First and foremost, he has no mandate to speak on behalf of ASEAN—he’s merely the Prime Minister of one member state. Second, while he may be enthralled by the lofty rhetoric of the #WEF, the reality is clear: no ASEAN nation outside of Singapore and Cambodia—the region’s two Trojan horses for the WEF—will willingly surrender their sovereignty to a top-down bureaucratic machine run by unelected technocrats.
https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2025/07/05/singapore-pm-calls-for-bold-moves-towards-asean-single-market

ASEAN is not the #EU—and it won’t follow the plutocratic path engineered by Brussels and backed by the CIA. Unlike their European counterparts, most ASEAN nations fiercely defend their sovereignty and have already recognized that their future lies with the emerging axis of prosperity led by #Russia, #China, and #India—not with the model of debt-ridden, declining institutions of the Western world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl_Yp0zu3RY

For those who spent more time poolside than plugged-in after the long U.S. Independence Day weekend—don’t worry, we forgive you—The Macro Butler made a splash of his own on BFM 89.9 Malaysia’s The Morning Run. We dove into the juicy details of the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ and why the end of the tariff truce might just give investors a sunburn where it hurts most—right in the portfolio.

https://themacrobutler.substack.com/p/interview-with-bfm-899-malaysia-07072025

With the 90-day tariff truce gasping its final breaths, the Manipulator-in-Chief—still busy exporting his signature brand of Trumperialism™—has now declared that any country daring to flirt with the “anti-American policies of #BRICS” will get slapped with a bonus 10% tariff. Because nothing says free trade like punishing sovereign nations for not playing cheerleader to Washington's economic agenda.

This latest round of economic tough love coincides with a BRICS summit where Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa and the new members of the club dared to throw shade at Trump's trade tantrums. In their joint statement, they expressed "serious concerns" about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures—aka Trump’s hobby with any kind of rules from the art of the trade. But who needs rules when you’ve got #MAGA math?

Before that, BRICS just dropped a diplomatic love letter from Brazil, slamming U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran—a fellow BRICS member—and demanding Netanyahu pack up and leave Gaza. They called for peace, a ceasefire, and humanitarian aid, while Israel, of course, denies any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, China’s Premier says BRICS should lead global reform and solve conflicts... because clearly, the UN wasn’t doing enough group therapy.

#China ’s #CPI may have technically popped back into the black in June, but don’t break out the confetti just yet. Month-on-month, prices still slipped, and factory-gate deflation is throwing a 33-month-long pity party. The headline 0.1% year-on-year rise looks less like a recovery and more like a statistical hiccup. Meanwhile, the PPI’s 3.6% plunge is the biggest in nearly two years—because nothing screams “strong demand” like collapsing producer prices. In short: Beijing may need to grab the stimulus paddle again, because this economic canoe isn’t going anywhere fast.

For equity investors focused on what truly drives stock valuations—China Inc.'s ability to expand margins—the current spread between core CPI and PPI is flashing a familiar signal. It's now back at its widest since April 2023, a time when equity valuations were strikingly similar to today. In other words, margin tailwinds are forming again… if corporate China can catch the breeze.

In a nutshell, China’s inflation just barely blinked positive, but with factory-gate prices in freefall and demand still limping, it’s less a comeback and more a cry for stimulus—yet margin tailwinds may quietly be building for brave equity investors.

While the world’s getting tariffied again, Uncle Sam tried to slip $58 billion in 3-year notes past the radar—and even the short end of the curve winced.

The yield came in at 3.891%, down from last month’s 3.972%, but still tailed the expected 3.887%—just like in June. That makes it 4 tails in 5 auctions. Not exactly a fan club forming.

The bid-to-cover didn’t shine either—coming in at a lackluster 2.51, just below last month’s 2.52 and the weakest showing since April. Also well under the six-auction average of 2.61. Let’s just say demand wasn’t exactly lining up around the block.

But the real plot twist? The internals. Indirects walked away with just 54.1%—their lowest grab since December 2023. Dealers held their usual line at 16.5%, but it was the Directs who came to the rescue, scooping up a record-breaking 29.4%.

Translation: foreign buyers ghosted, and it was up to the locals to patch up the mess.

Overall, this was an ugly, tailing 3-year auction—no surprise to anyone with half a clue that the “Big Beautiful Bill” means not just more bond supply, but much higher long-end yields in a world that’s once again getting tarrified.

The once self-anointed ‘Antivax In Chief,’ who weaponized #MAHA to fuel #MAGA and crawl his way into the heart of the Washington plutocracy, now plays a new role in this unholy theater—bankrolling fresh potions for Marburg and Sudan Ebola, as if conjuring more vials could cleanse the original sin.

From the infernal ranks of the Filovirus family—Marburg, Ebola, and Sudan—come plagues with up to 90% fatality, each outbreak a bloody offering to chaos. The 2014 West African scourge left over 11,000 dead, and now the devil knocks again: Sudan virus in 2022, Marburg in 2024. No licensed salvation exists for either. So, the dark lords of biowarfare now rush to conjure new vials, not out of mercy—but to fortify the homeland before the next wave claims its tithe.

https://aboutblaw.com/biOt

After weaponizing the USD like it was a Marvel superpower since 2022, the ‘Manipulator In Chief’—who’s been “tarrifying” the globe since Liberation Day—is now eyeing his next victim: #Copper. Because why stop at trade wars when you can start a full-blown metal meltdown?

The ‘Disruptor In Chief’ casually dropped, “We’re thinking 50% on copper,” and just like that, copper futures in New York exploded 17%—their biggest jump since records began in 1988. Who knew one sentence could turn metal into magic?

The Donald Copperfield sitting in the oval office invoked Section 232 to investigate foreign copper imports—because nothing says “national security” like plumbing and Priuses. With U.S. stockpiles rising and Chinese ones shrinking, this tariff tease feels more like political theater than policy. And don’t hold your breath for more American copper—mines take years, even if there's plenty in the ground. As always in D.C., it’s less strategy, more stagecraft.

Zomia is a vast highland region stretching across parts of Southeast Asia—including northern #Myanmar, #Thailand, #Laos, #Vietnam, Yunnan (#China), and Northeast 3India—defined not by political borders but by its elevation and resistance to state control. Popularized by historian Willem van Schendel and anthropologist James C. Scott, Zomia represents a zone where diverse ethnic groups historically fled to avoid taxation, conscription, and domination by lowland states.

Far from being left behind, its inhabitants deliberately adopted stateless, egalitarian, and decentralized ways of life—using shifting agriculture, oral traditions, and dispersed social structures as tools of state evasion.
#Zomia challenges conventional views of history and development, offering a compelling example of autonomy beyond the reach of empires.