From: Adam <""4thwormcastfromthemolehill\"{at}the field.near
the bridge">

Phil Payne wrote:
>> A few "high-fives" between the Iranians and others, and
the Gulf becomes
> an
>> "Arab sea".
>
> Ooops.
>
> Oh shit.
>
> How vital is Hormuz navigatĦon to the sustainability of the US operations in
> Iraq?
>

It's a bugger carrying stuff over the jebel. However.....the more fun thing
is as ever the price of oil. Shit happens in hormuz, get yer bike out.....

It is interesting that a much less noticed fact...I suppose coz they're
dinky ships...is that lots of minesweepers are now in the area. How odd.


> Talk about playing with fucking fire.

Tis a bit dim. Bright move would have been to do as the Omani's suggested
& that's run a pipe network out to the Omani Indian Ocean coast. If
done straight across the musandam then it'd not even have to be a long pipe
& it could even terminate in Ras al khaima (part of the UAE).

The problemo is that the UAE should be part of Oman but they were brought
under direct UK control via a treaty with the Sultan (ergo their old name
of "Trucial Oman") & thus they always feel a little
vulnerable wrt Oman.

However there were some fun pieces in the article. e.g. why not have a
GCC-Iran lovein?

(A) it's nowt new. Persian troops know the other side of the water well
& have for centuries. e.g. the water channels in Oman known as Falajs
were built by the persians & the name is from the Persian. Aslo the Sha
was always sending his Imperial Iranian Armed Forces to help his Arab
neighbors (e.g. Oman) in the quest for anti-communism/stability.

(B) The EU/NATO has removed Franco-Anglo-Germano tensions from Europe for
the benefit of all. No reason to think that an Arabo-Persian defence
& then deeper agreement wrt econ etc wouldn't be of huge benefit to the
area & beyond.

BTW

" Officials said Iran may have been behind the destruction of a Kuwait
refinery over the weekend, Middle East Newsline reported. They said the
reports that the refinery was demolished by an "accident" was
incorrect."

Chuckle. Indeed but who.....the list is long from those who dislike Kuwait
to those who simply want to see a higher price for oil.


"There are assets being gathered in the Indian Ocean off the coast of
India and Pakistan as well as assets moving toward the Gulf from the Red
Sea," an official said.
"

Hum. That won't be amusing the Indians any. It's a little known fact that
the behaviour of a CVBG in the Bay of Bengal during the "liberation of
Bangladesh" & the US admin reaction to Indian protests is what
caused the Indians to go nuclear.

Anyway it looks like the CV's are in the Indian Ocean & the smaller
faster assets are "providing cover for the minesweepers".

Let's hope that US navigation has improved such like unlike the Vincennes
they don't operate within in Iranian waters & then get all trigger
happy as a result.


Adam

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