Niall Ferguson: How Trump Won Davos

Authored by Niall Ferguson via X,

There is a rapidly forming narrative in the European and liberal media that the Europeans “won Davos”: primarily by getting Trump to “de-escalate” his demand that the United States acquire Greenland from Denmark.

This is a very wrong take.

The reality is that Trump won Davos, hands down.

And not only did he win it; he owned it.

I have never before seen a single individual so completely dominate this vast bazaar of the powerful, the wealthy, the famous, and the self-important.

Trump never seriously meant to annex Greenland or to impose new tariffs on the Europeans.

Why would he when the U.S. already enjoys all the military access to the frigid island it could every possibly need?

Fact: Trump means what he says on Truth Social only about half the time.

Ten years ago, Europeans made the mistake of taking Trump neither seriously nor literally.

Now they make the opposite mistake of treating him both seriously and literally.

The reason Trump forced Greenland to be the No. 1 topic at Davos was to keep European leaders from meddling in America’s Middle Eastern and Eastern European policy.

Why might Trump prefer the Europeans to be talking about Greenland instead of Iran or Ukraine?

Because Europe would be bound to make its usual pleas for “de-escalation” with respect to Tehran. And because the Americans think it was the EU and UK who last year impeded progress

Of course, this goes wholly counter to the Davos consensus, which is that wicked Trump has torn up the sacred liberal international order.

But, as I never grow tired of reminding you, the Davos consensus is always wrong. Always.

Read Niall's full essay here...

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/24/2026 - 15:10

DHS Says 5-Year-Old Was "Abandoned" By Parents During ICE Operation In Minnesota

Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times,

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Jan. 23 refuted reports that ICE agents detained a 5-year-old boy in Minnesota, saying the child was abandoned by his parents during an immigration enforcement operation.

Columbia Heights Public School District had previously said that 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken into custody along with his father while in their driveway on Jan. 20. School officials said an ICE agent asked the child to knock on the door to see if there was anyone inside.

DHS on Friday provided details on the situation and said the primary concern of its officers was the child’s safety and welfare.

“ICE did NOT target, arrest a child or use a child as ‘bait.’ ICE law enforcement officers were the only people primarily concerned with the welfare of this child,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said on X.

McLaughlin said federal agents conducted a targeted operation to arrest the child’s father, identified as Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador, but he fled and abandoned his child.

For safety reasons, one ICE agent remained with the child while other officers apprehended Conejo Arias, according to McLaughlin.

McLaughlin added that officers had tried to ask the “alleged mother,” who was inside the house, to take custody of the child and assured her she would not be taken into custody, but she refused.

“During this situation, agitators swarmed the scene and began yelling and blowing horns, scaring the child,” McLaughlin said.

“Following the mother’s abandonment of the child, officers abided by the father’s wishes to keep the child with him and even got the child McDonald’s and played his favorite music. Father and son are together at Dilley,” she added.

According to McLaughlin, parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children, or ICE will arrange for the children to be placed with a safe person the parent designates.

The move, she said, aligns with how the former administration conducted immigration enforcement.

Zena Stenvik, superintendent of the Columbia Heights Public School District, told a press conference that another adult living in the home, who was outside during the encounter, had begged the agents to let them take care of the child, but was denied.

“Instead, the agent took the child out of the still-running vehicle, led him to the door, and directed him to knock on the door, asking to be let in, in order to see if anyone else was home—essentially using a 5-year-old as bait,” Stenvik said.

Stenvik said Liam’s middle-school brother came home 20 minutes later to find both his father and brother missing. Two school principals from the district came to the house to offer support to the family.

The superintendent said that four students from the district, including Liam, have been apprehended by ICE so far.

The operation in Minnesota is part of the Trump administration’s broader immigration enforcement targeting illegal immigrants.

As of Jan. 19, ICE has arrested 10,000 criminal illegal immigrants, many of whom were “killing Americans, hurting children, and reigning terror in Minneapolis,” according to Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/24/2026 - 12:50



 

 

This week, I speak with Zach Buchwald, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Russell Investments about his career in investing. We discuss the creation of the smart beta philosophy by Russell 40 years ago. The company also pioneered the idea of an outsourced CIO.

We discuss the transition from pensions to 401ks for retirees. Specifically, the onus for investing has moved to the individual. Zach also describes his proposal for a program, that is now in effect, for a $1000 to every newborn who’s parents open a count to show the importance of compounding.

Zach explains why being “a gay guy in finance” impacted his perspective on the industry, giving him a different viewpoint.

A list of his current reading is here; A transcript of our conversation is available here Tuesday.

You can stream and download our full conversation, including any podcast extras, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Bloomberg. All of our earlier podcasts on your favorite pod hosts can be found here.

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business next week with Bob Moser, CEO and founder of Prime Group Holdings, a private investor in unique real estate holdings. They created Prime Storage, one of the largest, privately-held self-storage brands in the world, with over 19 million rentable square feet of space and 255 locations across 28 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The firm has acquired over $10 billion in real estate assets.

 

 

 

Current Reading

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post MiB: Zach Buchwald, Russell Investments CEO and Chairman  appeared first on The Big Picture.

Shockwaves In Beijing: Xi Targets His Own Top General, Longtime Confidant, In Elite Purge

Another significant military purge appears underway in China, as Saturday morning the West woke up to news that China's most senior military officer, who is second only to Xi Jinping, has been put under investigation over alleged "grave violations of discipline and the law."

Gen. Zhang Youxia is a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, the Communist Party body that controls China's armed forces, and this comes as somewhat of a major shock given he is widely regarded as President Xi's closest ally within the military - or at least prior to this.

Another member of the commission, Gen. Liu Zhenli, has also been placed under investigation, according to the Defense Ministry on the same day. He's in charge of the PLA military's Joint Staff Department.

AFP: Zhang Youxia, left, and He Weidong, the previous second ranked Vice Chairman who was purged in 2025.

No further details have been given regarding the accusations against General Zhang Youxia, but such language is often presented in such crackdowns as a euphemism for corruption.

Xi has described corruption as "the biggest threat" to the Communist Party, having previously several times warned that the struggle against it "remains grave and complex." But critics as well as Western observers say this has served as a convenient and public PR mechanism for sidelining political rivals, and strengthening Xi's power and hold on the levers of power.

The Wall Street Journal's Jonathan Cheng says that General Zhang's downfall is surprising as not only has he known Xi for decades, but is the "most senior member of military hierarchy to face dismissal since fallout of 1989 Tiananmen protests."

And a former Central Intelligence Agency analyst who follows Chinese elite politics, Christopher K. Johnson, tells the NY Times on Saturday, "This move is unprecedented in the history of the Chinese military and represents the total annihilation of the high command."

Chinese social media rumors: Previously, on the evening of January 21, there were online rumors that Zhang Youxia's suspected residence in Beijing was surrounded by plainclothes officers.

via X/@whyyoutouzhele

The rumors and speculation were rampant over the last several days, triggered by a conspicuous absence at a high-profile military event where Xi gave an address:

Two of China’s top generals, Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, apparently did not attend a gathering of all of China's senior political leaders on Tuesday. Their absence has fired the starting pistol on speculation they have been purged, speculation that will now continue until confirmation or they appear in public.

The event in question was the catchily-titled Study Session for Principal Officials at the Provincial and Ministerial Level on Studying and Implementing the Spirit of the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. President Xi Jinping attended and gave an opening speech, flanked by all six members of the Politburo Standing Committee as well as the vice president.

Eagle-eyed observers quickly noticed that while the second-ranked Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission Zhang Shengmin was sat in the audience, Zhang Youxia, who is the first-ranked vice chairman, and Liu Zhenli, who is the only non-ranking member, both appeared to be absent.

This is the latest 'anti-corruption' purge action since the October news of the expulsion of nine senior generals, which marked one of the largest such crackdowns of top military officials in decades. 

Xi ongoing purge of nearly his entire top military ranks show his total control. Also shows Stalin-like paranoia against any potential rival power bases. This purge reminiscent of Stalin’s bloody purge of Marshal Tukhachevsky and his top Red Army generals, which greatly weakened… https://t.co/EozETHyj8q pic.twitter.com/tXZDlS6vDN

— Politics1.com (@Politics1com) January 24, 2026

Zhang's political pedigree runs deep: his father was among the founding generals of the Chinese Communist Party. He joined the army in 1968 and is one of the few current senior leaders said to have actual combat experience. Zhang had remained in his post beyond the customary retirement age for military officials, which was understood as a sign Xi's confidence in him, until now apparently.

Pro-Beijing pundits are offering an alternative take to the Western reporting...

China purging officials who send their spouse and children to live abroad so Western gov can't use them as leverage pic.twitter.com/yJTSQk9Lvb

— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) January 11, 2026

More to come? It is likely as WSJ's chief China's correspondent Lingling Wei describes, "And this is far from the end. With thousands of officers having risen through the ranks under Zhang Youxia and Liu Zhenli, these individuals now recognize they are primary targets for a systemic purge." She reports that "Mobile devices have been seized across ranks and all units are now on high alert."

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/24/2026 - 12:15

Trump Says Canada Will Face 100% Tariffs if It "Makes A Deal With China"

Authored by Omid Ghoreishi via The Epoch Times,

U.S. President Donald Trump says Canadian goods exported to the United States would be hit with 100 percent tariffs if Canada makes a deal with China.

“If Governor Carney thinks he is going to make Canada a ‘Drop Off Port’ for China to send goods and products into the United States, he is sorely mistaken. China will eat Canada alive, completely devour it, including the destruction of their businesses, social fabric, and general way of life,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on the morning of Jan. 24.

“If Canada makes a deal with China, it will immediately be hit with a 100% Tariff against all Canadian goods and products coming into the U.S.A. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

The U.S. president wrote the remarks while posting a Jan. 23 article by Just the News titled, “Deal with the Devil: How Canada’s New Partnership With China Could Backfire.”

Trump’s reference to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as “Governor” marks a return to the relations the U.S. president had with Carney’s predecessor, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, using the title to reflect his view that Canada should be part of the United States. Trump had not previously used the title for Carney, saying on several occasions that he likes him, but relations soured after Carney delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, last week in which he levied heavy criticism at the United States.

Prior to arriving in Davos, Carney met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, where he signed a series of agreements that included slashing tariffs on Chinese EV imports from 100 percent to 6.1 percent for the first 49,000 units, in exchange for China cutting tariffs on Canadian canola from 85 percent to 15 percent until at least the end of the year. While in Beijing, Carney said Canada–China relations are entering a “new era,” and that Ottawa’s pursuit of a partnership with China “sets us up well for the new world order.”

The Epoch Times reached out to Carney’s office for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

Cutting Tariffs on China

Trump had initially shrugged off Carney’s new deal with China, telling reporters on Jan. 16 that, “It’s a good thing for him to sign a trade deal. If he can get a deal with China, he should do that.”

But senior members of his cabinet were concerned. U.S. Transport Secretary Sean Duffy said Canada will regret the decision to partner with Beijing and allow Chinese EVs into its market. “I love my friends in Canada, but they will live to regret the day they let the Chinese Communist Party flood the market with their EVs!” Duffy said in a Jan. 17 post on X.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told CNBC on Jan. 16 that the deal is “problematic for Canada,” and that Washington had imposed tariffs to protect autoworkers. He said that while Canada made the deal to bring relief to agricultural producers, in the “long run, they’re not going to like having made that deal.”

Canada first imposed 100 percent tariffs on Chinese EVs, along with levies on steel and aluminum, in 2024, in lockstep with the United States, which has long been concerned about China dumping products.

Canada’s other deals with China include agreements on energy, public safety, and lumber.

Davos Speeches

In his speech at the WEF in Davos on Jan. 20, Carney criticized U.S. pressure to acquire Greenland, while saying middle powers should band together to resist pressure from major powers. “Great powers have begun using economic integration as weapons, tariffs as leverage, financial infrastructure as coercion, supply chains as vulnerabilities to be exploited,” he said.

Trump said the next day in his speech at the WEF that Carney “wasn’t so grateful,” adding that Canada “lives because of the United States.”

Carney said in another speech on Jan. 22 in Quebec City, this time to Canadians, that Canada “does not live because of the United States. Canada thrives because we are Canadian.”

Later that day, Trump said he is rescinding his invitation to Carney to join the U.S.-led Board of Peace that is going to help rebuild Gaza.

In another Truth Social post on Jan. 23, Trump criticized Ottawa’s position on Greenland and China, saying, “Canada is against The Golden Dome being built over Greenland, even though The Golden Dome would protect Canada. Instead, they voted in favor of doing business with China, who will ‘eat them up’ within the first year!”

Meanwhile, Beijing’s envoy to Ottawa weighed in on the Greenland issue while taking a swipe at the United States, saying this week that Canada and China “see eye to eye” on supporting Greenland’s territorial integrity, according to The Canadian Press.

Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also criticized Carney’s recent comments and deal with China, suggesting that his recent remarks may be related to an upcoming election. He added that Ottawa’s EV deal with Beijing could jeopardize Ottawa’s chances when renegotiating the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement which is set for renewal this year.

“When the USMCA gets renegotiated this year… do you think the president of the United States is going to say you should keep having the second-best deal in the world?” he told Bloomberg on Jan. 22, making the point that Canada’s current trade deal with the United States ranks second after Mexico. Under the USMCA, 85 percent of Canadian goods are exempt from tariffs, while products not compliant with the trilateral deal face 35 percent tariffs. Mexico’s non-USMCA products are subject to 25 percent tariffs.

Carney hasn’t appeared at media press conferences since relations with Trump soured on Jan. 22, cancelling a scheduled press conference at the conclusion of a cabinet meeting in Quebec City on Jan. 23.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, who took questions from the press instead, said Carney couldn’t attend due to a “scheduling issue.”

Carney was asked by reporters about his talks with Trump late on Jan. 22 as he walked to a cabinet meeting. He responded, “Oh, that’s the most boring question. Think of a new one.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/24/2026 - 11:40

Larry Fink Says Public Has Lost Trust In Davos Elites And He Blames "Capitalism"

The intrinsic fallacy behind the Davos conference and its supposed mission to "save the world" by molding international policy is easy to describe:  Davos is made up largely of the corporate elites, banking moguls and corrupt politicians that created the world's problems in the first place, often deliberately in order to trigger chaos and gain power. 

Why would the general public trust those people to fix the same problems they created?

This is a question that needs to be posed to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who is currently serving as the "interim co-chair" of the WEF after Klaus Schwab's embarrassing exit.  Fink launched the Davos meetings with some stark warnings about AI, and also a surprising admission that the global populace "no longer trusts" the WEF to steer the planet in the right direction.

JUST IN: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says global elites have lost the public's trust. pic.twitter.com/IC66qsqbvB

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) January 20, 2026

As noted, no one trusted the WEF before, for the same reasons that no one trusts them now.  Fink would never admit that the public despises the Davos crowd because of they operate like a cartel or cabal, constantly grasping for power while whittling down our freedoms.  Instead, the CEO blamed "capitalism" for the lack of trust. 

Fink argued that the growing wealth gap is a feature of capitalism as we know it today and that this must change.  He admonished the shift of global wealth into the hand of a narrow minority (of which his is a member) and called for the continuing institution of "shareholder capitalism" as a solution.

Shareholder capitalism, for those who are not aware, is the agenda which is directly responsible for ESG lending and the takeover of DEI in the corporate world.  The sudden surge of woke ideology in western countries was a product of corporate lenders like BlackRock and Vanguard pressuring international companies to promote wokeness in exchange for easy access to cheap credit. 

It should also be noted that the wealth gap during the decade of woke cultism (2015 to the end of 2024) increased dramatically.  Shareholder capitalism handed the top 1% another $33.9 trillion.  The wealth of the top 0.001% grew three times larger than the combined wealth of the bottom 50% of people.  In other words, shareholder capitalism expands the wealth gap, it does not reduce it.     

The World Economic Forum and orbiting globalist associations closed their latest Davos event this week looking rather subdued compared to a couple years ago.  From 2020 to 2023 the elites pulled the mask off completely and they are now hoping the public will forget and move on.

The WEF, WHO, and various captured world leaders used the covid scare to conjure up a worldwide hysteria which they intended to exploit.  Sweeping plans were made (out in the open) to institute vaccine passports which would force the population to accept regular injections of experimental treatments in order to retain the right to work and participate in the greater economy.  Intermittent national lockdowns were going to become the norm.  Digital tracking of every individual using covid apps was going to become policy. 

The globalists were going full 1984, all over a virus with a 99.8% survival rate. 

If Larry Fink and his ilk want to know why the populace distrusts them, it's not because of capitalism and free markets.  It's because they exposed themselves and their true intentions in the last several years.  They became arrogant and proved the "conspiracy theorists" right.  Once the mask comes off, it cannot be put back on. 

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/24/2026 - 11:05

In Humiliating Retreat, Starmer Forced To Pull Chagos Bill After Trump Backlash

Trump wins again - or rather, Europe caves again. On Friday UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer was forced into an abrupt and humiliating retreat after his plan for the Chagos Islands detonated backlash in Washington.

Starmer had been preparing to ram the controversial legislation through the House of Lords on Monday, only for the bill to be yanked late Friday on growing fears it could unravel a 60-year-old US-UK treaty, which is the foundational Cold War-era deal that allows the US to operate the Diego Garcia military base on the Chagos Islands, or what's known as the British Indian Ocean Territory. 

The chain of events this week kicked off early Tuesday with President Trump's Truth Social onslaught. Among several geopolitical-related messages, mostly on Greenland, he went after the Starmer government.

Getty Images/BBC: Diego Garcia has been home to a joint UK-US military base since the 1970s

Trump took aim at the proposed new deal under which London would surrender sovereignty (to Maritius) while leasing back the strategically critical military base on the islands, including Diego Garcia - where US forces also have a strategic Indian Ocean base, which has been used especially for Middle East operations going back decades. 

Trump attacked the plan to hand sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius as an act of "great stupidity" and "total weakness." He further took the opportunity to say the move underscored exactly why he wants the United States to take control of Greenland.

"The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired. Denmark and its European Allies have to DO THE RIGHT THING," Trump wrote as his concluding sentence in the message.

The Telegraph late Friday is confirming the U-turn:

Sir Keir Starmer has been forced to pull his Chagos Islands bill in the wake of a US backlash over the deal.

The legislation was expected to be debated in the House of Lords on Monday, but was delayed on Friday night after the Conservatives warned it could violate a 60-year-old treaty with the US that enshrines British sovereignty over the archipelago.

The Foreign Office has been engaged in some last minute scrambling to verify if Trump's Truth Social message did in fact reflect active US policy:

Asked last night if Mr Trump would be willing to tear up the 1966 treaty and allow the transfer of Chagos to go ahead, the US state department referred back to the president’s criticism on Tuesday when he said: “The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY.”

Still, The Telegraph notes that some confusion among British officials remains: "Much depends on whether Mr Trump’s position on the Chagos deal has genuinely changed or – as Sir Keir has claimed – that this was only being used to force a change in Britain’s Greenland stance."

"If Downing Street tried to press ahead without Washington’s approval, it could face a bruising battle with the US state department," the report concludes.

Starmer addressed the House of Commons on Wednesday and asserted it was Trump who flipped his policy. "I made out my position on Greenland absolutely clear on Monday and a moment ago. President Trump deployed words on Chagos yesterday that were different to his previous words of welcome and support when I met him in the White House," he said.

"He deployed those words yesterday for the express purpose of putting pressure on me and Britain in relation to my values and principles on the future of Greenland," he added.

From a British political commentator: "It is, I admit, a humiliating thing for Britain that the final decision should be in the hands of our American allies. We ought to have put a stop to the whole business ourselves."

CHAGOS SURRENDER UPDATE
Labour has just pulled Monday’s vote in the House of Lords. The @Conservatives had put out a three-line Whip - an exceptional step in the Upper House, taken perhaps once every three or four years - and ministers evidently concluded that their Bill would… pic.twitter.com/Gji6Kxg3Ot

— Daniel Hannan (@DanielJHannan) January 23, 2026

Conservatives are still warning that rushing the deal for the UK to yield control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius risks violating international law, with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch having condemned the agreement outright, warning it "cannot progress while this issue remains unsolved." He has bluntly stated this week, "President Trump is right." Also, Reform's Nigel Farage praised the American president for "vetoing" it.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/24/2026 - 10:45

House Committee Calls On IRS To Crack Down On NGOs Funding Terrorists

Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

The IRS must overhaul its oversight of the nonprofit sector amid the fraud scandal in Minnesota that has led to taxpayer funds being funneled for terror activities, Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee said in a Jan. 20 statement.

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) speaks during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 13, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

The lawmakers sent a letter to IRS Acting Commissioner Scott Bessent and CEO Frank Bisignano on Tuesday, raising concerns about “significant fraud, waste, and abuse” of taxpayer dollars.

“As you are aware, investigative journalists recently uncovered a network of fraud involving Minnesota’s Medicaid Housing Stabilization Services program and non-profit organizations in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic—a scheme that not only seemingly funneled millions, if not billions, of taxpayer dollars to the Al-Shabaab terrorist group, but has also resulted in the prosecutions of nearly 80 individuals by the Department of Justice (‘DOJ’) to date,” they wrote.

“This is unacceptable.”

Al-Shabaab is a militant wing of the Somali Council of Islamic Courts and is responsible for the assassination of several peace activists, journalists, international aid workers, and civil society personalities, according to the National Counterterrorism Center. It was designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2008 by the State Department.

During a press conference in Minneapolis on Jan. 9, Bessent said the U.S. Treasury had launched an enforcement campaign targeting Somali-linked fraud networks in Minnesota. According to Bessent, billions of dollars intended for disabled seniors, hungry children, and families with special-needs children were diverted, with some of the funds likely diverted to extremist groups such as Al-Shabaab.

“We have traced where the money went, and we are examining it,” he said, adding that the findings of the probe were “highly concerning.”

The GOP letter highlighted the issue of a Minnesota nonprofit, Feeding Our Future, that was launched to serve food to children from low-income groups. However, its promoters used more than $250 million to buy jewelry, real estate, and luxury goods.

Since 2022, dozens of people linked to Feeding Our Future have been convicted. During a Jan. 7 hearing, Minnesota state Rep. Kristin Robbins said the total fraud in this case had hit about $310 million. In addition, investigators are probing 14 Minnesota Medicaid programs, suspecting $9 billion or more in fraudulent payments.

This potential terror-financing scheme by a tax-exempt organization “calls into question the current safeguards in place to protect taxpayer dollars,” the letter said. “The concern over tax-exempt organizations funneling taxpayer dollars to designated terrorist organizations and other illicit purposes cannot be understated.”

Lawmakers called on the IRS to hold tax-exempt organizations accountable and ensure the funds do not end up in the hands of terror outfits.

Crackdown in Minnesota

Meanwhile, Minnesota is seeing stringent federal immigration enforcement activities. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently said that more than 10,000 illegal immigrants have been arrested in the state. The DOJ has started issuing subpoenas to top officials in Minnesota.

Responding to reports of the DOJ investigation, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s office said on Jan. 17 that they have not received any notice of a probe.

“Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic,” Walz said.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also responded to reports of him being subpoenaed in a federal probe.

“When the federal gov weaponizes its power to intimidate local leaders for doing their jobs, every American should be concerned,” Frey said in a Jan. 21 post on X.

“We shouldn’t live in a country where federal law enforcement is used to play politics or crack down on local voices they disagree with.”

Amid reports of fraud perpetrated by Somalis in Minnesota, including convictions of naturalized citizens, Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) has introduced the Stop Citizenship Abuse and Misrepresentation Act, his office said in a Jan. 19 statement.

The bill seeks to expand the denaturalization process for individuals who have committed fraud or serious felonies or joined up with terror outfits, it said.

“The rampant fraud uncovered in Minnesota must be a wakeup call,” Schmitt said.

“People who commit felony fraud, serious felonies, or join terrorist organizations like drug cartels shortly after taking their citizenship oaths fail to uphold the basic standards of citizenship. They must be denaturalized because they have proven they never met the requirements for the great honor of American citizenship in the first place.”

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/24/2026 - 10:30

The post Mark Carney: World Hero appeared first on CEPR.

US Pledges To 'Starve' Iraq Of Oil Revenue If Pro-Iran Parties Join New Government

Via The Cradle

Washington has threatened to block Iraq's access to its own oil revenue held in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York if representatives of Shia armed parties enjoying support from Iran are included in the next government, Reuters  reported Friday.

"The US warning was delivered repeatedly over the past two months by the US Charges d'Affaires in Baghdad, Joshua Harris, in conversations with Iraqi officials and influential Shi'ite leaders," Reuters reported, citing three Iraqi officials and one source familiar with the matter.

via AFP

The threat is part of US President Donald Trump's effort to weaken Iran through a "maximum pressure" campaign of economic sanctions, including on the Islamic Republic's oil exports. Trump also bombed Iran's nuclear sites as part of Israel's unprovoked 12-day war on Iran in June.

Because of US sanctions, few countries can trade with Iran, increasing its reliance on Iraqi markets for exports and on Baghdad's banking system as a monetary outlet to the rest of the world.

As punishment, the US government has restricted the flow of dollars to Iraqi banks on several occasions in recent years, raising the price of imports for Iraqi consumers and making it difficult for Iraq to pay for desperately needed natural gas imports from Iran.

However, this is the first time the US has threatened to cut off the flow of dollars from the New York Federal Reserve to the Central Bank of Iraq.

Officials in Washington can threaten Baghdad in this way because the country was forced to place all revenues from oil sales into an account at the New York Fed following the US military's invasion of the country in 2003.

This gives Washington strong leverage against Baghdad, as oil revenue accounts for 90 percent of the Iraqi government's budget. While occupying Iraq for decades and controlling its oil revenues, Washington accuses Iran of infringing on Iraq's sovereignty.

"The United States supports Iraqi sovereignty, and the sovereignty of every country in the region. That leaves absolutely no role for Iran-backed militias that pursue malign interests, cause sectarian division, and spread terrorism across the region," a US State Department spokesperson told Reuters.

Some Shia political parties, including several that make up the Coordination Framework (CF), are linked to the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), which see themselves as anti-terror militias formed in 2014 with Iranian support to fight ISIS and later incorporated into the Iraqi armed forces.

Iraq held parliamentary elections in November and is still in the process of forming the next government. Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani, who enjoyed good relations with both Washington and Tehran, has decided not to contend for another term as premier.

The decision has cleared the way for Nouri al-Maliki, of the State of Law Coalition and the Dawa Party, to potentially return to power. 

Maliki, who enjoys support from the PMU-linked parties, served as prime minister between 2006 and 2014, including when ISIS invaded western Iraq and conquered large swathes of the country. 

As the U.S. takes control of #Venezuela’s oil revenues, questions around transparency, oversight, & #corruption risks loom large. @politico examines the parallels with Iraq with insights from @K2Integrity’s @JCZarate1 on the challenges of accountability: https://t.co/JO7Dvq93hQ

— K2 Integrity (@K2Integrity) January 23, 2026

Trump threatened a new bombing campaign against Iran following several weeks of violent riots and attacks on security forces organized and incited by Israeli intelligence. Trump allegedly called off the bombing after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned him that Tel Aviv's air defenses were not prepared for a new confrontation with Iran.

During the war in June, Iran retaliated against Israel by launching barrages of ballistic missiles and drones, which did severe damage to Israeli military sites, including in Tel Aviv.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/24/2026 - 08:10

Over 2 Million Ukrainians Have Already Deserted & Or Actively Dodging The Draft

Authored by Andrew Korybko,

The 2.2 million men that are currently on the run amounts to 6.8% of the Ukrainian population and is slightly larger than the percentage of Asians in the US.

New Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov shockingly revealed that 200,000 men have already deserted thus far and ten times more (2 million) are actively dodging the draft, which are probably an underestimate but are in any case still very large numbers. To put that into context, Ukraine claimed in early 2025 to have had a population of 32 million, likely an overestimate, so the 2.2 million men who either deserted or dodged the draft amounts to at least 6.8% of the population currently on the run.

Rada Deputy Dmitry Razumkov claimed during a parliamentary session last month that his country had already lost half a million troops by then with an equal number wounded, possibly also an underestimate, while Ukraine is thought to currently field around 900,000 active troops. All of this data enables observers to better understand the significance of these “voluntary losses” since it should be clear by now that 2.2 million more troops would have certainly made a major difference for Ukraine.

That’s not to imply that it would have been able to reverse the military-strategic dynamics of the conflict that have trended in Russia’s favor since the epic failure of Ukraine’s NATO-backed counteroffensive in summer 2023, but perhaps it might have been able to decelerate the pace of its losses afterwards. Ukraine could have thus also been in a comparatively better diplomatic position too going into Trump 2.0 a year ago and that might have in turn predisposed him to a relatively harder line towards Russia as well.

For that reason, while the scale of its desertions and draft-dodging can’t credibly be described as a game-changer, it can still be considered a significant variable that adversely affected Ukraine’s fortunes. By contrast, this was never a relevant factor for Russia, which hasn’t conscripted anyone unlike Ukraine. On that topic, it’s worthwhile reminding readers about Ukraine’s forcible conscription policy that’s been made infamous by viral videos showing officials snatching young and old men alike off the streets.

This footage and stories that draft-eligible males (25-60 years of age) heard through the grapevine are partly why 2 million of them decided to go on the run and dodge the draft. They’ve also seen drone footage of the conflict zone and are therefore well aware of how likely it is that they’ll be killed shortly after being deployed to the front. These men might sincerely consider themselves to be Ukrainian patriots in their hearts, however they conceptualize it, but they’re not willing to die for nothing.

This segues into the plummeting popularity of the conflict among the populace and increasing support for a quick end thereto per recent Gallup polling. Trump just blamed Zelensky for stalling peace talks, which is in direct opposition to the will of the same people in whose name he still acts despite the expire of his term in May 2024. Other than his authoritarian tendencies, corruption is likely responsible for his obstinance since he’s thought to be profiting from the conflict and might thus fear charges once it ends.

Whenever he’s asked about the conflict, Trump usually says that he wants to end it as soon as possible in order to stop the killing, which it’s now known has spooked at least 2.2 million Ukrainian men into either deserting or dodging the draft. The 6.8% of the population that’s currently on the run is slightly larger than the Asian population in the US (6.7%) per the last census. The sooner that the conflict ends, the sooner that they can re-enter the economy and help rebuild their country, unless they flee abroad first.

Tyler Durden Sat, 01/24/2026 - 07:00

The weekend is here! Pour yourself a mug of Danish Blend coffee, grab a seat outside, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:

• Netflix’s $82.7 billion rags-to-riches story: How the DVD-by-mail company swallowed Hollywood. It’s a story so good it could have been a screenplay. In 2000, Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph sat down across from John Antioco, then CEO of video rental giant Blockbuster, and pitched him on acquiring their still unprofitable DVD-by-mail startup, Netflix, which at the time had around 300,000 subscribers. But when they told him their price—$50 million and the chance to develop and run Blockbuster’s online rental business—Antioco balked. By 2010, Blockbuster had filed for bankruptcy, and Netflix had stormed Hollywood with its entertainment streaming service. (Fortune)

• Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger and the Reading Unlock: One Buffett lesson I’ll share with my kid: read, read, read. (SatPost by Trung Phan)

• The Multidisciplinary Approach to Thinking. Using a true multidisciplinary understanding of things, Peter identifies two often overlooked, parabolic “Big Ideas”: 1) Mirrored Reciprocation (go positive and go first) and 2) Compound Interest (being constant). A great “Life Hack” is to simply combine these two into one basic approach to living your life: “Go positive and go first, and be constant in doing it.” (Farnam Street)

• The Crisis Whisperer: how Adam Tooze makes sense of our bewildering age: Whether it’s the financial crash, the climate emergency or the breakdown of the international order, historian Adam Tooze has become the go-to guide to the radical new world we’ve entered. (The Guardian)

• The Shape of Time: In the 19th century, the linear idea of time became dominant, forever changing how those in the West experience the world. (Aeon)

• GLP-1s And Your Brain: The Surprising Impact On Addiction, Anxiety, ADHD, And More: What started out as a medication for diabetes and weight loss is offering something unexpected—and completely life-changing—for many women. (Womens Health)

• The Education of the Broligarchy: The same sources that inspired tech moguls to bend matter, minds, and markets to their will may also help explain their foray into other forms of power (Colossus)

• Can Congress Still Check the Commander in Chief? Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, discusses Venezuela, NATO and the limits of congressional power as global crises multiply. (Bloomberg)

• An exclusive look inside the largest effort ever mounted to keep the Great Barrier Reef alive: Australia is doing absolutely everything to protect its most iconic ecosystem — except, perhaps, the one thing that really matters. (Vox)

• Mike Macdonald is a genius, but that’s not the only reason his Seahawks are Super Bowl favorites: The Seahawks are arguably the best team in football because they have elite talent. But everyone in the NFL has talent, especially in the postseason. Marrying that talent with the vision and bringing it to life, Macdonald believes, starts with intent and attitude. That’s their foundation for getting players to play fast and free. (New York Times)

Be sure to check out our Masters in Business this weekend with Zach Buchwald, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Russell Investments. The global investment firm was founded in 1936, and today has ~$370 billion in AUM. Previously, he had a 15-year tenure at BlackRock, where he served as the head of its $2 trillion Institutional Business, leading the company’s Financial Institutions Group and helped establish its Retirement Solutions and Financial Markets Advisory platforms.

 

January 2026 set to be a record in Geopolitics

Source: Jim Reid, Deutsche Bank

 

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