Things To Come?

One Billion People Now Starving as Global Food System Collapses

Madge Waggy

The calculus of caloric collapse operates on timelines that exceed electoral cycles and quarterly earnings reports. When historians eventually excavate the records of this decade—assuming the archives survive the thermodynamic unraveling—they will identify 2024 not as the beginning of the hunger, but as the year when the machinery of abundance finally revealed its true function as a mechanism of controlled demolition. The global food system, that intricate lattice of monocultures, petrochemical inputs, and just-in-time logistics that feeds eight billion souls, was never designed for resilience. It was designed for yield. And yield, in the context of biological systems pushed beyond their carrying capacity, is simply another word for brittleness.

What we are witnessing is not a series of unfortunate events. Droughts do not cluster by coincidence. Fertilizer shortages do not synchronize across continents by accident. The degradation of topsoil—occurring at rates between ten and forty times faster than natural regeneration—did not emerge from ignorance alone. These are symptoms of a deeper pathology: the transformation of food from a commons into a weapon, from sustenance into a system of leverage capable of inducing compliance at scales that nuclear arsenals could never achieve. The bomb promises annihilation. Hunger promises submission. And submission, from the perspective of those who architect these systems, is infinitely more useful than ash.

The evidence is buried in plain sight, scattered across PDFs published by institutions that assume no one reads them. The World Bank’s 2022 report on agricultural inputs noted, without apparent alarm, that global grain reserves had fallen to 72 days of consumption—the lowest level since records began in 1960. 

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization quietly revised its definition of “food security” in 2023, expanding the acceptable window for caloric deficit from 1800 to 1600 kilocalories per day for “non-labor populations”—a bureaucratic euphemism for the elderly, the disabled, and the economically redundant. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, which maintains the seed banks that represent humanity’s genetic backup against crop failure, has seen its funding diverted since 2019 into “climate adaptation technologies”—specifically, digital surveillance systems for agricultural regions and blockchain-based “smart contracts” for food distribution.

They are not preparing to feed the world. They are preparing to ration it.

The conspiratorial framework is not necessary to explain what is happening, but it is sufficient. When one examines the concentration of agricultural land ownership—3% of the world’s farms controlling 65% of productive soil, according to the Land Matrix Global Observatory—the pattern becomes unmistakable. When one maps the acquisition patterns of private equity firms since 2020—purchasing water rights in the Colorado River basin, farmland in Ukraine’s black earth region, grain storage facilities in the Australian wheat belt—the contours of a strategy emerge that transcends mere profit-seeking. These are not investments in food production. These are investments in food scarcity. The value of grain appreciates most dramatically not when harvests are abundant, but when they fail. And harvests, in an era of weaponized weather and supply chain sabotage, can be made to fail with surgical precision.

The human cost is already being tabulated in the mortality data that never makes the evening news. Excess death statistics from the Global Mortality Project show anomalous spikes in cardiovascular and renal failure—conditions associated with malnutrition and contaminated water—in regions where “food insecurity” has been officially classified as “moderate.”

 The classification itself is a lie. Moderate food insecurity in the bureaucratic lexicon means households are skipping meals, reducing portions, and substituting nutritive density with caloric volume. It means children are consuming their own muscle tissue to fuel neurological development. It means the biological damage is accumulating in ways that will not manifest in mortality statistics for years, when the causal chain has been sufficiently obscured to prevent attribution.

But the true horror lies not in the present suffering, which is diffuse enough to be ignored by those not experiencing it directly. The true horror lies in the future that has already been engineered—the convergence of multiple systems of collapse that will render the current crisis a footnote in comparison.

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Exclusive-Iran strikes on CIA facilities prompt questions about possible Russian role

Exclusive-Iran strikes on CIA facilities prompt questions about possible Russian role

 Jonathan Landay, Gram Slattery and Timour Azhari

Iranian drone attacks on CIA facilities in the Gulf have prompted U.S. intelligence analysts to investigate whether Russia assisted by providing targeting information or advanced drone technology, said four people familiar with U.S. intelligence.

These people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to ‌discuss national security matters, said U.S. intelligence officials have not yet reached firm conclusions about the possible Russian involvement in the attacks on CIA facilities. But they cited ‌the strikes' effectiveness and apparent precision, as well as Russia's broader technical support for Iran, as possible evidence.

Reuters and other media have reported — and U.S. officials have acknowledged — that Russia has provided targeting and other support for Iran in ​its strikes on U.S. targets in the Gulf region generally, but the intelligence community's investigation of possible Russian involvement in supporting the CIA facility attacks has not been previously disclosed.

At least two CIA sites were struck in March, Reuters and other outlets have reported. One of the facilities was the CIA station in Saudi Arabia, which is located in the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, and a separate site was located in eastern Iraq. Some of the sources said additional CIA sites had been hit, but they did not disclose details.

One internal memo from a Western intelligence ‌agency, described by an official in the region with access to ⁠the document, concluded Russia has likely played a role in targeting regional CIA facilities. The official discussed the memo on condition that its precise authorship not be disclosed.

Two Western officials in the Gulf who were briefed on intelligence reports said analysts thought the Saudi attack involved a pair of Russian-enhanced ⁠versions of Iran's Shahed drones. One of the aircraft blew a hole through a vulnerable part of the embassy's exterior and the second flew through the opening and detonated, they said. No deaths or injuries were reported.

While Russian assistance for Iran is longstanding, given the countries' close ties, specific targeting of sensitive CIA sites would indicate Moscow is willing to go further in disrupting U.S. operations as Washington struggles to bring ​the ​Iran war to an end.

Concerns that Russia could be providing targeting data to Iran intensified this weekend after ​strikes on a U.S. air base in Jordan, where Iran struck army ‌barracks with ballistic missiles, killing two soldiers.

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America’s Food Supply Has Become Too Big to Fail

America’s Food Supply Has Become Too Big to Fail

Martin Armstrong

One of the greatest lies in politics is that anyone who opposes excessive government regulation must therefore oppose government enforcement. Those are two entirely different issues. I have always argued that government has expanded into areas where it has no constitutional business while simultaneously abandoning the few responsibilities that actually justify its existence. Protecting the integrity of the nation’s food supply is one of those responsibilities. If Washington cannot ensure that Americans can buy a head of lettuce without wondering if it will send them to the hospital, then what exactly are taxpayers funding?

CNBC reported that the FDA has now withdrawn its earlier statement claiming that Taylor Farms iceberg lettuce tested positive for Cyclospora, calling the result a false positive after additional testing. Yet the outbreak itself remains very real. Dozens of people have been hospitalized across multiple states, and the FDA still cannot identify with certainty where the contamination originated. The government now admits the laboratory result was wrong while simultaneously telling the public that the investigation continues because people unquestionably became sick.

That explanation should not reassure anyone. The only reason Americans even know there was a problem is because Taco Bell voluntarily disclosed that it had removed onions and lettuce supplied through one of its vendors after cooperating with investigators. Had the restaurant remained silent, would the public have ever known there was a nationwide outbreak? That is becoming the far more important question because the FDA still refuses to identify the supplier at the center of the investigation while insisting there is no confirmed contaminated product.

Food safety failures have become routine for decades under both political parties. In 2024, onions traced to Taylor Farms were linked to the McDonald’s E. coli outbreak that killed one person and sickened well over one hundred others. Years before that, Taylor Farms products were associated with another Cyclospora outbreak involving packaged salad mixes. Boar’s Headbecame the center of a deadly Listeria outbreak after federal inspectors documented repeated sanitation failures. 

Washington never seems to run out of money to regulate automobiles, light bulbs, washing machines, cryptocurrency, carbon emissions, or what people say online. Yet somehow, after spending trillions of dollars across the federal government, it cannot consistently perform one of the few legitimate functions assigned to it—ensuring the nation’s food is safe.

America’s food supply has become extraordinarily concentrated. A remarkably small number of agricultural conglomerates now produce, process, package, and distribute much of the nation’s fresh produce. Taylor Farms has grown into one of the largest fresh-cut produce companies in North America, processing millions of pounds of vegetables every week for restaurant chains, schools, hospitals, supermarkets, and institutional buyers. Fresh Express, Dole, Fresh Del Monte, Church Brothers Farms, and a handful of other corporations dominate much of the remaining packaged produce market.

On the distribution side sits Sysco, the largest food-service distributor in North America, supplying hundreds of thousands of restaurants, hospitals, schools, hotels, and institutional kitchens every single day. When so much of the food chain flows through so few corporate pipelines, one failure can spread contaminated products across dozens of states before anyone even realizes something has gone wrong.

That concentration has quietly created a system where a handful of corporations effectively control enormous portions of what Americans eat. 

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IRGC To Trump: Strike Iran's Infrastructure, We'll Shut Off The Gulf's Power

IRGC To Trump: Strike Iran's Infrastructure, We'll Shut Off The Gulf's Power

 TYLER DURDEN

• More Tanker Attacks: Iran-backed Houthi militants said they targeted two Saudi Arabian tankers in the Red Sea

• Trump ultimatum: Trump vowed the US will strike an Iranian bridge or power plant after every Iranian attack on shipping.

• Iran responds: The IRGC threatened to hit Gulf energy infrastructure if Iranian infrastructure is attacked, saying it will cut off electricity among US allies.

• Latest Gulf missile attacks: Iran claimed attacks on US-linked targets in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.

• Nuclear tensions: Iran denied nuclear activity at Pickaxe Mountain, calling US claims a 'fabricated pretext' for attack.

• Oil climbs: Renewed Gulf attacks and shipping threats continued to lift oil prices.

  
  

  
  

  Oil gained after Iran-backed Houthi militants said they targeted two Saudi Arabian tankers in the Red Sea, escalating the Middle East conflict and threatening deeper supply disruptions.

  Brent spiked above $95 in post-settlement trading.

  The Houthis attacked the two vessels with missiles and drones for violating a blockade imposed in the Red Sea, identifying the tankers as Encelia and Layla, the rebel group said.

  UK Maritime Trade Operations said a vessel was hit southwest of Saudi Arabia’s Al Shuqaiq, causing a fire on board. 

  UKMTO didn’t identify the ship.

  The first attacks on tankers in the Red Sea opens up a new front in the Middle East conflict, which has snarled traffic through the Strait of Hormuz following a flare-up in violence.

  
  

  
  

  A top IRGC official has responded to Trump's Bridge attack for each shipping attack ultimatum (see below). Iranian IRGC Aerospace Commander Mousavi has threatened that Iran will cut off electricity to America's Gulf Allies if Iranian bridges or power plants are attacked, Tasnim News Agency.

  "If the Americans target an Iranian bridge or power plant, Iran will respond by striking infrastructure and bridges across the region, including energy facilities in which the United States has interests,” the official said according semi-official news agency Tasnim.

  "The Americans should by now, after these past ten days, be fully convinced that Iran strikes wherever it decides to strike. Therefore, any such gamble by Trump will once again end in his embarrassment," the IRGC commander added.

  Separately, Iran’s deputy foreign minister briefed 25 European ambassadors and charges d’affaires in Tehran on the status of the conflict. "I reminded them that in the 40-day war, we imposed a severe defeat on the aggressors. In this new round of military aggression as well, we will resolutely defend our homeland and national interests," Kazem Gharibabadi posted on X.

  "These wars have created no strategic gains for America and only endanger regional and global peace and security. I also said that Europe is expected to safeguard the United Nations Charter and international law and to condemn aggression,” he added.

  Iran has continued to sound an "eye for an eye" theme, and has not backed down in the face of Trump's fresh threats...

  
  

  Meanwhile, Iran is touting that it still possesses a very significant missile stockpile, as it is still producing even as US bombs fall:

  
  

  Trump: US Will Destroy A Bridge Or Power Plant For Each Iranian Attack On Shipping

  More telegraphing of intent from President Trump in the below Truth Social Post... he said the US military will "bomb and destroy" one bridge or power plant - including in Tehran - each time the Iranian military shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz. This comes a day after he unveiled the US military plans to conduct a large bombing of Iran's Pickaxe Mountain nuclear complex, which is heavily fortified.

  But the Iranians have already long demonstrated they won't alter course in the face of such threats, especially bluster from Trump over social media, and so this unlikely to be any kind of fix for Washington, as Tehran has vowed to keep control of Hormuz at all costs. The Pentagon has argued that things like bridges are 'dual use' as the Iranian military uses them to get supplies from one region to another, while international monitors have highlighted the potential for war crimes. The Iranians have in turn widened attacks on Gulf states to include key civic infrastructure, like water desalination plants (in Kuwait) - each time their own infrastructure gets hit.

  
  

  Even some supporters have quested why the US Commander-in-Chief would so casually telegraph his intentions, saying the Pentagon loses an operational edge in revealing such plans.

  There's been a lot of sudden focus on Pickaxe Mountain, though it had largely been absent from all prior media coverage of the war, due to Israeli intelligence feeding it to US mainstream press. "Israeli intelligence believes Iran moved thousands of uranium-enrichment centrifuges into tunnels deep inside a mountain last fall, Israeli and U.S. officials say, a development that would heighten concerns that Tehran could reconstitute its nuclear program," The Wall Street Journal wrote Tuesday.

  "Israel passed along the intelligence findings to the U.S., saying the centrifuges were transferred to the Pickaxe Mountain site last fall after the 12-day war in June when American and Israeli strikes pummeled Iran’s three main nuclear sites," it added.

  
  

  And now, by all accounts, more aircraft, refueling planes, and heavy military hardware continue to be transferred from Europe and into the Central Command area of responsibility.

  The Iranians might view this as more simply extra targets to be taken out, however, as Gulf countries continue to see inbound attacks. Missile alerts have been sounding Wednesday in Saudi Arabia, and again in Bahrain. ISNA reports (via Newsquawk): Drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Saudi Arabia; US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and US base in Saudi Arabia targeted:

  
  

  • Bahrain has faced almost daily bombardment recently due to hosting the US Fifth Fleet headquarters.
  • Saudi Arabia has been pulled into the firing line after the collapse of a previous multi-year ceasefire with Iranian-backed factions.

  
  

  
  

  Soldiers in Jordan seem to be prime targets of Iranian ballistic missiles, in an extremely dangerous situation, after several American soldiers already died there in the past week:

  
  

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Trump: 'A lot more countries will join the Abraham Accords

Trump: 'A lot more countries will join the Abraham Accords soon'

Israel National News

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U.S. President Donald Trump met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the White House on Tuesday evening, saying during the meeting that relations between the United States and Lebanon are continuing to improve.

"We're gonna help [Lebanon] a lot," Trump said. President Aoun responded, "The time has come for Lebanon to be stable and secure."

Trump also hinted that Lebanon could eventually become part of the Abraham Accords.

"The Abraham Accords have been, I think, a tremendous success. I think you're going to see a lot of countries joining pretty soon," he said.

The U.S. president also addressed the continued American military strikes against Iran.

"The Iranians are desperate to meet with us, but until they're prepared to do something meaningful, we're not interested in meeting with them," Trump said.

Trump also addressed the ongoing conflict between America and Iran and said that the Iranians are "desperately" trying to meet "behind the scenes."

"They want to desperately meet - and until they're ready to meet in a meaningful way, we have no interest," he said.

The President also vowed to hit any nuclear site that the Iranian regime seeks to reconstitute in light of reports that Iran has moved centrifuges to Pickaxe Mountain, saying: "How about these people? They're in this because of nuclear weapons, and they're trying to possibly reconstitute a site? We'll hit that site. Any site where they're even thinking about nuclear - we'll be hitting it very, very powerfully."