Persistent Delusion Among the American and NATO Defense Establishment

"Make A Deal Before It's Too Late": Trump Threatens Tehran (Again) As Iran/Oman Draft Protocol To Re-Open Hormuz Summary World's most important oil price hits record high as Trump threatens Iran: "make a deal before it's too late" Oil drops on reports of Iran-Oman coordination to reopen strait. Iran issues Israel/Gulf logistics hubs target list; IRGC targets Amazon Cloud computing center in Bahrain US intelligence assessments say Iran is not ready to negotiate given it believes it has the strategic upper-hand, and doesn't believe Trump is 'serious' about talks: NYT Highest bridge in Iran, connecting Tehran...

ADP Employment Reports Shows Better Than Expected Job Gains, Accelerating Wages Hiring and pay gains both held steady in March. The ADP National Employment report printed a better than expected +62k jobs added in March (+40k exp) and modestly down from an upwardly revised 66k in February. That is the ninth straight month of job gains. Source: Bloomberg The smallest employers drove job growth for a second month, while hiring in trade, transportation, and utilities continued to decline. "Overall hiring is steady, but job growth continues to favor certain industries, including health care. In March,...

Armor-Piercing Ammo Metal Up 557% As China Chokes Supply, War Demand Surges Tungsten, used in missiles, tank rounds, armor-piercing ammunition, and some smaller-caliber munitions, has surged in price over the last year as China curbed exports and global supplies tightened. This is a major concern, as multi-front conflicts - from the Middle East to Eastern Europe - are depleting interceptor missile supplies. Bloomberg cites new data from commodity price reporting agency Fastmarkets showing tungsten prices have surged to $2,250 per metric ton this month, up 557% since Beijing added certain tungsten...