By "recent provocative extraterritorial norms of China," Bessent means the "supply chain security" rules introduced in April this year, which give the Chinese authorities the right to investigate the activities of foreign companies and punish them for "damage to China's industrial and supply chain security," which concerns their activities both within and outside the country.

The absolute chutzpah on display here is astonishing. This is coming from the architects of war, sanctions, and tariffs...

Exxon, Chevron execs defy Trump's "DRILL, BABY, DRILL" policy

ExxonMobil and Chevron are resisting White House pressure to boost oil production despite soaring prices amid the US Israeli war on Iran and a double blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Executives said operations in the Permian Basin and other regions remain unchanged, focusing on cash flow over output growth.

Oil hit $126/barrel, and US gasoline surpassed $4/gallon, undermining government efforts to ease costs through reserve releases. Exxon reported $4.2B Q1 net income (down 46% due to hedging losses), warning the war cuts global output 6%. Chevron earned $2.2B (down 37%). Both refineries operate at record levels, capitalizing on high refined product prices while declining to increase crude production, defying the Trump-era "DRILL, BABY, DRILL" push.

White House adopts loophole to bypass congressional approval for war in Iran

A senior US official says the temporary ceasefire with Iran eliminates the need to request authorization for the war from Congress, now that the 60 day War Powers deadline has been reached.

The ceasefire between the US and Iran that took effect three weeks ago has "terminated" hostilities between the two countries for the purposes of today's congressional war powers deadline, Reuters reported on 1 May, citing a senior White House official.

Passed in 1973, the War Powers Resolution requires a US president to end a war within 60 days or request approval from Congress to continue it for another 30 days on grounds of "unavoidable military necessity" for the safety of the military...

I discussed this topic in relative detail in these two posts.

t.me/americanmajority/6945
t.me/americanmajority/6946

President Trump has informed Congress that the war in Iran is over. If hostilities were to resume, the 60 day clock required by the War Powers Resolution would restart.

t.me/rnintel

Just another in an endless line of examples of how fake and jewish everything is in this country.

Ben Shapiro, whining about anti-Semitism, tells a Chabad synagogue that Elon Musk's X is an "unusable" "vile stream of trash" giving "extraordinary virality" to "unknown accounts."

"I actually reached out to Elon's people directly about this," he reveals.

Boris Johnson called the drop in birth rates "not a catastrophe, but the best global news in a long time". He admitted that the drop in birth rates has already affected not only all of Europe, but also Asia, including China and India. In his opinion, a global population reduction is a good thing, as extra billions of people deplete the planet's resources and negatively affect the economy. He called on European politicians not to stimulate birth rates. Instead, he suggested focusing on managed migration and the integration of already living migrants (language training, mixed marriages).

Interesting...

A video of the destruction of the latest Israeli tank, the "Merkava Mk4", by a Lebanese "Hezbollah" FPV drone.

The video shows the drone flying into the ammunition compartment, causing a fire in the ammunition and an explosion inside the tank. However, the tank was equipped with minimal protection against the drone in the form of a "barbecue grill", which nevertheless failed to stop the drone.

Israel only has 1300 active tanks and another 900 in storage. When Russia started the SMO, they had around 3k active tanks and over 10k in storage. If the IDF loses their ability to hide behind armored vehicles due to the expansion of drones, things could really get interesting in the balance of power.

Global agricultural product prices have reached their highest level in the last 30 months, driven by rising costs of oil, gas, and fertilizers.

Iran has warned that renewed conflict with the US and Israel is increasingly likely after diplomacy collapsed. A senior commander at Iran's Khatam al Anbiya headquarters, Mohammed Jafar Asadi, said Tehran no longer trusts negotiations, blaming Washington for failing to honor past agreements.

His remarks followed Trump's rejection of a 10 point proposal sent through Pakistani mediators aimed at ending hostilities that have destabilized the region since late February.

"A renewed conflict between Iran and the United States is likely," Asadi said, adding that the US has shown it does not keep its promises. Fighting has been largely paused since April 8, but tensions remain high. Iran continues to pressure global energy and fertilizer flows via the Strait of Hormuz, while the US maintains a counter blockade on Iranian ports. Trump cited internal divisions in Iran as the reason for rejecting the proposal, leaving little progress toward de-escalation and raising fears of a new, more dangerous phase.

The LA Times:

The last California-bound oil tanker to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since war erupted is at the Port of Long Beach offloading its valuable cargo — 2 million barrels of crude destined to be transformed into gasoline, jet fuel and diesel.

The New Corolla loaded up in Iraq on Feb. 24 — just days before U.S. and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran, plunging the region into turmoil and sparking a double blockade of commercial shipping.

In two weeks, the Hong Kong-flagged tanker will have fully unloaded at the Marathon Petroleum terminal and departed again for distant waters. After that, California must figure out how to replace some 200,000 barrels of oil a day that will no longer be arriving from the Persian Gulf.

There is some danger of starting to sound like the "boy who cried wolf" in that we are getting constant predictions of immediate collapse of the global economy, meanwhile markets continue to go up and everyone just sort of plods along. However, there has been a certain amount of immediate pain and things continue to steadily get worse. In a couple of weeks, there won't be any pre conflict Persian Gulf oil left on the market, and then we will see what happens.

Similar to the effects of the Trump tariffs, many of these shocks take 3 to 18 months for the full impact to trickle through the system, and rather than a single, apocalyptic moment, one should expect more of a continual deterioration.

This seems more dangerous to me, as a sudden shock would push people to take action, whereas this slow burn allows everyone to stay asleep.

-Zinderneuf

The annual inflation rate in the US jumped to 3.3% in March 2026, marking the highest level since May 2024 and a sharp increase from 2.4% in both February and January. Figures came in line with forecasts, with the rise primarily driven by higher energy costs (12.5%), mostly gasoline (up 18.9%) and fuel oil (44.2%), due to the war with Iran. On the other hand, prices for used cars and trucks continued to decline (-3.2% vs -3.2%) while inflation steadied for shelter (3% vs 3%) and eased for food (2.7% vs 3.1%). On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.9%, the largest increase since June 2022, following a 0.3% gain in February and also in line with forecasts, boosted by a 21.2% jump in gas prices. Meanwhile, core inflation which excludes food and energy, also picked up though much more moderately, to an annual rate of 2.6%, compared to forecasts of 2.7%. On a monthly basis, core consumer prices increased by 0.2%, below expectations of 0.2%

-US Bureau of Labor Statistics

Keep in mind, March price increases were probably muted as it takes time for the effects of the war in Iran to work their way through most prices. The next report (the April report) comes out on May 12th. The simple fact is that we are less and less likely to see a return to "normal" anytime soon.

Even before the conflict, some analysts were sounding the alarm that the era of low inflation could be well behind us. For most of the period between the late 80s and the covid era, we witnessed a very comfortable inflation rate by historical standards. This was largely due to the fact that China absorbed most of the demand for manufactured goods and trade between nations was becoming simpler.

In many ways, the trend is expected to reverse. Populations are aging, labor populations are shrinking, the low-hanging fruit has been picked, and tariffs and military conflicts are leading to a reduction in the reliability if international trade. Covid was also a wake-up call that sprawling international trade networks are vulnerable in a crisis. If AI and automation don't pan out, we will be left with a world that is constantly losing productivity. The conflicts we see now are simply putting pressure on an already stressed system.

-Zinderneuf

Oil prices will start to decline in the next 3-9 months, said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

According to him, this will be facilitated by the UAE's withdrawal from OPEC, after which the Emirates are likely to significantly increase their production volumes.

In addition, Bessent suggested that oil, which was stuck in the Middle East due to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, will soon start flowing back into the market.

Meanwhile, experts and industry representatives give a completely different forecast of the situation - if the blockade of Hormuz continues, oil and petroleum product prices will rise sharply in the near future.

Literally nobody believes a word coming out of this administration. These are the same people that tell us Iran is totally defeated.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright has directly contradicted Bessent, stating that gasoline may not dip below $3 until next year (2027), rather than this summer.

Analysts from UBS and Wood Mackenzie expect a "muted impact" initially. They predict it could take up to six months just to return to pre-conflict production levels once shipping resumes, with the most material supply increases not hitting until 2027.

Chatham House note that even after a reopening, it will take significant time to clear the shipping backlog and stabilize insurance rates for tankers.

Additional:

The UAE currently produces 3.6 million barrels of oil per day for global markets. They plan to eventually ramp up to 5 million. That's a small increase in the context of a 104 million barrel per day market amidst a 20 million bpd disruption.

Don't get me wrong, it will put a ceiling on oil prices long term, but it won't have a large impact in the next year.

Tinder profile vs reality

Peskov announces major address by Putin at Victory Parade

The President will deliver a speech at the parade celebrating Victory Day on May 9. The entire world is awaiting Putin's address - and rightly so. The President's speech will be of great significance.

The President will also hold bilateral meetings with foreign leaders, including Robert Fico and Alexander Lukashenko, who are traveling to Moscow for the Victory Parade. Additionally, Putin will congratulate the Presidential Regiment on its 90th anniversary.

Peskov has actually piqued my interest. Perhaps Putin will reveal how and when Russia intends to win this war against the entire West in Ukraine? After all, nothing is more important to Russia today than that.

From t.me/vicktop55

If Americans are taking public transit, you know things are bad.

The operation "Project Freedom" announced by Trump to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz does not imply mandatory accompaniment of commercial vessels by US Navy ships, according to Axios, citing two American officials.

According to one of the sources, US Navy ships will be "in the immediate vicinity" in case they need to prevent alleged possible attacks by Iranian military on commercial vessels passing through the strait.

In addition, the sources claim that the Navy will provide commercial vessels with information on the safest sea routes to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Go for it, we got your back! Promise!

Israeli linked firms exploited global telecom networks for mass surveillance, tracking mobile users in over 10 countries, including Thailand, Norway, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Malaysia, over the past three years, according to Citizen Lab and Haaretz.

Legacy and 5G systems were turned into "tracking devices," with 15,700+ location tracking attempts since Nov 2022. Documents show companies like Verint/Cognyte sold SS7 based tools (SkyLock) to governments, while firms like Rayzone, via Swiss telecom Fink, impersonated carriers to access networks. Techniques included SIMjacking, using hidden SMS messages to extract device locations.

This shows how easily global telecom systems can be turned into surveillance tools. Your phone can be tracked without your knowledge. Without stronger protections, this kind of abuse will only spread.

The US sanctions empire runs into China's great wall

On April 23, the US Treasury Department widened its Iran sanctions drive to target Chinese firms allegedly tied to Tehran's oil trade, raising the stakes in an already volatile confrontation over energy flows and wartime risk. China has now moved beyond condemning US sanctions to formally ordering non compliance, with China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) making its ban effective immediately.

What was once framed as a dispute over a handful of Iranian oil shipments is now emerging as a broader struggle over who sets the legal and financial terms of global energy trade. And with instability still shadowing the Strait of Hormuz, Beijing's latest move suggests Washington's sanctions regime is no longer being quietly absorbed inside China...

A very interesting article by Freddie Ponton for 21st Century Wire.