@reddsprout.bsky.social
🚨🚨 Recorded less than an hour ago! Charlie Gammell on the latest in the Gulf. Is a deal about to be done? Have the US and Israel parted ways? Who is running the Islamic Republic? Hear the latest insights from a real expert.🚨🚨 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/b...
Iran Special: Is a deal about to be signed? Charlie Gammell on the future for the Islamic Republic and the Region
Podcast Episode · Behind The Lines with Arthur Snell · 9 June · 39min
podcasts.apple.com
Combined with disruption to global fertiliser supply from the Strait of Hormuz, this is very bad timing.
Christopher Webb@cwebbonline.com · 3mo agoClimate models indicate ocean temperatures could surge more than 2°C to 3°C above average later this year. This easily crosses the threshold into a "Super El Niño" event.
Note: no offensive tweets from Trump about MBS in response to this compared to how he treats NATO allies.
Shipwreck@shipwreck75.bsky.social · 3mo agoPresident Donald Trump’s abrupt reversal on his plan to help ships go through the Strait of Hormuz came after a key Gulf ally suspended the U.S. military’s ability to use its bases and airspace to carry out the operation, according to two U.S. officials.
President Donald Trump’s abrupt reversal on his plan to help ships go through the Strait of Hormuz came after a key Gulf ally suspended the U.S. military’s ability to use its bases and airspace to carry out the operation, according to two U.S. officials.
How is this going to play with a prolonged blockade and potentially further escalation with boots on the ground?
Weedle@weedle.bsky.social · 4mo agoExactly one year ago today:
The surge in gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices led Phillips 66- a major refiner- to lose nearly $1 billion from hedges, according to BBG.
The world energy shock is coming — it will deepen inequality in ways we've seen before. Our new @newstatesman1913.bsky.social piece argues that without urgent government action, the Strait of Hormuz crisis will ripple through our economies and rip apart our societies. Here's why. 1/
Aside from NATO as "them" and demanding "mine boats," what is the role of Congress in this relationship?
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5mo ago"One or two will not do it that we've been protecting for 40 years" -- Trump is mad at South Korea and other countries for refusing to put lives on the line for his war in Iran
Hey! Look! It's Mike Johnson sitting right there! Is he informed enough now to answer any questions on Congress' lack of action on this illegal war?
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 5mo agoTrump: "We strongly encourage other nations whose economies depend on the Strait far more than ours. We get less than 1% of our oil from the Strait. Some countries get much more. Japan gets 95%. China gets 90%. We want them to come and help us with the Strait."
Trump: "We strongly encourage other nations whose economies depend on the Strait far more than ours. We get less than 1% of our oil from the Strait. Some countries get much more. Japan gets 95%. China gets 90%. We want them to come and help us with the Strait."
If this is true then I can't see this going without response from the Turks and Iraqis.
FinTwitter@fintwitter.bsky.social · 5mo agoKURDISH FORCES IN IRAQ HAVE STARTED A MILITARY ATTACK ON IRAN TARGETING THE ISLAMIC GOVERNMENT, ACCORDING TO AN I24NEWS CITING A IRANIAN KURDISH OFFICIAL.
The US is not a 'partner'. It's in their National Security Strategy to support far right parties that oppose multicultural liberal democracy here. They are behaving lawlessly at home and abroad, summarily executing their own citizens, and now bombing Iran with no coherent rationale or plan.
Adam Schwarz@adamjschwarz.bsky.social · 5mo agoStarmer: "Our partners in the Gulf have asked us to do more to defend them... The only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source... The US has requested permission to use UK bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose. We have taken the decision to accept this request."
I am extremely confused as to why the UK government and police are saying Grok’s mass-scale CSAM generation is an issue for Ofcom. This isn’t about X failing to moderate CSAM, which is an Online Safety Act issue. It is about the company and its technology being actively involved in its generation.
I don't think we can see the Grok criminality and the tortured ineffectual response as separate to the US white nationalism sitting behind the Might is Far Right Donroe Doctrine and this anecdote illustrates this perfectly. Its all part of showing they can act with impunity.
James Ball@jamesrball.com · 7mo agoThe government says it has to stay on X because it’s where 10.8 million British families get their news. How’s that working out? www.thenewworld.co.uk/rats-in-a-sa...
@timoconnorbl.bsky.social You are a learned man. Can I bounce a thought off you? Boris is to Alcibiades, where Keir is to Nicias.
This is what happens when neoliberal meritocratic technocracy hollows out democracy and leaves social media to fill the vacuum with outrage, distortion, and division.
When you find out that you don't own the Means of Production...
Kathryn Tewson@kathryntewson.bsky.social · last yr.this is boggling.
We need to boot Palantir out of all UK systems.
southpaw@nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · last yr.You don’t have to be particularly sharp to decipher the code here. But if you need someone to say it, this is a major technology company and a sizable defense and intelligence contractor publicly declaring, with only the thinnest patina of deniability, that its cause is white nationalism.
![Palantir @PalantirTech • 26m
Dropping at select colleges today.
[Embedded image of a billboard ad:]
A moment of reckoning has
arrived for the West.
Our culture has fallen into shallow consumerism while abandoning national purpose. Too few in Silicon Valley have asked what ought to be built - and why.
We did.
We built Palantir to ensure America's future, not to tinker at the margins. On the factory floor, in the operating room, across the battlefield - we build to dominate.
Join us.
[signed by the Palantir founder]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:on5oeywiqx32fh2zau473wz6/bafkreibnnhk4kfvgsvqnrjitt27efuetj44x5opwvjayzgrr55eqa5eive)
Trump: "We're gonna tariff our pharmaceuticals ... we're going to be announcing very shortly a major tariff on pharmaceuticals."
I am begging people to understand that the "solution" here - increasingly fragile tech stacks - introduces massive resiliency challenges. We should be discussing single points of failure more than we do. And this stuff will get worse unless we start rejecting these ideas.
Ars Technica@arstechnica.com · last yr.
For some other time: issues where people, including me, have disagreed w Larry Summers. For our exact moment in history: admiration and respect to him for making the points below so plainly and forcefully. Each person who speaks up makes a difference. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/o...
You think the arbitrary arrest of political dissenters cannot happen in the UK? It already does. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...
Quakers condemn police raid on Westminster Meeting House
Police broke into a Quaker Meeting House last night (27 March) and arrested six young people holding a meeting over concerns for the climate and Gaza.
quaker.org.uk
ministers have hailed a “landmark” announcement of £2bn of government funding to build new social and affordable homes in the 2026-27 financial year but the figure is lower than the average state spending for the sector over the past five years (£2.4bn) www.ft.com/content/c4a3...
‘Boost’ of £2bn for affordable homes marks a reduction, industry says
Government settlement announced for 2026-27 is lower than the average for previous five years
ft.com
Absolutely chilling stuff
FX Coudert@nanoporous.net · last yr.French researcher, going to a conference in Houston, was forbidden entry to US; his work and personal electronics were both confiscated. Why? Because a “random search” of his cell phone revealed a negative personal opinion on Trump and the Trump administration. www.lemonde.fr/internationa...
