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Promethean Updates

Promethean Updates is the video podcast of Promethean Action: political and economic commentary on the fight to rebuild the American economy and end the era of financial empire.

Four shows a week. The Monday Brief and The Midweek Update are 15-minute reports on the week’s decisive events with Barbara Boyd and Susan Kokinda. The Thursday Q&A is a live two-hour broadcast hosted by Adam Sturman with Barbara Boyd and Susan Kokinda answering viewer questions. The Saturday Wrap-Up looks back at the week.

Regular topics: Treasury and Fed policy, tariffs and jobs, energy and manufacturing, Ukraine

Latest Episodes:

Monday Brief: Exposed: Trump & Russia Point to the Same Enemy Mar 16, 2026

Show notes

Get Our FREE Newsletter at https://www.PrometheanAction.com. Today's Monday Brief with Susan Kokinda argues that while media attention fixates on Iran, a broader strategic shift is unfolding as great powers act in their own sovereign interests. It highlights President Trump’s statements portraying Putin as willing to make a deal and Zelenskyy as the obstacle, alongside Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth stressing that U.S. objectives in Iran differ from Israel’s, including a reported message to stop striking domestic economic targets. It then examines Russia’s Foreign Ministry explicitly blaming Britain for using Storm Shadow missiles in Bryansk and for trying to derail U.S.-led peace efforts, amid Zelenskyy’s threat toward Hungary’s Viktor Orban and EU condemnation. Finally, it notes Russia and China abstaining, not vetoing, a UN Security Council resolution condemning Iran’s missile and drone attacks on Gulf states, framing these moves as evidence the old paradigm of permanent conflict is breaking down.

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00:00 Monday Brief Intro
02:30 Trump's Endgame: Sovereign Nations, Not Imperial Pawns
05:25 Russia Ups the Ante, Britain Named as the Saboteur
08:16 The New Geometry, Sovereign Nations at the UN

Saturday Wrap-Up: Kharg Island Strike Mar 14, 2026

Show notes

Get Our FREE Newsletter at https://www.PrometheanAction.com. President Trump announces U.S. forces bombed military targets on Iran’s Kharg Island while leaving oil infrastructure intact, which Barbara Boyd argues reflects a doctrine and long-term strategy rather than instinct. She disputes claims of an imminent oil crisis, citing Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent that the Strait of Hormuz has not been mined, and says price spikes are driven by London’s insurance and spot markets, noting Lloyd’s of London negotiating after the U.S. created a vessel-insurance mechanism. Boyd frames the conflict as an effort to dismantle a 50-year financial empire tied to the petrodollar, oil speculation, and the “Iran Terror Premium,” which Peter Navarro estimates added $5, $15 per barrel and drained about $10 trillion over 25 years. She highlights preparations including energy independence, Russian oil positioning, the Abraham Accords, and a U.S. Saudi civil nuclear cooperation agreement as part of a broader nuclear-focused development agenda.

00:00 Saturday Wrap-Up Intro
02:25 Debunking the “No Plan” Narrative
05:42 The Iran "Terror Premium"
07:54 Trump's Mideast "Nuclear Century"

Thursday Q&A: UK Lloyd's Surrenders, FBI Caught Red-Handed Mar 12, 2026

Show notes

Join us for a live broadcast, with your hosts Barbara Boyd, Susan Kokinda and Adam Sturman. Thursday March 12th at 11am Eastern, 8am Pacific every Thursday. We take your questions from both the Youtube live chat and our Newsletter Subscribers!

Lloyd's of London Just Surrendered

Two weeks ago, we told you Lloyd's of London was the key. The 338-year-old insurance monopoly that controlled global shipping, oil pricing, and war risk from the City of London.

This week, they waved the white flag, announcing they will cooperate with the United States.

The institution that underwrote the British Empire's control of global trade for three centuries just folded under pressure from this President.

🚨 BOMBSHELL: Four Consecutive FBI Ops Against Trump
This morning, John Solomon and Kash Patel dropped the biggest story of the week. FBI Director Patel has uncovered evidence that Trump and his allies were targeted by four consecutive FBI counterintelligence operations from 2016 all the way through January 2025. Crossfire Hurricane, Round River, Plasmic Echo, and Arctic Frost.

The targets included Trump himself, future Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Kash Patel, a dozen members of Congress, journalists, and lawyers. FBI agents had doubts about probable cause, and proceeded anyway after DOJ override. Federal prosecutors in Miami are now investigating whether officials violated civil rights.

Midweek Update: Trump Breaks the UK's Middle East Shipping Empire Mar 11, 2026

Show notes

Lloyd’s of London reversed its suspension of tanker insurance in the Strait of Hormuz after President Trump moved on three fronts: the U.S. Development Finance Corporation offered political risk insurance, the Navy was put on notice to protect shipping, and Trump eased sanctions on Russian oil while speaking with President Putin. The episode argues this outflanked Britain, now labeled a “former ally”, and reshaped the strategic landscape, including U.S. urging Israel to halt strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure to protect stability and preserve Iran’s oil sector for post-war cooperation, while noting the impact on China’s oil flows. It highlights Bloomberg reporting on Mojtaba Khamenei’s London-centered property empire via offshore nodes tied to the City of London, portraying long-running British financial links to Islamist networks. The script contrasts sidelined figures like John Bolton and Mark Carney with Pentagon voices insisting this is not another 2003-style war.

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00:00 Midweek Update Intro
02:00 Lloyd's Blinked: Trump's Three-Front Strike on the Insurance Weapon
05:52 Iran's Supreme Leader Banks in London: The Money Trail Exposed
08:15 Bolton's Process vs. Hegseth's Generation: Who's Actually in the Room

Monday Brief: It's Over. Trump Severs the "Special Relationship" Mar 09, 2026

Show notes

Barbara Boyd argues President Trump’s Truth Social post aimed not to humiliate Keir Starmer but to warn the City of London, claiming Britain stayed out of the Iran conflict because war is bad for City business. She says headlines about oil spikes and Hormuz chaos are a manufactured panic, driven by Lloyd’s of London pulling war-risk coverage to engineer a price rise and profit from disruption. Boyd highlights Trump’s counter-moves: a $20B U.S. maritime reinsurance and escort plan to replace Lloyd’s leverage, criticism of the Financial Times and JP Morgan, and lifting Russian sanctions to keep oil flowing and collapse the spike. She connects this to a broader push targeting London-linked dirty-money networks via hemispheric anti-cartel cooperation and joint development of resources in nations like Argentina and Chile, framing it as a break from the postwar “special relationship.”

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00:00 Monday Brief Intro
01:51 There Is No Oil Crisis, There Is a Manipulation
05:58 Three Moves, One Target
08:56 A Real War on Drugs and Crime, Choking Off the City's Other Revenue

Saturday Wrap-Up: Unconditional Surrender: Wall Street's 1979 Playbook Mar 07, 2026

Show notes

Barbara Boyd argues that warnings of a 1979-style oil shock after President Trump’s call for Iran’s unconditional surrender are a manufactured panic pushed by the City of London’s financial press and anti-Trump figures to trigger an economic crisis and swing the Midterms. Citing Karoline Leavitt’s definition of surrender as eliminating Iran’s threat, Boyd revisits the 1979 Iranian Revolution, describing the Shah’s industrial and nuclear modernization, opposition from Anglo-American financial interests, and a strategy of “Controlled Disintegration” associated with the Council on Foreign Relations’ Project 1980s. She claims the Shah was overthrown via a human-rights campaign and the Muslim Brotherhood, leading Khomeini to cancel modernization and enabling an oil shock that benefited London banks. Boyd says the same playbook is now aimed at Trump’s pro-worker economic program, but that U.S. energy strength and security measures reduce oil-shock risk; she concludes that ending the Khamenei regime would remove a long-standing economic weapon and ultimately stabilize energy markets.

00:00 Saturday Wrap-Up Intro
02:39 The Shah's Vision and His Fatal Flaw
05:51 The Same Playbook Today - Stopping Trump's Economics
09:34 Unconditional Surrender Is Not the Cause of Economic Chaos, It's the Cure

Thursday Q&A: Special Relationship Over: Trump Dumps UK Mar 05, 2026

Show notes

Join us for a live broadcast, with your hosts Barbara Boyd, Susan Kokinda and Adam Sturman. Thursday March 5th at 11am Eastern, 8am Pacific every Thursday. We take your questions from both the Youtube live chat and our Newsletter Subscribers!

The "Special Relationship" In Jeopardy?

In back-to-back interviews with The Daily Telegraph on Monday and The Sun on Tuesday, the President declared the US-UK relationship is "obviously not what it was."
He called Starmer "not helpful."
He said he never thought he'd see Britain refuse to stand with America.

Meanwhile in Iran, things are moving fast.

Sunday: Trump said Iran's new leadership called Washington. He agreed to talk.
Tuesday: He posted on Truth Social, "Their air defense, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership is gone. They want to talk. I said 'Too Late!'"

The Wall Street Journal is now reporting Trump is exploring whether armed groups inside Iran, including Kurdish factions, could help finish the job on the ground. But no final decision has been made.

This is not Iraq 2.0. Trump isn't dismantling a state to install puppets. He's clearing the last obstacle to the Board of Peace, the $2 trillion Gulf investment, the Abraham Accords expansion, the rebuilding of Gaza. The Mullahs were the final piece on the British chessboard, and they're being removed.

Midweek Update: Trump Broke Britain's 300-Year Grip on Global Trade Mar 04, 2026

Show notes

In this Wednesday update, Susan Kokinda argues that President Trump has openly ruptured with the UK over Iran, base access, and broader British policies on energy and immigration, while treating Germany under Chancellor Friedrich Merz as a more reliable partner and moving to cut trade with Spain over NATO and base issues. She says Britain blocked US use of Diego Garcia and other RAF bases for initial strikes, prompting Trump’s public criticism. Kokinda frames Lloyd’s of London’s decision to cancel war-risk coverage for Gulf shipping as a weapon of British imperial power, and highlights Trump’s response: directing the US Development Finance Corporation to provide political risk insurance and putting the Navy on notice to escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. She adds that Iranian strikes on Gulf neighbors pushed GCC states into condemning Iran and aligning more closely with the US.

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00:00 Midweek Update Intro
02:19 "This Is Not the Age of Churchill", The Special Relationship Is Over
06:55 The King's Insurance Market, Three Centuries of Crown Control Over Global Trade
09:32 Iran's Gift to Trump, The Gulf Alliance Nobody Expected

Saturday Wrap-Up: Not Iraq 2.0: The 118-Year Empire Trump Just Ended Feb 28, 2026

Show notes

*Get our FREE Newsletter at* https://www.PrometheanAction.com. Barbara Boyd argues that the U.S. and Israel’s major combat operations against Iran, announced by President Trump as Operation Epic Fury, are being miscast as “Iraq 2.0” and “regime change.” She cites Trump’s message to Iranians to “take over your government” and JD Vance’s statement that there is “no chance” of a years-long Middle East war, framing the strikes as targeted to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions rather than an occupation. Barbara shows Iran’s leadership has long served a British-centered financial system rooted in the 1908 BP oil concession, reinforced by events such as the 1953 Mossadegh coup and the 1979 revolution. She says Trump’s recent policies. Abraham Accords, the “Board of Peace,” Gulf investment redirection, and designating the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorists, aim to dismantle that system, with Iran as the final obstacle amid escalating retaliatory strikes across the Gulf.

00:00 Saturday Wrap-Up Intro
02:53 NOT IRAQ: Why This Strike Is Different
06:33 1908: When Britain Seized Iran's Oil
09:57 THE BOARD OF PEACE: Trump's Real Strategy

Thursday Q&A: State of the Union: Cartels, Royals, and Courts in Chaos Feb 26, 2026

Show notes

Get our FREE newsletter at https://www.PrometheanAction.com. Join us for a live broadcast, with your hosts Barbara Boyd, Susan Kokinda and Adam Sturman. Thursday February 26th at 11am Eastern, 8am Pacific every Thursday. We take your questions from both the Youtube live chat and our Newsletter Subscribers!

Tuesday night, President Trump delivers his State of the Union, during a partial government shutdown, with dozens of Democrats boycotting the speech, and others bringing Epstein survivors as guests to pressure him.

By Thursday morning, you're going to want to make sense of it.

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