German Chancellor Merz Admits Shutting Down Nuclear Energy Production Was a “Severe Strategic Mistake”


Posted originally on CTH on January 16, 2026 | Sundance |

Germany has a severe electricity shortage and cost problem, and it’s getting worse.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently made the admission that shutting down the German nuclear power reactors was a “severe strategic mistake.”

“To have acceptable market prices for energy production again, we would have to permanently subsidize energy prices from the federal budget,” Merz said, adding: “We can’t do this in the long run.”

“So, we are now undertaking the most expensive energy transition in the entire world,” Merz said with pronounced frustration. “I know of no other country that makes things so expensive and difficult as Germany.”

Keep in mind, Germany represents the largest contributing economy in the European Union.  The German industrial sector is the backbone of the European economic model.

All of these realities paint a very tenuous picture for the economic future in Europe, when combined with a new trade relationship with the USA, increasingly cheap goods dumped into the EU by China and the EU promising to continue spending on the war effort in Ukraine against Russia.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Bows to Big Panda, Looking for Financial Assistance Against Godzilla Trump


Posted originally on CTH on January 16, 2026 | Sundance |

My dear Canadian conservative friends, things look very troubling. You have my deepest sympathies for the events of the next few years that are about to unfold.

[A Full Deep Dive Background Context is Here]

If I am not wrong!

We have researched, tracked, measured and followed each detail.

Having travelled to regions of the world in discussions with people who factually determine economic outcomes, it is clear that every single policy shift undertaken by the Canadian government of Mark Carney is exactly the opposite of what is needed.  In the next 24 months, the lifestyle of every Canadian will forever change.

Prime Minister Mark Carney bows to Big Panda. The most alarming words spoken during the formal welcome ceremony are prompted below.  WATCH: “The New World Order”

Too many words; too small a man.

President Trump is reestablishing an entirely new economic, trade and finance system. The era of the Marshal Plan is over; it has been factually deconstructed in the past 12 months.

Canadians and Europeans are desperately trying to offset the ramifications, hold on to their economic benefits and find a new mechanism to afford the domestic indulgences now eliminated by President Trump and the absence of money.

Both the EU and Canada are looking to China and ASEAN partnerships as a financial offset.  However, the ASEAN group has no domestic wealth and can only provide one-way benefits.

Despite the reality of things, denial is rampant.  Here are three facts that will not change.

Fact #1: Asia is not a purchaser; they are producers. There are no customers in Southeast Asia, only workers. ASEAN nations are not customers. Any ASEAN trade agreement does not materially gain the EU or Canada any exports.

Fact #2: China is a closed economic system.  China does what is in China’s best interests. When negotiating with China, Chairman Xi wears a panda mask to cover the dragon face.  China now sees the EU/Canada refusal to adapt as an opportunity to exploit.

Fact #3:  The EU and Canada have chased ‘climate change’ and ‘green energy’ schemes into a dead end of economic crisis. The direct and collateral damage is generational, and only just now beginning to surface.  When combined with their intransigent resistance to adapt to President Trump’s global economic and trade reset, core issue “reciprocity”, this reality takes both economies down a path that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Choosing to embrace China in lieu of modifying bilateral trade agreements with the USA is a short-sighted fool’s errand. Unfortunately, with political calculations each entity, Canada and/or the EU collective, are pandering to their base out of an unwillingness to change trade behavior as demanded by Trump.

Yes, Canada may end up exporting more very specific goods to China; an offset for some of the USA losses, but at what cost long-term.

Think about the EU auto-sector as an example.

To avoid paying their own climate change fines, the EU automakers are purchasing carbon credits from Chinese EV automakers. In the short term, that trick may diminish the auto company fines to Brussels but think about the longer-term problem.

China takes the revenue from the EU companies and uses it to subsidize their EV exports making their EVs cost substantially less than EU electric vehicles in the EU.

Geely, BYD, etc. can lower the price of an EV in Europe because EU car companies are giving them money. The EU is paying China to destroy the EU auto industry. You cannot make this stuff up.

As a consequence, BYD is now building a factory in Hungary.  Additionally, Geely owns 10% of Mercedes.  You might have noticed that Mercedes recently announced they are shifting production of their Model-A to Hungary.  20,000 jobs shifted from Germany to Hungary.  Victor Orban is good friends with Donald Trump.  These are not coincidences.

In the Canadian model, Mark Carney may end up selling slightly more stuff to China but he’s going to end up selling less to the USA because Chinese components are subject to ever-enlarging USA trade tariffs.  The USMCA is on the cusp of being cancelled, it will happen this year.

Canada is betting they can export more $$ to Beijing than they will lose in diminished export $$ to the USA. Fine, that’s the bet (a political calculation). However, the reality of the end result is increased dependency on China. That never ends well.

Beijing keeps the panda mask on while the dependency is created, see belt and road; however, as soon as it is in Beijing’s interest to drop the panda mask, Canada will see the dragon face behind it.

From Ottawa to London, to Paris, Berlin and Brussels the geopolitical landscape is changing permanently as President Donald Trump resets their global trade relationship to the United States.

NOTE: despite the claims of the Lyndon LaRouche group (Promethean Action), President Trump doesn’t sit around thinking about how to destroy British imperialism or the multinational financial system. That result comes as an outcome of his reset, a consequence; it is not however, the intent of it.

Instead, President Trump is leveraging the largest consumer market in the world to the benefit of the customer; that’s America.  Trump’s direct and specific intent is transactional, to rebuild an industrial and self-sufficient nation that is the envy of the world.

For several generations, Canada and the EU have exploited their biggest customer and taken the U.S. for granted.

In the end, the customer always controls the success of the business.

Visual Reference:

President Trump Withdraws the U.S. From the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and 65 Other Globalist Institutions/Mechanisms


Posted originally on CTH on January 8, 2026 | Sundance 

This is factually a much bigger deal, a bigger win, than most will initially appreciate.

As many deep political followers well understand, the 66 organizations that President Trump has just withdrawn from represent a large network of sanctioned government organizations that structurally support the globalist agenda.

President Trump has issued an executive order [SEE HERE] “Withdrawing the United States from International Organizations, Conventions, and Treaties that Are Contrary to the Interests of the United States.” These institutions, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, are mechanisms that exist to underpin globalist objectives.

Each of the institutions carry “membership fees” or financial obligations each participating government pays into. Each organization consists of board members, stakeholders and other administrative offices which employ the friends and families of current and former politicians, world “leaders” and essentially well-connected and disconnected elites who run the agencies. It’s like a massive network of NGOs, except the entities exist exclusively with government funding.

Just like the United Nations itself, the USA always pays the dues, fees and largest portion of the operating expenses, which includes payrolls and travel benefits. Other countries participate, but it is the USA who picks up the largest portion of the financial obligations for the organization itself to exist.

Like USAID, the designated “global” organizations (conventions, treaties, etc) operate as massive bureaucratic rule makers for global standards and practices. The organizations themselves employ a network of downstream entities, agencies, contractors, think-tanks, academic liaisons and internal government offices who collaborate with the goals and objectives of the parent organization.

Inside each of these agencies and institutions you find the friends and families of the power brokers who run global -mainly western- systems of government. Withdrawing the support of the U.S. means cutting that entire apparatus off from receiving funding from the USA. Europe and the USA are the largest funders of each of these World Economic Forum aligned agencies.

It is not coincidental that President Trump and Secretary Rubio are making this move in advance of President Trump traveling to Davos, where the network associations congregate. President Trump is expected to deliver a bucket of ice water upon the heads of those who attend Davos annually.

The GREAT RESET crew, who design the global government customs and norms, is being reset.

This move is massive in relation to their financial dependency on the United States participating in the various schemes.

This is a big deal, and President Trump has put Secretary of State Marco Rubio in charge of dismantling it.

[President Donald J Trump] – By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby direct:

Section 1. Purpose. (a) On February 4, 2025, I issued Executive Order 14199 (Withdrawing the United States from and Ending Funding to Certain United Nations Organizations and Reviewing United States Support to All International Organizations). That Executive Order directed the Secretary of State, in consultation with the United States Representative to the United Nations, to conduct a review of all international intergovernmental organizations of which the United States is a member and provides any type of funding or other support, and all conventions and treaties to which the United States is a party, to determine which organizations, conventions, and treaties are contrary to the interests of the United States. The Secretary of State has reported his findings as required by Executive Order 14199.

(b) I have considered the Secretary of State’s report and, after deliberating with my Cabinet, have determined that it is contrary to the interests of the United States to remain a member of, participate in, or otherwise provide support to the organizations listed in section 2 of this memorandum.

(c) Consistent with Executive Order 14199 and pursuant to the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, I hereby direct all executive departments and agencies (agencies) to take immediate steps to effectuate the withdrawal of the United States from the organizations listed in section 2 of this memorandum as soon as possible. For United Nations entities, withdrawal means ceasing participation in or funding to those entities to the extent permitted by law.

(d) My review of further findings of the Secretary of State remains ongoing.

Sec. 2. Organizations from Which the United States Shall Withdraw. (a) Non-United Nations Organizations:

(i) 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact;

(ii) Colombo Plan Council;

(iii) Commission for Environmental Cooperation;

(iv) Education Cannot Wait;

(v) European Centre of Excellence for Countering

Hybrid Threats;

(vi) Forum of European National Highway Research Laboratories;

(vii) Freedom Online Coalition;

(viii) Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund;

(ix) Global Counterterrorism Forum;

(x) Global Forum on Cyber Expertise;

(xi) Global Forum on Migration and Development;

(xii) Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research;

(xiii) Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals, and Sustainable Development;

(xiv) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change;

(xv) Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services;

(xvi) International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property;

(xvii) International Cotton Advisory Committee;

(xviii) International Development Law Organization;

(xix) International Energy Forum;

(xx) International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies;

(xxi) International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance;

(xxii) International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law;

(xxiii) International Lead and Zinc Study Group;

(xxiv) International Renewable Energy Agency;

(xxv) International Solar Alliance;

(xxvi) International Tropical Timber Organization;

(xxvii) International Union for Conservation of Nature;

(xxviii) Pan American Institute of Geography and History;

(xxix) Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation;

(xxx) Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combatting Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia;

(xxxi) Regional Cooperation Council;

(xxxii) Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century;

(xxxiii) Science and Technology Center in Ukraine;

(xxxiv) Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme; and

(xxxv) Venice Commission of the Council of Europe.

(b) United Nations (UN) Organizations:

(i) Department of Economic and Social Affairs;

(ii) UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) — Economic Commission for Africa;

(iii) ECOSOC — Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean;

(iv) ECOSOC — Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific;

(v) ECOSOC — Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia;

(vi) International Law Commission;

(vii) International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals;

(viii) International Trade Centre;

(ix) Office of the Special Adviser on Africa;

(x) Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children in Armed Conflict;

(xi) Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict;

(xii) Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children;

(xiii) Peacebuilding Commission;

(xiv) Peacebuilding Fund;

(xv) Permanent Forum on People of African Descent;

(xvi) UN Alliance of Civilizations;

(xvii) UN Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries;

(xviii) UN Conference on Trade and Development;

(xix) UN Democracy Fund;

(xx) UN Energy;

(xxi) UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women;

(xxii) UN Framework Convention on Climate Change;

(xxiii) UN Human Settlements Programme;

(xxiv) UN Institute for Training and Research;

(xxv) UN Oceans;

(xxvi) UN Population Fund;

(xxvii) UN Register of Conventional Arms;

(xxviii) UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination;

(xxix) UN System Staff College;

(xxx) UN Water; and

(xxxi) UN University.

Sec. 3. Implementation Guidance. The Secretary of State shall provide additional guidance as needed to agencies when implementing this memorandum.

Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

(d) The Secretary of State is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

DONALD J. Trump [LINK]

• This is essentially deconstructing the George H.W. Bush “New World Order” as established over decades by governing elites, financial institutions & western governments.  • This is removing a massive network of agencies and operations, and the Bush-era 1992 U.N Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) is still only one part of it.

• This is tectonic geopolitical plate shifting with ramifications that are beyond most persons understanding.

Each of these global regulatory processes, policies and constructs, then creates an office within the U.S. government for regulatory enforcement and compliance.

Each treaty, convention and organization creates a bureaucracy within the U.S. govt to comply with it. That bureaucracy then expands govt spending far beyond the initial costs. (i.e. annual membership fees, association fees, and internal agreement payments for each participating govt).

We pay to join the agreement, we agree to the terms of the agreement, then we have to pay to organize our own offices to align with the agreement we just joined.

It gets worse….

Each agency within govt then has to create a subsidiary office for their specific compliance with the larger network. So, you have a DC govt compliance system, and an agency compliance system that is topic specific to that particular agency.

The 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change as an example, means every single agency from HHS to DOD to FEMA to DHS to the entire apparatus of govt, all of them, need to have a corresponding office to create agency specific rules that comply with the originating charter.

You see, it’s not just the Federal Govt paying the U.N a membership fee for the Framework Convention on Climate Change, but each agency within govt then has to pay an office staff filled with lawyers, compliance officers, and bureaucratic nonsense teams that carry out the charter of the agreement we just signed up to.

Each of the 66 outlined “agreements” can end up generating hundreds or thousands of federal employees that are tasked with U.S. administration of the agreement.

Each of those federal employees has an expense account, credit card, vehicle, or voucher method, some form of indulgency, that connects them to the larger spending graft.

What Trump has done is a much bigger detonation than most will initially contemplate.

Thousands of well-connected DC employees, wives of politicians, brothers, sisters, in-laws, friends and family members, will now lose their income streams.

♦ This is also happening as President Trump has presented the 2026 National Security Strategy.  A stunning 33-page outline reprioritizing all of the interests and objectives of the United States government.

On December 6, 2025, President Trump put the world on notice that sovereign U.S. interests would be baseline for all of our strategic foreign policy approaches; particularly Europe was put on notice.

On January 7, 2026, President Trump is putting the world on notice that all of these various self-restricting global systems, institutions and mechanisms will no longer be supported by the United States.  Thousands of downstream beneficiaries that exist -in majority- from U.S. participation and underwriting, are going to be scrambling trying to find a way to retain their status.

President Trump’s upcoming speech to the World Economic Forum should be epic.

WASHINGTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Energy Secretary Chris Wright will join President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, a source familiar with the plans said on Wednesday.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff will also be part of the planned delegation, the source said.

Trump will attend this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in person, after addressing the gathering by video link last year, four days after returning to the White House for a second term.

This year’s meeting is scheduled for January 19-23. {source}

President Trump Holds a Roundtable Discussion on Agriculture and Farm Support


Posted originally on CTH on December 8, 2025 | Sundance 

President Trump holds a roundtable discussion with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and various farm state senators as he outlines $12 billion in support and subsidy for American farmers.

With energy prices lowered, the costs for natural gas, fertilizer, diesel and gasoline prices have fallen; however, food costs have remained high.  President Trump announced with Brooke Rollins an initiative to help support American farmers with the intended objective to lower production costs from the field that will hopefully transfer to the fork.

Secretary Rollins and President Trump announce a $12 billion bridge subsidy to assist farmers with proactive planning for the 2026 planting season.  The money is coming from revenue generated by tariffs, and row crop farming will be the first subsidies delivered.  WATCH (media questions begin at 31:40):

.

President Trump Cancels Joe Biden CAFE Standards Against Auto Industry


Posted originally on CTH on December 3, 2025 | Sundance 

In an effort to return common sense, practicality and affordability to the American consumer base for automobiles, President Trump announced the elimination of Joe Biden’s Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for manufactured cars and trucks.

Under the auspices of the “Green New Deal”, the Biden administration mandated ridiculous quotas for EVs and demanded lower power combustible engines, or pay a climate change tax. These CAFE standards resulted in a surcharge for large vehicles, large engine autos and SUVs, and essentially bifurcated the auto consumer into those who could afford to pay for efficiency and stability, and those who could not.

“We’re officially terminating Joe Biden’s ridiculously burdensome, horrible actually, CAFE standards that impose expensive restrictions and all sorts of problems, gave all sorts of problems to automakers,” President Trump announced from the Oval Office. “It put tremendous upward pressure on car prices, combined with the insane electric vehicle mandate. Biden’s burdensome regulations helped cause the price of cars to soar more than 25%,” President Trump said. WATCH:

(Via White House) – DELIVERING A WIN FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES AND AUTOMAKERS: Today, President Donald J. Trump is delivering major relief to American families by resetting the Biden Administration’s costly and unlawful Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards.

President Trump is returning CAFE standards to levels that can actually be met with conventional gasoline and diesel vehicles. The Biden Administration standards imposed unrealistic fuel economy targets that effectively resulted in an electric vehicle (EV) mandate.

The Trump Administration’s reset of the CAFE standards ensures the program’s fidelity to the legal restrictions set forth by Congress.

The Biden standards broke the law by going far beyond the requirements that were mandated by Congress when it created the CAFE program.

SAVING AMERICAN FAMILIES MONEY: Today’s action represents an enormous win in response to the cost-of-living increases imposed on the economy by the Biden Administration.

The Biden Administration created extraordinarily stringent fuel economy standards for passenger cars and trucks, set at such aggressive levels that they were impossible to meet with available technologies for gas cars.

The Biden standards would have compelled widespread shifts to EVs that American consumers did not ask for, accompanied by significant cost-of-living increases. Since EVs are so expensive to build, automakers must sell them at a loss and make up the difference by significantly raising the sticker price of gas cars.

If President Trump had done nothing, the Biden standards would have raised the average cost of a new car by nearly $1,000, relative to the cost under the standards announced today.

President Trump’s actions will save American families $109 billion in total over the next five years.
By helping more Americans buy newer, safer vehicles, this reset is projected to save more than 1,500 lives and prevent nearly a quarter-million serious injuries through 2050.

MARKING A CRITICAL BATTLE IN THE FIGHT AGAINST BIDEN’S HIDDEN COST-OF-LIVING INCREASES: The CAFE reset represents the latest action by President Trump to prevent the Biden EV-related policies from raising costs for Americans.

In June, President Trump signed a joint resolution to end the California EV mandates, which would have effectively been a 100% ban on new gas cars sold in the state by 2035 (with similar effects in 17 states that adopted California’s standards).

In July, President Trump signed into law the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, which set the civil penalty for violating CAFE standards to $0, protecting the U.S. auto manufacturing industry from significant fines.

Under President Trump, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also released its proposal to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding, which ignores Congress’ clear intent under the Clean Air Act and has been used to justify over $1 trillion in costs for the American consumers and economy.

Today’s action helps ensure that even if far-left Democrats return to power, the CAFE standards are sensible, so U.S. automakers are not held to infeasible standards.

Combined with auto loan interest deductibility for new made-in-the-USA vehicles, President Trump continues to deliver real relief that makes owning a safe, reliable car more affordable for every American family. (source)