New Zealand If It Was...

Over Europe:

NZ Over Europe

Over North America:

NZ Over USA

All areas in pink are NZ, including the little dots, being outlying islands. Not so small eh. Images have been rotated to reflect climate equivalence.

These images care of The True Size Of

Divide and Rule

Asmongold goes on an epic rant, but can anyone say he's wrong? He points out that Occupy Wall Street was the closest America has come to an awakening, but that the culture wars destroyed it. Victor Davis Hanson points out something similar, saying that Barack Obama did a lot of damage to American society by pitting people against one another. 

As people closely examine the Epstein Files that have recently become available, it is obvious that very dark forces have been at work. 

Trump at Davos 2026

Donald Trump will be speaking at Davos, Switzerland, this Wednesday. No doubt he'll put the cat among the pigeons, but this got me thinking; is Donald J Trump really in charge, and if not, who is running the US?

Consider December 3, 2019, the date Kamala Harris announced she was withdrawing from the 2020 presidential election. According to official figures, she raised more than $40 million toward her campaign. That's a lot of money, and easily enough to continue into the Democratic Party primaries held in 2020. Personally, I believe that date in 2019 is a signpost to the fix being in, Joe Biden was to be the next president, and the most likely challenger, Bernie Sanders, was derailed, marginalised, and dismissed at every turn. Despite that, Sanders did rather well in the primaries, winning the largest state, California. 

Then, with Joe Biden installed and his running mate announced, in the form of Kamala Harris no less, he campaigned from his basement and won a clearly rigged election to become the 46th President of the US. The following four years were chaotic, and it was clear that Joe Biden was not in charge. He couldn't be, as he was clearly suffering from dementia. 

Then, leading into the 2024 presidential election, Donald Trump experienced several attempts on his life, one of which was nearly successful. This happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, and yet do you ever hear about this today? It is as if a cone of silence has descended over the issue; it is never to be discussed. However, Trump survived and became the 47th President. Is it clear that Donald J Trump is in charge? It isn't clear to me at all. Rather like Joe Biden, he appears to be managed too, with others making decisions on his behalf.

I'll cut to the chase: over the last few years, I believe we've been witnessing a power struggle between factions that actually run the US. The faction that now runs things was ultimately successful. What that means for the rest of the world is more disruption and change to the accepted rules. 

Trump Gets Greenland

This is an interesting angle on why exactly, the US has a claim to Greenland.

Was Maduro Betrayed?

A bit obvious, I'd have thought, how else would Delta Force know exactly where Maduro was? He had to have been served up. 

The latest news coming out of Venezuela sounds as if they're going to start fixing their oil infrastructure and start pumping oil. A figure I saw has their output at about 750k barrels per day, down from their usual one million, which is even far worse than their 1990's output of three million barrels per day.

Venezuela has gone from being the richest country on Earth per capita in the seventies, to abject poverty today. If regime change lifts the standard of living, then that's good. I'm fairly sure that behind the scenes the two sides have been talking and the deal was that Maduro has to be given up, and America gets involved once again in their oil industry. 

EU Against Free Speech

European elites have always treated speech as optional privileges.

Venezuela's Oil

I've been thinking of a reason the US may be about to take Venezuela, and the only explanation I can think of is that they want its oil. Venezuela has the world's largest oil reserves by far, yet it only pumps daily about 10% of what it should be pumping. That's because, after decades of economic failure, their oil equipment is broken.

Right then, so what I think the US could do is take control of Venezuelan oil. To do this, they wouldn't need to occupy the whole country. All they'd do is control those areas where the oil fields are located, and also control pipelines and port facilities. Study the map to see where those assets are located.

Venezuela is surrounded by adversaries. Guyana is part of the Commonwealth and a former British colony, and likewise, so is Trinidad and Tobago. Then, to the west is Colombia, which is now fully developed and a member of the OECD. Only Brazil may be an ally of Venezuela, but it's through a jungle and undeveloped areas too far south.

The scenario would be to first crush all of Venezuela's oil exports, then occupy the oil fields. They'd need to take out Venezuela's military assets as well, and leadership in Caracas. But they'd just destroy the government and military assets, not take them on head-to-head.

Why is this a brilliant strategic move? If the US does this, then China is cooked. What has this got to do with China?

China controls the so-called renewables sector, wind and solar energy generation, and it controls EV battery production. If the US starts pumping Venezuelan oil at ten times its daily rate right now, the price of gasoline will halve and wipe out the renewables sector overnight. Why would anyone buy an EV, or install solar panels, or a wind turbine when oil is cheap and limitless?

Venezuela's Oil Assets

All Top US Military Meeting

I wonder what this could be about? Very serious, sounds like. Note, no staff officers invited.

Future of Truck Stops

What.....charging for parking?

Bring back old school truck stops.

Tulsi Gabbard Declassified Emails

Here's the link to the emails which Tulsi Gabbard claims amounts to a treasonous conspiracy to undermine the president of the United States:

https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2025/4086-pr-15-25

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ODNI News Release No. 15-25
July 18, 2025

 

New Evidence of Obama Administration Conspiracy to Subvert President Trump’s 2016 Victory and Presidency

WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Friday, Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard revealed overwhelming evidence that demonstrates how, after President Trump won the 2016 election against Hillary Clinton, President Obama and his national security cabinet members manufactured and politicized intelligence to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump.

• In the months leading up to the November 2016 election, the Intelligence Community (IC) consistently assessed that Russia is “probably not trying … to influence the election by using cyber means.”
• On December 7, 2016, after the election, talking points were prepared for DNI James Clapper stating, “Foreign adversaries did not use cyberattacks on election infrastructure to alter the US Presidential election outcome.”
• On December 9, 2016, President Obama’s White House gathered top National Security Council Principals for a meeting that included James Clapper, John Brennan, Susan Rice, John Kerry, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe and others, to discuss Russia.
• After the meeting, DNI Clapper’s Executive Assistant sent an email to IC leaders tasking them with creating a new IC assessment “per the President’s request” that details the “tools Moscow used and actions it took to influence the 2016 election.” It went on to say, “ODNI will lead this effort with participation from CIA, FBI, NSA, and DHS.”
• Obama officials leaked false statements to media outlets, including The Washington Post, claiming, “Russia has attempted through cyber means to interfere in, if not actively influence, the outcome of an election.”
• On January 6, 2017, a new Intelligence Community Assessment was released that directly contradicted the IC assessments that were made throughout the previous six months.

After months of investigation into this matter, the facts reveal this new assessment was based on information that was known by those involved to be manufactured i.e. the Steele Dossier or deemed as not credible. This was politicized intelligence that was used as the basis for countless smears seeking to delegitimize President Trump’s victory, the years-long Mueller investigation, two Congressional impeachments, high level officials being investigated, arrested, and thrown in jail, heightened US-Russia tensions, and more.

• “The issue I am raising is not a partisan issue. It is one that concerns every American. The information we are releasing today clearly shows there was a treasonous conspiracy in 2016 committed by officials at the highest level of our government. Their goal was to subvert the will of the American people and enact what was essentially a years-long coup with the objective of trying to usurp the President from fulfilling the mandate bestowed upon him by the American people,” said DNI Tulsi Gabbard. “Their egregious abuse of power and blatant rejection of our Constitution threatens the very foundation and integrity of our democratic republic. No matter how powerful, every person involved in this conspiracy must be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. The American people’s faith and trust in our democratic republic and therefore the future of our nation depends on it. As such, I am providing all documents to the Department of Justice to deliver the accountability that President Trump, his family, and the American people deserve.”

  The files and a memo on today’s release are available on DNI.gov. DNI Gabbard will post updates on X (@DNIGabbard) and Truth Social (@DNlTulsiGabbard

Oligarchs Rule Western World

Somewhere along the line, democracy died. Today, countries throughout the developed world are ruled by oligarchies, or plutocracies:

 

How Will Caterpillar Handle Change?

 A bit of a case study: I remember when Caterpillar moved its head office in Asia from Japan to China. They saw the future and moved from the fast growing market that was Japan, to an even faster growing one in China.

Caterpillar has manufacturing facilities across the globe, several in China. Other main plants exist in Japan, Thailand, Mexico, Brazil and the UK. The very large dozers, off-highway trucks and such are still made in the USA, but that's it. If you're driving along and see a Caterpillar, it's highly unlikely to be a machine made in the USA. To see those, you have to be on a mine site, or very large construction site, well away from the gaze of ordinary folk.

Given the direction things are headed, how is Caterpillar going to service its customers in the US? All of the main manufacturing bases are now behind Donald Trump's paywall. And it gets worse, all of the parts supply comes from China as I understand it. No matter where the machine is made, parts come from China. With huge tariffs in place, it will become impossible for American contractors to repair their equipment. They'll be forced to use after-market knock-off parts suppliers.

Here's a list of Caterpillar locations: https://www.caterpillar.com/en/company/global-footprint.html

These facilities cannot be relocated easily. And why would Caterpillar even want to, seeing as most of their machines exist outside of the US?

And this problem isn't just reserved for the one brand. Imagine the scale of the problem across all industry in America. Basically, the task of relocating is so big, it could wreck the economy.

[ Edit: Caterpillar has applied for various waivers, we'll have to see how this develops]

Italy's Meloni Representing EU?

Italy's Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni is in Washington meeting with US President, Donald Trump. Hang on, is Meloni representing the EU here, or advancing Italy alone, or even her own agenda? It appears to be a lot of the latter, and less of the former.

All trade deals must go through Brussels. There's no flexibility on the issue, so perhaps Donald Trump is trying to divide and conquer.

Privately, I've been joking that Europe in six months time will have convinced itself that China is wrong, and the US is right. They'll go back to their abuser, all the while saying it will be different this time, they really do love us.

Meanwhile, in Asia they can see this play out and they'll be grouping together, they'll just deal with one another and cut off links with the US. It'll be interesting to see what Japan and South Korea do, but I feel fairly certain that the ASEAN countries will 'choose' China. They have to deal with China day-to-day on all sorts of issues, I cannot see them siding with the US or Europe.

Putin must be laughing his tits off about now. 

Be Like Singapore

The Singapore prime minister, being an adult

Trade War and New Zealand's Oil Problem

New Zealand no longer has an oil refinery. However, New Zealand does export oil from its onshore and offshore oil wells. The shutting down of NZ's state of the art oil refinery is the biggest act of corporate vandalism NZ has endured. It was an act of sabotage.

New Zealand must immediately start refining oil once more. That's because, when the current trade war becomes kinetic, NZ will be isolated and unable to fuel itself. The country will grind to a halt, no farms operating, no food in the supermarkets. Things will get very bad very quickly.

Currently, NZ exports about 31,000 barrels of oil per day, and imports 108,000 barrels of oil equivalent (dated 2016 figures, but this is the best I've got). That leaves a deficit, but here's the thing; there is sufficient output from its own resources to keep farms and industry functioning. 

Clearly, there are vast resources available, but these need the wells to be drilled and developed, so I'm just going with what is currently being produced.

When the proverbial hits the fan, NZ will be unable to obtain jet fuel, petrol, diesel or bitumen from its usual sources in Southeast Asia. NZ will be completely isolated. Back in the 1940's, NZ went through this as it couldn't get reliable supplies during WWII. Cars back then even resorted to running on coal gas. However, industry did not rely on fossil fuels to the same extent as they do now. If they did use fossil fuels, it was firing up boilers using coal, or they relied on non-fossil fuel hydro electricity. At home, people cooked using piped coal gas from the local gas works. Add to that, NZ had the southern hemisphere's largest fleet of cargo vessels (Union Steamship Company), so it could obtain whatever it needed using its own vessels.

Now, NZ has no ships. In maybe only a few months time, NZ will be sitting around begging someone to spare capacity and please send it some diesel.

Do you think the NZ government will be acting on this, and doing something? Nah, they're too thick, they're a bunch of undereducated morons.

Check the link:

https://www.worldometers.info/oil/new-zealand-oil/

Susanne Cobey - Eagle Crusher Company, Inc

From time-to-time I draw attention to a woman owned and/or controlled business. Well, one such is the Eagle Crusher Company, Inc., of Galion, Ohio. Its CEO is Susanne Cobey, who is also in the hall of fame of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers in the USA.

https://www.aem.org/about/hall-of-fame/susanne-cobey

https://eaglecrusher.com

Significant is that Ms Cobey, very early on, fully embraced the recycling of demolition debris. Now considered a focal part of the industry, Eagle Crushers led the pack in embracing this change.

Elon Musk Fool

File this under; be careful what you wish for.

Elon Musk, while talking in the oval office with Donald Trump right alongside him, went into a long shock horror soliloquy about how US federal records are stored deep underground in a mine. Like, this is a terribly dated thing, right?

Wrong, it's a brilliant idea and best practice. For starters, the mine protects delicate records in a safe place, and protected from nuclear war to boot.  If the US went all modern and placed these records in a digital form, an enemy could take the entire US down simply by taking out the electricity supply.

Yeah, you need physical files, stored safely.

At times, Elon Musk proves he's a fool. He makes the worst car in the world and struggles to launch rockets. His so-called wealth relies on the US taxpayer funneling funds to him. He's a complete clown. 

The sad part of this is that Donald Trump appears easily swayed by people such as Musk. The reality is that DOGE could be working fine without Musk, cleverer brains than his are using the AI tools uncovering the waste, fraud and abuse. The world does not need an Elon Musk thinking he knows better than everyone else.

USAID Reform

While rather long, this Tucker Carlson interview of Mike Benz delves into the risks and necessities of conducting open heart surgery on the US Empire.

Normalcy Returns?

Canada Counter Tariffs

OK, so this has become a tariff war, this will start to ramp up: