David

Grew up in the forests and beaches of BC. York University, roommate is a cat. Currently making Citizen Brega documentary abt human rights activists in Moldova.

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@sagaOptics Beautiful images! Also fascinating info about an insect that is anything but common when seen through your lens. Thanks for posting. 🙂

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@ToxicOsoBlanco @Nadiia_kuvalda Hi, Do you know how I can get information about the beaches south of Odesa near Kurortne? I used to camp there all the time, from Chisinau. I wonder if now there are any sea mines or land mines on that coast? Thanks for any sources for info. 🙂

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@PaliparanDotCom 2024 My best overnight train trip ever! Thanks for recommending.

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@seatsixtyone An impressive history of train travel. Did you notice what a crap airline British Airways is now? Flew long haul with them recently, 1st time in years. Poor food, all airport staff surly or crazy, checked bag scam tried to gouge me. Won't fly them again. Also Heathrow=Hellrow.

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@ForMYCanada "The CBC remains the only major publicly funded broadcaster and the dominant trusted news source for Canadians 📻". With this icon you mean CBC Radio , leading in most markets. Depending on which hour & program it's 60% to 90% US content. That's $1B of our money at work. So sad.

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@KamilCaus Nice thread. Didn't know that! When I was in Albania there were plenty of what we always used to call mandarin oranges, in Canada. Fresh off the tree they were delicious. Perhaps a result of Albania's strong connection to China.

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@QUADRUPLEforPM @One_Way_Home Your list is complete but I think you're exaggerating the crew a bit. It would be more like 4 to 6 supervisors who come and go, all of them watching 2 guys do the actual work. But correct it would take a year. Or two. Or not at all bc the budget is overspent. 🤔

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@sagaOptics My goodness. That's a Wow!

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@ellulie_ I dislike the BBC who mispronounce almost everything. Did you know Canada has an r at the end? As does Indiar! And even Australier….. etc.

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@AJWVictoriaBC Ha ha I think you are the first person to respond to my nerdy humour. Salut.

[Vass Bednar @VassB]

Holy sh*t. @WabKinew's government just made using data to increase prices an unfair business practice. This is historic for Canada.

*Proposed bill bans suppliers from charging higher prices to certain consumers based on personalized or algorithmically determined information.

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@ellulie_ Insert slapping my forehead emoji. Oh my goodness. That's awful. I'm guessing many women wouldn't have to question your comment. They'd understand. Unfortunately.

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@ellulie_ And what was their distinguishing feature?

[sarah @sahouraxo]

Spain’s MEP Irene Montero:

“This is not about nuclear weapons. Just like it never was about WMDs in Iraq.

This is not about the freedom of Iranian women and girls. The US and Israel bombed a women’s school in Iran, killing more than 140 girls.

The lives of Iranian girls don’t matter to them — just like Palestinian girls’ lives didn’t.”

[Ricardo @Ric_RTP]

The real reason the US is invading Venezuela goes back to a deal Henry Kissinger made with Saudi Arabia in 1974.

And I'm going to explain why this is actually about the SURVIVAL of the US dollar itself.

Not drugs. Not terrorism. Not "democracy."

This is about the petrodollar system that has kept America the dominant economic power for 50 years.

And Venezuela just threatened to end it.

Here's what really just happened:

Venezuela has 303 billion barrels of proven oil reserves.

The largest on Earth.

More than Saudi Arabia.

20% of the entire world's oil.

But here's the part that matters:

Venezuela was actively selling that oil in Chinese yuan. Not dollars.

In 2018, Venezuela announced it would "free itself from the dollar."

They started accepting yuan, euros, rubles, anything BUT dollars for oil.

They were petitioning to join BRICS.

They were building direct payment channels with China that bypass SWIFT entirely.

And they were sitting on enough oil to fund de-dollarization for decades.

Why does this matter?

Because the entire American financial system is built on one thing:

The petrodollar.

In 1974, Henry Kissinger made a deal with Saudi Arabia:

All oil sold globally must be priced in US dollars.

In exchange, America provides military protection.

This single agreement created artificial demand for dollars worldwide.

Every country on Earth needs dollars to buy oil.

This lets America print unlimited money while other countries work for it.

It funds the military. The welfare state. The deficit spending.

The petrodollar is more important to US hegemony than aircraft carriers.

And there's a pattern of what happens to leaders who challenge it:

2000: Saddam Hussein announces Iraq will sell oil in euros instead of dollars.

2003: Invaded. Regime change. Iraq's oil immediately switched back to dollars. Saddam lynched.

The WMDs were never found because they never existed.

2009: Gaddafi proposes a gold-backed African currency called the "gold dinar" for oil trade.

Hillary Clinton's own leaked emails confirm this was the PRIMARY reason for intervention.

Email quote: "This gold was intended to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar."

2011: NATO bombs Libya. Gaddafi sodomized and murdered. Libya now has open slave markets.

"We came, we saw, he died!" Clinton laughed on camera.

The gold dinar died with him.

And now Maduro.

With FIVE TIMES more oil than Saddam and Gaddafi combined.

Actively selling in yuan.

Building payment systems outside dollar control.

Petitioning to join BRICS.

Partnered with China, Russia, and Iran.

The three countries leading global de-dollarization.

This isn't coincidence.

Challenge the petrodollar. Get regime changed.

Every. Single. Time.

Stephen Miller (US homeland security advisor) literally said it out loud two weeks ago:

"American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela. Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property."

He's not hiding it.

They're claiming Venezuelan oil BELONGS to America because US companies developed it 100 years ago.

By this logic, every nationalized resource in history was "theft."

But here's the DEEPER problem:

The petrodollar is already dying.

Russia sells oil in rubles and yuan since Ukraine.

Saudi Arabia is openly discussing yuan settlements.

Iran has been trading in non-dollar currencies for years.

China built CIPS, their own alternative to SWIFT with 4,800 banks in 185 countries.

BRICS is actively building payment systems that bypass the dollar entirely.

The mBridge project lets central banks settle trades instantly in local currencies.

Venezuela joining BRICS with 303 billion barrels of oil would accelerate this exponentially.

That's what this invasion is really about.

Not stopping drugs. Venezuela accounts for less than 1% of US cocaine.

Not terrorism. There's zero evidence Maduro runs a "terror organization."

Not democracy. The US supports Saudi Arabia, which has zero elections.

This is about maintaining a 50-year-old agreement that lets America print money while the world works for it.

And the consequences are terrifying:

Russia, China, and Iran are already denouncing this as "armed aggression."

China is Venezuela's biggest oil customer. They're losing billions.

BRICS nations are watching a country get invaded for trading outside the dollar.

Every nation considering de-dollarization just got the message:

Challenge the dollar and we will bomb you.

But here's the problem...

That message might accelerate de-dollarization, not stop it.

Because now every country in the Global South knows what happens if you threaten dollar hegemony.

And they're realizing the only protection is to move FASTER.

The timing is insane too:

January 3rd, 2026. Venezuela invaded. Maduro captured.

January 3rd, 1990. Panama invaded. Noriega captured.

36 years apart. Almost to the day.

Same playbook. Same "drug trafficking" excuse.

Same real reason: control of strategic resources and trade routes.

History doesn't repeat. But it rhymes.

What happens next:

Trump's press conference at Mar-a-Lago sets the narrative.

US oil companies are already lined up. Politico reported they've been approached about "returning to Venezuela."

The opposition will be installed. Oil will flow in dollars again.

Venezuela becomes another Iraq. Another Libya.

But here's what nobody's asking:

What happens when you can no longer bomb your way to dollar dominance?

When China has enough economic leverage to retaliate?

When BRICS controls 40% of global GDP and says "no more dollars"?

When the world realizes the petrodollar is maintained by violence?

America just showed its hand.

The question is whether the rest of the world folds or calls the bluff.

Because this invasion is an admission that the dollar can no longer compete on its own merits.

When you have to bomb countries to keep them using your currency, the currency is already dying.

Venezuela isn't the beginning.

It's the desperate end.

What do you think?

[Samira Mohyeddin سمیرا @SMohyeddin]

.@munkdebate I am a member and purchased two tickets. I was told I am not allowed entry. Is this your idea of dialogue and civil discourse? Shameful.

[Nur Dogan @nurdogandiyorki]

Human rights lawyers are urging the RCMP to investigate and arrest Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni for alleged war crimes ahead of tonight's Munk Debates in Toronto.

Demonstrators:

“War criminals,
-Arrest them!”

[David @StoryToursMedia]

@decker_ab Let's see if I can even reply. I don't buy anything from the Bozo. I'll order your book from a local book shop. I encourage everyone to also!

[Jason Hickel @jasonhickel]

On this day in 1977, the president of North Yemen, Ibrahim Al-Hamdi, was assassinated with Saudi and possibly also US support.

He sought to implement equal rights for all Yemenis and became popular for socialist development policies that improved living standards and increased education.

His assassination occurred two days before he was scheduled to negotiate unification with South Yemen, which was a socialist country at the time.