Halls of Shrewd'm / US Policy
No. of Recommendations: 13
From Phil Gordon (never heard of him) via George Conway (who I do know of!):
Phil Gordon → @PhilGordon DC
When Obama sent Iran $400m + $1.3bn in interest in 2016 Trump called it "insane" and he and others spent a decade mocking the idea of "pallets of cash" even though it was Iran's own money, American prisoners were released, courts were likely to require the U.S. payment, and Iran had just agreed to significant and verified reductions and restrictions on its nuclear program for 15+ years. Now Trump is giving Iran up to ten times that amount of revenue--one of the most significant measures of sanctions relief provided to the Islamic Republic since its founding--in exchange for marginal and temporary relief from the big increase in oil prices his actions have caused, without any concessions from Tehran, and even as Iran continues to target the United States, its allies, and world oil supplies. No way to read as anything other than desperate recognition of the situation Trump's own actions have created and the lack of available alternatives for dealing with it.<sarcasm> I wonder how MAGA and the GOP Congress will reconcile this dichotomy. </sarcasm>
https://bsky.app/profile/gtconway.bsky.social/post...
No. of Recommendations: 13
I wonder how MAGA and the GOP Congress will reconcile this dichotomy.
They won’t even try.
And if called on it, they will deflect attention by pointing to an imaginary squirrel.
No. of Recommendations: 2
Now Trump is giving Iran up to ten times that amount of revenue--
According to the net sifter, that 140M bbls belongs to Iran. As suggested earlier, I am surprised that the Pirate King is not seizing that oil as a "war prize". Perhaps his plan is to seize the money while it is in transit from the buyer, to Iran. I can't imagine him letting that much money move around, without skimming it for himself. The net sifter figures that crude is worth $14B, or about a week's worth of war.
This, of course, invites the musical question of the Russian crude that he desanctioned. Will payment for it, also be sidetracked into Trump the Conqueror's offshore account in Qatar?
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 0
I can't imagine him letting that much money move around, without skimming it for himself.
He can't touch it as the transactions will all take place in China--in Yuan. Bypass SWIFT.
No. of Recommendations: 3
He can't touch it as the transactions will all take place in China--in Yuan. Bypass SWIFT.
And you really think the US doesn't have a way of diverting that money? As Kegsbreath said, "there are no brakes on this car", meaning the regime considers itself exempt from Congressional, or legal, constraint. For instance, Kegsbreath said "no quarter" will be given. In the conventional meaning of that term, surrendering enemy troops would be immediately executed, rather than taken prisoner, which is a war crime. The destruction of the several boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, without offering the civilian occupants an opportunity to surrender, is murder, but the regime does not care.
Money is easier to steal that tons and tons of oil, especially when the money is nothing but data in a computer. Bet the loot lands in that offshore account in Qatar.
Steve
No. of Recommendations: 1
<sarcasm> I wonder how MAGA and the GOP Congress will reconcile this dichotomy. </sarcasm>
Lord and savior Donny is infallible.
