Ryan Hendrickson

Whatever happens, even miraculous Venezuela-like stability in Iran and/or Cuba, the end of US diplomacy as we knew it weakens the US. Diplomacy is a tool of power, we had the best, and we blew it up deliberately. These waters are plenty charted, and they are full of icebergs. 15/15

Americans have slowly forgotten that they owe their hegemonic status to a post-WWII military order that was restructured into a financial order in the 1990s, a hybrid of the two in the 2000s, and finally, totally wrecked by Trump in the 2020s

y'all ever wonder what itd be like if adam curtis were a 27 year old bronze age pervert fan

I read this in a Warren Zevon voice

Clearly a forgery. Jesus dots his i with a heart.

*on antiques roadshow* I’m sorry…what?

We haven't "been at war with Iran for 47 years," we've been undermining their struggle for sovereignty and democracy for much longer than that, with terrible consequences 7/7

The coup created a loose coalition of communists, socialists, nationalists, and Islamists, all devoted to opposing the Shah and his Western backers 6/

(Truman had been against the coup plot as he thought it would set a terrible precedent for the then-new CIA to overthrow governments, but Eisenhower decided it was worth it) 5/

In 1951 the democratically elected PM decided to nationalize the oil industry and reclaim its wealth; in response the CIA and MI6 collaborated to overthrow that PM and set up the Shah as a puppet monarch 4/

The USSR armed and funded two short-lived separatist states (which briefly overran Tehran); the Brits set up the largest oil company in the world to drain resources from southern Iran 3/

The Brits/Soviets both promised to leave once Germany was defeated and help the Iranians financially etc. The latter didn't happen; the Brits nominally left but kept control of the vast oil fields and the Soviets just decided they didn't really have to leave after all 2/

It's forgotten history but in 1941 neutral Iran was invaded from the North by the USSR and from the south by Britain and the Shah was forced to abdicate, in order to create a secure supply line to support the Soviets against Nazi Germany /1

Screenshot of text: First, it’s a mistake to say that Trump got America into war on Saturday. What he did was respond to a war that Iran has been waging against the United States since 1979.

Cool hey did anything happen *before* 1979 between the United States and Iran

This is what intrusive thoughts sound like

An interesting counterfactual is "what if the Shah's White Revolution reforms succeed instead of blowing up in his face" but I think the answer is Iran either becomes a giant version of the other Gulf states (fuel concessions/parking lots for global capital) or is first carved up by Iraq & the USSR

I get the feeling Trump (if still alive) will be the lamest of lame ducks by the end of this year

Veterans of the Content Wars

The deep irony of course is that the US just moved the early warning radar from Asia to the Gulf, so if China wanted to, they could utterly crush the legacy of "Chiang/Chang" right now forever

I wish people would come to understand transphobia as systemic, structural, and pervasive so we could stop treating transphobia as explicitly limited to people saying "I hate trans people" and accept the way our society conditions us all to dismiss, diminish, and dehumanize trans people.

SpecOps Cmdnr Breighlynn-Kace lumbers ashore at Bandar Abbas, his Helmet Cam streaming the invasion for his billion followers; as he kneels in the footprints of Zoroaster and Umar to ask the blessing of Christ the Sicario for allowing this Blessed Apocalypse he's vaporized by a HESA Shahed 136

The approximate cause of death for Anne Frank was the Nazis. The specific cause of death was the outbreak of Typhus at Bergen-Belsen camp, which overtook her (and others) from chronic malnutrition and medical abuse. These conditions are not, in character, unlike our system of immigration camps today

This might seem like a relatively obscure ruling but believe me when I say this has ramifications for all the AI co's, who each had "scrap/reform outdated 'copyright' laws" as a slide in their investor pitch decks

If Iran does wreck even half the gulf's energy infrastructure that would be a major historical inflection point, and if global elite capital flees to China/SE Asia the century of humiliation meme becomes reality with Trump and Co to thank

It's worth keeping in mind that the relatively short-lived energy crises of the 1970s were such a shock to the US that they permanently altered the trajectory of our politics and culture; Iran is threatening 100x that & it might be permanent

literally your customer base was 90% parents of young children who want a good future for their kids in which they can be free to be themselves, no matter who they are. you told those people to go fuck themselves. they won't be back

US media right now is like “the Mohammedan curs are nearly brought to heel” and everywhere else it’s “shit’s fucked, buy gas now”

Noble of the US and Israel to create a war to, apparently, liberate the people of the Gulf states from their brutal authoritarian ruling regimes

If you pay attention to these prediction /sports markets you’ll notice they do everything possible to not pay out, especially on big wins. Just like a real casino

To everyone wondering why ships are holding up outside the Strait of #Hormuz right now, the reason is WAR RISK INSURANCE!

Right now, every major Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Club is notifying their clients of the need for additional protection (AP).

You see, the shipping companies are not worried about incurring damage from the Iranians.

They are worried about incurring damage that is not INSURED! The ships will sail once they garner the additional protection or they will seek out another port to load.