💸 CBP says latest tariffs have generated $500 million, well below Trump’s estimate — CNBC

📝 Rei: The Americans have wiped out almost $30 trillion of their own wealth, in order to generate only $500 million dollars in tax revenue.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/16/us-customs-tariffs-revenue-generated-since-april-5.html

🔗 Rei Murasame

📉📝 The Kobeissi Letter: Foreign investors are dumping US stocks at a rapid pace:

Investors from overseas withdrew ~$6.5 billion from US equity funds over the last week, the second-largest amount on record.

📝 EndGame Macro: Absolutely wild stat that foreigners just pulled $6.5B from U.S. equity funds in one week the second-biggest outflow ever, only behind the March 2023 banking crisis. This isn’t just noise. When foreign capital, which owns ~$18.5T in U.S. equities, $7.2T in Treasuries, and $4.6T in corporate credit, starts dumping this fast, it’s a full-spectrum stress signal. We’re talking nearly $30T of foreign exposure that can exit faster than domestic allocators can react.

The BofA chart tells the story visually: a sharp vertical rejection of U.S. equity exposure by rest-of-world (RoW) funds. This is happening while volatility is spiking, U.S. tariffs are escalating, and the bond market is showing signs of internal fracture (e.g., swap spreads going deeply negative, curve steepening violently). The question isn’t whether this is “manipulation” or a “pullback” it’s: what are they front-running? Rising U.S. refinancing risk? Policy error? Currency war escalation?

This might be the beginning of a structural reallocation foreign institutions repositioning in response to a weaponized dollar, elevated geopolitical friction, and a U.S. that looks increasingly unpredictable in fiscal and foreign policy. And remember: foreigners don’t panic; they rotate. If they’re bailing, it’s likely coordinated and forward-looking.

Watch credit spreads, swap basis, and long-end Treasury demand for confirmation. If those crack further, this isn’t just a “dip” it’s a macro phase shift.

🔗 EndGame Macro

🚘🔋🇪🇺 Tesla Sales in Europe Drops, Again

New Tesla registrations plunged across most of Europe in the first quarter of 2025, with some countries seeing dramatic drops:

🇩🇪 Germany: -62.2%
🇸🇪 Sweden: -55.3%
🇩🇰 Denmark: -55.3%
🇳🇱 Netherlands: -49.7%
🇫🇷 France: -41.1%
🇵🇹 Portugal: -25.7%
🇳🇴 Norway: -12.5%
🇪🇸 Spain: -11.8%
🇮🇹 Italy: -6.8%

But one country bucked the trend:
🇬🇧 UK: +3.5% growth

🔗 Clash Report

📊 It’s pretty insane that DOGE is already voluntarily lowering its guidance by -97% and it’s not even Easter yet.

One of the biggest failures in political history.

And it was *so* obvious both ex ante and ex post.

🔗 Spencer Hakimian

🇨🇳🇾🇪🇺🇸 Chinese government-linked satellite company Chang Guang Satellite Technology, Co., Ltd (CGSTL), provided satellite intelligence to the Houthis as part of ongoing Chinese, Russian, and Iranian support to the Houthis.

This intelligence could support Houthi attacks against US vessels and commercial shipping, which demonstrates how the Houthis are continuing to cooperate with US adversaries to disrupt global trade.

CGSTL has ties to the Chinese military through China’s military-civilian “fusion” program which integrates private sector work with military research and development.

Houthi-owned military communications and domestic surveillance companies have reportedly imported Chinese-made communications equipment.

The Yemeni coast guard and Omani customs have previously seized shipments of Chinese-made military equipment to the Houthis, such as hydrogen fuel cells for powering missiles and drone propellers.

Targeting intelligence from Iran and Russia aids Houthi attacks on international shipment.

The Houthis reportedly told China and Russia in March 2024 that the Houthis would not target Chinese and Russian-flagged vessels transiting the Red Sea.

🔗 Critical Threats

🇺🇸🇸🇾 After media in Israel earlier this week suggested that the United States was preparing to begin a phased-withdrawal from Syria in the coming months, the New York Times is now reporting that the U.S. has begun drawing down hundreds of troops in Northeastern Syria, as well as the shuttering of three of eight military bases in Kurdish-controlled territory to the Northeast.

The drawdown began Thursday and will initially involve 600 of the 2,000 U.S. Servicemembers currently deployed to Northeastern Syria, with MSS (Mission Support Site) Green Village, MSS Euphrates, and another much smaller base located near Deir ez-Zor to be shutdown, with control being handed over to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), now operating under the Syrian Government. According to U.S. officials, after 60 days military officials will assess whether or not to make additional cuts to forces in the country, though commanders on the ground have recommended keeping at least 500 troops in Syria.

U.S. President Trump, however, has expressed deep skepticism about keeping any troops in the country. At least for now the reductions that started on Thursday are based on ground commanders’ recommendations to close and consolidate bases, and were approved by the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). The Trump Administration is expected to conduct a broad review of its policy regarding Syria, with some official stating that U.S. forces in the country could be entirely withdrawn by 2026.

🔗 OSINTdefender

🇺🇸🇾🇪 U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) has announced a series of strikes targeting the Houthis' capacity to import, store, and distribute fuel by striking the Ras Isa Fuel Port in the Houthi-controlled Hodeidah Region of Yemen. The release also sends a direct message to Iran, the Houthis' primary state backer:

"The Houthis, their Iranian masters, and those who knowingly aid and abet their terrorist actions should be put on notice that the world will not accept illicit smuggling of fuel and war material to a terrorist organization."

🔗 OSINTdefender

🇺🇸🪖🇨🇩 Erik Prince, a key Trump ally and founder of Blackwater, has struck a deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo to help secure and tax its mineral wealth.

The arrangement, made before a major rebel offensive, focuses on curbing smuggling and improving tax collection — not deploying contractors to conflict zones.

Talks continue as the U.S. and Congo discuss a critical minerals partnership.

🔗 Clash Report

📉📈 We really did it.

We took a growing US manufacturing economy, declared it broken, started a trade war, and ... broke US manufacturing.

In last 48 hours:

- Philly Fed Survey: "New orders fell sharply, from 8.7 in March to -34.2, its lowest reading since April 2020"

- NY Fed Survey: Expected orders and shipments plunging

Again, this is a policy to revive US manufacturing.

🔗 Derek Thompson

✝️ Young people are converting to Catholicism en masse — driven by pandemic, internet, ‘lax’ alternatives

According to the National Catholic Register, some dioceses are reporting year-over-year increases of 30% to 70% in new converts. The Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, for instance, experienced a 72% jump in converts just from 2023 to 2024.

https://nypost.com/2025/04/17/lifestyle/why-young-people-are-converting-to-catholicism-en-masse/

📉📈 Luke Gromen: BTC is starting to act more like an energy-linked neutral reserve asset and less like a levered NDX proxy.

📝 EndGame Macro: This is a key structural shift Luke Gromen is calling out if BTC is beginning to decorrelate from tech beta (NDX) and move more like a neutral reserve asset, that implies a rotation in who is accumulating and why. It suggests sovereign or macro allocators those who care less about speculative upside and more about systemic hedge characteristics are stepping in.

The energy linkage matters too. Bitcoin is priced globally in dollars but secured by energy. That makes it functionally different from both fiat and gold it has production costs like gold, but is digital, portable, and censorship-resistant like no other asset. If global trade continues to fragment and commodity-based FX regimes emerge (petroyuan, gold-linked rails, BRICS tokens), Bitcoin may begin behaving as an option on monetary reset. Watching this divergence from NDX is not just about price it’s about signal migration from risk asset to strategic collateral.

🔗 EndGame Macro

SpaceX and its partners emerge as frontrunners to build part of Trump's Golden Dome project: report

SpaceX, Palantir and Anduril reportedly working on joint bid to construct missile defense system

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/spacex-its-partners-emerge-frontrunners-build-part-trumps-golden-dome-project-report

🇨🇳 "In 'cold war' of modern exchange rates, 'digital currencies from reserves are used'. However, when 'hot war' of major default does begin, 'nuclear weapons of GOLD' are deployed!"

-ANOTHER (THOUGHTS!), 5/21/98

🔗 Luke Gromen

🇨🇳🇰🇭 China’s leader Xi Jinping holds talks in Cambodia to wrap up his 3-nation Southeast Asia tour

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Cambodia on Thursday for a two-day state visit that serves as an opportunity to further strengthen China’s already robust relations with its closest ally in Southeast Asia.

China is presenting itself as a source of stability and certainty as Southeast Asia; where Trump’s tariffs threaten the region’s export-oriented economies whose largest markets are generally the United States.

https://apnews.com/article/xi-jinping-hun-manet-ream-naval-base-cambodia-china-f477b79fd3bb2a08455e95b66acff53c

🇨🇳🇲🇾 China’s Xi wraps up Malaysia visit with jet, chip deals before heading to Cambodia

Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his first visit to Malaysia in over a decade on Thursday with a flurry of trade and investment pledges – including support for Chinese-made aircraft sales and semiconductor cooperation – as Beijing seeks to position itself as Southeast Asia’s most dependable partner amid Washington’s intensifying trade war.

Xi’s stop in Malaysia, part of a week-long tour of Southeast Asia, came in the wake of Washington’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on goods from the region, ranging from 24 to 49 per cent. Although these measures were subsequently suspended for 90 days, they have raised serious concerns about future access to American buyers.

During his stop in Kuala Lumpur – his first since 2013 – Xi oversaw the signing of dozens of agreements with Malaysia, including deals on railway and aviation cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as partnerships in technology and energy.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3306890/chinas-xi-wraps-malaysia-visit-jet-chip-deals-heading-cambodia

🇺🇸 Trump says Fed Chair Jerome Powell's "termination cannot come fast enough"

President Trump took aim at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday, writing in a social media post that Powell should be cutting interest rates and adding that his "termination cannot come fast enough."

Mr. Trump's comments on his social media app, Truth Social, come after Powell delivered a speech on Wednesday that warned of the potential consequences of the Trump administration's trade war, while reiterating that the central bank plans to hold interest rates steady for now.

In his social media post, Mr. Trump on Thursday pointed to the European Central Bank, which cut rates by 0.25 percentage points after the president posted his message.

"The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, 'Too Late' Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete 'mess!'" Mr. Trump wrote.

He added, "Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!"

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-powell-federal-reserve-termination-fire-interest-rates/

🌎 Protestantism (especially Evangelicals) is increasing rapidly in the traditionally Catholic region of Latin America.

Honduras and Guatemala have more Protestants than Catholics now according to this 2024 survey

🔗 SidKhurana

🇨🇳 Nvidia’s CEO makes surprise visit to Beijing after US restricts chip sales to China

The chief executive of the American chip maker Nvidia visited Beijing on Thursday, days after the US issued fresh restrictions on sales of the only AI chip it was still allowed to sell to China.

Jensen Huang’s surprise visit was on the invitation of a trade organisation, according to a social media account affiliated with state media.

The official broadcaster China Central Television said Huang met Ren Hongbin, the head of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, where he said he hopes “to continue to cooperate with China”.

The visit caps a tumultuous week for Nvidia. The US restrictions, announced on Tuesday, apply to shipments of its H20 datacentre GPUs, a lower-powered version of other Nvidia chips, which was designed specifically to comply with Biden-era restrictions on sales to China.

The US government, which is battling China in the race for AI supremacy, told Nvidia the new rules were designed to address the risk that its products might be “used in, or diverted to, a supercomputer in China”.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/17/nvidias-ceo-surprise-visit-beijing-restricts-chip-sales-china

🇺🇸🏭❌🏭🇨🇳 — 📰 ZeroHedge | Made In China Vs Made In America | April 16, 2025:

"While China’s status as the world’s largest manufacturing hub seems to be a law of nature these days - one only challenged by President Trump - that hasn’t always been the case. 

In fact, as Statista's Felix Richter shows in the chart below, as recently as 2009, the U.S. trumped China in manufacturing output as measured by total value added in the sector."

#Geoeconomics #WWT

🗄 Archive

🔗 Source

—❗️🇺🇸/🇮🇷 President Trump: 'I never said I'm ruling out an attack on Iran, but I'm not in a rush to do it'

@Middle_East_Spectator

🇺🇸🇮🇷 Tulsi Gabbard, Pete Hegseth, JD Vance and Susie Wiles helped shut down Israel/USA joint attack on Iran -- NY Times

This probably explains why three of Hegseth's aides have now been fired for supposed "leaks"--internal knife fighting is intensifying.

🔗 Douglas Mackey

🇨🇳🌏 The China-ASEAN Free Trade Area was established in 2010. Since then, bilateral trade has surged, tripling from 2010 to 2024.

🔗 Valiant Panda

🇨🇳 China-built civil-military sites in the South Pacific

@CIG_telegram

🇨🇳 Exclusive—How China's Military is Quietly Gaining Control of the Pacific

China has quietly extended its military reach far across the Pacific by building dozens of ports, airports, and communications projects at key points in a vast region that could shut out the United States and its allies in the event of war, a new report says.

The projects appeared civilian in nature but were in reality "strategic nodes" stretching about 3,000 miles, from Papua New Guinea immediately north of U.S. ally Australia, to Samoa, which lies about 40 miles away from the U.S. territory of American Samoa in Polynesia, according to the new study made available exclusively to Newsweek. The remote, scattered islands of the Pacific were once crucial to American warfighting strategy in World War II, and they could play a role in the next global conflict, too.

The growing logistics network in the South Pacific—built mostly by Chinese state-owned companies with ties to its defense sector—was being overlooked even as Beijing's rivalry with the U.S. deepened and as China's overseas base ambitions elsewhere drew attention, said Domingo I-Kwei Yang, an assistant research fellow at Taiwan's Institute for National Defense and Security Research (INDSR), an institution funded by the government of self-ruled Taiwan, which China has threatened to invade.

"The question is not whether, but when, China will complete a civil-military logistics system in the Pacific," Yang said in China's Dual-Use Infrastructure in the Pacific, a study published on Monday as part of the Coastwatchers 2.0 Project, a collaboration between the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and Project Sinopsis, a research center in Prague in the Czech Republic.

https://www.newsweek.com/china-south-pacific-strategic-dual-use-infrastructure-us-military-2059048

🇺🇸 President Trump is set to cut foreign aid by 75%, slash the State Department’s budget by 50%, and strip funding from the UN, NATO, and over 20 international bodies.

Notably, aid to top recipients Israel and Egypt remains untouched.

🔗 AF Post

🇪🇺🇷🇺🛢 EU shelves idea of sanctions on Russian LNG imports

European officials have dropped the idea of pushing for a ban on the bloc's Russian liquefied natural gas imports in upcoming packages because of resistance from some governments and uncertainty about alternative sources, EU officials said.

Instead, the Commission wants to iron out a new road map to end the bloc's reliance on Russian energy by 2027. The plan is due to be announced in early May but details are scarce.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/eu-shelves-idea-sanctions-russian-lng-imports-2025-04-16/

https://archive.ph/zN0r3

🇺🇸🇨🇳 U.S. officials are planning to use negotiations with 70+ nations to ask them to disallow China to ship goods through their countries, per WSJ.

The U.S. is reportedly attempting to "isolate" China.

🔗 The Kobeissi Letter

🇪🇺🇩🇪 Looks like the era of EU-immigration has ended for Germany. Last year was the first year with a net loss of EU-foreigners, mostly Poles, Bulgarians and Croats. Eastern EU countries have now converged enough for migration flows to reverse.

🔗 BirthGauge

🇺🇸🇨🇳 White House says 245% Chinese tariff is false

China faces:

— 125% reciprocal tariff
— 20% tariff to address fentanyl crisis
— Section 301 tariffs on specific goods, between 7.5% and 100%

🔗 unusual_whales

🌊 A mini-gold rush brews three miles below sea level

A mini-gold rush brews three miles below sea level. Trump is expected to issue an executive order that would step up plans to harvest polymetallic nodules that form beneath the Pacific. These black lumps are rich in nickel, cobalt and manganese.

https://www.ft.com/content/88f82730-021c-4f01-9d21-6dc98d541f7d

https://archive.ph/fMbGJ

🇺🇸🇨🇳🇮🇷🛢 US imposes sanctions on a Chinese refinery accused of buying Iranian oil

The Treasury Department imposed sanctions Wednesday on a Chinese refinery accused of purchasing more than $1 billion worth of Iranian oil, saying the proceeds help finance both Tehran’s government and Iran’s support for militant groups.

The sanctioned refinery in China’s Shandong province received dozens of shipments of crude oil from Iran worth more than $1 billion, the Trump administration said. Some of the petroleum came from a front company for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, U.S. authorities said.

Officials also announced that several companies and vessels involved in the shipments were added to the sanctions list.

The new penalties were imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control and follow earlier efforts by the administration to disrupt the flow of Iranian oil, which authorities say is carried by Iran’s “shadow fleet.” The United States has already penalized dozens of individuals and vessels involved in the shipments.

“Any refinery, company, or broker that chooses to purchase Iranian oil or facilitate Iran’s oil trade places itself at serious risk,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

https://apnews.com/article/iran-sanctions-shadow-fleet-oil-china-trump-d0f677185a09fc1f3392de209670b3d5

🇺🇸🇾🇪 Jennifer Griffin has reported that B-2 bombers operating from Diego Garcia have been employing GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs) against underground Houthi infrastructure targets since early April. The MOP is a highly specialized and limited stockpile weapon, designed specifically to neutralize deeply buried and fortified targets.

If confirmed, this would mark the first known combat use of the GBU-57 and would send a clear and deliberate message to Iran.

🔗 GMI

🇺🇸🇲🇽 CIA To Unleash 'Finely Tuned Machine' To Destroy Mexican Cartels

It was only a matter of time until the CIA became involved in the Trump administration's war on Mexican drug cartels. According, and is formulating a 'finely tuned machine' to help disrupt one of the deadliest criminal networks in the world.

Specifically, the CIA is establishing the Americas Counternarcotics Mission Center, combining its counternarcotics and Western Hemisphere teams to enable faster, more effective collaboration, CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis (formerly Rumble general counsel) told Breitbart, adding that the mission is to become a "finely tuned machine" to dismantle cartels, labeled foreign terrorists by the Trump administration.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/cia-unleash-finely-tuned-machine-destroy-mexican-cartels

🇷🇺🇮🇩 Russia Eyes Papua Airbase Near Australia

Russia plans to establish its first airbase in the Pacific Ocean and wants to place its military aircraft near key U.S. and Australian facilities

The airbase will be located in the province of Papua, Indonesia.

🇦🇺 Australia sounds the alarm: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that Canberra is awaiting clarification from Indonesia.

🔗 NEXTA

🇺🇸 Hiring neocons is always bad.

The Trump Administration has shifted from DOGE & cutting -- to neocon spending & war hysteria.

🔗 Ron Paul

🇮🇱 There is a hyper-aggressive Israeli military doctrine reshaping the Middle East: Israel has been seizing territory from its neighbours, building buffer zones and bombing perceived threats as far as Beirut and Damascus in massive displays of force

https://x.com/FT/status/1912219424083370478

https://archive.ph/Jk5DY

📈 Gold fund net inflows have hit a record $80 BILLION year-to-date.

This is 2 TIMES more than the previous high set in the full year 2020.

Investors are pouring money into gold at a record pace as the market uncertainty has skyrocketed.

As a result, gold prices have rallied 22% year-to-date and have outperformed every other major asset class.

Gold prices have also hit 52 all-time highs over the last year, posting the best streak in 12 years.

Gold is the global safe haven.

🔗 The Kobeissi Letter

🇺🇸🇸🇻 After U.S. President Trump suggested yesterday that he would support such a move, the White House confirmed today that they are “looking at” the legal basis for being able to deport not just illegal immigrants, but also Americans charged with certain crimes, to the notorious CECOT maximum-security mega-prison as well as other prisons in El Salvador.

🔗 OSINTdefender

🇺🇸🇨🇳 Many say, "The US military ultimately backs the USD and USTs", and that is true...but per below, Chinese components back the US military...and Chinese factories make those Chinese components...and the US is tariffing those Chinese factories...

Do you see the problem yet?

🔗 Luke Gromen

🇺🇸 President Trump learns to say “Make America Great Again” in Spanish.

🔗 AF Post

🇺🇸🇮🇱🇸🇾 US tells Israel it will begin withdrawal from Syria within 2 months

The Trump administration has informed Israel that it will begin a phased withdrawal of US troops from Syria within two months, the Ynet news outlet reports.

A senior Israeli official tells the outlet that Jerusalem believes the move will result only in a partial withdrawal but is still working with American counterparts to convince them to keep troops in Syria.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/report-us-tells-israel-it-will-begin-withdrawal-from-syria-within-2-months/

🇨🇳🇹🇼 China’s new bridge-forming barges offer new options for Taiwan invasion

If anyone was wondering what Chinese troops and armored vehicles disembarking onto Taiwan’s shores could potentially look like, then footage of drills in China’s southern Guangdong province showing barges equipped with interconnected landing bridges might provide a clue.

Posted briefly last month on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo, the images show how three specially designed Shuiqiao-class barges can be linked up one behind the other to form a long, relocatable pier that extends from deeper waters nearly a kilometer out at sea onto a beach.

The trials, held near the city of Zhanjiang, suggest Beijing is not only working on new tools to ramp up its amphibious sealift capacity, but also devising ways to overcome the limited number of suitable locations for amphibious landing operations in Taiwan, as the barges could enable Chinese troops to disembark at a wider range of locations across the self-ruled island.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/04/15/asia-pacific/china-bridge-barges-taiwan/

🇸🇩🇺🇸🇷🇺🇮🇷🇦🇪 External meddling in Sudan shows no signs of stopping amid the country’s now two-year civil war.

US partners such as the UAE, as well as US adversaries such as Iran and Russia, threaten US interests in the Red Sea by fueling the war.

Iran and Russia seek to secure Red Sea naval bases through partnerships with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

Iran would use a base to support Yemeni Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.

Russia aims to project power into the Red Sea and bolster its logistics network in Africa

These aims directly threaten US aims to secure maritime routes for global trade in the Red Sea and boost regional security.

The UAE has provided weapons, including drones, to the Sudanese rebels known as the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which the United States has accused of committing genocide in Sudan.

International leaders are meeting in London to work toward establishing peace in Sudan, but external support for the RSF and its rival the SAF will hinder efforts toward a ceasefire.

🔗 Critical Threats

🇺🇸🇮🇷 White House Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff has now walked back his comments last night on Fox News that described a conceptual Iran proposal eerily reminiscent of the failed Obama-era JCPOA (Iran Deal) framework.

About an hour ago, Ambassador Witkoff returned to the Trump administration’s previous sentiments on the process, saying that “Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program.”

🔗 OSINTdefender

📉🇺🇸🇪🇺 The S&P 500 turns negative as the EU says tariffs will remain with little progress made in tariff talks.

🔗 The Kobeissi Letter

🇸🇩🪖 Today marks the second anniversary of the start of the war in Sudan, and after two years of fighting the frontlines are anything but frozen. in recent weeks:

- SAF captured Khartoum, Bahri and is in the process of clearing Omdurman.

- RSF launched a new offensive in northern Darfur, seizing towns and tightening the siege on el-Fasher

- A new alliance of RSF and SPLM-N launched joint attacks in south Kordofan and Blue Nile states.

🔗 Thomas van Linge

🇷🇺🇮🇩 Russia looks to base strategic assets in Indonesia

Reports are now surfacing that Russia has requested basing for long-range strategic bombers in Indonesia

The Russian request for such a deal, which Australian officials say has yet to be decided on, would put Russian strike assets, and presumably Chinese as well, within range of key U.S. and partner nation installations.

While the move is alarming to both U.S. and regional decision-makers, it could be said that it isn’t an unexpected development. Indonesia is abreast of a key maritime choke point and is in close proximity to Australia, who has deepened military-to-military cooperation with the U.S., drawing protests from both China and Russia.

Sino-Russian military-to-military cooperation has increased exponentially since the start of the war in Ukraine. Nowhere has this been more clear than in the Western Pacific, where Russia has made notable strides toward not only enlarging but also modernizing its long-neglected Pacific Fleet.

🔗 OSINTdefender

🇬🇱🇨🇳/🇺🇸 Greenland Courts China in Snub to Trump

Greenland's foreign minister has said it is seeking deeper cooperation with China and potentially a free trade agreement, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

https://www.newsweek.com/greenland-china-united-states-free-trade-agreement-independence-denmark-security-2059484

✝️🇫🇷 The French Catholic Church will welcome a record-breaking 17,800 converts for baptism this Easter, including 10,384 adults and over 7,400 young people aged 11 to 17.

Baptisms are up 45% from 2024.

🔗 AF Post

🇺🇸🇮🇷 Standing at the Edge of the Iran War Cliff

🔗 Ron Paul

Grok estimates that by the end of the century many White nations will cease to have White majority populations.

Establishment figures have long called “White Replacement” a conspiracy theory.

🔗 AF Post

✈️ While the majority of flights transferring air-defense assets from U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) to the Middle East appear to have ceased and both the United States as well as Iran claim that nuclear talks are going well; the large-scale airlift of military equipment to the region by the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command (AMC) continues with no end in sight. Since March 22nd, over 300 C-17s, C-5s, C-130s, KC-135s, and KC-46s linked to AMC have arrived at air bases across the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area-of-responsibility, likely prepositioning air-defense systems, equipment, and other defensive assets in the region for the continued possibility of a conflict with Iran.

The most interesting flights over the last week have been the arrival of 6+ C-17s from Fort Bliss, Texas at Nevatim Airbase in Southern Israel, likely transporting equipment for MIM-104 “Patriot” Surface-to-Air Missile Batteries and/or the reported second Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Battery. Additionally, a number of C-5s and C-17s have arrived at Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, likely carrying munitions for the 6 B-2 “Spirit” Long-Range Strategic Stealth Bombers deployed to the island back in March.

🔗 OSINTdefender

🇨🇳🇻🇳 China, Vietnam Sign 45 Deals as Xi Seeks Closer Regional Ties

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-04-14/china-vietnam-sign-45-deals-as-xi-seeks-closer-regional-ties

https://archive.ph/Dqo6q

⚡️🇮🇱❌🇵🇸 - Following the release of satellite images, the extent of the progress in the establishment of the "Morag" Corridor can be confirmed, following IDF claims yesterday.

The IDF's "36th" Division advanced from the east, through the "Sufa" Crossing, meanwhile the "188th (Iron Tracks)" Armored Brigade advanced from northern Rafah, both then joining in from the "Othman Bin Affan" street.

🇺🇸 What Is Kristi Noem Doing?

REAL ID is Tyrannical ... Authored By The Same Author of The Patriot Act!

🔗 Ron Paul

🇺🇸 President Trump says he's open to deporting U.S. citizens who commit violent crimes.

🔗 CSPAN

🇺🇸🚢 Port of Los Angeles Braces for Cargo Decline as Trade War Intensifies

The Port of Los Angeles, despite posting strong first-quarter numbers in 2025, is preparing for a significant downturn in cargo volumes as new tariffs threaten to reshape global maritime trade patterns.

In March, the nation’s busiest container port processed 778,406 Twenty-Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs), showing a 4.7% increase compared to the previous year. The first quarter ended with an impressive 2,504,049 TEUs, maintaining a 5.2% lead over last year’s performance and marking the third busiest first quarter on record for the port.

“Our volume remained strong throughout the first quarter, and we’ve now seen year-over year growth in 18 of the last 20 months,” Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka reported during his monthly media briefing.

However, significant headwinds are on the horizon. March 2025 data revealed concerning trends, as loaded exports dropped 15% from 2024 levels to 122,975 TEUs. This marks the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year decline in exports at the Port of Los Angeles.

https://gcaptain.com/port-of-los-angeles-braces-for-cargo-decline-as-trade-war-intensifies/

🇺🇸🚢 Are Ships Turning Around and Heading Back to Asia? | What is happening with Rates & Blank Sailings

https://youtu.be/VAf3UX-B7kI

🇺🇸🇾🇪🇾🇪 It appears that US strikes on the Houthis have shifted from strictly degrading launch capabilities to targeting leadership and now Houthi defensive positions at the base of the Western Highlands along the front between the Houthis and Yemeni National Army.

US may be starting a strike campaign to shape the battle space for an offensive by the Yemeni National Army to break through the front and make a push towards reclaiming the capital Sanaa.

https://fxtwitter.com/Schizointel/status/1911887819720499357

🇾🇪🇾🇪 Yemeni militias are planning a ground offensive against the Houthis, Yemeni and U.S. officials say

The Yemeni factions are sensing an opportunity to oust the Houthis from at least parts of the Red Sea coast they have controlled in the decade since they took power over much of the country’s northwest, the officials said.

Private American security contractors provided advice to the Yemeni factions on a potential ground operation, people involved in the planning said. The United Arab Emirates, which supports these factions, raised the plan with American officials in recent weeks, the U.S. and Yemeni officials said.

https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/yemen-houthis-operation-us-support-975febe6

https://archive.ph/RmErp

🇺🇸🇮🇷 White House Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff confirms that the Trump Administration is no longer pushing for the total denuclearization of Iran or the destruction of its nuclear program.

The Trump admin wishes to impose limits on Iran’s enrichment of uranium and the weaponization of its nuclear program, very similar to the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal.

🔗 OSINTdefender

Karmelo Anthony allowed to walk free on $250K bond, under house arrest after brutal stabbing of Austin Metcalf.
🔗New York Post

🇺🇸📝 EndGame Macro: This chart signals a freight shock unfolding at near-Depression velocity. A 49% drop in global container bookings and 64% collapse in U.S. imports within one week mirrors the kind of disruption seen after the 1930 Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act except what took months to manifest in the Great Depression is now happening in real-time.

The synchronized plunge in U.S.–China trade lanes (imports down 64%, exports down 36%) confirms that the retaliatory tariff war is already constricting cross-border logistics, with downstream consequences for inventories, inflation prints, and FX liquidity. Credit to zerohedge for spotlighting this pivotal chart

471TO has brilliantly framed it: this is a 1930 redux except faster, more synchronized, and more intentional. He’s been ahead of this entire unfolding macro regime, from credit tightening to trade war timing to dollar reflexivity. If you aren’t already following him, correct that now. This isn’t just noise this is the start of a global trade breakdown.

🔗 EndGame Macro

Somaliland Offers U.S. Strategic Foothold Amid China Tensions: A Letter to President Trump

In the blistering sun of the Gulf of Aden, two key maritime facilities—the port and airstrip in Berbera—stand at the center of Somaliland’s ambitious diplomatic play. After regaining its independence in 1991, Somaliland is now offering the United States a bold deal: lease these strategic sites in exchange for long-sought international recognition.

The pitch comes at a time of heightened global tensions and shifting U.S. interests in East Africa. With attacks from Houthi rebels disrupting Red Sea trade and China expanding its presence on the continent, Somaliland believes its pro-Western stance, strategic geography, and decades of governance make it a valuable partner.

https://www.horndiplomat.com/2025/04/somaliland-offers-u-s-strategic-foothold-amid-china-tensions-a-letter-to-president-trump/

🇪🇨🪖 President who declared war on Ecuador’s drug gangs is reelected

Daniel Noboa, the millennial president who in a truncated first term declared war on the gangs that turned once-peaceful Ecuador into a major cocaine trafficking hub, won reelection Sunday, electoral authorities reported, giving him four more years to try to stem the country’s rising violence.

He will be responsible for resolving a deepening security crisis in a country that has become both a booming cocaine transit point and a battleground for drug gangs: Violent deaths have shot up again this year, after a lull in 2024. February was the deadliest month in recent years, with 736 homicides, 90 percent more than in the same month last year.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/04/13/ecuador-election-daniel-noboa/

https://archive.ph/0CbTE

🇺🇸 A United States miliary build up is currently occurring in the Middle East as tensions with Iran rise.

Moving additional cargo, munitions, air defense systems and equipment, USAF activity in the region has soared. Here's a look at what flew and where.

🔗 Faytuks Network

🇦🇪🇸🇴🇮🇱⚡- Puntland military journalists confirm that the UAE has quietly moved an Israeli-made ELM-2084 radar system to the Puntland Maritime Headquarters, adjacent to UAE's Bosaso Air Base.

The purpose of the advanced radar system isn't clear, as the Houthis are outside of its range, and there is no enemy the UAE (or Israel) is currently fighting in the Horn of Africa that is as sophisticated to require such a system.

🇺🇸🇾🇪 Trump issues stark warning to Houthis terrorists.

"Just got rid of Joe Biden’s dangerous red tape, and empowered our Warfighters, once again."

"We will support the Somali People to end terrorism and bring prosperity to their Country."

🔗 ExxAlerts

🇺🇸🔶Trump admin makes new move to bring South African refugees to US as president blasts nation's rulers again

The State Department told Fox News Digital about new moves it is making. At the same time, the Afrikaner Orania Movement, an Afrikaner settlement, has stated its desire to be treated by the U.S. as a state within a state in South Africa.

There’s also been a flurry of flights across the Atlantic to Washington by groups looking to get the White House’s, and ultimately the president’s, attention.

The Orania delegation went to Washington, Strydom said, due to "the fact that President Donald Trump gave us recognition as a people, the Afrikaners. (It) made it very important for us to hasten our already-planned U.S. liaison tour to liaise with Afrikaner and American supporters of the Orania idea in the U.S.

"We had meetings with officials upon invitation and discussed substantive matters in depth, which, for the sake of an ongoing conversation and our honor towards newfound contacts, we will only specify publicly later."

"Help us Here," is the slogan Orania CEO Joost Strydom declared to Washington insiders.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/trump-admin-makes-new-move-bring-south-african-refugees-us-president-blasts-nations-rulers-again

📝 Joost Strydom: Orania on FOX News!

🇨🇳🇺🇸 China Halts Critical Exports as Trade War Intensifies

China has suspended exports of a wide range of critical minerals and magnets, threatening to choke off supplies of components central to automakers, aerospace manufacturers, semiconductor companies and military contractors around the world.

Shipments of the magnets, essential for assembling everything from cars and drones to robots and missiles, have been halted at many Chinese ports while the Chinese government drafts a new regulatory system. Once in place, the new system could permanently prevent supplies from reaching certain companies, including American military contractors.

The official crackdown is part of China’s retaliation for President Trump’s sharp increase in tariffs that started on April 2.

On April 4, the Chinese government ordered restrictions on the export of six heavy rare earth metals, which are refined entirely in China, as well as rare earth magnets, 90 percent of which are produced in China. The metals, and special magnets made with them, can now be shipped out of China only with special export licenses.

But China has barely started setting up a system for issuing the licenses. That has caused consternation among industry executives that the process could drag on and that current supplies of minerals and products outside of China could run low.

If factories in Detroit and elsewhere run out of powerful rare earth magnets, that could prevent them from assembling cars and other products with electric motors that require these magnets. Companies vary widely in the size of their emergency stockpiles for such contingencies, so the timing of production disruptions is hard to predict.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/13/business/china-rare-earths-exports.html

🇺🇸🇨🇳🇧🇷 The trade war between the US and China has spurred Brazil’s agricultural sector and pummelled American farmers. 'It is a boon for farmers in Brazil and Argentina, and it will help their industry a lot,' points out a lead agriculture analyst

https://www.ft.com/content/3b101afd-b51c-4d64-ba2f-45ad4590e819

🇺🇸🇨🇳 Since *Wednesday*:

We have had:

- Universal “reciprocal tariffs”
- A removal back down to 10%
- 50% Chinese tariffs
- 90% Chinese tariffs
- 104% Chinese tariffs
- 125% Chinese tariffs
- 145% Chinese tariffs
- Electronics exempted
- Electronics now potentially back on.

🔗 Spencer Hakimian

🇩🇪 Germany has admitted 8.4 million people -- equivalent to a 10% of its pre-existing population -- in just 15 years. In American terms, this would be like four New Yorks. This turbocharged large-scale demographic change is unsustainable and is not, in fact, being sustained.

🔗 Andrew Hammel

🇨🇳 China reported 5 tonnes of gold purchases in February (160k oz per PBOC).

China actually bought 50 tonnes of gold in February (per GS)

🔗 zerohedge

🇸🇴📡 Musk Announces Starlink License For Somalia

Elon Musk announced on Sunday that his Starlink satellite internet service had been granted a license in Somalia.

"Today is another historic day for Somalia's communications and technology sectors, today we have issued here and provided Starlink, one of the major satellite telecommunications and internet services company the license to operate in Somalia," a post on state media outlet SONNA said.

It added that the license had been issued after two years of discussions.

https://www.barrons.com/news/musk-announces-starlink-license-for-somalia-80e75b6c

For weeks, the UK has been dealing with the crisis of young, White incel killers.

Why are left-wing people so affected by fiction, to the point of confusing it with reality? I argue it is actually something deeply rooted in leftist psychology:

https://keithwoods.pub/p/adolescence

🇺🇸🇨🇳 Trump says no exemption for iPhones and other Chinese-made electronics — suggests new tariff coming

President Trump settled the debate over the tariffs on iPhones and other Chinese-made devices — saying that there is no “exemption” and that new duties are coming.

“NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook,'” Trump said on Truth Social Sunday. “There was no Tariff ‘exception’ announced on Friday. These products are subject to the existing 20% Fentanyl Tariffs, and they are just moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.’”

“We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations.”

https://nypost.com/2025/04/13/us-news/iphones-and-other-chinese-made-electronics-will-likely-be-subject-to-more-trump-tariffs-commerce-secretary-lutnik-says/

🇺🇸🇪🇺 Trump: "We have a deficit with the EU of $350 billion. And it's gonna disappear fast. And one of the reasons and one of the ways that can disappear easily and quickly is they're gonna have to buy their energy from us."

🔗 unusual_whales

🇯🇵🇹🇼🇨🇳🇰🇷 New Japanese Joint Staff Office map shows the flight paths of Chinese (red) + Russian (yellow) military aircraft operating near Japan, Taiwan, + South Korea in the past year.

Japan scrambled 704 times in response, with two-thirds (464) due to Chinese aircraft. 3x as many PLA drones detected.

https://fxtwitter.com/ianellisjones/status/1911189187556172047

💰THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION EYEBALLS SELLING GOLD FOR BITCOIN!

During a few visits to Capital Hill, I asked a lot of offices what they thought about this and not one voiced serious concern.

🔗 Dennis Porter

📱🇺🇸 Lutnick 5 days ago said smartphone manufacturing was coming to the U.S. because of tariffs.

Now we learn smartphones are excluded from the tariffs.

🔗 Aaron Blake

⚡️🇮🇱❌🇵🇸 - The IDF has announced that it has expanded it's offensive in northern Gaza, and has begun an advancement overnight towards the areas of "Daraj" and "Tuffah" of central Gaza city, northern Gaza.

No clashes have been reported yet.

Image [attached] displays illustration of northern Gaza map:
➡️ Red represents evacuation warning of Gaza.
➡️ Dark Blue represents IDF areas of operation.

🇨🇳🇹🇼 Update on PLA Joint Combat Readiness Patrols around Taiwan based on Taiwan's MoD data:

Three Observations:

(1) The patrol on April 11 was the third patrol this month, nine days after the "Strait Thunder 2025A" large-scale drill.

(2) Among the four patrols in April 2024, only one had more than 30 aircraft sorties, but all three patrols this year exceeded 30 sorties.

(3) The joint readiness patrols in April 2024 did not reach eastern Taiwan, but all three patrols this April operated in the eastern part of Taiwan, with this time flying south from the airspace between Taiwan’s Yilan and Japan's Yonaguni Island.

Note: The data has been updated by removing the long-range training on September 25, 2024, and adding the joint readiness patrol data from the two Joint Sword exercises in 2024, which aligns with the ROC National Security Bureau Director General's statement of 40 patrols in 2024. The sorties have also been revised to reflect the full-day data published by the Ministry of National Defense the following day, along with the addition of the number of warships.

🔗 K. Tristan Tang

🇾🇪🇾🇪 The Internationally Recognized Yemeni Government is mobilizing around 80,000 troops to attempt to seize control of the Hudaydah Port (Hodeidah port) from AnsarAllah (Houthis).

🔗 OSINTWarfare

https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/mena/2025/04/11/yemen-government-plan-to-retake-hodeidah-faces-challenges-amid-doubts-over-us-support/

📱 Smartphones and computers are China’s largest export to the United States…

Now exempt from tariffs.

🔗 Geiger_Capital

📱🇺🇸 Trump administration says it will exclude some electronics from reciprocal tariffs

The Trump administration late Friday said it would exclude electronics like smartphones and laptops from reciprocal tariffs, a move that could help keep the prices down for popular consumer electronics that aren’t usually made in the U.S.

It would also benefit big tech companies like Apple and Samsung and chip makers like Nvidia, setting the stage for a likely tech stock rally on Monday.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said items like smartphones, laptops, hard drives, flat-panel monitors and some chips would qualify for the exemption. Machines used to make semiconductors are excluded too. That means they won’t be subject to the current 145% tariffs levied on China or the 10% baseline tariffs elsewhere.

https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-smartphones-electronics-laptops-apple-10c31e91d7790bfe8fb004f547109359

War Finance | Zerohedge
"War cuts new financial channels"

Americans, Beijing, Washington and the Fed are reacting to developments in the trade war as they come. But these reactions are best understood as responses to an emerging world order, in particular one where the financial flows of the previous world order are, or soon will be, no longer reliable due to geopolitical fragmentation.

This sets the stage for Zoltan Pozsar's War Finance, which is already underway, to be fully realized.

War Finance includes but goes beyond the Fed's balance sheet policy (QE) and the Treasury's fiscal policy (stimulus) - it encompasses structural changes in how capital is allocated, how reserves are managed and when intervention in markets is due. Its focus is less on supporting a global financial empire and more about securing the onshore credit needs of private industry, be it semiconductor lithography, energy production or steel manufacturing.

In this regime, the lines between fiscal and monetary policy begin to blur. War Finance would call for the Fed and the Treasury to officially fuse into a single framework, where policy is most powerful, which was the case during World War II when the former explicitly supported the latter.

The US is not currently outfitted for War Finance, as fiscal and monetary policy continue to diverge due to obvious political differences, but the Trump administration clearly recognizes the necessity. It will take an implosion before both recognize with absolute clarity that the old paradigm can no longer be relied on, and with that implosion will follow better choreography, as it always does in a crisis.

- DeathTaxesandQE

@CIG_Telegram

🇸🇩🇸🇸 Satellite images reveal the significant impact of Sudanese Army airstrikes on Nyala Airport in Darfur. The strikes appear to have precisely targeted and hit key areas, including newly constructed drone hangars, the runway, taxiways, and other strategic spots across the facility.

All it would take is a single strike with EAF PGMs to put an end to this and cut off the UAE's military support to the RSF.

https://fxtwitter.com/EGYOSINT/status/1910773741853823244

🇦🇪🇾🇪 Satellite imagery from Planet Labs PBC, dated March 28, 2025, reveals the completion of an airstrip on Mayun Island, also known as Perim Island, located in the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the coast of Yemen. The airstrip was constructed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to support the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in their ongoing conflict against the Houthis.

The imagery shows the airstrip marked with runway designations “09” on the eastern end and “27” on the western end.

It will definitely be used against the Houthis, but it's an easy target for their cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and OWA-UAVs.

https://fxtwitter.com/OSINTWarfare/status/1908495383229005917

🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- BREAKING: Israeli forces have captured the rest of the Morag Corridor, south Gaza Strip. Rafah has now been cut off from the rest of the Palestinian territory.

Israeli troops continued their advance from yesterday along the Morag Corridor, completely encircling the large towns of Tal as-Sultan, al-Adas and al-Bayuk.

🇵🇸🇮🇱⚡- Israeli forces have captured the entirety of Rafah city, south Gaza Strip, advancing all the way north towards the Morag Corridor. Images posted by Doron Kadosh, Israeli military journalist for Galei Tzahal. Rerum Novarum have geolocated one of the images to 31.309274, 34.268585, which confirms the advance.

The IDF have also advanced west of Tal as-Sultan, towards the Morag Corridor. Images of IDF (with Trump flags) were posted on Yinon, Channel 14, celebrating the advance. Rerum Novarum have geolocated the images to 31.32039, 34.23181, which confirms Channel 14's report.

🇺🇸 Donald Trump authorizes U.S. military to take control of land on southern border

President Donald Trump is authorizing the U.S. military to take jurisdiction over federal lands along the southern border to help enforce his immigration agenda.

Trump issued a memorandum to the secretaries of Defense, Interior, Agriculture and Homeland Security late Friday titled "Military Mission for Sealing the Southern Border of the United States and Repelling Invasions."

The order directs the secretaries to facilitate the transfer of jurisdiction over federal land along the border so military activity along the border can "occur on a military installation under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense."

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/04/11/trump-gives-military-jurisdiction-federal-border-lands/83052001007/

🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump tells Iran ‘make a deal or it’s war’

Donald Trump has given Iran 60 days to agree a nuclear deal or face military action.

The US president’s demands were set out in a letter to his Iranian counterpart Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Politico reported, citing multiple sources.

Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump’s envoy, is in Oman this weekend to begin negotiations with Abbas Araghchi, Tehran’s foreign minister, the first such talks between the US and Iran in more than a decade.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-tells-iran-deal-war-225135586.html