A Learning Opportunity…

A Learning Opportunity…

Oil and gas markets have been rocked by disruption to supply out of the Persian Gulf. Prices of both commodities have jumped since the US and Israel began their strikes on Iran.  Iran has all but blocked shipments through the Strait of Hormuz — a narrow waterway that handles around a quarter of global seaborne oil trade and a fifth of liquefied natural gas supply. It’s also targeted energy infrastructure across the Gulf, and launched an intense waveof attacks after its own South Pars gas field was struck by Israel.

-             How Iran War is Disrupting Global Oil & Gas Supply, Bloomberg

 

By Gregg Wall (3-21-2026)

Trump attacked Iran on February 28^th, 2026.  Americans still don’t have clear answers as to the why and the objectives, which appear to be ever changing.  What Americans do know is that the majority are deeply disappointed that Trump is involved in another war and prices are already skyrocketing, particularly at the pump.  More than sixty percent higher than when Trump left office, January 2021.  We also know that Netanyahu has been lobbying for war with Iran for decades.  Americans know that Rubio confirmed at one point, that America preempted its own planned preemptive attack, so as to preempt a pending Israeli preemptive attack. At least that was the story du jour for 12 to 24 hours.

This, the Axis of Evil - American/Israeli attack upon Iran, despite the Pentagon saying there was no imminent threat to the United States; this, despite Joe Kent, a former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigning this week citing concerns over America’s attack on Iran, stating: Iran posed no imminent threat.  This, despite a UK security advisor, who witnessed Iran/US negotiations, believed an agreement was in reach.  This, despite the fact that calls for Epstein files release… Trump enjoys the honor of being named thousands of times… continues to be pronounced. Conflicting with all this, Trump said he wiped out Iran’s nuclear program last year, where, again, Trump cut off negotiations to launch an unprovoked attack.  Conflicting with this yet again, Trump has declared victory already in the present Iranian attack.   

Looks like Trump has a lot of “splaining” to do, particularly when he’s asked for another $200 billion from Congress, on top of a $1 trillion DOW budget (for an organization that’s failed eight… count ‘em… EIGHT consecutive audits).  And Trump wants $1.5 trillion next year.  It looks like Trump is padding his gangsta budget either for a long, drawn-out conflict in Iran and/or getting ready for more attacks globally, as part of Trump’s Piracy, Theft, and Pilfering Oil & Gas and Natural Resources World Tour.   We all know how much Trump hates going to congress, it’s such an assault on Dictator Trump’s ginormous ego, so he appears to be loading up for more wild and wicked terrorist activities.  Who knows, perhaps King Bibi dialed in the request? 

 

 

 

Before stepping off on several learning opportunities… It’s important to note that while Iran has suffered serious bombing, and will likely deal with the fallout of burning oil & gas fields for decades, the Iranian regime is not giving up and has put up an asymmetrical defense & offense, multivariate, multilateral attack that has rocked Israel, Middle East oil & gas infrastructure, American leadership and assets, and slammed Gulf Monarchies that house U.S. military bases.  Iran is not going quietly and appears to be full of drones, missiles, piss, and vinegar.  Iran is, of course, kicking ass at pennies on the American taxpayer dollar.  Which brings us to learning opportunity one:  U.S. war contractor monopolies, the military industrial complex, the unaudited Department of War are ripping off the American people something awful.  As is the Congress who seems completely unfazed at being Trump’s rubber stamp and passing absurd defense spending bills, year, after year, after year.  See $40 trillion in national debt, no small amount of it attributable to the fraud that is the Department of War and ‘Merika’s billionaire class’ insatiable lust for endless, for-profit wars, violence, and colonial conquest.  Sorry, Americans no longer buy the lie that we are fighting for peace, love, freedom, democracy, and nation building (or Iranian protestors).  The public is in the know on the Great American Empire scam. 

Learning opportunity two:  Stop attacking the Global South, especially the Middle East.  It’s time to discuss, and learn from, the West’s thoroughly malign practice of attacking civilian populations… with currency manipulation, capital flight, freezing assets, economic sanctions, trashing economies, and war & violence itself… in the hopes that unarmed locals will overthrow their heavily armed and trained governments.  All, so that some idiot, like Trump, can install a U.S. backed puppet and steal oil & gas for ‘Merikan billionaires, multinationals, and Wall St.  It needs to stop.  Oil & Gas is toxic and the wars fought to steal O&G only accelerate the problem:  See Iran and Saddam setting the Kuwaiti oil fields alight.

Learning opportunity three:  Don’t make a royal ass of oneself by trashing decades of relationships and trade with key allies, in Europe and Five Eyes nations.  And then, look for them to bail you out, at the drop of a hat, when the Strait of Hormuz is shut down (along with global energy and with spillover effects as far as the eye can see… not the least of which, presently, is soaring gas and petrol prices).  While it’s tempting to ride our European allies about defense, the arrangement is not without a large number of quid pro quos in America’s favor… not the least of which is Amerika, at least at the moment, thanks to our friends and allies support, enjoys the epic perk, or rather curse, of exorbitant privilege.  All this is to say, the “perk” … printing money ad nauseum, endless wars & violence, and unconditional fealty and support for Amerikan hegemony… may not last forever.  Iranians are kicking some butt, which must make some of our friends and purported adversaries curious: Is the Amerikan empire suffering the fate of all empires, in a death spiral, and no longer what it pretends to be?  There’s little doubt that the American people are done with the empire, which is used as a vehicle for banker, billionaire, multinational, private equity, war contractor, and Wall St enrichment.  And is on round the clock call for the State of Israel.

Learning opp four:  Stop waging war with the planet.  Trump’s wag the dog act needs to stop, and if he can’t control himself, if the ghost of Epstein is too great a threat, the POTUS needs to be removed.  Ditto the Israeli prime minister.  Simple resignations will suffice, no drama required.  If it’s good enough for Tricky Dick, surely, it’s good enough for Trump.

Learning opportunity five… there’s really no excuse for any of this.  Trump can be shut down from any number of avenues, but a concentrated, harmonized, and multilateral approach is best.  Congress has the power of the purse, and just as Congress can giveth, the Congress can also taketh away.  Impound military spending, retract or take back war funding.  With POTUS Sundowners behaving like a complete lunatic, what better time than now.   The Federal Reserve, too, has a role to play.  With inflation skyrocketing, it’s a good time to jack up interest rates.  You know, to make wars, war spending, DOW spending extremely expensive, along with the debt, deficits, and debt service load used to finance the empire.  As for allies, our friends should apply the screws, tough love, and dump the dollar, dump U.S. assets, or at the minimum stop buying Treasuries.  Such an act would remind Trump and the U.S. that they aren’t in this alone and Europe/5 Eyes are not to be taken for granted.  The American people have a role: Stop voting for these idiots.  Seriously, this two-party zoo - and the oligarchy they report to - are destroying the nation, running rough shod over We-The People, and making a mockery of America’s reputation, globally.  These people… bankers, billionaires, CEOs, Dem & GOP party grandees, and Wall St mavens… mean us great harm. 

As a final parting shot, it’s increasingly clear that the oligarchy views the U.S. government as their personal possession to be used as they see fit, including but not limited to endless for-profit wars, and as a means to achieve billionaire autocracy.  Moreover, when we measure the U.S. economy and government in what matters most, such as public services, affordable healthcare, affordable college and trade schools, stable prices, living wages… a strong regulatory state to keep predatory billionaires and corporations in check… the U.S. economy and government are abject failures.  Meanwhile, China gets it.  With Trump, his cabinet of curiosities and freaks, and billionaire friends seeking to gain global domination… via dollar, energy, and military hegemony… the proper course of action is green energy, watching the U.S. bankrupt itself in a campaign of forever wars, and for the balance the world to unite on security and trade.  The United States no longer lives in a unipolar, uni-superpower world.  The other superpower, of course, is the world – sans the United States.  It appears the administration may finally be waking up to this fact, as Trump continuously foamed and frothed at the mouth this week over Europe’s refusal to join his failed efforts in the graveyard of empires, the Strait of Hormuz.

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2026

 

Was it always this way?

Was it always this way?

“It is absolutely unacceptable that those leaders who are incapable of fulfilling this duty use the smokescreen of war to hide their failure and, in the process, line the pockets of a select few – the same ones as always; the only ones who profit when the world stops building hospitals and starts building missiles,” Spanish PM Sanchez said.

 

-      A lone battle: Why is Pedro Sánchez the only European leader to take on Trump?, Guardian

 

Many observers thought Canada was turning to a principled foreign policy, championing universal liberal values such as democracy, justice, human rights and the rule of law. It seemed as though Canada was coming to the defence of a rules-based order, and this was helping it regain significant international prestige.  So it came as a shock when Carney offered immediate support to an illegal U.S.-Israel war of aggression against Iran on Feb. 28.

 

-       Respecting international law depends on who breaks it: Why Canada backed the war against Iran, The Conversation

 

By Gregg Wall (3-7-2026)

If anyone had any doubts about where PM Carney stood… ethically, morally, politically… all doubt was erased this week.   On the 28^th of February Carney came out with full throated support for Team Genocide’s latest war with Iran… where the spirits of 160 Iranian school girls were promptly dispatched & released by American bombs and munitions.  Carney, on world tour, drumming up trade, backpedaled and qualified his endorsement “with regret”, saying international law must be respected, only to backpedal yet again, stating he would support the Americans if called upon (in some capacity).  Carney appears to have missed the obvious contradiction of calling out the end of the rules-based order/international law last January at Davos and asking the Americans & Israelis to abide by same in their latest assault upon the planet.

Carney... the Goldman Sachs bankster, Central Banker extraordinaire, and Brookfield private equity chairman… has been showing his cards now for some time: elected by Trump; kowtowed to Trump ever since; dealing with Alberta’s far-right government; cutting deals with the oil patch – just this week giving Alberta charge over O&G regulatory matters; trashing environmental and green standards on behalf of American owned Alberta O&G; passing C-5 which basically trashed rules, regs, and fast tracked corporate control, domination, and violence over Canada.  What a guy.  So, it should have surprised no one that Carney endorsed 160 souls of children wafting up to the heavens, now “with regret.”  

Into the void and the vacuum left by Carney, and his coalition of middling powers, charged the PM of Spain, Mr. Sanchez, who earned Trump’s rage for not supporting Netanyahu’s latest war efforts by forbidding US bases in Spain from being used to bomb Iranian targets.  PM Sanchez said “No To War.”  Trump knows that he needs the EU, Canada, and Five Eyes nations more than he’s let on and immediately threatened Spain with the elimination of trade.  Fortunately for Spain, it does very little, or relatively little trade with the Americans.  Macron and Starmer also pushed back on Trump’s latest conflict.  Rebellion and dissent are contagious.  As for Trump, he slides lower and lower in the polls: his economy is shambolic, his tariffs a disaster, DOGE a failure, debt and deficits soar, and affordability and gas prices are about to become a huge headache for the failure in the White House.  And the ghost of Epstein is everywhere.  Dems in Congress appear to be sharpening their knives, zero interest in acknowledge the duopoly’s laundry list of failures, but sharpening their knives… the Ides of March is so very close.  November is so very far away.  Every day new chaos, new hell as Trump desperately attempts to shake the Epstein files.  

 

 

Prime Minister Mark Carney, right, signs a memorandum of understanding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Calgary, Alta., on Nov. 27. (Credit: Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press files) 

 

Was it always this way?   Have nation-states always kowtowed to the American government?  Have U.S. allies always backed off repeatedly on taxing American tech behemoths, went along with the United States' latest war or Middle East assault, latest land & resource grab, greater theft of oil and gas resources, terms of trade dictated by U.S. multinationals and Wall St.?  If we Google that question, that answer is affirmative, going back to WW2.  To be sure, America doesn’t always get its way, but my guess is America gets its heavy-handed way more often than not.

Why would any nation, middle power or great power, tolerate U.S. hegemony that has devolved into tyranny over time, culminating in Donald Trump?  What are the opportunity costs for Europe and Five Eyes nations, the foregone jobs & tax revenue, the industries it doesn’t dare encroach upon for fear of upsetting the United States, the money spent on the military at U.S. direction, the debt and deficits to fund military spending at U.S. direction… knowing full well that money could be better invested and spent elsewhere or saved for a rainy day?  The tech industry the Americans forbid Canada and Europe from starting up, under the guise or premise that it’s a threat to national security?

America has been blessed, and cursed by a great many gifts, not the least of which is exorbitant privilege, a great and wonderful stolen land that it has poisoned.  All that, and a voter base that has been thoroughly brainwashed into believing socialism is bad, bootstraps and rugged individualism are good.  This, as America’s billionaire class owe their vast wealth to endless socialism, government… debt, deficits, and money printing… and economic, fiscal, judicial, monetary, regulatory, and tax policy capture and control. 

And there’s the U.S. military which sucks up a greater and greater percentage of discretionary spending.  Americans have been fed the narcotic of exceptionalism… and yet, Americans see, that we are anything but exceptional.  No, we are losers.

There are signs of dissent, signs of rebellion everywhere… from Minnesota to the Capital of Spain, Madrid, and of course, BRICS.  Trump and the oligarchy… Adelson, Musk, Thiel, in particular… are in a race against time.  But the public doesn’t share the oligarchy’s dreams of technates, spheres of influence, billionaire autocracy, freedom cities, global domination and control.  And the public certainly does not support Israeli/Zionist occupation.  We’ve arrived: twilight's last gleaming, the sun setting on an empire that is long past its prime, a bankrupt empire the majority of the American people increasingly regret every waking moment.  For Americans, the empire is ever present, often unnamable for many, a dark presence, watching & waiting, a nightmare, seen in grocery store aisles and gas stations with skyrocketing prices, soaring rents, the cryptic knowledge that the nation is completely off the rails and terminal.  The pain and suffering delivered to other nations, rebounds and returns home, as blowback, payback, retribution.  The Super Bowl flyovers, the star-spangled deceit, and the mutilated bodies of US service personnel returning in flag draped caskets… courtesy of a U.S. government, oligarchy, & two-party leadership that could not possibly care less.  What the trash in the White House refers to as “losers.”

And yet, the resistance carries on.  And on that note, let’s praise the courage and the will of PM Sanchez.

Let’s celebrate dissent & rebellion, let’s celebrate the word, NO, the Iranian people that Trump pretended to care about.  Let’s acknowledge the Iranian military that will not go quietly into that good night, let’s celebrate the ticking of the clock, the soaring U.S. national debt, and yes, even the clown in the White House - who foolishly hastens us all to the end of a lie. 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2026

Carney and rules-based order, Davos… Rubio and a speech out of Nazi Germany, Munich?

Carney and rules-based order, Davos… Rubio and a speech out of Nazi Germany, Munich?

 

Speaking at the annual Munich Security Conference on Saturday, United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio urged European countries to collaborate with the US to build a “new Western century”, describing US-Europe ties as “civilisational”.

-       Marco Rubio wants to build a ‘new Western century’. Will Europe join? – Aljazeera

By Gregg Wall (2-20-26)

It should have been lost on no one that Secretary of State Rubio gave his “New Western Century” speech last Saturday… akin to Nazi ideology, mythology, Blut und Boden… in the same city as the beer hall putsch, the city of the Munich Pact that saw Hitler’s rise, Europe’s fall, and launched WW2.  The secretary of state appeared to want to make Manifest Destiny great again and invited Europe along for the ride (some might say Rubio insisted?).  Zero surprise, Rubio echoed Trumpian themes in his speech to the Europeans: eliminate liberal/progressive policies, shed your post-colonial guilt (i.e. glory in your white supremacy), pivot supply chains and purchases away from China, and shut down immigration. Moreover, Rubio seemed to insist that Europe stay out of American technology, buy US arms, and defer to and support American energy dominance. This, as the United States runs up record trade imbalances and seemingly can’t quit China (which remains a top trading partner and produces, historically, some of the greatest trade deficits for the U.S.)… making Trump not only boorish and an ogre, but an insufferable hypocrite. 

As I wrote in 2024, read here and here, centrist and corporatist leaders throughout the West have fallen and been voted out of office due to their failure & refusal to address the very real economic needs of their citizens and the wage & wealth inequality that comes with financialization, globalization, and neoliberalism.  And in a great many instances, these centrist and corporatists have walked far-right populists and authoritarians to power, like Trump and Rubio. In the darkness, there are two positive elements, certainly from my perspective: one, not only is political duopoly increasingly being recognized for what it is (i.e. a fraud and a front for oligarchy); but two, the populist right parties, which momentarily are ascendent, are already failing. The reason for that failure is that the populist right, being creatures of and in bed with the very same oligarchs and multinationals that sponsor the duopoly, have little or nothing to offer aside from culture wars, hate, rage, and xenophobia. That is to say, their economic policies, but for the exception of exhibiting a more libertarian bent, or statist twist, are by and large the same dereg, globalist, neoliberal policies as the duopoly.  All this is to say, the very same deregulatory, neoliberal policies that are failing the duopoly are also failing the far-right populists.

These populist right parties are already in trouble with Trump failing domestically and Trump running around bailing out… either financially or rhetorically or via threats (sometimes all three)… authoritarian leaders and states that Trump perceives as his natural allies, such as:  Milei in Argentina; Bolsonaro in Brazil; allegedly, insurrections in Alberta CA; Takaichi in Japan; Netanyahu in Israel; and of course, right-wing types in Latin America, such as President Kast in Chile.

In short, dereg, globalization, neoliberalism, political duopoly… centrist & corporatist politicians… are failing throughout the West.  Financialization is not just a dead end, it’s crippling and a net drag.  Only to be replaced with white-wing bigots, racists, & haters with identical or near identical economic policies: greed & oligarchy first.  Look at the countries and their far-right populist governments Trump has bailed out or may bail out.  Libertarian & neoliberal failure are everywhere.

 

 

 

 

The arrogance and the law of the jungle tone of the Rubio speech is in keeping with America’s treatment of allies, friends, and imagined foes amplified since Trump’s second inauguration and bookends perfectly with Canadian PM Carney’s speech given a month ago at Davos, which laid out an alternative path for middle powers (versus the hegemony & sometimes tyranny afforded by great powers). 

Mr. Carney made quite a splash at Davos by calling out the obvious (all the other leaders were apparently too timid or weak)… simply put, the U.S. is not a beacon of light and the rules-based order is dead (my words, not Carney’s).  That Canada and the EU middle powers should unite, against the fading light, against power, greed, and the law of the jungle that Mr. Trump fully embraces.  But unless PM Carney deals with the simultaneous failure of deregulation, financialization, and neoliberalism… and the egregious impoverishment of the Canadian people (i.e. affordability and well-paying jobs)… Carney’s domestic mandate – like that of PM Starmer & so many peers – may soon fade, as will the political foundation liberals need to achieve Carney’s new world order. 

That is to say, Carney’s vision is no vision if he doesn’t address the affordability, housing, and growing healthcare crisis in this nation.  The far-right, the populist right leaders are always willing to exploit their polarized base of support to deflect and distract from their corruption, greed, looting, privatization, and neoliberal policies.  Trade agreements don’t pay Canada’s rent; in fact, globalization and neoliberalism deletes Canadian labour (add in the labour cancelling goals of AI and it looks very grim).  Unless Canadians are prosperous and can afford life… unless Canada has a strong vibrant middle class, Mr. Carney’s vision will likely be very short lived or come to nothing.  At the moment, Canadians are beset on all sides by corporate greed and six consecutive years of corporate price gouging.  A devalued Canadian currency… Bank of Canada’s policy, in a classic beggar thy neighbor approach…  does absolutely nothing for Canadians and makes their purchasing power weaker still. 

Mainstream/Establishment economists love to hang their hat on precious GDP and growth … but look at the U.S, where GDP growth is meaningless, doesn’t put food on the table, doesn’t pay the rent, or come close to paying for-profit healthcare bills. Instead, GDP & growth pools in the accounts of the billionaire and monopolies.  More specifically, in regards American GDP, welcome to a command economy.  When 40% of the US economy is government spending, GDP is whatever Dictator Trump decides to make it.  When dereg and neoliberalism fails, money printing and military Keynesianism takes over.

Hence, Trump’s attempts to hijack the Federal Reserve, run a low rate regime, engineer QE, and push ultra accommodative monetary policy to lesson debt service loads; hence, Trump’s proposal to boost defense spending to 1.5 trillion.   

But with this much fraud and looting w/in the Department of War (unable to pass audits, year after year)… the American people receive nothing except endless austerity and the IOU for $42 trillion in national debt.   

This serves as a cautionary tale for Canada, the EU, and the UK… who share with America a failed economic paradigm, colossal & growing debt, a predatory economic aristocracy, highly detrimental financialization, and the drive for greater military spending as a panacea (as often as not driven by economic decline and Trump’s & Rubio’s obvious threats). 

PM Carney seems to be going down the well-worn path of heads of state embracing deregulation, globalization, and neoliberalism… and capital & greed first policies, like supply-side and trickle-down.  Policies that finished off Trudeau and countless other centrists and corporatists, like Sunak, Starmer, Draghi, Biden, Harris, Scholz, Merkel, and Macron, etc., etc.  These neoliberal policies… clouded & obscured in words and ideas like triangulation, three-dimensional chess, and variable geometry… are just more of the same.  A “neoliberal same” that has seen the middle class eviscerated and billionaire net worth soar… wage and wealth inequality skyrocket… they’ve also seen soaring poverty and life itself has become unaffordable for far too many. 

Carney is riding a wave right now because of Trump and it’s doubtful that Carney would have been elected without Trump’s ravings.  I certainly wish Mr. Carney all success.  Carney comes off as calming, professional, and staid, during a time of chaos… so I understand the attraction for a great many Canadians.  But remember who Carney is… a banker, and where he comes from… private equity.  And remember who Carney serves: Great Wealth.

As part of the PM’s pivot, he needs to rebuild the Canadian middle class and address affordability & labour concerns… or all his efforts at variable geometry will, likely, amount to precious little or at best more of the same.  Trade is great, but the last two decades have seen the middle class throughout the West destroyed, including Canada’s.  Trade must be labour focused, not mere arbitrage and a race to the bottom. 

Copyright JM Hamilton Publishing 2026