Winter Storm

Much of the US is literally in a winter storm, and perhaps the entire world is figuratively in a winter storm...especially if we start a hot war with Iran. I think all the countries of the world are facing an economic storm this year, after all gold just hit $5000 and silver $100/oz. The big happening in the west this week was the Davos WEF elite meeting. Trump, Carney, and Zelensky were the primary entertainment at the globalist gala. Mark Ruta (Rutti tutti as Pepe calls him) seems to have given Trump carte blanche to set up Greenland bases, by passing Denmark and Greenland for permission or even input. Trump announced he plans to take over Cuba by the end of the year as well. It is a new imperial colonial era, I guess. More news below the fold.

Hopefully I've got power today. If not, I can use a back-up battery for the computer off and on during the day. I hope everyone sailed through the night with no weather repercussions and with electric power intact. Tomorrow is predicted to stay below freezing all day, so I hope any ice melts today. If not it is another couple of days hanging around the house. Not such a terrible fate.
Good news! I still have power. Oh, for the flow of electrons. This morning it's 33F borderline ice, but the right side of that border.

So let's look at some news...and begin with the Davos WEF meeting.
The real “rupture” in Davos Pepe Escobar
Whatever the barbarians may be potting, the fact that matters is that China is already deep into the next phase, where it is expected to replace the United States as the world’s primary consumer market.
Davos 2026 was a demented kaleidoscope. The only possible way to wallow through the mire was to put on the headphones and resort to the Band of Gypsys smashing sonic barriers, and drowning a frankly terryfying series of events, including a Palantir-BlackRock connection, Big Tech meets Big Finance; the “Master Plan” for Gaza; and the acute discombobulation in neo-Caligula’s rant, here in the 3-minute version.
Then there was what the fragmented West’s mainstream media erected as a visionary speech: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s mini-opus magnum, complete with a – what else – Thucydides quote (“The strong do what they can, and the weak suffer what they must”) to illustrate the “rupture” of the “rules-based international order”, which was already a Dead Man Not Walking at least for a year now.
And how not to laugh at the extremely rich notion of a letter by 400 “patriotic” millionaires and billionaires directed to heads of state in Davos claiming for more “social justice”. Translation: they are terrified – in Paranoia Paradise mode – by the “rupture”, actually the advanced collapse of the neoliberalism ethos that enriched them in the first place.

Mark Carney of Canada gave the most honest presentation. (which pissed off Trump):
Here a transcript of his speech
Here's a few highlights:

For decades, countries like Canada prospered under what we called the rules-based international order. We joined its institutions, we praised its principles, we benefited from its predictability. And because of that we could pursue values-based foreign policies under its protection.
We knew the story of the international rules-based order was partially false. That the strongest would exempt themselves when convenient. That trade rules were enforced asymmetrically. And we knew that international law applied with varying rigour depending on the identity of the accused or the victim.
This fiction was useful. And American hegemony, in particular, helped provide public goods: open sea lanes, a stable financial system, collective security and support for frameworks for resolving disputes.
...
Let me be direct: We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.
...recently, great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons. Tariffs as leverage. Financial infrastructure as coercion. Supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited.
You cannot "live within the lie" of mutual benefit through integration when integration becomes the source of your subordination.
...
And there's another truth: if great powers abandon even the pretense of rules and values for the unhindered pursuit of their power and interests, the gains from "transactionalism" will become harder to replicate. Hegemons cannot continually monetize their relationships.
...
On Arctic sovereignty, we stand firmly with Greenland and Denmark and fully support their unique right to determine Greenland's future.
...
Canada strongly opposes tariffs over Greenland and calls for focused talks to achieve our shared objectives of security and prosperity in the Arctic.
...
We know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn't mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy.
But we believe that from the fracture, we can build something better, stronger, more just.

The Central Banker Carney is calling out the hypocrisy... surprise, surprise!
Watch/listen to his full speech here (15 min).

Trump didn't react very well.
“Take Your Words Back” — Trump Threaten Macron and Carney Over their WEF Speech in Davos (15 min)
At the 56th World Economic Forum in Davos, U.S. President Donald Trump slams European leaders, mocking French President Macron and Canadian PM Mark Carney. He highlights unfair global drug pricing, boasts of U.S. economic growth, and criticizes EU bureaucracy while warning against subsidizing the world. Trump’s fiery remarks spark debate over international trade, alliances, and global leadership.
The Biggest Moments From Trump's Davos 2026 Address (10 min) Here's a 3 min version.
Transcript here.

Jeff Sachs had an interesting take...

(36 min) Jeffrey Sachs discusses how Davos Reveals a Fractured West: U.S. Empire is Unhinged, Canada Pushes Back, Europe Falls in Line
A synopsis of the interview.

He was also on with the Judge this week.
Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Diplomacy by Insult — Trump and Norway (30 min)

Did you see Trump's letter to Norway's president?

“Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America,” and goes on to say Trump believes he has “done more for NATO than any other person since its founding” and that “now, NATO should do something for the United States,” before linking that grievance to Greenland with the line, “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland,” and asking rhetorically why Denmark has a “right of ownership”

I don't think Trump has ever been sincere about peace, look at all his aggression around the world and here at home.

Trump comes down hard on getting Greenland.
NATO and Trump negotiate Greenland without Greenland/Denmark

(29 min)

Trump Says Greenland Deal Gives US ‘Total Access’ Without the US ‘Paying Anything’
On Wednesday, Trump met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to discuss Greenland. Following the meeting, Trump announced that they had reached the “framework” of an agreement for the Danish colony, without providing details.
A Danish politician told The New York Times that Denmark was willing to give the US sovereignty over small portions of Greenland to build military bases.
The new agreement does not appear to be substantially different from the 1951 treaty that governs the US relationship with Greenland. Under the pact, the US is allowed to build new bases and expand its existing ones in the Danish colony.
Trump has argued that the US must seize Greenland from Denmark to protect the colony from Russian or Chinese invasion.

Greenland is not a prize.
The Inuit of Greenland call their country Kalaallit Nunaat: ‘Land of the Kalaallit’ (Greenlanders). When Trump and his allies speak of Greenland, they never speak of the people: the Kalaallit. Instead, Trump speaks of the strategic importance of the island and about what the US government sees as the perils of its Chinese and Russian capture (never mind that neither China nor Russia have made any claims over the territory). Greenland is always a place that someone else must hold, but not the Kalaallit. For people like Trump, or indeed for generations of Danish prime ministers (despite soft statements about the path to self-determination), the Kalaallit have no role as political subjects.
Greenland grew in strategic and economic importance to Denmark after the 1794 discovery of cryolite, a key mineral used in the production of aluminium. This extractive focus continued after the 1956 discovery of uranium and rare earth elements in Kuannersuit (Kvanefjeld) in southern Greenland. In 1941, Denmark’s envoy in Washington, Henrik Kauffmann, signed an agreement that allowed the US to establish bases and stations in Greenland. In 1943, the US placed a weather station at Thule (Dundas) known as Bluie West 6, and in 1946 it added a small airstrip. After the Second World War, Denmark was an early entrant to the US effort to build a military bloc against the Soviet Union. In fact, it was a founder of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (1949) and then signed the Defence of Greenland Agreement (1951) that allowed the US to build the Thule Air Base under the codename Operation Blue Jay (now Pituffik Space Base). The base became useful not only as a place to watch the USSR, but also for missile warning, missile defence, and space surveillance – a strategic foothold that has grown more consequential as Greenland’s uranium and rare earth deposits have become central to the global contest for critical minerals.
As Greenland’s ice sheets have melted in recent decades due to the climate catastrophe, the country’s deep geology has become easier to survey and to mine. Feasibility studies and drilling in the early to mid-2010s (especially 2011–2015) showed that the land was teeming with graphite, lithium, rare earth elements, and uranium. As the United States imposed its New Cold War on China, it had to seek new sources for rare earths given China’s dominance of rare-earth refining and downstream magnet production. The island became not only a source of minerals or a geographical location for power projection, but also a critical node in the US-led supply-chain security architecture.

The Duran looks at Zelensky's speech.

(29 min)

Perhaps the Greenland issue is resolved? However, Iran's fate is in limbo.

(30 min) Alastair Crooke : Trump’s Iran Blunders — and False Hopes

AMB. Chas Freeman : Do Any Allies Still Trust Washington?

(23 min) Remember how the US was pretending to negotiate with Iran before bombing it?

More from Chas with Nima:
Amb. Chas Freeman: Iran Vows Huge Response to US-Israel Attack (54 min)

Max Blumenthal : Did U.S. Policy Deliberately Harm Civilians in Iran?

(26 min)

An attack seems inevitable.

Trump says US ‘armada’ moving towards Iran
President warns Washington is watching Tehran closely as US naval forces move into the region

U.S vs Iran War: Trump DOUBLES DOWN on Attacking Iran; Warns of Huge Military Near to BLOW Khamenei

(5 min) Speaking to Reporters aboard Air Force One, U.S President Donald Trump on Iran said, revealing a major U.S. naval buildup moving toward the region as a warning. While stressing he prefers diplomacy, Trump says a massive fleet is in place “just in case,” signaling readiness amid rising tensions and ongoing violence.
Trump added that the U.S. pressure helped stop mass executions in Iran, calling it a critical warning moment. He avoids direct calls for regime change but suggests Tehran understands U.S. demands. As talks remain possible, Trump emphasizes strength, surveillance, and preparedness for any outcome.
The mass executions Trump is so concerned about are CIA, MI6, and Mossad backed protesters.

Of course all this aggression against Iran is at the behest of Israel.
Israel Boosts Funding to Propagandize Americans
Israeli officials see an existential threat in waning U.S. support for their country.
...
The proposed budget, quadruple last year’s allocation, also encourages coordination between government ministries and outside contractors, or “civil society organizations,” to disseminate Israeli propaganda abroad. It comes as Israel reportedly moves to renew and expand its memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the United States, extending it for up to 20 years rather than the traditional ten and likely securing at least $4 billion annually from U.S. taxpayers. Even as Israel’s assault on Gaza slows in pace, its government continues to require uninterrupted U.S. financing, weapons transfers, and diplomatic cover to sustain its occupation, prop up its U.S.-taxpayer-dependent domestic defense industry, and prepare for future regional conflicts, including an openly telegraphed war with Iran.
Israel has hemorrhaged U.S. public support after months of live-streamed mass killing in Gaza and growing international exposure of Israel’s treatment of Christians and Muslims in its occupied territories. Yet because Israel remains structurally dependent on U.S. political backing and taxpayer funds for its survival, the collapse of American public support represents an existential problem, one that Israeli leaders hope to solve through a boosted propaganda budget.

Meanwhile the murder of Palestinians continues unabated.
Israeli minister approves gun licences for 18 illegal West Bank settlements
According to the UN, more than 1,800 Israeli settler attacks against Palestinians – about five per day – were documented in 2025.
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has approved the issuance of gun licences to Israelis in 18 additional illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, as the right-wing government headed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes to expand illegal outposts that undermine prospects for a two-state solution.

Over 230,000 women, girls in Gaza face limited health access amid continued Israeli violence: UN
Number includes nearly 15,000 pregnant women facing limited access to reproductive health services, says spokesperson
Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric cited the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which warned that “there is an increased risk of gender-based violence, child marriage, and exploitation of women and girls.”
He added that damage to health facilities, safe spaces and clinics, combined with displacement and flooding, has “sharply limited access to psychosocial support and medical care.”

Looks like Syria is another hot spot.
Barrack meets SDF leader after giving Damascus 'green light' to attack Syria's Kurdish regions

Syrian forces have released ISIS prisoners from SDF jails and continue to attack the Kobani countryside
...
Despite the agreement, clashes between the Syrian army and the SDF continued in some locations.
Syrian forces attacked the town of Sarrin in the southern countryside of Kobani (Ain al-Arab) using heavy weapons and tanks on Thursday.
The US and Israeli green light for Sharaa to attack the SDF came as a surprise, as the US and Israel have partnered with the Kurdish-dominated SDF since 2015, helping it capture large swathes of territory in northeast Syria from ISIS.
The US and Israel wished to use the Kurds to keep Syria divided and pressure then-president Bashar al-Assad to leave office.
But the US and Israel were also backing Sharaa and his armed group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which established an autonomous region of its own in northwest Syria’s Idlib Governorate.

With friends like us, who needs enemies. More times than not, we throw our allies under the bus.

Scrapping Support for Syria’s Kurds, US Has Chance to Boost Turkey Ties

The US has effectively declared an end to their military support for the Syrian Kurdish SDF is causing no small amount of resentment in the Kurdish community, which after a long-term partnership feels that they are watching a “betrayal” in real time, as Syrian military forces overrun the Syrian Kurdish northeast and the US cheers them on to “unify” the nation.
...
After spending months warning the Kurds that federalism doesn’t work, Barrack has spent recent days accusing them of trying to drag Israel into the fight over the future of Syria’s Kurds, which he argued is an exclusively “internal Syria” matter.
Turkey stands to gain substantially economically from a centralized Syrian state that is its puppet in all but name, and Israel is pretty openly opposed to that idea, arguing it threatens regional security. The SDF has some historical support from Israel, indeed, and at this point it would be unsurprising to see them trying to get the Israeli involved in the conflict, because they are seemingly the one ally that they have left now that the US has chosen sides.

The US way, "use and dispose".

Israel again violates Syria's sovereignty, opens fire on shepherds in Quneitra
Israeli forces have been carrying out near-daily incursions into Syrian territory, particularly in the Quneitra countryside.
Israeli forces have been carrying out near-daily incursions into Syrian territory, particularly in the Quneitra countryside, detaining civilians, setting up checkpoints, questioning those passing through and destroying farmland.
After the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime in late 2024, Israel expanded its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by seizing the demilitarised buffer zone, a move that violated the 1974 agreement with Syria.
The latest violations occurred despite an agreement reached earlier this month between Syria and Israel to establish a US-supervised communication mechanism aimed at reducing military escalation and facilitating coordination, according to a trilateral statement issued following talks in Paris.

What about Venezuela?

The House of Representatives failed to pass legislation that would block President Donald Trump from waging war in Venezuela.
The vote ended in a tie, 215-215, with two Republicans voting with all Democrats for the War Powers Resolution on Venezuela. One Republican did not vote. The legislation was cosponsored by Thomas Massie (R-KY) and over 120 Democratic Representatives.
The vote caused a commotion on the floor as Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) held the vote open for 30 minutes. One Democratic member shouted at Johnson to close the vote. Voting was closed after Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) arrived to cast the vote that killed the legislation.

U.S. Establishes Fund to Control All Venezuelan Oil Revenue
The money is being held in U.S. accounts and released at the discretion of President Trump, Semafor reports. ...
Last week, reports emerged that the United States had sold the first cargo of Venezuelan crude it received from the country after Maduro’s ousting. The sale reportedly fetched $500 million.
The proceeds of the sale were out into bank accounts under the control of the U.S. federal government. A source told Reuters at least one of these accounts was in Qatar, which is considered a neutral location “where funds can move with U.S. approval and without risk of seizure.”
Venezuela has already received $300 million from oil sales, Delcy Rodriguez, the country’s acting president approved by the U.S., said earlier this week.
“We should inform you that we have gotten funds, from the sale of oil, and we have gotten, of the first $500 ?million, $300 million,” Rodriguez told the audience at an event in the capital Caracas.
The funds will be used to prop up the local currency, the bolivar, the acting Venezuelan president said.

The War in the US...

ICE Executes Beloved ICU Nurse in Minneapolis — Nation Erupts, Government Lies Exposed.
Alex Pretti, a U.S. citizen and an ICU nurse at a Veterans Affairs hospital known for his care and compassion, was shot and killed Saturday morning in Minneapolis. Family members and colleagues say he was participating in protests against federal immigration actions and was filming or attempting to intervene when federal officers confronted him.

“The murders of unarmed civilians on the streets of Minneapolis, including the killing today of the intensive-care nurse Alex Jeffrey Pretti, would not come as a shock to Iraqis in Fallujah or Afghans in Helmand province. They were terrorized by heavily armed American execution squads for decades. It would not come as a shock to any of the students I teach in prison. Militarized police in poor urban neighborhoods kick down doors without warrants and kill with the same impunity and lack of accountability. What the rest of us are facing now, is what Aimé Césaire called imperial boomerang. Empires, when they decay, employ the savage forms of control on those they subjugate abroad, or those demonized by the wider society in the name of law and order, on the homeland. The tyranny Athens imposed on others, Thucydides noted, it finally, with the collapse of Athenian democracy, imposed on itself. But before we became the victims of state terror, we were accomplices. Before we expressed moral outrage at the indiscriminate taking of innocent lives, we tolerated, and often celebrated, the same Gestapo tactics, as long as they were directed at those who lived in the nations we occupied or poor people of color. We sowed the wind, now we will reap the whirlwind. The machinery of terror, perfected on those we abandoned and betrayed, including the Palestinians in Gaza, is ready for us.”

Federal Agents Kill Man at Point-Blank Range in Minneapolis as Protests Are Met with Tear Gas: Fascism Unfolds in Real Time
This is the third shooting involving federal agents since the January 7 murder of Renee Good.
This slide into fascism is happening in real time. With this and after the federal government has made clear it will investigate not the agents who shoot, but the people who step in to defend their fellow citizens, we’re seeing even more erosion of public trust in federal institutions. With many leaving as a result. Today An FBI supervisor in the Minneapolis field office has resigned in protest over the Justice Department’s handling of the investigation into the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer on January 7, igniting outrage and deepening mistrust in federal law-enforcement accountability.

Reporter Raided By FBI Lost Contact With Over 1,000 Sources
Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson says the FBI’s seizure of all of her devices has eliminated her “ability to collect information and publish news stories.”
“I no longer have access to my more than 1,200 Signal contacts or communications with any of my sources. I literally cannot contact them without access to my devices. Nor can I review my past messages with them on Signal,” according to Natanson.
Natanson also shares that the FBI essentially obtained “access to the Post newsroom” because she used Ellipsis on her computer. Ellipsis is a content management system that “provides an enormous window into The Post’s journalism, with all stories in progress.”
The FBI raided Natanson’s home in Virginia on January 14. Agents seized her work laptop, personal laptop, iPhone, a terabyte hard drive, and Garmin running watch. The search warrant that the government obtained indicated that the raid was connected to an Espionage Act prosecution against a Pentagon contractor named Aurelio Perez-Lugones.
A week later, the Post urged the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to intervene and halt the FBI from analyzing her electronics. They argued [PDF] the “wholesale seizure of a reporter’s confidential newsgathering materials violates the Constitution’s protections for free speech and a free press and should not be allowed to stand.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge William B. Porter granted the Post’s motion for a “standstill order” that day, but he did not order the return of property that the FBI seized.

State Dept Memos Admit It Had Almost No Grounds to Deport Pro-Palestine Students
Newly unsealed memos by the State Department on the Trump administration’s push to deport pro-Palestine student advocates have confirmed that officials knew the cases against the students were shaky and likely to run up against their First Amendment rights.
The documents were unsealed by a federal judge on Thursday. The case, brought by academic groups, has been full of bombshell revelations on the role of top officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the campaign dubbed as “unconstitutional” by the judge last week.
The documents concerned five students who have been targeted by the Trump administration: Mahmoud Khalil, Rümeysa Öztürk, Mohsen Mahdawi, Yunseo Chung, and Badar Khan Suri. The memos were released in response to a request by news outlets to unseal them for the public interest.
In every case, the memos showed that the administration was seeking to remove students over some form of advocacy for Palestinian rights amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Let's wrap with one of my favorite conversations of the week:
Col. Larry Wilkerson and Larry Johnson with Nima.

(69 min) Larry C. Johnson & Col. Larry Wilkerson: Trump’s War Gamble Just Blew Up in His Face
This conversation touches on almost all of today's topics plus more.

As usual I didn't get to many stories. I neglected Trump's so called "Peace Board", perhaps better named Bored with Peace. The wild metals market and its reflection on the general economy would also have been a good topic. However, there's always next week. I hope you'll chime in with your favorite story of the week or insights on the many topics in today's WW. Have a great Sunday and take care!