Ed Israel/US Attacks Iran /Yet Another Country/Iran

[Lukraak_Sisser]

True. But it hasn't cost their politicians any votes so far, so it's tolerable.

And yet, in one fell swoop Trump has caused more damage in Europe in one year then Iran in 40 years.

 

[Darat]

Why do you assume he didn't? Do you think it would have changed his decision if he did?
The US doesn't depend on shipping through Hormuz.

Yes it does.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Send warships to escort European shipping through the straits. Defend those ships against anyone who attacks them.

That's a possible strategy.

I wonder what percentage of successful transits would make it cost-effective. What do you think? If you only lost, say, one in ten, or one in twenty tankers, would it still pay off, and would you still get crews for the next voyages? If you lost a destroyer every hundred or so missions would that be okay or is it cheaper to just wait it out?

Is Trump still offering to cover insurance? He said the US IDFC would act as an insurer of last resort but IKD if it happened or if it was just hot air.

 

[Jack by the hedge]

I think we should pay the toll, why the hell not? It doesn't seem to be that much financially...

If it brings the price of oil down it will be self-financing.

 

[llwyd]

Yes it does.

Yeah, we are in a largely global free market economy, just as the US has wished for since the WW2 - so the price of oil is in effect global, affecting the USA just like the rest of the world. Of course you can impose export restrictions, Stephen Millerish 1930's style, closed trading blocks, bit like socialism

 

[Ziggurat]

I think we should pay the toll, why the hell not?

Because you're rewarding Iran for holding your economic interests hostage.

Paying ransom has a long European tradition, so perhaps I shouldn't expect anything else. Once you pay the Danegeld....

The rule based world order used to mean things

Yes, it did. Including not having to pay ransom in order to sail international waters.

 

[Emily's Cat]

You’re the one using the PC pronouns

Nah. I use pronouns that are entirely devoid of the trappings of sex and gender. Be thankful I haven't gone so far as to call everyone "it".

 

[Emily's Cat]

Wow. It really is a cult.
Did your family sit around the tv slow clapping in unison to that “joke”?

You'd probably have a more content life if you grew some humor and didn't take everything Trump says so seriously.

 

[Emily's Cat]

By the way, none of the Hezbollah guys are answering my calls to their pagers.

The pagers were wired into their vests...

 

[Emily's Cat]

Hezbollah and Hamas are not freedom fighters. They want nothing to do with freedom. No Islamic terrorist organization does.

They're "fighting" to free the western world from the horrors of democracy. You know, by blowing up and killing innocent civilians.

 

[carlosy]

I still find it almost unbelievable that the very stable genius did not see the Hormuz Strait closure as an obvious consequence of attacking Iran.

Maybe he did, or at least the people whispering in his ear. More ◊◊◊◊ flooding the zone, more chaos, more opportunities to blame others, another chance to hit and compromise Europe.

Who could resist that?

 

[sinnikal]

...

Paying ransom has a long European tradition, so perhaps I shouldn't expect anything else. Once you pay the Danegeld....

...

Errr, Iran/Contra comes to mind.
Your knowledge of history is somewhat, ... , selective.

 

[Emily's Cat]

How to treat your allies

President Trump mocks Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Bin Salman:

“He didn’t think he would be kissing my ass, he really didn’t…and now he has to be nice to me….he better be nice to me, he’s gotta be..”

I'm sure you hold the same view about the leaders of other countries mocking Trump, right?

 

[Steve]

I'm sure you hold the same view about the leaders of other countries mocking Trump, right?

Trump is so, so mockable. Fish in a barrel mockable. It is his default setting. Even national leaders, who unlike Trump, are mostly quite diplomatic, find it hard to resist.

 

[Emily's Cat]

I think you don't understand how sanctions on Cuba work. Cuba isn't allowed to purchase oil from the US (strictly speaking US comapanies aren't allowed to sell oil).

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article314835809.html

US private companies are allowed to sell to cuba, but the US government cannot.

 

[Lukraak_Sisser]

They're "fighting" to free the western world from the horrors of democracy. You know, by blowing up and killing innocent civilians.

I'm not sure, are you talking about Iran or Trump? Because this comment could apply to both. Though when it comes to killing civilians Trump is clearly better at it.

 

[Steve]

Because you're rewarding Iran for holding your economic interests hostage.

Trump tariffs,.

 

[llwyd]

Yes, it did. Including not having to pay ransom in order to sail international waters.

Yeah, so last season. Like Nato and the whole post-war rule based international order painstakingly built by the USA. So what the hell, why not? The US obviously doesn't care, so why should Europe?

 

[Planigale]

Policing? Are you inviting China to arrest you for starting a shooting war in 'their' strait?

China seems to be getting its oil fine, sometimes violence isn't the answer.

 

[Andy_Ross]

US President Donald Trump has shared a video on social media of a strike on a bridge in Karaj, Iran.

Video shows the bridge going up in a fiery plume of smoke after an airstrike earlier today. The Israeli Defense Forces had previously told the BBC that they were unaware of the strike.

Trump is now seemingly claiming US responsibility for it.

"The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow! IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY!" the president wrote on his platform Truth Social.

Updates: Iranian bridge cut in half by strike as Trump warns ‘more to follow’

Local officials say two people were killed by the strike on the under-construction bridge in Karaj, a city west of Tehran.

www.bbc.co.uk