We’re living in the aftermath of Trump’s YUGE announcement on Russia yesterday—an announcement that, after the typical Trumpian buildup, Larry Johnson characterized as a “mouse fart.” As we saw, it amounted to scraping together a relative handful of Patriots from vassal states for shipment to Ukraine and threatening sanctions on Russia’s major energy customers—China and India, but only after 50 days.
Both Graham and Pompeo have said that Putin should learn a lesson from what the U.S. did to Iran when Iran didn’t bend to its will in 60 days. Does the U.S. plan to send some B2 bombers over Moscow and start WW3? Maybe we should just deport these two warmongers to Ukraine to fight the Russians?
I really like “Trump’s YUGE announcement” — not the announcement but the way you have put it, Mark 😎. I really hope that Australia stays the present course! Thank you for your posts!
Re: Australia, UK monarchy is of course Australia's sovereign. Australia's friendly relationship with China is in line with UK relations with China:
4/10/2025, "UK trade minister visits China at same time as head of ..." UK Guardian...6/23/2025, "On June 23, 2025, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with former UK Prime Minister."...4/15/2025, Reuters, "Britain's business minister, Jonathan Reynolds, will travel to China later this year in a bid to boost trade and investment between the two countries."...1/11/2025, "Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to China in October [2024] and Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with Chinese President Xi"...https://www.euronews.com...
I wonder if it might be intentional (de-dollarization) on the part of the west. they are well educated so, not exactly stupid (things might not be as bad if they were, then again, who knows?). Soros has long claimed that the destruction of america would be his "greatest accomplishment, and bessent is/was a protege' of soros. trump and soros also have a history, albeit not that much of one (my research skills are rather lacking, unfortunately). trump obviously isn't in control (he's just an actor playing a role). destroy the dollar and make everything digital. I suppose it all matters whether the west can survive long enough for that to actually happen.
this is my first time posting and I am unfamiliar with the proper protocols, so I hope you'll forgive me for making a post here without introducing myself (which I shall now do):
My sister (the only one in my family that I can actually discuss geopolitics with) introduced me to this substack several years ago and I've been reading it daily ever since (including the comments). I feel like I already know many of the commentors and you yourself, Mr. Wauck, fairly well lol anyway, I'm not sure what name will show up, but ya'll are welcome to call me Losh. If allowed, then I look forward to posting more often.
I am so embarrassed and disgusted by how our government, in general, is handling our lives, our future, our integrity. I am always so grateful for the deep, intensive research you perform and the knowledge and experience you spice it up with..... I do not know what I, and many others, would do without your wisdom, insight, research, honesty and integrity. You are a desperately needed "light" in the dark corridors of Mordor..... Blessings, Gratitude and Blessed Be xo
"Two people familiar with the conversation between Trump and Zelenskyy said the US president had asked his Ukrainian counterpart whether he could hit military targets deep inside Russia if he [Trump] provided weapons capable of doing so.
“Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow? . . . Can you hit St Petersburg too?” Trump asked on the call, according to the people.
"They said Zelenskyy replied: “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.”
"The White House insisted in a statement to The Post that the comments should not be taken out of context, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushing back on the Financial Times’ framing of the call, which suggested Trump encouraged Zelensky to step up strikes deep into Russian territory.
...
“President Trump was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing. He’s working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war.”
Thank you alongside the other commenters for your tireless, thorough reporting of what news is coming in, daily, and for your keen analysis of it all. And an aside: Karoline Leavitt is only 27 years old, but put in place to explain and defend the US Government's minute actions on behalf of her bos: Suzie Wiles....wow, how far has our country sunk
Various slavic authors on Substack claim that Russia, or BRICS more generally, is merely one performer ("face" or "heel") in a supranational WWE match produced by the moneymen who have no national loyalty per se but are keen to keep the little people watching the match, not the moneymen, until the national digital control grids are complete.
Yes real people are really dying here and there, but that is a sad necessity to keep people watching the match while each nation moves ahead to establish its own grid which will be interoperable with all other grids.
Yes this claim is a total black pill, but is it more true or more false? Every technologically advanced country has tested de-banking, right? Not just China with an explicit, honest-to-God real-time social credit system. China: our "mortal foe" and biggest trading partner (if you count what is transshipped through Mexico and Canada).
Relatedly, I admit that I was taken in by the promise of tariffs, of re-shoring manufacturing and de-shoring illegal immigrant labor, as though the viability of a sovereign American republic was the goal. It is not looking like it was the goal.
Thank you so much, Cosmo, for the link to this person's revelations. I remember watching her interview with Tucker Carlson, more than once, since the subject atter is way beyond my imagination.
Hi Joanne, I always appreciate the kinds words you offer on some of my posts. Like many here I want to share information so that we are informed. I watched the Tucker interview as well. I remember the first time I came across CAF and listened to an extensive podcast (youtube video) back in around 2020 or 21. I was profoundly disturbed. I sent the video to my brother and he said "ah, no way." He has done a 180 since then on a lot of things. He reads Mark's substack, but doesn't offer any insights as he likes to stay under the radar, no commenting. He's a software developer and believes we will be targeted for retribution by TPTB. Sigh.............
God bless you, Cosmo, plentifully. I don't know what TPTB means, but I just came back from Best Buy with a new computer purchase, having to upgrade to Windows 11. My self rule is to turn off/disable every peeping access by programmers and surveillance people and robots on my computer and cell phone. Very best wishes
Not at all, you're expansive beyond your humble expectation; I learn a lot from your comments on Mark's work and other commenters' observations. Thank you for them.
The Ukraine war is an interoligarchic dispute and connected as you point out with real people dying to fit the required picture but objectively their is no difference between the opponents as you also point out.
Why is Russia on a go slow that is backed by foreign altmedia Zanon propaganda 5d chess master stuff and now RF it seems is pretending to up the ante a little, is it one must wonder and to what end 4 oblasts and same Zel regime on the RF border after so many deaths.
Rusreal Putinyahu is another strange anomaly, Putin rings Bibi after Iran's strikes and shows concern for the loss etc but is not reported to have done that with Iran. Russia and Iran have a long running conflict on many issues dating back centuries and Russia has sided with the West against Iran on a number of issues yet Putin regularly refers to the large population of Russian speakers in Isreal with affection which is never present with Iran.
BRICS is also a nothingburger also in regards geopolitical strength, yes it is developing into a strong trading block but it has no consensus on important matter.
If it weren't for Zio-con and Neo-con ambitions, the world could be a pretty simple and more pleasant place.
I keep hearing about how the Financial Elite of the West NEEDS Russian and third world assets under control...."collateral"......it must be tied to the debt-based system they have for everything. Is it really just an extension of 19th Century Colonialism?
But what could we have otherwise, without all of the blood on the chessboard?
China would LOVE to sell us REE's and cheap plastic and electronic stuff, maybe even some cool EVs, long-term contracts, no questions asked. Russia has buckets and barrels of good oil and diesel. Where would you like it? Russia was good at cooperating on pipelines. I once had some shares in a cool Russian gold miner that paid about 8% dividend, from a debt-free company. Investors would get the Red Carpet! ("red", get it?). We could be selling more corn and soybeans and computer chips than ever. We could be vacationing in Cuba.
China and the BRICS would probably even license their new 7-second-settlement cross border payment system to western countries. We could probably even still use dollars in it, as long as we had some verifiable gold vaulted some place to back it up.
But, there is blood on the chessboard, and gobs of money malinvested in defense. As for my Russian ADR gold shares, those got disappeared in London a day after Russia entered the Donbas :(
As to "chessboards," in 1998, Zbigniew Brzezinski authored, "The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives." From the book's Amazon page:" "Eurasia is the ”grand chessboard” on which America's supremacy will be ratified and challenged in the years to come. The task facing the United States, he argues, is to manage the conflicts and relationships in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East so that no rival superpower arises to threaten our interests or our well-being. The heart of The Grand Chessboard is Brzezinski's analysis of the four critical regions of Eurasia and of the stakes for America in each arena: Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and East Asia." https://www.amazon.com/Grand-Chessboard-American-Geostrategic-Imperatives/dp/0465027261
I believe it's been said half the world's resources reside in the world Island. I think Brzezinski had the benefit of the importance of oil hence the inclusion of the middle east in his version of the theory.
Russia is accelerating its attrition of the AFU and its supply chain, and a complete collapse could happen before the end of summer, particularly if Ukraine can no loner pay its armed forces. This is the reality that is driving extreme desperation in Western leaders. Once Ukraine becomes a failed state, European Central Banks become insolvent and the contagion cannot be contained. No country will be immune to the consequences, and then it's an every-man-for-himself melee in world affairs. It's best to hit a hard bottom quickly and begin the rebound as soon as possible. Russia suffered a decade of disaster after the fall of the Soviet Union, but that was because of the vultures feeding on its carcass. We can recover much faster, but it will take sacrifice and hard work by all. Should Trump be lured into a major war, that will likely be the last straw and US would devolve into open rebellion.
G'day TomA, what do you perceive as the trigger for a united mutiny of the unpaid troops as they have been cheated for a while whilst family of the dead soldiers are not being paid the money due as the hohols don't acknowledge death without proof of body.
You raise very many valid points but I don't see any catalyst of the weak points you mentioned and sure as hell the empire and MI6 will have tricks up their sleeve to find more meat for the grinder or terrorist event to create chaos the RF needs to mend which keeps the not a war from finding a resolution and the Kremlin does not want to be strong and decisive as the oligarchs still want to do business with the West and their man Kirill Demetry(incorrect spelling) is front and centre of the negotiations along with Lavrov of course.
So all in all the situation will meander along until the Kremlin decides otherwise.
Yes, the war will end when Russia wants it to. But then the real work begins. The West has no money to rebuild whatever is left and Ukraine no longer has a workforce to do so. This burden will fall on Russia alone, and it will succeed but take many years. They have already done this in Georgia. The bigger problem for Russia will be Europe after its collapse. There will be great chaos, violence, and unpredictability. Russia may attempt to aid the countries on its borders, but not Europe proper. The great danger is fascism arising from the ashes. There are no easy solutions to this problem.
Meanwhile Macron “fiddles,” proposing to eliminate two national holidays (too numerous to count) to fill the state coffers with 44billion €: first on the block, Easter Monday, part of Easter weekend and sacred to observant Catholics. Second: May 8, the signing of the Armistice in Versailles ending WWI, also an important date in the history of Europe. The other day, a certain Senator Larcher, of great girth, having dined on the dime of tax payers for decades, suggested the French work an hour more a day to generate income for the state. Responses were irate! Revolution is in the air…
"The tariff threats are ultimately intended to force the rest of the world to remain in the dollar strait jacket". They are having quite the opposite effect.
Unfortunately, it is totally within the realm of possibility that Trump isn't any less naive than he was in his first term, given that his hired hands are only slightly more competent than the neo-cons he surrounded himself with in the first term. Judging by the Epstein file debacle, they might be flipping a coin to make policy decisions and since they are playing with nuclear fire, we have only the sharp intellects in our opposing countries to stifle the likelihood of an accidental nuclear exchange.
Both Graham and Pompeo have said that Putin should learn a lesson from what the U.S. did to Iran when Iran didn’t bend to its will in 60 days. Does the U.S. plan to send some B2 bombers over Moscow and start WW3? Maybe we should just deport these two warmongers to Ukraine to fight the Russians?
I really like “Trump’s YUGE announcement” — not the announcement but the way you have put it, Mark 😎. I really hope that Australia stays the present course! Thank you for your posts!
Re: Australia, UK monarchy is of course Australia's sovereign. Australia's friendly relationship with China is in line with UK relations with China:
4/10/2025, "UK trade minister visits China at same time as head of ..." UK Guardian...6/23/2025, "On June 23, 2025, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with former UK Prime Minister."...4/15/2025, Reuters, "Britain's business minister, Jonathan Reynolds, will travel to China later this year in a bid to boost trade and investment between the two countries."...1/11/2025, "Foreign Secretary David Lammy travelled to China in October [2024] and Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with Chinese President Xi"...https://www.euronews.com...
I wonder if it might be intentional (de-dollarization) on the part of the west. they are well educated so, not exactly stupid (things might not be as bad if they were, then again, who knows?). Soros has long claimed that the destruction of america would be his "greatest accomplishment, and bessent is/was a protege' of soros. trump and soros also have a history, albeit not that much of one (my research skills are rather lacking, unfortunately). trump obviously isn't in control (he's just an actor playing a role). destroy the dollar and make everything digital. I suppose it all matters whether the west can survive long enough for that to actually happen.
this is my first time posting and I am unfamiliar with the proper protocols, so I hope you'll forgive me for making a post here without introducing myself (which I shall now do):
My sister (the only one in my family that I can actually discuss geopolitics with) introduced me to this substack several years ago and I've been reading it daily ever since (including the comments). I feel like I already know many of the commentors and you yourself, Mr. Wauck, fairly well lol anyway, I'm not sure what name will show up, but ya'll are welcome to call me Losh. If allowed, then I look forward to posting more often.
Welcome, Losh.
I am so embarrassed and disgusted by how our government, in general, is handling our lives, our future, our integrity. I am always so grateful for the deep, intensive research you perform and the knowledge and experience you spice it up with..... I do not know what I, and many others, would do without your wisdom, insight, research, honesty and integrity. You are a desperately needed "light" in the dark corridors of Mordor..... Blessings, Gratitude and Blessed Be xo
so Jewish nationalist geopolitical strategy isn’t really all that great, huh?
If you are a US president the strategy works perfectly to keep your brain in your skull and off the upholstery.
Did Trump ask Zelensky to strike at Moscow and St. Petersburg?
https://archive.ph/nLtfE#selection-2207.0-2207.1
"Two people familiar with the conversation between Trump and Zelenskyy said the US president had asked his Ukrainian counterpart whether he could hit military targets deep inside Russia if he [Trump] provided weapons capable of doing so.
“Volodymyr, can you hit Moscow? . . . Can you hit St Petersburg too?” Trump asked on the call, according to the people.
"They said Zelenskyy replied: “Absolutely. We can if you give us the weapons.”
OK, I said Trump didn't really deny that:
https://nypost.com/2025/07/15/world-news/trump-asked-zelensky-about-striking-moscow-making-putin-feel-the-pain-report/
"The White House insisted in a statement to The Post that the comments should not be taken out of context, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushing back on the Financial Times’ framing of the call, which suggested Trump encouraged Zelensky to step up strikes deep into Russian territory.
...
“President Trump was merely asking a question, not encouraging further killing. He’s working tirelessly to stop the killing and end this war.”
Thank you alongside the other commenters for your tireless, thorough reporting of what news is coming in, daily, and for your keen analysis of it all. And an aside: Karoline Leavitt is only 27 years old, but put in place to explain and defend the US Government's minute actions on behalf of her bos: Suzie Wiles....wow, how far has our country sunk
How far down the chain does the BS flow?
Sorry, Mike, I just vented in a comment without seeing your wisdom---aggreeing to it wholeheartedly
Even a mediocre reporter might respond: "Why would he even ask the question if he did not intend to encourage further killing?"
Various slavic authors on Substack claim that Russia, or BRICS more generally, is merely one performer ("face" or "heel") in a supranational WWE match produced by the moneymen who have no national loyalty per se but are keen to keep the little people watching the match, not the moneymen, until the national digital control grids are complete.
Yes real people are really dying here and there, but that is a sad necessity to keep people watching the match while each nation moves ahead to establish its own grid which will be interoperable with all other grids.
Yes this claim is a total black pill, but is it more true or more false? Every technologically advanced country has tested de-banking, right? Not just China with an explicit, honest-to-God real-time social credit system. China: our "mortal foe" and biggest trading partner (if you count what is transshipped through Mexico and Canada).
Relatedly, I admit that I was taken in by the promise of tariffs, of re-shoring manufacturing and de-shoring illegal immigrant labor, as though the viability of a sovereign American republic was the goal. It is not looking like it was the goal.
Relatedly or belatedly?! For me it’s the latter!
I think that Catherine Austin Fitts over at Solari has been saying this for some time. Here's an example: https://solarireport.substack.com/p/the-threat-of-financial-transaction
Thank you so much, Cosmo, for the link to this person's revelations. I remember watching her interview with Tucker Carlson, more than once, since the subject atter is way beyond my imagination.
Hi Joanne, I always appreciate the kinds words you offer on some of my posts. Like many here I want to share information so that we are informed. I watched the Tucker interview as well. I remember the first time I came across CAF and listened to an extensive podcast (youtube video) back in around 2020 or 21. I was profoundly disturbed. I sent the video to my brother and he said "ah, no way." He has done a 180 since then on a lot of things. He reads Mark's substack, but doesn't offer any insights as he likes to stay under the radar, no commenting. He's a software developer and believes we will be targeted for retribution by TPTB. Sigh.............
God bless you, Cosmo, plentifully. I don't know what TPTB means, but I just came back from Best Buy with a new computer purchase, having to upgrade to Windows 11. My self rule is to turn off/disable every peeping access by programmers and surveillance people and robots on my computer and cell phone. Very best wishes
TPTB = The powers that be. At least that's what I think it means.
Thank you, thank you; God bless you!
I really don't know what to make of her. Everyone is a limited hangout... except me, I'm just limited. ;)
No, you're not, Tamsin. You offer keen insights and valued comments to the group. Please, don't ever feel that way.
Not at all, you're expansive beyond your humble expectation; I learn a lot from your comments on Mark's work and other commenters' observations. Thank you for them.
The Ukraine war is an interoligarchic dispute and connected as you point out with real people dying to fit the required picture but objectively their is no difference between the opponents as you also point out.
Why is Russia on a go slow that is backed by foreign altmedia Zanon propaganda 5d chess master stuff and now RF it seems is pretending to up the ante a little, is it one must wonder and to what end 4 oblasts and same Zel regime on the RF border after so many deaths.
Rusreal Putinyahu is another strange anomaly, Putin rings Bibi after Iran's strikes and shows concern for the loss etc but is not reported to have done that with Iran. Russia and Iran have a long running conflict on many issues dating back centuries and Russia has sided with the West against Iran on a number of issues yet Putin regularly refers to the large population of Russian speakers in Isreal with affection which is never present with Iran.
BRICS is also a nothingburger also in regards geopolitical strength, yes it is developing into a strong trading block but it has no consensus on important matter.
Any chance for some links, would be most appreciated.
A reminder to "not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help."
https://edwardslavsquat.substack.com/p/what-did-brics-just-declare
Thanks
If it weren't for Zio-con and Neo-con ambitions, the world could be a pretty simple and more pleasant place.
I keep hearing about how the Financial Elite of the West NEEDS Russian and third world assets under control...."collateral"......it must be tied to the debt-based system they have for everything. Is it really just an extension of 19th Century Colonialism?
But what could we have otherwise, without all of the blood on the chessboard?
China would LOVE to sell us REE's and cheap plastic and electronic stuff, maybe even some cool EVs, long-term contracts, no questions asked. Russia has buckets and barrels of good oil and diesel. Where would you like it? Russia was good at cooperating on pipelines. I once had some shares in a cool Russian gold miner that paid about 8% dividend, from a debt-free company. Investors would get the Red Carpet! ("red", get it?). We could be selling more corn and soybeans and computer chips than ever. We could be vacationing in Cuba.
China and the BRICS would probably even license their new 7-second-settlement cross border payment system to western countries. We could probably even still use dollars in it, as long as we had some verifiable gold vaulted some place to back it up.
But, there is blood on the chessboard, and gobs of money malinvested in defense. As for my Russian ADR gold shares, those got disappeared in London a day after Russia entered the Donbas :(
As to "chessboards," in 1998, Zbigniew Brzezinski authored, "The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives." From the book's Amazon page:" "Eurasia is the ”grand chessboard” on which America's supremacy will be ratified and challenged in the years to come. The task facing the United States, he argues, is to manage the conflicts and relationships in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East so that no rival superpower arises to threaten our interests or our well-being. The heart of The Grand Chessboard is Brzezinski's analysis of the four critical regions of Eurasia and of the stakes for America in each arena: Europe, Russia, Central Asia, and East Asia." https://www.amazon.com/Grand-Chessboard-American-Geostrategic-Imperatives/dp/0465027261
Brzezinski is riffing off the ideas of Halford Mackinder and his Heartland theory of the world island. The geographical pivot.
https://ia601406.us.archive.org/4/items/1904HEARTLANDTHEORYHALFORDMACKINDER/1904%20HEARTLAND%20THEORY%20HALFORD%20MACKINDER_text.pdf
I believe it's been said half the world's resources reside in the world Island. I think Brzezinski had the benefit of the importance of oil hence the inclusion of the middle east in his version of the theory.
Russia is accelerating its attrition of the AFU and its supply chain, and a complete collapse could happen before the end of summer, particularly if Ukraine can no loner pay its armed forces. This is the reality that is driving extreme desperation in Western leaders. Once Ukraine becomes a failed state, European Central Banks become insolvent and the contagion cannot be contained. No country will be immune to the consequences, and then it's an every-man-for-himself melee in world affairs. It's best to hit a hard bottom quickly and begin the rebound as soon as possible. Russia suffered a decade of disaster after the fall of the Soviet Union, but that was because of the vultures feeding on its carcass. We can recover much faster, but it will take sacrifice and hard work by all. Should Trump be lured into a major war, that will likely be the last straw and US would devolve into open rebellion.
G'day TomA, what do you perceive as the trigger for a united mutiny of the unpaid troops as they have been cheated for a while whilst family of the dead soldiers are not being paid the money due as the hohols don't acknowledge death without proof of body.
You raise very many valid points but I don't see any catalyst of the weak points you mentioned and sure as hell the empire and MI6 will have tricks up their sleeve to find more meat for the grinder or terrorist event to create chaos the RF needs to mend which keeps the not a war from finding a resolution and the Kremlin does not want to be strong and decisive as the oligarchs still want to do business with the West and their man Kirill Demetry(incorrect spelling) is front and centre of the negotiations along with Lavrov of course.
So all in all the situation will meander along until the Kremlin decides otherwise.
Yes, the war will end when Russia wants it to. But then the real work begins. The West has no money to rebuild whatever is left and Ukraine no longer has a workforce to do so. This burden will fall on Russia alone, and it will succeed but take many years. They have already done this in Georgia. The bigger problem for Russia will be Europe after its collapse. There will be great chaos, violence, and unpredictability. Russia may attempt to aid the countries on its borders, but not Europe proper. The great danger is fascism arising from the ashes. There are no easy solutions to this problem.
Meanwhile Macron “fiddles,” proposing to eliminate two national holidays (too numerous to count) to fill the state coffers with 44billion €: first on the block, Easter Monday, part of Easter weekend and sacred to observant Catholics. Second: May 8, the signing of the Armistice in Versailles ending WWI, also an important date in the history of Europe. The other day, a certain Senator Larcher, of great girth, having dined on the dime of tax payers for decades, suggested the French work an hour more a day to generate income for the state. Responses were irate! Revolution is in the air…
It appears Marine Le Pen is offering some resistance to Mac’s plan to eliminate two meaningful French holidays:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/easter-canceled-france
"The tariff threats are ultimately intended to force the rest of the world to remain in the dollar strait jacket". They are having quite the opposite effect.
Unfortunately, it is totally within the realm of possibility that Trump isn't any less naive than he was in his first term, given that his hired hands are only slightly more competent than the neo-cons he surrounded himself with in the first term. Judging by the Epstein file debacle, they might be flipping a coin to make policy decisions and since they are playing with nuclear fire, we have only the sharp intellects in our opposing countries to stifle the likelihood of an accidental nuclear exchange.
Looks like I missed the definsteration.
So, you've brought your negativity here too, Finster! :)
I think his argument is, for every one sensible observation you make you make ten dumbass comments.
Perfectly possible! :)
That would be Feral.
He makes me look optimistic!