Trump’s diesel deal with Putin adds up to about five days of US consumption. What did Trump actually get on that phone call? Not much diesel. What he did get was a fight with Zelensky, who wasn’t on the call, wasn’t consulted, and by Monday was being told he has to go.

Then it got stranger. Trump announced an energy truce that neither Moscow nor Kiev had heard of, Ukraine struck another Russian refinery anyway, and the White House leaked that it had asked six times for the strikes to stop. Charlie presses the question the episode can’t escape: if the president asks six times and nothing changes, who is actually running American policy? Peter explains why Trump can start wars but can’t end them, why the CIA has always been hard to control, and why the one lever that could end the war overnight sits with Elon Musk and Starlink. From there it’s Europe’s suicide pact on Russian energy, Ukraine’s spat with South Korea, the CIA and Pentagon funding militias to fight each other in Syria, and whether the West is sleepwalking into a World War One moment with “militarism without a military.”

In the back half, Saudi Arabia. Airports hit, four oil and gas facilities destroyed, MBS reportedly moving bunker to bunker. The comments keep saying Saudi can’t fall. Peter explains why it can, why nobody can save it, and what happens to the petrodollar if it goes. They close on Israel’s undeclared nukes, Iran’s NPT inspections, and the ongoing horror in Gaza and southern Lebanon.

0:00 Intro
0:23 The Putin-Trump diesel deal: what 300,000 tons really means
4:06 Five days of fuel, and Ukraine cut out of the room
5:02 Zelensky’s fury, Trump’s threats: intel support, PURL, “Zelensky must go”
7:12 The energy truce Trump invented
8:33 Why can’t Trump just stop the strikes? Rogue CIA, Starlink and a weak president
14:17 Europe’s suicide pact and why Zelensky isn’t afraid of Trump
17:26 Ukraine insults South Korea
22:37 The US at war with itself: CIA militias vs Pentagon militias
26:25 Elon Musk, Starlink and the one move that could end the war
29:09 Why are Western leaders tricking us into war?
34:14 World War One echoes and “militarism without a military”
43:19 Saudi Arabia under Houthi fire: can MBS survive?
52:07 Would the US send 200,000 troops? What happens if Saudi falls
1:04:15 Israel’s illegal nukes, Iran’s inspections, Gaza and Lebanon

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