day two hundred fifteen (13. 866)

Israel forces the closure of the UK consulate in occupied East Jerusalem over sanction threats directed at illegal settlements in the West Bank. Hurricane Isaiah takes a quarter of oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico off-line. Tankers, including those cleaving to the route off the coasts of Oman and Qatar, come under fire, slowing maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to a trickle again. Fighting rages between Yemeni regulars and rebels as Houthis launch deadly strikes at Saudi airports. Newly obtained footage reveals the extent of damage sustained to US bases across the Middle East as troops posture towards abandonment and retreat. Despite issuing new demands, including the possibility of compromise of nuclear enrichment, the American president declares he has no interest in making a deal with Tehran and orders the military to prepare to resume hostilities imminently.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth the revisit (with synchronoptica) plus cartoonist Rein Raamat

two years ago: boating on the Röblinsee 

three years ago: spiralling landscapes, vintage text book cover art plus LEGO art

four years ago: the cast of Star Trek in an energy company advert plus Saint Reparata

five years ago:  your daily demon: Raum, Baghdad’s House of Wisdom plus a bi-directional typeface

six years ago: more links to enjoy, Les Misérables (1985), poorly drawn animals plus Trump requires wildlife conservationist organisations to celebrate America’s hunting heritage

seven years ago: visualising Wikipedia updates in real time, Trump abruptly withdraws from the Syria-Turkish border, Call Me By Your Monet, The Million Eyes of Sumuru plus discouraging frivolous lawsuits in the Middle Ages

eight years ago: the degrading web plus calling attention to the problem of space junk

 

day two hundred fourteen (13. 864)

The second largest oil refinery in Venezuela catches fire. Ukrainian drones disable a large petroleum processing facility in Sochi.  Amid intense fighting and both sides vie for control of the Yemeni highlands, Houthi rebels target several Saudi-Aramco oil fields. Whilst oil flows have nearly recovered to pre-war levels, exports falter as attacks on tankers in the Persian Gulf continue and the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed. Crude prices again climb over a hundred dollars per barrel. Despite the flagging bond market and the self-imposed energy shock, the US stock market, buoyed up only by a buying frenzy in AI-related technologies, reaches all time highs. The dismantled US Centres for Disease Control, under the leadership of RFK Jr, is monitoring the Russian plague risk as two hundred individuals in Siberia quarantine.

soroptimist international (13. 854)

Founded on this day in 1921 in Oakland, California, (SI, from the Latin soror, sister, and optima, the best) by Violet Richaradson, Eloise Cushing and Stuart Morrow, the first chapter of the movement has grown into a global volunteer organisation with nearly seventy thousand members advocating and championing women’s causes, providing educational grants, domestic violence shelters and healthcare. Richardson (pictured below—the shotgun was for dispatching with rattlesnakes for the hiking association she also started), as first president of the club, was an early pioneer of physical education for adolescents and established the Berkley Women’s Gymnasium for adult females whilst pursuing her master’s degree in general education. A chapter in London was founded in parallel and Madame Suzanne Blanche Gros Noël of Paris, the first female cosmetic surgeon who performed countless reconstructive operations for veterans disfigured in World War I and invented the face-lift, was instrumental in starting clubs in France and ten other European capitals, expansion of the movement interrupted by the outbreak of World War II when members shifted their efforts towards helping those fleeing the Nazis. Since the early 2000s, SI has garnered status as an NGO with consultative capacity with the United Nations and maintains official relations with the World Health Organisation. Other members of note include classics scholar Mary Creighton Bailey of Canterbury whom went on to join the British High Commission for Germany with the remit of de-nazifying school curriculum, teacher, conductor and composer Juliette Nadia Boulanger whose students included Aaron Copland, Quincy Jones and Philip Glass, Australian Mary Campbell Dawbarn, pioneering nutritionist and biochemist whose research on B-complex vitamins fundamentally shaped our understand of biochemistry and militant Scottish suffragette Flora Drummond.

day two hundred four (13. 837)

Israeli attacks on Gaza intensify as settlers again storm the Al-Aqsa mosque complex in occupied East Jerusalem. Trump’s Board of Peace excludes UNRWA from participation in any future rebuilding plans for Palestine, fulfilling a long-standing demand from Tel Aviv as the country’s far-right finance minister calls for all out war in the West Bank. Following Trump’s rejection of Tehran’s roadmap to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in seven days if Washington honours their promises and continues negotiations in good faith and awaiting reports from intermediaries rather than the American president’s verdict for an official response, Iran is securing alternative overland trade routes with Türkiye and through the Caspian Sea on its northern border. Renewed military action seems a distinct possibility, an inevitably as the US naval blockade of Iranian ports continue and the Islamic Republic claim the seizure of an American autonomous submarine. Five individuals are apprehended plotting a suspected terror attack on RAF Fairford, which hosts US airforce bombers engaged with attacking Iran—Tehran already citing third-country cooperatives as legitimate targets.

the revolution will not be biennalised (13. 831)

Although somewhat evocative of the mural of Dresden’s Kulturpalast and Soviet-era Realism, we agree that Germany’s pavilion at the sixty-first Venice international cultural exhibition does ring a bit hollow and is unreflective regarding the country’s present political realities, a safe-space nearly as insular as the installation from the US in its splendid isolation and wanton ignorance of the negative impacts it has visited on the world entire and the arts themselves, with the same mindset that would demolish their own national stage in the Kennedy Centre out of spite. In a follow-up piece, Hyperalleric’s Editor-at-Large Hrag Vartanian and critic Aruna D’Souza tour the grounds and offer their opinions, critiques and condemnations of such pavilions that miss the mark and fall flat.

synchronoptica

one year ago: haiku headlines (with synchronoptica) plus Skaterdater (1965)

two years ago: new Nazca lines revealed, the study of street art plus assorted links to revisit 

three years ago: harmless AI hallucinations, tarot-inspired motifs from Leonora Carrington, gravity as a governing factor plus the restoration of a Streamline Moderne observatory associated with Albert Einstein 

four year ago: Knight Rider (1982) plus an asteroid deflection test

five years ago: the Free City of Christiana (1971), Biosphere 2 (1991), more McMansion Hell, an AI names supermarkets plus Germany votes

six years ago: more links to enjoy plus the photography of Robert Bechtle

seven years ago: Trump’s “perfect call,” communal housing in the capital of Greenland plus the science vessel formerly known as Boaty McBoatface

eight years ago: World War III narrowly averted (1983), Trump at the UN General Assembly, the Afrofuturist art of Bodys Isek Kingelez, more on the Hyperloop project plus Gilligan’s Island (1964)

 

day two hundred one (13. 827)

France pledges to send fighters to Saudi Arabia to help repel Houthi rebels as other members of the alliance, Türkiye and Pakistan, join for an emergency military planning meeting . US sanctions on the entire industry force Iran to cancel some international flights. Tehran’s hardliners express anger and disappointment with Araqchi over meeting directly with Witkoff to layout terms for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz while Pezeshkian says Iran wants America to return to the MoU before the midterm elections. Thousands of demonstrators protest the arrival of Netanyahu and the Israeli delegation in New York, calling for his arrest as a war criminal, causing the prime minister to fly home directly after his short speech to the UN. A judge orders that banned news outlets’ access to the White House to be restored as Trump hosts Xi for a lavish state dinner with tech CEOs.

day two hundred (13. 823)

Whilst acknowledging that Iranian leadership did meet with Washington through Qatari and Pakistani intermediaries on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Tehran maintains it did not compromise on any of its demands. Pezeshkian delivers a defiant message—calling his country a “victim of terrorism” from the US and Israel, the American delegation storming out during the Iranian president’s address after holding up pictures of students killed in the Minab school attack. Argentina’s Milei slams the United Nations’ critical stance against Israel over Palestine, calling it a useless organisation filled with “useless parasites” and claiming their condemnation condones the genocide of Christians in Africa and reiterates that the Falklands are Argentine, stating that self-determination does not apply for a population implanted by an occupying power. Trump’s Board of Peace tries to signal progress and update the international community its recovery plans for Gaza. Syrian president al-Sharaa, taking the podium, lashes out at Tel Aviv over the expansion of the Golan Heights occupied territory and continuing attacks along the buffer zone, administered by the UN, prompting Israel to reassert its claim to the annexed land seized in the 1967 war. Meanwhile, Trump is hosting Xi in Washington and talking AI and trade, according to US secretary of state, Ukraine and Russia are interested in a limited ceasefire with respect to grain and petrol, whilst Trump imposes a ban on diesel fuel in hope of lowering sky-rocketing prices, the move unlikely to bring about relief at home and more pain for those downstream. Trump also formally invites Putin to the G20 in December to be held at his golf course outside of Miami. Greenland has already said its peace.  Zelenskyy has yet to enter the conversation.

day one hundred ninety-nine (13. 820)

As expected, previewed per a social media post, Trump’s remarks for the UNGA focused less on international issues and touted his domestic record of tremendous winning—tax cuts, the stock market buoyed by his manipulation, immigration enforcement—briefly making the rounds concerning the joint US-Israeli war of aggression on Iran, justifying it as a long ignored threat and promising to “drive them into Hell” if they don’t capitulate and make a deal, the continuing war Ukraine, pledging it will end, “I think, more quickly than people understand,” defending his actions in Latin America including his kidnapping of Nicólas Maduro and laying claim to Venezuela’s oil wealth, attacks on boats in the Caribbean, securing the border with Mexico and crippling embargo on Cuba (prompting the delegation to leave the floor in protest), his agreement with Denmark on Greenland (the signing ceremony follows shortly after his campaign speech), and the hemispheric bombast concluding with a rejection of “globalist scheme” to control AI with an impromptu and unbidden pitch to call the technology “super intelligence.” Trump declined to join former presidents at the quarter-century observance of the anniversary of 9/11 in NewYork City because he was told he could not make a campaign speech, and we wonder why he was given such a platform at the United Nations. The American president’s unquenchable thirst for attention which left several events without live-, mainstream coverage out of journalistic solidarity after banning three news outlets (wire-services pledging not to post pictures or footage until after midnight, hence the file photo of rants from 2018) from the White House acknowledges the presence of CNN cameras during his lengthy tirade, protesting that the network said that wouldn’t be covering him. The reporter responds that, “The United Nations allowed us in, sir.” He really takes the oxygen out of the room. Macron follows as significant sidebars proceed.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus Trump in talks with the Taliban

two years ago: Bilbo Baggins’ birthday, St Mauritius, first contact plus a presidential assassination attempt (1975)

three years ago: more links to enjoy plus a compact galactic grouping

four years ago: MERS-CoV (2012),  the premier of West Wing (1999), Putin addresses the public and announces a draft plus an early Hobbit computer game

five years ago: assorted links to revisit plus Fiddler on the Roof (1964)

six years ago: Ruth Bader Ginsburg lies in state, the last day of summer, even more links plus dazzling skylines made of dot-stickers

seven years ago: exploring the Messel Pit plus a highly idiosyncratic language

eight years ago: rehabilitating coral ecosystems with electricity, an AI makes college course catalogues, typhoon naming conventions plus an M-class exoplanet

 

 

international day of peace (13. 819)

Originally declared back in 1981 to occur on the third Tuesday in September, marking the opening session of the United Nations’ General Assembly, then amended from a moveable feast to a fixed date on 2001 when the UNGA was scheduled to begin early, Secretary General Kofi Annan issuing the annual decree on 10. September: “The International Day of Peace started with such a dream. It was proclaimed 20 years ago by the United Nations General Assembly, at the initiative of Costa Rica. This year, at the initiative of Costa Rica and the United Kingdom, the Assembly decided to go one step further. It declared that the International Day of Peace should be a day of global ceasefire and non-violence. This step promises to be more than symbolic. Where respected, it will have practical effect. Where truces are observed, medical and developmental agencies can provide vital services to civilian victims in safety. And even a one-day pause in the fighting gives us something to build on in the work to end conflict. On this International Day of Peace, let us dare to imagine a world free of conflict and violence. And let us seize the opportunity for peace to take hold, day by day, year by year, until every day is a day of peace,” the day prior to assembly’s start on 11. September, preempted by the 9/11 terror attacks just blocks away from UN headquarters. To inaugurate the occasion, the Peace Bell is rung, a bonsho donated to the infra-national body by Japan in 1954, cast from coins and medals contributed by world citizens, melted down and tolled for peace on 21. September, and on 21. March, Earth Day, in hopes of better stewardship of our shared home. Both observances ring a bit hollow right now. The belfry is in the style of a traditional Buddhist blossom temple. Alloy includes bullets, military badges and nine gold pieces given by Pope Pius XII. The foundation which originally proposed the forging of such a symbol presented a replica to San Marino in 2019 in recognition of its history of being the oldest republic in the world and pacifism. Honorary bell-ringers include Margaret Mead, NYC mayor David Dinkins, Aye Aye Thant as well as secretaries-general and presidents of the assemblies.

day one hundred ninety-eight (13. 818)

Lawmakers is Iran draft legislation to pull the country out of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty whilst issuing stark warnings to the US following Trump’s prognosis of options available for ending the conflict are either total obliteration, economic rot or reaching a deal that suggest a fresh wave of military strikes. Tehran promises to retaliate “without limitations,” the Revolutionary Guard saying that the USA lacks the courage and resolve to defeat the Islamic Republic and the world will be “astounded” by Iran’s new weapons. Just as the White House East Wing renovations and the ballroom were a cover for an apocalypse grade bunker, the American president reveals that he plans for his triumphal arch in the capital to host a den of snipers and drones—ostensibly for defensive purposes but likely to quell riots. Trump sanctions the entire staff AfD secures a bald majority in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern but has no options of forming a state government. IDF carry out strikes in Lebanon’s Tyre district and enter Syria. European jet fuel imports fall by half with serious shortages expected.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica), American Idiot plus a banger from Earth, Wind & Fire

two years ago: Weird Al parodies Bob Dylan with palindromes plus more gerrymandering 

three year ago: grieving the loss of dark skies 

four years ago:  Ba-Dee-Ya, Martin Luther’s German translation of the Bible, more on the US Space Force plus a collection of manhole covers

five years ago: an advertisement for Ivermectin 

six years ago:  the Order of the Smile, The Hobbit (1937), the legacy of colonial goods stores, alternative chess plus wide-scale money laundering

seven years ago: The Far Side returns plus more Earth, Wind and Fire

eight years ago: assorted links to revisit, a sexy Handmaiden costume for Halloween plus Dial-a-Song

 

day one hundred ninety-six (13. 811)

Eleven percent of petrol stations in France have run out of fuel. The storage depot at the King Khalid International airport in Riyadh is in flames. Trump’s banishment of CNN and other news outlets is apparently linked to reporting that over-reliance on AI in military planning and picking targets (which resulted in the bombing of a school in Minab on the first day of the first day of the joint Israeli-US war of choice, killing one hundred fifty-six civilians, including one hundred twenty students) that nearly led to the American navy boarding a Chinese vessel in the Gulf, based off faulty intelligence that the ship was transporting equipment for a nuclear centrifuge. Trump again reminds the American public that price at the pump is a small one to pay to ensure that Tehran does not obtain a nuclear weapon as gas and diesel prices climb to new heights, the price not double than the already crippling cost because China tapped its reserves and curbed demand, for pragmatic reasons—and definitely not as a favour but perhaps as leverage, Xi scheduled to meet with the American president next week for a state dinner and trade talks. Cuba faces another nationwide blackout amid continued US blockade.

day one hundred ninety-four (13. 806)

The Trump administration relents on its earlier effort to prevent the Iranian delegation from attending the upcoming UN General Assembly, granting visas to the ombudsmen, though Palestinian attendance is still blocked. Following a fact-finding mission by the United Nations, preliminary evidence suggests that the joint Israeli-US offensive constitutes war crimes with the indiscriminate targeting that lead to civilian death and the destruction of non-military infrastructure. The sweeping sanctions bill against Moscow crafted to pressure countries buying Russian oil lingers on the president’s desk awaiting his signature, whilst Trump harshly criticises the European Union for making Canada an associate member, calling it an act of aggression and threatening more tariffs—Carney in turn says that Canada picks its own partnerships. Petrol and diesel prices soar in Europe. After the Revolutionary Guard attacks a Togolese flagged tanker under US naval escort, Trump weighs “annihilating” his foes. Skirmishes between Saudi and Houthi forces intensify.

day one hundred ninety-three (13. 802)

Hundreds protest IDF destruction of villages and cultural heritage sites in occupied Lebanon. Following the damage to the East-West pipeline crossing the Arabia peninsula overland, the Saudis attempt to reassure customers by seeking alternate routes through Oman. Without evidence, Trump tells reporters that direct talks with Tehran are ongoing, hopefully resolving the crisis soon and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. South Korea vacillates on troop deployment to the vital waterway, earlier succumbing to pressure by Trump to withdraw military assets from Asia with the US ally did not help in the Middle East. The America president approves the sale of sixty thousand one tonne bombs to Israel. US department of transportation relaxes rules on mandatory rest periods for long haul-truckers as a way to stave off fuel shortages and supply disruptions as petrol and diesel prices continue to rise, above eight dollars per gallon in some areas.

public law 94-412 (13.792)

Signed into law on this day in 1976 by US president Gerald Ford, the National Emergencies Act was a legal mechanism to declare an end to all previous national emergencies and to formalise and contain the crisis powers of the executive. Terminations included the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 (regarding the hoarding of gold) declared by FDR during the Great Depression, a 1950 mobilisation by Truman during the Korean War and more recently from Nixon during a postal workers strike and inflation fears. Whilst empowering the president to activate special powers during certain exigencies for a period of not to exceed two years, congress reserving the right to evaluate and through a joint-resolution end a national emergency declared by the president after six months. Of the four dozen national emergencies declared since 1976, most have been the recent restrictions on trade with foreign entities under IEEPA, the oldest still on the books, renewed biannually is from Jimmy Carter, freezing Iranian government property and assets from November 1979.

synchronoptica

one year ago: an aquaponics installation (with synchronoptica) plus Industrial Light and Magic for civic engagement

two years ago: eighty bangers from the 80s plus a novel wildfire detection device 

three years ago: catastrophic flooding in Lebanon plus US House Speaker McCarthy ousted

four years ago: The Waltons (1972), spreading seeds plus an AI illustrated Bible

five years ago: assorted links to revisit plus rice harvest art

six years ago: one of the first laws enshrining freedom of the press (1770), explaining the year 2020 to someone from the past plus music to move by

seven years ago: seeing the tarnish of the golden era plus RIP Eddie Money

eight years ago: Trump downplays deaths in Hurricane Maria, a new Russian cathedral, Jimmy Carter Says Yes, more on calendar reforms plus Trump’s campaign manager in court

 

day one hundred eighty-nine (13. 784)

Russian army returns to bases in Syria, contradicting claims that facilities at the port of Tartus would be transferred to Damascus. Houthis seize Red Sea coast as the Saudi East-West oil pipeline shuts down following an Iranian drone attack, pushing oil to a four-month high. A quarter of a century after the attacks that shook the world, Americans reflect on 9/11, including retrospective reevaluations of mistakes that were made in the immediate aftermath. The Clintons, the Bushes, the Obamas and the Bidens attended a remembrance ceremony in Lower Manhattan, flanked by current and former New York City mayors, while Trump—told he would not be allowed to make a political speech, was in attendance at a ceremony at the Pentagon, sleeping through most of it, only to wake up in time to make his push for the justification of his war of choice with the Israelis in Iran, backed up by Hegseth, who frames both today’s fight and the fight from twenty-five years ago as a continuum, “The struggle against evil continued and it continues now. It will continue until Judgment Day. Our only answer here on Earth is eternal vigilance.” Forever wars carry a dark legacy—with the US president having recently weaponised the Department of Homeland Security, created directly to prevent future attacks, to embark on a weeks’ long campaign to purge voters from rolls as part of a broader plan for intimidation and disenfranchisement ahead of the upcoming elections, which might be suspended anyway over some manufactured crisis, and the blood and treasure of a generation squandered, unaccountable trillions wasted in pursuit of a few terrorist, toppling regimes, fighting the resultant insurgencies to make the world a more dangerous place, the nation ceding its industrial, technological, diplomatic and economic edge in the process, particularly now with allies alienated by unending hostilities, which would have been better spent on education, outreach and universal healthcare, reversing climate change at a crucial juncture—opportunities lost to pandering to insecurity and illusionary exceptionalism.

aal11 (13. 782)

Shortly after taking office in January of this year, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s staff found a tranche of documents, sixty-four boxes, never released that suggest that residents of Lower Manhattan were misled about the safety and air quality in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks and for years following. The mayor directed his staff to upload these documents and make them available on a portal that anyone can search, coming online earlier this week. One can see environmental surveys for any given neighbourhood and learn more about the actual risk, exposure with resources about filing a claim for compensation. In a rush to get businesses in New York running again and to not “let the terrorist win”—reminiscent of the resistance to social-distancing schemes, shuttered shops and restricted gatherings and the push by some for a return to normality that was premature and had far-reaching consequences—public officials at the city, state and federal levels assured that the air was safe to breathe and the water safe to drink for those living next to ‘the Pile’—rescue workers avoiding the term ground zero favoured by the media, the rubble of the Twin Towers, burning concrete, lead, asbestos as well as hazards from the some two thousand automobiles buried in the underground parking. Three times the number of individuals, not only first responders, who died that day a quarter of century ago have now died as a result of illnesses caused by living with the toxic debris. The terror attacks were declared an act of war to limit the city’s legal liability. The resource, courtesy of Web Curios, also includes a wealth of information documenting the social impact, search and recovery efforts and perhaps most importantly how institutions respond to something so unimaginably of world-changing magnitude and violence.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a 1970 documentary on Kenneth Anger (with synchronoptica) plus artist Ivan Aivazovsky

two years ago: search engine optimisation, transcribing presidential debates plus tales of Chemical Romance 

three years ago: the Hoover Dam comes online (1936), an actual flying car from 1973, bird photograph of the year plus a manliness calibrator

four years ago: an important battle in the Scottish War of Independence (1297)

five years ago: 80s automotive dashboards, avian photograph of the year, the Dead Internet conspiracy theory plus Mid-Century Modern home-entertainment consoles

six years ago: a memorable, perfectly timed photograph, Disintegration Loops, fiery skies plus assorted links to revisit

 

day one hundred eighty-eight (13. 781)

Houthis capture Yemeni port of Mocha as the rebel group consolidates its control over maritime traffic in the Red Sea. American forces in the region spread thin and efforts by the Saudi-led regional defence alliance failing, no one seems to be able to do any thing to stop their advance. Stymied still by duelling blockades, ships crossing the Strait of Hormuz drops to seven per day—the Revolutionary Guard claims to have destroyed a naval drone patrolling the waterway. The ECB raises interest rates and the war drags the continent’s economy down and oil prices rise more. Several fighter jets sustain damage from Iranian ballistics launched at US military compounds in Jordan. American vice president Vance pitches himself as Trump’s political heir-apparent as the midterm convention in Dallas closes.

day one hundred eighty-seven (13. 779)

Trump says that Iran war will end immediately after midterms and forecasts a sharp decline in gasoline prices shortly thereafter as oil continues to rise and skirmishes over the Hormuz intensify. The America president makes this announcement during the GOP special convention held in Dallas Texas (such an off-cycle gathering is not a thing a only a campaign rally for Trump) where he vows to make himself the centre of attention and asks voters to pretend he is on the ballot as some Republican actually running distance themselves from the spectacle. Trump further pledges a five thousand dollar dividend to be paid to every American adult—like the DOGE cheques never issued—should Republicans retain both houses of congress. IDF attacks Bethlehem and launches missiles at the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza. The senior rabbinate of the UK supports decision to sanction West Bank settlers, joined by France and Canada. The town of Gander, Newfoundland, which hosted thousands of US travellers a quarter century ago stranded after American airspace was closed for an extended period following the 9/11 terror attacks consider disinviting the US ambassador from the commemoration over rhetoric and the escalating trade war.

day one hundred eighty-four (13. 771)

Iran announces a restricted zone surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, still settling in for a long war despite sustaining heavy attacks from the Americans, saying the era of proportional response is over. Tehran lifts its ban on social media use by government officials to allow them to address the people directly and refute the narrative of the Trump administration. EU sanctions North Korean reeducation camps where Russia sends kidnapped Ukrainian children. Though Kyiv calls for new trilateral talks after Kushner and Witkoff‘s audience with Putin, former ambassadors do not see any purchase for a breakthrough. Trump contemplates renaming the state of New Mexico to New America. IDF bombards southern Lebanon as Palestinian farmers fight settler saboteurs to save crops in Hebron. AfD wins in Saxon-Anhalt fall short of majority and cannot form a government without coalition support.

day one hundred eighty-three (13. 769)

With economic indicators like the better than expected jobs numbers and crippling inflation pointing to a need to increase interest rates, Trump (sporting a new coif apparently) threatens his newly minted chair of the Federal Reserve that if he does not comply and reduce rates, the American president will embargo countries that have a trade surplus with the US and suspend all economic activity—as an alternative to the reciprocal tariffs declared unlawful. The US fires upon at least six tankers headed towards Iranian ports—confirming by the numbers its new tit-for-tat policy of striking an Iranian affiliated ship for every commercial vessel or US asset targeted by Tehran, the Revolutionary Guard attacking a US naval warship enforcing the blockade. Netanyahu orders the IDF to bomb Qatar, labeling it a hostile state. Special envoys Kushner and Witkoff, despite their terrible track records, hold a late night meeting with Putin to discuss ending the war with Ukraine—in time for the midterms. AfD is poised to take over state government of Saxon-Anhalt as more suspected acts of sabotage against Germany‘s power grid are narrowly thwarted by authorities—Russian agents are thought to be behind the attacks. The US justice department pauses cooperation with the government of Canada.