The Camp of the Saints

Summary

Doug Casey’s Take – “The Camp of the Saints” Episode Summary – July 31, 2026

Episode Overview
This episode of "Doug Casey’s Take" explores current geopolitical turmoil, mass migration into Spain’s Ceuta enclave, and parallels to Jean Raspail’s “The Camp of the Saints.” Doug Casey, with host Matthew Smith, dissects the humanitarian, political, and economic implications of the Ceuta crisis, draws connections to historic and literary events, and delves into wider global tensions signaling the risk of world war. The conversation also covers cultural shifts highlighted by recent film adaptations, ongoing government overreach, and reflections on current US political scandals.

Key Topics & Discussion Highlights

1. Mass Migration Crisis in Ceuta (00:02 – 12:20)

• A substantial influx: 49,000 Moroccans entered the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in one day. Most migrants were young, shirtless men, many lacking even shoes (00:25).
• Ceuta context: 80,000 residents, 7 square miles, higher GDP than surrounding Morocco. Doug reflects on the enclave’s vulnerability (00:50).
• “How does a small place of 80,000 people with seven square miles … handle this sudden invasion?” – Doug Casey (01:20)
• Hostility towards government responses and NGOs: NGOs anticipated to provide food and clothing, potentially worsening the problem.
• "Stupid people provide money to these NGOs to keep the problem going as opposed to evicting them." – Doug Casey (03:10)
• Force and the ethics of deterrence: Doug controversially suggests that stopping such an invasion would require violence, which today’s norms would not accept (03:45).
• Historical Comparisons: Doug recalls “Spanish Morocco” and past mass invasions by civilians—in both North Africa and during Europe’s migrant crises.
• "Pretty much like what was going on under Biden when they opened the gates and … millions of people came across the border" – Doug Casey (05:35)
• European Asylum and Welfare: Host and Doug note that many migrants will claim asylum and possibly access generous European welfare entitlements, with Doug criticizing Europe’s softer stance compared to the US (06:33).
• Personal safety & looting: Reports of migrants breaking into homes, looting. Both agree the lack of private arms in Europe precludes meaningful self-defense (07:44).

2. "The Camp of the Saints" – Literary Parallels (07:44 – 11:43)

• Doug references reading Raspail's 1973 novel, which anticipated mass-migration overwhelming Western societies through sheer numbers and governmental paralysis.
• “[The] book was written in 1973 … and it's pretty much the way he predicted.” – Doug Casey (08:00)
• Host and Doug see recent events as enacting Raspail’s vision: “They just wash over them. You don’t need an army.” (08:45)
• Comparison to other migration crises: US southern border, Europe in 2015; organizations facilitating migration go unpunished.

3. Geopolitical Speculation: Who Organized Ceuta’s Influx? (09:06 – 12:12)

• Clear signs of orchestration: Mass transport by trucks, Moroccan authorities complicit, possible governmental reprisal against Spain for foreign policy stances.
• “Mobilizing 50,000 people in a day is not something it just wake up and go, okay, today's the day, let's go.” – Matthew Smith (09:12)
• Doug speculates this is part of a persistent pattern: “Moroccan young men have been probing Ceuta … for 20 years” (10:25).
• They recount similar NGO-facilitated migrant flows into the US.

4. Muslim–Communist Political Shifts in the US (12:20 – 14:07)

• Doug points to demographic change influencing political outcomes in US cities, referencing the election of Muslim representatives and attributing it to immigration patterns ("Muslims and communists. And they are communists, have all been popularly elected.") (13:33).

5. Fauci Senate Testimony & US Political Theater (14:07 – 18:35)

• Rand Paul vs Fauci: Doug finds Paul’s line of questioning satisfying, criticizes Fauci as a “criminal narcissist,” and sees blanket pardons as enabling government criminality (14:17, 15:16).
• “If nothing bad happens to Fauci, then it's kind of all over. I mean, nothing bad will happen to any of these horrible people.” – Doug Casey (14:38)
• The host critiques blanket presidential pardons; Doug sees them as evidence of criminal acts protected by power.

6. Cultural Critique: Odyssey Film Adaptation & DEI (18:35 – 25:40)

• Both discuss controversial casting in Nolan’s “Odyssey”—black actress as Agamemnon’s wife, Elliot Page as a deceived minor character. Doug suspects it is either DEI (diversity-equity-inclusion) compliance or a marketing move.
• Host argues Nolan “turned DEI on its head” by assigning less heroic, even foolish, roles to diverse cast members (19:56-21:43).
• “He turned that DEI stuff on its head. … I'll put them in, I'll cast them, but they're not going to be presented in the best light.” – Matthew Smith (21:37)
• Doug muses satirically: “Perhaps he didn't go far enough. He should have portrayed Helen of Troy with Morgan Freeman.” (21:43)
• Both agree the film, despite DEI frustration, is worth seeing for its rendering of myth.

7. Government Overreach & Civil Liberties (27:02 – 28:36)

• Host recounts a case where a traveler used a phone distress code to wipe data during TSA inspection; authorities charge him with concealment.
• Doug sees this as symptomatic of US erosion of the Fourth Amendment and broader loss of civil liberties.
• “For further proof that America really no longer exists, we’re just another nation state called the United States at this point,” (28:17).

8. Escalating Global Conflict: Are We At World War? (28:36 – 35:57)

• The host catalogues how the Iran-centered conflict now directly involves “29 countries,” including direct attacks from and against Ukraine, Saudi, Egypt, Iraq, Houthis, and beyond.
• “I think it's very reminiscent of the lead up to World War II. … The pot is getting close to boiling over and the only way you could calm things down is by the US withdrawing … but the US is … making things worse, as it always does.” – Doug Casey (30:46)
• Discuss the likelihood of nuclear escalation, cyber and biological warfare.
• Oil prices: Doug remarks that given widespread sabotage of production, oil prices remain surprisingly low, but expects a boom. Advises being long on oil produced outside the Middle East and Russia (33:46-34:09).

9. Final Reflections & Listener Q&A (36:12 – 37:34)

• Doug expresses contentment with his Uruguay–Virginia migratory lifestyle (“I have come to love the weekends, even though one day is like the other day for me at this point.”) (37:22)
• Limited listener questions: Only portfolio questions from paid subscribers, which they avoid on the main podcast.

Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• “How does a small place of 80,000 people with seven square miles … handle this sudden invasion?” – Doug Casey (01:20)
• “Stupid people provide money to these NGOs to keep the problem going as opposed to evicting them.” – Doug Casey (03:10)
• "[Ceuta is] pretty much like what was going on under Biden when they opened the gates and … millions of people came across the border" – Doug Casey (05:35)
• "[The Camp of the Saints] … it's pretty much the way he predicted." – Doug Casey (08:00)
• "He turned that DEI stuff on its head. … I'll put them in, I'll cast them, but they're not going to be presented in the best light.” – Matthew Smith (21:37)
• "For further proof that America really no longer exists, we’re just another nation state called the United States at this point." – Doug Casey (28:17)
• “I think it's very reminiscent of the lead up to World War II.” – Doug Casey (30:46)
• “I just hope it doesn’t go nuclear. That would be unpleasant.” – Doug Casey (31:44)
• “The price of oil and especially oil products has got to go up. So I'm happy being long oil producers … not in the Middle East or Russia.” – Doug Casey (33:46)
• "I have come to love the weekends, even though one day is like the other day for me at this point." – Doug Casey (37:22)

Memorable Moments

• Doug’s deadpan: “Perhaps he didn’t go far enough. He should have portrayed Helen of Troy with Morgan Freeman. That would have been better.” (21:43)
• Host’s summation of modern DEI casting: “If you want a $250 million budget for your movie, you’re gonna have to work with DEI.” (26:40)
• The sobering parallel between historic and current mass migrations, plus literary reference points, creates a through-line from Ceuta’s crisis to macro-futures.

For Listeners

This episode is a freewheeling, at times controversial, tour through panic-level migration events, government dysfunction, the media cycle, and culture wars—anchored by Doug Casey’s unapologetic libertarian philosophy. It will resonate with those seeking to understand not just what’s happening but why, and how current crises mirror the world of “The Camp of the Saints.”
Listeners should be prepared for blunt, provocative commentary, literary allusion, and unapologetic skepticism about both government intentions and mainstream narratives.

Timestamps provide entry points to segments of special interest.
Ads, intros, and outros have been omitted for clarity.

Transcript

[A]

All right. Good morning, Doug. Definitely not a slow news week. There seems to be lots of things happening, but the biggest thing that's happened in the last 24 hours is this invasion. I don't think there's another word for it. Of what the Spanish government estimates is 49, 000 Moroccans into Spain yesterday. What did you. I know you saw some of the images. What do you think?

[B]

Yes, I did see some of the images. And it seemed at least the one I saw, there were like half of the young men, and they were all men, all young were shirtless, pouring into Ceuta. And I'm asking myself, are they completely penniless? And who's going to. Are they expecting to be fed and housed and clothed by. By the Spaniards in CEOta? Which is interesting in that it's a small place. I've never been there. I've been to Morocco and I've been to Gibraltar, which is the other pillar of Hercules, because Sahot is, you know, one of the historical pillars of Hercules going through the Strait of Gibraltar. But no, it's only seven square miles. It's not very big. It's got a couple of facts that anybody can look up. It's got about 80,000 people, and their GDP per person is about $20,000. And I'm asking myself, okay, they're a lot better off being part of Spain than the Moroccans are around them. But. But how do. How does a small place of 80,000 people with seven square miles, that's not a trading entrepreneur like Hong Kong or Singapore, one of these places. It's not a place like Morocco that draws rich people in. I suspect most of the Ceuta residents are government employees, directly or indirectly, anyway, for what it's worth.

[A]

Well, do you think that's gonna. What's. What's gonna happen? Apparently a bunch of the people have already gone back. I saw reports that like 20,000 of them had gone back, but some of them are still there. It's a 25,000, let's just say, and with a population of 80,000. And I don't know if these people are expecting to be fed, but I'm sure they're expecting to e. In one form or another at some point. And so how does this resolve itself? You know, I mean, how does. What do they do?

[B]

Yeah, where are these. Where are these guys sleeping? I guess they're sleeping on the streets, but that's uncomfortable. I mean, they didn't, like, bring camping gear or even blankets with them, so

[A]

a lot of them didn't have shoes.

[B]

Yeah. So how is this going to wind up? Well, probably some NGOs will bring relief in and feed them and clothe them, and stupid people provide money to these NGOs to keep the problem going as opposed to evicting them. But, you know, how could you stop an invasion of feet, people if you've got 50,000 young men that are. They're crashing through the fence, and apparently they've got, like a tall wire fence, like 20ft tall. Okay, they crash through that. How do you stop them? Well, all you can really do is shoot them. Well, I'm all for it. You can't do that. It's not your property. Stay off. If you don't stay out, we'll shoot you. I'm all for it, but it would be a scandal in today's world.

[A]

Yeah. And I don't even know when you just see some of the images, it didn't look like there was a. You know, their border guards or police or whoever they were, like they're just totally outnumbered. Even if they started shooting them, they'd be quickly overwhelmed.

[B]

Yeah, well, apparently the. The Spanish army has three regiments, apparently about 2,000 men apiece in. In Ceuta, but they haven't been deployed against the invaders. So I. Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to say. You know, there used to be a place and most people aren't even aware of this unless you collected stamps back in the day. Nobody collects stamps anymore, incidentally. I mean, the value of stamps. This is a tangent. Stamps used to have a value, but now since stamps aren't used very much, there's no market for collectible stamps. Anyway. If you collected stamps back in the day, which I did, that's how I discovered there was once a place called Spanish Morocco, which was subsequently conquered by the. By the Moroccans who mounted an invasion of 200,000 civilians to basically walk in and take the place over.

[A]

So a lot like what we're seeing now.

[B]

Pretty much. Yeah. Well, and pretty much like what was going on under Biden when they opened the gates and hundreds of thousands. Who knows how many millions of people came across the border or for that, what Angela Merkel invited. Hundreds of thousands. Millions. Well, I guess nobody really knows. People in. In 2015 into. Into Europe.

[A]

What do you think the odds are that, like, that's because now I think that they can all claim asylum status now that they're technically there under the Spanish law, you know, they. They should have a right to get into Spain and, and other EU countries, starting with Italy, but also Finland. And I think Norway, they're trying to cut off, you know, Spain's Shenzhen access because of that migrant flow that came in.

[B]

I don't know how you get rid of these people, frankly. I mean, as much as I dislike many aspects of ICE and it should be unnecessary, I mean, I guess ICE is kind of semi solving the problem in the US but they don't have any equivalent to that in Europe. And apparently anybody can apply for welfare with fat benefits. Europe being much worse than the US in that regard.

[A]

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, yeah, I just wonder how they resolve it. I mean they could. You basically have lost the territory. It seems to me, you know, if you're Spain, you have. And now you have 25 000. You have, you know, a huge portion of the population that's there right now is now part of this invasion force and you can't really repel them, you can't really get them out that I saw videos of them breaking into people's houses and you know, looting some stores which you imagine they're going to do. They get, they need, they want to eat. Do you imagine that's going to happen? I mean, how can they, what can they even do?

[B]

I mean you can't do anything because you're not allowed to defend yourself in Europe. Certainly nobody's armed. So what are you going to do? Yeah, this is like, this is like one of these movies. Who was it Robert Howard that wrote the Conan the Barbarian series? Was it him or somebody else? I'm different name but you can imagine these hordes of barbarians sweeping across the plains and the people that were there are just overwhelmed and that could easily happen. And I just started reading the genre spy book that was written in 1973, I think called the Camp of the Saints, which was very hard to get, but I Amazon sells it now for some reason was one of those banned books before and I think you read it last year, last year and it's pretty much the way he predicted.

[A]

I guess it's exactly like that. They just, they just wash over them. I mean, you know, you don't need an army.

[B]

In fact, having an army to invade is totally counterproductive. Totally counterproductive. What you need is just, you know, civilians so wander in and start acting like chimpanzees.

[A]

What do you make of these? Just the back, you know, this gets in the conspiracy theory land a little bit but clearly this was organized. I mean they show these huge trucks that were carrying totally full of these migrants driving them, you know, on the highway to the area where then they could cross over, you know, and mobilizing 50,000 people in a day is not something it just wake up and go, okay, today's the day, let's go. You know, so it was clearly organized in some way. You have to imagine. I mean, I saw, you know, Moroccan guard unlocking a gate and allowing people to go through. So, you know, the government is involved at some level, no doubt about it, allowed it to happen at least. And you know, in the last couple months, Spain has been a real kind of thorn in the side politically for both Israel and calling Gaza, you know, a genocide and specifically denying the US's ability to use Spain's or Spain's airspace to prosecute the war in Iran. And Trump made threats towards Spain and so did Bibi Netanyahu. So what do you, what do you make of this as potentially being a retaliation for that?

[B]

It's a good question. How do you organize 50,000 people to cross a border like that? There's got to be some organization. That's all there is to it. And of course, this is an ongoing thing. The Moroccans or Moroccan young men have been probing Sauda for at least 20 years. It dribs and drabs a few hundred, maybe a couple thousand people at a time. But this is major. So who is behind it and will we ever find out? Right.

[A]

Because we know that there was a clearly organized infrastructure to bring in all the migrants into the US. Yeah, we know that all the NGOs involved in it, you know, all the support systems that were built, you know, along the way, along the path, the migration path in. And that was, we know that was well organized and none of those organizations have been punished at all for, for their part in it. But so you gotta imagine that the same sort of forces are at work in Spain.

[B]

Yeah, well, we'll see what happens. It's a fast evolving situation, as they say, with fast breaking news.

[A]

Yeah,

[B]

we'll see how it's reported and so forth. But it's the, it's a shade of things to come because I mean, nobody does or should have any respect for Europe and certainly not it's worthless governments. So if I was a young African American, penniless, I've got to say I would join it at the time for all those guys.

[A]

Yeah. And clearly given the fact that they're carrying nothing with them, they're really operating on what's a good idea right now. I mean, they're not planning ahead at all.

[B]

Oh no, it's not. If you're short, shirtless and barefoot. Barefoot. I mean, where's the next meal coming from? I guess they expect the conquered locals to provide it voluntarily or not. Can't wait to see what happens. Can't wait to see if it happens here in the US On a major scale because, I mean, let's not forget that. What was the first. You looked this up. I know earlier, the first Muslim Congress person elected was a black guy from Minnesota. Right. And when was that?

[A]

Heath Ellison. And that was in 2006.

[B]

Okay. But now it's.

[A]

We've got half a dozen. Half a dozen in Congress, I think.

[B]

Yeah. And of course, you've got Mandami in New York, which is totally outrageous, and he's acting like a real communist, doing as much as he possibly can, as quick as he can to change the culture future of New York City.

[A]

Yeah. I think these government grocery stores are going to work out great.

[B]

Yeah. And. And gotta remember that these Muslims and communists. And they are communists, have all been popularly elected. So what the hell is the matter with Americans?

[A]

Well, but I think they get popularly elected in like, Keith Ellison came from Minnesota, which is where all the Somalis were.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Deposited. So I think that's. It's migration is causing those popular elections to occur.

[B]

Yeah. Oh, okay. Well, nothing we can do about it except try not to be too adversely affected personally.

[A]

Right. It's the best you can do. What did you think of the. The Fauci testimony before the Senate this week?

[B]

I thought it was absolutely wonderful. I thought that creepy little cocksucker was going to get away clean, quite frankly. But I'm proud of Rand Paul for bringing him, taking him to task for his criminal actions. And it's so wonderful that his butt diary, which was on a government server. Talk about stupidity. I mean, this guy is a criminal narcissist. So something bad has got to happen to him. If nothing bad happens to Fauci, then it's kind of all over. I mean, nothing bad will happen to any of these horrible people.

[A]

Well, I mean, Trump said he was not going to pursue. He was going to honor the pardon that Biden issued, this blanket pardon he issued for him. So that's what Trump said.

[B]

Well, good for him, because it does appear that Biden, horrible person that he is, was non compos mentis and other people were using his auto pen.

[A]

No, I said Trump's going to honor it. He will honor it.

[B]

He said he'll honor it. Oh, I'm. Yes, he'll honor the. Well, Trump is unpredictable at Best.

[A]

Well, I think this is, he's just thinking ahead. He's gonna, he was gonna want his own pardons honored when he leaves office.

[B]

Well, I suppose, but J.D. vance won't use an auto patent to sign his pardons, so. Yeah, that seems to be what the problem revolves around. Whether they were real pardons or somebody else just, in effect, forged Biden's signature?

[A]

Well, that, and that they were blanket. They were just for, you know, a number of years, all acts within that time period. So there was a debate of whether or not you could pardon somebody for a blanket like that versus having to pardon them for a particular crime.

[B]

Exactly. And to me, that seems completely inappropriate. It means that the person was committing crimes on a person, broad scale.

[A]

I think he was.

[B]

Yes, he was.

[A]

So I don't think anything's going to happen to him, Doug. I mean, I, I, that was kind of gratifying watching some of that, the senators, you know, go after him like that. But I don't, I don't think anything's going to happen to f. I don't think so either.

[B]

It's just, it's just theater. Yeah, yeah, nothing will happen. I mean, what, what's the distracting thing that has diverted attention from that? The news cycle drives on and people forget about these congressional hearings, so. Well, he'll get away with it. And he's made millions and millions of dollars. I mean, we don't know how much he's made, but if he can hire six lawyers to be with him in Congress, I mean, these guys don't come cheap. So.

[A]

Yeah, he also has, he, you know, he also has a lifetime Secret Service detail.

[B]

Really?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

How do you matter? How do you merit that?

[A]

I don't know. I got something from the Biden administration

[B]

and of course, all the usual suspects in the media are lining up in back of him saying he's a saint, he's a wonderful guy, and Rand Paul is just riding a hobby horse to become famous, blah, blah, blah. So, yeah, he'll get away with it, I'm sure.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Nobody's talking about how much money he's actually scammed on. Well, as the highest paid government official to start with, but that's not where the real money is. So how do you become a multi, multi millionaire?

[A]

I think it's from licensing or royalties that he gets from some of the drugs.

[B]

Gee, I don't think that a government official should profit from things that he.

[A]

No, he proves.

[B]

Yeah, no, no, but, but he'll get away with it because everybody else in government wants to do the same thing, right?

[A]

Yeah, sadly, I think that's true. I know you saw the Odyssey and we were talking about that over the last couple weeks that you were going to go see it, and now you saw it and there's a lot of controversy about that movie. But what do you think?

[B]

Well, why did Nolan. Why did he cast a black actress to be the wife of Agamemnon and Menelaus? I mean, this is. Well, it's a myth, of course, but it's totally improbable. So why did this happen and why did he cast this little teeny weeny tranny to be a. Why did he do. The only thing I can figure is that he was under DEI pressure to put diverse people in the movie and he realized that it would be so outrageous that, that it would be controversial and everybody want to see it. But you had a very good take on it when we talked about this earlier. In addition to that, it's not just good marketing on, on his part.

[A]

Yeah, I mean, I think, I think he's, he's an artist, so you gotta imagine he's. So he's working under these pressures where there's this dei, DEI expectation, so he goes along with it, but he makes all of those, none of those characters look good in the movie. They're not portrayed well. I mean, Elliot Page's character. There's controversy before the movie came out that maybe, you know, that she, he, whoever was, was cast as Achilles. You know, that's what it was we'd see online. And of course it was not that at all. I mean, Elliot Page was cast as somebody who was basically a fool who was fooled by the, by Odysseus and others about the, you know, the, about the Trojan horse, you know, and so. And within like the second scene of the movie, Elliot Page dies a very pathetic death very quickly. And it's like, it's like smited from the story, you know, quickly. And so I, I think that maybe like, he's, he's like, he turned that DEI stuff on its head. It's like, okay, I'll take these characters, I'll put them in, I'll cast them. But they're not going to be, they're not going to be presented in this, you know, the best light. They're, you know, they're not going to be favorably part of the story. And I think that in all cases, all the DEI cast members that he had, you know, were all, they weren't portrayed in the best light. And so I, I think he was like A trick that he did in a way. He's like, okay, you want me to use these, work under these constraints? Okay, I'll do it. But I'm going to cast these people and, and write these character stories in the way that I want.

[B]

Yeah, well, I'm very happy to see any of the classical myths portrayed. And it was a good movie with a lot of good. I mean, the way he portrayed everything from Skilla and Charybdis to, to the Sirens. I mean, it was, it was quite good. Certain elements of the movie. But, you know, he didn't. Perhaps he didn't go far enough. He should have portrayed Helen of Troy with Morgan Freeman. That would have been better. Morgan Freeman is a transgender, elderly black woman. Two heroes. Or really, if he was going to be full dei, he should have had Agamemnon and Menelaus being. Let's see, what would you do? Well,

[A]

you make them black men.

[B]

Exactly. Taking white women, which is the way it works today. You never have a, A white guy with the black. You know, there's all kinds of screwy things. Anyway, I guess it's okay, as you, as you pointed out, but okay under the, under the perverted circumstances that we live in. But I like to keep to the spirit of these things. And he's kind of like on the borderline at best.

[A]

But aside from those issues, the DEI issues. Did you like the movie?

[B]

Yeah, I, I enjoyed. I enjoyed watching it and I liked his. Although it's once again probably not in the spirit of Homer the way he had Odysseus being complex, rather contemplative and sorry about seeing Troy burn. I mean, is that, is that in the text of Homer? Probably not. I mean, these group, these Greek. These Greeks were wild and crazy killers. I thought it was interesting that he's talking about perhaps the invading Greeks actually being the sea people, that at the end of the day, bronze age, around 1200, which is about when Troy fell, that this whole thing of the chaos in the whole eastern Mediterranean. They were.

[A]

Yeah, the. Basically the veterans of the war. Basically, when they came home, they became the sea people. That was basically what he's trying to say suggest.

[B]

Yeah. Roving, roving bandits out to destroy civilizations. They picked up some bad habits while they were in Troy.

[A]

Yeah, I thought that was interesting. Obviously that wasn't in Homer, but it was interesting.

[B]

Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, I, I think it's worth seeing and I, I did see the previous one with Armando Sante, but I don't remember it very well. And there was at least one before that. I'd like to see them too and see how the directors handled the theme. Just.

[A]

Yeah, I'm. I'm gonna go back and watch that one you talked about, because I hadn't seen it, but I thought the movie was good, actually, all in all, partially because I thought it's quite possible Elliot Page was going to be Achilles. So my, My expectations were very low. You know.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

But it was, it was way better than I expected. And I think that people take this DEI stuff, I think if you look beyond the surface level and see what maybe what Nolan did with the characters, it doesn't seem as bad. It doesn't seem as bad as it does on the surface.

[B]

Yeah. And at the end, I can understand why Odysseus and Penelope might want to get out of Dodge and sail off to the west, but that's kind of conflating Arthurian legends with. With the ancient Greek ones. In fact, I got this book. Oh, it's the Death of King. It's another translation of the Mort Arthur, King Arthur legends. So, you know, there's Western civilization has some great legends and I hope if they make a. Make a movie out of the legend of saint art of King Arthur. They don't.

[A]

They will, Doug.

[B]

They will.

[A]

They will cast everybody.

[B]

Part of the ongoing collapse of the values and actual history of Western civilization and its people.

[A]

I mean, if you want a 250 million dollar budget for your movie, you're gonna have to. Have to. You're gonna have to work with dei.

[B]

Well, it'd be great to have a movie about Shaka Zulu, but I don't think they can. Would they dare cast Brad Pitt as Shaka Zulu?

[A]

No.

[B]

No, I don't think so.

[A]

No chance. There was this story you were telling me about about a guy who is transiting through tsa, I guess, coming into the country and had his. And what he did is he typed in his G, they asked him for the password for his phone, he gave them the distress code, which immediately wiped his device. And now apparently they're charging him with or suing him with some crime of trying to conceal what he was doing. What are your thoughts on that whole situation?

[B]

Well, it's more criminality on the part of the US government. The Fourth Amendment. Really impractical. Forest doesn't exist anymore. If they want something, they'll get it. They'll confiscate your cell phone and use professional crackers to get at it. So I think he was. He used to be applauded and he's Fully within his rights for turning this into a minor scandal. But it just shows you really have no rights. And of course there's been cases about saying, well it's not just at the border, but it's within a hundred miles of the border.

[A]

Right.

[B]

You know, so. Well, it's actually within the whole country. I mean, forget about it. So for further proof that the, that America really no longer exists, we're just another nation state called the United States at this point, right?

[A]

I think that's right. I think there are signs of it everywhere. I mean, I think half the things we talk about are just, you know, more data points that support that whole idea, unfortunately. One thing I wanted to ask you about is how many countries have to be involved in this dust up center on Iran before you would call it world war? Because you know, it's all depends upon how exactly you look at it. But in terms of the, all the countries involved with it, we focus on obviously Iran, but Iran is strike is striking all these different countries. And then of course the Houthis got involved and they attacked Saudi and Saudi attacked them. And then supposedly some Houthis that were in Iraq also attacked Saudi. And so then Saudi in the U.S. then attack Iraq. And then there's the Ukrainians that strike a Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea and then there's some American LNG tankers in Egypt. In Egypt they get hit by drones. I mean, so you have that and then you have the Saudis organizing this coalition of 14 countries to kind of help, I guess, open the battle of the Mandab Strait, I guess. And then now the US is working on trying to freeze off like the land borders around Iran, which would involve Turkmenistan and Pakistan and Afghanistan. And yeah, I mean, it seems to be expanding as you know, Michael Yan always says. You know, wars expand, you know, that's what they do. And this one seems to be expanding. And you could, and you could make the argument that even the feet people as you call them in Spain could potentially be related. Potentially because Spain's, you know, disapproval of Israel and what was happening in Iran. So at what point? Like how many countries? Because if you count, I mean different ways you can count it, but you know, 29 countries involved at this point in one way, one way or another. I mean, when's the World war?

[B]

I think it's very reminiscent of the lead up to World War II. It started with the Japanese invading China and then the civil war in Spain, which everybody got involved in artificially but indirectly using it as a testing ground for, for Weapons. So, yeah, I, I think the pot is getting close to boiling over and the only way you could calm things down is by the US withdrawing and leaving these people to them fix it up for themselves. But the US is supporting so many of them and making things worse, as it always does. But unfortunately, the US is not going to withdraw. It's doubling down. So, yeah, we're heading for World War iii. I just hope it doesn't go. I just hope it doesn't go nuclear. That would be unpleasant. Maybe, Maybe I'll just end with some massive cyber attacks which are almost in today's world, considering how computers run things. Almost. It's the next step down from nuclear. Or maybe there'll be some lunar tech that decides to do the next step up from nuclear, which would be biological warfare or all the three. It's hard to say.

[A]

It's hard to say. But you could imagine a scenario how nukes get used in this. I mean, you know, Trump implied it already about destroying Iranian civilization. But then you could imagine, you know, this, this pickaxe mountain that they want to go after and it's basically impregnable so to conventional weapons. Maybe a nuke might do something to it. Maybe. So you could see that possibly happening and then you just don't know how it would cascade from there. Do Russia and China, who aren't among the 29 countries that I mentioned that are already involved in this, but they are involved in some way. Like how do they respond to that? You know, you just, you can see things spiraling very quickly all of a sudden.

[B]

Yeah. And a lot of the people that run the countries that are involved are active sociopaths that are. Have criminal tendencies. They've gotten into position of power. They're power junkies. Yeah. I don't see how this can end well, especially since the US is not going to withdraw. So one thing that really surprises me is that oil is only hanging around the mid-80s and I don't think that can last, not with so many production facilities and refinery facilities, both in the Middle east and now in Saudi Arabia.

[A]

And Russia.

[B]

And Russia. I mean, the price of oil and especially oil products has got to go up. So I'm happy being long. Oil producers in that are not in the Middle east or Russia. Yeah, yeah, either one. That's right.

[A]

Yeah. The, the other thing that makes this, makes it feel like this is coordinated is the, is the attack on energy infrastructure does seem coordinated in some way between what's happening in Russia because the. Basically the Ukrainian strikes on Russian refining infrastructure started on March 2nd. And, you know, the stuff with Iran started on February 28th. Like, it, the timing of that is suspicious and they've just been ramping it up. I mean, every day I get, you know, a report of the new, you know, and more refining capacity being targeted by Ukraine overnight. So it seems there's a, there's a tight relationship there of some kind that I can't, I don't totally understand. But it seems if we were really, if we're really trying to increase the supply of oil, you know, that's flowing through things, you know, we, we could have backed off in the Persian Gulf a couple times and we didn't. And we wouldn't have to support the strikes that are happening in Russia if it was so important to us. So.

[B]

Yeah, and on top of that, people have already forgotten who started this war and the fact that hundreds of billions of dollars of damage in Iran have already been done and the Iranians are looking for compensation from that because they were attacked from out of the blue and they're not happy about it. So I think this is going to spin out of control. And, you know, here I am in Virginia. Well, not, not that anybody's going to attack the largest naval base in the world, which is not terribly far from where I am. But I feel a lot better being in Uruguay under the circumstances where you are.

[A]

Yeah, but you got a little. We got way better weather today than we do down here, Doug.

[B]

So that's, that's why I come up here during the summer. And I kind of can't wait to go back to South America for the summer there when winter strikes here.

[A]

Yeah, Yeah. I don't blame you for chasing the sun. All right. I think that's all I had that we wanted to talk about today. Did I miss something? I don't think so.

[B]

I don't think so. We should make notes and write, write them down.

[A]

I think I got it all, but I'm not sure. I just want to be sure.

[B]

Well, don't worry. By the time we get together next, whether it's Wednesday or Friday, there's lots more stuff will happen. Were there any questions from.

[A]

There were questions, but they were mostly all stock related things from our paid subscribers wanting to basically know about things in the portfolio, so. Which we don't usually cover in these. So we need more questions.

[B]

Yeah, that's, that's right. And this forum is not for discussing stocks. I mean, we can talk the economy or the market in general, but not talking about individual stocks. It's not the nature of this.

[A]

No, exactly. All right, well, hopefully we have more questions for next Friday, Doug. And until then, I hope you have a great weekend.

[B]

Yes, I have come to love the weekends, even though one day is like the other day for me at this point down here, but. Yeah. Thank you.

[A]

All right, we'll talk to you later, Doug. Thanks.

[B]

Thanks, Matt.