🇮🇱❌🇮🇷❗️ — Israeli preparations for an independent strike in Iran is underway, Israeli N12 News says, citing unspecified foreign reports!

Israel can launch effective assault on Iran's nuclear program even without US support, report says.

🇺🇸🇬🇧❌🇾🇪 — Major fires burning at the Ras Isa port on Yemen’s western coast, controlled by Houthi terrorists, following Joint US-UK airstrikes aimed at destroying the facility entirely

🔗 ELINT News (@ELINTNews)

🇻🇪🇻🇪❌🇪🇨❗️ — Ecuadorian Government reports that agents of Nicolás Maduro's regime raided a truck with unused electoral records.

The SEBIN (Venezuelan Regime Intelligence) intercepted the vehicle on the road.

🇨🇳 Nvidia’s CEO makes surprise visit to Beijing after US restricts chip sales to China

The chief executive of the American chip maker Nvidia visited Beijing on Thursday, days after the US issued fresh restrictions on sales of the only AI chip it was still allowed to sell to China.

Jensen Huang’s surprise visit was on the invitation of a trade organisation, according to a social media account affiliated with state media.

The official broadcaster China Central Television said Huang met Ren Hongbin, the head of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, where he said he hopes “to continue to cooperate with China”.

The visit caps a tumultuous week for Nvidia. The US restrictions, announced on Tuesday, apply to shipments of its H20 datacentre GPUs, a lower-powered version of other Nvidia chips, which was designed specifically to comply with Biden-era restrictions on sales to China.

The US government, which is battling China in the race for AI supremacy, told Nvidia the new rules were designed to address the risk that its products might be “used in, or diverted to, a supercomputer in China”.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/apr/17/nvidias-ceo-surprise-visit-beijing-restricts-chip-sales-china

🇺🇸 Trump says Fed Chair Jerome Powell's "termination cannot come fast enough"

President Trump took aim at Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday, writing in a social media post that Powell should be cutting interest rates and adding that his "termination cannot come fast enough."

Mr. Trump's comments on his social media app, Truth Social, come after Powell delivered a speech on Wednesday that warned of the potential consequences of the Trump administration's trade war, while reiterating that the central bank plans to hold interest rates steady for now.

In his social media post, Mr. Trump on Thursday pointed to the European Central Bank, which cut rates by 0.25 percentage points after the president posted his message.

"The ECB is expected to cut interest rates for the 7th time, and yet, 'Too Late' Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete 'mess!'" Mr. Trump wrote.

He added, "Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS. Too Late should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell's termination cannot come fast enough!"

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-powell-federal-reserve-termination-fire-interest-rates/

🇨🇳🇲🇾 China’s Xi wraps up Malaysia visit with jet, chip deals before heading to Cambodia

Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up his first visit to Malaysia in over a decade on Thursday with a flurry of trade and investment pledges – including support for Chinese-made aircraft sales and semiconductor cooperation – as Beijing seeks to position itself as Southeast Asia’s most dependable partner amid Washington’s intensifying trade war.

Xi’s stop in Malaysia, part of a week-long tour of Southeast Asia, came in the wake of Washington’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on goods from the region, ranging from 24 to 49 per cent. Although these measures were subsequently suspended for 90 days, they have raised serious concerns about future access to American buyers.

During his stop in Kuala Lumpur – his first since 2013 – Xi oversaw the signing of dozens of agreements with Malaysia, including deals on railway and aviation cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as partnerships in technology and energy.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3306890/chinas-xi-wraps-malaysia-visit-jet-chip-deals-heading-cambodia

🇨🇳🇰🇭 China’s leader Xi Jinping holds talks in Cambodia to wrap up his 3-nation Southeast Asia tour

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Cambodia on Thursday for a two-day state visit that serves as an opportunity to further strengthen China’s already robust relations with its closest ally in Southeast Asia.

China is presenting itself as a source of stability and certainty as Southeast Asia; where Trump’s tariffs threaten the region’s export-oriented economies whose largest markets are generally the United States.

https://apnews.com/article/xi-jinping-hun-manet-ream-naval-base-cambodia-china-f477b79fd3bb2a08455e95b66acff53c

🇨🇳 "In 'cold war' of modern exchange rates, 'digital currencies from reserves are used'. However, when 'hot war' of major default does begin, 'nuclear weapons of GOLD' are deployed!"

-ANOTHER (THOUGHTS!), 5/21/98

🔗 Luke Gromen

📉📈 Luke Gromen: BTC is starting to act more like an energy-linked neutral reserve asset and less like a levered NDX proxy.

📝 EndGame Macro: This is a key structural shift Luke Gromen is calling out if BTC is beginning to decorrelate from tech beta (NDX) and move more like a neutral reserve asset, that implies a rotation in who is accumulating and why. It suggests sovereign or macro allocators those who care less about speculative upside and more about systemic hedge characteristics are stepping in.

The energy linkage matters too. Bitcoin is priced globally in dollars but secured by energy. That makes it functionally different from both fiat and gold it has production costs like gold, but is digital, portable, and censorship-resistant like no other asset. If global trade continues to fragment and commodity-based FX regimes emerge (petroyuan, gold-linked rails, BRICS tokens), Bitcoin may begin behaving as an option on monetary reset. Watching this divergence from NDX is not just about price it’s about signal migration from risk asset to strategic collateral.

🔗 EndGame Macro

🇺🇸🪖🇨🇩 Erik Prince, a key Trump ally and founder of Blackwater, has struck a deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo to help secure and tax its mineral wealth.

The arrangement, made before a major rebel offensive, focuses on curbing smuggling and improving tax collection — not deploying contractors to conflict zones.

Talks continue as the U.S. and Congo discuss a critical minerals partnership.

🔗 Clash Report

🇺🇸🇸🇾 After media in Israel earlier this week suggested that the United States was preparing to begin a phased-withdrawal from Syria in the coming months, the New York Times is now reporting that the U.S. has begun drawing down hundreds of troops in Northeastern Syria, as well as the shuttering of three of eight military bases in Kurdish-controlled territory to the Northeast.

The drawdown began Thursday and will initially involve 600 of the 2,000 U.S. Servicemembers currently deployed to Northeastern Syria, with MSS (Mission Support Site) Green Village, MSS Euphrates, and another much smaller base located near Deir ez-Zor to be shutdown, with control being handed over to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), now operating under the Syrian Government. According to U.S. officials, after 60 days military officials will assess whether or not to make additional cuts to forces in the country, though commanders on the ground have recommended keeping at least 500 troops in Syria.

U.S. President Trump, however, has expressed deep skepticism about keeping any troops in the country. At least for now the reductions that started on Thursday are based on ground commanders’ recommendations to close and consolidate bases, and were approved by the Pentagon and U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). The Trump Administration is expected to conduct a broad review of its policy regarding Syria, with some official stating that U.S. forces in the country could be entirely withdrawn by 2026.

🔗 OSINTdefender

🇨🇳🇾🇪🇺🇸 Chinese government-linked satellite company Chang Guang Satellite Technology, Co., Ltd (CGSTL), provided satellite intelligence to the Houthis as part of ongoing Chinese, Russian, and Iranian support to the Houthis.

This intelligence could support Houthi attacks against US vessels and commercial shipping, which demonstrates how the Houthis are continuing to cooperate with US adversaries to disrupt global trade.

CGSTL has ties to the Chinese military through China’s military-civilian “fusion” program which integrates private sector work with military research and development.

Houthi-owned military communications and domestic surveillance companies have reportedly imported Chinese-made communications equipment.

The Yemeni coast guard and Omani customs have previously seized shipments of Chinese-made military equipment to the Houthis, such as hydrogen fuel cells for powering missiles and drone propellers.

Targeting intelligence from Iran and Russia aids Houthi attacks on international shipment.

The Houthis reportedly told China and Russia in March 2024 that the Houthis would not target Chinese and Russian-flagged vessels transiting the Red Sea.

🔗 Critical Threats

📊 It’s pretty insane that DOGE is already voluntarily lowering its guidance by -97% and it’s not even Easter yet.

One of the biggest failures in political history.

And it was *so* obvious both ex ante and ex post.

🔗 Spencer Hakimian

🚘🔋🇪🇺 Tesla Sales in Europe Drops, Again

New Tesla registrations plunged across most of Europe in the first quarter of 2025, with some countries seeing dramatic drops:

🇩🇪 Germany: -62.2%
🇸🇪 Sweden: -55.3%
🇩🇰 Denmark: -55.3%
🇳🇱 Netherlands: -49.7%
🇫🇷 France: -41.1%
🇵🇹 Portugal: -25.7%
🇳🇴 Norway: -12.5%
🇪🇸 Spain: -11.8%
🇮🇹 Italy: -6.8%

But one country bucked the trend:
🇬🇧 UK: +3.5% growth

🔗 Clash Report

🇺🇸📞🇺🇦🇷🇺 — US President Donald Trump made several statements about the war in Ukraine, as the negotiations stall

➡️ The U.S. will walk away from negotiations if Russia and Ukraine complicate efforts to end the war — but I hope it won't come to that.

➡️ There is currently a good chance of reaching a Russia-Ukraine agreement to end the war.

🔗 NEXTA (@nexta_tv)

🇺🇸❌🇾🇪 — Satellite image shows aftermath of U.S. airstrikes on Yemen’s Ras Isa oil port, April 18, 2025.

Visible oil slicks and damage near the Red Sea coastline.

Photo by Planet Labs PBC via AP

🔗 Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork):

🇮🇷❌🇺🇸❗️ — Iranian Regime says its red lines, set by Supreme Leader Khamenei, include:

➡️ No dismantling of centrifuges
➡️ No halting uranium enrichment
➡️ No reduction in enriched uranium stockpile
➡️ No negotiations over its missile program.