PE—You will have noted that whatever the hell is in this ‘deal’, Bozo has not made it public.  Not so, in Iran.  Their 14 points and redlines have not changed an iota from their first issuance.  They consist of demands that Trump and The Empire can not comply with short of de facto surrender.

They include, but are not limited to, refusal to yield, or cease enrichment of, their uranium; full control and management of Hormuz; a total end to war on Gaza and Hezbollah; restitution of billions of stolen sovereign funds; and removal of all U.S. war-making bases from our sycophant princelings in the Gulf.

CM—Cuba today is constructing responses to the current situation, which bit by bit will ameliorate the situation. The people are prepared to sacrifice, and they will continue to participate in the process of resistance, even if the recovery never brings the economy to its former level. Therefore, continuing pressure will not bring about a social eruption; it will only reduce the living conditions of the people. The intensification of the blockade cannot work; it constitutes a pointless attack on the people of Cuba. Indeed, it strengthens the unity and commitment of the people.

RB—Mainstream economics did its usual job by providing a supporting BS theory of the relationship between government debt and growth (Bernhart & Rogoff 2010); with a 28 year-old PhD student finding that a column of figures covering twenty countries had only summated 15 of them. Of course a “mistake” that just happened to remove the inconvenient facts that would have destroyed the BS theory, along with the other “mistakes” of omitting countries that did not fit the narrative and very strange weightings between different nations’ data.

KL—Guancha and its Observer Network often interview key people involved in China’s high-tech development a few of which have appeared at the Gym. Occasionally, only a link is provided that a few readers choose to explore; but in this case as in those preceding it, the full article is warranted because of its importance. Previously, China’s tokamak fusion work was reported on several times, while those articles alluded to other companies and processes but never expanded upon. The interview begins with a short bio on Xiang Jiang then gets into the Q&A portion.

EZ—A reported memorandum of understanding outlines sweeping terms, including a U.S. naval withdrawal, massive financial release, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, as the U.S. president halts military strikes to pursue a breakthrough.
At its core, the draft calls for an “immediate and permanent cessation of hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon.”

This explicit linkage is a crucial diplomatic victory for Tehran, which has consistently demanded that any agreement with Washington must also constrain Israeli military operations against its ally, Hezbollah.