Florence

@McFaul But you forgot crashing the world economy

From threatening to invade Greenland to calling Canada "the 51st state" and slapping tariffs on everyone—this isn't "America First," it’s a massive self-inflicted wound. Now Trump wants to abandon NATO. That would be an all-time own goal.

@caitoz Shared. Thank you. From Australia

Time has a new article out in which unnamed sources assert that the Pentagon was caught totally off-guard by Iran’s aggressive retaliation against the US-Israeli onslaught which began last month, reporting the following: “Key Trump officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, were surprised by the barrage of retaliatory attacks Tehran launched against U.S. and Israeli targets across the region, including in countries long assumed to be off-limits: Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, a state that had both harbored Iran’s terrorist proxies and served as a conduit for backchannel diplomacy between the U.S. and Hamas. The response shattered the assumption that Tehran would confine itself to performative retaliation. In internal deliberations before the war’s launch, Hegseth had pointed to Iran’s muted reaction to Trump’s past attacks as evidence that calibrated force could impose costs on Tehran without triggering a broader war. Hegseth ‘was caught off guard. There’s no question,’ says a person familiar with his thinking.” It’s so wild how we keep seeing reports that Iran’s retaliation caught the US off guard. For all the years I’ve been paying attention to this issue I’ve been reading experts and analysts saying if the US attacks Iran, Iran can close the Strait of Hormuz and strike US bases and the energy infrastructure of US allies in the region. A few examples: A 2006 Oxford Research Group paper titled “Iran: Consequences of a War” warned that Iran has numerous options at its disposal in the event of a US attack, and that the “most significant of these would be any possible retaliatory Iranian action to affect the transport of oil and liquefied natural gas through the Straits of Hormuz,” adding that stopping Iran from doing this “would be difficult if not impossible to achieve, leading to a fear of attack which alone would have a formidable impact on oil markets.” A 2007 Cato Institute paper titled “The Iraq War and Iranian Power” warns that “Iran possesses the largest ballistic-missile inventory in the Persian Gulf — missiles which can reach Israel, Saudi Arabia and US military bases in Iraq,” and that “experts argue Iran could also use the ’oil weapon’: blocking the 34km-wide Strait of Hormuz and conducting submarine and anti-ship missile attacks against ports and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council states.” A 2012 NPR article titled “Can Iran Close The World’s Most Important Oil Route?” features then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff acknowledging that Iran absolutely can block the Strait of Hormuz, saying Tehran has “invested in capabilities” which specifically enable them to do so. A paper from the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy and the Center for a New American Security titled “IN DIRE STRAITS? IMPLICATIONS OF US-IRAN TENSIONS FOR THE GLOBAL OIL MARKET” warns of a potential scenario “that includes damage to Gulf oil infrastructure and a temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz.” These weren’t a bunch of keffiyeh-wearing peaceniks making these assessments, they were deeply entrenched swamp monsters entirely loyal to the US empire. They opposed war with Iran not because it would be an evil act of unforgivable mass murder, but because it would be bad for the imperial power structure. Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton recently tweeted that other administration officials had warned the president to dismiss Bolton’s urging to attack Iran because of the easily foreseeable consequences of that war, saying “In 2018–2019, I made the case for regime change in Iran as often as I could. Voices in Trump’s orbit often cited Iran’s capacity to close the Strait of Hormuz as a reason against regime change. Trump has been fully aware this is a possibility, and yet did not prepare.” I have zero military training or expertise — on military matters I’m just some schmuck with internet access — and yet nothing Iran has done has surprised me. It’s playing out exactly how the experts warned it would play out. There’s no way any literate, thinking person didn’t see this coming; when they say they didn’t, it’s because they’re either lying or amazingly stupid. Trump’s war machine is either made up of liars, morons, lying morons, or (most likely), an eclectic mixture of all three.

Experts Warned For Years That A War With Iran Would Happen This Way Trump’s war machine is either made up of liars, morons, lying morons, or (most likely), an eclectic mixture of all three. Reading by Tim Foley.

@caitoz Desperate people will believe anything

The only people dumber than Americans who bought into Trump’s “ending the wars” shtick are the Iranians who believed America was going to bring freedom to their people.

@NewYorker No doubt about it. Blanche will be a nightmare

No Attorney General has done more damage to the Justice Department than Pam Bondi. Her successor could be even more dangerous. newyorker.com/news/the-lede/…

@jmil400 You mean this Pauline.....

On display before our eyes is the complete idiocy of people who think that #OneNation is a viable party of Government in this country. #auspol

@PiperK All because you guys voted for Trump. Or didn’t even bother to vote

What is scaring me right now about the White House is the sheer number of conflicting reports coming out of it. That means internal chaos, which is national chaos.

@LauraLoomer If you only had half an idea how much Trump and his regime incl you are derided and mocked in Australia.

NEW: 🚨 FIVE EYES IS ANTI-AMERICAN 🚨 Why are we still funding the intelligence services of nations that don’t share our values? As I have reported, the “FIVE EYES” intelligence sharing relationship no longer serves America’s interests. The United States gives the “keys to the kingdom” to foreign governments that hate us and our values. For example, the UK and Australia have been fully conquered by Islam. The Steele Dossier— which the Russia collusion hoax was based off of—came from British Intelligence. The “British” Home Secretary @ShabanaMahmood is a violent Pakistani Muslim who has said that Islam guides everything she does in life. Australia’s government in Canberra recently humiliated their own sailors aboard the USS Charlotte, ordering them to stand down when the US military torpedoed an Iranian frigate. Source: x.com/hontonyabbott/… The Five Eyes relationship is not codified in law or a treaty. @NSAGov Director Rudd should advise President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio @SecRubio that this agreement no longer benefits us, and cancel it immediately.   During the March 26th cabinet meeting, President Trump questioned why the United Kingdom and Australia didn’t have our backs in the recent military operation in Iran. Alliances change over time. President Trump has recently eviscerated NATO for their failure to assist us in Iran and @SecRubio has asked how NATO benefits the US. Source: x.com/statedept/stat… President Trump is right to ask the question: why should we support governments that don’t support us? Cancel FIVE EYES! @POTUS @PeteHegseth See my reporting on this topic below ⬇️ x.com/lauraloomer/st… x.com/lauraloomer/st… x.com/lauraloomer/st…

@IRanalyst @Robin4Equality I bet you’re thankful when you get to the bowser though & see petrol prices dropping

It’s worth mentioning one point (again) about the Australian Government’s responses to Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. It is NOT a reluctant bystander which has been dragged into taking sides in a complex series of regional conflicts. In defiance of international law and public opinion in the country, Canberra went out of its way to support aggression and war crimes when it had the opportunity to do the opposite: to defend the rules, conventions and institutions of international society upon which, as a medium-sized power, it disproportionately depends. Despite the ominous economic reckoning we face today, the costs of supporting war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the US and Israel will not be felt immediately. However, in time Australia will reap the bitter harvest of a world made less safe and more volatile by its great and powerful ally across the Pacific and its closest friend in the Middle East. It will then be untrue and far too late to say that this country had no other choices. It did, as Spain, Norway, Denmark and many countries in Southeast Asia showed at the time. Or that Trump and Netanyahu were merely aberrations who would leave the stage in due course. Except for the most devout commissars and imperialists, no-one can be left in any doubt that from now on “Western civilisation” will be a euphemism across the globe for genocide, unprovoked warfare, ethnic cleansing and the illegal occupation of other peoples’ land. Australia’s political elites played their role in this catastrophe and should not be able to escape their responsibility for whatever darkness is to come.

@BernardKeane @AdyLady9969 Silly old bugger

It's becoming apparent that Albanese just isn't up to it. Labor needs to find a replacement who can actually lead the country, not truckle to a rogues' gallery of vested interests.

@cheryl_kernot @JulianAndrew63 What I’ve noticed is a lot of folks grumbling about your constant whining

Guys, I think I’d stop these posts for a while. Message completely lost- utterly ratioed every time. Enough sensible Australians have stopped listening to you- and that’s a political liability.

@scarmadethis @TheCinesthetic They were both great

@TheCinesthetic Never will I question a straight man who played a gay character. That shows a dedication to the art that is required to give a performance like this

When Heath Ledger was announced as the Joker, the backlash was loud then he delivered one of the greatest performances in film history.

@colonelhogans @anneOkeefe7 I give it back to her. Surprised she hasn’t blocked me

I am so sick of Cheryl Kernot bashing the PM and Labor 24/7/365. She’d get a job on Afternoon Briefing no problems. Talk about sour grapes and bitterness. I’ve always been a huge supporter of hers. She’s done with me.

@TheConservati19 Knuckledragger

Women shouldn't be commenting on male sports. It doesn't work, in fact it can be infuriating.

@brentdrx236008 @noplaceforsheep Thank you

@noplaceforsheep We import refined fuels, very little crude. You don't know what you're talking about. We need crude to flow to Korean and Singaporean refineries as that is who supplies us with refined fuels. Crude shortfalls are not the issue.

Australia could have negotiated with Iran on the passage of tankers we have contracted to transport our crude, however, Iran won’t negotiate with us as we are avowed allies of the US & Israel. We don’t have to own the fucking tankers 🙄🙄🙄

@JaneCaro @Metamade4 🍼🍼

I think this man has serious mummy issues. Can someone organise an intervention, poor chap?

@FootscraysFine1 Ah family. Enough to make your head and heart spin 🙌

After a day of dealing with neurotic siblings re: a sick mother, time to address my mental health. Slainte and tunes later.

@AshPolitik @bluewavedream @socratesccost wtf would you respond here bro

@bluewavedream @socratesccost What did he lie about and how he is a traitor?

Albo must go. He's a liar and a traitor. He's destroying our beautiful country.

@Coffeedaveoz Especially if you’re in a hospital

Doncha just love Saturday TV, seeing where really rich people go for holidays? For us it was a tent in Stuart Park Wollongong ... hang on ... that is where we lived.