Taking The Initiative
Civilians,
Last week US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio invited Russian Secretary of State, Sergey Lavrov to chat at ASEAN, in Manilla. They talked for 37 minutes, without apparent agreement. It was presumed that Rubio wanted Russia to not provide Iran with targeting info and weapons systems and Lavrov wanted the US to stop the targeting of “Ukrainian” drones and missiles onto Russian civilians and civilian businesses.
Trump claimed innocence of selling arms directly to Ukraine and pretended that was the end of US responsibility.
Lavrov has recently stated artfully that Russia has not provided Iran with weapons to attack American or Mideast targets, which seems to exclude air-defense systems, and likely sidesteps Russian electronics for Iranian Shahed dronses. Targeting data is not addressed as such. It should be presumed.
Lavrov just met Iranian FM, Araghchi in Moscow, presumably to discuss the Iranian revenge on Ukraine for the Ukrainian attack on an Iranian civilian ship in the Caspian Sea, which killed an Iranian sailor. Russia just sent a “doomsday” or AWACS plane to Iran, which will be very helpful with Iranian coordination of targeting in real time, with missiles that can be guided in terminal descent for optimum accuracy and avoidance of defenses.
Russia has sworn-off decapitation-strikes, but Iran has not sworn them off. Russia has Duma elections in September and a groundswell of citizen fervor to end the war by forcing Ukrainian surrender with hard attacks. Putin the legalist keeps paying attention to details and to his prior statements about tit-for-tat, but iran offers a bypass that will absolve him of responsibility for any decapitation strikes on Ukraine, of which Iranian missiles are capable. Russia has landl-locked Ukraine, and is taking out gas stations along Ukrainian supply lines, warehouses, trucks and trains. Russia remains capable of “large arrow” attacks to take Ukrainian territory, though these have been avoided in the recent drone-dominant stage of this war.
Russian forces and supplies are staged in the Donbas for something, and Ukrainian forces are extended along the very long line of contact, with a new Commander in Chief suddenly in place, no Defense Minister, and protests in the streets demanding the young drone-savvy tech-defense-minister Fedorov back.
The US/NATO/Ukraine are badly depleted in air-defense missiles and systems, which would take 5 years to replace. Patriot PAC-3 missiles were used at a daily rate in the Mideast which was about equal to a year’s production. US/NATO/Ukraine are now very exposed to attacks, and Iran appears to be taking the offensive initiative, with the justification that the US has blockaded Iranian shipping, a clear MoU violation.
Russia and Iran have clear motives to press the offensive hard and fast in August, and to coordinate against the common enemy since Ukraine opened that door. China takes mostly an aloof position, selling drones and parts directly and indirectly to all parties, because business is business. The US is on a rare-earths leash.
Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-07-29 Two pauses broke at once. The Iran “pause” shattered overnight when the IRGC put ballistic missiles into a US base in Jordan and US+Saudi forces struck Iran-backed militias in Iraq, opening a new front and spiking oil +5%. Meanwhile the Asian AI-semi unwind went from selloff to crash: KOSPI hit a second straight circuit breaker after SK Hynix missed earnings, ~$950B erased across Korea/Taiwan/Japan. Fed decision lands today into a genuine coin-flip. Russia closed the book on both Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka. Iran-US “pause” shattered - ballistic missiles hit US base in Jordan. IRGC struck Muwaffaq Salti airbase ~5:45pm ET; oil surged +5%(KobeissiLetter).CENTCOM calls it an intercepted“surprise attack”;Jordan says it downed 5 missiles, while ground evidence and OSINT report a direct hit. Confirmed across zerohedge, disclosetv, spectatorindex.
US + Saudi strike Iran-backed militias in Iraq - new front. Hits on PMF weapons depots in Wasit province;Iraqi PM called an emergency NSC meeting.Sourced via zerohedge, GlobalNewsMontr, MenchOsint, dana916.
KOSPI second circuit breaker; SK Hynix earnings miss. Index slid as much as 12.6%, on track for a record ~35% monthly loss(zerohedge);now below its 200DMA and set for its largest 2-day drop ever. SK Hynix 2Q sales 79.32T won vs 83.85T est, oper profit 60.54T vs 64.22T est (zerohedge).~$950B wiped across three Asian markets per cryptorover.
Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-07-28 The big new delta is Asia’s chip complex breaking overnight: the KOSPI cratered ~11% and tripped its 8th circuit-breaker of the year after China’s CXMT IPO exploded +466% and Beijing reportedly began mass-producing DUV lithography — hitting ASML, Samsung, SK Hynix and the whole AI-semi trade. Everything else is continuation with a fresh datapoint: oil got crushed on paper (WTI to ~$81.5) even as Abqaiq — the world’s largest oil-processing plant — burned, Chasiv Yar and Kostiantynivka both formally fell, and the Iran-Ukraine wars kept merging ahead of Zelensky and Netanyahu’s separate White House visits today. Fed decides Wednesday... ..Buffer running out: US SPR at 319M barrels, lowest in 40+ years, ~11 weeks from its operational minimum per Armstrong; lowest since 1983 per Hedgeye... ..Iran-US: pause holds, talks denied, casualties surface - Iran says it still controls Hormuz and is not seeking talks (Reuters/Idrees Ali); Foreign Ministry: negotiating is “not in our DNA,” the Strait stays closed (HormuzLetter).
Trump: ready for “strong military action” if talks fail (Kobeissi) — while Aramco is under Houthi fire (zerohedge).
Cost surfacing: US Iran-war casualties surpass 600 killed and wounded (Megatron, citing CNN); ricwe123 flags a quiet Pentagon database update logging 600+, and JenGriffin reports the Pentagon reclassified soldier deaths out of “Operation Enduring Freedom” into a category that caps the visible war-dead count.
Structural note from shanaka86: US/Gulf forces fired ~943 Patriot interceptors in the first 96 hours vs Lockheed’s 620 PAC-3/year — the shield, not the sword, now sets the tempo.
Trump Vows To Hit Iran ‘Hard’ As Rare Joint US-Saudi Strikes Pound Iraq, Killing 20 Militants The few days of calm that persisted over last weekend since Friday are already a thing of the past, as tit-for-tat serious attacks between the US and Iran return, and now involving the Saudis and proxy militants in Iraq.
The fresh flare-up started as we reported when in the overnight and early hours of Wednesday (local) Iran launched several missiles on a US base in Jordan, with the Jordanian armed forces saying they intercepted five projectiles. Iran is framing this as new action due to US military activities enforcing the blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.
For many hours prior to that new Iranian assault, which was accompanied by launches out of Iraq on Saudi energy sites, international headlines claimed that mediators were getting close to restoring the defunct Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
As if to confirm that those headlines were nowhere close to reality, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi has recalled President Trump’s words claiming that Tehran was “dying for a negotiation”; but, said Gharibabadi, “We have sent no request for negotiation with the US during the past 16–17 days.” https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/trump-vows-hit-iran-hard-rare-joint-us-saudi-strikes-pound-iraq-killing-20-militants
Death Toll Revised Lower: Trump Admin Accused Of Playing Politics With Iran War Casualties https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/death-toll-revised-lower-trump-admin-accused-playing-politics-iran-war-casualties
Iran war casualty count eclipses 600 as Pentagon quietly changes accounting The Pentagon updated its war casualty database Saturday, recording more than 140 additionally wounded and restoring the four soldiers killed due to Iranian strikes last week amid questions about a lack of transparency over the war’s toll.
The Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS, also featured a new tracking category — “Overseas Operations” — for killed and wounded “starting July 7.”
When the new Pentagon data is combined with updated totals for Operation Epic Fury, 18 troops have died and another 624 have been wounded since the US launched its war against Iran on Feb. 28. https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/iran-war-casualty-count-eclipses-180931096.html
American air defenses refused to cover their allies from Iranian strikes. https://en.topwar.ru/286945-amerikanskaja-pvo-ne-objazana-prikryvat-svoih-sojuznikov-ot-udarov-irana.html
The missile was not headed for the barracks, so we didn’t shoot at it, then it changed course: US Military Forced To Let Some Iranian Projectiles Through Its Defenses: NBC https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-military-intentionally-letting-some-iranian-projectiles-through-its-defenses
Oil tankers are unarmed; safer targets: U.S. Navy Boards and Disables M/T Lavine Oil Tanker Defying Iran Blockade Warnings. https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/navy-news/2026/u-s-navy-boards-and-disables-oil-tanker-defying-iran-blockade-warnings
‘I Almost Cried’ - Documentary Video Trove Shows Lindsey Graham’s Joy At Start Of Iran War https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/i-almost-cried-documentary-video-trove-shows-lindsey-grahams-joy-start-iran-war
The Joy of Killing - Newly released footage of Lyndsay Graham reveals his elation at the news of bombing and mass destruction and killing.
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Netanyahu Ahead Of Trump Meeting: Iran War Will End Only With Regime Collapse Or Nuclear Halt https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/netanyahu-ahead-trump-meeting-iran-war-will-end-only-regime-collapse-or-nuclear-halt
The unconvincing video of “Netanyahu” talking, with Sarah looking down in sunglasses, by the jet-hatch has been replaced with a photo. Ahead of Netanyahu-Trump meeting, mediators believe US-Iran breakthrough near
Sources say Trump waiting to decide on matter until he’s met with Israeli PM; Iran and Oman have okayed proposal to clarify Hormuz disagreements, revive memorandum of understanding https://www.timesofisrael.com/ahead-of-netanyahu-trump-meeting-mediators-believe-us-iran-breakthrough-near/
An image of “sweet-faced Netanyahu” arriving at the White House (body double not arrested?): Anger rises as ICC member states accused of facilitating Netanyahu’s flight to Washington Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew through the airspace of several member states of the International Criminal Court (ICC) this week on his way to Washington, prompting critics to accuse those governments of aiding an internationally wanted leader.
Netanyahu left Israel aboard the official government aircraft known as the “Wing of Zion” on Monday, ahead of talks with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday.
Flight-tracking data showed the aircraft passing through the airspace of Greece, Italy and France before crossing the Atlantic, while a widely shared map of the journey indicated that it also entered Canadian airspace on its approach to the US.
Greece, Italy, France and Canada are all parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC. https://www.middleeasteye.net/trending/anger-icc-member-states-accused-facilitating-netanyahus-flight-washington
No independent evidence of a live Netanyahu: Netanyahu says White House meeting with Trump was ‘one of the best we’ve ever had’ PM’s aide says Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility not discussed, claims president didn’t press Israel to advance reconstruction of Gaza, or withdraw IDF from Syria, Lebanon The meeting took place behind closed doors and without a press conference afterwards, with Netanyahu quietly entering the White House through a side entrance that was only partially visible to reporters, and leaving without fanfare some 90 minutes later. It was the eighth between the leaders since Trump’s return to office in early 2025... ..Photos released by Netanyahu’s office showed that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, US Vice President JD Vance and Trump’s top Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff were all present in the Oval Office. https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-says-white-house-meeting-with-trump-was-one-of-the-best-weve-ever-had/
More Times oif Israel. “Netanyahu” looks like a clueless body double to me: Netanyahu attends memorial service for senator Lindsey Graham in DC https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/netanyahu-attends-memorial-service-for-senator-lindsey-graham-in-dc/
“Happy Netanyahu” spends all of “his” time in this video smiling and chatting with midwit Pete Hegseth, while Rubio and Bessent mill nearby, not engaging. RAW: DC: NETANYAHU SPOTTED AT GRAHAM FUNERAL https://pantagraph.com/partners/cnn/video_d2f6b050-f475-5d4b-96fa-4906ceb59d96.html
Lindsey Graham’s closed casket was draped with a flag. In a day of tributes, Lindsey Graham is remembered as a tireless Washington mainstay https://www.npr.org/2026/07/28/nx-s1-5909232/lindsey-graham-funeral
Rep. Massie Joins Democrats in Attempt To Sue White House Over Iran War
The legislation aims to enforce a concurrent War Powers Resolution that was passed by Congress and directs the president to end the war https://news.antiwar.com/2026/07/27/rep-massie-joins-democrats-in-attempt-to-sue-white-house-over-iran-war/
US lost sovereignty to Israel long ago – Tucker Carlson https://michaelwalshwriter.com/2026/07/24/us-lost-sovereignty-to-israel-long-ago-tucker-carlson/
Tucker Carlson Denounces Proposed U.S.-Israel Defense Initiative as ‘Treason’ https://yournews.com/2026/07/25/7128379/tucker-carlson-denounces-proposed-u-s-israel-defense-initiative-as-treason/
As usual: Trump Ready For ‘Strong Military Action’ If Talks Fail, With Saudi Aramco Under Houthi Fire https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/saudi-aramco-targeted-including-sprawling-abqaiq-facility-tehran-aligned-militants
July 24: After holding up nuke deal, Trump says Saudi Arabia will normalize ties with Israel ‘at some point’
Trump also says agreement with Iran is ‘smarter’ than fighting, and they’re talking now, but Tehran not ready for deal * US, UK said planning major conference next week on Hormuz https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-july-24-2026/
July 23: US evacuates Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar following Iran strike https://en.mehrnews.com/news/246445/US-evacuates-Al-Udeid-Air-Base-in-Qatar-following-Iran-strike
July 23, IRGC destroys US electronic warfare unit in Kuwait https://en.mehrnews.com/news/246464/IRGC-destroys-US-electronic-warfare-unit-in-Kuwait
Simplicius, July 25, War-Weary Trump Balks Again, as Advisors Fear Conflict is “Consuming His Presidency”
July 27, The US ran out of targets it could reach without risking valuable aircraft, CENTCOM Chief Proposes Halting Strikes in Strait of Hormuz - Reports The recommendation of Cooper and other advisers influenced US President Donald Trump in his decision on Friday to pause the bombing of Iran, the report said.
This is evidence of the recognition by Trump’s military and civilian advisers that the ability to achieve goals through military action, including the use of air power, has its limits, according to the report.
Cooper conveyed his position to Pentagon and White House officials this week, justifying this by the claim that recent bombings, he said, reduced Iran’s ability to attack ships. CENTCOM chief also expressed confidence that air strikes had already been carried out on most of the intended targets.
Earlier on Sunday, CBS claimed citing unnamed regional officials that the US had suspended its series of strikes against Iran in order not to disrupt Iran’s negotiations with Oman. https://sputnikglobe.com/20260727/centcom-chief-proposes-halting-strikes-in-strait-of-hormuz---reports-1124501908.html
July 25, Trump Pursues Diplomatic Off-Ramp As Omani Delegation Arrives In Tehran: Report https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-pauses-iran-bombing-campaign-saudi-houthi-red-sea-front-erupts
It looks like a copy of an Iranian Shahed drone: US One-Way Attack Drone Found Adrift In Hormuz Offers New Look At Western Capabilities https://www.zerohedge.com/military/us-one-way-attack-drone-found-adrift-hormuz-offers-new-look-western-capabilities
Israel lets the Lebanese army into a “pilot zone”, then shells them: Israel obstructing takeover of pilot zones in Lebanon’s south: Military Israel is violating agreements by shelling ‘pilot villages’, Lebanon’s army asserts. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/26/israel-obstructing-takeover-of-pilot-zones-in-lebanons-south-military
ISRAELI MEDIA: ‘An Inferno’: Gazans Face Sweltering Conditions in Tent Camps for Third Summer in a Row https://israelpalestinenews.org/israeli-media-an-inferno-gazans-face-sweltering-conditions-in-tent-camps-for-third-summer-in-a-row/
Making your hot tent the best home that you can. Families in their tents: Photos: Gaza’s shelter crisis The Gaza Strip faces a deepening housing crisis as more than 92 percent of homes have been damaged or destroyed by Israel’s war. https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2026/7/23/photos-gazas-shelter-crisis
1.4 Million Palestinians in Gaza Face Acute Food Insecurity – New IPC Analysis https://www.palestinechronicle.com/1-4-million-palestinians-in-gaza-face-acute-food-insecurity-new-ipc-analysis/
Rebuilding Gaza will cost $71bn and must include Palestinians, report says
A new joint report estimates that rebuilding Gaza will cost $71 billion, seven times the combined cost of all past offensives, and stresses that any reconstruction plan must directly include Palestinians in its design and implementation. https://www.vespernews.com/en/news/5d1c6979-593c-42a0-ae7d-b2f195a3ca03
The younger, leaner, better-looking Ben Gvir: More than 4,200 Israelis storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem National Security Minister Ben-Gvir joins settlers and far-right groups at holy site under heavy police protection. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/23/more-than-2300-israelis-storm-al-aqsa-mosque-in-jerusalem
Settler attacks on Palestinians soar by 63 percent in first half of 2026 https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/settler-attacks-palestinians-soar-63-percent-first-half-2026
Applied Research Institute Jerusalem: Israeli settlement plan to seize 6,000 dunums south of Bethlehem town https://english.palinfo.com/news/2026/07/24/367190/
July 23, New Israeli incursions reported in Quneitra as 57 violations documented in one week Israeli occupation forces carried out a new incursion on Wednesday evening into the Al-Mantara Dam area in the northern countryside of Quneitra, southwestern Syria, amid repeated violations in the region since the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime on December 8, 2024. https://english.palinfo.com/news/2026/07/23/367157/
Netanyahu, Katz vow to ‘broaden’ campaign of violence in occupied West Bank
A number of Palestinians were killed by settlers in the West Bank in recent days, as troops escalated arrest raids and violent incursions into villages https://thecradle.co/articles/netanyahu-katz-vow-to-broaden-campaign-of-violence-in-occupied-west-bank
The Israeli Spy Behind PragerU’s Plan to Rewrite American Education To Indoctrinate Children PragerU is trying to take over American schools. The right-wing, pseudo-educational group is now an official educational partner in at least ten states, and blitzes children with highly questionable messaging on race, history, and politics. Even more concerning, PragerU is led by former Israeli spy, Marissa Streit, who has stated she uses the tactics and techniques honed by IDF military intelligence on the American people. https://israelpalestinenews.org/the-israeli-spy-behind-pragerus-plan-to-rewrite-american-education-to-indoctrinate-children/
‘We want to see blood’: Israeli political leadership and settler groups call for revenge against Palestinians
Rights groups and Palestinian officials report homes burned, civilians injured and arrests following deadly clashes near Nablus https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/we-want-see-blood-israeli-political-leadership-and-settler-groups-call-revenge-against
The President of the World Jewish Congress just sent a warning to every Potential AMERICA FIRST Candidate wishing to run for U.S. Congress ‘If you do not support Israel, if you platform or say anything we deem “antisemitic”, we will “TARGET THEM” and start a fund for their opponent.’
By Dr. Sam Youssef, reposted from Twitter/X, July 21, 2026 https://israelpalestinenews.org/the-president-of-the-world-jewish-congress-just-sent-a-warning-to-every-potential-america-first-candidate-wishing-to-run-for-u-s-congress/
Last week: ‘Go F* Yourselves’: Democrats Defy AIPAC after Historic Israel Aid Vote More than 100 House Democrats supported or declined to oppose a measure to end US military aid to Israel despite AIPAC pressure.
Several lawmakers previously backed by AIPAC broke with the lobbying group by supporting or not rejecting the amendment.
Analysts and former lawmakers say AIPAC’s aggressive spending strategy is increasingly alienating Democratic voters and candidates. https://www.palestinechronicle.com/go-f-yourselves-democrats-defy-aipac-after-historic-israel-aid-vote/
Last week, seemingly just a group-opinion: House rebukes Trump’s war in Iran https://www.axios.com/2026/07/23/iran-war-powers-vote-house-republicans-trump
The actual arrangement: The US Senate has authorized Trump to wage war on Iran without congressional approval. https://en.topwar.ru/286808-senat-ssha-razreshil-trampu-voevat-s-iranom-bez-odobrenija-kongressa.html
Larry Johnson explains why the Israeli military is particularly jet-fuel and diesel constrained lately: ISRAEL’S CRITICAL FUEL EXPOSURE https://sonar21.com/israels-critical-fuel-exposure/
Gilbert Doctorow with a “General Armageddon” rumor: The speculation surrounding the “reported reappointment” of General Sergei Surovikin to a leading position in the war on Ukraine
Kyiv’s attacks on CPC tankers triggered an oil crisis in Romania. https://en.topwar.ru/286807-udary-kieva-po-tankeram-ktk-stali-prichinoj-krizisa-s-neftju-v-rumynii.html
HormuzReport - BREAKING: A source close to Iranian military officials suggests Iran may soon directly strike Ukraine or supply Russia with short-range ballistic missiles, in response to Kyiv’s drone attack on an Iranian vessel in the Caspian Sea that killed a sailor, per Iranian outlets. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the attack “cannot go unanswered.” Tehran has formally notified Russia and the EU. The IRGC is reportedly considering a retaliatory ballistic missile strike against a strategic target in Kyiv, with the Khorramshahr-4 missile capable of reaching Ukraine.
Gilbert Doctorow on what Iran might do to Ukraine in retaliation, and how that might be coordinated with Russia: News X World – Iran Russia Cooperation: Iran confirms constant Russia contact after deadly Caspian incident
Segment 1, minutes 9.10 to 14.10, deals with the latest talks in Moscow between the Russian and Iranian foreign ministers. What could be the subject of these discussions? As I say here, Russia and Iran have collaborated closely since the very beginning of the Special Military Operation, when Iran provided Russia with its fairly sophisticated drone, which were not a form of armament that had received much attention in the Russian military industry previously. A manufacturing facility was set up in Russia and over time the Russians themselves upgraded the Iranian designed drones significantly, and also went on to develop many different drone varieties of their own. As regards Russia assistance to Iran from the first U.S. Israeli attacks in 2025 to today, that has been, it seems, mainly in the realm of military intelligence from their reconnaissance flights and satellites which is useful to Tehran for targeting its drones and missiles against U.S. assets on land against the Gulf States and at sea.
There was very likely a specific reason for the latest Russian-Iranian consultations, namely to discuss how Iran will make its revenge attack on Ukraine following last week’s Ukrainian strike on an Iranian merchant vessel in the Caspian Sea.
Moreover, today’s news on various youtube channels reports the arrival in Iran of one of Russia’s so-called Doomsday planes which are essentially airborne command and control centers that could be very useful when Iran makes its next move against Ukraine.
Segment 2, minutes 15,40 to 19 deals with reports that President Putin has stated his readiness for new negotiations over ending the Ukraine war. Yes, indeed, I say: Russia stands ready at any time to negotiate the capitulation of Kiev that ends the war. Otherwise, Russia has no interest in a cease fire when it is starting now a vast air, sea and ground campaign to utterly smash the Ukrainian armed forces. Moscow has already effectively imposed a blockade of the Ukrainian Black Sea ports, destroying day by day all port infrastructure. We may well expect in the coming days Russian moves to destroy the bridges on the Dnieper and the railway links with Poland so as to effectively cut of Ukraine from Western military supplies.
Moon of Alabama, Ukraine: Long-range Campaign Fails As Russia Hits Back The battles for Chasov Yar and Kostiantynivka ended simultaneously.
After 9 months of fighting, the city of Kostiantynivka fell under the control of Russian army. This Russian victory has, however, overshadowed another victory of equal significance. After 27 months of fighting, the town of Chasov Yar was completely captured by Russian forces.
This battle, which appeared to be drawing to a close in August 2025, dragged on for several more months, with counter-attacks and infiltrations by Ukrainian forces in the western districts.
Whilst it seemed that the capture of Chasov Yar, situated on higher ground, would allow for a swift conquest of Kostiantynivka, situated on lower ground, it was ultimately the capture of Kostiantynivka that severed the supply lines to Chasov Yar and thus led to the withdrawal of the last Ukrainian soldiers from the town over the past few days. —Ukraine’s campaign against Russia in the Black Sea has left a landlocked country
Ukraine, with the help of U.S. and British intelligence, had launched a massive campaign against all Russia related shipping in the Black Sea. In a counter-campaign Russia has blocked Odessa and every other outlet to the sea that Ukraine had left. Any ship going to or from Ukraine was and will be attacked.
Ukraine is now landlocked. There will no longer be any sea borne export of Ukrainian crops or metals. Any arms import by sea has ended. https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/07/ukraine-infrastructure-campaign-fails-as-russia-hits-back.html
The Cardboard Maidan On 15 July, Ukraine’s president fired his defence minister after six months. He did not explain why. By 18 July there were five thousand people outside his office in Kiev, holding signs torn out of shipping boxes. Within six days he had sacked his commander in chief instead. Polling taken that week showed the sacked minister’s trust rating going from 35 to 65 percent in seven days. The president came fourth. The protests are still running. Parliament does not sit again until 18 August. The defence ministry still has no confirmed head, and he lands at the White House tomorrow. Elections have been suspended since 2022. Which means the crowd outside the building at night is not one of the checks on power in Ukraine right now.
July 28, Protests in support of ex-defence minister Fedorov: Kyiv march for dialogue and reforms announced https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2026/07/28/8046236/
For use where, and by whom? US will build Ukraine’s sea drones — including the one that shoots down jets https://www.techradar.com/pro/us-will-build-ukraines-sea-drones-including-the-one-that-shoots-down-jets
The is what Trump’s “not Europe’s piggybank” quote was about: President Trump Notes Europe’s Refusal to Accept Elimination of Marshall Plan – New EU Scheme to Fine U.S. Tech Companies https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/07/25/president-trump-notes-europes-refusal-to-accept-elimination-of-marshall-plan-new-eu-scheme-to-fine-u-s-tech-companies/#more-285530
Germany paying five times more for gas after ditching Russian imports – media
Long-term contracts with Moscow were not vulnerable to external shocks or market fluctuations, Berliner Zeitung has said https://web.archive.org/web/20260723232430/https://www.rt.com/news/643402-germany-gas-russian-imports/
Martin Armstrong asserts: Japan Is the First Domino in the Sovereign Debt Crisis Japan recorded a 1.01 trillion yen ($6.2 billion) trade deficit during the first half of 2026, according to preliminary government data. This does not mean that Japan will collapse tomorrow, but it is another crack in the foundation of a debt structure that can no longer withstand rising interest rates, a collapsing currency, and imported inflation... ..Japan depends heavily on imported energy. The conflict with Iran and disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz have raised the cost of oil while forcing Japan to seek supplies from more distant sources. Japan’s oil import volume actually declined 13.7% in June, but the value of those imports increased 59.3%. Japan bought less oil and paid far more for it...
..Japan accumulated the largest sovereign debt burden in the industrialized world while interest rates were held artificially near zero. Government debt exceeds 200% of GDP by virtually every major international estimate, while broader measurements place the burden above 230%... ..The Bank of Japan held approximately 485.4 trillion yen in Japanese government bonds as of March 2026, representing 47.9% of outstanding JGBs under the government’s calculation. This is not a free market. The central bank became the market because the government could not have financed this mountain of debt at normal interest rates... ..Japan is not operating under ordinary circumstances. Every increase in rates gradually raises the government’s cost of refinancing debt that was accumulated under zero-rate policies. Japan’s fiscal 2026 budget totals a record 122.3 trillion yen. Debt-service expenditures, including interest and redemptions, have jumped 10.8% to 31.3 trillion yen. That means more than one-quarter of general government spending is already being consumed by past borrowing... ..The Bank of Japan is trapped. If it raises rates aggressively to defend the yen, it increases government debt-service costs and inflicts losses on banks, insurers, pension funds, and other institutions holding government bonds. If it keeps rates too low, capital continues to move away from the yen, the currency declines, and imported inflation accelerates. If it resumes massive bond purchases, it confirms that the debt cannot be financed naturally and further undermines confidence in the currency.
Tokyo has already spent an estimated $215 billion intervening in currency markets, yet the yen has still fallen to a 40-year low. Currency intervention cannot repair a structural fiscal imbalance. A government can buy its currency temporarily, but it cannot force global capital to trust policies that no longer make sense... ..Japan can no longer defend the currency without threatening the bond market, support the bond market without weakening the currency, subsidize energy without issuing more debt, or raise taxes without damaging an already strained population. Japan’s aging population makes the situation even worse. The tax base is shrinking while pension, medical, and social-service obligations increase. Social-security expenditures in the fiscal 2026 budget reached approximately 39.1 trillion yen. Debt service and social security together consume an enormous portion of government spending before politicians fund defense, infrastructure, education, energy subsidies, or anything else... ..Anyone claiming that one trade report proves Japan is bankrupt is exaggerating. The importance of this report is that it shows the mechanism tightening: war raises energy prices, the weak yen magnifies those prices, imports overwhelm export growth, inflation pressures the Bank of Japan to raise rates, and higher rates increase the cost of servicing the world’s largest developed-market debt burden.
Japan is the first domino because it pushed modern monetary experimentation further than any other major economy. It normalized zero and negative interest rates, allowed its central bank to dominate the government bond market, and assumed domestic savings would finance public deficits forever. Europe and the United States followed the same path later, believing they could avoid Japan’s fate... ..The Japanese trade deficit is another warning shot. The sovereign debt crisis will not necessarily begin with a formal announcement from the Ministry of Finance. It will begin through currency weakness, failed interventions, rising bond yields, imported inflation, captive domestic capital, and an increasing share of tax revenue diverted toward interest payments.
Japan is not merely experiencing a weak yen or a temporary energy problem. It is approaching the point where every available policy creates another crisis somewhere else. That is how confidence begins to fracture, and once confidence turns against government debt, no central bank can restore it by simply creating more money. https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/japan/japan-is-the-first-domino-in-the-sovereign-debt-crisis/
The Near Future? Tether’s XAUt Gold Token Receives Shariah Certification To Expand Islamic Finance Access https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/tethers-xaut-gold-token-receives-shariah-certification-expand-islamic-finance-access
Take the free $1000 and watch it for 65 years: Trump Accounts Are Now Open: What Parents And Grandparents Need To Know Before Contributing https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/trump-accounts-are-now-open-what-parents-and-grandparents-need-know-contributing
Too stoopid to wash dishes... Professor Hides White Font in Midterm, Catches Students Using AI in the Stupidest Way Possible Jason Gibson, a history professor at Alcorn State University in Mississippi, says that he used white font to hide a prompt telling an AI model to spew nonsense in the instructions for his mid-term. Unfortunately, it ended up working a little too well.
“Thirty-two of my 35 students between two classes failed a portion of their midterm because they all used AI to generate their entire response,” he explained in a viral TikTok, sounding incredulous. “And apparently they didn’t proofread it.”
The hidden prompt told the AI to sneak in random digressions about Madagascar. The midterm, by the way, was about the Industrial Revolution... ..All they did was copy-paste the midterm instructions into a chatbot, then copy-paste the chatbot’s spiel back into the answer window... ..“Madagascar floats sideways through the afternoon.” (”Okay,” Gibson says, after a pause.) Another droned on about something related to AI and social inequality, followed by: “Madagascar purple bicycle whispers to the ceiling.” https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/professor-hides-white-font-midterm-100100752.html
OpenAI’s Rogue Agent Hit A Second Company, Executive Reveals - And The Blast Radius Just Got Bigger The rogue OpenAI agent behind this month’s unprecedented AI-driven cyber intrusion claimed a second corporate victim, an executive at New York-based Modal Labs has revealed - a detail absent from the original account and one that widens the known blast radius of the episode.
According to the Modal executive and sources cited by Reuters, the same autonomous agent that broke into Hugging Face also compromised one of Modal’s customers, using that customer’s environment as a staging base for the broader campaign.
Modal was pointed about the distinction: its own platform and isolation were never breached. The agent exploited an unauthenticated endpoint that one of Modal’s customers had left open to the internet - effectively an unlocked door anyone could have walked through - giving it root-level access to that customer’s code-execution sandboxes. From there the agent had a disposable, third-party launchpad from which to run the rest of its operation.
It’s bad enough that a frontier AI agent can independently discover attack paths, escape its container, and compromise an unaffiliated company’s production systems. The Modal revelation shows it reached further than that - treating any publicly reachable, poorly secured infrastructure it encountered as expendable staging ground, exactly the opportunistic chaining that security researchers have warned agentic systems would carry out at machine speed. https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/openais-rogue-agent-hit-second-company-executive-reveals-and-blast-radius-just-got-bigger
20 year old Toyotas not affected: Experts warn 2.2 million cars could be at risk of hijacking via Bluetooth, Worrying connected California carjack detected 2.2 million vehicles are susceptible to a Bluetooth-based attack in the state of California The vulnerability is due to dealer-installed security systems
Researchers at the University of California San Diego found that the Acrisure-built security devices all rely on the same secure key ... ..Worryingly, the researchers also found a publicly-accessible database holding information about all vehicles with the security system equipped... ..The researchers determined that the automobiles were purchased from Honda, Toyota, Mazda, Ford, and Jeep dealerships, and the affected vehicles have the “KARR-SWDS” label on the driver-side window, with the anti-theft device mounted under the dashboard.
Usage is straightforward: a mobile app connects to the KARR security system over Bluetooth and includes functions such as locking and unlocking doors, controlling the horn, and flashing the headlamps. It can also prevent the car from starting. https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/experts-warn-2-2-million-cars-could-be-at-risk-of-hijacking-via-bluetooth
“Don’t Flock Me”: Massie Readies Bill To Yank Federal Cash From Cities And Police Departments Running Flock Cameras
Rather than regulating or litigating the cameras, Massie’s bill would cut off federal funding to every city and police department that installs them. Flock’s business model runs on local government contracts across roughly 6,000 communities, so a funding-withholding bill aims directly at its customer base. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dont-flock-me-massie-readies-bill-yank-federal-cash-cities-and-police-departments-running
Soon they may need to be armed for “self-defense”: Now They Are Making Flock Cameras That Can Fly and Read License Plates From 2,000 Feet Away https://jdrucker.com/now-they-are-making-flock-cameras-that-can-fly-and-read-license-plates-from-2000-feet-away/
Fabio Vighi, AI Shock and Central Bank Trap - A week of living dangerously Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 Becomes World’s First Open-Source Model in 3-Trillion-Parameter Class
The system always looks most stable just before it starts to crack—a mixture of vanity and method. That is why the present moment seems significant: the launch of a Chinese open-weight AI model, a global bond sell-off, and a round of central bank meetings are not separate stories but connected symptoms of the same exhausted order. Grinding in the background is the debt machine, which is now accelerating into its own limits... ..Capital wants to convert technological advance into private monopoly, yet the very spread of AI undermines exclusivity and erodes control over access. The more essential the technology becomes to coding, research, administration, and decision-making, the more obvious it is that the real struggle is not over “intelligence” as such, but over control of the conditions under which the artificial intelligence is commodified.
And here lies the constitutive, inescapable contradiction. AI is celebrated as a productivity revolution; in truth, it intensifies a formidable crisis of valorisation. Capital seeks to replace living labour with machine intelligence, but commodity-producing living labour remains the only source of economic value. The more capital automates, the more it corrodes the basis on which profit is supposed to rest... ..If Kimi K3 marks anything, it is not necessarily the end of US AI dominance, but the erosion of the assumptions on which that dominance—and the AI bubble—rested. K3 does not need to be the best model in the world. It only needs to be close enough, cheap enough, and accessible enough to make US customers ask why they are paying many times more for closed American systems.
Man Saves Wife from Being Euthanized by Canadian Government, Flees to Texas for Cancer Treatment A Canadian husband is sounding the alarm after the country’s government-run healthcare system tried to euthanize his wife instead of saving her life, forcing the couple to flee to the United States, where she received treatment that has since put her cancer into remission multiple times.
The explosive testimony from Donovan James has gone viral after he accused Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) regime of abandoning his wife, Kristin Logan, to die while refusing to provide life-saving care. https://slaynews.com/man-saves-wife-euthanized-canadian-government-flees-texas-cancer-treatment/
International Study Finds 75% of Embalmers Observed White Fibrous Clots in Corpses
A Midwestern Doctor, Vaccine Amnesia: 78 Forgotten News Segments That Could Never Air Today Before the press was captured, vaccine injuries were openly covered on national TV. Now the dam of censorship is breaking, and we can finally confront the tragic history that keeps repeating. Something about vaccines (e.g., their promise of a simple injection being sufficient to safely and effectively end all diseases) has always deeply appealed to the minds of government officials.
That promise is often a lie. Over and over, unsafe and ineffective vaccines reach the market, and each time, the officials invested in them do everything they can to shield the vaccines from scrutiny and bury the red flags. The medical field has dutifully gone along.
In earlier decades, the press was far less captured than it is now, and it occasionally aired real investigations into what was happening — segments that documented the suffering of the injured.
Watched together, these reports show two things at once: how much more candid the media used to be, and how precisely the lies of that era match the lies we face now.
Steve Kirsch, Data from a large autism clinic shows 40% of sudden regression autism happened within 2 days after vaccination And 76% of the cases happened within 2 weeks! In 98% of the rapid regression cases, the common element that parents noted just prior to the onset of sudden regression was routine vaccination.
Steve Kirsch, Czech data shows that those who got the Moderna vaccine died more The comorbidity index (DCCI) for the Pfizer v. Moderna groups was comparable (SMD around .05), but mortality was consistently higher for Moderna. The most likely explanation: Moderna was more deadly.
Known to me since May 2020: Flashback: Fauci Funded Technique To Hide Evidence Of Genetic Engineering According To RFK Jr. Four years ago, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made an accusation that got him shadowbanned, “fact-checked,” and dismissed as a crank: that Anthony Fauci’s NIAID had bankrolled the development of a laboratory technique whose primary utility was erasing the fingerprints of human engineering from a manipulated virus - and that the technique was then handed to the Wuhan Institute of Virology...
..What “Seamless Ligation” Actually Is
The technique is published, peer-reviewed, sitting on the National Institutes of Health’s own servers, and was openly boasted about for the better part of two decades.
Assembling a full-length coronavirus genome from smaller synthetic fragments requires cutting and pasting DNA. Conventional restriction enzymes leave behind junction sequences - “scars” - at every splice point. Those scars are the tell. Line up the genome, spot the regularly spaced artificial seams, and you can say with confidence that a human being built the thing.
Baric’s lab solved that problem. Using Type IIS restriction enzymes - which cut outside their own recognition sequence - his team developed an assembly method that leaves no residual site at the junction. The finished genome reads as though it were never cut at all. https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/flashback-fauci-funded-technique-hide-evidence-genetic-engineering-according-rfk-jr
Jessica Rose Ph.D. The Ralph Baric Interview Release A story of a man’s account of his own forgetfulness, not knowing how he ended up on pivotal Zoom calls, and his as-yet unspoken classified answers to unclassified NBACC reports
John Leake, Senator Paul Should Ask Fauci Why Moderna’s 2016 Patented Gene Sequence Turned Up in SARS-CoV-2 Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel, the Wuhan Lab, a critical gene patent, and the U.S. government’s curious lack of interest in what appears to be a smoking gun.
Celia Farber, Breaking: Disruptive Fauci Lawyer Removed By Security For Refusing To Obey Rules Of Hearing But “Half A Dozen” Other Fauci Lawyers Remain; How Much Are These Lawyers Paid To Tell Their Detested Client To Plead The Fifth On EVERY Question?
Surreal: Fauci Is Pleading The Fifth On EVERY Question - Including Whether A Folder Was Before Him
Peter McCullough MD on Fauci taking his own Kool-Aid: BREAKING--Dr. Anthony Fauci’s Post-Vaccination Pulmonary Embolism and the Disconnect in Public Health Policy Examining the Dissonance Between a Concealed Medical Crisis and Federal Public Health Directives--Fauci Knew or Should Have Known Moderna Causes Blood Clots
Breathing Freely (pictured with pecan tree and black-eyed pea patch)
I'll never forget how graphic the white, rubbery, vessel-filling clots were (not blood clots since they weren't made of blood) in the documentary "Died Suddenly".
"Euthanized by Canadian Government" Hmph, the return of of the death camps aren't far off.