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It might not all make sense that the Pakistan/China mediated ceasefire conditions (including US and Israeli condition of no nuclear weapons development and ballistic missile development) are really not known even in the media today, only known to the Iranian government and the US government. In these conditions Iran's government gets to show that it had achieved its goals, even with enormous reconstruction costs of the damage done during the war. DJT had pointed to a sort of regime change in Iran after most of the earlier leadership has been removed, and new leaders in place who are keen on setting up conditions for their own administration replacing the old one.  Over the period 2027-2030 the prospect is real that China, India and Japan may shift their oil supplies sources to other regions, increase conservation per unit of GDP, and increase supplies of renewable energy, steps already taken by Germany over the last decade. Most media looks only what happens today and in 2026. This may be the last of the Middle East Wars before Europe and the US, and India, China, Japan shift away from the Middle East to get supplies of fossil fuels, and it may bring new renewables technologies that reduce the dependence on fossil fuels to the point of making a true transition to renewable energy. It may also be the last of the Middle East Wars in the sense that people of European nations and the US insist on no involvement in MIddle East as a sort of quagmire for squandering American, European and Asian vital resources of people and capital, ample example being given over the last 40 years. Considering the costs of the war and the moral cost of destroying infrastructure such as power plants that hurt the local population more than the regime in power, China, Japan, the US, and EU, India may find it is easier to race each other in coming up with alternative supplies and shifting to renewable energy faster than planned, making Middle Eastern oil supplies  and volatility in prices redundant, which would be a good thing after the hugely negative and costly experience of the last 50 years of dependence.     ...

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The largest US military community of outside the US is Kaiserslautern 73 miles from Frankfurt in Germany. Kaiserslautern is 10 miles from the Ramstein Base which is where the US European Command is located. US president is considering reducing the US military presence in Germany, as it shifts responsibilities for European defence to Europe. Failure of the EU , Germany, Britain, Italy and France to support the US in its Iran effort to get nuclear materials transferred outside to Russia or some other country is leading to a rift in trans-atlantic relations. 

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Consolidation of Russian gas exports to Asia and securing those deposits for which rights were granted to BP back in the name of Gazprom. this would enable Russia to better control the pricing of gas exports to Asia just as it does for Europe and see gains that would benefit Gazprom and the Russian economy. Salmon streams and contract details on supply to the regions surrounding the fields are only part of a larger picture.

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Japan has 254 days of oil reserves says PM Takaichi Sanae with daily consumption of 3.1 million b/d. China has 100 days. India has 74 days of oil in government and privately held reserves with daily use at 5.6 million b/d.  In addition 100 million barrels of oil have accumulated on tankers parked on the oceans because of sanctioned oil waiting to be delivered.

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Yale endowment grows by $4.5 billion to $44.1 billion at 11% return in 2025. For 1000 students  offered no cost tution for undergrads this was about a $72 million cost in 2025 when tution is set at Yale at $72,000 a year for undergrads. Of 6800 undergrad students about 15% of students offered no cost tution at the cutoff income level of $75,000. This year the cutoff is set at $200,000. Even if this adds 1000 more students this will in 2026 cost Yale a mere $72 million, a tiny fraction of  1.6% of the total endowment gain of $4.5 billion in 2025. What this shows is that these top tier schools are still wanting to look good but are not really changing a highly flawed system. It is only in 2026 that a new law the Big Beautiful Bill of DJT increased tax on university endowments from 1.4% to 8%. Better that government can address the flawed education system with tax money than let the universities in the higher tiers make education less and less affordable, destroying a pillar of the democratic system of government by giving education to only a privileged few. ...

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Binance's Zhao,  Zach Witkoff, Eric and Don Trump Jr.,  Luttnick and World Liberty crypto finance dealings are covered in this WSJ Report Feb 8, 2026 by Angus Berwick and Eliot Brown. It shows how the startup culture in finance can have unintended consequences, with new deals on an untested product crypto finance using star quality of the new DJT administration that benefit dealmakers.UAE and other financial firms invested in these products of companies built around crypto finance to gain access to the White House from the latter half of 2025 to early 2025.  

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German digital decline-only 20% of Dusseldorf administrative public services are online, Berlin much less than Dusseldorf, other cities in Germany lag behind. Denmark is way ahead of Germany with all public and administrative services shown on one site for every citizen of Denmark. In Germany there is institutional inflation in that each city does digital development separate from others, and there is no national system. It may have come from Germany's disinclination to centralize things in the political system after the Nazi period of the 1930's destroyed liberties, which extends into the social sphere. In any case fax machines are common in Germany, and are needed to correspond with public services of city and state. Germany's IT industry association Bitkom tells DW in this report that 77% of German companies still use fax machines, and 25% use fax machines frequently.

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US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer says this is not chaos in tariff policy because you don't change 70 years of policy overnight. He says China's is highest because it has the highest trade deficit, then EU, Japan, South Korea at 15% because of the smaller deficits with these nations, Vietnam because it is used  by China to send products to the US, India because of geopolitical reasons buying Russian oil. See Dasha Burns, Politico White House Bureau Chief's  interview with USTR Jamieson Greer.  He says about India- Jamieson USTR calls India "an outlier" and says "I'm confident we will get a deal with India in the near future." India he says has largely corrected its imports of Russian oil and negotiations are underway for a deal.  ON USMCA Greer says of the $31 trillion in trade with Canada and Mexico $29 trillion is us right. trade between Canda and Mexico is small. So he says it makes sense to negotiate separately with Canada and separately with Mexico. This suggests that there doesnt need to be a USMCA- separate deals are just fine says Greer. Mexico has gained much in automobiles under USMCA- US wants to make more in the US including auto parts which it can do by negotiating this with Mexico. It does not make a ton of economic sense to marry the three economies together, says Greer, as the import export profiles, lab,or situations are all different. Are Tariffs good for the economy and do they lead to higher prices? Greer says inflation was down in the first DJT term in trade with China and tariffs. Greer says there is never a 1 to 1 with tariffs. It tariffs become a kind of leveage in getting agreements. That is the style of these tariffs. You tell Ecuador or Brazil we don't make these here so there will be no tariffs on bananas and on coffee. Says Greer- we have seen inflation in check, imported goods relatively low priced. We have seen that we can have growth and higher wages with tariffs at the same time. The growth in 2025 third quarter at 3.8% annual growth, and Atlanta Fed predicting 4.2% growth in 2026. And tariff money can be used for paying down the debt and financing America's reindustrialization, Greer says members of Congress are asking about this.When a new administration comes tariffs will still be part of the playbook. ...

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German chancellor Merz says the old order is unraveling. He says -

"We have entered an era of great power politics," Merz said. "The new world of the great powers is founded upon power, strength and when necessary, force. It is not a cozy place."    

The German chancellor says Russia's invasion on Ukraine is the beginning of a "new era, but change runs much deeper."

"China, with strategic foresight, has worked its way into the ranks of the great powers," Merz says. He said Washington is reacting to these challenges from these other "great powers" by radically reshaping its foreign and security policy."

"Europe [and its] like-minded partners must stand closer together. European countries must do more to make their economies competitive and to invest massively in our ability to defend ourselves."

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Shortages of Patriot defense systems interceptors made by Lockheed sytems by Raytheon. This leads to a shift in strategy to destroying the  "missile cities" facilities where missiles are stored in Iran.  And German aerospace maker MBDA to collaborate with the Americans to make these systems in Bavaria.

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Steven Press of the Stanford History Department says "buying Greenland is not a new idea."  Actually Denmark sold hubs in India to the British Empire, offered Greenland for sale to US in 1900's,  and US president Harry Truman offered $100 million in 1946 for Greenland because of it's strategic value in the Cold War. Then why are the EU countries sounding indignation. Denmark was a colonial power in India in the 19th century. Denmark was explored in its widest extent by Robert Peary in the 1880's who proved it was an island by reaching it's northernmost side. Peary advocated for Greenland to be part of the US and the Commanders in Chief all agreed in 1946 the island "was completely worthless to Denmark," yet was vital to the United States, to protect its eastern seaboard. DJT is hardly the first to say this even though the Europeans want to excoriate hime for doing so. In fact it was Secretary of State William Seward in 1867 who looked at acquiring Greenland, when he negotiated the purchase of Alaska from the Russian Empire. Alaska is a lot ,a lot better for natives compared to it being under Russia, and this would be true for Greenland than being under Denmark. Denmark's claim was not even accepted till 1921 with Norway disputing it.  Denmark had not explored the northern part of the country when Robert Peary reached it for the US Navy and claimed it for the US inthe 1880's. It can be said that for these reasons Denmark has little reason to be in Greenland except as a colonial power. Its claims are from 1814 Treaty of Kiel with Prussia. Denmark can hardly protect Greenland's vast shoreline with 6 dogsleds, and security less than the New York Police Department, from Russian and Chinese submarines and ships in the Arctic. The native Inuit population of Greenland has little in common with Denmark as a colonial power. About 60,000 Inuit origin native residents, in the whole island, most of them would fit into one or several American bases, Okinawa alone has 80,000 people. Who would have per capita incomes many times what they are today with better living conditions and standards of health and education, security and air transport under the US.    ...

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Khamanei as leader of post revolution Iran set up Iranian supported military organizations in neighboring countries such as in Lebanon (Hezbollah), in Iraq, and in Syria, in Yemen (Houthis), over two decades, but failed to make the gains that Asian nations in that period made by investing entirely every dollar in the homeland economy of Iran. By comparing with Asian nations such as South Korea/Japan/Taiwan/China and now India/Vietnam the entire region from Iran and Afghanistan, Pakistan, Persian Gulf, Egypt can be seen as having lost some vital decades of the early twenty first century, and the scale of the difference is nothing short of staggering.  China after suffering invasion from Britain and then Japan, after civil wars and the Korean War, after going through this for two centuries sought peaceful development in 1990-2025, working with Japan and Britain countries that caused so much suffering yet China sough rapprochement, patiently with humility, with incredible results.  Gandhi also sought rapprochement with Britain through the British Commonwealth and cherished institutions of parliament and science learned and gathered from Britain. This was woefully missing in West Asia. When considering the access to capital in fossil fuel sales, the region of West Asia around Egypt may be seen as having recorded the largest wasted capital in wars in world history in the period 1920 -2047 (with only 20 years left to 2047),  by which time India, China, Europe and the US will have shifted from fossil to solar nuclear and renewables and fossil will be no longer generating revenue flows. Very little time is left as development will be that much harder by 2047 without the capital and result being one of being left behind in this new world that is facing us all.  ...

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New US Homeland Security head, Markwayne Mullin in 2026, is from Cherokee Nation the only Native American in the Senate. The president call him "the Highly Respected." He replaces a controversial term of Kristi Noem, a South Dakota governor,  who failed to get support even among Republicans in Congress after the handling of the situation in Minnesota.