Free Republic

At the Centenaire market in Dakar, Chinese wholesalers line the street on both sides, renting warehouses for $1,000 a month, selling everything in bulk from plastic toys to space-age looking DVD players. One buyer, Fatou Gueye, says Senegalese are poor and they love these new shops, because, she says finally she can afford something. Here she says, she can buy for children and adults, for her whole family, almost everything they need. One man who has just turned himself from chronically unemployed to retailer is also very pleased. He is buying bras, cameras, shoes, belt buckles, pots, pans, colorful pens...

TRUMP BOOM: Asian buyers are abandoning Middle Eastern oil & lining up 28 supertankers to carry US crude in May alone. Normal bookings at this point: 5. US Gulf Coast exports hit a record 4.90 million barrels a day in April. Trump's energy dominance is not a talking point. It is a shipping manifest. h/t @KobeissiLetter

European countries, after the Second World War, came to a painful but profound conclusion: if they wanted to stop centuries of bloodletting among themselves, they had to make war materially irrational. The answer they found was not idealism alone, but interdependence. Trade. Shared markets. Shared interests. Over time, that logic helped give birth to what became the European Union. As the EU notes in its official history of postwar integration, the European Coal and Steel Community was created so that no single country could build the weapons of war against the others as in the past. Established by the Treaty...

A federal judge Thursday ordered the detention of former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani and eight others in connection with the 1994 bombing of a Jewish cultural center that killed 85 people, the judge's office said. A special prosecutor sought the order, alleging that the worst terrorist attack on Argentine soil was orchestrated by leaders of the Iranian government and entrusted to the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah. Iran's leading diplomatic envoy in Buenos Aires, Mohsen Baharvand, told The Associated Press that his government would oppose any efforts to detain Rafsanjani or other Iranian nationals. Baharvand, Iran's charge d'affaires, said the case...

Asian nations - most recently the Philippines - have been particularly keen to reach agreements as their economies are heavily reliant on energy from the Gulf. In recent weeks - several Asian countries including Pakistan, India and the Philippines - have made agreements with Tehran to let some ships pass through the strait safely. China has also acknowledged that their vessels have also used the channel. Questions remain over the scope of these assurances and just how lasting these agreements with Iran will be. The Philippines imports 98% of its oil from the Middle East and was the first country...

I just saw a list of the commodities that are undergoing restriction of distribution in the Strait of Hormuz. When seeing a stark view of them, together as a group, I hadn't realized how extensive it is: 1) oil (gasoline and deisel), 2) liquid natural gas (LNG), 3) urea (fertilizer for food), 4) sulfuric acid (phosphate fertilizers for farming), 5) helium (microchips). (Source: Larry Johnson, today 04/06/2026 at 9 AM E.S.T.). I would like to hear from someone who has a good, fundamental understanding of economics, about the following question, (not someone who is an academic egghead, not anyone who...

I’m reluctant to post a video as the average Freeper will respond with an angry, “I don’t watch videos!!!” Sometimes with an excess amount of exclamation points. More than three indicates you’re on the verge of smashing your head into the keyboard until it bleeds. This video is the most in-depth explanation of the world economic system, dollar hegemony and why we can’t reduce the deficit and why that won’t hurt the value of the dollar. It discusses the impact of American debt on the hollowing of industrial capacity and the impact on wages and lifestyle. We really can’t discuss...

A year ago Thursday, President Trump raised the average effective tariff rate to 22.5%, and proclaimed April 2 “Liberation Day,” which would “forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn.” Financial markets convulsed. Within a week, the president began suspending and modifying his tariffs. By the time the Supreme Court ruled that tariffs issued under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act were unlawful, the average effective rate had fallen to 11.6%, still higher than at any point between World War II and Liberation Day. Convinced that his tariffs were “quickly building the greatest economy in the history of...

Here's what you'll learn when you read this story:The Inca quipu was a complex system of knotted cords, encoded numerical records and possibly even a full logosyllabic language.New research demonstrates that the quipu's hierarchical structure can function as a versatile modern computer data structure.The researchers built working spreadsheets, file systems, and encryption tools powered by quipu data, rivaling conventional computing methods.

The EU must implement its trade deal with the US without amendments or risk losing “favourable” access to liquefied natural gas shipments from American exporters, Donald Trump’s ambassador to the bloc has warned. EU ratification of last year’s agreement between the US president and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has been delayed by several issues, including Trump’s threats to invade Greenland.

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernandez de Cossio Dominguez on Friday sought to convince Canada to prop up the fading Communist regime in Havana, arguing that Canadian companies could lose billions from nullified contracts if the regime falls. De Cossio praised Cuba’s “important trade relations” with Canada and the hefty investments Canadian companies have made in Cuba. “Despite the fact that we do not have a coincidence in all the political and international positions, we have always known how to solve our problems, our differences, and work with them based on dialogue and based on mutual respect,” he said. The...

President Donald Trump has waived the Jones Act for 60 days to mitigate supply disruptions resulting from conflict in the Middle East. This raises a fundamental question: why do policymakers regularly suspend this law during emergencies yet leave it in place the rest of the time?The Jones Act is an antiquated 106-year-old law officially known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920 that places draconian restrictions on the use of ships to transport goods within the United States. According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, the waiver allowing the use of foreign vessels to transport goods “will allow vital...

Oil prices fell back near $95 a barrel in U.S. futures markets Monday as Iran's Straight of Hormuz strategy became clearer, with the hard-line regime allowing passage of ships bound for Pakistan, India and China. The pullback in oil prices is allowing the S&P 500 to rally on Monday morning even as the U.S. struggles to find partners for an effort to guarantee safe passage through the key shipping route.

Insurance giant Chubb will be the lead underwriter for a U.S. government-led program to provide insurance to ships making the risky transit through the Strait of Hormuz. Chubb will work with the U.S. International Development Finance Corp., or DFC, as part of a $20 billion plan to help get oil tankers and other commercial traffic moving again amid risks from the Iran war, the agency said. Oil prices have spiked since the war began at the end of February. Brent crude traded above $91 a barrel midmorning Wednesday. Oil prices have stayed relatively high despite an announcement Wednesday that the...

The move was met Friday with dismay in Europe, where officials and experts feared it would aid the Russian war machine in Ukraine. The Kremlin pressed Washington to go further.... The United States has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil, a boost to the Kremlin as Washington tries to contain energy prices sent soaring by the American-Israeli assault on Iran. President Vladimir Putin’s team welcomed the move to ease penalties that were imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and pushed Friday for the U.S. to go further. The decision caused dismay in Europe, where officials feared it would give a...

https://x.com/KanekoaTheGreat/status/2029621652427096264 KanekoaTheGreat@KanekoaTheGreat·5h🚨NEW: Venezuela’s acting president just thanked Donald Trump — the same president whose administration removed Nicolás Maduro two months ago — and offered cooperation on energy, mining, and critical minerals.Delcy Rodríguez said it standing next to U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum during a joint press conference in Caracas.Two months ago: Maduro captured.Today: the interim government thanking the architect of that removal and opening the door to U.S. access on gold, rare earths, and oil.While the world focuses on Iranian missiles and U.S. airstrikes, the Trump administration is quietly rewriting resource maps across the Global South.Venezuela holds the largest proven...

On Monday, I wrote about Spanish Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s decision to block the U.S. from using jointly operated military bases on its territory for strikes on Iran. President Donald Trump wasted no time responding forcefully, saying Tuesday that the U.S. is "going to cut off all trade with Spain." Trump made the comments from the White House during a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. He noted that some European nations have been helpful to the U.S. regarding Iran, saying Germany has been “great.” He also praised NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, calling him “fantastic.” Then he spoke...

Trump says he's given instructions to cut off all trade with Spain, citing Madrid's announcement that US can't use its bases

See video link. Facebook.

The European Union’s executive arm requested “full clarity” from the United States and asked its trade partner to fulfill its commitments after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down some of President Donald Trump’s most sweeping tariffs. Trump has lashed out at the court decision and said Saturday that he wants a global tariff of 15%, up from the 10% he announced a day earlier. The European Commission said the current situation is not conducive to delivering “fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial” trans-Atlantic trade and investment, as agreed to by both sides and spelled out in the EU-U.S. Joint Statement of...