Morning music
Saturday quiz
Some quite difficult questions again this week. I managed 6/10, thus beating political journalist John Rentoul, who scored 4/10. I knew the answers to questions 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 10.
Talking point
I noticed that the following blog post from nearly 7 years ago, which received a few hits yesterday and today, has stood the test of time quite well:
See also:
[“According to The Wall Street Journal, Iran has begun mining the Hormuz Strait — the world’s main oil corridor. U.S. officials have confirmed that Tehran has placed about ten naval mines in this strategically important waterway.
These are specialized munitions that can operate at shallow depths. Some mines are just 90 centimeters below the water surface, while others are anchored to the seabed at depths of up to 50 meters. The warhead of most of these devices contains between 50 and 120 kilograms of explosives — enough to seriously damage a large tanker or surface ship.
The goal of the mine warfare operation is not mass destruction of ships. The mere threat of mines’ presence can paralyze movement through the strait. History shows that this is one of the most effective and cheapest means of pressure on maritime trade. Since World War II, naval mines have caused more damage to U.S. Navy ships than any other weapon.
The paradox of mine warfare is that inexpensive weapons are capable of causing colossal economic consequences. Even a few mines placed in a narrow strait can stop the flow of tankers carrying about 20% of the world’s oil and trigger a global energy crisis.]”
What that says to me is that the Iranian leadership have recognized (how could they not?) the air and sea superiority, indeed supremacy, of the US and its “tail wags dog” “ally”, Israel. The Iranian leadership may therefore be resigned to losing much, perhaps all, of their own oil production and transit as part of the damage from the war, and so have decided to go all-out to close (now, or soon) the Strait of Hormuz, in order to bring down the international economic order.
Should it so decide, Turkey could cut off almost all of Israel’s oil supply.
Apropos of nothing (?), I have never yet met a Kuwaiti that I could, even marginally, like, trust, or respect. Dishonest, unclean-looking, and unpleasant even by the low standards of the Gulf Arabs generally.
While I imagine it would be possible for American forces to take and make a bridgehead on some shore, or offshore island, and possible even keep that area occupied for a considerable time, the USA has not the strength, or the will, and certainly not the airlift capacity, to invade Iran and occupy it, or a large part of it.
Iran is the 17th-largest country by area in the world (Iraq is the 58th-), has about 93M inhabitants (Iraq has about 46M).
The land area alone is vast: about 7x the size of that of the UK, 3x the size of Ukraine and, while of course smaller than that of the USA (Iran is about a 6th of the size of the whole USA), still about the size of Alaska or, to put it another way, 4x the size of California 10x the size of Florida, or 12x the size of the State of New York.
Bottom line— the USA, were it to attempt invasion, would be unable to occupy or hold more than a small part of Iran. Kharg Island, maybe, but only at the cost of constant drone and rocket attack on that island and on all ships in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranians seem to be repeating their mistake of 2025, attacking all over the place rather than concentrating their resources on a few key targets (which to me would be the ben-Gurion Airport, central Tel Aviv, and the Dimona nuclear area. That would leave many other potential targets unattacked, but not everywhere can be attacked with sufficient force. It was once said that “to govern is to choose“; same applies.
All the same, as far as one can judge, the attacks on Israel, so far, seem to be more like minor nuisances to the population as a whole, rather than the wholesale destruction and carnage the Israeli Jews have visited upon the people of Iran, Lebanon etc. Certainly, had the Iranian missiles and drones hit any schools or hospitals, and killed any children and/or patients, you can be sure that UK/US TV and Press would have screamed unceasingly about it.
As always, Trump is like a big child, doing something that has unexpected consequences, then wailing for help from its parents.
Well, after all, (((who))) do you think pulls puppet Starmer-stein’s strings? The (((you-know-who))) element, as usual.
Some kind of black. Drugged, probably.
How strange that Isabel Oakeshott, apparently paid hundreds of thousands of pounds annually (and tax-free, because she holds UAE tax residency), and whose personal partner is multi-millionaire businessman and MP, Richard Tice, should choose to travel by the London Underground. Makes me think she must be mega-“tight”…
I lived for many years, on and off, in London, though not (thankfully) for the past 25 years.
Had I 10,000 men and pleins pouvoirs, I could restore order, permanently, to London within a month.
In the specific situation shown, the first volley would take down 90% of the untermenschen, and the rest would either flee or be detained easily enough, having once seen what happened to their “friends”.
Talking point
More tweets seen
That judge should be put up against a wall. Her judgment on sentence makes no sense at all from the viewpoint of protecting the public in Canada.
In a proper society, the invaders (probably Congolese) would be put up against a wall.
You cannot move society to a higher form when it is increasingly composed of individuals of lower race and culture. In fact, on that premise, you cannot even maintain society at its present level of culture and development.
We are struggling for a better society, a better way of life, higher living standards, and a European population.
See also:
14 words.
More tweets
[“Matt Lucas signed the ‘No hostage left behind’ letter to Joe Biden as Biden participated in the genocide in Gaza.
The letter repeated the Oct 7 atrocity propaganda of ‘women raped, families burned alive, and infants beheaded’.
A British man saw Lucas giving him a funny look on the tube so he said Free Palestine and questioned Lucas in public. 30 second interaction. Lucas lied in the video and smacked the man’s phone.
The press claimed Lucas was harassed because he is jewish. The man did not know Lucas was jewish.
The man lost his job after 3 weeks.”]
It is what “they” do—typical of “their” (((their))) behaviour.
Wall. Squad. End.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Sackman
Again… “them”.
Every. Single. Time.
Talking point
Ian Robert Millard 