Commentary continues to pour out re: Trump's war against Iran.
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"For generations the alliance between the United States and Israel has been treated in Washington as something close to unquestionable—an assumption embedded so deeply in American strategic thinking that it often appears less like a policy choice than a permanent feature of the geopolitical landscape.
Which raises a deeper question."
~ Elisabeth Glassco
#Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #Israel #war
/15https://400years.substack.com/p/no-one-wants-to-fight-for-israelso
"Why has this relationship endured with such extraordinary durability for so long?
To answer that question requires looking beyond the ceremonial language of democracy and shared values that usually defines the alliance. It requires examining the historical forces that made the partnership possible—and the political structures that continue to sustain it."
#Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #Israel #war
/16 -
"Why has this relationship endured with such extraordinary durability for so long?
To answer that question requires looking beyond the ceremonial language of democracy and shared values that usually defines the alliance. It requires examining the historical forces that made the partnership possible—and the political structures that continue to sustain it."
#Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #Israel #war
/16"The alliance between the United States and Israel endures because three forces reinforce one another: strategic necessity, political affinity, and domestic power. ...
Both the United States and Israel are profoundly unfree and racially riven societies."
#Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #Israel #war
/17 -
"The alliance between the United States and Israel endures because three forces reinforce one another: strategic necessity, political affinity, and domestic power. ...
Both the United States and Israel are profoundly unfree and racially riven societies."
#Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #Israel #war
/17"The President of the United States has engaged our country in a war for no discernible reason except distraction – and apparently because being at war can be cool and fun. Just like video games. ...
It’s all a game. It’s all a game. It’s all a game.
Until Game Over."
~ Keith Owens
wearespeaking.net/p/war-games-are-not-a-game
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"'U.S. officials called London insurers and brokers, trying to figure out how the market operates, industry insiders said. Some have received calls asking for confidential data on the Lloyd’s market that participants have been reluctant to share.'
Experts on the insurance market tell the WSJ that insurers are still willing to underwrite shipping through the Strait of Hormuz but that shippers, understandably, aren’t willing to risk the lives of their crews."
I vaguely used to know an insurance underwriter. As I understood his job, it was about studying and sometimes visiting the most troubled spots on the planet, in order to price the risk.
Yes of course Lloyd's will still underwrite shipping through the straits of Hormuz. Lloyd's loves this stuff, at a price. For insurance underwriters, high risk means high profit.
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"The President of the United States has engaged our country in a war for no discernible reason except distraction – and apparently because being at war can be cool and fun. Just like video games. ...
It’s all a game. It’s all a game. It’s all a game.
Until Game Over."
~ Keith Owens
wearespeaking.net/p/war-games-are-not-a-game
"One prominent rationale for the Israeli-American attack on Iran is to bomb the country into friendliness to the US and Israel. ...
The real goals of Trump’s war cannot be found in his strategic vision, which is overshadowed, if it even exists, by a pinwheeling embrace of postures that serve his vanity and his short-term political interests."
~ Eli Clifton and Ian S. Lustick
#Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #Israel #war
/19https://www.thenation.com/article/world/trump-iiran-war-israel-us-foreign-policy/
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"One prominent rationale for the Israeli-American attack on Iran is to bomb the country into friendliness to the US and Israel. ...
The real goals of Trump’s war cannot be found in his strategic vision, which is overshadowed, if it even exists, by a pinwheeling embrace of postures that serve his vanity and his short-term political interests."
~ Eli Clifton and Ian S. Lustick
#Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #Israel #war
/19https://www.thenation.com/article/world/trump-iiran-war-israel-us-foreign-policy/
"While most combat operations have been undertaken by the US military, at considerable risk to US service members and costs borne by American taxpayers, the war was born, planned, and insisted upon by Israel, and its long-serving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu."
#Trump #Netanyahu #Iran #Israel #war
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I vaguely used to know an insurance underwriter. As I understood his job, it was about studying and sometimes visiting the most troubled spots on the planet, in order to price the risk.
Yes of course Lloyd's will still underwrite shipping through the straits of Hormuz. Lloyd's loves this stuff, at a price. For insurance underwriters, high risk means high profit.
Historical note: Lloyd's of London developed as a re-insurance/underwriting market mainly to support shipping trades ...
At a period in history when shipwreck was a major risk (there were also pirates, as there still are now, but shipwreck was more likely).
So yeah, Lloyd's loves risk
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Historical note: Lloyd's of London developed as a re-insurance/underwriting market mainly to support shipping trades ...
At a period in history when shipwreck was a major risk (there were also pirates, as there still are now, but shipwreck was more likely).
So yeah, Lloyd's loves risk
Non-historical note: My underwriter friend taught me the difference between risk and uncertainty.
Insurers and re-insurers hate uncertainty, because they can't price it. So when risks are small and uncertainty is large, insurers refuse the market (I couldn't get professional indemnity insurance because it wasn't worth their while to price what I did).
But when risk is much bigger than uncertainty, eg straits of Hormuz right now, insurers make money
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Non-historical note: My underwriter friend taught me the difference between risk and uncertainty.
Insurers and re-insurers hate uncertainty, because they can't price it. So when risks are small and uncertainty is large, insurers refuse the market (I couldn't get professional indemnity insurance because it wasn't worth their while to price what I did).
But when risk is much bigger than uncertainty, eg straits of Hormuz right now, insurers make money
Understanding the difference between risk and uncertainty is useful. It has often helped my thinking
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"Instead of expressing concern about rising costs for Americans, Donald Trump posted on Truth Social celebrating the price spikes. In his message, Trump argued that higher oil prices are good because the United States is the largest oil producer in the world and therefore 'makes a lot of money' when prices rise."
~ Ben Meiselas
#Trump #Iran #war #oil #gas #StraitofHormuz #prices #economy #affordability
/8https://www.meidasplus.com/p/thursday-afternoon-updates-trump
@wdlindsy One thing about surging oil prices: it's reviving the electric car market.
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"Time and again, national pundits and the White House press corps invent a logical Donald Trump who sets, announces, and later “changes” real 'policies' or 'plans,' failing to convey what is clear to anyone who is actually following events closely: In each public appearance and social media post, the Mad King Donald Trump spouts a string of words, devoid of meaning or purpose, that may or may not represent anything at all."
@wdlindsy
#RationalizationDelay ~ 48 hrs -
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