Music: Chick Corea — ‘Overjoyed’
Trump running out of options in face of economic or naval catastrophe
CNN reports: The Trump administration is currently trapped between the specter of a global economic recession and a naval catastrophe. As the conflict with Iran intensifies, the world’s energy arteries are constricting to a point of “nonlinearity,” where every day the Strait of Hormuz remains closed doesn’t just double the economic pain — it multiplies it exponentially. So, the Trump administration is working to resolve the oil crisis on several fronts: It’s scrambling to organize a complex military operation to…
Aramco sees ‘catastrophic consequences’ for oil markets if Hormuz strait remains blocked
Reuters reports: Saudi Arabia’s Aramco, the world’s top oil exporter, said on Tuesday there would be “catastrophic consequences” for the world’s oil markets if the Iran war continues to disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. Oil shipments have been largely blocked from using the shipping artery, where normally roughly 20% of the world’s oil would pass through daily. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Tuesday they would not allow “one litre of oil” to be shipped from the Middle East…
U.S. Navy contradicts Trump by telling shipping industry Hormuz escorts not possible for now
Reuters reports: The U.S. Navy has refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war on Iran, saying the risk of attacks is too high for now, according to sources familiar with the matter. The Navy’s assessments spell continued disruption to Middle East oil exports and reflect a divergence from President Donald Trump’s statements that the U.S. is prepared to provide naval escorts whenever needed to restart regular…
U.S. and Israeli tactics and timelines diverge
Axios reports: The Trump administration asked Israel on Monday not to carry out further strikes on energy facilities in Iran, particularly oil infrastructure, according to three sources familiar with the matter. Why it matters: The U.S. request marks the first time the Trump administration has reined in Israel since the two countries launched their joint operation against Iran ten days ago. The Israeli strikes blanketed Tehran — a city of 10 million — in toxic black smoke and acid rain, raising urgent health warnings for ordinary Iranians. Driving…
The U.S. built a blueprint to avoid civilian war casualties. Trump officials scrapped it
By Hannah Allam This story was originally published by ProPublica Images from the missile strike in southern Iran were more horrifying than any of the case studies Air Force combat veteran Wes J. Bryant had pored over in his mission to overhaul how the U.S. military safeguards civilian life. Parents wept over their children’s bodies. Crushed desks and blood-stained backpacks poked through the rubble. The death toll from the attack on an elementary school in Minab climbed past 165, most…
Trump’s alleged sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl: what we know and what’s still being hidden
Judd Legum writes: President Trump allegedly sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl who was trafficked to him by Jeffrey Epstein, according to documents released by the Department of Justice (DOJ) last Thursday. The White House insists the allegations are “completely baseless“ and “backed by zero credible evidence.” For three decades, the victim only told her mother and one close friend about the alleged assault by Trump. The DOJ became aware of the allegation when that friend called a tipline that had…
Will China save Western civilization?
Chang Che writes: In November, 2024, on the day of the U.S. Presidential election, Tim Whitmarsh landed in Beijing, jet-lagged and disoriented. It was the middle of the academic term at the University of Cambridge, where Whitmarsh holds the Regius Professorship in Greek. He had been flown business class halfway around the world and put up at a five-star hotel for what he had been told would be the first World Conference of Classics. What followed, he later wrote, was…
Music: Yebba — ‘Different Light’
The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran is by far the biggest oil supply disruption in history
CNBC reports: The U.S. war against Iran has triggered the largest oil supply disruption in history, more than double the previous record set during the Middle East crisis of the 1950s, according to an analysis by consulting firm Rapidan Energy. About 20% of the world’s oil supply has been disrupted for nine days now as tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains at a standstill. Crude prices have surged above $100 per barrel in response. The biggest disruption before…
Middle East oil crisis: What is America’s real ‘endgame’ in Iran?
The war in Iran is already sending shockwaves far beyond the battlefield. Stock markets are sinking, Brent crude has jumped above $100 a barrel, and G7 governments are considering tapping emergency reserves to steady the markets. Missiles landing close to critical Gulf energy infrastructure have sharpened fears that what began as a regional confrontation could tip the global economy into something far more dangerous. The real question is whether this crisis can be contained, and if not, how vulnerable…
In the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, Russia reaps the benefits
The Associated Press reports: As U.S. and Israeli missiles and bombs rain on Iran, Russia has responded with words of indignation but no visible action to support its Middle Eastern ally. That cautious stance is driven by President Vladimir Putin’s focus on Ukraine and his apparent hope that the Iran war will play into Moscow’s hands by boosting its oil revenues and eroding Western support for Kyiv. Putin sent his condolences to Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, condemning the killing of…
Iran is ready for a long war with the U.S. Only economic pain will end it, senior official says
CNN reports: A top Iranian official has warned that the government is prepared for a long war with the US and signaled that it is willing to continue attacking Gulf countries in an effort to persuade them to convince President Donald Trump to step back from the conflict. The warning came in an exclusive CNN interview in Tehran with Kamal Kharazi, foreign policy adviser to the office of the Supreme Leader, who ruled out diplomacy for now and said the…
Trump says Iran war — ‘a little excursion’ — is ‘very complete, pretty much’ as economic toll rises
The Guardian reports: Donald Trump has said that the war in Iran is “very complete, pretty much”, as the economic toll of the joint US-Israeli operation has risen, disrupting global oil trade and threatening to engulf the Middle East in a regional war. Trump made the comments before a speech and press conference in Florida where he sought to emphasise that the US military campaign would be ending soon amid concerns from Republican allies that the US was being dragged…
U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile hit naval base beside Iranian elementary school, video reveals
The New York Times reports: A newly released video adds to the evidence that an American missile likely hit an Iranian elementary school where 175 people, many of them children, were reported killed. The video, uploaded on Sunday by Iran’s semiofficial Mehr News Agency and verified by The New York Times, shows a Tomahawk cruise missile striking a naval base beside the school in the town of Minab on Feb. 28. The U.S. military is the only force involved in…
Disorder drives one of nature’s most complex molecular machines
Yasemin Saplakoglu writes: At the dawn of complex life, evolution created a container for DNA, its most treasured item. A few billion years later, 20th-century microscopists looked at this container — the nucleus — up close and saw that it was covered in tiny openings. At the time, they didn’t know what to make of these structures, but as microscopy improved, something grand came into focus: what we now call “nuclear pore complexes,” some of the largest and most marvelous…