Newsletter, 4/6/26
ALL 4IR
Wartime. From 1968, this is what life is like during wartime for those on the military front lines.
Eric Burdon and the animals, Sky Pilot. 8 minutes.
As we await for the next war shoe to drop, today my web browsing started with this update, from YNET, Israel’s largest media outlet, which is tied to the IDF.
Iran rejects ceasefire proposal, demands permanent end to war as Israel warns of escalation. Tehran submits 10-point response via Pakistan, links deal to regional conflicts and Hormuz access; Israeli officials say talks may collapse into wider confrontation. YNET, 4/6/26.
Iran has rejected a United States-backed proposal for a temporary ceasefire, instead demanding a permanent end to the war and broader regional changes, according to the state news agency IRNA and officials familiar with the negotiations.
After two weeks of deliberations, Tehran conveyed a formal response through Pakistan, a key mediator in the talks. The reply, outlined in 10 clauses, rejects a proposed 45-day ceasefire and calls for a full and lasting end to the conflict. Iran’s response also includes demands to end “conflicts in the region,” a reference Israeli officials interpret as linking any deal to the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Tehran is also insisting on a new framework for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, along with sanctions relief and reconstruction commitments.
Messages reaching Israel indicate that the United States is eager to secure a temporary ceasefire, in line with its timeline for the war and following what it views as the completion of key military objectives. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke overnight with U.S. President Donald Trump for about 30 minutes, as Washington’s envoy Steve Witkoff continues to update Israel on contacts with Pakistani mediators and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
A senior Israeli official said shortly before Iran’s response was delivered that Washington’s main difficulty was the lack of a clear answer from Tehran. “It could go either way,” the official said. “Our assessment is that it will end in an explosion. Mojtaba Khamenei has not provided a response, and the Revolutionary Guards are difficult to move away from their extremist ideology. They are not willing to open the Strait of Hormuz.”
This is from the Qatar state/business entity’s media outlet. A couple of hours later, Trump had a press conference at the White House focusing on the weekend recovery of 2 US airmen, one af whom hid for 24 hours before being picked up. Very little on the fact that the F15-E they were on was brought down by an Iranian air defense which had supposedly been destroyed, or that the fact that they had to be rescued was a direct result of their being on an attack mission inside Iran, as if the Iran state/business entity has no right to defend its space. Trump went on to make some very inflammatory statements about what happens tomorrow night at 8PM EDT, 5PM PDT, if the Iran entity does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz by then.
Trump warns deadline ‘final’ as Iran pushes proposal to end war. US president says proposal not enough to avert threat to infrastructure should Iran fail to open Strait of Hormuz. AFP, AP and Reuters, 4/6/26.
United States President Donald Trump has warned that an Iranian proposal to bring an end to the war is not enough to avert his threat to destroy infrastructure unless Tehran reopens the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said on Monday that the Tuesday deadline he has set for Iran to make a deal was final. Amid a rash of additional threats and claims, he said the proposal would not alleviate US action. “It’s a significant proposal. It’s a significant step. It’s not good enough, but it’s a very significant step,” Trump told reporters at the White House, adding that intermediaries “are negotiating now”.
Trump warned on Sunday that unless Tehran agreed by Tuesday evening to allow free passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, he would order strikes on Iran’s power plants and bridges. In peacetime, about 20 percent of the world’s oil supplies pass through the strategic waterway, which links the Gulf to the Indian Ocean.
Earlier on Monday, a 45-day ceasefire proposal was put forward by Pakistan after meetings seeking a diplomatic solution to the war, which was sparked on February 28 by Israeli and US attacks against Iran, which has responded by firing missiles at targets across the Middle East. Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said Tehran had conveyed its response via Islamabad. Iran reportedly rejected the proposed truce, putting forward instead a call for a permanent end to the hostilities.
The Iranian proposal consisted of 10 clauses, including an end to conflicts in the region, a protocol for safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the lifting of sanctions and reconstruction, IRNA added. “We won’t merely accept a ceasefire,” Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, the head of Iran’s diplomatic mission in Cairo, told The Associated Press news agency. “We only accept an end of the war with guarantees that we won’t be attacked again.”
The White House confirmed that the ceasefire proposal was under consideration but Trump had “not signed off” on it and the war was continuing. “This is one of many ideas, and POTUS [the president of the United States] has not signed off on it. Operation Epic Fury continues,” a White House official told the AFP news agency.
Later, Trump said he was “highly unlikely” to postpone the deadline from 8pm Washington time on Tuesday (00:00 GMT). “They’ve had plenty of time,” he said. Trump has warned that the US could bomb Iran “back to the stone ages” unless it agrees a deal. Asked if he was concerned about suggestions that attacks on infrastructure are classified as a war crime, he retorted: “I’m not worried about it.” “You know the war crime?” he continued. “The war crime is allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” adding that Iran’s leaders are “animals” who have killed tens of thousands of protesters.
Iran’s rejection of the ceasefire proposal came as Israel struck a key petrochemical plant for the South Pars gasfield and killed two commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Israel claimed responsibility for the strikes on the plant in Asaluyeh, a key site for Iran’s energy sector and its wider economy, both for production of petroleum by-products and for joint work with Qatar on the world’s largest natural gasfield. The strike appeared to be separate from Trump’s threats and deadline.
Iran’s grip on the strait has caused oil prices to surge and shaken the world economy. The National Petrochemical Company said the situation was “under control” after the strike with the extent of the damage being assessed. “A fire has been brought under control. The situation is currently under control, and technical aspects, as well as the extent of the damage, are under investigation,” IRNA cited the petroleum company as saying, adding that no injuries had been reported.
The White House did not immediately comment on the attack. After an Israeli attack on South Pars in March, Trump said Israel would not attack it again but warned that if Iran continued striking Qatar’s energy infrastructure, the US would “massively blow up” the field.
The latest from Jeff Snider. Behind the scenes, the global economic crisis which is a key driver of the multi-faceted crisis we are living through is showing yet more signs of worsening.
The Labor Market Just Sent A MASSIVE Warning To Investors. Jeff Snider/Eurodollar University, 4/5/26, 22 minutes.
“Almost four hundred thousand American workers dropped out of the labor force in March, setting yet a new low in labor participation. Why? There are no jobs, a fact confirmed by both the employment estimate plus an utterly dismal hiring rate from JOLTS, one that rivaled January and February 2009. There’s more, too. S&P Global said the services sector contracted for the first time in three years last month and a decline in its employment index, showing how the oil price shock is already starting to sting. Eurodollar University’s conversations w/Steve Van Metre.”
What’s Left? deals with recent revelations that left/progressive hero Cesar Chavez, who even got his own holiday, committed sexual assaults upon numerous women.
Let’s Talk About Cesar Chavez. What’s Left? 4/4/26, an hour and 35 minutes.
“A NY Times article came out recently exposing sexual abuse and sexual misconduct on the part of labor leader Cesar Chavez. This set off a wave of recriminations started against his legacy from removing street signs to changing names of holidays. We discuss our thoughts about Chavez and these recent revelations. Check us out!”
My comment at the page. Unfortunately deleted by YouTube, i’ll reconstruct the essentials.
Thanks, Andy, Eduardo, Kenny and Michael.
Great point, the ruling elite depends upon maintaining lies for its social power, whereas the working class would need to depend upon full disclosure and truth in order to attain and maintain its social power. The ruling elite’s media focus on celebrities rather than movements, on the renaming of streets, schools, landmarks.
We should not tolerate absolutist leaders in any sort of social movement which seeks to overturn the existing ruling order. Parents of children attending a school in San Francisco were told to not talk to the media about the naming matter. If anyone, these parents are the ones who should be making decisions on this matter, not the SFUSD. We the members of the social opposition need to have discussions about such matters when they come up within our organizations, but we should refuse to allot any role to the media or to political celebrities in these discussions.
Cesar Chavez transgressed in other ways. A video in the beginning of this segment shows him talking about how the United Farmworkers Union (which he headed) was participating in border enforcement against “wetbacks.” He thus reinforced the official ideology that the US state/business entity acts on our behalf, as if national borders are meant to protect us. And he repeatedly endorsed and promoted candidate put forth by the “Democratic Party” wing of the ruling corporate party. as has Dolores Huerta, who is now being put on a pedestal as being one of his victims.
Ending this edition, Riley Waggaman updates us on how the Russia state/business entity continues to implement the 4IR, aka Agenda 2030, aka UN SDGs.
Russian government judo-chops internet & cows. Russians want to know why. There are several theories. Edward Slavsquat, 4/5/26.
Over the past several weeks, the Russian government has made a series of decisions so thoroughly perplexing that some Russians now believe they are witnessing a conscious and deliberate effort to detonate their country from within. (Probably your own government is behaving similarly. See? We aren’t so different after all. Why can’t we all just get along?)
Today I would like to share with you a sampling of Russian-language commentaries on this subject. But first: Some brief background.
The first major event that is causing extreme trepidation within Russian society is the government’s campaign to block Telegram and limit and restrict internet access while forcing everyone to use Russia’s new FSB messenger, MAX. As part of this campaign, the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) is also waging all-out war on VPNs, which have basically become mandatory if you want to use the internet in Russia.
Meanwhile, the entire country is experiencing periodic mobile internet outages. In some areas, mobile internet completely stopped working months ago. The government has created a “white list” of “approved” websites and apps that can be accessed during these outages. (They have reportedly even started testing this “white list” on home WiFi networks around Rostov-on-Don). The official explanation for these restrictions is that they are necessary to combat drone attacks. The last few weeks have seen some of the largest and most destructive drone attacks against Russia since the start of the SMO, so the official explanation might not be the most compelling one, as is so often the case.
Roskomnadzor is still a long way off from completely blocking Telegram (it typically works with a VPN), and the attack on “unapproved” web traffic has already resulted in some disastrous friendly fire incidents. For example, the government agency reportedly blocked IP addresses that are used to process bankcard payments, resulting in an hours-long shutdown of digital payment services in Moscow.
Then there is the Siberian Cow Slaughter. To make a long (and ongoing) story short, authorities are killing the livestock of small farms in several regions of Siberia, purportedly to stop the spread of diseases (without bothering to test any of the animals before killing them). The farmers have been compensated with paltry sums that are only a fraction of the actual market value of their animals. Many are unable to purchase new animals and are now financially ruined.
When farmers began to share videos of their cows being slaughtered for no reason, authorities resorted to traditional terror and intimidation tactics.{Screen shot} When that didn’t work, the regional government claimed videos documenting the insane cow-slaughter were AI-generated fakes.{Screen shot} Meanwhile, the livestock of large and politically well-connected corporate farming operations in the area have remained untouched.
All of the above begs the question: Why is the Russian government doing all of these very destructive and foolish things?
Russian-language news outlets and Telegram channels have been sharing various theories that might help answer this question.
Let’s begin with a commentary published at the end of March by Channel Stalingrad, an excellent independent outlet edited by “like-minded individuals who reject the liberal capitalism imposed on Russia after the collapse of the USSR”:
“Telegram is de facto blocked, Putin’s authorities make no secret of their plans to restrict internet access through a system of “whitelisted sites,” and mobile internet has begun to be shut down under the pretext of combating drones. Along with this, a bill has been introduced in the State Duma that would effectively ban criticism and accusations of anyone in the media until a guilty verdict is finalized. It has outraged even those completely loyal to the Kremlin.
This is a blow to everyone, especially those who make money online and on social media by promoting their goods and services. It also simply creates everyday inconvenience for absolutely all Russian citizens. But the Kremlin seems to have lost its mind. The reason is most likely their conviction in the firmness of their power and the silence of the people.
But it is impossible to ignore the fact that the “tsar’s” lawlessness has reached cosmic proportions. What is Vladimir Vladimirovich planning? What is he preparing his “vertical” for? Mobilization? War with NATO? Logically speaking (if the concept of logic applies to the “vertical”), the Ozero cooperative [the group of oligarchs who support Putin] needs a completely controlled information space to nip any “surprises” in the bud. Combined with war fatigue, all this creates, at the very least, a basis for protest. And this isn’t just information noise. […]
But the main thing currently shaking the Tsar’s throne is the lawlessness in Novosibirsk, the [“anti-epidemic” measures] that have deprived a huge number of people of their sources of income without any justification, not even legal ones. The farmers surveyed don’t believe the diagnoses of pasteurellosis and rabies: those who have been raising livestock for a long time would easily recognize the symptoms. […] In addition to the Novosibirsk region, livestock genocide has also been perpetrated in the Altai and Transbaikal territories, Buryatia, and the Altai Republic. […]
Novosibirsk Region Governor Andrei Travnikov called the mass slaughter of livestock “a strict but necessary veterinary measure.” This is par for the course for Russia’s “leaders.” Putin’s officials are not accustomed to admitting responsibility. We will never hear the truth from them. Because the fairy tales about slaughtering cattle due to pasteurellosis don’t hold up to scrutiny.
Schizophrenia is off the charts. They don’t even remember their own decisions. On October 31, 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture, by its Order No. 770, approved veterinary regulations for the implementation of preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, restrictive, and other measures, the establishment and lifting of quarantines and other restrictions aimed at preventing the spread and eliminating outbreaks of various types of pasteurellosis. This regulation is completely inconsistent with the lawlessness currently unfolding in the Novosibirsk Region and other regions.
The uproar on Telegam, which will soon be blocked, or has already been blocked, partially helped draw attention to the situation. Still, the only thing this publicity has achieved is control over the procedure itself and at least some regulations for compensation payments. But this is far from certain.
What is happening is complete lawlessness and legal chaos. A logical question: for what purpose? Perhaps some of the Kremlin’s elite are using these informational outlets to fight their competitors. Moreover, they do so without regard for the consequences. As happened, for example, in 2023, when the desire to remove Shoigu from the Russian Ministry of Defense through wholesale criticism of the army command and the promotion of Wagner sparked Prigozhin’s rebellion. Incidentally, criticism of the closure of Telegram is often interpreted as a struggle between the “Kremlin towers.” One of them is lobbying for “de-Telegramization,” while others are trying to stir up a rebellion against it. Consequently, farmers in the Novosibirsk region could very well have fallen victim to the games of Putin’s “vertical,” which is extremely distant from the region, from livestock farming, and from the aspirations of the ordinary people under its control.
If this is indeed the case, Putin has lost control of the state. And this could very well end in disaster. Quite soon.”
Our next commentary comes from Yandex’s blogging platform, which is sort of like Russian Substack:
“According to the agenda, our country is on the verge of a monumental leap. True, the nature of this leap raises questions among those accustomed to measuring progress in factories built, rockets launched, or technologies implemented. But this is apparently an outdated approach. Modern Russian management has discovered a simpler and more effective path—development by subtraction.
Imagine a gardener who wants to grow a giant pumpkin. A normal gardener fertilizes the soil, waters the beds, and protects the seedlings from frost. Our strategic gardener, however, believes otherwise: the pumpkin will grow to enormous proportions if weeds are prevented from growing, if clouds are prevented from flying past the pumpkin without drenching it with rain, if frosts are prevented from appearing prematurely…
In short, a new word in agricultural technology—you just need to think carefully about what to prohibit, compile an extensive and comprehensive list of prohibitions, and impose it on the pumpkin: grow, you bastard!
In the digital realm, we live in a harsh asceticism. The internet is sometimes shut down, sometimes left in place, but with conditions. VPNs are sometimes banned, sometimes allowed, but by subscription, like premium access to freedom, and for a fee. YouTube, social media, Roblox—everything reminiscent of a global world is being crushed by the digital sovereignty steamroller. The logic is simple: if you remove everything incomprehensible and alien, something native will inevitably flourish. True, so far only the market for workarounds is flourishing, but these are details. […]
It’s as if the government has decided that national development isn’t about creating something new, but about completely erasing the old. If you ban everything bad, it will automatically become good. If you take away people’s internet access, they’ll start watching Skabeeva and Solovyov on TV [government propaganda]. If you ban vaping, everyone will quit smoking. If you increase fines, everyone will become law-abiding.
But history teaches us otherwise: bans don’t create the future. They only preserve the present. You can ban English words, but without modern technology, the language will still deteriorate. You can ban travel, but without knowledge sharing, science will wither. You can force people to have children, but without security for the future, families will not be happy.
The result is a paradox. The list of what’s “not allowed” no longer fits on one page. And the list of what’s “allowed” remains frighteningly short. The government offers us a fortress-state, safe, quiet, and forbidden. But a fortress is a place for defense, not for living. Life requires roads, not barriers. We need factories, not fines. We need ideas, not bans. For now, the only sector that’s truly developing and showing steady growth in the country is the industry of restrictions. And if things continue this way, we risk becoming the most developed country in the world in terms of the number of restrictions. But living in this “developed” world will become absolutely impossible.”
Finally, I would like to share two texts I came across while browsing Yaplakal, a popular Russian news and discussion forum.
Both texts are essentially conspiracy theories, but they illustrate the rampant disillusionment and distrust in the government that is entirely ignored by Very Important and Serious Russia Experts With Direct and Indirect Ties to the Russian Government……..
My comment at the page.
Thanks, Riley.
No conspiracy. This is just capital (or rather, its managers in Russia)doing in Russia what their peers are doing everywhere else: nudging and herding people into the Blockchain-based AI-managed Crypto-financed global digital prison.
This is being done in a futile attempt to prevent the global crisis which is no erupting out of control as the global capitalist system is undergoing a systemic failure just like in the early 1910s and in the 1930s, made even worse as the world is running out of viable sources of energy and raw materials, and as the global ecosystem’s remains are being shredded, making the survival of life on this planet increasingly impossible.
The most likely result, should we fail to stop them, is WW3, which has already broken out but is yet to go full scale.