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 8 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 8 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.