from GoldSilver
Russia and China Are 100% in Iran’s Corner, and That Has Very Serious Implications
by Michael Snyder
End of the American Dream
The U.S. is squarely with Israel, and Russia and China are firmly behind Iran. What could go wrong? Most people don’t seem to realize that we are at an extremely dangerous moment in world history. What do you think would happen if other Islamic nations entered the war on Iran’s side? Or what do you think would happen if Russia or China entered the war on Iran’s side? The Iranians are on the ropes for now, but if their friends decide to jump into the conflict that could change very rapidly.
According to Newsweek, on Thursday Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping during which they both strongly condemned Israel…
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a call on Thursday during which they both condemned Israel for striking Iran, the Kremlin said.
The two allies condemned “Israeli actions which violated the U.N. Charter and other norms of international law,” Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said, Reuters reports.
The Real National Emergency: Endless Wars, Failing Infrastructure, and a Dying Republic
by John W. Whitehead and Nisha Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.” – President Dwight D. Eisenhower (April 16, 1953)
Seventy years after President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned about the cost of a military-industrial complex, America is still stealing from its own people to fund a global empire.
In 2025 alone, the U.S. has launched airstrikes in Yemen (Operation Rough Rider), bombed Houthi-controlled ports and radar installations (killing scores of civilians), deployed greater numbers of troops and multiple aircraft carriers to the Middle East, and edged closer to direct war with Iran in support of Israel’s escalating conflict.
Each of these “new” fronts has been sold to the public as national defense. In truth, they are the latest outposts in a decades-long campaign of empire maintenance—one that lines the pockets of defense contractors while schools crumble, bridges collapse, and veterans sleep on the streets at home.
This isn’t about national defense. This is empire maintenance.
How Housing Bubble #2 Bursts
by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
Corporate / private equity / STVR investors are all fair-weather owners of housing.
Let’s indulge in some basic logic:
1. All credit-asset bubbles burst.
2. U.S. housing is a credit-asset bubble.
3. The U.S. housing bubble will burst.
The only variables are how and when Housing Bubble #2 will burst. That’s today’s topic.
I’ve been writing about housing since 2005, as Housing Bubble #1 was inflating. I’ve participated in / observed housing rising sharply in the late 1970s and the late 1980s, followed by deflation / stagnation. Housing Bubble #1–circa 2003-2008–was characterized by all the classic signs of a mania:
Washington Should Stay Out of Israel’s New War
from Zero Hedge
Authored by Alexander Langlois via RealClearPolitics,
Israel conducted an unprecedented attack on Iranian leadership, its military, and its nuclear program in the early hours of June 13, leaving the region on edge regarding a war many have rightly worked to avoid over decades. The operation raises more questions than answers, further highlighting the only rational path for U.S. policymakers: avoiding a direct war with the Islamic Republic.
Israeli officials claim to have hit over 300 targets across Iran via airstrikes, drones, and numerous clandestine operations within the country. Those targets include major Iranian nuclear facilities like the Natanz enrichment site, multiple nuclear scientists, and leading figures in the Iranian government and military. Israel announced that military operations will last multiple days.
Record Low Border Crossings Under Trump
by Martin Armstrong
Armstrong Economics
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) proudly announced that illegal crossings have reached a record low of zero. Not a single alien was permitted to enter the US illegally under the Trump administration. This stands as a stark contrast to the 62,000 people who were permitted to invade the nation under Biden-Harris-Auto Pen.
“Under the leadership of this administration, CBP has received historic support, resulting in another 93 percent decrease in illegal crossings along the southwest border this month compared with last year,” Pete Flores, Acting Commissioner of CBP, said. “Border numbers continue to trend at historic lows, reinforcing the sustained success of our enforcement efforts in securing the homeland and protecting American communities.”
$1.2 Trillion Later, and Air Traffic Control is Still Using Floppy Disks
by James Hickman
Schiff Sovereign
In 1988, a Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico named Joseph Tainter published a book called The Collapse of Complex Societies.
Now, “collapse” is a strong word that conjures images of apocalyptic scenarios… Mad Max or Hunger Games drama. But that’s not what Tainter intended.
He uses the term ‘collapse’ in its academic, anthropological meaning, i.e. a breakdown of strength and order in society. In fact Tainter’s entire career has been devoted to investigating how large, sophisticated civilizations throughout history ultimately “collapsed”.
I first read Tainter’s book more than 15 years ago. And, even though it is a work of anthropology, it is, in my opinion, one of the best books on economic history ever produced.
Trump’s Tariff Policies Are Schizophrenic
by Landen Terrell
Mises.org
Recent proponents of tariffs in the United States—including President Donald Trump—can’t seem to decide on the core purpose of their own policy: What exactly are the tariffs supposed to achieve? Their true purpose seemingly depends on who you ask—and which arguments you make against them. Tariffs are effectively being touted as a mystical cure-all for the many ailments supposedly afflicting the American economy.
To some, they are temporary: a bargaining chip meant to bring foreign nations to the negotiating table, with the ultimate goal of lowering tariffs across the board and increasing global free trade.
To others, tariffs are meant to permanently protect or re-shore domestic industries—“correcting” the US trade deficit, preserving American businesses at home and bringing back those that have moved overseas, as well as ensuring reliable supply chains of essential goods in times of crisis and preventing foreign trade partners from restricting this access.
By What Right, Precisely?
by Karl Denninger
Market-Ticker.org
I speak of where do we, or any other nation, get the right to tell a sovereign nation what weapons they can possess — and if they disagree we have the right to preemptively bomb them?
Incidentally while we’re on this subject exactly how is it that Israel has the right to nukes but Iran (or any other nation) does not? Are we now imposing a religious litmus test on nuclear bomb possession by sovereign nations? May I ask, if we are, if both India and Pakistan pass that test? Don’t give me any baloney about “deemocracy!” either; Israel is a theocratic republic by design and has every right to be — but you cannot claim to be democratic when your Constitution protects a given religion and its representation in your government. Such a nation is a Theocratic Republic — period.
And spare me the “oh they’ll nuke someone” nonsense if they get one. Has North Korea nuked anyone yet? Remember we sanctioned the crap out of them trying to prevent them from getting a bomb. They not only got one they tested that and then a thermonuclear one. So much for that idea, never mind that everyone knows what happens if you do use one against someone else. Yes, the United States has, and we can argue whether it was a correct decision or not given the circumstances of the war we were engaged in at the time.
The Happy Warrior
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
LewRockwell.com
In many of my weekly columns, I’ve talked about the great Murray Rothbard’s ideas. In this week’s column, I’m going to tell you what Murray was like as a person. Rothbard was the happy warrior. Rothbard thrilled to spend time with students and faculty and anyone interested in liberty. When you spoke to him, he was glad to talk about the field of interest that was the other person’s specialization. Whether it was history, philosophy, ethics, economics, politics, religion, Renaissance painting, music, sports, Baroque church architecture, or even the soaps on TV, he always made others feel more important.
He was always excited to give credit to others and to draw attention to the contribution of everyone to the great cause. He never held a grudge for long: even for those who betrayed him personally, there was always an opportunity for reconciliation open. All of these traits extended from his amazing generosity of spirit, which I attribute to his love of truth above all else.
Gold and the Quiet War Already Underway
by David Russell
GoldSeek
At the time of writing, world leaders are making public calls for peace, while privately preparing for escalation. President Trump has left the G7 early, speaking in unambiguous terms about the deepening conflict between Israel and Iran.
The rhetoric is increasingly hawkish, the military posturing more visible, and the potential for direct US involvement growing by the hour. Yet for most of us watching from afar, the experience is one of unease rather than action. Headlines flare and fade. Markets wobble, but do not break. And life, at least on the surface, continues.
Our latest GoldCoreTV video explores what lies beneath that surface. Titled “Why Gold Will Matter in World War 3”, it is not a prediction, nor is it framed around fear. Instead, it is an attempt to trace the lines that are quietly being crossed. Lines of economic credibility, political cohesion, monetary discipline, and civil liberty. We ask what history tells us about how major conflicts begin, and how governments behave when confronted not only by foreign threats, but by domestic pressures they can no longer contain with promises alone.
Mutiny On the USS MAGA
by Adam Sharp
Daily Reckoning
At the 2016 Republican Presidential primary debate, Donald J. Trump dressed down Jeb Bush like a misbehaving child.
After having already dubbed him as “low-energy Jeb”, at this debate Trump attacked the former Florida governor for defending his brother’s war in Iraq. He called the invasion a “big, fat mistake”.
Trump loudly called out the GOP establishment, repeatedly reminding viewers how “they lied” about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
The crowd at the debate, full of old guard GOP neocons, booed and hissed. But in millions of conservative and libertarian homes around the country, ears perked up.
Khamenei Says Iran Will ‘Never Surrender’, Warns Off U.S.
by AFP
Breitbart.com
The UN nuclear watchdog said Israeli strikes on Wednesday destroyed two buildings making centrifuge components for Iran’s nuclear programme near Tehran, while Iran said it fired hypersonic missiles as the arch foes traded fire for a sixth day.
Hours after US President Donald Trump demanded Iran’s surrender, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed his country would show “no mercy” towards Israel’s leadership.
Khamenei, in power since 1989 and the final arbiter of all matters of state in Iran, was to deliver a televised speech Wednesday.
Trump insists the United States has played no part in ally Israel’s bombing campaign, but also warned his patience was wearing thin.
SCOTUS Upholds Tennessee Law Banning Medical Transition for Transgender Kids
With the culture war blazing, not even the Supreme Court could agree on the medical facts of the case.
by Emma Camp
Reason.com
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court upheld a Tennessee law banning minors from accessing certain kinds of controversial gender-transition treatments. The lawsuit over the case hinged on whether the state’s ban on hormones, puberty blockers, and surgical interventions violated the Equal Protection Clause and required a stricter standard of scrutiny than the one a previous appeals court used.
The court made its decision along ideological lines, with three liberal justices dissenting. In his majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the law, Senate Bill 1, “does not exclude any individual from medical treatments on the basis of transgender status but rather removes one set of diagnoses—gender dysphoria, gender identity disorder, and gender incongruence—from the range of treatable conditions.”
Next Price Target for Silver, Plus a Look at Oil
from King World News
Here is the next price target for silver, plus a look at oil.
Silver
June 18 (King World News) – Naveen Nair at Citi: It remains a very bullish picture in silver after we broke above the $34.5895 (March high) as well as the key resistance at 34.90-35.00 (October 2024 high, double bottom neckline, psychological level) earlier in June.
We are now testing resistance at the 37.48 level (2012 highs). However, the double bottom formation suggests we could move even [higher] with an indicated target of ~40.43, close to the 76.4% pullback of the 2011 highs. And this would be excluding the other bullish building blocks: 1) The weekly bullish trend since 2022 remains intact. 2) Weekly momentum continues to tick higher.
Intelligence Has Departed Every Government
by Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
PaulCraigRoberts.org
Iran had the strategic advantage over Israel and could have wiped Israel out. Instead, the hapless Iranians sat passively on their butts, gave a gratuitous demonstration of their capability, thus putting Israel on guard without doing any damage to Israel. Next the Iranian government failed to see the many indications that it was about to be attacked while it wasted its time in “peace negotiations,” and had an important part of its leadership decapitated and its oil fields set on fire. Talking about doing oneself in, Iran takes the cake.
Reminds me of Putin. Putin kept Russia sitting on its passive butt for eight years self-deceiving himself with his “Minsk Agreement,” while Washington built and equipped a large Ukrainian army. Unable to get a mutual security agreement from the Biden regime, on the eve of the Ukrainian army’s intended invasion of the two Donbas republics–Russian people whose requests in 2014 to be reincorporated into Russia Putin foolishly refused, Putin had to finally intervene although he had made no effort to be militarily prepared and had to rely on a semi-private army known as the Wagner Group. The Russian general staff were jealous of the fighting capability of the Wagner Group and wanted the troops integrated into their forces.
