WarWeekly #3
with James Patrick & Robert Cibis
The absurdity of current US political theater…
The US-Iran talks (conducted via Pakistan) were carried out in bad faith. The same day talks were announced, Israel reportedly dropped 160 bombs on Lebanon, and JD Vance’s initial rapport with Iranian negotiators was undermined when Kushner and Witkoff entered with instructions from Netanyahu, who allegedly called Vance during the talks.
The US has reportedly blockaded Iranian ports and is targeting any ship that paid Iran’s $2 million transit fee. Is this an attempt to trigger economic collapse and regime change, comparable to US tactics against Cuba? This isolates the US, but could it weaken China (which gets much of its oil from Iran) more than the US itself?
China recently halted sulfuric acid exports, demonstrating its ability to disrupt global supply chains. The US lacks China’s industrial base and cannot win a confrontation. A deliberate strategy of escalation? “Covid 2.0” including for instance fuel rationing in France.
Polymarket and other prediction markets: A gamification of real suffering, insider trading and surveillance use. Donald Trump Jr. sits on Polymarket’s board of which Peter Thiel (Palantir) acquired shares. Are these markets opinion-polling tools and intelligence-gathering mechanisms? Over 100 suspicious trades have coincided with Trump’s market-moving tweets in recent months.
