Middle East conflict

[randomx]

33 minutes ago, Marty_d said:

Diesel was 1.10 where you are? It hasn't been much below 1.80 here for years.

Yeah, 1.10- 1.05. You see, people don't even notice, so weird. Start of Covid and Ukr war, 1.05, 1.10 where l was.

That was typical though as l was going up and down to Melb all through that too and passing 100s of servos

Edited 6 hours ago by randomx

[onetrack]

Yes, diesel did go down to around $1.00 a litre during the worst period of COVID, but it didn't stay there for very long, only a few weeks. The price gougers love major disruptions - any chance to give a reason for a substantial price increase.

 

Spare a thought for a mate, he's driving his Landcruiser Troop Carrier from Esperance back to Victoria this coming week. Diesel is currently $2.29 L at Norseman and $2.99 a litre at Nullarbor Roadhouse.

 

But I paid $2.79 a litre for diesel at Mundrabilla on the Nullarbor, when I drove from Echuca to W.A. in May 2024, so maybe not such a big percentage increase in remote areas, as in the cities.

Diesel at Mundrabilla was the cheapest across all the Nullarbor roadhouses, back in May 2024. Nullarbor Roadhouse is always the dearest, you avoid the place like the plague.

 

I wouldn't fancy being a caravanner tripping around the country at present, the massive increase in fuel prices is going to see a lot of people curtail their caravanning holidays.

[nomadpete]

Oh the irony.

Iran makes Shahed drones. They sell them to Russia to use against Ukrainians. Of course they are using them now at home.

 

USA has been wasting very expensive missiles to destroy Shaheds. (Patriot missiles?) To the point that USA is depleting their missile stocks.

 

Now Ukraine are sending their own designed and Ukr made Sting interceptor drones designed especially for Shahed drones to help the US out! Cost? About $3500 each.

 

[nomadpete]

On another Middle East note, as if the wars there aren,'t already dirty enough, it looks like a big escalation has started. For the first time, a desalination plant has been struck.

 

The implications for civillians are immense.

 

% Potable water from desal plants:

Iran: 3%
UAE: 43%
Saudi: 70%
Kuwait: 90%
Israel: 70%
Oman: 86%

 

Of this starts a tit-for-tat response, a lot of civilians might get thirsty and desperate very quickly.

[onetrack]

Iran is already nearly out of water, thanks to bungling Islamic Fundamentalist leadership. They have only just very recently opened a desalination plant to provide them with water - I guess this may be the one hit?

 

The water situation was previously so dire, the Ayatollahs were discussing moving Tehran to some place where there was adequate water. Where that place was, is anyones guess.

 

There's going to be a lot of thirsty Iranian war refugees flooding into other countries soon.

 

https://e360.yale.edu/features/iran-water-drought-dams-qanats

 

https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/iran-launches-key-water-transfer-project-from-gulf-of-oman-t

 

(Ignore the news articles on Al Mayadeen, showing massive American losses. Al Mayadeen is a Beirut-based, Lebanese pan-Arabist satellite news channel, a propaganda mouthpiece for Hezbollah).

 

Edited 4 hours ago by onetrack

[facthunter]

Tehran is at a high altitude and a long way from the SEA.  Iranians are very well educated.. Nev

[kgwilson]

I travelled through Iran to Afghanistan in 1975 before the Shah was deposed. I found most locals polite but border officials etc were not. I even hitch hiked from the Turkish border to a small town & then took a bus to Tehran. The main roads were good having been built by the US but the rest was quite poor then. I was only there for a week & saw some amazing architecture & ancient sites. 

 

If the place wasn't run by Islamist fanatics it would be great. The Shah was very wealthy but most people were poor. One of the reasons for the original takeover.

 

Back to the sinking of the Iranian warship. US military sources stated it was the first sinking of a an enemy ship by a submarine launched torpedo since WW2. Well No. There have been 4 since and of course that included the British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror sinking the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano in 1982 during the Falklands war.

 

The Yanks don't get much right especially history that they continually re-write to suit their narrative.

 

As for fuel prices it doesn't bother me as they have yet to figure out how to tax the sun.

 

 

[onetrack]

All the Iranians here, that I have ever dealt with, are pleasant people to deal with, hard workers - and all despair at the state of the country they left.

 

The original Iranian Farsi (Persian) culture was held in high esteem for its civilised level, and the Farsi's reached high levels of sophistication in arts, poetry, mathematics, and numerous other fields.

They treated others in a civil manner, and social etiquette was well developed, and they were admired for centuries for their cultivated outlook.

 

But somewhere along the way, the cultured Farsi allowed other cultures to infiltrate their nation, and those cultures were Islamist fundamentalist rock apes, who worked on religious violence, religious repression, and subordination by devious means - and the artistic and highly educated Farsi's were overwhelmed, and their ability to deal with poor leadership was constantly beaten down.

 

One would hope, that soon, the cultured and educated Farsi's who believe in religious tolerance, and who formerly had good governmental processes, will gain the upper hand.

But I cannot see that happening unless there is much more major bloodshed to come, as the Islamist religious rock apes are still in too high a number, to allow that to happen.

They extend throughout many Islamic countries, and support religious repression and extreme murderous violence, at every attempt to remove them from power.

[facthunter]

 if you live in Godzone country why bother with $#!thole Places?  Nev

[facthunter]

Iranians are Shiite. Not the Most radical group by any means. Saudi ( the Kingdom) are an offshoot of Sunni (wahabi) but  may now go under another name are the Most extreme in interpreted doctrine.   Nev

[rgmwa]

3 hours ago, nomadpete said:

Oh the irony.

Iran makes Shahed drones. They sell them to Russia to use against Ukrainians. Of course they are using them now at home.

 

USA has been wasting very expensive missiles to destroy Shaheds. (Patriot missiles?) To the point that USA is depleting their missile stocks.

 

Now Ukraine are sending their own designed and Ukr made Sting interceptor drones designed especially for Shahed drones to help the US out! Cost? About $3500 each.

 

An even bigger irony is that the US manufactures it’s own version of a Shahed 136 drone called LUCAS. They reverse engineered a Shahed.

[onetrack]

The Americans have slowly woken up to the massive cost to their economy, of their ever-more-expensive weaponry. 

 

https://theconversation.com/the-us-is-using-repurposed-iranian-drone-technology-to-attack-iran-a-military-expert-explains-why-277397