Over the next few weeks, keep your eyes on the Middle East
- Thread starter HunterPKP
- Start date
I needed to sell some stuff off to make money so this was actually helpful for me
Listened to this over the weekend. Thought it added some interesting perspective...
Think it is worth a listen for some perspective on the current Iranian Population, historical US relations, government/regime weaknesses.
Think it is worth a listen for some perspective on the current Iranian Population, historical US relations, government/regime weaknesses.
Farmers are about to have to decide whether they'll plant corn or soybeans (which need less/no fertilizer since they fix their own nitrogen). Given that ethanol is derived from corn and required to be added to gasoline in the US, there's likely about to be some baked in increases in gasoline prices assuming that less corn is grown this year.
I would actually like to see an EO suspending the ethanol requirement. This policy is ridiculous.
It would significantly harm the agricultural industry in the US (or benefit it I suppose if you think corporations owning more farmland would be good) and increase our reliance on foreign oil while increasing prices at the pump. You gotta replace that 10% of ethanol with something, and it'd just be more gas.
This may be unrelated, by drove down I-20 through ATL and into Alabama yesterday. I have never seen so much military equipment and armor on the interstate. Troop carriers, trucks, 18 wheelers carrying large assault boats, tanks, etc. All headed East.
At a much lower price for that 10%. Ethanol is an economic loser up to $80/bbl crude WITH subsidies.
So... ethanol is currently making gasoline cheaper given present oil prices.
Anniston Army Depot is a major hub for armor maintenance, so could be related to that. I'm guessing regardless of the reason the destination would be Fort Benning. Not sure if they'd run large scale flights out of ATL.
Used to deploy ships out of Savannah. It was a big staging area for moving ARMY equipment.
About time someone did something about Columbia.
Bloomberg stating what seems increasingly obvious.
No, the government is paying farmers to make more corn than necessary which eventually leads to lower gas prices at current rates.
It’d be far more efficient to just stop taxing gas.
It really is amazing how that board can't handle any difference of opinion.
This whole Iran business is really doing a number on his REM patterns.
And stop providing subsidies to the oil and gas industry as well, I agree.
Removing gas taxes would just increase demand and lead to new equilibrium at higher prices.
Boy they aren’t gonna like that one around here
Actually heard a really interesting fact about Sherman the other day. Apparently when he was in charge of the Army while Grant was president, I don't know what the official title was, he took himself and all his direct reports and moved to St. Louis because he thought DC was so corrupt.
I like to think there just was not enough booze in DC for the both of them.
OK, cool. So remove only enough taxes to offset the ludicrous, roundabout way of deflating prices by converting food to fuel. Take the acreage you just freed up and install solar farms. (I know that last bit will be controversial)
Solar farms should be on rooftops and over parking lots. Don’t waste good land
The biggest Takeaway here is that if we had 19 or 20 intelligence agencies, that could’ve made it more convincin. Time to open up the budget.
Every day/update that comes, it’s showing DJT’s ignorance. There will be consequences felt for decades in that region.
Ok I’m done with political comments
Ok I’m done with political comments
There’s no such thing as harm to agricultural industry. Just pro Monsanto activity.
1. Shawn Ryan podcast - 5th generation Iowan farmer. Great conversation. Selecting this as it affects us all.
2. Whether you like Tucker or not, the most important podcast to listen to. Credit to this 72 year old Israeli for being so transparent about Israeli culture and their state of mind. I can vouch for it, I worked for an Israeli company. Even I was shocked on a few things. Tucker barely talks the entire time anyway. He just lets the guy roll.
“in the West, you have Win/Win. Here in Israel, we want to destroy and humiliate our opponent.”
“We have half monsters and the other half we make up in our minds.”
“Americans are children and naive.”
3. And I mean this a lot…. Very proud of the evolution for honest and respectful dialogue. This thread is giving me hope. Time for the old guard to evaporate. We are so desperate for thoughtful, responsible leadership.
Hahahaahahah. The government actually going to give the people….. the people’s money back?
Nah.
Trump has been very successful in both his business and political careers leveraging power and money, while being a bully when necessary, all to varying degrees of successful, love him or hate him. Unfortunately he has completely misplayed his hand with Iran. Fanatics that believe in martyrdom have zero interest in negotiating anything less than their ideological beliefs as it is better to die. It is impossible to reason with such individuals. Israel dragged us into this and now there is no reasonable, quick way out. Stupid, stupid, stupid...will we ever learn?
Seems to me it's become pretty obvious that this is moving towards us landing troops to take Kharg Island and then using that as some bargaining chip to put this thing to an end.
Nightmare, can't believe we've gotten to this point.
It’s not that people can’t handle a difference of an opinion. It’s that people who are BRAND LOYALISTS are incapable of constructive criticism of any kind.
Think of the Ride or Die Dabo zealots when some of us were pushing for portal players? Ridiculous and I’m embarrassed for them.
IDK your political persuasion and I really don’t care. I do know there are plenty of people on this planet with PREDETERMINED OUTCOMES.
Politically, in this country, this line of thinking is the acceptable manner by WAY TOO MANY PEOPLE on the LEFT and RIGHT. True IDEOLOGUES, who have chosen to strip their own agency away by choice. At the same time, it’s the primary reason for the growth of Independents. Why? Because it defies almost everything we do in life. The 2 parties are oppressive organizations and more and more people see it. It should never be this way but that’s how they choose to operate.
I’m very outspoken about my beliefs about the 2 parties. I know they are the primary cancer to our country. And people try to inform me how their group is less depraved than the other. Think about that this form of justification. That’s what it has been dragged down to. Pathetic. How about I’m Southern Baptist, cause you know, Catholics. Justifying being one version of Christianity cause one has a less molestation record than the other. That’s what they are saying without realizing it. There’s no MORAL STANDARD in these organizations just less depravity as a form of moral standard yet people pledge loyalty to them.
Look at the top companies over the past 100 years. Nothing but change. Yet we have the steady hand of 2 organizations that have driven us into 40T of debt. Why on earth would you pledge loyalty to them? Unless you’re a piece of
yourself?
Seems like the utility of Kharg as a bargaining chip assumes that most if not all of the infrastructure on the island remains intact. I'm confident that if we decided to we'd be able to take it, the question is 1) how many American lives will be lost in the process and 2) how much of the island remains intact that it's worthwhile for Iran to want it back. Iran's economy is built around oil, and 90% of their exports go through Kharg Island. If the island's ability to export oil was significantly damaged, possessing it or not doesn't impact the calculus as much. And with how heavily defended it is, I'm sure there's going to be at least some damage to the infrastructure that arises just from trying to capture it.
It might also feed into the calculus if the US legitimately is hoping that the Iranian people rise up to overthrow the IRGC. Ignoring that an actual invasion of Iranian territory could lead to a (temporary) rally around the flag effect for Iran, it hurts the US' cause if the Iranian people oppose the IRGC but see the US destroying the infrastructure they would need to be a stable and successful country during whatever replaces the IRGC.
US raised with the big blind while holding a mismatched 7-2 and, given Iran's response to the flop, is starting to get concerned they might not have a good hand.
I don't think the Iranian people have the means to truly rise up against the IRGC or it would have happened already. It would take who knows how many years of support from US troops on the ground to rebuild the nation like that. The only reason it was ever even stated as a goal is because Trump was grasping at straws to justify this cluster **** he's created. Every other US official has tried to walk that back since.
I continue to believe that he thought this would be a Venezuela situation where we cut the head off the snake, blow a bunch of stuff up and then they come begging for mercy. It clearly has not gone like we thought it would.
I still don't see how any of this serves any country other than Israel.
Every American needs …... HISTORY in their life!!
If we live in a country where events from 2000-3000 years mean so much to a large number of them, surely what’s been happening in the last couple of hundred years should to. And if not, please explain.
Iran–United States relations - Wikipedia
Doing regime change in Iran would take the largest commitment of US troops since the second world war and a marshall plan level investment.
Agreed that they thought it would be like Venezuela.
And even if we were committed to it, Russia, China, Israel, and the Sunnis have too much invested in the region to make a regional American vassal tolerable.
