We’ll be taking a look at a number of areas today, and a presentation by Alexander Mercouris touches on several of the important geopolitical stories today:
Thank you, again, Mark, for your love of living in reality, by your analysis that benefits all of us who read your work. On your ending observations of the death of the citizen, Renee Good, Trump's brief but commanding statement makes clear that US law enforcement, under this Administration, have permission to stifle criticism of law enforcement actions as well as their own personal attitudes and behaviours BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. What Trump's leadership role has done for anyone not identifying as "leftist, anti-fa, democrat, woke, liberal, or sick with Zionist fever" is commandeer, and make operational in our society, those same radical, Alinsky-defined principles and methods of denigration of "the other". I really see the Mossad, Palantir, Jewish Supremecist hatefulness and killer sentiment operating through Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel---leaders bought, amoral, weak-minded, seeking to be appreciated by overlords.
Very much appreciate the sober conviction of the FBI firearms trainer. He's totally opposite of those I described above.
I hate to keep going back to the Minneapolis shooting, but here's an example of how the refusal of even respected legal analysts to look at things objectively colors so much of the commentary out there:
A liberal writer cites a poll showing that only 28% think the shooting was justified, while 58% thing the ICE agent should be arrested and tried for murder.
Now, presumably many of those people--not all but many--have seen the videos, which are pretty much everywhere on the internet.
Margot Cleveland responds:
"and 60% of Americans likely think Renee Good was just sitting in her car waiting to drive home after dropping her kids off for school."
I guess that tells you something about what Margot thinks about her fellow Americans, but notice what she doesn't do--she doesn't provide a fact and law based analysis to explain why the majority of Americans are wrong and why shooting the woman was the right thing to do in fact and law. She simply snarks at Americans who disagree with her. In fact, I seriously doubt that most Americans think anything like what Margot imputes to them--I certainly don't. They don't think the woman was just sitting in her car, but they also don't think that she drove straight at the ICE guy in an attempt to run him down. But Margot's response is of a piece with Trump's statement that the woman "disrespected" LE. It's beside the point of the factual and legal issues involved. And that's disturbing to see in a conservative legal analyst.
Just the latest addition to my ever-growing list of "they [bleep]ing know better!!!" Trump-Deux legal commentators. Wins highest academic award at Notre Dame Law, 30+-year legal career as a BigLaw litigator, 7th Circuit clerk, ND Law full-time faculty member teaching, among other pertinent subjects, Con Law, my only question is whether she's consciously decided that the cashflow warrants these shit-takes or that, more alarmingly, the hive mentality among Righty punditry has actually rubbed off on her and blinded her to her bullshit. Especially as a so-called conservative, where protection of the rule of law and safeguarding our LEOs in the field dictates that we call balls and strikes whenever police misconduct reveals itself, it's all the more galling.
While more of a personality than any sort of legal analyst (although, she will remind us at every turn of her litigation-associate days at Jones Day), Megyn Kelly is making the "conservative" case for felony murder on the wife for instructing the victim to speed away.
Every day I try to remind myself "not my circus, not my clowns," but, man, it does get tougher each time.
You are right. And the Russians and Chinese have taken note of the emotionalism steering the ship of state USA which cosplays world hegemon, except when anger sweeps that focus aside, leaving only temper tantrums, thuggery, mean thoughts, and sugar-high pick me ups
(of whatever drug of choice each swallows or injects)
The cyber campaign by mossad was amplified to ridiculous extremes, and actually pretty weak, not least the 'torches of freedom' schtick (filmed in Ottawa, North Israel several years ago) straight out of Edward Bernays 101.
Mark- sorry, I don’t always say this but your insight and geopolitical evaluation is always appreciated and valued. Thank you for all your efforts keeping us informed.
Sadly this has happened a lot since Trump 2.0 began. See my comment just now re Margot Cleveland. These people, smart people, are so invested in what they want to believe Trump's agenda is that they end up defending the indefensible. I'm as anti-Dem as anyone, but I can't defend what so-called conservatives are doing that will end up discrediting the the rest of us.
So we find ourselves in a bit of our pickle. Our Republican congress critters are frozen with fear of the nutcase-in-chief. Our Democratic critters, instead of raising hell or attempting impeachment, are cynically pretending not to notice the outrages. They seem perfectly content to let the country crash & burn while they wait for the midterms to roll around. Assuming that the midterms will even happen. Because right now we're "going down for the 2nd time" in a full immersion replay of Germany circa 1934.
Meanwhile the net is full of wining & wailing about how unfair and unjust it is that "We The People" must suffer these outrageous indignities. Where's our Bread & Circus? Dammit, isn't someone going to ride up & rescue us?!?!
Unfortunately "We The People" was traded in for Hummers & Hula Hoops 2 or 3 generations ago. I suspect that the men who risked & lost their lives here in 1776, 1812 & 1860 in order to hold on to their nation wouldn't be very impressed by what passes for a manly response to tyranny today.
Yes, the worse things get, the better for Democrats. Like 2020 all over again. They are focused on returning to the commanding heights of late-stage empire looting.
Yes, Tam. With 20/20 hindsight, the Dems destroyed Kamala and annointed Trump. They too made their pact w the Devil, or perhaps Miriam’s largesse finally tipped the scales to DJT. Now we see the results, the ruins of what we’d all hoped for: an older man, in the grip of tremendous ideological forces, coherence slipping, delusional and deranged. “My name is Ozymandias, Kings of Kings!/Look on my Works ye Mighty and despair!”
The Iran communication shutdown angle is fascinatng because it shows how technical infrastructure becomes the real battlefield before kinetic operations even start. The fact that Russia and China provided equipment to jam Starlink tells us they're treating this as a test case for what they'll need if things escalate elsewere. I've been tracking similar patterns in other proxy conflicts and the pre-positioning of counter-comms capabilities is becoming standard doctrine. The Pentagon telling Trump they need more prep time probably reflects awareness that Iran's defensive posture is way more robust than it was during the twelve day attacks.
You're kind of addressing something I was wondering about but lack technical expertise to comment on, which is: Could that ability to jam Starlink suggest further capabilities that could be used against an Anglo-Zionist air attack?
Turkey has a vested interest in a functioning Iranian state, disintegration would likely see the emergence of an independent Kurdish region. It will be interesting to see how Turkey plays its cards.
Mark, on your ending piece, have you seen the article by Bill Shipley on the MN shooting? It's a paid posting so I don't know if it is widely distributed. He seems to think it's no contest, good shoot.
Briefly, I was totally unimpressed. He has an axe to grind, so he does what he has to do. I have no axe to grind. I was a very vocal defender of Derek Chauvin. Like most of those defending the ICE guy he chooses to invent his own facts--that the woman accelerated right at him, which isn't true--and to ignore the significance of all the guidelines. He cites lots of case law, none of which is really on point to the facts in this case. His basic claim is that all a LEO has to do is claim that he felt threatened. That's not true. LEO's do get convicted for bad behavior--including for murder. Perhaps more commonly, agencies end up paying out huge settlements in civil cases.
There was another post that was cited by Ron Unz that I didn't quote because the defense attorneys were anonymous, but it makes a lot of sense:
Spoke on background with two attorneys who have defended officer involved shootings.
Both have always taken their cases to trial.
After reviewing the events today, both said if it were their client they’d advise:
-Seek a plea deal
-Be willing to plead guilty to a lesser crime or a lower sentence
-Accept anything that isn’t de jure LWOP (life with out parole)
In other words, the guys who defend police officers shooting for a living, think this case is unwinnable.
They would try to defend his actions, they’d just try and lower the impact of the outcome.
Their main sticking point were:
***** -“I could argue shot number one and hope for an acquittal or a hung jury - but I can’t get there on shots 2 and 3”*****
*****-“A jury will not get past the turning of the wheels”*****
-“Denying medics throws self defense out the window”
.
Spoke again with one of these defense attorneys to get his take on the case given the officers cellphone video released.
His thoughts included:
“Why the fuck did he think releasing that video would help?”
And:
“The legal strategy here is to pray for a pardon”
While he was being flippant, he continues to believe that without political interference, this case is one where the officer would be charged and found guilty.
And I’ll remind you, this is a Trump voting, police defending lawyer.
Not an ivory tower woke liberal legal commentator (like I’ve been called for having the same opinion!)
Thanks Mark. I'm sorry I haven't followed everything, I have some pressing issues at home. I appreciate you taking so much time to lay out your views and work on this situation. I see Ship's technical analysis as what one would wish for, but (especially seeing what happened to Derek Chauvin) understand real world eventualities. Your very important point is the probable lack of good training for, not just local authorities, but for Federal agencies as well.
I will add that, while Professor Turley was initially in the group saying more or less the same as SWC, his article today is backing off from that stand.
At the AmCon, I very much appreciated the article on the New Neocons who are being put into place to gatekeep the antiwar right. It brings back painful memories of being lied into war. Which war? Pick a war, any war, I guess.
Thanks for the link, IJM. Trump's relationship with Rand Paul is a great indicator of just how much his views on foreign policy have seemingly changed since his first term. Of course that is not the only thing that has seemingly changed... the man himself seems vastly different.
So only a few months after reaching a trade deal with China Trump turns around and slaps 25% tariffs on China. Just confirms that Trump doesn't do deals. He does cons. Boy, I'll bet the Chinese are pissed.
The Chinese probably just don't care. Trump is getting so erratic. He will probably TACO on that tomorrow and go off tilting at some other windmill the next day. Nobody obeys him, here in the US or anywhere else, except for the toadies he hired for his administration.
"The action has the potential to disrupt major US trading relationships across the globe: as Bloomberg notes, Iran’s partners include not only neighboring states, but large economies including India, Turkey and especially China.
Trump is out of control and apparently out of his mind. There is no guessing what he will do at any given time. How is the world supposed to operate in an orderly fashion while having to deal with him and respond to his edicts?
"This weekend, after Trump called for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates of 10%, economist Claudia Sahm unveiled the Big MAC (Midterms Are Coming) Trade.
She posted: "The tell this is pure politics? 'One year cap.' No one who thinks a cap is good for people would endorse it for one year. That’s actually even worse economics."
"Meanwhile, this past week after the whiplash defense stocks experienced on Trump's threat to halt dividends and buybacks and cap executive pay followed by his proposal of a $1.5T military budged, Business Insider proposed the TUNA Trade (Trump Usually Negates Announcements)."
Last year, political bedfellows Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley introduced a bill in the Senate that would cap credit card interest rates at 10% for five years. My guess is that's where Trump got this idea.
I didn't realize that. I've been listening to Sean Foo talking about this. He's saying that theoretically 30% rates are intended to discourage people from taking unsecured loans. 10% rates would encourage people to go even further into debt. What's going on is very disturbing because it points to serious underlying problems.
I think all of this is true. The motives for setting the rates are of course (and by financial necessity) profit-oriented. Yet there is a certain logic that applies for those who would borrow, and for those who accept God's laws, moral principles, and promises.
The one word that cracked me up was when someone seriously used Trump and "dialogue" in the same sentence. Trump isn't capable of seeing two perspectives in a situation. He's not that smart, nor is he even wise. He claimed he was going to impose exorbitant tariffs on any BRICS country trading in anything other than the "almighty dollar." I honestly don't think he knows what BRICS is or who the partners are in the entity. Didn't he already fall to his knees once in China?
As for the "Iranian" protests, I've read both The Guardian and the AP discuss the reports on Iran, including the death toll, by a Human Rights News Agency located in Virginia. They didn't mention VA, but I checked. It's funded by NED, or another CIA carve-out.
You can't trust anything coming from this administration or the media anymore. I used to try to discern, but now I know it's all bullshit. I know Iranian diplomats want to keep the doors open, but I would never believe or trust Trump, especially now that his mind is deluded and mushy. ;)
It doesn't strike me as in any way unusual if Russia's leaders enjoyed some semblance of rest having celebrated Orthodox Christmas less than a week ago.
Thank you, again, Mark, for your love of living in reality, by your analysis that benefits all of us who read your work. On your ending observations of the death of the citizen, Renee Good, Trump's brief but commanding statement makes clear that US law enforcement, under this Administration, have permission to stifle criticism of law enforcement actions as well as their own personal attitudes and behaviours BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. What Trump's leadership role has done for anyone not identifying as "leftist, anti-fa, democrat, woke, liberal, or sick with Zionist fever" is commandeer, and make operational in our society, those same radical, Alinsky-defined principles and methods of denigration of "the other". I really see the Mossad, Palantir, Jewish Supremecist hatefulness and killer sentiment operating through Kristi Noem, Pam Bondi, Kash Patel---leaders bought, amoral, weak-minded, seeking to be appreciated by overlords.
Very much appreciate the sober conviction of the FBI firearms trainer. He's totally opposite of those I described above.
I hate to keep going back to the Minneapolis shooting, but here's an example of how the refusal of even respected legal analysts to look at things objectively colors so much of the commentary out there:
A liberal writer cites a poll showing that only 28% think the shooting was justified, while 58% thing the ICE agent should be arrested and tried for murder.
Now, presumably many of those people--not all but many--have seen the videos, which are pretty much everywhere on the internet.
Margot Cleveland responds:
"and 60% of Americans likely think Renee Good was just sitting in her car waiting to drive home after dropping her kids off for school."
I guess that tells you something about what Margot thinks about her fellow Americans, but notice what she doesn't do--she doesn't provide a fact and law based analysis to explain why the majority of Americans are wrong and why shooting the woman was the right thing to do in fact and law. She simply snarks at Americans who disagree with her. In fact, I seriously doubt that most Americans think anything like what Margot imputes to them--I certainly don't. They don't think the woman was just sitting in her car, but they also don't think that she drove straight at the ICE guy in an attempt to run him down. But Margot's response is of a piece with Trump's statement that the woman "disrespected" LE. It's beside the point of the factual and legal issues involved. And that's disturbing to see in a conservative legal analyst.
Just the latest addition to my ever-growing list of "they [bleep]ing know better!!!" Trump-Deux legal commentators. Wins highest academic award at Notre Dame Law, 30+-year legal career as a BigLaw litigator, 7th Circuit clerk, ND Law full-time faculty member teaching, among other pertinent subjects, Con Law, my only question is whether she's consciously decided that the cashflow warrants these shit-takes or that, more alarmingly, the hive mentality among Righty punditry has actually rubbed off on her and blinded her to her bullshit. Especially as a so-called conservative, where protection of the rule of law and safeguarding our LEOs in the field dictates that we call balls and strikes whenever police misconduct reveals itself, it's all the more galling.
While more of a personality than any sort of legal analyst (although, she will remind us at every turn of her litigation-associate days at Jones Day), Megyn Kelly is making the "conservative" case for felony murder on the wife for instructing the victim to speed away.
Every day I try to remind myself "not my circus, not my clowns," but, man, it does get tougher each time.
I'd LOL but it's so sad.
You are right. And the Russians and Chinese have taken note of the emotionalism steering the ship of state USA which cosplays world hegemon, except when anger sweeps that focus aside, leaving only temper tantrums, thuggery, mean thoughts, and sugar-high pick me ups
(of whatever drug of choice each swallows or injects)
The cyber campaign by mossad was amplified to ridiculous extremes, and actually pretty weak, not least the 'torches of freedom' schtick (filmed in Ottawa, North Israel several years ago) straight out of Edward Bernays 101.
It would be so nice to have a president that doesn't goof on the people of another country on social media.
It would be even better to have a president that doesn't resort to assassination.
Mark- sorry, I don’t always say this but your insight and geopolitical evaluation is always appreciated and valued. Thank you for all your efforts keeping us informed.
You're very welcome!
Interesting take on potential insurrection act action:
https://open.substack.com/pub/eko/p/the-insurrection-proclamation?r=rli95&utm_medium=ios
Ship wrecked crew believes the ICE agent was definitely in the right:
https://open.substack.com/pub/shipwreckedcrew/p/minneapolis-is-not-even-a-close-call?r=rli95&utm_medium=ios
So? His substack is obviously tendentious and misleading. As I've explained.
Wow. Ok. Thank you. I only read him because you have frequently mentioned port-o-call. Moving forward I will follow him with much more skepticism.
Sadly this has happened a lot since Trump 2.0 began. See my comment just now re Margot Cleveland. These people, smart people, are so invested in what they want to believe Trump's agenda is that they end up defending the indefensible. I'm as anti-Dem as anyone, but I can't defend what so-called conservatives are doing that will end up discrediting the the rest of us.
See also Sundance. 🤮
Here's a brief analysis of Trump's current condition from someone who, unlike us, is professionally qualified to make these judgments:
https://x.com/OurShallowState/status/2010747415645831211
So we find ourselves in a bit of our pickle. Our Republican congress critters are frozen with fear of the nutcase-in-chief. Our Democratic critters, instead of raising hell or attempting impeachment, are cynically pretending not to notice the outrages. They seem perfectly content to let the country crash & burn while they wait for the midterms to roll around. Assuming that the midterms will even happen. Because right now we're "going down for the 2nd time" in a full immersion replay of Germany circa 1934.
Meanwhile the net is full of wining & wailing about how unfair and unjust it is that "We The People" must suffer these outrageous indignities. Where's our Bread & Circus? Dammit, isn't someone going to ride up & rescue us?!?!
Unfortunately "We The People" was traded in for Hummers & Hula Hoops 2 or 3 generations ago. I suspect that the men who risked & lost their lives here in 1776, 1812 & 1860 in order to hold on to their nation wouldn't be very impressed by what passes for a manly response to tyranny today.
How is "ShallowState" "professionally qualified" to make the judgements he did?
I searched but could find no information on SS's qualifications.
Yes, the worse things get, the better for Democrats. Like 2020 all over again. They are focused on returning to the commanding heights of late-stage empire looting.
Yes, Tam. With 20/20 hindsight, the Dems destroyed Kamala and annointed Trump. They too made their pact w the Devil, or perhaps Miriam’s largesse finally tipped the scales to DJT. Now we see the results, the ruins of what we’d all hoped for: an older man, in the grip of tremendous ideological forces, coherence slipping, delusional and deranged. “My name is Ozymandias, Kings of Kings!/Look on my Works ye Mighty and despair!”
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46565/ozymandias
A tragic piece of poetry, ML. And Ozymandias was very good, too. Thanks.
The Iran communication shutdown angle is fascinatng because it shows how technical infrastructure becomes the real battlefield before kinetic operations even start. The fact that Russia and China provided equipment to jam Starlink tells us they're treating this as a test case for what they'll need if things escalate elsewere. I've been tracking similar patterns in other proxy conflicts and the pre-positioning of counter-comms capabilities is becoming standard doctrine. The Pentagon telling Trump they need more prep time probably reflects awareness that Iran's defensive posture is way more robust than it was during the twelve day attacks.
You're kind of addressing something I was wondering about but lack technical expertise to comment on, which is: Could that ability to jam Starlink suggest further capabilities that could be used against an Anglo-Zionist air attack?
Turkey has a vested interest in a functioning Iranian state, disintegration would likely see the emergence of an independent Kurdish region. It will be interesting to see how Turkey plays its cards.
Agreed. I think Turkey is now fully awake to the Anglo-Zionist threat.
Mark, on your ending piece, have you seen the article by Bill Shipley on the MN shooting? It's a paid posting so I don't know if it is widely distributed. He seems to think it's no contest, good shoot.
It was referred to me the other day by a commenter and I commented on it at considerable length. It's somewhere amidst the comments here:
https://meaninginhistory.substack.com/p/for-reference-federal-use-of-force/comment/197982910
Briefly, I was totally unimpressed. He has an axe to grind, so he does what he has to do. I have no axe to grind. I was a very vocal defender of Derek Chauvin. Like most of those defending the ICE guy he chooses to invent his own facts--that the woman accelerated right at him, which isn't true--and to ignore the significance of all the guidelines. He cites lots of case law, none of which is really on point to the facts in this case. His basic claim is that all a LEO has to do is claim that he felt threatened. That's not true. LEO's do get convicted for bad behavior--including for murder. Perhaps more commonly, agencies end up paying out huge settlements in civil cases.
There was another post that was cited by Ron Unz that I didn't quote because the defense attorneys were anonymous, but it makes a lot of sense:
Spoke on background with two attorneys who have defended officer involved shootings.
Both have always taken their cases to trial.
After reviewing the events today, both said if it were their client they’d advise:
-Seek a plea deal
-Be willing to plead guilty to a lesser crime or a lower sentence
-Accept anything that isn’t de jure LWOP (life with out parole)
In other words, the guys who defend police officers shooting for a living, think this case is unwinnable.
They would try to defend his actions, they’d just try and lower the impact of the outcome.
Their main sticking point were:
***** -“I could argue shot number one and hope for an acquittal or a hung jury - but I can’t get there on shots 2 and 3”*****
*****-“A jury will not get past the turning of the wheels”*****
-“Denying medics throws self defense out the window”
.
Spoke again with one of these defense attorneys to get his take on the case given the officers cellphone video released.
His thoughts included:
“Why the fuck did he think releasing that video would help?”
And:
“The legal strategy here is to pray for a pardon”
While he was being flippant, he continues to believe that without political interference, this case is one where the officer would be charged and found guilty.
And I’ll remind you, this is a Trump voting, police defending lawyer.
Not an ivory tower woke liberal legal commentator (like I’ve been called for having the same opinion!)
Thanks Mark. I'm sorry I haven't followed everything, I have some pressing issues at home. I appreciate you taking so much time to lay out your views and work on this situation. I see Ship's technical analysis as what one would wish for, but (especially seeing what happened to Derek Chauvin) understand real world eventualities. Your very important point is the probable lack of good training for, not just local authorities, but for Federal agencies as well.
I will add that, while Professor Turley was initially in the group saying more or less the same as SWC, his article today is backing off from that stand.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/is-lindsey-grahams-foreign-policy-the-new-maga/
At the AmCon, I very much appreciated the article on the New Neocons who are being put into place to gatekeep the antiwar right. It brings back painful memories of being lied into war. Which war? Pick a war, any war, I guess.
Thanks for the link, IJM. Trump's relationship with Rand Paul is a great indicator of just how much his views on foreign policy have seemingly changed since his first term. Of course that is not the only thing that has seemingly changed... the man himself seems vastly different.
So only a few months after reaching a trade deal with China Trump turns around and slaps 25% tariffs on China. Just confirms that Trump doesn't do deals. He does cons. Boy, I'll bet the Chinese are pissed.
The Chinese probably just don't care. Trump is getting so erratic. He will probably TACO on that tomorrow and go off tilting at some other windmill the next day. Nobody obeys him, here in the US or anywhere else, except for the toadies he hired for his administration.
"The action has the potential to disrupt major US trading relationships across the globe: as Bloomberg notes, Iran’s partners include not only neighboring states, but large economies including India, Turkey and especially China.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/trump-imposes-25-tariff-any-country-doing-business-iran-effective-immediately
Trump is out of control and apparently out of his mind. There is no guessing what he will do at any given time. How is the world supposed to operate in an orderly fashion while having to deal with him and respond to his edicts?
"This weekend, after Trump called for a one-year cap on credit card interest rates of 10%, economist Claudia Sahm unveiled the Big MAC (Midterms Are Coming) Trade.
She posted: "The tell this is pure politics? 'One year cap.' No one who thinks a cap is good for people would endorse it for one year. That’s actually even worse economics."
"Meanwhile, this past week after the whiplash defense stocks experienced on Trump's threat to halt dividends and buybacks and cap executive pay followed by his proposal of a $1.5T military budged, Business Insider proposed the TUNA Trade (Trump Usually Negates Announcements)."
https://seekingalpha.com/news/4538209-move-over-taco-trade-here-come-the-big-mac-and-tuna-trades
So at best we can hope that the 25% tariff announcement is a TUNA.
Last year, political bedfellows Bernie Sanders and Josh Hawley introduced a bill in the Senate that would cap credit card interest rates at 10% for five years. My guess is that's where Trump got this idea.
https://www.consumerfinancemonitor.com/2025/02/11/senators-sanders-hawley-introduce-legislation-to-cap-credit-card-interest-rates-at-10/
I didn't realize that. I've been listening to Sean Foo talking about this. He's saying that theoretically 30% rates are intended to discourage people from taking unsecured loans. 10% rates would encourage people to go even further into debt. What's going on is very disturbing because it points to serious underlying problems.
I think all of this is true. The motives for setting the rates are of course (and by financial necessity) profit-oriented. Yet there is a certain logic that applies for those who would borrow, and for those who accept God's laws, moral principles, and promises.
Another great article from Mark!
The one word that cracked me up was when someone seriously used Trump and "dialogue" in the same sentence. Trump isn't capable of seeing two perspectives in a situation. He's not that smart, nor is he even wise. He claimed he was going to impose exorbitant tariffs on any BRICS country trading in anything other than the "almighty dollar." I honestly don't think he knows what BRICS is or who the partners are in the entity. Didn't he already fall to his knees once in China?
As for the "Iranian" protests, I've read both The Guardian and the AP discuss the reports on Iran, including the death toll, by a Human Rights News Agency located in Virginia. They didn't mention VA, but I checked. It's funded by NED, or another CIA carve-out.
You can't trust anything coming from this administration or the media anymore. I used to try to discern, but now I know it's all bullshit. I know Iranian diplomats want to keep the doors open, but I would never believe or trust Trump, especially now that his mind is deluded and mushy. ;)
It doesn't strike me as in any way unusual if Russia's leaders enjoyed some semblance of rest having celebrated Orthodox Christmas less than a week ago.
Good for them.
About 25 years ago the Milad telecommunications tower in Tehran was completed. At over 1400 feet, it took a decade to complete the project.
Before that, Iran relied on Türkiye for such telecommunications.
So Türkiye would have keen awareness of at least some of Iran's communications systems.