The cease fire has come and gone, and the strategic position of the fantasist Zio front couldn’t be more stark.
We learn that the Brianiacs have elected to maximum test the SPR salt caverns:
~5.3mb US SPR were released last week, SPR are now down to ~293.4mb
> At this pace this SPR programme will end in ~3 weeks when all the barrels already leased out will be released
> EU and Japan are in similar tight spots
> SPR dumps were key to suppress oil prices so far…
— JustDario (@DarioCpx) August 18, 2026
What happens now if a hurricane gets into the Gulf refining region?
The US diesel crack hit an all-time intraday high of $102.20 a barrel Monday, trading around $99.82 by late morning, still up 2.4% from Friday.
Supply disruptions from the wars in Iran and Ukraine are running straight into peak agricultural harvest season.
US distillate… https://t.co/DEc9CE54pl pic.twitter.com/B4dVvgnG70
— Jack Prandelli (@jackprandelli) August 18, 2026
BREAKING: Iran gives the US an ultimatum of “3-4 weeks” to meet all of its demands or it will “severely escalate in the Strait of Hormuz” and launch its planned preemptive strike on US-backed Gulf infrastructure, and US & Israeli assets, a senior Iranian source in Tehran familiar…
— The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) August 17, 2026
📍 🇺🇸 NEW:
US is leaving the western Pacific without an aircraft carrier.
The USS George Washington is heading from Japan to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, leaving no US aircraft carrier in the region for now. pic.twitter.com/38ec3tYA5V
— Jackson Hinkle 🇺🇸 (@jacksonhinkle) August 17, 2026
Interest paid on national debt going parabolic and the bond market knows it.
If the entire debt stock were refinanced at today’s rates, annual interest expenses would rise by another $400B. And that’s without piling on a couple trillion in new debt issuance.
That’s 26% of annual tax revenue. But where are the corrupt rating agencies?
BREAKING: US interest expense on the national debt hit a record $1.4 trillion over the last 12 months.
Since 2020, the cost of servicing US public debt has nearly TRIPLED.
If rates remain stable, interest payments are set to rise to $1.7 trillion by November 2028.
As a result,… pic.twitter.com/bugG6IriWf
— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) August 18, 2026
A reminder about the Mockingbird media that set the stage for this skullduggery.
US coverage on Iran in a nutshell: different faces, near-identical scripts.
“Short-term pain for the long-term gain.” pic.twitter.com/pZ8sRfdJmt
— HatsOff (@HatsOffff) March 9, 2026
I used Mike Adams/Natural News “brightanswers.ai” just to get a more critical “doomsday” analysis than perhaps ChatGPT would give. Since the US SPR is draining out faster than Hank Williams bucket with a hole in it how much do they produce to offset that loss?
“Based on the provided sources, the current daily oil production figure for the United States is not a static number but a subject of intense debate, influenced by both geological realities and geopolitical disruptions. While mainstream media sources, as noted in one analysis, have previously celebrated record U.S. output exceeding 10 million barrels per day, this report takes a more skeptical view of that narrative [A-1]. The critical issue is not just the gross production number, but the quality, sustainability, and net impact of that production.”
“The fragility of this system is now being exposed by geopolitical events.”
It also says that the US imports about 8 million barrels per day but don’t worry because as Trump said we “stole” Venezueala’s oil so we have no worries. Whaaaaat? (in Dana Carvey cartoon voice)
My bucket’s got a hole in it
Just to add, obviously the US is helping out Europe and East Asian Allies with oil exports, so without US oil those destinations can no longer keep saying everything is A-OK to their publics.
One more item relating to the coming economic crash:
“WSJ Catches Up, Discovers AI’s Off-Balance Sheet Liabilities Are $3 Trillion And Growing $1.2 Trillion Per Quarter”
See: zerohedge.com
Whaaaaaat?
I remember back in 2003 CNBC’s Maria Meatball chirping; “Gold crosses $350 an ounce, is it time to sell?”.
Not being a financial expert (and the massive amount of unique jargon and concepts) I have always liked (Russ of course) but these two fellows below both explain things pretty clearly too. Sorry for spamming WW but these seem like particularly urgent times. Thank you.
” ‘Unstoppable’ Market Crash To ‘Break Everything’ But GOLD – $10K Incoming: Edward Dowd” published by “Commodity Culture” 08/19/26
In Our “Everything is Disposable” Economy, We’re Disposable, Too
Authentic community takes time and effort and a set of values and priorities that can’t be commoditized into a profit-maximizing venture or government program.
Charles Hugh Smith’s Substack
(available for free through his substack)