Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iran. Show all posts
Friday, May 15, 2026
There is almost nothing Athenian about China, nor Spartan about the United States
But here we are.
Does THE GRAUNIAD even know that Sparta won that war?
Does Xi?
Meanwhile "Make America Great Again" handed our adversaries the rhetorical cudgel of decline wielded by Xi against Trump.
America is great when it stands for human freedom, something Trump is too shallow to grasp. The very word strikes terror into the hearts of the Chicoms, and is our greatest weapon against them.
But under Trump America has betrayed freedom in Ukraine, and acted more like imperial Athens in the Persian Gulf than like Sparta.
The attack on Iran is looking more and more like the failed Sicilian Expedition every day.
Aftermath: Trump Is Wrecking the U.S. Military
If Xi wants to win, he'll act more like Sparta and let the real Athens destroy itself.
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Sunday, May 10, 2026
Total global visible oil inventories are forecast to fall to 7.6 billion barrels from 7.8 billion currently by June 1
Demand destruction of 5.6 million barrels per day globally is assumed.
The USA used approximately 20.6 million barrels per day in 2025, or 7.52 billion barrels.
IMF: Transits through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait remain half of what they were prior to the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023 and have not come close to replacing lost Persian Gulf shipping
... In the Red Sea, attacks on shipping that began in 2023 forced many vessels to reroute around Africa rather than use the Suez Canal. More than two years on, transits through the Bab el-Mandeb strait between Yemen and Djibouti remain stuck at roughly half their pre-attack level. ...
More.
Thursday, May 7, 2026
Tuesday, May 5, 2026
Monday, May 4, 2026
Sleepwalking into a big recession: SPX hits new all-time intraday high 7230.12 on May 1 after oil jumps 78% year to date
‘Misplaced euphoria’: Markets are sleepwalking into a recession amid Iran war oil price shock
Global economies could be “sleepwalking” into a “big recession”, as investors continue to underplay the impact of the oil price shock, Amrita Sen, founder and director, market intelligence at Energy Aspect, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Monday. ...
“This is a massive, massive energy crisis. I have been equally amazed at how the equity market is completely dismissing it, talking about how great Q1 results are. They are not going to be great nearly to the same extent in Q2.” ...
Sunday, May 3, 2026
Christopher Caldwell for The New York Times thinks the American Empire has met its match in the Persian Gulf when it already met it a year ago in the Red Sea
... the United States lacks the military means to impose its will on Iran in a long conflict. In 1991 a million soldiers from more than 40 countries were needed to reverse the invasion of Kuwait carried out by Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, a country less sophisticated than Iran and a fraction of its size. When Iran and Iraq fought each other to a standstill in the 1980s, deaths ran into the hundreds of thousands on each side. The United States would have to send a significant portion of its armed forces — which total only 1.3 million troops — to stand a chance of subduing Iran, and that force, if successful, would have to stay for a long time. ...
Here.
Caldwell is just as blind as Trump.
Neither one gets it that the lowly Houthis already beat us to a draw last year in the Red Sea.
Nothing is moving out of the Persian Gulf today, and tanker traffic through the Red Sea is less than half what it used to be in 2022, even under the new conditions of a world desperately thirsty for the Middle East oil no longer coming out of the former.
And neither one gets it that you can't have an American Empire without paying for it.
We're $39 trillion in debt and can no longer impose our will in the world's vital choke-points because elites have pretended since Reagan that low marginal income tax rates are sufficient to maintain American Empire when what those rates have done is impoverish us and enrich our adversaries.
1,135 billionaires are the symbol of our lost empire.
Caldwell steers well clear of naming the obvious remedy, and Trump's Big Ugly Bill will do nothing but put America $62 trillion in debt by the end of 2032.
Taxes must be raised . . . a lot.
Friday, May 1, 2026
On day 60 Lizard Brain turns off the war as of April 7 to restart the 60-day clock again later whenever he wants
Trump tells Congress hostilities in Iran ‘have terminated’ as War Powers deadline hits
... “The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated,” Trump wrote. ...
Thursday, April 30, 2026
The average price of unleaded regular gasoline in 2022 was $4.09, but that's what I paid for it yesterday at Sam's Club, except now this morning it's $4.19!
Gasoline stations around Grand Rapids were selling gasoline for $4.29/gallon yesterday.
Gas Buddy says the average price in my county this morning is $4.791 and climbing.
Monday, April 27, 2026
Yeah, but what Trump saved with military spending cuts to Ukraine he's blowing on the Iran war, which is why he's asking for $1.5 trillion in defense spending next year
The U.S. national debt is up $3.069 trillion to date since November 1, 2024, an annual rate of deficit spending of $2.2 trillion after seventeen months of Donald Trump.
... Global military spending as a share of GDP climbed to 2.5%, its highest level since 2009, the report showed. Europe was the main driver of the increase in global spending, with spending rising 14% to $864 billion. ...
While global defense spending continued to grow, the growth rate slowed to 2.9% in 2025, markedly lower than the 9.7% rise in 2024. This was largely due to a 7.5% reduction in U.S. military expenditure after no new financial assistance for Ukraine was approved during the year. The U.S. remained the world’s largest defense spender at $954 billion. ...
The Pentagon has requested about $1.5 trillion in defense spending for fiscal 2027, which would mark the largest request in history. ...
Thursday, April 23, 2026
Komrade Karoline insists that Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz
"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Does anyone remember The Bedford Incident?
"If they fire one, we'll fire one".
With the United States blockading all supply coming in to Iran and seizing some vessels, there are roughly 100 container ships trapped in the Persian Gulf from which Iran can choose anytime it wishes to go shopping.
Iran says it has seized two ships in Strait of Hormuz after U.S. extends ceasefire
Iran’s navy on Wednesday said it had seized two container ships in the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, shortly after the U.S. extended the ceasefire and as diplomats seek to bring the countries together for peace talks.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy said in a statement that it had seized the ships for what it claimed were maritime violations and transferred them to Iranian shores, according to state media. CNBC could not independently verify the claim.
The announcement came after U.K. maritime authorities said two ships had been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media reported a third vessel had also been targeted by the country’s military. ...
Tuesday, April 21, 2026
New narrative alert as Trump tanks in the polls: Iran War was about 6 weeks as Trump said it would be!
I mean, that's true right?
We are in week 8, and the two week ceasefire which expires tomorrow has been extended indefinitely because Trump says Iran is too divided to speak with a unified voice.
The truth is whatever Humpty Trumpty says it is.
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