I don't see how Trump can escalate in Ukraine. The US military is already asking for Ukrainian interceptors to defend Israel because it didn't have enough to fight Iran when the war began.
The US Empire is overextended. It failed to deplete Russia, and it will fail to deplete Iran.
G'day Ohio, re the US Empire overextended. On the theme of multi theatre warfare extended yes that is obvious but in connection with magazine depth(sic), shortage of attacking missiles etc how does one know whether that is true because ex spooks or ex US military officers say so. Would seriously important logistical information really be made common knowledge and the person revealing such information still be free to daily post more said information, think Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden.
I do not believe the Zanon nrpr stuff could possible be completely fully accurate but that is purely my own opinion.
If you have a closer connection to information let us know as any enlightenment would be very encouraging.
I agree, it may be a bait and switch. On the other hand, stocks and manufacturing capacity are both finite in principle – and then there is the question of critical minerals.
Agree completely with the future perspective but today's situation in Iran and munitions sufficient or not is the unknown plus what actual damage is being wrought on Iran?? Also know one really knows how many missiles, drones Iran actually has either though if all we hear about damage to US bases is true then it surely is possible they have what is reported.
Trump certainly is in an invidious position without much in his favour, whilst the world watches on.
Several American radar systems are out of order around the Middle East, as is the THAAD system.
Iran (even if they fall) was well prepared for this war, more than Israel and the US are.
Wrong timing to attack Iran now, probably he was incited by some parasites to screw up strategy and attack directly, otherwise he would have problems.
Some missiles and defense robots are manufactured in limited numbers annually due to many many factors. It is not the fantasies of old broken loud military men's own minds.
Russia launched three satellites for Iran in December of 2025. I am wondering if they actually developed capabilities of satellite targeting in their general area.
Iran lost Azerbaijan to Russia in Gulistan treaty. And Armenia in Turkmenchay Treaty. That was way long ago,200 years back. Iran fought with Russia for more than a century and half aligned with Britian and France back then.
1941 Iran lost to Anglo Soviet invasion where it was divided for British and Soviet Control.
Truly in a senses Iran gained Sovereignty when Islamic Revolution happened in 1979.
And now way forward is how much Sovereignty it retains when having external alliances.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait had surrendered before the USA and its European allies without firing a shot in 1990 (and some even earlier). Throughout the 1980's pastors in the American military hospital felt free to poke fun on the religious beliefs of Bahrain Arabs who flocked to the place in hope of advanced treatment and invite them to accept Christianity.
Iran has not surrendered after 6 days of the most intense bombing since the 1991 Gulf War, so I do not see reason why it would surrender in the days to come.
Yesterday in a Gulf country it was openly announced in the mosque in Arabic that Arabs need lasting friendship with Israel and that Iran is the worst enemy of all of Islam who wants Arabs to perish collectively, to be followed by rule of Dajjal over believers in absence of guidance from ulema. I leave it to the audience to read interpretation into this announcement, The why and the how etc.
Whilst renewables are banned under Trump or pilloried, lobbying power runs another facet of the US economy. No balance whether its diplomacy or power generation or transport, at the rate of extraction what is the life expectancy of the reserves??? What follows peak oil?? No plan 2 just like Operation Epstein Fury!
We are exporting huge amounts of natural gas…that means Big Oil understands oil and gas will be worthless sooner rather than later. So fracking is already 15 years old that means the peak is probably in another 15 years and yet we are full steam ahead with exports. I personally saw my utility bills spiking in December and so I invested in the newest most efficient tech and now my utility bill is cheaper than ever even with more expensive electricity…that means solar panels would cover a high percentage of my daily energy needs.
G'day Gene, glad to hear you made the sensible decision re solar, I get 30aud back per month from my electricity supplier and we are all electric except cooking. I installed my own lifepo4 battery system approx 20kwh enough for about 4 days use without any sun which has never happen as even quite overcast days produce some power.
One unfortunately can see the US policy makers are captured by fossil fuel lobbyists as Trump banned any new renewables and from my readings the refineries in California are in a deplorable state of repair and regularly have explosions and loss of workers lives but the companies concerned are never penalised. Assume the other refineries are in similar condition also. Profit maximisation and shareholder return is paramount in the FIRE economies of the west.
I haven’t done solar yet, I’m focusing on efficiency right now. Once I get everything as efficient as possible and my utilities are cheap and comfort is maxed out then I will get solar. I just did some roof repairs and so my roof is good for at least another five years but I have a tree that needs to come down to max out solar.
If you intend to put solar on your roof I would buy it now as the CPC has cut subsidies to renewable producers, a 440watt Jinko 6 months ago was only aud125 but 2 years previous was aud 165 so much cheaper in usd. Also it is unadvisable to put solar panels on anything less than a pristine roof as they will be there for 20+ years and takes a lot of work to take them down and put them back too. Were you thinking of standalone or do you have the possibility to feed into the grid excess power generated in the middle of the day?
Solar is absolutely a no brainer here and it is so wide spread particularly in Queensland which is tropical and subtropical hence abundant sun but residential batteries have become a complete game changers here.
The day of coal fired power generation is drawing to a close unless some Trump like government builds them then gives them away to some mate as no financial institution would lend for a coal generation project I believe due to lack of guaranteed return on investment.
Highly educated Iranians are all over the globe. Those include scientists and specialists highly placed in research work at leading universities and tech-driven companies in western countries. Iran does not need "intel" from Russia. Iranians are no less brainy than the most intelligent German, French or Swede alive today. Iranians have the means to access at least some of "Intel" gathered via satellites by American firms, as well as reverse spook some of the info "stolen" by western corporate firms from just about every Android and Apple phone on earth. Getting to accomplish such a feat is a technological marvel doubtless, but Iran had at least some of the skilled manpower needed for the job, though some humour-savvy individuals like to call it "reverse espionage". It was not very long ago that Iran was able to "hijack" and reverse-spook a very high tech American drone, thanks to the impressive strides in Electronic Warfare and ECM it has been making. But there is nothing unethical about it. It is the way of the world. One of the reasons the US wants to destroy Iran is to wipe out certain capabilities in hi-tech which Iran has acquired through decades of focused prioritisation. That tech had to be destroyed before its portended spillage beyond Iran's borders to the wider Asatic neighbourhood lest it should jeopardise American monopoly on monetisation of information.
There are voices in Iran claiming that the recent bomb attacks on the Azerbaijan enclave of Nakhichevan were perpetrated by Israel, in rehearsal for projected nuking of Baku. Iran has been trying to convince Baku that those attacks were a false flag operation. It is for those interested in deliberation on West Asian politics to debate over the veracity of Iran's claim, as also on the extent to which Iran's warning that the putative 'false flag' is a plot to divide the Muslim Ummah against itself will have takers among the Azerbaijan public, a large section of which is much less devout than the Azeris inhabiting North Western Iran.
A leading Saudi intellectual known to be highly connected to power corridors has publicly claimed that Israel and its partner USA are trying to embroil West Asia in an escalated war and then leave the Gulf allies (dependencies) to fend for themselves at their own fate, with the motive of fomenting chaos that can in turn be conducive to the carving of a greater Israel on the corpse of Arab countries. Again, the importance of such apprehensions voiced by the Saudis can be a topic for debate among experts. With each passing day, most people in the wider East are losing interest in following this war.
As for Trump escalating on conflict with Russia, that would be an apriori decision made well in advance, irrespective of whether or not Russia is doing something to offend him right now or not, though he will sure as night follows day care to spin a pretext for his stance by getting the CIA or someone of stature in the intelligence community to announce (Cook) an alibi in form of inputs incriminating Russia. Russia would likely have wargamed various possible scenarios manifesting in Trump's implacable tantrums and devised some strategies accordingly. It's the Crime of Procrustees"; the brigand and his wife pulled hard at the guest's limbs, ripping open the joints if he were shorter than the bed so that he might enjoy the whole bed, and conversely they slit off his throat to shorten his stature if the bed was lenthier. Needless to say, in a display of trademark hospitality, they killed the guest anyway.
That's exactly what they did in Iraq. They helped Saddam with the installation.
Then they whispered in his ears that the opposition in Iraq would turn against him and that he had to destroy them.
This "opposition" was researchers, scientists, chief doctors.
As stupid as Saddam was, he gathered them all and murdered them, which resulted in sending Iraq back to a vegetable country.
Exactly as you say, Iran is an intelligent people, I compare all immigrants in Sweden and employment, 90% of Iranian immigrants work as researchers, chief doctors, dentists, science, i.e. jobs that require a high intellectual level.
I do believe Russia is providing SIGINT. But the main reason for venting that accusation (which Trump shrugged off) is because when considering the pre-planned war scenario's, the current one is unexpectedly one of the worst playing out. US mistakenly calculated Arab colonies were some off limits bubbles from were it could bomb Iran and not experience Iranian counter attacks.
Washington-Post is not a reliable source. For example, their Watergate story was a Deep State sponsored desinformation campaign again Nixon. For quite some time now, WP belongs to Amazon, which relies on unimpeded China trade for a lot of its profits. So it will try to prolong US-Russia discord.
If Russian Specialists are not in Iran and helping defend Iranian Sovereignty that would be a huge mistake by Putin ! If Iran Falls not only is BRICS Dead . War with Turkey is Next !
The longer this war goes on, the better it is strategically for both Russia and China. The former has its energy position strengthened to the extent that Putin can credibly state he doesn't need the European market any more, whereas the latter gets a much easier path to take over Taiwan, included depleted munitions and abundant tactical information. Of course, there will be some short-term pain, especially for China, which may not enjoy the same energy discounts from Russia it once did.
The US destabilizing Iran is not good, I wouldn't be surprised if the spooks interfere with weapon sales to Russia from Iran and place trackers(or sabotage) on them to give Ukraine their positions.
I am sure Russia is helping Iran and why shouldn't they? the US is more than helping Ukraine in its war against Russia.
It would be only fair, but fair has nothing to do with it.
Biden did a great job of making America stronger…I’m so sorry?? 😉
Well surely what’s good for the goose and all that.
The Americans have been doing this for years.
I don't see how Trump can escalate in Ukraine. The US military is already asking for Ukrainian interceptors to defend Israel because it didn't have enough to fight Iran when the war began.
The US Empire is overextended. It failed to deplete Russia, and it will fail to deplete Iran.
G'day Ohio, re the US Empire overextended. On the theme of multi theatre warfare extended yes that is obvious but in connection with magazine depth(sic), shortage of attacking missiles etc how does one know whether that is true because ex spooks or ex US military officers say so. Would seriously important logistical information really be made common knowledge and the person revealing such information still be free to daily post more said information, think Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden.
I do not believe the Zanon nrpr stuff could possible be completely fully accurate but that is purely my own opinion.
If you have a closer connection to information let us know as any enlightenment would be very encouraging.
I agree, it may be a bait and switch. On the other hand, stocks and manufacturing capacity are both finite in principle – and then there is the question of critical minerals.
Agree completely with the future perspective but today's situation in Iran and munitions sufficient or not is the unknown plus what actual damage is being wrought on Iran?? Also know one really knows how many missiles, drones Iran actually has either though if all we hear about damage to US bases is true then it surely is possible they have what is reported.
Trump certainly is in an invidious position without much in his favour, whilst the world watches on.
Several American radar systems are out of order around the Middle East, as is the THAAD system.
Iran (even if they fall) was well prepared for this war, more than Israel and the US are.
Wrong timing to attack Iran now, probably he was incited by some parasites to screw up strategy and attack directly, otherwise he would have problems.
Some missiles and defense robots are manufactured in limited numbers annually due to many many factors. It is not the fantasies of old broken loud military men's own minds.
It is based on scientific results.
Russia launched three satellites for Iran in December of 2025. I am wondering if they actually developed capabilities of satellite targeting in their general area.
Iran lost Azerbaijan to Russia in Gulistan treaty. And Armenia in Turkmenchay Treaty. That was way long ago,200 years back. Iran fought with Russia for more than a century and half aligned with Britian and France back then.
1941 Iran lost to Anglo Soviet invasion where it was divided for British and Soviet Control.
Truly in a senses Iran gained Sovereignty when Islamic Revolution happened in 1979.
And now way forward is how much Sovereignty it retains when having external alliances.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait had surrendered before the USA and its European allies without firing a shot in 1990 (and some even earlier). Throughout the 1980's pastors in the American military hospital felt free to poke fun on the religious beliefs of Bahrain Arabs who flocked to the place in hope of advanced treatment and invite them to accept Christianity.
Iran has not surrendered after 6 days of the most intense bombing since the 1991 Gulf War, so I do not see reason why it would surrender in the days to come.
Yesterday in a Gulf country it was openly announced in the mosque in Arabic that Arabs need lasting friendship with Israel and that Iran is the worst enemy of all of Islam who wants Arabs to perish collectively, to be followed by rule of Dajjal over believers in absence of guidance from ulema. I leave it to the audience to read interpretation into this announcement, The why and the how etc.
I don't see to much where USA make a mediation in Ukraine.
If Russia don't help Iran, the costs will be very more painful that the risk of helping it.
The question is: are Russia and China ok to help Iran.
That make a great difference.
There is a moment when red line means red line.
South bound freedom for Russia is existential.
Iran ressources are capital for China.
And concerning reputation, letting Iran die alone under the strikes of all West and vassals, would be disastrous for both.
I recently spoke about a Kroutchev momentum. This is it
Biden making America energy dominant continues to pay dividends. 🇺🇸
Whilst renewables are banned under Trump or pilloried, lobbying power runs another facet of the US economy. No balance whether its diplomacy or power generation or transport, at the rate of extraction what is the life expectancy of the reserves??? What follows peak oil?? No plan 2 just like Operation Epstein Fury!
We are exporting huge amounts of natural gas…that means Big Oil understands oil and gas will be worthless sooner rather than later. So fracking is already 15 years old that means the peak is probably in another 15 years and yet we are full steam ahead with exports. I personally saw my utility bills spiking in December and so I invested in the newest most efficient tech and now my utility bill is cheaper than ever even with more expensive electricity…that means solar panels would cover a high percentage of my daily energy needs.
G'day Gene, glad to hear you made the sensible decision re solar, I get 30aud back per month from my electricity supplier and we are all electric except cooking. I installed my own lifepo4 battery system approx 20kwh enough for about 4 days use without any sun which has never happen as even quite overcast days produce some power.
One unfortunately can see the US policy makers are captured by fossil fuel lobbyists as Trump banned any new renewables and from my readings the refineries in California are in a deplorable state of repair and regularly have explosions and loss of workers lives but the companies concerned are never penalised. Assume the other refineries are in similar condition also. Profit maximisation and shareholder return is paramount in the FIRE economies of the west.
I haven’t done solar yet, I’m focusing on efficiency right now. Once I get everything as efficient as possible and my utilities are cheap and comfort is maxed out then I will get solar. I just did some roof repairs and so my roof is good for at least another five years but I have a tree that needs to come down to max out solar.
If you intend to put solar on your roof I would buy it now as the CPC has cut subsidies to renewable producers, a 440watt Jinko 6 months ago was only aud125 but 2 years previous was aud 165 so much cheaper in usd. Also it is unadvisable to put solar panels on anything less than a pristine roof as they will be there for 20+ years and takes a lot of work to take them down and put them back too. Were you thinking of standalone or do you have the possibility to feed into the grid excess power generated in the middle of the day?
Solar is absolutely a no brainer here and it is so wide spread particularly in Queensland which is tropical and subtropical hence abundant sun but residential batteries have become a complete game changers here.
The day of coal fired power generation is drawing to a close unless some Trump like government builds them then gives them away to some mate as no financial institution would lend for a coal generation project I believe due to lack of guaranteed return on investment.
Highly educated Iranians are all over the globe. Those include scientists and specialists highly placed in research work at leading universities and tech-driven companies in western countries. Iran does not need "intel" from Russia. Iranians are no less brainy than the most intelligent German, French or Swede alive today. Iranians have the means to access at least some of "Intel" gathered via satellites by American firms, as well as reverse spook some of the info "stolen" by western corporate firms from just about every Android and Apple phone on earth. Getting to accomplish such a feat is a technological marvel doubtless, but Iran had at least some of the skilled manpower needed for the job, though some humour-savvy individuals like to call it "reverse espionage". It was not very long ago that Iran was able to "hijack" and reverse-spook a very high tech American drone, thanks to the impressive strides in Electronic Warfare and ECM it has been making. But there is nothing unethical about it. It is the way of the world. One of the reasons the US wants to destroy Iran is to wipe out certain capabilities in hi-tech which Iran has acquired through decades of focused prioritisation. That tech had to be destroyed before its portended spillage beyond Iran's borders to the wider Asatic neighbourhood lest it should jeopardise American monopoly on monetisation of information.
There are voices in Iran claiming that the recent bomb attacks on the Azerbaijan enclave of Nakhichevan were perpetrated by Israel, in rehearsal for projected nuking of Baku. Iran has been trying to convince Baku that those attacks were a false flag operation. It is for those interested in deliberation on West Asian politics to debate over the veracity of Iran's claim, as also on the extent to which Iran's warning that the putative 'false flag' is a plot to divide the Muslim Ummah against itself will have takers among the Azerbaijan public, a large section of which is much less devout than the Azeris inhabiting North Western Iran.
A leading Saudi intellectual known to be highly connected to power corridors has publicly claimed that Israel and its partner USA are trying to embroil West Asia in an escalated war and then leave the Gulf allies (dependencies) to fend for themselves at their own fate, with the motive of fomenting chaos that can in turn be conducive to the carving of a greater Israel on the corpse of Arab countries. Again, the importance of such apprehensions voiced by the Saudis can be a topic for debate among experts. With each passing day, most people in the wider East are losing interest in following this war.
As for Trump escalating on conflict with Russia, that would be an apriori decision made well in advance, irrespective of whether or not Russia is doing something to offend him right now or not, though he will sure as night follows day care to spin a pretext for his stance by getting the CIA or someone of stature in the intelligence community to announce (Cook) an alibi in form of inputs incriminating Russia. Russia would likely have wargamed various possible scenarios manifesting in Trump's implacable tantrums and devised some strategies accordingly. It's the Crime of Procrustees"; the brigand and his wife pulled hard at the guest's limbs, ripping open the joints if he were shorter than the bed so that he might enjoy the whole bed, and conversely they slit off his throat to shorten his stature if the bed was lenthier. Needless to say, in a display of trademark hospitality, they killed the guest anyway.
That's exactly what they did in Iraq. They helped Saddam with the installation.
Then they whispered in his ears that the opposition in Iraq would turn against him and that he had to destroy them.
This "opposition" was researchers, scientists, chief doctors.
As stupid as Saddam was, he gathered them all and murdered them, which resulted in sending Iraq back to a vegetable country.
Exactly as you say, Iran is an intelligent people, I compare all immigrants in Sweden and employment, 90% of Iranian immigrants work as researchers, chief doctors, dentists, science, i.e. jobs that require a high intellectual level.
How much did Shahid drones help in Ukraine!
Meanwhile the US continues to suffocate in an Orwellian state of decadence.
What does that mean? "Orwellian state of decadence?"
Late-stage capitalism.
It would be very strange if they didn't...
The wrongs we invlicted on Russia they can & do the same to the USA. Whay else can we expect???
I do believe Russia is providing SIGINT. But the main reason for venting that accusation (which Trump shrugged off) is because when considering the pre-planned war scenario's, the current one is unexpectedly one of the worst playing out. US mistakenly calculated Arab colonies were some off limits bubbles from were it could bomb Iran and not experience Iranian counter attacks.
Washington-Post is not a reliable source. For example, their Watergate story was a Deep State sponsored desinformation campaign again Nixon. For quite some time now, WP belongs to Amazon, which relies on unimpeded China trade for a lot of its profits. So it will try to prolong US-Russia discord.
Putin says "up yours Trump!".
Time for the USA to double Ukraines allocation of weapons and start shipping them the good stuff.
If Russian Specialists are not in Iran and helping defend Iranian Sovereignty that would be a huge mistake by Putin ! If Iran Falls not only is BRICS Dead . War with Turkey is Next !
The longer this war goes on, the better it is strategically for both Russia and China. The former has its energy position strengthened to the extent that Putin can credibly state he doesn't need the European market any more, whereas the latter gets a much easier path to take over Taiwan, included depleted munitions and abundant tactical information. Of course, there will be some short-term pain, especially for China, which may not enjoy the same energy discounts from Russia it once did.
The US destabilizing Iran is not good, I wouldn't be surprised if the spooks interfere with weapon sales to Russia from Iran and place trackers(or sabotage) on them to give Ukraine their positions.
Thanks for your great work Andrew!
We've restacked and shared this link on 'The Stacks'
https://askeptic.substack.com/p/the-stacks