Europe Paralized

European nations are sabotaging America's effort to open the Kharg Island toll to free navigation.  I think they fear that if they take part in the effort, Iran will boycott them. More probably, they fear being seen as colonizers and are afraid of their large, violent Arab minorities at home. President Trump calls them cowards. He may be right. 

What will be the fate of that block of 500 million Whitish people? Spain and France are openly anti-American; Germany, apparently, is busy preparing to fight Russia. Most surprising is England. It is led by a milketoast Human Rights activist, uninclined to foreign expeditions. They are still living the fantasy of colonialism, loving their enemy and hating themselves.

The world continues to change. More change, more opportunities (for my grandkids, not for me).

I worked in Nigeria a few years after independence, and I see the savagery now. English colonialism was a blessing. 

A hundred years later: Germany Re-Arming

 
Astonishing statement from General Carsten Breuer, chief of the German defence staff.

"Germany no longer regards the USA as a reliable defence partner. We are assuming conflict with Russia in the next few years is inevitable, we are re-arming.

We are back to 1930. Why is the war with Russia inevitable? Why?

Maximum optionality

 Lingo for "We are waiting for the right moment". I think that this month-long war is going well. As planned, the war has messed up the Middle East and is leading to the coalescence of a Sunni coalition of the Gulf emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and maybe Pakistan. Israel is not alone in facing Iran's nuclear bomb. The Shi'a of South Lebanon are being expelled, and Iran's fanatic Ayatollah regime has been replaced by a hard but rational military dictatorship. For more than a month, I have heard nothing about Gaza. Half of the territory has been bulldozed and made ready for civilization. What the war has not achieved is the participation of Europe, but I think they, too, will be forced to defend their oil supply if they want to exist as independent nations. Thanks to their passivity (cowardice?), the Anglo-Saxons are - once again - sitting on the world's oil and gas. We are on the side of the victors. 

 

Pirates of Barbary

 The pirates of Barbary (Algeria) kidnapped and enslaved millions of Europeans in the 17th and 18th centuries. Nothing was done; they paid the ransoms in gold. Till they made a mistake: they kidnapped a few Americans. President Adams sent the new republic's marines, and the whole Barbarian business ended quickly. 

Today, Iran and Yemen are trying to tax maritime traffic. Europe is impotent and will pay, as always. All are looking at President Trump to send in the Marines.

"Hostia, hostia, ¡a tomar por culo! "

 Today, a missile was intercepted over my head, and pieces fell in the neighborhood. I don't know what this thing is; maybe it is part of a missile from Iran. It caused some damage to an apartment, while the people were safe in the basement. I downloaded the pic from the media. The Gov asks not to publish anything, but this has already been published. 

Iran is attacking left and right, frightening half the universe. The Spanish have the ugliest attitude, their President announced: "Why should we be suffering? We did nothing. It's all because of the Jews." This resonates with Europeans as they will pay more for gas, spend on re-arming, and their chronic stagnation will turn into a full recession. 

From La Vanguardia, a progressive Spanish paper, today:

 "Hostia, hostia, ¡a tomar por culo! Nos estamos desconectando": así reaccionaron en el centro del control de Red Eléctrica (REE). Si España no existiera, habría que inventarla.

Status and Prole

The political consequences of low elite fertility among the Roman elites were highly unstable succession to the Roman throne and frequent internal conflicts. Hereditary succession was acceptable to the senate, "but the main problem was that from the time of Augustus to the mid-third century (almost three centuries), only three emperors – Vespasian, Marcus Aurelius, and Septimius Severus – had sons who could inherit."

The Changing Middle East

Syria's former and current ruling couple. 

Western values are not winning.