Iran War: Trumps Makes New Threat as Buildup Continues; Middle East Data Centers, Key to US Military, at Risk; More Recognition of Risk of Shortages Like Impact of Scarce Diesel

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1. Victor Sciamarelli May 18, 2026 at 6:57 am

   There are presidential powers, known as the Presidential Emergency Action Documents, PEADS, that most people have never heard of. Trump’s Iranian war continues and with it making an economic recession or worse likely. Moreover, a midterm election disaster looms which, no doubt, if he loses he will claim corruption and possibly declare the results illegitimate. Together with other issues, and in the hands of someone as unstable and deranged as Trump, the potential for Trump to invoke the PEADs is possible and frightening.
   From the Brennan Center For Justice, “Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADs) are executive orders, proclamations, and messages to Congress that are prepared in anticipation of a range of emergency scenarios, so that they are ready to sign and put into effect the moment one of those scenarios comes to pass. First created during the Eisenhower Administration as part of continuity-of-government plans in case of a nuclear attack, PEADs have since been expanded for use in other emergency situations where the normal operation of government is impaired. As one recent government document describes them, they are designed ‘to implement extraordinary presidential authority in response to extraordinary situations.’”
   “PEADs are classified “secret,” and no PEAD has ever been declassified or leaked. Indeed, it appears that they are not even subject to congressional oversight. Although the law requires the executive branch to report even the most sensitive covert military and intelligence operations to at least some members of Congress, there is no such disclosure requirement for PEADs, and no evidence that the documents have ever been shared with relevant congressional committees.”
   “PEADs undergo periodic revision; although we do not know what PEADs contain today, we know that PEADs in past years—
   authorized detention of “alien enemies” and other “dangerous persons” within the United States;
   suspended the writ of habeas corpus by presidential order;
   provided for various forms of martial law;
   issued a general warrant permitting search and seizure of persons and property;
   established military areas such as those created during World War II;
   suspended production of the Federal Register;
   declared a State of War; and
   authorized censorship of news reports.
   https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/presidential-emergency-action-documents
   From Legal AF “Insider Exposes Trump’s SECRET EMERGENCY Midterm Plan!!”
   Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz interview Jonathan Winer, former State Department official, and they discuss scenarios where Trump could assume PEADS for himself at anytime especially including the midterms.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmqXgOEnlrU
   Like other presidents, Trump is aware of the PEADs, however, unlike the others Trump is more likely to use them.

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   1. anahuna May 18, 2026 at 7:23 am

      “some EU leaders have sobered up, per a new Politico story”

      Yves, that Politico story is from March, when Or an was still in power

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      1. anahuna May 18, 2026 at 7:39 am

         Oops (mine). It looks as if that was included under the heading of a “from a mid-March post”.

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   2. Lefty Godot May 18, 2026 at 11:59 am

      “Emergency does not create power. Emergency does not increase granted power or remove or diminish the restrictions imposed upon power granted or reserved. The Constitution was adopted in a period of grave emergency. Its grants of power to the federal government and its limitations of the power of the States were determined in the light of emergency, and they are not altered by emergency.”

      — Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes

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      1. Victor Sciamarelli May 19, 2026 at 3:04 am

         Though the Congress has been unable to stop Trump, and, in fact, willing to support him as do his wealthy donors, you’ll forgive me for not having confidence in your comment.

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2. The Rev Kev May 18, 2026 at 7:13 am

   ‘Of course, there’s no such thing as a commercial data center anymore. All of them are dual use and have military functions because all these tech companies have defense contracts.’

   And with that, the cat is well and truly out of the bag now. Probably find that another use for those data centers is for police & internal security enforcement.

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   1. converger May 18, 2026 at 7:24 am

      Imagine my surprise.

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      1. ambrit May 18, 2026 at 10:59 am

         Our AI Precrime algorithms have already “predicted” your surprise. Report to your nearest FEMA Re-education Centre for a “Wellness Intervention.”

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   2. Randall Flagg May 18, 2026 at 7:47 am

      Well, seeing that so much of the general population wants zero Data Centers being located in their communities, it only makes sense to start building them on military bases where the local communities have very little say in those decisions. Plus those centers are better protected from vandalism of some kind in the middle of a military base.

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   3. ilsm May 18, 2026 at 8:42 am

      US military are probably (outside of the Mag 7) the only who are paying recover costs for using AI.

      Everyone outside the internal users are paying a fraction of the cost the rest are covered by borrowing. Keeping the so-called Ai labs “solvent”. Per Ed Zoster.

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      1. Ignacio May 18, 2026 at 1:23 pm

         Ed Zoster or Varicella Zitron? ;)

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3. Paradox of Unrealized Power May 18, 2026 at 7:46 am

   I think this is the Drucker piece? (your site removes my post if I enter a link and I don’t have the patience to try to circumvent it, but in any case, it is from Foreign Affairs:

   The Changed World Economy
   Author(s): Peter F. Drucker
   Source: Foreign Affairs, Spring, 1986, Vol. 64, No. 4 (Spring, 1986), pp. 768-791
   Published by: Council on Foreign Relations

   you can find a copy at cooperative-individualism

   drucker-peter_the-changed-world-economy-1986-spring.pdf

   Excerpt:

   The third major change that has occurred in the world economy is the emergence of the “symbol” economy-capital
   movements, exchange rates and credit flows-as the flywheel of the world economy, in place of the “real” economy-the flow of goods and services. The two economies seem to be operating increasingly independently. This is both the most visible and the least understood of the changes.

   […]

   Whichever of these causes is judged the most important, together they have produced a basic change: in the world economy of today, the “real” economy of goods and services and the “symbol” economy of money, credit and capital are no longer bound tightly to each other; they are, indeed, moving further and further apart.

   Traditional international economic theory is still neoclassical, holding that trade in goods and services determines international capital flows and foreign exchange rates. Capital flows and foreign exchange rates since the first half of the 1970s have, however, moved quite independently of foreign trade, and indeed (e.g., in the rise of the dollar in 1984–85) have run counter to it.

   But the world economy also does not fit the Keynesian model in which the “symbol” economy determines the “real” economy. The relationship between the turbulences in the world economy and the various domestic economies has become quite obscure. Despite its unprecedented trade deficit, the United States has had no deflation and has barely been able to keep inflation in check; it also has the lowest unemployment rate of any major industrial country except Japan, lower than that of West Germany, whose exports of manufactured goods and trade surpluses have been growing as fast as those of Japan. Conversely, despite the exponential growth of Japanese exports and an unprecedented Japanese trade surplus, the Japanese domestic economy is not booming but has remained remarkably sluggish and is not generating any new jobs.

   Economists assume that the “real” economy and the “symbol” economy will come together again. They do disagree, however-and quite sharply-as to whether they will do so in a “soft landing” or in a head-on collision […]

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   1. Yves Smith Post authorMay 18, 2026 at 7:51 am

      Thanks for trying to help (and for reading a footnote!) but no, we discussed that in comment on the original post. I read the Drucker piece in question or before 1981 and his ideas were much less well thought through then.

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      1. dingusansich May 18, 2026 at 10:09 am

         Maybe have a look at Drucker’s Toward the Next Economics, an essay collection of writing from the ’70s published in 1981? It’s unclear exactly when he wrote the title essay in which “symbol economy” appears a number of times, but it wouldn’t have been later than 1980. Here are the passages, which are interesting even if not what you have in mind:

         In Keynesian economics commodities, production, work, are the “veil of reality.” Or, rather, these things are determined by monetary events: money supply, credit, interest rates, and governmental surpluses or deficits. Goods, services, production, productivity, demand, employment, and finally prices, are all dependent variables of the macro-economic events of the monetary symbol economy. Philosophically speaking, Keynes became an extreme nominalist—it was perhaps not entirely coincidence that he and Wittgenstein were contemporaries at Cambridge.

         We also know quite a bit about the factors and forces which encourage both greater productivity and greater capital formation. None of them, it should be said, is a factor of the “symbol economy” of money and credit. Events in the symbol economy can discourage, but are unlikely significantly to encourage either productivity or a higher rate of capital formation.

         Equally central, and perhaps even more controversial, will be the relationship between the “real economy” of things: commodities, resources, work, and the “symbol economy” of money and credit. There is no returning to the old dismissal of the symbol economy as the “veil of reality.” But there is no holding on to the recent orthodoxy in which the symbol economy is the real and true economy, with things: commodities, services, and work, only “functions” and indeed totally dependent functions, of the “symbol economy.”

         We may have to be content, however, with something analogous to the physicist’s “Uncertainty Principle,” in which the only meaningful statements in respect to certain events—productivity, for instance, capital formation, the allocation of resources, and so on—are statements in terms of the “real economy,” with events in the “symbol economy” a restraint and a boundary only. But other and equally “real” events can perhaps only be discussed, analyzed, and even described in terms of the “symbol economy,” with the “real economy” of things being a restraint on them. This would not be particularly satisfactory—but it may be the best we can achieve.

         But the Next Economics will, of necessity, have to embody what in the history of economic thought were always discrete alternatives, if not opposites: micro-economy and macro-economy; the real economy of commodities and work and the symbol economy of money and credit. It will use for its building blocks the economic thought and the economic theories of the entire four hundred years of the history of economics; but it is quite unlikely to accept any one of them either as foundation or as capstone.

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         1. dave -- just dave May 18, 2026 at 2:33 pm

            The first appearance of the title essay in the book you cite was in the Fall 1980 issue of The Public Interest.

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            1. debug May 18, 2026 at 3:59 pm

               Thanks dave,

               I noted Drucker’s own book and a slightly previous anthology in which the essay is included in a comment about a month or two ago when this first came up, but did not find the original publication.

               The only problem here is that Drucker doesn’t seem to me, at least in any obvious way, to point to the idea that a takeover by symbolic economics is a problem that might arise in the future. I still haven’t found any explicit reference to that specific idea. Drucker merely defines his terms, IIRC, so there must be something contemporaneous or slightly earlier.

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      2. Polar Socialist May 18, 2026 at 1:52 pm

         Drucker’s “The new markets, and other essays” has 12 of his essays from 1946 to 1971, last edition published in 1974 (I think). The earliest, “Keynes: Economics as a Magical System” does indeed talk about symbol economics, albeit as a critique of the Keynesian economics which to Drucker seems to put it before the real economy.

         Sorry I don’t have time to use my academic access to check any deeper.

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      3. dave -- just dave May 18, 2026 at 2:06 pm

         One search engine finds a collection of essays by Drucker, “Toward the Next Economics and Other Essays”, 1981, HarperCollins – about the title essay KirkusReviews states

         “But the new micro-economics will concentrate, not on profit-maximization, but on productivity and capital-formation—making possible the integration, for the first time, of micro-economics and macro-economics, and of “the real economy of commodities and work and the symbol economy of money and credit.”

         This title essay may have been previously published in a periodical, but this is not stated.

         The book of essays was republished by Harvard Business Review Press as part of the Drucker Library in 2010.

         Evidently the paper pointed to by Paradox of Unrealized Power is a later elaboration of these issues.

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   2. Paradox of Unrealized Power May 18, 2026 at 7:57 am

      As an aside, Drucker’s arguments seem to be more or less the same as Karl Marx’s C-M-C to M-C-M decoupling, only with a shift in blame as to who is responsible for the underlying causes (“Capitalist exploitation” Vs. “Finance and the knowledge economy”), but I am neither an economist nor a management consulting guru, so I may have lost some key points of the argument.

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   3. Adam Eran May 18, 2026 at 2:25 pm

      Re the symbol economy. Alfred North Whitehead calls the all-too-human ability to mistake symbols for reality “the fallacy of misplaced concreteness,” and compares it to going to a restaurant, then devouring the paper menu. I’d even suggest it’s an old enough observation to be one of the ten commandments (paraphrasing: “Don’t give your devotion to a symbol [an idol], give it to the genuine article.”

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      1. dave -- just dave May 18, 2026 at 2:42 pm

         The Buddhist metaphor is “Look at the moon – not at my finger that is pointing to it.”

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4. Yves Smith Post authorMay 18, 2026 at 7:52 am

   All done! Please reload this page and re-skim if you arrived before the time of this post.

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5. The Rev Kev May 18, 2026 at 8:01 am

   Re the drone attack on a nuclear facility in the UAE. Was shaking my head at this one. It was bad enough the US and Israel dropping bombs next to Iran’s nuclear power facility but the blame for this goes back even further. It was the Ukrainians, egged on by their western allies, who would constantly attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and which they continue to do to this day. And it was the IAEA, with the useless Rafael Grossi doing his best Mr. Magoo imitation, saying that he just can’t work out who is bombing that nuclear power plant. But in doing this over the past four years, that “normalized” the idea that it is OK to drop bombs on a nuclear power plant where before that was unthinkable. And now we live in a timeline where anybody can attack a nuclear power plan without any real consequences.

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   1. John k May 18, 2026 at 1:52 pm

      Data centers, nuclear power plants, electrical gen plants, transmission lines/pipelines, data centers, dams… the list of vulnerabilities goes on. Cheap drones… maybe us/istael should avoid terror activities against Iran post war. Israel might become the vulnerable hostage that guarantees western good behavior given the resistance surrounds them.

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6. Wukchumni May 18, 2026 at 8:26 am

   Yet another chapter in the goy who cried wolf… (ever notice how Trump seems to be the threat guy in Zionist circles?)

   Been thinking in regards to Ag production, with the perfekt storm of bad stewing, and until the Bosch-Haber process comes along a little over a century ago, fertilizer was guano and bone meal, with a dash of night soil in the middle kingdom.

   Growing food wasn’t dependent on markets that informed a farmer before planting that he’d lose money if he followed through with his intentions, or the biggest durn El Nino, uh Sesquicentennial of the previous bad boy in that regard.

   Nobody ever died from overkill, and its time to have a plan-as in what they used to call a pantry.

   Prices of food are gonna skyrocket and availability will suffer, do it now.

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   1. ambrit May 18, 2026 at 11:08 am

      On it Wuk!
      In the interests of using local protein sources (Marmot) in the Very High Defensible Position: https://outsidebozeman.com/culture/culture-more/food-drink/whistle-pig-stew
      Bon appetit!

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      1. Wukchumni May 18, 2026 at 11:26 am

         I’d have to be offal famished to resort to the Marmot Cong for sustenance.

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         1. Oregon Lawhobbit May 18, 2026 at 11:40 am

            Probably tastes like chicken. And just another reason why spices were invented…

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            1. jsn May 18, 2026 at 3:27 pm

               Spiced with plague.

               Zesty, if properly cooked, fatal otherwise!

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         2. hk May 18, 2026 at 12:51 pm

            Roast marmot is apparently a delicacy in Mongolia.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boodog

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         3. ThirtyOne May 18, 2026 at 1:03 pm

            The Marmot Steak.

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   2. Henry Moon Pie May 18, 2026 at 12:04 pm

      Remember the squirrel recipes on Calculated Risk?

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7. The Rev Kev May 18, 2026 at 8:40 am

   At this point in time, Trump’s Truth Social posts are getting tedious, boring and repetitive – and not necessarily in that order. Like when he says-

   ‘For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!’

   Maybe Iran should counter with that old Timex slogan-

   ‘It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.’

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5G5aHnc4YE (31 secs)

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   1. ilsm May 18, 2026 at 9:04 am

      “won’t be anything left of them.”

      I am not aware what DJT was doing in late 1972. I was in USAF. We were supporting with everything we had Linebacker II over N Vietnam.

      “We” had a lot more to drop then, and the smart weapons do not make up for the difference in tonnage! A lot newer reliable weapon systems, a lot less for profit MIC.

      That and Iran is a lot larger more spread out and more buried than N Vietnam.

      As I said IDK what DJT was doing in 1972.

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      1. JohnH May 18, 2026 at 9:46 am

         I don’t know about 1972, but in 1975 DJT was partying in high society circles. My desk was next to that of the son of a prominent NYC politician who also went to those parties. He spent Monday mornings talking about the weekend with friends on the company phone. Part of it went like this:

         “–And then Trump showed up…ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!”

         Trump wouldn’t go to Vietnam because he had ‘other priorities.”

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         1. The Rev Kev May 18, 2026 at 9:53 am

            Dick Cheney said something similar. He later said ‘I had other priorities in the ’60s than military service’ – after getting no less than five deferments.

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         2. EY Oakland May 18, 2026 at 10:43 am

            Trump’s priorities – in a filmed interview somewhere along the line Trump said “Aids was my Viet Nam.”

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         3. Oregon Lawhobbit May 18, 2026 at 11:42 am

            Ya know, these are the sorts of stories that make that whole Starship Troopers* requirement for military service in order to enter public service seem a lot more reasonable.

            *the book, not the movie. ;-)

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         4. chuck roast May 18, 2026 at 6:20 pm

            You should be fair to Donnie. He excelled at NY Military Academy where he won a Neatness and Order Award. You get one of those if you make your bed every day. Maybe he wasn’t so good on Tactics & Strategy…um no, he probably flunked Tactics & Strategy.

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            1. Wukchumni May 18, 2026 at 6:24 pm

               When I was young and in my misbehaving era, dad would always threaten to send me to military school if I didn’t shape up, and i’ll just assume that was the case with Benedict Donald.

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8. LawnDart May 18, 2026 at 8:41 am

   Re; Lubrication shortages

   What about hydraulic fluids, which are necessary for automotive transmissions, brakes, but also for aircraft controls, industrial lifts, rams, excavators, and agricultural equipment etc. They have to be changed frequently in many applications.

   In MOST industrial equipment, hydraulic fluid can and will last for years– it’s not usually subject to the high-temps motor oil is exposed to and the degradation of viscosity these temps cause: if the fluid is being exposed to extreme temps, this condition is often due to faulty equipment, malfunctioning components, poor design, user error and/or abuse of the equipment.

   Aside from very prolonged exposure to high-heat, I most commonly have had to replace the hydraulic fluid in a customer’s machine because of contamination from debris, particles, or water. Debris and particulates can cause massive damage to pumps, valves, and actuators, which can translate into very costly (and lengthy), unscheduled downtime.

   If you have a fluid power system that utilizes hundreds of gallons of fluid for operations, a system that utilizes large or multiple hydraulic cylinders or actuators, then regular testing of hydraulic fluid is a crucial part of any maintenance schedule or PMs because that stuff was already expensive before the bombs started to fall (again) in the Mideast.

   As far as carbon or petroleum-based hydraulic fluids go, there are synthetics and biodegradable replacements available, but they’re pricey, often 2x-3x the cost of traditional fluids.

   Machine hydraulics and maintenance is frequently overlooked in operations where bean-counters run the show. In many large/larger companies, I’ve noticed that managers don’t stick around for more that a couple of years and that they’ll try to roll the dice or kick the can on necessary repairs or regular maintenance in hopes that they’ll be out of there before the equipment falls apart.

   I see boom-times ahead for fluid-power technicians, not that they’re not already in high-demand…

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   1. amfortas May 18, 2026 at 9:56 am

      i had that issue with my kubota tractor. hydraulics suddenly didnt work…scrutinised manual for 15th time to figure out how to check fluid levels…not mentioned,lol…rummaged around online, while machine is in middle of dirt road,lol…finally found location of sightglass. couldnt tell anything from that. but had to get the thing out of road. so run to feedstore, got 2gal of hydraulic fluid. moved machine.
      turns out, feedstore stuff had parafin in it. and kubota uses some special hydraulic/transmission fluid.
      also not mentioned in manual.
      cost 2 trips to dealership and $4k to finally get fixed.
      to their credit, dealership folks did call me when kubota rep was coming, so i could go up there and chew him a new one regarding the manual’s assumptions that everyone is a diesel/hydraulic mechanic.

      dealership folks also finally understood that i aint a mechanic, and answered my numerous questions about what else i should know that aint in the manual, that they think of as obvious,lol.

      i use it mainly for rototilling mom’s garden, handling manure, and moving firewood around.
      does the work of 40 men…and all things considered, a good machine that im happy with.
      but my usage is much less than assumed. 31 hours running time in 3 years.
      turns out the fluid degrades all by itself in that time, and the op-hour counter isnt all that useful, to me.
      so now i know,lol.

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      1. LawnDart May 18, 2026 at 2:42 pm

         That “special” fluid-issue would catch many if not most mechanics by surprise. Also, there’s often a huge difference between user or owner’s manuals and service or shop manuals– as with John Deere, I presume it’s a gift to their dealership service departments.

         A few years ago I helped return to service a metals compactor for an oil recycler in North Carolina, and that machine was 70 years old. I got together with some techs and engineers and we figured out how to increase the system’s routine operating pressure safely and without undue wear and stress to components by roughly 70-90% (standard pressures for most systems are 2500-3000 psi; we took it to 4000-4500 psi normal operating, and 5500 max with maintenance override (within capacity of pump(s) and seals, welded pipes and rotary valves, with added safety-margins)). I felt pretty good about this project because it reduced a lot of waste that otherwise would have been landfilled.

         Manufacturers are moving towards 6th or next-generation hydraulics, expensive upfront but much more energy-efficient, and some of these systems utilize crazy-high pressures (to 6000 psi or more) that used to be limited to some aircraft and other specialized equipment (FRED (aka C5 Galaxy) system pressures were 5000 psi and utilized titanium lines). These systems can be extremely dangerous to work on if you don’t know what you are doing, which is pretty scary because hydraulic technicians/mechanics in the USA are not required to be licensed or certified in any way, and uncontrolled release of fluid can happen if it’s trapped in a component under load, in an accumulator or otherwise under high-pressure: think putting your bare hand into a meat-saw… or imagine putting your face into that meat-saw.

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   2. ISL May 18, 2026 at 9:59 am

      Umm, but when you have a factory with hundreds of machines (or a system of hundreds of suppliers with hundreds of machines, the likelihood that say 0.1% need new fluid on any day can shut down a JIT component that shutters the entire system becomes a certainty in short order. Will Ford pay all the other suppliers to produce parts they cannot put in cars because of “want of a nail” with no idea when they can restart? Force Majeure time!

      If my business needed fluids, I would stockpile today (hoard), and then there would be none for anyone. And we will find out whether the synthetics require Gulf precursors, sulfur, or precursors from a non-Gulf refinery that requires Gulf feedstock for its process….

      Just sayin’ we are about to relearn (since nuthin’ was learned during covid) how interconnected economic activity is.

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      1. LawnDart May 18, 2026 at 12:05 pm

         Will Ford pay all the other suppliers to produce parts they cannot put in cars because of “want of a nail” with no idea when they can restart?

         Dunno about Ford itself, but some of their subcontractors sure as hell are willing to take that risk!

         I know this for a fact, first-hand, because I was the guy repairing and modifying the hydraulics on three machines for a project in Dearborn, MI, back in 2021-2022. One of these machines was originally designed to crush railway boxcars and is the 3rd largest crusher in the world.

         The contractor spend well into the six-figures on valve and pump repair/replacement, not to mention the expense of having me there… I put months of work into these systems.

         The oil was heavilly contaminated by particles and metal shrapenal, black in color and smelly, years old but aside from that, you can imagine my shock (and utter disbelief) when this fluid otherwise tested OK. As such, even though I and the company’s own engineers strongly advised against it, management opted to filter and reuse as much of this hydraulic fluid as possible.

         That said, I used AAH for component repair and pump modifications. They’re located just north of Detroit, so JIT isn’t much of an issue, especially as almost all of the valves on these units are standard and are/were domestically produced (there’s a glut of used/rebuildable components available).

         On our end of Ford’s operation, there was some “slop” or flexibility if needed for scheduling, so if there was a little unplanned downtime it wouldn’t be catastrophic, but on the front-end, especially dealing with robotics and some of the precision machinery, yeah, I’d make sure that I had a spare of everything readily-available and on the shelf.

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         1. ISL May 18, 2026 at 12:22 pm

            Thanks for the insights!

            It’s also likely this will be a quasi-permanent loss – several quarters to a year or several years, even if Trump goes kinetic tomorrow. But everyone cannot build a 1-2 year stockpile at once! I see banks pulling credit lines, force majeures as CEOs preserve their golden parachutes and so on.

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   3. JCC May 18, 2026 at 1:55 pm

      @LawnDart: My experience with 11 years working as a factory representative for a major US Machine Tool Mfg (installed, trained, and repaired our systems worldwide) is generally identical to yours.

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      1. LawnDart May 18, 2026 at 5:22 pm

         Lucky man to get paid to travel worldwide!!! I’d guess that if you stayed for over a decade it wasn’t a bad gig.

         It’s a great field to get into for one who likes a great degree of autonomy, job-security, and (very) healthy compensation.

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9. ilsm May 18, 2026 at 8:49 am

   I recall vividly sitting in gas lines in 1974, in my 383 cu in V-8 Roadrunner!

   Trump 47 says the clock is ticking!

   Yes, it is! If the US continues the crude oil draw on stores of the past few weeks the SPR and Cushing will be pumping tank bottoms in some areas on 4th of July.

   Happy 250th, 47!

   Regime change in Tehran is “worth it”.

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   1. Wukchumni May 18, 2026 at 8:53 am

      I was on the very verge of teenagerhood in 1974, and remember gas going from around 35 Cents in 1973 to a buck in a relative hurry, not that I was paying, but at least paying attention.

      $10 go-juice when occasionally available would be the end of us.

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      1. Oregon Lawhobbit May 18, 2026 at 9:59 am

         Huh. I’d gotten the impression that you were slightly older than I am – but if you were just verging on teenagerhood in Ought Seventy Four it’s apparently the other way around. :-)

         I know I watched twenty nine cents to fifty five cents (which is the lowest I’ve paid) happen in the Valley. I also remember all the stories claiming that the world would end if gas went over a dollar, as well as that period of time when it was being sold by the quart because gas pumps were not equipped to handle anything more than ninety nine cents….

         Ah, the good old days.

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         1. Wukchumni May 18, 2026 at 10:24 am

            I always wanted to be older, do the Europe on $5 a day gig, but my parents had other siblings before my arrival.

            America of 1974 was still a can-do country and there weren’t any drivers to speak of in the Communist bloc party, nor many vehicles either.

            Also only 4 billion human beans on this here orb.

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            1. Oregon Lawhobbit May 18, 2026 at 11:46 am

               The woes of Generation Jones….

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               1. eg May 18, 2026 at 7:34 pm

                  Moi aussie …

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   2. Screwball May 18, 2026 at 10:30 am

      1973/74 oil embargo – I remember it well. Senior in high school. Worked at a gas station. We had to ration gas. Once we pumped so many gallons and we had to close. Cars lined up down the street. When you shut them off they were not at all happy. It was a zoo, and not much fun. We sold gas, cigs, and snacks, no alcohol (thank goodness) and was armed with a mechanical coin changer on our belt, and a was of bills in our shirt pocket. Not a calculator or cash register on the property. Good luck with that today.

      Of course today…Bought a 12 pack of beer at Kroger last week, or tried. They said I needed an ID. Really? I’ve been 21 for almost 50 years…

      This isn’t progress.

      Reply ↓
      1. The Rev Kev May 18, 2026 at 10:33 am

         My most vivid memory from that era was an image from the US that appeared in one of our papers. It was of some young kid working at a gas station with cars lined up and on his hip was a revolver.

         Reply ↓
         1. Screwball May 18, 2026 at 12:18 pm

            My station manager, who was there with me was a beast. Nobody wanted to screw with him, and didn’t. I was sure glad he was there as skinny little me couldn’t handle the angry mob by himself.

            This was a Clark station. No vending machines. Coolers full of drinks and shelves full of snacks, cigs by pack or carton. Even 8 track Gene Tracy tapes for the passing truck driver. :-)

            It still drives me nuts today when people at the retail level can’t make change. A lost art…

            Reply ↓
      2. Wukchumni May 18, 2026 at 10:38 am

         Gas stations back then had all 3 different types of Wrigley’s gum and all kinds of Life Savers, and that was about it in terms of food for sale.

         Reply ↓
         1. Oregon Lawhobbit May 18, 2026 at 11:48 am

            Soda vending machines?

            Reply ↓
            1. Wukchumni May 18, 2026 at 11:52 am

               Yes, America was awash in vending machines* compared to now, my favorite was the one that dispensed soda into a paper cup with crushed ice, delish!

               *Japan blew me away in terms of vending machines, btw.

               Reply ↓
               1. Oregon Lawhobbit May 18, 2026 at 4:22 pm

                  Worked through high school for a company that made sandwiches and supplied snacks for vending machines at myriad “cafeterias” throughout the Valley (and nearby environs). There wasn’t much profit in the sandwiches or snacks, but where they made the money was in the soda being dispensed into a paper cup. Because you can’t have a sandwich and chips without a cuppa, after all!

                  Reply ↓
                  1. mrsyk May 18, 2026 at 6:16 pm

                     I love the solid, all business feel of a cigarette machine.

                     Reply ↓
         2. Bill Carson May 18, 2026 at 11:58 am

            “…all kinds of Life Savers…” Even butterscotch?

            Reply ↓
         3. Laughingsong May 18, 2026 at 2:51 pm

            And Certs!

            Reply ↓
            1. Wukchumni May 18, 2026 at 6:18 pm

               …with Retsyn!

               Reply ↓
      3. Steven A May 18, 2026 at 4:09 pm

         When the embargo was imposed in the fall of 1973 I had just arrived in West Germany as a guest of the US Air Force. I don’t recall any gas lines, perhaps because the West German government banned Sunday driving and imposed a 100 km/hr speed limit on the autobahns. The public outcry was the same as if they had implemented beer rationing.

         Reply ↓
   3. Samuel Conner May 18, 2026 at 1:56 pm

      Widespread unhappiness ranging to misery this 4th is going to make for an interesting holiday.

      I suppose that DJT will be remembered for a very long time, but perhaps not in the way he envisaged when he started the latest excursion.

      Reply ↓
10. ChrisFromGA May 18, 2026 at 9:07 am

    Put on yer steel-toed boots, we’re gonna have a can-kicking party!

    https://www.mdjonline.com/state/kemp-extends-gas-tax-break-just-in-time-for-memorial-day-travelers-amid-iran-fueled/article_a801db5d-3d5d-5461-baca-a6690431f81e.html

    This appears to be the GOP strategy. Kick the can down the road, do anything to get past the midterms.

    I notice that another lie was trotted out to manipulate markets this AM. There is going to be a mountain-sized basket of consequences waiting for us by July.

    Reply ↓
    1. The Rev Kev May 18, 2026 at 9:23 am

       Your midterms are six months away. I think that the GOP will discover that they are in a cul de sac a long time before that. In other words, they don’t have six months. Already the first of the shortages are showing up in the form of motor oils and every month it will get worse – much worse. Trump himself has dismissed any effects on average Americans so I expect that video clip to feature on Democrat political ads going forward. He said that it is all about preventing Iran from having a nuclear bomb but that is not an American aim. That is an Israeli one. And as Trump sinks, he will take down the GOP with him.

       Reply ↓
       1. Samuel Conner May 18, 2026 at 1:59 pm

          I’m waiting for a reporter to ask DJT what risks the North Korean nuclear program poses to US and what he intends to do about that.

          …

          Or perhaps that would be a very bad idea.

          Reply ↓
          1. ilsm May 18, 2026 at 3:27 pm

             No risk, it is nearly certain that DPRK can take out every U.S. base from Japan to Midway and Guam thrown in.

             If the probability is near 100% you cannot buy insurance when gale force winds are observed.

             Well maybe DPRK won’t double tap the base at Johnson Island.

             Did the U.S. return the THAAD to ROK?

             Reply ↓
       2. John k May 18, 2026 at 2:20 pm

          I imagine another Kamala Donald level choice, and the shouts of lesser evil, not just in ‘26 but in ‘28, too. The very few that might be people I could vote for without holding my nose are being massively outspent by aipac and their Olig’s. Imo no chance of real change until a ‘29 level downturn like the one that brought in Rosevelt.
          Once a century?

          Reply ↓
11. What? No! May 18, 2026 at 9:09 am

    From today’s post:

    There are two area where I differ with Pape. One is that he posits a long war out of the belief that the US and Israel will keep taking “mow the lawn” type whacks at Iran, to weaken the government.1 Iran is very well aware of this risk and is determined not to let that happen. It intends to inflict such a decisive defeat on the US and Israel that they will not mess with Iran for many many years.

    Mind you, I am not sure how Iran achieves that ex the elimination of Israel as a Zionist state

    This brings up a couple of points:

    – Iran has never really said what their plan is for Israel. Very early on in the conflict I read a quote (apparently from Iran) that “We will not negotiate as long as there is an entity called Israel.” I recall thinking at the time that them’s pretty strong words, but after the first week I saw nothing remotely close to that statement re-appear.

    And since Israel will forever work to transform Iran into a pliable failed state, how does Iran prevent that? I’m sure Iran has a strategy for this, but they don’t talk about it. I’m assuming it’s some combination of Israeli attrition, economic collapse, emigration, and own goals.

    – The other point that doesn’t get enough analysis is this new market manipulation on steroids. Trump & Team play a peakaboo game every Friday / Monday that generates predicable easy winnings. There must be a real pull to keep that game going for as long as possible. In other words, there’s a real disincentive against creating actual solutions to the conflict.

    Reply ↓
    1. voislav May 18, 2026 at 10:01 am

       I think (without anything to back it up :) that Iran is trying to isolate Israel from the US, thus effectively neutering it. For example, Israeli missile defenses are woefully inadequate without US backing, Israeli targeting is non-existent without US satellite and aerial surveillance and Israeli air force can’t project power without US aerial refueling and access to US allied air space (Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia).

       Israeli surveillance can dominate in Gaza and southern Lebanon, but they are out of their depth when it comes to Iran. On the other hand, Iran has shown that it has capability to inflict heavy damage on Israeli infrastructure and economy solely with its own resources. Until now, US was always engaged in concert with Israel, even if only to provide defensive backstop. If US disengages from the region, closes down the bases and doesn’t rebuild its air defense network, Israel will be far more vulnerable than today. So Israel bombing Iranian embassy in Damascus may result in a couple of hundred ballistic missiles being dropped on Israel.

       I believe that this is the Iranian goal, it’s centered on not just deterring US, but fully disengaging it from the region. If US is staying out of it, Iran can and will devastate Israel and Israeli now it. This is why they were pushing so hard to have US involved in the Iran conflict.

       Reply ↓
       1. Tom Stone May 18, 2026 at 10:21 am

          What happens when Bibi gets tossed out of office, which seems likely?
          Trump is all in on supporting Bibi, to the point he ordered the Knesset to pardon him…
          Bibi knows the magic phrase when dealing with Trump, “Roy Cohn”, will his successor be able to use that leverage?
          And will Trump overtly threaten Israel when it looks like Bibi will land in the Gray Bar motel?
          It’s going to be a lively summer, especially if the Data Centers are taken out and the Tech Bros turn on Trump ( And each other).
          It’s gonna be lit, as Mr Boxman puts it.

          Reply ↓
          1. The Rev Kev May 18, 2026 at 10:30 am

             If Bibi gets tossed out of office, then he will bolt for the the nearest jet to take him out of the country before he can be arrested. He may even join his son in sunny Miami or maybe they will give him a job with some think tank in Washington. He will be taken care of for sure.

             Reply ↓
          2. Yves Smith Post authorMay 18, 2026 at 11:36 am

             The people in line are even more bloodthirsty with respect to Iran. As in they are fine with apocalypse if that is what it takes.

             Reply ↓
             1. lyman alpha blob May 18, 2026 at 12:04 pm

                Indeed. And there are plenty of other bought and paid for politicians for the Zionist Death Cult to work with in the US besides Trump.

                Reply ↓
       2. What? No! May 18, 2026 at 11:03 am

          Yes, I suppose with “just” that one goal accomplished (or achievable), plus an income stream from the strait (since the US will never pay reparations), really Iran doesn’t need more of a plan, they can pretty much take every day as it comes and successfully secure their interests in the region. They have the skills, people, and resources.

          Reply ↓
       3. John k May 18, 2026 at 2:29 pm

          I’ve separately read that a million have left israel and that there are a 300k subset that is critical to Israeli economy and might collapse without them. I wonder how Mano of the 300k are part of the million exodus to date?
          If the next phase hits electrical gen and desal plants more that are readily employed elsewhere might leave either now or post war. And there will be reduced us support going forward, especially if Israel’s war causes widespread damage to us economy.

          Reply ↓
    2. ilsm May 18, 2026 at 10:58 am

       No peace in west Asia while USCENTCOM, and EUCOM have no presence in west Asia and eastern Mediterranean!

       Israel must be denuked, and the wings cuts off all IDF aircraft. Includes closing U.S./NATO bases in east Turkiye, Soviets are gone.

       Iran use the SOH, until EU USA Japan, S Korea collapse.

       Does not matter the regime in DC or Tel Aviv.

       Reply ↓
12. ACF May 18, 2026 at 9:54 am

    Re markets
    The whole thing has the flavor of when IBG/YBG became a thing

    Reply ↓
13. Ts May 18, 2026 at 9:54 am

    The Strait is going to be closed indefinitely. It will be closed so long that the combination of demand destruction and rerouting around it will make control worthless. And the US wins. A pyrrhic victory for the country as a whole, though not for the MIC, who will get paid no matter what.

    It could always get worse. The next US led attack will probably result in both the Saudi and UAE bypass pipelines being taken out and possibly the Houthis shut down Bab al-Mandab entirely. Hope that doesn’t happen, but I think the MIC is fine with destroying the global economy to the point where both transport bottlenecks don’t matter. They’ve given up on winning and instead will deny Iran any victory.

    Reply ↓
    1. What? No! May 18, 2026 at 10:45 am

       I don’t know exactly when it happened, but at some point the modern world seemed to have triggered The Great Disconnect, when processes and institutions severed themselves from reality. Like the markets, like public health, like climate change. So what you’re suggesting sounds right.

       Hormuz is old news, and now disconnected from whatever problems it created. We will become too busy trying to eke out our next garbage bag to worry about solving whatever problems were created by taking Hormuz offline.

       In the end it will probably be messier and more split-the-difference, but in substance still what you’ve said.

       I think we all thought (including the Iranians) that the world would put pressure on the US to simply walk away from the GCC and not continue to crash the global economy. But it looks like the global economy and “dealing with Iran” are now mutually exclusive.

       Reply ↓
14. Tom Stone May 18, 2026 at 10:03 am

    Trump will react to being humiliated by lashing out at home, the NSPM 7 shows the outlines of what he will do.
    Trump IS NOT SANE, his reaction will be totally over the top and any resistance will be taken as an excuse to double down.
    Is Trump crazy enough to station American troops in American cities to “Restore order”?
    Certainly.
    Is Trump crazy enough to order the nuking of an American City?
    I believe he is, whether or not that order will be obeyed is another question.
    It’s going to be a lively summer.

    Reply ↓
    1. Clueless Joe May 18, 2026 at 12:14 pm

       Yeah, if the Iranians are blatantly trolling Trump and trying to publicly humiliate him, they must have their reasons. And I wonder if those aren’t bigger than merely “We’ll look tough to other guys in our neighborhood”, but that they’ve gamed what his reaction – most probably violent and military – will be. It’s nearly like they’re goading him to attack, to send ground troops, or to do something utterly silly that it (or rather the Iranian counter to it) will crash the US economy and power.
       Basically, they really seem to do it on purpose, and to have a plan – a better one than the underpants gnomes’, I suppose.

       Reply ↓
    2. motorslug May 18, 2026 at 3:55 pm

       Currently near the end of The Boys series, 1 episode left, and amazing how closely it resembles trump, his minions and the apathy of the majority.

       Reply ↓
15. Dingleberry May 18, 2026 at 10:07 am

    Could someone explain how a 15-20% drop in oil output cause lubricants and diesel to run out? I was expecting increased prices but not lack of supplies. 😬

    Reply ↓
    1. amfortas May 18, 2026 at 12:23 pm

       short answer:because of how refineries work. not all oil is the same, its only “fungible” on the market side.
       add in just in time/no stockpiles.

       Reply ↓
       1. Dingleberry May 18, 2026 at 1:42 pm

          Thanks, hopefully it gets better!

          Reply ↓
    2. LilD May 18, 2026 at 2:13 pm

       Demand under “normal “ circumstances is not very elastic
       Supply >= demand

       Does not take a lot of supply shortfall to where supply < demand
       Micro says “ ok price goes up and we get more supply “
       But real world says “no you don’t “

       And consumers are now playing musical chairs

       Eventually demand craters which “solves “ the problem

       Reply ↓
    3. Samuel Conner May 18, 2026 at 2:15 pm

       Regarding lubricants, a significant fraction of worldwide consumption of engine lubricant precursors (‘base oils’) was supplied by a specific refining complex that was damaged by Iranian retaliatory strikes in the first month of the conflict.

       I don’t recall the name and search is not giving a plain answer to my questions, but it may have been the Ras Tanura refinery.

       https://fubex.net/blog/aramco-ras-tanura-attack-market-impact/

       Reply ↓
16. Ann May 18, 2026 at 10:09 am

    When Will Americans Realize the Truth? Republicans Wreck the Economy.

    https://newrepublic.com/article/210550/trump-economy-republicans-tariffs-taxes

    Trump cracks approval floor, Republicans face wipeout in House despite gerrymandering

    https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/18/upshot/trump-poll-times-siena-analyis.html

    A 45,000-person labor strike at Samsung’s memory chip plants could throw a wrench into the AI boom

    https://fortune.com/2026/05/17/labor-strike-samsung-ai-hbm-chips-dividend-revolution-memory/

    Saudi Arabia targeted by drones ‘from Iraq,’ condemns strike on UAE nuclear plant

    https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-896512

    Russia Claims Ukraine Is Using AI Drones That Lock Onto Faces and Heat Signatures

    https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/russia-claims-ukraine-is-using-ai-drones-that-lock-onto-faces-and-heat-signatures-18917

    American Jobs with AI Exposure Really Are Starting to Disappear, Data Show

    https://gizmodo.com/american-jobs-with-ai-exposure-really-are-starting-to-disappear-data-show-2000759602

    Billionaire Trump’s Secret Trading Spree Alarms Wall Street

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/billionaire-donald-trumps-secret-trading-spree-alarms-wall-street/

    Reply ↓
    1. Samuel Conner May 18, 2026 at 2:24 pm

       Regarding the gerrymanders, when the new maps increase one side’s expected district count by weakening the other side’s majority districts, it necessarily weakens their own districts as well, and if there is a significant swing in voter preferences against them, the gerrymander can badly backfire, producing a much worse outcome than if the prior map had been kept.

       Do readers remember the ’94 mid-term returns? The commentators at the channel I was watching were shaken by the size of the turn against the Ds.

       DJT doesn’t want to be a repeat of Carter, but perhaps he’ll get to reprise Clinton 1.

       Perhaps the Rs can salvage the situation with another ‘contract with America.’ This time I hope they honor the term-limits promise. /s

       Reply ↓
       1. hk May 18, 2026 at 9:36 pm

          1994 massacre, in turn, was produced by extensive Dem gerrymander in the South–much of Southern electoral fortunes turned against Dems a decade or two before in statewide races, but House elections kept returning Dem majorities in states like Texas. Why? Dems gerrymandered like crazy, until, as you mention, the slimmer majorities they created for that seats majority vanished through a nationwide political shock, so to speak.

          Funny how people forget history…if they knew it in the first place.

          Reply ↓
17. Ann May 18, 2026 at 10:16 am

    Suspected insider accounts net $2.4 million on Polymarket Iran war bets with 98% win rate, firm finds

    https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/betting-on-iran-war-insider-trading-concerns-prediction-markets-60-minutes/

    Trump voluntarily drops $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over his leaked tax records
    Trump, two of his sons and the Trump Organization filed the lawsuit in January.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-voluntarily-drops-10-billion-lawsuit-irs-leaked-tax-records-rcna345193

    Trump Cashed In One Day After Handing Tech Firm Major Deal

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/donald-trump-cashed-in-one-day-after-handing-tech-firm-coreweave-a-major-deal/

    Reply ↓
18. Not Sure May 18, 2026 at 10:17 am

    About this:

    “And they’re not just centered in the United States, they’re in the Gulf, they’re in Europe and stuff. And like because it’s cloud-based, all of these things are integrated together. And so if you lose one, it kind of affects a lot of others as well”

    Actually, the whole point of cloud based processing is that the structure is “cloudy” as in fluid, changeable, adaptable. Data and software are by design replicated real time and no function is performed by a single node. Everything is virtualized, processing, network, storage. First level or redundancy is you have twin equipments physically side by side. Next level, another identlcal pair in other location somewhere. Services can be active everywhere in hot standby. Some trouble arises, routes are updated and voila, business as usual as long as backup structure has enough power to sustain the load. I left the industry 10 years ago and years before that, state of art tech was already capable of handle a serious event in a very short time. Dependind on re$ource$ spent, end user would not even notice the change.

    So, unless some design/implementation is flawed or some part of the system is forcefully restricted to a specific node in a specific location, no impact should arise. As we are talking military grade 1st class budget, to my knowledge I expect no serious degradation.

    Reply ↓
    1. James P May 18, 2026 at 11:28 am

       “as long as backup structure has enough power to sustain the load”

       It doesn’t.

       Reply ↓
    2. Jason Boxman May 18, 2026 at 11:54 am

       But for latency sensitive applications, having your data center region taken out of action might reduce the effectiveness or viability of your usage case, even if it works just fine from a closer netlink.

       Reply ↓
       1. Not Sure May 18, 2026 at 2:16 pm

          James & Jason
          I have never worked with military systems, much less the ones involved here, but I would take a wild guess that it is not real time data stream, CPU or IO heavy, for online usage. Also, no chance they share physical infrastructure with regular customers. Finally. I bet they do not count pennies for hardware. I have seen heavy duty systems with significant distances from main site to contingency, even years ago. Of course I am just extrapolating, may be off.
          Anyway, my point was mainly that a hit in a cloud site does not imply necessarily in impact for the whole architecture as the original text implies.

          Reply ↓
          1. Jason Boxman May 18, 2026 at 8:14 pm

             Sure. There’s also an economic dimension; Do you keep hosting military applications if your data centers keep getting attacked because they’re “dual use”. We might find out in the future.

             Reply ↓
19. JohnH May 18, 2026 at 10:22 am

    ” Iran Submits New 14-Point Text via Pakistan”
    https://www.tasnimnews.ir/en/news/2026/05/18/3594044/exclusive-iran-submits-new-14-point-text-via-pakistan

    Reported that US agreed to waive sanctions during negotiations.

    Reply ↓
20. James Lawrie May 18, 2026 at 10:23 am

    The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have been really going at each other’s proxies in Yemen. I wonder if there’s factions in the UAE and in the Saudi militaries here we’re unaware of who are going at each other.
    I have nil knowledge of Saudi or UAE military factions, especially after the bloody house cleaning in Saudi Arabia the USA seems to have covertly done after 9/11 that gave rise to the current administration.

    Maybe the USA are leaving themselves too open against their friendly rivals acting as a US proxy?

    Reply ↓
21. Ann May 18, 2026 at 10:28 am

    Sick and wrong: Ontario auditors find doctors’ AI note takers routinely blow basic facts

    https://www.theregister.com/ai-ml/2026/05/14/ontario-auditors-find-doctors-ai-note-tak
    ers-routinely-blow-basic-facts/5240771

    Oil touches two-week high after drone attack on UAE nuclear power plant

    https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/oil-rises-more-than-1-after-drone-attack-uae-nuclear-power-plant-2026-05-17/

    ‘The entire South is on fire’: Black Southern Democrats warn that minority-majority legislative districts are at risk

    https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/16/black-democrats-local-redistricting-war-00921648

    Speaker says God ‘raised up’ Trump to build White House ballroom at national prayer event

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-ballroom-national-prayer-mall-b2978286.html

    Pakistan deploys jet squadron, thousands of troops to Saudi Arabia during Iran war

    https://uk.news.yahoo.com/exclusive-pakistan-deploys-jet-squadron-111017743.html

    Cuba suffers partial grid failure hours after minister reveals country out of fuel oil, diesel

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cuba-grid-partial-collapse-fuel-needs-9.7200022

    Donald Trump’s Iran war hits Americans with $40bn fuel bill

    https://www.ft.com/content/32ff9d8d-0103-42f8-8a78-10e2216b8fe2

    Iran war saddles global companies with $25 billion bill – and counting

    https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/iran-war-saddles-global-companies-with-25-billion-bill-counting-2026-05-18/

    Reply ↓
22. Tom Stone May 18, 2026 at 11:04 am

    Something that is little discussed but very important is Moral Authority, like Good Will it is intangible, but very real.
    When dealing with Crises it is essential to motivate the populace, most obviously during Wars.
    It is a form of Trust and it takes years to build and moments to piss away.
    Looking at the USG, it has gone the way of the Dodo, neoliberalism doesn’t recognize its existence let alone its importance.
    Between the shadow docket and the blatant corruption of the Roberts Court the Supremes have pissed away what Moral Authority it once had.
    The Military Brass, starting with the Joint Chiefs did the same when they followed blatantly illegal orders to attack Iran.
    The Presidency? Hahahaha, please.
    So, what centers of Moral Authority remain in the West when the “Epstein class” flat out tells the people that their welfare is of no consequence?
    I expect we will find out soon…

    Reply ↓
    1. JonnyJames May 18, 2026 at 12:50 pm

       I would say that the US had “moral authority” only in a superficial PR sense in the past. The only diff now is that the Mask Is Off: the Ugly American policy is no longer dressed up in costume, or painted up with “porcine maquillage”
       Genocide, war crimes, kleptocracy, mass murder, institutional corruption, are out in the open now. The US govt. attitude is (read with Edward G Robinson 1940s Gangster accent) “don’t like it? too f-in bad, there’s nothing you can do about it, so you better get used to it, see!”

       The unhinged emperor even said publicly he doesn’t give a toss about the economic well-being of the US population. Was he being honest, or just a dementia moment?

       Reply ↓
       1. Samuel Conner May 18, 2026 at 2:36 pm

          Without meaning to exculpate the man, the “take DJT seriously, not literally” crowd may console itself that what he meant was that the problem of Iran’s nuclear program is more serious than the problem of economic hardship of USians. It does suggest a very tinny tin ear to not phrase things that way when given the opportunity, though.

          Granting that premise, I continue to wonder what DJT plans to do about the North Korean nuclear weapons program. As I understand it, we are still formally at war (active hostilities suspended, but no peace treaty) with North Korea, after all.

          Reply ↓
23. XXYY May 18, 2026 at 11:27 am

    The [nuclear] plant is key to the UAE’s energy needs, but is also central in its diversification efforts as it seeks to reduce the nation’s carbon footprint by providing clean energy to industries, businesses, homes and government facilities. Financial Times

    We will see how “clean” this nuclear energy is shortly after the reactor’s containment vessel is ruptured, it’s external power is interrupted, or it’s on-site spent fuel cooling ponds are bombed. I assume it will become another perpetual sacrifice zone, though likely no one will notice amidst the general destruction of the war.

    Amazing that the UAE didn’t put up a large solar power plant rather than another nuke. Amazing all the countries in this region aren’t doing it. Seems like they have the ideal climate.

    Reply ↓
    1. Henry Moon Pie May 18, 2026 at 12:22 pm

       I can understand how people trying to preserve GDP growth while reducing carbon emissions would advocate for nuclear power, but the strongest reason for avoiding that temptation seems to me to be that nuclear plants make excellent targets for enemies because of the horrific consequences of a containment breach. We’ve all watched with great concern as the Ukrainians targeted Zaporizhzhia. Now we see it in the ME. Nuke plants also make a great target for domestic terrorists/revolutionaries.

       In a age of rapidly escalating geopolitical tensions and increasing public alienation in the West, we don’t need to be building such juicy targets.

       Reply ↓
24. Bill Carson May 18, 2026 at 12:22 pm

    More Oil & Gas Anecdata:

    Saturday morning, I bought 3 more 5qt jugs of motor oil at a different Walmart than I bought them at last Thursday. This was mid-morning on a Saturday, and the oil shelves were well-stocked and I didn’t have to remove any anti-theft devices this time. (Nicer neighborhood than the previous purchase.) I was also able to pick up one oil filter.

    Gas prices continue to rise. My local Sam’s Club is selling regular unleaded for $4.299 (up 40 cents in 6 days) and premium for 4.959 (up a dollar in the past month). These prices have fluctuated somewhat, but are not coming down. It costs me more per mile to drive my Subaru with regular unleaded today than it cost to drive my big SUV with premium unleaded two months ago.

    As a side note, you’d be surprised how much variation in price there is among different Sam’s Clubs. The one closest to my house is eleven cents cheaper per gallon than the only other Sam’s Club in town, and twenty-five cents cheaper than the next closest city. Sometimes the price differences are larger than that, even when gas was relatively cheap.

    Reply ↓
25. JonnyJames May 18, 2026 at 12:35 pm

    Great post as usual, and the Lego vid is brilliant. One can get more accurate info from the Lego vids than on the US/UK and EU media…

    “…not sure how Iran achieves that ex the elimination of Israel as a Zionist state, since the US and Israel could be forced to abandon active war operations but persist in terrorism…

    Despite what many in the west think, Israel is viewed by many in West Asia as a neo-Crusader State that is not sustainable. At the current trajectory, Israel will not last nearly as long as the old Crusader States, but unless “hot war” resumes, and Israel is destroyed, the US will continue to support the imperial garrison state. And the US/UK/Israeli Axis of Evil will continue to terrorize and murder… As Michael Hudson has said for years: “The US is willing to fight until the last Israeli, and the last Ukrainian”. And as Yves notes, a large majority of the Israeli population supports Total Destruction.

    This all touches the arguments on who calls the shots in US foreign policy. I would say there are many convergent interests at play: the US Tech Bro Oligarchy supports Israel and profits from US policy, the MICIMATT clearly benefits, BigOil seems to be making record profits, BigFinance also appears to be fully in support of US foreign policy.

    The unhinged, racist, genocidal Israelis are the ones on the front line, we in the US are splendidly isolated.

    To be crude: since Congress (and the current regime) is openly bribed by the oligarchy, the corruption results in the US acting against the interests of the population, while acting in the interests of oligarchy. No matter how we define “national interest”, the interests of the bribe-masters always prevail. Most folks find it too disturbing to admit that our problems cannot be simply blamed on Israel or the Lobby – the basic fact that our institutions of power are openly corrupt and bribed in general terms, is usually ignored. The underlying assumption that the US is somehow a functioning constitutional republic, that obeys its own laws, is still prevalent.

    As far as Ukraine and Israel preventing the end of the wars: to split hairs, I don’t think that is the case. Simply put, the US will continue the long-established foreign policy path to try to “pry Ukraine away from Russia” (1997 Zbig B.) and eliminate Iran as a challenge to US primacy. Much of this policy really has little to do with Israel, and much to do with attempting to damage Chinese interests. Of course that bit is backfiring, but as usual, a hubris-drunk, desperate, and declining empire will engage in reckless behavior and likely bring the world to disaster. The US appears to be the one with the Samson Option

    Reply ↓
    1. Safety First May 18, 2026 at 2:02 pm

       Comment 1 – technically, a classical republic is a special form of oligarchy. Except instead of “10 wealthy families” it’s “all wealthy families as a class”. This is pretty much what the founding fathers were going for, and got to.

       The last 150 years or so was a game of – how do you introduce universal suffrage to a republic, while still maintaining its oligarchical nature. For all of them, not just in the US. Solutions are multifarious, but there is a reason why, in the US, for a long time, “90% of policies benefit the top 10%” is a working principle.

       Comment 2 – re: tail wagging dog, or dog wagging tail. I think the solution that incorporates both views is that Washington is not a monolith. It has tribes, it has power centers, it has different stakeholders. Ditto the oligarchy, I mean, 902 billionaires in the US as of last year. That’s Roman Senate-esque in terms of getting them to agree on a single policy priority.

       The overall direction viz. Iran since 1979 has been – we want takesies-backsies, we want our oil. How you get there, and where this ranks in terms of prioritiez vs. China and so on, is the difference between the tribes. Similarly with Russia – the overall direction since 2000-2001 has been regime change to go back to where Russia is one or a collection of puppet states, as in the 1990s. But how and when you get there is the issue.

       Ukraine and Israel play, whether they realize it or not, within this “feudal fractiousness”. In other words, when Zelensky “defies” Trump, he is not “defying” the US – he is playing to that part of Washington which believes that Trumps come and go, but Ukraine as a US battering ram will remain. If a critical mass of Washingtonians were to decide to cut a (temporary) deal with the Russians, Ukraine would have neither choice nor agency, because Starlink, sat- and AWACS-intel, money. We’ve just seen this happen with the May 9 ceasefire, and I have to believe that it wasn’t just Trump, but rather the generals in Rammstein who said – let’s not poke the bear TOO much quite yet.

       Similarly with Israel. Yes, the Israeli lobby is a thing – just yesterday, Politico ran a big story on how AIPAC and friends are messing in the Massie primary in Kentucky, we’re talking eight figure spending in a who-the-hell-cares congressional district – and yes, Israel-is-our-unsinkable-carrier is still a Washington view, especially among the old guard. But Bibi (or the next guy) and Zelensky (or the next guy) basically play only within the space that this Washington fractiousness affords them. That is the extent of their “agency”, enabled further, in my view, by the fact that in the past decade or so Washington’s competence in controlling its vassals and puppet states has really gone downhill, I don’t know if it’s the old guard going senile or the young guard becoming increasingly PMC-moronic.

       But the overall policy directions remain. And eventually even Israel may well end up being tossed aside when a critical mass of stakeholders in Washington decides that, within the context of multi-decade strategic priorities, supporting this or the next Bibi does not fit in the grand plan. [Though I’m guessing they’d first try a Bennet as a more “deal-capable” replacement.]

       So on the whole, yes, I disagree with the notion that “Ukraine has not agreed to a deal because it has agency”, but I also stipulate that it does have limited ability to yap on its own to the extent that enough people in Washington enable it so to do, whether knowingly, or simply because they’ve forgotten how to run an empire properly. Incidentally, I’ve just ordered the new book on the Diem-Thieu changeover in South Vietnam, “Kennedy’s Coup” by Jack Cheevers, should be interesting to compare the then to the now.

       Reply ↓
       1. hk May 18, 2026 at 6:23 pm

          By this token, though, no one really has “agency.”

          None of the many tribes in Washington is autonomous and self sufficient. Subsets of them have to cut deals and cooperate among themselves to function–and sometimes, these coalitions have been very weird.

          When Washington politics “worked,” at least within reason, there were “leaders” who could manage the workings wuthin and between these alliances. As PK and I discussed the other day, institutions nominally tasked to serve incompatible and contradictory goals, but in fact functioned as “effective” talking shops where these incompatible goals could be discussed behind the scenes were an important part of managing them.

          These things seem rather quaint now, as we have decided that “politics” is obsolete and getting “results” (for “our” side) is all that matters. So “administration” is all that matters now…

          Reply ↓
26. Anthony Martin May 18, 2026 at 12:37 pm

    IMO, Iran’s opertional strategy is to cause the collapse of the Trump Admiinistration. It’s tools are inflation and the cost of gas, which over time will negatively affect the people of the US both economically and psychically.
    As Trump goes, so goes Netanyahu. The counter strategy would be to take steps which reduce inflation and the cost of gas. The mathematics favor the opponent that can endure pain the best. Note: In the US, self esteem and self value correlate to economic well being and status.

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni May 18, 2026 at 12:42 pm

       Imagine if the USA had gone from 5 Dollars = 1 Iranian Rial, to 1,500,000 Dollars needed to equal 1 Rial, over the last 47 years?

       Iran has done all the heavy lifting of living precariously on the financial edge, they’re battle tested.

       Reply ↓
27. Mikel May 18, 2026 at 12:39 pm

    “It is frustrating to see an otherwise informative analyst like Parsi continue to present negotiations as the endgame. There will be no negotiated settlement.”

    “Negotiations” are games being played to pacify financial markets.

    Reply ↓
    1. JCC May 18, 2026 at 2:38 pm

       Not to mention US retail investors.

       Reply ↓
28. Wukchumni May 18, 2026 at 12:54 pm

    There was a crooked man, and he talked a crooked style,
    He founded a crooked cryptocurrency and made a crooked pile;
    He fought a crooked war which cornered him like a crooked mouse,
    And they all lived together in a crooked White House.

    Reply ↓
    1. Dingleberry May 18, 2026 at 1:54 pm

       This mouse likes! 🐭

       Reply ↓
    2. ChrisFromGA May 18, 2026 at 5:34 pm

       Reminds me of my favorite line from the Grinch song:

       “you’re a crooked dirty jockey, and you ride a crooked hoss, Mr. Trump!”

       Reply ↓
29. ACF May 18, 2026 at 1:01 pm

    Pakistani troops and warplanes sent to Saudi Arabia.

    To fight UAE? Iran? Defend itself? Deterrence, since Iran and Pakistan are playing nice? Something else?

    Not a homework assignment

    Reply ↓
    1. lyman alpha blob May 18, 2026 at 1:36 pm

       Good question. Here’s an excellent and detailed piece from Drop Site discussing the current state of affairs in Pakistan – From Mutual Suspicion to Political Embrace: How the U.S. Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Pakistan.

       The article goes through Imran Kahn’s downfall at the behest of the Biden administration (they thought he was a Pakistani populist Trump clone – that, and he refused US demands) and the rise of Asim Munir as the top ranking military official who has now put all of Pakistan’s nukes under his personal control (!). Munir comes off as a Trump bootlicker, which is what has allowed Pakistan to become the main negotiator with Iran, something the article portrays as not a well deserved position given their overall US bias. Definitely worth reading in full to try to understand the motivations of all involved.

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    2. Dingleberry May 18, 2026 at 1:52 pm

       It’s not a bad deal for all parties involved.
       Iran gets to park their airplanes in relative safety and gets a land corridor via Pakistan.
       Pakistan gets much needed oil & gas from Iran and money from Saudi to prop up their economy and military.
       Saudi gets deterrence to an extent as the Iranians would find it less diplomatically perilous to attack UAE.

       Iran retains the option to damage the pipeline going to Yanbu port and can call on Yemen to block the Red Sea shipping route, so their overall deterrence against the GCC puppet kingdoms remain intact.

       Reply ↓
30. Ann May 18, 2026 at 1:31 pm

    Nearly half of Americans anxious about finances amid frustrations with Trump’s handle on economy: Poll

    https://thehill.com/business/5882571-poll-trump-economy-frustrations/

    Iran discussing bounty for Trump and Netanyahu

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/05/18/iran-parliament-bounty-trump-netanyahu-war-assassination/

    Russian drone hits Chinese ship off Ukraine before Putin meets Xi Jinping

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/18/russian-drone-hits-chinese-ship-off-ukraine-before-putin-visits-xi-jinping

    U.S. says it’s pausing long-standing military board with Canada

    https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/us-says-its-pausing-long-standing-military-board-with-canada/

    64 percent say Trump made wrong decision in going to war with Iran: Survey

    https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/5882762-donald-trump-iran-war-poll/

    Democrats on the brink of war powers breakthrough

    https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5880849-congress-iran-war-resolution-trump/

    Cuba warns U.S. military action would cause ‘bloodbath’ after drone report

    https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/cuba-warns-us-military-action-would-cause-bloodbath-after-drone-report-2026-05-18/

    IRGC-linked propaganda posts targeted across platforms, Europol says

    https://www.iranintl.com/en/202605184865

    Trump administration ousts top NIH infectious disease leaders

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-administration-ousts-top-nih-infectious-disease-leaders/

    Reply ↓
    1. dt1964 May 18, 2026 at 2:44 pm

       Re: ‘ U.S. says it’s pausing long-standing military board with Canada’
       The expert quoted in the article is right. The US is ‘shooting itself in the foot’. Far from encouraging purchase of F35 fighter jets, all the more reason to go with the Swedish Gripen instead (as has Brazil).

       Reply ↓
    2. Julie May 18, 2026 at 5:49 pm

       What are the chances that the WH is actually encouraging the vote on War powers to go against him behind the scenes? It would be a way out. Can’t win because the Dems stopped him just before certain victory!

       Reply ↓
31. Amir May 18, 2026 at 1:44 pm

    “It is frustrating to see an otherwise informative analyst like Parsi continue to present negotiations as the endgame. There will be no negotiated settlement. — T. Parsi appears frozen in time, stuck in the days of the JCPOA. Amazing how I regularly find wiser perspectives and analysis from indies (like Naked Capitalism) than from think tankers like Parsi who do this for a living.

    Reply ↓
    1. marku52 May 18, 2026 at 4:12 pm

       I’m reading “Going to Tehran” It’s a great book, written over 10 years ago, but eerily prescient.

       They regard Parsi (at that time) as a pretty clueless Iranian Ex pat, with the usual biases and blind spots

       Reply ↓
       1. hk May 18, 2026 at 6:33 pm

          Pretty much a requirement: if you are X, you can’t defy the mainstream’s (mostly clueless white or white washed people who think they know lots) preconceptions about X and get through. As the great Asian American novelist (tongue in cheek) John Steinbeck said, via one of his characters, you have to speak pidgin to be understood at all. You cannot get an insightful analysis of Iran (or any other country–including, ironically, much of United States itself) from any Iranian American–unless you count Prof Marandi as an American (technically true…but mostly because, I assume, giving up American citizenship from birth is hard.)

          Reply ↓
32. Ann May 18, 2026 at 2:02 pm

    India to keep buying Russian oil despite US waiver expiry

    https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/business/commodities/story/india-buying-russian-oil-despite-us-sanctions-waiver-crude-oil-prices-govt-official-sujata-sharma-2913453-2026-05-18

    Israeli Navy begins to intercept vessels in Gaza-bound flotilla off Cyprus coast

    https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-navy-begins-to-intercept-vessels-in-gaza-bound-flotilla-off-cyprus-coast/

    Xi knows the US is 50% down on its arms stockpile. He’s banking on it.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/17/us/politics/taiwan-china-us-arms-deal.html

    South Korean judge who hiked ex-first lady’s jail sentence found dead just 8 days after sentencing

    https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/05/06/asia-pacific/crime-legal/south-korea-judge-dead/

    US weighs secure AI base in Israel’s Negev to counter China – report

    https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-896545

    Russia, America, and the Gulf Are All Bidding for India’s $52B Oil

    https://www.ebc.com/forex/russia-america-and-the-gulf-are-all-bidding-for-indias-52b-oil

    Belarus, which hosts Russian nuclear weapons, said on Monday its armed forces had begun training on how to deploy them in the field

    https://tvpworld.com/93311309/belarus-tests-militarys-readiness-to-deploy-nuclear-weapons

    China denounces Taiwan foreign minister’s Switzerland visit amid WHO meeting

    https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-denounces-taiwan-foreign-ministers-switzerland-visit-amid-who-meeting-2026-05-18/

    Israel’s defense groups are becoming Europe’s industrial partners

    https://allisraelnews.com/israels-defense-groups-are-becoming-europes-industrial-partners

    Russia Resumes Military Cargo Shipments to Syria for First Time Since Assad’s Ouster

    https://www.kyivpost.com/post/76265

    Turkey and Armenia to restart direct trade, Ankara says

    https://www.euronews.com/business/2026/05/13/turkey-removes-a-restriction-on-direct-trade-with-armenia-to-improve-ties

    Reply ↓
33. Ignacio May 18, 2026 at 2:20 pm

    Having no good options left to do anything meaningful we can hope that at some point, someone in Trump’s administration might realise that in this case doing nothing is the best option. At least stockpiles of missiles aren’t reduced further and the life of many are saved on both sides. The US should not risk Iranian retaliation in the Middle East. This has been discussed and exposed in this excellent post with clarity. Resuming attacks on Iran would be a(nother) show of impotence and stupidity by this administration. IMO, no PR effort will manage to change this fact.

    Reply ↓
34. Jason Boxman May 18, 2026 at 3:11 pm

    Does anyone even listen to this guy anymore?

    Trump says he’s postponing ‘scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow’ at Middle East leaders’ request (CNBC)

    He doesn’t attack when the market is open. There was never going to be any attack tomorrow.

    Reply ↓
    1. Wukchumni May 18, 2026 at 3:47 pm

       As it turns out, time wasn’t of the essence.

       Reply ↓
    2. Lefty Godot May 18, 2026 at 5:29 pm

       Yeah, 4:00 PM EDT on Friday the fireworks will start, amirite? Iran will be completely caught off guard, no doubt. Who coulda guessed??

       Reply ↓
    3. ChrisPacific May 18, 2026 at 5:59 pm

       Does anybody find it at all credible that the Middle Eastern leaders have been engaging in back-channel negotiations with Iran, and have managed to secure terms that Iran has repeatedly and publicly rejected? Anyone? Bueller?

       This is very reminiscent of the NATO countries meeting with Ukraine to negotiate an end to the war and not inviting Russia.

       Reply ↓
    4. Sibiriak May 18, 2026 at 8:41 pm

       Trump’s surprising announcement to postpone Iran attack on Gulf leaders’ request | Janta Ka Reporter

       Trump is just so unpredictable!

       Reply ↓
    5. Sibiriak May 18, 2026 at 9:11 pm

       Trita Parsi on Trump’s latest reversal

       “… I think a lot of people have seen of course the post in which he says that the UEI Saudi Emirates asked him not to attack and as a result he’s pulling back etc. And obviously that’s very important. We should, you know, analyze that.

       But it’s also very important to take a look at the tweet or the post that he had an hour or so before in which he at first it looks as if he was calling for Iran’s complete capitulation and their navies at the bottom of the sea, etc., etc., which again, if that is really what his message was, would be devastating. It would mean that he is really going for war. It would be a tweet that would, you know, disrupt whatever negotiations were taking place.

       But when you read the full tweet and it’s like one long sentence that is an entire paragraph, you realize actually that’s not what he’s doing. He’s saying that even if all of that was achieved, the mainstream media, New York Times, would never say that he won. Instead, they would say that Iran won. And I think that is reflective of the fact that he’s frustrated that he’s not going to be able to get the type of a win that he wants. But he’s also trying to say to everyone, I am going to get that win, but don’t trust the media when they say that Iran won because they will say that Iran won regardless of what the reality is.

       That’s the kind of a tweet you’re going to say put forward when you’re about to actually back off from a very significant milestone that you had put forward for the negotiations. And in order to protect yourself from saying that, you know, this is a failure, he’s now discrediting the voices preemptively of those who are going to come out and criticize him and say that this is a failure because you didn’t achieve XYZ that you had said that you would do. That’s how I would read it.

       And then suddenly, you know, an hour or two hours later, you had this other tweet saying that he’s going to stop. He’s not going to go to war despite the fact that he was very close. The Emirates, the Saudis, and the Qataris asked him not to. So out of respect for them, which is like a face saving way out for him, he’s going to avoid doing so. And then he hints that there’s been some progress in the negotiations.

       And then he says that the key thing, of course, is that Iran doesn’t get any nuclear weapons. That’s the only criteria he puts forward. He doesn’t say anything about the stockpile, doesn’t say anything about enrichment, only no nuclear weapon. And that may prove to be absolutely crucial because that was the original red line that he had uh a year and a half ago. And had he stuck with that red line and not shifted to the Israeli red line of no enrichment, then there wouldn’t have been a war back in the summer in the first place and negotiations actually could have succeeded already back then.

       So to me, it does look as if he’s starting to pave the way, not for a TACO, but for some sort of a deal, and he wants to make sure that it is not judged as a failure, but is judged as a a victory for him. So he’s preemptively discrediting those he knows will call it a failure”” […]

       Reply ↓
    6. Mikel May 18, 2026 at 10:37 pm

       They never start another series of tit for tat when the market is open.

       It’s heavy bombing on weekend and “talks” or “negotiations” announced before Monday open, even if some firing back and forth continues.
       Still too many willing partners in this game.

       Reply ↓
35. Jaduong May 18, 2026 at 3:39 pm

    Kenya has one of the shortest supply lines to Gulf….

    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2p0n44drvo

    Reply ↓
36. Ann May 18, 2026 at 5:49 pm

    A humanitarian aid ship from Mexico docks in Havana as US-Cuba tensions escalate

    https://apnews.com/article/cuba-aid-ship-mexico-uruguay-havana-us-tensions-44f04d853c28504fa4bae040652d9803

    IEA chief warns commercial oil inventories are depleting rapidly, only weeks left

    https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iea-chief-birol-commercial-oil-inventories-depleting-rapidly-only-weeks-left-2026-05-18/

    Reply ↓
37. johnnyme May 18, 2026 at 6:38 pm

    Putin and Xi to adopt declaration on multipolar world during Beijing visit, Kremlin aide says

    Putin and Xi are also expected to adopt a joint declaration on the formation of a multipolar world order and a new type of international relations, as well as a separate joint statement on further strengthening comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation.

    “This is a kind of policy document; it is quite substantial, I would say — 47 pages. It outlines the main avenues for the development of the entire complex of our multifaceted bilateral relations, a clear common vision of pressing issues on the global agenda, and the key formats for interaction in global affairs,” [aide on international affairs Yury Ushakov] explained.

    Reply ↓
    1. nyleta May 18, 2026 at 6:50 pm

       Power of Siberia 2 will tell the story……details to be worked out at this meeting. This is a real long term commitment not nice sounding words. Will cut out Europe for good.

       Reply ↓
38. johnnyme May 18, 2026 at 7:15 pm

    President’s sister among 11 Irish people detained by Israel after Gaza aid boats intercepted

    Karen Moynihan, a spokeswoman for the Irish delegation on the flotilla, said the detained Irish people included President Catherine Connolly’s sister Dr Margaret Connolly, a Sligo GP.

    Kearns spoke to RTÉ’s Liveline shortly before she was detained on Monday afternoon. She said the group intended to begin a hunger strike once they were detained.

    “We’re refusing water and food when they take us. I don’t care how long they take us for,” she said.

    Reply ↓