© Intl. Space Station/Wikimedia
Night view of the coast of Oman, including Strait of Hormuz
Vast swathes of the West seem not to realize that
if the Strait of Hormuz is shut down a global depression will follow...
The Trump administration once again has graphically demonstrated that in the young, turbulent 21st Century, "international law" and "national sovereignty" already belong to the Realm of the Walking Dead.
As if a deluge of sanctions against a great deal of the planet was not enough,
the latest "offer you can't refuse" conveyed by a gangster posing as diplomat, Consul Minimus Mike Pompeo, now essentially orders the whole planet to
submit to the one and only arbiter of world trade: Washington.
First the Trump administration unilaterally smashed a multinational, UN-endorsed agreement, the JCPOA, or Iran nuclear deal. Now the waivers that magnanimously allowed eight nations to import oil from Iran without incurring imperial wrath in the form of sanctions
will expire on May 2 and won't be renewed. The eight nations are a mix of Eurasian powers: China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey, Italy and Greece.
Apart from the trademark toxic cocktail of hubris, illegality, arrogance/ignorance and geopolitical/geo
-economic infantilism inbuilt in this foreign policy decision, the notion that Washington can decide who's allowed to be an energy provider to emerging superpower China does not even qualify as laughable.
Much more alarming is the fact that imposing a total embargo of Iranian oil exports is no less than an act of war.
Comment: It appears that the US isn't satisfied with the Open Skies program because just yesterday it was reported that, yet again, a US spy plane was spotted snooping near Russia's maritime border in the Black Sea.
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