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AI Content Is Swamping The Internet: How It Impacts Critical Thinking

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AI Content Is Swamping The Internet: How It Impacts Critical Thinking

Authored by Autumn Spredemann via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A never-ending flood of content generated by artificial intelligence is reshaping the internet and the way people engage with information faster than ever.

Illustration by The Epoch Times, Freepik

From news summaries to social media posts to academic research, the sheer volume of machine-assisted materials has been correlated with a spike in “cognitive offloading” – a phenomenon in which people outsource critical thinking and verification to automated systems.

A 2025 analysis of how AI tools affect cognitive offloading showed a “significant negative correlation” between frequent use of AI tools and the ability to think critically in people across age groups and educational backgrounds. The researchers at the SBS Swiss Business School found that younger age groups exhibited a higher amount of dependence on AI models and lower critical thinking scores.

What’s more troubling is a Pangram/YouGov study in May that found only 55 percent of participants, all of whom were Gen Zers aged 18 to 28, were able to identify fake or misleading AI-generated material. That number is lower in older age groups, which means half or fewer of adults over the age of 28 were confident in their ability to spot AI content online.

“AI-generated posts and comments can distort public perception, especially when volume is mistaken for credibility,” Javi Pérez, an editor of AI-assisted consumer education websites, told The Epoch Times.

“If a user sees dozens of similar posts about a product, trend, political claim, health issue, or financial topic, they may assume there is broad agreement.”

‘Confident Sameness’

Pérez said consumers need to beware as AI content increases the volume of what he called “confident sameness” online.

“Many articles and posts now repeat similar structures, similar advice, and similar phrasing. For casual readers, this can create the impression that a topic has more consensus or certainty than it really does, because they keep seeing the same ideas repeated across many sources,” Pérez said.

“The risk is that people stop knowing which content has been checked. In fields like finance, health, law, education, or news, readers need to know whether claims were reviewed against primary sources, updated recently, and edited by someone accountable.”

AI strategy consultant Armand Cucciniello III told The Epoch Times that AI-generated content is changing not only how we consume information, but also how quickly we process and trust it.

“We’re moving from deliberate reading toward rapid skimming of polished summaries, commentary, short-form videos, and AI-assisted content designed for speed and engagement,” he said.

As someone who has worked in the “U.S. national security landscape,” Cucciniello said one of his biggest concerns is that AI systems “can unintentionally amplify large volumes of inaccurate or deliberately manipulated content simply through repetition and scale.”

He also believes the high volume of AI-generated content is creating real pressure on public trust.

“When readers encounter nearly identical phrasing or interpretations across multiple sources, it’s natural to question whether the information was independently reported or simply repackaged,” he said.

Carl Stroud, a public relations expert and chief storyteller at the Smoking Gun Agency, has also witnessed AI content take a toll on the public.

“The fundamental audience need has not changed: People want to trust what they are reading,” Stroud told The Epoch Times. “What has changed is how much harder that judgment has become.

“AI-generated content, aggregation, and low-quality slop have made the information environment noisier, flatter, and more confusing, so audiences are now trying to work out whether they are reading original reporting, rehashed content, or something that should never have been published in the first place.”

Beyond social media and academia, few industries have been hit as hard with AI-generated misinformation as the news. Stroud, who has spent two decades within UK media circles, editing, and journalism, said he’s seeing the AI content churn create fatigue among readers searching for accurate information.

“Fatigue is dangerous because when people feel overwhelmed, they either disengage or become easier to mislead,” he said.

Losing Touch

Ashutosh Khulbe, founder of RawPickAI, tests AI tools for a living – about three to four new ones every week.

“What I notice most in my corner of the internet is that everything sounds the same now. Like, eerily the same,” he told The Epoch Times. “I’d guess 70 to 80 [percent] of ‘best AI tools’ articles are AI-generated at this point.

“It creates this weird feedback loop where AI writes reviews based on what other AI already wrote, readers assume there’s a consensus, and the actual experience of using these tools gets buried.”

He said he tested one writing tool that had hundreds of positive reviews online yet was unusable at the free tier. “You couldn’t even finish a paragraph before hitting the limit. But good luck finding that info in a Google search,” he said.

Khulbe is especially bothered by the way information distortion is affecting the public.

“AI content skews relentlessly positive because it’s trained on marketing pages and affiliate reviews. Nobody’s training models on ‘I tried this for two weeks, and it sucked.’ So the negative signal just disappears from the internet,” he said.

The effects of the AI content boom can now be seen in what some are calling “AI psychosis,” or a disconnect from reality. While not a clinical diagnosis, the term has become a popular catch-all phrase to describe when AI reinforces an unusual, fixed, or even delusional perception of something in the real world.

People with mental health conditions could be predisposed to developing “AI psychosis,” but it’s also not limited to that population, according to Dr. Ragy Girgis, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

“The phenomenon of AI psychosis is quantitatively new and could be very dangerous, but qualitatively it’s very similar to what’s been happening for decades now since the advent of the internet,” Girgis said during an interview with the National Academy of Medicine in March.

This photo illustration shows a person holding two mobile phones displaying viral AI-generated videos of students and an elderly woman sharing views on the impeachment of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte in Hong Kong on June 20, 2025. Days after the Philippine Senate declined to launch the impeachment trial, the two videos arguing for and against the move went viral. Yan Zhao/AFP via Getty Images

Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/23/2026 – 15:10

‘Impossible To Negotiate With Ukraine’ After School Dormitory Strike, Kremlin Informs UN

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‘Impossible To Negotiate With Ukraine’ After School Dormitory Strike, Kremlin Informs UN

The last year of the Ukraine war has been marked by both warring sides remaining far from the negotiating table, instead opting for a battlefield solution, also as a deadly tit-for-tat drone and aerial war continues to unfold. This week things just got even worse concerning the distant prospect of restarting direct peace talks, something underscored by a fresh statement of Russia’s Ambassador to the United Nations.

Russia’s UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said Friday after a massive Ukrainian drone attack on a college in Starobelsk (Starobilsk) in the Lugansk People’s Republic that it’s now impossible to negotiate with Kiev.

via BBC Hardtalk 

“This clearly confirms the treachery and non-negotiability of Kiev, which, with the encouragement of its Western sponsors, is not only not committed to a peaceful settlement, but also openly sabotages it,” Nebenzia told a meeting of the UN Security Council.

“This deliberate attack on a civilian facility where children study and live, carried out at night when the dormitory was full, was clearly carried out with the aim of maximizing the number of victims,” the Russian envoy continued.

The death toll from the Thursday overnight into early Friday hours attack has risen to at least 18, amid a massive rescue effort which went through Friday. At least 39 were initially reported injured.

Large-scale destruction was observed at the academic building and dormitory of the Starobelsk Professional College, which teaches students aged 14 to 18. Over 80 students were at the complex at the time of the attack.

Additionally, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said those responsible needed to be brought to justice, calling it “a monstrous crime” – given the “attack on an educational institution where children and young people ⁠are present.”

The assault also included multiple strikes and drones, ruling out the possibility of an ‘accidental’ targeting, Amb. Nebenzia continued in his remarks. He further blasted Ukraine’s western backers.

“Such strikes using long-range weapons provided to the Kiev regime by NATO countries, including drones, are being carried out with technical assistance being provided by foreign specialists from well-known NATO states,” Nebenzia added.

State media also underscored that “He argued that the attack demonstrates that negotiations with the current Ukrainian leadership are impossible.”

President Putin had on blasted the mass casualty incident as a “terrorist attack by the neo-Nazi regime” while vowing swift revenge. He has reportedly asked for input from the Defense Ministry, meaning that plans are in motion for a likely imminent, heavy aerial assault on Ukraine.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/23/2026 – 14:35

“Preserve All Records”: DOJ Puts Democrat-Run Maryland On Notice In Election Integrity Probe

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“Preserve All Records”: DOJ Puts Democrat-Run Maryland On Notice In Election Integrity Probe

Submitted by Maryland Freedom Caucus, 

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon announced on X last night that she has ordered Maryland’s State Board of Elections to preserve their records concerning the utter debacle of mail-in ballots during the state’s primary election season.

“It’s the wrong time to send voters the wrong ballots. This @TheJusticeDept’s @CivilRights will not let Maryland’s mail-in ballot mistakes go unnoticed!” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon.

This update comes just one week after SBE was forced to admit that its third-party, out-of-state vendor mailed half a million or more ballots to the wrong primary voters. 

President Trump himself called for a federal investigation into this breach of trust with Maryland voters…

… immediately after the Maryland Freedom Caucus had suggested the same:

The Maryland Freedom Caucus has been on the front lines of election integrity since our formation, placing Voter ID, citizen-only voting, and in-person voting at the center of our legislative platform. This past year, our landmark legislation, the Secure the Vote Act of 2026, did not even receive a vote in committee. To date, no other legislative group – Republican or otherwise – has called for the intervention of the Justice Department in oversight of Maryland’s elections.

But Maryland voters need not despair, because together with our grassroots partners, Secure the Vote MD, we have been pushing for reform in the court of public opinion and it is working. With AAG Dhillon’s announcement last night, the oversight of Maryland’s elections we have been calling for since last fall may soon come to pass.

“AAG Harmeet Dhillon is exactly right. Voters receiving the wrong ballots isn’t a harmless mix-up; it is the kind of sloppiness that shatters confidence in our elections at the worst possible time. Mass mailing of ballots has always been a bad idea. It compromises the chain of custody on a large scale, and this isn’t the first time Maryland has dropped the ball on issuing ballots,” said Maryland Freedom Caucus Chair, Matt Morgan.

Morgan added, “Thank you for making sure the DOJ Civil Rights Division holds Maryland accountable. Common sense tells us fair elections demand accuracy, not excuses. Integrity first.”

“565,639 Maryland voters were failed by the very system entrusted to protect their vote. We are grateful that Harmeet Dhillon and the Department of Justice are paying attention — because clearly, Maryland’s State Board of Elections is not. SecuretheVoteMD will not stop until every one of those voters be has a guaranteed path to a clean, counted ballot,” said Kate Sullivan, president of SecuretheVoteMD, the state’s citizen watchdog group. 

Delegate Lauren Arikan, a founding member of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, thanked President Trump on X last night for following through on his promise to investigate what went wrong with Maryland’s no-excuse mail-in ballots this year:

“The Trump administration is once again walking towards the fire, even in a state that most Republicans would consider a lost cause. President Trump is going to Make Voting Great Again,” Arikan noted. 

Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/23/2026 – 14:00

Nvidia CEO Urges Super Micro To “Enhance Compliance” Amid AI Chip-Smuggling Probe

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Nvidia CEO Urges Super Micro To “Enhance Compliance” Amid AI Chip-Smuggling Probe

In a rare public comment that Nvidia is growing more sensitive to downstream risk, CEO Jensen Huang was quoted by Bloomberg News as saying Super Micro Computer must strengthen internal compliance controls after Taiwanese authorities detained three people accused of smuggling banned AI chips to China.  

“Ultimately, Super Micro has to run its own company,” Huang told reporters on Saturday in response to the chip smuggling scheme. “I hope that they will enhance and improve their regulation compliance and avoid that from happening in the future.”

The U.S.-based server and data-center hardware company primarily builds high-performance servers, storage systems, networking gear, and complete AI/data-center racks for various customers, but most importantly for those working on edge computing and artificial intelligence workloads.

Huang said Nvidia is “rigorously” explaining the complex regulatory environment to all its partners to avert further downstream diversion risk.

Huang’s comments stem from federal prosecutors charging the co-founder of Super Micro and two associates with participating in a scheme to divert roughly $2.5 billion in Nvidia AI accelerators to China.

How the Alleged Scheme Worked:

  • The group used a company in Southeast Asia as a front buyer to place huge orders with a California-based U.S. manufacturer.
  • Once the servers arrived in Southeast Asia, they were quickly repackaged and secretly shipped to customers in China through a network of brokers.

Related:

Our view is that Huang’s comments suggest he is trying to insulate Nvidia from a widening chip-smuggling investigation while preserving access to highly scrutinized international markets.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/23/2026 – 13:25

When Unfairness Is Systemic, The Consequences Are Flight, Resistance, Revolt

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When Unfairness Is Systemic, The Consequences Are Flight, Resistance, Revolt

Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog,

Now that we’ve drained the aquifers of a stable society, the replacement form of “wealth” is a delusional credit-asset bubble that generates the illusion of “wealth.”

Let’s weave together two threads that look different: systemic unfairness and civilizational psychosis. As I often note, social species that organize themselves into hierarchies (i.e. primates, including humans) have an innate sensitivity to fairness, as this trait is essential to maintaining social stability, and therefore it has been selected as advantageous.

This sensitivity applies both to individual instances of unfairness / injustice and to systemic unfairness / injustice. If there is no redress when an individual is treated unfairly or abused, the social order is weakened. This is why early civilizations instituted legal codes and systems of redress as they expanded into nations / empires that needed bureaucracies to organize, manage and enforce the rules and responsibilities of every class.

If the mechanisms of redress have become empty shams, then the unfairness is systemic: it isn’t just some individuals who have been treated unfairly–everyone is being exploited and treated differently from what the system claims is the operative set of values and rules.

When there’s an external source of wealth to be exploited, the leadership has the luxury of becoming extractive and oppressive, because they have a source of wealth that’s external to their own populace. Consider the progression from a society of systemic fairness to a society of systemic unfairness.

Consider a fledgling nation that was a society with high levels of social trust and cohesion generated by a dutiful leadership, social mobility and a system in which social pressures meant members of each social class had to respect the same set of social rules.

This structure is the essential foundation of a functional society and economy, for if the resident populace is immiserated by an unfair system, they respond by either fleeing the system (i.e. opting out or leaving), resisting the unfairness / exploitation or revolting against the status quo.

If the nation transitions into an expansionist empire, the leadership can jettison fairness / redress because it can extract wealth via conquest or exploiting new resources. The bureaucracy is co-opted / bought off via the spoils of conquest and corruption, and as the imperium expands, it has sufficient wealth to buy off the citizenry class with bread and circuses or equivalent largesse.

In other words, systemic unfairness–what we now call a rigged casino–is accepted as long as the key social classes feel they’re getting ahead. The Roman state / empire is an example of these dynamics, but there are many others.

As long as there’s enough external wealth flowing in to enable people to feel they’re still getting ahead, social decay is tolerated as “the cost of progress.” In other words, who needs fairness if I have a seat in the rigged casino?

But this structure is inherently unstable, both economically and socially. External sources of wealth / resources are eventually depleted, and the largesse diminishes asymmetrically: the wealthiest few at the top continue amassing fortunes, the bureaucrats are squeezed, and the lower classes are now being taxed to cover the decline of external wealth extraction.

The systemic unfairness that was tolerated is no longer tolerable once the majority are no longer getting ahead. This presents the leadership class reaping the lion’s share of the wealth extraction with a problem: how to persuade the masses that 1) they’re still getting ahead, even as they visibly lose ground, and 2) how to mask the systemic unfairness, i.e. the rigged casino that stripmines the many to benefit the few.

The leadership’s “solution” is civilizational psychosis: the founding mythology of the state–so inspirational and lofty–is heavily promoted, even as this mythology (super-abundance, democracy, etc.) no longer maps the real world.

This widening divide generates civilizational psychosis as the masses are corralled into a state of denial that temporarily eases their anxiety at the recognition they’re no longer getting ahead and the ladders of upward mobility have all crumbled.

This state of inspirational delusion enables denial to take a superficially plausible inspirational form: Rome is eternal, so we don’t have to do anything but await an automatic return to greatness, AI will make us all rich, technological Progress is inevitable and automatically solves all our problems, and so on.

We fervently believe these delusions because the alternative is too painful to bear. The system is rotten to the core, it’s all artifice masquerading as authenticity, and not only are we no longer getting ahead, there are no pathways left to get ahead other than gambling, selling our blood or delusional aspirations to become one of the tiny handful of newly minted Tech Bro millionaires.

There is an emotional progression that parallels the progression from a stable society of dynamic equilibrium to civilizational psychosis: denial breaks down into anger, a volatile state with uncertain outcomes, which eventually transitions to bargaining (please let the stock market go back up so I can exit without losses) which leads to depression (it’s all lost) which once processed can move to acceptance (oh well, time to start over).

Both denial and civilizational psychosis are inherently unstable as they’re self-liquidating. So denial will blossom into anger whether we “like” it or not.

Now that we’ve drained the aquifers of a stable society, the replacement form of “wealth” is a catastrophically delusional credit-asset bubble that generates the illusion of “wealth.” Since the top 10% managerial / entrepreneurial / professional class the leadership needs to run the empire own 90% of the bubbling assets, inflating a credit-asset bubble is a painless way of generating the illusion in this class that they’re still getting ahead.

Until the bubble pops, of course, and all bubbles pop, even when we insist they’re not bubbles.

Bubbles masquerading as “wealth” is a manifestation of civilizational psychosis, and so these asset bubbles are equally unstable and self-liquidating: they implode not as a result of some external influence but as an inevitable consequence of their internal structure / nature.

Once the system’s transition to a rigged casino becomes undeniable, denial cracks wide open and is replaced by anger. The responses to systemic unfairness are flight, resistance and revolt: dropping out, laying flat, let it rot, opting out, booing toadies worshiping the new gods of AI and eventually, manifestations of revolt as political, economic and social redress are suppressed as needless by a delusional leadership class that has embraced civilizational psychosis.

The price of believing their own PR will be higher than anyone thought possible.

*  *  *

My book Investing In Revolution is available at a 10% discount ($18 for the paperback, $24 for the hardcover and $8.95 for the ebook edition). Introduction (free)

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Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/23/2026 – 12:50

40,000 Evacuated In Southern California As Chemical Tank Threatens Leak Or Explosion

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40,000 Evacuated In Southern California As Chemical Tank Threatens Leak Or Explosion

Authored by Kimberley Hayek via The Epoch Times,

Roughly 40,000 people in Garden Grove, a Los Angeles suburb, were evacuated on Friday after a chemical storage tank was determined to be at risk of failing and spilling thousands of gallons of toxic material or exploding.

The malfunctioning tank holds methyl methacrylate, a flammable and volatile chemical used in plastics manufacturing for aerospace applications, igniting widespread worries over potential toxic vapor release.

The situation broke out Thursday, when the tank at a manufacturing facility started displaying signs of instability. By Friday, an update increased fears of an explosion, Orange County Fire Authority interim Chief TJ McGovern said.

On Friday, employees saw that the tank was bulging, a sign it was still “actively in crisis,” as one official described it.

The manufacturer said a valve had been damaged, preventing a controlled release.

Firefighters were working to cool the tanks with a mechanical device operated from a safe distance, stabilizing the temperature and buying critical time, officials said.

“I know I keep talking about we were handed this situation where there’s only two things that can happen: it could crack and leak, or it could blow up. That’s not acceptable to us,” Craig Covey, division chief of the Orange County Fire Authority, said in a video posted on social media.

Covey added in a later video, “I have an entire team actively working locally, regionally, across the state, and across the country, to try to figure out how to fix this.”

He said he is working to “get all these brilliant minds together to put a plan together, so that we don’t let this blow up.”

In an earlier announcement, Covey said the tank could fail and spill up to 7,000 gallons of toxic chemicals or explode and compromise neighboring tanks.

Garden Grove, which is home to 172,000 residents, is located approximately 30 miles south of Los Angeles. The evacuation zone affected neighborhoods in and around the city, and extends to nearby areas including parts of Anaheim, Cypress, Stanton, Buena Park, and Westminster.

Officials established three evacuation shelters in Garden Grove, Anaheim, and Cypress. Schools and roads in the affected areas were closed.

Garden Grove Police Chief Amir El-Farra said approximately 15 percent of those under evacuation orders were refusing to leave.

Health officials said that released vapor could prompt severe respiratory issues with prolonged exposure. Air quality monitors, however, had not detected any vapor as of Friday, said Dr. Regina Chinsio-Kwong of the Orange County Health Care Agency.

“You are safe as long as you are out of the zone that was determined to be an evacuation zone,” Chinsio-Kwong said.

Methyl methacrylate has a sharp, fruity odor. Some residents miles away reported smelling it amid the unfolding events.

The chemical is used in aerospace plastics manufacturing.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/23/2026 – 09:55

Trump Speaks With Qatar Emir As Pakistani-Led Iran Peace Push Intensifies

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Trump Speaks With Qatar Emir As Pakistani-Led Iran Peace Push Intensifies

US-Iran de-escalation hopes drove crude oil and rates lower and put a bid in equities by the end of Friday’s trading day, amid speculation that President Trump would stay at the White House over Memorial Day weekend instead of attending Donald Trump Jr. and Bettina Anderson’s wedding celebrations in the Bahamas.

“As Iran/oil/rates pressure eased on de-escalation hopes, leadership rotated toward small caps, equal weight, housing, transports, discretionary, and selective defensive growth, with short covering in high short-interest/profitless tech and consumer cyclicals reinforcing the catch-up trade,” UBS analyst Torsten Sippel wrote in a note to clients late Friday.

Early Saturday morning, Bloomberg reports that President Trump held a phone call with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, regarding Pakistani-led efforts to de-escalate Gulf tensions and preserve the fragile US-Iran ceasefire.

Iran’s top negotiator and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf met Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir in Tehran earlier today amid ongoing diplomatic efforts to bring the US and Iran to a peace deal, Reuters reported, citing Iranian state media.

Ghalibaf told Munir that Iran’s Armed Forces “have rebuilt themselves during the cease-fire in such a way that if Trump foolishly restarts the war, they will definitely be more crushing and bitter for the U.S. than on the first day of the war.”

The Iranian top negotiator also said, “We will not compromise on the rights of our nation and country.”

There was a series of headlines from Sky News Arabia, citing sources, indicating that a major push for regional diplomacy was underway earlier today, with officials from Iraq, Oman, Jordan, and Qatar working to mediate with Tehran to avert another flare-up in the conflict.

Sky News Arabia sources said Pakistan’s mediator helped break the deadlock over the Iranian nuclear file, though several major issues remain unresolved, including the conflict in Lebanon, sanctions on bank accounts, the status of Iranian ports, and the presence of U.S. military forces in the Gulf area.

Iran is reportedly demanding the lifting of restrictions on its ports and a U.S. military withdrawal from the region before reopening the Strait of Hormuz and entering a new round of talks within 30 days.

There is also a reported internal conflict between Iran’s government and the Revolutionary Guard over Tehran’s negotiating demands.

Latest negotiation headlines (via sources) from Sky News Arabia:

  • Iranian Foreign Ministry: Iraqi and the Omani Foreign Minister discuss in a phone call the ongoing diplomatic efforts to prevent escalation

  • The foreign ministers of Jordan and Qatar affirm the necessity of concerted efforts to ensure the success of mediation efforts with Iran to reach a sustainable solution that addresses all the roots of the crisis and prevents the renewal of escalation.

  • The Foreign Ministers of Jordan and Qatar affirm the continuation of coordination of efforts to support targeted mediation aimed at ending the escalation in the region and restoring security and stability.

  • Sources to Sky News Arabia: The Pakistani mediator has succeeded in overcoming the deadlock on the Iranian nuclear file.

  • Sources to Sky News Arabia: The issues that have not yet been resolved include stopping the war in Lebanon and lifting the ban on financial accounts.

  • Sources to Sky News Arabia: Iran demands the lifting of the siege on Iranian ports and the withdrawal of military forces from the region to open the Strait of Hormuz and proceed to a round of negotiations within a 30-day timeframe.

  • Sources to Sky News Arabia: There is a severe disagreement between the Iranian government and the Revolutionary Guard regarding Iran’s demands for negotiations.

Additional overnight headlines (courtesy of Bloomberg):

Economic Impact

  • The dollar ended the week nearly unchanged as risk assets got a boost from optimism around US-Iran peace talks [BN]
  • Germany’s business outlook improved for the first time since the Iran war began, with an expectations index rising to 83.8 in May [BN]
  • UK retail sales fell 1.3% as consumers made fewer car journeys amid the global energy shock from the Iran war [BN]
  • Qatar Airways will skip bonuses for almost 60,000 workers this year after the war forced cancellation of tens of thousands of flights [BN]

Military Readiness

  • The US halted arms sales to Taiwan to ensure sufficient munitions for the Iran war, according to Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao [BN]

  • Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard resigned from her post, with her anti-war views having spurred tension with the White House [BN]

Trade Disruption

  • Japan is set to receive its first Persian Gulf oil shipment to transit the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, with the Idemitsu Maru carrying 2 million barrels of Saudi crude [BN]

  • Anglo American is redirecting Brazilian iron ore output to Asia as the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz prevents shipments to Bahrain Steel [BN]

Polymarket Odds For US-Iran Peace Deal By …

US x Iran permanent peace deal by May 26, 2026?
Yes 8% · No 93%
View full market & trade on Polymarket

Charting Brent Crude

Friday’s US-Iran Wrap

Hormuz Chokepoint:

Chart of the Day (read UBS note): 

Fuel Shock Risks Begin Spilling Into Broader Economy

Professional subscribers can review the latest institutional reads on Iran, Hormuz, energy markets, and more at our new Marketdesk.ai portal.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/23/2026 – 09:20

Ukraine Uses High-Altitude Balloons To Extend Suicide Drone Strike Range

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Ukraine Uses High-Altitude Balloons To Extend Suicide Drone Strike Range

Ukrainian forces have borrowed a page from China’s hypersonic glide-weapon testing and applied it to the Eastern European theater, using one-way attack drones against Russia.

Instead of launching the Hornet strike drone from a ground-based catapult, Ukrainian operators tethered it to a high-altitude balloon, extending its range. 

Defense news website Defense Blog reports:

The test, details of which circulated through Ukrainian military channels, involved a Hornet manufactured by Perennial Autonomy being dropped from a balloon at approximately 8 kilometers altitude after the aerostat carried the drone 42 kilometers from its launch point.

The outlet said the new tactic would effectively double the Hornet’s range to 300 kilometers (about 186 miles).

Military observers have marveled at Ukraine’s rapid weapons innovation curve, particularly its use of “low-tech” solutions such as drones and interceptors. These have become so effective that the U.S. military and allied Gulf countries have begun procuring some of these weapons.

The Ukraine-Russia war has effectively become a weapons and AI laboratory, accelerating battlefield technology and bringing forward weapons that would otherwise have been seen in the 2030s.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/23/2026 – 08:45

Morocco Launches Mass Deportations To Block Europe Migration Route: EU’s ‘Externalization Strategy’

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Morocco Launches Mass Deportations To Block Europe Migration Route: EU’s ‘Externalization Strategy’

Via Middle East Eye

Since April 14, Morocco has been conducting large-scale deportation operations targeting sub-Saharan Africans migrating to Europe, reportedly arresting over 100 per day, local sources told Middle East Eye.

According to Moroccan human rights groups, around 800 people were detained during coordinated raids in the forests between Fnideq and Belyounech, in the northern tip of the North African state, where many were sheltering before attempting to reach Europe.

Tramway rail construction site in Morocco’s city of Casablanca, via AFP

The operation is still ongoing, with authorities then moving their focus to operations in and around Tangier. Witnesses have described mass arrests, beatings, racist abuse and forced transfers toward the Algerian border.

Sudanese and Chadian detainees were bused south and abandoned near border zones, while people from countries including Senegal, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Guinea were deported on flights departing Casablanca.

The crackdown comes as the European Union has intensified its cooperation with Morocco as part of its border externalization strategy, which is a key component of the bloc’s new Pact on Migration and Asylum set to take effect in June.

The EU increasingly outsources immigration enforcement to North African nations with poor human rights records, designating over €900 million within the bloc’s Global Europe development instrument to fund stricter migration control, border management and surveillance initiatives across the region.

“The EU wants to restrict people’s mobility as far down the route as possible – what officials describe as stopping migration downstream,” Frey Lindsay, a journalist on Statewatch’s Outsourcing Borders project, which tracks how the EU outsources migration control, told Middle East Eye. “It’s about exerting border control without getting your hands dirty, basically.”

Raids and expulsions

Morocco is a key transit country for sub-Saharan Africans en route to Europe. They sail across the Strait of Gibraltar or climb the towering razor wire fence that separates Morocco from Ceuta and Melilla, Spanish enclaves within the kingdom.

Over the years, Morocco has increased cooperation with Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, to prevent migrants from departing the North African coast. In 2025, Moroccan authorities thwarted 73,640 irregular migration attempts toward Europe, according to a report from the interior ministry, a slight decline from 2024 – attributed to alternative migration routes.

In recent weeks, Moroccan security forces have stepped up their role as Europe’s de facto border enforcer, carrying out regular raids on makeshift forest camps and key transit points used by people trying to reach Spain. Attacks on migrant camps have long been pervasive, but have escalated since April 14, with operations concentrated in the north of the country. People who are not deported are typically exiled to the south in an effort to disrupt migration routes.

“According to migrants we have been in contact with, they were subjected to various forms of humiliation, insults and mistreatment by authorities,” Chad Boukhari, a journalist and member of Border Resistance, a grassroots collective that supports migrants across the Mediterranean, told MEE.

Some were abandoned near the Algerian border without food or water, where they were detained by Algerian forces. “The Algerian army allegedly tortured many of them. Some individuals also found the bodies of other migrants in the desert,” Boukhari added.

In 2025, Algeria expelled more than 30,000 migrants to Niger, abandoning many “deportation convoys” in the Sahara desert. Testimonies of abuse, torture and enslavement have been reported. MEE contacted the Algerian, Moroccan and EU authorities for comment but had not received a reply by the time of publication.

Sub-Sahara Africans often reach Morocco by crossing the Sahel, the arid perilous land belt stretching across the continent. They typically cross through Niger into Algeria or via Mauritania to enter Morocco. Many of the countries along these routes are plagued by chronic instability and rank among the lowest on the Human Development Index.

Once in Morocco, migrants can spend months to years sleeping in the country’s dense, dry woodlands. Humanitarian groups tend to know the whereabouts of informal encampments and provide modest assistance, but even these efforts are often thwarted by authorities.

Since 2014, Human Rights Watch has documented repeated incidents where Moroccan police beat migrants, deprived them of their few possessions, burned their shelters and expelled them from the country without due process.

“Oftentimes, the Red Cross would enter the forest and provide us with blankets and clothing. But we knew that was always a bad sign. Shortly after the Red Cross visits, Moroccan security forces would appear, as if they were watching,” Ousman Sow, a Guinean man who spent a year in Morocco before he was able to cross into Spain, told MEE.

“They burned all of our belongings before driving us far away and dropping us off in remote areas without any possessions,” added Sow, who now lives in Germany. The goal is to prevent migrants from reaching Ceuta and Melilla, the only European territories with a land border in Africa.

On 24 June 2022, at least 37 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa, were killed under unclear circumstances while attempting to climb the fence into Melilla. Another 70 people from that day remain missing, amid reports that Moroccan authorities were burying bodies in unmarked graves.

Externalizing control

Despite stricter enforcement, crossings from North Africa continue amid the war in Sudan and worsening instability across the Sahel. For many, the promise of Europe is still worth the risk.

“The more borders and walls you put up, the more dangerous ways people go around them,” Lindsay told MEE. “Securitization doesn’t change the reason why people want to leave; it just means more people will die.”

Rights groups also say the latest crackdown is a consequence of the EU’s new migration pact, which seeks to overhaul the bloc’s current immigration system, expediting asylum case proceedings and deportations. The new system expands biometric surveillance and increases rejections on the grounds that people passed through a designated “safe third country” before reaching the EU.

Morocco is included in the list of safe countries alongside other nations accused of human rights abuses, such as Egypt and Turkey. If migrants passed through any of these nations on the way to Europe, their deportation will be expedited.

Over 50 NGOs formally objected to the pact, arguing the new expedited procedures deny the right to a fair and thorough review of asylum cases. The EU has progressively blocked migrants before their asylum case can be filed by externalising immigration enforcement, collaborating with countries outside of Europe to prevent migrants from reaching EU soil.

Under the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, it has poured hundreds of millions of euros into strengthening migration enforcement in Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria.

The adoption of the Pact on Migration and Asylum has put political pressure on the European Commission, which must secure member state backing for a politically contentious overhaul of EU asylum rules.  “The new migration pact is a really critical legislative package for [European Commission President] Ursula von der Leyen and her cabinet. They need this to be a success politically, and will do everything to ensure the pact doesn’t fall apart,” said Lindsay.

“Member states have made it very clear that they are unwilling to go along with the pact if the European Commission doesn’t do everything it can to make sure people don’t arrive – and to deport as many people as possible,” he added.

The new approach has drawn particular scrutiny in Libya, where EU-backed groups have been linked to systemic abuses. The EU directly funds, trains and equips Libya’s coastal authorities, which have been accused of collaborating with human trafficking networks to capture migrants, subjecting them to exploitation, physical and sexual violence, and even enslavement.

The EU is now in the process of funding a maritime control centre in Benghazi aimed at intercepting migrants at sea and forcibly returning them to Libya. This requires cooperation with General Khalifa Haftar, who controls eastern Libya in opposition to the UN-recognised government in the west and has been accused of war crimes.

Similar patterns of violent pushbacks have emerged across Europe’s eastern borders. Along the Balkans route, Croatian authorities have been documented violently pushing people back into Bosnia, effectively preventing them from accessing asylum procedures on EU territory.

The new pact also introduces the concept of “return hubs”, nations where rejected asylum seekers may be transferred to and detained while awaiting deportation to their home countries. Migrants will likely have no connections to the designated countries they are deported to; the EU has proposed options everywhere from Bangladesh to Rwanda.

Rights groups say the Pact on Migration and Asylum embodies a broader hardening of attitudes and policies toward migrants across the EU member states, with detrimental consequences for those trying to reach Europe. “Whenever the political climate changes in Europe, you can feel it in Morocco,” Sow told MEE. “If Europe wants immigrants, Morocco is okay. If not, it’s hostile there.”

Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/23/2026 – 08:10

Lukashenko Offers To Meet With Zelensky ‘Anywhere’ After Russia Sent Belarus More Tactical Nukes

survivalnomics
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Lukashenko Offers To Meet With Zelensky ‘Anywhere’ After Russia Sent Belarus More Tactical Nukes

We reported earlier this week that for the first time Russia’s ‘Union State’ ally Belarus hosted multi-day drills involving a “rehearsal” of Russia’s use of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons.

The exercise ran from Tuesday to Thursday and was presided over by Presidents Lukashenko and Putin, and saw hundreds of Russian missile launchers, warships, nuclear submarines, and jets deploy and engage in military maneuvers. As part of it, Russia reportedly sent more tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

Pool image, via Moscow Times

On the occasion, and amid angry denunciations from European leaders, the 71-year-old Lukashenko – who has ruled the former Soviet nation since 1994 – asserted that “We threaten absolutely no one.”

He followed with: “But we have such weapons, and we’re ready in every possible way to defend our common fatherland from [the western Belarusian city of] Brest to [Russia’s Pacific port of] Vladivostok.”

In Ukraine, President Zelensky warned Belarus of “consequences” over potential deepened involvement in Russia’s ‘special military operation’ – though Belarus did act as a staging ground for the initial attack waves in early 2022.

“The de facto leadership of Belarus” must “stay on its toes – that is, clearly understand that there will be consequences if aggressive actions against Ukraine, against our people, are taken,” Zelensky said while making a visit this week to a Ukrainian city which is just dozens of miles from the Belarusian border.

Interestingly, and in what appears another first, Lukashenko actually offered to meet with Zelensky, and that this meeting could take place “anywhere” in Belarus or Ukraine.

“If (Zelensky) wants to discuss something, seek advice, or anything else, please do. We are open to it,” Lukashenka said on Friday, according to state media.

“I am ready to meet with him anywhere – in Ukraine, in Belarus – and discuss the problems of Belarusian-Ukrainian relations,” the Belarusian leader emphasized. 

He also addressed Zelensky’s latest accusations, rejecting the premise, and explained that his armed forces won’t join the conflict unless “aggression is committed against (Belarusian) territory.”

Russia’s defense ministry released footage of this week’s nuclear drills coordinated with Belarus:

Of course, such a meeting is very unlikely to ever materialize, unless part of some kind of final lasting peace settlement, which has proved elusive over 4+ years of war.

The Ukrainian leader dismissed the overture. “Since 2022, it has been obvious to everyone that this man’s words mean nothing, and we should pay attention to his actions,” Zelensky’s advisor Dmytro Lytvyn told a press briefing later.

Tyler Durden
Sat, 05/23/2026 – 07:35

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