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.

I have reported that Trump was mislead into this unwinnable war with Iran, which has been planning for it since 1979. They had amassed the largest stockpile of balistic missiles and understood the way to fight Israel was to overwhelm their dome defense. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to run for reelection in October. However, I would not put it past him to pull a Zelensky to retain power. He has implied that he may be considering taking unilateral action to prolong a costly and unwinnable war with Iran, even as Washington and Tehran appear to be close to an interim deal to open the Strait of Hormuz. Trump keeps trying to exit and Netanyahu tries to keep the US in to fund his war.

Iran’s investment in ballistic missiles was a deliberate strategic choice, made in the context of its long-standing tensions with the U.S. and Israel. This decision was driven by the understanding that the way to defeat Israel was to overwhelm its defense and that would take a vast supply to compel Israel to eventually run out of missiles.

There is no evidence that Netanyahu has EVER pursued a peace agreement with Iran. Instead, his decades-long career has been defined by consistent, vocal, and active opposition to diplomatic engagement with Tehran, favoring military and economic pressure to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. I have stated many times that the primary directive of a Neocon is to reject any communication with a deemed enemy. There is NEVER a desire of peace. With both sides at each other’s throats, there is no solution militarily. Netanyahu is a threat to Israel the same as Zelensky is a threat to Ukraine. Neither consider the civilians who are killed in the process.

Nonetheless, the shekel reached its weakest point in modern history in May 2002, when the exchange rate hit 4.916 ILS per 1 USD. Since that peak, the currency has generally strengthened. By 2025, the average annual exchange rate was around 3.77 ILS/USD, and in 2026 it has traded significantly lower (stronger shekel), around 2.80-3.00 ILS/USD. This has been driven in part due to the High-Tech and Foreign Investment factors (Capital Flow). Israel has a powerful high-tech sector that attracts massive foreign investment. A significant portion of this investment comes from the US, creating constant demand for shekels.

Then there is the “Nasdaq Effect” and Institutional Hedging. Israeli pension funds and institutional investors hold vast portfolios of US stocks, particularly in technology. To manage currency risk, they engage in “hedging” thereby selling dollars and buying shekels. When US markets, especially the tech-heavy Nasdaq, rise, the value of these portfolios increases, prompting them to buy even more shekels to rebalance their currency exposure. This creates strong, self-reinforcing demand for the local currency.

The Bank of Israel has maintained relatively high interest rates to control inflation. It has been these higher interest rates that have made shekel-denominated assets more attractive to investors, increasing demand for the currency.

The prospects for war introduce geopolitics and that has introduced the “Risk Premium.” The shekel’s trajectory has often been influenced by geopolitics. For instance, the ceasefire following the October 2023 conflicts reduced the “Risk Premium” on Israeli assets, encouraging capital to return and supporting the shekel. However, our computer is warning that renewed geopolitical tensions, such as an escalation with Iran, could cause a sudden “flight to safety” and weaken the shekel.

Consequently, these factors have combined to strength the the shekel for 24 years overall. The Bank of Israel has historically intervened to smooth out extreme volatility, but it appears to be refraining from actively trying to reverse the structural trend of a strong shekel, preferring to let market forces play out. This is where we see things are starting to shift in 2027 and it appears we can see a major shift in trend post-2028.

Netanyahu’s Opposition to the 2015 Nuclear Deal
Netanyahu was vehemently opposed to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated by the Obama administration in 2015. In what was seen as a direct challenge to the U.S. president, Netanyahu accepted an invitation from congressional Republicans to address a joint session of Congress, where he publicly argued the deal would not block Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon but would instead pave the way for it . He spent years campaigning against the agreement and welcomed President Trump’s decision to withdraw from it in 2018 .

Rejection of Any Diplomacy & Advocating Confrontation & Destruction of Iran
The evidence shows that Netanyahu’s strategy has consistently been to advocate for maximum pressure and military action over negotiation. In a video after launching a joint war with the U.S. against Iran in 2025, Netanyahu stated the attack “allows us to do what I have been hoping to do for 40 years.” His fixation on Iran as an existential threat has always been his central theme of his political identity.

He reportedly convinced President Trump to rejoin the conflict in June 2025, framing it as a chance to achieve what past administrations had not. As recently as July 2026, Netanyahu expressed skepticism about a potential deal with Iran and opposes any peace deal. When President Trump began negotiating a peace agreement with Iran in 2026, reports indicate Netanyahu actively tried to prevent it. It was reported that Netanyahu planned massive strikes on Iranian energy and infrastructure to derail negotiations but was stopped by President Trump. While Netanyahu did not publicly criticize the deal, admitting to “disagreements” with Trump , he acknowledged he could not stop it from being signed.

Netanyahu’s approach has consistently been one of opposition to diplomatic engagement and a preference for confronting Iran through military and economic pressure. Iran is well aware of this personal animosity and had built an enormous arsenal of balistic missiles. This strategy resulted in Iran holding what is described as the largest ballistic missile stockpile in the Middle East, with estimates ranging from 2,500 to 6,000 missiles of various types.

Preparation for Conflict
Beyond the buildup, there is clear evidence that Iran prepared a military plan for a potential U.S. or Israeli attack. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated that a military action plan was approved by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to be executed in the event of an attack. This suggests a high level of preparation for a scenario that ultimately came to pass. Military experts also affirmed that Iran had made significant preparations for a potential conflict with the U.S. and Israel.

This US-Iran war that broke out on February 28 put Iran’s massive missile stockpile to the test. While initial strikes damaged the arsenal, Iran’s ability to preserve and potentially rebuild its capabilities is a major part of the story. U.S. sources initially claimed that up to one-third of the arsenal was destroyed early in the conflict. However, subsequent U.S. intelligence assessments indicated that Iran retained about 70% of its prewar missile stockpile. Reports suggest that Iran used a truce to restore access to damaged underground facilities and may have replenished its stockpile with Russian-made missiles.

Despite significant strikes on its infrastructure, Iran is assessed to have regained operational access to the vast majority of its underground missile sites along the strategic Strait of Hormuz. This indicates that while the war has taken a toll, Iran’s underlying missile infrastructure has proven resilient.

In short, Iran’s massive missile buildup appears to be the product of a long-term definitive strategy to prepare for the possibility of a major war with the US and Israel. While the available information does not state the buildup was a plan for the specific war, the presence of a pre-approved military response plan and the subsequent use of these missiles in the conflict demonstrates a clear and sustained level of preparation.

WILL CHINA & RUSSIA STAND SILENT IS ISRAEL SEEK TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF IRAN?

China and Russia have not indicated they would allow Israel to “totally destroy” Iran. On the contrary, they have actively opposed the military strikes and are calling for a ceasefire and a return to diplomatic negotiations. Allowing the “total destruction” of Iran would fundamentally contradict China and Russia’s stated policies. Their actions are aimed at preventing further escalation, which suggests they would not only NOT allow such a scenario but would actively work against it through diplomatic channels. As the Shanghai municipal government’s information office stated, claims that China has “abandoned Iran” are “narratives that not only distort the facts.”

From a realistic perspective, there is NO WAY either Russia or China would allow Netanyahu’s end-game to become reality. It seems that Netanyahu has the same delusions as Zelensky who seeks the destruction of Russia with comments from military leaders pronouncing Moscow will fall. There is absolutely no indication that either Zelensky or Netanyahu will succeed in their end game hgoals.

UNWINNABLE War

While this war has killed about 250 military leaders with the Ayatollah, these tactical gains have not translated into political outcomes. The Iranian regime has not fractured, and its nuclear program has not been dismantled, only set back. Iran has also opened a second front through Hezbollah in Lebanon, sustaining the conflict and then there are the Houthis who have declared a naval blockade against Saudi shipping and have followed through with attacks on oil tankers, effectively creating a crisis for one of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

Iran is built for a prolonged, attritional fight, a lesson reinforced by its experience in the Iran-Iraq War. It has employed a strategy of horizontal escalation, extending the conflict into the economic and political domains where time favors the side absorbing pain. This includes disrupting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which has collapsed shipping to roughly 5% of pre-war levels, and targeting the energy infrastructure of Gulf states to create global economic pressure. This dynamic gives Tehran significant leverage, as the economic costs of the war are a major incentive for the US to seek a ceasefire. As I have said, every war game played had Iran taking the Strait of Hormuz. All I can assume is that the plane was Netanyahu’s with the assumption of killing the Ayatollah would end the war in one day like Venezuela. Trump was ill-advised and the question is who escorted Netanyahu into the Situation Room to sell this war to Trump.

This has simply become a War Without End! Without a clear, shared definition of victory between the US and Israel, the war continues without a decisive conclusion in sight. The conflict is settling into a pattern of strikes, pauses, and negotiations that prevent collapse but lead to no final resolution. A war fought without a clear objective and exit strategy, described by an “anti-Powell Doctrine,” risks becoming a “forever war” as the Neocons engaged in with Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. At least the Korean War was instigated by the North invading the South.

The question of whether the war is “winnable” cannot be answered with a simple yes or no. From a military standpoint, the coalition can achieve tactical victories. However, if the benchmark is forcing Iran into submission or achieving regime change, the evidence points toward a conflict that is unwinnable. Because Iran requires only survival to claim its own victory, the war appears to be a conflict where decisive victory is unattainable.

The Nuclear Option

Netanyahu has not publicly discussed this option deploying tactical nuclear weapons against Iran. However, there remain concerns given his relentless animosity toward Iran. Israel’s nuclear capability is widely believed to be tied to the “Samson Option” doctrine, which is a last-resort deterrent meant only for an existential threat to the state’s survival. The conflict with Iran, has often been characterized as an existential threat to Israel that he has claims goes to the survival of Israel. The problem that he faces is that a tactical nuclear strike might NOT even fully destroy Iran’s deeply buried nuclear facilities. Israel already possesses a range of advanced conventional weapons, including bunker-buster bombs, which could achieve similar objectives without the immense risks of nuclear escalation. President Trump, has publicly dismissed the possibility of an Israeli nuclear strike, stating, “Israel wouldn’t do that.” However, even the USA would resort to that option if confronted with the inevitable loss in a major war with anyone.

I have been often asked about if Robert Maxwell, Epstein’s girlfriend’s father, stole US nuclear secrets and handed them to Israel. The allegations linking Robert Maxwell to a series of intelligence-related activities involving Israel began with claims of Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli intelligence officer. I cannot speak definitively to this allegation. What I do know is that he was part of the “club” and that he agreed that Israel would recognize the coup against Gorbachev in return to allow the Jews in Russia to flee to Israel. I have maintained that nobody wants really to investigate WHY Epstein was engaging in his scheme ising girls to implicate powerful people. I believe they keep the focus on the girls as the victim and avoid the WHY because that leads to an operation nobody wants to expose.

According to formal complaints lodged by Lebanon with the United Nations, Israel did spray a toxic herbicide over agricultural land in southern Lebanon as Netanyahu sought to adopt a scorched earth tactic. The Lebanese government has formally accused Israel of using this as a method of warfare.

The core of the Lebanese complaint focuses on an incident in February 2026, where Israel allegedly used the herbicide glyphosate. Lebanon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs filed official complaints with the UN Security Council based on a report from its National Council for Scientific Research. Soil samples taken from border villages showed glyphosate levels as high as 22,750–23,000 micrograms per gram . This is a concentration over 11,000 times higher than what is normally found after routine agricultural use (0.5–2 micrograms per gram) .

Lebanon argues that the high-concentration spraying violates the Chemical Weapons Convention, which prohibits the use of herbicides as a method of warfare. The spraying reportedly covered an 18-kilometer strip along the border, extending 300–500 meters wide, and was aimed at eliminating all vegetation to create a “barren, desert-like strip” or buffer zone. This incident is part of a broader pattern of ecological damage that has devastated Lebanese agriculture.

Agricultural Devastation has been an estimated 22-24% of Lebanon’s total cultivated land (approximately 56,000 hectares) has been damaged, with the southern governorates being the hardest hit. The south produces 95% of Lebanon’s bananas and 75-97% of its citrus fruit, both of which have been severely affected. Olive groves, tobacco, and grain fields have also suffered heavy damage.

This tactic was intended to starve out Hezbollah. The farmer displacement has been over 76% in the affected areas have been displaced losing both their property and livelihood, threatening food production and food security.  There have been other independent agents who have confirmed Netanyahu’s use of white phosphorus, which burns vegetation and agricultural land, and cluster munitions, which leave behind unexploded ordnance.

Lebanese officials have described the objective as creating a “scorched landscape” similar to Gaza, designed to be “empty of any life” on the orders of Netanyahu. The long-term consequences for the land, local biodiversity, and food security are expected to be severe. The unintended consequences can be the creation of a permanent wasteland.

Based on extensive reports from the United Nations, humanitarian organizations, and Palestinian authorities, Israel’s military operations in Gaza have systematically destroyed the territory’s agricultural capacity. While the exact method of “poisoning” (such as aerial herbicide spraying) is referenced broadly in the context of agricultural destruction, the overwhelming evidence points to a multi-layered assault that has rendered the land incapable of producing food.

Mercy Corps found that 96% of Gaza’s agricultural land was either destroyed or rendered inaccessible. The organization’s Vice President for Policy and Advocacy stated, “The scale of destruction is unlike anything we’ve seen in previous conflicts. It represents the collapse of a food system.”

While I do not support the Internation Criminal Court (ICC), it is worth noting that Netanyahu was charged by the ICC, in part with the charges closely linked to the “scorched earth” tactics that devastated Gaza. These are tactics that are not confined to a military adversary. They are permanent destruction of the land to support the civilian population.

It is hard say who was the first to adopt the scorched earth tactic in war. The Scythians in 513BC did use this against King Darius the Great of Persia. It is ironic that Netanyahu is using this military tactic against Iran some 2500 years later.

Netanyahu is not the first to seek to permanently damage the land to prevent anyone from living there. A classic example involves the Roman razing of Carthage in 146BC. According to historical accounts, Roman troops not only destroyed the city but also poisoned the surrounding soil with salt to prevent it from being farmed again. This is one of the earliest recorded uses of tactics designed to make land permanently infertile.

A more modern, well-documented case occurred in Afghanistan, where the Taliban destroyed the agricultural infrastructure of the Shomali Plain in August 1999. This operation systematically burned grapevines, destroyed orchards of fruit and nut trees (like mulberry and walnut), and poisoned wells.

The long-term impact was severe because these fruit trees take many years to root and produce a crop again. This tactic was particularly devastating in the high-altitude, cold climate of the region, where agriculture was already marginal. The United Nations estimated that recovery would take billions of dollars and “no less than a decade.” This represents a near-permanent loss of food production capacity due to the time required to re-establish the agricultural base.

This is a totally different form of warfare that is directed at a population rather than a military adversary.

A United Nations proposal would replace the current system of taxing each multinational subsidiary separately with a global unitary tax system. A corporation’s worldwide profits would first be combined into one total and then divided among countries according to a formula measuring where it employs workers and where its customers purchase goods and services. Each country would apply its own corporate tax rate to the portion assigned to it, regardless of where the company legally reported the profit.

Tax Justice Network estimates that this reallocation would produce an additional $500 billion in annual corporate tax revenue worldwide. It would be redistributed among governments, creating major winners while stripping revenue from countries whose economies currently benefit from corporate headquarters, intellectual property, financial services, or low-tax structures.

Ireland would suffer one of the largest losses, surrendering an estimated $11.15 billion annually, or 81.9% of the multinational corporate tax revenue measured by the study. Hong Kong would lose $9.37 billion, or 75.7%; Singapore $8 billion, or 69.2%; Switzerland $5.43 billion, or 42%; the Netherlands $3.16 billion, or 28.4%; and Malta $3.04 billion. Bermuda would lose $489 million, the British Virgin Islands $496 million, Puerto Rico $547 million, Jersey $510 million, and Mauritius $152 million.

These jurisdictions currently tax profits that multinational corporations book within their borders despite having relatively little employment or customer activity there. The UN formula would disregard where those profits are legally reported and redistribute them toward countries where the company’s workers and customers are located.

The UN claims some of these jurisdictions could theoretically recover the lost revenue by taxing their smaller remaining profit base at much higher rates. The study estimates that the Netherlands would need an effective rate of roughly 29% to 33%, compared with its present estimated rate of 13.6%. Switzerland would need approximately 20% to 25%, up from 10.4%, while Singapore would need between 25% and 37%, up from 9.2%.

Those numbers become absurd for economies heavily dependent on profit booking. Ireland would require an effective rate between 68% and 94% to replace the revenue it loses under the various formulas. The Cayman Islands could require between 28% and 162%, while the British Virgin Islands could require anything from 9% to 643%. That is an admission that these jurisdictions could not recover their losses through ordinary taxation without destroying the economic model the UN intends to dismantle.

However, the losers are not limited to traditional tax havens. Japan would lose an estimated $34.09 billion per year, equal to 27.1% of the multinational corporate tax revenue included in the study. Denmark would lose approximately $1.8 billion, or 31.9%, while Saudi Arabia would lose $1.77 billion, or 17.9%.

The report classifies these three as “headquarters-bias” countries. Their multinational corporations report an unusually large share of global profits in the country where the parent company is headquartered, even though much of their employment and sales occurs abroad. Under the UN formula, some of that profit would be exported to foreign governments.

Japan’s result may reflect the concentration of research, intellectual property, engineering, and other high-value functions at Japanese parent companies. Yet the formula gives equal weight to employee headcount and customer location, meaning it may fail to recognize where a product was invented, financed, designed, or developed. A country could spend decades building an advanced industrial and technological base only to be told that much of the resulting profit belongs to whichever foreign country purchased the finished product.

To preserve its existing revenue, Japan would need to increase its effective corporate tax rate from approximately 30.5% to somewhere between 36.3% and 42.6%, depending on the allocation formula. Denmark would need to raise its rate from around 15% to between 25.3% and 38.8%. Saudi Arabia would need to increase its 20% effective rate to between 22.7% and 26%.

Denmark’s projected loss may be influenced by its large shipping industry and tonnage-tax regime. The report notes that $29 billion of A.P. Moller-Maersk’s $30.2 billion in 2022 pretax profit was subject to Danish or foreign tonnage taxation, producing an effective tax rate of only 3%. The proposed formula would allocate more of that profit to countries connected to Maersk’s workers and customers rather than allowing Denmark to retain the advantage of hosting the corporate headquarters.

New Zealand is also projected to lose about $220 million annually, Macao $975 million, Eswatini $22 million, and several smaller island jurisdictions would lose meaningful shares of their present corporate revenue. Some estimates for the smallest jurisdictions are based on thin reporting data and must be treated cautiously, but the direction is clear. This is a redistribution of national taxing rights, not a magical creation of $500 billion from nowhere.

The report attempts to dismiss these losses by telling tax-haven nations to abandon their present economic models, increase their tax rates, invest in education and infrastructure, and diversify into other industries. That is an extraordinary display of bureaucratic arrogance. Unelected organizations are effectively telling sovereign nations that their tax policies, competitive advantages, and development strategies are unacceptable and must be replaced by a model designed in New York.

Globalist institutions do not view countries as independent societies with different resources, cultures, needs, and economic strategies. They view the world as an administrative spreadsheet. If Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland, or a small Caribbean nation loses a major source of revenue, that is treated as an acceptable adjustment so long as the global model produces the desired aggregate result.

This is precisely how these organizations operate. The OECD, IMF, European Union, and United Nations always claim that another layer of coordination will produce fairness, stability, and efficiency. What actually appears is another permanent bureaucracy with committees, reporting mandates, enforcement mechanisms, technical standards, review conferences, and dispute panels.

The treaty language proposed by the Global Alliance for Tax Justice would empower a Conference of the Parties to assess the allocation of taxing rights across all forms of taxation with cross-border effects and adopt additional measures it considers appropriate. It also calls for an international system based on consolidated global profits, an agreed allocation formula, regular reviews, sector-specific rules, and an “effective global minimum corporate tax rate.”

The proposal explicitly says the convention should cover “all types of taxes with transboundary effects.” Once established, the bureaucracy could move into wealth taxes, digital taxes, environmental taxes, financial-transaction taxes, and the taxation of individuals deemed internationally mobile.

These global organizations protect bureaucracy before sovereignty because bureaucracy is their product. They do not produce goods, discover medicine, grow food, or create wealth. They produce regulations, standards, frameworks, and reporting requirements that justify larger budgets and greater authority. Every disagreement becomes evidence that the world needs more coordination, and every failure becomes an excuse to expand the institution that designed the failed policy.

Japan, Ireland, Singapore, Switzerland, Denmark, and the other losing jurisdictions will not be incidental casualties. Their tax bases are being deliberately redistributed under a formula they may not control. The global bureaucracy calls this fairness because it evaluates success by the amount of money transferred into government hands, not by whether individual nations retain the right to govern themselves.

The latest polling from Europe exposes the hypocrisy behind the entire war campaign. Europeans have been frightened into supporting larger military budgets, common European debt, weapons for Ukraine, and an EU defense structure, but when they are asked whether they would personally pick up a rifle, the enthusiasm suddenly disappears. They support war in theory as long as Ukrainians, professional soldiers, or somebody else’s children are forced to die for it.

The European Council on Foreign Relations surveyed 19,481 adults across 15 European countries in May 2026. The results were presented under the absurdly triumphant title “Europeans are ready to defend themselves,” yet the underlying figures tell a far more complicated story. Europeans may be prepared to borrow money and purchase weapons, but most are not prepared to bear the physical cost of the policies they endorse.

The EU’s Spring 2026 Eurobarometer found that 81% support a common European defense and security policy, while 76% believe Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens EU security. Another 76% said the EU should continue supporting Ukraine until a “just and lasting peace” is achieved. Those phrases are deliberately vague.

When the questions become personal, the numbers collapse. A recent cross-NATO study involving more than 31,000 respondents found that only 27% of Germans, 25% of Italians, 30% of the Dutch, and 33% of Hungarians and Czechs were willing to fight for their own countries. Sweden reached 66%, Finland 64%, Norway 61%, Lithuania 52%, and Poland 49%, which reflects the enormous geographical and cultural differences that Brussels pretends do not exist.

The ECFR polling likewise found that only about 38% of Europeans said they would personally fight if their country were attacked. Germany fell to just 29%. Asked whether their troops should defend a Baltic NATO member from a Russian attack, support averaged only 39%, while 43% opposed deployment. Sweden and Denmark reached roughly 60% to 62%, but opposition overwhelmed support in Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, and Romania.

This is the fundamental weakness in NATO’s political theater. Article 5 is presented as an automatic suicide pact, but the treaty does not cause populations to acquire the will to fight merely because politicians sign communiqués. Governments may order troops into battle, yet no alliance can manufacture morale through press conferences.

An admittedly non-representative Euronews online poll received nearly 10,000 responses to the question, “Would you fight for the EU’s borders?” Approximately 75% said no, only 19% said yes, and the remainder were uncertain. A Forsa poll in Germany found that only 16% would “definitely” take up arms if Germany were attacked. Another 22% said they probably would, while 59% said they probably or definitely would not. Among women, unwillingness reached 72%. Yet other polls found majorities supporting some form of military conscription. In other words, many Germans support a draft because they assume it will fall on someone else.

The financial polling exposes the same cowardice. The 2026 ECFR survey found that 47% supported collective European borrowing to finance defense. Support reached 59% in Portugal, 56% in Denmark, 55% in the Netherlands, and 53% in Spain. Borrowing is naturally popular because politicians pretend no one must pay for it.

When respondents were asked whether they would accept cuts to domestic public spending to fund defense, opposition surged to 63% in Italy, 59% in Austria, 56% in Germany, 54% in Spain, and 52% in Denmark. Europeans want the weapons, but they do not want lower pensions, reduced welfare, higher taxes, or fewer government services. They want war financed through debt so the bill can be concealed and transferred to the next generation.

Italy remains the clearest exception. In the May 2026 ECFR poll, 58% of Italians opposed additional military spending while only 28% supported it. Italy also recorded one of the lowest levels of willingness to fight, at roughly 25%. The Italian public understands that a nation carrying enormous public debt cannot borrow its way into another foreign war without eventually destroying its domestic economy.

European voters still view Ukraine favorably, but they do not want direct military responsibility. The ECFR survey found majorities opposed sending national troops into Ukraine even after a peace agreement, including in Germany, France, and Poland. Support for international peacekeeping deployments was weak, reaching only 18% in Denmark, 17% in Finland, 15% in Spain and Portugal, and 11% in Britain under the relevant polling formulation.

They call Ukraine an ally and demand that it continue fighting, but they refuse to send their own sons and daughters. This is precisely the arrangement European leaders prefer. Ukrainians supply the bodies, European taxpayers supply the money, defense contractors receive the contracts, and politicians receive a permanent foreign enemy to blame for every domestic failure.

Russia is now doubling the military content imposed on school children. Beginning September 1, military instruction in the compulsory course called “Fundamentals of Security and Defense of the Motherland” will rise from 20% to 50% of teaching time for students in grades six through eleven. The Russian government is converting the classroom into a military recruitment center.

The program reportedly includes drone operation, engineering instruction, military camps, and preparation for future service. Occupation authorities in Donetsk have approved a ten-year plan extending through 2036, while vocational students in occupied Kherson are being taught to operate, maintain, and repair drones. In occupied Luhansk, children are being absorbed into cadet groups, political organizations, and so-called patriotic movements designed to replace their identity with loyalty to Moscow.

Critics who say I only condemn Zelensky and Europe have not been reading my work closely. EVERY GOVERNMENT IS CORRUPT. Few truly care about future generations. The masses are the disposable great unwashed to be used as their overlords see fit. Granted, many leaders are worse than others, but no one in government is “the good guy” when we are dealing with war. I do believe Putin attempted to extend the olive branch and end this conflict numerous times over, but that is simply impossible since the Western decision-makers believe this conflict can save their nations from the sovereign debt crisis. They are WRONG but there is too much tied into Ukraine at this point for the war to simply end. Kids will learn how to murder their fellow human because that is the world they will be raised in and the skills necessary to propel the machine. At the same time, this will not be a forever indefinite war. The world will not look the same once it is over.

Now the Kremlin is manufacturing a permanent mobilization reserve. The Eastern Human Rights Group warned that the objective is to shape children in both “skills and worldview,” and the inclusion of girls substantially expands the state’s potential manpower pool. A senior Russian lawmaker has even proposed beginning mandatory military training in the fifth grade, demonstrating how far the government is prepared to reach into childhood.

By 2036, many of today’s Kremlin officials will be retired or dead, while the children conditioned in their classrooms will be old enough to fight the next war. Believe me, the Russian oligarchs who want to replace Putin are ready to take this conflict to the next level. This is the ancient crime of government repeated once again—the old create the conflict, conceal their failures beneath patriotism, and send the young to settle the account in blood.

This year’s Institutional Report is an eyeopener. The world is undergoing a shift in preparation for 2032. We are witnessing a significant decline in the belief in American exceptionalism, particularly among younger generations in the U.S. However, this is a complex trend. While the belief in the nation’s unique moral and political superiority is waning thanks to the Neocons, the country’s economic and market performance still sets it apart in most respects yet it remains at risk from rising communistic and progressive socialism that demand engaging in class warfare tearing society apart at the seams.

The global landscape is entering what we have long identified as the “Panic Cycle” of 2026, a period where the structural weaknesses in the Western financial system converge with escalating multi-front geopolitical conflict with a significant global trend shift in 2027 taking the world into a significant economic low in 2028 infected by stagflation accelerated by rising conflicts that are unwinnable on many fronts.

This is not chaos; it follows a predictable rhythm of human behavior governed by the 8.6-year Economic Confidence Model (ECM) . We are currently witnessing the death throes of the Western republican form of government, which our models have projected to culminate in a systemic collapse by 2032 and a reorganization of political government in most of the world governments mired in republics. The convergence of sovereign debt crises, stagflationary energy shocks, and a shift from unipolar to multipolar conflict defines this outlook.

We are not heading toward a traditional World War III, but rather a simultaneous eruption of regional tensions that are all interconnected. The model indicates that the conflict in Ukraine, the tensions surrounding Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, and the dynamics in the South China Sea are not isolated events; they are manifestations of a single cycle of declining confidence in the established order.

As usual, we cover Europe, Middle East, Asia, South and North America.

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