Two winners have emerged from Trump’s Iran war. Neither one is America.
Russia cashes in on $100 oil. China watches the U.S. burn missiles it needs for Taiwan. Max Boot writes in Washington Post. 1/
Oil jumped from $73 to over $100 a barrel in days. Russia sells oil. Russia wins. Trump simultaneously relaxed sanctions on India for buying Russian oil.
Moscow’s war machine got a direct cash injection from Washington’s war in Tehran. 2/
Zelenskyy said more Patriot missiles were fired at Iran in three days than Ukraine received since 2022. Russia bombed Ukrainian power grids all winter.
Those Patriots could have protected them. Trump sent them to what one journalist called a “war of whim.” 3/
Macron: Nothing indicates war with Iran will cease in the coming days. The intense phase could last several days, perhaps several weeks.
Deep regime change cannot be achieved through bombardment, but neutralizing ballistic capabilities or a navy could be possible within weeks.1/
Macron: France is not part of the offensive against Iran.
Our objective is to protect our nationals, stand by allies if they come under fire, and stabilize the eastern Mediterranean — including helping Lebanon, which is under strong pressure.
The US quietly waived sanctions on a key Rosneft refinery in Germany.
The exemption allows transactions with Rosneft’s German subsidiaries, including the PCK refinery in Schwedt — a plant supplying about 90% of fuel to Berlin and its airport, FT. 1/
Without it, the Schwedt refinery faced insolvency after earlier sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil threatened operations once a temporary exemption expired. 2/
PCK Schwedt provides petrol, kerosene and heating fuel to Berlin and the surrounding state of Brandenburg — making it one of Germany’s most important energy hubs. 3/
Mearsheimer: From 1971 to 2021, U.S. murdered 38 million people. The amount of havoc we have wrought on the Middle East in recent years is just stunning. What we do in places like Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, we use economic leverage to basically starve people, to make them suffer. 1/
Mearsheimer: Why do you want to be a regional hegemon? There is no better way to maximize your security than to be a regional hegemon. We have a Monroe Doctrine. Why shouldn't China have a Monroe Doctrine? What's good for the goose is good for the gander. 2/
Mearsheimer: The most intense part of the competition between the United States and China is not military, it's economic and cutting edge technologies. It's things like AI, quantum computing. There is an incredibly important race to see who is on the cutting edge. 3X