French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said it would be unrealistic to launch a military operation to force open the Strait of Hormuz after US President Donald Trump challenged allies to work towards reopening it. In unusually strong criticism, Macron accused Trump of constantly contradicting himself on the Iran war and of undermining faith in the NATO military alliance.
Macron should be a bit more realistic. Expecting Trump to be serious?!?
I saw a redditor say “If they closed it by force it can be opened by force”
lmfao
They probably think that if you break an egg by force, you can reassemble it by force.
Seems accurate.
“You have to be serious. When you want to be serious, you don’t say the opposite every day of what you said the day before. And perhaps you shouldn’t talk every day,” Macron said.
Wouldn’t that be nice
Watching Europe get openly crankier in realtime is one of the few satisfying parts of this. I’m waiting for one of them to call him “shits-for-brains” and then they all laugh and huddle back together while seated in the lunchroom at Davos or something.
So Trump created this whole mess. Then he is asking others to go there and put their necks on the line to fix the wreck he created and what he can’t fix.
You create the mess, you fix the mess.
Trump is trying to bait them in for ww3. He doesn’t benefit in any way from being humiliated. He needs WW3 so he can try to remain in power. Without power, hell spend the rest of his days in a cell.
What are basing that on, if Trump were removed tomorrow, who would be president, how do you see that playing out in your head? We’ll put in the side that refused to punish him and he is wealthy now due to raiding documents, he’ll unfortunately be fine at best he’ll been in cushy rich person jail, worst he’ll become a dictator.
Looks like a job for Charlie Kirk
Say what you will about carotid artery Charlie - but at the end, he leaned left
We are all Charlie Kirk!
Iran has given him a clear plan what should be done to open the strait. Trump could literally open it tomorrow if he wasn’t such an ass.
Forget about Trump. Europe must pursue a deal with Iran without the US.
That wouldn’t solve anything - Europe doesn’t actually get much oil through Hormuz, the issue is that the closure raises global oil prices regardless of where they come from. This isn’t a situation individual countries can carve out exceptions for themselves from - hence why the worst affected by this will be poor countries that had fuck all to do with Trump’s decision to fuck everyone over. And why America as a whole needs to start sorting its shit out for everyone’s sake and stop just telling the rest of the world to ignore Trump if he’s being a pain like he’s a doddery old relative and not the commander in chief of the most powerful military in the world.
Europe should get together with Russia and China to negotiate a peace deal. Russia could agree to store and process Iran’s enriched uranium, something which it has already suggested. The uranium could be given to Iran as needed for peaceful purposes. In return, Europe would end all sanctions. The strait of Hormuz would be opened as soon as the US and Israel stop bombing Iran. If Iran agrees to such a deal, Trump might be willing to follow since there would be no more uranium to bomb and Europe, Russia, and China have left him isolated.
Where would that leave Ukraine?
This is what Europe should propose to Putin. Russia will withdraw from all land it seized from Ukraine after the 2022 invasion. NATO would be dissolved and replaced with a European alliance. Ukraine and Canada would be permitted to join but not the US. All sanctions against Russia will be lifted. Russia will not be required to pay reparations. If Putin doesn’t accept the proposal, the UK and France would send troops to Ukraine.
US is still the biggest mercenary out there. Excluding it only guarantees it’s move to the other side.
What other side is there? If Europe, Russia, and China reach a deal with Iran, Trump would feel isolated if he doesn’t join. Also, what would be the purpose for him to continue fighting?
If Russia doesn’t reach a deal.
You’re talking about possible escalation in Ukraine and making further enemies, via USA exclusion. Not a great outcome.unless everyone goes along with it. Which they won’t.
What further enemies? Trump is already angry at NATO. Escalation might be necessary. Can Ukraine win a war of attrition against Russia with its greater manpower?
Trump is angry ar NATO? Let’s see how angry when they unilaterally try to undermine him and exclude him. He’s already been threatening Greenland. Do you think their new friend Russia will help?
They are treading a fine line of moving away from the USA without making it an enemy or breaking treaties.
Should we though?
Don’t get me wrong, America is absolutely fucked. They’re speed running the collapse of western civilisation.
But lets not forget that Iran are also just as shitty. I’d rather we (europe) at least tried to take the moral high ground.
The whole world ignoring Trump would be a moral high ground
We (Europeans) have absolutely no moral high ground to stand on, we colonized half the world, America acting this way is just because they learned it from watching us. I doubt they’ll be able to manage the decline of American empire with anywhere near the stability of the managed decline of the British empire, though…
At the end of the day, all states are shitty.
Basically Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan will need to cut deals with Iran and Russia. They will probably end up trading their gold for Chinese yuan to buy their natural gas and oil.
Don’t have to help Iran, just have to not hurt them. Iran would take a “don’t fuck with me, I don’t fuck with you” deal letting oil through to Europe in exchange for them stopping all cooperation with the US on this dumb war
That would be one of the few ways to stop Iran from blowing up Europe’s oil supply production in the gulf even if Trump escalates bombing.
As I understand it currently, the Straight of Hormuz is open for people not currently at war with Iran.
You can reach out to the IRGC, put in a request to traverse the Straight, validate that you are not currently an agent of a belligerent in their unlawful bombing and attempted occupation, and then receive a confirmation notice along with a bill for safe passage.
Iran Charges $1 Per Barrel Toll via Yuan, Stablecoins
Earlier, the Iranian parliament’s National Security Committee announced on the 30th of last month that it would legislate the strait passage fees. According to the details of the plan reported by Bloomberg, shipping operators wishing to navigate the strait must contact a brokerage company linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and submit details including the ship’s ownership structure, shipping documents, cargo manifest, destination, crew list, and automatic identification system (AIS) data.
The brokerage company forwards these documents to the Hormozgan Province Command of the Revolutionary Guard’s Navy, which then verifies whether the vessel has any connections to countries Iran considers hostile, such as Israel and the United States. Once this inspection is passed, toll negotiations begin. Iran has categorized countries into grades 1 through 5, with vessels from more friendly nations receiving more favorable terms.
The initial negotiation price is typically around 1 U.S. dollar per barrel, payable in Chinese yuan or stablecoins. Stablecoins are digital assets pegged 1:1 to the value of fiat currencies such as the U.S. dollar or Korean won. Given that a very large crude carrier typically carries 2 million barrels, the toll is expected to be set at a similar level to 2 million U.S. dollars (approximately 3 billion Korean won).
So it appears that Trump has gotten exactly what he set out to accomplish. Congratulations. Get that man on the deck of the Gerald R. Ford to celebrate.
Get that man on the deck of the Gerald R. Ford to celebrate.
That coward would never dare go within 100 miles of actual enemy drones or missiles.
And don’t call him Shirley!
