Iran (1953), Iraq (2003), Libya (2011), Russia (2022), Syria (2024), and now Venezuela (2026). The common denominator underlying the U.S. attacks and economic sanctions against all these countries is America’s weaponization of the world’s oil trade. Control over oil is one of its key methods for achieving unipolar control over the world’s broad trade and dollarized financial arrangements.
Trump’s proposed “Board of Peace” is framed as a peace initiative, but it centralises authority, sidelines the vulnerable and rewards coercion. Australia should reject it rather than lend it legitimacy.
Trump’s 'Peace Board' is imperialism in a new suit
Australia does not suffer from a lack of empathy. It suffers from selective empathy. And nowhere is that clearer than in the way our political and media class decide who is allowed to mourn. Andrew Brown with the story.
“NATO has kept the peace for nearly eight decades and created the conditions for prosperity and democracy to flourish.” U.S. State Department
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky is facing severe backlash from key international partners after a combative speech at Davos, where he went on a tirade accusing Europe of “indecisiveness” toward Russia and insufficient support for his country.
In the German writer Ernst Junger’s macabre vignette ‘Violet Endives’, a man walks into a gourmet shop where the salesman speaks in matter-of-fact fashion about the delicacies on display – human flesh – and embarks upon a long explanation about the art of preparation. The story is a commentary on a society that accepts the appalling with barely the blink of an eye.
The latest split in Australia’s conservative Coalition is yet another signal the old, established rules no longer apply.
No longer in Australia, just as they no longer apply in an ever more fractious and chaotic world.
International Reading: EU Freezes U.S. Trade Deal After Trump’s Unhinged Davos Speech – New Republic Majority of CEOs Alarmed as AI Delivers No Financial Returns – Futurism The U.S. debt now equals $229,000 per household—and a hefty tax hike looms as the most probable outcome – Fortune ‘This is sell America’ — U.S. dollar, Treasury
The grim truth is that almost the entire political class aligns with the ultra-rich against the rest.
By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 16th January 2026
There is one political problem from which all others follow. It is the major cause of Donald Trump, of Nigel Farage, of the shocking weakness of their opponents, of the polarisation tearing societies apart, of the devastation of the living world. It is simply stated: the extreme wealth of a small number of people.
The Australian government’s legislation seeking to ban access to social media for people under 16 has received plenty of attention in International media, mostly leading with the government’s that 4.7 million accounts were banned or deactivated when the legislation came into effect. Rather less attention has been paid to discussion of the outcome within Australia, where the consensus is that there has been very little effect for most.
Asian share markets pivoted around inflation prints and other macro news as the chaos from Davos dies down although the TACO trade remains in play. The USD remains under pressure against almost all major undollars particularly antipodean with the Australian dollar pushing through resistance to head above the 68 cent level while bond market stress
The post Macro Afternoon appeared first on MacroBusiness.
The latest data from Stats NZ reveals that immigration into New Zealand remains historically low, with only 10,691 net migrants landing in the year to November 2025: This level of net overseas migration is well below the decade average of 49,000 and is a fraction of the circa 130,000 peak migration recorded in 2023. Arrivals
That gold has not come off post-Greenland tells us it is now in the blowoff phase. If gold has become attached to the mind of the American madman, then this is going to be epic. RSI at 95 is mad. Vol is entering blowoff. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Can’t buy this, alas, even if the
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Claims and promises of carbon offset schemes are falling deep into the category of being ‘too good to be true’.
The post Buyer Beware: Carbon credit platforms repeating ills of the past appeared first on Renew Economy.