$9 Billion to Jab You: How Your Tax Dollars Fund the World’s Largest Drug Advertising Machine

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By Dr. Peter McCullough
June 18, 2026

From kindergarten classrooms to third-world villages—the federal vaccine cartel spends more selling shots than Big Pharma spends on direct-to-consumer advertising for all drugs combined

The public is bombarded with public health messaging about vaccination, far more than losing weight, exercise, improving diet or even high-cost branded drugs. I wondered how much is spent on vaccine promotion and why?

The Taxpayer Vaccination Leviathan: Annual Federal Spending on Immunization Promotion (2018–2025)

The federal vaccine apparatus is a sprawling, multi-agency enterprise that consumes billions annually—not just purchasing doses, but manufacturing consent through aggressive “promotion” and “education” campaigns that blur the line between public health and propaganda.

HHS: The Primary Engine

CDC dominates vaccine promotion spending. The Immunization and Vaccines for Children program alone runs ~5–6 billion annually. Within this, the CDC’s *National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases* (NCIRD) operates with an annual budget exceeding $800 million, much of it dedicated to “provider education,” public awareness campaigns, and the Orwellian-titled Vaccinate with Confidence initiative targeting “vaccine hesitancy.”

NIH pours roughly $1.5–2 billion annually into vaccine research, including behavioral science grants studying how to manipulate public perception—what they call “vaccine acceptance interventions.” The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) alone commanded over $6 billion in total budget in recent years, with a substantial vaccine component.

HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration) administers the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)—a self-contained admission that vaccines cause harm, yet its ~$250 million annual payout structure is dwarfed by the promotional machinery.

ASPR (Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response) and BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) funnel billions more into vaccine development and stockpiling, with embedded “public communication” components.

Other Departments

USAID historically spent hundreds of millions annually on global immunization programs through Gavi and UNICEF, often functioning as a soft-power vaccine export arm.

Department of Defense runs its own Military Vaccine Agency (MILVAX), with annual budgets in the tens of millions for mandatory troop vaccination and “education.”

Department of Education quietly funds school-based vaccine promotion through grants to state education agencies.

Annual Estimates (Billions)

These figures are conservative. They exclude state-level matching funds, the imputed value of media’s free pro-vaccine coverage, and the incalculable cost of regulatory capture that makes honest safety research unfundable.

The Numbers for HTN, Lipids, and Diabetes

Diabetes Drugs

This is the monster category. In 2023, drugmakers spent over $1 billion on ads for weight loss and diabetes treatments, with diabetes-specific drugs accounting for roughly $790 million of that. The GLP-1 gold rush has sent this into the stratosphere:

  • Ozempic: $208 million (2023)
  • Rybelsus: $199 million (2023)
  • Mounjaro: $139 million (2023)
  • Jardiance: $148 million (2023)
  • Farxiga: $68 million (2023)

By 2025, Novo Nordisk alone was on track to spend nearly $500 million in just the first nine months on Wegovy and Ozempic combined, with Eli Lilly adding another $214 million on Zepbound and Mounjaro. The annualized diabetes/obesity ad spend is now comfortably north of $1.5 billion.

Cholesterol Drugs

This category has collapsed. Lipitor—once the king—commanded a $272 million annual DTC budget in 2010, with total marketing (including physician detailing and samples) exceeding $660 million. But after Lipitor went generic in late 2011, Pfizer pulled the plug. Crestor picked up some slack, but the entire statin class DTC spend today is a shadow of its former self—likely under $150 million annually across all brands.

Blood Pressure Drugs

This is the quietest category. Antihypertensives are overwhelmingly generic, and branded DTC advertising for blood pressure meds is minimal. Even during peak years, top brands like Diovan or Benicar never cracked $100 million in DTC spend. Today, combined branded antihypertensive DTC advertising likely sits below $100 million annually—possibly far below.

Combined Estimate

The Bigger Picture

A few things worth noting:

  • TV dominates. National TV accounts for 88%+ of ad spend on these drugs. The pharma industry knows exactly what it’s doing—blanket the boomer-heavy cable news and daytime TV audiences.
  • A 2023 JAMA study found the drugs with the lowest added clinical benefit spent a higher proportion of their promotional budgets on DTC advertising. The worse the drug works, the harder they sell it to you directly. The overall DTC spend is ~$6 billion, less than what the government spends on vaccine promotion.

For vaccines, the irony is stark: a government that spends north of $9 billion annually pushing a product simultaneously shields its manufacturers from liability and runs a compensation program for those it injures. That’s not public health—that’s a protected cartel with a marketing budget.

[…]

Via https://www.globalresearch.ca/9-billion-jab-tax-dollars-fund-largest-drug-advertising-machine/5930478

Bill Gates mRNA Ebola Vaccine Grant Matches Deadly “Rare and Deadly Virus Strain’ Outbreak in DRC

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By West Africa Weekly
22 May 2026

A new Ebola outbreak in central Africa has ignited a firestorm of criticism against billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, as the timing of a major vaccine funding grant aligns almost precisely with the emergence of a rare and deadly virus strain.

The controversy has deepened further with news that the FBI is investigating an American scientist accused of smuggling pathogen samples out of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the same region now fighting the epidemic.

The outbreak involves the Bundibugyo Ebola strain, which was confirmed by the DRC’s Ministry of Health on May 15, 2026, in Ituri Province. Two days later, the World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Hundreds of suspected cases and dozens of deaths have been reported in an area already suffering from armed conflict and mass displacement.

Just four months before the WHO declaration, in January 2026, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI, awarded 26.7 million dollars to Moderna and Oxford University to develop a multivalent mRNA vaccine against Ebola, specifically including the Bundibugyo strain. CEPI was launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2017, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was one of its founding donors. Bill Gates has personally championed the coalition since its beginning.

Health researchers on social media have called the timing suspicious, with one widely shared post asking how a vaccine grant for a rare strain could be funded months before that strain caused a global health emergency. Others pointed out that Moderna began developing its mRNA Ebola vaccine using artificial intelligence at the same time the grant was awarded.

The situation took a darker turn when an X account belonging to a public health professional alleged that an NIH virologist named Vincent Munster was caught at a U.S. airport smuggling deadly pathogen samples from the Congo.

The post claimed Munster runs Ebola field sites in the country and regularly conducts gain of function experiments, adding that he is now under FBI investigation. Independent news reports have confirmed that the FBI is indeed investigating Munster over allegations that he smuggled dangerous virus samples, including monkeypox virus, from the Democratic Republic of Congo into the United States.

Supporters of Gates and CEPI argue that the coalition was created specifically to prepare for future epidemics after the catastrophic 2014 to 2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

They note that the 26.7 million dollar grant was part of a broader effort to develop vaccines against multiple filoviruses, including several Ebola strains and Marburg virus, not just the Bundibugyo strain.

The WHO has also confirmed that no licensed vaccine or specific treatment currently exists for the Bundibugyo virus, meaning the vaccine development is a legitimate public health priority.

Yet the controversy does not exist in isolation.

For years, Bill Gates has faced deep skepticism across Africa over his foundation’s health and agricultural programs. A recent 50 million dollar AI driven health partnership with OpenAI drew sharp criticism, with many Africans accusing Gates of using the continent as a testing ground. Agricultural programs promoted by the Gates Foundation have also been described by some African experts as pushing farmers toward patented seeds and chemical intensive farming, a model they have called a new form of colonization.

As the Ebola outbreak continues to spread and the death count rises, the real world consequences of this distrust are already visible. This week, an angry crowd in the DRC set Ebola hospital tents on fire, demonstrating the dangerous gap between international health efforts and local belief. With the FBI investigation ongoing and the vaccine timeline raising unanswered questions, Bill Gates faces his most difficult challenge yet in Africa.

[…]

Via https://www.globalresearch.ca/bill-gates-ebola-vaccine-grant-congo/5930724

For South Lebanon’s displaced, returning to homes destroyed by Israeli bombs is act of defiance

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By Roqayah Chamseddine

The olive trees of South Lebanon do not merely grow; they endure, rooted in a recurring historical liturgy in which returning to them is an act of defiance – a refusal to be permanently unmoored from a land that decades of wars and invasions have transformed into both a frontline and a sanctuary.

To truly understand the gravity of a native’s return, one must look beyond the dust-choked rubble of the latest war of aggression and trace a deeper, more enduring lineage of defiance.

It is a history etched into the foundational scars of the 1978 and 1982 invasions, tempered through the long and suffocating years of occupation, and vindicated by the hard-won war of liberation in 2000. The act of return is therefore not merely a response to the present war, but the continuation of a collective memory shaped by decades of resistance, sacrifice, and steadfast attachment to the land.

The families now traversing these shell-pocked highways, their vehicles stacked high with mattresses and the remnants of interrupted lives, carry a pragmatic understanding: that safety is never guaranteed by international resolutions or the shifting calculations of imperial diplomacy. It is secured through an unwavering commitment to remain the custodians of their homeland.

They know that to leave these hills empty is to concede precisely what the enemy has long sought – a depopulated buffer zone carved out through displacement, fear, and the slow erosion of belonging.

Passing through the coastal city of Tyre, long a bastion of resistance on Lebanon’s southern shore, one is confronted at every turn by the remnants of Israel’s latest campaign of destruction: pancaked apartment blocks, damaged medical facilities, and the charred facades of shops that once sustained the rhythms of daily life.

The city bears its wounds openly, its streets layered in dust and silence where commerce, conversation, and community once flourished

Amid the chalky haze, a group of children stands before the shattered shell of their apartment building near Hiram Hospital, itself damaged in a particularly devastating Israeli airstrike on May 31. Cradled between them is a small puppy, a living rescue pulled from the wreckage and passed carefully from hand to hand like a fragment of salvaged hope.

“We found him when we came to check on the house,” thirteen-year-old Mustafa told the Press TV website, his eyes drifting across the rubble that was once his neighborhood.

“We’re going to take him to a veterinarian as soon as one opens.”

In a landscape defined by ruin, the gesture feels quietly profound. This small act of mercy reflects one of southern Lebanon’s deepest and most enduring covenants: a fierce commitment to safeguard not only the land itself, but every fragile life it shelters.

For those returning to the south, homecoming is more than an act of reclamation. It is an acceptance of responsibility – for the fields and olive groves, for the houses waiting to be rebuilt, and for every living thing that depends on the land’s capacity to endure and nurture.

An elderly man from the village of Qana, his car plastered with images of his martyred son, beamed with pride as he told us he was heading home, whatever the cost.

“Nothing will keep me from returning,” he said. “I was born in the south, and they will bury me in the south.”

That deeply ingrained liturgy of return was violently shattered by the latest onslaught before Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz. In a single day, Israel unleashed a relentless campaign of more than 100 airstrikes, systematically designed to render south Lebanon and its historic towns utterly uninhabitable.

The skies above the Nabatieh ridge and the Bekaa Valley dissolved into a dense canopy of fire, killing at least 47 people, many of them children, and extinguishing any illusion of calm. The offensive spared neither sanctuary nor shelter.

Residential clusters across Harouf, Haboush, and Dweir were flattened in rapid succession. In Harouf, the killing of an entire family, including three young daughters, laid bare an Israeli tactical doctrine that treats the mere physical presence of a southerner as an existential provocation.

Nowhere was this punitive machinery of forced displacement more concentrated than in my own village of Arab Salim.

Perched on high ground overlooking the Nabatieh lines, Arab Salim endured 15 separate strikes within a single 24-hour window, a calculated wave of terror aimed at breaking the psychological spine of a community that has historically refused to bend.

When I arrived in South early Thursday morning, a quiet stillness hung over the village, but the air was thick with anticipation. Local residents had only just begun to trickle back – hopeful, hesitant, yet visibly excited to return after months of forced displacement.

Near the village center, a small family stood before what remained of the local supermarket. The building had been heavily damaged in a previous Israeli airstrike, its fractured facade a stark reminder of the violence they had fled.

Yet, standing amidst the debris, the family was not mourning the concrete; they were rejoicing simply to be home.

As I walked further up the road toward the local Hussainya, a village elder spotted me. His face wrinkled into a warm, deeply etched smile, and he beamed with a pride that even the surrounding devastation could not strip away. He stepped forward to welcome me back, his voice carrying the weight of everything our community had endured.

“Welcome home, and thank God for your safety!” he said, gesturing toward the surrounding hills. “Is there anything more beautiful than the scent of the village?”

There was a fragile, defiant normalcy in the air. Neighbors checked water tanks and inspected outer walls for shrapnel scars, exchanging stories of where they had spent their months of exile in Beirut.

The village square began to echo with the familiar rhythm of morning greetings and laughter. For a brief, deceptive window, the village felt like itself again, reclaimed by the people who give it meaning, utterly unaware that this quiet reunion was merely the preamble to the most devastating twenty-four hours we would ever witness.

On Friday, as I sat in my family home, I heard every single airstrike tear through residential neighborhoods and scar the surrounding farmland. The walls shook with a violence that sought to turn our intimate history into dust.

One strike in particular directly targeted a local family as they attempted to flee the escalating bombardment, killing three of them and leaving their vehicle burning as a grim testament. While fifteen separate attacks have physically leveled parts of Arab Salim, the siege has failed its primary objective. The destruction of our homes does not sever a Southerner’s tie to this land. On the contrary, the ruins only deepen our resolve.

This systematic violence is part of a century-long logic of environmental and territorial engineering, a calculated campaign to sever the southern native from the soil by rendering the geography itself toxic and unrecognizable.

From the white phosphorus that poisons our agricultural valleys to the deliberate demolition of entire historic quarters, the enemy measures its victories solely through the physical absence of Lebanese life, attempting to reshape the borderlands into a depopulated buffer zone.

Yet this military architecture fundamentally miscalculates the nature of sumud – steadfastness. It fails to realize that the infrastructure of resistance is built not from the permanence of concrete, but from the deep, stubborn roots of a communal identity that grows stronger with every layer of destruction.

To remain under fire, to document the ruins from afar, and to return before the smoke has even cleared are not passive acts of survival. People here see it as a political refusal to allow their landscape to be dictated by an occupying force.

The rubble of Arab Salim does not mark the end of history for these people, but it forms the raw material of an inevitable reconstruction and return. It proves that the bond between the Southerner and this land is an unyielding, non-negotiable sovereignty – one that no amount of Israeli firepower can ever dissolve.

As I reluctantly returned to Beirut before dark to escape the intensifying airstrikes, the familiar cascade of forced displacement unfolded around me as we sped towards Sidon (Saida).

The highway was a bottleneck of survival where cars were topped with mattresses and packed with whatever belongings could fit. Vehicles were running only by the grace of God, and some bore the fresh, jagged scars of Israeli attacks.

I sat inside a packed vehicle alongside fellow southerners, including some from my village and others we had picked up along the way as we fled the Iqlim al-Tuffah region.

Next to me, an elderly woman clutched a small white trash bag filled with the few things she had managed to gather from her home quickly.

Her voice was a steady anchor against the chaos outside as she repeated to herself, almost like a vow: “We will return. The Israelis will never keep us away. We will return.”

[…]

Via https://uprootedpalestinians.wordpress.com/2026/06/22/for-south-lebanons-displaced-returning-to-homes-destroyed-by-israeli-bombs-is-act-of-defiance/

First round of Swiss-hosted Iran-US talks ends with 5 key agreements

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Nathan Howard AP

Al Mayadeen English

Following the conclusion of the first round of the Iran-US talks in Switzerland on Monday, the media committee of the Iranian negotiating delegation issued a statement outlining the main points and understandings reached during the talks.

The Bürgenstock talks outline a phased framework linking security arrangements, financial measures, and sanctions relief to conditional implementation steps.

Key developments include a Lebanon ceasefire monitoring mechanism, structured communication over the Strait of Hormuz, coordinated asset release arrangements, and temporary sanctions relief measures tied to energy exports.

Lebanon ceasefire monitoring mechanism

According to the statement, continued pressure from the Iranian negotiating delegation since Saturday afternoon contributed to maintaining a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon for the time being.

To support stabilization efforts, the parties agreed to establish a monitoring framework titled the “Conflict Control Unit.” Iran is expected to participate in this mechanism, which will oversee developments related to the ceasefire.

The statement further noted that this arrangement would formally integrate the Islamic Republic of Iran into Lebanon’s security-related discussions, despite US efforts in recent months to exclude Iran from Lebanese affairs. It also stated that “Israel” will have no role in this mechanism.

Strait of Hormuz communication channel

Regarding discussions on the Strait of Hormuz, the statement said an understanding was reached to establish a communication channel aimed at addressing potential implementation issues.

Through this channel, relevant parties would be able to directly contact Iran and present concerns related to maritime coordination and regional navigation.

It characterized this arrangement as part of broader discussions on the management and gradual reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Conditional launch of nuclear and sanctions working groups

The agreement also includes the formation of three working groups focused on nuclear issues, sanctions, and monitoring mechanisms.

These groups are set to begin their work only after the implementation of Article 13 of the memorandum of understanding, which outlines several key steps, including:

Iran will not enter the final phase of negotiations before these conditions are fulfilled.

Iran–Qatar agreement on frozen assets

During the same round of talks, Iran and Qatar signed a memorandum of understanding concerning the release of Iranian frozen assets. The agreement is presented as part of ongoing financial and diplomatic coordination between the two sides regarding outstanding economic issues.

US OFAC 60-day sanctions suspension

The statement also referenced documents issued by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) during the negotiations.

According to the statement, these documents provide for a 60-day suspension of sanctions targeting oil, petrochemical, and related sectors. This arrangement would allow Iran to resume oil sales to its customers and receive payments through formal mechanisms managed by the Central Bank, the statement explained.

Bilateral and trilateral meetings at Bürgenstock resort

Al Mayadeen’s Geneva Bureau chief reported on Sunday that various bilateral and trilateral meetings have begun at the Bürgenstock resort ahead of the first official session of Iran-US talks. The opening session took place at 2:30 PM al-Quds time.

The first file discussed after the inaugural session was the implementation of the first clause, which relates to ending the war, particularly on Lebanon.

Al Mayadeen’s Geneva bureau chief later reported that the Iranian delegation held talks with the Qatari delegation in Geneva to discuss the ceasefire in Lebanon. He also reported that, following a meeting with the Iranian delegation, the Pakistani Prime Minister and Chief of Army Staff held talks with the US delegation, headed by Vice President JD Vance.

According to an Iranian official, speaking to CNN on Saturday, before departing for Switzerland, Vance said that one of the top concerns included in the talks would be to make progress towards a ceasefire in Lebanon. “I think we’re going to hopefully make progress on the nuclear issue, make progress on the Lebanon ceasefire issue. Those are the two big things that I think we’re going to be focused on,” the US vice president told reporters, noting that he expected to participate in the talks for only “a day or two”.

[…]

Via https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/first-round-of-swiss-hosted-iran-us-talks-ends-with-5-key-ag

Israeli troops deployed to Somaliland in covert mission

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(Photo credit: Reuters/Feisal Omar)

The Cradle

JUN 22, 2026

Officials in Tel Aviv acknowledged years of ‘under-the-radar’ operations with Somaliland as strategic military ties move into the open

Israel secretly deployed a small contingent of forces to Somaliland earlier this year following its recognition of the breakaway territory, a senior Somali government official revealed to Middle East Eye (MEE) on 22 June.

“According to our intelligence reports, the Israeli military selected Israeli soldiers of African heritage, especially Ethiopians, so as not to draw attention to themselves and to blend in more easily with the local community,” the senior Somali official stated.

The Somali official said that Israel had deployed a group of 50 soldiers to Somaliland shortly after the recognition and the resumption of the war on Iran in late February.

On 17 June, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz admitted to years of clandestine, “under the radar” security operations with Somaliland.

During a high-level meeting in Tel Aviv with Somaliland’s visiting president, Israeli officials confirmed that Israel is now directly involved in training the breakaway region’s military and police.

“For many years, we cooperated under the radar in a series of operations that will remain classified. Now we are determined to bring our security cooperation to new heights, for the benefit of both peoples and for the benefit of stability in the region,” Katz said.

In early June, CNN reported that the breakaway republic of Somaliland had provided Israel with an additional military position on the Horn of Africa, allowing Israeli aircraft to “potentially stop” on long-range flights to Iran.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported on 2 May that a senior official in Somaliland said the territory is ready to cooperate with Israel to confront what it described as the “threat” from the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) to the highly strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The official said that any “disruption of maritime security” would push Somaliland to expand its relations with Israel, including to the level of a security alliance.

The official also noted that Somaliland currently cooperates with partners such as the US and the UAE, which maintain a presence in the territory’s Berbera Port, and said a similar partnership would be possible with Israel.

The UAE operates the Berbera Port, using it as a logistics hub to transfer arms and mercenaries to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which is responsible for committing genocide against non-Arab tribes in Sudan.

Somaliland declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, and in December 2025, Israel became the first and only UN member state to recognize it as an independent and sovereign state. Israel later appointed Michael Lotem as its first ambassador to Hargeisa in April, drawing worldwide condemnation.

[…]

Via https://thecradle.co/articles/israeli-troops-deployed-to-somaliland-in-covert-mission-report

Trump Now Seeks US Control Over Russia’s State-Owned Natural Resource Companies

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June 19, 2026

Trump believes that it’s now possible to obtain the “holy grail” that eluded the US even during the heyday of its unipolar hegemony in the 1990s due to the new “cordon sanitaire” around Russia

Trump’s decision to “escalate to de-escalate” with Russia is driven by the grand strategic goal of obtaining control over its state-owned natural resource (energy and minerals) companies. The ongoing Russian-US negotiations are known to include talks about cooperation in this sector, which Putin himself confirmed and was also mentioned in the leaked US-drafted 28-point peace deal framework. Trump wants to take it even further, however, by having the US obtain controlling stakes in these companies.

Up till now, it was thought that what he had in mind was only US investments in Russian energy and minerals deposits, which would ipso facto deprive China of access to them, thus indirectly advancing his administration’s goal of denying it access to the resources required for fueling its superpower trajectory. That may have been the case until recently, but his latest move has prompted a re-evaluation of his interests, and it’s now believed that he senses weakness and thus thinks that he can get even more.

Trump’s Neo-Reagan Doctrine of rolling back Russian influence worldwide as revenge for Putin rejecting his proposal to freeze the Ukrainian Conflict in exchange for a resource-centric strategic partnership has been incredibly successful. Russia has since been encircled over the past year by a US-organized “cordon sanitaire” in the Arctic-Baltic through UK-led efforts, Central Europe through Polish-led efforts, along its entire southern periphery through Turkish-led efforts, and Northeast Asia through Japanese-led efforts.

He therefore believes that it’s now possible to obtain the “holy grail” that eluded the US even during the heyday of its unipolar hegemony in the 1990s, namely direct control over Russia’s state-owned natural resource companies, which this new “cordon sanitaire” convinced him is finally within reach. To that end, “escalating to de-escalate” isn’t just premised on coercing Putin into unilateral concessions over Ukraine, but also into allowing the US to obtain controlling stakes in the aforesaid companies.

Ukraine’s large-scale drone attack against Moscow, which damaged the capital’s oil refinery, was meant to create dramatic visuals for further convincing Trump that Russia is “losing” the conflict. He’s known to be easily manipulated by images and influenced by the last person that he talked to, so coming right after the G7 Summit where his peers told him that Russia is “losing”, it’s not far-fetched to assume that truly does believe that he can now get whatever he wants from Putin. This contextualizes his decision.

Trump might have also been convinced that Putin doesn’t have it in him to obliterate Ukraine (with or without nukes) due to his belief (no matter how outdated some of his supporters think that it’s since become) that Russians and Ukrainians are kindred peoples. If he’s right, and Putin doesn’t “escalate to de-escalate” in his own way to swiftly end the conflict on at least most – if not all – of Russia’s terms, then the initiative might finally shift against Russia and place it on the defensive from here on out.

Even in the fantasy that Putin sues for peace, Trump might not accept unless he allows the US to obtain controlling stakes in Russia’s natural resource companies, otherwise he could have Ukraine launch more drone attacks against Moscow till he gets what he wants. It’s therefore imperative that Russia redoubles its air defenses around the capital and does what’s needed to successfully resolve the Ukrainian Conflict as soon as possible before Trump “escalates to de-escalate” in this manner in pursuit of this goal.

[…]

Via https://www.globalresearch.ca/trump-us-control-russia-state-owned-natural-resource-companies/5930677

Iranian women unveiled: A shift in hijab enforcement?

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DW Farsi

December 29, 2025

Across Tehran, women of all ages are openly defying compulsory hijab rules — a sign the Islamic Republic may have been weakened by the 12-day war with Israel. In an exclusive interview from inside Iran, DW spoke with two young Iranian women.

In the aftermath of the 12-day war with Israel in June 2025, changes are visible on Iran‘s streets. The morality police have disappeared, warning text messages over hijab-rules have stopped and women in Tehran and beyond are walking around unveiled and dressed freely.

Their defiance comes three years after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini in police custody, which sparked the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in Iran and worldwide in 2022.

See video: https://p.dw.com/p/565CL

Strategic Oil Reserve Nears Collapse… US Must Choose: Guns or Butter

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By Larry C. Johnson | SONAR21 | June 21, 2026

As of the week ending June 12, 2026, the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) held approximately 340.25 million barrels of crude oil… Sounds like a lot, but it is approaching the danger zone. In late May, that number was 372 million barrels, which consisted of Sweet crude: ~142 MMB | Sour crude: ~230 MMB, according to the US Department of Energy.

The oil is stored in caverns at four sites:

  • Bryan Mound: ~166 MMB
  • Big Hill: ~90 MMB
  • West Hackberry: ~72 MMB
  • Bayou Choctaw: ~44 MMB

To understand how perilous the situation is you need to know that if the oil level in these caverns falls below a certain level that the structural integrity of the caverns would be jeopardized. The most commonly cited operational floor is around 20% of capacity. Mike Sommers, CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, told CNN that the SPR must be at least 20% full to remain operational — that’s roughly 143 million barrels against the SPR’s ~727 million barrel design capacity.

So subtract 143 barrels from 340.25… That means the US only has 197.25 million barrels left before the caverns could face irreparable damage. If the US consumers, who use 20 million barrels a day, had to rely exclusively on the SPR, the US only has less than a 9-day supply of reserves. If you compare the amount reported at the end of May (i.e., 372 MMb) with the June 15th report, the US is drawing 16 million barrels a week from the reserve. This is the optimistic scenario, i.e., the US has roughly a 12-day supply before the proverbial shit hits the fan.

But wait, it gets worse. The US Military has blown through its jet fuel reserves. The problem is compounded becuase Diesel reserves are at 25 year low. Diesel and Jet Fuel are critical Distillates. So the Trump administration must make a choice: support the military jets with jet fuel, or support the trucking Fleet with enough diesel fuel, to provide food and products to US consumers. Trump can’t wage war and keep the economy going at the current rate because diesel and jet fuel compete with each other when comes to production. So the question is, do you want to wage war or do you wanna save the economy and keep the trucks moving on the road? This is the main reason Trump signed the MoU with Iran.

A friend who is an energy analyst summarized the dilemma as follows:

The strategic warning is that the United States cannot assume it can fight a major fuel-intensive conflict and protect the domestic economy without tradeoffs. Military jet fuel, commercial aviation fuel, diesel, heating oil, and marine fuel all draw from the middle distillate portion of the refined barrel. Refineries can bias output, but they cannot instantly maximize every middle-distillate product at once.

The risk is not that every truck or aircraft stops at once. The risk is that a forced fuel-priority decision creates cascading shortages and price shocks across logistics, aviation, agriculture, construction, and consumer supply chains. A war-time jet-fuel surge could reduce the diesel cushion; a civil-aviation diversion could disrupt passenger movement and air cargo. Either channel can become recessionary because both diesel and jet fuel are operating fuels for the real economy.

The US is not the only country or region facing a massive problem. Europe is screwed. An April 2026 report by Karl Miller — The Iran War, the Strait of Hormuz and Europe’s Compound Energy Trap — spells out the danger facing Europe. Here is the Executive Summary:

This report assesses whether the European Union faces a structural energy-security Prisoner’s Dilemma with Russia, with Germany at its centre and the Persian Gulf crisis as the accelerant. The argument is blunt: the Union has deprived itself of the low-cost Russian oil and gas system that underpinned much of its industrial base, while the Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz disruption have simultaneously impaired the maritime energy system that supplies a decisive share of the world’s oil, refined products and LNG.

Europe is on its knees in strategic terms. It is not literally without emergency stocks, because EU and IEA rules require minimum oil inventories. The harder reality is more damaging: those inventories are finite, unevenly usable, commercially fragile and unable to replace the normal flow of crude, diesel, jet fuel, LPG, naphtha and LNG through global markets. Emergency stocks buy time; they do not restore cheap Russian pipeline gas, reopen Hormuz, rebuild refining flexibility or prevent member states from bidding against one another.

The EU therefore faces a compound trap. Russian gas is being removed by law, Persian Gulf flows are exposed to war, U.S. LNG has become indispensable but expensive, storage refill is costly, and Germany’s industrial model remains dependent on affordable dispatchable energy. Each member state can rationally protect itself through bilateral contracts, subsidies, exemptions and emergency procurement, yet those same choices weaken the Union’s collective bargaining power and deepen fragmentation.

The conclusion is that the EU is locked into a repeated, asymmetric collective-action game. Escaping it requires enforceable solidarity, shared critical-fuels planning, coordinated storage, firm-capacity realism, a diversified LNG portfolio, strategic petroleum-product management, and legal reforms that make cooperation faster and more profitable than national defection.

Iranian delegation leaves peace talk venue in Switzerland over threats by Trump

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Aditya Shukla

US-Iran talks in Switzerland seems to hit a hurdle as Iranian delegation has left the venue in protest over threats by US President Donald Trump, reported Tasnim News Agency of Iran, citing sources.

Organisers and members of the US delegation had planned a handshake and joint photo session between the two sides before talks began but the Iranian delegation led by chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf refused to participate.

 Earlier today Trump had threatened to hit Tehran “very hard again”. Reminding Tehran of the attack last week, Trump threatened Iran to stop its proxies, or Hezbollah, in Lebanon, “from causing trouble”, else face more intense attacks.

Taking to Truth Social Trump wrote, “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”

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Via https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/iranian-delegation-leaves-peace-talk-venue-in-switzerland-over-threats-by-trump-report/ar-AA26cFZV

First round of Iran-US mediated talks concludes after 80 minutes in Switzerland

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The venue of talks at the Burgenstock resort in Switzerland.

Press TV

The first round of four-way talks between Iran, the United States, and mediators Pakistan and Qatar concluded after about 80 minutes in Switzerland, with the Iranian delegation now holding internal consultations.

The talks at the Burgenstock resort launched a 60-day negotiation window under the 14-point Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding signed earlier this week.

The Iranian delegation, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, pressed for full implementation of the memorandum.

Iranian officials had reiterated ahead of the talks that progress depended on the US fulfilling its commitments under the preliminary deal, particularly its obligation to secure an end to Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

The US delegation was headed by Vice President JD Vance, who arrived in Switzerland earlier Sunday, and included Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, accompanied by Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, led the mediation effort alongside Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Upon arriving at the venue earlier Sunday, Qalibaf held separate meetings with Qatari and Pakistani mediators before leading his delegation into the four-party talks later in the day with US representatives present.

Foreign Minister Araghchi also met separately with his Swiss counterpart on Sunday morning.

Iranian negotiating team spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the main theme of the talks was demanding that the US implement its obligations under the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that the delegation would also press mediators to guarantee full implementation of the MoU by the United States, particularly a complete halt to aggression against Iran and its regional allies, with a specific emphasis on forcing Israel to end its attacks on Lebanon.

Discussions were also expected to cover the lifting of US sanctions on Iran or measures to mitigate their impact, as well as a reduction in Iranian restrictions on maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, a key Persian Gulf waterway that carries roughly one-fifth of global oil demand.

The talks came a day after the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to all vessels in response to US violations of its commitments under the Islamabad memorandum.

The outcome of Sunday’s talks would determine the agenda for the second round of negotiations, with both sides trying to reach a comprehensive agreement to resolve outstanding disputes, including on Iran’s nuclear program.

Baghaei, who is in Burgesnstuck to brief the media about the talks, said that Clause 13 of the MoU stipulates that launching negotiations to reach a final deal depends on the implementation of five clauses of the MoU, including its first clauses which clearly demand the cessation of war on all fronts, especially in Lebanon.

“This clause has not been fully implemented so far, and the Zionist (Israeli) regime continues to violate its commitments in Lebanon, an issue that will be one of the main focal points of today’s talks,” he said.

Baghaei also said that some other clauses of the agreement require taking preliminary and executive measures, including on the US side to release Iran’s blocked assets and to issue permits necessary for the exports of Iranian oil.

He said that for the first time in the history of Iran-US indirect talks, representatives from the two countries would meet in one room in the presence of Qatari and Pakistani mediators.

The Iran-US MoU was signed by the presidents of the two countries early on Wednesday, nearly two and a half months after Pakistan announced a ceasefire to stop the 39-day US-Israeli aggression on Iran.

The MoU is aimed at putting a permanent end to that aggression and demands that Iran and the US carry out negotiations over a period of 60 days to reach a final peace deal.

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Via https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/06/21/770853/Iran-US-talks-begin-in-Switzerland-with-Pakistan-and-Qatar-as-mediators-