The Wire - April 7, 2025

//The Wire//2300Z April 7, 2025//
//ROUTINE//
//BLUF: GLOBAL MARKET TURMOIL RESULTS FROM TARIFF SHAKEUP. FORCE BUILDUP IN MIDDLE EAST CONTINUES.//

 -----BEGIN TEARLINE-----

-International Events-

Global: On the economic front, hallmarks of a global market correction began to be observed this morning. Last night the Japanese stock market crashed, with circuit breakers being tripped for futures trading (Nikkei 225). Taiwan and South Korea did not do much better as circuit breakers were also tripped for their respective futures products as well as products linked to Taiwan's semiconductor production giant TSMC.

Following the exceptionally chaotic market fluctuations this morning, President Trump announced on social media that the United States will increase the tariffs on China by an additional 50% if China does not remove their additional tit-for-tat tariff implementations.

AC: As the United States has already implemented a 20% tariff on China, plus an additional 34% tariff, an additional 50% tariff on top of these previous taxes means China is looking at a potential 104% tariff being implemented in two days (if the situation doesn't change).

Middle East: The Charles de Gaulle Carrier Strike Group (CSG) was observed transiting north through the Suez Canal this morning, leaving the two American carriers the only one's in the CENTCOM AOR. Minor repositioning was observed at Diego Garcia as of this morning, with 6x B2's still on site with their respective refueling aircraft. Over the weekend, Israeli media claimed that the elusive THAAD battery that was originally in South Korea has been transferred to Israel.

AC: If this is true (and it likely is), this brings the total in Israel to two of these missile defense systems.

-HomeFront-

New York: Over the weekend a mass stabbing was reported at an apartment building in Brooklyn. Local authorities state that a man had a mental episode which resulted in him attempting to murder four young family members. 4x children were wounded in the attack, and the attacker was neutralized by police during their response.

Texas: A local measles outbreak has gained national attention following the death of a second child from the disease. HHS Secretary RFK Jr. visited Gaines County yesterday, and announced the deployment of CDC personnel to the area. RFK Jr. also stated on social media that "The most effective way to prevent the spread of measles is the MMR vaccine".

Washington D.C. - Over the weekend, FBI Director Kash Patel promoted the highly-controversial Steven Jensen to lead the Field Office in Washington D.C. Previously Jensen served as the chief of the Domestic Terrorism Operations Section within the Counterterrorism Division.

-----END TEARLINE-----

Analyst Comments:

While many may have forgotten, Steven Jensen is a highly controversial pick for this position as he was one of the masterminds within the FBI to investigate parents speaking at school board meetings as terrorists under the command of AG Merrick Garland in 2021.

As he was the Chief of the Domestic Terrorism Operations Section (also in 2021), Jensen was also the lead FBI decision maker behind the J6 investigations, and enthusiastically carried out the targeting of J6 participants on that day, and for many months afterwards. In short, Jensen is the man who provided the legwork for the J6 investigation, and he is one of the main persons responsible for why Trump himself had to pardon many J6 participants. Now, Jensen has been promoted into a very prestigious position at the FBI, leading the Field Office in Washington.

Due to the highly controversial nature of this pick, this promotion was not advertised with much fanfare. However, Patel passively confirmed the move himself by reposting an article on social media referencing the personnel change.

On the information and economic fronts, much activity has resulted from this morning's economic uncertainty. Late last night, most financial entities were preparing for a bloodbath upon the opening of the American markets this morning. As such, it's very likely that various efforts were undertaken to manipulate the information space, to buy time for big investors to make their moves. For instance, a perfectly cut-paste "news story" was circulated widely on Twitter/X shortly after the markets opened. This story claimed that President Trump was considering a 90 day pause on his tariff implementation. The origin of this story appears to be a few mainstream media outlets, but due to the timing of posts being made on social media, it could have originated from a few different accounts nearly at the same time. This caused a brief pump in the markets (lasting only a few minutes) before it became clear that this story was fake. Though completely speculative at this time, this was probably an effort to pump the markets enough for the big fish to briefly squeeze last-minute profits before dumping during the large sell-off events of the day.

In a grander sense, this somewhat minute detail that most people either didn't notice or didn't care about, highlights the nature of how "alternative" media impacts the world. Continuing the old adage of a lie traveling around the world before the truth puts on it's shoes, there are very real efforts by malign actors to manipulate the information space while also claiming to be free and independent media. Especially if a single post on social media, which has no attribution, sourcing or any sort of credibility whatsoever, can be whipped up into a frenzy that pumps the entire American stock market by about 8% for a few minutes...just long enough for someone to make billions.

Analyst: S2A1
Research: https://publish.obsidian.md/s2underground
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