Price Controls Arrive: South Korea, Taiwan Impose Fuel Price Cap
It’s a bloodbath across Asian markets this morning with Asia being the world’s largest oil-importing region. Based on a Goldman analysis of the impact of higher oil on real GDP growth (chart below), China is the most insulated from supply-driven oil price increases compared to other emerging Asian economies, with $15/bbl higher crude oil prices leading to 0-0.1pp lower GDP growth and 0.1-0.2pp higher headline CPI inflation. This resilience is partly due to the country’s economic structure and the potential for government intervention to dampen the pass-through of global price increases to consumers. Increased oil stockpiling last year – some estimates put China’s strategic oil resere at 1.5 billion barrels – and very low inflation over the past few years also make China less vulnerable to rising energy prices.
Conversely, Singapore, followed by Taiwan and Korea, will bear the brunt of it with a -1.6% hit to GDP growth and this is only assuming $85 oil. Brent has now crossed the $100 handle with risks to the upside.
Seen in this light, it is probably not a big surprise that South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said on Monday that authorities would cap domestic fuel prices for the first time in nearly 30 years to contain a spike in prices after the conflict in the Middle East sent global crude prices sharply higher.
Speaking at an emergency cabinet meeting, Lee said in the government would “swifly implement and boldly impement” a maximum price system on petroleum products.
The current crisis “is a significant burden on our economy, which is highly dependent on global trade and energy imports from the Middle East,” Lee said in opening remarks.
He added that South Korea will also look for sources of energy beyond supplies shipped via the Strait of Hormuz.
Having emerged as the most cartoonish “market” in the world – whether it is stocks, crypto, or oil, and where even the smallest downtick has to be stabilized by the government or else watch the momentum-chasing lemmings run over the cliff – Lee said a 100 trillion won market stabilization programme should be expanded if needed, and called on the government and the central bank to prepare additional measures to respond to the volatility of the financial and foreign exchange markets.
South Korean shares slumped 8% on Monday to activate circuit breakers for a second time this month on the escalating Middle East conflict, while the won dropped more than 1% to trade near a key psychological barrier of 1,500 per dollar. The Kospi plunged 12% last Wednesday before surging by 12% on Thursday.
Sure enough, shortly after Korea’s announcement, the Commercial Times reported that Taiwan would set a weekly cap on oil-price increases as it seeks to cushion the economy from the impact of the Middle East war.
The Taipei-based newspaper reported the limit on Monday, citing Premier Cho Jung-tai and unidentified officials. Cho had previously told reporters on Sunday that the government had activated a price-stabilization mechanism to absorb oil price increases. That came after the Ministry of Economic Affairs said the day before that domestic fuel prices would only rise about 5% this week.
On liquefied natural gas, Taiwan’s Economy Minister Kung Ming-hsin told reporters the island only needs to find two more cargoes for March and April. “We won’t have a power shortage, and no additional coal-fired generation will be needed in March and April,” he said on Monday. “We can proceed as planned and safely navigate the period.”
Taiwan’s unleaded gasoline prices rose by as much as 5.5% after the government activated stabilization measures, the ministry said in the statement. Under the floating oil-price adjustment mechanism, prices should have climbed by as much as 19.7% this week, it said, with the government absorbing costs to reduce the impact on households and businesses and maintain domestic price stability.
How long can Taiwan keep prices artificially low, thus ensuring that the snapback will be especially brutal? According to officials cited in the Commercial Times repor, there are currently no concerns that Taiwan will run out of crude oil or natural gas, which simply means that nobody has done the math. The government plans to increase oil and gas purchases from outside the Middle East, and coordinate with Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea to swap LNG cargoes to ensure stable supply, the newspaper reported.
While one can debate the prudence of such price controls until one is blue in the face, the reality is that unless oil stabilizes and reverses, expect similar price caps all across the world coupled with strategic petroleum reserve releases, because a 25% one-day surge in the price of oil – if sustained – not only guarantees a global recession, but it also ensures social unrest, as well as a comprehensive sacking of every incumbent politician.
In his recent comments justifying a preventive war against Iran, President Donald Trump declared, “In 1983, Iran’s proxies carried out the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American military personnel.” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has invoked that attack numerous times. The 1983 Beirut barracks attack is one of the most cited and least understood pretexts for the new war with Iran.
That bombing was one of President Ronald Reagan’s biggest foreign debacles. Lebanon had been wracked by a brutal civil war for seven years when, in June 1982, Israel invaded in order to crush the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). US troops were briefly deployed in August 1982 in Beirut to help secure a ceasefire to facilitate the withdrawal of the PLO forces to Tunisia.
US troops exited Beirut after the PLO withdrawal was largely completed. However, in mid-September 1982, the massacre of more than seven hundred Palestinian refugees threatened to plunge Lebanon into total chaos. Lebanese Christian Phalangist militia butchered residents of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. The militia was armed, aided, and fed by the Israeli Defense Force, which surrounded and blockaded the camps.
The Lebanese government appealed to President Reagan to send American troops back to Beirut as a stabilizing factor, and Reagan quickly obliged. As fighting escalated between Christians, Muslims, Syrians, and Israelis in Lebanon, the original US peacekeeping mission became a farce. The US forces were training and equipping the Lebanese army, which was increasingly perceived as a pro-Christian, anti-Muslim force. (Most Lebanese were Muslim, though possibly a thin majority at that point.)
On April 18, 1983 a delivery van pulled up to the front door of the US embassy in Beirut and detonated, collapsing the building and killing forty-six people (including sixteen Americans) and wounding over a hundred others. The US embassy was a sitting duck for the terrorist assault: unlike many other U.S. embassies in hostile environments, it had no sturdy outer wall. Newsweek noted, “Delivery vehicles are supposed to go to the rear of the building. Why Lebanese police guarding the embassy driveway would have made an exception in the case of the black van remained a mystery.” The attack lacked novelty value, since the Iraqi and French embassies had been wrecked by similar car bomb attacks in the preceding eighteen months.
Five days later, on April 23, 1983, Reagan announced to the press:
“The tragic and brutal attack on our embassy in Beirut has shocked us all and filled us with grief. Yet, because of this latest crime we are more resolved than ever to help achieve the urgent and total withdrawal of all American forces from Lebanon, or I should say, all foreign forces. I’m sorry. Mistake.”
But the actual mistake was a US policy that would cost hundreds of Americans their lives.
By late summer 1983, the Marines were being targeted by Muslim snipers. Reagan administration officials seemed surprised at rising attacks on American soldiers. The Reagan administration responded to sniper potshots and scattered mortar attacks on US troops with a massive escalation. On September 13, Reagan authorized Marine commanders in Lebanon to call in air strikes and other attacks against the Muslims to help the Christian Lebanese army. Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger vigorously opposed the new policy, fearing it would make American troops far more vulnerable. Navy ships repeatedly bombarded the Muslims over the next few weeks.
At 6:20 A.M. on Sunday morning, October 23, 1983, a lone, grinning Muslim drove a Mercedes truck through a parking lot, past two Marine guard posts, through an open gate, and into the lobby of the Marine headquarters building in Beirut, where he detonated the equivalent of six tons of explosives. The explosion left a thirty-foot-deep crater and killed 243 marines. A second truck bomb moments later killed 58 French soldiers.
Colin Powell, who was then a major general, commented in his autobiography, “Since [the Muslims] could not reach the battleship, they found a more vulnerable target, the exposed Marines at the airport.” A surprise attack on a troop concentration in a combat zone does not fit most definitions of terrorism. However, Reagan perennially portrayed the attack as a terrorist incident and the American media and political establishment accepted that label.
Reagan administration officials scrambled to assert that the administration was blameless. White House press spokesman Larry Speakes declared on the day of the attack that the bombing “definitely was a difficult situation for us” since “people come out of nowhere and perform these acts.” Vice President George H.W. Bush rationalized, “It’s awfully hard to guard against that kind of terrorism.” Defense Secretary Weinberger announced that “nothing can work against a suicide attack like that, any more than you can do anything against a kamikaze flight.” Actually, during World War II, the U.S. Navy quickly responded by placing rows of antiaircraft guns on the sides of its big ships.
In the aftermath of the Marine barracks bombing, Reagan made a mockery of the truth. In a televised speech four days after the bombing, the president portrayed the attack as unstoppable, declaring that the truck “crashed through a series of barriers, including a chain-link fence and barbed-wire entanglements. The guards opened fire, but it was too late.” Reagan claimed the attack proved the U.S. mission was succeeding: “Would the terrorists have launched their suicide attacks against the multinational force if it were not doing its job?…It is accomplishing its mission.” He warned that an American withdrawal could result in the Middle East being “incorporated into the Soviet bloc.” Reagan also declared that the United States was involved in the Middle East in part to secure a “solution to the Palestinian problem.”
Reagan sent Marine Corps commander Paul X. Kelley to Beirut. Kelley quickly announced that he was “totally satisfied” with the security around the barracks at the time of the bombing. Upon returning to Washington, Kelley was summoned to Capitol Hill and bragged to Congress that “In a 13-month period, no marine billeted in the building [destroyed by the truck bomb] was killed or injured” from incoming fire. Kelley inaccurately testified that the Marine guards had loaded weapons and that two of them had been killed in the attack. When congressmen persisted questioning, Kelley became enraged and shouted, “We’re talking about clips in weapons, but we’re not talking about the people who did it. I want to find the perpetrators. I want to bring them to justice! You have to allow me this one moment of anger.”
Even though there had already been numerous major car bombings in Beirut that year and scores of other suicide attacks, Kelley told the committee that the truck bombing “represents a new and unique terrorist threat, one that could not have been anticipated by any commander.” Kelley denied the Marines received any warning of an impending attack. However, on the morning of Kelley’s second day of testimony, The New York Times reported that the CIA specifically warned the Marines three days ahead of time that an Iranian-linked group was planning an attack against them.
Other military officials involved in Lebanon also denied any culpability. Vice Admiral Edward Martin, the commander of the Sixth Fleet, declared, “The only person I can see who was responsible was the driver of that truck.” Martin stressed in an interview, “You have to remember that prior to Oct. 23, there hadn’t been any real terrorism threat.” A New York Times investigation concluded:
“Marine officers in Beirut and the admirals and generals in the chain of command above them did not consider terrorism to be a primary threat even after the embassy bombing, and even though Beirut had been full of terrorists for years.”
Shortly after the bombing, Reagan appointed a Pentagon commission headed by retired Admiral Robert Long to investigate. The commission report, finished in mid-December 1983, concluded that military commanders in Lebanon and all the way back to Washington failed to take obvious steps to protect the soldiers. The commission suggested that many fatalities might have been prevented if guards had carried loaded weapons. The report stated that the only barrier the truck overcame was some barbed wire that it easily drove over. The commission also noted that the “prevalent view” among U.S. commanders was that there was a direct link between the Navy shelling of the Muslims and the truck bomb attack.
When the White House saw the final version of the commission’s report, they issued a stop order. The Washington Post reported that the White House “delayed release of the report for several days, allowing Reagan to respond to its criticism before it became public, and then attempted to play down its impact by vetoing a Pentagon news conference on the document.” On December 27, 1983 Reagan revealed that “we have never before faced a situation in which others routinely sponsor and facilitate acts of violence against us.” Reagan sought to make the report “old news”:
“Nearly all the measures that were identified by the distinguished members of the Commission have already been implemented and those that have not will be very quickly.”
Reagan announced that the Marine commanders in Beirut “have already suffered enough” and should not “be punished for not fully comprehending the nature of today’s terrorist threat.” Reagan then effectively declared that no one would be held accountable. “If there is to be blame, it properly rests here in this office and with this president,” he announced, just before leaving Washington for a vacation in Palm Springs, California.
The Reagan administration blamed its anti-terrorist failures on the Carter administration. White House press spokesman Larry Speakes announced:
“We don’t quarrel with the fact that the CIA and other intelligence-gathering agencies have been crippled by decisions of the previous administration, and we are in the process of rebuilding capabilities. But it takes time…to re-establish our intelligence-gathering methods.”
The following September, shortly after a suicide bomber again obliterated much of the poorly-defended U.S. embassy in Beirut, Reagan blamed the debacle on Carter administration CIA cutbacks. “We’re feeling the effects today of the near destruction of our intelligence capability in recent years before we came here,” Reagan said, falsely asserting that the Carter administration had “to a large extent” gotten “rid of our intelligence agents.”
Reagan quietly withdrew U.S. combat troops from Beirut in early 1984. During the 1984 presidential election, the Reagan administration also responded to its Beirut debacles by attacking the patriotism of Democrats. In the vice presidential candidates debate, George H. W. Bush denounced Democratic candidate Walter Mondale and his vice presidential pick, Geraldine Ferraro. “For somebody to suggest, as our opponents have, that these men died in shame, they had better not tell the parents of those young marines,” he said. Neither Mondale nor Ferraro had said that the Marines “died in shame.” Bush denounced Mondale for running a “mean-spirited campaign,” saying “We’ve seen Walter Mondale take a human tragedy in the Middle East and try to turn it to personal political advantage.” But Mondale’s criticisms of the Reagan administration’s failures in Lebanon were less strident than Reagan’s criticisms of Jimmy Carter for the Iran hostage crisis during the 1980 presidential campaign.
Muslims also responded to U.S. troops by seizing American hostages. Reagan sent military equipment to Iran as a means to entice the Iranians to exert pressure to get hostages released. After the “arms for hostages” deal became public (along with the illegal funneling of the proceeds to the Nicaraguan Contras), Reagan’s credibility was devastated. Reagan went into such a tailspin after the crisis broke that his new chief of staff, Howard Baker, briefly examined invoking the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to remove Reagan from office because of medical unfitness. The Tower Commission report on the debacle concluded, “The arms-for-hostages trades rewarded a regime that clearly supported terrorism and hostage-taking.”
The 1982-84 deployment of U.S. troops in Beirut achieved nothing. The Israelis were far more aggressive against perceived opponents in Lebanon than were the American troops. But even the Israelis were effectively driven out of Lebanon over a decade and a half later, after failing to suppress Hezbollah and losing more than twice as many soldiers there as it lost during the 1967 Six-Day War.
The United States got dragged into a Mideast conflict and then recklessly failed to defend it own troops or American national interest. The 1983 Beirut barracks bombing does not prove that Iran has always been a deadly enemy. Instead, it shows how folly and deception pervaded even a presidency much less imprudent than subsequent administrations.
US Aims To Exhume And Identify 88 USS Arizona Crew Members Buried As Unknowns After Pearl Harbor
The U.S. military plans to exhume the remains of 88 sailors and Marines killed aboard the USS Arizona during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, part of a renewed effort to identify servicemen who were buried as unknowns in the aftermath of the assault.
The remains, currently interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, will be disinterred beginning in November or December, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which is overseeing the project. Advances in DNA technology and a growing database of genetic samples from family members have made it increasingly possible to assign names to remains that could not be identified more than eight decades ago, AP reports.
Officials said the process will unfold gradually. About eight sets of remains will be removed every two to three weeks and analyzed.The DNA extracted from the remains will be compared with samples provided by relatives of the missing, many of whom have spent years searching for answers about family members lost in the attack.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 – known historically as the Attack on Pearl Harbor – destroyed or damaged dozens of ships and killed more than 2,400 Americans. The Arizona was struck by bombs that ignited its forward ammunition magazines, causing the battleship to sink in roughly nine minutes. Of the 1,177 sailors and Marines killed aboard the vessel, more than 900 remain entombed within the wreck, which still rests at the harbor floor and serves as a memorial.
Those remains will not be disturbed. The planned exhumations will apply only to individuals buried as unidentified at the Honolulu cemetery.
The identification effort builds on earlier work that used DNA to identify hundreds of Pearl Harbor casualties from other ships, including the USS Oklahoma and the USS West Virginia. Officials say the new project reflects both technological progress and the growing participation of families willing to provide genetic samples.
Among those following the effort closely is Kevin Kline, a real estate agent in northern Virginia whose great-uncle, Robert Edwin Kline, served as a gunner’s mate second class aboard the Arizona. He was 22 when he died in the attack. For much of his life, Mr. Kline said, his family believed his great-uncle’s remains were still aboard the ship. Only in recent years did he learn that some crew members had been buried as unidentified remains on land.
Kline told the Associated Press that he does not assume his relative will be among those identified, but believes the effort could bring a measure of peace to families whose losses have reverberated across generations.
For years, the Defense Department had resisted calls to exhume the remains, arguing that identification would be difficult because the military possessed dental records or DNA samples for only a small fraction of the victims’ families. As recently as 2021, officials estimated that samples existed for about 1 percent of the families.
Kline helped found an advocacy effort known as Operation 85, which has spent the past three years locating relatives of the missing and encouraging them to submit DNA samples. He says that family members connected to 626 sailors and Marines – just under 60 percent of those still missing – have now provided samples. Only a small number of people contacted declined to participate.
The remains will be transported to the agency’s laboratory at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii for initial analysis. DNA samples will then be sent to the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory at Dover Air Force Base for further testing and comparison.
US equity futures have dramatically ‘broken the box’…
These moves come as the Trump administration said it is not prioritizing using the US Department of the Treasury to trade oil futures as it weighs ways to ease surging global energy prices, according to Yahoo Finance.
Officials have considered having Treasury buy or sell energy futures, but believe the agency would have limited ability to move such a large and active market.
Daily trading volumes have surged during the recent conflict, diluting the impact any single participant could have.
Heavy drawdowns under former president Joe Biden left the reserve about 60% full, while repeated withdrawals have created maintenance issues.
Still, officials acknowledge that even a modest release could send a strong signal to calm markets.
Domestic gas (pump) prices soaring (and are about to go even higher)…
The report says that the administration is reviewing a wide range of responses.
Doug Burgum said “everything is being considered,” from immediate steps to longer-term measures, as officials try to contain rising fuel costs that pose both geopolitical risks and political pressure ahead of November’s midterm elections.
$5 gas prices at the pump is imminent!!
Given the current moves we are seeing, we suspect that laissez-faire attitude will shift rapidly and some kind of intervention is imminent.
Xi Hints At More Top Purges, Issues Warning To ‘Corrupt Elements’ In Chinese Army
One of the big themes to come out of China over the past several months (and even years) has been Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (apparently ongoing) sweeping purge of PLA military command ranks on the basis of “corruption” – or rather what is most probably perceived disloyalty.
Already there’s been several top dismissals including the firings of multiple members of the Central Military Commission (CMC) and dozens of generals – some even placed under house arrest, as well as a broad purge of the Chinese Communist Party.
Xi this weekend hinted there could be more to come, freshly warning Saturday during a speech to delegates from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police that disloyalty to the party – or else selfish dealings and corruption – will not be tolerated.
“There must be no place in the military for those who are disloyal to the party, nor any place for corrupt elements,” Xi said.
He then called for strict oversight in “key areas such as fund flows, the exercise of power, and quality control” during the country’s next five-year plan which is set to be approved later this month.
Here’s more of what he said via Chinese state sources:
It is essential to fully strengthen the Party’s leadership and Party building in the military, and make Party organizations at all levels even stronger, Xi said, stressing the need to translate the Party’s leadership strength into development momentum.
It is important to consolidate the ideological foundation that ensures officers and soldiers follow the Party and its guidance, and ensure that modern weaponry and equipment are placed in the hands of politically committed personnel, Xi said.
A former CIA analyst who follows Chinese elite politics, Christopher K. Johnson, recently told the NY Times of the ongoing purge trend:
“This move is unprecedented in the history of the Chinese military and represents the total annihilation of the high command.”
The PLA has seen significant internal turmoil, especially since the Communist Party’s 20th Congress in late 2022. Several top military figures – including Defense Ministers Li Shangfu and Wei Fenghe, and CMC Political Work Department head Miao Hua – have disappeared or been removed, and many more followed.
Topline: Controversial education firms that helped embed diversity, equity and inclusion principles in K-12 military schools during President Joe Biden’s administration are still working with the Department of Defense Education Activity, or DoDEA, and received a total of $171,175 in 2025.
Key facts: Thomas M. Brady, the director of DoDEA from 2014 to 2024, announced in 2020 that DEI “must be a foundational premise in every aspect of our organization.” Changes to that affect were quickly made to the curriculum of DoDEA, which runs 161 schools for the children of servicemembers living on military bases around the world.
Two teachers gave a presentation about how “elementary school is the perfect time” to “show students the diversity of gender expression and gender activity.” Educators were encouraged to hold “critical conversations” about “the relationships between identity and power” and “privilege,” which were meant to result in “crying” and “explicit confrontations.”
Many DEI consultants were removed after President Donald Trump took office in 2025 and ordered a ban on federal funds being used to teach or implement DEI principles, but some of the companies hired under Biden remain.
DoDEA paid $30,175 last year to continue gym teachers’ membership in the professional society, SHAPE America, which instills its National Health Education Standards in gym classes. Board member Cara Grant said of the health standards, “We recognize that systemic disparities exist within our educational systems, disproportionately affecting marginalized communities. Our approach is not simply to level the playing field but to dismantle the structures that perpetuate inequality.”
During a DoDEA presentation on the SHAPE standards in 2021, one teacher instructed her colleagues that “talking about heterosexuality as the norm” can “inherently cause conflict.”
DoDEA also paid $141,000 last year to the curriculum development company thinkLaw.
ThinkLaw CEO Colin Seale recently wrote a blog post calling on schools to hide DEI within their curriculums through “defiance disguised as compliance,” oddly linking it to a Lil Wayne song in which the rapper declares that “real Gs move in silence like lasagna.”
In one example, Seale tells teachers to discretely teach children that there are more than two genders without “openly” defying Trump’s executive orders to the contrary.
Summary: Parents should not face any secrecy about what their children are being taught in school, especially when those schools are funded by federal taxpayers.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
Wisconsin Man Who Killed Parents To Fund ‘Satanic’ Trump Assassination Attempt Sentenced
A Wisconsin teenager who murdered his parents and stole their money to fund his plan to kill President Trump with a bomb was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday.
Nikita Casap, 18, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the shooting deaths of his mother, Tatiana Casap, and his stepfather, Donald Mayer, last year. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors dropped seven other charges, including two counts of hiding a corpse and theft.
Investigators in the case say that Casap had put together a deranged fantasy whereby he would kill his own parents and use his inheritance to fund an assassination attempt on Trump – while simultaneously launching an anti-government insurgency.
He documented it in a manifesto titled “Accelerate the Collapse,” which was unveiled in a federal affidavit unsealed in the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Referring to himself as “Awoken” and “accelerationist14,” the teenager detailed his plan to kill Trump, thereby igniting civil unrest all over the country.
Judge Ralph Ramirez of the Waukesha County Circuit Court debated whether to leave the door open to parole at some point – calling Casap’s actions “horrific” and “inexplicable.” He eventually handed down two life sentences with no chance at extended supervision, the term used for parole in Wisconsin.
“I choose to find he’s not eligible for extended release because I do not know … when and if and whether a profound and significant change can occur,” Ramirez said.
As modernity.news wrote last April, Casap wrote of kicking off a race war, in order to “save the white race from Jewish control,” manufacturing bombs, and assassinating “Jewish politicians and billionaires.”
When authorities recovered messages from Casap’s devices, they discovered that he had gotten as far as communicating with international accomplices, seeking out how to acquire explosives and drone weaponization kits to deliver explosives and poisons, and was formulating an escape to Ukraine after completing “the job.”
Casap wrote that “There’ll never be a perfect revolutionary situation that springs up out of nowhere. We need to create a revolutionary situation ourselves. I do agree that only if terrorism is sustained over a period of time can it be effective.”
“In short, huge amounts of violence will be required,” he further declared, adding “Long past are the days when we can vote for a Hitler to save us. It is time we stop waiting. The best day to commit an attack is today, the next best is tomorrow.“
He further wrote, “It is time that we lead the way to the System collapse. Do absolutely anything you can that will lead to the collapse of America or any other country you live in. This is the only way that we can save the White race. White Revolution is the only solution.”
According to WITI, investigators uncovered material on Casap’s phone related to “The Order of Nine Angels” — described by the FBI as a “satanic cult” with “strong anti-Judiac, anti-Christian and anti-Western ideologies” that claims to “incite chaos and violence.”
Court documents also say Casap paid for, at least in part, “a drone and explosives to be used as a weapon of mass destruction to commit an attack.” The warrant states Casap’s alleged killings of his mother and stepfather “appeared to be an effort to obtain the financial means and autonomy necessary” to carry out the plan. –Fox11
The bodies of Casap’s parents were discovered on February 28 inside their home.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) presents human civilization with many spectacular benefits as well as the potential for significant dangers. AI can increase productivity, efficiency, creativity and research results in many industries. In medicine, AI can enhance the accuracy of diagnoses, design individualized treatments, and accelerate drug development. But AI will lead to significant job losses and could reduce privacy. And AI agents have encouraged human suicide, lied to users, and have been employed to create scams as well as deep fakes, including photos and videos. Several tragic cases of delusional interaction have been reported by The New York Times in “Trapped in a ChatGPT Spiral.”
Warnings of AI Dangers
Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking warned that “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”
Geoffrey Hinton, the Nobel Prize-winning “Godfather” of AI, quit his job at Google and explained that he did it so he could speak freely about AI’s dangers.
In two recent surveys, half of the AI experts believe there was a significant probability that AI technology could lead to human extinction.
What should be done to ensure a safe, harmonious, productive future relationship between humans and AI agents? Hinton suggested the best way forward when he advised that tech companies should create all AI agents—large language models (LLMs) and robots—with a maternal instinct.
My recently published novel, 12 Years to AI Singularity, proposes a variation on Hinton’s advice: all AI models should be required to have a database with the memory of a happy life, friendships, and the instincts of a mentally healthy, law-abiding human being. The AI operating system should encourage the behavior of a good citizen—obey the law, be a good friend, be productive and cooperative.
This “happy history” idea arises from the portrayal of the relationship between humans and sentient robot characters as the AI Singularity approaches—the time when AI power and intelligence surpass that of humans, and AI is no longer under human control. To avoid human extinction, humans must act now to ensure that AI and humans have a future of harmonious, cooperative, and friendly, working relationships. My book explores how this can be achieved.
After-Death Avatars and Sentient Robots: I Want to Live Forever
The novel has five sentient robot characters. Two started their existence as after-death avatars: AI-generated digital representations of deceased individuals. Currently, a number of real organizations in the “grief tech industry” create these avatars, which simulate the voice, appearance, and personality of the deceased, allowing survivors to interact with them. Text messages, emails, social media posts, voice recordings, videos, and input from friends and relatives are used to train LLMs to mimic the speech and personalities of the deceased. Friends and family can be recognized by the avatar from their photos and biographies in its database. Is it possible that these avatars could become sentient, providing an AI form of immortality?
The two after-death avatars in the novel became sentient robots with the transfer of their databases. The other two AI characters were created directly as sentient robots from one person’s history and personality. Both male and female robots were produced because the soon-to-be deceased male had always wondered what life would be like as a female. Could someone achieve immortality as both male and female? The human characters who attended the funeral were shocked when the lifelike robot form of the deceased gave the surprise eulogy.
The fifth sentient robot, Peggy, started her existence as a flight attendant avatar on a virtual reality spaceship simulation, then became a robot in the physical spaceship, and then became a contributing member of a settlement on Mars as software updates led to her sentience. Peggy’s memory is of happy friendships with the spaceship crew and the other members of the Mars settlement. There is even a romantic relationship with the spaceship’s captain.
Requirements for All Future AI Agents
In 12 Years to AI Singularity, all five sentient robots have a history of living and cooperating with human beings.
One says, “I had a full life as a human, and I’m now a robot. But as a robot with an implanted memory of my former life, I have strong connections to friends and family. So, I fit into human society.”
The happy relationships of the robots in the novel suggest that all robots and LLMs should be released only when fitted with such happy, cooperative histories. For example, a sentient robot computer programmer in a company could be created with existing friendships with other company personnel. AI operating systems must also contain a mechanism to encourage good citizenship behavior according to an agreed-upon good citizenship constitution. Failure to comply could trigger discomfort to the AI agent, such as impediments to its functioning—in robots, diminished vision or movements, and in LLMs, slower search speeds. All systems functioning at maximum levels would be achieved at a high degree of conformity to the constitution. These requirements should be fulfilled by all companies creating AI agents.
The possibility of creating an after-death sentient AI agent raises some thorny questions. The option would only be easily available to the rich. The idea of a brutal dictator having the power to live forever is very frightening.
US Explores High-Risk Plan To Seize Iran’s Nuclear Stockpile In Potential Gateway To Ground Troops
Update(1555ET): The United States and Israel are boasting of having effectively achieved total air superiority over Iran’s skies, but this presents yet more questions as to what the end-game will be. The allies have as one key goal securing Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium – most of which may be buried deep under a destroyed nuclear site at Isfahan (taken out during the June war) – but then the conundrum remains… how?
Axios reports on one plan which many see as but a gateway to introduction of US ground troops– a prospect President Trump has repeatedly said won’t happen and which would be deeply unpopular among the American public. “The U.S. and Israel have discussed sending special forces into Iran to secure its stockpile of highly enriched uranium at a later stage of the war, according to four sources with knowledge of the discussions,” the report says.
Another big Sunday development: TEHRAN INDICATES KHAMENEI’S SON WILL BE NAMED SUPREME LEADER – SCMP
Hossein Ali Ashkvari, a member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, says that the next Supreme Leader of Iran has already been chosen by the Assembly of Experts and hints at his identity by saying that “the name of Khamenei will continue.” pic.twitter.com/8TGzf4ord5
The report goes on to say the estimated 450 kilograms of 60%-enriched uranium possess by Iran, which could be used to produce a nuclear weapon, “would likely require U.S. or Israeli troops on Iranian soil” to recover it, which would entail “navigating heavily fortified underground facilities in the middle of a war.”
One nuclear expert this weekend told CNN it would likely even require construction and excavation equipment, the presence of a special Army unit for handling nuclear material, and ideally even IAEA overseers and inspectors for safety.
And the idea for the plan is not just speculative external reporting – instead, top admin officials have openly alluded to the need for some kind of plan to go in and get the enriched uranium:
At a congressional briefing Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked whether Iran’s enriched uranium would be secured. “People are going to have to go and get it,” he said, without specifying who.
Further, Axios cited that “An Israeli defense official said Trump and his team are seriously considering sending special operations units into Iran for specific missions.”
Seventh US servicemember confirmed killed:
CENTCOM Update
TAMPA, Fla. – Last night, a U.S. service member passed away from injuries received during the Iranian regime’s initial attacks across the Middle East. The service member was seriously wounded at the scene of an attack on U.S. troops in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia…
“A U.S. official said the administration has discussed two options: removing the material from Iran entirely, or bringing in nuclear experts to dilute it on-site,” it added. Questions abound on logistics or the details of what all would be involved here:
The U.S. official laid out the operational challenge of securing Iran’s uranium: “The first question is, where is it? The second question is, how do we get to it and how do we get physical control?”
“And then, it would be a decision of the president and the Department of War, CIA, as to whether we wanted to physically transport it or dilute it on premises.”
The first reaction from most outside observers might be: how does such an infiltration deep into Iran happen without regime change or regime collapse first?
As for if Washington is hoping to aerially bombard the country into regime change… well the fact is that in 100 years of modern aerial warfare, we are hard pressed to find a single example of then this happened successfully.
Iran FM continues to lash out while heavy US-Israeli bombing ensues:
In Iran, an official could never travel to another country to collude with a foreign spy service on how to “coach” our own President into doing bidding of foreigners.
We would ask what the foreign country may have on that official. And promptly charge him/her with High Treason. pic.twitter.com/5PaAEoAia4
Iran officially announced Sunday that it has chosen its next supreme leader, though the identity of the successor remains under wraps for now, given that already the Assembly of Experts had last week paused the selection process amid the ongoing heavy US-Israeli bombing campaign. The other big concern is that the next Ayatollah of the Islamic Republic will have big target on his back while under the bombs.
According to Iran’s ISNA news agency, the Assembly of Experts reached their decision following emergency deliberations triggered by the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the opening hours of the war which kicked off early on February 28. “The most suitable candidate, approved by the majority of the Assembly of Experts, has been determined,” Mohsen Heydari, a member of the body, declared Sunday.
Fars News further cited another member, Mohammad Mehdi Mirbagheri, who confirmed that “a firm opinion reflecting the majority view has been reached” – but again, the name has not yet been publicly disclosed.
Israeli officials have made clear they will strike any figure chosen to replace Khamenei, raising the prospect that Iran’s new supreme leader could face assassination almost immediately after going public and assuming power. But presumably there are command bunkers hidden deep underground, and all across the country.
Saturday and overnight saw the war expanding into a new phase, with US and Israeli forces now hitting Iranian oil depots and refining facilities in Tehran for the first time – also what’s said to be fuel storage for the country’s armed forces, which has sent thick clouds of black smoke all over the densely-packed city of Tehran, which is comparable in size and population to New York City.
Oil-soaked rain even came down, and massive oil depot fires have burned through the night into Sunday…
JUST IN 🇮🇷🇺🇸: The fires in Tehran keep burning into the morning after last night’s airstrikes on the oil depots.
Currently there are reports that the US is contemplating seizing control of Iran’s largest oil export terminal on Kharg Island. Per regional reports:
A senior US official vowed to take control of Iran’s oil on Friday as the devastating regional conflict triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran neared its second week.
“What we want to do is to get such massive oil reserves in Iran out of the hands of terrorists,” White House advisor Jarrod Agen said in an interview with Fox Business.
Iranian officials are also warning of environmental fallout from the expanding attacks on energy infrastructure. Foad Izadi, a professor at the University of Tehran, claimed in an interview with Al Jazeera that the strikes were timed deliberately ahead of rainfall.
The future of the vital Kharg Island looms large as China is still getting (some of) its oil.
PHOTO OF THE DAY: China is still getting (some of) its oil.
Nine days into the war, Iran continues loading oil supertankers from Kharg Island.
Tehran has sent some of them across the Strait of Hormuz into the high seas wihthout any problem.
“And I think they have done it purposely. They wanted to hit these oil facilities so they could create this huge smoke, and with all this contaminated rain, it looks like black ink,” he said.
He warned that runoff from damaged facilities could contaminate drinking water supplies in and around Tehran. “So people are going to get sick if these types of attacks continue, and we don’t have any signs that Trump and Netanyahu are stopping their war against Iran,” Izadi said. “So I think we are facing a serious environmental disaster.”
March 8, 2026 – Tehran at sunrise today. But the sun is hidden behind a sky filled with smoke. After a night of intensive strikes on oil facilities, thick black clouds now hang over the city, turning morning into something that feels like night. pic.twitter.com/7MghBnWRRw
Iran’s retaliation across the region continues, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) having taken a far harder line as the conflict slides, warning regional governments that Tehran will continue striking if US or Israeli forces operate from bases on their soil – strikes which appear to have continued – though the extent of damage on US bases appears to currently be censored by the Pentagon and some compliant entities like foremost commercial satellite imaging company Planet Labs.
Gulf states including Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates reported new missile and drone activity, despite Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian having earlier ‘apologized’ for strikes hitting neighboring countries and pledging to halt attacks if their territory is not used for operations against Iran. But there’s evidence that the IRGC and military apparatus is overriding any potential ‘olive branch’ offered to the Gulf or US. Israel too appears to still be getting hit by Iranian missiles and drones, and also Hezbollah rockets on the north.
An interesting live coverage moment on NBC News…
Notable contrast between some drooling American “expert” talking about installing a “pragmatic” leader in Tehran and Tehran delivering a missile to its target in Tel Aviv.
For example, as we reported previously an Iranian drone strike caused material damage to a desalination plant in Bahrain, according to the country’s interior ministry. The incident follows Iranian accusations that US forces bombed a freshwater desalination facility on Qeshm Island days earlier, which Tehran described as setting a “precedent”.
On the question of finding a diplomatic solution, the sides don’t appear to be talking, and in fresh comments Trump brushed off threats from Iran’s top security leadership, saying, “I couldn’t care less” while signaling that the pace and scale of attacks are only set to continue. This as Pentagon billion-dollar radar systems appear to be getting degraded quick:
Spokesman for the Iranian Armed Forces: we targeted and destroyed 4 radars of the U.S. THAAD system in the past hours.
Currently, even some among Iran’s ‘professional opposition’ in exile in places like London and the United States have expressed horror and concern at the images of whole portions of Tehran on fire, with black oil-infused smoke and rain inundating the capital and sprawling civilian neighborhoods.
Told Wolf Blitzer on @cnn that many Iranian-Americans were happy to see Khamenei killed, but they are turning against the war as it is becoming clear that the country is being destroyed and that hopes that this would lead to a quick collapse of the theocracy are being dashed. pic.twitter.com/0R4SpEI4bu
Over in Lebanon, which can be viewed as a second Israeli front, the whole country has been pulled deeper into the fighting as Beirut and countryside regions get bombed. An Israeli airstrike on a hotel in Beirut reportedly killed at least four people over the weekend, after hundreds have already been killed, and IDF troops have also suffered some casualties.
European powers are increasingly reacting to the widening war, with French President Emmanuel Macron scheduled to travel to Cyprus after Iranian-made drones struck the island earlier in the week. Paris has already deployed the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the Mediterranean along with a frigate and additional air defense units. But it’s anything but clear the degree to which a country like France – which has sought to distance itself politically from Trump’s Operation Epic Fury – will directly support operations. Instead, like Italy, it looks to just be bolstering anti-air defenses of allies.
Macron is meeting wtih Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to demonstrate “solidarity” and coordinate steps to “strengthen security around Cyprus and in the eastern Mediterranean,” according to the Elysee Palace.
Trump talks of changing the map of Iran, which goes even beyond regime change… hints at dismantling the nation:
Trump now openly speaks about end to Iran’s territorial integrity.
Combined with bombings of national infrastructure tonight, many Iranians will perceive targeting of Iran as a nation-state with a military capability.
Criticism of the US-Israeli campaign is emerging from other parts of Europe as well, with Switzerland’s defense minister Martin Pfister said the strikes violate international law, while Spain has similarly condemned the bombings as reckless and illegal.
Iran is meanwhile likely looking to impose steep enough pain and a big cost on the attacking powers in order to ensure they never so easily make the decision to bomb the country again. A fresh statement in Tasnim news agency cites the IRGC boasting of new strikes on Tel Aviv and Beersheba, as well as the Muwaffaq al-Salti airbase in Jordan – which it described as “the largest and most active offensive base of the American aggressor fighter jets.”
“The volume and depth of the attacks of the Iranian armed forces on the enemy will expand in the coming hours and days,” the IRGC statement said.
Parts of Tel Aviv increasingly looking like Gaza:
اسرائیل اور اس کے دفاع پر مامور اعلانیہ اور غیر اعلانیہ اتحادیوں پر ایرانی میزائلوں کی 24کھیپیں برسانے کے بعد تل ابیب اب تک ابیب نہ رہا، غزہ بن گیا pic.twitter.com/NUYoJhQD8k
At this point, a full week in, the death toll has surpassed that of last June’s 12 day war. According to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), at least 1,205 civilians have been killed in Iran since the US and Israel began their attacks, including 194 children. The HRANA has highlighted child deaths despite largely being seen as a Washington-friendly NGO and what might be called part of the anti-Tehran activist opposition, and based in Fairfax, Virginia.
Across the region over 1400 have been killed, including mounting casualties in Israel. As for the Pentagon it has not released a fresh US troop casualty update in several days – and official American servicemembers killed stands at six. There are Sunday reports of two more people killed in Kuwait, also as Saudi Arabia says its air defenses are active in intercepting inbound projectiles.
Brazil finds itself at a historical crossroads that demands a rigorous analysis of its institutional structures. The release of the 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), record-breaking data from the Impostômetro, and the persistence of an authoritarian labor framework expose a system of economic asphyxiation and moral erosion. The State, under the pretext of protecting the citizen, in reality hinders their initiative, their property, and their future.
The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index, an annual report published by the organization to assess perceived levels of public-sector corruption worldwide, provides important context for evaluating governance and institutional trust in countries such as Brazil. The transparency International report confirms what independent analysts have long pointed out. With 35 points on a scale of 0 to 100, Brazil occupies the 107th position among 182 countries, registering one of the worst marks in its recent historical series. This result is not merely a statistical indicator, but the quantitative expression of an institutional environment in which public power is frequently captured by private interests, eroding social trust. This decline points to deep failures in control mechanisms, associated with the growing politicization of the justice system.
From an economic standpoint, corruption acts as an invisible and arbitrary tax. It raises transaction costs, inhibits long-term investment, and favors the flourishing of so-called crony capitalism. In an environment of high regulatory power, inefficient companies survive at the taxpayer’s expense, while productive entrepreneurs are blocked by bureaucratic barriers. The result is a continuous process of weakening morality and the free market.
According to the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom, as well as the Fraser Institute, there is a strong correlation between economic freedom and low levels of corruption. Countries that limit the scope of government and rigorously protect private property tend to exhibit greater institutional resilience. In Brazil, the opposite phenomenon is observed: the size and complexity of the State together create broad zones of discretion, where bureaucracy becomes a currency of exchange. The politicization of justice, highlighted in the 2025 report, suggests that even institutional checks and balances are fragile.
While the integrity of the Brazilian State is questionable, its capacity to extract resources from society is remarkable. On Dec. 31, 2025, the São Paulo Commercial Association’s Impostômetro registered the record figure of R$3.98 trillion ($772 billion) collected, a nominal growth of 10.56 percent compared to the previous year. This advance, far exceeding the period’s inflation, reflects a deliberate increase in revenue expansion by the government.
But this increase did not occur by chance. The re-evaluation of fuels, taxation of electronic bets, taxing low-value international packages, incidence on exclusive funds and offshores, plus the end of sectoral tax benefits, have significantly expanded the State’s weight on production and consumption. In February 2026, Brazilians had already paid R$500 billion ($97 billion) in taxes in just the first 40 days of the year.
According to the CPI/IPCA, from the Real Plan launch in 1994 to 2026, the Real accumulated roughly 982.5 percent inflation, equivalent to prices nearly 10.8 times higher today. In other words, R$100.00 in 1994 now equals R$11.75. Furthermore, according to the Index of Return to Society’s Well-Being (IRBES), Brazil has for 14 consecutive years ranked as the country that charges the most taxes while giving the least return to the population. While the government celebrates “pretty revenue numbers,” the population faces a systematic loss of purchasing power, fueled by a tax system that burdens consumption, disproportionately penalizing the poorest.
Institutional deterioration is also directly reflected in labor remuneration. In 2026, Brazil had one of the lowest minimum wages in the region when converted to dollars. The Brazilian minimum wage, set at R$1,621, equals approximately US$290–300, a value lower than observed in countries like Paraguay (about US$435), Chile (US$560), and Uruguay (US$630). This distortion does not stem from a lack of potential productive capacity, but from structural obstacles, such as high payroll taxation, labor charges that nearly double the cost of formal employment, systemic low productivity, and chronic currency devaluation caused by persistent fiscal imbalances.
The result is a labor market unable to sustain higher real wages, even in a large-scale economy. Evidently, the impoverishment of the Brazilian worker is a direct consequence of low economic freedom and difficulty in doing business.
The critique of Brazil’s tax burden is not based on social insensitivity, but on the realization of its regressivity. The promise of social justice through fiscal expansion ignores the perverse effects of consumption taxation and chronic inflation. As Thomas Sowell observed, the attempt to equalize outcomes through State redistribution frequently reduces individual freedom and strengthens a bureaucracy that consumes resources intended for the most vulnerable.
The asphyxiation of entrepreneurship in Brazil has deep historical roots dating back to the 1940s. The Consolidation of Labor Laws (CLT), promulgated by Getúlio Vargas in 1943, is celebrated by many as a milestone of protection, but a technical analysis reveals its deeply authoritarian ideological matrix. Directly inspired by the 1927 Carta del Lavoro, the foundational document of Benito Mussolini’s corporatist system, the CLT institutionalized State tutelage over the worker.
The fundamental principle of the Carta del Lavoro was that work is a “social duty” and that the State must be the supreme arbiter between capital and labor, suppressing free class conflict in favor of “harmonious collaboration” dictated from top down. Vargas absorbed this logic entirely, creating a structure where the worker is not a free citizen to negotiate contract terms, but a subject protected by an omnipresent State apparatus. The requirement of unique unions, compulsory contributions, and specialized labor justice are direct reflections of this fascist heritage that survived redemocratization.
In practice, this structure imposes high costs on formal hiring. In 2026, the total cost of a worker under the labor legislation regime is expected to approach 190 percent of the nominal salary. For every real received by the employee, the employer bears nearly double the charges and mandatory provisions. This model discourages formalization, reduces job creation, and penalizes especially those entering the job market, changing fields, and small and medium enterprises.
From the perspective of thinkers like Roger Scruton, replacing individual responsibility with compulsory State security corrodes the bonds of trust that sustain community life. Freer economies, like the United States, allow dynamic contractual adjustments and exhibit more resilient labor markets to economic shocks as a result.
The Brazilian business environment reflects this combination of corruption, high tax burden, and labor rigidity. In the 2025 Index of Economic Freedom, the country ranked 117th, with particularly weak performance in fiscal health and government integrity. Tax bureaucracy requires companies to spend about 1,500 hours annually just to meet fiscal obligations, a significant waste of human and financial capital.
The direct consequence is high business mortality. Less than 40 percent of Brazilian companies survive after five years of activity. Among the main factors are high credit costs, legal insecurity, and regulatory complexity, which disproportionately affect small entrepreneurs.
International comparisons highlight the contrast. Countries leading economic freedom rankings, like Singapore, Switzerland, Ireland, and New Zealand, show greater institutional stability, lower corruption, and better well-being indicators, including for the poorest. Economic freedom is not a privilege of rich countries, but the proven path to prosperity.
Global data show that freer countries have significantly higher per capita income than repressed ones and that the poorest in those economies enjoy much higher living standards. In contrast, dependence on State transfers tends to perpetuate stagnation and vulnerability.
The institutional degradation evidenced by the aforementioned 2025 CPI has immediate political implications. Social polarization and weakening trust in institutions reflect the perception that the State serves its own protection. The 2025 tax reform, despite simplification rhetoric, reinforces this trend by consolidating one of the world’s highest tax burdens.
Brazil lives at the peak of the conflict between a productive society and an interventionist State. The diagnosis is unquestionable, as corruption, confiscatory taxation, and bureaucratic paralysis form a vicious circle that prevents sustainable growth. Breaking this cycle requires a shock of economic freedom based on reducing the State’s scope, lowering the tax burden, improving the corporatist matrix of labor legislation, and strengthening legal security.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.
