China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi stated on Tuesday that 14 Palestinian factions reached an agreement on forming an “interim national reconciliation government” that would govern the Gaza Strip after the war, AFP reported. The 14 factions, including Hamas and Fatah, met in Beijing this week in a bid to reach reconciliation. Wang emphasized that the highlight of the talks had been “the agreement to form an interim national reconciliation government around the governance of post-war Gaza.” “Reconciliation is an internal matter for the Palestinian factions, but at the same time, it cannot be achieved without the support of the international community,” Wang said following the signing of the “Beijing declaration” by the factions. NN: Its getting uglier out there. It’s the Lebanon game plan Put the terrorists in charge so Iran gets its hooks in deeper.
Harris campaign smashes fundraising records, $100M since launch
Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign revealed on Tuesday that she has raised $100 million since announcing her presidential bid on Sunday. The Harris campaign declared that this substantial fundraising effort took place between Sunday afternoon and Monday night. All eyes are on Harris as she holds her first-ever campaign rally this Tuesday in Milwaukee. Earlier, it was known that she had secured the commitment of enough delegates to become the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. NN: If you are not worried you should be
Harris ‘looking forward’ to accepting Dem nomination
United States Vice President Kamala Harris said that she’s “looking forward” to formally accepting the Democratic nomination “soon,” Axios reported, citing an emailed statement. Her comments came after a survey conducted by the Associated Press showed that she had surpassed the benchmark number of delegates needed to become her party’s presumptive nominee. “Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee, and as a daughter of California, I am proud that my home state’s delegation helped put our campaign over the top,” Harris continued. She thanked US President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party for their support.
“This election will present a clear choice between two different visions. Donald Trump wants to take our country back to a time before many of us had full freedoms and equal rights,” Harris added.
Nick Audio Note: Money For Nothing
Iran intercepts UAE-managed tanker off Bushehr
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy detained a container ship managed by the UAE and flew the flag of Togo, approximately 61 nautical miles away from Bushehr, Iran. According to the British security firm Ambrey, the IRGC intended to confiscate around 1,500 tonnes of gas oil and apprehend the ship’s crew in a “counter-smuggling operation.” The vessel had reportedly loaded marine gas oil in Iraq and was en route to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. According to the agency, this detention is not believed “to be politically motivated” and is not categorized as a “war event.”
Oil dips 1% on geopolitical woes
Crude oil prices for front-month deliveries pulled back on Monday as geopolitical woes fueled up concerns about the commodity’s demand. The downturn may be attributed to the alleged progress made in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas and the anticipation that the Federal Reserve will initiate a reduction in interest rates during its September meeting. Investors are also evaluating the implications of US President Joe Biden’s decision to quit his reelection campaign and extend his support to Vice President Kamala Harris.
For September contracts, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) fell 1.12% to sell at $78.78 a barrel at 10:07 am ET. Brent for September settlements dipped 1% to $81.83 per barrel.
Things Just Aren’t Adding Up About Trump’s Assassination Attempt
The odd details from the July 13, 2024, attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump just keep piling up. We keep learning more about what happened, but it still isn’t making any sense.
Middle East Tensions Rise With Houthis-Israel Standoff
Tensions in the Middle East ratcheted up again this weekend with Israel and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen trading strikes and attempts at strikes. In the early morning trade in Europe, both major oil benchmarks, WTI Crude and Brent Crude, were trading slightly higher. Over the weekend, the crisis in the Middle East escalated once more after the Israeli military deployed fighter jets to strike Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, for the first time since the Israel–Hamas war erupted last October. Houthi official Mohammed Abdulsalam posted on social media that a “brutal Israel aggression against Yemen” had just occurred. He noted that the airstrikes hit “fuel storage facilities and a power plant” in the Yemeni port of Hodeida “to pressure Yemen to stop supporting” Palestinians in the Gaza war. On Saturday, Israeli fighter jets hit Houthi military targets near Yemen’s port of Hodeidah on the Red Sea, after the Houthis launched a drone on Tel Aviv on Friday. The Iranian-made long-range drone launched from Yemen hit downtown Tel Aviv on Friday, killing one civilian and wounding four others, in an attack for which the Houthis claimed responsibility. Iran and Hezbollah condemned the Israeli attack on Hodeidah as tensions in the Middle East are once again the focus of geopolitics observers.
The Houthis have vowed to continue attacking Israel in response. Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam told Qatar’s Al Jazeera there would be “no red lines” in retaliation. “All sensitive institutions at all levels will be targets for us,” the spokesman added.
On Sunday, Israel military had intercepted a missile fired from Yemen fired earlier on Sunday. The Israeli military said that the surface-to-surface missile was intercepted before reaching Israeli territory. The latest escalation in the Middle East and the major oil shipping routes in the region comes as
The Wall Street Journal reports that U.S. intelligence agencies had issued a warning that Russia might seek to arm the Houthis with advanced anti-ship missiles, in retaliation for the U.S. Administration’s support for Ukrainian strikes inside Russia with U.S. weapons.
Trump: If Biden can’t run for office, he can’t run our country……..WH allegedly says Biden’s decision not influenced by medical issue
Former United States President Donald Trump took to Truth Social after US President Joe Biden dropped out of the country’s presidential race, to state that if Biden “can’t run for office, he can’t run our country.” “Who is running our Country right now? It’s not Crooked Joe, he has no idea where he is,” Trump wrote. He also claimed that Biden “never had Covid” and called him a “threat to Democracy.” In an earlier post, Trump asked if the Republican party should be “reimbursed for fraud in that everybody around Joe, including his doctors and the Fake News Media, knew he was not capable of running for, or being, President.”
WH allegedly says Biden’s decision not influenced by medical issue
United States President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the country’s presidential race was supposedly not influenced by any medical issue, CNN reported, citing a senior White House official. Biden had no major medical checkups, aside from his daily check-ins with his doctor due to his COVID-19 diagnosis, as he was reflecting on his future in politics, the official told the news agency, emphasizing that medical issues played no role in his decision-making. Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, assured on Saturday that the president’s coronavirus symptoms are steadily improving.
Israeli Strike Sets Yemen’s Oil Port Ablaze
For the first time since the Israel–Hamas war erupted last October, the Israeli military has deployed fighter jets to strike Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. This action follows an incident where the rebels penetrated Tel Aviv airspace with a kamikaze drone (also for the first time) on Friday, resulting in the death of one civilian. Houthi official Mohammed Abdulsalam posted on social media that a “brutal Israel aggression against Yemen” had just occurred. He noted that the airstrikes hit “fuel storage facilities and a power plant” in the Yemeni port of Hodeida “to pressure Yemen to stop supporting” Palestinians in the Gaza war. 12 Israeli warplanes, including advanced F35 jets, participated in aerial strikes on the port of Hudaydah in Yemen. Axios reports US and Israeli officials confirmed the Israeli Air Force strikes in retaliation for the Houthi drone strike in Tel Aviv on Friday morning, killing one and wounding eight more. We noted that this Houthi drone strike risked “sparking escalation of warfare between Yemen’s Houthis, Hezbollah, and the State of Israel.” “This attack makes it crystal clear to the Houthis and Iranians that strategic, energy-linked economic targets are fair game in retaliation for attacks on Israeli strategic locations like Tel Aviv,” Scott Modell, CEO of Rapidan Energy Group, tells us. Modell points out, “The Houthis are really taking a big risk because any tankers who supply them will now be in the crosshairs for retaliatory attacks by Israel. The US & NATO allies will continue to do practically nothing.” Mario Nawfal on X points out that Israel destroyed Yemen’s main port. NN: Its a whole new ballgame. Oil assets and infrastructure as we calculated in our trades have now been drug into the fray
Houthi official: Israel will ‘pay the price’ for Yemen strikes
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of Yemen’s Houthi rebels’ politburo, said on Saturday that Israel will “pay the price” for targeting “civilian facilities” in Yemen. The rebel group’s spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam called the Israeli airstrikes on Al-Hudaydah port “a brutal Israeli aggression against Yemen that aims to deepen people’s suffering, and to pressure Yemen to stop supporting Gaza.” The movement’s spokesperson stressed that the attack will only “increase the determination of the Yemeni people” and will not stop Yemen from supporting Palestinians in Gaza.
NN: Red line crossed in the Middle East. See BlackMask Market News and Commentary Titled: Crashing Into The Gates of Hell