But Lloyds of London insurers said that the mines were not cleared from the Straits immediately after Trump said they were. Iran shows the world they have not lost, and that they actually have more missiles than the US.
Trump is learning the lesson that Zelensky just got. If you don’t have 'escalation dominance' only the deluded would try 'escalation deterrence'.
Zelensky escalated to deter Russia by attacking Russian ships in the Sea of Azov but Russia responded by wiping out Ukrainian trade through its only sea port in Odessa. Zelensky then attacked Russian Amazon type warehouses but Russia responded by wiping out all Ukrainian food and goods warehouses so that supermarket shelves throughout the whole country are now going bare.
Iran is watching all this and is learning.
Meanwhile Zelensky number 2 Budanov says that changes need to be made to the mobilisations laws because Ukraine needs to recruit 30,000 a month just to keep up with losses. They would lower the age to 18 but there are nowhere near enough of them because of the drop in birth rate following the collapse of the Soviet Union, so women it will have to be then.
And a closer look at the missile problem for the west which is profound, sources are saying that when the Russians shoot down 1,000 Ukrainian drones in a single night half are by air defence missiles. Zelensky is screaming out for 300 US Patriot air defence missiles, that’s half the world's current total supply, Russia is firing off nearly twice that in a single evening, and they have been doing it day after day. Russia’s own estimate of success rate of their air defence is between 95 and 97% which is lower than Ukraine’s own estimation of Russia’s success rate.
The degree to which the west is so far behind in missile tech and production, having been the ones who pushed Russia into this war, is astonishing. Ukraine has no air defence left and neither does western Europe.
In the space of 4 and a half years Russia has de-militarised the whole of NATO.
When the west announced they were going to incorporate Ukraine and Georgia into NATO (2007 if memory serves) the Russians said it would cause a war, but the west knew Russia was only bluffing so went ahead anyway, except Russia wasn’t, and now the west finds themselves in a war they were totally unprepared for.
And Bessent tells us he is going to start ‘D-Day sanctions’, oh - so he’s going to take on China?
Bessent: “Oh God no, I don’t want to bring down the whole global economy”.
Err right, okay. So just more bluster, bullshit and market manipulation then.
And speaking of Bessent, expect another attempt to quell the bond market after Trump’s recent escalation in the Iran war sent the US 10 year yield to 4.8%.
George Beebe: Ukraine on the Brink - What Happens Next?
