Afternoon music
Tweets seen
If that were to happen, at the same time as oil and gas shipment via the Strait of Hormuz is interrupted, the EU economies would suffer a massive hit, potentially.
You never see the BBC or Sky News reporting on the almost daily attacks on Russian civilians by the forces of the Kiev regime.
Most of those other countries rely on hydrocarbon exports, so will recover once the war is over. Dubai’s economy is only about 1% or 2% oil and gas, and it relies on tourism, general business etc, so a prolonged shutdown will cripple it, or even kill it off.
Of course, in the very unlikely event that Russia were to target Israel, even with non-nuclear missiles, that would reduce Israel to rubble, and (if a nuclear attack) possibly kill all of its inhabitants i.e. about half of the Jews in the world.
At present, however, the situation suits Putin quite well, as I blogged some time ago. The price of oil and gas is higher each day; Russia is a major producer, and is receiving, daily, tens of billions of dollars (equivalent) more than it was a month ago.
Also, the diplomatic and image stock of the USA is falling proportionately. The Americans and Israelis are killing off the present top leadership in Iran, but it remains to be seen whether that alone can determine the outcome of the war. Maybe not.
As the American leadership flounders, Putin and the Russian government look steady, and focussed, by comparison.
There is also the point that the Kiev regime is in peril of seeming an irrelevant sideline, not really at the centre of events. Putin must be pleased at that.
Politically, in the EU, economic downturn must play well for Putin, as the System parties in many countries face populist and other upsurge.
Putin can sit back, not get involved, and watch as Trump’s crazy war, and his fealty to the Jews and Israel, trashes the European economies, the Kiev regime’s prospects, and the NATO alliance.
[“Iran posed no threat’: US top intel official resigns over war pushed by Israel lobby
Retired Lt. Col. Daniel Davis highlights the resignation letter of the National Counterterrorism Center director, who stated he could no longer support the war in Iran in good conscience.
The official said Iran posed no imminent threat and that the US entered the conflict due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.“]
Wall. Squad. End.
Starmer-stein has run out of road.
As blogged previously, Starmer-stein is being pulled in opposite directions: Israel and the Jewish lobby, which put Starmer where he is today, want him to get Britain (more directly) involved on the Israeli side of the war; many of Starmer’s and Labour’s present or former voters, though, now are non-white, often Muslim, and Labour’s recent by-election failures point out the electoral dangers of further alienating the anti-Israel voters (including many white English/British former Labour voters).
…and that is without even considering the delayed “Ukrainian rent boys” trial…
Much as in other recent polls: Reform clearly ahead but underwhelming. One new thing is the Con Party as second in terms of MPs, though only just. Would translate to a Commons with about 324 Reform UK MPs (2 short of an overall majority), Cons 85 (weak official Opposition), LibDems 61, Lab 58, Greens 50, SNP 43.
As in most other recent opinion polls, on those figures Starmer would lose his own seat.
I think you have to ask the question: if a people is expelled, repeatedly, and over many centuries, indeed over 2 millennia, and from well over 100 countries or territories, are they simply unfortunate victims of continued racial and/or religious “prejudice”, or is there something about their patterns of behaviour that causes others to rise up against them?
Quite…
Imagine the evil cynicism of the Israeli leadership and its puppets, meaning Trump and his entourage of idiots. They were engaged, superficially, in peace talks with Iran when they attacked Iran’s cities and other places.
Well, now it looks as if the Israelis are determined to raze much of Iran to the ground, as they have done in Lebanon, Gaza and (using the USA as their battering- ram) Iraq etc.
However, this may not be a one-sided war, even so. Naturally, I have no idea how many or what kind of missiles Iran may still be able to deploy, but they may still be legion, and may be underneath deserts or within mountains, and well-protected. Tel Aviv may yet be reduced to a level similar to that of Gaza. We shall see. I should imagine that (as seems to belatedly be the case) ben-Gurion Airport is a priority target, as surely must be the Dimona nuclear facility.
I do not understand why the Iranian side is wasting (as it seems) so many missiles on extraneous targets, though Dubai was a masterstroke of oblique strategic warfare. A small number of hits from missiles and drones, and the vulgar glitzy nothingness of Dubai has been abandoned by many of its fair-weather “friends” from Europe and elsewhere. They flock to leave, if and when they can.
In these matters, though, one must always return to Clausewitz and “the concentration of forces“. Schwerpunkt.
I cannot see ramshackle Cuba putting up much of a fight, not for more than a few days, against the awesome military might of the USA, but Trump should reflect on the consequences of hubris. It invites nemesis.
At present, it looks as if the USA is staking a claim to Iran, Venezuela, Greenland, Canada, and Cuba (among others).
Every. Single. Time.
The reasons put forward for getting rid of most jury trials are just camouflage. The real reason is that it would be a step further on the road to “communitarian” tyranny (as seen during the “Covid” panicdemic/scamdemic).
Starmer-stein is the puppet of NWO/ZOG. Join the dots.
Late music
Ian Robert Millard 
A great way to begin the day (we have watched it for the 10th time today at 8.00 AM). Among the many positive consequences of meeting my (English) wife, the most important one was the discovery of English humour.
(3) The Two Ronnies – Sweet Shop Sketch – YouTube
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Claudius:
I see that that was from 1981. I did not know they were still going then. I remember them from the early 1970s.
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“Russia categorically condemns the strike on the territory of the Iranian Bushehr nuclear power plant.”
Oh, yes! I am sure the Israelis are really scared by Putin´s “categorical condemnation”. Russia is a joke. After three years fighting a country which they outnumbered in a proportion of 10 to 1 in almost every category, the Russians have not achieved victory, nor have they been able to force Zelensky to surrender. They have learned NOTHING from WW2.
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Claudius:
That is so only because Russia regards Ukraine as a semi-detached part of Russia, going back a thousand years and more. Russia does not want to destroy Kiev (which it could do in a matter of hours, completely), because Kiev is seen as a kind of “third city” (after Moscow and Petersburg). Likewise, you have seen how, despite the great damage done to some smaller cities, the major Ukrainian cities have suffered attacks mainly to infrastructure targets; no really major or historic Ukrainian city has been razed to the ground, at least so far.
Russia still has 6,000-7,000 nuclear weapons, many in excellent places of concealment, and effective delivery systems.
Russia is of course not the old Soviet Union (in a number of ways), but can still destroy whole countries at the push of a button.
As you know, I was shocked by the failure of the Russian General Staff, Army, and GRU to rapidly secure Kiev and Ukraine generally 4 years ago (and to eliminate Zelensky). That led to the present ghastly attritional war. However, the slow progress continues.
Russia wants to rule (Eastern, especially) Ukraine, not destroy it, nor to turn it into an irradiated wasteland. The fact is, a few buttons pushed, and Zelensky and his cabal would be somewhere between pillars of salt and the Terracotta Army.
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Exactly. That is my gripe against Russia. The incredible inefficiency of its armed forces and its General Staff led to this awful war of attrition. The war could have ended in 4 weeks.
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Claudius:
There is more than one Russia.
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I forgot to post this interesting analysis of the state of the Russian & Ukrainian armed forces at the beginning of the war (2022)
Chart: The Russia-Ukraine Military Imbalance | Statista
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Claudius:
No link.
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I am sorry, the bloody link does NOT work. I bet it has been sabotaged by NATO! (LOL)
Here is another one:
Russia and Ukraine Military Comparison – GlobalData
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Claudius:
Thanks. That comparison would seem to show that Russia is not throwing all its resources into the fight as yet.
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This is very funny. Incidentally, Zelensky´s words are exactly the same that Trump told him during that famous and humiliating press conference at the White House. That is the real punch line.
Instagram
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