[Today’s Iran war update fired before complete. Please return at 8:00 AM EDT for a final version]
Despite reports of the US and Iran finding some solutions for big sticking points such as Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz, yours truly remains skeptical. The US attack in the Strait of Hormuz, even though not severe enough to derail talks, and the new nutty Abrams Accord scheme from Trump reinforces the idea that Israel not only will not be constrained but is calling a lot of the shots. Iran is holding firm to its position that it will not sign a Memorandum of Understanding until all issues are resolved, and that includes a bona fide ceasefire in Lebanon. Keep in mind that even if that goal is met, it is merely a commitment to trying to reach a final agreement, and not a “deal” per se.
And a deal seems utterly out of reach with Israel doubling down on its refusal to join in a cessation of hostilities and the US backing that.1. From NO1’s daily summary:
Israel declares “full war” on Hezbollah – Netanyahu ordered escalation of Lebanon offensive to “crush” Hezbollah. IDF struck 70+ targets with 85+ munitions in 24 hours, concentrating on Tyre. Reserve soldier call-ups issued. Hezbollah intensifying drone attacks, including first-ever night FPV strike using thermal imaging. 401st Armored Brigade commander seriously wounded in FPV triple-strike at forward HQ.
We’ll cover some of the ideas for closing the gaps in negotiating positions (at least one of which would amount to applying porcine maquillage to a US capitulation). But Trump has quickly renounced movement toward Iran’s stance before, most famously with recanting his initial acceptance of Iran’s then-10-point framework and and following that up by restarting the war (albeit not on as hot a basis) by imposing the US blockade. So even if there seems to be some movement on the US side, it is not clear if any of that will hold when US commentators correctly depict it as the US folding. And as we will cover, the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s Hajj address included the fiery promise that Israel’s days are numbered.
In addition, more and more telling factoids from experts confirm that the damage to the world economy from the Strait of Hormuz closure would be more lasting than most recognize. For instance, former JCOPA negotiator Alan Eyre cited private data shop Kpler as forecasting as its best case scenario that Strait of Hormuz traffic would be only at 40% of its old normal at year end 2026 (see here at 1:20). That is a vastly more attenuated recovery than pretty much all investors and pundits assume. It also makes the regular outbreak of oil futures hopium in the form of price declines as the clock keeps ticking look even more delusional.
First to the dustup. The US, in an insult to intelligence, tried to depict its attack as defensive when it was the initiator.2 From the top of Aljazeera’s live feed:
- Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp says it “downed” a US Reaper drone that entered it airspace as tensions continue to rise during peace negotiations.
- United States forces attacked missile launch sites and mine-laying vessels in southern Iran in what a US military spokesman described as “self-defence” strikes. Earlier, Iranian media reported explosions in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas.
And the US idea of macho is killing fishermen:
Iran claims four fishermen were killed in an attack on their boats near Bandar Abbas tonight, with local media publishing their photos.
The claim contradicts U.S. reports that the strikes targeted IRGC boats.https://t.co/gpd0vC9CQ2
— Egypt's Intel Observer (@EGYOSINT) May 25, 2026
The Financial Times reported that the attack generated a jump in oil prices to nearly $100 a barrel for Brent futures. But that is still below where they were before Trump started his latest round of peace patter.
The Bloomberg landing page is still in the business of putting the happiest face possible on the state of play, as demonstrated by its headline in the lower right about Khamenei’s speech.
This discussion on TRT confirms what other outlets have said, that this US provocation is not severe enough to upend the talks:
But is Iran as chill as most assume? It is hard to imagine that any discussions will not encompass what if anything Iran does in response to the latest attack:
🇷🇺🇮🇷 A plane carrying high-ranking Iranian government officials is headed to Moscow
Middle_East_Spectator pic.twitter.com/XFKAMQoaVg
— dana (@dana916) May 26, 2026
However, I am bothered by what yet another unwarranted US attacks as talks are on signifies. It shows the US as willing to relentlessly push the envelope to try to obtain advantage, even when that advantage is largely US optics.3
And in another episode of Trump’s overwhelming need to dominate and pretend he is ever and always a winner, he’s just tried to bully the Gulf States bigly. Trump has managed to reach a new level of chutzpah via “mandatorially requesting:”
This is more dead on arrival than Iran having nukes or control of the Strait of Hormuz. https://t.co/7Bss73f6Do
— HFI Research (@HFI_Research) May 25, 2026
Trump issued ab ultimatum to nearly a dozen Muslim-majority nations, threatening to cut them out of his Iran deal if they refuse to simultaneously sign the Abraham Accords.
And there you have it. The entire Iran war was an operation to force the Middle East to bow to ISRAEL. pic.twitter.com/eZj7traGoe
— Stew Peters (@realstewpeters) May 25, 2026
The Saudis cleared their throats and reiterated their long-standing position: no Palestinian state, no Abrams Accords, with Pakistan onside:
🚨 A United Geopolitical Front | Riyadh and Islamabad Reject the Logic of U.S. Bargaining
In a move that goes beyond mere rejection to dismantle the very foundation of this maneuver, a strategic alignment emerges between Riyadh and Islamabad, putting an end to the "comprehensive… pic.twitter.com/2a0YvO3Rlw
— 🇸🇦Abdulsalam Saleh (@abdulslam2017) May 26, 2026
But Trump’s barking chihuahua Lindsey Graham is not taking a clear “no” for an answer. From Middle East Monitor in Republican Senator Graham warns Saudi Arabia of ‘severe consequences’ if it does not join Abraham Accords
US Senator Lindsey Graham said Saudi Arabia and other countries would face “severe repercussions” if they did not join the Abraham Accords with Israel in the event of an agreement between Tehran and Washington…
Addressing Saudi Arabia and others, Graham said: “Now is the time to be bold for the future of a new Middle East.” He added: “I expect, as President Trump has suggested, you will in fact join the Abraham Accords effectively ending the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
Warning US allies in the region, the senator said: “If you refuse to go down this path as suggested by President Trump, it will have severe repercussions for our future relationships and make this peace proposal unacceptable. Further, it would be seen by history as a major miscalculation.”
The new Team Trump formula is that they are 95% of the way to cinching an agreement, as many in the peanut gallery point out that that does not mean the final supposed 5% can be resolved.
There has been and still is so much swirl of unconfirmed gossips that yours truly is loath to go too much into that cesspool. Despite that, the discussion below between Larry Johnson is useful because it presents rumors of solutions to sticking points (you will see that Johnson is skeptical, as I am, as to whether any are “agreed,” particularly given Trump’s fondness for upending apple carts:
Mario depicts the US as having accepted the proposed dodge for Iran collecting what were formerly called tolls, by rebranding them as protection environmental, navigation and other fees. This device is at least important in terms of allowing Oman to participate since this type of charges is allowed undue the UN freedom of navigation provisions of UNCLOS, to which Oman is a signatory.
We had mentioned that Congress having the President to make certification with respect to Iran before releasing funds that are simply not possible given the current givens would seem to mean that a some, perhaps a lot, of the frozen funds could not be released to Iran. Mario said that the current plan would be to lend funds to Iran, secured by the frozen assets. That is clever but would Iran go for that? And even before getting Iran on board, Team Trump would look certain to run into a buzzsaw of criticism and ridicule for any meaningful return of frozen assets to Iran.
Twitter summarizes Tasnim as stating the immediate Iran ask as $24 billion, half at signing of the memorandum of understanding, when recall there is no assurance that a final deal would be achieved:
A possible memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States would require the release of $24 billion in frozen Iranian funds during negotiations, IRGC-linked Tasnim News reported on Tuesday, citing a source close to the negotiating team.
Iran wanted half of the…
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) May 26, 2026
Again, if you click through for the detail, Iran wants $12 billion transferred “when the MOU is announced” and the balance during the 60 day talks. I cannot imagine that US Zionists will let this stand.
Mario also reported that four refueling planes had just left Israel. He and Johnson work through that that could power at least 32 F-35s or F-16s. So is this yet more threat display or pre-positioning?
I cannot get to the English language version of the Tasnim site now (and in any event, translations to English often take a bit to go live) but Mojtaba Khamenei has put Israel in his crosshairs, or perhaps more accurately, says he will extirpate the regime as a result of its unprovoked attack on Iran. From Aljazeera’s live feed:
Iran’s supreme leader issues Hajj message vowing Israel will be ‘uprooted”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has issued a message on the occasion of Hajj and Eid al-Adha declaring Israel “must certainly be uprooted and it will be”.He described Israel as a “dangerous and deadly cancerous tumour of this region”, according to Iran’s Tasnim news agency.
Khamenei said Iran “rendered the Zionist regime helpless under its devastating blows” during what he described as the second imposed war, calling it a “harsh slap” to the United States.
This year’s Hajj season gave the call to disavow the US and Israel heightened importance and that “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” would become “the prevalent slogan of the Islamic Ummah”.
Khamenei also said “the future belongs to the Islamic Ummah and the new Islamic civilization”.
Al Mayadeen give a more detailed recap of Khamenei’s speech in Sayyed Khamenei to Hajj pilgrims: ‘Israel’ out of time, Ummah rising. Some snippets:
Among those goals is one that the martyred leader had declared ten years ago, that “Israel” would not survive another 25 years. Sayyed Khamenei returned to that promise, saying the entity has since drawn close to the final stages of its existence.
The “cancerous tumor,” he underscored, is running out of time….
The US, he noted, is losing ground day by day and will find no safe footing in the region, let alone a base from which to operate. “The future belongs to the Islamic Ummah and to the new Islamic civilization.”
Briefly to the economic front. It is simply astonishing that professionals who hold themselves out as experts in finance or economics cannot see that the world economy is running at close to full tilt into a brick wall. Jeff Currie is the Cassandra of this looming crisis, repeatedly explaining that US reserves will effectively be empty as of around the July 4 weekend and what that protends:
Even though one has to filter out Steve Hanke’s Mises twattle (his discussion of long ago empirically disproven monetarist theories), he makes an absolutely essential point in his talk below, which overlaps with Currie’s take.
Hanke explains that despite higher energy prices, perilous little demand destruction has taken place. Compared to a 14 million barrel a a day shortfall (note some experts put it higher), consumption has dropped by only 2 million barrels a day. The rest of the gap has been closed by using reserves of various sorts that will run out even in the US in July.5
With those boundary conditions in mind, all the supposedly generous (erm, export-market-saving) action by China and Japan has done is rearrange the deck chairs on the TitanicL
The difference between Chinese oil imports (plunging, heading into May to a 10-year low) and Indian oil imports (surging to the highest May ever) can not be more stricking.
Effectively, Beijing (and Tokyo using the SPR) have saved the day for the whole region. https://t.co/Ucp23zZrTl
— Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) May 26, 2026
Serious Economists are (IMHO belatedly) sounding alarms:
Good morning.
Today’s Financial Times neatly captures the escalating economic fallout of the war.
Specifically, Phases I and II (a concentrated energy shock followed by a broader price shock) now risk being joined by Phase III (demand destruction). In turn, this threatens Phase… pic.twitter.com/E1hdjGxnhj— Mohamed A. El-Erian (@elerianm) May 26, 2026
US inflation jumped to an annual 3.8 per cent in April, while average hourly earnings increased 3.6 per cent over the year, meaning prices were rising faster than earnings for the first time in two years…
UK workers face a similar squeeze. Average earnings grew at an annual pace of just 0.1 per cent in real terms in the three months to March, excluding bonuses, and are set to fall outright as inflation rises over the coming months against a backdrop of very weak hiring.
In the Eurozone, the energy shock represents a fresh setback for workers who had only just clawed back the ground lost in the 2022 inflationary shock…
Claus Vistesen, at the consultancy Pantheon Macroeconomics, said he expected real wage growth to be close to zero across the Eurozone in 2026. He said it could already be “deeply negative” in countries such as France that had no fiscal space to shield consumers.
And again, this squeeze is going to become more severe very soon. So rationing is soon to come, whether official rationing or the self-imposed type, of markedly cutting purchases in the light of higher prices:
Japan and Europe will not be able to wait much longer, both will soon be forced to announce fuel rationing and restrictions otherwise if they don’t curb summer consumption hard they will have serious problems to make it through next winter
Feel free to bookmark
— JustDario (@DarioCpx) May 25, 2026
And the most likely trigger for a debt meltdown and potential crisis trigger, private debt, goes more rancid by the day:
Ouch! US private credit default rate: 6.0%, a record. PMR sub-index (privately monitored, less scrutinized) at 9.4%. BDC redemptions exceeding inflows! Sentiment at Apollo, Blackstone, Carlyle, KKR: multi-year low. In short: the stress test is live.
— Marc-André Fongern (@Fongern_FX) May 24, 2026
Done for today. See you tomorrow!
_____
1 See this tweet from Barak Ravid:
🚨בכיר אמריקני רמז הערב כי ממשל טראמפ יתמוך בהסלמת הפעולות של ישראל נגד חיזבאללה
🚨הבכיר האמריקני אמר לי: ״חיזבאללה התעלם מבקשות חוזרות ונשנות להפסיק לירות לעבר ישראל, כולל אולטימטום שהועבר לאחרונה. ישראל לעולם לא תידרש לספוג באופן פסיבי מתקפות על כוחותיה ואזרחיה. זה לא ממשל…— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) May 25, 2026
Translated from Hebrew
🚨Senior US official hinted tonight that the Trump administration will support escalation of Israel’s actions against Hezbollah🚨The senior US official told me: “Hezbollah ignored repeated requests to stop firing at Israel, including an ultimatum that was recently conveyed. Israel will never be required to passively absorb attacks on its forces and citizens. This is not the Biden administration.”
🚨The senior US official noted that since April 17, Hezbollah has launched more than a thousand drones and more than 700 rockets in an attempt to sabotage the ongoing negotiations between Lebanon and Israel. “The status quo is not sustainable,” the senior US official told me.
🚨The senior US official added: “Hezbollah is fully responsible for the current situation. It violated the ceasefire on March 2 and is now determined to prevent the Lebanese people from a path to peace and reconstruction.”
🚨According to the senior US official, Hezbollah fears the negotiations that the Lebanese government is conducting with Israel with US support. “This constitutes an existential threat to Hezbollah,” the senior US official said.
🚨The senior US official added: “A successful ceasefire led by the Lebanese government would deprive Hezbollah of its power and its narrative.”
Middle East Observer reports similar facts but with a very different spin:
⚡️⭕️ Israel cannot sustain the situation in Lebanon anymore and is requesting Washington, Lebanon's Greatest Ally, to be allowed to commit acts of terrorism on civilians as retaliation on its lost military assets:
⭕️ Enemy Zionist media, quoting an official participating in…
— Middle East Observer (@ME_Observer_) May 25, 2026
2
🤔 US Strikes Targets in Southern Iran
This report is nonsensical.
Bandar Abbas is an Iranian port city. The waters in its vicinity are Iranian sovereign waters, and if they want to lay mines there, it's their own damn business.
Awaiting reports of Iranian counterstrikes … https://t.co/DW3sXsYx6S
— Will Schryver (@imetatronink) May 25, 2026
3 One can argue that Iran handily won this trade. Four dead fishermen and their boat(s) v. an MQ-9 Reaper? More detail:
İran Ordusu, Basra Körfezi üzerinde ABD’ye ait bir MQ-9 Reaper İHA’sını düşürdüğünü iddia etti.
Yapılan açıklamada ayrıca ABD’ye ait bir RQ-4 İHA ile bir F-35 savaş uçağına ateş açıldığı, söz konusu platformların İran hava sahasını terk ederek geri çekildiği öne sürüldü. pic.twitter.com/mT5tMwAN5A
— SavunmaSanayiST.com (@SavunmaSanayiST) May 26, 2026
Translated from Turkish
The Iranian Army claimed to have shot down a U.S.-owned MQ-9 Reaper drone over the Persian Gulf.The statement also claimed that fire was opened on a U.S.-owned RQ-4 drone and an F-35 fighter jet, and that the aforementioned platforms had left Iranian airspace and withdrawn.
4 Hanke misquotes Currie as saying the US will be down to minimum operating reserves by the July 4 weekend by incorrectly depicting him as instead saying end of July.
Been thinking about Trump’s demand that all those Muslim countries join the Abraham Accords – or else. Doesn’t matter that Israel is more likely to convert to Islam first. I see three possibilities why he brought this idea up. The first is that it was a brain fart that popped into Trump’s head so he incorporated this idea into his Truth Social post thinking it a good idea. The second is that he is trying to save his good buddy Bibi by getting all those countries to join the Abraham Accords which Bibi could take to the voters as a great win in the upcoming Israeli elections and get re-elected. The third possibility is that this was done so as to deliberately spike the negotiations dead as he figures that time is on his side – it isn’t – and that if he waits the Iranians out, that they will collapse and give him the win that he needs.
4. The cost of redneck chic. Trump may not care about the financial well-being of ordinary Americans, but the White House knows high gas prices are a problem. Early voting is 3.5 months away.
Keeping up appearances matters to the crowd, and Trump has offered nothing tangible.
I was reading an article earlier which said this-
‘One unique feature about America is that gas prices are displayed publicly everywhere. Americans encounter giant illuminated price signs constantly. In fact, the largest and most visible part of the sign is often not the company’s logo but the current price. Americans would probably think this strange if they weren’t so used to it. Gasoline prices are among the few prices consumers see in real time every day. Eggs may rise 20%, but consumers don’t pass a six-foot-tall egg billboard on the highway twice daily.’
https://www.rt.com/business/640546-us-gasoline-prices-skyrocket/
Trump may babble on but ordinary Americans are seeing those listed gas prices a coupla times a day.
Yes, but I’m willing to believe Trump when he’s been saying he doesn’t care about higher gas prices. Ordinary Americans? Who cares what they think? People keep prognosticating on how this or that will affect the midterms, but I’m not seeing much evidence Trump cares about that either.
What mid-terms? It’s not even June. Trump’s pace and bag of tricks is bottomless.
Early voting. It’s late July on the old calendar. They want to get those votes in.
Early voting doesn’t start that early. In some rural states, people can go into the county clerk’s office and vote as much as 45 days before the election, done as an in-person mail ballot, but that’s in September. https://tracker.votingrightslab.org/issues/early-voting-availability?law=18
Campaign season starts labor day. The votes are largely decided by then. Mid-July is the new day.
We’ve already had our primaries for the midterm elections.
Good point, nippersmom, primaries are happening now and will happen into September. Early voting and voting are a thing now through then for sure.
I was talking about the November election.
NotTimothyGeithner I agree campaign season really starts Labor Day.
I don’t understand what you mean about July.
I don’t agree that votes are largely decided by Labor Day in a regular election. The whole concept of an October surprise is that votes can change, and have. True partisans/high information voters—the people who will vote in primaries—for sure have decided by Labor Day. But the people who might vote for the right candidate of either party often have not made up their mind by then, in the normal case.
I do not believe 2026 will be the normal case.
I agree that Yves’ vision of martial law disrupting the election, nationally or at targeted locations, is on the table of plausible futures.
I currently have no opinion about which of the plausible features is likeliest to happen. I find the situation overly dynamic.
I think the candidates will matter, but that the present trajectory is for an electorate enraged at Trump and a Trump/Republican brand that is toxic in the general election to a degree I have never seen and I was born in 1970. Yes the Democratic brand is toxic also, but the Republicans are in charge and they own the Iran war.
On this trajectory, people not registered with either party swing hard Democrat, some Republicans stay home, and Democrats turn out en masse.
The likelihood of this maximalist outcome depends on the damage inflicted by the Iran war and whether martial law or something else disrupts the election.
I am baking in a lot of damage from the war because I don’t see the end yet, for all the reasons everyone here understands. I am hopeful that Trump essentially declares bankruptcy and walks away and does it soonish, but everyone here knows even if it ended tomorrow, which it won’t, a lot of pain is baked in. And it’s totally plausible that the Strait remains closed for another month or two, and no guarantee that it ends by then despite how much the pressure will have built.
Even so, our overly dynamic situation could change that maximalist trajectory between now and November. Yves’ vision could come to pass.
If the trajectory holds, your statement is true; most of the votes will be decided by Labor Day, even if voters don’t know the candidates’ names by that point.
In the past, there were Republicans in Congress who were advocates of policies that people like Shrub could pick up such as Medicare Part D which regardless of one’s thoughts on alternative policies did provide an immediate improvement for a good deal of the population. I don’t think those Republicans exist anymore, so there is nothing that Trump can pick up hence the UFO declassification.
In his less addled moments, Trump knows he is an aspirational figure to the prosperity gospel worshippers. If they can’t buy tacky shirts and cover their very inappropriate vehicle in Trump merch, they will start to get antsy. That is coming anyway, so Trump needs something to get people to stay quiet. He’s trotted out nuclear dust, stealing oil, and now the Abraham Accords. Evangelicals will go, “oh Abraham. I’ve heard of him.”
They desperately want to have something to silence people from chatting.
Those republicans of old (1988-2001) are now called democrats.
RT is nuts. Gas prices displayed “everywhere” in Thailand too.
Do petrol stations in Russia have secret prices?
A quick look at “Russian gas station” pics shows what looks to be large pylons displaying cost by fuel grade, just like USA.
I wonder what the history is of displaying gas prices prominently using the property’s best signage.
There are vast numbers of intersections in the US where two, three, or even four gas stations are present on the four corners. The logical guess is that these signs are a desperate battle for customers by businesses who are in close proximity and whose product is completely fungible. This seems like kind of a simplistic analysis, and marketing departments in other industries have shown much more creativity and versatility than this in their efforts to sell other things.
Perhaps gas retailers realize they don’t have much of a “moat”; all vehicles use the same gas, and anything they might do to try to bring in customers can easily be replicated by the other three gas stations next door. Nevertheless, competing strictly on price is something capitalist businesses hate at all costs.
All over in Taiwan, too, though there seem to be fewer stations than in the US. Cheaper prices than at home (my home, not in general) as well…
Do petrol stations in Russia have secret prices?
No. Large signs, though often not as big high and bright as the one in the RT photo.
Usually more like the size of the one in the second RT Shell station photo.
What is true from that article is the fact that Americans see gas prices as an indicator of the health of the economy. Look how many times people here reference local gas prices.
But this is not at all unique to the United States. Everyplace I’ve been in Latin America this is the norm.
How is that “unique to America”?
I think petrol prices are displayed outside petrol stations more or less everywhere aren’t they?
It just struck me that Trump probably has no clue about how many countries in the world are Muslim. ; heck, he probably could not find most countries in the world on a map.
Just what are the chances he knows Indonesia and Bangladesh are Muslim? And likely have no interest is some weird Middle Eastern treaty.
All done! If you arrived before the time of this comment, please refresh the page and re-skim.
With petroleum reserves dropping so fast it’s insane that the fools in Washington aren’t calling for employers to return to remote working to reduce consumption ASAP. Granted that only helps on the oil shortage issue, but it’s quick and easy even if only temporary too.
You should only use reserves in general as a stop gap solution while you make adjustments to your situation. Too many countries right now are using their reserves and hoping that something will change for the better. As other people have noted, hope is not a strategy.
This would panic the public and contribute to demand destruction which would panic the market.
Otherwise, a very reasonable proposal.
You are showing a good deal of faith in our electeds and their staffs. A great deal are learning on the fly. After all, they have seen those commercials with a soothing voice confidently asserting “computers/logistics.”
Yes, the Confidence Fairy is more important than the real economy.
>it’s insane that the fools in Washington aren’t calling for employers to return to remote working to reduce consumption ASAP.
Don’t forget the tens of thousands of federal workers who were teleworking even before Covid who DOGE forced back to the office
I know at least one who didn’t return to the office but keeps being threatened with “redundancy” because of it.
As for the rest of us maybe NC should revive the gardening columns so those of us with a patch of land and sunlight can grow food. My farm grandparents did it.
There are just too many contradictory wants and needs among the capitalist class. The more level headed capitalists (ones who support bandaid solutions like ESG, or maybe a return to New Deal social democracy-lite) recognize the current arrangement is not sustainable and can only end in massive societal destabilization, or even extinction. The problem is there are other factions who either do not believe the problems exist (Christian fundie oil billionaires and other John Bircher affiliates) or even welcome collapse (the tech bros). For every boss who realizes work-from-home would act as a pressure valve, there’d be two more who resented not being able to lord over their cubicle slaves and pull “come to my office” power moves during Covid, and will never let that happen again
Commercial real estate is the faction currently in power; this is the very last solution that would ever come to mind.
The GOP is what it is, but the Democrats are by and large very stupid too. These are the people who were proposing a no-fly zone in Ukraine, so my suspicion is they genuinely suspect Trump could win if he just ran a better SMRT War. They get the same propaganda: trips to subs, assurances that this weapon has so many rpms, and generals lined up to tell them how good they are.
I think Iran will do their best to wait for the Hajj to finish before striking back. Between that and Eid, Iran wants those holidays to go smoothly before any retaliation. The Zionists have other plans…
Squeezing our wages is not something the rich dislike, all the opposite.
Up to a point, The US is 70% a service economy. Broke consumers = less spending and eventually a recession or worse. The AI bubble can keep illusions otherwise going only so long.
I read something recently, I think it was in the John Ralston Saul book I’m slogging through, that described service economies as inherently inflationary, but didn’t delve into it. I’d never heard it put that way before, but after thinking about it for a little bit, it did make sense, at least depending on the services. For example, fast food chains everywhere means people are spending more money on food rather than making it themselves. The way health care, education, etc. are currently financed is also clearly inflationary. We have child care that’s very expensive and almost mandatory for most couples. Then there are the less essential services like dog walkers, yoga classes, etc. – nice to have and the first to go when things go pear shaped.
Not making anything in the US anymore turned out to be a really bad idea. Maybe our would be techbro overlords think the clankers will make their cheeseburgers for them. I suspect that instead of consuming a nice, neatly prepared meal at the dinner table, they’ll be rolling around on the floor covered in special sauce a la Hasselhoff.
This whole timeline is a complete sh**show. Can we get the 90s back please?
Baumol’s disease?
You need cheese, meat, and buns to make cheeseburgers, after all, and you can’t just conjure them out of thin air…
The thing about Oceania was that nobody lived well materially, even the inner party members: you can’t, if there is no material, so to speak.
90s? You must be joking.
I’ll take the 70s over that always.
True freedom – drugs, sex and disco! Not to mention the opportunity to set things right going forward.
Polyester leisure suits and platform shoes!
Here, here. There was a fork in the road 1980-81 and this war is a stop on the road taken, by a sort of geoeconomic cult of greed. Hopefully better after the fall. I’m trying to stay sane and engaged.
Sorry. The Neoliberal Dispensation is only offering “Returns” to the 1890s.
Agree 100%; good bands, the age of Aquarius, and all that.
I had this same thought daily back in the 90s when businesses were outsourcing like mad, and shouted it from the rooftops as much as my friends and coworkers and management could stand. I think I was regarded as of something of a crank, though it seemed very obvious to me that countries that can’t make their own shit are going down a bad road, and that workers who never learn how to make shit in general are going to create a society that’s in bad straits.
Nevertheless, lower labor costs proved an irresistible temptation towards managers who couldn’t see past the next 90 days.
Competition is taught as being some great thing in B-schools, but it seems to mostly lead to bad decisions and bad decision makers.
It seems to me that if ai lives up to its billing and sacks enough workers to justify the massive investments it guarantees recession. Current job market weakness might be in part due to ai, but regardless it’s additive to the layoffs coming from the various real shortages.
When I read that quote saying “prices were rising faster than earnings for the first time in two years” my immediate thought was, “Couldn’t upper management fix that statistic by giving themselves even more exorbitant raises and bonuses?” Averages are deceptive in economies with a high degree of inequality.
Heh. Jeff Bezos has called for the elimination of Federal income tax on the bottom 50% of earners, (no doubt so they can spend more at Amazon and on rent. / ;)
Funny thing, he doesn’t see paying his Amazon workers more as an answer to the problem he describes. Nor does Musk or other oligarchs who are calling for govt direct subsidies to the bottom 50% of workers in the form of a Universal Basic Income. The fed govt is already subsiding underpaid workers in some of the US’s largest corporations; e.g. the Walmart corp instructs workers in how to apply for food stamps. No hint of paying workers a decent wage. Paying workers more might hurt the company’s stock price.
An aside: why are military lower ranking service members paid so low that many of their families apply for food stamps?
https://govtbenefits.org/9-tips-for-military-families-applying-for-food-stamps/
Neoliberal economics in the military?
from Due Dissidence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5eU4Olja5M
An aside: why are military lower ranking service members paid so low that many of their families apply for food stamps?
https://govtbenefits.org/9-tips-for-military-families-applying-for-food-stamps/
Good question. It looks like the base pay for, say, a PFC (E3) with 4 years of service is $33k. That does not include BAS (meals) or housing allowance.
https://www.goarmy.com/benefits/while-you-serve/money-pay
But maybe that’s sufficient for food stamps in some jurisdictions?
The SNAP income cap is 130% of the federal poverty line. $33k is under if you have a family of three or more.
That’d do it.
I’m presuming that housing (or housing allowance) and subsistence allowance don’t count toward that cap?
$33k!
Cdn private at third year is making CDN$71,928 roughly US$52,180.
Starting pay as a private is CDN$52,044 (US$ 37,700)
@Lefty Godot at 10:40 am
Exactly what I was thinking. In the US the top 10% of income earners account for 50% of consumption. The bottom 50% account for only 15%. So a catastrophic drop in consumption of the bottom 50% would be offset by a small increase in the top earner category.
To use numbers*: if the bottom 50% are hit by a catastrophic drop of 10% in their consumption it only takes a 3% increase in the consumption of well-off earners (top 10%) to offset it. Spreading the increase at the top around a little more means the top 20% of earners would only need to increase consumption by 2.5% to fully compensate for the consumption collapse by the bottom half. The result of a very unequal society.
*Calculations by me based on the numbers provided in a report by the Royal Bank of Canada, November 2025: https://www.rbc.com/en/economics/us-analysis/us-featured-analysis/how-household-wealth-is-helping-drive-consumption-in-the-us/
One major sticking point in the negotiations for a peace deal in the US-Israel war with Iran involves the unfreezing of Iranian funds frozen overseas.
Around $24bn (£18bn) of frozen funds must be released under a memorandum of understanding being negotiated with the US a source close to Tehran’s negotiation team said, according to report by Iran’s Tasnim news agency on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
The Iranian agency said Iran’s top negotiator, Mohammad Baqr Qalibaf, had travelled to Qatar to reach agreement on a mechanism to implement this demand.
* * * * * * * *
In Doha, the Qatari talks with Iran’s top negotiator and its foreign minister focused on the strait of Hormuz and Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, Reuters quoted an official as saying.
Iran’s central bank governor also attended to discuss the potential release of frozen Iranian funds as part of a final deal, said the unnamed official, who the news agency said was briefed on the trip.
–The Guardian
This was a “Hail Mary” pass by the Zionists, they saw this as their last chance to dominate the region and they bet the farm.
Since they had Trump by the short and curlies they thought they had a good chance to win, partly because the Nation of Israel has gone mad with blood lust and religious insanity.
So, now the “US” based Hegemon is also “All in” and losing.
The various Hawkish factions have no “Plan B” and seem no more rational than Trump, who is not a rational actor.
At all.
Keep in mind that the Trump administration is going all in on repression at home at the same time with 20,000 brownshirts ready to rock and roll.
Civil Society in the USA has been under attack since day one of this administration and societal collapse seems very likely over the next year.
If this is “Winning”…
‘the Nation of Israel has gone mad with blood lust and religious insanity.’
And here is how you breed this mentality. This clip is only several years old and the two visitors to that classroom were not just two goof balls but pretty high up the totem pole-
https://x.com/nextlevelclip__/status/2053818360690016470
I’d still hold that even if Israel succeeded in Libya-ing or Syria-ing Iran, they’d try to pull shenanigans on Turkey. Israel can not tolerate any regional peer or near peer with a population sympathetic to the Palestinian plight. Especially one who isn’t dependent on US military aid and has a robust domestic arms sector.
Funny that you should say that. Even though Israel is up to their necks in wars on all their borders, you have Israeli politicians saying that Turkiye has to be targeted next after Iran is taken care of. I think that is a case that Israel cannot tolerate any powerful country anywhere near them but want them all to be broken up into squabbling fiefdoms, Turkiye included.
Why stop with Turkey? Bibi already has the US prostrated before the mighty Zion.
I’m beginning to see this in a slightly different light. The US and the West is allowing Isr to drag it (not exactly kicking and screaming) into ME conflicts the West professes not to want. However, the West could stop Isr cold by stopping the arms shipments and billions in support dollars.
I’m starting to see the Zio/Isr project as the West’s colonial outpost in the ME and doing what the West wants it to do. If the point is to control the flow of oil the West seems to have badly miscalculated this time. /imo.
Those “support dollars” are used to buy our arms and politicians: neither our “defense” industry or elected officials will ever give up Israel as a source of revenue… they can’t.
Turkey would outright obliterate them.
This is not a serious proposition
Turkey is a member of NATO. If Isr attacks a NATO country what will the other NATO countries do? Look the other way?
Pretty much, yep. Maybe even keep shipping arms to Israel.
Even better, ship weapons to both Turkey and Israel.
Sounds like the Zaharoff Method.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Zaharoff
Burn the missile supply candle at both ends?
Though they’d have to have the inventory to ship.
Possibly they could get by on a Reverse Wimpy:
“I will gladly pay you today for a Patriot missile battery next Tuesday.”
No idea if this is a rhetorical question, but I think that Israel would feel the need to get Greece on board for an attack precisely for that reason (so it is “NATO on NATO”). Article 5 is not automatic, anyway, and I doubt NATO will exist much longer other than as some club for diplomats and defense attaches (and scientists) to get high per diems and income tax-free salaries, but Israel is currently far too fragile to ignore such concerns, I think.
But yeah, let’s say Israel attacks tomorrow (likely via assassination rather than outright military strike). In that case, Europe will do nothing other than talk and moralize and grandstand and bullshit because it is incapable of doing anything else, anyway, and its current crop of politicians are too incompetent to imagine the consequences of their policies.
There might be one timid guy in the back of the room to point out the potentially devastating consequences of Turkey linking up with Iran and Russia in response, or in Turkey cutting off gas supplies, but he will be ignored and dismissed as a Putin/Khamanei/Erdogan lover or “too defeatist” while the powers that be walk their countries over the cliff.
But maybe I am being too pessimistic
Yes, Turkiye has far and away the biggest and best ground forces in the region.
And Article 5 is not an obligation to act, just to think about acting.
When military operations over 6000 miles away are glossed as “defensive strikes” we are in a very, very deep Orwellian darkness indeed.
It’s like an Israeli defensive strike as in ‘we are only defending ourselves’ – by attacking first.
Rise and Kill First.
Probably because you killed so much that don’t expect any leniency…
We have to fight them very far away so that we don’t have to fight them far away so we don’t have to fight them a little ways away so we don’t have to fight them near our border so we don’t have to fight them here.
We are cosplaying Imperial Japan pretty well… (Their opening moves in 1941, or 1937, or 1931, all being “defensive” from a certain (and not entirely nonsensical, tbf) point if view).
This was the justification for the 2003 Iraq war, defending against a possible future Iraqi action that might be launched by Iraq against the USA.
In Iraq/Afghanistan the estimated loaded cost was 8 trillion dollars, and the USA is still needs to do more “defensive” actions.
The still quoted/consulted and not thoroughly discredited Condolezza Rice mentioned “we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud” on Sept 8, 2002 in the runup to the Iraq war.
Of course, extrapolating that to “my neighbor had a gun that might have been used to kill me, so I shot him” won’t work as a defense strategy in a murder trial in the USA.
The same does not apply to “defensive” USA military actions.
The Orwellian darkness has been around for a long time, but at least Trump has shined one shaft of light in the Orwellian darkness when he changed the Defense Department to the Department of War.
Best I’ve seen is “ceasefire with Israeli characteristics” to explain the current situation. Chas Freeman is still sharp.
I know you’re giving them plenty of line with this hypothetical but do we even have any reason to believe that part?
At least from a hawk perspective over here, things like nuclear protocols aren’t “the extra bits at the end that are hard to resolve.” They’re the actual issues! Heck even freedom of movement on the high seas, which we’re obviously conceding now, used to be important enough to elites that that was Wilson’s casus belli in WW1.
Despite the annoying Lucy-and-the-football dance played out weekly in the MSM I see no real reason at this point to suppose that talks are any more advanced than they were a month ago.
If, in fact, the US has agreed to let Iran and Oman charge “environmental and navigational” fees equivalent to a toll, that’s a big deal. It won’t fool anyone, but would allow Trump to back away. That said, it seems to early for Iran to let the US wiggle out.
Iran has more fundamental issues than getting the US to recognize its “right” to charge tolls. It’s a big deal to you and me because we’re used to assuming freedom of movement on the high seas. Iran’s not — for instance — going to give up its nuclear programs in exchange for a right to man a tollbooth.
The big announcement I think was ‘the cancerous tumor is running out of time’. Is it possible the last pound of flesh Iran will carve out of the US is leaving the tumor to it’s deserved fate?
A true and lasting peace could happen once West Asia is cancer-free.
Oh, of course the 95% claim is a crock. But I am saying even if you accept that, that does not say a deal will get done. In general, the easy parts are agreed early on and the sticky stuff is left to the end.
That 95% claim by Trump may be his more optimistic take on the Pareto Rule-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle
Sturgeon’s law?
I’m 95% of the way to a deal making me the starting shortstop for the Giants. The remaining 5% are a handful of sticky issues consisting of me being 70 years old, not being a baseball player, and the Giants not knowing I exist.
They know now.
That’s it! I’ve got my Top 3 of the silliest, nonsensical idioms to emerge during this war :
1° Seth Hegpete’s “maximally postured”, already on its way to become a classic.
2° Sebastian Gorka’s “testicularly challenged”, harder to use in proper company but hey.
3° The T-man himself comes out the gate “mandatorily requesting”… Bangles, baubles and beads, most likely.
Isn’t ‘mandatorily requesting’ what door bouncers do in the latest hip NY club?
The correct way to say his name is Pete Smegseth.
Interesting to note that, with 10 minutes until the open, US stock futures are fading faster than the paint on the roof of a ’78 Pinto left out in the Florida sun.
I wonder which Trump friends and family profited from chasing the non-cash markets higher over the long weekend?
Well the market is open and it’s all green. Stock futures are just speculative noise. The market continues to make new highs.
Wishing something into being is a sure way to lose money in the stock market.
What we got here is a failure to accumulate…
(with apologies to Strother Martin)
How do they manage to always stay in green? Great mistery to.me.
Cap weighted indexes and we will just party on because I am sure I will leave just before the punch bowel is empty.
And it is not like the new SecTreasury will take away the punch bowel before things get out of hand.
Green is mentioned in the Quran, especially in the descriptions of Paradise, as stated in the verse: “They will wear green garments of fine silk and brocade” (Quran 18:31).
Irony alert–Trump has to get as much green as possible, because he has convinced himself that he’s in paradise.
Iran looks like they’ll just keep letting the Americans embarrass their red lines. They must really want those frozen assets. I suppose everyone has a price. Unfortunate for Lebanon.
Yes! They really want to make a deal! The lego propaganda worked great, almost made me believe they were against the Epstein Cartel when they only want a seat at the table. Reminds me of La Règle du jeu (1939).
I think that’s a repurposing of stale propaganda from the Ukraine conflict, this notion of red lines. And the charge of embarrassment is projection.
Iran survives, and it retains control of the strait. It does not need a deal. It does not trust the US to honor any deal. It needs the US to go away and for Israel to have a change in regime. It will get reparations for the damage done one way or another.
Before the unprovoked attack, tanker traffic flowed freely, the US had more than a dozen military bases in the region, and US dependencies slept soundly in the belief that the long arm of the US military could protect them. No more.
All you wrote could be helped along with some more of that IRGC magic is all I’m saying.
Somebody forgot to pay their environmental fee?
“Pay your environmental protection fee or we will use you to cause an environmental disaster.” Hm.
History repeats itself: the first time as farce, a week later as another farce….
U.S. Navy Quietly Guiding Ships Through Strait of Hormuz (WSJ)
Operation Freedumber.
@CENTCOM has issued a denial:
Iran condemns US strikes as ‘gross violation’ of ceasefire
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g44yl7q70o
Ireland to ban goods from Israeli settlements in West Bank by July
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/ireland-ban-goods-israeli-settlements-110752611.html
Hezbollah launches largest drone attack ever against Israel in northern Israel
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-897342
Iran’s Underground Internet: How Citizens Created a Parallel Economy to Survive an 80-Day Blackout
https://irannewswire.org/iran-underground-internet-parallel-economy-80-day/
Iran condemns US strikes as ‘gross violation’ of ceasefire
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g44yl7q70o
I believe Kurt Russell covered that:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBBTw7sOELU
Trump’s best exit strategy is to go on permanent medical leave. The US’s best strategy would be to identify Israel as a strategic threat and to dump Netanyahu. It’s impossible to imagine ‘negotiations’ until something on this order occurs. On the domestic econmic front: on a sunny Sunday, on a local multi use trail, lots of bicyclists and pedestrians, i.e. people who stayed at home instead of driving ‘somewhere out of town’. At a ‘liberal’ dinner table…gas prices and war are being linked to acting on behalf of Israel.
I must be the only person – other than Trump – who doesn’t really have a problem with the phrase “mandatorialy requesting.”
A “request” is asking for something. “Mandatory” means “required,” usually by someone else. If I want to be paid sick leave, it is mandatory for me to request that payment with an online form. I am mandatorialy requesting payment for my sick time. Awkward phrasing, true, but by no means the worst we’ve seen from der Trumpenfuehrer.
The more interesting question to my mind is “who’s mandating that he do the requesting?”
I believe that is what is known as an oxymoron with emphasis on the moron.
Lol, Morons in high places, just smart enough to steal 100s of millions, take bribes for 100s of millions but stupid enough to self-destruct. We can’t “misunderestimate” the moronic bufoonery. We can at least be tragically entertained while we go to the brink.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhmdEq3JhoY
I would politely disagree with your characterization, based on my example provided above. ;-)
Since it’s Trump I think he’s demanding while using the word request therefore oxymoron. All his requests are demands pre TACO.
My first thought too, but it depends on whether the person writing his tweets knows what an adverb is.
If she does, I suspect that as usual the person doing the mandating was the last person he talked to. And as I recall, he’d supposedly just gotten off the phone with Bibi.
Trump is mandatorily requesting Iran to surrender. (Bibi made it mandatory that Trump request it.) According to Bibi, it’s an offer Trump can’t refuse.
If something is mandatory, it’s not a request, it’s a requirement. A request can be refused.
So a request can’t be mandatory? How do I get paid for my sick leave then? Bureaucrats gonna bureau, after all.
“You have to ask…” is not a thing?
If you have no choice but to make the request in order to achieve an objective (like getting your sick leave reimbursed) then making the request can be mandatory.
The request itself cannot be, or it’s a requirement. There are nuances, though. When I was a child, my father used to request that I go to the store and buy him a paper. Technically I could have said no, but I knew better than to try.
Not a “mandatory request” but “manditorily requesting.” It’s the act of requesting that’s manditory, not the response.
That’s assuming the author is English-literate, an assumption I don’t think we can justify.
So trying to say ” I feel I must request” ? Yeah, okay.
Heard Mearsheimer say today on Judge Nap that with the passing of time on the Hormuz closure that Iran’s leverage increases and Trump’s decreases. Makes perfect sense. So, why should Iran not drag these “talks” out for as long as possible, letting the reserves run out and the midterms creep ever closer? In this strategy, Netanyahu becomes Iran’s ally with his constant sabotage of any agreement Trump might be inclined to make.
Maybe Trump can be convinced to make the Strait of Hormuz into a Broadway show–opening and closing every evening.
“The new Team Trump formula is that they are 95% of the way to cinching an agreement, as many in the peanut gallery point out that that does not mean the final supposed 5% can be resolved.”
Even if serious, all the “capitulation” framing would help to prevent a deal.
From what I can see from Yves’ post and comments above: the “deal” is to agree to further formal negotiations where something more substantive can be put in writing. However, as we have seen time and again, the “good cop, bad cop” duo of the US/Isr. is not capable of agreement. The Mad Emperor has said he is not bound by law, and regards international treaties with contempt. (Same with MiniMe)
Even if the US “agrees” on something, we can bet that the “bad cop” will predictably and promptly break the agreement. Groundhog Day again
This is the same game that has gone on with Russia for the longest.
It continues until decided on the battlefield.
There may be pauses, but every side thinks they are the ones doing “attrition”.
Yep, propose an Anchorage-like agreement that is never defined, get Iran used to constant pinprick attacks to keep the political types on top of the military types. In time dragoon the GCC countries into funding and supplying the cannon fodder for these constant attacks, same as the EU in Ukraine.
US frees up its forces, sells lots of weapons. Israel keeps taking more and more of Lebanon as Hezbollah is run down over time. The Iranian politicians are as delusional as the Russian ones. Of course nobody wants to directly challenge the US, their capabilities haven’t been ground down that far yet, but if you don’t want to lose your freedom of action the only response to any and all attacks must be full on, the price is not high enough for the US at the moment.
The Iranian politicians are as delusional as the Russian ones.
Just for perspective (and not directed solely at you, but more to your viewpoint, which is becoming increasingly popular):
1. Russia’s strategy is providing it something like a 30:1 kill ratio over a western-supplied, armed, and trained Ukraine, which going into this war was probably the second-most powerful military in all of Europe (ignoring Turkey in this description). It is hard to fathom achieving such a lopsided ratio under just about any scenario of warfare between states, let alone one that manages to do so while absolutely decimating Western armament supplies and without causing WWIII. In fact, even with the benefit of hindsight, I can’t think of many approaches that would have produced better results without entailing significantly more risks (there are a few, but again, this is with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight).
Putin is likely under too much pressure to continue this current strategy and will likely have to cave, but from a purely logical perspective, it makes no sense to change his approach unless he can get a 40:1 ratio–knee-jerk responses out of anger are unlikely to produce this.
2. Iran has, in the span of about a month (and really within the first weekend, and really within the first 24 hours), kicked out one of the three most powerful militaries in the world from its entire region (ok, not quite yet, but it is inevitable) while also putting the regional nuclear power into what is probably an irrecoverable death spiral. It has also acquired de facto control over the most important real estate in the world and can now dictate to its neighbors (who own much of the world’s other valuable real estate) whether they are allowed to trade with the wider world. And all this over a few days, and while surrounded by countries that are mostly actively hostile towards them and complicit in attacks on them. I don’t think there has been such an abjectly humiliating defeat to the dominant power for well over 200 years (maybe someone can think of a war to prove me wrong, though).
Given this:
1. I would personally be cautious in assuming that the people running these countries are a bunch of morons who do not understand Western duplicity. To the contrary, they have been on the receiving end of this duplicity for literally decades and have born the costs of them–they likely understand far better than any of us.
2. I would also personally be cautious in assuming that these leaders have not spent a lot of time in truly understanding how to best deal with the myriad responses that the West would be imposing now. I could of course be wrong, but it is highly unlikely that the Russian and Iranian victories are simple flukes, and it is equally unlikely that they only planned for the first stages of a war and didn’t bother planning for the following stages with equal thoroughness
Just as a last comment: From what I can tell, it is Israel (and perhaps the Lebanese government), not Hezbollah, that is being run down over time. Israel’s army is in shambles, and I suspect we are going to see absolute breakdown within the Israeli state and society over the next 12 months. Even its propaganda, once considered the world’s best, has become laughable. And this is occurring while its biggest sponsor is both weakening and increasingly uncomfortable with supporting it.
“US frees up its forces, sells lots of weapons. “
What weapons? The US is depleted! Even its own overly optimistic forecasts for its arsenal over the next decade are horrifying!
As for “freeing up its forces”, I guess that’s the most optimistic way to spin losing access to an entire theatre of command…
Hanke predicting a commodity super cycle sounds reasonable.
But his advice to Uae to exit opec so they could pump more applies to all opec producers who, as he says, have capacity to pump more. When countries have tried this in the past saudi pumps massively, driving down price such that even producing more brings in way less money than before and bringing back discipline. Saudi wants to maintain the highest price possible without driving consuming countries into recession.
Hanke of course knows this history and logic, odd to me he continues to advocate breaking opec discipline.
Imo Iran is much more closely aligned with saudi, and us/israel continue giving Iran reasons to respond to attacks on Iran/lebanon with their own attacks on them. Perhaps UAE exiting opec doesn’t just annoy saudi but Iran too, and it wouldn’t be too hard to take out a good part of UAE capacity to exceed their quota. Or even produce anything at all given their alignment with Iran’s enemies.
“One can argue that Iran handily won this trade. Four dead fishermen and their boat(s) v. an MQ-9 Reaper”
Really? Four dead human beings not worth a Reaper? Is that a new phrase to be used “not worth a Reaper”?
In brutal attritional warfare terms, Iran suffered a smaller loss than US did in this “exchange.”
The inhumanity is not in this assessment, but in the aggressor’s war plan.
Whatever…everyone has lost their minds.
Just to add: in the sense that long wars will take their toll on more and more people in the strangest of ways.
Would the “Abrams Accord” have something to do with buying American M1 tanks, I ask innocently… :-)
I heard they were running a sale on overstocked Civil War cannons over Memorial Day — buy 1 get 5 free…plus unspecified preferential terms on a MQ9 Raper, only slightly used by Zionist prison guards.
Donald Trump is Building an “Amazon for Guns” and Donald Trump Jr. Stands to Benefit
https://meidasnews.com/news/donald-trump-is-building-an-amazon-for-guns-and-donald-trump-jr-stands-to-benefit
Trump Summons Entire Cabinet as Iran Deal Crumbles in Front of Him – Donald Trump has called all of his top advisers to Camp David.
https://newrepublic.com/post/210887/donald-trump-summons-entire-cabinet-iran-deal
Trump abruptly cancels Camp David trip after semi-annual physical
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-abruptly-cancels-camp-david-trip-after-semi-annual-physical/ar-AA248dKY
Cognitive tests probably revealed he couldn’t find it on a map…
US plans tariffs on USMCA countries, has issues with Canada
https://www.reuters.com/business/us-plans-tariffs-usmca-countries-has-issues-with-canada-2026-05-26/
Netanyahu issues rare rebuke to far-right Israeli minister over video taunting handcuffed Gaza flotilla activists
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-ben-gvir-netanyahu-gaza-flotilla-activists-b2980919.html
Germany, Canada to Sign Major LNG Deal as Europe Seeks Energy Security
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-26/germany-canada-to-sign-major-lng-deal-as-europe-seeks-energy-security
IDF attempted to assassinate Hamas leader Mohammed Ouda
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-897388
Iran’s regime continues irregular death sentencing as it hunts for ‘Israeli collaborators’
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-897370
US and Armenia sign partnership agreement ahead of Armenian election
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-armenia-sign-strategic-partnership-agreement-ahead-armenian-elections-2026-05-26/
US and Israel ‘actively working’ to strip Jordan of Al-Aqsa custodianship, sources say
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-al-aqsa-us-israel-strip-jordan-custodianship-sources-say
White House Has Full-Blown Meltdown Over Coverage of Trump’s Health
https://newrepublic.com/post/210903/white-house-meltdown-media-coverage-trump-health
Trump, 79, Goes to Walter Reed as Doctors Sound Alarm – The president, soon to be an octogenarian, is due to undergo his fourth medical evaluation of his second term.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-79-goes-to-walter-reed-as-doctors-sound-alarm/
I think he’s being treated for something. The interval between these visits is the clue.
U.S. Seeks to Give Weapons-Grade Plutonium to Start-Ups for Fuel
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/26/climate/plutonium-nuclear-weapons-fuel.html
Another good link on Trump’s health problems:
https://thedailyadda.com/2026/05/27/look-at-him-trump-caught-on-camera-slurring-words-and-nodding-off-as-a-doctor-publicly-declares-he-has-a-severe-illness-and-the-clip-is-everywhere-now/
“I think he’s being treated for something. The interval between these visits is the clue.”
So is the baseball cap he keeps wearing…
A White House Doctor who would honestly report that a President had lost the plot wouldn’t have the job in the first place.
Thankfully, it’s only a cold sore…
Did Donald Trump Just Hand Texas to Democrats?
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-ken-paxton-john-cornyn-democrats-james-talarico-11994199