Morning

Another busy week. Last calf successfully hit the ground running. No more birthing worries and late night checks until next year. Keep a magnet on the refrigerator with the message "Old Farmers never die, they just go off to the funny farm." Fresh set of challenges daily keeps the mind and body active.

My favorite video of the week. A fresh set of questions for Col Wilkerson. It appears in 2009 major countries of the world participated in a simulated game of "what if the Straight of Hormuz was closed by terrorists". General agreement was US would keep the Straight open. Ironically 17 years later US and favorite partner are playing the role of the terrorists in real time action. Our leaders act as if surprised and frustrated the rest of the world is not supporting them.

Political Assassinations, the Unexpected Player in the Iran War and Israel's Latest Bombing Campaign (56:34 min)

Chapters:
0:00 China’s Role in the Iran War
1:58 The Pentagon’s Plans Untold to the President
12:37 Does the US Need a Threat to Survive?
16:35 Who Killed JFK?
19:46 Charlie Kirk's Suspicious Murder Investigation
21:46 The US and Israel’s Attacks on China Brief remarks on discussion on the international Oil The Disruption Exercise held in Beijing in 2009. He and Chase Freeman were participants.
25:50 Will We See a Global Depression?
29:09 The Future of Israel and Iran
33:05 The Real Reason Israel Is Invading Lebanon
35:02 Why Is Trump Listening to Netanyahu and Bombing Iran?
36:31 Charlie Kirk and America’s Relationship With Israel
40:30 Why People Lose Faith in the System
42:44 The Future of America and AI
47:34 Nuclear Weapons and Trump’s Attacks on the Pope
55:59 Wilkerson and Tucker Make Fun of Ted Cruz

China is starting to make the pivot for more forceful action against foreign meddling.

Decouple from China? Beijing now has a law against it Asia Times April 29, 2026

At its core, the law extends regulatory scrutiny beyond traditional areas such as national security reviews and antitrust enforcement to encompass a wide range of commercial conduct that may be interpreted as undermining China’s supply chain stability.

This includes decisions on sourcing, production allocation, technology transfers and contractual relationships with Chinese partners. The ambiguity embedded in the concept of “supply chain stability” creates a broad discretionary space for regulators, increasing legal uncertainty for foreign firms.

Actions that might previously have been considered standard business adjustments – such as diversifying suppliers, relocating production to alternative jurisdictions, or scaling down China-based operations – can now trigger regulatory attention if they are perceived to contribute to supply chain disruption.

China’s Manus AI case sets red lines to bar ‘Singapore washing’ Asia Times May 1, 2026

“Under Article 4, investments involving national defense security must be declared regardless of foreign ownership levels, while in key sectors such as important information technology, internet products and services, and critical technologies, any foreign investor gaining actual control falls within the review scope,” it said.

It added that Manus’s general-purpose AI agent falls squarely within these key technology categories, and that a takeover by Meta would have resulted in actual control, and that such transactions are required by law to be proactively declared by the companies involved. It said Manus did not declare the transaction to the Chinese authorities.
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In the past, Chinese tech firms often pursued dual listings, in Hong Kong and on NASDAQ, to fund expansion. Since October 2024, however, US restrictions have barred American funds from investing in China’s AI sector, giving rise to the workaround called “Singapore washing.” The term refers to spinning off or relocating to Singapore to raise capital.

In Manus’s case, the company severed ties with China to secure Meta’s investment, but that approach has now proven ineffective.

China’s sanctions pushback marks a new phase in the oil war with Washington Russia Times May 6, 2026

On May 2, the Ministry of Commerce of China issued an injunction to block US restrictions against five independent Chinese oil refineries that have been sanctioned for importing Iranian oil and utilizing so-called ‘shadow fleets’.
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The legal groundwork has been in place for some time: a local law against foreign sanctions was passed in 2021, but remained largely symbolic due to the absence of implementing regulations. The delay made sense: the law was adopted during US President Donald Trump’s first term. After the thaw in US-China relations under [former US President Joe] Biden, it was put on hold. Ultimately, the directive to activate this law was only signed by Chinese Premier Li Qiang in March 2025.

Finally, on April 14, 2026, China implemented the Regulations on Countering Improper Extraterritorial Jurisdiction by Foreign States. These regulations contain 20 articles, including provisions that allow the Chinese government to add individuals and organizations involved in discriminatory measures against China to its sanctions list. Those included in the list could be expelled from China or denied entry; their assets could be frozen, and they may be banned from doing business with any individuals or organizations in China. ...
For the past four years, Russia has been calling on its partners to take action: finding an alternative to the dollar, departing from American control over international trade, and replacing semi-clandestine payment schemes with a solid, transparent, and reliable system. And for the past four years, Russia’s trading partners shrugged off these calls, implying, ‘You want it? You go do it. We don’t want problems with the US.’ Iran found itself in a similar position, but unlike Russia, it relied on China as its de facto sole buyer.

Now, ironically, it’s Trump who is forcing China to change this approach. In doing so, he risks shooting himself in the foot, since his actions may provoke a new, tougher, and more decisive Chinese policy. Beijing has all the political, economic, and financial tools at its disposal to make this happen.

Global Surveillance

Global telecom networks 'hijacked' by Israeli firms for mass surveillance operation: Report The Cradle May 4, 2026

Israeli telecommunication firms were used to track mobile phone users more than 15,000 times in more than 10 countries over the past three years, Haaretz reported on 4 May.

The Israeli newspaper cited an investigation by Citizen Lab, a digital research group, that described two separate operations to track the locations of mobile phone users. The operations were likely run by commercial firms selling surveillance technologies to governments around the world.
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The first operation used geolocation technology to track targets using networks belonging to two Israeli companies, 019Mobile and Partner Communications.

Researchers identified more than 500 location-tracking attempts between November 2022 and 2025 across Thailand, South Africa, Norway, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and other African countries using the two companies' networks.
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A second, more sophisticated operation involved a Swiss telecom company that allowed firms such as Rayzone to impersonate cellular carriers and connect to mobile networks to track users across the world.
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Citizen Lab's findings showed that spyware firms are also using newer signaling systems to track users, even though the newer systems were designed to be more secure and less susceptible to surveillance than legacy ones.

Digital Surveillance Is Becoming the New Form of Government Power Armstrong Economics May 6, 2026

The latest revelations involving the Department of Homeland Security demanding Google surrender data tied to a Canadian citizen demonstrate just how far governments are pushing digital surveillance powers beyond traditional legal and national boundaries. According to reports from WIRED, DHS used a “customs summons” under the Tariff Act of 1930 to demand location records, account activity, and identifying information connected to a Canadian man who had criticized ICE online following controversial immigration enforcement incidents earlier this year.

The individual reportedly had not entered the United States in more than a decade,
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People need to understand the implications because this goes far beyond one investigation or one political controversy. Governments are increasingly treating access to private technology infrastructure as a gateway to global surveillance authority. If your information passes through American technology companies, authorities now appear willing to argue they possess legal grounds to access portions of that data regardless of where you physically reside.
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DHS issued what is known as a customs summons, which functions as an administrative subpoena that does not require prior approval from a judge or grand jury.