Senior Department of War officials have told President Donald Trump they need more time to consolidate American troops deployed to the Middle East before the US launches an attack on Iran.
According to The Telegraph, “Trump has been warned that the US military needs more time to prepare for strikes against Iran.” Military commanders in the Middle East stated they need to “consolidate US military positions and prepare defenses” in anticipation of an Iranian retaliatory attack.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said that if it attacks Iran, the Islamic Republic will strike Israel and US bases in the Middle East.
Trump has threatened Iran several times in recent weeks. “If Iran [shoots] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go,” Trump said earlier this month.
Demonstrations began in Iran two weeks ago, and some protests have escalated into riots. Some groups report that 200 people have been killed during the demonstrations, including over 40 members of Iranian security forces.
Iranian authorities have reportedly used live ammunition to break up protests, and Tehran has cut off internet service in an attempt to quell the movement.
Israel Hayomspoke with American officials who said the White House is preparing a range of actions against Iran, including using Starlink to provide protesters with internet access, a cyber attack, new sanctions, and kinetic military action.
Signs of the US taking precautions and sending additional assets?
“Let us be clear: in the case of an attack on Iran, the occupied territories [Israel] as well as all US bases and ships will be our legitimate targets,” said the former commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Two American C-17A military transport planes departed Germany and appeared to be heading for the Middle East on Saturday evening, as speculation mounted about a potential strike.
The Telegraph reports that potential targets of US strikes include non-military targets in Tehran and Iranian security forces.
How can anyone possibly believe that the US or Israel is motivated by freedom in Iran??
The US’s closest allies are the most savage regimes: Saudis, Egypt, UAE, Jordan, etc.
Trump’s 2025 National Security Strategy said the US doesn’t care if other countries provide freedom.👇 pic.twitter.com/ctSewzrRor
At the end of last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traveled to the US to lobby Trump to restart the war with Iran. In June, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran that ignited a 12-day war.
During the conflict, Trump ordered American bombers to strike three Iranian nuclear sites. The Islamic Republic responded by striking a US military base in Qatar. The Iranian response was viewed as symbolic, and a ceasefire between the US, Israel, and Iran was reached shortly after.
Apple shares moved up 1% in the morning U.S. cash session after CNBC reported that Apple will partner with rival Google to power key artificial intelligence features, including Siri, later this year.
In a statement cited by CNBC’s Jim Cramer, Apple said it selected Google after a competitive review, calling Gemini “the most capable foundation” to support its AI roadmap and unlock new user experiences.
“After careful evaluation, we determined that Google’s technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models, and we’re excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users,” Apple wrote.
We previously reported that Apple was tapping Google’s Gemini model to overhaul Siri. This development is particularly alarming for Apple, as it shows how heavily the company relies on external AI technology.
The Apple-Google partnership has made Wedbush’s research team, led by Dan Ives, look like superstars this morning, as it was one of their top three predictions for 2026.
Dan Ives’s top 3rd prediction for 2026 was just realized with the AAPL/GOOGL partnership https://t.co/mIBHmaQIcF
UK, Germany, France Push New Plan To Appease Trump On Greenland
President Trump’s Friday’s remarks to reporters Friday made clear he is willing to take control of Greenland – even if it’s the “hard way” – and this sent the Europeans scrambling over the weekend to come up with plans or strategies for quickly de-escalating inter-NATO tensions.
“I’m not talking about money for Greenland yet. I might talk about that. But right now we are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not,” the President had said, adding: “I would like to make a deal. You know, the easy way. But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way.”
In the wake of this, NATO member Denmark responded firmly in the face of the US threat to its colony. Such a scenario as a US military move on Greenland would be the collapse of NATO, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has made clear. Among the remarks from last week, Frederiksen said, “If the United States were to choose to attack another NATO country, then everything would come to an end.”
“The international community as we know it, democratic rules of the game, NATO, the world’s strongest defensive alliance – all of that would collapse if one NATO country chose to attack another,” the Danish PM added. But he missed the irony in the fact that country after country that refused to play by the so-called “democratic rules of the game” got bombed or overthrown by NATO and the West – with Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Iran and others lying in ruins and societal fragmentation.
Warner: “We’ve had American intervention in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Nigeria, Venezuela, maybe Greenland where he would blow up NATO. Did you see the Brits and Germans are putting troops in Greenland because they want to send a message. How is this leading to price stability,… pic.twitter.com/kLF5eWENJL
But now, as Bloomberg reports, European countries are seeking to seize on Trump’s talking points about Greenland being strategically crucial for Arctic security, as rival powers like Russia and China allegedly seek to move in.
“A group of European countries, led by the U.K. and Germany, is discussing plans for a military presence in Greenland to show U.S. President Donald Trump that the continent is serious about Arctic security and to try to tamp down American threats to take over the self-ruling Danish territory,” reportsBloomberg.
So this seems all about creating a fresh NATO joint mission to appease Trump, soften the rhetoric, and take away one of his main geostrategic justifications for a Greenland takeover.
Bloomberg continues, “Germany will propose setting up a joint NATO mission to protect the Arctic region, according to people familiar with the plans.”
This includes backing from Britain, with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer having separately called on allied nations to strengthen their security footprint in the far north. Pre-planning discussions have been held with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The topic is likely to be broached when German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul meets with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week.
“Because security in the Arctic is becoming increasingly important, I also want to discuss on my trip how we can best bear this responsibility in NATO — in view of old and new rivalries in the region by Russia and China — together,” Wadephul said in a statement Sunday. “We want to discuss this together in NATO.“
It will be interesting to see whether the White House pursues this as an off-ramp, dropping the Greenland project, or whether Trump will read this as a ploy to co-opt forward momentum.
Selling a counter-plan based on running with the exaggerated threat and lie…
The US will defend Greenland from the US?
– Trump said that Russian and Chinese ships are around Greenland as an excuse for annexation. The Europeans know this is not true, but hope that Trump will believe his own lie to elevate the relevance of NATO? pic.twitter.com/XHr7pqSro6
Trump has said on outright seizing it, “If we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland. And we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.” But there have also been other creative solutions offered – such as paying each Greenlander something like $1 million in exchange for US sovereignty over the mass which could be the size of a continent.
Currently, each citizen of Greenland is a full citizen of Denmark and of the European Union, and so many locals might not want to swap this out for being an American. However, many would likely be very attracted to some kind of huge single sum payout.
When I was a kid, one of the coolest things was that every year, a few days before Christmas, our town’s fire department would drive through all the neighborhoods in its gleaming fire engine with the lights flashing, giving short bursts of the siren. All the firemen were in full gear hanging off the sides, while Santa, sitting at the top, threw candy canes to us all. The fire department was special, especially to the kids whose dads or uncles were volunteers.
These days, that truck may not be as shiny as it once was, as there are many trucks in service that should have been retired or kept only as backups because of how prone to failure they are. That’s what happened in Camden, NJ, in March 2024. From NJ.com:
Camden Fire Capt. Will Johnson and his crew arrived within five minutes in Engine 8, a battle-scarred, 21-year-old truck. Flames roared from the second-floor windows as firefighters rushed in, spraying water to try to save Shawn, 35.
But then the hose went limp. The red-and-white truck’s pump had failed, according to incident reports. About two and a half minutes passed, Johnson estimates, before water was restored.
Shawn did not make it. The captain wrote in a report that “we could not advance quickly enough to suppress a bulk of the fire or have an adequate primary search done to locate the victim.”
We don’t know if Shawn would have lived if the pumper truck had worked. But a 21-year-old pumper truck should not be on the front lines of service. The National Fire Protection Association recommends that trucks older than 15 years be relegated to a station’s reserve fleet and completely removed after 25 years.
Los Angeles is a prime example of an aging fleet. The Los Angeles Timesreports that as of last June, 60% of its 210 pumper trucks and 48% of its ladder trucks were operating beyond their recommended lifespans. During the Palisades fire, roughly 40 pumper trucks were in the shop; 70 percent of them were 15 years or older, including three built in I999.
“These aging and inoperable fire trucks have certainly harmed emergency responses and cost lives,” Edward Kelly, the president of the International Association of Fire Fighters union, said during a U.S. Senate hearing in September.
He cited an incident in Chicago last summer when a ladder on a reserve truck failed during a rescue. Firefighters had to restart the truck to raise the ladder. Four people died, including a five-year-old.
What the hell is going on?
Lack of competition, for one. Three manufacturers have emerged in the last two decades to control 70% to 80% of the market, according to a federal lawsuit filed by the town of Newstead, NY.
One of the companies, REV Group, was created by a private equity firm, American Industrial Partners (AIP). It got into the fire apparatus business in 2008 with the purchase of E-One, a huge player in the industry, and proceeded to purchase six more companies over the next 12 years. It’s been quite successful for investors. AIP launched an IPO for Rev Group in 2017 and sold a portion of its stake in the company for $275 million, and then got out completely in 2024 by selling its remaining shares for $127.6 million.
But before cashing out, AIP’s purchase of so many manufacturers enabled Rev Group to join the companies Oshkosh and Rosenbauer as dominant players in the industry. As a result, the lawsuit argues they gained near monopolistic pricing powers.
Kelly, the union president, says costs have doubled in the past decade. Pumper trucks cost about $1 million; ladder trucks roughly $2 million. To make matters worse, Kelly testified that the price often changes after they’re ordered.
Manufacturers wield their market power to impose surprise price hikes after order placement through “floating” price terms. These price hikes exacerbate other budget constraints. Fire departments with budget challenges have had to cancel essential training and even lay off fire fighters.
Awesome Returns Bro!
In 2025, REV Group’s stock price surged 93%, while Oshkosh rose 33%. Both companies outperformed the S&P 500, which increased 16.5% for the year.
In REV’s blowout third-quarter 2025 earnings call — a day in which its stock jumped 19% — CEO Mark Skanechnie stated:
Given the inventory levels we had on hand at the start of the quarter, along with the efforts of our supply chain team, we were able to mitigate a portion of the expected inflationary impacts related to tariffs within the third quarter, which resulted in delivering a 28% incremental margin year over year as compared to our prior guidance of twenty percent to 25% incremental margin for the 2025.
The increase [in incremental margin] versus last year was related to the continued demand for fire apparatus and ambulance units as well as pricing actions, partially offset by the benefit of the increased throughput mentioned earlier.
In other words, the floating price hikes weren’t completely tied to increased costs during production, which typically takes a year to 18 months, depending on the truck. A 28% incremental margin is generally considered outstanding for vehicle manufacturers.
Antitrust Complaints
The Newstead Fire Department filed its class action complaint on October 31 against REV Group, Oshkosh and Rosenbauer. From the complaint:
Beginning in or about January 2016, Manufacturing Defendants entered into an agreement, combination, or conspiracy to limit the supply, and to fix, raise, maintain, or stabilize prices of Fire Trucks sold in the United States at supra-competitive levels. As a result of the unlawful conduct of Defendants, Plaintiff and Class members paid artificially inflated prices for Fire Trucks and as a result have suffered antitrust injury in violation of the federal antitrust laws.
The result, the lawsuit argues, is inflated prices with long wait times that “have forced municipalities to keep older and less reliable Fire Trucks” or forced them to redirect funding to cover the higher costs.
This complaint came on the heels of a similar antitrust complaint that La Crosse, Wisconsin, filed in August against the three companies.
Rev Group, Oshkosh, and Rosenbauer told Reuters, “the company believes the suit is meritless and intends to challenge the allegations in court.”
Additionally, In April 2025 Senators Elizabeth Warren (D) and Senator Jim Banks (R) opened an investigation into this matter, making the following statement,
While CEOs and shareholders pad their pockets, consolidation in the industry impedes fire fighters’ ability to do their jobs safely and effectively, squeezes fire departments’ budgets, and forces taxpayers to bear the consequences. We have heard from dozens of fire departments in Massachusetts, Indiana, and elsewhere about difficulties they have faced related to serial roll-ups of fire truck manufacturers, including delivery delays, defective parts, and price increases… Private equity consolidation of fire truck manufacturers has led to higher costs and a nationwide shortage of fire trucks.
In response, Mike Virnig of The Rev Group told the New York Times that the industry has had a shortage in skilled labor and that it was affected by pandemic supply chain disruptions. The Times reports he also said a backlog resulted from a flood of orders that came with federal stimulus money.
Perhaps, but jacking up prices during production and bragging about a 28% incremental margin that resulted from doing that doesn’t instill confidence that everything is aboveboard. A year-over-year stock price increase of 93% probably does not represent a company struggling to meet its customers’ needs. It represents the market perception that REV Group has its customers over a very profitable barrel.
You can also listen to Eric Salzman discuss this topic on his podcast, “Monkey Business.”
Elon Musk said on Jan. 10 that his X social media platform would open its new algorithm to the public within a week.
“We will make the new X algorithm, including all code used to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users, open source in 7 days,” Musk wrote in a post on X on Jan. 10.
“This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed.”
Authorities in the UK and the European Union notified Musk’s X and xAI on Jan. 5 that its regulatory bodies were aware of reports alleging that X’s artificial intelligence chatbot Grok had been used to generate sexually explicit images, including images that appeared to depict minors.
European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said that the EU is “very well aware of the fact that [Grok] is now offering a ‘spicy mode’ showing explicit sexual content with some output generated with childlike images.”
“This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting,” Regnier told reporters on Jan. 5
Musk had written in a post two days prior that “anyone using Grok to make illegal content will suffer the same consequences as if they upload illegal content.”
On Jan. 8, Regnier said a retention order the EU sent to X last year would be extended to the end of 2026. The order regarded the platform’s algorithms and the potential dissemination of illegal content.
The EU also fined X 120 million euros, or $140 million, last month, accusing the company of violating the bloc’s Digital Services Act transparency obligations. The fine was levied in relation to X’s “blue checkmark” subscription model, allegations of limited transparency regarding X’s ad repository, and the platform not giving researchers access to its public data.
French prosecutors in July 2025 launched a probe into X, citing alleged algorithm abuse and fraudulent data extraction by either the platform or its executives. The investigation followed a previous preliminary probe from January 2025 after the French government received complaints from a lawmaker and a senior French official about suspected foreign influence by X.
After French public institutions and researchers provided prosecutors with their findings from the preliminary probe, prosecutors asked police to investigate the company as “both a legal entity and through individual persons.”
Prosecutors called the alleged crimes “organised interference with the functioning of an automated data processing system” and “organised fraudulent extraction of data from an automated data processing system.”
X dismissed the probe as a “politically-motivated criminal investigation” in a post from its Global Government Affairs account on July 21, 2025.
“French authorities have requested access to X’s recommendation algorithm and real-time data about all user posts on the platform in order for several ‘experts’ to analyze the data and purportedly ’uncover the truth’ about the operation of the X platform,” the company wrote at the time.
“The involvement of these individuals raises serious concerns about the impartiality, fairness, and political motivations of the investigation, to put it charitably. … French authorities have classified X as an ‘organized gang’ for the purpose of the investigation.
“This characterization, which is usually reserved for drug cartels or mafia groups, enables the French police to deploy extensive investigative powers under French law, including wiretapping the personal devices of X employees.”
X stated that it “remains in the dark as to the specific allegations made against the platform.”
“However, based on what we know so far, X believes that this investigation is distorting French law in order to serve a political agenda and, ultimately, restrict free speech,” the social media platform stated.
At 2 a.m. on Saturday, President Trump gave a New Year’s kinetic expression to his recently published National Security Strategy and what it means in the American hemisphere. If we take President Trump at his blustering word – which those in the administration’s Maduro-adjacent crosshairs should – this is just the first, big, shock-and-awe move by the United States in a resetting of the rules-based order that has governed our hemisphere.
This time on America First terms.
In Europe, those who take Trump seriously and see the long-term upside in his policies, call him “Daddy.” Last weekend Trump showed the “Papi” side of this national security strategy in our hemisphere. The Venezuelan people woke up praising the Papi of Venezuelan freedom. There is a new sheriff overseeing the hemisphere – and there are going to be regional and global consequences.
China is going to have to tighten its belt and stop building roads and propping up adversaries in our hemisphere. Cuba, too, should be very worried. What happened in Venezuela was not a product of a Bay of Pigs military mindset. Like Venezuela, Cuba is surrounded by the US Navy. Cuba’s infrastructure was shot before the hurricanes hit. The country looks like North Korea at night – and its people spend their days in a Hunger Games-pursuit. Without Venezuelan oil and other needed subsidies, Cuba will find itself completely dark in a matter of weeks. And their best fighters are stuck in Venezuela. Going home is not an option; escaping to Colombia and joining the Narcos is the likelier move. Soon enough, the Cuban regime with collapse under its own weight, followed by a Cuban Diaspora returning home, welcomed as liberators.
The narco-industrial complex needs to show that they are listening to Papi Gringo and adapting to new market conditions. Discontinuing the fentanyl trade and hanging its leadership from bridges would be a constructive first act of “We hear you, Papi.” Taking this step would help the cartels protect their core business, which has not always been poisoning Americans.
To date, President Trump has been a model of kinetic restraint and has studiously avoided the excesses of regime change and nation-building overreach.
Trump blew the minds of the neocons and their America First critics in Iran. He showed the world, in Operation Midnight Hammer, a middle path. Trump is doing so again in Venezuela with Operation Absolute Resolve. Under Trump’s leadership and direction, his administration scrupulously planned and executed a multi-agency kinetic response with minimal casualties to the regime’s key players – none to populace – resulting in a tomorrow that favors peace, and an orderly transition to better. When have we seen that before?
Tucker Carlson – with whom I disagree, but whom I refuse to quit, cancel, or stop listening to – is a not-so-stable genius when it comes to foreign policy and conduct of war. In contrast, Carlson has much to offer on how “We the People” think about our nation’s obligations to each other, citizen to citizen, which includes our elected representative. Domestic policy is the constructive lane for Tucker’s flavor of America First Quakerism.
But foreign policy is not Tucker Carlson’s strong point. Nor, frankly, is it a strong point of his foil and former colleague Mark Levin, who Carlson often depicts as a totem of neoconservatism. However, it is a strength of President Trump, and it is being faithfully executed by his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth.
It is worth noting that his two war captains both have neocon resumes and let’s-give-war-a-chance tendencies, a cause of concern for the America First crowd. It does appear, however, that they have evolved to embrace a third way – Trump’s way – between the excesses of neoconservatism and the deficits of America First Quakerism.
Tucker and Levin are both prisoners of mindsets that necessarily lead to failure. In contrast, Trump’s approach to peace and war defies the worst features of each, and in doing so delivers on the partial in both within a win-win outcome. Iran’s nuclear ambitions got crushed without American boots on the ground, regime change and suffering of non-combatant, and combatants and leadership.
Just because Trump’s actions in Iran, and now in Venezuela, make Senator Lindsay Graham giddy, doesn’t mean that Trump’s foreign policy instincts have been captured. As in Iran, what is happening in Venezuela is not regime change; it is regime influence through leverage. This difference between the former and latter is a distinction with a huge, game-changing difference.
Here’s a tactical expression of the American strategy:Trump does not punish the innocents – men, women, or children – or all the guilty for that matter. That is America First, restraint born of prudence. Trump hits targets – Iran’s nuclear enrichment and weaponization capacity – and cocksure leadership who don’t know the comparative size of their stick: Maduro. And when Trump does act, he does so with a precision and measure born of patient, disciplined planning and rehearsal, and with open communication to those on the ground, counseling calm, and, if not, a reality of more coming. Trump offered Maduro an off-ramp that did not require a jail cell. He could be living the al-Assad life somewhere that fits his despotic liking. He did not take it, however, and woke up in a very different position. Trump offered his second-in-command, Delcy Rodríguez – his ruthless Lady Macbeth – a second chance and new lease of life, a receivership relationship for her and her dirty-hand cronies.
This is not regime change. This is regime influence. On the same day of the extraction, the Venezuelan leadership that was spared was offered a peace-and-reconciliation olive branch. He has extended that opportunity to those already charged as co-conspirators to become collaborators in building a better Venezuela on terms that the US dictates. Foment chaos and expect to be replaced by your number two, who will distinguish themselves as a patriot by killing their boss, assume the title and play nice with Papi.
Just imagine if what we pulled off in Venezuela with Maduro, we did in Iraq with Saddam Hussein. Get him in his palace while he is sleeping and leave his people and leadership alone. And while this is happening, reach out to his second-in-command and make an offer that he or she can’t refuse with wash, rinse and repeat consequences of noncompliance.
This is a genuine Art of War insight. Give the existing leadership an opportunity to survive and evolve into better, or at least enough time to steal enough money and get out of the country. Doing so will take away the incentive to circle around the leader and fight like their fates are locked at the hip with his. Decouple their fates and you compete on a completely different terrain.
How much human suffering could have been avoided if this was our default, first response to bad behavior in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Trump’s National Security Strategy is an evolution of the art of war and statecraft. The “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine is an improvement to rally around.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.
Cancer Drugs Drive Nearly One-Fifth Of Pharma Sales
The global pharmaceutical industry’s revenue is increasingly concentrated in a handful of high-value drug classes, with oncology, diabetes/obesity treatments and immunology leading the charge.
Antidiabetic medicines rank second, with estimated sales of over $85 billion in 2025, contributing 7 percent to global market revenues.
Some of the top-grossing drugs include Merck’s Keytruda, an immunotherapy for multiple cancers with almost $30 billion in revenue in 2024, as well as Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic/Wegovy, used for diabetes treatment and weight loss, and bringing in more than $10 billion annually for their parent companies.
Germany’s Intelligence Service Set To Expand Surveillance
Submitted by Thomas Kolbe
According to plans from the Federal Chancellery, Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, is set to significantly expand its surveillance capabilities. The focus is particularly on internet communication transmitted from within Germany to abroad, which is to be included in the agency’s monitoring catalog going forward.
After months of heated debates over the expansion of the Brussels censorship apparatus under the Digital Services Act and EU chat control, attention to the EU Commission’s espionage activities has somewhat subsided. Now, a draft law from the Chancellery, obtained by WDR, NDR, and Süddeutsche Zeitung, is causing a stir.
The proposed expansion of BND powers makes one thing clear: German politics is moving in lockstep with the Brussels Commission—going all out against the privacy and communications of citizens, media, and government-critical organizations.
A Reminder of the NSA Scandal
We recall the scandal over a decade ago involving the US National Security Agency (NSA). Whistleblower Edward Snowden exposed the agency’s operations. The NSA collected global telecommunications and internet data—including phone calls, emails, and online communications of millions of citizens—often without any criminal cause. Programs like PRISM, which allowed direct access to data from US tech companies, or X-Keyscore, which could monitor internet activity in real time, already showed how advanced state surveillance had become and what technical possibilities were available to government actors.
The leaked Chancellery document now shows where Germany is headed: the draft law follows almost the same principle. The BND would be allowed to monitor internet traffic from Germany to abroad, which was previously prohibited, capturing up to 30% of traffic. Internet communications would be stored for six months, this time including content—not just metadata—tracking connections between specific actors.
A Strategic Door Opener
The Chancellery’s approach to expanding BND powers is familiar: first, the door to the actual rule-breaking is opened. Safe spaces for journalists working for state media of authoritarian states are gradually eroded. Determinations of who counts as “authoritarian” will likely fall to an “ethics commission” subjected to the strict ethical rules of Merz’s Chancellery.
Soon, terms like “hate and incitement” or “anti-democratic activities,” as always cited in the fight against the opposition, come into play. In short: priority content revolves around the AfD circle. This also affects libertarian and conservative viewpoints opposing the climate-socialist complex or military sector expansion. Issues like a “Europe of regions” and resistance to the growing Brussels power complex will likely become part of the BND’s monitoring guidelines.
From this starting point, surveillance powers are gradually expanded—based on political urgency.
If foreign providers and platform operators are uncooperative, the BND could gain permission to legally hack and extract personal data and communications—even within Germany’s borders. It is a carte blanche for every “spy hat.” The social climate in Germany is visibly taking on the features of a digitalized DDR.
Digital Mass Surveillance
Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s draft goes far beyond previous EU-wide chat control attempts. Legal hacking of foreign systems, including Google, Meta, or Elon Musk’s platform X, is planned. The justification for this invasive policy is constructed as a strategic necessity: Germany’s IT infrastructure is increasingly threatened by hostile cyberattacks.
The BND is to play a key role and act more independently from US intelligence services. Germany aims to participate in the global intelligence network chessboard. In practice, surveillance is more likely to target its own citizens, as technical and personnel resources are insufficient to operate on an international level. The long retention and analysis periods make the direction clear: while French intelligence may store data for up to four years and the UK or Italy operate “as long as necessary,” German citizens are slowly losing privacy against an expanding bureaucratic state.
Cynical Politics and Opposition Oversight
For Green Party politician Konstantin von Notz, chair of the Parliamentary Control Panel for Intelligence (PKGr), the situation is clear: cybersecurity should be better funded but within strict legal frameworks.
At first glance, this sounds lawful but is systematically undermined by actual government actions—the proposed powers go far beyond necessary intelligence work. Brussels and Berlin’s political direction points precisely toward mass surveillance of digital communication. Platforms like X act as catalysts for opposition voices against Berlin and Brussels, criticizing Russia policy, the pandemic regime, and the growing bureaucratic apparatus. Here, clashes between state and opposition flare up.
Particularly distasteful is outsourcing monitoring to so-called “Trusted Flaggers” who report undesired content—creating a surveillance network reminiscent of DDR methods: opposition members face pressure, legal action, or loss of bank access—a social death by government command. In this context, expanding BND powers is a step toward interlinking multiple surveillance systems. The end of the secrecy of correspondence and anonymous digital communication seems sealed for EU citizens.
Repressive and Hypocritical
During the EU chat control debate, Germany initially publicly opposed indiscriminate surveillance to maintain appearances and give the impression of adhering to civil liberties traditions. Historically, libertarian forces in Germany successfully resisted state-driven data retention—proof of a healthy societal immune system.
Now, the BND is set to close this “informational” gap, initiated directly by the Chancellor. Merz theatrically portrays himself as a defender of freedom while leaving his party and coalition to ostentatiously oppose deep EU chat control.
Merz remained silent during year-end debates, fully aware that the next 180° turn had already been drafted into law. Now, with calculated cynicism, he positions Germany’s spy apparatus against its own citizens.
When the draft will enter parliament remains unclear. The Chancellery has provided no statements on this critical issue; it operates clandestinely. Germany of the 2020s still lacks effective societal “antibodies” against the growing state repression apparatus, possibly due to decades of media framing portraying the state as benevolent.
In summary: Germany has become a driving factor in both destructive climate policy and systematic erosion of civil rights in the EU—or perhaps always was, skillfully avoiding the appearance of being a malicious player in this unpleasant game.
Death Toll In Clampdown On Iranian Protests Reaches Hundreds, Rights Groups Say
Human rights groups say that hundreds of people have been killed during mass demonstrations that have roiled Iran in recent weeks, with thousands more detained.
At least 192 protesters have been killed since the mass demonstrations started, said the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group on Sunday. It said that “unverified reports” have shown that several hundred people, or even more than 2,000, might have been killed so far.
“Due to the total internet blackout and severe restrictions on access to information, independent verification remains a serious challenge under the current circumstances,” the organization stated.
A U.S.-based group, the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said Sunday that at least 538 people have been killed in the government suppression of nationwide protests, adding that 490 deaths were protesters and 48 were members of the regime’s security forces.
Around 10,600 people have been detained, the group reported, adding that the death toll and arrest numbers will likely rise.
The Epoch Times’ Jack Phillips reports that it has not been able to independently verify the group’s reports. The Iranian regime has not released any official figures about the death toll or how many people have been detained.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday that outside groups have been fomenting discord in the country and have been facilitating riots as well as general unrest. He also signaled that the country’s regime would be willing to speak to some of the protesters.
“We have made our decision to resolve their problems with every possible approach … that is why we are holding talks with them on a daily basis,” Pezeshkian said, according to state-run Tasnim News.
Speaking to the youth in Iran, Pezeshkian said that they should “not … be deceived by these rioters and terrorists” and said that those individuals “are trained,” according to his comments carried by state-run media outlet PressTV.
There have been reports from inside the country that some buildings, including Mosques or courthouses, have been set on fire amid the unrest. The Epoch Times has not been able to independently those reports, either.
The demonstrations began on Dec. 28, 2025, over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions levied in part over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocratic regime.
President Donald Trump has offered support for the protesters, saying on social media that “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”
“Iran’s in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,” Trump told reporters on Friday. “We’re watching the situation very carefully. I’ve made this statement very strongly, that if they start killing people like they have in the past, we will get involved … that doesn’t mean boots on the ground, but it means hitting them very, very hard where it hurts.”
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media shows protesters dancing and cheering around a bonfire as they take to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world, in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. UGC via AP
Trump’s comments were made about a week after the U.S. military launched an operation in Venezuela, an ally of Iran, that captured leader Nicolás Maduro on drug-trafficking charges.
About six years ago, Trump ordered a U.S. military strike that killed top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, who the Trump administration described as a major backer of attacks on American forces in the Middle East. And over the summer, the U.S. and Israeli militaries launched strikes on facilities associated with Iran’s nuclear program, prompting Iran to launch missile barrages at a U.S. air base in Qatar that led to no casualties.
Some Iranian officials have responded by saying that the country could strike Israel or the United States. A parliamentary speech by Mohammad Baagher Qalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian body who has run for the presidency in the past, issued direct threats to both countries.
“In the event of an attack on Iran, both the occupied territory and all American military centers, bases and ships in the region will be our legitimate targets,” Qalibaf said over the weekend. “We do not consider ourselves limited to reacting after the action and will act based on any objective signs of a threat.”
In yet another major blow to the German automobile labor market, Mercedes has announced it will be relocating production of its A-Class from Rastatt, Germany, to Kecskemét, Hungary. While Hungary’s foreign minister is taking a victory lap, Germany’s largest opposition party is sharply crticizing he government as signs grow that Germany’s automobile market is faltering.
Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó has officially confirmed Mercedes move, writes Budapester.
Szijjártó credited the success to “an economic policy based on sound common sense and a stable government that continually attracts new investment projects from global companies in America, Asia, and even Germany.”
However, the news is not being welcomed in Germany, with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) pointing out the dire economic situation the country is facing.
“Mercedes-Benz has stood for German engineering excellence and Germany’s economic upswing for decades. Yet, like many other automakers, the company is cutting jobs in Germany and expanding in other countries. As a result, the entire production of the A-Class is being relocated to Hungary. 20,000 employees are expected to lose their jobs as a result,” wrote AfD politician Christian Abel on X.
“This is a direct consequence of Friedrich Merz’s green climate and energy policies. To make Germany an attractive industrial location again, a genuine economic policy turnaround is needed through the termination of the energy transition, the combustion engine ban, the abolition of fleet emission limits, and the elimination of state-mandated reporting requirements. If this is not possible within the EU, Germany must seriously consider a Dexit,” he wrote.
His last comment has proven controversial in the AfD itself, with the mainline position that a Dexit will not be considered. In 2024, it was reported that AfD co-leader Weidel said she ruled out completely the idea that a Dexit, or exit of Germany from the EU, was possible.
Nevertheless, in 2023, the country lost a staggering 120,000 manufacturing jobs, highlighting serious problems.
However, Hungary, already a major manufacturing hub for German automobile producers, is now set to expand. Production of the A-Class is slated to begin at the Kecskemét plant as early as Q2, with production planned to continue until 2028.
“Hungary is demonstrating economic brilliance at a time when all of Europe is suffering from the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the misguided policies of the EU headquarters in Brussels,” Szijjártó wrote on social media.
Mercedes’ decision proves that investors embrace Hungary’s political stability, low taxes, and highly skilled workforce, with the Kecskemét plant its largest production site in Europe; only in China does the group have a larger capacity, notes Budapester.
Mercedes, named “Most Attractive Employer” in 2024, now directly employs more than 5,000 people in Hungary.
In October 2024, the plant celebrated the milestone of 2 million vehicles produced; in the future, the site will be able to manufacture both combustion engine cars and plug-in hybrids and all-electric vehicles.
Mercedes is also setting up its first R&D center in Hungary. With the relocation of A-Class production, the German automaker is now entrusting three models to the Hungarians, as the electric GLB and the new C-Class were already being built in Kecskemét.
Last December, Szijjártó also posted about new jobs in Szeged brought by Germany’s Rheinmetall as well. “Rheinmetall’s new hall has been completed, which means more than 300 new, highly skilled jobs in the city! Such investments contribute to Hungary becoming one of the most important European centers for future technologies, which is why we supported the German company’s 29 billion forint investment with 13 billion forints.”
The plant will produce high-tech components for both civil and defense applications, focusing on electromobility (e-mobility), hydrogen vehicles, and renewable energy power plants, alongside some military electronics. It’s Rheinmetall’s first major site outside Germany that combines civil and defense activities under one roof, creating jobs and positioning Hungary as a hub for future technologies.
