Trump has declared that anyone who says “artificial intelligence” instead of “superintelligence” is an enemy of the White House. Peter argues it is more than a joke: it is the renaming obsession of a Roman emperor, Commodus more than Caligula, and while the courts can roll back tariffs, nothing in the American system restrains the commander in chief on war and peace. Charlie asks why the 25th Amendment is not already in motion, and whether a president who knows he will lose both houses in November escalates against Iran now and reaches for wartime powers. Peter puts the odds of strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure at 60/40, and explains why Netanyahu usually wins that argument.

Then Saudi Arabia. The Houthis have grounded Riyadh’s airports, shut the pipeline and hit the refineries, and the kingdom is scrambling for mercenaries: Pakistani airstrikes bought with Saudi money, token Turkish air defense, and talk of Jolani sending 20,000 jihadists from Syria. Charlie asks how long a rentier monarchy survives when the oil money that buys off the tribes stops flowing, and why it is the Shia resistance, not the Sunni governments, standing up for Sunni Palestinians. Peter closes the Middle East with a warning from the oil industry itself: futures are priced for a victory that is not coming, and the Strait of Hormuz is closing again.

Finally, a bubonic plague death in Siberia and the Western media panic around it, Merz and 28 NATO delegations doubling down in Kiev while the Rada starts whispering about neutrality, whether Russia will change tactics on a slow front, why Soviet air defense decisions from the 1970s decided the 21st century air war, and whether the French protests are the start of something revolutionary.

Timestamps
00:00 Trump: anyone who says “AI” is the enemy
01:01 Commodus, not Caligula: no checks on war powers
06:15 Why the 25th Amendment never comes
08:30 NYT and Axios leaks: strikes before the midterms?
13:24 Bluster or energy strikes? Peter says 60/40
18:30 Pakistan, Turkey and Syria come to Saudi Arabia’s rescue
23:19 Houthis shut Riyadh’s airports and the pipeline
24:35 How long can MBS last?
26:41 Jolani’s 20,000 and who really controls him
29:07 Sunni leaders abandon Palestine; identity as the root of war
35:54 Oil futures in La La Land, Hormuz closes again
39:20 Bubonic plague in Siberia: scare or psyop?
49:03 Merz and NATO double down in Kiev as the Rada cracks
52:13 Paratroopers, amphibious landings and Russia’s slow front
1:01:20 Why Russia wins the air war, and France on the edge

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