Meanwhile, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and local intelligence officials are getting continuous updates about developments from the Americans and other countries. Three names apparently starring in these updates are the straits of Bab al-Mandab and Hormuz, and the Suez Canal. Iran is threatening to seal off these passages hermetically, with no entry to commercial vessels, and with anyone persisting in entering risking attack. This is a threat in every sense, no less serious than the others directed at Israel by Tehran and Hezbollah, which are perceived as more tangible. This time the warhead is not on a missile.

There are no alternatives to these shipping lanes; they are among the most important in the world: Approximately 20 percent of the world’s fuel passes through these straits every year. Bab al-Mandab is the gateway from Asia and Africa – through the Suez Canal – to the Mediterranean Sea and Europe, and one cannot exaggerate its importance. With regard to Israel, 90 percent of its imports and exports are transported by sea, and 12 percent of them pass through Bab al-Mandab. This includes all commerce between Israel and the East, particularly its imports from China. We’re talking about around $15 billion worth of goods a year.

And of course this comes at a time when the US economy is already slowing down dramatically. The economic optimism of the last couple of years is being replaced by a deep sense of gloom, and we are starting to see this reflected in the behavior of the markets.

“You can’t have the world’s two largest economies in a long, drawn-out mutually destructive trade war and not slow the global economy,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities Corporation. Of course Hogan is 100 percent correct. The trade war is going to hurt all of us economically, and very disturbing numbers are rolling in on a daily basis now.

Moore – whose role in co-founding Greenpeace is so embarrassing to the organisation that it has tried to airbrush him out of its history – was appearing as a witness before the House Subcommittee on Water, Oceans and Wildlife. He told the Democrat-led committee that the UN’s Global Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IBPES) was merely a “front for a radical political, social, and economic transformation of our entire civilization”.

“As with the manufactured “climate crisis” they are using the specter of mass extinction as a fear tactic to scare the public into compliance. The IBPES itself is an existential threat to sensible policy on biodiversity conservation.” The IBPES report was released earlier this month and widely covered in the mainstream media. It warned a million species are threatened with extinction. But Moore told the committee this claim was nonsense.

The IBPES claims there are 8 million species. Yet only 1.8 million species have been identified and named. Thus the IBPES believes there are 6.2 million unidentified and unnamed species. Therefore one million of the unknown species could go extinct overnight and we would not notice it because we would not know they had existed. This is highly unprofessional. Scientists should not, in fact cannot, predict estimates of endangered species or species extinction based on millions of undocumented species.

And then the Dark Ages came. In the blink of an eye, all that was lost. The people no longer had the technological know-how even to repair bridges and aqueducts built by the Romans. They had lost the ability to make cement. They lost many of the works of Aristotle. Roads and plumbing fell into disrepair. Statues crumbled. Only centuries later did civilization begin to reassert itself, barely climbing back to the accomplishments of several centuries earlier.

Whatever the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire, one thing is for sure: There were not vast bands of powerful Romans prattling about “Roman privilege,” demanding that the Huns be given preference over Romans and writing articles with titles like “Abolish the Romans!” That is the driving impulse of one of our two major political parties. The other party can’t bestir itself to care about anything other than tax cuts, abortion and moving our embassy to Jerusalem.

Infineon is now forced to halt its supplies of USA-produced components to Huawei. A serious conflict with Beijing would be fatal for the company. One-quarter of Infineon's sales are currently generated in China - significantly more than in any other country. It is also engaged in major future-oriented projects in that country. Observers warn that the Trump administration could force the German industry to choose between the USA and China - as in the case with Iran. The DAX companies generate nearly 22 percent of their sales in the USA and 16 percent in the People's Republic.

It is, of course, also conceivable that the US economic war will backfire. Commentators are warning that Germany's entire economy may arrive at a situation, where they - like Infineon and Deutsche Telekom - must choose between the USA and China. Regardless, one thing is clear, "no one knows yet, how far Trump is prepared to go to retard China's further emergence."

"Assange was complicit with Chelsea Manning… in unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to the national defense," the Department of Justice said in a statement, while National Security Division head John Demers insisted "Julian Assange is no journalist."

Actual journalists, however, were horrified by the "unprecedented assault on the First Amendment." "This is the first time in history that anyone operating in a journalistic capacity has been charged under the Espionage Act," Michael Tracey tweeted, adding in another tweet that the charges represented "the gravest attack on the First Amendment in years — possibly ever." Even the Obama administration, which prosecuted more whistleblowers under the Espionage Act than all previous administrations combined, ultimately opted not to pursue charges against Assange, concerned such prosecution would violate the First Amendment.

John Pilger didn't mince words, declaring "Modern fascism is breaking cover" and warning mainstream media that they were next.

But it isn’t just the United States that is facing a very troubling year. Earlier today, one of my readers sent me an article entitled “Global food crisis ahead as extreme weather events devastate crops and fields around the world” which I would encourage everyone to read. In that article, we are told that after the worst drought in 116 years Australia has actually been forced to import wheat. And according to the Guardian, this is the first time in 12 years that this has happened… Normally, Australia exports a tremendous amount of wheat. In fact, they were the fifth largest exporter of wheat in the entire world last year. But now they are having to bring wheat in from Canada, and that is a very ominous sign.

The article on Strange Sounds also detailed crop failures in Italy, France, Mexico and Argentina. But one major crop failure that was missed in that article is the massive rice crop failure in the Philippines… More than P350 million worth of damage on rice crops due to drought was recorded by the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist (OPA)-Capiz. All over the world, crops are being devastated by floods, drought and colder than expected temperatures, and many are desperately hoping for a return to normalcy for global weather patterns.

Things are particularly bad in North Korea. At this point, hardly any rain at all has fallen so far in 2019… The rainfall is the lowest amount since 1982. Thus far in May, North Korea has seen 0.02 inches of rain. However, Pyongyang City, Nampho City, Kangwon Province and North and South Hwanghae provinces have seen no rainfall. With so little rain, farmers have had an exceedingly difficult time growing anything at all, and at this point the nation is facing an enormous food deficit…

On top of everything else, let us not forget that African Swine Fever is absolutely devastating the global pig population. According to the Hill, it is being projected that 200 million hogs could die from the disease in China alone… McDonald’s, Burger King, Jimmy Dean and Dunkin’ all reportedly expect sausage and bacon prices to rise this year as China has to import pigs to make up for the 200 million hogs that are expected to die from the disease. To put that in perspective, that is more pigs than the entire US pork industry produces in an entire year.

Even during the good years, the world has really struggled to feed everyone. Now that we are facing catastrophic crop failures all over the planet, what will we do? Many believe that a global food crisis is looming, and without a doubt US consumers will soon be paying much higher prices when they visit the grocery store.

“Preble sailed within 12 nautical miles of Scarborough Reef in order to challenge excessive maritime claims and preserve access to the waterways as governed by international law,” Commander Clay Doss, a spokesman for the Seventh Fleet, stated. Sunday’s incident marks the second such US intrusion into the South China Sea this month. On May 6, the USS Chung-Hoon sailed within 12 nautical miles of Gaven and Johnson Reefs in the Spratly Islands, triggering a strong response from China.

“The relevant actions of the US warships violated China’s sovereignty and undermined peace, security and good order in the relevant sea areas,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said.