Las Malvinas Son Argentinas

 
Israel changed its position in the Falklands conflict and now supports the Argentine side. The English colonizers need to vacate the islands immediately. Should the Europeans keep attacking Israel, they will be reminded of other issues pending: Sahara Occidental, Ceuta, Melilla, Scotland, Wales, and the list goes on endlessly.

New Alliance

The Abraham Alliance of Sunni regimes plus Israel is close to receiving another member: Arabia. Saudi Arabia. So predicts Eliezer Marom (Chayney), former head of the Israeli Navy. They have no choice; the neighbours are eyeing their fabulous wealth, and their historic protectors have lost interest. Thank the Almighty that we have reached the point where WE are a candidate to take over the role of regional hegemon. Marom predicts it will happen near the American midterm election.  

Panic in Iran

 U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says Iran is in a financial crisis, threatening prison for publishing exchange rates.

He claims no oil has been loaded at Kharg Island since August and no Iranian oil is currently headed to customers by sea.

Performative Olive Harvesting

Hundreds are coming to guard the olive harvest in the Shomron. The idea is to combine nature tourism with a strong political statement. It reminds me of the sugarcane harvest in Cuba, with thousands travelling to Communist Cuba to enjoy socialism in the tropics. The difference is that cutting sugarcane is hard work, while "protecting Palestinian farmers against the colonizers" needs no physical exertion or risk of encountering a Bothrops snake (“barba amarilla”). After a two-hour walk and selfies in Samaria, rented air-conditioned buses bring them back to their luxury hotels in Tel Aviv, all under the protection of ZAHAL and the American Embassy. Israeli volunteer NGOs provide free tour guides and coordinate with Palestinian counterparts to ensure that a short fake confrontation will take place for pictures. The operation "Protecting the Olive Harvest" is documented by dozens of foreign journalists, so it can be seen on millions of TV screens all over the world. 

BTW, world markets are flooded with olive oil; bulk olive oil is a commodity, and the price is set by mechanised Andalusian groves. A small producer on rain-fed hill terraces cannot compete at that price.  The EU limits oil imports, and the oil from Tunisia and Morocco cannot find a market. The World Bank estimated West Bank production costs at 20–30% above Jordan and 35–40% above Turkey. Palestinian olive plantations cannot compete with imported oil, and following the reduction of customs, 35% of the area planted with olive trees was uprooted in the Galilee. Total production in the Palestinian Authority was about 15,000 tons, which is half of previous years. Yields are cyclical, and one dunam yields about 400 shekels (130 US$) per year (in a good year), less than a day's salary as a construction worker. 

Inflation?

 "As far as I can tell, Trump doesn’t believe that there is such a thing as objective truth, there’s only what he wants to be true. Trump doesn’t have the full powers of a totalitarian ruler, but often behaves as if he did (and is enabled in that behavior by almost the entire GOP.) And Orwell wrote about the mutability of history under totalitarian regimes:If the Leader says of such and such an event, ‘It never happened’ – well, it never happened. In this case what never happened was surging nflation."

 Paul Krugman is an unabashed liberal, and there is no crime in an economist having such persuasions. For that matter, many economists have a bit of that streak, too. ...However, the agreements end where Krugman begins to view U.S. economic history from a distorted lens, one in which all administrations run by Democrats are Good and Virtuous, and all Republican administrations are governed by Beelzebub himself. (By William L. Anderson, Senior Editor at the Mises Institute).

BAZAN is Unpredictable

 
The Haifa Refinery (BAZAN) continues to operate under wartime conditions. Given the uncertainty of global diesel supply and with BAZAN as the only significant refinery in the Eastern Mediterranean, I invested some of my savings in the stock. Yesterday, the anti-business environmental parasites published an alarming report that they found elevated concentrations of benzene in the air, so the population should stay at home with windows closed. I was sure that the share would collapse. Instead, it is rising 3%. BAZAN announced that:

 Following media reports over the past two days regarding benzene measurements in the area of the Group’s plants, the Company hereby announces that, during work carried out as part of the periodic maintenance (turnaround) of the aromatics facilities at Gadiv, elevated benzene concentrations were measured at several monitoring points in the area. Accordingly, and as a precautionary measure, the relevant work was suspended on a localized basis, and in parallel, steps are being taken to resume the work in coordination with the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

It is confusing.  

Follow-up: The Houthis destroyed Saudi Arabia's main distillery. As expected, BAZAN lifted 6%. It appears that this is just the beginning of a glorious ascent. 

The Enigma of Jujuy Demography

 
The Province of Jujuy (bordering Bolivia) had one of the highest fertility rates in Argentina. Suddenly, in less than ten years, it halved to unsustainable levels. 

• Argentina as a whole went from 777,012 births in 2014 to 413,135 in 2024, a 47% fall. Fertility is 1.3 children per woman, the lowest ever recorded in the country and far below the replacement level of 2.1.
• Jujuy’s decline is steeper than the national one. In the Universidad Austral 2026 report, Jujuy shows −55%, among the largest provincial declines. Using Health Ministry (DEIS) data, Jujuy ranked fourth nationally, behind Tierra del Fuego, Santa Cruz, and Corrientes.

• Why it fell so fast

1. The collapse of adolescent and young-adult fertility. This is the main driver. The largest declines are among women under 25, where births fell 40–60%, because unintended teenage pregnancy dropped. Nationally, adolescent fertility fell about 60% in the last decade. Jujuy, as a northern province with historically high teen fertility, simply had more of these births to lose.
2. Better access to contraception. The provincial maternity director pointed to wider access to contraceptive methods as a factor. In practice, this largely means the national teen-pregnancy prevention program (Plan ENIA, started in 2017), which pushed long-acting implants and IUDs in the NOA provinces.
• 
  
• Conclusion:  The difference between sustainable fertility (2.1 births/woman) and demographic collapse, as it is happening in Europe and Latin America, is in the unwanted pregnancies by irresponsible young girls. This group of teenagers produces the number of babies needed to maintain a vigorous population. Adult women avoid pregnancy after one child. One baby will satisfy her maternal instinct, if she has one. Money incentives are simply too weak to overcome her desire for a desirable body and an exciting social life. Nothing the State can do - education, subsidies, a big house, medals - will motivate her to reproduce. 

Descriptions of Victorian England show a fertile lumpen (proletarian) class that peopled Australia, Canada, etc. The West has eradicated that class, and there are well-organized anti-pregnancy campaigns in schools, and the pill is pushed to the young. In theory, this is progress. Actually, it disrupts the natural cycle of population maintenance and growth.