Join Us at the 2023 World Economic Conference in Orlando, Florida!

? Dates: November 17, 18, and 19 ? Location: Orlando, Florida, USA (or tune in from home with our virtual ticket options)

Are you ready to unlock the future of economics and finance? Prepare for an unforgettable World Economic Conference experience in sunny Orlando, Florida! This premier event is your gateway to insights, networking, and valuable resources that will supercharge your understanding of the global economy.

?️ What’s Included for In-Person Attendees:

1. Event Admission: Enjoy reserved seating assigned based on the order of ticket sales, ensuring you have a prime view of every presentation.
2. Presentation Slides: Gain access to the presentation slides from all speakers, allowing you to delve deeper into the topics discussed.
3. Video Recording: Can’t make it to a session? No worries! You’ll receive access to video recordings of all conference presentations, so you can catch up at your convenience.
4. WEC Event App: Connect with the conference on a whole new level. Access presentation slides, bonus reports, recordings, and more via the official WEC Event App.
5. Bonus Conference Materials: Get a package of bonus conference-related materials, including exclusive bonus reports and videos (as provided by Martin Armstrong).
6. Morning Information Sessions: Don’t miss out on important morning information sessions, screened on-site in the meeting room on Saturday and Sunday.
7. Networking Opportunities: Exclusive access to the Event App Networking Feature allows you to connect with fellow attendees, both in-person and virtual, fostering valuable professional relationships.
8. Culinary Delights: Savor delicious breakfast and lunch on Saturday and Sunday, prepared to keep you energized throughout the day.
9. Cocktail Reception: Kick off the conference in style at our Friday evening cocktail reception. Meet and mingle with fellow attendees while enjoying refreshing drinks.
10. Swag Bag: As a token of our appreciation, each in-person attendee will receive a swag bag filled with goodies, including an Armstrong Economics notebook, pen, and an event collector’s mug!

Unable to travel? We also have two different ticket options for those wishing to attend virtually! 

Don’t miss this opportunity to be part of a global gathering of economic and financial minds. Secure your spot at the World Economic Conference in Orlando, Florida, and gain the knowledge, connections, and resources you need to thrive in the world of finance and economics.

Space is limited, so act now and reserve your seat! Visit our Events page to register and join us in sunny Orlando this November.

Now available at all major retailers!

The eBook will be available shortly.

The second edition of “The Plot to Seize Russia – The Untold History” is now available for purchase in paperback and hardcover on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The ebook will be available shortly.

Book description:

“Take care of Russia,” Boris Yeltsin said as he departed his presidency in August 1999. These words were directed at current Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Yeltsin specifically picked Putin as his predecessor to prevent the takeover of Russia.

So, who was Yeltsin warning against? Newly declassified documents from the Clinton Administration prove that there was a plot to rig the Russian election of 2000. These never-before-seen documents confirm numerous attempts to implement pro-Western policies using the Russian oligarchy headed by Boris Berezovsky.

On the other side were the communists who desired a return to the glory days of the Soviet Union. As one of the largest international hedge fund managers, author Martin Armstrong found himself in the middle of perhaps the greatest espionage, or attempt at a regime change for Russia, in modern history.

The Plot to Seize Russia pulls back the curtain to expose the most extraordinary attempt to seize power in modern history, but with the pen rather than armies. These declassified documents reveal a plot that has altered our thinking about the relations between the United States and Russia. The thirst for power comes seething through every line of these papers that alter our perception of reality, change the course of history, and now threaten us with World War III.

Indonesia is another economy that deserves far more attention than it receives in the West. The world’s fourth-most-populous nation expanded 5.29% year-over-year during the second quarter of 2026, beating economists’ expectations of 5.10%. That followed an even stronger 5.61% expansion during the first quarter. For the entire first half of 2026, Indonesia grew 5.45%. While governments throughout the developed world struggle to produce 1% or 2% growth without enormous deficit spending, another major Asian economy is steadily expanding above 5%.

Indonesia is particularly interesting because this is not simply another export story. Household consumption, which represents more than half of the economy, increased 5.06% during the second quarter. Construction expanded 6.68%, accommodation and food services grew more than 10%, and manufacturing increased 4.52%. Indonesia has nearly 290 million people, and that enormous internal market provides something smaller export economies simply cannot replicate. As incomes rise, Indonesia increasingly has the ability to generate growth from within.

This is the same transformation I have discussed when looking at India and Vietnam. People can see an economy change in real time when growth begins producing physical results. Roads appear. Airports expand. Industrial parks are constructed. Factories open. Apartment buildings rise. People who never owned automobiles become consumers. Families that previously lived at subsistence levels begin spending money on travel, restaurants, electronics, education, housing, and financial services. That transformation becomes self-reinforcing because an emerging middle class creates entirely new industries around itself.

Indonesia also possesses something Europe desperately lacks: resources. It is the world’s largest producer of nickel, a major producer of coal, palm oil, copper, tin and other commodities, and the government has increasingly refused to remain merely an exporter of raw materials. Indonesia banned exports of unprocessed nickel ore and forced companies seeking access to its resources to invest in domestic processing. That decision helped produce an enormous nickel refining and smelting industry.

This is economic nationalism in its practical form. Why dig something out of the ground, ship it overseas, allow someone else to manufacture the valuable product, and then import that product back at a massive markup? Indonesia wants the factories, processing plants, employment, technology, and capital investment to remain inside Indonesia. The West may complain about these policies when they interfere with its own corporations, but Indonesia is acting in its own national interest.

Investment has remained a major component of this expansion. Gross fixed capital formation increased 6.87% during the second quarter as spending on buildings, machinery, vehicles, and productive equipment continued rising. During the first quarter, investment had already expanded 5.96%. This matters because consumption can produce temporary GDP growth, but productive investment creates the capacity for future growth.

Trade is expanding as well. Indonesian exports reached $140.81 billion during the first six months of 2026, an increase of 4.13% from the previous year. Non-oil and gas exports climbed to $134.58 billion. Imports increased much faster, reaching $137.24 billion, but Indonesia still maintained a $3.58 billion trade surplus during the first half. The surge in imports is not necessarily evidence of weakness when an expanding economy is importing machinery, industrial inputs, and capital goods required for production.

Indonesia’s demographics provide another enormous advantage. The median age is around 30, while Japan is approaching 50 and Europe continues aging rapidly. Indonesia therefore has millions of younger workers entering their most productive and consumption-intensive years. They will need homes, transportation, appliances, financial services, telecommunications, food, entertainment, and infrastructure. This is precisely the demographic foundation that supported the rise of countless economies before it.

There are certainly risks. Indonesia remains heavily exposed to commodity cycles. Rapid industrialization creates environmental problems, and government intervention can easily become excessive. President Prabowo Subianto wants economic growth to eventually reach 8%, and whenever governments become obsessed with hitting predetermined GDP targets, they inevitably risk wasting capital on politically motivated projects. Jakarta must be careful not to destroy the very private investment it is attempting to attract.

The government is already pushing aggressively to accelerate the economy. It has placed 200 trillion rupiah, roughly $11.2 billion, into state-owned banks to increase liquidity and lending, with the program now extended into 2027. Officials want growth to reach 6% this year as part of the effort to eventually achieve Prabowo’s 8% target. That type of intervention must be watched carefully because credit creation can produce artificial booms if capital is directed politically rather than economically.

Nevertheless, Indonesia’s underlying advantages cannot be dismissed. Nearly 290 million people, a young population, enormous natural resources, a growing manufacturing sector, expanding infrastructure, rising household consumption, and a strategic position between the Indian and Pacific Oceans create the foundation for a major economic power.

This is why looking exclusively at Europe, Japan, Britain, and Canada gives people a distorted view of the world economy. Wealth is not disappearing. Production is not disappearing. Opportunity is not disappearing. It is moving.

India is expanding rapidly. Vietnam is becoming a manufacturing powerhouse. Singapore is attracting international capital. Mexico is benefiting from the reorganization of North American production. Indonesia is using its resources, demographics, and domestic market to move further up the economic ladder.

The global economy is undergoing a geographic transformation. The old centers of economic power are burdened by sovereign debt, aging populations, taxation, regulation, and governments desperately attempting to preserve systems created during another era. Much of emerging Asia is still building.

Indonesia has spent decades sitting in the shadow of China, Japan, and India when Western analysts discuss Asia. With an economy growing above 5% and nearly 290 million people moving through this development cycle, that will not remain the case forever.

The sleeping giant is beginning to wake up.

The United States added 162,000 jobs in August, nearly three times the 53,000 expected, while unemployment remained at 4.1%. The report appears impressive until you look beneath the surface and see where these jobs were created, who has left the labor force, and whether wages can still keep pace with the cost of living. Washington measures economic health by counting paychecks, but the average person measures it by what remains after paying for food, fuel, housing, insurance, and debt. A nation can add jobs on paper while its people continue losing purchasing power, and that is precisely the divide now emerging across America.

The composition of the report matters. Food services and drinking places added around 59,000 jobs, while local government education added approximately 42,000. Government employment increased by 35,000 overall, and the information sector lost 23,000 positions. Manufacturing added 16,000 jobs and construction gained 22,000, which is encouraging because those are productive sectors that build actual goods and infrastructure. Nevertheless, restaurants and government education accounted for a substantial portion of the headline increase. That is not the broad private sector employment boom the political class will attempt to portray.

Wages rose 0.3% for the month and 3.1% over the year, but inflation has been running above that pace. This means the average worker can receive a raise and still become poorer in purchasing power terms. The government counts the job and the wage increase, then ignores what remains after the worker pays for food, gasoline, housing, insurance, and interest. People understand instinctively that a larger paycheck means nothing if every essential expense consumes it before the next payday.

The participation rate edged up to 61.6%, but it remains half a percentage point below January. More than 1.3 million people have reportedly left the labor force over the past year. They are not all counted as unemployed because the unemployment rate does not measure everyone without a job. It measures those who meet the government’s definition of actively seeking work. A person who has given up searching can disappear from the statistic without finding employment. This is how the government can maintain a low unemployment rate while millions feel that the job market has become nearly impossible to navigate.

There were 7 million officially unemployed people in August, including 1.9 million who had been without work for at least 27 weeks. The long-term unemployed now account for 27% of everyone officially classified as jobless. These are not people casually moving between positions. They are workers becoming detached from the economy. Employers are reluctant to add people, workers are afraid to quit, and anyone who loses a job may remain outside the system for months.

The white collar labor force is also beginning to feel the change that blue collar workers endured when manufacturing was shipped overseas. Information employment fell by 23,000, including losses in data processing, web hosting, computing infrastructure, and publishing. Artificial intelligence is not eliminating every office job overnight, but it is allowing businesses to expand output without expanding payrolls at the same rate. Young people were sold the fantasy that any college degree guaranteed security while skilled trades were treated as occupations for those who supposedly failed academically. Now many graduates have debt, no practical experience, and must compete with machines capable of performing an expanding share of entry-level work.

June was revised from 20,000 jobs to 31,000, while July was changed from a loss of 23,000 to a gain of 21,000. Those revisions added 55,000 jobs to the previous estimate. The numbers are surveys that are revised as additional information becomes available. The media nevertheless presents the first release as unquestionable fact because it needs an instant narrative for the markets and politics.

The Federal Reserve will now be pressured to raise rates because stronger employment gives it less reason to tolerate inflation. Treasury yields rose after the report because investors understood that the prospect of easier money had weakened. This is where the Sovereign Debt Crisis collides with monetary policy. Washington has surpassed $40 trillion in debt and is spending over $1 trillion annually on interest. Higher rates may be required to restrain inflation, but they also make refinancing government debt increasingly expensive. The Fed cannot protect the purchasing power of the currency and permanently subsidize reckless government borrowing at the same time.

The August report was better than expected, and the manufacturing and construction gains deserve recognition. Yet one month does not erase the underlying divide. Those who already have stable employment may see an economy holding together, while those seeking work face frozen hiring, automated entry-level positions, and wages failing to keep pace with their living costs. The headline says America added 162,000 jobs. The public knows the more important question is what kind of jobs were created and whether those wages can still support a life.

Taiwan has proposed another $4.6 billion in defense spending, and what is particularly interesting is where a substantial portion of that money is going. Taipei wants more than 600 coastal surveillance and reconnaissance drones, over 40,000 coastal attack drones, and an initial fleet of more than 100 unmanned suicide boats. This comes only days after Taiwan’s parliament approved a six-year drone program capped at NT$240 billion, roughly $7.6 billion. Taiwan is not buying drones as some technological experiment. It is preparing for what it believes a future war with China would actually look like.

Ukraine changed warfare because it demonstrated that a relatively inexpensive drone can destroy equipment costing millions of dollars. The Middle East has reinforced the same lesson. Taiwan has obviously been watching. President Lai Ching-te’s government originally sought roughly NT$210 billion to purchase about 210,000 military drones over six years, arguing that modern warfare has made unmanned systems essential to Taiwan’s asymmetric defense. Parliament ultimately approved its own larger NT$240 billion framework, and Taiwan is now moving aggressively to build the industry domestically rather than remain dependent on foreign suppliers.

This is precisely the type of weapon Taiwan would need if there were ever a conflict with mainland China. Taiwan cannot match China ship for ship, aircraft for aircraft, or soldier for soldier. China’s advantage in conventional military power is simply too great. Taiwan’s strategy therefore has to make the cost of crossing the Taiwan Strait and attempting an amphibious invasion so high that Beijing concludes the operation is not worth undertaking.

That is where drones become extremely important. Thousands of inexpensive unmanned weapons can be dispersed around the island, hidden far more easily than conventional aircraft, and launched against ships approaching the coastline. Surveillance drones can identify targets while attack drones strike landing craft, vehicles, supply lines, and troops. Unmanned boats add another dimension by threatening vessels offshore without placing Taiwanese sailors directly in harm’s way. This is asymmetric warfare, and Taiwan clearly believes quantity matters.

Taiwan is also fortifying the Penghu Islands in the Taiwan Strait, which would become strategically important in any invasion scenario. The military established its first drone force there in July and deployed UAVs during the annual Han Kuang exercises. Penghu sits roughly 50 kilometers from Taiwan’s main island and could provide Taiwan with positions from which missiles and drones could threaten Chinese forces attempting to cross the Strait. Beijing understands the importance of these islands just as well as Taipei does.

The government is not hiding its intentions. Taiwanese officials have openly discussed creating what American strategists have called a “hellscape” in the Strait, where enormous numbers of drones, missiles, mines, and unmanned vessels could overwhelm an invading force. Whether such a strategy would actually stop China is another question entirely, but this is clearly the direction military planning has taken.

What concerns me is the timing because Taiwan is not acting as if war is some impossible event decades into the future. Defense spending for 2027 is proposed to exceed NT$1 trillion for the first time, with the broader defense budget projected at roughly $35 billion. President Lai has said Taiwan intends to raise defense spending toward 5% of GDP by 2030. Governments do not make investments of this magnitude unless they believe the geopolitical environment has fundamentally changed.

This does not mean China invades Taiwan tomorrow, nor should every military procurement announcement be portrayed as proof that war is inevitable. Nevertheless, the entire region is preparing for a confrontation that politicians continue telling the public they supposedly want to prevent. China is expanding its military capabilities, Taiwan is rapidly increasing defense expenditures, Japan is rearming, and the United States continues restructuring its forces throughout the Pacific. Every participant says these preparations are intended to preserve peace while simultaneously preparing for war.

China itself dominates the global commercial drone industry and much of the supply chain required to manufacture them. Taiwan obviously cannot prepare for a conflict with China using critical components that would disappear the moment hostilities began. Taipei is therefore attempting to establish what it calls a “non-red” supply chain that excludes Chinese components while building domestic production capacity. This is as much an industrial policy as a military one.

This is where the world is moving as globalization continues to fracture. Defense is no longer simply about possessing weapons. Governments are realizing that they must control the factories, semiconductors, communications equipment, raw materials, energy, and supply chains necessary to replace those weapons during an extended conflict. Taiwan happens to possess one of the world’s most important semiconductor industries, but even that becomes a vulnerability when the island depends upon imported energy and materials.

Modern warfare is rapidly moving away from the assumption that victory belongs exclusively to whoever owns the most expensive weapons platform. A $100 million aircraft or multimillion-dollar armored vehicle can now be threatened by technology costing a fraction of that amount. The battlefield is becoming increasingly automated, decentralized, and dependent upon enormous quantities of relatively inexpensive systems.

Taiwan has clearly absorbed that lesson. The proposed supplementary budget alone includes more than 40,000 coastal attack drones, and the broader six-year program could ultimately produce a drone force numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Taiwan is preparing to saturate the battlefield rather than merely purchase a handful of extraordinarily expensive weapons and hope they survive the opening days of a conflict.

The political danger is that every military buildup creates another buildup on the opposite side. Taiwan says it needs drones because China threatens invasion. Beijing points to Taiwan’s expanding military cooperation with Washington as evidence that separatist forces are preparing for confrontation. Washington then cites China’s military expansion to justify additional weapons for Taiwan. This is how an arms race develops even when every government insists it is acting defensively.

Taiwan is therefore becoming one of the places to watch closely as we move toward the end of this decade. The investment in drones is not simply another defense contract. It reflects a fundamental change in how Taipei believes a war with China would be fought and demonstrates that Taiwan is preparing seriously for the possibility that deterrence could eventually fail.

Some people have complained that I said that Iran was winning and all they have to do to declare victory is survive. I am not here to read the propaganda. I have to call the shots according to what my computer is forecasting. I have also warned that the Neocons advising President Trump should be taken out of their positions in chains. They are putting not just the USA at risk, but the entire world with their warmongering stupidity.

I have also written about how they have launched so many missiles at Iran, assuming they would bomb it into submission to the point that the stockpile is depleted by about 2/3rds and these things are far too sophisticated so the military-industrial complex can make their fortune as the new merchants of death, that it will take until 2029 to restore the stockpile. That means the USA will be defenseless conventionally.

This past Thursday, Kuwait’s air defenses lit up over the Gulf again with the patriot batteries and radar networks tracking another wave of Iranian ballistic missiles and drones headed for US military installations across the country. The intercepts worked this time. However, Iran is waging a war of attrition, and it knows how to play the game. Every patriot missile fired in defense comes at a huge price tag that defense analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies say the United States is running out of time for it has already burned through roughly 2/3rds of its pre-war Patriot missile interceptor inventory since February. Production lines cannot restock these missiles until 2029 and no matter was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent think his financial siege will collapse Iran, the numbers to not add up.

Bessent may ne an old market-manipulator with Soros, but his podium does not bestow him with a greater power to manipulate the world economy with hollow words. Iran understands that:

• they can deplete the patriot stock and then rain down missiles to utterly destroy US basis in the Middle East pushing the Great Satan out once andfor all, which has been a goal since 1979.
• They also know that dragging this out means they have a shot at overthrowing Trump in the Midterm Elections and just flipping the House willyield 2 years of impeachments, disruptions, and feed the hatred of Trump from the Democrats ensuring this war effort may even come to an end to make Trump go down in history as a loser.
• The October elections in Israel have a shot at removing their arch enemy Netanyahu once and for all.

Cyclically, Netanyahu has made a huge mistake. He got Trump to attack Iran in 2025 and assassinated several of their military leaders. This was the end of the 72-year Revolutionary Cycle on Iran so he just began a whole new cycle and that demonstrated that this would NOT end in one day killing the Ayatolla as he told Trump.

While Jared Kushner, the Jewish son-in-law of President Trump and real estate developer, along with Benjamin Netanyahu have known each other for years, I believe that is how Trump was persuaded to let Netanyahu into the Situation Room to sell his war. Trump trusts Kushner way too much.

The connection between Benjamin Netanyahu and the Kushner family is a long-standing, multi-generational relationship that blends deep personal friendship, significant political alignment, and substantial financial ties. The foundation of their connection is a personal friendship that predates Netanyahu’s political career and Jared Kushner’s role as a White House advisor.

The relationship goes back to the 1980s, when Netanyahu was an Israeli diplomat in New York. He was a frequent overnight guest in the home of Charles

Kushner, Jared’s father, in Livingston, New Jersey. On these visits, he would often sleep in Jared’s bedroom, with Jared moving to the basement. Charles Kushner, was a wealthy real estate developer and major donor to Jewish and pro-Israel causes, has been a significant financial backer of Netanyahu’s political career. This support reportedly included donations to the Israeli Likud party and was a factor in legal disputes within the Kushner family.

The personal friendship has translated directly into a strong political alliance, particularly during Jared Kushner’s tenure as a senior advisor to President Donald Trump. That is what I believe the Democrats will have a field-day with after the Mid-Terms.

Kushner’s connection to Netanyahu is indeed inherited through his father, Charles Kushner, who was a longtime donor to Israeli causes. President Trump pardoned Charles Kushner after he was sentenced to prison for fraud-related crimes. In 2005, he was convicted and sentenced to two years in federal prison for 18 federal charges connected to his real estate business and political activities and included:

1. Tax evasion
2. Illegal campaign contributions
3. Witness tampering, which specifically involved a scheme to intimidate a cooperating witness by hiring a sex worker to seduce his brother-in-law and sending the recording to his sister

Destroying your own sister’s marriage revealed the character of Charles Kushner. He was sentenced to two years in federal prison and served his time. Years later, on December 23, 2020, President Donald Trump granted him a full pardon. Despite all of this, he was confirmed as the U.S. Ambassador to France in May 2025.

Jared Kushner and Netanyahu have had a working relationship (2016-2021). The most significant period of their interaction occurred when Kushner served as a senior advisor to President Donald Trump. During this time, he was the lead architect of the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab nations.

After leaving the White House, Kushner has remained involved in the region, establishing an investment fund that has received backing from Gulf nations. That raises serious questions of a conflict of interest with anything involving Israel.

Discussions of redeveloping Gaza began long before the war. Kushner discussed plans for redeveloping portions of Palestine in his 2020 peace plan. This has cause some to question if the war on Gaza was in fact to grab beach front. That may also become a hot topic of investigations by Democrats post-Midterms.

Real estate developers have been eyeing Gaza and have proposed numerous construction projects for Gaza. Harey Zahav, an Israeli real estate firm, created blueprints for luxury settlements along the West Bank. The company envisions beachfront homes build upon demolished land.

President Donald Trump allowed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be in the White House Situation Room. The February 2026 meeting was reportedly a high-stakes, almost secret pitch by Netanyahu to convince Trump to go to war with Iran. The meeting took place on February 11th, 2026, a highly unusual event where a foreign leader was invited into the White House Situation Room to brief the U.S. president and his senior advisors to see his life-long dream of destroying Iran and achieving regime change by sheer force.

During the presentation, Netanyahu laid out his vision for the war, making several key predictions:

1. Iran’s ballistic missile program could be destroyed in weeks.
2. Tehran would be too weak to block the crucial Strait of Hormuz.
3. The regime was ripe for collapse and that an uprising could be sparked from within.

Netanyahu’s scenario was the sales-job of the century to convince Trump’s decision to go to war. Netanyahu claimed that Iran would be able to deliver a nuke to the USA as always in a matter of weeks. Trump reportedly responded to the presentation by saying “sounds good to me” or something to that effect, which was seen as a clear signal of his intent. Little did he know that Netanyahu was destroying Trump’s legacy.

The initial optimism in the Situation Room was not shared by key members of Trump’s own administration. An overnight assessment by U.S. intelligence officials deeply undercut Netanyahu’s predictions. Sources say that CIA Director John Ratcliffe reportedly described the regime-change scenarios proposed by Netanyahu as “farcical.” Sources also say that Secretary of State Marco Rubio went even further, calling the idea “bullshit.”

Despite these warnings, and opposition from other advisors like Vice President J.D. Vance, Trump ultimately decided to proceed with the war, pursuing the more limited goals of striking Iran’s military leadership and nuclear program rather than the full regime change Netanyahu had sold.

I believe Trump listened to Kushner over everyone else. The Kushner and Netanyahu family ties and Netanyahu trying to get the United States to fight his war has been a sales-pitch since 1996. As stated, Netanyahu;s career was also funded by his long-time friend of Charles Kushner.

Jared Kushner is amazingly Trump’s son-in-law and senior advisor. He was present at key meetings and played a central role in Middle East policy, being the architect of the “Deal of the Century” and involved in pre-war negotiations with Iran. While the specific person who “arranged” the meeting is not named and will no doubt be shrouded in secrecy that the Democrats will no doubt di into, this deep web of personal and political relationships between the Kushners and Netanyahu likely served as the background context that made such an extraordinary invitation even possible.

It is time President Trump admit he made a mistake listening to Netanyahu. The world knows this is Netanyahu’s War. Why do down with the sinking ship for Netanyahu? He admitted to a mistake before. We all make mistakes. Own it! He said in regard to that Hollywood tape:  “I’ve said and done things I regret, and the words released today on this more than a decade-old video are one of them. I said it, I was wrong, and I apologize.”

It’s time Trump throws Netanyahu under the bus. He is a sick individual and an obstacle to any peace deal EVER in the Middle East. What Netanyahu has done and  any American who conspired with him to manipulate Trump could even rise to the level of treason.

The U.S.-Israeli military strikes on Iran, including the killing of its leader, unquestionably violated international law that Netanyahu always disregards. The foundational rule is found in Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, which prohibits the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state has only TWO exceptions.

Authorization from the UN Security Council .

Self-defense under Article 51, which permits force only in response to an actual armed attack

The UN Security Council did NOT approve the U.S.-Israeli military strikes against Iran, including, and MOST CERTAINLY, the killing of its Supreme Leader. In fact, multiple official statements and reports explicitly describe these actions as being taken without Security Council authorization. Netanyahu’s perpetual claim since 1996 has been his justification being “preventive” or “anticipatory” self-defense is NOT accepted in international law, as Iran did not pose an “imminent” threat at the time of the attack and US intelligence agreed with the assassment.

The strikes also raised serious concerns regarding the specific targets. International law grants heads of state special immunity, meaning they are not to be made targets of military attack. The deliberate killing of a nation’s supreme leader has been specifically condemned as a severe violation of this principle and an act of political assassination. This is constantly Netanyahu’s agenda and he never cares about international law.

Furthermore, attacks that target civilians or civilian infrastructure, such as a school, taking out the water supply, are considered potential violations of international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes. The Iranian representative to the UN has formally characterized the attacks on civilian sites as constituting “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity.” It seems that getting Trump involved was Netanyahu’s security blanket that would absolve him of all war crimes.

While the CIA has NOT been the primary agency issuing formal “threat” warnings, the U.S. intelligence community and the Pentagon have expressed serious concerns about Israeli actions that could be seen as threatening U.S. national security. The core of the concern appears to be about espionage, not military aggression. They have been funding opposition to candidates for Congress they see as anti-Israel.

Vice President JD Vance stated in a 2026 interview that Epstein “seemed to be connected to the elements of the Israeli deep state that were left of center.” There are now allegations in newly released FBI documents mention that Jeffrey Epstein had links to Israeli intelligence and that Jared Kushner was a central power broker within the Trump presidency, who also had ties to Israeli intelligence-adjacent networks.

I have stated before that Robert Maxwell was part of the “club” and he funded the coup against Gorbachev with the deal that having Israel then recognize the coup as a legitimate government that was seeking to take Russia back to the USSR hinged on the agreement that they would allow all Jews to migrate to Israel. Once again, nobody cared what they would do to the Russian people or to resurrect the Cold War. The coup failed and Epstein in an email wrote that Israel killed Maxwell after he wanted them to cover his trading losses.

The primary organization that makes political donations as part of its lobbying efforts is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) . It is considered the most powerful pro-Israel lobby in the United States . Its influence is felt through its direct lobbying of Congress and, significantly, through the massive sums it spends on elections via a connected “super PAC” that appears to be a grey area of lobbying for a foreign government.

In June 2016, Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., and Paul Manafort met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya. That was a meeting about the lies that were used to create the Magnitsky Act, which imposed sanctions on Russia promoted by Bill Browder and pushed by John McCain. That was a total fabrication.

Democrats are feeling confident about their chances of retaking the House even as the GOP successfully redrew more seats to their advantage in the past year’s controversial mid-decade redistricting fight. However, the Senate, once seen as a longshot for Democrats, now appears in striking distance. And both parties are investing major resources in states and districts where Trump won by double digits in 2024.

Nonetheless, the Democratic position in the Senate after electing a Yearly Bullish Reversal previously leaves this door open plus we have a Panic Cycle in 2027 in the Senate. If this proves to be a Democratic VICTORY, they are going to make not just Trump’s life a living hell who will curse the day he ever listened to Netanyahu, they will target Jared Kushner and try to send him off to tax-free living like his father did.

COMMENT: Marty, I hear you cook for your dogs, and you have said they are your greatest companions. My dog detected cancer in me before any doctor. She saved my life. They say they have always been our spirit guides, like a guardian angel in the physical world. Keep them close. They will love you more than any human can possibly fathom.

Jake

REPLY: There is perhaps no greater story of loyalty and devotion than that of Hachikō, the Akita who waited for his owner, Professor Hidesaburō Ueno, for over nine years following the professor’s sudden death in 1925. Each day, Hachikō returned to the train station where he had once greeted his master returning from work. His vigil lasted from May 1925 until his own death on March 8, 1935—a period often recorded with remarkable precision as 9 years, 9 months, and 15 days. So profound was this devotion that a bronze statue was erected in his honor, marking the very spot where he died waiting for his beloved companion.

Yet Hachikō is but one chapter in a far longer story. Ancient writers frequently wrote about dogs, with accounts ranging from detailed manuals on hunting to tender epitaphs for cherished pets. Beyond their practical roles as hunters and guardians, dogs were clearly valued as companions from the earliest times. Some of the most moving evidence comes from funerary inscriptions. Consider the 3rd-century AD epitaph for a dog named Stephanos, whose owner, Rhodope, wrote that she “shed tears for and buried like a human.” Another inscription speaks of a dog named Parthenope, whose owner buried her “giving this favor in return for that pleasure.” These are not the words of mere pet owners; they are expressions of genuine grief and love.

If you have seen the latest film adaptation of The Odyssey, you may recall Homer’s inclusion of Argus, the loyal dog who serves as a powerful symbol of fidelity and loss. After waiting twenty years for his master Odysseus’s return, Argus is the only one to recognize him—and he dies shortly after. It remains one of the most famous and poignant stories of a dog in all of classical literature.

You may have heard the saying that all dogs go to heaven. I believe that sentiment may trace its origins to ancient Egypt. There, dogs were believed to be spirit guides and companions for the deceased in the afterlife. This belief was rooted in both religious mythology and the deep personal affection Egyptians held for their canine companions. It was thought that a beloved dog who guided and comforted its master in life would do the same in death. Dogs were often buried with their owners—sometimes sacrificed after the master’s death and mummified—to ensure they would remain together forever. This theme appears in tomb paintings of pharaohs like Tutankhamun and Rameses the Great, who are depicted hunting with their dogs.

The Egyptians envisioned the afterlife, the “Field of Reeds,” as a perfect version of earthly life. There, the soul would be reunited with loved ones—including, surely, their faithful dog, waiting at home.

The bond formed when you sleep with your dog is directly linked to the release of oxytocin, often called the “love hormone,” which is known to reduce stress and promote feelings of well-being. The science behind this bond is truly fascinating.

The positive feelings are part of a feedback loop, well supported by research. Studies show that when you and your dog share loving interactions—such as gazing into each other’s eyes or cuddling—it triggers a surge of oxytocin in both of you. This is the same hormone that bonds a mother to her baby. The release of oxytocin is particularly powerful because it directly counters the stress hormone cortisol. The relaxation and calm you feel from snuggling with your dog at night are a direct result of this hormonal shift. I can personally attest to this effect, for my own dogs have often reduced my stress when human interactions have sent it soaring.

This urge to sleep together is deeply rooted in our shared history. For centuries, dogs and humans have co-slept for warmth and protection, and some experts suggest this instinct may even be genetic. Your dog likely sees you as part of its “pack” and feels safest and most comfortable when you are close. When I first brought Napoleon home, I placed her in a small cage beside my bed, and she cried. I thought perhaps she missed her mother, so I brought her into my bed. That was the end of the cage—and the beginning of a nightly ritual we have never abandoned.

The health benefits extend beyond mere comfort. Sleeping with your dog is associated with stronger feelings of security and comfort. One study found that people who slept with their dogs felt more secure and comfortable than those who slept with a human partner. I can certainly attest to the stress-reducing effect of oxytocin; I have no heart issues or blood pressure problems, and I have been told this is one of the benefits derived from the bond with a dog. Whether or not that is scientifically proven in my particular case, I am inclined to believe it.

Even throughout Asian culture, the core idea was that dogs served as protectors, companions, and even guides for their owners in the afterlife. It was a widespread and deeply rooted belief across many traditional Asian cultures. The tomb guardians and psychopomps was a key concept. In ancient China, the belief in dogs as afterlife companions was incredibly strong, dating back thousands of years.

From as early as the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046BC), dogs were found buried in human tombs. By the Han dynasty (206BC – 220AD), this practice evolved into placing ceramic dog sculptures (known as mingqi) in tombs. These were not just decorations; they were meant to serve and protect the deceased in the netherworld.

Some ancient texts describe dogs in the role of a psychopomp, a spiritual guide that leads souls to the afterlife. One famous text even tells a story of a white dog being sent by underworld authorities to dig a man out of his tomb, allowing him to return to life to teach the living about proper burial rites for the afterlife.

The fierce, bared-tooth poses of many ceramic tomb dogs suggest their primary role was to be guardians, warding off evil spirits and protecting the tomb from disturbance. This protective role was also seen as a form of companionship for the soul’s journey. It is a fascinating long history of dogs and why they call them man’s best friends.

Augustus, the first Roman emperor, had a small, white dog named Rufus, who was such a constant companion that Augustus would bring him to meetings and public events. When Rufus died, the emperor was reportedly so heartbroken that he ordered a statue of his dog to be erected in his honor.

Here is a Roman silver denarius of Augustus picturing a dog on the reverse. They have been part of our culture for thousands of year. Yes, I cook for my dogs. No kibble and no MNRA vaccines. Test that first by sticking that in Bill Gates’ ass. They often attribute “never trust anyone who does not like dogs” to Bill Murray.

QUESTION: Kevin Warsh said that responsibility for 65 months of inflation is the Fed’s fault yet he seemed to to imply price stability and the speed of inflation is more important. Some say he just just flipped the script on inflation. Can you decipher what this means?

HG

ANSWER: Kevin Warsh has noted that the rise in long-duration Treasury bond yields had effectively done some of the work for the central bank. Higher bond yields at the long end of the yield curve can raise borrowing costs and temper above-average inflation. So he is saying the market is doing part of the job. He pointed out the importance that inflation not only decline to the FOMC’s long-term target, but that it does so in a timely manner. Kevin Warsh cannot say what I am about to explain because this is a CONFIDENCE game.

Look, rates are going higher and the Fed is NOT in control. Even what Kevin Warsh has said that the responsibility for inflation lies with the Federal Reserve is total BS. That is the standard Keynesian propaganda crafter during the era of the gold standard when the US had a balanced budget. The absurdity that the stock market will crash if rates rise is the propaganda of the socialists from the Keynesian era.

When you even visually compare the stock market to interest rates there is no such correlation that interest rates up stocks down. Interest rates are the market demand for compensation for inflation (the debasement of the currency as Henry VIII pulled off).

This is not my personal opinion. This is simply FACT. I do not repeat what everyone else says to conform with the consensus. The truth is very clear. The stock market has NEVER peaked with the same level of interest rates even once. I retired from managing money, been there done that. I am not soliciting money for some investment, nor am I running for Congress or local dog catcher. I am a trader that realizes if you trade on theory, you go broken very quickly. The market peaks with with a third variable – expectation. If you believe the market will double, you will pay 25% interest. If you do not believe the market will rally by 1%, you will not borrow at 0.25%. It has always been the spread between the interest rates and expectations. This is the real meaning of Kevin Warsh’s statement, trying to instill confidence.

The Fed cannot control the fiscal side. The development of national debts changed everything. The exchange rate between currencies today rests on CONFIDENCE. The entire idea of inflation and the theories of the Austrian School are so outdated it becomes laughable. This was an era when the exchange rate between currencies was the metal content. That was the entire observation of the bad money drives out good by Sir Thomas Gresham who was the crown agent in the Armesterman exchange during the reign of Henry VIII. He saw the resistance to lending kings money when they would repay with debased coinage.

The 15th century saw the development of more systematic, long-term debt in city-states, while the 16th century witnessed the rise of massive, empire-scale borrowing that could be considered a more “aggressive” phase. During the 1400s, borrowing became a regular tool for state finance, moving beyond occasional loans from wealthy merchants. Instead of relying only on the monarch’s personal credit, states began to create long-term debt instruments. In places like Italy and Catalonia, this took the form of public annuities (often called censals or rentes), which were sold to investors and guaranteed by future tax revenues.

The Bonsignori bank was known as the Gran Tavola, which had become the most powerful of the Italian merchant banking firms throughout Europe between 1255 and 1298. The Gran Tavola was indeed the greatest bank of the 13th century with branches in Paris, Marseille, Genoa, Bologna, and Pisa in addition to the main office in Siena. They fell victim to Philip IV of France.

Philip IV of France was also strapped for funds. He chose the debasement of the coinage which was massive. Philip had no other course of action to meet the expenses of the war. He began with a massive debasement of the coinage. Silver began to migrate out of France.  This debasement only accelerated after 1298 when Philip IV confiscated all the assets Italian bank known as the Gran Tavola in France on claims that they owed him money, without netting anything with respect to his loans owed to them.

Italian city-states like Florence and Genoa, and cities in the Crown of Aragon, were early adopters. They developed complex debt management systems. For example, by the 15th century, Florence’s public debt office, the Monte, had officials who personally arranged loans and even managed a secondary market for debt. This period marked a shift toward “modern” public debt structures.

In England, while the Crown had long borrowed, the 15th century saw a pushback from Parliament. The Commons were reluctant to approve new taxes, especially during the costly and unsuccessful wars in France. They sometimes authorized the government to borrow money but left the responsibility of repaying it to future Parliaments, creating significant financial strain and conflict.

The 16th Century saw the new Age of Empire and “Aggressive” borrowing began. The scale of borrowing changed dramatically in the 1500s, driven by the enormous costs of empire and continental warfare. The reign of Philip II of Spain (1556-1598) became a defining example of aggressive state borrowing. By the second half of the 16th century, Spain’s public debt reached an unprecedented level of about 60% of national production, financed through perpetual bonds (juros). To fund his wars, Philip borrowed vast sums from German and Genoese bankers, famously defaulting on his debts four times. By the time of Philip IV, Spain defaulted for the 6th time in 1647.

This new scale of borrowing spurred financial innovation. Philip II’s system of debt often relied on assigning tax revenues directly to creditors, which gave lenders more control and reduced the cost of borrowing for the crown. In Northern Italy, states began borrowing at interest rates as low as 2.3%, a sign of sophisticated financial markets. Thus, the 16th century was also the era of powerful international banking houses. The rise of the Habsburg dynasty under Charles V was enabled by loans from German bankers like the Fuggers, as well as Genoese financiers. This system allowed rulers to access huge sums of capital from across Europe to finance their ambitions.

The Medici were different. Raymond de Roover, who became a Professor of history at Brooklyn College, wrote “The Rise and Decline of the Medici Bank,” which was first published in 1966. It remains the seminal work on this period. He had access to contracts and internal documents. A special clause was entered into the core contract of the Medici bank “to deal as little as possible with the court of the Duke of Burgundy and of other princes and lords, especially in granting credit and accommodating them with money, because it involves more risk than profit.” (id/ p 343)

Obviously, Raymond de Roover makes it clear that the Medici did not wish to lend to the princes of Europe, for there was no way to collect a debt from a sovereign. The contract continued by warning that “many merchants in this way fared badly…our fathers have always been wary of such involvements and stayed aloof, unless it was a matter of a small sum lent to make or to keep friends.” The Medici policy was “to preserve their wealth and credit rather than enrich themselves by risky ventures.”

Indeed, later generations ignored this command, and once they lent to government, that was the end of the Medici. The Fugger’s were the German bankers wiped out by the default of Spain, which was rather stupid since they had previously defaulted after wiping out the Italian bankers.

Today, we have a global crisis in central banking. They are NOT in charge of inflation -that is sheer nonsense. They cannot control the fiscal side of the budget. The U.S. State Department is funded through a combination of congressional appropriations and fees collected for services. For Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, Congress enacted about $50.07 billion for the State Department and related programs, which is a 3.5% decrease from FY2025 levels. Now look at just the arms sales of the real Merchant of Death Lockheed Martin, where total company sales (FY2025) was $75.05 billion. President Eisenhower warned us not nobody listened. The Fed cannot raise interest rates to brin oil prices down or to stop the Neocons from trying to rule the world.

In Part 2 of this interview, economic cycle expert Martin Armstrong breaks down the immediate impact of the Fed’s latest operations on precious metals, the underlying drivers of the market, and why he projects gold’s long-term macro peak won’t arrive until 2032. Plus, Armstrong shares insights on the shift toward autonomous warfare, including the military’s development of 100,000 robotic soldiers, and why traditional AI still falls short of human curiosity.

“The Armstrong Code” is available online at ArmstrongBook.com

QUESTION: Is it true that Putin said he wants full restoration of a relationship with the United States?

Rob

ANSWER: Absolutely. Putin understands that the Neocons have full control of NATO and the EU. He is seeking to realign with the United States to prevent war with NATO. Vladimir Putin has explicitly stated that Russia advocates for a full-scale restoration of relations with the United States.

He most recently made this statement on September 3, 2026, during the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF). Speaking about relations with the U.S., Putin said, “We are in favor of restoring full-format relations with the United States.” However, he also noted that this depends not only on Russia but also on the U.S. side.

Putin has framed this desire for restored relations within a broader context, marked by several key points:

1. Putin has remarked that he sees a positive and constructive attitude from U.S. President Donald Trump towards working on key international issues. He has also previously stated that Trump’s leadership qualities provide a “good basis” for restoring ties.
2. This is not a new or sudden statement. In August 2025, following a meeting with President Trump, Putin expressed hope that initial steps taken by both countries would mark the beginning of a “full-scale restoration of our relations”. He has confirmed that contacts between the two administrations at various levels are ongoing.
3. While stating Russia’s support for restoring full relations, Putin has emphasized that the process is not solely up to Moscow. He notes that the U.S. also has commitments, including those within alliances like NATO, that affect the potential for normalization.

I have said from the beginning. Putin is not just the smarest guy at the table, he is the most practical. The warmonger Neocons in the West have REFUSED to accept that communism fell all by itself and they did not get to shoot anybody. When Khrushchev said we will buy you, it was a reflection of the deep belief that Communism would defeat Capitalism. That was the entire motive behind the Cold War.

What the Neocon and NATO have twisted to justify war with Russia is claiming he lamented the fall of the USSR as if he wanted to invade Europe to restore it. This has been all self-serviving and Putin has not shown any inclination of such a goal and he has been there since 1999. In a 2021 documentary, Putin was more direct in his personal assessment. When asked what the Soviet collapse meant to him, he replied:

“Like for the vast majority of our citizens, it was a tragedy. … We lost 40% of our territory, and roughly the same share of production capacity and population.”

He elaborated on the human cost, noting that the dissolution left “25 million Russian people abroad” and described the ensuing upheaval as “a huge humanitarian tragedy.” This is absolutely correct for the people living in the Donbas are Russian who have been terrorized by Ukrainians who had engaged in Neo-Nazi ethnic cleansing of Russians and here is Zelensky joking about confiscating assets of Russians in Ukraine. The majority were raised to hate Russians.

However, while Putin frequently laments the collapse, he has also made it clear he does NOT wish to restore the Soviet Union/Communism. His famous phrase on this is:

“Anyone who doesn’t regret the collapse of the Soviet Union has no heart. But anyone who wants to restore it has no brain.”

Look, Putin enjoyed a popularity greater than 70% BECUSE the people knew he was not a Communist. There was no way the people wanted to return to that system. The tragedy was that under the USSR, Russians moved around and that is what he was talking about that 25 million were stranded.

According to data from the Estonian Statistical Office as of January 1, 2026, the Russian ethnic group made up 20.3% of the total population of 1,360,745 people. Here is
Kaja Kallas Vice-President of the European Commission and High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
since December 1st, 2024. She is the former Prime Minister of Estonia (2021-2024). She hates Russians yet 20% of Estonian are ethnic Russians.

Even the Czech Republic, some were proposing confiscating private assets of ethnic Russians. The legal framework for sanctions usually applies to specific individuals or entities directly linked to the conflict, rather than the broader ethnic population. Private property rights are generally constitutionally protected in the Czech Republic, meaning that any action against an individual would require specific legal justification, such as direct involvement in illegal activities. Nevertheless, there were people trying to push that agenda demonstrating the hatred for Russians that consumed Madeleine Albright who convinced NATO to attack Serbs because they were pro-Russia. She grew up in Czechoslovakia and hated Russians because they were communists and never forgave the Russian people all because of Stalin, which was not even Russian.

The ethnic hatred throughout the Baltics, Balkans, down to Ukraine, is systemic. They blame the current generation for the sins of their fathers and grandfathers. This region has been conquered so many times from Sweden, Turks, Russians and so on, that you have different religions, languages, and ethnicity that is deeply embeded and I seriously doubt that there will ever be a lasting peace in Eastern Europe. There just seems to be too many old memories to ever allow unity.