Heading For A Showdown

 Concerned Citizens,

  Alex Krainer, Two systems are before the world, part 3 of 3 - The spectacular civilizational renaissance of China makes the case for national system of economy undeniable.

​  In our last report, I asserted that the conflicts we are witnessing in the world today stem from the clash between two systems of governance. Usually, this is presented as the clash between democracies and autocracies, but in truth, it is between the western colonialist system and anyone who rejects its demand for subjugation, be it Cuba, Venezuela, Russia, China, North Korea, Yemen or Iran.
​  The geopolitical manifestations of this conflict are easier to discern, but its roots stem from the two alternative systems’ economic foundations, which determine the nature and the conduct of the opposed systems. Western colonialism favors and seeks to impose the British free trade system. Nations that prefer independence and wish to chart a sovereign path of their development, prefer the national system of political economy, also known as the American System.
​  The national system seeks to stimulate domestic manufacturing, accumulate capital at home, and invest it into its society’s own development, infrastructure, education, research, innovation, culture, and other uses that raise the country’s living standards and quality of life.
​  By contrast, the British free trade system extracts wealth and concentrates it in the hands of a financier oligarchy and their largest corporate clients. Free trade entails removing all barriers to unobstructed worldwide flow of capital, always in pursuit of highest available returns. Any costs that reduce the returns on capital must be slashed, including social spending and protection of the environment.
​  Under the free trade system, nations are obliged to compete for investment capital by systematically depressing wages, job security, pensions, health care services, and education. Therefore, the British free trade system amounts to a competitive race to the bottom.​.. [Chinese progress and methodology]...

..There are zero reasons for us to subordinate the future development of our societies to the failed ideological framework imposed by those who use it to systematically loot wealth from our economies and prevent them, like a parasite, from attaining their full potential in a way that benefits every member of the collective. The ideologues will screech, “socialism!!!” But by this time, the simple grasp of the obvious should suggest that if we want to transcend our present predicaments and build a better future, we need to reexamine our convictions and especially our certitudes.​   https://alexkrainer.substack.com/p/two-systems-are-before-the-world-850

​  This takes a long time to say that the CONTROL of the economy, and Command of levels of Profit-extraction are paramount to the powers that control the EU. They want complete control of the profit structures, and to blame it on Russia. President Vladimir Putin Explains Why NATO Wants a War Against Russia   https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/09/13/president-vladimir-putin-explains-why-nato-wants-a-war-against-russia/#more-286955

EU Opens Door For Canada To Become Bloc's First-Ever "Associate Member"​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/eu-opens-door-canada-become-blocs-first-ever-associate-member

  Judge Napolitano, When War Comes Home: A Constitutional Warning

A failed war does not end when the drones stop flying. It creates a new danger: A government that refuses to admit defeat and a president who, having failed abroad, seeks muscular victories elsewhere.
​  The war against Iran is a case study in the limits of military power, the dangers of presidential overreach and the enduring wisdom of the Constitution’s separation of powers. It was unauthorized, unconstitutional, illegal, strategically incoherent and — by the standards by which wars must be judged — a geopolitical failure.
​  The American people were told that force would achieve clear objectives. Iran would be compelled to surrender. Somehow, American security would be enhanced. The region would become more stable.
​  Instead, the United States expended enormous resources, consumed scarce munitions, deepened regional instability and failed to produce the political outcome President Donald Trump promised. Senior military officials just last week warned him that extending large-scale operations risked exhausting critical military capabilities and weakening America’s ability to respond elsewhere.
​  The United States can destroy buildings, eliminate targets, deploy aircraft, ships, missiles, drones and troops anywhere on the planet. But war is not a video game in which the destruction of enemy assets automatically produces political surrender. War is a contest of wills, societies, culture and endurance.
​  And here is the constitutional question that should have been asked before the first bomb was dropped: Who gave the president the authority to begin this war? The Constitution did not.​   https://ronpaulinstitute.org/when-war-comes-home-a-constitutional-warning/

​  Iran War: Europe Oil and US Diesel Crunch Worsens; Tucker Exposes Massive Trump/Israel Bombing Campaign Right After Midterms; Experts Question Survival of Regimes in Saudi Arabia, Jordan

​  Strait of Hormuz vessel transits drop to 4, data shows​ - Preliminary shipping data shows vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz remaining in the single digits at four on Tuesday, down from seven a day earlier, Reuters reports.​ Citing preliminary figures, Reuters said a total of four vessels transited the waterway, with two exiting and two entering...

​..Tucker Carlson has gotten to the bottom of why Trump was insisting the war with Iran would end right after the midterms. I am hoisting his tweet in full because I am sure he wanted it to be read widely:
​  According to an informed federal official, in the coming months the Trump administration plans to send a total of 40,000 Mark 84 and Blu-117 bombs to the government of Israel. Each bomb weighs 2,000 pounds. This appears to be the largest transfer of conventional explosive ordnance from the United States in modern history.
​  How big is this shipment? It amounts to 40,000 tons of bombs. For perspective, the largest American air raid of World War Two was the Eighth Air Force’s attack on Berlin in March of 1945. Combined, the 2,023 Allied aircraft involved dropped about 3,000 tons of bombs. That’s 7.5 percent of what Trump is sending to Israel. That same month, March of 1945, the US Army Air Forces began the single most destructive bombing raid in human history, Operation Meetinghouse over Tokyo. More than 100,000 Japanese civilians were killed. By the end of that operation, the US had dropped 1,600 tons of bombs. That’s four percent of what Trump is sending to Israel. World War Two ended five months later, when the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima. The shipment Trump is sending to Israel amounts to more than three times the destructive power of that nuclear explosion. There is no precedent for what the Trump administration is doing.
​  Nor is there a justification. The government of Israel is not fighting World War Two, or even a war. It is engaged in periodic skirmishes with a guerrilla force in Lebanon, and it is working to exterminate an unarmed civilian population in Gaza. Neither front requires modern 2,000-pound bombs.
​  An American-made Mark 84 has a destruction radius of half a mile. It releases a thermal wave the temperature of the surface of the sun. Within 100 feet of the explosion, rock melts and human flesh turns to vapor. The bomb collapses apartment buildings and leaves craters thirty-five feet deep. Until the war with Iran, the US military generally avoided using the Mark 84 in urban areas. It kills too many civilians.
​  For the Netanyahu government, that’s been the upside. In the weeks after October 7, the IDF dropped nearly six hundred 2,000-pound bombs on densely populated areas in Gaza, including on more than 100 officially designated civilian evacuation zones. The slaughter was so grotesque and embarrassing that for a moment the Biden administration paused a shipment of Mark 84s...

..By any definition, what the Netanyahu government has done in Gaza is genocide. The 40,000 new bombs the Trump administration is sending will be used to do the same in Lebanon...  It is not an arms sale. It is a gift, funded by American taxpayers through the Foreign Military Financing program, an arrangement designed to disguise welfare as capitalism: Congress appropriates money to the executive branch, which transfers the cash to Israel to “buy” American-made weapons, in this case from General Dynamics. Politicians claim this is a win for America. Most voters have no idea they paid for it. The bill in this case is about $3 billion. Add that to the $352 billion the US Treasury has transferred to Israel since 1951.
​  How did this happen? The request for 40,000 new high-explosive civilian-killing bombs originated at the US Embassy in Jerusalem, which is run by Christian Zionist Ambassador Mike Huckabee and his aide David Milstein, who is the stepson of Fox News host Mark Levin. From there it moved to the State Department, where Marco Rubio enthusiastically approved it.
​  At this point, only four more people need to sign off before the bombs ship to Israel: Senators Jim Risch and Jeanne Shaheen, the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; and Congressmen Brian Mast and Gregory Meeks, the top two members of the equivalent House committee. All four are committed neocons. Collectively they’ve taken millions from the Israel lobby. In 2015, Brian Mast traveled to Israel to volunteer for the Israeli military. In 2023, Mast showed up in the House of Representatives wearing an IDF uniform.​..

​..Americans, call or e-mail your Congresscritters and also your local TV station. They have political sway.​   https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2026/09/iran-war-europe-oil-and-us-diesel-crunch-worsens-tucker-exposes-massive-trump-israel-bombing-campaign-right-after-midterms-experts-question-survival-of-regimes-in-saudi-arabia-jordsn.html

​  Dennis Kucinich​ (I called my Congressman), Massie’s Courageous Act Brings War Powers and Impeachment Before the House on Constitution Day
Eight Articles Charge Secretary Hegseth With Unauthorized War, Extrajudicial Killings and Abuse of Power. Call your Representative now. Ensure they vote for Impeachment.​   https://kucinichreport.substack.com/p/massies-courageous-act-brings-war

  ​A polite request: The House of Representatives voted on Sept. 15 to pass a war powers resolution that calls for President Donald Trump to end U.S. military action against Iran.   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/house-votes-pass-iran-war-powers-resolution

  Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-09-16

The Saudi export story escalated from "pipeline down" to "no crude for Europe until November" - Yanbu loadings suspended, the YASREF refinery reportedly struck, and Aramco scrapping cargoes outright while European differentials blew out to premiums above $18 over Dated Brent. 

​  The Fed decides today with a hike ~92% priced, one session after the worst 20-year auction on record and a 10Y close at 5%. 

​  New overnight: Ansarallah claims a Saudi F-15SA shot down over Marib, the Pentagon IG's first Iran war report landed with "hundreds" of destroyed structures, and the Senate killed the crypto Clarity Act 49-50.

​  Saudi Arabia is effectively out of the European crude market until November. Yanbu loadings suspended (KobeissiLetter, idreesali114), September cargoes cancelled (zerohedge), and a European lifter reportedly told no Saudi cargoes at all until November (HormuzLetter). European grades bid at premiums in excess of $18/bbl over Dated Brent in the S&P Global window (chigrl). 
​  The YASREF refinery at Yanbu was reportedly struck - the 400kbd Aramco-Sinopec JV, one of the Red Sea's largest diesel exporters, with two NASA FIRMS heat anomalies inside the fence (HormuzLetter, MarioNawfal). Yanbu is the terminus of the East-West pipeline, i.e. the route that exists precisely to avoid Hormuz.​..

​..Saudi exports: Yanbu suspended, Aramco cancels to Europe, East-West pipeline restart "days" per Washington​ - Satellite reads point to a coordinated hit on multiple pump stations, not one - Station 9 badly damaged, Station 8 possibly also (MarioNawfal); one account claims all stations along the route were targeted (SprinterPress). 
​  US Energy Secretary Chris Wright says the line - 4-5 mb/d, roughly 4-5% of global supply - could restart within days (DeItaone, zerohedge). The market is not pricing that.​
​  Aramco's Abha bulk plant burning after drone/missile strikes (clashreport, JoshYoung).​..

​..US diesel set a record and Washington is now openly discussing an export ban. Senate Majority Leader Thune "open to considering" it (JavierBlas, zerohedge) with diesel at $6.26-6.27/gal (KobeissiLetter, Hedgeye). Russia, the #2 exporter, already halted.​..

​..Yemen: Ansarallah claims a Saudi F-15SA over Marib as Riyadh runs the "drone at Mecca" line​ - The shootdown claim is multi-source but uncorroborated by Riyadh: F-15 downed in Marib (MenchOsint), F-15SA over Marib (imetatronink), while IRIB placed it in Al-Jawf (ME_Observer_). Province claims diverge; treat the location as unsettled. 
​  Saudi air defence says it intercepted a drone south of Mecca, calling the holy sites "a red line" (HibaNasr, _AhmedQuraishi, zerohedge). 
​  The debunking is the story here. Timings don't reconcile - sirens ~12:25 Mecca time, coalition says 18:50 (MenchOsint) - and the video circulating as evidence shows Al-Masjid an-Nabawi in Medina, from a September 2025 Yemeni projectile intercepted over Saudi Arabia (MenchOsint). 
​  Why it matters beyond optics: the same "they're targeting Mecca" framing was used in 2018 to recruit and motivate Sudanese troops for frontline deployment in Yemen, per captured-soldier testimony (Almutawakkil560); one read is that the current version targets Pakistani public opinion (MazMHussain).​..

​..Iran war: the damage ledger goes public - Pentagon IG, CBS photos, CBO's $38bn​ - The DoD Inspector General's first Iran war report says "hundreds" of buildings and structures on US bases in the Middle East have been destroyed (DanDePetris, zerohedge), alongside a munitions shortfall and supply-chain bottlenecks. 
​  CBS published photos sent by active-duty personnel on condition of anonymity: "This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public... We're standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face" (CBSNews, zerohedge, imetatronink). 
​  CBO: $38bn in the first five months, with annual PCE inflation projection now 0.5pp higher for Q1 2027 (DeItaone).​..

​..A​mazon W​eb S​ervices says its Bahrain facility and one of three UAE hosting zones are beyond restoring after Iranian strikes (zerohedge, mazzenilsson). Cloud infrastructure as a war casualty is new. 
​  Domestic politics turning: 7 Republicans joined Democrats on an Iran war resolution (wmiddelkoop), and Massie read articles of impeachment against Hegseth on the House floor (RepThomasMassie, zerohedge). Vance says the war enters a "much different phase" (zerohedge). 
​  Separately, a reported $2.8bn / 40,000 2,000-lb bomb package for Israel - 20,000 MK-84s, 20,000 BLU-117s, plus 20,000 I-2000 penetrator warheads (John_Hudson, hehe_samir, TuckerCarlson).
​  Diplomatic churn in the background: an Iranian delegation landed in Riyadh (Megatron_ron), Araghchi flies to Beijing today (MenchOsint), and a GCC-Iran-Oman meeting on Hormuz was announced then cancelled (Kathleen_Tyson_).​..

​..Russia-Ukraine: the energy truce lasted 22 hours; Syzran burns, Vilkhuvatka falls​ - Trump's claimed energy ceasefire collapsed overnight over added Ukrainian conditions; both sides resumed immediately (MilitarySummary). One trader literally stopwatched it at 21 hours 59 minutes (DarioCpx). 
​  Ukraine struck the Syzran refinery in the Volga region - primary crude unit and tank farm hit - plus a drone plant in Taganrog (chigrl). Peskov calls the truce "a good idea" without saying Russia agreed to it (JavierBlas).​..

​..Civilian cost, layer one: Russia has struck 16 gas stations in Kyiv to trigger a fuel shortage in the capital (MilitarySummary); over 500 locomotives destroyed or damaged, with Kyiv asking allies to finance 1520mm-gauge replacements (KyivIndependent). Russia also claims rail infrastructure hits in western Ukraine (zerohedge).​

​  The drone race is shifting against Kyiv: interceptor tests in July failed against jet-powered Gerans (dana916), and Russia may field 500-750 km/h low-cost cruise missiles within ~6 months (wartranslated). 
​  Escalation rhetoric hardened: Patrushev says Poland "will cease to exist in 2-3 days" in a conflict with Russia (yarotrof), with the Kremlin reportedly signalling full-arsenal use (thesiriusreport). Moscow also flagged "real risks" over Finland joining the French-led nuclear deterrent initiative (zerohedge).​..

​..AI and crypto: Clarity Act dies 49-50, OpenAI shops $1.2T, Oracle's $288bn sits off the books​ - The crypto Clarity Act failed cloture 49-50, with Republicans Collins, Hawley and Moran joining every Democrat (KobeissiLetter, zerohedge, WatcherGuru). BTC broke below $75,000 with $250m of longs liquidated in an hour per demontraderr. 
​  OpenAI weighing a round at a $1.2T valuation before IPO, per FT (zerohedge) - six months after raising $122bn (MaartenVerheyen).
​  The number of the day nobody is pricing: Oracle's 10-Q discloses $288bn of data-centre lease commitments not yet commenced, on 15-19 year terms, against $303bn of total assets - and Oracle is the tenant, so it's rent owed regardless of AI velocity. 

​  NVIDIA's $105bn and Broadcom's $29bn are guarantees with different triggers; adding the three together produces a meaningless figure (shanaka86).​..Quiet structural datapoint: OpenRouter users spent more on OpenAI than Anthropic models last week, the first time in 2.5+ years (OpenRouter).​   https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-09-16

​  Fed Hikes Rates For First Time Since July 2023, Signals 1 More Hike In 2026

As the market expected, The Fed hiked rates by 25bps (for the first time since July 2023) despite a trend lower in CPI over the last three months.
​  Today's decision was unanimous and the 'Dots' signal one more hike in 2026.
The Fed members increased their GDP outlooks, lowered their unemployment forecasts, but hiked their inflation outlooks.​   https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/fomc-41

​  Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-09-17

The big delta is the Fed: Kevin Warsh's first policy move as chair was a 25bp hike, unanimous 12-0, with the dots pointing to another before year-end - the first hike since July 2023, delivered into a diesel crisis and seven weeks before the midterms. 

​  Trump responded within hours by demanding rates of "1% or less" and threatening to halt trade with Europe if Canada takes the EU's associate-member offer. 

​  In Yemen, Ansarallah downed a Royal Saudi Air Force F-15SA over Marib and hit Aramco's Yanbu complex, while Reuters reporting surfaced a quiet US-Houthi understanding in Muscat that leaves Riyadh on its own.​..

​ ..Oil: Riyadh promises "half the pipeline in days" while Shanghai trades $30 over WTI​ - Saudi Arabia says it can restore ~50% of East-West pipeline capacity within days, which knocked crude lower (zerohedge, zerohedge). Energy Secretary Wright confirmed three pumping stations were hit and floated using the DPA to expand refining capacity (zerohedge).​   

​  Brett Erickson, quoted in the Washington Post, supplies the part the headline skips: satellite imagery shows three stations hit, and the Houthis have deliberately not struck the line harder - "the real death knell will be getting it repaired to 95 percent, then striking again" (BrettErickson28).​..

​..Escalation texture around NATO: Lavrov warns a war with NATO would be "very short" (zerohedge), a Russian frigate fired flares at a Danish helicopter and Copenhagen summoned the ambassador (zerohedge), and the DOJ accused a Russian intelligence ring of plotting killings on US soil (zerohedge).​..

..Hackers dumped the contents of a Flock camera: software explicitly detecting people rather than just plates, 1.6 million images logged in 21 days, and the decryption key stored on the device - contradicting the vendor's claims (jsrailton).​  https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-09-17

Gaza Hospital Generators Fail as Israel Restricts Oil, Fuel and Spare Parts​   https://www.palestinechronicle.com/gaza-hospital-generators-fail-as-israel-restricts-oil-fuel-and-spare-parts/

​  Palestinian Detainee Gives Birth in Israeli Prison after Six Months without Charge

Dana Joudeh, 35, gave birth to a baby girl while held in Israeli custody after spending six months in administrative detention without charge or trial.
​  The Detainees Commission said Joudeh endured her pregnancy without adequate medical and health care and held Israel responsible for her and her newborn’s safety.
​  Joudeh’s administrative detention order expires Tuesday, when she and her newborn are expected to be taken from the hospital to a checkpoint for release.​   https://www.palestinechronicle.com/palestinian-detainee-gives-birth-in-israeli-prison-after-six-months-without-charge/

​  Dana Joudeh: Palestinian female detainee gives birth behind Israeli bars

Dana, from the town of Iraq al-Tayeh in the Nablus governorate, was arrested while pregnant and spent much of her pregnancy in prison under harsh health and humanitarian conditions before giving birth behind bars.
​  She was not released until after delivering her baby. Israeli occupation authorities released her that night, after which she was transferred to Istishari Arab Hospital in Ramallah for medical care.​   https://english.palinfo.com/reports/2026/09/15/370199/​   

Ramla jailers physically and sexually abuse Gaza detainees​   https://english.palinfo.com/news/2026/09/14/370144/

‘Erasing Palestinian Presence’: B’Tselem Details Israel’s West Bank Project​   https://www.palestinechronicle.com/erasing-palestinian-presence-btselem-details-israels-west-bank-project/

LIVE FOOTAGE: IDF soldiers throw grenades over the West Bank border to kill children and women. How is this not considered terrorism?​   https://x.com/NewsTurko/status/2099039627797828012

Settlers rampage across W. Bank, targeting Palestinians, homes​   https://english.palinfo.com/news/2026/09/13/370065/

Israel advances 153 West Bank settlement plans since start of 2026​   https://english.palinfo.com/news/2026/09/14/370105/

Gaza’s farming sector nears collapse as war leaves only 4% of farmland accessible​   https://english.palinfo.com/news/2026/09/14/370134/

Israeli Attacks Kill Two, Wound 25 as Gaza Hospitals Face Paralysis​   https://www.palestinechronicle.com/israeli-attacks-kill-two-wound-25-as-gaza-hospitals-face-paralysis/

​  They can never return: Israeli culture minister vows to revoke citizenship of Gaza documentary filmmakers
Venice award-winning documentary NAZA examines killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, features testimonies from Israeli soldiers, intelligence​  officers    https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/israeli-culture-minister-vows-to-revoke-citizenship-of-gaza-documentary-filmmakers/4056223 

​  Israeli Forces Raid Palestinian Journalist’s Home as West Bank Attacks Intensify

Israeli occupation forces raided Palestinian journalist Ali al-Samoudi’s home in Jenin, assaulted his son and gave the 59-year-old journalist one hour to surrender.
​  Raids continued across Jenin, Nablus, Qalqilya, Tubas, Ramallah and occupied Jerusalem, while Israel maintained a curfew in a Hebron neighborhood.
Illegal Israeli Jewish settlers attacked Palestinian homes and agricultural land around Nablus and Ramallah, amid a broader escalation that included 3,488 settler attacks in the first half of 2026.​   https://www.palestinechronicle.com/israeli-forces-raid-palestinian-journalists-home-as-west-bank-attacks-intensify/

Portugal Says Israel Undermining Palestinian State Through Settlement Expansion​   https://english.aawsat.com/arab-world/5318246-portugal-says-israel-undermining-palestinian-state-through-settlement-expansion

Norway and 11 Western countries to criminalize trade with W. Bank settlements​   https://english.palinfo.com/news/2026/09/14/370119/

Norway proposes 3 years’ imprisonment for trading with Israeli settlers​   https://www.arabnews.com/world/norway-proposes-3-years-imprisonment-for-trading-with-israeli-settlers-3001697

Israeli regime shells southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh district​   https://en.mehrnews.com/news/247703/Israeli-regime-shells-southern-Lebanon-s-Nabatieh-district

Israel uses Lebanese civilians as bargaining chips​   https://israelpalestinenews.org/israel-uses-lebanese-civilians-as-bargaining-chips/

Katz: Israeli Army Will Eliminate Anyone Approaching South Lebanon Ridge​ - Netanyahu vows Israel will continue to destroying ‘terror infrastructure’​   https://news.antiwar.com/2026/09/14/katz-israeli-army-will-eliminate-anyone-approaching-south-lebanon-ridge/

​  Yemeni forces release 39-min footage from wide-scale military op.​ -  Yemen’s Military Media released footage from a wide-scale military operation, showing the recapture of positions and an ambush on 10 military vehicles.​   https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/yemeni-forces-release-39-min-footage-from-wide-scale-militar

Houthis Issue Video Of Saudi F-15 Shootdown, As Ground Clashes Intensify In Yemen​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/houthis-claim-saudi-jet-shootdown-blast-mecca-drone-reports-fabrications-lies

​Simplicius, Experts Declare Fuel Crisis Imminent as Global Wars Choke Out Supply   https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/experts-declare-fuel-crisis-imminent

Saudi Oil Output Drops to Zero​   https://www.globalresearch.ca/saudi-oil-output-drops-zero/5940441

​  ​1) It's Iran's fault: Fuel prices ​to "drop-like-a-rock" when Hormuz  war ends​:  Trump says US could stay in Iran and keep oil, like Venezuela deal​

Speaking at the Irish Open golf championship, Trump added that the price of gasoline would “drop like a rock” once the Iran war ended.
Turmoil in the ⁠Middle East has roiled oil ‌markets, with oil traders ‌expecting prices to rise again on Monday ‌after an attack on a Saudi oil ‌pipeline.
​  Trump said that he would only make the “right deal” and wouldn’t do one that was “no good,” adding that Iran was “calling constantly” for peace ‌talks — an assertion that Tehran has dismissed in the past.
​  But the ⁠president ⁠also introduced another option: stay engaged with Iran. He drew a parallel with the US deal in Venezuela, announced in August.
​“We’ll ultimately get out (of Iran), unless we decide to stay and keep the oil like Venezuela,” Trump said, adding that the US revenue from Venezuela has “paid for the war many times.”​   https://www.arabnews.com/middle-east/trump-says-us-could-stay-in-iran-and-keep-oil-like-venezuela-deal-3001586

​  2) It's Ukraine's fault:  Price Of Diesel – Lack Of Foresight Is Catching Up With Trump

Trump however would of course never admit that any of his actions is to blame for the lack of fuel supplies. A convenient culprit has been found by blaiming Ukraine:
​  Bessent partly blames Ukraine for ‘energy shock’ pushing up prices – The Hill, Sep 2 2026
“We are going through an energy shock right now due to both the war in Ukraine, because Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets and refined properties, so that is creating upward price pressure on a global basis, and the conflict in Iran,” [Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday] said.

​  Trump calls on Zelensky to stop attacking Russian energy targets (archived) – Washington Post, Sep 13 2026
President Donald Trump on Sunday said he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to ask him to “stop knocking out diesel fuel” targets in Russia, saying the attacks were contributing to a global shortage of the fuel.
​  “Mr. Zelensky has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel, let them go after targets but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel,” Trump said, adding that there were “plenty other targets.”​   https://www.moonofalabama.org/2026/09/price-of-diesel-lack-of-foresight-is-catching-up-with-trump.html

Energy Truce In Shambles: Ukraine Strikes Russian Refinery Despite Trump's Warning Amid Global Diesel Crisis​   https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/energy-truce-shambles-ukraine-strikes-russian-refinery-despite-trumps-warning-amid-global#google_vignette

​It is "threat", and "provocation", not "deterrence": Finland Joins France Nuclear Deterrence Push Bringing NATO Deterrence Closer to Russia.   https://www.armyrecognition.com/news/army-news/2026/finland-joins-france-nuclear-deterrence-push-bringing-nato-deterrence-closer-to-russia#google_vignette

Oh, I see it was just a "car accident", maybe a disfiguring one?: Boots on the Ground. British Army soldier killed in Ukraine   https://michaelwalshwriter.com/2026/09/14/boots-on-the-ground-british-army-soldier-killed-in-ukraine/

​  Britons Disunite! Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland leaders unite behind independence push from UK
In the rare joint agreement, leaders call on Britain to prepare for constitutional change as Trump sparked a firestorm by publicly backing Irish reunification.​  https://courthousenews.com/scotland-wales-and-northern-ireland-leaders-unite-behind-independence-push-from-uk/ 

​  (Led by a ​politically moderate, pacifist lesbian) Far-right AfD puts pressure on German aid to Ukraine​ ​-  Emboldened by its win in Saxony-Anhalt, the far-right Alternative for Germany wants the government to change its Ukraine and Russia policies. Berlin is staying the course, but support is fading — especially in the east.​   https://www.dw.com/en/afd-far-right-germany-ukraine-russia-war-aid/a-79257524

​  Germany's AfD National Support Hits Historic High; CDU Slumps To Record Low

A new poll in Germany has delivered yet another shocking blow to the political establishment. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) has reached 30 percent for the first time while stretching its lead over the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) to 10 points, with the Union reaching a historic low of just 20 percent. In addition, another poll has also put the CDU even lower, at 18 percent.​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/germanys-afd-national-support-hits-historic-high-cdu-slumps-record-low

​  ("Penny-pinching pacifist lesbian", then?) Ukrainians must leave Germany – AfD co-leader

Alice Weidel mentioned “Ukrainian men of military age” in particular, saying the burden of welfare payments has become “unsustainable”​   https://web.archive.org/web/20260913220437/https://www.rt.com/news/645657-ukrainians-must-leave-germany-afd-co-leader/

​  Russia Backs Cuba’s BRICS Bid Following New Delhi Summit
The Kremlin confirmed Moscow’s support for Cuba’s integration into BRICS as a partner country, following the bloc’s recent summit in New Delhi, where no further expansions of full membership were discussed.​   https://www.telesurenglish.net/russia-backs-cubas-brics-bid-following-new-delhi-summit/

AI's Power Demand 'Like Adding Another Japan': Goldman Highlights The 4 'T's & 7 'P's Constraining Supply​   https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/ais-power-demand-adding-another-japan-goldman-highlights-4-ts-7-ps-constraining-supply

Got water, food, fuel, medicines and cash? I worked at Google DeepMind. You should listen to the warnings about AI​, Alex Turner​   https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/14/google-deepmind-ai-warnings

​  Meryl Nass MD, News: Clarity Act fails. BioSecurity Lobbying. 4 Measles-associated deaths? Chris Martenson explores how we get out of the mess we are in. Trump’s stablecoin company (and the losses of investors while he made out well) seems to have been the final straw that killed the Clarity Act.   https://merylnass.substack.com/p/news-clarity-act-fails-biosecurity

  Steve Kirsch, & Jessica Rose Ph.D, Help us reach 50,000 signatures to repeal the 1986 vaccine law - If you can only take one action this year, this should be your top choice.   https://kirschsubstack.com/p/help-us-reach-50000-signatures-to

What the Media Won’t Tell You About the Measles​ - Dr. Sina McCullough offers a parent’s guide to the real history of the measles​   https://www.themahareport.com/p/what-the-media-wont-tell-you-about

​  Nicolas Hulscher MPH will be  testifying, BREAKING: Henry Ford Health Declines to Appear at Michigan House Oversight Hearing on Its Landmark Vaccinated vs. Unvaccinated Study

​  I may now be the only witness testifying tomorrow as Michigan lawmakers examine Henry Ford Health’s unpublished birth cohort study showing vaccinated children were far sicker.​   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-henry-ford-health-declines

​  Israel, Pfizer Knew COVID Vaccine Caused Fatal Heart Condition — But Waited Months Before Alerting Public
The authors of a peer-reviewed study published last week in EXCLI Journal concluded that Pfizer and Israel’s Ministry of Health knew in early 2021 about a significant “cardiac event” safety signal associated with Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine — but withheld the information from physicians and the public for several months. A significant number of Israeli government reports involving younger patients recorded the onset of “acute cardiac inflammation” within “days to weeks of vaccination.”​   https://childrenshealthdefense.org/defender/israel-pfizer-covid-vaccine-fatal-heart-condition-waited-months-alert-public-excli-study/

​  “Health Canada strongly recommends the removal of unnecessary DNA elements from the backbone of plasmids to be used for the manufacture of COMIRNATY vaccines for future SARS-CoV-2 variants.”
​  Now revealed: Canadian regulators wanted the undisclosed DNA out of Pfizer’s shots in 2023. Pfizer refused. Higher ups in government quashed the investigation. DNA contamination continues to this day.​   https://scoopsmcgoo.substack.com/p/health-canada-strongly-recommends

​Jessica Rose Ph.D. reviews: The Allison Inquiry - Four days of heartbreaking and necessary testimonies from Canadians   https://jessicar.substack.com/p/the-allison-inquiry

Heart Healthy (farther up that hill) 

Stress Before Snapping

 Somewhat Tense,

  Are we at "peak copper"? Military use takes precedence, you know.  The Honest Sorcerer, The Era of Material Scarcity Has Arrived

Copper is critical to AI, defense, electrification and grid expansion—yet supply is failing to catch up with demand, despite an unprecedented rise in the red metal’s price. A global physical shortage of copper is taking shape before our eyes and it won’t ease anytime soon.​ 

​  Tariff and prices—as usual—are just noise compared to a now decade long rise in copper’s production costs. Over the past 12 months the price producers ask for copper has jumped by 25%—or by a whopping 150% since the summer of 2016—driven by higher energy and input costs and declining resource quality.​.. The real problem lies in going after ores with an ever worsening metal content, while trying hard not to go bankrupt doing so.​..

​..We haven’t made a large, close-to-surface, easy-to-mine discovery since the 1990’s—and what we have found since then lies in ever smaller more deeply buried pockets, containing low-grade ores. New copper projects, as a result, are becoming more expensive and more complex, suffering from longer and longer delays and cost overruns.​..

​..So, while in the first quarter of the 21st century more copper was mined than in the entire history of humanity, this was a one-time boom based on huge deposits mined to exhaustion.​..

..Some of the material cannot be collected, or is simply not economic to recycle. Think: copper used in fungicides (sprayed on crops), thin copper wires in holiday lights, internet and telephone cables, small chargers and building wires featuring very thin copper strands heavily bound in protective sheathing. Not to mention copper in printed circuit boards, cars, consumer goods, household appliances, A/C units, old TV sets etc. where this valuable metal is buried deep inside complex physical assemblies, with mountains of plastic molded around them. Hence the 50-60% recycling rate...​ Recycling, while playing an important role in cushioning the blow from peak mine production, will not save us from the coming copper crunch​...

..Weapons manufacturing and the AI build-out, however, also demands a larger and larger share of the now physically constrained supply, leading to a “competition for critical minerals between energy transition and military applications.”​ Instead of an energy transition, which never was, we will thus see a mad scramble for mineral resources—including copper—with security becoming the primary motivation...

..Mined copper production is unlikely to exceed 23-24 million tons by 2030, leaving us with a serious math problem—a supply hole of ~2 million tonnes, capable of swallowing the entire AI industry as a whole...

..Since military use means strategic metals literally going up in smoke, as Kurt Cobb put it, that leaves less than zero chance for the future use of these minerals—not to mention the metals in infrastructure these explosives hit—further reducing the pool of material available for recycling…

​..The world economy is entering an era of growing scarcity. Not only when it comes to copper, which is essential to everything electric and cannot be easily substituted, but also diesel fuel, fertilizer, sulfur, helium, and in a few months time: food.​..

​..War and geopolitics act as an accelerator here, pushing the world far faster and far deeper into disarray than it otherwise would be the case. Viewed from a higher perspective the US-Iran war was thus never really about Iran but Asia—and especially China. By limiting oil supplies to the region (which used to source 80% of its petroleum imports from the Persian Gulf) the US has managed to throw Chinese domestic consumption growth into reverse, and imposed a considerable cost increase on Chinese manufacturing—squeezing profit margins there, as well as putting a strain on Chinese banks financing these activities. It also reduced South-East Asian growth rates by imposing much higher fuel costs on the region, and increased US political leverage by becoming these nations’ biggest LNG and LPG supplier. Last but not least, the lasting impacts of this war has reduced Asia’s future critical mineral demand growth potential.​  https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/the-era-of-material-scarcity-has 

  ​Industrial copper production and consumption details: The US Copper Industry Needs a Strategy, Not a Contradiction

Copper underpins everything from energy grids to EVs and home wiring, yet U.S. copper policy remains fragmented. It needs a long-term, strategic approach to close a growing supply and demand gap.​   https://www.wri.org/insights/us-copper-industry-needs-strategy-not-contradiction

​Simplicius, Ansar Allah Forces Launch Lightning Campaign to Change Region Calculus   https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/ansar-allah-forces-launch-lightning

  Colorful Pepe Escobar, Yemen Rocks the Gate of Tears- Ansarallah now has the luxury of installing a toll gate, arguably multi-layered, in the Bab al-Mandab, if they want it.

​  The overall collapse of the Saudi mercenary gangs in Yemen is so swift that even Epstein Syndicate mainstream media has been forced to acknowledge it. The Ansarallah Rolling Thunder is seizing cities; islands; capturing thousands of thugs; liberating all prisoners – and granting them amnesty; taking control of an untold number of US tanks and weapons – Afghanistan reloaded; and being greeted as liberators of Yemeni land across the whole tribal spectrum.​ And of course Ansarallah from now on, officially, has taken full control (italics mine) of the mega-strategic Bab al-Mandab, or “Gate of Tears”​. .​..The intel behind the Ansarallah Rolling Thunder – described as the largest mass-capture operation in modern warfare – was carefully coordinated with the IRGC. The Axis of Resistance was fully aware that after devastating Iranian attacks on the Jordan bases, the US was strangled in its capacity to help the Saudis prevent a Yemeni onslaught.​..

​..Unflapabble spokesman of Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier Yahya Saree – who I had the honor to meet last year in Yemen – confirmed that Made in Yemen surface-to-air missiles forced Saudis and mercenaries to abandon the base in Taiz, one of those specifically designed to harass Yemen.
​  Taiz is key: one of Yemen’s largest cities. Ansarallah is now in full control – a massive strategic asset.
​  As strategic assets go, few compare to Mayun island – also knows as Perim, smack in the middle of the Bab al-Mandab. There’s a military airfield and a military base built by the UAE with Israeli cooperation, crammed with high-tech weapons. All that is now Ansarallah property.
​  And onslaught it was, along the entire Yemeni western coast: from Hays to Al-Khokha and Al-Mokha via Al-Wazi’iyah, including the military camps of Khaled and Jabal al-Nar, plus Red Sea islands.​..

..Now couple it with the Big Bang: the coordinated multiple strike on the Abqaiq-to-Yanbu pipeline, the last remaining route for Saudi oil exports after the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a massive 100 km black smoke column rising to the desert sky captured on Sentinel-3 satellite imagery.
​  Consequences: expect production costs for nitrogen fertilizer plants from Europe to Asia to go totally out of control. Wheat, rice and maize yields are certified to fall, drastically, in tandem with skyrocketing diesel prices. Irrigation and harvesting will become a privilege for the wealthy.​   https://strategic-culture.su/news/2026/09/11/yemen-rocks-the-gate-of-tears/

Satellite Imagery Shows Heavy Damage to Saudi East–West Oil Pipeline Pumping Stations​   https://www.thedefensenews.com/Satellite-Imagery-Shows-Heavy-Damage-to-Saudi-EastWest-Oil-Pipeline-Pumping-Stations/

​  Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline is Shut: Why Does It Matter?

The 1,200-kilometer East-West Pipeline can carry up to seven million barrels of crude per day from eastern Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea.
Its importance has increased sharply as the Iran war disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Its Red Sea outlet now faces separate pressure as Ansarallah advances to Bab al-Mandeb and threatens Saudi shipping.​    https://www.palestinechronicle.com/saudi-arabias-east-west-pipeline-is-shut-why-does-it-matter/

Supertanker Explodes After Hitting Mine, IRGC Says, & Asserts 'Strait Of Hormuz Is Closed'​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/houthis-unleash-major-missile-barrage-saudi-arabias-sprawling-king-khalid-air-base

​  Martin Armstrong, Saudi Oil Production Collapses – This Is How the War Screws Everyone

Saudi Arabia just reported something that should scare the hell out of anyone who understands how the Middle East actually functions. According to Bloomberg, Riyadh told OPEC that crude production collapsed by 1.9 million barrels per day in August to just 6.238 million barrels per day, the lowest Saudi production since 1990 and even below the wartime low reached earlier this year. Saudi exports have reportedly fallen to around 3.1 million barrels per day, the lowest in more than a decade. This is not because the Saudis suddenly decided to tighten the market to make a few extra dollars. The war with Iran and renewed Houthi threats have disrupted the export routes that keep the entire Saudi financial system alive...

​..Saudi Arabia can have all the oil beneath the ground it wants. If it cannot pump it, ship it, insure the tankers, and deliver it to customers, that oil does not pay the bills.​ Saudi Arabia already recorded a budget deficit of 125.7 billion riyals, roughly $33.5 billion, in the first quarter of 2026 alone. That was nearly as large as the $44 billion deficit the government had projected for the entire year.​..

..Saudi Arabia is not alone. The fiscal systems throughout the Gulf were constructed during an era when oil revenue could finance enormous government expenditures, subsidies, public employment, infrastructure, defense, and social programs. These governments have attempted to diversify, but oil still provides the financial foundation supporting the transformation.​..

​..Saudi Arabia spent years building the East-West pipeline so crude could be moved to Yanbu on the Red Sea and bypass Hormuz, but now the Houthi threat has demonstrated that the western route is not immune either. When both sides of the Arabian Peninsula become geopolitical choke points, Saudi Arabia has a problem that no central bank can solve by changing interest rates.​..

​..Diesel rises and the farmer pays more to operate machinery. The trucking company pays more to deliver food. The container ship pays more to cross the ocean. Airlines increase fares. Manufacturers pay more for raw materials and transportation. Those costs eventually reach the consumer.
​  Then comes the second wave that almost nobody talks about: sovereign debt. Higher energy prices feed inflation. Inflation prevents central banks from aggressively cutting interest rates. Higher rates increase government debt-service costs. Governments already buried beneath debt must then borrow even more merely to service what they previously borrowed. Europe is especially vulnerable because it deliberately destroyed much of its cheap energy structure in the name of climate ideology and then sanctioned Russia without having a viable replacement.​..

..There is no free war. Saudi Arabia pumping the least oil since 1990 is not merely a Saudi story. It is a warning that the financial arteries of the Middle East are being squeezed at precisely the moment the sovereign debt crisis is accelerating worldwide. If oil-producing governments lose revenue, they borrow more. If oil-importing governments face higher prices, they subsidize more and borrow more. The producer gets fucked by falling volume while the consumer gets screwed by rising prices.​   https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/sovereign-debt-crisis/saudi-oil-production-collapses-this-is-how-the-war-screws-everyone/

  At what point does it become the banks that have a problem? Houthis Unleash Major Missile Barrage On Saudi Arabia's Sprawling King Khalid Air Base

Houthis seized more Red Sea territory, including Perim Island near the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
​  Shipping risks are rising, with vessels avoiding the Red Sea and taking longer routes around Africa.
Iran-Gulf diplomacy was postponed, delaying efforts to address the Strait of Hormuz crisis in what was to be a rare GCC-Iran meeting.
​  Saudi oil exports face ongoing disruption after a pipeline shutdown, pushing oil prices above $100/barrel.​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/houthis-unleash-major-missile-barrage-saudi-arabias-sprawling-king-khalid-air-base

​Tehran Says US Seeks Step-by-Step Agreement After Trump Claims 'Iran Wants To Make A Deal'​   https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/houthis-unleash-major-missile-barrage-saudi-arabias-sprawling-king-khalid-air-base

​  Gold & Geopolitics,​ Daily digest: 2026-09-14

Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline is now confirmed burned out end-to-end on high-res imagery, with Reuters reporting Yanbu has days - not weeks - of export stock left, and the Gulf-Iran Hormuz meeting that was supposed to fix the strait got postponed before it started. Meanwhile the frontier AI labs' "slow down" call detonated across Asian markets overnight: KOSPI -3.1%, Nikkei -2%, SoftBank -10%, and a Fed that markets now expect to hike on Wednesday.​..

​..Repair-time claims diverge and are worth holding separately: >1 month (IranObserver0), 5–6 weeks per Reuters sources with a second source suggesting faster partial pumping (shanaka86), and "double whatever Saudi says" given how long the Jizan repair took (DarioCpx).​..

​..Hormuz: Saudi amendments kill the Monday meeting; Iran fires ASBMs at an escorted UAE tanker​ - Barak Ravid reported Saudi Arabia submitted amendments to the Omani-Iranian proposal over concern about establishing a new status quo - read as the proximate cause of the collapse (MenchOsint). 
​  Before the postponement, the plan had Gulf diplomats and Iranian officials negotiating a reopening framework with Washington absent, Iran demanding compliance with the June Islamabad memorandum, and a routing system placing the Gulf entry lane inside Iranian territorial waters (HormuzReport). 
​  Per IRIB, Iran struck a UAE-owned tanker with anti-ship ballistic missiles inside the US-backed southern Omani corridor, under US escort - vessel drifting and leaking (OilHeadlineNews, Mark4XX)​...

..Energy Secretary Wright told the IAEA conference the US will end Iran's nuclear programme "one way or another" (zerohedge)...

​..Yemen: Ansarallah takes the heights over Bab al-Mandab; King Khalid Air Base hit with "dozens" of missiles​ - Ansarallah announced targeting King Khalid Air Base at Khamis Mushait - hangars, radars, runways, ammunition depots (MenchOsint), framed as retaliation for more than 300 Saudi airstrikes in five days with a warning of larger strikes (MilitarySummary).​..

..Saudi Aramco's Abha fuel depot destroyed - at least six storage tanks gone on Sep 13 imagery (SoarAtlas)...

​..Human cost, which is getting buried under the oil chart: Saudi-backed forces themselves report 500+ killed and 1,500 wounded in the recent West Coast clashes (ME_Observer_). Ansarallah's spokesman counts 58 Saudi airstrikes in 24 hours across Taiz, Lahij, Al-Jawf, Hajjah, Al-Bayda and Saada, flown by F-15s out of Khamis Mushait (MenchOsint).​..

​..CNN's reconstruction of Mocha's fall is the most damaging item of the day for Riyadh: battalions at ~20% of paper strength ("ghost names" collecting salaries), zero Saudi airstrikes that day despite minute-by-minute updates, CENTCOM's Adm. Cooper in-kingdom, 100+ US advisers deployed, MBS calling Trump twice and being refused. One regional source: "Saudi-American f**k up of epic proportions" (thetect0nic, zerohedge).​..

​..AI: the "slow down" call collapses into a regulatory-capture argument within 24 hours​ - Amodei: "for too long the industry lied" about AI risks (Polymarket). Trump rejected the pause outright - "whoever wins AI, wins" (KobeissiLetter). Zuckerberg went the other way entirely: AI needs to move faster (Kalshi_Finance).​..

​..Fitch reportedly warns a slowdown could take indices down 35% and trigger a US recession (rdd147) - which, as the poster notes, is itself the bubble diagnosis..​.

​..Fed: Goldman capitulates to a 25bp hike on Wednesday, three days after Trump demanded the lowest rates in the world​ ...  Warsh faces an "incredibly difficult dilemma" in his first rate move (zerohedge); markets expect the exact opposite of what Trump wants, and Trump has threatened to halt trade with every deficit partner if the Fed doesn't cut (KobeissiLetter).​..

​..Russia-Ukraine: largest drone attack of the war, impacts 300–400m from the Polish border​ - 863+ Gerans launched, 741 downed, leaving 122+ impacts (official figures, possibly higher): at least 5 gas stations, 2 trains and 1 electrical substation confirmed hit along the Poland-Kyiv highway corridor, timed for bad weather to blind air defence, flown in groups along the Belarusian border (MilitarySummary).
​  Strikes landed 300–400m from the Polish border, damaging the Yagodin crossing checkpoints and rail infrastructure (MilitarySummary); one hit a train carrying Boris Johnson, an adviser to Chancellor Merz, German MPs and UK/French/Italian security advisers returning from Kyiv (MyLordBebo, zerohedge)...

​..UK: three first ministers meet in Cardiff today to demand referendum rights​ - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland's first ministers meet to sign an agreement calling for the right to hold independence referendums (europa, Glenn_Diesen, BRICSinfo).​   https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-09-14

​  Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-09-13

The tanker-for-tanker phase went live overnight: Iran fired at least four waves at a US-escorted convoy in the Omani corridor, UKMTO confirmed a vessel hit and burning, and hours later an Iranian commercial ship was struck off Qeshm with one dead. Meanwhile Mayyun Island fell, handing Ansarallah both sides of Bab el-Mandeb, and Reuters put the East-West pipeline outage at 4% of global supply with repairs running up to six weeks. ​  Second front: Dario Amodei's "pace the frontier" essay got Altman, Musk and Hassabis to sign on, OpenAI's IPO slipped to 2027, and Ellison cancelled his $7.5bn Oracle sale - with the 30Y closing at a 22-year high underneath all of it.​   https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-09-13

​  Gold & Geopolitics, Daily digest: 2026-09-12

Ansarallah completed its sweep of Yemen's entire Red Sea coastline and now holds both sides of Bab el-Mandeb, and Saudi Arabia shut in the East-West pipeline after drone strikes gutted two pump stations - removing the last major Hormuz bypass. Riyadh then chose not to retaliate, called Washington twice, and got told no; Pakistan declined too. 

​  Meanwhile a 0.3% core CPI print flipped Goldman, JPMorgan, MUFG and Citi to a September hike inside a single afternoon, with the 30Y closing at its highest weekly level since 2004.​   https://no1sdailydigest.substack.com/p/daily-digest-2026-09-12

Trump Advisers Warn Iran Conflict May Last Through End of His Term, WSJ Reports​   https://archive.vn/GQ4PZ#selection-1015.1-1015.79

Oil Industry Braces for Years-Long Iran War​   https://oilprice.com/Energy/Oil-Prices/Oil-Industry-Braces-for-Years-Long-Iran-War.html

​  Martin Armstrong (Does he think "Netanyahu" is alive in the flesh?) I am concerned about nuclear war, mainly with Netanyahu.
I think he is really a loose cannon. I believe he has been trying to talk Trump into it, but I do not think Trump will do it. If Trump does not do it, I think he will. His opponents are saying they are too weak to defend Israel. I would look at the week of October 5th. If he is going to pull off anything, it might be that week.   https://x.com/ArmstrongEcon/status/2096611850926305768

Last week's strike on a Jordanian airbase: A-10 Loses Wing, F-15s Damaged in Major Iranian Missile Strike   https://www.palestinechronicle.com/a-10-loses-wing-f-15s-damaged-in-major-iranian-missile-strike-report/

  Bibi had to ignore warnings because he needed the attack to be "successful" to justify Palestinian genocide: Three Major Revelations About The Gaza Holocaust In The Israeli Press

​  The Israeli press has published three significant revelations about the Gaza holocaust, reporting (1) that Benjamin Netanyahu concealed advanced knowledge of the Hamas attack on October 7, (2) that Israel rejected a Hamas offer to release all civilian hostages immediately after October 7, and (3) that according to an IDF drone operator, the Israeli military was intentionally firing on civilians throughout Gaza during its operations in the Palestinian territory.​   https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/three-major-revelations-about-the

​  ‘NAZA’: Israeli Officers Reveal System behind Mass Civilian Targeting in Gaza

Twenty-four Israeli intelligence officers and soldiers described AI-assisted targeting, phone hacking, surveillance and attacks knowingly expected to kill Palestinian families.
​  The documentary focuses on institutional policies and military systems rather than isolated misconduct, with several interviewees describing accepted practices behind civilian killings.
​  NAZA premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, where it reportedly received a nearly 25-minute standing ovation.​  https://www.palestinechronicle.com/naza-israeli-officers-reveal-system-behind-mass-civilian-targeting-in-gaza/

​  Confessions of an Israeli Army Drone Operator

​ That night, Nir was sitting in a trailer filled with screens, at a base in the Gaza border area. On the screens, he watched ambulances driving down a road and then saw Golani Brigade troops ambush them.
​  “These were clearly identifiable as emergency vehicles, even when ground fire opened on them,” Nir (a pseudonym) recounts. “Without any apparent reason, the ground troops stormed the convoy. They shot at the first vehicle, the medical staff exited, hid behind the ambulances and pleaded for their lives, and the soldiers shot them, one after another.”
​  That happened in the early morning of March 23, 2025, in Rafah’s Tel-al Sultan neighborhood, at the southwestern tip of the Gaza Strip. The incident is now known as the “Gaza paramedic killings,” or “Rafah paramedic massacre.” The Israel Defense Forces have claimed it was an identification mistake, a professional error.​   https://israelpalestinenews.org/confessions-of-an-israeli-army-drone-operator/

​  You can't see their small, starved brains: Israel starved Gaza. Now doctors fear it has permanently damaged a generation.

​Tahrir Zidan, 41, repeatedly brings his five-year-old daughter, Tala, to the malnutrition clinic at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, hoping to receive nutritional supplements or treatment that might help his children grow.
​  According to Zidan, Tala is 94 centimeters tall. The average height for a child her age is 109-110 centimeters. He says that her height and weight have barely changed over the past two years, and that at times she has actually lost weight.​ “She was diagnosed with malnutrition and short stature,” he explained.
​  Zidan, who is now displaced in the Mawasi area of Khan Younis after being forced from his home in Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis, says he cannot afford to provide his three children with a balanced diet. Two of them, including Tala, suffer from malnutrition.
​  Since the beginning of the war, he says, he has been unable to buy fruit or provide his family with a complete protein-rich meal. Instead, they depend heavily on food distributed by charitable kitchens to displaced people.
​  “I have not been able to buy even one kilogram of meat, a chicken, or a kilogram of fruit. We are living through conditions harsher than words can describe. The result is that my children are now suffering from problems that are difficult to treat,” Zidan told Mondoweiss.
​  Zidan says that his family sometimes obtains only one meal, and it’s not enough for the whole family. “The meal I obtain from the charity kitchen usually finishes while most of us are still hungry,” he said.​  https://israelpalestinenews.org/israel-starved-gaza-now-doctors-fear-it-has-permanently-damaged-a-generation/

Israeli bulldozers level Palestinian-owned land in Al-Mughayyir​   https://english-wafa-ps.translate.goog/Pages/Details/174636?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Gazans Feel Despair as Israeli Officials Cement Plans for Permanent Occupation​   https://scheerpost.com/2026/09/12/gazans-feel-despair-as-israeli-officials-cement-plans-for-permanent-occupation/

Israel Bombs South Lebanon as Report Documents 23 White Phosphorus Attacks​   https://israelpalestinenews.org/israel-bombs-south-lebanon-as-report-documents-23-white-phosphorus-attacks/

​  Lebanon says Israeli army violated framework deal approximately 7,700 times​ - Israeli forces have also opened fire in close proximity to army elements and patrols, military says on X​   https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/lebanon-says-israeli-army-violated-framework-deal-approximately-7-700-times/4052431

‘Ongoing Genocide against Palestine’: Ramaphosa Demands Accountability at BRICS​  https://www.palestinechronicle.com/ongoing-genocide-against-palestine-ramaphosa-demands-accountability-at-brics/

​  Kit Klarenberg, German Sponsorship Of Zionist Settlements Exposed

Exploiting academic institutions as a cover, between 2017 – 2021 the German government surreptitiously funnelled millions into a highly discriminatory project facilitating expansion of Zionist settlements in the occupied West Bank. Under its auspices, public money and knowledge production were committed to an inherently unlawful, immoral enterprise in flagrant breach of Berlin’s international legal obligations, and domestic restrictions on academic research efforts. The unknown scandal is just one component of how, in plain sight, Germany covertly assists Zionist settlement expansion and Palestine’s total erasure.​..

​..The tool identifies ideal areas for construction of new wells, in a territory where Palestinian water sources are systematically demolished, and Palestinians are refused permits to drill new ones. Known as the Western Mountain Aquifer, it’s the largest and most productive groundwater body shared between Israel and the occupied West Bank. Palestinians were completely absent from working sessions convened in illegally occupied Jerusalem related to MedWater, and there is no apparent way in which Palestinians will, or even can, benefit from the effort in any way.​..   

​..Only Zionist settlers could realise that vision on-the-ground, of which the consortium was well-aware.
​  Even more damningly, at the project’s end the tool was contracted to Israel’s national water company Mekorot, which manages wells in Zionist settlements throughout the West Bank. By contrast, the Palestinian Water Authority, initially named as a MedWater partner, was not provided a subcontract and is not publicly listed among its beneficiaries today.​..

..In its July 2024 Advisory Opinion, the International Court of Justice ruled unambiguously all states are obliged “to distinguish, in their dealings with Israel, between Israeli territory and the territory occupied since 1967, and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining that situation.”    https://scheerpost.com/2026/09/07/german-sponsorship-of-zionist-settlements-exposed/

​  Germany asks ICJ to dismiss Gaza genocide case brought by Nicaragua
Berlin argues that UN court lacks jurisdiction over allegations that it enabled Israeli violations of international law in Gaza​   https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/germany-asks-icj-dismiss-nicaragua-genocide-case-over-arms-supplies-israel

​  A firecracker in the doorway they had just exited: Financial Times: Russia strikes Ukraine train line moments after foreign dignitaries pass/ Train struck on route used by David Petraeus, Boris Johnson, Carl Bildt and other senior officials 

​  Quote: A Russian drone hit a train near Ukraine’s border with Poland shortly after a group of visiting dignitaries passed through the crossing on Sunday, as Moscow launched its biggest drone barrage in months. The former British prime minister Boris Johnson, the former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt and various European security officials had crossed to Poland along the same line just before the strike, according to Bildt and a representative of the summit the dignitaries were attending.​ Unquote
​  The names listed constitute a rogues’ gallery of Russia haters who used their time in office in Washington, London, Stockholm and other capitals to destroy European relations with the neighbor to the East over the course of a couple of decades. Surely there are many in the Kremlin who would have opened the shampanskoye had there been a direct hit and killed them all at one go.
​  Boris Johnson was this morning quoted on BBC News as saying that the drone strike was just an example of the random nature of Russian attacks which pose a direct threat to European security. 

​  However, we may assume with confidence that the decision by Moscow was not to kill this gang but to frighten to their boots the cowardly European leaders who regularly carry on diplomatic tourism to Kiev via the rail link from Warsaw for the sake of photo opportunities that win cheers from their home electorates.​   https://gilbertdoctorow.substack.com/p/financial-times-russia-strikes-ukraine

​  Comments to Europeans from Vladimir Putin: Russia has never been and will never be your enemy!
We do not want European raw materials or wealth; we have our own. We absolutely do not need your raw materials. Russia is the richest country in the world in terms of raw materials. 

  We want neither your land nor your territory. Look at the vastness of Russia on the map. It is twice as large as all of Europe. What good would your land do us? What would we do with it? 

  Why do you think Russia is an enemy of Europe? What harm has Russia ever done to you? 

Have we sold you gas and raw materials at prices lower than those charged by your 'friends'? YES 

  Did Russia sacrifice 20 million people during World War II to get rid of the Nazis? YES 

Was Russia the first country to help Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic? YES 

  Have we helped Europe during fires and natural disasters? YES 

What has Russia done to them for them to hate it so much? 

Russia is not your enemy; your true enemies are your leaders, those who govern you."   https://x.com/PutinVladimirv0/status/2098085347712246160

​  Mel Gibson has some clips of firemen reporting their experience on 9/11/01: September 11th…. Never forget what firemen said on that day, and what the Govt and Media have tried to erase…. 9/11   https://x.com/MelGibsonstory/status/2097869200257597495

"A Rare Photo of the Plane That Hit The Pentagon"   https://x.com/dc_flake/status/2098462043959328875

  David Hughes, Where were the Weapons Located that Destroyed the Twin Towers?

Conventional nuclear weapons were not used, yet some of the observed effects were similar. What does this mean?​  https://dhughes.substack.com/p/where-the-weapons-located-that-destroyed

Video: Revealing 9/11 Truth: What Happened on September 11, 2001​   https://www.globalresearch.ca/video-revealing-911-truth-what-happened-on-september-11-2001/5939803

​  Martin Armstrong, Taiwan Is Preparing for the Drone War

Taiwan has proposed another $4.6 billion in defense spending, and what is particularly interesting is where a substantial portion of that money is going. Taipei wants more than 600 coastal surveillance and reconnaissance drones, over 40,000 coastal attack drones, and an initial fleet of more than 100 unmanned suicide boats. This comes only days after Taiwan’s parliament approved a six-year drone program capped at NT$240 billion, roughly $7.6 billion. Taiwan is not buying drones as some technological experiment. It is preparing for what it believes a future war with China would actually look like.
​  Ukraine changed warfare because it demonstrated that a relatively inexpensive drone can destroy equipment costing millions of dollars. The Middle East has reinforced the same lesson.​   https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/war/taiwan-is-preparing-for-the-drone-war/

​  Kurt Cobb, Modern Warfare Is Burning Through the Metals Needed for a High-Tech Future

Modern weapons, drones, communications systems, and other military technologies rely on strategic metals such as germanium, and material incorporated into destroyed weapons can be difficult or uneconomic to recover.
​  Demand for many critical minerals is already rising rapidly because they are also required for electric vehicles, renewable energy, electronics, semiconductors, and other advanced technologies.
Accelerating mineral extraction cannot continue indefinitely, and warfare increases the risk of scarce materials being dispersed rather than recycled for future use.​   https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Modern-Warfare-Is-Burning-Through-the-Metals-Needed-for-a-High-Tech-Future.html

US Data Centers To Burn More Natural Gas Than Most Nations​   https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/us-data-centers-burn-more-natural-gas-most-nations

​  Light Brigade Lemmings charge off cliff? Trump Slams "Perfect Little Angel" Dario, Demands Full Steam Ahead For AI​  

"The Trump Administration has stopped AI "people" from doing bad, or potentially bad, "things," like Dario (Anthropic!), who is now pretending to be a "perfect little angel" and will continue to do so!" Trump wrote.
​  "We already have tremendous CRIMINAL and REGULATORY power over these companies! There is a SICK conspiracy going on against AI and Data Centers, and the only one that is happy about it is China. WHOEVER WINS AI, WINS!"​   https://www.zerohedge.com/ai/full-stop-amodei-altman-musk-team-against-ai-singularity-while-china-goes-full-send

​  They know which side their bread is buttered upon... UK Government Reserves Two-Thirds Of Elite Jobs By Race; Leaked Doc Exposes

Sixty-six per cent of the slots are ringfenced for staff who are ethnic minority, disabled, or from a lower socio-economic background. Everyone else - including the white working-class kids the same government claims to champion - can take whatever is left.​   https://www.zerohedge.com/political/uk-government-reserves-two-thirds-elite-jobs-race-leaked-doc-exposes

"Free Palestine" works, I hear"​: More Than 62,000 Arrested for Speech-Related Offenses in Britain, Report Finds​   https://amgreatness.com/2026/09/10/more-than-62000-arrested-for-speech-related-offenses-in-britain-report-finds/

​  BREAKING: Leaked Data Show Israel Covered Up HUNDREDS of COVID Shot Deaths and Hospitalizations Within Weeks of Vaccine Rollout
The cover-up of COVID-19 “vaccine” deaths, injuries, and disabilities appears to have been a coordinated GLOBAL OPERATION.​   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-leaked-data-show-israel

​  Meryl Nass MD, My talk today on the anthrax letters and what they ushered in--Please watch - Lots of interesting talks at Turning the Tide--all free and online now   https://merylnass.substack.com/p/my-talk-today-on-the-anthrax-letters

  Reporter, Rodney Palmer ratted out his boss, the CBC. Good man: Stunning Testimony from Former CBC Reporter Rodney Palmer

How the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation became a state propaganda organ.​   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/stunning-testimony-from-former-cbc

​  Celia Farber, also from last week: GOING VIRAL: Day Two Of The “Allison Inquiry:” Devastating Testimonials About Covid “Vaccine” Damage And Death On Parliament Hill In Ottowa, Viewers Sky-Rocket On Day Two, Amidst Total Media Blackout

​  “It’s Like Canada’s Dirty Little Secret,” Shawn Buckley. “MPs Do Not Feel It Is Politically Viable To Be At This Table.” “Fire. It Just Feels Like My Brain Is On Fire.” Carrie Sakamoto.​   https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/day-two-of-the-allison-inquiry-devastating

​  Celia Farber, Canada Is Post-People, The Horror Fully Revealed: “When I Say Canadians Are Abandoned, I Mean We Are Completely Abandoned.” Michelle Worton, Allison Inquiry, Says Injured Candians Are Accepting MAID

​  Canadians Were Poisoned, Crippled, Refused ALL Medical Help, Forced To Either Seek Treatment In The US At Great Cost, Or, If They So Choose, Be Euthanized By The State​   https://celiafarber.substack.com/p/canada-is-post-people-the-horror

​  NEW STUDY: Tylenol Use During Pregnancy Linked to 41% Smaller Ovaries, 23% Fewer Ovarian Follicles, and 13% Smaller Uteruses in Infant Girls
The first-ever human study looking at prenatal Tylenol exposure and female reproductive development found alarming reproductive alterations that persisted into adolescence.​   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/new-study-tylenol-use-during-pregnancy

​Steve Kirsch, A list of evidence consistent with the hypothesis that “vaccines cause autism” - Not an exhaustive list.  https://kirschsubstack.com/p/a-list-of-evidence-consistent-with

  It is how the payments are set-up, especially if >90% vaccinated-on-schedule: Why Do Pediatricians Blast Babies with Multiple Vaccines on Same Visit?

Super-inflammation, systemic reactions, subclinical encephalitis all risked by this intensive, profit-driven practice in babies and toddlers before age 4​  https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/why-do-pediatricians-blast-babies

​Everybody has to get the shot anyway, so why remove the cancer-promoting piece?  Health Canada asks Pfizer to remove SV40. Pfizer says Pf$ck off   https://anandamide.substack.com/p/health-canada-asks-pfizer-to-remove

​  Yeah, but if the cancer didn't get COVID, then the vaccine-worked, right?  BREAKING STUDY: Pfizer COVID-19 “Vaccine” Plasmid DNA Found Inside Lethal Turbo Cancer of the Heart​ - We document a previously healthy 35-year-old man who developed a hyper-aggressive heart cancer within 170 days of Pfizer injection... and vaccine spike DNA was found inside it.​   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-study-pfizer-covid-19-vaccine

​  BREAKING: Moderna’s mRNA Flu Shot CUT FROM CDC RECOMMENDATIONS Just 2 Weeks After We Sent Our Reanalysis Study to HHS
CDC leaves mFLUSIVA out of 2026–2027 guidance after our FDA-data reanalysis found 2.5× more unexplained deaths and an extreme risk-benefit imbalance.​   https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/breaking-modernas-mrna-flu-shot-cut

​Mr. Natural (removing third trial loaf of Westphalian pumpernickel bread from baking pan)