What was that all about?
Two ships allegedly rescued, only 1,600 to go, then Operation Project Freedom gets suspended, but not before Kegsbreath delivers yet another jut-jawed speech ... and peace is near, but shots fired and too soon to sit down to negotiate, yet negotiations are going astonishingly well and it'll all be sorted in two weeks or so.
The pond could only make sense of it all if the bromancer had been to hand, but instead the reptiles sent in Cameron ...
The header: Donald Trump pushes for new negotiations with Iran as US halts Strait of Hormuz operation; Donald Trump has paused military operations against Iran and softened US rhetoric to revive stalled peace negotiations ahead of his Beijing meeting with Xi Jinping.
The caption: A woman waves an Iranian flag in front of an anti-US billboard in Tehran referring to President Trump and the Strait of Hormuz. Picture: AFP
Cameron could only summon up a three minute read, which seemed a tad short to sort it all out ...
Trump would love nothing more than to strike a deal with Iran to end the war in the coming days, ahead of his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing next week.
The reptiles decided the best way to help was to load it up with AV distractions ... U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (May 5) he would briefly pause an operation to help ships escape the Strait of Hormuz, citing progress toward a comprehensive agreement with Iran. Syakir Jasnee reports.
Cameron struggled to make sense of it all, just like the pond.
The great unknown is whether Iran will take this olive branch provided by the US to also concede some ground in its own excessive demands which might pave the way to end the 10-week conflict.
The motivation for Trump to end the war is growing with each week as the global energy crisis triggered by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues to hold world markets to ransom and eat into his political standing in the US, where fuel prices have risen by 50 per cent since the war began. Iran’s economy is also suffering as it is robbed of oil revenue by the US blockade of its ports, but Iran has so far gambled that it can outlast the US in an economic game of chicken.
Trump’s decision to temporarily halt the so-called Project Freedom for the US to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz and Rubio’s claim that combat operations have ended were the latest in an endless series of rhetorical U-turns by the President and his officials on the war.
Trump claims that the decision to suspend Project Freedom for now is aimed at giving negotiations with Iran another chance.
The move has been accompanied by a pronounced dial-down in rhetoric from both Rubio and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Who could trust a word the head of the clown carnival says?
US President Donald Trump claims Iran should wave the “white flag of surrender” and make a deal with America to end the war in the Middle East. “They should wave the white flag, the white flag of surrender,” he said. “When are they going to cry uncle?”
Cry uncle? Oh the late night comedians ran with that one - every day's another field day - but the pond must cry nuncle like the Fool in Lear, and move on ...
Rubio says Operation Epic Fury is now concluded, although such claims are also part of an effort to avoid the need for the President to seek formal approval from congress for war activities 60 days after beginning military action.
Hegseth, whose over-the-top muscular rhetoric has been a constant during the war, now claims the US is “not looking for a fight” over the Strait of Hormuz.
Importantly, the US has chosen not to interpret Iran firing several missiles and drones at US ships in the strait this week or its strikes against oil facilities in the UAE as constituting a breach of the existing ceasefire.
Iran has so far responded to the moves with its usual rhetorical belligerence, with Iran’s parliamentary Speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf saying “the status quo is intolerable for America; while we have not even begun yet”.
To add to the sense of confusion and chaos, the reptiles flung in Liddle Marco ...
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke on the proceedings of the war in Iran as the US transition from Project Epic Fury to Project Freedom. “We told you guys from the very beginning, and we are very consistent in this messaging, the operation that has concluded was going to destroy their navy, they have no navy left,” Mr Rubio said. “Their ability to build their shield behind which they could hide their nuclear program was wiped out … that was the purpose of this operation from day one. “The operation is over, Epic Fury, as the president notified Congress, we are done with that stage of it.”
By the end of Cameron's short survey the pond remained completely clueless...
If Iran were willing to come back to the negotiating table with a half-decent proposal on suspending its uranium enrichment for its nuclear program, then the Trump administration might be tempted to grab at such a deal.
At least publicly, both sides give the impression of being a long way from an acceptable peace deal. Iran has refused Trump’s demand that it surrender its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and end all enrichment inside the country. Iran has also rejected US attempts to persuade it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
But Trump’s good cop/bad cop routine with Iran is back into “good cop” mode. The question is whether Iran will take this chance to end the war now or prolong the uneasy ceasefire in the belief it has the upper hand and time on its side.
All is clear as mud, though the brilliant Golding did make some sense...
As for the rest, it was the usual disappointing reptile parade, with petulant Peta leading the way ...
Labor has broken its election promise by preparing negative gearing changes for the budget despite Anthony Albanese saying such policies were ‘off the table’.
By Peta Credlin
Columnist
She would say that, and the pond is on a winning streak with the intermittent archive of late, but this morning the "save" function seems to have broken yet again ...
So here's the url for possible future use ...
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary%2Flook-out-labor-has-revived-its-old-class-war-instincts%2Fnews-story%2F7926b8131432548c55751ebb6e41c853?amp
No matter how many times the pond tried, PP simply couldn't be saved - perhaps she was beyond redemption - so here's a teaser trailer explaining why the pond couldn't be bothered going the whole ten yards ...
Just straight political blather of an extremely dull kind.
The pond has been over that sort of reptile one-eyed jihad for such a long time.
All the pond will note is that the reptiles were surprisingly quiet this morning about the petulant one's old sock puppet, the onion muncher, jostling for the top job of El Presidente Supremo with Lord Downer ...
For any of that gossip, noted by correspondents in the comments section, you had to head off to the AFR, and at least the intermittent archive had recorded that ...
The pond should note that the onion muncher was out and about in the hive mind, in his usual sensitive, deeply narcissistic, attention-seeking way, allowing the families involved to grieve without making any political capital ..
Culture? An innocent girl is dead. Let’s have some truth
Life on the ground often fails to conform to the Dark Emu romance of deeply spiritual people.
Unpopular figure? That computes.
The stench was too much for the pond, so it was a relief that the intermittent archive had caught that one...
As for the rest the diligent Geoff kept firing away, and he too made it into the archive ...
After breaking promises on superannuation tax concessions and stage three tax cuts and being re-elected, the PM would feel confident he can breach the trust of voters and get away with it.
By Geoff Chambers
Political editor
One of his efforts sent the lettuce into a teary, sodden trip down memory lane ...
One Nation stands poised to claim its first lower-house seat in Farrer as former Liberal leader Sussan Ley remains conspicuously absent on a six-week overseas holiday.
By Geoff Chambers
Political editor
Just to keep the lettuce happy, the pond slipped in a teaser trailer ...
Ah memories ...
It's all a go, and the immortal Rowe was on hand to help celebrate the bulls ...
Some might think it a relief that Jennings of the fifth form couldn't be saved into the archive by the pond ...
As women and children linked to Islamic State return, questions mount over arrests, monitoring and the long-term risks of radicalisation.
By Peter Jennings
Contributor
The pond wouldn't have gone there, but here's the url in case it comes in handy ...
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary%2Fisis-families-return-expose-limits-of-counterterror%2Fnews-story%2F22abee3ff53baef9645411479b1e6cea?amp
The Onion Muncher exploiting a tragedy in order to ignite yet another round of the culture wars; who would have expected that?
ReplyDeleteHad to laugh at Uncle Phil’s comment that the Muncher has been out of politics since being booted from Parliament. He’s never stopped trying to meddle in politics since then; after all, what other skills does he have?
"after all, what other skills does he [Abbott] have?"... hitting with words and concepts, whiteanting and using a metaphorical kosh to bludgeon those without power.
DeleteLord Downer's hose as a vehicle for Abbott's onions will combine to make for... a sap to bludgeon voters with ala...
"In the 1800s, street gangs didn’t have guns. They used cloth bags or socks filled with sand as homemade weapons to conk people over the head with so they could steal their money and their goods. The next technological evolution was the blackjack. Also referred to as a cosh in England and a sap in the U.S., a blackjack was a lead weight sewed into a flexible leather club, pocket-sized for easy concealment.
The term sandbag was adopted by poker players to describe someone who would pretend to have a bad hand when he had a good one. This would lure other players into continuing to bet, fattening the pot for the sandbagger who quietly held a powerful but hidden hand. In golf, sandbagging is deliberately misrepresenting yourself as a person of lesser ability to gain an unfair advantage and improve your chances of winning. You do it by manipulating the handicap system.
https://www.letstakeacloserlook.com/2022/09/12/not-that-blackjack/
Dear Dorothy - thank you for the 'YouTube' clip. I have amended the entry in my print copy, Webster's second edition, and we will try to remember to pronounce 'mutilization', because that is how The King wants it.
ReplyDeleteAnd the Onion Muncher as President of the Liberal Party? Surely the Woman from Wycheproof would be a better pick. After all, the way she tells it, she was the brains behind Tones as PM; she could continue her Lib promotion on Sky Noise, doing as so many others who appear there, with active Liberal party affiliations, but feeling no need to declare those links; and she is a 'Woman', but would be able to assert, endlessly, that that had nothing to do with her elevation. Hey, if Teena McQueen can rise to party office - anyone can.
ReplyDeleteYou might have a point there, Chad, but somehow I reckon the Petulant Pet is better off being just a little bit in the background.
DeleteAnd wau, I had completely forgotten the existence of Teena McQueen - some people just deserve to be forgotten, don't they.