Gandalv

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Gandalv

Gandalv

@Microinteracti1

I write and make AI videos — geopolitics, science, culture — between the cracks of real life. If something landed, please buy me a coffee. It means a lot. ☕

London 参加日 Ağustos 2018
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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
Trump wanted EJ Antoni to run the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he was “honest and accurate.” He just told the Financial Times the economy cannot handle $100 oil. That it is weaker than they thought. Inflation worse than they thought.  Antoni is a Heritage Foundation economist. Project 2025 co-author. One of theirs. GDP growth last quarter: 0.7%. That is a patient on a drip. And the White House response? Quietly exploring whether to buy Iranian oil, currently sitting in sanctioned tankers, to bring prices down. They started a war to stop Iran selling oil. They are now trying to buy Iranian oil. Gandalv / @Microinteracti1
Newsweek@Newsweek

Economist EJ Antoni warned that the U.S. economy is not strong enough to handle $100 a barrel oil prices caused by the Iran war. #Echobox=1773922922" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">newsweek.com/trump-ally-say…

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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
Trump is so embarrassing
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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
For most of 2024, America was cruising along at +20 global favorability. Top Gear car, best in show, everyone wanted to be seen in it. China was parked firmly below zero. Nobody liked it. Nobody admitted to liking it. It was the automotive equivalent of a Romanian people carrier. Then, sometime around early 2025, America’s driver appeared to have an enormous brainfart at the wheel. The line doesn’t drift downward. It doesn’t gently decline. It falls off a cliff with the elegance of a grand piano being pushed out of a window. By April, the US had gone negative. For the first time in the survey’s history, more people around the world viewed America unfavorably than favorably. China, meanwhile, did absolutely nothing impressive. It just stood there while America collapsed around it, and somehow ended up at +8.8. The US is now at -1.5. China is at +8.8. A gap of over ten points, in the wrong direction, achieved in roughly four months. You genuinely couldn’t do this on purpose. You would have to try extremely hard to throw away 20 years of soft power this quickly and this comprehensively. And yet. Here we are. Gandalv / @Microinteracti1
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Gandalv@Microinteracti1

x.com/i/article/2020…

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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
Iran is throwing Shahed drones at American air defenses the way a toddler throws spaghetti at a wall. Cheap, relentless, and absolutely everywhere. Ukraine has been dealing with exactly this for four and a half years. They’ve shot them down over Kyiv, over Odesa, over fields in the middle of nowhere. They’ve learned, painfully and expensively, how to track them, intercept them, and live with the constant sound of them at night. The US military, with its $900 billion annual budget, its carrier groups, its fifth-generation fighters, apparently looked at all of that accumulated knowledge and decided: not relevant. Now they’re in the Gulf, facing the same drone, from the same supplier, and apparently just as surprised as if the thing had been invented last Tuesday. This is the future of warfare. It costs almost nothing. It doesn’t need a pilot. You don’t mourn it when it gets shot down. And if you send enough of them, some will get through. Every time. Ukraine figured that out before most Western militaries were willing to admit drones were anything more than a novelty. Four and a half years of brutal, real-world testing. Mountains of data. Hard lessons written in blood. The US had a front-row seat to all of it. They just weren’t watching. Gandalv / @Microinteracti1
Financial Times@FT

Iran, as it fights the US and Israel, has flooded the skies with its cheap Shahed drones to overwhelm air defences and strike high-value targets. John Reed explains why this unassuming weapon may just be the future of warfare. ft.trib.al/ARp0BXU?

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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
Trump says the US had no idea about the strike on Iran’s gas facility. Two American news outlets say that is complete nonsense. According to sources speaking to The Wall Street Journal and Axios, Trump personally pre-approved the attack that has since thrown global energy markets into even greater chaos. So to summarize: the man who approved it, didn’t know about it. Right. axios.com/2026/03/18/isr… Gandalv / @Microinteracti1
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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
3,200 ships. 20,000 civilian crew members. Trapped in a war zone the US created and never planned to manage. The IMO has formally declared a humanitarian emergency in the Persian Gulf. Seafarers are running out of fuel and water. Repatriation is nearly impossible — regional airspace is disrupted, and no one will enter the conflict zone to replace crews who want to leave. This is what happens when you launch a war without a maritime plan. Did anyone in Washington wargame that scenario? Did anyone ask: what happens to the 3,200 commercial vessels already inside the Gulf when the shooting starts? Apparently not. You don’t need a war college degree to see it coming. You just needed to look at a map. Iran has explicitly threatened to close Hormuz for decades. It was the single most predictable consequence of military action against them. Instead, the US launched Operation Epic Fury with no coalition maritime plan, no escort protocol, no supply corridor for civilian vessels, and apparently no answer to the question every shipping company, port authority, and maritime union would have asked on day one: how do we get our people out? Now Trump is asking allies to send warships to unblock the strait. Most of them said no. The ones who said yes did so carefully, with conditions. That’s not a coalition. Gandalv / @Microinteracti1
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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
Gandalv@Microinteracti1

The Most Obvious Thing Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud Months of watching the news, and it comes down to this: either everyone in Washington has suffered a simultaneous catastrophic brain injury, or something far more deliberate is going on. Let’s start with the sanctions. Trump has lifted them on Russia. Iran. Belarus. Three regimes that between them have shot down passenger aircraft, poisoned people in English cathedral cities, and run prison systems that make Alcatraz look like a Marriott. Those sanctions. Gone. Just like that. But Canada? Canada gets tariffs. Germany gets lectures. France gets ignored. NATO gets treated like an embarrassing uncle at Christmas. Are you seeing this? Marco Rubio flew to Budapest. To visit Viktor Orban – a man who has spent fifteen years methodically dismantling every court, every newspaper, and every independent institution his country ever had. And now JD Vance is making the same pilgrimage. These are not coincidences. You don’t fly to Budapest unless you really, really admire what Viktor Orban has built there. And what has he built? A state with no functioning opposition. A press that agrees with the government. A judiciary that does what it’s told. Sound familiar? Trump has never – not once – said a critical word about Putin. Not one. He has praised him. Repeatedly. Enthusiastically. Like a schoolboy who’s just discovered his favourite footballer. Meanwhile Zelensky – the man whose country is being shelled daily – got dragged into the Oval Office and humiliated on live television. This is not a foreign policy. This is a preference. Now here’s the bit that should make you put down your coffee. A united Europe – with NATO overhead, shared defence, shared intelligence, shared values – is the one thing the Trump regime cannot control. You can’t squeeze France and Germany and Poland simultaneously if they’re all holding hands. But break the chain? Isolate each country? Make them feel exposed and dependent and alone? Then you can deal with them one at a time. That is what is happening. Not tariffs. Not trade disputes. Not some philosophical disagreement about multilateralism. The goal – the actual goal – is to dismantle the umbrella so that every European country gets rained on individually. And here’s how you know the public has worked it out, even if the commentators haven’t. A recent poll asked people across Western democracies a straightforward question. Would you rather depend on China, or on the United States under Donald Trump? In Canada – America’s nearest neighbour, closest ally, sharer of the world’s longest undefended border – 57% chose China. Twenty-three percent chose the Trump regime. In Britain, 42% preferred Beijing. Germany, 40%. France, 34%. Citizens of countries that sent their sons to die on American-adjacent beaches in 1944 now trust the Chinese Communist Party more than they trust Washington. Read that sentence again. Slowly. And then there’s Iran. Three weeks ago the Trump regime lifted sanctions on Tehran. This week – with Israel bombing the city – American aircraft are joining in. The same regime that decided Iran was fine, actually, no problem, here are your sanctions back, is now at war with Iran. Because Netanyahu asked nicely. This is not strength. This is a regime so desperate for the approval of whoever is in the room that it will contradict itself within a fortnight and call it strategy. Maybe Trump didn’t lead America into this. He was pulled. By a smaller country with a very clear agenda and a very good read on exactly how malleable this particular president is. That is not a superpower. That is a sock puppet.

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The Atlantic
The Atlantic@TheAtlantic·
U.S. allies haven’t forgotten about Trump’s tariffs, his threats against NATO, and his curtailing of aid to Ukraine—so he shouldn’t be surprised that they’re unwilling to help him in Iran, @anneapplebaum argues. theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/03/…
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Ozark Beemish
Ozark Beemish@Maddogg197·
@Microinteracti1 No source for your puppet chart. Just being devils advocate here, but appears the numbers are made up. Really should refer to a credible source for support.
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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
The Most Obvious Thing Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud Months of watching the news, and it comes down to this: either everyone in Washington has suffered a simultaneous catastrophic brain injury, or something far more deliberate is going on. Let’s start with the sanctions. Trump has lifted them on Russia. Iran. Belarus. Three regimes that between them have shot down passenger aircraft, poisoned people in English cathedral cities, and run prison systems that make Alcatraz look like a Marriott. Those sanctions. Gone. Just like that. But Canada? Canada gets tariffs. Germany gets lectures. France gets ignored. NATO gets treated like an embarrassing uncle at Christmas. Are you seeing this? Marco Rubio flew to Budapest. To visit Viktor Orban – a man who has spent fifteen years methodically dismantling every court, every newspaper, and every independent institution his country ever had. And now JD Vance is making the same pilgrimage. These are not coincidences. You don’t fly to Budapest unless you really, really admire what Viktor Orban has built there. And what has he built? A state with no functioning opposition. A press that agrees with the government. A judiciary that does what it’s told. Sound familiar? Trump has never – not once – said a critical word about Putin. Not one. He has praised him. Repeatedly. Enthusiastically. Like a schoolboy who’s just discovered his favourite footballer. Meanwhile Zelensky – the man whose country is being shelled daily – got dragged into the Oval Office and humiliated on live television. This is not a foreign policy. This is a preference. Now here’s the bit that should make you put down your coffee. A united Europe – with NATO overhead, shared defence, shared intelligence, shared values – is the one thing the Trump regime cannot control. You can’t squeeze France and Germany and Poland simultaneously if they’re all holding hands. But break the chain? Isolate each country? Make them feel exposed and dependent and alone? Then you can deal with them one at a time. That is what is happening. Not tariffs. Not trade disputes. Not some philosophical disagreement about multilateralism. The goal – the actual goal – is to dismantle the umbrella so that every European country gets rained on individually. And here’s how you know the public has worked it out, even if the commentators haven’t. A recent poll asked people across Western democracies a straightforward question. Would you rather depend on China, or on the United States under Donald Trump? In Canada – America’s nearest neighbour, closest ally, sharer of the world’s longest undefended border – 57% chose China. Twenty-three percent chose the Trump regime. In Britain, 42% preferred Beijing. Germany, 40%. France, 34%. Citizens of countries that sent their sons to die on American-adjacent beaches in 1944 now trust the Chinese Communist Party more than they trust Washington. Read that sentence again. Slowly. And then there’s Iran. Three weeks ago the Trump regime lifted sanctions on Tehran. This week – with Israel bombing the city – American aircraft are joining in. The same regime that decided Iran was fine, actually, no problem, here are your sanctions back, is now at war with Iran. Because Netanyahu asked nicely. This is not strength. This is a regime so desperate for the approval of whoever is in the room that it will contradict itself within a fortnight and call it strategy. Maybe Trump didn’t lead America into this. He was pulled. By a smaller country with a very clear agenda and a very good read on exactly how malleable this particular president is. That is not a superpower. That is a sock puppet.
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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
@Siquiatro That’s true and that’s a very important difference. The clowns were JD and DJT.
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Bartolomé 🇪🇺🇺🇦❤️‍🩹
@Microinteracti1 Totally agree. Almost totally agree. Only one precision must be made: Zelensky wasn’t humiliated at the Oval Office. The Trump administration humiliated itself. And it continues to drag the once-admired United States into the abyss of shame and indignity. Please, wake up!
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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
So when European leaders refuse to fall in behind the Trump regime’s position on Iran, understand what’s actually happening. They are not being difficult. They are not being anti-American. They have simply noticed that the regime demanding their loyalty has spent the past years praising Moscow, rewarding Tehran, and then bombing Tehran, while trying to saw off the branch they’re all sitting on. You don’t take orders from a general who’s already shooting at you. The Trump regime is not a confused ally. It is not a bull in a china shop. It knows exactly what it’s doing. And what it’s doing is not good for democracy, not good for Europe, and not good for anyone who believes that the last eighty years of relative peace were worth preserving. Europe needs to grow up. Fast. And look after itself. Because that lot in Washington aren’t going to. Gandalv / @Microinteracti1
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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
$200 billion. No briefing. No strategy. No end game. No respect for Congress. I sit on the Appropriations Committee. Zero justification received. Hegseth’s entire case to the American people: “it takes money to kill bad guys.” That’s an insult to Congress, the Constitution, and every soldier putting their life on the line right now. A nuclear-armed Iran is a threat. But the path matters. The cost in lives and dollars matters. Who gets to weigh in matters. That’s not weakness. That’s the Constitution. First $50 billion. Then $100 billion. Now $200 billion. No breakdown. No timeline. No accountability. Where are my Republican House colleagues? Collins and Murkowski are asking questions in the Senate. The House is silent. That silence is a dereliction of duty. The power of the purse belongs to Congress. This is the last line of defense against blank-check governance. Our troops deserve better. The American people deserve better.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Follow Gandalv @Microinteracti1
Rep. Mike Levin@RepMikeLevin

$200 billion. No briefing, strategy, or end game. No respect for Congress. I sit on the Appropriations Committee. I have received zero justification. Hegseth’s entire case to the American people is “it takes money to kill bad guys.” That’s an insult. To Congress and the Constitution. And most of all, to the men and women putting their lives on the line right now. Our service members are the best this country has. They are brave, skilled, and they deserve leadership worthy of their sacrifice. They deserve a clear mission. A defined objective. A strategy that someone in this administration has actually thought through. They are not props for a policy that nobody can consistently explain. Yes, a nuclear-armed Iran is a threat. I believe that. But how we confront that threat matters. The path we take matters. The cost in lives and dollars matters. And who gets to weigh in on all of that matters. That’s not weakness. That’s the Constitution. First the reports were $50 billion. Then $100 billion. Now $200 billion. With no breakdown, no timeline, no accountability. Where the hell are my Republican House colleagues? Collins and Murkowski are asking questions in the Senate. The House is silent. That silence is a dereliction of duty. We are a co-equal branch of government. The power of the purse is ours. This is not a technicality. It is the last line of defense against exactly this kind of reckless blank-check governance. Our troops deserve better. The American people deserve better. nytimes.com/2026/03/19/wor…

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Peter B
Peter B@realpeteyb123·
Think the time has come for me to walk away from MAGA and the Republican Party. I’ll share more soon. I’m done.
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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
@RepDonBacon @NafoEst Thanks man. You will be taken good care of if you one day visit Europe 👍🙂
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Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸✈️🏍️⭐️🎖️
I’ve been very supportive of POTUS on Iran & believe getting rid of Maduro was good. But I’ve been appalled by this Admin's tone, rhetoric, tactics & strategy toward Europe. Denigrating our allies has been terrible. Weakness communicated to Putin has caused grave damage. Passive-aggressive communication toward President Zelenskyy is embarrassing. I hear from our allies about the damage this has done & it’s going to take time to repair.
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Samuel Cardillo
Samuel Cardillo@CardilloSamuel·
@Microinteracti1 it is ai or edited video game footage. for the emergency landing itself, we odn't know yet what was the cause of it. the irgc just spinned the propaganda out of the news. they specialize in that.
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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
The F-35 was supposed to be unkillable. That was the whole point. Lockheed Martin spent thirty years and four hundred billion dollars, the most expensive weapons programme in human history, building an aircraft that the enemy simply could not see. Not on radar. Not on infrared. Not on anything. The F-35 was not just a fighter jet. It was a theological statement. America’s way of saying: we have moved beyond the reach of your missiles, your sensors, and your prayers. Iran apparently didn’t get the memo. Somewhere over Iranian airspace on March 19, 2026, an IRST system, infrared search and track, the kind of sensor your grandmother could probably explain, looked up, found the F-35, and locked on. Not because Iranian engineers are geniuses. Because the F-35, it turns out, is extremely hot. All that engine. All that thrust. All that carefully sculpted stealth geometry, and the bloody thing glows like a kettle. The heat signature data Iran now holds is not just embarrassing. It is a gift that keeps giving. To Moscow. To Beijing. To every procurement ministry on the planet that has been quietly wondering whether to spend the money on systems designed to kill this aircraft. The answer, as of this week, is yes. And here is the bit that should really worry the Pentagon. You can patch software. You can redesign coatings. You cannot reprogramme a pilot’s brain. Every F-35 driver who takes off from here on knows, actually knows, that someone down there might be able to see them. That changes everything about how they fly. Caution replaces aggression. Hesitation replaces instinct. Four hundred billion dollars. And in the end, it was done in by a heat sensor. Tremendous. Gandalv / @Microinteracti1
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Gandalv
Gandalv@Microinteracti1·
@CardilloSamuel Ok. I can’t verify the video. It’s all over the place. Might be ai.
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Samuel Cardillo
Samuel Cardillo@CardilloSamuel·
@Microinteracti1 the incident is real, the video ain't. for someone who specialize in ai video, you're not really good. keep the military stuff to the military people.
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