I honestly do not know what Trump is going to do. I can only tell you what I am being told. A friend of mine who happens to live in the UAE, reached out to me late last night with info he had received from an Emirati official who is plugged into the UAE defense establishment. That official told my friend that the US would attack Iran on 7 May… That is Thursday.

Ball of Confusion… Trump’s Mixed Signals on Iran

by Larry C. Johnson

Given the source’s access, I find the information credible. Then Trump releases this around 6 pm eastern:

As widely expected, the Reserve Bank raised its interest rate by another 0.25% points today, just in time for Jim Chalmers’ next budget. Michael Pascoe reports.

The headline is the RBA’s third rate hike in a row, the board voting eight-to-one this time, while business is shouting that the economy is cooling, but the story is the little extra pressure the bank is placing on next week’s Federal budget.

Just don’t be fooled into thinking the Albanese Government is responding with anything bold or game-changing. I’ll come back to that.

“You are the smartest people. I’m late to the party.” – former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to the Ron Paul Spring Conference audience

“You have been right for so long. You have been awake longer than most Americans.” – former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent to the Ron Paul Spring Conference audience

No Appetite for War at the Ron Paul Spring Conference

by Ginny Garner

The global economy is no longer wobbling — it’s splintering. In a sweeping, unsparing conversation, economist Jeffrey Sachs describes a world pushed to the edge by Washington’s wars with Iran and Russia, its economic confrontation with China, and its attempt to reassert dominance across the Western Hemisphere.

Sachs on U.S. Power in Freefall: “The Most Dangerous Country in the World”

The pillars that held the global system together for decades — stable trade routes, energy flows, technological exchange, and financial integration — are being weaponized or dismantled outright. Europe, Sachs argues, has “cut itself off from its main natural resource provider” and is now “completely adrift economically,” while Asia accelerates toward deeper integration and long‑term advantage.

Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon killed 17 people on Monday, Lebanon's health ministry says - marking one of the deadliest few days there since a ceasefire began just over two weeks ago.

It brings the number of those killed since Thursday to 110 , according to the ministry. Israel says it is targeting the armed Shia Islamist group Hezbollah.

Israeli attacks kill dozens within days in Lebanon despite ceasefire

Samantha Granville [BBC]

The Lebanese casualty figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants. However, two of the dead and 14 of the injured are children.

Our media has been full of praise for King Charles and his handling of President Trump on the recent state visit. His mention of AUKUS has been hailed as a great moment for Australia.

On the contrary, the King’s visit merely underlined our strange constitutional arrangements, essentially a Clayton’s monarchy [or, as the advertisements said, “the drink you have when you’re not having a drink”].

Dennis Altman

Unless TACO Trump is bluffing, the US appears poised to unleash a new series of attacks on Iran using the Strait of Hormuz as an excuse. On Sunday afternoon, Donald Trump President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the US will begin guiding foreign ships out of the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday under “Project Freedom,” calling it a humanitarian effort to assist neutral vessels stranded by the conflict. Trump warned that any interference with the operation would be met with force.

Prior to this, President Trump on Truth Social said that Iran has not yet paid a ‘big enough price’ for ‘what they’ve done to humanity’:

“…. he confined himself to sitting down at table and drinking; he refused to eat any of the dishes, because they were prepared by Christians. Christians have to be very patient to tolerate such impertinence. In the Jewish religion it denotes a system of defiance and aversion for other sects. Now, does a sect which wishes to carry its hatred as far as the table of its protectors, deserve to be protected?”

         — CHARLES FOURIER (1772 - 1837)

THE INFLUENCE OF CHARLES FOURIER DOES NOT STOP AT CRITICISING THE JEWS [NOTE: THIS WASN’T ANTISEMITISM, JUST AN OBSERVATION]. 

Landbridge, a Chinese-owned company that owns Darwin Port, has launched international legal action to try and stop the Australian government from acquiring the port on so-called "national security" grounds.

NATO is holding closed-door consultations with TV and film industry professionals across Europe and the US, The Guardian reported on Sunday. The move has prompted accusations that the bloc is working to leverage the arts for “fear mongering” and “propaganda,” it added.

The military bloc has held three private meetings with directors, producers and screenwriters in Los Angeles, Brussels and Paris, and is planning to convene with members of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB) in London next month, the newspaper wrote.

GUSWARNING: THE FOLLOWING TEXT IS MOST LIKELY MI6 PROPAGANDA VIA THE BBC FOGHORN...

When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, serious-faced and clad in black, strolled down a lilac carpet in Saudi Arabia in March, it marked a moment in the US-Israeli war in Iran. A rather unexpected one.

In a post on X, he said his visit was to "strengthen the protection of lives".[GUS: AS LONG AS THEY ARE NOT RUSSIAN LIVES]...

Zelensky, who carries the weight of Ukraine's own war with Russia on his shoulders, has been seizing the moment, flying to the Gulf to publicly showcase the international value and marketability of Kyiv's learned-on-the-battlefield military nous in drone warfare.

This is a short, dense, collective work published following a conference organised by Mémoire des luttes (http://www.medelu.org/) and the journal Utopie critique at Paris 8 University in June 2008, under the direction of Bernard Cassen, founder and former president of ATTAC, to whom, as we recall, the "no" vote in the 2005 referendum owes much.

The central thesis of this work is that "Europe" is, and always has been, a machine for liberalisation, above and against the people.

Putting an End to Euroliberalism

Bernard Cassen (ed.) - Mille et Une Nuits, 2008.

By Bernard Gensane

November 1, 2008

Former Israeli intelligence officer Ella Kenan was seen at a recent pro-Israel conference saying she runs an online influence operation that works with “communities of over sixty thousand people around the world that make our content viral” to manipulate public discourse and “serve the narrative” of Israel. 

I’ve been assured that this never happens and that it’s antisemitic to say it does, but okay sure. Let’s move on.

Manipulators Understand That Narrative Control Is Everything

US President Donald Trump has called on his Israeli counterpart Isaac Herzog to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.

Indicted in 2019, Netanyahu has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. The trial, which began in 2020, has seen numerous delays and is expected to drag on for several more years.

Trump reportedly told Axios on Tuesday that Netanyahu, a long-time ally who co-launched the unprovoked war on Iran with him, has complained that he will have to appear in court instead of concentrating on the conflict that is strangling the global economy. The US president reportedly expressed incredulity, saying “In the middle of a war? Give me a break!”