🇺🇸📝 arctotherium: I point out regularly that internal migration in the US is overwhelmingly blue state => red state, but I didn't realize the pattern was so strong it could completely overwhelm international immigration (which slightly favors blue states) at the county level.

https://www.aporiamagazine.com/p/wrecking-the-laboratories-of-democracy

🔗 arctotherium

🇺🇸 Every single one of the 50 fastest growing counties in America is in a state that was won by Trump.

🔗 StatisticUrban

🇮🇱🇮🇷🇺🇸 Israel is eyeing a “limited” strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities despite Trump’s stated opposition.

Israel’s proposed attack would sabotage the White House’s attempts at diplomacy to negotiate a nuclear deal.

🔗 AF Post

🇰🇵/🇷🇺🇺🇦 North Korea conducted a special operations forces (SOF) exercise, which similarly appeared to incorporate lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war.

🔗 ISW

🇺🇸 REPORTER: Powell says he won't leave even if you ask him to

TRUMP: Oh, he'll leave. If I ask him to he'll be out of there ... I'm not happy with him. If I want him out, he'll be out of there real fast. Believe me.

REPORTER: Are you trying to remove him?

TRUMP: Yeah, next question.

🔗 unusual_whales

🇾🇪 Latest Data on Red Sea Crisis Interceptions and Strikes 19APR2025

Houthis claim they have shot down a second U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone in the last 24 hours. This would mark the 7th since March 3rd, the 6th since the start of the operation on March 15th and the 21st since October 7th 2023.

🔗 Intelschizo

🇺🇸 BREAKING: The Supreme Court has blocked the Trump administration from deporting foreign nationals under the Alien Enemies Act. Thomas, Alito dissent.

📝 atticus: 250 years ago American militiamen fired the first shots of Independence to obtain the right to refuse, among other things, the obligation to quarter strangers.

🔗 Kyle Cheney

The Global Safe Haven Is Slowly Breaking: Why Central Banks Are Turning to Gold

In just the past year, the U.S. dollar has lost over 35% of its purchasing power against gold, driven by record central bank gold buying. This isn’t a trend, it’s a signal.

https://www.goldtelegraph.com/2025/04/18/the-global-safe-haven-is-slowly-breaking-why-central-banks-are-turning-to-gold/

The University of Illinois Chicago used population projections to conclude that by 2100 the populations of some 15,000 US cities could dwindle to become “ghost towns” which they argue is a 12-23% decline. Already many cities fit this bill 1950-2020.

When you look at cities and towns in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, etc this is hardly dramatic news. Many cities and towns in the rust belt peaked in the 1940s or 1950s & have lost significant population since then. The rest of the U.S. will simply follow that trajectory.

Cities & towns in Texas, Florida, Arizona, Idaho, North Carolina, Nevada etc will still see population increases while most of the rest of the country (especially Illinois, Wisconsin, California, New Jersey (outside of Hasidic areas obviously), NY (ibid), sees decline.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/thousands-of-u-s-cities-could-become-virtual-ghost-towns-by-2100/

🔗 Demographics Now & Then

🇺🇸 Pentagon turmoil deepens: Top Hegseth aide leaves post

Joe Kasper, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chief of staff will leave his role in the coming days for a new position at the agency, according to a senior administration official, amid a week of turmoil for the Pentagon.

The changes will leave Hegseth without a chief of staff, deputy chief of staff, or senior adviser in his front office.

“There is a complete meltdown in the building, and this is really reflecting on the secretary’s leadership,” said a senior defense official. “Pete Hegseth has surrounded himself with some people who don’t have his interests at heart.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/18/defense-secretary-chief-of-staff-joe-kasper-departure-00299508

🇺🇸🇾🇪 US Air Campaign in Yemen: US Central Command (CENTCOM) struck Houthi fuel stockpiles and oil export and import facilities at Ras Issa Port, Hudaydah Governorate, on April 17.

A large proportion of US airstrikes have targeted Hudaydah Governorate, likely in an effort to degrade Houthi targeting capabilities and degrade other Houthi infrastructure.

CENTCOM has conducted at least 112 airstrikes in at least 33 sorties targeting Houthi infrastructure and leadership in Houthi-controlled Hudaydah Governorate on the Red Sea coast, since the start of its airstrike campaign on March 15.

Hudaydah Governorate is important because it hosts Hudaydah Port, Yemen’s largest port, and Ras Issa and al Salif ports.

An air campaign can only achieve temporary effects. A campaign to permanently prevent the Houthis from using Hudaydah Governorate to launch attacks targeting international shipping would require a ground operation to take and hold ground.

🔗 ISW

🇨🇳🇷🇺 People’s Republic of China (PRC) military officers have visited Russian-held territory in Ukraine and toured the frontlines, according to a former Western official speaking to Reuters. These visits highlight PRC efforts to learn from the Russia-Ukraine war in preparation for modern warfare

🔗 ISW

🇮🇪 Tucker Carlson and Conor McGregor: it's an attempted erasure of the Irish people.

"This is a genocide of our people"

Glad he's not pulling any punches on this.

🇨🇳🇺🇸📝 Corrine on X:

"“No quick wins”: China becomes the first country with an operational thorium nuclear reactor.

The team completed a milestone fuel reload while the molten salt reactor was still running — a world first.

This marks the first stable, long-term operation of thorium tech, putting China at the forefront of a global race to harness this safer, more abundant alternative to uranium.

Some experts call it the next energy revolution: one thorium-rich mine in Inner Mongolia could, in theory, power China for tens of thousands of years — with minimal radioactive waste.

While China pushes the frontier of green energy, the US and Europe are… restarting coal.

Guess who’s really betting on the future — and who’s just burning the past."

🔗 Corrine

🇨🇳🇷🇺 PRC military thinkers have previously noted the cost effectiveness of using drones to destroy high-value targets, such as air defense systems, based on their observations from the war in Ukraine. The lessons that the PRC draws from the war will likely inform its doctrine, training, and development of capabilities moving forward.

The PRC has likely already used some of these lessons to develop new counter-drone systems.

The PRC is emphasizing counter-drone capabilities likely in preparation for the fighting that it would face in a Taiwan invasion scenario.

The PRC has increased its military cooperation with Russia to improve PLA readiness, further highlighting how Russia is helping the PRC prepare for future wars.

The PRC has separately provided economic support, including dual-use goods, to Russia throughout the Russia-Ukraine, despite consistently claiming to be an impartial mediator and voice for peace.

🔗 ISW

🇹🇷 The first deliveries of the Altay tank are expected to begin in the third quarter of 2025.

Production will take place at a renovated 1970s plant in Arifiye, near Istanbul. The renovated 1,000-square-meter facility will house production of the Altay MBT, and BMC will also launch an engine and gearbox testing center there.

🔗 Junsupreme

Beijing's Green Light | zerohedge

⬛️ "China stimulus is coming"

🔶 After repeatedly teasing the idea of incoming stimulus several times last year, getting investors' hopes up only to scale it back and disappoint, recent memos from State officials give China's stimulus plans a precise framework they are looking to deliver on. Officials indicated they are waiting to launch the long-awaited "stimulus bazooka" once improving Chinese economic data is met with deteriorating US data.

🔶 This is a historically unusual combination, as global financial flows tend to move in sync (booms and busts are global). Never before has the US entered into a downturn without China. It suggests that Beijing is waiting for signs that the Mainland economy has decoupled before deploying roaring stimulus.

🔶 Finance Minister Lan Fuan points to the fact that Chinese strength relative to US weakness would necessarily attract new foreign direct investment (FDI). Positive real GDP and new FDI coupled with massive consumption stimulus is the path China seeks out of the stubborn economic malaise it has faced since Covid.

🔶 The Chinese State Council released a better-than-expected Q1 GDP report this week, and US GDP looks to decline in Q1. That's the exact divergence Chinese officials have been waiting for to greenlight massive stimulus.

🔶 Chinese stimulus will mean inflation (rising wages, growth and improved employment) and higher bond yields. China's lenders will be in a stronger position and credit spreads will lower. Chinese equities, specifically in sectors whose performance is tied to domestic demand, will also benefit. Demand for industrial commodities - in particular oil, copper and other metals - will increase.

🔶 Western officials continue to talk up looming delisting threats and investment bans, but both look to be far off as reciprocal investment bans from China could collapse the private sector and disturb the Treasury market in ways that would make the recent stress look like a walk in the park.

By DeathTaxesandQE

🇨🇳 CIC Midwatch Team on X: "if more than one NMESIS battery is deployed to the 🇵🇭, they could be positioned on any of the Babuyan/Batanes islands and still effectively deny access through the Luzon Strait or Bashi Channel.

If the U.S. decides to deploy the same missile system to either the Senkakus or the southern Japanese island chains, I've included those locations hypothetically. I believe Japan has either already deployed its own assets to those islands or is planning to do so."

https://fxtwitter.com/CIC_OS/status/1912995874168603108

🇺🇸🇹🇼 The US Marine Corps is all set to deploy Anti Ship Missiles to Batanes Islands in the Luzon strait, as a part of Balikatan 2025. This marks the first time that these missiles will be deployed near this very strategic chokepoint.

🔗 Orion Intel

Ras Isa fuel port US 🇺🇲 attack damage aerials TODAY 👇

Dozens of toasted tanker trucks in Ras issa west side where diesel and gasoline was unloaded.

Guess terminal is closed for good. Nobody will risk parking trucks here for a while.

https://fxtwitter.com/tom_bike/status/1913362789810442717

🇺🇸🇾🇪 New High-Res Satellite Images of Houthi Strikes

"On the western part of the shoreline, the storage tanks have been completely flattened. Further southeast down the beach, we can see that fuel trucks were targeted, and this would explain the high death toll; currently standing at at least 74, with 171 others wounded

The issue however, is that vessels are still unable to leave the bay because they remain under the threat of the Houthis, who (according to our sources) have declared that they would fire upon the vessels should they attempt to depart without discharging their cargo. We can also see that there’s fuel spillage into the bay as a result of the bombings. Oddly enough, a jetty remains intact even though the beach behind it is showing impact craters.

The Houthis are still holding the GALAXY LEADER (9237307) vessel."

🔗 TankerTrackers

🇺🇸/🇷🇺🇺🇦 Rubio says Trump admin may soon "move on" from Ukraine-Russia peace efforts: "It's not our war"

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the U.S. may "move on" from trying to secure a Russia-Ukraine peace deal if there is no progress in the coming days.

"We are now reaching a point where we need to decide whether this is even possible or not," Rubio told reporters upon departure. "Because if it's not, then I think we're just going to move on."

"It's not our war," Rubio said. "We have other priorities to focus on." He said the U.S. administration wants to decide "in a matter of days."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-ukraine-war-russia-rubio-says-us-may-move-on-peace-efforts-not-our-war/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=801076747

🇺🇸🇮🇱 Trump's White House Faith Advisor Paula White says Christians should be mandated to visit Israel before getting into heaven

🔗 HOT SPOT

🇺🇸🇸🇾 Massive U.S. Army convoys withdraw from Syria, heading toward Iraq.

The first phase of the U.S. withdrawal from Syria saw around 600 troops pulled out, bringing total troop numbers down to about 1,400.

Three U.S. bases in northeastern Syria were closed, including one near the Conoco gas field in Deir ez-Zor.

Some U.S. Army commanders support keeping at least 500 troops in Syria.

🔗 Clash Report

🇲🇱🇧🇫 The first of these west African juntas to collapse is going to cause a ripple effect across the whole region that will cause another junta to collapse which will then in turn cause other juntas to collapse. And this is a very real danger of occurring this year.

🔗 Woofers

🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇷 Amit Segal on X: "The NYT report that Trump blocked an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear sites was the most serious leak in Israel’s history. That’s according to figures in Israel’s security establishment.

Why? Let’s put it into context. As Israel is reportedly planning what may well be one of its most consequential ever military operations, the New York Times lays out for the Iranians what Israel will target, when it will carry out the operation, and how. That’s not just any other leak."

https://fxtwitter.com/AmitSegal/status/1913222975844757814

🇺🇸🇨🇳 China stops buying liquefied natural gas from the US

There have been no shipments between the two countries since February 6 as the Sino-American trade war spilled into the energy sector.

https://www.ft.com/content/a6ad1627-3481-455e-ade8-65c595c1d3e5

https://archive.ph/1iRjU

🇸🇴 Al Shabaab captured two key areas in central Somalia as it continues to gain momentum.

Al Shabaab's gains have set conditions to undo the US-backed Somali counterterrorism offensive in 2022 and pressure the remaining government-controlled areas in central Somalia.

Al Shabaab captured the Aboorey/Yasooman area in Hiraan region and Adan Yabal—a district capital in the Middle Shabelle region—on April 16.

These two critical areas will help al Shabaab reconnect its territory in central Somalia to its center of gravity in southern Somalia.

Somali forces in 2022 launched an offensive that disrupted al Shabaab’s ground lines of communication between central and southern Somalia by clearing al Shabaab from the eastern halves of Hiraan and Middle Shabelle regions east of the Shabelle River.

Al Shabaab has waged an offensive in central Somalia throughout 2025 to overturn these losses.

The group likely reestablished a support zone in the Adale district of Middle Shabelle that allowed it to reinforce and resupply its forces in central Somalia.

Somali forces have performed poorly in some areas, and the scope of al Shabaab’s offensive has likely overstretched Somalia’s international partner-provided air support.

Al Shabaab undoing the 2022 counterterrorism offensive would be a strategic setback for the Somali Federal Government.

Such a loss would undermine domestic and international belief in the SFG's ability to retake its national territory from al Shabaab.

Al Shabaab opened a second front south of Mogadishu in March and has captured several operationally key towns.

Al Shabaab is highly unlikely to launch an offensive on Mogadishu to seize power in the short term, despite its gains around the capital.

Al Shabaab's gains in central & southern Somalia will allow the group to destabilize Mogadishu and undermine the legitimacy of the SFG.

The group can use its gains to launch more high-visibility attacks, support shadow governance efforts, and pressure the Mogadishu economy.

🔗 Critical Threats

🇨🇳🇺🇸🚢 INDOPACOM Commander Admiral Paparo testifies that China's warship production ratio is 3.3:1 compared to the United States

https://fxtwitter.com/tshugart3/status/1913206746417447349

💸 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