Tyler Durden
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
After weeks of heated rhetoric and the exchange of threats related to US oil export sanctions on Iran, and with both sides eyeing the enforcement of its rights over the vital Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, the White House has just announced what will be looked on by Tehran as a major and potentially dangerous escalation.
White House national security advisor John Bolton announced Sunday night the immediate deployment of a full aircraft carrier strike group and bomber task force to the Persian Gulf region.
The official statement cites that CENTCOM is responding to multiple “troubling and escalatory” Iranian actions, and reads as follows:
In response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings, the United States is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the US Central Command region to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force. The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack.
Iran has within the past week vowed to keep exporting oil even as the White House vowed to take it down to “zero” – this after ending the waiver program which allowed up to eight nations to continue Iranian crude purchases on a conditional and limited basis.
Iran has also vowed to continue patrolling the key narrow Strait of Hormuz passageway, through which some on-third of the world’s oil passes.
However, after the US formally designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization, the question remains over whether the US military will actually engage IRGC fast boats known to routinely patrol the same region over which CENCOM naval assets operate.
The White House’s sending the USS Abraham Lincoln to the region, likely first near Qatar, makes the potential for a major incident leading to direct exchange of fire between the US and Iran now much more likely.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
Here are some interesting comments from Mike Pompeo about Donald Trump’s role in the Middle East and why the president was elected:
https://viableopposition.blogspot.com/2019/03/mike-pompeo-israel-god-and-why-donald.html
So much for that Russian meddling narrative that Washington is so fond of perpetuating.
So sick of these evangelicals and born againers. In some ways, they’re worse than ISIS. Certainly more potential for death and destruction in the name of their god..
Is Pompeo genuine or just playing to Trump’s base? Either way, bad news.
All fundamentalists are the same: you cannot reason with them, and they refuse to accept facts that stare them in the face. How can you deal with a person who believes that, after he dies, he will be rewarded with an eternity of bliss?
Religious fundamentalists are bad enough, but how you possibly explain the financial fundamentalist, who worships the god Mammon (money)?
Sounds a lot like Clinton democrats. In fact, sounds like the entire American political landscape, no matter which road you drive on. They’re all dead ends.
It seems to me that the USA has placed itself at the head of an axis of fundamentalism. Saudi Arabia and the Salafists represent Muslim fundamentalism; Israel represents Jewish fundamentalism; and the USA combines Christian fundamentalism with the worship of money and “progress”.
All of them are impervious to reality or reason, and all of them are deadly enemies of the sane, honest, humane people of the world.
Yes. They are extremely dangerous. They believe they will be “raptured” away from the thermonuclear war they start. They believe Israel must destroy the middle east and dominate it so Jesus will come back. They are absolutely psychopathic.
They might just do us a favour and destroy our mortal beings in the hell fire to come. Let them inheret hell on earth.
Which is contrary to what the Zionists believe, who these US fundamentalist turkeys support. The Zionists don’t even believe in Jesus. They are still waiting for their Messiah to show up, and are using these gullible Christians fanatics to hasten this Messiah’s coming. Then they will take over the world and we will all work and worship them!!! Honestly the totally psychopathology is off the scale. How many people have to die for these lunatics??
At the link: “Since the Bible obviously plays a very important role in Mike Pompeo’s life, I’d like to close this posting with this: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.” Matthew 5:9 “They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.” 1 Peter 3:11 “Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” James 3:18 In fact, the word peace is mentioned 429 times in the King James Version of the Bible. Funny how some people conveniently forget that, isn’t it?” Pompeo must have missed this… Read more »
Also, how about plain old “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not steal [oil]”?
One can argue that the whole business jumped into overdrive when NATO started ‘coveting thy neighbor’s naval base.’ in Crimea, Then overdrive went into hyperdrive with the DNC and MSM’s .’Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor’., which they turned into an artform. Black arts, at that.
The message presumably being: “Here is one of our giant defenceless white elephants. Go ahead and sink it if you dare”. But if Iran does sink the carrier, what is Washington going to do about it? Using nuclear weapons against Iran would be a giant step towards pariahhood for the USA. It’s already distinguished itself by using nuclear weapons against Japan – which was on the brink of surrender – just because it could, and killing hundreds of thousands of civilians. And that was with two tiny, peewee bombs. To use nuclear weapons against a defenceless enemy once might be… Read more »
Is this provocative move by the U$ designed to detract attention from its failed coup in Venezuela that the whole world is poking fun at?
Before we panic, we need to check if this deployment is part of the normal rotation of Navy assets in the region. We’ve seen this before: a normal deployment is treated as significant because the deployment is talked up as a “message” or an “escalation” both by proponents of the deployment and its opponents. We’ve also seen two or even three Carrier Groups in the region in the past and Iran did nothing because they understood they would be merely giving the US an excuse for war. The main problem for Bolton is that the US can not start a… Read more »
Yeah, it’s a normal rotation, announced months before. Pompeo must be giving Bolton those ‘lie, cheat and steal’ lessons he’s so proud of, not that he needs them much.
Bolton and Pompeo are seriously deranged warmongering terrorists and need to go to a mental institution before they plunge the world into their wet dream, World War 3.
Lock them up!