Unprepared for Iranian drones, U.S. and partners seek Ukraine’s help Swarms of low-cost drones used by the Russians in Ukraine have been breaching U.S. air defense systems and striking targets across the Middle East.

wapo.st/4suYG90 gift link

Hungary Seizes Ukrainian Bank Staff, $80 Million in Cash and Gold The move follows a dispute over oil deliveries and prompted Kyiv to accuse Hungary of hostage-taking.

"The confiscation of the cash and gold and brief detention of the employees is the most severe step Orbán has taken yet in his dispute with Ukraine."

www.wsj.com/world/europe...

Exclusive | Kuwait Cuts Oil Production as Storage Fills Up The cuts signal a broader storage crisis that poses new risks to the global market.

Kuwait stops production due to storage crisis; "Shutting in an oil well risks long-term damage to reservoir pressure and incurs high restart costs, usually making it a measure of last resort. Restarting production can take days or even weeks depending on the reservoir."

www.wsj.com/business/ene...

Drone threat ‘will far exceed’ that of GWOT’s roadside bombs “We're making sure that we get them everything they require to protect themselves,” Brig. Gen. Matt Ross said of troops in CENTCOM.

Drone threat ‘will far exceed’ that of GWOT’s roadside bombs | “We're making sure that we get them everything they require to protect themselves,” Brig. Gen. Matt Ross said of troops in CENTCOM. Failure to appreciate the economics of drone warfare is a huge issue for Hegseth's Pentagon.

Bloomberg's graphics showing how the money flowed on the Noem/Lewandowski $220 campaign ad program at taxpayer expense

No sea level rise in the Midwest!

The ridiculous, buffoonish misbehavior of Trump ambassadors across Europe, notably in Iceland, France, Belgium, Denmark and Poland, gets no mention in US media. Max Boot is trying to cure this failing. bsky.app/profile/maxb...

Nigeria’s development priorities—nutrition, food security, and human development—are vital. I saw the challenges up close while working there with USAID during the Boko Haram crisis.

Bolivia’s move to modernize its social protection system with IDB support is encouraging. Better digital registries and targeting can help ensure assistance reaches vulnerable households while supporting economic reform.

U.S. Lost 92,000 Jobs in February The U.S. lost 92,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department said Friday, missing expectations.

In 2025 the U.S. added the fewest jobs outside of a recession since 2003. Economists are hopeful that job growth will be better this year, though the Iran war, and the gasoline-price increases it has brought on, add a new wrinkle...

wrinkle?

gift link:

www.wsj.com/economy/jobs...

Nature Report, Killed by Trump, Is Released Independently

Scientists and other experts were preparing an assessment of the health of nature in the US when Trump returned to the White House. He canceled the report. The researchers went ahead and compiled it on their own. This week, they released a 868-p draft for public comment and scientific review.

Michael de Adder, The Contrarian

Exclusive: US investigation points to likely US responsibility in Iran school strike, sources say Military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school that killed scores of children on Saturday, two U.S. officials told Reu...

"US military investigators believe it is likely that US forces were responsible for an apparent strike on an Iranian girls' school. The strike would rank among the worst cases of civilian casualties in decades of US conflicts in the ​Middle East." www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Industry doubts Trump plan to insure Gulf oil tankers as Iran war halts transit US lacks firepower to provide $350bn in coverage needed to revive Strait of Hormuz transits, JPMorgan says

Energy and insurance specialists have cast doubt on Donald Trump’s plans to insure tankers in the Gulf, complicating the US president’s efforts to curb the oil price surge triggered by his war in Iran.

Brilliant planning and flawless execution are the hallmarks of the Trump regime.

An Assertive Supreme Court Turns to Curbing State Courts

Opus Dei run SCOTUS turns to judicial authoritarianian to silence state courts and put them in their place. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/05/u...

Exclusive | U.A.E. Explores Freezing Iranian Assets to Punish Tehran for Attacks Any crackdown on Iran’s shadow financing networks in the Gulf state would strangle Tehran’s access to foreign currency and global trade.

a prime target would be accounts affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps...they are also considering direct maritime action, such as seizing Iranian ships, which could cripple Iran’s shadow fleet of oil tankers and intermediaries..

gift link:

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

A senior official notes that the relationship between the two leaders has put the administration in a position to anticipate as many as four leader-level meetings this year.

The recent U.S.-Israeli strikes in Iran have introduced a volatile wild card...

Exclusive | U.S. Has a Big Ask for China: Buy Less Oil from Russia, More From America Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent weighs pushing the tricky trade-off along with other economic goals prior to the Trump-Xi summit.

President Trump is gong to Beijing soon:

www.wsj.com/world/china/...

wow...such a moral leader...

Statement by Prime Minister Carney on the evolving situation in the Middle East Despite more than two decades of negotiations and diplomatic efforts, Iran has not dismantled its nuclear program, nor halted its enrichment activities. Canada has long supported the imperative of neu...

PM Mark Carney: "The United States and Israel acted without engaging the United Nations or consulting allies — including Canada.” He explains why US allies do not consider Trump to be a reliable or desirable ally. www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/stat...

DINO

megalomaniacs are bad for our country

Hegseth says U.S. can "sustain the fight for as long as it takes" as Iran offensive continues Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth gave a press briefing with Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command.

Note how at this extended press conference at which Hegseth displayed a map of Iran on which Minab was marked with an icon, not a single reporter asked about the US bombing of a girls' school in Minab that killed roughly 180, mostly school girls. Shameful. www.cbsnews.com/news/pete-he...

The US lethal attack on a girls school in Minab, that killed about 180 mostly young girls, will forever been connected by the world with Pete Hegseth's pronouncement that "we won't be following any stupid rules of engagement." It's a war crime plain and simple.

Trump’s War on Iran Could Screw Over US Farmers The Middle East supplies a huge amount of the world’s fertilizer. Conflict in the region has sent prices soaring ahead of the critical spring planting season.

The conflict in the Middle East is choking global supplies of fertilizer right before the crucial spring planting season. 3/4 US fertilizer demand goes major crops grown in the Midwest incl. corn, soy. Farmers will find it hard to pivot if supply chain is choked off.

www.wired.com/story/trumps...

QatarLNG, a subsidiary of Qatar Energy, a state-run oil and gas company, said on Monday that it would halt production following drone strikes on some of its facilities. That shutdown puts supplies of urea, a popular type of nitrogen fertilizer, particularly at risk.

Saint Óscar the Romero y Galdámez (15 August 1917 – 24 March 1980)[1] was a bishop of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He became the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador when he took over Luis Chávez. He was assassinated on 25 March 1980.

Wikipedia: Saint Óscar Romero y Galdámez (15 August 1917 – 24 March 1980)[1] was a bishop of the Catholic Church in El Salvador. He became the fourth Archbishop of San Salvador in 1977. He was assassinated while saying mass on 25 March 1980.

En Cuaresma recuerdo estas palabras:
“Cuando doy comida a los pobres me llaman santo. Cuando pregunto por qué son pobres me llaman comunista.” — Dom Hélder Câmara