This Week in the World Affairs Brief
BESSENT SHORING UP THE YEN TO PROTECT TREASURY BONDS
This week, I’ll lead off with an economic analysis of the shaky bond market, whose interest rate yields are rising to new levels because of inflationary monetary policy in Japan. My economist brother, Mark Skousen, and Steve Henke of John Hopkins University will explain why US Treasury bonds are tied so closely to Japan and its low interest rates. As the US under Trump continues to create huge new spending deficits, which must be financed by bond sales and new money creation, rising interest rates and bond yields threaten to raise the total interest burden within the US budget to unsustainable levels. Interest on the $40 trillion dollar debt will consume over a trillion dollars in 2026—about 12% of Trump $8T budget for Fiscal Year 2027, equaling the Defense and Medicare portion, and bested only by Social Security. The US budget first crossed the 1 trillion dollar mark in 1987, and is now 8 times that size, showing how out of control government spending is. It’s also a reflection of the real rate of inflation. To receive a free, one-time sample of the Brief, along with options on how to subscribe, click on Request a sample on the left.
Also:
- Iran Vows to Fight Trump’s Economic War
- Who is Mike Pence, Really?
- The Accreditation Fight
2. Follow the harvest. Migrant farm work was the artery that kept many alive. Cotton in Texas, apples in Washington, wheat in Kansas—each crop had its season, its hunger for hands. A family could stitch together nine or ten months of labor by chasing ripeness across state lines, living in tents that leaked when it rained.
3. Ask not what the job is; ask only if it exists. Pride was a luxury item, quickly pawned. Men who had managed offices took up shovels. Women who had worn silk now scrubbed floors. The work itself mattered less than the doing of it, the exchange of sweat for coins.
Ukraine Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi told reporters that, "roughly speaking," about 90% of the food-logistics infrastructure used by major retail chains (large distribution centers serving networks such as Fora, Silpo, NOVUS, and Varus) has been destroyed. That said, Vysotskyi insists this won't result in famine - as chains are switching to more expensive direct-from-producer "on wheels" deliveries. Yet, stores in Kiev are reporting empty shelves for produce, dairy, and staples.
Russia has increasingly targeted Ukraine’s civilian commercial and logistics infrastructure in recent weeks, striking warehouses, distribution centers, hypermarkets, postal terminals and other facilities that keep goods moving through the country. The campaign has damaged supply chains and forced businesses to find more expensive and vulnerable ways to store and deliver products.
Russia has reportedly used a newly upgraded ballistic missile, provisionally known as the Iskander-1000, for the first time in combat, with Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence reporting that it struck a target in the capital Kiev on August 27. The 9M723-2 ballistic missile used is reportedly an upgraded derivative of the 9M723-1 missile used by the older Iskander-M system, and can achieve a 1,000 kilometre range, where the Iskander-M system was previously limited to a 500 kilometre range.
The Kura test range lies about 4,160 miles to the east of where the Arkhangelsk region launch occurred, making for an impressively distant flight across Russia.
The military confirmed that the "tactical, technical and flight characteristics of the missile system" were monitored and analyzed, and that the flight went off flawlessly.
A federal judge permitted the government to move forward with construction earlier this month.
President Trump's move to dismantle what Republican Sen. Josh Hawley has called the "modern-day monopoly" in U.S. beef processing reflects growing concern that industry concentration has become a food-security vulnerability.
Four corporations, JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill and National Beef, dominate cattle purchasing and processing, creating single points of failure across the nation's beef supply chain. This consolidation has reduced local processing capacity, weakened regional food supply chains and shifted pricing power away from independent ranchers and farmers.
Media accounts which seek to explain the nature of his meeting with top Kremlin intelligence officials, while apparently being snubbed by Putin in terms of a direct interaction, have shifted in days since the visit. The early 'consensus' was that he delivered a stern warning for Russia not to attack any NATO state. But President Trump has poured cold water on this explanation, appearing to dismiss it outright in his latest comments.
Police fire rubber bullets at Spaniards as residents tear down beach camps
133-year-old Grand Rapids sanctuary gutted; 175-year-old Alabama church destroyed
“It’s a deadly cocktail,” Hanke offered. He said “the bond vigilantes have come out of hibernation” in reference to the investors that have served as the scourge of administrations for decades, selling government debt en masse to punish what they see as reckless fiscal or monetary policy, ultimately driving yields higher until policymakers change course. The term was coined by economist Ed Yardeni in a 1983 paper, where he wrote that if fiscal and monetary authorities wouldn’t regulate the economy, “the bond investors will.”
jet-powered drones returning to Kyiv hours after dawn, four generations of Shahed derivatives in three years, Chinese engines inside recovered airframes, and Ukrainian interceptors that may no longer be fast enough.
Russia’s apparent return to using North Korean ballistic missiles – alongside a missile breach of Polish airspace – shows that Ukraine’s air defense shortage is already a direct threat to Europe.
The Department of Education has begun the process of removing the American Bar Association’s ability to accredit law schools, though the ABA Accreditation Council emphasizes the move represents only one step in the process.
The number of troops from the pariah state has crept up to 8,500 fighting in Ukraine after Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-Un signed a mutual defense agreement two years ago.
According to Major General Vadym Skibitskiy, Deputy Head of Ukrainian Defense Intelligence, Putin may request up to 50,000 more soldiers from North Korea next month.
Russia fired a new ballistic missile during a recent strike on Ukraine.
The Iskander-1000 has a larger engine and longer range than its predecessor.
Russia has been upgrading its ballistic missile arsenal, threatening Ukraine's already strained air defenses.
Benjamin Netanyahu has removed much of the ambiguity surrounding Israel’s territorial intentions in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, southern Lebanon and Syria. His government is no longer presenting Israeli military control merely as a temporary response to immediate threats. It is articulating a broader doctrine under which Israel reserves the right to remain inside neighbouring territory until every organisation it considers a danger has been disarmed or eliminated. Because Israel alone determines whether that condition has been satisfied, the proposed security arrangements have no fixed geographical limit, timetable or clearly defined endpoint.
Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine showed abysmal efficacy in preventing hospitalization. It also showed a higher risk of adverse events, including death, compared with a non-mRNA standard-dose flu vaccine, according to a reanalysis of the FDA’s clinical data. The authors of the reanalysis, including Dr. Peter McCullough and Nicolas Hulscher, urged U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to halt distribution of the shots.
At the start of this week, Britain announced it plans to provide Ukraine with classified technology to allow for the country's own manufacturing of the British/French-designed SCALP air-launched cruise missile (which in the UK is known as the Storm Shadow). The allies expect to set up a production line in Ukraine as soon as year's end.
Measles did not cause one of the deaths, a county coroner said, while officials have declined to release details about the second death.
The warehouse in the central Tambov region city of Kotovsk was first targeted in July, but this time the large complex has been "completely" destroyed in the resulting fire, Governor Yevgeny Pervyshov confirmed.
Glacier Collapse May Have Sparked Nepal Flash Flood
100 Dead, 300 Missing, according to Nepal's government (54 Americans among hundreds missing)
Deadly Flash Flood Near Nepal's Border with Tibet Swallows Entire Border Crossing
The study details joint laboratories and research in aero-engines, underwater acoustics, and target detection as the Pentagon audits 30 U.S. schools.
The issue emerged when the developer's Bluetooth headphones refused to transfer their audio connection from his computer to his phone while AliExpress was open. A deeper dive of the website's code showed background scripts maintaining access to the computer's audio-processing system without producing audible sound.
Champagne said counter-tariffs will be introduced on a sliding scale of 15, 25, and 50 percent, with the highest levies applied to specific dairy products, cosmetics, and select lumber products.
The Supreme Court stated that its new order “does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful ... but the [executive order] itself does not harm the States, so the District Court lacked jurisdiction to bar the Government from trying to implement it.”
In other words, any concrete injury that the litigating states may experience would come from later agency actions implementing it, and states may then sue over that issue when it arises.
Trump said that starting in the new year, all Canadian cars, trucks, and auto parts will be subject to a 50 percent tariff. Current tariffs on Canadian autos are 25 percent.
Inside SEMA’s Detroit garage, which opens up aftermarket parts to Americans in 49 states....“It was such an arduous process with CARB, and there was no timeline that you could assign to it,” Kaminsky said while telling of real-world examples of members encountering problems with compliance in the past. He recounted one situation in which he was sitting across from a chief engineer of GM’s Corvette program “in a very uncomfortable meeting” as regulatory delays disrupted operations.
Beijing and other nations will face ramifications if they do not cut ties with Iran, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Yahya Saree, the military spokesman for the Houthi rebels in Yemen, described that the attacks were carried out using ballistic missiles and drones and were executed as part of the implementation of the 'siege for siege' operation targeting the Saudis.
View More