Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on September 28, 2018
US Evacuating Consulate In Iraq, Citing Threats From Iran
On Friday the State Department announced it is evacuating all non-essential personnel from the US consulate in Basra, Iraq.
The drastic move comes after a month of heavy anti-Iran and anti-Iraqi government protests that have gripped the southern city, which has led to sectarian rioting and the burning of Shia militia buildings, as well as the torching of the Iranian consulate early this month. During the first week of September the US embassy in Baghdad’s green zone also came under attack by mortar fire, which US officials and military analysts blamed on Iran-backed militias.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited threats from Iran as the reason for ordering the Basra consulate evacuation, and in a separate statement a senior US official confirmed to CNN that the “ordered departure” was due to “security threats from Iran.”
“US Embassy Baghdad will continue to provide consular services to US citizens in Basra,” the State Department said in its statement referencing the massive and highly fortified US compound in Iraq’s capital, which the Basra consul staff will evacuate to. It also issued an updated travel advisory for Iraq noting the removal of non-essential personnel from Basra.
Pompeo explained the evacuation order further as, “Threats to our personnel and facilities in Iraq from the Government of Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, and from militias facilitated by and under the control and direction of the Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani have increased over the past several weeks.”
Pompeo further noted that “there have been repeated incidents of indirect fire from elements of those militias directed at our Consulate General in Basrah and our Embassy in Baghdad, including within the past twenty-four hours.”
The US Consulate in Basra, view from within the security perimeter:
“I have advised the Government of Iran that the United States will hold Iran directly responsible for any harm to Americans or to our diplomatic facilities in Iraq or elsewhere and whether perpetrated by Iranian forces directly or by associated proxy militias,” the Secretary of State said.
A number of Iraqi cities exploded in anti-government protests in the first week of September, which had strong sectarian element as largely Sunni demonstrations demanded the end of Iranian influence on the Baghdad government and the retreat of Shia Iran-backed militias.
But also amidst the early September protests ten pro-Iran Shia militias in the country had published a statement vowing to expel foreign troops and advisers by force if they didn’t immediately leave Iraq.
“We will deal with them [foreign troops in Iraq] as occupying forces, and we will use our legitimate rights by employing all possible means to force them out of the country,” the Iraqi factions warned, adding that foreign troops were “in their sights”. The statement also alleged an “Anglo-American-led dirty and dangerous conspiracy to impose a devilish coalition” on the people of Iraq which seeks to weaken the government and make Baghdad a puppet of Brett McGurk, who is the White House appointed special envoy for the anti-ISIL coalition.
Meanwhile in a speech given before Friday worshipers in Tehran Iranian officials issued threats against the United States military, and laid down “red lines” against US allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Iran has blamed the US and its Gulf allies for sponsoring a terrorist attack on a military parade in the southwest city of Ahvaz last Saturday which killed 25, including IRGC personnel among the victims.
“If America does anything wrong, their bases around Iran would not remain secure,” Ayatollah Mohammadali Movahedi Kermani was quoted as saying by Mizan news agency while leading Friday prayers in Tehran.
And simultaneously the Fars news agency quoted Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy head of the IRGC, as saying in reference to the Saudis and Emirates: “If you cross our red lines, we will surely cross yours. You know the storm the Iranian nation can create.”
16 Comments on "US Evacuating Consulate In Iraq, Citing Threats From Iran"
Cloggie on Fri, 28th Sep 2018 9:11 pm
From one of Germany’s most prominent newspapers:
https://www.welt.de/kultur/plus181676808/Wie-China-im-Jahr-2049-die-Welt-beherrschen-wird.html
“Wie China im Jahr 2049 die Welt beherrscht”
How China will control the world in 2049.
This btw is the single most important geopolitical development of this century and the single most important factor why a Greater European confederation including Russia will come about.
makati1 on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 1:17 am
Isolation America is one step closer to reality:
“The EU, Russia, China, and Iran will create a special purpose vehicle (SPV), a “financially independent sovereign channel,” to bypass US sanctions against Tehran and breathe life into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is in jeopardy….If their plan succeeds, this will deliver a blow to the dollar and a boost to the euro….The SPV proposes to set up a multinational, European, state-backed financial intermediary to work with companies interested in trading with Iran. Payments will be made in currencies other than the dollar and remain outside the reach of those global money-transfer systems under US control….
What really matters is the fact that the leading nations of the EU have joined the global heavyweights — Russia and China — in open defiance of the United States. This is a milestone event. It’s hard to underestimate its importance. Certainly, it’s too early to say that the UK and other EU member states are doing a sharp pivot toward the countries that oppose the US globally, but this is a start — a first step down that path. This would all have seemed unimaginable just a couple of years ago — the West and the East in the same boat, trying to stand up to the American bully!”
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/09/28/eu-uk-russia-china-join-together-dodge-us-sanctions-iran.html
Slip slidin’….
makati1 on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 1:35 am
American isolation part 2:
“…the sanctions also forbid conducting any transactions that go through the US financial system. It is the most powerful weapon Washington has at its disposal, but it is being challenged as numerous countries are working to find ways around it….
As engaging in “malign activities” is a charge that should quite plausibly be leveled against Washington and its allies in the Middle East, it is not clear if anyone but the French and British poodles actually believes the rationalizations coming out of Washington to defend the indefensible. An act to “Counter America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions” is, even as the title implies, ridiculous. Washington is on a sanctions spree….
Someday, when the US begins to lose its grip on the world economy all of those places being sanctioned will line up to get their revenge and it won’t be pretty.”
https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2018/09/27/washington-sanctions-machine.html
So be it. Slip slidin’…
Cloggie on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 2:07 am
“The EU, Russia, China, and Iran will create a special purpose vehicle (SPV), a “financially independent sovereign channel,” to bypass US sanctions against Tehran and breathe life into the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)”
I can’t prove it but I still think Trump is wrecking the empire intentionally from within. And if not, thanks for your behavior anyway, DJT.
We need a multilateral-multipolar world order that will replace the empire. The initiative to that new global order can only come from EU, Russia, China and perhaps India or Eurasia for short.
makati1 on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 2:28 am
Cloggie, I too believe that Trump’s mandate from TPTB are to do just that. I can see no other reason for his actions, none of which can possibly be a plus for the US. He has at least two more years to finish the job, or to put the US in such a position that the collapse will happen shortly after his departure.
Divide and conquer is obviously the method being used to prevent any citizen uprising until then. The US is being broken into many factions. None can agree with any other. It is civil chaos or, if you prefer, the circus freak side show with the clowns in charge.
We who are separated from the chaos by oceans can be thankful and can watch it safely from the real world of relative sanity.
Boat on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 3:05 am
Mak
It’s funny that the worlds problem is selling to much shyt to the US. Lol Hey, quit making that shyt or at least keep the trade levels even. One of our latest startups is doing 3-D metal parts at amazing speed and savings. Maybe we won’t need your shyt in the future. When you take your camel trips you can brag how you don’t have to bank anymore.
Boat on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 3:23 am
Clog
What you really mean is that if the Middle East blew up you/EU would not have oil to operate. Who would Russia choose, China? Btw, North America has its own energy.
makati1 on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 4:47 am
Boat, the world’s problem is stupid, insane, spoiled Americans, not commerce.
“Your latest startup” is your old car. You are spewing bullshit as usual.
3D is a toy, not an actual real production machine. It will disappear like the old cassette players. It requires highly refined materials to function and they are expensive and will never scale up to real production of anything.
Are you aware that there are over three BILLION metric TONs of iron ore mined annually in the world and that is only one metal used to make all the things you use today? That is 6,000,000,000,000 pounds, or over 200 times the total weight of everybody in the US today. Even the obese ones.
The plastic dust is also highly refined and not cheap and will never scale up to any meaningful level either. Techie dreams.
BTW: The Philippines is a tropical jungle country, not a desert country. No camels.
Davy on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 5:23 am
“Cloggie, I too believe that Trump’s mandate from TPTB”
LOL, of course you two do it fits into your fantasy future agenda seek.
Davy on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 5:41 am
billy, you might try to elaborate more than your usual lame “slip slidin” that is not even a sentence.
“EU, UK, Russia, & China Join Together To Dodge US Sanctions On Iran”
https://tinyurl.com/yap2jcjk
“It is true, the plan to skirt the sanctions might fall short of expectations. It could fail as US pressure mounts. A number of economic giants, including Total, Peugeot, Allianz, Renault, Siemens, Daimler, Volvo, and Vitol Group have already left Iran as its economy plummets, with the rial losing two-thirds of its value since the first American sanctions took effect in May. The Iranian currency dropped to a record low against the US dollar this September. What really matters is the fact that the leading nations of the EU have joined the global heavyweights — Russia and China — in open defiance of the United States. This is a milestone event. It’s hard to underestimate its importance. Certainly, it’s too early to say that the UK and other EU member states are doing a sharp pivot toward the countries that oppose the US globally, but this is a start – a first step down that path. This would all have seemed unimaginable just a couple of years ago – the West and the East in the same boat, trying to stand up to the American bully!”
Sanctions will be effective no matter what these group of nations do. Large companies will not want to risk their American market exposure for a small insignificant economy that is already in economic trouble. That is a no brainer. I also think this is a watershed event for these nations to have an excuse to address the American weaponization of the global financial system. This is wrong and very bad for global stability. We need a multipolar system that allows trade without direct injections of political risk into a system that is already unstable for multiple reasons. This might be a good time to push for an alternative to SWIFT and to lessen the dollar as a vehicle of global trade and finance. That said it is easier said than done. We already have a global financial system that has many late term bubbles to care for. The US is such a large part of the global economy it can’t just be ignored or kicked out despite what our board anti-American extremist wish for. Wishing and reality are two different things. Finally Iran could make an effort to come to the table with less regional interference and trouble making. Iran is a regional power wanna-be and they are making trouble. This could be lessened but was not post nuke accord. Their bad behavior increased instead following the agreement.
Davy on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 5:48 am
“Beijing Bows To US Pressure: China Top Refiner Halves Iranian Oil Imports”
https://tinyurl.com/y7hses49
“Sinopec – listed in Hong Kong, but more importantly, also in New York – is now facing direct pressure from the United States to curtail Iranian oil imports. According to one of Reuters’s sources, U.S. officials visited Sinopec in Beijing in August and demanded steep reductions of oil imports from Iran. “This round is completely different from last time. Then it was more of a consultative tone, but this time it’s almost like an ultimatum,” the source told Reuters. Last month, Chinese refiners and oil traders were said to have started to switch to using Iran-owned tankers for almost all their crude oil imports from Tehran, in order to keep Iranian oil flowing to China. But shipping and insurance sources told Reuters on Friday that Iran faces difficulties in insuring its own ships because western re-insurance firms are quitting their Iranian businesses.”
Davy on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 6:04 am
“US Retailers Warn Trade Wars Will Unleash “Unavoidable” Price Hikes Before Holidays”
https://tinyurl.com/y8gaukbc
“Many retailers will now be faced with a difficult choice of whether to pass the cost increases across to consumers or to take a hit on their margins. The exact response will vary from retailer to retailer but, both strategies are likely to be used.” In a late cycle economic environment, tariffs are especially dangerous for retailers because it could exacerbate the effects of other rising costs, “including more spending on technology, elevated logistics costs, higher gas prices, and rising labor expenses. In short, additional tariffs are the last thing the retail sector wants,” according to Saunders.”
“So from now until the rest of the year, retailers will factor in about 10% tariffs. But when 2019 comes around, the tariffs are set to rise to 25%. “Should an agreement between China and the U.S. not be found before the New Year, retailers could well start 2019 on a gloomy note,” Saunders warned. An all-out trade war between the US and China is emerging as the most plausible scenario for 2019 and beyond, a risk that could severely impact US retailers and the American consumer.”
Davy on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 6:04 am
The drivers of a 2019 recession are in place globally. The US and China trade battle will be disruptive next year. This year it has been a game of front running the tariffs by actually increasing activity to beat the deadlines. Tapering by almost all global central banks is increasing rate sensitive sectors and constraining liquidity. The emerging market is in crisis with a variety of problems related to the above. US markets are extremely overvalued and have more downside risk than upside gain. We then have a bruising political theater that will start in late 2019 to oust Trump. The question is how much of a slowdown? The question is also will the tools be there to mitigate the downturn?
We have been in uncharted waters with the easing and the rate repression. We are still in uncharted waters for the response for the inevitable recessionary cycle that will surely happen. I doubt we have eliminated business cycles despite the feeling they have been done away with. Will the central banks be able to come to the rescue after shooting their wad after the last crisis? Demand destruction anyone?
joe on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 7:48 am
Davy, nothing will happen until interest rates go up. Companies and consumers are leveraged to the hilt as rates are too low to be worth the bother to save. With a still aging population, climate change, and low wage growth globally there’s little to fear from tariffs as any inflation will simply be absorbed by consumers as credit card debt. The EUSSR is not in a position to defy the US, that won’t happen until the Germans complete their dreamed of gas piplines network of Russia (NordStream1/2, Turkstream) and the Southern Corridor. With gas cheaper than oil, you can cheaply operate electrical motors and reduce emissions. Cloggie is not wrong about EU – RUSSIAN ambitions to be business parter. Russia wants to take the next step, they want to plug in Iran/Qatar as well and destroy the petrol motor industry. The only alternative the US can offer is expensive LNG from its own fracked wells and Saudi oil which is also expensive for Europeans who pay much more for a gallon of gas than Americans.
With Brexit more or less in a death spiral thanks to (pro Remain) Teresa May, a no deal Brexit will likey trigger an election and another referendum (just like the Irish Nice Treaty issues) will be very probobly the outcome. The US could lose a major ally over this and result in the US placing sanctions on Germany or risk losing geopolitical power even faster than it is already.
The Iraq war began the split, a war of choice by the UK and US but the UK can’t seem to muster the balls to cut itself free of Europe so history will play its part and pull a weak UK into its circle of power politics rather than a leadership role with the pain of economic damage. Staying in Europe only makes sense if you believe that our material and physical conforms will be the same or better tomorrow than today. I don’t believe that’s true, so staying in would be a mistake because when rates do finally go up and the impact of the 2008 collapse is really felt by the people then civil unrest is the only outcome.
makati1 on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 7:37 pm
joe, a good summation of current events and their probable outcomes.
I AM THE MOB on Sat, 29th Sep 2018 9:02 pm
How the anti-vaxxers are winning in Italy
Populist coalition government appears to have capitalised on unfounded fears over vaccination side-effects
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/anti-vaxxers-italy-vaccine-measles-epidemic-europe-us-vaccination-global-health-security-agenda-a8560021.html?utm_source=reddit.com
Clogg great populist movement are made up of anti vaxxers..Anything to scare monger stupid old white people..
LMFAO!