We have comprehensive intelligence reports on Russia’s plans for the fall. Putin is preparing the conditions for expanding mobilization. His casualty figures speak for themselves. In less than seven months this year, 221,000 people have joined the ranks of the Russian Armed Forces. During the same period, Russian casualties have amounted to nearly 225,500, among them 131,000 killed and almost 93,000 wounded. A significant share of those wounds are severe, as frontline medical care in Russia is catastrophically poor. Putin is preparing to simply send more Russians to war. He disguises it with different words and signals, but that is what he is preparing to do. It is crucial that, together with our partners, we exert enough pressure on Russia so that the idea of ending this aggression becomes the dominant one – the idea of peace, not of another Russian mobilization.

This chart by @AsiaFinance illustrates China’s dramatic 225-year demographic collapse. Annual births peaked around 1963 (~29–32M) and again in 1987 (25.1M). Since 2016, however, births have plunged, falling to an estimated 7.92M in 2025—well below the 1800 level (~12.4M). Corruption accelerates this decline by inflating housing, education, and healthcare costs while deepening inequality and eroding public trust. These pressures increasingly push young adults to delay or forgo marriage and childbirth.

Japanese individual investors are buying the dip at a record pace: Retail investors purchased +$5.9 billion of Japanese equities in the week ended June 26th, the largest weekly total on record. At the same time, foreign funds sold -$7.7 billion, the largest weekly outflow since March. This follows -$6.0 billion in sales by retail in the prior 2 weeks. Stocks linked to AI and semiconductors were hit hardest last week, with SoftBank, Kioxia, and Furukawa Electric each falling at least -12% during the week. Despite the pullback, the Nikkei 225 surged +37% in Q2 2026, its best quarterly performance on record, fueled by AI-related names. Retail dip buying has become a global trend.

14,641,148 shares of Taiyo Yuden (TSE: 6976) changed hands on 3 August. 10.8 percent of the company, in one day. Nobody who received them has to file anything. A correction before the rest. On 12 August I wrote that a Japanese large shareholding report does not name the counterparty. That was wrong. The 60 day table has a column for it, and Situational Awareness has now filed that detail. Five names took the block. Citadel Multi-Strategy Equities Master Fund, 3,335,335 and 1,287,985 shares at 9,397 yen Jane Street Financial, 1,882,020 at 10,225 JP Morgan Securities, 4,135,808 at 10,225 Barclays Bank, 4,000,000 at 10,225 Now count the slices. 3.05, 2.95, 2.46, 1.38, 0.94. Japan's disclosure threshold is 5 percent. Not one of them crosses it. And the seller finished that day at 4.41 percent, down from a peak of 16.61 on 21 July. That is also below 5. So both sides of the trade are now invisible. The fund has dropped under the line it was reporting from. The five who took the stock never crossed it. One more thing in the table. Two prices. Citadel paid 9,397 yen. The other three paid 10,225. Same day, same stock, 828 yen apart. The filing does not say why, so neither will I. And the selling started before the story did. 185,200 shares on 28 July, in the market. 1,700,000 on 30 July. The margin call reporting came on the 29th and 30th. What I still cannot tell you: three of those five are dealer entities. Where the stock went after them is not in any document I can read. Sources, in order: Situational Awareness LP, large shareholding reports on Taiyo Yuden, initial filing through change report No.8, EDINET. The 10.8 percent and the 9,963 yen weighted average are my arithmetic from that 60 day table, and the read is mine too. Not advice.

Strive can add a huge chunk to their Bitcoin hoard before the daily dividends even begin. SATA is already doing an estimated 225 BTC/day through ATM issuance on Friday. Volume jumped 25% that same day, from 434,957 to 543,741. If that same increase linearly ramps into the ex-div window, Strive could acquire roughly 2,300 more BTC from SATA alone. No ASST issuance. Just the 13% daily-dividend preferred security quietly turning yield goblins into Bitcoin acquisition drones. At that pace, Strive’s treasury goes from 15,009 BTC to ~17,300 BTC, a 15%+ BTC stack increase before the market even understands what daily dividends are gonna do. We'll see what actually happens... but I suspect the market will pile in to anticipate the daily dividends. If Bitcoin goes up in the next month you will see a huge move in ASST. Adding outstanding SATA = LATENT AMPLIFIED MOVE... just gotta wait for Bitcoin to do what it always does.

🫒Estimated olive harvest figures in Judea and Samaria to date: * ~220,000 dunams harvested so far * ~100 coordinated olive harvesting sites operated under the protection of security personnel in Judea and Samaria * The estimated yield harvested stands at ~22,500 tons of olives, from which ~5,500 liters of olive oil have been produced, with a value of 225 million NIS. Incidents receiving media attention account for only a small percentage of the olive harvesting areas in Judea and Samaria. The vast majority of coordinated olive harvesting operations protected by security personnel are proceeding as planned, without unusual incidents.

DONALD TRUMP AND HIS THREE SONS ARE QUIETLY CASHING OUT OF THEIR OWN CRYPTO COMPANY Not selling because the market crashed. Selling right as the paperwork shows they made a killing off it World Liberty Financial. The Trump family claims up to 75 percent ownership. The stablecoin business alone has thrown off at least 4 billion dollars in proceeds and paper wealth since Trump got back in office Now Donald Trump, Don Jr, Eric, and Barron have all taken the first steps toward pulling their money out Funny how the exits start lining up right when House Democrats release the math Their analysis puts Trump's foreign payments and pay-to-play profits at 2.25 billion dollars realized. Factor in the digital assets and that number balloons to 9.7 billion Nine point seven billion dollars flowing toward one family while the president sets the rules for the entire industry those coins live in Regular crypto investors are watching their portfolios get liquidated in dips they had no warning about Retirees are getting rug pulled on meme coins while the Trump family's stablecoin pulls in millions in reserve interest, structured through a maze of holding companies built specifically so the money looks clean on paper Nobody elected Barron Trump to run a financial empire off the backs of retail traders Nobody voted for a presidency where the First Family's net worth moves in lockstep with policy announcements they helped write This is not a blind trust This is not separation of business and government This is the Trump family sitting on top of the regulatory apparatus and cashing checks while everyday people hold the bag Four years of this and they will own more of the American economy than they do right now This is the plan and it was always the plan