Authored by Irina Slav via OilPrice.com,

• Japan has committed $36 billion as the first tranche of its $550-billion U.S. investment pledge under last year’s trade deal, including plans to build a 9.2 GW natural gas power plant in Ohio.

• The remaining funds will support a synthetic diamond factory and the Texas GulfLink deepwater oil export terminal.

• The massive gas plant reflects surging U.S. electricity demand — particularly from AI-driven data centers — with natural gas emerging as the preferred source of reliable baseload power.

Japan has made the first commitments under a $550-billion investment program that made part of its trade deal with President Trump. Those first commitments are worth $36 billion and include what Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has called “the largest natural gas generation facility in history.”

The U.S. and Japan sealed a trade deal last summer, featuring a reduction in proposed tariffs—from 25% to 15%—on Japanese imports and a $550-billion Japanese investment pledge for the U.S. economy. Japan also pledged under the deal to expand market access for American goods, including cars, agricultural products, and energy.

Most of the money from that first investment tranche would be used to build the largest natural gas power plant, with a capacity of 9.2 GW.

“We will strengthen grid reliability, expand baseload power, and support American manufacturing with affordable energy,” Secretary Lutnick said in a statement after the deal. The plant will be built in Ohio. The facility will be operated by a subsidiary of Japan’s SoftBank, SB Energy.

The rest of the money would be split between a synthetic diamond factory and a deepwater oil port in the Gulf.

“This project is expected to generate $20–30 billion annually in U.S. crude exports, secure export capacity for our refineries, and reinforce America’s position as the world’s leading energy supplier,” per Lutnick.

The deepwater oil project was greenlit by the Trump administration earlier this month. Led by Sentinel Midstream, the Texas GulfLink facility would have an export capacity of 1 million barrels of crude daily. The approval was part of the federal government’s efforts to boost the United States’ energy dominance through oil and gas exports.

“The Texas GulfLink project is proof that when we slash unnecessary red tape and unleash our fossil fuel sector, we create jobs at home and stability abroad,” Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement to Reuters at the time.

“This critical deepwater port will allow the U.S. to export our abundant resources faster than ever before.”

In a factsheet on the Japanese deal, the Commerce Department said the deepwater facility would generate between $400 and $600 billion over 20 years and advance President Trump’s energy dominance agenda.

Most countries that struck trade deals with Trump last year to avoid massive tariffs on their U.S. exports made an energy import commitment specifically, with the tariff threat proving a useful tool for pursuing the energy dominance goal. Perhaps the most notable commitment in that respect was the European Union’s promise to buy $750 billion worth of U.S. oil and gas—a feat considered impossible by analysts due to physical factors such as constraints on the availability of such massive volumes of the respective commodities, constraints on consumption, and price considerations.

The largest natural gas power plant in history is most likely a response to the surge in electricity demand—and more specifically, baseload electricity demand, driven largely by the proliferation of data centers as the AI race among Big Tech majors intensifies. Earlier this week, the International Energy Agency said global electricity demand was growing at the fastest pace in 15 years. In the United States specifically, electricity demand rose by 2.1% in 2025 and is expected to grow by nearly 2% annually through 2030. The rapid expansion of data centers will drive half of the increase, the IEA noted.

Natural gas has emerged as the big winner of the AI race alongside nuclear, both of which provide the kind of electricity that data centers depend on: round-the-clock, uninterrupted electricity. Nuclear, however, takes longer to build and costs more, which is why gas power plants have taken priority.

A historic wave of leadership change is sweeping corporate America. Across 1,500 of the largest publicly traded companies, roughly one in nine CEOs was replaced last year—the highest churn since the post-financial-crisis years., according to the Wall Street Journal.

The turnover has ushered in the largest cohort of new chief executives in more than a decade, and they’re arriving younger and, in many cases, with thinner résumés than their predecessors.

The shake-up hasn’t slowed in 2026. Companies including Walmart, Procter & Gamble and Lululemon Athletica installed new leaders early in the year. On a single February day, Disney, PayPal and HP each announced CEO changes. Grocery chain Kroger also tapped a new chief. Altogether, firms representing trillions in market value have either replaced or appointed top executives in just a few months.

Boards appear to be responding to a business climate that feels fundamentally altered. Artificial intelligence is reshaping operations, global trade norms are fragmenting and geopolitical tensions are harder to ignore. As executive recruiter James Citrin put it, “We’re in a new environment, and someone who’s going to replay the playbooks of the past is not necessarily right.” He added that if a new chief fails to build momentum quickly with both employees and investors, directors are even less patient than before.

Some transitions were carefully choreographed. Warren Buffett handed leadership of Berkshire Hathaway to Greg Abel at the start of the year, completing a succession plan he had previewed years earlier. Others were abrupt. CarMax pushed out its CEO amid weak sales. At Codexis, the chief executive was replaced suddenly and the workforce reduced at the same time. Interim appointments, including at HP, signaled that not every board had a seamless plan in place.

The WSJ writes that retail illustrates how demanding the moment has become. Michael Fiddelke, newly installed at Target, found himself addressing sensitive political issues within days of stepping in, admitting to employees, “This isn’t the first message I imagined I’d send.” Industry executives say the job now requires reinvention rather than simple growth management, as pandemic aftershocks and cautious consumers create persistent headwinds.

The demographic profile of incoming leaders has shifted as well. New CEOs averaged about 54 years old—roughly two years younger than the prior class—and more than 80% were first-time public-company chiefs. Many have never served on a corporate board. Paul Shoukry, promoted at Raymond James at age 42, is emblematic of the trend. Supporters argue that leaders forged in volatile conditions may be better suited to navigate what one board director called dramatic and permanent change.

Not all diversity trends moved forward. Women accounted for just 9% of new CEO appointments last year, down from the year before, and they remain underrepresented across the broader market. As boards accelerate succession and bet on fresh profiles, the leadership reset underway is reshaping not only who runs America’s largest corporations—but what experience they bring to the job.

Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The federal crackdown on unqualified truckers kicked into a higher gear Friday when the nation’s transportation chief announced that tests for commercial driver’s licenses must be given only in English.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy revealed the latest policy with a goal of ensuring that truck drivers understand English well enough to read road signs and communicate with law enforcement officers. Florida has already implemented English-only tests.

The new order includes modernizing the commercial driver’s license (CDL) registration system, cracking down on fraud, and improving driver safety.

“American families deserve safe roads and we are going to deliver them,” Duffy said in a post on X.

In another post on Friday, Duffy said that it is easier for noncitizens to get a CDL than U.S. citizens, noting that under the Biden administration, illegal immigrants seeking licenses were not subject to background checks, unlike American applicants.

“Our new rule restricts eligibility and ensures ONLY qualified drivers can operate big rigs,” Duffy added.

Duffy said a number of states have hired companies to oversee CDL tests, but those companies often fail to uphold the standards that drivers are required to meet.

In May 2025, Duffy signed an order implementing new guidance to enforce English proficiency requirements for truckers. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations stipulate that a driver who cannot read or speak proficient English or understand highway traffic signs and signals does not qualify to operate a commercial motor vehicle.

By December 2025, the administration had removed nearly 9,500 commercial truck drivers from service for failing English proficiency checks.

Unqualified Driving Schools

The Transportation Department on Feb. 18 said more than 550 driving schools fail to meet basic safety standards and should be shut down.

Those commercial driver training providers received notices of proposed removal from the national registry as a result of more than 1,400 investigations, the department said.

Investigators found unqualified instructors, fabricated addresses, improper vehicles, and failures to teach hazardous materials handling, including schools that trained school bus drivers.

“For too long, the trucking industry has operated like the Wild, Wild West, where anything goes and nobody asks any questions,” Duffy said in a statement on Feb. 18. “The buck stops with me. Under President [Donald] Trump, my team is cracking down on every link in the trucking chain that has allowed this lawlessness to impact the safety of America’s roads. American families should have confidence that our school bus and truck drivers are following every letter of the law and that starts with receiving proper training before getting behind the wheel.”

Noncompliant States

The department finalized a rule on Feb. 11 to limit CDL eligibility for foreign nationals to holders of H-2A, H-2B, and E-2 nonimmigrant visas who undergo expanded interagency reviews.

The department has targeted states that handed out commercial driver’s licenses to immigrants who did not qualify, picking up its efforts ever since a fatal crash in Florida in August.

The Trump administration said the truck driver illegally entered the country from Mexico in 2018. The driver, Harjinder Singh, a native of India, allegedly made an illegal U-turn and caused a crash that killed three people. He obtained his licenses in California and Washington.

In October, Florida sued California and Washington over their CDL licensing practices.

The federal government has threatened to withhold funding from states such as California, Washington, and New Mexico for not enforcing English-language standards. California ultimately had more than $40 million withheld.

Nineteen states were allowing drivers to take their license tests in other languages, despite the drivers being required to demonstrate English proficiency.

Authored by Haley Zaremba via OilPrice.com,

• The geothermal revolution includes both shallow geoexchange systems, such as The Riverie high-rise which uses boreholes for heating and cooling, and deeper, more technologically advanced “enhanced geothermal” techniques.

• Enhanced geothermal aims to make this alternative energy source viable anywhere by borrowing advanced drilling technologies from fields like hydraulic fracturing and nuclear fusion to access the Earth’s core heat.

• The sector is gaining momentum with significant investment from major tech figures like Bill Gates and Google, and is projected by the U.S. Department of Energy to supply about 90 gigawatts of carbon-free energy by 2050.

A geothermal revolution is unfolding around the United States in ways both flashy and quiet. As Big Tech becomes increasingly involved in developing alternative energy sources to meet skyrocketing energy demand driven by the AI boom, innovative and advanced geothermal technologies have been taking off – but so too have more simple and surface-level solutions like heat pumps. Together, these approaches could reshape the domestic energy industry by providing baseload clean energy solutions and shoring up energy security in urban and rural populations alike.

Last month, residents started moving into The Riverie, the biggest high-rise geoexchange system in the country, an apartment building in Brooklyn that is situated atop 320 boreholes that help the building heat and cool through tapping into the Earth’s naturally insulated temperatures. In the winter, relatively warm temperatures are piped out of the ground and into the building. In the summer, the process is reversed and heat is pumped downward into the ground. 

“Because it simply moves heat rather than generating it, the Riverie is expected to reduce annual carbon emissions from heating and cooling by 53 percent compared with traditional residential buildings,” reports Scientific American. While up-front costs and red tape can be a major deterrent from building similar models elsewhere, the benefits outweigh the costs – both in terms of economics and environmental factors – in many settings. As a result, the Riverie is likely at the vanguard of a much bigger movement that will start to become more common in urban areas around the country and the world. 

Whereas the major advantage of geoexchange systems such as this one is that they are relatively shallow and easy to drill, the other major innovation taking place in geothermal energy takes just the opposite approach – unlocking new ways to drill deeper into the Earth than ever before. Historically, geothermal energy systems have only been viable in places where the heat from the Earth’s core has naturally escaped to the surface – such as through geysers and thermal pools.  

To make geothermal a practical alternative energy source nearly anywhere on Earth, geothermal startups across the world are working on ‘enhanced geothermal’ techniques capable of drilling to extreme depths. These startups are borrowing technologies from hydraulic fracturing and even nuclear fusion to find more advanced ways to blast and melt away bedrock to access the heat of the Earth’s core. 

Enhanced geothermal startups are being backed by some of the tech industry’s biggest figures and deepest pockets. One such venture, Houston-based Fervo Energy, is backed by Bill Gates and Google, among other major investors. Plus, critically, geothermal has bipartisan backing and outspoken support from the Trump administration – rare for a clean energy technology in the United States. 

As such, the U.S. is poised to become a major frontrunner in the emerging sector. According to projections from the United States Department of Energy, enhanced geothermal projects could provide about 90 gigawatts of carbon-free energy in the U.S. by 2050. That’s roughly enough to power at least 65 million homes. 

“The U.S. has a number of different superpowers and putting holes in the ground and taking things out of those holes is one of them — and doing so more economically and more efficiently than basically any other place on Earth,” Drew Nelson, vice president of Project InnerSpace, was quoted by Cipher News in an article from last year.

Plus, the AI boom is driving an increase in investment in geothermal research and development, which has been a major catalyst for technological advancement. While AI is creating an energy problem that geothermal is needed to solve, it is also providing key solutions for geothermal development and deployment. AI tools are increasingly being used to map out optimal locations for geothermal systems. 

However, there are some key challenges standing in the way of geothermal expansion, including high up-front costs and a talent shortage for the nascent and relatively little-known industry. But while enhanced geothermal gets all of the attention and most of the bottlenecks, smaller and quieter projects like Riviera are continuing to break ground and change the way we heat and cool our cities. These breakthroughs are small, but could add up to huge changes for energy efficiency in coming years.

Talk show host Bill Maher, that ‘blood oath‘ sex party enthusiast who founded ‘Kid Love Productions‘ in 1992 one year after starring in the movie “Pizza Man” – in which he plays a pizza delivery guy who stumbles into an elaborate criminal conspiracy involving Ronald Reagan, Dan Quayle, and Donald Trump (who he kills)…

…sat down with Rep. Lauren Boebert Friday, where the two discussed the latest Epstein files.

Maher started out appearing to apologize to QAnon followers for being “righter than me” when it came to Epstein, adding “Now they also believe a lot of real batsh*t nonsense. But when it comes to-“

“I know you think it is,” Boebert shot back. 

“They don’t eat babies. Democrats don’t need babies. You think they eat babies?” Maher replied.

“There is a lot of consumption talk in the stuff that, no, are there babies? I don’t know. No, you can laugh all you want. But I mean, there is some sick stuff in here that is implying,” Boebert answered.

“But that’s not eating babies. It’s — oh c’mon,” Maher said back. 

“I’m not saying they’re eating babies. I’m saying there is talk of consumption and it ain’t pizza,” she replied. “And And I’m, not saying that I am QAnon by any means but this is deep dark satanic awful Sacrificial. And this stuff is gross.”

“See, this is what I’m saying. Here I am, sacrificing myself, saying, you know what? I was wrong, QAnon, and then you don’t meet me halfway! You insist they might be eating babies!” Maher shot back. 

Watch:

Bill Maher moans and groans after Lauren Boebert refuses to rule out whether Democrats eat babies.

MAHER: “They don’t eat babies. Democrats don’t eat babies. You think they eat babies?”

BOEBERT: “There is a lot of consumption talk in this stuff.”

[MAHER GROANS]

BOEBERT: “Are… pic.twitter.com/B2mJeoUtGX

— Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) February 21, 2026

Maybe next they’ll discuss the similarity of Madeleine McCann kidnap suspects to notable political figures? Damn skippy.

Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,

The housing market, for much of the 20th century, was the bedrock of the American Dream. Home ownership, and the financial stability it represents, was a sure path to middle-class prosperity.

That dream turned to a nightmare for many American families during the epic real estate bubble and subsequent bust in 2008-09. What’s more, in the near two decades that followed, federal monetary policies coupled with restrictive local development standards have huffed and puffed an even more perilous bubble than the last one.

Now the crumbling façade of American real estate and the associated economic squeeze has become too great to ignore. To understand why the real estate market is falling apart, you must look at who’s expected to buy the houses. The arithmetic simply doesn’t work.

We’ve reached the point where discretionary income, the money left over after you’ve paid for basic needs, has effectively vanished for much of the population. When 67 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, saving for a down payment is impossible.

Currently, about 72 percent of Americans are struggling to pay their monthly bills. We aren’t talking about luxury vacations or even unexpected medical expenses. We’re talking about keeping the lights on and the fridge full. When the buffer is gone, the entire economic engine stalls.

The lack of affordable housing has created a generational rift. Young workers find themselves trapped in a permanent renter class. They’re unable to build the equity that once anchored the nation’s middle class.

Right now, more than 75 percent of homes across the country are unaffordable for the typical household. Most Americans are effectively priced out of the housing market. And this number is climbing.

Between higher interest rates, relative to four years ago, and artificially inflated valuations, the entry-level home no longer exists.

The Mortgage Death Trap

The ladder of social mobility has been pulled up. Millions of Americans have been left behind. Shelter is no longer a basic path to financial stability, but an unreachable speculative asset.

What we are seeing is the rent servitude of a generation. If you can’t buy, you rent. If you rent, you can’t save to buy. It’s a closed loop that keeps equity in the hands of the few while the middle class are stuck paying for a roof they will never own.

The modern American household also operates in a fragile state. Most families require two incomes just to keep the mortgage current. This dual-income trap means there is zero margin for an unexpected job loss.

If even one spouse loses their job, which is becoming a looming threat as the labor market adjusts to the realities of AI, the house quickly turns from a burden to a liability. The timeline from missed paycheck to foreclosure notice is shorter than most people realize.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the labor market is strong. But the reality on the ground tells a different story. We are staring down a year where millions of jobs are projected to vanish.

Automation and AI are displacing white-collar jobs that used to be safe. There have been massive layoffs in technology, finance, and manufacturing. In previous downturns, there were usually sectors that could absorb the displaced. Today, every sector, except low-cost elder care jobs, is contracting simultaneously.

When the jobs go, the houses follow. A bank doesn’t care about your years of loyal service. When the 30-day clock on a missed payment starts ticking that’s all that matters.

Engineered Collapse

Despite what the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics says, there’s mounting evidence that this isn’t just a run of the mill economic cycle. When you look at the speed of the decline and the specific targeting of the middle class, it appears to be something else entirely.

The middle class, specifically the segment that has historically held the most private property, is under attack. By squeezing the life out of the housing market, wealth is being funneled upward. When families lose their homes to foreclosure, they don’t just lose a roof, they lose their primary vehicle for intergenerational wealth.

The result is a civilization of serfs. We’re rapidly transitioning to a rentership society. If you don’t own property, you don’t have a stake in the future. You’re left out in the cold.

In 2008, the crash was about bad paper and subprime loans. Today, the crisis is about affordability and insolvency. House price inflation in the face of stagnating wages has become too much to overcome.

Moreover, as houses are lost en masse to the banks they aren’t being foreclosed on and put back on the market at a lower price. They’re being sold in bulk to hedge funds, who promptly jack up the rents. What this means is your neighborhood could soon be owned by a corporation that doesn’t have a face, let alone a soul.

The real estate market isn’t just cooling off. It’s being hollowed out. Between the loss of discretionary income, the instability of the job market, and the sheer impossibility of the two-income mortgage, the American middle class is standing on a trap door.

Yet the collapse isn’t coming. It has already begun. The question isn’t whether the market will survive, but who will be left owning anything when the dust settles.

Grinding the American Middle Class to Dust

For decades, the home was a forced savings account that allowed a mechanic or a teacher to retire with dignity. Today, that vehicle has been hijacked by institutional capital.

As the supply of affordable homes dwindles, we see the rise of the build-to-rent trend. This is where entire subdivisions are constructed not for families to buy, but for corporations to lease back to them in perpetuity.

This shift marks the transition from a stakeholder society to a subscription society consistent with the WEF diktat of, “you will own nothing and be happy.” Housing, the most basic of human needs, has become a subscription service.

Thus, the ability to accumulate private wealth through long-term home ownership has disappeared. As a renter, you are no longer building equity and wealth, you are funding a hedge fund’s quarterly dividends.

This exploitive model ensures that the fruits of one’s labor are siphoned away from the community and into the coffers of distant shareholders. As a result, the working class are left with nothing but receipts and a sense of perpetual instability. The economic ladder has been replaced by a treadmill to nowhere.

In addition, a society of renters is a society of transients that lack the long-term community ties that homeownership once encouraged. As the trap door swings open, the fall both destroys people’s finances and shatters the very concept of the neighborhood.

Community engagement and local pride disappear when the residents of a street have no permanent stake in its future. Vibrant towns turn into anonymous places for an increasingly displaced workforce. No one makes eye contact. No one cracks jokes. No one helps their elderly neighbor bring in the groceries.

The doors are closing on the era of American middle-class independence. The dream of home ownership is being replaced by the reality of permanent debt, and the bedrock of the American middle class is ground into dust.

Authored by Jennifer Kabbany via The College Fix,

The U.S. Department of Education has agreed to rewrite the exclusionary race-based eligibility rules of a federal student scholarship program, resolving a lawsuit filed against the program.

“That means the McNair Post-Baccalaureate Achievement Program–a federal program distributing roughly $60 million annually to help students pursue graduate education–will no longer discriminate based on race,” stated Young America’s Foundation, which had sued the Biden administration in 2024 over the program.

The lawsuit had alleged the program excluded Asians, Arabs, Middle Easterners, non-Hispanic Latinos, some Africans, and whites unless they meet a limited exception for first-generation low-income students.

Instead, it supported primarily black, Native American and Pacific Islander students, according to the complaint.

“The McNair Program’s race-based provisions are unconstitutional, should not and will not be enforced, and are subject to a planned forthcoming regulatory change to rescind the race-based criteria,” according to YAF’s Feb. 17 motion to dismiss, with which the Education Department agreed to by not objecting.

U.S. Department of Education press secretary for higher education Ellen Keast confirmed the changes in a statement to Fox News:

“Consistent with the Department of Justice opinion, the Department of Education has agreed not to implement the racially discriminatory aspects of the McNair program, and we plan to make corresponding changes to our regulations.”

The lawsuit was filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty on behalf of Young America’s Foundation and its members Benjamin Rothove, a University of Wisconsin-Madison student and reporter for The College Fix, and Avery Durfee, a University of North Dakota student.

“For years, the McNair Program operated under federal rules that explicitly favored certain racial groups while excluding others–including students who were white, Asian, Middle Eastern, Jewish, and more–simply because of their skin color,” YAF stated in an X post Thursday.

“This is another victory for equal treatment under the law, and a reminder that Americans don’t have to accept unconstitutional discrimination just because it’s dressed up as ‘equity.’”

Authored by Jonathan Turley,

As Democrats plan for the possible takeover in the midterms and 2028 election, they are already openly discussing their push for radical changes in our political system, including packing the Supreme Court to guarantee that those changes are allowed.

Many are also pledging trials, impeachments, and investigations of anyone who supported President Donald Trump in a purging of politics and government.

The latest to join the revenge purge pledge is Susan Rice, Democratic powerbroker and top policy adviser to both President Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

In an interview this week, Rice declared that supporters of Trump can expect the proverbial knocks on their doors:

“A very prominent public figure, who has served at nearly the very highest levels, once told me … ‘Revenge is best served cold,’ and the older I get, the more I see the wisdom of that.”

She added:

When it comes to the elites, you know, the corporate interests, the law firms, the universities, the media … it’s not going to end well for them, for those that decided that they would act in their perceived very narrow self-interest, which I would underscore, is very short-term self-interest, and, you know, take a knee to Trump.

The promise to crackdown political opponents is hardly unexpected in this age of rage.

Indeed, Democrats can point to the purging of the federal ranks, particularly at the Justice Department, as further justification for a tit-for-tat response.

Democratic politicians and pundits have been fueling the anger of their base with ludicrous claims that democracy is about to die since the 2020 election.

They have now used anti-ICE protests to stoke the anger in the hope that it will return them to power in the midterm elections.

Bravo star and liberal podcast host Jennifer Welch praised footage of a “No Kings” protester celebrating the death of Charlie Kirk. After playing the clip, Welch laughed with joy and declared, “So listen up, Democratic establishment. You can either jump on board with this s—, or we’re coming after you in the same way that we come after MAGA. Period.”

The pledge for revenge purges is an obvious way to further motivate a mob. In my book, Rage and the Republic, I discuss how elected officials often try to enlist mobs to advance their political agendas — only to be consumed by the unrest they helped fuel.

This yielding to a “mobocracy” was one of the critical dangers that the Framers sought to deter through protections against majoritarian tyranny.

It is a history that figures like Rice are ignoring in the hope of riding this rage wave back into power.

The fact is that history has shown that “it’s not going to end well” for establishment figures like Rice who believe that they can control a mob.

When it comes to the potential of achieving a lasting US-Iran deal centered on the country’s nuclear program, headlines have been changing rapidly, on a daily basis – as the specter of another US-led regime change war in the Middle East looms.

Axios is reporting that the latest big diplomatic option the Trump White House is mulling is a proposal that allows Iran “token” nuclear enrichment – but with no path to a bomb, according to unnamed US officials.

But alongside this are the typical ‘military options’ which have been reported for weeks, with Trump currently said to be considering ‘limited’ strikes, or even decapitation attacks to take out the Ayatollah and top leadership – though concerns are this would unleash uncontrollable full war, given Tehran’s retaliation would likely be all-out.

Axios says of negotiations and the “token” enrichment option – that “This suggests there could be an opening, if only a small one, between the red lines set by the U.S. and Iran for a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear capabilities and prevent war.”

The unspoken irony and contradiction in all of this – which the Iranians are fully aware of – is that this is precisely what the original Iran JCPOA nuclear deal under Obama aimed for. Trump, of course, during his first term pulled the US out of the deal, in April 2018, finding it insufficient.

“President Trump will be ready to accept a deal that would be substantive and that he can sell politically at home. If the Iranians want to prevent an attack they should give us an offer we can’t refuse. The Iranians keep missing the window. If they play games there won’t be a lot of patience,” a senior American official told Axios.

All of this has led to premature reports that Washington has already ‘accepted’ a scheme whereby Iran could keep its nuclear program, for domestic energy purposes. Yet the two sides in reality appear nowhere near the goal line or final agreement.

The same outlet agrees, concluding: “U.S. officials say the bar for Iran’s forthcoming nuclear proposal is very high because the plan would have to persuade the many skeptics inside the Trump administration and in the region.”

The US is still escalating the immense military pressure by the day, as this past week it became very clear that we are witnessing the biggest American military build-up in the region since the 2003 Iraq war.

An ‘alternate’ plan is to take out Ayatollah Khamenei and his son, the latest reporting says…

NEW: Trump has been presented with plan to kill Khamenei and his son, among other military options.
-At same time, snr US officials tell @BarakRavid + @MarcACaputo that Trump would consider a nuclear deal that allows Iran some “token” enrichment https://t.co/zO5Uyji1k0

— Dave Lawler (@DavidLawler10) February 21, 2026

A sticking point for the US remains the limitation or elimination of Iran’s formidable ballistic missile program. But Tehran naturally sees this as impossible, as it would in essence be disarming itself, assuring its own demise if ever attacked by an enemy like Israel.

Israeli has meanwhile made no secret that it wants to see the collapse of the Islamic Republic, seeing in it a forever enemy of the Jewish people. But Iranians say they are the ones repeatedly attacked in an unprovoked fashion.

Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,

Syria has formally asked Germany for patience over the deportation of Syrian nationals, warning that the return of thousands could lead to insecurity in the country and worsen the country’s fragile humanitarian situation.

As reported by Welt, Mohammed Yaqub al-Omar, director of the consular department at the Syrian Foreign Ministry, urged Germany “to understand the Syrian refugees and give us more time for reconstruction.”

He warned that “the return of thousands of Syrians to Syria at this time could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis and mean that many people will have to live in refugee camps.”

According to al-Omar, 1.5 million people are currently living in tent camps in northern Syria alone due to destroyed homes, schools, roads, and a lack of electricity. Large-scale deportations from Germany, he suggested, would place further strain on already overstretched infrastructure.

Politicians from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), argue that legal protection grounds no longer apply, but members of the co-governing left-wing Social Democrats (SPD) were more amenable to Damascus’ request.

“Residence rights are not determined by the wishes of the countries of origin, but by whether a claim to protection exists. This claim, however, ceased to exist after the fall of the Assad regime,” Alexander Throm, domestic policy spokesman for the CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told Focus magazine. He added that returns to safe areas of Syria are possible, asking, “Who, if not Syrians, should rebuild the country after the civil war?”

Marion Gentges, Justice and Migration Minister in Baden-Württemberg from the CDU, warned against delaying deportations because of the current debate. “We have an interest in ensuring that serious criminals and dangerous individuals leave our country. Therefore, such deportations, including those to Syria, must be carried out consistently,” she said.

The topic of Syrian deportations could lead to friction within the federal coalition, however, with SPD lawmakers suggesting that Damascus’ request for more time was reasonable.

“Syria still needs time to create structures that allow for returns,” said Serdar Yüksel, SPD chairman of the German-Turkish Parliamentary Group. In many areas, he reported, there are “no schools, no hospitals, no running water, no sewage system.”

In some places, there is “virtually no reconstruction” taking place, he added, without responding to the suggestion that perhaps Syrians themselves should be leading the reconstruction.

The issue is already partially addressed in the coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU and SPD, which provides for the resumption of deportations to Syria, beginning with criminals and individuals considered threats to public safety.

However, a broader deportation policy back to the country has not been agreed upon.

Syrien fordert von Deutschland, kriminelle Syrer nicht zurückzuschicken – und die Bundesregierung gehorcht. Mit der AfD in Regierungsverantwortung würde die Abschiebeoffensive sofort starten – und die Sicherheit der eigenen Bürger in den Vordergrund gerückt!…

— Alice Weidel (@Alice_Weidel) February 20, 2026

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the Alternative for Germany (AfD), slammed the request by the Syrian government, and suggested that a remigration policy for Syrians would already be in full force were her party in office.

She wrote on X, “Syria is demanding that Germany not send back criminal Syrians – and the German government is complying. With the AfD in government, the deportation offensive would begin immediately – and the safety of its own citizens would be prioritized!”

Her party added in a separate post, “Syria refuses to take back Syrians – so the country doesn’t become ‘unsafe.’ Criminal Syrians are supposed to stay in Germany – and the German government is complying. Instead: launch a deportation offensive, send Syrians back to Syria!”

Voluntary deportation programs were launched in some German states last year, but resulted in extremely poor conversion rates. Despite financial incentives being offered at German taxpayers’ expense, just a fraction of those offered assistance to return home took up the offer.

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