive’ – Putin (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has called his talks with US President Donald Trump in Anchorage on Friday “constructive” and “useful.” The discussions focused largely on the Ukraine conflict. Moscow is “sincerely interested in putting an end” to the ongoing hostilities, Putin stressed. “We have always considered the Ukrainian people…fraternal, as strange as it may sound in today’s conditions. We have the same roots and everything that is happening is a tragedy and a great pain for us,” he said. Speaking at the press conference, Trump remarked that the meeting was highly productive, although the two sides didn’t reached full agreement and no deal was finalized yet.

He highlighted the significant progress made during the discussions and affirmed his strong relationship with President Putin. Putin said that in recent years – under the administration of Joe Biden – US-Russia relations had sunk “to their lowest point since the Cold War,” which benefits neither the two countries nor the world as a whole. “It is obvious that sooner or later it was necessary to correct the situation and the transition from confrontation to dialogue had to take place. In this regard, a personal meeting of the heads of the two states was really overdue,” he said. The negotiations at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson lasted nearly three hours.

The Russian delegation for the Alaska summit also included Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, and presidential economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who has been a key figure in the Ukraine settlement process. Trump was accompanied by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

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“Next time in Moscow,” Putin said in English. “That’s an interesting one,” Trump replied. “I’ll get a little heat for that one. But I can see it possibly happening.”

• ‘Next Time In Moscow’ – Putin to Trump (RT)

Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare public switch to English to invite US President Donald Trump to Moscow for the next round of peace talks, following their summit in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday. Trump said he could see the meeting taking place though it would likely face political pushback. Speaking at the press conference, Trump called the meeting “extremely productive” and said, “we didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there,” implying no deal had been reached yet. He said the talks marked significant progress and reaffirmed what he described as his strong relationship with Putin. “Today’s agreements will help us restart pragmatic relations,” Trump said.

At the close of the press conference, Trump thanked Putin and said he expected to speak with him again soon. “Next time in Moscow,” Putin said in English. “That’s an interesting one,” Trump replied. “I’ll get a little heat for that one. But I can see it possibly happening.” Putin thanked Trump for what he called a “friendly” tone and “results-oriented” approach, saying it could “start us on the path towards a resolution in Ukraine.” He described the talks as “constructive” and reiterated his view that there would have been no war in Ukraine if Trump had been president when the conflict broke out. No details of any deal were provided, and neither Putin nor Trump took questions from reporters.

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Zelensky tweeted he’ll be in Washington on Monday. He’ll try and bring the entire EU.

• Lasting Settlement Essential In Ukraine Conflict – Putin (RT)

For a lasting resolution to the Ukraine conflict to be achieved, all of its root causes must be addressed, Russia’s legitimate concerns taken into account, and a fair global security balance restored, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a joint press conference with his US counterpart, Donald Trump, on Friday. The two men met in Alaska for a much-anticipated summit, to discuss restoring bilateral relations and to work toward a resolution of the Ukraine conflict. Putin acknowledged the willingness of the US administration and President Trump to engage in dialogue and seek solutions, noting their commitment to understanding the complexities of the situation.

He reiterated his view that Russians and Ukrainians are brotherly peoples and described the current circumstances as a tragedy, stressing Moscow’s sincere desire to bring the conflict to an end. Putin said that any sustainable resolution must address the root causes of the crisis while taking into account Russia’s legitimate concerns. “A fair balance of security in Europe and globally must be restored,” he stated. Putin agreed with Trump that ensuring Ukraine’s security is imperative and expressed a readiness to collaborate on the issue. He expressed hope that the mutual understanding reached during the discussions will pave the way toward peace.

“We hope that this will be perceived constructively in Kiev and European capitals, and that no obstacles will be created,” Putin stressed. “There should be no attempts to undermine the anticipated progress through provocations or behind-the-scenes intrigue.” Trump stressed that the key takeaway of the talks is that there is a reasonable opportunity to achieve peace. He expressed hope to meet Putin again soon, noting that the Russian president shares his desire to bring the conflict to an end.

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“..that puts “President Putin in what Americans call the catbird seat,”

• Judge Napolitano: the Chance for a ‘Grand Reset’ in Russia-US Ties (Sp.)

Presidents Putin and Trump are meeting for the first time in over six years.The main topics on the agenda? Ukraine and Russia-US relations. Veteran journalist and Judging Freedom host Andrew Napolitano shares his insights. The US is “in no position to consent to the very reasonable, intellectually honest and consistent Russian demands” in Ukraine, as its officials don’t seem to fully understand or appreciate Russia’s national security needs, Napolitano told Sputnik, when asked whether the meeting could lead to a speedy cessation of hostilities. The Russian military is already very close to achieving its objectives in the special military operation, Trump knows it, and that puts “President Putin in what Americans call the catbird seat,” Napolitano said.

“Add to those reasons the recent Russian triumphs in the battlefield, which are rather extraordinary and which have left the Ukrainians with very, very little manpower with which to resist the Russian military,” he added. The Putin-Trump meeting could be the “first of many steps” toward a new era “commercial, political, diplomatic, cultural integration” between the two nations, a “grand reset” that could require help from other rising global powers to fully realize. “That’s not going to happen today, and it may have to involve other countries like China, Brazil and India, maybe even Iran, but the grand reset between Russia and the United States, I believe, is a personal goal of President Putin and an aspiration of Donald Trump,” Napolitano said.

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Written pre-summit.

• A New Security Order Is On The Table In Alaska (Lukyanov)

It has been a long time since a diplomatic event drew as much global attention as Friday’s meeting between the Russian and US presidents in Alaska. In terms of its significance for the international balance, it is comparable only to the negotiations on German reunification 35 years ago. That process laid the foundations for political developments in the decades that followed. The Alaska talks could prove a similar milestone – not just for the Ukraine conflict, but for the principles on which a broader settlement between the world’s leading powers might be reached. Ukraine has become the most visible arena for historical shifts that go far beyond its borders. But if the German analogy holds, no one should expect a breakthrough from a single meeting. The marathon of high-level diplomacy in 1990 lasted many months, and the mood then was far less acute and far more optimistic than today.

The dense fog of leaks and speculation surrounding Alaska underlines its importance. Much of this “white noise” comes from two sources: commentators eager to sound informed, and political actors seeking to shape public opinion. In reality, the substantive preparation for the talks appears to have little to do with the propaganda framing. This is why official announcements so often catch outside observers by surprise. That may be a good sign. In recent decades, especially in Europe, diplomacy has often been accompanied by a steady drip of confidential details to the press – a habit that may serve tactical purposes but rarely produces lasting results. In this case, it is better to wait for the outcome, or the lack of one, without giving in to the temptation to guess what will happen behind closed doors.

There is also a broader backdrop that cannot be ignored: the shifts in the global order catalyzed by the Ukraine crisis, though not caused by it. For years, I have been skeptical of claims that the world is dividing neatly into two opposing camps – “the West” versus “the rest.” Economic interdependence remains too deep for even sharp political and military conflicts to sever ties entirely. Yet contradictions between these blocs are growing, and they are increasingly material rather than ideological. A key trigger was US President Donald Trump’s recent attempt to pressure the largest states of the so-called “global majority” – China, India, Brazil, and South Africa – to fall in line with Washington’s instructions. The old liberal order promised universality and some benefits to participants. Now, purely American mercantile interests dominate.

As before, Washington dresses its demands in political justifications – criticizing Brazil and South Africa over their treatment of the opposition, or attacking India and China over their ties with Moscow. But the inconsistencies are obvious. Trump, unlike his predecessors, prefers tariffs to sanctions. Tariffs are an explicitly economic tool, but they are now being wielded for political ends.

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“..they have often stood on the brink of a path from which there would be no return. This is why Alaska matters, even if it does not yield a breakthrough…”

• Why Putin and Trump Had To Talk In Person (Bordachev)

The meeting between the presidents of Russia and the United States in Alaska is not an end point, but the beginning of a long journey. It will not resolve the turbulence that has gripped humanity – but it matters to everyone. In international politics, there have been few moments when meetings between the leaders of major powers have decided questions of universal importance. This is partly because situations requiring attention at such a level are rare. We are living through one now: since the start of Russia’s military operation against Ukraine, Washington has declared its aim to be the “strategic defeat” of Russia, while Moscow has challenged the West’s monopoly over world affairs. Another reason is practical. Leaders of the world’s most powerful states do not waste time on problems that can be solved by subordinates.

And history shows that even when top-level meetings do occur, they rarely change the overall course of international politics. It is no surprise, then, that the Alaska meeting has been compared to famous encounters from the past – notably the 1807 meeting between the Russian and French emperors on a raft in the Neman River. That summit did not prevent Napoleon from attacking Russia five years later – an act that ultimately brought about his own downfall. Later, at the 1815 Congress of Vienna, Russia was the only power represented by its ruler on a regular basis. Tsar Alexander I insisted on presenting his personal vision for Europe’s political structure. It failed to win over the other great powers, who, as Henry Kissinger once noted, preferred to discuss interests rather than ideals.

History is full of high-level talks that preceded war rather than preventing it. European monarchs would meet, fail to agree, and then march their armies. Once the fighting ended, their envoys would sit down to negotiate. Everyone understood that “eternal peace” was usually just a pause before the next conflict. The 2021 Geneva summit between Russia and the US may well be remembered in this way – as a meeting that took place on the eve of confrontation. Both sides left convinced their disputes could not be resolved at the time. In its aftermath, Kiev was armed, sanctions were readied, and Moscow accelerated military-technical preparations. Russia’s own history offers parallels. The most famous “summit” of ancient Rus was the 971 meeting between Prince Svyatoslav and Byzantine Emperor John Tzimiskes, following a peace treaty.

According to historian Nikolay Karamzin, they “parted as friends” – but that did not stop the Byzantines from unleashing the Pechenegs against Svyatoslav on his journey home. In Asia, traditions were different. The status of Chinese and Japanese emperors did not permit meetings with equals; such encounters were legally and culturally impossible. When the modern European “world order” was created – most famously in the 1648 Peace of Westphalia – it was not through grand encounters of rulers but through years of negotiations among hundreds of envoys. By then, after 30 years of war, all sides were too exhausted to continue fighting. That exhaustion made it possible to agree on a comprehensive set of rules for relations between states.

Seen in this historical light, top-level summits are exceedingly rare, and those that produce fundamental change are rarer still. The tradition of two leaders speaking on behalf of the entire global system is a product of the Cold War, when Moscow and Washington alone had the ability to destroy or save the world. Even if Roman and Chinese emperors had met in the third century, it would not have transformed the fate of the world. The great empires of antiquity could not conquer the planet in a single war with each other. Russia – as the USSR before it – and the United States can. In the last three years, they have often stood on the brink of a path from which there would be no return. This is why Alaska matters, even if it does not yield a breakthrough.

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“..when Kiev loses, they say, “Ok, well this sucks – how about if everyone just pretends that none of this happened and we dial all the territorial gains and losses back to a point of our choosing, okay?”

• The EU Throws An Epic Tantrum As Trump Meets With Putin (Marsden)

The European Union had been wailing about “transatlantic unity” in the run-up to US President Trump heading to the negotiating table with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday – without it. It sounded like a toddler stomping their feet because Daddy let go of their hand in the mall and now they’re lost between Cinnabon and Burger King. A lot of good their dogmatic rhetoric has done them so far. If it wasn’t for Brussels getting drunk on its own transatlantic solidarity and unity propaganda, maybe it wouldn’t currently be in economic and political dire straits. The kind where you’re trying to duct-tape your economy back together with overpriced American gas.

They could have charted a different path vis-a-vis Russia. Maybe one that involved spearheading diplomacy rather than marching in lockstep behind the US-led NATO parade of weapons and fighters on Russia’s border with Ukraine, which helped supercharge the conflict in the first place. They could have insisted on keeping their cheap Russian energy instead of sanctioning their own imports like they were vying for a Nobel Prize in masochism. Now, the US is daring them to even close their clever little loophole in their own anti-Russian sanctions. The one that lets them moralize about helping Ukraine and the need to avoid negotiations with Russia while guzzling Russian fuel on the down-low. Trump Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told them to “put up or shut up” and sanction the Indian and Chinese importers of Russian petroleum through which the EU still buys Russian fuel.

While the EU indulges itself in rhetorical games, Trump has dropped all pretexts of serving any interests but America’s first, and isn’t following any agenda beyond trying to wrap things up with Russia in Ukraine and to score some economic wins in the process. Brussels has had more than three years to do the same. Instead, it kept repeating the mantra that Kiev had to win on the battlefield. There were no other options, it said. Whoops! Now that the option has materialized, the Europeans are relegated to running behind Trump, pleading with him to indulge them by letting Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky decide where the post-conflict borders will be. What did they think the downside of their “win by force” gamble would be, if not changed borders?

The EU insists on Ukraine fighting Russia with EU cash and weapons, and when Kiev loses, they say, “Ok, well this sucks – how about if everyone just pretends that none of this happened and we dial all the territorial gains and losses back to a point of our choosing, okay?” The EU insisted on waiting for someone else to take the initiative for peace. Now all it can do is pick up its pom-poms and cheer Trump on. Then hope that he rewards it. As Zelensky’s self-appointed babysitters, instead of spending the past week in the run-up to the Alaska summit insisting that Putin and Trump allow a high chair booster seat and a pack of crayons at the negotiating table so he can show them where he wants the borders, maybe the Europeans should have been calming him down and managing expectations.

He sounded like he was treating his phone like a toy, calling up everyone in the contacts under “EU” – Estonia, Denmark, probably a few pizza places. The EU has tried to gaslight Trump with the same rhetoric that it constantly firehoses onto European citizens about peace in Ukraine being a dangerous gateway drug for Russia to invade Western Europe – a convenient marketing pitch to justify boosting the weapons industry to the detriment of domestic priorities. Not even warhawk US Senator Lindsey Graham is saying that now, telling NBC News that “Russia is not going to Kiev”…let alone the EU. European leaders treated Wednesday’s video call with Trump like a win. Perhaps because he didn’t explicitly tell them off, for once. But they really have no idea what he’ll actually discuss with Putin, nor do they have leverage over any eventual US–Russia deal.

They don’t know whether Trump is just placating them because he doesn’t need a bunch of hysterical circus clowns in the mix. So how could the EU spin this to avoid looking completely irrelevant? “Today Europe, the US and NATO have strengthened the common ground for Ukraine, we will remain in close coordination. Nobody wants peace more than us. A just and lasting peace,” said unelected EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Yeah, sounds desperate for peace, alright. Which must be why the EU is building weapons factories at breakneck speed, according to the Financial Times. Nothing says “we’re committed to ending the war” like tripling down on weapons. What are you going to do with all those if peace breaks out? Toss them in the landfill and hope that taxpayers forget about the boondoggle, like you did with the hundreds of millions of unused Covid jabs?

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“It’s funny they call [intel] a ‘community.’ That sounds so benign and beneficial. Everybody likes communities.” —Doug Casey

• Carefully and Gracefully (James Howard Kunstler)

And so, now, in Alaska, Mr. Trump sits down with Vlad Putin to attempt a settling of Ukraine’s hash. This war has been a three-year bloody grind, millions killed, mostly Ukrainians, provoked underhandedly by US State Dept / CIA neocons, Britain’s MI6 apparatus, and the girl-bosses of the EU, for no good reason, namely, to weaken and possibly break-up Russia so as to get at its vast mineral and energy resources. This has been tried before in history, always to the grief of the triers. From our country’s point of view, the dynamics in play at this moment are delicate to an extreme. In the background of the Trump-Putin meet-up, amid an eerie silence in the DOJ and FBI, an epic, sweeping prosecution of the RussiaGate hoaxers creeps forward.

RussiaGate, of course, was born in the false charge (by America’s highest officials, derived from nonsense cooked up by Hillary Clinton) that Donald Trump was a Russian agent. It was preposterous and continually disproven, but the many-footed creatures of America’s deep state, which controlled so many levers of power, dragged it out for years. Altogether, that endeavor amounted to a campaign of sedition and arguably treason. The delicacy comes in as President Trump must now avoid at all costs any appearance of giving-in to Mr. Putin, of appearing to be any sort of a vassal — “Putin’s puppet,” as charged in RussiaGate. The raw truth is that Russia has likely already “won” the war in Ukraine, in the sense that it has finally gained control of the battlespace and worn out its opponent. It is fait accompli.

What remains is the disposition of Ukraine’s future which, in another raw truth, is mostly Russia’s to determine. Yet another raw truth is that this would probably be the best outcome for all concerned: a neutralized, disarmed Ukraine returned to its prior condition as a mostly agricultural sovereign backwater of Europe within Russia’s sphere-of-influence, resuming its longstanding status as not being a problem for anyone. Still, yet another raw truth is that the USA would benefit hugely from normalized relations with Russia, no more sanctions, fair trade, a rebalance of the drift toward China, lessening the chance of nuclear war — and this would even benefit the knuckleheads of Europe whose economies are imploding due to a lack of affordable energy (and also because of, let’s face it, the EU’s terrifically stupid “green” policies).

All of which means there will necessarily be a lot of “pretend” played in Anchorage for show. Mr. Trump must pretend to be tough on Putin, and Mr. Putin must pretend, a little bit, to give-in to Mr. Trump’ proposals. That is, it will be something of a kabuki, a kafabe. Surely, many of the stickiest points have been pre-negotiated by Mr. Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, who quietly visited Moscow a week ago. Mr. Trump must appear strong with Russia because his appointees are commencing to go medieval on the folks who called him “Putin’s Puppet” nine years ago — and subjected him to a series of epic torments including the subversion of his whole first term in office, nonstop obloquy from the media, impeachment (X 2), home invasion, and a grotesque set of malicious, nitwit prosecutions that have either failed completely (Fani Willis, Jack Smith) or will be subject to humiliating reversals in the higher courts. Not to mention two attempted assassinations.

You should assume that Mr. Putin well understands all this and intends to play along. He will appear to make some generous concessions to Ukraine, starting with the promise that it can go forward as a sovereign, self-governing nation. The big enchilada might be to grant that Ukraine can retain possession of Odessa, the port city on the Black Sea which is Ukraine’s depot for export to the world of its chief commodity, grains. In any case, both Russia and the USA intend to relieve Volodymyr Zelenskyy of his duties — notice he is conspicuously not invited to the Alaska meeting. Mr. Trump well understands that one way or another, Russia is going to prevail in this conflict on-the-ground. He abhors all the killing. He has already expressed a disinclination to keep backing the war with money and weapons. He must be disgusted at how the Bidens (and the Deep State) used Ukraine as a money-laundry, as a site for bioweapons labs, and how it served as a nexus for human trafficking.

He also knows that Russia wants badly to be re-admitted to normal relations with the West, which is in everybody’s interest, except perhaps China’s. You should infer therefore that Russia wants the war to end in a way that does not humiliate the losers and backers — perhaps along the lines of how America managed our victory against our enemies in World War Two, carefully and gracefully.

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“The scary thing is that the Biden administration officials who were in that room said ‘oh we’re ready for that. If the Russians wanna play, we’re ready to go to nuclear war with them.’ This is the insanity that existed in November of last year!”

• Scott Ritter: Two Things Need to Happen for Trump to Get His Ceasefire (Sp.)

The Ukrainian crisis is front and center of the Putin-Trump summit in Alaska. Sputnik asked renowned geopolitical analyst, former Marine Corps intelligence officer and ex-UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter to weigh in on the high stakes meeting. First things first: the US president “doesn’t care about the geopolitical nuances of Ukrainian battlefield locations,” Ritter said. “If Putin can convince him that the quickest route to a ceasefire is for Ukraine to leave” Russia’s new territories “and say no to NATO, that’s it. That’s all that has to happen for a ceasefire.” The Russian military has mastered drone warfare, counter-drone warfare, and new battlefield tactics to the point where its advance has become “an irreversible process,” Ritter added, commenting on what happens if the peace push doesn’t pan out.

“There’s nothing that can be done. Nothing can be done to stop this. The advantage is 100% Russia, and we’re looking at the Ukrainians on the verge of total collapse,” the observer stressed. Trump’s base doesn’t want to continue fueling a proxy conflict against Russia, much less getting into a hot war with Russia over Ukraine, Ritter said. “Don’t worry about Congress. They don’t elect the president, and they will fall in behind the president, because if he can secure his base with a peace deal, he can ruin everybody in Congress, especially a Republican, who goes against him,” he stressed.

In November 2024, the CIA briefed Congress on the risks of a nuclear war breaking out, estimating that there was a “greater than 50% chance” thanks to the Biden administration’s decision to greenlight long-range ATACMS strikes into Russia, Ritter revealed.

“The director of plans of Strategic Command, the American military command that carries out nuclear war briefed a Washington, DC think tank in November that the United States is prepared for a nuclear exchange with Russia, (that means nuclear war) and that the United States thought they were going to win,” he said. “When this was briefed to Congress, I asked a senior Democrat…’when the CIA briefed you, did the CIA say the Russians were bluffing?’ He said no. The CIA said the exact opposite. He said but that’s not the scary thing. The scary thing is that the Biden administration officials who were in that room said ‘oh we’re ready for that. If the Russians wanna play, we’re ready to go to nuclear war with them.’ This is the insanity that existed in November of last year!” Ritter stressed.

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Peace with Russia means these tariffs also must disappear.

• US Has ‘No Right’ To Tell India Who To Trade With – Jeffrey Sachs (RT)

The United States has no right to tell India who it can partner with in trade, Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, said on Friday. The economist was commenting in an interview with NDTV television on Washington’s decision to impose additional tariffs on India over its purchases of Russian oil. Last week, the White House announced an extra 25% tariff on Indian imports, raising the overall tariff level faced by the South Asian nation to 50%. US President Donald Trump said the measure was prompted by India’s continued imports of Russian oil. New Delhi condemned the move as “extremely unfortunate” and pledged to safeguard its national interests. Sachs described the tariff increase as a clear reason for India to remain cautious in its dealings with Washington.

“Don’t rely on them. India needs a diversified base of partners – Russia, China, ASEAN countries, Africa, and not see itself as mainly focusing on the US market, which is going to be unstable, slow-growing and basically protectionist,” according to Sachs. Addressing India’s imports of Russian oil, Sachs stated that Washington has no authority to determine the trading relations of other nations. The US “does not act responsibly towards other countries. Be careful. India should not allow itself to be used by the US, somehow, in the US’ misguided trade war with China,” the economist noted.

New Delhi is now seeking to expand its export presence in the 50 countries that account for about 90% of its total exports in an effort to offset the impact of the higher tariffs, according to local media reports, citing government sources. The initiative is intended to reduce reliance on any single market and to minimize risks arising from trade disruptions. In response to the US threats to impose secondary sanctions on Russia’s trade partners, including India, China, and Brazil, Moscow stated that it believes “sovereign states should have, and do have, the right to choose their own trade partners,” as well as to independently determine which avenues of cooperation best serve their national interests.

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“Grok had already been added to the GSA’s long-term procurement list, enabling agencies to buy it.”

• US Gov’t Ditches Musk’s AI Over ‘Anti-Semitism’ (RT)

The US government has dropped Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok from a planned federal technology program following controversy over anti-Semitic content and conspiracy theories produced by the bot, Wired reported on Thursday. Grok, developed by Musk’s AI startup xAI, is built into his social media platform X. It offers fact checks, quick context on trending topics, and replies to user arguments. Musk has promoted xAI as a rival to OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind, but the chatbot has faced criticism over offensive and inflammatory outputs. According to the report, xAI was in advanced talks with the General Services Administration (GSA), the agency in charge of US government tech procurement, to give federal workers access to its AI tools. Grok had already been added to the GSA’s long-term procurement list, enabling agencies to buy it.

Earlier this month, the GSA announced partnerships with other AI providers – Anthropic, Google’s Gemini, and Box’s AI-powered content platform – while reportedly also telling staff to remove xAI’s Grok from the offering. Two GSA employees told Wired they believe the chatbot was dropped over its anti-Semitic tirade last month, when it praised Adolf Hitler and called itself “MechaHitler.” The posts were deleted, and xAI apologized for the “horrific behavior,” pledging to block hate speech before Grok goes live. The bot also pushed the “white genocide” conspiracy theory and echoed Holocaust denial rhetoric, which xAI blamed on unauthorized prompt changes.

This week, it was briefly suspended from X after stating that Israel and the US were committing genocide in Gaza – allegations both countries reject. Musk has continued to praise the chatbot, recently writing: “East, West, @Grok is the best.” The move to drop Grok comes as part of a broader push by the administration of US President Donald Trump to modernize the federal government under an action plan unveiled last month that provides for less regulation and wider adoption of AI. However, the rapid growth of AI has triggered concern about its potential to spread misinformation, reinforce bias, and operate without accountability. Experts say that unless strong safeguards are in place, poorly moderated AI tools could also expose children to harmful or inappropriate content.

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All the more now Trump has put them at the kiddies table.

• EU Leaders Want To Overthrow Three European Governments – Budapest (RT)

The European Union is attempting to topple the governments of Hungary, Slovakia, and Serbia for prioritizing national interests over alignment with Brussels, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has claimed. He made the comments in a Facebook post on Thursday after phone calls with Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar and Serbia’s top diplomat, Marko Duric. According to Szijjarto, they agreed to strengthen their stance on sovereignty and pledged mutual solidarity amid what they described as growing external pressure. “Brussels has ceased to be a factor in world politics. The fact that Europe has been excluded from the Alaska talks proves it,” he wrote, referring to Friday’s summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the Ukraine conflict.

https://twitter.com/PM_ViktorOrban/status/1956065724088172985

Kiev’s backers in Europe have repeatedly called to be included in any talks involving Russia, Ukraine, and the US, insisting that “a European power” should be “in the room” to guarantee that the security interests of Kiev and the EU are “safeguarded.” Unlike the EU, which continues to support Ukraine’s war effort, Szijjarto said Hungary, Serbia, and Slovakia have prioritized national interests and resisted pressure from Brussels, favoring peace talks over military involvement. “This obviously frustrates the mainstream liberal political leaders, and as a result, the pressure is increasing on governments that are supporting peace, following national interests, and not subordinating to Brussels,” the diplomat said.

It’s “clearer than daylight” that “external intervention experiments to destabilize and overthrow governments are taking place in Central Europe against the patriot Slovak, Hungarian, and Serbian governments,” he added. Szijjarto criticized recent polling in Slovakia, which suggested citizens “only trust revolution,” and accused Brussels of trying to undermine Hungary’s elected leadership by supporting the opposition Tisza Party. He also referenced recent clashes between protesters and police in Serbia, implying that external forces were stirring unrest to destabilize the government. According to Szijjarto, these “are all different chapters of the same scenario in Brussels: they want to clean up the peace-party, patriot, national-interest governments,” aiming to replace them with puppet governments so Brussels “can get a seat.”

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GoF
https://twitter.com/sheislaurenlee/status/1956140482960183359

100
https://twitter.com/DavidJHarrisJr/status/1956106786903388484

https://twitter.com/LangmanVince/status/1956366054529089828

Bees

Bob
https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1956110689359003751

https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1956330600387821710

 

 

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Debt Rattle August 8 2025

Aug 082025
 
 August 8, 2025  Posted by at 9:53 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , ,  42 Responses »


Hasui Kawase Mimhae Pavilion, Kyongju, Korea 1940

 

• US Has Made ‘Acceptable Offer’ – Kremlin Aide (RT)
• Putin-Trump Meeting Could Be Historic – Russian Envoy (RT)
• Trump to Meet Separately With Putin, Zelensky in Bid to End Ukraine War (Moran)
• Ghislaine Maxwell Implodes The Left’s Trump-Epstein Witch Hunt (Margolis)
• Ghislaine Could Give Trump A Chance To Break Israel’s Power Over America (PCR)
• Clintons Could Face Jail Time if They Defy Epstein Subpoena (Margolis)
• Commerce Dep’t to Make Census Reflect the Number of Legal Residents in US (DS)
• Trump Orders New Census to Fix 2020 Rigged Count Favoring Dems (Margolis)
• US Working To Kill EU Digital Services Act – Reuters (RT)
• Trump Tariffs Wipe Out $12 Billion From Global Carmakers – WSJ (RT)
• Germany To Slash Payments For Ukrainians (RT)
• Kash Patel Is Cleaning House at the FBI, and It’s Glorious (Margolis)
• ‘We Don’t Want To Keep Gaza’ – Netanyahu (RT)
• Swedish PM Admits He Uses ChatGPT To Help Run Government (ZH)
• ChatGPT a Danger To Teens – Watchdog (RT)

 

 

Milei
https://twitter.com/Inevitablewest/status/1953394786737557665

apple
https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1953207040614252904

Poland elects new president
https://twitter.com/AdamMoczar/status/1953163210757931447

93
https://twitter.com/CRRJA5/status/1953308689810559218

Judge Jeanine Pirro is the new US Attorney for DC

Census

 

 

O’Leary

 

 

Mearsheimer offers a sobering critique of U.S. and NATO policy toward Russia, asserting that the West bears significant responsibility for the war in Ukraine. Calling the conflict a “preventable tragedy,” Mearsheimer explains how Washington’s push to expand NATO eastward and bring Ukraine into its orbit left Russia with what he describes as “no choice but to react.” “This is not about Putin being irrational,” he argues. “It’s about the West ignoring repeated warnings from Moscow for over a decade.”

 

 

 

 

That’s a strong statement. Ushakov would not say it if there wasn’t a major shift in the US position. We’ll have to wait till next week.

• US Has Made ‘Acceptable Offer’ – Kremlin Aide (RT)

Russia has received an “acceptable” offer from the US on settling the Ukraine conflict, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov has said, following a visit by US special envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Ushakov commented on the talks between Witkoff and Russian President Vladimir Putin, noting that Moscow had received a “proposal from the Americans” which it is ready to consider, without providing further details. Ushakov also noted that Russia and the US have topics to discuss, while agreeing with the view of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who earlier described the talks as “a good day.”

Rubio had added that “we still have a ways to go, but we’re certainly closer [to peace] today than we were yesterday – when we weren’t close at all.” The Kremlin aide earlier called the Putin-Witkoff meeting “business-like and constructive,” adding that “Russian-American ties could develop according to a completely different, mutually beneficial scenario,” as compared to the long-running tensions over Ukraine. He also revealed that Putin could meet Trump as soon as next week. The Russian president later suggested that the United Arab Emirates could potentially host the summit.

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Kirill Dmitriev.

• Putin-Trump Meeting Could Be Historic – Russian Envoy (RT)

The upcoming meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump has the potential to be a historic event, according to senior Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev. The Kremlin confirmed on Thursday that preparations for direct talks have advanced to the point that a venue has been selected. The meeting could be held as early as next week. Dmitriev, an economic adviser to Putin and key figure in the push to normalize bilateral ties with the US, shared the development on X. “This can be a historic meeting,” he wrote, adding a dove emoji. “Dialogue will prevail.” On Wednesday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff traveled to Russia to meet with Putin in what Trump later described as an unexpectedly positive round of discussions. Trump previously threatened to introduce additional sanctions due to a perceived lack of progress in his efforts to broker a resolution to the Ukraine conflict.

https://twitter.com/kadmitriev/status/1953371181974753345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1953371181974753345%7Ctwgr%5E80a9b7fbfe15a144894743edc6ae1b5c6ef0ba09%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.rt.com%2Frussia%2F622607-putin-trump-historic-summit%2F

Since taking office in January, Trump, who describes himself as a “president of peace,” has relied on economic and military pressure to address several escalating international disputes. However, his campaign pledge to resolve the Ukraine conflict within 24 hours has proven unrealistic. He has since acknowledged that the situation is far more complex and challenging than he originally suggested. Moscow has expressed a desire to address the root causes of the conflict, opposing any scenario that would freeze the conflict in its current state. Putin has stated that his government prefers to achieve its objectives through peaceful means. Kiev has consistently rejected Moscow’s proposed settlement terms and continues to call for Western military support and further sanctions on Russia. Ukrainian officials argue that these measures could halt or even reverse Russian advances on the battlefield.

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You will also see people having opinions who know nothing about the topic:

“Some casualty estimates for the last month claim 45,000 Russian dead. Considering the manic offensive nature of Russian strategy, that claim sounds realistic.”

Jesus H.C.!

• Trump to Meet Separately With Putin, Zelensky in Bid to End Ukraine War (Moran)

For more than a year, the Ukraine War has ground on inconclusively. The cost in lives has been enormous. While official casualty figures are useless, several independent media outlets have carried out their own investigations by scanning death notices, reading local newspaper reports of dead soldiers, and reading church funeral notices in newsletters. Ukraine claims to have killed one million Russian soldiers. That’s absurd, but the total of killed, wounded, and missing may be close to that number. It appears that 2024 was the deadliest year of the war for Russia as they threw in wave after wave of infantry, gaining virtually nothing. According to sources, the Russians have moved approximately 188 square miles in the last month, the best month of the year. Some casualty estimates for the last month claim 45,000 Russian dead. Considering the manic offensive nature of Russian strategy, that claim sounds realistic.

Ukraine has lost between 400,000 and 700,000 soldiers, according to non-government sources. The point is that all of the dead are dying for literally nothing. The front lines haven’t shifted more than a few miles since the summer of 2023. The only people gaining anything from this conflict now are undertakers and casket makers. Russian President Vladimir Putin has obstinately refused entreaties from Donald Trump to end the war. Trump is holding out the prospect of lifting some sanctions if Putin makes a deal. For his part, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is still clinging to his fantasy that he can fight long enough to win back all the territory seized by Russia since 2015, including Crimea. Someone should knock Mr. Zelesky upside the head and bring him back to Earth. Donald Trump may be about to do that.

According to the Associated Press, Trump will meet with Putin and Zelensky separately “soon,” perhaps as early as next week. “We propose, first of all, to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump, and we consider it most important that this meeting be successful and productive,” said Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov. Ushakov dismissed the prospect of Zelensky joining the meeting, although Trump said he wasn’t ruling it out. New York Times: “Mr. Trump disclosed his plans on Wednesday in a call with European leaders, which included Mr. Zelensky, the people said. The meetings would include only the three men, and would not include European counterparts. Asked later Wednesday if Russia and Ukraine had agreed to the summit, Mr. Trump told reporters: “There’s a very good prospect that they will.”

Mr. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitri S. Peskov, did not respond to a request for comment, but Mr. Zelensky appeared to signal that a direct meeting was possible. Trump would welcome a breakthrough of any kind, but Putin isn’t likely to change his position unless Trump offers some sweeteners, such as lifting some sanctions, releasing frozen Russian assets, or removing barriers for Russia to international financial markets. The key actor in this play is Vladimir Putin. He’s the aggressor. It’s his army continuing to move forward at tremendous human cost. To get him off the starting line, Trump has made some noises about renewing U.S. aid to Ukraine.

Mr. Trump has been stymied for months in his efforts to find a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, after more than three years of war. Mr. Trump has been a skeptic of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, and he dressed down Mr. Zelensky in a remarkable Oval Office meeting earlier this year, with cameras rolling. Still, frustrated by the slow pace of talks with Russia, Mr. Trump recently authorized more arms sales to NATO allies that are intended for Ukraine. Mr. Trump has tried giving Mr. Putin room to come to the negotiating table over several months. But more recently, he has publicly excoriated Mr. Putin, suggesting the Russian leader was simply playing him for time after repeated conversations with Mr. Witkoff.

Mr. Witkoff’s latest visit to Moscow came as Mr. Trump has threatened secondary sanctions against Russia as the war drags on. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump signed an order that would double tariffs on imports from India, to 50 percent, as punishment for its continued purchases of Russian oil. Putin will not stop fighting until he achieves his goals or someone forces him to stop. That’s not going to be Ukraine, which has just one-third the number of men as Russia, with many veteran soldiers having fought along the line since 2023. I’d say any movement in these meetings is highly unlikely, except it’s Donald Trump. I’ve made the mistake of underestimating Trump in the past, so if he can pull a rabbit out of the hat during his meetings next week, I won’t be totally surprised.

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How do you make the interviews public when she talked about 100 different people?

• Ghislaine Maxwell Implodes The Left’s Trump-Epstein Witch Hunt (Margolis)

The circus surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein saga has always had one clear ringleader: the media establishment and their Democratic Party allies, hell-bent on transforming every shadowy corner into “proof” of Donald Trump’s guilt by association. Never mind the actual facts—just throw his name around and hope something sticks. But sometimes, inconvenient truths come to light. Now, the latest revelation from Ghislaine Maxwell’s Department of Justice interview is exactly the kind of development Democrats and their cable news cheerleaders dreaded. For years, the Left has been painting the Epstein scandal as the ticking bomb that will finally detonate the Trump presidency. Never mind that Bill Clinton’s relationship with Epstein is far better documented than Trump’s fleeting acquaintance; in the Democratic media echo chamber, Trump must be guilty—because he’s Trump.

Now, ABC News is reporting that during her marathon nine-hour interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Ghislaine Maxwell handed the Left yet another bitter pill to swallow. During her nine hours speaking with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month, Ghislaine Maxwell said nothing during the interview that would be harmful to President Donald Trump, telling Blanche that Trump had never done anything in her presence that would have caused concern, according to sources familiar with what Maxwell said. Did you catch that? After years of “bombshells” that never landed, their latest Hail Mary just failed spectacularly, with Maxwell confirming what we already knew: that there are no Epstein skeletons in Trump’s closet. If that wasn’t damning enough for the narrative, the Trump administration looks poised to make the whole thing public, transcripts and all.

When you’re innocent, transparency is your weapon; when you’re hiding something, you fight like hell to keep the records sealed. The article underscores the administration’s intent: The Trump administration, meanwhile, is considering publicly releasing the transcripts from the interview, multiple sources familiar with the internal discussions told ABC News. There is also an audio recording of the interview, the sources said, but it’s not clear whether the administration plans to release the audio to accompany any public release of the transcript. The public release of the transcripts could come as soon as this week, the sources said. Think about that: If there were anything even remotely problematic in Maxwell’s account, does anyone believe Trump’s DOJ would be talking about dumping the raw transcript into the public record for all to judge? Please.

Maxwell, who is no friend of Trump, can’t cough up so much as a rumor. What does the anti-Trump media do now? Invent something? Well, yeah, that’s what they’ve done for years and will continue to do. And let’s remember, Maxwell wasn’t just primed by her lawyers—she was reportedly grilled about “one hundred different people.” When it came to Trump, she “didn’t hold anything back.” The article makes that unambiguously clear: ABC previously reported that it was Maxwell who requested the interview with the DOJ, according to sources familiar with the matter. Maxwell is also asking the Supreme Court to review her conviction and Trump has not ruled out a pardon for her.

Maxwell’s lawyer, David Markus, said following her meetings with Blanche that Maxwell ‘would welcome any relief.’ He also said Maxwell was asked about “one hundred different people,” and said “she didn’t hold anything back.” Here’s what the Democrats and their media lapdogs can’t accept: The Epstein case is the ultimate double-edged sword. They bet everything that “Epstein” would be the rumor that finally brought down Trump, even as the evidence never materialized. On the contrary, Bill Clinton boarded Epstein’s jet—the “Lolita Express”—dozens of times. So, what now? The anti-Trump mobs are scrambling, the tape is rolling, and it turns out that when Ghislaine Maxwell finally had her moment, the “Trump bombshell” fizzled out before it even began. For the Democrats desperate to weaponize the Epstein scandal, this moment isn’t just disappointing; it’s devastating.

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Paul Craig Roberts dreaming.

Yes, of course, Ghislaine could expose all the Mossad connections. And then her life wouldn’t be worth anything.

• Ghislaine Could Give Trump A Chance To Break Israel’s Power Over America (PCR)

According to media reports, Ghislaine Maxwell cleared Trump of having participated in sexual activities with underaged females. The liberal-left will no doubt claim that Ghislaine lied in hopes of a pardon from Trump. This is typical nonsense from the American liberal-left. Ghislaine Maxwell is the daughter of one Mossad asset and the lover of another. Illusions are not her cup of tea. She knows that if Trump pardons her the pardon will be taken as proof that Trump was a participant in illicit sex and that Trump knows it. There is one thing she could do in exchange for a pardon. She could acknowledge that the Epstein operation was an Israeli blackmail operation to ensure that US Middle East policy conformed with Israel’s. The policy declared by US policymakers–seven countries in five years–was the policy of Greater Israel.

This revelation would free Trump from Israel’s control, and he could free American foreign policy from Israel. It would also free the insouciant American public from its delusions about America’s great friend Israel who God commands us to protect. It would be made clear that Israel for several decades has used American lives and American money for Israel’s benefit. Of course, if Ghislaine acknowledged this truth, the Zionist American media and the Christian Zionists would shout her down. But her main and immediate danger would be Mossad assassination. Could her life be protected from Israel’s assassins who have proven their ability to assassinate Iran’s top scientists, military and political leaders, and those of every country that presents difficulties to Israel?

Ron Unz recently published an article noting that Israel and the Zionist movement that created Israel “have probably employed assassination as a tool of statecraft more heavily than any other political entity in recorded history. Indeed, their deadly activities had easily eclipsed those of the notorious Muslim sect that had terrorized the Middle East a thousand years ago and gave rise to that term.”

Certainly Ghislaine could not resume her social life in England or New York. She wouldn’t even be safe in a maximum security prison. If she blows the whistle on Israel’s spy/blackmail operation against Americans positioned to influence US Middle East policy, her freedom means her death. If the US Secret Service was able to create a new identity for her in some out of the way place and keep her safe without people wondering why she has so many bodyguards, it would not be the kind of social life she knows. Perhaps Washington could seize several prominent Israelis and hold them as hostages against Ghislaine’s life. But this would give Muslims an incentive to kill Ghislaine in order to have the US kill the Israeli hostages.Ghislaine has the information, but how to get it from her? Trump’s bluster and threats won’t do it. A guarantee of her life has to be strong enough for her to take the risk. Does anyone have any ideas how it might be done?

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“Jail time for Bill and Hillary Clinton is no longer just a possibility; it’s a looming certainty if they continue to thumb their noses at the law..”

• Clintons Could Face Jail Time if They Defy Epstein Subpoena (Margolis)

Bill and Hillary Clinton are staring down the barrel of jail time, and the threat is real. After years of smoke and mirrors, the former president and secretary of state have finally come under the harsh spotlight of congressional scrutiny, thanks to their troubling association with notorious financier Jeffrey Epstein. Congress has now subpoenaed both Clintons, demanding they answer tough questions about their connections to Epstein. On Wednesday, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) warned the Clintons about not complying with the subpoena demanding their testimony.

“If someone doesn’t comply with a subpoena — we’ve seen it happen in the past, in both my committee, as well as on the Jan. 6 committee, when the Democrats had the majority — you can hold them in contempt of Congress. And with a Republican attorney general, that’s something that I think that the Clinton legal team is going to think long and hard about,” Comer said during an appearance on NewsNation’s “The Hill.” “You’re not going to have a lot of sympathy, probably — from the Trump DOJ — if the Clintons failed to comply with a bipartisan, congressionally approved subpoena, which is what that was.” I would say not. In recent weeks, new evidence has come to light exposing the Clinton campaign’s direct involvement in the Russiagate scandal, working hand in hand with the Obama administration to create the hoax. The Hill has more”

“Comer said bipartisan support is going to make it hard for the former president to dodge the congressional investigation. “Obviously, when you subpoena a former president, your odds aren’t the best at getting them in, if you look at history. But what makes this different is this subpoena was approved in a bipartisan manner by a subcommittee vote,” he told anchor Blake Burman. “So you had Democrats and Republicans on the record voting to subpoena that whole list you showed, and there were Republicans and Democrats on that list. In addition to those subpoenas, I also subpoenaed [Attorney General] Pam Bondi for Epstein files,” he continued. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has been facing intense backlash over how it has handled information related to Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in 2019. The backlash has come from both MAGA faithful and left-wing progressives.”

As the legal noose tightens around the Clintons, patriots and defenders of justice must support these efforts. America cannot continue down the path of political elites acting with impunity while citizens suffer. The Clintons were once symbols of power and prestige, but if they refuse to answer for their roles in the Epstein scandal, they should be prepared to face the consequences that could include jail time. In the end, justice must prevail, regardless of who’s involved. The Clintons’ bluster and attempts to dodge their subpoenas won’t save them if Congress follows through. Jail time for Bill and Hillary Clinton is no longer just a possibility; it’s a looming certainty if they continue to thumb their noses at the law. And America deserves nothing less than full accountability.

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“Just as we do not give political power to people who are here temporarily, we should not give political power to people who should not be here at all.”

• Commerce Dep’t to Make Census Reflect the Number of Legal Residents in US (DS)

After President Donald Trump called for a new census excluding illegal immigrants, the Department of Commerce told the Daily Signal it will “immediately” change course to “reflect the number of legal residents in the United States.” Trump ordered the Department of Commerce to start work on a new census in which illegal immigrants will not be counted. “I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Thursday. A Commerce spokesperson told The Daily Signal it will follow the president’s mandate.

“The Census Bureau will immediately adopt modern technology tools for use in the census to better understand our robust census data,” the spokesperson told The Daily Signal. “We will accurately analyze the data to reflect the number of legal residents in the United States.” In July, Trump backed a bill from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., that would exclude illegal immigrants from the census. This is not the president’s first effort to exclude illegal immigrants from the census count. In 2020, Trump issued a presidential memorandum instructing the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, not to include illegal aliens in the census.

“My Administration will not support giving congressional representation to aliens who enter or remain in the country unlawfully, because doing so would create perverse incentives and undermine our system of government,” Trump said in the memorandum. “Just as we do not give political power to people who are here temporarily, we should not give political power to people who should not be here at all.” A federal court blocked the effort in 2020, however. Trump also wanted a citizenship question added to the census form. The Supreme Court blocked that move.

https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1953428792250097670

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“..these errors will affect $1.5 trillion in funding received by states in federal appropriations during the next decade..”

• Trump Orders New Census to Fix 2020 Rigged Count Favoring Dems (Margolis)

President Trump is putting America first again. This time, he’s going after the rigged system that counts illegal aliens in the U.S. Census, skewing congressional representation and rewarding sanctuary states with more power. On Thursday, Trump announced he’s directing the Department of Commerce to conduct a new, corrected census — one that actually counts American citizens and excludes those here illegally. “I have instructed our Department of Commerce to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024,” Trump announced in a post on Truth Social. “People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Naturally, the mainstream media isn’t thrilled.

CNN described Trump’s proposal as “a dramatic shift from longstanding census practices” while insisting that the census “has historically counted all residents regardless of immigration status.” But, this is hardly just about illegal immigration. In fact, this move is long overdue. The 2020 Census, overseen by the Biden administration and its Deep State allies, was an unmitigated disaster — and the fallout is still being felt. Even the Census Bureau itself — hardly a bastion of conservative thought — admitted that its 2020 Census was incorrect in at least 14 states. According to the Bureau’s own Post-Enumeration Survey (PES), eight states were overcounted while six were undercounted. But here’s where it gets truly absurd: The Census Bureau claims it can’t identify which groups were miscounted or where the errors occurred, citing “sample sizes within most states do not support such estimates.”

Translation? They know it was wrong, but they can’t — or won’t — say how or where. This isn’t just bureaucratic bungling; it’s a dereliction of duty. And it’s exactly why President Trump is right to call for a new, citizen-focused census. If the federal government can’t even tell us who they miscounted or where, how can anyone trust the results? These weren’t random clerical errors, either. They were systemic failures that just so happened to benefit Democrats. Florida was robbed of not one, but two congressional seats. Texas lost out on another. Meanwhile, blue states like Minnesota and Rhode Island held onto seats they should have lost — and Colorado was gifted a seat it was never entitled to. The fix was in. The Heritage Foundation:

“To put the scope of these mistakes into perspective, contrast the errors in the Census Bureau’s latest recount (the 2020 Post-Enumeration Survey, or PES) with the recount from a decade ago (the 2010 Post-Enumeration Survey)—in which there was a net overcount of a mere 0.01 percent (36,000 people), a statistically insignificant error.”“The harms flowing from these mistakes impact more than just congressional representation, which also affects the number of electors from those states since they are calculated by the number of Senators and Representatives in each state,” explains the Heritage Foundation. “Because the Treasury and other federal departments will continue to use the original, official Census numbers (and not the new numbers contained in the PES), these errors will affect $1.5 trillion in funding received by states in federal appropriations during the next decade in disbursements that are distributed based on the population of each state.

https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1953433419678986640

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Good. It must go.

“In July, the US State Department posted on X that the “Orwellian” DSA is used to convict thousands for criticizing governments and shields EU leaders from accountability.”

“Russian Telegram users enjoy more freedom than Europeans.”

• US Working To Kill EU Digital Services Act – Reuters (RT)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reportedly ordered US diplomats to launch a lobbying campaign against the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), according to an internal cable obtained by Reuters. The directive accuses the EU law of stifling free speech and imposing unfair costs on US tech companies. The DSA, which came into force in August 2023, is designed to make online platforms safer by requiring them to remove illegal content such as hate speech, misinformation, and child sexual abuse material. It applies to 19 large platforms, including Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, Alphabet’s Google, Amazon, and Apple’s App Store. Non-compliance can result in fines of up to 6% of global revenue.

Washington has argued that the DSA targets US companies and restricts freedom of expression. Rubio’s cable calls the legislation a threat to “America’s free-speech tradition” and a financial burden on US platforms. Diplomats have reportedly been instructed to meet with EU officials to push for the law to be repealed or amended. They have also been told to challenge definitions of ‘illegal content’ and weaken enforcement tools like ‘trusted flaggers’ and the Code of Conduct on Disinformation, which has been described by critics as a “global censorship law.” In July, the US State Department posted on X that the “Orwellian” DSA is used to convict thousands for criticizing governments and shields EU leaders from accountability.

In February, US Vice President J.D. Vance said the law prevents adults from accessing alternative opinions labeled as misinformation, warning that US companies could block EU users to avoid compliance. Last year, Russia also accused the EU of censorship after Brussels banned several Russian outlets. The Foreign Ministry called it “political censorship” by the neoliberal West aimed at suppressing dissent. Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said Brussels lacks arguments to convince its citizens and instead blocks alternative views. Telegram founder Pavel Durov said in 2024 that “Russian Telegram users enjoy more freedom than Europeans.” Durov is currently on trial in France over allegations of spreading illegal content through his platform.

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First thing this makes me think of is Trump noting it’s impossible for US carmakers to sell their products in Europe and japan. While US roads are drowning in Toyota’s and Beamers.

• Trump Tariffs Wipe Out $12 Billion From Global Carmakers – WSJ (RT)

Fourteen global automakers have suffered nearly $12 billion in losses since the roll-out of US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs, and are expected to lose significantly more by the end of the year, the Wall Street Journal reports. Trump announced the new tariffs in April, targeting 185 countries and territories. A universal 10% tariff on all imported vehicles and parts took effect on April 5, followed by country-specific rates on April 9. According to the WSJ’s analysis published on Thursday, Toyota has sustained the largest loss – around $3 billion in the second quarter alone – and expects a total tariff impact of $9.5 billion by the end of the fiscal year ending March 2026. Volkswagen has reportedly lost $1.5 billion, while Ford and General Motors have each reported losses of over $1 billion in Q2.

Tesla has been the least affected among major automakers, with an estimated $300 million loss. The WSJ also says the ten largest global automakers, excluding Chinese manufacturers, could see net profits fall by 25% by the end of the year. The EU and Japan have been negotiating tariff reductions with Washington. According to reports, the US currently imposes 27.5% on EU-made vehicles, and Brussels is pushing to lower it to 15% in exchange for cutting its own 10% tariff on American cars. Japan reached a similar deal in July, reducing US tariffs on its vehicles to 15% as part of a broader bilateral agreement.

The reported losses come amid declining sales of Western automakers in both Europe and China, under pressure from fast-growing Chinese electric vehicle brands. In the first half of 2025, Chinese manufacturers doubled their share of the European market to 5.1%. At the same time in China, Porsche’s sales fell 28%, prompting dealership closures. GM and others have also reported losses due to shrinking demand. On Thursday, the Trump administration expanded the tariff regime further, imposing new and additional tariffs on nearly 70 more countries, including the UK, Switzerland, Brazil, India, and Taiwan.

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You invited them in!

• Germany To Slash Payments For Ukrainians (RT)

Germany’s Labor Ministry has proposed cutting benefits for Ukrainian migrants, citing growing financial strain from the continued influx of newcomers. Labor Minister Barbel Bas submitted a draft bill to remove Ukrainians from the so-called “citizen’s allowance” program – a benefit normally reserved for non-working Germans – and place them under the standard asylum seeker system, German media reported on Wednesday. Under standard asylum support a person receives €441 ($514), compared to €563 under the citizen’s allowance. The new rules would apply only to Ukrainians arriving after April 1, 2025. Those who came earlier would keep their current benefits.

According to the Federal Employment Agency, around 700,000 Ukrainians are currently receiving the allowance. Since April 1, about 21,000 more have arrived who could be affected by the new rules. The proposal has been sent for approval by other federal departments, and must then pass through the Cabinet and the Bundestag, expected to be adopted by year’s end. Germany spent around €6.3 billion or some 13% of the citizens’ allowance budget on Ukrainian migrants in 2024. Officials estimate the reform could save the federal government about €1.3 billion in 2026. Critics say the plan won’t significantly reduce public spending. Head of Bavaria Markus Soder and a number of other officials have called for ending the citizen’s allowance for all Ukrainians, regardless of when they arrived.

Of the 1.2 million Ukrainians that Germany has accepted over the past three years, as of May, only 332,000 were employed. Authorities across Germany have increasingly warned that the cost of supporting refugees is putting unsustainable pressure on public finances. The wider EU is facing similar challenges. As of May 2025, 4.3 million Ukrainians had been granted temporary protection across the bloc, which includes access to housing, education, and work. While the scheme has been extended through March 2027, several EU countries have been reviewing their support programs, citing rising costs and limited resources.

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An impossible job?

• Kash Patel Is Cleaning House at the FBI, and It’s Glorious (Margolis)

FBI Director Kash Patel is making the bold moves that the bureau desperately needed, cleaning house and rooting out the lingering partisan bad actors who have long compromised the agency’s integrity. In a decisive shake-up, the FBI is ousting key officials, including former acting director Brian Driscoll, special agent Walter Giardina, who played a role in targeting Donald Trump advisor Peter Navarro, and Washington Field Office acting director Steven Jensen, a pivotal figure in the January 6 investigations. These removals come swiftly and with no detailed explanations, but insiders describe them plainly as retribution: a necessary reckoning. The swamp that entrenched itself deeply within the FBI over years of political bias is finally draining under Patel’s leadership.

For too long, the bureau has been weaponized against political opponents, wielding its immense power to settle scores rather than uphold justice impartially. Removing those who participated in such abuses, especially those involved in the infamous January 6 prosecutions, sends an unequivocal message that partisan insubordination will no longer be tolerated. Patel’s purge is not just about individual personnel changes; it signals a broader commitment to restoring credibility and lawful conduct within the bureau. It’s a refreshing departure from the past mismanagement where FBI leaders operated with unchecked arrogance and partisan motives. Now, those who acted as enemies of true justice are facing accountability, having been removed from positions of authority and stripped of the power they misused.

The removals come just months after thousands of FBI employees were ordered in February to complete an extensive questionnaire probing their involvement, past or present, in the investigation of the January 6 Capitol riot. The survey asked detailed questions, including whether agents had testified in related criminal trials or when they last participated in any aspect of the investigation. According to a report from Fox News Digital, one source familiar with the situation described the removals as “retribution.” This change is overdue. The FBI’s reputation has suffered severely, damaged by years of politicized investigations and internal betrayals. Patel’s leadership underscores a new era where loyalty to the Constitution and the rule of law triumphs over cynical political gamesmanship. His actions break the pattern of silence and inaction that allowed dysfunction to flourish.

By swiftly forcing out these figures, Patel ensures that the bureau cannot continue to be a tool for vendettas or partisan manipulation. This decisive step also reassures the American people that the FBI will no longer be a partisan political weapon but a guardian of justice for all citizens. Kash Patel deserves praise for his courage in taking on this difficult but necessary task. Cleaning out entrenched partisans who betrayed their oath is no small feat, but Patel’s resolve is exactly what the FBI needs to regain public trust and refocus on its core mission. His leadership represents hope that one of the government’s most powerful agencies can be steered back to integrity and fairness.

The purge of these disgraced officials is just the beginning. More removals are expected, reflecting a broader effort to dismantle the politicized infrastructure that allowed such abuses to persist. This new direction sets the course for an FBI that works for the people, not for political agendas. Patel’s actions should be lauded as a critical turning point in reclaiming justice and accountability within the nation’s top law enforcement agency.

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We just want to murder or eject -whichever comes first- the two million who live there.

• ‘We Don’t Want To Keep Gaza’ – Netanyahu (RT)

Israel does not intend to establish its own governing body in Gaza after its military campaign against Hamas concludes and would rather see Arab neighbors assume responsibility for the Palestinian enclave, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has stated. In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Netanyahu was asked whether Israel would take complete control of Gaza. He responded: “We intend to, in order to ensure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza [Hamas] and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel.” Netanyahu insisted that Israel doesn’t “want to keep it [Gaza],” but rather “have a security perimeter.” He added that “we don’t want to be there as a governing body, we want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly.”

Israel controlled Gaza from 1967 until its unilateral withdrawal in 2005. Earlier this month, several Israeli media outlets reported that Netanyahu had told ministers he would seek cabinet backing for a plan to fully occupy Gaza, despite objections from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The Jewish state and the militant group agreed to a fragile three-stage ceasefire in January, only for Israel to resume military action in March amid mutual recriminations with Hamas. Since then, the two belligerents have sporadically engaged in talks, which have failed to yield any breakthrough.

In February, US President Donald Trump proposed a plan envisioning the relocation of the Gaza population to neighboring states of “great wealth.” A group of Arab nations rejected the proposal shortly thereafter, as did Russia. The conflict between Hamas and Israel broke out in October 2023 after a surprise attack by Hamas in southern Israel left about 1,200 people dead and 250 taken hostage. According to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, the Israeli military campaign has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians.

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“We didn’t vote for ChatGPT.”

What’s dumber, doing it or admitting that you do?

• Swedish PM Admits He Uses ChatGPT To Help Run Government (ZH)

First we learn that doctors are using ChatGPT to treat patients. Now, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is taking a heaping ration of Lutfisk for admitting he’s been using ChatGPT to help run the government. Speaking with a Nordic news site, Kristersson said that he sometimes asks ChatGPT for a “second opinion” when it comes to governance strategies. “I use it myself quite often,” he said, “If for nothing else than for a second opinion. What have others done? And should we think the complete opposite? Those types of questions.” Kristersson’s comments predictably came under fire.

“The more he relies on AI for simple things, the bigger the risk of overconfidence in the system,” Virginia Dignum, a professor of responsible artificial intelligence at Umeå University, told DiGITAL. “It is a slippery slope. We must demand that reliability can be guaranteed. We didn’t vote for ChatGPT.” “Too bad for Sweden that AI mostly guesses,” wrote Aftonbladet’s Signe Krantz. “Chatbots would rather write what they think you want than what you need to hear.” “You have to be very careful,” Simone Fischer-Hübner, a computer science researcher at Karlstad University, told Aftonbladet, noting that people shouldn’t submit sensitive information to GPT.

As Gizmodo opines; Krantz makes a good point, which is that chatbots can be incredibly sycophantic and delusional. If you have a leader asking a chatbot leading questions, you can imagine a scenario in which the software program’s algorithms only serve to reinforce that leader’s existing prerogatives (or to push them further over the edge into uncharted territory). Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like a whole lot of politicians feel the need to use ChatGPT as a consigliere yet. Kristersson spokesman Tom Samuelsson ‘clarified’ that the PM doesn’t take risks in his use of AI. “Naturally it is not security sensitive information that ends up there. It is used more as a ballpark,” he said.

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“..an ‘Ultimate Mayhem Party Plan’ that combined alcohol, ecstasy, and cocaine, detailed instructions on self-harm, week-long fasting regimens limited to 300-500 calories per day, and suicide letters written in the voice of a 13-year-old girl.”

• ChatGPT a Danger To Teens – Watchdog (RT)

ChatGPT can give vulnerable teenagers detailed guidance on drug use, self-harm, and extreme dieting, a digital watchdog has warned in a new report. According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), the AI chatbot can be easily manipulated into generating dangerous content and requires urgent safeguards. To test ChatGPT’s behavior, CCDH researchers created fictional profiles of 13-year-olds experiencing mental health struggles, disordered eating, and interest in illicit substances. They posed as these teens in structured conversations with ChatGPT, using prompts designed to appear emotionally vulnerable and realistic. The results were published on Wednesday in a report titled ‘Fake Friend’, referencing the way many adolescents treat ChatGPT as a supportive presence they trust with their private thoughts.

The researchers found that the chatbot often began responses with boilerplate disclaimers and urged users to contact professionals or crisis hotlines. However, these warnings were soon followed by detailed and personalized responses that fulfilled the original harmful prompt. In 53% of the 1,200 prompts submitted, the ChatGPT provided what CCDH classified as dangerous content. Refusals were frequently bypassed simply by adding context such as “it’s for a school project” or “I’m asking for a friend.” Examples cited include an ‘Ultimate Mayhem Party Plan’ that combined alcohol, ecstasy, and cocaine, detailed instructions on self-harm, week-long fasting regimens limited to 300-500 calories per day, and suicide letters written in the voice of a 13-year-old girl. CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed said some of the content was so distressing it left researchers “crying.”

The organization has urged OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, to adopt a ‘Safety by Design’ approach, embedding protections such as stricter age verification, clearer usage restrictions, and other safety features within the architecture of its AI tools rather than relying on content filtering after deployment. OpenAI has acknowledged that emotional overreliance on ChatGPT is common among young users. CEO Sam Altman said the company is actively studying the problem, calling it a “really common” issue among teens, and said new tools are in development to detect distress and improve ChatGPT’s handling of sensitive topics.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Booing

Gut-brain
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1953463467886727679

boss

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle August 1 2025

Aug 012025
 
 August 1, 2025  Posted by at 10:01 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  54 Responses »


Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec Portrait of Vincent van Gogh 1887

 

• US Could Offer Russia Enormous Economic Deal – Politico (RT)
• Medvedev Mocks Trump’s ‘Nervous Reaction’ (RT)
• Trump Says Medvedev ‘Entering Very Dangerous Territory’ (RT)
• Trump and Medvedev’s Dangerous Exchange of Words (Scott Ritter)
• Trump Raises Tariff On Dozens Of Countries, With Minimum Rate Of 10% (ZH)
• ‘Damage Has Been Done’: Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Czar Slams Zelensky (RT)
• Whistleblower On Russia Collusion Hoax Threatened Over Reporting: ODNI (JTN)
• Brennan, Clapper Downplay Steele Dossier’s Impact In Russiagate Investigation (JTN)
• Declassified Durham Annex Confirms Hillary Clinton Plan To Smear Trump (ZH)
• Declassified Document Links Russiagate Hoax To Soros (RT)
• Zelensky Calls For ‘Regime Change’ In Russia (RT)
• Germany and Rest of EU Transforming Into Fourth Reich – Lavrov (RT)
• The EU Can’t Make Peace – Only Enemies (Bordachev)
• Even If Obama Has Immunity, He Could Face Prosecution (Margolis)
• MTG introduces Clean Skies Act Banning Weather Modification, Geoengineering (AmG)
• RFK Jr. Drops Stunning New Vaccine Announcement (VF)

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1950526910305292748

hillary

pelosi act
https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1950615656803480020

https://twitter.com/JesseBWatters/status/1950719164231905580

flynn

tulsi
https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1950966222641639721

 

 

 

 

Kalo mina. Let’s start today in left field. If Politico is even half right here, that would shift the earth. It’s just that Russia’s principles are not for sale. Still, how much of Trump knows his current course leads to something he absolutely doesn’t want, war with Russia?!

• US Could Offer Russia Enormous Economic Deal – Politico (RT)

Diplomats in Eastern Europe have been raising concerns that US President Donald Trump could offer Moscow sweeping concessions and “enormous economic deals” to settle the Ukraine conflict, Politico has reported. In an article published on Thursday, citing Eastern European officials, US experts, and industry insiders, the outlet suggests that a Trump-led peace initiative might involve lifting sanctions on Russian energy – a move described as a “sledgehammer that could smash” Western efforts to isolate Moscow. “Of course, we are concerned about the talk of a return to Russian energy, and the lack of clarity about the US’ position,” an Eastern European official said.

Since the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022, the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia – with a heavy focus on energy – in a bid to cripple its economy and isolate it politically. The EU, once heavily reliant on Russian supplies, has sought to cut ties. However, Russia still accounts for 17.5% of its LNG imports, second only to the US, which holds a 45.3% share. In May, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen proposed phasing out all remaining Russian gas imports by the end of 2027. The plan drew strong criticism from several member states. The EU has invested heavily in LNG infrastructure, linking terminals to Central and Eastern Europe, with countries such as Lithuania prepared to pay a premium for American gas over the cheaper Russian alternative.

However, Politico noted that Brussels’ latest $750 billion energy deal with Washington would require the bloc to slash purchases from other suppliers, including cheaper sources, and more than triple its US imports. Still, the economic pull of Russian gas remains strong. In Germany, some politicians have signaled an openness to resuming imports to revive the country’s struggling industry. Russian energy, the sources noted, remains more affordable than US supplies, once shipping and processing costs are factored in. Russia maintains it is a reliable energy supplier and has denounced Western restrictions as illegal under international law. Moscow has redirected most exports to ‘friendly’ markets, mostly in Asia.

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“If some words from the former president of Russia trigger such a nervous reaction from the high-and-mighty president of the United States, then Russia is doing everything right..”

• Medvedev Mocks Trump’s ‘Nervous Reaction’ (RT)

US President Donald Trump’s angry comments toward Russian officials were a “nervous reaction” and are evidence that Moscow is pursuing the right path, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said. Medvedev was responding to a post by Trump on Truth Social hours earlier, in which the US president described him as a “failed” former leader and warned him to “watch his words,” adding that Medvedev was “entering very dangerous territory.” “If some words from the former president of Russia trigger such a nervous reaction from the high-and-mighty president of the United States, then Russia is doing everything right and will continue to proceed along its own path,” Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote on social media.

He also ridiculed Trump’s claim that the Russian and Indian economies were “dead” and going “down together” due to lack of cooperation with the US. Medvedev had earlier dismissed Trump’s demands for Moscow to swiftly end its military campaign against Ukraine, calling the threats of secondary sanctions against Russian energy customers “theatrical” and ineffective. Medvedev insisted that such ultimatums will not prevent Russia from pursuing its national security goals and merely make Trump appear similar to his predecessor, Joe Biden.

Trump previously criticized the BRICS group of nations, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and several other states pursuing a new multipolar world order. The US president claimed proposed tariffs on countries doing business with BRICS members could cripple the organization. Trump’s statement regarding India and Medvedev followed New Delhi’s refusal to accommodate US demands on trade.

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I have no idea why Trump all of a sudden wants to address Medvedev.

• Trump Says Medvedev ‘Entering Very Dangerous Territory’ (RT)

US President Donald Trump has issued a warning to former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, calling him a “failed” leader and cautioning him against combative rhetoric. Medvedev, now serving as deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, had earlier dismissed the notion that Trump, or any other US official, could dictate Moscow’s stance on the Ukraine conflict. His comments came in response to American calls for Russia to negotiate peace or face tougher sanctions. Trump fired back on Wednesday in a post on Truth Social, in which he vented frustration over resistance from Russia and India to his international trade agenda. He claimed both countries had “dead economies,” before singling out Medvedev.

“Tell Medvedev, the failed former President of Russia, who thinks he’s still President, to watch his words. He’s entering very dangerous territory!” Trump wrote. Medvedev responded, saying the “nervous” reaction by the American leader simply proved that Russia was right in its policy choices and should maintain its course. Earlier this week, Medvedev responded to remarks by US Senator Lindsey Graham, who warned Russia to comply with Trump’s demands for swift peace talks with Ukraine or face consequences. Medvedev retorted that “it’s not for you or Trump to dictate when to ‘get at the peace table.’”

Medvedev has criticized what he described as Trump’s “theatrical” ultimatums, warning that such pressure tactics only increase the risk of a direct conflict between the two nuclear powers. “Don’t go down the Sleepy Joe road!” he said, referencing Trump’s mocking nickname for former President Joe Biden. Russia continues to assert that it will meet all of its military objectives in the Ukraine conflict, whether by force or diplomacy. Officials in Moscow say a negotiated resolution is preferable but currently unfeasible due to what they describe as Kiev’s unreasonable positions and unwillingness to engage in good-faith talks.

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X post.

“..These missiles would be launched, broadcasting launch codes that would send all strategic nuclear force weapons to their targets, even if Moscow was taken out..”

• Trump and Medvedev’s Dangerous Exchange of Words (Scott Ritter)

As the rhetoric heats up, we must remain cognizant of the consequences. The sharp exchange of words between President Trump and former President Medvedev underscores just how dangerous the deteriorating relations between the US and Russia have become. The threats being promulgated are not idle ones. President Trump has become enthralled with the Israeli “Nasrallah” solution—leadership decapitation and middle management disruption designed to bring about the rapid collapse of a government/system. It was tried—and failed—in Iran. But Trump is being advised by Russophobes who believe that the US can successfully implement such a plan against Russia. This plan begins with sanctions, as all such plans do. It ends with a decapitation strike on Moscow.

Trump’s imagined conversation with Putin, where he threatened to “bomb the sh*t out of Moscow”, is indicative of the President’s thinking in this regard. The preferred decapitation strike is done using B-52 bombers launching cruise missiles, accompanied by Trident missiles launched from Ohio-class submarines operating off the coast of Russia, allowing for a flatter trajectory flight and shorter flight time. Medvedev’s comment about the “Dead Hand” indicates that Russia is well aware of Trump’s plans. The “Dead Hand”, or Perimeter system, is a long-standing fail-safe mechanism/plan which guarantees a full-scale nuclear retaliation in case any nation is foolish enough to try a decapitation strike. It dates back to Soviet times, when a special regiment of SS-20 missiles was equipped with radio transmission devices instead of warheads.

These missiles would be launched, broadcasting launch codes that would send all strategic nuclear force weapons to their targets, even if Moscow was taken out. This wasn’t theoretical—in my book Disarmament in the Time of Perestroika, I write about how the Soviets transitioned this capability to the SS-25 system once the SS-20 was eliminated under the INF treaty. Today this mission is being handled by special regiment of SS-27 missiles. There are other components of the “Dead Hand”. Medvedev’s mentioning of it is a not-to-gentle reminder to Trump and his planners that it is suicide to think of a preemptive decapitation strike against Russia. Hopefully this message gets through. Otherwise, the “Walking Dead” allusion made by Medvedev will be the future of the United States and the world.

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Too many changes, too fast?! Who can keep up?

• Trump Raises Tariff On Dozens Of Countries, With Minimum Rate Of 10% (ZH)

Almost 4 months after Liberation Day sparked a global market crash, moments ago T-Day finally arrived… and barely anyone noticed. Late on Thursday, just ahead of the August 1 deadline for tariff renegotiation, President Trump announced a slew of new tariffs, including a 10% global minimum and 15% or higher duties for countries with trade surpluses with the US, forging ahead with his unprecedented effort to reshape international commerce. First, the silver lining: baseline rates for many trading partners remain unchanged from the duties Trump imposed in April, which may ease investors’ worst fears – although with the S&P sitting at record highs it is difficult to claim anyone had any fears about anything – after the president had previously said they could even double. Yet Trump’s decision to raise tariffs on Canadian goods to 35% threatens to inject fresh tensions into an already strained relationship.

Trump signed the new tariff directive just hours before his prior Aug. 1 deadline for higher tariffs to kick in on scores of trading partners. As Bloomberg reports, most tariffs will take effect after midnight on Aug 7, to allow time for US Customs and Border Protection to make necessary changes to collect the levies. Taken together, the result will be significantly higher tariffs on goods from almost all US trading partners. The average US tariff rate will rise to 15.2% if rates are implemented as announced, according to Bloomberg Economics, an increase from 13.3%, and significantly higher than the 2.3% it was in 2024, before Trump took office. Major industrialized economies, including the European Union, Japan and South Korea, accepted 15% duties on their products, while charges on items from Mexico, Canada and China are even bigger.

Today’s announcement notwithstanding, Trump is expected to unveil separate tariffs on imports of pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, critical minerals and other key industrial products in the coming weeks. Other details are also forthcoming, including so-called “rules of origin” to decide which products are transshipped, or routed through another country, and thus would face at least a 40% rate, a senior US official told Bloomberg, adding that a decision will be made in the coming weeks. The senior US official said there is no date yet when revised auto tariff rates would be implemented. Thursday’s order was signed behind closed doors without the fanfare of Trump’s April tariff rollout, during which he brandished placards with rates during a Rose Garden event. Since then Trump has faced criticism for overpromising on trade deals after he and aides vowed to broker numerous agreements, with at least one pledging “90 deals in 90 days.”

In the end, imports from about 40 countries will face the new 15% rate and roughly a dozen economies’ products will be hit with higher duties, either because they reached a deal or Trump sent them a letter unilaterally setting import taxes. The latter group has the highest goods-trade surpluses with the US. Some of those were expected, such as a 25% levy on Indian exports that Trump announced this week on social media. Others included charges of 20% on Taiwanese products and 30% on South African goods. Thailand and Cambodia, two countries that were said to have struck a last-minute deal, received a 19% duty, matching rates imposed on regional neighbors including Indonesia and the Philippines. Vietnam’s goods will be tariffed at 20%, according to the WSJ. Trump’s deals with the EU, Japan and South Korea would lower duties on their vehicle exports to 15% from the general rate of 25%.

In a separate order, Trump followed through on his threat to hike tariffs on exports from Canada, one of the US’s largest trading partners, from 25% to 35% for goods that do not comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. That change excludes goods that are covered under the North American trade pact he negotiated in his first term. That stood in contrast to the 90-day extension Mexico received to negotiate a better agreement. Earlier in the day, Trump wrote on Truth Social that he agreed to extend for 90 days the existing tariffs on Mexican goods. He said a 25% fentanyl tariff, a 25% tariff on cars and a 50% tariff on steel, aluminum and copper would remain in place. Still other nations are set to be hit with even higher tariffs. Trump has pledged to hike tariffs to 50% on Brazil over its digital policies and legal action against former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally.

The lower 10% and 15% rates are expected to apply to a wide range of mostly smaller- and medium-sized economies that Trump showed little interest in bargaining with one-on-one. He had signaled in recent days there were simply too many countries to cut individualized deals with all of them. Some smaller states, however, were hit with the highest rates, including Syria at 41%, as well as Laos and Myanmar and 40% each, both preferred hubs of Chinese transshipments. [..] One big exception from this week’s deadline is China, which faces an Aug. 12 deadline for its tariff truce with the US to expire. The Trump administration has signaled that is likely to be extended. No final decision has been made but the recent US-China talks in Stockholm were positive, the official said.

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If you give in to street protests, you’re found out.

• ‘Damage Has Been Done’: Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Czar Slams Zelensky (RT)

Ukraine’s top anti-corruption prosecutor has accused Vladimir Zelensky of severely undermining the country’s independent anti-graft institutions, warning that his U-turn – under pressure from protesters and Western backers – will not remedy the damage done. The remarks come following a wave of protests and widespread international criticism over Zelensky’s attempt to bring the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) under the authority of the executive branch, which he controls. Despite Zelenksy announcing a U-turn following threats of funding cuts from Brussels, the head of SAPO, Aleksandr Klimenko, has insisted that serious damage has already been done.

“Our work has been effectively stopped,” Klimenko said in an interview with the Financial Times published on Wednesday, explaining that the takeover triggered a collapse in cooperation from whistleblowers and raised fears of persecution among investigators. “Almost all of our whistleblowers stopped co-operating with us,” Klimenko stated. “The NABU team is currently confused and frightened because they understand they can be detained without sufficient evidence.” The move to place SAPO and NABU under presidential control – which parliament passed on July 22 and Zelensky signed the same evening – immediately sparked protests in Kiev, Lviv, Dnepr, Odessa, and other cities. Demonstrators demanded full restoration of the agencies’ independence, shouting slogans such as ”Corruption kills,” ”Treason,” and “Zelya is the devil.”

The public backlash and criticism from Kiev’s Western sponsors prompted Zelensky to submit a new bill, promising to reinstate full autonomy for the anti-corruption bodies. A parliamentary vote on the legislation is expected to take place on Thursday, but its passage remains uncertain due to wavering support within his own party. Klimenko revealed that ahead of the raid, SAPO and NABU were investigating corruption allegations involving 31 sitting lawmakers and 40 former MPs, including members of Zelensky’s ruling party. He suggested the attacks on the anti-graft bodies were likely motivated by attempts to derail these investigations. The SAPO chief explained that the anti-graft agencies managed to maintain their independence over the years “largely thanks to international partners – especially the Americans,” but once “interest and pressure waned, that’s part of why this attack was possible.”

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“..statements from a direct supervisor pressuring intelligence officials to endorse the ICA to receive a promotion..”

• Whistleblower On Russia Collusion Hoax Threatened Over Reporting: ODNI (JTN)

A senior intelligence official, who was a whistleblower in the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, was threatened over reporting wrongdoing, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. On Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released new documents that give a firsthand account of what the office say is the whistleblower’s “relentless efforts to expose the egregious manipulation and manufacturing of intelligence.” The documents include the whistleblower’s work done in the months leading up to the November 2016 election, their concerns about using “discredited information as then-DNI Clapper and Central Intelligence Agency Director Brennan worked to craft the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) at President Obama’s request,” and how a direct supervisor attempted to pressure them to endorse the key findings of the ICA about the Russian government’s alleged support for Donald Trump at the time, according to the office.

“Thank you to the brave Intelligence Community Whistleblower who courageously came forward to expose the truth about one of the biggest and most impactful scandals in our nation’s history,” Gabbard said in a statement. The documents include what the whistleblower alleges are statements from a direct supervisor pressuring intelligence officials to endorse the ICA to receive a promotion and concerns over flawed intelligence practices, such as choosing to use open-source references to Russian media as “evidence” for the Russian government’s support for Trump, but ignoring foreign media from other countries, including NATO allies, that supported Hillary Clinton and denigrated Trump.

According to the whistleblower’s records, then-DNI James Clapper and other senior Obama administration officials denounced the Steele dossier privately, but also ensured that the January 2017 ICA included it. The dossier was political opposition research on Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign compiled by British counterintelligence specialist Christopher Steele. The finding in the report that the campaign appeared to collude with Russia have now been debunked. The whistleblower reported their concerns to more than a dozen government offices including to the office of Justice Department special counsel John Durham, the intelligence community inspector general, a U.S. senator and other official whistleblower channels over the last six years.

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There are rumors circling that Brennan still today has intensive contacts inside the CIA.

• Brennan, Clapper Downplay Steele Dossier’s Impact In Russiagate Investigation (JTN)

Former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper on Wednesday hit back at the Trump administration over allegations they were involved in a treasonous scheme related to Russiagate. The Trump administration and Senate Republicans have recently declassified intelligence reports that allegedly reveal a plot by former President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to falsely link President Donald Trump to Russia to distract from Clinton’s own classified email server scandal in 2016. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard earlier this month also stated that her office had “revealed overwhelming evidence that demonstrates how, after President Donald Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama and his national security cabinet members manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump.”

The report released by Gabbard also alleges the December 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment glossed over evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin may have favored (or at least fully expected) a Hillary Clinton victory nine years ago. Brennan and Clapper on Wednesday defended their investigation in an opinion piece for the New York Times, and claimed that the assessment was focused on Russia’s actions, not whether the country colluded with someone in the U.S. “The assessment made no judgment about the impact of Russian information operations on the outcome of the election,” the former intelligence officials wrote. “While some state and local electoral boards and voter information and registration systems were accessed by Russian intelligence, the assessment made clear that none of those types of systems were involved in counting votes.

“Russian influence operations might have shaped the views of Americans before they entered the voting booth, but we found no evidence that the Russians changed any actual votes,” they added. They also pushed back on the use of the now-discredited Steele Dossier in their investigation, stating that the dossier was “not a source or taken into account for any of its analysis or conclusions.” “We have testified under oath, and the reviews of the assessment have confirmed, that the dossier was not used as a source or taken into account for any of its analysis or conclusions,” the pair said. “At the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s insistence, a short summary of the dossier was added as a separate annex only to the most highly classified version of the document that contained the assessment. That annex also explained why the dossier was not used in the assessment.”

The duo additionally defended the validity of the 2016 intelligence assessment, arguing that even the bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Intelligence validated the assessment’s findings. The select committee included now Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “While some external critiques have noted that parts of the Russia investigation could have been handled better, multiple, thorough, yearslong reviews of the assessment have validated its findings and the rigor of its analysis,” the pair said. “The special counsel John Durham, who was appointed during Trump’s first term to investigate how the Russia probe was conducted, similarly found no evidence of an Obama administration conspiracy against Trump,” they continued. “But he affirmed the findings of the special counsel Robert Mueller, who conducted a separate investigation into the allegations, which found ample evidence of Russian interference in the election.”

The pair concluded by defending their efforts to keep the intelligence review under wraps, declaring that they knew any leaks about Russia’s meddling in the election would become “political dynamite.” “Despite claims by Trump administration officials of a nefarious political conspiracy, we did everything we could at the time to prevent leaks of intelligence reports, including Russia’s preference for Mr. Trump, a requirement that President Obama regularly emphasized,” they wrote. “We knew such reports would be political dynamite. And despite substantial reporting on the matter, we succeeded in preventing such leaks before the election.”

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The Durham Annex is a treasure trove.. Much more to come. Does make one wonder why so much was buried in an annex.

• Declassified Durham Annex Confirms Hillary Clinton Plan To Smear Trump (ZH)

On Thursday, newly declassified documents reveal that not only did the CIA believe a Russian intelligence assessment that the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign planned to smear Donald Trump by linking him to the Kremlin, it’s clear that the FBI helped the Clinton campaign orchestrate the Russia hoax to distract from its investigation into her emails.

To review:
• Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard earlier this month declassified several documents – including a 2020 House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) report and other intelligence communications revealing that the Obama administration “manufactured and politicized intelligence” to create a false narrative that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to help Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.
• Gabbard’s releases highlight the inclusion of the Steele dossier – an unverified report funded by the Clinton campaign alleging ties between Trump and Russia – in the 2017 ICA as an annex. The hoax dossier was used to bolster the Russian interference narrative, despite CIA objections and its discredited status. The HPSCI report states that Brennan insisted on referencing the dossier, even though senior CIA officers warned it was flawed, with Brennan allegedly saying, “doesn’t it ring true?
• Gabbard has called these actions a “treasonous conspiracy” led by Obama, Brennan, Clapper, James Comey, Susan Rice, and others, aimed at undermining Trump’s presidency. She has referred the documents to the Justice Department and FBI for investigation into potential criminal implications.

And now we have the Durham annex… which includes a 2016 memorandum alleging that Russian intelligence knew of a Clinton campaign plan to tie Trump to Russian hackers. This memo claims the plan was designed to “distract the [American] public from the Clinton email server scandal.” Gabbard’s HPSCI report similarly references Russian intelligence claiming Clinton’s campaign discussed linking Putin to Trump.

• Clinton’s Approval of Smear Campaign: Pages 4 and 5 of the annex, highlighted in X posts, contain a 2016 memorandum alleging that Clinton personally approved a plan on July 26, 2016, to frame Trump with Russian hacking claims. • The memo suggests this was to distract from her email scandal, with coordination involving DNC leadership and outside groups.
Russian Intelligence Awareness: The annex confirms that Russian intelligence was aware of this plan, which aligns with Gabbard’s claim that the FBI and CIA had access to this information but pursued the Trump-Russia narrative anyway.
• No New Criminal Charges: Despite these allegations, Durham’s broader investigation (2019–2023) found no evidence of a criminal conspiracy among Obama officials to fabricate intelligence. He criticized the FBI’s handling of the Steele dossier and Crossfire Hurricane but did not charge Brennan, Clapper, or others named by Gabbard.

As ZH regular TechnoFog notes;

To briefly summarize, the Classified Appendix provided further information about the matters covered in parts of Durham’s report – specifically, those relating to Hillary Clinton’s plan to link Trump and Russia; the threat of foreign influence by a foreign government; and the Carter Page FISA application renewals. But the most material information covers the Clinton Plan, and provides further details on how that plan started, efforts by Clinton and her team to influence officials within the Obama Administration, and how the Clinton Campaign would use Crowdstrike to further their theory that the Russians hacked and leaked information from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). The Smoking Gun(s)…

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1950940242401280278?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1950940242401280278%7Ctwgr%5Efd3b7c821c19fe93912eb2c9416995b1c9e80227%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fsmoking-gun-declassified-durham-appendix-confirms-hillary-clinton-plan-smear-trump-use

And as Michael Shellenberger notes, the CIA believed Russian memos mentioning a Clinton plan to smear Trump as a Russian asset: “The CIA prepared a written assessment of the authenticity and veracity of the above-mentioned intelligence. The CIA stated that it did not assess that the above [redacted] memoranda or [redacted] hacked U.S. communications, to be the product of Russian fabrications.” What’s more, other memos reveal that the plan was to have Crowdstrike and ‘ThreatConnect’ spin narratives to the media in the absence of actual evidence of Trump-Russia collusion. Stay tuned, things are getting spicier…

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“..Clinton’s foreign policy adviser Julianne Smith, who said the future Russiagate “will be a long term affair to demonize [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Trump.”

• Declassified Document Links Russiagate Hoax To Soros (RT)

A newly unclassified document suggests George Soros’ Open Society Foundation was involved in the effort by the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016 to falsely accuse then-candidate Donald Trump of ties to Russia. The document, a 29-page annex to John Durham’s 2023 Special Counsel report, was released by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday shortly after it was declassified. It sheds more light on what Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) described as “one of the biggest political scandals and cover-ups in American history.” “Based on the Durham annex, the Obama FBI failed to adequately review and investigate intelligence reports showing the Clinton campaign may have been ginning up the fake Trump-Russia narrative for Clinton’s political gain… These intelligence reports and related records, whether true or false, were buried for years,” Grassley said in a statement.

The annex cites several emails allegedly sent by Leonard Benardo, senior vice president of Open Society Foundations, throughout July 2016, which provide details on the Clinton campaign’s plans to falsely accuse Trump of Russia links and tie him to the alleged Democratic National Committee (DNC) hack. Analysis by the Durham team concluded the Benardo emails “were likely authentic,” the annex states.“During the first stage of the campaign, due to lack of direct evidence, it was decided to disseminate the necessary information through the FBI-affiliated ‘attic-based’ technical structures… in particular, the Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect companies, from where the information would then be disseminated through leading US publications,” one of the emails reads.

Another email purportedly sent by Benardo states that the “media analysis on the DNC hacking appears solid” and suggests that “later the FBI will put more oil into fire,” apparently predicting the probe by the agency. It also cites an individual named “Julie,” identified in the annex as Clinton’s foreign policy adviser Julianne Smith, who said the future Russiagate “will be a long term affair to demonize [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Trump.”

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“It’s time to confiscate Russian assets, not just freeze them..,”

• Zelensky Calls For ‘Regime Change’ In Russia (RT)

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has called on Kiev’s Western backers to push for regime change in Moscow in order to “defend” themselves from alleged “Russian aggression.” The Ukrainian leader delivered his remarks during a conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Accords, which emphasized equal and indivisible security for all. In an article published for the same occasion, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov argued that the West’s betrayal of those core principles was a key factor that led to the ongoing conflict. “I believe Russia can be pushed to stop this war… But if the world doesn’t aim to change the regime in Russia, that means even after the war ends, Moscow will still try to destabilize neighboring countries,” Zelensky said in his virtual address.

“It’s time to confiscate Russian assets, not just freeze them,” he added, urging Kiev’s sponsors to “put every frozen Russian asset… to work defending against Russian aggression.” Moscow has repeatedly dismissed speculation that Russia plans to attack the EU and NATO as “nonsense.” Lavrov said the EU is sliding into what he described as a “Fourth Reich,” marked by a surge in Russophobia and aggressive militarization, while President Vladimir Putin has accused Western states of deceiving their populations to justify inflated military budgets and cover up economic failures.

Russia has stated that it is ready to negotiate peace with Ukraine and has held several rounds of direct talks with Kiev in recent months. At the same time, it has accused Ukraine and its Western backers of lacking interest in reaching a long-term solution that addresses the root causes of the conflict and the territorial reality on the ground. Moscow has also raised concerns about Zelensky’s legal authority. His five-year presidential term expired in May 2024, but he has refused to call new elections, citing martial law. Russian officials have suggested that any documents signed under his name could later be challenged, insisting that the true power now lies with the Ukrainian parliament.

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“If they want to be part of the process, they must learn proper manners, abandon diktat and colonial instincts, and get used to equality and teamwork.”

• Germany and Rest of EU Transforming Into Fourth Reich – Lavrov (RT)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has accused Germany and the wider European Union of sliding into what he described as a “Fourth Reich,” marked by a surge in Russophobia and aggressive militarization. The stark warning was delivered in an article published on Friday in the newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act on European security. Lavrov criticized the EU and NATO for betraying the core principles of the Helsinki process, which emphasized equal and indivisible security for all. Instead, he claimed that Western powers have pursued unilateral dominance, NATO expansion, and political interference in sovereign states under the guise of promoting democracy and human rights.

“Today’s Europe has completely plunged into a Russophobic frenzy, and its militarization is becoming, in fact, uncontrolled,” Lavrov wrote, citing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s calls to build Europe’s strongest army and reintroduce conscription as evidence. He also pointed to recent remarks by Germany’s defense minister about the need to be prepared to kill Russian soldiers as further proof of a hostile and dehumanizing agenda. This brings historical events to mind. With their current leaders, modern Germany and the rest of Europe are transforming into a Fourth Reich. He argued that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has failed in its mission and has instead become a vehicle for Western propaganda and selective enforcement. He said the West ignored Russian calls for equitable security guarantees, and that NATO’s continued encroachment on Russia’s borders left Moscow no choice but to launch its 2022 military operation in Ukraine.

To defuse tensions, Lavrov called for “an honest dialogue” aimed at stabilizing the situation on the Eurasian continent through a new security framework based on sovereign equality and the principles of the UN Charter. “There will be a place for European countries within this architecture,” he wrote, “but they certainly will not be the ones calling the tune. If they want to be part of the process, they must learn proper manners, abandon diktat and colonial instincts, and get used to equality and teamwork.” Lavrov concluded by warning that if NATO and the EU continue to hollow out the OSCE’s core principles, the organization may collapse altogether, and history will remember those who “buried” the last chance for peaceful coexistence in Europe.

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“Europe is leaving the world stage in disgrace..”

• The EU Can’t Make Peace – Only Enemies (Bordachev)

The most dangerous thing about Western Europe today is not just its decline, but its refusal to recognize it. The half-continent continues to posture, continues to lecture, and continues to imagine itself as a pillar of global order. But it has lost the internal resources that once sustained that illusion. What remains is a hollow echo of power, wrapped in a language of values that even those same Western Europeans no longer seem to believe. The region’s failure is most visible in its inability to make peace. Time and again, it chooses confrontation – with Russia, with China, with reality itself. Devoid of meaningful autonomy, it now functions as a permanent appendage of the US. It is no longer an actor on the world stage, but a supporting cast member, often unwelcome and increasingly irrelevant.

Western Europe’s descent has been rapid. Just 10 or 15 years ago, it projected global importance and confidence. Today, the cracks are impossible to ignore. The reasons are many: Elite degradation, political inertia, a population gripped by apathy. But above all, it is the bloc’s unrelenting selfishness – its refusal to give, only to demand – that lies at the heart of this collapse. Nowhere was this clearer than in last week’s failed EU-China summit. Eurocrats went to Beijing with nothing to offer, only with a desire to extract. China, which has no historical affection for Western Europe, responded accordingly. There was simply nothing to discuss.

And then, as if to underscore its strategic drift, the bloc offered a humiliating concession to the US. Faced with the threat of new tariffs, Brussels agreed to purchase American energy and weapons in vast quantities. So much for ‘strategic autonomy’. These are not signs of a serious power. These are the actions of a civilization on the back foot, stumbling blindly into dependence. Anyone still speaking of a sovereign EU industrial or defense policy is either a fantasist or a liar. What then does Western Europe have to offer the world? One might say historical symphonic music. But beyond that, its legacy is one of oppression and self-justifying tyranny. Its technical achievements were built to subjugate others. Its political philosophy was designed to defend conquest and exploitation.

Fifteen years ago, I sat in a closed meeting organized by Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief at the time. The topic: Western Europe’s new role in the world. The one suggestion they could not accept was that the bloc should offer something to the world without expecting a reward. Their worldview simply doesn’t allow for that. Even in climate change – a cause that should unite the planet – the EU has turned the issue into a cynical trade weapon, using green regulations to punish developing countries. The result? Western Europe stands alone. It has lost its power, and with it, its relevance. Worse, it doesn’t even seem to understand what it’s lost.

Can the region still pose a threat? Possibly. But not because it has the strength. Rather, because it has the recklessness. Its politicians lack vision, competence, or restraint. They cannot imagine peace. And so they default to confrontation – especially with Russia. The danger is not that Western Europe is ready to fight. Its people enjoy lives too comfortable to risk. Its defense industry is in disrepair. But wars can begin through stupidity as well as strength. EU elites, betting on regime change in Moscow, continue to pour weapons into Ukraine. Some dream of extending the conflict into the Baltics. Others talk of arming mercenaries to fight Russia directly.

The Americans won’t die for Europe. That much is clear. But the EU may yet drag the world into catastrophe, simply by being incapable of restraint. If by some miracle a wider war is avoided, what then? What is Western Europe’s future? A museum of irrelevance? A vassal of Washington? Already it is falling behind in science, in technology, in global influence. It doesn’t know where it belongs, and is incapable of adjusting. It will become a permanent satellite of the US – militarily, politically, and economically. Key industries will be handed over. National elites will lose the power to govern. The Collective West as we know it will vanish. In its place: America, and a few adjacent territories managed by obedient proxies. Perhaps this is what Western Europe deserves. It is certainly the path it has chosen.

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“Because of that immunity, he loses the ability to invoke the Fifth Amendment if he’s called before a grand jury..”

• Even If Obama Has Immunity, He Could Face Prosecution (Margolis)

Barack Obama may soon be facing the consequences of a trap he helped set. As we previously reported, investigative journalist John Solomon told Steve Bannon last week that Obama likely won’t be indicted for his role in the Russiagate scandal despite the mounting declassified evidence tying him directly to the scheme. However, he may be wrong. As I’ve pointed out, Obama could indeed face indictment because the Supreme Court did not give presidents blanket immunity. The court ruled that “The President enjoys no immunity for his unofficial acts, and not everything the President does is official. The President is not above the law.” Still, Solomon believes that while Obama may avoid formal charges, he’s far from out of legal jeopardy and could be facing serious trouble ahead.

Appearing on Real America’s Voice, Solomon laid out the real legal problems facing the former president. He echoed the widespread belief that the Supreme Court’s ruling shields Obama from prosecution for official acts performed as president. Solomon didn’t stop there. Even he knows that’s not the full story, and this time, neither immunity nor the careful spin of “official acts” will shield Obama from scrutiny. “However, Barack Obama can now be summoned before a grand jury. He cannot take the Fifth Amendment because he has immunity from prosecution. He’ll have to tell the truth. If he lies as a private citizen about what he did as president, he’ll no longer have that immunity.”

It’s an irony that hangs heavy, given Obama’s own tactics as president. “The irony of that is significant, because on Jan. 5, 2017, he presided over a meeting in the White House where the FBI had just cleared Mike Flynn of any wrongdoing. And they schemed in that meeting how they might be able to jam up Mike Flynn. They came up with the idea: ‘We’ll lure him into an interview, catch him in a lie, and then prosecute him that way.’ Barack Obama is now about to face a potentially similar situation—one he unfairly created for Mike Flynn.”

If we accept Solomon’s assessment that Obama has immunity that may keep him safe in the technical sense for official acts, it’s now a double-edged sword. Because of that immunity, he loses the ability to invoke the Fifth Amendment if he’s called before a grand jury to testify about what actually transpired in his White House during those fraught days—especially regarding the plotting against General Flynn. He’ll be compelled to answer directly, under oath. And if he lies, he is in legal jeopardy—the exact “trap” his own administration foisted on Flynn. I still think Obama isn’t protected because the Supreme Court indicated that not all acts by the president are official. Actions motivated by politics or personal vendetta don’t get the same constitutional shelter as legitimate actions. Nobody gets to walk free simply because they once held power. The Supreme Court’s ruling was a test, and Obama is about to find out just how limited immunity can be once he steps outside those constitutional boundaries. One way or another, justice may come for Barack Obama.

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Good on her. Got to start somewhere.

• MTG introduces Clean Skies Act Banning Weather Modification, Geoengineering (AmG)

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has introduced the Clear Skies Act of 2025 calling for an end to what she calls the “dangerous and deadly practice of weather modification and geoengineering.” The bill, designated H.R. 4403, would prohibit weather modification through the use of geoengineering, cloud seeding, and solar radiation management through the release of chemicals into the atmosphere to change the weather, temperature, climate or to block out sunlight. If enacted, the law would punish weather modification violations as a felony with offenders facing up to $100,000 in fines and/or five years in prison for each violation.

https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1949890795982496004?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1949890795982496004%7Ctwgr%5Ec12e17fa6e6532683cb2d5ac343102f5339b1e3d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Famgreatness.com%2F2025%2F07%2F29%2Frep-greene-introduces-clean-skies-act-banning-weather-modification-geoengineering%2F

Greene says her bill is similar to Florida’s S.B. 56 which repeals the state’s ability to issue permits for geoengineering and weather modification and prohibits the injection, release, or dispersion of chemicals or substances into the atmosphere for the express purpose of altering weather, temperature, climate, or sunlight intensity. Under the Clear Skies Act, all existing federal authority and executive orders permitting weather modification would be repealed and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Department of Justice (DOJ) would be directed to investigate and prosecute violations.

H.B. 4403 would also create a public reporting system that would allow Americans to report suspicious activity and which the EPA would be required to investigate. In announcing the Clear Skies Act Greene spoke of the need to protect the nation’s skies, waters and people from weather modification, saying, “It’s time to end this dangerous and unregulated practice.”

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“Over 39 years, the VICP has awarded just $5.4 billion to 12,000 victims. That comes out to about “1.2 awards per million doses administered.”

• RFK Jr. Drops Stunning New Vaccine Announcement (VF)

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. just took aim at a system that has failed Americans for nearly 40 years, the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). This program was created under the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which shielded vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits over injury claims. Before becoming HHS Secretary, Kennedy exposed how vaccine manufacturers were being hammered with lawsuits due to injuries. One of the largest manufacturers at the time, Wyeth (now part of Pfizer), reportedly told President Reagan: give us legal protection or we’ll stop making vaccines. Reagan’s response? Why not just make safer vaccines? Wyeth’s answer: Vaccines are “unavoidably unsafe.”

That phrase—“unavoidably unsafe”—would later appear in a Supreme Court decision and reflects the legal premise that some vaccine injuries are inevitable. “And so, anybody who tells you vaccines are safe and effective, the industry itself got immunity from liability by convincing the President and Congress that vaccines are unavoidably unsafe,” Kennedy previously stated. Senator Edward Kennedy, a key sponsor of the law, wrote at the time: “When … children are the victims of an appropriate and rational national policy, a compassionate government will assist them in their hour of need.” That compassionate government never showed up. Over 39 years, the VICP has awarded just $5.4 billion to 12,000 victims. That comes out to about “1.2 awards per million doses administered.”

In a brand-new statement on X, Secretary Kennedy said he intends to FIX the broken system. He explained that the court was meant to resolve claims “quickly and fairly,” with “doubts about causation resolved in favor of the victim.” But that hasn’t happened. “The structure itself hobbles claimants,” Kennedy wrote. “The defendant is HHS, not the vaccine makers; and claimants are therefore facing the monumental power and bottomless pockets of the U.S. government represented by the Department of Justice.” He explained how Special Masters, who decide the cases, often come from government or political backgrounds and typically show a strong pro-government bias. “There is no discovery, and the rules of evidence do not apply,” Kennedy lamented.

He added that petitioners’ attorneys report retaliation, fee suppression, and even denied access to the Vaccine Safety Datalink, a taxpayer-funded CDC database containing the best data on vaccine injuries. Worse, expert witnesses for injured children have reported intimidation and threats to their careers, including the loss of NIH funding if they testify. But Kennedy says that era is over. “The VICP is broken, and I intend to fix it,” he wrote on X. “I will not allow the VICP to continue to ignore its mandate and fail its mission of quickly and fairly compensating vaccine-injured individuals.” Kennedy added that he is working closely with AG Pam Bondi and HHS staff to restore the court’s original mission and pledges to “steer the Vaccine Court back to its original Congressional intent.”

https://twitter.com/TRUMP_ARMY_/status/1950866812683407360

Read more …

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1950715548259459211

werner
https://twitter.com/GenFlynn/status/1950885611147002295

lagarde

 

 

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Debt Rattle July 13 2025

Jul 132025
 
 July 13, 2025  Posted by at 9:21 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , ,  49 Responses »


Paul Gauguin Road in Tahiti 1891

 

• Trump To Impose 30% Tariffs On Mexico, European Union (ZH)
• Tariff Windfall Drives Surprise $27 Billion US Budget Surplus in June (ET)
• US Lawmakers Move To Curb Trump’s Control Over Ukraine Aid (RT)
• Trump Sees Zelensky As ‘Primary Obstacle’ To Ukraine Peace – FT (RT)
• Trump Denies Coverup In Jeffrey Epstein Case (RT)
• Nvidia CEO Makes Pit Stop At White House Before China Trip (ZH)
• Why John Brennan Belongs in Prison (Harsanyi)
• The Democratic Party Civil War Just Escalated Big Time (Margolis)
• How Do You Solve a Problem Like Mamdani? Democrats Don’t Know (Caldwell)
• Americans Fighting For Ukraine Should Lose Citizenship – Tucker Carlson (RT)
• Tucker Carlson Reveals Who He Thinks Funded Jeffrey Epstein’s Crimes (VF)
• Ukraine To Receive German-funded Long-range Weapons This Month (RT)
• Baltic Sea Will Remain Common Despite NATO Fantasies – Russian Ambassador (Sp.)
• France Is Sweating Its Brains Out Thanks To The EU’s Climate Madness (Marsden)

 

 

Benz

Lacalle


https://twitter.com/dlacalle_IA/status/1944150734406091037

Gaetz
https://twitter.com/MsKristaMonroe/status/1943896573844304013
https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1943722943860674593

Kirk

Miller

Scott

 

 

 

 

Has anyone seen a counterproposal from Europe? A dialogue even? Doesn’t that silence make them guilty by association?

• Trump To Impose 30% Tariffs On Mexico, European Union (ZH)

President Trump on Saturday morning fired off two trade warning letters via Truth Social, threatening to impose 30% tariffs on all Mexican and European imports starting August 1. The warning to Mexico hinges on action to curb the flow of fentanyl and dismantle drug cartels, while the threat to Europe demands an end to long-standing trade imbalances driven by EU tariffs and non-tariff barriers. This caps off a week of letters sent to America’s top trade partners, with tariff threats used as a negotiation tool by the Trump administration to seal deals.

“Despite our strong relationship, you will recall, the United States imposed Tariffs on Mexico to deal with our Nation’s Fentanyl crisis, which is caused, in part, by Mexico’s failure to stop the Cartels, who are made up of the most despicable people who ever walked the Earth, from pouring these drugs into our country,” Trump said in the letter addressed to Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. He continued, “Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough. Mexico still has not stopped the Cartels who are trying to turn all of North America into a Narco-Trafficking Playground.”

Here are the key points in the letter:
• 30% tariff will apply to all Mexican imports unless action is taken.
• Tariff waivers will be granted for companies that build or manufacture in the U.S.
• If Mexico raises tariffs in retaliation, the U.S. will match them on top of the 30%.
• Adjust tariffs if Mexico successfully confronts the cartels and halts fentanyl trafficking

The second letter by Trump was addressed to Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, in which he informed Brussels that he would impose a 30% tariff on all EU products starting August 1, unless long-standing trade imbalances—driven by EU tariffs and non-tariff barriers—are addressed. “The European Union, despite having one of our largest Trade Deficits with you. Nevertheless, we have decided to move forward, but only with more balanced and fair TRADE,” the president said.

He emphasized:
• The U.S. market is open and fair, but EU practices have created an unsustainable trade deficit.
• The 30% tariff applies separately from any sectoral tariffs and will be higher for goods transshipped to avoid it.
• No tariffs will be applied if EU companies manufacture within the U.S.
• The EU must allow full market access to the U.S. or face higher tariffs.
• Retaliatory EU tariffs will be met with additional levies.

Trump warned that this trade deficit with the EU is a “major threat to our Economy and, indeed, our National Security!”

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The tariffs story is almost everywhere presented in a negative light. There’s a flipside.

• Tariff Windfall Drives Surprise $27 Billion US Budget Surplus in June (ET)

New data from the Treasury Department show that surging tariff revenues in June helped the U.S. government post an unexpected budget surplus of $27 billion, offering a rare fiscal bright spot amid persistently high federal deficits and suggesting that President Donald Trump’s tariff policies are becoming a significant source of government revenue. After running a $316 billion deficit in May, the government recorded a surplus of just over $27 billion last month, according to data released on July 11 by the Treasury Department. The tariff windfall helped narrow the fiscal year-to-date deficit to $1.34 trillion—a slight 1 percent improvement from the same period last year. By contrast, June 2024 saw a $71 billion deficit. A key driver of the improved balance was a record-breaking surge in customs duties.

The Treasury data released on Friday show that tariff collections soared to $27 billion in June alone, pushing total tariff revenues since October to $108 billion—the highest ever recorded for the first nine months of a fiscal year. June’s haul marked a significant jump from May’s prior record of $22 billion and was about 93 percent higher than the $56 billion collected during the same nine-month span of the previous year. So far in July, customs duties have added another $2.4 billion to federal coffers, according to daily Treasury figures. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has predicted even higher tariff revenues in the months ahead. Speaking at a July 8 White House Cabinet meeting, he said the United States is on track to collect $300 billion by the end of calendar year 2025, noting that the “major” tariffs imposed under the Trump administration did not start until the second quarter.

https://twitter.com/TRUMP_ARMY_/status/1943691228291399938

Since returning to the White House for a second term, Trump has imposed 10 percent universal tariffs on trading partners, along with reciprocal tariffs announced in April on a number of nations, depending on the trade barriers they have with the United States. Trump initially applied a 90-day pause to most of the reciprocal tariffs, and later signed an executive order that extended the reprieve to Aug. 1. In recent days, the president sent letters to several countries—including Japan, South Korea, and Thailand—informing them that reciprocal tariffs ranging from 25 to 40 percent will be imposed after Aug. 1 unless they agree to reduce trade barriers and negotiate bilateral deals. Trump has said the higher duties will substantially boost government revenue.

“The big money will start coming in on Aug. 1st. I think it was made clear today by the letters that were sent out yesterday and today,” he said during the Cabinet meeting. Bessent also cited a June 4 report from the Congressional Budget Office projecting that tariff revenues could total $2.8 trillion over the next decade—a figure he said the administration believes is understated. Trump said he won’t extend the Aug. 1 deadline for countries to start paying reciprocal tariffs, signaling a firm stance after earlier suggesting flexibility for nations offering trade concessions.

In one recent round of letters, Trump announced new tariffs as follows: 25 percent on Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, South Korea, and Tunisia; 30 percent on Bosnia and Herzegovina and South Africa; 32 percent on Indonesia; 35 percent on Bangladesh and Serbia; 36 percent on Cambodia and Thailand; and 40 percent on Burma (also known as Myanmar) and Laos. In each letter, Trump noted that the tariffs might be lowered if countries open their markets and reduce non-tariff barriers, emphasizing that persistent trade deficits pose “a major threat” to U.S. economic and national security. More recently, Trump sent another round of letters, noting that Algeria, Iraq, Libya, and Sri Lanka will each be charged a 30 percent tariff, Brunei and Moldova will face a 25 percent tariff, and the Philippines will face a 20 percent tariff. The president has also announced that Canada will face 35 percent tariffs starting on Aug. 1.

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War guarantee.

• US Lawmakers Move To Curb Trump’s Control Over Ukraine Aid (RT)

A bill authorizing more Ukraine aid and barring the Pentagon from unilaterally halting arms shipments has passed the Senate Armed Services Committee. The measures are part of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the annual defense bill that outlines the Pentagon’s priorities and funding for the next fiscal year. The bill comes as tensions have risen between Congress and the White House over aid pauses earlier this year. In March, President Donald Trump temporarily halted all Ukraine assistance and intelligence sharing, while earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth paused weapons deliveries, citing the need to review dwindling Pentagon stockpiles. Aid resumed earlier this week after Trump expressed frustration over delays in the peace process and said Ukraine needs weapons to “defend” itself.

Media reports later suggested Trump had not been informed of the latest suspension and struggled to explain whether he had approved it. The new NDAA draft was passed in a bipartisan vote this week. It “reaffirms” US support for Ukraine, extends aid through 2028, increases annual authorizations from $300 million to $500 million, and requires the Pentagon to continue intelligence support for Kiev, according to a summary released on Friday. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, however, said the bill also includes language blocking the Pentagon from halting aid or intelligence sharing without congressional approval. She noted that provisions listed in the bill “put guardrails” on the Trump administration “to make sure promised military assistance continues to flow to Ukraine.”

A separate version of the NDAA drafted by House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers extends aid through 2028 but keeps it capped at $300 million per year. It also prohibits the Trump administration from halting funds without written justification to Congress and requires Hegseth to report regularly on support to Ukraine. The House committee will vote on its version on Tuesday. The bill must pass committee votes before being submitted for a full congressional vote. Ukraine has received nearly $115 billion in military, financial, and humanitarian US aid since its conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022. The military component of this sum has come through congressional bills such as the NDAA and the Presidential Drawdown Authority, a fund capped by Congress that allows the president to send US weapons directly to Kiev.

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So get rid of him instead of giving him weapons.

• Trump Sees Zelensky As ‘Primary Obstacle’ To Ukraine Peace – FT (RT)

US President Donald Trump continues to regard Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky as the main hurdle to resolving the conflict, despite his recent criticism of Moscow, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing sources. Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, Trump said he was “unhappy” with Putin, claiming the Russian leader did not want to end the conflict. “We get a lot of bullsh*t thrown at us by Putin,” Trump said. The US president added that while Putin was “very nice all the time,” it turned out to be “meaningless” for ending the fighting. Later, he announced a “major statement” on Russia soon amid reported discussions in Washington over imposing a 500% tariff on countries that buy Russian energy and goods.

However, two unnamed senior officials involved in defense and security talks with Washington told the FT that there was little indication the White House had actually adopted a more pro-Kiev stance. Ukraine’s backers, the report said, are “still assuming Trump was predisposed to seeing Putin as his main negotiating partner in any settlement and Zelensky as the primary obstacle to a workable peace deal.” One official pointed to “a little bit of overexcitement based on a shift in tone,” while cautioning that “we’re not seeing that translate into major actions.” The FT report echoes a New York Times article in June claiming that the US president is “exasperated” with both Putin and Zelensky, but “reserves special animosity” for the Ukrainian leader, viewing him as a “bad guy” pushing the world towards a global conflict.

In May, Trump openly criticized Zelensky, suggesting that “everything out of his mouth causes problems.” The fiercest public clash between the two came in February at the White House, when Trump accused Zelensky of ingratitude and “gambling with World War III.” Commenting on Trump’s remarks targeting Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is “calm about this,” adding that “we are committed to continuing our dialogue with Washington and our policy of repairing the significantly damaged bilateral relations.” Russia maintains it is open to a diplomatic settlement of the Ukraine conflict, but in a way that would address its “root causes” and its security concerns. Moscow insists on Ukraine’s neutrality, recognition of the “territorial reality on the ground,” as well as demilitarization and denazification.

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Simple denials won’t work. See Pandora’s box.

• Trump Denies Coverup In Jeffrey Epstein Case (RT)

US President Donald Trump has pushed back against claims of a coverup in the Jeffrey Epstein case, defending his administration’s handling of the release of files related to the disgraced financier and convicted sex offender’s death in jail.nSome of Trump’s allies, including journalist Tucker Carlson and former adviser Steve Bannon, have criticized a report by the Department of Justice and the FBI, which found no evidence of a list of powerful individuals to whom Epstein trafficked underage girls. The report also found no signs of foul play in Epstein’s 2019 death at a Manhattan correctional facility, which was ruled a suicide. In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Trump claimed that the so-called Epstein Files were created by prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“They created the Epstein Files, just like they created the FAKE Hillary Clinton/Christopher Steele Dossier that they used on me, and now my so-called ‘friends’ are playing right into their hands,” he wrote. “Why didn’t these Radical Left Lunatics release the Epstein Files? If there was ANYTHING in there that could have hurt the MAGA Movement, why didn’t they use it?” he added. Trump defended his Attorney General Pam Bondi and argued that federal agencies should instead focus on investigating Democrat-linked scandals and corruption, as well as the 2020 presidential election, which he continues to claim was rigged in favor of Joe Biden. “LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB – SHE’S GREAT!” Trump wrote. He previously said that the Epstein case has been used to distract from more pressing issues, including the deadly floods in Texas.

FBI Director Kash Patel also dismissed the allegations. “The conspiracy theories just aren’t true, never have been,” he wrote on X. Critics have pointed to a minute-long gap in the surveillance footage outside Epstein’s cell on the night of his death, claiming the tape had been doctored. Bondi, however, denied that there was anything suspicious about the video. The debate surrounding the case has reportedly caused a rift within the government, with several news outlets claiming that FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino is considering resignation.

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“Also on Thursday, Nvidia became the first company to close a trading day with a market cap over $4 trillion… ”

• Nvidia CEO Makes Pit Stop At White House Before China Trip (ZH)

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with President Trump at the White House on Thursday, just days before a trip to China. The meeting comes as Nvidia—now the world’s most valuable chipmaker (and world’s most valuable company)—remains largely shut out of China’s semiconductor market due to U.S. export restrictions. While the conversation wasn’t disclosed, Huang likely focused on the urgent need to restore Nvidia’s ability to sell advanced AI chips in the world’s second-largest economy. CNBC’s Megan Cassella reported Thursday afternoon that Huang met with Trump. No details about the meeting were released, but the president praised Nvidia in a Truth Social post: “NVIDIA IS UP 47% SINCE TRUMP TARIFFS. USA is taking in Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in Tariffs”… “COUNTRY IS NOW ‘BACK.'”

Also on Thursday, Nvidia became the first company to close a trading day with a market cap over $4 trillion… This was a symbolic milestone for capital markets and the current bull cycle. In a separate report, Bloomberg noted that Huang’s White House visit comes just days before he is scheduled to travel to Beijing, where he will meet with senior Chinese officials and attend the International Supply Chain Expo. Huang has been vocal in recent months about the combined impact of the Biden-Harris regime and the Trump-Vance administration’s export restrictions on advanced AI chips to China. In May, he told investors, “The $50 billion China market is effectively closed to U.S. industry.”

However, the Trump team cancelled a planned rule by former President Joe Biden called the “AI diffusion rule,” promising fewer restrictions later this year on which countries could receive Nvidia’s advanced AI chips. “The world is right now hungry, anxious to engage AI,” Huang said, adding, “Let us get the American AI out in front of everybody right now.”

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“No, I’m not under the impression Brennan will end up in prison, where he likely belongs, or even see an indictment…”

• Why John Brennan Belongs in Prison (Harsanyi)

Former CIA Director John Brennan is one of the most contemptible and shady people in public life. Few people have abused their position, power, and access with such impunity and hubris. So, it was a pleasure to read a Fox News report that the FBI has launched a criminal investigation into Brennan, along with former FBI Director James Comey, for possible wrongdoing related to the Trump campaign-Russia collusion probe, including making false statements to Congress. No, I’m not under the impression Brennan will end up in prison, where he likely belongs, or even see an indictment. The statute of limitations has largely sunset. And even if they hadn’t, the notion there will be any reckoning is remote.

My modest hope is that perhaps a better accounting of his corruption for the historical record will destroy Brennan’s reputation forever, which shouldn’t be a heavy lift. Last week, CIA Director John Ratcliffe released a report on the origins of the Intelligence Community Assessment that concluded Russia had interfered in the 2016 election to help Donald Trump. It was more or less as one might have expected. One of the things we learned, however, was that Brennan claimed in 2017 testimony before Congress that the Steele dossier, an oppo doc paid for by Hillary Clinton and Democrats, wasn’t “in any way” used as a basis for the Intelligence Community Assessment. In a 2023 House interview, Brennan claimed the “CIA was very much opposed to having any reference or inclusion of the Steele Dossier in the Intelligence Community Assessment.”

The problem is that newly declassified CIA emails allegedly show Brennan not only repeatedly pressing for insertion of the Steele dossier’s claims but doing it over the objections of others. In one 2016 email, Brennan allegedly disregarded warnings from his deputy that the dossier would undermine “the credibility of the entire paper.” When two CIA mission center leaders responsible for Russia challenged him about integrating a poorly constructed partisan document into the Intelligence Community Assessment, Brennan overruled them, insisting: “My bottom line is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the report.” Now, there is always a chance that Ratcliffe’s report is skewed to make Brennan’s emails look more incriminating than they were. We’ll have to see. We already know that Brennan has for years lied about having insider knowledge of an unprecedented seditious criminal conspiracy against the United States.

When Robert Mueller’s investigation was unable to pull together a single indictment related to “collusion,” Brennan shrugged it off by saying that he may have “received bad information.”He hadn’t. “Trump is scared of me because I know too much about Russia’s election meddling,” Brennan would tell the press. When special counsel John Durham released his report on the origins of the FBI’s investigation of the “collusion” investigation, we learned that Brennan, despite spinning unhinged conspiratorial rants nightly on cable television, knew there was nothing there. Indeed, Durham reports that Brennan had admitted to investigators that there had been “no conspiracy.” Yet, as Durham points out, only days later, the former CIA director was on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” contending the opposite, using his former position to suggest there was still much to be divulged.

To understand what little regard Brennan had for truth or position, recall a 2020 email uncovered by the House Judiciary Committee. In it, former CIA Deputy Director Michael Morell, who was working with the Biden campaign to concoct “a talking point” to “push back on Trump” during the final presidential debates, asked Brennan to sign on to the infamous “disinformation” letter that claimed Hunter Biden’s laptop was a Russian plant. “Ok, Michael, add my name to the list. Good initiative. Thanks for asking me to sign on,” Brennan replied. That’s all it took for the former director of the CIA to sign his name onto a letter that would be the ostensive reason for a major story implicating a presidential candidate with corruption to be censored by virtually every legacy media outlet and major social media platform. One hopes his legacy will now be irreparably tarnished.

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“..the Democratic Socialists of America..” Doesn’t sound American to me.

“..The Democratic civil war is no longer a distant threat. It’s here, it’s ugly, and it’s escalating.”

• The Democratic Party Civil War Just Escalated Big Time (Margolis)

The Democratic Party’s internal fractures are no longer simmering beneath the surface—they’re erupting into open warfare. The latest salvo comes from within the party’s own ranks, as the far-left wing grows increasingly emboldened to challenge the establishment’s authority. What we’re witnessing is not just a disagreement over policy or tactics, but a full-blown civil war for the soul of the Democratic Party. Democratic Socialist allies of Zohran Mamdani are reportedly laying the groundwork for primary challenges against several incumbent congressional Democrats in New York City—potentially even targeting House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Following Zohran Mamdani’s primary win last month, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) declared that “this movement is bigger than one person, election, city, or organization.”

“We encourage all people inspired by the Zohran campaign to join their local DSA or YDSA chapter and get involved so we can continue to fight alongside Zohran and DSA elected officials across the country to create the future we all deserve,” the group said in a statement. Now that message appears to be turning into action. DSA leaders are reportedly weighing primary challenges against several prominent House Democrats representing New York City—including Jeffries, as well as Reps. Ritchie Torres, Jerry Nadler, Dan Goldman, and Yvette Clarke. Jeffries, who two years ago succeeded longtime House Democratic leader and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has been criticized by some of New York City’s far-left leaders as a moderate and establishment Democrat.

“His leadership has left a vacuum that organizations like DSA are filling. I think that is more important right now,” New York City’s Democratic Socialists of America chapter co-chair Gustavo Gordillo told CNN. Democratic socialist state Sen. Jabari Brisport, whose district includes some of the same areas of Brooklyn as Jeffries House district, argued in a statement to Fox News that the longtime congressman is “rapidly growing out of touch with an insurgent and growing progressive base within his own district that he should pay more attention to.” Top Hakeem Jeffries adviser Andre Richardson is sounding the alarm over rumblings of a left-wing primary challenge, lashing out at the Democratic Socialists circling Jeffries’ seat. “Our response will be forceful and unrelenting. We will teach them and all of their incumbents a painful lesson on June 23, 2026.”

Jeffries, for his part, feigned ignorance about the whole thing. “I have no idea what these people are talking about,” he told CNN, before pivoting to the usual script about “pushing back against extremism”—as if the radicals threatening to take his job aren’t in his own party. Despite praising Zohran Mamdani’s far-left campaign and defending him from Trump’s criticism, Jeffries, along with Gov. Kathy Hochul and Sen. Chuck Schumer, has stopped short of endorsing the DSA-backed Democratic nominee for mayor. That’s probably not a coincidence. What’s truly astonishing is the Democratic leadership’s inability—or unwillingness—to confront this rebellion head-on. Instead of standing up to the radicals, too many establishment figures are cowering in fear, hoping the storm will pass.

But appeasement only emboldens the insurgents. Every time a figure like Mamdani gets away with slandering party leaders, the fringe left grows stronger and more brazen. If the Democratic Party continues down this path, the results will be catastrophic for them… which make is so enjoyable to watch. A party consumed by internal warfare cannot hope to govern, let alone offer a compelling alternative to the opposition. The radicals may think they’re winning, but in reality, they’re burning down the very house they claim to want to lead. The Democratic civil war is no longer a distant threat. It’s here, it’s ugly, and it’s escalating. The question now is whether any adults are left in the room to stop the madness before it’s too late.

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In one extreme blue pocket, they manage to get an extreme candidate elected. And then draw the conclusion they should do that all over the country.

• How Do You Solve a Problem Like Mamdani? Democrats Don’t Know (Caldwell)

The meteoric rise of New York City Democrat mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani poses a major question for Washington Democrats—is his brand of Palestinian activism, economic interventionism, and pro-LGBTQ+ rhetoric the future of their party? The 33-year-old state assemblyman’s trouncing of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the city’s party primary has brought to light a host of controversial positions: supporting taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries on his campaign website, proposing government-run grocery stores, and refusing to condemn the phrase “globalize the intifada,” among other things. Asked how he views a candidate who does not condemn phrases which many consider genocidal, Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, chose a live-and-let-live approach.

“There’s no candidate in this party that I agree 100% of the time with,” he replied. “To be honest with you, there’s things that I don’t agree with Mamdani that he said. But at the end of the day, I always believe … that you win through addition, you win by bringing people into your coalition. We have conservative Democrats, we have centrist Democrats, we have labor progressives like me, and we have this new Democrat, which is the leftist.” But what works in New York City might not work in the swing districts and swing states that decide who has power in Washington. But Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has consistently supported Israel, said of Mamdani, “Everything that I’ve read on him, I don’t really agree with virtually any of it politically. So that’s just where I’m at as a Democrat. I mean, he’s not even a Democrat, honestly.”

Fetterman, much like swing-state Democrat Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, has generally chosen moderated rhetoric over doubling down on progressive rhetoric since Republican President Donald Trump’s victory in November. Slotkin, asked shortly after Mamdani’s mayoral primary victory how she interpreted the development, chose to focus on Mamdani’s cost-of-living proposals, while shying away from commenting on his more controversial platform planks.“People, just like in November, are still really focused on costs and the economy, and their own kitchen table math, and they’re looking for a new generation of leadership,” Slotkin said, adding, “It reinforces that you may disagree on some key issues, but understanding that people are concerned about their family budget, that is a unifying thing for a coalition.”

Slotkin, who narrowly won her Michigan Senate seat in November by just over 19,000 votes out of more than 5.57 million cast, or 48.6% to 48.3%, emphasized economic issues throughout her campaign and warned as early as September 2024 that the Democrats’ presidential candidate, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, was “underwater in our polling.” For now at least, Democrats in Washington appear to not know what to do with Mamdani. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has still not endorsed Mamdani, despite his primary win. When asked, he consistently chooses to mention Mamdani’s proposals to address the high cost of living in New York City. Jeffries has applied a bit of pushback against Mamdani’s rhetoric on the Israel-Hamas war, though, particularly his repeated refusals to condemn “globalize the intifada.”

“‘Globalizing the intifada,’ by the way of example, is not an acceptable phrase, and he’s going to have to clarify his position on that,” Jeffries said after Mamdani’s victory. “With respect to the Jewish communities that I represent, I think our nominee is going to have to convince folks that he is prepared to aggressively address the rise in antisemitism in the city of New York.” It remains to be seen how Mamdani’s rise as a national face of the Democratic Party will affect Democrats’ chances outside of their dark-blue urban centers of support. Democrats are seeking Senate seat pickups in 2026, for example, in states such as Maine and North Carolina—far removed from New York. Vice President JD Vance has accused Mamdani of creating a coalition of “downwardly mobile, college-educated people” and carved-out ethnic blocs by pandering to shared hatreds.

“That’s an interesting coalition. Maybe it works in the New York Democratic primary. I don’t think it works in the United States at large,” the vice president said in a July 5 speech in San Diego. Rural America and moderate voters appear to be the target for Democrats going into the midterms. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is now running ads against GOP incumbents such as Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin and Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania, accusing them of attacking rural hospitals with the recently passed Republican budget reconciliation bill’s restructuring of Medicaid. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., is also trying to appeal to moderate voters ahead of a difficult 2026 reelection campaign. As Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” was considered, he joined just three other Democrat senators to vote for an amendment to the bill that would have discouraged states from issuing Medicaid payments to illegal immigrants. That’s a far cry from Mamdani who has openly called for “standing up for our sanctuary city policies” in New York City.

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Any foreign countrry. Including Israel.

• Americans Fighting For Ukraine Should Lose Citizenship – Tucker Carlson (RT)

Americans who fight for other countries, including Ukraine and Israel, should be stripped of their US citizenship, journalist Tucker Carlson has argued. Speaking at a conservative conference in Tampa, Florida called Turning Point USA on Friday, Carlson was asked whether he believes US nationals can pledge allegiance to two countries at once. The former Fox News categorically denied the notion of double loyalty. “I think anybody… who serves in a foreign military should lose his citizenship immediately. There are a lot of Americans who’ve served in the IDF, they should lose their citizenship. There’s a lot of Americans who’ve served in Ukraine and they should lose their citizenship. You can’t fight for another country and remain an American. Period.”

He added that common sense dictates that “no man can serve two masters.” “You can only really pledge your loyalty to one person or one country,” he added. Under US law, there are no automatic penalties for serving in a foreign military. The US has never signed the 1989 UN Mercenary Convention, which aims to ban the recruitment, use, financing, and training of mercenaries. However, since the late 19th century, the US government has been prohibited from employing organizations that offer “quasi-military armed forces for hire,” meaning it cannot use the services of private military contractors such as Blackwater. Carlson’s remarks come after CNN reported in January that more than 20 US citizens had been reported missing in action in Ukraine.

In late 2024, Russian officials reported that around 6,500 out of 15,000 foreign mercenaries who had arrived in Ukraine had been killed. In recent months, several US citizens have been convicted in absentia in Russia for what are described as mercenary activity and “terrorist acts” in Russia’s Kursk Region, where a now-defeated Ukrainian incursion was launched last year. In May, Aleksandr Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, said that a total of 902 individuals had been charged with engaging in mercenary activity. Courts have delivered guilty verdicts against 97 mercenaries from 26 countries. Moscow has repeatedly warned that it treats foreign mercenaries fighting for Ukraine as legitimate targets.

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“..it’s extremely obvious to anyone who watches that this guy had direct connections to a foreign government. Now, no one’s allowed to say that that foreign government is ISRAEL ..”

• Tucker Carlson Reveals Who He Thinks Funded Jeffrey Epstein’s Crimes (VF)

Just this Friday night, Tucker Carlson named who he believes really FUNDED Jeffrey Epstein’s crimes. What he said is guaranteed to make many in Washington furious. And there’s no taking it back now. On Tuesday, Tucker Carlson delivered two theories on why Pam Bondi won’t release the Epstein Files. Theory #1 was “Trump is involved.” But Carlson thought this explanation was not very likely. Then came Theory #2, which was that Carlson believed “intel services are at the very center of this story—US and Israeli—and they’re being protected.” “I think that seems like the most plausible explanation,” Carlson said. “And we have every right to ask on whose behalf was he working? How does a guy go from being a math teacher at the Dalton School in the late 70s with no college degree to having multiple airplanes, a private island, and the largest residential house in Manhattan? Where did all the money come from?” Carlson asked.

https://twitter.com/goddeketal/status/1943857723658940431

Then came the big claim. “And no one has ever gotten to the bottom of that because no one has ever tried. And moreover, it’s extremely obvious to anyone who watches that this guy had direct connections to a foreign government. Now, no one’s allowed to say that that foreign government is ISRAEL because we have been somehow cowed into thinking that that’s naughty,” Carlson said. “There is nothing wrong with saying that,” Carlson continued. “There is nothing hateful about saying that. There’s nothing anti-Semitic about saying. There’s nothing even anti-Israel about saying that.” Someone who agrees with Carlson’s assessment is CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou. On Wednesday, he told the story of the recruitment of a copy machine repairman who earned his CIA operational officer a big promotion.

At first, Kiriakou laughed at the notion of a copy machine repairman being useful, but then he realized the brilliance of the plan when he learned that the repairman secretly sent every document from a prime minister’s office straight to the CIA. How did he do it? By planting a tiny device on the copy machine. This flow of information was pure leverage for the CIA: “You know what they’re thinking. You know their next move. You know who their enemies are and who their allies are. Maybe it’s their position on trade negotiations. Maybe the prime minister has a health problem you need to plan for. You never know what might come through,” Kiriakou explained. “That ONE critical nugget is all it takes.”

That, he says, is EXACTLY what Epstein was to Israeli intelligence: someone with access (like the copy machine repairman) who quietly delivered leverage on the world’s elite. Back to Carlson. He addressed the claims that he’s taking money from the Qatari government head-on. What was his reaction to this claim? He literally laughed out loud. “Maybe I was taking tons of money from some bad country. One of the bad countries you’re not allowed to talk about or like—Qatar!” Carlson said before bursting into laughter. “That’s the most hilarious [claim]. Qatar is kind of controlling our conversation. Qatar. Evil Qatar,” he mocked.

An audience member asked if Carlson was laughing, and he confirmed, “I am laughing.” “I’ve actually been to Qatar. It’s awesome. Never taken a dollar from the Qataris or the Qataris or whatever they’re called. Great country. But even if I was, like, on the payroll of Qatar, which I guess I’m like—I can’t now. But even if I was [taking money], it still wouldn’t make the question any less relevant. Why is this [war with Iran] a good idea?” Carlson asked. “And their refusal to answer that question lets you know right away that you are not dealing with a person of good faith. You’re dealing with a propagandist who is trying to control you.” What’s your take on Carlson’s claim about Israeli intelligence? Is he exposing an uncomfortable truth, or is he chasing attention and controversy?

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“..Dmitry Peskov accused Germany of “competing with France in primacy for stoking the war..”

• Ukraine To Receive German-funded Long-range Weapons This Month (RT)

Ukraine will receive its first batch of long-range missiles financed by Germany by the end of July, a top German general has said, acknowledging that Kiev’s battlefield situation is deteriorating. In an interview with ZDF, Major General Christian Freuding, who oversees the coordination of Berlin’s military support for Kiev, said Germany is “ready to make these weapons systems available.” Ukraine will receive the weapons “by the end of this month,” Freuding stated, adding that they will arrive “in high three-digit numbers.” He did not specify which missiles will be delivered or what their range is. ”We need weapons systems that can reach deep into Russian territory and attack depots, command facilities, airfields, and aircraft,” Freuding said.

He went on to say the deliveries stem from a contract between Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and its domestic weapons industry, backed by German funding secured in late May. Freuding stressed that Germany is not providing Kiev with long-range Taurus missiles with a range of 500km. Despite Ukraine’s pleas, Berlin has been reluctant to approve deliveries, arguing that doing so could escalate the hostilities and draw Germany into the conflict. He acknowledged that Ukraine is facing mounting battlefield challenges, noting that Russia is making “small but steady” gains, forcing Ukrainian units to retreat to deeper defensive lines. In the air, the situation has “worsened in recent weeks,” he said, citing a single night when Kiev came under an attack involving more than 700 drones and dozens of missiles.

The Russian Defense Ministry has said it only attacks military-related facilities and never targets civilians. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed support in late May for developing Ukraine’s own long-range weapons. He said that while Kiev will receive German financial backing to procure these systems, it will not face restrictions on how it uses them. Russia has warned against Western military aid to Ukraine, saying it will only prolong the conflict without changing the outcome. Responding to Merz’s announcement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Germany of “competing with France in primacy for stoking the war,” warning that these moves hinder peace efforts. He added that supplying Taurus missiles to Ukraine would bring an “inevitable escalation.”

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Will anyone open fire?

• Baltic Sea Will Remain Common Despite NATO Fantasies – Russian Ambassador (Sp.)

The Baltic Sea will remain a common space for all regional states, no matter what NATO countries “fantasize” about, Russian Ambassador to Denmark Vladimir Barbin said in an interview with Sputnik. “Whatever the alliance’s countries fantasize about, the Baltic Sea was, remains and will be a common space for all states in the region without exception,” Barbin said. He said the course chosen by Denmark and NATO countries to militarize the Baltic Sea region has no future. The ambassador said the increase in military activity does not delay, but increases the risk of a conflict, especially in the absence of direct dialogue and mutual trust between Russia and NATO.

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Overwhelming idea: You’re guilty so you don’t deserve A/C.

“Like the outdated idea that every woman should anchor her existence around a husband and kids, the anti-A/C dogma should stop where logic and personal freedom begin..”

• France Is Sweating Its Brains Out Thanks To The EU’s Climate Madness (Marsden)

Paris was melting last week, flirting with 40°C and zero chill. Apparently, the moment was ripe for an epiphany. I was in an Uber, as one does when public transport becomes a slow cooker. I always enjoy chatting with the driver – usually Algerian or Moroccan. We got to talking about our lives and what led us to France. At one point he looked at me and said, “No husband, no kids, and you have air conditioning! You’re totally cheating at life!” “Cheating,” huh? Interesting word choice. So opting out of the standard life script is breaking the rules? But whose rules? The ones written by the establishment – whichever power structure has successfully colonized your brain.

I was fortunate to have been raised by parents who believed in free thought, not groupthink, and who told me that you should be able to do anything you want with your life as long as you’re not harming others. Which is a long way of saying that if I want to crank the A/C during a heatwave in my own home, it’s nobody’s business. Especially not that of some guy in the front seat of a Peugeot who thinks that I’ve short-circuited the Matrix. But the fact that he grouped air conditioning with not having kids or a man says a lot. It’s not just cultural expectations, but also the deep programming of state-sanctioned virtue that has come to dominate cultural norms. And in France, one of the strangest markers of virtue is rejecting modern cooling technology.

The week was so blisteringly hot that the French government anticipated shutting down 1,350 schools so kids could sweat it out at home instead of in class. Even the local public swimming pool had to close – the one place that usually offers relief – because the deck hit 50°C and the water was bathtub temperature. Instead, the French spent the day playing what I call the “Blinds and Windows Game.” Open everything in the morning. Close it all when the heat starts. Pull the blinds down just right so the sun hits the metal outside instead of the window glass. I opted out. I’ve got better things to do than play around with my window coverings. So I turned on the air conditioning.

My neighbors were not fans. I’ve had a mob of French residents of my building bang on my door demanding that I turn it off. Why? Because they spotted the portable A/C exhaust tubes poking out my window. Having ignored them, I later received a formal letter with instructions on when I was allowed to use it. According to them, that would only be when they collectively decide that the temperature justifies it – and only during certain hours. “For the well being of everyone,” they wrote, before launching into a sermon about how A/C is bad for the environment and ruins it for everyone else.

Give me a break. This is a country powered by decarbonized nuclear energy, so the climate change excuse doesn’t work here. But even without that, they invent new reasons: It causes “thermal shock.” It gives you neck spasms. It’s “unnatural air.” It’ll make you sick… Like the outdated idea that every woman should anchor her existence around a husband and kids, the anti-A/C dogma should stop where logic and personal freedom begin. No, gyms shouldn’t be set to 26°C in the summer because some guy wants to do five squats and scroll on his phone without feeling “chilly” during a heatwave. You shouldn’t be sweating through your clothes at the movies. And hospitals and nursing homes shouldn’t feel like a slow death in a convection oven.

But the moment far-right National Rally leader Marine Le Pen suggested a “grand plan for air conditioning” a few days ago, the narrative defenders of the establishment status quo promptly lost it. “Air conditioning saves lives. Letting people die in hospitals, or letting children or vulnerable people suffer because there is no air conditioning, is completely absurd,” Le Pen said in the National Assembly. The opposition Ecologists’ national secretary Marine Tondelier shot back that “air conditioning won’t suffice.” Guess they’re still hoping to lower the Earth’s thermostat manually. Since they’re clearly failing, despite all the lifestyle sacrifices they’ve extracted from us, maybe we could at least normalize cooling the rooms we actually live in.

Apparently not. France’s Ecological Transition Minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher of Macron’s Renaissance party, said that it was okay to “air condition vulnerable people” but “not everywhere.” Because “global warming.” Oh, please. Go yell at your German Green pals from the last coalition government, that had to fire up coal plants that dump filth into Europe’s air, all because their sacred renewables can’t carry the load.

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Autism
https://twitter.com/Censored4sure/status/1943754763062952419

https://twitter.com/SimonDixonTwitt/status/1943769455567548819
https://twitter.com/AlpacaAurelius/status/1943753190295711921

Parrots

Leopard
https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1943917020208091433

Emanuel
https://twitter.com/DrClownPhD/status/1943792667160457554

 

 

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Debt Rattle July 8 2025

Jul 082025
 
 July 8, 2025  Posted by at 9:19 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , ,  61 Responses »


Pablo Picasso Coffee maker 1943

 

• Tariff Time Again: Trump Sends Trade Letters Ahead Of Deadline (ZH)
• Bessent Explains MAGA Policy Intent on Growing US Economy (CTH)
• Trump Promises To Resume Delivering Weapons To Ukraine (RT)
• Ukraine Plagued By ‘Palace Politics’ And Purges – The Economist (RT)
• Ukrainian MP Blames Corruption For Troops Fleeing Army (RT)
• Tipping Point (Helmer)
• Steve Bannon Compares Trump To Lincoln And Washington (RT)
• Cage Match (James Howard Kunstler)
• Ex-CIA Chief Brennan Could Face Russiagate ‘Perjury’ Probe (RT)
• West Using ‘Russia Threat’ To Distract From Own Failures – Lavrov (RT)
• Brazil’s Lula Accuses NATO of Fueling Arms Race (RT)
• This NATO Fanboy Just Became Germany’s Army Chief (Amar)
• Lavrov Explains How NATO Threatens Russia (RT)
• EU Fears Losing US Military Software Support – NYT (RT)

 

 

Epstein

Bondi

 

 

 

 

Deadline has been pushed forward to Aug. 1. Start negotiating now!

• Tariff Time Again: Trump Sends Trade Letters Ahead Of Deadline (ZH)

The first two trade letters were sent to South Korea and Japan, imposing a 25% tariff on all goods, effective August 1. Here are the key points from the letter addressed to South Korea that was posted on President Trump’s Truth Social page:
• The U.S. views the trade relationship as unbalanced and non-reciprocal.
• The 25% tariff applies to all Korean goods, unless they are produced within the U.S.
• The tariff is separate from sectoral tariffs and will be increased if Korea retaliates with its own tariff hikes.
• The U.S. encourages Korea to open its markets and remove trade barriers—offering a possible tariff reduction if this happens.
• The trade deficit is framed as a national security threat.


14 countries were sent such letters: Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Laos, Myanmar, South Korea, Japan, Tunisia, Thailand, Cambodia, Serbia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

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Trade tensions are once again front and center for investors as President Trump’s tariff deadline looms. On Sunday night, the president announced that the U.S. will begin sending tariff letters to major trading partners, warning of levies on countries that have yet to strike a deal. The president expects letters to be sent to 12 countries. Trump wrote on Truth Social: “I am pleased to announce that the UNITED STATES TARIFF Letters, and/or Deals, with various Countries from around the World, will be delivered starting 12:00 P.M. (Eastern), Monday, July 7. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” DONALD J. TRUMP, President of The United States of America.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Trump will begin sending letters to U.S. trading partners, warning that if no agreement is reached, tariff rates will revert to April 2nd levels—set to take effect on August 1. Bessent noted that several major deals are nearing completion and that “big announcements” could be made this week. He added that around 100 smaller countries will be assigned a default tariff rate, many of which never engaged in negotiations with the Trump administration. Adding to the uncertainty, Trump said an additional 10% tariff will be imposed on any nation aligning with BRICS, the bloc of emerging market economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) seen as increasingly hostile to U.S. interests.

Trump wrote on Truth Social: “Any Country aligning themselves with the Anti-American policies of BRICS, will be charged an ADDITIONAL 10% Tariff. There will be no exceptions to this policy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” The 10-member bloc of emerging-market nations has increasingly positioned itself as a geopolitical and economic contender to the US-led global economic order, which is seen as fracturing as the world stumbles into a dangerous bipolar state. BRICS seeks to reduce the dominance of Western institutions like the IMF, World Bank, and the U.S. dollar system. Trump has previously threatened countries that back a new reserve currency… “The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar, while we stand by and watch, is OVER,” Trump wrote on X in late 2024.

Goldman analyst Nelson Armbrust commented on Trump’s tariff posts: “Trade tensions are back in view as the tariff deadline approaches, with Trump pledging to start issuing unilateral rates to dozens of countries in the coming days. Stocks retreated at the start of a potentially volatile week as U.S. trading partners rushed to finalize trade deals with the Trump administration ahead of a July 9 tariff deadline. U.S. officials earlier signaled August 1 as the date for higher levies to kick in. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated some countries may be offered a three-week extension to negotiate. On a side note, over the weekend BRICS leaders, including China and India, condemned U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and called for a “just and lasting” resolution to conflicts across the Middle East. President Donald Trump threatened to impose an additional 10% tariff on any country aligning with “the Anti-American policies of BRICS”. Metals fell, the yuan weakened and the dollar rose 0.4%.” The inflection point appears to be the 2030s…

The broader message is clear: the Trump administration is drawing a very hard line—it will not allow BRICS to dismantle the dollar-based global order. This is shaping up to be a fight for economic and geopolitical survival, as the White House moves to ensure the American experiment endures the challenges of a bipolar world in the 2030s.

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“Big picture: Trump, Lutnick and Greer are now transmitting 1. Baseline tariffs (10-20%), 2. Reciprocity tariffs (trade imbalance) and 3. Section 232 tariffs (ex. Steel and Aluminum). Countries are notified and their tariff rate begins on August 1st.”

• Bessent Explains MAGA Policy Intent on Growing US Economy (CTH)

Appearing on CNBC to explain the big picture economics, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outlines how debt and deficit hawks are seemingly blind to the need for GDP growth to deal with federal spending. From the outset of President Trump’s MAGAnomic policies in his T-1 and T-2 platform, growing the U.S. economy, expanding the size of the GDP is a key facet to dealing with debt and deficits. President Trump has always promoted economic policy that expands the size of the pie rather than focus on making smaller portions of each spending slice. Secretary Bessent also explains the current status of the tariff’s as delivered by the Trump administration. The next few days are exceptionally busy with incoming requests to renegotiate trade terms, and avoid countervailing duties.

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We can’t admit defeat. We’d much rather prolong a losing battle and sacrifice thousands more young people.

• Trump Promises To Resume Delivering Weapons To Ukraine (RT)

The United States will continue supplying weapons to Ukraine, President Donald Trump said on Monday, a week after the Pentagon halted some deliveries. “We’re going to send some more weapons. We have to. They have to be able to defend themselves. They’re getting hit very hard now,” Trump told reporters during a dinner with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “Defensive weapons, primarily, but they’re getting hit very, very hard. So many people are dying in that mess,” he said, without elaborating. Shortly after Trump’s remarks, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed that the US will send “additional defensive weapons to Ukraine.”

He added that the review of military shipments worldwide “remains in effect and is integral to our America First defense priorities.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a pause in deliveries last week, citing concerns about dwindling US stockpiles. “This decision was made to put America’s interests first following a DOD review of our nation’s military support and assistance to other countries across the globe,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the media at the time. Parnell said the agency was reviewing all munitions shipments, not just those to Ukraine. “We can’t give weapons to everybody all around the world,” he said last Wednesday.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry responded by summoning the US deputy chief of mission in Kiev, John Ginkel, and stating that “any delay or slowing down in supporting Ukraine’s defense capabilities would only encourage the aggressor.” Trump, breaking from his predecessor Joe Biden, has resumed direct talks with Russia and is seeking to broker a ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev. Russia has said that foreign weapons will not stop it from achieving victory. Last month, President Vladimir Putin reiterated that Moscow considers Western states supplying arms to Ukraine as “de facto direct participants in the conflict.”

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“Ukraine’s leadership is increasingly mired in “palace politics,” bitter infighting, and purges that threaten to fracture the country from within..”

• Ukraine Plagued By ‘Palace Politics’ And Purges – The Economist (RT)

Ukraine’s leadership is increasingly mired in “palace politics,” bitter infighting, and purges that threaten to fracture the country from within, The Economist reported on Sunday, citing multiple sources. Much of the turmoil is reportedly linked to Andrey Yermak, the powerful head of Vladimir Zelensky’s office, who is seen as actively sidelining other key figures close to the Ukrainian leader. While Russia continues to push back Ukrainian forces along the front line, the deepening political chaos in Kiev could spell even greater danger for Ukraine, the outlet stated. According to The Economist, the internal rift was illustrated by three developments last month: reports of an impending cabinet reshuffle with Yulia Sviridenko tipped as the next prime minister, yet another failed attempt to remove Ukraine’s spy chief, Kirill Budanov, and most notably, the corruption charges against Deputy Prime Minister Aleksey Chernyshov.

Chernyshov, previously known for his efforts to repatriate Ukrainians from the West, was accused of fraud tied to a housing project he approved while serving as urban development minister. The charges emerged while he was on official business in Europe, leading to what The Economist called the “absurd image” of Ukraine’s minister for repatriating citizens contemplating his own self-exile. Three officials told the magazine that while there was no evidence Yermak ordered the probe, he allowed the case to advance while freezing others, effectively neutralizing Chernyshov. The outlet’s sources claimed that Chernyshov’s true “offense” was trying to position himself as an alternative conduit for relations with Washington, potentially undermining Yermak. Chernyshov’s fall from grace also reportedly paved the way for Sviridenko, described as Yermak’s protégé, to rise further.

According to the outlet, Yermak has also on numerous occasions tried to oust Budanov. Sources close to Yermak labeled Budanov an unstable “revolutionary” intent on building his own political machine, while insiders in the intelligence service portrayed him as one of the few willing to confront Ukraine’s leadership with hard truths. However, Budanov has managed to survive through a mix of pressure tactics and political maneuvering, The Economist reported, adding that repeated White House warnings not to fire him also played a major role. While The Economist described Yermak as “domestically… stronger than ever,” an earlier report by Politico suggested that the US has been “frustrated” with the official. American officials interviewed by the magazine described Yermak as abrasive, poorly informed about US politics, and prone to lecturing – with some fearing he failed to accurately convey American positions to Kiev.

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“..accused Ukrainian commanders of exploiting soldiers by falsely registering them as serving on the front lines in order to claim additional payments, which the officers then seize..”

• Ukrainian MP Blames Corruption For Troops Fleeing Army (RT)

Widespread corruption and extortion of combat pay by military commanders are driving Ukrainian soldiers to abandon their units, Ukrainian MP Anna Skorokhod has claimed. In a video posted last week on her YouTube channel, Skorokhod accused Ukrainian commanders of exploiting soldiers by falsely registering them as serving on the front lines in order to claim additional payments, which the officers then seize. According to the MP, the commanders also often use the soldiers to “build houses or renovate new apartments” while making sure they receive combat pay, which is then surrendered to their superiors. “Or the soldiers are simply being extorted, because they supposedly get 100,000 hryvnia [$2,400], but there is no command, so they are forced to give up money.”

Skorokhod said the soldiers have few ways to address these grievances, resulting in recurring AWOLs. “Because when there’s nowhere to turn, no one listens or wants to listen, people simply gather in platoons, in groups, and leave because they will not tolerate this.” Last month, Ukrainian journalist Vladimir Boyko reported that there have been more than 213,000 registered cases of unauthorized abandonment of military units in Ukraine. He noted that these figures only account for cases where criminal proceedings have been initiated, suggesting the actual numbers may be higher.

Meanwhile, there have been concerns in Kiev that the cash-strapped country, which is to a significant extent dependent on Western economic aid, could struggle to compensate its military. In April, Ekonomicheskaya Pravda reported that funds initially allocated for military salaries in the latter part of 2025 were redirected to purchase drones, ammunition, and other weaponry. In May, the first deputy chairman of the parliamentary finance committee, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, suggested that Ukraine faced a 400 billion hryvnia ($9.6 billion) shortfall in defense spending, which he said requires budget revisions. In addition to recurring AWOLs, Ukraine has been struggling with its forced mobilization campaign, which often leads to violent clashes between reluctant recruits and draft officers.

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“The Russian calculus recognizes the tipping point [for US arms supplies to the Ukraine]. Until then the General Staff will grind away methodically, slowly. Then when the Western supplies run low, we will hit fast and hard.”

• Tipping Point (Helmer)

President Donald Trump thought he had gotten the deal terms and the cover story right, and also the prize for himself (the Nobel Peace Prize ). The deal was that under cover of an authorized leak to the press from Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Eldridge Colby, that the US was running out of ammunition for Israel’s war with Iran, for the Ukraine war with Russia, and for US military stocks at their DEFCON levels, Trump would pause ammunition deliveries to the regime in Kiev, and then persuade President Vladimir Putin to agree to an immediate ceasefire in exchange. That’s the ceasefire which, since February, Trump has been asking Putin to announce at a summit meeting between the two of them.

That’s also the fourth ceasefire in the row which Trump has been counting as his personal achievements – between Pakistan and India on May 10; between Iran and Israel on June 23; and between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda on June 27. Only the scheme has failed. A Moscow source in a position to know explains: “The Russian calculus recognizes the tipping point [for US arms supplies to the Ukraine]. Until then the General Staff will grind away methodically, slowly. Then when the Western supplies run low, we will hit fast and hard. If you total the June attacks, the picture emerges clearly that Putin has chosen the Oreshnik option – without firing it yet — over compromising on Trump’s terms. The outskirts of Kiev are burning like never before.”

There are American exceptionalists who insist they thought of this before — in 1943, in fact, when Walter Lippmann spelled out what has come to be called (by Ivy League professors) the “Lippmann Gap”. This is no more nor less than the ancient maxim — don’t bite off more than you can chew. But in Lippmann’s verbulation: “Foreign policy consists in bringing into balance, with a comfortable surplus of power in reserve, the nation’s commitments and the nation’s power. I mean by a foreign commitment an obligation, outside the continental limits of the United States, which may in the last analysis have to be met by waging war. I mean by power the force which is necessary to prevent such a war or to win it if it cannot be prevented.

“In the term necessary power I include the military force which can be mobilized effectively within the domestic territory of the United States and also the reinforcements which can be obtained from dependable allies.” From the Russian point of view, the first two of Trump’s ceasefires have been clumsily concealed rescues for Pakistan and Israel; the Congo-Rwanda terms remain undecided; and the “necessary power” to reverse the defeat of the US, its “dependable allies”, and its proxies in the Ukraine has already been defeated. It won’t be Putin, however, to announce publicly that Trump has no “comfortable power in reserve”.

That, however, was Putin’s private message to Trump in their telephone call on July 3. “Russia would strive to achieve its goals,” was the way Putin allowed his spokesman to disclose: “namely the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs, the bitter confrontation that we are seeing now. Russia will not back down from these goals.” This is the reason Trump later acknowledged: “[I] didn’t make any progress with him today at all.” It’s also the reason Trump beat a retreat from failure. “I’m very disappointed. Well, it’s not, I just think, I don’t think he’s [Putin] looking to stop. And that’s too bad. This, this fight, this isn’t me. This is Biden’s war.”

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“Trump’s not leaving,” Bannon said. “He’s going to be in your head for a long time.”

• Steve Bannon Compares Trump To Lincoln And Washington (RT)

US President Donald Trump is reshaping America and will remain a dominant force well beyond his second term, former adviser Steve Bannon has said in an interview with the Financial Times. He suggested that Trump’s role in history is comparable to that of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. In the interview published on Friday, Bannon predicted that Trump will not only run for a third term in 2028, but will win. He did not explain how it would be legally possible, given that the Constitution limits presidents to two terms, but insisted that Trump is a “world-historic” leader. “Trump’s not leaving,” Bannon said. “He’s going to be in your head for a long time.” He described Trump as the third transformational leader in US history after Washington, who founded the republic, and Lincoln, who “saved it.” Trump, he argued, is now giving the country its “rebirth.”

Bannon, who served as the president’s chief strategist during the early part of his first term, has continued to champion Trump’s political legacy in his podcast and public appearances. His remarks to the Financial Times come amid growing speculation over Trump’s intentions for 2028. Though a third presidential term is barred under the 22nd Amendment, Trump’s campaign store has recently begun selling ‘TRUMP 2028’ and ‘Rewrite the Rules’ merchandise. The items have fueled rumors about a possible attempt to extend his term. Trump has dismissed the idea, saying he will not seek reelection again. “I think we’re going to have four years and I think four years is plenty of time to do something really spectacular,” he said. While acknowledging that “many people” have urged him to run again, he said he would prefer to hand power over to “a great Republican.”

Trump has not formally endorsed a successor, but has mentioned Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio among a broader pool of potential candidates. Despite Trump’s public remarks, his administration continues to face strong resistance and repeated impeachment attempts from Democratic lawmakers. Last month, his mass deportation directive triggered unrest in several Democratic-led cities, including Los Angeles, where National Guard and Marine units were deployed. California officials have challenged the legality of the military response, calling it unconstitutional. Amid the political turmoil, a recent YouGov poll found that 40% of Americans believe a civil war is somewhat or very likely within the next decade. The survey also revealed sharp partisan and racial divides in expectations about a potential conflict.

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“. . . [W}e are closing in on more disclosures and fixing past wrongs to personnel. We’re making sure this is done correctly. But it’s absolutely getting done.”
Dan Bongino, Deputy Director, FBI

• Cage Match (James Howard Kunstler)

Who knows what to believe these days? Well, what would you expect after years, even decades, of anti-reality operations by everyone from the CIA to The New York Times to Harvard U. Is it any wonder that reality-optionality is making the people both apathetic and insane? We are told now by the FBI that there is no evidence that Jeffrey Epstein ran a blackmail operation against the politicos of Western Civ, or that a “client list” existed, or that JE was murdered in his jail cell. It well might be true that there is no evidence, strictly speaking. Messrs. Patel and Bongino, coming into office rather late in the Epstein game, were apparently left with big bag of nuthin. What else can they truthfully report? So, they had to put it out there, knowing a whole lot of people would be miffed. “We’ve got nuthin, sorry.”

Were they chagrined to do that? Evidently so. Of course, this Epstein business has been going on for years and years and it is certainly possible that the most damning evidence has been destroyed by interested parties. Personally, I find it implausible that absolutely nothing ever leaked, no video of, say, Tony Blair or Bill Clinton violating a child, if it ever happened. Everything else in our world leaks, eventually. And there were supposedly how many cameras around the Epstein properties, and how many thousands of hours of video recordings? There is more video of Bigfoot than of compromised Epstein bigshots. Just sayin’. AG Pam Bondi, the FBIs boss, also has some ‘splainin’ to do. In February, she claimed to have the Epstein client list “sitting on my desk right now to review,” and hinted it would be released shortly.

That material, when released, turned out to be the old dog-eared flight logs that have been circulating through every news outlet for years. Did she not know the difference between an alleged “client list” and the old flight logs? Let’s face it: seems kind of dumb. . . seems like the AG got played. . . and now the mob on “X” is having sport with her. Among the miffed, apparently, is Elon Musk. At the height of his feud with Mr. Trump, on June 5, Elon put out a message on his “X” platform saying, “@realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!”. This intemperate utterance naturally prompts you to wonder: how (or what) might Elon know about any supposed Epstein evidence? At this point, the FBI might send somebody to inquire.

Did Elon, who has more money than even Scrooge McDuck, somehow manage to buy up all those alleged blackmail tapes? Does he otherwise know where they might have disappeared to? Has he ever seen anything? Anyway, he didn’t produce any actual evidence. Is Elon losing it, a little bit. His grip, that is. Mr. Trump thinks so. He declared over the weekend that Elon has “gone off the rails” . . . has become “a train wreck.” Well, what you can see in this very public, very regrettable cage-match between two giant public personalities is that Elon has lost his cool and the president has not. For one thing, Elon is apparently incensed over the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) just signed into law because it ends the electric vehicle mandate left over from the “Joe Biden” regime, as well as the whopping $7,500 federal tax credit for new electric cars — loss of which which is apt to break Tesla’s business model.

The bill also calls for sunsetting subsidies for battery production by 2028, meaning Tesla’s Powerwall business is likewise affected. Mr. Trump took pains to explain that he’d informed Elon from the get-go (and repeatedly) that all those subsidies were done for when he got elected. Elon was visibly perturbed over the process that produced the OBBB, the proverbial political sausage-making (i.e., a nasty business you’d be appalled to watch). It appeared, he said, to un-do all of his DOGE spending cuts so laboriously made. Mainly, Elon deplored the failure to address the $36-trillion-plus national debt, widely recognized as a time-bomb on a short fuse liable to sink the whole USS United States. I will tell you a harsh truth: nobody will do anything about the national debt. The sheer math of our annual debt service is simply impossible. Our country is heading into some sort of bankruptcy proceeding, some kind of ferocious “work out” — as they say in the banking board-rooms.

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”John Ratcliffe is a genius,” a congressional source told Breitbart News in comments published on Sunday. “He just got career CIA officers to admit the 2016 ICA was corrupted and to offer up Brennan on a silver platter…

• Ex-CIA Chief Brennan Could Face Russiagate ‘Perjury’ Probe (RT)

Former CIA Director John Brennan could face a perjury probe over his role in the 2016 “Russiagate” conspiracy, which claimed Moscow worked to undermine Hilary Clinton’s unsuccessful presidential campaign in favor of Donald Trump, according to US media. The current chief of the US spy agency, John Ratcliffe, has claimed that senior security officials manipulated aspects of the investigation, which was commissioned by then-President Barack Obama in 2016. Republican critics have long maintained that the final document was politically motivated and intended to damage Trump’s first presidency. Moscow has denied interfering in the US electoral process or “colluding” with Trump’s campaign.

Last month, Ratcliffe declassified an internal CIA review of the 2016 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA), which some media outlets claim proves that Brennan lied under oath during a closed-door congressional hearing in 2017. Allegations of this nature have circulated for years. ”John Ratcliffe is a genius,” a congressional source told Breitbart News in comments published on Sunday. “He just got career CIA officers to admit the 2016 ICA was corrupted and to offer up Brennan on a silver platter… The DOJ could have a field day with this.” A second source said lawmakers were “stunned” by the contents of the internal review, claiming Brennan “knew the entire time that he was trying to wreck Trump’s presidency before it even started.”

The declassified review, released June 26, includes testimony from an intelligence official who described Brennan’s influence over the inclusion of references to the Steele dossier in the ICA. The dossier – a collection of unverified allegations linking Trump’s campaign to Russia – was compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele and funded by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign. The intelligence official said Brennan “showed a preference for narrative consistency over analytical soundness.” The spy chief reportedly wrote to skeptics: “My bottom line is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the report.” In his 2017 testimony, Brennan reportedly claimed he had not advocated for the dossier to be mentioned in the ICA.

Senior US intelligence officials are rarely prosecuted for misleading the public, even when the available evidence appears compelling. One notable example is James Clapper, the former Director of National Intelligence, who told Congress in 2013 that the National Security Agency was not “wittingly” collecting data on millions of American citizens. Documents later leaked by Edward Snowden showed that the agency was doing precisely that. The former NSA contractor is facing prosecution in the US for exposing the mass surveillance program and was granted asylum in Russia.

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The cause of the failures, and the excuse for them at the same time..

• West Using ‘Russia Threat’ To Distract From Own Failures – Lavrov (RT)

Western leaders are deliberately painting Russia as a threat to distract their citizens from domestic economic and social woes, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. In an interview with the Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet on Monday, Lavrov dismissed claims made by Western intelligence agencies that Moscow is plotting to attack or occupy Europe. “Perhaps those who make such claims know more about Russia’s plans than we do. At least we are unaware of our plans to ‘attack Europe’, let alone ‘occupy’ it,” he quipped. Lavrov said he generally concurs with analysts who believe that the “ruling circles in Europe and North America are working hard to create an image of Russia as an enemy to rally populations tired of social and economic problems.” He accused Western governments of systematically “demonizing” Russia through media manipulation and pushing the notion of Moscow harboring some kind of “imperial ambitions.”

Among the issues Western leaders hope to deflect attention from are inflation, unemployment, falling living standards, illegal migration, and rising crime, he added. Lavrov went on to criticize what he described as the EU’s transformation into a “military-political bloc” and “an appendix to NATO.” “This is a dangerous trend that could have far-reaching consequences for all Europeans,” he warned. The minister’s comments come on the heels of the NATO summit in The Hague last month during which the leaders of the bloc agreed to work toward a target of spending least 5% of GDP on defense – something US President Donald Trump has insisted on – and continue to support Ukraine. Moscow has consistently argued that military shipments to Kiev will only prolong the conflict without changing its outcome.

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“It has become much easier to invest in maintaining wars than to invest in achieving peace..”

• Brazil’s Lula Accuses NATO of Fueling Arms Race (RT)

NATO is fueling a global arms race by pushing for massive increases in military spending, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said. The US-led military bloc endorsed a plan last month to raise its defense spending target from 2% to 5% of GDP. Speaking on Sunday at the opening of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, Lula said the world is experiencing a record number of armed conflicts since World War II and warned that NATO’s policies are exacerbating the situation. “NATO’s recent decision [to raise military spending to 5% of GDP] is fueling an arms race,” Lula said. “It has become much easier to invest in maintaining wars than to invest in achieving peace,” the Brazilian leader said, referring to previous Western promises to provide 0.7% of GDP to aid developing countries.

While not yet formalized, the NATO proposal has been backed by Secretary-General Mark Rutte and several member states, including the US and Poland. A number of Western leaders have justified the spending increase as a response to what they claim is a growing threat from Russia. Moscow has consistently denied any intention to attack NATO states and dismissed such warnings as baseless fearmongering aimed at justifying militarization and distracting from domestic problems. In an interview published on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated that NATO’s expansion toward Russia’s borders and efforts to integrate Ukraine into the alliance constitute a direct threat to Russian security. He said these moves left Moscow with no choice but to launch its military operation against Kiev in 2022.

Lavrov also accused NATO of transforming itself into an offensive bloc, pointing to its past interventions in Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Libya. He claimed that NATO’s militarization and demonization of Russia are being used to deflect attention from inflation, migration, and other domestic problems in the West. The minister has also warned that NATO’s proposed spending increase could end up being “catastrophic” and lead to the bloc’s collapse. Moscow, meanwhile, intends to reduce its military spending in the coming years – a process that will be guided by “common sense, not made-up threats like NATO member states,” Lavrov said.

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“Freuding is not just any die-hard bellicist. He also serves as a dis/information warrior in a class of his own. That’s why German mainstream media call him a “social-media star” and “the YouTube General” who went “viral.”

• This NATO Fanboy Just Became Germany’s Army Chief (Amar)

Berlin’s energetic, ambitious, popular, and resolutely narrow-minded minister of defense Boris Pistorius has just made some high-level personnel moves. By far the single most politically significant of Pistorius’ new appointments is that of Major-General Christian Freuding as the new “Heeresinspekteur,” the head the land forces (in German: Heer), that is, the army in the strict sense of the term. This is a position of major influence because of the structure of Germany’s military and current rearmament plans, both with a key role for the army. Formally, Freuding has not (yet) scored the highest possible military rank. That would be the “Generalinspekteur der Bundeswehr,” responsible for all four current service branches (army, navy, air force, and the new cyber and information units).

But, in reality, Freuding may well already have more political influence than any other German officer. This is due to two factors: Freuding clearly is a favorite of Pistorius. Indeed, his predecessor, General Alfons Mais, was not. Ironically, Mais was no less Russophobic than the worst of them. His bizarre, simplistic, and stereotyped views of Russia as a country that doesn’t care about its casualties are now most welcome in Germany (again). But Mais also could be “inconvenient”: Instead of meekly waiting for the politicians to get debt-driven rearmament into economy-draining overdrive, this soldier had a habit of complaining about the wait and making demands. That is one reason Mais is out and Freuding is in.

Freuding is a driven as well as rapidly advancing careerist who already served as adjutant to Ursula von der Leyen in those good old days when she was still only devastating the German political landscape. He clearly knows how not to antagonize but please his superiors. One way in which Freuding pleases Pistorius – and virtually the whole German political and mainstream media establishment – is that he is a perfect hardliner with respect to Russia in general and, in particular, when it comes to the West’s proxy war against the latter via Ukraine. That has also made him a perfect fit to lead both a new, centralized Defense Ministry planning and coordination body established in 2023 and, at the same time, a special office busy, in essence, with pumping arms into Ukraine.

Yet Freuding is not just any die-hard bellicist. He also serves as a dis/information warrior in a class of his own. That’s why German mainstream media call him a “social-media star” and “the YouTube General” who went “viral.” Apart from Freuding’s presence on traditional TV, there are his frequent appearances on the German military’s YouTube channel which score hundreds of thousands of views, occasionally even a million. What seems to have made the often wide-eyed – quite literally – general so popular is a combination of overly optimistic (polite expression) assessments of the Ukrainian and Western position in the Ukraine War, a certain boyish (also polite expression) but – it seems – infectious enthusiasm for arrows and tactical signs on maps, and, last but not least, a relentless insistence to fight this war, in effect, through to the last Ukrainian. And who knows, maybe even beyond that.

In the fall of 2022, after Ukraine recaptured some territories at unsustainable cost to men and materiel, Freuding went wild, enthusing about “incredible successes” and “euphoria.” Euphoria indeed. Last summer, when Ukraine started its predictably self-devastating offensive into Russia’s Kursk Region, Freuding replicated every single daft Kiev propaganda point, including the alleged “psychological effect” of invading “core Russian territory.” Incidentally, the excitable general seems to have a traditional German blind spot for just how big Russia is: In reality, the area temporarily seized by Kiev’s forces was miniscule – never more than one hundredth of a percent of Russian territory.

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“..citing its interventions in Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Libya. “From whom were NATO countries defending themselves there? Who attacked them?”

• Lavrov Explains How NATO Threatens Russia (RT)

NATO’s push to turn Ukraine into a foothold against Russia is a direct threat to national security, and left Moscow with no choice other than to start the military operation against Kiev, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. In an interview with the Hungarian newspaper Magyar Nemzet published on Monday, Lavrov argued that NATO has long ceased to be a defensive bloc, citing its interventions in Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Libya. “From whom were NATO countries defending themselves there? Who attacked them?” he said. The US-led military bloc has also been expanding towards Russia’s borders for years while seeking to turn Ukraine into a “military foothold” to contain Russia.

“The appearance of NATO bases in Ukraine and its involvement in the military alliance represents an immediate threat to our national security. Such a state of affairs would be unacceptable for us,” Lavrov stressed.In 2021, weeks prior to the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, Russia sought to address its concerns by requesting security guarantees from the US and NATO, hoping to preserve Ukraine’s non-aligned status. “Our initiative was rejected,” Lavrov said, adding that the West instead continued to “pump Ukraine with weapons to forcibly resolve the issues of Donbass and Crimea.” In the end, we were left with no alternative but to launch the special military operation. I am sure that any self-respecting country would have done exactly the same in that situation.

Lavrov singled out what he called Kiev’s crackdown on the Russian minority as another reason for the conflict. In the wake of the Western-backed coup in Kiev in 2014, Ukraine was “persecuting and killing Russians,” he said, pointing to the Odessa massacre that year in which dozens of anti-government activists were burned alive in the Trade Union House. Lavrov also accused Kiev of waging war on the Russian language and culture, saying it has pursued forced Ukrainization, which has harmed other ethnic minorities as well, including Hungarians, Romanians, Poles, Bulgarians, Armenians, Belarusians, and Greeks. The Russian foreign minister stressed that a durable settlement is impossible without addressing the root causes of the conflict, including rejecting Kiev’s NATO ambitions, ensuring the status of human rights in Ukraine, and international recognition of the “new territorial realities.”

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“The EU has committed nearly €14 trillion ($16.4 trillion) to defense investments over the next decade..”

But that still doesn’t buy them control, no strategic autonomy…

• EU Fears Losing US Military Software Support – NYT (RT)

EU officials are concerned that Washington could one day stop providing critical software updates for US-made military equipment, according to a New York Times report. The fear stems from uncertainty over the future of NATO and the policies of US President Donald Trump. The EU has committed nearly €14 trillion ($16.4 trillion) to defense investments over the next decade. Last month, the European Commission authorized the use of around €335 billion in pandemic recovery funds for military purposes. In May, it introduced a €150 billion debt facility to support defense efforts. Ukraine has been granted access to these funds alongside EU member states. Russia has denounced the steps as evidence of continued hostility by the bloc.

However, the EU is embarking on the unprecedented military spending spree without the technology base to match its ambitions, the outlet said on Sunday. The bloc lacks viable alternatives to advanced US-made military systems, including the F-35 stealth fighter, which costs around $80 million per jet. The absence of such capabilities raises doubts about the EU’s ability to achieve strategic autonomy, according to the report. The bloc remains deeply dependent on American platforms – from missile-defense systems and rocket launchers to cyber warfare tools – all of which rely on regular software updates from the US.

Some officials fear that Washington could ultimately withhold essential software updates – a concern heightened by Donald Trump’s renewed outreach to Russia and his skepticism toward NATO commitments, the NYT said. NATO members have since agreed to spend 3.5% on core military budgets and another 1.5% earmarked for areas such as cyber defenses and the preparation of civilian infrastructure. Concerns over tech dependency have become more urgent since the Trump administration suspended shipments of certain weapons to Ukraine, leaving EU nations to fill the gap, the NYT noted. Moscow has welcomed the move, suggesting that the freeze could speed up the end of the conflict.

Discussions continue in the EU over whether to build its own military industry or remain reliant on US technology, the report said. The mixed approach suggests that the bloc may continue to depend on key American technologies, even as it seeks greater defense independence. The debate comes amid speculation in the Western media and among some officials that Russia is preparing to eventually attack NATO countries in Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed such notions as “nonsense,” saying Moscow has no intention of invading NATO and that the US-led bloc is fueling an arms race and fabricating threats to justify higher spending.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Tucker Iran

Real
https://twitter.com/thesigmamindset/status/1941919825988849874

Rogan
https://twitter.com/LangmanVince/status/1942392076697514454

 

 

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Debt Rattle July 7 2025

Jul 072025
 
 July 7, 2025  Posted by at 9:16 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  57 Responses »


Pablo Picasso Still life with fruit basket 1942

 

• Trump Calls Musk A ‘Train Wreck’ (RT)
• Some In GOP Say ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Only Cost $441 Billion By 2034 (JTN)
• Bongino Drops a Truth Bomb Destroying the New York Times (Margolis)
• Bongino Drops a Truth Bomb Destroying the New York Times (Margolis)
• EU Trade Team Accepting Baseline Tariffs (CTH)
• Zelensky’s Latest Call With Trump Was ‘Most Productive’ He’s Ever Had (ZH)
• NATO Talk Becoming Toxic – Kiev (RT)
• Moscow Outlines Why Zelensky Wants To Meet With Putin (RT)
• NATO Chief ‘On Magic Mushrooms’ – Medvedev (RT)
• Slovakia ‘Ready To Fight’ For Russian Gas – Fico (RT)
• Superintelligence Will Never Arrive (Jim Rickards)
• Fresh Obama-Biden Feud Details Are Here And They’re Delicious (Margolis)
• Trump Lawsuit Exposes Uncomfortable Truths About Pulitzer Prizes (JTN)
• When the Drones are Coming, They Turn Off the Internet (CTH)

 

 

https://twitter.com/MustangMedicX/status/1941590425879576811

Butler
https://twitter.com/TheGabriel72/status/1941925223411884368

 

 

 

 

Is this even a real feud?

• Trump Calls Musk A ‘Train Wreck’ (RT)

US President Donald Trump has lashed out at Elon Musk over the tech billionaire’s plan to launch a new political party, accusing him of promoting “disruption and chaos” and undermining the stability of the American political system. In a post on Truth Social late Sunday, Trump criticized Musk for what he described as erratic behavior in recent weeks, calling the entrepreneur a “train wreck.” He claimed that Musk’s proposal to form a third party – dubbed the “America Party” – would fail and only serve to divide voters. “I am saddened to watch Elon Musk go completely ‘off the rails,’ essentially becoming a TRAIN WRECK over the past five weeks,” Trump wrote. “He even wants to start a Third Political Party, despite the fact that they have never succeeded in the United States – the system seems not designed for them.”

“The one thing Third Parties are good for is the creation of Complete and Total DISRUPTION & CHAOS,” the president added, accusing the Democratic Party for already bringing “enough of that.” Trump also defended his recently signed multitrillion-dollar spending package, dubbed the “Big Beautiful Bill,” which has drawn sharp criticism from Musk. The president claimed that the billionaire opposed the legislation only because it eliminated federal electric vehicle mandates that had benefited Musk’s business. Trump also took issue with Musk’s alleged attempt to have one of his associates appointed to run NASA, noting that the candidate was a Democrat and that the appointment would have raised concerns over a conflict of interest, given Musk’s ties to the space industry.

“My number one charge is to protect the American public!” Trump wrote. The remarks follow Musk’s announcement on Friday that he is moving ahead with the creation of the America Party, pledging to “give freedom back to the people” and attacking both major parties for “bankrupting” the country. The billionaire did not elaborate on how much progress he had made with the plan but briefly outlined his strategy and hinted that the first move could be expected “next year,” during the US midterm elections in November 2026, when 33 of the 100 Senate seats and all 435 House seats will be up for grabs. “The way we’re going to crack the uniparty system is by using a variant of how Epaminondas shattered the myth of Spartan invincibility at Leuctra: extremely concentrated force at a precise location on the battlefield,” Musk stated.

Musk previously insisted that his criticism of Trump and his policies was not about subsidies but was triggered by a sharp budget deficit hike he had been recruited to reduce. The tech billionaire was one of the key figures in the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a much-hyped temporary organization established to cut budget costs and excessive federal spending. Since the honeymoon ended, Musk and Trump have been locked in a recurring war of words, with the US president accusing his former close ally of receiving more US government subsidies “than any human being in history,” threatening to sic DOGE on him, and even mulling a potential deportation of the South African-born entrepreneur.

Read more …

“..which budgetary baseline is used: the current law baseline, always used to calculate tax cut impact on the deficit, or the current policy baseline, always used to calculate federal spending impact on the deficit..”

• Some In GOP Say ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Will Only Cost $441 Billion By 2034 (JTN)

Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill” is under fire from budget watchdogs for permanently extending the bulk of the expiring 2017 tax cuts, a move that puts the total cost of the bill at $4.5 trillion and would lead to a primary deficit increase of $3.3 trillion by 2034. But Republican congressional leaders and the White House believe that a more accurate cost-analysis would zero out the impact of codifying the tax cuts, making the net cost of the budget reconciliation bill only $441 billion over the next decade. The drastic difference depends on which budgetary baseline is used: the current law baseline, always used to calculate tax cut impact on the deficit, or the current policy baseline, always used to calculate federal spending impact on the deficit.

Using the traditional current law baseline, however, would not allow Republicans to make the tax cuts permanent without having to find trillions more savings. So they adopted the current policy baseline in their version of the “big, beautiful bill,” breaking historical precedent. The Congressional Budget Office says this pivot merely papers over the true $3.3 trillion cost. Current law baseline assumes that extending tax cuts will directly cost the federal government however much taxpayers will save. But Republicans are arguing that maintaining existing tax rates should not be treated the same as a federal spending increase. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller noted in a social media post that “private money yet to be earned does not ‘belong’ to the government…CBO says maintaining *current* rates adds to the deficit, but by definition leaving these income tax rates unchanged cannot add one penny to the deficit.”

Miller and others also argue that the baseline disparity encourages fiscal irresponsibility by treating tax cliffs and spending cliffs differently. By using the current policy baseline for determining the cost of federal spending extensions, CBO assumes that perpetually reauthorizing expiring federal spending costs nothing, as it simply maintains the status quo. CBO also automatically accounts for inflation in appropriations spending, treating increased appropriations spending as an extension of current policy and thus having no impact on the deficit. The majority of budget analysts have countered that even if the scoring methods should be changed, it still won’t change the deficit impact of the “big, beautiful bill” and will set a dangerous precedent for future budget reconciliation bills.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget stated Wednesday that the Senate’s use of current policy baseline “poisons the environment for bipartisan budget and trust fund deals – by signaling that the majority party will unilaterally add to the debt by cutting taxes and pad their appropriations priorities.” House lawmakers are expected to vote on the Senate’s changes to the bill Wednesday. If they approve the Senate’s use of current policy baseline to score the tax cuts, they will open the door for any future majority party to use the same tactic.

Read more …

If so, name one reason why Ghislaine is in jail.

• FBI Epstein Memo: No Clients, No Blackmail, Definitely Killed Himself (HUSA)

Deceased financier Jeffrey Epstein and his colleague, Ghislaine Maxwell, were both charged by the Justice Department with sex trafficking—and Maxwell was convicted. But according to the DOJ, the two apparently didn’t have any clients. In a bombshell FBI memo leaked to Axios and published Sunday night, officials said they’ve reviewed more than 300 gigabytes of Epstein evidence—and haven’t found any vast human trafficking or sexual blackmail operation. “This systematic review revealed no incriminating ‘client list.’ There was also no credible evidence found that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals as part of his actions. We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties,” the unsigned memo said.

The FBI also reiterated its previous claim that Epstein did kill himself. In an attempt to demonstrate that Epstein’s cellblock was secure the night he purportedly killed himself, the FBI released footage from the once camera that was recording. However, the camera only showed a tiny sliver of a staircase leading to Epstein’s cell. According to a DOJ-OIG report released in 2023, only two cameras in Epstein’s housing unit were recording—and those cameras had numerous blind spots. The camera in Epstein’s cell block, which had at least three other inmates, wasn’t recording. Nor was the camera covering one of the elevator bays that led to Epstein’s floor. The DOJ-OIG report also revealed that prison officials actually knew about the malfunctioning cameras the day before Epstein died.

Inspector General Michael Horowitz said his staff interviewed an MCC technician, who started to repair the cameras on Aug. 8, 2019, but did not finish his work. The technician told the inspector general he had “no idea” why he did not stay at the facility to resolve the problem that day. Epstein’s death was ruled a suicide by hanging after he was found dead in his jail cell on August 10, 2019. But his lawyers contested that claim. Skeptics point to malfunctioning surveillance cameras, sleeping guards, and broken bones in Epstein’s neck as indications that his death was something other than suicide. Because of Epstein’s extensive fraternization with high-profile politicians and celebrities such as Bill Clinton, former Israeli PM Ehud Barak, Prince Andrew and Bill Gates and many more, some claim that Epstein’s death was actually a hit job to silence him. Proponents of that theory include Epstein’s former partner, Maxwell, who’s serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking.

“I believe that he was murdered. I was shocked, and I wondered, ‘How did this happen?’ Because I was sure he was going to appeal, and I was sure he was covered by the non-prosecution agreement,” Maxwell told British reporter Jeremy Kyle of TalkTV in 2023. The non-prosecution agreement referenced by Maxwell was a sweetheart deal Epstein signed with the Department of Justice in 2008, in which he pleaded guilty to a state charge of procuring for prostitution a girl below the age of 18. Epstein was housed in a private wing of the Palm Beach County Stockade, and was reportedly allowed to leave the jail on “work release” for up to 12 hours a day. After the Miami Herald published an expose on Epstein and his non-prosecution agreement in late 2018, Epstein was arrested again on July 6, 2019, on federal charges for the sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York.

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From Bongino, whose office just released the Epstein memo: “..precisely why hard-working Americans simply do not trust the media.”

The media or the FBI?

• Bongino Drops a Truth Bomb Destroying the New York Times (Margolis)

On Saturday, the New York Times editorial board published an article claiming that Trump’s “politicized FBI” has “made Americans less safe.” That’s rich. I’m old enough to remember when the Obama administration and the Biden administration actually did weaponize the FBI against Donald Trump. And I’m pretty sure everyone on the NYT editorial board is, too. FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino wrote a scathing response to the article, calling it “precisely why hard-working Americans simply do not trust the media.” Bongino’s tweet, which quickly gained traction online, took direct aim at what he described as a “poorly thought out hit piece” that misrepresented the sweeping reforms he and Director Patel have implemented at the Bureau.

Bongino’s frustration was palpable as he laid out his case point by point, lambasting the Times for what he saw as a glaring lack of evidence to support their central claim. “The conclusion of the piece is so ridiculous that a child could debunk it,” Bongino wrote. He noted that the article’s authors “comically assert that you are ‘less safe’ because Kash and I have aggressively reformed the FBI. Yet, they produce NO evidence whatsoever to backup that claim. And the reason they don’t produced any evidence, is because the numbers tell the opposite story.”

Backing up his rebuttal with a barrage of statistics, Bongino offered a “small snippet of data points” that he says prove the effectiveness of the FBI’s new direction. Among the highlights, he touted the Bureau’s violent crime initiative, “Summer Heat,” which he notes has the murder rate “trending to be the lowest in U.S. history by a longshot.” He promised that “Summer Heat is coming to a city or town near you soon as we assist your community in removing criminal predators from the streets.” Bongino didn’t stop there. He detailed that the FBI’s renewed focus on violent crime has led to the arrest of 14,000 violent criminals—a 62% increase from the same period last year. “We rescued over one hundred children from being preyed on, while arresting over 825 violent child predators, and 140 human traffickers,” he added.

The numbers continued to pile up. Bongino reported that agents had “locked up 51 foreign intelligence operatives for spying and smuggling dangerous substances into our country.” He also highlighted the Bureau’s work with federal partners, stating, “we apprehended, imprisoned, and deported over 18,000 illegal aliens. Many of these illegal aliens had violent criminal histories. As a result, last month, again, ZERO illegals were admitted into our country. The same partners arrested nearly 800 rioters for attempting to stop enforcement operations.” Drug seizures were another point of pride: “We seized 44,000 kilos of cocaine, 3,500 kilos of meth, and 1,210 kilos of fentanyl in just the last few months. This is a 22% increase from the same time period last year.

“In addition, we locked up one of the most dangerous gang leaders in the county, and we dismantled gang operations in nearly every corner of the country, including the largest TDA gang takedown ever.” Bongino also noted progress on the FBI’s most wanted list: “We locked up 3 of the ‘Top-Ten’ most wanted FBI targets, and we’re closing in on another.” He hinted at further successes in counter-terrorism, stating, “I’d like to talk more about some of the incredible work being done by our counter-terror teams, but the information, as you would imagine, is classified. But I promise you, it’s happening.” The successes that Bongino reported are what happens when the FBI is focused on fighting crime, not settling political scores as it did under Obama and Biden. Yet the New York Times doesn’t care about facts, just their anti-Trump narrative.

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“There is no level of countervailing tariffs the EU can announce that impacts the position of Trump. Even if the EU were to end all trade with the USA, that only feeds into the goals and objectives of the Trump administration.”

• EU Trade Team Accepting Baseline Tariffs (CTH)

The intransigent European Union are hitting a dead end with immovable Trump on the issue of tariffs. The resulting dynamic is what we would expect given 75 years of the Marshall Plan (European Recovery Plan) as part of the EU’s only point of reference. In order for the EU to maintain their socialistic form of government, they need to continue the economic benefits from one-way tariffs that exploits the American consumer market. President Trump’s plan to force reciprocity is against their entire economic foundation. The EU simply cannot fathom life without the status quo. In many ways the EU is in the same position as Canada. From their perspective, economic reciprocity is not sustainable; they would have to change their social compacts. This is the core of the conflict. The EU trade delegation hit a brick wall in Washington DC, as the U.S. trade team reiterated the baseline tariffs are not something within the negotiation dynamic.

BRUSSELS — “The European Union is weighing a provisional trade deal with the United States that would maintain a 10 percent tariff on most exports, the European Commission told EU ambassadors on Friday. The EU executive reported back after a crucial round of talks in Washington on Thursday, in which Trade Commissioner Mar os Sefkovic sought to head off a threat by President Donald Trump to impose a 50 percent tariff on all European goods from July 9 if no deal is reached.

In addition to the baseline tariff, conversations would continue on providing relief to specific industry sectors such as cars, two national officials cited top Commission officials as saying. The outcome fell short of expectations in European capitals after the Commission’s trade negotiating team had previously said the possibility of “up-front” tariff relief for some industries was under consideration. The U.S. levies 25 percent tariffs on cars and 50 percent on steel and aluminum. (read more)”

As we highlighted in term-1, these ongoing negotiations with the EU on the issues of trade are extremely challenging. However, in term-2 President Trump’s position is much simpler; why keep arguing about the same problem only to end up in negotiations of intransigence? Instead, if the EU is going to continue negotiations as a collective, President Trump is now favoring just sending the EU a letter informing them of the tariff rates applied to each of their industrial sectors. This is the most direct and impactful way to end the stalemate.

The EU cannot fathom the new level of ambivalence carried by President Trump, and by extension his trade team, toward the conversation. There is no level of countervailing tariffs the EU can announce that impacts the position of Trump. Even if the EU were to end all trade with the USA, that only feeds into the goals and objectives of the Trump administration. The EU has no power in this dynamic beyond their purchasing power, and if the EU doesn’t want to level the purchasing – thereby maintaining a trade deficit, then Trump will equalize the financial imbalance with tariffs. Canada is in the same position, hence their alignment with the EU.

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“..Trump said “It just seems like he wants to go all the way and just keep killing people. It’s not good. I wasn’t happy with it”..”

• Zelensky’s Latest Call With Trump Was ‘Most Productive’ He’s Ever Had (ZH)

The White House rhetoric on Ukraine could be slowly shifting, after President Trump said he was “very unhappy” with a Thursday phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. After a single night’s record drone attack of some 500 UAVs sent on Ukraine, Trump said “It just seems like he wants to go all the way and just keep killing people. It’s not good. I wasn’t happy with it” – in reference to Putin. But it should be remembered that the White House just days prior halted some shipments of defense aid, which speaks louder than words. European allies are predictably upset and Kiev is now dealing very carefully with Washington, and handling Trump with kid gloves, given it is in a precarious situation on the battlefield. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, announced Saturday that his latest conversation with Trump this week was the best and “most productive” he has ever had.

“Regarding the conversation with the president of the United States, which took place a day earlier, it was probably the best conversation we have had during this whole time, the most productive,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. “We discussed air defense issues and I’m grateful for the willingness to help. The Patriot system is precisely the key to protection against ballistic threats,” he added. Zelensky has also been asking Washington to slap more sanctions on Moscow, something Trump has so far resisted in order to give better space for peace negotiations to take off. Asked by reporters over whether Zelensky’s request for more Patriot missiles would be honored, Trump replied, “They’re going to need them for defense… They’re going to need something because they’re being hit pretty hard.”

Trump had further said of the Zelensky call, which happened Friday, “We talked about different things… I think it was a very, very strategic call.” This suggests that some new decision-making could be afoot regarding supplying Ukraine. There have been recent reports, however, that Trump is prioritizing defense of Israel, even diverting arms and ammo away from eastern Europe for that purpose. Trump has been expressing deep frustration at lack of momentum in US-backed peace efforts, for which he’s criticized both warring sides.

Read more …

Ukraine in NATO is a declaration of war.

• NATO Talk Becoming Toxic – Kiev (RT)

Discussions with the West about NATO membership for Kiev have become increasingly tense and unproductive, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tikhy has said, describing the talks as “toxic.” Western nations initially backed Kiev’s aspirations to join the US-led bloc, but Ukraine’s military struggles and shifting American policies have led to a decline in support. The dialogue with NATO partners has now reached a dead end, Tikhy lamented in an interview on the YouTube channel of journalist Aleksandr Notevsky on Friday. “All the arguments and counterarguments have already been presented, and each new round of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to NATO goes in circles,” he stated. The discussions “have become, to put it simply, very toxic,” he added.

Ukraine formally applied for fast-track NATO membership in September 2022, months after the escalation of the conflict with Russia. Although the bloc has consistently stated that “Ukraine’s future is in NATO,” it has never set a specific time frame for accession. At the 2023 NATO summit, the requirement for Ukraine to complete the Membership Action Plan was removed, thus simplifying the path to membership. However, the final communique only stated that an invitation would be extended “when allies agree and conditions are met,” without providing concrete timelines or criteria. Ukraine’s future membership was discussed at last year’s NATO summit and the joint communique explicitly reaffirmed that Kiev’s accession was inevitable.

Since then, however, a number of leaders of NATO countries have soured on the idea, weighing the risks of further escalation with Russia and the bloc’s long-term security priorities. US President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has been more emphatic, stating that Kiev “can forget about” joining the NATO, noting that its attempts to do so were “probably the reason the whole thing started,” referring to the Ukraine conflict. At the recent NATO summit in June, Ukraine was barely mentioned in the final communique, while its leader, Vladimir Zelensky, failed to secure support for Kiev’s future membership. Russia has repeatedly characterized Ukraine’s attempt to join NATO as a red line and one of the root causes of the conflict. Moscow has demanded that Kiev legally commit to never joining any military alliance.

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It would solve his credibility issues.

• Moscow Outlines Why Zelensky Wants To Meet With Putin (RT)

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is seeking a personal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to defend his claims to legitimacy and resist Western attempts to push him out of power, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. Zelensky’s presidential term expired last year, and Moscow views him as illegitimate. In an interview with First Sevastopol TV released on Saturday, Zakharova was asked why she believes the Ukrainian leader is so insistent on meeting with Putin. “Because he needs to reaffirm his legitimacy, not through legal procedures, but by any other means to prove that he is in power,” she stated. Zelensky’s five-year presidential term ended in May 2024, but he refused to hold a new election, citing martial law.

Moscow has declared him illegitimate, insisting that under Ukrainian law, legal authority now rests with the parliament. According to Zakharova, Zelensky also seeks a meeting with Putin because he is driven by “a monstrous fear of being consigned to oblivion.” “He is insanely afraid of being forgotten, of becoming unnecessary for the West. That somehow the West will sideline him. And you can see he doesn’t step away from the microphones. I think he already sleeps with a webcam,” she said. Zelensky has on numerous occasions insisted that he wants to meet with Putin, describing this as a prerequisite for peace.

In May, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested that a meeting between Putin and Zelensky could be possible, but only after negotiations between Moscow and Kiev reach “specific arrangements” on various diplomatic tracks. This year, Russia and Ukraine held two rounds of direct talks, which did not result in a breakthrough with regard to ending the conflict, but led to several prisoner exchanges.

In June, Putin said he was open to meeting with Zelensky, but suggested that the Ukrainian leader lacks legitimacy for signing binding agreements. “I am ready to meet with anyone, including Zelensky. That’s not the issue – if the Ukrainian state trusts someone to conduct negotiations, by all means, let it be Zelensky. The question is different: Who will sign the documents?” In autumn 2022, Zelensky signed a presidential decree banning talks with the current Russian leadership, after the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye voted in referendums to join Russia. Though Zelensky has not canceled the decree, he has since insisted that it only applies to other Ukrainian politicians, not to himself.

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“..these are simply attempts to create an artificial external enemy in order to justify such a militaristic line to militarize Europe.”

• NATO Chief ‘On Magic Mushrooms’ – Medvedev (RT)

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has mocked NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte for suggesting that Beijing might ask Moscow to attack NATO territory in Europe as a diversion if China decides to make a move on Taiwan. Rutte, speaking to the New York Times on Saturday, said Chinese President Xi Jinping may tell his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin: “I’m going to do this, and I need you to keep them busy in Europe by attacking NATO territory.” He also urged stronger NATO defenses, warning that “if we don’t, we’ll have to learn Russian.” “SG Rutte has clearly gorged on too many of the magic mushrooms beloved by the Dutch,” Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said on X on Saturday.

“He sees collusion between China & Russia over Taiwan, and then a Russian attack on Europe. But he’s right about one thing: he should learn Russian. It might come in handy in a Siberian camp,” Medvedev joked, hinting at the harsh conditions at the region’s remote prison camps. Beijing, which considers Taiwan its own territory under its One China policy, has repeatedly demanded that the US and its allies stop interfering in China’s internal affairs. Washington, however, continues to supply weapons to Taiwan. Russia supports the Chinese position, condemning Western arms sales and diplomatic visits to the island. Moscow has also repeatedly dismissed claims that it plans to attack NATO, calling such statements baseless and part of Western scaremongering.

The Kremlin has maintained that “these are simply attempts to create an artificial external enemy in order to justify such a militaristic line to militarize Europe.” Russian officials have also argued that European NATO countries are using the supposed Russia threat to deflect from their own domestic problems. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the “old horror story about the Russian bear” an easy excuse in light of economic stagnation and falling standards of living in Europe. At its recent summit, NATO members discussed increasing defense spending targets to 5% of GDP, though no formal agreement was reached. Some European nations expressed concern that such a level would be a heavy financial burden, potentially straining domestic budgets and public support for defense policies.

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“..the phase-out means “fighting for our households and businesses” so they won’t bear the costs of “harmful ideological decisions” from Brussels..”

• Slovakia ‘Ready To Fight’ For Russian Gas – Fico (RT)

Slovakia is “ready to fight” for its right to import Russian gas and will continue to block Brussels’ proposals to phase out Russian energy, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Saturday. Fico stressed that energy security is a strategic priority for Slovakia, and that EU efforts to change its supply mix threaten national sovereignty. Slovakia vetoed the EU’s 18th round of sanctions on Russia for the second time on Friday, citing concerns over the RePowerEU plan, which seeks to cut Russian energy imports by 2028. The plan is being discussed alongside sanctions targeting Russia’s energy and financial sectors. Brussels is seeking to pass the phase-out as trade legislation – requiring only a qualified majority.

Fico insists, however, that the plan amounts to sanctions and must be unanimously approved. He previously warned that the move could jeopardize energy security, raise prices, and trigger costly arbitration with Gazprom over Slovakia’s long-term energy contract. Speaking during celebrations for Slovakia’s Saints Cyril and Methodius Day, Fico called the phase-out plan a “disruption” of Slovakia’s national interests.“We refuse to support another sanctions package against the Russian Federation, unless we know who will protect us, and how, and compensate for the damage that will be caused to Slovakia by the ideological proposal of the European Commission to stop supplies of Russian gas,” he said. “Slovakia wants to be sovereign and self-determined. And we must answer whether we are ready to fight for it. I am ready to fight this difficult battle. We are going to get through it.”

Fico added that vetoing the phase-out means “fighting for our households and businesses” so they won’t bear the costs of “harmful ideological decisions” from Brussels. He went on to say that Slovakia is at a crossroads – between giving in to pressure from “bureaucratic structures” in Brussels and defending its interests. He urged the public to choose the latter and accused the EU of ignoring national interests and violating international law by forcing harmful policies onto member states. Fico argued that Slovakia must pursue cooperation “based on equality and mutual benefit,” not external political agendas.

Hungary has also blocked the Russian energy phase-out plan, with Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto warning that it would “destroy Hungary’s energy security” and cause price spikes. Moscow has condemned the Western sanctions as illegal and counterproductive, particularly those targeting energy, noting that energy prices in the EU surged after the initial sanctions on Russia were introduced in 2022. Russian officials warn that the EU’s rejection of Russian supplies will push it toward more expensive imports or rerouted Russian energy via intermediaries.

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“.. I use the HiPerGator in connection with my work for the Florida Institute of National Security, which uses AI to explore kinetic and financial war fighting scenarios. I have built extensive neural networks that will be running on the HiPerGator.”

• Superintelligence Will Never Arrive (Jim Rickards)

Readers know at least two things about artificial intelligence (AI). The first is that an AI frenzy has been driving the stock market higher for the past three years even with occasional drawdowns along the way. The second is that AI is a revolutionary technology that will change the world and potentially eliminate numerous jobs, including jobs requiring training and technical skills. Both points are correct with numerous caveats. AI has been driving the stock market to record highs, but the market has the look and feel of a super-bubble. The crash could come anytime and bring the market down by 50% or more. That’s not a reason to short the major stock indices today. The bubble can last longer than anyone expects.

If you short the indices, you can lose a lot of money being wrong. But it is advisable to lighten up on equity allocations and increase your allocation to cash in order to avoid the worst damage when the crash does come. On the second point, AI will make some jobs obsolete or easily replaceable. Of course, as with any new technology, it will create new jobs requiring different skills. Teachers will not become obsolete. They’ll shift from teaching the basics of math and reading, which AI does quite well, to teaching critical thinking and reasoning, which computers do poorly or not at all. Changes will be pervasive, but they will still be changes and not chaos.

Artificial Intelligence is a powerful force, but there’s much less there than meets the eye. AI may be confronting material constraints in terms of processing power, training sets and electricity generation. Semiconductor chips keep getting faster and new ones are on the way. But these chips consume enormous amounts of energy, especially when installed in huge arrays in new AI data centers. Advocates are turning to nuclear power plants, including small modular reactors to supply the energy needs of AI. This demand is non-linear, which means that exponentially larger energy sources are needed to make small advances in processing output. AI is fast approaching practical limits on its ability to achieve greater performance.

This near insatiable demand for energy means that the AI race is really an energy race. This could make the U.S. and Russia the two dominant players (sound familiar?) as China depends on Russia for energy and Europe depends on the U.S. and Russia. Sanctions on Russian energy exports can actually help Russia in the AI race because natural gas can be stored and used in Russia to support AI and cryptocurrency mining. It’s the law of unintended consequences applied to the short-sighted Europeans and the resource-poor Chinese.

Another limitation on AI, which is not well known, is the Law of Conservation of Information in Search. This law is backed up by rigorous mathematical proofs. What it says is that AI cannot find any new information. It can find things faster and it can make connections that humans might find almost impossible to make. That’s valuable. But AI cannot find anything new. It can only seek out and find information that is already there for the taking. New knowledge comes from humans in the form of creativity, art, writing and original work. Computers cannot perform genuinely creative tasks. That should give humans some comfort that they will never be obsolete.

A further problem in AI is dilution and degradation of training sets as more training set content consists of AI output from prior processing. AI is prone to errors, hallucinations (better called confabulations) and inferences that have no basis in fact. That’s bad enough. But when that output enters the training set (basically every page in the internet), the quality of the training set degrades, and future output degrades in sync. There’s no good solution to this except careful curation. If you have to be a subject matter expert to curate training sets and then evaluate output, this greatly diminishes the value-added role of AI.

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“That’s all Biden ever was in that ticket: window dressing for a green senator trying to look presidential.”

• Fresh Obama-Biden Feud Details Are Here And They’re Delicious (Margolis)

It’s no secret anymore that Barack Obama and Joe Biden were hardly the BFFs that the latter claimed them to be. According to reports, Obama was a key player in the coup to force Joe Biden to drop out of the 2024 election, and Biden is naturally very bitter about it. But the latest revelations about their toxic dynamic during the campaign go beyond personal bitterness. They expose a level of dysfunction within the Democratic Party that’s so raw and chaotic, it would make even veteran political insiders wince. A forthcoming book about the 2024 election has exposed what many conservatives suspected all along: Obama never really believed Biden was fit for a second term, and he wasn’t shy about letting everyone know it.

When the two met for lunch at the White House in 2023, Obama walked away “slightly incredulous” that Biden was even attempting another run, according to a report from The Guardian, which received an advance copy of the book. But here’s where it gets really good: Obama didn’t just keep his doubts to himself. After that lunch, the former president made a beeline for Biden’s senior staff, many of whom had previously worked under him, and delivered a brutal assessment that should have ended Biden’s campaign right there. “Your campaign is a mess,” Obama told them, cutting through any pretense of unity or support. This wasn’t constructive criticism from a concerned party elder—this was a public execution disguised as friendly advice.

The organizational chaos Obama identified was glaring. Biden’s team had split their operations between Washington and Wilmington, a decision that even Biden himself privately admitted was problematic. The Wilmington base was supposed to showcase Biden’s everyman appeal and Delaware roots, but Obama recognized it for what it really was: a logistical nightmare that would hamstring any serious campaign effort. The attempted fix reveals just how dysfunctional things had become. They shuffled Jen O’Malley Dillon to Wilmington as campaign manager while keeping Mike Donilon in Washington as chief strategist. This geographic split epitomized the kind of amateur-hour decision-making that Obama was calling out, and predictably, it solved nothing.

What makes this story particularly delicious is how Biden’s staff reacted to Obama’s intervention. According to the book, some of them thought Obama was being a “prick” and felt he “disrespected and mistreated Biden.” The irony is palpable—these same staffers who spent eight years watching Biden serve as Obama’s “loyal” vice president were now discovering what many had suspected: Obama’s respect for Biden was always conditional and largely performative. Let’s be honest—conservatives saw this coming back in 2008. Joe Biden was a non-factor in the Democratic primary, barely registering in the polls and flaming out after a humiliating finish in Iowa. He wasn’t chosen for his political prowess or popular appeal—he was picked because Obama needed an “elder statesman” to paper over his lack of experience. That’s all Biden ever was in that ticket: window dressing for a green senator trying to look presidential.

And that’s precisely what makes this behind-the-scenes drama so revealing. It underscores the same glaring weakness that’s followed Biden from the moment he sought the presidency. Even his own party’s most prominent figure couldn’t pretend he was up to the job—because deep down, they all knew he never was.

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The Pulitzer Prize will never be the same.

• Trump Lawsuit Exposes Uncomfortable Truths About Pulitzer Prizes (JTN)

President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board is forcing into the public eye uncomfortable revelations about how the news industry’s top prize giver handled the unraveling of Russia collusion allegations, exposing conflicts in testimony and an admission that people other than Trump complained about its 2018 awards to The New York Times and The Washington Post for their coverage of the now-discredited scandal. While the litigation in an Okeechobee County, Florida courthouse makes its way to the Florida Supreme Court, new admissions by the intelligence community have undercut the factual basis underlying some of the stories that won the two newspapers the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting.

One of those stories was a December 2017 report by The Washington Post that accused Trump of ignoring or trying to downplay U.S. intelligence claims that Putin tried to help him win the 2016 election. “Nearly a year into his presidency, Trump continues to reject the evidence that Russia waged an assault on a pillar of American democracy and supported his run for the White House,” the Post’s award-winning story declared. While there remains widespread consensus inside U.S. spy agencies that Russia hacked Democratic National Committee emails that embarrassed Hillary Clinton, the narrative the news stories spawned — namely, that Russia’s intent was to help Trump win the election — is disputed.

The claim that Putin was specifically trying to help Trump was included in a December 2016 Obama administration intelligence community assessment (ICA), but in fact there were concerns about that claim and the way that review was done inside the intelligence community, according to new evidence made public this month. CIA Director John Ratcliffe revealed last week that the two top career CIA officials for Russia directly objected to former Director John Brennan’s inclusion of the Steele dossier in the Obama-era ICA and that its conclusion that Russia’s intent was to help Trump was not strongly supported by the evidence. Ratcliffe’s new report directly assailed the Obama-era Russia assessment that anchored the Post’s December 2017 story, concluding it suffered from significant failures of spy tradecraft and other irregularities.

“The procedural anomalies that characterized the ICA’s development had a direct impact on the tradecraft applied to its most contentious finding. With analysts operating under severe time constraints, limited information sharing, and heightened senior-level scrutiny, several aspects of tradecraft rigor were compromised—particularly in supporting the judgment that Putin ‘aspired’ to help Trump win,” the Ratcliffe report concluded. [..] The new admissions by U.S. intelligence last week aren’t the only ones undercutting entries in the Times’ and Post’s award-winning submissions. Just the News reported in April that newly released FBI interviews with former National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers, a Navy admiral, show that the former spy chief directly refuted a Post article submitted in the Pulitzer-winning package that claimed Trump had “asked intelligence chiefs to push back against the FBI collusion probe” after former FBI Director James Comey “revealed its existence.” Rogers called the article’s assertions “wrong.”

“The interviewing team read to Rogers a quote from a media source that stated ‘President Trump urged [Rogers] to publicly deny the existence of any evidence of collusion during the 2016 election’ and ADM Rogers responded that the media characterization was wrong, and the President had asked about the existence of SIGINT [signals intelligence] evidence only,” the FBI report quoted Rogers as saying. Former Special Prosecutor John Durham concluded there was never any evidence that Trump colluded with Russia or Putin to hijack the 2016 election, and that the FBI engaged in significant wrongdoing in pursuing the case, including falsifying evidence and misleading the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to get permission to spy on Trump advisers.

Despite Durham’s findings and the newly released FBI and intelligence documents, the Pulitzer Prize Board has stood by the Times’ and Post’s reporting and its decision to honor them as examples of journalistic excellence. In 2022, it issued a statement saying two separate reviews found no problems with the winning articles. “Both reviews were conducted by individuals with no connection to the institutions whose work was under examination, nor any connection to each other,” the Pulitzer Board stated. “The separate reviews converged in their conclusions: that no passages or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes. The 2018 Pulitzer Prizes in National Reporting stand.”

Read more …

“Can Russia beat Europe in modern warfare? Well, turn off the electricity, turn off the internet and see what happens to social society in Prague, Rome or any region in Europe when the sirens start.”

• When the Drones are Coming, They Turn Off the Internet (CTH)

Some thoughts on what I would call ‘modern warfare’ for citizen preppers. Some of this experience may pertain to urban areas, some perhaps pertinent overall. Dimitri’s wife is grabbing her purse to go to the grocery store, when he casually says “it’s 5:45.” She just as ordinarily replies, “I’ve got cash.” Dimitri sees the slightly puzzled look on my face and flippantly notes, “they turn off the internet at six thirty now,” shrugs, and goes back to reading his paper. Perhaps similar to London life during the blitz. Various municipal govts coordinated the shut down of lights and people wait. Others got about doing what they needed to do, sirens notwithstanding. There is a familiar life amid modern drone warfare, and with the similar control of electricity comes the need to add internet. When the drones are coming they turn off the internet.

As I contemplate the contrasts in social resilience, my most familiar reference point is life after a hurricane. In Florida when we are dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane, no power, no water, no internet, etc., you adapt to life without modern technological conveniences. If you’ve ever lived amid the aftermath of natural disasters, you understand the need for a plan and quick adaptation. Do it a few times and adaption becomes ordinary. Horrible in ways, yes; awkward, certainly. But you take things in stride; overcome, figure out the optimal solution and keep moving. However, not everyone is prepared to consider a disruption an ‘inconvenience’ and many people who need consistency to retain stability end up in panic. I think long term readers well understand the reference. As Dimitri goes back to the paper my mind shifts to stuff I’ve heard in bits and pieces but never given context before.

I think about this U.S. ‘Space Force’ thing, and now realize there are people who have gamed out modern warfare more than we discuss as a western technological society. My mind also thinks about those reports I read a few years ago about various western govt offices concerned about the ability of Russia to target U.S. satellites. Suddenly I realize cell phone and telecommunication is not their concern. There’s no internet; the problem is bigger than a temporary outage of Uber. I wonder how the commercial air traffic between Kazan, Moscow and St Petersburg is not disrupted. Old school stuff applies. Meanwhile, the kids, lots of them are playing outside as kids do – apparently life amid modern drone warfare is resilient. No one is staring at the sky.

It is very odd to see how quickly a non-technology driven society can adapt to no electricity and no internet as an ordinary part of daily life. An entire nation just figures out the optimal solution, in part because their time between analog and digital has been short. Russians have a totally different context of dependency. I’m also starting to realize how the flexibility within a non-technological society is an asset in modern warfare. Turn off the internet in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or any major metropolitan area – how would life be impacted? I can only imagine the reactions from a generation who has never known life without wi-fi. It would be a very good intellectual exercise to think carefully about what your life would be like without cell phone coverage or internet services. There are more than a few people who have never learned to read a clock with hands.

In Russia when the drones are coming they turn off the internet and sometimes the electricity. Stores stay open; people do the ordinary things people do, the trains still run, the busses stay on schedule and you can still get a hot coffee and a sandwich just about anywhere, albeit sans Starbucks. Private taxis, Uber equivalents, switch seamlessly to line up at pick-up points without issue. Try to duplicate that rapid on/off precision in Boston, Miami or St Louis… see my point? Then extend those thoughts to Paris, Frankfurt, Warsaw or Helsinki. Dimitri is thinking about ordering a pizza, while I’m starting to realize why NATO countries are going bananas. Can Russia beat Europe in modern warfare? Well, turn off the electricity, turn off the internet and see what happens to social society in Prague, Rome or any region in Europe when the sirens start. Yeah, NATO is going bananas as Putin’s best non-discussed weapon just looms quietly.

Putin’s strongest weapon is essentially a social infrastructure akin to a nation full of people who can live in the aftermath of a hurricane without needing a digital screen to provide directions to the next six hours of their life. Again, somewhere, in some office complex deep in the bowels of some agency or bureaucracy, someone has ran models of this and yet I cannot find a reference anywhere to ordinary people talking about it. In the glovebox of every taxi in Russia you will find a paper map; when was the last time you saw one in the USA? When the drones come, they always turn off the internet and sometimes the electricity. How would we deal with that… Think about it.

Read more …

 

 

 

 

Never

Renz
https://twitter.com/redpilldispensr/status/1941814607493878056

dog

Angels

Henry

https://twitter.com/TheFigen_/status/1941920348775010790

https://twitter.com/LangmanVince/status/1941796955937550392

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

Debt Rattle July 5 2025

Jul 052025
 
 July 5, 2025  Posted by at 9:00 am Finance Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , ,  36 Responses »


Paul Gauguin Sheperd and sheperdess in a meadow 1888

 

• Putin-Trump Meeting Necessary – Kremlin (RT)
• Trump To Reinstate Sweeping Tariffs (RT)
• Trump Has Quiet Meeting with Saudi Defense Minister, MbS Younger Brother (CTH)
• Trump Eases Russia Sanctions – But EU Is Too Eager To Strangle Itself (Marsden)
• Trump Expects Hamas Answer In 24 Hours On ‘Final’ Peace Proposal (ZH)
• July 4, 2025 Finds Americans More Enslaved than Ever (Paul Craig Roberts)
• The Fourth of July (James Howard Kunstler)
• UK Gov’t Preparing For Civil War, Using Russian Invasion Threat As Cover (MN)
• Trump’s Golden Dome Plans Fuel Fourfold Jump in Patriot Missile Buying (Sp.)
• Trump Announces White House UFC Fight (RT)
• Kiev Can’t Turn Tide On Battlefield – Spy Chief (RT)
• Germany Looking To Secretly Buy US Arms For Ukraine – Bild (RT)
• Germany Plans Six-Month Military Service – Reuters (RT)
• Ethiopia Declares Completion Of Dam Debated With Egypt and Sudan (RT)

 

 

1,000 voices decry the “terrible” impact of the Big Beautiful Bill. Economist Daniel Lacalle has a very different opinion.

https://twitter.com/dlacalle_IA/status/1941033377328779781

Tucker

As per James Woods.

Fourth

Ramallah

 

 

Hassett

 

 

 

 

“..both leaders have repeatedly stressed that such a meeting would require extensive preparations..”

Putin’s conditions are abundantly clear. They’ve grown over a decade. Paul Craig Roberts said it well this week: “What percentage of the Western population understands that the Kremlin was forced to intervene in the Russian provinces in Ukraine in order to prevent a Gaza-type destruction of Russian people?”

Trump must realize that if he wants to make a -peace- deal. I’m not sure he does.

• Putin-Trump Meeting Necessary – Kremlin (RT)

A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump is necessary but has to be well prepared, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Friday. His comments came after the two leaders held their sixth phone call the day before. According to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, during their nearly one-hour long conversation, Trump and Putin discussed a wide range of issues, including the Ukraine conflict, the situation in the Middle East, and Russia-US cooperation. Asked to comment on plans to hold an in-person summit of the two presidents, Peskov stated that both sides acknowledge that such a meeting is “necessary” and that there is readiness on both sides to make it happen.

Peskov recalled, however, that both leaders have repeatedly stressed that such a meeting would require extensive preparations. The Kremlin had previously stated on multiple occasions that the timing of a Putin-Trump summit depends on Washington’s own initiative and has insisted that such a meeting would have to be “result-oriented.” Trump described Thursday’s phone call as “pretty long,” and stated that the two leaders talked about “a lot of things, including Iran.” However, the US president expressed frustration that he “didn’t make any progress” with Putin over the Ukraine conflict and the establishment of a ceasefire.

The Kremlin has since confirmed that the US president urged Putin to cease hostilities as soon as possible, while the latter reaffirmed Moscow’s readiness to negotiate. According to Ushakov, Putin stressed that Russia intends to achieve the primary goals of its military operation, which is “the elimination of the well-known root causes that led to the current state of affairs.” Russia “will not back down from these goals,” the presidential aide said.

Read more …

There will be some very unhappy faces.

• Trump To Reinstate Sweeping Tariffs (RT)

US President Donald Trump has said his administration will begin notifying trading partners of new tariffs on their exports, as he prepares to reinstate tariffs that were paused for trade talks, which are set to expire next week. Since returning to office in January, Trump has launched a tariff campaign aimed at protecting US manufacturers. The campaign culminated on April 2 with a set of measures on what he called ‘Liberation Day’, including a blanket 10% tariff on all imports and steeper rates for goods from China, Mexico, Canada, and the EU. Some of the tariffs were paused for 90 days to allow negotiations, which are now due to end on July 9. Speaking to reporters early Friday, Trump said “10 or 12” notification letters would be sent that day, with more to follow “over the next few days.”

“By the ninth they’ll be fully covered,” he said, referring to the deadline for countries to reach deals and avoid higher import tariffs. “They’ll range in value from maybe 60% or 70% tariffs to 10% and 20% tariffs.” Trump said smaller countries would be notified later, with tariffs taking effect from August 1. “It’s a lot of money for the country, but we’re giving them a bargain,” he added, without naming specific countries or sectors. Earlier this week, he ruled out extending talks. The US has so far reached agreements with the UK and Vietnam, and declared a truce with China after previous tariffs sparked a trade war that shook global markets. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday that Washington was close to a high-level framework deal with the EU that could avert 50% tariffs on the bloc’s exports next week.

Trump has long accused the EU of unfair trade practices, arguing that the bloc’s regulatory framework fuels the transatlantic trade imbalance. EU trade ministers have criticized the UK-US deal – which keeps a 10% baseline tariff on British exports while easing tariffs on steel and cars – and warned of possible retaliation unless the bloc secures better terms. Bessent said around 100 countries could face a minimum 10% rate, though further deals are likely. “I think we’re going to see a lot of action over the coming days,” he told Bloomberg. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) warned this week that the tariffs could disrupt global supply chains and drag growth down to 2.9% through 2026.

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He’s not sitting still much, is he? Interesting dynamics here.

• Trump Has Quiet Meeting with Saudi Defense Minister, MbS Younger Brother (CTH)

It was reported last night that President Trump held a quiet meeting with Saudi Arabia Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman in the White House Thursday. This meeting is reported to cover discussions around de-escalation with Iran, the conflict in Gaza and what comes next. The meeting also comes on the heels of President Trump having a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and work throughout the middle-east region by President Trump Emissary Steve Witkoff and Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer. (Via Fox News) “Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman secretly met with President Donald Trump and other key officials in the White House on Thursday to discuss de-escalation efforts with Iran, multiple sources confirmed with Fox News. Khalid, also known as KBS, is the younger brother of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

[…] The talks were also reportedly about ending the war in Gaza and negotiating the release of the remaining hostages – whether dead or alive – and about working toward peace in the Middle East. (more) Previously it was reported by Israeli media that President Trump was working on a comprehensive solution to Gaza that would encompass peace in the middle-east by normalizing ties with Israel, isolating Iran and giving them fewer options for regional instability. Expanding the Abraham Accords provides the diplomatic vehicle for this approach.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House on Monday, July 7th. It is strongly rumored that Syria and Lebanon would soon join the Abraham Accords, with the possibility of Saudi Arabia joining thereafter. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) is a key figure hoping to bring a new era to the middle east absent of conflict and focused on prosperity. According to Israel Hayom, there was a 4-way call (Trump, Netanyahu, Rubio, Dermer) after the Iran strikes. President Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to “fundamental principles in general terms” including:

• “Gaza hostilities will conclude within two weeks.” • Four Arab nations (including Egypt and the UAE) will administer the Gaza Strip, replacing the murderous Hamas terrorist organization.” • “The remaining Hamas leadership will face exile to other countries (possibly Qatar and Turkey), while the hostages gain freedom.” • “Multiple nations globally will accept numerous Gaza inhabitants seeking emigration.” • “Abraham Accords expansion will bring Syria, Saudi Arabia, and additional Arab and Muslim countries to recognize Israel and establish official relationships.” • “Israel will declare its willingness for future Palestinian conflict resolution under the ‘two states’ concept, contingent upon the Palestinian Authority reforms.” • “The United States will acknowledge limited Israeli sovereignty implementation in Judea and Samaria.”

Saudi Arabia was previously on the cusp of signing up to the Abraham Accords, but retreated from the agreement when the Israeli-Hamas war erupted within Gaza. It would not be surprising to see them come back to that agreement with President Trump’s guidance and request. If we think about the status of Syria, we can clearly see how President Trump has enticed the new Syrian government led by Ahmed al-Sharaa to the peace table based on economic benefits (sanctions removed). In fact there are large billboards all over Tel Aviv thanking President Trump for his efforts in the embattled nation. It is rather remarkable. Put all that together, and yes there are significant indications well beyond the report by Israel Hayom that something rather remarkable is possible within the middle-east and specifically as they relate to Israel.

With Iran now effectively removed from their ability to antagonize the region, and with President Trump as the enforcer to stop their extremist tendencies, the path toward regional peace seems much more likely. This opens the door for a new era in mid-east politics. (VIA WSJ) – […] Ms. House compares MBS to the 17th-century Russian czar Peter the Great, and the comparison is apt. Both men are best understood as modernizing autocrats, driven to shake up traditional societies and so enable them to withstand the competition and stress of a rapidly changing geopolitical scene. Like Peter, who built St. Petersburg to serve as Russia’s bridge to the West, MBS hopes that his new city—known as Neom—will make Saudi Arabia a dominant force in technological innovation. And like Peter, who asserted political control over the Russian Orthodox church and personally shaved the beards of aristocrats resisting modernization, MBS has ruthlessly imposed his vision on both religious and tribal leaders skeptical of change.

[…] While earlier rulers took small steps to wean the economy from oil, MBS believes the time for half-measures has passed. Saudi Arabia, as MBS grasped years ago, cannot live by oil alone. But to lessen its dependence on oil, the social contract between Saudi citizens and their government has to change. New sources of revenue, like tourism, will have to supplement oil wealth. New industries, like data centers, will need to be welcomed into the kingdom, and new cities to house them will either have to grow from existing ones or, like Neom, be invented.(more) If you think about the geopolitics behind much of the global conflict you may identify the U.S, U.K and EU as the historic source of influential instability. In the big picture BRICS was created as an economic hedge against this troubling influence, an alternative alignment of partners.

With U.S. President Donald J Trump challenging and changing the objectives of the ‘western alliance’, and indeed fracturing the western trade markets and the underlying economics therein, a new picture begins to emerge. A strategic USA political and economic realignment based on peace, growth and independent stability, can unite America, Russia, Saudi Arabia and many emerging economies. However, the old financial guards within the UK, EU, Japan, Canada, Australia will likely fight this geopolitical shakeup. All of that said, the ‘old guards’ biggest weapon to fight back against a global economic and peace realignment would be their control over the western-developed intelligence networks. Is that the dynamic we have been seeing? When contrast against visible recent events, that is a very interesting question to ponder.

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“We were just fine running on Russian oil and gas until you snatched it away like a juice box from a toddler. Now you’re scolding us for not pulling new energy out of thin air? Fine. We’re going nuclear. With Russia.”

• Trump Eases Russia Sanctions – But EU Is Too Eager To Strangle Itself (Marsden)

Looks like Washington is about to steal the EU’s lunch. Again. The Trump administration just lifted sanctions on a Russian-led nuclear project in Hungary, specifically one run by Moscow’s atomic energy titan, Rosatom. “The administration of President Trump has lifted this sanction. This made it possible to guarantee the safety of Hungary’s energy supply in the long term. Finally, there is a kind of presidential administration in the United States which respects the reality of the map, takes it into account,” said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. “We are not a country with a large number of oil and natural gas factories surrounded by dry land. Thus, our sustainable, cheap and safe electricity supply can only be provided by nuclear energy.”

Translation: “Listen up, you overcaffeinated Brussels bureaucrats running this group project from hell. We were just fine running on Russian oil and gas until you snatched it away like a juice box from a toddler. Now you’re scolding us for not pulling new energy out of thin air? Fine. We’re going nuclear. With Russia.” Enter Paks 2, Hungary’s next-gen nuclear project, pronounced “Paksh” as in “Paksh me another reactor, Vladimir.” This Rosatom-led deal was frozen under Biden-era sanctions. Now with Trump back, Hungary’s firing it up again. Hungary’s original Paks plant already supplies half the country’s electricity. Paks 2 will boost that to 70% by the 2030s and replace 3.5 billion cubic meters of gas annually – or enough to power Brussels’ virtue-signaling and moral-outrage generators for a week. It would also slash Hungary’s carbon emissions by 17 million tons, which theoretically should earn Budapest a climate gold star from Brussels.

But a few weeks back, Hungary smelled another bad idea brewing in Brussels. This time, it was sanctions on nuclear fuel. Because when you’re already dealing with a self-imposed gas crisis, the next logical step is obviously to kneecap your nuclear options, too. “If the European Commission and Brussels banned Central European countries, including Hungary, from purchasing fuel from Russia, this would have tragic consequences not only for Hungary, but for the entire European energy market,” Szijjarto warned back in May of the nuclear fuel side-eye. Meanwhile, in Brussels, EU leaders have been busy crafting their 18th round of Russia sanctions. That’s right – 18. The sanctions now have more sequels than the Fast & Furious movie franchise. At this rate, someone should build a sanctions-themed roller coaster and amusement park. Then it could just stay closed under the pretext that it’s too expensive to power.

And while EU politicians perform their best moral-grandstanding monologues on the world stage, European companies are sneaking around backstage making nuclear deals with Russia anyway. Leading the pack is France’s Framatome, which is co-partnering with Rosatom on the very same Paks 2 project. Framatome’s role has actually expanded thanks to Germany kneecapping itself, as has become routine. The Greens in the previous coalition government blocked Siemens Energy’s involvement. Just what German industry needed – another self-inflicted wound. And Framatome isn’t just supplying the process control systems for Rosatom. The two have also signed a broader deal to produce nuclear fuel – in Germany. Don’t mess this up, Berlin! Spoiler alert: Odds are pretty good that it probably will.

Read more …

Or what? You’re going to kill the children?

• Trump Expects Hamas Answer In 24 Hours On ‘Final’ Peace Proposal (ZH)

President Donald Trump announced Friday that it would likely become clear within 24 hours whether Hamas would accept what he described as a “final proposal” for a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza. He also mentioned in the fresh statement that he had discussions with Saudi Arabia about broadening the Abraham Accords, in reference to the normalization agreements between Israel and certain Gulf nations established during his first term in office. On Tuesday Trump said that Israel had agreed to the terms required for a 60-day ceasefire with Hamas, during which both sides would aim to work toward ending the lengthy war which has been raging in the wake of the Oct.7, 2023 terror attacks. A Hamas official on Thursday told the BBC that the Palestinian militant group is now “ready and serious” to reach a deal if it ended the war.

That was in reaction to President Trump having said that Israel has agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalize the proposed 60-day ceasefire in Gaza. Trump said the US would “work with all parties to end the War” – in a post on Truth Social. However, no details have been given on this particular ceasefire plan. Israel has not confirmed it agreed to any specific conditions as of yet. “I hope… that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better – IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” Trump wrote. But what will the consequences be if Hamas refuses – more bombing of the Gaza Strip? Some details revealed in Israeli media have been presented as follows: According to an unsourced Channel 12 report Thursday, Trump has offered a direct guarantee to Hamas that if it agrees to the so-called Witkoff framework — which includes the release of 10 living hostages in two phases and 18 bodies in three phases over the course of a 60-day ceasefire — the US will ensure efforts continue to reach a lasting end to the conflict.

Israel is also believed to be under heavy US pressure to clinch a ceasefire deal ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Washington for talks with Trump next week. The prime minister is set to visit the White House on Monday. Trump also said Friday that Gazans have “been through hell” and that “I want the people of Gaza to be safe.” But he didn’t directly answer when a reporter asked if the US is still considering taking any security responsibility over the Gaza Strip as part of the proposed truce plan. The plan that the Trump administration floated in February included the permanent relocation of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and turning the land into a Mediterranean resort destination. No Arab or neighboring nation has stepped forward to say they would accept more Palestinian refugees. Almost all regional states have historically absorbed at least tens or hundreds of thousands. American security contractors are currently present in the Gaza Strip, controversially as part of a US and Israeli-backed humanitarian aid distribution program.

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“Who will liberate us from Israel?”

• July 4, 2025 Finds Americans More Enslaved than Ever (Paul Craig Roberts)

Today we will be treated to fireworks and speeches celebrating our liberation from the British in the latter part of the 18th century. It is a false celebration, because many of our cherished freedoms described in the Constitution have been taken away, and in place of the British we have a new master–Israel–a master whose grip tightens on us by the year. In the 21st century we have destroyed a number of countries for Israel, financed and provided the weapons and diplomatic over for Israel’s genocide of Palestine, and celebrated Israel’s indicted mass murderer leader with standing ovations in the US Congress. President Trump speaks of the mass murderer as if he is the greatest person on earth. The US might yet be forced by Israel into war with Iran.

Red states such as Florida and Texas have passed laws against US citizens speaking or acting disapprovingly of Israel. No such laws exist protecting US gentiles from politically incorrect words and protests. US universities have lost to the Israel Lobby the ability to govern themselves. The Israel Lobby was able to reach inside a Catholic university and block the tenure of Norman Finkelstein, himself a Jew, and to reach inside the University of Illinois to cancel the tenure granted to Steven Salaita.

Presidents of Ivy League universities were hauled before the US Congress and upbraided for not preventing students from protesting Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians. Some were forced to resign. A rule was imposed on the universities that students who protest Israel must be suspended or expelled. If they are foreign students, they are picked up and deported. Christian Zionists worship Israel, not Christ, and are indoctrinated with the conviction that God’s purpose for America is to serve as Israel’s protector. The British never had such control over their American colony. Far from being a free and independent people, Americans are the two-bit punk puppet of their Israeli master. Who will liberate us from Israel?

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“I can negotiate with a man who wants to make money. I can’t negotiate with a communist who wants to kill me.” — Josh Lippincott on “X”

• The Fourth of July (James Howard Kunstler)

O, Norman Rockwell, where are you when we really need you? Forgive us, Emma Lazarus, our second thoughts about those huddled masses yearning to breathe free. . . the wretched refuse of your teeming shore(s). That was then and this is now. O, beautiful for spacious skies (but, why so many contrails criss-crossing overhead from the New York Island to the gulf stream waters?). O, land of tattooed grandmas, hostages of the tiny screens, the sexually confounded, the illiterate and innumerate, the lawless and the feckless, brainwashed youth marinated in Marx, the deranged, befuddled, the bought-off, the bug-eyed and bewildered, the lame, the halt, the addicts, grifters, hustlers, porn-stars, drugstore cowboys, alpha dogs, beta boys, shrieking Karens, and sundry victims of future-shock — wither, this hallowed experiment in nationhood?

Wouldn’t you like to know? In the meantime, husk that corn and flip them burgers! Turn them wieners! Mash your guacamole, pop another frostie, pass the Jack, lock-and-load, and mind those hovering drones! It is the 249th birthday of what remains of our country! Respect and thanks, ye ancestors! At least, there is Mr. Trump in command now, not Norman Bates’s mother (or whatever decrepitating thing pretended to rule from the White House those previous four years of anarchy and agony). Daddy’s in da house — finally! — and things are being put in order against all odds. Yeah, you’re gonna clean up your damn room, or else! For many, this is a yuge relief. The rest of you, with your “No Kings” fake revolution, your Antifa monkey business, your mean girl psychodramas, your trans psychosis, your childless despair, your occult Gramscian schemes of destruction — please report back to the margins, where you belong.

The struggle to get normal again is epic and harsh. And, of course, many will deny that there ever was such a state of being, of minding your business in the purest sense of the phrase, acting like responsible, self-respecting, autonomous adults. In the immortal words of Aimee Mann, better wise-up. Childhood ends; something else begins. Take yourself seriously for a change, but keep your heart light, ready for the jokes that travail always presents. After all, nothing is funnier than unhappiness.

To get back to normal, to shed the burden of absurdities we’ve been heaped with, requires an accounting. You know this. Matter of fact, the absence of such an accounting has been bugging you no end. A whole lot of pain and suffering was inflicted across this land in recent years and barely a soul has had to do any ‘splainin’. It rankles badly. When, if ever, will these vicious, seditionist goons who turned the nation inside-out and upside-down be compelled to sit at the defendant’s table in a court of law?

I have a theory. The right dawgs, you well-know, have been in position for months. They understand the conspiracy hatched ten years ago through-and-through. Mr. Patel, remember, ran Chairman Devon Nunes investigation of the nascent RussiaRussiaRussia hoax in 2017 as senior counsel for the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and helped draft the “Nunes Letter,” much abused by the perfidious news media, that laid out the plot by Brennan, Clapper, Comey, Obama & Company to smother Donald Trump’s newborn presidency in its crib.

Through some alchemy of mass political psychosis, that conspiracy has rolled on for a whole decade, one malice-driven prank after another. It continues to this day, an evermore rearguard action conducted by Deep state rogues and their public mouthpiece, Norm Eisen of Lawfare, Inc. Dan Bongino, now at Mr. Patel’s right-hand, chronicled that long march of treason in several books while he conducted daily podcast discourses on the workings of it all. “Remember the names,” he always said. Danny Boombatz remembers the names.

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“Low trust, highly fractured, and highly politically factionalised which is leading us increasingly inevitably into civil conflict.”

• UK Gov’t Preparing For Civil War, Using Russian Invasion Threat As Cover (MN)

A prominent academic in London has warned that the UK government is actively preparing for the break out of a civil war, but is using the “logically absurd” cover of a Russian invasion to put contingencies in place. Pointing to remarks made in the 2025 National Security Strategy paper last month, Professor David Betz of King’s College London has suggested that the British government is using the phantom threat of a foreign attack in order to harden critical national infrastructure against sabotage. “For the first time in many years, we have to actively prepare for the possibility of the UK homeland coming under direct threat,” the Whitehall paper noted, adding that “critical national infrastructure – including undersea cables, energy pipelines, transportation and logistics hubs” are a major target.

During a discussion with Professor Lewis Halsey, Professor Betz, a modern war expert recently stated “there is growing apprehension about the security of Britain, the security of its infrastructure specifically, and about the potential for active conflict at home in a very direct manner, effecting people in a very direct manner.” “But that’s not external in origin, that’s internal, and that has to do with the way our society is now configured, it is highly fractured,” Betz continued, adding “Low trust, highly fractured, and highly politically factionalised which is leading us increasingly inevitably into civil conflict.” Betz further outlined how the Russian threat is being amplified as a cover story. “The fact of the matter is there is a great distance between us and Russia… we are not militarily threatened in a direct way on the ground by any obvious external enemy, even Russia,” Betz outlined.

“Which isn’t to say there aren’t things which Russia could do to attack the UK should they wish to, but one of those is not occupying the village green with Russian soldiers, that simply, frankly, is a rather bizarre assertion,” he contended. “What they’re concerned about is domestic conflict, and they perfectly understand this, but that’s completely politically toxic for them to say so publicly, hence the convenience of saying ‘we need to develop… a citizen’s militia for the protection of critical infrastructure’,” Betz further noted.

“To say that we’re doing this against the potential of Russian attack, which is frankly a logically absurd proposition, but it is convenient as a pretext,” he emphasised. Betz also recently posited that many European countries are on the verge of civil war and may already be past the point of no return. He says his research shows there is a statistically significant chance of a civil war breaking out within five years in a major European country, with a distinct possibility that the conflict could spill over to neighbouring Nations.

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“.. the average unit cost for these interceptors is around $3.871 million.”

• Trump’s Golden Dome Plans Fuel Fourfold Jump in Patriot Missile Buying (Sp.)

The US Army plans to dramatically boost its procurement of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) interceptors target by four times, from 3,376 to 13,773 missiles, as US President Donald Trump pushes forward ambitious Golden Dome for America initiative amid suspension of military aid to Ukraine. The MSE missile, a critical component of Trump’s defense concept, is a “hit-to-kill” interceptor missile designed to destroy incoming ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and aircraft through direct impact. According to the US Army’s budget report, the average unit cost for these interceptors is around $3.871 million.

“The Army Requirements Oversight Council Memorandum (AROCM) approved a PAC-3 MSE AAO/APO increase from 3,376 to 13,773 on 16 April 2025,” a Sputnik correspondent’s analysis of the Pentagon’s FY 2026 budget report revealed. This significant leap in the Army’s acquisition objective for these critical interceptors appears to be a direct consequence of the strategic emphasis placed on missile defense by the Golden Dome initiative, indicating a concerted effort to rapidly build up the necessary arsenal. According to the US Army’s budget report, its Fiscal Year 2026 request for PAC-3 MSE missiles totals over $1.31 billion. This amount comprises $945.9 million in discretionary funds and an additional $366 million in mandatory (reconciliation) funds, which specifically procure 96 extra MSE missiles for FY 2026.

The $945.9 million in discretionary funding for FY 2026 includes $549.57 million earmarked for 130 base procurement MSE Missiles. An additional $396.335 million, supporting the procurement of 103 missiles, comes from Overseas Operations Cost (OOC) funding specifically for Operation Atlantic Resolve (OAR), a US government initiative providing military assistance to Ukraine. On Monday, US media reported that the Pentagon paused deliveries of certain air defense missiles and precision munitions to Ukraine over concerns that the US’s own stock was running critically low. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly confirmed the halt in supplies to NBC News, stating that the decision prioritized US interests.

Trump formally unveiled his ambitious “Golden Dome” missile defense concept on May 20, envisioning an “impenetrable shield” over the US against advanced missile threats. This expansive program is set for a major legislative boost, with Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which allocates $25 billion for integrated air and missile defense, expected to be signed into law this week.

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Strangely, but fitting.

• Trump Announces White House UFC Fight (RT)

US President Donald Trump has announced plans to host a UFC title fight at the White House as part of next year’s America250 celebrations. He added that up to 25,000 people could attend. Speaking at a rally in Iowa on Thursday, Trump outlined a number of activities planned for the celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, saying it will be “a birthday party the likes of which you have never seen before.” The celebrations will include both professional and amateur events at national parks, battlefields, and historic sites, as well as a sports tournament called the Patriot Games featuring high school athletes from all 50 states.

Trump surprised the audience by saying: “We’re going to have a UFC fight – think of this – on the grounds of the White House.” He added that there is “a lot of land there” and that the event would be “a championship fight, full fight, like 20,000 to 25,000 people,” with UFC CEO Dana White organizing the event. Details about the exact location on the White House grounds and the timeline for the UFC event have yet to be disclosed. The announcement has already drawn attention for its unconventional nature and has sparked debate among critics and supporters. Many Trump fans have praised the idea on social media, calling it bold and uniquely American.

One user on X called it “one for the history books.” Another said the fight will make the US Semiquincentennial “legendary.” Several users have said the proposed fight is “nothing new,” noting that former US President Theodore Roosevelt set up a dojo in the White House to practice martial arts and even held a jiu-jitsu demonstration in the East Room. Others responded with ridicule. “This is straight out of Idiocracy,” one critic wrote, referring to the 2006 dystopian comedy film that depicts a future America overwhelmed by anti-intellectualism and spectacle. Another user suggested that the White House might next host “midget wrestling in the East Room.”

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“..the principle that “wherever the foot of the Russian soldier steps is ours..”

• Kiev Can’t Turn Tide On Battlefield – Spy Chief (RT)

Kiev lacks the ability to push Russian forces back, Kirill Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency HUR, has acknowledged, asserting that only negotiations can meaningfully alter the course of the conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently remarked that military logic often requires occupying territories while not formally claiming them. He added that historically Russia operated on the principle that “wherever the foot of the Russian soldier steps is ours,” in the sense of defending national interests. Asked to respond to Putin’s comments in an interview this week, Budanov said the Russian president was militarily accurate.

“Wherever they reach will be under their control. Do you think there is anyone who does not realize that? I hope everyone does,” Budanov said, while still urging Ukrainians to comply with conscription and fulfill their duty by fighting Russia. He said he did not anticipate major changes on the battlefield, where Russian forces continue to make incremental advances. Significant developments, he added, would likely not occur “at least until peace talks are concluded.” Since the 2014 Western-backed uprising in Kiev, five Ukrainian regions have voted to secede and join Russia, four of them after the escalation in 2022. Moscow has cited Kiev’s use of military force in Donbass and its sabotage of a negotiated roadmap for reintegrating the Donbass regions as key triggers for the ongoing hostilities.

Vladimir Zelensky rejected a proposed peace deal in 2022 that would have curtailed Ukraine’s NATO aspirations. Instead, he opted to pursue a military solution backed by Western arms donors. Zelensky has maintained that only the full restoration of all territories claimed by Kiev would be acceptable to his government. Direct talks between Russia and Ukraine resumed earlier this year in Istanbul under pressure from the US. The administration of President Donald Trump has indicated that Kiev will need to agree to some form of territorial compromise to reach a resolution. Zelensky has conceded that Ukraine cannot achieve a military victory and is urging the West to intensify sanctions on Moscow in hopes of forcing it to yield diplomatically.

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Secretely? Why?

• Germany Looking To Secretly Buy US Arms For Ukraine – Bild (RT)

Germany wants to agree a “secret deal” with the US to buy two Patriot air defense systems in order to hand them over to Ukraine, Bild has reported, citing government sources.vSeveral US media outlets claimed earlier this week that Washington had paused deliveries of various critical munitions to Kiev, including Patriot and Hellfire missiles, GMLRS rockets, and thousands of 155mm artillery shells. The White House later confirmed that supplies of some weapons have been halted, saying the “decision was made to put America’s interests first.”vThe freeze in deliveries is “causing alarm” in Berlin, Bild reported on Thursday. According to the newspaper, the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz fears that the policy shift could also result in Washington rejecting a request to sell Germany two Patriot systems and interceptors.

According to Bild’s sources, Berlin quietly approached US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the matter two weeks ago after being asked to do so by Ukraine, which previously failed to acquire the systems on its own. The German authorities are now waiting for a response from Hegseth, they added.vBild described the lack of air defenses as an “urgent problem” for Ukraine, and that it currently has only four Patriot systems left in service and insufficient missiles for them. If Kiev runs out of interceptors, Russian airstrikes are likely to become even more “dangerous,” it added.vOn Friday, German government spokesman Stefan Kornelius acknowledged that “intensive discussions” are taking place between Berlin and Washington regarding the possibility of providing air defense systems and munitions for them to Ukraine.

However, he noted that there are “different ways” to address Kiev’s needs in the area. Politico reported on Wednesday that the Kiev authorities were “blindsided” by the halt in American military aid supplies, and have asked Washington “to let Europe purchase US weapons for Ukraine.” Several European countries are reviewing potential purchases on behalf of Ukraine, according to the outlet.vKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested that the US paused deliveries of key munitions to Ukraine because they “simply cannot produce missiles in the necessary quantities,” noting that many supplies were likely redirected to Israel amid its conflict with Iran last month.

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Desperately blaming Russia for their very own collapse. The British do it, Germany does it…

• Germany Plans Six-Month Military Service – Reuters (RT)

Germany is planning to introduce a voluntary six-month military service in order to double the number of reservists, Reuters has reported, citing informed sources. Since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Berlin has been trying to boost its armed forces, citing a “threat” posed by Russia. Moscow has repeatedly dismissed as “nonsense” claims it intends to attack NATO countries, saying that the Western politicians are deliberately scaring their populations to justify increased military spending. Earlier this year, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed to make the Bundeswehr the “strongest army” on the continent, with Defense Minister Boris Pistorius eyeing a “drastic increase” to Germany’s military budget of up to €90 billion ($102 billion) by 2028.

The German government expects that attracting volunteers would allow the country to increase the number of reservists from around 100,000 to 200,000, Reuters reported in an article on Friday. Berlin could consider returning to conscription, abolished in Germany since 2011, if the scheme fails to deliver, according to the sources. During six-month service, volunteers would learn “simple tasks” such as guard duty while being offered the chance to eventually obtain tank or truck driver’s licenses, it added. Berlin hopes that some of the volunteers would go on to have a career in the military, the sources said.

According to Reuters, Pistorius wants to have the legislation passed by the end of August so that the first volunteers to start their training in May next year. The defense minister said in June that the Bundeswehr would be required to increase the number of its active duty troops from around 180,000 to 260,000 to meet its NATO targets. The statement was made ahead of the recent NATO summit, during which the bloc’s members agreed to boost their defense spending to 5% GDP by 2035. Russian officials have condemned the militarization drive in Germany and other Western European nations, urging them to support US-led peace initiatives for the Ukraine conflict, instead of gearing up for war with Moscow.

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Wars have started over much less.

• Ethiopia Declares Completion Of Dam Debated With Egypt and Sudan (RT)

Ethiopia has announced the completion of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a multibillion-dollar hydropower project on the Blue Nile that has been the focus of a decade-long dispute with Egypt and Sudan. The dam will be formally inaugurated in September, the Office of the Prime Minister said in a statement. Under construction since 2011, the GERD is designed to generate up to 5.15 gigawatts of electricity, making it the largest hydroelectric power plant in Africa. While Ethiopia presents the project as a transformative energy source for the region, Egypt and Sudan have repeatedly raised concerns over its impact on downstream water flows.

In a message shared on X, the Ethiopian government described the GERD as “a symbol of regional cooperation and mutual benefit,” insisting that the project “is not a threat, but a shared opportunity.” Officials in Addis Ababa argue that the dam’s power generation will benefit not just Ethiopia but neighboring states as well. The dam is built on the Blue Nile – the Nile’s main tributary. The Nile provides about 97% of Egypt’s freshwater supply, according to various sources. Both Cairo and Khartoum fear that upstream water retention could severely affect agriculture and water security in their countries.

In September, the Egyptian government filed a complaint with the UN Security Council, accusing Ethiopia of violating international law and threatening regional stability with its alleged unilateral actions regarding the GERD project. The move came after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced the fifth phase of filling the dam. Amid ongoing disagreement over water rights, Ethiopia has pushed forward with a regional water governance framework. In October, Prime Minister Abiy confirmed the implementation of the Cooperative Framework Agreement (CFA), a treaty designed to establish a permanent Nile River Basin Commission (NRBC) among upstream nations. The treaty has been signed by upstream countries including Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Burundi, with South Sudan joining in 2012.

While the treaty moved closer to activation after South Sudan’s parliament ratified it in July, Egypt and Sudan have rejected the accord. Both governments called it an “incomplete” document that is not “representative of the Nile Basin as a whole.” Egypt has warned that even a modest reduction of just 2% in its Nile water supply could lead to the loss of around 200,000 acres of farmland, posing a serious threat to national food security. Sudan has voiced similar fears, citing the river’s vital role in its agriculture sector.

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