Contradicting Around
“I think the war is very complete, pretty much.” No, that wasn’t George S. Patton or Ulysses S. Grant. That was Donald Trump’s general message to the world (generally) and the markets (more specifically, and perhaps, for him, more importantly). The Pentagon is giving a different message. The Pentagon says this will be ‘our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.’ And from The Hill: Trump, Pentagon give conflicting signals on end to Iran war. Sun Tzu said that “all warfare is based on deception.” We’re taking it next level by not only deceiving the enemy, but often deceiving ourselves.
+ “If the conflict turns into a protracted war of attrition, Russia looks set to become a clear beneficiary, raking in profits from spiking oil and natural-gas prices.” WSJ (Gift Article): U.S. and Iran Predicted a Very Different War Than the One Now Being Waged. Russia has shared targeting Intel with Iran. Trump just gave them sanction-busting waivers to sell oil. So CNBC asked Steve Witkoff about that odd sequence of events. CNBC: “Do we think the Russians have shared intel about US military assets, and if so, why would we be giving waivers on oil sanctions?” Witkoff: “I can tell you that on the call with POTUS, the Russians said they have not been sharing. That’s what they said. We can take them at their word.” (It’s gonna take a few hundred gallons of Yakult to fix my gut after reading that quote…)
+ Here’s the latest from the NYT, including the increasing damage being done in Lebanon and this: “The U.S. Navy has ‘successfully escorted’ an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a post on X. He did not provide further details. The escort would appear to be the first of its kind since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, which has paralyzed shipping through the strait. UPDATE: Shortly after the post was published, it disappeared from Wright’s account without explanation.” What did Sun Tzu say about establishing dominance over your enemy through the art of deletion?
