Russia has made clear on Tuesday that it will continue targeting military-related facilities in Ukraine in response to a drastic increase in drone raids launched by Ukrainian forces deep into Russian territory. The defense ministry (MoD) has condemned these attacks out of Ukraine as aimed at civilian infrastructure.

Kiev has simultaneously charged that Moscow is targeting hospitals, schools, and civilian residences after several consecutive days of large-scale drone and missile attacks. The past week has on the other side seen at least 2,000 UAVs sent against Russian territory.

Russia’s MoD released a statement which is without doubt trying to signal the Trump administration at a moment the US president is thinking about slapping more sanctions of Russia, amid frustration at lack of progress in peace negotiations.

It emphasizes that the retaliatory attacks are aimed “exclusively at Ukraine’s military and defense industrial facilities” – and it further provided a list of “military bases, warehouses, airfields, radar stations, as well as drone assembly, gun powder, and explosives plants.”

But something Trump is not going to respond well to is the following: “The Russian military will continue to carry out massive and group strikes in response to any terrorist attacks and provocations of the Kiev regime,” the MoD said. “The strikes will be carried out exclusively on military facilities and enterprises of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine.”

The military statement stressed that at the moment Moscow is an open and willing participant in the US-backed peace talks, the latest which were held in Istanbul, it remains “the Kiev regime, supported by certain European countries, has taken a number of provocative steps aimed at disrupting the negotiation process.”

Currently, the Western mainstream media is trying to goad President Trump into escalating against Moscow, and likely hawks within the US administration are also seizing on the ‘popular’ pressure:

It dismissed Trump’s frustration with the most intense Russian drone attacks on Ukraine as a symptom of “emotional overload.” And experience suggests Putin can get away with calling the US president’s bluff. After all, Trump’s Truth Social critique of the Russian leader as “crazy” on Monday was leavened with a characteristic rebuke of the victim — Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Still, the intensifying Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilians appear to be a deliberate Russian test for Trump, a week after his hyped call with Putin, which made no progress toward peace despite the White House spin.

But again, despite mounting casualties in Kiev and elsewhere from the waves of aerial assaults, Moscow is insisting it is not targeting civilians.

This has been enough for Trump to signal that punitive measures against Russia could be coming. Trump is mulling imposing yet more sanctions on Russia this week, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

He said directly starting Sunday, as missiles on Kiev kept coming, that he is “absolutely” considering them. Putin is “killing a lot of people” and that “I don’t know what’s wrong with him. What the hell happened to him?”

WSJ detailed, “The restrictions likely wouldn’t include new banking sanctions, one of the people said, but other options are under discussion to pressure the Russian leader into concessions at the negotiating table, including a 30-day cease-fire supported by Ukraine that Russia has long rejected.” This was all supposedly based on “people familiar with Trump’s thinking.”

More importantly, this would be seen as the abandonment of already fragile efforts and finding a truce deal. Yet the sanctions would likely have little impact, given they would be something like the 18th wave of US sanctions, as Russia has increased its reliance on China trade, and other BRICS countries.

Time to renew dialogue with Russia!

I am in Moscow at the invitation of the State Duma to discuss with Russian counterparts the many pressing issues that our countries and our continent faces.

I will meet with members of government and the two chambers of Parliament, today and… pic.twitter.com/vQvlBtpekC

— Fernand Kartheiser (@FernKartheiser) May 26, 2025

The timing couldn’t be worse in terms of potential for runaway escalation, given it was just on Monday that German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that Germany, France, the UK and US have lifted prior restrictions on how far the weapons they supply to Ukraine can reach. “Absolutely no limits…,” he said.

“There are absolutely no range limits anymore for weapons delivered to Ukraine, not from Britain, the French or from us — also not from the Americans,” Merz said speaking at a national security forum in Berlin on Monday. “That means Ukraine can defend itself by attacking military positions also in Russia.” This ‘greenlight’ would of course translate to Russia stepping up its own ballistic missile strikes across Ukraine and ‘command centers’ – and places where foreign advisers might be as well.

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said on May 26 that the bureau is looking at launching investigations into cases of potential public corruption.

“Shortly after swearing in, [FBI Director Kash Patel] and I evaluated a number of cases of potential public corruption that, understandably, have garnered public interest,” Dan Bongino wrote in a post on social media platform X on the morning of May 26.

Bongino, a former Secret Service agent and radio host, noted that they “made the decision to either re-open, or push additional resources and investigative attention, to these cases.”

One case that they are looking to target is the FBI investigation into the alleged pipe bombs left near the Democratic and Republican national committee buildings in Washington a day before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach, he said.

The FBI said in 2024 that a $500,000 reward is still in effect for information leading to the arrest of the pipe bomb suspect. Earlier in 2025, David Sundberg, former assistant director in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, told CNN that officials are seeking new leads.

“Maybe allegiances have changed or relationships have changed, and it’s time to report [on the suspect],” Sundberg told the outlet.

“Tips from the public really have been very helpful but, as I mentioned, we’re still trying to identify the suspect. So we’re trying to release a little more information such that maybe it will jog somebody’s memory.”

Other cases that warrant more resources include one involving the discovery of cocaine in the White House in July 2023 and the leak of the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Bongino said.

“I receive requested briefings on these cases weekly and we are making progress,” he said in his post.

“If you have any investigative tips on these matters that may assist us then please contact the FBI.”

Also in his X post, Bongino said he and Patel have conducted one media interview together, which was with Fox News in May.

“We decided early on to limit our media footprint overall in order to keep the attention on the work being done,” he said.

“We have chosen to communicate, in writing, on this platform to fill some of the inevitable information vacuums.

“I try to read as much of your feedback as possible but the workday is busy, and my office is a [sensitive compartmented information facility] with limited phone access. In response to feedback, both positive and negative, from our interview last week we will be releasing more information which will further clarify answers to some of the questions asked in the interview.”

In the Fox News interview, Patel and Bongino were asked about the death of convicted sex trafficker and financier Jeffrey Epstein in August 2019. They said his cause of death was suicide, which medical examiners determined after his body was found hanged in a New York City jail.

“They have their right to their opinion but as someone who has worked as a public defender, as a prosecutor who’s been in that prison system, who’s been in the Metropolitan Detention Center, who’s been in segregated housing, you know a suicide when you see one, and that’s what that was,” Patel told Fox News.

Bongino said he agreed with Patel’s assessment that Epstein’s death was by suicide.

“He killed himself. … I have seen the whole file,” Bongino said during the interview.

Since Epstein’s body was found, there has been widespread speculation that he did not kill himself. His brother, Mark Epstein, told news outlets in 2019 that he believes that his brother did not die by suicide, and he reiterated those claims during an interview with Megyn Kelly in 2024.

Meanwhile, Patel confirmed on May 18 that the FBI is investigating New York Attorney General Letitia James over her real estate transactions.

On this extended Memorial Day weekend where many Americans will be spending time with family around the grill, and perhaps at local parades and remembrance events, the showdown between NATO and Russia in Ukraine just escalated in a big way.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has announced Monday that Germany, France, the UK and US have lifted prior restrictions on how far the weapons they supply to Ukraine can reach. “Absolutely no limits…,” he said.

“There are absolutely no range limits anymore for weapons delivered to Ukraine, not from Britain, the French or from us — also not from the Americans,” Merz said speaking at a national security forum in Berlin on Monday. “That means Ukraine can defend itself by attacking military positions also in Russia.”

Russian media very quickly seized on the comments as representing a major turning point in NATO policy vis-a-vis Ukraine. Bloomberg too has emphasized this gives Ukraine the “greenlight” to strike deep inside Russia.

Of course, any close observer of the war over much of the last year knows that the proverbial gloves have already been off for a long time, on a covert level at least. Ukrainian drones have been reaching far into Russian territory for years for many many months at this point, with US satellite and intelligence assistance.

Chancellor Merz made clear in the Monday remarks:

“There are no longer any range restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine, not from the British, not from the French, not from us, not from the Americans either. This means that Ukraine can now also defend itself by attacking military positions in Russia, for example. It couldn’t do that until some time ago, and with very few exceptions, it didn’t do that until some time ago.”

He claimed further, “Now it can. In jargon, we call this long-range fire, i.e., equipping Ukraine with weapons that attack military targets in the rear. And that is the decisive qualitative difference in Ukraine’s warfare. Russia attacks civilian targets absolutely ruthlessly, bombing cities, kindergartens, hospitals, and old people’s homes.” He added: “Ukraine does not do that.”

“And we attach great importance to keeping it that way,” Merz said. “But, a country that can only defend itself against an attacker on its own territory is not defending itself adequately. And this defense of Ukraine is now also taking place against military infrastructure on Russian territory.”

But again, long-range fire utilizing Western systems has been in effect for a while at this point, and cities and residential homes and neighborhoods have indeed been hit, and Russian civilians have died – just as has been happening in Ukraine as a result of Russian attacks.

Whether Washington, London, and Paris have actually pulled the trigger on making this decision ‘official’ is another question. The White House certainly hasn’t changed its public stance, and a moment President Trump has been piling on the pressure for each side to get to the negotiating table.

Europe’s decision, if there is one, to lift the missile range restrictions on weapons supplied to Ukraine is dangerous and is contrary to aspirations of reaching a settlement, Peskov said.

“The decisions, if indeed there are such decisions, are absolutely contrary to our… https://t.co/SpIOGoqlQ5 pic.twitter.com/L1qcicSxpl

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 26, 2025

The Kremlin responded later Monday with its own warning, with spokesman Dimitry Peskov saying that “If such decisions have indeed been made, they are entirely at odds with our aspirations for a political resolution and with the efforts currently being made toward a settlement.”

He then said ominously, “Quite dangerous decisions, again – if they were indeed made.”

Authored by Olivia Murray via AmericanThinker.com,

A little while back, the progressive, man-hating feminist movement produced what they surely thought was a “gotcha” condemnation for men—it was a social media trend where women would announce whether they’d rather be alone in the woods with a man or a bear…with a vast majority of women settling on the bear, highlighting “the fear of male violence.” (Never mind that many of these women were completely untouchable, as if the average man would ever desire to assault them, even given the license in a desolate forest.)

Since progressive feminists are the dimmest of society’s bulbs, I can only assume this “man or bear” dilemma was a calculated campaign to manipulate the useful idiots—similar to Lawrence Lader and Bernard Nathanson when they convinced Betty Friedan to include abortion in her ideals (which she originally rejected). The progressive feminist movement that began then was not an organic occurrence, but an orchestrated scheme, directed by…men, which is what I’d call peak irony.

But I digress.

New statistics out of Germany reveal that foreign-born women, but specifically foreign-born Muslim women, are far more violent than native German men. The Remix News staff, which reported on the story, quipped that the revelation “blows up a common myth that has been perpetuated by the left for years”—that men are so violent, a bear is preferable company. (Again, never mind the fact that men, to their own detriment, have been protecting their women for essentially all of human history.)

Here are the numbers for 2024:

Out of 100,000 people, German men were suspects in violent offenses in 272 cases. For Syrian women, that number was 336. Afghan women? Even worse, with a rate of 359. Worse yet? Iraqi women, with “an incredible rate” of 394. 

To look at the data a different way, that means Syrian women were around 24% more likely to be violent criminals than German men; Afghan women around 32%, and Iraqi women a whopping 45%.

Here’s another little tidbit: 

the number of Syrian men suspected of violent crime? 2,608, or 859% more. Afghan men came in at 2,409, or 786% more, while Iraqi men were 2,479, or 811% more. “However, the crown goes to Moroccan men, who have a rate of 3,388 suspects in the category of violent crime per 100,000.” That means they’re 1,146% more likely than native German men to be accused of a violent crime.

While biological sex certainly plays a role in a person’s tendency to resort to criminal violence, there seems to be more here…like ideology…which explains why *certain* demographics of women are more violent than certain demographics of men.

So, if given the chance between a bear or a Muslim woman (or man)? I’d choose the bear.

As it relates to fentanyl, it looks the problem – and possibly the solution – could both be coming from China.

The FDA has approved Qamzova, the first China-developed non-opioid painkiller, offering a potential tool to help reduce fentanyl-related overdose deaths.

Created by Nanjing-based biotech firm Delova, Qamzova is the world’s first long-acting injectable analgesic, providing 24-hour pain relief with a single daily dose. The drug is a high-concentration form of meloxicam, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) in the same class as ibuprofen and aspirin, according to the South China Morning Post.

The SCMP writes that it is described by Sino Biopharm as “the best available alternative to morphine,” clinical trials showed Qamzova nearly halved morphine use and lowered pain scores after orthopedic and abdominal surgeries.

Approved in both the U.S. and China for post-operative pain, Qamzova offers 24-hour relief with one injection, addressing challenges in nighttime pain management. “This is significant for clinical treatment,” said a Shanghai anesthetist.

Li Jianhua, a drug abuse expert in Yunnan, said the drug could help mitigate the U.S. fentanyl crisis “to a certain degree,” though further study is needed to assess long-term risks like potential addiction.

Qamzova contains meloxicam, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), and is seen as a safer alternative for high-risk patients, including the elderly. Existing NSAIDs require multiple doses, while opioids—though effective—carry high addiction risks and serious side effects such as respiratory depression and nausea.

While Delova seeks to meet “unmet medical needs” in pain care, Qamzova also highlights China’s growing pharmaceutical innovation. Its approval comes amid ongoing U.S.-China tensions over fentanyl, with Washington blaming Beijing for failing to stop the export of precursor chemicals—an accusation China rejects.

Authored by Lindsay Mark Lewis via RealClearMarkets.com,

Europe has declared itself open for business — unless you’re actually trying to do business there. 

The European Commission’s latest €500 million fine against Apple, levied under the new Digital Markets Act (DMA), is not only a staggering penalty; it’s a signal flare to global investors that Europe is no longer a place of rule-based predictability, but one where political agendas override legal clarity, engagement, or fairness.

Apple’s offense? Attempting — repeatedly — to comply with a complex, evolving law while facing a Commission that gave them the silent treatment. According to correspondence reported by Politico, Apple spent the better part of 2024 making proposals, requesting guidance, and asking for confirmation that it was on the right side of the law. The Commission’s response: Delay, obfuscation, and ultimately, a massive fine that had seemingly been predetermined months in advance.

Let’s call this what it is: regulatory ambush.

In the Commission’s own words, “it is the sole responsibility of the gatekeepers to come up with product changes.” But how can companies do that when the Commission refuses to say what would or would not be compliant? When Apple proposed rolling back some of its rules, the Commission told them to wait for developer feedback. That feedback came from critics — Spotify, Epic, Match Group — and shortly after, Apple began to suspect, correctly, that it was being set up for a fall.

And fall they did — fined half a billion euros for allegedly not complying with a law whose requirements the Commission won’t clearly define. This is not regulation; it’s regulatory theater. It’s governance by trapdoor.

This isn’t just a tech story. This is a capital flight story.

Private investment in the EU has stagnated. According to Eurostat, inward foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the EU were €49.5 billion in 2021, with significant fluctuations in subsequent years. Meanwhile, venture capital funding for European startups fell sharply. Crunchbase reports that funding to European startups reached $52 billion in 2023, down 39% year over year from $86 billion invested in 2022. Additionally, Dealroom.co notes that European startups raised $63 billion in 2023, down 37% from 2022.

Multinational firms want to put their money where laws are clear, processes are fair and predictable, and regulators act like referees, not rivals. The EU Commission’s actions reveal a deep hostility toward the very companies it seeks to regulate, combined with an alarming indifference to due process.

What boardroom would look at this behavior and decide to expand in Europe? What startup would take the risk of entering a market where regulators can move the goalposts in silence and then punish you for not kicking the ball into the invisible net?

The Commission wants to portray the DMA as a rules-based dialogue. But a dialogue requires two sides to speak. When regulators go dark, only to emerge with a fine the size of a small nation’s GDP, that’s not law — it’s regulatory brinkmanship.

Some in Brussels may quietly see these fines as a kind of counterweight to U.S. assertiveness — an economic tool to reassert sovereignty in a world shaped by Trump-era tariffs and America’s tech dominance. But that is a dangerous miscalculation. These fines will not protect Europe from trade aggression. They will not shield European industry from another round of Trumpian tariffs or tech restrictions. If anything, they give the U.S. and other trading partners an excuse to escalate, arguing — not without cause — that Europe is targeting foreign firms without providing a fair legal process. Rather than building resilience, this path isolates Europe further and erodes its attractiveness to allies and investors alike.

Europe is now on notice. If this is how the EU Commission intends to enforce its laws, then the real consequence won’t be more tech compliance — it’ll be less tech investment. The most damaging part of this fine isn’t the €500 million Apple will pay. It’s the long-term signal to the world: Europe isn’t a partner in innovation. It’s a minefield.

Germany has deployed a permanent military brigade beyond its borders for the first time since the end of World War II, with troops dispatched to the capital of Lithuania.  The event was inaugurated by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who said during a military ceremony in Vilnius that “the security of our Baltic allies is also our security.” 

The decision is part of a series of actions in recent months by European nations to “bolster defenses” on NATO’s eastern flank amid claims that Russia intends to invade greater Europe if they defeat Ukraine.  The “domino theory” remains unfounded and the Kremlin has never threatened to attack any country outside of Ukraine.  The move to shift troops to Lithuania places them near the border of Belarus (a Russian ally) and within striking distance of Ukraine or the Russian border. 

European governments have been threatening an escalation by eventually moving NATO troops into Ukraine in direct confrontation with Russian forces.  Vladimir Putin has previously warned that NATO troops in Ukraine represent a red line which could result in nuclear conflict. 

Putin asserted that if Ukraine’s Western backers deepened their involvement in the war, such as sending troops, the consequences for the “invaders” would be “tragic”. 

“They must realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory,” Putin said, in apparent reference to increasingly lethal Western weapons provided to Kyiv. “What they are now suggesting and scaring the world with — all that raises the real threat of a nuclear conflict that will mean the destruction of our civilization.”

The remarks came after multiple European leaders including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron called for the potential deployment of NATO forces to the region.  Lithuania is a member of NATO and their foreign minister suggested at the beginning of this year that the country would be interested in moving its own troops into Ukraine should Kyiv make such a request.

European rhetoric on the war, calls for forced military conscription and the calls for boots on the ground have all coincided with the steady realization among NATO leaders (and the establishment media) that Ukraine is losing the war.  With dwindling troop strength and faltering defensive lines, the Russian attrition strategy is beginning to bear fruit.  Recent breakouts and big gains on the eastern front are developing alongside a mass buildup of troops near Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.

Rather than focusing on quick territorial conquest, attrition warfare seeks to grind down enemy numbers over time while keeping movements limited.  The strategy is slow at first, and then the opponent collapses all at once.  Ukraine now seems to be entering this stage of attrition.

This might explain why Germany is moving its troops permanently abroad for the first time in 80 years.

Aerial strikes involving missiles and drones have increased on both sides, with Russia launching their largest missile/drone attack since the beginning of the war this week.  The escalation brings into question the chances of a peace agreement, as neither side appears interested at this point in negotiating.  President Donald Trump’s frustration with the conflict has been further exacerbated by European governments like Germany who are intent on keeping the war going at any cost.  

Even though it is clear that a Russian victory is imminent, the Europeans have declared that this simply cannot be, which means that further deployments near Ukraine and Russia are likely and that another world war is on the table. 

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

The EU-US trade deal should have been the easiest to complete.

However, the deal is not progressing because the negotiation team refuses to lift any of the EU’s non-tariff barriers or to discuss the limitations imposed on US agricultural, livestock, and car exports.

These are the reasons why it should have been a concise and quick trade deal:

Most of the United States’ team demands coincide with the Draghi report’s concerns about excessive regulation and internal barriers. 

According to Eurochambres estimates, the cost of hyper-regulation for the EU exceeds one trillion euros per year. Draghi himself warned in an FT article, “Forget the US—Europe has successfully put tariffs on itself,” citing IMF estimates that show that internal barriers, regulation, and taxation increase prices in the services sector by 110 per cent and in manufacturing by 45 per cent.

If the EU negotiators had presented a comprehensive package of tariff reductions for agriculture, farming, and the automotive industry, a preliminary deal would have been signed immediately, benefitting everyone. However, the negotiators were only willing to negotiate possible improvements to LNG imports with the vague concept of “strengthening investment,” limiting any tariff negotiation to industrial goods where there was no significant dispute.

The United States’ requests to the European Union were significantly less demanding than the negotiations of burdens from China or India. 

Unfortunately, the EU negotiators were only willing to propose plans to lower tariffs on industrial goods and non-sensitive agri-food exports, as well as a clause to keep the US from introducing further tariffs while talks are ongoing, according to Bloomberg. The EU stated that tariffs could be reduced in phases or through a quota system, and higher levies would only come above a certain quantity of imports. Upon review, it appears that these proposals aim to uphold all non-tariff barriers and the majority of tariffs. Tariffs are much higher than those of the United States in agriculture, farming, chemicals, automotive and manufactured goods.

The demands of the United States are not outlandish. 

All of these demands simply aim to eliminate absurd regulatory and tariff burdens. Furthermore, the European Union allows the exemption of many of the tariff and non-tariff barriers to products coming from Turkey or Morocco, even China.

The European Commission threatened to impose new countermeasures that could affect €95 billion worth of US products if negotiations to resolve the trade dispute fail. However, the European Union lacks significant leverage in this situation. Its trade surplus is so large, and the barriers to U.S. goods so widespread, that it simply cannot fight back.

The European Union trade surplus, which stands at 150 billion euros and soared 244% in March 2025 compared to the same month of 2024, is not generated by free cooperation and spontaneous trade agreements between free companies. In many sectors, the EU’s production and energy costs are up to 50% and 100% higher, respectively, than those of the United States, yet the exports of the European Union massively outweigh those of the U.S. A significant proportion of the trade surplus of the European Union comes from lifting barriers to others and benefitting from open markets for European products.

The European Union must comprehend that a reasonable agreement can eliminate tariffs in minutes.

The EU negotiators must admit that they would be complying with Draghi’s recommendations and benefitting all businesses, inside and outside Europe, in the process. Therefore, they can swiftly and efficiently reach a deal.

It appears that the negotiators from the European Union are not interested in removing trade barriers, preferring to maintain them at all costs, even if it results in the economy of many member states being weakened. Negotiators seem more concerned about pleasing bureaucrats and finding a scapegoat for the EU’s stagnation in the Trump administration than advancing a deal that benefits US and EU companies.

Authored by Chris Macintosh via InternationalMan.com,

Boy, oh boy are things… um… interesting. I almost miss the days of green-haired teenage girls with hairy armpits gluing themselves to the road to make the weather better.

Now we have craziness at the international trade level. At its core, it’s all politics.

The now dead George Carlin had a skit where he told us why he doesn’t vote. To quote:

“I don’t vote. Two reasons I don’t vote. First of all, it’s meaningless. This country was bought and sold and paid for a long time ago. The isht they shuffle around every four years… doesn’t mean a f* thing.

And secondly, I don’t vote because I believe if you vote, you have no right to complain. If you vote, and you elect dishonest incompetent people and they get into office and screw everything up, well… you are responsible for what they have done.”

We’ve had some conversations with clients who are questioning their own voting after the trade war kicked off. The problem with taking a position for or against any politician is that probability is not in our favour. We’re bound to be disappointed because the vast majority of these podium donuts aren’t there for our benefit. Sure, some of the things they may espouse are to our benefit, but then others aren’t. What to do?

Well, I think it’s best not to get caught up in the mental gymnastics of it all and simply keep reviewing the actions and data and then making decisions for ourselves accordingly.

As far as the tariffs go, at first glance they make no sense. The orange man said they are “reciprocal,” but any idiot with two thumbs and an interwebs connection can quickly do the math and determine this is hogwash. What they are is quite simple — they are based on other countries’ trade surplus with the US.

The supposition around “reciprocal” came unglued as soon as they tried to figure out why on God’s green earth there were tariffs on an uninhabited island that has only penguins. Wait… what!? Anyone then following their nose saw that the narrative fell apart faster than logic at a climate change gathering.

What this amounts to is an attempt to restructure creditors. It’s what you do in bankruptcy. Trump appears now to be bringing his experience in chapter 11 proceedings onto the global stage.

This is a big deal! From where we sit, there are four big forces through history that drive everything, all of these are interconnected and in many instances causal to each other:

1. The monetary and credit cycle where nations get into a sovereign debt problem, which needs to be dealt with.

2. Domestic conflict, typically beginning as political disagreement, but where disagreement isn’t resolved by discourse.

3. A rising power challenging the existing power and causing international conflict.

4. Technological changes that assist in disrupting the status quo.

So the first changes the monetary order. The second changes the political order. And the third changes the international order, while the fourth assists in ushering it in.

How does this all play out?

Well, let’s start with what we’ve been watching recently. No, not the Chinese laughing at bringing manufacturing back to the US…

Confucius philosophy says:

“If you want to govern a country, you must first govern your family. If you want to govern your family, you must first govern yourself.”

The issue here isn’t about “fair trade.” It is about survival, though. 

Former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis dropped some hard truths about the real reason behind the US- China trade war.

1. The US doesn’t fear China because of “cheap labor” or “IP theft.” What it truly fears is China’s capacity to undermine the US-led global financial order — the very system that allows America to print dollars and buy the world.

2. Wall Street’s aging financial architecture is losing its grip. It can’t control crypto flows. It can’t keep up with new financial ecosystems. China — with its digital yuan, vast industrial base, and rising global influence — is the first real threat to this system.

3. Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” were never about balancing trade. They were a desperate attempt to slow down China’s rise and protect the dollar system from collapse. Because if China succeeds, the US loses its magic weapon: monetary dominance. See point 2 above.

4. Today, Trump is laser-focused on America’s financial core with the Treasury bond market (America’s lifeline) and the stock market (America’s wallet). Both are fragile. And any external pressure could trigger a chain reaction.

5. The US is now panicking over who’s selling off US Treasuries. China? Japan? Others? Trump reportedly wants to punish any surplus country that dumps Treasuries — with tariffs, of course. This is not about trade. It’s about a dying empire trying to stop the bleeding.

6. In short, America is no longer confident in its own financial fortress. And China is no longer playing by the old rules. This isn’t just a trade war — it’s a war for the future of global finance.

Further to this point, the famous Ben Rickert (for those who’ve watched The Big Short) highlighted this issue:

“For the first time ever, China’s CIPS (Cross-Border Interbank Payment System) surpassed SWIFT in single-day transaction volume. A red banner flashed across Bank of China’s HQ at 1:30AM on April 16, 2025.

CIPS processed a jaw-dropping ¥12.8 trillion RMB in just one day—roughly $1.76 trillion USD. That volume, if verified, overtakes the greenback-dominated SWIFT system in sheer daily cross-border throughput.

No fireworks, no Western headlines. Just one quiet early morning in Beijing where the dollar’s crown slipped. The world’s financial plumbing just got a reroute—through China.”

This of course is known to those who DON’T rely solely on Western propaganda media.

Now, consider the US bond market.

The problem is that the US can’t just do what Milei is doing. The debt is too large, and because US treasuries are embedded in the very fabric of global financial markets, paying down that debt has ramifications that Milei simply doesn’t have to contend with.

To highlight the issue: consider that the most significant effort to cut government spending (DOGE) is set to yield $50 billion in annual savings. Awesome… until you realise that this is on the back of a $7.5 trillion budget. They haven’t even managed to cut 0.75% of spending. Furthermore, the US has to borrow over 10% of GDP annually to keep the lights on.

Now they’re weaponizing the dollar and trade in a desperate attempt to “Make America Great Again.” The rest of the world is preparing.

Something else…

Gold has a long way to go. That being said, it is looking a bit frothy right now, so if you’re the sort that will freak out if you see a decent pullback in a bull market (20-30%), you may want to check yourself on going “all in” here. On the other hand, it’s a bull market, and if — like us — your timeframe runs into the years, then you’re simply ensuring your allocation is adequate and leaving the rest to the market gods.

The old adage is worth considering — never sell a bull market and never buy a bear market. Bonds are in a bear market… and gold is in a bull market.

*  *  *

We are living through a rare and pivotal moment in financial history — a time when the old order is unraveling, and a new one is being born. The geopolitical chessboard is shifting, trade is being weaponized, and the dollar’s dominance is quietly being challenged in real time. This isn’t business as usual. It’s a systemic clash. If you’re trying to make sense of how to invest amid collapsing narratives, geopolitical chaos, and the breakdown of the global financial order, this is the moment to dig deeper. Download our exclusive special report: Clash of the Systems: Thoughts on Investing at a Unique Point in Time Inside, we explore the key dynamics reshaping the world order — and what it means for your capital. Click here to get it now.

Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times,

Tom Pawlak and Robert Trae Zipperer live 2,200 miles apart, but they share a common belief: that unlike old soldiers, no gravestone or marker of a U.S. military member should ever fade.

For Pawlak, 73, from Arizona, restoring the bronze plaques of veterans and those lost in combat to their original pristine condition has become his mission in life.

Zipperer, 56, is a Navy veteran from Florida who is equally passionate about restoring gravestones.

Pawlak’s quest began during a visit to a private cemetery in Phoenix in 2014, where some plaques were badly tarnished and hard to read.

As Pawlak scrubbed, buffed, and polished one marker, the name of U.S. Marine Pfc. Oscar Palmer Austin began to emerge.

Born on Jan. 15, 1948, Austin died in Vietnam on Feb. 23, 1969.

Pawlak then realized that Austin, a 21-year-old African American soldier from Texas, was not an ordinary recruit; he had received the Medal of Honor for bravery on the battlefield and the Purple Heart after being wounded.

The U.S. Navy later named a guided missile destroyer in his honor—the USS Oscar Austin.

Pawlak reached out to the ship’s commander to share his discovery and the restoration work he had completed. Two weeks later, he received a package from the Navy that contained a flag, as well as a blue cap with “USS Oscar Austin” emblazoned on it.

He began wearing the cap everywhere he went.

“As soon as I began wearing the cap, people would stop me on the street to talk,” he said.

He started going out more often to cemeteries, polishing and sanding the letters on the tarnished bronze plaques, Pawlak said.

Robert Trae Zipperer, founder of VeteranGraves.com, launched a volunteer effort cleaning gravestones across the nation in 2019. Courtesy Robert Zipperer

In 2014, he founded Mission Restore Bronze, a social media movement on Facebook that has drawn thousands of volunteers to the cause.

Remembering a Friend

Originally from Chicago, Pawlak never served in the military. However, he feels a deep connection with veterans and the military—he lost a friend just three weeks after the friend arrived in Vietnam in 1967.

He thinks of him every time he visits a cemetery and notices the sad condition of the bronze grave markers.

“I‘ll walk through a cemetery and see a bad marker. I’ll have everything with me and finish it,” Pawlak said.

Pawlak recalls his first volunteer: a naval commander who wanted to restore his father’s bronze plaque in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Other volunteers would ask him how to clean plaques when visiting cemeteries.

Pawlak offers free jars of his proprietary wax, along with video instructions on how to apply it correctly for lasting results.

The volunteer effort “just exploded from the start,” he said.

“I couldn’t leave the house. I took a shower and had 16 messages when I returned,” he said.

His efforts have inspired at least one Eagle Scout project in the Phoenix area.

In 2017, 13-year-old Levi Brown assembled a team to clean and restore approximately 250 bronze grave markers at Greenwood Cemetery in Phoenix.

Pawlak said he has no idea how many military personnel plaques have been cleaned and restored through his virtual movement.

Tom Pawlak of Arizona started Mission Restore Bronze Markers in 2014 as a one-man effort that has grown into thousands of volunteers nationwide. Courtesy of Tom Pawlak

Most volunteers are people he doesn’t know and has never met in person.

Since his project launched, Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs for youths have carried the mantle forward, as well as court diversion programs and other groups.

“I‘ll just walk around and hand out wax jars to people,” Pawlak said. “I’ll have markers that I take care of regularly—people I’ve known.”

Often, he’ll get a call from a potential volunteer and send a jar of wax on request. Each jar contains enough product to clean 12 to 16 markers.

However, if Pawlak had to estimate the number of volunteers, it would potentially be well over 75,000, based on the viewership of his YouTube videos.

“We’ve included first responders and police. I’ll supply them with wax,” he said.

During another visit to Phoenix, Pawlak felt compelled to take action when he noticed that the bronze plaques commemorating the 622 Arizona soldiers killed in Vietnam needed love and care.

With a brush in hand, he and other volunteers scoured, scrubbed, and waxed the bronze plaques and statues of foot soldiers, restoring them to a remarkable shine for Memorial Day.

He’s also cleaned bronze plaques in Washington and even the statue of Gen. George S. Patton at the museum dedicated to Patton in California.

He said that getting down on his knees to clean is easy, but getting back up is hard. He could use more eager, younger volunteers.

Keeping Honor Clean

While researching his family tree in Lee County, Florida, Zipperer observed that many military gravesites were in poor condition, with some hardly legible due to mold.

A veteran’s headstone is covered in black mold. Courtesy of Robert Zipperer

The once-bright headstones had turned dark gray, making the names hard to read.

Zipperer faced frustrating regulatory challenges in Fort Myers before finally obtaining the necessary approval to clean the headstones in time for Memorial Day in 2019.

Initially, city officials claimed he needed permission from the families to clean the headstones, warning that he would be trespassing and “soliciting” otherwise.

However, after Zipperer brought his case to the media, the city changed its position.

“I’m just a guy that doesn’t take no for an answer. You can’t have a veteran’s headstone covered in crud. It’s just not American,” Zipperer told The Epoch Times.

The headstone as it now appears after cleaning. Courtesy of Robert Zipperer

Rules for Restoration

Zipperer later discovered no standard operating procedures at the local, state, or federal levels concerning cleaning veterans’ grave markers.

He contacted the National Cemetery Administration in Washington, which advised him to submit a proposal in writing.

Eventually, the agency incorporated his ideas into national guidelines for the volunteer maintenance of veteran and military gravestones.

“The graves just sit out there covered in nastiness,” Zipperer said.

“I’ve had to get out hedge clippers and cut bushes to reach a veteran’s grave enveloped in vegetation.

“You‘ll cut it all back, and you’ll clean it all up, and then you’ll scrub the headstone and get it clean.”

The NCA, part of the Department of Veterans Affairs, estimates that it has supplied more than 15 million headstones to national, state, and private cemeteries nationwide since 1973.

In fiscal year 2022, the agency provided 347,361 headstones and markers for military personnel buried in the nation’s cemeteries.

The VA operates 156 national cemeteries and 35 soldiers’ lots and monument sites across 42 states and Puerto Rico.

Members of the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment place flags at the headstones of U.S. military personnel buried at Arlington National Cemetery, in preparation for Memorial Day in Arlington, Va., on May 22, 2025. Nearly 1,500 service members entered the cemetery at pre-dawn hours to begin the process of placing a flag in front of approximately 260,000 headstones. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

More than 4 million Americans, including military personnel from every war and conflict, are interred in VA national cemeteries. Approximately 84 percent of veterans are in private cemeteries throughout the country, according to the American Association of Retired Persons.

Zipperer believes the deteriorating condition of veteran headstones signifies a “lack of caring” and funding.

Through his website, veterangraves.com, he hopes to recruit more volunteers and financial support for his cause.

“The problem is we don’t have the [public] funding,” Zipperer said. “Nobody creates funding for veterans’ headstones. I’m doing what I can do, but I don’t have an unlimited budget.

“Every state should be contributing to this. Every American should be contributing to this cause.”

Zipperer estimates he’s spent more than $500,000 out of pocket to promote his mission on YouTube.

“There are people in Australia who love their veterans as much as Americans love their veterans,” he said.

Before and after images of a bronze veteran grave plaque. Courtesy of Tom Pawlak

“I’m just broadcasting it out there to whoever receives the message.”

Pawlak said he also had to use his own funds to support Mission Restore Bronze Markers.

“I just dedicated myself to doing it,” he said.

Celebrity Appeal

In 2021, before Memorial Day, Zipperer appeared on the ABC syndicated talk show “Live With Kelly and Ryan” to present his case.

The response was nothing like he had anticipated.

“I’m naive, I thought this was going to be it,” he said. “Tom Hanks was going to reach out to me. Clint Eastwood was going to reach out to me. Gary Sinise was going to reach out to me. Steven Spielberg was going to reach out to me.”

Patriotic celebrities, one and all, he said.

“And they would provide the help I needed to make this vision a reality. I thought all the senators and governors were going to call. My phone was going to blow up,” he said.

“Do you know how many people called?”

No one, he said, except for a nice woman in New Jersey, who saw him on television.

“We love our veterans in our county,” the woman said to him over the phone. “We’re going to take up your cause here.”

She asked if Zipperer would attend the county’s Memorial Day celebration, and he agreed.

An American flag at sunset in Springerville, Ariz., on May 25, 2025. Allan Stein/The Epoch Times

Zipperer was struck by the community turnout in Hunterdon County that day.

He finally grasped the true purpose of this mission.

“This is an American cause,” Zipperer said. “We can make this happen.”