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2006-02-05 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

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Posted by Seafarious 2006-02-05 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 They'll sink so many ships and lay mines...that a canoe won't be able to get through that strait! If we let 'em, of course, that is!

Posted by smn 2006-02-05 00:33|| 2006-02-05 00:33|| Front Page Top

#2 causus belli - smoke 'em

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2006-02-05 01:34|| 2006-02-05 01:34|| Front Page Top

#3 "If a ban is imposed on our oil exports, we will not allow oil tankers to sail in the Gulf waters," Mehr news agency quoted Sulaiman Jaafar Zadeh, member of the national committee for security and foreign policy in the Shura council, as saying.

Sounds like the members of this committee have "Kick Me" signs taped to their backs...

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2006-02-05 04:06|| 2006-02-05 04:06|| Front Page Top

#4 Sometimes I wonder if a portion of these clows want to be invaded.

Posted by AzCat 2006-02-05 04:55|| 2006-02-05 04:55|| Front Page Top

#5 I don't think we will see sanctions that effect what it can sell. I think Iran will see a sanctions on what they can buy.

Posted by Sock Puppet O´ Doom 2006-02-05 05:08|| 2006-02-05 05:08|| Front Page Top

#6 Just on Friday these boys were boasting that Europe needs them more than they need European goods.

Might be ... but the same isn't true for the world at large. Man, I can think of lots of ways to commit suicide, but mining the Gulf to keep **their oil exports away from, say, China** is one of the more painful ones.

Posted by lotp 2006-02-05 07:05|| 2006-02-05 07:05|| Front Page Top

#7 Lets not forget about their lack of internal refining capacity. That is the lynchpin and is why they need imports far more than they need exports.

Posted by remoteman 2006-02-05 07:16|| 2006-02-05 07:16|| Front Page Top

#8 Remote - they don't have refining capacity?

Now that is stupid. :-D

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2006-02-05 07:24|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html] 2006-02-05 07:24|| Front Page Top

#9 Seems that way. But given the number of earthquakes in that country, refineries might be a risky proposition ... very expensive, delicate and prone to being damaged or going BOOM when the earth shifts.

Just speculation on my part ....

Posted by lotp 2006-02-05 07:29|| 2006-02-05 07:29|| Front Page Top

#10 LOTP, you don't work for the Halliburton Earthquake Division by any chance do you?

Barbara, I learned about their lack of refining capacity here at Rantburg U.

Posted by remoteman 2006-02-05 07:31|| 2006-02-05 07:31|| Front Page Top

#11 They have some domestic refining capacity but only about 30% of demand and enough in the pipeline to last 60 days. All gone in 90. Once the shooting starts...

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-02-05 08:56|| 2006-02-05 08:56|| Front Page Top

#12 The Straits are a major reason that the Saudis built pipelines cross-country going West and refineries on the Red Sea in Jeddah, Yanbu, and Rabigh.

Posted by Chater Glens2769 2006-02-05 08:57|| 2006-02-05 08:57|| Front Page Top

#13 The Iranians import 1/3 of their gasoline. They are streamlining current refineries and building 7 more to meet all domestic needs.

Posted by ed 2006-02-05 09:06|| 2006-02-05 09:06|| Front Page Top

#14 Have these mooks ever heard of a Nimitz class carrier and battle group? To say they have control of the region is one thing, to say it to the Admiral of the fleet is quite another.

Posted by bigjim-ky 2006-02-05 09:52|| 2006-02-05 09:52|| Front Page Top

#15 Remember that little naval battle we had with them in the Straits back in 1988, after they mined a U.S. warship? They were outclassed and outgunned then too, but it took sinking a number of their boats and ships and pounding their facilities with naval guns to get them to knock it off.

Now they're quite busy fortifying sites along the coast and stockpiling supplies. They're quite capable of doing something stupid along these lines again, unfortunately. And they may just be trying to provoke us into an action that they will say justifies nuking Israel or setting off a dirty bomb in NYC ....

Posted by lotp 2006-02-05 10:08|| 2006-02-05 10:08|| Front Page Top

#16 China needs to take note, their Coming out party, the next Olympics will be despoiled if these srtaits are closed for long, construction on event sites is furious. This trend will have a deliterious effect on their ability to meet deadlines. China needs to get real, its population needs forward momentum, not regression to the mean. The chicoms know how stupid and counter productive their hegemony is, yet the top of the food chain cant get enough of the dough their siphoning off. China listen up, your good looking side is built on capitalism, not socialism, there is nothing within your present landscape, that is related to your revolution. Its pretty clear, that if you want the world stage as a hegemonic state, India stands ready willling and able to fuel the next economic miracle. Logic dictates the elimination of your own contradictions......Olympics with Star power, or Olympics with the face of your original revolution....think about it, because it is the crux of your bisquit.

Posted by Snoluth Snineck5289 2006-02-05 10:24|| 2006-02-05 10:24|| Front Page Top

#17 Time for a little Brer Rabbit strategy. Please (pronounced - Paaaleeeeaaassssseeee)Iran, don't block shipments of oil through the Gulf - that would be an act of war.

Posted by Jake 2006-02-05 11:24|| 2006-02-05 11:24|| Front Page Top

#18 Proposition I
Over/under lifetime for 50% of Iranian Naval Vessels if hostilities breakout.

Initial buy is 18 hours.
Usual rulz. AB holds the ducats.

Posted by 6 2006-02-05 12:30|| 2006-02-05 12:30|| Front Page Top

#19 lotp writes, Now they're quite busy fortifying sites along the coast and stockpiling supplies.

Sounds like they're preparing for war in, oh, 1915 or so.

They really, really don't understand the transformation of American military power the last 20 years or so. They really don't get how precise we can be, how destructive, and how we can do it either long-distance or up-close-and-personal. That has to be the explanation, because they're preparing to fight a war they can't win. I mean, if they were rational at all ...

... oh yeah, that.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2006-02-05 12:45|| 2006-02-05 12:45|| Front Page Top

#20 Being Fully Prepared for the Past, thats the worlds ticket, these leaders whose ascendency is based on whatever cult of personality, has pushed them along. Truth is they have no chance of being credible and no purpose for occupying the rest of the worlds bandwidth.

Such a waste of space.

Posted by Snoluth Snineck5289 2006-02-05 12:53|| 2006-02-05 12:53|| Front Page Top

#21 Man, these guys sure know how to practice nuanced diplomacy, don't they? ROFL!!

Posted by Dave D.">Dave D. 2006-02-05 12:58|| 2006-02-05 12:58|| Front Page Top

#22 The Iranians import 1/3 of their gasoline. They are streamlining current refineries and building 7 more to meet all domestic needs.

When shooting starts, their refineries' remaining lives will be measured in hours.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2006-02-05 15:16|| 2006-02-05 15:16|| Front Page Top

#23 Like the Dems, i.e. Gore, Kerry, and Dean, the Iranians = NorKors, etc, > ARE FIGHTING TO LOSE AGS AMERICA, NOT WIN. The focii for now is aysmmetric warfare [nuclearized], where Anti-American American leaders and pols, amongst others, induce Amer's volunteer Army to be overstretched/encumbered in myriad regional "quagmires" while simul inducing Washington to domestically take over everything and anything in the name of Safety, Security, Protection, and Responsibility [ e.g. NOLA and now West Virginia Mines]. The glitch is that, in the end, America will NOT be allowed to govern its own newfound global empire won by the work, sweat, and victory of its own warriors - the USA isn't even allowed to remain sovereign. THE DEMS ARE RINOS AND CINOS FOR A REASON - ANY FUTURE POTUS HILLARY AND CHELSEA WILL BE THE LAST HURRAH FOR FREE AMERICA AND THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY BEFORE AMERICA GOES FULLY SOCIALIST AND COMMUNIST, BEFORE AMERICA BECOMES THE USR OR AMERIKAN SSR. Will say again that the Dems prob is NOT alleged Rightist Fascist Socialist Amerika waging war around the world for 9-11, ITS A LEFTIST COMMUNIST SOCIALIST AMERIKA NOT BEING THE FINAL OUTCOME. The Dems/Left > SOcialist Commie Amerika will be achieved by any means necessary, where VOLUNTEER = BEING FORCED =....................@ infinitum.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2006-02-05 19:53|| 2006-02-05 19:53|| Front Page Top

#24 JosephMendiola: Jeez - have you considered decaf?

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2006-02-05 21:05|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html] 2006-02-05 21:05|| Front Page Top

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