The Purpose
Divining Meaning,
“Nothing makes sense” is a common complaint about the current war in the Mideast which is choking global supplies of oil, natural gas, fertilizer and helium to make integrated circuit chips. If we look at the needs of modern global industrial economy, it must shrink from these reductions in fuels, feedstocks, fertilizer and critical materials.
“The Purpose of a thing is What It Does.” Within what framework might the reduction of feedstocks and agricultural fertilizer to the world be the rational decision of some powerful interest group? It won’t be good for stock markets if it keeps up. The world will get the final conclusion of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis if this keeps up long enough (which is an indeterminate time to most of us).
If the end of real economic growth is inevitably near, or just happened without being announced, then groups of powerful people might want to move to selectively choke the flows of fuel and fertilizer to their competitors and adversaries, as is typically done in wartime. (Franklin Roosevelt did this to Japan to push them into attacking the US, so that he would have cause to enter the European war, I have read.) Do we see uneven denial of resources? Do alliance groups seem to be facing off against each other, like EU-NATO-Israel against Russia, China & Iran, for instance?
It continues to be my view that global real economy likely peaked with the last peak of Oil + Condensates last November, following the previous peak of October 2018, which was followed by the “Repo Crisis”, then COVID lockdowns & Bailouts.
Pandemic did not prove to be an adequately robust Control-Narrative, despite best efforts to impose “universal-vaccination” with novel gene-therapy products that increase cancers, heart attacks, strokes, miscarriages and infertility, amongst other ailments. Everybody did not get a biometric vaccine passport and Central Bank Digital Currency with Social-Credit-Scoring, despite best efforts by “The Davos Crowd” and their servants in governments, militaries and industry.
War is the control-narrative which can always work, and can always be escalated to justify mass-murder and deprivation at home. Here we are again.
Is calling Iranian negotiators “unreliable scum” a case of projection? Alex Krainer, Trump’s war machine is going broke! Trump has been waging narrative warfare, so divorced from truth that it’s actually very revealing! Donald Trump made one of his most bizarre statements to date saying that, “Yesterday, they had an 11-hour meeting… and everything was agreed to yesterday…” By “they,” Trump apparently meant, his and Iranian negotiators. But what exactly he meant by “everything” that was agreed, remained entirely unclear. It seemed that the point of his statements was to insinuate once more that the Iranians were desperate to cut a deal with the US, but they are terrible negotiators. They’re also very unreliable: “Then they leave the room, call back, and say, ‘We had to make a couple of changes…”... ..Perhaps the most important purpose of Trump’s story was to create the impression that the 11-hour meeting really did take place and the Iranians agreed to stuff they had to backtrack from. Therefore, they are weak and desperate... ..There’s a major problem with Trump’s story: there was no 11-hour meeting on Sunday, either in Qatar or anywhere else, at least none between any US and Iranian representatives... ..If you’re struggling on the battlefield, what could possibly be the point of lying about it and pretending that you’re in control and winning? ... Well,probably because admitting defeat could end the war prematurely (for some interests), discourage recruits and mercenaries from joining, tear apart alliances and most importantly,cut short the flow of colossal sums of money that are funding the War machinealong with thewarlords and weapons merchants... ..This whole approach is reminiscent of Robert Schiller’s “narrative economics” hypothesis. Schiller first published it as a speech on the occasion of his 2017 American Economic Association (AEA) presidential address (published later that same year as an NBER working paper). Two years later, he expanded on the hypothesis in a 2019 book titled, “Narrative Economics: How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events.”
In essence, Schiller argued that popular economic narratives - contagious, often simplified and emotionally charged stories - can spread virally, just like epidemics. In doing so, these narratives can significantly influence individual and collective behavior including investing, spending, saving, or policy support, thereby amplifying major economic developments like mass adoption of certain products or services, substitution of others, and even macro events like booms, asset bubbles, busts or recessions.
Once more, we are converging on phenomena of collective human psychology and how it can be influenced through narratives. Once narratives take hold, they can impact real-world outcomes, and perhaps Trump’s rhetoric about the control of the Hormuz Strait should be understood in this way... ..Trump’s bizarre rhetoric is also quite revealing and there’s much to read into it. The wording of his TruthSocial post about the USA becoming “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT” reads like a foreshadowing of his intent to shake down the Gulf sheikdoms to help pay for the Iran war, in the amount of 20% of the value of cargoes passing through the strait. That may be a bit aggressive, but since the allies’ money is sitting in Western financial institutions, they would have no choiceabout any “fair” deductions from their balances.After all, the charges would be for their own protectionand security.
This will inevitably alienate US Middle Eastern allies, so why did Trump use that language, and why now? As it turns out,US Defense Department appears to be rapidly running out of cash while the costs of war are mountingrelentlessly... In squeezing his allies,Trump made it quite plain—not only that limitations exist, but that we’re getting there fast... ..Yesterday’s announcement didn’t have the desired effect and the oil price soared nearly 9%. In today’s pre-open session, it’s up another 3.5%, fully $10/bbl higher than Friday’s close, which translates into about $0.24/gallon at the pump. Another, “Iranians are desperate to make a deal” announcement might become necessary soon. It remains to be seen if the markets will buy it the 24th time.
Alastair Crooke, Iran War 3.0 - A market downturn in the U.S. – exacerbated by an energy crisis – could spell disaster for Trump’s midterm hopes. Trump may have imagined (or been told) that with the massive funeral for the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei under way, that Iran would not react as the U.S. Navy attempted to force open an American corridor.Trump however, misread the Iranian jibe – Hormuz is its’ ‘atomic weapon’. Iran will not relinquish it. Trump insists – in clear contradiction to the terms set out in paragraph five of the MoU – that Iran has no right to interfere with any ship trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz. Iran nonetheless is acting within the terms of the agreed de-escalation framework, and has warned repeatedly that it would strike any vessel circumventing the Iranian control mechanism.
Iran responded directly to Trump’s challenge to Iranian control of the Strait by striking two vessels with missiles and a third with an armed drone. A forth Qatari-owned tanker, laden with liquefied natural gas, was set ablaze, forcing its crew to abandon the stricken vessel.....Vice-President Vance is saying if Iran restricts Hormuz (i.e. it stays open to friendly states’ vessels) the U.S. will escalate. And Iran is responding to this threat by warning that it will escalate militarily – two strikes for every one American strike – and that they may also turn to new doctrines of warfare.
Essentially, Trump has plunged into an escalatory trap, seemingly in part out of pique at his collapsing polls at home. He did, however, directly put himself in this situation by trying to ‘act cute’ during the Khamenei funeral pre-occupations in order to try to gain a ‘quick win’.
How long will this escalatory episode last? Certainly, it will not lead to the opening of the Strait; nor bring a return of the status quo ante that preceded the war. As long as Iran maintains its ability to exert control over Hormuz, there is no basis to assume that the situation will return to what it was... ..Where did this all go wrong? Possibly the crux of it derives from the moment that Iran’s new Supreme Leader, Sayyed Mojtaba, issued his statement that he had held a different view on the MoU to that of the negotiating team, but had agreed to proceed with it after receiving an assurance from the Iranian President that he would ensure and take into account Iran’s overarching principles in respect to relations with the U.S..
The Supreme Leader Mujtaba Khamenei’s statement put on notice both the U.S. – and the Iranian negotiators – that Iran’s approval of the MoU was no open mandate, but rather closely tied to the 10 principles originally enunciated by the new Supreme Leader.
At some point, the Iranian leadership seemingly came to the conclusion that Iran was being played by the U.S.; that the MoU was a deception –
“and that the entirety of events since the announcement of the MoU reflected a U.S. strategy based on the view that in the previous round of the war against Iran – [that the U.S. and Israel] failed to achieve their objectives – necessitating a halt to the confrontation, albeit temporarily, in order to regroup and prepare ‘more thoroughly’ for a new round when the right conditions arise”.
This led to the Iranian reassessment that the Hormuz and Lebanon components constituted the vital leverage to engage in a new war as the West ramps up pressure as a holding strategy – whilst the U.S. and Israel prepare for the next round of war.
The interim U.S. strategy is no change to U.S.-Israeli objectives, but rather an adjustment to their operational mechanisms to provide for certain compromises that Washington considers necessary (i.e. closer working with Turkey and via Erdogan to engage Syria’s Jolani) to reshuffle the Lebanon deck, and then to ‘assess how the cards lie’, as Vance outlined.
It is not certain that this new U.S. policy will work. The world is changing rapidly. Their expected triumph of Israel over the Middle East has resulted in failure. Trump’s MoU ploy to open Hormuz likely will fail, too. https://strategic-culture.su/news/2026/07/13/iran-war-3-0/
Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism, Iran War: Trump Lashes Himself to Strait of Hormuz Mast With Renewed Blockade, Intensified Attacks on Iran; Oil Crunch Worsens as Iran Halt Fujairah Shipments, Houthis Threaten to Close Bab el-Mandeb Trump is doubling down on the Iran conflict despite the fact that the narrowing of war aims to merely re-opening the Strait of Hormuz is already an admission of failure. Even though Trump is the undisputed master of double-speak, it seems hard to fathom how he could reverse himself and abandon the war, particularly since the Iranians would make a point of humiliating him. The press and markets are continuing to downplay the significance of the current escalation. Too many are depicting it as tit for tat, as in more of the same, when that is not accurate. Not only are the strikes and counter-strikes more severe, but the US is hitting targets deeper inside Iran, including uncomfortably close to the Bushehr nuclear plant. Iran has considerably expanded its targets to include Oman and Qatar and is now going after the UAE port of Fujairah to prevent its use as an export route.
Even more significant, in terms of another massive strategic miscalculation, is that, as we described yesterday, Iran defied the 11 year Saudi blockade of Yemen by flying a plane into and out of Sanaa. Iran tried a second run, among other things, to bring some mourners at the funerals of the Supreme Leader back. The plane eventually managed to land despite Saudi Arabia bombing the runway. Yemen has announced that it will close the Bab el-Mandeb strait. This has ramifications on commerce far beyond the impact on oil exports from the Gulf, as we will explain below. And it comes when Ukraine is successfully interfering with Russian shipping in the Sea of Azov. Even if, as Ukraine skeptics argue, the interference is not all that consequential to Russia and is being addressed, it has led to a halt of diesel exports and has the potential to seriously dent wheat exports when the world is set to enter a period of high prices and shortages due to the one-two of fertilizer and diesel price hikes plus a super El-Nino.
The only sort-of-sensible explanations so for for Trump’s conduct (ex that if push comes to shove, he will greenlight Israel using nukes) is that he believes he can bring Iran to heel with another three to four weeks of punishment and perhaps some economic privation. Robert Pape has described long form that punishment campaigns do not work. On top of that, we are going into this round of escalation in a weaker position from a weapons and oil supply vantage. Iran surely knows that, which is even more reason for them to continue to hang tough. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/07/iran-war-trump-lashes-himself-to-strait-of-hormuz-mast-with-renewed-blockade-intensified-attacks-on-iran-oil-crunch-worsens-as-iran-halt-fujairah-shipments-houthis-threaten-to-close-bab-el-mandeb.html
The IRGC announces four retaliatory operations targeting US military facilities in Jordan, Bahrain, and Kuwait, including strikes on fuel depots, drone command centers, Patriot systems, and radar installations. https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/irgc-destroys-strategic-us-facilities-in-bahrain--kuwait--jo
Simplicius, Empire Thuds Iran Again Amidst Symbols of Calamity The US is now trapped in this doom-loop of impotence, striking the same insignificant coastal launch sites over and over to no effect merely as a kind of writhing agony of imperial frustration.The breaking point apparently came over Iran’s refusal to give US and Trump the satisfaction of announcing Hormuz’s reopening, as per Trump’s begging demands.
It has set the addled American strongman on another torrent of tilting vexations, wherein he ignominiously piled slur upon slur on the stately Iranians, calling them “scum” and a number of other objectionably unpresidential terms... ..CENTCOM tried its honest best to give authority to Trump’s claims, to no avail—the entire world could see that ships only passed the strait when allowed by Iran... ..Recall that upon arrangement of the previous “ceasefire”, Iran was allowed to offload the tens of millions of barrels of oil that had been accumulating since earlier in the year. This means Iran was able to empty out its entire backlog and restart the storage counter anew, which further meansit can now wait out any renewed attempt by Trump to “blockade” the straitwith months more of this back and forth charade.
As per usual, Iran is giving back something for everything it receives in the exchange... ..In reality, the US knows it has no real cards to play; the Iranian state has been powerfully reinforced and indurated against US aggression to the point where each round of strikes has increasingly diminishing returns. The late Ayatollah Khamenei’s funeral has likewise cemented societal solidarity and spirit around the Iranian government, leaving the US and Israel with few avenues to make any kind of strategic inroads at all against their foe. Trump continues to wave the threat of “total destruction” of Iran’s critical facilities—desalination and nuclear plants, etc.—but these are likely bluffs owing to the knowledge that Iran’s response would likewise cripple the region’s most critical infrastructures as well, which would rebound onto Trump’s administration in extremely deleterious ways.
As a kind of last-ditch armageddon plan, it seems the Israelis could be floating a false-flag of all false-flags given new “assassination threats” against Trump that come at a convenient time....Many have inferred the logical conclusion as to what Israel’s desperate last-gasp emergency plan might be, if all else fails and Trump ends up backing down from the plan to destroy Iran for good... ..The problem is, for all the bluster of Trump’s ego as per the above rant, in reality the US military would be legally exempt from following the previous president’s “dead-man’s switch”-style orders, but would instead be held to follow the orders of the immediate successor, the newly-appointed Commander-in-Chief, which in Trump’s above hypothetical case would be JD Vance.
Uncorroborated scuttlebut: BREAKING: DEEP STATE DESPERATION EXPOSED!
They tried to KILL President Trump mid-flight. On July 9, 2026, as Trump departed Turkey aboard the brand-new Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8 — his future Air Force One — the Deep State launched a cowardly cyber strike from Langley, Virginia. They targeted the plane’s electronic controls in a blatant assassination attempt. But Trump — always ten steps ahead — switched to the older Air Force One at the last second. What the Fake News called a “routine security precaution” was actually a brilliant trap. This was the beginning of the Great Purification. Encrypted comms intercepted. Traitors scrambling. NYT journalists hit with emergency subpoenas because they had obituaries and “air disaster” stories pre-written and ready to publish. They were waiting for the crash. THEY. FAILED. AGAIN. Trump just exposed the entire rat nest.
Countermeasures System Needed for New Air Force One is Standard Issue for Military and Heads of State The New York Times is reporting that the new Air Force One, a luxury Boeing 747-8 given to the White House by the Qatari government, was left behind after its trip to Europe earlier in the week, when its lack of critical self-protection was determined to be a safety issue. The missing defense technology in question, the Large Aircraft Infrared Countermeasures (LAIRCM) system, has been virtually standard for all large military, as well as head-of-state, and VVIP aircraft for over twenty years.
Launched in the aftermath of 9/11, LAIRCM was deigned to provide effective defensive capability for transport and tanker aircraft against the IR Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) threat, which at the time was perceived as very pressing. Since then, the threat has not diminished and has even grown with the rise of armed unmanned systems. The lack of LAIRCM on aircraft important as Air Force One would definitely be justification enough to leave it on the ground, especially now that its vulnerability is world news.
LAIRCM is a laser-jammer-equipped version of the U.S. Navy’s AAQ-24 Directed IR Countermeasure (DIRCM) system which is installed on a wide variety of USSOCOM and U.K. Special Operations C-130s aircraft among others. https://dsm.forecastinternational.com/2026/07/10/countermeasures-system-needed-for-new-air-force-one-is-standard-issue-for-military-and-heads-of-state/
Trump Formally Notifies Congress Of Iran War Resumption - Third Consecutive Night Of Strikes Ensue https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/dispute-whether-hormuz-open-rages-ships-continue-transiting
Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-07-14 Iran War formally resumed — Congress notified, third night of US strikes. Trump formally notified Congress the US is at war with Iran (KobeissiLetter, zerohedge), giving another 60-day WPR clock. CENTCOM ran a five-hour strike mission across Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa and Bandar Abbas (dana916, zerohedge)... ..Hormuz: two armed tollbooths pointed at each other - The framing everyone landed on: Tehran sells the permit, Washington sells the escort, and neither payment buys passage against the other (shanaka86).
Scale of the 20%: read as cargo value, a 2M-barrel tanker at $80 owes ~$32M per crossing — a confiscatory tax, not a toll (ejmalrai). Iran’s floated fee is ~$1/barrel, i.e. 16x cheaper (TheApeOfGoldST, imetatronink).
“Protection racket at global scale” — ~$100-120B/yr extracted by a power that doesn’t border the strait (SamiAlArian). Lula: “That used to be called piracy”... ..Hormuz blockade reinstated + 20% toll — and Iran agrees in principle. Trump: US is now “Guardian of the Strait,” reimbursed “at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped,” blockade effective July 14 4PM ET (zerohedge, KobeissiLetter). Iran FM Araghchi: “POTUS is absolutely right… 20% is of course too much. We will be fair” (araghchi)...
..Saudi-Yemen: front reopens — Sana’a airport bombed, Houthis hit Abha Saudi jets bombed Sana’a airport tarmac to stop an Iranian Mahan Air plane landing (zerohedge, MenchOsint) — the plane simply diverted and landed in Hodeidah anyway (MenchOsint).
Houthis retaliated on Abha airport and King Khalid Air Base with ballistic missiles and drones (war_noir); threatened Saudi “vital infrastructure… oil and gas facilities across their entire extent” (HormuzLetter).
Context: MBS reportedly asked Trump on Friday for backing to hit the Houthis, and got it (BarakRavid). Yemen announced it will close Bab Al Mandab (GeromanAT).
Why it matters for oil: Saudi’s East-West pipeline moves ~7M b/d to the Red Sea to dodge Hormuz — straight into Bab el-Mandeb’s range (shanaka86). Pipelines trade one chokepoint for another... ..Meanwhile the financial side cracked hard overnight: Waller flipped hawkish, gold fell below $4,000, the 30Y hit 5.1%, and Korea’s KOSPI put in a Lehman-tier drop that force-liquidated 320,000+ retail accounts. Big day on every desk.
Trump does whatever Iran does... IRGC Vows ‘Not A Drop Of Oil & Gas Will Be Exported’ From Region Amid Sustained Cross-Gulf Fighting Iran-US fighting is sustained but in tit-for-tat pace, with new reported strikes across the Gulf.
Trump declares FULL blockade on Iranian ports, while IRGC asserts ‘wartime control’ of Hormuz.
Trump drops 20% transit fee plan; oil prices ease. https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/iran-launches-brazen-attacks-more-tankers-hormuz-killing-crewmembers-after-araghchi
Moon of Alabama on suspicious leak that Israel’s Mossad recruited a washed-up former-greatest-enemy: War On Iran: Escalation – Saudi’s Block Oil – Alleged Recruiting Of Ahmadinejad https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/07/war-on-iran-escalation-saudis-block-oil-alleged-recruiting-of-ahmadinejad.html
Lebanese army ‘refuses’ coordination with Tel Aviv as part of US-brokered deal with Israel: Report - Security sources tell local media that the Lebanese army will not ‘take orders’ from Israel or help ‘clear the way’ for additional occupation https://thecradle.co/articles/laf-refuses-coordination-with-tel-aviv-as-part-of-us-brokered-lebanon-israel-deal-report#google_vignette
Strikes on Lebanon Continue as Israeli DM Says They Are ‘Applying Rafah Model’ - Drone strikes continue to target vehicles in southern Lebanon https://news.antiwar.com/2026/07/12/strikes-on-lebanon-continue-as-israeli-dm-says-they-are-applying-rafah-model/
Death toll from Israeli attacks on Lebanon rises to 4,322 https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/death-toll-israeli-attacks-lebanon-rises-4322
Israeli defense minister says southern Lebanon “will become Gaza” https://www.azernews.az/region/260969.html
Russia open to Turkey selling S-400 air defence systems to UAE, sources say - Sources say negotiations have been under way for months, but Moscow’s final approval is still required https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/russia-open-turkey-selling-s-400-systems-uae-sources-say
Rivalries and Anxieties: Reviving the Hejaz Railway between Saudi Arabia and Türkiye The Hejaz Railway project, seemingly long past, is now being dusted down. In a June 9 memorandum of understanding signed between Türkiye and Saudi Arabia, a railway line is envisaged between the two countries that will traverse Jordan and Syria and create a strategic logistics artery linking the Gulf states to Europe.
For Israel, this has more than tickled a nerve. Rather than seeing it as a healthy instance of regional competition on matters relating to transport and trade, a reinvigorated Hejaz railway is seen as threatening to the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). Launched in September 2023, the IMEC, unsurprisingly, positions Israel as the central transit hub linking the Gulf to Europe. But Israeli diplomacy and initiatives have suffered of late, notably after the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas which saw a retributive war, not only against the Palestinians in Gaza, but Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and the illegal war launched against Iran in collusion with the United States on February 28.
What is particularly curious in the fearful critiques offered by Israeli figures is the implicit suggestion that Israel’s own economic plans and schemes are somehow free of a political, strategic, even security sting. Underlying this is the implicit suggestion that Israel’s claims to logistical and economic supremacy as a transit hub should be beyond competition from any rivals. Consider, for instance, the views of former Israeli Communications and Media Minister Ayoub Kara, who automatically assumes that the Hejaz Railway project is of a military nature and should be guarded against.
“Any cooperation built on security and military ties that is aimed at undermining Israel is a cause for concern,” he told MBN.
Much the same view is held by Mendi Safadi, a member of the ruling Likud Party and head of the Israeli Safadi Center for International Diplomacy, Research, Public Relations and Human Rights. Not missing a trick, Safadi thought it wise to make the railway project something greater than a threat to Israel’s own interests. While there would be “both security and economic risks” to the Jewish state, Europeans also had reason to worry. “Turkey could use this trade corridor as leverage to advance its political objectives.” In an economic world of Trumpian self-interest and exploitation, such a statement comes across as quaint.
Israel’s Transportation Minister, Miri Regev, has led the pack in fussing about the project in the broader context of Israel’s security environment. In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, she anxiously claimed that
“we are witnessing a rapid transformation of regional partnerships in trade and energy that deliberately bypass Israel and pose a genuine strategic threat to national security.”
The Hejaz Railway project, as well as “additional bypass corridors” threatened “to permanently render the Israeli route obsolete.” Were such “bypass scenarios” to be realised, Israel would be left “outside the map of global trade”. https://www.globalresearch.ca/reviving-hejaz-railway/5933219
Eight people including a nine year old girl have been killed in Israeli strikes which targeted the Sabra area south of Gaza City despite a ‘ceasefire’ https://www.newarab.com/news/eight-people-including-girl-killed-israeli-strikes-gaza
Armed Israeli Settlers Detained Ro Khanna. He Wants Their Illegal Outposts Demolished.
In an interview, Khanna recounts the fear at being detained and says anyone who visits the West Bank “would conclude that it is apartheid.” https://theintercept.com/2026/07/11/ro-khanna-west-bank-settler-violence-palestine-israel/
Kallas wants to vote on sanctions against Israeli genocide: Turf war between von der Leyen and Kallas erupts into open A Brussels power struggle rages over ‘options’ to restrict or ban trade with illegal Israeli settlements https://www.euractiv.com/news/turf-war-between-von-der-leyen-and-kallas-erupts-into-open/
Rubio Pledges To Dismantle International Criminal Court’s Threat To (cough, Israeli Genocide, cough, cough..) US Sovereignty https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/rubio-pledges-dismantle-international-criminal-courts-threat-us-sovereignty
The US has cultivated rising European elites a very long time: Finland and the Results of Elite Capture - Europe’s irrational choices are the outcome of decades of US “elite capture,” Finnish writer Olli Tammilehto argues. No better example than the president of his own country, Alexander Stubb.
Moving to where fuel is cheaper, the US: Are German companies leaving the country?Should I stay or should I go? Given Germany’s high cost and sluggish growth, some business leaders are mulling relocating, or at least investing abroad. DW has a look at the numbers. https://www.dw.com/en/are-german-companies-leaving-the-country/a-77875399
Gilbert Doctorow, Emmanuel Macron’s ‘Anti-ballistic Missile Coalition’ and the Russia-Ukraine war Macron’s gathering in Paris yesterday was clearly timed to make practical use of the visits of a number of high-ranking guests to the Bastille Day parade today. These guests include Sir Keir Starmer, outgoing PM of the United Kingdom, and Ukraine’s President Zelensky.
As I say in the News X World interview, the creation of an ABM coalition is not at all what it claims to be. The stated intention is to provide Ukraine with mutually designed and manufactured air defense systems having the functionality of America’s short-in-supply Patriot and costing a small fraction of the price of Patriots. This would, they say, bring down Russian ballistic missiles and enable Ukraine to defend itself after a truce or peace is reached. It would also help the Europeans in their plan to create a protective dome over the Continent...
..Ukraine was the main development and production center of Soviet strategic arms and it has the skill sets and even factory floors to lead the way not only for itself but also for Europe if the financing and technical cooperation is put in place.
To that I say, the argument is based on surmise, not on facts. Yes, Ukraine was a major participant in the Soviet defense industry right up to the collapse of the USSR, but one might ask how many of those experts remain in place. After all, Ukraine has lost more than a third, maybe half of its population to flight abroad – both to Russia in the East and to Germany, Poland and other countries to the West. And the security of existing and planned military factories in Ukraine is problematic. The model factory producing both missiles and drones which the late Senator Lindsey Graham visited last Friday was just a few hours later completely destroyed by a Russian missile attack. The idea that there is an effective defense against Russia’s present day hypersonic missiles is folly. Patriot installations in Ukraine themselves have been destroyed by unstoppable Russian missiles. And ballistic missiles are only part of the threat against which you have to defend today: a large part of the destructive attacks both Russians and Ukrainians are now making on the other side are by swarms of drones... ..Hence, my conclusion stated on the News X interview is that the Coalition will only serve the purpose of feeding money to European military manufacturers while providing no practical benefit to European or Ukrainian defense... ..In my interview with Press TV, I was given the opportunity to discuss points which Middle East expert Alastair Crooke set out convincingly in his latest podcast on youtube.
Crooke spoke about the damage Iran has done to the Bahrain headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and especially to U.S. military assets in Jordan where it attacked a major air base used by American forces. It may well be that Iran destroyed there a spy plane worth several hundred million dollars in its hangar and also destroyed U.S. fighter jets in their hangar. By Crooke’s estimation, Iran has taken control of the escalatory ladder, which reverses completely the normal order of things in America’s wars of aggression.
My contribution was to place the latest Iranian achievements in the context of what comes next in the reorganization of the security architecture in the Middle East. The Iranian missile strike on Bahrain was a message about what it can do to the Fifth Fleet at any time of its choosing should Trump want to escalate further. Surely all of the Gulf State neighbors took notice.
Conor Gallagher, Lindsey Graham Bites the Dust Lindsey Graham is dead. Before we celebrate too much, there is still a chance that he helps bring even more suffering and death just as he did while alive. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/07/lindsey-graham-bites-the-dust.html
Graham’s Final Mission? Trump Backs Hard-Hitting Russia Sanctions Package https://www.zerohedge.com/political/warhawk-grahams-final-mission-trump-backs-hard-hitting-russia-sanctions-package
Jessica Rose Ph.D. wonders if Pfizer or Moderna were involved: Could spike protein-mediated fibrosis predispose to aortic dissection? Implications for histopathological evaluation and differential diagnosis
South Carolina’s Governor Appoints Lindsey Graham’s Sister To Fill His Senate Seat [previously filled by Strom Thurmond] https://www.zerohedge.com/political/graham-dead-race-both-temporary-and-permanent-senate-successors
John Helmer on Reussian Strategic Initiative: BLEEDING TO DEATH IS NOT A RUSSIAN OPTION
The rupturing of the aorta which killed US Senator Lindsey Graham on July 11 causes sudden, excruciating pain across the chest; the internal bleeding causes death so rapidly most victims cannot be saved.
Graham’s fate is now to be inflicted by rapid enactment by the US Senate and House of the 500% tariff of the Graham sanctions bill on countries buying Russian oil, gas, uranium, coal, nickel, food grains. The pain is aimed principally at China, India, Turkey.
The bleeding to death is planned to be the fate of President Vladimir Putin and Russia... ..Putin’s problem is more urgent: he has to win the war in Ukraine to have any say in anything anywhere. If he doesn’t decide on this now, he’s Gorbachev 1985, waiting to be dismembered and sold in pieces to the Arabs, Turks, Europeans, and Chinese.”
Another Moscow source has been reporting the anticipation among Security Council officials that Putin must agree to the General Staff’s escalation options “within days”.
In this timing, by coincidence or by calculation, the Russian oligarchs supporting Putin have published an appeal to him with strings attached. These have been spelled out by Andrei Melnichenko and published by The Economist on July 9. Melnichenko warns Putin, and also the Graham sanctioneers in the White House and Congress, against four “scenarios” – “a humiliated Russia, lingering on the periphery of the West”, “Russia in China’s orbit”, “the fragmentation of Russia, which would rapidly become unmanageable”, and “Russia to become a fortress: closed, mobilised, in permanent siege”.
Moscow sources believe there are more options than these.
They say the Security Council has proposed to Putin to decide that if he is not to face slow bleeding defeat, he must commit now to “complete Russian victory cutting Ukraine off from Europe, NATO and the US; decapitation or exile for the Zelensky regime; and for Kiev and the main cities to be run in the manner the US runs Iraq. That victory brings military to power in Moscow.”
This is anathema to the oligarch base on which Putin has depended until now, when, Moscow sources agree, that is impossible.
“Melnichenko is speaking at the behest of the state oligarchs clan of which [First Deputy Prime Minister Denis] Manturov is the face and coordinator”, according to one source. “They know [Roman] Abramovich is not the right person to intermediate. They want to retain their external wealth and their Russian assets so they are floating a ‘nothing and everything is possible’ balloon – if need be, to open a platform independent of Putin, but if he will come to an accommodation, so much the better.”
They are worried, a source in a position to know claims, by “the prospect of a entire shift toward a Chinese-style takeover by a military-nationalist alliance, the state takeover of all oligarch assets, a change of leadership at Rosneft and the state banks. This may not be plausible for the Kremlin. But it is being floated now. And there are other scenarios which the oligarchs also oppose. One would be for Putin to preserve his continuity in power on striking a grand deal with India and China. The Indians will show the middle finger to the Americans if the Chinese will but not alone. Putin will have to join, too.” https://johnhelmer.net/bleeding-to-death-is-not-a-russian-option/#respond
Andrew Korybko, Western Officials Should Listen When Trenin Of All People Warns Of Russian Escalation He’s not a hawk in the least and actually used to be one of his country’s most well-known Western-friendly experts before the special operation led to him gradually re-evaluating his worldview.
President of the Russian International Affairs Council Dmitri Trenin published a piece at RT about “The dangerous logic of NATO 3.0”. In his assessment, “The Europeans dream of eliminating Russia as a serious factor in the geopolitics of Eurasia: to them, this would mean the ‘final solution’ of the long-dreaded ‘Russia problem.’…The fundamental flaw of European thinking is their belief that Russia would rather accept defeat, degradation and disintegration than use the arsenal which it currently possesses.”
He elaborated that “This arsenal is not limited to nuclear weapons, although the point may be reached when they will have to be used. The Kremlin, so far, has been exceedingly restrained in using its more powerful conventional capabilities, or engaging some high-value, high-visibility targets. There are many explanations for such restraint, but it is foolhardy – actually, fatal – to believe that either the Russian leadership or the Russian people would ever surrender to NATO.”
Dmitry Trenin, The dangerous logic of NATO 3.0 - Moscow sees a dangerous illusion at the heart of the new Western doctrine https://www.rt.com/news/642647-nato-militarism/
‘They used axes to spare the ammo’: How modern Ukraine’s Nazi heroes massacred Poles during WWII
Poland supported Ukraine against Russia – but the ghosts of the Volyn genocide have returned to haunt their partnership https://www.rt.com/russia/548672-ukrainian-murdered-poles-wwii/
The sector was hurridly evacuated: Russia Massive Attack: Kiev Regime Hides Depleted Uranium Ammunition in the Capital’s Suburbs A recent Russian attack destroyed a facility housing dangerous weapons held by the regime. https://www.globalresearch.ca/kiev-regime-hides-depleted-uranium-ammunition-capital/5932943
Ukraine Prime Minister’s Shock Resignation Marks Start Of Broader Zelensky Cabinet Reshuffle https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-prime-ministers-shock-resignation-start-broader-zelensky-cabinet-reshuffle
Fear of Russian Strikes Forces. Trump’s Ukraine Air Defense Patriot Strategy Fear of Russian strikes is driving a major shift away from establishing production in Ukraine toward more secure European locations, underscoring the challenges of producing advanced air defense systems amid ongoing conflict. Production activities are underway in Europe, with MBDA, owned by Airbus, BAE Systems, and Leonardo, opening a new plant in southern Germany. The plant is scheduled to begin operations soon, with initial deliveries expected by early 2027. Reports indicate that Ukraine has finalized deals with Germany for approximately 600 missiles. Funding appears to be secured through NATO commitments made at the Ankara summit, totaling around $140 billion—$70 billion this year and $70 billion next year.
Establishing such specialized factories requires significant time, typically 18 to 24 months. During this period, Ukraine would need to meet its immediate requirements by purchasing completed systems, primarily from German stocks.
Lockheed Martin, the main US producer of Patriot systems, is building a factory in Romania, expected to be operational soon. Ongoing security threats and the risk of Russian attacks on Ukrainian territory make full-scale missile manufacturing unlikely in Ukraine. Consequently, safer European locations, especially Romania, are becoming the preferred sites.
In a possible Romanian configuration, the US would supply advanced parts such as active radar seekers, motors, and complex electronics. Local facilities would assemble simpler components, including missile bodies and transport-launch containers. These sites could operate under Ukrainian branding or as joint ventures, allowing Kiev to claim involvement while reducing risk. Even shipments from European plants could be intercepted or targeted during transit or deployment. https://www.globalresearch.ca/fear-russian-strikes-changes-trump-ukraine-patriot-strategy/5933283
Ian Proud, There is no functional way to end the war in Ukraine - Only a popular uprising against globalist leaders in Europe and their proxy in Ukraine, will do I predict that the collapse in Western support for the forever war in Ukraine will start to crumble after the French Presidential election, which Marine Le Pen is considered in hot contention to win. France under Le Pen will not want Ukraine to join the EU because of the loss of financial benefits to France that would result. I predict she would not want to prolong the war in Ukraine further given the significant indirect economic cost to France from the decline of Europe that it has precipitated.
There will be an enormous legal and media campaign to prevent Le Pen from winning, much as there will be a similar campaign in Germany in 2029.
Even in Britain, political elites are already looking to unpick the Brexit vote and suck us back into the warmongering supranational structure of Europe.
But the simple truth is this, the only way to end the war in Ukraine is the get rid of Zelensky and the globalist elites in London, Berlin, Brussel and Paris.
There is simply no other functional way to make it end, on the basis that NATO and the EU have stolen the sovereignty of their members, refuse to talk to Russia and see no interest for their citizens in peacemaking.
John Helmer disparages Putin’s strategic restraint. PUTIN’S MIRROR IS NO FAIRY TALE “Victory will undoubtedly be ours,” Putin declared in a speech to a Moscow rally, “Everything to Win”, yesterday. “Our guys, the fighters, are moving forward,” he added.
“Our responses will always be mirrored, wherever they try to strike at the territory of Russia, we will respond in a mirror, only several times more powerful. The enemy will feel it. He already feels it, I hope, and he will feel it several times more powerfully.”
This is Putin’s public response to the rising pressure from within the Security Council, the intelligence agencies, the General Staff, and in the media of the military bloggers for E-Day. That’s short for Escalation Day – not TFT (tit for tat), not TIT (Trust in Trump), not the symmetrical responses from the genie in Putin’s magic mirror.
This is the plan for escalation of military operations to cut the Ukraine battlefield off altogether from its ground and sea supply links to the NATO alliance; to cut off the US and NATO drone targeting operations in the airspace of the Black Sea, and the Starlink and other satellite deployments in space; and to do as much as possible for Russia’s allies, starting on the Iran front, to inflict cost and pain on the US.
Intelligence sources in Moscow have been expressing confidence that Putin, having no alternative now, will release the General Staff from the operational restrictions he has imposed since the start of the Special Military Operation in February 2022; most particularly “our responses will always be mirrored.” https://johnhelmer.net/putins-mirror-is-no-fairy-tale/#more-94643
2,000 DRONES READY - Russia Preparing MEGA STRIKE on Kyiv & Odesa - Zelensky in France, Military Summary 2026.07.14
3 WAVES OF STRIKES ON ODESA - 10 Ships Damaged - 2,000 Drones Ready for MEGA STRIKE, Military Summary 2026.07.14
The big immigration lie: France urged to embrace robotics over immigration
The French politician and Reconquest leader Éric Zemmour highlights technology as the path to sovereignty amid labor challenges https://rmx.news/article/the-big-immigration-lie-france-urged-to-embrace-robotics-over-immigration/
It’s an AI web, and we’re just rats in the walls - Bots, not people, are now the ones who use the internet the most, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols Cloudflare’s public Radar “Bot vs Human” tracker is reporting that bots now account for roughly 57-58 percent of HTTP requests for HTML content, compared with about 42-43 percent from humans. Meanwhile, Imperva’s Bad Bot Report based on 2025 data put bots at about 53 percent of measured web traffic for the second year in a row, with humans at 47 percent.
Separately, according to Pangram, an AI detection company, on websites such as LinkedIn, Medium, Twitter, and Reddit, “about one in four long-form items were fully AI-generated.”
The company went on to report that “LinkedIn was the most AI-saturated platform, where more than 40 percent of long-form posts [were] flagged as fully AI-generated. However, if we included mixed AI and human content, X/Twitter was the worst off: almost half of X articles were either fully AI-generated (23.9 percent) or AI-assisted/mixed (22.9 percent), with only 53.2 percent of X articles flagging as fully human-authored.” https://www.theregister.com/columnists/2026/07/12/its-an-ai-web-and-were-just-rats-in-the-walls/5269760
Ireland’s data centers consumed nearly as much electricity as every home in the country combined in 2025 — server farms gulped 23% of national power despite years of grid restrictions https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/data-centers/irelands-data-centers-consumed-nearly-as-much-electricity-as-every-home-in-the-country-combined-in-2025-server-farms-gulped-23-percent-of-national-power-despite-years-of-grid-restrictions
Companies are getting AI chatbots to smear their competitors - The race to influence AI chatbots is leading to some companies to adopt shady competitive tactics. https://sherwood.news/tech/companies-are-getting-ai-chatbots-to-smear-their-competitors/
Alarm over launch of facial recognition in UK shops that instantly alerts police- Civil liberties groups say Facewatch system in stores such as Sainsbury’s and B&M is ‘dangerous escalation’ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jul/10/facewatch-facial-recognition-uk-shops-instantly-alerts-police-civil-liberties
Nick Corbishley. Will the Bank of England Ever Give Venezuela Back Its Gold? It’s already been more than seven years since the UK confiscated Venezuela’s gold reserves. https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/07/will-the-bank-of-england-finally-give-venezuela-its-gold-back.html
Deprived of the right to vote: The UN punishes the victims of U.S.-imposed sanction The UN strips Venezuela of voting rights over unpaid dues – but ignores that U.S. sanctions froze its finances. Iran, Sudan, and Afghanistan face the same trap. https://strategic-culture.su/news/2026/07/08/deprived-right-vote-un-punishes-victims-us-imposed-sanctions/
Cuba offers Trump luxury island in desperate bid to stop invasion
Trump has openly mused about Cuba’s prime coastal value, and now Cuba’s ruling Castro family is reportedly floating a stunning proposal to the president https://www.themirror.com/news/politics/cuba-offers-trump-luxury-island-1933208
China cries foul after 14 nations, including Japan, reject Beijing’s South China Sea claims http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/132356112.cms
Women Over 40 Are Now Having More Babies Than American Teenagers https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/women-over-40-are-now-having-more-babies-american-teenagers
Appeals Court Revives Tylenol Autism Lawsuits Against Kenvue A federal appeals court has breathed new life into litigation accusing Kenvue of failing to disclose alleged risks tied to taking Tylenol during pregnancy, reversing an earlier ruling that had effectively stopped hundreds of cases, according to a new report from Bloomberg. https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/appeals-court-revives-tylenol-autism-lawsuits-against-kenvue
Celia Farber, Darkness Doubled: Mother Of Twins Who Both Died Days After A Round Of Vaccines Charged With First Degree Murder; Was Part Of Lawsuit Against AAP, Had Taken Them Repeatedly To Be Seen By Doctors - Mass Media Attacking Her
Steve Kirsch, Brian Hooker’s paper showing vaccines increase mortality was REMOVED from preprints.org Here’s how they justified the removal and why they got it wrong. If they found an explanation other than the vaccine, why are they keeping it a secret from everyone including the authors?
Paul Marik MD, Preventing Prostate Cancer - Take action Now
Jessica Rose Ph.D. just needs the full data-set: Did plasma-derived Hep B vaccines seed the early AIDS epidemic? Questions, evidence, and a call for full data release
Dr. Marian Laderoute explains the wonder of our ancestors integrating a good-retrovirus: Lay Version of New Article on How Trained Immunity Saves Lives How I came to understand things in medicine. July 12, 2026
Cyclospora jumps bail: Explosive foodborne outbreak - It’s a real shit show out there: What we know, don’t know, and what it means for you.
Curry is beneficial: Nano-Curcumin Eliminates Cyclospora Infection in Mice—the Parasite Behind the “Explosive Diarrhea” Outbreak Across 31 States Just seven daily doses of nano-curcumin cut Cyclospora shedding by 97.2%, eliminated detectable parasites, restored damaged intestinal tissue, and prevented infection relapse. Researchers experimentally infected mice with Cyclospora and compared three treatments:
Nano-curcumin: 2 mg/kg once daily
Regular curcumin: 2 mg/kg once daily
Bactrim/TMP-SMX: 5 mg/kg trimethoprim plus 25 mg/kg sulfamethoxazole once daily
Each treatment was administered for only seven consecutive days, beginning on day 6 after infection when parasite shedding started. The mice received no additional treatment and were followed through day 30—more than two weeks after the final dose.
Nano-curcumin produced the strongest overall results.
By the end of treatment, parasite oocyst shedding had fallen by:
84.0% with nano-curcumin
77.3% with Bactrim
73.3% with regular curcumin
At day 30, more than two weeks after treatment ended:
Nano-curcumin: 97.2% reduction
Regular curcumin: 93.5% reduction
Bactrim: 79.4% reduction
Untreated control: persistent and increasing shedding
Colin Todhunter on not-genetic-engineering: You Can’t Patent a Trench: The Real Biotechnology the Green Revolution Forgot https://www.globalresearch.ca/patent-trench-real-biotechnology-green-revolution-forgot/5933177
America may have to sacrifice Lake Powell to save the Colorado River, as Scientists Warn the current two-reservoir system is becoming unsustainable
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/132283498.cms
American Gardener (pictured this morning with traditional water storage technology)
There's a link in my bio exactly about: 'emotionally charged stories - can spread virally, just like epidemics. In doing so, these narratives can significantly influence individual and collective behavior including investing, spending, saving, or policy support, thereby amplifying major economic developments like mass adoption of certain products or services, substitution of others, and even macro events like booms, asset bubbles, busts or recessions.' I'm just stuck on the 'can spread virally' stage...
i always greatly appreciate your extensive efforts to keep your readers informed about our rapidly-changing world. With the main street media devolving into portals of propaganda, sites like yours, and the other independent journalists which you often feature and provide links to, are beacons of sanity in an increasingly wicked world.