If peace was the goal why strike during talks
… read at link above
Stock futures jump, oil prices retreat on report Trump willing to end war
The president is willing to end hostilities even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, WSJ reports
Iran Invasion would be America’s greatest strategic mistake yet
James D. Durso is the Managing Director of Corsair LLC, a supply chain consultancy. In 2013
A U.S. invasion of Iran would be militarily overwhelming and likely unwinnable, requiring massive troops, long occupation, and heavy casualties.
It would trigger global backlash and instability—spiking oil prices, strengthening rivals like Russia/China, and uniting Iranians behind the regime.
The human and economic costs would be enormous, making diplomacy and containment a far more viable strategy than war.The ghosts of Baghdad and Kabul should be enough to silence any serious talk of sending American troops into Iran. Yet here we are again, with voices in Washington and Tel Aviv whispering that only boots on the ground can neutralize Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, its local allies and its regional mischief.
They are wrong. An American invasion of Iran would be a strategic catastrophe, a moral failure and a self-inflicted wound from which the United States might never fully recover.
Foreign central banks sell US Treasuries in wake of Iran war
Foreign central banks have slashed their holdings of Treasuries at the New York Federal Reserve to the lowest level since 2012, as countries sell the US government bonds to prop up their economies and currencies in the wake of the Iran war.
The value of Treasuries held in custody at the New York Fed by official institutions — a group that is largely made up of central banks but also includes governments and international institutions — has dropped by $82bn since February 25 to $2.7tn, according to Fed data.
Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who studies foreign holdings of Treasuries, said oil importers such as Turkey, India and Thailand are probably among those selling Treasuries as they pay higher prices for oil, which is denominated in dollars.
As thousands of additional American troops deploy to the Middle East, President Donald Trump says Iran has eased a weeks-long choke point at the Strait of Hormuz, allowing 20 boats to pass. The shift comes amid a report that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations inside Iran, while stopping short of a full-scale invasion. NBC correspondent Matt Bradley reported the latest developments.
Slate.com- Iran war, oil futures and insider trading
Last week, President Donald Trump did a funny two-step on Iran. He began by threatening to “obliterate” Iranian power plants unless the Strait of Hormuz was safely opened back up. He gave a 48-hour deadline. Then, right before that deadline hit, Trump pulled back on his ultimatum. But, a few minutes before he did that, the oil markets saw a massive spike in activity. A spike so huge that it seems clear that somebody knew something.
It sure looked like closely guarded national security information was being used to make a quick buck. As Nobel Prize–winning economist Paul Krugman reasons, if a spy were giving our adversaries this kind of info, we’d certainly call it treason. So why not use the same language now?
This is also not the first time White House moves have been tied to suspicious trading patterns. When the president rolled out and then clawed back “Liberation Day” tariffs a year ago, some wondered whether Trump was putting the country on a financial roller coaster so that his pals could buy the dips. In other words, everything here is happening out in the open
It’s pretty safe to say insider trading is going on
Seizing Kharg Island would risk US troops but may not end the Iran war
Trump is considering deploying ground troops to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s crucial oil export hub, as military leverage in ongoing conflict negotiations.
Military experts warn seizing the island would risk American soldiers’ lives without guaranteeing victory, citing Iran’s proximity and advanced weaponry.
A safer alternative: establish a naval blockade against Iranian oil shipments, experts say, outside the range of Iran’s weapons systems.If Trump wants to hobble Iran’s oil industry for leverage in negotiations, a better option might be setting up a blockade at sea against ships that have filled up at Kharg Island’s oil terminals, the experts said.
The island — located on the other side of the Persian Gulf from U.S. bases in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia — is the beating heart of Iran’s oil industry, through which 90% of its exports pass. It is important because Iran’s coastline is mostly too shallow for tanker ships to dock.
Not a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian facility
The cause of the fire in the production of Nizhnekamskneftekhim was the ignition of the gas mixture in the operation to eliminate the consequences of depressurization of the equipment. This was reported by the press service of the company.
“When working to eliminate the consequences of depressurization of equipment in the production of synthetic rubber Nizhnekamskneftekhim from the source established for today, there was an ignition of the gas mixture with subsequent explosion,” the report said.
The company reports that the fire was localized, and now the residual fire is being eliminated. There are no risks of fire spreading, as there were regular cuts of equipment and other technological operations provided for the security of the enterprise.
In addition, experts monitor the quality of atmospheric air.
More than 150 personnel and 54 units of equipment of the Russian Emergencies Ministry are involved in extinguishing.
Forward.com– Israel barbaric death penalty law
The bill mandating the death penalty for (so called or alleged) terrorists, which the Knesset passed into law on Monday, is the latest dismal illustration of Israel’s democratic decline.
Promoted by the ultranationalist firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — whose resume includes convictions for supporting terrorism of the Jewish kind — the bill is plainly aimed at Palestinians only. It specifically targets West Bank residents, who are tried in military courts, which Jews are not. It will drag Israel another few steps further away from the democratic world, almost all of which — with the notable exception of the United States — has abandoned the death penalty as inhumane and flawed in its irreversibility.