conflict
Is Ukraine War a Money-Sucking Charade?
By John Leake
This morning I perused the Getty Archive for images of the Battle of Stalingrad (1942-43) and the Battle of Kursk (1943) — two of the biggest between Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia. The archive contains thousands of images of men in combat, bombed out wreckage, and dead soldiers.
I then did a webs search for Battle of Kursk 2024 and got a few images of a solitary howitzer.
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The most vivid footage I have seen of the current war in Ukraine has been taken from killer drones in the act of killing individual soldiers or small groups of soldiers in the field. However, I’ve still not seen anything even remotely approximating the panoramic views of destruction that were captured by film cameras at Stalingrad in 1942-1943.
Pondering this reminded me of an old friend who specializes as a leasing agent for warehousing facilities near major international airports. In early 2022, she got a call from a man who claimed his company was a Pentagon contractor in the business of transporting military supplies from the United States to Ukraine. He was seeking a large warehouse adjacent to an east coast international airport, preferably around Baltimore. When she asked him about the leasing term he wanted, he replied without hesitation, “ten years.”
“Ten years?” she asked incredulously.
“Yes, ten years.”
Another thing that struck me as incomprehensibly strange during the Biden years was the extraordinary confidence and bravado about the prospect of escalating war with Russia. The EXACT same people who had expressed mortal terror about COVID-19—which posed zero risk to the young and healthy—expressed zero fear about the prospect, however remote, of an eventual nuclear exchange with Russia.
A dear (and now former) friend in Austria who has earned a tidy living as a lobbyist had, between March 2020 and February 2022, repeatedly expressed his opinion that Covid lockdowns and compulsory vaccination were necessary to stop the spread of the deadly virus.
However, in February 2022, he told me that he and his family were willing “to lose everything to defend Europe against Russia.” How to reconcile his terror of COVID-19 with his extraordinary sang-froid about escalating with Russia instead of seeking a neutrality deal for Ukraine similar to that of Austria in 1955?
Is it possible that globalists like my ex friend aren’t worried about escalation because they believe the war in Ukraine is a relatively contained affair in the eastern provinces that is being sustained primarily to suck money out of western treasuries, especially the U.S.?
Where exactly have all of the money and weapons gone? Elon Musk’s DOGE has given us glimpses into where U.S. taxpayer money may go when no one is watching. I wonder if he can put some scrutiny on the tens of billions that have purportedly gone to Kiev.
Another little clue is evidence that much of Ukraine’s wealthy elite has left the country and is partying in Switzerland and the South of France. The French paper Le Monde published a report about the fun they are having in France (see Ukrainian oligarchs’ secret escape to the French Riviera).
Please note that I am NOT declaring anything; I am merely asking questions. Five years after the COVID-19 debacle, it’s become clear that Western governments and their mainstream media propaganda organs told hundreds of massive lies to their citizenries. As soon as the Covid Crisis showed major signs of abating in the winter of 2022, the EXACT SAME guys and girls lurched us into the Ukraine Crisis, and the money floodgates opened yet again, just as they had in March 2020.
Were the producers of the The Wizard of Oz and The Matrix telling us something about the way the world works in the era of photographic and electronic representations of reality?
Invite your friends and earn rewards
From the Daily Caller News Foundation
By Audrey Streb
Iran is reportedly weighing blocking a key commercial choke point known as the Strait of Hormuz, a move that could drive up energy costs in the U.S. and across the globe, according to energy sector experts who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Israel began to bombard Iran to eliminate the Islamic Republic’s ability to build a nuclear weapon on June 13, and the U.S. carried out “Operation Midnight Hammer” on Saturday night, bombing three of Iran’s nuclear facilities. While Iran’s parliament has reportedly voted to close the Strait of Hormuz in a retaliatory move to choke the world’s oil supply in response to the American strikes, the U.S. is well-positioned to combat the inevitable energy cost spike that would follow if Iran succeeds, sector experts told the DCNF.
“The escalating conflict between Iran and Israel is already putting upward pressure on oil and natural gas prices—and that pressure will intensify if the Strait of Hormuz is blocked,” Trisha Curtis, an economist at the American Energy Institute, told the DCNF. “This kind of disruption would send global prices higher and tighten supply chains. Fortunately, the U.S. is well-positioned to respond — our domestic production strength and growing export infrastructure make American oil and natural gas increasingly indispensable to global markets.”
Iran does not have the legal authority to halt traffic through the strait, meaning it would need to usurp control through force or the threat of force, according to legal scholars and multiple reports. The Iranian parliament’s reported move to block the Strait on Sunday awaits final approval by Iran’s Supreme Council, according to Iran’s Press TV.
The Strait is only 35 to 60 miles wide and connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean, flowing past Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. The thoroughfare is vital for global trade, as tankers carried one fifth of the world’s oil supply through the Strait of Hormuz in 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Roughly 20 million barrels of oil pass through the Strait of Hormuz on a daily basis, Curtis noted. Some liquified natural gas (LNG) exports would also be blocked if the Strait of Hormuz were closed, she said.
Iran has reportedly been warning that it could close the strait for weeks, with one Iranian lawmaker and a member of the parliament’s National Security Committee presidium both quoted as saying that Iran could respond to enemy attacks by disturbing the West’s oil supply. Maritime agencies and the U.K. Navy have advised ships to avoid the Strait in recent weeks, given the potential threat.
Other energy experts pointed to how the Russia-Ukraine war led to a worldwide spike in energy costs.
“Energy markets do not like war — they particularly do not like war in the Middle East,” Marc Morano, author and the head of Climate Depot told the DCNF. Morano noted that the impact of the war did not immediately spike energy costs in the U.S. and abroad, though further escalation could spike them — especially Iran moving to block the Strait. “Even rumors of a blockade could instill fear into energy markets and drive prices up,” Morano said.
Despite the threat of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz being blocked, the U.S. has some cushion, given that it is a net exporter of oil and gas, according to energy sector experts.
President Donald Trump has promoted a pro-energy-growth agenda that paves the way for domestic oil and gas expansion, which positions the U.S. to withstand intense conflict escalations or even the closure of the Strait, energy sector experts told the DCNF.
Such a blockage would make US oil and gas exports more important. It underscores the importance of Trump’s agenda — to open Alaska and other areas to energy production, to speed up infrastructure permitting, and to increase exports to our allies,” director of the Heritage Foundation’s Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment Diana Furchtgott-Roth told the DCNF.
Though the U.S. still imports oil from some nations in the Middle East, including those that use the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. has the capacity to become the dominant oil producer, energy sector experts told the DCNF.
If Iran were to close the Strait it would amount to “economic suicide” as the nation’s economy is reliant on Hormuz, both Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in interviews on Sunday.
James Taylor, president of the Heartland Institute, told the DCNF that any disruption in the oil markets would lead to price increases, which only highlights the need for pro-energy policies domestically.
“It is very important for American policymakers to support rather than impede American oil production because America, as a dominant energy producer, will be largely immune to such political crises,” Taylor said. “In fact, if America is a dominant oil producer and Iran takes steps to shock the oil markets, America would benefit and Iran’s nefarious plan would backfire.”
Quick Hit:
The State Department over the weekend warned Americans abroad to “exercise increased caution” in the aftermath of U.S. military strikes that destroyed three major Iranian nuclear facilities.
Key Details:
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In a worldwide security alert, the State Department warned U.S. citizens to remain vigilant abroad due to the fallout from the strikes, which targeted Iran’s Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz nuclear facilities.
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“There is the potential for demonstrations against U.S. citizens and interests abroad,” the alert stated, noting that the Israel-Iran conflict has already caused airspace closures and travel interruptions across the Middle East.
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Iran’s U.N. Ambassador accused the U.S. of “destroying diplomacy” and warned that Iran’s military would determine a “proportionate response.” President Trump, in turn, vowed that any retaliation from Iran would be met with overwhelming force.
Diving Deeper:
The U.S. State Department issued a global security alert late Saturday, urging Americans overseas to exercise heightened awareness and caution following a major military operation that struck three of Iran’s most critical nuclear enrichment sites. The warning follows a surge in tensions between Iran and Israel, which have increasingly drawn in the United States.
“The conflict between Israel and Iran has resulted in disruptions to travel and periodic closure of airspace across the Middle East,” the State Department said. “There is the potential for demonstrations against U.S. citizens and interests abroad.”
The warning came just hours after President Donald Trump confirmed that the United States had launched what he called “massive precision strikes” on the Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz nuclear sites in Iran. “Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success,” Trump declared. “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”
The operation marks one of the most significant escalations in U.S.-Iran relations in recent years. Trump had been tight-lipped in the lead-up to the strikes, telling reporters beforehand that “nobody” knew what he planned regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
In response, Tehran condemned the attacks. Speaking before an emergency session of the U.N. Security Council, Iranian Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani claimed the U.S. had “decided to destroy diplomacy” and warned that a military response was imminent.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi reportedly traveled to Moscow on Sunday to meet with Russian officials, a sign that Tehran may be seeking support from its key strategic partner as it formulates its next move.
President Trump made clear on social media that the United States would not tolerate further aggression from Tehran. “ANY RETALIATION BY IRAN AGAINST THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL BE MET WITH FORCE FAR GREATER THAN WHAT WAS WITNESSED TONIGHT,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “THANK YOU! DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.”
With tensions running high and travel in parts of the Middle East already constrained, Americans abroad are being advised to avoid public gatherings, monitor local media, and follow instructions from local U.S. authorities.
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