Waiting for War

I think we're in WWIII...the Western imperialists vs. BRICS+. One question is will the US and Israel resume the attacks on Iran? I suspect so. Will Russia finally attack NATO countries aiding Ukraine's drone bombing of their oil infrastructure? Lavrov suggests they might. What about the US true desire to stifle China? Can they really suppress this rising power? I think not. And perhaps the key question, will the global economy collapse with the on set of these hot wars? All this and more below the fold...

Surprisingly, the ceasefire with Iran survived another week. Trump sent a letter to congress stating that since there's a ceasefire the "war" is over. We can hope. However, he continues amassing troops and equipment in the region, and he's already conducted two sneak attacks. So as today's title suggest, we wait for (more) war.

Let's begin with what I found to be and excellent review of our situation...
Strategic SUICIDE: The Iran TRAP That Ends US Hegemony | Prof. Steven Starr

(57 min) War Update with Prof. Steven Starr: The empire of violence is running out of ammunition. The pivot to strategic division of labor with the Europeans taking over the Ukraine war is not going fast enough, and the new war drains an atrophied US military corruption system. The days of the almighty Uncle Sam are over. And it's only gonna get worse.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:00:35 US bases hit and missiles drained
00:04:42 Gaza Lebanon and civilian toll
00:06:19 Oil blockade and global fallout
00:14:02 Religion and war politics
00:18:48 Iran escalation and nuclear risk
00:25:27 Russia drone attacks and Europe risk
00:29:06 Drone warfare and US military weakness
00:39:39 Next moves and wider war danger

Alastair Crooke: Iran War Is Now a Global War for World Order

(46 min) Alastair Crooke discusses how the Iran war has become a war of all-or-nothing: Iran is not going back to crippling sanctions and endless military threats, and it needs to break up the US-led international economic architecture. Time is on the side of Iran, and the US is becoming desperate. Crooke is a former British diplomat and the Founder of Conflicts Forum based in Beirut. He was formerly an advisor on Middle East issues to Javier Solana, the EU Foreign Policy Chief.
Alastair Crooke: https://conflictsforum.substack.com/

Pepe Escobar: Iran Just DEFIED Trump, Air Defenses LIGHT UP Over Tehran as War Blows UP

(61 min) Pepe Escobar discusses signals of the war on Iran restarting as CENTCOM briefs Trump on the US's "final blow" and Iran's air defenses activate overnight. The renowned geopolitical analyst and journalist of the multipolar world breaks down the huge geopolitical shift precipitated by this war and why it's quickly becoming existential for the empire.

Pepe's articles:
Pepe Escobar: Imperial Dire Straits - After Hormuz, Malacca
The US naval blockade of Iranian ports – and, at a distance, of the Strait of Hormuz itself – is just the start of a “chain reaction”, as it’s been defined by close advisers to the new Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
The deciding circle in Tehran, examining the chessboard, is keenly aware of mounting shipping lanes/supply chains trouble ahead: they see how INDOPACOM is targeting Iranian tankers from the Indian Ocean all the way to Southeast Asia.
What they see in Tehran is mirrored by what they see in Beijing. Enter the Strait of Malacca: connecting the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea; only 2.8 km at its narrowest point (much narrower than Hormuz); handling 30% of global maritime trade; transiting as many as 25 million barrels of oil a day, before the current blockade.
Crucially, transit through Malacca supplies 80% of all of China’s oil imports; and it’s vital as well for Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and several ASEAN nations.

The UAE power play
So MbZ – the sole owner of the UAE – decided to quit OPEC and OPEC+.
Epstein Syndicate minions are billing it as a sophisticated New Energy Order play.
Not really.
At face value, the move is sound. The UAE spent a fortune boosting its production capacity to 5 million barrels of oil a day.
Yet under OPEC+ rules, their quota was much lower, hovering around 3.4 million barrels a day.
So they went all out for monetization. Now, in theory, they can sell as much as they want, and as much as demand from Asian customers such as China, Japan and India remains high.

This a good analysis from understanding the flux in energy sources to the geopolitical forces at play. Einar Tangen: U.S. Destroying World Order to Keep Hegemony

(50 min) Tangen discusses how the US is dismantling the international system in a desperate effort to restore its global hegemony.

Amb. Chas Freeman: Israel’s Grand Plan Collapsed in Record Time

(65 min) The first comment under the clip:
The aim is not to win wars but to have endless wars to launder money from the tax payer to the elites. Julian Assange

IRAN WAR TAG TEAM /Lt Col Daniel Davis & Col Doug Macgregor

(29 min) From the comments:
Two Colonels guided by integrity who should be overseeing the Pentagon.
War doesn’t stay on the battlefield—it spreads through the global economy.”

COL. Douglas Macgregor : Does Trump Have Any Restraints?

(32 min) My mother always said, "We shall never have peace so long as war is more profitable." The American war industry is leading us to World War three and just imagine the profits from a world war.

Larry Johnson & Col. Wilkerson: It’s Over: Iran Just Wiped Out Trump’s Blockade - War IMMINENT

(72 min) This has become one of my favorite conversatons of the week.

Max Blumenthal with George Galloway

(24 min) Trump will be enjoying his demise, because he is profiting from it
How is Barron Trump, with learning difficulties, suddenly worth $120m? asks The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal. He's cashing in, like others around his father raking in billions, from insider knowledge and trading.

Trump And His Family Are Enriching Themselves

Another good interview with Max
Max Blumenthal : US Industry LOVES War (22 min)
Max explains why he calls the new White House Ballroom "The Bowel Room". It is because in the bowels (basement) will be a citizen spying center. (@ 4:25 min)

The Trump Surveillance State
by Andrew P. Napolitano
...the right to privacy is facing its gravest challenges since pre-colonial days, in Congress and the Supreme Court. Congress will wrestle with Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which expires in just days, and the court will hear a claim that general warrants are still viable.

Seyed M. Marandi: U.S. Attack On Iran Could Be Imminent

(51 min) Seyed Mohammad Marandi argues that another U.S. strike on Iran is likely imminent. Marandi expects huge escalations on both sides when the war restarts.Marandi is a professor at Tehran University and a former advisor to Iran's Nuclear Negotiation Team. (Recorded May 1, 2026)

US could attack Iran again during talks, warns Pezeshkian
Pezeshkian said that the US naval blockade of his country's ports was effectively an "extension of military operations" by Washington, in spite of an ongoing ceasefire between the two sides.
...Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, also warned that war on Iran may resume "soon."
"It is possible that we will soon need to act again to ensure the objectives are achieved," Katz said

We'll begin to wrap with a walk and talk with Alex.
Aye matey, we're pirates alright...
Pirate world as Trump declares Iran war RESET. Meloni, Sanchez face US punishment as EU gets smashed
Trump just called America a nation of pirates — and he meant it. In this May 2nd update from Limassol, Cyprus, Alex Christoforou of The Duran breaks down how the Trump administration is resetting the 60-day Iran war powers clock with a surprise Congressional letter declaring hostilities over, even as Iran sends progressively softer peace proposals that Trump keeps rejecting. Meanwhile, Europe is getting hit from every angle: 5,000 US troops pulled from Germany, threats to remove forces from Italy and Spain, a devastating 25% auto tariff on EU vehicles, and a deepening energy crisis driven by the Hormuz blockade and continued Russia sanctions. A stunning Financial Times investigation reveals how Trump's sons quietly invested in a Kazakhstan tungsten mining venture that landed a $1.6 billion US government contract — a story that raises serious questions about conflict of interest at the highest levels of power. Is this the new normal for Western governance, or is the entire global order shifting into uncharted pirate territory?
00:00:00 - Introduction & Odessa Massacre Anniversary
00:02:02 - Trump Calls America "Pirates" in Florida Speech
00:03:47 - Trump Sends Letter to Congress: Iran War Over
00:04:34 - 60-Day War Powers Clock Reset Explained
00:05:38 - Iran's Peace Offer Rejected by Trump
00:07:00 - Iran Softens Deal Again — Wall Street Journal Report
00:08:43 - US Withdraws 5,000 Troops from Germany
00:11:05 - Troop Threats: Italy, Spain & Meloni's Punishment
00:12:46 - US Delays Weapons to Ukraine Due to Iran War
00:15:37 - Trump Kids & Kazakhstan Tungsten Mining Deal
00:23:49 - Trump's 25% Auto Tariff on EU Vehicles
00:26:38 - EU Energy Crisis: Hormuz, Russia Sanctions & LNG
00:28:20 - Hungary New PM Appoints Brother-in-Law as Justice Minister
00:30:00 - EU Threatens Slovakia's Fico with Orban Playbook
00:31:47 - Bulgaria Moves to Exit Ukraine Security Agreement
00:34:20 - Spirit Airlines Bankruptcy & Summer Travel Chaos
00:36:36 - Clown World: Trump Pool Memes & Merz vs. Anonymous Trolls

How about the domestic front?
MTG lives in nearby Rome, GA. She seems to have awoken from her MAGA daze.
She spoke at Ron Paul's event this week...

(35 min) She was quite popular in the room.

And now for something completely different...
People and their creativity. This couple has maximized their tiny home with moveable components.
Tall couple's Big small home: how 1 space gets infinite configurations

(23 min) In Scott and Susan Burbank's tiny house, almost everything moves — even the kitchen, just not the kitchen sink. Cabinets roll. Counters roll. The kitchen rolls from indoors to outdoors and back. The floors are paper, which is what lets it all slide. The result: a 600-square-foot home that reconfigures into whatever room they need.
The Burbanks were still living in their converted semi-truck — the "penthouse on wheels" we filmed years ago — when they bought a cheap manufactured home in a Tucson RV park and rebuilt it into what they call the XLT — Xtra Large Tinyhouse. Just over 600 square feet, built from a tiny house shell with an "Arizona room" added on the side. Bigger than most tiny homes, still a small footprint.
But the footprint does more. Because nothing is bolted down, the same room becomes a 600-square-foot walk-in pantry, then a 600-square-foot walk-in closet, then a sewing studio where Susan made their couches and the mattress for their 6'7" husband's custom Murphy bed. Dinner for two or twelve, depending on where the counters end up that night.
The Tucson RV park is part of the story. As Scott puts it: "This community is kind of special… it's one of the few places in Tucson where you can put a tiny house. In the city limits, you can't build a tiny house if it's on wheels.
But you can if it's an RV. So we technically qualify as an RV." The Burbanks — boat people from the Pacific Northwest — landed in the desert after four years on the road visiting Susan's 93-year-old mother. The desert grew on them.
They've since moved out of the rig and into this, which, as they put it, is not your grandma's tiny home.

The last few weeks I've focused on our endless wars because I find them the most important story. Of course there are other economic ramifications as well that are a consequence of endless spending on endless wars. Despite, or perhaps because of the coming hardships, people's creativity and ability to adapt will become more important. The times are indeed a'changin' and we will have to do so as well. As I often say, treasure every day, hold tight to your friends and neighbors, spend time in nature, and roll with the times.

Have a good Sunday. I look forward to your thoughts and stories below. The thread is open...