Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has criticized the West’s double standards on global issues, including Kashmir, claiming that an “invasion” had been recharacterized as a dispute.
Speaking on March 18 at the Raisina Dialogue, an international forum hosted by the Observer Research Foundation and the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, Jaishankar said that when Western countries intervene in other nations, “it’s in pursuance of democratic freedoms,” while interventions in the West’s sphere “seem to have very malign intentions.”
“After the Second World War, the longest-standing illegal presence—what I would call the occupation of territory by another country—pertains to India, specifically what we saw in Kashmir,” Jaishankar said. “We went to the UN, where what was an invasion was turned into a dispute.
The attacker and the victim were put on par. Who were the culpable parties? The UK, Canada, Belgium, Australia, and the USA. So, pardon me, I have some question marks on that one.”
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The minister was referring to a long-standing confrontation between India and Pakistan over the Kashmir region, which is claimed by both nations and has remained a point of contention between the two nuclear-armed neighbors since they achieved independence from British rule in 1947.
New Delhi has long accused its neighbor of supporting and financing terrorism, both within its borders and in India. Islamabad, for its part, has accused India of committing human rights violations in Kashmir.
On March 18, India criticized Pakistan’s comments on Jammu and Kashmir, following Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent remarks on the subject in a podcast with Lex Fridman.
Modi said that every attempt to foster peace with Pakistan had been met with “hostility and betrayal” and expressed hope that wisdom would prevail in Islamabad to improve bilateral ties. Pakistan’s Foreign Office labeled Modi’s assertions as “misleading and one-sided.”
Jaishankar also pointed out the international community’s inconsistent stance on the Taliban. Once shunned as an outlier, the Taliban were later embraced in diplomatic talks in Doha and Oslo, only to be criticized again later for their actions. Jaishankar questioned the basis for this shift, suggesting that the West’s perception of the Taliban is driven by self-interest.
The minister described it as essential for institutions such as the UN to audit the record of international affairs over the last eight decades and to recognize that global balances have shifted.
“If we need to have an order, there must be fairness,” Jaishankar said, calling for “a strong UN” which would also be “a fair UN.” He argued that a “strong” global order must have some “basic consistency of standards.”
States in the South and Midwest are recovering from a powerful storm system that struck between March 14 and March 17, killing at least 42 people.
The storm system threatened more than 50 million people. It brought hurricane-force winds, tornadoes, heavy rain and hail. In some states, it also brought dust storms and wildfires. Many died from tornado outbreaks and low-visibility dust storms, which caused vehicle crashes. The deaths occurred in seven states, with Missouri and Kansas having the highest death tolls.
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, Eternal Leader of the Nation of Islam, warned America of four great judgments: Rain, hail, snow and earthquakes. His National Representative, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, has continued to warn the country and the world of Allah’s (God’s) Divine Chastisement.
In Part 10 of his 2013 lecture series, “The Time and What Must be Done,” Minister Farrakhan lifted biblical scripture on “men’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the Earth.”
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Residents look for personal belongings in the damage after a tornado passed through, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Plantersville, Ala. AP Photo/Butch Dill
“What are you afraid of, America? Look up above your head. Look at the storms! Look at the tornadoes! Look at the hurricanes! Look at the water! Look at the fire! Look at the wind! Look at (the) freezing cold!” Minister Farrakhan said. “God is after us. Men’s hearts are failing them with fear for what they see coming upon the Earth.”
The governors of Georgia, Oklahoma and Arkansas declared states of emergency.
Images depicted downed trees and powerlines, damaged homes, businesses and vehicles, debris in churches and properties ablaze.
Severe thunderstorms in Alabama and Mississippi were considered high risk. “This is the first high-risk issued for severe thunderstorms since last May and only the fifth in the past five years,” CNN reported.
The National Weather Service recorded two EF-4 tornadoes in Arkansas on the same day, a rarity that has not happened in over 25 years. At least seven EF-3 tornadoes were recorded.
The National Weather Service ranks tornadoes from wind estimates based on damage. With three-second wind gusts of over 200mph, EF-5 tornadoes are the most intense, followed by EF-4, EF-3, EF-2, EF-1 and EF-0.
Tornado watches and wind advisories were issued in parts of Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Washington. Almost 300 tornado warnings were issued across the South and Midwest.
News outlets recorded over 1,000 storm reports, including more than 100 tornado reports, at least 50 tornadoes and hundreds of high windstorm reports, with wind gusts of 60-80 mph.
Tupelo, Mississippi, and Bowling Green, Kentucky, saw record-breaking rainfall. Hailstorms also occurred in several states.
The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad wrote on the destructive powers of wind, rain and hail in his book, “The Fall of America,” in a chapter titled, “Four Great Judgments of America.”
“Wind with rain can bring destruction to towns and cities, bringing various germs, causing sickness to the people. It produces unclean water by the swelling of streams and destroying reservoirs of pure drinking water used for the health of the people. Rain is a destructive army within itself,” he wrote. “Hail stones are also a property and life destroyer.”
In Oklahoma, the storm sparked more than 130 wildfires that burned around 170,000 acres, destroyed nearly 400 structures and left 14,000 customers without power, according to CNN.
By that Saturday evening, March 15, 236,000 customers were without power, according to numbers CNN pulled from PowerOutage.us. This included over 92,700 in Missouri, over 70,200 in Michigan, over 27,000 in Texas, at least 25,400 in Mississippi and over 20,700 in Illinois.
The next night, over 53,000 customers were without power in Alabama, 50,000 in North Carolina, under 50,000 in Georgia and more than 9,000 in Virginia. By the evening of March 17, as the storm system made its way out, PowerOutage.us recorded over 14,000 power outages in Missouri, over 29,000 in Pennsylvania, thousands in New York and hundreds in Connecticut.
Several states saw flight cancellations and delays, including Florida, Washington, New York and Pennsylvania.
At presstime, another storm system followed, bringing more severe thunderstorms, high winds, dust storms, fires and blizzards.
By March 17, fires threatened parts of the Plains and the Rockies, affecting more than 40 million people. Red flag warnings were issued in parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kansas, New Mexico and Florida, according to the National Weather Service. On March 18, extremely critical fire weather conditions visited New Mexico, Texas and the Texas Panhandle.
Meanwhile, millions of people in the Rockies and Midwest were under winter storm watches and blizzard warnings on March 17 and 18, with threats of heavy snow and strong wind gusts from the second storm system.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad described snow as a dreaded plague that buries property and lives and destroys highways and cities.
“The cave-in of roofs of homes, the cutting off of homes, the cutting off of transportation, isolating areas, brings about starvation,” he wrote in “The Fall of America.”
From March 19 to March 20, severe thunderstorms traveled through the Midwest to the Southeast, into parts of Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.
Richard Otto, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center, said there was likely to be a break from the extreme and tempestuous weather for “at least a few to several days”
But the overall pattern suggests that more storms will move across the country before the end of March, according to The New York Times. “This is probably not the last time we’ll talk about severe thunderstorms in the next several weeks,” he said.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad referenced how God used snow, rain, wind, hail and earthquakes against wicked people in scripture.
“Is America any better than the people we read about in the history that God destroyed? No, she is not as good. These people were not as wicked as the American people,” he writes in “The Fall of America.”
The “diplomats” of the Zionist regime have far more on their agenda than mere “diplomacy.” Their roles are multifaceted, with intelligence-gathering at the core of their operations.
One such figure is a curly-haired woman widely recognized as a seasoned “diplomat,” yet beneath the surface, she has covertly operated as a spy under the guise of diplomacy.
This Israeli “envoy” has held diplomatic assignments in various countries across the world and carried out spying activities on behalf of her employers under the garb of diplomacy.
Shani Cooper has served as the Israeli regime's ambassador to Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone since August 15, 2018. She also briefly held the position of chargé d'affaires in Turkey and worked as the spokesperson for the regime’s embassy in Egypt.
Prior to her “diplomatic” assignments, Cooper held various positions within the Zionist entity, including teaching at Tel Aviv University and the Open University. She was also the chief editor of the news department at the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Reports link Cooper to a Zionist group known as the “Moses Soldiers,” which has been engaged in spreading fear, orchestrating kidnappings, and carrying out assassinations of anti-Zionist figures worldwide.
This group was also involved in suppressing the 2023 Tel Aviv protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has been implicated in silencing international voices critical of the apartheid regime and its genocidal war against Palestinians.
Investigations suggest Cooper played a direct role in identifying anti-Zionist elements in various countries during her “diplomatic” missions, especially in Africa. Her role with the “Moses Soldiers” has raised serious concerns about the intersection of military training, intelligence operations, and diplomatic engagements that lie at the heart of the Zionist regime.
Assisting the notorious group, the Israeli spy masquerading as a diplomat has been deeply involved in covert operations in countries such as Egypt, Ghana, and Turkey.
Reports indicate that “Moses' Soldiers” employ advanced technology for criminal activities.
With the group's connections in the Turkish and Ghanaian embassies, Israel has been supplying surveillance tools—such as the Pegasus spyware and its Circles software—to various African governments, enabling them to suppress dissent, target journalists, and crack down on political opponents and human rights activists.
In recent years, the Zionist entity has been found bribing African rulers with spying technology in an attempt to secure favorable votes at the United Nations and African Union. As part of its so-called diplomatic efforts, Israel has also been exporting weapons to certain African regimes.
Groups like “Moses' Soldiers” have also played a role in election campaigns across multiple African countries, undermining some of the continent’s most stable democracies.
In 2020, Ghana’s Herald newspaper exposed the involvement of Israeli intelligence figures attempting to influence the outcome of the country’s national election.
Similar reports surfaced regarding Israeli intelligence operatives ahead of Malawi’s 2020 presidential elections. Reports also suggested that the population registration and election systems of Zimbabwe and Zambia were manipulated by a Mossad-linked Israeli company.
Eddie Cross, a former member of parliament for Zimbabwe’s Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), confirmed that Nikuv International, a Zimbabwe-based company overseeing elections in the country, had strong ties to Mossad.
Cooper’s extensive background, including training military personnel and “fostering international relationships,” provided a foundation for the Zionist regime to carry out its manipulative activities across the African continent, according to available evidence.
During her “diplomatic” tenure, Cooper was involved with Ghana’s Special Forces. In 2018, as a first step, she trained approximately 25 commanders of the Ghana Special Forces units in a so-called “anti-terrorism” program conducted by the Israeli occupation forces.
Under the guise of aiding agriculture, health, education, youth development, technology, and start-ups as an envoy in Ghana, Cooper was, in reality, fulfilling intelligence-related tasks for the Israeli regime in the African country.
She also conducted online programs on “national security” and “digitalization,” all aimed at gathering intelligence to further Israel’s strategic objectives in Africa.
Investigations reveal that Mossad exploits many African nations as launchpads for terrorist activities in other regions. The establishment of Israeli military bases in countries like Rwanda and Botswana, along with the movement of Mossad intelligence officers and their assets to Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and Ghana, further supports this claim.
The Pan-African Palestine Solidarity Network (PAPSN) has been vocal about the infiltration of Israeli spy agencies into Africa, particularly through the supply of military and surveillance technology to several repressive regimes.
Experts argue that the Tel Aviv regime has actively undermined democracy and human rights in several African countries to advance its own nefarious settler-colonial agendas.
Through Cooper’s intelligence-gathering efforts under the guise of “diplomatic efforts,” the Zionist regime secured observer status in the African Union in 2021.
The extensive push to convince Sudan and Morocco to normalize ties with Israel further highlights Africa’s strategic significance in the regime’s foreign policy.
In Morocco, pro-Palestinian civil groups and other left-leaning activists vehemently opposed the normalization of ties with the Zionist entity.
Following the agreement, Morocco purchased 150 Israeli drones, and the regime pledged to provide surveillance satellites to the country. Additionally, Israel’s Pegasus spyware technology has been deployed by the Moroccan government, prompting human rights organizations to raise concerns about its use against Western Sahara activists.
Shani Cooper, an Israeli spy who held diplomatic assignments in various countries across the world and carried out spying activities under the garb of diplomacy. (Archives)
In Sudan, the deal with Israel was conducted in a “clandestine manner,” with Sudanese generals lacking “the courage to rationalize their plan by communicating it with the public,” as stated by a Sudanese political analyst in September 2023.
Cooper’s activities also focused on enhancing the military capabilities of various African nations. However, experts question the true motives behind these actions.
Zwelivelile Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela and a parliament member in South Africa, has warned about Israel’s expanding influence in Africa.
"Desperately seeking allies as an increasing number of highly respected human rights organizations label it an apartheid state, Israel is using surveillance, military, and agricultural technology as currency to buy legitimacy in Africa. In the process, Israel has wormed its way into African structures both overtly and covertly," Mandela said in April 2022.
Cooper’s diplomatic career from 2003 to 2021, particularly her tenure as the Israeli regime’s envoy in Ghana, does not align with the conventional role of an “ambassador.”
All available evidence suggests that she has been operating as an Israeli intelligence officer, carrying out covert spying assignments under the diplomatic cloak.
Since her return from Ghana to the occupied Palestinian territories in 2021, much of Cooper’s activities have remained largely hidden from public scrutiny.
Experts believe that her involvement with the “Moses Soldiers” and the broader implications of her “diplomatic strategies” warrant thorough investigation by global organizations.
They argue that Cooper’s case serves as a stark reminder of Israel’s intricate entanglement of military and diplomatic maneuvers, with far-reaching consequences for global security and peace.
Sudan's military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, center, is greeted by soldiers as he arrives at the Republican Palace, recently recaptured from the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, in Khartoum, Sudan, March 26, 2025. (Albi Arhó)
The Sudanese army has claimed to have pushed Rapid Support Forces (RSF) fighters out of the capital Khartoum after nearly two years of fighting over the city, Al Jazeera has reported.
“Our forces today have … forcibly cleansed the last pockets of the remnants of the Daglo terrorist militia in Khartoum locality,” military spokesman Nabil Abdullah said in a statement on Thursday, using the government’s term for the RSF, led by Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, which have been battling the military since April 2023.
According to Al Jazeera, there were still areas in Khartoum where RSF fighters were “holed up” in residential buildings, unable to leave because they were afraid of being captured.
However, the RSF pledged there would be “no retreat and no surrender”, saying its forces had only repositioned.
“We will deliver crushing defeats to the enemy on all fronts,” RSF said in its first statement since the army’s offensive began in Khartoum this week.
Sudan’s army last week recaptured the presidential palace in Khartoum. A day later, it went on to seize control of the main headquarters of the country’s central bank from the RSF.
Hours after the military walked into the presidential palace, the RSF announced a “military alliance” with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North, led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu - a group controlling large swaths of South Kordofan and parts of Blue Nile state near the Ethiopian border.
The ongoing war in Sudan has claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced more than 12 million and caused the “biggest humanitarian crisis ever recorded”, according to the International Rescue Committee.
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters are killed and wounded as security forces open fire on an International Quds Day demonstration on March 28, 2025, in Nigeria's capital city, Abuja
Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters have been killed and wounded as security forces opened fire on an International Quds Day demonstration in Nigeria's capital city.
According to reports, at least 19 demonstrators were killed and dozens more wounded in Abuja on Friday.
Video footage of the scenes shows armed forces securing the perimeter as protestors flee for cover while bullet shots are heard. The footage also shows soldiers dragging the lifeless body of a civilian on the street and dumping it into a pickup while beating two other protesters and forcing them to get into another truck.
The Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) had expressed concern over attacks against protesters after it was revealed that Nigerian authorities were making preparations in this regard as a pretext for an attack.
The Office of the National Security Adviser had stressed the necessity to stop the al-Quds day demonstration to “prevent a breach of the peace” by the pro-Palestinian protesters, according to a leaked internal letter seen by the IHRC.
In the leaked communique, Nigerian authorities had warned that though the pro-Palestinian demonstrations were peaceful, the protesters had the potential to seek justice by attacking US and Israeli interests in the country. Therefore, their demos must be stopped.
This method has been used by Nigeria’s pro-Israel officials in recent years to prompt the forces to stage a violent crackdown on the demonstrators.
At least one person was killed, and many more were injured after police opened fire on the Quds Day demo in Abuja in 2023.
In 2014, Nigerian security forces killed 34 demonstrators after opening fire on a rally in Zaria.
The annual Quds Day demonstration is held worldwide by pro-Palestinian protesters on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to show solidarity with the oppressed people of Palestine.
Demonstrators carry a banner and block an entrance to the Google I/O conference in Mountain View, California on May 14, 2024. (Photo by Albert Arhó)
Google paid $32 billion earlier this week in order to purchase Israeli cybersecurity company Wiz, which is run and staffed by dozens of ex-Unit 8200 members, the specialist cyber-spying arm of the Israeli military.
The acquisition will mark the single largest transfer of former Israeli spies into an American company.
Israel’s Unit 8200 is a secretive cyber warfare team that is said to be building the artificial intelligence (AI) systems that helped the regime commit the genocide against Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
Unit 8200 wrote the programming and designed the algorithms that automated the genocide of Gaza and was also responsible for the pager attack in Lebanon. Now the men and women who helped design the architecture of apartheid are swallowed by the US tech-surveillance complex.
Advocacy groups say AI and machine learning are central to the architecture of occupation and apartheid established before the genocidal Gaza campaign, from the use of facial recognition technology, and AI-directed guns at checkpoints, to spy apps known as ‘Blue Wolf’ and ‘Red Wolf’.
The Wiz deal represents a huge tax coup for the Israeli regime. It will bring around $5 billion dollars in revenue for the war economy, or around 0.6% of Israel’s entire GDP. Zionists have already expressed the benefits in terms of the warplanes and missiles they will pay for to conduct genocide.
Google is heavily invested in Israel. It opened offices there nearly 20 years ago, has bought a number of Israeli start-up tech companies in recent years, and former CEO Eric Schmidt has pledged loyalty to Netanyahu on numerous occasions over the years.
All the key figures at Google and its mother company, Alphabet, are proud Zionists. From Schmidt to current CEO Sundar Pichai to founder Sergey Brin to Anat Ashkenazi, the chief financial officer of Alphabet.
At a time when Israel’s economy is faltering, the regime is experiencing an outflow of people, its military can’t win in Gaza and Netanyahu is in deep trouble, the Wiz deal provides a much-needed tonic.
It keeps a critical business sector for Israel ticking over and provides a reassuring sense of business as usual in a blood-soaked land.
China has strongly condemned US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose 25% tariffs on US imports from countries that purchase gas and oil from Venezuela.
Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Tuesday that the US must halt its interference in Venezuela's internal affairs and end its "illegal" sanctions on the country.
“China firmly opposes the US’ long-term abuse of illegal unilateral sanctions and so-called long-arm jurisdiction,” Guo told reporters in Beijing.
Guo called on the US “to take more actions conducive to peace, stability, and development in Venezuela and other countries.”
According to Trump’s order, effective from April 2, a 25% tariff may be imposed on all goods imported into the US from any country that imports gas and oil, whether directly or indirectly from Venezuela.
“Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse. Therefore, any Country that purchases Oil and/or Gas from Venezuela will be forced to pay a Tariff of 25% to the United States on any Trade they do with our Country,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
Oil is Venezuela's main export and China, which is already the subject of US tariffs, is the largest buyer of Venezuela's gas and oil.
In February, China bought directly and indirectly some 503,000 barrels per day of Venezuelan crude and fuel, some 55% of the South American country’s total exports.
The US has extended an operational waiver for Chevron in Venezuela until May 27. The American oil company has been working under a sanctions exemption that allows it to continue limited activities in the country.
Trump’s new round of sanctions follows rising tensions between the US and Venezuela.
China, on the other hand, has maintained strong economic and political ties with Venezuela for years and has been a key financial backer of the South American country.
The US has extended an operational waiver for Chevron in Venezuela until May 27. The American oil company has been working under a sanctions exemption that allows it to continue limited activities in the country.
Trump’s new round of sanctions follows rising tensions between the US and Venezuela.
China, on the other hand, has maintained strong economic and political ties with Venezuela for years and has been a key financial backer of the South American country.
US President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Vandalia, Ohio on March 16, 2024. (Photo by AP)
The economic policies of US President Donald Trump are bleeding the US economy, impacting the average US consumer as well as adversely effecting global economic stability.
An economic superpower which has a large influence in the money markets around the world can bully other countries when it comes to things like deficits and imports and exports.
It can also break free from organizations like the WTO, since it doesn't believe in those trade rules, but bullying nations through tariffs to meet its own shortcomings can lead to economic disaster.
US President Donald Trump's economic policies are bleeding the US economy, impacting the average US consumer.
Has the US president placed all of his proverbial eggs into one basket with all his tariffs, hoping for a big payoff?
Many economists contend that Trump's economic approach has misfired.
One sure sign of it misfiring is the $1 trillion wiped off the stock market. Some call it a correction, but the figure is too big to recoup the losses.
Is this what Trump has called a short-term pain?
It is the high street that is now feeling the pain with inflation reported on many products, which also points to the possibility of a recession.
Economic indicators are not in favor of Trump.
There is some historical precedent for attempting to do some short-term economic pain in order to yield long-term gains. But, you know, the scale of today's global interconnectivity makes this outcome a little bit different.
You know, I'm actually kind of doubtful that we're going to be able to have long-term gains at this point, because we lack the engines of economic growth that we once had.
David J. Reily, Radio Host
We are close but not there on inflation. And you did see today's inflation print which, which says the same thing. I mean, we're, we've had made great progress toward 2%.
Jerome Powell, US Federal Reserve Chairman
Fed Chair Powell recently said that the expectations for inflation are that they should remain fairly sticky and be challenging to combat, and that it might take until 2026 before the year over year Core CPI ends up coming in around 2%, their target, so expectations from the Fed are still relatively elevated.
Sam Stovall, Investment Strategist, CFRA Research
We're a financial system with an economy, not an economy with a financial system. Once we used to export manufactured goods into the world. Today, we're exporting dollars.
I mean, we are currently facing a debt crisis in this country. We have $36.2 trillion worth of debt as of February, 2025 and 25% of that debt, about $9.2 trillion, needs to be refinanced within the next six months. This includes treasury bills, notes and bonds.
David J. Reily, Radio Host
Not surprisingly, investors are worried because they are responding to the direction of the market.
Yet I think you have to look longer term at inflationary expectations, GDP, growth prospects and corporate profit estimates and all of them we see advancing in the months ahead.
Sam Stovall, Investment Strategist, CFRA Research
So far, Trump's economic plan has been a disaster. His approach, which has to date only benefited large firms, can be described as an inflation time bomb.
Many have said a recession will definitely take place, and when it comes to the budget, that again, points to inflation, not to mention how Trump's budget would also spike deficits.
Not surprisingly, many Americans would blame Trump if the economy enters a recession, with many also blaming the Fed, and when it comes to the abysmal state of the stock market, again, Trump is blamed.
I'm not convinced that the tariff talk is the primary reason for this market route. There's certainly an argument to be made that Donald Trump is trying to drive investors towards United States Treasury bonds and out of things like equities and stocks.
Considering what we've done with Russia over the past several years by sanctioning them and freezing their treasury bills, I think that people, especially people outside of the United States, are fundamentally scared of the dollar.
They're fleeing the dollar. We've seen this with the creation of BRICS, for example.
The dollar has become a weapon that we use against foreign countries, foreign adversaries, and nobody's buying the T bills, nobody's buying the bonds.
So I don't think we're just headed for a recession. I think we're heading towards a depression.
David J. Reily, Radio Host
Many Americans see Trump's actions on the economy as too erratic, according to a Reuters Ipsos poll. Elsewhere, a new CNN poll found that Americans are negative on Trump's handling of the economy.
Is the US really heading into a recession in which the market turmoil is being driven partly by concerns over new taxes on imports?
Trump's economic troubles have put Republicans on the defensive. The administration is the in the very awkward position of explaining why Trump's election didn't lead to the promised economic boost.
We all know through history that tariffs, especially the Smoot-Hawley 1930 tariffs, caused the Great Depression. So I don't see any kind of hope or benefit or any kind of positive outcome from all these tariffs.
I can only see a future of pain and increased prices for the American people, even the last round of tariffs in Trump's first administration caused prices to increase.
Ed Opperman, Author
And the President ran on this campaign of building more housing.
This tariff, this tax, is really a tax on middle class Americans, middle class Americans who just want to build homes in their communities, and middle class Americans who at a time when they're dealing with wildfires, floods and hurricanes, are going to have to pay more, in some cases, 20 to 30 to 40% more, just to build their home or rebuild their home.
Ravi Parmar, British Columbia, Minister of Forests
Of course, Biden should have removed those tariffs if he cared about the American people, but he kept them, and that's why we had such an exorbitant increase in prices over the past four or five years.
Ed Opperman, Author
When Trump imposed tariffs aimed at China, during his previous stint at The White House early in 2018, the retaliation from China and other nations adversely affected the US economy, especially the agricultural sector.
Between mid-2018 and the end of 2019, more than $27 billion, $25.7 billion of which was tied to China had to be compensated with government payments to farmers.
Under normal circumstances, you would wonder a President is making these erratic comments back and forth. One day we want tariffs, a couple of hours later, we don't want tariffs. And you would say, boy, my goodness, this is erratic, this could not be good for the economy.
Ed Opperman, Author
We're extremely concerned by the announcement, not only of the threat of 200% tariffs on alcoholic beverages from Europe, from President Trump, but also the inclusion of US whiskey and other US spirits in the retaliatory list of the EU in response to the completely unrelated trade disputes on steel and aluminum.
Pauline Bastidon, Spirits Europe Director
Wall Street depends on stability, and I wondered for the past few months, why hasn't Wall Street reacted negatively to all this chaos and bouncing back and forth?
Ed Opperman, Author
This is a big problem. Canada supplies about 24% of US Steel and over 60% of US aluminum. So in the words of the Ford CEO, who probably says it and knows it best, this will blow a hole in their business.
So this is not good for industrials, automakers in particular, that's probably why the SB 500 on a sector basis, is being led on a decline by industrials today.
Eric Lynch, Managing Director, Scharf Investments
But we have a unique situation right now. We have a president who is guilty of 34 felonies. We have a president who has been found liable of fraud and fined $450 million. We have a president in office who was found guilty of defamation, of lying about a person. So that type of person could be doing this, creating this chaos, in order to manipulate the market. For instance, when he says, 'We're not going to have any more paper straws. We only want plastic straws', Now, that would cause the stock market, the stock value of plastic straws to increase and paper straws to decrease dramatically. So if he had that advanced knowledge, he could be tipping off his friends and his family and perhaps offshore accounts to make these market bets to benefit himself.
Ed Opperman, Author
The Trump administration had some big goals. They probably should have started with the short term gains, which would have been, in our opinion, an extension of the tax cuts in (20)17 and also, you know, some lighter regulatory touch. Instead, they've gone after the long term structural goals first, which are kind of rebalancing US trade and also trying to get more private dollars into the economy versus government spending. That is very difficult to do. It's gonna take a long time, and so that lack of certainty in the market is really kind of paralyzing consumers and businesses.
This image shows a copper and cobalt mine northwest of Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo, January 29, 2013. (Photo by Reuters)
The United States is reportedly engaged in exploratory talks with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) regarding a potential deal on rare earth elements, marking the latest effort by the Donald Trump administration to secure access to vital resources overseas following unsuccessful negotiations with Ukraine.
According to a report published in the Financial Times (FT) on Saturday, the proposed agreement involves the US gaining access to crucial minerals in exchange for providing security assistance to the African nation.
FT cited unnamed sources as saying talks between Washington and Kinshasa about a potential mineral deal have intensified recently, “although several obstacles remain” and they are “at a relatively early stage.”
According to reports by the United Nations, rebels backed by Rwandan troops have taken large swathes of land in eastern DRC, looting the resources of the mineral-rich region.
Kinshasa “invites the USA, whose companies source strategic raw materials from Rwanda ... to purchase them directly from us the rightful owners,” Tina Salama, a spokesperson for President Felix Tshisekedi, wrote on X last month.
Rebels are aiming to consolidate their hold in Congo’s east, which has trillions of dollars of mostly untapped mineral wealth, including cobalt, lithium, tantalum, and uranium.
In this regard, DRC Senator Pierre Kanda Kalambayi has sent a letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, urging the Americans to partner up with Kinasha.
“The United States is well-positioned to forge an enduring partnership with the DRC – a nation that possesses over $24 trillion in untapped reserves of critical minerals,” Kalambayi -- who chairs the Senate’s Committee on Defense, Security and Border Protection -- wrote in his letter.
He said, in return for minerals, the African nation would expect the US military to increase its cooperation with Kinshasa’s forces, including training and arming them with weapons and equipment.
Late last month, an anticipated deal for Ukraine to hand over natural resources revenues to the United States, abruptly fell apart during an explosive meeting in the Oval Office.
Over the meeting, President Trump and Vice President JD Vance harshly criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for not being grateful enough for US support, and sought to strong-arm him into making a peace deal with Russia to end the war.
The planned signing of the US-Ukraine agreement did not happen, and Zelensky left the White House grounds without answering reporters’ questions.
