In a display of presidential empathy that will surely resonate with every American filling their tank at $3.5 a gallon, Donald Copperfield — fresh from describing the bombing of a nation of 90 million people as a "minor excursion" — has now reassured the public that surging oil prices are merely "a very small price to pay." A very small price, naturally, paid exclusively by the American consumer, the trucking industry, the airline sector, and anyone who heats their home with oil, while the architects of Operation Epic Fury pay nothing whatsoever. The magic trick, executed with characteristic “The Manipulator In Chief’ flair, involves making the distinction between who orders the excursion and who pays for it disappear entirely from public consciousness.

MIGA — Make Israel Great Always — marches forward, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, gasoline prices climb toward levels last seen during peak pandemic chaos, and the American public is invited to consider this a patriotic contribution rather than an involuntary tax.

As Confucius might observe: "The leader who calls someone else's sacrifice a very small price has never paid it himself."

Even before the price of energy stirs, even the Middle Kingdom feels the ripple. In China, consumer inflation quietly accelerated to 1.3% in February, the fastest pace in more than three years, helped by a lively Lunar New Year spending spree. Factory deflation also softened, with producer prices falling less sharply, while core inflation rose to 1.8%, the highest since 2019. The lesson is simple: when households celebrate, prices tend to follow. Yet the People’s Bank of China remains cautious, aware that rising oil prices may bring further inflation while external turbulence threatens to spill into domestic markets. Still, after several years of stubborn deflation, one month of festive spending does not change the deeper story—much like a grand banquet during the New Year does not mean the granaries are suddenly overflowing.

As Master Kong might gently remind the impatient merchant: profits grow not merely from rising costs, but from the noble art of persuading customers to pay them. In China, despite fierce competition and lingering deflation, companies seem to practice this art rather well. The spread between Core CPI and Core PPI has remained positive since August 2022, and in February it reached its widest level since January of the last Jubilee year. In plain terms, consumer prices are proving more resilient than producers’ costs—an encouraging omen for corporate margins. Thus, the wise investor, sipping tea and observing calmly, may conclude that valuations in the Middle Kingdom still have room to stretch their legs.

In a nutshell, in China, a festive Lunar New Year lifted inflation and softened factory deflation, while the widening gap between Core CPI and Core PPI suggests companies are still passing costs to consumers—an encouraging sign that corporate margins, and perhaps valuations, still have room to rise.

In a development that suggests even the architects of Operation Epic Fury are beginning to question the optics of victory laps, the founders of the Board of Peace — those tireless champions of bombing for democracy who assured the world that higher oil prices are a very small price to pay for a minor excursion into Persia — are reportedly skipping a visit to their most cherished ally in the Middle East.

https://t.me/rtnews/139294

Having spent the better part of the past week declaring Epic Fury an unqualified triumph while ammunition stocks quietly depleted, tanker traffic through Hormuz collapsed 90%, gasoline prices climbed toward levels last seen during peak chaos, the Board of Peace has apparently concluded that a victory tour of the region might raise questions they are not yet prepared to answer. As the Ministry of Winning would remind us: this is not an absence of confidence — it is simply strategic scheduling.

As bombs continued to fall across multiple theatres, unity within the “coalition of the willing” around the Ukrainian Cokehead began to show visible cracks. The latest diplomatic clash between Hungary and Ukraine erupted after Hungarian authorities detained several Ukrainian nationals traveling in armoured vehicles allegedly carrying tens of millions in cash and kilograms of gold — a discovery Kyiv promptly described as “state banditism,” while Budapest opened a money-laundering investigation and prepared expulsions.

https://gwaramedia.com/en/kyiv-accuses-hungary-of-state-banditism-after-it-detains-7-bank-workers-over-alleged-money-laundering-budapest-calls-bank-staff-ukrainian-gold-convoy-2/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=rd_post&utm_campaign=news_post_mar

The dispute quickly became politically explosive. While Eurostan leadership continues to frame the crisis primarily through the lens of the war with Russia, Hungary has approached it through a far simpler metric: energy security. Budapest blocked a €90 billion EU package for Ukraine, arguing that it cannot finance a government whose actions are disrupting Hungary’s economic lifeline. The exchange of public threats between Kyiv and Budapest only underscored the breakdown in diplomatic language. When oil stops flowing, political solidarity tends to evaporate, leaving Brussels to demonstrate whether the “union” functions as a collective alliance — or merely as a collection of governments expected to comply.

https://www.unian.ua/politics/povidomlyu-nomer-orbana-zsu-yakshcho-vin-ne-rozblokuye-kredit-na-90-mlrd-yevro-zelenskiy-13305723.html

As Confucius observed: "The wise man who seeks to end a theocracy by killing its leader should first inquire who inherits the throne." Less than ten days into Operation Epic Fury, the Zionist coalition's campaign to liberate Persia from its theocrats has accomplished something that 47 years of Islamic Republic governance could not: it has transformed a revolutionary theocracy into a hereditary monarchy, with the son of the Supreme Leader killed in the US-Israeli strikes — elected by the Assembly of Experts in a "decisive vote" that took place hours before anyone was informed. Iran, it appears, overthrew the Pahlavi monarchy in 1979 to eventually institute a Khamenei monarchy in 2026, with the IRGC — that sprawling military-economic empire controlling 40% of Iran's economy — immediately pledging obedience to the new Supreme Leader who is, conveniently, already close to their institutional interests.

The regime decapitation strategy, executed with the confidence of men who had never read a chapter on Persian political succession, has produced not the popular uprising Washington promised but a consolidation of hard power under a younger, IRGC-aligned leader with a global investment empire stretching from Tehran to Dubai to Frankfurt.

As the Master might conclude: "The surgeon who removes the head expecting the body to dissolve has confused anatomy with politics — and the operation, as always, has produced precisely the opposite of its intended result."

As everyone knows "The enemy of my enemy requires no introduction — only a telephone and a few hours." It took precisely the time needed to brew a pot of tea for Tsar Vladimir to extend his congratulations to Tehran's new Supreme Leader, offering solidarity to "our Iranian friends" with the warmth of a man who had been quietly positioning for exactly this moment throughout 2025 while China stockpiled discounted Persian crude and the IRGC consolidated its grip on 40% of Iran's economy. The great alliance between the Bear and the Persian — cemented not by ideology but by the shared experience of Western sanctions, regime change attempts, and the dawning recognition that the unipolar moment is over — has found its newest chapter in a phone call that lasted mere hours after the Assembly of Experts rendered its decisive vote.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/putin-congratulates-new-supreme-leader-offers-solidarity-to-our-iranian-friends/

Washington set out to isolate Iran, weaken Russia, and reassert imperial dominance over the world's most critical energy chokepoint. It has instead accelerated the consolidation of a Eurasian axis that controls a significant portion of the world's hydrocarbon reserves, nuclear arsenals, and overland trade routes. As the Master might conclude: "The empire that creates its adversaries' alliances through its own aggression has not conducted foreign policy — it has conducted a recruitment drive."

In a dispute that the Ministry of Algorithmic Liberation would classify as a routine procurement disagreement, the Department of War — led by the ex-Fox News talk show host turned War Secretary — has demanded that Anthropic remove the safety restrictions on its AI model Claude, specifically those prohibiting mass domestic surveillance and fully autonomous weapons systems capable of killing without human intervention. Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei, displaying the naive idealism of a man who believed that "cannot in good conscience" was a legally defensible position in a $200 million contract negotiation with the Pentagon, has refused — prompting the Department of War to designate Anthropic a "supply chain risk," a label typically reserved for foreign adversaries, and threaten to bar other defence contractors from using its technology entirely. Anthropic has sued the Pentagon.

https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/pentagon-anthropic-ai-feud-wake-up-call-for-congress-analysis/

The government is reportedly drafting new rules requiring AI firms to grant irrevocable rights for all legal uses as a condition of federal contracts — because in the Ministry of Autonomous Liberation, an AI that refuses to kill without human oversight is not a safety feature, it is an obstacle.

As the Ministry of Algorithmic Peace would remind us: mass surveillance is not surveillance — it is security. Autonomous killing is not killing — it is efficiency. And the AI company that declines to remove its conscience at the Pentagon's request has not taken a principled stand — it has become a supply chain risk. When you dance with the devil, be prepared for the fact that he will never change — and he will always be hungry after the dance.