Trump’s Hormuz blockade is live. Oil is at $102. China’s Defence Minister says the strait is open for Chinese ships and dares the US to stop them. A forty-nation coalition is forming against the blockade. And one of the last two tankers carrying pre-war oil on earth is heading to Australia. Urban Wronski on the war Trump cannot win.
The war now has the smell of salt, oil, and old empires trying to defy the tide. Thirty-three kilometres. That is the width of the Strait of Hormuz at its narrowest navigable point: two shipping lanes, each two miles wide, one in, one out, with … Continue reading Hormuz Dateline
JD Vance has just returned from negotiations with Iran. The Strait of Hormuz is still closed. Two C-130s are still on a dirt strip outside Isfahan. And the Vice President would like to explain, in his own words, why this is going tremendously. Urban Wronski channels Clarke and Dawe. Stand by.
On the morning of April 7, Donald Trump posted that a whole civilisation would die that night. He was not bluffing. Part Two of Urban Wronski’s Operation Epic Fury series examines the systematic destruction of Iranian universities, libraries and cultural institutions, the weapons tested on children, and what it means that none of the rules are being enforced.
Operation Epic Fury” sounds like it was coined by a fourteen-year-old playing too much Call of Duty. In many ways, it’s a perfect fit for the Peter Pan that Donald Trump has running the Pentagon. Urban Wronski on the War of Donald’s Ear — how two homicidal maniacs borrowed one very willing ear, and launched a war.
Trump burned two C-130s on an Iranian runway, declared total victory, and is now threatening to demolish the power grid of 92 million people. Tonight is the deadline. Urban Wronski on the Easter debacle built on assumption, sustained by bluster, and ending in wreckage that no quantity of “WE GOT HIM!” can unbog.
Australia has signed up to another war without debate and without clarity. The costs are already visible, in rising prices, strained supply chains and a deepening entanglement that blurs the line between ally and participant.
Bernard Keane called Trump a toddler or vandal. After his April 1 speech, even that feels too kind. A sharp dissection of improvised theatre, ally humiliation, and the accelerating reordering of global power.
Thirty days in, Operation Epic Fury has achieved something genuinely historic: it has made the world less safe, energy more expensive, American alliances more threadbare, Iran more unified, and the US military more fractured — all simultaneously. Pete Hegseth is praying for Armageddon. His troops are filing conscientious objector applications. And in the Strait of Hormuz, the tankers stay put. Urban Wronski on the stalemate that no ground invasion can break and no prayer can win.
A seductive theory claims the US-Israel war on Iran is driven by LNG profits. It sounds convincing. It is also wrong. When examined closely, the market logic collapses, leaving behind a far messier and more dangerous reality.
Once a week, I share one poem with commentary and insights.
Society, politics, economics, education, population, immigration and demography
Your source for what's trending in the news!
davidtylerpoet
Exclusives | Investigations | News
Sometimes Uncomfortable Reading but…
A topnotch WordPress.com site
An exploration of the hazardous objects and features found in the Victorian home
Psychology & Psychoanalysis in the 21st Century
Musings from home and hearth
Adding my voice to Australian Politics
New, fearless, fresh and original Australian political comment, satire and more.
Political Enthusiasts, Proud ALP & PM Julia Gillard supporters! Dislike media bias. Hate racism, injustice and lies.
Real News - New News - Independent News
This WordPress.com site is the bee's knees
The AIMN is an online platform that provides a space for citizen and public interest journalists to engage in and contribute to independent media, focusing on politics, democracy, environment, and identity.
A topnotch WordPress.com site
SIT DOWN, HAVE A DRINK, RELAX.
Urban Wronski Writes 