Middle East conflict

[onetrack]

Yeah Willie, I've always been puzzled why QLD has high fuel prices, bit of an oil company rort, I would think. I can recall when QLD had the cheapest fuel in Australia, about 5c or 6c L cheaper than anywhere else, when fuel was less than a $1 L. I think it was because QLD had no state tax on fuel, unlike the other States? 

[willedoo]

I've always assumed our fuel would be shipped into Brisbane then distributed to SE Qld. from there. The thing I could never figure out was why Toowoomba always had much cheaper fuel than the Sunshine Coast when it had to be hauled up a 2,000' jump up compared to an easy flat run to truck it up the coast. Distance is about the same.

[onetrack]

6 minutes ago, willedoo said:

A bit of context: fuel has been cheap lately (1.80ish) and now diesel has gone up to not much above it's normal price. Most of the time I'd pay around $1.98 for diesel.

Yeah, I was surprised to find out recently that diesel use has gone up substantially in recent years, primarily due to diesel delivery van sales booming - primarily due to the boom in online shopping.

 

I'd have to opine that petrol sales have dropped, largely because many petrol cars are being traded on EV's.

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-02/diesel-sales-surge-but-lpg-and-e10-plunge-fuel-prices/106367856

[nomadpete]

At risk of thread drift, (getting back to the WARs),  allow me to introduce my hero (sadly, deceased)....

Col David Hackworth.

 

Korean War & Viet Nam war.

 

His book "About Face" is my go - to war book.

 

Relevance? Simply this, "Has anything changed over the last 90 years  when it comes to Americano arrogance and warmongering?

 

I see the same sort of background happening now WRT Iran, as Col Hackworth observed during Viet Nam's war. Have they learned nothing?

 

No exit plan.

 

No "Mission Accomplished" target.

 

No concrete mission plan.

 

Lots of USA military might, but no follow up plan.

 

PS I need to track down my copy of his book, leant it many times  returened n-1 times

 

[onetrack]

Oh, they've got a plan, alright - and it all centres around our ol' mate Donny, and the ever-increasing level of his personal financial gains - from any worldly conquests, Presidential decisions, and trade deals jockeying.

 

I must say, I'm surprised he hasn't managed to score a deal with the U.S. military, to use Trump-branded armaments. I bet he's seen the profits of the U.S. military-industrial complex, and is itching to get his major share of them.

[willedoo]

Last night I was listening to a retired US general speaking about the suicidal plan the Kurds over the border in Iraq have of launching a ground invasion of Iran. The general gave the obvious reasons why boots on the ground would be a disaster in Iran - sheer size, terrain, logistics and so on. He seems to think the better option would be to take out Khark Island in the northern gulf, where he said 80 to 90% of Iranian oil is exported from., and by doing so, starve them of funds. China gets around 12 or 13% of their oil from Iran, but that oil makes up 87% of Iran's oil sales.

[willedoo]

Time will tell as far as Khark Island goes. There's always the possibility they're hoping to get the job done while preserving Khark Island's infrastructure. If they had air superiority, it would be a simple matter of obliterating it with B-52s and cheap iron bombs, but no sign of that yet.

 

Just as an edit: what the general said about Khark Island seemed to neglect the fact the US Navy could probably stop any Iranian tankers getting through the straits, so that would have the same economic effect I would think.

Edited 23 hours ago by willedoo

[willedoo]

Maybe that's why Vladimir is so quiet on all this. If China can't source that oil from Iran, Russia will pick it up. Money to be made. 

 

He might also pick up some oil trade to China to replace their Venezuela imports. Last year more than half of Venezuelan exports went to China. From Vlad's perspective - lose a couple of allies, but gain a heap of money.

Edited 23 hours ago by willedoo

[Litespeed]

And Trump has announced India can buy Russian oil without any sanction because arab supplies are limited.

 

Its just getting more clear what Trump values.

 

[randomx]

Yeah seen reports , l know there's many and any can say whichever which way you thinks playing out . But they've said this is all actually playing into Bunker dweller Putes hands and he'll be getting good money for his oil again.

Sooo, he'll be able to keep financing the war. Great !

 

Personally, l reckon This is all gonna turn into the biggest Trump shyt show yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[red750]

When most company stations, BP, Shell, etc., or 7 Eleven were at $2.19 or $2.29 per litre, I filled up at a small independent station at $1.79 per litre. While all pumps were busy, there were no queues. As one car pulled out, another pulled in.

 

With the small number of km's I do, that full tank should do me for about 3 weeks.

[Marty_d]

I remember my Dad saying that if fuel ever got to 50c a litre, he'd sell the car and buy a horse.

He didn't, of course, but shows what it used to cost.

Mind you, I was probably about 10 then so that would be in 1982. House prices (and wages) were a lot less than 1/4 of today's, so fuel hasn't risen in price as much as other things.

[facthunter]

The Qld Government subsidised fuel prices to gain votes. Nev

[onetrack]

The media are having a wonderful time spreading fear and anxiety, claiming that petrol will be $2.50 a litre within a couple of days. There is zero reason why petrol should go from around $1.50 on Monday to $2.50 next week, we live in a global economy with oil sourced from dozens of sources, and a small jump in the price of oil per barrel, doesn't translate to a $1 a litre increase within 10 days. It's simply motorist-gouging at its finest, and I hope it sends EV sales through the roof.

[facthunter]

Fear and hate is what the crappy MSM are good at. We have a monopoly of a Murdoch controlled media HERE and that's real Bad News.  Nev

[old man emu]

It is just price gouging by the oil companies. Just think about this: The fuel in my town is delivered from a depot in town. The depot's tanks had fuel in them earlier in the week. If they have to be filled, then the fuel comes from the coast. It got to the coast in a tanker that sailed from Singapore a couple of weeks ago. The fuel was refined from crude that was shipped to Singapore months ago.

 

So the fuel I am buying at a price that was jacked up this week from its former price was bought an paid for at teh global price well before the current supply situation arose in the Middle East. 

[rgmwa]

It’s been reported that the Russians are supplying Iran with targeting information for their missiles. Donald might have to give his friend Vladimir a call.

[red750]

Pete Hegseth torpedoed an UNARMED ship sailing home from a friendly naval exercise, killed 87 sailors, and left the rest floating in the Indian Ocean without lifting a finger to help.

On March 4th, a U.S. submarine fired a single Mark 48 torpedo into the hull of the IRIS Dena, an Iranian frigate returning from India's MILAN 2026 multinational naval exercises. The ship had roughly 180 people on board. At least 87 were killed and 61 remain missing. Sri Lanka's navy had to step in and rescue the 32 survivors.

Here's what makes this even more sickening. Both the U.S. and Iran were participants in the same Indian-hosted exercise, which required ships to operate without live ammunition.

The U.S. sent a P-8A patrol aircraft that flew drills alongside the Dena just days before a submarine destroyed her. Former Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal called the attack premeditated, noting the U.S. knew exactly where the ship was because it had been invited to the same exercise.

Strategic affairs expert Brahma Chellaney put it bluntly: if the Dena was lightly armed or unarmed, the strike resembles a premeditated execution more than combat.

And Pete Hegseth? He bragged about it. Called it a "quiet death" at a Pentagon press conference, grinning like a man who just won a prize at the county fair. Trump has openly stated that wiping out Iran's navy is a key war objective.

The Second Geneva Convention requires belligerents to take all possible measures to search for and rescue the shipwrecked after an engagement at sea.

International law scholars, former Pentagon officials, and members of Congress are now openly debating whether this attack was legal and whether the U.S. violated its obligations by abandoning survivors in the water.

Sinking a ship that was someone's guest, that was following peacetime protocols, that couldn't fight back. Then leaving sailors to drown thousands of miles from home. That's not strength, thats a warcrime.

[rgmwa]

There were three Australians in the submarine crew who basically stayed in their bunks so we could say that Australia took no part in the attack.

[facthunter]

They are being trained as part of the AUKUS deal.. Please identify your source peter. There's other views on the issue. Pete Hegseth is a war veteran Bible Basher ie  Exteme RW Nut job.  nev

[nomadpete]

I'm no law expert, so my guess might be totally wrong.

 

I thought that it has always been fair game to sink any enemy shipping, in a declared war. There have been many examples in the last, by all sides.

 

But, is this conflict a declared war?

 

Normal maritime law fobids sailing away from a shipwreck, without rendering assistance to survivors. Says a lot about the new Department of War.

[red750]

A Facebook member's reply to a report that Hegseth (Hogsbreath) refused to answer a BBC reporters question about who was responsible for destroying a girls school, killing over 100 schoolgirls.

[red750]

3 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

Normal maritime law fobids sailing away from a shipwreck

Trump and Hogsbreath have both said they don't give a damn about the law.

[red750]

[randomx]

Frump couldn't giva stuff who's killed , hence his love and total admiration of the bunker dweller.

Frump would be pushin people out of windows to if he thought he'd get away with it.