If you or your firm handles trucking or mining or tractors or something like buses, stock up on additives where the vast majority of production (like brake fluid, AdBlue (DEF) and gear oil) is Asian now before they get even more expensive. To give a sense of perspective, I've seen prices for transmission fluid and antifreeze almost double month-on-month in England where I am.
Iranians have said they would retaliate against oil fields and refineries in Israel and the Gulf. But since the majority of US air defenses have been diverted in defense of Israel it looks like the gulf arab states will bear the brunt of the retaliation. It looks like they have already successfully struck targets in Saudi Arabia[1] and Qatar[2].
This is the moral hazard in action as a result of unconditional support for the rogue-state that is Israel . Israel continues to escalate since they face little of the consequences - being under the US security umbrella. It is the rest of the world that pays the price instead (apart from Russia). In a sane world we would be changing this equation such as by pulling air defense, air support, lethal aid, air tankers support, EWACs, intelligence and satellite sharing, defense away from Israel. But the Trump administration and indeed the collective west seems to be under the chokehold of the Israel lobby.
[1] - https://x.com/MenchOsint/status/2034348372346245584 (alt : https://xcancel.com/MenchOsint/status/2034348372346245584 )
[2] - https://x.com/MenchOsint/status/2034340405060194649 (alt : https://xcancel.com/MenchOsint/status/2034340405060194649)
This is one of the most batshit insane things I've ever read. What on Earth would make you think this?
Whose?
Iran's South Pars Gas Field Is Attacked by Israel, Sending Energy Prices Soaring
But one thing, higher oil prices may get the US to really get working to avoid Climate Change. Yes, some progress has been made, but real CO2 emissions is increasing. The only time it decreased a bit was during the Covid Shutdown.
But one plus may occur, higher price of oil.
Yes, higher prices will cause suffering with the poor and middle classes, but that suffering pales in comparison to what +1.5C will cause. We are already on track for more then 2C. Suffering from that will be far worse than $150 USD price per barrel. Better to take a small hit now and hope it can keep us below 1.5C then trying to live with 2C.
Yes, I posted this knowing it will be down-voted, but cheap oil only makes +3C guaranteed to happen. Who cares about the young anyway /s
That is how people think about high oil prices.
If oil was to go to zero people would stop pumping it and burning it (for that to happen the alternatives have to be cheaper/better). That is what will fix climate change in the US.
As for the bigger picture — yes, higher prices for oil might spur extraction in regions outside of the middle east, but that's a local only viewpoint. Globally, higher oil prices reduce consumption and make green alternatives more attractive on net.
When oil is high, GDP takes a hit. Less is happening.
Yeah, and don't forget, this is all about helping the environment and the Iranian people, freeing them from that pesky and unnecessary for life energy by releasing some much needed smoke. /
Besides, grass is part of the problem, particularly for the arid South West, where these ecological deserts known as lawns, golf courses and landscaping are grass, which is the only plant that grows when the place is covered with RoundUp.
I digress. However, man has a point. It would be easy to say Trump is a clown without a clue or a plan, however, we as I see it, we are switching over from the empire controlling the world with the petro-dollar, to controlling the world with bombs.
The empire can't blockade China directly as that would be an act of war, and the Chinese would have a right to respond with force, sinking all of Uncle Sam's battle ships with hypersonic missiles before you get to touch your beloved and utterly toxic HOA-approved grass.
However, just blow up the entire Middle East and cut the Chinese off from the oil that is needed for their manufacturing requirements. China has a lot of coal, solar and nuclear going on, plus they are best buddies with Putin, but we have a lot of the Russian shadow fleet going up in flames at the moment.
The grand plan has been going on from PNAC and 9/11. Iran is the last one to be ticked off in the Middle East, so you can see it as the finishing line. Iran just has to be destroyed and it seems that Satan and his little Zionist helper have plenty of experience at that.
The EU has been fully Stockholm Syndromed, so there is a true Iron Curtain between Russia and Europe now, only Hungary are allowed some of the good Russian hydrocarbons, Germany and every other country in Europe now has to pay in dollars for American LNG, or Qatari LNG, but that latter option has just gone.
Yes, the sun will rise again. Americans will be touching grass for the 'gram once again. Everything will be fine in the USA, although it won't be petrodollar dominance giving the exorbitant privilege, instead it will be bombs all the way. Note that Cuba is next, and DJT is going to Chy-naaa soonly and bigly. They should arrest him for war crimes, but you know they won't.
Any objectors or rabble rousers will be Charlie Kirked. It will just be another era of terror. This is the normal state of affairs.
Meanwhile, we have crazies in the WH wanting some Biblical End Times outcome to this. They are serious about Jesus coming back, which is not exactly likely, and, even if he did step foot on planet earth again, do you think he would save a single Zionist? As if!
Anyway, we will see if touching grass works out. I mean, in the UK, during the Blitz, people were touching grass all the time. I think the Andy Groves quote applies, 'only the paranoid survive'.
A couple years from now when you are shivering in a cave you aren't going to be thinking "I may not have hoarded enough ivermectin but at least I got the last word on that HN thread".
Energy prices factor into everything else, so there literally will be a lot more than higher oil/fertilizer prices.
The end of civilized relations between countries is a sign of sick and dying civilization and we are there already, plenty of other evidence too.
> even if it causes famine in poorer countries.
So compassionate of you.
this is going to destroy world economy on every angle
fuel and now food
it's like the Israeli's figured out the answer to their problem was to make it everyone's problem
how about we stop giving them offensive weapons, defensive only or we'll be going through this every decade
Oil prices were around $100 for a lot of the early 2010s. It's been three weeks. Calm down.
Not that Israel is perfect, but there is plenty of blame to go around and recognizing that reality is required before we can even try to think of a solution. (I don't have one)
It is up to you to decide where justice lies.
It is a great plan. The Gulf Monarchies are weakened (that is what you get for your Trump bribes ...), the EU is weakened, and the US controls all energy flows.
China can use the land route to Russia. The EU is going to commit economic suicide instead.
Let's be real here. Nothing this administration ever does is planned.
In Syria it might have taken years, but considering the reaction of the US, Israel and Russia to the sudden Syria push, I guarantee the admin in power wasn't informed. What is more likely is that they lost actionable assets during COVID. At best the CIA was aware but didn't inform Mossad not the US, but that would be giving them a lot of credit.
You are joking, right? Project 2025 has achieved 50% of its goals in record time[0]. Trump disavowed both it and invading Iran, but make no mistake. Both were “the plan”.
Deals done in Yuan will still get through Hormuz. EU could switch currencies for fossil fuels, get their energy, and further lessen their dependence on a US that expresses nothing but hate and disgust for the EU.
He did say he wanted regime change after all
Sorry, but this will never not be not amusing. Where Trump being a stopped clock warns the UN about relying on foreign energy and the German delegation laughs as they were shutting down their nuclear and increasing reliance on Russia for energy.
There is no case of they just needed to pay attention earlier. The problem is known. There is just no good solution. Drastically scaling back energy consumption isn't going to happen any time soon and would harm the economy. So we can choose between Russia, the Middle East and the USA. Best would be of course to reduce fossil use, but that is orthogonal.
Trump is completely inconsistent anyway. First he blamed the EU for wanting to continue the Ukraine war. Then he periodically floats lifting Russia sanctions. But if the EU were to lift Russia sanctions, that of course would lead to severe repercussions.
Trump is about economic suppression of the EU.
If you say "nuclear energy". The US has imported Russian uranium to at least 2025.
Finally, both Nordstream 1 AND Nordstream 2 still have a gaping holes in them from the bombings so restarting deliveries will probably take several years at least.
All in all, this plan gets only a 2 out of 10 for being impractical, too slow AND depending on factors outside our control. 1 point because it does at least sound spy-ish and proactive.
Before 2022 we had the big EU auto companies in Russia, we also had nice handbags, shoes and outfits to sell to Russia. Plus we could have them hide their money in London property. Machine tools were also a brisk trade.
Nowadays Russia needs nothing from Europe. Nothing apart from peace and their 300 billion back. But we have gone past that stage. The Russians have never broken any energy contracts in this, the West has cut themselves off.
Regarding the EU not wanting the former Ukraine to lose, there is a difference between what the officials want and what the people want. From Finland to Portugal I am sure most people would want no war and cheap energy, however, their 'leaders' are just doing what Washington tells them to do.
Not really. Putin will not deal with Europe honestly.
A better idea is to try to get Russia to join the EU and use an open market to exert control over the more extreme behaviors and tendencies in Russia. A lot of Russian behavior is based on paranoia (completely justifiable paranoia when you see the way the US is behaving) so perhaps having them in the European fold will chill them out a bit - obviously this is far fetched but it's at least a way to fix this long term.
As a Russian? Absolutely yes.
We had a dry run 3 years ago, during Prigozhin's mutiny. He was advancing towards Moscow at freeway speeds, and the population was happily taking pictures. Nobody was organizing barricades, protests, or pro-government rallies.
Putin's regime is purely authoritarian ("information autocracy") it has _no_ ideology. Moreover, the government in Russia does everything it can to keep the population passive.
And before you ask, Iran was different because it's _not_ an authoritarian country. It's a full-blown totalitarian theocracy with an official ideology and the elites there actually _believe_ in their doctrine. They have a core of people who will die rather than betray it. And most importantly, they have actual institutions that can survive the death of individuals.
Eventually nobody will want the job.
It may have been true in the case of Maduro, but the jury is out (we also "decapitated" Hugo Chavez in the early 2000s but he came roaring back).
It is emphatically not true in the case of Iran, Russia, China, DPRK or any state that has been truly sovereign for a couple generations. These states have deep political power structures that don't rely on the whims of one individual.