u/AnonymousLoner1

While Israel gladly fights to the last American, the US gladly fights to the last Emirati. 🤦‍♂️

"Trump admin. urging UAE to seize Iran's Lavan Island, take greater role in war - report

A former senior Trump security official told the Telegraph that using UAE forces would avoid putting US troops in the line of fire.

“Go take ’em!” the official said. “It would be UAE boots on the ground instead of the US.”

...

It was also recently disclosed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the UAE in March at the beginning of Operation Roaring Lion, and that talks produced a “significant breakthrough,” though Abu Dhabi denied the visit took place.

Dr. Burcu Ozcelik, a researcher at the Royal United Services Institute, a defense and security think tank, was cited in the Telegraph as stating that the war has “accelerated a US-Israel-UAE alignment.” However, Dr. Ozcelik added that this new alignment and deeper military cooperation with Israel could lead other Arab states to view the Emirates as complicit in Israel’s campaign in Gaza."

"US President Donald Trump said the US objective of recovering highly enriched uranium from Iran was “more for public relations than it is for anything else,” while reiterating his commitment to removing the nuclear material.

Mr Trump said in an interview with Fox News aired on the evening of May 14 in the US that the mission to recover the uranium, which is thought to be buried beneath the rubble of bombed nuclear sites, could be viewed as unnecessary because the US was maintaining round-the-clock surveillance.

“We have nine cameras on that site, on those three sites, 24 hours a day,” Mr Trump said. “We know exactly what’s happening. Nobody’s even gotten close to it.”

Still, the US president said, he ultimately would rather get the material out of the country.

“I just feel better if I got it, actually,” Mr Trump said. “But it’s, I think it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else.”

"Influential US hawk warns Washington’s war risks a major shift in global power and a ‘disastrous’ outcome for Israel

Robert Kagan, one of the United States’ most prominent neoconservative voices and a long-time pro-Israel hawk, has warned that Washington is heading towards “total defeat” in its war on Iran - a setback he says “can neither be repaired nor ignored”.

Writing in The Atlantic, Kagan said the damage inflicted by the conflict cannot be reversed.

“There will be no return to the status quo ante, no ultimate American triumph that will undo or overcome the harm done,” he concluded bleakly.

Kagan, who co-founded the neoconservative think tank Project for the New American Century in 1997, helped shape a political current that pushed the US to project military power globally.

That doctrine culminated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and deeply influenced the George W. Bush administration.

He remained closely tied to that policy ecosystem, including through his wife, Victoria Nuland, who served as an advisor to the arch neoconservative Vice President Dick Cheney. For years, Kagan championed US interventionism - making his stark warning about the current war all the more striking.

In his analysis, Kagan argued that control over the Strait of Hormuz has fundamentally shifted the balance of power.

“With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in the region and one of the key players in the world,” Kagan noted.

He added that the war has not only strengthened rivals such as China and Russia but has also eroded Washington’s global standing.

“Far from demonstrating American prowess, as supporters of the war have repeatedly claimed, the conflict has revealed an America that is unreliable and incapable of finishing what it started. That is going to set off a chain reaction around the world as friends and foes adjust to America’s failure,” he said.

'Disastrous for Israel'

Kagan warned that US President Donald Trump now has limited options to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting Washington may have exhausted its leverage.

He compared the scale of the current crisis to some of the most damaging moments in US military history, including the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the Vietnam War. Unlike those conflicts, he argued, the United States may not be able to recover from the consequences this time.

“Defeat for the United States, therefore, is not only possible but likely,” he stressed.

Kagan said Iran’s ability to counter US pressure leaves Washington with few viable paths forward without triggering severe damage to Gulf economies and the wider global system.

“If this isn’t checkmate, it’s close,” he added.

He also stressed that Tehran is unlikely to relinquish its grip over the Strait of Hormuz, which he described as a powerful strategic lever.

“Iran cannot afford to let the strait go, no matter how good a deal it thought it could get. For one thing, how reliable is any deal with Trump?”

In a separate interview with PBS, Kagan extended his warning to Israel, arguing that the war could backfire on one of Washington’s closest allies.

“This war has the potential of ending in a very disastrous way for Israel precisely because the leverage in the region and the influence in the region is going to shift away from the United States and Israel and toward Iran and its supporters.”

"House Republicans passed a bill on Wednesday that would allow nationwide year-round sales of E15, a blend of gasoline mixed with 15 percent ethanol, also known as Unleaded 88—a product that refiners and retailers normally cannot sell in around half the country during the summer months due to air pollution concerns.

The ​H.R. 1346 bill, or the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, passed the House with a vote of 218 to 203, but still needs to be approved by a 60 percent majority at the Senate to move forward to President Donald Trump’s desk.

Lawmakers hope that the measure would give relief to drivers at the pumps ahead of the busy summer season, when demand for fuel increases. **National average gas prices have soared above $4.50 per gallon since the start of the Iran war.**

**As of Thursday, the national average gas price was $4.53 per gallon,** up by roughly $1.50 since late February, when gas prices in the country were just below the $3 mark, according to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA).

In March, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had issued a temporary waiver to allow the sale of E15 from May 1 to May 20. At the same time, the agency also announced the removal of all federal impediments to sales of E10—a gasoline blend mixed with 10 percent ethanol—across the country.

Ethanol, a clear, colorless, volatile, and flammable alcohol produced by fermenting sugars from agricultural crops such as corn or sugarcane, generally reduces greenhouse gases, but E15 can produce more smog-forming emissions when it evaporates in heat.

E15 is generally cheaper than E10. According to a 2024 estimate by the EPA, the E15 blend was then about $0.25 a gallon cheaper than E10. The Renewable Fuels Association estimates the price for E15 to be often 5-10 percent lower than the one for E10.

E15 is a mixture of 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline. This formulation is slightly different from standard fuel, E10, meaning it has 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline.

According to a report by MotorBiscuit, the standard fuel has an octane rating (the fuel's ability to withstand compression in an internal combustion engine without premature detonation) of 87, with ethanol carrying a higher octane rating of 114.

However, while the E15 rollout can lower prices, ethanol does contains less energy than gasoline, so eventually with E15, a driver will end up burning more fuel for the same amount of distance, albeit fuel which is slightly cheaper than standard gasoline.

According to the EPA's website, it previously approved E15 for use in light-duty conventional vehicles of model year 2001 and newer, through a Clean Air Act waiver request. Gas stations are not required to sell E15, but some have started offering E15 due to state and federal incentives for upgrading equipment and better profit margins when compared with regular gasoline.

E15 is available in 31 states at just over 3,000 stations, and vehicles approved for E15 use include flexible fuel vehicles and conventional vehicles of model year 2001 and newer. Vehicles prohibited from using E15 include all motorcycles, all vehicles with heavy-duty engines, such as school buses and delivery trucks, and all engines in off-road equipment, such as chain saws and gasoline lawn mowers."

"Chinese satellite imagery firm MizarVision, which rose to fame with its analysis of American military deployments in the US-Israel war on Iran, is treating its addition to the US sanctions list as a badge of honour in its hiring campaign."

Imagine being so good at fighting western imperialism that you make it to their ban list, and it makes your company look even better for top talent applicants!