Author: Scott Ortkiese

The Data Sovereignty Trap: Why America’s AI Infrastructure Bet May Miss the Point Entirely

You Can Build the World’s Largest Data Center in Memphis or the Texas Hill Country. You Still Need Asia’s Permission to Use It.

Trump’s Truth Social: The Unfiltered Record, An Objective Analysis

Verbatim Truth Social posts show Trump attacking Judge Cooper after a ruling that Congress alone may rename the Kennedy Center.

The Aluminum Pearl Harbor: Trump and Netanyahu Sank America’s Industrial Fleet

A Warning to Those Still Waiting for the Bill to Arrive

The West on Trial: Five Charges Against a Failing Empire

Von der Leyen, Stoltenberg, Pompeo and the Atlantic Council invoke law and history while accelerating an order that blockades itself.

How the Tehran and Delhi Settlements Expose a Petrodollar Already Gone, Gone, Gone, Taking the Bellicose American Empire With It.

Tehran and Delhi settlements expose payment systems built outside the dollar, as sanctions, war premiums, and bond markets erode U.S. leverage.

Trump’s Iran War, China Trip and the Vanishing Empire

Trump’s China visit with technology oligarchs turned an intended display of U.S. strength into evidence of a captured state and fraying hegemony.

The Arsonist’s Lament: Robert Kagan, Victoria Nuland, and the Neocon Family Business of Perpetual War

A study in the audacity of those who set the house on fire and then write op-eds about how surprising the smoke is.

The Bahrain Parable: A Cautionary Tale for South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand

Bahrain accepted Fifth Fleet risks and a dollar peg, then faced a 134% debt burden and Washington’s withdrawal of its guarantees.

Sheep on a Chain: How Berkshire, BlackRock, and Vanguard Own the Agencies That Rate Their World

They’ll tell them how to rate their deals.

Never Is Hope So Pure As In The Certainty Of Loss: UAE’s OPEC Exit and the Structural Dissolution of the Petrodollar

OPEC production fell 27% amid a closed Hormuz, leaving the UAE’s departure as evidence that the oil cartel cannot govern the crisis.