War with Iran

[forgetful]

I thought about putting this into the investment or the doom thread, as it could fit there too, but its overlap with the Iran excursion had me place it here. We are in for a hell of a ride, and not a fun one, that this debacle has made worse.

Right now for data centers, there are planned natural gas power plants that will increase LNG use in the US by ~20%. The new planned power plants would amount to 15-20% of total current US production. That is just for these industrial uses (AI data centers and chips), not for other domestic power use.

Three of these plants will be larger than any other natural gas power plants in the entire world (not even touching the impact on CO2 production here).

That alone will be a massive increase in energy expenditures for the average family as the LNG demand spikes prices, but it will be even worse for Europe, where energy prices are already debilitatingly high, and will very likely destroy European manufacturing as it becomes cost prohibitive to maintain high-energy industrial infrastructure.

The US is insulated a bit from the rest of the world as we are the largest producer (~26%), but we have accelerated usage and export of our easiest to extract natural gas due to the Iran crisis. Moving forward, extracting gas will be increasingly more expensive, as we must target more difficult to extract energy sources, further spiking prices.

All of this is made worse by the fact that the 2nd and 3rd largest producers of NG are Russia and Iran, which make up ~15% and 7% of global production respectively. Further, 20-30% of global LNG flows through the straight of Hormuz.

Bottom line, we can't afford blockades/bans of Russian/Iranian NG even without a massive surge in demand. The massive surge in demand cause by AI data centers makes the world even more dependent on Russia/Iran to alleviate cost pressures for Energy.

That doesn't even touch the issues of all the other essential industrial products that need to traverse the Straight of Hormuz

Costs will skyrocket no matter what, but the overlapping pressures from AI driven expansion and the Iran excursion really spell doom for a market already facing intense pressures from all sides.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

If only there were other sources of energy besides fossil fuels

[Uncle Rico]

If only there were other sources of energy besides fossil fuels

The government made muwarrior69 buy a hybrid

[MU82]

JV Vance, whose boss is morbidly obese and who used to have a weight problem himself, said of conservative columnist Marc Thiessen: "It's quite obvious the man has never missed a burrito."

(Thiessen had written that JV undermined Captain Bone Spur's Iran policy and negotiated poorly with Iranian officials.)

[jesmu84]

If only there were other sources of energy besides fossil fuels

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1e1vg0gjl5o

[Pakuni]

If only there were other sources of energy besides fossil fuels

Why do you hate birds?

[TallTitan34]

Why do you hate birds?

And whales?

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Why do you hate birds?

Birds aren't real.

And whales had it coming.

[Scoop Snoop]

Birds aren't real.

And whales had it coming.

Add manatees to whales and we agree.

[Uncle Rico]

Support the troops.  At least we stand for them at stadiums when we do the "salute the troops"

Too bad our leaders treat them like trash.  Maybe appointing a christofascist with no leadership skills as Administrative Assistant of War was a bad idea.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-sailors-marines-iran-war-uss-lincoln-food-shortage-b3028371.html

[Pakuni]

We've totally decapitated Iran.

Also:

President Donald Trump was secretly whisked off Air Force One in an airport catering truck and flown out of Turkey aboard a different military aircraft last month after officials identified a credible Iranian assassination threat, according to a bombshell report from The Washington Post.

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-secretly-ditched-air-force-one-for-military-plane-amid-assassination-threat-report/

[jesmu84]

https://x.com/i/status/2086809410857226678

[jesmu84]

We've totally decapitated Iran.

Also:

President Donald Trump was secretly whisked off Air Force One in an airport catering truck and flown out of Turkey aboard a different military aircraft last month after officials identified a credible Iranian assassination threat, according to a bombshell report from The Washington Post.

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-secretly-ditched-air-force-one-for-military-plane-amid-assassination-threat-report/

Didn't Michael do this when Jim was negotiating with David Wallace?

[MU82]

Support the troops.  At least we stand for them at stadiums when we do the "salute the troops"

Too bad our leaders treat them like trash.  Maybe appointing a christofascist with no leadership skills as Administrative Assistant of War was a bad idea.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/us-sailors-marines-iran-war-uss-lincoln-food-shortage-b3028371.html

They sound like suckers and losers.

[Uncle Rico]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-assesses-irans-priority-shifted-nuclear-weapons-strait-hormuz-rcna591715

https://bsky.app/profile/carlquintanilla.bsky.social/post/3mssdgako5s2g

Trump's Folly will be one of American histories greatest mistakes. 

[The Sultan]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-assesses-irans-priority-shifted-nuclear-weapons-strait-hormuz-rcna591715

https://bsky.app/profile/carlquintanilla.bsky.social/post/3mssdgako5s2g

Trump's Folly will be one of American histories greatest mistakes. 

In one swoop, he managed to increase inflation, further decrease our standing overseas, weaken our military, and strengthen Iran's position in the middle east. All because Bibi knows how to flatter him.

Brilliant master-stroke.

[forgetful]

We've totally decapitated Iran.

Also:

President Donald Trump was secretly whisked off Air Force One in an airport catering truck and flown out of Turkey aboard a different military aircraft last month after officials identified a credible Iranian assassination threat, according to a bombshell report from The Washington Post.

https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/trump-secretly-ditched-air-force-one-for-military-plane-amid-assassination-threat-report/

The most disgusting part of this is he tucked tail and ran, but left everyone else on the plane as decoys. What a scumbag.

I guess they were also just more suckers and losers.

[Uncle Rico]

The most disgusting part of this is he tucked tail and ran, but left everyone else on the plane as decoys. What a scumbag.

I guess they were also just more suckers and losers.

Could be worse.  The Khmer Rouge of America lead by Bernie would probably have us in concentration camps and we'd have to drive electric cars

[forgetful]

This war has also shown we cannot afford to be a world military leader, while continuing to be the world's biggest aggressor.

It is too easy to drain our interceptors. And we cannot afford to produce them on the scale necessary to defend against a serious adversary.

We already spend way to much on military, and we would need to increase our spending dramatically to be adequately prepared to continue to unilaterally attack other nations for "peace".

I think something like this plagued other dynasties...if you build it on warfare, it eventually becomes financially untenable to maintain such a militaristic society.

[Uncle Rico]

This war has also shown we cannot afford to be a world military leader, while continuing to be the world's biggest aggressor.

It is too easy to drain our interceptors. And we cannot afford to produce them on the scale necessary to defend against a serious adversary.

We already spend way to much on military, and we would need to increase our spending dramatically to be adequately prepared to continue to unilaterally attack other nations for "peace".

I think something like this plagued other dynasties...if you build it on warfare, it eventually becomes financially untenable to maintain such a militaristic society.

This is historically accurate.  Populism and nationalism mixed tends to accelerate military spending in the name of patriotism and protection.

As Americans, though, we believe history doesn't apply to us in the modern world and refuse to learn from it.  Our ignorance and hubris prevent that.

The idea we could just invade countries and steal resources without ramifications is ludicrous.  We're learning that the hard way.  Will we change?  Not as long as we continue on our path towards being ruled by oligarchs and useful idiots.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

The idea we could just invade countries and steal resources without ramifications is ludicrous.

Problem is, it worked--and continues to work--in Venezuela, which is why they thought they'd just do the same thing in Iran.

All the money from selling Venezuela's oil is unaccounted for--surprise!

[Pakuni]

In one swoop, he managed to increase inflation, further decrease our standing overseas, weaken our military, and strengthen Iran's position in the middle east. All because Bibi knows how to flatter him.

Brilliant master-stroke.

#ArtoftheDeal

[Uncle Rico]

Problem is, it worked--and continues to work--in Venezuela, which is why they thought they'd just do the same thing in Iran.

All the money from selling Venezuela's oil is unaccounted for--surprise!

Short term gains will be obliterated by long term ramifications.

[tower912]

Deviate from project 2025 one time...

[MU82]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/us-assesses-irans-priority-shifted-nuclear-weapons-strait-hormuz-rcna591715

https://bsky.app/profile/carlquintanilla.bsky.social/post/3mssdgako5s2g

Trump's Folly will be one of American histories greatest mistakes. 

FIFY