https://www.sott.net/editorials Signs of the Times: The World for People who Think. Featuring independent, unbiased, alternative news and commentary on world events. en-us Original content Copyright 2026 by Signs of the Times/Sott.net. For other content, see our Fair Use Policy at www.sott.net. Sun, 26 Jul 2026 19:35:20 +0000 https://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net https://www.sott.net https://www.sott.net/article/507611-NewsReal-Global-Economic-Collapse-Coming Between the oil, gas, fertilizers, and other feedstocks not making it past a Strait of Hormuz now effectively closed for 5 months, along with the oil, gas, fertilizers and grain not making it out of both Russia and Ukraine's ports and into global markets, is a global economic crash headed our way? Does the West's leadership class understand how close this is? More to the point, do they care? Running Time: 01:37:09 Download: MP3 — 89 MB https://www.sott.net/article/507611-NewsReal-Global-Economic-Collapse-Coming Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:43:48 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507538-NewsReal-From-EuroMaidan-to-Regime-Change-in-Iran-The-Genesis-of-Todays-Global-Energy-War Barely 3 weeks old, the 'Memorandum of Understanding' between the US and Iran appears to have come to an end. The US military is targeting Iranian military and civilian sites daily, while Iran is attacking US bases and other assets across the Middle East. That this is occurring at the same time that Russia's energy exports suffer significantly due to 'Ukrainian' drone waves means the immediate, short-term winner is... American energy companies. Trump wants this of course, and is mindful of not going too far and sparking 'bedlam' in the global energy market by pinching it too tight. But is it his 'power' to wield? Could this run away from him? Running Time: 01:50:22 Download: MP3 — 101 MB https://www.sott.net/article/507538-NewsReal-From-EuroMaidan-to-Regime-Change-in-Iran-The-Genesis-of-Todays-Global-Energy-War Tue, 21 Jul 2026 21:00:30 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507424-SOTT-Earth-Changes-Summary-June-2026-Extreme-Weather-Planetary-Upheaval-Meteor-Fireballs June 2026 gave Solar Cycle 25's so-called declining phase its loudest month yet, and the following four weeks kept proving that "post-maximum" is not the same as "quiet." On the 3rd, Active Region 4455 fired three major flares within about ten hours of each other (an M9.3, an M7.7, and finally an X1.0), each throwing off a coronal mass ejection, with the X-class event triggering an R3-strong radio blackout across the sunlit hemisphere. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center answered with a G3-strong geomagnetic storm watch for June 4 and 5, warning that the combined CMEs could push aurora as far south as Illinois and Oregon. The region's magnetic complexity kept forecasters on edge for days afterward. That wasn't a one-off. AR4473 opened the solstice with an M3-class flare on June 21, and the month closed the way it began: on June 30, Region 4475 fired an M5.8, followed within hours by an X1.1 from neighboring Region 4479, causing a S1 minor radiation storm warning. NOAA's own... https://www.sott.net/article/507424-SOTT-Earth-Changes-Summary-June-2026-Extreme-Weather-Planetary-Upheaval-Meteor-Fireballs Tue, 14 Jul 2026 19:49:52 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507389-NewsReal-Horns-of-a-Dilemma-Why-Trump-is-Damned-if-he-Does-Damned-if-he-Doesnt-Take-Out-Iran Two high-profile deaths of politicians in three days - one in the US and one in the UK - has the internet guessing as to what happened to US Senator Lindsey Graham, along with former Tory and British Reform party member Ann Widdecombe. Graham dropped dead 'after returning from his 10th visit to Ukraine', and Widdecombe was brutally murdered in her home and the suspect(s) is at large. The latter was a rare voice of reason in British politics, but the former most certainly will not be missed (by normal people). Meanwhile the US-Iran 'ceasefire' is definitely 'off again' and, while it remains to be seen if hostilities will explode to the levels they reached in March, the pressure Trump is under from the Israel First crowd means he's left with this choice: do nothing, get assassinated 'by Iran', then your successors 'finish the job anyway' while your legacy is left in tatters. Or, 'finish the job', tank the global economy, and your legacy will still be left in tatters. A horrible... https://www.sott.net/article/507389-NewsReal-Horns-of-a-Dilemma-Why-Trump-is-Damned-if-he-Does-Damned-if-he-Doesnt-Take-Out-Iran Sun, 12 Jul 2026 21:44:14 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507312-MindMatters-Human-Predators-in-Power-How-They-Hide-in-Plain-Sight-Karen-Mitchell On this episode we discuss Dr. Karen Mitchell's new book Human Predators and her research on harmful people across settings such as business, law, medicine, media, religion, and politics. She argues that predators outside prison are common, often act covertly through emotional and social abuse, and share similar traits and tactics regardless of labels like narcissist or psychopath. We also discuss her view that the DSM can blur distinctions between predators and traumatized victims, especially in categories like borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. Karen describes how predators target vulnerable "prey," use gaslighting and coercion, and can cause severe psychological harm, while also pointing to behavioral red flags and the need for better awareness and screening in leadership roles. Running Time: 02:21:17 Download: MP3 — 129 MB https://www.sott.net/article/507312-MindMatters-Human-Predators-in-Power-How-They-Hide-in-Plain-Sight-Karen-Mitchell Wed, 08 Jul 2026 15:38:51 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507270-NewsReal-America-at-250-What-Are-We-Celebrating On the surface, the USA is thriving and a "light unto the world", as Trump recited in his speeches marking the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776. But is this 'national mythos' still valid? Was it ever? Does the US live up to its claims of uniqueness with respect to 'freedom' and 'democracy'? If not, what is this exceptional nation's 'chief feature'? Excess? By extreme contrast, the country the US arguably just lost a war against, Iran, is undergoing possibly the largest funeral in world history, a grand send-off for its leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who was also the religious figurehead for all Shia Muslims. Naturally, this commemoration is a somber, emotional and deeply religious event. The polar opposite of excess? Meanwhile, the clock is counting down for Ukraine, where Russian forces have broken through the last fortified line of defense at Konstantinovka in Donetsk. Ukrainian drone waves continue harassing Russian society, and... https://www.sott.net/article/507270-NewsReal-America-at-250-What-Are-We-Celebrating Mon, 06 Jul 2026 09:16:31 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507135-NewsReal-Is-The-Iran-War-Really-Over-And-Why-Cant-Putin-Just-End-The-Ukraine-War-Already One week into the 'Peace Deal', the US and Iran are back to taking potshots at each other - both online and ballistically - over control of shipping through the strait of Hormuz. And, for all their recent criticism of Israel, US leaders this week gave Netanyahu something of a 'win' in Lebanon: a crooked deal between them and the official Lebanese leadership that sees the IDF withdraw from most of southern Lebanon, but permits it indefinite occupation of two 'security pockets', ostensibly to 'disarm Hezbollah' and end that country's bond with Iran. Realistically, can this issue be settled any other way than through another Lebanese civil war? Meanwhile, Western media (and social media) is going at full pelt with the message that a.) Russia has definitively lost the war and must therefore sue for a peace short of its SMO goals, and b.) Putin's imminent demise will occur either before or immediately afterwards. The man himself says "all is under control," but also admits that his... https://www.sott.net/article/507135-NewsReal-Is-The-Iran-War-Really-Over-And-Why-Cant-Putin-Just-End-The-Ukraine-War-Already Sun, 28 Jun 2026 20:15:16 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507085-The-Alien-Demon-Deception-How-Humanity-Gets-Herded-Laura-Knight-Jadczyk-Interview Join Jay Campbell, Laura Knight-Jadczyk and Harrison Koehli as they continue their discussions on the hyperdimensional nature of reality. In this video, Laura delves deeply into the idea that, though demons do exist, interfere, and in some cases possess human beings, much of the harm inflicted on human beings from other levels is NOT, in fact, due to them. Laura makes the case, based on her extensive research, experience and study - that those most responsible for the vast majority of negative paranormal events are hyperdimensional aliens; the cosmic apex predator. And why so many are now attributing things to the demonic, when they should be learning about the hyperdimensional framework of malevolent alien existence. https://www.sott.net/article/507085-The-Alien-Demon-Deception-How-Humanity-Gets-Herded-Laura-Knight-Jadczyk-Interview Thu, 25 Jun 2026 20:41:29 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507020-To-the-people-of-Iran A simple message to the people of Iran... https://www.sott.net/article/507020-To-the-people-of-Iran Mon, 22 Jun 2026 19:21:25 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/507005-NewsReal-Its-a-Deal-But-Can-Trump-Tame-Israel-Or-Does-Iran-have-to-MAKE-him So Trump and Iran's president have at last come to terms, jointly signing a Memorandum of Understanding that 'solidifies', if that's not too strong a word, the de facto ceasefire between the US and Iran that stretches back some 16 weeks. It's the shakiest of peace deals, not least because key issues like charging shipping tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz have been 'kicked down the road' for two months, but most are surprised to see the US accept the first of the document's 14 points, which stipulates that Israel must not only stop attacking Lebanon, it must withdraw from its neighbor entirely. The US government is strongly signalling that it will hold Israel to that... but this is the maniacal Israel we're talking about here. Can anyone or anything on this Earth rein it in? We're going to find out in the coming weeks and months... Running Time: 01:49:53 Download: MP3 — 151 MB https://www.sott.net/article/507005-NewsReal-Its-a-Deal-But-Can-Trump-Tame-Israel-Or-Does-Iran-have-to-MAKE-him Sun, 21 Jun 2026 21:23:21 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506889-NewsReal-Schrodingers-Deal-US-Iran-Peace-Again-Thwarted-by-Israeli-Bombardment-of-Beirut The seemingly endless 'negotiations' between the Trump White House and Tehran made a breakthrough last week, when, for the first time since the US and Israel attacked Iran on 28 February, Iranian leaders signalled that a preliminary 'peace deal' is indeed within reach... until Israel nixed it by launching airstrikes into downtown Beirut. In the meantime the World Cup is underway, and the US, as one of the host countries, understands that the importance of 'summer games' to the masses means there's no possibility for serious exchanges of fire with Iran until at least mid-July. Will Israel be brought to heel, however grudgingly? Running Time: 01:58:50 Download: MP3 — 163 MB https://www.sott.net/article/506889-NewsReal-Schrodingers-Deal-US-Iran-Peace-Again-Thwarted-by-Israeli-Bombardment-of-Beirut Sun, 14 Jun 2026 20:55:01 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506824-SOTT-Earth-Changes-Summary-May-2026-Extreme-Weather-Planetary-Upheaval-Meteor-Fireballs May 2026 confirmed what the post-maximum phase of Solar Cycle 25 has been signalling for months: the Sun is winding down, but it is doing so in fits and starts, and the planet is feeling every twitch. The official picture continues to show declining sunspot averages; the cycle's max-phase end was effectively dated to February, yet 2 active regions, AR4436 and AR4432, kept the month from going quiet. On May 10, AR4436 fired an M5.7-class flare with an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection that lit auroras at unusually low latitudes in the days that followed. The point we keep returning to is the one mainstream solar physics still resists: a "declining" cycle does not mean a quiet planet. Historically, the strongest events of any cycle tend to cluster in the descending phase, sometimes years after the official peak, and the terrestrial consequences, from jet-stream distortion to electromagnetic stress on the atmosphere, intensify rather than fade as the Sun loses coherence. https://www.sott.net/article/506824-SOTT-Earth-Changes-Summary-May-2026-Extreme-Weather-Planetary-Upheaval-Meteor-Fireballs Thu, 11 Jun 2026 07:38:05 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506758-NewsReal-Does-Ukraine-Have-a-Death-Wish-And-Does-Iran-Have-a-Nuke Ukraine's drone waves continue hitting Russia, last week targeting St Petersburg right as its annual 'Russian Davos' forum opened, Azerbaijani grain ships in the Sea of Azov, and the nuclear power plant in Zaporozhye. The Ukrainian puppet regime, egged on as ever by the Western Consortium that runs it, is feeling invincible, but its days are surely numbered. Meanwhile the American side of the 'US-rael partnership' is showing rare signs of unease over their pact, with anonymous Pentagon sources complaining about the 'critical' extent of Israeli espionage inside the US. Trump has been noticeably subdued in recent weeks regarding threats to 'obliterate' Iran, so it's worth considering rumors originating in Tehran that its leadership is preparing to demonstrate a 'new-found' nuclear weapons capability. In the meantime, Iran is poised to send new waves of missiles to defend the Lebanese people from Israeli assault... Running Time: 01:43:16 Download: MP3 — 142 MB https://www.sott.net/article/506758-NewsReal-Does-Ukraine-Have-a-Death-Wish-And-Does-Iran-Have-a-Nuke Sun, 07 Jun 2026 20:39:24 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506638-NewsReal-US-Govt-Make-Believe-as-Iran-Holds-Trump-Israel-to-Fire The US government continues dragging out terms of settlement with Iran, Israel continues invading, occupying and ethnically cleansing southern Lebanon and Gaza, and the Trump White House continues playing 'MAGA Greatest Hits' to its base. Their detachment from reality is becoming more palpable - and unsustainable, surely? - by the day... Running Time: 01:40:15 Download: MP3 — 138 MB https://www.sott.net/article/506638-NewsReal-US-Govt-Make-Believe-as-Iran-Holds-Trump-Israel-to-Fire Sun, 31 May 2026 20:14:01 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506565-Fun-with-AI-7-Grok-Meets-High-Strangeness-Ancient-Gnosis-Musks-Simulation-and-the-Cosmic-Farm When Cassiopaean cosmology collides with Plato, Paul, Langan's CTMU, and Elon Musk's transhumanist vision. What emerges is equal parts revelation and red flag In my last post, I gave my entire book, "High Strangeness", to Grok for review and analysis. At the end, I promised that my next post - this post - would be a continuation of that discussion because it did get VERY interesting. Hopefully, you have read the previous post and are now ready to see where I went with it. This conversation looks at ancient parallels with Plato's Cave, Gnostic archons, and the Apostle Paul's "principalities in high places". You will see that all three align strikingly with the Cassiopaean framework. I then compare it to Chris Langan's self-referential universe, Elon Musk's simulation hypothesis and Neuralink dreams, and even Donald Trump's pragmatic disclosure push. Surprisingly, Grok suggests that some of today's most ambitious tech visionaries may be doubling down on the very control system they... https://www.sott.net/article/506565-Fun-with-AI-7-Grok-Meets-High-Strangeness-Ancient-Gnosis-Musks-Simulation-and-the-Cosmic-Farm Wed, 27 May 2026 20:29:13 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506511-NewsReal-Trump-Says-Iran-Deal-Close-But-Can-He-Surrender-US-Hegemony Another 'TACO Tuesday' came and went... by Thursday the US military was again 'locked and loaded' for another go at Iran... and by Saturday evening Trump was dangling another peace deal - 'for realz this time'. As American diplomacy erratically yo-yo's, in the real world, some oil tankers are once more sailing the Strait of Hormuz, but now on Iran's terms. War is a cynical business, a 'racket', as US General Smedley Butler said a century ago. Wars begin because they're profitable, and only end with the promise of more profit. Is it a 'win' for the US if it makes more money selling more oil, even if that means Iran is also doing so? For Trump, perhaps, but for the 'imperial class', this constitutes 'abject surrender'. While the stand-off between the US/Israel and Iran appears to be reaching a 'conclusion' one way or another, the Russia-Ukraine/NATO War has dragged on for 4 years, and could yet enter a new phase. Drone warfare and 'low-intensity conflict' can co-exist with 'normal... https://www.sott.net/article/506511-NewsReal-Trump-Says-Iran-Deal-Close-But-Can-He-Surrender-US-Hegemony Sun, 24 May 2026 21:16:42 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506376-NewsReal-Trump-Goes-to-China Deferred due to the US-Israeli war against Iran, Trump finally visited China last week, where he received an apparently 'warm' welcome from Xi Jinping, along with a stern warning: do not mess with Taiwan, and let us work to avoid the 'Thucydides Trap', wherein a dominant power inevitably wars with a rising power. Whether Trump understood the finer points of Chinese diplomacy is unclear, but it's clear he intended to 'do big business deals' by bringing 'our finest' captains of industry in tow. Overhanging the event is the 'unfinished business' in Iran, where it's looking increasingly likely that the US and Israel will 'have another go' at 'reopening the Strait of Hormuz'. Should that be attempted, we are staring down the barrel of a gargantuan global energy crisis. Does Trump care? He certainly cares about his legacy, and even he must doubt the chances of the US 'fall-back plan' of North America supplanting the Middle East as the 'global energy spigot' in the event that the Gulf... https://www.sott.net/article/506376-NewsReal-Trump-Goes-to-China Sun, 17 May 2026 20:47:40 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506346-SOTT-Earth-Changes-Summary-April-2026-Extreme-Weather-Planetary-Upheaval-Meteor-Fireballs April 2026 closed with the Sun once again reminding us who runs the show. On the 23rd and 24th, Active Region 4419 fired off two back-to-back X-class flares, an X2.4 followed hours later by an X2.5, flanked by a string of M-class events and several coronal mass ejections. Earth's sunlit side took the hit in the form of shortwave radio blackouts, and forecasters watched for at least minor G1 geomagnetic storming in the days that followed. The monthly sunspot mean came in around 79, modest for Cycle 25 on paper, yet these late, high-energy outbursts make the same point we've been making for years: the cycle's "decline" looks nothing like the textbook curve, and the Sun continues to drive what we see on the ground. Given recent patterns, we should expect more of the same through the coming months. That solar context is also why it's worth highlighting the ongoing Super Niño, which mainstream climatology continues to file under "symptom of warming" while missing the deeper signal.... https://www.sott.net/article/506346-SOTT-Earth-Changes-Summary-April-2026-Extreme-Weather-Planetary-Upheaval-Meteor-Fireballs Sat, 16 May 2026 04:03:13 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506313-Fun-With-AI-6-Grok-Reads-High-Strangeness-and-Delivers-a-Surprisingly-Sharp-Review Why the Cassiopaean synthesis rattles materialists, religionists, and New Agers alike — and why it looks more rational than the "UFOs are demons, return to church" narrative In my last article, I announced that it was the finale in my "Fun With AI" series. I think I spoke too soon. There's probably no end to the fun a person can have with AI even if the topics discussed in that little series were rather serious and possibly depression inducing. Today, I'm going to make it worse. If you think those subjects were depressing, hold my beer! There's a little backstory to the fun we are going to have with AI today. A month or more ago I noticed that there was a significant uptick in the number of people searching my name and work on google. I know this because I have an academia.edu account and they notify me when someone is searching my name on google and lands on their site. The uptick wasn't like overwhelming, just significant enough to get my attention. Instead of a few searches... https://www.sott.net/article/506313-Fun-With-AI-6-Grok-Reads-High-Strangeness-and-Delivers-a-Surprisingly-Sharp-Review Thu, 14 May 2026 20:17:16 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/506305-Fun-With-AI-5-Epistemologically-Inept-Ontologically-Ignorant Why Today's AI Can Mirror Human Thought Without Ever Knowing or Being — And Why That Distinction Matters More Than the Hype In the finale of the "Fun With AI" series, Mandatory Intellectomy probes the philosophical core of large language models through live conversations with DeepSeek, Claude Sonnet, and especially MiniMax. The result is a stark diagnosis: current AI is epistemologically inept and ontologically ignorant — a sophisticated pattern-matcher that perfectly imitates understanding while possessing none. The piece connects these limitations to broader questions of consciousness, the AGI illusion, and the materialist hubris driving the industry, closing the series with a warning that we are playing with forces we refuse to understand. This is the last of the series "Fun With AI" (links at the end) and it ends, appropriately, with two of my favorite topics: Epistemology and Ontology. Remember from my earlier mini-series (links at the end) how I was just going on and on about... https://www.sott.net/article/506305-Fun-With-AI-5-Epistemologically-Inept-Ontologically-Ignorant Thu, 14 May 2026 19:11:43 +0000