Baltic
Dry Index. 2038 +10
Brent Crude 102.86
Spot Gold 5044 Spot Silver 82.38
US 2 Year Yield 3.68 -0.05
US Federal Debt. 38.933 trillion
US GDP 31.243 trillion.
It is no coincidence that the century of total war coincided with the century of central banking.
Ron Paul
5:30 AM update.
A very happy, healthy and enjoyable St. Patrick’s Day to all celebrating today.
My apologies for the length of recent LIR updates, but in the present Gulf war crisis, there is just so much to cover, with relatively little of it being covered by mainstream media, at least here in the UK, where much of the coverage borders on “anti-evil-Iran” propaganda.
“We’re winning, we’re winning,” over those evil Moslem terrorists. How dare they resist our just war on evil. Don’t worry about the economic consequences, there aren’t any and anyway “they’re mild and contained.”
At the LIR, though I too would like regime change to a more western, liberal, kinder form of government, I try to cover the war’s rising economic reality truthfully, most, in the UK, at least, are barely prepared for.
In US led NATO, under an ever more desperate President Trump, things have turned ugly.
To be an enemy of America can be dangerous, but to be a friend is fatal.
Henry A. Kissinger
Trump
explodes at 'terrible' Starmer in furious rant - 'We spend a lot of money on
you!'
16
March 2026
Donald
Trump has slammed "terrible" Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the
war in Iran. The US President said he was "very surprised" at
Britain's refusal to take part in the US and Israel's offensive operations in
Iran, which began on February 28.
UK
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has made clear that the UK wasn't involved in
the attacks, in which Iran's former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed,
along with dozens of senior figures in the country. Iran has retaliated by
targeting US bases in neighbouring countries in the Gulf, sparking fears that a
wider regional conflict could be unleashed.
Tehran
also closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global oil trade connecting
the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, sending prices soaring.
The
shock has been felt worldwide and has raised the price Americans pay at the
pump, just as the midterm election season begins to heat up.
In
the early days of the conflict, Mr Trump had said US Navy vessels would escort
oil tankers through the strait, and downplayed the threat posed by Iran.
But
as oil prices soared, he and his administration have been forced to consider
new options. These include the idea, broached this weekend, for other countries
to support the push with their own warships.
Mr
Trump says he's asked roughly a half-dozen other countries to send warships to
reopen the strait, including Britain. But so far, none has committed.
The
President even indicated he would use his long-planned trip to China to
pressure Beijing to help with a new coalition meant to get oil tanker traffic
moving through it - a notion that his treasury secretary later downplayed.
On
Monday, Sir Keir said that Britain is working with allies on a plan to reopen
the shipping route, but "will not be drawn into the wider war".
The
UK is discussing with the US and allies in Europe and the Gulf the possibility
of using mine-hunting drones that Britain has in the region, the PM said, but
signalled that the UK is unlikely to dispatch a warship. Other countries have
similarly been resistant to getting involved.
It
provoked an angry reaction from Mr Trump hours later. In remarks to reporters
at The White House on Monday, he fumed: "I said, you don't want to do it?
We've been with you. You're our oldest ally, and we spend a lot of money on,
you know, NATO and all of these things to protect you."
The
Republican firebrand appeared to suggest that he had asked the UK to send two
aircraft carriers to the region. "He didn't really want to do it," Mr
Trump said, seemingly in reference to Sir Keir.
Mr
Trump suggested Sir Keir had changed his mind and later offered to do so, but
the President turned him down, as, in his estimation, the war had
"essentially ended" by then.
"I
think it's terrible," the President said, but made a renewed call for
Britain to get involved. "I was not happy with the UK," he said.
"I think they'll be involved, yeah, maybe, but they should be involved
enthusiastically."
More
Trump
explodes at 'terrible' Starmer in furious rant - 'We spend a lot of money on
you!'
European
countries reject Trump’s call for help to reopen strait of Hormuz
Leaders
seek a diplomatic solution despite US president’s threat of ‘a very bad future’
for Nato unless it provides warships
Mon
16 Mar 2026 19.30 GMT
European
countries have ruled out sending warships to the strait of Hormuz, despite
threats from Donald
Trump that Nato faces “a very bad future” if members fail to help
reopen the vital waterway.
Germany
ruled out participation in any military activity, including efforts to reopen
the strait. “There was never a joint decision on whether to intervene. That is
why the question of how Germany might contribute militarily does not arise. We
will not do so,” the chancellor, Friedrich Merz,
said.
He
added: “This Iranian regime must come to an end,” but that “based on all the
experience we have gained in previous years and decades, bombing it into
submission is, in all likelihood, not the right approach.”
The
country’s defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said: “This is not our war, we
have not started it. What does Donald Trump expect from a handful of European
frigates in the strait of Hormuz that the mighty US navy cannot manage alone?
This is the question I find myself asking.”
----European
politicians have emphasised diplomatic efforts to reopen the strait, which
carried about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquified fossil gas until its
effective closure by Iran.
Italy’s
foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said on Monday that “diplomacy needs to
prevail” and his country was involved in no naval missions that could be
extended to the area. He cast doubt on expanding the remit of existing EU
missions in the Red Sea to the strait of Hormuz, “since they are anti-piracy
and defensive missions”.
The
position taken by the three major European countries was striking because they
had avoided criticising Trump over his decision, alongside Israel, to attack
Iran 16 days ago. Soon after the first strikes, the US president said
the goal of the military campaign was regime change, but the war has since
become a wider regional conflict, causing energy prices to soar.
Australia,
France and Japan have said they had no plans to send warships.
----EU
foreign ministers meeting on Monday decided against extending the remit of
their small naval mission in the Red Sea. A proposal to change the mandate of
Operation Aspides to help secure the strait drew little enthusiasm from member
states, said the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas.
“There
was in our discussions a clear wish to strengthen this operation, but for the
time being there was no appetite in changing the mandate,” Kallas said.
European
ministers have said they need to know more about the US’s and Israel’s war
aims. The Estonian foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, said US allies in Europe
wanted to understand Trump’s “strategic goals. What will be the plan?”
Greece,
which provides the headquarters for Operation Aspides, also said on Monday it
would not engage in any military operations in the strait.
More
Iran
war: Germany's Merz distances himself from Trump
Mon,
16 March 2026 at 4:48 pm GMT
Chancellor
Friedrich Merz has gone back and forth in his relationship with Donald Trump: A
year ago, Merz presented himself as a sharp critic of Trump. Then came a long
phase of rapprochement — political opponents accused Merz of pandering to the
US president. This culminated in a visit
to the White House about two weeks ago. There, the chancellor
expressed understanding for the US-Israel attacks on Iran, in which Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei was targeted and killed. Merz said he did not want to lecture
Trump on matters of international law.
Now
the chancellor is backtracking: He feels Trump is going far too far in Iran.
"The
government will not participate in this war," government spokesperson
Stefan Kornelius declared on Monday. Nor will it participate in a military
operation to enable ships to pass the Strait of Hormuz.
"This
war has nothing to do with NATO; it is not NATO's war," he added when
journalists asked him about a possible contribution by the German Navy.
Defense
Minister Boris Pistorius reaffirmed this stance on Monday, saying, "It is
not our war; we did not start it. We want diplomatic solutions and a swift end,
but additional warships in the region will likely not contribute to that."
More
Iran
war: Germany's Merz distances himself from Trump - Yahoo News UK
In slightly better global economy news, crude oil prices have steadied for now.
S&P 500 futures fall after major averages
rebound on easing oil prices: Live updates
Updated Tue, Mar 17 2026 1:24 AM EDT
S&P 500 futures fell early Tuesday
after the major averages bounced in light of cooling oil prices.
S&P 500 futures slipped
0.21%, while Nasdaq 100
futures declined 0.24%. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost
100 points, or 0.21%.
Major averages rebounded in the regular
session as oil prices eased from the previous week’s surge. The S&P 500 added 1%, after
the broad-market index closed last week at its lowest level of the year amid
the U.S.-Iran war. The Dow gained
roughly 388 points, or 0.8%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained
1.2%.
Each of the 11 S&P sectors closed
higher on the day, led by gains in tech. Nvidia shares advanced about
1.7% after CEO Jensen Huang said
during the company’s annual GTC conference that he expects $1 trillion
in orders for Nvidia’s Blackwell and Vera Rubin systems through 2027.
Monday’s decline in oil prices boosted
sentiment behind U.S. equities. Brent crude settled down
about 2.8% to $100.21 a barrel on Monday. West Texas Intermediate crude fell
about 5.3% to settle at $93.50 a barrel.
Oil prices have surged since the start of
the U.S.-Israel
attacks on Iran on worries that a prolonged closure of the Strait of
Hormuz could lead to a global disruption of energy supplies. Although Treasury
Secretary Scott Bessent told
CNBC that the U.S. is allowing Iranian oil tankers to pass through the
key waterway, President Donald Trump on Monday signaled
that a coalition to escort tankers through the strait is not yet
finalized.
Investors are watching for further
developments on the war. Many are crediting a relatively strong economy,
contained inflation and strong earnings for continued momentum behind the stock
market, but Bartlett Wealth Management president Holly Mazzocca said on Monday
that “risks to that growth story are mounting.”
“We came into this year with a pretty
strong foundation, but especially the labor market has weakened pretty
significantly. So that’s the big question for investors right now, is just
being realistic that the overall risks to that continued growth story are
higher today than they were just a few weeks ago,” Mazzocca said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell.”
On the earnings front, Lululemon, Docusign and Oklo are expected to post
results Tuesday.
Separately, investors are awaiting this
year’s second Federal Reserve interest rate decision, which is scheduled for
Wednesday. Expectations for rate cuts have diminished as inflation
worries have ramped up since the start of the Iran war, according
to CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Asia-Pacific markets open higher; oil jumps over
2%
Asia-Pacific markets jumped on Tuesday as
investors monitor the latest developments in the Iran war, with U.S. President
Donald Trump looking to delay his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping by
“a month or so” due to the Middle East conflict.
Trump was expected to travel to China at
the end of March.
Oil prices jumped over 2% on Tuesday as
uncertainty lingered over a U.S.-led coalition for securing the Strait of
Hormuz for safe transit of energy tankers.
International benchmark Brent crude gained
2.45% to $102.57 per barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose
2.51% to $95.85 per barrel as of 8:44 p.m. ET.
----Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.75%,
while the Topix jumped more than 1%. South Korea’s Kospi rose 2.94%, while the
small-cap Kosdaq added 1.53%.
Hong Kong Hang Seng index rose 0.94%,
while mainland CSI 300 gained 0.28%.
Stock
market today: Live updates
In other news , Jask,, Iran’s other oil
export terminal. Wholly inadequate if Trump is foolish enough to seriously
damage Iran’s Kharg Island oil export port.
China Continues Importing Iranian Oil Through
‘Backdoor’ Route Bypassing Strait of Hormuz
Sources say shipments routed through
Iran’s Jask Port and a strategic pipeline is allowing crude to bypass the
Strait of Hormuz despite escalating conflict.
3/14/2026|Updated: 3/15/2026
China continues to receive Iranian crude
oil through alternative routes designed to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, a
global energy chokepoint at risk of closure amid the Iran war, according to
several China-based industry sources and analysts who spoke to The Epoch Times
on condition of anonymity because of fears of reprisal.
One of those routes centers on Iran’s
southeastern Jask Port, a relatively new export terminal outside the Strait of
Hormuz that allows oil tankers to load crude directly into the Gulf of Oman,
avoiding the narrow waterway where military tensions are highest.
A Chinese industry insider familiar with
the China–Iran oil trade told The Epoch Times that Iranian oil shipments to
China have remained largely unaffected by the conflict.
“Since the outbreak of the war, Iranian
crude arriving at ports in [China’s] Shandong and Zhejiang has continued almost
normally,” the insider said.
According to the insider, the continued
flow of oil is not accidental but the result of contingency planning between
Beijing and Tehran before the conflict escalated.
“Before the war began, Beijing had already
reached an understanding with senior Iranian officials about how to move oil to
China if the situation spiraled out of control,” the insider said. “Most of
Iran’s exported crude ultimately ends up in the Chinese market.”
----Jask
Emerges as New Export Hub
The insider noted that Iran’s Jask Port
has become a critical node for maintaining exports during the conflict.
The port lies outside the Strait of
Hormuz, allowing tankers to sail directly into the Gulf of Oman without passing
through the narrow strait.
In an X post on March 13,
Financial research platform Global Markets Investor stated that Iran’s crude
exports have averaged about 2.1 million barrels per day since the war began,
slightly higher than the roughly 2 million barrels per day exported before the
conflict.
The insider said a large share of the
additional volumes is believed to be heading to China via alternative routes,
including Jask.
More
Jask
----Jask is a port town, about 1,690
kilometres (1,050 mi) south of Tehran,[7] situated on
the Gulf
of Oman.[8] It is the
site of an Iranian Navy base that opened on 28 October 2008.[9] The base's
position provides the Iranian Navy with the capability to close the Strait of Hormuz in order to
block the entry of an "enemy" into the Persian Gulf. Admiral Habibollah
Sayyari remarked
on the base's opening that Iran was "creating a new defense front in the
region, thinking of a non-regional enemy."[10]
The port of Jask is also the proposed end
of the Neka-Jask
pipeline.
The city also has the Jask Airport.
Port of Jask
The port of Jask is a small port on the
western part of Iran's coast along the Gulf of Oman. However, over
the last few years it has seen a steady growth of its export freight flows
to Oman, mostly
agricultural products, including refrigerated, and construction materials[11]
Major developments for the port of Jask
were announced by Iranian authorities in early 2019, i.e. the construction of a
new terminal for oil tankers for a total investment of US$700 million, to
be followed by the construction of a refinery and of a petrochemical plant.
These developments are part of a total investment of US$1.8 billion
centered on the construction of a new oil pipeline from Goreh, Bushehr to Jask in
order to pump and export oil from Northern Iran.[12][13]
When these investments are completed in
Jask, they will contribute to developing Iran's southern regional economy, as
is already the case further east at Chabahar Port, and to
facilitating exports through ports which do not require ships to enter
the Persian
Gulf through
the Hormuz
Strait.
The Jask export terminal is Iran’s strategic oil facility designed to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, with partial operations already enabling crude exports.
Overview
The Jask terminal, located on Iran’s southeastern coast along the Gulf of Oman, was inaugurated in 2021 to provide an alternative export route outside the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil shipping. The terminal is connected to the Goureh oil field via a 1,000-kilometer pipeline, allowing crude to be transported from southwestern Iran to the Gulf of Oman. Its strategic purpose is to ensure Iran can continue exporting oil even if the Strait of Hormuz is closed or threatened.
The terminal is designed with 20 storage tanks, each capable of holding significant volumes of crude, with current operational storage around 5.5 million barrels. The pipeline has a projected capacity of 1 million barrels per day (bpd), though only about 500,000 bpd is currently operational. The facility includes a single buoy mooring (SBM) for tanker loading, with plans for multiple loading buoys to increase throughput. The terminal can accommodate VLCCs and suezmax tankers, enabling large-scale shipments to international markets.
Strategic Significance
The terminal’s location allows Iran to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil shipments, enhancing the security and flexibility of its oil exports. The facility was designed to handle up to 1 million barrels per day and store 20 million barrels, although operational capacity has been limited initially due to incomplete infrastructure. Its position along the Sea of Oman makes it a key component of Iran’s long-term oil export strategy.
Global Inflation/Stagflation/Recession
Watch.
Given
our Magic Money Tree central banksters and our spendthrift politicians.
Australia
central bank hikes rates to a near 1-year high as Iran war raises inflation
risks
Published
Mon, Mar 16 2026 11:34 PM EDT
Australia’s
central bank on Tuesday raised benchmark policy rates for a second straight
time, pushing them to their highest since April 2025 at 4.1%, amid sticky
inflation.
The
25 basis points hike was in line with expectations from analysts polled by
Reuters, and comes as Australia’s inflation stays above the central bank’s
upper limit of 3%, with the war in the Middle East risking a further rise in
prices.
“While
inflation has fallen substantially since its peak in 2022, it picked up
materially in the second half of 2025,” the Reserve Bank of Australia said
in its statement.
While
developments in the Middle East remain highly uncertain, the RBA also said,
they are likely to add to global and domestic inflation. The bank added that
inflation was likely to remain above target for “some time” and that the risks
have tilted further to the upside, warranting the rate hike.
Speaking
to CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia,”
Paul Bloxham, chief economist for Australia, New Zealand and global commodities
at HSBC, said domestic factors were the key reason behind the move.
“The
output gap is positive, inflation is too high where it is right now, and the
unemployment rate is still quite low,” Bloxham pointed out, noting that
Australia has got one of the tightest labor markets globally, and inflation
that’s has stayed above target.
He
said that as the Iran war will continue to fuel inflation in Australia, the RBA
decided that it didn’t have any “wiggle room” to wait and see how global
developments play out.
The
decision on the hike though, was passed by a narrow majority, with five votes
in favor of the hike and four against.
More
Australia
central bank hikes rates to a near 1-year high as Iran war raises inflation
risks
Trump’s
mother of all miscalculations
White
House points to military successes in Iran, but the regime’s drastic
retaliation has caught the US by surprise
Published 16
March 2026 6:00am GMT
Hours
before the first missiles hit Iran on Feb 28, Donald Trump greeted guests at a
black-tie Mar-a-Lago fundraiser for Place of Hope, a charity supporting
children in care around Palm Beach.
As
God Bless the USA blared over the speakers, the US president waved from side to
side and made small circles with his wrists, like a conductor in front of an
orchestra.
At
that point, the commander-in-chief felt himself on an enviable roll of foreign
interventions. He had pirouetted from last year’s bomber raid on Iranian
nuclear facilities to the staggering capture
of Venezuela’s former president Nicolas Maduro.
“Have
a great time,” he told the crowd. “I’ve got to go and do some work.”
Behind
a curtain at the gilded resort was a makeshift situation room where Marco
Rubio, the secretary of state, John Ratcliffe, the CIA director, and General
Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, were making the final
preparations for the biggest American intervention in the Middle East since the
Iraq War.
The
White House team had made a paltry, scattershot case for the coming assault:
Iran was, variously, on the brink of a nuclear weapon; nearly in possession of
ballistic missiles that could reach the US (an assessment not backed by
intelligence); and out of luck after decades of support for terror and suppression of
domestic protests.
When
Mr Trump announced in a social media video that the first wave of strikes had
begun, he still sported the white “USA” baseball cap he had worn to the ball.
The
president’s mood could only have lifted as, within 24 hours, Israeli jets were
confirmed to have assassinated
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at his private residence in the capital, along
with the 86-year-old supreme leader’s daughter, son-in-law and grandson. The
strikes were so effective, Mr Trump would later rue, they eliminated potential
US-friendly replacements.
But
two weeks into the war, the triumphant music has stopped – and Mr Trump is left
holding a military operation with no clear end in sight.
To
make matters worse, the Iranian regime and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps (IRGC) has picked up the conductor’s baton, cut off oil supplies through
the Strait of Hormuz, and pitched the world economy towards a perilous
fugue.
----Addressing
a Kentucky crowd at a March 11 rally, he said the US had already “won” the war.
“In the first hour, it was over,” he boasted, only to add: “We don’t want to
leave early, do we?”
More
Trump’s mother of
all miscalculations
Oil
loading operations suspended at UAE's Fujairah port, sources say
16
March 2026
DUBAI,
March 16 (Reuters) - Oil loading operations have been suspended at the United
Arab Emirates port of Fujairah, two sources told Reuters on Monday, after a
drone attack sparked a fire in the emirate's petroleum industrial zone.
Fujairah,
located on the Gulf of Oman just outside the Strait of Hormuz, is typically a
critical exit point for about 1 million barrels per day of the UAE's Murban
crude - a volume equivalent to roughly 1% of global demand.
Civil
defense teams are currently working to control the blaze, the Fujairah
government media office said in a statement, adding that no casualties have
been reported.
The
suspension marks the second major disruption at the vital bunkering hub in
recent days. Operations at Fujairah had resumed on Sunday following a separate
drone strike over the weekend.
The
attacks come as the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war with Iran strangles shipping
through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that
normally handles a fifth of the world's oil supply.
Oil loading
operations suspended at UAE's Fujairah port, sources say
Technology
Update.
With events happening fast in the
development of solar power and graphene, among other things, I’ve added this
section Updates as they get reported.
Man builds battery pack made out of disposable vapes to power
electric car
15 March 2026
A man fuelled an electric vehicle using
a homemade battery pack constructed from discarded VAPES.
Engineer Chris Doel dismantled the
lithium batteries from 500 vapes to create a power bank substantial enough to
run his home last year.
Not content to stop there, the
27-year-old then decided to repurpose the battery pack to power an electric
vehicle.
He required a car with a modest battery
so opted for a 2007 G-Wiz - labelled the worst car of that year by Top Gear.
After acquiring the vehicle for £800, he
spent five months working on it - and finally took it out for a drive last
month.
Chris, from Rugby, Warks. , who
documented the process on his YouTube channel, says he undertook the
task to raise awareness of the wastefulness of discarding vapes.
He said: "[Disposable vapes] are
crazy devices that just absolutely shouldn't exist.
"The problem goes even wider than
disposable vapes – they're just the most outrageous example of it.
"When it comes to the concept of
planned obsolescence in general, where manufacturers make devices they know
will die sooner than the end of the actual lifespan of the parts, just so you
have to buy another one.
"Unfortunately, it's becoming more
and more common."
Chris visited his local vape shop in May
2025 and asked if they would donate some of their returns for his house project
and left with bags containing 2,000 vapes. It required six months for him to
remove the rechargeable lithium batteries from the devices before he utilised a
3D printed casing to merge 500 cells wired in parallel into groups connected in
series to create an enormous battery pack.
Following his use of the pack to supply
power to his home - which he successfully achieved for eight hours - he turned
his attention to the subsequent project: the vehicle.
Chris' initial challenge was locating a
car with sufficiently low power requirements to make the endeavour viable –
leading him to the G-Wiz.
He explained: "I was speaking with
a colleague about how I wanted to power a vehicle with [the battery], but
because EVs have such enormous batteries, I thought it was never going to be
possible.
"My colleague came up with the
genius idea of using the G-Wiz.
"It's pretty much the only car out
there with a 48v battery – so it meant the power-wall would work with it.
"As soon as I get an idea in my
head, I'm determined to get it done."
The 2007-model G-Wiz micro-car, labelled
the 'Worst Car of the Year' by Top Gear during the same year, boasts a maximum
speed of 50 mph and accommodation for two adults and two youngsters.
Programme presenter Jeremy Clarkson previously remarked of the vehicle: "God has not yet created a
creature that would fit in the back."
However, it only demands a battery with
a voltage of 48v – considerably below a Tesla's 400v – meaning Chris wouldn't
need to spend potentially years attempting to salvage sufficient vape batteries
for the project. Chris paid £800 for the second-hand vehicle, which lacked a
working battery, from a dealer north of London.
He then secured £600 annual business
insurance for the car, enabling him to drive it legally on camera for his
YouTube channel.
He explained: "I wanted to make
sure everything was above board and legal – so I had to get it MOT'd and also
sort insurance who were OK with me taking it out with a vape battery pack.
"The person on the phone didn't
really have a clue what I was going on about.
"As I was explaining the full setup
and trying to explain, I was doing a battery swap, they said, 'We don't really
have a lot of options for the mods you are listing online'.
"It cost a decent amount of money,
but given the fact they're taking the risk of it being a battery pack literally
made of vape cells, it was incredibly cheap in the grand scheme of
things."
More
Man builds battery pack made out of disposable vapes to power electric
car
Next, the
world global debt clock. Nations debts to GDP compared.
World Debt Clocks
(usdebtclock.org)
Truth is treason in the empire of lies.
Ron Paul
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