Frank Ricard

China just lost its $400 billion centerpiece in a single afternoon. Operation Epic Fury was yet another move in a forced alignment. Every nation on Earth will have to pick a side. Full alignment with the US or with China.🧵 x.com/NovusOrderM/st…

It’s like having a neighbor that is building a giant bomb in their house, and constantly shooting their gun at your house, so you go to their house and take away their guns, lock him up, until you realize there’s like 10 people living there. So then you call your friendly neighbors and ask for some help and they all say “eh, it’s ok, appreciate you though”, so you say fuck it and leave. And then you move to a nicer neighborhood cause you’re richer than the rest of them.

It’s like borrowing someone else’s house for a party, wreck it, and then leave saying: “y’all go clean this place up, it’s a mess.”

The Romans would’ve just dug another strait.

Nobody is better than big T. Keeps everyone off balance. Keeps every option open. Could pull out, continue bombing, take kharg, put troops to take the strait, leave it for others to deal with. Master of chaos and maintaining leverage at all times with everyone.

@ianbremmer More public posturing. More of the same. He’s trying to get NATO/EU to commit…

trump: very close to winding down war in iran. presumedly $200 billion supplemental no longer necessary.

You can't control a narrative when the whole world is paying attention. Wars force attention. The longer the world talks about Iran, the harder it becomes to ignore who armed them and why. The public is now becoming aware that the Chinese have backed, funded, and armed a regime that was ramping up ballistic missile production, stockpiling enough enriched uranium for ~10 nuclear bombs, murdered thousands of protesters two months ago, and will attack neighboring Gulf states to try and gain leverage. Every leader watching this is doing the same math as their constituents: dependence on Chinese-backed regimes and hostile chokepoints is a liability. That's the long-term impact here. Even if the Strait opens tomorrow, the lesson has been delivered in a way that no policy, trade summit, or diplomacy ever could.

@ianbremmer @mdubowitz Agreed. This is all intentional public posturing. So is the recent Politico report re: Russia's intelligence-sharing offer to the US. Goal: Change EU/NATO calculus to force their hand. It'll be interesting to watch this play out.

@mdubowitz 1) if it’s so easy to do, why can’t the united states do it. 2) nato a defensive alliance, article 5 is challenging on iran war.

I’m a strong supporter of NATO but why is President Trump wrong here?

@ItsTheEnforcer Can you provide your analysis on why you think NATO isn't a paper tiger without the United States?

Im not sure who the President thinks is going to believe this statement… - The war in Iran hasn’t been “won” - NATO isn’t a “paper tiger” - Reopening Hormuz isn’t “simple” He’s basically angry that Europe won’t blindly sacrifice their ships on our behalf…

@Mayhem4Markets Ask yourself: Why did Politico just report that Putin has offered to stop sharing intel with Iran if the US stops sharing with Ukraine? It isn't a coincidence. x.com/NovusOrderM/st…

If it's such a 'simple military maneuver' to clear the Strait of Hormuz, and NATO is just a paper tiger without the US, then why can't our military clear it on their own? I'm going to say my catchphrase again. You all know it was coming. Trump has no idea what he's doing.

You know all the European countries are watching this closely. You know Trump will lean on this if needed to get NATO to the table.

@jbulltard1 Spent 3 minutes scrolling his page, and it all made more sense…

I get so lost and have no idea what to believe anymore. Everyone says irans launches are down every day and they’re weaker and weaker but this guy is in Israel saying otherwise. What’s the real story?

🚨 HOLY CRAP! Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent just revealed the Iranian regime is FLOODING MONEY out of the country "The regime will probably COLLAPSE within itself!" "We are seeing the defections at ALL levels. They sense what's going on...we seen where they wired their money out. We're coming for that, and will get it BACK to the Iranian people!" LFG 🔥

.@SecScottBessent: In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that's on the water. It's about 140 million barrels, so depending how you count it, that's 10 days to 2 weeks of supply, that the Iranians had been pushing out, that would have all gone to China. In essence, we'd be using the Iranian barrels against the Iranians to keep the price down for the next 10 or 14 days, as we continue this campaign. So, we have lots of levers.

Making the impossible possible After reading so-many analyses that regime change in Iran was impossible, it seems as though the impossible is looking more and more possible. Some of the coverage is even turning as the WSJ story on the elimination of Ali Larijari documented how the leadership of Iran is being reduced to on all fronts and the security apparatus is beginning to wear thin and is systematically being frightened. And it’s pretty clear the US is preparing to take Kharg island once all the forces needed are in place to apply next level of pressure against Iran, which is alienating all of the other Arab countries with attacks on their hotels and airports. All this support from Dems for not taking out Iran remains puzzling given this regime was amassing thousands of ballistic missiles on top of its nuclear program and machine gunned its own people by the bushel to put down protest. And while the US is targeting military assets, Iran is sending outlawed cluster missiles right at heavily populated civilian areas of major cities. The US military is at the top of its game carrying out massive operations with minimal losses. More and more the survival of this regime is coming under question as their leadership, military assets and secret police are all facing real-time destruction that cannot be sustained.

@ReubenR80027912 @SaysSimulation Absolutely correct. Qatar is now officially all in with the US, and the security umbrella has been extended. No more hedging from Qatar. (China/US)

@SaysSimulation Nah. Israel obviously got the green light & Qatar went “ballistic” when their fields got it in response. This is Trump doing good cop while Israel does bad cop Trump also laid out a red line (who knows how bright tho lol) about not hitting Qatar again

Trump is trying to stop the escalation spiral that occurred today, with Israel attacking the core of Iranian gas production (and electricity), followed by Iran attacking Qatar gas production. I don't recall Trump ever calling out Israel so hard. They did not consult 1/

@lamps_apple I read your article around the time you posted it! Been sharing it within my circle - amazing piece.

@NovusOrderM Bookmarked!! Will read today! I agree… everything points back to China x.com/lamps_apple/st…

The United States produces nearly 22 million barrels of oil per day. More than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. 22% of total world production from one country. America consumes 20 million and produces 22 million... a net exporter. China consumes 15 million and produces 5... a 10 million barrel per day deficit that has to come from somewhere. Now add Venezuela... 303 billion barrels of proved reserves, the largest on earth, and Trump took operational control. The Jones Act is waived. The tanker fleet is unlocked. China is rationing. America is exporting.

@ekwufinance For all your followers that you're attempting to push to take long oil positions. Be very, very careful and understand the risks in the positions you are taking.

We are being prepared for a prolonged period of higher oil prices. Anyone who doesn’t have some oil exposure is taking serious risks. The risk here is not $120 oil, but $300+.

Pay attention to these accounts. Ask yourself, "Why would an account VPN from Hong Kong, and defend Iranian talking points?"

I don't know. Hitting their oil infrastructure achieves a variety of objectives. 1) Weakens China if the CCP still believes they can retain control of its proxy & the billions they've invested there over the years. 2) Shows China that the US/Israel are serious about knocking out Iran's electrical grid. Whenever I see intel/reports coming out, I have to ask myself, "Why would the admin, whether it be Israel/US, release it?" So, why would the US release that Israel is the one, against the directive of the US, that's hitting the oil infrastructure? Especially given the fact that there's a ton of commentators stating that Israel dragged the US into the war (which is complete BS).

The asshole in me thinks that the gulf states have been pushing for this kind of response in retaliation for Iran hitting their oil&gas fields. Trump doesn't want to hit oil infra but perhaps asked by the gulf.