Tag Archives: General Qasem Soleimani

Roll the drums

That is the setting, but what of the drums? Are they peace drums, or are they war drums. That remains to be seen, as ABC gave us an hour ago ‘Iran war live updates: Iran says no final decision made as Trump claims ‘great settlement’ reached’ and it comes with the weirdest of settings. At present I take the word of Iran above that of the United States and as far as I can tell, this is the first time that this ever happens, but since the war began on February 28, the US president has claimed Iran was very close to making a deal at least 38 times and that story become stale very very quickly. But ABC gives us “Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said a final decision had yet not been made on a possible peace agreement with the US, according to state media.” In addition we get the umpteenth time that “Earlier Trump cancelled planned strikes on Iran citing “discussions and final points” with Iran, after threatening to hit the Islamic Republic “very hard”. ” It comes across like a broken record and After yesterdays story (a mere 20 hours ago) where I showed that I could have gotten results for less then $250M (a likely  exaggerated amount), but against the $26,000,000,000 that the United States used, I am doing fine and I gave the IP to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. So I also sound like a broken record, but it comes over like “What a savings you’ll make” and optionally with the least amount of casualties, so whilst CNN gives estimates us “Precision bombs, believed to be US-made, struck drinking water storage facilities in the Bemani district of southern Iran near the Strait of Hormuz. The attack destroyed vital water tanks, severing the drinking water supply for approximately 20,000 residents in the area”, I merely scuttled their harbours and railways. Seems like a simple equation and no pussyfooting. I am also setting a rather large stage towards downing all 10 refineries and that comes at the expense of DJI technology. I reckon that the Chinese have more advanced solutions, but I don’t have that kind of access. I can trot towards President Xi and ask his for the keys to the Chinese DARPA, but I might get a paid vacation in A prison called Ching Ching (presumed name) and that is not what I am hoping for in the twilight of my life. So, I have to get connect software makers with DJI drone technology. 

But it gave me a few options to consider, what can you get from a drone with C4 and drones armed with Claymores? It is merely the setting of accurate photo’s and one eager drone pilot who will get the connection of a dozen drones and that 10 times, or perhaps 10 drone operators all getting their target and all getting hit at the same time. I don’t think the second is really valid as the distances are too far set, but the intricacies that one drone could deliver a package and that package are the drones, whilst that other drone comes back (a General Atomics MQ-1 Predator) the package is deployed and when it strikes, the packaging is destroyed, to leave close to no evidence behind. Whilst the refinery gets shown its fireworks, we need to see that their could be done 10 times and whilst this comes at the same time that the Railways and harbours are hit, the IRGC has no clue where to look, because this might be a novel way to deploy Time on target (TOT) and it is not artillery that does it, but a Asymmetric warfare setting and Iran is not overwhelmed by technology, but by activities all at the same time. So whilst the IRGC is licking its wounds, it has to ascertain what was hit and how and now they have their own version of horror to look at. 

All this was available to President Trump from day one, so it could have ended in March, but here we are in June (12th) and still no resolution. For the most I do not care, but the attacks on Civilian targets in Saudi Arabia and the UAE got my irritation up and now I am getting into the mindset of the destruction of Iran, they were always evil, but the attacks on civilian targets was one step too many. And there is no proxy wart here, as such I wonder what General Qasem Soleimani would have thought of its own Iran doing something like this, because as I see it, there is no way out of this and at present it is only facing the United States and Israel, but when the gulf states unite, it will end rather quickly for Iran, but that is the steps they took.

So, whilst I was looking at the Persian Gulf Star Oil Company, which is supposed to be open for business 24 hours a day, the idea that a new gas condensate refinery being developed near Bandar Abbas, Iran and it becomes inoperative whilst it gives way to a processing capacity of roughly 360,000 barrels of gas condensate. And I say there is nothing like a fire that is fueling itself and gas condensate is extremely flammable, making a dozen drones an optional fire hazard all over the place. The weird part is that I can see this, so why didn’t the United States? Don’t they have this boffin collector (named DARPA) I can see a few easy settings from an approach towards a simple placement of C4 and Claymore variants on key points at that place the stage is not as simple as blowing up the storage places, but this is a place where we could optionally insert one drone that is the hacking tool for remote access and the others do their ‘boom boom bye bye’ routine. Now, I am not saying it is this easy, but as I see it, these places have thwarted safety regulations for years and that is the entry point to a lot of this, so whilst we might see all kinds of long term options, there is a lot I don’t know (never had to anyway).

So whist we see exhausts, I wonder as these were designed before drones were a thing, what happens when you get a drone to do its kamikaze thing into the exhaust and blow up what can be blown up? And whilst we see pipes, the question becomes, what was in there? Consider a drone with a C4 brick, right on top of several lines, would that do the trick? And don’t forget that all these 360,000 barrels of gas condensate a day goes through pipelines before it gets to the storage (which is likely a lot more protected), but these pipes still could blow up and release all that condensate in the air and area where they can burn for as much as it likes. Burning their 360,000 barrels of gas condensate a day in mere hours. And whilst we think that blowing it all up is required, these storage tanks might be susceptible to acidic solutions a lot more easily, because that is not likely to have been a protection setting for the PGSOC and that is all required reading before you waste $26,000,000,000 on blowing something up to the stone age. A bomb run might cost the US a B-2 stealth bombers, each valued at approximately $2.1bn, whilst a DJI drone is $5000 (at the most) and equipping it with Aqua Regia and from that on storage containers, the best setting is to set to the middle side of these storage containers and if a leak is created, set it aflame that the gas will do the rest. The middle side is essential not to get spotted by some eager beaver walking past and when that is done to a few containers, the additional brick that the drone has can finish the rest off. 

I have no idea what Aqua Regia costs, but I am willing to be it is at most a few thousand dollars, making the $2.1Bn a joke to say the least. So whilst we look into hobbling Iran, we need to see what was open and that is where the stage of ‘so called’ delay tactics don’t hold water. We have seen too much of that and it is time to show Saudi Arabia and the UAE (and others) that we take these attacks on them seriously. And that was merely one refinery and when you consider that others are optionally a lot easier to hit, the stage evolves from ‘Iran says no decision on peace deal’ into ‘Iran says a decision on peace deal becomes essential’ and that is where we were supposed to be heading in the first place, I merely got there within a week, whilst President Trump made 38 claims in 3 months and no results. So I reckon I am ahead of the pack for a while.

Some will claim that my solution is no solution and that that damage can be repaired. I do not think it is that easy. That refinery will be closed for some time (especially if the storage tanks are hit) but they are correct, the damage can be repaired, what was my setting is that whatever is stored is burned and that is direct loss and 10 times this makes for a pauper Iran and not a dollar (or Yuan) in sight. So whilst some will see that the damage can be repaired, having to do so a few tines makes for tremendous losses for Iran, not to mention that these repairs can only start when the fires are stopped and that is likely to be the larger problem for Iran, we saw some of that in Hellfighters (1968) with John Wayne and Jim Hutton (Ellery Queen) where fires are hard to stop when hot metal is involved and all these pipes will get pretty hot in seconds. As such several avenues towards scuttling the Iranian economy is open for consideration, should my IP be used for stopping the harbors and railways, the damage merely increases, because it stops aid coming to these places as well.

Well that is my few cents on the setting. I reckon that we are likely to see a few more days of ‘no decision on peace deal’ before President Trump finally has been played the fool enough times to take another job at Iran, in the mean time I will look into the equipment National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), Iranian Offshore Oil Company (IOOC), Iranian Central Oilfields Company (ICOFC) and National Iranian Oil Refining and Distribution Company (NIORDC) have and how we can make their incomes scuttle towards zero. That should attend Iran to a quick resolution towards ending their attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but then I might be overly optimistic on all things and on the other side, I have been accused towards oversimplifying problems wherever I saw them. 

So whilst some roll their drums, I have always been a supporter of the drums of resolution, because that is where we see real progress and whenever others hear those drums, the tend not to have too much to offer in return. So yes, I tend to oversimplify things at times.

Have a great day, It is almost Friday lunch time for me.

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The Iranian escalation

We know that their nuclear accord is not worth the paper it got printed on. We also know that the involvement in Yemen is a lot larger than anyone has been able to illuminate on (especially the media). Yet the cupcake of the day goes to the Times of Israel (not the most neutral party in all this). they gave us mere hours ago ‘We bought spares for nuke equipment we agreed to destroy‘ (at https://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-nuclear-chief-we-bought-spares-for-nuke-equipment-we-agreed-to-destroy/). It is ‘supported’ with the by-line Ali Akbar Salehi says supreme leader was convinced West would renege on 2015 pact, so replacement tubes for nuclear reactor were secretly purchased‘. We get this part, whilst a mere 4 days ago the Financial Times give us: ‘EU seeks to keep Iran nuclear deal alive despite US pressure‘, a policy state of mind that I called reckless and not too bright close to 5 months ago. So now we see that not only did Iran have no intention to keep its word, it is actively setting the stage of being a danger to a lot more than merely Israel. Has anyone considered the dangers when one of the warheads goes missing, gets an added dirty load and both elements miraculously in the hands of Hezbollah?

This is not a fictive danger!

Consider the following ‘facts’:

  • Article 151 of the Constitution obliges the government to “provide a program of military training, with all requisite facilities, for all its citizens, in accordance with the Islamic criteria, in such a way that all citizens will always be able to engage in the armed defense of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
  • General Qasem Soleimani is in charge of the IRGC army, his direct inner core has direct control of the Basij and they protect and reinforce several locations where nuclear materials can be found. In addition there have been several pieces of evidence that the support of Hezbollah by the IRGC goes beyond simple funds and hardware, hence the danger I am illuminating is not the weirdest one, or the least likely one.

So when the Financial Times gives us: “We need to accept that the [nuclear deal] is important and it has been a signal achievement“, we also need to consider that this is merely what Iran wants you to think. It is a stage that is too dangerous for some ‘peace for our time‘ moment as the UK thought to have in 1939, it did not end well then and it will equally not end well this time either. The trouble here is not merely what is in store for Israel, the defeat that they currently face opposing Saudi Arabia in Yemen (via Hezbollah), it also implies that there is every indication that proxy strikes against Saudi Arabia are not out of the question. I am not talking about the two fired on Saudi Arabia 4 days ago (source: Al-Masdar Al-‘Arabi). The quote “According to the official media wing of the Houthi forces, their rocket battalion fired two Badr-1 ballistic missiles towards the Asir and Jizan provinces of southern Saudi Arabia. The Houthi forces said that one of their ballistic missiles managed to hit a Saudi military gathering near the Yemeni border with the Jizan province.” gives is that Houthi forces are upping the game. Whether Hezbollah is directly involved is unknown at present, yet the danger is that Hezbollah makes for a decent Iranian mule and as such a dirty payload is not out of the question at present. The part that none are giving is that both the Asir and Jizan areas are predominantly civilian and that with the lousy aiming abilities of both Houthi and Hezbollah forces we can speculate that the only way for these two to hit a military target was done by aiming for civilian targets. No matter how it turns out, Houthi (and optionally Hezbollah) forces are waging war on Saudi civilians which is a big no-no and as the Western media stays out of it (to a larger degree) the Saudi coalition will be forced to strike hard and harsh against the enemies of Saudi Arabia. The important part here is that this is no longer merely Yemen, at some point in the near future a meeting and decision will be made to actively engage Iran and that is when all bets are off for Tehran. the evidence shown in regards to the Nuclear deal as well as their involvement in Yemen, we see that both the EU and the US have no other option but to stand by Saudi Arabia in all this, decency would demand it from them and by not doing so, we will see a very different stage and Russia is only one step away from enabling themselves into a political stage of becoming best friends with Saudi Arabia. So as we saw three days ago the statement “Iran has not been invited to a global conference on the Middle East in Warsaw next month and Russia has declined the invitation“. The question in my mind becomes, is that truly the reason for declining, or is Russia playing a larger game? I will emphasize at this point that this is pure speculation from my side, yet if there is chance to get a much closer relationship with Saudi Arabia and get that achieved by ‘seemingly remaining friendly with Iran‘, we see a Russia that has plenty to win with this path. Unlocking the ties between Saudi Arabia and the USA would be one of the greatest wins of the decade for Russia and that danger should not be underestimated.

In the end Saudi Arabia and the Saudi coalition needs to do what is best for them and the events of the last two years give rise to the stage that America has merely been thinking of their own needs in the last 3 years and most allies have had enough of that.

What will happen in the end is not to clear, not whilst there are gaps in either path of allies and whilst Russia is playing its own cards close to their chest, the Americans have been too clumsy for close to two years. The Khashoggi and Yemeni events have clearly shown that part. The media gives us even more when we consider Al Arabiya. There we see: ‘Orchestrated media, political campaign to damage Saudi-US ties, says analyst‘. The quote “I strongly believe that Qatar, Turkey, and certain Muslim Brotherhood proxies in the West are involved in funding a media campaign and political operations to discredit Saudi reforms and the government in general” by Irina Tsukerman (at http://english.alarabiya.net/en/features/2019/01/10/Orchestrated-media-political-campaign-to-damage-Saudi-US-ties-says-analyst.html) is as I personally see it incomplete. She is looking at one part, but there is a second stage. Not unlike the UK actions in the 70’s against the Cairo-Tel Aviv attempts for a peace, we see another stage here too. You see, the events from Saudi Arabia regarding Neom City have been so overwhelmingly progressive that larger US industrials are now worried, they cannot live with the fact that they are soon to be less impressive than the Saudi advances in 5G, it goes further, large players like AT&T are now openly deceiving the people with their 5G Evolution, a product that has been heralded all over the media as a fake product. The Register, USA Today, Android Police, TechCrunch and many others are seeing this as deception. The idea that Saudi Arabia beat them to the punch was too unacceptable to these people. They are increasingly worried that every win towards Neom City will be regarded as a loss towards their own economy, which is the America the allies of America face. It also fuels the entire recession mess that is upcoming, merely because corporations can fund one place and whatever goes towards Saudi Arabia is not going towards other places and in all this, the UAE will benefit to some degree as well. As Saudi Arabia is facing down it’s not so hidden enemy Iran, Saudi Arabia will face opportunities as well as challenges and its allied neighbours will have positive waves of economy going their ways too.

Yet before there can be a positive outlook on it all, the global players will have little choice but to put down Hezbollah as soon as possible. No matter how they try to commit to peace, there is enough evidence that Hezbollah is still committed in wars against Israel and Saudi Arabia. Even as we see “Tens of millions of Iranian dollars have gone to Yemen“, we see that this image is also incomplete. That part is seen when we consider the BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-46958455). When we consider the fact that ‘Pro-government forces removed 300,000 landmines laid by the Houthis between 2016 and 2018‘, the numbers do not add up. the value of the mines, the time required to place them as well as the manpower required to place them we get the clearer picture that the entire funding goes well beyond ‘Tens of millions of Iranian dollars‘. That part as well as the missile costs, the Hezbollah support and other goods imply a financial support that implies close to 1000% of the support that is claimed by some. The found number of mines implies that Yemen required placing 200+ mines a day every day. That require a much larger workforce and support engine (including some form of logistics and communication) than anyone could possible consider. That requires no less than two regiments placing mines 24:7. That is the number that does not make sense in all this and Yemen is not known for soft sands, there are plenty of rocky surfaces to content with. The numbers do not add up and it seems to me that the media has been ignoring those facts to a larger degree, making the Iranian involvement a lot larger than anyone expected, which also implies that the commitment by Hezbollah was a lot larger making them a more essential enemy to get rid of and that part is not limited to Israel and Saudi Arabia. Europe and America have every interest in dealing with Hezbollah with extreme prejudice. Well, that is if they ever want to see true peaceful balance in the Middle East, because with Hezbollah (and Hamas) that will never happen.

In all this Iran has been the catalyst to escalation and it is high time that the global media is taking a very serious look and openly reports on the actions that Iran has been an active participant in, do you not think so?

 

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