Alastair

Maybe one of the 'unintended consequences' of the Iranian strike is that a bunch of countries will start opening pipelines and drilling themselves.

It is 100% true that great men and women of the past were not sitting around moaning about their feelings. I regret nothing.

Okay BYD

Trump is running the most dangerous geopolitical blitz since Bretton Woods. And the endgame isn't a trade war. There's a theory circulating that Trump is running a far more ambitious play -- one designed to collapse BRICS, force China's hand, and lock in dollar dominance for decades. It's bold. It's speculative. And whether you buy it or not, the underlying moves are worth paying attention to: 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘇𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗮 The U.S. moves on Venezuela's oil, lithium, gold, and rare-earth reserves. Not for regime change — for resource control. China has quietly relied on Venezuelan oil to sidestep sanctions for years. That lifeline gets cut first. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗱𝗮 This one's less dramatic but arguably more important. Canada deepens its alignment with Washington — offering diplomatic support, intelligence sharing, and strategic basing access. It's not that Ottawa becomes a puppet. It's that North America starts operating as a single economic and security bloc in a way we haven't seen since WWII. That kind of continental unity sends a message that's hard to ignore. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: 𝗜𝗿𝗮𝗻 With Venezuela compromised, China pivots to Iran for oil. Predictable. That's when the U.S. and Israel escalate — strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, command infrastructure, and oil facilities. China's backup energy source disappears. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: 𝗥𝘂𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗮 Here's where the theory gets really interesting -- and really controversial. The argument is that a back-channel deal is already taking shape. Russia, increasingly squeezed and looking for off-ramps, begins redirecting energy exports toward Western markets. Out of self-interest, not friendship. In return, Moscow gets energy revenue guarantees and a pathway back to the global trading system. Canada, with its existing Arctic and energy ties, becomes the diplomatic bridge. The result is a North American–Russian energy alignment that removes China's last major source of leverage. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗱𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 BRICS loses its economic foundation. Beijing, cut off from reliable energy and geopolitical allies, is forced to negotiate on American terms, including purchasing U.S. debt at favorable rates. The dollar gets a controlled reset with gold as the backstop, and the global financial system re-centers around Washington. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗶𝗻 + 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿 Energy price spikes and defense spending flood capital into risk assets. Bitcoin pushes past $200K. Then comes the executive orders: a Strategic U.S. Bitcoin Reserve, funded by seized assets and energy windfalls. But the piece most people are sleeping on is stablecoins. Every USD-pegged stablecoin moving across borders reinforces American financial infrastructure without a single new bank branch. The GENIUS Act laid the regulatory rails. A geopolitical shakeup of this scale would create a demand shock. Stablecoins don't just survive a reset like this. They become the rails it runs on. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Resource control → energy dominance → geopolitical isolation of China → dollar reset + Bitcoin reserve + stablecoin expansion. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Precision chaos → total energy dominance → China's surrender on U.S. terms → dollar reset + strategic Bitcoin reserve + stablecoin expansion. American financial supremacy 2.0. Whether you believe it or not, the pieces are already moving.

The math behind the forced shut ins

AI Takeover Complete: Data Center Construction Surpasses Office Construction For The First Time zerohedge.com/markets/ai-tak…

Private Credit Rocked By UBS Shock Outlook: A Surge In "Cascading Defaults" And Widespread Contagion zerohedge.com/markets/privat…

Proud to be part of this initiative. @xai has never caused our neighbors' electricity bills to rise. When our team builds supercomputers, that includes power. And when our supercomputers go into orbit, there will be even more earth power for the earthlings.

President Trump: "If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support: The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens." 🚨 NO SURPRISE: Every single Democrat stayed seated.

The Right's collective brain is getting melted in a vat of slop, conspiracy, and algorithm-chasing. An intelligent man will guard himself against all of it.

.@Starlink Mini global roam for the win

Marco Rubio with one of the greatest speeches by a Sec of State in decades: "We are prepared to do this alone but it is our preference, and our hope, to do this together with you, our friends in Europe. America was founded 250 years ago, but the roots began here on this continent long before. The men who settled and built the nation of my birth arrived on our shores carrying the memories, the traditions, and the Christian faith of our ancestors as a sacred inheritance, an unbreakable link between the old world and the new. We are part of one civilization, Western civilization. We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have now fallen heir. And if at times we disagree, our disagreements come from our profound sense of concern about a Europe with which we are connected, not just economically, not just militarily. We are connected spiritually and we are connected culturally. We want Europe to be strong. We believe that Europe and the West must survive."

Brace For Massive, "1 Million Plus" Negative Jobs Revision Tomorrow As Birth-Death Model Is Finally Fixed zerohedge.com/markets/brace-…

NEWS: In a first for any Elon Musk company, SpaceX has created its first Super Bowl ad for @Starlink.

@Jason @realDonaldTrump Yet you're acting as if the violence is solely an ICE or fed gov't phenomenon. Not offering any comment on Marxist NGOs orchestrating pressure campaigns to disrupt law enforcement activity??

Predict @realDonaldTrump will pivot off unnecessary violence from ICE this week, and then fire a couple of incompetent/sadistic members of this team. Then his plummeting ratings will stabilize and soar, as the Golden Age GDP surges. President Trump *always* pivots when the ratings slip -- it's one of his superpowers. Americans hate chaos and love a surging economy -- Trump is one or two firings away from fixing this.

UBS Simon Penn:

Silver $116, up 12.5%, biggest one-day increase since 2008

Larry Fink of Blackrock now says countries that avoided mass immigration will be better positioned for the future. Mass immigration was always a scam to destabilize the West, it’s why China admits almost zero refugees.