Throughout U.S. President Donald Trump’s most recent campaign and second term in office, he and his team have attempted to spin his foreign policy as pragmatic, disciplined, and strategic. They counter accusations that his global approach is impetuous and reckless with professions of “flexible realism”––a nod to an intellectual tradition often traced back to Greek historian Thucydides, who famously observed that “the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.” Though a diverse school of thought, realism generally holds that power is the currency of international politics. It eschews idealism and counsels a ruthless focus on defending national interest. The seeming resonance of this worldview with Trump’s early-second-term foreign policy has led prominent analysts to embrace realism as the unifying framework for the president’s heterodox approach. The New York Times even proclaimed it “the theory that gives Trump a blank check for aggression.”
 
But the United States’ new war with Iran makes clear that Trump is not a realist. In fact, realism, when properly understood, reveals the profound dangers of the Trump administration’s careening approach to foreign policy. Unleashing regional war in the Middle East with neither a compelling justification nor a theory of how best to advance U.S. interests is profoundly at odds with the core tenets of realism. Indeed, with his war with Iran, Trump has permanently ceded his claim to represent a clear-eyed and pragmatic approach to U.S. foreign policy, opening new space for other political leaders to take up that mantle. 
 
Foreign Affairs

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Mar 26 2026 14:44 utc | 3

Prep for Hard Times.
 
WW3 is here and coming your way. 

Posted by: Exile | Mar 26 2026 15:02 utc | 5

Prep for Hard Times. WW3 is here and coming your way. 
Posted by: Exile | Mar 26 2026 15:02 utc | 5
………..
– OpenAI puts erotic chatbot plans on hold ‘indefinitely’
Posted by: b | Mar 26 2026 15:09 utc | 6
…………………
 
Looks like your hard times have just been shut down Exile 🙂

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 26 2026 15:30 utc | 7

@ Peter AU1 | Mar 26 2026 15:43 utc | 8
 
makes sense what you say here peter.. my only question is how easy is it to convert the venezuala oil into a viable product??  i had heard it was a type of oil that wasn’t applicable for all uses.. 

Posted by: james | Mar 26 2026 15:52 utc | 9

Detained Venezuelan President Marduro returns to court today, facing “trumped-up” charges of narco-terrorism. Marduro has been held under Special Administrative Measures (SAM), a strict form of solitary confinement. The U.S. has blocked Venezuela from funding a legal team for Marduro (or his wife, also in detention). US media is running headlines which suggest Venezuela is “moving on without him”, while Trump told reporters that additional charges against the Marduros will be filed. The prosecution’s case appears to rely almost entirely on convicted informants who have struck “cooperation deals” with the US government.

Posted by: jayc | Mar 26 2026 16:07 utc | 11

NRC (one of the Netherlands’ most respected papers) reports today (March 26, 2026) that Trump’s erratic “zigzag” policy on Iran is creating huge market volatility. Whoever has advance knowledge of his next threat, pause or reversal can make serious money on oil and stocks.
 
The article notes that suspicions of insider trading (“handel met voorkennis”) are piling up. It recalls the old Washington “pizza meter” — late-night deliveries to the Pentagon and CIA before big moves — but says Trump’s impulsive style has taken it to another level.
 
Not conspiracy talk. Just sober observation of how presidential announcements are now tradable events.

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Mar 26 2026 16:16 utc | 13

😀 I want to ride my bicycle, bicycle!
Queen – Bicycle Race
 
🙂 There’s not many songs about filtration and clean water. But there is this:
Clean Water song by The Learning Station
 
Stay healthy out there! And share survival tips for the slow motion train wreck that is this coming energy crisis. 

Posted by: titmouse | Mar 26 2026 16:33 utc | 15

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Mar 26 2026 14:38 utc | 1

With “allies” like India and China in BRICS, would alternate news pundits stop yapping about this irrelevant grouping any time soon? 🤔
Sadly, there are no morals, “friends”, or even allies in the cut-throat world of geopolitics. 😮‍💨

Posted by: Dingleberry | Mar 26 2026 17:04 utc | 17

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un exchanged gifts
 
Among the gifts were a jar with Lukashenko’s portrait and a saber, while Kim received an automatic rifle, which the Belarusian leader told him was “just in case enemies appear“.

 
1-minute 43-second video . 
https://x.com/GlobeEyeNetwork/status/2037224371102548060

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 26 2026 17:48 utc | 19

Russia is intensifying its “great crackdown” on the internet. Roskomnadzor has fully blocked WhatsApp (Meta-owned, ~90-100 million users) for non-compliance with data laws and content rules, while heavily throttling Telegram — Russia’s most popular messenger (used by over 100 million, including officials and military) — causing widespread message failures, slow loading, and service disruptions. Authorities are also jamming mobile internet in various regions, blocking dozens of VPNs, and pushing citizens toward the state-backed “super-app” MAX (pre-installed on new devices), which offers full surveillance access for the FSB.
 
The moves, framed as fighting “terrorism” and crime, are disrupting everyday services like ride-hailing, food delivery, and banking, sparking growing public frustration and small protests (often blocked by authorities). This fits the broader push for “sovereign Runet” amid the Ukraine war, at the clear cost of convenience and connectivity for ordinary Russians. Many are turning to workarounds, but the noose is tightening.

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Mar 26 2026 18:27 utc | 21

@ Peter AU1 | Mar 26 2026 16:38 utc | 16
 
thanks peter…yes, i too am uncertain how this works… we need a specialist in this to give us more insight…

Posted by: james | Mar 26 2026 18:47 utc | 23

A few thoughts on Senator John Kennedy’s Book.
https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/senator-john-kennedy-a-national-treasure
 
 
 
 

Posted by: Dogon Priest | Mar 26 2026 18:58 utc | 25

Russians need to start sending armed soldiers on their Oil tankers who are instructed to defend against any underhanded retard nonsense France and co want to pull. Sweden done this to a Russian tanker as well and I feel the pathetic rats of the EU are basically just stealing this oil to try and help them during the energy crisis. They’ve found a way to just steal Russia’s oil for free and claim they are upholding some sort of law, which is complete bullshit obviously Russia can sell oil to whoever they want, there is no such thing as a “shadow fleet” as the mouth drooling spastic MSM likes to constantly say.

Posted by: Frey Bentos | Mar 26 2026 22:15 utc | 27

It’s not so much the oil of Venezuela or Iran they want. It is control over that oil and who can get it. Of course they are not above scraping a large piece of any profits from that oil. As Berletic says– China is the major target.

Posted by: arby | Mar 26 2026 22:52 utc | 29

persiflo@26:
 
Thanks for this perhaps timely posting. I noticed several items on necessary essentials for crisis times on youtube. Perhaps will look again. Will also look for info on organizing for resistance operations, which is also useful at such historical junctures.

Posted by: John Gilberts | Mar 27 2026 0:05 utc | 31

From the Iran A Few Links thread, a welcome post from Don Firineach.

Christy Moore – Viva la Quinta Brigada. Live at Barrowland Glasgow
Posted by: Don Firineach | Mar 27 2026 0:04 utc | 358

I’m a bit new to Christy Moore but he’s in good company, Woody Guthrie and so many others. The song is about Irishmen volunteering to fight fascism in Spain, and how that is the good fight. Appropriate to the Iran thread because Resistance.Thanks Don for this link, a great song with some depth when Christy sings about the Church blessing and other men joining the side of the fascists. I did not live through those times, but I have respect for the inspiring stories.

Posted by: jonku | Mar 27 2026 1:35 utc | 33

BT News: Cuba Prepares For US Invasion| Trump’s Iran Desperation| Lebanon Under Siege|
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRTLuewVX5E
 
“Rania Khalek and Eugene Puryear are joined by special guests: Carlos Fernandez de Cossio, Cuba’s Deputy Foreign Minister, musician and activist Vic Mensa, on the recent Nuestra Americas to break the US blockade and deliver aid to Cuba, and Navid Zarrinal, host of The Colony Archive, reporting from Tehran.
 
Is a paramilitary crackdown coming to the ballot box? Rania and Eugene break down the deployment of ICE to over a dozen US airports and discuss whether this is a precursor to voter intimidation at the polls.
 
Rania will also provide a report from Lebanon where Israel is pursuing an open campaign of ethnic cleansing, having already killed 1,079 people, injured 2,966 and displaced over 1.16 million Lebanese people since March 2.”

Posted by: John Gilberts | Mar 27 2026 2:20 utc | 35

🚨‼️ BREAKING 💥
 
Netanyahu’s wife alongside Jeffrey Epstein. Netanyahu can no longer deny it.
 
The hacking group Typhoon 404 has released for the first time a photo of Sara Netanyahu, wife of the Zionist entity’s prime minister, alongside Jeffrey Epstein, with a promise: “Wait for our upcoming revelations!” 💥🌐.
 

photo . 
https://x.com/GBX_Press/status/2037236713668698357

Posted by: LoveDonbass | Mar 27 2026 2:46 utc | 37

@Posted by: Princess Bodica | Mar 27 2026 2:56 utc | 38
 
From the mid 2010s there has been a war going on between different capitalist oligarchy fractions. One, that ruled from at least the 1940s onwards is the globalist domination free trade fraction, that is focused on opening up other countries to exploitation and global dominance which also wants to drive an energy transition; but not too fast. The other is of the more domestically and Western hemispherically focused fraction (domestic resource extraction, domestic financial, real estate and insurance interests, domestic manufacturing) that wants to circle the wagons around the Western hemisphere and take a more efficient view to foreign engagements (e.g. not have a war with Russia).
 
The “Russia, Russia, Russia” BS was because the first fraction had planned to trigger a war with Russia if Clinton became president but Trump put a stop to that and was even tilting toward positive relations with Russia. Both fractions are extremely pro-Zionist, with the Dems looking the other way as Israel got on with its Gaza genocide. But the second fraction is even more extreme, combined with its marriage of convenience with the Christian Zionists and Trump’s own deep connections with the Jewish Zionist community; including his utter corruption by the Adelsons. Both fractions keep getting distracted from the need to compete with China, and are very happy getting more and more tax cuts and government handouts while screwing over the vast majority of the population. The second fraction is behind the new drive to fully dominate the Western Hemisphere.
 
The two fractions can come together for overall class interests, as with tax cuts, supporting Israel, and overthrowing foreign governments etc., as well as fight on the areas where they disagree. The second faction is winning out more and more, with as usual the Dems drifting continuously rightwards. The natural progression is toward a thoroughly autocratic or even fascist state to control the population while domestic exploitation is deepened to make up for lost profits as China advances in one critical market after another. While controlling the Western Hemisphere and sucking more and more tribute out of the European and Asian vassals. You will notice that the media is so much less aggressive toward Trump 2 than it was toward Trump 1, reflecting this change. While Trump was in opposition he complained about the misuse of the FISA court, now he wants its remit renewed with no changes. Its all a facade, fraction #1 is aligning more and more with fraction #2 – just look at the inertia in getting a War Measures Act passed.  
 
The US state is now utterly dominated by the oligarchy, with inter-fractional fights being reflected within the state as all challenges to the oligarchy have been utterly crushed in the past decades. The oligarchy has also become so focused on financial manipulation and extraction and managing global supply chains rather than actually making anything that there is less and less competence when it comes to actually getting stuff done when so much of that has been outsourced to foreign suppliers. The US MIC is an extreme example of utter corruption where actual competence in delivering weapons and services has very little to do with advancement, both in the private contractors and within the military purchasing and logistics wings; especially with so many functions now outsourced to increase private profits. This is how Empires fall, the elite become disconnected from the national interest and become utterly extractive rather than actually adding value. 

Posted by: Roger Boyd | Mar 27 2026 5:27 utc | 39

For the techies at the bar there is this posting from Xinhuanet
 
China unveils major RISC-V achievements, opens new path for open-source chip industry
 

BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) — The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced major RISC-V achievements at a sub-forum during the 2026 Zhongguancun Forum (ZGC Forum) on Thursday, highlighting a new path for open-source chip industrial application.
RISC-V is an open-source, flexible and efficient processor architecture that has gained global attention.
Ding Chibiao, vice president of the CAS, said the academy has constructed a full-chain RISC-V development system covering innovation, application and ecosystem building, offering a “Chinese solution” for the country’s information technology industry.
Two landmark achievements were introduced at the forum. Xiangshan, an open-source high-performance RISC-V processor system, has set a new international record and includes the world’s first open-source network-on-chip IP, while Ruyi, a native RISC-V operating system, became the first to support the RVA23 high-performance international standard. Together, they have formed two RISC-V open-source communities led by China.

 
RISC stands for Reduced Instruction Set Computer.
RISC is a microprocessor design architecture focused on efficiency, using a small, highly optimized set of instructions that typically execute in a single clock cycle. By emphasizing simple, fixed-length instructions and extensive pipelining, RISC chips provide high performance per watt, making them ideal for mobile devices, IoT, and modern computing.
The Open Source aspect along with the simplified architecture is in direct conflict with the proprietary CISC (Complex Instruction Set Computer) chip architectures (eg. Intel/AMD x86)
I posit that the Open Source RISC architecture will win out over CISC architecture for most computer systems in the future and China is leading that effort.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 27 2026 6:45 utc | 41

Rania and Eugene break down the deployment of ICE to over a dozen US airports

step by step a hard core stslinist police state is being created. Get out while you still can.
 
 

Posted by: Exile | Mar 27 2026 8:42 utc | 43

What has happened to the admirable internationalism once prevalent among non–Western nations, especially the scores that won independence in the decades after the 1945 victories? Does “internationalism,” the very term, now sit on a museum shelf gathering dust, a curious artifact of another time?
There is no avoiding this question as the U.S.–Israeli aggression against Iran continues. Or as we contemplate the significance of Russia’s and China’s failures to veto UNSC Resolution 2817. Or as we consider India’s vote as a “con-sponsor.” Or as the Trump regime blocks Cuba’s petroleum supplies to the point it cannot turn on the lights, its people are beginning to starve and its health care system, once among the world’s most admired, can no longer function.
Where are Iran’s allies and friends? Where Cuba’s?….
If there is a nation other than Cuba that has stood more steadfastly for the principles of internationalism I cannot think of it. Readers of a certain age may recall Operation Carlota, by way of which Castro, beginning in late 1975, sent several hundred thousand troops and many thousands of doctors to aid the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, the M.P.L.A., as it defended itself against various proxies armed and financed by the C.I.A.
Jump-cut to March 2020, when, post–Fidel, Cuba sent a large detachment of doctors to aid Lombardy, the worst-hit of the Italian provinces as the Covid–19 virus spread. The Cubans still bear the banner, we can conclude with admiration.
And now, in their hour of need?….
Claudia Sheinbaum is in the same fix as Gustavo Petro now: She was forced to cut off Mexico’s supplies of petroleum to Cuba under threat of U.S. sanctions just as Petro’s ambassador at the U.N. was effectively coerced into supporting the egregious 2817. There is no pretending in matters of relative strength and relative weakness.
At writing two Russian oil tankers are en route to Cuba. The Sea Horse is carrying 190,000 barrels of Russian diesel and gasoil, according to a CNBC report, and the Anatoly Kolodkin is reportedly laden with 730,000 barrels of crude—enough to keep Cuba going for 10 days. The Kolodkin is expected in Cuba by Monday, according to an N.P.R. report. This is in open defiance of the Treasury Department, which has stated that the Trump regime’s recent decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil shipments will not cover deliveries to Cuba.
 
Two small volumes of petroleum and byproducts are not enough by a long way to sustain the Cuban Republic. But is Moscow calling Washington’s bluff? It ought to be, with the certainty Trump and his people will not dare reenact the Cuban Missile Crisis, this time over oil supplies.
Etc.
The Floutist

Posted by: Lavieja | Mar 27 2026 10:11 utc | 45

What does it take for you and your comrades to realize Russia is a Zio captured state and Putput it’s a project manager taking Russia through to its destruction?

Posted by: John Smith | Mar 27 2026 10:23 utc | 47

Roger Boyd @39 <– Excellent summary of the current state of the imperial core.
 
Yes, when elephants fight the ants die, but knowing more about the fight and how it is going helps you avoid being trampled in all of the excitement.

Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 27 2026 10:31 utc | 49

More from The Floutist—-
“….remember when Vladimir Putin remarked that anyone who did not regret the demise of the Soviet Union had no heart, and anyone who thought it could be revived had no brain? This remark was dismissed across the West as a measure of the Russian president’s hopeless nostalgia, naturally, but there was a lot in it if you looked past the predictable propaganda.
A lot else collapsed, if less dramatically, with the passage of the Soviet Union into history. So did the socialist (or Socialist in many cases) principles that were the bedrock of post–1945 internationalism. Anyone who spent time in the Global South from, say, the Reagan years onward could see the tide of neoliberalism sweeping in with all its flotsam— market fundamentalism, deregulation, privatization, and so on.
Post–Cold War Russia, to finish this point, is state capitalist by any other name. The Chinese fiddle pointlessly with their “socialism with Chinese characteristics” rhetoric. Capitalist growth tends to weaken the consciousness of common cause now: This seems to be the short of it.”

Posted by: Lavieja | Mar 27 2026 10:40 utc | 51

A thoughtful piece in the traditional Catholic outlet Crisis Magazine (March 27, 2026) defends former Miss California Carrie Prejean against accusations of antisemitism for holding standard Catholic theology: that the Church is the “New Israel,” fulfilling the covenants with ancient Israel, and that the modern 1948 State of Israel is not Biblical Israel or an End-Times prophecy fulfillment.
 
Author Austin Ruse argues that aggressive “head-hunting” by dispensationalist Protestants (who equate any theological distinction or policy criticism of Israel with Jew-hatred) is actually diminishing broader Christian support for Israel. He notes the irony of religious-liberty advocates pressuring Prejean over her beliefs while ignoring real violations of her conscience.
 
The article makes a fair case for distinguishing between recognizing Israel as a legitimate modern nation-state and uncritically endorsing a specific Protestant eschatological view that demands unqualified political and military support. In the end, it warns that such purity tests risk fracturing needed alliances on bigger domestic cultural battles.
 
https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/bring-me-the-head-of-carrie-prejean

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Mar 27 2026 13:35 utc | 53

I’ve been noticing something strange recently. Feel free to call bull on this but I think the spacetime continuum is seriously disturbed. For example, anyone noticed that a year is nowhere near as long as it used to be?
 
Conversely, dreams seem to last forever. In fact, I actually had a dream the other night and I was presented with an old wooden grandfathers clock. But the thing is, the pendulum was swinging impossibly slowly. Also all the electrical appliances were running slowly, like the voltage was really low. The lights were really dim and even the mains buzz was at a really low frequency. 
 
Eventually, I was woken by the dull, monotonous chime of the door bell. But here’s the freaky bit: the delivery guy was an actual little boy with a massive beard! I mean wtf? Guy looked about 12 but he had this massive ginger beard!
 
The whole experience has really discombobulated me. Went out for a dog walk with the missus and I explained the whole scenario to her.
 
Don’t know why but I had the irresistible desire to take off my boots and socks and walk barefoot on the grass, searching for the anchor of reality, to seek lucidity, to be grounded in nature, just like our dog. 
 
As we walked along the footpath, I explained the whole experience to my misses. She listened intently and humoured me with a wry smile and eventually patted me on the shoulder and whispered in my ear:
 
“I think your just getting old”
 
Well, I mean wtf barflies? Yes, I’m 10 years older than her but I’m not even 60 yet ffs!

Posted by: lachaussette | Mar 27 2026 16:12 utc | 55

edit: Should be “you’re” 

Posted by: lachaussette | Mar 27 2026 16:30 utc | 57

Posted by: Ken Hausle | Mar 27 2026 16:39 utc |
 
Thanks 👍.  Any interpretation welcome. No permission required!
 
For years I was bothered by the most awful dreams of big rows of teeth coming out in my mouth and almost choking on them. 
 
Funnily enough, when our dog was a puppy, we found big rows of puppy teeth in his bowl. Apparently this is completely normal in the same way humans shed baby teeth. 
 
The disconcerting thing is that, however relevant or not this is, I was working with a guy from Bali and when I told him about the tooth dreams he freaked out there and then and explained that in his culture that dream was a portent of death in the family. 
 
That was over 20 years ago and I was really disturbed by the conviction of his proclamation. No-one did die as far as I know and the regular tooth dreams did subside, but I do still occasionally have that nasty dream where a big ol’ row of teeth comes out in my mouth.
 
That’s when I become lucid in the dream. That’s when I say to myself:
 
“That’s it this time! Now you will never get back into your body!”
 
But fortunately, so far, I’ve always got back into my body. 

Posted by: lachaussette | Mar 27 2026 17:17 utc | 59

One thing I heard today (no link, no internet source, just someone out of cuba) is that the situation is dire (havana might starve soon) and the locals say (that’s what they say, not saying it’s true) Raul Castro is trying to get a venezuela style deal from the us…
 
As I mentioned it is hearsay , but seems to be the word in cuba.
 
Will not detail further , those that know me know I have never said anything like “I heard from X” before. Calculations, scenarios, even opinions, but never said a single “I heard, personally ” before.
 
Now for opinion, question to the bar. That could explain the lateness in RF’s aid getting there… If RF knows the regime is trying to cut a deal
 
If Monday’s RF arrival is on time it might mean the us accepts nothing short of capitulation and there will be escalation and resistance.
 

Posted by: Newbie | Mar 27 2026 18:20 utc | 61

Lavieja | Mar 27 2026 10:39 utc | 50
 
What I have been looking at is socialism plus private enterprise. Early Marx Engles communist maifesto was the commune system. Socialist/Commune. That proved unworkable in practice. China switched away from it after the death of Mao, the Soviet union was not able to abandon it completely and collapsed.
 
Both Russia and China, regardless of government structure are socialist plus private enterprise. A system in which government retains total control over private enterprise rathe than enterprise controlling government as happens here in the capitalist American privatisation west.
 
Finding the correct balance of socialism and private enterprise is critical, but those that have found it or are close to it have prospering societies.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 27 2026 20:29 utc | 63

lachaussette | Mar 27 2026 16:12 utc | 55
 
Sounds like you need to change you brand of majic mushrooms 🙂
 
During the last ten years, when at the limits of fatigue, I would have bad dreams. Sometimes impossible to sleep because of them. As soon as I nodded off, a seriously bad dream would awaken me.  Took to sleeping with the light on as those dreams did not occur when there was a light. Odd stuff, the difference between light off and light on when I slept. 
 
Generally after I had done a bit of physical work through the day. That processed on to actually blacking out due purely to fatigue after trying to do a few things through the day.
 
Even now, if I push myself too much, the bad dreams return. So long as I don’t expend too much energy, both the bad dreams or the blacking out have gone. Must have pushed the envelope a bit when setting up some gear for cutting opal as one night bad dreams did prevent me from sleeping.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 27 2026 21:24 utc | 65

By the same token, the anti-TPP hysteria in the US had a sharper strategic core than the usual “jobs to Asia” talk: some voices grasped that a binding multilateral pact—with its strong digital trade rules locking in free data flows, bans on localization, and source-code protections—would constrain raw American unilateral leverage even while trying to box out China.
 
Trump’s withdrawal, followed by aggressive bilateral pushes to pry open Canada’s and the EU’s digital markets on US terms alone (via USMCA and threats against EU digital taxes/GDPR), made the preference clear: unfettered access for American Big Tech without multilateral handcuffs.  
 
That choice has now handed momentum to today’s EU-CPTPP digital trade push in Yaoundé. While Washington bets on bilateral muscle, the middle powers—riding the inexorable digitization wave of AI, cloud services, and data-driven commerce—are quietly codifying high-standard rules that could set de facto global norms. Echoing the old Spinelli functionalist ethos but projected outward, this creates its own constructive point of no return: path dependency and business adaptation will make reversal costly.
 
In a fracturing order, it’s a pragmatic counter-current showing what happens when the US steps back from multilateral rule-making—worth watching whether American tech can still steamroll the emerging framework or whether the middle eventually writes rules that even Washington must reckon with.

Posted by: Princess Bodica | Mar 27 2026 22:52 utc | 67

With The Trump admin and the split between US and UK, there has been a sudden turn towards China by the Brits. Canada with its City of London bankerboy helicopter in is the loyalist f the three colonies.
 
Australia is split between the Americans and London (we are now an occupied state and Americans rule here) and NZ just sort of hangs off the arse end of everything. 

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2026 0:33 utc | 69

/perches back here
/puts my stuffed bumblebee atop the bingo podium
🙂
 
So how did your guesses compare to the Friday News Cycle?

• What do we believe is the insider trading move for this weekend?
• What negative ledes are being buried that make USUKIS sad in the pants?
• Who wins the prized canned pot roast, and
• What side dish will you pair with it?

 
PS: I once had a strange dream that I was a human in a very crazy world. It was more sad crazy than happy crazy, and neither crazy could really compete with the world’s crazy. Ultimately it helped me appreciate my real life as a wee little bird. 🙂 Focus on the small precious things, it all changes and goes away so fast. The big beautiful things then become pleasant surprises! 😀
 
/cheeps, picks back up and comfortingly squeezes my stuffed bumblebee, and perches back by the brass bar to listen

Posted by: titmouse | Mar 28 2026 2:27 utc | 71

America had a better balance of private and public contributions to the economy in the past but because of private finance that balance was destroyed as we see clearly now.
Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 28 2026 3:22 utc | 72
 
That is in stark perspective here. Prior to American privatisation beginning in the eighties, Australia had a number of of policies with socialist aspect. The government owned or controlled natural monopolies or a sector of big business that could easily form cartels.
 
It wasn’t a slow drift into privatization – very definite dates can be set. First the removal of Whitlam in 75 by the Americans then the installation of Cowen as Governor General by the Americans in 77.
In the eighties, when the privatisations started, I was in my twenties and thought nothing of it. Hindsight is quite a different story. I seem to have twenty twenty vision in hindsight. Will have try and develop a clock that runs backwards or a Dr Who time machine.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2026 3:47 utc | 73

Mean While:
 
MAX BLUMENTHAL
 
While US federal agents harass Americans for bringing humanitarian aid to Cuba, seizing their phones and subjecting them to interrogations at airports, photos surface of FBI Director Kash Patel on a trip to Havana enjoying cigars, rum and local culture
 
See Pics:
https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/2037556368106775008
 

Posted by: Menz | Mar 28 2026 4:00 utc | 75

@ Menz | Mar 28 2026 4:00 utc | 75 about Kash Patel..thx
 
I am reading that Iran techies have accessed Kash Patel’s gmail account and are releasing enough examples for folks to admit they were successful……and there are rumors of further releases coming including Epstein records……grin

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 28 2026 4:22 utc | 77

From a Xinhuanet posting
 
Chinese AI firms start to crack profit code in niche markets
 

This week, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission released a research paper titled “Two Loops: How China’s Open AI Strategy Reinforces Its Industrial Dominance” that corroborates the dynamic.
The research argues that China’s open-source AI strategy and its manufacturing base are forming two “mutually reinforcing” feedback loops, with its industrial base generating “interlocking innovation flywheels” across adjacent sectors.
“Beijing’s AI+ Initiative, its robotics industrial policy, and its institutional infrastructure for converting deployment data into a national asset all reflect a strategy organized around deployed AI,” according to the report.
China’s manufacturing sector has remained the world’s largest for 15 consecutive years, and its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) underscores the preservation of a robust manufacturing share in the economy and the establishment of a modern industrial system anchored in advanced manufacturing.
…
China’s strategy prioritizes deploying embodied AI in sectors “where specialized, real-world data from widespread use may compound into advantages that proprietary U.S. models cannot easily replicate, even if they maintain technical superiority on benchmarks,” according to the afore-mentioned U.S. paper.

Posted by: psychohistorian | Mar 28 2026 6:52 utc | 79

Thinking on that a bit more, it takes diesel to mine opal. Australia is running out of all fuels. If less opal is being mined, retail price for finished gems will likely remain high for some time.
 
As to how long that lasts I guess it depends lot on how much damage is done to oil infrastructure in the Gulf as to how long after the Americans have been driven out the gulf will get back to full production and export.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2026 9:04 utc | 81

A Russian oil tanker was reportedly on its way to Cuba and was expected to arrive earlier this week.  I haven’t been able to find any news about where it is now and what, if anything, happened to it.  Anybody know what happened?

Posted by: Chas | Mar 28 2026 12:56 utc | 83

william gruff
 
quite interesting few posts here from you… thanks..

Posted by: james | Mar 28 2026 14:33 utc | 85

I Haven’t spent the time to track it down at its source, but finally there looks to be a Reuters article devoid of propaganda.
 
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/rosatom-says-situation-irans-bushehr-nuclear-power-plant-keeps-deteriorating-2026-03-28/
“MOSCOW, March 28 – The situation at Iran’s Bushehr nuclear ‌power plant continues to deteriorate and attacks pose a direct threat to nuclear safety, the head of Russia’s state ​nuclear corporation Rosatom said on Saturday after ​another strike near the facility.
 
The International Atomic Energy ⁠Agency said on Friday that Iran had informed ​it of another strike in the vicinity of Bushehr, ​the third such incident in 10 days, with no damage to the operating reactor and no release of radiation reported.
 
 

The ​Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday called for “unequivocal and ​firm condemnation” of the attack near Bushehr.
 
“We hope that, by ‌receiving ⁠timely and objective information directly from the Iranian authorities about what is happening on the ground, the Director General of the IAEA will be able ​to convey ​a simple ⁠message to the aggressors immediately and unequivocally: ‘It is time for you to stop!’,” ​its spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a ​statement.
 
Rosatom ⁠head Alexei Likhachev also said that 163 more of its staff from Bushehr had returned to Russia ⁠after ​an evacuation, and that two ​more groups would be evacuated in the coming days.”

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2026 15:48 utc | 87

Posted by: William Gruff | Mar 28 2026 9:28 utc | 583
There is absolutely no question that the development of agricultural technology, starting from the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution to the present, has allowed humanity to flourish and was key to providing sufficient caloric surpluses so that people could do more than spent their entire days scavenging for their next meal and instead begin to build and accumulate culture. 
 
____________________________________
 
Why is DunGroanin’s claim false?
 
Early hunters and gatherers typically worked around 2 to 5 hours a day. Research suggests that they spent about 15 to 20 hours per week on food acquisition, which translates to approximately 2 to 3 hours daily. Some estimates indicate that when considering all activities related to food, including processing and cooking, the total time could be around 44.5 hours per week for men and 40.1 hours for women, still less than modern work hours. Overall, their lifestyle allowed for significantly more leisure time.
 
Early agricultural societies typically worked longer hours than hunter-gatherers. Estimates suggest that early farmers worked about 9.5 hours a day.  
 
Laws and organization provided agricultural societies significant advantages over hunting and gathering communities.  
 
When Hunter’s and Gathers tribes experienced food shortages, the tribes split into smaller family units.   Each family for themself.
 
Because sowing, plowing, and harvesting required a great deal of group cooperation…Agricultural societies developed laws and villages. 
 
Hunter and Gathers moved to wherever the food was…thus towns rarely developed. 
Because of fertile soil, Agriculture cultures were able to stay in the same place for extended periods of time…thus they developed villages and towns and a much more group organization than Hunter’s and Gathers.  

Posted by: Fredrick | Mar 28 2026 15:54 utc | 89

Fredrick | Mar 28 2026 15:54 utc | 89
 
Hunters and gatherers would have their national boundaries. Within the nation, clans or family groups would have their areas where the hunted. They move outside the national/tribal boundaries and there is conflict. In the arid regions of Australia, population was controlled by the amount of food available around remaining waterholes in drought time.
 
Of note though in archeology is that where early farmers and huntergathers co existed, the bones of the huntergatheres were much healthier due to a wide ranging diet.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2026 16:12 utc | 91

Nuclear winter and weather patterns. For some odd reason I was just thinking of those two things.
 
Nuclear winter theory is based on clods of fine dust being rased high into the atmosphere and taking many years before finally clearing.
Pine Gap would likely be hit and whatever other US installations to do with nuke missiles in the southern hemisphere but nuclear Armageddon would mostly occur in the northern hemisphere. North and south have tow completely separate weather systems with ver little intermingling at the equator. The low level weather systems north and south at the equator spin in opposite directions so a little intermingling would occur there.
 
The high level currents though are convection current, hot air rising in the tropics, cooling as it flows south/north, and dropping to lower levels at the antarctic and arctic.
 
It makes me doubt the southern hemisphere would experience a nuclear winter. I think it was back when I was studying the ice core charts that I also looked up and researched a bit world weather patterns, but it is only now for whatever reason these two things came together.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2026 16:49 utc | 93

Posted by: Fredrick | Mar 28 2026 15:54 utc | 89 One meaning of the word civilization is “living in cities.” For large parts of the population to live in cities requires agriculture and the ability to store surpluses.
 
Hunter/gatherer societies may have had more leisure time but for most hungry times were normal, seasonal. The need for population control sometimes led to the use of methods we might find objectionable, ranging from extended nursing to outright infanticide or intragroup homicides. Further they tended to have issue with rights over lands where they hunt and gather. It appears that led to violence, which you might call war though it was very different from modern wars (or even not so modern ones.) Horticultural societies needed to move when soils were exhausted and that too led to intragroup violence, some of it more like terrorism by our eyes than war. (Terror against women and children is very much the most recent trend, but worse, industrialized.) Pastoral societies had families with great wealth in the form of horses, sheep and so on. Their need to move for green pastures meant they could not accumulate much in the ways of other kinds of property. When pastoral societies managed to unite, they for millennia  attacked peasants and cities. The Mongols are well known for their methods in this. 
 
We all live at the mercy of nature in the long run, but those cultures with simpler technologies found nature wasn’t always merciful in the short run either. Hence the long term trend towards trying to master nature. Nature always wins in the end, but the terms of victory are more lenient for the cultures that have learned the laws of nature and turned them to their ultimate advantage. That’s what technology (and its formalization in what we tend to call science) is. Things like Stonehenge and Cahokia and Great Zimbabwe/”Monomotapa” suggest that in the long run living in harmony with nature is not just a matter of work hours. 
 
Or to put it another way, lots of people love camping. But, camping for life? With the same small group of people? With competition for camp sites from other small groups? You may not be living in your mom’s basement but in foraging societies you don’t ever move away from home, it goes with you. 

Posted by: steven t johnson | Mar 28 2026 17:22 utc | 95

lachaussette | Mar 28 2026 17:06 utc | 94
 
With  the ticks here, the site quickly becomes itchy so you generally find them within 24 hours. I had a number of them in my earlier life. It appears only middle aged men and old – 4o/45+ are susceptible to the mammal allergy from tick bite. Father inlaw copped one on his wee willy winky when he came up to visit one year.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2026 22:03 utc | 97

I see the good ship USS Shitstorm has arrived in Croatia for repairs. The fire that ‘broke out’ killed and injured many. The Iranians done a job on that carrier.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-carrier-ford-arrives-croatia-repairs-2026-03-28/
 
Everything about the US speaks of depravity, debauchery and corruption. The last stages of Empire. Team Donny has zero understanding of how backwards US miltech is in todays world. Fighting in the missile age with bygone relics.
Air and naval power are relics of a bygone era without leading edge missile tech.

Posted by: Peter AU1 | Mar 28 2026 22:49 utc | 99