Well since Merkel left, Germany's been so shambolic and disorganized that they have no vision or ability to lead whatsoever. They've entirely ceded the field to France.
I mean we all know what's happening here, the Americans are buying time until they can transport a few more PATRIOT batteries over before they give the go-ahead for a strike. I think the Iranians know this as well, it's all just a farce.
Given the Swiss are by far the most incensed by the Americans in recent months, not surprising that they're amongst the first to realise that if you really wanna pivot away from the Americans, you need Russia on your side.
I hope the Iranian leadership follow through with this. The United States has shown time and time again it is not something to be negotiated with, and they will demand more and more until you're dead. The explicit goal this time is regime change, and all of Iran's Axis of Resistance has been pretty much dismantled. There's little left to lose.
EDIT: Looks like talks are back on, thanks @companero@hexbear.net for the update. Nuclear talks only in Oman, Iran got their way. Maybe Trump doesn't have the heart to actually do a strike knowing it could lead to a regional war the US can't just back out of. Who knows?
The talks will be held in Oman, as Iran insisted, despite the U.S. initially rejecting changes to the original plan to meet in Istanbul. The U.S. officials said the U.S. and Iran had initially agreed to hold talks in Istanbul on two tracks, 1. Direct U.S.-Iran talks on a nuclear deal and 2. Multilateral talks on issues like Iran's missile program, support for proxy groups, and human rights violations in the violent crackdown on protesters.
As of now, only bilateral talks on the nuclear issue are planned in Oman.
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To the surprise of absolutely nobody, the "negotiations" between the United States and Iran have apparently broken down, mostly because the United States wants Iran to stop pursuing their missile program and that's a massive red line for Iran, totally not up for discussion. As expected, looks likely the United States will instead strike Iran this weekend.
But the Iranians said on Tuesday that they wanted to move the talks to Oman and hold them in a bilateral format, in order to ensure that they focused only on nuclear issues and not other matters like missiles that are priorities for the U.S. and countries in the region. U.S. officials considered the request to change the location, but decided on Wednesday to reject it.
"We told them it is this or nothing, and they said, 'Ok, then nothing,'" a senior U.S. official said.
"In recent weeks, companies in the hi-tech sector have complained about delays in shipments from China of dual-use components. In all the checks we conducted with official bodies, it appears that there is no change in regulations, but rather enforcement that was not practiced in the past. Such technical requests create bureaucratic hurdles," a government official told Ynet.
"The Chinese are imposing a kind of sanction on us. They don't officially declare it, but they are delaying shipments to Israel," a senior figure in one of the factories told Ynet. "They have various excuses and pretexts, such as requiring suppliers from China to obtain export licenses to Israel that did not exist before. Additionally, they demand that we fill out numerous forms, causing significant delays. This has never happened to us before. We are talking about many different types of components. In electronic products, there are tens of thousands of components, but if even one component doesn't arrive, we cannot deliver the product."
Since the "war" in Gaza began, China hasn't "banned" any investment to Israel. Like the soft-ban on American rare earth metal exports, there's no "ban" at all. What happens is the proper forms to get the investment pushed through get "lost" or "delayed." Certain inconsistencies are pointed out. Replies from the proper authorities take months, etc etc. It's a plausible deniability ban.
U.S. Central Command says a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that was approaching the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea. In an emailed statement Tuesday, U.S. Central Command said the drone “aggressively approached” the aircraft carrier with “unclear intent” and it “continued to fly toward the ship despite de-escalatory measures taken by U.S. forces operating in international waters.” The U.S. military says the shootdown also occurred within hours of another incident in which Iranian forces harassed a U.S.-flagged and U.S. crewed merchant vessel that was sailing in the Strait of Hormuz.
Does this mean it's open season on an American drones in international waters near Iran as well? This could be nothing, but if the US is shooting down Iranian drones I don't see why Iran shouldn't do the same for American drones.
I'm not trying to downplay the agency of these monsters, just saying that they probably care way more about money than anything else and don't really have any sort of moral compass. I'm not saying they were "forced into it" or anything like that, just that they like money and don't care about the people around them because our society is so atomized. The real mystery here is why that supposedly doesn't fit into any liberal political theory?
I think this is more like Trump and the other higher ups have a personal militia that they trust more than the Secret Service. ICE are their guys, supplanting existing state institutions. Probably also a "Fuck You" though, Vance in particular really hates Europe.
I think gold and silver prices dropping has far more to do with Trump's pick for Fed chair, who is a "known quantity" and former Fed governor. Sure, he's the son in law of one of Trump's biggest donors but he's not nearly as crazy as some of his other potential picks. Hence the safe haven of gold isn't as needed, and the big drop. Granted gold is still up like 20% this year; we've returned to the low gold prices of early January with this "collapse."
Tea tourism in Yunnan province. Menghai（勐海）and Yiwu（易武）have phenomenal teas in particular. Although it's a bit early for the spring harvest, but you should see some tea leaves on branches and stuff and be able to drink so great stuff.
The Dark PLA only has until 2027 when Xi completes his Guan Yu Gundam and is able to liberate the Mao Gong ding currently stored in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, which will grant him youthful life for ten thousand years.
Well since Merkel left, Germany's been so shambolic and disorganized that they have no vision or ability to lead whatsoever. They've entirely ceded the field to France.