For the past few weeks, I have been going by gas stations in the south of France, wondering if I was seeing double.

In early July, as prices were going down, something strange was happening to diesel. For the first time in twenty years, it was more expensive than premium gas.

I remember when Emmanuel Macron, the French boy president I call “Little Cookie” because of the way the locals pronounce his name in the south of France, tried to do this during his first few months in office in 2017.

He wanted to get rid of diesel vehicles because his enviro-crazy advisors told him they were not just big pollutants, but were keeping people from making the switch to electric vehicles (diesel engines are so much more efficient and powerful than normal gasoline engines, at least in Europe).

Added to that was the fact that French farmers, winegrowers, construction workers, and a host of related small business owners had been able to buy diesel for their vehicles at half price, without government taxes. These were the dirty unwashed Frenchmen who had never been to an elite school, and Macron instinctively hated them all.

The result of that exploit, which would have doubled the price of diesel fuel and bankrupted many farmers, was the gilet jaune movement, or what the Brits dubbed the “yellow jackets,” after the yellow safety jackets people put in their windshield to show their discontent.

Today, diesel fuel has not gone up because of French government policy, and there are no more yellow jackets on the roads.

This time, it’s the Putin tax.

On July 9, after successive drone attacks on Russian refineries that choked off diesel supplies, Putin ordered Russian refiners to stop exporting diesel fuel entirely so they could keep the domestic market supplied.

I don’t remember seeing headlines about this in the European press, but if you go back, the news was reported, even by CNN.  Americans paid no attention to it, because we don’t import much diesel fuel from  Russia. But Europe certainly does.

This is yet another sign I see of the surprisingly successful strategy of the Ukrainian military to bring the war home to the people of Russia, but also to their fellow Europeans.

Putin is increasingly behaving as an embattled dictator. Facing parliamentary elections in September, he has sent out his goons to arrest anyone in the opposition who actually declares themselves opposed to his policies.

That includes Russia’s biggest opposition party, Yabloko. Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peshkov, brushed those reports aside like any czar’s aide would brush off an incoming mortar round. Yabloko? he said, incredulous. “They are not a party. They are no more than a cell.”

When i heard that I thought of Baghdad Bob, who claimed there were no US forces anywhere near Baghdad as US tanks rolled up behind him on live TV.

Tehran’s embattled dictators have also appeared increasingly on the ropes.

Last week, foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, the two-faced negotiator who begs Trump in private to stop bombing while in public he beats his chest just like any other Revolutionary Guards officer, made an astonishing revelation.

He said that in December, just weeks before the regime opened fire and killed 54,000 protestors, the regime nearly lost control of Iran’s second-largest city, Mashad.

The regime has become so embattled that it is now treating 90% inflation as if it were a success story. I’m not joking. Check it out, here.

The Trump administration continues to tighten the noose around the regime’s neck.

Not only does our military pound the IRGC every time they attack ships trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz under US supervision and protection, but the Treasury is going after Iranian assets worldwide, including bitcoin money-laundering operations in Dubai.

Earlier this week, the Dubai authorities shut down a $4 billion bitcoin scheme — get this — that was used to launder the proceeds of illicit gambling inside Iran!

I remain sanguine about the war, the future of the people of Iran, and even about Russia and Ukraine, because corruption cannot last forever. After all, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, it figured number 8 on the Lord’s bad list.

I discuss all this and more on this week’s Prophecy Today Weekend, As always, you can listen live at 1 PM on Saturday in the Jacksonville, Florida, area on 104.9 FM or 550 AM or by using the Jacksonville Way Radio app.

Yours in freedom.

©2026 Kenneth R. Timmerman. All rights reserved.

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Website: kentimmerman.com

Ken Timmerman’s 14th book of non-fiction, THE IRAN HOUSE: Tales of Revolution, Persecution, War, and Intrigue, can be ordered by clicking here or by viewing my author’s page, here. 

Raising Olives in Provence, can be ordered by clicking here.