Day: October 13, 2026

🇪🇺🇺🇸 Europe is getting nervous about how much control AMERICAN companies have over its money.

Nearly two-thirds of EU card payments are processed by foreign firms, mainly Visa and Mastercard.

Now European officials are worried that a serious fight with Washington could leave them vulnerable to U.S. sanctions and payment restrictions.

The fear isn’t entirely hypothetical. Some individuals targeted by U.S. sanctions, including people connected to the International Criminal Court, have already faced disruptions to American financial services.

Now Europe is building its own payment networks to reduce that dependence.

A new alliance of European services already reaches more than 130 MILLION users, with plans to expand cross-border payments.

Washington just imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court itself, further demonstrating how powerful access to the U.S. financial system can be.

Europe has spent decades relying on American payment infrastructure. Now it’s scrambling to make sure a political dispute can’t leave Europeans unable to pay.

Writer: Sol   x.com/Rainmaker1973/status/2…
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Take an early look at the front page of The Wall Street Journal.  on.wsj.com/4B2vgE9

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia launched a strike on a power plant in Kharkiv shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump announced an immediate energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said the attack showed that Russia was not observing the ceasefire announcement and called for continued U.S. pressure on Moscow to support the agreement.
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🇮🇷 🇺🇸 Iran can trade a $100,000 missile for a $150 million tanker that takes three years to replace.

Philip Pilkington says that kind of trade is impossible to spin, because in a war of attrition the side with cheaper ammunition holds out longest:

“In a war of attrition of magazines, of Iranian missile and drone magazines versus tanker magazines, I think we pretty much know who will win and pretty much know who will win pretty quick.”

Shipyards can’t build tankers anywhere near as fast as Iran can build missiles, and no press release changes that.

@mercoglianos  @philippilk
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  Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal)🇺🇸 🇮🇷 NOBODY really controls the Strait of Hormuz, and the shipping math shows it…

Maritime historian Sal Mercogliano runs the numbers: a state-owned fleet losing 5% of its tankers per trip is wiped out in about 20 voyages, and private owners now charge $1.4 MILLION a day to make the run.

“We’re seeing the ground war that the US fought in Iraq and Afghanistan being waged now on the sea in the Strait of Hormuz through this kind of asymmetric warfare.”

Every tanker lost makes the next voyage pricier, and that bill hits American gas pumps long before the fleet runs dry.

@mercoglianos  @philippilk
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  —  https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/2109856929220567359

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