Somewhere in amongst all this they'll be buying assets for cents on the dollar, shorting currency, trading fracking rights for US oil or God only knows what else.
It's a mind boggling heist underway. Alistair Campbell was saying that within his entourage at Davos he had people there solely to capitalise on market movements to whatever shite he was spouting.
The forced move to take the US operations of TikTok under domestic control attracted an unprecedented $10b 'brokerage' fee payable to the US government. That was buried under storm of tomahawks last week. Just one example.
To TACO or not to TACO, that is the question. My money on TACO to save the midterms, claim false victory and leave Ben on his own after their spat.
As bonkers as what it is that someone as dumb and corrupt as Trump gets to be USA president, he manages to do it 2x .. it's astounding he has managed to stay there because every single day since he took over last year he has said or done something previous presidents would probably have been removed for.
The movies about this crazy last 12mnths are going to be Oscar winning. Trump will get his immortality - however it will be a legacy of shame like Francisco Nguema .. mad & bad in equal amounts.
Reports (telegraph and others) that Putin has told trump to leave Ukraine hanging and in return he'll stop giving Iran intel.
And there ladies and gentlemen is where the power is Trumpuppet's strings are showing.
And he will believe him! His bestie pal.
Reports (telegraph and others) that Putin has told trump to leave Ukraine hanging and in return he'll stop giving Iran intel.
And there ladies and gentlemen is where the power is Trumpuppet's strings are showing.
This has already been rejected by the US https://www.kyivpost.com/post/72339
I have to say that there are a lot of partial truths floating around in the mainstream meeja
My money on TACO to save the midterms
He's deploying a lot of marines if the plan is to TACO. Seems more like Netanyahu's plan, and hence Trump's plan, is a ground invasion.
There is a reason why all the previous US presidents listened to the advisers and didnt start a war.
The main problem here is that Trump and Hegseth sacked all the military advisors and replaced them with the kind of armchair warriors that relapsed_mandalorian just had his (entirely justified) rant about.
I watched my mates come back from Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan and saw the damage it did to them and their resulting struggles with PTSD. They were the lucky ones though. They came home.
Nobody who’s been anywhere near a front line would countenance the kind of ill-thought-through recklessness of the last few weeks or would have such little regard for the lives of those at the pointy end.
But there are none of those people around Trump. That much is obvious. They’ve all been purged for trying to tell the Mad King what he doesn’t want to hear. Instead he listens to an ethno-Christian crusader like Hegseth and an expansionist, genocidal war criminal in Tel Aviv.
Unless somebody who isn’t completely insane gets to have a hard word with Trump soon, this is only going to get worse. And unfortunately there presently looks precious little chance of that happening.
This whole thing is insanity, but if they try to put boots on the ground in Iran it’ll be an absolute bloodbath. As Tim Marshall (who knows a thing or two about this) said on Newsnight last night, the Iranians have been preparing for this for decades and this whole thing is about their very survival. In contrast, the Americans don’t have even the idea of a plan, sketched out on the back of a fag packet
It's a mind boggling heist underway.
It's happening throughout the entire administration in such a blatant way. Recently heard that Kirsty Noem invited a firm who contracts private prisons to Homeland Security to give Cory Lewandowski (Noem's 'special, nudge nudge say no more' adviser) a "Success Fee" when they refused, they got no more contracts.
The whole thing is a massive shake-down
he has said or done something previous presidents would probably have been removed for.
Can you remember the conservative news/media world having a collective nervous breakdown because Obama wore a tan suit...
He's definitely a Russian asset. Every move that benefits Russia makes him an asset to them; the case that hasn't been proven is that he's a Russian agent.
The question is "Is he knowingly a russian asset" ie do they control him directly thru bribery or kompromat or is it indirect via flattery and his love of a strong ( dictatorial) leader etc? Does he realise he is a russian asset?
its hard to be sure which but he is certainly working in Russian interests and has for a long time
Exactly that. There's a difference between being an asset and being a covert foreign agent (a spy).
He's been investigated at least three times and the motivational link that propels an agent, as opposed to an asset, whether that be bribery, blackmail, revenge, etc. has never been evidenced.
Google the Steele Dossier, Guardian correspondent, Luke Harding, and the Mueller FBI investigation into 2016 election interference
EDIT: to add that Qatar hasn't exactly realised value for money with its donation of a Presidential aircraft, which kind of sums him up
Troops on the ground.
It's like getting into the hornets nest you just stirred up and made angry.
to add that Qatar hasn't exactly realised value for money with its donation
I'll bet they're currently thinking that was a fantastic idea...
From the Guardian just now...
Barak Ravid, one of the reporters involved has been called out on his "sources" before, e.g. a denial a week ago by France. Cross-check "sources" if you can.
See the entry at 2030hrs on the 14th: https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20260314-middle-east-war-live-iran-threatens-retaliation-as-trump-says-us-obliterated-targets-on-kharg-island
"There is a French plan. The headline of the document says it is a French plan. The French foreign ministry is lying. Menteurs (liars)," from TwitterX (Barak Ravid)
I'll bet they're currently thinking that was a fantastic idea...
I bet they are thinking "we should have paid extra for the gold plated toilets!".
To TACO or not to TACO, that is the question.
Its not entirely down to him now though. Its in the Iranians interests to keep things restricted until they get some useful promises back.
There is a quote going around supposedly from Churchill about the Suez canal debacle which seems apt.
“I would never have dared; and if I had dared, I would certainly never have dared stop.”
Unfortunately its seems a case of me doing a redbull rampage line and just after taking off going "first bit was easy. Now where am I supposed to be aiming to land?"
Long range strike at Diago Garcia
Seriously, the US don't know what they've done.
Also, suggestion of upscaling of attacks coming.... Some bluff of course, but as discussed Iran had a long time to prep for this.
https://xcancel.com/Osinttechnical/status/2035154981402058913#m
More info and discussion on the above. No musk involved in this link
Reports (telegraph and others) that Putin has told trump to leave Ukraine hanging and in return he'll stop giving Iran intel.
This has already been rejected by the US https://www.kyivpost.com/post/72339
I have to say that there are a lot of partial truths floating around in the mainstream meeja
1) you can't trust Russia to keep any of its promises
2) Russia's intelligence stream to Iran - if any - is of marginal value.
Either way you'd be mad to give Russia its main objective in return for an unverifiable promise about intelligence...
...so yeah, Trump's probably do it it.
Nobody discussing sinking shipping passing through the Suez Canal yet?
How long/well defended is the Suez canal? It's narrow enough, at least where the Evergiven got wedged, that a couple of guys with an RPG could do it if they could get close enough. Only need to sink one ship in it to block it
It’s almost like they blundered into this without giving even a cursory thought to any of these (obvious) outcomes
Jeffrey Epstein has a lot to answer for
It’s almost like they blundered into this without giving even a cursory thought to any of these (obvious) outcomes
Sorry but that is complete nonsense. You simply dont understand the 10d Chess in play here. To be fair neither do I but being a true believer in the mango Mussolini I can only believe its 15d chess as opposed to the pigeon version.
Lets take sanctions.
Obviously lifting them on Russian Oil makes sense given that Maga are a branch office of the Kremlin. Better Russian than Democrat and all that.
However where you get into true genius is that the US is lifting some of its sanctions on Iranian oil. What will catch your opponent more off-guard than giving them billions of dollars?
Honestly, that could be as true as anything the Trump administration actually say
You motivate a group well enough and guerilla warfare, be it rifles in the hills
The Russians found that out the hard way in Afghanistan, when locals sat up above mountain valleys were able to take out Hind gunships by shooting the crew through unarmoured windscreens using ordinary rifles and knock-off AK47’s! FAFO! 😏
i see Trump has decided the best thing to do is escalate further and threaten to bomb irans power stations ....
how is he so dumb?
He constantly surpasses himself!
Because an idealogical regime fighting for its very survival is bound to respond well to threats issued via social media
Shall we all take a wild guess as to how Iran would respond to having its energy infrastructure bombed? I’m not a military strategist but I’ll have a stab at them immediately targeting the energy infrastructure of the countries around them.
Im fairly certain that that would hit the tipping point where Saudi and the rest of them start bombing Iran too
Surely to Christ even the nodding dogs around Trump can see this is the dumbest idea anyone has ever had. And this whole sorry farce has been one dumb idea after another!
Dors America actually have any democratic checks and balances any more or does the Mad King just get to do whatever he likes, no matter how stupid?
Surely to Christ even the nodding dogs around Trump can see this is the dumbest idea anyone has ever had. And this whole sorry farce has been one dumb idea after another!
Trump doesn`t see or concern himself with things further than his long/short-term memory allows. He is only there for the bungs and bribes. He doesnt care in the slightest about those outside of his immediate family, and even they are a distant second from himself.
The longer-term risk has always been about other countries owning nuclear weapons. But since Trump has been in his second term, and especially after seeing Venezuela/Iran/Cuba, all countries will be looking to get hold of them. I am surprised that Turkey has not got them already, and its only a matter of time before Saudi and Egypt announce they have their own too.
edit, beaten to it
i think this summed up those around trump perfectly
https://bsky.app/profile/sharonk.bsky.social/post/3mhghsfiy2c2h
<span;>The question about Trump’s trajectory all along has been how he kept the scam going. He can’t code-switch or self-censor. Everyone who encounters him knows exactly who he is, immediately. The answer, I believe, is that he uses his manifest incapacity as a kind of superpower. Everyone who enters into business with him and sees his gleeful desire to cheat and steal and defraud thinks to themselves, “I can use this.” They don’t realize that he is too impulsive to be durably manipulable and that he has elevated betrayal into a perverse Kantian maxim. Everyone, everyone who joins forces with him loses, but everyone equally thinks that they are the ones who have seen through the ruse and can use him “as a tool,” to use a popular current-day phrase. The fact that they are obviously—even definitionally—smarter than him blinds them, makes them stupider than the stupidest man alive.
Im fairly certain that that would hit the tipping point where Saudi and the rest of them start bombing Iran too
I have a sneaking suspicion they might take a more anti-American stance. "Stop it now or get your bases off our soil".
@kimbers - very true, and then once they’re in, they’ve got a tiger by the tail.
Just listened to R4's The World This Weekend, 30 minutes of depressing analysis of the current situation. Worse was that none of the thoughtful and knowledgeable contributors can see where this is going. The last lady to speak (apologies I cannot recall her name or position) warning that we should not underestimate Iran's appetite for drawing out the current conflict well beyond anything the current US regime is prepared for.
Having travelled through Israel and Iran in the mid 80's, it certainly chimed with my experience that the sheer grit in the face of adversity of both those nations should not be underestimated.
How this plays out and who helps to broker some sort of peace? An opportunity for China?
i think this summed up those around trump perfectly
Not convinced that's particularly accurate. Many people have hugely enriched themselves through aligning to trump.
How this plays out and who helps to broker some sort of peace? An opportunity for China?
Are China that interested in brokering peace? Their oil reserves in storage dwarf those of other countries, seeing the US bogged down in this war suits their other strategic interests. They are well placed to benefit from this situation, as usual they will be playing a long game.
The other thing with China is that they’re way ahead on making and selling decarbonisation tech, and if oil prices are up…
Also if America can use up all it's AD missiles etc, or at least have to reposition most of them and associated radars etc to the middle east, (they've already pulled some from South Korea) then Taiwan looks like a much easier acquisition. Especially if the US public is sick of another foreign war and Europe is busy trying to keep Ukraine in their fight.
Are China that interested in brokering peace? Their oil reserves in storage dwarf those of other countries, seeing the US bogged down in this war suits their other strategic interests. They are well placed to benefit from this situation, as usual they will be playing a long game.
.. and that could well be the 'An opportunity for China'
Well, who’d have thunk it…
No doubt that utter ****-wit is going to go ahead and start hitting Irans power plants then all hell is going to break loose all over the region.
It seems the only way we’re going to avoid a huge escalation would appear to be someone who’s a better aim than the last one having a pop at the root of the whole problem.
Meanwhile the other genocidal nutter is already escalating things massively in Lebanon and the West Bank, taking full advantage of their useful idiot in the White House
Are China that interested in brokering peace?
They do need to ship their stuff and also have someone to sell it to.
No idea what would win out though.
The other thing with China is that they’re way ahead on making and selling decarbonisation tech, and if oil prices are up…
Fake news, Trump assures us that they only make windmills to sell to gullible westerners, there's not a single one used in China.
No doubt that utter ****-wit is going to go ahead and start hitting Irans power plants then all hell is going to break loose all over the region.
If this video is to be believed, there is some heavy bombardment in Tehran right now that looks very much like power infrastructure being hit.
from that article..
at 12:03 PM, President Trump told reporters he wanted a ceasefire with Iran. At 12:05 he declared victory. At 12:07 he announced he was sending Marines. At 12:08 he said no boots on the ground. At 12:11 he said he did not want a ceasefire. At 12:16 he declared victory again. At 12:17 he asked for a ceasefire. At 12:23 he told NATO they were cowards. At 12:29 he said Iran was begging for a ceasefire. At 12:31 he said everything was perfect. At 12:36 he said $500 oil was a good thing. At 12:37 he demanded Iran open Hormuz. At 12:39 he said Hormuz was never closed. At 12:41 he said the US was not at war with Iran. At 12:42 he declared victory in Iran.
35-40% or so of Americans still approve of trump !?!?!
The world has a Trump pandemic.
No jab for this sucker either.
Euthanasia is the only cure.
I’ve seen Mark Rutte quoted as saying that since Iran poses an existential threat to Israel, Trump was right to attack them, and NATO need to help. If those quotes are accurate it does more to support the Green view of NATO than Zack Polanski could ever have dreamed of.
Edit to add link
35-40% or so of Americans still approve of trump !?!?!
Sunk-cost fallacy, innit?
They're not prepared to admit to themselves that they voted in a dangerously unstable lunatic, who now appears to be completely out of control and hell bent on starting World War 3 and ushering in a 30's style depression
I think there's a good section of the MAGA crowd who're simply not interested in what Trump actually does, but are just simply interested in supporting him personally. He could bomb Iran to the stone age, he could install a left-wing socialist democracy, or a Christian Nationalist theocracy, it wouldn't matter.
Rutte should have stayed in NL. Yuk
Looks like Iran has seen Trumps threats and raised him, so now it's a pissing competition. Brilliant!
From the Guardian this morning....
Iran says coastal attack will lead to full Gulf closure and mine-laying
Iran’s defence council threatened to lay sea mines to block the entire Gulf if Iran’s coasts or islands are attacked, according to the Fars news agency.
“Any attempt by the enemy to attack Iranian coasts or islands will naturally, and in accordance with common military practice, cause all access routes and communication lines in the Persian Gulf and the coasts to be mined with various types of naval mines, including floating mines that can be released from the coasts,” the statement read.
“In that case, the entire Persian Gulf will practically find a situation similar to the strait of Hormuz for a long time. This time, along with the strait of Hormuz, the entire Persian Gulf will be practically blocked, and the responsibility for it will lie with the threatening party.”
he could install ......a Christian Nationalist theocracy, it wouldn't matter.
Is that not what a lot of MAGA types think and hope Trump is doing?
That's certainly how Crusader Pete sees it
No doubt that utter ****-wit is going to go ahead and start hitting Irans power plants then all hell is going to break loose all over the region.
Its the water infrastructure that it crucial. I don't think many people realise just how reliant the Gulf region is on desalination. Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and UAE get more than 90% of their potable water via desalination, and they all have populations that have grown significantly in the last 20 years making water resources even more stretched.
Eastern Yemen is about the only place on the Arabian peninsula that gets any significant rainfall, Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the world without a permanent river. If Iran goes after desalination plants across the Gulf in a big way it will have a massive impact on the local populations.
Looks like it could be all over soon as the BBC is reporting "Donald Trump says the US and Iran have held talks on the complete and total resolution of hostilities in the Middle East". That's ok then, nothing to look at here.
And you need power (quite a lot of it) to run desalination plants.No doubt that utter ****-wit is going to go ahead and start hitting Irans power plants then all hell is going to break loose all over the region.
Its the water infrastructure that it crucial. I don't think many people realise just how reliant the Gulf region is on desalination. Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and UAE get more than 90% of their potable water via desalination, and they all have populations that have grown significantly in the last 20 years making water resources even more stretched.
Eastern Yemen is about the only place on the Arabian peninsula that gets any significant rainfall, Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the world without a permanent river. If Iran goes after desalination plants across the Gulf in a big way it will have a massive impact on the local populations.
TACO
For now.
Give it an hour or two and we might have another Truth Social post saying he's changed his mind and is now going to wipe Iran off the face of the earth.
The whole worlds energy infrastructure now appears to be based on the whims of some senile and unhinged old giffer in Washington who can't remember what he said this time yesterday.
I still can''t believe to what extent this has exposed the idea of democracy in America as a total sham. They effectively have an emperor, not a president, who rules by decree issued via social media. The rest of the alleged democratic system in the US seems to be largely irrelevant and completely pointless
Stock market is hilarious today. Some of the stocks I hold have gone down to -15% then back to +8% in 3 hours. This whole war is just one massive market manipulation and insider dealing scam isn’t it?
Is that not what a lot of MAGA types think and hope Trump is doing?
I think that's what many talking heads in the 'alternative media' (who are in turn financially supported by some of the mega-evangelical churches) were hoping and expecting in return for their donations. I think it's apparent to all but the very dimmest that Trump is, and only ever has been interested in himself. They lost sight of the one of the few abiding truths about the man - He never pays his creditors.
Stock market is hilarious today. Some of the stocks I hold have gone down to -15% then back to +8% in 3 hours. This whole war is just one massive market manipulation and insider dealing scam isn’t it?
Markets are completely irrational, this whole episode just shows how deep that goes. The bull market mentality is completely underpricing the downside of this situation and reacting in a disproportionately positive manner to the utterances of this f#ckwit.
This whole war is just one massive market manipulation and insider dealing scam isn’t it?
The whole Trump presidency is and behind most of what he does.
Just listened to R4's The World This Weekend, 30 minutes of depressing analysis of the current situation. Worse was that none of the thoughtful and knowledgeable contributors can see where this is going. The last lady to speak (apologies I cannot recall her name or position) warning that we should not underestimate Iran's appetite for drawing out the current conflict well beyond anything the current US regime is prepared for.
Having travelled through Israel and Iran in the mid 80's, it certainly chimed with my experience that the sheer grit in the face of adversity of both those nations should not be underestimated.
How this plays out and who helps to broker some sort of peace? An opportunity for China?
It isn't only "Iran's appetite for drawing out the current conflict well beyond anything the current US regime is prepared for". Through a supreme masterstroke, this war is three-sided and they all have very different objectives (or no objectives at all).
China will benefit if for no other reason than the US firing its stocks of rare earth minerals atop missiles all over the middle-east
Trump is even at the stage now where his lies don`t even make sense. Its another full TACO - his usual "2 weeks" deadline may have enabled enough empty headed MAGA to forget .. but his 48 hour deadline was a bit too short.
Its gonna be interesting to see how this ends. Iran are taking a pounding for sure, but they don`t appear in panic mode.
Iran are taking a pounding for sure, but they don`t appear in panic mode.
Far from it. It's almost as if they've been preparing for this for ages and have effectively planned its reactions accordingly
I keep seeing Trump, Netanyahu and Hegseth bragging about how much bombing they've done and I just keep thinking of Vietnam.
They dropped millions and millions and millions of tonnes of heavy ordinance on that country (and its neighbours) and where exactly did it get them? Desperately scrambling to get on the last chopper out of Saigon.
I wonder what percentage of these American munitions have ended up just making big craters in the desert?
I’ve seen Mark Rutte quoted as saying that since Iran poses an existential threat to Israel, Trump was right to attack them, and NATO need to help. If those quotes are accurate it does more to support the Green view of NATO than Zack Polanski could ever have dreamed of.
Edit to add link
That isn't what he says. It's political double-speak that Mark Rutte is very good at and that President Trump will take as support, but that NATO actions don't support.
It's more about Mark Rutte's opinion than that of NATO. Israel, parts of Europe and the world are nothing to do with NATO, unless they're NATO members.
He doesn't attribute blame for the war, but now that it's kicked off,
"...it is the more evidence that what the President is doing here, taking out the ballistic missile capability, taking out the nuclear capability from Iran, is crucial."
"If Iran would have the nuclear capability, including, together with the missile capability, it will be a direct threat, a existential threat, to Israel, to the region, to Europe, to the stability in the world."
He doesn't mention NATO as an organisation, just countries that happen to be NATO members,
"...since Thursday, 22 countries, most of them NATO, but also Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Bahrain, the UAE..."
In contrast to Trump,
"DONALD TRUMP: I think NATO is making a very foolish mistake. And I've long said that, you know, I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us. So this is a this was a great test, because we don't need them, but they should have been there."
As @kimbers
some sympathy for Rutte,
Hmmm, I suppose I might have been a bit harsh. I'm not a fan of his though I don't need to let it colour my analysis so much.
Trump is even at the stage now where his lies don`t even make sense. Its another full TACO - his usual "2 weeks" deadline may have enabled enough empty headed MAGA to forget .. but his 48 hour deadline was a bit too short.
Its gonna be interesting to see how this ends. Iran are taking a pounding for sure, but they don`t appear in panic mode.
Militarily the US and Israel are fighting the war at a good level, as you'd expect.
It's the waging of that war that isn't going their way. How can you be bombing a country on the one hand, while letting them trade O&G normally and against sanctions?
The waging of war is the political side of the deal; I'll leave you to judge that one over the duration
Releasing national oil stock reserves reassures the markets and so reduces the strain on economies.
International Energy Agency member countries are required to ensure oil stock levels equivalent to no less than 90 days of net imports. The majority of IEA members are above this, however, latest figures (Dec 2025) show that Australia holds 49 days and NZ 88
https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-tools/oil-stocks-of-iea-countries
in a move that was more predictable than Iran bllocking Hormuz
Trump is gearing up throw hegseth under the bus...
https://bsky.app/profile/atrupar.com/post/3mhqjrzxqeh2s
Anyone else noticed that when the markets are closed Trump threatens fire and fury, and when they open he backs down...
Makes you think
I was trying to find some data on the volume of oil futures being traded over say, the last six months, but can't find anything. Looking for volumes rather than prices, I bet there would have been a spike prior to the war. Anyone got anything?
Nobody else other than Grandpa Simpson seems to know anything about these supposed talks with Iran, least of all the Iranians
Voices in his head. Time to invoke the 25th. But Vance...
Anyone got anything?
It was well reported that Barron Trump bought a significant amount of oil before the strikes on Iran started
Yes the secret is out
They murdered almost the entire family of the Ayatollah in a sneaky attack.
They then bombed 150 to 160 school children.
Now, they want to get out of the war? They should just send the paratroopers to capture the oil field on the island at Strait of Hormuz. Or send the 5000 to 6000 ground troops in to see what will happen.
The world remembers their actions and one day they will have to pay for their actions.