I agree with pretty much everything Mearshimer says here except for the notion that war on Iran would provide a distraction/cover from Gaza genocide. The Israelis have shown already that they require no such cover for that and that they will do it regardless. However, they don't want to pay the price of the Houthis blocking the Red Sea transit for trade. Why do people not see that the real reason the U.S. has committed resources to fighting the Houthis is not supply chains to Europe (the minimal impact of which J.D. Vance rightly questioned) but of supply chains to Israel? The Houthis themselves have noted they are only attacking U.S. military and Israel flagged and bound ships. If one needs justification to argue that Trump is "in bed with" the Israelis, here it is.
Yes, I knew that. My wife went to Israel back in the late 90’s and she made many friends among the Eastern Orthodox people, their priests and the bishop. The younger male Israeli’s harrass the Christians and spit on their priests. It’s outrageous yet in America the Zionists brag about all the happy Arabs in Israel and how they are multicultural and Arabs are in their Knesset. But those who know what goes in Israel know that is phony talking points and cover. I suspect Paula White is ChristianZionist like Huckabee and her comment is degrading to any American, let alone a Christian that we should wail at a retaining wall that was never directly connected to the Temple Rome destroyed because the Jewish radicals, same as today created an environment of hostility. They cannot live peaceably anywhere on earth without stirring up trouble and then blame others when they tire of their deceit and react in anger. We are Ina sad time.
A good video from our friend Glenn Diesen with Prof. Michael Hudson. Thinking this is a fairly short (by my standards) overview of the economic assessment and happenings.
Trumpian rhetoric--distrust and be damned sure you verify:
“The Congo in Africa. Many, many people come from the Congo. I don’t know what that is, but they came from the Congo.”
MenchOsint @MenchOsint
 Trump acts like he doesn't know what Congo is, but in 2021 he eased sanctions on an Israeli billionaire backed by the Mossad, who is known for massive corruption & owning a large part of Congo's mines.
Congo should be the richest country of Africa, but it's the poorest
If this kid was Palestinian they’d be using this as justification to bomb an elementary school in Gaza
Quote
DW News @dwnews
Kids as young as 10 in Ukraine are getting combat-ready in secret military-style boot camps to prepare them should the war with Russia drag on for years.
Straight from the horse's mouth, in a manner of speaking. And if you think the Russians and Chinese and Iranians don't understand this ... Only Americans don't grok this:
Well worth reading. Not a surprise, though. With such a lopsided administration/advisers group, what could go wrong....Some of them (most of them?) clearly don't have a historical understanding of the situation in the Middle East and/or lack empathy at the most basic level. This is not going to end well. By the way, Mark, I have been reading your posts for quite a while and I want to thank you for posting excellent and reliable analyses day after day.
Thank you, Cosmo T Kat, for your welcoming words. Mark is my go-to analyst to keep up with real geopolitics news (with The Duran). I am also very impressed by the quality of insights and knowledge of the people who comment here. Time well spent!
"Does Trump have a major incentive to end the war on Russia quickly? Clearly he does. Then why doesn’t he just walk away from it, if he didn’t start it and it’s supposedly not his war?"
Trump has denied culpability for this war. Well, he funded Ukraine in the lead-up to the war, and he inherited responsibility for it since he won the election. Just as the Vietnam War was Nixon's to end, Trump must find a way to end this thing, and fast. And the best way is to walk away from it. Stop sending weapons and aid and leave it to the Europeans to sort out. Then it will end.
The Chinese man was right on. Our country is currently engaged in a massive anti-China propaganda effort to justify the crippling tariffs. Yet it was our elite and politicians that outsourced our jobs to China, and over the last 25 years, the Chinese have taken advantage of it. Which side loses in a trade war? Both sides do.
Trump has failed to do anything meaningful about skyrocketing healthcare costs and the resultant rationing. He signed some EO about prescription drugs, but I haven't been able to figure out what that will accomplish. By way of example, my 2025 Obamacare policy is $1800/month for two people. The deductibles are $7000 per person, $14000 per person out of network! The policy pays for nothing until the deductible is reached (except for an annual physical). This is robbery. And I have to carry this policy or I could be bankrupted by ONE hospital stay. The Obamacare subsidies are set to be significantly curtailed at the end of this year and I've not heard what will happen with them - but they are the only thing that makes swallowing this grift somewhat easier.
So we have inflation, continuing wars, ridiculous medical care costs, and a trade war to manage. The stock market is still selling at all-time highs and real-estate prices are collapsing in many areas of the country. Biden simply kicked the can down the road on these problems - and Trump will be blamed if he continues his 4D chess game with no solutions in time for the 2026 elections.
OK, well lemme ask ya this: How do you feel about Trump yukking it up in the OO about how Charles Schwab made $2.5 billion in a few days off market churn?
I was flabbergasted yesterday at Judge Nap expressing sympathy for people losing money in the market, as if it's supposed to be some kind of one way street for financial security and not a rigged system in which the rich get richer. Yeah, I sympathize with the little people who have lost, but they've got to realize that little people getting fleeced is a feature of any predatory system.
Screw the savers who have endured decades of negative real rates and have propped up the stock and real estate markets. Powell needs to lower rates to propel the markets higher and hurt savers.
Great article, thanks. Trump is but a symbol, an example if you like, of the chaos that is western civilisation. No long term planning, no rule of law, no morals, no spirituality, no values, no love.
But most importantly, no sense of awareness. Trump has no power to change America, the owners of America are the banks, the Jewish one and the Anglo-Saxon one. They've owned western civilisation for over 2 centuries. The Chinese student tells it like it is. Revolution, not pretend politics, that's all that can save America, a rebellion targeting the two banks mentioned is all that's needed.
Revolution isn't possible because bank accounts would be frozen. The Canadian Truckers showed me that. Even the donation I sent the truckers from the US was frozen. US joining the "British Commonwealth" will only make such outcomes more likely. The only solution is for US to be broken up into 4 separate countries. The main point of that is taxpayers could no longer be forced to finance regime changes around the world.
Been many books written on US breakup. The last I read by Colin Woodard, a lefty, but it was good read. Main theme wasn’t about break up, but rather how our country grew and its differentiation and ideological influences. Good to her you weighing in again, Susan.
I am 67 and I've never known the US to have a peace time president.. It is an oxymoron to assume that Trump is one such president.. (from Johannesburg)
"U.S. military might ensuring our financial stability and the credibility of our borrowing"
Thanks for the links. Sure does sound like Mafia nation. Goes beyond even what I wrote the other day:
The answer may lie in the openly expressed views of Trump’s closest trade advisers. They want to tie trade policy into national security policy, keep the USD as the world reserve currency, and maintain the US as the single dominant hegemonic superpower—MAGA, ya’ll! IOW, the Trump Tariffs represent a way to strongarm the rest of the world into paying down the unsustainable US debt—and, maybe, reshore industries that are vital to the military. It’s a continuation of Neocolonialism.
“ The fact is that almost all the national security elites in this country were making huge amounts of money consulting in China”
China also has an oligarch problem including red royalty with princes and princesses, and the associated corruption.
We will see on the tariffs. You can argue if Trump could rolled out tariffs with less
Collateral damage, but Trump has now shattered the Overton window belief that the U.S. will continue to subsidize the rest of the world with trade deficits due to a belief in “free trade”, and ignore cheating by other countries. And if other countries don’t get a deal with Trump now, can they afford the next 3 1/2 years, or even the risk the next administration may be tires than Trump.
Reminds me of the Vietnam negotiations of Nixon is crazy, so negotiate with reasonable Kissinger. Another target is manufacturers and retailers, so moving manufacturing to the U.S. is seen as a safe way to ensure profits, and reduce risk.
My gut feeling is over the next couple of months a lot of countries will do deals, and lots of companies will move manufacturing back to the U.S. to reduce risk. I doubt a lot of jobs will be created, due to automation. I expect a lot of pharmaceutical manufacturing will move. Perhaps back to Puerto Rico.
The U.S. has traditionally lost in negotiations, so perhaps Trumps approach will be more successful with the Iranians. My gut feeling is both sides want a deal, and the Israel is playing a spoiler. Gulf states, China, and Russia also want a deal.
Trump’s first administration got derailed by Russiagate / Ukraine, so I can understand Trump being careful on dealing with Ukraine. He’s basically defusing a bomb / booby trap, and trying not to get blown up. Zelensky and his supporters are huge obstacles to any deal. My belief is Russia will establish the facts on the ground, Trumps goal is to avoid being dragged down with Ukraine, and establish healthy relationships with Russia. The mainstream narrative is changing on Ukraine, my guess prepping for the collapse.
“He’s basically defusing a bomb / booby trap, and trying not to get blown up.” Quite. Zelensky and his Euro fan club have turned (what did we expect?) and Net, per Mearsheimer, also wants a conflagration. Good luck and God Speed to Trump as he attempts to break these two pacts with the Devil.
I don't think Trump is flailing, I think he's pushing the Crazy Eddy Gambit to the absolute limit in the hope that leaders the world over will stop what they're doing and try to calm him down before WW3 gets going. "Stop me before I do something really stupid!" It's one Helluva long shot, but if it works, a lot of good things may come of it. If it fails, the empire will likely crash and burn on his watch and we must then rebuild from the ashes. Strangely, the second option may actually be better than the first. Desperation is often times the ultimate motivator.
I agree with pretty much everything Mearshimer says here except for the notion that war on Iran would provide a distraction/cover from Gaza genocide. The Israelis have shown already that they require no such cover for that and that they will do it regardless. However, they don't want to pay the price of the Houthis blocking the Red Sea transit for trade. Why do people not see that the real reason the U.S. has committed resources to fighting the Houthis is not supply chains to Europe (the minimal impact of which J.D. Vance rightly questioned) but of supply chains to Israel? The Houthis themselves have noted they are only attacking U.S. military and Israel flagged and bound ships. If one needs justification to argue that Trump is "in bed with" the Israelis, here it is.
About hegemony of the dollar - the world is slowly but steadily creating an alternate reality:
Check out starting at 17:35
https://youtu.be/B9YjtbV1RPI?si=YNCIiTbRVxh_i6wB
-- GEROMAN -- time will tell -  -- @GeromanAT
does she know Jews spit on Christians in the "Holy Land" ??
Quote
Suppressed News.@SuppressedNws
Trump's White House Faith Advisor Paula White:
“As a Christian, Christians should be mandated to go to Israel before you get to heaven”
Yes, I knew that. My wife went to Israel back in the late 90’s and she made many friends among the Eastern Orthodox people, their priests and the bishop. The younger male Israeli’s harrass the Christians and spit on their priests. It’s outrageous yet in America the Zionists brag about all the happy Arabs in Israel and how they are multicultural and Arabs are in their Knesset. But those who know what goes in Israel know that is phony talking points and cover. I suspect Paula White is ChristianZionist like Huckabee and her comment is degrading to any American, let alone a Christian that we should wail at a retaining wall that was never directly connected to the Temple Rome destroyed because the Jewish radicals, same as today created an environment of hostility. They cannot live peaceably anywhere on earth without stirring up trouble and then blame others when they tire of their deceit and react in anger. We are Ina sad time.
A good video from our friend Glenn Diesen with Prof. Michael Hudson. Thinking this is a fairly short (by my standards) overview of the economic assessment and happenings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTnVECM81H0
Thanks. I'll need to watch and compare ...
If you're time constrained. focus on the first 8 minutes and the last 10 minutes.
Trumpian rhetoric--distrust and be damned sure you verify:
“The Congo in Africa. Many, many people come from the Congo. I don’t know what that is, but they came from the Congo.”
MenchOsint @MenchOsint
 Trump acts like he doesn't know what Congo is, but in 2021 he eased sanctions on an Israeli billionaire backed by the Mossad, who is known for massive corruption & owning a large part of Congo's mines.
Congo should be the richest country of Africa, but it's the poorest
James @GoodVibePolitik
If this kid was Palestinian they’d be using this as justification to bomb an elementary school in Gaza
Quote
DW News @dwnews
Kids as young as 10 in Ukraine are getting combat-ready in secret military-style boot camps to prepare them should the war with Russia drag on for years.
Straight from the horse's mouth, in a manner of speaking. And if you think the Russians and Chinese and Iranians don't understand this ... Only Americans don't grok this:
https://forward.com/news/674101/trump-cabinet-israel-rubio-huckabee-jewish/
Your complete guide to Trump’s Jewish advisers and pro-Israel cabinet
Trump’s new cabinet will include Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, and other loyalists with strong pro-Israel stances
Quite a "Who's Who" list.
Well worth reading. Not a surprise, though. With such a lopsided administration/advisers group, what could go wrong....Some of them (most of them?) clearly don't have a historical understanding of the situation in the Middle East and/or lack empathy at the most basic level. This is not going to end well. By the way, Mark, I have been reading your posts for quite a while and I want to thank you for posting excellent and reliable analyses day after day.
Glad to have you here!
Thank you, Cosmo T Kat, for your welcoming words. Mark is my go-to analyst to keep up with real geopolitics news (with The Duran). I am also very impressed by the quality of insights and knowledge of the people who comment here. Time well spent!
Thanks!
"Does Trump have a major incentive to end the war on Russia quickly? Clearly he does. Then why doesn’t he just walk away from it, if he didn’t start it and it’s supposedly not his war?"
Trump has denied culpability for this war. Well, he funded Ukraine in the lead-up to the war, and he inherited responsibility for it since he won the election. Just as the Vietnam War was Nixon's to end, Trump must find a way to end this thing, and fast. And the best way is to walk away from it. Stop sending weapons and aid and leave it to the Europeans to sort out. Then it will end.
The Chinese man was right on. Our country is currently engaged in a massive anti-China propaganda effort to justify the crippling tariffs. Yet it was our elite and politicians that outsourced our jobs to China, and over the last 25 years, the Chinese have taken advantage of it. Which side loses in a trade war? Both sides do.
Trump has failed to do anything meaningful about skyrocketing healthcare costs and the resultant rationing. He signed some EO about prescription drugs, but I haven't been able to figure out what that will accomplish. By way of example, my 2025 Obamacare policy is $1800/month for two people. The deductibles are $7000 per person, $14000 per person out of network! The policy pays for nothing until the deductible is reached (except for an annual physical). This is robbery. And I have to carry this policy or I could be bankrupted by ONE hospital stay. The Obamacare subsidies are set to be significantly curtailed at the end of this year and I've not heard what will happen with them - but they are the only thing that makes swallowing this grift somewhat easier.
So we have inflation, continuing wars, ridiculous medical care costs, and a trade war to manage. The stock market is still selling at all-time highs and real-estate prices are collapsing in many areas of the country. Biden simply kicked the can down the road on these problems - and Trump will be blamed if he continues his 4D chess game with no solutions in time for the 2026 elections.
OK, well lemme ask ya this: How do you feel about Trump yukking it up in the OO about how Charles Schwab made $2.5 billion in a few days off market churn?
I was flabbergasted yesterday at Judge Nap expressing sympathy for people losing money in the market, as if it's supposed to be some kind of one way street for financial security and not a rigged system in which the rich get richer. Yeah, I sympathize with the little people who have lost, but they've got to realize that little people getting fleeced is a feature of any predatory system.
Screw the savers who have endured decades of negative real rates and have propped up the stock and real estate markets. Powell needs to lower rates to propel the markets higher and hurt savers.
Correct. Lower rates are not meant to help ordinary people. It's to keep the debt bubble growing.
Bingo!
Great article, thanks. Trump is but a symbol, an example if you like, of the chaos that is western civilisation. No long term planning, no rule of law, no morals, no spirituality, no values, no love.
But most importantly, no sense of awareness. Trump has no power to change America, the owners of America are the banks, the Jewish one and the Anglo-Saxon one. They've owned western civilisation for over 2 centuries. The Chinese student tells it like it is. Revolution, not pretend politics, that's all that can save America, a rebellion targeting the two banks mentioned is all that's needed.
Revolution isn't possible because bank accounts would be frozen. The Canadian Truckers showed me that. Even the donation I sent the truckers from the US was frozen. US joining the "British Commonwealth" will only make such outcomes more likely. The only solution is for US to be broken up into 4 separate countries. The main point of that is taxpayers could no longer be forced to finance regime changes around the world.
Been many books written on US breakup. The last I read by Colin Woodard, a lefty, but it was good read. Main theme wasn’t about break up, but rather how our country grew and its differentiation and ideological influences. Good to her you weighing in again, Susan.
I am 67 and I've never known the US to have a peace time president.. It is an oxymoron to assume that Trump is one such president.. (from Johannesburg)
Steve Miran, Trump's Chair of Council of Economic Advisors, says "global good" can be achieved by linking US military might with its financial dominance. (This sounds like hegemony or the mafia): "Such trade can only occur because of U.S. military might ensuring our financial stability and the credibility of our borrowing. Our military and financial dominance cannot be taken for granted; and the Trump Administration is determined to preserve them."...https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/04/cea-chairman-steve-miran-hudson-institute-event-remarks/...Thanks to Moon of Alabama for discussion...https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/04/an-economic-advisors-weird-theory.html
...George HW Bush in 1991 sold this "global good" in his "new world order" speech.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byxeOG_pZ1o
"U.S. military might ensuring our financial stability and the credibility of our borrowing"
Thanks for the links. Sure does sound like Mafia nation. Goes beyond even what I wrote the other day:
The answer may lie in the openly expressed views of Trump’s closest trade advisers. They want to tie trade policy into national security policy, keep the USD as the world reserve currency, and maintain the US as the single dominant hegemonic superpower—MAGA, ya’ll! IOW, the Trump Tariffs represent a way to strongarm the rest of the world into paying down the unsustainable US debt—and, maybe, reshore industries that are vital to the military. It’s a continuation of Neocolonialism.
Yep. Seems pretty clear now.
And BTW, that Miran talk was given at Hudson Institute, ground zero for Neoconnism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_Institute
The link to the WH doesn’t work anymore. They may have taken it down. Miran’s remarks and ideas were getting too much unwanted attention.
Being updated from what I've read to remove the Zhouism from it.
Thanks, DF Barr. I just checked and as of right now the following link is working: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/04/cea-chairman-steve-miran-hudson-institute-event-remarks/.......The link to Miran's 4/7 speech was provided by Moon of Alabama in a blog post on 4/8/25, https://www.moonofalabama.org/2025/04/an-economic-advisors-weird-theory.html
China bought our elites dirt cheap.
“ The fact is that almost all the national security elites in this country were making huge amounts of money consulting in China”
China also has an oligarch problem including red royalty with princes and princesses, and the associated corruption.
We will see on the tariffs. You can argue if Trump could rolled out tariffs with less
Collateral damage, but Trump has now shattered the Overton window belief that the U.S. will continue to subsidize the rest of the world with trade deficits due to a belief in “free trade”, and ignore cheating by other countries. And if other countries don’t get a deal with Trump now, can they afford the next 3 1/2 years, or even the risk the next administration may be tires than Trump.
Reminds me of the Vietnam negotiations of Nixon is crazy, so negotiate with reasonable Kissinger. Another target is manufacturers and retailers, so moving manufacturing to the U.S. is seen as a safe way to ensure profits, and reduce risk.
My gut feeling is over the next couple of months a lot of countries will do deals, and lots of companies will move manufacturing back to the U.S. to reduce risk. I doubt a lot of jobs will be created, due to automation. I expect a lot of pharmaceutical manufacturing will move. Perhaps back to Puerto Rico.
The U.S. has traditionally lost in negotiations, so perhaps Trumps approach will be more successful with the Iranians. My gut feeling is both sides want a deal, and the Israel is playing a spoiler. Gulf states, China, and Russia also want a deal.
Trump’s first administration got derailed by Russiagate / Ukraine, so I can understand Trump being careful on dealing with Ukraine. He’s basically defusing a bomb / booby trap, and trying not to get blown up. Zelensky and his supporters are huge obstacles to any deal. My belief is Russia will establish the facts on the ground, Trumps goal is to avoid being dragged down with Ukraine, and establish healthy relationships with Russia. The mainstream narrative is changing on Ukraine, my guess prepping for the collapse.
“He’s basically defusing a bomb / booby trap, and trying not to get blown up.” Quite. Zelensky and his Euro fan club have turned (what did we expect?) and Net, per Mearsheimer, also wants a conflagration. Good luck and God Speed to Trump as he attempts to break these two pacts with the Devil.
I don't think Trump is flailing, I think he's pushing the Crazy Eddy Gambit to the absolute limit in the hope that leaders the world over will stop what they're doing and try to calm him down before WW3 gets going. "Stop me before I do something really stupid!" It's one Helluva long shot, but if it works, a lot of good things may come of it. If it fails, the empire will likely crash and burn on his watch and we must then rebuild from the ashes. Strangely, the second option may actually be better than the first. Desperation is often times the ultimate motivator.
Crazy Eddy. Read that book about him last year. Fascinating story. Only in America. But it didn’t end well for Eddy
I didn't know there was a book about Crazy Eddy, I'll look for it. I loved his commercials.
Retail Gangster: The Insane, Real-Life Story of Crazy Eddie
By Gary Weiss
Thanks for the info.
Insightful comment. And as the Chinese man said on Judge Nap, “you need a revolution!”
Great, but how do we have a revolution when our bank accounts are frozen--as were those of Canadian Truckers'.
Gives new meaning to "Go to the mattresses."
Crowd Fund? :-(