With the US military buildup in the area around Iran, hawks both within
the administration and elsewhere in the region suspect that it might not
take much to sucker the US into starting a war. Something oil tanker
related might do it.
A pair of Saudi oil tankers have been reported to have been “sabotaged” off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.
What actually happened is unclear. Officials are only saying sabotage
and not elaborating on what happened to the ships or how.
Officials are investigating,
however, and with all the talk of undermining international security,
the public is meant to suspect that the Iranian government did it,
whatever “it” actually was, because the US has been warning Iran that
they’d better not do something.
Iran is denying having anything to do with it, with a top Iranian MP saying that the explosions at the port could’ve been carried out by saboteurs from a third country interested in instability. The UAE has denied that the explosions took place at all.
Trump has threatened to see Iran “suffer greatly”
for anything else that they do, and other US officials say they
definitely suspect Iran. They just can’t prove Iran actually did
anything, which might be a problem.
One US official was quoted by Reuters as saying this is “the sort of thing you could see Iran doing.” That seems to be the sum total of the evidence pointing to Iran’s involvement, but it also seems plenty for the officials.
Indeed, when recognizing that they don’t have physical proof, and Iran
denied doing it, the official said that the “most obvious explanation”
was that Iran was lying in the denial to try to throw people off.
This is beyond absurd.
So was it the Saudis, the US, or both?
Not every attack is a “false flag,” but there doesn’t seem to be any other reasonable prima facie conclusion on this one. If the Iranians had decided it was time to go to war, their best course would be to openly throw down and say why. So it’s someone else who wants a war but doesn’t want to be seen as starting it.
Who knows if it even f**king happened. If it actually did then I’d vote both. Israel is always a wild card on these things but considering that they clearly want the same chaos we and the Saudis do, their involvement is hardly necessary. I wouldn’t put it past the UAE either.
Where’s eric prince ? Dock sabotage is kinda seal stock and trade.
That’s true. I didn’t even think of that prick. The list of nefarious suspects just keeps quadrupling.
Witnesses said US and French planes were around when the explosions occurred.
Or Israel? They’ve certainly got the means, the motive, and an actual history of covert ops in this region.
I suppose it’s possible, but the motive part seems pretty weak. The Israelis are in great shape right now. The welfare checks keep coming and the substantial attacks on Israel don’t. If the US went to war with Iran, Hezbollah would probably stop responding so moderately to Israeli actions in Syria and Lebanon.
Good point. Then again, nobody ever confused Bibi with a sane person.
“was it the Saudis, the US, or both?”
I would add ISIS, Al Qaeda and Israel to the short list of suspects.
The Trump regime is completely beyond reproach. There is not a rational actor in this bunch of hoodlums. Iran has no reason to start any trouble with Saudi Arabia or anyone else, especially since they are trying to get the JPCOA to work.
raise that flag
raise that flag for all to see
false flag
false flag
its smoke and mirrors
been doing it since 53
Remember the Maine!
Remember the USS Maddox!
Remember Iraq’s WMD’s!
This bullshit tops Russia Gate by a lot.
Cui bono?
German border violated
Bolton blames the Poles
Quite obvious to anyone with half a brain who is even slightly informed about these “false flag” scenarios! For the Saudis to cry foul over this “sabotage” is laughable when you stop and consider the massive slaughterhouse they’ve make Yemen into with the help of the USA, bombing that nation without any regard for civilians and civilian infrastructure(hospitals, mosques, schools, etc.) Who is to be held accountable for this massive crime? Oh yes . . . the USA has to cry foul every chance it gets, along with their partner in crime Israel, to help distract from their own glaring violations of human rights! As a US citizen I am sick and tired of these warmongers who have relentlessly drug America’s name through the mud by its constant aggression and sanctioning of nations that don’t kiss the USA/Israel’s ass!
Don’t forget the USS Liberty!
John S,,So TRUE!! That massacre was in a class of it’s own,,carried out by our true Masters!!! LBJ should have been impeached or shot for the part he played in it!
Actually, the folks pushing for war with Iran would rather we all forgot the USS Liberty.
Tonkin Gulf. All over again. Did we learn nothing? Well, somebody did, and they are doing it again.
We will all ‘suffer greatly’ if this confrontation escalates. It has all the potential to develop from a regional dispute to a global one. The nuclear powers have far too many overlapping interests for comfort. We are blindly stumbling towards another world war.
https://www.ghostsofhistory.wordpress.com/
peter, I suspect this would be an opportunity for Russia, China and N.Korea, Iran, to put a hurt on the USA in a limited and quick military engagements far short of any nuclear war. It will be an effort to put the USA in it’s place and secure some type of world order absent of the USA and it’s abusive bullying tactics, which I am sure all are very tired of. Nice job Trump, you are truly a dumb AZZ!! 🙁 Trump, Pompeo, Bolton, and all you other DC Ghouls,,BIBI wants another round of Ora# Plea#ure,,,on your knees MOFU’S! HuRaHHH…
This is a great reminder of how utterly precarious and unsustainable our reliance on fossil fuels is. All-out war with Iran would send the world economy into a total tailspin. As long as that doesn’t escalate into a nuclear war, that tailspin may be our best hope for humanity’s long-term survival.
waves, Without dependable and sustained energy, mankind will cease to exist, as we know it, within 30 days, game over. If you want civilization, energy in all it’s forms must be sustained!
That’s why we must start seriously diversifying our energy to sustainable sources now. Mankind as we know it WILL cease to exist soon, we can either plan the transition in a difficult but orderly way, or wait for a disastrous crash to be imposed on us by a chance incident, or this planet’s natural limits.
This is perfect. Almost so perfect to be stupid — or living in the belief that world is stupid, and will continue to be so. US has tried to topple first the sitting King, Salman, in the campaign of disinformation concerning his mental health, in order to hasten US promoted Crown Prince M B Nayaf. When Nayaf, on US urging created too many problems for the Kingdom, he was removed in a palace coup, and King’s son, MBS was named Crown Prince, in effect ruler of the country. The problems MBN created among others was Qatar fiasco, getting the Kingdom involved in Yemen war, following US script for propping up an unelected leader in ‘Sana’s. Nayaf created hostile relationship with Egypt’s military, if they did not follow Saudi script, at one point stopping delivery of already paid for oil. Saudi supported Islamists on Libyan border stage attacks in ‘Egypt against /Coptic churches. Egypt retaliated striking across border, sending a message. Ever since MBS took over,, his father miraculously got well from Alzheimer disease and dementia, so much so, that he led a 2000 strong delegation to Moscow and signed dozens of agreements, of which only investments are known. Then we tried everything to topple MBS after Kashoggi murder, including Congressional action, to lean on the tribal body, The Allegiance council to remove MBSl. Following that failure, we watched as MBS removed from power the last vestiges of security apparatus set up by the predecessor. And here we are, the ultimate test of “with us or against us”, against Iran . And to force MBS hand, how about some damage he can feel, to force his hand politically. After all, US still has large segments of Saudi businesses n its corner, as they depend on US trade. But the power is in tribal rulers, and it seems to me, they made up their minds, How can Saudis go against China, their top customer, and Russia, their top energy investment destination, as well as supporter of oil prices? How can they go against Russia that has solid relationship with Egypt, Iraq, Turkey,, not to mention Iran? Iran is the key node on Belt and Road destination, as it links Middle East, Asia and Europe. Kuwait is building Silk City, with Chinese investment, China is in UAE, Qatar, Oman, across in ‘Africa, in Djibuti, and Egypt’s Port Suez.
Kingdom has opened Russian small arms factory, and is eyeing its missile defense, and nuclear power plant.
So, hitting Saudis with the damage, may feel sweet, but will not tool Saudis. They at present can count on advice by many world powers, and are not dependent on intelligence or technology, including telecom.
With no other Arab countries in the region interested in started a confrontation with Iran, US can expect to hear the familiar noises about Iran, but no desire to further destabilize the region. US cannot even bring troops in the area, as no country would station them. This is why Pompeo is leaning on Europeans.
But do not dismiss our financial aristocracy and their shock troops, neoliberal interventionists of fake conservatives with Trotsky paly book on how to control by chaos It works for as long as there are willing participants expecting to profit from it. It stops working when everybody sees potential for problem only.
I heard Trump on the news this morning, and as usual he displayed the intellect of a four year old.
In the background there are people, evil people pulling the strings – Bolton, Pompeo, Haspel, Pence, Netanyahu, these are all chickenhawks who would love another war.
The original nuclear deal was working, until Trump flounced off and then tried to blackmail all the other countries to follow suit.
It looks as though the lunatics have taken over the asylum.
With the US military buildup in the area around Iran, hawks both within the administration and elsewhere in the region suspect that it might not take much to sucker the US into starting a war. Something oil tanker related might do it.
Someone is trying to “sucker” the US into war? Has there ever been a more inaccurate statement?
I’m curious about the mark running directly up through the “O” from the obvious damage. As if the ship backed into the corner of a pier that had some projection at the waterline. Or may have been “rammed” directly from behind at low speed by a ship high in the water with a bulbous bow.
What an amazing coincidence. Iran turns to sabatoging oil tankers just when threatened not to try anything.
Good luck with the BS.
Iran claims credit for sabotage.
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/saudi-ships-attacked-oil/2019/05/14/id/915918/
Very funny. That scoop was provided by MEMRI
No, Newsmax “reports” Iran claims credit for sabotage. Not quite the same thing.
Or, to put it differently, Newsmax reports that a US government-funded anti-Muslim “non-profit” propaganda mill, headed by a “former” Mossad operative and with a long record of e.g. mendaciously incorrect translations of Arab and Iranian statements, claims that an editor at a newspaper “identified with” one part of the Iranian government claims credit for sabotage in tweets that supposedly once existed but don’t anymore.
No, Newsmax is reporting that:
Two editors of Iranian news outlets say Iran is claiming responsibility for the attacks on four ships anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, according to MEMRI, an international media monitoring organization.
It’s MEMRI doing the reporting
(as reported by Newsmax)
and they name the editors involved.
Does it make it true, no,
is it possible and require more investigation, indeed.
It certainly bears watching. But neither Newsmax nor MEMRI are anything like reliable sources, and even they go out of their way to not actually make the story match the headline. “Some editors said — here, we’ll translate for you, even though we have a poor record on accuracy when doing that — that someone else said that Iran did it.”
If the Iranian regime wants to claim responsibility, it can easily do so through its “Supreme Leader” or some other high political official, and it will make headlines in the real press.
“It certainly bears watching”, we agree.
Regarding Newsmax or MEMRI’s reliability,
no more and no less than any other.
The NYT, CNN, MSNBC don’t have a leg up on either of them,
that is for sure.
The information was communicated in “twits”, so the question is were they in fact from the alleged “editors”, we don’t know.
The Iranian regime may not have wanted this known, and their “news” people might have been talking too freely, so they may have been shut down by the regime.
We don’t know. Will shall see.
Nevertheless, it is an interesting lead.
the source of that article – MEMRI – has constantly been shown up for being pro Zionist propaganda.
looks like somebody bumped into a pier and just thought of someone to blame it on.
Do we trust Saudis power of investigation? They couldn’t even solve the murder of an American resident that occurred in their own embassy during business hours.
Apart from the obvious setup by psychopathic ziocons, the damage shown is from a collision, not an explosion. There is not even any damaged paint near the hole! It appears to have been caused by running a ship with the common subsurface underwater projection in front, into the side or stern of a small ship at low speed. The fact that there was no damage causing serious flooding or oil leakage is also conclusive in itself: this was a carefully planned fraud designed to do little damage.