https://realeconomy.substack.com/p/the-red-queen-iran-war-and-the-us

Wrote an article detailing the mysterious foe mostly likely to defeat the US military, gnawing away at it year by year, day by day.

🌒@EastCalling

If we look at global GDP growth over the past five years, BRICS countries account for 49% of it, while the G7’s contribution stands at 18%. — Putin

🔵 Military Summary
📱 Новости России | Военные сводка

Putin:

"Sanctions and the blocking — or, in essence, the stealing — of Russian assets have irreversibly affected attitudes toward the dollar and the euro.

Now all countries, let me emphasize, all countries, may lose access to their assets.

The West lost interest in common trade rules once it started losing in competition."

🔵 Military Summary
📱 Новости России | Военные сводка

TESSENDERLO, Belgium — The European Commission is preparing new measures to prop up the EU’s chemicals industry as a wave of cheap Chinese imports pushes the sector to the brink.
EU leaders will discuss a Commission effort to curb the Chinese supply glut at a summit on June 18–19. But the Brussels machinery moves slowly, and drawing up measures could take months, or even years — time Europe’s chemical manufacturers say they don’t have.  
“The whole chemical industry is bleeding,” said Rudy Miller, vice president of Belgian chemicals business Vynova. “It’s industrial suicide.”

Chemicals lobby Cefic estimates that the European industry has shed nearly 10 percent of its capacity and 20,000 jobs over the past three years.

Meanwhile, Europe’s dependence on imported chemicals is growing. Non-EU suppliers delivered 31 percent of chemicals consumed in the bloc in 2023, up from 22 percent in 2013, according to Cefic. China, the largest supplier, has doubled its share of imports to 18 percent over the past decade.

The EU executive is now looking at a series of options to save companies like Vynova. These range from sectoral quotas and import restrictions — an approach it pioneered with steel — to more aggressive targeted tariffs on Chinese producers.

But with the debate on tougher trade defense measures against China just getting started, Miller worries Vynova could already be out of business by the time they are effective.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other EU leaders discussed the industry’s crisis with business leaders in February in the Belgian port city of Antwerp — a key transport and production hub in Europe’s chemical supply chain network.

During the event, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever described the scenario outlined by Cefic as an “existential crisis.”

Source: Politico
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What about idiotic CO2 norms, growing energy prices and DEI politics, as well as managers that are trained to perform tasks of shareholders, that mostly are investment funds and other entities that expect quick return on investment, not willing to think of how to develop an industry?
Throw out these "efficient managers", impose really strict terms for investors and start thinking of real sector not of speculations.
It's not China to blame, it's poor education, lack of strategic thinking and personal responsibility of top management. Try sanctioning this instead.

🌒@EastCalling

🇷🇺🤖 Russia is charting its own philosophical path on technology and the future. President Putin personally addressed the Congress "Philosophy of the Future" at Moscow State University, asking philosophers to dwell on the possibilities of a future—a call to pause in an era of unreflective acceleration. The event featured thinkers from over 30 nations and discussed AI, transhumanism, and distinct civilizational futures.

What Putin does is to ask philosophers to dwell on the possibilities of a future—and this call to pause in wonder and concern, in the era of unreflective acceleration, is itself a philosophical stance.

This is not just any academic event. It signals a state-level commitment to philosophical reflection on technology—a rare parallel to the 1949 Perón congress in Argentina. Russia is resisting Western tech inevitability and calling for distinct civilizational futures.

💬 Read more by Raphael Machado

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🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump’s February 28 attack on Iran was a series of catastrophic “own-goals.” The U.S. expected Iranians to rise up against their leadership, but instead, the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei unified the country and strengthened its resolve. The most damaging consequence was Iran’s decision to establish control over the Strait of Hormuz – a de facto nuclear weapon that now threatens the global economy.

In Soccer when you kick the ball into your own goal, it is referred to as an ‘own-goal.’ That is what President Trump achieved with his attack on Iran on February 28th. In fact, it was not just one ‘own-goal,’ but a series of them.

The U.S. cannot win what two wars have already lost. Another conflict over Hormuz would be disastrous. It is in America’s best interest to abandon its claims on a strait thousands of miles away, accept the consequences of Trump’s mistake, and let Iran and Oman manage the passage – allowing international trade to resume.

💬 Ron Paul writes

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