Welcome to 2026

I'm not sure if we're in WWIII or just in wars all around the world. The US criminal enterprise has now kidnapped the president of another country in order to steal their resources. The fake cover story of drugs is more bogus than Iraq's WMD. Next up, Iran, where Trump has green lit an attack by Israel which he will back. I have no idea how western powers will cope with their loss in Ukraine, but my guess is badly. And then we have China, where we're sending weapons to one of their provinces (Taiwan) in order to provoke war there. Absolute insanity. This is a war on BRICS+ in order to thwart their rise. We remain ignorant to the fact that our actions have increased the influence of BRICS+ as the rest of the world tries to escape US bullying.

Can the New Order Catch Up Before the Old One Collapses?| Pepe Escobar

(11.5 min) With U.S.–China tensions seemingly cooling, questions arise about whether the old order has already fallen — and whether a new one is ready to take its place. Pepe Escobar breaks down what’s really happening beneath the surface.

The western policy of arrogance, ignorance and incompetence is facing off against the planning (5 and 10 year plans), accomplishments, and cooperative nature of BRICS+. They construct, we destruct. The hegemon will fall, sooner rather than later.

Pepe Escobar | The West Is DOOMED to Lose the Global Power Struggle

(35 min) In this episode our longtime friend Pepe Escobar breaks down the end of U.S. dominance, why Europe is irrelevant and how Russia, China, and India are changing the world.
00:00 Why No Peace Agreement Is Possible Between the US and Russia
06:00 Russia’s Arctic Plans: A New Era of Cooperation
12:17 Why Russia and China Are Closer Than Ever
17:48 Why Europe Is No Longer Relevant on the Global Stage
24:20 Europe Is Doomed Without an Industrial Base
25:54 The Rise of BRICS: A New Global Power Dynamic
30:47 How the West Provoked the Collapse of Its Financial System

END of US DOLLAR - Global Repricing Has Begun (the Evidence Is WORSE Than You Think)

(8 min) In this video, I break down why the dollar weakened sharply through 2025, what the drop in the US Dollar Index (DXY) really means, and why this move may signal a structural shift after decades of dollar dominance. We look at the key drivers behind the selloff — rising US debt, widening fiscal deficits, slowing relative growth, tariff uncertainty, and growing global investor hedging against dollar exposure.
I address the big question: does a weakening dollar mean you should buy gold now? I explain why gold is often promoted during periods of dollar stress, the risks many overlook, and why gold isn’t always the automatic answer.

Is Venezuela Spanish for Vietnam?

Talk about unprovoked attacks. Will any western country condemn US aggression? My guess is "No".

Analyst Andi Olluri debunks some of the main Western propaganda arguments that favor US attacks against Venezuela.
Thus, no reason for going to war with Venezuela worthy even of consideration from anyone with two functioning brain cells has been put forth.
The actual reason is explained openly by the aggressors themselves. In Trump’s own words: “When I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over. We would have gotten all that oil. It would have been right next door.” More recently, perhaps tired of the “narco-terrorism” script, Trump conceded that he wants “the oil and land rights.”
Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar boasted that “Venezuela, for the American oil companies, will be a field day, because it will be more than a trillion dollars in economic activity.”

Let's start with a couple of clips from Alex Christoforou from yesterday morning.
VENEZUELA war begins. Trump unprovoked, full-scale attack. Regime change Maduro. US boots on ground
(13 min)

Trump, 'Maduro and wife... captured.' Venezuela air defense NO SHOW. Update 2 (17 min)
Alex suggests this is Syria 2.0 - using purchased military personnel.

Last night the U.S. bombed several places in Venezuela. The bomb attacks were likely planned to hit air-defense systems. But several targets were purely administrative government places and one was a mausoleum with Hugo Chavez’s body.
With the air defenses defeated U.S. special forces landed by helicopter near a place that housed President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores. Both are said to have been abducted and flown out of the country. Maduro was known to often change the place were he was living.
Maduro will brought to the states and incarcerated. He is out of the picture for now.
But Chavistas still rule in Venezuela. Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez is acting as president and Defense Minister Diosdado Cabello is also in place. The government issued a fierce statement:
The objective of this attack is none other than to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals, in an attempt to forcibly break the nation’s political independence. They will not succeed. After more than 200 years of independence, the people and their legitimate government remain steadfast in defending their sovereignty and their inalienable right to decide their own destiny. The attempt to impose a colonial war to destroy the republican form of government and force a “regime change,” in alliance with the fascist oligarchy, will fail like all previous attempts.
(I'm unsure where I got this. I forgot to save the source, so apologies to the author(s)

This is an excellent interview and discussion...recommended
Jeffrey Sachs: U.S. Attacks Venezuela & Kidnaps President Maduro

(38 min) Jeff gives a master class in democracy, empires and wars through time.

“We’re Going to Run the Country:” Preparing an Illegal Occupation in Venezuela
I listened to the January 3 press conference with a knot in my stomach. As a Venezuelan American with family, memories, and a living connection to the country being spoken about as if it were a possession, what I heard was very clear. And that clarity was chilling.
The president said, plainly, that the United States would “run the country” until a transition it deems “safe” and “judicious.” He spoke about capturing Venezuela’s head of state, about transporting him on a U.S. military vessel, about administering Venezuela temporarily, and about bringing in U.S. oil companies to rebuild the industry. He dismissed concerns about international reaction with a phrase that should alarm everyone: “They understand this is our hemisphere.”
For Venezuelans, those words echo a long, painful history.

Larry Johnson: Did Trump Cross the Line in Venezuela?

(23 min)

US Attack on Venezuela Killed at Least 40, Including Military Personnel and Civilians
According to the Times report, at least one US airstrike hit a civilian target, a three-story apartment building in Catia La Mar, a coastal area west of the Caracas airport, knocking out an exterior wall and killing an 80-year-old woman named Rosa Gonzalez. Another woman was severely injured by the strike, which destroyed several apartments, and she is in critical condition.
...
Caine said the US assault involved more than 150 aircraft and strikes on Venezuelan military facilities and air defenses to “ensure the safe passage of the helicopters into the target area” where they captured Maduro. He said that US intelligence assets had been watching the movement of Maduro and that the operation was planned for months amid a major US military buildup in the Caribbean and threats of war.
Trump said at the press conference that the US was able to cut most of the power to the Venezuelan capital city. “The lights of Caracas were largely turned off, due to a certain expertise that we have,” he said.

COL. Douglas Macgregor : The Venezuela Operation Trump Won’t Explain

(30 min)

Iran...up next?
Some analysts are saying Venezuela had to fall first in case Iran cuts off the strait of Hormuz and much of global oil supply. So now we're secure in our theft of Venezuela's oil?

Amb. Chas Freeman & Mohammad Marandi: Trump Issues Warning to Iran — Tehran Fires Back Immediately

(53 min)

Plunge in Iran's currency sparks strikes and protests
Economists warn of further decline in rial
The renewed fall of the national currency, along with strikes by merchants in Tehran Grand Bazaar and protests in different cities across the country, has again raised questions about how far the rial could drop.
On Saturday, the Iranian currency hit a new low, with one US dollar trading at about 1.4 million rials on the open market. While the rate later improved slightly to around 1.35 million rials to the dollar, economists warned that the downward trend is likely to continue.
Despite government promises to stop the currency’s decline, economists say such pledges will remain only words unless inflation is brought under control. Inflation has already risen above 40 per cent in Iran.
Mohammad Kohandal, an economic analyst, said controlling inflation is key to stabilising the exchange rate. “As long as inflation remains a chronic problem in the economy, expecting a stable exchange rate is not realistic,” he told Tasnim News Agency.

My guess is Mossad, CIA, and MI6 are organizing and paying the protest leaders. Nima in the previous video is in Iran and hasn't seen evidence of the protests. Another western MSM pys-op?

All these conflicts are related and synergistic. Jeff Sachs in the interview above does an excellent job explaining how these are long term projects, decades in the making. We started in 1953 in Iran with the coup we engineered to take Iran's oil.

the CIA-MI6 Coup that Overthrew Iran’s Prime Minister
The CIA and Britain’s MI6 staged a coup dressed in the rhetoric of anti-communism, concealing the true aim: to seize control of Iran’s wealth, reshape its politics, and preserve imperial dominance. What unfolded was a relentless campaign of influence and intimidation, striking at a nation’s independence while forging a resilience no foreign hand could extinguish.
“My greatest sin is that I nationalized Iran’s oil industry and discarded the system of political and economic exploitation by the world’s greatest empire. This came at the cost of myself and my family, and at the risk of losing my life, my honor, and my property. I am well aware that my fate must serve as an example for the future of the Middle East in breaking the chains of slavery and servitude to colonial interests.”
— Mohammad Mossadegh, during his trial in a military court on Dec. 19, 1953.

Much the same could be said about Venezuela. Maduro is an example to keep other leaders submissive.

Max Blumenthal: This Is the Utmost Failure: Trump Creates Absolute Chaos - Iran & Venezuela

(37 min)

The Gaza genocide (and occupation of the west bank) continues under cover of a fake ceasefire.

Israeli army shells several areas across Gaza despite ceasefire
Attacks target Rafah, Gaza City and Bureij refugee camp, in the latest ceasefire violations.
Israeli fighter jets struck eastern Rafah in southern Gaza while artillery fire continued simultaneously, accompanied by loud explosions and sporadic gunfire from Israeli military vehicles, witnesses added.
In Gaza City, air strikes and artillery shelling were reported in the Zeitoun and Shujaiya neighbourhoods, as explosions echoed across the area.
The eastern sections of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza also came under artillery fire, along with gunfire from Israeli military vehicles, according to witnesses.

Israel escalates West Bank demolitions amid illegal settlement expansion
Bulldozers flatten refugee housing while Israel approves 126 settler housing units and targets UN agencies....
The Israeli military claimed the demolitions formed part of an operation against Palestinian resistance groups, a claim that could not be independently verified. Palestinian residents and rights groups say the destruction amounts to collective punishment and forced displacement under occupation.

From Sudan to Yemen and Gaza, Middle East wars top the list of conflicts to watch in 2026, report says
Critical hotspots in the Middle East region including Israel-Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Iran and Sudan are among the 10 areas listed where diplomatic efforts are tenuous at best, and immaterial at worst, the authors said.
It was not until 10 October that Trump brokered the current fragile ceasefire that he insists has brought permanent peace to the Middle East. But his deal "fudges the thorniest questions... [and] requires sustained tending by Trump's team", the Crisis Group said. "Thus far, it is unclear how far US mediators have gotten," the Crisis Group said. "The best – maybe only – hope of progress lies in Arab and other governments hashing out a vision together and presenting Trump with a way forward he can then impose on Netanyahu," the report added. That task, however, was completed back in July. It is effectively in limbo.
For those in Gaza who survived two years of what the United Nations has labelled a genocide, "the year ahead looks bleak", the report said.
"Palestine retains the recognition of more than 150 states, a seat at the UN and a right to self-determination that the world continues to affirm. But the capacity to pursue that right is being systematically dismantled."
Meanwhile in the occupied West Bank, Israel has only escalated restrictions on movement, economic suffocation, land confiscation and settlement expansion, the report noted.
"It has relaxed none of these measures since the ceasefire, with ministers continuing to hint at plans to formally annex portions of the territory."
[yes, it is diplomacy by trickery]
Recent reporting by The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post revealed that Trump's diplomatic overtures towards Iran early last year were, in fact, a ruse as Netanyahu urged the administration to back his longtime goal of launching air strikes against Iran.
The White House was, in fact, in lockstep with Israel, and ultimately launched unprecedented strikes on Iran's nuclear sites in June.
In the lead-up to that event, the US had launched dozens of attacks against the Houthis in Yemen, whom the Israelis and Americans view as an arm of Iran's regional policy.
Syria
Backed by Turkey, Sharaa has seemingly won over Gulf leaders and even Trump himself, who has described him as "attractive" and a "tough cookie".
...
Furthermore, a sectarian massacre that began in March killed as many as 1,500 people, with government forces involved as they deployed former rebels and other armed fighters to quash an insurrection by loyalists of the former President Bashar al-Assad.
Sharaa "has been slow to hold anyone accountable, and Alawites fear a repeat", the report assessed.
There was then a second outbreak of sectarian attacks in the predominantly Druze region of southern Syria, which Israel used as a pretext to launch air strikes in support of Druze forces in Sweida. This continued Israel's expanding military footprint in the country.

Ukraine
Col Douglas Macgregor: There'll be NO SETTLEMENT in UKRAINE, NOT NOW

(25 min) Col Douglas Macgregor argues that talk of “security guarantees” for Ukraine is largely unrealistic and undefined. European leaders (especially Poland’s leadership) speak as if future guarantees would mean military force against Russia, yet there has been no willingness over years of war to actually fight Russia for Ukraine. The speaker sees no evidence Europeans would suddenly do so in the future, calling such assumptions nonsense.
President Trump is portrayed as a salesman who often promises more than he can deliver, using vague language like “guarantees” without clear meaning. Privately, the speaker believes Trump understands Ukraine cannot win and must negotiate, but publicly he speaks loosely, creating confusion. Trump’s involvement in Gaza is cited as another example of overpromising without real control over outcomes.
Poland is highlighted as especially eager to tie Ukraine to strong guarantees, partly due to historical grievances and regional ambitions rooted in Eastern European history. The speaker warns that many border states are not status-quo powers and have unresolved territorial aspirations, which makes guarantees dangerous and destabilizing.
The discussion broadens into criticism of U.S. leadership and NATO: the U.S. is no longer clearly leading or disciplining allies, Trump lacks a coherent strategic vision, and key institutions like the CIA and DoD are portrayed as operating with their own agendas. Unpredictability is described as a liability in a multipolar world.
Overall, the speaker calls for realism, clearly defined commitments, predictability, and a foreign policy grounded in present realities rather than historical grudges, moral posturing, or vague promises that risk dragging the U.S. into unwanted wars—especially with Russia.

Russia downs 168 Ukrainian UAVs over regions overnight — Defense Ministry
61 of them were destroyed over the territory of the Bryansk Region

Russian armed forces liberate settlement of Podoly in Kharkov Region
The Russian defense ministry also reported that air defense systems have shot down 210 enemy fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles

Ukraine's Sabotage: Offering Russia the Impossible /Alastair Crooke & Lt Col Daniel Davis

(33 min) Alastair Crooke argues that continued Western denial of Russia’s resilience will likely result in a Russian military victory. With negotiations gridlocked, they say conflicts often resolve only through a “trial of strength,” which can end in sudden collapse rather than gradual change. They warn that Russia’s advances—particularly in southern Ukraine—could accelerate unexpectedly, as morale and political cohesion break down, drawing parallels to the rapid collapse of Afghan forces in 2021.
They contend Ukraine faces not just battlefield pressure but internal political crisis: corruption scandals, loss of parliamentary support for President Zelensky, growing calls for elections, and widespread disillusionment among families of soldiers. This, they argue, creates conditions for a cascading military and psychological collapse.
The discussion also highlights Russian alarm over recent strikes near strategic nuclear assets (bombers, early-warning radars, and command facilities), suggesting Moscow may interpret these as escalatory signals that cannot be ignored, even if nuclear war is unlikely.
Looking ahead, they predict that if Ukraine collapses militarily, European leaders—having publicly committed to “Russia must lose”—will face a severe political and psychological reckoning. The broader conclusion is that Europe is entering a painful period of upheaval as the post–Cold War order breaks down, with major political, economic, and social instability likely before a new order emerges.

Three letter agencies take over, asymmetric warfare

(47 min)

So the dirty war looks to accelerate.

And last but not least, the big goal, China

Prof John Mearsheimer: Enormous Trouble w/China Awaits

(18 min) China’s recent large-scale military drills rehearse a blockade of Taiwan, heightening concern over a major East Asian flashpoint.
Tensions are rising because Japan signaled it would likely defend Taiwan if China attacked, and the U.S. has provided major military aid to Taiwan—both of which anger Beijing, which sees Taiwan as a domestic issue.
Taiwan sits at the center of a strategic standoff between China on one side and the U.S.–Japan alliance on the other, alongside other dangerous flashpoints (South China Sea, East China Sea, and the China–India border).
A Taiwanese declaration of independence would almost certainly trigger Chinese military action; therefore, the U.S. strongly pressures Taiwan not to provoke Beijing.
While China would find it extremely difficult and costly to conquer Taiwan outright—given the challenges of amphibious assault and U.S.–Japan involvement—neither side could achieve a quick, decisive victory.
Any conflict would likely become a prolonged, high-cost war with severe losses, strain on U.S. industrial capacity, and a growing risk of nuclear escalation due to intertwined conventional and nuclear systems.
The danger of such a long, unwinnable war acts as deterrence, making careful diplomacy and maintaining the status quo essential to avoiding conflict.

These conflicts are all related and hinge on maintaining US dominance and hegemony. China has made large investments in Venezuela's oil sector. Additionally they built a large port in Peru connecting China with the South American interior (think Brazil). China has also built alliances with Nicaragua. The US feels a need to stop them instead of working with them for economic growth there and at home. No, as I wrote earlier, the US is bent on destruction and the BRICS+ are focused on construction and cooperation. It is sad, but I continue to hope for US economic collapse before we plunge the world into more chaos or even nuclear war.

The US was created in opposition to an imperialistic colonial empire, Britain, only to become one ourselves. The Venezuela kidnapping and coup make this clear...we declare Venezuela our colony under our control. And of course the silent part, to steal their resources and impoverish their peoples. We are a rogue lawless state no longer guided by a constitution nor international law.