Iran war, day 234 | Trump’s regime keeps lying about oil prices | Gulf states are on their own | Further escalation Brent crude is back at $110/barrel despite Trump lies •Kepler data confirms 4 ships crossed yesterday How clueless are most people to reality? Video games take precedence! GTA 6 could cost the US economy $1 billion in a single day as up to 1.5 million Americans are expected to take the day off to play. •never mind upcoming elections, high energy and food prices, resumption of war And now Elon says money won’t matter! •Elon Musk says money will become "irrelevant" in the future, with energy and resources becoming the new measures of wealth. •energy and resources, the 2 main factors that provoke wars by world powers! •they continue to plant the seeds for a cbdc and stable coin •And BlackRock seeks to bring tokenized assets into traditional banking and financial systems. Gulf states are broke, short on weapons, & U.S. won’t help •Trump envoy Tom Barrack directly warns Gulf allies that Washington can no longer guarantee their security indefinitely •He told GCC officials in Doha that they must defend themselves -US will transition to overwatch role •Mecca pact is encouraged •Barrack also says US won’t take on Yemen; let GCC Sunni states deal with it So what was the point in incurring billions of dollars of cost to support US bases? •why accept the petro dollar? Is the US preparing for further escalation? The USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit are heading to the Middle East, adding over 10,000 U.S. sailors and Marines as tensions with Iran rise. •this is the 3rd carrier group in theatre Trump is also reviewing which military bases in West Asia should be rebuilt after sustaining damage from Iranian attacks, alongside future force deployments and reconstruction costs, according to Breaking Defense. They still will not concede how badly they were beaten How will Iran respond? •1st, Iran again rejected negotiations unless the US first accepts Iran's demands •not happening •Major General Mohsen Rezaei, conveyed three important things to Pakistan’s mediator: •Not a single particle of enriched nuclear material will leave Iran. •Until trust-building takes place on the part of America, there will be no negotiations. Key message, Iran stands on the MOU. The process must begin by yielding to all of Iran’s demands he says. Iran will sever the internet cables at the bottom of the SOH •7 submarine cables in the SOH are part of the world's telecom infrastructure, transmitting internet data, money, and trade between countries, and play an important role in the continuity of digital communications. What is the importance of these cables? More than 90 percent of international internet communications rely on these cables. Is there an alternative? •Satellites are not a suitable alternative, because their capacity is lower, their delay is greater, and their cost is higher. •Messaging, video calls, online banking, cloud services, and a large part of the activity of technology companies all depend on this infrastructure. •Iran also has a list of data centres it will strike across the gulf •GCC energy infrastructure is also a target Iran continues to intensify attacks in SOH! Iranian attacks in the Persian Gulf are hitting more ships and causing more severe damage than earlier in the conflict, raising new risks to regional energy flows, Bloomberg reports How are U.S. Allies doing again? VW plans to freeze salaries for its 660,000 employees worldwide until 2030, per Süddeutsche Zeitung •They will also reduce real wages by around 10% due to inflation. •The plan also includes cuts to bonuses, benefits and jobs. Recall Kissinger’s adage: it’s dangerous to be america’s enemy, fatal to be a friend