Continuing Conflicts...on and on and on

It has become difficult to keep up with all our coups, wars, and conflicts. I think the war machine still sees China as our primary target as they surpass us in so many ways. I think TPTB are still deluding themselves over NATOstan's ability to "weaken" Russia. I also think the war with Iran is just on pause until we get more military assets in place. Venezuela is still Chavista despite Trump claiming to be its president. Next on the list is Greenland. I'll be surprised if it last as a territory of Denmark, and fully expect US control by next summer. There's also talk of taking over Cuba, little Marco's wet dream. And we can't forget the US funded ongoing Palestinian genocide paired with bombing runs over Lebanon and Syria. Next and perhaps most disturbing is the war on US citizens. We now have ICE agents acting like SS troops on US soil...faces covered, no ID, no badge number yanking disabled people from their cars for traffic errors. I think there is a war on US citizens who don't behave like TPTB expect and say things contrary to current policy...like end the Palestinian genocide.

The plan for US global dominance has existed for decades. A plan was outlined in 1992 with the Wolfowitz Doctrine.

The first foundational tenet was unipolarity, asserting that the United States must maintain its status as the single global superpower. The document declared that the U.S. should show the leadership necessary to establish and protect a new order, discouraging advanced industrial nations from challenging American leadership.
The second core concept was the preclusion of peer competitors. The primary strategic goal was to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival. This required the U.S. to prevent any hostile power from dominating a region whose resources could generate global power. This preventive strategy aimed to ensure that no other nation or coalition could rise to challenge U.S. dominance, even regionally.
The third significant tenet was the assertion of unilateral action. While coalitions were desirable, the U.S. must be postured to act independently when collective action could not be orchestrated. This reflected a willingness to forgo international consensus or traditional alliances if necessary to protect America’s interests, marking a significant departure from previous foreign policy norms.

More details of how to achieve global dominace continued with the 1997 book, The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew K. Brzezinski.
Some of the major points include:

What is The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its Geostrategic Imperatives by Zbigniew Brzeziński about?

• Eurasia as the chessboard: The book analyzes Eurasia as the central arena for global power struggles, emphasizing its pivotal role in determining world dominance.
• American global supremacy: Brzeziński explores how the United States achieved unprecedented global primacy and the imperatives required to sustain it.
• Geostrategic blueprint: The work offers a strategic framework for U.S. foreign policy, focusing on managing relationships with major Eurasian powers and preventing the rise of a rival hegemon.
• Historical and contemporary context: It situates current geopolitics within the broader sweep of imperial history, drawing lessons from past empires to inform modern strategy.

The US has long held the view we are entitled to whatever we want around the world and other countries better submit or else!

We seem to have avoided a war with Iran this week, but my bet is it is still coming.
Let's hear from a couple of familiar Iranians.
Inside Iran: The Truth About Protests, Sanctions, and War

(55 min) As tensions around Iran continue to rise, voices inside the country offer a different picture about protests, sanctions, and outside pressure. Larry Johnson is joined by Prof. Mohammad Marandi and Nima Alkhorshid (Dialog Works) to break it down.
00:00 Back in Iran After 12 Years — Here’s What Changed
04:44 How Iran Survived Decades of Sanctions
15:44 How Persian-Language Media Fuels Unrest
20:03 Trump, Netanyahu, and Iran’s Unrest — How CIA–Mossad Regime Change Operation works
26:03 Iran's Case — How Illegal Wars Become ‘Necessary’
34:00 Daily Life in Iran Under Inflation
40:32 Iran Is a Battleground Between East and West
43:13 Iran’s Economic Future with China and Russia
49:58 What a War with Iran Would Actually Look Like

My understanding is Mossad, CIA, and MI6 have been up to their usual tricks using the Ukraine, Hong Kong, Syria model. Use NGO's within the target country to hire protesters to stir up trouble and violence. In Iran that was working to create chaos, but once the Starlink internet was shutdown, the violent protestors could no longer receive their marching orders from the deep state. Additionally the leaders were able to be identified from their use of Starlink, and were arrested. It was threatened they would be executed, but they, at present, are being spared because Trump called off his attack on Iran (for the time being).

US Surging Military Assets To the Middle East To Prepare for War With Iran After Trump Postpones Attack

US officials told the paper that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and some warships from its strike group were on their way to the Middle East from the South China Sea, a roughly week-long trip. The US is also planning to send an array of warplanes to the Middle East, including fighter jets and refueling aircraft, and additional air defenses.

Despite promises to the contrary, I expect an attack in the near term. Remember Trump was pretending to negotiate with Iran when Israel pulled their sneak attack. It's a foreign policy of deceit and trickery. Consider the new round of sanction on Iran...
US Imposes New Sanctions on Iranian Officials

Iranian Deputy FM Saeed Khatibzadeh: All-Out War? Iran Says It’s Ready for Any Attack

(35 min) Excellent interview. Nima does a good job.

Jiang Xueqin: Predictions for 2026– Trump, Iran & Empire COLLAPSE

(90 min) Prof. Jiang Xueqin argues that a deep dive into game theory & history can accurately predict future events. Prof. Jiang gives his shocking predictions for 2026 on World War 3, economic collapse, Great Power Rivalry, American civil war and much more!

Of course, the animus against Iran is being driven by Israel.
The genocide continues in Palestine, but is largely ignored by the media as the focus has shifted to Greenland, etc. None the less on it goes...
Israeli Forces Kill 10 Palestinians in Gaza in Latest Ceasefire Violations
The IDF has killed more than 450 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire was supposed to go into effect, according to Gaza's Health Ministry

However, we pretend there is a ceasefire.

Netanyahu Calls Announcement of ‘Phase Two’ of Gaza Deal a ‘Declarative Move’
Israeli officials have made clear they have no intention of withdrawing from Gaza

Technocratic committee overseeing Gaza transition revealed
Hamas and Islamic Jihad earlier welcomed the formation of a new committee to govern Gaza

The article above suggests plenty of Palestinians on the board, however the list I saw was a group of neocons and ardent Zionists...
Full List of Members on Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace
According to White House, the Board of Peace will be chaired by Trump, with the following serving as founding members:
Secretary Marco Rubio
Steve Witkoff
Jared Kushner
Sir Tony Blair
Marc Rowan
Ajay Banga
Robert Gabriel
...
The board will work alongside a newly announced 15-member Palestinian committee made up of non-political experts. This committee is expected to manage day-to-day civilian affairs in Gaza, including healthcare services, food distribution, infrastructure repair, and maintaining public order.
In addition, the plan calls for the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force to Gaza. This force would help maintain security and train approved Palestinian police officers, with the aim of preventing renewed violence during the transition.

Do you believe this is a sincere effort to bring peace to Gaza, or just provide cover for an Israeli take over?

The Big Enchilada
China is a challenge for the deep state. TPTB remain deluded about our fading military ability and under-estimate China's economic power.
Shaun Rein: China's Economic Statecraft in a New World Order

(48 min) Shaun Rein is the Founder and Managing Director of the China Market Research Group (CMR), and the author of books such as "The Split: Finding the Opportunities in China's Economy in the New World Order".

To my mind we would be wise to cooperate with China and participate in the Belt and Road project enhancing trade in Eurasia for all. But Nooo! We must dominate not cooperate. The US is so short sighted and dominated/owned by the MIC/deep state.

Closer to home, Venezuela.
Behind the DOJ’s politicized indictment of Maduro: a CIA-created ‘network’ and coerced star witness

The US Department of Justice indictment of Venezuela’s kidnapped leader, Nicolas Maduro, is a political rant that relies heavily on coerced testimony from an unreliable witness. Despite DOJ edits, it could expose more Americans to the CIA’s own history of drug trafficking.
...
The indictment amounts to a 25 page rant accusing Maduro and Flores of a conspiracy to traffic “thousands of tons of cocaine to the United States,” relying heavily on testimony from coerced witnesses about alleged shipments that largely took place outside US jurisdiction. It accuses Maduro of “having partnered with narco-terrorists” like TDA, ignoring a recent US intelligence assessment that concluded he had no control over the Venezuelan gang. Finally, the prosecutors stacked the indictment by charging Maduro with “possession of machine guns,” a laughable offense which could easily be applied to hundreds of thousands of gun-loving Americans under an antiquated 1934 law.
...
As sloppy and politicized as the DOJ’s indictment might be, it has enabled Trump to frame his lawless “Donroe Doctrine” as an aggressive policy of legal enforcement, emboldening the US president to levy further threats to abduct or bump off heads of state who stand in the way of his resource rampage. This appears to be the real purpose of the imperial courtroom spectacle to come.

Many more details of the flawed case in the article.

Who are the real criminals? How about ex-US ambassador, Jimmy Story.
Spook Story: Ex-US amb. to Venezuela monetizes coup-plotting alongside former CIA officials

While pushing for war on Venezuela in legacy media, former US ambassador Jimmy Story is soliciting clients for consulting firms run by notorious ex-CIA officials.
Editor’s note: Former US ambassador to Venezuela James “Jimmy” Story has gone from de facto manager of the putschist, Washington-backed opposition in Venezuela to one of the most prominent voices promoting the Trump-Rubio regime change policy inside legacy media.

Not too surprising is it?

Can Delcy Rodríguez balance Chavismo and Trump demands? w/ Raymond Zucaro

(32 min) Here's a pro-corporate voice which I took with a grain of salt, but you might find interesting. Here's a good comment from under the clip...
Oh wow. If Venezuela just lets in the uber capitalists to exploit their country it will be all rainbows and unicorns. Someone tell them.

None the less Delcy will have to balance her country against US aggression.

Greenland
Trump's Greenland Obsession: Nothing to do w/U.S. National Security

(13 min)

Trump threatens tariffs over Greenland, calls it vital for security
US President Donald Trump says he may impose tariffs on countries that do not back the United States’s claim to control Greenland, a message that came as a bipartisan congressional delegation sought to lower tensions in the Danish capital.
...
Earlier this week, the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland met US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington. That encounter did not resolve the big differences, but did produce an agreement to set up a working group

What do the folks in Greenland think? Let's listen to one.

(8.5 min) Greenlandic Politician Shows Mirror To Trump Over Island Invasion Plan: 'He Doesn't Know About...'

Last but not least Ukraine
COL. Douglas Macgregor : The Kremlin Reads Trump Clearly

(25 min) The US is NOT trustworthy. We're as bad as Israel in making and then breaking agreements.

A couple of clips from the Duran.
After a period of silence, Putin is back.
Putin's long silence, Russia debates future dealings with Trump (19 min)

Putin new terms, time to discuss new European Security Architecture (30 min)

Richard Sakwa: The Deep Roots of the Ukraine War

(54 min) Richard Sakwa is a professor of Russian and European Politics at the University of Kent, and is widely recognised as the leading Russia scholar in Europe. Sakwa discusses the deep roots and many layers of the Ukraine War.

The War on the Constitution and US Citizens

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : An Unchecked Presidency

(26 min) The constitution isn't being followed. The US has gone rogue ignoring both domestic and international law.

Enemy of or for the People?
As government and corporate powers continue to consolidate, the propagandistic anti-media tropes have only escalated the manufactured distrust of media. Even though journalists have a “constitutionally protected right to publish government secrets,” the “enemy press” trope has gained bipartisan traction. On January 7, 2026 House Oversight Committee’s vote to subpoena New York Times investigative journalist, Seth Harp, for legally reporting the publicly-available name of the Delta Force commander instrumental in abducting Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. “The House knows full well the dangers to press freedom that subpoenaing a journalist poses,” said Chip Gibbons of Defending Rights and Dissent.
One week later, the FBI raided the home of Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, seizing her electronic devices. Law enforcement justified the raid, claiming it was in conjunction with an investigation into a government contractor accused of retaining classified government materials. Neither the Post nor Natanson had been apprised of the investigation. Tim Richardson, journalism and disinformation program director at PEN America, has stated that this is typical behavior in authoritarian police states, not “democratic societies that recognize journalism’s essential role in informing the public.”

Barnes discusses a wide array of topics including our domestic legal quandaries.

(an hour or so before another hour of questions)

Alex also discusses a wide array of topics...

(43 min) Miller blasts Denmark. Graham depressed. Board of Peace revealed. Stoltenberg, talk to RUSSIA
0:00 - Discussion on Denmark's inability to defend Greenland
0:30 - Update on Iran and Steve Witkoff terms for nuclear negotiations
3:49 - Lindsey Graham's reaction to Trump's decision regarding Iran
7:09 - Analysis of the Wall Street Journal's opinion on Iran's potential breakup
10:11 - Commentary on Russia and China's support for Iran
13:01 - Introduction to Trump peace plan for Gaza
15:36 - Announcement of Trump's Gaza Board of Peace members
16:13 - Former NATO CEO Stoltenberg comments on engaging with Russia
20:43 - Update on Trump's intentions regarding Greenland
25:02 - Discussion on Steven Miller remarks about Greenland
28:14 - CIA's involvement in Venezuela and meeting with Deli Rodriguez
31:04 - Machado response to the political situation in Venezuela
34:01 - Nigel Farage attendance at the World Economic Forum
37:26 - Macron's unusual choice to wear sunglasses during a meeting
41:02 - UN General Assembly President's speech on the UN's need for the world

Now back to the US...
Trump threatens to use Insurrection Act to end Minneapolis protests

President considers using federal law to deploy the military in Minneapolis, where protests are ongoing after two shootings by federal agents within a week.
...
Trump posted the comment a day after a federal agent shot and wounded a Venezuelan ‍man in Minneapolis. The federal agent said two people attacked him with a shovel and broom handle as he wrestled with the Venezuelan, who the Trump administration said was in the US illegally.
The incident further stoked tensions a week after an ICE agent fatally shot 37-year-old Renee Good, ⁠a US citizen, in her car in Minneapolis. The killing of the mother of three and the Trump administration’s depiction of her as a “domestic terrorist” sparked global outrage, leading to demonstrations across the US.
...
(Mayor) Frey described a federal force that is five times bigger than the city’s 600-officer police force as having “invaded” the city, scaring and angering residents, some of whom want the local officers to “fight ICE agents”.
...
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it has made more than 2,000 arrests in Minnesota since early December and is promising to not back down.
The ‍DHS accused Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, both Democrats, of encouraging resistance to ICE with “hateful rhetoric”, a contention Frey rejected.

‘My US Citizenship Did Not Protect Me’: Community Hearing Details ICE Horrors in Minneapolis
Patty O’Keefe, a 36-year-old US citizen, told lawmakers that her encounter with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents began when she and a friend had received a report that legal observers in her neighborhood were being pepper sprayed.
She said they found the agents and began following them in their car while honking their horn and blowing whistles to alert others in the area to their presence.
The ICE agents subsequently stopped their vehicle, surrounded the car, discharged pepper spray into it, then smashed the car’s windows and dragged out both O’Keefe and her friend.
O’Keefe said that after being detained by agents, they started taunting her, with one agent telling her, “You guys got to stop obstructing us, that’s why this lesbian bitch is dead,” an apparent reference to Minneapolis resident Renee Good, who was killed by an ICE agent last week.

Be careful what you say. Scott Ritter was de-banked for his speech.

(29 min) Scott Ritter : FREE Speech & Me - I've been de-Banked!

College faculty are losing jobs for wrong speech...
Culture of Fear in Places of Learning: Faculty at NC Colleges Report Anxiety Over Threats to Academic Freedom
At a recent Faculty Assembly meeting, a body of delegates from each of the 17 UNC System institutions, Wade Maki, chair of the assembly and UNC-Greensboro professor, asked its members to raise their hand if they had colleagues who were afraid of losing their job because of something they said in the classroom. Every delegate raised their hand, acknowledging concerns about academic freedom.
He asked them again to raise their hand if they had colleagues who were afraid of losing their job because of something they posted on their private social media accounts. Again, every delegate raised their hand.
...
Several high-profile firings occurred this year due to professors speaking on issues related to gender identity — one at Texas A&M after a gender and sexuality lesson in a literature class and another at the University of Oklahoma after a psychology professor gave a student a failing grade on an assignment that cited the Bible to disagree with the notion that there are more than two genders. Both raised concerns about the state of academic freedom in higher education.
In September, an associate professor — a rank that typically indicates academics have obtained tenure at their institutions — at a small private North Carolina college declined an interview request from CPP because the person did “not feel it is safe to even report on academic/scientific expertise, as that is now often attacked, and professors are now being reprimanded/fired for taking such a stance.”

So my friends, at home and abroad, the US has lost its way, and governs for the oligarchs, banksters, and warmongers. We act like a fascist nation taking territories and resources we want and stifling speech and expression at home. I forget who said this line, but it registers in my mind: "The business of China is business. The business of the US is war."
The only way I see to get off this war treadmill is economic collapse...which is very possible. The US is making a desperate attempt to save the USD global dominance, but the more we act like fascists, the more the USD is rejected.
I wish I could end on a more cheerful note, but the actions of our government are not good (and even evil). We must face the facts and act accordingly. If I was younger, I might consider leaving the country, but don't know of a country immune to the coming global changes. I hope to weather our degradation hidden as well as possible in the hills.
When most of us were kids, we practiced "duck and cover" in case of an atomic attack. We're sadly back to those times where our own aggression is driving the world to war.
As usual all insights, thoughts, and stories are welcomed in the comments below.
The thread is open!