Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar visited the Republic of Somaliland on Tuesday and is meeting the breakaway state’s president, according to multiple media reports. Reuters cited sources as saying that Saar is currently in Somaliland and will meet the president of the state, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, in the capital Hargeisa.
Somaliland media reports also confirmed the Israeli foreign minister’s visit. The Israeli Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment. According to Somaliland’s Information Ministry, Saar was received by senior Somaliland officials at the airport. Last month, Israel became the first state to formally recognize Somaliland, which broke away from Somalia in 1991 but had never been recognized by any UN member state.
Somali officials and several Arab, Islamic, and African states have condemned the Israeli move – which was rejected by most members of the UN Security Council at an emergency meeting in New York.
The Israeli government has been aiming for Somaliland to serve as a potential destination for Palestinians that Tel Aviv aims to forcibly displace from Gaza, according to multiple reports over the past year.
After US President Donald Trump announced plans to expel the strip’s population and transform Gaza into a “Riviera,” talks to relocate large numbers of Palestinians reportedly began with several African states, including Somaliland and Morocco. Trump walked back his comments earlier this year, but efforts to expel Palestinians have continued.
Somalia’s president said in a recent interview that Israel has demanded from Somaliland, as part of its terms, that the breakaway state receive displaced Palestinians from Gaza and allow the establishment of Israeli military sites. He added that intelligence confirms Somaliland accepted these terms.
“The Government of the Republic of Somaliland firmly rejects false claims made by the president of Somalia alleging the resettlement of Palestinians or the establishment of military bases in Somaliland,” Somaliland’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement in response.
“Somaliland’s engagement with the State of Israel is purely diplomatic, conducted in full respect of international law and the mutual sovereign interests of both countries,” it added.
Ummmm…
Recognizing Somaliland isn’t charity — it’s strategy. It aligns with America’s security interests and the “America First” doctrine by strengthening an ally that shares our values in a region vital to global trade and counterterrorism.@thehillhttps://t.co/gfgyShpL6B
The Foreign Ministry went on to say that the “baseless allegations are intended to mislead the international community and undermine Somaliland’s diplomatic progress,” adding that “Somaliland remains committed to regional stability, and peaceful international cooperation.”
At CES, A Chinese Two-Legged Vacuum Signals The Next Phase Of Home Robotics
At CES in Las Vegas, where robotics is a dominant theme this year, Roborock introduced a striking new home robot meant to persuade consumers that household automation is ready for everyday life, according to Bloomberg.
The Chinese company — formally called Beijing Roborock Technology Co. — revealed the Saros Rover, a robotic vacuum concept equipped with two independent wheel-legs that allow it to climb stairs and traverse uneven terrain. According to the firm, it is “the first robot vacuum cleaner with two wheel-legs.” The device uses artificial intelligence, motion sensors, and 3D spatial mapping, and in a media demonstration it climbed stairs, descended a ramp, and performed a small jump, which a company spokesperson said could help it handle obstacles.
Bloomberg writes that the Rover replaces last year’s headline-grabbing Saros Z70, which featured a mechanical arm capable of picking up objects such as socks. While that model drew crowds at CES, it later disappointed reviewers when it launched for $2,599 in the U.S., partly because it recognized only a limited range of items. Learning from that experience, Roborock is now taking a more cautious approach: the Rover does not yet have a confirmed release date.
Like its predecessor, the new robot moves slowly when operating on its legs, and the company declined to disclose battery performance. During the presentation, it also remained unclear how well the Rover can recover from a fall, though the spokesperson said that in such cases the robot will attempt to right itself without human help.
Robotics’ growing presence at CES has become so prominent that the event’s organizer, the Consumer Technology Association, created a dedicated exhibition area for the category. Alongside home devices like Roborock’s, companies are showcasing humanoid robots that claim to handle complex tasks such as folding laundry. Still, widespread consumer adoption faces major hurdles, including high costs, limited battery life, and the need for more reliable mobility.
For decades, cholesterol screening has focused on a familiar set of numbers—LDL (“bad” cholesterol), HDL (“good” cholesterol), and triglycerides. When these values fall within the “normal” range, many people are reassured that their heart risk is low.
However, according to leading preventive cardiologist Dr. Seth J. Baum, that reassurance can sometimes be misleading.
In a recent episode of “Vital Signs,” Baum explained that a largely inherited cholesterol-related particle—lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a)—can quietly raise the risk of heart attack, stroke, and aortic valve disease, even in people whose standard cholesterol tests look perfectly fine.
“Lp(a) explains a lot of heart disease we used to call bad luck,” Baum said. “It’s not bad luck—it’s biology we weren’t measuring.”
What Is Lipoprotein(a)?
Lipoprotein(a) is structurally similar to LDL cholesterol, but with an added protein called apolipoprotein(a). This extra component makes the particle particularly harmful because it promotes plaque buildup, inflammation, and abnormal clot formation within blood vessels.
Unlike LDL cholesterol—which is strongly influenced by diet, exercise, and medications—Lp(a) levels are determined primarily by genetics. They remain relatively stable throughout life and are largely unaffected by lifestyle changes.
Because of this, Baum and other preventive cardiologists often refer to Lp(a) as “genetic cholesterol.” It is inherited, invisible on routine lipid panels, and easily overlooked—yet clinically powerful.
How Common Is High Lp(a)?
Elevated Lp(a) is not rare. Large population studies and expert consensus estimate that more than 20 percent of people worldwide—roughly one in five adults—have Lp(a) levels high enough to increase cardiovascular risk. In the United States, this translates to approximately 64 million adults.
That prevalence rivals or exceeds that of many conditions routinely screened for in primary care. Yet most Americans have never had their Lp(a) measured.
Baum said that this gap in testing helps explain why some people develop heart disease at young ages or despite healthy lifestyles.
“I see patients who’ve been told for years their cholesterol is fine,” he said. “Then they have a heart attack at 45. When we finally check Lp(a), the story suddenly makes sense.”
Normal Cholesterol Doesn’t Always Mean Low Risk
One of Baum’s central messages is that cholesterol numbers must be interpreted in context, not in isolation.
Lp(a) acts as a risk amplifier. When it is elevated, other risk factors—such as mildly high LDL, borderline blood pressure, insulin resistance, or smoking—become more dangerous in combination. The artery is not only accumulating plaque faster, but plaque is also more inflamed and more prone to forming clots. Two people with identical LDL levels may have very different outcomes, depending on their Lp(a) levels.
This helps explain why traditional risk calculators sometimes fail, particularly in people with heart attacks or strokes at unusually young ages, strong family histories of cardiovascular disease, or heart disease that seems disproportionate to lifestyle.
In Baum’s view, overlooking Lp(a) in these situations represents a major blind spot in prevention.
The Test Most People Never Get–But Probably Should
Because Lp(a) rarely changes over time, testing is usually only needed once. The result can meaningfully alter how clinicians assess risk and guide prevention—even before Lp(a)-specific drugs become widely available.
Lp(a) results may be reported in different units, but many experts consider levels greater than or equal to 50 mg/dL (or approximately 100 to 125 nmol/L, depending on the assay) to be clinically significant.
Importantly, high Lp(a) is not a diagnosis. It does not mean a heart attack is inevitable. Rather, it signals that cardiovascular prevention should be more proactive and individualized. “Lp(a) doesn’t act alone—it stacks on top of everything else,” Baum said.
He describes Lp(a) as a “triple threat” because it promotes plaque formation, enhances blood clotting, and intensifies vascular inflammation. “Inflammation is clearly involved in plaque progression and heart attacks,” he noted, explaining why Lp(a) carries risk beyond LDL alone.
Despite this, Baum estimates that only about 1 percent of the population has ever been tested for Lp(a). “The reason most doctors cite for not testing is that we don’t yet have an approved therapy to lower it,” he said. “But that’s not a good reason not to know the risk.”
Plaque builds silently over decades. “In the vast majority of patients with high cholesterol or Lp(a), you don’t see anything on physical exam,” he said. “You usually don’t see anything until there’s a heart attack or stroke.”
A Practical Prevention Plan
A common misconception is that high Lp(a) leaves patients powerless. Baum strongly disagrees. “You can’t change your genes, but you can absolutely change how aggressively you manage everything else.”
Lower LDL More Than Average
When Lp(a) is elevated, Baum often targets lower LDL or apoB levels than standard recommendations. Even modest LDL elevations can be more harmful in the presence of high Lp(a), so tolerance for “borderline” values is reduced.
Treat Risk Factors as Additive
Rather than viewing blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, and lifestyle habits separately, Baum said that they compound one another.
With high Lp(a):
Mild hypertension matters more
Smoking carries greater danger
Poor sleep, inactivity, and metabolic dysfunction become more consequential
This cumulative perspective explains why clinicians may recommend earlier or more intensive intervention—even when no single risk factor appears extreme.
Use Imaging to Clarify Risk
Baum highlighted the value of coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring, a specialized CT scan that detects and measures calcified plaque in the coronary arteries—the arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle.
Unlike blood tests, which estimate risk indirectly, CAC scoring provides direct visual evidence of atherosclerosis. A higher calcium score reflects a greater plaque burden and a higher likelihood of future cardiovascular events.
In people with elevated Lp(a) but otherwise uncertain risk, CAC can help determine whether genetic risk has already translated into physical disease. A positive CAC score suggests that plaque has begun to form, strengthening the case for earlier and more aggressive prevention. A CAC score of zero indicates no detectable calcified plaque at the time of testing and may allow for a more individualized approach, particularly in younger patients.
CAC does not replace blood testing, Baum said, but adds clarity when lab results and clinical history leave risk uncertain—helping tailor prevention to the person, not just the numbers.
Screen Your Family
Because Lp(a) is inherited, Baum strongly encourages cascade screening—testing close relatives once an elevated level is identified. “The youngest person in the family is often the one who shows up first with an event.”
Family-wide screening—including siblings, parents, and children—can improve early detection and prevention.
Advanced Options and Emerging Therapies
For patients with prior cardiovascular events and very high Lp(a), lipoprotein apheresis may be an option in specialized centers.
Lipoprotein apheresis is a blood-filtering procedure that removes atherogenic lipoproteins—particles that promote artery-clogging plaque. These include LDL cholesterol and Lp(a), the structural protein found on particles most responsible for atherosclerosis. It is currently available at about 50 centers in the United States.
“We can literally remove these particles from the blood every two weeks, and hopefully reduce the risk of another event.”
Several Lp(a)-lowering drugs are now in late-stage clinical trials, some showing 80 percent to 90 percent reductions in Lp(a) levels. Baum expects FDA-approved therapies in the coming years, though he cautions that outcome data—not just lab results—will determine their ultimate value.
Baum’s Top 3 Recommendations
After decades of treating patients with both typical and unexplained heart disease, Baum said that effective prevention begins not with fear, but with awareness, engagement, and early action. His top recommendations are practical steps anyone can take to better understand—and reduce—their cardiovascular risk.
1. Be Your Own Advocate
“The most important aspect of cardiovascular prevention is taking it seriously and advocating for yourself.”
That starts with asking questions, understanding your family history, and requesting appropriate testing—especially when something doesn’t add up. Knowing whether Lp(a) or apoB is elevated can reveal risks that routine cholesterol panels miss.
2. Work With a Knowledgeable Physician
Even with a trusted doctor, it’s reasonable to have a proactive conversation about cardiovascular risk. Baum encourages patients to ask about Lp(a) and apoB testing, particularly if there is a family history of early heart disease or unexplained events.
Patients with similar LDL levels may require very different treatment intensity depending on their genetic risk, imaging results, and overall clinical picture.
3. Talk to Your Family
When genetic risk is involved, one test result can help protect an entire family. Because Lp(a) is inherited, identifying it in one person often leads to early detection—and prevention—in siblings, parents, or children.
Lp(a) helps explain why heart disease sometimes strikes people who seem to be doing everything right. It is common, inherited, and invisible on standard tests—but no longer ignorable.
A single blood test can uncover hidden risk and reshape prevention for decades.
“You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” Baum said. “Lp(a) is one of the most important things we’ve been missing.”
It’s what Catholics say at the beginning of confession.
But few priests have listened to the kind of sins like those Father Pat Madden has heard.
That’s because his “parish” (if you want to call it that), consists of the men on Alabama’s death row.
Father Pat, as he’s known in the area, recently retired after 42 years from St. Maurice Church in Brewton, Alabama. But he continues to preach the gospel, celebrate Mass, and minister to those facing execution at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.
He’s been visiting the Catholics in prison as a volunteer at Holman and nearby Fountain Correctional since 2002, but in September he had a new experience. “I’ve been doing the regular ministry for a long time, but it’s only been about a year now that I’ve really dealt with a prisoner who had an execution date and wanted me to be there in the execution chamber.”
In this case, Geoffrey Todd West was the inmate who wanted spiritual guidance. He was convicted in the 1997 capital murder of Margaret Parrish Berry, a store clerk who was the mother of two sons. At the time, prosecutors called this an execution-style killing as Berry was shot in the back of the head while lying on the floor. West was 21 at the time.
And, at the age of 50, he turned to God.
Though it is common for prisoners to claim they’ve found religion in an effort to get parole or a reduced sentence, Father Pat says this wasn’t the case for West. “There were no appeals left. He had no incentive, legally, to develop a deeper spiritual life. This was personal, a way in which to be reconciled with the family that he had committed that murder to and also to his family and himself.”
West started coming to Father Pat’s services about a year ago.
“He was interested in getting more deeply spiritual in his life and helping him to survive the experience of death row life. Later on, after I met him, that’s when he received his date to be executed. During that time, he had become Catholic, studied about the church, and joined the church.” While the specifics of confessions are sealed by the Catholic Church, Father Pat says West showed remorse for his actions. He baptized West this spring.
In Alabama, the condemned prisoner has a choice as to the method of execution: electrocution, lethal injection, or nitrogen hypoxia. West chose the latter. He would breathe pure nitrogen which would deprive his body of oxygen.
And, on Sept. 25, 2025, Father Pat Madden would be with him until the end.
11 a.m.: Father Pat arrives at the prison and meets with West and family members. They talk and pray until lunch arrives. The prisoner’s last meal request: quesadillas from Taco Bell. They all have lunch and continue their visit.
3:30 p.m.: West says goodbye to his parents and family members who leave. Father Pat and West’s lawyers remain.
4:20 p.m.: West is taken to his death row cell.
4:30 p.m.: Father Pat is taken to West’s cell. They spend the next hour talking and praying. “And that was a good time together of prayer, and he was able to really be in a better place.” He administers the Last Rites to West.
Approximately 6 p.m.: Father Pat is taken to a place few members of the clergy have been. “I was brought into the execution chamber. And we had talked earlier about the process of how the gas works and how this is his choice to be gassed and to die.” The priest and prison guards are the only ones in the chamber along with West. “We had eye contact during that time. And I often made a motion of pointing to heaven. He’s all strapped in, with each arm out, his legs together and wrapped with a sheet. He was very secure, and they had the gas mask on when I was brought in.”
While family members and media are allowed to witness the execution from an adjoining room, West could not see them through the one-way glass in the chamber. So he locked eyes with Father Pat. “He could see me through the whole thing. And I think that, for me, that’s what my job was. To be a prayer partner and somebody who was in the chamber that he could look at and know I represented his family. I think that gave him some peace and some comfort.”
The execution took about 20 minutes. Father Pat says West remained calm through it all. He didn’t cry, didn’t look scared. “There was no fighting or thrashing. He allowed it to happen, and he just went to sleep. So he would be taking some breaths, as he was unconscious, and that would slow down and slow down, and eventually, nothing.”
After the execution, Father Pat went home and watched a little TV to take his mind off what he had just seen. But the memory of what he experienced will linger. “I’ve got that image of him there, laying dead on the gurney with his arms out, and that’ll stay with me. But having that other experience of providing comfort to him, that’s where I’m going to put all my energy.”
So, is West in paradise or condemned to eternal damnation after breaking the commandment “Thou shalt not kill”? Father Pat has some thoughts on that. “I’d say that there’s two kinds of experiences when somebody commits murder. There’s a person who is caught up in drugs or whatever, some addiction. And then there’s those that really have evil and selfish intent to harm others and to kill others. That’s a whole different thing. But everything lays in God’s heart and hand. At one point, Geoffrey was talking about how he looked forward going to heaven and just sitting in the lap of God, being alone with God and letting God take care of his sins, his crimes, and all the things he’s regretting over through his life. And, you know, that healed him, and he was looking forward to that.”
Opinions on capital punishment have always been strong and divided. As it turns out, the son of the victim did not want to see West executed. Depending on your point of view, this story has elements of justice or compassion, remorse or closure, confession or forgiveness. But from Father Pat’s perspective, he’s simply fulfilling his duty as a priest, and leaving the final judgment up to God.
Luxury Ritz-Carlton Condos Aren’t Selling In “Liberal Cesspool” Portland
Luxury units at the Ritz-Carlton Residences in downtown Portland are now being marketed at discounts of up to 50%, according to local reporting from KGW and the Portland Business Journal.
What stands out to us is that developers believed Portland was a luxury market to begin with and, more ambitiously, one capable of supporting a high-end mixed-use skyscraper that includes a Ritz-Carlton hotel and retail space.
Now Christie’s International Real Estate Evergreen has been brought in to sell the mostly vacant luxury residences at Block 216 tower, which begin on the 21st floor.
Only 11 of the 132 luxury units have sold since the building opened in 2024. As part of the brokerage’s strategy, pricing has been aggressively discounted.
One-bedroom units previously listed between $1.2 million and $1.7 million are now starting at $600,000. Two-bedroom units that once sold for $2.1 million to $2.6 million are now listed at $1 million. Three-bedroom units are now listed at $1.6 million, down from as much as $3.3 million, according to KGW.
The new listing broker was engaged by Ready Capital, which assumed ownership of the tower last summer after the property fell into foreclosure. The building is Portland’s tallest residential tower at 460 feet and 35 stories, and was hyped up in the early Covid era as a symbol of downtown revival.
However, Portland is full of political dysfunction under Democratic control and is home to radical left groups, such as Rose City Antifa.
Why would buyers commit to ultra-luxury living in a city with the left wing running City Hall?
Imagine that, high end condos in a liberal cesspool aren’t selling, amazing 🙄
Condos at the Ritz-Carlton Residences in Portland, OR, originally priced above $1 million, are now being offered at discounts of up to 50%, according to KGW and the Portland Business Journal.… pic.twitter.com/BhVzs5COGQ
The AI “revolution” needed capital, land, and loads of power. The rulers of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates were happy to provide all three.
In 2024 before the arrival of Trump 2.0 the big American AI players began deepening their relationships with Persian Gulf capital, which began to invest heavily in data centers and other AI infrastructure. But the relationship has really taken off under the current administration that saw a path to reward its Silicon Valley and Zionist backers, immense personal enrichment, and a Hail Mary pass for an empire on its last legs.
The US is now all in on a Persian Gulf partnership that envisions a new stablecoin dollar supremacy and brings with it off-the-charts corruption and genocides, but everyone in on the game is getting fabulously wealthy and they believe the partnership will lead to a never-ending winning streak.
Will it work, and what does it mean for the future of West Asia, as well as the American political economy? Let’s take a look.
The Wedding of Silicon Valley and the Persian Gulf
In November, the US and Saudi Arabia signed their Strategic Artificial Intelligence Partnership, the latest in an ever-deepening AI relationship with the Gulf states. A similar agreement was reached with the UAE in May. And so the US has now agreed to export up to 70,000 advanced Nvidia chips to the two countries.
The deals marked an abrupt shift from previous American efforts to restrict export of such tech out of fear it would end up in China. The Trump administration instead argues that the arrangement will “promote continued American AI dominance and global technological leadership.”
The agreements with Saudi Arabia and the UAE also involve them supposedly investing trillions in the US, but I wouldn’t bank on any upgrades to your local infrastructure. Mostly we’ve seen lists of partnerships with the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic, Adobe, Qualcomm, Microsoft, AMD, Cisco, GlobalAI, Groq, Luma, and xAI. And there are investments for US data centers and accompanying liquefied natural gas facilities and specialty chemical plants for cooling. Swell. So in reality, these investments damage the environment, use up scarce water resources, and strengthen the oligarchic forces in the US that strangle any hint of social policy intended to benefit the working class or check billionaire power. But I digress.
Let’s take in the sheer scale of the efforts taking place in the Gulf itself. Here’s Guy Laron writing at American Affairs Journal:
Already, over 3.3 gigawatts of AI-oriented compute power is in the pipeline across the Gulf, a staggering figure that signals a structural reordering of global digital infrastructure. The UAE alone is building a vast five gigawatt AI campus under the Stargate UAE banner, with the first two hundred megawatts of capacity going live in 2026. Saudi Arabia, for its part, has secured a parallel five hundred megawatts in buildouts through its sovereign AI firm, Humain, via partnerships with Nvidia and AMD. Additional projects, including Qualcomm’s codevelopment agreement and Amazon’s “AI Zone,” are expected to add another three hundred to five hundred megawatts. Thus, the Gulf is emerging as a sovereign compute corridor: a region where energy systems, capital flows, chip diplomacy, and model training capacity are boldly tied together. Indeed, the United States, for all its tech innovation, lacks the power and space to train models at planetary scale without choking its grid. The Gulf provides the chassis. What began as a workaround for limited domestic grid flexibility has become a geopolitical pivot, one that redefines the geopolitics of artificial intelligence.
Here’s more on what the Middle East can offer, courtesy of Edward Ongweso, Jr.:
Europe pays $0.29 per kWh, the U.S. averages $0.17, but the Gulf’s unsubsidized power costs average $0.10 per kWh. Through “centralized planning and execution” the GCC might be able to build out power infrastructure rapidly: the Kingdom plans to add 42 GW of gas capacity by 2030, outpacing the United States by 40 percent.
Second is by a geographical advantage. The Gulf sits at the crossroads of three continents and an extensive submarine cable network, meaning it can service four billion internet users within 100 millisecond latency—the threshold that lets AI interactions feel “instantaneous.” If that is not enough, the region has the world’s largest desalination infrastructure (40 percent of global desalinated water). Geographically, it’s well suited to serve the world’s inference workloads and provide more than enough water to cool power-intensive A.I. data centers as the overbuild continues along.
There’s also a financial advantage: a nearly $5 trillion sovereign wealth fund war chest that is a bit more patient than ravenous Western financiers.
In light of the US bombing of Venezuela and kidnapping of its president, it should be noted there are similar designs for Latin America. Spearheaded by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Washington is eyeing the region’s energy, mineral, and water resources to power AI infrastructure and box out Beijing.
Dollar Supremacy and Accelerationists’ Vision of the Future
Chip restrictions were widely believed to be ineffective. They were still getting to China, and regardless, the Chinese were going to catch up at some point anyways. So the US calculus changed to a strategy to get more nations—and especially Middle East capital rich ones—locked into the American tech. Why is that?
According to Navin Girishankar, president of the Economic Security and Technology Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), it has to do with a vision for dollar/stablecoin supremacy.
This is above my pay grade, but Girishankar is funded by the likes of the Smith Richardson Foundation, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Charles Koch Foundation, Bank of America Corporation, Northrop Grumman Corporation, BP, Citigroup, Meta, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Raytheon Company, Amazon, Apple, IBM, and Disney, so he’s probably more in the know. He writes:
Access to American compute power will enable both Gulf countries to export AI-enabled goods and services in sectors such as autonomous logistics, precision agriculture, medical diagnostics, and finance.
The Trump administration aims to ensure that “American AI technology continues to be the gold standard worldwide,” according to Vice President JD Vance. But these agreements miss an essential ingredient of American power: a guarantee that AI-enabled exports generated using American chips will be invoiced and settled in dollars.
…the United States should condition access to leading-edge chips on binding commitments to settle AI-enabled exports in dollars…the United States should use dollar-backed stablecoins as the settlement mechanism.
And the vision for a future dollar is accompanied by Silicon Valley enthusiasm for the philosophy of political economy present in the Gulf.
As the UAE takes the crown of crypto capital, it’s become something of a model for how American oligarchs would like to see the US rearranged: regulation-free, virtually unlimited sovereign capital, low tax, and governed by a techno monarchy.
Think more dismantled nations, plundered for human and natural resources, and then reconstructing profitable segments of them under the oversight of financial, real estate, energy, and tech barons. Think about what the post-genocide vision of Gaza looks like:
CGI image from ‘Gaza 2035’—a post-genocide vision for the Strip unveiled by Israel PM Netanyahu’s office in May 2024.
Grifting While the Grifting Is Good
The wonderful thing about the Middle East is there’s always boatloads of money to spread around for the military-industrial-tech complex, the professional managerial class, and with the monarchs vying for control of the AI pipelines, plenty of opportunity for crypto corruption.
So we see spooky grifters like Brett McGurk who used to lead the global “fight” against ISIS now helping companies—and getting fabulously wealthy doing it— strike billion-dollar AI deals with Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
We see the PMC thrown some coins with investments like Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, which now has a satellite lab in Sunnyvale, California.
And we see corruption on a whole new scale, exemplified by the Commander in Chief and his family. “Digital assets” are now reportedly “one of the single biggest, if not the single biggest,” money streams for the Trump family. Eric Trump’s World Liberty Financial has a $2 billion deal with the UAE state-owned AI investment firm MGX, which has rights to the Trump stablecoin USD1. MGX uses it for billions in transactions on Binance, the exchange constantly on the wrong side of what used to be the law and whose founder, Changpeng Zhao, received a pardon from Trump in October after pleading guilty to failing to prevent money laundering in 2023.
It’s quite the racket, and as George Carlin would it’s quite the big club. To Girishankar’s above suggestion that this stablecoin corruption becomes the new model for dollar supremacy, it would seem there’s quite a bit of work to do in order to make it semi-legitimate, but what do I know? Here’s more from Guy Laron:
The Trump-MGX stablecoin deal wasn’t a side hustle; it was a business model. On the surface, USD1 was a digital token designed to maintain a 1:1 peg to the U.S. dollar—and “backed” by short-term Treasuries and cash equivalents.31 But there was no federal oversight, no public mandate, and no guarantee that each token actually corresponded to a redeemable dollar. It was legal only because no one had yet made it illegal. Moreover, Trump has become both the chief crypto policymaker and the single largest political beneficiary of crypto’s rise. His executive orders, such as the January 23 directive establishing a pro-stablecoin regulatory framework, have directly benefited World Liberty’s valuation and business model. Trump’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has rolled back enforcement, while the Department of Justice (DOJ) has quietly abandoned investigations into Trump allies like Binance.
This legal twilight zone enabled USD1 to function as a privatized monetary instrument: issued offshore, collateralized with U.S. public debt, and controlled not by a central bank—but by a Trump family firm, a Gulf monarchy, and a cartel of crypto-based oligarchs. Like Tether and Circle before them, the Trump Organization had cracked the ultimate arbitrage: mint private dollars, collect real ones from investors, park the proceeds in Treasuries, and pocket the yield. The public backed the debt; the oligarchs harvested the returns. This wasn’t just deregulation; it was financial sovereignty, sold off and tokenized.
What could be better for the American ruling class than a dollar supremacy brainchild that also turbocharges personal enrichment for elected officials and imperial aparatchiks?
There are just, well, a lot of problems with this plan, including the AI bubble, environmental limitations, the fact that all this AI infrastructure will be in the Middle East tinderbox—which includes the UAE and Saudi Arabia increasingly at one another’s throats—and more.
We’ll take a look at those issues on Wednesday, as well as examining what exactly Israel’s role is in this grand scheme.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.
US May Subsidize Oil Giants To Rebuild Venezuela’s Energy Sector, Trump Says
President Donald Trump said the US may subsidize American oil companies to help rebuild Venezuela’s energy sector, arguing the plan would strengthen Venezuela’s recovery and protect US economic interests after the removal of Nicolás Maduro, according to Bloomberg.
In an interview with NBC News on Monday, Trump said US firms could have expanded operations in the country “up and running” in less than 18 months — a timeline that sharply conflicts with expert estimates that reconstruction could take a decade and cost more than $100 billion.
“I think we can do it in less time than that, but it’ll be a lot of money,” Trump said. “A tremendous amount of money will have to be spent and the oil companies will spend it, and then they’ll get reimbursed by us or through revenue.”
Trump declined to say whether he has spoken with executives from Exxon Mobil, Chevron or ConocoPhillips, adding only: “I speak to everybody.”
US Energy Secretary Chris Wright is expected to meet oil executives this week at the Goldman Sachs Energy, Clean Tech & Utilities Conference in Miami, where senior leaders from major firms will be in attendance.
Venezuela’s oil system has been crippled by corruption, fires, theft and years of underinvestment. Chevron remains the only oil supermajor still operating in the country, and most companies have been hesitant to commit to large-scale reinvestment.
Bloomberg writes that Trump said greater Venezuelan output would help ease global oil prices. “Having a Venezuela that’s an oil producer is good for the United States because it keeps the price of oil down,” he said.
The comments come amid criticism of Trump’s military operation that led to Maduro’s capture. Supporters say the move disrupted drug trafficking and reclaimed oil assets, while opponents argue the US risks violating international law and lacks approval for a long-term nation-building effort.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said the seizure of Venezuela’s oil exports gives Washington leverage over the political transition.
“Now we have a way of persuasion, because their oil exports, as you know, have been seized,” Johnson said, adding the pressure would produce “new governance in very short order.”
Maduro pleaded not guilty Monday in New York to drug and weapons charges, calling himself an “innocent” and “decent man.”
Trump said acting president Delcy Rodriguez has been cooperating with his administration and ruled out rapid elections, saying the country must be stabilized first.
Opposition leader and 2025 Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado said she has not spoken with Trump since “Oct. 10, the same day the prize was announced, not since then.”
Hillary Clinton couldn’t resist slapping up a tweet today claiming that on this day five years ago, President Trump called on his supporters to attack the Capitol.
Clinton wrote “Five years ago today, Donald Trump urged his supporters to attack Congress and the Capitol over a proven lie. More than 140 police officers were injured,” Hillary said on X.
“Trump then pardoned the attackers,” she said, adding “He betrayed his oath and his country, and we won’t ever forget it,” and including a collage of headlines from leftist newspapers.
Five years ago today, Donald Trump urged his supporters to attack Congress and the Capitol over a proven lie. More than 140 police officers were injured.
Five years ago, Trump said “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Capitol Police then shot tear gas at the crowd on one side, while openly inviting people into the Capitol on the other.
Your lies no longer work. You enabled a rapist just so you could keep power. https://t.co/npfBjG9EgGpic.twitter.com/AeXY9C5uSC
As we have covered, Trump is saying the BBC to the tune of $10 Billion for making the same claim.
So it figures…
Trump already beat Hillary at the ballot box. Now she wants him to beat her in the courts?
Trump never urged an attack on anything. He should sue her for every single dime she corruptly pocketed from foreign governments. https://t.co/XLUd5nkzUW
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A federal appeals court on Jan. 5 agreed to expedite a business group’s appeal of a court ruling that upheld the Trump administration’s decision to increase the fee for H-1B visas for employees in specialty occupations to $100,000.
Washington-based U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell issued a ruling on Dec. 23, 2025, declining to block the fee increase. Howell also granted summary judgment in favor of the Trump administration.
The H-1B program allows U.S. employers to temporarily hire foreign workers in occupations that require “the theoretical and practical application of a body of highly specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or higher in a directly related specific specialty (or its equivalent) as a minimum for entry into the occupation in the United States,” according to a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) web page.
Specialty occupations covered under the program include engineering, mathematics, architecture, medicine and health, education, law, and accounting.
Before the policy change, the fee ranged from $2,000 to $5,000, depending on the employer’s size.
Plaintiffs filed an appeal of Howell’s decision with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Dec. 29, 2025. They included the Chamber of Commerce—a business federation with about 300,000 direct members—and the Association of American Universities, which represents 69 U.S.-based research universities, both of which had sued to block the policy.
The plaintiffs said in a motion to expedite the case filed with the appeals court on Jan. 2 that a speedy review was necessary to preserve employers’ rights ahead of the annual H-1B visa lottery scheduled to begin in March. The Trump administration did not oppose the quicker timeline.
On Jan. 5, the D.C. Circuit granted the plaintiffs’ motion to expedite the case.
The court agreed to a schedule that would allow oral arguments in the case to move forward in February. The first round of briefs is due from the plaintiffs by Jan. 9.
President Donald Trump signed Proclamation 10973 on Sept. 19, requiring that the $100,000 fee be paid before employers’ petitions for new H-1B visasare processed.
“The large-scale replacement of American workers through systemic abuse of the program has undermined both our economic and national security,” the proclamation states.
“Some employers, using practices now widely adopted by entire sectors, have abused the H-1B statute and its regulations to artificially suppress wages, resulting in a disadvantageous labor market for American citizens, while at the same time making it more difficult to attract and retain the highest skilled subset of temporary workers, with the largest impact seen in critical science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields.”
The number of H-1B visas issued annually is capped at 65,000, with an additional 20,000 for advanced U.S. degree holders.
California and 19 other states—including New York, New Jersey, and Illinois—are also suing the Trump administration over the higher H-1B visa fee.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a Dec. 12 statement that the $100,000 visa fee “creates unnecessary—and illegal—financial burdens on California public employers and other providers of vital services, exacerbating labor shortages in key sectors.”
The Department of Homeland Security announced further changes to the H-1B visa process last month.
As of Feb. 27, 2026, the department will be implementing a “weighted selection process” intended to rein in the current random lottery system and prioritize higher-skilled and higher-paid foreign nationals.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a Dec. 23 statement that the current random selection process allowed U.S. employers to exploit the system by “flooding the selection pool with lower-skilled foreign workers paid at low wages, to the detriment of the American workforce.”
Iran Decries ‘Foreign Interference’ As Protest Death Toll Rises Significantly
The Iran protests have been raging for well over a week, and the death toll from the growing unrest which has spread to the majority of the country’s 31 provinces has been rising, fresh reporting indicates.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency is saying at least 35 people have been killed, based on numbers compiled by the group’s network of activists inside the country. Other accounts are conflicting, with some sources saying 20 killed and others saying 29 – but it’s clear that clashes with police are growing more violent.
Referencing the same agency, the Associated press says that “29 protesters, four children and two members of Iran’s security forces have been killed. Demonstrations have reached over 250 locations in 27 of Iran’s 31 provinces.”
Further, at least 1,200 have been arrested in the economic protests which were triggered by soaring costs and a spiraling currency, after years of US-led sanctions and a recent severe conflict with Israel, in which parts of the country were heavily bombed, especially in the capital area.
There are fresh reports Tuesday that Iranian protesters are clashing with security forces in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar – which is actually where it all started with shop owners shuttering their stores, after they concluded they are only set to lose money in selling goods.
Like with prior protest waves in Iran, it didn’t take long for a parallel ‘propaganda war’ to play out among the various competing interests and groups both within and outside the country.
For example, human rights groups – all of which are based far outside the country – have accused the Iranian government’s security forces of “indiscriminate targeting of civilians”.
A large presence of protesters at the Bazaar intersection in Shahrekord.
This completely unverified claim sounds similar to what many of these same groups said for just about every protest in the early days of the predominantly hardline Sunni uprising against former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The same activists are alleging that in some places, Iranian police and security forces are putting down protests with live ammunition. One anonymous sources is cited in The Guardian as follows:
“We then gathered in front of a government building. That was when the forces opened fire on us. It felt as if they were shooting at enemies or armed groups. I felt like I was in a war zone. I saw several people injured, and I believe some were killed on the spot. We tried to take the wounded to hospitals and prevent government forces from arresting injured protesters,” the witness said.
Leadership in Tehran has offered to ‘listen’ to the protesters, but has still aggressively denounced efforts at foreign interference and destabilization plots.
For example, Iranian govt spokesman Esmail Baghaei said statements by some American and Israeli officials amounted to foreign interference which intentionally stirs up unrest.
Most circulating protest videos show standard riot control measures deployed, though in some clips gunshots can be heard ringing out, with little clear context.
“Actions or statements by figures such as the Israeli prime minister or certain radical and hardline US officials regarding Iran’s internal affairs amount, under international norms, to nothing more than incitement to violence, terrorism, and killing,” he said. There was also the last Trump warning from days ago directed at Iran: “If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they are going to get hit very hard by the United States,” Trump had warned on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, the former CIA Director…
And of course it’s long been well-known that both Israeli and likely the CIA have assets inside Iran – as was certainly demonstrated during the June war and 12-day bombing campaign, which further severely damaged at least three prime nuclear sites.
