Tag Archives: Middle East

What we think we know

That what we think we know is a dangerous setting. We can know things on presumption and that is fine. How will anyone react tends to be also in the cards. But to sell the pelt of any animal before you make good on the kill is very dangerous. The idea that allies are bound into a sense of understanding is one thing. But tell me this, how is this set into reality?

So how is “We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won! President DONALD J. TRUMP” realistic? Is there a win? Was there a war? You see the United States of America never declared war on anyone and that will haunt President Trump long after he is taken out of office. You see, America is now playing a very dangerous game. Not only is his economy (basically) tanking, but at present he has no allies left. Then ABC gives us “As of March 2026, Saudi Arabia, along with other Gulf states, is reportedly reviewing its international financial commitments, including potential reductions in U.S. investments. Driven by budget pressures, lower energy revenues, and regional tensions, this shift is considered a precautionary strategy rather than an immediate, full withdrawal.” Some make claim that this is around 5 trillion dollars (aka $5,000,000,000,000) and in light of the debt they already have (As of March 5, 2026, the total U.S. national debt is approximately $38,870,000,000,000 trillion) so the United States of America is in a bundle and I reckon that they want to reduce Iran into a cinder so that they can claim the oil, they won’t make that claim, they merely buy all the oil at a speculative $0.50 per barrel). But that is merely my speculative view. The AFR, or Australian Financial Review (at https://www.afr.com/world/middle-east/trump-s-war-on-iran-is-a-long-way-from-won-20260304-p5o7hu) gives us ‘Trump’s war on Iran is a long way from won’ where we see “As the second week of “Operation Epic Fury” rumbles on, the duration of the widening conflict across the Middle East and its impact on the global economy and Australia remain uncertain. US-Israeli air strikes have succeeded in decapitating Iran’s high command and degrading its military and naval capacity. Yet, like the hydra regenerating after the head is cut off, there is no certainty the regime has been defeated after the son of the assassinated supreme leader Ali Khamenei was appointed his successor.” (The rest is behind a paywall). But I had my own version of systems and I have gifted all my military IP to both the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Iran needs to be defeated as it attacked the gulf states. And as my IP destroys their harbors and railway lines. Iran will have serious problems with their infrastructure soon enough. I wrote about this in the last few days. 

I think that if they are willing to attack civilian targets, then I can send my IP to them to aid them in their fight against Iran and the setting that Saudi Arabia has been under attack by Iran in proxy warfare makes the decision easier. I might not make any money, but at least it will serve a greater purpose and that is fine with me. 

And now as Mojtaba Khamenei is selected as the new supreme leader there is every chance that both Israel and the United States of America will face more weeks of warfare. Is there a chance it will be over soon? It is not impossible but only if Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj and Tabriz are totally reduced to rubble and in the meantime the press (always eager to make digital dollars) are watching every bomb that falls. Only in the first week were we given ‘US investigators believe strike on Iranian girls’ school probably carried out by US forces’ (at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/06/us-investigators-believe-strike-on-iranian-girls-school-likely-carried-out-by-us-forces) and now we hear rumors (unconfirmed facts) that the schools was accidentally targeted twice. So they screwed up twice and now they need to make a victory, but what will it take? More important, does the United States of America have the cash to set this war into reality? And there are several other facts that are in doubt. I reckon that if the gulf states remove their 5 trillion, life in the United States will become really hard soon enough, and the setting to piss of Sir Keir Rodney Starmer and the British people is about to have a considerable price tag. Didn’t anyone tell this president the story that you cannot sell the hide of an animal before you kill it? It is a simple question really.

So have a great day and enjoy the sunshine (if there is any).

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Ones creative process

That tends to happen, someone has an idea and then the issue becomes on how to propagate it. It tends to become about propagation and that is where I am. You see, I have always known that Iran is the big evil (not just me) and I created IP from 2015 onwards to thwart that evil. I create an idea for their nuclear reactors to ‘nullify’ themselves, not in the way of Chernobyl mind you, I am (at times) evil, but I do not consider myself an utter bastard and creating a new Chernobyl is purely evil. But as I see other means to get something happen, I also see the delight that Nuclear physicists are as lazy as IT workers, as such they copy each others work and they tend to now overly think themselves, or at least that is my impression and it is not foolproof, I need a nuclear reactor to test my hypothesis on and these things don’t come with a packet of butter. But back to the issue at hand. We are all seeing the issues in the Strait of Hormuz and that made me think of another ploy. I created a device that could make some of these ports obsolete and the first place I thought of was to block the ports of Bandar Abbas, Haqani port, Port of Shahid Rajaee and Zakeri port. 

When you take out the ability of a port that deals with 85% of containers. It is nice to have the ability to deal with 80 million tons of cargo, but if ships are stopped from getting near those cranes, it kinda stops (and right quick). It changes the dynamics off these places and they are dependent on these ports, take them out of the equation and there should be a clear message that if you mess with the UAE, there are consequences. The UAE president, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said a mere 12 hours ago ‘We are now in a time of war’ and I am not there to ‘make a profit’ I will almost casually give them my IP and if it works they have a new weapon against Iran. On the upside, places like DARPA are then less eagerly ready to ridicule my ideas and I will have done my bit for peace and prosperity. And I am willing to take a sliver of the profits they make from this new weapon (I am not greedy and also not stupid). 

I hinted at this solution yesterday and I am a sucker of my own word. I reckon that when these ports become inoperative, a lot of operational settings for Iran fall away as well. There are ways to deal with the airports as well, but that IP is even less complete than some other and it has not been tested. I am also unaware how Iran coats its airfields, so that IP might have a few hiccups. I did not go after water treatment plants, for the mere setting that this will hurt the population of Iran too much and there is a fair bit that has nothing to say in the violent nature of the Iranian government, as such The airstrip solution could be used to deal the 23.5-kilometer internal railway network that the Port of Shahid Rajaee has and that merely slows everything down even more. And that too is a reengineered IP, this one comes from WW2. One has to love the old classics and the benefit of a sneaky mindset. When the rails become ‘slightly’ to weak to give support to a locomotive, that track becomes unusable for days if not weeks and with the harbour out of commission, the manpower needed to get it operational again will extensively hurt their bottom line. This solution could also harm the Iranian Navy ports, but these ships are not easy and more testing of my solution would be required. 

So even if I am bonkers (some say I am), I will come to the aid of the attacked and Iran is clearly attacking the UAE with 1305 drones, 221 ballistic missiles and 8 cruise missiles. So whilst others are thinking on what to do, I created solutions (in my mind) and I hope that they could be useful) and the fact that I am willing to hand these over to the UAE shows that I have no ‘ulterior’ motive. We are all hopeful, but in this first instance I want Iran to be destroyed as I would like to visit Abu Dhabi (Yas Island is particular) in my lifetime, preferably before it is seriously impacted by Iran.

So whilst some are shouting on matters, consider becoming creative and aiding the UAE against the Iranian oppressors. The fake message that Iran will not attack anymore unless they are attacked is now spilled milk, again and again they attacked and the attack on Dubai airport shows they are going after civilian targets and they should’t be given any mercy. The UAE never attacked Iran and it didn’t allow the United States of America to attack from their bases in the UAE, the same can be said for Saudi Arabia and here I have another solution. China gave me that idea and as Iran attacked Aramco, the IP to attack Isfahan Oil Refinery, Pars Oil Refinery, Tehran Oil Refinery, Persian Gulf Star Oil Company and the Iran Ertebat Oil refining Company there is reason for that, these refinery are out of the focal points and hurting them will distract the Iranian Army to cluster all over Iran making them less useful (and we so like less useful). The damage to their economy and infrastructure will (as I personally see it) be massive. 

And if these places are too damaged to create revenue, the Iranian war engine fails (or better stated stalls when that was never an option) the idea is to keep the UAE and Saudi Arabia safe from Iran and that will do this as I personally see it. 

The setting of a multifaceted attack setting appeals to me for several reasons. They will have to keep their drones now ready to optionally stop attacks.

So for the Emiratis who are piqued with this I also offer the navy solution as I wrote it in 2019 ‘The impact of insanity’ on January 19th 2019 (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2019/01/20/the-impact-of-insanity/) to gives most of the settings and you might want to try this stage, consider it ‘stealthily’ added to the hull of an incoming (or outgoing) ship, there is one thing I am not certain of. The time it takes to get the boat to sink. But if it is in the mouth of a breakwater, the harbour becomes null and void for as long as the wreck is there. You can do this on naval vessels too, but I reckon that it will take a lot longer, better to sink them at their berth and make the harbour less available for the longest of times. And there is the mental agony of Iran having to carve up its own frigates to get the harbour open again (yes, I am a new sort of evil).

And I am handing the UAE this, so that they know that they have friends in far places too. I am just that sort of a guy. Should it be a success I will happily take 10% of them selling this solution, so now I am going to brood on the use of sticky bombs on drones to take out railway systems. They have more than the 23.k kilometer in the Port of Shahid Rajaee. Iran has 12,998 kilometer of railways. Wouldn’t it be fitting to introduce 1305 places of rupture? Especially around refineries, all those tank cars and no place to go after they are hit. What a lovely feeling this is.

Well, it was a nice day, tomorrow more agony as my new TV doesn’t arrive until Tuesday. Poor Aloy had to survive on my PS5 all alone. Life isn’t fair at times. So, you all have a good day. Time to consider more ways to harm Iran.

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How some see this

That happens, not everyone sees things like me and that is OK. It is the setting of freedom of perspective and as we see that this is not a mere 1-2 people, but a multitude of people, we get a setting where a dozen people give an average view to the settings in the world. Still, some are not on the field and I was introduced to this yesterday (or is that mere hours ago). I saw Arab News giving us ‘UAE, Qatar reject Bloomberg reports on defense capabilities’ and as Bloomberg is behind a paywall, I cannot say what they give us. Yet we see “The UAE and Qatar have rejected Bloomberg’s reporting on their defensive capabilities, describing the claims as inaccurate and misleading. In a statement, the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the report did not reflect the country’s level of preparedness, technological sophistication or operational readiness. It said the UAE operates diverse, integrated and multi-layered air defense systems capable of countering a full spectrum of aerial threats, including long, medium and short-range systems that provide comprehensive protection of national airspace.” And in this I offer 

Consider that Iran fired 1184 drones into the UAE, this costs Iran on average $29,600,000. The prices of a Shahed drone is set between $20K and $50K, so I set the value at $25K, the UAE caught over 93% before they could do any damage. And as we ‘trust’ some influencers with:

There is a problem with the way that the news is given in regard to the settings of this one sided war against the UAE, as the UAE is still in a stage where there should be talks, Iran keeps on attacking it without provocation. More in later news. 

As I see it, the setting for my idea given (at https://lawlordtobe.com/2026/02/01/sinking-a-dilemma/) called ‘Sinking a dilemma’ is now gaining speed as Iran is closing of the Strait of Hormuz. It seems that my canal is averting that danger and avoiding the strength Iran has in the strait and from there we see the Iranian setting to be diminishing sooner than snow melting in a volcano. Although the canal is not built yet, I have no doubt that it would push UAE economic benefits stronger and larger. 

And the UAE is not alone, Iran has made unprovoked attacks on Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Iraq and the world is not asking why these holy nations were attacked. As far as I can see, the only ‘valid’ targets for Iran at present are the United States of America and Israel. We could also project that American targets in the gulf states are not valid as these gulf nations have not given the USA any clearance to attack Iran from these bases. 

Some will see this different as Iran is the head of the Axis of evil, but there was never a formal declaration of war, making this a debatable issue and as I see it, the United Nations is not calling back the USA (or Israel) and that might be the weirdest part yet.

So at present, I cannot see how the Bloomberg report would have anything negative to add to this, In America they were unable to stop 3 passenger flights from hitting New York and Washington DC. As such 3 versus 1397 is a very different setting and speculative as I see it Bloomberg needs to apologise to both Qatar and the UAE, but that would merely be me. So as we contemplate the level of preparedness and technological sophistication of the UAE, it is seemingly top notch.

Have a great day and if you are in the Dubai Mall enjoy a lovely coffee, or perhaps a Street ice cream. It apparently is warm enough to enjoy some ice cream. It will be nice and sunny there in less than 12 hours. 

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Can we say Ole?

This is a setting that remains to be seen. Not from my side. I am fine with it and there are a few reasons for that. But it all started with a few news casts were we see (at https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/3/spain-baulks-at-trumps-threat-to-cut-off-all-trade-over-nato-iran-stance) the Al Jazeera setting. The title ‘Spain baulks at Trump’s threat to cut off all trade over NATO, Iran stance’ and it comes with “Spain has said the US should be mindful of international law and bilateral trade agreements with the European Union, after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut off all trade with the country for refusing to let the US military use its bases for missions linked to strikes on Iran.” And it is a simple setting and in this I stand with Spain. No formal declaration of war exists between a NATO ally (or NATO) and Iran as such there are issues with international law and simply put, it makes the United States of America the aggressor (together with Israel). I am not against these hits, but that is me, a person, an individual that does not matter, an individual that has no bearing on international law. So for the Bully named Shit (or was it bullshit named something) to set the premise of what some describe as “US President Donald Trump has threatened to cut trade with Spain over the ban on using their military bases during the Iran war.” And this act will bite back. Of that I have no doubt. You see America was never directly attacked, this is the ‘benefit’ of a proxy war. Don’t get me wrong. What was done had to be done and it had to be done a lot sooner than now. We might notice it not that Iran is attacking Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia all in one setting. But it started that the United States and Israel decided to preemptively strike against Iran. There was never a formal declaration of war, as such there are all kinds of labels we can throw at this, but in international law the NATO partners are playing a dangerous game. Iran now has (to some extent) international law in its side. And bullying Spain with trade sanctions because Spain will not allow attacks on Iran from base activity in Spain is understandable. Al Jazeera also gives us “On Tuesday, before a meeting with German Chancellor Frederich Merz, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in Washington, DC, that “Spain has been terrible” for not allowing the US to use its bases. He said that he had told his secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, to “cut off all dealings” with Spain. “We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain,” the US president said.” It seems nice, but President Trump might want to talk to congress, he avoided them in the past and now that he is attacking Iran without a formal declaration of war there might be legal sides to all this. As such, how are the facilities in Germany used? Can we get a run down on them? What about the logistical sides? What is run from Italy or the UK? What are the settings there? I got word that the UK is allowing the attacks on Iran, but hat about the other bases? There is no clear indications of who is allowed and who is not. It seems like merely Spain does not and I see their problem. There is no declaration of war, USA is merely bombing Iran. And what evidence is there? We are merely given ““It was my opinion that they were going to attack first,” the president said. And with that, the botched rollout of the Trump administration’s case for war enters yet another chapter.” What evidence is there? Iran attacked with “The UAE’s ministry of defence said that 165 ballistic missiles, two cruise missiles and 541 drones had been launched from Iran towards the country so far. Three people have been killed and 58 injured, the authorities said.” (Source: the independent) Between Iran and the UAE is a little river called the Persian golf (I believe that is Iranian propaganda, I personally believe the its real name is the straight of Dammam), so if you consider this, how successful would any attack on the USA be? I get that Israel would strike against Iran and the need to strike Iran is there, but the United States of America should have given a declaration of war with the approval of Congress. As stated (in senate.gov) we see “The Constitution grants Congress the sole power to declare war. Congress has declared war on 11 occasions, including its first declaration of war with Great Britain in 1812. Congress approved its last formal declaration of war during World War II. Since that time it has agreed to resolutions authorizing the use of military force and continues to shape U.S. military policy through appropriations and oversight.” As far asI can see, President Trump did not do this and did not let Congress proclaim a war. Now they are in it and likely it comes now, but that also gives other players a disastrous setting on international law as after all what Iran has done, there is every chance that the United States of America is seen as the aggressor in this. So what was this about? Iranian oil? Your guess is as good as mine, because things were done out of synch as the IT term goes. 

So, is ‘Ole’ the proper term here? If so, it will be up to Spain to shout that word but the setting is a lot more complex that most of us can see and as I see it Saudi Arabia has a first strike option as it has under proxy war attack by Iran for at least two years now by Houthi terrorists (using Iranian equipment to attack Saudi Arabia). 

So what comes next? That is the question, but this setting has every chance of escalating at present. The question becomes how many attacks will Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar endure over the next week. We will see what comes next and I do not think we have to wait long.

Have a great (and peaceful) day.

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As I say it is

That is the setting now, I am making assumptions and I prefer to call them prepositions. I know that I might be wrong, but in this day and age, the stories we were told bring across the pictures we are set in and today the stories come from the Khaleej Times. The first one (at https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/uae-president-advisor-anwar-gargash-regional-tensions) where we see ‘‘Your war is not with neighbours’: UAE diplomat calls on Iran to act responsibly’ and I agree with Anwar Gargash, Diplomatic Advisor to the UAE President. He gives us ““The Iranian aggression against the Gulf states has miscalculated and isolated Iran at a critical juncture. Your war is not with neighbours, and this escalation only confirms the narrative of those who see Iran as the primary source of danger in the region, and its missile program as a constant source of instability. “Return to reason, to your surroundings, and deal with your neighbours rationally and responsibly before the circle of isolation and escalation widens,” he added.” For part I completely agree with him, the part of me that does not is seeing the panic rising in Iran and now that Ali Khamenei has been proclaimed dead I fear that the panic will merely increase. 

So, how am I getting to the conclusion? For that we need the second article of the Khaleeh Times which we see (at https://www.khaleejtimes.com/uae/emergencies/killed-injured-uae-intercept-iranian-ballistic-missiles-drones) where we see ‘3 killed, 58 injured as UAE intercepts 165 ballistic missiles, 541 Iranian drones’ I likely could do more damage with one drone in Dubai as we see that Iran fired 165 missiles and 541 drones. The equation is severely out of balance, it feels like desperation and when a nation like Iran is desperate with the only friendly nation is likely to be Russia, as such I see that the desperation might lead the ones who are now in charge into a more desperate situation and that never ends well. 

So, we are given “Since Saturday, February 28, a total of 165 ballistic missiles launched from Iran toward the UAE have been detected. Of these, 152 were destroyed, while 13 fell into the sea. Two cruise missiles were detected and destroyed. Additionally, 541 Iranian drones were detected; 506 were intercepted and destroyed, while 35 reached UAE territory, causing material damage.” It shows me that the Iranian is massively inaccurate. You see, these nations are on par with each other Saudi Arabia, UAE and Iran will have similar abilities, so to see Iran to fail to such an extent merely shows me that their abilities are failing and against both Israel and the United States they have zero chance of getting out of this. I don’t feel sorry for them, they did this to themselves, but to see a nation like Iran get lost in the weeds to this degree is more then slightly unsettling. As I said, they did this to themselves, but to see any nation to be this close to the edge of an abyss at a point whilst the other nations are seemingly unaware of how close to the edge they are is at least unsettling. 

Am I right? Am I wrong? I can leave it up to you to decide, have a great day today.

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Desperation is their middle name

There is  setting I was confronted with this morning. At first I wouldn’t believe it, but as the evidence came in over YouTube (via a massive amount of sources) I had to admit that Iran should now be known as the Desperate Islamic Republic of Iran. The fact that Iran is slamming Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and a few other places (also in Saudi Arabia). It shows that Iran is now desperate. Don’t get me wrong, they are also hitting US base locations, which makes sense, but the locations in the UAE in Abu Dhabi and Dubai do not (except for a Trump location hit). So the BBC gives us (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c204px4zddro) ‘Luxury Dubai hotel hit as Iran launches retaliatory strikes across region’ where we see “A luxury hotel in Dubai was hit as Iran launched strikes across the region in retaliation for a “massive” and ongoing attack against it by the US and Israel. Video verified by the BBC shows a fire raging at Fairmont The Palm Hotel on Saturday in the United Arab Emirates’ largest city. Thick black smoke rises into the sky.

Local officials also said four people were injured in a blaze at a building in the Palm Jumeirah area. They gave no further details.” I (to some extent) know that area and as far as I can tell there are no military targeting in, around or near the Palm Jumeirah area. This shows the desperation of Iran, like a toddler thinking that if they hit the nations around them, the others will scream at America and Israel. As I stated mere desperation. And as we are given “Iranian media earlier said that it had launched an attack on Dubai, although it is not clear what they are targeting. A British woman told the BBC that she was at the Dubai Marina, just off Jumeirah Beach, when the strikes hit on Saturday. She heard a “loud bang” and saw a “big puff of black smoke” before a “flurry of missiles were intercepted” above her for around five minutes.” To be honest, there is nothing military in Dubai to be targeting. The Port of Jebel Ali is likely to be used a a naval resupply point, but it is over 5km away from Palm Jumeirah. So this calls in the question on how accurate are these missiles to being with and the Shahed drones are ‘piloted’ which merely supports the desperation of Iran. 

So then we get to the second article, also from the BBC (at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn0z9012291o) there we see ‘Bowen: A dangerous moment, but US and Israel see opportunity not to be missed’ where we see “It will have become even more so after US President Donald Trump said that Iran’s long-time Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed on day one of the US-Israeli air strikes. His death was later confirmed on Iranian state TV.” In addition we are given “Israel and the United States have calculated that the Islamic regime in Iran is vulnerable – dealing with a severe economic crisis, the fallout from the brutal crackdown on protesters at the start of the year and with defences still badly damaged by last summer’s war. Their conclusion seems to have been that this was an opportunity that should not be squandered.” All that makes sense to me and as I see the Iranian regime as utterly evil. I am not willing to give them an inch on the some bleeding heart setting, especially as they are launching drones and missiles on population area’s. Not merely American, but an Islamic nation. As I see it, all nations need to rescind their pleads for Iran. I would like to add that they targeted places in Saudi Arabia as well, but I do not know where these attacks took place at present, the News outlets were focussed on the attacks on Dubai and Doha. 

No matter how you slice it, as I see it, Iran is pretty desperate at present and it will get worse as the Islamic nations will let them rot by themselves. As far as I can see it Amy nation that was attacked with drones and missiles is not that eager to give financial support, but that might merely be me.

Have a great day

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Repetition to be

This is what happens, I was rereading my last article (read: blog) and I noticed a few things. I stand by my word, but it could have been said more clearly and as I saw another piece of evidence, I thought it was important to add this to the ‘current’ (as in previous) article. I like clarity although plenty of people have an issue with the ways I write and it should be said that I don’t write for the masses. It just isn’t me and I am not here to win hearts, I leave that to the George Clooneys out there. 

There is still a abundance of speculation, although I have been in IT for over half a century, as such I can rely on presumption. And as the events are coming to pass, we are seeing elements. I personally think the Microsoft is not in a good place, although that part is speculative. You see no matter what OpenAI does, it will fail and it is running out of time. No, this setting comes before that. The EU is largely rejecting Microsoft and what they bring. In Germany at present 30,000 employees are switching from Microsoft to solutions like LibreOffice and Open Xchange. Denmark is switching more profound to similar solutions and France is shifting 500,000 workstations to open source software, equally schools and public sources are making equal changes. Then we get Italy who is switching 150,000 PC’s towards open-source platforms, Austria is already making the shift, at present if armed forces have shifted to open-source. The EU in general: Due to GDPR, European regulators have challenged the use of Microsoft cloud services over data transfers to the US. 

So as we see at present what some say will happen when President Trump switches the ‘internet’ to OFF and there is more happening and some presented stages are ahead by a decent amount. This implies that a large amount of up to 450,000,000 accounts are switching (I am assuming here the nearly all Europeans have some sort of Microsoft account). Just as they are deeper into the ‘fake’ AI setting and with the GDPR in place they cannot copy what is not in ‘their’ cloud. It is happening now, so don’t take notice of the doom speakers. 
Microsoft is seemingly doubling down on everything to make these copies happen before they are switched off. I don’t think they will make it, or at best a partial download and that will affect those 770 data centres that are being build (I cannot say how many of them are Microsoft), when the EU and its data falls away, I wonder how many of these centres will be canceled (for the weirdest reasons) and we will see a new complication. You see all these firms who ‘abandoned’ over 150,000 employees will suddenly see that this brain-drain will complicate life a lot more than they are happy with. 
So as Microsoft is now seeing this noose coming towards them (or they are walking towards their noose). What matters is that the timing was off and the bully tactics of President Trump will show them, that they came short of what they needed. If only they had 6 more months (or if the president would have behaved himself) they might have made it, but now as the world awakens that data is currency and they were about to be robbed of everything they had, the US will now need a different path, because when the data viability would be locked to the EU, and the US and most of the US corporations will be pushed in the open and lacking 450,000,000 data bringers a day, their setting for assumed revenue will go basically into the toilet.

Did you never wonder why the USA needed 770 data centres? And they are unlikely to be all Microsoft data centres, but there will be a fair amount. So what happened to that StarGate project? The information that I saw (source: CNBC) was that “10 data centers were being built in Abilene, Texas, with plans to expand to more states and countries, like the United Kingdom, Norway, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.” There is more to this and in light of these Data centers giving whatever they have to the United States, what are the plans now for the UK and Norway? And there are more questions for the UAE, how clear is it that they are handing over their data to the United States (OK, I apologise, they merely get insight into all data that is managed by an American firm, but does that not amount to the same thing) because Oracle, OpenAI and Microsoft are American firms. So I have no idea how Softbank fits into this as it is Japanese. As such, is Stargate LLC still happening? It is stated to be costing 500 billion? So what happened? All questions, but the doom speakers are out there. Even I am getting messages on LinkedIn on how the data goes dark if President Trump throws the switch. Why was I included? By a person I had never heard before. The US is now nervous because the EU will get others (read: Commonwealth nations) to do the same thing and as I see it, there is well over 80% chance that LibreOffice will be the most popular solution in 2026 and everyone is likely to switch. As such Microsoft just gained a lot of data space, but that might be merely my sense of humor. 

As for their “AI” settings, that system that would be doing a lot by “AI” and whilst we were told that “Microsoft is deeply integrating AI across its operations, with CEO Satya Nadella stating that 20%–30% of code in company repositories is generated by AI”, so whilst everyone is rejoicing, we should also consider that we still see (on a daily basis) that email delivery failures (blocked as spam by Outlook/Hotmail) or job application rejections (rejected by automated systems or after interviews) are still the setting of mainstream (not small exceptions) and that is the setting that comes with a dwindling consumer setting and Microsoft is spending a rather large chunk of the $700,000,000,000 that is due in 2026 (not all of it is Microsoft). So what happens when your customers reject you, but the bills are still due? Yup, that noose is coming towards Microsoft nicely. It is apparently a not so nice event, did anyone tell Satya Nadella this? I reckon we will see a much more serious Nadella now that he is going the way of the noose. 

And here the news separates a little as I was given a few hours ago (at https://www.cryptopolitan.com/qatar-taps-microsoft-to-build-ai-systems/) that ‘Qatar taps Microsoft to build AI systems to cater to government services’, as such dies Qatar knows what ‘befalls’ their data? The article gives us “The platform is also expected to help the ministry develop and deploy intelligent AI agents, an automated system capable of handling tasks ranging from processing applications to answering queries, without the lengthy development cycles traditionally associated with government IT projects. The factory will be built on Microsoft’s technology infrastructure and will be designed to integrate easily with existing government systems.” Yet as I see it, America has insight into all this because of the CLOUD Act (2018): 

So at what point is the setting “disclose data (emails, files, etc.)” even if there was a legal reason, the term ‘files’ is seemingly not limited, as such it could be anything and that is a hard pill to swallow. Before we know it it will contain any IP stored and I wrote about that risk (not connected to the cloud act) because of the debt the US had at that point (I think it was merely 25 trillion at that point), The danger that a desperate government will go looking through all that IP out there presented a little too much danger for my senses, so I made a lot of it public domain. I might not end up with anything, but no-one else will get those marbles for their own greedy needs. As I see it, the big-Tech doesn’t really like Public Domain, but that might be merely my gut feeling (which has no relation to any academic setting). Does Qatar know what it is in for? Perhaps they are, and a lot of it is wildly ‘rejected’ by influencers who are trying to ingratiate themselves to whomever (I mostly don’t care) 

The second bit of news which I saw just an hour ago and was published last year (at https://www.xda-developers.com/libreoffice-is-right-about-microsoft/) gives us ‘LibreOffice is right about Microsoft, and it matters more than you think’ here we see (written by Simon Batt)  “I reported on LibreOffice accusing Microsoft’s “artificially complex” Office XML format of being a “lock-in strategy.” The basis of LibreOffice’s argument was that Microsoft’s usage of the XML format deliberately locked people into using Office over open-source software. It also touches upon how Windows 10 is losing support soon, and how people are being corralled into Windows 11 whether they like it or not. However, LibreOffice touches upon an interesting point. While Microsoft is to blame for its practices, the fault also lies with us a little for going along with it. And you know what? They’re totally right.” It is a different setting and it sparked memories I had regarding the war Microsoft had with Netscape in the 90’s. 

Now that the world has LibreOffice it has choices, but because of the actions of the White House no one has a clue how the world will be hit and in what way. We can no longer trust someone telling us that it all will be fine, because that setting is as I see it near impossible. 

So, what will the rest of the world do? When they realise that the US has access to all data in data storage with American companies? I reckon it will upend the US economy to the largest degree and this is just the beginning. The red lights of rejection are glowing in more and more places and none of them are nice. President Trump made sure of that with his tariff threats and now that the settings are coming home to play, it is even more interesting. What will some do? What will the EU do and I reckon that the Middle East are looking for their own solutions, because they are clued in enough to see what is coming their way. It becomes a setting where no one trusts the United States and what they want requires trust, it is no longer there, so Microsoft is as I see it in a bind and it is largely their own fault. For me it is a little more complex, both Snowflake and Oracle are American companies. What happens there? If the US Administration wants to ‘hijack’ that data, the cloud act of 2018 allows them to do that. In how much danger are we really? I am willing to trust both Snowflake and Oracle. It is the US Administration I have little (read: no) faith in at present and that is not going away any day soon.

As such, I hope I am a little more clear now and I added a few more facts to this, so it is as I personally see it a win-win setting (for me at least). So, have a great day today and I will try to be a little more clear next time around.

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Sighting the noose

This is almost a real setting. There is still a abundance of speculation, although I have been in IT for over half a century, as such I can rely on presumption. And as the events are coming to pass, we are seeing elements. I personally think the Microsoft is not in a good place, although that part is speculative. You see no matter what OpenAI does, it will fail and it is running out of time. No, this setting comes before that. The EU is largely rejecting Microsoft and what they bring. In Germany at present 30,000 employees are switching from Microsoft to solutions like LibreOffice and Open Xchange. Denmark is switching more profound to similar solutions. France is shifting 500,000 workstations. To open source software, equally schools and public sources are making equal changes. Italy is switching 150,000 PC’s towards open-source platforms, Austria is already making the shift, at present if armed forces have shifted to open-source. EU (General): Due to GDPR, European regulators have challenged the use of Microsoft cloud services over data transfers to the US. We see at present what happens when President Trump switches the internet to OFF and there is more happening and some are ahead by a decent amount. This implies that the bulk of 450,000,000 accounts are switching. Just as they are deeper into the ‘fake’ AI setting and with the GDPR in place they cannot copy what is not in ‘their’ cloud. It is happening now, so don’t take notice of the doom speakers. Microsoft is doubling down in everything to make these copies happen before they are switched off. I don’t think they will make it, or at best a partial download and that will affect those 770 data centres that are being build, when the EU and its data falls away, I wonder how many of these centres will be canceled (for the weirdest reasons) and will see a new complication. You see all these firms who ‘abandoned’ over 150,000 employees will suddenly see that this braindyain will complicate life a lot more than they are happy with. So as Microsoft is now seeing this nose coming towards them (or they are walking towards their noose). What matters is that the timing was off and the bully tactics of President Trump will show them, that they came short of what they needed. If only they had 6 more months (or if the president would have behaved himself) they might have made it, but now as the world awakens that data is currency and they were about to be robbed of everything they had, the US will now need a different path, because when the data viability would be locked to the EU, and the US and most of the US corporations will be pushed in the open and lacking 450,000,000 data bringers a day, their setting for revenue will go basically into the toilet.

Did you never wonder why the USA needed 770 data centres? So what happened to that StarGate project? Is that still happening? It is stated to be costing 500 billion? So what happened? All questions, but the doom speakers are out there. Even I am getting messages on LinkedIn on how the data goes dark if President Trump throws the switch. Why was I included? By a person I had never heard before. The US is now nervous because the EU will get others (read: Commonwealth nations) to do the same thing and as I see it, there is well over 80% chance that LibreOffice will be the most popular solution in 2026 and everyone is likely to switch. As such Microsoft just gained a lot of data space, but that might be merely my sense of humor. 

As for their “AI” settings, that system that would be doing a lot by “AI” and whilst we were told that “Microsoft is deeply integrating AI across its operations, with CEO Satya Nadella stating that 20%–30% of code in company repositories is generated by AI”, so whilst everyone is rejoicing, we should also consider that we still see (on a daily basis) that email delivery failures (blocked as spam by Outlook/Hotmail) or job application rejections (rejected by automated systems or after interviews) are still the setting of mainstream (not small exceptions) and that is the setting that comes with a dwindling consumer setting and Microsoft is spending a rather large chink of the $700,000,000,000 that is due in 2026. So what happens when your customers reject you, but the bills are still due? Yup, that noose is coming towards Microsoft nicely. It is apparently a not so nice event, did anyone tell Satya Nadella this? I reckon we will see a much more serious Nadella now that he is going the way of the noose. 

But what will the rest of the world do? When they realise that the US has access to all data in data storage with American companies? I reckon it will upend the US economy to the largest degree and I reckon it is just the beginning. The red lights of rejection are glowing in more and more places and none of them are nice. President Trump made sure of that with his tariff threats and now that the settings are coming home to play, it is even more interesting. What will some do? What will the EU do and I reckon that the Middle East are looking for their own solutions, because they are clued in enough to see what is coming their way. It becomes a setting where no one trusts the United States and what they want requires trust, it is no longer there, so Microsoft is in a bind and it is largely their own fault.

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In the land of Saud

That is where is am ‘obliged’ to look. Not because of them, but because of touristy reasons. You see, I got some compelling news a few hours ago. A nice chance of the news that is hitting the United States. Some might have seen some YouTube video on a flight from London to JFK with merely one passenger. I don’t think it is real, but there you have it. The idea that someone makes a flight with only one person is utterly ridiculous. Although I have seen several video’s of airports devoid of life and passengers, so it is not out of the realm of possibilities. 

No this is a different story and it gets two sources. The first one is Cairo Scene that gives us (at https://cairoscene.com/buzz/saudi-tourism-created-over-one-million-jobs-by-august-2025) the over populous idea that ‘Saudi Tourism Created Over One Million Jobs by August 2025’ which is part of the story, but the larger bang is seen with “Saudi Arabia welcomed about 116 million visitors in 2024, surpassing its 2030 target of 100 million seven years early.” I saw the push, I anticipated that it would be made, but to make this marker seven years ahead of schedule is a rather large achievement. Where we see “Tourism contributed around 5% of gross domestic product in 2024, with plans to increase this to 10% by 2030. Saudi Arabia recorded about 116 million domestic and international visitors in 2024, exceeding its Vision 2030 target of 100 million tourists seven years ahead of schedule. Tourism’s share of national exports rose from 6% in 2019 to 11% in 2024, alongside an increased contribution to the trade surplus over the same period.” I reckon that they will go above and beyond a little more this year as many millions are no longer considering going to the United States of America and whilst we see ‘news’ of a different nature in the upcoming two years, the reality will hit the people soon enough. In this setting it might mean for the current Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that “Saudi Arabia’s unemployment rate is undergoing a transformative, yet challenging period, with overall unemployment rising to 3.4% in the third quarter of 2025 from 3.2% in the second quarter, marking two consecutive quarterly increases.”There is every thoughts to consider that it will get a fair bit lower in 2026. With all the mining Saudi Arabia has planned and now the stretch towards Tourism and that is before all the people they will need in Trojena, and Sindalah. As such there are good times ahead of Saudi Arabia. Then we get more news that is seen in https://propnewstime.com/getdetailsStories/MjUxNDM=/marriott-and-al-qimmah-plan-over-2-700-new-hotel-rooms-in-saudi-arabia, although I don’t know what exactly they are (from people making claim on the digital express), they do give us ‘Marriott and Al Qimmah plan over 2,700 new hotel rooms in Saudi Arabia’, the site doesn’t really feel comfortable, and I don’t like some of the output it creates, but with the Trojena, Sindalah and Oxagon settings, the news makes sense. Even though these three are never mentioned. As such I get from Yahoo Finance (the news in Prop News Time was too dodgy) “The agreement includes JW Marriott Jeddah, The Apartments, which will be located on Jeddah Corniche Road. The property is expected to offer 356 studios and one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments with separate living areas and kitchens. Facilities will include an executive boardroom, dining venues, a children’s club, a swimming pool, and a fitness centre. It will sit adjacent to the previously announced JW Marriott Hotel Jeddah. Four Points by Sheraton Shesha, Makkah will provide 1,030 rooms near Masjid Al Haram. Four Points by Sheraton Madinah King Fahd Road will offer 800 rooms close to Masjid Al Nabawi.” As such all eyes should be looking towards Saudi Arabia for the 2026 summer season, there won’t be too much reporting in the United States unless you want to read bad news. 

As such I want to congratulate Saudi Arabia, its kingdom and its citizens on making the 2030 markers seven years early, a feat seldom seen before and I reckon that 2026 cortina and 2030 Nice will mark the way of more increased tourism in Saudi Arabia (especially Trojena) as there might not be too many people willing to visit Utah 2034 at this time. I get that the players and their family will attend, but at present the American Administration will have to show about their rudders 180 degrees with show results before many people will be daft enough to see this happen. If it were up to me, Trojena might make the cut for the 2034 olympics, at present Utah does not (no blame on the people in Utah for this). And that will up the visit ramp for Saudi Arabia even more. 

Will it hold? I doubt it, but I reckon when 2028 hits and people are confronted with the ‘real’ numbers, important people might start asking questions and whilst the media and fake news will get blamed, the setting will show that the United States of America will have become the global pariah to a much larger degree and that is a heavy look to throw and many will at that time no longer care about what is real and what is not, because there will have been increasing voices that America is no longer hospitable, safe and a few more negative items. 

This is what I expect to see and with that Saudi Arabia and UAE’s Abu Dhabi too will have gobbled up many of the visitors that might have considered United States as a destination, just in time to see the Disney Park in Abu Dhabi open its gates. And with that I have to leave you. I get that a lot is speculative, but feel free to ignore my views. Saudi Arabia made its markers and is welcome to them. For now everyone wants to see Riyadh and other places in Saudi Arabia and none of those are interested in the United States as a destination. So there is that.

Have a great day and I now have to consider that my working week starts again in 7 hours. It sucks to be caught on a Sunday (with Chocolate and Strawberries).

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The question remains

I am not here to pass judgement, because I have no idea what is at stake. You see, for most of the time (all of the time) I was in the understanding there was Yemen, the partially disposed Yemeni government and the Houthi terrorists. That is pretty much all of what I knew and now I learn that there are more sides to this. I actually figured this out around Christmas, so when I got the news that there is a rift between the UAE and Saudi Arabia I was confused (and massively unhappy). You see, I like both countries and it is becoming an issue where the child (me) needs to choose between his two parents (KSA and UAE) and that is making me unhappy. I for one still am in the dream settling one day retiring to Yas Island in Abu Dhabi, but I would still also like to visit Riyadh and the KSA. So this does not seem like a happy moment at present.

As such the New York Times (at https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/08/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-uae-yemen-separatist-zubaidi.html) is giving us ‘Saudi Official Accuses U.A.E. of Helping Yemeni Separatist to Escape’ and we are given “Aidarous al-Zubaidi is wanted on treason charges in Yemen after he led a lightning military offensive that escalated a bitter feud between the Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

We are also given that Aidarous al-Zubaidi, leader of the Southern Transitional Council, in Aden, Yemen is seen as the group that has been pushing for an independent state in southern Yemen, with Emirati backing. And we see “Saudi Arabia on Thursday accused its neighbor and ally the United Arab Emirates of helping a separatist leader wanted on treason charges to escape Yemen, a claim that deepens a rift between two regional powerhouses. The separatist leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, leads a group called the Southern Transitional Council, which has been pushing for an independent state in southern Yemen, with Emirati backing.” And in addition we are given “Saudi intelligence determined that Mr. al-Zubaidi fled Yemen on a boat to Somalia early Wednesday morning and that he took a plane from there to the Emirates, according to Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen”. Oh, on a side note, congratulations to Turki al-Maliki, in getting promoted to Major General, last time I mentioned him he was still a Colonel. You might not think it is important, but his reports on the Houthi terrorists are beyond reproach (as I see it), as such I trust his intelligence and reporting on face value at present. In this setting we see there are a lot more settings to this and I am not passing judgement on them, but I am passing judgement on the western media as they have left us in the dark on most of this. So whilst we are given “A spokesman for the Southern Transitional Council, Anwar al-Tamimi, said by phone that the coalition’s statement was false and that Mr. al-Zubaidi remained in southern Yemen. The Emirati government did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Times could not immediately confirm Mr. al-Zubaidi’s whereabouts.” And as the Times could not verify his whereabouts, I merely see a setting that likely confirms the intelligence that the Major General has access to. 

So as we are given “The Saudi allegation was an unusually pointed salvo in the increasingly bitter feud between Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, two key U.S. allies. That feud has escalated since Mr. al-Zubaidi’s group led a lightning offensive across southern Yemen last month, seizing strategically located, oil-rich territory. Saudi officials denounced those moves, which encroached on a region bordering the kingdom, saying they threatened national security. This past weekend, forces allied with the internationally recognized Yemeni government recaptured most of the territory, plus some additional areas, with Saudi support.” I feel that this is another instance where the western media is betraying its readers by keeping them in the dark. 

So personally I am wondering what exactly the Southern Transitional Council is and what their motives are. Yes I see that the implications are that they want to slice up Yemen, I think that this is a bad thing, but that is me reacting on limited intelligence. If this setting proceeds the Houthi terrorists get to play piggy in the middle (is that an acceptable expression in a muslim setting?) with two governments in Yemen. It enables too many options for the Houthi forces and I cannot see if I am right or if I am wrong. Personally there should be no transition until the Houthi terrorists are permanently dealt with, but that I merely me and I could be way wrong here.

So as we see “Mohammed al-Ghaithi, a member of the delegation, said in a social media post on Thursday that the delegation “valued the efforts of our brothers in Saudi Arabia to invite us and host a conference on southern dialogue.”” We can clearly see that there is a dialogue with Saudi Arabia, with the additional “General al-Maliki said that Saudi intelligence had learned that Mr. al-Zubaidi had fled to Abu Dhabi, the Emirati capital, transiting via Somaliland with the Emirates’ help. The Emirati government has cultivated close ties to Somaliland, a breakaway state strategically located in the horn of Africa, roughly 200 miles by sea from Aden.” And here I get all kinds of confused interactions in my brain, but the clear picture is missing. The New York Times gives us a good story and that is fine, but the larger setting of the STC is missing, and without that there remains several settings of doubt and I already voiced one of them. The article ends with a question I can get behind “It is unclear why the Emirates backed the group. Some analysts speculate that the Emirati leadership would like to hold sway in Yemeni ports located on global trade routes. Emirati officials say only that they stand by Yemenis’ rights to security and self-determination. Yemen was divided into two countries for much of its modern history, before uniting in 1990.” But as it is stated, Yemen was divided into two countries so what were they originally? Considering that this was merely 35 years ago, there is a larger setting this implies that this was within one generation, so there might be issues with that generation. So as the New York Times is one of the few that is giving us a lot more than the rest is, it gives an incomplete picture and that has me wondering how my views needs some correction, not about the Houthi terrorists. They are terrorists plain and simple. There are however other setting which are not known to me and it gives a confusing setting (to me at least).

So have a great day today and I am considering  life on Iceland (it is 44 degrees celsius in my room at present, which is 3 degrees worse than yesterday).

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