USA - For decades, Americans have unknowingly consumed cheese made with a genetically modified enzyme developed by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer — an ingredient that remains unlabeled and unregulated despite growing concerns over GMOs in the food supply. Fermentation-produced chymosin (FPC), a lab-engineered version of traditional rennet, is now used in roughly 90% of commercially produced cheese in North America. The revelation, which recently went viral on social media, has sparked outrage among health-conscious consumers, many of whom are now vowing to boycott mainstream cheese brands. "How is this allowed?" demanded one X user, while others declared they would scrutinize labels or switch to organic alternatives. The backlash highlights a disturbing trend: The quiet takeover of the food supply by corporations with a history of prioritizing profits over public health.

USA - The Trump economy is booming. A CNBC analyst was left noticeably shocked — even asking the audience to “buckle up” — while reading the latest trade deficit numbers Thursday morning. The US trade deficit dropped to $29.4 billion in October 2025 from $136 billion in March 2025 — a major win for President Trump’s policies.

USA - The Trump administration last week blocked plans to shut down a generator unit at a coal-fired power plant in Colorado. The order, which will keep the unit running through March 2026, cites analysts finding that the grid would be unable to supply enough electricity during periods of high demand, such as a major storm. “Keeping this coal plant online will ensure Americans maintain an affordable, reliable and secure supply of electricity. The Trump administration is committed to lowering energy costs and keeping American families safe,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement. The Colorado unit wasn’t the only coal facility the administration preserved. On December 17, Wright ordered the last coal power plant in Washington to remain operational. It was slated for retirement at the end of last month. On Christmas Eve, Wright also blocked the closure of two coal-fired power plants in Indiana, which were to be shuttered the following week. “The industry is very optimistic," Arthun said. "We know there’s an energy crisis and that coal is a valuable player in stabilizing the grid."

USA - Stagnating economies, together with high government debt loads, inevitably create funding crises and debt traps. Nowhere is this problem more destructive than for the fiat dollar. But it’s not just the dollar. Economies in the Eurozone and the UK have insufficient growth to support their colossal mountains of government debt. A combination of rising interest rates reflecting growing risk and stagnating economies bring on debt traps, leading to yet higher interest rates making the situation even worse. My memory is of the sterling crisis in 1976, when the IMF bailed out the British government, and the Bank of England had to fund medium-term debt with gilt coupons of over 15%. The Labour government was forced to cut its spending to resolve the situation. So I have a question for today: who is going to bail out first, the US Government, then the UK and Eurozone, and who is going to force them to cut spending on the edge of a recession? Only the markets will do it: crisis first, and only if we are lucky, the solution follows.

IRAN - The start to 2026 could hardly have gone worse for the Supreme Leader. Every day this year something has gone wrong for the Islamic regime in Tehran. Now, protests have erupted across the country, more widespread than any since the government murdered Mahsa Amini in 2022. Today, we’re seeing clashes with groups from shopkeepers to students of every age and demographic. Calls for the end of the ayatollahs, the restoration of the monarchy and for freedom have been heard from the Caspian Sea to the Persian Gulf. It’s true the economy is collapsing, but this isn’t about economics – it’s about liberation.

GERMANY - Germany's deindustrialisation: capital flight, green policy, and the point of no return. The German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) sees the German economy in a prolonged phase of deindustrialization. Together with the Federation of German Industries (BDI), the chamber reiterates calls for far-reaching reforms to boost growth and investment. Yet both associations still shy away from touching the golden calf of the green transformation. Existing reforms are failing to reach companies, Melnikov warns, pointing to high labor and energy costs. The BDI likewise called 2026 a “year of reforms” in comments to Reuters. All of this is correct. And yet the question remains why leading figures of German business still lack the courage to openly criticize government policy and finally bury the visibly failed project of greening German society.

GERMANY - Once again, Merz risks seeing a rhetorical initiative dissipate in the void of coalition dynamics — dynamics that, under the dogma of firewall politics, are pushing his government ever deeper into ideological waters that even Social Democrats of the old Helmut Schmidt school would likely consider unacceptably far to the left of economic reason.

MIDDLE EAST - Things are getting very tense in the Middle East. The Islamic radicals that are ruling Iran believe that the United States and Israel intend to use the mass protests that have been going on for nearly two weeks to try to overthrow their regime. If Ayatollah Khamenei and his top advisers reach a point where they are convinced that the Iranian government could actually fall, there is no telling what they might decide to do. Meanwhile, President Trump has declared that the US is ready to take military action if the Iranians continue to kill more protesters, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that there will be “very severe” consequences for Iran if Israel is attacked. If either Khamenei, Trump or Netanyahu pulls the trigger, the Middle East will erupt in flames. Have the Iranians given the Russians advance warning? It is being reported that the Russians are “urgently” evacuating their diplomatic personnel from Israel right now…

ISRAEL - The terrorists don't need to show up again. The inhibition is already installed, running quietly in the background like software that updates itself. Eleven years ago today, two brothers walked into the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo and murdered 12 people for drawing cartoons. Two days later, another gunman, this one pledging allegiance to ISIS, walked into a kosher supermarket and murdered four Jews buying groceries for Shabbat. We thought we were watching an atrocity. We were actually watching the beginning of the end of Europe as we knew it. These weren’t random acts of violence. They were tutorials. These were demonstrations of how terror rewrites the rules of free societies without the need to pass laws. The lesson was easy to comprehend: Publish what we don’t like, and we’ll kill you. Be visibly Jewish in public, and we’ll kill you. Once we’ve done it a few times, the fear will do the rest of the work for us. That’s the evil genius of the strategy. You only have to strike once or twice before the inhibition becomes self-sustaining.

UK - There is a simple reason why Trump ignores us on Greenland and Maduro. We no longer matter. Civilisational decline happens slowly at first, and then all at once. Britain has not been this weak and irrelevant on the global stage since the early 1500s; France and Germany are facing equally severe existential crises. It took Donald Trump to call our bluff, exposing our impotence and insignificance to a world we once dominated. British and European politicians cannot stop Trump from buying Greenland, or kidnapping Latin American tyrants, or taking out the Mullahs’ evil nuclear programme, or sanctioning Left-wing international judges, or doing whatever else he wants.