Novo Roundtrips GLP-1 Craze Ahead Of Earnings As Goldman Maps Out Next Wave Of Obesity-Drug Catalysts
The rollercoaster ride of the GLP-1 craze and bust cycle for Novo Nordisk A/S shares has been wild to observe over the last several years. The stock has since returned to roughly pre-GLP-1-boom levels, down 50% year-to-date amid intensifying obesity-drug competition and a series of profit downgrades.
New Novo CEO Maziar Mike Doustdar will deliver his first set of results as the new head of the Danish pharma company on Wednesday with the reporting of third-quarter earnings.
“Since the new CEO took the helm, early signs indicate a more aggressive approach,” Berenberg analyst Kerry Holford recently told clients, adding that the board reshuffle creates more unexpected disruption, “change at Novo is necessary and may ultimately be a net positive.”
Paul Major, a portfolio manager at Bellevue Asset Management, told Bloomberg, “The shares have been under pressure all year. It will be interesting to hear what he’s got to say, what he thinks the priorities are, because that’s going to tell us why the board thought he was the right person for the job.”
All Doustdar needs now is to present a solid turnaround plan to convince investors that he’s plugged the holes and stopped the ship from sinking any further.
Despite the steep selloff, Wall Street remains broadly optimistic, with about 56% of analysts rating the stock a “Buy,” 12% “Neutral,” and just 6% “Sell.” The average 12-month price target implies 37% upside from current levels.
Besides Novo, there’s a lot more happening in the obesity space. Goldman Sachs analysts, led by Corinne Johnson, provided clients with a comprehensive breakdown of the upcoming stock-moving developments across Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and other players in the sector.
Never trust experts who criticise the U.S. economy and have argued for years that it should follow the policies of France, Germany, or Canada.
Statism never works, and France, Germany, Canada, the UK, and Japan are in stagnation, with bloated public sectors that hinder economic growth and excessive regulations and taxes that hurt jobs and investment.
The United States will deliver stronger economic growth than all its major advanced peers in 2025, with inflation, real wage growth, and unemployment figures that also outperform countries like Japan, the UK, Canada, France, and Germany.
In the United States, it is common to read negative remarks about the economy from the same mainstream economists who defended the implementation of European-style Keynesian policies. The results are evident. The United States is growing faster and in a healthier way than all its peers that followed Keynesian spending and tax policies.
Official figures indicate that the US published the fastest economic growth rate among advanced peers for 2025. The economy is growing at 3.8% annualised; the IMF estimates US real GDP growth at 2.0% for 2025, compared to only 0.2% for Germany, 0.7% for France, 1.1% for the UK, 1.2% for Canada, and 1.1% for Japan. Furthermore, the Federal Reserve of Atlanta expects 3.9% annualised growth in the US’s third quarter.
It is important to highlight the quality of this economic growth. The US economic development in 2025 is driven by strong consumer demand, technological strength, and continued investment and, more importantly, with a decline in government spending. In contrast, Japan, Germany, Canada, the UK, and France see weak investment, poor consumption growth, and sluggish external demand, whereas government spending is one of the key factors in “growth.”. Big government and high taxes are limiting their growth to less than 1%.
The US inflation rate is stable, while Japan and the UK see rising and accelerating figures in their consumer price index.
Annual US inflation settled at 3% in September and is expected to ease further in October. However, inflation in the UK remains at 3.8%, the highest in thirteen months. In Japan, consumer prices have risen to the highest level in a year and are expected to accelerate into 2026, according to Bloomberg Economics. While the US sees inflation stability and Truflation figures show an annualised rate of 2.25%, both the UK and Japan are suffering rising inflation and economic stagnation.
The US labour market remains strong and is showing real wage growth, considering the decrease in government and immigration jobs. Federal employment in the US has declined through 2025, with government jobs dropping by 97,000 since January, but the average monthly increase in private sector jobs remains positive. Compared to its European peers and Japan, the US registers lower unemployment and a healthier mix of private sector job growth. Understanding the significant impact of lower immigration and government jobs is essential to analysing the US labour market’s strength correctly.
US real wage growth in 2025, at 1.5%, is almost double that of France, Germany, and the UK and much higher than in Japan, where the figure is negative.
If we compare the United States’ employment, real wage growth, inflation and GDP growth with Canada’s, the difference is striking. Government interventionism, massive regulation and high taxes, as well as a misguided immigration policy, have made Canada slump to stagnation and loss of jobs. Canada’s unemployment rate is twice the US rate, and its growth is less than half.
The combination of strong US GDP growth, improved inflation control, and strong domestic private labour market performance, reducing government spending and immigration jobs, put the United States significantly ahead of all its peers, proving that supply-side measures, tax reductions, and deregulation, as well as a reduction in government spending, drive economic growth and prosperity, while big government and high taxes only bring stagnation and a debt crisis.
NatGas Soars On Incoming Cold Snap, Snow For Eastern U.S.
US natural gas futures extended Friday’s rally, surging above $4 mmbtu on Monday, with contracts trading around $4.20 on Tuesday morning amid rising expectations of early winter heating demand and an unplanned outage at the Freeport LNG export facility in Texas.
Meteorologists are citing new weather models showing an unusual cold blast for early next week that will blanket parts of the Great Lakes, Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast, with temperatures cold enough for accumulating snow in some areas.
Legendary meteorologist Jim Cantore wrote on X that parts of the eastern half of the US will experience “Arctic Air” by Monday and “everyone gets to feel the chill even in FL.”
“Lows 10-20F below average with teens dipping into the mid-South. This should open up a quick window for LES (lake effect snow) to set up on Monday then another synoptic system Tuesday with SNOW. Yes, our first snow from the lakes coming,” Cantore said.
In addition to our progressive pattern precip chances in the east this week, the pattern actually amplifies by Monday with a COLD blast and trough in the east. This is ARCTIC AIR and everyone gets to feel the chill even FL. Lows 10-20F below average with teens dipping into the… pic.twitter.com/Q2A0mp8a1k
Meteorologist Ryan Maue said, “winter arrives for the Eastern US with hard freeze into Southeast and HEAVY lake effect snowfall” by next Tuesday morning.
⚠️ Next Tuesday morning, winter arrives for the Eastern US with hard freeze into Southeast and HEAVY lake effect snowfall.
The cold snap is expected to linger across the D.C. metro area for several days early next week before temperatures warm up later in the week.
The incoming cold blast once again exposes the Democrats’ long-running climate alarmism for what it really is: able to rip off taxpayers. For decades, the left has pushed “global warming” hysteria while funneling billions into their dark money-funded nonprofit ecosystem.
Even Bill Gates recently admitted the climate crisis narrative has been wildly exaggerated. Yet the damage is done: the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, described by some at DOGE as “a heist on the U.S. Treasury,” has already shoveled mountains of cash into Democrat-aligned nonprofits under the guise of saving the planet.
The next climate crisis will only come when …
… Marxist Democrats will need to pass a new climate bill to refund their nonprofits. However, this nonsense has come to an abrupt end.
Iran’s crypto mining industry is facing a widespread illegal mining crisis, with authorities estimating that over 95% of the country’s 427,000 active mining devices are operating without authorization.
Akbar Hasan Beklou, CEO of the Tehran Province Electricity Distribution Company, said on Sunday that Iran has become the world’s fourth-largest crypto mining hub, fueled by the country’s heavily subsidized electricity prices, which have made it a “paradise for illegal miners.”
These unlicensed operations consume more than 1,400 megawatts of power around the clock, placing immense pressure on the national grid and threatening the stability of electricity supplies.
Beklou noted that most illicit miners disguise their activities as industrial facilities to access cheaper power.
Iran’s cheap cost of mining Bitcoin. Source: Bitcoin Archive
Iran shuts down 104 illegal crypto farms
Authorities have intensified their crackdown on illegal operations. In Tehran Province alone, 104 unauthorized mining farms have been shut down, with 1,465 machines seized, equivalent to the electricity usage of nearly 10,000 households, Beklou said.
The government has identified several hotspots for illicit mining, including Pakdasht, Malard, Shahre Qods and southwestern Tehran’s industrial zones. Inspectors have uncovered farms hidden in underground tunnels and factories using subsidized power connections to evade detection.
Beklou said specialized inspection teams are working with law enforcement to dismantle these operations.
Iran offers bounty to citizens reporting illegal mining
In August, Iran announced that it is offering cash rewards to citizens who report illegal cryptocurrency mining operations. The CEO of state-run utility Tavanir, Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, announced that informants will receive 1 million toman (about $24) for every unauthorized mining device reported.
According to a June report by CoinLaw, Iran ranks fifth globally in Bitcoin hashrate distribution, contributing 4.2% of the total network’s computing power.
Iran ranks fifth globally in Bitcoin hashrate distribution. Source: CoinLaw
The United States leads with a dominant 44%, followed by Kazakhstan (12%), Russia (10.5%), and Canada (9%).
Antifa Firebombs German AfD Lawmaker’s Car As Left-Wing Terrorism Across West Triggers Alarm-Bells
Left-wing political violence is metastasizing across the Western world like stage-four cancer.
From the political assassination of Charlie Kirk by a furry-loving leftist, to the transgender extremist who massacred Christians in a Minneapolis church, to Antifa terror cells attacking ICE facilities and torching the vehicles of their political opponents in Europe, the West must come to its senses. These are not isolated events, but likely interconnected violent acts. Massive funding networks fuel some of these far-left pressure campaigns, as we’ve shown. EU-based billionaires have funneled more than $2 billion into U.S. nonprofits to fund part of the protest-industrial complex against President Trump to derail the ‘America First’ agenda.
All of this is unfolding as more Westerners reject “wokeism” and the Marxist power grip begins to crack under the Trump 2.0 era. The West must confront a very dark and grim truth: the modern far-left has normalized political assassination culture, targeting opponents with violence, arson, and even acts of sabotage, such as the 2024 power grid attack in Berlin that shut down Elon Musk’s factory.
Even the deep-state media outlet The Atlantic couldn’t ignore the alarming rise of what it called “left-wing terrorism.”
Context matters. People must understand that this surge in left-wing violence on both sides of the Atlantic is not random or isolated – it’s possibly coordinated. Their objective is clear: to crush the rise of anti-globalist, anti-Marxist movements and, above all, to stop “Trump-like” populist uprisings gaining momentum across the West at any cost. To accomplish this, the left has weaponized its militant street arm – Antifa – composed of purple-haired, gender-confused warriors who serve as expendable enforcers to carry out political objectives through chaos and intimidation.
This brings us to the latest Antifa attack on the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, in which the party’s parliamentary secretary, Bernd Baumann, saw his car firebombed outside his home, an act local media outlets suspect was carried out by an Antifa terror cell.
German news outlet DPA International reported that “left-wing platform Indymedia on Monday suggests the car was set on fire by members of the anti-fascist Antifa movement early on Monday morning.”
DPA International said the statement that Antifa left on Indymedia was signed with “Fiery greetings to the accused, imprisoned and underground Antifas.”
The post also included a direct threat: “All you damn MAGA freaks, you will follow Kirk to hell!”
JUST IN – Antifa threatens “you MAGA freaks will follow Kirk to hell” after arson terror attack on the car of German AfD politician. pic.twitter.com/p5J7U5hNlU
AfD co-leader Alice Weidel condemned what she described as “an act of violence,” saying this had “nothing to do with a political dispute, even one that is fiercely contested.”
AfD politicians have long been targeted in attacks, including arson and assaults by Antifa cells. These left-wing militants have also brutally assaulted these politicians.
Whether it’s Antifa attacks on AfD members, assaults on American ICE facilities, or leftist militants targeting Elon Musk’s Tesla showrooms, a clear pattern has emerged: the rise of left-wing political violence and civil terrorism (read the report) coincides with the public’s growing rejection of wokeism. As the left’s influence wanes, violence becomes the tool of choice.
The term “Antifa” comes from a 1930s German antifascist group called Antifaschistische Aktion, widely considered the historical predecessor of the modern ANTIFA movement. Anti-imperialist strains of left-wing political violence are not strictly an American problem. There are revolutionary international networks that inspire America’s concept of Antifascism, i.e., being opposed to what they perceive to be fascist threats. And there are regional cells within American antifascists who seek to destabilize the United States from within. Many think societal collapse will usher in a new utopia of socialism, just as Neo nazi accelerationists believe collapse is a necessary condition for a white ethnostate.
Where are the Democrats denouncing this chaos?
Oh wait, these are the same people who fueled assassination culture by dusting off the old communist playbook: label every political opponent you don’t like a “Nazi” or “fascist” in normalizing assassination culture.
The anti-seizure medication has quietly become the fifth most prescribed drug in the U.S., not because seizure disorders are skyrocketing, but because doctors are writing millions of prescriptions for uses the FDA never approved.
Now, as concerns mount about dependency and long-term cognitive risks, experts are questioning whether the medication warrants closer scrutiny.
Gabapentin Prescriptions Skyrocket
Gabapentin is FDA-approved to treat two conditions—partial seizures and pain occurring with a shingles outbreak (postherpetic neuralgia). Gabapentin enacarbil (Horizant), an extended-release version of the drug, was FDA approved in 2011 for treating moderate-to-severe restless legs syndrome in adults. However, gabapentin is widely prescribed for off-label indications—everything from hot flashes to back pain.
The drug’s off-label use was recently scrutinized by researchers at the CDC in Atlanta. A study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that the rate of gabapentin dispensing approximately doubled from 2010 to 2016 and also increased from 2016 to 2024, though at a slower rate.
Gabapentin dispensing was highest and continues to increase among older adults, which, the researchers note, may be due to the rise in off label prescribing for unexplained pain and other conditions common among people 65 years or older.
The CDC researchers noted that the drug may rank even higher on the most prescribed list, as the data used in the study did not include prescriptions dispensed outside of retail pharmacies, such as hospitals, long-term care facilities, and mail-order pharmacies.
When Gabapentin May Help
The top reason people take gabapentin is pain, especially back pain, said Erika Gray, a pharmacist, and founder and chief medical officer at ToolBox Genomics, who was not involved in the study.
“The second symptom is difficulty sleeping,” she said.
Roger Passow, a retired business owner in Wisconsin, experienced severe leg pain and weakness that disrupted his sleep and ability to walk. After X-rays revealed nothing conclusive, his doctor admitted he was “stumped.” An orthopedic specialist told Passow he would “just have to live with it.”
Without a diagnosis, a pain specialist prescribed 600 mg of gabapentin nightly. When that didn’t help much, Passow increased to 900 mg. “Even with the pills, some nights I still have pain. Almost all night. It can really be miserable,” he told The Epoch Times. Despite concerns about long-term effects, he continues taking it because he feels there’s no other option.
Evidence suggests that gabapentin may be effective for specific off-label conditions. However, in some cases, other drugs offer better benefits.
Gabapentin may help:
Diabetes-Related Nerve Damage: Gabapentin can help reduce diabetic peripheral neuropathy pain, according to a 2025 study, but not as well as pregabalin (Lyrica) and duloxetine (Cymbalta).
Nerve-Related Pain: A 2025 systematic review of research found that while gabapentin can reduce nerve pain, pregabalin was significantly more effective.
Chronic Cough with Unknown Cause): A 2023 analysis of six studies including 536 participants found that gabapentin is effective for treating chronic refractory cough, and it may be safer than other similar drugs.
Alcohol Use Disorder: Whether taking gabapentin can help people quit drinking alcohol is unclear. However, some research has shown that compared to a placebo, gabapentin can lower the number of days a person engages in heavy drinking by 18 percent.
Hot Flashes: A 2020 meta-analysis found that women who took gabapentin reported shorter and less frequent hot flashes. The researchers suggest that it may be an alternative for women who cannot or do not want to take hormone replacement therapy.
In contrast, gabapentin may not be the best choice for people with bipolar disorder and insomnia. A 2021 systematic review published in Molecular Psychiatry found minimal evidence that the drug is effective for these two conditions.
Overall, doctors should consider trying non-drug treatments, like physical therapy, and addressing sleep problems, inflammation, or other individual factors that might be contributing to a person’s symptoms before prescribing gabapentin, Dr. Luke Barr, a board-certified neurologist and the director of neurology at Deaconess Health System in Evansville, Indiana, told The Epoch Times.
How Did Off-Label Use Become So Widespread?
Understanding gabapentin’s current popularity requires looking at both its troubled past and the genuine clinical needs it addresses.
In the late 90s, Parke-Davis, a subsidiary of Warner-Lambert, the pharmaceutical company that first marketed gabapentin under the brand name Neurontin, aggressively marketed the drug for a wide range of health conditions for which it was not approved, including ADHD, pain disorders, and migraine.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the company also paid doctors to attend “consultant’s meetings” where physicians received a fee for attending expensive dinners or conferences involving presentations about off-label uses of Neurontin. In 2004, after a whistleblower suit, the company agreed to plead guilty and pay $430 million in fines and civil damages for its illegal and fraudulent promotion of the drug for unapproved uses.
However, the pharmaceutical scandal from two decades ago doesn’t fully explain today’s prescribing patterns. Other factors have driven the uptick in gabapentin prescriptions — some responding to legitimate medical needs, others raising questions about appropriate prescribing.
Doctors are more willing to give patients gabapentin instead of older drugs like tricyclic antidepressants because it won’t cause as many side effects, said Barr.
Additionally, doctors consider gabapentin a better option than synthetic opioids for chronic pain. People can become dependent on opioids which has led to an addiction crisis impacting millions of Americans, resulting in over 54,000 overdose deaths in 2024 alone. Many people are aware that taking opioids carries these addiction risks, so more are demanding non-opioid drug options like gabapentin.
The drug’s relatively low cost and its potential to provide benefits for some off-label conditions may also drive the increase in prescriptions. “Together these forces create a permissive environment for off-label use, sometimes without adequate monitoring,” Barr said.
One factor driving the rise in off-label gabapentin prescribing is the lack of adequate treatment options. For many people, gabapentin provides some or enough relief that they can finally resume their daily activities, said Gray.
Understanding the Risks
Less than half of people prescribed gabapentin will not notice meaningful pain relief but will likely experience side effects or adverse events, studies suggest.
In 2019, the FDA warned patients and doctors that serious breathing problems and even death have been associated with taking gabapentin with certain medications. Barr has seen patients have excessive sedation or compromised breathing after their gabapentin prescription was combined with opioids or benzodiazepines. Some people needed emergency care, he said.
“This interaction is one of the most important safety messages,” Barr noted.
Some of his older patients have experienced falls or had to stop driving because of gabapentin’s more common side effects, like dizziness. He adds that doctors sometimes use gabapentin to treat symptoms caused by other drugs, creating a vicious cycle of adding more medications rather than addressing the root cause.
According to Gray, the dosages themselves may pose health risks for some people. “One of my biggest concerns with gabapentin is how high prescribers go with the dosages, especially with older adults or patients [taking multiple medications],” Gray said. “Additionally, gabapentin is broken down by the kidneys, and as people age, their kidney function decreases.”
She said she has seen many occasions where a patient’s kidney function has dropped, yet the prescribing doctor did not adjust the patient’s dose.
The Potential for Dependence
While far fewer people get addicted to gabapentin than opioids or benzodiazepines, the risk increases for those who use other drugs or alcohol or for people who have opioid use disorder. Several states now consider the drug a Schedule V controlled substance. Schedule V drugs have a low risk for abuse and dependence but still require a prescription due to their potential to cause addiction.
“I’ve seen requests for higher doses and evidence of nonmedical use,” Barr said. He has also witnessed patients who have used high doses of gabapentin for months experience withdrawal symptoms after suddenly stopping the drug, such as insomnia, anxiety, and rarely, seizures.
The potential for a person to go through withdrawal after taking gabapentin is why doctors recommend gradually tapering off the medication to lower the risk of experiencing these unpleasant symptoms. Withdrawal symptoms can last up to 10 days, Dr. Roger Starner Jones, Jr., a board-certified emergency and addiction medicine physician and founder of Nashville Addiction Recovery, Belle Mede AMP, and Recovery Now, told The Epoch Times.
Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide (NAD+) infusions have been shown to ease symptoms of withdrawal and reduce cravings in patients who are dependent on the drug, Starner Jones added.
More Gabapentin Research Needed
Older studies investigating gabapentin’s safety and effectiveness when used to treat epileptic seizures suggest it is safe, effective, and well-tolerated. A 2013 paper found no long-term safety issues when the drug was used to treat shingles-related pain.
However, new concerns have emerged after a recent investigation revealed that the drug may increase the risk of memory issues when used long-term. The observational study, published in Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine, found that adults under 65 who were prescribed the drug six or more times over a 10 year period for back pain had over twice the risk of dementia and mild cognitive impairment compared to those not taking the medication.
After three years of taking gabapentin, Passow finally received an MRI that revealed the actual source of his pain: severe arthritis, bulging discs, and vertebrae pinching the nerves going to the leg. He is now awaiting treatment with steroid shots to target the affected nerves. If that doesn’t work, the next steps may involve surgery.
Passow’s case illustrates a broader concern: gabapentin can become a long-term solution for patients who might benefit from other targeted treatments. For three years, he took daily medication that provided little relief when more specific interventions were available. He hopes the steroid shots will be enough to reduce his pain so he can stop taking “so many pills.”
Mrs. Passow experienced a situation similar to her husband’s when a doctor prescribed gabapentin after failing to identify the cause of her unexplained scalp pain. “I was afraid to take it. I finally did try it, but stopped right away because it didn’t help,” she said. She later discovered that simple scalp massages, not medication, eliminated the problem.
Climate Activists Who Vandalized Stonehenge Acquitted And Set Free
Within a progressive controlled nation, who gets punished by the law is greatly dependent on their political and ethnic affiliations. Left leaning groups (and people like migrants who are useful to left leaning groups) enjoy a separate set of legal standards compared to people who oppose leftist ideology. This has become a clear trend within the UK in recent years.
This two tier legal system helps the encourage future crimes by leftists and their allies while the hammer is brought down on conservatives and patriots to ensure they are fearful of stepping out of line in the slightest.
This double standard is obvious once again in the recent acquittal of three Just Stop Oil activists who made headlines after they spraying down the historic site of Stonehenge with a mixture of powder and orange dye. The dye cost around $1000 to clean but luckily did not leave lasting damage. The stunt was allegedly designed to draw attention to JSO’s climate change agenda.
BREAKING:
British court clears “Just Stop Oil” activists of all criminal charges for vandalizing Stonehenge last year
The judge stressed that people have a right to protest in a democracy even if others dislike it. The defense argued it was necessary due to the climate crisis pic.twitter.com/BGMqKaS7e8
The activists, Rajan Naidu, Niamh Lynch and Luke Watson have been found not guilty this week of criminal damage and causing a public nuisance. The suspects cited human rights law in their defense, arguing that they had a “reasonable excuse”, and they they are protected under Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights to freedom of speech and freedom to protest.
The judge emphasized that democratic protest rights can sometimes render otherwise unlawful actions lawful, even if disruptive. In other words, suspects who commit a clear crime (such as vandalizing an ancient heritage site) will not be punished as long as they support causes that the current government agrees with. UK patriots, on the other hand, will still get years in prison for posting memes on social media that are critical of mass immigration.
Just Stop Oil’s insanity was rampant across Europe over the course of the last few year until the group disbanded on the grounds that they had been “victorious” in achieving their primary goal (did they beat climate change?). However, it is more likely they disbanded because of rising public anger over their disruptive tactics.
The Met Police did actual well dealing with Just Stop Oil protesters leading up to the coronation. Where are they now!?
It’s no wonder that these angry motorists felt that they had to take matters into their own hands.
Despite the fact that the group received extensive protections from various European governments, they could not predict the responses of common citizens who were fed up with their antics. Sweeping popular sentiment supported beatings of activists who blocked roadways and who destroyed priceless works of art.
Just Stop Oil’s methods seemed to focus less on actual climate change issues and more on using climate change as an excuse to attack monuments and artworks important to western civilization. Suspicions that the group is less about global warming and more about communist deconstruction abound. They even tried to destroy an original copy of the Magna Carta.
Those protesters have yet to go to trial, but they are using a similar defense argument to the Stonehenge activists.
Judge Paul Dugdale told the jury in his legal directions they had to assess where the “balance lies” in the case and whether a conviction would be a “proportionate interference” with the defendants’ rights (coaching the jury).
“If individuals disagree with what our government is doing on certain matters, they are entitled to protest about the government’s actions or inactions…All of this is the essence of our free society. It’s how our society has developed over the centuries, and the reality is we are very fortunate to live in a free society.”
The hypocrisy of this statement cannot be quantified. Thousands of British citizens are being censored and arrested for speaking out peacefully against third-world immigration policies (without vandalizing any monuments) – There is no “free society” unless one is progressive in their ideology. The message from UK courts in cases like this is disturbing; they are letting leftists know that they have free rein to do as they please, which means other incidents like Stonehenge are inevitable.
Germany In China’s Grip: EU’s Strategic Blind Spot
Submitted by Thomas Kolbe
China is buying itself breathing space in the trade dispute with the U.S. by primarily flexing its elbow against the EU. With its dominance in rare earths and Germany’s import dependence on microchips, Beijing currently holds the upper hand. Germany and the EU would be well advised to recall market-oriented virtues and strategic intelligence.
Two seemingly unrelated events reflect the same problem: A week ago, Volkswagen threatened a complete production halt should China ban exports of urgently needed rare earths. The media reacted with shock. Suddenly, the specter of Germany’s resource dependence on China returned.
A few weeks earlier, a bizarre economic dispute erupted in the Netherlands. On September 30, the Dutch government decreed state control over Dutch-Chinese chipmaker Nexperia, sparking a genuine diplomatic row with Beijing. The concern: potential relocation of production facilities to China and the loss of technological know-how in chip manufacturing.
Deep-rooted Dependence
Both events describe quite precisely the situation, especially for German industry. Deeply intertwined with Chinese value chains, it now risks falling victim to geopolitical conflicts. While Chancellor Angela Merkel’s tenure gradually helped diversify export markets like the U.S. or France faster than China, Germany’s so-called de-risking strategy has not prevented roughly one million German jobs from remaining directly dependent on exports to China. Last year, Germany exported goods worth about €90 billion to China. One in every nine export products heads to the People’s Republic, particularly high-tech products and automobiles.
China also remains Germany’s largest import partner with €156 billion in goods. Germany’s chip dependence on China is particularly concerning: 25% of German companies source semiconductors directly from China; in 2024, China was the top supplier, ahead of the U.S. and Taiwan. Across more than 230 product categories, including almost the entire spectrum of electronics and semiconductors, Chinese goods made up at least half of German imports.
German – and European – industry is deeply entangled in a web of market and supply chain dependencies that are increasingly difficult, and fragile, to manage geopolitically.
The Wind Has Turned
For decades, Germany followed a quasi-mercantilist trade model. Benefiting from a domestic low-wage sector, cheap Russian gas, and a relatively undervalued euro from a productivity standpoint, German industry easily secured growing shares in key sectors like automotive and machinery on the global market.
Now, with the geopolitical wind having shifted, it becomes clear that the German-Chinese trade partnership risks being shredded amid the storms of the Russia conflict and the U.S.-China trade war.
And Beijing, once pressured, does not shy from heavy-handed tactics. Current debates reflect complaints from German companies that rare earths are only supplied in exchange for the disclosure of trade secrets, client lists, and other sensitive information. This is not a quid pro quo; this is cold-blooded extortion, more than a mere show of power.
China’s leadership plays hard, driven by its own economic problems such as high youth unemployment and persistent deflation, which it tries to solve via its heavily inflated export sector. China keeps its export engine running at full throttle through subsidies, pushing foreign manufacturers out of the domestic market.
The Chinese power mosaic is only fully understood once we have clearer insight into how industry-hostile NGOs in Europe and North America, backed by China, operate. They helped sow the anti-industrial CO2 climate narrative, escalated attacks on German automotive manufacturing, and simultaneously flooded artificially created climate markets with Chinese solutions.
EU Self-Help Group
Rarely does it seem that Brussels—and by extension Berlin—act with sufficient vigor, strategic depth, or analytical understanding to seek escape routes from this stranglehold. Too much time, energy, and strategic potential are wasted on EU internal hygiene. No one tackles the frontline issues arising from dependence on China. The economic threat, especially in rare earths, is increasingly visible and leveraged by Beijing as a geopolitical tool. Up to 90% of refining capacities for rare earths are under Chinese control—a heavy bargaining chip when negotiations with China get tough.
Attempts at Breakout
There is, at least, awareness of the problem. The previous government tried to attract U.S. chipmaker Intel to Magdeburg with a €10 billion subsidy package to improve supply chains prospectively. Intel, however, declined despite the billions—a devastating verdict on Germany’s economic landscape.
What a catastrophic admission for Europeans, trapped in their own regulatory web and energy-policy disaster. Intel prefers investing domestically, where President Trump provides competitive conditions and, in effect, sucks investment away from Europe. Europe stands in its own way, failing to stabilize or deepen its value chains.
The EU’s attempt, coordinated with national policies, to build a quasi-war economy alongside the heavily subsidized climate complex—a failed energy liberation effort—must be seen as an act of desperation. Without China’s intermediate goods for microchips, rare earths, raw materials, and previously Russian energy, this production buildup will likely remain a vision.
The consequence of European paralysis: essential industrial foundations—from raw materials to high-tech end products in electronics and machinery—are crumbling before our eyes due to the energy crisis. It is almost impossible to scale these product groups competitively in Europe, especially Germany.
Emancipation Requires Germany
At this historical moment, with the Ukraine conflict further fracturing geopolitical power lines, Europe’s fragility is visible. Its energy dependence and resource scarcity weaken its negotiating position.
The trade deal—effectively a submission to Washington’s dictate—fits perfectly into this picture: China, the U.S., and other global players know Europe’s Achilles’ heel and increasingly target its energy dilemma, worsened by the exit from nuclear and coal, and the end of Russian gas imports, particularly in Germany.
It would be in the interest of all Europeans if Germany took the lead, forcing an end to the counterproductive climate doctrine. A commitment to national sovereignty and market-oriented reasoning, embedded in a competitive EU single market, could revive Europe’s strength. The continent is still technologically capable of catching up and activating its strong capital base.
Here lies Europe’s geopolitical leverage. A “Great Reset” is indispensable: liberation from Kafkaesque bureaucracy, lower taxes, and a market-based energy design—a cold detox ending the paralyzing climate dialogues that have infantilized complex economic realities.
Cold Detox Unavoidable
Harsh as it may be, Germany—and the EU—must pivot 180 degrees to regain attractiveness as an investment location. Capital clearly prefers Trump’s deregulatory U.S.
Geopolitically, Europe should aim to exploit Canadian resources—a first step in the right direction. Debates about Greenland’s rare earths should also accelerate. Yet exploration and actual development will take years. Pressure on German and European manufacturers is already rising; negotiation solutions and better political involvement are urgently needed.
Aligning geopolitically with Washington to resist Beijing’s extortion attempts is sensible. President Trump is actively building a parallel supply network for industry, securing raw materials with contracts in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan—the impressive result of only 72 hours of foreign diplomacy.
Merz Stays Passive
The German chancellor, in contrast, remains aloof from this arena, leaving it to Ursula von der Leyen’s EU Commission. The Commission offers no visible initiatives beyond a cosmetic European rare earth recycling program. No action gives industry the breathing room it urgently needs. While Washington circles the globe, Berlin appears frozen in bureaucratic stasis.
We are witnessing the return of power politics on the global stage of superpowers, the U.S. and China. Europe’s role remains uncertain, but its geopolitical loss is evident. Von der Leyen, Merz, Macron, and Starmer must accept that the era of artistic climate dialogues and trivial feel-good events like COP30 in Brazil is over.
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About the author: Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.
Not Worth Fighting For? 1,000 Ukrainian Men Arriving In Germany Every Week
While the US-EU establishment continues to tell us Ukraine must be defended against Russia at all costs, legions of the country’s young men are abandoning the country — dreading the prospect of being thrown into the West’s proxy-war meat-grinder, and convinced their best future lies somewhere else. Last week, the Telegraph reported that nearly 100,000 Ukrainian men between 18 and 22 have left in the past two months — a force well larger than the 70,000 soldiers in then entire UK army.
The surge springs from Ukraine’s recent relaxation of wartime restrictions on foreign travel by the country’s men. Effective August 22, men between 18 and 22 are now allowed to leave Ukraine. Many are choosing to do something much more ambitious than a weekend getaway, instead applying for asylum or other forms of protection in various European countries, where they’re taking up residence and looking for employment. According to German TV outlet DW, one oftheir top choices is increasingly Germany, where the weekly pace of arrivals by young men has grown from a relative trickle of 100 into a torrent of 1,000.
These18- to 22-year-olds are not draft-dodgers. In a sharp difference with the philosophy of the United States and other countries, the Ukrainian military is barred from drafting men below age 25; voluntary service starts at 18. However, the specter of conscription is a decision factor for many of those leaving the country. Under current rules, once a man turns 23, he can’t leave the country. “At 23 or 24, you’re in a sort of buffer zone,” Serhiy, a 22-year-old originally from the Donbas, told DW. “You can’t just go abroad, but you’re not hiding either; meanwhile, army call-up is getting closer and closer.”
Some men in the 18- to 22-year-old set fear the draft age will be lowered. That’s already happened once during the war with Russia: In April 2024, the minimum draft age was lowered from 27 to the current 25. The Biden administration urged Ukraine to lower it to 18, and other US officials have since pushed the country to lower the conscription age below 25, including hawks like Sen. Lindsey Graham and UN ambassador Mike Waltz.
That prospect weighed heavily on Viktor, an 18-year-old who left a town south of Kiev in August and arrived in Berlin with his girlfriend. “I read reports that said the age of conscription might be lowered,” he told DW. “In our country all sorts of laws could be passed, including that you can be conscripted as young as 18.”
🇺🇦 Conscription in Ukraine.
Imagine telling your family you are going out for an evening walk, just to never return. Kidnapped and sent to dіе because Zelensky says so. pic.twitter.com/DbGdBUlOmu
Twenty-year-old Maksym, who arrived in Berlin from Kiev with the initial goal of finding an electrical engineering or other apprenticeship, was positively exuberant as he spoke to DW on Alexanderplatz. “I’m completely overwhelmed!” he said. “I’m incredibly happy, because I clearly see that this is my ticket to the future.”
While Maksym is jubilant, there’s growing agitation over the influx of young Ukrainian men into Germany and other countries. Many politicians point to the disconnect between European countries sacrificing their own economies to impede Russia’s conquest of the Donbas — while taking on waves of Ukrainian refugees who absorb benefits and compete with locals for jobs — and the spectacle of military-age men abandoning Ukraine in huge numbers.
“The EU and Berlin must influence Ukraine to change the relaxed exit rules,” Markus Söder, Prime Minister of the German state of Bavaria, said last month. “It won’t help anyone if more and more young men from Ukraine come to Germany instead of defending their homeland.” Similarly, last week Poland’s Confederation party said, “Poland cannot continue to be a refuge for thousands of men who should be defending their own country, while burdening Polish taxpayers with the costs of their desertion.”
Six in ten long-term unemployed people in Belgium are of foreign origin, according to newly released government figures, just as a major reform of the unemployment system is set to take effect.
The data, disclosed by Employment Minister David Clarinval in response to a parliamentary question, show that only 41.5 percent of unemployment benefit recipients in 2023 had Belgian parents.
As reported by 7sur7, nearly 13 percent of the unemployed population has North African roots, primarily from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, or Mauritania. A further fifth have origins in other European Union member states, including neighboring and southern European countries.
The figures confirm a long-standing pattern observed in earlier studies: employment rates are lowest among foreigners from outside the EU.
In total, Belgium’s long-term unemployed population consists of 41.5 percent Belgians, 12.8 percent with Maghreb origins, 9.2 percent from southern EU countries, 7.7 percent from neighboring countries, 4.5 percent from other Asian countries, 4.5 percent of unknown origin, 4.2 percent from other African countries, 3.9 percent from Turkey, 3.8 percent from other European countries outside the EU, 3.4 percent from eastern EU countries, 3.1 percent from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, or Rwanda, and 1.2 percent from South or Central America. Taken together, those of non-EU origin account for roughly one third of all unemployed people in Belgium, and possibly closer to 38 percent when including those whose origin is listed as unknown.
“These figures confirm what we already knew,” Stijn Baert, professor of labor economics at Ghent University, told the Belgian news outlet.
“When we focus on migrants from countries outside the European Union, Belgium almost always ranks among the worst performers in Europe. More than half of unemployed non-European foreigners have been out of work for more than a year. Only Greece performs worse.”
The release of these figures coincides with a far-reaching reform of the unemployment system that will, from January 2026, abolish the right to indefinite benefits. Under the new rules, most people under 55 will be entitled to unemployment benefits for a maximum of two years, while those over 55 can continue to receive them only if they have accumulated at least 30 years of professional experience, rising to 35 years by 2030. The National Employment Office has already begun notifying affected claimants, with the first wave of exclusions — around 10,700 people — expected early next year. More than 100,000 people will eventually lose their entitlements.
Employment Minister David Clarinval, a Liberal, defended the reform as necessary to restore fairness and encourage people to re-enter the labor market. “Unemployment is not a career plan,” he said. “The main message is that everyone must work, including people of foreign origin. There is no reason why these people should be condemned to unemployment and exclusion.”
Speaking on RTL’s morning program on Wednesday, Clarinval said, “More than one in two unemployed people who will be excluded from benefits in the coming year and the year after are of foreign origin. That’s a rather astonishing figure, as far as I’m concerned.”
Clarinval said the numbers raised questions about both oversight and support. “Do all these people actually reside within the country?” he asked, noting that 5,800 cases of home fraud were detected last year. “That applies to everyone, but it means there are undoubtedly more checks to be carried out. Although now that we’re going to limit them, the question won’t really arise anymore.”
The publication of the figures provoked sharp political debate after several Belgian media outlets reported that “six out of ten people to lose their benefits are not Belgian.” Socialist MPs accused the government of stigmatizing people of immigrant background, prompting multiple fact-checks clarifying that the data refers to origin, not nationality. Many of those included in the figures were either born in Belgium to non-Belgian parents or have since acquired Belgian citizenship through naturalization.
