Rubio explains the workings of the new Colonialism.

AS A FORMER COLONY WE SHOULD KNOW BETTER 

I SUSPECT THIS POLICY WILL HAVE MAJORITY SUPPORT

Marco Rubio testified at a Senate hearing yesterday, he proudly explained the plan for the colonization of Venezuela. This was indeed a revelation as to how low the United States has descended in its policy with other countries. While this is happening in the current administration, I suspect this has been the goal for some time.

Rubio explained that the U.S. will continue to embargo Venezuela by Sea, but will allow it to sell oil at an undiscounted price. The revenues from this oil will be deposited into the Federal Reserve bank in New York and Venezuela may request remittances to cover the cost of essential goods and medical supplies. All purchases by Venezuela must be made from the United States, including distillates that are needed to thin  crude to allow transport. Venezuela may only sell oil to approved customers but never to Russia, China, Iran or any other country not favored by the U.S.. It cannot purchase anything from any country except the U.S.  This is reminiscent of the policies of the British Empire when the former United States was one of its colonies.

While I don't know the details this is a similar arrangement with Iraq, all it's oil revenues are deposited in New York and they must beg for remittances to run their country. This has been going on in Iraq for 20 years, and one expect it will continue as long as there is oil, Venezuela should expect the same.

One must wonder if this is the ultimate plan for Iran, give up your sovereignty, disarm and allow your oil to be managed by the U.S. and possibly Israel.

While at present, this is made possible by a large and well funded military, mostly funded by debt and a diminishing in value dollar, it may soon no longer be possible. In business, there is something called "Good Will" , the image that a business has with its customers, it is very valuable. I suspect that "Good Will" toward America is going to drop like a brick, particularly with former colonies like India, China and the whole of Africa. Of course we could care less, after all, we are greatest and the most formidable military in the world. 

So far, the only real push back has been Russia, but most have been restrained and measured in their dealing with the U.S. knowing that they can be subjected to sanctions "economic statecraft" a nice word for economic warfare, or outright military force. Now that the goals and strategies are becoming more transparent, we can expect an escalation in in-kind economic statecraft from many places. The day will come when this country may very well need its most valuable asset of "Good Will" by others, I fear there is very little left.

Contradictory policies as the world flees fiat currency.

 ARMADAS WILL NOT SAVE THE DOLLAR

NEW MONETARY SYSTEM IS UNSTOPPABLE

Today gold is trading at $5515 per ounce and Silver is at $117, Chairman Powell when asked about it claimed it was irrelevant to the Federal Reserve. I suspect that this is the general thought of many in Washington today. The yield on the 10 year bond is 4.25 % and 4.87 on the 30 year, mostly unchanged this year, but one might expect that will be changing soon.

The dollar has dropped significantly against most major currencies, exactly as the Trump administration has been hoping. This will make imports more expensive, and the hope is it will make U.S. exports more desirable. While at one time this was possible, one must ask what U.S. exports are now competitive in the world market? It is true that Chinese exports to the U.S. dropped by 20%, but their trade surplus in 2025 reached a record high of $1.2 trillion up 5.5%. This was fueled by exports to Asia, Africa and Latin America. Their leading exports were telephones, computers, integrated circuits and cars. China is now and will be accelerating as the leading manufacturer of cars worldwide. In 2025 China produced 34 million vehicles compared to 15 million in the U.S.. China will dominate the overseas market. They now are the dominate manufacture of electric vehicles and they will soon be available, in Europe, Canada and Mexico. 

So back to the declining value of the dollar, while hoped to increase exports it will also make the U.S. bonds less desirable, a contradiction when one is hoping to keep those yields down, rising yields raise the cost of servicing the growing U.S. debt much more difficult.  At the same time expenditures in military spending are expected to rise and keeping Armadas in many parts of the world trying to enforce U.S. supremacy will only add to the cost and the retreat from U.S. bonds and the dollar. An actual major war may be the quick end of the U.S. ability to finance its debt and accelerate the flight from the dollar.

The price of gold and silver and even the rise in the U.S. stock market are all indicators of dollars being exchanged for metals or shares of companies rather than fiat dollars or unpayable debt. At this time this is mostly the policy of Central Banks and sophisticated investors, some time it will expand to many more and that will be a currency and debt crisis as never before.

The U.S. policy has been and continues to be based on the belief that its standing in the world can be sustained by threats and force rather than real sound fiscal management and a currency that is indeed as "Good as Gold"

Mayhem in Minnesota.

 REMINISCENT OF ANTI-POLICE RIOTS 

SAME, EXCEPT NEW FOCUS

Today we see protests and riots in Minneapolis, it is every similar to the protests and riots that occurred in 2020, after the George Floyd death, during a brawl when he resisted arrest. In that time frame over 40 people died in incidents related to the riots.

Every incident that has been front page news is not related to protests, but to attempts to block or interfere with enforcement action. The 2 deaths so far most likely could have been avoided by the law enfacement with a better more measured response. The reality is those poor souls who lost their lives are the goal of the organizers of these actions, it is just what they wanted, to fire up more protests and misguided actions by misguided folks. It is very similar to Black Lives Matter and Antifa strategies in the past. I suspect that many are the same actors, just with a new cause, stopping the deportation of illegal migrants. 

Interfering with law enforcement is against the law, and will result in arrest. Resisting arrest is a very dangerous gamble and will likely result in bodily injury or worse. That has been the reality forever, it is nothing new. What is new, is when the leaders of the state, the Governor and the Mayor, convey the idea that this law enforcement is illegal or inappropriate, it gives the misguided the false belief that they can challenge the police without consequences. I haven't seen the governor out interfering with law enforcement.

Their death and injury is just what the organizers desire, fuel to inflame passions and emotions. I find it very infrequently the anyone will engage in protests spontaneously and actions even more unlikely. There usually is an organized  movement with a incentive to engage in these practices, often with a financial incentive for at least the organizers.

The flooding of the country with illegal migrants has been a conscience effort by political operatives to change the demographics of the electorate. The test case was California, once a state that elected Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, now only a shadow of a once great state. It is a failing state. That is the goal for the nation, to make every state similar to what has happened to California. In most major cities this has been a successful policy. 

It is not a question of immigration, it is a question of increasing the dependent class to be exploited and used to maintain and increase the power of those who want to make the nation a one party nation, it has been successful in California and in most of the major cities of the country.  Stopping the deportation of illegal migrants is a threat to their power and will be resisted with whatever it takes.

Hard winter for Ukraine.

 NO ELECTRIC, NO HEAT OR WATER

SINGLE DIGET TEMPERATURE

While fighting continues in Ukraine it is compounded by extreme cold and minimal services. The Mayor of Kiev has recommended that all who can, should evacuate the city as electric is only available in 50% of the city and that is not continuous. Kharkiv has reported that 80% of the city is without electric power.  Gas service is also often not available and without electric most central heat is not working, this makes water also in short supply. It is estimated that near 600,000 have left Kiev in search of better conditions. 

Russian air strikes have for the time being been reduced but not stopped. Is it because of a dearth of available targets or a humanitarian pause? Fighting continues in much of the front, with Russia continuing to make incremental gains. It is a period of extreme cold, little heat and minimal food, all reminiscent of previous military action in this region. The soldiers on the front  often in trenches without heat or adequate food must be suffering an unimaginable ordeal.

The German campaign in WW2 was bogged down and suffered similar conditions along with a long supply line that aided in their demise. Napoleon lost almost his entire army in 1812, with only around 100,000 of his 600,000 man army surviving the attack on Russia, many either froze or starved.

It illustrates why Russia has engaged in a war of attrition, keeping the fighting close to their supply lines, while forcing the enemy to move equipment and supplies many hundreds of miles. It is also why the west has been reluctant to put troops into this affair, as any conventional war in this region has always resulted in high casualties, much of it due to the extreme winter conditions.

With many more weeks of winter ahead, we can only faintly feel the pain of those caught up in this catastrophe.

Intelligence as a tool, rather than facts.

 IT SEEMS MOST INTELLEGENCE IS NOW WORTHLESS

USED TO SHAPE POLICY RATHER THAN INFORM

We continue to hear about new negotiations and new breakthroughs in talks on important issues, yet there really is no progress. I suspect much of this has to do with negotiators acting on poor or intentionally misinforming intelligence. 

We can start with the Russia/Ukraine talks. Since even before the outbreak of hostilities the narrative has been the same. Russia will fold in weeks, it has no military resources, it will run out of ammunition, there will be a popular uprising at home. It has now been 4 years and no signs of any of this being true.  Within weeks of the onset of the present conflict Ukraine and Russia came to an agreement that would have left Ukraine intact, except for Crimea. It was sabotaged by the U.K. and U.S., telling Ukraine that Russia will be easily defeated. Every few weeks we hear of new efforts by negotiators going to Moscow for new talks. I suspect intelligence is telling these negotiators that Russia is now ready to quit, they will collapse any moment and nothing happens, because Russia's position is the same as it was in 2021. There will be no ceasefire, no end, until an agreement is reached that deals with the causes of the conflict. It will need to be in fact an actual treaty approved by the U.S. senate. Based on the quality of U.S. intelligence, that will never happen. 

In the middle east, lets face it, most intelligence comes for Mossad and it has proven to be tailored to accomplish goals of Israel rather than facts. From weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to the present, Iran is within weeks of nuclear weapons,  has been the go to narrative for over 20 years. The goal is to get the U.S. into a major war with Iran that it has to fight to the end. I suspect that all intelligence coming out of Israel is suspect as to the truth. We hear that Iran is weak, now vulnerable and easy to defeat, once committed and with the loss of U.S. assets and troops, every president will be required to commit to winning at all costs.

We hear similar analysis about China, they are dependent on U.S. trade, in fact it seems many believe the world is dependent on U.S. trade. They believe that without U.S, trade the world economy will collapse. Are US trade decisions made on that assumption?   All negotiations and policies based on false assumptions and misleading information are destined to fail.

I suspect the Intelligence organizations in the west spend more time on interventions and covert actions and little on real intelligence gathering.  Much of the narrative is tailored by think tanks that are more in the business of fashioning policy than allowing elected officials to make informed decisions. The media reinforces these narratives by accepting leaks by these same intelligence operatives. I fear this will not be easy to correct until we all suffers a serious disaster.

Back to Iran, High tech vs countermeasures and mass.

 ANY WINNERS OR ONLY LOSERS

WILL TRUMP PULL THE TRIGGER THIS TIME?

We hear about the massive buildup of military assets for an expected attack on Iran, Again, it is only 1 week since the last aborted attack, is this another threat to demand submission or the real thing? It appears this time it is going to be a real conflagration and we will see who is standing, will there be a clear winner or just losers all.

The Israeli and U.S. demand that Iran not engage in any nuclear enrichment, even of electric generation or desalination, this demand was upped after Iran essentially agreed to end all higher enrichment. It is pretty clear that there really is no real effort at any negotiated settlement. The other major demand is that Iran essentially disarms its missile program, in effect, Iran agreeing to disarmament. This is the same tactics used in Libya and after Libya agreed, the country was destroyed and remains a failed state today. This is the hope, and it seems that Iran is not going to agree to these terms, and now it is going to be total military destruction. The remaining question is at what cost to those involved and the world economy.

The whole nuclear weapons narrative by Israel against Iran was as much a fake as the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. If Iran wanted nuclear weapons they would have had them long ago. Instead, they focused on a conventional weapons defense and that is also not acceptable.

So, it seems we are going to finally see a real life test of the U.S. technological superiority against the electronic counter measures to neutralize their effectiveness, that and a massive amount of missiles flying in all directions. Is it possible for all to not suffer major casualties? Will an attack end with regime change or will it just rally support from the Iranian citizens? Can Israel survive politically and economically? Will Egypt and Turkey and the many other groups in the region decide it is time for a final showdown? 

It seems that the gulf countries did refuse to let the U.S. use their airspace for the planned previous attack. That is why more aircraft carriers are now soon in position to launch this attack. I suspect they will also now be a major target for reprisals. The odds are high that his attack will draw in combatants from all around and lead to a major reginal conflict. Once the blood starts flowing it may not be easy to stop.

U.S. foreign policy, just transparent under Trump.

" RULES BASED ORDER", WE MAKE THE RULES, JUST OBEY THE ORDERS

NO ONE COMPLAINED IN THE LAST 30 YEARS

It is interesting to watch the outrage in the European community concerning Trump's declaration that the U.S. and world needs Greenland for world security. We are supposed to believe that Russia or China is planning a long range effort to encircle everyone from the north. No one complained when the narrative was about Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and now Venezuela, Cuba and of course the greatest threat to mankind, Iran. Then there is always the big threats from Russia and China threatening world domination.

We see 30 years of rules set by the U.S., then enforced as international law with sanctions, internal intervention, sabotage, chaos and disruption and then military action. Can we soon see internal protests in Greenland, lobbying for freedom from Denmark, or is that now so unnecessary, we will take it one way or another, what are you going to do about it ?, nothing, so why the pretense.

I suspect that no matter who the president of the U.S. is, the foreign policy has been consistent since 1988, only the window dressing and nice words are replaced with expediency and transparency. The message is, it is all good as long as you talk nice and cloud your desire for world domination with talk of democracy, freedom, human rights and the rules based order. Our rules, just follow the orders.

In some ways the present over the top policies are now similar to some live Melodrama with the hyperbole to match. Sometimes I wonder, should we really be concerned or should we be resigned to enjoy the entertainment? Is Trump a real villain or a Shakespearian actor preforming for the world? Opening a window into the hypocrisy and absurdity of the so called civilized world that talks nice, but is willing to condone death, destruction and genocide and no longer has the ability to even recognize what once was clear moral choices and convictions. 

The reality is the U.S. cannot afford the price of Greenland, either in money or moral standing, let alone afford the spending associated with the "Golden dome", a fantasy that has the military contractors salivating and potential adversaries making jokes. Bankrupt and devoid of a moral compass, it will be a hard landing into reality.