Israel has attacked Iran with the blessing of the US. Iran has now reacted and hit Israel, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, UAE, Kuwait and Iraq.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-28/israel-us-attacking-iran-live-updates-blasts-in-tehran/106222024
Kingy said:
Israel has attacked Iran with the blessing of the US. Iran has now reacted and hit Israel, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, UAE, Kuwait and Iraq.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-28/israel-us-attacking-iran-live-updates-blasts-in-tehran/106222024
Now looking like Operation Shitfight.
Divine Angel said:
Good.
From 2013 to 2016, the US, EU, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany negotiated with Iran a plan of inspections and monitoring to ensure Iran did not continue a nuclear weap I ns program. Known as JCPOA, the program was successfully preventing weapons grade material being develiped, and facilities were converted to civilian use such as production of isotopes for medical purposes and low level enrichment suitable for civilian power production. The “carrot” was the alleviation of sanctions, though some sanctions related to human rights abuses remained in place.
The Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in May 2018, and the nuclear weapons development program recommenced the following year.
dv said:
From 2013 to 2016, the US, EU, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany negotiated with Iran a plan of inspections and monitoring to ensure Iran did not continue a nuclear weap I ns program. Known as JCPOA, the program was successfully preventing weapons grade material being develiped, and facilities were converted to civilian use such as production of isotopes for medical purposes and low level enrichment suitable for civilian power production. The “carrot” was the alleviation of sanctions, though some sanctions related to human rights abuses remained in place.The Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in May 2018, and the nuclear weapons development program recommenced the following year.
Yeah, Donny Dickface is attacking Iran for not agreeing to the existing agreement that they agreed to and he pulled out of because racism.
The guy is a dumpster fire looking for somewhere to happen.
Unfortunately, he is chucking sparklers into a powderkeg with no comprehension of the resulting impending explosion.
Kingy said:
dv said:
From 2013 to 2016, the US, EU, Russia, China, the UK, France and Germany negotiated with Iran a plan of inspections and monitoring to ensure Iran did not continue a nuclear weap I ns program. Known as JCPOA, the program was successfully preventing weapons grade material being develiped, and facilities were converted to civilian use such as production of isotopes for medical purposes and low level enrichment suitable for civilian power production. The “carrot” was the alleviation of sanctions, though some sanctions related to human rights abuses remained in place.The Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in May 2018, and the nuclear weapons development program recommenced the following year.
Yeah, Donny Dickface is attacking Iran for not agreeing to the existing agreement that they agreed to and he pulled out of because racism.
The guy is a dumpster fire looking for somewhere to happen.
Unfortunately, he is chucking sparklers into a powderkeg with no comprehension of the resulting impending explosion.
I’m worried this will tarnish the reputation of the FIFA Peace Prize.
Zinedine Zidane must be rolling in his grave.
alleged
Start war.
Stop war. (Maybe.)
Be awarded Trump Peace Prize from Board of Peace.
Divine Angel said:
Start war.
Stop war. (Maybe.)
Be awarded Trump Peace Prize from Board of Peace.
This is very risky from the point of view of the Iranians hitting US bases/ships. Dead Americans isn’t going to help the mid terms.
buffy said:
Divine Angel said:
Start war.
Stop war. (Maybe.)
Be awarded Trump Peace Prize from Board of Peace.
This is very risky from the point of view of the Iranians hitting US bases/ships. Dead Americans isn’t going to help the mid terms.
Ah, but war during elections is a loophole.
Divine Angel said:
buffy said:
Divine Angel said:
Start war.
Stop war. (Maybe.)
Be awarded Trump Peace Prize from Board of Peace.
This is very risky from the point of view of the Iranians hitting US bases/ships. Dead Americans isn’t going to help the mid terms.
Ah, but war during elections is a loophole.
Only if you declare it. At present they are “supporting” Israel, I think.
What I’d like to hear:
Reuters reports that Khamenei, Netanyahu and Trump have all been killed.
ABC are saying:
This article contains content that is not available.
What’s that supposed to mean?
Bubblecar said:
ABC are saying:This article contains content that is not available.
What’s that supposed to mean?
Might be that your browser doesn’t support things embedded in the article, like photos or that scrolling page-style they like using.
Bubblecar said:
ABC are saying:This article contains content that is not available.
What’s that supposed to mean?
IME, that usually means external content that has been taken down. Mostly they have been videos or Instagrams or tweets.
so they reckon they got the Ayatollah hey, snuffed him good
takes one to know one
On Truth Social, President Trump wrote: “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead.” “This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS,” he wrote.
SCIENCE said:
takes one to know one
On Truth Social, President Trump wrote: “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead.” “This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS,” he wrote.
He’s a murdering bastard.
Peak Warming Man said:
SCIENCE said:takes one to know one
On Truth Social, President Trump wrote: “Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead.” “This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS,” he wrote.
He’s a murdering bastard.
Trump shows no restraint from murder himself, as long as he can get someone else to do it for him.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/28/children-dead-as-missile-hits-elementary-school-in-southern-iran
Iran’s parents had just dropped their children off for class on Saturday morning when they found themselves racing back to school gates, as bombs began to fall across the country in a joint US-Israel attack.
At one elementary school, according to Iran’s state-controlled media, they arrived to find devastation. At least 100 children had been killed in the strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, the Mizan news agency reported, with dozens more unaccounted for.
In one video circulating on social media, purportedly showing the immediate aftermath of the strike, smoke rises from the burnt-out walls, and debris lies spread across the road. Hundreds of onlookers gathered at the site, some in obvious distress. Screams can be heard in the background. The report of the bombing, its death toll and the video’s source could not immediately be independently verified by the Guardian. Persian factchecking service Factnameh was able to cross-reference the video with other photographs of the school site, and concluded that the video was authentic. Reuters said it had also verified the footage as being from the school.Hossein Kermanpour, spokesperson for Iran’s health ministry, said in a post to X that the bombing of the school was “the most bitter news” of the conflict so far. “God knows how many more children’s bodies they will pull from under the rubble.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/28/children-dead-as-missile-hits-elementary-school-in-southern-iran
dv said:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/28/children-dead-as-missile-hits-elementary-school-in-southern-iranIran’s parents had just dropped their children off for class on Saturday morning when they found themselves racing back to school gates, as bombs began to fall across the country in a joint US-Israel attack.
At one elementary school, according to Iran’s state-controlled media, they arrived to find devastation. At least 100 children had been killed in the strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, the Mizan news agency reported, with dozens more unaccounted for.
In one video circulating on social media, purportedly showing the immediate aftermath of the strike, smoke rises from the burnt-out walls, and debris lies spread across the road. Hundreds of onlookers gathered at the site, some in obvious distress. Screams can be heard in the background. The report of the bombing, its death toll and the video’s source could not immediately be independently verified by the Guardian. Persian factchecking service Factnameh was able to cross-reference the video with other photographs of the school site, and concluded that the video was authentic. Reuters said it had also verified the footage as being from the school.Hossein Kermanpour, spokesperson for Iran’s health ministry, said in a post to X that the bombing of the school was “the most bitter news” of the conflict so far. “God knows how many more children’s bodies they will pull from under the rubble.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/28/children-dead-as-missile-hits-elementary-school-in-southern-iran
Take heed, this is how Donald Trump’s board of peace functions.
roughbarked said:
dv said:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/28/children-dead-as-missile-hits-elementary-school-in-southern-iranIran’s parents had just dropped their children off for class on Saturday morning when they found themselves racing back to school gates, as bombs began to fall across the country in a joint US-Israel attack.
At one elementary school, according to Iran’s state-controlled media, they arrived to find devastation. At least 100 children had been killed in the strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, the Mizan news agency reported, with dozens more unaccounted for.
In one video circulating on social media, purportedly showing the immediate aftermath of the strike, smoke rises from the burnt-out walls, and debris lies spread across the road. Hundreds of onlookers gathered at the site, some in obvious distress. Screams can be heard in the background. The report of the bombing, its death toll and the video’s source could not immediately be independently verified by the Guardian. Persian factchecking service Factnameh was able to cross-reference the video with other photographs of the school site, and concluded that the video was authentic. Reuters said it had also verified the footage as being from the school.Hossein Kermanpour, spokesperson for Iran’s health ministry, said in a post to X that the bombing of the school was “the most bitter news” of the conflict so far. “God knows how many more children’s bodies they will pull from under the rubble.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/28/children-dead-as-missile-hits-elementary-school-in-southern-iran
Take heed, this is how Donald Trump’s board of peace functions.
And what has been practised in Gaza.
Peak Warming Man said:
Crazy old creep.
Just a shame that the American and Israeli Ayatollahs are still breathing.
buffy said:
roughbarked said:
dv said:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/28/children-dead-as-missile-hits-elementary-school-in-southern-iranIran’s parents had just dropped their children off for class on Saturday morning when they found themselves racing back to school gates, as bombs began to fall across the country in a joint US-Israel attack.
At one elementary school, according to Iran’s state-controlled media, they arrived to find devastation. At least 100 children had been killed in the strike on Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, the Mizan news agency reported, with dozens more unaccounted for.
In one video circulating on social media, purportedly showing the immediate aftermath of the strike, smoke rises from the burnt-out walls, and debris lies spread across the road. Hundreds of onlookers gathered at the site, some in obvious distress. Screams can be heard in the background. The report of the bombing, its death toll and the video’s source could not immediately be independently verified by the Guardian. Persian factchecking service Factnameh was able to cross-reference the video with other photographs of the school site, and concluded that the video was authentic. Reuters said it had also verified the footage as being from the school.Hossein Kermanpour, spokesperson for Iran’s health ministry, said in a post to X that the bombing of the school was “the most bitter news” of the conflict so far. “God knows how many more children’s bodies they will pull from under the rubble.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/28/children-dead-as-missile-hits-elementary-school-in-southern-iran
Take heed, this is how Donald Trump’s board of peace functions.
And what has been practised in Gaza.
Yes. Mr Netenyahu is already on the war criminal list.
Corbyn’s protest party would not be at all popular in Tehran at the moment…
People chanting and cheering in Tehran after Khamenei’s death
Video verified by AP shows Iranians taking to Tehran’s streets in large numbers to celebrate the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-01/us-israel-launches-airstrikes-in-iran-live-blog/106401380#live-blog-post-264458
Bubblecar said:
Corbyn’s protest party would not be at all popular in Tehran at the moment…People chanting and cheering in Tehran after Khamenei’s death
Video verified by AP shows Iranians taking to Tehran’s streets in large numbers to celebrate the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-01/us-israel-launches-airstrikes-in-iran-live-blog/106401380#live-blog-post-264458
Bolshi tub thumpers are a thing of the past, that war has been won, right of center parties like the Conservatives, modern Labor and Reform now rule the roost.
Peak Warming Man said:
Bubblecar said:
Corbyn’s protest party would not be at all popular in Tehran at the moment…People chanting and cheering in Tehran after Khamenei’s death
Video verified by AP shows Iranians taking to Tehran’s streets in large numbers to celebrate the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-01/us-israel-launches-airstrikes-in-iran-live-blog/106401380#live-blog-post-264458
Bolshi tub thumpers are a thing of the past, that war has been won, right of center parties like the Conservatives, modern Labor and Reform now rule the roost.
Reform are very much right of right of centre, led by a nasty maniac who adores Putin.
So… what is the stated aim the US is trying to achieve here?
Bubblecar said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Bubblecar said:
Corbyn’s protest party would not be at all popular in Tehran at the moment…People chanting and cheering in Tehran after Khamenei’s death
Video verified by AP shows Iranians taking to Tehran’s streets in large numbers to celebrate the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-01/us-israel-launches-airstrikes-in-iran-live-blog/106401380#live-blog-post-264458
Bolshi tub thumpers are a thing of the past, that war has been won, right of center parties like the Conservatives, modern Labor and Reform now rule the roost.
Reform are very much right of right of centre, led by a nasty maniac who adores Putin.
I am convinced the the whole Brexit thing was a Russian-backed plot to weaken western Europe.
party_pants said:
So… what is the stated aim the US is trying to achieve here?
“Regime change”. Since Khamenei has been killed, this will presumably allow them to claim success even if the hardliners remain in control.
party_pants said:
So… what is the stated aim the US is trying to achieve here?
Do Netenyahu’s bidding.
party_pants said:
So… what is the stated aim the US is trying to achieve here?
Peace in our time.
party_pants said:
So… what is the stated aim the US is trying to achieve here?
<<<<————-LOOK OVER THERE!!!——-…………………………………………………Epstein Files
Peak Warming Man said:
Corbyn’s always been a useful idiot.
Bubblecar said:
Just a shame that the American and Israeli Ayatollahs are still breathing.
If we’re lucky we might get regime change in Iran and a successful Republican Guard plot to assassinate Trump. It’s win-win!
Peak Warming Man said:
Bubblecar said:
Corbyn’s protest party would not be at all popular in Tehran at the moment…People chanting and cheering in Tehran after Khamenei’s death
Video verified by AP shows Iranians taking to Tehran’s streets in large numbers to celebrate the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-01/us-israel-launches-airstrikes-in-iran-live-blog/106401380#live-blog-post-264458
Bolshi tub thumpers are a thing of the past, that war has been won, right of center parties like the Conservatives, modern Labor and Reform now rule the roost.
Labor is centre left.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Corbyn’s always been a
usefulidiot.
fixed.
Bit surprised the Ayatollah wasn’t in a secure location. They certainly had plenty of warning.
When Kohmeini died, Khamenei was in office the following day. Although formally the Council of Experts has to elect the new leader, in reality the succession had already been negotiated.
Might be something of an invidious position.
A case of “friendly fire” happened:
Iranian forces attacked the Skylight, a tanker belonging to the Iran–Russia shadow fleet, which was sailing under the flag of Palau.
The vessel was carrying Iranian oil and is subject to U.S. and EU sanctions.
Meanwhile Russia and China are sending big thoughts and prayers
oh
The call to back the action is also more than sucking up to Trump for the sake of the US-Australia alliance. Later this week, Canadian PM Mark Carney will address the Australian parliament, and what is fascinating to watch is that Australia and Canada are united in backing the United States on its Iran action, despite other countries raising concerns that it violates international law.
well you know sometimes laws are unjust
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-02/albanese-government-backs-us-israel-attacks-on-iran/106402282
nice juxtaposition there who the fuck are these journalists
Trump says US will ‘avenge’ fallen troops but more deaths ‘likely’
oh yeah “but” how about “therefore” you geniuses
SCIENCE said:
nice juxtaposition there who the fuck are these journalists
Trump says US will ‘avenge’ fallen troops but more deaths ‘likely’
oh yeah “but” how about “therefore” you geniuses
It makes sense of you conclude that the meaning was ‘US deaths will be avenged however we must expect some more US deaths’.
Albo is all the way with DJT.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
nice juxtaposition there who the fuck are these journalists
Trump says US will ‘avenge’ fallen troops but more deaths ‘likely’
oh yeah “but” how about “therefore” you geniuses
It makes sense of you conclude that the meaning was ‘US deaths will be avenged however we must expect some more US deaths’.
true but we argue that the framing is designed to divert attention from the idea that eternal vengeance sustains killing on all sides
language chosen to leave the space wide open for escalation in contrast to cooler breath
Peak Warming Man said:
Albo is all the way with DJT.
well if he doesn’t like it he should leave
Peak Warming Man said:
Albo is all the way with DJT.
Covering his arse.
Peak Warming Man said:
Albo is all the way with DJT.
Doesn’t rhyme.
buffy said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Albo is all the way with DJT.
Doesn’t rhyme.
he ain’t a poet and he know it.
buffy said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Albo is all the way with DJT.
Doesn’t rhyme.
All the wee with DJT?
buffy said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Albo is all the way with DJT.
Doesn’t rhyme.
It’s one of them iambic pentameters, like Milton’s Paradise Lost.
Are they all dead yet?
Alert me when it’s all over and
…Ahmad will go to sleep
In his own little room again
we(1,0,0) mean thank fuck we(1,1,1)’re in australia but shit like this comes up constantly now and we get terrible original position feelings
guess it was like that in past centuries as well so maybe दुःख is true this is life
Bubblecar said:
Australia’s timid response to the US and Israel’s attack on Iran risks being seen as complicity
yes
“risks being seen as”
LOL
‘rolling over’ after Israel and US attack is counterproductive for middle powers because it undermines rules-based order
oh c’m‘on we want to keep violating it to goad the likes of rules-based-international-order-disrespecting BIG BAD DIRTY CHINA so they overextend on their Taiwanese territory and then we can justify nuclear atrocitying all 1400000000 of them drones at once
I am not in any great state of mourning over the death of the Ayatollah, or other senior members of the regime. They have been sponsoring wars and rebel groups and terrorists for years, plus they are supplying thousands of drones to Russia to use against Ukraine.
We don’t like the way it is being done unilaterally by the US and Israel. But if it cuts off Iranian supplied weapons to mobs like Hezbollah and the Houthis of Yemen it might actually do some good. Might even do some good for Ukraine too.
SCIENCE said:
Bubblecar said:
Australia’s timid response to the US and Israel’s attack on Iran risks being seen as complicity
yes
“risks being seen as”
LOL
‘rolling over’ after Israel and US attack is counterproductive for middle powers because it undermines rules-based order
oh c’m‘on we want to keep violating it to goad the likes of rules-based-international-order-disrespecting BIG BAD DIRTY CHINA so they overextend on their Taiwanese territory and then we can justify nuclear atrocitying all 1400000000 of them drones at once
wait now Yousr ABC are onto it as well
Defence Minister Richard Marles and Foreign Minister Penny Wong have avoided questions about whether the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran breached international law. Israel says the strikes were “pre-emptive”, while the United States says the attacks aimed to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program and bring about regime change.
When asked if the attacks were legal, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Defence Minister Richard Marles said that was a question for the United States and Israel. “The legality is a matter for both United States and Israel to go through, but we support the United States in preventing Iran acquiring this capability,” Mr Marles said.
ah yes that’s right international law and order is a matter for USSA and JRI and as a great middle power we only stand for the rules-based international order if dirty ASIANS are violating it
oh wait
“But Iran has a terrible regime — they’re a proxy, they’re underwritten by Chinese and Russian tech.”
that’s it exactly this is all about the rules-based international order it’s legal if it’s against CHINA’s interests
The rules based order is dead. We (Australia) should be developing our own independent strategic deterrent and not relying on the US umbrella.
There is no point any more in arguing to preserve it. It’s gone because it no longer suits the US, China, or Russia. The sooner people understand that, the sooner we can move forward.
party_pants said:
The rules based order is dead. We (Australia) should be developing our own independent strategic deterrent and not relying on the US umbrella.
There is no point any more in arguing to preserve it. It’s gone because it no longer suits the US, China, or Russia. The sooner people understand that, the sooner we can move forward.
so law of the jungle then
pretty sure while any given country is economically winning a rules-based international order, that country is considering the rules-based international order to suit them just fine
it’s the not economically winning part that is problematic
Team Sports
DraftBarronTrump.com
SCIENCE said:
Team Sports
captain_spalding said:
DraftBarronTrump.com
pretty sure the propensity for bone spurs runs in families
whether they’re genetically related is a separate matter
SCIENCE said:
party_pants said:
The rules based order is dead. We (Australia) should be developing our own independent strategic deterrent and not relying on the US umbrella.
There is no point any more in arguing to preserve it. It’s gone because it no longer suits the US, China, or Russia. The sooner people understand that, the sooner we can move forward.
so law of the jungle then
pretty sure while any given country is economically winning a rules-based international order, that country is considering the rules-based international order to suit them just fine
it’s the not economically winning part that is problematic
Yeah, pretty much. An rules based order is better than the law of the jungle, everybody benefits instead of the few. But like any human order, it needs to be lead by people who put the collective good above their own selfish instincts. The fundamental flaw of any human system, modern or ancient, is that it requires the powerful to act with self-restraint.
captain_spalding said:
DraftBarronTrump.com
I wonder if Baron will be similar president to his father?
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:
party_pants said:
The rules based order is dead. We (Australia) should be developing our own independent strategic deterrent and not relying on the US umbrella.
There is no point any more in arguing to preserve it. It’s gone because it no longer suits the US, China, or Russia. The sooner people understand that, the sooner we can move forward.
so law of the jungle then
pretty sure while any given country is economically winning a rules-based international order, that country is considering the rules-based international order to suit them just fine
it’s the not economically winning part that is problematic
Yeah, pretty much. An rules based order is better than the law of the jungle, everybody benefits instead of the few. But like any human order, it needs to be lead by people who put the collective good above their own selfish instincts. The fundamental flaw of any human system, modern or ancient, is that it requires the powerful to act with self-restraint.
OK we haven’t thought this through much recently but is consensus power sharing naturally doomed to failure?
On second thoughts we guess there are more specific questions to ask about that, since everything is thermodynamically doomed to failure.
oooh internment again soon let’s go
Earlier today in the US, a gunman wearing clothes with an Iranian flag design and declaring “Property of Allah” killed two people and injured 14 at a Texas bar. The FBI is investigating the shooting as a potential act of terrorism. Police shot and killed the gunman, who opened fire on people sitting out the front of the venue and walking on the street outside. He then parked and got out with a rifle before officers rushed to the intersection and shot him.
didn’t hear a lot of protest from surrounding countries so leaving aside the remaining 3 for now
Pahlavi said he has four core principles for rebuilding the nation.
“Number one is Iran’s territorial integrity.
good luck with that, pretty sure the last time a country in the process of developing nuclear weapons was bad to jews and got bombed, they got carved up quite nicely
SCIENCE said:
didn’t hear a lot of protest from surrounding countries so leaving aside the remaining 3 for now
Pahlavi said he has four core principles for rebuilding the nation.
“Number one is Iran’s territorial integrity.
good luck with that, pretty sure the last time a country in the process of developing nuclear weapons was bad to jews and got bombed, they got carved up quite nicely
Number Two is getting the secret police up and running, big time.
SCIENCE said:
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:
so law of the jungle then
pretty sure while any given country is economically winning a rules-based international order, that country is considering the rules-based international order to suit them just fine
it’s the not economically winning part that is problematic
Yeah, pretty much. An rules based order is better than the law of the jungle, everybody benefits instead of the few. But like any human order, it needs to be lead by people who put the collective good above their own selfish instincts. The fundamental flaw of any human system, modern or ancient, is that it requires the powerful to act with self-restraint.
OK we haven’t thought this through much recently but is consensus power sharing naturally doomed to failure?
On second thoughts we guess there are more specific questions to ask about that, since everything is thermodynamically doomed to failure.
- What is a reasonable lifetime for consensus power sharing¿
- What are the conditions to arrange a consensus that has longer life expectancy¿
- How could such conditions be reached, on a quasistatic (progressive) or punctuated (revolutionary) pathway¿
Have listen to this guy, Steve Keen, he explains it much better than I can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH-yTE26kOE
linky
17 minutes, but worth a listen on how the rules based order works and dosen’t work.
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:party_pants said:
Yeah, pretty much. An rules based order is better than the law of the jungle, everybody benefits instead of the few. But like any human order, it needs to be lead by people who put the collective good above their own selfish instincts. The fundamental flaw of any human system, modern or ancient, is that it requires the powerful to act with self-restraint.
OK we haven’t thought this through much recently but is consensus power sharing naturally doomed to failure?
On second thoughts we guess there are more specific questions to ask about that, since everything is thermodynamically doomed to failure.
- What is a reasonable lifetime for consensus power sharing¿
- What are the conditions to arrange a consensus that has longer life expectancy¿
- How could such conditions be reached, on a quasistatic (progressive) or punctuated (revolutionary) pathway¿
Have listen to this guy, Steve Keen, he explains it much better than I can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH-yTE26kOE
linky
17 minutes, but worth a listen on how the rules based order works and dosen’t work.
Keen’s a bit of a crack pot: He’s been predicting an imminent Aussie housing crash for 20 years now.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:OK we haven’t thought this through much recently but is consensus power sharing naturally doomed to failure?
On second thoughts we guess there are more specific questions to ask about that, since everything is thermodynamically doomed to failure.
- What is a reasonable lifetime for consensus power sharing¿
- What are the conditions to arrange a consensus that has longer life expectancy¿
- How could such conditions be reached, on a quasistatic (progressive) or punctuated (revolutionary) pathway¿
Have listen to this guy, Steve Keen, he explains it much better than I can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH-yTE26kOE
linky
17 minutes, but worth a listen on how the rules based order works and dosen’t work.
Keen’s a bit of a crack pot: He’s been predicting an imminent Aussie housing crash for 20 years now.
I agree with him on the currency and trade issues discussed in this video. He is not alone voice on this topic.
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:Have listen to this guy, Steve Keen, he explains it much better than I can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH-yTE26kOE
linky
17 minutes, but worth a listen on how the rules based order works and dosen’t work.
Keen’s a bit of a crack pot: He’s been predicting an imminent Aussie housing crash for 20 years now.
I agree with him on the currency and trade issues discussed in this video. He is not alone voice on this topic.
I’ll have to take your word for it.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Have listen to this guy, Steve Keen, he explains it much better than I can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH-yTE26kOE
linky
17 minutes, but worth a listen on how the rules based order works and dosen’t work.
Keen’s a bit of a crack pot: He’s been predicting an imminent Aussie housing crash for 20 years now.
I agree with him on the currency and trade issues discussed in this video. He is not alone voice on this topic.
I’ll have to take your word for it.
thanks both we’ll have a sit down and serious distillation of it at some stage when we can concentrate
The start of the new world order isn’t coming.
It’s already here.
The most powerful people on the planet just stood on stage at Davos and said it out loud.
They have a choice.
You can say yes or you can say no.
And we will remember that we live in an era of great power rivalry.
That the rules-based order is fading.
We desperately need a new world order.
Conflicts are rising.
International rules are being tested.
Trade tensions are escalating.
We pretend it’s rules-based. In fact, it’s power based.
But now what Trump is doing is making it obvious it’s based on power.
Trump is a very outofc control puppet.
So I don’t think it’s going to be a peaceful transition at all.
Unfortunately, it’s just the final game of the end of a system which was almost designed to fail in the first place which was Breton Woods.
Because if you look at what we got out of Breton Woods, what we got initially was the United States dollar as the international currency.
It was linked to gold.
1 oz of gold was equivalent to the to $35.
That was the original system.
All it really was in a sense was continuing the gold standard but with the American dollar as the currency for international trade rather than the British pound which was what applied before World War II.
Britain went off the gold standard.
Of course, that was part of how they managed to get out of the worst of the Great Depression.
But nonetheless, there was, you know, basically a new version of the old world system rather than the British pound being used.
It’s the American dollar.
same sort of idea of convertability into gold and so on and that was on a hiding nothing to fail for a whole lot of reasons.
One of the easiest the one that Janth Verisvus focused on what in a book he called the global minotaur and he said that if you’re going to use a national currency for international trade then that nation has to run a trade deficit because otherwise you uh with the trade deficit people are getting American dollars rather than America taking a currency elsewhere American currencies going overseas to pay for these goods and therefore you have American dollars and then people can use American dollars to buy German goods because you need to have the American dollar to buy everything as the form of international currency.
Such a level of American dollars accumulated in Europe, they called it the Euro dollar market and those euro dollars because they were literally convertible into gold.
I think it was France Ramitaran threatened the American trade deficit had become so large and France had accumulated such a large amount of American dollars they said we’re going to bring these dollars to Fort Knox and insist you give us you know for every $35 we get 1 ounce of gold in Fort Knox and if they had done it would have actually emptied Fort Knox that sort of pushed Nixon’s hand to say we’ve got to break the convertability the dollar is no longer universally convertible into gold and they changed the price it was $35 for the official market 42 for the non-official market and then finally they broke the whole thing and so we had basically a floating American dollar as the basis of international trade completely opposed to MMT’s attitude on trade.
This is going to annoy some people.
The system that we could have had was Kanes’s idea of what he called the bank and the idea of the bank was to create a specific unit of account for international trade.
So you wouldn’t use a domestic currency for international trade.
And because Kanes was putting this forward at a time when the gold standards still mattered, he talked about convertability of gold into the bank.
And because it was a time of fixed exchange rates, he talked about having a fixed exchange rate mechanism.
Every country would be have a it started off with, you know, the dollar might be worth one bank and the pound might be worth uh half a bank.
That sort of relationship was there and then you had to have a a sort of government mechanism to change the value.
But we could equally bring the same system with a floating exchange rate now with no link to gold.
But in nonetheless, that was an alternative system.
And if that had happened, you wouldn’t have needed American dollars for international trade.
What Kane’s proposed with he called the international clearing union.
Every country would have an account at the ICU, but it would start at zero.
And the sum of all accounts would always remain at zero.
So it wasn’t actually a currency.
It was just a unit of count.
Countries running a trade surplus would accumulate a positive balance at the ICU.
those running a trade deficit would accumulate a negative balance and canes is going to have interest repayments on both to discourage large balances and therefore to encourage a balanced approach to trade.
Now what we got instead with the American dollar was they like the American version of the previous British system where you needed this domestic currency for international trade that meant that domestic currency was overvalued.
The impact of an overvalued currency is that your manufacturing goods are more expensive than goods produced elsewhere.
If they’re the same cost structure, then you’re going to have a higher price because you’re the reserve currency.
You might be 30% overvalued.
So something has to be made for the equivalent of $1,000 in both places would cost 1,300 made by Americans and 1,000 when made by Europeans.
That put American manufacturing at a disadvantage.
That means over time American manufacturing has declined and the power that made America the the reserve currency for the planet has been eliminated over time which is the same thing that happened to the British the same thing that happened to the Dutch beforehand.
The domestic currency that will be chosen as the dominant political and manufacturing power on the planet when it happens.
But once it becomes the international currency its manufacturing sector starts to lose out because the overvalued currency means it can’t compete.
its financial sector comes extremely powerful because you need American dollars for all purchases of goods and services and financial claims and you know non-financial assets shares and properties and so on.
So you make the financial sector extremely strong but you weaken your manufacturing sector and that ultimately leads to your your economy being defeated by another economy.
Dutch lost out to the English, the English lose out to the Americans and now the Americans are losing out to the Chinese.
The actual failures we’re seeing right now are inevitable.
You can find the same thing in in Grazani because what Graziani argues that all is all monetary systems are basically triangular.
You have a buyer, a seller and a bank that enables you to settle the transactions.
So at the domestic level, we all use our domestic currency.
We transfer from one bank account to another at the level of the banks they transfer from their reserve accounts at the central bank for that particular currency.
And what should happen is the central bank should transfer neutral uh unit of account at their level as well.
There should be three independent financial systems.
Instead, we’ve got a one and a half.
We’ve got a national systems for every country on the planet.
One national system called the American dollar, which is used inside America, but it’s also used at the top of the whole pyramid system for international trade.
And that’s a system that had to fail.
And so, we’re seeing it going through the failures right now.
We desperately need a new world order, but the last thing that should be is a world order based on another national currency.
we should bring in something like Kanes’s idea of the bankor.
Hanes also described gold as that barbarous relic.
He didn’t think we should use gold at all.
He had to make a political concession at the time that everybody else believed gold should be used for international trade.
So he said let’s call this thing we use as if it’s gold but it’s not going to be gold.
So he was constrained by that particular belief system.
So the proposal I’ve made is we should have an international unit of account which all countries use for international trade and the way international trade would occur as you would have to take purchase made of American companies buying a Chinese product.
Then the American dollar would get converted into the international unit of account that would then be transferred to the Chinese central bank that would then be converted by the Chinese central bank into yuan and that would enable the purchase to go through.
We call the international unit of account the terror.
I hope that reminds people we’re on the same planet.
We shouldn’t try to kill each other.
If I look at the long progression of history, what I see happening is that we’ve had empires ever since the colonial period.
Gilders, Deloon, all the currencies we’ve used have been national currencies.
And when a particular country is the dominant empire on the planet, that’s the currency we tend to use.
Countries think that’s great because we’re using my currency.
Aren’t I the big, you know, beat your chest.
I’m the big country.
I’m in charge.
You use my currency.
If India took over, we’d be using the rupee.
That sort of thing.
It to me, it’s foolish because I see being the currency that’s used for international trade is seen by most empires as a spoil of empire because that’s what the previous empire had.
I think it’s a poison chalice.
I think it’s actually not a spoil of empire, but a spoiler of empires.
A country on the planet is you conquer all the other countries.
You become an empire.
You conquer them because you’ve got a manufacturing sector that is more advanced than your rivals.
You produce some military technology or some weaponry.
That means you wipe out the the armies of your rivals.
They become your vassels.
And when it takes over, your currency gets overvalued because everybody has to have your currency for trade.
So therefore, your manufacturing sector now has a handicap.
It’s 30 or 40% more expensive than making goods in the other countries.
Obviously I’ll start at a lower technological level initially.
One of the vassels will develop comparable industrial technology to the empire and then it will supplant the empire.
Same story.
It then becomes the dominant country.
So I think the whole idea of using a national currency is deadly for the empire itself.
First of all being the the reserve currency gives your financial sector great power but it weakens your manufacturing sector.
He could see that in the case of England itself when he was in the Indian office and and so on before he became a prominent economist.
So I think he was trying to stop that curse.
The trouble is the Americans turned up and you know big ego Americans particularly a guy called Harry Dexter White who led the American delegation basically a bureaucrat.
He wasn’t a politician, but he had the same attitude.
Because we are the strongest country on the planet, therefore we should use our currency for international trade and he saw it as an advantage for America.
I think Kane saw it was going to be a poison chalice, but he couldn’t fight the Americans given the the power they had at the world end of World War II.
So, we’re stuck with the American dollar.
The last thing we should do is repeat that mistake.
The one thing I can say in favor of Trump is he’s going to accelerate potential uh changes to bring about a new world order.
Trump is in some ways is the epitome of the American culture.
He’s a con artist.
He’s egotistical, narcissistic, wants everything to revolve around him.
He’s really an expression of the worst of America.
You can say he’s an aberration.
He’s a statement of the American personality in that sense.
And because he’s so bloody extreme, you really do have somebody suffering from narcissistic personality disorder at the head of a country taking a sledgehammer to the current system.
And people’s response is we need a new system.
So I was extremely impressed with uh Mark Carney when he was in a visit to China recently.
He quite deliberately said this is the beginning of a new world order.
And I think that was an incredibly brave statement for him to make because he’s saying we’re breaking away from the Americans.
He then had that speech in Europe where he said it quite explicitly uh we need a new order that we’ve got flaws in the current system.
We pretend it’s rules-based.
In fact, it’s powerbased.
The rules are applied unevenly.
If you’re a strong country in favor, so you’re America or you’re Israel, you get the good treatment.
If you’re not in favor, we we punish you in various ways.
It’s not rule-based.
It’s foolish to it’s we’re pretending that it’s based on rules.
But now what Trump is doing is making it obvious it’s based on power.
So in that sense, I think during Trump’s reign, if he lasts another three years, uh it’s likely under that situation, people are going to say, “Well, got to get away from this crazy country.
“ Yes.
Okay.
Trump’s going to see us being president probably at some point if for no other reason than he’s old enough to die in the next four years and unhealthy enough to probably die.
So he’ll be gone.
But if America can throw up a Trump, he can throw up somebody just as bad.
We can’t trust their political system to choose a a sensible person as leader.
So we need to break away and have an order which is not dependent upon the idiosyncrasies of different personalities.
So I think it’s possible to see this in the next 5 years hopefully in the next three major impact is going to be a decline in the power of the American financial sector.
I think that’s absolutely desperately necessary.
When your currency becomes used for international trade you undermine your manufacturing sector but you empower your financial sector and the American financial sector has been in a rapacious force on the social system.
It’s undermined productivity.
It’s everything is financialized.
It’s you’ve got pensioners having to, you know, check and see what the stock market is that day to work out whether they’re going any addition and be able to buy milk next week.
It’s absolutely crazy to have the financial sector being as strong as it is.
So, a new world order would definitely reduce the power of the American financial system and that’s one of the reasons they’re going to oppose it, try to stop it coming about because they don’t want to lose that power.
The vast majority of capitalists don’t do well out of the American currency being used for international trade.
But the tiny minority that run what are called the vampire squids, the Morgan Stanley’s and shadow banks and so on, they do extremely well and they’re going to oppose any change like this.
So to some extent, you need a strong country that they can’t control to be pushing for the change.
And now of course that strong country is China.
Americans would see quite dramatic effects.
They wouldn’t be able to go overseas holidays anymore because it’d be more expensive to travel.
They wouldn’t be buying as many imported goods because they couldn’t afford them anymore.
The price would rise as the dollar fell.
But American manufacturing could get a chance to revive.
And if you have to look at how Americans are suffering right now, a major reason that Trump got elected is because so many Americans lost their jobs when their factories were shut down and production was shifted off to third world countries, but especially China.
And then China developed its own rival manufacturing sector.
People who used to have skilled jobs in America have now got shitty gig economy jobs and and things of that nature.
And and they’re angry about it and they’re right to be angry.
So in some ways they will benefit from giving up with the fast of the American dollar being used for international trade.
If if America loses control of the financial system, it loses its diplomatic power as well because a huge part of the power of America comes out of the American dollar.
Such a dangerous transition.
America, it’s lost the manufacturing prowess.
Certainly not the world’s second most powerful manufacturing economy.
Certainly, China’s number one.
America might be number two or three.
Manufacturing is nowhere near as strong as it was 40 years ago.
In that situation, they should go into decline, which is what the English did and the Dutch and so on beforehand.
But they’ve got nuclear weapons.
They if they decide to use the power of nuclear weapons to blackmail the rest of the world, it could be an endgame.
And that’s what scares me that uh there’s such a degree of talk uh in American power structures about provoking wars.
Trump come in claiming to be the peace president.
Yeah, he’s got to taken a piece of Venezuela.
He’s taking a piece of Greenland, a piece of you know, it’s ridiculous how he’s turned that upside down.
But what he’s doing is continuing what Eisenhower called the militaryindustrial complex where you become a political leader and then you do what the military and the industrial uh suppliers to the military in America want you to do and you become a puppet.
Trump is a very out of control puppet that’s the situation he’s in.
So if you have a a world attempt to move away from the American dollar to try to improve the system, it’s quite possible the American military-industrial complex try to start wars to stop that happening.
So I don’t think it’s going to be a peaceful transition at all.
Unfortunately, if you look back to the days of the 1950s and60s, one reason we didn’t have military global scale military conflict back then is because of what was called MAD mutually assured destruction.
Now with the breakdown of Russia, Russia still has nuclear weapons, but it’s nowhere near as powerful as it used to be.
We don’t know how well those weapons are maintained.
Americans could imagine they could actually start a war and win it.
That’s extremely dangerous.
We could actually face a nuclear war because we no longer have the countervailing power of a another country that no America knows it can’t defeat.
So I’m just hoping actually that China is doing as much as it can to get to the same point where it makes the point that if you start a war, if you win it, you’re still going to lose.
If this helped you to see that the equations economists use were wrong and not you, if that resonates with you, you’re probably like the 22,000 others who recently requested one of my three books inside my new Rebel Economist book bundle.
The bundle is worth $50, but you can get it while it’s free this week.
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uh … do … military personnel in other countries have families with children who might attend schools near where they are based
The Hengaw human rights organisation said in a statement on Sunday the school was believed to have enrolled about 170 students and was located near a navy base operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s militant security organisation. “The establishment and expansion of military facilities in close proximity to schools and public spaces place civilians at heightened risk,” the statement said. “Under international humanitarian law, the use of civilian areas to shield military objectives is prohibited.”
what about the use of civilian areas to provide civilian services to civilians associated with military personnel
Bubblecar said:
Australia’s timid response to the US and Israel’s attack on Iran risks being seen as complicity
Yes but he has to talk to Australians who have just had two antisemitic and one anti first peoples attacks.
Apparently the US just shot down one of it’s own F-15s.
Peak Warming Man said:
captain_spalding said:
DraftBarronTrump.comI wonder if Baron will be similar president to his father?
NOOOOO> don’t jinx us.
Kingy said:
Apparently the US just shot down one of it’s own F-15s.
Clever lads.
Kingy said:
Apparently the US just shot down one of it’s own F-15s.
Just saw the video, it looks more like an F-35.
Kingy said:
Kingy said:
Apparently the US just shot down one of it’s own F-15s.
Just saw the video, it looks more like an F-35.
More info: shot down by Kuwait by mistake, and likely is an F-15. The video is a bit blurry.
Kingy said:
Kingy said:
Kingy said:
Apparently the US just shot down one of it’s own F-15s.
Just saw the video, it looks more like an F-35.
More info: shot down by Kuwait by mistake, and likely is an F-15. The video is a bit blurry.
Are you confident of the source? Truth is likely already hiding behind the sofa somewhere.
buffy said:
Kingy said:
Kingy said:Just saw the video, it looks more like an F-35.
More info: shot down by Kuwait by mistake, and likely is an F-15. The video is a bit blurry.
Are you confident of the source? Truth is likely already hiding behind the sofa somewhere.
Pics or it didn’t happen. Got a link?
Woodie said:
buffy said:
Kingy said:More info: shot down by Kuwait by mistake, and likely is an F-15. The video is a bit blurry.
Are you confident of the source? Truth is likely already hiding behind the sofa somewhere.
Pics or it didn’t happen. Got a link?
I no longer trust pictures. Far too easy to manipulate.
buffy said:
Woodie said:
buffy said:Are you confident of the source? Truth is likely already hiding behind the sofa somewhere.
Pics or it didn’t happen. Got a link?
I no longer trust pictures. Far too easy to manipulate.
buffy said:
Woodie said:
buffy said:Are you confident of the source? Truth is likely already hiding behind the sofa somewhere.
Pics or it didn’t happen. Got a link?
I no longer trust pictures. Far too easy to manipulate.
More and more so every day.
Bubblecar said:
buffy said:
Woodie said:Pics or it didn’t happen. Got a link?
I no longer trust pictures. Far too easy to manipulate.
Looks like the pilot got out.
roughbarked said:
Bubblecar said:
buffy said:I no longer trust pictures. Far too easy to manipulate.
Looks like the pilot got out.
Trouble is, couldn’t comprehend a word of the commentary.
Bubblecar said:
buffy said:
Woodie said:Pics or it didn’t happen. Got a link?
I no longer trust pictures. Far too easy to manipulate.
Yep that’s an F-35.
Spiny Norman said:
Bubblecar said:
buffy said:I no longer trust pictures. Far too easy to manipulate.
Yep that’s an F-35.
Many millons of $
Seems like Canada put the sign back in the window
dv said:
Seems like Canada put the sign back in the window
Isn’t it pretty much same as what Australia ended up doing¿
Hegseth calls Iran strikes ‘most lethal’ aerial operation in history
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5761077-us-strikes-iran-hegseth-trump/
dv said:
Hegseth calls Iran strikes ‘most lethal’ aerial operation in history
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5761077-us-strikes-iran-hegseth-trump/
well they didn’t manage to kill Hirohito for all the collateral damage now did they
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:Have listen to this guy, Steve Keen, he explains it much better than I can.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH-yTE26kOE
linky
17 minutes, but worth a listen on how the rules based order works and dosen’t work.
Keen’s a bit of a crack pot: He’s been predicting an imminent Aussie housing crash for 20 years now.
I agree with him on the currency and trade issues discussed in this video. He is not alone voice on this topic.
I read the transcript MZL posted. Keen veers between basic economics and elaborate there’s on America’s economic downfall and then to to it all off spruiks his books. I don’t think he has much credibility.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:Keen’s a bit of a crack pot: He’s been predicting an imminent Aussie housing crash for 20 years now.
I agree with him on the currency and trade issues discussed in this video. He is not alone voice on this topic.
I read the transcript MZL posted. Keen veers between basic economics and elaborate there’s on America’s economic downfall and then to to it all off spruiks his books. I don’t think he has much credibility.
‘to top it
Witty Rejoinder said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:I agree with him on the currency and trade issues discussed in this video. He is not alone voice on this topic.
I read the transcript MZL posted. Keen veers between basic economics and elaborate there’s on America’s economic downfall and then to to it all off spruiks his books. I don’t think he has much credibility.
‘to top it
_sigh-
there’s = theories
It’s looking like the bombing of the girls school was a Iranian rocket gone wrong.
Evidence so far:
First hand vision, pics of the rocket plume doing a turn in the sky and coming down, and the lack of any bits of missile being shown in Iranian media.
I have discounted the usual denials from the two accused parties.
Two F-15E’s shot down over Kuwait in friendly fire. All crew safe.
Kingy said:
It’s looking like the bombing of the girls school was a Iranian rocket gone wrong.Evidence so far:
First hand vision, pics of the rocket plume doing a turn in the sky and coming down, and the lack of any bits of missile being shown in Iranian media.
I have discounted the usual denials from the two accused parties.
Ooh-aah!
Michael V said:
Kingy said:
It’s looking like the bombing of the girls school was a Iranian rocket gone wrong.Evidence so far:
First hand vision, pics of the rocket plume doing a turn in the sky and coming down, and the lack of any bits of missile being shown in Iranian media.
I have discounted the usual denials from the two accused parties.
Ooh-aah!
Seems like there’s a bit of dire friendly fire.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:I agree with him on the currency and trade issues discussed in this video. He is not alone voice on this topic.
I read the transcript MZL posted. Keen veers between basic economics and elaborate there’s on America’s economic downfall and then to to it all off spruiks his books. I don’t think he has much credibility.
‘to top it
Practically everyone with a YouTube channel is flogging their books, or merch, or Patreon, or online courses or something similar. you take that bit with a grain of salt.
holy fuck the propaganda machine is doing overtime
The Masjid Arrahman in Kingsgrove, Husaineyat Sayeda Zaynab in Banksia and the Arncliffe-based community organisation Flagbearer Foundation were among the Sydney organisations that invited their members to special prayer sessions to honour the ayatollah, who was killed in US and Israeli air strikes on Iran. They were joined by the El Zahra Islamic Community Centre in Melbourne’s Hoppers Crossing, which held a Majlis gathering in commemoration on Sunday night.
sure, fella wasn’t our friend, we’re not holding a wake
NSW Premier Chris Minns condemned the lionising of the ayatollah. “I think we can call the mourning of this tyrant atrocious and that’s what I’m going to do,” Mr Minns said. “By any objective measure the ayatollah was evil.”
oh¿ Guess neither is the political leadership of Australians in at least some places
Nos Hosseini from the Iranian Women’s Association said she was appalled to see the ayatollah being mourned. “It was deeply insulting as an Iranian to see people mourning such a controversial figure,” she said.
wait what does “controversial” mean does it mean somehow a religious political figure managed to “mercilessly resisted attempts for regime change” when every single person in the area hated his guts so he had absolutely zero support and nobody should speak positively of him at all
Australian Iranian activist Arvin did not want to give her surname out of fear for her family, which is still in Iran. She said she was alarmed to see in Australia such public displays of sympathy for the regime. “I cannot believe that people in Australia are supporting them — it’s like mourning for Hitler,” she said. “Who can support someone who has committed the biggest crimes and is responsible for the deaths of thousands and thousands of people?
hang on a moment, we’re not saying that the dead fella is any better then any other fella but is there at least one living fella out there who has a warrant out for war crimes and is responsible for the deaths of thousands and thousands of people, who is still being “lionised”, with a move that’s even called the “Rising Lion” perhaps
wait surely cc is an obsolete term that stands for controversial copy who the fuck uses dirty black carcinogenic dust in the age of computers anyway it’s clear from earlier conversations that nobody has any courtesy these days do they and so the correct term in email is actually sic for silicon copy which is what the whole damn email ecosystem is based on sheesh
I think it was yesterday when someone posted a video of a US fighter jet just after it was hit with a missile and subsequently crashed.
I said it was an F-35 but it turns out it was an F-15.
I think that’s perhaps the only F-15 that’s been shot down like that. For air combat at least they have a 104 to 0 ratio of kills.
Spiny Norman said:
I think it was yesterday when someone posted a video of a US fighter jet just after it was hit with a missile and subsequently crashed.
I said it was an F-35 but it turns out it was an F-15.I think that’s perhaps the only F-15 that’s been shot down like that. For air combat at least they have a 104 to 0 ratio of kills.
A couple were shot down during Operation Desert Storm, but yeah the record setting 104:0 air-to-air ratio still stands and of course the F-15 is the only aircraft ever to shoot down a satellite so it has an unmatched air-to-space ratio as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_F-15_losses
17/18 January 1991: F-15E-46-MC, 88‑1689, c/n 1098/E073, of the 335th FS, 4th TFW, USAF, was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery on the first day of Operation Desert Storm.
19/20 January 1991: F-15E-46-MC, 88‑1692, c/n 1101/E076, of the 336th FS, 4th TFW, USAF, was shot down by an Iraqi SA-2E missile during Operation Desert Storm. Both crew members ejected and were POWs.
SCIENCE said:
holy fuck the propaganda machine is doing overtime
The Masjid Arrahman in Kingsgrove, Husaineyat Sayeda Zaynab in Banksia and the Arncliffe-based community organisation Flagbearer Foundation were among the Sydney organisations that invited their members to special prayer sessions to honour the ayatollah, who was killed in US and Israeli air strikes on Iran. They were joined by the El Zahra Islamic Community Centre in Melbourne’s Hoppers Crossing, which held a Majlis gathering in commemoration on Sunday night.
sure, fella wasn’t our friend, we’re not holding a wake
NSW Premier Chris Minns condemned the lionising of the ayatollah. “I think we can call the mourning of this tyrant atrocious and that’s what I’m going to do,” Mr Minns said. “By any objective measure the ayatollah was evil.”
oh¿ Guess neither is the political leadership of Australians in at least some places
Nos Hosseini from the Iranian Women’s Association said she was appalled to see the ayatollah being mourned. “It was deeply insulting as an Iranian to see people mourning such a controversial figure,” she said.
wait what does “controversial” mean does it mean somehow a religious political figure managed to “mercilessly resisted attempts for regime change” when every single person in the area hated his guts so he had absolutely zero support and nobody should speak positively of him at all
Australian Iranian activist Arvin did not want to give her surname out of fear for her family, which is still in Iran. She said she was alarmed to see in Australia such public displays of sympathy for the regime. “I cannot believe that people in Australia are supporting them — it’s like mourning for Hitler,” she said. “Who can support someone who has committed the biggest crimes and is responsible for the deaths of thousands and thousands of people?
hang on a moment, we’re not saying that the dead fella is any better then any other fella but is there at least one living fella out there who has a warrant out for war crimes and is responsible for the deaths of thousands and thousands of people, who is still being “lionised”, with a move that’s even called the “Rising Lion” perhaps
He admitted last night on the TV that he has been wanting to do this for forty years. It is all about Israel being plonked in amongst the Arabs.
esselte said:
Spiny Norman said:
I think it was yesterday when someone posted a video of a US fighter jet just after it was hit with a missile and subsequently crashed.
I said it was an F-35 but it turns out it was an F-15.I think that’s perhaps the only F-15 that’s been shot down like that. For air combat at least they have a 104 to 0 ratio of kills.
A couple were shot down during Operation Desert Storm, but yeah the record setting 104:0 air-to-air ratio still stands and of course the F-15 is the only aircraft ever to shoot down a satellite so it has an unmatched air-to-space ratio as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_F-15_losses
17/18 January 1991: F-15E-46-MC, 88‑1689, c/n 1098/E073, of the 335th FS, 4th TFW, USAF, was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery on the first day of Operation Desert Storm.
19/20 January 1991: F-15E-46-MC, 88‑1692, c/n 1101/E076, of the 336th FS, 4th TFW, USAF, was shot down by an Iraqi SA-2E missile during Operation Desert Storm. Both crew members ejected and were POWs.
Ta.
The Daily Telegraph re-used a headline they used 10 years ago.
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/01/iran-attack-trump-poll/88933730007/
Only one in four Americans approve of the strikes on Iran that killed leader Ali Khamenei, according to a new poll released less than 48 hours after the United States and Israel launched deadly joint military strikes.
In the Reuters/Ipsos survey, some 27% of respondents said they approved of the strikes, while a majority said they were either unsure about them (29%) or said they disapproved (43%).
dv said:
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/01/iran-attack-trump-poll/88933730007/
Only one in four Americans approve of the strikes on Iran that killed leader Ali Khamenei, according to a new poll released less than 48 hours after the United States and Israel launched deadly joint military strikes.
In the Reuters/Ipsos survey, some 27% of respondents said they approved of the strikes, while a majority said they were either unsure about them (29%) or said they disapproved (43%).
so Americans are better than Australian leaders right now
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/01/iran-attack-trump-poll/88933730007/
Only one in four Americans approve of the strikes on Iran that killed leader Ali Khamenei, according to a new poll released less than 48 hours after the United States and Israel launched deadly joint military strikes.
In the Reuters/Ipsos survey, some 27% of respondents said they approved of the strikes, while a majority said they were either unsure about them (29%) or said they disapproved (43%).
so Americans are better than Australian leaders right now
Wouldn’t a better metric be comparing this poll of Americans to one of the Australian public?
Anyway I don’t know that Australian pollies are outliers compared to foreign leaders of other western nations. And Xi and Putin are not as you’d contend respectful of the international rules based order and onstrad just engaging in authoritarian team sports.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:dv said:
https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2026/03/01/iran-attack-trump-poll/88933730007/
Only one in four Americans approve of the strikes on Iran that killed leader Ali Khamenei, according to a new poll released less than 48 hours after the United States and Israel launched deadly joint military strikes.
In the Reuters/Ipsos survey, some 27% of respondents said they approved of the strikes, while a majority said they were either unsure about them (29%) or said they disapproved (43%).
so Americans are better than Australian leaders right now
Wouldn’t a better metric be comparing this poll of Americans to one of the Australian public?
Anyway I don’t know that Australian pollies are outliers compared to foreign leaders of other western nations. And Xi and Putin are not as you’d contend respectful of the international rules based order and onstrad just engaging in authoritarian team sports.
onstrad=instead
Witty Rejoinder said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:so Americans are better than Australian leaders right now
Wouldn’t a better metric be comparing this poll of Americans to one of the Australian public?
Anyway I don’t know that Australian pollies are outliers compared to foreign leaders of other western nations. And Xi and Putin are not as you’d contend respectful of the international rules based order and onstrad just engaging in authoritarian team sports.
onstrad=instead
why would someone winning by the rules want to disrespect the rules
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Witty Rejoinder said:Wouldn’t a better metric be comparing this poll of Americans to one of the Australian public?
Anyway I don’t know that Australian pollies are outliers compared to foreign leaders of other western nations. And Xi and Putin are not as you’d contend respectful of the international rules based order and onstrad just engaging in authoritarian team sports.
onstrad=instead
why would someone winning by the rules want to disrespect the rules
Which winner are you referring to?
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:onstrad=instead
why would someone winning by the rules want to disrespect the rules
Which winner are you referring to?
the one who by the admission of the others is getting too much of an upper hand so the others need to disrespect the rules to balance the books with
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:why would someone winning by the rules want to disrespect the rules
Which winner are you referring to?
the one who by the admission of the others is getting too much of an upper hand so the others need to disrespect the rules to balance the books with
Oh you mean the one who happily supports Putin in Ukraine and weaponises trade against Australia when they don’t get their way. And then there’s the Philippines Navy…
A trifecta of religions in this war, if we can encourage Hindus, we’d have the big 4
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:Which winner are you referring to?
the one who by the admission of the others is getting too much of an upper hand so the others need to disrespect the rules to balance the books with
Oh you mean the one who happily supports Putin in Ukraine and weaponises trade against Australia when they don’t get their way. And then there’s the Philippines Navy…
wait are we saying that countries really do disrespect rules when they’re not winning, or are we saying that the rules mean that countries must be compelled to trade when it benefits the paedophile elite
Cymek said:
A trifecta of religions in this war, if we can encourage Hindus, we’d have the big 4
what do they have to do with Abraham then
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:the one who by the admission of the others is getting too much of an upper hand so the others need to disrespect the rules to balance the books with
Oh you mean the one who happily supports Putin in Ukraine and weaponises trade against Australia when they don’t get their way. And then there’s the Philippines Navy…
wait are we saying that countries really do disrespect rules when they’re not winning, or are we saying that the rules mean that countries must be compelled to trade when it benefits the paedophile elite
They do a Darth Vader and alter the deal
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:the one who by the admission of the others is getting too much of an upper hand so the others need to disrespect the rules to balance the books with
Oh you mean the one who happily supports Putin in Ukraine and weaponises trade against Australia when they don’t get their way. And then there’s the Philippines Navy…
wait are we saying that countries really do disrespect rules when they’re not winning, or are we saying that the rules mean that countries must be compelled to trade when it benefits the paedophile elite
Ummm no. Do keep up.
wait so USSA fascists claim to treat foreign terrorist adversaries they are at war with, better than they treat their own ethnic looking citizens now eh
US would not deliberately target schools, Rubio says
Elissa Steedman profile imageBy Elissa Steedman
Backtracking just a little to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments to reporters now.
Iranian state media has reported more than 160 people were killed in a strike on a girls’ school launched by the US and Israel on Saturday.
Rubio told reporters earlier that US forces “would not deliberately target a school”.
Deliberately attacking an educational institution or hospital or any other civilian structure is a war crime under international humanitarian law.
“The Department of War would be investigating that if that was our strike, and I would refer your question to them,” Rubio said. “The United States would not deliberately target a school.”The Pentagon and the US Central Command did not respond to a request for comment.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Oh you mean the one who happily supports Putin in Ukraine and weaponises trade against Australia when they don’t get their way. And then there’s the Philippines Navy…
wait are we saying that countries really do disrespect rules when they’re not winning, or are we saying that the rules mean that countries must be compelled to trade when it benefits the paedophile elite
Ummm no. Do keep up.
well we agree that good responsible countries are supporting Ukraine in their defensive efforts, and maintaining order in Philippines naval regions
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
wait are we saying that countries really do disrespect rules when they’re not winning, or are we saying that the rules mean that countries must be compelled to trade when it benefits the paedophile elite
Ummm no. Do keep up.
well we agree that good responsible countries are supporting Ukraine in their defensive efforts, and maintaining order in Philippines naval regions
It’s not cheap to support them it seems.
I can imagine World War 3 would cost trillions
(Longish but worthy analysis by Paul Mason from The New World.)
Iran war: It’s time for Europe to become a superpower
We know what happens when the US breaks something and then walks away. The result is catastrophe. The problem is, Trump doesn’t really care
Donald Trump attacked Iran in the middle of negotiations that were heading towards agreement. In the end, it turns out that talks over Tehran’s nuclear programme did not break down: they were a deception plan.
Trump brought no evidence to the UN of an Iranian threat, and declared war without consulting the US Congress. The attack was, in both senses, unlawful.
That’s why Britain, Germany and France were right not to take part, or to facilitate it, and why – even as Iran attacks British interests in the Gulf and the RAF base in Cyprus – we are right to limit our participation to the collective defence of ourselves and our allies.
To join a war with no clear objective, and with no control over its conduct, would have been folly – and the Conservative/Reform politicians calling for it need to explain how they would have squared it with the UK’s obligation to uphold the UN Charter.
Though Trump has called on the Iranian masses to take power, he can offer them no obvious help in doing so apart from obliterating the gang of thugs who run the country.
Even if decapitated, the regime has a mass base, in the form of the local Basij militias, which can mobilise around a million men cognisant of the fact that, if the Islamic Republic falls, it is they who will end up hanging from lamp-posts.
The only way this ends, now, is either through a civil war in Iran or a change within the Islamic republican elite. Even the exhaustion of Iran’s missile stocks and the decimation of the Republican Guard won’t pacify the region until there is a government in Tehran prepared to observe peaceful norms of behaviour with its neighbours.
The US/Israeli decision to go to war was, in short, an act of folly – and the British government should find the courage to say so. Keir Starmer has done well to keep the E3 (Britain, Germany and France) in lockstep during the first days of the war: using their own forces for defensive purposes only and steering clear of support for the US and Israeli attacks.
The decision to let the US use British bases for strikes on missile launch sites and stockpiles is clearly legal, under the UN’s Article 51.
But war is a vortex. With Iran reported to have attempted 20 terror attacks on British soil in recent years, it is probable that, if it can find the means, the Islamic Republic will attack Britain directly.
In that case, the UK must act proportionately and within the law. But we must also respond to the fact that international law itself is disintegrating.
Gruesome as it was, the Iraq war of 2003 began with Bush trying to win support at the United Nations, providing (false) evidence of WMD, pulling together a genuine coalition of willing states and going in with a realistic plan.
This time Trump has done none of the above. If the Pentagon understood the risk that Iran would respond with indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets, putting global economic stability at risk, then the attack was reckless. If it did not accurately calibrate that risk, the folly was even greater.
But we are now faced with a situation where calls for negotiations and off-ramps are unlikely to be heard. Israel, once again, is under simultaneous rocket attacks from Iran and Lebanon – and even Gulf states that were trying to mollify Iran are seeing their ships and office blocks go up in flames.
We have seen, not twenty years ago, what happens when the US breaks something and then walks away. No matter how just the struggles of the Iranian youth and women are against their religious overlords – I have supported them for decades – the best thing the UK can do is help them to survive the coming collapse of the regime, and offer our expertise in stabilisation.
The liberation of the Iranian people – including the Kurdish and Balochi minorities – is a task for them alone. It is vital that, whatever the provocation, the UK continues to observe and to set norms of behaviour consistent with the rules based order, even as it is degraded.
The war demonstrates in the grimmest terms what the “multipolar world” has brought us. China, Russia and their proxies have revelled in the paralysis of the United Nations, mobilising a coalition of corrupt, autocratic regimes in the global south to declare the West and its values finished.
In their minds, the supporters of multipolarity see it as a new and better order, replacing the one where universal rights are guaranteed by a global charter. China, Russia and maybe India are accorded Great Power status alongside the US. Each has their sphere of interest where they decide what democracy and human rights mean, and where they write the history books. Europe, in this new order, either survives united, or fails divided.
But from Sudan to Yemen to Gaza and now Iran, the multipolar world is not an order but an increasing chaos. To those trying to operate normal diplomacy and alliance building, it feels like working in an anti-gravity chamber: nothing is nailed down, everything floats away from your grasp, there are no anchor points.
And though the Western alliance is fragmenting under the impact of Trump’s petulant isolationism, solidarity in the global south is also fraying.
The CRINK alliance – tying together China, Russia, Iran and North Korea – was always more of an acronym than a reality. The BRICS – which now includes Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the UAE and its current chair India – is a more formal alliance designed as a counterweight to Western power within the UN.
But neither the BRICS nor the CRINK nations have mounted a coherent response to the US/Israeli attack. China, which sent warships to shadow the US fleet as it prepared for action, will not lift a finger to save its number one client state. And neither will Putin.
Days before the US strikes began, China supplied Iran with drones and anti-aircraft missiles, and signalled it would soon supply missiles advanced enough to be able to sink a US carrier. Khamenei duly posted on X an image of the USS Gerald Ford laying at the bottom of the ocean.
But as the regime falters, Beijing loses not only its key Middle Eastern ally, and its key supplier of oil, but – worse – it loses face with a string of weaker client states across the global south.
Russia has been kicked out of the Syrian bases from which it projected power into the Mediterranean, and is about to lose a second and much more strategically important ally. Iran is not only the supplier of Shahed drones to Moscow, but it is also a vital conduit for sanctions busting and a major lever for Russian pressure on the West.
So instead of the multipolar order they promised their citizens, where China and Russia were treated with respect by a humbled America and Europe divided, Xi and Trump are discovering that multipolarity is chaos.
We are already facing a string of failed states from the Horn of Africa to Yemen. If the Iranian state now fails – with Kurds and Balochis staking their claims to autonomy and Iran splintering into local fiefdoms, both Moscow and Beijing will be forced to confront reality: the rules-based system they are trying to break, and on which global security and prosperity depends, cannot be easily replaced once shattered.
It is too soon to know whether the young, educated and secular-minded people of Iran can defeat the mass base of the Islamic Republic in a civil war; or whether a moderate wing of mullahs emerges that wants to call it quits.
The problem is that Trump does not really care. He simply wants an Iran disarmed of nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology, so that his Gulf monarchic allies can get rich and the expat millionaires of Europe can sun themselves peacefully in Dubai.
The attack follows the vision laid out in Trump’s National Security Strategy (NSS), published in December. America steps away from global responsibilities – both to its allies or its adversaries. It seeks control and economic dominance in the Americas; it wants Chinese military power in the Pacific contained; it wants European liberalism overthrown by the far right; it wants Ukraine forced into an unjust peace; and the Arctic both militarised and divided between the new great powers, with Europe and its pesky environmentalists shut out of it.
In short, the attack on Iran signals that America has become a gestural superpower. Move fast and break things used to be a business mantra, now it is US doctrine – with the rules-based democracies of Europe left to pick up the pieces.
That is the world we now live in, and all domestic political projects based on denying it will fail.
The most obvious consequence of the US-Iran war is that British defence spending must rise substantially and fast. Venezuela showed, and the Greenland crisis confirmed, that hard power is the only currency that matters.
I have called for Britain to rearm since before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but the imperatives for doing so have now doubled. The shocking sight of what a relatively cheap ballistic missile can do is being beamed onto the smartphones of people in real time.
But the drones hitting US bases in Bahrain, and civilian suburbs in Tel Aviv, are the ones that got through the most sophisticated and expensive missile defence system in the world. The UK’s missile defence system consists of six Type 45 destroyers, whose Aster 30 missiles can hit incoming rockets at a range of 120km, plus the recently invented Dragonfire laser system.
Ballistic missile defence is highly expensive: experts calculate it costs four dollars-worth of defensive missile equipment for every one dollar of incoming missile fired. But without it, we are defenceless in the world of missile proliferation.
So one of the first things Keir Starmer should do is spell out a concrete and costed path to meeting Britain’s NATO pledge: to spend 3.5% of GDP on defence and 1.5% on related infrastructure.
The second objective should be maximum unity with our European allies. Every gestural stunt Trump stages, from Venezuela to the Greenland threat and now Iran, demonstrates the need for Europe to begin acting as a “great power” in its own right. Strategic autonomy – once a French obsession – must become the objective, and Britain needs to sink a lot of diplomatic resources into helping achieve it.
Finally, those of us with progressive politics must face down those who would, under the guise of “anti-imperialism” undermine our determination to defend ourselves. Starmer is engaged in realpolitik – refusing to criticise Trump, giving conditional access to British bases – because in a world of hard power realpolitik is obligatory.
We will see, in the coming days, the flag of the Islamic Republic – red with the blood of workers, gays, Kurds and feminists – waved alongside that of Palestine. We are seeing demonstrators carry placards with the face of Khamenei, warning us to “Choose the right side of history”. It is one thing to oppose war on religious grounds. It’s right to have doubts about facilitating US air strikes.
But the extremes of the “anti-Zionist” movement – which has now worked its way into the Green Party – are not pacifist. They support Iran, they support Hamas and they support Hezbollah. The “intifada” they want to globalise is not the struggle for social justice – it is the war of the multipolarists against law and universal rights.
It’s hard for an ordinary person to understand why the opening of a branch of Gail’s should cause it to have its windows smashed and its walls daubed with the slogan “End corporate Zionism” – but the extremes of left politics are now inhabited by people gripped with a psychosis that fuses opposition to Israel and America with rejection of our own democratic norms and values. In fact, the proximity of their ideas to those of fascists makes it hard even to label them left-wing.
The war, and the inevitable economic impact, will create new stresses within British society, even if Iran does not manage to lay a finger on us militarily. We are in a cognitive battle now, and it is vital for progressives to defend the interests and values that make this country a force for good in the world, which means rejecting, stigmatising and where necessary suppressing those who would aid Iran – which like it or not has declared the UK its enemy.
https://www.threads.com/@jamillecoy/post/DVZfjTaEXgV?xmt=AQF0Hsepc9K6TUca_gxijrW1Jm9xWLKPbK9NbkrhO1pWFm6Xun3h7V539iaD_N9D8Ab97Keu&slof=1
This is kind of nuts.
https://abcnews.com/Politics/rubio-us-struck-iran-fearing-retaliate-israeli-attack/story?id=130694505“There absolutely was an imminent threat,” Rubio said. “And the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us, and we were not going to sit, sit there and absorb a blow before we respond.”
Shortly after the briefing, House Speaker Mike Johnson backed Rubio’s new rationale, saying the consequences would have been staggering if the U.S. didn’t attack at the same time as Israel.
Rubio said the U.S. knew how Iran would respond.
“It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone — the United States or Israel or anyone — they were going to respond, and respond against the United States. The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders,” he said. “It was automatic.”
dv said:
This is kind of nuts.
“There absolutely was an imminent threat,” Rubio said. “And the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us, and we were not going to sit, sit there and absorb a blow before we respond.”
Shortly after the briefing, House Speaker Mike Johnson backed Rubio’s new rationale, saying the consequences would have been staggering if the U.S. didn’t attack at the same time as Israel.
Rubio said the U.S. knew how Iran would respond.
“It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone — the United States or Israel or anyone — they were going to respond, and respond against the United States. The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders,” he said. “It was automatic.”
is it, we thought team sports is learnt in the primary school playground, isn’t the trick to goad the person you’re trying to bully until they lash out, even better if you can get some other little guy to do the goading, and then step in and beat them down and look like the hero
seems pretty natural
dv said:
https://www.threads.com/@jamillecoy/post/DVZfjTaEXgV?xmt=AQF0Hsepc9K6TUca_gxijrW1Jm9xWLKPbK9NbkrhO1pWFm6Xun3h7V539iaD_N9D8Ab97Keu&slof=1This is kind of nuts.
https://abcnews.com/Politics/rubio-us-struck-iran-fearing-retaliate-israeli-attack/story?id=130694505“There absolutely was an imminent threat,” Rubio said. “And the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us, and we were not going to sit, sit there and absorb a blow before we respond.”
Shortly after the briefing, House Speaker Mike Johnson backed Rubio’s new rationale, saying the consequences would have been staggering if the U.S. didn’t attack at the same time as Israel.
Rubio said the U.S. knew how Iran would respond.
“It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone — the United States or Israel or anyone — they were going to respond, and respond against the United States. The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders,” he said. “It was automatic.”
Gosh!
Michael V said:
dv said:
https://www.threads.com/@jamillecoy/post/DVZfjTaEXgV?xmt=AQF0Hsepc9K6TUca_gxijrW1Jm9xWLKPbK9NbkrhO1pWFm6Xun3h7V539iaD_N9D8Ab97Keu&slof=1This is kind of nuts.
https://abcnews.com/Politics/rubio-us-struck-iran-fearing-retaliate-israeli-attack/story?id=130694505“There absolutely was an imminent threat,” Rubio said. “And the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us, and we were not going to sit, sit there and absorb a blow before we respond.”
Shortly after the briefing, House Speaker Mike Johnson backed Rubio’s new rationale, saying the consequences would have been staggering if the U.S. didn’t attack at the same time as Israel.
Rubio said the U.S. knew how Iran would respond.
“It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone — the United States or Israel or anyone — they were going to respond, and respond against the United States. The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders,” he said. “It was automatic.”
Gosh!
Warfare for Dummies 101
Cymek said:
Michael V said:
dv said:
https://www.threads.com/@jamillecoy/post/DVZfjTaEXgV?xmt=AQF0Hsepc9K6TUca_gxijrW1Jm9xWLKPbK9NbkrhO1pWFm6Xun3h7V539iaD_N9D8Ab97Keu&slof=1
This is kind of nuts.
https://abcnews.com/Politics/rubio-us-struck-iran-fearing-retaliate-israeli-attack/story?id=130694505“There absolutely was an imminent threat,” Rubio said. “And the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us, and we were not going to sit, sit there and absorb a blow before we respond.”
Shortly after the briefing, House Speaker Mike Johnson backed Rubio’s new rationale, saying the consequences would have been staggering if the U.S. didn’t attack at the same time as Israel.
Rubio said the U.S. knew how Iran would respond.
“It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone — the United States or Israel or anyone — they were going to respond, and respond against the United States. The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders,” he said. “It was automatic.”
Gosh!
Warfare for Dummies 101
why did they even bother renaming defence as war
I do have sympathy for the position that if Israel was going to be trying to decapitate the regime some time soon because of historic levels of dissatisfaction within the Islamic Republic, and the US was considering bombing to pressure a deal on nuclear enrichment then they should at least coordinate with one another.
useful PSA shot
reply
wait
This is some grotesque theatre.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg5ng0l35q7o
First Lady Melania Trump presided over a United Nations Security Council meeting on children and education in conflict in New York on Monday, as the US continues its military action in Iran.
Her remarks centred around the role of education for children in “advancing tolerance and world peace”.
—
décadence
it’s like apocalyptic denial
disclaimer yes we know there are legitimate for example diplomatic reasons to travel during war
sorry we missed this but alleged couple day ago
At least 10 people have been killed and more than 70 others wounded near a United States consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi after protests broke out following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israeli attacks. Several others were injured as security forces opened fire to scatter hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters trying to storm the consulate early on Sunday morning.
oh come on
The ambassador said Israeli intelligence indicated the school was no longer operating, and was instead being used by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “Don’t believe what you hear coming out of Iran,” he said. However, he conceded “this needs to be checked”.
so which is it, dirty terrorist IRAN rushed girls back to school as a human shield for an empty facility now being used by the terrorists
or was it that horrible repressive IRAN stopped girls from getting education and they overwhelmed the piss weak authorities to make their way back to school but deserved to be bombed for taking an islamic education
Trump’s attacks are not about Iran. He’s after a much bigger fish
Clinton Fernandes
Academic and former intelligence officer
Updated March 3, 2026 — 12:32pm,first published 11:30am
Behind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy. In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next month. In the long term, he wants a politically submissive Middle East.
China, the world’s largest refiner of oil, purchases about 14 per cent of its seaborne crude from Iran. The true figure is probably higher, disguised as shipments from Oman, the UAE and Malaysia to get around US sanctions. Independent low-margin Chinese refiners in Shandong province, known as teapots, also import high-sulphur fuel oil from Iran. Taken as a whole, China’s enormous plastics sector relies on Iran for almost a quarter of its liquefied petroleum gas. Control over what Iran can export and to whom allows the US to retaliate if China restricts rare earth mineral supplies to the United States.
Trump’s abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January was driven in part by a similar logic; Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and its Merey grade is also high in sulphur, well-suited for China’s teapot refineries. Trump wants indirect but politically critical leverage over China through control over Iran and Venezuela.
The key word here is “control”. Control of oil rather than access to oil is the foundation of the United States’ Middle East policy. “Access to oil” implies that the United States simply wishes to buy oil like any other country; that it wants oil at a reasonable price. But the US already has access to oil. Its East Coast oil refiners (PBF Energy, Phillips 66 and Monroe Energy) have no trouble buying oil from West African suppliers. Thanks to its domestic shale revolution, the US is already self-sufficient. It is a major contributor to the global oil supply network.
Control is a very different beast. Control of oil means, among other things, controlling the terms on which its industrial rivals in Europe and Asia can access their oil. After World War II, the reconstruction of Japan required abundant supplies of energy. The United States obtained what it called “veto power” over Japan by controlling its access to these supplies. A price increase can harm the dollar reserves of heavily oil-dependent economies, ensuring they act in accordance with US objectives. Sometimes, a US-induced price rise can help its diplomacy. In 1986, the US requested Saudi Arabia to cut production to drive crude oil prices higher – to improve US relations with none other than Iran, which needed higher prices.
Control also means ensuring that oil-rich Gulf states pour some of their revenues into US Treasury securities, banks and corporations. Saudi Arabia, for instance, has bought $US150 billion ($211 billion) in US Treasury holdings. Kuwait, another family dictatorship, has bought $US66 billion.
These oil-rich states buy US Treasury bonds, make deposits in US banks and otherwise ensure that some of the dollars they earn from oil sales will flow back to US corporations. They also buy advanced US weapons systems. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are among the largest buyers of advanced US weapons systems.
Qatar, a monarchy with the third-largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world, hosts the forward headquarters of US Central Command at Al-Udeid Air Base, which it built at a cost of over $US1 billion. It will spend many more billions to expand it from an expeditionary to a permanent base for more than 15,000 personnel and their aircraft. Its sovereign wealth fund has committed over $US45 billion in investments in US corporations. Qatar Airways is a major buyer of US commercial aircraft.
An Iran with a government more amenable to US influence can be expected to do something similar. This is why Trump says that the war against Iran could take weeks. He isn’t merely interested in ending its uranium enrichment. After all, Iran obtained its original nuclear reactor as well the highly enriched uranium fuel to run it from the US, under former president Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program in 1957, when the two countries were friendly.
In the long term, a politically submissive Middle East would likely see a network of states with authoritarian regimes that comply with US objectives. These include rolling back Iran’s membership of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, undermining China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and weakening the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. If the US can’t change the Islamic Republic itself, then keeping it weak, divided and preoccupied with its internal affairs is good enough.
Control, not access, is what Trump is after. It is the same strategy Britain had 100 years ago, when Walter Hume Long, the first lord of the admiralty, said that “if we secure the supplies of oil now available in the world, we can do what we like”.
Professor Clinton Fernandes is in the Future Operations Research Group at UNSW. His latest book is Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/trump-s-attacks-are-not-about-iran-he-s-after-a-much-bigger-fish-20260303-p5o6ws.html
SCIENCE said:
oh come on
The ambassador said Israeli intelligence indicated the school was no longer operating, and was instead being used by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “Don’t believe what you hear coming out of Iran,” he said. However, he conceded “this needs to be checked”.
so which is it, dirty terrorist IRAN rushed girls back to school as a human shield for an empty facility now being used by the terrorists
or was it that horrible repressive IRAN stopped girls from getting education and they overwhelmed the piss weak authorities to make their way back to school but deserved to be bombed for taking an islamic education
Israel’s destroyed schools, aid facilities, etc in Gaza so obviously don’t value innocent human life
Not saying Iran does either but they can’t claim moral superiority.
Dehumanising the enemy as not having human feelings, desires, etc is part of waging war.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Trump’s attacks are not about Iran. He’s after a much bigger fishClinton Fernandes
Academic and former intelligence officer
Updated March 3, 2026 — 12:32pm,first published 11:30amBehind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy. In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next month. In the long term, he wants a politically submissive Middle East.
China, the world’s largest refiner of oil, purchases about 14 per cent of its seaborne crude from Iran. The true figure is probably higher, disguised as shipments from Oman, the UAE and Malaysia to get around US sanctions. Independent low-margin Chinese refiners in Shandong province, known as teapots, also import high-sulphur fuel oil from Iran. Taken as a whole, China’s enormous plastics sector relies on Iran for almost a quarter of its liquefied petroleum gas. Control over what Iran can export and to whom allows the US to retaliate if China restricts rare earth mineral supplies to the United States.
Trump’s abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January was driven in part by a similar logic; Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and its Merey grade is also high in sulphur, well-suited for China’s teapot refineries. Trump wants indirect but politically critical leverage over China through control over Iran and Venezuela.
The key word here is “control”. Control of oil rather than access to oil is the foundation of the United States’ Middle East policy. “Access to oil” implies that the United States simply wishes to buy oil like any other country; that it wants oil at a reasonable price. But the US already has access to oil. Its East Coast oil refiners (PBF Energy, Phillips 66 and Monroe Energy) have no trouble buying oil from West African suppliers. Thanks to its domestic shale revolution, the US is already self-sufficient. It is a major contributor to the global oil supply network.
Control is a very different beast. Control of oil means, among other things, controlling the terms on which its industrial rivals in Europe and Asia can access their oil. After World War II, the reconstruction of Japan required abundant supplies of energy. The United States obtained what it called “veto power” over Japan by controlling its access to these supplies. A price increase can harm the dollar reserves of heavily oil-dependent economies, ensuring they act in accordance with US objectives. Sometimes, a US-induced price rise can help its diplomacy. In 1986, the US requested Saudi Arabia to cut production to drive crude oil prices higher – to improve US relations with none other than Iran, which needed higher prices.
Control also means ensuring that oil-rich Gulf states pour some of their revenues into US Treasury securities, banks and corporations. Saudi Arabia, for instance, has bought $US150 billion ($211 billion) in US Treasury holdings. Kuwait, another family dictatorship, has bought $US66 billion.
These oil-rich states buy US Treasury bonds, make deposits in US banks and otherwise ensure that some of the dollars they earn from oil sales will flow back to US corporations. They also buy advanced US weapons systems. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are among the largest buyers of advanced US weapons systems.
Qatar, a monarchy with the third-largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world, hosts the forward headquarters of US Central Command at Al-Udeid Air Base, which it built at a cost of over $US1 billion. It will spend many more billions to expand it from an expeditionary to a permanent base for more than 15,000 personnel and their aircraft. Its sovereign wealth fund has committed over $US45 billion in investments in US corporations. Qatar Airways is a major buyer of US commercial aircraft.
An Iran with a government more amenable to US influence can be expected to do something similar. This is why Trump says that the war against Iran could take weeks. He isn’t merely interested in ending its uranium enrichment. After all, Iran obtained its original nuclear reactor as well the highly enriched uranium fuel to run it from the US, under former president Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program in 1957, when the two countries were friendly.
In the long term, a politically submissive Middle East would likely see a network of states with authoritarian regimes that comply with US objectives. These include rolling back Iran’s membership of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, undermining China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and weakening the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. If the US can’t change the Islamic Republic itself, then keeping it weak, divided and preoccupied with its internal affairs is good enough.
Control, not access, is what Trump is after. It is the same strategy Britain had 100 years ago, when Walter Hume Long, the first lord of the admiralty, said that “if we secure the supplies of oil now available in the world, we can do what we like”.
Professor Clinton Fernandes is in the Future Operations Research Group at UNSW. His latest book is Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/trump-s-attacks-are-not-about-iran-he-s-after-a-much-bigger-fish-20260303-p5o6ws.html
Oh, I have a copy of Turbulence on my dining table, lent to me by an Aussie Politics lecturer. I better pull my finger out and read it now, after reading this article.
Thanks Witty, posting the good stuff again.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Trump’s attacks are not about Iran. He’s after a much bigger fishClinton Fernandes
Academic and former intelligence officer
Updated March 3, 2026 — 12:32pm,first published 11:30amBehind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy. In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next month. In the long term, he wants a politically submissive Middle East.
China, the world’s largest refiner of oil, purchases about 14 per cent of its seaborne crude from Iran. The true figure is probably higher, disguised as shipments from Oman, the UAE and Malaysia to get around US sanctions. Independent low-margin Chinese refiners in Shandong province, known as teapots, also import high-sulphur fuel oil from Iran. Taken as a whole, China’s enormous plastics sector relies on Iran for almost a quarter of its liquefied petroleum gas. Control over what Iran can export and to whom allows the US to retaliate if China restricts rare earth mineral supplies to the United States.
Trump’s abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January was driven in part by a similar logic; Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and its Merey grade is also high in sulphur, well-suited for China’s teapot refineries. Trump wants indirect but politically critical leverage over China through control over Iran and Venezuela.
The key word here is “control”. Control of oil rather than access to oil is the foundation of the United States’ Middle East policy. “Access to oil” implies that the United States simply wishes to buy oil like any other country; that it wants oil at a reasonable price. But the US already has access to oil. Its East Coast oil refiners (PBF Energy, Phillips 66 and Monroe Energy) have no trouble buying oil from West African suppliers. Thanks to its domestic shale revolution, the US is already self-sufficient. It is a major contributor to the global oil supply network.
Control is a very different beast. Control of oil means, among other things, controlling the terms on which its industrial rivals in Europe and Asia can access their oil. After World War II, the reconstruction of Japan required abundant supplies of energy. The United States obtained what it called “veto power” over Japan by controlling its access to these supplies. A price increase can harm the dollar reserves of heavily oil-dependent economies, ensuring they act in accordance with US objectives. Sometimes, a US-induced price rise can help its diplomacy. In 1986, the US requested Saudi Arabia to cut production to drive crude oil prices higher – to improve US relations with none other than Iran, which needed higher prices.
Control also means ensuring that oil-rich Gulf states pour some of their revenues into US Treasury securities, banks and corporations. Saudi Arabia, for instance, has bought $US150 billion ($211 billion) in US Treasury holdings. Kuwait, another family dictatorship, has bought $US66 billion.
These oil-rich states buy US Treasury bonds, make deposits in US banks and otherwise ensure that some of the dollars they earn from oil sales will flow back to US corporations. They also buy advanced US weapons systems. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are among the largest buyers of advanced US weapons systems.
Qatar, a monarchy with the third-largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world, hosts the forward headquarters of US Central Command at Al-Udeid Air Base, which it built at a cost of over $US1 billion. It will spend many more billions to expand it from an expeditionary to a permanent base for more than 15,000 personnel and their aircraft. Its sovereign wealth fund has committed over $US45 billion in investments in US corporations. Qatar Airways is a major buyer of US commercial aircraft.
An Iran with a government more amenable to US influence can be expected to do something similar. This is why Trump says that the war against Iran could take weeks. He isn’t merely interested in ending its uranium enrichment. After all, Iran obtained its original nuclear reactor as well the highly enriched uranium fuel to run it from the US, under former president Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program in 1957, when the two countries were friendly.
In the long term, a politically submissive Middle East would likely see a network of states with authoritarian regimes that comply with US objectives. These include rolling back Iran’s membership of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, undermining China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and weakening the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. If the US can’t change the Islamic Republic itself, then keeping it weak, divided and preoccupied with its internal affairs is good enough.
Control, not access, is what Trump is after. It is the same strategy Britain had 100 years ago, when Walter Hume Long, the first lord of the admiralty, said that “if we secure the supplies of oil now available in the world, we can do what we like”.
Professor Clinton Fernandes is in the Future Operations Research Group at UNSW. His latest book is Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/trump-s-attacks-are-not-about-iran-he-s-after-a-much-bigger-fish-20260303-p5o6ws.html
>>Behind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy.<<
Donald Trump and shrewd in the same sentence. Doesn’t seem right.
buffy said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Trump’s attacks are not about Iran. He’s after a much bigger fishClinton Fernandes
Academic and former intelligence officer
Updated March 3, 2026 — 12:32pm,first published 11:30amBehind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy. In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next month. In the long term, he wants a politically submissive Middle East.
China, the world’s largest refiner of oil, purchases about 14 per cent of its seaborne crude from Iran. The true figure is probably higher, disguised as shipments from Oman, the UAE and Malaysia to get around US sanctions. Independent low-margin Chinese refiners in Shandong province, known as teapots, also import high-sulphur fuel oil from Iran. Taken as a whole, China’s enormous plastics sector relies on Iran for almost a quarter of its liquefied petroleum gas. Control over what Iran can export and to whom allows the US to retaliate if China restricts rare earth mineral supplies to the United States.
Trump’s abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January was driven in part by a similar logic; Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and its Merey grade is also high in sulphur, well-suited for China’s teapot refineries. Trump wants indirect but politically critical leverage over China through control over Iran and Venezuela.
The key word here is “control”. Control of oil rather than access to oil is the foundation of the United States’ Middle East policy. “Access to oil” implies that the United States simply wishes to buy oil like any other country; that it wants oil at a reasonable price. But the US already has access to oil. Its East Coast oil refiners (PBF Energy, Phillips 66 and Monroe Energy) have no trouble buying oil from West African suppliers. Thanks to its domestic shale revolution, the US is already self-sufficient. It is a major contributor to the global oil supply network.
Control is a very different beast. Control of oil means, among other things, controlling the terms on which its industrial rivals in Europe and Asia can access their oil. After World War II, the reconstruction of Japan required abundant supplies of energy. The United States obtained what it called “veto power” over Japan by controlling its access to these supplies. A price increase can harm the dollar reserves of heavily oil-dependent economies, ensuring they act in accordance with US objectives. Sometimes, a US-induced price rise can help its diplomacy. In 1986, the US requested Saudi Arabia to cut production to drive crude oil prices higher – to improve US relations with none other than Iran, which needed higher prices.
Control also means ensuring that oil-rich Gulf states pour some of their revenues into US Treasury securities, banks and corporations. Saudi Arabia, for instance, has bought $US150 billion ($211 billion) in US Treasury holdings. Kuwait, another family dictatorship, has bought $US66 billion.
These oil-rich states buy US Treasury bonds, make deposits in US banks and otherwise ensure that some of the dollars they earn from oil sales will flow back to US corporations. They also buy advanced US weapons systems. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are among the largest buyers of advanced US weapons systems.
Qatar, a monarchy with the third-largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world, hosts the forward headquarters of US Central Command at Al-Udeid Air Base, which it built at a cost of over $US1 billion. It will spend many more billions to expand it from an expeditionary to a permanent base for more than 15,000 personnel and their aircraft. Its sovereign wealth fund has committed over $US45 billion in investments in US corporations. Qatar Airways is a major buyer of US commercial aircraft.
An Iran with a government more amenable to US influence can be expected to do something similar. This is why Trump says that the war against Iran could take weeks. He isn’t merely interested in ending its uranium enrichment. After all, Iran obtained its original nuclear reactor as well the highly enriched uranium fuel to run it from the US, under former president Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program in 1957, when the two countries were friendly.
In the long term, a politically submissive Middle East would likely see a network of states with authoritarian regimes that comply with US objectives. These include rolling back Iran’s membership of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, undermining China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and weakening the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. If the US can’t change the Islamic Republic itself, then keeping it weak, divided and preoccupied with its internal affairs is good enough.
Control, not access, is what Trump is after. It is the same strategy Britain had 100 years ago, when Walter Hume Long, the first lord of the admiralty, said that “if we secure the supplies of oil now available in the world, we can do what we like”.
Professor Clinton Fernandes is in the Future Operations Research Group at UNSW. His latest book is Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/trump-s-attacks-are-not-about-iran-he-s-after-a-much-bigger-fish-20260303-p5o6ws.html
>>Behind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy.<<
Donald Trump and shrewd in the same sentence. Doesn’t seem right.
Possibly has a Grima Wormtongue whispering in is ear
Cymek said:
buffy said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Trump’s attacks are not about Iran. He’s after a much bigger fishClinton Fernandes
Academic and former intelligence officer
Updated March 3, 2026 — 12:32pm,first published 11:30amBehind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy. In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next month. In the long term, he wants a politically submissive Middle East.
China, the world’s largest refiner of oil, purchases about 14 per cent of its seaborne crude from Iran. The true figure is probably higher, disguised as shipments from Oman, the UAE and Malaysia to get around US sanctions. Independent low-margin Chinese refiners in Shandong province, known as teapots, also import high-sulphur fuel oil from Iran. Taken as a whole, China’s enormous plastics sector relies on Iran for almost a quarter of its liquefied petroleum gas. Control over what Iran can export and to whom allows the US to retaliate if China restricts rare earth mineral supplies to the United States.
Trump’s abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January was driven in part by a similar logic; Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and its Merey grade is also high in sulphur, well-suited for China’s teapot refineries. Trump wants indirect but politically critical leverage over China through control over Iran and Venezuela.
The key word here is “control”. Control of oil rather than access to oil is the foundation of the United States’ Middle East policy. “Access to oil” implies that the United States simply wishes to buy oil like any other country; that it wants oil at a reasonable price. But the US already has access to oil. Its East Coast oil refiners (PBF Energy, Phillips 66 and Monroe Energy) have no trouble buying oil from West African suppliers. Thanks to its domestic shale revolution, the US is already self-sufficient. It is a major contributor to the global oil supply network.
Control is a very different beast. Control of oil means, among other things, controlling the terms on which its industrial rivals in Europe and Asia can access their oil. After World War II, the reconstruction of Japan required abundant supplies of energy. The United States obtained what it called “veto power” over Japan by controlling its access to these supplies. A price increase can harm the dollar reserves of heavily oil-dependent economies, ensuring they act in accordance with US objectives. Sometimes, a US-induced price rise can help its diplomacy. In 1986, the US requested Saudi Arabia to cut production to drive crude oil prices higher – to improve US relations with none other than Iran, which needed higher prices.
Control also means ensuring that oil-rich Gulf states pour some of their revenues into US Treasury securities, banks and corporations. Saudi Arabia, for instance, has bought $US150 billion ($211 billion) in US Treasury holdings. Kuwait, another family dictatorship, has bought $US66 billion.
These oil-rich states buy US Treasury bonds, make deposits in US banks and otherwise ensure that some of the dollars they earn from oil sales will flow back to US corporations. They also buy advanced US weapons systems. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are among the largest buyers of advanced US weapons systems.
Qatar, a monarchy with the third-largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world, hosts the forward headquarters of US Central Command at Al-Udeid Air Base, which it built at a cost of over $US1 billion. It will spend many more billions to expand it from an expeditionary to a permanent base for more than 15,000 personnel and their aircraft. Its sovereign wealth fund has committed over $US45 billion in investments in US corporations. Qatar Airways is a major buyer of US commercial aircraft.
An Iran with a government more amenable to US influence can be expected to do something similar. This is why Trump says that the war against Iran could take weeks. He isn’t merely interested in ending its uranium enrichment. After all, Iran obtained its original nuclear reactor as well the highly enriched uranium fuel to run it from the US, under former president Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program in 1957, when the two countries were friendly.
In the long term, a politically submissive Middle East would likely see a network of states with authoritarian regimes that comply with US objectives. These include rolling back Iran’s membership of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, undermining China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and weakening the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. If the US can’t change the Islamic Republic itself, then keeping it weak, divided and preoccupied with its internal affairs is good enough.
Control, not access, is what Trump is after. It is the same strategy Britain had 100 years ago, when Walter Hume Long, the first lord of the admiralty, said that “if we secure the supplies of oil now available in the world, we can do what we like”.
Professor Clinton Fernandes is in the Future Operations Research Group at UNSW. His latest book is Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/trump-s-attacks-are-not-about-iran-he-s-after-a-much-bigger-fish-20260303-p5o6ws.html
>>Behind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy.<<
Donald Trump and shrewd in the same sentence. Doesn’t seem right.
Possibly has a Grima Wormtongue whispering in is ear
OK so it’s back to “the rules based international order is wrong and international law is bad if it benefits CHINA” makes sense
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
oh come on
The ambassador said Israeli intelligence indicated the school was no longer operating, and was instead being used by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “Don’t believe what you hear coming out of Iran,” he said. However, he conceded “this needs to be checked”.
so which is it, dirty terrorist IRAN rushed girls back to school as a human shield for an empty facility now being used by the terrorists
or was it that horrible repressive IRAN stopped girls from getting education and they overwhelmed the piss weak authorities to make their way back to school but deserved to be bombed for taking an islamic education
Israel’s destroyed schools, aid facilities, etc in Gaza so obviously don’t value innocent human life
Not saying Iran does either but they can’t claim moral superiority.
Dehumanising the enemy as not having human feelings, desires, etc is part of waging war.
look at least in the USSA they keep them as sex slaves and snuff film actors and school shooting target kits
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
buffy said:>>Behind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy.<<
Donald Trump and shrewd in the same sentence. Doesn’t seem right.
Possibly has a Grima Wormtongue whispering in is ear
OK so it’s back to “the rules based international order is wrong and international law is bad if it benefits CHINA” makes sense
Perhaps all of this behaviour will create a China that becomes even more powerful and a bigger threat
They have the population to dwarf the USA militarily
“or was it that horrible repressive IRAN stopped girls from getting education and they overwhelmed the piss weak authorities to make their way back to school but deserved to be bombed for taking an islamic education”
They were probably learning Arabic numerals or some other hate symbol like 6 7.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:Possibly has a Grima Wormtongue whispering in is ear
OK so it’s back to “the rules based international order is wrong and international law is bad if it benefits CHINA” makes sense
Perhaps all of this behaviour will create a China that becomes even more powerful and a bigger threat
They have the population to dwarf the USA militarily
They’ve been building up their military capacity.
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
oh come on
The ambassador said Israeli intelligence indicated the school was no longer operating, and was instead being used by members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “Don’t believe what you hear coming out of Iran,” he said. However, he conceded “this needs to be checked”.
so which is it, dirty terrorist IRAN rushed girls back to school as a human shield for an empty facility now being used by the terrorists
or was it that horrible repressive IRAN stopped girls from getting education and they overwhelmed the piss weak authorities to make their way back to school but deserved to be bombed for taking an islamic education
Israel’s destroyed schools, aid facilities, etc in Gaza so obviously don’t value innocent human life
Not saying Iran does either but they can’t claim moral superiority.
Dehumanising the enemy as not having human feelings, desires, etc is part of waging war.
look at least in the USSA they keep them as sex slaves and snuff film actors and school shooting target kits
Sometimes I do wonder if too much freedom causes problems as humans aren’t mature enough to use it responsible.
roughbarked said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:OK so it’s back to “the rules based international order is wrong and international law is bad if it benefits CHINA” makes sense
Perhaps all of this behaviour will create a China that becomes even more powerful and a bigger threat
They have the population to dwarf the USA militarily
They’ve been building up their military capacity.
Yes
Fair enough that Taiwan isn’t theirs to covert, that part of the Chinese revolution is history.
Who knows if over time they mellow their repressive part and become democratic
If forced into a corner though they have the ability to start World War 3
buffy said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Trump’s attacks are not about Iran. He’s after a much bigger fishClinton Fernandes
Academic and former intelligence officer
Updated March 3, 2026 — 12:32pm,first published 11:30amBehind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy. In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next month. In the long term, he wants a politically submissive Middle East.
China, the world’s largest refiner of oil, purchases about 14 per cent of its seaborne crude from Iran. The true figure is probably higher, disguised as shipments from Oman, the UAE and Malaysia to get around US sanctions. Independent low-margin Chinese refiners in Shandong province, known as teapots, also import high-sulphur fuel oil from Iran. Taken as a whole, China’s enormous plastics sector relies on Iran for almost a quarter of its liquefied petroleum gas. Control over what Iran can export and to whom allows the US to retaliate if China restricts rare earth mineral supplies to the United States.
Trump’s abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January was driven in part by a similar logic; Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and its Merey grade is also high in sulphur, well-suited for China’s teapot refineries. Trump wants indirect but politically critical leverage over China through control over Iran and Venezuela.
The key word here is “control”. Control of oil rather than access to oil is the foundation of the United States’ Middle East policy. “Access to oil” implies that the United States simply wishes to buy oil like any other country; that it wants oil at a reasonable price. But the US already has access to oil. Its East Coast oil refiners (PBF Energy, Phillips 66 and Monroe Energy) have no trouble buying oil from West African suppliers. Thanks to its domestic shale revolution, the US is already self-sufficient. It is a major contributor to the global oil supply network.
Control is a very different beast. Control of oil means, among other things, controlling the terms on which its industrial rivals in Europe and Asia can access their oil. After World War II, the reconstruction of Japan required abundant supplies of energy. The United States obtained what it called “veto power” over Japan by controlling its access to these supplies. A price increase can harm the dollar reserves of heavily oil-dependent economies, ensuring they act in accordance with US objectives. Sometimes, a US-induced price rise can help its diplomacy. In 1986, the US requested Saudi Arabia to cut production to drive crude oil prices higher – to improve US relations with none other than Iran, which needed higher prices.
Control also means ensuring that oil-rich Gulf states pour some of their revenues into US Treasury securities, banks and corporations. Saudi Arabia, for instance, has bought $US150 billion ($211 billion) in US Treasury holdings. Kuwait, another family dictatorship, has bought $US66 billion.
These oil-rich states buy US Treasury bonds, make deposits in US banks and otherwise ensure that some of the dollars they earn from oil sales will flow back to US corporations. They also buy advanced US weapons systems. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are among the largest buyers of advanced US weapons systems.
Qatar, a monarchy with the third-largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world, hosts the forward headquarters of US Central Command at Al-Udeid Air Base, which it built at a cost of over $US1 billion. It will spend many more billions to expand it from an expeditionary to a permanent base for more than 15,000 personnel and their aircraft. Its sovereign wealth fund has committed over $US45 billion in investments in US corporations. Qatar Airways is a major buyer of US commercial aircraft.
An Iran with a government more amenable to US influence can be expected to do something similar. This is why Trump says that the war against Iran could take weeks. He isn’t merely interested in ending its uranium enrichment. After all, Iran obtained its original nuclear reactor as well the highly enriched uranium fuel to run it from the US, under former president Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” program in 1957, when the two countries were friendly.
In the long term, a politically submissive Middle East would likely see a network of states with authoritarian regimes that comply with US objectives. These include rolling back Iran’s membership of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, undermining China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and weakening the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. If the US can’t change the Islamic Republic itself, then keeping it weak, divided and preoccupied with its internal affairs is good enough.
Control, not access, is what Trump is after. It is the same strategy Britain had 100 years ago, when Walter Hume Long, the first lord of the admiralty, said that “if we secure the supplies of oil now available in the world, we can do what we like”.
Professor Clinton Fernandes is in the Future Operations Research Group at UNSW. His latest book is Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/trump-s-attacks-are-not-about-iran-he-s-after-a-much-bigger-fish-20260303-p5o6ws.html
>>Behind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy.<<
Donald Trump and shrewd in the same sentence. Doesn’t seem right.
I’m not sure that he meant that DJT was shrewd. Perhaps his puppet-masters.
Cymek said:
roughbarked said:
Cymek said:
Perhaps all of this behaviour will create a China that becomes even more powerful and a bigger threat
They have the population to dwarf the USA militarily
They’ve been building up their military capacity.
Yes
Fair enough that Taiwan isn’t theirs to covert, that part of the Chinese revolution is history.
Who knows if over time they mellow their repressive part and become democratic
If forced into a corner though they have the ability to start World War 3
we still remember when CHINA giving millions of Muslims work and education and accommodation was a bad thing but suddenly when it’s Great America and Free Israel bombing the shit out of their spiritual leaders and schools and energy infrastructure it’s good shit
we mean fair play it does solve the coming over here taking all our jobs and schools and housing problem right
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
buffy said:>>Behind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy.<<
Donald Trump and shrewd in the same sentence. Doesn’t seem right.
Possibly has a Grima Wormtongue whispering in is ear
OK so it’s back to “the rules based international order is wrong and international law is bad if it benefits CHINA” makes sense
WTF?
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
roughbarked said:
They’ve been building up their military capacity.
Yes
Fair enough that Taiwan isn’t theirs to covert, that part of the Chinese revolution is history.
Who knows if over time they mellow their repressive part and become democratic
If forced into a corner though they have the ability to start World War 3
we still remember when CHINA giving millions of Muslims work and education and accommodation was a bad thing but suddenly when it’s Great America and Free Israel bombing the shit out of their spiritual leaders and schools and energy infrastructure it’s good shit
we mean fair play it does solve the coming over here taking all our jobs and schools and housing problem right
Seriously you’re losing the plot.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
Possibly has a Grima Wormtongue whispering in is ear
OK so it’s back to “the rules based international order is wrong and international law is bad if it benefits CHINA” makes sense
WTF?
you’re right, it doesn’t make sense, we don’t know why people keep sticking to the idea
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
Yes
Fair enough that Taiwan isn’t theirs to covert, that part of the Chinese revolution is history.
Who knows if over time they mellow their repressive part and become democratic
If forced into a corner though they have the ability to start World War 3
we still remember when CHINA giving millions of Muslims work and education and accommodation was a bad thing but suddenly when it’s Great America and Free Israel bombing the shit out of their spiritual leaders and schools and energy infrastructure it’s good shit
we mean fair play it does solve the coming over here taking all our jobs and schools and housing problem right
Seriously you’re losing the plot.
what, why don’t Israel just hand over genocide of the palestinians to dirty CHINA and then jews can keep their hands clean and CHINA can deserve their reputation as the rectum of the world
it’s win win win win for everyone
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
OK so it’s back to “the rules based international order is wrong and international law is bad if it benefits CHINA” makes sense
WTF?
you’re right, it doesn’t make sense, we don’t know why people keep sticking to the idea
Who pray tell are ‘these people’?
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:Witty Rejoinder said:
WTF?
you’re right, it doesn’t make sense, we don’t know why people keep sticking to the idea
Who pray tell are ‘these people’?
they wrote that stuff
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:you’re right, it doesn’t make sense, we don’t know why people keep sticking to the idea
Who pray tell are ‘these people’?
they wrote that stuff
You’ll need to employ more hand-waving I’m afraid.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:Who pray tell are ‘these people’?
they wrote that stuff
You’ll need to employ more hand-waving I’m afraid.
OK fine because we love everyone here we’re making the effort to find the stuff you already had in your reading list.
Clinton Fernandes
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:they wrote that stuff
You’ll need to employ more hand-waving I’m afraid.
OK fine because we love everyone here we’re making the effort to find the stuff you already had in your reading list.
Clinton Fernandes
He wrote nothing of the sort.
Honestly be a champ and go back through this thread that is ostensibly about Iran and see how many times you unprompted made it about China. Seriously you have issues. Boris and Rev are both British immigrants but they don’t mention the UK in every second post. You should branch out to an obsession with locomotives or something.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
You’ll need to employ more hand-waving I’m afraid.
OK fine because we love everyone here we’re making the effort to find the stuff you already had in your reading list.
Clinton Fernandes
He wrote nothing of the sort.
Honestly be a champ and go back through this thread that is ostensibly about Iran and see how many times you unprompted made it about China. Seriously you have issues. Boris and Rev are both British immigrants but they don’t mention the UK in every second post. You should branch out to an obsession with locomotives or something.
your hero that you quoted literally made it about dirty CHINA so please carry on and tell us it’s our fault
anyway we needed to take a dump and had some time on the throne so did a quick Ctrl-F (or the handheld electronic device equivalent) just to humour you comrades
and we can say that through this thread that is ostensibly about Iran we have seen how many times we unprompted made it about dirty big bad CHINA and the answer is
anyway let’s put our differences* aside for just a moment and consider this
“We could see missiles flying outside over the airport and sirens were going off, so a lot of panic,” Mr Gruszka told 7.30. “My kids were crying, my wife was freaking out.” “Soon after we came to our hotel that night … missiles were flying everywhere,” he said. “I’ve never seen this before, so I wanted to see it … I guess we’re all a bit nervous about that, but it seems like the air defence is pretty solid here.”
WTF
so look maybe we’re just wimps and cowards and Not Real Men and whatever but taking kids and wives and whoever into a war zone aside
we’ve seen it on the internet, but we’ve never seen it before directly with our own eyes, but but we never want to see it, but but but we don’t give a fuck whether air defence is seeming solid or not, we never want to see it
sorry
*: pretty sure they’re samenesses actually but yous can go on believing what yous like
SCIENCE said:
anyway we needed to take a dump and had some time on the throne so did a quick Ctrl-F (or the handheld electronic device equivalent) just to humour you comrades
and we can say that through this thread that is ostensibly about Iran we have seen how many times we unprompted made it about dirty big bad CHINA and the answer is
0
Seems you also fail at basic arithmetic too.
Iran’s regime is vile, but what Trump and Netanyahu have done is a war crime
Geoffrey Robertson
Human rights barrister and author
March 3, 2026 — 7:30pm
In a lawless world, it may seem idle to judge the conduct of leaders like Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu by international rules to which they are indifferent. But those who use their power to invade other countries commit what the judgment at Nuremberg described as the supreme war crime — that of aggression — because they bear responsibility for all the death and dismemberment that war inevitably entails, for civilians as well as soldiers.
Leaders are entitled to invade only in self-defence — the excuse proffered by the United States and Israel in Monday’s Security Council debate — or with the approval of that Council (which it withheld) or else, as in the case of Kosovo, without such approval where the right of humanitarian intervention arises.
Trump is not a humanitarian, and neither aggressor has sought to defend itself on this ground. But might it have been open to some more respectable “coalition of the willing” to do so?
It is necessary first to dispose of the pretence of “pre-emptive self-defence”, that perversion of international law invented by the Bush administration to justify its attack on Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 2003 and used by Vladimir Putin to justify his invasion of Ukraine. It was used by both Israel and the US in defence of their attack on Iran.
Iran’s drones gave Russia a deadly boost in Ukraine. Now they are blitzing the Gulf
But it is not part of international law, whereby, on long-standing authority, self-defence can only be used against a threat that is imminent, or at least reasonably likely. With many of its military leaders and nuclear scientists dead, and its facilities at Fordow bombed, Iran posed no immediate threat to Israel, much less America.
The full-blooded attack on Saturday, together with the targeted assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, was a war crime that could have no justification in self-defence. It came just weeks after the Islamic Republic had, under secrecy imposed by an internet blackout, murdered at least 15,000 (probably twice as many) of its own peacefully protesting citizens and mutilated many others by shooting them in the eye. This appallingly cruel state response was ordered by Ali Larijani, the head of the National Security Council. It was approved by the late supreme leader and incited by the chief justice.
It came after government newspapers had demanded a return to “the spirit of 1988”, when Iran commissioned the worst crime against humanity since the Nazis by murdering thousands of political prisoners. This atrocity was covered by lies to the UN and by the prohibition of mourning at the mass graves where victims throughout the country were buried.
I happened to conduct the first inquiry into those events at the behest of the Abdorrahman Boroumand Centre for Human Rights in Iran, interviewing survivors and prison witnesses who reported how thousands of inmates were hanged without trial — six at a time — from gallows erected in Evin Prison and other jails. I assessed the crime as the worst commissioned against prisoners since the death marches at the end of the war against Japan.
My findings were endorsed by inquiries by Amnesty International and, last year, by the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Iran. Many of the perpetrators were promoted and are still alive. The late supreme leader was president at the time, and one notorious tribunal judge, Ebrahim Raisi, became president before he was killed in a helicopter accident on May 19, 2024.
Most of the murders and tortures would be available for prosecution by a new government of Iran. And that, of course, is the problem Trump overlooked in his naive demand that the Iranian people “take back their country”. They do not have the power or the firepower to do this — all guns are in the hands of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, who are unlikely to relinquish them.
There is no organised opposition. Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, is an absurd candidate to lead them, as his father was an infamous torturer through SAVAK, his secret police force. Maryam Rajavi, who heads the National Council of Resistance, is a favourite of the Iranian diaspora, but her local support is untested. So what happens next, after four weeks in which Trump promises to blast and bomb this vile theocracy?
The UN is responsible for allowing Iran to get away with the mass murder of its own people, and this would be a good time for it to act under Chapter VII of its own charter and set up an international court to investigate and indict government officials who carried out the prison massacres of 1988, as well as those who ordered the killing of peaceful protesters in the past two months. There can be no peace without justice, whatever happens to any future government.
Otherwise, no good can come of this war, as death and destruction descend from the skies — the first victims being 175 people, predominantly children, whose school was unaccountably bombed in its opening hours.
Trump, at least, can never now receive the Nobel Peace Prize which his vainglorious presidency so desires. He cannot expect to lead America’s allies — including Australia. If America itself cannot stop him and this war, without the consent of Congress and in breach of the US Constitution, then it is time to work towards a new rules-based order that excludes a UN Security Council veto, currently abused by Russia, the US and China (which may shortly invade Taiwan).
These warmongering powers should have no say over a set of rules that should instead reflect the values of decent democracies.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/iran-s-regime-is-vile-but-what-trump-and-netanyahu-have-done-is-a-war-crime-20260303-p5o70o.html
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
anyway we needed to take a dump and had some time on the throne so did a quick Ctrl-F (or the handheld electronic device equivalent) just to humour you comrades
and we can say that through this thread that is ostensibly about Iran we have seen how many times we unprompted made it about dirty big bad CHINA and the answer is
0
Seems you also fail at basic arithmetic too.
we did our bit now yous show us the evidence
Witty Rejoinder said:
Trump’s attacks are not about Iran. He’s after a much bigger fishClinton Fernandes
Academic and former intelligence officer
Updated March 3, 2026 — 12:32pm,first published 11:30amBehind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy. In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next…
snip
…strategy Britain had 100 years ago, when Walter Hume Long, the first lord of the admiralty, said that “if we secure the supplies of oil now available in the world, we can do what we like”.
Professor Clinton Fernandes is in the Future Operations Research Group at UNSW. His latest book is Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/trump-s-attacks-are-not-about-iran-he-s-after-a-much-bigger-fish-20260303-p5o6ws.html
US mentioned 35 times
Iran mentioned 16 times
China mentioned 8 times
Oil mentioned 20 times
Trump mentioned 8 times
Xi mentioned 1 time
The accusation: “you unprompted made it about China”
The evidence: “OK so it’s back to “the rules based international order is wrong and international law is bad if it benefits CHINA” makes sense”
I rest my case.
wait
military assets and troops stationed in South Korea on the Korean Peninsula could also be deployed to the Middle East. Experts believe that air defense assets of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), such as Patriot and THAAD, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems, as well as surveillance and reconnaissance assets like the MQ-9 ‘Reaper’ unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) permanently stationed at Gunsan Air Base in South Korea last year, could be among the assets to be relocated
Witty Rejoinder said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Trump’s attacks are not about Iran. He’s after a much bigger fish
Clinton Fernandes
Academic and former intelligence officer
Updated March 3, 2026 — 12:32pm,first published 11:30amBehind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy. In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next…
snip
…strategy Britain had 100 years ago, when Walter Hume Long, the first lord of the admiralty, said that “if we secure the supplies of oil now available in the world, we can do what we like”.
Professor Clinton Fernandes is in the Future Operations Research Group at UNSW. His latest book is Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/trump-s-attacks-are-not-about-iran-he-s-after-a-much-bigger-fish-20260303-p5o6ws.html
US mentioned 35 times
Iran mentioned 16 times
China mentioned 8 times
Oil mentioned 20 times
Trump mentioned 8 times
Xi mentioned 1 timeThe accusation: “you unprompted made it about China”
The evidence: “OK so it’s back to “the rules based international order is wrong and international law is bad if it benefits CHINA” makes sense”
I rest my case.
sorry are you trying to emulate ChatGPT or something
is there meaning in words, or is it just about frequencies
the article is literally about CHINA, like all the other articles about modern warfare being about putting CHINA in its place
In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next month. China, the world’s largest refiner of oil, purchases about 14 per cent of its seaborne crude from Iran. Independent low-margin Chinese refiners in Shandong province, known as teapots, also import high-sulphur fuel oil from Iran. Taken as a whole, China’s enormous plastics sector relies on Iran for almost a quarter of its liquefied petroleum gas. Control over what Iran can export and to whom allows the US to retaliate if China restricts rare earth mineral supplies to the United States. Trump’s abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January was driven in part by a similar logic; Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and its Merey grade is also high in sulphur, well suited for China’s teapot refineries. Trump wants indirect but politically critical leverage over China through control over Iran and Venezuela. In the long term, a politically submissive Middle East would likely see a network of states with authoritarian regimes that comply with US objectives. These include rolling back Iran’s membership of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, undermining China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and weakening the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
the rest of the article is giving supporting evidence and thinking about how it’s all about CHINA and how to put CHINA in its place
if you don’t want us to read the articles you post then please say so but this isn’t CHINA and we aren’t 深度求索 so will probably still ignore your directives
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Trump’s attacks are not about Iran. He’s after a much bigger fish
Clinton Fernandes
Academic and former intelligence officer
Updated March 3, 2026 — 12:32pm,first published 11:30amBehind the turbulence that characterises US President Donald Trump’s actions in Iran lies a shrewd geopolitical strategy. In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next…
snip
…strategy Britain had 100 years ago, when Walter Hume Long, the first lord of the admiralty, said that “if we secure the supplies of oil now available in the world, we can do what we like”.
Professor Clinton Fernandes is in the Future Operations Research Group at UNSW. His latest book is Turbulence: Australian Foreign Policy in the Trump Era.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/trump-s-attacks-are-not-about-iran-he-s-after-a-much-bigger-fish-20260303-p5o6ws.html
US mentioned 35 times
Iran mentioned 16 times
China mentioned 8 times
Oil mentioned 20 times
Trump mentioned 8 times
Xi mentioned 1 timeThe accusation: “you unprompted made it about China”
The evidence: “OK so it’s back to “the rules based international order is wrong and international law is bad if it benefits CHINA” makes sense”
I rest my case.
sorry are you trying to emulate ChatGPT or something
is there meaning in words, or is it just about frequencies
the article is literally about CHINA, like all the other articles about modern warfare being about putting CHINA in its place
In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next month. China, the world’s largest refiner of oil, purchases about 14 per cent of its seaborne crude from Iran. Independent low-margin Chinese refiners in Shandong province, known as teapots, also import high-sulphur fuel oil from Iran. Taken as a whole, China’s enormous plastics sector relies on Iran for almost a quarter of its liquefied petroleum gas. Control over what Iran can export and to whom allows the US to retaliate if China restricts rare earth mineral supplies to the United States. Trump’s abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January was driven in part by a similar logic; Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and its Merey grade is also high in sulphur, well suited for China’s teapot refineries. Trump wants indirect but politically critical leverage over China through control over Iran and Venezuela. In the long term, a politically submissive Middle East would likely see a network of states with authoritarian regimes that comply with US objectives. These include rolling back Iran’s membership of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, undermining China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and weakening the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
the rest of the article is giving supporting evidence and thinking about how it’s all about CHINA and how to put CHINA in its place
if you don’t want us to read the articles you post then please say so but this isn’t CHINA and we aren’t 深度求索 so will probably still ignore your directives
The article is about the larger question of very simplistic mercantilist Trumpism ambitions to control the oil market and the continuance of the international system that despite Trump’s best efforts to destroy is still controlled by the US. It’s just as much about Russia as it is China if you want to examine the actual implications of what the writer says are Trump’s aims.
And you seem to be blindly assuming that China is winning with your sainted ‘international rules based order’. I admit it’s never mentioned in the ‘People’s Daily’ but trillion dollar trade surpluses matter little when your domestic consumption is anaemic, your best and most profitable companies are cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom, you’re got a property crisis that’s been festering for almost a decade, you’ve got 20% youth unemployment and to top it all off you’ve got rapidly rising government debt at levels of a first world nation when you’ve got a third world level of taxation.
And then we have Xi, China’s worst leader in a generation, decapitating rivals, arrogantly accumulating power for himself in a way that would make Mao blush, putting aside the best interests of his nation and its people because he thinks might is right.
If this is China winning I’d hate you see it losing.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:Cymek said:
Yes
Fair enough that Taiwan isn’t theirs to covert, that part of the Chinese revolution is history.
Who knows if over time they mellow their repressive part and become democratic
If forced into a corner though they have the ability to start World War 3
we still remember when CHINA giving millions of Muslims work and education and accommodation was a bad thing but suddenly when it’s Great America and Free Israel bombing the shit out of their spiritual leaders and schools and energy infrastructure it’s good shit
we mean fair play it does solve the coming over here taking all our jobs and schools and housing problem right
Seriously you’re losing the plot.
Maybe, or just maybe he talks in difficult to decipher language and the occasion riddle.
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:we still remember when CHINA giving millions of Muslims work and education and accommodation was a bad thing but suddenly when it’s Great America and Free Israel bombing the shit out of their spiritual leaders and schools and energy infrastructure it’s good shit
we mean fair play it does solve the coming over here taking all our jobs and schools and housing problem right
Seriously you’re losing the plot.
Maybe, or just maybe he talks in difficult to decipher language and the occasion riddle.
I think he hopes it’s endearing.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:Seriously you’re losing the plot.
Maybe, or just maybe he talks in difficult to decipher language and the occasion riddle.
I think he hopes it’s endearing.
It’s not.
I’m a person who likes clear, concise communication. I know I fail most times, but I try. I really do.
I work hard on trying to understand SCIENCE’s posts, because has has much to add; he is so seriously bright. But I really wish he’d make an effort to communicate in simple language.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
US mentioned 35 times
Iran mentioned 16 times
China mentioned 8 times
Oil mentioned 20 times
Trump mentioned 8 times
Xi mentioned 1 timeThe accusation: “you unprompted made it about China”
The evidence: “OK so it’s back to “the rules based international order is wrong and international law is bad if it benefits CHINA” makes sense”
I rest my case.
sorry are you trying to emulate ChatGPT or something
is there meaning in words, or is it just about frequencies
the article is literally about CHINA, like all the other articles about modern warfare being about putting CHINA in its place
In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next month. China, the world’s largest refiner of oil, purchases about 14 per cent of its seaborne crude from Iran. Independent low-margin Chinese refiners in Shandong province, known as teapots, also import high-sulphur fuel oil from Iran. Taken as a whole, China’s enormous plastics sector relies on Iran for almost a quarter of its liquefied petroleum gas. Control over what Iran can export and to whom allows the US to retaliate if China restricts rare earth mineral supplies to the United States. Trump’s abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January was driven in part by a similar logic; Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and its Merey grade is also high in sulphur, well suited for China’s teapot refineries. Trump wants indirect but politically critical leverage over China through control over Iran and Venezuela. In the long term, a politically submissive Middle East would likely see a network of states with authoritarian regimes that comply with US objectives. These include rolling back Iran’s membership of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, undermining China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and weakening the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
the rest of the article is giving supporting evidence and thinking about how it’s all about CHINA and how to put CHINA in its place
if you don’t want us to read the articles you post then please say so but this isn’t CHINA and we aren’t 深度求索 so will probably still ignore your directives
The article is about the larger question of very simplistic mercantilist Trumpism ambitions to control the oil market and the continuance of the international system that despite Trump’s best efforts to destroy is still controlled by the US. It’s just as much about Russia as it is China if you want to examine the actual implications of what the writer says are Trump’s aims.
And you seem to be blindly assuming that China is winning with your sainted ‘international rules based order’. I admit it’s never mentioned in the ‘People’s Daily’ but trillion dollar trade surpluses matter little when your domestic consumption is anaemic, your best and most profitable companies are cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom, you’re got a property crisis that’s been festering for almost a decade, you’ve got 20% youth unemployment and to top it all off you’ve got rapidly rising government debt at levels of a first world nation when you’ve got a third world level of taxation.
And then we have Xi, China’s worst leader in a generation, decapitating rivals, arrogantly accumulating power for himself in a way that would make Mao blush, putting aside the best interests of his nation and its people because he thinks might is right.
If this is China winning I’d hate you see it losing.
sure so let’s say the USSA somehow defibrillates itself and their next supreme leader is democratic or not fascist or whatever, we’ll be happy to see yous celebrating how they’ve moved on to the business of how they could improve their little shithole country and the rest of the world instead of responding to CHINA provocations, we’ll even celebrate with yous
we’re not assuming winners and losers we’re simply assuming the understanding that if X is winning under the rules and Y is losing under the rules then X will happily claim that the rules are fair so people should follow them and Y will unhappily claim that the rules are unfair so they don’t need to follow them
we also don’t give a fuck about trade surpluses (as you say that’s a Trump Fascism thought bubble) we care about the ability to do things that fix the fucking up of the planet we’re living on, which right now seems to be concentrated in a country that actually looks like it’s fixing its fucked up corner of the planet we’re living on
we don’t give a fuck about domestic consumption in the same way we’re quite happy to save our own incomes and keep old slightly worn tools operating at 80% capacity instead of replacing them with planned obsolescent shit that fucks up the planet we’re living on and work at 100% capacity for 1 year then 2% capacity the next
don’t presume to tell us that profitable companies cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom is anything other than capitalism
so a property crisis with lots of housing available is bad but a housing crisis with lots of people needing housing is good
sounds like providing more education would be a good thing for the youth then
sorry unlike yous we don’t have access to CHINA’s economic figures so we leave you to negotiate that one with your handlers
we also don’t give a damn about WinXi or whoever it is, their machinations are irrelevant to actually building stuff and they’r‘n’t going to live forever
guess it looks the same whether they’re winning or losing so we’ll agree with yous, we prefer to see everyone winning
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
we still remember when CHINA giving millions of Muslims work and education and accommodation was a bad thing but suddenly when it’s Great America and Free Israel bombing the shit out of their spiritual leaders and schools and energy infrastructure it’s good shit
we mean fair play it does solve the coming over here taking all our jobs and schools and housing problem right
Seriously you’re losing the plot.
Maybe, or just maybe he talks in difficult to decipher language and the occasion riddle.
nah we just post from the hip, if we see a nice pun we’ll laugh
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
sorry are you trying to emulate ChatGPT or something
is there meaning in words, or is it just about frequencies
the article is literally about CHINA, like all the other articles about modern warfare being about putting CHINA in its place
In the short term, he wants to demonstrate leverage over China when he meets President Xi Jinping at a pivotal summit next month. China, the world’s largest refiner of oil, purchases about 14 per cent of its seaborne crude from Iran. Independent low-margin Chinese refiners in Shandong province, known as teapots, also import high-sulphur fuel oil from Iran. Taken as a whole, China’s enormous plastics sector relies on Iran for almost a quarter of its liquefied petroleum gas. Control over what Iran can export and to whom allows the US to retaliate if China restricts rare earth mineral supplies to the United States. Trump’s abduction of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro in January was driven in part by a similar logic; Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world, and its Merey grade is also high in sulphur, well suited for China’s teapot refineries. Trump wants indirect but politically critical leverage over China through control over Iran and Venezuela. In the long term, a politically submissive Middle East would likely see a network of states with authoritarian regimes that comply with US objectives. These include rolling back Iran’s membership of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, undermining China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and weakening the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
the rest of the article is giving supporting evidence and thinking about how it’s all about CHINA and how to put CHINA in its place
if you don’t want us to read the articles you post then please say so but this isn’t CHINA and we aren’t 深度求索 so will probably still ignore your directives
The article is about the larger question of very simplistic mercantilist Trumpism ambitions to control the oil market and the continuance of the international system that despite Trump’s best efforts to destroy is still controlled by the US. It’s just as much about Russia as it is China if you want to examine the actual implications of what the writer says are Trump’s aims.
And you seem to be blindly assuming that China is winning with your sainted ‘international rules based order’. I admit it’s never mentioned in the ‘People’s Daily’ but trillion dollar trade surpluses matter little when your domestic consumption is anaemic, your best and most profitable companies are cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom, you’re got a property crisis that’s been festering for almost a decade, you’ve got 20% youth unemployment and to top it all off you’ve got rapidly rising government debt at levels of a first world nation when you’ve got a third world level of taxation.
And then we have Xi, China’s worst leader in a generation, decapitating rivals, arrogantly accumulating power for himself in a way that would make Mao blush, putting aside the best interests of his nation and its people because he thinks might is right.
If this is China winning I’d hate you see it losing.
sure so let’s say the USSA somehow defibrillates itself and their next supreme leader is democratic or not fascist or whatever, we’ll be happy to see yous celebrating how they’ve moved on to the business of how they could improve their little shithole country and the rest of the world instead of responding to CHINA provocations, we’ll even celebrate with yous
we’re not assuming winners and losers we’re simply assuming the understanding that if X is winning under the rules and Y is losing under the rules then X will happily claim that the rules are fair so people should follow them and Y will unhappily claim that the rules are unfair so they don’t need to follow them
we also don’t give a fuck about trade surpluses (as you say that’s a Trump Fascism thought bubble) we care about the ability to do things that fix the fucking up of the planet we’re living on, which right now seems to be concentrated in a country that actually looks like it’s fixing its fucked up corner of the planet we’re living on
we don’t give a fuck about domestic consumption in the same way we’re quite happy to save our own incomes and keep old slightly worn tools operating at 80% capacity instead of replacing them with planned obsolescent shit that fucks up the planet we’re living on and work at 100% capacity for 1 year then 2% capacity the next
don’t presume to tell us that profitable companies cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom is anything other than capitalism
so a property crisis with lots of housing available is bad but a housing crisis with lots of people needing housing is good
sounds like providing more education would be a good thing for the youth then
sorry unlike yous we don’t have access to CHINA’s economic figures so we leave you to negotiate that one with your handlers
we also don’t give a damn about WinXi or whoever it is, their machinations are irrelevant to actually building stuff and they’r‘n’t going to live forever
guess it looks the same whether they’re winning or losing so we’ll agree with yous, we prefer to see everyone winning
You really should do a bit of reading on economics because on the one hand you use it to support your arguments then happily mock it when it doesn’t.
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Michael V said:
Maybe, or just maybe he talks in difficult to decipher language and the occasion riddle.
I think he hopes it’s endearing.
It’s not.
I’m a person who likes clear, concise communication. I know I fail most times, but I try. I really do.
I work hard on trying to understand SCIENCE’s posts, because has has much to add; he is so seriously bright. But I really wish he’d make an effort to communicate in simple language.
sorry we just aren’t big fans of prose
we apologise for the difficult read but disagree that we add much, it’s all stuff people here can work out anyway, we’re just short circuiting to the defibrillation shock part
happy to let the screenshots and image pastes do most of the talking to keep it simple, of course
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
The article is about the larger question of very simplistic mercantilist Trumpism ambitions to control the oil market and the continuance of the international system that despite Trump’s best efforts to destroy is still controlled by the US. It’s just as much about Russia as it is China if you want to examine the actual implications of what the writer says are Trump’s aims.
And you seem to be blindly assuming that China is winning with your sainted ‘international rules based order’. I admit it’s never mentioned in the ‘People’s Daily’ but trillion dollar trade surpluses matter little when your domestic consumption is anaemic, your best and most profitable companies are cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom, you’re got a property crisis that’s been festering for almost a decade, you’ve got 20% youth unemployment and to top it all off you’ve got rapidly rising government debt at levels of a first world nation when you’ve got a third world level of taxation.
And then we have Xi, China’s worst leader in a generation, decapitating rivals, arrogantly accumulating power for himself in a way that would make Mao blush, putting aside the best interests of his nation and its people because he thinks might is right.
If this is China winning I’d hate you see it losing.
sure so let’s say the USSA somehow defibrillates itself and their next supreme leader is democratic or not fascist or whatever, we’ll be happy to see yous celebrating how they’ve moved on to the business of how they could improve their little shithole country and the rest of the world instead of responding to CHINA provocations, we’ll even celebrate with yous
we’re not assuming winners and losers we’re simply assuming the understanding that if X is winning under the rules and Y is losing under the rules then X will happily claim that the rules are fair so people should follow them and Y will unhappily claim that the rules are unfair so they don’t need to follow them
we also don’t give a fuck about trade surpluses (as you say that’s a Trump Fascism thought bubble) we care about the ability to do things that fix the fucking up of the planet we’re living on, which right now seems to be concentrated in a country that actually looks like it’s fixing its fucked up corner of the planet we’re living on
we don’t give a fuck about domestic consumption in the same way we’re quite happy to save our own incomes and keep old slightly worn tools operating at 80% capacity instead of replacing them with planned obsolescent shit that fucks up the planet we’re living on and work at 100% capacity for 1 year then 2% capacity the next
don’t presume to tell us that profitable companies cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom is anything other than capitalism
so a property crisis with lots of housing available is bad but a housing crisis with lots of people needing housing is good
sounds like providing more education would be a good thing for the youth then
sorry unlike yous we don’t have access to CHINA’s economic figures so we leave you to negotiate that one with your handlers
we also don’t give a damn about WinXi or whoever it is, their machinations are irrelevant to actually building stuff and they’r‘n’t going to live forever
guess it looks the same whether they’re winning or losing so we’ll agree with yous, we prefer to see everyone winning
You really should do a bit of reading on economics because on the one hand you use it to support your arguments then happily mock it when it doesn’t.
sure, please point us to which part doesn’t, we spent the 2000s reading about baseload power and it was pretty much the same
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
sure so let’s say the USSA somehow defibrillates itself and their next supreme leader is democratic or not fascist or whatever, we’ll be happy to see yous celebrating how they’ve moved on to the business of how they could improve their little shithole country and the rest of the world instead of responding to CHINA provocations, we’ll even celebrate with yous
we’re not assuming winners and losers we’re simply assuming the understanding that if X is winning under the rules and Y is losing under the rules then X will happily claim that the rules are fair so people should follow them and Y will unhappily claim that the rules are unfair so they don’t need to follow them
we also don’t give a fuck about trade surpluses (as you say that’s a Trump Fascism thought bubble) we care about the ability to do things that fix the fucking up of the planet we’re living on, which right now seems to be concentrated in a country that actually looks like it’s fixing its fucked up corner of the planet we’re living on
we don’t give a fuck about domestic consumption in the same way we’re quite happy to save our own incomes and keep old slightly worn tools operating at 80% capacity instead of replacing them with planned obsolescent shit that fucks up the planet we’re living on and work at 100% capacity for 1 year then 2% capacity the next
don’t presume to tell us that profitable companies cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom is anything other than capitalism
so a property crisis with lots of housing available is bad but a housing crisis with lots of people needing housing is good
sounds like providing more education would be a good thing for the youth then
sorry unlike yous we don’t have access to CHINA’s economic figures so we leave you to negotiate that one with your handlers
we also don’t give a damn about WinXi or whoever it is, their machinations are irrelevant to actually building stuff and they’r‘n’t going to live forever
guess it looks the same whether they’re winning or losing so we’ll agree with yous, we prefer to see everyone winning
You really should do a bit of reading on economics because on the one hand you use it to support your arguments then happily mock it when it doesn’t.
sure, please point us to which part doesn’t, we spent the 2000s reading about baseload power and it was pretty much the same
Oooops.
SCIENCE said:
sure, please point us to which part doesn’t, we spent the 2000s reading about baseload power and it was pretty much the same
Sure:
don’t presume to tell us that profitable companies cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom is anything other than capitalism
so a property crisis with lots of housing available is bad but a housing crisis with lots of people needing housing is good
sounds like providing more education would be a good thing for the youth then
sorry unlike yous we don’t have access to CHINA’s economic figures so we leave you to negotiate that one with your handlers
we also don’t give a damn about WinXi or whoever it is, their machinations are irrelevant to actually building stuff and they’r‘n’t going to live forever
is all grade A bullshit. Try harder.
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
I think he hopes it’s endearing.
It’s not.
I’m a person who likes clear, concise communication. I know I fail most times, but I try. I really do.
I work hard on trying to understand SCIENCE’s posts, because has has much to add; he is so seriously bright. But I really wish he’d make an effort to communicate in simple language.
sorry we just aren’t big fans of prose
we apologise for the difficult read but disagree that we add much, it’s all stuff people here can work out anyway, we’re just short circuiting to the defibrillation shock part
happy to let the screenshots and image pastes do most of the talking to keep it simple, of course
I think your “team sports” notion is a serious contribution to understanding politics and people. I mean really, really serious. I have never come across the notion elsewhere. I suspect that it’s correct. It’s be nice if you simply said “here is another example of the team sports notion”. It’d be nice if others here could put up counter-examples.
Perhaps with our assistance and critical input, you could publish the notion in an appropriate academic journal, so it has wider critical audience and can be tested by others. People not in our little clique.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
And you seem to be blindly assuming that China is winning with your sainted ‘international rules based order’. I admit it’s never mentioned in the ‘People’s Daily’ but trillion dollar trade surpluses matter little when your domestic consumption is anaemic, your best and most profitable companies are cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom, you’re got a property crisis that’s been festering for almost a decade, you’ve got 20% youth unemployment and to top it all off you’ve got rapidly rising government debt at levels of a first world nation when you’ve got a third world level of taxation.
don’t presume to tell us that profitable companies cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom is anything other than capitalism
so a property crisis with lots of housing available is bad but a housing crisis with lots of people needing housing is good
sounds like providing more education would be a good thing for the youth then
sorry unlike yous we don’t have access to CHINA’s economic figures so we leave you to negotiate that one with your handlers
we also don’t give a damn about WinXi or whoever it is, their machinations are irrelevant to actually building stuff and they’r‘n’t going to live forever
You really should do a bit of reading on economics because on the one hand you use it to support your arguments then happily mock it when it doesn’t.
sure, please point us to which part doesn’t, we spent the 2000s reading about baseload power and it was pretty much the same
Sure:
don’t presume to tell us that profitable companies cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom is anything other than capitalism
so a property crisis with lots of housing available is bad but a housing crisis with lots of people needing housing is good
sounds like providing more education would be a good thing for the youth then
sorry unlike yous we don’t have access to CHINA’s economic figures so we leave you to negotiate that one with your handlers
we also don’t give a damn about WinXi or whoever it is, their machinations are irrelevant to actually building stuff and they’r‘n’t going to live forever
is all grade A bullshit. Try harder.
yeah all right we’ll take it at face value, it’s as BS as what it’s a response to
we apologise for comparing yous to ChatGPT because you’re welcome to argue that we’re simply recycling the talking points used to justify these losing processes when others use them to lose (¿unless when others do them they’re actually winning?)
profitable companies cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom is capitalism though
lots of housing available and lots of people needing housing are two closely connected matters though
education is a way to turn time into skills though
we really don’t have yousr close access to internal government figures though
we actually don’t care what a WinXi is though
one thing we could try harder to collect the data but we have other shit to do at the moment, maybe next summer
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
It’s not.
I’m a person who likes clear, concise communication. I know I fail most times, but I try. I really do.
I work hard on trying to understand SCIENCE’s posts, because has has much to add; he is so seriously bright. But I really wish he’d make an effort to communicate in simple language.
sorry we just aren’t big fans of prose
we apologise for the difficult read but disagree that we add much, it’s all stuff people here can work out anyway, we’re just short circuiting to the defibrillation shock part
happy to let the screenshots and image pastes do most of the talking to keep it simple, of course
I think your “team sports” notion is a serious contribution to understanding politics and people. I mean really, really serious. I have never come across the notion elsewhere. I suspect that it’s correct. It’s be nice if you simply said “here is another example of the team sports notion”. It’d be nice if others here could put up counter-examples.
Perhaps with our assistance and critical input, you could publish the notion in an appropriate academic journal, so it has wider critical audience and can be tested by others. People not in our little clique.
honestly these aren’t new ideas, we’re just reminding people of what they already know, and we can’t even take credit for it
(sure we may have independently come to that conclusion, but it does pop up here and there, we get frequent reminders in our browsing)
here’s an example of one fella who goes on a bit too long about it
as you can see hints of in the captures they also talk about how modern adult society is so often just adolescent culture they never grew out of, it’s all about status, and social media fuels populism through these mechanisms
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
sure, please point us to which part doesn’t, we spent the 2000s reading about baseload power and it was pretty much the same
Sure:
don’t presume to tell us that profitable companies cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom is anything other than capitalism
so a property crisis with lots of housing available is bad but a housing crisis with lots of people needing housing is good
sounds like providing more education would be a good thing for the youth then
sorry unlike yous we don’t have access to CHINA’s economic figures so we leave you to negotiate that one with your handlers
we also don’t give a damn about WinXi or whoever it is, their machinations are irrelevant to actually building stuff and they’r‘n’t going to live forever
is all grade A bullshit. Try harder.
yeah all right we’ll take it at face value, it’s as BS as what it’s a response to
we apologise for comparing yous to ChatGPT because you’re welcome to argue that we’re simply recycling the talking points used to justify these losing processes when others use them to lose (¿unless when others do them they’re actually winning?)
profitable companies cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom is capitalism though
lots of housing available and lots of people needing housing are two closely connected matters though
education is a way to turn time into skills though
we really don’t have yousr close access to internal government figures though
we actually don’t care what a WinXi is thoughone thing we could try harder to collect the data but we have other shit to do at the moment, maybe next summer
Your feigned ignorance about these points, ‘cos seriously you couldn’t possibly be that stupid, makes any ongoing discussion with you, about everything, a waste of my time.
Witty Rejoinder said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Sure:
don’t presume to tell us that profitable companies cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom is anything other than capitalism
so a property crisis with lots of housing available is bad but a housing crisis with lots of people needing housing is good
sounds like providing more education would be a good thing for the youth then
sorry unlike yous we don’t have access to CHINA’s economic figures so we leave you to negotiate that one with your handlers
we also don’t give a damn about WinXi or whoever it is, their machinations are irrelevant to actually building stuff and they’r‘n’t going to live forever
is all grade A bullshit. Try harder.
yeah all right we’ll take it at face value, it’s as BS as what it’s a response to
we apologise for comparing yous to ChatGPT because you’re welcome to argue that we’re simply recycling the talking points used to justify these losing processes when others use them to lose (¿unless when others do them they’re actually winning?)
profitable companies cannibalising each other in a race to the bottom is capitalism though
lots of housing available and lots of people needing housing are two closely connected matters though
education is a way to turn time into skills though
we really don’t have yousr close access to internal government figures though
we actually don’t care what a WinXi is thoughone thing we could try harder to collect the data but we have other shit to do at the moment, maybe next summer
Your feigned ignorance about these points, ‘cos seriously you couldn’t possibly be that stupid, makes any ongoing discussion with you, about everything, a waste of my time.
shrug you decided that when everyone was ignorant about SARS-CoV-2 and yous thought we were stupid about that too
sorry to waste yousr time
please give the correct interpretation when you’re feeling more generous
wait why do they need to give a reason
to start a fight
Sorry who
Firuzeh Seraj said she was afraid to take her 10-year-old daughter for dialysis treatment after a hospital in the capital was struck. “World, do you see? They are killing us. Hear our voice,” she said through tears from Tehran.
is “they” ¿
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
Cymek said:
Surprising
The middle east, lunar eclipse, catching sight of their own shadow, any excuse to raise prices will do.
uh isn’t it just capitalism working as intended
Authorities say there is a steady supply of fuel in Australia, with fuel companies accused of taking advantage of people’s anxieties by hiking prices.
sorry if people are willing to buy more fuel at higher prices to get stocked, then why wouldn’t they adjust the prices to meet the demand
anyway relevant so we transfer here, objectors can object at their leisure
one, is our above observation
two, oh how the expert drivers laughed when pandemic preppers stocked up on toilet paper
three, what is the unit price for petroleum that will make the ayatollah a good guy again ¿ is it $2.50/L ¿ $3.59/L ¿ $4.20/L
four, they bang on and on about farmers and transport around australia and diesel and all that so we ask, when we(0,0,1) had the chance to diversify half of that and go electric, possibly even with battery-firmed renewable grids, why didn’t we(0,0,1) ¿
From Collective Evolution’s Facebook page…
The religion based psy-op takes another step…
“A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,” according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer.
From Saturday morning through Monday night, more than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the military had been logged by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).
The complaints came from more than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military installations, the MRFF told me Monday night.
The MRFF is keeping the complainants anonymous to prevent retribution by the Defense Department. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to my request for comment.
One complainant identified themselves as a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in a unit currently outside the Iran combat zone but in Ready-Support status, deployable at any time. The NCO said they were Christian and emailed the MRFF on behalf of 15 troops, including at least 11 Christians, one Muslim, and one Jew. (Full email printed below.)
The NCO wrote to the MRFF that their commander “urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has enshrined evangelical Christianity at the uppermost levels of the U.S. military, airing monthly prayer meetings throughout the Pentagon. Last year, the Pentagon confirmed to me that Hegseth attends a weekly White House Bible study. It’s led by a preacher who says God commands America to support Israel.
Monday’s email from the NCO said that their commander’s remarks “destroy morale and unit cohesion and are in violation of the oaths we swore to support the onstitution.”
MRFF President and Founder Mikey Weinstein, a veteran of the Air Force and the Reagan White House, told me that since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran early Saturday morning, the MRFF has been “inundated” with similar complaints:
These calls have one damn thing in freaking common; our MRFF clients report the unrestricted euphoria of their commanders and command chains as to how this new “biblically-sanctioned” war is clearly the undeniable sign of the expeditious approach of the fundamentalist Christian “End Times” as vividly described in the New Testament Book of Revelation.
Many of their commanders are especially delighted with how graphic this battle will be zeroing in on how bloody all of this must become in order to fulfill and be in 100% accordance with fundamentalist Christian end of the world eschatology.
Weinstein cited constitutional and Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) prohibitions against injecting religious beliefs into official military instruction or messaging.
He said, “Any military members seeking to take advantage of their subordinates by advancing their blood-soaked, Christian nationalist wet dreams upon the flames of this latest non-Congressionally sanctioned attack against Iran, should be swiftly, aggressively and visibly prosecuted.”
Weinstein added that the MRFF receives similar complaints about Christian eschatology — end-of-the-world theology — “whenever this shit blows up with Israel in the Middle East.”
After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, for instance, the MRFF reported a complaint about an Air Force commander who said at a briefing that, “he war between Israel and Hamas has all been foretold by the Book of Revelation in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and no-one can do anything about that.”
After 9/11, Pres. George W. Bush referred to the American “crusade” against terrorism, evoking the ancient clashes between Christian crusaders and Muslims. Bush’s language was seen as potentially inspiring Muslims to take up arms against the U.S., if it proclaimed itself a Christian army waging war on Islam.
French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine said, “One has to avoid falling into this huge trap, this monstrous trap” set by al Qaeda with the 9/11 attacks. Bush dropped the term “crusade.”
While Christian nationalism has simmered in the military for decades, Hegseth has ended even the pretense of official intolerance for it. Trump, too, has cast himself as a champion of Christian exceptionalism, embedding it within divisions of the executive branch.
As I revealed last year, Hegseth sponsors the weekly White House Bible study that preaches support for Israel.
Some Christians claim biblical prophecy requires Israel to exist for Jesus to return. But Hegseth’s Bible study leader, preacher Ralph Drollinger, teaches that the reason to support Israel is that God still blesses Israel’s allies and curses Israel’s enemies, even though Israel killed Jesus (this smear, the historic root of antisemitism, has been rejected by every major religion).
After Israel’s attack on Iran last year, Drollinger dedicated two weeks of lessons to preaching support for Israel. His lessons went out to White House cabinet members and members of Congress even as Israel, too, was lobbying for U.S. engagement.
Hegseth has also initiated monthly prayer sessions, most recently featuring Doug Wilson, the far-right Christian nationalist. He has also brought in other preachers from his personal circle, rejecting any attempt at making the meetings ecumenical.
Hegseth himself also speaks at these meetings, proselytizing his personal religious beliefs. “This is … I think, exactly where we need to be as a nation, at this moment,” Hegseth reportedly said, “in prayer, on bended knee, recognizing the providence of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
While the MRFF historically has been able to get the Pentagon to swat down Christian incursions into the military, the Trump administration is openly disdainful of military norms and law. It remains to be seen whether and how wholesale Christianization of the Iran war will be opposed by officials inside the Pentagon, or political and legal advocates for secular values outside it.
NCO Email to MRFF
As redacted by MRFF:
From: (Active Duty Military NCO and MRFF Client’s email address withheld)
Subject: Unit combat readiness briefing and Armageddon
Date: March 2, 2026 at 1:02:53 PM MST
To: Information Weinstein <mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org></mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org>
Mr. Weinstein thank you for taking my calls and the calls of some of my colleagues as to what happened earlier this morning with our combat unit.
Please protect my identity and the identities of those I’m speaking for as we discussed.
Our unit is not currently in the combat zone AOR regarding the Iranian attacks but we are in a “Ready-Support” function where we could be deployed there at any moment to join and augment the combat operations as participants.
I am a (NCO rank withheld) in our unit. This morning our commander opened up the combat readiness status briefing by urging us to not be “afraid” as to what is happening with our combat operations in Iran right now. He urged us to tell our troops that this was “all part of God’s divine plan” and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. He said that “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth”. He had a big grin on his face when he said all of this which made his message seem even more crazy. Our commander would probably be described as a “Christian First” supporter. He has been this way for a very long time and makes it clear that he desires all of us under him to become just like him as a Christian. But what he did this morning was so toxic and over the line that it shocked many of us in attendance at the ops readiness briefing. Besides myself I am reaching out to MRFF on behalf of 15 fellow troops. I know you asked me about the religious views of our group who has requested help from the MRFF. I can only tell you that I am Christian and at least 10 of the others are also Christians. One of the others is Jewish and one is Muslim. I don’t know the religious or non-religious status for the other three at this time.
I and my fellow troops know that it is completely wrong to have to suffer through what our commander said today. It’s not just the separation of church and state as we discussed Mr. Weinstein. It’s the fact that our commander feels as though he is fully supported and justified by the entire (combat unit’s name withheld) chain of command to inflict his Armageddon views of our attack on Iran on those of us beneath him in the chain of command.
I hope by sending this email to you that this will help expose these wrong actions which destroy morale and unit cohesion and are in violation of the oaths we swore to support the constitution.
Full Statement from MRFF President Mikey Weinstein
“Since the start of the unprovoked American and Israeli war on Iran, this past Saturday morning, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been literally inundated with desperate calls for help from military members across all branches, organizations and MOS/AFSC/SFSC designations (military occupational areas). Well over 100 calls have already come in and more keep coming.
These calls have one damn thing in freaking common; our MRFF clients report the unrestricted euphoria of their commanders and command chains as to how this new “biblically-sanctioned” war is clearly the undeniable sign of the expeditious approach of the fundamentalist Christian “End Times” as vividly described in the New Testament Book of Revelation.
Many of their commanders are especially delighted with how graphic this battle will be zeroing in on how bloody all of this must become in order to fulfill and be in 100% accordance with fundamentalist Christian end of the world eschatology.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation demands that all personnel in the Department of Defense (not “War”) remember and fully internalize that the oaths they swear are not to the narcissistic, sociopathic, orange, POS tRump, nor to little Petey ‘Kegseth’ nor to Jesus Christ. On the contrary, their oath is SOLELY to the United States Constitution, which includes both a full separation of church and state mandate in the First Amendment and NO establishment of any sort of putrid ‘religious test’ in Clause 3 of Article VI.”
Any military members seeking to take advantage of their subordinates by advancing their blood-soaked, Christian nationalist wet dreams upon the flames of this latest non-Congressionally sanctioned attack against Iran, should be swiftly, aggressively and visibly prosecuted for numerous violations of the military criminal code known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
You know, that very same criminal code that Secretary ‘Kegseth’ is trying to prosecute Arizona Senator Mark Kelly under for simply advising military members not to obey illegal orders; you know like ordering otherwise helpless, military subordinates to acknowledge that the Iran war has been sanctioned by the fundamentalist Christian nationalist version of our Lord and Savior and the New Testament in specific order to bring about the end of the world and usher in the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ.”
— Written by Jonathan Larsen, independent reporter.
kii said:
From Collective Evolution’s Facebook page…
The religion based psy-op takes another step…
— Written by Jonathan Larsen, independent reporter.
see this is what we don’t understand
where were all these experts / commentators / defenders-of-the-constitution / concerned-observers for the past 70 years, what were they doing
kii said:
From Collective Evolution’s Facebook page…
The religion based psy-op takes another step…
“A combat-unit commander told non-commissioned officers at a briefing Monday that the Iran war is part of God’s plan and that Pres. Donald Trump was “anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth,” according to a complaint by a non-commissioned officer.
From Saturday morning through Monday night, more than 110 similar complaints about commanders in every branch of the military had been logged by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).
The complaints came from more than 40 different units spread across at least 30 military installations, the MRFF told me Monday night.
The MRFF is keeping the complainants anonymous to prevent retribution by the Defense Department. The Pentagon did not immediately respond to my request for comment.
One complainant identified themselves as a non-commissioned officer (NCO) in a unit currently outside the Iran combat zone but in Ready-Support status, deployable at any time. The NCO said they were Christian and emailed the MRFF on behalf of 15 troops, including at least 11 Christians, one Muslim, and one Jew. (Full email printed below.)
The NCO wrote to the MRFF that their commander “urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has enshrined evangelical Christianity at the uppermost levels of the U.S. military, airing monthly prayer meetings throughout the Pentagon. Last year, the Pentagon confirmed to me that Hegseth attends a weekly White House Bible study. It’s led by a preacher who says God commands America to support Israel.
Monday’s email from the NCO said that their commander’s remarks “destroy morale and unit cohesion and are in violation of the oaths we swore to support the onstitution.”
MRFF President and Founder Mikey Weinstein, a veteran of the Air Force and the Reagan White House, told me that since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran early Saturday morning, the MRFF has been “inundated” with similar complaints:
These calls have one damn thing in freaking common; our MRFF clients report the unrestricted euphoria of their commanders and command chains as to how this new “biblically-sanctioned” war is clearly the undeniable sign of the expeditious approach of the fundamentalist Christian “End Times” as vividly described in the New Testament Book of Revelation.
Many of their commanders are especially delighted with how graphic this battle will be zeroing in on how bloody all of this must become in order to fulfill and be in 100% accordance with fundamentalist Christian end of the world eschatology.
Weinstein cited constitutional and Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) prohibitions against injecting religious beliefs into official military instruction or messaging.
He said, “Any military members seeking to take advantage of their subordinates by advancing their blood-soaked, Christian nationalist wet dreams upon the flames of this latest non-Congressionally sanctioned attack against Iran, should be swiftly, aggressively and visibly prosecuted.”
Weinstein added that the MRFF receives similar complaints about Christian eschatology — end-of-the-world theology — “whenever this shit blows up with Israel in the Middle East.”
After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, for instance, the MRFF reported a complaint about an Air Force commander who said at a briefing that, “he war between Israel and Hamas has all been foretold by the Book of Revelation in the Gospel of Jesus Christ and no-one can do anything about that.”
After 9/11, Pres. George W. Bush referred to the American “crusade” against terrorism, evoking the ancient clashes between Christian crusaders and Muslims. Bush’s language was seen as potentially inspiring Muslims to take up arms against the U.S., if it proclaimed itself a Christian army waging war on Islam.
French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine said, “One has to avoid falling into this huge trap, this monstrous trap” set by al Qaeda with the 9/11 attacks. Bush dropped the term “crusade.”
While Christian nationalism has simmered in the military for decades, Hegseth has ended even the pretense of official intolerance for it. Trump, too, has cast himself as a champion of Christian exceptionalism, embedding it within divisions of the executive branch.
As I revealed last year, Hegseth sponsors the weekly White House Bible study that preaches support for Israel.
Some Christians claim biblical prophecy requires Israel to exist for Jesus to return. But Hegseth’s Bible study leader, preacher Ralph Drollinger, teaches that the reason to support Israel is that God still blesses Israel’s allies and curses Israel’s enemies, even though Israel killed Jesus (this smear, the historic root of antisemitism, has been rejected by every major religion).
After Israel’s attack on Iran last year, Drollinger dedicated two weeks of lessons to preaching support for Israel. His lessons went out to White House cabinet members and members of Congress even as Israel, too, was lobbying for U.S. engagement.
Hegseth has also initiated monthly prayer sessions, most recently featuring Doug Wilson, the far-right Christian nationalist. He has also brought in other preachers from his personal circle, rejecting any attempt at making the meetings ecumenical.
Hegseth himself also speaks at these meetings, proselytizing his personal religious beliefs. “This is … I think, exactly where we need to be as a nation, at this moment,” Hegseth reportedly said, “in prayer, on bended knee, recognizing the providence of our lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
While the MRFF historically has been able to get the Pentagon to swat down Christian incursions into the military, the Trump administration is openly disdainful of military norms and law. It remains to be seen whether and how wholesale Christianization of the Iran war will be opposed by officials inside the Pentagon, or political and legal advocates for secular values outside it.
NCO Email to MRFF
As redacted by MRFF:From: (Active Duty Military NCO and MRFF Client’s email address withheld)
Subject: Unit combat readiness briefing and Armageddon
Date: March 2, 2026 at 1:02:53 PM MST
To: Information Weinstein <mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org></mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org>Mr. Weinstein thank you for taking my calls and the calls of some of my colleagues as to what happened earlier this morning with our combat unit.
Please protect my identity and the identities of those I’m speaking for as we discussed.
Our unit is not currently in the combat zone AOR regarding the Iranian attacks but we are in a “Ready-Support” function where we could be deployed there at any moment to join and augment the combat operations as participants.
I am a (NCO rank withheld) in our unit. This morning our commander opened up the combat readiness status briefing by urging us to not be “afraid” as to what is happening with our combat operations in Iran right now. He urged us to tell our troops that this was “all part of God’s divine plan” and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ. He said that “President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth”. He had a big grin on his face when he said all of this which made his message seem even more crazy. Our commander would probably be described as a “Christian First” supporter. He has been this way for a very long time and makes it clear that he desires all of us under him to become just like him as a Christian. But what he did this morning was so toxic and over the line that it shocked many of us in attendance at the ops readiness briefing. Besides myself I am reaching out to MRFF on behalf of 15 fellow troops. I know you asked me about the religious views of our group who has requested help from the MRFF. I can only tell you that I am Christian and at least 10 of the others are also Christians. One of the others is Jewish and one is Muslim. I don’t know the religious or non-religious status for the other three at this time.
I and my fellow troops know that it is completely wrong to have to suffer through what our commander said today. It’s not just the separation of church and state as we discussed Mr. Weinstein. It’s the fact that our commander feels as though he is fully supported and justified by the entire (combat unit’s name withheld) chain of command to inflict his Armageddon views of our attack on Iran on those of us beneath him in the chain of command.
I hope by sending this email to you that this will help expose these wrong actions which destroy morale and unit cohesion and are in violation of the oaths we swore to support the constitution.
Full Statement from MRFF President Mikey Weinstein
“Since the start of the unprovoked American and Israeli war on Iran, this past Saturday morning, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been literally inundated with desperate calls for help from military members across all branches, organizations and MOS/AFSC/SFSC designations (military occupational areas). Well over 100 calls have already come in and more keep coming.These calls have one damn thing in freaking common; our MRFF clients report the unrestricted euphoria of their commanders and command chains as to how this new “biblically-sanctioned” war is clearly the undeniable sign of the expeditious approach of the fundamentalist Christian “End Times” as vividly described in the New Testament Book of Revelation.
Many of their commanders are especially delighted with how graphic this battle will be zeroing in on how bloody all of this must become in order to fulfill and be in 100% accordance with fundamentalist Christian end of the world eschatology.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation demands that all personnel in the Department of Defense (not “War”) remember and fully internalize that the oaths they swear are not to the narcissistic, sociopathic, orange, POS tRump, nor to little Petey ‘Kegseth’ nor to Jesus Christ. On the contrary, their oath is SOLELY to the United States Constitution, which includes both a full separation of church and state mandate in the First Amendment and NO establishment of any sort of putrid ‘religious test’ in Clause 3 of Article VI.”
Any military members seeking to take advantage of their subordinates by advancing their blood-soaked, Christian nationalist wet dreams upon the flames of this latest non-Congressionally sanctioned attack against Iran, should be swiftly, aggressively and visibly prosecuted for numerous violations of the military criminal code known as the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
You know, that very same criminal code that Secretary ‘Kegseth’ is trying to prosecute Arizona Senator Mark Kelly under for simply advising military members not to obey illegal orders; you know like ordering otherwise helpless, military subordinates to acknowledge that the Iran war has been sanctioned by the fundamentalist Christian nationalist version of our Lord and Savior and the New Testament in specific order to bring about the end of the world and usher in the 1000 year reign of Jesus Christ.”
— Written by Jonathan Larsen, independent reporter.
I mentioned this a long time ago.
Fundamentalist Christians are war mongers and to be crude get a hard on killing Muslims
Its absolutely disgusting and most governments never said anything as everyone is scared of the USA
The Cold War corrupted them even further, so everything is justified in the name of national security and economic interests.
It would take the combined might of most of the world to stop them and would likely end in nuclear destruction.
Perhaps Trump will be appeased with Iran but unlikely.
Cymek said:
kii said:
From Collective Evolution’s Facebook page…
The religion based psy-op takes another step…
— Written by Jonathan Larsen, independent reporter.
I mentioned this a long time ago.
Fundamentalist Christians are war mongers and to be crude get a hard on killing Muslims
Its absolutely disgusting and most governments never said anything as everyone is scared of the USA
The Cold War corrupted them even further, so everything is justified in the name of national security and economic interests.
It would take the combined might of most of the world to stop them and would likely end in nuclear destruction.
Perhaps Trump will be appeased with Iran but unlikely.
maybe but how else do you fight jihad if not with crusade, they’re saving the world
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
kii said:
From Collective Evolution’s Facebook page…
The religion based psy-op takes another step…
— Written by Jonathan Larsen, independent reporter.
I mentioned this a long time ago.
Fundamentalist Christians are war mongers and to be crude get a hard on killing Muslims
Its absolutely disgusting and most governments never said anything as everyone is scared of the USA
The Cold War corrupted them even further, so everything is justified in the name of national security and economic interests.
It would take the combined might of most of the world to stop them and would likely end in nuclear destruction.
Perhaps Trump will be appeased with Iran but unlikely.
maybe but how else do you fight jihad if not with crusade, they’re saving the world
who mentioned the Crusades?
From: JudgeMental
ID: 2366168
Subject: re: US Politics 2026 #1
Goodo, another crusade.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/03/us-israel-iran-war-christian-rhetoric
JudgeMental said:
SCIENCE said:Cymek said:
I mentioned this a long time ago.
Fundamentalist Christians are war mongers and to be crude get a hard on killing Muslims
Its absolutely disgusting and most governments never said anything as everyone is scared of the USA
The Cold War corrupted them even further, so everything is justified in the name of national security and economic interests.
It would take the combined might of most of the world to stop them and would likely end in nuclear destruction.
Perhaps Trump will be appeased with Iran but unlikely.
maybe but how else do you fight jihad if not with crusade, they’re saving the world
who mentioned the Crusades?
From: JudgeMental
ID: 2366168
Subject: re: US Politics 2026 #1
Goodo, another crusade.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/03/us-israel-iran-war-christian-rhetoric
Oh, diddums 🙄
kii said:
JudgeMental said:
SCIENCE said:maybe but how else do you fight jihad if not with crusade, they’re saving the world
who mentioned the Crusades?
From: JudgeMental
ID: 2366168
Subject: re: US Politics 2026 #1
Goodo, another crusade.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/03/us-israel-iran-war-christian-rhetoric
Oh, diddums 🙄
LOL 😂😂
JudgeMental said:
kii said:
JudgeMental said:
who mentioned the Crusades?
From: JudgeMental
ID: 2366168
Subject: re: US Politics 2026 #1
Goodo, another crusade.https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/03/us-israel-iran-war-christian-rhetoric
Oh, diddums 🙄
LOL 😂😂
thanks for cross referencing, we apologise for the difficulty in maintaining currency in multiple related threads
SCIENCE said:
JudgeMental said:
kii said:
Oh, diddums 🙄
LOL 😂😂
thanks for cross referencing, we apologise for the difficulty in maintaining currency in multiple related threads
I just thought it interesting that you also mentioned the crusades. great minds etc.
JudgeMental said:
SCIENCE said:
JudgeMental said:
LOL 😂😂
thanks for cross referencing, we apologise for the difficulty in maintaining currency in multiple related threads
I just thought it interesting that you also mentioned the crusades. great minds etc.
well we assumed that was what Cymek was referring to with mention of historical conflicts and yes in the context of what was mentioned in the other thread but honestly we had a simplistic model of all this in our minds which was that Jesus followers never stopped fighting Muhammad followers in a frozen crusades versus jihad if yous like
Bad energy: Trump will be forced to end his reckless war very soon
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
March 4, 2026 — 7:10pm
It is more than a little careless for Donald Trump to hurl the Middle East into chaos without first filling up the US strategic petroleum reserve. Stocks are near their lowest level in 40 years.
It is even more careless to launch this war of choice when the Gulf’s oil industry lacks the pipeline infrastructure to replace dependence on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and when there is zero spare capacity in the rest of the world.
President Donald Trump promised to fill the US strategic petroleum reserve “right to the top” when he took office. Yet he failed to do so even when prices were low and the cycle was his friend.
President Donald Trump promised to fill the US strategic petroleum reserve “right to the top” when he took office. Yet he failed to do so even when prices were low and the cycle was his friend.AP
Jim Burkhard, the head of oil markets at S&P Global Energy, said the war threatens to set off the worst oil supply crisis of the modern age, outstripping even the Arab oil embargo of 1973 or the first Gulf War in 1990. Never before has Iran shut down the choke-point controlling a fifth of the world’s oil and seaborne gas supply.
“If the reduction in tanker traffic continues for a week or so it will be historic. Beyond that, it would be epochal for the oil market,” he said.
Not a single tanker of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has run the gauntlet through the strait since the war began. The cargo tracking group Vortexa warned that there is no way of replacing the supply from Qatar.
“Destruction in the LNG market will be immediate and immense,” it said.
A few oil tankers have made it through but that trickle is unlikely to continue after the Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed to “burn any ship” that moves in or out of the Gulf.
Lloyd’s List said tanker rates on the VLCC index have exploded to $US420,000 ($598,000) a day, but that is academic because the route is now uninsurable. Helima Croft, from RBC Capital, said the Middle East’s energy exports are essentially “stranded assets” until the US comes up with a plan to protect shipping.
She advised markets to expect “cascading outages” of critical supplies. This risks pushing crude prices through $US100 a barrel, catching up with the wild spike already seen in the European gas market where benchmark TTF contracts have almost doubled since mid-February.
Goldman Sachs says global LNG prices could double again from here to $US25 per million British thermal units.
Should that happen, Europe faces a ruinous bill refilling its heavily depleted gas stocks in time for next winter, with much of the windfall revenue going to US shale gas frackers and liquefaction companies. Do we gnash our teeth or scream?
The US Navy was able to protect flows through the Gulf with convoys during the “tanker war” of 1987-88 – but that was to ship crude going mostly to the US and Europe. To do so today would be to protect supplies headed for China and India.
Experts know that the precise destination of each ship scarcely matters for the global price. Oil and LNG gas are fungible commodities, subject to instant arbitrage on electronic markets. But it would be very hard for Trump to explain to his MAGA base why he has got America entangled in a war where US warships must escort tankers going to Shanghai.
The problem is larger than the Strait of Hormuz in any case. Drone attacks by Iran have forced the closure of Qatar’s LNG export terminal at Ras Laffan, as well as the Saudi oil refinery at Ras Tanura. This is a foretaste of what could come as drones change the nature of modern warfare.
The Trump administration is learning the hard way that swarms of cheap drones can quickly exhaust the US arsenal of expensive air defence interceptors, a form of asymmetric attrition known as “firing gold at plastic”. The US is reportedly wasting Patriots worth $US4 million ($5.7 million) – badly needed in other theatres – to shoot down $US20,000 Shahed-136 drones.
What we don’t know is whether Iran has been able to shield a reserve of its most destructive drones for later attacks on Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure. The dangers are obvious.
The world’s greatest concentration of oil pipelines and processing facilities lies around Abqaiq in a region with a large population of marginalised Shiite Arabs, a community with longstanding religious ties to Iranian clergy. These plants have been attacked before by Iranian proxies and sleeper cells. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may get his posthumous revenge.
It is astonishing that Trump precipitated this energy crisis while so badly prepared at home.
He promised to fill the US strategic petroleum reserve “right to the top” when he took office. Yet he failed to do so even when prices were low and the cycle was his friend.
The reserve remains heavily depleted at 415 million barrels. The US Energy Department says the minimum “safe” level in peacetime is around 500 million barrels.
Meanwhile, China has been filling its strategic reserve at a blistering pace of one million barrels a day for the last year. It has ordered commercial companies to fill their inventories as well. The country has at least 1.5 billion barrels in storage.
The giant stockpile is intended to reduce US energy leverage in a conflict over Taiwan, but it serves perfectly to cushion the blow from Trump’s Gulf war instead. Xi Jinping can comfortably tough out a global oil shock for longer than Trump can endure the political heat of exorbitant petrol prices in America.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard know this and – if they can survive – have every incentive to hunker down until Trump reaches his pain threshold. They know that he has no tolerance for oil prices anywhere near $100 a barrel in an election year, and no political tolerance for US military casualties.
They know that he launched this war without consulting Congress or making a plausible case to the American people and against the protests of allies. He did so at the behest of Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and on the basis of claims invented on the hoof and mostly in flat contradiction of earlier assessments by US intelligence agencies.
Trump said he had to act in the face of “imminent threats” to the US, but none is believable. The prize for the most daring lie goes to his negotiator Steve Witkoff, who said Iran was “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material”.
Were we not told that the Fordow nuclear site had been “obliterated” last June by 14 bunker-busting bombs?
Trump says the military onslaught will continue for four to five weeks, or longer: until all his objectives, whatever they may be, are achieved.
The biggest casualty of all is going to be the global oil and gas industry.
One moment he is exhorting Iran’s youth to go out into the streets and brave the live fire of the Basij militia. We have seen that murderous movie before, in Hungary in 1956, or with Iraq’s Marsh Arabs in the first Gulf War.
The next moment, Trump is mulling the idea of keeping the killing machine in place after all, invoking the Venezuela model of decapitation and co-option as the “perfect, perfect solution”.
Either way, the Iranian regime has agency of its own. The replacement head of the Revolutionary Guard is the hardest of hardliners, the furthest you could imagine from Venezuela’s pliant and biddable Delcy Rodríguez.
My assumption is that Trump will be forced to the table long before those four weeks are up – and perhaps within days – and will present a partial retreat as a giant victory.
For the 80 per cent of the global population living in countries that depend on net oil and gas imports, this wild episode is an unanswerable reminder of why it is folly to rely on a costly and technologically obsolete source of energy from the least stable region of the world.
China will accelerate its push for renewable and nuclear power and the total electrification of land transport. So will much of Asia. So will most of Europe, since it does not wish to depend on Trump’s LNG for a moment longer than it has to.
The biggest casualty of all is going to be the global oil and gas industry.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/bad-energy-trump-will-be-forced-to-end-his-reckless-war-very-soon-20260304-p5o78b.html
Witty Rejoinder said:
Bad energy: Trump will be forced to end his reckless war very soonAmbrose Evans-Pritchard
March 4, 2026 — 7:10pmIt is more than a little careless for Donald Trump to hurl the Middle East into chaos without first filling up the US strategic petroleum reserve. Stocks are near their lowest level in 40 years.
It is even more careless to launch this war of choice when the Gulf’s oil industry lacks the pipeline infrastructure to replace dependence on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and when there is zero spare capacity in the rest of the world.
President Donald Trump promised to fill the US strategic petroleum reserve “right to the top” when he took office. Yet he failed to do so even when prices were low and the cycle was his friend.
President Donald Trump promised to fill the US strategic petroleum reserve “right to the top” when he took office. Yet he failed to do so even when prices were low and the cycle was his friend.AP
Jim Burkhard, the head of oil markets at S&P Global Energy, said the war threatens to set off the worst oil supply crisis of the modern age, outstripping even the Arab oil embargo of 1973 or the first Gulf War in 1990. Never before has Iran shut down the choke-point controlling a fifth of the world’s oil and seaborne gas supply.“If the reduction in tanker traffic continues for a week or so it will be historic. Beyond that, it would be epochal for the oil market,” he said.
Not a single tanker of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has run the gauntlet through the strait since the war began. The cargo tracking group Vortexa warned that there is no way of replacing the supply from Qatar.
“Destruction in the LNG market will be immediate and immense,” it said.
A few oil tankers have made it through but that trickle is unlikely to continue after the Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed to “burn any ship” that moves in or out of the Gulf.
Lloyd’s List said tanker rates on the VLCC index have exploded to $US420,000 ($598,000) a day, but that is academic because the route is now uninsurable. Helima Croft, from RBC Capital, said the Middle East’s energy exports are essentially “stranded assets” until the US comes up with a plan to protect shipping.
She advised markets to expect “cascading outages” of critical supplies. This risks pushing crude prices through $US100 a barrel, catching up with the wild spike already seen in the European gas market where benchmark TTF contracts have almost doubled since mid-February.
Goldman Sachs says global LNG prices could double again from here to $US25 per million British thermal units.
Should that happen, Europe faces a ruinous bill refilling its heavily depleted gas stocks in time for next winter, with much of the windfall revenue going to US shale gas frackers and liquefaction companies. Do we gnash our teeth or scream?
The US Navy was able to protect flows through the Gulf with convoys during the “tanker war” of 1987-88 – but that was to ship crude going mostly to the US and Europe. To do so today would be to protect supplies headed for China and India.
Experts know that the precise destination of each ship scarcely matters for the global price. Oil and LNG gas are fungible commodities, subject to instant arbitrage on electronic markets. But it would be very hard for Trump to explain to his MAGA base why he has got America entangled in a war where US warships must escort tankers going to Shanghai.
The problem is larger than the Strait of Hormuz in any case. Drone attacks by Iran have forced the closure of Qatar’s LNG export terminal at Ras Laffan, as well as the Saudi oil refinery at Ras Tanura. This is a foretaste of what could come as drones change the nature of modern warfare.
The Trump administration is learning the hard way that swarms of cheap drones can quickly exhaust the US arsenal of expensive air defence interceptors, a form of asymmetric attrition known as “firing gold at plastic”. The US is reportedly wasting Patriots worth $US4 million ($5.7 million) – badly needed in other theatres – to shoot down $US20,000 Shahed-136 drones.
What we don’t know is whether Iran has been able to shield a reserve of its most destructive drones for later attacks on Saudi Arabia’s energy infrastructure. The dangers are obvious.
The world’s greatest concentration of oil pipelines and processing facilities lies around Abqaiq in a region with a large population of marginalised Shiite Arabs, a community with longstanding religious ties to Iranian clergy. These plants have been attacked before by Iranian proxies and sleeper cells. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may get his posthumous revenge.
It is astonishing that Trump precipitated this energy crisis while so badly prepared at home.
He promised to fill the US strategic petroleum reserve “right to the top” when he took office. Yet he failed to do so even when prices were low and the cycle was his friend.
The reserve remains heavily depleted at 415 million barrels. The US Energy Department says the minimum “safe” level in peacetime is around 500 million barrels.
Meanwhile, China has been filling its strategic reserve at a blistering pace of one million barrels a day for the last year. It has ordered commercial companies to fill their inventories as well. The country has at least 1.5 billion barrels in storage.
The giant stockpile is intended to reduce US energy leverage in a conflict over Taiwan, but it serves perfectly to cushion the blow from Trump’s Gulf war instead. Xi Jinping can comfortably tough out a global oil shock for longer than Trump can endure the political heat of exorbitant petrol prices in America.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard know this and – if they can survive – have every incentive to hunker down until Trump reaches his pain threshold. They know that he has no tolerance for oil prices anywhere near $100 a barrel in an election year, and no political tolerance for US military casualties.
They know that he launched this war without consulting Congress or making a plausible case to the American people and against the protests of allies. He did so at the behest of Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and on the basis of claims invented on the hoof and mostly in flat contradiction of earlier assessments by US intelligence agencies.
Trump said he had to act in the face of “imminent threats” to the US, but none is believable. The prize for the most daring lie goes to his negotiator Steve Witkoff, who said Iran was “probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material”.
Were we not told that the Fordow nuclear site had been “obliterated” last June by 14 bunker-busting bombs?
Trump says the military onslaught will continue for four to five weeks, or longer: until all his objectives, whatever they may be, are achieved.
The biggest casualty of all is going to be the global oil and gas industry.
One moment he is exhorting Iran’s youth to go out into the streets and brave the live fire of the Basij militia. We have seen that murderous movie before, in Hungary in 1956, or with Iraq’s Marsh Arabs in the first Gulf War.The next moment, Trump is mulling the idea of keeping the killing machine in place after all, invoking the Venezuela model of decapitation and co-option as the “perfect, perfect solution”.
Either way, the Iranian regime has agency of its own. The replacement head of the Revolutionary Guard is the hardest of hardliners, the furthest you could imagine from Venezuela’s pliant and biddable Delcy Rodríguez.
My assumption is that Trump will be forced to the table long before those four weeks are up – and perhaps within days – and will present a partial retreat as a giant victory.
For the 80 per cent of the global population living in countries that depend on net oil and gas imports, this wild episode is an unanswerable reminder of why it is folly to rely on a costly and technologically obsolete source of energy from the least stable region of the world.
China will accelerate its push for renewable and nuclear power and the total electrification of land transport. So will much of Asia. So will most of Europe, since it does not wish to depend on Trump’s LNG for a moment longer than it has to.
The biggest casualty of all is going to be the global oil and gas industry.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/bad-energy-trump-will-be-forced-to-end-his-reckless-war-very-soon-20260304-p5o78b.html
Thank Carps that we in WA have a domestic gas reservation policy. Australia is second behind Qatar for LNG exports. Spread between the west and east coasts.
So part of Gods plan is to control the oil.
Tau.Neutrino said:
So part of Gods plan is to control the oil.
Prices will go up
Tau.Neutrino said:
So part of Gods plan is to control the oil.
In this forum the basic existence of God tends to be hotly disputed. So discussion on “God’s plan” is a bit secondary.
party_pants said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
So part of Gods plan is to control the oil.In this forum the basic existence of God tends to be hotly disputed. So discussion on “God’s plan” is a bit secondary.
Trump’s plan.
Tau.Neutrino said:
party_pants said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
So part of Gods plan is to control the oil.In this forum the basic existence of God tends to be hotly disputed. So discussion on “God’s plan” is a bit secondary.
Trump’s plan.
In this forum, equating Trump with God is even more hotly disputed :P
party_pants said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
party_pants said:In this forum the basic existence of God tends to be hotly disputed. So discussion on “God’s plan” is a bit secondary.
Trump’s plan.
In this forum, equating Trump with God is even more hotly disputed :P
I don’t think it’s hotly disputed that Trump thinks he is God.
He likes to put himself above others.
Witty Rejoinder said:
China will accelerate its push for renewable and nuclear power and the total electrification of land transport. So will much of Asia. So will most of Europe, since it does not wish to depend on Trump’s LNG for a moment longer than it has to.
The biggest casualty of all is going to be the global oil and gas industry.
LOL
how dare they save the world the bastard bad guys, other countries aren’t allowed to do that
people should stop unsolicited mentioning other countries in this thread which is dedicated to USSA terrorist Israel and mean nasty Iran anyway
wait in this globally warmed ecological disaster modern world we shouldn’t be phasing out the fossil fuel industry and its lobby, we should be protecting it with all our strength
everyone knows that
Cracks appear in Trump’s MAGA base as leading figures criticise the Iran war
By Associated Press – 8 hours ago
For US President Donald Trump, some of the sharpest criticism he’s faced in the early days of the Iran war has come from once-loyal media figures far more accustomed to singing his praises.
Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Matt Walsh are among those to express discontent. It’s been noticed in the White House, which has been playing defence on social media and in interviews.
To be sure, these critics are the minority of the media MAGAsphere, where Fox News’ biggest stars remain cheerleaders.
But their words illustrate conservative media’s influence and how valuable it is to Trump when all runs as a well-oiled machine — and, by contrast, how much of a problem it can be if it fractures.
Much of the criticism has centred on Israel’s influence on Trump’s decision to go to war.
Carlson, the former Fox News star who has built his own independent operation, told ABC News over the weekend that the attack was “absolutely disgusting and evil”.
“It’s hard to say this, but the United States didn’t make the decision here. Benjamin Netanyahu did,” Carlson said on his podcast, referring to the Israeli prime minister.
‘No one should have to die for a foreign country’
Kelly, another former Fox anchor gone indie, said about American casualties on her show that “no one should have to die for a foreign country”.
“I don’t think those service members died for the United States,” Kelly said. “I think they died for Iran or Israel.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s remarks prior to a Capitol Hill briefing were a flashpoint. Rubio said that Trump had given the go-ahead for the operation knowing that Israel was prepared to strike and he feared retaliation from Iran against US bases in the region.
“We knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them, before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio said. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said that if the Trump administration had not acted, lawmakers would have wondered why.
Walsh, a Daily Wire host, wrote on X that Rubio was “flat out telling us that we’re in a war with Iran because Israel forced our hand. This is basically the worst possible thing he could have said.”
The Republican president told journalist Rachael Bade in an interview that he did not believe that the opinions of Carlson and Kelly are shared by his base of supporters.
“I think that MAGA is Trump,” he said. “MAGA’s not the other two.”
Republican former US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has fashioned herself as an influencer and media figure since bitterly breaking with Trump, said on Kelly’s podcast that she was furious over the US military action.
“Make America Great Again,” Greene says, “was supposed to be America first, not Israel first.”
Will Trump supporters return to the fold?
Trump is probably right to think that most of his supporters will return to the fold if they’re unhappy with the Iran attack, said Jason Zengerle, author of Hated By All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unravelling of the Conservative Mind.
Given the consistency of his views on the topic, Carlson is probably the most important of Trump’s conservative critics, Zengerle said.
“If the war does go badly, I think it strengthens the hand of someone like Tucker,” he said.
“All of this is a debate about what happens after Trump is gone anyway.”
There have been cracks in Trump’s conservative media support prior to Iran, notably with the vast and sprawling narratives around the Jeffrey Epstein report.
But this week’s criticism unleashed some startling internal vitriol. Ben Shapiro, of The Daily Wire, called Kelly “wildly inconsistent” and a coward. Elisabeth Hasselbeck denounced Kelly for her suggestion that American servicemen died for Israel.
“How dare you?” Hasselbeck said Tuesday on The View.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity said that Carlson was “not the person I knew when he was at Fox”. Kelly denounced Hannity as a supplicant who “would never say anything other than to puff Donald Trump up”.
It’s worth remembering that most of what readers and viewers are seeing in conservative media supports Trump.
Howard Polskin, publisher of The Righting newsletter, estimated Tuesday that about 95 per cent of what he’s monitored on websites is behind the president.
“Trump Stands Tall on Iran,” headlined The American Spectator.
The most popular personalities on Fox News — still the top dog among conservatives — continue to be supportive. Hannity, Brian Kilmeade and Mark Levin were among the most vociferous leading up to the attack and after.
“The president has shown more courage, and this Pentagon, Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon, has executed brilliantly once again,” said Kilmeade, the Fox & Friends co-host.
“I think that MAGA gives him the benefit of the doubt, no question about it,” Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary during the early part of Trump’s first term, said on his podcast Tuesday.
“I think he’s built up a ton of credibility with the base. … Look, you’ve got PTSD from a lot of our former leaders between Iraq and Afghanistan in particular, who only know forever wars, and so I get it. But this president has proven now twice that he knows what he’s doing.”
Criticism of war rollout draws specific White House rebuke
The podcast influencers who helped to drive many young men into Trump’s camp during the 2024 campaign have been largely quiet.
Some of Walsh’s criticism this week appeared to sting so much that it drew a specific rebuke from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“So far we’ve heard that although we killed the whole Iranian regime, this was not a regime change war,” Walsh wrote on Monday.
“And although we obliterated their nuclear program, we had to do this because of their nuclear program. And although Iran was not planning any attacks on the US, they also might have been, depending on who you ask. And although we are not fighting this war to free the Iranian people, they are now free, or might be, depending on who seizes power, and we have no idea who that will be. The messaging on this thing is, to put it mildly, confused.”
Leavitt posted a lengthy response on X explaining Trump’s rationale.
“Simply put,” she wrote, “the terrorist Iranian regime would not say yes to peace”.
https://amp.9news.com.au/article/1511084d-9814-4fbb-8e86-10c358d340cb
A seven-page proposal was on the table. Then Trump learnt a tantalising fact
Michael Koziol
Updated March 5, 2026 — 5:55am
Washington: At the third round of talks between US and Iranian officials in Geneva last week – mediated by Oman – the Iranians handed over a seven-page proposal outlining the country’s future uranium enrichment needs. The Americans were not impressed.
“We joked that even though we were in Switzerland, the proposal was like Swiss cheese,” one senior Trump administration official said.
The negotiators reported back to Donald Trump that a deal with Iran was technically possible, but unlikely – especially the kind of deal the US president wanted.
“We said, ‘Look, if you want us to make an Obama-type deal, maybe an Obama-plus deal, we could probably get one done’,” the official said, referring to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated under former president Barack Obama. “It would take months … They’re basically playing games with us all over the place.”
Trump loathes Obama’s agreement and cancelled it in his first term. He regularly describes it as the worst deal ever made. The idea of signing something akin to it was never going to fly.
Especially as, according to a report published by US news site Axios on Tuesday (US time), Trump had just been told a tantalising fact. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called him on Monday, February 23, with a tip that Iran’s supreme leader and top advisers were to meet in the same location on Saturday morning.
They could all be taken out in one fell swoop.
US officials have since spoken of a limited window of opportunity to pummel the Iranian regime. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson – one of the Gang of Eight congressional leaders briefed on February 24, and directly before the attack – said there was “a narrow and unique opportunity to act, and if that window had passed, it would have been much more difficult for us to achieve the mission”.
The White House confirmed the Netanyahu tip-off on Wednesday. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was important to the timing of the strikes, though the president was independently forming the view that they were necessary.
Indeed, Trump was already receiving increasingly pessimistic reports from his top negotiators in Geneva: all-purpose special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Witkoff told Trump, and later told Fox News, the Iranians had openly boasted about having a stockpile of 460 kilograms of 60 per cent-enriched uranium, which could be enriched to weapons-grade 90 per cent in about seven to 10 days. He said that was enough for 11 nuclear bombs. They also had 1000 kilograms of 20 per cent-enriched uranium, which might take only weeks to reach military-grade.
Those claims roughly match the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) report last year that said Iran had 440.9 kilograms of highly enriched uranium on June 13, before Israel and the US launched an attack on the country’s nuclear infrastructure. Inspectors have not been able to access Iran’s facilities since that attack.
If Witkoff’s account of the talks is to be believed, it would indicate those stockpiles were not decimated by Operation Midnight Hammer, which Trump said had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Claims about the state of Iran’s nuclear program – and that it is close to having a nuclear weapon – have been ventilated for decades, with Netanyahu one of the prominent fearmongers. But is that claim accurate today?
“No,” said the director-general of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, when he appeared on CNN on Tuesday. Grossi said there was no evidence of Iran engaging in a systemic, structured program of building a nuclear weapon.
The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said on Tuesday there was no evidence of Iran engaging in a structured program of building a nuclear weapon.
The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said on Tuesday there was no evidence of Iran engaging in a structured program of building a nuclear weapon.AP
However, he said there were “serious concerns” about Iran unjustifiably amassing massive stockpiles of near-military-grade uranium, and its lack of transparency about inspections. Israel and the US might conclude there was only one reason Iran would do these things, Grossi said, but the IAEA would not speculate about intentions.
On a background briefing call with reporters, two senior Trump administration officials said Grossi’s remarks to CNN contradicted what he had told Witkoff the day before. Grossi tried to clarify his position on X.
“I have been very clear and consistent in my reports on Iran’s nuclear program: while there has been no evidence of Iran building a nuclear bomb, its large stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium and refusal to grant my inspectors full access are cause for serious concern,” he wrote.
“For these reasons, my previous reports indicate that unless and until Iran assists the IAEA in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues, the agency will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”
In other words, it is difficult to give Iran the benefit of the doubt when it is enriching uranium the way that it is.
The two US officials indicated they did not know exactly where the highly enriched uranium was located. A lot was in Isfahan, a nuclear site that was smashed in the June strikes but has been spared, so far, this time. Some might be in the Natanz facility, an official said, specifically an underground area called tunnel 216, “where we know Iranian officials have been trying to get in, even though the front door has been largely shut down”.
There was another factor that worried Witkoff and Kushner in their dealings with the Iranians: a facility called the Tehran Research Reactor, ostensibly a civilian facility making medical and industrial radioisotopes.
According to two senior Trump administration officials, Iran, in its 10-year plan, wanted to increase uranium enrichment at the TRR. But the IAEA was aware the facility already had enough nuclear fuel for seven to eight years of Iran’s needs, they said.
One official said they did some “fast math” that suggested the TRR had not been making any radioisotopes, and the fuel supply was “being stockpiled along with all the other stockpiling that had been done at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow”, another key Iranian nuclear site.
“The claim they were using a research reactor to do good for the Iranian people was a complete pretence to hide the fact that they were stockpiling there,” the official said.
In 2021, Iran announced its plans to enrich uranium to 60 per cent, ostensibly to make radiopharmaceuticals, and to activate 1000 centrifuge machines at Natanz. Centrifuges are critical to the enrichment process.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, has denied Iran wants a nuclear weapon. In recent appearances on US television networks, he said such a weapon would contravene Islam. But he refused to sacrifice the country’s enrichment program, saying it was a matter of national pride and dignity.
“As a sovereign country, we have every right to decide for ourselves, by ourselves,” he told CBS News last week. “We are not going to give it up. There is no legal reason to do that while everything is peaceful.”
Iran also has the right to a civilian nuclear program as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty – though it has been found in breach of its obligations under that agreement.
Spencer Faragasso, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Science and International Security, a think tank that advocates against the spread of nuclear weapons, said an Iran with any amount of highly enriched uranium posed a danger to the world. “No other countries in the world produce 60 per cent uranium except countries that have nuclear weapons,” he said.
Faragasso said the June strikes severely destroyed or disabled the three Iranian enrichment plants, but it was not known what happened to the uranium stockpiles, and the Iranians were clear that they wanted to rebuild their ability to enrich.
There are other facilities the think tank has been tracking – namely Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily fortified site just south of Natanz. Construction began in 2020, and Faragasso says it could be a future enrichment site: “We would hope that would get struck or hit.”
In his view, regardless of whether Iran posed an imminent threat, it was the right time to take out the regime.
“It’s a regime that murders its people. It’s a regime that funds terrorism. It’s also a regime that happens to be very weak at this exact moment,” he says. “The grand scheme of things is that the situation is not going to get easier if you wanted to strike the regime. It’s only an uphill battle.”
That argument ultimately carried the day in the White House – even if, as has become evident in the days since the first strike, there were many reasons to attack now, including the urging of the Israelis.
“It was very clear were trying to buy time,” one senior Trump administration official said. “They basically offered us a lot of political wins and concessions, but they were unwilling to give up the building blocks of what they needed to preserve to get a bomb. It was a very obvious conclusion that there was no deal to do that would have created a different long-term paradigm.”
https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/a-seven-page-proposal-was-on-the-table-then-trump-learned-a-tantalising-fact-20260304-p5o7de.html
“ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called him on Monday, February 23, with a tip that Iran’s supreme leader and top advisers were to meet in the same location on Saturday morning.
They could all be taken out in one fell swoop.”
Blimey, have they never heard of Zoom meetings?
captain_spalding said:
“ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called him on Monday, February 23, with a tip that Iran’s supreme leader and top advisers were to meet in the same location on Saturday morning.They could all be taken out in one fell swoop.”
Blimey, have they never heard of Zoom meetings?
The Iranian’s ?
They could also be anti Zoomite and well as Anti Semite
captain_spalding said:
“ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called him on Monday, February 23, with a tip that Iran’s supreme leader and top advisers were to meet in the same location on Saturday morning.They could all be taken out in one fell swoop.”
Blimey, have they never heard of Zoom meetings?
This is what happens when you shut the internet down.
LOL
The majority of the US Senate has voted to block a resolution to stop military action against Iran, effectively backing Donald Trump’s campaign in the Middle East.
SCIENCE said:
LOL
The majority of the US Senate has voted to block a resolution to stop military action against Iran, effectively backing Donald Trump’s campaign in the Middle East.
Apparently if you attack 4 Middle Eastern nations you get the 5th one free
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
LOL
The majority of the US Senate has voted to block a resolution to stop military action against Iran, effectively backing Donald Trump’s campaign in the Middle East.
Apparently if you attack 4 Middle Eastern nations you get the 5th one free
ah that explains the divide and conquer strategy, if they were all united as one then we wouldn’t be able to score that loyalty bonus, that would suck
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
LOL
The majority of the US Senate has voted to block a resolution to stop military action against Iran, effectively backing Donald Trump’s campaign in the Middle East.
Apparently if you attack 4 Middle Eastern nations you get the 5th one free
ah that explains the divide and conquer strategy, if they were all united as one then we wouldn’t be able to score that loyalty bonus, that would suck
Most members of the senate agreed with Palpatine despite knowing it was wrong
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
LOL
The majority of the US Senate has voted to block a resolution to stop military action against Iran, effectively backing Donald Trump’s campaign in the Middle East.
Apparently if you attack 4 Middle Eastern nations you get the 5th one free
ah that explains the divide and conquer strategy, if they were all united as one then we wouldn’t be able to score that loyalty bonus, that would suck
Now they will focus on the mobile Missile launches.
The sinking of the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena near the coast of Sri Lanka.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rkn9cy/the_sinking_of_the_iranian_frigate_iris_dena_near/
That’s not going anywhere except straight down.
Tau.Neutrino said:
SCIENCE said:Cymek said:
Apparently if you attack 4 Middle Eastern nations you get the 5th one free
ah that explains the divide and conquer strategy, if they were all united as one then we wouldn’t be able to score that loyalty bonus, that would suck
Now they will focus on the mobile Missile launches.
I’ve always assumed the strategy was to keep the Middle East divided as if they were cooperative with each other they’d be a force to reckon with.
Not that them cooperating with each other even if left alone would likely happen.
not sure why there’s any surprise, been pretty clear since like 1950 that if yous want to justify something as good, say israel, and if you want to justify something as bad, say some other country
SCIENCE said:
not sure why there’s any surprise, been pretty clear since like 1950 that if yous want to justify something as good, say israel, and if you want to justify something as bad, say some other country
Perhaps it’s way out of line but its because I think they have an out for anything they do because of what happened to Jews back in WW2.
It seems that most nations that fought against tyranny over time become what they hated
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
not sure why there’s any surprise, been pretty clear since like 1950 that if yous want to justify something as good, say israel, and if you want to justify something as bad, say some other country
Perhaps it’s way out of line but its because I think they have an out for anything they do because of what happened to Jews back in WW2.
It seems that most nations that fought against tyranny over time become what they hated
nothing happened to people of some other country back in WW2, the alleged perpetrators even continue to deny it now so it didn’t happen, it’s not like there was a holocaust that can’t be denied or you’re a terrorist kind of thing
not so sure about evidence for “most” countries becoming their own enemies though, unless you have some ¿ref
this has nothing to do with other countries and they should stay out of it
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cracks appear in Trump’s MAGA base as leading figures criticise the Iran war
By Associated Press – 8 hours agoFor US President Donald Trump, some of the sharpest criticism he’s faced in the early days of the Iran war has come from once-loyal media figures far more accustomed to singing his praises.
Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Matt Walsh are among those to express discontent. It’s been noticed in the White House, which has been playing defence on social media and in interviews.
To be sure, these critics are the minority of the media MAGAsphere, where Fox News’ biggest stars remain cheerleaders.
But their words illustrate conservative media’s influence and how valuable it is to Trump when all runs as a well-oiled machine — and, by contrast, how much of a problem it can be if it fractures.
Much of the criticism has centred on Israel’s influence on Trump’s decision to go to war.
Carlson, the former Fox News star who has built his own independent operation, told ABC News over the weekend that the attack was “absolutely disgusting and evil”.
“It’s hard to say this, but the United States didn’t make the decision here. Benjamin Netanyahu did,” Carlson said on his podcast, referring to the Israeli prime minister.
‘No one should have to die for a foreign country’
Kelly, another former Fox anchor gone indie, said about American casualties on her show that “no one should have to die for a foreign country”.
“I don’t think those service members died for the United States,” Kelly said. “I think they died for Iran or Israel.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s remarks prior to a Capitol Hill briefing were a flashpoint. Rubio said that Trump had given the go-ahead for the operation knowing that Israel was prepared to strike and he feared retaliation from Iran against US bases in the region.
“We knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them, before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio said. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said that if the Trump administration had not acted, lawmakers would have wondered why.
Walsh, a Daily Wire host, wrote on X that Rubio was “flat out telling us that we’re in a war with Iran because Israel forced our hand. This is basically the worst possible thing he could have said.”
The Republican president told journalist Rachael Bade in an interview that he did not believe that the opinions of Carlson and Kelly are shared by his base of supporters.
“I think that MAGA is Trump,” he said. “MAGA’s not the other two.”
Republican former US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has fashioned herself as an influencer and media figure since bitterly breaking with Trump, said on Kelly’s podcast that she was furious over the US military action.
“Make America Great Again,” Greene says, “was supposed to be America first, not Israel first.”
Will Trump supporters return to the fold?
Trump is probably right to think that most of his supporters will return to the fold if they’re unhappy with the Iran attack, said Jason Zengerle, author of Hated By All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unravelling of the Conservative Mind.Given the consistency of his views on the topic, Carlson is probably the most important of Trump’s conservative critics, Zengerle said.
“If the war does go badly, I think it strengthens the hand of someone like Tucker,” he said.
“All of this is a debate about what happens after Trump is gone anyway.”
There have been cracks in Trump’s conservative media support prior to Iran, notably with the vast and sprawling narratives around the Jeffrey Epstein report.
But this week’s criticism unleashed some startling internal vitriol. Ben Shapiro, of The Daily Wire, called Kelly “wildly inconsistent” and a coward. Elisabeth Hasselbeck denounced Kelly for her suggestion that American servicemen died for Israel.
“How dare you?” Hasselbeck said Tuesday on The View.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity said that Carlson was “not the person I knew when he was at Fox”. Kelly denounced Hannity as a supplicant who “would never say anything other than to puff Donald Trump up”.
It’s worth remembering that most of what readers and viewers are seeing in conservative media supports Trump.
Howard Polskin, publisher of The Righting newsletter, estimated Tuesday that about 95 per cent of what he’s monitored on websites is behind the president.
“Trump Stands Tall on Iran,” headlined The American Spectator.
The most popular personalities on Fox News — still the top dog among conservatives — continue to be supportive. Hannity, Brian Kilmeade and Mark Levin were among the most vociferous leading up to the attack and after.
“The president has shown more courage, and this Pentagon, Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon, has executed brilliantly once again,” said Kilmeade, the Fox & Friends co-host.
“I think that MAGA gives him the benefit of the doubt, no question about it,” Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary during the early part of Trump’s first term, said on his podcast Tuesday.
“I think he’s built up a ton of credibility with the base. … Look, you’ve got PTSD from a lot of our former leaders between Iraq and Afghanistan in particular, who only know forever wars, and so I get it. But this president has proven now twice that he knows what he’s doing.”
Criticism of war rollout draws specific White House rebuke
The podcast influencers who helped to drive many young men into Trump’s camp during the 2024 campaign have been largely quiet.Some of Walsh’s criticism this week appeared to sting so much that it drew a specific rebuke from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
“So far we’ve heard that although we killed the whole Iranian regime, this was not a regime change war,” Walsh wrote on Monday.
“And although we obliterated their nuclear program, we had to do this because of their nuclear program. And although Iran was not planning any attacks on the US, they also might have been, depending on who you ask. And although we are not fighting this war to free the Iranian people, they are now free, or might be, depending on who seizes power, and we have no idea who that will be. The messaging on this thing is, to put it mildly, confused.”
Leavitt posted a lengthy response on X explaining Trump’s rationale.
“Simply put,” she wrote, “the terrorist Iranian regime would not say yes to peace”.
https://amp.9news.com.au/article/1511084d-9814-4fbb-8e86-10c358d340cb
Thanks.
SCIENCE said:
interesting how scared these fascists are all the time
“!¡ anything we don’t like is terrorism !¡”
alleged
Witty Rejoinder said:
A seven-page proposal was on the table. Then Trump learnt a tantalising factMichael Koziol
Updated March 5, 2026 — 5:55amWashington: At the third round of talks between US and Iranian officials in Geneva last week – mediated by Oman – the Iranians handed over a seven-page proposal outlining the country’s future uranium enrichment needs. The Americans were not impressed.
“We joked that even though we were in Switzerland, the proposal was like Swiss cheese,” one senior Trump administration official said.
The negotiators reported back to Donald Trump that a deal with Iran was technically possible, but unlikely – especially the kind of deal the US president wanted.
“We said, ‘Look, if you want us to make an Obama-type deal, maybe an Obama-plus deal, we could probably get one done’,” the official said, referring to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated under former president Barack Obama. “It would take months … They’re basically playing games with us all over the place.”
Trump loathes Obama’s agreement and cancelled it in his first term. He regularly describes it as the worst deal ever made. The idea of signing something akin to it was never going to fly.
Especially as, according to a report published by US news site Axios on Tuesday (US time), Trump had just been told a tantalising fact. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had called him on Monday, February 23, with a tip that Iran’s supreme leader and top advisers were to meet in the same location on Saturday morning.
They could all be taken out in one fell swoop.
US officials have since spoken of a limited window of opportunity to pummel the Iranian regime. Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson – one of the Gang of Eight congressional leaders briefed on February 24, and directly before the attack – said there was “a narrow and unique opportunity to act, and if that window had passed, it would have been much more difficult for us to achieve the mission”.
The White House confirmed the Netanyahu tip-off on Wednesday. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said it was important to the timing of the strikes, though the president was independently forming the view that they were necessary.
Indeed, Trump was already receiving increasingly pessimistic reports from his top negotiators in Geneva: all-purpose special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Witkoff told Trump, and later told Fox News, the Iranians had openly boasted about having a stockpile of 460 kilograms of 60 per cent-enriched uranium, which could be enriched to weapons-grade 90 per cent in about seven to 10 days. He said that was enough for 11 nuclear bombs. They also had 1000 kilograms of 20 per cent-enriched uranium, which might take only weeks to reach military-grade.
Those claims roughly match the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) report last year that said Iran had 440.9 kilograms of highly enriched uranium on June 13, before Israel and the US launched an attack on the country’s nuclear infrastructure. Inspectors have not been able to access Iran’s facilities since that attack.
If Witkoff’s account of the talks is to be believed, it would indicate those stockpiles were not decimated by Operation Midnight Hammer, which Trump said had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Claims about the state of Iran’s nuclear program – and that it is close to having a nuclear weapon – have been ventilated for decades, with Netanyahu one of the prominent fearmongers. But is that claim accurate today?
“No,” said the director-general of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, when he appeared on CNN on Tuesday. Grossi said there was no evidence of Iran engaging in a systemic, structured program of building a nuclear weapon.
The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said on Tuesday there was no evidence of Iran engaging in a structured program of building a nuclear weapon.
The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said on Tuesday there was no evidence of Iran engaging in a structured program of building a nuclear weapon.AP
However, he said there were “serious concerns” about Iran unjustifiably amassing massive stockpiles of near-military-grade uranium, and its lack of transparency about inspections. Israel and the US might conclude there was only one reason Iran would do these things, Grossi said, but the IAEA would not speculate about intentions.On a background briefing call with reporters, two senior Trump administration officials said Grossi’s remarks to CNN contradicted what he had told Witkoff the day before. Grossi tried to clarify his position on X.
“I have been very clear and consistent in my reports on Iran’s nuclear program: while there has been no evidence of Iran building a nuclear bomb, its large stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium and refusal to grant my inspectors full access are cause for serious concern,” he wrote.
“For these reasons, my previous reports indicate that unless and until Iran assists the IAEA in resolving the outstanding safeguards issues, the agency will not be in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful.”
In other words, it is difficult to give Iran the benefit of the doubt when it is enriching uranium the way that it is.
The two US officials indicated they did not know exactly where the highly enriched uranium was located. A lot was in Isfahan, a nuclear site that was smashed in the June strikes but has been spared, so far, this time. Some might be in the Natanz facility, an official said, specifically an underground area called tunnel 216, “where we know Iranian officials have been trying to get in, even though the front door has been largely shut down”.
There was another factor that worried Witkoff and Kushner in their dealings with the Iranians: a facility called the Tehran Research Reactor, ostensibly a civilian facility making medical and industrial radioisotopes.
According to two senior Trump administration officials, Iran, in its 10-year plan, wanted to increase uranium enrichment at the TRR. But the IAEA was aware the facility already had enough nuclear fuel for seven to eight years of Iran’s needs, they said.
One official said they did some “fast math” that suggested the TRR had not been making any radioisotopes, and the fuel supply was “being stockpiled along with all the other stockpiling that had been done at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow”, another key Iranian nuclear site.
“The claim they were using a research reactor to do good for the Iranian people was a complete pretence to hide the fact that they were stockpiling there,” the official said.
In 2021, Iran announced its plans to enrich uranium to 60 per cent, ostensibly to make radiopharmaceuticals, and to activate 1000 centrifuge machines at Natanz. Centrifuges are critical to the enrichment process.
Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, has denied Iran wants a nuclear weapon. In recent appearances on US television networks, he said such a weapon would contravene Islam. But he refused to sacrifice the country’s enrichment program, saying it was a matter of national pride and dignity.
“As a sovereign country, we have every right to decide for ourselves, by ourselves,” he told CBS News last week. “We are not going to give it up. There is no legal reason to do that while everything is peaceful.”
Iran also has the right to a civilian nuclear program as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty – though it has been found in breach of its obligations under that agreement.
Spencer Faragasso, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Science and International Security, a think tank that advocates against the spread of nuclear weapons, said an Iran with any amount of highly enriched uranium posed a danger to the world. “No other countries in the world produce 60 per cent uranium except countries that have nuclear weapons,” he said.
Faragasso said the June strikes severely destroyed or disabled the three Iranian enrichment plants, but it was not known what happened to the uranium stockpiles, and the Iranians were clear that they wanted to rebuild their ability to enrich.
There are other facilities the think tank has been tracking – namely Pickaxe Mountain, a heavily fortified site just south of Natanz. Construction began in 2020, and Faragasso says it could be a future enrichment site: “We would hope that would get struck or hit.”
In his view, regardless of whether Iran posed an imminent threat, it was the right time to take out the regime.
“It’s a regime that murders its people. It’s a regime that funds terrorism. It’s also a regime that happens to be very weak at this exact moment,” he says. “The grand scheme of things is that the situation is not going to get easier if you wanted to strike the regime. It’s only an uphill battle.”
That argument ultimately carried the day in the White House – even if, as has become evident in the days since the first strike, there were many reasons to attack now, including the urging of the Israelis.
“It was very clear were trying to buy time,” one senior Trump administration official said. “They basically offered us a lot of political wins and concessions, but they were unwilling to give up the building blocks of what they needed to preserve to get a bomb. It was a very obvious conclusion that there was no deal to do that would have created a different long-term paradigm.”
https://www.theage.com.au/world/north-america/a-seven-page-proposal-was-on-the-table-then-trump-learned-a-tantalising-fact-20260304-p5o7de.html
Thanks for posting.
Iran navy, now smaller.
Tau.Neutrino said:
Iran navy, now smaller.
name changed to the Iswam Navy
and that’s why we call them
At least 165 of those deaths occurred during an air strike on a girls’ school in the southern town of Minab, according to Iranian state media. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US was investigating the incident. “We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that,” he said.
targets
don’t worry we’re focusing on getting people back to where they came from
wait what’s that going to involve
oh right we’re going to bomb them back into the stone age
MeidasTouch
One of the UAE’s top businessmen, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, just lashed out at Trump over the Iran War.
Here’s an excerpt, and we’ll provide the full statement below.
“For before the ink has dried on the #BoardOfPeace initiative that you announced in the name of peace and stability, we find ourselves facing a military escalation that endangers the entire region. …
Most of the funding proposed in those initiatives came from the countries of the region themselves, and from Arab Gulf countries that contributed billions of dollars on the basis of supporting stability and development. And these countries have the right to ask today: Where did this money go? And are we funding peace initiatives or funding a war that exposes us to danger?”
Here’s the full statement:
His Excellency President Donald Trump,
A direct question: Who gave you the authority to drag our region into a war with #Iran? And on what basis did you make this dangerous decision?
Did you calculate the collateral damage before pulling the trigger? And did you consider that the first to suffer from this escalation will be the countries of the region itself!
The peoples of this region have the right to ask as well: Was this your decision alone? Or did it come as a result of pressures from #Netanyahu and his government?
You have placed the countries of the #GulfCooperationCouncil and the Arab countries at the heart of a danger they did not choose. Thank God, we are strong and capable of defending ourselves, and we have armies and defenses that protect our homelands, but the question remains: Who gave you permission to turn our region into a battlefield?
For before the ink has dried on the #BoardOfPeace initiative that you announced in the name of peace and stability, we find ourselves facing a military escalation that endangers the entire region. So where did those initiatives go? And what is the fate of the commitments made in the name of peace?
Most of the funding proposed in those initiatives came from the countries of the region themselves, and from Arab Gulf countries that contributed billions of dollars on the basis of supporting stability and development. And these countries have the right to ask today: Where did this money go? And are we funding peace initiatives or funding a war that exposes us to danger?
More dangerous than that, your decision does not threaten only the peoples of the region, but also reaches the American people whom you promised peace and prosperity. And here they are today, finding themselves in a war funded from their money and taxes, with costs ranging, according to the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), between 40-65 billion dollars for direct military operations, and could reach 210 billion dollars including economic impacts and indirect losses if it lasts four to five weeks, not to mention the sacrifice of Americans themselves in a war in which they have neither camel nor she-camel.
You have even broken your promises not to get involved in wars and to focus only on America and put it at the top of your priorities, as you ordered foreign military interventions during your second term that included seven countries: Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria, Syria, Iran, and Venezuela, in addition to naval operations in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. You directed more than 658 foreign airstrikes in your first year in office, which equals the total strikes in Biden’s entire term, for which you directed your arrows of criticism for involving the United States in foreign wars.
Your Excellency the President, these numbers have severely reflected on your approval ratings among Americans, which have declined since your inauguration for the second term, by about 9% in just 400 days.
These numbers say something clear: Even within #TheUnitedStates, there is growing concern about being dragged into a new war, and about exposing the lives of Americans, their economy, and their future to unnecessary risks.
True leadership is not measured by war decisions, but by wisdom, respect for others, and pushing toward achieving peace. And if these initiatives were launched in the name of peace, then we have the right today to demand full transparency and clear accountability.
JudgeMental said:
MeidasTouch
One of the UAE’s top businessmen, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, just lashed out at Trump over the Iran War.
Here’s an excerpt, and we’ll provide the full statement below.
“For before the ink has dried on the #BoardOfPeace initiative that you announced in the name of peace and stability, we find ourselves facing a military escalation that endangers the entire region. …
sorry were they tricked, did they not realise there was potential for duplicity, why did they sign up to this dry ink initiative
JudgeMental said:
MeidasTouchOne of the UAE’s top businessmen, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, just lashed out at Trump over the Iran War.
Here’s an excerpt, and we’ll provide the full statement below.
“For before the ink has dried on the #BoardOfPeace initiative that you announced in the name of peace and stability, we find ourselves facing a military escalation that endangers the entire region. …
Most of the funding proposed in those initiatives came from the countries of the region themselves, and from Arab Gulf countries that contributed billions of dollars on the basis of supporting stability and development. And these countries have the right to ask today: Where did this money go? And are we funding peace initiatives or funding a war that exposes us to danger?”
Here’s the full statement:
His Excellency President Donald Trump,
A direct question: Who gave you the authority to drag our region into a war with #Iran? And on what basis did you make this dangerous decision?
Did you calculate the collateral damage before pulling the trigger? And did you consider that the first to suffer from this escalation will be the countries of the region itself!
The peoples of this region have the right to ask as well: Was this your decision alone? Or did it come as a result of pressures from #Netanyahu and his government?
You have placed the countries of the #GulfCooperationCouncil and the Arab countries at the heart of a danger they did not choose. Thank God, we are strong and capable of defending ourselves, and we have armies and defenses that protect our homelands, but the question remains: Who gave you permission to turn our region into a battlefield?
For before the ink has dried on the #BoardOfPeace initiative that you announced in the name of peace and stability, we find ourselves facing a military escalation that endangers the entire region. So where did those initiatives go? And what is the fate of the commitments made in the name of peace?
Most of the funding proposed in those initiatives came from the countries of the region themselves, and from Arab Gulf countries that contributed billions of dollars on the basis of supporting stability and development. And these countries have the right to ask today: Where did this money go? And are we funding peace initiatives or funding a war that exposes us to danger?
More dangerous than that, your decision does not threaten only the peoples of the region, but also reaches the American people whom you promised peace and prosperity. And here they are today, finding themselves in a war funded from their money and taxes, with costs ranging, according to the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), between 40-65 billion dollars for direct military operations, and could reach 210 billion dollars including economic impacts and indirect losses if it lasts four to five weeks, not to mention the sacrifice of Americans themselves in a war in which they have neither camel nor she-camel.
You have even broken your promises not to get involved in wars and to focus only on America and put it at the top of your priorities, as you ordered foreign military interventions during your second term that included seven countries: Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria, Syria, Iran, and Venezuela, in addition to naval operations in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. You directed more than 658 foreign airstrikes in your first year in office, which equals the total strikes in Biden’s entire term, for which you directed your arrows of criticism for involving the United States in foreign wars.
Your Excellency the President, these numbers have severely reflected on your approval ratings among Americans, which have declined since your inauguration for the second term, by about 9% in just 400 days.
These numbers say something clear: Even within #TheUnitedStates, there is growing concern about being dragged into a new war, and about exposing the lives of Americans, their economy, and their future to unnecessary risks.
True leadership is not measured by war decisions, but by wisdom, respect for others, and pushing toward achieving peace. And if these initiatives were launched in the name of peace, then we have the right today to demand full transparency and clear accountability.
There’s someone who will not be invited to DJT’s Christmas bash. He (and probably his country) will likely get bashed in some other way, though.
Israeli ambassador says it’s ‘mind-boggling’ to question legal basis for war on Iran
Israel’s new ambassador says Australia was on the “right side of history” by backing strikes against Iran as he warned against calls for a ceasefire
…
Do you know what else is mindboggling? It’s quite the list…
Witty Rejoinder said:
Israeli ambassador says it’s ‘mind-boggling’ to question legal basis for war on IranIsrael’s new ambassador says Australia was on the “right side of history” by backing strikes against Iran as he warned against calls for a ceasefire
…
Do you know what else is mindboggling? It’s quite the list…
Israel could have the worry of dirty bombs launched at the time, that might make them boggle
awkward
The prime minister has confirmed three Royal Australian Navy personnel were on board a US submarine that sank an Iranian warship earlier this week. But Anthony Albanese insisted they sat out the operation to sink the IRIS Dena, saying Australian military personnel did not “participate in any offensive action” against Iran.
SCIENCE said:
awkward
The prime minister has confirmed three Royal Australian Navy personnel were on board a US submarine that sank an Iranian warship earlier this week. But Anthony Albanese insisted they sat out the operation to sink the IRIS Dena, saying Australian military personnel did not “participate in any offensive action” against Iran.
All three were hitting the head when they attacked
SCIENCE said:
awkward
The prime minister has confirmed three Royal Australian Navy personnel were on board a US submarine that sank an Iranian warship earlier this week. But Anthony Albanese insisted they sat out the operation to sink the IRIS Dena, saying Australian military personnel did not “participate in any offensive action” against Iran.
Pants on fire.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:awkward
The prime minister has confirmed three Royal Australian Navy personnel were on board a US submarine that sank an Iranian warship earlier this week. But Anthony Albanese insisted they sat out the operation to sink the IRIS Dena, saying Australian military personnel did not “participate in any offensive action” against Iran.
All three were hitting the head when they attacked
More likely in some obscure compartment, trying to knock up some home brew on a ‘dry’ US Navy vessel.
One of the UAE’s top businessmen, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, just lashed out at Trump over the Iran War.
His Excellency President Donald Trump,
A direct question: Who gave you the authority to drag our region into a war with #Iran? And on what basis did you make this dangerous decision?
Did you calculate the collateral damage before pulling the trigger? And did you consider that the first to suffer from this escalation will be the countries of the region itself!
The peoples of this region have the right to ask as well: Was this your decision alone? Or did it come as a result of pressures from #Netanyahu and his government?
You have placed the countries of the #GulfCooperationCouncil and the Arab countries at the heart of a danger they did not choose. Thank God, we are strong and capable of defending ourselves, and we have armies and defenses that protect our homelands, but the question remains: Who gave you permission to turn our region into a battlefield?
For before the ink has dried on the #BoardOfPeace initiative that you announced in the name of peace and stability, we find ourselves facing a military escalation that endangers the entire region. So where did those initiatives go? And what is the fate of the commitments made in the name of peace?
Most of the funding proposed in those initiatives came from the countries of the region themselves, and from Arab Gulf countries that contributed billions of dollars on the basis of supporting stability and development. And these countries have the right to ask today: Where did this money go? And are we funding peace initiatives or funding a war that exposes us to danger?
More dangerous than that, your decision does not threaten only the peoples of the region, but also reaches the American people whom you promised peace and prosperity. And here they are today, finding themselves in a war funded from their money and taxes, with costs ranging, according to the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), between 40-65 billion dollars for direct military operations, and could reach 210 billion dollars including economic impacts and indirect losses if it lasts four to five weeks, not to mention the sacrifice of Americans themselves in a war in which they have neither camel nor she-camel.
You have even broken your promises not to get involved in wars and to focus only on America and put it at the top of your priorities, as you ordered foreign military interventions during your second term that included seven countries: Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria, Syria, Iran, and Venezuela, in addition to naval operations in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. You directed more than 658 foreign airstrikes in your first year in office, which equals the total strikes in Biden’s entire term, for which you directed your arrows of criticism for involving the United States in foreign wars.
Your Excellency the President, these numbers have severely reflected on your approval ratings among Americans, which have declined since your inauguration for the second term, by about 9% in just 400 days.
These numbers say something clear: Even within #TheUnitedStates, there is growing concern about being dragged into a new war, and about exposing the lives of Americans, their economy, and their future to unnecessary risks.
True leadership is not measured by war decisions, but by wisdom, respect for others, and pushing toward achieving peace. And if these initiatives were launched in the name of peace, then we have the right today to demand full transparency and clear accountability.
kii said:
One of the UAE’s top businessmen, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, just lashed out at Trump over the Iran War.
Well said…
furious said:
kii said:
One of the UAE’s top businessmen, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, just lashed out at Trump over the Iran War.
Well said…
But, what’s the alternative?
Release all of the Epstein files?
Never!
captain_spalding said:
furious said:
kii said:
One of the UAE’s top businessmen, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, just lashed out at Trump over the Iran War.
Well said…
But, what’s the alternative?
Release all of the Epstein files?
Never!
that’s why we’re adequately convinced that it’s not just kkk pushing to keep geopolitical conflict stoked
furious said:
kii said:
One of the UAE’s top businessmen, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, just lashed out at Trump over the Iran War.
Well said…
Thank you.
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:furious said:kii said:Michael V said:SCIENCE said:JudgeMental said:MeidasTouch
One of the UAE’s top businessmen, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, just lashed out at Trump over the Iran War.
Here’s an excerpt, and we’ll provide the full statement below.
“For before the ink has dried on the #BoardOfPeace initiative that you announced in the name of peace and stability, we find ourselves facing a military escalation that endangers the entire region. …
Most of the funding proposed in those initiatives came from the countries of the region themselves, and from Arab Gulf countries that contributed billions of dollars on the basis of supporting stability and development. And these countries have the right to ask today: Where did this money go? And are we funding peace initiatives or funding a war that exposes us to danger?”
Here’s the full statement:
His Excellency President Donald Trump,
A direct question: Who gave you the authority to drag our region into a war with #Iran? And on what basis did you make this dangerous decision?
Did you calculate the collateral damage before pulling the trigger? And did you consider that the first to suffer from this escalation will be the countries of the region itself!
The peoples of this region have the right to ask as well: Was this your decision alone? Or did it come as a result of pressures from #Netanyahu and his government?
You have placed the countries of the #GulfCooperationCouncil and the Arab countries at the heart of a danger they did not choose. Thank God, we are strong and capable of defending ourselves, and we have armies and defenses that protect our homelands, but the question remains: Who gave you permission to turn our region into a battlefield?
For before the ink has dried on the #BoardOfPeace initiative that you announced in the name of peace and stability, we find ourselves facing a military escalation that endangers the entire region. So where did those initiatives go? And what is the fate of the commitments made in the name of peace?
Most of the funding proposed in those initiatives came from the countries of the region themselves, and from Arab Gulf countries that contributed billions of dollars on the basis of supporting stability and development. And these countries have the right to ask today: Where did this money go? And are we funding peace initiatives or funding a war that exposes us to danger?
More dangerous than that, your decision does not threaten only the peoples of the region, but also reaches the American people whom you promised peace and prosperity. And here they are today, finding themselves in a war funded from their money and taxes, with costs ranging, according to the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), between 40-65 billion dollars for direct military operations, and could reach 210 billion dollars including economic impacts and indirect losses if it lasts four to five weeks, not to mention the sacrifice of Americans themselves in a war in which they have neither camel nor she-camel.
You have even broken your promises not to get involved in wars and to focus only on America and put it at the top of your priorities, as you ordered foreign military interventions during your second term that included seven countries: Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria, Syria, Iran, and Venezuela, in addition to naval operations in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. You directed more than 658 foreign airstrikes in your first year in office, which equals the total strikes in Biden’s entire term, for which you directed your arrows of criticism for involving the United States in foreign wars.
Your Excellency the President, these numbers have severely reflected on your approval ratings among Americans, which have declined since your inauguration for the second term, by about 9% in just 400 days.
These numbers say something clear: Even within #TheUnitedStates, there is growing concern about being dragged into a new war, and about exposing the lives of Americans, their economy, and their future to unnecessary risks.
True leadership is not measured by war decisions, but by wisdom, respect for others, and pushing toward achieving peace. And if these initiatives were launched in the name of peace, then we have the right today to demand full transparency and clear accountability.
sorry were they tricked, did they not realise there was potential for duplicity, why did they sign up to this dry ink initiative
There’s someone who will not be invited to DJT’s Christmas bash. He (and probably his country) will likely get bashed in some other way, though.
One of the UAE’s top businessmen, Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, just lashed out at Trump over the Iran War.
His Excellency President Donald Trump,
A direct question: Who gave you the authority to drag our region into a war with #Iran? And on what basis did you make this dangerous decision?
Did you calculate the collateral damage before pulling the trigger? And did you consider that the first to suffer from this escalation will be the countries of the region itself!
The peoples of this region have the right to ask as well: Was this your decision alone? Or did it come as a result of pressures from #Netanyahu and his government?
You have placed the countries of the #GulfCooperationCouncil and the Arab countries at the heart of a danger they did not choose. Thank God, we are strong and capable of defending ourselves, and we have armies and defenses that protect our homelands, but the question remains: Who gave you permission to turn our region into a battlefield?
For before the ink has dried on the #BoardOfPeace initiative that you announced in the name of peace and stability, we find ourselves facing a military escalation that endangers the entire region. So where did those initiatives go? And what is the fate of the commitments made in the name of peace?
Most of the funding proposed in those initiatives came from the countries of the region themselves, and from Arab Gulf countries that contributed billions of dollars on the basis of supporting stability and development. And these countries have the right to ask today: Where did this money go? And are we funding peace initiatives or funding a war that exposes us to danger?
More dangerous than that, your decision does not threaten only the peoples of the region, but also reaches the American people whom you promised peace and prosperity. And here they are today, finding themselves in a war funded from their money and taxes, with costs ranging, according to the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), between 40-65 billion dollars for direct military operations, and could reach 210 billion dollars including economic impacts and indirect losses if it lasts four to five weeks, not to mention the sacrifice of Americans themselves in a war in which they have neither camel nor she-camel.
You have even broken your promises not to get involved in wars and to focus only on America and put it at the top of your priorities, as you ordered foreign military interventions during your second term that included seven countries: Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria, Syria, Iran, and Venezuela, in addition to naval operations in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. You directed more than 658 foreign airstrikes in your first year in office, which equals the total strikes in Biden’s entire term, for which you directed your arrows of criticism for involving the United States in foreign wars.
Your Excellency the President, these numbers have severely reflected on your approval ratings among Americans, which have declined since your inauguration for the second term, by about 9% in just 400 days.
These numbers say something clear: Even within #TheUnitedStates, there is growing concern about being dragged into a new war, and about exposing the lives of Americans, their economy, and their future to unnecessary risks.
True leadership is not measured by war decisions, but by wisdom, respect for others, and pushing toward achieving peace. And if these initiatives were launched in the name of peace, then we have the right today to demand full transparency and clear accountability.
Well said…
But, what’s the alternative?
Release all of the Epstein files?
Never!
that’s why we’re adequately convinced that it’s not just kkk pushing to keep geopolitical conflict stoked
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
captain_spalding said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
awkward
The prime minister has confirmed three Royal Australian Navy personnel were on board a US submarine that sank an Iranian warship earlier this week. But Anthony Albanese insisted they sat out the operation to sink the IRIS Dena, saying Australian military personnel did not “participate in any offensive action” against Iran.
All three were hitting the head when they attacked
More likely in some obscure compartment, trying to knock up some home brew on a ‘dry’ US Navy vessel.
alleged
IRIS Dena may have been unarmed when it was attacked. According to strategic affairs expert Dr. Brahma Cheney, the “peace protocol” of the Milan exercises required ships to carry little or no munitions. According to the Iranian Ambassador to India, the Dena was “unarmed and in a regular maneuver at sea.”
who cares, they’re still terrorists
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
Cymek said:
All three were hitting the head when they attacked
More likely in some obscure compartment, trying to knock up some home brew on a ‘dry’ US Navy vessel.
alleged
IRIS Dena may have been unarmed when it was attacked. According to strategic affairs expert Dr. Brahma Cheney, the “peace protocol” of the Milan exercises required ships to carry little or no munitions. According to the Iranian Ambassador to India, the Dena was “unarmed and in a regular maneuver at sea.”
who cares, they’re still terrorists
further
COLOMBO (News1st); Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced that the government has decided to formally take charge of the Iranian vessel Iris Bushehr and its crew, following days of discussions with relevant authorities, diplomatic missions and the ship’s captain.
The President revealed that the vessel, reported to Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 4th of this month, had requested permission to enter a Sri Lankan port either on the 4th or 5th. He emphasised that Sri Lanka, as a neutral state, must manage such situations in line with international conventions, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
He noted that this was not a routine situation, as the ship belongs to one party of an ongoing conflict, requiring Sri Lanka to proceed strictly according to international obligations. “We cannot act hastily. We must work based on international agreements and commitments. Both parties need to reach an understanding,” the President said.
According to him, Sri Lankan authorities held continuous discussions with the crew, the ship’s captain, and the Iranian Embassy, which had kept the Iranian government informed throughout the process.
Following these talks, Sri Lanka proposed to take the crew and vessel under its care, subject to agreed procedures and established conventions.
President Dissanayake confirmed that a common understanding had been reached regarding the safe removal of crew members and the placement of the vessel. Due to commercial sensitivities, he explained that Colombo Port could not be used.
Although the vessel remained near the Colombo Port area, the President underscored that Colombo is the country’s primary commercial harbour, and detaining such a vessel there could disrupt the maritime industry. He stated that some shipping lines had already raised concerns, including the possibility of increased insurance premiums.
As a result, the government decided not to bring Iris Bushehr into Colombo Port. Instead, the vessel will be taken to the Trincomalee Port area. Before that move, Sri Lanka intends to transfer the crew to Colombo.
Sri Lanka Navy vessels have already approached Iris Bushehr, and the operation to offload personnel is underway. The President said that 208 individuals are prepared to be brought ashore:
53 officers
84 cadet officers
48 senior sailors
21 sailors
These 208 crew members will be transferred to Colombo using Sri Lankan naval vessels. After the crew’s evacuation, an essential team, comprising Sri Lankan naval personnel and necessary members of the ship’s crew, will jointly sail the vessel to the Trincomalee Port area.
President Dissanayake said this transfer will take place only after all required preparations are complete to ensure the safe landing of all personnel.
He affirmed that Sri Lanka has acted with clarity and consistency. “We are not biased towards any state, nor are we subordinate to any state. We act as a free and sovereign nation,” he stressed.
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
Cymek said:
All three were hitting the head when they attacked
More likely in some obscure compartment, trying to knock up some home brew on a ‘dry’ US Navy vessel.
alleged
IRIS Dena may have been unarmed when it was attacked. According to strategic affairs expert Dr. Brahma Cheney, the “peace protocol” of the Milan exercises required ships to carry little or no munitions. According to the Iranian Ambassador to India, the Dena was “unarmed and in a regular maneuver at sea.”
who cares, they’re still terrorists
Its an always changing definition, terrorists.
Anyone that inflicts terror is technically one.
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
Cymek said:
All three were hitting the head when they attacked
More likely in some obscure compartment, trying to knock up some home brew on a ‘dry’ US Navy vessel.
alleged
IRIS Dena may have been unarmed when it was attacked. According to strategic affairs expert Dr. Brahma Cheney, the “peace protocol” of the Milan exercises required ships to carry little or no munitions. According to the Iranian Ambassador to India, the Dena was “unarmed and in a regular maneuver at sea.”
who cares, they’re still terrorists
And in any case, how was the US of A supposed to know that during a special military operation?
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
maybe we should see more doctors, we feel sick again
does only seem to happen while we’re sitting reading though, being nerdy must be bad for us
Sitting still too long
Or the fact the world is a mess and can’t do anything about it
sorry we posted that following this as a cynical statement on how happy we are to be witnessing the great free USSA allegedly celebrating its heroes (with 3 Australians) sinking a supposedly unarmed ship, in perfect complement to their historical Laconia experience as linked below
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
maybe we should see more doctors, we feel sick again
does only seem to happen while we’re sitting reading though, being nerdy must be bad for us
Sitting still too long
Or the fact the world is a mess and can’t do anything about it
sorry we posted that following this as a cynical statement on how happy we are to be witnessing the great free USSA allegedly celebrating its heroes (with 3 Australians) sinking a supposedly unarmed ship, in perfect complement to their historical Laconia experience as linked below
They’re quite happily blowing up small unarmed pleasure boats in the Caribbean. I don’t think they are losing sleep over doing the same in a different ocean…
Does Iran have a stockpile of SCUD missiles hidden somewhrere?
Woodie said:
Does Iran have a stockpile of SCUD missiles hidden somewhrere?
Look around furtively
You..ah,,,,,,,,,, you want to buy one
Looks around again
Peak Warming Man said:
Woodie said:
Does Iran have a stockpile of SCUD missiles hidden somewhrere?
Look around furtively
You..ah,,,,,,,,,, you want to buy one
Looks around again
I’ll take a cuppla hundred please? Do you supply the launchers as well?
Woodie said:
Does Iran have a stockpile of SCUD missiles hidden somewhrere?
According to the electric internet, Iran has around 3,000 ballistic missiles, including SCUD variants.
Woodie said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Woodie said:
Does Iran have a stockpile of SCUD missiles hidden somewhrere?
Look around furtively
You..ah,,,,,,,,,, you want to buy one
Looks around again
I’ll take a cuppla hundred please? Do you supply the launchers as well?
OMG.
That’s an awful notion.
Michael V said:
Woodie said:
Peak Warming Man said:Look around furtively
You..ah,,,,,,,,,, you want to buy one
Looks around again
I’ll take a cuppla hundred please? Do you supply the launchers as well?
OMG.
That’s an awful notion.
It’s an old one, but a good one from 35 or so years ago, when SCUD missiles were all the rage, hey what but.
Peak Warming Man said:
Woodie said:
Does Iran have a stockpile of SCUD missiles hidden somewhrere?
Look around furtively
You..ah,,,,,,,,,, you want to buy one
Looks around again
If you do, you’d better check down the back of the cushions for loose change.
They’re old, and a bit outdated (you’d look at Iskander missiles, if you want something more fashionable), but still effective enough.
Missiles themselves go for US$1million to US$3million each, depending on the model, and the launchers will cost you about US$2million each.
captain_spalding said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Woodie said:
Does Iran have a stockpile of SCUD missiles hidden somewhrere?
Look around furtively
You..ah,,,,,,,,,, you want to buy one
Looks around again
If you do, you’d better check down the back of the cushions for loose change.
They’re old, and a bit outdated (you’d look at Iskander missiles, if you want something more fashionable), but still effective enough.
Missiles themselves go for US$1million to US$3million each, depending on the model, and the launchers will cost you about US$2million each.
we mean there’s no more boats to inherit right
furious said:
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
Sitting still too long
Or the fact the world is a mess and can’t do anything about it
sorry we posted that following this as a cynical statement on how happy we are to be witnessing the great free USSA allegedly celebrating its heroes (with 3 Australians) sinking a supposedly unarmed ship, in perfect complement to their historical Laconia experience as linked below
They’re quite happily blowing up small unarmed pleasure boats in the Caribbean. I don’t think they are losing sleep over doing the same in a different ocean…
right but at least someone can call them out on their great bravery for gunning down heavily armed hostiles right
good news ¡ the international tourist ecoterrorist class will soon put the political pressure on to stop this holy war
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2026-03-06/global-aviation-disruptions-middle-east/106406376
captain_spalding said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Woodie said:
Does Iran have a stockpile of SCUD missiles hidden somewhrere?
Look around furtively
You..ah,,,,,,,,,, you want to buy one
Looks around again
If you do, you’d better check down the back of the cushions for loose change.
They’re old, and a bit outdated (you’d look at Iskander missiles, if you want something more fashionable), but still effective enough.
Missiles themselves go for US$1million to US$3million each, depending on the model, and the launchers will cost you about US$2million each.
I wonder what cost price is
oh hey
A coalition of Iranian Kurdish groups who oppose the regime say they are preparing to enter the war and have amassed thousands of fighters near the border with Iraq. The Kurds are a large ethnic minority group that have long been seeking greater autonomy and self governance. Experts believe Kurdish ground forces alone are not enough to overthrow the Iranian regime, saying it would be a “suicide mission” without ground support from the United States.
what was that, “greater autonomy and self governance” did you say, that sounds like a recipe quite well aligned with future emperor Pahlavi’s plan for territorial integrity
Cymek said:
captain_spalding said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Look around furtively
You..ah,,,,,,,,,, you want to buy one
Looks around again
If you do, you’d better check down the back of the cushions for loose change.
They’re old, and a bit outdated (you’d look at Iskander missiles, if you want something more fashionable), but still effective enough.
Missiles themselves go for US$1million to US$3million each, depending on the model, and the launchers will cost you about US$2million each.
I wonder what cost price is
well you know there are other countries out there with plenty of industrial capacity
why buy second hand when you can get new unbranded equivalent from the oem themselves
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
captain_spalding said:
If you do, you’d better check down the back of the cushions for loose change.
They’re old, and a bit outdated (you’d look at Iskander missiles, if you want something more fashionable), but still effective enough.
Missiles themselves go for US$1million to US$3million each, depending on the model, and the launchers will cost you about US$2million each.
I wonder what cost price is
well you know there are other countries out there with plenty of industrial capacity
why buy second hand when you can get new unbranded equivalent from the oem themselves
I’m surprised, assuming they don’t already exist, why orbital weapons platforms aren’t being touted as the next best thing
Treaties mean nothing and if you could weaponise orbit you’d have a huge advantage
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:Cymek said:
I wonder what cost price is
well you know there are other countries out there with plenty of industrial capacity
why buy second hand when you can get new unbranded equivalent from the oem themselves
I’m surprised, assuming they don’t already exist, why orbital weapons platforms aren’t being touted as the next best thing
Treaties mean nothing and if you could weaponise orbit you’d have a huge advantage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty
Besides if Ukraine has taught us one thing it’s that lots and lots of cheap weapons are superior to less more expensive ones.
captain_spalding said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Woodie said:
Does Iran have a stockpile of SCUD missiles hidden somewhrere?
Look around furtively
You..ah,,,,,,,,,, you want to buy one
Looks around again
If you do, you’d better check down the back of the cushions for loose change.
They’re old, and a bit outdated (you’d look at Iskander missiles, if you want something more fashionable), but still effective enough.
Missiles themselves go for US$1million to US$3million each, depending on the model, and the launchers will cost you about US$2million each.
It is a lot of money to be chucking about.
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
Peak Warming Man said:Look around furtively
You..ah,,,,,,,,,, you want to buy one
Looks around again
If you do, you’d better check down the back of the cushions for loose change.
They’re old, and a bit outdated (you’d look at Iskander missiles, if you want something more fashionable), but still effective enough.
Missiles themselves go for US$1million to US$3million each, depending on the model, and the launchers will cost you about US$2million each.
It is a lot of money to be chucking about.
Not really. You can’t even buy a decent politician for that.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:well you know there are other countries out there with plenty of industrial capacity
why buy second hand when you can get new unbranded equivalent from the oem themselves
I’m surprised, assuming they don’t already exist, why orbital weapons platforms aren’t being touted as the next best thing
Treaties mean nothing and if you could weaponise orbit you’d have a huge advantage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty
Besides if Ukraine has taught us one thing it’s that lots and lots of cheap weapons are superior to less more expensive ones.
Yeah I was thinking cost would be enormous plus the danger of lifting weapons into orbit
Cymek said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:I’m surprised, assuming they don’t already exist, why orbital weapons platforms aren’t being touted as the next best thing
Treaties mean nothing and if you could weaponise orbit you’d have a huge advantage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty
Besides if Ukraine has taught us one thing it’s that lots and lots of cheap weapons are superior to less more expensive ones.
Yeah I was thinking cost would be enormous plus the danger of lifting weapons into orbit
you don’t think starlink is already effectively a weapon
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:If you do, you’d better check down the back of the cushions for loose change.
They’re old, and a bit outdated (you’d look at Iskander missiles, if you want something more fashionable), but still effective enough.
Missiles themselves go for US$1million to US$3million each, depending on the model, and the launchers will cost you about US$2million each.
It is a lot of money to be chucking about.
Not really. You can’t even buy a decent politician for that.
sad but true.
Those patriots they use in the iron dome thing also cost a motza.
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:It is a lot of money to be chucking about.
Not really. You can’t even buy a decent politician for that.
sad but true.
what about an indecent one
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:Not really. You can’t even buy a decent politician for that.
sad but true.
what about an indecent one
find him a Jeffery Epstein.
Cymek said:
captain_spalding said:
Peak Warming Man said:Look around furtively
You..ah,,,,,,,,,, you want to buy one
Looks around again
If you do, you’d better check down the back of the cushions for loose change.
They’re old, and a bit outdated (you’d look at Iskander missiles, if you want something more fashionable), but still effective enough.
Missiles themselves go for US$1million to US$3million each, depending on the model, and the launchers will cost you about US$2million each.
I wonder what cost price is
That pretty much is manufacture price, so what you’d actually pay would depend on quantity ordered, and the prevailing political climate (i.e. who the manufacturer wouldn’t mind seeing on the receiving end at around that time).
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:Not really. You can’t even buy a decent politician for that.
sad but true.
what about an indecent one
Ask Barnaby.
There must be a few air force chiefs still flying F-15s who are a little nervous right now
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:Not really. You can’t even buy a decent politician for that.
sad but true.
what about an indecent one
What, like Barnaby Joyce?
Witty Rejoinder said:
There must be a few air force chiefs still flying F-15s who are a little nervous right now
Ploise esplane?
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
sad but true.
what about an indecent one
What, like Barnaby Joyce?
Just wave an orange toupee at him and he’ll charge¿
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
There must be a few air force chiefs still flying F-15s who are a little nervous right now
Ploise esplane?
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:sad but true.
what about an indecent one
Ask Barnaby.
Too slow, Michael…
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:what about an indecent one
Ask Barnaby.
Too slow, Michael…
Great minds think alike.
so there were a few leaders cheering the neutralisation of terrorists and the destruction of nuclear potential and the shadow of regime change, all good, now
how do they feel about welcoming the imminent tidelike wave of asylum seekers refugees displaced persons illegal immigrants about to wash out of the gulf
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
There must be a few air force chiefs still flying F-15s who are a little nervous right now
Ploise esplane?
3 US F-15s were shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire air defence systems.
alleged
(Qatar)
The Economy Must Grow ¡
Witty Rejoinder said:
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
There must be a few air force chiefs still flying F-15s who are a little nervous right now
Ploise esplane?
3 US F-15s were shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire air defence systems.
air to air strikes not SAMs apparently.
JudgeMental said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Michael V said:Ploise esplane?
3 US F-15s were shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire air defence systems.
air to air strikes not SAMs apparently.
The Kuwaiti airforce was in the sky too?
JudgeMental said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Michael V said:Ploise esplane?
3 US F-15s were shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire air defence systems.
air to air strikes not SAMs apparently.
Kuwaiti F/A-18s I heard it was.
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:Ask Barnaby.
Too slow, Michael…
Great minds think alike.
Ta.
:)
Witty Rejoinder said:
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
There must be a few air force chiefs still flying F-15s who are a little nervous right now
Ploise esplane?
3 US F-15s were shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire air defence systems.
Why would those dudes be nervous though?
so there’s a bit of unrest starting up
why do they need to do this
The US and South Korean militaries are discussing shifting some US Patriot missile defence systems based in South Korea to be deployed in the war against Iran, according to South Korea’s foreign minister.
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Michael V said:Ploise esplane?
3 US F-15s were shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire air defence systems.
Why would those dudes be nervous though?
Witty Rejoinder said:
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:3 US F-15s were shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire air defence systems.
Why would those dudes be nervous though?
Shows the vulnerability of 40 year old jets against newer tech.
Ah, thanks.
party_pants said:
JudgeMental said:
Witty Rejoinder said:3 US F-15s were shot down by Kuwaiti friendly fire air defence systems.
air to air strikes not SAMs apparently.
Kuwaiti F/A-18s I heard it was.
F-18, singular. Took out 3 F-15s in a dubious shootdown. Maybe not so “friendly”.
Kingy said:
party_pants said:
JudgeMental said:air to air strikes not SAMs apparently.
Kuwaiti F/A-18s I heard it was.
F-18, singular. Took out 3 F-15s in a dubious shootdown. Maybe not so “friendly”.
How embarrassment, bet he was feeling a hero when he landed, down to zero soon after.
party_pants said:
Kingy said:
party_pants said:Kuwaiti F/A-18s I heard it was.
F-18, singular. Took out 3 F-15s in a dubious shootdown. Maybe not so “friendly”.
How embarrassment, bet he was feeling a hero when he landed, down to zero soon after.
He could tell himself, “Looking on the bright side, at least I shot something down.”
Bubblecar said:
party_pants said:
Kingy said:
F-18, singular. Took out 3 F-15s in a dubious shootdown. Maybe not so “friendly”.
How embarrassment, bet he was feeling a hero when he landed, down to zero soon after.
He could tell himself, “Looking on the bright side, at least I shot something down.”
worked for the Laconia thing hey
Kingy said:
The only pedos that the US government are willing to fire are torpedoes.
9/10 sadly it doesn’t fit quite as well in archaic British spelling
what a shrill
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/05/iran-war-australia-role-middle-power
hey doesn’t this sound reassuring
But – even without considering questions of AI inaccuracy and biases – the impacts are obvious to its users. One Israeli intelligence source observed of its use in the war on Gaza: “The targets never end. You have another 36,000 waiting.” Another said he spent 20 seconds assessing each target, stating: “I had zero added-value as a human, apart from being a stamp of approval.” Mass killing is eased in every sense, with further moral and emotional distancing, and reduced accountability.
SCIENCE said:
hey doesn’t this sound reassuring
But – even without considering questions of AI inaccuracy and biases – the impacts are obvious to its users. One Israeli intelligence source observed of its use in the war on Gaza: “The targets never end. You have another 36,000 waiting.” Another said he spent 20 seconds assessing each target, stating: “I had zero added-value as a human, apart from being a stamp of approval.” Mass killing is eased in every sense, with further moral and emotional distancing, and reduced accountability.
I don’t feel reassured. This is true.
Mr. Cucumber
The United States has quietly tapped Ukraine on the shoulder and asked, “Hey… pals… how do you stop these things?”
Sharhed drones aren’t elegant. They’re not cutting-edge. They’re not sleek DARPA.
They’re flying lawnmowers with explosives strapped on… cheap, ugly, mass-produced, and designed to exhaust the defender’s wallet long before the attacker’s. And that’s the genius of them.
Iran can build a Sharhed for maybe twenty to thirty thousand dollars depending on the variant. By contrast, shooting one down usually costs six figures. Every interception is a small, controlled act of economic self-harm.
Ukraine has lived inside that nightmare for years now as Russia has lobbed thousands towards civilian infrastructure and unlike the US, they didn’t have the luxury of pretending it was a temporary inconvenience. They had to innovate fast, improvise, and industrialise defence at a speed Western procurement systems physically cannot.
They figured out jammers, AI-assisted targeting, cheap ground-based interceptors, mobile anti-drone units, reprogrammed civilian tech, and a whole ecosystem of local engineering workarounds that don’t require a 400-page Pentagon bidding process.
They’ve essentially become the world leader in counter-drone warfare because necessity forced them into the PhD program nobody else wanted to enrol in. While Washington spent years pivoting away… arms, training, consultancy, all quietly dialling down, the Ukrainians were writing the new doctrine for 21st-century asymmetrical air defence in real time.
So now, as Iranian drones arc across the Middle East and land where they shouldn’t, the US has found itself behind the eight ball.
The Pentagon can no longer pretend it has all the answers. The old “America knows best” playbook doesn’t cut it when your adversary’s tech is cheap, disposable, and designed to bankrupt your response. And so, in the middle of the largest power rebalancing since the Cold War, America has had to do something it historically despises: ask for help. From Ukraine. The country half of Congress can’t even agree to keep funding.
There’s a poetic irony in that. The nation some senators sneer at as a “charity case” has become the most experienced laboratory on Earth for surviving cheap mass-produced kamikaze drones. It’s the place where military theory and battlefield necessity fused into something the West now urgently needs to understand.
Let’s hope, J.D. Vance didn’t just sit there looking like he’d lost his homework. Let’s hope he said “Thank you.”
Because whether America wants to admit it or not, in the drone war of the future, Ukraine is the more experienced partner now.
JudgeMental said:
Mr. Cucumber
The United States has quietly tapped Ukraine on the shoulder and asked, “Hey… pals… how do you stop these things?”
Sharhed drones aren’t elegant. They’re not cutting-edge. They’re not sleek DARPA.
They’re flying lawnmowers with explosives strapped on… cheap, ugly, mass-produced, and designed to exhaust the defender’s wallet long before the attacker’s. And that’s the genius of them.
Iran can build a Sharhed for maybe twenty to thirty thousand dollars depending on the variant. By contrast, shooting one down usually costs six figures. Every interception is a small, controlled act of economic self-harm.
Ukraine has lived inside that nightmare for years now as Russia has lobbed thousands towards civilian infrastructure and unlike the US, they didn’t have the luxury of pretending it was a temporary inconvenience. They had to innovate fast, improvise, and industrialise defence at a speed Western procurement systems physically cannot.
They figured out jammers, AI-assisted targeting, cheap ground-based interceptors, mobile anti-drone units, reprogrammed civilian tech, and a whole ecosystem of local engineering workarounds that don’t require a 400-page Pentagon bidding process.They’ve essentially become the world leader in counter-drone warfare because necessity forced them into the PhD program nobody else wanted to enrol in. While Washington spent years pivoting away… arms, training, consultancy, all quietly dialling down, the Ukrainians were writing the new doctrine for 21st-century asymmetrical air defence in real time.
So now, as Iranian drones arc across the Middle East and land where they shouldn’t, the US has found itself behind the eight ball.
The Pentagon can no longer pretend it has all the answers. The old “America knows best” playbook doesn’t cut it when your adversary’s tech is cheap, disposable, and designed to bankrupt your response. And so, in the middle of the largest power rebalancing since the Cold War, America has had to do something it historically despises: ask for help. From Ukraine. The country half of Congress can’t even agree to keep funding.
There’s a poetic irony in that. The nation some senators sneer at as a “charity case” has become the most experienced laboratory on Earth for surviving cheap mass-produced kamikaze drones. It’s the place where military theory and battlefield necessity fused into something the West now urgently needs to understand.
Let’s hope, J.D. Vance didn’t just sit there looking like he’d lost his homework. Let’s hope he said “Thank you.”
Because whether America wants to admit it or not, in the drone war of the future, Ukraine is the more experienced partner now.
https://www.businessinsider.com/kyiv-grandma-took-down-ussian-drone-with-jar-tomato-pickles-2022-3
disclaimer: it is alleged that the original source was a post to twitter and no further evidence was forthcoming
JudgeMental said:
Mr. CucumberThe United States has quietly tapped Ukraine on the shoulder and asked, “Hey… pals… how do you stop these things?”
Sharhed drones aren’t elegant. They’re not cutting-edge. They’re not sleek DARPA.
They’re flying lawnmowers with explosives strapped on… cheap, ugly, mass-produced, and designed to exhaust the defender’s wallet long before the attacker’s. And that’s the genius of them.
Iran can build a Sharhed for maybe twenty to thirty thousand dollars depending on the variant. By contrast, shooting one down usually costs six figures. Every interception is a small, controlled act of economic self-harm.
Ukraine has lived inside that nightmare for years now as Russia has lobbed thousands towards civilian infrastructure and unlike the US, they didn’t have the luxury of pretending it was a temporary inconvenience. They had to innovate fast, improvise, and industrialise defence at a speed Western procurement systems physically cannot.
They figured out jammers, AI-assisted targeting, cheap ground-based interceptors, mobile anti-drone units, reprogrammed civilian tech, and a whole ecosystem of local engineering workarounds that don’t require a 400-page Pentagon bidding process.They’ve essentially become the world leader in counter-drone warfare because necessity forced them into the PhD program nobody else wanted to enrol in. While Washington spent years pivoting away… arms, training, consultancy, all quietly dialling down, the Ukrainians were writing the new doctrine for 21st-century asymmetrical air defence in real time.
So now, as Iranian drones arc across the Middle East and land where they shouldn’t, the US has found itself behind the eight ball.
The Pentagon can no longer pretend it has all the answers. The old “America knows best” playbook doesn’t cut it when your adversary’s tech is cheap, disposable, and designed to bankrupt your response. And so, in the middle of the largest power rebalancing since the Cold War, America has had to do something it historically despises: ask for help. From Ukraine. The country half of Congress can’t even agree to keep funding.
There’s a poetic irony in that. The nation some senators sneer at as a “charity case” has become the most experienced laboratory on Earth for surviving cheap mass-produced kamikaze drones. It’s the place where military theory and battlefield necessity fused into something the West now urgently needs to understand.
Let’s hope, J.D. Vance didn’t just sit there looking like he’d lost his homework. Let’s hope he said “Thank you.”
Because whether America wants to admit it or not, in the drone war of the future, Ukraine is the more experienced partner now.
Ukraine should have said “Here’s the deal, You stop treating us with contempt and share what we need for our defence and then we’ll share with you”.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
hey doesn’t this sound reassuring
But – even without considering questions of AI inaccuracy and biases – the impacts are obvious to its users. One Israeli intelligence source observed of its use in the war on Gaza: “The targets never end. You have another 36,000 waiting.” Another said he spent 20 seconds assessing each target, stating: “I had zero added-value as a human, apart from being a stamp of approval.” Mass killing is eased in every sense, with further moral and emotional distancing, and reduced accountability.
I don’t feel reassured. This is true.
meanwhile
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
hey doesn’t this sound reassuring
But – even without considering questions of AI inaccuracy and biases – the impacts are obvious to its users. One Israeli intelligence source observed of its use in the war on Gaza: “The targets never end. You have another 36,000 waiting.” Another said he spent 20 seconds assessing each target, stating: “I had zero added-value as a human, apart from being a stamp of approval.” Mass killing is eased in every sense, with further moral and emotional distancing, and reduced accountability.
I don’t feel reassured. This is true.
meanwhile
Oh please.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:roughbarked said:
I don’t feel reassured. This is true.
meanwhile
Oh please.
Is that a real discussion?
I’ve never had a chat with grok, but that looks like a pretty good impersonation of a stupid human.
The Turing Test is not looking so good these days.
actually yous’re right, now that yous mention it, it reminds us of the circumference diameter ratio discussions of old
JudgeMental said:
Mr. CucumberThe United States has quietly tapped Ukraine on the shoulder and asked, “Hey… pals… how do you stop these things?”
Sharhed drones aren’t elegant. They’re not cutting-edge. They’re not sleek DARPA.
They’re flying lawnmowers with explosives strapped on… cheap, ugly, mass-produced, and designed to exhaust the defender’s wallet long before the attacker’s. And that’s the genius of them.
Iran can build a Sharhed for maybe twenty to thirty thousand dollars depending on the variant. By contrast, shooting one down usually costs six figures. Every interception is a small, controlled act of economic self-harm.
Ukraine has lived inside that nightmare for years now as Russia has lobbed thousands towards civilian infrastructure and unlike the US, they didn’t have the luxury of pretending it was a temporary inconvenience. They had to innovate fast, improvise, and industrialise defence at a speed Western procurement systems physically cannot.
They figured out jammers, AI-assisted targeting, cheap ground-based interceptors, mobile anti-drone units, reprogrammed civilian tech, and a whole ecosystem of local engineering workarounds that don’t require a 400-page Pentagon bidding process.They’ve essentially become the world leader in counter-drone warfare because necessity forced them into the PhD program nobody else wanted to enrol in. While Washington spent years pivoting away… arms, training, consultancy, all quietly dialling down, the Ukrainians were writing the new doctrine for 21st-century asymmetrical air defence in real time.
So now, as Iranian drones arc across the Middle East and land where they shouldn’t, the US has found itself behind the eight ball.
The Pentagon can no longer pretend it has all the answers. The old “America knows best” playbook doesn’t cut it when your adversary’s tech is cheap, disposable, and designed to bankrupt your response. And so, in the middle of the largest power rebalancing since the Cold War, America has had to do something it historically despises: ask for help. From Ukraine. The country half of Congress can’t even agree to keep funding.
There’s a poetic irony in that. The nation some senators sneer at as a “charity case” has become the most experienced laboratory on Earth for surviving cheap mass-produced kamikaze drones. It’s the place where military theory and battlefield necessity fused into something the West now urgently needs to understand.
Let’s hope, J.D. Vance didn’t just sit there looking like he’d lost his homework. Let’s hope he said “Thank you.”
Because whether America wants to admit it or not, in the drone war of the future, Ukraine is the more experienced partner now.
:)
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:meanwhile
Oh please.
Is that a real discussion?
I’ve never had a chat with grok, but that looks like a pretty good impersonation of a stupid human.
The Turing Test is not looking so good these days.
I don’t have faith in the internet anymore, it’s all AI rubbish now, even the weather is AI generated.
With AI weather reports it’s all hit and miss, I fondly remember the old weather reports done by proper dart throwers, who say things like “seas increasing between St. Lawrence and Double Island Point”.
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:meanwhile
Oh please.
Is that a real discussion?
I’ve never had a chat with grok, but that looks like a pretty good impersonation of a stupid human.
The Turing Test is not looking so good these days.
It’s a written version of a video experiment carried out by somebody else, a week or two ago.
Michael V said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
roughbarked said:Oh please.
Is that a real discussion?
I’ve never had a chat with grok, but that looks like a pretty good impersonation of a stupid human.
The Turing Test is not looking so good these days.
It’s a written version of a video experiment carried out by somebody else, a week or two ago.
Too slow Michael :)
The Rev Dodgson said:
Michael V said:
The Rev Dodgson said:Is that a real discussion?
I’ve never had a chat with grok, but that looks like a pretty good impersonation of a stupid human.
The Turing Test is not looking so good these days.
It’s a written version of a video experiment carried out by somebody else, a week or two ago.
Too slow Michael :)
I see that now.
The late Michael V.
JudgeMental said:
Iran can build a Sharhed for maybe twenty to thirty thousand dollars depending on the variant.
Iran’s getting taken to the cleaners there.
I reckon the local mens’ shed could knock those things up for, like, two grand each, and that’s including the cost of a slab of beer to have at the end of the day.
captain_spalding said:
JudgeMental said:Iran can build a Sharhed for maybe twenty to thirty thousand dollars depending on the variant.
Iran’s getting taken to the cleaners there.
I reckon the local mens’ shed could knock those things up for, like, two grand each, and that’s including the cost of a slab of beer to have at the end of the day.
Every shed is a mens shed in Iran.
captain_spalding said:
JudgeMental said:Iran can build a Sharhed for maybe twenty to thirty thousand dollars depending on the variant.
Iran’s getting taken to the cleaners there.
I reckon the local mens’ shed could knock those things up for, like, two grand each, and that’s including the cost of a slab of beer to have at the end of the day.
IIRC, they are powered by Chinese-made 550cc flat-four motors that cost a couple of hundred dollars each. So I’d be inclined to agree with you.
captain_spalding said:
JudgeMental said:Iran can build a Sharhed for maybe twenty to thirty thousand dollars depending on the variant.
Iran’s getting taken to the cleaners there.
I reckon the local mens’ shed could knock those things up for, like, two grand each, and that’s including the cost of a slab of beer to have at the end of the day.
I’d say it has been done before.
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
JudgeMental said:
Iran can build a Sharhed for maybe twenty to thirty thousand dollars depending on the variant.
Iran’s getting taken to the cleaners there.
I reckon the local mens’ shed could knock those things up for, like, two grand each, and that’s including the cost of a slab of beer to have at the end of the day.
I’d say it has been done before.
so Australia will easily be ready to stand up to American aggression in short order we take it
Michael V said:
captain_spalding said:
JudgeMental said:Iran can build a Sharhed for maybe twenty to thirty thousand dollars depending on the variant.
Iran’s getting taken to the cleaners there.
I reckon the local mens’ shed could knock those things up for, like, two grand each, and that’s including the cost of a slab of beer to have at the end of the day.
IIRC, they are powered by Chinese-made 550cc flat-four motors that cost a couple of hundred dollars each. So I’d be inclined to agree with you.
The internet reckons the motors cost $10-20 k each! I am pretty sure that the last time I looked, I could buy the same motors in lots of 20 for $350 each. In lots of 10,000 they’d be cheaper.
If so, China saw Iran coming…
What a tax China is collecting it this is true.
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
Iran’s getting taken to the cleaners there.
I reckon the local mens’ shed could knock those things up for, like, two grand each, and that’s including the cost of a slab of beer to have at the end of the day.
I’d say it has been done before.
so Australia will easily be ready to stand up to American aggression in short order we take it
We invented the Hills hoist. A great Victa launcher.
something we only just encountered, 10 years late we know so we apologise; we also apologise for the crude reference so please skip if you wish
it was nevertheless instructive in the psychology of all this warmongering
replace “ape” with for example “terrorist” and the reading could be the same
showing their care for the average hardworking cog
President Trump responded to rising fears of retaliation from Iran on the U.S. military, as the conflict ramps up in the Middle East. When asked during a phone call with Time magazine’s Eric Cortellessa on Wednesday about whether Americans should be concerned about a potential strike on the homeland, Trump said, “I guess.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5771126-donald-trump-us-fears-iran-retaliation/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-iran-war-retaliatory-attacks-on-us-soil-b2933551.html
SCIENCE said:
showing their care for the average hardworking cog
President Trump responded to rising fears of retaliation from Iran on the U.S. military, as the conflict ramps up in the Middle East. When asked during a phone call with Time magazine’s Eric Cortellessa on Wednesday about whether Americans should be concerned about a potential strike on the homeland, Trump said, “I guess.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5771126-donald-trump-us-fears-iran-retaliation/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-iran-war-retaliatory-attacks-on-us-soil-b2933551.html
Trump does a lot of guessing.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:showing their care for the average hardworking cog
President Trump responded to rising fears of retaliation from Iran on the U.S. military, as the conflict ramps up in the Middle East. When asked during a phone call with Time magazine’s Eric Cortellessa on Wednesday about whether Americans should be concerned about a potential strike on the homeland, Trump said, “I guess.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5771126-donald-trump-us-fears-iran-retaliation/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-iran-war-retaliatory-attacks-on-us-soil-b2933551.html
Trump does a lot of guessing.
Where’s Greenland when ya need it!!
The pizza index is up.
My guess is that something big is brewing, some say a land invasion.
I can’t imagine that any sensible general would allow that utter stupidity to go ahead, but hey, here we are already.
Kingy said:
The pizza index is up.
My guess is that something big is brewing, some say a land invasion.
I can’t imagine that any sensible general would allow that utter stupidity to go ahead, but hey, here we are already.
¿ref
Israel is the only country in the Middle East with nukes. Why aren’t we talking about that?
Watch Mehdi break down mainstream media’s biased coverage of Israel vs Iran.
*This was filmed in June last year when Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities.
As Australia becomes more integrated into the US military machine, can it avoid being dragged into war?
The US-Israel war on Iran shows once again how deadly it is to be America’s enemy – but also how very hard it is to be its friend
“No stupid rules of engagement, no nation-building quagmire, no democracy-building exercise, no politically correct wars.” This, from the United States’ secretary of war, is the conflict to which Australia now finds itself bound.
It is a war rapidly spiralling out of anyone’s control, escalating in scope and geographic spread. It is one Australia – despite government sophistry – has already been dragged into.
This week has shown yet again how deadly it is to be America’s enemy, but also how very hard it is to be America’s friend.
Allies ‘kept in the dark’
“Everyone, among the traditional US allies, is discomforted by what has happened,” Dr Lachlan Strahan, a former Australian high commissioner and author of The Curious Diplomat, tells Guardian Australia as the conflict that started with US and Israeli strikes on Iran last weekend, darkened and spread, to new countries, new regions, new theatres.
“Because it’s very clear that Trump has gone into this without a well-defined strategy about where he’s going to end up.
“It is another unpredictable, egotistical, muscular policy, which he’s kind of dropped on everyone else. And I keep on thinking what Colin Powell used to say: ‘If you break it, you own it.’”
War is chaotic, dynamic, unpredictable. Restraining any conflict is difficult, this one nigh on impossible. Retaliatory strikes have spanned the Middle East. Already, Australia may be part of this war.
The Australian government – after initially refusing to comment – has confirmed three Australian service personnel are serving on board the US nuclear-powered submarine that fired upon, and sank, an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean off Sri Lanka.
There were up to 180 people on board the Iranian frigate Dena when it was struck by an American torpedo: 32 people were pulled alive from the water, 87 bodies have been recovered.
The government insists no Australian citizens have “participated in any offensive action”, but its personnel are part of the crew that sank an Iranian ship and killed Iranian sailors.
And the Australian people did not know, and for two days were not told.
Spiny Norman said:
Israel is the only country in the Middle East with nukes. Why aren’t we talking about that?Watch Mehdi break down mainstream media’s biased coverage of Israel vs Iran.
*This was filmed in June last year when Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities.
I’m pretty sure they neither confirm nor deny that.
Remember Mordechai Vanunu. The Wikipedia article doesn’t say what his present situation is
One thing with the massive spike in oil and gas prices, the small margin above cost that Russia’s Dunny Can (Poo Tin) was making on oil and gas exports, will now be a cash flow bonanza to use for blowing up Ukraine.
Woodie said:
One thing with the massive spike in oil and gas prices, the small margin above cost that Russia’s Dunny Can (Poo Tin) was making on oil and gas exports, will now be a cash flow bonanza to use for blowing up Ukraine.
who were they exporting to
buffy said:
Spiny Norman said:
Israel is the only country in the Middle East with nukes. Why aren’t we talking about that?Watch Mehdi break down mainstream media’s biased coverage of Israel vs Iran.
*This was filmed in June last year when Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities.
I’m pretty sure they neither confirm nor deny that.
Remember Mordechai Vanunu. The Wikipedia article doesn’t say what his present situation is
Yeah. I’ve seen varying reports on how many nukes they have, but 75 seems to be about the average.
They also got South Africa to test one – the first one I guess – near a small island in the far south Atlantic Ocean.
https://youtu.be/Y5xOMO6-9dI?si=15kAmRK4G2TMCds0
SCIENCE said:
Woodie said:
One thing with the massive spike in oil and gas prices, the small margin above cost that Russia’s Dunny Can (Poo Tin) was making on oil and gas exports, will now be a cash flow bonanza to use for blowing up Ukraine.
who were they exporting to
China for one. And India I think as well. And gas pipeline into Europe.
SCIENCE said:
Woodie said:
One thing with the massive spike in oil and gas prices, the small margin above cost that Russia’s Dunny Can (Poo Tin) was making on oil and gas exports, will now be a cash flow bonanza to use for blowing up Ukraine.
who were they exporting to
At least India.
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:Woodie said:
One thing with the massive spike in oil and gas prices, the small margin above cost that Russia’s Dunny Can (Poo Tin) was making on oil and gas exports, will now be a cash flow bonanza to use for blowing up Ukraine.
who were they exporting to
At least India.
I think Aus buys a lot of oil from India.
poikilotherm said:
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:who were they exporting to
At least India.
I think Aus buys a lot of oil from India.
I think we buy a lot of “refined” products from India, which may have originated from Russian oil. Get’s around the Russian sanctions, so they reckon.
poikilotherm said:
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:who were they exporting to
At least India.
I think Aus buys a lot of oil from India.
Pharque.
Russian oil ——-> Indian Refineries ————> Australian oil product imports.
Seems to be true. Australian petrol imported from India may have originated in Russia. Buggrit. I am subsidising Putin’s killings in Ukraine.
:(
:(
:(
TIL, thanks.
I thought we got petrol from Singaporean refineries?
Divine Angel said:
I thought we got petrol from Singaporean refineries?
Yes, but also:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
I thought we got petrol from Singaporean refineries?
Yes, but also:
Well ok then
Divine Angel said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
I thought we got petrol from Singaporean refineries?
Yes, but also:
Well ok then
I don’t think it’s OK at all. I really don’t want to be a back-door subsidiser of Putin’s murderous regime.
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
Michael V said:
Yes, but also:
Well ok then
I don’t think it’s OK at all. I really don’t want to be a back-door subsidiser of Putin’s murderous regime.
pretty sure your typical Aussie battler who needs to work and live without ridiculously overconsuming can go on with a pretty clean conscience, if you just consider the sheer scale of fascist paedophile rich white male sociopath leadership going on
maybe less so if they actually supported the rise of those arseholes to power
Divine Angel said:
We get some, but not all from there. It may go via Singapore for trading. “Singapore Light Crude” (in Singapore Dollars) is the basis of our petrol prices.
I thought we got petrol from Singaporean refineries?
sure ¿ sure
we didn’t mean it, kiss and make up, all is forgiven
SCIENCE said:
sure ¿ sure
we didn’t mean it, kiss and make up, all is forgiven
Sounds perfectly normal and rational to me. Try to split the Arab world off from Israel and the US to the point where they are no longer willing to provide material aid and bases. Not sure if it will work, but it sounds like it might be worth a go from the Iranian perspective.
Michael V said:
poikilotherm said:
Michael V said:At least India.
I think Aus buys a lot of oil from India.
Pharque.
Russian oil ——-> Indian Refineries ————> Australian oil product imports.
Seems to be true. Australian petrol imported from India may have originated in Russia. Buggrit. I am subsidising Putin’s killings in Ukraine.
:(
:(
:(
TIL, thanks.
There was a scheme running for a while that meant Russian energy exports were being sold at much reduced prices so Russia didn’t get as much for their exports as they otherwise would have.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Michael V said:
poikilotherm said:I think Aus buys a lot of oil from India.
Pharque.
Russian oil ——-> Indian Refineries ————> Australian oil product imports.
Seems to be true. Australian petrol imported from India may have originated in Russia. Buggrit. I am subsidising Putin’s killings in Ukraine.
:(
:(
:(
TIL, thanks.
There was a scheme running for a while that meant Russian energy exports were being sold at much reduced prices so Russia didn’t get as much for their exports as they otherwise would have.
My understandment of the situation was that this price cap was enforced through shipping insurance issued by western countries. Russia have long since bypassed this pesky insurance issue by employing their so-called “shadow fleet” that operates with bogus insurance or no insurance at all. The receiving countries are all complicit of course.
party_pants said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Michael V said:Pharque.
Russian oil ——-> Indian Refineries ————> Australian oil product imports.
Seems to be true. Australian petrol imported from India may have originated in Russia. Buggrit. I am subsidising Putin’s killings in Ukraine.
:(
:(
:(
TIL, thanks.
There was a scheme running for a while that meant Russian energy exports were being sold at much reduced prices so Russia didn’t get as much for their exports as they otherwise would have.
My understandment of the situation was that this price cap was enforced through shipping insurance issued by western countries. Russia have long since bypassed this pesky insurance issue by employing their so-called “shadow fleet” that operates with bogus insurance or no insurance at all. The receiving countries are all complicit of course.
Thanks.
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:
sure ¿ sure
we didn’t mean it, kiss and make up, all is forgiven
Sounds perfectly normal and rational to me. Try to split the Arab world off from Israel and the US to the point where they are no longer willing to provide material aid and bases. Not sure if it will work, but it sounds like it might be worth a go from the Iranian perspective.
will the other countries so happily forgive the initial arbitrarily targeted lashing out
SCIENCE said:
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:
sure ¿ sure
we didn’t mean it, kiss and make up, all is forgiven
Sounds perfectly normal and rational to me. Try to split the Arab world off from Israel and the US to the point where they are no longer willing to provide material aid and bases. Not sure if it will work, but it sounds like it might be worth a go from the Iranian perspective.
will the other countries so happily forgive the initial arbitrarily targeted lashing out
it is not a question of forgiveness, it is a question of coercion.
If Iran can stop the other countries in the Gulf from exporting their oil and gas to the outside world, then all sorts of shit is going to go down. The Gulf states won’t get any revenue because their exports are cut off, but equally they won’t get any imports either. Most of them are deserts and they import their food from abroad, paid for with their petro dollars. If the US and Israel prove incapable of defending against Iranian missiles and drones, these countries are going to come under a lot of pressure, both domestically and from China, India, Europe and even Japan and South Korea (who all rely on their oil and gas) to stop supporting the US in return for Iran letting the normal trade resume. Iran have shown they have the means to cause hurt to the Gulf states.
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:party_pants said:
Sounds perfectly normal and rational to me. Try to split the Arab world off from Israel and the US to the point where they are no longer willing to provide material aid and bases. Not sure if it will work, but it sounds like it might be worth a go from the Iranian perspective.
will the other countries so happily forgive the initial arbitrarily targeted lashing out
it is not a question of forgiveness, it is a question of coercion.
If Iran can stop the other countries in the Gulf from exporting their oil and gas to the outside world, then all sorts of shit is going to go down. The Gulf states won’t get any revenue because their exports are cut off, but equally they won’t get any imports either. Most of them are deserts and they import their food from abroad, paid for with their petro dollars. If the US and Israel prove incapable of defending against Iranian missiles and drones, these countries are going to come under a lot of pressure, both domestically and from China, India, Europe and even Japan and South Korea (who all rely on their oil and gas) to stop supporting the US in return for Iran letting the normal trade resume. Iran have shown they have the means to cause hurt to the Gulf states.
I don’t think Iran will find it that easy to keep the Straits of Hormuz closed to trade as you suggest. Their go-to method IIRC was small boats which planted explosives on tankers but I think that method would be overwhelmed by US firepower concentrated on Iranian ports where these boats originate from. I doubt Iran could deploy mines or take out ships from afar using bazookas or other handheld weaponry.
But this is all speculation on my part so we’ll just have to wait and see I guess.
Witty Rejoinder said:
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:will the other countries so happily forgive the initial arbitrarily targeted lashing out
it is not a question of forgiveness, it is a question of coercion.
If Iran can stop the other countries in the Gulf from exporting their oil and gas to the outside world, then all sorts of shit is going to go down. The Gulf states won’t get any revenue because their exports are cut off, but equally they won’t get any imports either. Most of them are deserts and they import their food from abroad, paid for with their petro dollars. If the US and Israel prove incapable of defending against Iranian missiles and drones, these countries are going to come under a lot of pressure, both domestically and from China, India, Europe and even Japan and South Korea (who all rely on their oil and gas) to stop supporting the US in return for Iran letting the normal trade resume. Iran have shown they have the means to cause hurt to the Gulf states.
I don’t think Iran will find it that easy to keep the Straits of Hormuz closed to trade as you suggest. Their go-to method IIRC was small boats which planted explosives on tankers but I think that method would be overwhelmed by US firepower concentrated on Iranian ports where these boats originate from. I doubt Iran could deploy mines or take out ships from afar using bazookas or other handheld weaponry.
But this is all speculation on my part so we’ll just have to wait and see I guess.
I think it will come down to who is willing to run the gauntlet and take the risk of possible attack. Right now all the ships are being refused insurance to even try it, and the shipowners won’t assume the risk themselves. They might also struggle to find crews willing to take the risk of injury or death. Forcing the straits and ensuring protection for all the commercial shipping is going to be a major military undertaking.
SCIENCE said:
sure ¿ sure
we didn’t mean it, kiss and make up, all is forgiven
5 hours ago:
Direct impact reported from Dubai airport after Iranian drone attack(video)
https://x.com/conflict_radar/status/2030189911450550682
#BREAKING “The UK is preparing the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment to the Middle East”
Kingy said:
#BREAKING “The UK is preparing the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment to the Middle East”
:-(
Brindabellas said:
Kingy said:#BREAKING “The UK is preparing the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment to the Middle East”
:-(
Couldn’t they just send the real one instead?
Kingy said:
#BREAKING “The UK is preparing the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier for possible deployment to the Middle East”
Meh. it won’t get to Gibraltar without blowing a boiler or bending a prop shaft.
The should rename it HMS Inforrepairs
“Thank you, sir!”, they said with tears in their eyes.
kii said:
“Thank you, sir!”, they said with tears in their eyes.
They have surrendered until they surrender.
Mixing past and future verbs there.
Spiny Norman said:
Israel is the only country in the Middle East with nukes. Why aren’t we talking about that?Watch Mehdi break down mainstream media’s biased coverage of Israel vs Iran.
*This was filmed in June last year when Israel attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Because Israel isn’t talking about their own nukes. It is Iran who can’t have them.
Tau.Neutrino said:
kii said:
“Thank you, sir!”, they said with tears in their eyes.
They have surrendered until they surrender.
Mixing past and future verbs there.
so much BS these days, i’m beginning to automatically deflect it, save the trauma of trying to find sense in it, clearly some high functioning idiots have taken over the asylum.
you’re better off reverting to making up your own interpretation of the likely truth, I mean entirely develop some original picture of what is likely nearer truth, underneath the noise of narrative manipulation, cut through the BS.
the language I see clearly has descended into crass war talk. And more troubling is how casual it has become.
the casual idiocy, what is evident about it is the impoverished thinking about thinking
and here we are
time to see if the willingness to act on human rights matches the rhetoric
speak for yourselves
US Central Command has hit back at Iran’s claim American service members have been captured. In a post on X, Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani said: “It has been reported to me that several American soldiers have been taken prisoner”. US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for CENTCOM, says no troops have been taken prisoner. “The Iranian regime is doing everything it can to peddle lies and deceive. This is yet another clear example,” he said.
What Would Happen If USA and Iran Went to War? (Military / Army Comparison)
It’s a showdown that’s been brewing for years, and 2022 is increasingly looking like the year that the war everyone has feared will finally happen. The United States vs Iran, how do the two sides stack up to each other and how would a war between the two play out?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUYScSn1-Zk
Not a very good YT channel but the timing was good.
OK we take back all our whinging and whining about war being bad and having a peaceful international rules-based order being good for some other countries
also disclaimer doesn’t seem like they factor in how evs are just more pleasant to drive or ride in but on cost considerations alone
also we’ve noticed traffic has been very nice in the past week, whether it’s stingy bastards working from home to save fuel money, or doomers avoiding the city because of fear of terrorist attacks
maybe we should start a new war in the middle east every fortnight, keep those roads like heaven, and save the planet by speeding the transition to evs
bombing azerbaijan should fix this
SCIENCE said:
OK we take back all our whinging and whining about war being bad and having a peaceful international rules-based order being good for some other countries
also disclaimer doesn’t seem like they factor in how evs are just more pleasant to drive or ride in but on cost considerations alone
also we’ve noticed traffic has been very nice in the past week, whether it’s stingy bastards working from home to save fuel money, or doomers avoiding the city because of fear of terrorist attacks
maybe we should start a new war in the middle east every fortnight, keep those roads like heaven, and save the planet by speeding the transition to evs
Wouldn’t it just be easier to make EV’s subsidised and take the diesel revate off?
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
OK we take back all our whinging and whining about war being bad and having a peaceful international rules-based order being good for some other countries
also disclaimer doesn’t seem like they factor in how evs are just more pleasant to drive or ride in but on cost considerations alone
also we’ve noticed traffic has been very nice in the past week, whether it’s stingy bastards working from home to save fuel money, or doomers avoiding the city because of fear of terrorist attacks
maybe we should start a new war in the middle east every fortnight, keep those roads like heaven, and save the planet by speeding the transition to evs
Wouldn’t it just be easier to make EV’s subsidised and take the diesel revate off?
uh you’ve already heard the fossil fuel lobby screaming for peace, we doubt they’d be happy with communist labor doing anything like that
oh apparently not just us
Greek? Cruiser defending Cyprus.
Kingy said:
Greek? Cruiser defending Cyprus.
Yes.
One of the Hellenic Navy’s Belharra/Kimon- class frigates, four of which have been ordered from French shipbuilders.
The would be the HS Kimon, commisioned only a few weeks ago, back in January. The other three are due for deliver between now and 2028.
“The UAE has struck a desalination plant in Iran -Israeli Media
Would be the first confirmed UAE strike on Iran, and follows a pattern of escalating strikes against critical water infrastructure in the Gulf region”
Kingy said:
“The UAE has struck a desalination plant in Iran -Israeli MediaWould be the first confirmed UAE strike on Iran, and follows a pattern of escalating strikes against critical water infrastructure in the Gulf region”
Pretty low act.
Peak Warming Man said:
Kingy said:
“The UAE has struck a desalination plant in Iran -Israeli MediaWould be the first confirmed UAE strike on Iran, and follows a pattern of escalating strikes against critical water infrastructure in the Gulf region”
Pretty low act.
So is turning an oil refinery to a pillar of flames. This sort of thing is the last thing this earth needs.
Peak Warming Man said:
Kingy said:
“The UAE has struck a desalination plant in Iran -Israeli MediaWould be the first confirmed UAE strike on Iran, and follows a pattern of escalating strikes against critical water infrastructure in the Gulf region”
Pretty low act.
Not sure that actually happened, not by UAE anyway
It could be trump-induced hysteria
dv said:
still the case isn’t it, quite interesting that something like this floats to the surface and still half the world is like, yep we love to do business with those dudes, it’s almost as if the others are in on it as well, nah who would get the fuck away from it as far as they can, as long as there’s fresh meat to be had money to be made the possibility of reasonable doubt it’s all good
don’t worry someone will come along and point out that doing children has nothing to do with doing business or doing politics or doing diplomacy so there’s no problem
SCIENCE said:
dv said:
still the case isn’t it, quite interesting that something like this floats to the surface and still half the world is like, yep we love to do business with those dudes, it’s almost as if the others are in on it as well, nah who would get the fuck away from it as far as they can, as long as
there’s fresh meat to be hadmoney to be madethe possibility of reasonable doubt it’s all gooddon’t worry someone will come along and point out that doing children has nothing to do with doing business or doing politics or doing diplomacy so there’s no problem
All we can do is say that we’d love you to incarcerate your president and his cronies.
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
OK we take back all our whinging and whining about war being bad and having a peaceful international rules-based order being good for some other countries
also disclaimer doesn’t seem like they factor in how evs are just more pleasant to drive or ride in but on cost considerations alone
also we’ve noticed traffic has been very nice in the past week, whether it’s stingy bastards working from home to save fuel money, or doomers avoiding the city because of fear of terrorist attacks
maybe we should start a new war in the middle east every fortnight, keep those roads like heaven, and save the planet by speeding the transition to evs
Wouldn’t it just be easier to make EV’s subsidised and take the diesel revate off?
uh you’ve already heard the fossil fuel lobby screaming for peace, we doubt they’d be happy with communist labor doing anything like that
oh apparently not just us
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-07/iran-war-pushes-oil-price-above-90-dollars/106427656
ahahahahahahaha
By close of trade in New York, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Futures had surged 12 per cent, or $90.90 per barrel. Global benchmark Brent rallied 8 per cent, to settle at $92.69 per barrel. Mr Khoury said “pray we don’t get there” but has warned the price of unleaded at the pump could soar as Tapis — the benchmark for Australian petrol prices — pushes past $133 per barrel. The roughly 35 per cent increase in the WTI crude oil price this week marks the biggest weekly gain in the history of the futures contract dating to 1983. Brent’s weekly gain is the largest since April 2020 which was during the COVID-19 emergency. “We are marching closer each day to $100 for a barrel of oil,” said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Investment Management. “One, higher commodity prices, with oil up to $150/barrel in case of a prolonged war, and supply disruption could raise household energy costs and manufacturing input costs, while reducing households demand for discretionary consumption.”
them slow roll renewables looking pretty clever now eh
transition said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Kingy said:
“The UAE has struck a desalination plant in Iran -Israeli Media
Would be the first confirmed UAE strike on Iran, and follows a pattern of escalating strikes against critical water infrastructure in the Gulf region”
Pretty low act.
Not sure that actually happened, not by UAE anyway
It could be trump-induced hysteria
aha now who really knows but
UAE official Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi quickly responded, flatly calling the claim “fake news”, adding: “When we do something, we have the courage to announce it.”
that’s right
fair to say it could be useful to have more leadership with guts, instead of the capabilities of great free USSA which seem to be predominantly if not entirely sneak attacks and sucker punches
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-09/iran-israel-war-daily-news-briefing-laura-tingle/106430028
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Wouldn’t it just be easier to make EV’s subsidised and take the diesel revate off?
uh you’ve already heard the fossil fuel lobby screaming for peace, we doubt they’d be happy with communist labor doing anything like that
oh apparently not just us
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-07/iran-war-pushes-oil-price-above-90-dollars/106427656
ahahahahahahaha
By close of trade in New York, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Futures had surged 12 per cent, or $90.90 per barrel. Global benchmark Brent rallied 8 per cent, to settle at $92.69 per barrel. Mr Khoury said “pray we don’t get there” but has warned the price of unleaded at the pump could soar as Tapis — the benchmark for Australian petrol prices — pushes past $133 per barrel. The roughly 35 per cent increase in the WTI crude oil price this week marks the biggest weekly gain in the history of the futures contract dating to 1983. Brent’s weekly gain is the largest since April 2020 which was during the COVID-19 emergency. “We are marching closer each day to $100 for a barrel of oil,” said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Investment Management. “One, higher commodity prices, with oil up to $150/barrel in case of a prolonged war, and supply disruption could raise household energy costs and manufacturing input costs, while reducing households demand for discretionary consumption.”
them slow roll renewables looking pretty clever now eh
meanwhile some countries are flaunting their riches and just burning money for fun
alleged
who needs water when you have liquid gold
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
uh you’ve already heard the fossil fuel lobby screaming for peace, we doubt they’d be happy with communist labor doing anything like that
oh apparently not just us
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-07/iran-war-pushes-oil-price-above-90-dollars/106427656
ahahahahahahaha
By close of trade in New York, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Futures had surged 12 per cent, or $90.90 per barrel. Global benchmark Brent rallied 8 per cent, to settle at $92.69 per barrel. Mr Khoury said “pray we don’t get there” but has warned the price of unleaded at the pump could soar as Tapis — the benchmark for Australian petrol prices — pushes past $133 per barrel. The roughly 35 per cent increase in the WTI crude oil price this week marks the biggest weekly gain in the history of the futures contract dating to 1983. Brent’s weekly gain is the largest since April 2020 which was during the COVID-19 emergency. “We are marching closer each day to $100 for a barrel of oil,” said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Investment Management. “One, higher commodity prices, with oil up to $150/barrel in case of a prolonged war, and supply disruption could raise household energy costs and manufacturing input costs, while reducing households demand for discretionary consumption.”
them slow roll renewables looking pretty clever now eh
meanwhile some countries are flaunting their riches and just burning money for fun
alleged
who needs water when you have liquid gold
LOL kkk’s calling it
thankfully we converted our evs to run on toilet paper back in the SARACAIDS-CoV lockdowns
SCIENCE said:
thankfully we converted our evs to run on toilet paper back in the SARACAIDS-CoV lockdowns
Realistically petrol is extremely cheap.
Drinks are often more per litre
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:thankfully we converted our evs to run on toilet paper back in the SARACAIDS-CoV lockdowns
Realistically petrol is extremely cheap.
Drinks are often more per litre
Yeah. Milk is taken from a cow, mixed and pasteurised and up for sale a day later for $1 a litre. In a process taking weeks oil is removed from wells, transported some distance, is refined into petrol, again transported an even bigger distance with all the costs of loading and unloading from ships to trucks and finally is put up for sale for $1 a litre before tax.
Spiny Norman said:
If that is a correct representation, it appears that the Iranian outward going drones and missiles are heading for American bases. (Goodness, there are a lot of them in that area!) Are bases like embassies, little bits of the Home Country? If so, it could be said the Iranians are targetting America. They may or may not be accurate in their targetting.
buffy said:
Spiny Norman said:
If that is a correct representation, it appears that the Iranian outward going drones and missiles are heading for American bases. (Goodness, there are a lot of them in that area!) Are bases like embassies, little bits of the Home Country? If so, it could be said the Iranians are targetting America. They may or may not be accurate in their targetting.
Some of their targeting is accurate but their drones seem to wander aoout drunkenly
roughbarked said:
buffy said:
Spiny Norman said:
If that is a correct representation, it appears that the Iranian outward going drones and missiles are heading for American bases. (Goodness, there are a lot of them in that area!) Are bases like embassies, little bits of the Home Country? If so, it could be said the Iranians are targetting America. They may or may not be accurate in their targetting.
Some of their targeting is accurate but their drones seem to wander aoout drunkenly
well putting military bases in among civilians is the mark of a terrorist, it’s their own fault for breaking the international rules based law and order if they use human shields
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
buffy said:
If that is a correct representation, it appears that the Iranian outward going drones and missiles are heading for American bases. (Goodness, there are a lot of them in that area!) Are bases like embassies, little bits of the Home Country? If so, it could be said the Iranians are targetting America. They may or may not be accurate in their targetting.
Some of their targeting is accurate but their drones seem to wander aoout drunkenly
well putting military bases in among civilians is the mark of a terrorist, it’s their own fault for breaking the international rules based law and order if they use human shields
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
buffy said:
If that is a correct representation, it appears that the Iranian outward going drones and missiles are heading for American bases. (Goodness, there are a lot of them in that area!) Are bases like embassies, little bits of the Home Country? If so, it could be said the Iranians are targetting America. They may or may not be accurate in their targetting.
Some of their targeting is accurate but their drones seem to wander aoout drunkenly
well putting military bases in among civilians is the mark of a terrorist, it’s their own fault for breaking the international rules based law and order if they use human shields
Impudent infidels.
SCIENCE said:
transition said:
roughbarked said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Kingy said:
SCIENCE said:
furious said:
SCIENCE said:
sorry we posted that following this as a cynical statement on how happy we are to be witnessing the great free USSA allegedly celebrating its heroes (with 3 Australians) sinking a supposedly unarmed ship, in perfect complement to their historical Laconia experience as linked below
They’re quite happily blowing up small unarmed pleasure boats in the Caribbean. I don’t think they are losing sleep over doing the same in a different ocean…
right but at least someone can call them out on their great bravery for gunning down heavily armed hostiles right
“The UAE has struck a desalination plant in Iran -Israeli Media
Would be the first confirmed UAE strike on Iran, and follows a pattern of escalating strikes against critical water infrastructure in the Gulf region”
Pretty low act.
So is turning an oil refinery to a pillar of flames. This sort of thing is the last thing this earth needs.
Not sure that actually happened, not by UAE anyway
It could be trump-induced hysteria
aha now who really knows but
UAE official Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi quickly responded, flatly calling the claim “fake news”, adding: “When we do something, we have the courage to announce it.”
that’s right
fair to say it could be useful to have more leadership with guts, instead of the capabilities of great free USSA which seem to be predominantly if not entirely sneak attacks and sucker punches
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-09/iran-israel-war-daily-news-briefing-laura-tingle/106430028
so there you have it the greatest freest country on earth is strong because
Day after day since the war in Iran began, the US defense secretary has taken an unapologetic tone about Operation Epic Fury.
“They are toast and they know it,” Pete Hegseth said of the Iranian regime last week.
“This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight.
“We are punching them while they’re down.”
they’re good at picking on the weak
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-07/iran-war-pushes-oil-price-above-90-dollars/106427656
ahahahahahahaha
By close of trade in New York, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Futures had surged 12 per cent, or $90.90 per barrel. Global benchmark Brent rallied 8 per cent, to settle at $92.69 per barrel. Mr Khoury said “pray we don’t get there” but has warned the price of unleaded at the pump could soar as Tapis — the benchmark for Australian petrol prices — pushes past $133 per barrel. The roughly 35 per cent increase in the WTI crude oil price this week marks the biggest weekly gain in the history of the futures contract dating to 1983. Brent’s weekly gain is the largest since April 2020 which was during the COVID-19 emergency. “We are marching closer each day to $100 for a barrel of oil,” said Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Investment Management. “One, higher commodity prices, with oil up to $150/barrel in case of a prolonged war, and supply disruption could raise household energy costs and manufacturing input costs, while reducing households demand for discretionary consumption.”
them slow roll renewables looking pretty clever now eh
meanwhile some countries are flaunting their riches and just burning money for fun
alleged
who needs water when you have liquid gold
LOL kkk’s calling it
Sings:
Bully, bully, bully,
it’s a rich man’s world.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
thankfully we converted our evs to run on toilet paper back in the SARACAIDS-CoV lockdowns
Realistically petrol is extremely cheap.
Drinks are often more per litre
Yeah. Milk is taken from a cow, mixed and pasteurised and up for sale a day later for $1 a litre. In a process taking weeks oil is removed from wells, transported some distance, is refined into petrol, again transported an even bigger distance with all the costs of loading and unloading from ships to trucks and finally is put up for sale for $1 a litre before tax.
ahahahahahahahaha
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
transition said:
Not sure that actually happened, not by UAE anyway
It could be trump-induced hysteria
aha now who really knows but
UAE official Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi quickly responded, flatly calling the claim “fake news”, adding: “When we do something, we have the courage to announce it.”
that’s right
fair to say it could be useful to have more leadership with guts, instead of the capabilities of great free USSA which seem to be predominantly if not entirely sneak attacks and sucker punches
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-09/iran-israel-war-daily-news-briefing-laura-tingle/106430028
so there you have it the greatest freest country on earth is strong because
Day after day since the war in Iran began, the US defense secretary has taken an unapologetic tone about Operation Epic Fury.
“They are toast and they know it,” Pete Hegseth said of the Iranian regime last week.
“This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight.
“We are punching them while they’re down.”
they’re good at picking on the weak
But like it is the expense of waging war particularly against those who can only afford less powerful weapons. Look at how much munition and jet fuel tank fuel etc into turning Gaza into rubble when all Hamas had to chuck at them were sky rockets.
How long can the USA sustain a billion bucks a day in a war in which there will be no winner.
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:
Realistically petrol is extremely cheap.
Drinks are often more per litre
Yeah. Milk is taken from a cow, mixed and pasteurised and up for sale a day later for $1 a litre. In a process taking weeks oil is removed from wells, transported some distance, is refined into petrol, again transported an even bigger distance with all the costs of loading and unloading from ships to trucks and finally is put up for sale for $1 a litre before tax.
ahahahahahahahaha
So if the fuel was already here and paid for, then why the price hikes at the bowser?
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:Witty Rejoinder said:
Yeah. Milk is taken from a cow, mixed and pasteurised and up for sale a day later for $1 a litre. In a process taking weeks oil is removed from wells, transported some distance, is refined into petrol, again transported an even bigger distance with all the costs of loading and unloading from ships to trucks and finally is put up for sale for $1 a litre before tax.
ahahahahahahahaha
So if the fuel was already here and paid for, then why the price hikes at the bowser?
I expect eah batch of imported fuel will have its own cost which may be higher and that cost will flow on to the consumer but fuel bought at the old price, shouldn’t get dearer.
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:ahahahahahahahaha
So if the fuel was already here and paid for, then why the price hikes at the bowser?
I expect eah batch of imported fuel will have its own cost which may be higher and that cost will flow on to the consumer but fuel bought at the old price, shouldn’t get dearer.
Of course there are long term contract prices that won’t change, there is “spot” prices, and “futures” prices. It’s spot and futures prices they’re on about here.
interesting that they only pull this out of the hat now
we mean
Jennifer Gavito was appointed ambassador to Libya by Joe Biden and was a senior state department official overseeing Iran until May 2023. During her watch, US officials regularly considered the implications of taking out Iran’s leaders. “Every war game, every tabletop exercise that has been run by the United States, and I think our allies over the last decade or so, has led to the same conclusion,” Ms Gavito told 7.30. “And that is, if you try to impose regime change from the outside, the most likely outcome is that the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) would amass greater control, consolidate control, leaving a harder-line government in Iran than the one that you started out with.”
they must have known all this by 2023 so why did they keep it quiet until after 51st and 52nd states Australia and Canada meekly went along with the rhetoric
yes OK sure
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-09/wholesalers-ration-fuel-customer-limits-in-regions/106433838
so if this
On Monday, Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said panic buying, not supply issues, was behind fuel shortages in parts of regional Australia, while WA Premier Roger Cook said there were “no constraints on supply chains” in WA.
is true, then are we to assume that millions of true Aussie battlers simply run their cars on empty for 4 weeks, and have 4 or 5 jerry cans at home that they whip out for a geopolitical disruption like this
In Geraldton, 420 kilometres north of Perth, the local manager of a bulk fuel supplier told the ABC he had been directed to deliver only half of what each customer had ordered. Mr Symington said the BP-owned company had 180 pending orders and would not take any more on until they were fulfilled.
not sure if that sounds like “no constraints on supply chains” to us but what would we know, we’ve never poured petroleum on a politician, we believe every word they say
The federal government has confirmed five Iranian football players will remain in Australia after seeking asylum.
OK we acknowledge some guts
this is good stuff because the good people are doing it
SCIENCE said:
this is good stuff because the good people are doing it
loose lips sink ships.
SCIENCE said:
Woodie said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:
Realistically petrol is extremely cheap.
Drinks are often more per litre
Yeah. Milk is taken from a cow, mixed and pasteurised and up for sale a day later for $1 a litre. In a process taking weeks oil is removed from wells, transported some distance, is refined into petrol, again transported an even bigger distance with all the costs of loading and unloading from ships to trucks and finally is put up for sale for $1 a litre before tax.
ahahahahahahahaha
So if the fuel was already here and paid for, then why the price hikes at the bowser?
I expect eah batch of imported fuel will have its own cost which may be higher and that cost will flow on to the consumer but fuel bought at the old price, shouldn’t get dearer.
Of course there are long term contract prices that won’t change, there is “spot” prices, and “futures” prices. It’s spot and futures prices they’re on about here.
yes OK sure
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-09/wholesalers-ration-fuel-customer-limits-in-regions/106433838
so if this
On Monday, Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said panic buying, not supply issues, was behind fuel shortages in parts of regional Australia, while WA Premier Roger Cook said there were “no constraints on supply chains” in WA.
is true, then are we to assume that millions of true Aussie battlers simply run their cars on empty for 4 weeks, and have 4 or 5 jerry cans at home that they whip out for a geopolitical disruption like this
In Geraldton, 420 kilometres north of Perth, the local manager of a bulk fuel supplier told the ABC he had been directed to deliver only half of what each customer had ordered. Mr Symington said the BP-owned company had 180 pending orders and would not take any more on until they were fulfilled.
not sure if that sounds like “no constraints on supply chains” to us but what would we know, we’ve never poured petroleum on a politician, we believe every word they say
wait wait we got this
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-09/middle-east-war-sparks-fuel-supply-fears-farmers/106432124
so when true Aussie battlers run their cars on empty for 4 weeks, but then everyone goes to fill up to get in before the prices jump, it’s panic buying, but
Farmers are reportedly stockpiling diesel in response to wholesalers rationing fuel amid the war in the Middle East. There are concerns grocery prices could increase if farmers are not able to access fuel to operate their machinery. While everyday motorists head to a bowser when they need petrol, farmers rely on fuel deliveries to run their large machinery.
when farmers do it it’s clever and important and shows foresight
dv said:
!!!
Michael V said:
dv said:
!!!
totally surprised
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
dv said:
!!!
totally surprised
That Mossad claim its a war crime ?
I’d have thought anything from anyone that kills civilians is a war crime.
Including using certain weapons on troops like thermobaric weapons
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
!!!
totally surprised
That Mossad claim its a war crime ?
I’d have thought anything from anyone that kills civilians is a war crime.
Including using certain weapons on troops like thermobaric weapons
we mean geopolitical conflict in particular is one area where we think the use of team sports to resolve issues, in place of current approaches, seems to have some merit
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
totally surprised
That Mossad claim its a war crime ?
I’d have thought anything from anyone that kills civilians is a war crime.
Including using certain weapons on troops like thermobaric weapons
we mean geopolitical conflict in particular is one area where we think the use of team sports to resolve issues, in place of current approaches, seems to have some merit
It would save countless lives and money
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:Michael V said:
!!!
totally surprised
That Mossad claim its a war crime ?
I’d have thought anything from anyone that kills civilians is a war crime.
Including using certain weapons on troops like thermobaric weapons
War is legalised murder.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:Cymek said:
That Mossad claim its a war crime ?
I’d have thought anything from anyone that kills civilians is a war crime.
Including using certain weapons on troops like thermobaric weapons
we mean geopolitical conflict in particular is one area where we think the use of team sports to resolve issues, in place of current approaches, seems to have some merit
It would save countless lives and money
Team sports to defeat tribalism?
roughbarked said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:we mean geopolitical conflict in particular is one area where we think the use of team sports to resolve issues, in place of current approaches, seems to have some merit
It would save countless lives and money
Team sports to defeat tribalism?
What we need is ‘lead from the front’.
Go ahead, start a war.
But, the leader of the side that starts it off has to go along on the first ten front-line missions of his/her forces.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Cymek said:It would save countless lives and money
Team sports to defeat tribalism?
What we need is ‘lead from the front’.
Go ahead, start a war.
But, the leader of the side that starts it off has to go along on the first ten front-line missions of his/her forces.
To be the first over the top?
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:Team sports to defeat tribalism?
What we need is ‘lead from the front’.
Go ahead, start a war.
But, the leader of the side that starts it off has to go along on the first ten front-line missions of his/her forces.
To be the first over the top?
That’s it. Lead from the front.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:What we need is ‘lead from the front’.
Go ahead, start a war.
But, the leader of the side that starts it off has to go along on the first ten front-line missions of his/her forces.
To be the first over the top?
That’s it. Lead from the front.
With only a service revolver for armament.
roughbarked said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
we mean geopolitical conflict in particular is one area where we think the use of team sports to resolve issues, in place of current approaches, seems to have some merit
It would save countless lives and money
Team sports to defeat tribalism?
team sports as an outlet for tribalism
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:To be the first over the top?
That’s it. Lead from the front.
With only a service revolver for armament.
Loaded with blanks (but we won’t tell them about that).
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
Cymek said:It would save countless lives and money
Team sports to defeat tribalism?
What we need is ‘lead from the front’.
Go ahead, start a war.
But, the leader of the side that starts it off has to go along on the first ten front-line missions of his/her forces.
YES!
LOL
Struggling to fully defend against swarms of Iranian attack drones, the United States and Arab states are calling on Ukraine for help. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he received requests from the US, Europe and 11 countries neighbouring Iran to help down drones fired by Tehran. Analysts say it appears the US was unprepared for the “highly predictable threat from Iran” and is now scrambling for Ukraine’s drone expertise before its interceptor supplies run out.
as if they learnt nothing in 4 years what is this lie
SCIENCE said:
LOL
Struggling to fully defend against swarms of Iranian attack drones, the United States and Arab states are calling on Ukraine for help. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he received requests from the US, Europe and 11 countries neighbouring Iran to help down drones fired by Tehran. Analysts say it appears the US was unprepared for the “highly predictable threat from Iran” and is now scrambling for Ukraine’s drone expertise before its interceptor supplies run out.
as if they learnt nothing in 4 years what is this lie
guess nobody gave a fuck until it was hurting them personally
November
LOL
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
LOL
Struggling to fully defend against swarms of Iranian attack drones, the United States and Arab states are calling on Ukraine for help. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he received requests from the US, Europe and 11 countries neighbouring Iran to help down drones fired by Tehran. Analysts say it appears the US was unprepared for the “highly predictable threat from Iran” and is now scrambling for Ukraine’s drone expertise before its interceptor supplies run out.
as if they learnt nothing in 4 years what is this lie
guess nobody gave a fuck until it was hurting them personally
November
LOL
Should give them a quantum of solace that this is no time to die.
SCIENCE said:
LOL
Struggling to fully defend against swarms of Iranian attack drones, the United States and Arab states are calling on Ukraine for help. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he received requests from the US, Europe and 11 countries neighbouring Iran to help down drones fired by Tehran. Analysts say it appears the US was unprepared for the “highly predictable threat from Iran” and is now scrambling for Ukraine’s drone expertise before its interceptor supplies run out.
as if they learnt nothing in 4 years what is this lie
Perhaps they went the route of laser weapons and found they don’t work the best in the field
Show off type stuff instead of cheap methods
Cymek said:
dv said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
LOL
Struggling to fully defend against swarms of Iranian attack drones, the United States and Arab states are calling on Ukraine for help. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he received requests from the US, Europe and 11 countries neighbouring Iran to help down drones fired by Tehran. Analysts say it appears the US was unprepared for the “highly predictable threat from Iran” and is now scrambling for Ukraine’s drone expertise before its interceptor supplies run out.
as if they learnt nothing in 4 years what is this lie
guess nobody gave a fuck until it was hurting them personally
November
LOL
Should give them a quantum of solace that this is no time to die.
Perhaps they went the route of laser weapons and found they don’t work the best in the field
Show off type stuff instead of cheap methods
oh yeah we remember they were gloating about some kind of laser weapon, maybe they’re holding back in case they need to surprise some other country or something
otherwise
Hey this sounds like a promise totally in
US President Donald Trump has taken to Truth Social with a new warning for Iran: “If Iran does anything that stops the flow of Oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far.” Trump added: “Additionally, we will take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back, as a Nation, again — Death, Fire, and Fury will reign upon them — But I hope, and pray, that it does not happen!”
line with international rules based law and order, it sounds like a limited war striking hardened military targets rather than civil infrastructure required to support the lives and livelihoods of the broader civilian population of a country¡
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVsHFpYExNF/?igsh=ZjdhZWpieDRwdXpk
Why would anyone work for this man?
dv said:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVsHFpYExNF/?igsh=ZjdhZWpieDRwdXpk
Why would anyone work for this man?
Fetishism ?
so surveillance plane yes
missiles though what
SCIENCE said:
so surveillance plane yes
missiles though what
What the hell are you on about now.
Peak Warming Man said:
SCIENCE said:so surveillance plane yes
missiles though what
What the hell are you on about now.
Australia is sending the above to the Middle East
Cymek said:
Peak Warming Man said:
SCIENCE said:
so surveillance plane yes
missiles though what
What the hell are you on about now.
Australia is sending the above to the Middle East
peacekeeping weapons
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-10/what-is-wedgetail-adf-iran-conflict/106436750
Cymek said:
Peak Warming Man said:
SCIENCE said:so surveillance plane yes
missiles though what
What the hell are you on about now.
Australia is sending the above to the Middle East
Yes only defensive role and well missiles may be used for defense but…. depends on who’s watching and what stories they tell.
Ah well we suppose it doesn’t really matter, we can still accuse other countries that spend money on defence of being violent offensive bastards.
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
Peak Warming Man said:
What the hell are you on about now.
Australia is sending the above to the Middle East
peacekeeping weapons
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-10/what-is-wedgetail-adf-iran-conflict/106436750
How do we define peacekeeping these days?
I mean Trump’s board of peace’s only action so far is to start a war.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
Australia is sending the above to the Middle East
peacekeeping weapons
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-10/what-is-wedgetail-adf-iran-conflict/106436750
How do we define peacekeeping these days?
I mean Trump’s board of peace’s only action so far is to start a war.
pretty sure old George foretold this destiny in his 1949 manifesto
no way
working from home is for losers
OK it’s successfully legalwashed now
And according to legal experts, the simple answer is: yes. Australia is at war.
When Anthony Albanese faced the press pack, he cast the deployment as a purely “defensive” action, saying Australian military assets wouldn’t take any “offensive” action against Iran. We are not protagonists. What we are doing is providing for defence of the UAE and of Australian citizens,” he said.
Professor Don Rothwell, from the Australian National University, a pre-eminent expert in international law, says the divide between “attack” and “defend” has little legal force and shouldn’t obscure the weight of the government’s decision. “Even though our contribution might be small-scale, we are now a party to the conflict,” he told the ABC. “That applies irrespective of a distinction Australia may make between engaging in ‘offensive’ and ‘defensive’ conduct.”
Another clue lies in what Professor Rothwell called the “magic words” used by the foreign minister in the same exchange above — “collective self-defence”. The prime minister was careful to use the same phrase this morning during his press conference. “We’re taking defensive action to support our partners’ efforts to keep Australians safe. Deployed ADF assets will operate according to the right of collective self-defence,” he said. That’s a clear reference to Article 51 of the United Nations charter, which says member states have an “inherent right of individual or collective self-defence” when they’re attacked.
There’s nothing sinister about this. In fact, Professor Rothwell said, it’s actually clear evidence that Australia is standing on fairly firm legal ground in its decision to go to war. That, he said, stood in stark contrast to the original strikes on Iran by Israel and the Trump Administration, which rested on “dubious or non-existent” legal foundations.
love this nose thumbing
“thanks for all your help with our little eastern border problem, sounds like you’ve got yourselves a bit of trouble recently, we’d be glad to help out, let’s make an appointment to talk”
SCIENCE said:
OK it’s successfully legalwashed now
And according to legal experts, the simple answer is: yes. Australia is at war.
When Anthony Albanese faced the press pack, he cast the deployment as a purely “defensive” action, saying Australian military assets wouldn’t take any “offensive” action against Iran. We are not protagonists. What we are doing is providing for defence of the UAE and of Australian citizens,” he said.
Professor Don Rothwell, from the Australian National University, a pre-eminent expert in international law, says the divide between “attack” and “defend” has little legal force and shouldn’t obscure the weight of the government’s decision. “Even though our contribution might be small-scale, we are now a party to the conflict,” he told the ABC. “That applies irrespective of a distinction Australia may make between engaging in ‘offensive’ and ‘defensive’ conduct.”
Another clue lies in what Professor Rothwell called the “magic words” used by the foreign minister in the same exchange above — “collective self-defence”. The prime minister was careful to use the same phrase this morning during his press conference. “We’re taking defensive action to support our partners’ efforts to keep Australians safe. Deployed ADF assets will operate according to the right of collective self-defence,” he said. That’s a clear reference to Article 51 of the United Nations charter, which says member states have an “inherent right of individual or collective self-defence” when they’re attacked.
There’s nothing sinister about this. In fact, Professor Rothwell said, it’s actually clear evidence that Australia is standing on fairly firm legal ground in its decision to go to war. That, he said, stood in stark contrast to the original strikes on Iran by Israel and the Trump Administration, which rested on “dubious or non-existent” legal foundations.
Australia always sides with the USA in a war.
Almost like we are sucking up to be its best friend
The little sycophant to be part of the cool gang.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
OK it’s successfully legalwashed now
And according to legal experts, the simple answer is: yes. Australia is at war.
When Anthony Albanese faced the press pack, he cast the deployment as a purely “defensive” action, saying Australian military assets wouldn’t take any “offensive” action against Iran. We are not protagonists. What we are doing is providing for defence of the UAE and of Australian citizens,” he said.
Professor Don Rothwell, from the Australian National University, a pre-eminent expert in international law, says the divide between “attack” and “defend” has little legal force and shouldn’t obscure the weight of the government’s decision. “Even though our contribution might be small-scale, we are now a party to the conflict,” he told the ABC. “That applies irrespective of a distinction Australia may make between engaging in ‘offensive’ and ‘defensive’ conduct.”
Another clue lies in what Professor Rothwell called the “magic words” used by the foreign minister in the same exchange above — “collective self-defence”. The prime minister was careful to use the same phrase this morning during his press conference. “We’re taking defensive action to support our partners’ efforts to keep Australians safe. Deployed ADF assets will operate according to the right of collective self-defence,” he said. That’s a clear reference to Article 51 of the United Nations charter, which says member states have an “inherent right of individual or collective self-defence” when they’re attacked.
There’s nothing sinister about this. In fact, Professor Rothwell said, it’s actually clear evidence that Australia is standing on fairly firm legal ground in its decision to go to war. That, he said, stood in stark contrast to the original strikes on Iran by Israel and the Trump Administration, which rested on “dubious or non-existent” legal foundations.
Australia always sides with the USA in a war.
Almost like we are sucking up to be its best friend
The little sycophant to be part of the cool gang.
right but currently this is about answering a call from UAE for assistance, even if it’s a convenient proxy for the same thing
Trump has ordered Albanese to give asylum to five of the Iranian soccer players.
SCIENCE said:
OK it’s successfully legalwashed now
And according to legal experts, the simple answer is: yes. Australia is at war.
When Anthony Albanese faced the press pack, he cast the deployment as a purely “defensive” action, saying Australian military assets wouldn’t take any “offensive” action against Iran. We are not protagonists. What we are doing is providing for defence of the UAE and of Australian citizens,” he said.
Professor Don Rothwell, from the Australian National University, a pre-eminent expert in international law, says the divide between “attack” and “defend” has little legal force and shouldn’t obscure the weight of the government’s decision. “Even though our contribution might be small-scale, we are now a party to the conflict,” he told the ABC. “That applies irrespective of a distinction Australia may make between engaging in ‘offensive’ and ‘defensive’ conduct.”
Another clue lies in what Professor Rothwell called the “magic words” used by the foreign minister in the same exchange above — “collective self-defence”. The prime minister was careful to use the same phrase this morning during his press conference. “We’re taking defensive action to support our partners’ efforts to keep Australians safe. Deployed ADF assets will operate according to the right of collective self-defence,” he said. That’s a clear reference to Article 51 of the United Nations charter, which says member states have an “inherent right of individual or collective self-defence” when they’re attacked.
There’s nothing sinister about this. In fact, Professor Rothwell said, it’s actually clear evidence that Australia is standing on fairly firm legal ground in its decision to go to war. That, he said, stood in stark contrast to the original strikes on Iran by Israel and the Trump Administration, which rested on “dubious or non-existent” legal foundations.
I am most unhappy about this. Most unhappy.
SCIENCE said:
love this nose thumbing
“thanks for all your help with our little eastern border problem, sounds like you’ve got yourselves a bit of trouble recently, we’d be glad to help out, let’s make an appointment to talk”
Yeah.
Peak Warming Man said:
Trump has ordered Albanese to give asylum to five of the Iranian soccer players.
What about the rest of them?
https://twitter.com/i/status/2030354053536858384
Michael V said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Trump has ordered Albanese to give asylum to five of the Iranian soccer players.
What about the rest of them?
I think they want to go home.
Peak Warming Man said:
Trump has ordered Albanese to give asylum to five of the Iranian soccer players.
Peak Warming Man said:
Trump has ordered Albanese to give asylum to five of the Iranian soccer players.
Trump was so tied up with his own belligerance that by the time he mentioned anything about the Iranian ladies it had all been organized and was sorted out by our politicians and relevent people.
Peak Warming Man said:
Michael V said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Trump has ordered Albanese to give asylum to five of the Iranian soccer players.
What about the rest of them?
I think they want to go home.
So what did Tump order Mr A. to do about them?
Michael V said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Michael V said:What about the rest of them?
I think they want to go home.
So what did Tump order Mr A. to do about them?
Shoot them, and blame the Iranians.
Michael V said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Michael V said:What about the rest of them?
I think they want to go home.
So what did Tump order Mr A. to do about them?
seems to be some biasing events happening to Iran presently, don’t quote me but it’s just a hunch some people that call Iran home may not want to go home, with all the bombing, and more bombing, a home turned into a hellscape, all the hostility from US and Israel, an inhabitant of Iran might be forgiven for not wanting to go home, and how fortunate there are not forces in the world that might help a person be confused about what the cause or causes of the aversion are. Anyway some might be reluctant to go home and get bombed into an appreciation of liberal democracy, the libertarian way.
Yes, her last name is because she is Wes’s daughter.
Peak Warming Man said:
Trump has ordered Albanese to give asylum to five of the Iranian soccer players.
We will give asylum to those who ask for it. Not what Trump says.
Peak Warming Man said:
Michael V said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Trump has ordered Albanese to give asylum to five of the Iranian soccer players.
What about the rest of them?
I think they want to go home.
Thy are more scared for their families than the others are.
roughbarked said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Michael V said:What about the rest of them?
I think they want to go home.
Thy are more scared for their families than the others are.
It is now seven who hace requested asylum. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-10/iran-womens-football-team-players/106439174
kii said:
Yes, her last name is because she is Wes’s daughter.
yeah but how can you sneak attack iran if you extract everyone there to give them an early warning first
roughbarked said:
Peak Warming Man said:
Michael V said:What about the rest of them?
I think they want to go home.
Thy are more scared for their families than the others are.
That’s a big assumption.
kii said:
roughbarked said:
Peak Warming Man said:I think they want to go home.
Thy are more scared for their families than the others are.
That’s a big assumption.
Im oly gong on what they said. That they couldn’t go back as ytairoes tthat they woud be punished but many were also woried for the safety of their families. That the Guard would take it out on their family members.
roughbarked said:
kii said:
roughbarked said:Thy are more scared for their families than the others are.
That’s a big assumption.
Im oly gong on what they said. That they couldn’t go back as ytairoes tthat they woud be punished but many were also woried for the safety of their families. That the Guard would take it out on their family members.
whatever anyway, the point is you’re meant to forget who started the bombing, this round of overt kinetic hostility, and not discern any individual country involved, by way of being more than one, as many as they can really.
it’s suppose to fall into that swamp of the forgettery.
Morning,
glorious sunny day in the nation’s capital,
Currently 17c with a top of 31C.
Today’s task is to get my father to have a shower and put on clean clothes. He has got an ultrasound on Friday morning to find out why he is jaundiced.
so just like how we’re meant to say that even if we love Iran we know it’s good if a criminally against humanity regime gets eliminated and replaced with a humanitarian regime
A top Iranian security official, Ali Larijani, appeared to threaten Mr Trump himself. A translation of a post on X reads: “Iran doesn’t fear your empty threats. Even those bigger than you couldn’t eliminate Iran. Be careful not to get eliminated yourself.” Iran has been accused of plotting attempts to kill Mr Trump in the past.
are we allowed to say that we love the Americas but it’s good if a fascist paedophile administration gets eliminated and replaced with a socialist empathic administration
or are international rules based laws and order only applicable to contain the historically underserved and maintain the hierarchical status quo
SCIENCE said:
so just like how we’re meant to say that even if we love Iran we know it’s good if a criminally against humanity regime gets eliminated and replaced with a humanitarian regime
A top Iranian security official, Ali Larijani, appeared to threaten Mr Trump himself. A translation of a post on X reads: “Iran doesn’t fear your empty threats. Even those bigger than you couldn’t eliminate Iran. Be careful not to get eliminated yourself.” Iran has been accused of plotting attempts to kill Mr Trump in the past.
are we allowed to say that we love the Americas but it’s good if a fascist paedophile administration gets eliminated and replaced with a socialist empathic administration
or are international rules based laws and order only applicable to contain the historically underserved and maintain the hierarchical status quo
Humans in power are just shits regardless of what philosophy they believe in.
If you crave power you are dangerous and should be watched.
Good intentions and all that and power attracts the corruptible.
I suppose you watch how they treat people that don’t offer them anything they can exploit or use and you have your answer
this is alleged as a report of USSA hubris dismissing UA warnings of drone warfare as hyperbole
SCIENCE said:
this is alleged as a report of USSA hubris dismissing UA warnings of drone warfare as hyperbole
If you coated a drone in mirrors would it mess with tracking and radar ?
alleged
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
this is alleged as a report of USSA hubris dismissing UA warnings of drone warfare as hyperbole
If you coated a drone in mirrors would it mess with tracking and radar ?
worth a try, we did send someone else into laser tag covered in metal foil once, didn’t measure the result though
SCIENCE said:
alleged
How tiny must his penis be with all the compensation
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
this is alleged as a report of USSA hubris dismissing UA warnings of drone warfare as hyperbole
If you coated a drone in mirrors would it mess with tracking and radar ?
worth a try, we did send someone else into laser tag covered in metal foil once, didn’t measure the result though
No thank you for your attention to this matter, nor his name.
buffy said:
SCIENCE said:Cymek said:
If you coated a drone in mirrors would it mess with tracking and radar ?
worth a try, we did send someone else into laser tag covered in metal foil once, didn’t measure the result though
No thank you for your attention to this matter, nor his name.
Fancy also thinking that they wouldn’t improve drone design
Its a human trait to constantly improve or updated machinery when flaws or vulnerabilities are discovered (usually anyway)
If you are fighting a war even more so.
“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle,” he said. “He is my loving God and my fortress. My stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge. May the Lord grant unyielding strength and refuge to our warriors. Unbreakable protection to them in our homeland. And total victory over those who seek to harm them. Amen.”
Peak Warming Man said:
“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle,” he said. “He is my loving God and my fortress. My stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge. May the Lord grant unyielding strength and refuge to our warriors. Unbreakable protection to them in our homeland. And total victory over those who seek to harm them. Amen.”
Does that apply to all of humanity or just some parts of humanity?
Iranian Navy, now smaller.
Cymek said:
roughbarked said:
I read that myself, all we need it insider bombings or missile strikes to change the odds
we mean it’s literally just team sports isn’t it
The woman contacted officials at the Iranian embassy, who collected her from the hotel where she were staying with the other members of the delegation who had decided to stay in Australia. “As a result of that, it meant that the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was,” Mr Burke said. “I immediately gave the instruction for people to be moved, and that is being dealt with.” He said officials had spoken to the woman who changed her mind to “make sure it was her decision” and that “every question you would want asked was asked”.
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
roughbarked said:
I read that myself, all we need it insider bombings or missile strikes to change the odds
we mean it’s literally just team sports isn’t it
OK read it with reputedly expert input
“When gambling operators turn war and human suffering into a betting market, it risks trivialising events that involve real loss of life, displacement, and long-term trauma for affected communities”, Louise Francis, a public health and gambling expert at Curtin University told ABC News. “Unlike sporting events, wars are not voluntary or bounded contests. Treating them as betting markets risks desensitising the public to human suffering,” Dr Francis said. “It is basically reducing complex geopolitical crises to entertainment or speculation,” Dr Francis said.
well they’re wrong, letting emotions cloud their judgement
it doesn’t “risks”, it’s part of that process, operating as intended
it’s not unlike sports at all, it doesn’t “risks” it’s intended to desensitise
it’s not “basically reducing”, they’re already reduced to entertainment
id est they’re wrong in the worst possible way, not recognising that they’re more correct then they imagined
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
I read that myself, all we need it insider bombings or missile strikes to change the odds
we mean it’s literally just team sports isn’t it
OK read it with reputedly expert input
“When gambling operators turn war and human suffering into a betting market, it risks trivialising events that involve real loss of life, displacement, and long-term trauma for affected communities”, Louise Francis, a public health and gambling expert at Curtin University told ABC News. “Unlike sporting events, wars are not voluntary or bounded contests. Treating them as betting markets risks desensitising the public to human suffering,” Dr Francis said. “It is basically reducing complex geopolitical crises to entertainment or speculation,” Dr Francis said.
well they’re wrong, letting emotions cloud their judgement
it doesn’t “risks”, it’s part of that process, operating as intended
it’s not unlike sports at all, it doesn’t “risks” it’s intended to desensitise
it’s not “basically reducing”, they’re already reduced to entertainment
id est they’re wrong in the worst possible way, not recognising that they’re more correct then they imagined
Death and destruction are most certainly a form of entertainment.
Weapons work in a way like video games almost, we are removed from the blood, body parts, etc
It likely also taps into primal instincts of violence our monkey brains can’t overcome
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
we mean it’s literally just team sports isn’t it
OK read it with reputedly expert input
“When gambling operators turn war and human suffering into a betting market, it risks trivialising events that involve real loss of life, displacement, and long-term trauma for affected communities”, Louise Francis, a public health and gambling expert at Curtin University told ABC News. “Unlike sporting events, wars are not voluntary or bounded contests. Treating them as betting markets risks desensitising the public to human suffering,” Dr Francis said. “It is basically reducing complex geopolitical crises to entertainment or speculation,” Dr Francis said.
well they’re wrong, letting emotions cloud their judgement
it doesn’t “risks”, it’s part of that process, operating as intended
it’s not unlike sports at all, it doesn’t “risks” it’s intended to desensitise
it’s not “basically reducing”, they’re already reduced to entertainment
id est they’re wrong in the worst possible way, not recognising that they’re more correct then they imagined
Death and destruction are most certainly a form of entertainment.
Weapons work in a way like video games almost, we are removed from the blood, body parts, etc
It likely also taps into primal instincts of violence our monkey brains can’t overcome
so we weren’t specific enough when we wanted war substituted by team sports, we should now say, team esports
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
OK read it with reputedly expert input
“When gambling operators turn war and human suffering into a betting market, it risks trivialising events that involve real loss of life, displacement, and long-term trauma for affected communities”, Louise Francis, a public health and gambling expert at Curtin University told ABC News. “Unlike sporting events, wars are not voluntary or bounded contests. Treating them as betting markets risks desensitising the public to human suffering,” Dr Francis said. “It is basically reducing complex geopolitical crises to entertainment or speculation,” Dr Francis said.
well they’re wrong, letting emotions cloud their judgement
it doesn’t “risks”, it’s part of that process, operating as intended
it’s not unlike sports at all, it doesn’t “risks” it’s intended to desensitise
it’s not “basically reducing”, they’re already reduced to entertainment
id est they’re wrong in the worst possible way, not recognising that they’re more correct then they imagined
Death and destruction are most certainly a form of entertainment.
Weapons work in a way like video games almost, we are removed from the blood, body parts, etc
It likely also taps into primal instincts of violence our monkey brains can’t overcomeso we weren’t specific enough when we wanted war substituted by team sports, we should now say, team esports
Its already brought to you by sponsors isn’t it
Neophyte said:
Unfortunate, isn’t it?
huh bankers what have they ever done for anyone
Banks now target in Middle East, Iranian military says
Daniela Pizzirani profile imageBy Daniela Pizzirani
Iran will target economic and banking interests linked to the US and Israel in the region, a joint Iranian military command said.
The Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters issued a statement identifying the targets.
The spokesperson added that this threat follows an attack on an Iranian bank.
“Following their failed campaign, the terrorist U.S. army and cruel Zionist regime have targeted one of the country’s banks,” state media quoted Ebrahim Zolfaqari as saying. “With this illegitimate and uncommon action, the enemy is forcing our hand to target economic centres and banks linked to the U.S. and Zionist regime in the region.”The spokesperson warned people of the region to stay away from banks.
The threat would put at risk particularly Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, which is home to many international financial institutions, as well as Saudi Arabia and the island kingdom of Bahrain.
Reporting with AFP, AP and Reuters
alleged
The Ukes are now using high powered lasers on drones to melt the fiber optic cables on russian drones.
Warfare is changing fast and if the West ignores the current situation, because “Yeehaw” then they will lose the next war.
this isn’t a
supply issue
The Bastards ¡
Iran’s participation in this year’s men’s FIFA World Cup is in doubt after the country’s sports minister said the nation “under no circumstances” could compete in the tournament co-hosted by the United States.
yeah make them pay it’s their
FIFA regulations state that any team that withdraws from the tournament “no later than 30 days before the first match” will be fined at least 250,000 Swiss francs ($448,800). “Disciplinary sanctions may include the expulsion of the participating member association concerned from subsequent FIFA competitions and/or the replacement of the participating member association with another member association,” FIFA’s regulations say.
own fault for getting their airports bombed and their airspace closed and their leader switched and their people killed
buffy said:
Hmm.Targeting mistake led to US missile strike on Iranian girls school: media reports
So far, no one has accused Iran of using the school as a shield.
How dangerous has the conflict in Iran become? Expert Q&A
SCIENCE said:
alleged
alleged
$$$
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
alleged
alleged
$$$
The changing face of war.
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
alleged
alleged
$$$
They don’t look very professional.
wow fuck
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-12/us-behind-iran-girls-school-strike-media-reports/106444554
imagine starting
The Times said US Central Command officers created the target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency. It said investigators were still looking at why outdated information was used in planning the strike and who failed to verify the data. It is unclear how old data ended up being used for the strike and what, if any, other factors might be responsible for the error. It said the building housing the school had been fenced off from the base between 2013 and 2016.
a war based on “outdated” “old data” like data saying that The Enemy were preparing to stage an imminent attack and then in the 10 years since that “outdated” “old data” still waiting because nothing happened
SCIENCE said:
wow fuck
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-12/us-behind-iran-girls-school-strike-media-reports/106444554
imagine starting
The Times said US Central Command officers created the target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency. It said investigators were still looking at why outdated information was used in planning the strike and who failed to verify the data. It is unclear how old data ended up being used for the strike and what, if any, other factors might be responsible for the error. It said the building housing the school had been fenced off from the base between 2013 and 2016.
a war based on “outdated” “old data” like data saying that The Enemy were preparing to stage an imminent attack and then in the 10 years since that “outdated” “old data” still waiting because nothing happened
Just awful.
All those dead schoolgirls because of Trump-Epstein. Oh, I see. It may have happened before.
SCIENCE said:
wow fuck
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-12/us-behind-iran-girls-school-strike-media-reports/106444554
imagine starting
The Times said US Central Command officers created the target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency. It said investigators were still looking at why outdated information was used in planning the strike and who failed to verify the data. It is unclear how old data ended up being used for the strike and what, if any, other factors might be responsible for the error. It said the building housing the school had been fenced off from the base between 2013 and 2016.
a war based on “outdated” “old data” like data saying that The Enemy were preparing to stage an imminent attack and then in the 10 years since that “outdated” “old data” still waiting because nothing happened
Not caring and just doing it and if it went wrong well they are only Muslims and the enemy.
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:wow fuck
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-12/us-behind-iran-girls-school-strike-media-reports/106444554
imagine starting
The Times said US Central Command officers created the target coordinates for the strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency. It said investigators were still looking at why outdated information was used in planning the strike and who failed to verify the data. It is unclear how old data ended up being used for the strike and what, if any, other factors might be responsible for the error. It said the building housing the school had been fenced off from the base between 2013 and 2016.
a war based on “outdated” “old data” like data saying that The Enemy were preparing to stage an imminent attack and then in the 10 years since that “outdated” “old data” still waiting because nothing happened
Just awful.
All those dead schoolgirls because of Trump-Epstein. Oh, I see. It may have happened before.
They say that the US will start it’s next war the way they finished the last one.
so this is
The energy minister has relaxed fuel standards for two months to allow more supply to the domestic market. Chris Bowen says it will add 100 million litres of fuel a month to domestic supply.
what you do if there’s no supply issue
right
did we mention that there’s been no evidence of direct human to human transmission
SCIENCE said:
so this is
The energy minister has relaxed fuel standards for two months to allow more supply to the domestic market. Chris Bowen says it will add 100 million litres of fuel a month to domestic supply.
what you do if there’s no supply issue
right
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-12/petrol-quality-relaxed-100-million-litre-boost/106446796
did we mention that there’s been no evidence of direct human to human transmission
sorry now with link
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
so this is
The energy minister has relaxed fuel standards for two months to allow more supply to the domestic market. Chris Bowen says it will add 100 million litres of fuel a month to domestic supply.
what you do if there’s no supply issue
right
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-12/petrol-quality-relaxed-100-million-litre-boost/106446796
did we mention that there’s been no evidence of direct human to human transmission
sorry now with link
It is a slow loader.. But hey I need to know if my fuel is going to be dirty as it can ruin engines.
honestly this framing though who the fornication is panicking
The NRMA has consistently asked motorists to avoid panicking about the supply and price of fuel. Today its spokesperson Peter Khoury reiterated that and said supply anxiety had extended to terminals too. “We’ve since seen stockpiling and panic buying both at the bowser but also some of it at the terminal as well,” he said. “So the message to Australians, again, is please stop panic buying.”
Mr Khoury rebuked those hoarding fuel. “Just go back to your buying habits, because for every extra litre of diesel that you buy in Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane that you don’t need, that you’re storing in your garage, that’s one litre of diesel that’s not going out to regional areas,” he said.
maybe we don’t pass many fuel outlets but we don’t see anything different, who are these fictitious panic fuel purchasers, is it like illegal immigrants, they take all our good stuff but can never be seen doing anything good
“how dare drivers in Australia be capitalists wanting to buy low, just wait for the higher prices and wear it mate”
wtf
ah that’s right it’s probably the same people who tell you you’re panicking if you try to get vaccinated against SARACAIDS-CoV or measles or pertussis or whatever that’d be right
Slain Lebanese priest hailed as a ‘martyr,’ commemorated by Pope Leo XIV
OSV News) — Lebanese Maronite Catholic priest Father Pierre al-Rahi was commemorated by Pope Leo XIV ahead of the cleric’s funeral attended by scores of faithful as well as Catholic and Lebanese government officials in his southern village of Qlayaa.
Pope Leo extolled Father al-Rahi “as a true shepherd who always stayed beside his people, with the love and sacrifice of Jesus the Good Shepherd,” he said at the close of his March 11 general audience where he urged prayer for the Middle East at this critical time of war.
“I am close to all the Lebanese people at this moment of grave trial,” Pope Leo said.
Rushed to help without hesitation
“As soon as he heard that some parishioners had been wounded in a bombing, he rushed to help them without hesitation,” the pontiff said of Father Rahi. “May the Lord grant that the blood he shed be a seed of peace for beloved Lebanon.”
Father al-Rahi, whose last name means “shepherd” in Arabic, died March 9 after sustaining wounds from Israeli tank fire on a house in Qlayaa. He rushed to the house in the mountainous area of his parish with several young people when the Israeli tank struck the house a second time. Father al-Rahi was taken to a local hospital where he died from his injuries. The priest is also known by his French name Pierre el-Raï.
The apostolic nuncio to Lebanon, Archbishop Paolo Borgia, and a representative of the Maronite Patriarchate and the president of Caritas Lebanon, Father Samir Ghaoui, as well as numerous Catholic priests and faithful paid honor to Father al-Rahi at the funeral service following the Divine Liturgy held in St. George Church in Qlayaa. Lebanon’s army commander in chief, Rodolphe Haykal, also traveled to the village by helicopter to attend the funeral and pay his respects to the slain priest.
https://www.osvnews.com/slain-lebanese-priest-hailed-as-a-martyr-commemorated-by-pope-leo-xiv/
List of countries now involved in Middle East conflict
Here’s Every Country Directly Impacted by the War on Iran
https://www.wired.com/story/every-country-directly-impacted-by-the-war-on-iran/
Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Cyprus
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
Tau.Neutrino said:
List of countries now involved in Middle East conflict
Here’s Every Country Directly Impacted by the War on Iran
https://www.wired.com/story/every-country-directly-impacted-by-the-war-on-iran/Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Cyprus
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Turkey
United Arab Emirates
LOL yous forgot Kurdistan
turns out it was all about divide and conquer after all
SCIENCE said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
List of countries now involved in Middle East conflict
Here’s Every Country Directly Impacted by the War on Iran
https://www.wired.com/story/every-country-directly-impacted-by-the-war-on-iran/Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Cyprus
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Turkey
United Arab EmiratesLOL yous forgot Kurdistan
turns out it was all about divide and conquer after all
Bloody kurds, they are whey out of line.
yeah yeah milk it for all it’s worth
Peak Warming Man said:
SCIENCE said:Tau.Neutrino said:
List of countries now involved in Middle East conflict
Here’s Every Country Directly Impacted by the War on Iran
https://www.wired.com/story/every-country-directly-impacted-by-the-war-on-iran/Azerbaijan
Bahrain
Cyprus
Iran
Iraq
Israel
Jordan
Kuwait
Lebanon
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Turkey
United Arab EmiratesLOL yous forgot Kurdistan
turns out it was all about divide and conquer after all
Bloody kurds, they are whey out of line.
Tau.Neutrino said:
Peak Warming Man said:
SCIENCE said:LOL yous forgot Kurdistan
turns out it was all about divide and conquer after all
Bloody kurds, they are whey out of line.
Yeah, they can go back to drinking tea and stay out of it. Bloody social entropists.
Playing looped Tarzan callouts all over iran might rattle the Iranian revolutionary guards.
SCIENCE said:
Seems to be common for accidents to increase during wartime activities.
An SAS base was hit by a drone strike, injuring US soldiers, as it was feared Vladimir Putin could be giving Iranian’s a helping hand with their tactics. A swarm of Iranian drones struck a joint Special Forces base in the Kurdistan regional capital Erbil on Wednesday night. The UK’s chief of joint operations, Lieutenant General Nick Perry, told the defence secretary there were ‘definitively’ signs of a link between Russia and Iran, including Iran’s use of drones, as learned from the Russians’. Asked later by reporters for examples of such links, Mr Healey said: ‘At the moment, we’re taking part in analysing the drone that struck the hangar at Akrotiri for any evidence of Russian or any other foreign components and parts. ‘We will update you and appropriately publish any findings from that when we’ve got them, but I think no one will be surprised to believe that Putin’s hidden hand is behind some of the Iranian tactics, potentially some of their capabilities as well, not least because one world leader that is benefiting from the sky high oil prices at the moment is Putin.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
so this is
The energy minister has relaxed fuel standards for two months to allow more supply to the domestic market. Chris Bowen says it will add 100 million litres of fuel a month to domestic supply.
what you do if there’s no supply issue
right
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-12/petrol-quality-relaxed-100-million-litre-boost/106446796
did we mention that there’s been no evidence of direct human to human transmission
sorry now with link
It is a slow loader.. But hey I need to know if my fuel is going to be dirty as it can ruin engines.
so this is what you do if there’s no resupply issue
Securing oil tankers to navigate safely in the gulf seems to be significantly harder than I anticipated.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Securing oil tankers to navigate safely in the gulf seems to be significantly harder than I anticipated.
VERY big, slow-moving targets. A narrow, easily-monitored waterway. Weapons with more than enough range.
The Strait of Hormuz is 21 miles/33km wide, but average depth is only 35 metres. Very Large Crude Carriers have a draught (how deep they are below the waterline) of 20-23 metres. They can’t use much of the waterway.
They use two shipping lanes, which vary between 3km and 5km wide. At the narrowest point, the two lanes and the buffer zone between them are compressed into a 5.5mile/9 km space.
Exercise control/interdict shipping? A piece of piss.
captain_spalding said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Securing oil tankers to navigate safely in the gulf seems to be significantly harder than I anticipated.
VERY big, slow-moving targets. A narrow, easily-monitored waterway. Weapons with more than enough range.
The Strait of Hormuz is 21 miles/33km wide, but average depth is only 35 metres. Very Large Crude Carriers have a draught (how deep they are below the waterline) of 20-23 metres. They can’t use much of the waterway.
They use two shipping lanes, which vary between 3km and 5km wide. At the narrowest point, the two lanes and the buffer zone between them are compressed into a 5.5mile/9 km space.
Exercise control/interdict shipping? A piece of piss.
They also seem to be able to attack ships anywhere in the gulf which is a vastly larger area to stealthily operate in.
captain_spalding said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Securing oil tankers to navigate safely in the gulf seems to be significantly harder than I anticipated.
VERY big, slow-moving targets. A narrow, easily-monitored waterway. Weapons with more than enough range.
The Strait of Hormuz is 21 miles/33km wide, but average depth is only 35 metres. Very Large Crude Carriers have a draught (how deep they are below the waterline) of 20-23 metres. They can’t use much of the waterway.
They use two shipping lanes, which vary between 3km and 5km wide. At the narrowest point, the two lanes and the buffer zone between them are compressed into a 5.5mile/9 km space.
Exercise control/interdict shipping? A piece of piss.
They’d not be particular safe from exploding or making a huge mess
captain_spalding said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Securing oil tankers to navigate safely in the gulf seems to be significantly harder than I anticipated.
VERY big, slow-moving targets. A narrow, easily-monitored waterway. Weapons with more than enough range.
The Strait of Hormuz is 21 miles/33km wide, but average depth is only 35 metres. Very Large Crude Carriers have a draught (how deep they are below the waterline) of 20-23 metres. They can’t use much of the waterway.
They use two shipping lanes, which vary between 3km and 5km wide. At the narrowest point, the two lanes and the buffer zone between them are compressed into a 5.5mile/9 km space.
Exercise control/interdict shipping? A piece of piss.
So fill it up with sunken tankers and how deep the draught?
Cymek said:
captain_spalding said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Securing oil tankers to navigate safely in the gulf seems to be significantly harder than I anticipated.
VERY big, slow-moving targets. A narrow, easily-monitored waterway. Weapons with more than enough range.
The Strait of Hormuz is 21 miles/33km wide, but average depth is only 35 metres. Very Large Crude Carriers have a draught (how deep they are below the waterline) of 20-23 metres. They can’t use much of the waterway.
They use two shipping lanes, which vary between 3km and 5km wide. At the narrowest point, the two lanes and the buffer zone between them are compressed into a 5.5mile/9 km space.
Exercise control/interdict shipping? A piece of piss.
They’d not be particular safe from exploding or making a huge mess
If a couple, or even one, VLCC gets sunk in the ‘wrong’ place, then that shipping channel is closed.
roughbarked said:
So fill it up with sunken tankers and how deep the draught?
The lanes’ depth varies from 46 metres to 61 metres.
From keel to top of superstructure, VLCCs measure 50 metres to 67 metres. Keel to main deck: 30 to 33 metres.
Ain’t no other VLCC sailing over the top of a sunken sister.
USAF KC-135 Stratotanker lost over Iraq.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) reports the loss of a US Air Force (USAF) KC-135 Stratonker refueling aircraft. The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing. Two aircraft were involved in the incident. One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely.
The KC-135 is not equipped with ejection seats.
This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.
According to CENTCOM, more information will be made available as the situation develops. We ask for continued patience to gather additional details and provide clarity for the families of service members.
As reported, platforms like the KC-135 have been deployed to the Middle East to support Operation Epic Fury. According to Breaking Defense, the Stratotanker is tasked to provide fuel to get across the Atlantic or extending time on station for jets striking Iranian targets. The aircraft is more vulnerable to enemy fire than newer, sophisticated jets like stealth fighters, and typically operates outside of contested environments as a result.
https://theaviationgeekclub.com/usaf-kc-135-stratotanker-lost-over-iraq/
Spiny Norman said:
USAF KC-135 Stratotanker lost over Iraq.US Central Command (CENTCOM) reports the loss of a US Air Force (USAF) KC-135 Stratonker refueling aircraft. The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing. Two aircraft were involved in the incident. One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely.
The KC-135 is not equipped with ejection seats.
This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.
According to CENTCOM, more information will be made available as the situation develops. We ask for continued patience to gather additional details and provide clarity for the families of service members.
As reported, platforms like the KC-135 have been deployed to the Middle East to support Operation Epic Fury. According to Breaking Defense, the Stratotanker is tasked to provide fuel to get across the Atlantic or extending time on station for jets striking Iranian targets. The aircraft is more vulnerable to enemy fire than newer, sophisticated jets like stealth fighters, and typically operates outside of contested environments as a result.
https://theaviationgeekclub.com/usaf-kc-135-stratotanker-lost-over-iraq/
Ooh-aah!
Michael V said:
Spiny Norman said:
USAF KC-135 Stratotanker lost over Iraq.US Central Command (CENTCOM) reports the loss of a US Air Force (USAF) KC-135 Stratonker refueling aircraft. The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing. Two aircraft were involved in the incident. One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely.
The KC-135 is not equipped with ejection seats.
This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.
According to CENTCOM, more information will be made available as the situation develops. We ask for continued patience to gather additional details and provide clarity for the families of service members.
As reported, platforms like the KC-135 have been deployed to the Middle East to support Operation Epic Fury. According to Breaking Defense, the Stratotanker is tasked to provide fuel to get across the Atlantic or extending time on station for jets striking Iranian targets. The aircraft is more vulnerable to enemy fire than newer, sophisticated jets like stealth fighters, and typically operates outside of contested environments as a result.
https://theaviationgeekclub.com/usaf-kc-135-stratotanker-lost-over-iraq/
Ooh-aah!
Most of the KC-135 fleet is VERY old, indeed. Usually two to three times as old as the people flying in them. The loss of one through ‘natural causes’ would not be a great shock.
And, the fact is that there’s almost always been a KC-135 on station around the lower Persian Gulf/Strait of Hormuz for a very long time now. It’s not like they’re new to the area.
captain_spalding said:
Most of the KC-135 fleet is VERY old, indeed. Usually two to three times as old as the people flying in them. The loss of one through ‘natural causes’ would not be a great shock.
Not really – If the maintenance schedule & inspections are followed then the airframe should still be quite serviceable.
I’m guessing that someone missed something.
SCIENCE said:
I would hazard a guess that seeing two aircraft were involved that there was a mid-air collision.
Bogsnorkler said:
SCIENCE said:
I would hazard a guess that seeing two aircraft were involved that there was a mid-air collision.
but it was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire so we suppose it’s like how Russia took down that reaper drone with a neutral fuel dump
One for Admiral Spalding.
“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/
It does look quite odd.
Spiny Norman said:
One for Admiral Spalding.“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/
It does look quite odd.
Try again.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/
Bogsnorkler said:
SCIENCE said:
I would hazard a guess that seeing two aircraft were involved that there was a mid-air collision.
Thought the news reported a collision.
roughbarked said:
Bogsnorkler said:
SCIENCE said:
I would hazard a guess that seeing two aircraft were involved that there was a mid-air collision.
Thought the news reported a collision.
Which news?
roughbarked said:
Bogsnorkler said:
SCIENCE said:
I would hazard a guess that seeing two aircraft were involved that there was a mid-air collision.
Thought the news reported a collision.
haven’t read any news report. just commenting on that cutting.
SCIENCE said:
Hope it wasn’t the one I flew on back at the end of 2006. It had a full bladder for refueling. Richmond NSW to Hawaii. I left my fingerprints in a few spots.
Ryan McBeth on the tanker crash.
No information on what happened, but of interest anyway.
The Iran war has meant bad news for much of the world, but not for Russia. The closing of the Strait of Hormuz, which sees about 20% of the world’s oil pass through it, has opened up lucrative opportunities for Moscow. In its desperation to stabilise global petrol prices, the United States has issued a 30-day waiver for countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products currently stranded at sea.
SCIENCE said:
The Iran war has meant bad news for much of the world, but not for Russia. The closing of the Strait of Hormuz, which sees about 20% of the world’s oil pass through it, has opened up lucrative opportunities for Moscow. In its desperation to stabilise global petrol prices, the United States has issued a 30-day waiver for countries to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products currently stranded at sea.
Nothing changes does it, still so dependant on oil
sorry if repost
word on the street that iran are hitting data centres and completely unrelatedly people are noticing a drop in the tide of disinformation bots on their social media interactions
SCIENCE said:
word on the street that iran are hitting data centres and completely unrelatedly people are noticing a drop in the tide of disinformation bots on their social media interactions
do you mean to tell us that you actually went outside, on the street, to get this information???
what’s it like, outside?
A headline in ABC news:
Trump thinks Iran’s new supreme leader is ‘alive in some form’ but damaged
Pot, kettle…
buffy said:
A headline in ABC news:Trump thinks Iran’s new supreme leader is ‘alive in some form’ but damaged
Pot, kettle…
Dead but walking around with no legs.
buffy said:
A headline in ABC news:Trump thinks Iran’s new supreme leader is ‘alive in some form’ but damaged
Pot, kettle…
Like Davros
Bubblecar said:
buffy said:
A headline in ABC news:
Trump thinks Iran’s new supreme leader is ‘alive in some form’ but damaged
Pot, kettle…
Dead but walking around with no legs.
sorry we don’t understand don’t countries have access to 跟爱 these days
Bogsnorkler said:
SCIENCE said:
word on the street that iran are hitting data centres and completely unrelatedly people are noticing a drop in the tide of disinformation bots on their social media interactions
do you mean to tell us that you actually went outside, on the street, to get this information???
what’s it like, outside?
sorry the information back alley, as opposed to the superhighway
actually that reminds us we were part way through neuromancer but some Real Life happened and we can’t even remember where we put the pigment and fibre book from the bricks and mortar store, we should go dig around for it next month
Spiny Norman said:
One for Admiral Spalding.“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/
It does look quite odd.
Some people claim that it’s ‘AIS spoofing’ or ‘GPS spoofing’ with ships reporting false positions to the tracking systems.
That so many would come up with the same idea at the same time, and report similar positions is, i think, most unlikely.
There’s 4 or 5 such clusters off the west coast of the UAE at the moment, and i suggest that these are anchorage areas which have been designated by the UAE govt for ships which don’t wish to risk running the Strait of Hormuz right now.
captain_spalding said:
Spiny Norman said:
One for Admiral Spalding.“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/
It does look quite odd.
Some people claim that it’s ‘AIS spoofing’ or ‘GPS spoofing’ with ships reporting false positions to the tracking systems.
That so many would come up with the same idea at the same time, and report similar positions is, i think, most unlikely.
There’s 4 or 5 such clusters off the west coast of the UAE at the moment, and i suggest that these are anchorage areas which have been designated by the UAE govt for ships which don’t wish to risk running the Strait of Hormuz right now.
Those ships need to grow some balls.
captain_spalding said:
Spiny Norman said:
One for Admiral Spalding.“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/
It does look quite odd.
Some people claim that it’s ‘AIS spoofing’ or ‘GPS spoofing’ with ships reporting false positions to the tracking systems.
That so many would come up with the same idea at the same time, and report similar positions is, i think, most unlikely.
There’s 4 or 5 such clusters off the west coast of the UAE at the moment, and i suggest that these are anchorage areas which have been designated by the UAE govt for ships which don’t wish to risk running the Strait of Hormuz right now.
That would make sense
Peak Warming Man said:
captain_spalding said:
Spiny Norman said:
One for Admiral Spalding.“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/
It does look quite odd.
Some people claim that it’s ‘AIS spoofing’ or ‘GPS spoofing’ with ships reporting false positions to the tracking systems.
That so many would come up with the same idea at the same time, and report similar positions is, i think, most unlikely.
There’s 4 or 5 such clusters off the west coast of the UAE at the moment, and i suggest that these are anchorage areas which have been designated by the UAE govt for ships which don’t wish to risk running the Strait of Hormuz right now.
Those ships need to grow some balls.
Something this war seems to indicate is restocking and resupplying isn’t easy anymore
I mean it would never have been easy but with so many weapons smart and sophisticated you can’t churn out quickly
Further to that , here’s a quote from the Joint Maritime Information Center Update 002, issued 28 Feb 2026:
.
4. Port & Anchorage Congestion Risk
Increased vessel clustering is expected near UAE coastal ports, Omani approaches, and SoH anchorages
as operators delay discretionary transits pending further clarity. Elevated congestion may create secondary
navigation risks including restricted maneuvering space, anchor dragging, and collision exposure.
Enhanced bridge resource management and disciplined VHF/AIS reporting is advised.
captain_spalding said:
Further to that , here’s a quote from the Joint Maritime Information Center Update 002, issued 28 Feb 2026:.
4. Port & Anchorage Congestion Risk
Increased vessel clustering is expected near UAE coastal ports, Omani approaches, and SoH anchorages
as operators delay discretionary transits pending further clarity. Elevated congestion may create secondary
navigation risks including restricted maneuvering space, anchor dragging, and collision exposure.
Enhanced bridge resource management and disciplined VHF/AIS reporting is advised.
Ta.
Video from evacuated crew from a freighter in the Strait of Hormuz.
“https://www.reddit.com/r/SeaEmploy/comments/1rrkgp1/video_from_evacuated_crew/”:
Spiny Norman said:
Video from evacuated crew from a freighter in the Strait of Hormuz.“https://www.reddit.com/r/SeaEmploy/comments/1rrkgp1/video_from_evacuated_crew/”:
FFS ..
https://www.reddit.com/r/SeaEmploy/comments/1rrkgp1/video_from_evacuated_crew/
Peak Warming Man said:
captain_spalding said:
Spiny Norman said:
One for Admiral Spalding.“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/“https://www.reddit.com/r/Ships/comments/1rrmr2v/ship_people_what_is_going_on_here/
It does look quite odd.
Some people claim that it’s ‘AIS spoofing’ or ‘GPS spoofing’ with ships reporting false positions to the tracking systems.
That so many would come up with the same idea at the same time, and report similar positions is, i think, most unlikely.
There’s 4 or 5 such clusters off the west coast of the UAE at the moment, and i suggest that these are anchorage areas which have been designated by the UAE govt for ships which don’t wish to risk running the Strait of Hormuz right now.
Those ships need to grow some balls.
Mouthing Trump?
Australian hospitals are on alert following the hacking of a US multinational, Stryker, which sells medical and surgical equipment. The Handala group, which is affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Cyber Security, claimed responsibility for the cyber attack. In a statement posted on X, Handala called Stryker a “Zionist-rooted corporation” and claimed it had wiped 200,000 systems, servers and devices and stolen 50 terabytes of critical data.
Stryker is part way through a $450 million contract to supply medical equipment to the US military and, in 2019, acquired Orthospace, an Israeli medical technology company.
Security experts have told the ABC the hackers managed to get administrative access to Microsoft Intune — a cloud-based device management platform commonly used in corporate Australia — and used it to remotely wipe associated devices around the world. Matt O’Kane from Sydney cybersecurity consulting firm Notion Digital Forensics said the group managed to erase some but not all devices.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-13/iran-cyber-attack-stryker-hospitals/106452066
SCIENCE said:
Australian hospitals are on alert following the hacking of a US multinational, Stryker, which sells medical and surgical equipment. The Handala group, which is affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Cyber Security, claimed responsibility for the cyber attack. In a statement posted on X, Handala called Stryker a “Zionist-rooted corporation” and claimed it had wiped 200,000 systems, servers and devices and stolen 50 terabytes of critical data.
Stryker is part way through a $450 million contract to supply medical equipment to the US military and, in 2019, acquired Orthospace, an Israeli medical technology company.
Security experts have told the ABC the hackers managed to get administrative access to Microsoft Intune — a cloud-based device management platform commonly used in corporate Australia — and used it to remotely wipe associated devices around the world. Matt O’Kane from Sydney cybersecurity consulting firm Notion Digital Forensics said the group managed to erase some but not all devices.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-13/iran-cyber-attack-stryker-hospitals/106452066
Another triumph for ‘cloud-based services’.
dv said:
Speaks volumes, doesn’t it?
dv said:
:(
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Bogsnorkler said:I would hazard a guess that seeing two aircraft were involved that there was a mid-air collision.
Thought the news reported a collision.
Which news?
DW? ABC? AlJazeera? I forget.
dv said:
The two guys wearing glasses look the same. The other 3 men look the same.
kii said:
dv said:
The two guys wearing glasses look the same. The other 3 men look the same.
probably now they do
SCIENCE said:
kii said:
dv said:
The two guys wearing glasses look the same. The other 3 men look the same.
probably now they do
Yup, probably.
kii said:
SCIENCE said:
kii said:
The two guys wearing glasses look the same. The other 3 men look the same.
probably now they do
Yup, probably.
well we haven’t met those fellas
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:
Australian hospitals are on alert following the hacking of a US multinational, Stryker, which sells medical and surgical equipment. The Handala group, which is affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Cyber Security, claimed responsibility for the cyber attack. In a statement posted on X, Handala called Stryker a “Zionist-rooted corporation” and claimed it had wiped 200,000 systems, servers and devices and stolen 50 terabytes of critical data.
Stryker is part way through a $450 million contract to supply medical equipment to the US military and, in 2019, acquired Orthospace, an Israeli medical technology company.
Security experts have told the ABC the hackers managed to get administrative access to Microsoft Intune — a cloud-based device management platform commonly used in corporate Australia — and used it to remotely wipe associated devices around the world. Matt O’Kane from Sydney cybersecurity consulting firm Notion Digital Forensics said the group managed to erase some but not all devices.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-13/iran-cyber-attack-stryker-hospitals/106452066
Another triumph for ‘cloud-based services’.
that reminds us we read another article earlier hence our street words, sorry if repost
The Gulf has rapidly become one of the world’s most important locations for this infrastructure. Over the past five years, hyperscale companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Oracle have invested billions of dollars establishing cloud regions across the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. These investments support not only commercial cloud services but also the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence industry. The strikes on AWS facilities, therefore, represent more than a tactical incident. They challenge a fundamental assumption underlying the Gulf’s economic strategy: that the region provides a stable and secure environment for long-term digital infrastructure. The Gulf states have spent decades building a reputation as modern, safe and well-organised global hubs for aviation, tourism, finance and communications. Cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha have positioned themselves as key gateways connecting Europe, Asia and Africa. Large-scale digital infrastructure – data centres, AI platforms and cloud networks – was meant to reinforce that role.
The widespread use of relatively inexpensive drones plays a central role in this strategy. Iran and its proxies have demonstrated the ability to deploy large numbers of low-cost unmanned systems that are difficult and expensive to intercept. Even if most are shot down, a few reaching their targets can still cause disruption. For Gulf states hosting concentrated clusters of critical infrastructure – oil refineries, ports, airports and now hyperscale data centres – this creates a serious asymmetry. Protecting every facility against swarms of drones is technically complex and extremely costly. The implications extend well beyond the region. AWS is one of the largest cloud providers in the world, supporting governments, corporations and financial institutions across multiple continents. While hyperscale cloud architecture is designed with geographic redundancy, attacks on physical facilities highlight how dependent the digital economy remains on specific locations.
yeah, no faeces, wake up already
The AWS strikes underline a broader reality: digital infrastructure is now part of the strategic landscape of conflict. Data centres host financial transactions, government systems, telecommunications networks and increasingly the computing power driving artificial intelligence. They are no longer purely commercial facilities.
For countries such as Australia, this development carries important lessons. Governments are actively encouraging massive investment in hyperscale data centres and AI infrastructure as part of future economic strategies. Yet much of this infrastructure remains owned and operated by a small group of global technology companies and integrated into geopolitical systems beyond national control. Australia has already experienced warnings about the sovereignty risks of such dependencies. Yet policymakers remain reluctant to seriously address the strategic implications. If digital infrastructure is becoming as geopolitically exposed as pipelines, ports and power stations, then issues of sovereignty, resilience and national control cannot be ignored.
exactly
but the next bit is jawdroppingly stupid
The cloud was once portrayed as a neutral global platform floating above politics.
you what
what the fornication
anyone who bought that picture was an idiot
LOL so true how the dirty ASIANS jump to solutions and address problems quick
while out in fanatical Americanity it really is Delay Deny Defend The Economy Must Grow by crashing it
wild speculation
This guy is a fkn genius.
Hegseth: “The only thing prohibiting transit in right now is Iran shooting at shipping.”
“It is open for transit should Iran not do that”
The other aircraft involved in the incident over Iraq:
Kingy said:
This guy is a fkn genius.Hegseth: “The only thing prohibiting transit in right now is Iran shooting at shipping.”
“It is open for transit should Iran not do that”
f*k*ng genius!
party_pants said:
Kingy said:
This guy is a fkn genius.Hegseth: “The only thing prohibiting transit in right now is Iran shooting at shipping.”
“It is open for transit should Iran not do that”
f*k*ng genius!
He’s got an IQ lower than DJ Trump.
roughbarked said:
party_pants said:
Kingy said:
This guy is a fkn genius.Hegseth: “The only thing prohibiting transit in right now is Iran shooting at shipping.”
“It is open for transit should Iran not do that”
f*k*ng genius!
He’s got an IQ lower than DJ Trump.
Probably why he got the job in the first place. Trump couldn’t stand being surrounded by anyone smarter than him.
buffy said:
wait
not just the loss of oil and gas revenues, but a challenge to their moves to diversify away from those revenues by becoming transport hubs and financial centres
is shifting focus vertically, “diversifying”, then
Carrick Ryan
Iran is winning this war.
Which is why the risk of escalation is very real.
The Strait of Hormuz is not formally closed, but in practical terms it’s effectively shut to commercial shipping. 21 million barrels of oil usually pass through it every day, about a fifth of the world’s traded oil supply. But insurance companies will not accept the intolerable risk of drones, rockets, or sea mines, on vessels worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The US Navy, for all its might, appears to have no means of ensuring the safety of commercial vessels through the choke point.
The only thing preventing the world being cut off from it’s most consequential fuel supply is a pipeline traversing Saudi Arabia that at full capacity can only carry seven million barrels a day. The UAE also has a pipeline that bypasses the Strait, but that can only handle 1.5 million barrels a day. Both are vulnerable to Iranian drone strikes.
The US strategic reserve can add as much as 4.4 million barrels a day to the market to cushion the blow, the rest of the world can add maybe two million more. But at the current rate, the strategic reserves would run out in about 90 days. The moment that time even begins to feel like it’s running out, the markets will suffer catastrophic shocks.
This is on top of 20% of the world’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) being cut off, as well as about a quarter of the world’s urea used for fertiliser throughout the world, not to mention the impact on the domestic economies of the Gulf States, in particular the aviation sectors of the UAE and Qatar.
Trump needs commercial ships moving through Hormuz within the next month to avert a full blown economic crisis, but he’s running out of options. The “decapitation strike” didn’t work, the regime survives without its head. The new Ayatollah is not going to submit himself to the men who killed his father. This is no Delcy Rodríguez, happy to accept the throne as a vassal queen.
Tehran survived the initial onslaught and launched a counter-attack with surprising strength, pursuing one achievable objective – to inflict so much economic hardship on the people of the USA and its allies so that no future US President will dare risk conflict with Iran again. The regime now see this war as an opportunity to ensure its security indefinitely. To achieve this, the Iranian military doesn’t need to defeat the US military, it just needs to impose as much cost as possible on the USA as a whole.
Trump, by his own admission, is out of targets to strike, so Iran will keep firing missiles and drones over the Strait as long as they can sustain it. They are confident they can ride out the chaos longer than the White House… they don’t have midterm elections coming up in November.
So what can Trump do?
The first option is to find an off-ramp while in a position of strategic weakness, likely ensuring the terms of any peace are significantly in Tehran’s favour. It could be a humiliating retreat, but I also appreciate Trump’s unparalleled ability to sell failure to his base.
The second is to secure the Strait with sufficient confidence that insurance companies will tolerate the risk. At this point, it’s difficult to see how the US achieves this without troops on Iranian soil. Once this occurs, we risk devolving into a quagmire.
Trump appears to have started the war in the belief it could be won within days; he doesn’t appear to have a Plan B. There may still be a sudden collapse of the Iranian regime, and few would miss it if it did, but there is no indication that this is imminent, or even plausible in the short term.
So how does Trump walk away if Iran still wants to fight?
Bogsnorkler said:
Carrick Ryan
Iran is winning this war.
The Strait of Hormuz is not formally closed, but in practical terms it’s effectively shut to commercial shipping. 21 million barrels of oil usually pass through it every day, about a fifth of the world’s traded oil supply. But insurance companies will not accept the intolerable risk of drones, rockets, or sea mines, on vessels worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The US Navy, for all its might, appears to have no means of ensuring the safety of commercial vessels through the choke point.
The only thing preventing the world being cut off from it’s most consequential fuel supply is a pipeline traversing Saudi Arabia that at full capacity can only carry seven million barrels a day. The UAE also has a pipeline that bypasses the Strait, but that can only handle 1.5 million barrels a day. Both are vulnerable to Iranian drone strikes.
Tehran survived the initial onslaught and launched a counter-attack with surprising strength, pursuing one achievable objective – to inflict so much economic hardship on the people of the USA and its allies so that no future US President will dare risk conflict with Iran again. The regime now see this war as an opportunity to ensure its security indefinitely. To achieve this, the Iranian military doesn’t need to defeat the US military, it just needs to impose as much cost as possible on the USA as a whole.
Trump, by his own admission, is out of targets to strike, so Iran will keep firing missiles and drones over the Strait as long as they can sustain it. They are confident they can ride out the chaos longer than the White House… they don’t have midterm elections coming up in November.
So how does Trump walk away if Iran still wants to fight?
sorry we thought it was alleged that ussa annihilated the nuclear programme and the israelis made short work of all the launchers so how are iran doing this
wait
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-14/middle-east-war-disrupts-australian-exports/106420656
we thought our biggest trading region isn’t even in that direction, why do we care
Bogsnorkler said:
Carrick RyanIran is winning this war.
Which is why the risk of escalation is very real.
The Strait of Hormuz is not formally closed, but in practical terms it’s effectively shut to commercial shipping. 21 million barrels of oil usually pass through it every day, about a fifth of the world’s traded oil supply. But insurance companies will not accept the intolerable risk of drones, rockets, or sea mines, on vessels worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The US Navy, for all its might, appears to have no means of ensuring the safety of commercial vessels through the choke point.
The only thing preventing the world being cut off from it’s most consequential fuel supply is a pipeline traversing Saudi Arabia that at full capacity can only carry seven million barrels a day. The UAE also has a pipeline that bypasses the Strait, but that can only handle 1.5 million barrels a day. Both are vulnerable to Iranian drone strikes.
The US strategic reserve can add as much as 4.4 million barrels a day to the market to cushion the blow, the rest of the world can add maybe two million more. But at the current rate, the strategic reserves would run out in about 90 days. The moment that time even begins to feel like it’s running out, the markets will suffer catastrophic shocks.
This is on top of 20% of the world’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) being cut off, as well as about a quarter of the world’s urea used for fertiliser throughout the world, not to mention the impact on the domestic economies of the Gulf States, in particular the aviation sectors of the UAE and Qatar.
Trump needs commercial ships moving through Hormuz within the next month to avert a full blown economic crisis, but he’s running out of options. The “decapitation strike” didn’t work, the regime survives without its head. The new Ayatollah is not going to submit himself to the men who killed his father. This is no Delcy Rodríguez, happy to accept the throne as a vassal queen.
Tehran survived the initial onslaught and launched a counter-attack with surprising strength, pursuing one achievable objective – to inflict so much economic hardship on the people of the USA and its allies so that no future US President will dare risk conflict with Iran again. The regime now see this war as an opportunity to ensure its security indefinitely. To achieve this, the Iranian military doesn’t need to defeat the US military, it just needs to impose as much cost as possible on the USA as a whole.
Trump, by his own admission, is out of targets to strike, so Iran will keep firing missiles and drones over the Strait as long as they can sustain it. They are confident they can ride out the chaos longer than the White House… they don’t have midterm elections coming up in November.
So what can Trump do?
The first option is to find an off-ramp while in a position of strategic weakness, likely ensuring the terms of any peace are significantly in Tehran’s favour. It could be a humiliating retreat, but I also appreciate Trump’s unparalleled ability to sell failure to his base.
The second is to secure the Strait with sufficient confidence that insurance companies will tolerate the risk. At this point, it’s difficult to see how the US achieves this without troops on Iranian soil. Once this occurs, we risk devolving into a quagmire.
Trump appears to have started the war in the belief it could be won within days; he doesn’t appear to have a Plan B. There may still be a sudden collapse of the Iranian regime, and few would miss it if it did, but there is no indication that this is imminent, or even plausible in the short term.
So how does Trump walk away if Iran still wants to fight?
Good points. I guess we’ll see.
Bogsnorkler said:
Carrick RyanIran is winning this war.
Which is why the risk of escalation is very real.
The Strait of Hormuz is not formally closed, but in practical terms it’s effectively shut to commercial shipping. 21 million barrels of oil usually pass through it every day, about a fifth of the world’s traded oil supply. But insurance companies will not accept the intolerable risk of drones, rockets, or sea mines, on vessels worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The US Navy, for all its might, appears to have no means of ensuring the safety of commercial vessels through the choke point.
The only thing preventing the world being cut off from it’s most consequential fuel supply is a pipeline traversing Saudi Arabia that at full capacity can only carry seven million barrels a day. The UAE also has a pipeline that bypasses the Strait, but that can only handle 1.5 million barrels a day. Both are vulnerable to Iranian drone strikes.
The US strategic reserve can add as much as 4.4 million barrels a day to the market to cushion the blow, the rest of the world can add maybe two million more. But at the current rate, the strategic reserves would run out in about 90 days. The moment that time even begins to feel like it’s running out, the markets will suffer catastrophic shocks.
This is on top of 20% of the world’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) being cut off, as well as about a quarter of the world’s urea used for fertiliser throughout the world, not to mention the impact on the domestic economies of the Gulf States, in particular the aviation sectors of the UAE and Qatar.
Trump needs commercial ships moving through Hormuz within the next month to avert a full blown economic crisis, but he’s running out of options. The “decapitation strike” didn’t work, the regime survives without its head. The new Ayatollah is not going to submit himself to the men who killed his father. This is no Delcy Rodríguez, happy to accept the throne as a vassal queen.
Tehran survived the initial onslaught and launched a counter-attack with surprising strength, pursuing one achievable objective – to inflict so much economic hardship on the people of the USA and its allies so that no future US President will dare risk conflict with Iran again. The regime now see this war as an opportunity to ensure its security indefinitely. To achieve this, the Iranian military doesn’t need to defeat the US military, it just needs to impose as much cost as possible on the USA as a whole.
Trump, by his own admission, is out of targets to strike, so Iran will keep firing missiles and drones over the Strait as long as they can sustain it. They are confident they can ride out the chaos longer than the White House… they don’t have midterm elections coming up in November.
So what can Trump do?
The first option is to find an off-ramp while in a position of strategic weakness, likely ensuring the terms of any peace are significantly in Tehran’s favour. It could be a humiliating retreat, but I also appreciate Trump’s unparalleled ability to sell failure to his base.
The second is to secure the Strait with sufficient confidence that insurance companies will tolerate the risk. At this point, it’s difficult to see how the US achieves this without troops on Iranian soil. Once this occurs, we risk devolving into a quagmire.
Trump appears to have started the war in the belief it could be won within days; he doesn’t appear to have a Plan B. There may still be a sudden collapse of the Iranian regime, and few would miss it if it did, but there is no indication that this is imminent, or even plausible in the short term.
So how does Trump walk away if Iran still wants to fight?
BTDT any number of times in my lifetime. I don’t see why this one is any different.
Woodie said:
Bogsnorkler said:
Carrick Ryan
Iran is winning this war.
Which is why the risk of escalation is very real.
The Strait of Hormuz is not formally closed, but in practical terms it’s effectively shut to commercial shipping. 21 million barrels of oil usually pass through it every day, about a fifth of the world’s traded oil supply. But insurance companies will not accept the intolerable risk of drones, rockets, or sea mines, on vessels worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The US Navy, for all its might, appears to have no means of ensuring the safety of commercial vessels through the choke point.
The only thing preventing the world being cut off from it’s most consequential fuel supply is a pipeline traversing Saudi Arabia that at full capacity can only carry seven million barrels a day. The UAE also has a pipeline that bypasses the Strait, but that can only handle 1.5 million barrels a day. Both are vulnerable to Iranian drone strikes.
The US strategic reserve can add as much as 4.4 million barrels a day to the market to cushion the blow, the rest of the world can add maybe two million more. But at the current rate, the strategic reserves would run out in about 90 days. The moment that time even begins to feel like it’s running out, the markets will suffer catastrophic shocks.
This is on top of 20% of the world’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) being cut off, as well as about a quarter of the world’s urea used for fertiliser throughout the world, not to mention the impact on the domestic economies of the Gulf States, in particular the aviation sectors of the UAE and Qatar.
Trump needs commercial ships moving through Hormuz within the next month to avert a full blown economic crisis, but he’s running out of options. The “decapitation strike” didn’t work, the regime survives without its head. The new Ayatollah is not going to submit himself to the men who killed his father. This is no Delcy Rodríguez, happy to accept the throne as a vassal queen.
Tehran survived the initial onslaught and launched a counter-attack with surprising strength, pursuing one achievable objective – to inflict so much economic hardship on the people of the USA and its allies so that no future US President will dare risk conflict with Iran again. The regime now see this war as an opportunity to ensure its security indefinitely. To achieve this, the Iranian military doesn’t need to defeat the US military, it just needs to impose as much cost as possible on the USA as a whole.
Trump, by his own admission, is out of targets to strike, so Iran will keep firing missiles and drones over the Strait as long as they can sustain it. They are confident they can ride out the chaos longer than the White House… they don’t have midterm elections coming up in November.
So what can Trump do?
The first option is to find an off-ramp while in a position of strategic weakness, likely ensuring the terms of any peace are significantly in Tehran’s favour. It could be a humiliating retreat, but I also appreciate Trump’s unparalleled ability to sell failure to his base.
The second is to secure the Strait with sufficient confidence that insurance companies will tolerate the risk. At this point, it’s difficult to see how the US achieves this without troops on Iranian soil. Once this occurs, we risk devolving into a quagmire.
Trump appears to have started the war in the belief it could be won within days; he doesn’t appear to have a Plan B. There may still be a sudden collapse of the Iranian regime, and few would miss it if it did, but there is no indication that this is imminent, or even plausible in the short term.
So how does Trump walk away if Iran still wants to fight?
BTDT any number of times in my lifetime. I don’t see why this one is any different.
so how did you do it
There are reports out of the US that Washington is sending about 2,500 marines and at least one amphibious assault ship to the Middle East. US officials, speaking anonymously, say they are currently in Japan on warships and will need about two weeks to make the journey. The Associated Press Agency says the troops are part of units that are trained and equipped to conduct amphibious landings but it does not necessarily indicate that a ground operation is imminent or will take place.
no boots on the ground because they’ll be going in thongs
Bogsnorkler said:
Carrick RyanIran is winning this war.
Which is why the risk of escalation is very real.
The Strait of Hormuz is not formally closed, but in practical terms it’s effectively shut to commercial shipping. 21 million barrels of oil usually pass through it every day, about a fifth of the world’s traded oil supply. But insurance companies will not accept the intolerable risk of drones, rockets, or sea mines, on vessels worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The US Navy, for all its might, appears to have no means of ensuring the safety of commercial vessels through the choke point.
The only thing preventing the world being cut off from it’s most consequential fuel supply is a pipeline traversing Saudi Arabia that at full capacity can only carry seven million barrels a day. The UAE also has a pipeline that bypasses the Strait, but that can only handle 1.5 million barrels a day. Both are vulnerable to Iranian drone strikes.
The US strategic reserve can add as much as 4.4 million barrels a day to the market to cushion the blow, the rest of the world can add maybe two million more. But at the current rate, the strategic reserves would run out in about 90 days. The moment that time even begins to feel like it’s running out, the markets will suffer catastrophic shocks.
This is on top of 20% of the world’s Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) being cut off, as well as about a quarter of the world’s urea used for fertiliser throughout the world, not to mention the impact on the domestic economies of the Gulf States, in particular the aviation sectors of the UAE and Qatar.
Trump needs commercial ships moving through Hormuz within the next month to avert a full blown economic crisis, but he’s running out of options. The “decapitation strike” didn’t work, the regime survives without its head. The new Ayatollah is not going to submit himself to the men who killed his father. This is no Delcy Rodríguez, happy to accept the throne as a vassal queen.
Tehran survived the initial onslaught and launched a counter-attack with surprising strength, pursuing one achievable objective – to inflict so much economic hardship on the people of the USA and its allies so that no future US President will dare risk conflict with Iran again. The regime now see this war as an opportunity to ensure its security indefinitely. To achieve this, the Iranian military doesn’t need to defeat the US military, it just needs to impose as much cost as possible on the USA as a whole.
Trump, by his own admission, is out of targets to strike, so Iran will keep firing missiles and drones over the Strait as long as they can sustain it. They are confident they can ride out the chaos longer than the White House… they don’t have midterm elections coming up in November.
So what can Trump do?
The first option is to find an off-ramp while in a position of strategic weakness, likely ensuring the terms of any peace are significantly in Tehran’s favour. It could be a humiliating retreat, but I also appreciate Trump’s unparalleled ability to sell failure to his base.
The second is to secure the Strait with sufficient confidence that insurance companies will tolerate the risk. At this point, it’s difficult to see how the US achieves this without troops on Iranian soil. Once this occurs, we risk devolving into a quagmire.
Trump appears to have started the war in the belief it could be won within days; he doesn’t appear to have a Plan B. There may still be a sudden collapse of the Iranian regime, and few would miss it if it did, but there is no indication that this is imminent, or even plausible in the short term.
So how does Trump walk away if Iran still wants to fight?
What the US needs to do is issue the necessary insurance to cover the transit of Hormuz to any ships that want to join an escorted convoy. You can’t rely on the private sector to provide insurance in this war zone now, it must be done by sovereign states taking on the risk.
sure
A member of the Iranian soccer team has told protesters in Malaysia they aren’t scared about going home and that officials have promised them rewards when they return.
we’re not saying the promises weren’t made
Someone did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) about fuel
https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/s/lWuxeb7zoO
dv said:
Not sure what he is getting at there…
party_pants said:
dv said:
Not sure what he is getting at there…
I’m not a fan of Iran but the US needs to get its ducks in a row or risk being petromogged.
dv said:
party_pants said:
dv said:
Not sure what he is getting at there…
I’m not a fan of Iran but the US needs to get its ducks in a row or risk being petromogged.
“There are no results for “petromogged”
Check your spelling or try different keywords”
party_pants said:
dv said:
Not sure what he is getting at there…
a friendly invitation to bring an american friend
dv said:
Destroy the Destroyers!
Divine Angel said:
Someone did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) about fuelhttps://www.reddit.com/r/australia/s/lWuxeb7zoO
Ta.
transition said:
party_pants said:
dv said:
Not sure what he is getting at there…
a friendly invitation to bring an american friend
perhaps this little anecdote can tickle the neurons
Two friends are swimming in the strait. Suddenly, a bear appears, roaring and charging towards them.
The first man drops his bag, rips off his hiking boots, and starts putting on flippers.
The second man says, “What are you doing? You can’t outswim a bear!”
The first man looks up and says, “I don’t have to outrun the bear.”
Being young, I wasn’t paying attention to the Kuwait war. How was the fuel situation during that?
Divine Angel said:
Being young, I wasn’t paying attention to the Kuwait war. How was the fuel situation during that?
I don’t remember, sorry.
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
Someone did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) about fuel
Ta.
thanks
so the short of it is
should have gone electric 30 years ago
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
Being young, I wasn’t paying attention to the Kuwait war. How was the fuel situation during that?
I don’t remember, sorry.
How rude that you don’t recall specific information from 35 years ago!
Divine Angel said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
Being young, I wasn’t paying attention to the Kuwait war. How was the fuel situation during that?
I don’t remember, sorry.
How rude that you don’t recall specific information from 35 years ago!
It went up heaps, and then slowly came back to normal as supplies resumed.
Divine Angel said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
Being young, I wasn’t paying attention to the Kuwait war. How was the fuel situation during that?
I don’t remember, sorry.
How rude that you don’t recall specific information from 35 years ago!
Oh, sorry.
:(
:(
:(
;)
Divine Angel said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
Being young, I wasn’t paying attention to the Kuwait war. How was the fuel situation during that?
I don’t remember, sorry.
How rude that you don’t recall specific information from 35 years ago!
well we’ll tell you how it wasn’t
back then air travel wasn’t just a simple casual matter of swiping the credit card and hopping on a few shuttles around the world, yes we get that they are paying customers and we get that there should be some certainty as to what is going on but some of these representations do verge on entitlement
another more interesting thing is that we don’t remember airlines charging fares with irrational values, but we suppose as some people suggested, it is piday today
“The cost is astronomical,” he said. “Even if I cancel my Etihad flight to get a refund to book an alternative airline and route, the refund isn’t even going to be a fraction of … the cost of a new ticket.
Apologies if it’s a repost. This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Perhaps that feeling in his bones is osteoporosis.
President Donald Trump did not commit to a definitive timeline for the war in Iran, saying in a Friday interview that the fighting would end when he feels it “in my bones.”
Trump told Fox News Radio that he didn’t think the war “would be long.” But he suggested that only he will know when it will be over, saying the conflict will end “when I feel it, feel it in my bones.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/13/trump-iran-war-ending-timeline-00828138
Divine Angel said:
Apologies if it’s a repost. This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Perhaps that feeling in his bones is osteoporosis.President Donald Trump did not commit to a definitive timeline for the war in Iran, saying in a Friday interview that the fighting would end when he feels it “in my bones.”
Trump told Fox News Radio that he didn’t think the war “would be long.” But he suggested that only he will know when it will be over, saying the conflict will end “when I feel it, feel it in my bones.”https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/13/trump-iran-war-ending-timeline-00828138
Yeah right. Iran and Israel have a say too in when they cease hostilities or military action.
party_pants said:
Divine Angel said:
Apologies if it’s a repost. This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Perhaps that feeling in his bones is osteoporosis.President Donald Trump did not commit to a definitive timeline for the war in Iran, saying in a Friday interview that the fighting would end when he feels it “in my bones.”
Trump told Fox News Radio that he didn’t think the war “would be long.” But he suggested that only he will know when it will be over, saying the conflict will end “when I feel it, feel it in my bones.”https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/13/trump-iran-war-ending-timeline-00828138
Yeah right. Iran and Israel have a say too in when they cease hostilities or military action.
I’m expecting someone in the usa buying a cheap drone, attaching a grenade or similar, and dropping it on the orange retard during a golfing session at maralago.
The last 3 republican presidents have all started a war in the gulf region.
Divine Angel said:
Apologies if it’s a repost. This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Perhaps that feeling in his bones is osteoporosis.President Donald Trump did not commit to a definitive timeline for the war in Iran, saying in a Friday interview that the fighting would end when he feels it “in my bones.”
Trump told Fox News Radio that he didn’t think the war “would be long.” But he suggested that only he will know when it will be over, saying the conflict will end “when I feel it, feel it in my bones.”https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/13/trump-iran-war-ending-timeline-00828138
in his formidable cranial bone
I can hear the braggart going on in trump-speak, ‘i’ve got the densest impenetrable most powerful cranial bone even tested by modern science, ever. The military what to try some of it as penetrator in anti-tank projectiles’
transition said:
Divine Angel said:
Apologies if it’s a repost. This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. Perhaps that feeling in his bones is osteoporosis.
President Donald Trump did not commit to a definitive timeline for the war in Iran, saying in a Friday interview that the fighting would end when he feels it “in my bones.”
Trump told Fox News Radio that he didn’t think the war “would be long.” But he suggested that only he will know when it will be over, saying the conflict will end “when I feel it, feel it in my bones.”https://www.politico.com/news/2026/03/13/trump-iran-war-ending-timeline-00828138
in his formidable cranial bone
I can hear the braggart going on in trump-speak, ‘i’ve got the densest impenetrable most powerful cranial bone even tested by modern science, ever. The military what to try some of it as penetrator in anti-tank projectiles’
wish they would
Lyrics
Rock The Casbah”
Now the king told the boogie men
You have to let that raga drop
The oil down the desert way
Has been shakin’ to the top
The sheik he drove his Cadillac
He went a’ cruisin’ down the ville
The muezzin was a’ standing
On the radiator grille
The shareef don’t like it
Rock the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
The shareef don’t like it
Rock the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
By order of the prophet
We ban that boogie sound
Degenerate the faithful
With that crazy Casbah sound
But the Bedouin they brought out
The electric camel drum
The local guitar picker
Got his guitar picking thumb
As soon as the shareef
Had cleared the square
They began to wail
The shareef don’t like it
Rock the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
The shareef don’t like it
Rock the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
Now over at the temple
Oh! They really pack ‘em in
The in crowd say it’s cool
To dig this chanting thing
But as the wind changed direction
And the temple band took five
The crowd caught a whiff
Of that crazy Casbah jive
The shareef don’t like it
Rock the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
The shareef don’t like it
Rock the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
The king called up his jet fighters
He said you better earn your pay
Drop your bombs between the minarets
Down the Casbah way
As soon as the shareef was
Chauffeured outta there
The jet pilots tuned to
The cockpit radio blare
As soon as the shareef was
Outta their hair
The jet pilots wailed
The shareef don’t like it
Rock the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
The shareef don’t like it
Rock the Casbah
Rock the Casbah
He thinks it’s not kosher
Fundamentally he can’t take it.
You know he really hates it.
https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/clash/rockthecasbah.html
oh
US President Donald Trump has renewed his call for other nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The president wrote on Truth Social that he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send warships to the area.
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
Bogsnorkler said:
SCIENCE said:
word on the street that iran are hitting data centres and completely unrelatedly people are noticing a drop in the tide of disinformation bots on their social media interactions
do you mean to tell us that you actually went outside, on the street, to get this information???
what’s it like, outside?
sorry the information back alley, as opposed to the superhighway
actually that reminds us we were part way through neuromancer but some Real Life happened and we can’t even remember where we put the pigment and fibre book from the bricks and mortar store, we should go dig around for it next month
Australian hospitals are on alert following the hacking of a US multinational, Stryker, which sells medical and surgical equipment. The Handala group, which is affiliated with Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Cyber Security, claimed responsibility for the cyber attack. In a statement posted on X, Handala called Stryker a “Zionist-rooted corporation” and claimed it had wiped 200,000 systems, servers and devices and stolen 50 terabytes of critical data.
Stryker is part way through a $450 million contract to supply medical equipment to the US military and, in 2019, acquired Orthospace, an Israeli medical technology company.
Security experts have told the ABC the hackers managed to get administrative access to Microsoft Intune — a cloud-based device management platform commonly used in corporate Australia — and used it to remotely wipe associated devices around the world. Matt O’Kane from Sydney cybersecurity consulting firm Notion Digital Forensics said the group managed to erase some but not all devices.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-13/iran-cyber-attack-stryker-hospitals/106452066
Another triumph for ‘cloud-based services’.
that reminds us we read another article earlier hence our street words, sorry if repost
The Gulf has rapidly become one of the world’s most important locations for this infrastructure. Over the past five years, hyperscale companies such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google and Oracle have invested billions of dollars establishing cloud regions across the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. These investments support not only commercial cloud services but also the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence industry. The strikes on AWS facilities, therefore, represent more than a tactical incident. They challenge a fundamental assumption underlying the Gulf’s economic strategy: that the region provides a stable and secure environment for long-term digital infrastructure. The Gulf states have spent decades building a reputation as modern, safe and well-organised global hubs for aviation, tourism, finance and communications. Cities such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha have positioned themselves as key gateways connecting Europe, Asia and Africa. Large-scale digital infrastructure – data centres, AI platforms and cloud networks – was meant to reinforce that role.
The widespread use of relatively inexpensive drones plays a central role in this strategy. Iran and its proxies have demonstrated the ability to deploy large numbers of low-cost unmanned systems that are difficult and expensive to intercept. Even if most are shot down, a few reaching their targets can still cause disruption. For Gulf states hosting concentrated clusters of critical infrastructure – oil refineries, ports, airports and now hyperscale data centres – this creates a serious asymmetry. Protecting every facility against swarms of drones is technically complex and extremely costly. The implications extend well beyond the region. AWS is one of the largest cloud providers in the world, supporting governments, corporations and financial institutions across multiple continents. While hyperscale cloud architecture is designed with geographic redundancy, attacks on physical facilities highlight how dependent the digital economy remains on specific locations.
yeah, no faeces, wake up already
The AWS strikes underline a broader reality: digital infrastructure is now part of the strategic landscape of conflict. Data centres host financial transactions, government systems, telecommunications networks and increasingly the computing power driving artificial intelligence. They are no longer purely commercial facilities.
For countries such as Australia, this development carries important lessons. Governments are actively encouraging massive investment in hyperscale data centres and AI infrastructure as part of future economic strategies. Yet much of this infrastructure remains owned and operated by a small group of global technology companies and integrated into geopolitical systems beyond national control. Australia has already experienced warnings about the sovereignty risks of such dependencies. Yet policymakers remain reluctant to seriously address the strategic implications. If digital infrastructure is becoming as geopolitically exposed as pipelines, ports and power stations, then issues of sovereignty, resilience and national control cannot be ignored.
exactly
but the next bit is jawdroppingly stupid
The cloud was once portrayed as a neutral global platform floating above politics.
you what
what the fornication
anyone who bought that picture was an idiot
wait
wait
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-15/iran-war-ai-technology-data-centres/106443004
wait
SCIENCE said:
oh
US President Donald Trump has renewed his call for other nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The president wrote on Truth Social that he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send warships to the area.
oh c’m‘on don’t selective quote give us the whole thing
nice nice never heard of this bully tactic before oh no
nobody never started no fights before and then stood back and goaded everyone else to have at it
see this is the beauty of police states
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/14/anti-regime-iranians-turn-on-trump-us
their information flow is so constipated that only the most pressured proforeign propaganda gets through, so when the police tell yous that yousr own country is better* than the enemy, yous can’t even believe them
Now, after a fortnight of war, with US and Israeli airstrikes killing hundreds as they hit residential blocks, shops, fuel depots and even a school, the mood is changing. “They are also lying! Like the regime has been lying to us,” said Amir*, a student at the University of Tehran. “You are all worse than each other.” The anti-regime protester has let himself hope for more from the US and Israel, which on the first day of the war had swiftly killed Iran’s most feared and powerful man, the supreme leader.
oh now yous realise, hey did you actually believe the foreign saviours would be foreign saviours
“I feel worse when I am alone. Khamenei’s death has left us with this weird sense of emptiness. Like I am now forced to think about the future, which seems so chaotic right now. We never got to look at him in the eye. He died just like that? Without facing justice for what he did to us?” “I genuinely believe now they didn’t have a plan. I was still hoping I was wrong, but the Shahran attack changed the way I look at this war right now,” he said. “If the regime is what you want to hit, even if you think these depots were used by the regime, where do you draw the line? What about us, the ordinary Iranians? We rely on this civil infrastructure. Why take away our ability to govern in the future? Who can rebuild utter ruins?”
maybe these juveniles haven’t lived a war experience and should be forgiven for so naively** thinking that calling in a war was a good thing
Others who spoke to the Guardian this week also had a shift in their attitudes towards the war, especially after the attack on oil depots, but also after seeing images of the country’s heritage sites damaged. Among those that took the worst hits were Tehran’s Golestan Palace, dating to the 14th century, and the 17th-century Chehel Sotoon Palace in Isfahan. “How will they rebuild … a priceless part of history?” asked a Tehran-based student. “And how will we bring back people who are dying? Is that it? Is the message from abroad that just because the regime doesn’t care, the world shouldn’t? Is the goal to erase our culture and history?” Another student, based in Karaj, a city about 30 miles west of the capital which has been under heavy bombardment this week, said: “I want this regime gone. I asked for help from Trump.” But the student said he thought the strikes would target the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its volunteer militia, the Basij. “When did this plan change and why are they hitting our infrastructure?”
surprise
But many others in the anti-regime movement are hearing reports of newborn babies being killed by the US and Israeli strikes, and conclude simply that now three governments, rather than one, are killing Iranians. A protester in Tehran said: “A significant portion of the people I’ve been speaking to, after witnessing the killing of civilians, have altered their perception of military intervention.”
* **: disclaimers we’re not saying that these countries are better, just that the propaganda is faeces, and we’re quite happy to be naive of lived war experience, but we also think there are lessons from history that should be learned better
SCIENCE said:
nice nice never heard of this bully tactic before oh no
nobody never started no fights before and then stood back and goaded everyone else to have at it
wait
oh
LOL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixrje2rXLMA
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/14/jolene-doctrine-us-foreign-policy-stanley-mcchrystal
hell dudes we d’n‘o’, like does Volodymyr Zelenskyy tell everyone where he is so kind friendly Russia can target him sheesh
Other elements of the new leader’s public image drew inspection and intense speculation in the days since his appointment, including a new profile photo of him that was published by Iranian media. The image appears to have been created with help from AI, according to a BBC journalist, giving rise to questions about why it was being circulated in place of a real photo of Mojtaba Khamenei.
Adding to the mystery around the new leader is the process by which he was chosen by the Assembly of Experts, the 88-member panel tasked with selecting Iran’s supreme leader, which was shrouded in secrecy.
classic antisemitic dog whistle
SCIENCE said:
hell dudes we d’n‘o’, like does Volodymyr Zelenskyy tell everyone where he is so kind friendly Russia can target him sheesh
Other elements of the new leader’s public image drew inspection and intense speculation in the days since his appointment, including a new profile photo of him that was published by Iranian media. The image appears to have been created with help from AI, according to a BBC journalist, giving rise to questions about why it was being circulated in place of a real photo of Mojtaba Khamenei.
Adding to the mystery around the new leader is the process by which he was chosen by the Assembly of Experts, the 88-member panel tasked with selecting Iran’s supreme leader, which was shrouded in secrecy.
classic antisemitic dog whistle
Can they not just send up a puff of coloured smoke when a new leader is selected?
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:
hell dudes we d’n‘o’, like does Volodymyr Zelenskyy tell everyone where he is so kind friendly Russia can target him sheesh
Other elements of the new leader’s public image drew inspection and intense speculation in the days since his appointment, including a new profile photo of him that was published by Iranian media. The image appears to have been created with help from AI, according to a BBC journalist, giving rise to questions about why it was being circulated in place of a real photo of Mojtaba Khamenei.
Adding to the mystery around the new leader is the process by which he was chosen by the Assembly of Experts, the 88-member panel tasked with selecting Iran’s supreme leader, which was shrouded in secrecy.
classic antisemitic dog whistle
Can they not just send up a puff of coloured smoke when a new leader is selected?
uh they are it’s just that the party lasts … a few* days
*: well that’s what the VP promised so we’re going with that
SCIENCE said:
oh
US President Donald Trump has renewed his call for other nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The president wrote on Truth Social that he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send warships to the area.
Really keen to drag the entire world into his little war game.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:oh
US President Donald Trump has renewed his call for other nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The president wrote on Truth Social that he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send warships to the area.
Really keen to drag the entire world into his little war game.
ELI5 What’s the advantage of having a stranglehold on the world’s oil supplies?
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:oh
US President Donald Trump has renewed his call for other nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The president wrote on Truth Social that he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send warships to the area.
Really keen to drag the entire world into his little war game.
ELI5 What’s the advantage of having a stranglehold on the world’s oil supplies?
Money money money drives a rich man mad.
roughbarked said:
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:Really keen to drag the entire world into his little war game.
ELI5 What’s the advantage of having a stranglehold on the world’s oil supplies?
Money money money drives a rich man mad.
US, well, Daddy Trump, ruler of worlds, would be happy to handball the mess to anyone else, many as possible really, anything that helps everyone forget how the mess came to be, and sell them weapons of course.
Never downplay arms sales as a large commercial enterprise.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
oh
US President Donald Trump has renewed his call for other nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The president wrote on Truth Social that he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send warships to the area.
Really keen to drag the entire world into his little war game.
“hey we broke this now you fix it”
SCIENCE said:
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:
hell dudes we d’n‘o’, like does Volodymyr Zelenskyy tell everyone where he is so kind friendly Russia can target him sheesh
Other elements of the new leader’s public image drew inspection and intense speculation in the days since his appointment, including a new profile photo of him that was published by Iranian media. The image appears to have been created with help from AI, according to a BBC journalist, giving rise to questions about why it was being circulated in place of a real photo of Mojtaba Khamenei.
Adding to the mystery around the new leader is the process by which he was chosen by the Assembly of Experts, the 88-member panel tasked with selecting Iran’s supreme leader, which was shrouded in secrecy.
classic antisemitic dog whistle
Can they not just send up a puff of coloured smoke when a new leader is selected?
uh they are it’s just that the party lasts … a few* days
*: well that’s what the VP promised so we’re going with that
LOL
missed this earlier sorry if repost
https://press.un.org/en/2026/sc16315.doc.htm
The Security Council today adopted a resolution condemning Iran’s “egregious attacks” against its regional neighbours amid rapidly spiraling violence in the Middle East, while rejecting a second draft tabled by the Russian Federation.
The 15-member Council adopted resolution 2817 (2026) (to be issued as S/RES/2817(2026)) by a vote of 13 in favour to none against, with 2 abstentions (China, Russian Federation). It comes as the war, which began with Israeli and United States airstrikes against Iran on 28 February, nears its two-week mark and has spread to nearly a dozen nations across the already fragile Middle East region.
By the terms of the resolution, the Council condemned “in the strongest terms” Iran’s attacks against Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan and reiterated its strong support for those countries’ sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence.
It specifically condemned Iran’s attacks against residential areas and civilian objects — demanding their immediate cessation — while also demanding that Tehran halt its threats, provocations and actions aimed at interfering with maritime trade, as well as support to proxy groups across the region.
“The message is clear”, said Bahrain’s representative, welcoming the Council’s adoption and the text’s sweeping global support. “The international community is resolute in rejecting these Iranian unjust, hostile acts that are targeting sovereign countries and that threaten the stability of their peoples.”
Noting that nearly 140 Member States co-sponsored the resolution, he said that high number reflects the world’s “collective conscience”. The Gulf region is a pillar of global security, trade and economic stability, he added, emphasizing that protecting the Middle East is therefore in the entire world’s interest.
“At this crucial moment, it is imperative to listen to the voices of the region,” said Denmark’s representative, condemning Iran’s attacks and demanding that they cease immediately. She pointed to the large number of delegations, across the Council and the wider UN membership, supporting the text. “Every day passing, we are witnessing a further destabilization of the already volatile and tense situation,” she said, echoing calls for maximum restraint, protection of civilians and respect for international law.
“This war, which poses grave risks to regional security, must end now,” said France’s representative. “Only respect for international law and diplomacy can ensure the lasting security and stability of the region.” Stressing that Tehran has vastly expanded the war in recent days, he declared: “Iran bears a heavy responsibility for the current escalation.” He added that France has long been concerned by Iran’s nuclear threats and its support for regional proxies.
“Iran shoots in all directions”, stressed the representative of the United States, Council President for March, explaining his vote in his national capacity. Nations that previously had serious disagreements with each other have now joined together and spoken with one voice. Bahrain itself, a victim of these attacks, drafted and led the negotiations on the text, which was supported by a record number of co-sponsors.
The representative of Liberia, also speaking for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Somalia, said those countries voted in favour to reflect “our principled commitment to diplomacy, dialogue, de-escalation and respect for international law as the only viable path to peace and stability in the Middle East”. He also stressed that the Council must not endorse interpretations of Article 51 that expand beyond the “core principles” contained in the UN Charter or that “risk eroding longstanding constraints on the use of force”.
The representatives of the United Kingdom, Greece, Panama, Latvia and Colombia also noted that they voted in favour of the resolution.
China’s representative, who abstained, pointed out that the United States and Israel launched military strikes without Council authorization and must cease their actions immediately. While stressing that the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Gulf Arab States must be fully respected, he cautioned that the resolution just adopted “does not fully reflect the root cause and overall picture of the conflict in a balanced manner”.
The representative of Pakistan, who voted in favour of the text, said he would also support a second draft to be tabled by the Russian Federation.
“To our deep regret, the resolution that just passed is expressed in a biased and one-sided tone,” said Moscow’s representative, prior to introducing his country’s separate text. Reading Bahrain’s resolution without context would lead one to believe that Tehran, with no provocation and out of pure malice, decided to strike targets across the region for no reason.
He said the need to protect civilians is also presented in the resolution in an extremely one-sided way — as if Israel and the United States had not killed men, women and children in Iran and cynically murdered the country’s supreme leader. “The Council’s adoption could be interpreted by bad-faith actors, and first and foremost by those who started this war, to continue their acts of aggression against Iran,” he warned.
To those ends, he introduced a separate draft resolution, which he described as an “impartial document aimed at urgently de-escalating the situation”. The text is simple, direct and unequivocal, and intentionally does not name any parties to the conflict, he said.
Voting a second time, the Council rejected Moscow’s draft resolution by a vote of 4 in favour (China, Pakistan, Russian Federation, Somalia) to 2 against (Latvia, United States), with 9 abstentions (Bahrain, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, France, Greece, Liberia, Panama, United Kingdom).
“We’re deeply disappointed,” said the Russian Federation’s delegate, taking the floor again. Noting that many Council members’ positions are dictated purely by short-term political interests, bloc solidarity and “the fear that they might fall out of favour with their elder friends”, he added: “This is not even double standards we are living through the looking glass.”
China’s representative also expressed regret that Moscow’s draft resolution was not adopted, declaring: “This is a war that should not have happened, and a war that benefits no one.”
While welcoming the Russian Federation’s desire to contribute to responding to events in the region, Bahrain’s representative said that his delegation abstained from the vote “because that draft resolution adopts a general tone, which in no way reflects the dangerous military escalation currently besetting the region”.
“This draft resolution says nothing about the overwhelming responsibility borne by Iran in the current escalation, including its indiscriminate and unjustified attacks against its regional neighbors who posed no threat,” said France’s delegate, who also abstained. Despite its good intentions, the Russian text was not a viable basis for bringing the Council together and providing the response the circumstances demand, he said.
The representative of the United States said that “the Russian Federation knew it did not have the votes to adopt its resolution today, yet it insisted on proceeding to a vote”.
Latvia’s delegate, who voted against the Russian Federation’s proposed text, said it was tabled by a permanent member of the Council which has for years been using force against civilians and civilian infrastructure in a sovereign country. “Iran is now attacking with the same weapons”, she stressed, describing Moscow’s text as a deeply “cynical” one.
“It is impossible to overlook the hypocrisy of Russia presenting itself here as a guardian of international peace and security,” agreed the representative of the United Kingdom.
Also addressing the Council today were the representatives of Israel and Iran.
The former, welcoming the Gulf States’ initiative to condemn Iran’s attacks, said the Council’s message is clear: “Targeting civilians is wrong, targeting cities is wrong, and Iran must stop.” Stressing that Iran used diplomacy as cover while it fortified its nuclear programme, he rejected Iran’s assertions that its nuclear programme is exclusively peaceful. “That is simply not true,” he said.
“Today’s adoption is a serious setback to the Council’s credibility and leaves a lasting stain on its record,” said Tehran’s delegate. The very State responsible for the brutal war of aggression against his country — the United States — sits in the Chamber as Council President, abusing his position while obstructing every effort to bring an end to the barbaric war. “Let me make it clear — this resolution is a manifest injustice against my country, the main victim of a clear act of aggression.”
SCIENCE said:
missed this earlier sorry if repost
https://press.un.org/en/2026/sc16315.doc.htm
Security Council Adopts Resolution 2817 (2026) Condemning Iran’s ‘Egregious Attacks’ against Neighbours as Middle East Violence Rapidly Escalates
Fvcking hypocrites. Why does Israel always get a free pass?
Fyck the UN. Might as well not bother having it now. Fvcking hypcrits.
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:missed this earlier sorry if repost
https://press.un.org/en/2026/sc16315.doc.htm
Security Council Adopts Resolution 2817 (2026) Condemning Iran’s ‘Egregious Attacks’ against Neighbours as Middle East Violence Rapidly Escalates
Fvcking hypocrites. Why does Israel always get a free pass?
Fyck the UN. Might as well not bother having it now. Fvcking hypcrits.
UN is a toothless tiger. Hasn’t got Putin nor Netenyahu locked up yet.
roughbarked said:
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:
missed this earlier sorry if repost
https://press.un.org/en/2026/sc16315.doc.htm
Security Council Adopts Resolution 2817 (2026) Condemning Iran’s ‘Egregious Attacks’ against Neighbours as Middle East Violence Rapidly Escalates
Fvcking hypocrites. Why does Israel always get a free pass?
Fyck the UN. Might as well not bother having it now. Fvcking hypcrits.
UN is a toothless tiger. Hasn’t got Putin nor Netenyahu locked up yet.
we mean at least 2 of them didn’t blindly go ahead and sycophantically sign on
SCIENCE said:
oh
US President Donald Trump has renewed his call for other nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The president wrote on Truth Social that he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send warships to the area.
It is too late for that.
None of these countries have a navy with the right ships and the right weapons to perform this task. They are all built according to a different military doctrine, of fighting against another country with a similar type navy. Blue water, open ocean type stuff involving large ships. Nobody has the right kind of fleet to intercept large numbers of missiles and drones, plus mines and sea-drones and speedboats and the like. Their defensive missiles are vastly more expensive than the drones they are trying to shoot down, and not quite as nimble and effective at hitting small targets.
China and India will likely try to strike a deal with Iran not to attack tankers heading for those countries. Japan and South Korea might be better off resorting to bribery to get their oil through rather than send ships halfway around the world.
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:
oh
US President Donald Trump has renewed his call for other nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The president wrote on Truth Social that he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send warships to the area.
It is too late for that.
None of these countries have a navy with the right ships and the right weapons to perform this task. They are all built according to a different military doctrine, of fighting against another country with a similar type navy. Blue water, open ocean type stuff involving large ships. Nobody has the right kind of fleet to intercept large numbers of missiles and drones, plus mines and sea-drones and speedboats and the like. Their defensive missiles are vastly more expensive than the drones they are trying to shoot down, and not quite as nimble and effective at hitting small targets.
China and India will likely try to strike a deal with Iran not to attack tankers heading for those countries. Japan and South Korea might be better off resorting to bribery to get their oil through rather than send ships halfway around the world.
yeah they reckon loitering minelike submarine drones are all the rage these days, agree the blue water navies can fk around all they like but that’s not going to protect transport vessels going through a pinch
SCIENCE said:
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:
oh
US President Donald Trump has renewed his call for other nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The president wrote on Truth Social that he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send warships to the area.
It is too late for that.
None of these countries have a navy with the right ships and the right weapons to perform this task. They are all built according to a different military doctrine, of fighting against another country with a similar type navy. Blue water, open ocean type stuff involving large ships. Nobody has the right kind of fleet to intercept large numbers of missiles and drones, plus mines and sea-drones and speedboats and the like. Their defensive missiles are vastly more expensive than the drones they are trying to shoot down, and not quite as nimble and effective at hitting small targets.
China and India will likely try to strike a deal with Iran not to attack tankers heading for those countries. Japan and South Korea might be better off resorting to bribery to get their oil through rather than send ships halfway around the world.
yeah they reckon loitering minelike submarine drones are all the rage these days, agree the blue water navies can fk around all they like but that’s not going to protect transport vessels going through a pinch
So Ukraine could make a motza by selling their marine drone tech to Iran?
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:party_pants said:
It is too late for that.
None of these countries have a navy with the right ships and the right weapons to perform this task. They are all built according to a different military doctrine, of fighting against another country with a similar type navy. Blue water, open ocean type stuff involving large ships. Nobody has the right kind of fleet to intercept large numbers of missiles and drones, plus mines and sea-drones and speedboats and the like. Their defensive missiles are vastly more expensive than the drones they are trying to shoot down, and not quite as nimble and effective at hitting small targets.
China and India will likely try to strike a deal with Iran not to attack tankers heading for those countries. Japan and South Korea might be better off resorting to bribery to get their oil through rather than send ships halfway around the world.
yeah they reckon loitering minelike submarine drones are all the rage these days, agree the blue water navies can fk around all they like but that’s not going to protect transport vessels going through a pinch
So Ukraine could make a motza by selling their marine drone tech to Iran?
No. Iran would just sell them on to Russia who would immediately use them against Ukraine. Iran are already supplying vast numbers of cheap drones to Russia.
party_pants said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:yeah they reckon loitering minelike submarine drones are all the rage these days, agree the blue water navies can fk around all they like but that’s not going to protect transport vessels going through a pinch
So Ukraine could make a motza by selling their marine drone tech to Iran?
No. Iran would just sell them on to Russia who would immediately use them against Ukraine. Iran are already supplying vast numbers of cheap drones to Russia.
Yeah. we know. It was a bad joke.
SCIENCE said:
see this is the beauty of police states
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/14/anti-regime-iranians-turn-on-trump-us
their information flow is so constipated that only the most pressured proforeign propaganda gets through, so when the police tell yous that yousr own country is better* than the enemy, yous can’t even believe them
Now, after a fortnight of war, with US and Israeli airstrikes killing hundreds as they hit residential blocks, shops, fuel depots and even a school, the mood is changing. “They are also lying! Like the regime has been lying to us,” said Amir*, a student at the University of Tehran. “You are all worse than each other.” The anti-regime protester has let himself hope for more from the US and Israel, which on the first day of the war had swiftly killed Iran’s most feared and powerful man, the supreme leader.
oh now yous realise, hey did you actually believe the foreign saviours would be foreign saviours
“I feel worse when I am alone. Khamenei’s death has left us with this weird sense of emptiness. Like I am now forced to think about the future, which seems so chaotic right now. We never got to look at him in the eye. He died just like that? Without facing justice for what he did to us?” “I genuinely believe now they didn’t have a plan. I was still hoping I was wrong, but the Shahran attack changed the way I look at this war right now,” he said. “If the regime is what you want to hit, even if you think these depots were used by the regime, where do you draw the line? What about us, the ordinary Iranians? We rely on this civil infrastructure. Why take away our ability to govern in the future? Who can rebuild utter ruins?”
maybe these juveniles haven’t lived a war experience and should be forgiven for so naively** thinking that calling in a war was a good thing
Others who spoke to the Guardian this week also had a shift in their attitudes towards the war, especially after the attack on oil depots, but also after seeing images of the country’s heritage sites damaged. Among those that took the worst hits were Tehran’s Golestan Palace, dating to the 14th century, and the 17th-century Chehel Sotoon Palace in Isfahan. “How will they rebuild … a priceless part of history?” asked a Tehran-based student. “And how will we bring back people who are dying? Is that it? Is the message from abroad that just because the regime doesn’t care, the world shouldn’t? Is the goal to erase our culture and history?” Another student, based in Karaj, a city about 30 miles west of the capital which has been under heavy bombardment this week, said: “I want this regime gone. I asked for help from Trump.” But the student said he thought the strikes would target the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its volunteer militia, the Basij. “When did this plan change and why are they hitting our infrastructure?”
surprise
But many others in the anti-regime movement are hearing reports of newborn babies being killed by the US and Israeli strikes, and conclude simply that now three governments, rather than one, are killing Iranians. A protester in Tehran said: “A significant portion of the people I’ve been speaking to, after witnessing the killing of civilians, have altered their perception of military intervention.”
* **: disclaimers we’re not saying that these countries are better, just that the propaganda is faeces, and we’re quite happy to be naive of lived war experience, but we also think there are lessons from history that should be learned better
great saviour
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:
love this nose thumbing
“thanks for all your help with our little eastern border problem, sounds like you’ve got yourselves a bit of trouble recently, we’d be glad to help out, let’s make an appointment to talk”
Yeah.
alleged
One refueling tanker already destroyed and one damaged, now this:
——————
“According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, citing two U.S. officials, five U.S. tankers were struck and damaged while on the ground at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia during an Iranian ballistic missile strike. Per one official, the battle damage to the tankers was not enough to destroy them and they are being repaired. No one was killed in the strikes according to the report.”
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2032599334290624522
Kingy said:
One refueling tanker already destroyed and one damaged, now this:——————
“According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, citing two U.S. officials, five U.S. tankers were struck and damaged while on the ground at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia during an Iranian ballistic missile strike. Per one official, the battle damage to the tankers was not enough to destroy them and they are being repaired. No one was killed in the strikes according to the report.”
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2032599334290624522
Traps for novice players in geopolitics I guess. Never pick a fight with someone who can hit back.
party_pants said:
Kingy said:
One refueling tanker already destroyed and one damaged, now this:
——————
“According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, citing two U.S. officials, five U.S. tankers were struck and damaged while on the ground at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia during an Iranian ballistic missile strike. Per one official, the battle damage to the tankers was not enough to destroy them and they are being repaired. No one was killed in the strikes according to the report.”
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2032599334290624522
Traps for novice players in geopolitics I guess. Never pick a fight with someone who can hit back.
yeah but we thought the good guys had destroyed all the launchers and the bad guys were out of usable missiles
SCIENCE said:
party_pants said:
Kingy said:
One refueling tanker already destroyed and one damaged, now this:
——————
“According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, citing two U.S. officials, five U.S. tankers were struck and damaged while on the ground at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia during an Iranian ballistic missile strike. Per one official, the battle damage to the tankers was not enough to destroy them and they are being repaired. No one was killed in the strikes according to the report.”
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2032599334290624522
Traps for novice players in geopolitics I guess. Never pick a fight with someone who can hit back.
yeah but we thought the good guys had destroyed all the launchers and the bad guys were out of usable missiles
That was a lie. (Obviously, because Trump and his trained piglets said it was so)
Iran is mountainous and rugged, full of caves and gullies and tunnels where they can disperse and hide things. The Gulf states by contrast are flat and open deserts, where hiding bases is nigh on impossible. Especially with China and Russia sharing satellite images with Iran.
party_pants said:
sharing satellite images
isn’t that the point of the whole OSINT type stuff, sharing is caring, the good guys make imagery free to access
SCIENCE said:
party_pants said:
Kingy said:
One refueling tanker already destroyed and one damaged, now this:
——————
“According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, citing two U.S. officials, five U.S. tankers were struck and damaged while on the ground at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia during an Iranian ballistic missile strike. Per one official, the battle damage to the tankers was not enough to destroy them and they are being repaired. No one was killed in the strikes according to the report.”
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2032599334290624522
Traps for novice players in geopolitics I guess. Never pick a fight with someone who can hit back.
yeah but we thought the good guys had destroyed all the launchers and the bad guys were out of usable missiles
So HE said.
But that HE is a known, open and easily provable liar.
SCIENCE said:
party_pants said:
Kingy said:
One refueling tanker already destroyed and one damaged, now this:
——————
“According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, citing two U.S. officials, five U.S. tankers were struck and damaged while on the ground at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia during an Iranian ballistic missile strike. Per one official, the battle damage to the tankers was not enough to destroy them and they are being repaired. No one was killed in the strikes according to the report.”
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2032599334290624522
Traps for novice players in geopolitics I guess. Never pick a fight with someone who can hit back.
yeah but we thought the good guys had destroyed all the launchers and the bad guys were out of usable missiles
Nobody believes Trump any more do they?
captain_spalding said:
chuckle
given the need to distract from who started it, we’ve entered maximum BS with no way back.
Updated plan now.
Spiny Norman said:
Updated plan now.
Gamera could fly shirtloads of oil overland.
going to put it out there that finally the modern age has given new meaning to the reference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What%27s_that_got_to_do_with_the_…%3F
Spiny Norman said:
Updated plan now.
I’m surprised someone hasn’t come up with a picture showing “Elvis” the firefighting helicopter.
Pete Hagueseth is the ultimate showman
dv said:
If true, that is a kindergarten mistake by the military strategists.
captain_spalding said:
Ha!
Michael V said:
dv said:
If true, that is a kindergarten mistake by the military strategists.
I thought that ‘Secretary of War’ Hegseth wasn’t going to be constrained by any silly ‘rules of engagement’.
So, what’s stopping him from ordering the destruction of Iranian tankers?
Spiny Norman said:
:)
dv said:
Pete Hagueseth is the ultimate showman
“Hagueseth” – what a perfect nickname for him.
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
dv said:
If true, that is a kindergarten mistake by the military strategists.
I thought that ‘Secretary of War’ Hegseth wasn’t going to be constrained by any silly ‘rules of engagement’.
So, what’s stopping him from ordering the destruction of Iranian tankers?
If he’ had any brains, he’d know it would be because if they sink a couple of Iranian tankers that could block the strait anyway.
The SocMeds are abuzz with the rumour of Netanyahu’s death but I think it is probably nonsense.
dv said:
The SocMeds are abuzz with the rumour of Netanyahu’s death but I think it is probably nonsense.
Wiki still thinks he’s alive.
roughbarked said:
dv said:
The SocMeds are abuzz with the rumour of Netanyahu’s death but I think it is probably nonsense.
Wiki still thinks he’s alive.
But on facebark..
dv said:
The SocMeds are abuzz with the rumour of Netanyahu’s death but I think it is probably nonsense.
I’ve seen it mentioned in a few places, along with Epstein still being alive. Then there’s the Weekend at Donnie’s stuff.
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
If true, that is a kindergarten mistake by the military strategists.
I thought that ‘Secretary of War’ Hegseth wasn’t going to be constrained by any silly ‘rules of engagement’.
So, what’s stopping him from ordering the destruction of Iranian tankers?
If he’ had any brains, he’d know it would be because if they sink a couple of Iranian tankers that could block the strait anyway.
good point if they’re all going to be arseholes about it why not just sail all the boats into the strait and scuttle them at the narrow and teach them all a lesson
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
dv said:
The SocMeds are abuzz with the rumour of Netanyahu’s death but I think it is probably nonsense.
Wiki still thinks he’s alive.
But on facebark..
well those terrorist Iranians did say they wanted to get the fascist so if the great free USSA kill him first then they deny that prize from the terrorist Iranians so it’s a kind of defeat
dv said:
The SocMeds are abuzz with the rumour of Netanyahu’s death but I think it is probably nonsense.
Wishing it won’t make it happen!
Witty Rejoinder said:
dv said:
The SocMeds are abuzz with the rumour of Netanyahu’s death but I think it is probably nonsense.
Wishing it won’t make it happen!
no harm in wishing it
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
captain_spalding said:
I thought that ‘Secretary of War’ Hegseth wasn’t going to be constrained by any silly ‘rules of engagement’.
So, what’s stopping him from ordering the destruction of Iranian tankers?
If he’ had any brains, he’d know it would be because if they sink a couple of Iranian tankers that could block the strait anyway.
good point if they’re all going to be arseholes about it why not just sail all the boats into the strait and scuttle them at the narrow and teach them all a lesson
I think you can see what motivates US president etc, it’s in the language, ‘most powerful army etc in the world’ etc, and president always comes around to something like ‘i’m the best president ever’, so if you add that up you get Big Head, superiority, hubris, arguably delusion.
But blind faith in superiority is not a good motivation to go to war.
I think the Iranians and a few others would be happy to see someone learn that real slowly. But learn it.
transition said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
If he’ had any brains, he’d know it would be because if they sink a couple of Iranian tankers that could block the strait anyway.
good point if they’re all going to be arseholes about it why not just sail all the boats into the strait and scuttle them at the narrow and teach them all a lesson
I think you can see what motivates US president etc, it’s in the language, ‘most powerful army etc in the world’ etc, and president always comes around to something like ‘i’m the best president ever’, so if you add that up you get Big Head, superiority, hubris, arguably delusion.
But blind faith in superiority is not a good motivation to go to war.
I think the Iranians and a few others would be happy to see someone learn that real slowly. But learn it.
maybe or maybe they’re about to cave
Iran’s foreign minister added that Tehran would welcome “any initiative” that leads to complete end to the war.
The statement came via Abbas Araghchi’s Telegram channel, quoting the minister during an interview with the Al-Araby al-Jadeed website.
Tehran is in communication with various Gulf capitals, Mr Araghchi was also quoted as stating.
transition said:
SCIENCE said:roughbarked said:
If he’ had any brains, he’d know it would be because if they sink a couple of Iranian tankers that could block the strait anyway.
good point if they’re all going to be arseholes about it why not just sail all the boats into the strait and scuttle them at the narrow and teach them all a lesson
I think you can see what motivates US president etc, it’s in the language, ‘most powerful army etc in the world’ etc, and president always comes around to something like ‘i’m the best president ever’, so if you add that up you get Big Head, superiority, hubris, arguably delusion.
But blind faith in superiority is not a good motivation to go to war.
I think the Iranians and a few others would be happy to see someone learn that real slowly. But learn it.
And the Iranians are going to be doing the teaching.
Witty Rejoinder said:
dv said:
The SocMeds are abuzz with the rumour of Netanyahu’s death but I think it is probably nonsense.
Wishing it won’t make it happen!
A reply to a soc med post about that:
dv said:
Very fair comment.
Michael V said:
dv said:
Very fair comment.
but how many layers of reverse psychology is it maybe they really wanted them to lay mines
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
dv said:
Very fair comment.
but how many layers of reverse psychology is it maybe they really wanted them to lay mines
Well, Trump’s MAGA supporters often claim he is playing 4-dimensional chess.
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
dv said:
Very fair comment.
but how many layers of reverse psychology is it maybe they really wanted them to lay mines
With Trump, who knows?
Must
Grow
SCIENCE said:
Must
Grow
social media were selling that tabloid to us couched in references to this allium sprout from 2 decades ago
https://theonion.com/no-blood-for-oil-vs-exactly-how-much-oil-are-we-talkin-1819594284/
SCIENCE said:
Must
Grow
That’s why they have them.stimulates the economy and removes all the unemployed.
I’m just gonna stick fuel stuff here.
Diesel has hit $3/L near Brisbane airport
Divine Angel said:
I’m just gonna stick fuel stuff here.Diesel has hit $3/L near Brisbane airport
It’s around the $2.70 mark in Hamilton. I use ordinary unleaded in my car, presently $2.30-$2.35. I will be topping up on Wednesday when I am in Hamilton because I’m due to do so.
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
oh
US President Donald Trump has renewed his call for other nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The president wrote on Truth Social that he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send warships to the area.
oh c’m‘on don’t selective quote give us the whole thing
nice nice never heard of this bully tactic before oh no
nobody never started no fights before and then stood back and goaded everyone else to have at it
winning
US President Donald Trump says NATO faces a “very bad future” if its members don’t help open the Strait of Hormuz. “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said in an interview with The Financial Times. He pressed for Beijing to help keep the strait clear ahead of a planned visit to China later this month. “I think China should help too because China gets 90 per cent of its oil from the straits,” he said. Reported with Reuters
so if some other country says “hey we didn’t attack you, let our ships through”, and they let the ships for that some other country through, that works right
probably not doing any elective surgery in there for a while
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
oh
US President Donald Trump has renewed his call for other nations to help secure the Strait of Hormuz. The president wrote on Truth Social that he hoped China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain and others would send warships to the area.
oh c’m‘on don’t selective quote give us the whole thing
nice nice never heard of this bully tactic before oh no
nobody never started no fights before and then stood back and goaded everyone else to have at it
winning
US President Donald Trump says NATO faces a “very bad future” if its members don’t help open the Strait of Hormuz. “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said in an interview with The Financial Times. He pressed for Beijing to help keep the strait clear ahead of a planned visit to China later this month. “I think China should help too because China gets 90 per cent of its oil from the straits,” he said. Reported with Reuters
so if some other country says “hey we didn’t attack you, let our ships through”, and they let the ships for that some other country through, that works right
So NATO and China are the USA’s buddies now
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:SCIENCE said:
oh c’m‘on don’t selective quote give us the whole thing
nice nice never heard of this bully tactic before oh no
nobody never started no fights before and then stood back and goaded everyone else to have at it
winning
US President Donald Trump says NATO faces a “very bad future” if its members don’t help open the Strait of Hormuz. “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said in an interview with The Financial Times. He pressed for Beijing to help keep the strait clear ahead of a planned visit to China later this month. “I think China should help too because China gets 90 per cent of its oil from the straits,” he said. Reported with Reuters
so if some other country says “hey we didn’t attack you, let our ships through”, and they let the ships for that some other country through, that works right
So NATO and China are the USA’s buddies now
Some buddy, our drunk, so called mate, starts a fight with a sucker punch, and they expect us to then step in when it gets messy. No thanks…
LOL
still calling it panic buying we see
This is a link from my sister’s Facebook, from “I Fucking Love Australia“s Facebook. It’s a long read down the righthand side. She has suggested her son in law might be interested in a view from the outside of what is going on. I have no idea what his politics are, but I do know my sister’s daughter and she is most certainly NOT of the Republican persuasion.
So I had a look at that FaceBook site. Whoever is writing it is prolific. A quick scan of some of the comments suggests it has quite a following in America from people who do appreciate an outside view. And I thought this was funny, illustrating a post about Trump demanding help from other countries to keep the Strait open.
buffy said:
So I had a look at that FaceBook site. Whoever is writing it is prolific. A quick scan of some of the comments suggests it has quite a following in America from people who do appreciate an outside view. And I thought this was funny, illustrating a post about Trump demanding help from other countries to keep the Strait open.
Heh.
Bubblecar said:
buffy said:
So I had a look at that FaceBook site. Whoever is writing it is prolific. A quick scan of some of the comments suggests it has quite a following in America from people who do appreciate an outside view. And I thought this was funny, illustrating a post about Trump demanding help from other countries to keep the Strait open.
Heh.
bastards
Hormuz will not be NATO-led, UK PM Starmer agrees
Maddy Morwood profile imageBy Maddy Morwood
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says Britain is working with allies to come up with a “viable” plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but agrees with neighbouring European countries that the ongoing work will not be a NATO mission.
“We’re working with all of our allies, including our European partners, to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible and ease the economic impacts,” Sir Keir said. Tankers sail in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz. (Reuters: Stringer)
“We will not be drawn into the wider war,” he said, adding that Britain was “taking the necessary action to defend ourselves and our allies”.
He said he had discussed the situation with US President Donald Trump.
Reporting with AFP, Reuters
Key Event
46m ago
European countries reject Trump’s call for military support
Maddy Morwood profile imageBy Maddy Morwood
Greece, Italy and Germany say they will not engage in any military operations in the Strait of Hormuz, rejecting demands from US President Donald Trump.
“What does … Donald Trump expect a handful or two handfuls of European frigates to do in the Strait of Hormuz that the powerful US Navy cannot do?” German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said.
“This is not our war. We have not started it.”
Mr Trump said his administration was calling on seven countries to help protect ships in the vital waterway that Tehran has mostly blocked to oil tanker traffic.
Greece would only participate in the EU’s naval mission Aspides, charged with protecting ships in the Red Sea, the country’s government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said.
Italy’s foreign minister said there were no naval missions Italy was involved in that could be extended to the area.
Reporting with Reuters
buffy said:
So I had a look at that FaceBook site. Whoever is writing it is prolific. A quick scan of some of the comments suggests it has quite a following in America from people who do appreciate an outside view. And I thought this was funny, illustrating a post about Trump demanding help from other countries to keep the Strait open.
He has said that Facebook has occasionally deleted his posts, so he has also opened a site on Substack – https://ifloz.substack.com/
SCIENCE said:
US President Donald Trump says NATO faces a “very bad future” if its members don’t help open the Strait of Hormuz. “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said in an interview with The Financial Times. He pressed for Beijing to help keep the strait clear ahead of a planned visit to China later this month. “I think China should help too because China gets 90 per cent of its oil from the straits,” he said. Reported with Reuters
so if some other country says “hey we didn’t attack you, let our ships through”, and they let the ships for that some other country through, that works right
wait
Strait of Hormuz only closed to ‘enemies’, Iran’s foreign minister says
Lewis Wiseman profile imageBy Lewis Wiseman
Iran’s foreign minister says the Strait of Hormuz is only closed to “enemies and those supporting their aggression”.
Abbas Araqchi added that states not party to the war have been able to transit their vessels through the strait with coordination and permission from Iran’s armed forces.
Reporting with Reuters
AussieDJ said:
buffy said:
So I had a look at that FaceBook site. Whoever is writing it is prolific. A quick scan of some of the comments suggests it has quite a following in America from people who do appreciate an outside view. And I thought this was funny, illustrating a post about Trump demanding help from other countries to keep the Strait open.He has said that Facebook has occasionally deleted his posts, so he has also opened a site on Substack – https://ifloz.substack.com/
I Fucking Love Australia seems to be all about Trump.
Peak Warming Man said:
AussieDJ said:
buffy said:
So I had a look at that FaceBook site. Whoever is writing it is prolific. A quick scan of some of the comments suggests it has quite a following in America from people who do appreciate an outside view. And I thought this was funny, illustrating a post about Trump demanding help from other countries to keep the Strait open.
He has said that Facebook has occasionally deleted his posts, so he has also opened a site on Substack – https://ifloz.substack.com/
I Fucking Love Australia seems to be all about Trump.
wait
So to every single one of the 77 million fucking geniuses who voted for that man – congratulations. You voted for a bloke who pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in his first term because Obama’s name was on it. You voted for a bloke who’s spent his entire presidency – both of them – antagonising the one country that can close the Strait of Hormuz. You voted for a bloke whose idea of foreign policy is bombing first and reading the briefing paper never. And now the rest of the world – including farmers in regional New South Wales who’ve never even heard of the fucking Strait of Hormuz – gets to pay the price.
And to the HANSON SUPPORTERS specifically – you beautiful, confused, perpetually outraged specimens – your girl thinks the sun shines out of Trump’s arse. She’s spent years cheerleading for this bloke. Praising his “strength.” Swooning over his “leadership.” Well here’s his leadership, love: Australian farmers can’t get diesel, fuel prices are through the roof, fertiliser is becoming unaffordable, and your grocery bill is about to fuck you harder than a One Nation preference deal.
Where’s Pauline on this? Where’s her press conference about Australian fuel sovereignty? Where’s her policy on domestic energy security? Oh that’s right – she doesn’t have one. She’s too busy posting about pronouns and immigration to notice that the bloke she worships just torpedoed the global energy market.
This is why I talk about Trump, you fucking doorknobs. Not because I’m “obsessed.” Not because I have “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” But because when the most powerful man on Earth makes catastrophically stupid decisions, those decisions ripple across the entire planet and land right here in Australia. In your servo. In your supermarket. In your farmer’s bank balance.
This is why you should care about geopolitics. This is why you should read beyond the headlines. This is why you should understand that Australia is not some magical island fortress that’s immune to global fuckery. We are one of the most trade-exposed, energy-dependent, strategically vulnerable nations in the developed world, and we have been sleepwalking into this crisis for DECADES.
I’ve been busy at work and haven’t had a chance to catch up with stuff.
Is Netanyahu dead?
The video of him getting coffee is obviously AI.
Kingy said:
I’ve been busy at work and haven’t had a chance to catch up with stuff.Is Netanyahu dead?
The video of him getting coffee is obviously AI.
He walks and talks, but is dead on the inside.
Bubblecar said:
Kingy said:
I’ve been busy at work and haven’t had a chance to catch up with stuff.Is Netanyahu dead?
The video of him getting coffee is obviously AI.
He walks and talks, but is dead on the inside.
He always has been.
Why would he show his fingers to prove that it’s not AI, unless it is a good AI. It’s like the cartoons from hollywood showing how great their fake hair looks.
The coffee is a dead giveaway. Fake AF.
He’s dead.
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
US President Donald Trump says NATO faces a “very bad future” if its members don’t help open the Strait of Hormuz. “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said in an interview with The Financial Times. He pressed for Beijing to help keep the strait clear ahead of a planned visit to China later this month. “I think China should help too because China gets 90 per cent of its oil from the straits,” he said. Reported with Reuters
so if some other country says “hey we didn’t attack you, let our ships through”, and they let the ships for that some other country through, that works right
wait
Strait of Hormuz only closed to ‘enemies’, Iran’s foreign minister says
Lewis Wiseman profile imageBy Lewis Wiseman
Iran’s foreign minister says the Strait of Hormuz is only closed to “enemies and those supporting their aggression”.
Abbas Araqchi added that states not party to the war have been able to transit their vessels through the strait with coordination and permission from Iran’s armed forces.
Reporting with Reuters
If true, that seems quite reasonable.
SCIENCE said:
Peak Warming Man said:
AussieDJ said:
He has said that Facebook has occasionally deleted his posts, so he has also opened a site on Substack – https://ifloz.substack.com/
I Fucking Love Australia seems to be all about Trump.
wait
So to every single one of the 77 million fucking geniuses who voted for that man – congratulations. You voted for a bloke who pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in his first term because Obama’s name was on it. You voted for a bloke who’s spent his entire presidency – both of them – antagonising the one country that can close the Strait of Hormuz. You voted for a bloke whose idea of foreign policy is bombing first and reading the briefing paper never. And now the rest of the world – including farmers in regional New South Wales who’ve never even heard of the fucking Strait of Hormuz – gets to pay the price.
And to the HANSON SUPPORTERS specifically – you beautiful, confused, perpetually outraged specimens – your girl thinks the sun shines out of Trump’s arse. She’s spent years cheerleading for this bloke. Praising his “strength.” Swooning over his “leadership.” Well here’s his leadership, love: Australian farmers can’t get diesel, fuel prices are through the roof, fertiliser is becoming unaffordable, and your grocery bill is about to fuck you harder than a One Nation preference deal.
Where’s Pauline on this? Where’s her press conference about Australian fuel sovereignty? Where’s her policy on domestic energy security? Oh that’s right – she doesn’t have one. She’s too busy posting about pronouns and immigration to notice that the bloke she worships just torpedoed the global energy market.
This is why I talk about Trump, you fucking doorknobs. Not because I’m “obsessed.” Not because I have “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” But because when the most powerful man on Earth makes catastrophically stupid decisions, those decisions ripple across the entire planet and land right here in Australia. In your servo. In your supermarket. In your farmer’s bank balance.
This is why you should care about geopolitics. This is why you should read beyond the headlines. This is why you should understand that Australia is not some magical island fortress that’s immune to global fuckery. We are one of the most trade-exposed, energy-dependent, strategically vulnerable nations in the developed world, and we have been sleepwalking into this crisis for DECADES.
Well said him.
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
US President Donald Trump says NATO faces a “very bad future” if its members don’t help open the Strait of Hormuz. “It’s only appropriate that people who are the beneficiaries of the strait will help to make sure that nothing bad happens there,” Trump said in an interview with The Financial Times. He pressed for Beijing to help keep the strait clear ahead of a planned visit to China later this month. “I think China should help too because China gets 90 per cent of its oil from the straits,” he said. Reported with Reuters
so if some other country says “hey we didn’t attack you, let our ships through”, and they let the ships for that some other country through, that works right
wait
Strait of Hormuz only closed to ‘enemies’, Iran’s foreign minister says
Lewis Wiseman profile imageBy Lewis Wiseman
Iran’s foreign minister says the Strait of Hormuz is only closed to “enemies and those supporting their aggression”.
Abbas Araqchi added that states not party to the war have been able to transit their vessels through the strait with coordination and permission from Iran’s armed forces.
Reporting with Reuters
If true, that seems quite reasonable.
the only question about that we have at this stage is, if they’ve mined the whole damn passage how can they choose which ships will hit the mines
WTF what do yous mean
Germany says Iran war ‘not a matter for NATO’, as Trump demands Strait of Hormuz help
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-17/iran-war-europe-hormuz-trump-oil/106462130
everyone knows that iran is in the north atlantic
Mr Merz is among those to hit back, saying: “It has been clear at all times that this war is not a matter for NATO.” He added that the US and Israel “did not consult us prior to this war”. “There was never a joint decision on whether to intervene. That is why the question of how Germany might contribute militarily does not arise. We will not do so,” he said. Mr Merz ruled out Germany sending ships to the Strait of Hormuz. “For as long as the war continues, we will not be involved in ensuring free passage in the Strait of Hormuz by military means,” he said. His spokesman Stefan Kornelius earlier also said the war had “nothing to do with NATO”. “NATO is an alliance for the defence of territory” and “the mandate to deploy NATO is lacking”, Mr Kornelius told a regular press briefing.
oh so suddenly it’s not all “and the monarchs will save democracy and oil prices and the world” now
If there is a repeat in the wholesale gas market this time around, perhaps it would be a wiser option to impose a tax on windfall profits, to ensure that gas exporters insulate domestic users from the worst of the crisis. Or, at least, pay for the support. No-one has any idea how long the war will last, but the longer it goes on, the more dire the situation threatens to become. America began this conflict in 1953 when the CIA toppled an elected Iranian prime minister in an orchestrated coup and then installed the Shah. It wanted control of the country’s oil. They’re still fighting over it.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-17/rba-interest-rate-hike-will-not-curb-inflation/106460638
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:Peak Warming Man said:
I Fucking Love Australia seems to be all about Trump.
wait
So to every single one of the 77 million fucking geniuses who voted for that man – congratulations. You voted for a bloke who pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in his first term because Obama’s name was on it. You voted for a bloke who’s spent his entire presidency – both of them – antagonising the one country that can close the Strait of Hormuz. You voted for a bloke whose idea of foreign policy is bombing first and reading the briefing paper never. And now the rest of the world – including farmers in regional New South Wales who’ve never even heard of the fucking Strait of Hormuz – gets to pay the price.
And to the HANSON SUPPORTERS specifically – you beautiful, confused, perpetually outraged specimens – your girl thinks the sun shines out of Trump’s arse. She’s spent years cheerleading for this bloke. Praising his “strength.” Swooning over his “leadership.” Well here’s his leadership, love: Australian farmers can’t get diesel, fuel prices are through the roof, fertiliser is becoming unaffordable, and your grocery bill is about to fuck you harder than a One Nation preference deal.
Where’s Pauline on this? Where’s her press conference about Australian fuel sovereignty? Where’s her policy on domestic energy security? Oh that’s right – she doesn’t have one. She’s too busy posting about pronouns and immigration to notice that the bloke she worships just torpedoed the global energy market.
This is why I talk about Trump, you fucking doorknobs. Not because I’m “obsessed.” Not because I have “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” But because when the most powerful man on Earth makes catastrophically stupid decisions, those decisions ripple across the entire planet and land right here in Australia. In your servo. In your supermarket. In your farmer’s bank balance.
This is why you should care about geopolitics. This is why you should read beyond the headlines. This is why you should understand that Australia is not some magical island fortress that’s immune to global fuckery. We are one of the most trade-exposed, energy-dependent, strategically vulnerable nations in the developed world, and we have been sleepwalking into this crisis for DECADES.
Well said him.
She has lots of supporters who are closet racists and simple minded who blame everything on immigrants
Cymek said:
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:
wait
So to every single one of the 77 million fucking geniuses who voted for that man – congratulations. You voted for a bloke who pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in his first term because Obama’s name was on it. You voted for a bloke who’s spent his entire presidency – both of them – antagonising the one country that can close the Strait of Hormuz. You voted for a bloke whose idea of foreign policy is bombing first and reading the briefing paper never. And now the rest of the world – including farmers in regional New South Wales who’ve never even heard of the fucking Strait of Hormuz – gets to pay the price.
And to the HANSON SUPPORTERS specifically – you beautiful, confused, perpetually outraged specimens – your girl thinks the sun shines out of Trump’s arse. She’s spent years cheerleading for this bloke. Praising his “strength.” Swooning over his “leadership.” Well here’s his leadership, love: Australian farmers can’t get diesel, fuel prices are through the roof, fertiliser is becoming unaffordable, and your grocery bill is about to fuck you harder than a One Nation preference deal.
Where’s Pauline on this? Where’s her press conference about Australian fuel sovereignty? Where’s her policy on domestic energy security? Oh that’s right – she doesn’t have one. She’s too busy posting about pronouns and immigration to notice that the bloke she worships just torpedoed the global energy market.
This is why I talk about Trump, you fucking doorknobs. Not because I’m “obsessed.” Not because I have “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” But because when the most powerful man on Earth makes catastrophically stupid decisions, those decisions ripple across the entire planet and land right here in Australia. In your servo. In your supermarket. In your farmer’s bank balance.
This is why you should care about geopolitics. This is why you should read beyond the headlines. This is why you should understand that Australia is not some magical island fortress that’s immune to global fuckery. We are one of the most trade-exposed, energy-dependent, strategically vulnerable nations in the developed world, and we have been sleepwalking into this crisis for DECADES.
Well said him.
She has lots of supporters who are closet racists and simple minded who blame everything on immigrants
well they’re correct this place was a paradise until the invaders came 238 years ago
Cymek said:
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:wait
So to every single one of the 77 million fucking geniuses who voted for that man – congratulations. You voted for a bloke who pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in his first term because Obama’s name was on it. You voted for a bloke who’s spent his entire presidency – both of them – antagonising the one country that can close the Strait of Hormuz. You voted for a bloke whose idea of foreign policy is bombing first and reading the briefing paper never. And now the rest of the world – including farmers in regional New South Wales who’ve never even heard of the fucking Strait of Hormuz – gets to pay the price.
And to the HANSON SUPPORTERS specifically – you beautiful, confused, perpetually outraged specimens – your girl thinks the sun shines out of Trump’s arse. She’s spent years cheerleading for this bloke. Praising his “strength.” Swooning over his “leadership.” Well here’s his leadership, love: Australian farmers can’t get diesel, fuel prices are through the roof, fertiliser is becoming unaffordable, and your grocery bill is about to fuck you harder than a One Nation preference deal.
Where’s Pauline on this? Where’s her press conference about Australian fuel sovereignty? Where’s her policy on domestic energy security? Oh that’s right – she doesn’t have one. She’s too busy posting about pronouns and immigration to notice that the bloke she worships just torpedoed the global energy market.
This is why I talk about Trump, you fucking doorknobs. Not because I’m “obsessed.” Not because I have “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” But because when the most powerful man on Earth makes catastrophically stupid decisions, those decisions ripple across the entire planet and land right here in Australia. In your servo. In your supermarket. In your farmer’s bank balance.
This is why you should care about geopolitics. This is why you should read beyond the headlines. This is why you should understand that Australia is not some magical island fortress that’s immune to global fuckery. We are one of the most trade-exposed, energy-dependent, strategically vulnerable nations in the developed world, and we have been sleepwalking into this crisis for DECADES.
Well said him.
She has lots of supporters who are closet racists and simple minded who blame everything on immigrants
Agree 👍
And Agree
People with impaired thinking and emotional underdevelopment are a threat to themselves and everyone else.
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:Peak Warming Man said:
I Fucking Love Australia seems to be all about Trump.
wait
So to every single one of the 77 million fucking geniuses who voted for that man – congratulations. You voted for a bloke who pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in his first term because Obama’s name was on it. You voted for a bloke who’s spent his entire presidency – both of them – antagonising the one country that can close the Strait of Hormuz. You voted for a bloke whose idea of foreign policy is bombing first and reading the briefing paper never. And now the rest of the world – including farmers in regional New South Wales who’ve never even heard of the fucking Strait of Hormuz – gets to pay the price.
And to the HANSON SUPPORTERS specifically – you beautiful, confused, perpetually outraged specimens – your girl thinks the sun shines out of Trump’s arse. She’s spent years cheerleading for this bloke. Praising his “strength.” Swooning over his “leadership.” Well here’s his leadership, love: Australian farmers can’t get diesel, fuel prices are through the roof, fertiliser is becoming unaffordable, and your grocery bill is about to fuck you harder than a One Nation preference deal.
Where’s Pauline on this? Where’s her press conference about Australian fuel sovereignty? Where’s her policy on domestic energy security? Oh that’s right – she doesn’t have one. She’s too busy posting about pronouns and immigration to notice that the bloke she worships just torpedoed the global energy market.
This is why I talk about Trump, you fucking doorknobs. Not because I’m “obsessed.” Not because I have “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” But because when the most powerful man on Earth makes catastrophically stupid decisions, those decisions ripple across the entire planet and land right here in Australia. In your servo. In your supermarket. In your farmer’s bank balance.
This is why you should care about geopolitics. This is why you should read beyond the headlines. This is why you should understand that Australia is not some magical island fortress that’s immune to global fuckery. We are one of the most trade-exposed, energy-dependent, strategically vulnerable nations in the developed world, and we have been sleepwalking into this crisis for DECADES.
Well said him.
Agree.
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:
wait
Strait of Hormuz only closed to ‘enemies’, Iran’s foreign minister says
Lewis Wiseman profile imageBy Lewis Wiseman
Iran’s foreign minister says the Strait of Hormuz is only closed to “enemies and those supporting their aggression”.
Abbas Araqchi added that states not party to the war have been able to transit their vessels through the strait with coordination and permission from Iran’s armed forces.
Reporting with Reuters
If true, that seems quite reasonable.
the only question about that we have at this stage is, if they’ve mined the whole damn passage how can they choose which ships will hit the mines
They cannot have mined it or there is a clear channel through the mines which they lead their friends through.
Tau.Neutrino said:
Cymek said:
Michael V said:Well said him.
She has lots of supporters who are closet racists and simple minded who blame everything on immigrants
Agree 👍
And Agree
People with impaired thinking and emotional underdevelopment are a threat to themselves and everyone else.
SCIENCE said:
WTF what do yous mean
Germany says Iran war ‘not a matter for NATO’, as Trump demands Strait of Hormuz help
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-17/iran-war-europe-hormuz-trump-oil/106462130
everyone knows that iran is in the north atlantic
Mr Merz is among those to hit back, saying: “It has been clear at all times that this war is not a matter for NATO.” He added that the US and Israel “did not consult us prior to this war”. “There was never a joint decision on whether to intervene. That is why the question of how Germany might contribute militarily does not arise. We will not do so,” he said. Mr Merz ruled out Germany sending ships to the Strait of Hormuz. “For as long as the war continues, we will not be involved in ensuring free passage in the Strait of Hormuz by military means,” he said. His spokesman Stefan Kornelius earlier also said the war had “nothing to do with NATO”. “NATO is an alliance for the defence of territory” and “the mandate to deploy NATO is lacking”, Mr Kornelius told a regular press briefing.
Trump is acting like a two year old. Turning this into “I did it to see what they’d do and it proves what I said, that when we need NATO they won’t show up”.
He hasn’t familiarised himself with what NATO is.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:Michael V said:
If true, that seems quite reasonable.
the only question about that we have at this stage is, if they’ve mined the whole damn passage how can they choose which ships will hit the mines
They cannot have mined it or there is a clear channel through the mines which they lead their friends through.
Being at war and with all the rules bar the use of biological and chemical weapons moot they are well within their rights to fuck up things.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:WTF what do yous mean
Germany says Iran war ‘not a matter for NATO’, as Trump demands Strait of Hormuz help
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-17/iran-war-europe-hormuz-trump-oil/106462130
everyone knows that iran is in the north atlantic
Mr Merz is among those to hit back, saying: “It has been clear at all times that this war is not a matter for NATO.” He added that the US and Israel “did not consult us prior to this war”. “There was never a joint decision on whether to intervene. That is why the question of how Germany might contribute militarily does not arise. We will not do so,” he said. Mr Merz ruled out Germany sending ships to the Strait of Hormuz. “For as long as the war continues, we will not be involved in ensuring free passage in the Strait of Hormuz by military means,” he said. His spokesman Stefan Kornelius earlier also said the war had “nothing to do with NATO”. “NATO is an alliance for the defence of territory” and “the mandate to deploy NATO is lacking”, Mr Kornelius told a regular press briefing.
Trump is acting like a two year old. Turning this into “I did it to see what they’d do and it proves what I said, that when we need NATO they won’t show up”.
He hasn’t familiarised himself with what NATO is.
It’s good the world is taking a stand against bullying, the USA probably didn’t expect themselves to be considered one of them.
I don’t think Netanyahu is dead: I don’t think it would be possible to cover that up.
OTOH this last pair of videos look like pretty shitty AI so I wonder why they are bothering to do this.
dv said:
I don’t think Netanyahu is dead: I don’t think it would be possible to cover that up.OTOH this last pair of videos look like pretty shitty AI so I wonder why they are bothering to do this.
Three days aren’t up for his resurrection ?
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/said-spoke-a-former-president-bombing-iran-four-denials-suggest-not-rcna263819
“Trump lies” ain’t exactly news but anyway
dv said:
I don’t think Netanyahu is dead: I don’t think it would be possible to cover that up.OTOH this last pair of videos look like pretty shitty AI so I wonder why they are bothering to do this.
Start using AI when they can prove he is alive, get people acclimatised, so when he does shuffle off this mortal coil they can continue and no one will no the difference…
furious said:
dv said:
I don’t think Netanyahu is dead: I don’t think it would be possible to cover that up.OTOH this last pair of videos look like pretty shitty AI so I wonder why they are bothering to do this.
Start using AI when they can prove he is alive, get people acclimatised, so when he does shuffle off this mortal coil they can continue and no one will no the difference…
Could have been having an affair with a Muslim woman and they are doing a Romeo and Juliet
furious said:
dv said:
I don’t think Netanyahu is dead: I don’t think it would be possible to cover that up.OTOH this last pair of videos look like pretty shitty AI so I wonder why they are bothering to do this.
Start using AI when they can prove he is alive, get people acclimatised, so when he does shuffle off this mortal coil they can continue and no one will no the difference…
I mean I don’t think he can get away with zero public appearances forever. Apart from anything else he is a member of the Knesset and is required to attend unless unable.
dv said:
furious said:
dv said:
I don’t think Netanyahu is dead: I don’t think it would be possible to cover that up.OTOH this last pair of videos look like pretty shitty AI so I wonder why they are bothering to do this.
Start using AI when they can prove he is alive, get people acclimatised, so when he does shuffle off this mortal coil they can continue and no one will no the difference…
I mean I don’t think he can get away with zero public appearances forever. Apart from anything else he is a member of the Knesset and is required to attend unless unable.
Perhaps he can’t remove his jack boots
dv said:
Apart from anything else he is a member of the Knesset and is required to attend unless unable.
being dead would come under ‘unable” I presume?
Bogsnorkler said:
dv said:
Apart from anything else he is a member of the Knesset and is required to attend unless unable.
being dead would come under ‘unable” I presume?
I suppose if he was killed by Iranian sleeper cells it would be embarassing
Might need time to make up some other way he died.
not sure that the world being run by bullshit 跟爱 will be any worse than the current set of leading fascists
Cymek said:
Bogsnorkler said:
dv said:
Apart from anything else he is a member of the Knesset and is required to attend unless unable.
being dead would come under ‘unable” I presume?
I suppose if he was killed by Iranian sleeper cells it would be embarassing
Might need time to make up some other way he died.
Too much coffee…
Cymek said:
Bogsnorkler said:
dv said:
Apart from anything else he is a member of the Knesset and is required to attend unless unable.
being dead would come under ‘unable” I presume?
I suppose if he was killed by Iranian sleeper cells it would be embarassing
Might need time to make up some other way he died.
by the hand of their own artificial intelligence
fuck that would be amazing
Cymek said:
Bogsnorkler said:
dv said:
Apart from anything else he is a member of the Knesset and is required to attend unless unable.
being dead would come under ‘unable” I presume?
I suppose if he was killed by Iranian sleeper cells it would be embarassing
Might need time to make up some other way he died.
Rumour has it that he was being followed by some guy livestreaming. The Iranians sent a rocket to that location and the livestream ended abruptly.
From A Mighty Girl…
As always, Heather Cox Richardson tells it like it is: “His whole life, Trump has always had someone else around to bail him out of the messes he creates: his father, Allen Weisselberg, the ‘adults in the room’ in his first term. Now all those protectors are gone and he is openly begging for someone to save him from his own folly.”
She posted that alongside Trump’s own Truth Social statement from yesterday — in which the man who claims to have “destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capability” is, in the very same breath, begging China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom to send warships to secure a waterway he cannot control.
The president who built his entire political identity on “America First” is sixteen days into a war he started without congressional authorization, and he is publicly asking the rest of the world to clean up a crisis that has already killed over 1,400 Iranians, 773 Lebanese civilians, and thirteen American service members — while oil prices have surged past $100 a barrel and American families are paying for it at the pump.
Trump has called this war a “little excursion.” After a classified briefing on the war, Senator Elizabeth Warren said what millions of Americans are feeling: “It is so much worse than you thought. You are right to be worried. The Trump administration has no plan in Iran. This illegal war is based on lies, and it was launched without any imminent threat to our nation.”
She’s right — and the administration has essentially admitted it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the “imminent threat” was not Iran attacking the United States. It was that Israel was planning to strike Iran, and the administration believed Iran would retaliate against American forces in the region.
So the Trump administration has now admitted that they started a war that has killed thousands of people, cost billions of dollars, and is causing mass chaos with no end in sight — not because of an independent threat to America, but because of Israel’s plans to attack another country.
That is not self-defense. That is not an imminent threat. That is a choice — made without consulting Congress, without the consent of the American people, and in direct violation of the Constitution.
And the price of that choice is staggering. An administration that ran on a platform of no more forever wars, that promised to put America first, that told working families it would fight for them — is now burning through roughly a billion dollars a day bombing Iran. The Pentagon burned through over $5 billion in munitions in the first two days, and spent over $11 billion in just the first six days.
And now the administration is preparing to ask Congress for an additional $50 billion in supplemental funding to replenish weapons stockpiles — on top of the Pentagon’s already record-shattering $1 trillion annual budget.
A single Tomahawk cruise missile costs $2.2 million. That one missile could cover 775 children on Medicaid for a year. Meanwhile, the Republican budget bill Trump signed into law last year slashes $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade — the largest cut to health care in American history. Roughly 15 million people will lose their coverage. There’s no money for that. But a billion dollars a day to bomb a country with no plan, no endgame, and no exit strategy? That money appeared overnight.
Trump can’t keep his own story straight about what this war is, where it’s going, or when it ends. The message constantly changes. The timeline constantly shifts. And he speaks about it as if it were a game or a form of entertainment rather than a war costing American lives and billions in taxpayer dollars.
Yesterday, Trump told NBC News that U.S. strikes on Kharg Island — Iran’s main oil export hub — had “totally demolished” the island, and that “we may hit it a few more times just for fun.” Just for fun. Thirteen American service members are dead. Over 1,400 Iranians have been killed — including 180 people, many of them children, at a single girls’ school. And the president of the United States jokes about bombing a strategic target again “just for fun.”
Earlier this week, Trump told Axios there was “practically nothing left to target” and the war would end “soon.” The same day, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the operation would continue “without any time limit, for as long as necessary.” Last week Trump told CBS News “I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” told House Republicans “we’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough,” and declared at a press conference that “we’ll not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated.” Meanwhile, the Defense Department posted on social media: “We have only just begun to fight.”
When a reporter asked him about the constantly shifting narrative and to reconcile saying the war is almost over while his own Defense Secretary says it’s just beginning, Trump’s answer was: “You could say both.”
The administration has cycled through at least six different rationales to explain why this war was necessary. Trump has invoked the Iranian people’s freedom in speeches and social media posts — but it has never been listed as an actual military objective. And defending the rights of Iranian women has not been part of the stated rationale at all. The administration’s official goals are missiles, the navy, and nuclear weapons. Not people. Not women. Not freedom. That silence tells you everything.
For those who claim this war is about freeing Iran’s people or standing up for women — the record says otherwise. In January, millions of Iranians took to the streets in the largest protests since the 1979 revolution. Trump told them “help is on its way” and urged them to “take over your institutions.” Then the regime massacred thousands of its own citizens — estimates range from 7,000 to over 30,000 killed — and Trump did nothing. He thanked the regime for promising to stop executions and quietly dropped his threats. He could have supported the protesters with sanctions, diplomacy, and sustained international pressure. He didn’t. Instead, he waited six weeks and bombed the country.
NBC News reported that Trump has privately outlined a vision for post-war Iran in which “the U.S. and a new Iranian regime cooperate on oil production” — the same model he imposed on Venezuela after seizing Maduro. Iran holds the world’s third-largest oil reserves. But Trump has shown no interest in requiring the dismantlement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — the same paramilitary force that massacred protesters in January and enforces the oppression of Iranian women. He doesn’t care who holds the gun, as long as whoever does will cooperate on oil.
After sixteen days of bombing, billions of dollars spent, and thousands of lives lost, the net result of Trump’s regime change strategy is that Iran has replaced one elderly religious extremist — Ali Khamenei — with his younger, now vengeful, son. The IRGC, Iran’s military leadership, and the country’s top political figures immediately pledged their allegiance to Mojtaba Khamenei.
Iranian women aren’t freer today. They’re burying their children. This administration hasn’t lifted a finger to support Iranian women’s movements, hasn’t conditioned a single aspect of its post-war vision on women’s rights, and is actively negotiating with the very forces that enforce their oppression. This has never been about freedom for women. It’s a talking point — manufactured to sell Americans on a war that has no plan, no endgame, and no mandate from the American people.
And the people Trump claimed he was rescuing know it. The Guardian reported this week that anti-regime Iranians — people who have risked their lives protesting the Islamic Republic — are turning on Trump. One University of Tehran student who had welcomed the intervention now says: “I genuinely believe now they didn’t have a plan. I was still hoping I was wrong.”
He described watching U.S. and Israeli strikes destroy fuel depots in Tehran, covering the city in toxic rain, and asked: “If the regime is what you want to hit, where do you draw the line? What about us, the ordinary Iranians? Why take away our ability to govern in the future? Who can rebuild utter ruins?”
Another protester in Tehran said that people who had initially supported the intervention have now “altered their perception of military intervention” after witnessing the killing of civilians. They described experiencing “something resembling the idea of carpet bombing” in Tehran’s city center. Iranians, they said, have been “well and truly abandoned.”
Trump’s desperate social media post yesterday — begging five countries to send warships while claiming total victory in the same breath — tells you everything about how badly he miscalculated. He treated this like a Middle Eastern excursion to secure oil reserves, project dominance, and move on. He showed an astounding lack of understanding of Iran’s military capacity, its asymmetric warfare capabilities, and the basic dynamics of a region that has swallowed every foreign power that tried to reshape it by force.
Iran can’t match the U.S. in conventional firepower, but it doesn’t need to. It has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz. It is striking U.S. allies across the Gulf. Oil is above $100 a barrel. The man who promised “America First” has now lifted sanctions on Russian oil to try to contain the economic fallout from his own war — handing Vladimir Putin a lifeline while American families pay more at the pump. And he is now threatening to drag the United States deeper into yet another Middle Eastern quagmire with no exit in sight.
When Democrats tried to hold the administration accountable through the constitutional process, Republicans blocked them. The Senate voted 47-53 to kill a War Powers Resolution that would have required congressional approval for continued military action — only one Republican, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), voted to advance it. The House followed the next day, rejecting its own resolution 212-219.
Senate Democrats are now demanding public hearings — testimony under oath from the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense — so the American people can hear for themselves what their government is doing in their name, with their money, and with their children’s lives. Warren has said flatly: “No more money” for this war until those questions are answered. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) warned: “We shouldn’t be acting like this is business as usual. This is war and peace.”
This cannot become another endless war in the Middle East, waged without accountability, without congressional authorization, and without the consent of the American people. Congress has the power to demand answers — and to refuse to fund a war that has no plan and no justification.
kii said:
.,tldr;
he speaks about it as if it were a game or a form of entertainment rather than a war costing American lives and billions in taxpayer dollars
sorry to break it to yous
disclaimer as yous can tell we read plenty but that’s beside the point
SCIENCE said:
kii said:
.,tldr;
he speaks about it as if it were a game or a form of entertainment rather than a war costing American lives and billions in taxpayer dollars
sorry to break it to yous
disclaimer as yous can tell we read plenty but that’s beside the point
Meh, read or don’t read. Not my concern.
kii said:
SCIENCE said:
kii said:
.,tldr;
he speaks about it as if it were a game or a form of entertainment rather than a war costing American lives and billions in taxpayer dollars
sorry to break it to yous
disclaimer as yous can tell we read plenty but that’s beside the point
Meh, read or don’t read. Not my concern.
meh yous miss the point this is pro wrestling country the entertainment is the point
“as if”
LOL
kii said:
From A Mighty Girl…
As always, Heather Cox Richardson tells it like it is: “His whole life, Trump has always had someone else around to bail him out of the messes he creates: his father, Allen Weisselberg, the ‘adults in the room’ in his first term. Now all those protectors are gone and he is openly begging for someone to save him from his own folly.”
She posted that alongside Trump’s own Truth Social statement from yesterday — in which the man who claims to have “destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capability” is, in the very same breath, begging China, France, Japan, South Korea, and the United Kingdom to send warships to secure a waterway he cannot control.
The president who built his entire political identity on “America First” is sixteen days into a war he started without congressional authorization, and he is publicly asking the rest of the world to clean up a crisis that has already killed over 1,400 Iranians, 773 Lebanese civilians, and thirteen American service members — while oil prices have surged past $100 a barrel and American families are paying for it at the pump.
Trump has called this war a “little excursion.” After a classified briefing on the war, Senator Elizabeth Warren said what millions of Americans are feeling: “It is so much worse than you thought. You are right to be worried. The Trump administration has no plan in Iran. This illegal war is based on lies, and it was launched without any imminent threat to our nation.”
She’s right — and the administration has essentially admitted it. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the “imminent threat” was not Iran attacking the United States. It was that Israel was planning to strike Iran, and the administration believed Iran would retaliate against American forces in the region.
So the Trump administration has now admitted that they started a war that has killed thousands of people, cost billions of dollars, and is causing mass chaos with no end in sight — not because of an independent threat to America, but because of Israel’s plans to attack another country.
That is not self-defense. That is not an imminent threat. That is a choice — made without consulting Congress, without the consent of the American people, and in direct violation of the Constitution.
And the price of that choice is staggering. An administration that ran on a platform of no more forever wars, that promised to put America first, that told working families it would fight for them — is now burning through roughly a billion dollars a day bombing Iran. The Pentagon burned through over $5 billion in munitions in the first two days, and spent over $11 billion in just the first six days.
And now the administration is preparing to ask Congress for an additional $50 billion in supplemental funding to replenish weapons stockpiles — on top of the Pentagon’s already record-shattering $1 trillion annual budget.
A single Tomahawk cruise missile costs $2.2 million. That one missile could cover 775 children on Medicaid for a year. Meanwhile, the Republican budget bill Trump signed into law last year slashes $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next decade — the largest cut to health care in American history. Roughly 15 million people will lose their coverage. There’s no money for that. But a billion dollars a day to bomb a country with no plan, no endgame, and no exit strategy? That money appeared overnight.
Trump can’t keep his own story straight about what this war is, where it’s going, or when it ends. The message constantly changes. The timeline constantly shifts. And he speaks about it as if it were a game or a form of entertainment rather than a war costing American lives and billions in taxpayer dollars.
Yesterday, Trump told NBC News that U.S. strikes on Kharg Island — Iran’s main oil export hub — had “totally demolished” the island, and that “we may hit it a few more times just for fun.” Just for fun. Thirteen American service members are dead. Over 1,400 Iranians have been killed — including 180 people, many of them children, at a single girls’ school. And the president of the United States jokes about bombing a strategic target again “just for fun.”
Earlier this week, Trump told Axios there was “practically nothing left to target” and the war would end “soon.” The same day, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said the operation would continue “without any time limit, for as long as necessary.” Last week Trump told CBS News “I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” told House Republicans “we’ve already won in many ways, but we haven’t won enough,” and declared at a press conference that “we’ll not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated.” Meanwhile, the Defense Department posted on social media: “We have only just begun to fight.”
When a reporter asked him about the constantly shifting narrative and to reconcile saying the war is almost over while his own Defense Secretary says it’s just beginning, Trump’s answer was: “You could say both.”
The administration has cycled through at least six different rationales to explain why this war was necessary. Trump has invoked the Iranian people’s freedom in speeches and social media posts — but it has never been listed as an actual military objective. And defending the rights of Iranian women has not been part of the stated rationale at all. The administration’s official goals are missiles, the navy, and nuclear weapons. Not people. Not women. Not freedom. That silence tells you everything.
For those who claim this war is about freeing Iran’s people or standing up for women — the record says otherwise. In January, millions of Iranians took to the streets in the largest protests since the 1979 revolution. Trump told them “help is on its way” and urged them to “take over your institutions.” Then the regime massacred thousands of its own citizens — estimates range from 7,000 to over 30,000 killed — and Trump did nothing. He thanked the regime for promising to stop executions and quietly dropped his threats. He could have supported the protesters with sanctions, diplomacy, and sustained international pressure. He didn’t. Instead, he waited six weeks and bombed the country.
NBC News reported that Trump has privately outlined a vision for post-war Iran in which “the U.S. and a new Iranian regime cooperate on oil production” — the same model he imposed on Venezuela after seizing Maduro. Iran holds the world’s third-largest oil reserves. But Trump has shown no interest in requiring the dismantlement of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — the same paramilitary force that massacred protesters in January and enforces the oppression of Iranian women. He doesn’t care who holds the gun, as long as whoever does will cooperate on oil.
After sixteen days of bombing, billions of dollars spent, and thousands of lives lost, the net result of Trump’s regime change strategy is that Iran has replaced one elderly religious extremist — Ali Khamenei — with his younger, now vengeful, son. The IRGC, Iran’s military leadership, and the country’s top political figures immediately pledged their allegiance to Mojtaba Khamenei.
Iranian women aren’t freer today. They’re burying their children. This administration hasn’t lifted a finger to support Iranian women’s movements, hasn’t conditioned a single aspect of its post-war vision on women’s rights, and is actively negotiating with the very forces that enforce their oppression. This has never been about freedom for women. It’s a talking point — manufactured to sell Americans on a war that has no plan, no endgame, and no mandate from the American people.
And the people Trump claimed he was rescuing know it. The Guardian reported this week that anti-regime Iranians — people who have risked their lives protesting the Islamic Republic — are turning on Trump. One University of Tehran student who had welcomed the intervention now says: “I genuinely believe now they didn’t have a plan. I was still hoping I was wrong.”
He described watching U.S. and Israeli strikes destroy fuel depots in Tehran, covering the city in toxic rain, and asked: “If the regime is what you want to hit, where do you draw the line? What about us, the ordinary Iranians? Why take away our ability to govern in the future? Who can rebuild utter ruins?”
Another protester in Tehran said that people who had initially supported the intervention have now “altered their perception of military intervention” after witnessing the killing of civilians. They described experiencing “something resembling the idea of carpet bombing” in Tehran’s city center. Iranians, they said, have been “well and truly abandoned.”
Trump’s desperate social media post yesterday — begging five countries to send warships while claiming total victory in the same breath — tells you everything about how badly he miscalculated. He treated this like a Middle Eastern excursion to secure oil reserves, project dominance, and move on. He showed an astounding lack of understanding of Iran’s military capacity, its asymmetric warfare capabilities, and the basic dynamics of a region that has swallowed every foreign power that tried to reshape it by force.
Iran can’t match the U.S. in conventional firepower, but it doesn’t need to. It has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz. It is striking U.S. allies across the Gulf. Oil is above $100 a barrel. The man who promised “America First” has now lifted sanctions on Russian oil to try to contain the economic fallout from his own war — handing Vladimir Putin a lifeline while American families pay more at the pump. And he is now threatening to drag the United States deeper into yet another Middle Eastern quagmire with no exit in sight.
When Democrats tried to hold the administration accountable through the constitutional process, Republicans blocked them. The Senate voted 47-53 to kill a War Powers Resolution that would have required congressional approval for continued military action — only one Republican, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), voted to advance it. The House followed the next day, rejecting its own resolution 212-219.
Senate Democrats are now demanding public hearings — testimony under oath from the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense — so the American people can hear for themselves what their government is doing in their name, with their money, and with their children’s lives. Warren has said flatly: “No more money” for this war until those questions are answered. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) warned: “We shouldn’t be acting like this is business as usual. This is war and peace.”
This cannot become another endless war in the Middle East, waged without accountability, without congressional authorization, and without the consent of the American people. Congress has the power to demand answers — and to refuse to fund a war that has no plan and no justification.
Illegitimi non carborundum.
wait
so it’s rational to try and cut fuel consumption in a panic
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-17/expert-tips-on-saving-fuel-reduce-travel/106464820
but it’s not rational to try and buy fuel at a lower price because the government and media call it panic
OK
Tau.Neutrino said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
The Former Shah of Iran on the Jews (1976)
Let the computer decide.
He was abducted by aliens, three of them, 👽👽👽, I can tell.
Tau.Neutrino said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
The Former Shah of Iran on the Jews (1976)
Let the computer decide.
He was abducted by aliens, three of them, 👽👽👽, I can tell.
The aliens used quantum entanglement and entangled his brain with their advanced computers.
Hence let the computer decide.
That look…
Abducted and entangled.
.
Tau.Neutrino said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
Tau.Neutrino said:Let the computer decide.
He was abducted by aliens, three of them, 👽👽👽, I can tell.
The aliens used quantum entanglement and entangled his brain with their advanced computers.
Hence let the computer decide.
SCIENCE said:
wait
so it’s rational to try and cut fuel consumption in a panic
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-17/expert-tips-on-saving-fuel-reduce-travel/106464820
but it’s not rational to try and buy fuel at a lower price because the government and media call it panic
OK
“China is adopting green energy at a scale hard to imagine for many other countries, installing 446 gigawatts of it in 2025 — more than the rest of the world combined, according to Australian think tank Climate Energy Finance.”
That really is mad.
AussieDJ said:
5act, Bolivia does have a Navy.
dv said:
so who are the real terrorists
dv said:
AussieDJ said:
5act, Bolivia does have a Navy.
True, but considering that Bolivia is landlocked, it makes things difficult for the vessels of the Bolivian Navy to get to the Red Sea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivian_Navy
This may have been mentioned previously …
dv said:
AussieDJ said:
5act, Bolivia does have a Navy.
Austria has mine warfare and patrol boats operated by their army.
Hungary has a similar force.
Paraguay has a navy of about 5,500 people, and bout 34 vessels (including patrol boats) and it maintains naval aviation and marine corps units.
The Swiss have a small force of lake and river patrol boats.
Serbia’s navy has approximately 500 personnel and 29 vessels, including armored gunboats, minesweepers, and landing craft.
AussieDJ said:
dv said:
AussieDJ said:
5act, Bolivia does have a Navy.
True, but considering that Bolivia is landlocked, it makes things difficult for the vessels of the Bolivian Navy to get to the Red Sea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivian_Navy
Sounds like quitter talk
dv said:
AussieDJ said:
dv said:5act, Bolivia does have a Navy.
True, but considering that Bolivia is landlocked, it makes things difficult for the vessels of the Bolivian Navy to get to the Red Sea.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivian_Navy
Sounds like quitter talk
Floods may come.
AussieDJ said:
:)
dv said:
How odd. Signed but undated.
AussieDJ said:
This may have been mentioned previously …
:)
Bogsnorkler said:
well the fascist is right, why did everyone stand by and agree with the bullying, but were too gutless to get involved
Bogsnorkler said:
Distant Trench!
Michael V said:
Bogsnorkler said:
Distant Trench!
It is his war. NATO was not set up to do what he asks demands.
His own congress and much of the US population do not want any part of Trump’s favour to Netenyahu and the Zionists.
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
Bogsnorkler said:
Distant Trench!
It is his war. NATO was not set up to do what he
asksdemands.His own congress and much of the US population do not want any part of Trump’s favour to Netenyahu and the Zionists.
and yet they roll over and let the fascists get their way
Morning pilgrims, chance of rain today but not too much according to the dart throwers.
Over.
Peak Warming Man said:
Morning pilgrims, chance of rain today but not too much according to the dart throwers.
Over.
That should be in chat but never mind.
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
Distant Trench!
It is his war. NATO was not set up to do what he
asksdemands.His own congress and much of the US population do not want any part of Trump’s favour to Netenyahu and the Zionists.
and yet they roll over and let the fascists get their way
He didn’t ask his congress. Besides, this is historically how fascist dictators work.
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
Woodie said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
thankfully we converted our evs to run on toilet paper back in the SARACAIDS-CoV lockdowns
Realistically petrol is extremely cheap.
Drinks are often more per litre
Yeah. Milk is taken from a cow, mixed and pasteurised and up for sale a day later for $1 a litre. In a process taking weeks oil is removed from wells, transported some distance, is refined into petrol, again transported an even bigger distance with all the costs of loading and unloading from ships to trucks and finally is put up for sale for $1 a litre before tax.
ahahahahahahahaha
So if the fuel was already here and paid for, then why the price hikes at the bowser?
I expect eah batch of imported fuel will have its own cost which may be higher and that cost will flow on to the consumer but fuel bought at the old price, shouldn’t get dearer.
Of course there are long term contract prices that won’t change, there is “spot” prices, and “futures” prices. It’s spot and futures prices they’re on about here.
yes OK sure
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-09/wholesalers-ration-fuel-customer-limits-in-regions/106433838
so if this
On Monday, Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said panic buying, not supply issues, was behind fuel shortages in parts of regional Australia, while WA Premier Roger Cook said there were “no constraints on supply chains” in WA.
is true, then are we to assume that millions of true Aussie battlers simply run their cars on empty for 4 weeks, and have 4 or 5 jerry cans at home that they whip out for a geopolitical disruption like this
In Geraldton, 420 kilometres north of Perth, the local manager of a bulk fuel supplier told the ABC he had been directed to deliver only half of what each customer had ordered. Mr Symington said the BP-owned company had 180 pending orders and would not take any more on until they were fulfilled.
not sure if that sounds like “no constraints on supply chains” to us but what would we know, we’ve never poured petroleum on a politician, we believe every word they say
wait wait we got this
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-09/middle-east-war-sparks-fuel-supply-fears-farmers/106432124
so when true Aussie battlers run their cars on empty for 4 weeks, but then everyone goes to fill up to get in before the prices jump, it’s panic buying, but
Farmers are reportedly stockpiling diesel in response to wholesalers rationing fuel amid the war in the Middle East. There are concerns grocery prices could increase if farmers are not able to access fuel to operate their machinery. While everyday motorists head to a bowser when they need petrol, farmers rely on fuel deliveries to run their large machinery.
when farmers do it it’s clever and important and shows foresight
this isn’t a
supply issue
so this is
The energy minister has relaxed fuel standards for two months to allow more supply to the domestic market. Chris Bowen says it will add 100 million litres of fuel a month to domestic supply.
what you do if there’s no supply issue
right
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-12/petrol-quality-relaxed-100-million-litre-boost/106446796
did we mention that there’s been no evidence of direct human to human transmission
sorry now with link
It is a slow loader.. But hey I need to know if my fuel is going to be dirty as it can ruin engines.
so this is what you do if there’s no resupply issue
wait
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-18/oil-prices-rise-to-increase-plastic-costs/106465914
wait
“Every bit of plastic here is reliant on petro,” 4Farmers acting general manager Cathy McKenna said. “So we might have placed an order two, three weeks ago, but haven’t received supply. It’s going to have an extra cost on it.”
wait
wait
Farmers are facing fuel and fertiliser shortages just as they are starting to sow their winter grain crops.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
It is his war. NATO was not set up to do what he
asksdemands.His own congress and much of the US population do not want any part of Trump’s favour to Netenyahu and the Zionists.
and yet they roll over and let the fascists get their way
He didn’t ask his congress. Besides, this is historically how fascist dictators work.
pretty sure the wise men around the place told us that we can’t use that word, we can’t accuse them of soon having done things before they actually go and do it
SCIENCE said:
thankfully we converted our evs to run on toilet paper back in the SARACAIDS-CoV lockdowns
Cymek said:
Realistically petrol is extremely cheap.
Drinks are often more per litre
Witty Rejoinder said:
Yeah. Milk is taken from a cow, mixed and pasteurised and up for sale a day later for $1 a litre. In a process taking weeks oil is removed from wells, transported some distance, is refined into petrol, again transported an even bigger distance with all the costs of loading and unloading from ships to trucks and finally is put up for sale for $1 a litre before tax.
SCIENCE said:
ahahahahahahahaha
roughbarked said:
So if the fuel was already here and paid for, then why the price hikes at the bowser?
roughbarked said:
I expect eah batch of imported fuel will have its own cost which may be higher and that cost will flow on to the consumer but fuel bought at the old price, shouldn’t get dearer.
Woodie said:
Of course there are long term contract prices that won’t change, there is “spot” prices, and “futures” prices. It’s spot and futures prices they’re on about here.
SCIENCE said:
yes OK sure
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-09/wholesalers-ration-fuel-customer-limits-in-regions/106433838
so if this
On Monday, Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said panic buying, not supply issues, was behind fuel shortages in parts of regional Australia, while WA Premier Roger Cook said there were “no constraints on supply chains” in WA.
is true, then are we to assume that millions of true Aussie battlers simply run their cars on empty for 4 weeks, and have 4 or 5 jerry cans at home that they whip out for a geopolitical disruption like this
In Geraldton, 420 kilometres north of Perth, the local manager of a bulk fuel supplier told the ABC he had been directed to deliver only half of what each customer had ordered. Mr Symington said the BP-owned company had 180 pending orders and would not take any more on until they were fulfilled.
not sure if that sounds like “no constraints on supply chains” to us but what would we know, we’ve never poured petroleum on a politician, we believe every word they say
SCIENCE said:
wait wait we got this
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-09/middle-east-war-sparks-fuel-supply-fears-farmers/106432124
so when true Aussie battlers run their cars on empty for 4 weeks, but then everyone goes to fill up to get in before the prices jump, it’s panic buying, but
Farmers are reportedly stockpiling diesel in response to wholesalers rationing fuel amid the war in the Middle East. There are concerns grocery prices could increase if farmers are not able to access fuel to operate their machinery. While everyday motorists head to a bowser when they need petrol, farmers rely on fuel deliveries to run their large machinery.
when farmers do it it’s clever and important and shows foresight
SCIENCE said:
this isn’t a
supply issue
SCIENCE said:
so this is
The energy minister has relaxed fuel standards for two months to allow more supply to the domestic market. Chris Bowen says it will add 100 million litres of fuel a month to domestic supply.
what you do if there’s no supply issue
right
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-12/petrol-quality-relaxed-100-million-litre-boost/106446796
did we mention that there’s been no evidence of direct human to human transmission
SCIENCE said:
sorry now with link
roughbarked said:
It is a slow loader.. But hey I need to know if my fuel is going to be dirty as it can ruin engines.
SCIENCE said:
so this is what you do if there’s no resupply issue
wait
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-18/oil-prices-rise-to-increase-plastic-costs/106465914
wait
“Every bit of plastic here is reliant on petro,” 4Farmers acting general manager Cathy McKenna said. “So we might have placed an order two, three weeks ago, but haven’t received supply. It’s going to have an extra cost on it.”
wait
wait
Farmers are facing fuel and fertiliser shortages just as they are starting to sow their winter grain crops.
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
It is a slow loader.. But hey I need to know if my fuel is going to be dirty as it can ruin engines.
so this is what you do if there’s no resupply issue
wait
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-18/oil-prices-rise-to-increase-plastic-costs/106465914
wait
“Every bit of plastic here is reliant on petro,” 4Farmers acting general manager Cathy McKenna said. “So we might have placed an order two, three weeks ago, but haven’t received supply. It’s going to have an extra cost on it.”
wait
wait
Farmers are facing fuel and fertiliser shortages just as they are starting to sow their winter grain crops.
Good way to conerve petroleum, stop making shedloads of plastics.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:SCIENCE said:
so this is what you do if there’s no resupply issue
wait
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-18/oil-prices-rise-to-increase-plastic-costs/106465914
wait
“Every bit of plastic here is reliant on petro,” 4Farmers acting general manager Cathy McKenna said. “So we might have placed an order two, three weeks ago, but haven’t received supply. It’s going to have an extra cost on it.”
wait
wait
Farmers are facing fuel and fertiliser shortages just as they are starting to sow their winter grain crops.
Good way to conerve petroleum, stop making shedloads of plastics.
Conserve.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
so this is what you do if there’s no resupply issue
wait
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-18/oil-prices-rise-to-increase-plastic-costs/106465914
wait
“Every bit of plastic here is reliant on petro,” 4Farmers acting general manager Cathy McKenna said. “So we might have placed an order two, three weeks ago, but haven’t received supply. It’s going to have an extra cost on it.”
wait
wait
Farmers are facing fuel and fertiliser shortages just as they are starting to sow their winter grain crops.
Good way to conerve petroleum, stop making shedloads of plastics.
yeah but how else are we going to strangle seabirds and give turtles bowel obstruction
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
wait
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-18/oil-prices-rise-to-increase-plastic-costs/106465914
wait
“Every bit of plastic here is reliant on petro,” 4Farmers acting general manager Cathy McKenna said. “So we might have placed an order two, three weeks ago, but haven’t received supply. It’s going to have an extra cost on it.”
wait
wait
Farmers are facing fuel and fertiliser shortages just as they are starting to sow their winter grain crops.
Good way to conerve petroleum, stop making shedloads of plastics.
Conserve.
yous conservationist environmentalist hippy free lover communists are so 1970s grow up already it’s been 50 years and now the age of 跟爱 which is going to make life better for everyone by freeing yous from the work that you didn’t want to let the illegal immigrants do while it churns and redistributes lots of money in The Economy Must Grow in favour of the people who will make best use of it
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
wait
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-18/oil-prices-rise-to-increase-plastic-costs/106465914
wait
“Every bit of plastic here is reliant on petro,” 4Farmers acting general manager Cathy McKenna said. “So we might have placed an order two, three weeks ago, but haven’t received supply. It’s going to have an extra cost on it.”
wait
wait
Farmers are facing fuel and fertiliser shortages just as they are starting to sow their winter grain crops.
Good way to conerve petroleum, stop making shedloads of plastics.
yeah but how else are we going to strangle seabirds and give turtles bowel obstruction
Hard pressed to find an answer to those questions. ;)
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Good way to conerve petroleum, stop making shedloads of plastics.
Conserve.
yous conservationist environmentalist hippy free lover communists are so 1970s grow up already it’s been 50 years and now the age of 跟爱 which is going to make life better for everyone by freeing yous from the work that you didn’t want to let the illegal immigrants do while it churns and redistributes lots of money in The Economy Must Grow in favour of the people who will make best use of it
Best use, is keeping it all for themselves?
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Good way to conerve petroleum, stop making shedloads of plastics.
Conserve.
yous conservationist environmentalist hippy free lover communists are so 1970s grow up already it’s been 50 years and now the age of 跟爱 which is going to make life better for everyone by freeing yous from the work that you didn’t want to let the illegal immigrants do while it churns and redistributes lots of money in The Economy Must Grow in favour of the people who will make best use of it
/rant?
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
Conserve.
yous conservationist environmentalist hippy free lover communists are so 1970s grow up already it’s been 50 years and now the age of 跟爱 which is going to make life better for everyone by freeing yous from the work that you didn’t want to let the illegal immigrants do while it churns and redistributes lots of money in The Economy Must Grow in favour of the people who will make best use of it
Best use, is keeping it all for themselves?
/rant?
yes sorry that will be our outburst for the day, had to get it out early, exactly right about the “best use” there as well
guess we should take a bit of time and go out and enjoy the greenery instead yous lot enjoy yourselves
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Best use, is keeping it all for themselves?
/rant?
yes sorry that will be our outburst for the day, had to get it out early, exactly right about the “best use” there as well
guess we should take a bit of time and go out and enjoy the greenery instead yous lot enjoy yourselves
I’ve got to see if the lawnmower remembers how to start.
I see that Trump has sent an US Navy ships with minesweeping capabilities away from the the Persian Gulf.
Presumably so he can tell other countries “your ships can pass through, but there might be mines, and, gosh, gee, we don’t have any minesweepers available to do it, so it looks like you’ll have to send some ships, after all”.
captain_spalding said:
I see that Trump has sent an US Navy ships with minesweeping capabilities away from the the Persian Gulf.Presumably so he can tell other countries “your ships can pass through, but there might be mines, and, gosh, gee, we don’t have any minesweepers available to do it, so it looks like you’ll have to send some ships, after all”.
It’s good everyone has left the USA to its own devices
Probably not good for Iran but that was always going to be the outcome regardless
Do you reckon Jesus would be surprised nothing has changed in the Middle East since his day.
Same old hatreds just updated with modern weapons and territorial disputes
Cymek said:
Do you reckon Jesus would be surprised nothing has changed in the Middle East since his day.
Same old hatreds just updated with modern weapons and territorial disputes
He’d probably say, this desert isn’t worth fighting over anyway.
Okay this new video of Netanyahu meeting with Huckabee looks real. I can’t detect anything weird about it.
The Other 98%
French General Michel Yakovleff just compared joining Trump’s Iran war to “buying cheap tickets for the Titanic” after it already hit the iceberg. And then it got even worse for Trump.
Yakovleff is no random talking head. He’s a three-star general, former commander of the legendary French Foreign Legion, and held senior positions within NATO itself. He is one of the most respected military voices in France and regularly weighs in on matters of international security.
So when he was asked about Trump’s desperate pleas for Europe to join his Iran catastrophe, his answer carried serious weight.
He didn’t mince words. He laid out five distinct reasons why every European nation should flatly refuse. And each one is more damaging than the last.
First, Trump doesn’t understand how NATO actually works. You don’t get to launch your own unilateral bombing campaign and then invite allies to run a separate operation underneath you. That’s not how alliances function.
If Trump wants NATO involved, NATO takes command. One operation, one flag, one chain of command. “I don’t think he understood that,” Yakovleff said. That alone is a devastating indictment of a man who claims to be the greatest dealmaker on earth
.
Second, nobody knows what the actual strategic goals are. Beyond forcing open the Strait of Hormuz, what is the endgame? Regime change? Containment? A negotiated settlement? Trump hasn’t said. He apparently can’t say, because he doesn’t know himself.
Third, and this one is particularly brutal, you can’t coordinate a multinational military campaign through tweets that change every two minutes. If allied nations are going to put their soldiers in harm’s way, they need explicit, written objectives from the United States. As Yakovleff put it, “It’s going to be necessary for Trump himself to know what he wants.” The quiet contempt in that sentence could strip paint off a wall.
Fourth, there is the fundamental issue of trust. Trump has abandoned allies before and everyone knows he would do it again without hesitation the moment it became politically useful. The Kurds know it. The Afghans know it. Europe knows it. “He would let us down whenever it suited him,” the general said. Why would any nation put troops on the line for a leader with that track record?
And fifth, the knockout punch. Yakovleff cited a principle he said he learned at the U.S. Army War College: “You don’t reinforce failure. You move on. You find something else.” A decorated French general is using American military doctrine, taught in American war colleges, to explain to the world why following this American president into battle would be strategic malpractice.
The global response has been just as damning. Japan said no. Australia said no. The United Kingdom said no. The European Union said no. Meanwhile, Iranian missiles and drones have made the Strait of Hormuz so dangerous that insurance companies won’t cover oil tankers passing through it.
Twenty percent of the world’s petroleum normally flows through that strait. Oil prices are skyrocketing and consumers everywhere are feeling it.
Trump started this. He escalated it. He isolated America from its allies in the process.
Bogsnorkler said:
The Other 98%French General Michel Yakovleff just compared joining Trump’s Iran war to “buying cheap tickets for the Titanic” after it already hit the iceberg. And then it got even worse for Trump.
Yakovleff is no random talking head. He’s a three-star general, former commander of the legendary French Foreign Legion, and held senior positions within NATO itself. He is one of the most respected military voices in France and regularly weighs in on matters of international security.
So when he was asked about Trump’s desperate pleas for Europe to join his Iran catastrophe, his answer carried serious weight.
He didn’t mince words. He laid out five distinct reasons why every European nation should flatly refuse. And each one is more damaging than the last.
First, Trump doesn’t understand how NATO actually works. You don’t get to launch your own unilateral bombing campaign and then invite allies to run a separate operation underneath you. That’s not how alliances function.
If Trump wants NATO involved, NATO takes command. One operation, one flag, one chain of command. “I don’t think he understood that,” Yakovleff said. That alone is a devastating indictment of a man who claims to be the greatest dealmaker on earth
.
Second, nobody knows what the actual strategic goals are. Beyond forcing open the Strait of Hormuz, what is the endgame? Regime change? Containment? A negotiated settlement? Trump hasn’t said. He apparently can’t say, because he doesn’t know himself.Third, and this one is particularly brutal, you can’t coordinate a multinational military campaign through tweets that change every two minutes. If allied nations are going to put their soldiers in harm’s way, they need explicit, written objectives from the United States. As Yakovleff put it, “It’s going to be necessary for Trump himself to know what he wants.” The quiet contempt in that sentence could strip paint off a wall.
Fourth, there is the fundamental issue of trust. Trump has abandoned allies before and everyone knows he would do it again without hesitation the moment it became politically useful. The Kurds know it. The Afghans know it. Europe knows it. “He would let us down whenever it suited him,” the general said. Why would any nation put troops on the line for a leader with that track record?
And fifth, the knockout punch. Yakovleff cited a principle he said he learned at the U.S. Army War College: “You don’t reinforce failure. You move on. You find something else.” A decorated French general is using American military doctrine, taught in American war colleges, to explain to the world why following this American president into battle would be strategic malpractice.
The global response has been just as damning. Japan said no. Australia said no. The United Kingdom said no. The European Union said no. Meanwhile, Iranian missiles and drones have made the Strait of Hormuz so dangerous that insurance companies won’t cover oil tankers passing through it.
Twenty percent of the world’s petroleum normally flows through that strait. Oil prices are skyrocketing and consumers everywhere are feeling it.
Trump started this. He escalated it. He isolated America from its allies in the process.
All sensible and truthful reasons.
In a way Trump has forced alliance changes that may be better in the long run.
NATO needs to be independent from the USA whose lets be realistic has its own agendas and don’t care if European nations pay the price.
They’d throw Australia under the bus if it meant hindering China.
Australia needs to form alliances with our close neighbours, stop the bullshit and treat them fairly.
Not kowtow but not treat them as cannon fodder to stop China
Bogsnorkler said:
Trump started this. He escalated it. He isolated America from its allies in the process.
and they’ll still lap up all the flavor aid when the service comes
Cymek said:
Do you reckon Jesus would be surprised nothing has changed in the Middle East since his day.
Same old hatreds just updated with modern weapons and territorial disputes
Jesus lived his whole life as Roman under Pax Romana.
dv said:
Cymek said:
Do you reckon Jesus would be surprised nothing has changed in the Middle East since his day.
Same old hatreds just updated with modern weapons and territorial disputes
Jesus lived his whole life as Roman under Pax Romana.
The Romans brought peace to the middle east despite what Reg and his band of troublemakers says.
Mr. Cucumber
As we enter the epsteinth day of the US war agsinst Iran, something very interesting is happening in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States hasn’t “lost” the Strait in some cinematic surrender sense. But operationally… it’s completely lost control of the Straigh of Hormuz with control of movement inside the narrowest choke point on Earth, entirely in the hands of the Iranian authorities.
Look at the MarineTraffic overlays.
Oil tankers that would normally transit through the internationally recognised traffic separation scheme (the pink corridor in the second image) are now hugging Larak Island and Qeshm. That’s Iranian territorial water. Meaning that international shipping is adhering to Iranian strategic compliance.
The pink zone represents the internationally recognised shipping lane where vessels are free to navigate under maritime law. When traffic voluntarily leaves that lane and sails into territorial waters, it’s because control (practical control) is being exercised.
Reports suggest vessels are being visually inspected by Iranian authorities. Cleared before proceeding. Some whispers of “facilitation payments” to avoid delays. Meanwhile, vessels from friendly nations (China, India) are moving with far fewer complications.
If that’s accurate, we’re not watching chaos.
We’re watching leverage.
Hormuz handles roughly 20-25% of global seaborne trade. It’s the carotid artery of global energy supply.
Three weeks ago the narrative was that Iranian leadership had collapsed. That this confrontation would be over in 3 days.
Instead, Iran appears to have increased their leverage over the single most critical maritime chokepoint in global trade.
Now… is this permanent? Probably not. However with US naval power nowhere to be seen, the perception of control in the straight sits very firmly in Iran’s influence. And markets are reacting to that perception.
If vessels are voluntarily rerouting into Iranian territorial waters for clearance, that’s not symbolic. Global trade runs on confidence.
Hormuz is now running on conditional access. And conditional access is leverage.
Arguably Iran is more powerful today than they were at the start of this war.
Bogsnorkler said:
Mr. CucumberAs we enter the epsteinth day of the US war agsinst Iran, something very interesting is happening in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States hasn’t “lost” the Strait in some cinematic surrender sense. But operationally… it’s completely lost control of the Straigh of Hormuz with control of movement inside the narrowest choke point on Earth, entirely in the hands of the Iranian authorities.
Look at the MarineTraffic overlays.
Oil tankers that would normally transit through the internationally recognised traffic separation scheme (the pink corridor in the second image) are now hugging Larak Island and Qeshm. That’s Iranian territorial water. Meaning that international shipping is adhering to Iranian strategic compliance.
The pink zone represents the internationally recognised shipping lane where vessels are free to navigate under maritime law. When traffic voluntarily leaves that lane and sails into territorial waters, it’s because control (practical control) is being exercised.
Reports suggest vessels are being visually inspected by Iranian authorities. Cleared before proceeding. Some whispers of “facilitation payments” to avoid delays. Meanwhile, vessels from friendly nations (China, India) are moving with far fewer complications.
If that’s accurate, we’re not watching chaos.
We’re watching leverage.
Hormuz handles roughly 20-25% of global seaborne trade. It’s the carotid artery of global energy supply.
Three weeks ago the narrative was that Iranian leadership had collapsed. That this confrontation would be over in 3 days.
Instead, Iran appears to have increased their leverage over the single most critical maritime chokepoint in global trade.
Now… is this permanent? Probably not. However with US naval power nowhere to be seen, the perception of control in the straight sits very firmly in Iran’s influence. And markets are reacting to that perception.
If vessels are voluntarily rerouting into Iranian territorial waters for clearance, that’s not symbolic. Global trade runs on confidence.
Hormuz is now running on conditional access. And conditional access is leverage.
Arguably Iran is more powerful today than they were at the start of this war.
Well done Dunny Rump. (My emphasis.)
Bogsnorkler said:
Mr. CucumberAs we enter the epsteinth day of the US war agsinst Iran, something very interesting is happening in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States hasn’t “lost” the Strait in some cinematic surrender sense. But operationally… it’s completely lost control of the Straigh of Hormuz with control of movement inside the narrowest choke point on Earth, entirely in the hands of the Iranian authorities.
Look at the MarineTraffic overlays.
Oil tankers that would normally transit through the internationally recognised traffic separation scheme (the pink corridor in the second image) are now hugging Larak Island and Qeshm. That’s Iranian territorial water. Meaning that international shipping is adhering to Iranian strategic compliance.
The pink zone represents the internationally recognised shipping lane where vessels are free to navigate under maritime law. When traffic voluntarily leaves that lane and sails into territorial waters, it’s because control (practical control) is being exercised.
Reports suggest vessels are being visually inspected by Iranian authorities. Cleared before proceeding. Some whispers of “facilitation payments” to avoid delays. Meanwhile, vessels from friendly nations (China, India) are moving with far fewer complications.
If that’s accurate, we’re not watching chaos.
We’re watching leverage.
Hormuz handles roughly 20-25% of global seaborne trade. It’s the carotid artery of global energy supply.
Three weeks ago the narrative was that Iranian leadership had collapsed. That this confrontation would be over in 3 days.
Instead, Iran appears to have increased their leverage over the single most critical maritime chokepoint in global trade.
Now… is this permanent? Probably not. However with US naval power nowhere to be seen, the perception of control in the straight sits very firmly in Iran’s influence. And markets are reacting to that perception.
If vessels are voluntarily rerouting into Iranian territorial waters for clearance, that’s not symbolic. Global trade runs on confidence.
Hormuz is now running on conditional access. And conditional access is leverage.
Arguably Iran is more powerful today than they were at the start of this war.
what seeing is thoroughly wargamed, strategic, crafted, utilized US weakness, and Israeli weakness, hubris and overreach have been anticipated.
but the big one the west misses is that, in context, this requires taking causalities, quite a lot, it’s not just for looks, they really are willing to take a lot of casualties for the holding of what they have, that is the Iranian state, as someone else said they don’t need to ‘win’, they only need persist.
and there’s bigger geopolitics at work, debt problems, something like a global ponzi scheme, all about to collapse, and US wants its currency to continue being the daddy currency, because when it stops being their debt looks a lot worse than it is now. Rapidly crushing i’d expect.
transition said:
Bogsnorkler said:
Mr. CucumberAs we enter the epsteinth day of the US war agsinst Iran, something very interesting is happening in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States hasn’t “lost” the Strait in some cinematic surrender sense. But operationally… it’s completely lost control of the Straigh of Hormuz with control of movement inside the narrowest choke point on Earth, entirely in the hands of the Iranian authorities.
Look at the MarineTraffic overlays.
Oil tankers that would normally transit through the internationally recognised traffic separation scheme (the pink corridor in the second image) are now hugging Larak Island and Qeshm. That’s Iranian territorial water. Meaning that international shipping is adhering to Iranian strategic compliance.
The pink zone represents the internationally recognised shipping lane where vessels are free to navigate under maritime law. When traffic voluntarily leaves that lane and sails into territorial waters, it’s because control (practical control) is being exercised.
Reports suggest vessels are being visually inspected by Iranian authorities. Cleared before proceeding. Some whispers of “facilitation payments” to avoid delays. Meanwhile, vessels from friendly nations (China, India) are moving with far fewer complications.
If that’s accurate, we’re not watching chaos.
We’re watching leverage.
Hormuz handles roughly 20-25% of global seaborne trade. It’s the carotid artery of global energy supply.
Three weeks ago the narrative was that Iranian leadership had collapsed. That this confrontation would be over in 3 days.
Instead, Iran appears to have increased their leverage over the single most critical maritime chokepoint in global trade.
Now… is this permanent? Probably not. However with US naval power nowhere to be seen, the perception of control in the straight sits very firmly in Iran’s influence. And markets are reacting to that perception.
If vessels are voluntarily rerouting into Iranian territorial waters for clearance, that’s not symbolic. Global trade runs on confidence.
Hormuz is now running on conditional access. And conditional access is leverage.
Arguably Iran is more powerful today than they were at the start of this war.
what seeing is thoroughly wargamed, strategic, crafted, utilized US weakness, and Israeli weakness, hubris and overreach have been anticipated.
but the big one the west misses is that, in context, this requires taking causalities, quite a lot, it’s not just for looks, they really are willing to take a lot of casualties for the holding of what they have, that is the Iranian state, as someone else said they don’t need to ‘win’, they only need persist.
and there’s bigger geopolitics at work, debt problems, something like a global ponzi scheme, all about to collapse, and US wants its currency to continue being the daddy currency, because when it stops being their debt looks a lot worse than it is now. Rapidly crushing i’d expect.
Would one expect Iran to surrender given the nature of the type of government they have
They’d likely martyr the entire nation in nuclear fire if need be than back down
Cymek said:
transition said:
Bogsnorkler said:
Mr. CucumberAs we enter the epsteinth day of the US war agsinst Iran, something very interesting is happening in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States hasn’t “lost” the Strait in some cinematic surrender sense. But operationally… it’s completely lost control of the Straigh of Hormuz with control of movement inside the narrowest choke point on Earth, entirely in the hands of the Iranian authorities.
Look at the MarineTraffic overlays.
Oil tankers that would normally transit through the internationally recognised traffic separation scheme (the pink corridor in the second image) are now hugging Larak Island and Qeshm. That’s Iranian territorial water. Meaning that international shipping is adhering to Iranian strategic compliance.
The pink zone represents the internationally recognised shipping lane where vessels are free to navigate under maritime law. When traffic voluntarily leaves that lane and sails into territorial waters, it’s because control (practical control) is being exercised.
Reports suggest vessels are being visually inspected by Iranian authorities. Cleared before proceeding. Some whispers of “facilitation payments” to avoid delays. Meanwhile, vessels from friendly nations (China, India) are moving with far fewer complications.
If that’s accurate, we’re not watching chaos.
We’re watching leverage.
Hormuz handles roughly 20-25% of global seaborne trade. It’s the carotid artery of global energy supply.
Three weeks ago the narrative was that Iranian leadership had collapsed. That this confrontation would be over in 3 days.
Instead, Iran appears to have increased their leverage over the single most critical maritime chokepoint in global trade.
Now… is this permanent? Probably not. However with US naval power nowhere to be seen, the perception of control in the straight sits very firmly in Iran’s influence. And markets are reacting to that perception.
If vessels are voluntarily rerouting into Iranian territorial waters for clearance, that’s not symbolic. Global trade runs on confidence.
Hormuz is now running on conditional access. And conditional access is leverage.
Arguably Iran is more powerful today than they were at the start of this war.
what seeing is thoroughly wargamed, strategic, crafted, utilized US weakness, and Israeli weakness, hubris and overreach have been anticipated.
but the big one the west misses is that, in context, this requires taking causalities, quite a lot, it’s not just for looks, they really are willing to take a lot of casualties for the holding of what they have, that is the Iranian state, as someone else said they don’t need to ‘win’, they only need persist.
and there’s bigger geopolitics at work, debt problems, something like a global ponzi scheme, all about to collapse, and US wants its currency to continue being the daddy currency, because when it stops being their debt looks a lot worse than it is now. Rapidly crushing i’d expect.
Would one expect Iran to surrender given the nature of the type of government they have
They’d likely martyr the entire nation in nuclear fire if need be than back down
Subject nuclear deterrents, it’s not mentioned much, but conventional nuclear weapons have become an unreliable deterrent, and I don’t mean from their ease of use, the reluctance to use them in the context of highly accurate hypersonic weapons, and mass drones etc, saturation use to deplete countermeasures, other than nuclear for EMP, which can be done without much fallout, big nuclear bombs are really unfashionable, more than ever.
So consider for a moment, who nearby does actually really have undeclared nuclear weapons, who might be worried about the weapons fading deterrent ability, and then project their fears elsewhere.
transition said:
Bogsnorkler said:
Mr. CucumberAs we enter the epsteinth day of the US war agsinst Iran, something very interesting is happening in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States hasn’t “lost” the Strait in some cinematic surrender sense. But operationally… it’s completely lost control of the Straigh of Hormuz with control of movement inside the narrowest choke point on Earth, entirely in the hands of the Iranian authorities.
Look at the MarineTraffic overlays.
Oil tankers that would normally transit through the internationally recognised traffic separation scheme (the pink corridor in the second image) are now hugging Larak Island and Qeshm. That’s Iranian territorial water. Meaning that international shipping is adhering to Iranian strategic compliance.
The pink zone represents the internationally recognised shipping lane where vessels are free to navigate under maritime law. When traffic voluntarily leaves that lane and sails into territorial waters, it’s because control (practical control) is being exercised.
Reports suggest vessels are being visually inspected by Iranian authorities. Cleared before proceeding. Some whispers of “facilitation payments” to avoid delays. Meanwhile, vessels from friendly nations (China, India) are moving with far fewer complications.
If that’s accurate, we’re not watching chaos.
We’re watching leverage.
Hormuz handles roughly 20-25% of global seaborne trade. It’s the carotid artery of global energy supply.
Three weeks ago the narrative was that Iranian leadership had collapsed. That this confrontation would be over in 3 days.
Instead, Iran appears to have increased their leverage over the single most critical maritime chokepoint in global trade.
Now… is this permanent? Probably not. However with US naval power nowhere to be seen, the perception of control in the straight sits very firmly in Iran’s influence. And markets are reacting to that perception.
If vessels are voluntarily rerouting into Iranian territorial waters for clearance, that’s not symbolic. Global trade runs on confidence.
Hormuz is now running on conditional access. And conditional access is leverage.
Arguably Iran is more powerful today than they were at the start of this war.
what seeing is thoroughly wargamed, strategic, crafted, utilized US weakness, and Israeli weakness, hubris and overreach have been anticipated.
but the big one the west misses is that, in context, this requires taking causalities, quite a lot, it’s not just for looks, they really are willing to take a lot of casualties for the holding of what they have, that is the Iranian state, as someone else said they don’t need to ‘win’, they only need persist.
and there’s bigger geopolitics at work, debt problems, something like a global ponzi scheme, all about to collapse, and US wants its currency to continue being the daddy currency, because when it stops being their debt looks a lot worse than it is now. Rapidly crushing i’d expect.
Bogsnorkler said:
Reports suggest vessels are being visually inspected by Iranian authorities. Cleared before proceeding. Some whispers of “facilitation payments” to avoid delays. Meanwhile, vessels from friendly nations (China, India) are moving with far fewer complications. If that’s accurate, we’re not watching chaos. We’re watching leverage.
wait so kkk wins again, he demanded those other countries send their ships, and … they’re sending their ships
SCIENCE said:
Bogsnorkler said:
Reports suggest vessels are being visually inspected by Iranian authorities. Cleared before proceeding. Some whispers of “facilitation payments” to avoid delays. Meanwhile, vessels from friendly nations (China, India) are moving with far fewer complications. If that’s accurate, we’re not watching chaos. We’re watching leverage.
wait so kkk wins again, he demanded those other countries send their ships, and … they’re sending their ships
LOL
Oil prices surged during Wednesday’s trading session on Wall Street as traders reacted to news of an air strike on one of Iran’s gas facilities. The attack raised the spectre of a further escalation of attacks on energy infrastructure in the Gulf region, with Iran warning of retaliation. Stocks markets slid after a closely watched US inflation gauge came in hotter than expected as the US Federal Reserve was holding an interest rates meeting. “Markets are back in panic mode,” XTB research director Kathleen Brooks told news agency AFP.
panic panic panic whenever other players in the market do something the commentators don’t want they just call it panic
hey this war is such a polite war
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps then issued what it labelled as evacuation orders for oil refineries in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. It warned the attacks would be launched in the “coming hours”.
Qatar’s main gas facility, the Ras Laffan complex, has been attacked. The state-run Qatar Energy said fires ignited by the strikes had caused “extensive damage” but authorities said they had been brought under control and no injuries had been reported.
also interesting is how even though they call ahead and tell you which testicle they’re going to kick, the groin guard isn’t stopping contact
SCIENCE said:
hey this war is such a polite war
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps then issued what it labelled as evacuation orders for oil refineries in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. It warned the attacks would be launched in the “coming hours”.
Qatar’s main gas facility, the Ras Laffan complex, has been attacked. The state-run Qatar Energy said fires ignited by the strikes had caused “extensive damage” but authorities said they had been brought under control and no injuries had been reported.
also interesting is how even though they call ahead and tell you which testicle they’re going to kick, the groin guard isn’t stopping contact
There’s no golden dome on the gulf countries.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
hey this war is such a polite war
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps then issued what it labelled as evacuation orders for oil refineries in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. It warned the attacks would be launched in the “coming hours”.
Qatar’s main gas facility, the Ras Laffan complex, has been attacked. The state-run Qatar Energy said fires ignited by the strikes had caused “extensive damage” but authorities said they had been brought under control and no injuries had been reported.
also interesting is how even though they call ahead and tell you which testicle they’re going to kick, the groin guard isn’t stopping contact
There’s no golden dome on the gulf countries.
well how does the ranking system go it’s like bronze silver gold platinum diamond or something right
“Anthony Albanese says he expects the US-Israel led war on Iran to come to an end as the key goal of curtailing Tehran’s potential for nuclear weapons has been accomplished.”
Praise the Lord
Peak Warming Man said:
“Anthony Albanese says he expects the US-Israel led war on Iran to come to an end as the key goal of curtailing Tehran’s potential for nuclear weapons has been accomplished.”Praise the Lord
Sounds like he’s quoting Trump.
I doubt that taking enriched uranium from the Iranians will be as easy as Trump thinks.
roughbarked said:
Peak Warming Man said:
“Anthony Albanese says he expects the US-Israel led war on Iran to come to an end as the key goal of curtailing Tehran’s potential for nuclear weapons has been accomplished.”
Praise the Lord
Sounds like he’s quoting Trump.
I doubt that taking enriched uranium from the Iranians will be as easy as Trump thinks.
maybe they’re planning on delivering some
“today we found that there really were nuclear weapons of mass destruction within Iranian borders, and we have ensured that they have been explosively decommissioned”
Peak Warming Man said:
“Anthony Albanese says he expects the US-Israel led war on Iran to come to an end as the key goal of curtailing Tehran’s potential for nuclear weapons has been accomplished.”Praise the Lord
seem to be the slowest nuclear bomb builders on the planet, not managed it in decades, almost as if they weren’t really trying.
roughbarked said:
Peak Warming Man said:
“Anthony Albanese says he expects the US-Israel led war on Iran to come to an end as the key goal of curtailing Tehran’s potential for nuclear weapons has been accomplished.”Praise the Lord
Sounds like he’s quoting Trump.
I doubt that taking enriched uranium from the Iranians will be as easy as Trump thinks.
If Trump actually ever thinks about it.
transition said:
Peak Warming Man said:
“Anthony Albanese says he expects the US-Israel led war on Iran to come to an end as the key goal of curtailing Tehran’s potential for nuclear weapons has been accomplished.”Praise the Lord
seem to be the slowest nuclear bomb builders on the planet, not managed it in decades, almost as if they weren’t really trying.
another country nearby though does have undeclared nuclear weapons, and of course the deterrent effect of them in the modern context of hypersonic weapons, layered with saturation tactics involving drones, including dummies, is more limited
others do their own research
I note the media has descended into casual language using words like kill, and eliminated, things don’t come back diplomatically from a trajectory like that when all has turned hot with kinetic exchanges
welcome to WW3
you can thank Trump, and his friends
transition said:
transition said:
Peak Warming Man said:
“Anthony Albanese says he expects the US-Israel led war on Iran to come to an end as the key goal of curtailing Tehran’s potential for nuclear weapons has been accomplished.”Praise the Lord
seem to be the slowest nuclear bomb builders on the planet, not managed it in decades, almost as if they weren’t really trying.
another country nearby though does have undeclared nuclear weapons, and of course the deterrent effect of them in the modern context of hypersonic weapons, layered with saturation tactics involving drones, including dummies, is more limited
others do their own research
I note the media has descended into casual language using words like kill, and eliminated, things don’t come back diplomatically from a trajectory like that when all has turned hot with kinetic exchanges
welcome to WW3
you can thank Trump, and his friends
Not gunna thank him. I’ve other words .
roughbarked said:
transition said:
transition said:seem to be the slowest nuclear bomb builders on the planet, not managed it in decades, almost as if they weren’t really trying.
another country nearby though does have undeclared nuclear weapons, and of course the deterrent effect of them in the modern context of hypersonic weapons, layered with saturation tactics involving drones, including dummies, is more limited
others do their own research
I note the media has descended into casual language using words like kill, and eliminated, things don’t come back diplomatically from a trajectory like that when all has turned hot with kinetic exchanges
welcome to WW3
you can thank Trump, and his friends
Not gunna thank him. I’ve other words .
wait according to dv shouldn’t that be ww5 at least
transition said:
Peak Warming Man said:
“Anthony Albanese says he expects the US-Israel led war on Iran to come to an end as the key goal of curtailing Tehran’s potential for nuclear weapons has been accomplished.”
Praise the Lord
seem to be the slowest nuclear bomb builders on the planet, not managed it in decades, almost as if they weren’t really trying.
maybe they were trying to build a fusion powered one
transition said:
Peak Warming Man said:
“Anthony Albanese says he expects the US-Israel led war on Iran to come to an end as the key goal of curtailing Tehran’s potential for nuclear weapons has been accomplished.”Praise the Lord
seem to be the slowest nuclear bomb builders on the planet, not managed it in decades, almost as if they weren’t really trying.
almost
ms spock said:
roughbarked said:
Peak Warming Man said:
“Anthony Albanese says he expects the US-Israel led war on Iran to come to an end as the key goal of curtailing Tehran’s potential for nuclear weapons has been accomplished.”Praise the Lord
Sounds like he’s quoting Trump.
I doubt that taking enriched uranium from the Iranians will be as easy as Trump thinks.
If Trump actually ever thinks about it.
I expect the war to come to an end because the President has the attention span of a goldfish and will move on to the next damn fool thing within two months.
dv said:
ms spock said:
roughbarked said:Sounds like he’s quoting Trump.
I doubt that taking enriched uranium from the Iranians will be as easy as Trump thinks.
If Trump actually ever thinks about it.
I expect the war to come to an end because the President has the attention span of a goldfish and will move on to the next damn fool thing within two months.
Oi!
Don’t diss goldfish!
dv said:
ms spock said:
roughbarked said:Sounds like he’s quoting Trump.
I doubt that taking enriched uranium from the Iranians will be as easy as Trump thinks.
If Trump actually ever thinks about it.
I expect the war to come to an end because the President has the attention span of a goldfish and will move on to the next damn fool thing within two months.
Trump can shift his attention. I don’t think the Iranians will stop, until they have made it very clear, how bad an idea it is, to attack them, has been made.
alleged
🚨 REPORTER: Trump wants Europe’s help in the Gulf. Why not make it conditional? Ukraine first.
FINLAND PRESIDENT: That’s a very good idea. I might pick you up on that. 🙌
dv said:
ms spock said:
roughbarked said:
Sounds like he’s quoting Trump.
I doubt that taking enriched uranium from the Iranians will be as easy as Trump thinks.
If Trump actually ever thinks about it.
I expect the war to come to an end because the President has the attention span of a goldfish and will move on to the next damn fool thing within two months.
what, like ¿ the paedo files
Iran is scheduled to play all three of its opening-round group matches in the US but Taj said on Monday, local time, the Iranian FA (FFIRI) was negotiating with FIFA to have them moved to Mexico.
SCIENCE said:
Iran is scheduled to play all three of its opening-round group matches in the US but Taj said on Monday, local time, the Iranian FA (FFIRI) was negotiating with FIFA to have them moved to Mexico.
What about the FIFA Peace Prize?
there yous see this is all some other country’s fault
SCIENCE said:
there yous see this is all some other country’s fault
China is like the guy at work that doesn’t speak English so is blamed for every mishap.
“The advice to me continues to be that the ships that we’ve expected to arrive, have arrived and that all the contracted ships are expected to arrive all through March and well into April,” he said. “Beyond that we do face an international circumstance that is changing daily.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-19/new-national-fuel-supply-taskforce-middle-east-war/106471676
hey we remember when yousr ABC would publish all manner of articles saying how clever it was to wait for the low point of the cycle to fill up your vehicles more, and better to be prepared than to run on empty
but aside from this article (“panic” 0 matches) everyone in 2026 knows that making sure your tank is full before the prices jump is panic panic panic
SCIENCE said:
“The advice to me continues to be that the ships that we’ve expected to arrive, have arrived and that all the contracted ships are expected to arrive all through March and well into April,” he said. “Beyond that we do face an international circumstance that is changing daily.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-19/new-national-fuel-supply-taskforce-middle-east-war/106471676
hey we remember when yousr ABC would publish all manner of articles saying how clever it was to wait for the low point of the cycle to fill up your vehicles more, and better to be prepared than to run on empty
but aside from this article (“panic” 0 matches) everyone in 2026 knows that making sure your tank is full before the prices jump is panic panic panic
woah hang on did someone say
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said he supported the national taskforce, but accused the government of not acting soon enough.
that rushing in to take action was panic
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
“The advice to me continues to be that the ships that we’ve expected to arrive, have arrived and that all the contracted ships are expected to arrive all through March and well into April,” he said. “Beyond that we do face an international circumstance that is changing daily.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-19/new-national-fuel-supply-taskforce-middle-east-war/106471676
hey we remember when yousr ABC would publish all manner of articles saying how clever it was to wait for the low point of the cycle to fill up your vehicles more, and better to be prepared than to run on empty
but aside from this article (“panic” 0 matches) everyone in 2026 knows that making sure your tank is full before the prices jump is panic panic panic
woah hang on did someone say
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said he supported the national taskforce, but accused the government of not acting soon enough.
that rushing in to take action was panic
And what exactly is Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s proposal for regulating escalating fuel prices?
Carrick Ryan
To underscores how much of a strategic disaster this war has been for the USA, we need only look at the countless experts who strongly opposed this war being begun, but now suggest that Trump has no other option but to launch a ground invasion on Iranian territory.
The “decapitation strike” failed to induce the collapse of the regime, just as any expert on Iran would have warned.
Facing a genuine existential threat, the regime is now deploying the weapon that every analyst predicted they would. I wrote two separate articles last year warning of the implications of Iran preventing commercial shipping from moving through the Hormuz Strait. This was not a surprise move.
…and yet, almost three weeks into this campaign, and Trump still does not have sufficient naval resources in the region to secure the Strait to the degree needed by shipping companies and their insurers.
Unless the US and Israeli air strikes can somehow inflict enough damage upon the regime to prevent even low capacity attacks like mines, drones, or rockets… then Trump may have no choice but to commit ground forces in the hope of securing enough territory along Iran’s coast to make attacks on shipping impossible.
If Trump doesn’t do this, the geopolitical consequences are seismic.
If he is forced to sign a ceasefire with Iran before fully securing the Strait, it may be remembered by history as the formal declaration of the end of US global hegemony.
Only months after being forced into a humiliating retreat from his all out trade war with China, Trump will be now be effectively demonstrating that the US military is incapable of ensuring freedom of navigation through one of the most geostrategically important trade routes on the planet.
It was never clear if the US Navy had the ability to keep the Strait open if required, and so long as that ambiguity remained, Iran’s greatest weapon was a hypothetical scenario… an untested threat. Now it’s a weapon the US has been, so far, unable to neutralise.
Think about how this will impact the calculations of Gulf States when they choose which superpower they pledge their allegiance to.
Think about how this shapes China’s plans for Taiwan.
The concept of post-Cold War US hegemony was built upon the premise that they had the ability to subjugate any non-nuclear power, regardless where on the planet it lay. That image is now shattered. The President of the greatest military power the world has ever seen now forced to beg for mine sweepers from the same former friends he was threatening to invade only two months ago.
If the war ended today, Iran would prevail arguably stronger than it has ever been. It now has effective leverage over the global economy, especially if you include the ability of Iran’s proxy, the Houthis, to induce similar chaos in the Red Sea.
Whatever their advice was before the war, there will be many Generals and policy advisors now telling Trump that a large scale invasion of Iran is the only option to secure the Strait. For a man obsessed with his legacy and terrified of looking weak… it feels inevitable that this is exactly where we’re heading
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
“The advice to me continues to be that the ships that we’ve expected to arrive, have arrived and that all the contracted ships are expected to arrive all through March and well into April,” he said. “Beyond that we do face an international circumstance that is changing daily.”
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-19/new-national-fuel-supply-taskforce-middle-east-war/106471676
hey we remember when yousr ABC would publish all manner of articles saying how clever it was to wait for the low point of the cycle to fill up your vehicles more, and better to be prepared than to run on empty
but aside from this article (“panic” 0 matches) everyone in 2026 knows that making sure your tank is full before the prices jump is panic panic panic
woah hang on did someone say
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said he supported the national taskforce, but accused the government of not acting soon enough.
that rushing in to take action was panic
And what exactly is Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s proposal for regulating escalating fuel prices?
drill
Bogsnorkler said:
A
I wrote two separate articles last year warning of the implications of Iran preventing commercial shipping from moving through the Hormuz Strait. This was not a surprise move. …and yet, almost three weeks into this campaign, and Trump still does not have sufficient naval resources in the region to secure the Strait to the degree needed by shipping companies and their insurers. Unless the US and Israeli air strikes can somehow inflict enough damage upon the regime to prevent even low capacity attacks like mines, drones, or rockets… then Trump may have no choice but to commit ground forces in the hope of securing enough territory along Iran’s coast to make attacks on shipping impossible. Whatever their advice was before the war, there will be many Generals and policy advisors now telling Trump that a large scale invasion of Iran is the only option to secure the Strait. For a man obsessed with his legacy and terrified of looking weak… it feels inevitable that this is exactly where we’re headingB
If Trump doesn’t do this, the geopolitical consequences are seismic. If he is forced to sign a ceasefire with Iran before fully securing the Strait, it may be remembered by history as the formal declaration of the end of US global hegemony. Only months after being forced into a humiliating retreat from his all out trade war with China, Trump will be now be effectively demonstrating that the US military is incapable of ensuring freedom of navigation through one of the most geostrategically important trade routes on the planet. The concept of post-Cold War US hegemony was built upon the premise that they had the ability to subjugate any non-nuclear power, regardless where on the planet it lay. That image is now shattered. The President of the greatest military power the world has ever seen now forced to beg for mine sweepers from the same former friends he was threatening to invade only two months ago.C
If the war ended today, Iran would prevail arguably stronger than it has ever been. It now has effective leverage over the global economy, especially if you include the ability of Iran’s proxy, the Houthis, to induce similar chaos in the Red Sea.
A
so what happens when the great free ussa shoves a mass of seagoing ordnance into a blind ending persian arabian oman gulf with one mouth and pakistan gets itchy
B
so the concept of postcoldwar ussa hegemony was the premise that the bullies with the bombs were the good guys
C
limiting oil flows has leverage over the global economy does it, sounds like a problem that could have been solved 50 years ago if anyone had listened to those pink hippy communist environmentalists who recommended weaning off bottles of black stuff
Bogsnorkler said:
Carrick RyanTo underscores how much of a strategic disaster this war has been for the USA, we need only look at the countless experts who strongly opposed this war being begun, but now suggest that Trump has no other option but to launch a ground invasion on Iranian territory.
The “decapitation strike” failed to induce the collapse of the regime, just as any expert on Iran would have warned.
Facing a genuine existential threat, the regime is now deploying the weapon that every analyst predicted they would. I wrote two separate articles last year warning of the implications of Iran preventing commercial shipping from moving through the Hormuz Strait. This was not a surprise move.
…and yet, almost three weeks into this campaign, and Trump still does not have sufficient naval resources in the region to secure the Strait to the degree needed by shipping companies and their insurers.
Unless the US and Israeli air strikes can somehow inflict enough damage upon the regime to prevent even low capacity attacks like mines, drones, or rockets… then Trump may have no choice but to commit ground forces in the hope of securing enough territory along Iran’s coast to make attacks on shipping impossible.
If Trump doesn’t do this, the geopolitical consequences are seismic.
If he is forced to sign a ceasefire with Iran before fully securing the Strait, it may be remembered by history as the formal declaration of the end of US global hegemony.
Only months after being forced into a humiliating retreat from his all out trade war with China, Trump will be now be effectively demonstrating that the US military is incapable of ensuring freedom of navigation through one of the most geostrategically important trade routes on the planet.
It was never clear if the US Navy had the ability to keep the Strait open if required, and so long as that ambiguity remained, Iran’s greatest weapon was a hypothetical scenario… an untested threat. Now it’s a weapon the US has been, so far, unable to neutralise.
Think about how this will impact the calculations of Gulf States when they choose which superpower they pledge their allegiance to.
Think about how this shapes China’s plans for Taiwan.
The concept of post-Cold War US hegemony was built upon the premise that they had the ability to subjugate any non-nuclear power, regardless where on the planet it lay. That image is now shattered. The President of the greatest military power the world has ever seen now forced to beg for mine sweepers from the same former friends he was threatening to invade only two months ago.
If the war ended today, Iran would prevail arguably stronger than it has ever been. It now has effective leverage over the global economy, especially if you include the ability of Iran’s proxy, the Houthis, to induce similar chaos in the Red Sea.
Whatever their advice was before the war, there will be many Generals and policy advisors now telling Trump that a large scale invasion of Iran is the only option to secure the Strait. For a man obsessed with his legacy and terrified of looking weak… it feels inevitable that this is exactly where we’re heading
Pffft.
The MAGA’s will tell you Trump is playing 4 dimensional chess.
SCIENCE said:
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:
woah hang on did someone say
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said he supported the national taskforce, but accused the government of not acting soon enough.
that rushing in to take action was panic
And what exactly is Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s proposal for regulating escalating fuel prices?
drill
I’d assume our government has little if no power to stop escalating fuel prices besides after the event fines.
It’s completely expected, war profiteering
SCIENCE said:
Divine Angel said:
SCIENCE said:
woah hang on did someone say
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said he supported the national taskforce, but accused the government of not acting soon enough.
that rushing in to take action was panic
And what exactly is Opposition Leader Angus Taylor’s proposal for regulating escalating fuel prices?
drill
(baby, drill)
Michael V said:
Bogsnorkler said:
Carrick RyanTo underscores how much of a strategic disaster this war has been for the USA, we need only look at the countless experts who strongly opposed this war being begun, but now suggest that Trump has no other option but to launch a ground invasion on Iranian territory.
The “decapitation strike” failed to induce the collapse of the regime, just as any expert on Iran would have warned.
Facing a genuine existential threat, the regime is now deploying the weapon that every analyst predicted they would. I wrote two separate articles last year warning of the implications of Iran preventing commercial shipping from moving through the Hormuz Strait. This was not a surprise move.
…and yet, almost three weeks into this campaign, and Trump still does not have sufficient naval resources in the region to secure the Strait to the degree needed by shipping companies and their insurers.
Unless the US and Israeli air strikes can somehow inflict enough damage upon the regime to prevent even low capacity attacks like mines, drones, or rockets… then Trump may have no choice but to commit ground forces in the hope of securing enough territory along Iran’s coast to make attacks on shipping impossible.
If Trump doesn’t do this, the geopolitical consequences are seismic.
If he is forced to sign a ceasefire with Iran before fully securing the Strait, it may be remembered by history as the formal declaration of the end of US global hegemony.
Only months after being forced into a humiliating retreat from his all out trade war with China, Trump will be now be effectively demonstrating that the US military is incapable of ensuring freedom of navigation through one of the most geostrategically important trade routes on the planet.
It was never clear if the US Navy had the ability to keep the Strait open if required, and so long as that ambiguity remained, Iran’s greatest weapon was a hypothetical scenario… an untested threat. Now it’s a weapon the US has been, so far, unable to neutralise.
Think about how this will impact the calculations of Gulf States when they choose which superpower they pledge their allegiance to.
Think about how this shapes China’s plans for Taiwan.
The concept of post-Cold War US hegemony was built upon the premise that they had the ability to subjugate any non-nuclear power, regardless where on the planet it lay. That image is now shattered. The President of the greatest military power the world has ever seen now forced to beg for mine sweepers from the same former friends he was threatening to invade only two months ago.
If the war ended today, Iran would prevail arguably stronger than it has ever been. It now has effective leverage over the global economy, especially if you include the ability of Iran’s proxy, the Houthis, to induce similar chaos in the Red Sea.
Whatever their advice was before the war, there will be many Generals and policy advisors now telling Trump that a large scale invasion of Iran is the only option to secure the Strait. For a man obsessed with his legacy and terrified of looking weak… it feels inevitable that this is exactly where we’re heading
Pffft.
The MAGA’s will tell you Trump is playing 4 dimensional chess.
Connect 4.
alleged
Officials at the World Health Organization have admitted that they are preparing for a “worst-case scenario” nuclear threat if the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran escalates. Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, said that staff remain “vigilant” for a nuclear incident following President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran in a joint campaign with Israel. “The worst-case scenario is a nuclear incident, and that’s something that worries us the most,” Balkhy told Politico. “As much as we prepare, there’s nothing that can prevent the harm that will come … the region’s way — and globally if this eventually happens — and the consequences are going to last for decades.”
SCIENCE said:
alleged
Officials at the World Health Organization have admitted that they are preparing for a “worst-case scenario” nuclear threat if the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran escalates. Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, said that staff remain “vigilant” for a nuclear incident following President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran in a joint campaign with Israel. “The worst-case scenario is a nuclear incident, and that’s something that worries us the most,” Balkhy told Politico. “As much as we prepare, there’s nothing that can prevent the harm that will come … the region’s way — and globally if this eventually happens — and the consequences are going to last for decades.”
Because of a few people fighting over resources.
SCIENCE said:
alleged
Officials at the World Health Organization have admitted that they are preparing for a “worst-case scenario” nuclear threat if the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran escalates. Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, said that staff remain “vigilant” for a nuclear incident following President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran in a joint campaign with Israel. “The worst-case scenario is a nuclear incident, and that’s something that worries us the most,” Balkhy told Politico. “As much as we prepare, there’s nothing that can prevent the harm that will come … the region’s way — and globally if this eventually happens — and the consequences are going to last for decades.”
Without a nuclear iincident, they’ve already burned enough oil to cause effects that last for decades.
Tau.Neutrino said:
SCIENCE said:alleged
Officials at the World Health Organization have admitted that they are preparing for a “worst-case scenario” nuclear threat if the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran escalates. Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, said that staff remain “vigilant” for a nuclear incident following President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran in a joint campaign with Israel. “The worst-case scenario is a nuclear incident, and that’s something that worries us the most,” Balkhy told Politico. “As much as we prepare, there’s nothing that can prevent the harm that will come … the region’s way — and globally if this eventually happens — and the consequences are going to last for decades.”
Because of a few people fighting over resources.
Because Trumo saw himself making money out of a deal with Netenyahu. Yeah. I’ll help you with your war because it will affect the markets and I know how to make money from that.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:alleged
Officials at the World Health Organization have admitted that they are preparing for a “worst-case scenario” nuclear threat if the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran escalates. Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, said that staff remain “vigilant” for a nuclear incident following President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran in a joint campaign with Israel. “The worst-case scenario is a nuclear incident, and that’s something that worries us the most,” Balkhy told Politico. “As much as we prepare, there’s nothing that can prevent the harm that will come … the region’s way — and globally if this eventually happens — and the consequences are going to last for decades.”
Without a nuclear iincident, they’ve already burned enough oil to cause effects that last for decades.
True, the world needs to de thug and wind down the oil industry.
It’s a shame that million year old stuff is causing concern for the future.
America needs to focus on batteries/EVs, solar for batteries/homes, solar and batteries for industry/retail/government offices/ public schools/hospitals and they need to look at scaling up other renewable sources.
roughbarked said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
SCIENCE said:alleged
Officials at the World Health Organization have admitted that they are preparing for a “worst-case scenario” nuclear threat if the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran escalates. Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, said that staff remain “vigilant” for a nuclear incident following President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran in a joint campaign with Israel. “The worst-case scenario is a nuclear incident, and that’s something that worries us the most,” Balkhy told Politico. “As much as we prepare, there’s nothing that can prevent the harm that will come … the region’s way — and globally if this eventually happens — and the consequences are going to last for decades.”
Because of a few people fighting over resources.
Because Trumo saw himself making money out of a deal with Netenyahu. Yeah. I’ll help you with your war because it will affect the markets and I know how to make money from that.
Short term profit at the expense of lives.
Tau.Neutrino said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:alleged
Officials at the World Health Organization have admitted that they are preparing for a “worst-case scenario” nuclear threat if the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran escalates. Hanan Balkhy, WHO regional director for the eastern Mediterranean, said that staff remain “vigilant” for a nuclear incident following President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Iran in a joint campaign with Israel. “The worst-case scenario is a nuclear incident, and that’s something that worries us the most,” Balkhy told Politico. “As much as we prepare, there’s nothing that can prevent the harm that will come … the region’s way — and globally if this eventually happens — and the consequences are going to last for decades.”
Without a nuclear iincident, they’ve already burned enough oil to cause effects that last for decades.
True, the world needs to de thug and wind down the oil industry.
It’s a shame that million year old stuff is causing concern for the future.
America needs to focus on batteries/EVs, solar for batteries/homes, solar and batteries for industry/retail/government offices/ public schools/hospitals and they need to look at scaling up other renewable sources.
There’s also the loss of fuel to those who need it. I’m sure we are all sick of seeing oil burning in the gulf when the prices are astronomic at the bowser.
Tau.Neutrino said:
roughbarked said:
Tau.Neutrino said:Because of a few people fighting over resources.
Because Trumo saw himself making money out of a deal with Netenyahu. Yeah. I’ll help you with your war because it will affect the markets and I know how to make money from that.
Short term profit at the expense of lives.
Money money money, it’s a rich man’s world.
You know, that was a hit song and everybody bought it.
Am I still allowed to say “Fuck Israel” without getting in trouble with the law?
party_pants said:
Am I still allowed to say “Fuck Israel” without getting in trouble with the law?
As long as you don’t mention rivers or other bodies of water or the word Jew.
roughbarked said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
roughbarked said:Without a nuclear iincident, they’ve already burned enough oil to cause effects that last for decades.
True, the world needs to de thug and wind down the oil industry.
It’s a shame that million year old stuff is causing concern for the future.
America needs to focus on batteries/EVs, solar for batteries/homes, solar and batteries for industry/retail/government offices/ public schools/hospitals and they need to look at scaling up other renewable sources.
There’s also the loss of fuel to those who need it. I’m sure we are all sick of seeing oil burning in the gulf when the prices are astronomic at the bowser.
Yes.
party_pants said:
Am I still allowed to say “Fuck Israel” without getting in trouble with the law?
I’ve never stopped saying it.
roughbarked said:
party_pants said:
Am I still allowed to say “Fuck Israel” without getting in trouble with the law?
As long as you don’t mention rivers or other bodies of water or the word Jew.
Then again, be careful not to mention zionists.
kii said:
party_pants said:
Am I still allowed to say “Fuck Israel” without getting in trouble with the law?
I’ve never stopped saying it.
This again is something we both seem to agree on.
party_pants said:
Am I still allowed to say “Fuck Israel” without getting in trouble with the law?
Well there’s good people and bad people, certainly net.yan.yar.who can go and get….
party_pants said:
Am I still allowed to say “Fuck Israel” without getting in trouble with the law?
if it makes you feel better. it is but a fleeting satisfaction though.
kii said:
party_pants said:
Am I still allowed to say “Fuck Israel” without getting in trouble with the law?
I’ve never stopped saying it.
On the news just then, Israel ranks 8th on the world on the “happiness index”. Go figure.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world
Bogsnorkler said:
party_pants said:
Am I still allowed to say “Fuck Israel” without getting in trouble with the law?
if it makes you feel better. it is but a fleeting satisfaction though.
It has fuck all effect.
Nuke Israel seems more like effect.
Woodie said:
kii said:
party_pants said:
Am I still allowed to say “Fuck Israel” without getting in trouble with the law?
I’ve never stopped saying it.
On the news just then, Israel ranks 8th on the world on the “happiness index”. Go figure.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world
They are off their tits because they have religion.
bias
SCIENCE said:
bias
Back in the 80s and 90s they used to called it the “hip-pocket nerve”. The electorate are indifferent until they feel a sharp pain in their hip-pocket.
For thus it was, this now, and shall be evermore.
Amen.
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:bias
Back in the 80s and 90s they used to called it the “hip-pocket nerve”. The electorate are indifferent until they feel a sharp pain in their hip-pocket.
For thus it was,
thisnow, and shall be evermore.
Amen.
tis
SCIENCE said:
bias
the purpose of both Israel and US doing things as they do is overdetermination, to hide behind each other, to dilute responsibility, so you know the BS both involves over and undetermination, typical dog’s breakfast that way
you might initially think some express apparent disapproval by Trump is a turn, some change, but it’s not, it’s more of the same package, aimed at adding complexity to interpretation. Deception adds greatly to complexity of mental modeling,
party_pants said:
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:bias
Back in the 80s and 90s they used to called it the “hip-pocket nerve”. The electorate are indifferent until they feel a sharp pain in their hip-pocket.
For thus it was,
thisnow, and shall be evermore.
Amen.
tis
Blackpilling? What does this word mean?
I’m hoping that the price of fuel will cause parents who buy motorbikes for kids well before they are old enough to ride on the roads and allowing their kids out the gate, to stop doing so.
transition said:
SCIENCE said:
bias
the purpose of both Israel and US doing things as they do is overdetermination, to hide behind each other, to dilute responsibility, so you know the BS both involves over and undetermination, typical dog’s breakfast that way
you might initially think some express apparent disapproval by Trump is a turn, some change, but it’s not, it’s more of the same package, aimed at adding complexity to interpretation. Deception adds greatly to complexity of mental modeling,
iranian terrorist proxies bad ussaian terrorist proxies good
roughbarked said:
party_pants said:
party_pants said:Back in the 80s and 90s they used to called it the “hip-pocket nerve”. The electorate are indifferent until they feel a sharp pain in their hip-pocket.
For thus it was,
thisnow, and shall be evermore.
Amen.
tis
Blackpilling? What does this word mean?
It refers to feelings of pessimism, despair, and fatalism. If the red pill is “taken” by people who see the world as it really is, the black pill is “taken” by people who see the world as it really is and perceive it as completely broken and unfixable.
So for example a person might be black pilled on climate change if they believe AGW exists but it is too late to do anything about it and it is going to totally screw up the human species.
Black pill began amongst the “incels”. Basically an incel who had accepted within themselves that they would never find love/a partner, that they were destined to be alone forever, and has spread to take on a more general meaning from there.
esselte said:
roughbarked said:
party_pants said:tis
Blackpilling? What does this word mean?
It refers to feelings of pessimism, despair, and fatalism. If the red pill is “taken” by people who see the world as it really is, the black pill is “taken” by people who see the world as it really is and perceive it as completely broken and unfixable.
So for example a person might be black pilled on climate change if they believe AGW exists but it is too late to do anything about it and it is going to totally screw up the human species.
Black pill began amongst the “incels”. Basically an incel who had accepted within themselves that they would never find love/a partner, that they were destined to be alone forever, and has spread to take on a more general meaning from there.
I see. Thanks for the detailed description.
esselte said:
roughbarked said:
party_pants said:tis
Blackpilling? What does this word mean?
It refers to feelings of pessimism, despair, and fatalism. If the red pill is “taken” by people who see the world as it really is, the black pill is “taken” by people who see the world as it really is and perceive it as completely broken and unfixable.
So for example a person might be black pilled on climate change if they believe AGW exists but it is too late to do anything about it and it is going to totally screw up the human species.
Black pill began amongst the “incels”. Basically an incel who had accepted within themselves that they would never find love/a partner, that they were destined to be alone forever, and has spread to take on a more general meaning from there.
Thanks for that.
Interesting.
don’t worry
The Australian Financial Review is reporting that Malaysia, one of Australia’s top crude suppliers, has warned that shipments to Australia could be interrupted if the Middle East war continues. Energy Minister Chris Bowen says Malaysia’s statement is broad and doesn’t indicate that it is taking any particular action.
none of this will be happening until it happens
bullshit
US military had requested $US200 billion in additional funding for the war. That request has been met with stiff opposition in Congress. Democrats — and even some Republicans — have questioned the need for the money after big defence appropriations last year.
everyone knows that fighting and winning against enemies is clear justification for as much funding as they want
SCIENCE said:
bullshit
US military had requested $US200 billion in additional funding for the war. That request has been met with stiff opposition in Congress. Democrats — and even some Republicans — have questioned the need for the money after big defence appropriations last year.
everyone knows that fighting and winning against enemies is clear justification for as much funding as they want
That’s the entire GDP for some nations
SCIENCE said:
so there were a few leaders cheering the neutralisation of terrorists and the destruction of nuclear potential and the shadow of regime change, all good, now
how do they feel about welcoming the imminent tidelike wave of
asylum seekersrefugeesdisplaced personsillegal immigrants about to wash out of the gulf
aha
guess now we know
roughbarked said:
Woodie said:
kii said:I’ve never stopped saying it.
On the news just then, Israel ranks 8th on the world on the “happiness index”. Go figure.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world
They are off their tits because they have religion.
Denmark got rid of one of their colonies go which upped their position on this list.
I will bet no Palestinians were interviewed.
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
so there were a few leaders cheering the neutralisation of terrorists and the destruction of nuclear potential and the shadow of regime change, all good, now
how do they feel about welcoming the imminent tidelike wave of
asylum seekersrefugeesdisplaced personsillegal immigrants about to wash out of the gulf
aha
guess now we know
It would be interesting to see how many nations of allies actually like or trust the US government.
I’ve always thought its more fear than respect.
Woodie said:
On the news just then, Israel ranks 8th on the world on the “happiness index”. Go figure.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/happiest-countries-in-the-world
I suggest that whoever created this table doesn’t know the difference between ‘happy’ and ‘drunk’.
Which is how the Finns get the No. 1 spot.
I reckon the penguins on Heard Island are pretty happy but did anyone ask them? That table is definitely skewed with a human bias.
Divine Angel said:
I reckon the penguins on Heard Island are pretty happy but did anyone ask them? That table is definitely skewed with a human bias.
Aren’t they pissed off with Trump’s tariff on their exported scat.
sounds like winning
The US may lift sanctions on Iranian oil stranded in tankers at sea “in coming days” to increase global supply. But, it would also mean creating cashflow for the Iranian regime. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said doing so would free up about 140 million barrels or up to two weeks’ worth of oil. “That would’ve all gone to China. In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 or 14 days as we continue this campaign,” he told Fox Business.
right and what incentive do you offer the defenders of the strait, to not let it all have gone to some other country
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-20/gas-giants-go-to-ground-amid-middle-east-war/106477862
Liquid fuels are already running short as panic buying saps reserves of petrol and diesel in what could be the worst energy crisis in half a century.
correct which is why now as yous see when people would normally have to fill up again instead of just drawing down their stockpile, the demand is still persisting so it must all still be panic
oh and just in case yous mistook the blood fuel lobby, and the reporters telling yous about them, for a bunch of decent people
Almost a fifth of the world’s gas supply is trapped in the Persian Gulf and ship owners are unwilling to risk losing vessels and cargo worth $US300 million in a potential firestorm in Strait of Hormuz, creating unprecedented global shortages.
exactly, nobody gives a fuck about the crew, the crew are cheap, their lives are worth nothing, it’s about the vessels and cargo
SCIENCE said:
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-20/gas-giants-go-to-ground-amid-middle-east-war/106477862
Liquid fuels are already running short as panic buying saps reserves of petrol and diesel in what could be the worst energy crisis in half a century.
correct which is why now as yous see when people would normally have to fill up again instead of just drawing down their stockpile, the demand is still persisting so it must all still be panic
oh and just in case yous mistook the blood fuel lobby, and the reporters telling yous about them, for a bunch of decent people
Almost a fifth of the world’s gas supply is trapped in the Persian Gulf and ship owners are unwilling to risk losing vessels and cargo worth $US300 million in a potential firestorm in Strait of Hormuz, creating unprecedented global shortages.
exactly, nobody gives a fuck about the crew, the crew are cheap, their lives are worth nothing, it’s about the vessels and cargo
Hello SCIENCE, welcome to planet Earth
probably panic
or just pearl harbour
SCIENCE said:
probably panic
or just pearl harbour
I can imagine Basil in the corner of the room whispering “Don’t mention the war”
Ian said:
LOL
Ian said:
LOLOL
I’d forgotten about that. Thanks for the reminder.
SCIENCE said:
sounds like winning
The US may lift sanctions on Iranian oil stranded in tankers at sea “in coming days” to increase global supply. But, it would also mean creating cashflow for the Iranian regime. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said doing so would free up about 140 million barrels or up to two weeks’ worth of oil. “That would’ve all gone to China. In essence, we will be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 or 14 days as we continue this campaign,” he told Fox Business.
right and what incentive do you offer the defenders of the strait, to not let it all have gone to some other country
Mission accomplished
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/iran/stunning-failure-iranian-deterrence
True enough
dv said:
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/iran/stunning-failure-iranian-deterrence
True enough
yeah but what did they expect, leaving their skies open while it was dark at night
did they even make it clear that they didn’t want to be bombed
oh and what were they wearing
SCIENCE said:
and the best part is yousr traditional media and manipulated social media just lap it up and put it on yousr spoon feed all the same
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
and the best part is yousr traditional media and manipulated social media just lap it up and put it on yousr spoon feed all the same
no wait LOL they engagement farm with this instead
SCIENCE said:
like :)
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:
like :)
From Simon shows you maps…
Look at the size of Vietnam in green. Then look at Iran in blue. The US only had troops in half of Vietnam and peak strength was 580K. The idea of fighting a ground war in Iran as Trump is suggesting sounds rather adventurous to me. Great use of a size comparison map by @NavyStrang btw!
kii said:
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:
like :)
From Simon shows you maps…
Look at the size of Vietnam in green. Then look at Iran in blue. The US only had troops in half of Vietnam and peak strength was 580K. The idea of fighting a ground war in Iran as Trump is suggesting sounds rather adventurous to me. Great use of a size comparison map by @NavyStrang btw!
I am confident that someone in Washington will drag him out into the street and shoot him before he commits half a million ground troops to Israel’s reckless war.
party_pants said:
kii said:
party_pants said:like :)
From Simon shows you maps…
Look at the size of Vietnam in green. Then look at Iran in blue. The US only had troops in half of Vietnam and peak strength was 580K. The idea of fighting a ground war in Iran as Trump is suggesting sounds rather adventurous to me. Great use of a size comparison map by @NavyStrang btw!
I am confident that someone in Washington will drag him out into the street and shoot him before he commits half a million ground troops to Israel’s reckless war.
Why expend the effort to drag him outside? Just do it at the Resolute desk.
I’ve said it before, I am so glad that mr kii didn’t live to see this 2nd term. He volunteered for Vietnam, nearly sent there, but change of orders at the literal last minute. Meanwhile that piece of shit idiot was faking a podiatry issue.
That shit with the Japanese PM has ramped up my anger another notch.
kii said:
party_pants said:
kii said:
From Simon shows you maps…
Look at the size of Vietnam in green. Then look at Iran in blue. The US only had troops in half of Vietnam and peak strength was 580K. The idea of fighting a ground war in Iran as Trump is suggesting sounds rather adventurous to me. Great use of a size comparison map by @NavyStrang btw!
I am confident that someone in Washington will drag him out into the street and shoot him before he commits half a million ground troops to Israel’s reckless war.
Why expend the effort to drag him outside? Just do it at the Resolute desk.
I’ve said it before, I am so glad that mr kii didn’t live to see this 2nd term. He volunteered for Vietnam, nearly sent there, but change of orders at the literal last minute. Meanwhile that piece of shit idiot was faking a podiatry issue.
That shit with the Japanese PM has ramped up my anger another notch.
we mean the other fascist that threatened to take denmark back in the day, didn’t even need someone else to drag him out and shoot him
kii said:
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:
like :)
From Simon shows you maps…
Look at the size of Vietnam in green. Then look at Iran in blue. The US only had troops in half of Vietnam and peak strength was 580K. The idea of fighting a ground war in Iran as Trump is suggesting sounds rather adventurous to me. Great use of a size comparison map by @NavyStrang btw!
yeah but Vietnam was full of jungle, there’s no difficult terrain in Iran so it’ll be a piece of cake walk in the park
Sri Lanka has declined permission for two US combat aircrafts to land at a civilian airport earlier this month, Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake told parliament on Friday. The US requested permission for the two aircraft to land at the Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport in the southern part of the country from March 4th to March 8th, Dissanayake told lawmakers. “They wanted to bring two warplanes armed with eight anti-ship missiles from a base in Djibouti,” he said during a statement. “We turned down the request to maintain Sri Lanka’s neutrality,” he added to applause from parliamentarians.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-20/gas-giants-go-to-ground-amid-middle-east-war/106477862
Liquid fuels are already running short as panic buying saps reserves of petrol and diesel in what could be the worst energy crisis in half a century.
correct which is why now as yous see when people would normally have to fill up again instead of just drawing down their stockpile, the demand is still persisting so it must all still be panic
oh and just in case yous mistook the blood fuel lobby, and the reporters telling yous about them, for a bunch of decent people
Almost a fifth of the world’s gas supply is trapped in the Persian Gulf and ship owners are unwilling to risk losing vessels and cargo worth $US300 million in a potential firestorm in Strait of Hormuz, creating unprecedented global shortages.
exactly, nobody gives a fuck about the crew, the crew are cheap, their lives are worth nothing, it’s about the vessels and cargo
Hello SCIENCE, welcome to planet Earth
remember, it’s good clever common sense and forward thinking if you buy at the low point of the capitalist retailer price cycle
but if you buy at a lower price before the price goes higher in a shit storm the government has to deal with then
Yet while the overall fuel supply to Australia has remained the same as before the war, panic buying has caused shortages at certain stations, particularly in the regions. To address those shortages, the government is releasing about six days’ worth of petrol from its emergency stockpile and five days’ worth of diesel, following a request from the International Energy Agency.
suddenly that’s panic buying ¡ instead
It’s a confusing time at the petrol bowser right now.
it’s a confusing time if you believe the politicians who always lie except when they tell the truth about fuel supply and pay no attention to your lying eyes telling you what you see at the bowser
“In this case, it is prudent for the individual to fill up their tank today if they are concerned about a coming shortage or price rise. But if everyone does the same, it overwhelms the system and creates the shortage that was feared.”
so confusing that the word “prudent” is now a synonym for “panic” how prescriptivist is that linguistic gymnastics ¿ hey
wait
have you heard, it’s not airborne, there’s no confirmed human to human transmission
sounds
The US military is deploying thousands of additional marines and sailors to the Middle East, officials have said. It comes as US President Donald Trump calls NATO allies “cowards” for not helping to open the Strait of Hormuz and as Iran threatens to target US and Israeli officials and commanders wherever they are in the world.
like
US defense officials say that a sizable number of Patriot air defense interceptor missiles have moved from Europe to the Middle East as Washington diverts resources toward its war in Iran. Two officials say this leaves concerning gaps in Europe’s air defenses against Russia.
winning
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-20/gas-giants-go-to-ground-amid-middle-east-war/106477862
Liquid fuels are already running short as panic buying saps reserves of petrol and diesel in what could be the worst energy crisis in half a century.
correct which is why now as yous see when people would normally have to fill up again instead of just drawing down their stockpile, the demand is still persisting so it must all still be panic
oh and just in case yous mistook the blood fuel lobby, and the reporters telling yous about them, for a bunch of decent people
Almost a fifth of the world’s gas supply is trapped in the Persian Gulf and ship owners are unwilling to risk losing vessels and cargo worth $US300 million in a potential firestorm in Strait of Hormuz, creating unprecedented global shortages.
exactly, nobody gives a fuck about the crew, the crew are cheap, their lives are worth nothing, it’s about the vessels and cargo
Hello SCIENCE, welcome to planet Earth
remember, it’s good clever common sense and forward thinking if you buy at the low point of the capitalist retailer price cycle
but if you buy at a lower price before the price goes higher in a shit storm the government has to deal with then
Yet while the overall fuel supply to Australia has remained the same as before the war, panic buying has caused shortages at certain stations, particularly in the regions. To address those shortages, the government is releasing about six days’ worth of petrol from its emergency stockpile and five days’ worth of diesel, following a request from the International Energy Agency.
suddenly that’s panic buying ¡ instead
It’s a confusing time at the petrol bowser right now.
it’s a confusing time if you believe the politicians who always lie except when they tell the truth about fuel supply and pay no attention to your lying eyes telling you what you see at the bowser
“In this case, it is prudent for the individual to fill up their tank today if they are concerned about a coming shortage or price rise. But if everyone does the same, it overwhelms the system and creates the shortage that was feared.”
so confusing that the word “prudent” is now a synonym for “panic” how prescriptivist is that linguistic gymnastics ¿ hey
wait
have you heard, it’s not airborne, there’s no confirmed human to human transmission
Hey look¡ This guy is saying much of the same thing but in 10 times as many words¡
also, what supply challenges, there is no problem with supply
“My government will be announcing more measures to prepare the nation for supply chain challenges over coming days and weeks.”
oh wait
On Wednesday the prime minister insisted “I want us to be over-prepared” on fuel supply. A day later he told Australians to stop hoarding petrol. “That is the Australian way, to think of others, to think of their neighbours, to think of their community, but to think of the national interest”. One man’s “over-preparation” is another’s “hoarding” it would seem.
that’s right, if you haven’t worked it out that’s the point, “don’t panic” is the code phrase politicians use when they’re the ones panicking
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-20/gas-giants-go-to-ground-amid-middle-east-war/106477862
Liquid fuels are already running short as panic buying saps reserves of petrol and diesel in what could be the worst energy crisis in half a century.
correct which is why now as yous see when people would normally have to fill up again instead of just drawing down their stockpile, the demand is still persisting so it must all still be panic
oh and just in case yous mistook the blood fuel lobby, and the reporters telling yous about them, for a bunch of decent people
Almost a fifth of the world’s gas supply is trapped in the Persian Gulf and ship owners are unwilling to risk losing vessels and cargo worth $US300 million in a potential firestorm in Strait of Hormuz, creating unprecedented global shortages.
exactly, nobody gives a fuck about the crew, the crew are cheap, their lives are worth nothing, it’s about the vessels and cargo
Hello SCIENCE, welcome to planet Earth
remember, it’s good clever common sense and forward thinking if you buy at the low point of the capitalist retailer price cycle
but if you buy at a lower price before the price goes higher in a shit storm the government has to deal with then
Yet while the overall fuel supply to Australia has remained the same as before the war, panic buying has caused shortages at certain stations, particularly in the regions. To address those shortages, the government is releasing about six days’ worth of petrol from its emergency stockpile and five days’ worth of diesel, following a request from the International Energy Agency.
suddenly that’s panic buying ¡ instead
It’s a confusing time at the petrol bowser right now.
it’s a confusing time if you believe the politicians who always lie except when they tell the truth about fuel supply and pay no attention to your lying eyes telling you what you see at the bowser
“In this case, it is prudent for the individual to fill up their tank today if they are concerned about a coming shortage or price rise. But if everyone does the same, it overwhelms the system and creates the shortage that was feared.”
so confusing that the word “prudent” is now a synonym for “panic” how prescriptivist is that linguistic gymnastics ¿ hey
wait
have you heard, it’s not airborne, there’s no confirmed human to human transmission
Hey look¡ This guy is saying much of the same thing but in 10 times as many words¡
also, what supply challenges, there is no problem with supply
“My government will be announcing more measures to prepare the nation for supply chain challenges over coming days and weeks.”
oh wait
On Wednesday the prime minister insisted “I want us to be over-prepared” on fuel supply. A day later he told Australians to stop hoarding petrol. “That is the Australian way, to think of others, to think of their neighbours, to think of their community, but to think of the national interest”. One man’s “over-preparation” is another’s “hoarding” it would seem.
that’s right, if you haven’t worked it out that’s the point, “don’t panic” is the code phrase politicians use when they’re the ones panicking
sorry now with link
Trump’s Iran Folly Reflects Authoritarian Blowback with RUTH BEN-GHIAT
https://youtu.be/gXOVXVa_iS8?si=h79yO-Us0mYVLjjA
SCIENCE said:
kii said:
party_pants said:
like :)
From Simon shows you maps…
Look at the size of Vietnam in green. Then look at Iran in blue. The US only had troops in half of Vietnam and peak strength was 580K. The idea of fighting a ground war in Iran as Trump is suggesting sounds rather adventurous to me. Great use of a size comparison map by @NavyStrang btw!
yeah but Vietnam was full of jungle, there’s no difficult terrain in Iran so it’ll be a piece of cake walk in the park
Trump has never heard of the Fremen or indeed sand worms.
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-20/gas-giants-go-to-ground-amid-middle-east-war/106477862
Liquid fuels are already running short as panic buying saps reserves of petrol and diesel in what could be the worst energy crisis in half a century.
correct which is why now as yous see when people would normally have to fill up again instead of just drawing down their stockpile, the demand is still persisting so it must all still be panic
oh and just in case yous mistook the blood fuel lobby, and the reporters telling yous about them, for a bunch of decent people
Almost a fifth of the world’s gas supply is trapped in the Persian Gulf and ship owners are unwilling to risk losing vessels and cargo worth $US300 million in a potential firestorm in Strait of Hormuz, creating unprecedented global shortages.
exactly, nobody gives a fuck about the crew, the crew are cheap, their lives are worth nothing, it’s about the vessels and cargo
Hello SCIENCE, welcome to planet Earth
remember, it’s good clever common sense and forward thinking if you buy at the low point of the capitalist retailer price cycle
but if you buy at a lower price before the price goes higher in a shit storm the government has to deal with then
Yet while the overall fuel supply to Australia has remained the same as before the war, panic buying has caused shortages at certain stations, particularly in the regions. To address those shortages, the government is releasing about six days’ worth of petrol from its emergency stockpile and five days’ worth of diesel, following a request from the International Energy Agency.
suddenly that’s panic buying ¡ instead
It’s a confusing time at the petrol bowser right now.
it’s a confusing time if you believe the politicians who always lie except when they tell the truth about fuel supply and pay no attention to your lying eyes telling you what you see at the bowser
“In this case, it is prudent for the individual to fill up their tank today if they are concerned about a coming shortage or price rise. But if everyone does the same, it overwhelms the system and creates the shortage that was feared.”
so confusing that the word “prudent” is now a synonym for “panic” how prescriptivist is that linguistic gymnastics ¿ hey
wait
have you heard, it’s not airborne, there’s no confirmed human to human transmission
It is so mind numbing, particularly Biden not acting on Bird Flu on top of this.
Neophyte said:
wait we thought it was to have an excuse to lift sanctions on Russia and bankroll their continued aggression
SCIENCE said:
Neophyte said:
wait we thought it was to have an excuse to lift sanctions on Russia and bankroll their continued aggression
and to weaken defenses in Taiwan,Korea and Europe so that Russia and China can have a go.
NOBODY KNOWS HOW F****D THE SITUATION IN THE PERSIAN GULF ACTUALLY IS.
3,200 ships are TRAPPED in the Persian Gulf right now.
Crews are running out of drinking water.
One ship called the local port authority and BEGGED for permission to dock — just to get water.
They were DENIED. 💀
Let that sink in.
These aren’t military ships. These are commercial vessels — carrying oil, grain, electronics — with civilian crews who are now stranded with NO supplies and NO way out.
– 3,200 ships STUCK ⚠️
– Crews running out of WATER 💀
– Port authorities REFUSING to let them dock ⚠️
– Multiple ships reporting the SAME situation 💀
Spiny Norman said:
NOBODY KNOWS HOW F****D THE SITUATION IN THE PERSIAN GULF ACTUALLY IS.3,200 ships are TRAPPED in the Persian Gulf right now.
Crews are running out of drinking water.
One ship called the local port authority and BEGGED for permission to dock — just to get water.
They were DENIED. 💀
Let that sink in.
These aren’t military ships. These are commercial vessels — carrying oil, grain, electronics — with civilian crews who are now stranded with NO supplies and NO way out.
– 3,200 ships STUCK ⚠️
– Crews running out of WATER 💀
– Port authorities REFUSING to let them dock ⚠️
– Multiple ships reporting the SAME situation 💀
and Trump owns it all.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
Neophyte said:
wait we thought it was to have an excuse to lift sanctions on Russia and bankroll their continued aggression
and to weaken defenses in Taiwan,Korea and Europe so that Russia and China can have a go.
not sure why there’s a need to mention some other country
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
wait we thought it was to have an excuse to lift sanctions on Russia and bankroll their continued aggression
and to weaken defenses in Taiwan,Korea and Europe so that Russia and China can have a go.
not sure why there’s a need to mention some other country
Just getting in before you with a mention of China. ;)
Neophyte said:
Yeah. :(
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:Neophyte said:
wait we thought it was to have an excuse to lift sanctions on Russia and bankroll their continued aggression
and to weaken defenses in Taiwan,Korea and Europe so that Russia and China can have a go.
4-D chess, yet again.
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:wait we thought it was to have an excuse to lift sanctions on Russia and bankroll their continued aggression
and to weaken defenses in Taiwan,Korea and Europe so that Russia and China can have a go.
4-D chess, yet again.
The figure of Putin is seen in the background holding the pee pee tapes in his hand.
Spiny Norman said:
NOBODY KNOWS HOW F****D THE SITUATION IN THE PERSIAN GULF ACTUALLY IS.3,200 ships are TRAPPED in the Persian Gulf right now.
Crews are running out of drinking water.
One ship called the local port authority and BEGGED for permission to dock — just to get water.
They were DENIED. 💀
Let that sink in.
These aren’t military ships. These are commercial vessels — carrying oil, grain, electronics — with civilian crews who are now stranded with NO supplies and NO way out.
– 3,200 ships STUCK ⚠️
– Crews running out of WATER 💀
– Port authorities REFUSING to let them dock ⚠️
– Multiple ships reporting the SAME situation 💀
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
and to weaken defenses in Taiwan,Korea and Europe so that Russia and China can have a go.
not sure why there’s a need to mention some other country
Just getting in before you with a mention of China. ;)
what we don’t name names lest people realise the amount of saving the world some other countries are doing
SCIENCE said:
bring it on
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-18/iran-war-fuel-hikes-affecting-domestic-travel/106463290
hey what next are we going to blame this unaffordability lockdown and too much working from home and no recreational flights problem for learning loss and immunity debt and all manner of other bullshit again
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
bring it on
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-18/iran-war-fuel-hikes-affecting-domestic-travel/106463290
hey what next are we going to blame this unaffordability lockdown and too much working from home and no recreational flights problem for learning loss and immunity debt and all manner of other bullshit again
Yo quote Malcom Fraser; “Life wasn’t meant to be easy”.
that kkk is a legend a genius a great guy who is saving the world
Is the ‘big spike’ in public transport usage in Perth because of high fuel prices?
disclaimer we’ve never stopped a car in Perth to get out and hop on the public transport service because fuel oil was expensive
however given our own observed experience that vehicular traffic seems dramatically diminished in these same recent weeks
next thing Yousr ABC gun do some article about how suddenly there’s a fitness craze and every joker on the street is taking up cycling
SCIENCE said:
that kkk is a legend a genius a great guy who is saving the world
Is the ‘big spike’ in public transport usage in Perth because of high fuel prices?
disclaimer we’ve never stopped a car in Perth to get out and hop on the public transport service because fuel oil was expensive
however given our own observed experience that vehicular traffic seems dramatically diminished in these same recent weeks
next thing Yousr ABC gun do some article about how suddenly there’s a fitness craze and every joker on the street is taking up cycling
I’m going to pull my old pushie off the wall in the shed and make it functional again by giving it a service.
Dunno how long Qld can keep up their 50c public transport prices.
Divine Angel said:
Dunno how long Qld can keep up their 50c public transport prices.
surely given the services are running regardless, therefore expected marginal cost is practically nothing, if more people use it, it’s actually easier to keep the fares down
unless yous mean people are now avoiding using it
disclaimer we haven’t been on QLD PT for over 2 years
SCIENCE said:
that kkk is a legend a genius a great guy who is saving the world
Is the ‘big spike’ in public transport usage in Perth because of high fuel prices?
disclaimer we’ve never stopped a car in Perth to get out and hop on the public transport service because fuel oil was expensive
however given our own observed experience that vehicular traffic seems dramatically diminished in these same recent weeks
next thing Yousr ABC gun do some article about how suddenly there’s a fitness craze and every joker on the street is taking up cycling
The state has also, very recently, introduced lower prices, and capped them. Unrelated to current events but designed to promote increased usage of public transport…
¡¡ woohyeah !! we’re
Australia has this morning signed on to a joint statement with other key allies, including the UK, Canada, Japan and other European countries, which says they support preparedness to send appropriate assets to the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe passage of fuel ships. This is a statement that was released on Thursday. Australia had not signed on to it until this morning. “We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817,” the statement reads. “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”
!! goin’ to war, boys ¡¡
SCIENCE said:
¡¡ woohyeah !! we’re
Australia has this morning signed on to a joint statement with other key allies, including the UK, Canada, Japan and other European countries, which says they support preparedness to send appropriate assets to the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe passage of fuel ships. This is a statement that was released on Thursday. Australia had not signed on to it until this morning. “We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817,” the statement reads. “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”
!! goin’ to war, boys ¡¡
No country has got the right ships to force the Straits. Iran has the upper hand here, if they choose to attack ships they pretty much can, whenever they like. Until such time as other countries build new classes of warships that can deal with shooting down swarms of drones.
SCIENCE said:
¡¡ woohyeah !! we’re
Australia has this morning signed on to a joint statement with other key allies, including the UK, Canada, Japan and other European countries, which says they support preparedness to send appropriate assets to the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe passage of fuel ships. This is a statement that was released on Thursday. Australia had not signed on to it until this morning. “We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817,” the statement reads. “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”
!! goin’ to war, boys ¡¡
Fuck Trump.
party_pants said:
SCIENCE said:¡¡ woohyeah !! we’re
Australia has this morning signed on to a joint statement with other key allies, including the UK, Canada, Japan and other European countries, which says they support preparedness to send appropriate assets to the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe passage of fuel ships. This is a statement that was released on Thursday. Australia had not signed on to it until this morning. “We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817,” the statement reads. “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”
!! goin’ to war, boys ¡¡
No country has got the right ships to force the Straits. Iran has the upper hand here, if they choose to attack ships they pretty much can, whenever they like. Until such time as other countries build new classes of warships that can deal with shooting down swarms of drones.
Sadly true.
stack of these out there this month, wasn’t a surprise to a lot of these commentators, and at least some of the downplayers kind of obliquely acknowledge they stumbled
SCIENCE said:
¡¡ woohyeah !! we’re
Australia has this morning signed on to a joint statement with other key allies, including the UK, Canada, Japan and other European countries, which says they support preparedness to send appropriate assets to the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe passage of fuel ships. This is a statement that was released on Thursday. Australia had not signed on to it until this morning. “We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817,” the statement reads. “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”
!! goin’ to war, boys ¡¡
Note appropriate efforts.
buffy said:
SCIENCE said:
¡¡ woohyeah !! we’re
Australia has this morning signed on to a joint statement with other key allies, including the UK, Canada, Japan and other European countries, which says they support preparedness to send appropriate assets to the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe passage of fuel ships. This is a statement that was released on Thursday. Australia had not signed on to it until this morning. “We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817,” the statement reads. “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”
!! goin’ to war, boys ¡¡
Note appropriate efforts.
yeah but did they define what that is, because it just sounds like weasel words right now
best we found on it was that trusty tabloid شبكة الجزيرة الإعلامية from qatar
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan issued a joint statement on Thursday expressing their “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.” They did not specify what those efforts may entail but urged for “an immediate comprehensive moratorium on attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations”.
yes we know that the word could also be deescalatory in a form of rebuke against the current inappropriate efforts
we have this much trust in them though
ah we remember the good old days of blood-tinted glasses and green naivety
the good old days when being anti-imperialist was a bad thing and iran and some other country were working to dismantle the global order
SCIENCE said:
¡¡ woohyeah !! we’re
Australia has this morning signed on to a joint statement with other key allies, including the UK, Canada, Japan and other European countries, which says they support preparedness to send appropriate assets to the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe passage of fuel ships. This is a statement that was released on Thursday. Australia had not signed on to it until this morning. “We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817,” the statement reads. “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”
!! goin’ to war, boys ¡¡
Oh, really bloody fantastic. Not!
:(
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:¡¡ woohyeah !! we’re
Australia has this morning signed on to a joint statement with other key allies, including the UK, Canada, Japan and other European countries, which says they support preparedness to send appropriate assets to the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe passage of fuel ships. This is a statement that was released on Thursday. Australia had not signed on to it until this morning. “We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817,” the statement reads. “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”
!! goin’ to war, boys ¡¡
Oh, really bloody fantastic. Not!
:(
I was working with a couple of 20 year olds this week, and they were quite disturbed at how things were progressing, at the possibility of being called up to war.
Quite depressing that humans still haven’t worked out how to prevent the narcissistic crazy pants from stuffing things up.
:((
why do terrorists insist
Israel’s military said an Iranian missile struck the southern town of Dimona on Saturday. The site is home to a nuclear facility, with medics reporting treating about 30 people for injuries. The army said there was a “direct missile hit on a building” in the town in the Negev desert. Dimona hosts a facility just outside the main town, widely believed to possess the Middle East’s sole nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted possessing nuclear weapons.
on building military installations near civilian zones
SCIENCE said:
why do terrorists insist
Israel’s military said an Iranian missile struck the southern town of Dimona on Saturday. The site is home to a nuclear facility, with medics reporting treating about 30 people for injuries. The army said there was a “direct missile hit on a building” in the town in the Negev desert. Dimona hosts a facility just outside the main town, widely believed to possess the Middle East’s sole nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted possessing nuclear weapons.
on building military installations near civilian zones
Hiding behind the innocent.
Start A War, Save The World
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-22/ev-interest-rises-as-fuel-prices-soar-australia/106472022
SCIENCE said:
are power stations civilians
Trump Just Threatened to Blow Up the Oil He’s Trying to Get Flowing Again
Let me get this straight.
The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Oil is $108 a barrel. Gas in the US has jumped 93 cents a gallon in 3 weeks. The global economy is bleeding from every artery.
And this senile fucking game show host just posted on Truth Social, at 7:44pm on a Saturday night from his golf resort, that he’s going to blow up Iran’s power plants.
All of them.
Starting with the biggest one first.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Like it’s a fucking strata notice about bins.
Let’s talk about what this drooling strategist apparently doesn’t understand.
Iran has roughly 400 power plants. You know what runs on power? Refineries. Pumping stations. Pipeline infrastructure. The entire oil and gas production chain that produces around 3 million barrels a day for the global market.
You want the Strait open so oil flows again? Fantastic. So your plan is to destroy the infrastructure that PRODUCES the oil that flows through the Strait?
That’s like burning down the brewery because the pub’s closed.
Even if Iran surrenders tomorrow. Even if they open Hormuz by Monday morning and wave through every tanker with a little flag and a complimentary baklava. You’ve just told the world you’re going to flatten the energy grid of OPEC’s third largest producer.
Rebuilding a power plant takes 3 to 5 years minimum. Refineries without power don’t refine. Wells without power don’t pump. You’re not just talking about a temporary disruption. You’re talking about removing millions of barrels of production capacity from the global market for the better part of a decade.
Oil won’t go back to $70. It won’t go back to $90. You’ve just baked in $100+ oil for years. Maybe permanently.
And that’s before we talk about the retaliation Iran just promised. They’ve already said if their energy infrastructure gets hit, every US-linked energy asset, desalination plant and IT system in the Gulf gets targeted. Saudi Aramco. Qatari LNG terminals. UAE refineries. The entire energy architecture of the Middle East, up in smoke.
This isn’t a military strategy. This is a 79 year old man with a phone and a Diet Coke threatening to set the global economy on fire because nobody will do what he says.
Winston Churchill studied maps. He agonised over Gallipoli for the rest of his life because he understood what it meant to get it wrong. Truman dropped the bomb and then couldn’t sleep. MacArthur, for all his ego, understood supply lines, logistics, the difference between destroying an enemy and destroying yourself in the process.
This bloke can’t find Iran on a map. He thinks “strategic” is a brand of vodka.
Friday he said the war was winding down. Friday night. “Getting very close to meeting our objectives.” Twenty four hours later he’s threatening to plunge 90 million civilians into darkness and crash the global energy market for a generation.
And the sign off. The fucking sign off.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Mate. You’re threatening to commit what most of the planet would consider a war crime against civilian infrastructure, and you’ve formatted it like a letter from your accountant.
The man who said “we don’t even use the Strait” is now threatening to blow up the entire energy grid of a sovereign nation because the Strait isn’t open. The man who promised cheap gas is presiding over the fastest fuel price spike in American history. The man who said the war was won is now issuing 48 hour ultimatums from a beach club in Palm Beach.
This isn’t 4D chess. This isn’t even checkers. This is a toddler flipping the board because he’s losing and screaming that he won.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Australia has about 50 days of fuel reserves. We refine almost nothing domestically. Our entire economy runs on imported diesel. And the bloke with his finger on the button just threatened to make the global oil crisis permanent.
But sure. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
We’re all paying fucking attention now.
https://ifloz.substack.com/
U.S. Democratic Socialists
🤦♀️ Surf & Turf is a long military tradition of a “last supper” before a dangerous deployment, when the commanders know potential death is ahead.
She’s gently telling the dad this fancy lobster/steak meal isn’t everyday Navy chow or proof they’re “finally” taking care of troops. Dad’s reading it wrong.
Bogsnorkler said:
U.S. Democratic Socialists
🤦♀️ Surf & Turf is a long military tradition of a “last supper” before a dangerous deployment, when the commanders know potential death is ahead.
She’s gently telling the dad this fancy lobster/steak meal isn’t everyday Navy chow or proof they’re “finally” taking care of troops. Dad’s reading it wrong.
we read somewhere else that that was an urban myth
disclaimer we wouldn’t know, we’ve never been torpedoed while on a warship, and we’ve never been near the Titanic on a billionaire implosion either
One fact, two reports that give a very different picture.
AussieDJ said:
SCIENCE said:are power stations civilians
Trump Just Threatened to Blow Up the Oil He’s Trying to Get Flowing Again
Let me get this straight.
The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Oil is $108 a barrel. Gas in the US has jumped 93 cents a gallon in 3 weeks. The global economy is bleeding from every artery.
And this senile fucking game show host just posted on Truth Social, at 7:44pm on a Saturday night from his golf resort, that he’s going to blow up Iran’s power plants.
All of them.
Starting with the biggest one first.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Like it’s a fucking strata notice about bins.
Let’s talk about what this drooling strategist apparently doesn’t understand.
Iran has roughly 400 power plants. You know what runs on power? Refineries. Pumping stations. Pipeline infrastructure. The entire oil and gas production chain that produces around 3 million barrels a day for the global market.
You want the Strait open so oil flows again? Fantastic. So your plan is to destroy the infrastructure that PRODUCES the oil that flows through the Strait?
That’s like burning down the brewery because the pub’s closed.
Even if Iran surrenders tomorrow. Even if they open Hormuz by Monday morning and wave through every tanker with a little flag and a complimentary baklava. You’ve just told the world you’re going to flatten the energy grid of OPEC’s third largest producer.
Rebuilding a power plant takes 3 to 5 years minimum. Refineries without power don’t refine. Wells without power don’t pump. You’re not just talking about a temporary disruption. You’re talking about removing millions of barrels of production capacity from the global market for the better part of a decade.
Oil won’t go back to $70. It won’t go back to $90. You’ve just baked in $100+ oil for years. Maybe permanently.
And that’s before we talk about the retaliation Iran just promised. They’ve already said if their energy infrastructure gets hit, every US-linked energy asset, desalination plant and IT system in the Gulf gets targeted. Saudi Aramco. Qatari LNG terminals. UAE refineries. The entire energy architecture of the Middle East, up in smoke.
This isn’t a military strategy. This is a 79 year old man with a phone and a Diet Coke threatening to set the global economy on fire because nobody will do what he says.
Winston Churchill studied maps. He agonised over Gallipoli for the rest of his life because he understood what it meant to get it wrong. Truman dropped the bomb and then couldn’t sleep. MacArthur, for all his ego, understood supply lines, logistics, the difference between destroying an enemy and destroying yourself in the process.
This bloke can’t find Iran on a map. He thinks “strategic” is a brand of vodka.
Friday he said the war was winding down. Friday night. “Getting very close to meeting our objectives.” Twenty four hours later he’s threatening to plunge 90 million civilians into darkness and crash the global energy market for a generation.
And the sign off. The fucking sign off.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Mate. You’re threatening to commit what most of the planet would consider a war crime against civilian infrastructure, and you’ve formatted it like a letter from your accountant.
The man who said “we don’t even use the Strait” is now threatening to blow up the entire energy grid of a sovereign nation because the Strait isn’t open. The man who promised cheap gas is presiding over the fastest fuel price spike in American history. The man who said the war was won is now issuing 48 hour ultimatums from a beach club in Palm Beach.
This isn’t 4D chess. This isn’t even checkers. This is a toddler flipping the board because he’s losing and screaming that he won.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Australia has about 50 days of fuel reserves. We refine almost nothing domestically. Our entire economy runs on imported diesel. And the bloke with his finger on the button just threatened to make the global oil crisis permanent.
But sure. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
We’re all paying fucking attention now.
https://ifloz.substack.com/
Yep.
:(
SCIENCE said:
are power stations civilians
This might be a war crime?
Bogsnorkler said:
U.S. Democratic Socialists
🤦♀️ Surf & Turf is a long military tradition of a “last supper” before a dangerous deployment, when the commanders know potential death is ahead.
She’s gently telling the dad this fancy lobster/steak meal isn’t everyday Navy chow or proof they’re “finally” taking care of troops. Dad’s reading it wrong.
Oh.
:(
Spiny Norman said:
One fact, two reports that give a very different picture.
Click-bait precis, not reports.
ABC article says the same as the Guardian precis.
Bogsnorkler said:
U.S. Democratic Socialists
🤦♀️ Surf & Turf is a long military tradition of a “last supper” before a dangerous deployment, when the commanders know potential death is ahead.
She’s gently telling the dad this fancy lobster/steak meal isn’t everyday Navy chow or proof they’re “finally” taking care of troops. Dad’s reading it wrong.
Poor Dad!
A Cinematic Masterpiece. Zero Fucks French Style
Journalist: Trump wants help from Europe to open the Strait of Hormuz.
French General Richoux: “He can go fuck himself.”
“He wanted to invade Greenland and now he is begging for help from Europe.”
You know you’ve truly fucked your foreign policy when the French, the people who invented diplomacy, tell you to get stuffed in a live press conference. No back channels. No carefully worded communique. Just a General, on camera, telling the leader of the free world to go and get fucked.
This is what happens when you spend 3 years calling your allies freeloaders, threatening to invade their territory, slapping tariffs on their exports, and then ringing them up when the oil stops flowing to ask for a favour.
France didn’t even hesitate. Didn’t even dress it up. Richoux said it the way a Parisian waiter looks at you when you ask for ketchup.
Trump started a war he can’t finish, picked a fight with the world’s 4th largest oil chokepoint, and now he’s calling Europe like an ex at 2am hoping they forgot about the restraining order.
They didn’t forget.
This war is now isolating Trump from every ally he ever had. And the French just made sure the whole world knows it.
https://ifloz.substack.com/p/a-cinematic-masterpiece-zero-fucks
Divine Angel said:
3,200 ships penned inside the Strait, according to some sources.
Divine Angel said:
Martha_Fockers
LOLOL
captain_spalding said:
Divine Angel said:
3,200 ships penned inside the Strait, according to some sources.
Must almost be at the point where they can make a massed run for it, and swarm the Iranians ability to attack them.
party_pants said:
captain_spalding said:
Divine Angel said:
3,200 ships penned inside the Strait, according to some sources.
Must almost be at the point where they can make a massed run for it, and swarm the Iranians ability to attack them.
A week ago this would have been a stupid idea, but Ukranian anti-drone interceptors are available on the internet now for way less than the risk value and/or loss of income.
If I owned one of the ships involved, I may be tempted to give it a go.
British cabinet minister Steve Reed said on Sunday that there was no assessment that backed claims Iran is planning to strike Europe with ballistic missiles, or that it even has the capacity to do so. On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces posted on social media that Iran has missiles “that can reach London, Paris or Berlin”. “There is no assessment to substantiate what’s being said,” British Housing Secretary Reed told the BBC.
oh yes well what about pearl harbour then did they have assessments that told them japan were going to throw a party then too
oh hey they’ve started putting the history together
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-23/energy-crisis-oil-price-iran-war-share-markets/106483532
AussieDJ said:
A Cinematic Masterpiece. Zero Fucks French Style
Journalist: Trump wants help from Europe to open the Strait of Hormuz.
French General Richoux: “He can go fuck himself.”
“He wanted to invade Greenland and now he is begging for help from Europe.”
You know you’ve truly fucked your foreign policy when the French, the people who invented diplomacy, tell you to get stuffed in a live press conference. No back channels. No carefully worded communique. Just a General, on camera, telling the leader of the free world to go and get fucked.
This is what happens when you spend 3 years calling your allies freeloaders, threatening to invade their territory, slapping tariffs on their exports, and then ringing them up when the oil stops flowing to ask for a favour.
France didn’t even hesitate. Didn’t even dress it up. Richoux said it the way a Parisian waiter looks at you when you ask for ketchup.
Trump started a war he can’t finish, picked a fight with the world’s 4th largest oil chokepoint, and now he’s calling Europe like an ex at 2am hoping they forgot about the restraining order.
They didn’t forget.
This war is now isolating Trump from every ally he ever had. And the French just made sure the whole world knows it.
https://ifloz.substack.com/p/a-cinematic-masterpiece-zero-fucks
A moment of sanity in all the chaos.
Dylan Longman
How has Iran managed to keep its missile capability intact enough to keep hitting up to 8 countries a day 3 weeks on? A week ago an Iranian official said their Qanat Missile delivery system is fully operational.
What is a Qanat? A qanat is an ancient tunnel system that delivers water from the mountains to the desert cities of central Iran that has a proud 2000 year history. 20 years ago Iran bought the most high tech Chinese mining and boring machines to the extent that for a few years the waiting list on the global market in chinese mining machines was delayed. These included vertical boring machines that can bore from below to above, plus the massive boring drones capable of placing underground highways under rivers and seas.
That was 20 years ago and so they have had that time to create a massive network of tunnels spiralling out from massive underground factories that build these missiles along these tunnels are hundreds of silo chutes bored from below, so undetected by western aggressors. So when a missile is fired the USrael coalition detects the location and fires a barrage at it then jubilantly tells the world more launching sites have been destroyed but they havent as the missiles move on to the next single use silo chute.
Iran knew this day would come for 40 years now, those tunnels were already being built before the aquisition of the groundbreaking mining tech from China, the coastal system is one of the most extensive giving the amount of recorded missile attacks from Inland Iran. Iran decided on their own terms how a conflict would go, and chose their own version of a war of attrition drawing their enemies and enmeshing them to deplete their arsenals. And now what are we seeing? Tel aviv is nearly out of patriots and thaads and the gulf states are following them thus meaning at some point they will be powerless to defend themselves… the gulf states will have to negotiate terms under Irans command and Israel will be powerless much the same as Gaza was to their own genocidal campaign that flattened it.No one knows Irans weopon and missile stocks, but given the fact they sold 30000 drones to Russia last year that tells you they have stock willing to sell, apart from that, Iran and the stance its taking proves they are quietly confident.
sorry, we don’t understand, stations empty, prices high, standards lowered, supposed panic buying for 3 weeks, people using less fuel and more public transport, stockpile released
As of Monday, 105 of New South Wales’s 2,500 service stations were without diesel and 35 had no access to any fuel. Most of the affected sites were in regional NSW. A number of measures have been implemented in a bid to ease demand, with the federal government releasing supplies from its emergency stockpile and temporarily lowering fuel standards so onshore refineries can redirect supplies into the local market. Consumer behaviour had also changed, with NSW Premier Chris Minns saying there was a “massive increase” in public transport usage across the state.
that’s what a demand problem means right
SCIENCE said:
sorry, we don’t understand, stations empty, prices high, standards lowered, supposed panic buying for 3 weeks, people using less fuel and more public transport, stockpile released
As of Monday, 105 of New South Wales’s 2,500 service stations were without diesel and 35 had no access to any fuel. Most of the affected sites were in regional NSW. A number of measures have been implemented in a bid to ease demand, with the federal government releasing supplies from its emergency stockpile and temporarily lowering fuel standards so onshore refineries can redirect supplies into the local market. Consumer behaviour had also changed, with NSW Premier Chris Minns saying there was a “massive increase” in public transport usage across the state.
that’s what a demand problem means right
Do cars still use LPG as a fuel source ?
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:sorry, we don’t understand, stations empty, prices high, standards lowered, supposed panic buying for 3 weeks, people using less fuel and more public transport, stockpile released
As of Monday, 105 of New South Wales’s 2,500 service stations were without diesel and 35 had no access to any fuel. Most of the affected sites were in regional NSW. A number of measures have been implemented in a bid to ease demand, with the federal government releasing supplies from its emergency stockpile and temporarily lowering fuel standards so onshore refineries can redirect supplies into the local market. Consumer behaviour had also changed, with NSW Premier Chris Minns saying there was a “massive increase” in public transport usage across the state.
that’s what a demand problem means right
Do cars still use LPG as a fuel source ?
Yes; it’s currently sitting at about a dollar in the servos near me.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:sorry, we don’t understand, stations empty, prices high, standards lowered, supposed panic buying for 3 weeks, people using less fuel and more public transport, stockpile released
As of Monday, 105 of New South Wales’s 2,500 service stations were without diesel and 35 had no access to any fuel. Most of the affected sites were in regional NSW. A number of measures have been implemented in a bid to ease demand, with the federal government releasing supplies from its emergency stockpile and temporarily lowering fuel standards so onshore refineries can redirect supplies into the local market. Consumer behaviour had also changed, with NSW Premier Chris Minns saying there was a “massive increase” in public transport usage across the state.
that’s what a demand problem means right
Do cars still use LPG as a fuel source ?
Yes.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen has confirmed dozens of petrol stations on Australia’s east coast are facing shortages amid a Question Time grilling on fuel supplies.
has he, we hadn’t heard it, wait, ah yes
World leaders have failed to grasp the depth of the energy crisis created by the Iran war, the head of the International Energy Agency has warned. There have now been 40 energy assets damaged or destroyed in the Middle East as a result of the ongoing conflict. The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) executive director, Fatih Birol, said the resulting fuel shortage problems had already far surpassed previous crises. “The situation is very severe,” he said in an address to the National Press Club on Monday.
so everything is going fine and dandy we guess
SCIENCE said:
Energy Minister Chris Bowen has confirmed dozens of petrol stations on Australia’s east coast are facing shortages amid a Question Time grilling on fuel supplies.
has he, we hadn’t heard it, wait, ah yes
World leaders have failed to grasp the depth of the energy crisis created by the Iran war, the head of the International Energy Agency has warned. There have now been 40 energy assets damaged or destroyed in the Middle East as a result of the ongoing conflict. The International Energy Agency’s (IEA) executive director, Fatih Birol, said the resulting fuel shortage problems had already far surpassed previous crises. “The situation is very severe,” he said in an address to the National Press Club on Monday.
so everything is going fine and dandy we guess
We do live in a SNAFU world
Jim Wright aka Stonekettle Station…
Trump called off his threatened strikes on Iran and says negotiations with Iran have been “productive.”
Iran says there have been NO negotiations and their conditions haven’t changed, i.e. US out of the Gulf and reparations from the US and Israel.
I’ll be honest, at this point, I’m inclined to believe Iran over Trump.
Yes, that’s how bad it is.
I actually believe Iran over Trump, and as someone who has some considerable experience in the Middle East I take EVERYTHING Iran says with a very large grain of salt.
But that’s where we’re at.
Trump lies about everything. Just this week he claimed the families of fallen soldiers killed in Trump’s war told him to “finish the job,” but the families say they never said that. Trump claimed he’d spoken to a former president who told Trump, man, I wish I had started a war in Iran, but again not one of the living former presidents who aren’t Trump ever said that, never talked to Trump in fact.
You can’t trust anything this demented asshole says. Not one word.
I’d put money on two things happening here: 1) Trump chickened out on his threat to bomb Iran’s power plants after Iran promised to retaliate in kind against Gulf state critical infrastructure and a certain Saudi prince called Trump and told him to knock it the hell off, and 2) Trump is deliberately pumping the stock market to enrich his backers and a few days from now will go back to bombing Iranian school children.
And I notice those Navy ships full of Marines haven’t turned back.
😆 🤣 😂
kii said:
Jim Wright aka Stonekettle Station…
Trump called off his threatened strikes on Iran and says negotiations with Iran have been “productive.”
Iran says there have been NO negotiations and their conditions haven’t changed, i.e. US out of the Gulf and reparations from the US and Israel.
I’ll be honest, at this point, I’m inclined to believe Iran over Trump.
Yes, that’s how bad it is.
I actually believe Iran over Trump, and as someone who has some considerable experience in the Middle East I take EVERYTHING Iran says with a very large grain of salt.
But that’s where we’re at.
Trump lies about everything. Just this week he claimed the families of fallen soldiers killed in Trump’s war told him to “finish the job,” but the families say they never said that. Trump claimed he’d spoken to a former president who told Trump, man, I wish I had started a war in Iran, but again not one of the living former presidents who aren’t Trump ever said that, never talked to Trump in fact.
You can’t trust anything this demented asshole says. Not one word.
I’d put money on two things happening here: 1) Trump chickened out on his threat to bomb Iran’s power plants after Iran promised to retaliate in kind against Gulf state critical infrastructure and a certain Saudi prince called Trump and told him to knock it the hell off, and 2) Trump is deliberately pumping the stock market to enrich his backers and a few days from now will go back to bombing Iranian school children.
And I notice those Navy ships full of Marines haven’t turned back.
^
¿LOL
The passage of the two ships, purporting to be Japanese-owned, follows reports from Japanese media outlet Kyodo News that Iran was “ready to support the passing of Japan-related vessels”, citing Iranian foreign minister Abbas Aragchi.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/strait-of-hormuz-iran-us-war-trump-zombie-ships/106486194
well that’s one way to make sure the reparations get to the desired beneficiaries
… and from Quora, a somewhat different perspective on who is telling the truth:
“Weirdly (and we don’t often say this), this may be one of those rare situations where Trump is more likely to be telling the truth.
It feels highly likely that their remain high level diplomatic communications between the US and Iran. And we also know as a pretty well established fact that Trump has zero filters when it comes to sensitive information. So whilst Trump might be paraphrasing things, I think it is highly likely that there has been direct communication between the White House and somebody in Iran.
From the flip side: Iran has a highly fragmented command and control structure, with a high degree of independence. That was true before the war, but it is doubly true now that so many leadership figures within the regime have been killed. This is why one day we can have the Iranian President apologising saying that they only fired missiles at Gulf neighbours by mistake, and promising it won’t happen again. And then the very next day missiles and drones continue to rain down. The different parts of the power structure within Iran don’t communicate with each other (largely by design). So it is absolutely predictable that some parts of the power structure within Iran would be wholly unaware of conversations had by another part.
However, I have to say: I did like the way the BBC summarised the current position:
The exact status of the US-Iran talks is far from clear. Trump is known for pushing counterparts in negotiations by publicly claiming talks are under way, even if the other side hasn’t agreed. Iran is known for publicly denying that it’s in talks with Washington, even when they are taking place behind the scenes.
So that’s all clear then.”
The Rev Dodgson said:
… and from Quora, a somewhat different perspective on who is telling the truth:“Weirdly (and we don’t often say this), this may be one of those rare situations where Trump is more likely to be telling the truth.
It feels highly likely that their remain high level diplomatic communications between the US and Iran. And we also know as a pretty well established fact that Trump has zero filters when it comes to sensitive information. So whilst Trump might be paraphrasing things, I think it is highly likely that there has been direct communication between the White House and somebody in Iran.
From the flip side: Iran has a highly fragmented command and control structure, with a high degree of independence. That was true before the war, but it is doubly true now that so many leadership figures within the regime have been killed. This is why one day we can have the Iranian President apologising saying that they only fired missiles at Gulf neighbours by mistake, and promising it won’t happen again. And then the very next day missiles and drones continue to rain down. The different parts of the power structure within Iran don’t communicate with each other (largely by design). So it is absolutely predictable that some parts of the power structure within Iran would be wholly unaware of conversations had by another part.
However, I have to say: I did like the way the BBC summarised the current position:
The exact status of the US-Iran talks is far from clear. Trump is known for pushing counterparts in negotiations by publicly claiming talks are under way, even if the other side hasn’t agreed. Iran is known for publicly denying that it’s in talks with Washington, even when they are taking place behind the scenes.
So that’s all clear then.”
Idiots in control, back to work people of the world
Cymek said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
… and from Quora, a somewhat different perspective on who is telling the truth:
“Weirdly (and we don’t often say this), this may be one of those rare situations where Trump is more likely to be telling the truth.
It feels highly likely that their remain high level diplomatic communications between the US and Iran. And we also know as a pretty well established fact that Trump has zero filters when it comes to sensitive information. So whilst Trump might be paraphrasing things, I think it is highly likely that there has been direct communication between the White House and somebody in Iran.
From the flip side: Iran has a highly fragmented command and control structure, with a high degree of independence. That was true before the war, but it is doubly true now that so many leadership figures within the regime have been killed. This is why one day we can have the Iranian President apologising saying that they only fired missiles at Gulf neighbours by mistake, and promising it won’t happen again. And then the very next day missiles and drones continue to rain down. The different parts of the power structure within Iran don’t communicate with each other (largely by design). So it is absolutely predictable that some parts of the power structure within Iran would be wholly unaware of conversations had by another part.
However, I have to say: I did like the way the BBC summarised the current position:
The exact status of the US-Iran talks is far from clear. Trump is known for pushing counterparts in negotiations by publicly claiming talks are under way, even if the other side hasn’t agreed. Iran is known for publicly denying that it’s in talks with Washington, even when they are taking place behind the scenes.
So that’s all clear then.”
Idiots in control, back to work people of the world
alleged
by satirists
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
… and from Quora, a somewhat different perspective on who is telling the truth:
“Weirdly (and we don’t often say this), this may be one of those rare situations where Trump is more likely to be telling the truth.
It feels highly likely that their remain high level diplomatic communications between the US and Iran. And we also know as a pretty well established fact that Trump has zero filters when it comes to sensitive information. So whilst Trump might be paraphrasing things, I think it is highly likely that there has been direct communication between the White House and somebody in Iran.
From the flip side: Iran has a highly fragmented command and control structure, with a high degree of independence. That was true before the war, but it is doubly true now that so many leadership figures within the regime have been killed. This is why one day we can have the Iranian President apologising saying that they only fired missiles at Gulf neighbours by mistake, and promising it won’t happen again. And then the very next day missiles and drones continue to rain down. The different parts of the power structure within Iran don’t communicate with each other (largely by design). So it is absolutely predictable that some parts of the power structure within Iran would be wholly unaware of conversations had by another part.
However, I have to say: I did like the way the BBC summarised the current position:
The exact status of the US-Iran talks is far from clear. Trump is known for pushing counterparts in negotiations by publicly claiming talks are under way, even if the other side hasn’t agreed. Iran is known for publicly denying that it’s in talks with Washington, even when they are taking place behind the scenes.
So that’s all clear then.”
Idiots in control, back to work people of the world
alleged
by satirists
I fear that our satire detectors are way over-detecting their positives these days.
The Rev Dodgson said:
SCIENCE said:Cymek said:
Idiots in control, back to work people of the world
alleged
by satirists
I fear that our satire detectors are way over-detecting their positives these days.
Mine’s broken. Over-used. Can’t even be reconditioned. Bit like me, really.
The Rev Dodgson said:
… and from Quora, a somewhat different perspective on who is telling the truth:“Weirdly (and we don’t often say this), this may be one of those rare situations where Trump is more likely to be telling the truth.
It feels highly likely that their remain high level diplomatic communications between the US and Iran. And we also know as a pretty well established fact that Trump has zero filters when it comes to sensitive information. So whilst Trump might be paraphrasing things, I think it is highly likely that there has been direct communication between the White House and somebody in Iran.
From the flip side: Iran has a highly fragmented command and control structure, with a high degree of independence. That was true before the war, but it is doubly true now that so many leadership figures within the regime have been killed. This is why one day we can have the Iranian President apologising saying that they only fired missiles at Gulf neighbours by mistake, and promising it won’t happen again. And then the very next day missiles and drones continue to rain down. The different parts of the power structure within Iran don’t communicate with each other (largely by design). So it is absolutely predictable that some parts of the power structure within Iran would be wholly unaware of conversations had by another part.
However, I have to say: I did like the way the BBC summarised the current position:
The exact status of the US-Iran talks is far from clear. Trump is known for pushing counterparts in negotiations by publicly claiming talks are under way, even if the other side hasn’t agreed. Iran is known for publicly denying that it’s in talks with Washington, even when they are taking place behind the scenes.
So that’s all clear then.”
some guy, perhaps a mongrel that started the war, Captain Unnecessary, that will do, has a way of taking liberties with interpretational steering, so loose it is – and getting looser – it’s hard not to speculate about subnormal meta-awareness, and it maybe a very specific type, for starters not sure the creature senses tiredness and degraded cognition properly.
the folly of the west is – media especially – is to help all forget how it started, who started it.
transition said:
The Rev Dodgson said:
… and from Quora, a somewhat different perspective on who is telling the truth:“Weirdly (and we don’t often say this), this may be one of those rare situations where Trump is more likely to be telling the truth.
It feels highly likely that their remain high level diplomatic communications between the US and Iran. And we also know as a pretty well established fact that Trump has zero filters when it comes to sensitive information. So whilst Trump might be paraphrasing things, I think it is highly likely that there has been direct communication between the White House and somebody in Iran.
From the flip side: Iran has a highly fragmented command and control structure, with a high degree of independence. That was true before the war, but it is doubly true now that so many leadership figures within the regime have been killed. This is why one day we can have the Iranian President apologising saying that they only fired missiles at Gulf neighbours by mistake, and promising it won’t happen again. And then the very next day missiles and drones continue to rain down. The different parts of the power structure within Iran don’t communicate with each other (largely by design). So it is absolutely predictable that some parts of the power structure within Iran would be wholly unaware of conversations had by another part.
However, I have to say: I did like the way the BBC summarised the current position:
The exact status of the US-Iran talks is far from clear. Trump is known for pushing counterparts in negotiations by publicly claiming talks are under way, even if the other side hasn’t agreed. Iran is known for publicly denying that it’s in talks with Washington, even when they are taking place behind the scenes.
So that’s all clear then.”
some guy, perhaps a mongrel that started the war, Captain Unnecessary, that will do, has a way of taking liberties with interpretational steering, so loose it is – and getting looser – it’s hard not to speculate about subnormal meta-awareness, and it maybe a very specific type, for starters not sure the creature senses tiredness and degraded cognition properly.
the folly of the west is – media especially – is to help all forget how it started, who started it.
I’m not quite sure what it was expected Iran should do after being attacked.
Sure they aren’t the nicest government around but once again the attack was based on lies.
Should they not attack military bases of the enemy based on foreign soil
Everyone attacks civilians targets because well they don’t value life
I see comments about the lack of fuel being blamed on our state government.
What exactly can anyone do about events on the other side of the world between inadequate men swinging their dicks.
Can only have so much fuel reserves as the stuff goes off.
Could issue fines about price gouging but that’s after the fact.
Could reduce government tax but that has longer term ramifications and still doesn’t magic fuel from nowhere.
Cymek said:
I see comments about the lack of fuel being blamed on our state government.What exactly can anyone do about events on the other side of the world between inadequate men swinging their dicks.
Can only have so much fuel reserves as the stuff goes off.
Could issue fines about price gouging but that’s after the fact.Could reduce government tax but that has longer term ramifications and still doesn’t magic fuel from nowhere.
and making it cheaper would just encourage some to hoard more thus exacerbating the situation.
Cymek said:
I see comments about the lack of fuel being blamed on our state government.What exactly can anyone do about events on the other side of the world between inadequate men swinging their dicks.
Can only have so much fuel reserves as the stuff goes off.
Could issue fines about price gouging but that’s after the fact.Could reduce government tax but that has longer term ramifications and still doesn’t magic fuel from nowhere.
Well, we do like blaming the QLD LNP govt for everything. They’re not the sharpest tools in the shed.
Iran terrorist attack ?
https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/2026/03/24/texas-refinery-explosion
A major oil refinery on the Texas Gulf Coast has burst into flames after an explosion, with thick black smoke choking the air.
Residents of the City of Port Arthur were ordered to shelter in place on Tuesday (AEDT) as emergency services dealt with the fiery scene.
Cymek said:
Iran terrorist attack ?https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/2026/03/24/texas-refinery-explosion
A major oil refinery on the Texas Gulf Coast has burst into flames after an explosion, with thick black smoke choking the air.
Residents of the City of Port Arthur were ordered to shelter in place on Tuesday (AEDT) as emergency services dealt with the fiery scene.
It’s not terrorism when you are at war.
Cymek said:
Iran terrorist attack ?https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/2026/03/24/texas-refinery-explosion
A major oil refinery on the Texas Gulf Coast has burst into flames after an explosion, with thick black smoke choking the air.
Residents of the City of Port Arthur were ordered to shelter in place on Tuesday (AEDT) as emergency services dealt with the fiery scene.
Arma-fucking-geddon. Coming to a news room near you.
Michael V said:
Cymek said:
Iran terrorist attack ?https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/2026/03/24/texas-refinery-explosion
A major oil refinery on the Texas Gulf Coast has burst into flames after an explosion, with thick black smoke choking the air.
Residents of the City of Port Arthur were ordered to shelter in place on Tuesday (AEDT) as emergency services dealt with the fiery scene.
Arma-fucking-geddon. Coming to a news room near you.
We seems to have forgotten the “scorched earth” policies of Iraq when withdrawing from Kuwait in 1991.
“Gulf War (1991): As Iraqi military forces retreated from Kuwait, they initiated a massive scorched-earth campaign, setting fire to over 600 oil wells, causing immense economic and environmental damage.”
Woodie said:
Michael V said:
Cymek said:
Iran terrorist attack ?https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/2026/03/24/texas-refinery-explosion
A major oil refinery on the Texas Gulf Coast has burst into flames after an explosion, with thick black smoke choking the air.
Residents of the City of Port Arthur were ordered to shelter in place on Tuesday (AEDT) as emergency services dealt with the fiery scene.
Arma-fucking-geddon. Coming to a news room near you.
We seems to have forgotten the “scorched earth” policies of Iraq when withdrawing from Kuwait in 1991.
“Gulf War (1991): As Iraqi military forces retreated from Kuwait, they initiated a massive scorched-earth campaign, setting fire to over 600 oil wells, causing immense economic and environmental damage.”
I haven’t fogotten. these wars are cataclysmic to nature.
roughbarked said:
Woodie said:
Michael V said:Arma-fucking-geddon. Coming to a news room near you.
We seems to have forgotten the “scorched earth” policies of Iraq when withdrawing from Kuwait in 1991.
“Gulf War (1991): As Iraqi military forces retreated from Kuwait, they initiated a massive scorched-earth campaign, setting fire to over 600 oil wells, causing immense economic and environmental damage.”
I haven’t fogotten. these wars are cataclysmic to nature.
Jokes about people using paper straws interspersed with government blowing the shit out of everything in wars and the damage to the environment.
I could imagine Iran petty enough to use dirty bombs in desperate
wait what’s going on in Japan with the toilet paper
SCIENCE said:
wait what’s going on in Japan with the toilet paper
AI was introduced to the smart toilets.
They panicked and started rationing it to the users
They have now banded together to create giant mechs piloted by teenage girls to protect toilet paper stock.
SCIENCE said:
wait what’s going on in Japan with the toilet paper
More importantly, how many can I fit into a Jerry can??
SCIENCE said:
wait what’s going on in Japan with the toilet paper
Panic.
Woodie said:
Michael V said:
Cymek said:
Iran terrorist attack ?https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/world/us-news/2026/03/24/texas-refinery-explosion
A major oil refinery on the Texas Gulf Coast has burst into flames after an explosion, with thick black smoke choking the air.
Residents of the City of Port Arthur were ordered to shelter in place on Tuesday (AEDT) as emergency services dealt with the fiery scene.
Arma-fucking-geddon. Coming to a news room near you.
We seems to have forgotten the “scorched earth” policies of Iraq when withdrawing from Kuwait in 1991.
“Gulf War (1991): As Iraqi military forces retreated from Kuwait, they initiated a massive scorched-earth campaign, setting fire to over 600 oil wells, causing immense economic and environmental damage.”
I haven’t. But if Iran has managed to strike a refinery in Texas, that ups the game a level or two.
SCIENCE said:
wait what’s going on in Japan with the toilet paper
I know nothing about any of it. This is the first I have read of Japan and toilet paper in the same sentence or notion.
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Divine Angel said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
wait what’s going on in Japan with the toilet paper
AI was introduced to the smart toilets.
They panicked and started rationing it to the users
They have now banded together to create giant mechs piloted by teenage girls to protect toilet paper stock.
More importantly, how many can I fit into a Jerry can??
Panic.
I know nothing about any of it. This is the first I have read of Japan and toilet paper in the same sentence or notion.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/japan-consumers-panic-buying-toilet-paper/106490370
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Panic.
I know nothing about any of it. This is the first I have read of Japan and toilet paper in the same sentence or notion.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/japan-consumers-panic-buying-toilet-paper/106490370
Ta. Coincidentally, I just came across the article.
:)
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:wait what’s going on in Japan with the toilet paper
Panic.
Toilet paper 🧻 comes first.
ah yes this sounds like a panic demand ¿pandemandic? problem, there’s no supply problem
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/diesel-standards-relaxed-as-fuel-shortages-revealed/106491960
now before all you genius-women get all wise-guy with us let’s be clear, we’re not saying that the government shouldn’t try to encourage constituents to stay calm and rational and fair and decent and civilised, we’re saying that “stop panicking , there’s no supply problem, the ussa has a right to defend itself from the perceived threat that would result from an israeli first strike on iran by justifying blowing the whole place up as a means of disrupting a nuclear enrichment programme but more importantly hoping to change a regime we didn’t like let’s not get into the history of that” is the wrong way to do that
we mean can’t they just fkn say “hi yeah this situation is pretty shit and we can see some supply issues in the medium term so be careful out there and consider that if you buy more fuel oil than you need then soon the production and transport industries won’t have the fuel oil to supply you with the other things you need”, c’m‘on have at least some respect for the intelligence of the constituents sheesh
SCIENCE said:
ah yes this sounds like a panic demand ¿pandemandic? problem, there’s no supply problem
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/diesel-standards-relaxed-as-fuel-shortages-revealed/106491960
now before all you genius-women get all wise-guy with us let’s be clear, we’re not saying that the government shouldn’t try to encourage constituents to stay calm and rational and fair and decent and civilised, we’re saying that “stop panicking , there’s no supply problem, the ussa has a right to defend itself from the perceived threat that would result from an israeli first strike on iran by justifying blowing the whole place up as a means of disrupting a nuclear enrichment programme but more importantly hoping to change a regime we didn’t like let’s not get into the history of that” is the wrong way to do that
we mean can’t they just fkn say “hi yeah this situation is pretty shit and we can see some supply issues in the medium term so be careful out there and consider that if you buy more fuel oil than you need then soon the production and transport industries won’t have the fuel oil to supply you with the other things you need”, c’m‘on have at least some respect for the intelligence of the constituents sheesh
wait
wait
wait
someone’s actually saying it
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/panic-buying-fuel-groceries-iran-covid-playing-it-safe/106489580
https://theconversation.com/stay-positive-scott-morrison-when-you-berate-people-for-bad-behaviour-they-do-it-more-134793
they’re underemphasising this bit though
The real lesson of empty petrol stations or supermarket shelves isn’t that people are irrational. It’s that perfectly rational individual behaviour can overwhelm a fragile system. Until more resilient systems are in place in future,
and overemphasising this bit
we can all play our part to keep essentials like petrol and food in stock, by shifting from a “just in case” mentality to “just take what you need”.
blame the end consumer yeah
It’s interesting that the one thing that the Iranian regime has learned from this conflict is that even with firstly the removal of some of their most senior figures and secondly the weaponisation of the Straits of Hormuz they’re largely getting their way. They are a lot more powerful now than they were only 4 weeks ago.
As of March 2026, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has criticized Iran for prioritizing missile and weapons development over the welfare of its citizens. Hegseth argues this allocation of resources creates Iran’s domestic problems…
https://www.facebook.com/TheDailyPolitik/videos/1428867858425932/
Bogsnorkler said:
As of March 2026, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has criticized Iran for prioritizing missile and weapons development over the welfare of its citizens. Hegseth argues this allocation of resources creates Iran’s domestic problems…https://www.facebook.com/TheDailyPolitik/videos/1428867858425932/
hypocrisy much?
party_pants said:
Bogsnorkler said:
As of March 2026, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has criticized Iran for prioritizing missile and weapons development over the welfare of its citizens. Hegseth argues this allocation of resources creates Iran’s domestic problems…https://www.facebook.com/TheDailyPolitik/videos/1428867858425932/
hypocrisy much?
The people of his ilk don’t care anymore, they have us all by the gonads now.
Bogsnorkler said:
As of March 2026, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has criticized Iran for prioritizing missile and weapons development over the welfare of its citizens. Hegseth argues this allocation of resources creates Iran’s domestic problems…https://www.facebook.com/TheDailyPolitik/videos/1428867858425932/
He seems a bit fascinated by Iran. But I guess he is speaking from the position of representing a strongly egalitarian culture, a peace loving culture, he has that moral advantage, a good example so.
Oddly the hegemon seems somewhat under siege, gives the impression of, and I wonder if Iran was or is the biggest trouble, or is it more diversion, distraction, are there other serious problems, possibly more serious?
Maybe the big ponzi scheme is about to collapse, the cheap easy money has come to an end, and doesn’t the US spend some money on its own fireworks, and a further handsome allocation too for that, for manufacturers, and shareholders.
“These missiles are not intended to strike Israel,” Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir said.
well isn’t that going to be a disappointment when it gives the lie to the main character syndrome
transition said:
Bogsnorkler said:
As of March 2026, ████████████████ has criticized ████ for prioritizing missile and weapons development over the welfare of its citizens. ████████ argues this allocation of resources creates ████’s domestic problems…
https://www.facebook.com/TheDailyPolitik/videos/1428867858425932/
He seems a bit fascinated by Iran. But I guess he is speaking from the position of representing a strongly egalitarian culture, a peace loving culture, he has that moral advantage, a good example so.
Oddly the hegemon seems somewhat under siege, gives the impression of, and I wonder if Iran was or is the biggest trouble, or is it more diversion, distraction, are there other serious problems, possibly more serious?
Maybe the big ponzi scheme is about to collapse, the cheap easy money has come to an end, and doesn’t the US spend some money on its own fireworks, and a further handsome allocation too for that, for manufacturers, and shareholders.
yeah the █ demonstrate our reading of it and as read we knew exactly what was being said
roughbarked said:
party_pants said:
Bogsnorkler said:
As of March 2026, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has criticized Iran for prioritizing missile and weapons development over the welfare of its citizens. Hegseth argues this allocation of resources creates Iran’s domestic problems…
https://www.facebook.com/TheDailyPolitik/videos/1428867858425932/
hypocrisy much?
The people of his ilk don’t care anymore, they have us all by the gonads now.
should have gone thorium and solar and wind and batteries and evs and rare earths and drones and homegrown electronics when we had the chance hey
wait
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
ah yes this sounds like a panic demand ¿pandemandic? problem, there’s no supply problem
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/diesel-standards-relaxed-as-fuel-shortages-revealed/106491960
now before all you genius-women get all wise-guy with us let’s be clear, we’re not saying that the government shouldn’t try to encourage constituents to stay calm and rational and fair and decent and civilised, we’re saying that “stop panicking , there’s no supply problem, the ussa has a right to defend itself from the perceived threat that would result from an israeli first strike on iran by justifying blowing the whole place up as a means of disrupting a nuclear enrichment programme but more importantly hoping to change a regime we didn’t like let’s not get into the history of that” is the wrong way to do that
we mean can’t they just fkn say “hi yeah this situation is pretty shit and we can see some supply issues in the medium term so be careful out there and consider that if you buy more fuel oil than you need then soon the production and transport industries won’t have the fuel oil to supply you with the other things you need”, c’m‘on have at least some respect for the intelligence of the constituents sheesh
wait
wait
wait
someone’s actually saying it
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/panic-buying-fuel-groceries-iran-covid-playing-it-safe/106489580
https://theconversation.com/stay-positive-scott-morrison-when-you-berate-people-for-bad-behaviour-they-do-it-more-134793they’re underemphasising this bit though
The real lesson of empty petrol stations or supermarket shelves isn’t that people are irrational. It’s that perfectly rational individual behaviour can overwhelm a fragile system. Until more resilient systems are in place in future,
and overemphasising this bit
we can all play our part to keep essentials like petrol and food in stock, by shifting from a “just in case” mentality to “just take what you need”.
blame the end consumer yeah
oooh hey this could be fun we could become cuba
Waste collectors are warning that bin services may be reduced, leading to rubbish pile-ups, as the sector struggles to secure diesel supplies. The sector also warns rubbish collectors are operating at a loss because of diesel prices, putting some on the brink of collapse unless councils are willing to pass on costs to home owners.
ah yes yeah this is pretty clearly proving that the problem is demand
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-25/waste-collectors-diesel-shortage-essential-service/106490734
wait this problem is literally it’s own solution just burn that waste as fuel duh
party_pants said:
Michael V said:
AussieDJ said:
SCIENCE said:
are power stations civilians
Trump Just Threatened to Blow Up the Oil He’s Trying to Get Flowing Again
Let me get this straight.
The Strait of Hormuz is closed. Oil is $108 a barrel. Gas in the US has jumped 93 cents a gallon in 3 weeks. The global economy is bleeding from every artery.
And this senile fucking game show host just posted on Truth Social, at 7:44pm on a Saturday night from his golf resort, that he’s going to blow up Iran’s power plants.
All of them.
Starting with the biggest one first.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Like it’s a fucking strata notice about bins.
Let’s talk about what this drooling strategist apparently doesn’t understand.
Iran has roughly 400 power plants. You know what runs on power? Refineries. Pumping stations. Pipeline infrastructure. The entire oil and gas production chain that produces around 3 million barrels a day for the global market.
You want the Strait open so oil flows again? Fantastic. So your plan is to destroy the infrastructure that PRODUCES the oil that flows through the Strait?
That’s like burning down the brewery because the pub’s closed.
Even if Iran surrenders tomorrow. Even if they open Hormuz by Monday morning and wave through every tanker with a little flag and a complimentary baklava. You’ve just told the world you’re going to flatten the energy grid of OPEC’s third largest producer.
Rebuilding a power plant takes 3 to 5 years minimum. Refineries without power don’t refine. Wells without power don’t pump. You’re not just talking about a temporary disruption. You’re talking about removing millions of barrels of production capacity from the global market for the better part of a decade.
Oil won’t go back to $70. It won’t go back to $90. You’ve just baked in $100+ oil for years. Maybe permanently.
And that’s before we talk about the retaliation Iran just promised. They’ve already said if their energy infrastructure gets hit, every US-linked energy asset, desalination plant and IT system in the Gulf gets targeted. Saudi Aramco. Qatari LNG terminals. UAE refineries. The entire energy architecture of the Middle East, up in smoke.
This isn’t a military strategy. This is a 79 year old man with a phone and a Diet Coke threatening to set the global economy on fire because nobody will do what he says.
Winston Churchill studied maps. He agonised over Gallipoli for the rest of his life because he understood what it meant to get it wrong. Truman dropped the bomb and then couldn’t sleep. MacArthur, for all his ego, understood supply lines, logistics, the difference between destroying an enemy and destroying yourself in the process.
This bloke can’t find Iran on a map. He thinks “strategic” is a brand of vodka.
Friday he said the war was winding down. Friday night. “Getting very close to meeting our objectives.” Twenty four hours later he’s threatening to plunge 90 million civilians into darkness and crash the global energy market for a generation.
And the sign off. The fucking sign off.
“Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Mate. You’re threatening to commit what most of the planet would consider a war crime against civilian infrastructure, and you’ve formatted it like a letter from your accountant.
The man who said “we don’t even use the Strait” is now threatening to blow up the entire energy grid of a sovereign nation because the Strait isn’t open. The man who promised cheap gas is presiding over the fastest fuel price spike in American history. The man who said the war was won is now issuing 48 hour ultimatums from a beach club in Palm Beach.
This isn’t 4D chess. This isn’t even checkers. This is a toddler flipping the board because he’s losing and screaming that he won.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Australia has about 50 days of fuel reserves. We refine almost nothing domestically. Our entire economy runs on imported diesel. And the bloke with his finger on the button just threatened to make the global oil crisis permanent.
But sure. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
We’re all paying fucking attention now.
Yep.
:(
This might be a war crime?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-25/middle-east-water-facilities-at-risk/106493590
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
I know nothing about any of it. This is the first I have read of Japan and toilet paper in the same sentence or notion.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-24/japan-consumers-panic-buying-toilet-paper/106490370
Ta. Coincidentally, I just came across the article.
:)
note of course that we quote the article now in context
Japan’s government and consumer bodies are urging shoppers not to panic-buy toilet paper because of the Iran war. Almost all the toilet paper sold in Japan is made locally from locally collected recycled paper so is not impacted by Middle East conflicts. Consumers were also panic-buying toilet paper during COVID-19 and an oil shock in 1973.
wait is their fleet of waste (recycling) collection vehicles now pretty much all electric powered
transition said:
Bogsnorkler said:
As of March 2026, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has criticized Iran for prioritizing missile and weapons development over the welfare of its citizens. Hegseth argues this allocation of resources creates Iran’s domestic problems…https://www.facebook.com/TheDailyPolitik/videos/1428867858425932/
He seems a bit fascinated by Iran. But I guess he is speaking from the position of representing a strongly egalitarian culture, a peace loving culture, he has that moral advantage, a good example so.
Oddly the hegemon seems somewhat under siege, gives the impression of, and I wonder if Iran was or is the biggest trouble, or is it more diversion, distraction, are there other serious problems, possibly more serious?
Maybe the big ponzi scheme is about to collapse, the cheap easy money has come to an end, and doesn’t the US spend some money on its own fireworks, and a further handsome allocation too for that, for manufacturers, and shareholders.
Has he licked the saucer clean?
Dunno if this has been posted..
Jon Stewart fkn nails it.
or a graphite moderator tipped control rod among a bunch of nuclear ambiguous states
Pakistan has thrown its hat into the ring to act as a mediator between the United States and Iran in an effort to end the war in the Gulf. It comes amid continued mixed messages about whether talks arp happening or not — Donald Trump saying negotiations are progressing, Iran adopting the US president’s own turn of phrase and saying that’s “fake news”.
this won’t pressure anyone or any light water, oh no
alleged
@ariel_oseran
Israel’s Channel 12 (@yaronavraham) published the Trump Administration’s 15-point plan (I counted 14) sent to Iran to end the war:
1. All existing nuclear capabilities will be dismantled.
2. A commitment that Iran will never strive to obtain nuclear weapons.
3. No material will be enriched on Iranian soil.
4. All enriched material will be handed over to the IAEA in a short-term timetable to be defined between the parties.
5. Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow to be decommissioned and destroyed.
6. The IAEA will have full access to all information within Iran’s borders.
7. Iran will abandon the proxy network.
8. Iran will actively stop financing and arming its proxies in the region.
9. The Strait of Hormuz will remain open, will be a free maritime zone, and no one will block it.
10. The missile program: There will be a decision at a later period, but they will have to limit the quantity and range.
11. Future use of missiles: For self-defense purposes only.
What will Iran get in return?
12. All sanctions will be lifted.
13. Iran will receive assistance in developing a civilian nuclear project in Bushehr (electricity generation).
14. The threat of the snapback sanctions will be removed.
The good thing about wars is they teach geography. Who’d ever heard of the Strait of Hormuz before this war?
Divine Angel said:
The good thing about wars is they teach geography. Who’d ever heard of the Strait of Hormuz before this war?
I have!!
Divine Angel said:
The good thing about wars is they teach geography. Who’d ever heard of the Strait of Hormuz before this war?
Puts hand up slowly, whilst looking around.
Divine Angel said:
The good thing about wars is they teach geography. Who’d ever heard of the Strait of Hormuz before this war?
All decent and thoughtful young men learn this when they become briefly obsessed with their Atlas in grade 3.
Divine Angel said:
The good thing about wars is they teach geography. Who’d ever heard of the Strait of Hormuz before this war?
or the last war or the one before?
Nope, nobody had ever heard of Hormuz before this war. No one.
Divine Angel said:
The good thing about wars is they teach geography. Who’d ever heard of the Strait of Hormuz before this war?
Me.
Navigational and ship control exercises. It’s an infamous water way, with shallow depths, constricted channels, intensely heavy traffic by very large and unwieldy ships, overlapping and conflicting territorial waters and just about any other problem you can imagine.
Being able to say what, when and why you’d do (or not do) something in that location tests your grasp of a range of principles.
Divine Angel said:
Nope, nobody had ever heard of Hormuz before this war. No one.
Well… Surely someone else other than me.
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
The good thing about wars is they teach geography. Who’d ever heard of the Strait of Hormuz before this war?
Puts hand up slowly, whilst looking around.
You probably need to be old enough to know about previous Middle East crises…
buffy said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
The good thing about wars is they teach geography. Who’d ever heard of the Strait of Hormuz before this war?
Puts hand up slowly, whilst looking around.
You probably need to be old enough to know about previous Middle East crises…
You mean, it’s not just one long-running saga that likes a change of location now and then?
captain_spalding said:
buffy said:
Michael V said:Puts hand up slowly, whilst looking around.
You probably need to be old enough to know about previous Middle East crises…
You mean, it’s not just one long-running saga that likes a change of location now and then?
Well yes it is that, but to keep it interesting there are flareups and sideshows at irregular intervals.
buffy said:
captain_spalding said:
buffy said:You probably need to be old enough to know about previous Middle East crises…
You mean, it’s not just one long-running saga that likes a change of location now and then?
Well yes it is that, but to keep it interesting there are flareups and sideshows at irregular intervals.
Been going on all my life.
I remember Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, but no details. I asked dad if it would lead to WWIII and he said no. Then Dubya and something about WMD, but I had more pressing problems in my life at the time than worrying about that.
buffy said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
The good thing about wars is they teach geography. Who’d ever heard of the Strait of Hormuz before this war?
Puts hand up slowly, whilst looking around.
You probably need to be old enough to know about previous Middle East crises…
I’m cheating though, I’ve flown through that area a fair bit.
Flown through Iran a few times, did a stop in Shiraz there as well. Been to Kuwait City, Muscat, Sharjah, Bahrain, Qatar, Dammam, Abu Dhabi, Sanaa, Riyadh, and Medinah. Been based in Dubai & Jeddah for a while as well.
Divine Angel said:
Nope, nobody had ever heard of Hormuz before this war. No one.
It’s often discussed when people talk about the implications of war with Iran. I’ll admit that’s a pretty niche news audience though…
Spiny Norman said:
buffy said:
Michael V said:Puts hand up slowly, whilst looking around.
You probably need to be old enough to know about previous Middle East crises…
I’m cheating though, I’ve flown through that area a fair bit.
Flown through Iran a few times, did a stop in Shiraz there as well. Been to Kuwait City, Muscat, Sharjah, Bahrain, Qatar, Dammam, Abu Dhabi, Sanaa, Riyadh, and Medinah. Been based in Dubai & Jeddah for a while as well.
Know it like the back of your hand then. ;)
diddly-squat said:
Divine Angel said:
Nope, nobody had ever heard of Hormuz before this war. No one.
It’s often discussed when people talk about the implications of war with Iran. I’ll admit that’s a pretty niche news audience though…
The Houthi’s(backed by Iran) have been attacking vessels in the strait for decades.
captain_spalding said:
buffy said:
Michael V said:Puts hand up slowly, whilst looking around.
You probably need to be old enough to know about previous Middle East crises…
You mean, it’s not just one long-running saga that likes a change of location now and then?
It is isn’t it
Today on the Starship Capitalist Pig Dog we invade Iran as they have weapons of mass destruction.
Uplifted Orangutan Trump captaining
roughbarked said:
diddly-squat said:
Divine Angel said:
Nope, nobody had ever heard of Hormuz before this war. No one.
It’s often discussed when people talk about the implications of war with Iran. I’ll admit that’s a pretty niche news audience though…
The Houthi’s(backed by Iran) have been attacking vessels in the strait for decades.
You may want to double-check your geography. Yemen’s coastline is on the Red Sea, not the Persian Gulf – they have been attacking shipping lanes through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In essence, they influence trade through the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
roughbarked said:
diddly-squat said:
Divine Angel said:
Nope, nobody had ever heard of Hormuz before this war. No one.
It’s often discussed when people talk about the implications of war with Iran. I’ll admit that’s a pretty niche news audience though…
The Houthi’s(backed by Iran) have been attacking vessels in the strait for decades.
Ref?
“Nope, nobody had ever heard of Hormuz before this war. No one. “
Always have it on my kebab
diddly-squat said:
roughbarked said:
diddly-squat said:It’s often discussed when people talk about the implications of war with Iran. I’ll admit that’s a pretty niche news audience though…
The Houthi’s(backed by Iran) have been attacking vessels in the strait for decades.
You may want to double-check your geography. Yemen’s coastline is on the Red Sea, not the Persian Gulf – they have been attacking shipping lanes through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. In essence, they influence trade through the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Ah.
esselte said:
roughbarked said:
diddly-squat said:It’s often discussed when people talk about the implications of war with Iran. I’ll admit that’s a pretty niche news audience though…
The Houthi’s(backed by Iran) have been attacking vessels in the strait for decades.
Ref?
From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthis
The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, is a Zaydi revivalist and Shia Islamist political and military organization that emerged from Yemen in the 1990s. It is predominantly made up of Zaydis, whose namesake leadership is drawn largely from the al-Houthi family. The group has been a central player in Yemen’s civil war, drawing widespread international condemnation for its human rights abuses, including targeting civilians and using child soldiers. The movement is designated as a terrorist organization by some countries. The Houthis are backed by Iran, and they are widely considered part of the Iranian-led “Axis of Resistance”
Following the outbreak of the Gaza war, the Houthis began to fire missiles at Israel and to attack ships off Yemen’s coast in the Red Sea, which they say is in solidarity with the Palestinians and aiming to facilitate entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
Google AI – Are Houthis attacking the strait?
Yes, Houthi militants based in Yemen are actively attacking commercial vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial maritime corridor connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. These attacks, involving drones and missiles, are aimed at disrupting international shipping and have continued despite US/UK military interventions, prompting a massive rerouting of global trade.
Iran is claiming that they’ve shot down a F/A-18.
Matthew Doran’s assessment: The Trump administration and the Iranian regime both have their own unique ways of expressing themselves — both are prone to hyperbole.
But the White House is also attuned to fluctuation in global markets.
It regularly touts rallying markets as evidence of its economic mastery. Markets crashing, and commodities surging, undermines that message. And anything the president can say to ease the frayed nerves of traders will always help.
>Trump is really running this war to stuff money in his crtpyo pockets.
Occupy Democrats
BREAKING: O.M.G. Top officials just leaked that Trump’s people are LYING to him about how the war is going, showing him a daily highlight reel of US strikes that only shows him good news!
Well, THAT explains a lot. NBC News has revealed that every day, Trump is shown a war porn montage of “stuff blowing up” that “shows video of the biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours.”
The officials said that the videos are “fueling concerns among some of Trump’s allies that he may not be receiving — or absorbing — the complete picture of the war, now in its fourth week.”
They also say that the videos are making him angrier with the media because he is unable to understand that seeing things blow up over and over again does not translate to large-scale success in the greater war, which is something that any student of any American war of the past 60 years can tell you.
For instance, Trump was not informed about the Iranian missile strike on US refueling planes in Saudi Arabia, only finding it out from the media after the fact.
“Among their concerns is that Trump may not be equipped to make critical decisions about options he’s presented with for possible next steps in the war if he’s not receiving a full scope of information about the status of the conflict” said the officials.
Well, it looks like the American people aren’t the only people being lied to by Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon.
This is a deeply disturbing revelation, even more so since we know that Trump is considering sending troops to invade Iran based on the assumption that everything is going great.
During the Vietnam War, President Johnson started every day by receiving a casualty count of Americans hurt or killed in the war.
Now, Trump is starting every day with a cherry-picked highlight reel explicitly designed to make him feel better.
Our troops’ lives are at stake, and the President has no idea what’s going on.
Anecdotally, as my grandfather neared the end of his life, he became obsessed with war. No dementia. He’d always been interested in wars, but he became absorbed. Watched everything war-related he could get his hands on.
Oregon’s Bay Area is feeling concerned.
Good morning! Across Britain and France, reaction to Trump’s war on Iran has settled into something more damning than ordinary criticism. It is not simply that European commentators disagree with Trump’s conduct of this war. It is that they increasingly sound as if they no longer regard his words as a trustworthy guide to reality at all. Behind that skepticism sits a harder truth voiced even by establishment security figures: however bruised Iran may be, it still appears to retain enough leverage to deny Trump a clean win. It can keep Hormuz under threat, keep energy markets on edge, and keep turning American boasts of progress into a kind of diplomatic pantomime. That is what makes his rhetoric so unbelievable abroad. Trump talks as though he is dictating terms. The outside world hears a man trying to narrate control he does not fully possess, and the disbelief never remains merely comic. Yes, there is ridicule. When Trump bragged about a mysterious “very big present” and “a very significant prize,” even sympathetic interviewers sounded as if they could hardly keep a straight face. “Do we have any sense of what it might be?” one asked, only for Sally Lockwood to reply, “Oh my goodness… we have no idea what it is,” before describing “some sort of understanding via all of the word salads coming out of the White House.” Another host could only ask, “Do we have any idea what this present relating to the Strait might be?” prompting the answer that everyone was “scratching their heads” over the latest burst of Trumpian babble. France 24 was just as dry, contrasting Trump’s insistence that “they’re talking to us and they’re talking sense” with Iran’s acid response that the U.S. was “negotiating with itself.”
That is the deeper humiliation running through all of this. The “present” is treated abroad not as evidence of statesmanship, but as one more absurd fairy tale, a shiny invisible trinket waved around in the Oval Office while the rest of the world tries to work out whether he is describing a diplomatic breakthrough, a tanker transit, or an imaginary prize from the world’s most unstable gift shop. Once the laughter fades, what remains is worse: analysts in Britain and France increasingly dismiss the words and watch the troop movements instead. They hear the boasts, the “15-point plan,” the hints of progress, the talk of victory, and conclude not that Trump is in command, but that he is improvising plot twists while trying to disguise the fact that Iran still has enough leverage to keep the war dangerous, costly, and unresolved. But beneath the mockery is something much darker. European commentators have begun separating Trump’s rhetoric from the only evidence they still trust: troop movements, aircraft, Marines, airborne units, rapid reaction forces, special operations elements, logistics. They are rightly treating Trump’s public language as noise and the military buildup as signal. Once you reach that point, the implications are grim. A president who speaks constantly of progress and peace while stacking forces in the region does not look like a master strategist. He looks like either a man improvising cover stories while events race ahead of him, or a man using the performance of diplomacy to buy time for escalation. The confusion is no longer viewed as a side effect of his style, but to look like the operating system itself: contradictory statements, theatrical “plans,” vaporous claims of success, possible market-moving announcements, and real-world military preparations all swirling together into a fog thick enough to conceal almost anything. Perhaps the most humiliating indictment of all is the simplest one: Europe is now openly entertaining the possibility that, on specific factual questions in the middle of a war, the President of the United States may be less credible than the regime he claims to be confronting.
The economic consequences are no longer confined to oil traders sweating through their suit jackets in Houston while pretending volatility is just another exciting market opportunity. The strain is now radiating outward into the real world, where the Philippines has now formally declared a national energy emergency as war-driven fuel disruption threatens supply, after earlier in the month publicly insisting stockpiles were still sufficient. Effectively, that is the whole story in miniature. First comes the soothing official language, then the contingency committees, anti-hoarding measures, and emergency planning once reality barges through the press release. The markets may still swing on Trump’s latest improv monologue, but countries that actually need fuel to keep the lights on do not have the luxury of treating this as theater.
The oil industry’s reaction has been revealing. Even the people who usually greet high prices the way cartoon wolves greet a steak dinner seem rattled. Executives do not sound triumphant. They sound stunned, angry, and deeply unconvinced that anyone in Washington has a coherent plan for replacing disrupted supply or stabilizing the region.
The closure threat hanging over the Strait of Hormuz is not just another cable-news graphic; it is the nightmare scenario energy analysts have spent years gaming out and quietly praying would remain hypothetical. Instead, here we are, with the White House promising that everything will flow more freely than ever once its objectives are complete, which is a very inspiring sentence if you are writing fan fiction and a somewhat less persuasive one if you are running an economy. The result is a war that keeps widening its blast radius: tankers, prices, shipping, public confidence, and the increasingly threadbare idea that Trump is in command of events rather than just narrating over them while the machinery lurches ahead.One of the more revealing stories in the middle of all this chaos is the simple fact that large sections of the American economy still run on labor the political class prefers to criminalize while quietly depending on it. A recent Financial Times report from south Texas laid it out with brutal clarity: immigration crackdowns and ICE raids have been disrupting construction projects, delaying housing builds, hitting real-estate transactions, and creating ripple effects through agriculture and hospitality as workers disappear, stay home, or are caught up in enforcement sweeps. A fantasy sold to the public is that there is some waiting bench of American labor ready to rush in and replace the people being terrorized off jobsites and out of communities. The reality, as the builders and growers keep saying, is that this replacement workforce does not magically exist, and the void is not being filled. What we’re observing, then, transcends mere cruelty for its own sake, even though such cruelty is abundant. It is also economic self-sabotage in which the same administration that claims to be defending prosperity is punching holes in the labor force that keeps housing, food, and services functioning.
Amid the usual parade of official sadism, there was at least one small act of human decency this week. A humanitarian aid ship arrived in Havana carrying solar panels, bicycles, food, and medicine as Cuba’s economic and energy crisis deepens under blackouts, fuel shortages, and a tightening U.S. energy squeeze. Organizers themselves admitted the shipment is a drop in an ocean of need, but that is precisely what gives it moral force. When a state is trying to make suffering into policy, even modest solidarity starts to look radical. Cuba has reportedly gone months without vital fuel imports, and regional governments and aid groups are increasingly warning that the island is edging toward a humanitarian disaster. The aid convoy does not solve that, but it demonstrates that cruelty is not the only possible international language, which already makes it more serious than most of what comes out of Washington.
Over at the Pentagon’s Church-and-State demolition derby, Pete Hegseth has apparently decided that what the U.S. military really needed in the middle of a volatile war was not better oversight, clearer strategy, or even basic competence, but a more aggressively theatrical fusion of command structure and divine branding. Hegseth announced military chaplains will no longer display rank insignia, only religious insignia, because nothing says “healthy civil-military order” quite like making spiritual authority look separate from the ordinary chain of command while assuring everyone it is totally fine because the officers still technically keep their rank. As Stars and Stripes reported, Hegseth framed the move with the line, “No rank outranks God,” which is the sort of statement that might play well in a revival tent but lands quite differently when uttered by the Defense Secretary inside a pluralistic democracy. It is the kind of idea that sounds cooked up halfway through a podcast rant and then shoved into Pentagon policy by people who think the First Amendment is more of a light suggestion.
He also said the military will slash its recognized faith codes from more than 200 down to just 31, which is a charming way of telling a pluralistic force that its religious diversity has become administratively inconvenient. The problem with modern military life is not endless deployments, political extremism, or the small matter of being dragged toward war by maniacs, but that too many service members have beliefs that do not fit neatly into one of Pete’s approved dropdown menus. Just to make the vibe fully unsettling, Hegseth lamented that the chaplaincy had drifted too far toward “self-help and self-care,” insisting warfighters need “truth, big-T truth” and “a shepherd.” When you want to reassure troops of every faith and no faith that the Pentagon is not being turned into a sectarian fever swamp, the obvious move is to have the defense secretary start sounding like a man auditioning to be youth pastor at the apocalypse.
Taken together, it is hard not to see this as part of a broader effort to remake the military into a more openly ideological and explicitly religious institution, one where diversity is tolerated only until it becomes inconvenient and where spiritual theater is elevated over constitutional seriousness. At a moment when service members have already raised alarm bells about religious overreach in the ranks, this feels like fanatic chic wrapped in bureaucratic language, with a salute and a Bible verse slapped on the side.
Since repression is apparently being run as a kind of whole-of-government subscription service, the same administration keeps finding new ways to test how openly it can abuse power before somebody in a courtroom notices. In Minnesota, state officials are now suing the administration after federal agencies withheld evidence tied to the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti during ICE-related operations in Minneapolis. At the Pentagon, a federal judge ruled that the department’s press restrictions violated constitutional protections, only for the building to respond by making press access harder anyway and moving journalists out of the traditional correspondents’ corridor. It is the same pattern over and over again: lose in court, keep pushing, repackage the retaliation, and dare anyone to stop you twice. Constitutional limits are treated less as law than as customer feedback.
Since the last big No Kings outing on October 18, the country has not exactly been basking in the restraining wisdom of polite assembly. Two days later, Trump began demolishing the East Wing in defiance of the usual oversight process, like a man renovating the monarchy to suit the drapes. In the months that followed, federal power was used in increasingly alarming ways: ICE operations in Minneapolis left Renée Good and Alex Pretti dead, Minnesota is now suing the administration for withholding evidence, the Pentagon moved against journalists after a court ruled its press restrictions unconstitutional, and the administration kept testing how far it could push detention, deportation, and secrecy before someone in a robe slammed the brakes. Meanwhile, DOJ actions and Pentagon investigations increasingly looked like a rolling grudge operation against people on Trump’s enemies list, from Democratic officials to Senator Mark Kelly.
Go to the protest on Saturday. Meet people, be counted, and be loud. But let’s not flatter ourselves that one more carefully permitted weekend parade is, by itself, going to stop any of this. Since the last protest, they have kept escalating. They did not see the crowds and decide to rediscover constitutional modesty. They kept bulldozing, censoring, detaining, threatening, and retaliating. Protest is an important beginning, but only if it becomes something more than a ritualized release valve. The point is not just to gather in public and prove we are horrified. The point is to build the kind of sustained, nonviolent disruption that makes this machinery harder to run. More on next steps to come soon.
“ He also said the military will slash its recognized faith codes from more than 200 down to just 31, which is a charming way of telling a pluralistic force that its religious diversity has become administratively inconvenient”
Lemme guess, those 31 are forms of Christianity?
Divine Angel said:
“ He also said the military will slash its recognized faith codes from more than 200 down to just 31, which is a charming way of telling a pluralistic force that its religious diversity has become administratively inconvenient”Lemme guess, those 31 are forms of Christianity?
The chosen ones.
roughbarked said:
Divine Angel said:
“ He also said the military will slash its recognized faith codes from more than 200 down to just 31, which is a charming way of telling a pluralistic force that its religious diversity has become administratively inconvenient”
Lemme guess, those 31 are forms of Christianity?
The chosen ones.
why not just “prioritises belief” and “prioritises evidence” for a simple 2 groups
Divine Angel said:
Anecdotally, as my grandfather neared the end of his life, he became obsessed with war. No dementia. He’d always been interested in wars, but he became absorbed. Watched everything war-related he could get his hands on.
did he hope for more of it to gather additional data, or was it with a view to learning enough about it to prevent further incidences
Bogsnorkler said:
Occupy Democrats
BREAKING: O.M.G. Top officials just leaked that Trump’s people are LYING to him about how the war is going, showing him a daily highlight reel of US strikes that only shows him good news!
Well, THAT explains a lot. NBC News has revealed that every day, Trump is shown a war porn montage of “stuff blowing up” that “shows video of the biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours.”
The officials said that the videos are “fueling concerns among some of Trump’s allies that he may not be receiving — or absorbing — the complete picture of the war, now in its fourth week.”
They also say that the videos are making him angrier with the media because he is unable to understand that seeing things blow up over and over again does not translate to large-scale success in the greater war, which is something that any student of any American war of the past 60 years can tell you.
For instance, Trump was not informed about the Iranian missile strike on US refueling planes in Saudi Arabia, only finding it out from the media after the fact.
“Among their concerns is that Trump may not be equipped to make critical decisions about options he’s presented with for possible next steps in the war if he’s not receiving a full scope of information about the status of the conflict” said the officials.
Well, it looks like the American people aren’t the only people being lied to by Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon.
This is a deeply disturbing revelation, even more so since we know that Trump is considering sending troops to invade Iran based on the assumption that everything is going great.
During the Vietnam War, President Johnson started every day by receiving a casualty count of Americans hurt or killed in the war.
Now, Trump is starting every day with a cherry-picked highlight reel explicitly designed to make him feel better.
Our troops’ lives are at stake, and the President has no idea what’s going on.
well if Russia do it for puts, why wouldn’t they do the same for trus
Bogsnorkler said:
Occupy DemocratsBREAKING: O.M.G. Top officials just leaked that Trump’s people are LYING to him about how the war is going, showing him a daily highlight reel of US strikes that only shows him good news!
Well, THAT explains a lot. NBC News has revealed that every day, Trump is shown a war porn montage of “stuff blowing up” that “shows video of the biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours.”
The officials said that the videos are “fueling concerns among some of Trump’s allies that he may not be receiving — or absorbing — the complete picture of the war, now in its fourth week.”
They also say that the videos are making him angrier with the media because he is unable to understand that seeing things blow up over and over again does not translate to large-scale success in the greater war, which is something that any student of any American war of the past 60 years can tell you.
For instance, Trump was not informed about the Iranian missile strike on US refueling planes in Saudi Arabia, only finding it out from the media after the fact.
“Among their concerns is that Trump may not be equipped to make critical decisions about options he’s presented with for possible next steps in the war if he’s not receiving a full scope of information about the status of the conflict” said the officials.
Well, it looks like the American people aren’t the only people being lied to by Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon.
This is a deeply disturbing revelation, even more so since we know that Trump is considering sending troops to invade Iran based on the assumption that everything is going great.
During the Vietnam War, President Johnson started every day by receiving a casualty count of Americans hurt or killed in the war.
Now, Trump is starting every day with a cherry-picked highlight reel explicitly designed to make him feel better.
Our troops’ lives are at stake, and the President has no idea what’s going on.
Pharque.
Bogsnorkler said:
Occupy DemocratsBREAKING: O.M.G. Top officials just leaked that Trump’s people are LYING to him about how the war is going, showing him a daily highlight reel of US strikes that only shows him good news!
Well, THAT explains a lot. NBC News has revealed that every day, Trump is shown a war porn montage of “stuff blowing up” that “shows video of the biggest, most successful strikes on Iranian targets over the previous 48 hours.”
The officials said that the videos are “fueling concerns among some of Trump’s allies that he may not be receiving — or absorbing — the complete picture of the war, now in its fourth week.”
They also say that the videos are making him angrier with the media because he is unable to understand that seeing things blow up over and over again does not translate to large-scale success in the greater war, which is something that any student of any American war of the past 60 years can tell you.
For instance, Trump was not informed about the Iranian missile strike on US refueling planes in Saudi Arabia, only finding it out from the media after the fact.
“Among their concerns is that Trump may not be equipped to make critical decisions about options he’s presented with for possible next steps in the war if he’s not receiving a full scope of information about the status of the conflict” said the officials.
Well, it looks like the American people aren’t the only people being lied to by Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon.
This is a deeply disturbing revelation, even more so since we know that Trump is considering sending troops to invade Iran based on the assumption that everything is going great.
During the Vietnam War, President Johnson started every day by receiving a casualty count of Americans hurt or killed in the war.
Now, Trump is starting every day with a cherry-picked highlight reel explicitly designed to make him feel better.
Our troops’ lives are at stake, and the President has no idea what’s going on.
of a disposition so, not receptive to what doesn’t want to hear, fairly much just bounces off when it happens, and the messenger becomes the problem if has to entertain what he doesn’t want to hear.
i’d guess he operates on very naturally constrained orders of intentionality
basically everything is filtered to feed a bullshit machine, the internal press agent, and it doesn’t look hard for internal errors and inconsistencies, instead patches them with more of the same
my opinion
Bogsnorkler said:
Oregon’s Bay Area is feeling concerned.Good morning! Across Britain and France, reaction to Trump’s war on Iran has settled into something more damning than ordinary criticism. It is not simply that European commentators disagree with Trump’s conduct of this war. It is that they increasingly sound as if they no longer regard his words as a trustworthy guide to reality at all. Behind that skepticism sits a harder truth voiced even by establishment security figures: however bruised Iran may be, it still appears to retain enough leverage to deny Trump a clean win. It can keep Hormuz under threat, keep energy markets on edge, and keep turning American boasts of progress into a kind of diplomatic pantomime. That is what makes his rhetoric so unbelievable abroad. Trump talks as though he is dictating terms. The outside world hears a man trying to narrate control he does not fully possess, and the disbelief never remains merely comic. Yes, there is ridicule. When Trump bragged about a mysterious “very big present” and “a very significant prize,” even sympathetic interviewers sounded as if they could hardly keep a straight face. “Do we have any sense of what it might be?” one asked, only for Sally Lockwood to reply, “Oh my goodness… we have no idea what it is,” before describing “some sort of understanding via all of the word salads coming out of the White House.” Another host could only ask, “Do we have any idea what this present relating to the Strait might be?” prompting the answer that everyone was “scratching their heads” over the latest burst of Trumpian babble. France 24 was just as dry, contrasting Trump’s insistence that “they’re talking to us and they’re talking sense” with Iran’s acid response that the U.S. was “negotiating with itself.”
That is the deeper humiliation running through all of this. The “present” is treated abroad not as evidence of statesmanship, but as one more absurd fairy tale, a shiny invisible trinket waved around in the Oval Office while the rest of the world tries to work out whether he is describing a diplomatic breakthrough, a tanker transit, or an imaginary prize from the world’s most unstable gift shop. Once the laughter fades, what remains is worse: analysts in Britain and France increasingly dismiss the words and watch the troop movements instead. They hear the boasts, the “15-point plan,” the hints of progress, the talk of victory, and conclude not that Trump is in command, but that he is improvising plot twists while trying to disguise the fact that Iran still has enough leverage to keep the war dangerous, costly, and unresolved. But beneath the mockery is something much darker. European commentators have begun separating Trump’s rhetoric from the only evidence they still trust: troop movements, aircraft, Marines, airborne units, rapid reaction forces, special operations elements, logistics. They are rightly treating Trump’s public language as noise and the military buildup as signal. Once you reach that point, the implications are grim. A president who speaks constantly of progress and peace while stacking forces in the region does not look like a master strategist. He looks like either a man improvising cover stories while events race ahead of him, or a man using the performance of diplomacy to buy time for escalation. The confusion is no longer viewed as a side effect of his style, but to look like the operating system itself: contradictory statements, theatrical “plans,” vaporous claims of success, possible market-moving announcements, and real-world military preparations all swirling together into a fog thick enough to conceal almost anything. Perhaps the most humiliating indictment of all is the simplest one: Europe is now openly entertaining the possibility that, on specific factual questions in the middle of a war, the President of the United States may be less credible than the regime he claims to be confronting.
The economic consequences are no longer confined to oil traders sweating through their suit jackets in Houston while pretending volatility is just another exciting market opportunity. The strain is now radiating outward into the real world, where the Philippines has now formally declared a national energy emergency as war-driven fuel disruption threatens supply, after earlier in the month publicly insisting stockpiles were still sufficient. Effectively, that is the whole story in miniature. First comes the soothing official language, then the contingency committees, anti-hoarding measures, and emergency planning once reality barges through the press release. The markets may still swing on Trump’s latest improv monologue, but countries that actually need fuel to keep the lights on do not have the luxury of treating this as theater.
The oil industry’s reaction has been revealing. Even the people who usually greet high prices the way cartoon wolves greet a steak dinner seem rattled. Executives do not sound triumphant. They sound stunned, angry, and deeply unconvinced that anyone in Washington has a coherent plan for replacing disrupted supply or stabilizing the region.
The closure threat hanging over the Strait of Hormuz is not just another cable-news graphic; it is the nightmare scenario energy analysts have spent years gaming out and quietly praying would remain hypothetical. Instead, here we are, with the White House promising that everything will flow more freely than ever once its objectives are complete, which is a very inspiring sentence if you are writing fan fiction and a somewhat less persuasive one if you are running an economy. The result is a war that keeps widening its blast radius: tankers, prices, shipping, public confidence, and the increasingly threadbare idea that Trump is in command of events rather than just narrating over them while the machinery lurches ahead.One of the more revealing stories in the middle of all this chaos is the simple fact that large sections of the American economy still run on labor the political class prefers to criminalize while quietly depending on it. A recent Financial Times report from south Texas laid it out with brutal clarity: immigration crackdowns and ICE raids have been disrupting construction projects, delaying housing builds, hitting real-estate transactions, and creating ripple effects through agriculture and hospitality as workers disappear, stay home, or are caught up in enforcement sweeps. A fantasy sold to the public is that there is some waiting bench of American labor ready to rush in and replace the people being terrorized off jobsites and out of communities. The reality, as the builders and growers keep saying, is that this replacement workforce does not magically exist, and the void is not being filled. What we’re observing, then, transcends mere cruelty for its own sake, even though such cruelty is abundant. It is also economic self-sabotage in which the same administration that claims to be defending prosperity is punching holes in the labor force that keeps housing, food, and services functioning.
Amid the usual parade of official sadism, there was at least one small act of human decency this week. A humanitarian aid ship arrived in Havana carrying solar panels, bicycles, food, and medicine as Cuba’s economic and energy crisis deepens under blackouts, fuel shortages, and a tightening U.S. energy squeeze. Organizers themselves admitted the shipment is a drop in an ocean of need, but that is precisely what gives it moral force. When a state is trying to make suffering into policy, even modest solidarity starts to look radical. Cuba has reportedly gone months without vital fuel imports, and regional governments and aid groups are increasingly warning that the island is edging toward a humanitarian disaster. The aid convoy does not solve that, but it demonstrates that cruelty is not the only possible international language, which already makes it more serious than most of what comes out of Washington.
Over at the Pentagon’s Church-and-State demolition derby, Pete Hegseth has apparently decided that what the U.S. military really needed in the middle of a volatile war was not better oversight, clearer strategy, or even basic competence, but a more aggressively theatrical fusion of command structure and divine branding. Hegseth announced military chaplains will no longer display rank insignia, only religious insignia, because nothing says “healthy civil-military order” quite like making spiritual authority look separate from the ordinary chain of command while assuring everyone it is totally fine because the officers still technically keep their rank. As Stars and Stripes reported, Hegseth framed the move with the line, “No rank outranks God,” which is the sort of statement that might play well in a revival tent but lands quite differently when uttered by the Defense Secretary inside a pluralistic democracy. It is the kind of idea that sounds cooked up halfway through a podcast rant and then shoved into Pentagon policy by people who think the First Amendment is more of a light suggestion.He also said the military will slash its recognized faith codes from more than 200 down to just 31, which is a charming way of telling a pluralistic force that its religious diversity has become administratively inconvenient. The problem with modern military life is not endless deployments, political extremism, or the small matter of being dragged toward war by maniacs, but that too many service members have beliefs that do not fit neatly into one of Pete’s approved dropdown menus. Just to make the vibe fully unsettling, Hegseth lamented that the chaplaincy had drifted too far toward “self-help and self-care,” insisting warfighters need “truth, big-T truth” and “a shepherd.” When you want to reassure troops of every faith and no faith that the Pentagon is not being turned into a sectarian fever swamp, the obvious move is to have the defense secretary start sounding like a man auditioning to be youth pastor at the apocalypse.
Taken together, it is hard not to see this as part of a broader effort to remake the military into a more openly ideological and explicitly religious institution, one where diversity is tolerated only until it becomes inconvenient and where spiritual theater is elevated over constitutional seriousness. At a moment when service members have already raised alarm bells about religious overreach in the ranks, this feels like fanatic chic wrapped in bureaucratic language, with a salute and a Bible verse slapped on the side.
Since repression is apparently being run as a kind of whole-of-government subscription service, the same administration keeps finding new ways to test how openly it can abuse power before somebody in a courtroom notices. In Minnesota, state officials are now suing the administration after federal agencies withheld evidence tied to the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti during ICE-related operations in Minneapolis. At the Pentagon, a federal judge ruled that the department’s press restrictions violated constitutional protections, only for the building to respond by making press access harder anyway and moving journalists out of the traditional correspondents’ corridor. It is the same pattern over and over again: lose in court, keep pushing, repackage the retaliation, and dare anyone to stop you twice. Constitutional limits are treated less as law than as customer feedback.
Since the last big No Kings outing on October 18, the country has not exactly been basking in the restraining wisdom of polite assembly. Two days later, Trump began demolishing the East Wing in defiance of the usual oversight process, like a man renovating the monarchy to suit the drapes. In the months that followed, federal power was used in increasingly alarming ways: ICE operations in Minneapolis left Renée Good and Alex Pretti dead, Minnesota is now suing the administration for withholding evidence, the Pentagon moved against journalists after a court ruled its press restrictions unconstitutional, and the administration kept testing how far it could push detention, deportation, and secrecy before someone in a robe slammed the brakes. Meanwhile, DOJ actions and Pentagon investigations increasingly looked like a rolling grudge operation against people on Trump’s enemies list, from Democratic officials to Senator Mark Kelly.
Go to the protest on Saturday. Meet people, be counted, and be loud. But let’s not flatter ourselves that one more carefully permitted weekend parade is, by itself, going to stop any of this. Since the last protest, they have kept escalating. They did not see the crowds and decide to rediscover constitutional modesty. They kept bulldozing, censoring, detaining, threatening, and retaliating. Protest is an important beginning, but only if it becomes something more than a ritualized release valve. The point is not just to gather in public and prove we are horrified. The point is to build the kind of sustained, nonviolent disruption that makes this machinery harder to run. More on next steps to come soon.
alleged
Retired Major General on Pete Hegseth – potential war criminal
France’s Finance Minister Roland Lescure revealed on Wednesday that between 30 and 40 per cent of Gulf refining capacity has been damaged or destroyed by Iran’s retaliatory strikes, leaving a shortage of 11 million barrels a day on global oil markets. Lescure warned it could take up to three years to restore damaged facilities, and several months to restart those that were urgently shut down.
https://www.france24.com/en/france-confirms-oil-crisis-says-30-40-gulf-energy-infrastructure-destroyed
Divine Angel said:
France’s Finance Minister Roland Lescure revealed on Wednesday that between 30 and 40 per cent of Gulf refining capacity has been damaged or destroyed by Iran’s retaliatory strikes, leaving a shortage of 11 million barrels a day on global oil markets. Lescure warned it could take up to three years to restore damaged facilities, and several months to restart those that were urgently shut down.https://www.france24.com/en/france-confirms-oil-crisis-says-30-40-gulf-energy-infrastructure-destroyed
The EU needs to gather together an army. and go and invade Russia to seize their oil and gas. Cut out both the middle east and Russia as strategic nuisances.
:p
You’re an ideas man.
Divine Angel said:
France’s Finance Minister Roland Lescure revealed on Wednesday that between 30 and 40 per cent of Gulf refining capacity has been damaged or destroyed by Iran’s retaliatory strikes, leaving a shortage of 11 million barrels a day on global oil markets. Lescure warned it could take up to three years to restore damaged facilities, and several months to restart those that were urgently shut down.https://www.france24.com/en/france-confirms-oil-crisis-says-30-40-gulf-energy-infrastructure-destroyed
Fuck Trump.
party_pants said:
Divine Angel said:
France’s Finance Minister Roland Lescure revealed on Wednesday that between 30 and 40 per cent of Gulf refining capacity has been damaged or destroyed by Iran’s retaliatory strikes, leaving a shortage of 11 million barrels a day on global oil markets. Lescure warned it could take up to three years to restore damaged facilities, and several months to restart those that were urgently shut down.https://www.france24.com/en/france-confirms-oil-crisis-says-30-40-gulf-energy-infrastructure-destroyed
The EU needs to gather together an army. and go and invade Russia to seize their oil and gas. Cut out both the middle east and Russia as strategic nuisances.
:p
Uh-oh.
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
France’s Finance Minister Roland Lescure revealed on Wednesday that between 30 and 40 per cent of Gulf refining capacity has been damaged or destroyed by Iran’s retaliatory strikes, leaving a shortage of 11 million barrels a day on global oil markets. Lescure warned it could take up to three years to restore damaged facilities, and several months to restart those that were urgently shut down.https://www.france24.com/en/france-confirms-oil-crisis-says-30-40-gulf-energy-infrastructure-destroyed
Fuck Trump.
Any clues yet on what ‘very significant prize’ Trump got from Iran?
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
France’s Finance Minister Roland Lescure revealed on Wednesday that between 30 and 40 per cent of Gulf refining capacity has been damaged or destroyed by Iran’s retaliatory strikes, leaving a shortage of 11 million barrels a day on global oil markets. Lescure warned it could take up to three years to restore damaged facilities, and several months to restart those that were urgently shut down.https://www.france24.com/en/france-confirms-oil-crisis-says-30-40-gulf-energy-infrastructure-destroyed
Fuck Trump.
Any clues yet on what ‘very significant prize’ Trump got from Iran?
A couple of ships got through the strait…
furious said:
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:Fuck Trump.
Any clues yet on what ‘very significant prize’ Trump got from Iran?
A couple of ships got through the strait…
As opposed to the dozens that passed through every day before Operation Epstein Furphy began.
captain_spalding said:
furious said:
captain_spalding said:Any clues yet on what ‘very significant prize’ Trump got from Iran?
A couple of ships got through the strait…
As opposed to the dozens that passed through every day before Operation Epstein Furphy began.
Trump is famous for “winning” deals that are less favourable than the ones he tears up…
captain_spalding said:
Michael V said:
Divine Angel said:
France’s Finance Minister Roland Lescure revealed on Wednesday that between 30 and 40 per cent of Gulf refining capacity has been damaged or destroyed by Iran’s retaliatory strikes, leaving a shortage of 11 million barrels a day on global oil markets. Lescure warned it could take up to three years to restore damaged facilities, and several months to restart those that were urgently shut down.https://www.france24.com/en/france-confirms-oil-crisis-says-30-40-gulf-energy-infrastructure-destroyed
Fuck Trump.
Any clues yet on what ‘very significant prize’ Trump got from Iran?
A golden peace prize?
furious said:
captain_spalding said:
furious said:A couple of ships got through the strait…
As opposed to the dozens that passed through every day before Operation Epstein Furphy began.
Trump is famous for “winning” deals that are less favourable than the ones he tears up…
A graphic representation of fear. Probably a rare thing to be seen on Trump’s visage. Hegseth in back is not lookiing confident in himself.
Mr Trump has revealed the great gift Iran gave him in the earlier stages of the talks — “eight boats, eight big boats” of oil passing through the Strait. “Actually, they then apologised for something they said, and they said, ‘We’re going to send two more boats’.”
captain_spalding said:
according to some commentators apparently if they were any other place in the global rules based law and orderly financial system the ussa would already be insolvent
SCIENCE said:
captain_spalding said:
according to some commentators apparently if they were any other place in the global rules based law and orderly financial system the ussa would already be insolvent
Imagine putting a person who has been bankrupt many times into the position of running a whole country.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:captain_spalding said:
according to some commentators apparently if they were any other place in the global rules based law and orderly financial system the ussa would already be insolvent
Imagine putting a person who has been bankrupt many times into the position of running a whole country.
That was part of his original appeal: get a businessman to run the country. Never mind his bankruptcy, that’s just the radical left’s fake news. Enough of the politicians, get REAL hardworking Americans in the top job!
captain_spalding said:
And it really looks that way
for the good ole USA.
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:according to some commentators apparently if they were any other place in the global rules based law and orderly financial system the ussa would already be insolvent
Imagine putting a person who has been bankrupt many times into the position of running a whole country.
That was part of his original appeal: get a businessman to run the country. Never mind his bankruptcy, that’s just the radical left’s fake news. Enough of the politicians, get REAL hardworking Americans in the top job!
listening to some person in the nineteen-eighties, talking about government debt and spending, they might by interpreted as coveting the state.
and look where things are today, and I ask if such an example existed, that coveting the state was more than a theoretical possibility, what might it look like in practice.
thing about coveting is it’s distorting, and it has a long history, probably some individuals with limited meta-awareness have tendencies that way, certainly has a long history given it features in the bible, and what is different about that one commandment related you may have never asked.
It deals with that internal, workings of the mind, some flaw, known to cause troubles.
roughbarked said:
Mr Trump has revealed the great gift Iran gave him in the earlier stages of the talks — “eight boats, eight big boats” of oil passing through the Strait. “Actually, they then apologised for something they said, and they said, ‘We’re going to send two more boats’.”
man these national socialist dog whistles are getting pretty subtle
transition said:
Divine Angel said:
roughbarked said:Imagine putting a person who has been bankrupt many times into the position of running a whole country.
That was part of his original appeal: get a businessman to run the country. Never mind his bankruptcy, that’s just the radical left’s fake news. Enough of the politicians, get REAL hardworking Americans in the top job!
listening to some person in the nineteen-eighties, talking about government debt and spending, they might by interpreted as coveting the state.
and look where things are today, and I ask if such an example existed, that coveting the state was more than a theoretical possibility, what might it look like in practice.
thing about coveting is it’s distorting, and it has a long history, probably some individuals with limited meta-awareness have tendencies that way, certainly has a long history given it features in the bible, and what is different about that one commandment related you may have never asked.
It deals with that internal, workings of the mind, some flaw, known to cause troubles.
Greed is bad, sayeth the Lord.
roughbarked said:
transition said:
Divine Angel said:
That was part of his original appeal: get a businessman to run the country. Never mind his bankruptcy, that’s just the radical left’s fake news. Enough of the politicians, get REAL hardworking Americans in the top job!
listening to some person in the nineteen-eighties, talking about government debt and spending, they might by interpreted as coveting the state.
and look where things are today, and I ask if such an example existed, that coveting the state was more than a theoretical possibility, what might it look like in practice.
thing about coveting is it’s distorting, and it has a long history, probably some individuals with limited meta-awareness have tendencies that way, certainly has a long history given it features in the bible, and what is different about that one commandment related you may have never asked.
It deals with that internal, workings of the mind, some flaw, known to cause troubles.
Greed is bad, sayeth the Lord.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/oops-we-have-wrecked-another-country
JudgeMental said:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/oops-we-have-wrecked-another-country
Trump is probably in his last term, so much to do, so little time.
A bit of middle eastern history, interesting:
wait we thought disarmament was good
There’s another physical reality screaming towards the world too. The attack on Iran by the US and Israel — and the subsequent counterattack by Iran on Israel and the Gulf states — is seeing a depletion of weapons and air defences on a scale that alarms military strategists.
A paper published on the website of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) this week documented the use of various types of weapons in the current conflict and argued that the sheer volume of munitions used raise questions about how long the conflict can go on before these munitions just run out. The answer? Not very long. “A munition becomes critical when it’s replenishment is gated by thin suppliers, long qualification cycles, or constrained components like rocket motors and guidance electronics,” the paper says. The RUSI authors estimate that the Coalition forces had used “11,294 munitions in the first 16 days of the conflict, at a cost of approximately $26 billion”. Or, as German defence minister Boris Pistorius noted in Canberra this week, “the Gulf states used more interceptors, Patriots for example, in just a couple of weeks than Ukraine (used) in more than four years”. The institute’s paper says “the US military is approximately a month, or less, away from running out of ATACMS/PrSM ground-attack missiles and THAAD interceptors. “Israel is in an even more precarious spot, with its Arrow interceptor missiles likely to be completely expended by the end of March.
Apart from the fact that — wait for it — US manufacturers had not received orders for any extra munitions as of early March, there are risks that some of the components needed to make them, like sulphur, are likely to be in short supply because the Strait of Hormuz is closed. The chief executive officer of the massive German defence manufacturer Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, assessed last week that global stockpiles are “empty or nearly empty” and that if the war continues another month “we nearly have no missiles available”.
nah they’re probably just saying this as a feint to trick iran into burning off its remaining offences and leaving it’s greasy belly vulnerable
JudgeMental said:
https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/oops-we-have-wrecked-another-country
Thanks,
Robert Reich
Friends,
As we near the end of the fourth week of Trump’s war with no end in sight, I want to make sure you are aware of what he said this week, and its implications.
After Tehran dismissed his 15-point ceasefire plan, Trump claimed yesterday that Iran is “begging to make a deal” and that he wasn’t the one pushing for negotiations. (Earlier, he told Tehran to “get serious soon” about negotiating an end to the war.)
“They’ll tell you, ‘We’re not negotiating,’” Trump said. “Of course, they’re negotiating. They’ve been obliterated.” He said Iran is allowing some oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz as a “present” to show how serious it is about negotiating to end the war.
He rejected reports that he was looking for an exit ramp. “I read a story today that I’m desperate to make a deal,” Trump told reporters. “I’m the opposite of desperate. I don’t care.”
Is he naive? Ignorant? Stupid? Or does he think we’re so stupid as not to see that he’s making this up as he goes, that he has no plan, no exit strategy, no way out?
Trump — and Pete Hegseth and anyone else who may be advising him — have already blown this.
They thought the Iranian regime would fall as easily as the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. They assumed they could use air power alone. Wrong on both counts.
They overestimated the capacity and desire of Iranians to overthrow the regime.
They underestimated the regime’s resilience. They didn’t count on it expanding the conflict through the use of cheap drones aimed at closing the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting supply chains throughout the region, and raising oil prices — thereby putting mounting political and economic pressure on the United States.
They didn’t anticipate that they’d have to lift sanctions on Iran, delivering the regime a huge windfall. Nor that they’d deliver vast oil profits to Vladimir Putin.
To the extent they engaged in any planning at all, they focused on America’s military might rather than the consequences of what might happen next. But as we should have learned years ago from bombing North Vietnam, political outcomes cannot be achieved solely from the skies.
Wars are judged by how they end, not how they begin. It is still possible, although highly improbable, that America will come out of this more secure than we went into it. But wars started without clear political objectives have rarely ended well.
The Trump regime now faces the task of trying to reopen Hormuz to prevent even worse economic chaos.
Either it prolongs the war and puts boots on the ground at a significance cost of human life, or it walks away and risks further economic chaos, major damage to America’s image and influence, and an Iranian regime more committed than ever to building a nuclear bomb.
Meanwhile, the costs of this war are accelerating rapidly. The price of oil has resumed its upward trajectory and the stock market its downward drift.
The American public is paying in many ways — not just for more expensive gas but soon for more costly food due to pricier fertilizer.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has now hit 6.38 percent, the fourth increase since the war began.
The Pentagon is requesting an additional $200 billion to fund the war. This comes to more than $1,400 per American household.
More costs will emerge. The George W. Bush administration in 2003 put the cost of the Iraq War at $40 billion; it ended up costing about $3 trillion.
Soldiers who develop medical disorders or aggravate existing ones, for example, will receive lifelong benefits and medical care, as they should. If today’s troops claim such benefits at the same rate as those who participated in the 1990-91 Gulf War, this cost alone would eventually total at least $600 billion, not counting the human toll.
So far, the war has cost us more than $1.3 million per minute.
At this rate, as Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has calculated, for a bit more than two weeks of this war, we could offer free college education to every American family earning less than $125,000 annually.
For less than three weeks of this war, we could run a nationwide pre-K program for 3- and 4-year-olds. For less than 13 hours of this war, we could screen all uninsured women for cervical cancer, saving several hundred lives.
For four hours of this war we could get glasses to all 2.3 million low-income schoolchildren in the United States who need them but don’t have them. For less than three weeks of this war, we could restore health insurance subsidies that the Trump administration let expire last year and thus prevent an estimated 8,800 deaths.
For a bit more than five hours of this war, we could deworm all children worldwide. For less than five hours of this war, we could provide vitamin A supplementation for the 190 million children around the world who need it, preventing up to 480,000 child deaths each year and virtually eliminating blindness from vitamin A deficiency.
For about one day’s worth of war spending we could save more than 350,000 lives worldwide from malaria.
Most Americans oppose this war. Congress did not authorize it. It is one man’s war: Donald Trump’s. He alone decided to put us into this horrific, bloody, hugely expensive bind.
I hope and pray we come out of it without even more deaths and higher costs, but that seems improbable. The war is a deepening tragedy, a horrific waste of life and money, a mounting bill we will be paying for years to come.
Focus on this stark reality: One man has put us in this Middle East quagmire. One man is wrecking our economy. One man’s immigration agents have terrorized our neighbors and neighborhoods. One man has ridden roughshod over our system of government.
That man is not our king. He did not even win a majority of the national popular vote in 2024. (He won with a plurality of 49.8 percent, or just 32.5 percent of all eligible voters.)
He’s the only former or sitting president to have been impeached twice, the only former or sitting president to have been convicted of criminal charges (34 felony counts), the only former or sitting president to have sought to overturn an election to remain in office.
So far he has gotten away with all of this.
We will march against him tomorrow as a prelude to organizing and mobilizing to take over Congress in the midterm elections.
Someday, I sincerely hope, we will hold him accountable for the wreckage he has made of our country and much of the rest of the world.
JudgeMental said:
Robert ReichFriends,
As we near the end of the fourth week of Trump’s war with no end in sight, I want to make sure you are aware of what he said this week, and its implications.
After Tehran dismissed his 15-point ceasefire plan, Trump claimed yesterday that Iran is “begging to make a deal” and that he wasn’t the one pushing for negotiations. (Earlier, he told Tehran to “get serious soon” about negotiating an end to the war.)
“They’ll tell you, ‘We’re not negotiating,’” Trump said. “Of course, they’re negotiating. They’ve been obliterated.” He said Iran is allowing some oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz as a “present” to show how serious it is about negotiating to end the war.
He rejected reports that he was looking for an exit ramp. “I read a story today that I’m desperate to make a deal,” Trump told reporters. “I’m the opposite of desperate. I don’t care.”
Is he naive? Ignorant? Stupid? Or does he think we’re so stupid as not to see that he’s making this up as he goes, that he has no plan, no exit strategy, no way out?
Trump — and Pete Hegseth and anyone else who may be advising him — have already blown this.
They thought the Iranian regime would fall as easily as the capture of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. They assumed they could use air power alone. Wrong on both counts.They overestimated the capacity and desire of Iranians to overthrow the regime.
They underestimated the regime’s resilience. They didn’t count on it expanding the conflict through the use of cheap drones aimed at closing the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting supply chains throughout the region, and raising oil prices — thereby putting mounting political and economic pressure on the United States.
They didn’t anticipate that they’d have to lift sanctions on Iran, delivering the regime a huge windfall. Nor that they’d deliver vast oil profits to Vladimir Putin.
To the extent they engaged in any planning at all, they focused on America’s military might rather than the consequences of what might happen next. But as we should have learned years ago from bombing North Vietnam, political outcomes cannot be achieved solely from the skies.
Wars are judged by how they end, not how they begin. It is still possible, although highly improbable, that America will come out of this more secure than we went into it. But wars started without clear political objectives have rarely ended well.
The Trump regime now faces the task of trying to reopen Hormuz to prevent even worse economic chaos.
Either it prolongs the war and puts boots on the ground at a significance cost of human life, or it walks away and risks further economic chaos, major damage to America’s image and influence, and an Iranian regime more committed than ever to building a nuclear bomb.
Meanwhile, the costs of this war are accelerating rapidly. The price of oil has resumed its upward trajectory and the stock market its downward drift.
The American public is paying in many ways — not just for more expensive gas but soon for more costly food due to pricier fertilizer.
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage has now hit 6.38 percent, the fourth increase since the war began.
The Pentagon is requesting an additional $200 billion to fund the war. This comes to more than $1,400 per American household.More costs will emerge. The George W. Bush administration in 2003 put the cost of the Iraq War at $40 billion; it ended up costing about $3 trillion.
Soldiers who develop medical disorders or aggravate existing ones, for example, will receive lifelong benefits and medical care, as they should. If today’s troops claim such benefits at the same rate as those who participated in the 1990-91 Gulf War, this cost alone would eventually total at least $600 billion, not counting the human toll.
So far, the war has cost us more than $1.3 million per minute.
At this rate, as Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has calculated, for a bit more than two weeks of this war, we could offer free college education to every American family earning less than $125,000 annually.
For less than three weeks of this war, we could run a nationwide pre-K program for 3- and 4-year-olds. For less than 13 hours of this war, we could screen all uninsured women for cervical cancer, saving several hundred lives.
For four hours of this war we could get glasses to all 2.3 million low-income schoolchildren in the United States who need them but don’t have them. For less than three weeks of this war, we could restore health insurance subsidies that the Trump administration let expire last year and thus prevent an estimated 8,800 deaths.
For a bit more than five hours of this war, we could deworm all children worldwide. For less than five hours of this war, we could provide vitamin A supplementation for the 190 million children around the world who need it, preventing up to 480,000 child deaths each year and virtually eliminating blindness from vitamin A deficiency.
For about one day’s worth of war spending we could save more than 350,000 lives worldwide from malaria.
Most Americans oppose this war. Congress did not authorize it. It is one man’s war: Donald Trump’s. He alone decided to put us into this horrific, bloody, hugely expensive bind.
I hope and pray we come out of it without even more deaths and higher costs, but that seems improbable. The war is a deepening tragedy, a horrific waste of life and money, a mounting bill we will be paying for years to come.
Focus on this stark reality: One man has put us in this Middle East quagmire. One man is wrecking our economy. One man’s immigration agents have terrorized our neighbors and neighborhoods. One man has ridden roughshod over our system of government.
That man is not our king. He did not even win a majority of the national popular vote in 2024. (He won with a plurality of 49.8 percent, or just 32.5 percent of all eligible voters.)
He’s the only former or sitting president to have been impeached twice, the only former or sitting president to have been convicted of criminal charges (34 felony counts), the only former or sitting president to have sought to overturn an election to remain in office.
So far he has gotten away with all of this.
We will march against him tomorrow as a prelude to organizing and mobilizing to take over Congress in the midterm elections.
Someday, I sincerely hope, we will hold him accountable for the wreckage he has made of our country and much of the rest of the world.
I am saddened by the accounting comparisons. But I am glad someone has done the sums and written about their meanings.
Witty Rejoinder said:
Heh.
Michael V said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Heh.
Quite clever.
China has already won Trump’s impulsive war
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
March 28, 2026 — 1:45pm
The Strait of Hormuz is still closed. The only vessels making it through are Iranian tankers or cargoes moving on Iran’s say-so and mostly headed for China and India.
Iran is still fighting its guerrilla war of attrition. We are still amid of the greatest global energy shock in history. The world is still missing 14 million barrels a day (b/d) of crude oil and refined products, and a fifth of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply.
Donald Trump’s waiver on sanctioned barrels of Iranian and Russian oil adds no significant volume. Most of the barrels in transit were already part of the normal global supply. The extra “storage on water” covers the global shortfall for another 24 hours at most.
The waivers are chiefly a windfall gain for our enemies. Russia has been selling its crude in Asia at a premium over Brent, earning a $US60 ($86) bonus over mid-February levels. Ditto for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Physical deliveries of Oman Murban oil or Dubai basket going to Asia are still commanding $US145, far higher than paper futures, and a taste of what may soon be coming to Europe as the last tankers arrive from Suez before the lock-gates close.
“We are aware of what is happening in the paper oil market, including the firms hired to influence oil futures. We also see the broader jawboning campaign,” Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament, posted on X.
“But let’s see if they can turn that into ‘actual fuel’ at the pump – or maybe even print gas molecules!”
The Gulf states are still having to “shut in” a tenth of global oil production because they have run out of storage. The structural damage is still rising in a non-linear fashion as each week passes.
It will take months for Iraq to revive its oil fields even if the war ends today. It will take Qatar three to five years to repair the world’s biggest LNG facility at Ras Laffan in Doha. The International Energy Agency (IEA) says 40 energy assets have been “severely or very severely damaged” across nine countries.
“Markets do what markets do,” said Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, adding that demand destruction and higher supply from US frackers and other drillers would take care of the problem.
Such glib insouciance confirms the worst fears of outraged Gulf leaders and may well lead to profound realignment in favour of China when the dust finally settles.
Whatever happens now, as Trump blusters and bullies his way through another week, China has already won the biggest prize of the Gulf War.
Xi sounds like the voice of calm responsibility as Trump squanders US diplomatic and strategic credibility at a breathtaking pace. He just has to sit tight as the NATO alliance disintegrates.
The West was on borrowed time when Trump threatened Canada, and then Greenland, and funded a propaganda agency to destabilise Europe’s democracies. It is all but dead after insults and threats of the last month, culminating in the latest weaponisation of LNG supplies to force Europe to swallow his tariff ultimatum. The Politburo must think they have won the lottery.
Xi can smile as the Pentagon burns up its stocks of munitions and rare earth minerals, all for a diversionary war of impulse.
It is hard to overstate the damage done to American credibility in the Far East. Trump has withdrawn Patriot interceptors and a THAAD missile defence system from South Korea, the only one in Asia because they are needed in the Middle East.
He has sent a half-carrier and a naval flotilla with marines from Japan’s Okinawa to threaten – or attack – Iran’s Kharg Island. The “quick response” unit tasked with defending Asia is now in the wrong theatre.
The Centre for Strategic and Security Studies says the US fired 786 joint air-to-surface stand-off missiles (JASSMs) in the first six days of the war, at a cost of nearly $US3m per missile. It will take several years just to replace them.
It fired 319 Tomahawk missiles, 158 THAADs, 879 advanced precision-kill weapon systems (APKWSs) and a frightening number of Patriots. The figure has risen much further since then. The US is also having to replenish Saudi and Gulf armouries.
These are critical weapons for Taiwan’s defence. There will be fewer on sale to Europe for the defence of Ukraine.
‘America’s Boer War’
The issue is not that China will suddenly attack Taiwan; rather, China may not have to. The Taiwanese people can already see the writing on the wall. The Kuomintang is itching to take the island out of America’s strategic orbit and strike a deal with Xi Jinping. The Iran “excursion” pulls that forward abruptly.
Trump has greatly raised the risk that China will gain a de facto lock hold over 90 per cent of the world’s manufacturing plants for advanced semiconductors and AI chips before the US is able to replace them.
Ronald Reagan knew the limits of American power even with a 600-ship navy and rock-solid allies: Trump is trying to shake down the whole world with a 290-ship navy and largely alone.
“This is looking more and more like America’s Boer War,” said Professor Alan Riley, from the Atlantic Council. Britain won the Boer War in 1902, of course, but it exposed shocking failures in military planning and ended the wishful thinking of “splendid isolation”.
Beware of claims that China is acutely vulnerable as the world’s largest importer of oil and LNG, while America is shielded as the largest exporter. The interlinked supply chains of the global economy can work the other way round.
China is a net exporter of refined petroleum products and fertilisers, which is where the chief crunch lies in the global market. It has imposed export bans on both, trapping its output at home and reducing its immediate oil and gas import needs. Diesel prices have fallen slightly in China over recent days, decoupling from the world market.
The Communist Party is ready for a long energy siege. It controls retail energy prices and can endure the pain longer than US drivers, farmers, airlines or Republicans in Congress.
It has built an electricity grid that can rely almost entirely on domestic coal and homemade renewables operating in tandem. It has rolled out more wind and solar power than the rest of the world combined over the last two years. It can power its AI data centres with watts to spare – unlike the US, which has a near-obsolete grid and has run out of gas turbines.
Beijing has spent the last 20 years planning for this crisis, war-gaming probable US Navy plans to block the Strait of Malacca. The Party remembers all too well that the US Navy imposed a crippling oil embargo on Maoist China after the revolution in 1949.
Specifically, it took advantage of low oil prices over the past year to fill its strategic petroleum reserve as quickly as possible. It has an estimated 1.5 billion barrels, including mandated stocks held by state energy companies.
In short, China would have six months of oil import cover even if supply fell to zero, which is obviously not the case since Chinese ships are still carrying oil from the Arab Gulf states. China is still importing 80 per cent of Iran’s oil exports.
It has $US3 trillion of declared foreign exchange reserves and another $US3 trillion of quasi-reserves held by state banks. It can buy as much oil as it needs, for as long as it takes, on the open world market.
China is in deflation and therefore has a buffer against the corrosive pathologies of inflation that the rest of us face. Chinese borrowing costs have not moved since the war began. Ten-year yields are 1.84 per cent. Compare that with US Treasuries, let alone the doom loop in the UK gilt market.
Trump launched his assault on the aorta of the world’s oil economy without first refilling America’s depleted reserves even to the minimum “safe” level advised by the US energy department.
The current drawdown in concert with the IEA will leave the reserve with just 244 million barrels, below the legally permitted floor and nearing levels that risk irreversible damage to the salt caverns.
Helima Croft, a former CIA analyst now at RBC Capital Markets, said the Trump administration fooled itself into thinking that America’s shale bonanza and energy dominance were sufficient shock absorbers.
The hard reality is that US shale output has been drifting down. Data from Baker Hughes show that frackers have cut the number of active drilling rigs in the Permian basin to 243 from 300 a year ago. The industry cannot flick them back on like a light switch.
Trump had better do a deal with the Iranians soon – if he can find any interlocutor whom he has not yet killed, maimed or outed prematurely. If the Strait of Hormuz is closed for another month, it is game, set and match to the Russo-Chinese axis
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/china-has-already-won-trump-s-impulsive-war-20260326-p5zirv.html
good news nobody’s talking about the fascist paedophiles these days
LOL
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-29/strait-of-hormuz-iran-control-oil-gas-us-war-israel/106491634
magic
The Houthi attack on Israel could create a new threat to global shipping already hit by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz— the conduit for about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. The Houthis have shown an ability to strike targets far beyond Yemen and disrupt shipping lanes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea, as they did in support of Hamas in the Gaza war. If the Houthis open a new front in the conflict, one target could be the Bab al-Mandab Strait off the coast of Yemen, a chokepoint for sea traffic towards the Suez Canal.
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Israel. It’s the groups first attack since the war broke out a month ago.
Some breaking news has come through that the Houthis carried out a second attack on Israel with missiles and drones, according to the Iran-backed group. They say they’ll continue carrying out military operations in the coming days.
don’t know anything about all that but if you get tariffs in one direction and terrorism in the other direction maybe you should just buy local
SCIENCE said:
magic
The Houthi attack on Israel could create a new threat to global shipping already hit by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz— the conduit for about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. The Houthis have shown an ability to strike targets far beyond Yemen and disrupt shipping lanes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea, as they did in support of Hamas in the Gaza war. If the Houthis open a new front in the conflict, one target could be the Bab al-Mandab Strait off the coast of Yemen, a chokepoint for sea traffic towards the Suez Canal.
Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for a missile attack on Israel. It’s the groups first attack since the war broke out a month ago.
Some breaking news has come through that the Houthis carried out a second attack on Israel with missiles and drones, according to the Iran-backed group. They say they’ll continue carrying out military operations in the coming days.
don’t know anything about all that but if you get tariffs in one direction and terrorism in the other direction maybe you should just buy local
Which was always the correct advice.
Trump’s candour exposes his foolery – and Netanyahu, like Putin, plays him for a sucker
George Brandis
Former high commissioner to the UK and federal attorney-general
March 29, 2026 — 1:30pm
Among the many things that make Donald Trump such an unusual politician, one of the most striking is the way he communicates. A Trump speech or press conference is typically a weird steam-of-consciousness rant; an unpleasant melange of sarcasm, abuse, exaggeration, and falsehood. But once in a while, there comes an unguarded moment of shocking candour which, in its very spontaneity, is more authentic than the disciplined lapidary eloquence of a president like Barack Obama.
There was such a revealing moment on March 16 when Trump held a press conference at the Kennedy Centre – the Washington performing arts hall erected as a memorial to the slain president and now, grotesquely, re-named the “Trump Kennedy Centre”. The war against Iran had entered its third week and the Iranians had broadened the conflict by attacking America’s allies among the Gulf States. “They weren’t supposed to go after all these other countries in the Middle East. Nobody expected that. We were shocked.”
If, among the flurry of inconsistent explanations of American policy, there is a single statement that reveals the administration’s strategic incoherence, surely it is that. America (and Israel) attack Iran with relentless fury. Iran counterattacks against nearby American allies, many of which host US military bases. Who would have thought?
Trump’s remarks were swiftly followed by anonymous briefings – most likely from sources within the State Department and the CIA – that American intelligence assessments had indeed warned the president of that risk. The since-assassinated Iranian leadership had, in January, publicly threatened that would be the consequence of an American attack. The likelihood – or, at least, significant possibility – of such an Iranian response was the consensus of the national security community.
Only four days before Operation Epic Fury was launched, Nate Swanson, the senior professional diplomat who had been the National Security Council’s director for Iran during the Biden administration, and until last year a member of the Trump’s Iran negotiating team, published an article in Foreign Affairs – the house journal of America’s foreign policy community – in which he predicted that very thing. “If conflict with the United States deepens, Iran may seriously consider targeting the Gulf Arab states’ energy infrastructure directly,” wrote Swanson.
Reflecting on Trump’s motives, he said: “The US president is not threatening to attack Iran because of any imminent threat or in response to any act of Iranian aggression. His motives are various and unclear: he is disappointed by the negotiations’ progress, he feels compelled to defend the redline he established … he is desperate to avoid unflattering comparisons to Obama, and he believes he can undertake major operations with minimal consequences .”
Trump’s remarks at the Kennedy Centre may simply have been an attempt to conceal the fact that he had been warned of the risks of a horizontal war spreading throughout the Gulf. But, whether forewarned or not, his words can only be regarded as a frank admission that he massively underestimated the Iranian response.
Trump was certainly aware of the possibility of Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz. His hand-picked chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, expressly warned him of it, but Trump remained steadfast in his belief that the decapitation of the regime – an objective achieved in the first few hours of the conflict – would cause it to crumble or surrender.
That belief was no doubt shaped, at least in part, by Benjamin Netanyahu. But Jerusalem’s objectives, ever since the war began, have been different in important respects from Washington’s. For Israel, to which the Iranian regime is an existential threat, there is almost no cost too great to see it destroyed. For America, that too is a desirable outcome, but not a necessary one. It seems that Netanyahu has joined the growing list of world leaders, led by Vladimir Putin, who has played Trump for a sucker.
As the war enters its fifth week, virtually all of Trump’s initial expectations have been falsified. The regime has neither capitulated nor collapsed. The joke in Washington today is that Trump has indeed achieved regime change: by taking out the older generation of seasoned, more pragmatic rulers, he has replaced them with a younger generation of more belligerent officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps whose determination has only been fortified by the attacks. As American and Israeli bombs and missiles rain down with lethal force, defence of the regime has, predictably, morphed into defence of the nation.
Meanwhile, the regime’s internal critics – whom it was Trump’s original intention to empower – have been, unfairly but ruthlessly, stigmatised as apologists for Iran’s enemies.
I never cease to be amazed at the failure of America to learn the lessons of its own previous bitter experience. Vietnam proved the power of asymmetric warfare: the most powerful bombing campaign (more American bombs were dropped over Vietnam than over the whole of occupied Europe in World War II) could not defeat guerrilla forces on the ground. Afghanistan showed the quicksand nature of Middle Eastern conflicts (the very kind of entanglements that Trump campaigned to stop). And Iraq reminds us that, if you remove a strongman – however odious his regime – be careful what you wish for: you might end up with something even worse.
We cannot know what will happen in the coming weeks – or months. But a few things are already pretty clear. Russia has been strengthened. China will be emboldened. America – having failed to dislodge the regime it went to war to destroy – will be weakened. But, whatever the outcome, Trump will declare it a victory.
https://www.theage.com.au/world/middle-east/trump-s-candour-exposes-his-foolery-and-netanyahu-like-putin-plays-him-for-a-sucker-20260329-p5zjlp.html
ahahahahahahahahahahahaha
The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, the Washington Post has reported, citing US officials. The plans could involve raids by Special Operations and conventional infantry troops, it said. Whether US President Donald Trump would approve any of those plans remains uncertain, according to the Post, as the war in Iran stretches into its fifth week.
Meanwhile, Houthis have carried out a second attack on “vital military sites” in Israel with missiles and drones, according to the Iran-backed rebel group.
what a lot of words to
say that the Iranian fog of war is thick
SCIENCE said:
what a lot of words to
say that the Iranian fog of war is thick
Two thirds to go then.
It seems that the US has lost at least one AWACS, multiple KC-130’s as well as most of their ground based radars.
Kingy said:
It seems that the US has lost at least one AWACS, multiple KC-130’s as well as most of their ground based radars.
https://www.livemint.com/global/the-us-military-assets-damaged-or-lost-in-the-iran-war-11774575116076.html?openSearch=true
roughbarked said:
Kingy said:
It seems that the US has lost at least one AWACS, multiple KC-130’s as well as most of their ground based radars.
https://www.livemint.com/global/the-us-military-assets-damaged-or-lost-in-the-iran-war-11774575116076.html?openSearch=true
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Kingy said:
It seems that the US has lost at least one AWACS, multiple KC-130’s as well as most of their ground based radars.
https://www.livemint.com/global/the-us-military-assets-damaged-or-lost-in-the-iran-war-11774575116076.html?openSearch=true
yeah but is it illegal
also
MizarVision does not itself operate any satellites, but uses artificial intelligence and other remote sensing tools to rapidly scan and analyse commercially available imagery. However, the exact source of that imagery remains a matter of ongoing debate – one which the company does not disclose. One option is China’s indigenously developed Jilin-1 constellation, although there is some scepticism that the Chinese satellites can provide the quality of resolution seen in MizarVision’s images.
pretty sure the correct strategic position to take in any conflict is to assume that the enemy are incompetent
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Kingy said:
It seems that the US has lost at least one AWACS, multiple KC-130’s as well as most of their ground based radars.
https://www.livemint.com/global/the-us-military-assets-damaged-or-lost-in-the-iran-war-11774575116076.html?openSearch=true
I’ve seen pics of a destroyed C-135 of some sort, but it has a tail code that indicates that it’s from the Oklahoma Air National Guard. The OKANG does not operate E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft, but does operate KC-135 refuelling tankers.
Which is not to say that an E-3 hasn’t been destroyed.
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:https://www.livemint.com/global/the-us-military-assets-damaged-or-lost-in-the-iran-war-11774575116076.html?openSearch=true
I’ve seen pics of a destroyed C-135 of some sort, but it has a tail code that indicates that it’s from the Oklahoma Air National Guard. The OKANG does not operate E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft, but does operate KC-135 refuelling tankers.
Which is not to say that an E-3 hasn’t been destroyed.
all the reports i have read say it is an e-3 sentry aircraft from tinker airfield.
The war will last 2 weeks.
Tau.Neutrino said:
The war will last 2 weeks.
I’m sure I’ve heard that before.
JudgeMental said:
captain_spalding said:
roughbarked said:I’ve seen pics of a destroyed C-135 of some sort, but it has a tail code that indicates that it’s from the Oklahoma Air National Guard. The OKANG does not operate E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft, but does operate KC-135 refuelling tankers.
Which is not to say that an E-3 hasn’t been destroyed.
all the reports i have read say it is an e-3 sentry aircraft from tinker airfield.
Yes, E-3s do operate from Tinker, and it may well be an E-3 in the pic of a destroyed aircraft. They do also carry the OK tail code.
In case you haven’t seen any photos of the damaged plane, here’s some.
It’ll never fly again, that’s for sure.
Spiny Norman said:
In case you haven’t seen any photos of the damaged plane, here’s some.
It’ll never fly again, that’s for sure.
Yep, that fucking fucker’s fucking fucked!
Blistering hot take from WaPo here
dv said:
Blistering hot take from WaPo here
well why not in a war of self defence meaning first striking the big bad enemy to stop them from responding violently to a threatened bombing by a fascist theocracy whom it would be antisemitic to criticise
LOLWTF what’s it got to do with them
The four nations held joint talks in Islamabad on Sunday to seek a de-escalation in the US-Iran war. In a video recorded statement, Dar said all sides had expressed confidence in Pakistan’s facilitation and that China “fully supports” the initiative to host the potential US-Iran talks in Islamabad.
alleged
Iran’s attack this week on Qatar’s natural gas export facility threatens to disrupt not just world energy markets but also global technology supply chains because the helium it produces is crucial for a range of advanced industries. Helium is a byproduct of natural gas production, when it’s separated out by cryogenic distillation. Qatar, which sits on the world’s biggest single natural gas field, produces about 30% of global helium supply, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Helium is essential for manufacturing semiconductors, including the cutting-edge chips used for artificial intelligence models produced in Asian fabrication plants. It’s great at conducting or transferring heat, making it ideal for rapid cooling. Chipmakers use it to cool wafers — the discs of silicon printed with tiny electronic circuits. Helium is used during the etching process, when material that’s been deposited on a wafer is scraped away to form transistor structures, said Jacob Feldgoise, an analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. During the etching process, “you really want to maintain a constant temperature over the wafer. And in order to do that, you need to be able to draw heat away from the wafer that’s being processed,” said Feldgoise. “Helium is an excellent thermal conductor. And so chip fabs will blow helium over the back of the wafer in order to speed heat removal and keep heat removal consistent.” Under current semiconductor manufacturing processes, there’s no viable replacement for helium to cool wafers, said Jong-hwan Lee, a professor of semiconductor devices at South Korea’s Sangmyung University. And the space industry uses helium to purge rocket fuel tanks, a demand that is expected to grow because of more frequent launches by companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Helium is typically chilled by Qatar’s gas company into liquid form and stored in insulated containers for transport through the Strait of Hormuz. The specialized containers can store helium for 35 to 48 days. Any longer and they start warming up, letting the helium transform into gas that escapes through pressure release valves. About 200 of these containers are stuck in the Middle East, Kornbluth said. They cost about $1 million each, so there aren’t a lot of extra ones sitting around elsewhere.
https://fortune.com/2026/03/21/iran-war-helium-shortage-qatar-chip-supply-chains-ai-boom/
SCIENCE said:
alleged
Iran’s attack this week on Qatar’s natural gas export facility threatens to disrupt not just world energy markets but also global technology supply chains because the helium it produces is crucial for a range of advanced industries. Helium is a byproduct of natural gas production, when it’s separated out by cryogenic distillation. Qatar, which sits on the world’s biggest single natural gas field, produces about 30% of global helium supply, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Helium is essential for manufacturing semiconductors, including the cutting-edge chips used for artificial intelligence models produced in Asian fabrication plants. It’s great at conducting or transferring heat, making it ideal for rapid cooling. Chipmakers use it to cool wafers — the discs of silicon printed with tiny electronic circuits. Helium is used during the etching process, when material that’s been deposited on a wafer is scraped away to form transistor structures, said Jacob Feldgoise, an analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. During the etching process, “you really want to maintain a constant temperature over the wafer. And in order to do that, you need to be able to draw heat away from the wafer that’s being processed,” said Feldgoise. “Helium is an excellent thermal conductor. And so chip fabs will blow helium over the back of the wafer in order to speed heat removal and keep heat removal consistent.” Under current semiconductor manufacturing processes, there’s no viable replacement for helium to cool wafers, said Jong-hwan Lee, a professor of semiconductor devices at South Korea’s Sangmyung University. And the space industry uses helium to purge rocket fuel tanks, a demand that is expected to grow because of more frequent launches by companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Helium is typically chilled by Qatar’s gas company into liquid form and stored in insulated containers for transport through the Strait of Hormuz. The specialized containers can store helium for 35 to 48 days. Any longer and they start warming up, letting the helium transform into gas that escapes through pressure release valves. About 200 of these containers are stuck in the Middle East, Kornbluth said. They cost about $1 million each, so there aren’t a lot of extra ones sitting around elsewhere.
https://fortune.com/2026/03/21/iran-war-helium-shortage-qatar-chip-supply-chains-ai-boom/
Australia has plenty of natural gas
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
alleged
Iran’s attack this week on Qatar’s natural gas export facility threatens to disrupt not just world energy markets but also global technology supply chains because the helium it produces is crucial for a range of advanced industries. Helium is a byproduct of natural gas production, when it’s separated out by cryogenic distillation. Qatar, which sits on the world’s biggest single natural gas field, produces about 30% of global helium supply, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Helium is essential for manufacturing semiconductors, including the cutting-edge chips used for artificial intelligence models produced in Asian fabrication plants. It’s great at conducting or transferring heat, making it ideal for rapid cooling. Chipmakers use it to cool wafers — the discs of silicon printed with tiny electronic circuits. Helium is used during the etching process, when material that’s been deposited on a wafer is scraped away to form transistor structures, said Jacob Feldgoise, an analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. During the etching process, “you really want to maintain a constant temperature over the wafer. And in order to do that, you need to be able to draw heat away from the wafer that’s being processed,” said Feldgoise. “Helium is an excellent thermal conductor. And so chip fabs will blow helium over the back of the wafer in order to speed heat removal and keep heat removal consistent.” Under current semiconductor manufacturing processes, there’s no viable replacement for helium to cool wafers, said Jong-hwan Lee, a professor of semiconductor devices at South Korea’s Sangmyung University. And the space industry uses helium to purge rocket fuel tanks, a demand that is expected to grow because of more frequent launches by companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Helium is typically chilled by Qatar’s gas company into liquid form and stored in insulated containers for transport through the Strait of Hormuz. The specialized containers can store helium for 35 to 48 days. Any longer and they start warming up, letting the helium transform into gas that escapes through pressure release valves. About 200 of these containers are stuck in the Middle East, Kornbluth said. They cost about $1 million each, so there aren’t a lot of extra ones sitting around elsewhere.
https://fortune.com/2026/03/21/iran-war-helium-shortage-qatar-chip-supply-chains-ai-boom/
Australia has plenty of natural gas
we have fklodes of uranium too
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:alleged
Iran’s attack this week on Qatar’s natural gas export facility threatens to disrupt not just world energy markets but also global technology supply chains because the helium it produces is crucial for a range of advanced industries. Helium is a byproduct of natural gas production, when it’s separated out by cryogenic distillation. Qatar, which sits on the world’s biggest single natural gas field, produces about 30% of global helium supply, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Helium is essential for manufacturing semiconductors, including the cutting-edge chips used for artificial intelligence models produced in Asian fabrication plants. It’s great at conducting or transferring heat, making it ideal for rapid cooling. Chipmakers use it to cool wafers — the discs of silicon printed with tiny electronic circuits. Helium is used during the etching process, when material that’s been deposited on a wafer is scraped away to form transistor structures, said Jacob Feldgoise, an analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. During the etching process, “you really want to maintain a constant temperature over the wafer. And in order to do that, you need to be able to draw heat away from the wafer that’s being processed,” said Feldgoise. “Helium is an excellent thermal conductor. And so chip fabs will blow helium over the back of the wafer in order to speed heat removal and keep heat removal consistent.” Under current semiconductor manufacturing processes, there’s no viable replacement for helium to cool wafers, said Jong-hwan Lee, a professor of semiconductor devices at South Korea’s Sangmyung University. And the space industry uses helium to purge rocket fuel tanks, a demand that is expected to grow because of more frequent launches by companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Helium is typically chilled by Qatar’s gas company into liquid form and stored in insulated containers for transport through the Strait of Hormuz. The specialized containers can store helium for 35 to 48 days. Any longer and they start warming up, letting the helium transform into gas that escapes through pressure release valves. About 200 of these containers are stuck in the Middle East, Kornbluth said. They cost about $1 million each, so there aren’t a lot of extra ones sitting around elsewhere.
https://fortune.com/2026/03/21/iran-war-helium-shortage-qatar-chip-supply-chains-ai-boom/
Australia has plenty of natural gas
But is it infused with helium?
Sunday 29 March 1663
(Lord’s day). Waked as I used to do betimes, but being Sunday and very cold I lay long, it raining and snowing very hard, which I did never think it would have done any more this year.
Up and to church, home to dinner. After dinner in comes Mr. Moore, and sat and talked with us a good while; among other things telling me, that my Lord nor he are under apprehensions of the late discourse in the House of Commons, concerning resumption of Crowne lands, which I am very glad of.
He being gone, up to my chamber, where my wife and Ashwell and I all the afternoon talking and laughing, and by and by I a while to my office, reading over some papers which I found in my man William’s chest of drawers, among others some old precedents concerning the practice of this office heretofore, which I am glad to find and shall make use of, among others an oath, which the Principal Officers were bound to swear at their entrance into their offices, which I would be glad were in use still.
So home and fell hard to make up my monthly accounts, letting my family go to bed after prayers. I staid up long, and find myself, as I think, fully worth 670l.. So with good comfort to bed, finding that though it be but little, yet I do get ground every month. I pray God it may continue so with me.
Michael V said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:alleged
Iran’s attack this week on Qatar’s natural gas export facility threatens to disrupt not just world energy markets but also global technology supply chains because the helium it produces is crucial for a range of advanced industries. Helium is a byproduct of natural gas production, when it’s separated out by cryogenic distillation. Qatar, which sits on the world’s biggest single natural gas field, produces about 30% of global helium supply, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Helium is essential for manufacturing semiconductors, including the cutting-edge chips used for artificial intelligence models produced in Asian fabrication plants. It’s great at conducting or transferring heat, making it ideal for rapid cooling. Chipmakers use it to cool wafers — the discs of silicon printed with tiny electronic circuits. Helium is used during the etching process, when material that’s been deposited on a wafer is scraped away to form transistor structures, said Jacob Feldgoise, an analyst at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. During the etching process, “you really want to maintain a constant temperature over the wafer. And in order to do that, you need to be able to draw heat away from the wafer that’s being processed,” said Feldgoise. “Helium is an excellent thermal conductor. And so chip fabs will blow helium over the back of the wafer in order to speed heat removal and keep heat removal consistent.” Under current semiconductor manufacturing processes, there’s no viable replacement for helium to cool wafers, said Jong-hwan Lee, a professor of semiconductor devices at South Korea’s Sangmyung University. And the space industry uses helium to purge rocket fuel tanks, a demand that is expected to grow because of more frequent launches by companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Helium is typically chilled by Qatar’s gas company into liquid form and stored in insulated containers for transport through the Strait of Hormuz. The specialized containers can store helium for 35 to 48 days. Any longer and they start warming up, letting the helium transform into gas that escapes through pressure release valves. About 200 of these containers are stuck in the Middle East, Kornbluth said. They cost about $1 million each, so there aren’t a lot of extra ones sitting around elsewhere.
https://fortune.com/2026/03/21/iran-war-helium-shortage-qatar-chip-supply-chains-ai-boom/
Australia has plenty of natural gas
But is it infused with helium?
Is the natural gas infused with the helium ?
I read it as a by-product of natural gas production and wondered if Australia hadn’t set it up.
Its not like the Middle East is going to ever become stable so perhaps we should take up the mantle of producing it.
Cymek said:
Michael V said:
Cymek said:Australia has plenty of natural gas
But is it infused with helium?
Is the natural gas infused with the helium ?
I read it as a by-product of natural gas production and wondered if Australia hadn’t set it up.
Its not like the Middle East is going to ever become stable so perhaps we should take up the mantle of producing it.
Anyway, I guess my point is that natural gas produced in Australia right now doesn’t have much helium in it.
Qatar’s does. They separate it out.
If we had significant helium in our natural gas, we would definitely separate it out. Helium is worth a lot of money. This has happened in the past when we had sufficient helium in the gas to make it worthwhile separating it. The Darwin helium production plant closed a few years ago, when the gas field with the helium was consumed (depleted of gas).
Michael V said:
Cymek said:
Michael V said:But is it infused with helium?
Is the natural gas infused with the helium ?
I read it as a by-product of natural gas production and wondered if Australia hadn’t set it up.
Its not like the Middle East is going to ever become stable so perhaps we should take up the mantle of producing it.
Anyway, I guess my point is that natural gas produced in Australia right now doesn’t have much helium in it.
Qatar’s does. They separate it out.
If we had significant helium in our natural gas, we would definitely separate it out. Helium is worth a lot of money. This has happened in the past when we had sufficient helium in the gas to make it worthwhile separating it. The Darwin helium production plant closed a few years ago, when the gas field with the helium was consumed (depleted of gas).
favicon
Future Energy Exportshttps://www.fenex.org.au › report › opportunities-for-helium-development-in-australia
Opportunities for Helium Development in Australia – FEnEx CRC
Global demand for helium is rising, with frequent shortages and a supply-side oligopoly. Australia has an estimated 3.6 billion m3 of helium in its natural gas …
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
Cymek said:Is the natural gas infused with the helium ?
I read it as a by-product of natural gas production and wondered if Australia hadn’t set it up.
Its not like the Middle East is going to ever become stable so perhaps we should take up the mantle of producing it.
Anyway, I guess my point is that natural gas produced in Australia right now doesn’t have much helium in it.
Qatar’s does. They separate it out.
If we had significant helium in our natural gas, we would definitely separate it out. Helium is worth a lot of money. This has happened in the past when we had sufficient helium in the gas to make it worthwhile separating it. The Darwin helium production plant closed a few years ago, when the gas field with the helium was consumed (depleted of gas).
favicon
Future Energy Exportshttps://www.fenex.org.au › report › opportunities-for-helium-development-in-australia
Opportunities for Helium Development in Australia – FEnEx CRCGlobal demand for helium is rising, with frequent shortages and a supply-side oligopoly. Australia has an estimated 3.6 billion m3 of helium in its natural gas …
https://smallcaps.com.au/article/the-re-establish-australia-natural-helium-production-capabilities
International and local explorers are in a race to bring a natural helium industry back to Australia, where no local production has been available since the country’s only extraction plant in Darwin shut down in late 2023 after the depletion of the helium-rich gas supply from the Bayu-Undan field.
However, analysts see Australia as having world-class untapped resources in natural gas and helium, with recent exploration successes confirming large reserves are potentially available.
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
Anyway, I guess my point is that natural gas produced in Australia right now doesn’t have much helium in it.
Qatar’s does. They separate it out.
If we had significant helium in our natural gas, we would definitely separate it out. Helium is worth a lot of money. This has happened in the past when we had sufficient helium in the gas to make it worthwhile separating it. The Darwin helium production plant closed a few years ago, when the gas field with the helium was consumed (depleted of gas).
favicon
Future Energy Exportshttps://www.fenex.org.au › report › opportunities-for-helium-development-in-australia
Opportunities for Helium Development in Australia – FEnEx CRCGlobal demand for helium is rising, with frequent shortages and a supply-side oligopoly. Australia has an estimated 3.6 billion m3 of helium in its natural gas …
https://smallcaps.com.au/article/the-re-establish-australia-natural-helium-production-capabilities
International and local explorers are in a race to bring a natural helium industry back to Australia, where no local production has been available since the country’s only extraction plant in Darwin shut down in late 2023 after the depletion of the helium-rich gas supply from the Bayu-Undan field.However, analysts see Australia as having world-class untapped resources in natural gas and helium, with recent exploration successes confirming large reserves are potentially available.
see if the Great Men In Charge had the wisdom to go nuclear back in the day we could have just collected all the alphas and have more helium than anyone would ever need
Michael V said:
Cymek said:
Michael V said:But is it infused with helium?
Is the natural gas infused with the helium ?
I read it as a by-product of natural gas production and wondered if Australia hadn’t set it up.
Its not like the Middle East is going to ever become stable so perhaps we should take up the mantle of producing it.
Anyway, I guess my point is that natural gas produced in Australia right now doesn’t have much helium in it.
Qatar’s does. They separate it out.
If we had significant helium in our natural gas, we would definitely separate it out. Helium is worth a lot of money. This has happened in the past when we had sufficient helium in the gas to make it worthwhile separating it. The Darwin helium production plant closed a few years ago, when the gas field with the helium was consumed (depleted of gas).
Be good if it wasn’t wasted on recreational usage…
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
favicon
Future Energy Exportshttps://www.fenex.org.au › report › opportunities-for-helium-development-in-australia
Opportunities for Helium Development in Australia – FEnEx CRCGlobal demand for helium is rising, with frequent shortages and a supply-side oligopoly. Australia has an estimated 3.6 billion m3 of helium in its natural gas …
https://smallcaps.com.au/article/the-re-establish-australia-natural-helium-production-capabilities
International and local explorers are in a race to bring a natural helium industry back to Australia, where no local production has been available since the country’s only extraction plant in Darwin shut down in late 2023 after the depletion of the helium-rich gas supply from the Bayu-Undan field.However, analysts see Australia as having world-class untapped resources in natural gas and helium, with recent exploration successes confirming large reserves are potentially available.
see if the Great Men In Charge had the wisdom to go nuclear back in the day we could have just collected all the alphas and have more helium than anyone would ever need
Luckily, I have some uranium here. Would you like it? I don’t need helium that much.
furious said:
Michael V said:
Cymek said:Is the natural gas infused with the helium ?
I read it as a by-product of natural gas production and wondered if Australia hadn’t set it up.
Its not like the Middle East is going to ever become stable so perhaps we should take up the mantle of producing it.
Anyway, I guess my point is that natural gas produced in Australia right now doesn’t have much helium in it.
Qatar’s does. They separate it out.
If we had significant helium in our natural gas, we would definitely separate it out. Helium is worth a lot of money. This has happened in the past when we had sufficient helium in the gas to make it worthwhile separating it. The Darwin helium production plant closed a few years ago, when the gas field with the helium was consumed (depleted of gas).
Be good if it wasn’t wasted on recreational usage…
I guess if the price of helium goes up high enough, that wastage will be significantly reduced.
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:roughbarked said:
https://smallcaps.com.au/article/the-re-establish-australia-natural-helium-production-capabilities
International and local explorers are in a race to bring a natural helium industry back to Australia, where no local production has been available since the country’s only extraction plant in Darwin shut down in late 2023 after the depletion of the helium-rich gas supply from the Bayu-Undan field.However, analysts see Australia as having world-class untapped resources in natural gas and helium, with recent exploration successes confirming large reserves are potentially available.
see if the Great Men In Charge had the wisdom to go nuclear back in the day we could have just collected all the alphas and have more helium than anyone would ever need
Luckily, I have some uranium here. Would you like it? I don’t need helium that much.
I also have some uranium..
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
SCIENCE said:see if the Great Men In Charge had the wisdom to go nuclear back in the day we could have just collected all the alphas and have more helium than anyone would ever need
Luckily, I have some uranium here. Would you like it? I don’t need helium that much.
I also have some uranium..
Where did you get yours?
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:Luckily, I have some uranium here. Would you like it? I don’t need helium that much.
I also have some uranium..
Where did you get yours?
Wife’s sister and her husband are both consulting geologists.
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:I also have some uranium..
Where did you get yours?
Wife’s sister and her husband are both consulting geologists.
Where did they get it and in what form is the uranium?
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:Where did you get yours?
Wife’s sister and her husband are both consulting geologists.
Where did they get it and in what form is the uranium?
I believe it is the ore but I left it down the backyard years ago.
It came from Ms rb’s parents as her father had the specimen colelection of various bits of rock.
i know it is uranium because it had a bit of tape stuck to it with uranium written on it.
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:Wife’s sister and her husband are both consulting geologists.
Where did they get it and in what form is the uranium?
I believe it is the ore but I left it down the backyard years ago.
It came from Ms rb’s parents as her father had the specimen colelection of various bits of rock.
i know it is uranium because it had a bit of tape stuck to it with uranium written on it.
Not everyone can claim a small nuclear pile in the backyard just in case they ever need a few atomic weapons.
Witty Rejoinder said:
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:Where did they get it and in what form is the uranium?
I believe it is the ore but I left it down the backyard years ago.
It came from Ms rb’s parents as her father had the specimen colelection of various bits of rock.
i know it is uranium because it had a bit of tape stuck to it with uranium written on it.
Not everyone can claim a small nuclear pile in the backyard just in case they ever need a few atomic weapons.
:)
Back to Israel and war. The Israelis seem to have no regard for the press reporting the news.
It appears that dead reporters tell no tales. They did it in Gaza too.
it has to be because they know they are committing war crimes and don’t want anyone finding out.
However, they’ve admitted to editing the reporters image to falsely call him a Hezbollah spy.
Michael V said:
roughbarked said:
Michael V said:Luckily, I have some uranium here. Would you like it? I don’t need helium that much.
I also have some uranium..
Where did you get yours?
I bake my own yellow cake.
The Best Yellow Cake I’ve Ever Had
so dirty GREECE are the terrorist enablers
we knew it
The Poms are paying £1.80 per litre. That’s more than we are paying.
36 minutes ago
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says US President Donald Trump is interested in getting Arab countries to pay for the Iran war.
ah yes
of course
Anthony Albanese calls for ‘more certainty’ on US objectives in Iran war
why uphold international rules based law and order by calling out illegal violence when you can deflect and simply ask for more certainty on whether there is any future justification for it
It mentions in the news about possible destruction of a storage facility containing 500kg plus of enriched uranium.
So doing this is considered smart, uranium instead of contained is possible spread everywhere.
Cymek said:
It mentions in the news about possible destruction of a storage facility containing 500kg plus of enriched uranium.
So doing this is considered smart, uranium instead of contained is possible spread everywhere.
Bloody!
(It could be underground storage.)
Cymek said:
It mentions in the news about possible destruction of a storage facility containing 500kg plus of enriched uranium.
So doing this is considered smart, uranium instead of contained is possible spread everywhere.
I would be very surprised if that report was accurate. 500kg is enough for about 10 Hiroshima-sized atom bombs, just using raw 235U (ie without efficiency improvements like tamping.)
Cymek said:
It mentions in the news about possible destruction of a storage facility containing 500kg plus of enriched uranium.
So doing this is considered smart, uranium instead of contained is possible spread everywhere.
We’re talking about less than a cubic metre of material here so even if it were to be dispersed above ground it only going to be very localised. No worse than Chernobyl which only has a 30km radius exclusion zone.
Carrick Ryan
Even in it early stages, it is already evident that this war is causing geopolitical ripples that will transform the global political order in a way that few fully appreciate.
In that context, it’s worth considering the impact this war is having on Iran’s traditional regional rivals and long-term sectarian adversaries – the Arab Gulf states.
With the exception of Iraq, each of these states are monarchies, many of whom see the ideology promoted by the Islamic revolution as an existential threat to their power, especially in those nations with a sizeable shia minority.
Iran has it written into their constitution that they are committed to supporting “resistance” against “tyrants” around the world, and many see this as a dogmatic determination to export their theological revolution throughout the Islamic world. Their funding and arming of the Houthis, in particular, has been seen by the Saudis and Emirates as a dangerous interference on their border.
For Iraq, a fledgling democracy (in theory) where Shia’s make up 65% of the population, the influence of Iran is all encompassing. From overt interference in politics, to the funding and arming of the Shia Popular Mobilisation Forces, which boasts as many as 200,000 soldiers.
It’s a remarkable fact that the Gulf States make up a third of all US military export purchases. They make these purchases not just to arm themselves with the most advances US weaponry, but also to elevate themselves as valuable economic partners.
Last year, Saudi Arabia committed $600 billion worth of US investment over four years, the UAE committed $1.4 trillion over a decade, and Qatar signed an agreement framed as $1.2 trillion in economic exchange.
For these tiny states blessed with enviable natural resources that have transformed them into the wealthiest societies on the planet, alignment with the USA isn’t about ideology, it’s about security.
It’s often forgotten that the USA didn’t have its permanent base network in the Middle East until Saddam Hussein launched his unprovoked invasion of Kuwait in 1991. It was as a result of this war that these small states recognised the utility in having a permanent US deterrent on their soil, while the US had a clear national interest in securing their primary energy supply.
These Sheikhs, Emirs, Kings, and Sultans don’t host US bases because they’re afraid of the US, they host them because they believe that others will be afraid of them. In most instances, these states actually fund the construction and maintenance of these bases because of the security guarantee that comes with it.
As this war now creeps into its second month… these same US bases that guaranteed security, stability, and prosperity, for decades, have become a liability.
The war isn’t just erasing their reputations as safe havens for investment, they’re taking serious economic hits. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has effectively cut them off from the global market, costing around $1 billion a day in lost exports.
Qatar alone has lost nearly a fifth of its LNG capacity, with total infrastructure damage across the Gulf already estimated to be around $25 billion.
For the autocrats that hold power in the Gulf, this is far worse than an economic crisis, it threatens the social contract that guarantees the preservation of their authoritarian monarchies in return for sustained high standards of living and incredibly well funded social services.
It is possible that Trump’s ill-planned war will trigger far more than just resentment from the Gulf, but a recognition that the US is no longer the reliable security partner it once was. It is entirely plausible that Trump’s erratic and capricious behaviour towards the international community could see these incredibly important states lean closer into China’s orbit, especially if it’s found that it has far greater ability to restrain Iran than the US.
If this happens, it may be reflected upon by history as a tangible tipping point in the global balance of power.
The USS Abraham Lincoln is one of the most powerful weapons ever built. The Americans built it to park wherever they wanted and dare anyone to object. Iran objected.
The Lincoln started this war sitting 350 kilometres off the Iranian coast. Close enough to smell the place. Then something happened. Nobody agrees on what. Trump says 101 missiles were fired and every single one was knocked down. Iran says they hit it. CENTCOM says nothing came close. Everyone is lying about something, and the ship is now 1,100 kilometres away, tucked behind Oman’s coastal mountains like a man hiding behind a sofa.
That distance matters more than any press release. A carrier at 350 kilometres is terrifying. Its jets can reach Tehran in minutes. Its strike package lands before anyone has time to make a phone call. A carrier at 1,100 kilometres is a different proposition entirely. Longer missions. More tankers. More exposure. More things that can go wrong on the way there and the way back. You don’t move a ninety-thousand-ton symbol of national power three times further from the fight because the laundry room caught fire.
Which brings us to the USS Gerald R. Ford. The world’s largest aircraft carrier caught fire in the Red Sea on March 12. The blaze started in the aft laundry facility, caused a major damage control response, displaced sailors across the ship, and destroyed over 100 beds. The Navy flew a mattress airlift from a carrier still sitting in Virginia. They also collected nearly 2,000 sweatsuits to distribute to the crew because most of the laundry was out of commission. Then the Ford left the war zone entirely and sailed to Crete for repairs.
But the fire was almost a relief from the Ford’s other problem. The $13 billion ship’s vacuum sewage system, borrowed from the cruise ship industry, has been failing throughout the deployment. Out of nearly 650 toilets onboard, most have been non-functional at various points. Sailors have waited up to 45 minutes in line. The maintenance crew was working 19-hour days trying to keep up with the demand. Everything from t-shirts to a four-foot piece of rope has been pulled from the pipes. The most powerful warship ever built. Broken toilets.
So here is the full picture.
The Abraham Lincoln, pushed 750 kilometres south by something Iran apparently fired at it, is now launching aircraft on extended missions from behind a mountain range in Oman. The Gerald R. Ford, the carrier sent to replace it as the tip of the spear, caught fire and sailed to Greece. And somewhere in a Virginia shipyard, the USS George H.W. Bush is heading out to join a war that has already humiliated the first two ships sent to fight it.
This is the part the Pentagon doesn’t want to discuss at press conferences. Modern precision missiles, fired in large enough numbers, are doing something that was supposed to be impossible: making American carriers think twice about where they stand. If the Lincoln was actually struck, even once, the implications reach far beyond one ship and one war. They reach into every strategic calculation every American adversary has been running for thirty years.
The United States built its entire post-Cold War foreign policy around the ability to park a carrier strike group off your shore and explain, very politely, that the conversation was now over. That era may not be over. But for the first time in a generation, someone is making it complicated. And the Lincoln, sitting 1,100 kilometres from the action it was sent to dominate, is the clearest evidence yet that something has changed.
Nobody builds a carrier that big just to hide it behind a mountain range in Oman. And nobody sends a second one to Greece to fix the toilets.
Follow Gandalv
@Microinteracti1
https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2037823284813631634
AussieDJ said:
The USS Abraham Lincoln is one of the most powerful weapons ever built. The Americans built it to park wherever they wanted and dare anyone to object. Iran objected.
The Lincoln started this war sitting 350 kilometres off the Iranian coast. Close enough to smell the place. Then something happened. Nobody agrees on what. Trump says 101 missiles were fired and every single one was knocked down. Iran says they hit it. CENTCOM says nothing came close. Everyone is lying about something, and the ship is now 1,100 kilometres away, tucked behind Oman’s coastal mountains like a man hiding behind a sofa.
That distance matters more than any press release. A carrier at 350 kilometres is terrifying. Its jets can reach Tehran in minutes. Its strike package lands before anyone has time to make a phone call. A carrier at 1,100 kilometres is a different proposition entirely. Longer missions. More tankers. More exposure. More things that can go wrong on the way there and the way back. You don’t move a ninety-thousand-ton symbol of national power three times further from the fight because the laundry room caught fire.
Which brings us to the USS Gerald R. Ford. The world’s largest aircraft carrier caught fire in the Red Sea on March 12. The blaze started in the aft laundry facility, caused a major damage control response, displaced sailors across the ship, and destroyed over 100 beds. The Navy flew a mattress airlift from a carrier still sitting in Virginia. They also collected nearly 2,000 sweatsuits to distribute to the crew because most of the laundry was out of commission. Then the Ford left the war zone entirely and sailed to Crete for repairs.
But the fire was almost a relief from the Ford’s other problem. The $13 billion ship’s vacuum sewage system, borrowed from the cruise ship industry, has been failing throughout the deployment. Out of nearly 650 toilets onboard, most have been non-functional at various points. Sailors have waited up to 45 minutes in line. The maintenance crew was working 19-hour days trying to keep up with the demand. Everything from t-shirts to a four-foot piece of rope has been pulled from the pipes. The most powerful warship ever built. Broken toilets.
So here is the full picture.The Abraham Lincoln, pushed 750 kilometres south by something Iran apparently fired at it, is now launching aircraft on extended missions from behind a mountain range in Oman. The Gerald R. Ford, the carrier sent to replace it as the tip of the spear, caught fire and sailed to Greece. And somewhere in a Virginia shipyard, the USS George H.W. Bush is heading out to join a war that has already humiliated the first two ships sent to fight it.
This is the part the Pentagon doesn’t want to discuss at press conferences. Modern precision missiles, fired in large enough numbers, are doing something that was supposed to be impossible: making American carriers think twice about where they stand. If the Lincoln was actually struck, even once, the implications reach far beyond one ship and one war. They reach into every strategic calculation every American adversary has been running for thirty years.
The United States built its entire post-Cold War foreign policy around the ability to park a carrier strike group off your shore and explain, very politely, that the conversation was now over. That era may not be over. But for the first time in a generation, someone is making it complicated. And the Lincoln, sitting 1,100 kilometres from the action it was sent to dominate, is the clearest evidence yet that something has changed.
Nobody builds a carrier that big just to hide it behind a mountain range in Oman. And nobody sends a second one to Greece to fix the toilets.
Follow Gandalv
@Microinteracti1https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2037823284813631634
Reuters has verified photos of a US Boeing E-3 Sentry warning and control aircraft that was destroyed by an Iranian strike on the Prince Sultan air base in Saudi Arabia. Iran’s missile and drone attack on the US base, which is located about 100km south-east of the Saudi capital Riyadh, occured last Friday (March 27). The pictures were first posted on a Facebook page that shares US military news on March 29. Reuters was able to confirm the Saudi base by the runway layout, buildings, utility towers and terrain seen in the photographs, which matched satellite imagery of the area. A US official also confirmed to the news agency that an E-3 was damaged in a strike on the airbase on March 27. The US government has not officially commented on the incident but Iran’s foreign minister says its operations were aimed at “enemy aggressors who have no respect for Arabs or Iranians”, not Saudi Arabia, which it “respects” and considers a brotherly nation.
Trump is steering the world into a food crisis
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
March 30, 2026 — 7:37pm
in the Gulf has hit the epicentre of global fertiliser production. It has shut off the supply of urea, ammonia and sulphur for 27 critical days in the agricultural calendar.
China, Russia and Turkey have now greatly compounded the shortage by imposing their own curbs on fertiliser exports in recent days. Close to 45 per cent of globally traded nitrogen is cut off, disrupted or at risk.
The crunch is happening just as the big farming belts of the northern hemisphere near the spring planting season and just as Australia approaches winter planting. It is the blackest of black swans.
Abdolreza Abbassian, the former head of commodities at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation, said the markets did not yet seem to grasp the full gravity of what was already in the pipeline.
“It will be bad enough even if the Strait of Hormuz is reopened tomorrow but if the war goes on for another month or more, it is going to be a really horrifying crisis unlike anything any of us have ever seen before,” he said.
A second crisis is building up in parallel. The two risk colliding in 2027. Atmospheric scientists expect an El Niño pattern in the South Pacific this year and next, leading to hotter weather, longer droughts and lower crop yields.
A team at Columbia University has warned the world could hit 1.7 degrees above pre-modern levels in 2027, a “regime shift” that smashes through the heat thresholds of wheat and corn, and increases the risk of multiple breadbasket failures. Could it go non-linear? We will find out.
Jean-Marie Paugam, from the World Trade Organisation, said the fertiliser shock is a greater immediate threat than the oil and gas shock.
“It is the number one alert today. All the main cereals are vulnerable but so is animal feed and the effect is going to keep accumulating through next year. There are countries where people will die of hunger if they don’t get their imports,” he said.
It is costly to store fertilisers and most states work on a just-in-time basis. Global stocks are thin. Half the total inventory is in China, the one country prepared for famines.
There is no equivalent to the International Energy Agency. No global body is able to co-ordinate the release of deep reserves in an emergency. It is sauve qui peut in the world of fertilisers.
A third of global urea exports and half of sulphur exports come from Qatar and the Gulf. Some supplies are getting through from Iran but most remain locked up.
“We have 24 vessels loaded with fertilisers floating in the Gulf right now that cannot get out to the farmer-customers,” said Corey Rosenbusch, the head of the Fertiliser Institute in Washington.
China is the world’s biggest producer of fertilisers by far, accounting for 15 per cent of global urea exports and 30 per cent of phosphate fertilisers. It tightened export curbs on most of its output last week, hitting the market at the worst possible moment.
Russia is the second largest. It followed suit this week, imposing a one-month ban (for now) on shipments of ammonium nitrate in order to meet “the needs of the domestic market during the spring field work period”.
‘’It will be bad enough even if the Strait of Hormuz is reopened tomorrow but if the war goes on for another month or more, it is going to be a really horrifying crisis unlike anything any of us have ever seen before.’
Abdolreza Abbassian, the former head of commodities at the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation
Turkey has joined the stampede, even blocking the transport of urea.
Russia normally accounts for 40 per cent of the world’s ammonium nitrate exports. It will continue to supply selected countries in Africa and the “Global South” as a form of soft power diplomacy, a tool it perfected in 2022.
These export curbs are perhaps understandable. Fertiliser prices have gone mad. The three countries fear food inflation just like the rest of us. But hoarding on this scale, at this moment, has a geopolitical sting in the tail.
Global urea prices have risen 60 per cent to $US680 ($989) a tonne on the quoted world market since mid-February but that is only if you can get it.
Energy experts Argus report that Australian farmers have been paying as much as $US900, four times the pre-pandemic level.
Aussies face a double shock because the country has shut down most of its refineries and is now acutely short of diesel, sending tractor fuel costs through the roof.
America is scarcely in better shape. It imports a fifth of its applied nitrogen. The Fertiliser Institute says the US does produce its own phosphates, but it needs sulphur from the Gulf to make it possible.
American farmers were in a structural depression before this crisis because of spiralling input costs. They now face a 70 per cent jump in diesel prices. The fuel tracks the global market regardless of Donald Trump’s “energy supremacy”.
A quarter of US farmers did not pre-buy their fertilisers. None will escape the long-tail consequences later this year.
“The concern is how are we even going to get those last one million tonnes into the US that we need to plant a crop,” said Rosenbusch.
“We are a ‘just in time’ supply chain and we need that last 20 per cent to come in April and May for spring planting, and most of that – as a matter of fact all – will come from overseas.”
Poorer countries in Asia are being hit on every front. Most of their fertiliser imports come from the Gulf.
Their internal production has collapsed because natural gas shortages have doubled the cost of feedstock. The combined effect is depriving Pakistan, India and Bangladesh of two million tonnes of urea each week.
The Kharif monsoon planting season kicks off in June, but that means the supply chains must be repaired by mid-April.
“I don’t want to sound the alarm too much yet but this could be catastrophic if it lasts long,” said David Delaney, the head of the US fertiliser group Itafos, speaking to Bloomberg.
Alexandra Prokopenko, from the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, warns us to brace for three consecutive shocks in slow succession over the next year or so. The fertiliser shock is already under way. The plunge in crop yields will come in the autumn. Food inflation will follow in 2027.
“The lag is measured in seasons rather than days,” she said.
Britons may muddle through with nothing worse than 4 per cent or 5 per cent inflation and a lot of grumbling and demands for bailouts, the reflex of decadent societies.
The deeper conclusion is that Britain should no longer assume it is possible to outbid poor countries when food is scarce just because Britain is richer – and it is not that rich any more.
The survival imperative in our Hobbesian new world is to grow your own food, make your own energy and manufacture your own fertilisers.
“Our self-sufficiency has been dropping like a stone over the last decade,” said Professor Tim Lang in his wake-up report on food for the UK’s National Preparedness Commission.
“We should not be buying so much food on world markets, we should be growing it ourselves.”
If you have a garden, start planting now.
https://www.theage.com.au/business/the-economy/trump-is-steering-the-world-into-a-food-crisis-20260330-p5zjq8.html
fkn bastards always bringing other countries into this
For a petrol shortage, train was half empty/full and the freeway/highway was packed from the view on the train.
Cymek said:
For a petrol shortage, train was half empty/full and the freeway/highway was packed from the view on the train.
I wonder what fuel price will largely wean people off using their IC vehicles.
Michael V said:
Cymek said:
For a petrol shortage, train was half empty/full and the freeway/highway was packed from the view on the train.
I wonder what fuel price will largely wean people off using their IC vehicles.
$2/km
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
Cymek said:
For a petrol shortage, train was half empty/full and the freeway/highway was packed from the view on the train.
I wonder what fuel price will largely wean people off using their IC vehicles.
$2/km
Working in Perth city I can’t imagine why you’d drive unless you live in the sticks.
$2:80 one way regardless of where you live
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
Cymek said:
For a petrol shortage, train was half empty/full and the freeway/highway was packed from the view on the train.
I wonder what fuel price will largely wean people off using their IC vehicles.
$2/km
Probably. Then it would cost me $300 just in fuel to get a medical scan done, or see a Specialist Medical Professional in Gympie. And cost the same for someone in a gas-guzzler. Our car has achieved about 5.3 L/100 km for the life of the car so far. (Except 3 tank-fills.) Definitely not a gas-guzzler.
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:
Michael V said:
I wonder what fuel price will largely wean people off using their IC vehicles.
$2/km
Working in Perth city I can’t imagine why you’d drive unless you live in the sticks.
$2:80 one way regardless of where you live
we mean we drive for a variety of reasons
Hey Claude What Is A Military Industrial Complex
alleged
SCIENCE said:
asking for is some journalists who are less credulous
Hey ChatGPT
The US is estimated to be burning through high-end weapons at a rapid pace in its war on Iran and stockpiles could take years to replenish. Analysts say the weapons may not be available for use should other conflicts break out. They say the duration and outcome of the war could be affected by which side runs out of critical weapons first.
how do wars end¿
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
asking for is some journalists who are less credulous
Hey ChatGPT
The US is estimated to be burning through high-end weapons at a rapid pace in its war on Iran and stockpiles could take years to replenish. Analysts say the weapons may not be available for use should other conflicts break out. They say the duration and outcome of the war could be affected by which side runs out of critical weapons first.
how do wars end¿
Ukraine won’t be getting any weaponry from the USA. Right up Putin’s street.
The USA has allowed Russia to profit from the crisis.
Hence they can make more weapons more quickly.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:SCIENCE said:
asking for is some journalists who are less credulous
Hey ChatGPT
The US is estimated to be burning through high-end weapons at a rapid pace in its war on Iran and stockpiles could take years to replenish. Analysts say the weapons may not be available for use should other conflicts break out. They say the duration and outcome of the war could be affected by which side runs out of critical weapons first.
how do wars end¿
Ukraine won’t be getting any weaponry from the USA. Right up Putin’s street.
The USA has allowed Russia to profit from the crisis.
Hence they can make more weapons more quickly.
So in reality this war is mainly about making sure that wars don’t end unless Putin gives up.
bro
On March 19 Armin Papperger, chief executive of major German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, warned global stocks of missile interceptors needed for air defence systems were “nearly empty” as a result of the US-Israel war on Iran.
it’s been 2 weeks
so how come Iran aren’t successfully smashing through with wave after wave of 100% unstoppable airborne death
SCIENCE said:
bro
On March 19 Armin Papperger, chief executive of major German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, warned global stocks of missile interceptors needed for air defence systems were “nearly empty” as a result of the US-Israel war on Iran.
it’s been 2 weeks
so how come Iran aren’t successfully smashing through with wave after wave of 100% unstoppable airborne death
Apparently according to Trump, their armaments have been obliterated.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:bro
On March 19 Armin Papperger, chief executive of major German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, warned global stocks of missile interceptors needed for air defence systems were “nearly empty” as a result of the US-Israel war on Iran.
it’s been 2 weeks
so how come Iran aren’t successfully smashing through with wave after wave of 100% unstoppable airborne death
Apparently according to Trump, their armaments have been obliterated.
Only, I clearly hear him say; obliberated.
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:bro
On March 19 Armin Papperger, chief executive of major German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, warned global stocks of missile interceptors needed for air defence systems were “nearly empty” as a result of the US-Israel war on Iran.
it’s been 2 weeks
so how come Iran aren’t successfully smashing through with wave after wave of 100% unstoppable airborne death
Apparently according to Trump, their armaments have been obliterated.
Only, I clearly hear him say; obliberated.
I bet they have a lot hidden in reserve just in case Trump unleashes hell as he had threatened with Iran returning in kind.
Witty Rejoinder said:
roughbarked said:
roughbarked said:Apparently according to Trump, their armaments have been obliterated.
Only, I clearly hear him say; obliberated.
I bet they have a lot hidden in reserve just in case Trump unleashes hell as he had threatened with Iran returning in kind.
Clearly they have had reserves that Netenyahu and Trump didn’t know about.
roughbarked said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
roughbarked said:Only, I clearly hear him say; obliberated.
I bet they have a lot hidden in reserve just in case Trump unleashes hell as he had threatened with Iran returning in kind.
Clearly they have had reserves that Netenyahu and Trump didn’t know about.
I read somewhere that the have mobile (on trucks) short range ICBMs hidden away that they can set up in minutes with very little time for US/Israeli reconnaissance to recognise and destroy.
oblibtardated
Witty Rejoinder said:
roughbarked said:
Witty Rejoinder said:I bet they have a lot hidden in reserve just in case Trump unleashes hell as he had threatened with Iran returning in kind.
Clearly they have had reserves that Netenyahu and Trump didn’t know about.
I read somewhere that the have mobile (on trucks) short range ICBMs hidden away that they can set up in minutes with very little time for US/Israeli reconnaissance to recognise and destroy.
Sounds legit because they do. They have been able to fire a heap of missiles and drones despite all the hype.
SCIENCE said:
oblibtardated
May become the word history uses to describe the events and the tard that both caused and then ran away from leaving the rest of the world to pick up the pieces.
The military presented Trump with a risky plan to seize Iran’s uranium.
What to know: At Trump’s request, the military has come up with a plan to seize Iran’s nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium.
Details: The plan would involve flying in excavation equipment and building a runway for planes to remove the uranium.
Bloomberg Email Newsletter
…
Build a runway? WTF? Isn’t this what helicopters were invented for?
Witty Rejoinder said:
The military presented Trump with a risky plan to seize Iran’s uranium.What to know: At Trump’s request, the military has come up with a plan to seize Iran’s nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium.
Details: The plan would involve flying in excavation equipment and building a runway for planes to remove the uranium.
Bloomberg Email Newsletter
…
Build a runway? WTF? Isn’t this what helicopters were invented for?
Plus they could bring in Arnie who could yell out “Get to the choppa!”
Witty Rejoinder said:
The military presented Trump with a risky plan to seize Iran’s uranium.What to know: At Trump’s request, the military has come up with a plan to seize Iran’s nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium.
Details: The plan would involve flying in excavation equipment and building a runway for planes to remove the uranium.
Bloomberg Email Newsletter
…
Build a runway? WTF? Isn’t this what helicopters were invented for?
mr kii supervised the building of a few runways in Germany as an army engineer. I saw the grainy photos, he was so proud of them.
Witty Rejoinder said:
The military presented Trump with a risky plan to seize Iran’s uranium.What to know: At Trump’s request, the military has come up with a plan to seize Iran’s nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium.
Details: The plan would involve flying in excavation equipment and building a runway for planes to remove the uranium.
Bloomberg Email Newsletter
…
Build a runway? WTF? Isn’t this what helicopters were invented for?
V-22 Osprey would be good for that mission.
kii said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
The military presented Trump with a risky plan to seize Iran’s uranium.What to know: At Trump’s request, the military has come up with a plan to seize Iran’s nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium.
Details: The plan would involve flying in excavation equipment and building a runway for planes to remove the uranium.
Bloomberg Email Newsletter
…
Build a runway? WTF? Isn’t this what helicopters were invented for?
mr kii supervised the building of a few runways in Germany as an army engineer. I saw the grainy photos, he was so proud of them.
Apparently my grandad on my father’s side was part of the building of the WW2 runway at Gurney, in PNG.
Could always nuke the enriched uranium in an example of irony
Cymek said:
Could always nuke the enriched uranium in an example of irony
EXTREMELY bad idea sorry.
The chances of WW3 starting soon is quite tangible now, something like that would make it a certainty and also spread radioactive material around for quite some distance. A nuke making a dirty bomb.
Trump is saying that the war will last another 2 or 3 weeks.
So around 4 years then.
Spiny Norman said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
The military presented Trump with a risky plan to seize Iran’s uranium.What to know: At Trump’s request, the military has come up with a plan to seize Iran’s nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium.
Details: The plan would involve flying in excavation equipment and building a runway for planes to remove the uranium.
Bloomberg Email Newsletter
…
Build a runway? WTF? Isn’t this what helicopters were invented for?
V-22 Osprey would be good for that mission.
Which might have inspired this one from Gerry Anderson’s “UFO” show…
Spiny Norman said:
kii said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
The military presented Trump with a risky plan to seize Iran’s uranium.What to know: At Trump’s request, the military has come up with a plan to seize Iran’s nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium.
Details: The plan would involve flying in excavation equipment and building a runway for planes to remove the uranium.
Bloomberg Email Newsletter
…
Build a runway? WTF? Isn’t this what helicopters were invented for?
mr kii supervised the building of a few runways in Germany as an army engineer. I saw the grainy photos, he was so proud of them.
Apparently my grandad on my father’s side was part of the building of the WW2 runway at Gurney, in PNG.
That would have been a true adventure. I bet he had stories.
Tau.Neutrino said:
Trump is saying that the war will last another 2 or 3 weeks.So around 4 years then.
please, try to avoid such speculative negativity at this time. We will be back to subsistence level by then if the war goes on.
Neophyte said:
Spiny Norman said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
The military presented Trump with a risky plan to seize Iran’s uranium.What to know: At Trump’s request, the military has come up with a plan to seize Iran’s nearly 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium.
Details: The plan would involve flying in excavation equipment and building a runway for planes to remove the uranium.
Bloomberg Email Newsletter
…
Build a runway? WTF? Isn’t this what helicopters were invented for?
V-22 Osprey would be good for that mission.
Which might have inspired this one from Gerry Anderson’s “UFO” show…
Similar VTOL aircraft like that have been around since the 50’s. The V-22 is the first (fairly!) successful one though.
Spiny Norman said:
Cymek said:
Could always nuke the enriched uranium in an example of irony
EXTREMELY bad idea sorry.
The chances of WW3 starting soon is quite tangible now, something like that would make it a certainty and also spread radioactive material around for quite some distance. A nuke making a dirty bomb.
I wasn’t serious
Spiny Norman said:
Neophyte said:
Spiny Norman said:V-22 Osprey would be good for that mission.
Which might have inspired this one from Gerry Anderson’s “UFO” show…
Similar VTOL aircraft like that have been around since the 50’s. The V-22 is the first (fairly!) successful one though.
A number of V-22’s have crashed though.
kii said:
Spiny Norman said:
kii said:mr kii supervised the building of a few runways in Germany as an army engineer. I saw the grainy photos, he was so proud of them.
Apparently my grandad on my father’s side was part of the building of the WW2 runway at Gurney, in PNG.
That would have been a true adventure. I bet he had stories.
I imagine so – But he left my grandmother/father early-ish in WW2 though and neither of them saw or heard from him again. I only knew my grandad on my mother’s side, and he was a figure in NZ. He organised the London to Christchurch air race in 1953. (I think that was the year) He also have a famous drinking mate – Sir Hudson Fysh on Qantas fame.
I only met the Grandad a few times, I can barely remember him.
Cymek said:
Spiny Norman said:
Cymek said:
Could always nuke the enriched uranium in an example of irony
EXTREMELY bad idea sorry.
The chances of WW3 starting soon is quite tangible now, something like that would make it a certainty and also spread radioactive material around for quite some distance. A nuke making a dirty bomb.
I wasn’t serious
I just hope Shitler doesn’t take things like that as a challenge. There seems to be a lack of pushback in the military against these insane invasions. How far will they let him go?
Spiny Norman said:
Cymek said:
Spiny Norman said:EXTREMELY bad idea sorry.
The chances of WW3 starting soon is quite tangible now, something like that would make it a certainty and also spread radioactive material around for quite some distance. A nuke making a dirty bomb.
I wasn’t serious
I just hope Shitler doesn’t take things like that as a challenge. There seems to be a lack of pushback in the military against these insane invasions. How far will they let him go?
roughbarked said:
Spiny Norman said:
Cymek said:I wasn’t serious
I just hope Shitler doesn’t take things like that as a challenge. There seems to be a lack of pushback in the military against these insane invasions. How far will they let him go?
They have very real limitations. They simpy cannot expend all their munitions hardware in this conflict as they have Putin and Xi to think about.
Meh. He’ll declare victory and leave Iran and the rest of the world to deal with the problem and to get around the fact that petrol is $5/gallon he’ll nationalise the US oil industry. Problem solved.
Spiny Norman said:
Cymek said:
Spiny Norman said:EXTREMELY bad idea sorry.
The chances of WW3 starting soon is quite tangible now, something like that would make it a certainty and also spread radioactive material around for quite some distance. A nuke making a dirty bomb.
I wasn’t serious
I just hope Shitler doesn’t take things like that as a challenge. There seems to be a lack of pushback in the military against these insane invasions. How far will they let him go?
You’d hope they’d stop him if he authorised nuclear weapon
It really is possible that he’s got ideas of watching the world burn and his cronies have some idea about the rapture
Witty Rejoinder said:
roughbarked said:
Spiny Norman said:I just hope Shitler doesn’t take things like that as a challenge. There seems to be a lack of pushback in the military against these insane invasions. How far will they let him go?
They have very real limitations. They simpy cannot expend all their munitions hardware in this conflict as they have Putin and Xi to think about.
Meh. He’ll declare victory and leave Iran and the rest of the world to deal with the problem and to get around the fact that petrol is $5/gallon he’ll nationalise the US oil industry. Problem solved.
And it will be the best in the world. The best the world has ever seen. It is like he’s speaking to the newborns at every speech
Spiny Norman said:
kii said:
Spiny Norman said:Apparently my grandad on my father’s side was part of the building of the WW2 runway at Gurney, in PNG.
That would have been a true adventure. I bet he had stories.
I imagine so – But he left my grandmother/father early-ish in WW2 though and neither of them saw or heard from him again. I only knew my grandad on my mother’s side, and he was a figure in NZ. He organised the London to Christchurch air race in 1953. (I think that was the year) He also have a famous drinking mate – Sir Hudson Fysh on Qantas fame.
I only met the Grandad a few times, I can barely remember him.
What an arsehole, but fairly common unfortunately.
I never met my paternal gpa, Estonia etc. Maternal one I met a few times, like him trying to do the waltz with me a cousin Cheryl’s wedding in Rocky and I had never learned how to dance as a female because I was tall and the teachers wanted me to be a boy in the dance practices. I knew my step-gpa the best.
kii said:
Spiny Norman said:
kii said:That would have been a true adventure. I bet he had stories.
I imagine so – But he left my grandmother/father early-ish in WW2 though and neither of them saw or heard from him again. I only knew my grandad on my mother’s side, and he was a figure in NZ. He organised the London to Christchurch air race in 1953. (I think that was the year) He also have a famous drinking mate – Sir Hudson Fysh on Qantas fame.
I only met the Grandad a few times, I can barely remember him.
What an arsehole, but fairly common unfortunately.
I never met my paternal gpa, Estonia etc. Maternal one I met a few times, like him trying to do the waltz with me a cousin Cheryl’s wedding in Rocky and I had never learned how to dance as a female because I was tall and the teachers wanted me to be a boy in the dance practices. I knew my step-gpa the best.
He did pay some sort of whatever the equivalent of child support was back then, but it stopped in the 80’s we they assumed he’d died.
so if they get stranded do they socialise the losses while they privatise their cheap fare gains
Australians are choosing cheaper airfares over safer flights to get to Europe by transiting through the Middle East, despite federal government warnings about escalating conflict, airspace closures and missile strikes. The month-long war has caused chaos in one of the world’s busiest aviation regions, with thousands of flights cancelled globally since the conflict began. Middle Eastern carriers are now slashing their fares, with Sydney to London flights for next month being sold for as little as $1,400 return, while some Asian and American airlines are charging more than three times that for the same period.
Spiny Norman said:
kii said:
Spiny Norman said:I imagine so – But he left my grandmother/father early-ish in WW2 though and neither of them saw or heard from him again. I only knew my grandad on my mother’s side, and he was a figure in NZ. He organised the London to Christchurch air race in 1953. (I think that was the year) He also have a famous drinking mate – Sir Hudson Fysh on Qantas fame.
I only met the Grandad a few times, I can barely remember him.
What an arsehole, but fairly common unfortunately.
I never met my paternal gpa, Estonia etc. Maternal one I met a few times, like him trying to do the waltz with me a cousin Cheryl’s wedding in Rocky and I had never learned how to dance as a female because I was tall and the teachers wanted me to be a boy in the dance practices. I knew my step-gpa the best.
He did pay some sort of whatever the equivalent of child support was back then, but it stopped in the 80’s we they assumed he’d died.
so they assumed …
Cymek said:
Could always nuke the enriched uranium in an example of irony
if you find it underground then maybe, we heard they banned air burst tests
sounds like victory
The US embassy in Iraq has told American citizens in the country to leave now. In a statement posted on social media, the US embassy said, “Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may intend to conduct attacks in central Baghdad in the next 24-48 hours.”
“They may intend to target US citizens, businesses, universities, diplomatic facilities, energy infrastructure, hotels, airports, and other locations perceived to be associated with the United States, as well as Iraqi institutions and civilian targets,” the statement said. “Terrorist militias have targeted Americans for kidnapping. US citizens should leave Iraq now.”
SCIENCE said:
sounds like victory
The US embassy in Iraq has told American citizens in the country to leave now. In a statement posted on social media, the US embassy said, “Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may intend to conduct attacks in central Baghdad in the next 24-48 hours.”
“They may intend to target US citizens, businesses, universities, diplomatic facilities, energy infrastructure, hotels, airports, and other locations perceived to be associated with the United States, as well as Iraqi institutions and civilian targets,” the statement said. “Terrorist militias have targeted Americans for kidnapping. US citizens should leave Iraq now.”
I imagine Iraqi attitude to US people would be indifferent at best
SCIENCE said:
sounds like victory
The US embassy in Iraq has told American citizens in the country to leave now. In a statement posted on social media, the US embassy said, “Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may intend to conduct attacks in central Baghdad in the next 24-48 hours.”
“They may intend to target US citizens, businesses, universities, diplomatic facilities, energy infrastructure, hotels, airports, and other locations perceived to be associated with the United States, as well as Iraqi institutions and civilian targets,” the statement said. “Terrorist militias have targeted Americans for kidnapping. US citizens should leave Iraq now.”
Oh.
Carrick Ryan:
“There are two ways to interpret the Prime Minister’s address to the nation.
The first is the cynical lens, through which we see a politician seeking to ensure that he looks as though he’s doing something, and just trying to get ahead of any media criticism for perceived inaction, while taking the opportunity to galvanise the nation behind him.
An alternative explanation is a little more unsettling.
The Prime Minister made a point of warning “the months ahead may not be easy, I want to be upfront about that.” This was a very deliberate attempt to set the expectations of the Australian people, the storm we are only just beginning to feel will not pass quickly.
Now, it is an objective fact that even if Trump were to end his campaign tomorrow, there is no guarantee that Iran will allow all ships to pass through the Strait, and damage to energy infrastructure in the Gulf will take months to repair. So it’s quite probable that he has received advice that the full impact of this war is yet to reach our shores.
But it is noteworthy that the UK Prime Minister chose to make a similar address only a few hours later, with a similar focus on reassurance rather than substance. It’s noteworthy due to the fact that the UK is a close intelligence partner of Australia, and one can’t help but wonder if both Prime Ministers knows something that we don’t.
Trump’s address, meanwhile, appears to be attempting to sell an impending retreat as a victory. As I wrote yesterday, this is probably the best outcome for everyone if it happens. But no one can predict Trump’s impulses and emotional turns.
Trump’s primary concern seems to be the financial markets, and much of his messaging is seeking to reassure jittery investors that the worst case scenario in the Gulf is unlikely, but the impending long weekend makes me nervous. But the timing is worth noting. Good Friday creates a rare window where US equity markets are closed for three consecutive days.
I’m not suggesting a ground invasion is imminent, but if Trump was looking to escalate, Good Friday would be his best opportunity to give the order without immediately spooking the US market…
…if we can make it to Monday without any major plot twists, it becomes easier to believe this is about managing tensions rather than escalating them.”
kii said:
Carrick Ryan:“There are two ways to interpret the Prime Minister’s address to the nation.
The first is the cynical lens, through which we see a politician seeking to ensure that he looks as though he’s doing something, and just trying to get ahead of any media criticism for perceived inaction, while taking the opportunity to galvanise the nation behind him.
An alternative explanation is a little more unsettling.
The Prime Minister made a point of warning “the months ahead may not be easy, I want to be upfront about that.” This was a very deliberate attempt to set the expectations of the Australian people, the storm we are only just beginning to feel will not pass quickly.
Now, it is an objective fact that even if Trump were to end his campaign tomorrow, there is no guarantee that Iran will allow all ships to pass through the Strait, and damage to energy infrastructure in the Gulf will take months to repair. So it’s quite probable that he has received advice that the full impact of this war is yet to reach our shores.
But it is noteworthy that the UK Prime Minister chose to make a similar address only a few hours later, with a similar focus on reassurance rather than substance. It’s noteworthy due to the fact that the UK is a close intelligence partner of Australia, and one can’t help but wonder if both Prime Ministers knows something that we don’t.
Trump’s address, meanwhile, appears to be attempting to sell an impending retreat as a victory. As I wrote yesterday, this is probably the best outcome for everyone if it happens. But no one can predict Trump’s impulses and emotional turns.
Trump’s primary concern seems to be the financial markets, and much of his messaging is seeking to reassure jittery investors that the worst case scenario in the Gulf is unlikely, but the impending long weekend makes me nervous. But the timing is worth noting. Good Friday creates a rare window where US equity markets are closed for three consecutive days.
I’m not suggesting a ground invasion is imminent, but if Trump was looking to escalate, Good Friday would be his best opportunity to give the order without immediately spooking the US market…
…if we can make it to Monday without any major plot twists, it becomes easier to believe this is about managing tensions rather than escalating them.”
Do people believe Australia has much if any influence to change events going on in the Middle East.
I imagine our Prime Minister isn’t going to say, to be honest nothing we can do, you’ll just have to suffer
Its not incompetence its reality
SCIENCE said:
sounds like victory
The US embassy in Iraq has told American citizens in the country to leave now. In a statement posted on social media, the US embassy said, “Iraqi terrorist militia groups aligned with Iran may intend to conduct attacks in central Baghdad in the next 24-48 hours.”
“They may intend to target US citizens, businesses, universities, diplomatic facilities, energy infrastructure, hotels, airports, and other locations perceived to be associated with the United States, as well as Iraqi institutions and civilian targets,” the statement said. “Terrorist militias have targeted Americans for kidnapping. US citizens should leave Iraq now.”
kii said:
Carrick Ryan:“There are two ways to interpret the Prime Minister’s address to the nation.
The first is the cynical lens, through which we see a politician seeking to ensure that he looks as though he’s doing something, and just trying to get ahead of any media criticism for perceived inaction, while taking the opportunity to galvanise the nation behind him.
An alternative explanation is a little more unsettling.
The Prime Minister made a point of warning “the months ahead may not be easy, I want to be upfront about that.” This was a very deliberate attempt to set the expectations of the Australian people, the storm we are only just beginning to feel will not pass quickly.
Now, it is an objective fact that even if Trump were to end his campaign tomorrow, there is no guarantee that Iran will allow all ships to pass through the Strait, and damage to energy infrastructure in the Gulf will take months to repair. So it’s quite probable that he has received advice that the full impact of this war is yet to reach our shores.
But it is noteworthy that the UK Prime Minister chose to make a similar address only a few hours later, with a similar focus on reassurance rather than substance. It’s noteworthy due to the fact that the UK is a close intelligence partner of Australia, and one can’t help but wonder if both Prime Ministers knows something that we don’t.
Trump’s address, meanwhile, appears to be attempting to sell an impending retreat as a victory. As I wrote yesterday, this is probably the best outcome for everyone if it happens. But no one can predict Trump’s impulses and emotional turns.
Trump’s primary concern seems to be the financial markets, and much of his messaging is seeking to reassure jittery investors that the worst case scenario in the Gulf is unlikely, but the impending long weekend makes me nervous. But the timing is worth noting. Good Friday creates a rare window where US equity markets are closed for three consecutive days.
I’m not suggesting a ground invasion is imminent, but if Trump was looking to escalate, Good Friday would be his best opportunity to give the order without immediately spooking the US market…
…if we can make it to Monday without any major plot twists, it becomes easier to believe this is about managing tensions rather than escalating them.”
Pharque. Feed my paranoia about Trump and this war.
Cymek said:
kii said:
Carrick Ryan:
“There are two ways to interpret the Prime Minister’s address to the nation.
The first is the cynical lens, through which we see a politician seeking to ensure that he looks as though he’s doing something, and just trying to get ahead of any media criticism for perceived inaction, while taking the opportunity to galvanise the nation behind him.
An alternative explanation is a little more unsettling.
The Prime Minister made a point of warning “the months ahead may not be easy, I want to be upfront about that.” This was a very deliberate attempt to set the expectations of the Australian people, the storm we are only just beginning to feel will not pass quickly.
Now, it is an objective fact that even if Trump were to end his campaign tomorrow, there is no guarantee that Iran will allow all ships to pass through the Strait, and damage to energy infrastructure in the Gulf will take months to repair. So it’s quite probable that he has received advice that the full impact of this war is yet to reach our shores.
But it is noteworthy that the UK Prime Minister chose to make a similar address only a few hours later, with a similar focus on reassurance rather than substance. It’s noteworthy due to the fact that the UK is a close intelligence partner of Australia, and one can’t help but wonder if both Prime Ministers knows something that we don’t.
Trump’s address, meanwhile, appears to be attempting to sell an impending retreat as a victory. As I wrote yesterday, this is probably the best outcome for everyone if it happens. But no one can predict Trump’s impulses and emotional turns.
Trump’s primary concern seems to be the financial markets, and much of his messaging is seeking to reassure jittery investors that the worst case scenario in the Gulf is unlikely, but the impending long weekend makes me nervous. But the timing is worth noting. Good Friday creates a rare window where US equity markets are closed for three consecutive days.
I’m not suggesting a ground invasion is imminent, but if Trump was looking to escalate, Good Friday would be his best opportunity to give the order without immediately spooking the US market…
…if we can make it to Monday without any major plot twists, it becomes easier to believe this is about managing tensions rather than escalating them.”
Do people believe Australia has much if any influence to change events going on in the Middle East.
I imagine our Prime Minister isn’t going to say, to be honest nothing we can do, you’ll just have to suffer
Its not incompetence its reality
maybe if sovereign countries called it when it came and didn’t keep trying to appease and enable supposed allies spiralling into fascism then they wouldn’t feel so ready to arrogantly push others around
so in fact both ways are the same cynical lens way
SCIENCE said:
Cymek said:
kii said:
Carrick Ryan:
“There are two ways to interpret the Prime Minister’s address to the nation.
The first is the cynical lens, through which we see a politician seeking to ensure that he looks as though he’s doing something, and just trying to get ahead of any media criticism for perceived inaction, while taking the opportunity to galvanise the nation behind him.
An alternative explanation is a little more unsettling.
The Prime Minister made a point of warning “the months ahead may not be easy, I want to be upfront about that.” This was a very deliberate attempt to set the expectations of the Australian people, the storm we are only just beginning to feel will not pass quickly.
Now, it is an objective fact that even if Trump were to end his campaign tomorrow, there is no guarantee that Iran will allow all ships to pass through the Strait, and damage to energy infrastructure in the Gulf will take months to repair. So it’s quite probable that he has received advice that the full impact of this war is yet to reach our shores.
But it is noteworthy that the UK Prime Minister chose to make a similar address only a few hours later, with a similar focus on reassurance rather than substance. It’s noteworthy due to the fact that the UK is a close intelligence partner of Australia, and one can’t help but wonder if both Prime Ministers knows something that we don’t.
Trump’s address, meanwhile, appears to be attempting to sell an impending retreat as a victory. As I wrote yesterday, this is probably the best outcome for everyone if it happens. But no one can predict Trump’s impulses and emotional turns.
Trump’s primary concern seems to be the financial markets, and much of his messaging is seeking to reassure jittery investors that the worst case scenario in the Gulf is unlikely, but the impending long weekend makes me nervous. But the timing is worth noting. Good Friday creates a rare window where US equity markets are closed for three consecutive days.
I’m not suggesting a ground invasion is imminent, but if Trump was looking to escalate, Good Friday would be his best opportunity to give the order without immediately spooking the US market…
…if we can make it to Monday without any major plot twists, it becomes easier to believe this is about managing tensions rather than escalating them.”
Do people believe Australia has much if any influence to change events going on in the Middle East.
I imagine our Prime Minister isn’t going to say, to be honest nothing we can do, you’ll just have to suffer
Its not incompetence its reality
maybe if sovereign countries called it when it came and didn’t keep trying to appease and enable supposed allies spiralling into fascism then they wouldn’t feel so ready to arrogantly push others around
so in fact both ways are the same cynical lens way
I think that allies have always been wary of the USA as a bully whose has some idea its morally superior.
They confuse economic and military might as being the metric by which you are judged as being the best.
It doesn’t matter how people themselves are treated, its might is right that counts.
Human nature and emotionally maturity has never grown with our technology and its almost toddler like.
roughbarked said:
kii said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
so if they get stranded do they socialise the losses while they privatise their cheap fare gains
Australians are choosing cheaper airfares over safer flights to get to Europe by transiting through the Middle East, despite federal government warnings about escalating conflict, airspace closures and missile strikes. The month-long war has caused chaos in one of the world’s busiest aviation regions, with thousands of flights cancelled globally since the conflict began. Middle Eastern carriers are now slashing their fares, with Sydney to London flights for next month being sold for as little as $1,400 return, while some Asian and American airlines are charging more than three times that for the same period.
Middle Eastern carriers are now slashing their fares, with Sydney to London flights for next month being sold for as little as $1,400 return, while some Asian and American airlines are charging more than three times that for the same period.
and Australians are taking the risk.
Reference?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-04-02/travel-middle-east-stop-over-flights-australia/106519716 You don’t watch the news?
so if they get stranded do they still get consular assistance on the tab of the hardworking Aussie battling taxpayer
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:Cymek said:
Do people believe Australia has much if any influence to change events going on in the Middle East.
I imagine our Prime Minister isn’t going to say, to be honest nothing we can do, you’ll just have to suffer
Its not incompetence its reality
maybe if sovereign countries called it when it came and didn’t keep trying to appease and enable supposed allies spiralling into fascism then they wouldn’t feel so ready to arrogantly push others around
so in fact both ways are the same cynical lens way
I think that allies have always been wary of the USA as a bully whose has some idea its morally superior.
They confuse economic and military might as being the metric by which you are judged as being the best.
It doesn’t matter how people themselves are treated, its might is right that counts.
Human nature and emotionally maturity has never grown with our technology and its almost toddler like.
You assume everyone shares your anti-Americanism.
yeah not sure that constantly giving bad actors free passes is a reliable indicator of wariness
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:
SCIENCE said:maybe if sovereign countries called it when it came and didn’t keep trying to appease and enable supposed allies spiralling into fascism then they wouldn’t feel so ready to arrogantly push others around
so in fact both ways are the same cynical lens way
I think that allies have always been wary of the USA as a bully whose has some idea its morally superior.
They confuse economic and military might as being the metric by which you are judged as being the best.
It doesn’t matter how people themselves are treated, its might is right that counts.
Human nature and emotionally maturity has never grown with our technology and its almost toddler like.
You assume everyone shares your anti-Americanism.
I think people in general are stupid not seeing how dangerous they are
Now we see just how dangerous they are
Cymek said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:I think that allies have always been wary of the USA as a bully whose has some idea its morally superior.
They confuse economic and military might as being the metric by which you are judged as being the best.
It doesn’t matter how people themselves are treated, its might is right that counts.
Human nature and emotionally maturity has never grown with our technology and its almost toddler like.
You assume everyone shares your anti-Americanism.
I think people in general are stupid not seeing how dangerous they are
Now we see just how dangerous they are
Like I said they have killed millions in the name of security and freedom
No different to all the other nasty empires that existed and to come.
Power corrupts and those that seek it are extremely dangerous
Now though we can destroy our planet at the whim of mad men
Cymek said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
Cymek said:I think that allies have always been wary of the USA as a bully whose has some idea its morally superior.
They confuse economic and military might as being the metric by which you are judged as being the best.
It doesn’t matter how people themselves are treated, its might is right that counts.
Human nature and emotionally maturity has never grown with our technology and its almost toddler like.
You assume everyone shares your anti-Americanism.
I think people in general are stupid not seeing how dangerous they are
Now we see just how dangerous they are
Say that about any other country and you’d be labelled a bigot.
Cymek said:
Cymek said:
Witty Rejoinder said:
You assume everyone shares your anti-Americanism.
I think people in general are stupid not seeing how dangerous they are
Now we see just how dangerous they are
Like I said they have killed millions in the name of security and freedom
No different to all the other nasty empires that existed and to come.
Power corrupts and those that seek it are extremely dangerous
Now though we can destroy our planet at the whim of mad men
how dare you say that about other nasty empires
get that next level entertainment
SCIENCE said:
get that next level entertainment
oh
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
get that next level entertainment
oh
They won Vietnam?
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
get that next level entertainment
oh
They won Vietnam?
and Afghanistan apparently
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
oh
They won Vietnam?
and Afghanistan apparently
They never lose in the movies either.
roughbarked said:
SCIENCE said:
roughbarked said:
They won Vietnam?
and Afghanistan apparently
They never lose in the movies either.
LOL fair point
ruby said:
Heh.
I’m stealing that …
ruby said:
LOLOL
THE WHOLE WORLD JUST TOLD TRUMP TO GET FUCKED
When the Pope, Poland and the Swiss Are All Done With You, Maybe You’re the Problem
ruby said:
lol.
A full frontal lobotomy wouldn’t make any recognisable difference.
LOL
says the international-rules-based-law-and-order-disrespecting bully that has had no compunction about using military means for all manner of things continually for the past 30 years
wait
did they
kii said:
THE WHOLE WORLD JUST TOLD TRUMP TO GET FUCKED
When the Pope, Poland and the Swiss Are All Done With You, Maybe You’re the Problem
wait we thought Angus Taylor told something different
SCIENCE said:
kii said:
THE WHOLE WORLD JUST TOLD TRUMP TO GET FUCKED
When the Pope, Poland and the Swiss Are All Done With You, Maybe You’re the Problem
wait we thought Angus Taylor told something different
aha what a genius
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has issued a response to Anthony Albanese’s national address last night.
“Last night when the prime minister addressed the nation, Australians were expecting answers and details. They received neither,” he said. “Unlike the prime minister, I’m not going to talk down to you.”
Taylor provided a pun on the Albanese government’s actions on the crisis. He said “the only thing the government has fuelled is confusion”.
“Australians deserve two things in this difficult period. You deserve clarity and leadership,” he said. “Regrettably both have been absent from our government.”
He then spoke about “persistent Coalition questioning” for the Albanese government to release information about the plan to tackle the fuel crisis in Australia.
yeah nice answers and details there mate, tell us about your answers and details
what the fuck
Kingy said:
ruby said:
lol.
A full frontal lobotomy wouldn’t make any recognisable difference.
Which reminds me of:
7 years since that first appeared!
SCIENCE said:
SCIENCE said:
kii said:
THE WHOLE WORLD JUST TOLD TRUMP TO GET FUCKED
When the Pope, Poland and the Swiss Are All Done With You, Maybe You’re the Problem
wait we thought Angus Taylor told something different
aha what a genius
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has issued a response to Anthony Albanese’s national address last night.
“Last night when the prime minister addressed the nation, Australians were expecting answers and details. They received neither,” he said. “Unlike the prime minister, I’m not going to talk down to you.”
Taylor provided a pun on the Albanese government’s actions on the crisis. He said “the only thing the government has fuelled is confusion”.
“Australians deserve two things in this difficult period. You deserve clarity and leadership,” he said. “Regrettably both have been absent from our government.”
He then spoke about “persistent Coalition questioning” for the Albanese government to release information about the plan to tackle the fuel crisis in Australia.
yeah nice answers and details there mate, tell us about your answers and details
what the fuck
Another stable genius.
ruby said:
Rofl
Michael V said:
kii said:
Carrick Ryan:“There are two ways to interpret the Prime Minister’s address to the nation.
The first is the cynical lens, through which we see a politician seeking to ensure that he looks as though he’s doing something, and just trying to get ahead of any media criticism for perceived inaction, while taking the opportunity to galvanise the nation behind him.
An alternative explanation is a little more unsettling.
The Prime Minister made a point of warning “the months ahead may not be easy, I want to be upfront about that.” This was a very deliberate attempt to set the expectations of the Australian people, the storm we are only just beginning to feel will not pass quickly.
Now, it is an objective fact that even if Trump were to end his campaign tomorrow, there is no guarantee that Iran will allow all ships to pass through the Strait, and damage to energy infrastructure in the Gulf will take months to repair. So it’s quite probable that he has received advice that the full impact of this war is yet to reach our shores.
But it is noteworthy that the UK Prime Minister chose to make a similar address only a few hours later, with a similar focus on reassurance rather than substance. It’s noteworthy due to the fact that the UK is a close intelligence partner of Australia, and one can’t help but wonder if both Prime Ministers knows something that we don’t.
Trump’s address, meanwhile, appears to be attempting to sell an impending retreat as a victory. As I wrote yesterday, this is probably the best outcome for everyone if it happens. But no one can predict Trump’s impulses and emotional turns.
Trump’s primary concern seems to be the financial markets, and much of his messaging is seeking to reassure jittery investors that the worst case scenario in the Gulf is unlikely, but the impending long weekend makes me nervous. But the timing is worth noting. Good Friday creates a rare window where US equity markets are closed for three consecutive days.
I’m not suggesting a ground invasion is imminent, but if Trump was looking to escalate, Good Friday would be his best opportunity to give the order without immediately spooking the US market…
…if we can make it to Monday without any major plot twists, it becomes easier to believe this is about managing tensions rather than escalating them.”
Pharque. Feed my paranoia about Trump and this war.
“The Prime Minister made a point of warning “the months ahead may not be easy, I want to be upfront about that.” This was a very deliberate attempt to set the expectations of the Australian people, the storm we are only just beginning to feel will not pass quickly.”
This was my takeaway from his speech. On the radio yesterday morning, they quoted someone as saying fuel supply was uncertain after mid-May (I missed who said it).
Divine Angel said:
Michael V said:
kii said:
Carrick Ryan:
“There are two ways to interpret the Prime Minister’s address to the nation.
The first is the cynical lens, through which we see a politician seeking to ensure that he looks as though he’s doing something, and just trying to get ahead of any media criticism for perceived inaction, while taking the opportunity to galvanise the nation behind him.
An alternative explanation is a little more unsettling.
The Prime Minister made a point of warning “the months ahead may not be easy, I want to be upfront about that.” This was a very deliberate attempt to set the expectations of the Australian people, the storm we are only just beginning to feel will not pass quickly.
Now, it is an objective fact that even if Trump were to end his campaign tomorrow, there is no guarantee that Iran will allow all ships to pass through the Strait, and damage to energy infrastructure in the Gulf will take months to repair. So it’s quite probable that he has received advice that the full impact of this war is yet to reach our shores.
But it is noteworthy that the UK Prime Minister chose to make a similar address only a few hours later, with a similar focus on reassurance rather than substance. It’s noteworthy due to the fact that the UK is a close intelligence partner of Australia, and one can’t help but wonder if both Prime Ministers knows something that we don’t.
Trump’s address, meanwhile, appears to be attempting to sell an impending retreat as a victory. As I wrote yesterday, this is probably the best outcome for everyone if it happens. But no one can predict Trump’s impulses and emotional turns.
Trump’s primary concern seems to be the financial markets, and much of his messaging is seeking to reassure jittery investors that the worst case scenario in the Gulf is unlikely, but the impending long weekend makes me nervous. But the timing is worth noting. Good Friday creates a rare window where US equity markets are closed for three consecutive days.
I’m not suggesting a ground invasion is imminent, but if Trump was looking to escalate, Good Friday would be his best opportunity to give the order without immediately spooking the US market…
…if we can make it to Monday without any major plot twists, it becomes easier to believe this is about managing tensions rather than escalating them.”
Pharque. Feed my paranoia about Trump and this war.
“The Prime Minister made a point of warning “the months ahead may not be easy, I want to be upfront about that.” This was a very deliberate attempt to set the expectations of the Australian people, the storm we are only just beginning to feel will not pass quickly.”
This was my takeaway from his speech. On the radio yesterday morning, they quoted someone as saying fuel supply was uncertain after mid-May (I missed who said it).
well he’s late, we mean what was all the supposed panic buying about
fuck these leaders leading from the back
Divine Angel said:
Michael V said:
kii said:
Carrick Ryan:“There are two ways to interpret the Prime Minister’s address to the nation.
The first is the cynical lens, through which we see a politician seeking to ensure that he looks as though he’s doing something, and just trying to get ahead of any media criticism for perceived inaction, while taking the opportunity to galvanise the nation behind him.
An alternative explanation is a little more unsettling.
The Prime Minister made a point of warning “the months ahead may not be easy, I want to be upfront about that.” This was a very deliberate attempt to set the expectations of the Australian people, the storm we are only just beginning to feel will not pass quickly.
Now, it is an objective fact that even if Trump were to end his campaign tomorrow, there is no guarantee that Iran will allow all ships to pass through the Strait, and damage to energy infrastructure in the Gulf will take months to repair. So it’s quite probable that he has received advice that the full impact of this war is yet to reach our shores.
But it is noteworthy that the UK Prime Minister chose to make a similar address only a few hours later, with a similar focus on reassurance rather than substance. It’s noteworthy due to the fact that the UK is a close intelligence partner of Australia, and one can’t help but wonder if both Prime Ministers knows something that we don’t.
Trump’s address, meanwhile, appears to be attempting to sell an impending retreat as a victory. As I wrote yesterday, this is probably the best outcome for everyone if it happens. But no one can predict Trump’s impulses and emotional turns.
Trump’s primary concern seems to be the financial markets, and much of his messaging is seeking to reassure jittery investors that the worst case scenario in the Gulf is unlikely, but the impending long weekend makes me nervous. But the timing is worth noting. Good Friday creates a rare window where US equity markets are closed for three consecutive days.
I’m not suggesting a ground invasion is imminent, but if Trump was looking to escalate, Good Friday would be his best opportunity to give the order without immediately spooking the US market…
…if we can make it to Monday without any major plot twists, it becomes easier to believe this is about managing tensions rather than escalating them.”
Pharque. Feed my paranoia about Trump and this war.
“The Prime Minister made a point of warning “the months ahead may not be easy, I want to be upfront about that.” This was a very deliberate attempt to set the expectations of the Australian people, the storm we are only just beginning to feel will not pass quickly.”
This was my takeaway from his speech. On the radio yesterday morning, they quoted someone as saying fuel supply was uncertain after mid-May (I missed who said it).
Yeah. The tankers that did not get blocked still haven’t reached their destinations and the ones that are blocked, well they aren’t coming.
