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Sun, 18 Jan 2026 18:25:00 +0000 EU Hosts Emergency Meeting Over Trump's Greenland Tariffs, Germany Threatens World Cup Boycott
EU Hosts Emergency Meeting Over Trump's Greenland Tariffs, Germany Threatens World Cup Boycott
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified Trump's positioning on Greenland overnight, stating that "we are not going to outs
Read more.....
EU Hosts Emergency Meeting Over Trump's Greenland Tariffs, Germany Threatens World Cup Boycott
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent clarified Trump's positioning on Greenland overnight, stating that "we are not going to outsource our national security."
The elites of The European Union are not best pleased at Trump's tariff threat (on some European allies that oppose the United States’ efforts to acquire Greenland) and immediately called an emergency meeting of ambassadors from the bloc’s 27 nations to discuss just how sternly worded their email response would be.
As we detailed yesterday , Trump has reiterated numerous times that the United States needs Greenland for national security purposes and warned that “world peace is at stake” if the United States does not succeed in obtaining Greenland.
Meanwhile, the eight European nations, which are already subject to 10 percent or 15 percent tariffs by the United States, have sent a small military presence to Greenland.
“Tariff threats undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral,”
As Jacob Burg reports below for The Epoch Times, the military deployment is intended to bolster Arctic security “as a shared transatlantic interest” and poses no threat to anyone, the nations said, adding that they are ready for dialogue with the United States “based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that we stand firmly behind.”
“We stand in full solidarity with the Kingdom of Denmark and the people of Greenland,”
In an English translation of her written statement, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, “Since the U.S. President’s announcement of tariffs, the [Danish] government has been in intensive dialogue with our allies .”
“It is all the more important that we stand firm on the fundamental values ??that created the European community. We want to cooperate, and we are not the ones seeking conflict,” she said.
“And I am pleased with the consistent messages from the rest of the continent: Europe will not be blackmailed. ”
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson echoed Frederiksen in a social media post on Saturday, adding, “Only Denmark and Greenland decide on issues concerning Denmark and Greenland.”
“This is an EU issue that affects many more countries than those now being singled out,” he added.
“Sweden is now having intensive discussions with other EU countries, Norway, and the United Kingdom for a coordinated response.”
Germany’s vice-chancellor and finance minister Lars Klingbeil said that “a line had been crossed”, adding that the affected nations “must not allow ourselves to be blackmailed”.
“There will be a European response to this threat,”
“It is unacceptable to hit countries that are now taking more responsibility for our common security in Nato,” said Troels Lund Poulsen, Denmark’s defence minister, who will meet Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte on Monday.
Not to be outdone, France’s Emmanuel Macron has called for the EU to activate its so-called anti-coercion instrument that can restrict access to the single market for American companies.
“He will be in contact throughout the day with his European counterparts and will request, on France’s behalf, the activation of the anti-coercion instrument,”
Greenland Governance
U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and Greenland’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt at the White House on Jan. 14.
Rasmussen described the talks as a “frank but also constructive discussion.”
Trump said on Jan. 16 that he was considering a wave of tariffs on European allies “if they don’t go along” with allowing the United States to purchase the Danish territory.
The U.S. president noted on social media that attempts by the United States to “do this transaction” for Greenland date back “over 150 years.” U.S. President Andrew Johnson’s administration first floated the idea of expanding American influence in the Arctic in the 1860s.
Trump has also previously signaled that Greenland would be a wise investment for the United States due to estimates of high quantities of rare earth mineral deposits on the Arctic island.
While the island was under formal Danish control since the era of colonization in the early 1700s, Greenland was granted self-governance in the 1970s with the creation of a parliament and the Self-Government Act of 1979, expanding the island’s autonomy. However, the island didn’t gain full self-governance until 2009.
On Jan. 9, the officials from Greenland, including Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and multiple political party leaders, released a statement reaffirming Greenland’s sovereignty and rejecting any claims that would impede the island’s autonomy.
“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,”
World Cup Boycott
German politician Jurgen Hardt (CDU) spoke to newspaper BILD recently to suggest that Germany could withdraw from football's biggest competition in response to Trump's threats against Greenland. "Dropping out of the tournament would, however, only be considered as a last resort in order to get Trump to see sense on the Greenland issue,"
Germany are not the only nation who have raised concerns over the participation at this summer's World Cup. Back in September 2025, Spanish government officials suggested that withdrawing their national team was on the cards due to political tensions on the global stage.
It seems to us that boycotting The World Cup would be a naive and we're sure highly unpopular move (most notably in Germany who are among the favorites), likely ending disastrously from a domestic political perspective. Perhaps the politicians are not aware of the proletariat's passion for the beautiful game!?
Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 13:25 Close Sun, 18 Jan 2026 17:50:00 +0000 Oil, Dollars, Gold, & Venezuela In A Nutshell
Oil, Dollars, Gold, & Venezuela In A Nutshell
Oil, Dollars, Gold, & Venezuela In A Nutshell
Authored by Matthew Piepenburg via VonGreyerz.gold,
Putting any kind of bow on the current headlines to conveniently explain or “wrap up” recent events in Venezuela would be a fool’s errand. The extraordinary mix, as well as polarized views, as to the personalities, policies, economics, military acumen, and even international legality of the entire saga makes consensus impossible.
Political Optics? The operation itself, of course, has all the Hollywood features of a daring and successful military drama, which can create tailwind optics for a President.
The opposite, of course, happened for Jimmy Carter, when his April 1980 Iranian hostage rescue mission stalled tragically in the desert, along with any hope of his re-election shortly thereafter.
Political “optics,” however, are often as short and capricious as politics itself. We all remember, for example, President Bush’s famous “mission accomplished” moment on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln long before the mission, in fact, was not accomplished…
From Politics to Economics But moving away from the undeniably swampy terrain of politics to the Realpolitik of hard math, we can begin to discern certain financial and sovereign motives that speak far more honestly than patriotic narratives of bringing “bad guys” to justice or the stemming of drug trafficking.
There is something far more basic, and even mathematical, behind the headlines in Venezuela whose roots lie years deeper, and whose ripple effects will run far longer into an admittedly unknowable yet nevertheless somewhat precarious future.
The Past – Hegemonic to Broke(n) This future will directly involve, and impact, gold’s international profile in the years ahead. But to put the present and even future into a greater context, let’s first take a brief look backwards.
For years, we have tracked, debated and observed the many intertwining themes of the slow decline of American hegemony on the global stage and its widening economic fissures and inequalities at the national level.
As always, the familiar themes begin with irrational and unsustainable debt levels Nixon took away the gold standard in 1971
What followed was an era of extraordinary credit expansion and hence currency debasement ,centralization schemes
Within this mix of ever-changing financial forces and headlines, of course, includes the central theme of the U.S. Dollar and Treasury markets, whose health and strength are absolutely central to U.S. hegemony on the global stage. Period.
Times, Dollars & Trust Are Changing But that USD and UST, we also know, have been losing strength, credibility and trust in the backdrop of a world slowly moving away from a paper-money system in general and a weaponized USD in particular.
The reasons and forces behind the mounting de-dollarization headlines are both complex yet paradoxically simple.
At a basic level, the over-issuance of IOUs from a nation whose debt levels have gone from $250B in 1971 to $38T in 2026 speaks for itself.
The trillions in mouse-clicked dollars engineered by the Fed to monetize those IOUs and the credit expansion that followed has had an undeniable impact on the absolute purchasing power of that USD.
This is objectively apparent when recognizing the dollar’s 99% decline in purchasing power when measured against gold since 1971.
In addition to the distrust which always follows an IOU or currency from an over-indebted issuer, the subsequent weaponization of the dollar in 2022
The World Is Catching On Central banks, seeing this growing distrust, had been net-selling USTs and net-stacking gold since 2014:
Through no coincidence at all, the pace of this move toward gold tripled after the 2022 sanctions.
Unsurprisingly, central banks now hold more gold than USTs. Even the BIS can’t help but confess that gold is a superior strategic reserve asset than the once-sacred US 10Y Treasury Bond.
This now obvious move away from the dollar toward gold is no longer a warning or cry from the “gold-bug” camp, but a neon indicator of the structural shift in a global trading and monetary system in open flux.
A Nervous U.S. Resisting Change Needless to say, the US is therefore admittedly concerned.
It needs a commanding currency and buyers for its IOUs beyond just the Fed itself. At some point, too much QE becomes an open signal that the U.S. (and its Greenback) has become broken beyond repair and hence respect.
This explains other alternative-QE tricks in consideration, such as a possible gold revaluation measure .
Such realities, of course brings us full circle back to the headlines of Venezuela, which are intrinsically connected to the complex interplay of the USD, the UST, the oil markets, and, you guessed it, gold itself.
Oil & USTs: The Traditional Pillars of U.S. Hegemony I have written about the brief history and changing patterns of the critical petrodollar arrangement and gold’s evolving place in its narrative in prior reports here here here
To simplify, the petrodollar, “agreed” between the U.S. and the OPEC alliance led by Saudi Arabia shortly after the dollar’s gold-decoupling in 1971, was of central importance to maintaining the USD’s dominance in the global currency system.
By effectively tying global oil sales to the USD, the petrodollar arrangement provided an extraordinary source of demand for a dollar whose supply, following its gold decoupling, was otherwise unlimited.
Acting as a treaty-based “sponge” to absorb otherwise grossly over-produced dollars, the petrodollar system was a therefore an essential buffer against otherwise unsustainable currency debasement.
Equally beneficial to Uncle Sam, the petrodollar system mandated that the producers of that oil earmark a significant percentage of their oil revenues toward the purchasing of Uncle Sam’s IOUs. This served as an undeniable source of support for the UST market and hence America’s ability to expand its debt issuance at levels no other nation in the world could mirror.
In short, the petrodollar became an extraordinary source of both USD and UST demand, making global oil sales via the petrodollar a critical pillar to U.S. financial hegemony.
2026 Is not 1974… In exchange for this dollar-backed oil arrangement, Saudi Arabia/OPEC received U.S. protection from the Soviets in a cold war era that has changed in the intervening decades since 1974.
What has also changed in those intervening decades, of course, are U.S. debt levels, bond yields, dollar strength, and post-2022 trust in the USA.
As de-dollarization headlines increased in the post-sanction era, there was much hype about the end of the petrodollar when Saudi Arabia waffled on renewing/extending its dollar peg in 2025.
As there was no formal petrodollar treaty ratified by the Senate, technically either side could opt out, but in fact, the Saudis were considering a petrodollar 2.0 contingent upon Israel’s culmination of its war in Gaza.
Wobbling Pillars By 2025, 20% of Saudi oil was being sold in euros, not dollars, but Trump was offering more carrot than stick to keep the petrodollar going, for obvious reasons.
Meanwhile, however, the Saudis, for the equally obvious reasons listed above, were not blind to the USD’s weakening credibility, the UST’s weakening yields (compared to the 1970’s) and China’s strengthening desire to find a non-dollar energy solution.
Furthermore, anyone, including OPEC, who tracked oil prices throughout the decades, knew full well that oil priced in gold was infinitely more stable than oil priced in USD.
In short, the petrodollar pillar to USD hegemony was not broken, but it was certainly wobbling.
From Nervous to Violent The U.S. was thus nervous.
Dollar-backed oil is essential to its paper currency’s survival, which is precisely why figures like Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein, who had each tried to sell their oil outside the dollar, did not, well… survive at all.
As Kissinger noted decades ago, commanding a world reserve currency equally requires the world’s strongest military. In short, monetary and military might went hand-in-hand to protect U.S. interests.
Thus, the recent military actions in Venezuela don’t require too much imagination to understand. Regardless of whether they were right or wrong, the actions against Nicolas Maduro were a classic reminder of oil’s importance to the U.S.
Which raises the obvious question: Can any major oil power ever leave the petrodollar without a fight?
Although China took only 4% of Venezuelan oil in Yuan purchases from the Belt & Road Initiative, 95% of Iran’s oil goes to China and is sold in Yuan, not dollars. Is it any coincidence that “regime change” in Iran is an almost daily headline?
Folks—it’s all about the oil…
Looking Ahead The US, whose dollar share of global FX reserves has been sinking like a stone in the past two decades, is viscerally worried about a de-dollarizing world in which the BRICS in general, and China in particular, are developing gold-backed trading currencies and other systems (the BRICS “Unit”, M-Bridge membership, BRICS-Pay etc.) to trade resources in general, and oil in particular, outside the USD.
Again: This terrifies Washington DC.
Could 15 to 20 nations in the global south develop a new oil trade currency via a basket of weighted currencies outside the USD? Could the Saudis slowly look away from the petrodollar?
No one can predict the precise nature, policies, agreements or even wars of the future when it comes to oil and the dollar. We can only track past patterns and measure current cracks in the old system.
And Gold, Of Course… What we are currently seeing in Venezuela may be desperate, but it’s no surprise.
US refineries are designed for the heavy crude which Venezuela holds. And within hours of meeting representatives from China, Maduro was coincidentally whisked away by DELTA forces before a larger arrangement could be met.
It’s also worth noting that billions worth of Venezuelan gold was frozen in their accounts at the Bank of England.
In short, this interplay of dollars, USTs, oil and gold is also no coincidence.
If the petrodollar weakens in any meaningful way, USTs, already seeing a dramatic decline in demand, would fall even further, meaning UST yields, and hence the cost of Uncle Sam’s massive debt burden, would become fatal rather than just embarrassing.
Such a scenario would compel the Fed to initiate extraordinary money-printing to support Uncle Sam’s unloved IOUs, thereby debasing its paper dollar even more and sending gold’s relative valuations considerably higher.
In addition to such monetary desperation, military desperation is an equally concerning possibility.
I, of course, do not know the future. No one does. We can only track patterns, motives, debt levels and hence debt-based desperations, in everything from stablecoins
What we can all see and agree upon, however, is that things are clearly changing and shaking up as the chaos meter rings louder with each headline.
Gold, of course, loves chaos, and in a world of dying paper currencies, fracturing geopolitics, systemic monetary shifts and wars, or rumors of wars, gold’s secular direction today and tomorrow should be of no surprise to anyone paying attention.
Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 12:50 Close Sun, 18 Jan 2026 17:15:00 +0000 Trump Wants $1BN Fee From States Seeking To Join Gaza Peace Board
Trump Wants $1BN Fee From States Seeking To Join Gaza Peace Board
According to a Saturday Bloomberg report, the Trump administration is asking nations interested in holding a permanent seat on a proposed Gaza Strip "Board of Peace"
Read more.....
Trump Wants $1BN Fee From States Seeking To Join Gaza Peace Board
According to a Saturday Bloomberg report, the Trump administration is asking nations interested in holding a permanent seat on a proposed Gaza Strip "Board of Peace" to pledge at least $1 billion in funding .
Bloomberg described that US allies and regional partners have already been briefed on the concept as part of wider diplomatic efforts to influence and direct Gaza's future after the Israel-Hamas conflict.
via AFP The intent of the funding threshold is reportedly to ensure that participating countries have substantial financial involvement in stabilizing the territory and supporting long-term redevelopment.
Washington seems to be arguing that spreading the financial burden internationally is critical to preventing American taxpayers from shouldering most of the reconstruction costs . Sadly, this was of no concern when the same taxpayers were footing the bill for billions in weaponry and foreign aid for Israel over prior years - even as Palestinian neighborhoods got flattened by US bombs.
Officials privy to internal deliberations told Bloomberg , "Several European nations have been invited to join the peace board. The draft appears to suggest Trump himself would control the money, something that would be considered unacceptable to most countries who could have potentially joined the board ."
The Times of Israel has obtained a copy of the text of the board's charter, which says, "Each Member State shall serve a term of no more than three years from this Charter’s entry into force, subject to renewal by the Chairman (Trump)."
"The three-year membership term shall not apply to Member States that contribute more than USD $1,000,000,000 in cash funds to the Board of Peace within the first year of the Charter’s entry into force," it added.
As we detailed earlier , among the "founding executive board" members are US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The board also includes private equity executive Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga, and US national security adviser Robert Gabriel, according to a White House statement .
The board, to be chaired by Trump , will oversee the Palestinian technocratic committee-also known as the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza (NCAG)-which will be led by former Palestinian Authority official Ali Abdel Hamid Shaath.
An anonymous official has sought to ensure to Bloomberg that almost every dollar raised will be "used to execute its mandate" - in reference to the Gaza board and rebuilding and stabilizing the strip. Given that so far Palestinian representation is a small minority, most Gazans will probably remain deeply distrustful of this US-backed and controlled board.
Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 12:15 Close Sun, 18 Jan 2026 16:40:00 +0000 The Real Watches Of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
The Real Watches Of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
The Real Watches Of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro
Authored by Watches of Espionage,
Separating Fact from Fiction in Nicolás Maduro’s Watch Collection
On the morning of Saturday, 3 January 2026, the United States Military conducted an interagency mission to capture and arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. While the long term implications are still unknown and “analysis” has fallen along partisan lines, Operation Absolute Resolve appears to be a masterclass on modern warfare and frankly an operation that only the United States Military and Intelligence Community could carry out.
The situation is still developing, however according to an in-depth brief by Chairman of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff, General “Razin” Caine, the operation was a highly coordinated effort involving more than 150 aircraft and some of the nation's most elite units, including the U.S. Army's elite Tier-1 special mission unit, officially 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), aka the "Night Stalkers", and US Cyber Command.
Arguably, the most interesting aspect of the operation was the involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). According to press reporting, CIA deployed a small team into Venezuela as early as August 2025 to monitor Maduro’s “patterns of life.” In addition to that team, the agency reportedly used an asset placed close to Maduro himself, a human source inside or near his inner circle, who was able to track his location and provide real-time information during the operation. This asset, combined with SIGINT, ISR, and other intelligence collection, helped US SOF pinpoint Maduro’s exact whereabouts, enabling the raid’s timing and precision.
As always, watches are our prism for viewing the world and current events, so today we take a look at the watches of deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Rolex Accusations - A Case of Disinformation
Criticising a leader for their expensive habits is as old as time (no pun intended), and often these criticisms are legitimate. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s watch collection is estimated to be valued over $1 million dollars, which is hard to explain given the Kremlin's claimed salary of $140k per year.
Over the past few years, Spanish-language social media accounts and news outlets have promoted a theory that Maduro owns expensive Rolex references, often citing an interview where Maduro reportedly covers up a “Rolex” with his sleeve when the interviewer notices the watch. The only problem is that the watch in question is actually a Citizen, with a retail value of approximately $250.
To be clear, we are not defending Maduro, who was objectively a dictator. He dismantled democratic institutions, manipulated elections, and stayed in power through repression despite losing public support. Independent observers say he lost the July 2024 election, yet the regime declared him the winner without transparent results or audits, then responded to protests with arrests and violence.
That said, we should be honest and criticize him for his real faults, not fabricate additional shortcomings for social media. Whether this was an honest mistake, a coordinated disinformation campaign by the opposition, or an intelligence service is open for debate.
In reality, Maduro’s watch collection is diverse, intriguing, and even surprising. Some of his watches are, whether or not they carry the emotional weight of a brand name like Rolex, objectively expensive, while others would qualify as cheap to most.
Citizen Eco-Drive CA0131-55L
The watch Maduro wore the most publicly while in power was a humble chronograph from Citizen, a Japanese brand best known to the W.O.E. community for its Aqualand collection of dive watches . Former President Maduro’s Citizen appears to be the seldom-seen CA0131-55L, a 44mm titanium quartz chronograph equipped with Citizen’s Eco-Drive solar charging technology. Given that this reference has been discontinued for some time, it’s difficult to establish an exact retail price, but it likely would have cost no more than $250 to 300.
What made Maduro reach for this watch over the many more opulent options available to the president of an oil-rich country is anyone’s guess, but it would be fair to assume that optics played a role. Wearing an inexpensive Citizen sends a modest, everyman message to constituents and the broader world, one that quickly falls apart when a world leader straps on a watch from the heights of Swiss luxury.
Hublot Big Bang King Power Maradona
In 2024, during the summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), Maduro displayed another watch, which some have falsely reported as a Royal Oak Offshore. The watch, a Hublot Big Bang King Power Maradona, was released in 2012 and allegedly given to Maduro in 2018 at a campaign event in Caracas. Upon giving Maduro the watch, Maradona told him, “When you use it, remember that I will always be with you.”
Before his death in 2020, Maradona was an outspoken proponent of Maduro’s politics, earning fines for dedicating victories to the Venezuelan President while coaching professional soccer in Mexico. With a retail price of around $40,000 at the time, the 48mm rose gold chronograph calls into question the ethics of giving and receiving gifts while in political office , while also presenting issues concerning Maduro’s perception among Venezuelans and the rest of the world. Surprisingly, the $40k watch isn’t the most expensive timepiece Maduro has publicly worn.
Hublot Classic Fusion Tourbillon Cruz-Diez
While it’s unclear whether he actually owned the watch, Maduro was also photographed wearing yet another Hublot in December 2024: the Hublot Classic Fusion Cruz-Diez Platinum Tourbillon. The watch was revealed in 2015 and is either a pièce unique or part of an extremely limited run created by Hublot in collaboration with Carlos Cruz-Diez, a celebrated Venezuelan artist known for modernist, avant-garde works. Executed in a 45mm platinum case and equipped with a tourbillon at six o’clock, a similar example of the watch is currently available from a US-based dealer for $85,000.
Admittedly, only a few photos show Maduro wearing the Hublot, meaning it was perhaps loaned to him or, if he owns it, he had the sense not to wear it excessively for fear of perception-related challenges and media scrutiny.
Chopard & Bovet
Perhaps more damning than anything previously listed here are a pair of watches representing the heights of Swiss artisanal watchmaking. First is a watch from Chopard’s L.U.C. collection, which is where the brand showcases its métiers d'art in hand-crafted watches, many of which feature hand-engraving, painting, or enameling, in addition to manufacture calibers.
In November 2024, Maduro wore what appears to be a Chopard L.U.C. Urushi Year of the Dragon watch with a dial decorated in Japan with Urushi lacquer, gold powder, and mother-of-pearl inlays. There are a bunch of different variations, and it’s difficult to say which Maduro has. In any case, priced over $30,000, Maduro’s Chopard elicits further questions about the Venezuelan President’s horological habits and high-end taste.
The last known piece of Maduro’s collection is a bit of a mystery, but it is most likely a pièce unique from Bovet, possibly based on the Amadeo Fleurier 43, with a custom dial. Like Chopard, Bovet 1822 is known for delicate hand crafts, intricate dials, and enameling, with Maduro’s watch showcasing an enameled dial in addition to Bovet’s signature lug architecture.
Comparables are scarce, but it would be fair to assume a watch like this came with a price point in the hundreds of thousands of US dollars, making it potentially the most expensive, but also the least identifiable piece in his collection.
What Happened to the Watches?
According to press reports, Maduro was captured in a safe house in Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela's largest military complex. In the first confirmed pictures post-arrest, he is seen wearing a Nike sweatsuit, a watch notably absent. While speculation, this grey suit was likely provided by the Delta operators who likely would have stripped him of all belongings while on target, to mitigate concealed beacons or explosives. This would likely include the watch on his wrist.
During the Global War on Terror, all personal items and communications would be bagged and brought back to a central location for intelligence processing, a process called Sensitive Site Exploitation (SSE). It is safe to assume at least some of the belongings were retrieved and likely documented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), including a Huawei phone given to him by China’s Xi Jinping in September 2025 when he claimed, “Huawei, the best phone in the world, the Huawei, and the Americans can't hack it, neither their spy planes, nor their satellites." A comment that did not age well.
So in short, the watches are likely still in Venezuela, although I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one is on display in a team room in North Carolina…
Final Thoughts
Watches rarely tell the whole story, but they often reveal more than their wearers intend. In Maduro’s case, the duality between a carefully cultivated image of modesty and the reality of repeatedly wearing six-figure Swiss complications mirrors the broader contradictions of his rule. The Citizen on the wrist played well for the cameras. The Hublots, Chopard, and a possible Bovet told a different story to anyone paying attention. As with most authoritarian regimes, optics mattered until they didn’t, and eventually, reality caught up.
At W.O.E., this exercise was never about defending a dictator or piling on with lazy internet outrage. It was about accuracy, context, and using watches as a lens to better understand current events and national security.
Watches are tools, symbols, and sometimes props. In this case, they were all three. Whatever ultimately happens to Maduro’s collection, the takeaway is clear. Use objective analysis to criticize leaders for what they actually do, not what social media wants you to believe.
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Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 11:40 Close Sun, 18 Jan 2026 16:05:00 +0000 Trump In First Suggests Iran Regime Change: 'Time To Look For New Leadership'
Trump In First Suggests Iran Regime Change: 'Time To Look For New Leadership'
The deadly unrest and protests in Iran have largely gone quiet, but White House pressure on Tehran has not. President Trump over the weekend for the first
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Trump In First Suggests Iran Regime Change: 'Time To Look For New Leadership'
The deadly unrest and protests in Iran have largely gone quiet, but White House pressure on Tehran has not. President Trump over the weekend for the first time in the two-week crisis called for the end of the Iranian Supreme Leader's rule . His words came in an interview with Politico :
President Donald Trump on Saturday called for an end to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s 37-year reign.
"It’s time to look for new leadership in Iran," Trump told POLITICO, as widespread protests calling for an end to the regime appear to have waned.
via Barron's "The man is a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people ," Trump said. "His country is the worst place to live anywhere in the world because of poor leadership."
Days prior into last week, it became clear that Trump would hold off striking Iran. He described that the killing had stopped, and that Iranian leaders agreed to not execute any protesters.
Recent reporting in major US news sources also indicated that the Pentagon could not assure success in taking out top leadership if strikes on Tehran were authorized. This figured strongly into Trump's holding off.
Referencing Ayatollah Khamenei, Trump told Politico further, "The best decision he ever made was not hanging more than 800 people two days ago."
It's unclear where this 800 figure comes from, as there's an absence to any such reference from Iranian officials or state media. Typically when the Islamic Republic executes someone, it is highly publicized by state sources as a stern message and warning to the public or other potential criminals.
Khamenei himself isn't backing down, and is also engaging in accusatory rhetoric aimed at Trump. After linking US and Israeli intelligence to the protests in which "thousands" were killed (Iran has made clear that among these were many police and security forces), the top Shia cleric has said as follows:
"We find the US President guilty due to the casualties , damages and slander he inflicted upon the Iranian nation," Khamenei wrote .
But probably Khamenei is holding back his rhetoric to some degree, not wishing to provoke Trump into attacking Iran at a delicate moment, also when the economy and currency are in a tailspin. Trump responded :
Trump, after being read the posts, said Tehran’s rulers rely on repression and violence to govern. “What he is guilty of, as the leader of a country, is the complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before,” Trump said. “In order to keep the country functioning — even though that function is a very low level — the leadership should focus on running his country properly, like I do with the United States, and not killing people by the thousands in order to keep control.”
There are fresh reports Sunday that internet access is slowly coming back to Iran , after the say prior SMS messaging was restored - though it's expected that authorities will continue to keep a ban on certain US and Western-based apps and communications platforms.
While Trump has refrained from attacking Iran, US military assets are said to be en route to the Middle East and CENTCOM area of responsibility. The bulk of the US Navy's strike group has been in the Caribbean, after the Jan.3rd operation to oust Maduro.
Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 11:05 Close Sun, 18 Jan 2026 15:30:00 +0000 Rotation Continues As Markets Remain Bullish
Rotation Continues As Markets Remain Bullish
Rotation Continues As Markets Remain Bullish
Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,
Sector rotation is this weekend’s 2026 Investment Summit
That said, U.S. equity markets delivered mixed performance last week. Major indices generally held near record levels even as volatility increased and macro and policy risks surfaced. Notably, breadth has expanded as the rotation from technology to other sectors continued. Such was particularly notable in materials, industrials, and transportation. We noted on January 8th that a rotation into defensive areas was likely. Since then, staples and energy have significantly outperformed.
Notably, that sector rotation has pushed the equal-weighted index to new all-time highs. That surge continues to close the performance gap with the market-cap-weighted index as technology has lagged. However, technology, financials, and communications are now becoming more oversold. Such sets up a potential counter rotation as we move into the heart of earnings season starting this coming week.
Despite geopolitical concerns, questions about the Federal Reserve’s independence, and policy uncertainty, the US Dollar remained firm, trading near equilibrium since 1976. Furthermore, the dollar remains in a strong bullish uptrend from its 2008 lows, underscoring that narratives of dollar debasement and dedollarization remain false.
The falseness of those narratives is underscored by the rising and record levels of US Treasury bond purchases by foreigners. (If they were de-dollarizing or were worried about debasement, they would not be buying Treasuries, which are dollar-denominated.)
As the week progressed, economic data and corporate earnings began to exert greater influence on market direction. Retail, consumer, and producer price data alongside early labor market indicators painted a picture of a still-stable economy with signs of cooling momentum. Markets interpreted this data as supportive of sustained growth with a cautiously optimistic Fed posture.
The big news, of course, is that the Q4 earnings season commenced with significant implications for sector leadership. Financial sectors took center stage as mixed bank results from major lenders such as Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs led to sector underperformance midweek, while robust forecasts and expansion plans from Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC sparked a rally in chip stocks. Nvidia, Broadcom, Micron, and chip-equipment suppliers outperformed substantially on Thursday, lifting broader market sentiment and contributing to a two-day recovery from earlier declines. As noted above, mid-cap and small-cap stocks also outperformed, suggesting expanding market breadth beyond mega-cap technology names.
The importance of sector rotation and fund flows should not be overlooked. According to Lipper data, U.S. equity funds experienced the largest weekly inflows in over three months, with large-cap exposure leading and tech, industrials, and consumer staples attracting notable capital. Bond funds also saw strong inflows, indicating a balanced approach to risk assets amid mixed signals on growth and inflation. Money market fund outflows reflected renewed risk appetite despite policy noise.
Next week, earnings will take center stage as the primary market drivers. Therefore, let’s review the technical backdrop for near-term support and resistance levels.
??Technical Backdrop – Bulls Remain In Control
With the S&P 500 closing at 6940 on Friday, the technical conditions reveal a market in a controlled but consolidative state as key milestones approach. The index maintained its uptrend established late last year and into early January, signaling continued bullish momentum as higher highs and higher lows remain intact. This trend is supported by the S&P 500’s recent successful test of the 20-day moving average, with breadth indicators such as advancing stocks and total market participation expanding beyond just mega-cap technology names.
Price action through the week saw the S&P 500 navigate around near-record levels while consolidating within a tight range just below the psychologically significant 7000 level , which acts as immediate resistance. Both the technical selling and options market dynamics ahead of earnings could just be prepositioning against potential disappointment risk. However, if earnings are better than feared, this could lead to a rather explosive move higher if the rising wedge pattern resolves bullishly. Short-term momentum indicators on the daily chart suggest neutral to slightly bullish conditions, with the trend slowing but without reversing. The market’s current structure shows typical consolidation behavior after a strong advance, often preceding a continuation rather than an abrupt reversal when broader breadth remains supportive.
On the downside, the index remains supported by key levels that traders and investors should monitor. These include the prior breakout zones and the 50-day moving average, which has acted as a dynamic support floor through recent pullbacks. A decisive break below these supports could signal a loss of short-term trend conviction, though weekend risk events, such as geopolitical developments or policy news, could still influence price action once markets reopen after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
From a volatility perspective, U.S. equity volatility metrics remain subdued, although volatility has risen mildly. We could see a further pickup in volatility with earnings season and macroeconomic data releases, which are known to act as catalysts for directional breaks.
?? Key Catalysts Next Week Market activity in the week ahead will be defined by a holiday-shortened start, a slate of major economic releases, and a broad set of corporate earnings from S&P 500 names and key sectors. Monday, January 19, markets will be closed in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, resulting in light trading and reduced volume once markets reopen on Tuesday. After an active first full week of earnings and macro data, investors will turn next to fresh corporate reports and several high-impact economic releases, including advance GDP, jobless claims, and core inflation proxies. Given recent market resilience amid mixed macro signals, these catalysts will affect sentiment and positioning as Q4 earnings continue and markets digest inflation trends and labor market dynamics.
The schedule below highlights major U.S. economic releases alongside notable S&P 500 and large-market company earnings that could move markets.
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In sum, the S&P 500’s technical profile remains constructive but range-bound near resistance. Support levels are holding for now, and trend measures remain bullish above the key breakout levels.
KEY TECHNICAL LEVELS – S&P 500 Index (SPX)
The next directional move will likely hinge on the market’s ability to clear resistance above 7000 or to test deeper support levels that define the current trend structure.
Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 10:30 Close Sun, 18 Jan 2026 14:56:00 +0000 The $134 Billion Betrayal: Inside Elon Musk’s Explosive Lawsuit With OpenAI
The $134 Billion Betrayal: Inside Elon Musk’s Explosive Lawsuit With OpenAI
Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft has evolved into a high-stakes dispute over whether OpenAI stayed true to the
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The $134 Billion Betrayal: Inside Elon Musk’s Explosive Lawsuit With OpenAI
Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft has evolved into a high-stakes dispute over whether OpenAI stayed true to the mission it was founded on or quietly outgrew it while relying on that original promise.
Musk is seeking between $79 billion and $134 billion in damages, a figure derived from an expert valuation that treats his early funding and contributions as foundational to what OpenAI later became. While the number is enormous, the heart of the case is simpler: Musk argues he helped create and fund a nonprofit dedicated to AI for the public good, and that OpenAI later abandoned that commitment in a way that amounted to fraud.
According to Musk’s filings, his roughly $38 million in early funding was not just a donation but the financial backbone of OpenAI’s formative years, supplemented by recruiting help, strategic guidance, and credibility. His damages theory, prepared by financial economist C. Paul Wazzan, ties those early inputs to OpenAI’s current valuation of around $500 billion.
The claim is framed as disgorgement rather than repayment, with Musk arguing that the vast gains realized by OpenAI and Microsoft flowed from a nonprofit story that attracted support and trust, only to be discarded once the company reached scale, according to TechCrunch .
Much of the public attention has centered on internal documents uncovered during discovery, particularly private notes from OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman in 2017.
One line has become central to Musk’s argument: “I cannot believe that we committed to non-profit if three months later we’re doing b-corp then it was a lie.”
Musk’s legal team treats this as evidence that OpenAI’s leadership understood the nonprofit commitment was being undermined and worried about how that would look to Musk, the organization’s biggest early backer. In Musk’s telling, OpenAI used the nonprofit identity to get off the ground, then pivoted toward for-profit structures and a deep partnership with Microsoft that fundamentally changed who the company served.
The scale of the damages also feeds Musk’s narrative. Given his immense personal wealth, OpenAI has argued that the lawsuit is about money. Musk counters, implicitly, that the size of the claim reflects the size of what was built on the original promise, not personal need. OpenAI, for its part, has characterized the case as part of an “ongoing pattern of harassment” and a tactic to slow a competitor while Musk builds his own AI company.
OpenAI’s response disputes both the facts and the framing. In a blog post responding to Musk’s filings, the company said, “In his latest court filing, Elon cherry-picks and publishes snippets from Greg Brockman’s private journal entries … which, when read with the surrounding context, tell a very different story from what Elon claims.” OpenAI argues that as early as 2017, it was openly discussed that developing advanced AI would require far more capital than a nonprofit could realistically raise, and that Musk was involved in those conversations.
According to OpenAI, Musk agreed that some form of for-profit structure would be necessary, as long as the nonprofit mission continued in some form, OpenAI said in a blog post responding to the lawsuit.
OpenAI also says the relationship unraveled over control, not deception. As the company puts it, “The truth is that we and Elon agreed in 2017 that a for-profit structure would be the next phase for OpenAI; negotiations ended when we refused to give him full control; we rejected his offer to merge OpenAI into Tesla; we tried to find another path to achieve the mission together; and then he quit OpenAI.” From this perspective, Musk left because he could not dictate OpenAI’s future, not because he was misled about it. OpenAI has gone further, calling the lawsuit Musk’s “fourth attempt” at similar claims and “part of a broader strategy of harassment.”
At trial, the fight will hinge on how a jury interprets those internal notes and conversations. Musk says they reveal leaders who knew the nonprofit promise could not survive and worried about admitting it. OpenAI says they show a team struggling honestly with how to fund an ambitious mission without surrendering it, while resisting Musk’s demand for dominance.
The outcome will shape not just who wins or loses billions, but how far Silicon Valley founders can stretch lofty missions before courts decide they crossed the line from evolution into deception.
Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 09:56 Close Sun, 18 Jan 2026 14:55:00 +0000 Ahead Of Mass Adoption Cycle: A Full Supply-Chain Breakdown Of Smart Glasses
Ahead Of Mass Adoption Cycle: A Full Supply-Chain Breakdown Of Smart Glasses
Ahead Of Mass Adoption Cycle: A Full Supply-Chain Breakdown Of Smart Glasses
Smart glasses took center stage at CES 2026 in Las Vegas last week , highlighting a new generation of AI-enabled eyewear integrated with real-time assistants.
In Meta's case, the push is clearly toward affordability and mass adoption, positioning these glasses as everyday consumer electronics rather than super expensive niche hardware for elites.
A lesson for smart glasses manufacturers is not to repeat Apple's misstep with the prohibitively priced Vision Pro, which crushed any chance of widespread adoption and eventually led to the exodus of developers .
Before affordable smart glasses hit the consumer market this year and next, Goldman analyst Jerry Shen published a clear, straightforward view of the AI and AR glasses supply chain, breaking it down by the companies that supply the critical components behind these devices.
We suspect demand will accelerate this year after a Bloomberg report earlier this week revealed that Meta has asked its smart-glasses manufacturing partner, EssilorLuxottica, to double production capacity for AI-powered smart glasses by year-end.
Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 09:55 Close Sun, 18 Jan 2026 14:20:00 +0000 UK Migrant Crime Surge: Foreigners Top 79% Of Theft Arrests, 40% Of Violent Suspects On Trains
UK Migrant Crime Surge: Foreigners Top 79% Of Theft Arrests, 40% Of Violent Suspects On Trains
UK Migrant Crime Surge: Foreigners Top 79% Of Theft Arrests, 40% Of Violent Suspects On Trains
Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,
Foreign nationals accounted for 79 percent of all arrests for theft on trains in Britain last year, and 40 percent of all railway arrests, new data from British Transport Police has revealed.
The figures were published as part of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the Centre for Migration Control (CMC) think tank.
They showed that, despite comprising a minority of the overall population, foreign nationals were disproportionately responsible for several categories of offenses, including theft, drug violations, sexual offenses, and violent crime.
“Of the 9,771 arrests in England, Wales, and Scotland, nearly 3,700 were foreign nationals. We have imported a huge problem,”
It noted that 79 percent of those arrested in 2025 for theft on British trains were foreigners, while migrants arrested for drug offenses, sexual offenses, and violent crime comprised 40 percent, 37 percent, and 36 percent of all detentions, respectively.
For all offenses, foreign nationals were involved in 37.7 percent of arrests.
Speaking to GB News , CMC’s research director Robert Bates said of the British government, “They have made our trains unsafe. It is the responsibility of any sane government to end immigration and begin a programme of mass deportations to protect the British people.”
Last week, the CMC published its findings from multiple other FOI requests to police forces across England and Wales, and found that 172,889 foreign national arrests had been made for the year ending March 31, 2025.
This, it noted, equated to 474 arrests every day, or an arrest every 183 seconds.
Of those arrests, 51,212 were for violent offenses, while 11,264 were in connection with a sexual offense.
In several recommendations the think tank made to the government following its findings, the CMC called for Britain to “follow the example set by [U.S. President] Donald Trump and introduce a ‘red list’ of countries that are unable to obtain visas.”
It also called for the government to “amend legislation so that any foreign national convicted of a crime immediately becomes liable for deportation and, crucially, actually begin deporting them.”
This reality is not just seen in Britain but across wider Western Europe.
In September last year, the French statistics agency INSEE revealed that 64 percent of violent robberies, physical and sexual violence on public transport in Paris are committed by foreigners, with 43 percent of this number being North African, who represent only 3.4 percent of the population.
Similarly, in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, foreigners are responsible for 62 percent of all crimes in the German state on public transport, despite being only 16 percent of the population, according to data published following an inquiry for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) state lawmakers in June last year.
Data from November 2024 showed that across wider Germany, foreigners commit 59 percent of all sexual crimes in trains and at train stations .
Alternative for Germany (AfD) MP Martin Hess recently warned, “Train stations, once places of mobility and peaceful encounters, are increasingly becoming no-go areas,” after it had been revealed that the number of violent crimes at Berlin’s central station tripled between 2019 and 2024 .
In recent weeks, railway employees and their unions in Italy have expressed concerns about welfare following several high-profile attacks against staff, including the fatal stabbing of a 34-year-old train conductor on Jan. 5 outside Bologna’s main railway station by a migrant.
Earlier this week, a homeless foreigner accused of sexually harassing female railway workers on three separate occasions at Ravenna train station was issued a one-year banishment order after union complaints and police intervention.
“The workers are terrified,”
Read more here...
Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 09:20 Close Sun, 18 Jan 2026 13:45:00 +0000 Macy's Closing Two Fulfillment Centers, Laying Off 1,000 Workers
Macy's Closing Two Fulfillment Centers, Laying Off 1,000 Workers
Macy’s will close its two fulfillment centers in Cheshire later this year, a move that will affect nearly 1,000 employees, according to
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Macy's Closing Two Fulfillment Centers, Laying Off 1,000 Workers
Macy’s will close its two fulfillment centers in Cheshire later this year, a move that will affect nearly 1,000 employees, according to a company notice released Tuesday and reported by WFSB .
The facilities on Knotter Drive and West Johnson Avenue will shut down. A small group of maintenance workers will remain through spring 2027 to assist with the closure, but most employees are expected to lose their jobs this year.
Cheshire’s town manager said the community was notified and is working with state and regional agencies to help displaced workers. In a statement, the town said:
“The Town of Cheshire is deeply saddened by Macy’s decision to close its Logistics Fulfillment Center, resulting in the elimination of nearly 1,000 jobs. Macy’s has been a valued member of our community since 1986 and has consistently been one of Cheshire’s top ten employers, making this a significant loss for our town.
Our thoughts are with the employees and families impacted by this decision. The Town has been in contact with Macy’s management, the Northwest Regional Workforce Board, and the Connecticut Department of Labor to coordinate assistance for affected workers, including plans for a job fair and access to employment and transition resources.
Cheshire remains committed to supporting impacted employees and will continue working with our regional and state partners during this transition.”
The announcement follows the October decision to close Macy’s South Windsor distribution center in early 2026. Layoffs there include warehouse workers, equipment operators and supervisors, with job eliminations occurring between December 28, 2025, and January 10, 2026.
Macy’s said the changes are part of a broader effort to streamline operations. “Macy’s, Inc. is continuing to simplify and modernize our supply chain to better serve customers and operate more efficiently. As part of this work, we are concluding Backstage operations at our South Windsor, CT facility and centralizing them at our dedicated off-price facility in Columbus, OH. Other operations at South Windsor will continue. We’re committed to supporting our colleagues through this transition,” the company said.
Tyler Durden Sun, 01/18/2026 - 08:45 Close
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