Authored by Micah Zimmerman via Bitcoin Magazine,

Bitcoin and crypto focused prediction market platform Polymarket is preparing its most significant infrastructure upgrade to date, rolling out a rebuilt trading system alongside a new native stablecoin designed to replace bridged collateral and streamline on-chain activity.

The overhaul, described by the company as a “full exchange upgrade,” is expected to go live over the next several weeks and includes new smart contracts, an updated central limit order book (CLOB), and a proprietary collateral token called Polymarket USD.

The token will be backed 1:1 by USDC and will replace USDC.e, a bridged version of the stablecoin currently used across the platform.

Last month, Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, made a $600 million direct cash investment in prediction market platform Polymarket as part of a broader equity fundraising round, the company announced.

The shift away from bridged assets reflects a broader effort to reduce reliance on cross-chain infrastructure, which can introduce additional risks and inefficiencies.

By moving to a natively controlled collateral token, Polymarket aims to tighten control over settlement, improve liquidity consistency, and simplify the trading experience for users.

At the core of the upgrade is a redesigned matching engine and an improved order book architecture.

The new system is intended to deliver faster execution, tighter spreads, and lower operational overhead. According to developer materials, the updated exchange stack reduces the complexity of order structures while introducing support for advanced features such as EIP-1271 signatures, enabling smart contract wallets to interact more seamlessly with the platform.

Polymarket said most users will experience a smooth transition, with the interface automatically handling the conversion of existing assets into Polymarket USD via a one-time approval. However, more advanced traders and developers will need to manually wrap their holdings using a dedicated collateral onramp contract and update integrations to align with the new system.

As part of the migration, all existing order books will be cleared during a scheduled maintenance window, with the company promising advance notice ahead of the transition. The reset is intended to ensure consistency across the upgraded infrastructure and avoid discrepancies between legacy and new systems.

Prediction markets like Polymarket are booming 

The timing of the overhaul comes amid rapid growth for Polymarket, which has seen trading volumes surge in recent months. The platform reportedly surpassed $10 billion in monthly volume in March, underscoring increasing demand for event-based trading markets across crypto and traditional finance audiences.

Beyond performance improvements, the upgrade signals a strategic shift toward greater vertical integration. Polymarket has historically relied on external systems, including optimistic oracle mechanisms, to resolve market outcomes. However, the company has hinted at future plans for a native token, potentially called POLY, which could play a role in governance and dispute resolution.

If implemented, such a token could allow Polymarket to internalize key functions like market validation and outcome verification, reducing dependence on third-party protocols and giving the platform more direct control over what it defines as “truth” within its markets.

The infrastructure revamp also aligns with Polymarket’s renewed push into the U.S. market. After previously halting domestic operations, the company has since registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and is positioning itself to operate within an increasingly defined regulatory framework.

With its latest upgrade, the company is attempting to evolve from a fast-growing crypto application into a fully-fledged exchange platform, combining improved execution infrastructure with tighter control over collateral, governance, and market integrity.

This week will see the Iran war reach 40 days of fighting, which is a far cry from the mere “four days” some US administration officials offered as a possible ‘optimistic’ timeline at the very opening of Trump’s Operation Epic Fury.

According to the Iran War Cost Tracker portal, the US military operation has cost more than $42 billion thus far. The tracker has arrived at this figure largely based on a Pentagon briefing to Congress on March 10, which disclosed that Washington spent $11.3 billion in the first six days of the new war in the Middle East.

USAF file image

The same briefing indicated the Pentagon planned to spend at least an additional $1 billion per day for the remainder of the conflict.

The real cost could be much, much higher given that at this point dozens of ultra-expensive aircraft and radars have been knocked out by Iran’s ongoing retaliation, and as the US has begun high risk incursions into the region and into Iranian territory itself.

Axios in a report days ago highlighted that “The U.S. is dedicating significant amounts of firepower to the Middle East as it wrestles with Iran. Some of it — billions of dollars’ worth, in fact — will not be returning.”

Describing the mounting costs in terms of blood and treasure, Axios wrote that “Hundreds of American troops have been injured and 13 killed” – and also: “Some exquisite weaponry, everything from stealth jets to radars, has been knocked out.”

Axios continues, “The high end includes costs associated with radar replacement at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and some fixes to the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, which last month suffered an hours-long laundry fire.” The laundry room fire narrative has been subject of immense speculation and skepticism, with the supercarrier undergoing lengthy emergency repairs at its current port of Split, Croatia.

Also confirmed damaged or destroyed are the following:

One Lockheed Martin F-35A
One Boeing E-3 Sentry
One RTX AN/TPY-2 radar
Three Boeing F-15E Strike Eagles
Multiple Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers
Multiple General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers

The lost military hardware, some of which may have yet to be disclosed, itself is a loss in the billions.

Here’s what is known so far about U.S. Air Force losses during Operation Epic Fury:

Total losses are estimated to exceed $2 billion, with replacement costs potentially even higher.

— Four F-15E Strike Eagles have been lost, one over Iran and three downed by friendly fire over… pic.twitter.com/OjaR0gzdWv

— Egypt’s Intel Observer (@EGYOSINT) April 3, 2026

Despite the immense and growing expense on the American taxpayer, there’s still not been a Congressional War Powers resolution passed. As yet, there’s really not been any real or robust debate over the merits or justification of the war among the people’s representatives in Congress.

Independent journalist (formerly of The Intercept) Lee Fang writes, “We learned from the Afghan papers & SIGAR reports that everything the Pentagon and cable media told us about that occupation was a lie. The U.S. installed hated pedophile drug lords to run that country while contractors ransacked billions. The Iran war is 10x more built on lies.” And so the Iran situation could get a lot worse, and could be for potentially years to come.

International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol was interviewed by the French newspaper Le Figaro earlier on Tuesday and warned that the Gulf energy shock “is more severe than those of 1973, 1979, and 2022 combined” because it is affecting oil, gas, food, fertilizers, petrochemicals, helium, and global trade all at once.

Birol said in the interview that more than 75 energy sites across the Gulf region have been attacked, with about a third severely damaged, suggesting tens of billions of dollars in repairs and a prolonged disruption of some energy flows, further tightening global supplies and compounding the disruption at the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint.

The newspaper asked Birol, “How quickly can Gulf production recover?”

He responded:

“We are monitoring energy infrastructure in real time—fields, refineries, terminals. Seventy-five facilities have been attacked and damaged, more than a third severely. Repairs will take a long time. Countries like Saudi Arabia may recover faster due to strong engineering capabilities and financial resources, but elsewhere, such as Iraq, the situation is far worse. About 15 million people depend on oil and gas revenues there, and the country has lost two-thirds of its oil income, approaching economic paralysis. It will take a long time for the Middle East—previously a reliable energy hub—to recover.”

Cherry-picking the most important parts of the interview:

Le Figaro asked: Who will suffer the most?

Birol responded: The global economy will suffer. Of course, European countries will struggle, as will Japan, Australia, and others. But developing countries will be the most affected due to high oil, gas, and food prices, and accelerating inflation. Their economic growth will be heavily impacted. I fear many developing countries will see their external debt rise significantly. That is why I am pessimistic—this crisis stems not from energy itself, but from geopolitics.

Le Figaro asked: Which countries are most exposed to shortages?

Birol responded: Import-dependent countries are most exposed: in Asia—South Korea, Japan, but especially Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. African countries will also be heavily affected, as developing nations have limited financial flexibility.

Le Figaro asked: How quickly can Gulf production recover?

Birol responded: We are monitoring energy infrastructure in real time—fields, refineries, terminals. Seventy-five facilities have been attacked and damaged, more than a third severely. Repairs will take a long time. Countries like Saudi Arabia may recover faster due to strong engineering capabilities and financial resources, but elsewhere, such as Iraq, the situation is far worse. About 15 million people depend on oil and gas revenues there, and the country has lost two-thirds of its oil income, approaching economic paralysis. It will take a long time for the Middle East—previously a reliable energy hub—to recover.

Le Figaro asked: How significant is the drop in Gulf oil production?

Birol responded: Enormous. These countries are producing just over half of pre-war levels. As for natural gas, exports have stopped entirely. March was already difficult, but April will be worse. If the Strait remains closed throughout April, we will lose twice as much crude and refined products as in March. We are entering a “black April.” In the Northern Hemisphere, April usually marks spring—but now it may feel like the beginning of winter.

Birol has painted a bleak outlook for energy markets and the global economy for weeks in various interviews. 

However, emerging through the fog of war, the U.S. appears poised to be a net beneficiary of the chaos across the Gulf, with energy flows expected to remain disrupted for some time.

Qatar Dethroned As ‘LNG King’ As U.S. Seizes Throne, Reshaping Future Of Gas

Wyoming’s Helium Empire Ascends As Qatar Gas Goes Flat

A reminder to readers of JPMorgan’s note last week, mapping how the energy shock dominoes begin to fall. Read it here.

It is not the first time that the venture capital guru has questioned some of the fundamentally dystopian scenarios being proposition in an AI world. 

In February, we noted that amid an armada of dystopian futurists, projecting linear thoughts into a future of ‘AI uber alles’, Marc Andreessen stands as a beacon of potential utopian light, seeing a future that looks very different and very positive for young and old alike.

In a brief few minutes, the co-founder of Netscape and VC firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) believes instead that we are living through a unique (and most incredible) time in history with the rise of AI coming right as human civilization needs it…

“we’re going to have AI and robots precisely when we actually need them [with populations shrinking] to keep the economy from actually shrinking.”

Simply put, Andreessen says that fears of AI-driven mass job loss are overly simplistic.

After decades of unusually slow technological change and low job churn, AI could restore historical productivity levels (exemplified by the period from 1870-1930), sparking opportunity, innovation, and net job growth rather than displacement. 

Declining populations and reduced immigration will make human labor increasingly valuable. AI’s timing is “miraculous”, Andreessen exclaims, preventing economic shrinkage from depopulation.

In even radical scenarios, explosive productivity leads to output gluts, collapsing prices, and massive real-wealth gains – equivalent to “giant raises” for everyone – while making safety-nets more affordable. 

Whether incremental or transformative, Andreessen sees the outcome as fundamentally positive economic news.

Of course, he does have a lot of skin in this game…

Building on that, CoinTelegraph’s Christina Comben reports that Andreessen said artificial intelligence will spark a “massive jobs boom,” dismissing fears of widespread job losses as “all fake” in a Sunday post on X.

His optimism contrasts with a March US jobs report showing unemployment holding steady at 4.3%, while the number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more rose by 322,000 over the past year.

Andreesen shared a Business Insider report showing a sharp rise in tech job openings in 2026, with more than 67,000 software engineering roles, a twofold increase from 2023, and argued that employers had recovered from post-pandemic hiring corrections and the interest rate spike.

“The ‘AI job loss’ narratives are all fake,” he wrote.

“AI = massive ramp in productivity = massive ramp in demand = massive jobs boom. Watch.”

Andreessen is one of Silicon Valley’s most influential investors, a co-founder of Netscape and venture firm Andreessen Horowitz.

He is also a major backer of US crypto and AI companies.

Job losses in tech pile up

On the ground, the reality is somewhat different. On Feb. 26, Jack Dorsey’s Block cut 40% of its staff as the company accelerated its use of AI, including experiments with agents to take over parts of middle management.

On March 19, crypto exchange Crypto.com announced a 12% workforce reduction due to AI integrations, warning that companies “that do not make this pivot immediately will fail.”

Crypto.com cuts 12% of its staff. Source: Kris Marszalek

AI-driven pivots by companies are also impacting employment.

Oracle reportedly cut up to 30,000 jobs recently, citing “broader organizational change,” as it pushes to build AI data centers.

MARA, which has been repurposing its Bitcoin mining infrastructure for AI, has reportedly reduced its staff by 15%.

Andreessen’s comments meet with skepticism

That backdrop helps explain the online backlash Andreessen received.

“Tell that to the average lower middle class American who can’t find a job or the consumer who can’t get decent customer service,” crypto influencer WendyO replied. 

Tory Green, co-founder at io.net argued Andreessen could be proved right on net job creation, but only if AI tools are broadly accessible and not captured by a handful of platforms.

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

It’s not every day that top officials of the German Bundesbank take an explicit stance on daily politics.

Nagel’s stark warnings about Germany’s debt and the government’s creative accounting were surely met with grim recognition in Berlin’s corridors of power. Open criticism is rare there, and when it comes from credible insiders, it stings even more.

Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel 

Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil apparently still believe the fairy tale that debt-fueled demand policy can create economic miracles, generate growth, and deliver real prosperity. The result: a staggering debt binge that threatens to finish Germany economically.

Of course, this is a Keynesian nursery tale, endlessly repeated by politicians. With this simplified version of economics, political power is cemented – while the anonymous masses of taxpayers are left to clean up the debt disaster.

The government assumes the taxpayer backstop—and has surrounded itself with a state-friendly media sector, like a protective membrane. This behavior is conditioned.

The truth about mounting state debt, its destructive impact on private business, inflation, and the erosion of middle-class purchasing power is rarely discussed, and only in the media’s backrooms. When criticism reaches the public eye, its proponents are aggressively attacked and their valid arguments systematically sterilized.

Since January 2022, Joachim Nagel has led the Bundesbank. Recently, he warned for the first time about the unchecked growth of public debt—breaking Berlin’s long-standing elite vow of silence. Last year, he said, national debt rose by €144 billion to €2.84 trillion, pushing the debt-to-GDP ratio to 63.5 percent.

Some may recall the Maastricht limit, which capped debt at 60 percent. Those times are long gone, and the official debt numbers are, of course, grossly misleading.

For years—especially since the banking bailouts 15 years ago—the government has operated shadow budgets. Hoping the public won’t dig into fiscal details, these rarely illuminated debt channels are declared “special funds,” off the official books. Over 20 such hidden debt pots inflate actual state debt by at least €550 billion. Germany’s real debt likely sits near 80 percent of GDP and could exceed 85 percent by the end of this fiscal year.

The most infamous of these special funds originates from the debt crisis 15 years ago. The Financial Market Stabilization Fund (FMS) provided €400 billion in government guarantees and €80 billion in potential recapitalizations. Ultimately, €168 billion in guarantees and around €30 billion in direct transfers to financial institutions were used, while roughly €50 billion in debts from that era remain.

One of the largest black funds in federal history. Only Merz’s half-trillion-euro special fund will surpass this scale. Lesson learned: state financing has become an undeniable Ponzi scheme. Bond markets will ultimately dictate when the fiat money spree ends—they are the final arbiters of decades of political chaos.

Merz and his debt-hungry, insatiable finance minister are deliberately driving state spending to dizzying heights, yet must acknowledge that the heavily damaged German “economic tanker” can no longer move forward.

To buy time, the tragicomic duo plans to tighten middle-class taxes to the limit, holding taxpayers accountable for their fiscal free-for-all.

This is irresponsible, economically destructive policy unseen in Germany since WWII—the construction of a new socialism.

Against this backdrop, the Bundesbank president urged a return to sound budget planning. Deficits must be reduced mid-term without cutting essential infrastructure. Sadly, Nagel stopped short of endorsing free-market principles outright, missing the chance to clarify that the diversion of additional debt via special funds is systemic.

Policy cannot be fiscally restrained as long as bond markets are manipulated by monetary policy. According to the ifo Institute, 95 percent of this additional debt was added to the pre-existing debt binge and diverted. Social policy with a money printer—this is how far German fiscal policy has sunk.

Those seeking the real debt picture must dig deep—including pension obligations and current retirement promises. The scale of these liabilities defies imagination.

Germany—and nearly all of the EU—is trapped in a debt spiral. Turmoil in capital markets, broad restructuring, and massive wealth and debt redistribution loom. A standalone debt haircut would be systemic death: it would shrink circulating fiat credit and trigger a deflationary shock beyond the capacity of banks to absorb—a dead-end.

When will Germany begin monetizing its treasure, its massive gold reserves? Four years ago, the government under then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz pressured the Bundesbank to sell part of its gold to fund the defense special fund.

“Top” economists at Spiegel were reportedly inflamed by this idea—in these circles, the significance of collateralized, limited-quantity assets is poorly understood, even though they may one day underpin a new monetary regime.

It is fortunate that Nagel held the firewall against political adventurers and media amateurs. The Bundesbank may one day play a decisive role in a severe currency and debt crisis.

* * * 

About the author: Thomas Kolbe is a German graduate economist. For over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination

The nightmare story for Hollywood is playing out in real time for the world to see, as a century-old entertainment economy implodes and bears all the hallmarks of what happened to Detroit after the auto industry went bust.

A new Wall Street Journal report describes the Hollywood job market as being in “collapse” mode, with employment in the industry down 30% from its late-2022 peak, while behind-the-scenes union workers logged 36% fewer hours last year than in 2022.

One big reason is that studios are making fewer shows and movies, and more of what they make is being filmed overseas or in other U.S. states that offer better tax incentives.

None of these overseas productions, or productions in other business-friendly states, should come as a surprise given that California is controlled by unhinged, one-party-rule Democratic Party leaders whose state-killing progressive policies have sparked a massive exodus of residents, businesses, and even billionaire tech bros.

The job market collapse in Hollywood has led to increasing calls for a federal production tax credit, with lobbyists linked to studios saying that a 15% federal incentive, on top of state subsidies (which typically range from 20% to 40%), could help break the production bust cycle and reshore more production back to the state. 

But tax incentives won’t solve the job crisis on their own. With crazed liberal elites left holding the bag of studio garbage, younger audiences are spending more time on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram for video consumption, while an increasing number of Americans have boycotted films and TV shows they consider “woke.”

The regime’s propaganda machine is collapsing under the weight of its own irrelevance. Hollywood exists solely to launder the radical leftist agenda into the minds of the youth. They despise the audience they claim to serve. This victory proves the market rejects their synthetic…

— Saggezza Eterna (@FinalTelegraph) February 1, 2026

“The biggest question now is whether the current downturn is temporary,” the WSJ report asked.

Well, in WSJ’s own words, the job bust will likely go into hyperdrive in the era of AI …

“Artificial intelligence, meanwhile, could eliminate more production jobs or spark a new production boom if the technology enables content to be made less expensively.”

Ben Horowitz says a famous Hollywood friend told him half the movie they’re making is AI.

It’s collapsing the cost of filmmaking, and when creation gets cheap enough, entirely new mediums could emerge.

Source: @bhorowitz at Columbia Business School pic.twitter.com/B2uL2S68t4

— a16z (@a16z) October 5, 2025

To sum up, Hollywood’s sphere of left-wing influence is collapsing, and it is no longer taken seriously. 

Beyond studios, in the world of corporate media, job losses are mounting for white-collar liberals … 

Via The Cradle

Several Iranian Kurdish opposition groups on Monday denied reports that the US had armed them during anti-government protests and riots that erupted in January, leaving over 3,000 Iranians dead.

Mohammed Nazif Qaderi, a senior official from the opposition Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), called the reports “baseless,” saying, “We haven’t received any weapons. The weapons we have are from 47 years ago, and we obtained them on the Islamic Republic’s battlefield, and we bought some from the market.”

AFP via Getty Images

“Our policy is not to make demonstrations violent and use harsh methods, rather we believe we must make our demands in a peaceful and civil manner without weapons,” Qaderi said.

The protests and riots began in January after the US Treasury deliberately created a shortage of US dollars in Iran’s heavily sanctioned economy, causing the Iranian currency to collapse. The uprising began with economic-driven demonstrations in Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, which saw shopkeepers shutter their stores.

Armed groups then used the protests that erupted in response as cover to carry out attacks against Iranian security forces and paramilitary groups, known as Basij. Rioters also attacked and burned government buildings and mosques.

Israeli media reported that Mossad had agents on the ground in Iran to organize armed groups and create chaos in advance of the US-Israeli bombing campaign launched weeks later, on 28 February.

The Kurdish denial came one day after US President Donald Trump admitted for the first time during an interview with Fox News that the US attempted to ship “a lot of guns” to anti-government protesters in Iran.

Trump appears to confirm that the US pursued a Syria scenario in Iran earlier this year.

Thousands of Iranians were killed as security forces cracked down on unrest. At the time, Iranian authorities claimed many victims were either caught in crossfire or armed militants. https://t.co/ISzAXgph9N

— Mohammad Ali Shabani (@mashabani) April 5, 2026

While confirming the intent to arm the uprising that began in late 2025, Trump claimed the operation failed because the Kurds, who were used as the delivery channel, “kept the weapons” for themselves instead of passing them to the demonstrators.

This blunt disclosure not only provides the Iranian government with direct evidence of US interference but also publicly blames the US’s Kurdish allies for the missing arms.

In response to Trump’s comments, Amjad Hussein Panahi, head of communications for Komala of the Toilers of Kurdistan, stated, “We assure you we haven’t received a single bullet or weapon from any country or place, and we’re not aware of the existence of such a thing; what we have is our own.”

Reports first emerged that the CIA was working to arm Kurdish forces in an effort to foment an uprising in Iran in early March. 

Trump:

We sent some guns; they were supposed to go to the people of Iran. You know what happened? The people we sent them through kept them.

I am very upset with a certain group of people, and they will pay a big price for that. pic.twitter.com/dACg5aZyMS

— Clash Report (@clashreport) April 6, 2026

Multiple people familiar with the plan told CNN that the Trump administration had been in active discussions with Iranian opposition groups and Kurdish leaders in Iraq. The CIA wished to provide weapons and air support to Kurdish militants as part of an operation to topple the Iranian government.

New footage of what appears to be the highly secretive Northrop Grumman RQ-180 stealth surveillance drone has surfaced near Larisa, Greece, according to the aviation outlet The Aviationist.

The RQ-180 apparently appeared in daylight hours on approach to landing at Larisa Air Base, home to the Hellenic Air Force’s 110 Combat Wing. The footage offers one of the clearest views yet of the flying-wing spy drone and confirms it is neither the B-2 Spirit nor the B-21 Raider. 

Screenshot from videos taken by Efthymios Siakaras near Larissa, Greece. (Image credit: The Aviationist/Efthymios Siakaras)

The aircraft has never been formally acknowledged in detail by the Pentagon, but the designation has circulated in defense reporting since at least 2013. Its core mission is to collect imagery, radar, and signals intelligence in places where a non-stealth drone, such as the Global Hawk, would be too vulnerable. 

The earliest video of the RQ-180, which could be among the first-ever glimpses of the drone, emerged in late March and was first reported by the local Greek news website OnLarissa. 

The Aviationist pointed out this latest footage only suggests that “Larissa is in fact being used as a regular forward operating location for the RQ-180.” 

Larisa Air Base has already been used for MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance operations in the region. The base is part of the Eastern Mediterranean support network, where Reuters reported that Western militaries increased their presence last month. 

The RQ-180’s most likely role in the US-Iran conflict is reconnaissance.

Europe has been dancing on the edge of a knife, flirting with notions of war with a battle hardened Russia over the conflict in Ukraine.  As these tensions escalate, questions are being raised about the actual combat readiness and capabilities of countries that have relied on the US for their security for so long.

The primary division between the Trump Administration and NATO countries, the thing that started it all, was the initial refusal of so many of them to pay their fair share for defense.  Currently, most NATO members budget around 2% of their GDP to defense under the NATO treaty.  When asked to budget 5%, European governments became indignant, only agreeing to meet the target in a decade.

In an interesting recent admission from The Telegraph, Tom Tugendhat, a British MP and former security minister, argues that the UK simply lacks the independent military capabilities needed to pull off a rescue operation of one of their own airman similar to the recent US operation in Iran.  He says that if one of their pilots needed to be saved, they would have to ask the US to do it.  

“We do not have the platforms, the satellites, the reach or the mass. Our rescue plan, if the airman were British, would be to call the U.S.”

Tugendhat warned about the situation in Iran in March, saying he had questions as to why Prime Minister Keir Starmer failed to deploy appropriate air defense assets in the region to protect UK citizens and allies from missile and drone strikes.  Starmer is facing mounting criticism for his delay in deploying the HMS Dragon to Cyprus, following an attack on UK base RAF Akrotiri. 

Expressing his dismay at the lack of protection for British personnel, Tugendhat told GB News:

“My take is pretty simple – we may not have agreed with the initial decision to strike, that’s an American and Israeli decision…But I see absolutely no reason why we didn’t have assets in the region, why we didn’t have Type 45 destroyers in the region to protect our citizens and our allies. It’s baffling to me.”

Beyond their heavy reliance on the US and Europe’s lack of military spending, Europe is facing a crisis of public confidence. European military readiness has been exposed in the past few years as severely lacking, and a core problem these governments refuse to address is the fact that most young men simply don’t want to fight for them.  In other words, in a voluntary system the governments and the countries in question need to hold similar values to the men they want to send into battle. 

With far-left progressive elements holding power across Europe, this is simply not the case.  So, their only option is to force a draft. 

Several senior UK officials and MPs have publicly entertained or discussed the possibility of forced conscription (a military draft) as something that the government might implement in the event of a major war.  UK military recruitment is far below requirements with the Army and Royal Navy consistently hitting only 60% of their personnel goals. 

Dr. Mike Martin, a Liberal Democrat MP and former British Army officer, stated in March 2025 that if the UK became involved in a general war with Russia, “we’ll be conscripting the population – there’s no question about that.” He described it as something Britain “must be prepared” for, given the significant risk of wider conflict.  Notions of an incoming draft have been a major topic in the British media for the past couple years. 

The suspicion is that the establishment is acclimating the public to the idea over time, getting them ready to accept it as inevitable.  

Germany is creating the framework for a draft right now.  As of January 1, 2026, German men aged 17 to 45 must obtain “permission” from a Bundeswehr Career Center before traveling abroad for more than three months.  They witnessed what happened in Ukraine at the start of the war with Russia; millions of young men fled the country to avoid conscription.  Germany is establishing loss prevention, clearly planning for a near term clash with the Russians. 

One strange narrative that has been circulating on social media is the argument among Europeans that the US “wasted” millions of dollars in military equipment in their successful mission to rescue “just one” wounded airman.  The operation included special forces landing two MC-130s on a makeshift landing strip right under the nose of the IRGC and securing the area for the extraction of the stranded airman.  The planes became stuck in the sand and had to be destroyed to prevent them falling into the hands of the Iranians.  

It’s highly revealing that this sacrifice of equipment for the sake of saving a lost soldier is confusing to many Europeans.  It shows that they can’t comprehend the idea of a government that would actually care enough to save them rather than throw them to the wolves.  In other words, there is no loyalty on either side of the equation and Europe’s weaknesses go well beyond the political.