Very Wide Gap Between US & Iranian Positions As Tehran Blasts White House 'Unreasonable Demands'

Iran Denies Talks Taking Place As Drone Smashes Into Landmark Baghdad Hotel Hosting EU, Saudi Diplomats Summary: Trump says 'I don't think so' when asked if war will be wrapped up soon, notes 'not this week'. Iconic Baghdad hotel and home to EU, Saudi missions struck by drone, fire ensues. Trump is regularly presented with options to end the war in Iran: NBC. Iran has rejected prior reports of diplomatic contacts with the US, calling them "false": state media Iran FM Araghchi and US envoy Witkoff have been in contact via text messages in recent...

When Unfairness Is Systemic, The Consequences Are Flight, Resistance, Revolt Authored by Charles Hugh Smith via OfTwoMinds blog, Now that we've drained the aquifers of a stable society, the replacement form of "wealth" is a delusional credit-asset bubble that generates the illusion of "wealth." Let's weave together two threads that look different: systemic unfairness and civilizational psychosis. As I often note, social species that organize themselves into hierarchies (i.e. primates, including humans) have an innate sensitivity to fairness, as this trait is essential to maintaining social stability, and therefore it has been selected as advantageous. This...

Russia-Linked Arms Trafficker, Corrupt African Officials Tried To Supply Mexican Cartel With Surface-To-Air Missiles Submitted by The Bureau's Sam Cooper (emphasis our own),  Federal prosecutors in Virginia have charged four men — a Bulgarian arms trafficker with ties to the notorious Russian weapons dealer Viktor Bout, and several African co-conspirators with connections to the governments of Uganda and Tanzania — with conspiring to supply the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación with a $58 million military arsenal that included rocket launchers, surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft drones, and high-powered explosives the brokers boasted could bring...