World Without Rules

 Concerned Citizens,

  Alex Krainer,  Is Trump actually taking on the bankers?

Trump's agenda is next to impossible to discern; but viewed from 36,000 ft and 200-year context suggests that there may be a method to the madness.

​  Today we are witnessing a scramble for Ukraine’s resources, which I covered in an earlier report. Presumably, these are coveted by Western banking interests for similar ends, except that since Trump’s inauguration this scramble seems to be at the center of a growing hostility between the United States and her European “allies,” led by Great Britain. These struggles are happening behind the scenes so they are difficult to discern from media reports and the pronouncements and speeches by public leaders.
​  However, something odd clearly is going on and the result is that the US is drifting away from its postwar alliances and closer to Russia. This could have a massive impact on both US and European economies, but we’ll be obliged to interpret events by reading between the lines...

..I suspect that Trump’s ultimate agenda could be aimed at returning the United States to Alexander Hamilton’s American System of political economy and away from the British free trade system. The difference is that the American System allocates credit for industrialization and productive ends while the British free trade system credits nonproductive uses aimed at inflating, then bursting asset bubbles. Abraham Lincoln's chief economic advisor Henry C. Carey contrasted the two systems in his 1851 work, "The Harmony of Interests"...

​..The American System turned the United States from a patchwork of disjointed British colonies into the world's most prosperous and most powerful nation. It is possible that in his effort to “Make America Great Again,” Trump wants to return it to that system. However, he obviously can’t come out and state this openly: all eight U.S. presidents who have either been assassinated or “mysteriously died” in office were promoters of Hamilton’s American System. Those presidents were William Henry Harrison (9th, 1841), Zachary Taylor (12th, 1850), Abraham Lincoln (16th, 1865), James Garfield (20th, 1881), William McKinley (25th, 1901), Warren G. Harding (29th, 1923), Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd, 1945), and John F. Kennedy (35th, 1963).
  I know, someone will object: nowaitjustaminute, FDR died of polio, everyone knows that! Sure, but that might have been fake news. In his memoirs, FDR’s son Elliott Roosevelt revealed what he learned when he met with Joseph Stalin in 1946...[Stalin emphatically stated his belief that "Churchill's gang" had poisoned FDR.] ...  
..Whatever the case, there have already been two assassination attempts at Trump and understandably, his administration must tread carefully, or advance their agenda in an utterly unpredictable fashion... That’s not positive for the economy, but hopefully... the uncertainty will subside as rapidly as it has exploded, and in the not too distant future we'll know much more about the future trajectory of global developments.   https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/is-trump-actually-taking-on-the-bankers

​  Michael Hudson,​  Trump’s Tariffs Hurt the US Much More Than China

​ Trump said, “Well, let’s see, under tariff protection, in the late 19th century, that’s how the United States rose to be a great industrial power. So somehow, tariffs must have nurtured industry. And I want to bring industrialization back to the United States, to make America great again. And I can say tariffs are going to bring back industry”.
​  And what he means is, un-taxing the wealthy people, especially the finance and real estate sector, and shifting the tax on the consumers is going to make the country great again.
​  Well, what he’s leaving out is the fact that it wasn’t tariffs as such that made America into an industrial power. What there was a whole large program that was necessary to industrialize America.
​  All of this was spelled out in the 1820s by Henry Clay, and it was called the American System. And the American System was protective tariffs, with “internal improvements” — that means public investment in infrastructure — and a national banking system to finance industry.
​  Well, Trump said nothing about these, so it’s worth saying something about them.
By the late 19th century, the United States, said, “How are we going to lower the cost that industry has to pay for its wages, without leading to a huge round of strikes?”
​  The solution was we can have the public sector pick up many of the costs that labor would otherwise have to pay out of its own paychecks...​                       ..“Socialism” was not a bad word in the late 19th century. Almost everyone across the political spectrum was describing their policies as socialist. There were Christian socialists, and libertarian socialists, and Marxian socialists, and social democracy. Everybody was one kind of socialist for another.
​  That meant a rising role of government in providing more and more services, or regulating the economy, such as the anti-trust law of 1890, to prevent monopoly pricing, and Teddy Roosevelt’s, trust-busting.
​  The whole idea was to minimize the cost of production with an act of a government. And they said that, well, if we can have a mixed economy, a public and private economy together, with the government sponsoring industrial credit — not the kind of British credit that was just for trade, or exploitative, or loans to the farmers — but actually to finance capital investment in industry, then we can take off.
​  It was this context for protective tariffs that enabled the United States to get rich.
​  Well, what Trump wants to do is the exact opposite of this context. He wants to deregulate the economy, not regulate it. He wants to privatize any public domain that’s left, any public enterprises.
​  The post office, for instance, can be privatized. It’s going to cut back services to rural areas. It’s going to increase prices.​..

..So, this is what is really in store for the US: cut, essentially privatize, the government; especially get rid of Social Security, and other social programs, Medicare.
​  They call it streamlining the economy or making a “free market”, a market without government that interferes by protecting consumers, protecting the population against predatory monopolies and predatory finance...

​..China has sort of reinvented the wheel. One of the first books of mine that they translated as a textbook into Chinese was my book on trade, development, and foreign debt, when I described the contrast between free trade and protectionism, and how the United States developed a protectionist argument to counter the free-trade arguments of England, in order to protect industry.
​  So, China has essentially done the same logical thing that any government would have to do. You have to subsidize your own industry and protect it, insulate it, from lower-cost imports underselling you.
​  You have to enable industry, if not really to make a profit, to at least make enough money to somehow be able to pay its labor force, and to pay for the raw materials and the machinery that it takes to create industrial production.
​   The one thing that China has done that other countries did not do — although Germany began to do it in the 19th century — was to keep money and credit as a public utility.​..

​..So China has been able to create money to spend into the economy for purposes intended to serve the public interest, to build housing, to finance high-speed railways, to finance all of the public infrastructure that China has kept in the public domain, to offer at low, subsidized prices to the population at large.
​  So if you have a private enterprise in China, creating a factory to produce goods for exports to the United States or other countries, they don’t have to pay the workers enough to have to pay for privatized transportation; they have wonderful public transportation, in the subways and railroads.
​  They they don’t have to take out student loans to get an education; they can get the education from the public sector in China. They can get health care.
​They don’t have to pay for all of the things that the United States’ employees and employers have to pay for. That’s what enables China to have low-cost labor.​..

..With each country, he’s going to treat individually, that they give America something. But the common denominator in all of his demands is that they impose trade sanctions against commerce with China, and against mutual investment with China, and especially any plans they may have to join its Belt and Road Initiative in favor of US plans to interrupt the whole connection system of Belt and Road that China wants to put in place...

​..I think the whole mentality of US diplomats is punitive. That’s the only thing they have today. They have little to offer the other country.
  They can’t do what President Xi does and say, here’s a win-win situation; we’ll develop our trade with each other, and we’ll both gain from this, from our mutual interdependency that’ll create an efficient, regional trading system.
  But the United States doesn’t have that. All it can do is disrupt the trading system. And they can disrupt it for a few months; maybe it’ll take a year. It takes time to replace new means of production, to replace trade, imports and exports, with the United States.
 But you can imagine that European countries, Asian, African countries, Latin American countries, are all spending these next three months thinking, how are we going to create a world after August, that is going to enable us to keep on producing what we’re producing and importing what we’re importing, but not from the United States.  
​  They’re all trying to think of realignment. And the United States says, well, this is going to disrupt your economy for a year or so; and the other countries will make a calculation and they’ll say, yes, it’s going to disrupt our economy for a year or so, but then for the next decade or century, we won’t have to deal with US threats anymore...  
..So you have two different views of what an alternative world trade system would look like. And of course, this alternative is what everybody expected to be created after World War One.
​  That was the promise of mutual gain that mutual trade was going to integrate countries, and provide gains from trade, for peaceful, friendly international relations.​  It hasn’t turned out that way.​..  ​                                                                                                                                                               ..And it goes even further than that. Trump also has said he’s going to punish other countries that try to find an alternative to the dollar. And yet today’s Wall Street Journal [on April 18] had a whole editorial: Trump is now trying to prevent other countries from keeping their international reserves in dollars.
​  He’s forcing other countries to sell off their dollars by imposing a tax on other countries’ holding of Treasury securities.​  If you’re a foreign central bank and you’ve done what you’ve done since 1971, when Nixon went off gold, and you kept your foreign exchange reserves in the form of US dollars, in the form of US Treasury securities, or government agency securities, or other US holdings, then all of a sudden you’re going to have to pay a tax on them, and this tax is going to mean that you’re losing money.​..  ​                                                                                                                                                                                         ..So, other countries are essentially being driven out of the dollar, at the same time that Trump says, don’t join together and create a non-dollar area...​   ..Trump believes that if you lower the exchange rate of the dollar, that will make American exports more competitive. And of course, it would, if America had something to export.
​  But how can you make industrial exports more competitive, at a lower price — which lowers the cost of labor, lowers the cost of America — if you don’t have factories to produce these exports? That’s the crazy thing about all this!
​  How can you increase export competitiveness of industry, if you don’t have an industry?
​  The United States, ever since, really, Clinton in the 1990s, has offshored American industry — to Asia, to China and other countries — how on Earth can it be competitive?
​  Basically neoliberalism has undercut the ability of the United States to be competitive in the way that, it and European countries, and now China, had become competitive as a mixed economy.
​  The essence of neoliberalism is to carve up and privatize governments, basically on credit, borrowing the money to buy things.​..  ​                                             ..This has gone on for 2500 years. The lead for democracy in Greece occurred already in the 6th, 7th, and 8th centuries BC, when the local mafia-like oligarchies were overthrown by populist leaders who were called “tyrants”.
​  The Roman oligarchy accused reformers of seeking kingship. The Greek oligarchy called any reformers wanting democracy as being tyrants. And the Americans call any reformers as being socialists — as if socialist today is the same term as seeking kingship to control ambition, being tyrants.
​  The narrative of history has been turned inside out. And they treat all of these as bad words, not as the ideal that it was during the whole reform movement, in the 19th century.​   https://scheerpost.com/2025/04/22/trumps-tariffs-hurt-the-us-much-more-than-china-economist-michael-hudson-explains/

​  But what's he really mean?  Bessent Calls For 'Reforms' Among 'Bretton Woods Institutions' To Rein In Global Trade Imbalances

​  According to a copy of Bessent's prepared remarks, he is set to tell the IIF that "America First does not mean America Alone," and that the International Monetary Fund must prioritize economic and financial sustainability. He is calling for IMF and World Bank reforms after "mission creep," i.e. non-economic goals such as climate change and social justice, but that the Trump administration wants to work with them.​..

​..Bessent - who blamed persistent U.S. trade deficits on foreign policy decisions that promote excess saving and low wages abroad, added that "The architects of Bretton Woods recognized that a global economy required global coordination," and called for "key reforms to ensure the Bretton Woods institutions are serving their stakeholders—not the other way around."
​  He also encouraged "security-aligned trade," suggesting that U.S. security partnerships should influence economic alignment - a strategic counter to China’s Belt and Road.​    https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-live-bessent-discuses-tariffs-global-financial-system

  Israel bans protesters from carrying images of Gaza's dead children
An Israeli police document states that demonstrators cannot display signs or posters that contain the word ‘genocide’ or display ‘hostage signs’.​   https://www.newarab.com/news/israel-bans-images-gazas-dead-children-anti-war-protests

​  Children in Gaza suffer 'huge fatality rate,' amputations
Since Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza on March 18, children have been struggling to survive in increasingly dire conditions.​   https://www.dw.com/en/children-in-gaza-suffer-huge-fatality-rate-amputations/video-72273048

​  Israeli police ban photos of Palestinian children killed in Gaza at anti-war protest, then backtrack

Protest organizer says police rescinded demand after facing public pressure​   https://www.yenisafak.com/en/world/israeli-police-ban-photos-of-palestinian-children-killed-in-gaza-at-anti-war-protest-then-backtrack-3701205

​  An excerpt from her documentary:  Cannes Selects Film on Gaza Photographer Fatma Hassona; A Day Later, She’s Killed in Israeli Strike

Hassona had joyfully accepted the invitation to Cannes but had emphasized her desire to return to Gaza and remain on her family’s land.​   https://scheerpost.com/2025/04/19/cannes-selects-film-on-gaza-photographer-fatma-hassona-a-day-later-shes-killed-in-israeli-strike/

Gaza patients risk death as medicine shortages worsen under ongoing crossings closure​   https://www.yenisafak.com/en/news/gaza-patients-risk-death-as-medicine-shortages-worsen-under-ongoing-crossings-closure-3701259

'Worst humanitarian situation' in Gaza as aid blockade passes 50-day mark, says UN​   https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/worst-humanitarian-situation-in-gaza-as-aid-blockade-passes-50-day-mark-says-un/3545064

​  Israeli army stopped designating Gaza 'safe zones' after restart of genocide
Nearly 2,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in one month, as Gaza remains besieged and deprived of humanitarian aid​   https://thecradle.co/articles-id/30241

Gazans repair water tanks punctured by Israel’s shells​   https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250422-gazans-repair-water-tanks-punctured-by-israels-shells/

Israeli Strikes Kill 14 in Gaza and Destroy Heavy Equipment Needed to Clear Rubble​   https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5135070-israeli-strikes-kill-14-gaza-and-destroy-heavy-equipment-needed-clear-rubble%C2%A0

​Drone combat bulldozers:  Israel Deploying Unmanned Bulldozers in Gaza   https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/israel-deploying-unmanned-bulldozers-in-gaza/

​  From December 12, 2023,  NEW EVIDENCE THAT ISRAEL IS USING A NEW URANIUM WEAPON – MAKE THAT THE NEUTRON BOMB

​  Since 2003 measurements made by Green Audit in Fallujah, Iraq 2003, Lebanon 2006 and Gaza 2008 have provided unequivocal evidence of Uranium residues which show anomalous Uranium U-238/U235 isotope signature ratios.  Results from independent laboratories in Europe and the UK, using different techniques, revealed the presence of enriched Uranium in biological materials and environmental samples including soil, bomb craters and air (as recorded in vehicle air filter dust). More recently, 2021 results published in the journal Nature, show that Uranium enrichment levels in background samples from Gaza have been increasing markedly since 2008. Since enriched Uranium is an anthropogenic substance which does not exist in nature, the question arises as to the source, in the weapons employed by the USA (Fallujah) and Israel (Lebanon, Gaza). It is proposed that the only logical answer is that a Uranium-based weapon exists that produces U-235 by neutron activation and has been deployed. Such a weapon must be some kind of neutron bomb.​   https://johnhelmer.net/new-evidence-that-israel-is-using-a-new-uranium-weapon-make-that-the-neutron-bomb/#more-89018

​  Dennis Kucinich,  War Dust and Collateral Inhalation: Israel Breathes in Gaza’s Dust:  A Forensic Study of the Self-Inflicted Consequences of Modern Warfare   https://kucinichreport.substack.com/p/war-dust-and-collateral-inhalation

​  Israeli army needs additional $2.6 billion to expand Gaza war: Report
Israel has spent 250 billion shekels ($67.57 billion) in 2024 for its military onslaught on Gaza, figures show​   ​ https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israeli-army-needs-additional-26-billion-to-expand-gaza-war-report/3545580  

​  Not getting out:  Pentagon to 'relocate' hundreds of troops to two new bases in Syria: Report

Washington announced plans last week to slash its illegal occupation of Syrian territory by at least half and has redeployed strategic assets to Kurdish-controlled areas​   https://thecradle.co/articles/pentagon-to-relocate-hundreds-of-troops-to-two-new-bases-in-syria-report

Chinese HQ-9B Long Range Air Defence Systems Now Guard Egyptian Skies​   https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/chinese-hq9b-guard-egyptian-skies

​  Baby Thermobaric Bombs:  China’s non-nuclear hydrogen bomb generates fireball to burn targets at 1800°F: Report
The new weapon could be used for area denial or destruction of targets like swarms of drones.​   https://interestingengineering.com/military/china-non-nuclear-hydrogen-bomb-tested

Trump Signals Step Back On China Tariffs, Says They’ll ‘Come Down Substantially’​   https://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2025/04/22/trump-signals-step-back-on-china-tariffs-says-theyll-come-down-substantially/

Stocks Slide After Bessent Confirms "No Unilateral Offer" From Trump To Cut China Tariffs​   https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stocks-spike-session-highs-wsj-report-white-house-looking-slash-china-tariffs

Ukraine Not Ready to Discuss US Peace Plan Proposal - Reports​   https://sputnikglobe.com/20250423/ukraine-not-ready-to-discuss-us-peace-plan-proposal---reports-1121914458.html

High-Level Ukraine Peace Talks Scrapped After Rubio, Witkoff Pull Out Last Minute​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/high-profile-ukraine-peace-talks-scrapped-after-rubio-witkoff-pull-out-last-minute

​  Round Two! Trump Slams Zelensky For Rejecting Crimea Proposal For Peace

​  President Trump has slammed President Zelensky in a Wednesday post on Truth Social, saying of the Ukrainian leader, "if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired"... and "He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country."​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/round-two-trump-excoriates-zelensky-rejecting-crimea-proposal-peace

​  Gilbert Doctorow,  ‘Judging Freedom’ edition of 23 April: Are Ukraine/Russia Peace Talks Fruitless?

​  There is the new savvy Kremlin use of Public Relations to influence Washington’s handling of the negotiations. This began with Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a 30-hour Easter cease-fire which caught Zelensky off guard and exposed his reluctance to do anything constructive to lower the violence and enter into negotiations for a peace.  Then a day ago there was the cleverly leaked news that Putin is prepared to halt the Russian advance, freeze the border at the present line of engagement in Donbas and not insist on full takeover of the 4 oblasts that were annexed by Russia but are only partly occupied by Russia today.  This major concession put pressure on Kiev to respond in kind, as The Financial Times noted in its large front-page report on the subject yesterday evening.  But instead of also offering to retreat from his maximalist position, Zelensky responded with a firm refusal to give up claims to Crimea. This intransigence surely is what prompted US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to decide against participating in the ‘peace talks’ between the UK, France and Ukraine in London today.​ I believe it is the first clear sign of an eventual Trump abandonment of its peace initiative, washing his hands of the whole affair and letting Ukraine and its Western backers sink to defeat while the USA proceeds with its reengagement with Russia.​   https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/04/23/judging-freedom-edition-of-23-april-are-ukraine-russia-peace-talks-fruitless/

​  Officially skirting the issue of what Putin may have said in private:  ‘Only trust primary sources’ on US-Russia talks – Kremlin

‘A lot of fake news’ is being published on the subject, even by respectable outlets, Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has said​   https://swentr.site/russia/616126-only-trust-firsthand-sources-on/

​  Alastair Crooke,  "Without a war with Russia, Europe will fall apart"

​He added that the only thing that European officials can do today in an attempt to turn the entire world against Russia is to shout that Russia “poses a threat.”
​  According to the former MI6 employee, the only way for Europe to maintain unity is a direct military conflict with Russia. At the same time, he notes that in reality the coalition of Russia's opponents includes only three countries - Great Britain, France and Denmark.
​  We are talking about a European deep state that cooperates with the American one. They have a common goal - to thwart Trump. The main goal is to thwart any normalization of relations with Russia.​   https://en.topcor.ru/59022-bez-vojny-s-rf-evropa-razvalitsja.html

​  Simplicius,  Ukraine Begs 30% of Bundeswehr Stock to Survive

​  Now as of this writing the Telegraph has reported another kind of ‘leaked’ Trump plan for the cessation of hostilities, which boils down to the same old frosted Kelloggs concoction:
- (Immediate) Ceasefire now
- DIRECT Ukraine-Russia talks
- Kiev DROPS NATO ambitions
- Crimea recognized as RUSSIA
- Ukraine signs mineral deal
- US lifts ALL anti-Russia SANCTIONS
- US-Russia ENERGY cooperation
​  Specifically, it states that all Russian sanctions would be lifted—at least by the US—and a new era of US-Russian cooperation on energy would begin; i.e. “making a FORTUNE!” as per Trump’s earlier ejaculation.​   https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-42225-ukraine-begs-30-of-bundeswehr

Anti-war:  Right-wing AfD outperforms other German political forces amid 'zero growth' economy​   https://en.topcor.ru/59063-pravaja-adg-operezhaet-drugie-politsily-frg-na-fone-nulevogo-rosta-jekonomiki.html

  Meryl Nass MD,  "WHO Pushes for Permanent Tech Alliance to Institutionalize Digital Health Messaging and Behavior Control"/ Reclaim the Net

WHO, Meta, and Silicon Valley plan long-term digital health alliance focused on narrative control and behavior change.​   https://merylnass.substack.com/p/who-pushes-for-permanent-tech-alliance

​  RFK Jr. Launches Long-Awaited Offensive Against Deadly COVID-19 mRNA Shots

RFK Jr. breaks silence on mRNA injections — cites "profound" risks of myocarditis, stroke, and death on national TV.​   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-rfk-jr-launches-long-awaited

How Junk Food Took Hold In The US And What RFK Jr. Is Doing About It​   https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/how-junk-food-took-hold-us-and-what-rfk-jr-doing-about-it

​John Leake,  Accelerating Your Demise​:  The toxic spike protein insidiously saps your vitality and aggravates disease processes.   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/accelerating-your-demise

​  FDA to Remove Toxic Artificial Food Dyes from U.S. Food Supply and Medications
Long-overdue plan is a critical first step toward reversing a half-century of harm.​   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-fda-to-remove-toxic-artificial

​  NEW STUDY – Ivermectin Shows Striking Anticancer Potential and Remarkable Safety
Largest review to date of ivermectin use in cancer patients finds no safety concerns, promising anecdotal reports, and strong preclinical evidence of tumor suppression.​   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/new-study-ivermectin-shows-striking

​  Steve Kirsch,  Two pieces of evidence that together show that vaccines cause autism

The burden of proof is now on the medical community to show the confounder. They can't do that because there isn't one.​   https://kirschsubstack.com/p/two-pieces-of-evidence-that-together

​Colin Todhunter,  Decentralised Local Food Systems and the Role of Streetside Fruit and Vegetable Markets in India   https://www.globalresearch.ca/decentralised-local-food-systems-streetside-fruit-veg-markets-india/5885033

  Physicist Anastassia Makarieva,  Biotic Pump Q&A

Responding to readers: the role of oceanic moisture in watering land, why—if the biotic pump drives winds—they slow over forests, how forests can stabilize rainfall, and ecorestoration vs fires​   https://bioticregulation.substack.com/p/biotic-pump-q-and-a

​Appreciating Rainfall (showing Jenny still taller than corn in Austin garden after overnight rain)

Traversing Discontinuity

 Displaced Persons,

  Over Easter weekend I participated in a memorial bike ride and a sad "celebration of life" for a dear friend from college. Much discussed was the "craziness of Trump", which was broadly stated as an opening remark, as if things are otherwise ok with political-economies. 

  I broached the topic of thermoeconomic analysis, and the implications of a global oil + condensates peak in November 2018, for a financial system based upon exponential growth, and got some sustained attention from the post-ride bicyclists on Saturday, but there were a lot of people at the celebration, and attention spans were a bit shorter... I did often say that I did not vote for Trump, was not a Trump fan, and agreed that one could not take his statements at face value because he would quickly change them if they were trending wrong on social media. However, I said, I model him as a rational actor, with better information than I have, and assume that he is probably also more intelligent than I am, hard as that is for a human to think or say...

  Debt has grown exponentially since November 2018, while real economy, 90% correlated with oil production, has been in a bumpy stagnation at best. "Help, I've fallen and can't get back up!"

  Global financiers have been accustomed to creating bottlenecks in money-supply, which they control, to manipulate the real world of resources, industry, trade and war, but real-world shortages are overtaking the growing money-supply, and they need a "Great Reset" to regain control of the system through financial means.  Some of them want WW-3, particularly if they can strip Russia of resources to use as collateral. However, a big war with China and debt default may have to suffice. Resetting the global monetary system to gold, which does not grow exponentially, makes sense in an economy that cannot grow, but Bitcoin may be even more enticing.

  This economic decline is not equally true of every country. The Russian economy, with the most resources per capita is still growing, though the EU and China are much constrained by resource shortages. Pre-negotiations are taking place, to establish opening offers, which remain very unrealistic from the fuel-starved yet pompous EU, while China has her honor to uphold, or the governing elites might lose power if they accept humiliation.

  The US, devolving the global-reserve-currency status to some mix of gold, oil and Bitcoin would gain advantage by moving first and decisively, and also has the second most natural-resources per capita.

  There are powerful national and international interests at play, not just global finance, this time. Cutting-out global finance would be very good for the #1 and #2 resource countries, Russia and the US, but very bad for London, Brussels and even New York "financial-interests".

  Yanis Varoufakis presented his read of the Team Trump strategy to devalue the $US, while maintaining value against other fiat currencies, by devaluing against Gold and Bitcoin, perhaps raising gold valuations high enough to even blow a Bitcoin bubble large enough to pay off US Treasury debt outright, with Treasury holdings.   Crypto’s role in Trump’s economic masterplan (with special emphasis on stablecoins)​

  To get a whiff of the answer, take the case of Japanese institutions that hold in excess of $1 trillion of dollars, the result of decades of Japanese net exports to the United States. To drive the dollar down, but avoid strengthening the pretensions to reserve currency status of either the euro or China’s renminbi up, Trump would like to bully Tokyo to dump most of these dollars in the money markets but not convert them into euros or renminbi. What could do the trick? How about convincing, with an element of strongarming, the Japanese to swap their dollars for crypto? That would work, especially if the Federal Reserve dominated the crypto scene.​   https://www.yanisvaroufakis.eu/2025/03/19/cryptos-role-in-trumps-economic-masterplan-with-special-emphasis-on-stablecoins-unherd/

  The Honest Sorcerer,  Being Certain About Uncertainty

  As drilling for (and refining) oil takes up more and more energy per barrel of gasoline, jet and diesel fuel returned year after year, so does the cost imposed on the entire economy continue to mount. Depletion doesn’t mean that we run out of oil or other minerals one day to the next. It manifests in ever increasing energy costs, as the best locations with the highest grade stuff run out one after the other. Replacing these once rich resources with poorer quality, harder-to-reach, faster and faster depleting, increasingly smaller locations is a losing proposition — not just in America, but worldwide. As the energy costs of extracting Earth’s riches continue to rise, and as the returns per barrels and kilowatts invested keep falling, more and more projects will be cancelled. Eventually, natural depletion will become prominent and global oil output will begin to fall.

​  Added on top of this purely geology-driven phenomena is the increased cost of borrowing as central banks continue fighting windmills by raising interest rates. They do this ostensibly to arrest inflation, but in effect all they achieve is the immiseration of the average worker through higher banking costs and increased mortgage payments. This in effect simultaneously reduces demand for oil (as the consumption of goods made and transported by it fall) and increases the cost of drilling replacement wells.​..

..The International Energy Agency has already cut its 2025 oil demand growth forecast as a result. Major banks also lowered their forecasts of oil prices for the foreseeable future. Again, with a constantly rising energy, material and monetary cost of replacing depleted wells, we have just got a lot closer to a permanent decline in oil production. World crude oil output has already peaked in November, 2018 and at such low prices it looks increasingly unlikely that we will reach that level again...

..This trade madness has thr​own ​a monkey wrench into the system. Sure enough, no responsible company manager would allow investments to happen in a country which could raise or drop tariffs one day to the next, making assumptions needed to start a two to three year undertaking impossible to make.
​  These tariffs are not the root cause, however, but a sign of extreme desperation in the face of global decline. We are facing a terminal crisis of the oil based economy, and not just in the US. The 1970’s oil shock, gave us a forewarning what to expect should oil production began to decline again (as it did back then). Rising prices. Stagnating economic output. Shortages. This time, however, there is no gold standard to leave behind, no country with a vast resource base and cheap labor left to outsource production into, and no trade left to liberalize.​..

​..Bloomberg goes one step further still, implying that tariffs are in fact a dress-rehearsal for a war with China. A fight which “nobody” wants —  except for the entirety of the US congress, the Department of War (ahem, “Defense”), not to mention think tanks founded by rich oligarchs, hoping to earn a fortune on it (1). From this perspective tariffs look like an attempt to simulate the effect of a major war between the two superpowers in preparation for the real one. Other “benefits” include a leverage over allies and large corporations — motivating them to impose their own sanctions on China in return for tariff relief and exemptions — not to mention the fantastic opportunity they provide for insider trading.​   https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/being-certain-about-uncertainty

​Alex Krainer has specifics on the manipulation of the definition of Canadian tar sands as "proven reserves", which allowed the vast leveraged housing bubble to be collateralized, which led to the housing bubble and Global Financial Crisis in 2008. He was trading oil options and following all of the official projections then, but what he actually saw was very different.  Gods of finance & gods of war

​  How high-level banking interests determined the most momentous events in our recent history.​   https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/gods-of-finance-and-gods-of-war

​A resource poor, export-oriented economy needs resources and markets.  China Is In Economic Dire Straits And They're No Longer Able To Hide It   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-economic-dire-straits-and-theyre-no-longer-able-hide-it

Chinese Plastics Factories Face Mass Closure As US Ethane Supply Evaporates​   https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/chinese-plastics-factories-face-mass-closure-us-ethane-disappears

​  Chinese pride:  Pepe Escobar,  The Shanghai Spirit - China Will Take No Bullying

  In all conversations and debates, a constant: no illusions about Trump 2.0’s shifting strategy, and how it should be turned against him, Sun Tzu-style; how China must amass a solid set of bargaining chips; and most of all how, from the beginning, this was always a war of an elite section of the American ruling classes on China. The rest of the world is a sideshow.
  So it’s no wonder that in every business dinner, after a matchless gastronomic feast, the conversation soon veered on how China’s strategy will not be about immediate damage control; and how China is already eyeing new links and nodes to deepen its long-term global competitiveness.
  It’s an open question whether Trump 2.0 and his team of Sinophobes will manage to prevent the emergence of a Global Majority strategic alliance against the Empire of Chaos.
  In Shanghai, and across China, submission is simply not an option. In cultural terms, Trump has managed to antagonize 1.4 billion Chinese, simultaneously, by treating the civilization-state without respect. The one thing that irks Chinese the most is mistreatment (see, for instance, the “century of humiliation”).   https://sputnikglobe.com/20250421/pepe-escobar-the-shanghai-spirit-china-will-take-no-bullying--1121902677.html

In a hole and digging:  "China Will Never Accept It": Beijing Warns Countries Against Trade Deal With Trump At China's Expense   https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/china-will-never-accept-it-beijing-warns-countries-against-trade-deal-trump-chinas-expense

  Xi has to deliver for China or he dare not meet:  Trump wants direct talks with Xi – Politico

The US president is reportedly not interested in informal diplomatic contact with China on trade   https://swentr.site/news/616077-trump-wants-talks-xi/

  Gobbledygook may mean that critical-AI-mass must be reached to control human populations, no matter how much electricity it takes out of the real economy.

AI Power Demand Is Remaking Our Energy Ecosystem, While Painting A Target On Its Own Back

​  The energy transition and AI revolution are fundamentally reshaping our relationship with electricity from the demand and supply sides simultaneously.
Ambitious and novel energy projects, from Stargate to Southern Company’s new Vogtle nuclear plant to Google’s combined data center and solar energy industrial parks are helping advance this vision.
​  If we make the right choices now—bringing security considerations into our infrastructure investments and enlisting the right partners in that cause—we can build an energy system that is not just cleaner and more abundant, but fundamentally more defensible than what came before.​   https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/ai-power-demand-remaking-our-energy-ecosystem-while-painting-target-its-own-back

  ​She and her family were spot-bombed at home by Israel after she made a good documentary.  Caitlin Johnstone,  

"I Want A Death That The World Will Hear" — Journalist Assassinated By Israel For Telling The Truth

​  Israel assassinated a photojournalist in Gaza in an airstrike targeting her family’s home on Wednesday, the day after it was announced that a documentary she appears in would premier in Cannes next month.
​  Her name was Fatima Hassouna. Nine members of her family were also reportedly killed in the bombing. She was going to get married in a few days.
The documentary is titled Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, and it’s about Israel’s crimes in Gaza.​   https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/i-want-a-death-that-the-world-will

​  With Eye on Iran, US Sends Bunker-Busting Bombs to Israel
Nine shipments of US munitions capable of hitting underground facilities arrived in Israel last week.​   https://news.antiwar.com/2025/04/20/with-eye-on-iran-us-sends-bunker-busting-bombs-to-israel/

Houthis Claim Attacks On Two US Aircraft Carrier Groups Off Yemen​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/houthis-claim-attacks-two-us-aircraft-carrier-groups-yemen

​  Gilbert Doctorow,  President Putin’s 30-hour Easter cease-fire

  As of now, the Russians have reported that the Ukrainians violated the cease-fire hundreds of times over the past night, sending drones and artillery shells their way. Of course, for their part, Kiev was already last night denouncing alleged Russian violations. And yet the tally is not exactly equal. The major Western media were obliged to report Vladimir Putin’s speech to the armed forces yesterday ordering the cease fire, and he looked very earnest on screen. By contrast, Volodymir Zelensky’s taped response looked scrappy and ill-prepared.

​  Finally, I wish to add here a further consideration on the seemingly poor judgment of Team Trump in advancing the Kellogg solution as the end game to the war. Surely, they understood as I do that this solution would be unacceptable to both warring parties. Accordingly, it is entirely possible, if not likely that Trump chose it precisely in order to provide himself with a justification before his opponents in the States and abroad for washing his hands of Ukraine when the parties reject it.​   https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/04/20/president-putins-30-hour-easter-cease-fire/

​Simplicius has more information. Both sides retrieved bodies from battlefields:  Easter Ceasefire Brings Brief Glimmer of Humanity Amidst the Chaos   https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/easter-ceasefire-brings-brief-glimmer

  Putin and Trump both dislike "Eurofascism" (bankers?):  Opposition to ‘Eurofascism’ driving rapprochement with US – Russian spy agency

Western Europe is predisposed to tyranny and “global conflicts,” Moscow’s Foreign Intelligence Service says​   https://swentr.site/russia/616011-svr-eurofascism-france-britain/

  ​Actually?  European Union bans commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany

The European Union is warning European leaders not to attend the 80th anniversary of Victory Day in Moscow on May 9.
​  Ostensibly, the rationale for such a ban is that Russia is allegedly waging a war against Ukraine and threatening the rest of Europe, according to the EU. That’s one way of seeing it.
​  Another way of seeing the matter is that the conflict in Ukraine is a proxy war sponsored by the EU and NATO to defeat Russia, eight decades after Nazi Germany failed to do it.​   https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/04/18/european-union-bans-commemorating-defeat-of-nazi-germany/

​  Putin reacts to EU threats over Victory Day
The Russian leader has praised the bravery of European leaders who defy Brussels to visit Moscow for the May 9 celebration​   https://swentr.site/russia/616076-putin-reacts-eu-pushback/

Trump hopeful for Russia-Ukraine peace deal ‘this week’​   Moscow and Kiev have accused each other of violating an Easter truce​   https://swentr.site/russia/616036-hopefully-russia-ukraine-peace-trump/

​They can geolocate such images. where was he?  Shooting Russians? Congressman Visits Ukraine Frontlines, Filmed Firing Heavy Weapon   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/congressman-visits-ukraine-frontlines-filmed-firing-heavy-weapon

​  Republican war-poseur U.S. Congressman Backtracks On Social Media Post Claiming He Fired Weapons At Nuclear-Armed Russia​ 

​  “It was my profound honor to deliver a very ‘personal’ message to Vladimir Putin today, from the front lines of the war near the Russian border, on behalf of our PA-1 community. The only permissible details to share are that ‘the message was delivered on target,’” the post reads.
​  The “personal” message was scrawled on one or more pictured artillery shells. It said, “To: Putin From PA-1 [Fitzpatrick’s district near Philadelphia] #PeaceThroughStrength.”
​  Ostensibly taken near the Russian border, the video shows Fitzpatrick firing two projectiles. “The message was delivered on target,” but the congressman said could not give any more details.​   https://thefederalist.com/2025/04/21/u-s-congressman-backtracks-on-social-media-post-claiming-he-fired-weapons-at-nuclear-armed-russia/​   

​  Gilbert Doctorow​,  Russian Vessels on the Line: Moscow Threatens Consequences for Baltic Provocations!
   Aside from the official protests and warnings from the Russian Ministry of Affairs spokeswoman Zakharova that the video exhibits, the Russian talk shows have been devoting attention to the Estonian provocations. Last night’s Solovyov program gave the subject ample time, with the host suggesting that Russia is ready to send military vessels to accompany its commercial ships through the Baltic waters and is ready not only to sink whatever navy Estonia thinks it has​, but to level the country to the ground.
​  We can assume that the authorities in Tallinn are watching these Russian shows and are unlikely to take actions that would precipitate the Russian response that has been sketched for them.
​  I close this brief note with one other observation from last night’s Solovyov show, this time from the retired colonel who regularly appears as panelist.  He remarked that Merz does not know what he is talking about, since the Taurus, while a good missile, is utterly unsuited for a mission of destroying a bridge. Its main use is for destroying underground bunkers and the like. Moreover, the Ukrainians will require some period of time to put any Taurus missiles to use.  It can be carried by the French fighter jets that are on promise, by the Eurofighters which are not yet on delivery schedule to Kiev, but not by the F-16s which they recently received.  Surely a solution will be found to enable use of the Taurus, but not at once. Or to put it more broadly: not in time to save the necks of the floundering Ukrainian armed forces now under strong pressure from a Russian offensive.​   https://gilbertdoctorow.com/2025/04/21/russian-vessels-on-the-line-moscow-threatens-consequences-for-baltic-provocations-tn-world/

​  Trump plans new envoy trip to Russia – CNN
Steve Witkoff, who has already met with President Putin three times this year, has reportedly been tasked with getting Moscow to agree to a Ukraine peace framework​   https://swentr.site/news/616006-cnn-witkoff-another-meeting-russians-ukraine-peace/

​  The non-NATO country could be India. ​Ukraine would "recognize" that Russia holds the land it holds, but would call it "Ukraine".  ​Who would sign for Ukraine?​      New York Post learns details of ceasefire monitoring plan within Trump's peace initiative​                                                                                                  Details: Although the details of the peace deal have not yet been determined, a senior administration official told the news outlet that they could include the deployment of European forces to Ukraine if a ceasefire is reached.  "The hard part is what does a security force look like – we're calling that a ‘resiliency force’," the official said.
​  "The resiliency force is part of the security guarantees that the Ukrainians want and we hope they get," he added.
A separate force to monitor the ceasefire is also being discussed. It would be a joint commission of Russians, Ukrainians, and a third non-NATO country. The mission would monitor the front line to ensure that both sides lay down their arms.​   https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/04/22/7508622/

​  Putin Offers To Halt Fighting Along Current Front Lines In Ukraine   President Vladimir Putin has offered to halt his invasion of Ukraine across the current front line as part of ongoing efforts to work with US President Donald Trump toward reaching a permanent peace deal. This reportedly happened during ongoing dialogue with Trump's top envoys.
​  This is according to several sources which spoke to Financial Times, which wrote further in a Tuesday report, "The proposal is the first formal indication Putin has given since the war’s early months three years ago that Russia could step back from its maximalist demands to end the invasion."
​  "The Russian president told Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, during a meeting in St Petersburg earlier this month that Moscow could relinquish its claims to areas of four partly occupied Ukrainian regions that remain under Kyiv’s control, three of the people said"​.   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/putin-offers-freeze-ukraine-invasion-along-current-front-line-report

Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 PM Moscow time:  Massive 'Mystery Explosions' Rock Ammo Depot Outside Moscow, Resulting In Mushroom Cloud   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/massive-mystery-explosions-rock-ammo-depot-outside-moscow-resulting-mushroom-cloud

​  Former State Department Official Warns Of Deep State's 'Undeclared Second Cold War' On Populism                                                                             Benz is calling for the wholesale declassification of the intelligence communities efforts to suppress populism, along with congressional investigations and hearings.
​  “The point is, is any act of the people that undermines elements of their control is categorized as a threat to democracy and subjected to the same apparatus that we constructed during the war on communism. And I believe this story can really only be fully told through declassifications and hearings that are similar to the church committee hearing,” Benz said. “And that framework for understanding nationalism and populism, as opposed to socialism and communism in the 1960s and 70s, has to run through every element of control by the IC that was weaponized at home.”
​  Since departing the State Department, Benz has led efforts to expose government, especially intelligence community, involvement in censoring free speech on social media. A key focus was the Global Engagement Center (GEC), originally established in 2007 as the Counterterrorism Communication Center to combat propaganda from groups like Al-Qaeda. Rebranded as the GEC in 2016 under President Obama, it shifted to countering foreign disinformation. ​  Despite its foreign focus, the GEC faced accusations in legal cases for participating in the Election Integrity Partnership (EIP), which flagged election-related disinformation on social media​.   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/former-state-department-official-warns-deep-states-undeclared-second-cold-war-against

​  'Building 7 Controlled Demolition?': Republican Senator Plans Shock 9/11 Hearings, Says 'My Eyes Have Been Opened'

​  Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) is raising eyebrows after revealing on Benny Johnson’s conservative podcast that he’s pushing for a congressional hearing to examine the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers.
​  Johnson, who serves on the the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, raised questions about the World Trade Center Building 7’s collapse, saying the documentary film, Calling Out Bravo 7 has sparked “an awful lot of questions.”​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/building-7-controlled-demolition-republican-senator-plans-shock-911-hearings-says-my-eyes

​From Kafka's Germany:  Reiner Fuellmich Update: Closing Arguments From Katja Woermer, "...At Her Most Passionate And Eloquent.​   https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/reiner-fuellmich-update-closing-arguments

​  Make America Healthy Again campaign urges elimination of seed oils for a healthy lifestyle​   (The cholesterol hypothesis mainly sells statins.)

​  Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and other like-minded researchers, scientists, and physicians are especially speaking out to explain why “seed oils” – an ingredient in most processed foods – are an obstacle to health.
​  In a Fox News interview in September (clip provided by the X account of A Midwestern Doctor), Kennedy explained that guidelines concerning what should be in the American diet have largely been dictated by government agencies that are now subservient to the industries they are supposed to regulate...
..Amerling provided some historical background on the seed oil diet, based on Teicholz’s book.
​  “It was all sold on a lie that saturated fat raises cholesterol and that cholesterol causes heart disease,” he explained.
​  The “diet-heart hypothesis” was created by researcher Ancel Keys, and “it’s been roundly disproven,” Amerling said. “It was disproven even by Ancel’s own fake studies.”
​  Amerling observed that it was the introduction of international consumer giant Procter & Gamble into the health market that popularized Keys’ claims.
​“Procter & Gamble essentially created the American Heart Association, which hired Keys to be their nutritionist,” he said. “They pushed through these dietary guidelines, through the McGovern commission, and with all these big food interests, because these seed oils were immensely profitable compared to healthier fats like tallow and lard, and even coconut oil, butter – all these things are much more expensive, with less profit margin.”
​  “The seed oils have a huge profit margin, and they ended up going into every single processed food,” Amerling asserted, challenging anyone who can find a supermarket tortilla chip that is not made with canola oil or some sort of seed oil.​   https://catholicvote.org/make-america-healthy-again-campaign-urges-elimination-of-seed-oils-for-a-healthy-lifestyle/

​  Everyone who looked at even their publicly released data "knew":  Steve Kirsch,  Analysis of the IsraeLeak video from 2 years ago. 

The tape shows "they knew" but said nothing to the public.

Two years ago, Israeli Ministry of Health met with researchers about vaccine adverse events and talked about how to cover it up. Transcript now available.​   https://kirschsubstack.com/p/analysis-of-the-israeleak-video-from

​  True double blind tests on children… How many percent more likely are they to die after vaccination? 5%, 20%… ? Not even close. It’s 8200%! 

"Once the envelope was opened, and I'm sure the ONS thought they'd have a nice 10% benefit for getting the jabs, but they had to open the envelope, they had to see what it said, and they saw what was to be found in February of 2022. And in February through May of 2022, there was some initial information that showed there was a 52 times likelihood of passing away, more so if you were Vaxxed. That was the information in February of 22. But by the time they reviewed another three or four months worth and gave the final answer was actually 8200% more likely to die in the six months following a COVID-19 triple vaccination than children who did not get the vaccine at all." Dr. Chris Shoemaker | March 7th 2025 | Edmonton, Alberta​   https://x.com/toobaffled/status/1912985376010223822

​  Jessica Rose Ph.D.  Aluminum exposure and autism prevalence​: An addendum to my previous article based on your amazing comments   

https://jessicar.substack.com/p/aluminum-exposure-and-autism-prevalence

  ​A Midwestern Doctor,  Why Do Vaccines Cause Autism?

Past discoveries that can help us understand the current wave of neurological injuries and the silence surrounding them​   https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/why-do-vaccines-cause-autism

​  Young Adults Continue to Produce Spike Protein One Year After Receiving COVID Vaccine
A peer-reviewed study published last week in Immunity, Inflammation and Disease adds to the growing scientific evidence that mRNA COVID-19 vaccines can cause the body to continue producing the spike protein much longer than expected, leading to immune system dysregulation.​   https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/young-adults-produce-spike-protein-one-year-after-receiving-covid-vaccine/

​  CDC ACIP Set to Recommend More mRNA Shots This Year — Despite Millions of American Casualties
Now hiding behind a “risk-based” framework, ACIP still plans to push deadly COVID-19 mRNA injections on daycare children, healthcare workers, and the elderly — while ignoring grave safety signals.​   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/cdc-acip-set-to-recommend-more-mrna

​  ‘Genes Do Not Cause Epidemics’: Kennedy Lambastes Media for Denying Autism Epidemic, Vows to Research Environmental Triggers
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. today called out the National Institutes of Health for spending 10 to 20 times more on research into genetic causes of autism than environmental ones. He said HHS will make grants available to university scientists and others to research the environmental causes of autism.​   https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/hhs-secretary-kennedy-autism-research-environmental-causes/

​  Sasha Latypova,  PREP Act Brief: "License to Kill" must be repealed.

A collection of articles for ease of educating your friends, family, doctors and legislators. Please sign the petition to repeal the PREP Act linked in the post.​   https://sashalatypova.substack.com/p/prep-act-brief-license-to-kill-must

​  Texas Appeals Ruling in Lawsuit Against Pfizer, Challenges PREP Act Immunity Shield
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday filed a motion in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, arguing that Texas consumer laws are not preempted by the federal liability shield granted to COVID-19 vaccine makers under the federal PREP Act.​   https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/texas-appeals-ruling-pfizer-challenges-prep-act-immunity-shield/

​Meryl Nass MD,  Massive NIH funding cut and reorganization proposed in leaked documents   https://merylnass.substack.com/p/massive-nih-funding-cut-and-reorganization

Supporting Normalcy (picturing the joy of a first set of wheels)