Michael retweeted
Bessent you idiot who the fuck are you fooling? Under Trump THESE NUMBERS HAVE DECLINED.
Under @POTUS, the United States is showing the world what real economic growth looks like.
With just around 4% of the world’s population, we produce 26% of global nominal GDP. Our firms lead the G20 in productivity. And more than 60 of the world’s 100 most valuable companies are American.
Two hundred and fifty years after America’s founding, our best days are the ones we are still building.
Michael retweeted
Herzlichen Glückwunsch an unser deutsches Mädel 🥳🥇
Das Land ist stolz auf dich ❤️🇩🇪🫶
Michael retweeted
The most alarming thing about this graph is not just the amount of change, but the smooth consistency of the curve. If this were a startup I'd be really confident about their future growth. Unfortunately it is instead the planet we live on.
Michael retweeted
Good Morning from #Germany, where a founder boom is defying the economic gloom. A record 3,053 startups were launched in H1 2026, up 88% YoY. 1 in 3 focuses on AI, while VC funding jumped 44% to €5.8bn. Germany’s next growth engine may be emerging.
Michael retweeted
You can buy a Tesla in China.
Can Americans buy BYD in the U.S.?
No.
So spare me the “China blocks everything” clown show.
As for Google, maybe ask why it left China.
China did not force Google to separate from its American parent company.
China did not forcibly acquire Google.
Google chose to leave after deciding it would rather play State Department diplomacy than obey Chinese law.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google were openly discussed as tools of U.S. diplomacy.
Then these American clowns act shocked that China did not hand its information space to Washington on a silver plate.
This was never about “free market.”
It was about America demanding access to China while denying Chinese companies access to America.
Very normal empire hypocrisy.
Michael retweeted
Eric Schmidt saying the quiet part out loud: "What I don't like about [China's AI] is that it's all open source which means it's largely uncontrolled and not controlled in any way by us."
He adds, "if that makes you feel any better," that only 2 or 3 countries can be independent AI powers.
In other words, it's all about hegemony: the ideal scenario is a world where AI is controlled by the US - and the fewer countries that can resist that, the better.
Src for the video: youtube.com/watch?v=I2F2xFvt…
Michael retweeted
The worst part is him saying the strike on the elementary school in Minab (that killed 168 schoolchildren and teachers) "is a use case that doesn't even violate our red lines."
Michael retweeted
And we're told it's the other side that's a fanatical theocracy...
Michael retweeted
This is probably the most important article of the month: an op-ed by Oman's Foreign Minister, who mediated the talks between the U.S. and Iran, in which he writes that the U.S. "has lost control of its foreign policy" to Israel.
He repeats that a deal was possible as an outcome of the talks (something confirmed by the UK's National Security Advisor, who also attended: xitter.cf/i/status/2034162151871…) and that the military strike by the U.S. and Israel was "a shock."
Interestingly, given he is one of Iran's neighbors and given that Oman has been struck multiple times by Iran since the war began (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_I…), he writes that "Iran’s retaliation against what it claims are American targets on the territory of its neighbours was an inevitable result" of the U.S.-Israeli attack. He describes it as "probably the only rational option available to the Iranian leadership."
He says the war "endangers" the region's entire "economic model in which global sport, tourism, aviation and technology were to play an important role." He adds that "if this had not been anticipated by the architects of this war, that was surely a grave miscalculation."
But, he adds, the "greatest miscalculation" of all for the U.S. "was allowing itself to be drawn into this war in the first place."
In his view this was the doing of "Israel’s leadership" who "persuaded America that Iran had been so weakened by sanctions, internal divisions and the American-Israeli bombings of its nuclear sites last June, that an unconditional surrender would swiftly follow the initial assault and the assassination of the supreme leader."
Obviously, this proved completely wrong, and the U.S. is now in a quagmire. He says that, given this, "America’s friends have a responsibility to tell the truth," which is that "there are two parties to this war who have nothing to gain from it," namely "Iran and America."
He says that all of the U.S. interests in the region (end to nuclear proliferation, secure energy supply chains, investment opportunities) are "best achieved with Iran at peace."
As he writes, "this is an uncomfortable truth to tell, because it involves indicating the extent to which America has lost control of its own foreign policy. But it must be told."
He then proposes a couple of paths to get back to the negotiating table, although he recognizes how difficult it would be for Iran "to return to dialogue with an administration that twice switched abruptly from talks to bombing and assassination."
That's perhaps the most profound damage Trump did during this entire episode: the complete discrediting of diplomacy. If Iran was taught anything, it is: don't negotiate with the U.S., it's a trap that will literally kill you.
The great irony of the man who sold himself as a dealmaker is that he taught the world one thing: don't make deals with my country.
Link to the article: economist.com/by-invitation/…
It's now unarguable that the war on Iran is one of the most blatant crimes of aggression in history.
You now have not 1 but 2 external participants of the US-Iran talks (Oman’s foreign minister and the UK's National Security Advisor) who confirm that the US and Israel attacked despite Iran effectively meeting US conditions for a deal - ensuring it could never build a nuclear weapon, permanently.
As per The Guardian article (theguardian.com/world/2026/m…), Jonathan Powell "believed the path remained open to a negotiated solution to the long-running issue of how Iran could reassure the US that it was not seeking a nuclear weapon," and "UK officials [...] were impressed that Iran was prepared for the deal to be permanent."
Concretely, this means the war wasn't a failure of diplomacy but a deliberate destruction of it.
And it also means that the US and Israel have irresponsibly plunged the entire world in an unprecedented energy crisis, affecting the livelihoods of billions of people worldwide, when it was completely avoidable.
It's beyond me how you can look at this and not conclude that the real threat all along wasn't Iran but the US-Israeli axis - they're the only parties at the table who wanted war and are making every person on the planet pay the price for it.
Extraordinarily, even the UK National Security Advisor is now basically saying this.
Michael retweeted
China just dropped its 15th five year and I genuinely think this is the most important document of 2026 & almost nobody in the West is talking about it
what gets me isn’t any single number…it’s the systemic vision, in one document they’re planning GDP growth, highvalue patents, digital economy at 12.5% of GDP, non-fossil energy at 25%, CO2 reduction, surface water quality at 85%, life expectancy at 80, forest coverage rate, grain production capacity…ALL of it in the same table with hard targets & binding indicators through 2030
in the West we treat economy, ecology, education, healthcare & energy security as separate ministries fighting over budgets, China treats them as organs of the same body, every line feeds the others, urbanization fuels productivity, R&D fuels patents, patents fuel the the digital economy, non-fossil energy fuels strategic independence….every variable is designed to accelerate all the others & that reflect china’s deeply HOLISTIC worldview
look at line 5, high-value patent going from 16 to over 22 per 10,000 people by 2030, quietest line in the whole table and probably the most important, a high value patent is the intellectual property of a technology that will structure a market for 20y MINIMUM
China is literally planning who owns the technological future, the licenses & dependencies other countriees will rack up on Chinese tech, this IS the economic and industrial colonization of the 21st century I keep talking about in my threads but with patents instead of cannons
while america bombs & europe debates, China plans, builds & executes and the scariest part is that based on their own audits the previous plans hit ove 90% of their targets
Western leaders rotate every 4 /5 years and make promises they’ll never have to keep, CCP plays on a 50 y horizon…this table isn’t a campaign platform, it’s a national spec sheet & that changes everything about how you read each number in it
Michael retweeted
Someone asked me "what is China's optimal strategy?" My answer: having a cup of tea to kill time.
Michael retweeted
If you oppose Iran's government killing Iranians, you better oppose the US and Israel killing them too.
Michael retweeted
I am a diplomatic aide in the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
My job is logistics. When two countries that cannot speak to each other need to speak to each other, I book the rooms. I prepare the briefing materials. I make sure the water glasses are the right distance apart. You would be surprised how much of diplomacy is water glasses. Too close and it feels informal. Too far and it feels like a tribunal. I have a chart.
We had a very good month.
Since January, Oman has been mediating indirect talks between the United States and Iran on Iran's nuclear program. The talks were held in Muscat and in Geneva. The Americans would sit in one room. The Iranians would sit in another room. I would walk between them. My Fitbit says I averaged fourteen thousand steps on negotiation days. The hallway between the two rooms at the Royal Opera House conference center is forty-seven meters. I walked it two hundred and twelve times in February. This is good for my cardiovascular health. It was less good for my knees. Both are in the service of peace.
By mid-February, we had something.
Iran agreed to zero stockpiling of enriched uranium. Not reduced stockpiling. Zero. They agreed to down-blend existing stockpiles to the lowest possible level. They agreed to convert them into irreversible fuel. They agreed to full IAEA verification with potential US inspector access. They agreed, in the Foreign Minister's phrase, to "never, ever" possess nuclear material for a bomb. I have worked in diplomacy for seven years. I have never seen a country agree to this many things this quickly. I made a spreadsheet of the concessions. It had fourteen rows. I color-coded it. Green for confirmed. Yellow for pending. By February 21 the spreadsheet was entirely green. I printed it. It is on my desk in Muscat. It is still green.
That phrase took eleven days. "Never, ever." The Iranians initially offered "not seek to." The Americans wanted "will not under any circumstances." We landed on "never, ever" at 2:14 AM on a Tuesday in Muscat. I typed the final version myself. I used Times New Roman because Geneva prefers it. The document was fourteen pages. I was proud of every comma.
Here is what they said, in the order they said it.
February 24: "We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity." — The Foreign Minister, private briefing to Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors. I prepared the slide deck. Slide 14 was the implementation timeline. Slide 15 was the signing ceremony logistics. I had reserved the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Room XX. It seats four hundred. We discussed pen brands for the signing. The Iranians preferred Montblanc. The Americans had no preference. I ordered twelve Montblanc Meisterstucks at six hundred and thirty dollars each. They arrive on Tuesday.
February 27, 8:30 AM EST: "The deal is within our reach." — The Foreign Minister, CBS Face the Nation. He sat across from Margaret Brennan. He said broad political terms could be agreed "tomorrow" with ninety days for technical implementation in Vienna. He said, and I wrote this line for the briefing card he carried in his breast pocket: "If we just allow diplomacy the space it needs." He praised the American envoys by name. Steve Witkoff. Jared Kushner. He said both had been constructive.
I watched from the Four Seasons Georgetown. The minibar had cashews. I ate the cashews. They were nineteen dollars. The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten. But it was a good morning and we were within our reach.
February 27, 2:00 PM EST: Meeting with Vice President Vance, Washington. The Foreign Minister presented our progress. Zero stockpiling. Full verification. Irreversible conversion. "Never, ever." The Vice President used the word "encouraging." His aide took notes on an iPad. The aide did not make eye contact for the last nine minutes of the meeting. I noticed this. Noticing things is the only part of my job that is not water glasses.
February 27, 4:00 PM EST: "Not happy with the pace." — President Trump, to reporters.
Not happy with the pace.
We had achieved zero stockpiling. Full IAEA verification. Irreversible fuel conversion. Inspector access. And the phrase "never, ever," which took eleven days and cost me two hundred and twelve trips down a forty-seven-meter hallway.
Every American president since Carter has failed to get Iran to agree to this. Forty-five years.
Not happy with the pace.
February 27, 9:47 PM EST: The Foreign Minister's flight departs Dulles for Muscat. I am in the seat behind him. He is reviewing Slide 14 on his laptop. The implementation timeline. Vienna technical sessions. The signing ceremony. The pens.
I fall asleep over the Atlantic. I dream about water glasses.
February 28, 6:00 AM GST: I wake up to push notifications.
February 28: "The United States has begun major combat operations in Iran." — President Trump.
Operation Epic Fury. Coordinated airstrikes. The United States and Israel. Tehran. Isfahan. Qom. Karaj. Kermanshah. Nuclear facilities. IRGC bases. Sites near the Supreme Leader's office. Israel called their half Operation Roaring Lion. Someone in both governments spent time choosing these names. Epic Fury. Roaring Lion. I spent eleven days on "never, ever." They spent it on branding. The President said Iran had "rejected American calls to halt its nuclear weapons production."
Rejected.
Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling. Iran had agreed to full verification. Iran had agreed to "never, ever." Iran had agreed to everything in a fourteen-page document that I typed in Times New Roman.
The President said they rejected it.
I do not know which document the President was reading. I know which one I typed.
February 28, 18:45 UTC: Iran internet connectivity: four percent. — NetBlocks, confirmed by Cloudflare. Ninety-six percent of a country went dark. You cannot negotiate with a country at four percent connectivity. You cannot negotiate with a country that is being struck. You cannot negotiate. This is not a political opinion. This is a logistics assessment.
February 28: The governor of Minab reported forty girls killed at an elementary school.
I do not have logistics for that. There is no slide for that. The water glass chart does not cover that.
February 28: Lockheed Martin: up. Northrop Grumman: up. RTX: up. Dow futures: down six hundred and twenty-two points. Gold: five thousand two hundred and ninety-six dollars. An analyst at AInvest published a note titled "Iran Strikes: Tactical Plays." The note recommended positions in oil, defense stocks, and gold.
The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten was nineteen dollars. The most expensive pen I have ever ordered was six hundred and thirty dollars. The math suggests I have been working in the wrong industry. Defense stocks do not require water glasses. Defense stocks do not require eleven days. Defense stocks require one morning.
February 28: Israel closed its airspace and its schools. Iran launched retaliatory missiles toward US bases in the Gulf. The Supreme Leader promised a "crushing response." Israel's defense minister declared a permanent state of emergency. Everyone is using words I recognize in an order I do not. I recognize "permanent." I recognize "emergency." I do not recognize them next to each other. In diplomacy, nothing is permanent and everything is an emergency. In war it is the reverse.
February 28: The Foreign Minister has not made a public statement.
The briefing card is still in his breast pocket. It still says "within our reach."
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
OP is not a member of Oman’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is a cyber security specialist. The entire post is a fictional representation of events.
x.com/gothburz/statu…
petergimus.com
Michael retweeted
European leaders on international law in 2026:
Genocide in Gaza? It's OK
Kidnap Maduro? It's OK
Invade Greenland? NO! It's AGAINST international law!
Illegally attack Iran? It's OK ...
How despicable and contemptible are the European leaders
