Iran Wins, USA Loses

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States and Iran was separately signed on June 17, 2026. 

The primary signatories of the framework agreement are Donald Trump (President of the United States) and Masoud Pezeshkian (President of Iran). Additionally, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the document as the top mediator. 

FYI, early electronic signatures on the draft had been coordinated through US Vice President JD Vance and Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. 

And I've read the said document. Not once, not twice, but thrice. Trump's so-called Iran "peace" deal doesn't include any of the big wins he promised. 😀😀😀

There's no two-ways to read the MOU other than the fact that Trump surrendered to Iran, as per the following terms: 

1. US to withdraw all military forces 
2. US to recognise Iranian sovereignty 
3. US together with regional partners commit to provide $300 billion in reconstruction funds 
4. US to unfreeze all Iranian overseas assets (in stages) 
5. US will allow Iranian oil to flow freely and remove sanctions. 

And what did Iran offer in return? 

1. Iran will allow free flow of shipping in the Straits of Hormuz. Err... it was free flow before the war. 
2. Iran commits to not build nuclear weapons. Err... it looks like the same commitment it made before the war. 

Everything else is subject to discussion and determination over the next 60 days. 

Massive accolades to MAGA Trump! What a humongous achievement! The world loves him very much! 😜😜😜

The above aside, Trump quipped on the same day that he will take credit if the deal goes well, but that he will blame his vice president if the preliminary deal falls apart (as per The Hill, published Thursday). 

“We’re going to bomb the hell out of them if they violate the agreement”, Trump said at a press conference Wednesday. “I don’t want them to. I want them to honor the agreement”. 

Personally, I don't believe the "peace" will last!

And in a Truth Social post on Thursday, Trump had ruled out any direct US funding for the scheme. 

“There is no 300 Billion Dollar payment to Iran by the US. That’s Fake News!” he wrote. "All there is for the US is success, lower oil prices, and victory". 

Vance, meanwhile, in an interview with The New York Times published on Thursday, echoed the same sentiment, saying that the plan will not be “paid for by American taxpayers”. 

“Not a cent of American money goes to Iran”, he reiterated.

I want to be clear here! I'm not under any illusion that the US has any intention to fulfill its obligations. 

In fact, I'm just waiting for the bombs and missiles to resume their strikes. And it doesn't matter who attacks who first. I don't care whether it's the US or Iran. Or even Israel.

Let the fighting restart!

More World Leaders Flock to Beijing

On February 02, I blogged that in January, world leaders had flocked to China. In fact, five of them. 

The visits to China – China Daily refers to them as the "China travel rush" – have not stopped. 

In February, two leaders descended upon the Middle Kingdom (Zhōngguó, 中国). They were Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi (1st-7th) and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (25th-26th). [Note that the month was relatively quiet owing to the Spring Festival break].   

And in March, Chinese President Xi Jinping's diplomatic schedule was focused domestically during this month. He and other senior officials were engaged in the annual "Two Sessions" political meetings, which are the annual plenary sessions of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. 

The following month, distinguished travelers who journeyed to China included: Thailand’s Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn (April 04-11); Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (April 11-15); Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi (April 12-14); To Lam, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and President of Vietnam (April 14-17); and Mozambican President Daniel Chapo (April 16-22).

And in May, Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon was in China, completing a four-day state visit to Beijing from 11th to 14th. 

Of course, the US didn't want to be left out. And so, its president invited himself to China. He was there from May 13 to 15, and incredibly, he was well-behaved.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was there as well for a two-day state visit, running from May 19 to May 20. And more than 40 documents and cooperation agreements were signed between China and Russia.

Then, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif travelled to China for a four-day official trip from May 23 to 26.

And Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić too from May 24-28. 

This isn't just about China being "open". 

As global uncertainty deepens, the world is gravitating toward a country that, weathering its own storms, continues to project a clear sense of purpose and progress.

The high-profile visits to Beijing by world leaders underscore China's leverage and centrality in shaping a multipolar world order. And Xi Jinping is at the centre of it all.

China's real power comes through Xi championing initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the Global Development Initiative, and the Global Security Initiative – in fact, the country offers an alternative model for economic growth and state relations without political conditionality.

Companionship Is A Silent Power

A 24-year-old cancer patient in Foshan, China opens a delivery app and orders two hours of human company. Just someone to sit by her bed and talk.

How comforting the presence of another human being can be. 

Since the crippling of US military sites and the demolition of radars in the Middle East due to Iranian attacks, there has been heavy rainfall in parts of Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. 

A large dam in Iran’s Paveh region has overflowed again after seven years. Due to heavy rainfall, this dam with a capacity of about 400 million cubic meters is now completely full and water has started overflowing. 

Meanwhile, Iraq’s largest Darbandikhan Dam has also reached 100% capacity, forcing its gates to be opened. After many years, this dam has again reached its full capacity. 

There are stories that the weather in that region was controlled using cloud seeding radars located in the Middle East, especially in the UAE. Others say that high-powered phased-array radar systems emit extremely powerful electromagnetic beams in UHF and X-band frequencies, which disrupt the normal flow of the atmosphere. But now that the radars have been destroyed, the weather is starting to return to its normal state. 

As a result, Tehran in Iran, which had been affected by drought for years, has seen heavy rainfall and the temperature has dropped by about 5 degrees Celsius. 

Whether this is a conspiracy theory or not, just as the weather is slowly returning to normal – if America completely withdraws from the Middle East, perhaps long-term stability and an environment of peace will return to the region.

21 Hours Later, No Peace Deal

The United States and Iran failed to produce a peace agreement after Saturday's marathon 21-hour negotiation session in Pakistan's capital. 

The US delegation led by Vice President JD Vance and the Iranian delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf were supposed to discuss how to advance a ceasefire already threatened by deep disagreements and Israel’s continued attacks against Lebanon.

One big issue that came to the fore, it is said, was the US demand that Iran relinquish its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz as well as agree to "joint management" of the strategic waterway, guaranteeing American access. But the Iranian negotiators completely rejected the proposal.  

At the same time, the US tried to sneak into the narrow waterway on that same day itself. But its destroyer pulled back as soon as it received a "30-minute warning" from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to turn back or be targeted. 

While Iranian media claimed a "forced retreat", US official sources promoted a different storyline, reporting that their two US guided-missile destroyers, the USS Frank E Petersen Jr (DDG-121) and the USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112), had, in fact, successfully transited the Strait. 

True or not, the above is only a sub-plot.

The whole session seems to me, to be more about posturing than making progress. I get the impression that both parties are content to stare each other down, and neither side is willing to blink. (I can understand Iran's position because I don't agree they should negotiate in the first place). In the end, the US declared the negotiations to be inconclusive.

The US had flown Vance halfway across the world to Islamabad. The Americans demanded everything they couldn't achieve through war. Iran shoved a big 'no' in their faces. The talks ended. And on Sunday, the Vice President went home empty-handed.

Methinks, there will be another round of talks. The Americans will want to crawl back for that “peace deal” because Donald Trump desperately needs a diplomatic exit strategy. 

[The alternative, of course, is a return to war. If Trump persists in being belligerent, foolhardy and reckless, I guess, you can expect war. But you wonder, for how long? War is terribly expensive; moreover, both the US and Israel have depleting stockpiles of interceptor missiles].

TBH, I don't know what actually transpired. There is an obvious  lack of congruity, clarity and transparency. From what I understand from Vance at the press conference before he left Islamabad, is that there is only one sticking point left – the need for Iran to give an unconditional commitment not to produce nuclear weapons. 

But the Iranians were ready to give this commitment in Geneva, Switzerland six weeks ago before the Israelis and Americans attacked. Meaning, through the pair's reckless stupidity, that willingness has now turned to unwillingness. 

Whatever the case may be, this is not an insurmountable problem. Trump may need this one concession to be able to tell his domestic audience that he did not raise the white flag, when actually the US has been thoroughly defeated. 

Therefore, I take it from what Vance said that basically the Americans have already caved in to Iran’s 9 other proposals, including total control of the Strait of Hormuz and the entitlement to charge tolls on passing ships.

I think Iran is holding out for now on the nuclear commitment so that it can cement its gains and make the Americans become more desperate. Every day Hormuz is closed brings the entire world closer to the precipice and if the world economy crashes, the world will blame the two war criminals, Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. 

Eventually, I reckon, after the agreements on the other nine Iranian points have been vetted and inked, the Iranians will compromise and give the written guarantee that they won’t pursue nuclear weapons, but would be entitled to enrich uranium, which is the inalienable right of every nation. 

Iran does not need a nuclear bomb. The Strait of Hormuz is already a more powerful weapon!

    

US Hoping for a Deal in Islamabad

Ahead of the Islamabad negotiations, Iran has clearly told Pakistani mediators what must happen before any final deal. 

Iran’s conditions: 

• Full control and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz
• Payment of war reparations 
• Release of all frozen assets 
• Permanent ceasefire across the entire region 

This means one thing Iran is not coming to negotiate terms… it is coming with terms already set.

So now the situation looks like this. Talks have begun in Islamabad, Pakistan – but Iran has fired a warning shot across its opponent's bow.

The message from Iran is unmistakable: no more games, no more separation between Washington and Tel Aviv, and no deal without real concessions.

I am very much skeptical – but we shall see.

[Note: What began on Saturday as indirect "proximity talks" with mediators shuttling between separate rooms, both sides eventually transitioned into face-to-face negotiations, it has been reported]. 

Anfield roared back to life yesterday! Liverpool put an end to their three-game winless run with a convincing 2-0 victory over Fulham at home. 

Teenager Rio Ngumoha opened the scoring in the 36th minute, finishing off a driving run from Florian Wirtz with a composed low strike. 

Four minutes later, Mohamed Salah doubled Liverpool’s lead, clipping home after a neat assist from Cody Gakpo.  

The English champions' win leaves them in fifth, a position which now qualifies for a place in next season's Champions League.

It's Now A 2-week Ceasefire

👏👏👏👏👏👏

Iran has declared a “historic defeat” of the US and Israel, claiming Washington accepted a sweeping 10-point proposal including ceasefire, sanctions removal, and troop withdrawal as a "workable basis" to begin negotiations.

And after a 39-day intense war, Donald Trump decreed he is pausing strikes against Iran for two weeks. 😂😂😂

This follows his dire warning on Tuesday morning that “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” if Tehran did not comply with his demands. 

On Tuesday evening, within hours of the planned apocalypse, Trump took to his platform Truth Social to announce he has reversed course. 😂😂😂

The message was posted online at 06:32 PM US Eastern time (22:00 GMT), just under one and a half hours before Trump’s 08:00 PM (00:00 GMT) deadline for Iran's obliteration.  

Tehran said talks in Islamabad, Pakistan starting Friday will finalize the deal, but warned the war is not over. 

Iran acknowledged it will honour Trump's reveal of a cessation of hostilities lasting fourteen days. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi insisted to put in place two conditions for this ceasefire to hold. All attacks against Iran are halted. And for the said period, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be permitted via coordination with Iran's Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations. 

It is likely to be a bumpy ride, but in after-hours trading, the price of a barrel of oil dropped below the $100 mark for the first time in days and US stock futures soared. There appears to be a sense of optimism that the worst is over. I don't know about you but I'm not holding my breath.

And even if the two-week ceasefire does result in a permanent peace, the Iran war – and Trump's recent rants – may have fundamentally altered the way the rest of the world views the US. 😈😈😈

The Global Hegemon That Is The Militaristic US

The United States is a global hegemon that proudly wears its hyper-militarism like a badge of honor. Best characterized as being bellicose, belligerent and brazenly confrontational. 

Indeed, the combative country has a hubristic history of military interventions and an indefatigable involvement in color revolutions and regime change, whether overtly or covertly. 

The same jingoistic country maintains a vast worldwide network of between 750 to 800 military base sites in at least 80 countries and territories to enable power projection and facilitate its military's global strategic objective of imperial and imperious domination. 

In this century alone, already ten countries have been at the receiving end of US aggression:

If you haven't already noticed, trigger-happy Donald Trump is involved in every one of them!

[Note: The above doesn't include the "proxy" war in Ukraine between the US and Russia – an admission made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio himself to Fox News on March 05, 2025].

Among the roster of hawkish US presidents, one is a Nobel Peace Prize winner for 2009 (i.e., Barack Obama!) and another (Trump lah, who else!) who literally begged for the award in 2025! (He didn't get it though – but the "unfit" winner still presented it to him, even if it means breaking the rules).

["Unfit" because she exhorted the US of A to attack her own country, i.e., Venezuela, so that she can be installed as president].

American foreign policy, after all, is engineered to maintain absolute global dominance, willingly triggering conflicts to ensure that both allies and adversaries recognize the US military as the undisputed numero uno!

The world will be in a better place if the US ceases to exist. Just saying.

Donald Trump’s 75-country US Visa Suspension Challenged

A group of United States citizens and immigrant rights bodies have launched a lawsuit seeking to challenge the sweeping suspension of immigrant visa processing for 75 countries by the administration of President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday, argues that the Trump administration has relied on a false narrative to justify the visa processing suspension, one of the most substantial restrictions on legal immigration in the country’s history. 

The lawsuit charges that the policy “constitutes an unlawful nationality-based ban on legal immigration and a new set of discriminatory, unlawful public charge rules that strips families and working people of the process guaranteed by law”, according to a case overview by the National Immigration Law Center, which are among the groups supporting the legal challenge. 

The sprawling 106-page complaint further alleges that the administration relies “on an unsupported and demonstrably false claim that nationals of the covered countries migrate to the United States to improperly rely on cash welfare and are likely to become ‘public charges'”. 

The State Department has described the action, announced in mid-January, as a “pause” on immigrant visa processing on “countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates”. 

The department have not revealed the criteria it used to determine which countries were added to the list, which comes amid a wider effort to constrict legal immigration pathways into the US and to deport undocumented citizens from the country. 

According to a January 14 state department cable obtained by the Guardian, the sweeping list cuts across every major region of the world, spanning countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and eastern Europe. 

Amongst the affected countries include Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Chad, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uruguay, Uzbekistan and Yemen.

20 Things You Need to Know About the Protests in Iran

20 things you really must know about the supposedly popular protests in Iran that broke out on December 28, 2025!

1. Allegations of “mass casualties” among Iran protesters are not dependable. They come from a group called Center for Human Rights in Iran. The Center for Human Rights in Iran are NOT in Iran. They are in New York, USA. 

2. Are they an Iranian group? No. They are financed by the CIA-adjacent National Endowment for Democracy in Washington DC and related bodies, specializing in disinformation. 

3. They are run by the people of Iran? No. The chairperson is Minky Worden, an American woman who ran anti-China campaigns for many years. She tried to get the Beijing winter Olympics renamed the genocide Olympics and cancelled. She failed. 

4. Worden worked closely with the Hong Kong "pro-democracy" movement (also NED-funded) and her husband was on the board of Apple Daily and had a contract with the Pentagon. Yes, the US regime-change operations around the world are THAT incestuous. 

5. The other main source of unbelievable tales of massive protests and huge numbers of deaths in Iran are coming from the Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). This is also a NED-funded, US-based disinformation outlet. 

Iranians Have Become Less Anti-government 

6. Having said that, protest groups against the Iranian government do exist, but they are not large. Western groups including the NED-funded media, and the Persian service of Voice of America, have spent years cultivating anti-government groups. But Trump’s bombing campaigns, and Israel’s shocking behavior in Gaza, has meant Iranians have become very notably LESS anti-government, not more. This is important. 

7. The loudest and most prominent Iranian “protest leader” quoted in the west is Masih Alinejad, a women who was salaried by NED for years, and currently works for the US Agency for Global Media. 

8. Which part of Iran does she live in? No part of Iran. She lives in the US. 

9. What’s her professional background? Propaganda. Her job was and is to push pro-US anti-Iran propaganda through various media services. Despite this, she is quoted in the media as if she is a reliable source of news from the people of Iran. 

10. Press reports show that between 2015 and 2022 alone, Masih Alinejad received $628,000 in funding from NED and related groups. And yes, this regime-change campaigner received a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. 

11. Remember Mahsa Jina Amini, a woman said to have been beaten to death by Iran police for wearing her hijab wrongly? Masih Alinejad pushed that tale, but it was debunked by a security video, which showed that no one was standing near her when she collapsed through a medical issue. 

12. A 2009 Brookings policy paper "Which Path to Persia?" goes into detail about how the US can take control of Iran, by creating mobs attacking government facilities, which can be labelled a “popular uprising” by the media, or by fostering division and putting puppet leaders in control. Variations of this US game plan have been used multiple times around the world. 

Women's Rights in the Forefront

13. Why is so much of the US propaganda about Iran based on alleged violations of women’s rights? Because similar US disinformation operations in other places, such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, showed that women’s rights made western audiences angrier faster than weaponization of the usual western “Big Three” propaganda lines: Democracy, freedom and human rights. 

14. Is the “strictly hijabs only” tale true? No. In general, women in Iran do prefer to dress modestly in Islamic fashion, but it’s far more relaxed and tolerant that the US propagandists pretend. Think of the religious dress codes of Indonesia and Malaysia, for example, where most people dress modestly and religiously, but the atmosphere is tolerant and reasonable. 

15. What about the atrocity stories of ill-treated women? They are invented and circulated by US and Israeli sources: the US has long had an atrocity fabrication department (see AB Abram’s research for numerous examples of their work worldwide). 

Infiltration 

16. Academic studies apparently “proving” that most Iranians want a US-allied leadership appear in The Journal of Democracy – which is not a real academic publication, but a NED magazine. 

17. NED operatives have spent years in Iran, funding scholars and journalists to build up a stranglehold in many educational, civic and media groups, just as they did in Hong Kong, and have done in many places. 

18. A widely quoted group from Iranian politics are the Foundation for Democracy in Iran. They are also not Iranian. They are funded by NED and the executive director is American activist Kenneth R Timmerman. 

Hope for the Future 

19. Iranians are smart. They know about NED and nickname them “National Enemy of Democracy”. 

20. Western mainstream media reports (BBC, Guardian, Reuters, etc) absolutely CANNOT be trusted. They have a long history of downplaying, or, more usually, completely hiding the western manipulation processes that create regime change. 

If you support the people of Iran, you need to know all this. The world needs to stand with Iran and tell the US that we've had enough.

BYD's Fleet of Car Carriers

China's BYD completed their massive fleet of eight vessels and reached an annual transport capacity of over 1 million cars. The final car carrier to join the fleet, BYD Jinan, went into operation last week, the company announced on WeChat. 

The Shenzhen-based automaker completed the fleet in under two years. The first vessel, BYD Explorer No. 1, was delivered in January 2024. 

All the car carriers are RoRo ships, meaning they are designed to carry wheeled cargo – the vehicles roll on/roll off themselves without the need for containers. BYD ships have a capacity of 7,200 or 9,000 cars based on the type of vessel. 

Aside from the newly launched Jinan, all seven ships are already supplying the world with BYD products. BYD Hefei is currently unloading cars in Europe before returning to China. BYD Xi’an is expected to arrive in Barcelona, Spain later this week. BYD Shenzhen and Changsha are also on their way from China to Europe.

But BYD are not exporting just China-made cars. BYD Zhengzhou, with a capacity of 7,000 vehicles, brought BYD right-hand drive cars from Thailand to the UK this week and is now en route to unload in Belgium, according to MarineTraffic data. This is the first time BYD have exported cars from their Thailand plant. 

Thailand, unlike China, is not subject to EU countervailing tariffs imposed on Chinese EV makers after the EC concluded its anti-subsidy investigation last October. BYD are subject to an additional 17% tariff on top of the existing 10% tariff.

However, BYD don’t rely only on their Chinese plants for overseas sales. On July 01, BYD began production at their Brazilian plant, with the first Seagull hatchback rolling off the line. The automaker also built their first European car plant in Hungary; however, the Szeged facility is not yet operational, as the company have delayed mass production until 2026. BYD are also building an EV plant in Pakistan, which is scheduled to go into operation in 2026. In Uzbekistan, production already started in June 2024. 

All those plants are knock-down kits (KD), meaning the car is brought in as parts from China and assembled locally. BYD claim they want to achieve a high level of localisation.

BYD reportedly face declining sales in their domestic market, and only their overseas sales prevent a sharper fall. 

In August, the overseas sales grew 157% to 80,813 vehicles YoY, while China sales fell 22% to 284,005 cars for the BYD brand.

BYD plan to achieve 20% of their sales in 2025 from overseas markets, targeting the sale of 1 million vehicles outside China. In 2025 so far, January-September, BYD sold 697,072 vehicles outside their home country.

If you're interested to know:

An Insult To The United States

Donald Trump has suggested that denying him the Nobel Peace Prize would amount to an insult to the United States. 😂😂😂

The US president complained on Tuesday that he has repeatedly been overlooked for the award, even though he believes his record qualifies him. The president pointed to his latest 20-point Gaza peace plan, claiming it was the eighth conflict he has helped resolve in as many months. 

I can tell you here and now that his Middle East proposal ain't gonna work. It calls for Israel to release 250 Palestinian prisoners with life sentences, as well as 1,700 Palestinians detained since the start of the war, in exchange for Hamas freeing 48 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive. Hamas members can be granted amnesty after that if they “commit to peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons”. 

Israel will gradually withdraw from Gaza as a temporary International Stabilization Force (ISF), led by Arab partners, takes over security in the battered territory, according to the arrangement. Meanwhile, a Palestinian committee, overseen by an international body dubbed the “Board of Peace”, will run Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority are ready to take over. 

The proposal claims to recognize the "aspiration" for a Palestinian state and tries to present a “credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood”.  

Straight away, we can see that the scheme swathed in hyperbolic language is both impractical and unrealistic. For sure, there won't be a buy-in. (Okay, except maybe the lackeys, lapdogs, and lickspittles!)

That aside, Trump's Nobel push received support from the leaders of Israel and Cambodia earlier this year. Pakistan also nominated Trump for the prize, crediting him with diffusing its conflict with India. However, New Delhi has refuted claims of outside involvement in brokering the ceasefire. 😲😲😲

According to Defence Security Asia on Tuesday, defense analysts are confirming through newly released satellite imagery that China has officially commenced construction of its fourth aircraft carrier, designated as the Type 004, at the Dalian shipyard in Liaoning province. 

The Type 004 is expected to be a nuclear-powered supercarrier displacing between 110,000 and 120,000 tons, making it not only the largest warship ever built in Asia but potentially the largest in the world. This signals a monumental leap in Beijing’s quest to rival US naval supremacy.

Defence experts note that the vessel’s sheer displacement would allow it to host not only a larger air wing but also expanded command-and-control facilities, enabling it to function as a floating joint operations hub for the PLA Navy. 

Its nuclear propulsion system is believed to draw heavily from China’s experience with the Type 093 and forthcoming Type 095 nuclear-powered attack submarines, giving Beijing a degree of technological confidence despite its lack of carrier-specific operational history.

Donald Trump Really Believes He is Peacemaker-in-Chief

US President Donald Trump really believes he is the “peacemaker-in-chief”, even boasting he has ended six wars since he became president. Of course lah, Trump is playing fast and loose with the truth. As he often does. 

Trump and his administration have claimed to have helped settle the conflicts between Israel and Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, Cambodia and Thailand, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, and Egypt and Ethiopia. 

Yet the claim to have settled those conflicts is egregiously embellished and in some cases contradicted by continued violence in countries like the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where both its government and Rwanda-backed rebels, M23, failed to sign a final peace accord in Doha, Qatar scheduled for Monday. 

In Iran, the US carried out its own strikes using bunker-buster bombs against military and nuclear facilities before strong-arming Iran to accept a ceasefire in June. The border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia saw a ceasefire reached in July that was mediated by Malaysia. India has denied that Trump played any role in reaching a ceasefire deal with Pakistan to end days of strikes over the disputed Kashmir territory in May. Egypt and Ethiopia have no deal to settle the root of their quarrel – a Nile River dam constructed by Ethiopia that would divert water from Egypt. And Serbia has denied it had any plans to pursue a war with Kosovo, although Trump took credit for preventing one. 

I've no doubt he is seriously eyeing the Nobel Peace Prize. In fact, he covets it!

Donald Trump Declares Global Tariffs Victory

I'm sure Donald Trump is smirking and grimacing. I'm sure he has declared victory in this global tariff war. I'm sure he believes the US will reap the benefits of new revenue, rekindle domestic manufacturing, and generate hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign investment and purchases.

And so, while the short term result might be – as Trump sees it – a triumph, the impact on his overarching goals is far less certain. As are the long-term repercussions, which could well pan out rather differently for Trump – or the America he leaves behind after his current term. 

Methinks, nobody benefits from a tariff war. And right now, it is too soon to come to any conclusions yet because there will always be a lag before impact is fully seen. For now, the potential economic fallout (for the US and elsewhere) has not been realised. 

These are the major deals supposedly in the bag: 

• United Kingdom agreed to a 10 percent tariff rate on its exports to the US. It also received a 25 percent sectoral tariff on steel and aluminium – half the 50 percent being imposed on other countries.
• The European Union have agreed to a 15 percent tariff on most of their exports to the US, including cars and pharmaceuticals, in exchange for zero tariffs on select US exports and commitments to buy US gas and increase investments. Initially, Trump had threatened a 30 percent rate. 
• Japan has secured a 15 percent reciprocal tariff on its goods exported to the US, reduced from a threatened 25 percent, with Japan promising to invest $550 billion in the US economy.
• Philippines has agreed to a 19 percent tariff on its exports to the US, with zero tariffs on US exports to the Philippines, alongside commitments for enhanced military cooperation. A poor deal for the country as I had alluded to in my July 28 post.
• Vietnam has agreed to a 20 percent tariff on most exports to the US, with an additional 40 percent levy to be applied to “transshipped” goods – those entering the US via another location – while also agreeing to zero tariffs on US imports like large-engine automobiles.
• Indonesia has negotiated a 19 percent tariff on its exports to the US, down from a threatened 32 percent, by making a commitment to buy US Boeing aircraft and to remove or reduce trade barriers.
• Malaysia enjoys a reduced tariff of 19 percent on its exports and which is lower than the initially scheduled 25 percent. And I'm pretty sure the country, like Indonesia, made similar-type commitments too.
• South Korean exports to the US will enjoy a lower 15 percent tariff, in return for a $350 billion investment pledge and zero tariffs on US imports like cars and agricultural products.
• Pakistan struck a deal to jointly develop oil reserves with the US, but specific tariff rates on goods still remain unclear.

You may think there is a method to his madness. But no, actually, it boils down to his arbitrariness, his capriciousness, his volatility. And I have this nagging feeling that these tariffs are not cast in stone. With Trump, he has a propensity to amend, change and revise according to his whim and fancy, and the world should brace for it. 

We should recall that, originally, Trump has justified these tariffs as being necessary to redress US trade imbalances as well as to boost US manufacturing and jobs. Even though economists point out that deficits are not direct evidence of unfair trade practices. 

But now, it has gone beyond trade. In fact, Trump is weaponizing tariffs to blanket broader agendas, e.g., curbing immigration, combating the opioid and fentanyl crisis, and pressing allies and partners on geopolitical issues, including India’s energy ties with Russia or Brazil’s legal action against Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro. 

And lest we forget, many of the deals that have been struck have been verbal, as yet unsigned. Moreover it is uncertain if and how the strings attached to Trump's agreements – more money to be spent purchasing American energy or invested in America – will actually be delivered on. 

Not to mention that the colossal issue of China, subject to a different deadline, remains unresolved. And Mexico, on Thursday, secured a negotiating extension. And I read that Canada and Taiwan supposedly still have an opportunity to hammer out a deal. [At this point, I also can't help thinking about the penguins. 😜😜😜]. 

Putting aside all of the above, I reckon Trump's own voters will still have to pick up the tab – through higher prices, less choice and slower growth.

Narendra Modi's Party Colleague Admits Pakistan Shot Down 5 IAF Jets

A rare admission from India! Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, a known critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, fired a broadside against his own party's government, denouncing the failure of the authorities in apprehending the perpetrators of April 22 Pahalgam attack in which 25 tourists and a local were killed.

Not only that, but he has also disclosed that Pakistan did indeed shoot down five Indian Air Force (IAF) jets, including the prized Rafales, during the recent military escalation between the two countries. 

Speaking on a podcast, Swamy (right), who served in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India from 2016 to 2022, said that the Indian planes were defeated in air combat as Pakistan deployed Chinese fighter jets which outperformed the French-made aircraft used by New Delhi.

He then proceeded to make a startling claim regarding the controversial Rafale deal, alleging corruption in the procurement process. “Corruption happened in Rafale which won’t be investigated”, he stated firmly. 

Discussing the lack of accountability within the Indian leadership, Swamy said that under Modi, an open probe into the aircraft losses is highly unlikely. 

In response to another question about Modi's public rapport with US President Donald Trump, he dismissed the relationship as "superficial". 

He said: "Modi is a master manipulator, deceiving the public. But Indians living abroad know the truth – he has no real stature in USA. He is, in essence, a servant". 

Swamy then accused Modi (left) of caving under international pressure during the crisis. "The United States asked for a ceasefire, and you submitted. Who authorised that decision? Was it the military? No. It was your fear of the United States, and especially Donald Trump. Modi's cowardice has been exposed". 

Predictably, Pakistani media outlets ARY News, Geo TV, Samaa TV and others have been accused of spreading false claims attributing Rafale jet admissions and corruption allegations to BJP's Subramanian Swamy.  😅😅😅 

But that's not all! Defence Security Asia on June 04, 2025 reported that former Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (left) had admitted that the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) actually locked onto twenty IAF fighter jets on May 07 – but chose to fire on only six of them. 

According to Bhutto Zardari, PAF exercised calculated restraint, targeting only those Indian aircraft that had dropped munitions on Pakistani territory, opting not to escalate the conflict further by engaging all jets in range. 😮😮😮

India Finally Admits Loss of Fighter Jets

India's military confirmed for the first time that they lost an unspecified number of fighter jets during the conflict with Pakistan that erupted on May 07. Bloomberg said it was the most direct comment from an Indian government functionary or military official regarding their fighter jets' sorry fate.  

"What is important is that, not the jet being down, but why they were being down", Anil Chauhan (right), chief of defense staff of the Indian Armed Forces, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV on Saturday. However, he didn't specify how many jets India lost, asserting that numbers were not important.. 

FYI, Pakistan had claimed to have taken down six, yes, SIX Indian jets, including three advanced French Rafale planes. [Refer my May 17 post "A Total of Six IAF Fighters Neutralized"].  

One in five of the world's highly cited researchers are now based in China, making the country home to the second-largest community of top scientists globally. #ChinaTech

India's Diplomatic Push to Win Support Against Pakistan

 

In my May 15, 2025 post "India Shouts Much Louder", I wrote these concluding lines: "...global media is portraying Pakistan more positively than India. And I'm sorry to say that the world isn't buying into India's bombast".

True enough, it was reported on Saturday that India plans to send seven multi-party delegations to 32 countries as well as the United Nations Security Council and the European Union "to convey its case against alleged terrorism emanating from Pakistan". Meaning, to communicate that "right" is on India's side.

According to this news report, the idea was formulated after New Delhi received what it perceived as poor press coverage in the international media regarding its brief military confrontation against Islamabad this month. And that Western media outlets have been accused of publishing pro-Pakistan narratives of Operation Sindoor, New Delhi’s military response to a deadly terror attack in India’s Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir last month.

Interestingly, Islamabad has announced counter-measures to the initiative. On Sunday, Radio Pakistan reported that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will send a group of high-level diplomats to major world capitals in an effort to check India. 

Pakistan’s diplomatic delegation will travel to key cities, including London, Washington, Paris, and Brussels, “to expose Indian propaganda”, according to the report.

India knows it must pull out all the stops to win the narrative war. The truth is, reality has not been kind to India at all!

Premier League champions Liverpool twice let a lead slip as Brighton & Hove Albion fought back in style to gain a 3-2 victory yesterday. 

The former took a ninth-minute lead through Harvey Elilott following good work from Conor Bradley, before their opponents equalised with a low strike in the thirty-second minute. 

Dominik Szoboszlai restored the Reds' lead on the stroke of half time when he, from a crossing position, unexpectedly fired the ball past the home goalkeeper and into the net. Again, the Seagulls equalized in the sixty-ninth minute. And then, their substitute fired home the winner sixteen minutes later.  

For Liverpool, there's one more game to go before the season ends. Against Crystal Palace on May 25.