Leftist propaganda outlet CBS is now playing PR agent for the dark money-funded ‘No Kings’ color revolution, disguising its promotion as a report on protest ‘merchandise’—which, it notes, is conveniently cropping up for sale on Amazon, Temu, and other online retailers.

CBS reports:

Hundreds of t-shirts, hats, signs and posters are for sale across the internet alluding to the demonstrations. On China-based Temu.com, a seller shipping goods from a U.S.-based warehouse offers a t-shirt reading “No Kings in America” and featuring the statue of liberty and American flag for $5.20.

On Amazon, a search for No Kings yielded 1,000 results. Much of the merchandise available on the e-commerce giant’s site is printed on demand, meaning not in stock. Sellers print t-shirts or make the goods as soon as they are ordered to avoid sitting on unwanted inventory.

By the end of the report, the leftist propaganda outlet informs readers about today’s nationwide protests and directs them to the ‘No Kings’ website.

On Friday, Government Accountability Institute President Peter Schweizer published a report linking the rogue NGOs behind the ‘No Kings’ front operation—directing the broader color revolution effort—as receiving a “$114.8 million from the Arabella dark money network and how these professional protest organizations use tax dollars as a force multiplier.

Dark-Money Network Funneled Millions Into ‘No Kings’ Nationwide Color Revolution Operation | ZeroHedge https://t.co/gaRzUwdeG5

— Peter Schweizer (@peterschweizer) June 14, 2025

Also on Friday, U.S. Congressional Republicans, led by Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY), launched a formal investigation into dark money NGO networks tied to a China-based billionaire that is suspected of funding far-left color revolutions in the U.S. with alleged ties to the Chinese Communist Party. 

CBS’ X post was heavily ratioed, with many users disgusted by the media outlet’s promotion of “radical left destabilization campaigns.”

Paging FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr… What’s your take on this?

A fire broke out at Kangan Port in Iran’s Bushehr province following an Israeli drone strike targeting on onshore refinery at Phase 14 of the South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf on Saturday. It was the first attack by Israel specifically targeting Iran’s critical energy sector. 

“Phase 14 of the South Pars gas field was targeted by a strike from the Zionist regime,” Fars news agency reported.

As a result, “parts of this phase caught fire, and fire trucks are currently working to extinguish the blaze,” the agency said.

النيران تندلع في مصفاة الغاز في بوشهر الآن pic.twitter.com/bRWtPHs2js

— محمد مجيد الأحوازي (@MohamadAhwaze) June 14, 2025

The news agency, citing local sources and witnesses, said the attack was carried out using a small drone resembling a UAV. 

The fire at the refinery at Phase 14 has halted production from one of its offshore platforms, amounting to 12 million cubic meters per day, Tasnim reported adding that firefighters have prevented the blaze from spreading to other units.

The strike caused a powerful explosion and fire, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, adding that a separate fire also broke out at the Fajr Jam gas refinery, which processes gas from South Pars as well as the Nar and Kangan fields and is one of Iran’s largest refineries.

🛑Tasnim news reports an explosion and fire at Iran’s Fajr Jam Gas Refinery. The facility processes up to 125 million cubic meters of gas per day.

See the satellite imagery.
Chinese will feel the burn ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥 #Iran #iranisraelwar #โอปอลสุชาตา #Tehran #TelAviv #Oil #refinery… https://t.co/ORHN0YvWJq pic.twitter.com/Q07KLUZR07

— Anmol (@anmol_kaundilya) June 14, 2025

Iran shares South Pars with Qatar, where it’s known as North Field. It’s the world’s largest gas field and provides roughly two-thirds of Iran’s natural gas.

On Friday, Iranian authorities said the country’s oil refineries and storage tanks were unharmed, with fuel supplies stable nationwide.

South Pars is Iran’s half of the world’s largest natural gas field. It is located in the very middle of the gulf. The other half is owned by Qatar, which they call the North Dome. South Pars Phase 14 is divided into an offshore (gas field) and an onshore (processing plant) component, which is fed by pipeline. Iran doesn’t export natural gas to the extent Qatar does because Iran doesn’t yet have any LNG terminals in operation. 

Israel launched a series of strikes against Iranian territory, targeting nuclear and missile facilities early Friday, killing senior military figures and scientists. The wave of attacks has continued and resulted in the deaths of at least 78 people with 320 others injured, according to figures earlier announced by Iran’s UN envoy. The unofficial death toll, however, could be much higher.

Update(1300ET): Israel’s military on Saturday has been busy touting that its warplanes have total air superiority over Western Iran and the capital area, as the Islamic Republic’s defenses have been largely degraded and destroyed. A senior IDF military official has been cited in local media as saying very significant damage has been inflicted on key nuclear sites and that the IDF will “continue”.

“Since the beginning of the operation, Iran’s nuclear project has suffered heavy blows in two main areas: Damage to the production of the weapon core through strikes on uranium enrichment and conversion sites in Natanz and Isfahan [and] damage to the regime’s weaponization group through the elimination of nine nuclear scientists with unique knowledge and experience in developing the nuclear detonation device,” the official said. And further that “all the scientists eliminated in the opening strike had, over the years, been involved in developing the nuclear detonation device.”

The CIA at this moment still assesses that Iran does not produce a bomb, and was likely not actively seeking it. Iran’s latest response is as follows: 

“This aggression pushes the region into a dangerous cycle of violence,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says during a call with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, according to a statement from his ministry. “Iran has responded and will respond in a firm manner to the barbaric actions of the Zionist regime.”

Netanyahu is meanwhile maintaining that the has the “clear support” of US President Donald Trump, in a new televised address:

In an English video statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iranian leaders are “packing their bags” amid Israel’s airstrikes.

“I’ll tell you what would have come if we hadn’t acted. We had information that this unscrupulous regime was planning to give the nuclear weapons that they would develop to their terrorist proxies. That’s nuclear terrorism on steroids. That would threaten the entire world,” he says.

He adds that the operation has the “clear support” of US President Donald Trump.

“Our enemy is your enemy… We’re dealing with something that will threaten all of us sooner or later. Our victory will be your victory,” Netanyahu says, wishing the US leader a happy birthday.

“This is what Israel is doing with the support, the clear support of the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and the American people and many others in the world.”

Below are sites the IDF has claimed to have hit:

From nuclear sites to air defense systems, we’ve dismantled some of Iran’s most dangerous military assets.

Here’s a breakdown of the key targets struck across Iran: pic.twitter.com/ppRJzwW8uz

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 14, 2025

The latest developments via Al Jazeera:

• Iran and Israel trade missiles and air strikes as the conflict that’s killed dozens escalates with no end in sight.
• At least 80 people – including 20 children – have been killed in Iran and four in Israel, with hundreds wounded on both sides in the ongoing tit-for-tat attacks.
• US President Donald Trump has lauded Israel’s premeditated assault and warned of much worse to come unless Iran quickly accepts the sharp downgrading of its nuclear programme.
• Continuing Iran-US nuclear talks is unjustifiable while “barbarous” Israeli attacks persist on the country, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says.
• The Israeli military says its air strikes on Iran killed more than 20 Iranian army and Revolutionary Guards commanders.
• Israel’s latest attacks on an Iranian gas field takes tensions to a different level

* * *

Overnight has seen the continual trading of tit-for-tat missile salvos between Israel and Iran, with Israeli fighter jets busy over western Iran, where they’ve claimed to have achieved complete domination of the skies after taking out anti-aircraft missile batteries.

Images of large-scale destruction have emerged from both capitals, with Israeli authorities saying at least four citizens have been killed – though casualty figures could be much higher amid an ongoing emergency response – and Iran says Israeli attacks have killed at least 78, including women and children, and wounded over 320 others.

Israel has shared footage of successful aerial attacks on Iran’s ballistic missile launchers in some cases, while the IDF has announced that 70 Israeli Air Force fighter jets participated in the overnight operation in Tehran to establish “aerial freedom of action” over the Iranian capital.

Some 40 sites were targeted, including air defense systems, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin has said. Israeli jets were able to fly over and around the capital for some two-and-half hours.

“The dozens of aircraft are flying freely over Tehran, thanks to the opening blow that removed the threat of Iranian air defense systems,” he declared. Characterizing this as the deepest operation the Israeli Air Force (IAF) has ever been involved in over Iran, he announced:

“Tehran is no longer immune; the capital is exposed to Israeli strikes.”

The IDF releases new footage showing Iranian ballistic missile launchers being struck in Israeli airstrikes. pic.twitter.com/dCcliwun7V

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) June 14, 2025

Israeli jets have yet to strike all of Iran’s nuclear facilities, and Prime Minister Netanyahu has warned that this could continue for several days more. There is serious damage reported at Natanz nuclear site. There have been conflicting reports over whether there is any radiation or chemical contamination at the site.

Some sections of the Isfahan site have been damaged, the IDF has said, while the other key site of Fordo has yet to be targeted.

Important, Israel says that nine nuclear scientists have been killed as a result of Friday aerial operations. Clearly Israel is going for leadership decapitation of military and nuclear programs.

Impact scene from Tel Aviv:

⚡️#BREAKING First video from the site of the Iranian missile impact that took place in southern Tel Aviv moments ago pic.twitter.com/Y5FckSCIf5

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) June 14, 2025

Still, even with Iran’s military capabilities now being steadily degraded, the Islamic Republic has to some degree shown it can regroup and hit back. Israeli media has described a state of panic on the streets, and in some cases residential areas have been demolished:

Israelis on Saturday described the fear, chaos and confusion as several Iranian missiles slammed into houses and apartments in central Israel overnight, causing widespread destruction, killing three people and wounding dozens.

Warning sirens sent millions of people rushing for safe rooms and bomb shelters as Iran fired several waves of missiles in response to Israeli strikes on its military leadership and nuclear program. While the IDF said most were intercepted, several missiles — apparently armed with large explosive warheads — slammed into homes in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan and Rishon Lezion.

“We shut the door, started watching the news through the computer, and suddenly there was a boom so loud that the whole building teetered,” Tali Horesh, resident of a Tel Aviv high-rise that was hit Friday night, told the Ynet news site.

⚠️RAW FOOTAGE: Iran launched multiple ballistic missiles toward Israel in the past hours.

The IDF cannot, and will not, allow Iran to attack our civilians. pic.twitter.com/IrDK05uErm

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 13, 2025

Meanwhile President Trump has been nowhere to be seen, and certainly hasn’t faced reporters’ questions on where the United States stands in all this.

Is Israel committed to full war for regime change in Iran at this point?

Israel has decided to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to try to cause total state collapse. Unless Iran establishes deterrence in the very short term by striking both Israeli and US assets in the region and eliminating top figures in the Israeli regime, they will…

— ☀️👀 (@zei_squirrel) June 14, 2025

developing…

Via The Libertarian Institute

A letter from Washington to Pyongyang was rejected multiple times by North Korean diplomats. During President Donald Trump’s first presidency, he engaged in direct diplomacy with Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un through letters and meetings.

According to a “high-level” source speaking with NK News, the North Korean delegation to the UN in New York City has “bluntly” rejected the US outreach several times.

The American and North Korean leaders exchanged letters during Trump’s first term, leading to three face-to-face meetings. However, Trump was unable to ink a deal with Kim after he allowed his national security advisor – the notorious super-hawk, John Bolton – to threaten Pyongyang during the second summit in Hanoi.

Additionally, during Joe Biden’s presidency, Washington refused to engage with Pyongyang while engaging in a military buildup in East Asia. The policy prompted Kim to reach out to Russian President Valdimir Putin and sign a major cooperation agreement with Russia, including a defense pact. Under the deal, North Korean soldiers fought in Russia’s Kursk region after a Ukrainian incursion last year.

Following the report that Pyongyang had rejected the American letter, the White House said Trump remains open to dialogue with Kim. “The president remains receptive to correspondence with Kim Jong Un,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday. “As for specific correspondence, I will leave that to the president to answer.”

Notwithstanding the frozen relationship between Washington and Pyongyang, North and South Korea engaged in a “meaningful” deescalation this week. On Wednesday, new South Korean president, Lee Jae-myung, shut down loudspeakers that played propaganda messages into the North.

Pyongyang responded by shutting down its own loudspeakers on Thursday. South Korea’s unification ministry said the suspension “helped relieve the suffering of residents in (South Korea’s) border areas and has become a meaningful opportunity to ease inter-Korean military tensions and restore mutual trust.”

North Korea Announces Military Support to Iran pic.twitter.com/wshNi2SRKg

— Umprisoner✰⛓️ (@Umprisoner_69) June 13, 2025

Lee said one of the goals of his presidency would be to engage in talks with North Korea.

Authored by John Carpay via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A friend of mine is German Canadian. He was born in Germany, came to Canada at the age of 5, and speaks German fluently today. My own story is similar: I was born in the Netherlands, came to Canada at the age of 7, and speak Dutch fluently.

He and I are friends, but our grandparents were not.

My own grandfather fought against the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, and spent years in a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany. He returned home in 1945 with severe and permanent psychological damage. My grandmother, along with the entire Dutch population, suffered through five years of brutal German occupation. This included the Hunger Winter of 1944-45, when tens of thousands of people in the Netherlands starved to death.

Does my German Canadian friend owe me something (or anything) in 2025, based on the conduct of his grandparents or homeland?

If ethnic guilt can be transmitted from generation to generation, we face never-ending conflict and strife, to the exclusion of harmony, unity, and friendship. Hence Canada (and any other country, for that matter), would be wise to reject laws and policies that are based on race or ancestry. While the application of the principle “Equal rights for all, special privileges for none” will not by itself create a perfect society, following this principle will create more trust, more justice, and more social cohesion than basing laws on ethnicity or descent.

Another friend of mine has 1/32 aboriginal ancestry, or perhaps 1/64 or 1/128. On the basis of his ancestry, my friend’s son received a special $5,000 grant when attending university; my son did not. I’m truly happy for my friend and his son. Who would not want a friend (or his son) to get an extra $5,000? But it’s not fair. Based on his ethnicity, my friend also has better legal access to hunting and fishing opportunities than I do. I’m really happy for him. And it’s not fair.

Race-based government policies predictably and inevitably produce inter-ethnic animosity, resentment, friction, and conflict. When laws are based on ethnicity or descent, people develop an unhealthy obsession with skin colour, blood lines, and other ancestry-based features—their own and those of their neighbours. This obsession is alive and well in Canada today. Canada’s race-based laws and privileges have been implemented with the good intention of helping the disadvantaged, but this discrimination based on ancestry nonetheless damages harmony, unity, and friendship within society. Today in Canada, legislators, law enforcement, university admissions and awards departments, and school boards carve the people of this country into ethnic categories, and mete out different privileges to each, supposedly to advance “social justice.”

This divisive and destructive conception of “social justice” is fiercely protected, to the point of silencing alternative views in the public square.

On April 9, Ontario mother Catherine Kronas politely objected to an indigenous land acknowledgement that was proclaimed at a meeting of her Ancaster school’s parent council. She described land acknowledgements as political, controversial, divisive, and inappropriate. There was no drama or disruption at the meeting. Ms. Kronas simply requested that her viewpoint be noted.

On May 22, the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board informed Ms. Kronas that she was banned from attending any further meetings of the Ancaster High Secondary School Council, to which Ms. Kronas had been re-elected in October 2024. The school board claims to base its ban on the “behaviour” and “conduct” of Ms. Kronas, but it was obviously her words that triggered this censorship of an opinion that many Canadians agree with.

Land acknowledgements are hypocritical virtue-signalling. I have yet to hear of a non-indigenous Canadian transferring the title of his or her home to an aboriginal for free, as part of a serious effort to return “stolen” land. Proponents of land acknowledgements will sell their property at market value, or bequeath it to their children or perhaps to a charity. They won’t give it away to aboriginals (or anyone else) for free on the basis of it having been “stolen.”

Land acknowledgements often include inaccurate claims about “unceded” territory when, in fact, numerous treaties formalized the sovereignty of the British Crown over the lands that are today’s Canada. The treaties formalized British (and later Canadian) rule over the lands and over all of the people living on them. In areas where no treaties were signed, the British and French nevertheless imposed their agriculture, industry, technology, economies, roads, bridges, laws, courts, police, armies, politics, religion, language, and culture.

The fact that 500 years ago indigenous peoples were the sole inhabitants of what is now Canada “is of no real relevance to the present,” argues lawyer Peter Best. Before and during the arrival of the British and French in North America, aboriginals fought, killed, tortured and enslaved each other, as other peoples living on other continents have done throughout human history. Every culture has its dark side, and human nature is a complex mixture of good and evil. Aboriginals have the same human nature as other people, and their past need not be romanticized.

Land acknowledgements presuppose that the massive non-indigenous immigration into what is today Canada, starting in the 1500s and continuing to the present, is a bad thing. Land acknowledgements suggest that Canadians of Chinese, Polish, British, Punjabi, Nigerian, or French ancestry should feel guilty about living in Canada, even if their Canadian-born ancestry goes back multiple generations. And yet, supporters of land acknowledgements will not put their money where their mouth is, and give away their own homes or lands to aboriginals.

While promoting unfounded and unnecessary guilt, land acknowledgements do nothing to help aboriginals on reserves who face unemployment, poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse, family violence, high suicide rates, and often the tyranny of corrupt local government.

If I am entirely or even partially wrong about what I’ve written above, it is nevertheless hard to dispute that land acknowledgements are political and controversial, which is why they should not be imposed on people at public meetings. Decades ago, Canada’s public schools ended the practice of reciting the Our Father (the Lord’s Prayer) in classrooms because it was deemed unfair to impose this practice on the children of atheists, Jews and other non-Christians. In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that state neutrality meant that the Mayor of Saguenay could not open city council meetings by reciting a Catholic prayer. The same reasoning should apply to land acknowledgements, which are political and ideological statements, and perhaps quasi-religious statements as well.

While land acknowledgements are obviously political and divisive, the immediate battle which Ms. Kronas needs to win is for her right, as a citizen and as an elected member of her school council, to simply express her opinion—a right guaranteed to all Canadians by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms has provided for a lawyer who has sent a legal warning letter on behalf of Ms. Kronas to the school board, threatening court action if the board does not reverse its decision.

John Carpay, B.A., LL.B. is President of the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (jccf.ca).

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times or ZeroHedge.

Bilderberg’s 71st meeting kicked off in Stockholm, Sweden Thursday, where global elites convened behind closed doors amid tensions across Europe and the Middle East, and against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s assault on their favorite thing of all time; globalism. The shadowy group, which was founded in 1954, infamously bans media and enforces a code of silence, fueling concerns of hidden agendas and backroom deals shaping the world’s future.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will address the EU’s “competitiveness” and his country’s support for Ukraine against Russia, his spokesperson told Reuters. Transatlantic relations lead the agenda, with Ukraine, critical raw materials, and AI also slated for discussion, according to documents viewed by Reuters.

Unlike similar events, such as the World Economic Forum’s annual get-together in Davos, Switzerland, no media are invited to cover what goes on during the meeting, and attendees themselves tend to remain tight-lipped about what has been said behind the conference’s closed doors. the Epoch Times notes. 

Among the topics scheduled for discussion are Trans-Atlantic relations, the Russia–Ukraine war, the U.S. economy, artificial intelligence, depopulation and migration, the “Authoritarian Axis,” and the geopolitics of energy and critical minerals.

There is limited other information about the event as the meetings are held under the “Chatham House Rule,“ named after the international affairs think tank in London, which states: ”When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”

The organizers say that this privacy allows participants to take part as individuals rather than in their official capacities, meaning they are not bound by any office they may hold or previous publicly stated positions on the issues for discussion.

Notable American participants include Stacey Abrams, CEO of Sage Works Production; Anne Applebaum, staff writer at The Atlantic; Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer; Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup; Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; and Peter Thiel, President of Thiel Capital. Other prominent Americans include Jack Clark of Anthropic, Alex Karp of Palantir, Eric Schmidt of Relativity Space, and Lawrence Summers of Harvard, alongside national security figures like Christopher Donahue, Commander of US Army Europe and Africa, and Samuel Paparo, Commander of US Indo-Pacific Command. Political and corporate media voices such as Jason Smith, Member of Congress, and Fareed Zakaria, host of Fareed Zakaria GPS, round out the roster.

Below is the complete list of participants:

• Abrams, Stacey (USA), CEO, Sage Works Production

• Albuquerque, Maria Luís (INT), European Commissioner Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union

• Alcázar Benjumea, Diego del (ESP), CEO, IE University

• Alverà, Marco (ITA), Co-Founder, zhero.net; CEO TES

• Andersson, Magdalena (SWE), Leader, Social Democratic Party

• Applebaum, Anne (USA), Staff Writer, The Atlantic

• Attal, Gabriel (FRA), Former Prime Minister

• Auchincloss, Murray (CAN), CEO, BP plc

• Baker, James H. (USA), Former Director, Office of Net Assessment, Department of Defense

• Barbizet, Patricia (FRA), Chair and CEO, Temaris & Associés SAS

• Barroso, José Manuel (PRT), Chair International Advisors, Goldman Sachs International

• Baudson, Valérie (FRA), CEO, Amundi SA

• Beleza, Leonor (PRT), President, Champalimaud Foundation

• Birol, Fatih (INT), Executive Director, International Energy Agency

• Botín, Ana (ESP), Group Executive Chair, Banco Santander SA

• Bourla, Albert (USA), Chair and CEO, Pfizer Inc.

• Brende, Børge (NOR), President, World Economic Forum

• Brunner, Magnus (INT), European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration

• Brzoska, Rafal (POL), CEO, InPost SA

• Busch, Ebba (SWE), Minister for Energy, Business and Industry

• Caine, Patrice (FRA), Chair & CEO, Thales Group

• Calviño, Nadia (INT), President, European Investment Bank

• Castries, Henri de (FRA), President, Institut Montaigne

• Chambers, Jack (IRL), Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Reform and Digitalisation

• Champagne, François-Philippe (CAN), Minister of Finance and National Revenue

• Clark, Jack (USA), Co-Founder & Head of Policy, Anthropic PBC

• Crawford, Kate (USA), Professor and Senior Principal Researcher, USC and Microsoft Research

• Donahue, Christopher (USA), Commander, US Army Europe and Africa

• Donohoe, Paschal (INT), President, Eurogroup; Minister of Finance

• Döpfner, Mathias (DEU), Chair and CEO, Axel Springer SE

• Eberstadt, Nicholas N. (USA), Henry Wendt Scholar in Political Economy, AEI

• Ek, Daniel (SWE), CEO, Spotify SA

• Ekholm, Börje (SWE), CEO, Ericsson Group

• Eriksen, Øyvind (NOR), President and CEO, Aker ASA

• Feltri, Stefano (ITA), Journalist

• Fentener van Vlissingen, Annemiek (NLD), Chair, SHV Holdings NV

• Fraser, Jane (USA), CEO, Citigroup

• Freeland, Chrystia (CAN), Minister of Transport and Internal Trade

• Friedman, Thomas L. (USA), Foreign Affairs Columnist, The New York Times

• Gabuev, Alexander (INT), Director, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center

• Hammer, Kristina (AUT), President, Salzburg Festival

• Harrington, Kevin (USA), Senior Director for Strategic Planning, NSC

• Hassabis, Demis (GBR), Co-Founder and CEO, Google DeepMind

• Hedegaard, Connie (DNK), Chair, KR Foundation

• Heinrichs, Rebeccah (USA), Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute

• Heraty, Anne (IRL), Chair, Sherry Fitzgerald ana IBEC

• Herlin, Jussi (FIN), Vice Chair, KONE Corporation

• Hernández de Cos, Pablo (ESP), General Manager Elect, Bank for International Settlements

• Hobson, Mellody (USA), Co-CEO and President, Ariel Investments LLC

• Hoekstra, Wopke (INT), European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth

• Hunt, Jeremy (GBR), Member of Parliament

• Isla, Pablo (ESP), Vice-Chair, Nestlé SA

• Johansson, Micael (SWE), President and CEO, Saab AB

• Jonsson, Conni (SWE), Founder and Chair, EQT Group

• Karp, Alex (USA), CEO, Palantir Technologies Inc.

• Klingbeil, Lars (DEU), Vice-Chancellor; Minister of Finance

• Klöckner, Julia (DEU), President Bundestag

• Kostrzewa, Wojciech (POL), President, Polish Business Roundtable

• Kotkin, Stephen (USA), Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University

• Kratsios, Michael (USA), Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

• Kravis, Henry R. (USA), Co-Founder and Co-Executive Chair, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

• Kudelski, André (CHE), Chair and CEO, Kudelski Group SA

• Kuleba, Dmytro (UKR), Adjunct Professor, Sciences Po

• Leeuwen, Geoffrey van (INT), Director Private Office of the Secretary General, NATO

• Lemierre, Jean (FRA), Chair, BNP Paribas

• Letta, Enrico (ITA), Dean, IE School of Politics, Economics & Global Affairs

• Leysen, Thomas (BEL), Chair, dsm-firmenich AG

• Lighthizer, Robert (USA), Chair, Center for American Trade

• Liikanen, Erkki (FIN), Chair, IFRS Foundation Trustees

• Lundstedt, Martin (SWE), CEO, Volvo Group

• Marin, Sanna (FIN), Strategic Counsellor, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change

• McGrath, Michael (INT), European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law

• Mensch, Arthur (FRA), Co-Founder and CEO, Mistral AI

• Micklethwait, John (USA), Editor-in-Chief, Bloomberg LP

• Minton Beddoes, Zanny (GBR), Editor-in-Chief, The Economist

• Mitsotakis, Kyriakos (GRC), Prime Minister

• Monti, Mario (ITA), Senator for life

• Moore, Richard (GBR), Chief, Secret Intelligence Service

• Nadella, Satya (USA), CEO, Microsoft Corporation

• Netherlands, H.M. the King of the (NLD),

• O’Leary, Michael (IRL), Group CEO, Ryanair Group

• Ollongren, Kajsa (NLD), Fellow, Chatham House; Senior Fellow, GLOBSEC

• Özyeğin, Murat (TUR), Chair, Fiba Group

• Papalexopoulos, Dimitri (GRC), Chair, TITAN S.A.

• Paparo, Samuel (USA), Commander, US Indo-Pacific Command

• Philippe, Édouard (FRA), Mayor, Le Havre

• Pouyanné, Patrick (FRA), Chair and CEO, TotalEnergies SE

• Prokopenko, Alexandra (INT), Fellow, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center

• Rachman, Gideon (GBR), Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, Financial Times

• Rappard, Rolly van (NLD), Co-Founder and Chair, CVC Capital Partners

• Reiche, Katherina (DEU), Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy

• Ringstad Vartdal, Birgitte (NOR), CEO, Statkraft AS

• Roche, Nicolas (FRA), Secretary General, General Secretariat for Defence and National Security

• Rutte, Mark (INT), Secretary General, NATO

• Salvi, Diogo (PRT), Co-Founder and CEO, TIMWE

• Sawers, John (GBR), Executive Chair, Newbridge Advisory Ltd.

• Scherf, Gundbert (DEU), Co-Founder and Co-CEO, Helsing GmbH

• Schimpf, Brian (USA), Co-Founder & CEO, Anduril Industries

• Schmidt, Eric E. (USA), Executive Chair and CEO, Relativity Space Inc

• Schmidt, Wolfgang (DEU), Former Federal Minister for Special Tasks, Head of the Chancellery

• Šefčovič, Maroš (INT), European Commissioner Trade and Economic Security; Interinstitutional Relations and Transparency

• Sewing, Christian (DEU), CEO, Deutsche Bank AG

• Sikorski, Radoslaw (POL), Minister of Foreign Affairs

• Şimşek, Mehmet (TUR), Minister of Finance

• Smith, Jason (USA), Member of Congress

• Stoltenberg, Jens (NOR), Minister of Finance

• Streeting, Wes (GBR), Secretary of State for Health and Social Care

• Stubb, Alexander (FIN), President of the Republic

• Suleyman, Mustafa (USA), CEO, Microsoft AI

• Summers, Lawrence (USA), Charles W. Eliot University Professor, Harvard University

• Thiel, Peter (USA), President, Thiel Capital LLC

• Toulemon, Laurent (FRA), Senior Researcher, INED

• Uggla, Robert (DNK), Chair, A.P. Møller-Maersk A/S

• Valentini, Valentino (ITA), Deputy Minister of Enterprise and Made in Italy

• Vassy, Luis (FRA), Director, Sciences Po

• Verhoeven, Karel (BEL), Editor-in-Chief, De Standaard

• Wallenberg, Jacob (SWE), Chair, Investor AB

• Wallenberg, Marcus (SWE), Chair, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB

• Weder di Mauro, Beatrice (CHE), President, Centre for Economic Policy Research

• Weel, David van (NLD), Minister of Justice and Security

• Wilmès, Sophie (INT), Vice-President, European Parliament

• Zakaria, Fareed (USA), Host, Fareed Zakaria GPS

• Zeiler, Gerhard (AUT), President, Warner Bros. Discovery International

In 2016, Thiel offered a rare comment to reporters outside of the Bilderberg conference, telling We Are Change reporter Luke Rudkowski that, “Engaging with diverse perspectives is crucial, regardless of differences.”

“Our society faces numerous challenges, and we must […] find ways to have open discussions, even if not everything is fully transparent,” the added.

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released a video on her personal social media accounts lamenting the US nuclear bombing of the Japanese city of Hiroshima and warning that the world was closer to “nuclear annihilation” than ever before.

“I recently visited Hiroshima in Japan and stood at the epicenter of a city that remains scarred by the unimaginable horror caused by a single nuclear bomb dropped in 1945, 80 years ago,” she said in the video. “It’s hard for me to find the words to express what I saw, the stories that I heard, the haunting sadness that still remains. This is an experience that will stay with me forever.”

I recently visited Hiroshima, and stood at the epicenter of a city scarred by the unimaginable horror caused by a single nuclear bomb dropped in 1945. What I saw, the stories I heard, and the haunting sadness that remains, will stay with me forever. pic.twitter.com/TmxmxiGwnV

— Tulsi Gabbard 🌺 (@TulsiGabbard) June 10, 2025

Gabbard said that the bombing in Hiroshima killed “over 300,000 people, many dying instantly while others died from severe burns, injuries, radiation sickness, and cancer that set in in the following months and years.” The number is higher than most death toll estimates for the attack.

When asked if the 300,000 figure was based on US intelligence assessments or if the US had its own estimate, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence didn’t answer and instead provided Antiwar.com with a general statement on the video, which said President Trump was also concerned about the risk of nuclear war.

“Acknowledging the past is critical to inform the future. President Trump has repeatedly stated in the past that he recognizes the immeasurable suffering, and annihilation can be caused by nuclear war, which is why he has been unequivocal that we all need to do everything possible to work towards peace,” said Alexa Henning, Gabbard’s deputy chief of staff.

Gabbard noted in the video that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was much smaller than what nuclear powers have in their arsenals today. “A single nuclear weapon today could kill millions in just minutes,” she said.

“As we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, political elite warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers,” Gabbard said, adding that it was up to “us, the people, to speak up and demand an end to this madness.”

She concluded the video by saying that people should work toward a world where “no one has to live in fear of a nuclear holocaust.”

In her statement on the video, Henning said that Gabbard “supports President Trump’s clearly stated objectives of bringing about lasting peace and stability and preventing war.”

While both Gabbard and Trump say that they want peace, the Trump administration continues fueling the proxy war in Ukraine, supporting Israel’s extermination of Palestinians in Gaza, and is threatening to bomb Iran if diplomacy fails.

The US is also continuing to ratchet tensions with China. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth recently said that the US was ready to “fight and win” a war with China if it invades Taiwan, despite the risk of nuclear war.

As all eyes are on the emerging Israel-Iran aerial war, and as ballistic missiles fly over Middle East skies, Russian forces have made more gains in Eastern Ukraine.

“Russian forces took control of three new Ukrainian villages — Yablonovka in the northeastern Sumy region, and Koptevo and Komar in the eastern Donetsk region,” the Russian Defense Ministry indicated Friday.

“The state TASS news agency cited the ministry as saying that Russian troops had captured six Ukrainian villages over the past week,” Reuters also notes.

This also comes after earlier this month Russian forces expanded ground operations into a more central oblast, in an escalation and expanded offensive:

Russian forces have secured a small foothold in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time since the early weeks of the full-scale war in 2022, The New York Times reported Friday.

Small groups of Russian soldiers crossed into the Dnipropetrovsk region from the occupied Donetsk region over the past weekend, three Ukrainian officers stationed in the area told The New York Times.

A battlefield map compiled by the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War also indicates that Russia has claimed a small strip of territory inside Dnipropetrovsk.

The officers told the NYT that Russian troops have not seized any settlements and have only advanced along a few tree lines.

But the Dnipropetrovsk operation is expected to continue, as the war drags on, Russian forces likely poised to take settlements.

As of last Sunday, a Russian tank unit had reached the western border of Donetsk, and is positioned on the eastern edge of Dnipropetrovsk.

Just like with US-Iran negotiations, efforts to end the Ukraine war appear completely stalled. The Kremlin is demanding that Zelensky agree to territorial concessions to end the war, among other conditions. But this has been a non-starter for the Zelensky government, which is backed by NATO powers.

Authored by Brandon Smith via Alt-Market.us

If you thought that the leftist delusions of grandeur had finally hit their peak you are about to be unpleasantly surprised. There are no limits to the insanity that progressives will embrace in their pursuit of power, and they continue to adhere to the fantasy that they are the “good guys” despite the fact that most of the world has been telling them for the past several years that their ideology is repugnant.

The events in Los Angeles are just the beginning and the path this situation will take is relatively predictable. There is a large enough percentage of the US population (around 25% to 30%) that is inexorably rooted in the ideologies of Marxism and multiculturalism. Many of them might not even understand what they’re supporting, but they’ll still do what they’re told by their gatekeepers.

For decades now the progressives have treated America like an experiment in social engineering; the US has been their personal multicultural playground. What has them enraged today is the fact that they are hitting a wall of opposition. They aren’t used to being told “No” and the only way they know how to respond is by lashing out.

The agenda is simple enough to understand – Open borders, third world replacement of the native population, a complete overhaul of our culture’s fundamental principles and ultimately the utilization of the foreign populace and leftist activists as a weapon to eliminate any resistance. 

Interference on a political level is met with mob violence, looting, rioting and eventually terrorist actions and assassinations. This is the classic model of leftist revolutions throughout modern history. They seem to be disjointed and reactionary, yet their efforts end up highly coordinated and conveniently timed. There is nothing “grassroots” about these movements.

Currently, there is a push to make the LA riots go national with something called the “No Kings” protests scheduled to take place in cities across the country this weekend at the same time as the US Army’s 250^th anniversary celebration (and Donald Trump’s birthday). The Democrats continue to spin the narrative that Trump is a dictator or “king” when he was duly elected by the majority of Americans and almost everything he has done so far is in line with what he promised during his campaign.  All the usual suspects are pushing the spread of the riots, from NGOs to Democrat politicians to the corporate media.

There are some hilarious hot takes floating around social media concerning this event. Some leftists are claiming that conservatives are “running scared” and going quiet in the face of the protests. This is simply a lie. Conservatives are actually laughing at activists because the crazies still don’t understand the level of FAFO they are playing with.

Others are arguing for the secession of the west coast to Canada, which isn’t going to happen because an army of rednecks could invade and conquer Canada in a week. Canada has no capacity to protect themselves, let alone retain California, Oregon and Washington.

Finally, numerous Mexican and Democrat representatives are demanding the “return” of California to Mexico, claiming the lands were stolen. Of course, the US handed the Mexicans their ass 200 years ago and California was ceded to the US through the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo. To the victors go the spoils. Also, Also, Mexico belonged to Spain and was only a country for a couple decades before they were defeated in the Mexican-American conflict.

Apparently, the Mexican government needs a reminder of who their daddy is…

My point? There is a hailstorm of stupidity and naivety on the part of of the socialist mob and it’s getting worse by the week. They really think they have some kind of momentum. Progressive commentators including Bill Maher have been claiming that most of the country doesn’t want mass deportations, they just want violent criminals removed. They argue that getting rid of “Pedro the construction worker” or “Juanita the waitress” will be the end of conservative governance.

They still don’t get it.

The majority of Americans VOTED FOR THIS. They want mass deportations. All illegal migrants are criminals by definition and the public wants them gone. I’m even seeing most Libertarians (who often waffle on these kinds of issues) and black Americans call for illegals to be aggressively booted out.

Native born Americans want their country back and they certainly aren’t going to allow Democrats to flood the population with migrants so they can manipulate future elections. But the problem goes far beyond rigging the census or offering sweeping amnesty initiatives to create a voting block of third worlders. As we have recently seen in LA, there is an agitation plot afoot…

My primary theory on the engineered migrant invasion of the west has long been that these people are not just being used to score a voting majority in the near future, or as a tool for cultural replacement, but that they are a kind of mercenary army – An entitled mob purchased with welfare subsidies that will turn to violence to secure what they see as their piece of the shrinking American pie.

Progressive leaders and their NGO partners have deliberately positioned these migrant populations to be used as foot soldiers in an eventual soft coup. They believe that when the Trump Administration cracks down on the riots it will inspire even more unrest in other cities, creating a spiraling crisis. The foreign invasion tactic is part of what I call the “Monkey Wrenching” of America.

In my article ‘The “Monkey Wrench” Sabotage Of America Begs For An Authoritarian Response’, published in January, I outlined the history of far-left attacks on conservative or traditionalist societies including their attempts to overrun Germany in the 1920s (which ultimately led to misguided public support for socialist fascism).

I argued that the political left and the globalists have been reeling from a sharp reversal in political gains and that they are on the retreat. However, they still have a destructive play up their sleeve in the form of a civil war triggered by sabotage and migrant unrest. I noted in January:

“Leftists throughout modern history have a habit of engaging in destabilization efforts when they don’t get what they want. They view their motivations as sacrosanct and beyond criticism, be it “saving democracy” or “saving the planet” or “taking down capitalists and colonists”.

In every case where the political left had influence over social conditions and then lost that power, they revert to directed exponential disruption and violence from riots to assassination. They claim to care about the right of the majority to have their voices heard, but in reality they don’t care at all. When the majority goes against the leftist narrative, leftists go rogue…”

In my article ‘Why Mass Deportations Are Necessary And How To Keep Illegals From Coming Back’, published in February, I predicted the exact tactic the leftist gatekeepers were likely to exploit:

“As we’ve seen in the first weeks of Trump’s presidency, establishment Democrats are intent on interfering with deportations in any way they can (all the future power of leftists requires forced immigration to the US from socialist leaning countries). By extension, leftist activists will seek to disrupt deportation efforts using civil unrest (when the weather warms up these goblins will come out in droves, bank on it).

On top of the internal sabotage, there are many foreign governments that will desperately try to obstruct the return of so many unwanted citizens. Keep in mind that the US is seen by these governments as a dumping ground for their refuse. America is a steam valve to release the pressure so that these countries can get rid of their criminals, revolutionaries and those in poverty…”

There is a clear organized strategy in play to destabilize the US, and the limited unrest over deportations is being exploited as a snowball that leftists hope will create an avalanche. They co-opted the death of George Floyd (who died from Fentanyl overdose) to instigate the BLM riots. They used the war in Gaza to agitate for riots at American universities. They will try to hijack the migrant issue as yet another excuse for national violence.

My suspicion is that the “No Kings” protests will probably fall flat throughout most of the country except in usual suspect cities (LA, New York, Chicago, Portland, Seattle, etc). But, there’s no telling how much cash is behind this operation and how many useful idiots they will dredge up through social media propaganda. If not this week, then eventually, there will be a wider civil breakdown. The illegal migrant agenda is their last chance and they aren’t going to let it fade away easily.

So, here is what’s going to happen and I want to explain this reality to leftists directly:

You’re going to experience a defeat on a level you can’t yet fathom. It’s not going to be fair, it’s going to be ugly. You truly have no idea what is about to happen to you. And, it’s not going to be riot cops, or the National Guard or even the US Marines that serve up the smackdown, it’s going to be regular American conservatives.

Progressive commentators continue focusing on Trump as if he’s going to be wearing the boot that steps on their necks. That’s not how this will go down. You have NO CLUE how many millions of conservatives are fed up with the constant sabotage and cry-bullying of the political left. They are anxious to step in. Listen because I’m doing you a favor here – Just stop, because if you do what you claim you want to do (national riots and infrastructure disruption), we are going to end you.

The switch is about to be flipped. One day soon, without warning, every conservative man in the country is going find themselves reading a particularly egregious news report. They’re going to take off from their jobs which they have been working diligently for most of their lives, they’re going to hug their families, walk out the front door, get in a truck loaded with combat gear, they’re going to show up in droves at the nearest leftist riots, and steeped in an array of skills that they have been carefully practicing for years, they’re going to put those people down flat.

There will be skeptics who will say this is never going to happen. Those people are idiots. They don’t know conservatives, they don’t talk to conservatives. Mark my words, if the current trend continues it’s going to happen and leftists don’t stand a chance (the feds under Obama learned this at Bundy Ranch). So, quit, before it’s too late. Because once it starts it’s not going to stop until every leftist rioter and saboteur is run out of the US or fitted for a wooden box. If you’re on the political left, civil war is the last thing you should want.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.

GDP per capita is a rough proxy for a country’s average living standards. A higher GDP per capita usually reflects more economic resources available per person, a signal for prosperity.

However, like all statistical measures there are caveats: it doesn’t account for income distribution, quality of life metrics, or how sustainable the economy is.

Nevertheless, it is a standard that can be applied to make useful comparisons, while keeping these caveats in mind.

So, what are the “richest” countries in the world?

Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao ranks the top 50 countries by GDP per capita in 2025 using figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

All values are in current USD, which means: it is not adjusted for currency rates, cost of living metrics, or inflation.

Ranked: The Richest Countries in the World in 2025

Luxembourg is the richest country in the world by GDP per capita, $140,941 in 2025.

The U.S. is the richest country ($89,105) with a population of more than 10 million.

Note: Data is missing for: Afghanistan, Eritrea, Lebanon, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Palestine. Figures for several overseas territories are also not included.

Noticeably, many of the top spots are held by small countries with specialized financial services sectors, also known offshore financial centers.

Luxembourg (#1), Ireland (#2), Switzerland (#3), Singapore (#4), Netherlands (#11) and Hong Kong (#18) are all considered tax havens as their friendly tax laws, strict privacy rules, and strong financial sectors encourage multinational corporations to route earnings through them.

As a result, this improves their GDP a significant amount, but doesn’t reflect the resident populations productivity.

In Ireland’s case, these flows distorted GDP values so much that the government discontinued its use as a reliable statistic, preferring to measure and compare gross national income (GNI) instead.

Oil Wealth a Major Factor

Energy-rich countries also dominate the rankings. Qatar (#10), UAE (#23), and Saudi Arabia (#43) rank high due to oil exports fueling government spending and infrastructure.

Norway (#6), with a large sovereign wealth fund, is Europe’s prime example of oil wealth being reinvested.

Guyana, a newcomer at #41, has rapidly climbed the ranks following major offshore oil discoveries and production growth.

America’s Scale and Wealth

Finally, while the U.S. ranks #7 in GDP per capita, it stands out for its scale. It’s the richest country in the world by GDP per capita with a population over 10 million, highlighting its economic might.

Other populous countries, like Germany, Japan, the UK, and France all fall lower in per capita terms, despite large total economies.

High-tech industries, consumer spending, and capital markets contribute to America’s wealth profile.

Want a closer look at the American economy? Check out: America’s $19 Trillion Consumption Sector in one chart, to see where Americans spend their dollars.