Fishwrap Friday

Bullet Points:

** The value of Dubai’s diamond trade reached a high of $41.7 billion in 2025, according to customs data, breaking the previous record set in 2011. The milestone was driven by record physical volumes of 359.5 million carats — up 42.5% year-on-year — with natural diamonds accounting for nearly 96% of total trade value.

** Americans have to water the Tree of Liberty every so often if they want to keep the Republic. Our rights were not granted by men. They were gifted by God. So long as we keep these things straight and remember that the Bill of Rights is there to limit government, we’re on firm ground.

** BRM discusses a book that is worth your time to read – A Samurai Loose in Modern America. There is a problem with free refills of chips and salsa if you feel you need to eat your way to the bottom of the bottomless bowl.

** I don’t care (don’t give a rat’s ass) if the Europeans want to eschew air conditioning. I don’t care that they are offended by free beverage refills or our passion for red meat cooked over burning wood. I don’t care if they pray in mosques or speak Russian or German. And I know that deep in their shriveled hearts (three sizes too small), they are deeply piqued by Bible verses on In-N-Out beverage cups (freely refilled). They can choose to be offended by America if they wish. But those American cemeteries on European soil are not mirrored by European cemeteries on American soil.

** Timber

** The Jones Act – “President Trump’s decisive action to waive the Jones Act has helped prevent supply chain shortages across the country. The administration is regularly monitoring how the waiver is being used,” the official said. The Jones Act, a century-old law requiring goods moved between U.S. ports to be carried on American-built, owned, and crewed vessels, has become a political challenge for the administration. The waiver was designed to ease supply constraints and energy costs by allowing more ships to move goods, but it has drawn criticism from maritime groups and Republican allies who argue it weakens U.S. shipbuilding and national security.

The backlash has grown among some Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, who urged the administration earlier this month to end the waiver, arguing it undermined the U.S. maritime industry. The Trump administration first granted the waiver on March 17, allowing foreign-flagged vessels to move commodities including oil, fuel, and fertilizer between U.S. ports. The administration later extended the waiver through August 16, and a third extension is being considered as renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran has sent prices higher. The White House says the waiver has increased shipping capacity and helped move supplies between U.S. ports. Critics dispute its impact and warn it could hurt domestic shipbuilders and American crews.

** Arizona History – On this day in 1847, the Mormon Battalion was released from service after building the first wagon road through southern Arizona during the Mexican-American War.

** It’s still summer with all that it brings.

** Those lovable termites in Red China are reminding their neighbors why they need to arm up and stand firm. It’s because they’re celestials and they feel that any ends justify the means. (h/t Claudio) Thank you, Pres. Xi. Does Japan need an atomic bomb? The Red Chinese say, YES!

** Restored photographs.

** On the war front, the US hit an Iranian army barracks, struck an oil tanker headed for Iran’s Kharg Island, and bombed Greater Tunb — one of three Iranian-controlled islands near the Strait of Hormuz claimed by the UAE. Trump was reportedly briefed on options that included sending ground forces to seize islands. Iran fired at Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait, while threatening to hit infrastructure around the Gulf and warning that control of the strait was an “invincible red line.”

** VDH on birthright citizenship.

A Reflection on the Monroe Doctrine & Slavery

I’m not flogging my upcoming historical novel, Vengeance and Retribution, by writing this, but I always wondered why President Lincoln and the Federal Union allowed the French to invade Mexico in violation of the Monroe Doctrine. Much of it had to do with European Bankers calling notes due. Those bankers and their machinations are a central theme of the novel. Allow me to remind you that the large-scale French invasion in 1861 was triggered by Mexican President Benito Juárez’s suspension of foreign debt payments. Let’s review the timeline. December 8, 1861: French troops, initially alongside Spanish and British forces, landed at the port of Veracruz to collect unpaid debts. May 5, 1862: The French Army advanced toward Mexico City but suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Puebla, a day now celebrated as Cinco de Mayo. June 1863: French forces regrouped, captured Mexico City, and established the Second Mexican Empire. 1864: Austrian Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg was installed as Emperor of Mexico with the backing of France.

It was only the Federal Union’s imbroglio with the Confederate States that kept the US from enforcing the Doctrine immediately. We never officially recognized the French-backed regime and have provided weapons and diplomatic support to Mexican President Benito Juárez. Once the Civil War concluded, the US told France to withdraw. Numbers mattered. At the conclusion of the war, the US had  700,000 effectives under arms. Many of them had seen the elephant. By comparison, Marshal François Achille Bazaine had fewer than  60,000. The US also had a fleet that could be released from blockade duty and could be set to work on the French.

The February 3, 1865, meeting aboard the River Queen took place near Fortress Monroe at Hampton Roads with President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward, representing the Federal Union. Vice President Alexander H. Stephens, Confederate Senator Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (Virginia), and Assistant Secretary of War John A. Campbell represented the Confederate States. There are no official records of the conference itself, so all reports derive from subsequent commentary by the parties involved. There is a general agreement on the points discussed.

The representatives discussed a possible alliance against France, the possible terms of surrender, the question of whether slavery might persist after the war, and the question of whether the South would be compensated for property lost through emancipation. Lincoln and Seward reportedly offered some possibilities for compromise on the issue of slavery.

On the question of slavery, Lincoln reportedly told the Confederates that Northern opinion was divided on the question of how new laws would be enforced. Regarding the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln reportedly interpreted it as a war measure that would permanently affect only the 200,000 people who came under Army protection during the War—but noted that the Courts might feel differently.

Seward reportedly showed the Confederates a copy of the newly adopted Thirteenth Amendment, also referred to this document as a war measure, and suggested that if they were to rejoin the Union, they might be able to prevent its ratification. After further discussion, Lincoln suggested that the Southern states might “avoid, as far as possible, the evils of immediate emancipation” by ratifying the Amendment “prospectively, so as to take effect—say in five years.” Seward and Lincoln denied that they were demanding “unconditional surrender”; Seward said that rejoining the Union, under the Constitution, could not “properly be considered as unconditional submission to conquerors, or as having anything humiliating in it.”

Lincoln also offered possible compensation for emancipation, perhaps naming the figure of $400,000,000, which he later officially proposed to Congress. Reportedly, Seward disagreed with Lincoln; Lincoln responded that the North had been complicit in the slave trade.

The Conference ended with an agreement on prisoner-of-war exchange. Lincoln would release Stephens’ nephew in exchange for a Northern official in Richmond—and would recommend that Grant establish a prisoner-exchange system.

Entry of the Gods into Valhalla

The gods are apparently happy because they’re entering their new home: Valhalla. But, as Loge and the Rhinemaidens remind them, this is just a false feeling, for the end of the gods is nigh.

In Iraq

The US and Iraq are slated to announce $60 billion in commercial agreements at a US Chamber of Commerce summit today. The visit by Iraq’s prime minister comes as Washington works to reduce Iran’s influence and leverage over Iraq and the wider Gulf region. Central to that strategy is a plan to rebuild the Kirkuk-Baniyas pipeline, which would carry Iraqi crude to Syria’s Mediterranean coast, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. Gulf states are also weighing a land transit corridor through Iraq and Syria, with Abu Dhabi’s AD Ports Group in talks with Syrian customs officials over border crossings and free zones.

“There are going to be a lot of deals,” US President Donald Trump said, arguing Iraq had “tremendous potential because of its oil.” Trump also suggested that the US no longer needed a military footprint in the country, saying the relationship should instead center on economic partnership.

What does this mean for the Kurds? That is a very good question.

Gaming in the Middle East

Ras Al Khaimah was built around a casino for a property boom, but the casino is running late. The low-profile emirate, best known for its ceramics, has been reinventing itself around Wynn Resorts’ $5.1 billion Al Marjan Island resort, which will house the Gulf’s first legal casino. However, the war in Iran has caused logistical problems and undermined the tourism sector, prompting Wynn to delay the resort’s planned spring 2027 opening by a “modest,” if unspecified, amount.

There is local debate over the 18th-century charge of maritime piracy, which has attached the British label ‘The Pirate Coast’ to the Eastern Gulf. The historian and Sultan of Sharjah, Sulṭān ibn Muḥammad al-Qāsimī, has written that the allegations of piracy were exaggerated by the East India Company to cut off the untaxed trade routes between the Middle East and Company rule in India. However, in the early 18th century, the Qawasim (singular: Al Qasimi) established themselves in Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah on the Arabian Peninsula, growing into a significant maritime force with holdings on both the Persian and Arabian coasts…They’ve built a better mousetrap today.

Identify the Aircraft

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Parting Shot

h/t Claudio

End