حيدر | Haydar

This is the problem with Ro Khanna, you can’t acknowledge the fact that Israel has committed genocide, then travel to the West Bank and witness the apartheid yourself and still say you don’t support a full arms embargo. I’m glad Jeremy Scahill called out the contradictions.

Do not underestimate the significance of this: China has issued an injunction against US sanctions on five teapot refineries that have been taking Iranian oil— entierly dismissing America's *authority* all together. Yet another watershed moment in the humiliating, accelerating demise of American imperialist hegemony. We will only see more of these instances of blatant disregard for Washington's mandate, particularly from the Chinese. The Iranians tested this by confronting and defying the empire so unrelentingly, breaking through that veneer of its supposed supremacy. Others will now follow suit as well. Recall, one of the first vessels to defy Trump's naval blockade of the Hormuz and was also a chinese vessel. On April 14, the US-sanctioned Chinese tanker Rich Starry transited the Strait whilst Chinese government officials issued a statement declaring the blockade itself as 'irresponsible'. American forces succesfully stopped numerous vessels from other countries that had attempted to cross on the very same day, yet did not do so against those tied to China. This has happened repeatedly since, and there now being an official directive from the Chinese state is unprecedented. Global hegemonic power dynamics were always inevitably going to shift away from the United States, particularly with the rise of China. Alfred McCoy has written extensively on this— that despite its naval supremacy, given that the American continent sits a ocean(s) away from the Eurasian and African landmasses which are increasingly becoming geographically/ logistically interconnected and interdependent through trade routes bound together by China— the US will ultimately drift away into obscurity and irrelevance. The Americans know this and that is why the sudden hyper fixation on controlling key waterways such as the Panama Canal, the Hormuz and Malacca Straits and wanting to occupy Greenland— dominating key maritime and strategic bottlenecks globally to secure profits (and relevance). As the Afro-Eurasian continents are tied more intrinsically to eachother through networks like China's Belt-and-Road Initiative; it will ultimately make the Americas in general, a non-factor. There was always going to be a point where the American empire would be unable to extend any further beyond its means; where it would be unable to maintain the various mechanisms of violence that sustain its hegemony— where the toll of doing so would begin to tip the scales at home. This debacle in Iran and the fallout from the Hormuz is beginning to neutralize its own monopoly on the world's most fundamentally integral resource. The petrodollar's relevance and the system they initiated around oil as the most fundamental commodity, is already under threat, by their own making. We are witnessing that in real time. A complete reorientation. You can only flex muscle and project might so much. Just as with any empire before it; deluding itself into believing in its own immortality; that it needs no one but itself— until reality shatters those illusions and its too late. 1/2

Just as I've been saying for months, this is what it's been about all along— forcing Iran to concede to a partnership on (co)managing/ extracting tolls from the Strait of Hormuz. You might think that sounds ridiculous. But the US knows it cannot defeat Iran militarily or take over the country physically. That became apparent fairly early on. With its global hegemonic stranglehold weakening; the price of sustaining a burgeoning imperial apparatus increasing; the Americans are resorting to another direction going forwards. It is no longer feasible to go into countries for sustained, prolonged military campaigns and occupations that allowed it to extract resources or secure their interests with force longterm. As the past few months have demonstrated. Playing good cop/ bad cop; tough-talking and threatening on restarting the war and destroying Iran's energy infrastructure; then offering a deal on the Strait will make it appear as a fair compromise. This is standard art-of-the-deal tactics from Trump. He wants to sell it as some massive victory; being able to collect sizeable profits off of taxing 20% of the world's energy supply transferring through that waterway. The intended outcome from all this pressurizing and posturing from the US once again in recent days; all the threats of escalation and blockading the Strait yet again today, is about setting things up to make an eventual deal with Iran whereby they will share profits from managing/ taxing the Strait. The US has been desperately scrambling to manage the optics from the fallout of this entire conflict of its own making. They need something to take back with them, that will convince those back home that engaging in this war in behalf of Israel was worth it. The lack of a quickfire smash-and-grab victory wasn't anticipated; miscalculation and misinformed intelligence seems to be sucking the US into a full on prolonged campaign. Which they can ill-afford financially or logistically in terms of deploying military resources. Hence the attempts to cut a deal whereby Trump can spin a joint-venture on the Hormuz toll as a marker of a considerable victory, when it would purely be symbolic in reality. Any real profit made here wouldn't be considerable enough to make this entire ordeal viable enough to have gotten into. When your primary aims were never met and are even more impossible to acheive now. He will most likely frame it as America gaining the ability of managing/ securing the Strait— as if this is enough to change the majority of Americans' opinion on starting this war. He does this by claiming to completely take over the Strait today, then as Iran retaliates, the concession will be sharing the taxes. The increased attacks are once again empty posturing with the little the US can find to leverage; the threat of unleashing violence if their demands aren't met. Just as Trump has done multiple times over the last few months, yet has had to back down every time. Because he doesn't hold all the cards any longer, that's why he has to make these demands. He doesn't have the upper hand; their regional hegemony has been overturned in quick succession and these persistent requests to comply are a sign of that waning power. After making the argument himself that the closure or taxing of the Strait would make countries suffer immeasurable economic hardship; he is doing exactly that. Why? Given that the American continent sits ocean(s) away from the Eurasian and African landmasses which are increasingly becoming geographically/ logistically interconnected and interdependent through trade routes bound together by China— the US knows it will ultimately drift away into obscurity/ irrelevance. The Americans know this and it's why there is hyper fixation now on controlling key waterways such as the Panama Canal, the Hormuz and Malacca Straits and wanting to occupy Greenland— dominating key maritime and strategic bottlenecks globally to secure profits (and relevance).

Yemen and Saudi Arabia are going to war. Saudi Arabia was baited by Iran into firing at Sanaa international airport. Trump just green lit the war.

Just as I've been saying for months, this is what it's been about all along— forcing Iran to concede to a partnership on (co)managing/ extracting tolls from the Strait of Hormuz. You might think that sounds ridiculous. But the US knows it cannot defeat Iran militarily or take over the country physically. That became apparent fairly early on. With its global hegemonic stranglehold weakening; the price of sustaining a burgeoning imperial apparatus increasing; the Americans are resorting to another direction going forwards. It is no longer feasible to go into countries for sustained, prolonged military campaigns and occupations that allowed it to extract resources or secure their interests with force longterm. As the past few months have demonstrated. Playing good cop/ bad cop; tough-talking and threatening on restarting the war and destroying Iran's energy infrastructure; then offering a deal on the Strait will make it appear as a fair compromise. This is standard art-of-the-deal tactics from Trump. He wants to sell it as some massive victory; being able to collect sizeable profits off of taxing 20% of the world's energy supply transferring through that waterway. The intended outcome from all this pressurizing and posturing from the US once again in recent days; all the threats of escalation and blockading the Strait yet again today, is about setting things up to make an eventual deal with Iran whereby they will share profits from managing/ taxing the Strait. The US has been desperately scrambling to manage the optics from the fallout of this entire conflict of its own making. They need something to take back with them, that will convince those back home that engaging in this war in behalf of Israel was worth it. The lack of a quickfire smash-and-grab victory wasn't anticipated; miscalculation and misinformed intelligence seems to be sucking the US into a full on prolonged campaign. Which they can ill-afford financially or logistically in terms of deploying military resources. Hence the attempts to cut a deal whereby Trump can spin a joint-venture on the Hormuz toll as a marker of a considerable victory, when it would purely be symbolic in reality. Any real profit made here wouldn't be considerable enough to make this entire ordeal viable enough to have gotten into. When your primary aims were never met and are even more impossible to acheive now. He will most likely frame it as America gaining the ability of managing/ securing the Strait— as if this is enough to change the majority of Americans' opinion on starting this war. He does this by claiming to completely take over the Strait today, then as Iran retaliates, the concession will be sharing the taxes. The increased attacks are once again empty posturing with the little the US can find to leverage; the threat of unleashing violence if their demands aren't met. Just as Trump has done multiple times over the last few months, yet has had to back down every time. Because he doesn't hold all the cards any longer, that's why he has to make these demands. He doesn't have the upper hand; their regional hegemony has been overturned in quick succession and these persistent requests to comply are a sign of that waning power. After making the argument himself that the closure or taxing of the Strait would make countries suffer immeasurable economic hardship; he is doing exactly that. Why? Given that the American continent sits ocean(s) away from the Eurasian and African landmasses which are increasingly becoming geographically/ logistically interconnected and interdependent through trade routes bound together by China— the US knows it will ultimately drift away into obscurity/ irrelevance. The Americans know this and it's why there is hyper fixation now on controlling key waterways such as the Panama Canal, the Hormuz and Malacca Straits and wanting to occupy Greenland— dominating key maritime and strategic bottlenecks globally to secure profits (and relevance).

Just as I've been saying for months, this is what it's been about all along— forcing Iran to concede to a partnership on (co)managing/ extracting tolls from the Strait of Hormuz. You might think that sounds ridiculous. But the US knows it cannot defeat Iran militarily or take over the country physically. That became apparent fairly early on. With its global hegemonic stranglehold weakening; the price of sustaining a burgeoning imperial apparatus increasing; the Americans are resorting to another direction going forwards. It is no longer feasible to go into countries for sustained, prolonged military campaigns and occupations that allowed it to extract resources or secure their interests with force longterm. As the past few months have demonstrated. Playing good cop/ bad cop; tough-talking and threatening on restarting the war and destroying Iran's energy infrastructure; then offering a deal on the Strait will make it appear as a fair compromise. This is standard art-of-the-deal tactics from Trump. He wants to sell it as some massive victory; being able to collect sizeable profits off of taxing 20% of the world's energy supply transferring through that waterway. The intended outcome from all this pressurizing and posturing from the US once again in recent days; all the threats of escalation and blockading the Strait yet again today, is about setting things up to make an eventual deal with Iran whereby they will share profits from managing/ taxing the Strait. The US has been desperately scrambling to manage the optics from the fallout of this entire conflict of its own making. They need something to take back with them, that will convince those back home that engaging in this war in behalf of Israel was worth it. The lack of a quickfire smash-and-grab victory wasn't anticipated; miscalculation and misinformed intelligence seems to be sucking the US into a full on prolonged campaign. Which they can ill-afford financially or logistically in terms of deploying military resources. Hence the attempts to cut a deal whereby Trump can spin a joint-venture on the Hormuz toll as a marker of a considerable victory, when it would purely be symbolic in reality. Any real profit made here wouldn't be considerable enough to make this entire ordeal viable enough to have gotten into. When your primary aims were never met and are even more impossible to acheive now. He will most likely frame it as America gaining the ability of managing/ securing the Strait— as if this is enough to change the majority of Americans' opinion on starting this war. He does this by claiming to completely take over the Strait today, then as Iran retaliates, the concession will be sharing the taxes. The increased attacks are once again empty posturing with the little the US can find to leverage; the threat of unleashing violence if their demands aren't met. Just as Trump has done multiple times over the last few months, yet has had to back down every time. Because he doesn't hold all the cards any longer, that's why he has to make these demands. He doesn't have the upper hand; their regional hegemony has been overturned in quick succession and these persistent requests to comply are a sign of that waning power. After making the argument himself that the closure or taxing of the Strait would make countries suffer immeasurable economic hardship; he is doing exactly that. Why? Given that the American continent sits ocean(s) away from the Eurasian and African landmasses which are increasingly becoming geographically/ logistically interconnected and interdependent through trade routes bound together by China— the US knows it will ultimately drift away into obscurity/ irrelevance. The Americans know this and it's why there is hyper fixation now on controlling key waterways such as the Panama Canal, the Hormuz and Malacca Straits and wanting to occupy Greenland— dominating key maritime and strategic bottlenecks globally to secure profits (and relevance).

Just as I've been saying for months, this is what it's been about all along— forcing Iran to concede to a partnership on (co)managing/ extracting tolls from the Strait of Hormuz. You might think that sounds ridiculous. But the US knows it cannot defeat Iran militarily or take over the country physically. That became apparent fairly early on. With its global hegemonic stranglehold weakening; the price of sustaining a burgeoning imperial apparatus increasing; the Americans are resorting to another direction going forwards. It is no longer feasible to go into countries for sustained, prolonged military campaigns and occupations that allowed it to extract resources or secure their interests with force longterm. As the past few months have demonstrated. Playing good cop/ bad cop; tough-talking and threatening on restarting the war and destroying Iran's energy infrastructure; then offering a deal on the Strait will make it appear as a fair compromise. This is standard art-of-the-deal tactics from Trump. He wants to sell it as some massive victory; being able to collect sizeable profits off of taxing 20% of the world's energy supply transferring through that waterway. The intended outcome from all this pressurizing and posturing from the US once again in recent days; all the threats of escalation and blockading the Strait yet again today, is about setting things up to make an eventual deal with Iran whereby they will share profits from managing/ taxing the Strait. The US has been desperately scrambling to manage the optics from the fallout of this entire conflict of its own making. They need something to take back with them, that will convince those back home that engaging in this war in behalf of Israel was worth it. The lack of a quickfire smash-and-grab victory wasn't anticipated; miscalculation and misinformed intelligence seems to be sucking the US into a full on prolonged campaign. Which they can ill-afford financially or logistically in terms of deploying military resources. Hence the attempts to cut a deal whereby Trump can spin a joint-venture on the Hormuz toll as a marker of a considerable victory, when it would purely be symbolic in reality. Any real profit made here wouldn't be considerable enough to make this entire ordeal viable enough to have gotten into. When your primary aims were never met and are even more impossible to acheive now. He will most likely frame it as America gaining the ability of managing/ securing the Strait— as if this is enough to change the majority of Americans' opinion on starting this war. He does this by claiming to completely take over the Strait today, then as Iran retaliates, the concession will be sharing the taxes. The increased attacks are once again empty posturing with the little the US can find to leverage; the threat of unleashing violence if their demands aren't met. Just as Trump has done multiple times over the last few months, yet has had to back down every time. Because he doesn't hold all the cards any longer, that's why he has to make these demands. He doesn't have the upper hand; their regional hegemony has been overturned in quick succession and these persistent requests to comply are a sign of that waning power. After making the argument himself that the closure or taxing of the Strait would make countries suffer immeasurable economic hardship; he is doing exactly that. Why? Given that the American continent sits ocean(s) away from the Eurasian and African landmasses which are increasingly becoming geographically/ logistically interconnected and interdependent through trade routes bound together by China— the US knows it will ultimately drift away into obscurity/ irrelevance. The Americans know this and it's why there is hyper fixation now on controlling key waterways such as the Panama Canal, the Hormuz and Malacca Straits and wanting to occupy Greenland— dominating key maritime and strategic bottlenecks globally to secure profits (and relevance).

Just as I've been saying for months, this is what it's been about all along— forcing Iran to concede to a partnership on (co)managing/ extracting tolls from the Strait of Hormuz. You might think that sounds ridiculous. But the US knows it cannot defeat Iran militarily or take over the country physically. That became apparent fairly early on. With its global hegemonic stranglehold weakening; the price of sustaining a burgeoning imperial apparatus increasing; the Americans are resorting to another direction going forwards. It is no longer feasible to go into countries for sustained, prolonged military campaigns and occupations that allowed it to extract resources or secure their interests with force longterm. As the past few months have demonstrated. Playing good cop/ bad cop; tough-talking and threatening on restarting the war and destroying Iran's energy infrastructure; then offering a deal on the Strait will make it appear as a fair compromise. This is standard art-of-the-deal tactics from Trump. He wants to sell it as some massive victory; being able to collect sizeable profits off of taxing 20% of the world's energy supply transferring through that waterway. The intended outcome from all this pressurizing and posturing from the US once again in recent days; all the threats of escalation and blockading the Strait yet again today, is about setting things up to make an eventual deal with Iran whereby they will share profits from managing/ taxing the Strait. The US has been desperately scrambling to manage the optics from the fallout of this entire conflict of its own making. They need something to take back with them, that will convince those back home that engaging in this war in behalf of Israel was worth it. The lack of a quickfire smash-and-grab victory wasn't anticipated; miscalculation and misinformed intelligence seems to be sucking the US into a full on prolonged campaign. Which they can ill-afford financially or logistically in terms of deploying military resources. Hence the attempts to cut a deal whereby Trump can spin a joint-venture on the Hormuz toll as a marker of a considerable victory, when it would purely be symbolic in reality. Any real profit made here wouldn't be considerable enough to make this entire ordeal viable enough to have gotten into. When your primary aims were never met and are even more impossible to acheive now. He will most likely frame it as America gaining the ability of managing/ securing the Strait— as if this is enough to change the majority of Americans' opinion on starting this war. He does this by claiming to completely take over the Strait today, then as Iran retaliates, the concession will be sharing the taxes. The increased attacks are once again empty posturing with the little the US can find to leverage; the threat of unleashing violence if their demands aren't met. Just as Trump has done multiple times over the last few months, yet has had to back down every time. Because he doesn't hold all the cards any longer, that's why he has to make these demands. He doesn't have the upper hand; their regional hegemony has been overturned in quick succession and these persistent requests to comply are a sign of that waning power. After making the argument himself that the closure or taxing of the Strait would make countries suffer immeasurable economic hardship; he is doing exactly that. Why? Given that the American continent sits ocean(s) away from the Eurasian and African landmasses which are increasingly becoming geographically/ logistically interconnected and interdependent through trade routes bound together by China— the US knows it will ultimately drift away into obscurity/ irrelevance. The Americans know this and it's why there is hyper fixation now on controlling key waterways such as the Panama Canal, the Hormuz and Malacca Straits and wanting to occupy Greenland— dominating key maritime and strategic bottlenecks globally to secure profits (and relevance).

Just as I've been saying for months, this is what it's been about all along— forcing Iran to concede to a partnership on (co)managing/ extracting tolls from the Strait of Hormuz. You might think that sounds ridiculous. But the US knows it cannot defeat Iran militarily or take over the country physically. That became apparent fairly early on. With its global hegemonic stranglehold weakening; the price of sustaining a burgeoning imperial apparatus increasing; the Americans are resorting to another direction going forwards. It is no longer feasible to go into countries for sustained, prolonged military campaigns and occupations that allowed it to extract resources or secure their interests with force longterm. As the past few months have demonstrated. Playing good cop/ bad cop; tough-talking and threatening on restarting the war and destroying Iran's energy infrastructure; then offering a deal on the Strait will make it appear as a fair compromise. This is standard art-of-the-deal tactics from Trump. He wants to sell it as some massive victory; being able to collect sizeable profits off of taxing 20% of the world's energy supply transferring through that waterway. The intended outcome from all this pressurizing and posturing from the US once again in recent days; all the threats of escalation and blockading the Strait yet again today, is about setting things up to make an eventual deal with Iran whereby they will share profits from managing/ taxing the Strait. The US has been desperately scrambling to manage the optics from the fallout of this entire conflict of its own making. They need something to take back with them, that will convince those back home that engaging in this war in behalf of Israel was worth it. The lack of a quickfire smash-and-grab victory wasn't anticipated; miscalculation and misinformed intelligence seems to be sucking the US into a full on prolonged campaign. Which they can ill-afford financially or logistically in terms of deploying military resources. Hence the attempts to cut a deal whereby Trump can spin a joint-venture on the Hormuz toll as a marker of a considerable victory, when it would purely be symbolic in reality. Any real profit made here wouldn't be considerable enough to make this entire ordeal viable enough to have gotten into. When your primary aims were never met and are even more impossible to acheive now. He will most likely frame it as America gaining the ability of managing/ securing the Strait— as if this is enough to change the majority of Americans' opinion on starting this war. He does this by claiming to completely take over the Strait today, then as Iran retaliates, the concession will be sharing the taxes. The increased attacks are once again empty posturing with the little the US can find to leverage; the threat of unleashing violence if their demands aren't met. Just as Trump has done multiple times over the last few months, yet has had to back down every time. Because he doesn't hold all the cards any longer, that's why he has to make these demands. He doesn't have the upper hand; their regional hegemony has been overturned in quick succession and these persistent requests to comply are a sign of that waning power. After making the argument himself that the closure or taxing of the Strait would make countries suffer immeasurable economic hardship; he is doing exactly that. Why? Given that the American continent sits ocean(s) away from the Eurasian and African landmasses which are increasingly becoming geographically/ logistically interconnected and interdependent through trade routes bound together by China— the US knows it will ultimately drift away into obscurity/ irrelevance. The Americans know this and it's why there is hyper fixation now on controlling key waterways such as the Panama Canal, the Hormuz and Malacca Straits and wanting to occupy Greenland— dominating key maritime and strategic bottlenecks globally to secure profits (and relevance).

Trump on Iran: We're gonna hit 'em very hard tonight, and we're gonna hit 'em hard tomorrow. And there's not a damn thing they can do about it. They have nothing going other than they have big mouths.