day twenty-one (13. 279)

As Tehran marks the celebration of Nowruz (previously), the Persian New Year, Israel continues airstrikes on the capital, Netanyahu speaking earlier to allay claims that he pressured the US to drop negotiations and enter into the fight, whilst suggesting that a ground component may be necessary to finish what they’ve started, “You cannot make a revolution from the air.” Also earlier, Hegseth spoke to the press pool, delivering a SITREP on the progress of the war, characterised as going swimming and ahead of schedule although still not offering much in the way of planning or objectives, meanwhile Trump hosted the Japanese prime minister in the Oval Office, one of the Asian countries he implored for military aid to secure the Strait of Hormuz. For her part, Takaichi explained to Trump that Japan’s ability for intervention and military deployment outside of its borders was curtailed constitutionally by the laws drafted for the country by the American occupying forces after World War II, maintaining her composure and playing to Trump’s interests even after a rather breathtakingly awkward political gaffe (see also) by the president, when asked by a Japanese reporter why the US attacked Iran without forewarning to its allies, joking about the importance of the element of surprise, something Japan ought to know about considering Pearl Harbour. Afterwards a gala dinner was held with guests including tech executives, cabinet members and donors like Miriam Adelson whose late husband advocated for nuclear strikes on Iran for the unveiling of a commemorative gold coin bearing Trump’s image to be minted for America’s upcoming two-hundred fiftieth birthday, approved by the US Commission of Fine Arts.

synchronoptica

one year ago: travel advisories for the US (with synchronopticæ), relative time, seismic activity in real time plus US suggest takeover of Ukrainian nuclear power plants

twelve years ago: an epic Finnish name generator 

thirteen years ago: digital restrictions management 

fourteen years ago: greenwashing, reunited Germany’s solidarity pact tariff plus tech platform comebacks 

fifteen years ago: patrolling Libya’s no-fly zone 

sixteen years ago: seasonal affective disorders 

day twenty (13. 276)

Following an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian south natural gas field, Tehran retaliated with more attacks on energy infrastructure in neighbouring Gulf states including Kuwait and Qatar—prompting Trump to threaten to “massively blow up” the rest of the damaged reservoir. Whilst the US administration denies any foreknowledge of the Israeli plan, sources tell the press it was coordinated and approved by Trump as leverage to re-open the Strait of Hormuz, which when the fighting pauses, Iran proposes a transit fee, like for the Panama Canal. Saudi Arabia is contemplating a military response to the constant volley of missiles and drones on its territory. Fuel prices continue to climb, jumping by as much as forty percent in Europe.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the MAGA aesthetic (with synchronopticæ), Sweet Georgia Brown (1925) plus assorted links worth the revisit

twelve years ago: conspiratorial thinking 

thirteen years ago: springtime rituals plus debating de-extinction

fourteen years ago: more on sovereign defaults 

seventeen years ago: Malagasy names 

day nineteen (12. 274)

As Israeli ground forces begin incursions in southern Lebanon, with the intent of occupation, under the cover extensive airstrikes on central Beirut, Iran confirms the assassinations of security chief Ali Larijani and Basij militia commander Gholamreya Soleimani, vowing revenge for their deaths, with a fatwa issued against Israeli leader Netayahu. Israeli defence forces also claim to have killed intelligence chief Esmaeil Khatib.  The International Maritime Organisation (previously) holds an extraordinary session to evacuate tens of thousands marooned in the Persian Gulf and sue for safe passage. Remaining defiant, Iran insists its nuclear programme would not significantly change and again reiterates its stance the development atomic weapons as the realisation seeps in that Trump’s war of choice, pressured or otherwise, is quickly transforming into a war of necessity by the aggressors’ own making pulling the whole world into this conflict with no obvious way to extricate the parties.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ) plus filmmaker John Landis

twelve years ago: a visit to the Völkerslachtdenkmal 

thirteen years ago: a financial lifeline for Greece 

fourteen years ago: ceremonial office 

fifteen years ago: a run on iodised salt 

sixteen years ago: MKUltra and other covert operations

seventeen years ago: France mulls rejoining NATO in full 

odni (12. 273)

As the Trump administration tries to pull in allies into his illegal war on Iran, the director of the US national counterterrorism centre—under the cabinet office of the director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Joseph Clay Kent dramatically tendered his resignation, unable to in “good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran” as it posed no imminent threat and was manifest that the conflict was prompted due to pressure from Israel, lobbyists and the echo chamber of media outlets. Offered without real evidence though likely true, the combat veteran, former CIA paramilitary operative and widower who lost his wife in a suicide bombing in Syria, the former congressional candidate and stalwart Trump loyalist’s departure is ringed with previously controversial and false stances, including ties to white-nationalists during his legislative tenure (ultimately costing Kent the election), support for the narrative of the stolen election, vaccine denialism and framing the capitol insurrection as a peaceful protest. Whilst unclear if this act signals any further splintering within the administration, Kent not seen as a major player within the cabinet and given a plumb sinecure posting after his defeat, such words certainly do not further ingratiate Trump’s cause to allies, whom he simultaneously discounted as superfluous and mistaken for joining in on the offensive.

day eighteen (13. 272)

Shocked and angered by the perceived ingratitude on the part of Asian and European allies not thanking the US for intervention in the Middle East and unwillingness to join the crusade, Trump says he will soon announce those nations that will help open the Strait of Hormuz, also telling reporters he expects operations to be wrapped up soon.

Not consulted prior and with no clear strategic objectives, Germany—whom the US has suggested should take up the mantle for leadership of the alliance in a couple of years from America—states that this adventure is not NATO’s war and the EU, particularly condemning the Israeli ground invasion in southern Lebanon not wanting to be drawn into a wider conflict and are working to de-escalate the situation. The US Green Zone surrounding the Baghdad embassy came under more attacks as Trump again expressed surprise over the blowback of his magnanimous act of aggression. Meanwhile, Donald Trump says he expects to have “the honour of taking Cuba” as his oil blockage plunges the country into darkness.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: alien enemies (with sychronopticæ) plus more autopen controversy 

thirteen years ago: unexpected snow, the art of Keith Haring, antennas and broadcasting towers plus mesh-worm probes

fourteen years ago: the Obamas in Sgt Pepper-style, mass-surveillance at the pump plus a possible link between carbon-dioxide and obesity

fifteen years ago: automated skulduggery 

day seventeen (13. 270)

Contrary to boasting that the war has already been won and telling a UK reluctant to enter this illegal war of choice, Trump is now calling for a coalition of nations to send battleships to protect the Strait of Hormuz and restart transit. Specifically calling out Japan, China, South Korea, Australia, the UK and France as reliant on unblocking this vital maritime artery, all of whom have reservations and are refusing to commit at this juncture—Britain is sending mine-sweeping drones—Trump says refusal to cooperate has dire implications for the future of the NATO alliance, only the latter two being members of the mutual defence pact, without cooperation, which is probably exactly the objective. Iran is calling the joint US-Israeli bombing of its oil infrastructure an act of ecocide and a war-crime.

synchronoptica

one year ago: an AI-enhanced Billy Bass (with synchronopticæ), rewilding one’s browsing experience plus DC socialite Pearl Meste

fifteen years ago: Germany debates discontinuing nuclear energy plus On the Beach

sixteen years ago: spring break hot spots and no-go zones

day sixteen (13. 267)

Rebuffing calls from allied Gulf states under attack for their hosting of American assets (materiel and business interests declared legitimate targets and intimating that some strikes are being carried out covertly by US and Israeli aggressors) for ceasefire negotiations, Trump rejects talks outright saying that Iran is demanding too much and expresses surprise that the conflict spread, insisting again he has decimated the oil export hub of Kharg Island and may destroy more facilities for target practise. US federal communications commission chair has accused media outlets of putting out fake news and hoaxes regarding the special operation and threatens to take away their broadcasting licenses unless they correct course. Separately, the Pentagon announces a major overhaul for the journalistically independent military newspaper Stars and Stripes, labelling it a “woke distraction.”People are being arrested for posting images of war damage in the Emirates and elsewhere. Formula One grand prix scheduled for Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April have been cancelled as the Iraqi national team prepares to travel to Mexico for play-offs for the upcoming World Cup, FIFA ignoring overtures to call off the North American venue. The Iranian national women’s soccer team withdraw their applications for asylum in Australia and plan to return home. The supplies of anti-ballistic missile interceptors continue to dwindle. Ukraine says Russia is replenishing drones. Switzerland denies request by the US for fly-over rights. Over eight hundred civilians have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli bombardment.

synchronopticon

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ), the four pillars of consumer rights plus veto through inaction

twelve years ago: everyday objects rendered useless 

fourteen years ago: impressions from Prague plus UAVs in warfare

fifteen years ago: buried news and hidden connections 

 

tavajjoh, tavajjoh, tavajjoh (13. 266)

Since the onslaught of US-Israeli joint attacks on Iran began, a mysterious signal has been broadcast twice a day, prefaced by the above announcement in Farsi of “attention” repeated three times and followed by a recitation of seemingly random numerals, ۷, haft, seven, ۵, panj, five, ۳, de, three, ۸, hasht, eight and so on, a classic numbers station, air-gapped and virtually unbreakable encoding dating back to the Cold War. Speculation by intelligence enthusiasts deemed the cipher as possibly a wake-up call for sleeper-cells around the world—embedded terrorists whom Trump claims to be closely tracking, yet the past year was squandered with terrorising domestically and deporting citizens and residents instead—until the fifth day of the unlawful offensive came and the transmission began to be squelched with jamming technology. The whole exchange being open and easily captured on short-wave and triangulated to somewhere in north-western Europe, with interference a signature of both American and Soviet methods for blocking propaganda, made the community wonder where the broadcasts were originating from, who was the sender and who was trying to suppress it and questioning if it weren’t some opportunistic ploy for attention, with some concluding that the transmissions were directed towards US sources and double-agents within Iran was an equally likely cause—though after firing all the experts, replaced with enablers, it does not seem that the US is game for the long game.

blue shield (13. 265)

Coming into force in 1956 and ratified by one thirty eight member states, the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, party to every belligerent involved in the current conflagration but not always respected as with the Red Cross designating a hospitals and humanitarian activities, Iran has unfurled scores of the emblems on museums, holy and historical sites across the country as a message that this is not a strategic target. Whilst modern militaries maintain their own “no strike” lists with varying degrees of selective accuracy and there’s no way to control the legitimate use of the shield, the effort is laudable as it does add a layer of responsibility for aggressors and those seeking protection. Pictured is the Tomb of classical Persian poet Baba Tahir in Hamadan in midwestern Iran, which also hosts the burial places of philosopher and polymath Avicenna and Queen Ester as well as being the birthplace of Wojtek the bear.

day fifteen (13. 264)

A Jewish school in Amsterdam is damaged by a terror attack. Explosions were also heard at the US embassy in Baghdad. Hamas calls for Iran to stop its provocative attacks against neighbouring states, while there are conflicting claims about oil infrastructure on Kharg Island, the chief export terminal for Iran’s petroleum exports after Trump claims it was obliterated by US strikes. Reportedly, an amphibious detachment of five thousand Marines (aboard the USS Tripoli) is ordered to deploy to Iran from their home base in Okinawa.  Though prices barely responded to the historic announcement of releasing strategic reserves by member states of the International Energy Agency, surpassing even the coordinated actions taken to offset the market shocks of the 1973 Oil Crisis, the US depart of the interior assures east Asia that it can provide “reliable” energy supplies—America, although a net exporter through fracking to ease dependence on the Middle East following the last disruption and a modest pivot towards renewables, is still bound by the global market.

synchronoptica 

one year ago: an anti-slavery primer (with sychronopticæ), more on microseasons, a subtle expression of solidarity with Canada plus US government shutdown averted

twelve years ago: ski-yoga 

thirteen years ago: more manhole covers plus the endurance of treats

fifteen years ago: the Fukushima disaster 

sixteen years ago: daffodils and asphodels plus a non-existent conquest

they’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for forty-seven years—and now, i, as the forty-seventh president of the united states of america am killing them (13. 263)

Speaking earlier with Fox News, Trump referenced the 1979 Iranian revolution without mention of the US undermining efforts towards democratic reform and echoed previous ambitions announced a few days prior of “hitting the country very hard” and to “watch what happens to these scumbags.”

During a wide-ranging and cringe-inducing press conference, US secretary of war Pete Hegseth, among other topics—including remarks that the press was not delivering good headlines for this special operation and that David Ellison couldn’t take over CNN soon enough, War Widening should be Iran Shirking, Iran Going Underground—questioned Mojtaba Khamenei’s ability to govern, given his public absence since being appointed the Supreme Leader, saying without evidence that the ayatollah’s son was likely wounded and disfigured in the same air attack that took out the family compound. On this day of al-Quds march ( روز جهانی قدس , Jerusalem Day)—observed annually on the last Friday of Ramadan in support of Palestinian statehood, president Masoud Pezeshkian, took part in seeming defiance in response to Hegseth’s comments that all leadership was in hiding, whilst Israel announced funded for militias in eastern Gaza to oust Hamas through clandestine raids and abductions deep within the beleaguered territory and UN secretary general Antonio Guterres travelled to Beirut in solidarity, calling on Israel and Hezbollah to halt the fighting that has engulfed the country in violence without respect to the sovereignty of the populace.

day fourteen (13. 260)

The US has temporarily waved sanctions for Russian crude and for oil in tankers stranded at sea, unable to pass through the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, reiterating the plan to provide naval escorts. Meanwhile oil producing states in the region are contemplating pausing production with limited land-storage capacity and no ships to fill, with the process of restarting drilling not as simple as turning the spigot back on. İncirlik NATO airbase came under fire and is in lockdown and smoke billows over the financial centre of Dubai. A US refuelling plane was downed in Iraqi airspace and a rescue operation for the five crew members is underway, whilst there are also discussions to move anti-missile systems, running in short supply, from South Korea to the Middle East to protect American assets. Preliminary investigations into the bombing of a girls’ school in Minhab puts the blame on American misfiring and faulty intelligence. Historical Safavid-era buildings of the Ali Qapu and Rashk palaces in Isfahan province were destroyed by joint US and Israeli airstrikes as devastating assaults continue in Beirut.

synchronoptica

one year ago: spiritual boxes (with synchronopticæ) plus vintage Czech record sleeves

thirteen years ago: fiscal planning 

fourteen years ago: help for Japan in the Fukushima aftermath 

seventeen years ago: pot o’ gold 

 

day thirteen (13. 258)

Iran continues to target Gulf states’ energy infrastructure, including firing on tankers moored at the chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz in the Red Sea, as oil prices climb and some thirty nations release strategic reserves in order to avoid shocks to their economies and industries, impose rationing and driving restrictions. Faced with UN demands that Tehran stop this assault disrupting world petroleum supplies and air travel, the country’s president returned with demands that reparations and security guarantees be included in any agreement for a ceasefire fire. In what was touted as a junket to focus on affordability, Trump proclaimed victory but that they had not yet won enough—whilst US intelligence reports that the Iranian regime was still mostly intact and that, though diminished, it was retains its capability to fight back. Most targets lauded from yesterday’s most intense day of strikes from the US Department of War, dropped from B-52s launched from RAF Fairford, remain unknown. Israeli bombardment in southern Lebanon continues with three-quarters of a million people displaced from Beirut suburbs.

 

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ), Trump’s Tesla plus Captain Charles Boycott

twelve years ago: standard aptitude tests plus protest currency

thirteen years ago: bulk trash plus umlauts 

fifteen years ago: aftermath of the Fukushima disaster plus a Venn diagram of the EU

day twelve (13. 254)

As global oil supplies are disrupted with the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz (contrary to earlier claims, the US navy had not escorted an oil tanker for safe passage, though Iran’s capability to deploy mines in the sea route seems to be hampered), many importers, particularly in the Far East and contemplating easing Russian sanctions to fill the gap and keep their economies running, replenishing the Kremlin’s war chest for its continued assault on Ukraine. US secretary of war announced that the next wave of strikes against Tehran will be even more intense as Trump again mulls over the idea of sending in special forces to secure Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, sticking to his demands of complete surrender. The American administration reportedly requested that Israel stop attacking energy infrastructure, signalling the first disagreement between the allied aggressors since the beginning of the assault after toxic smoke and acid rain from burning refineries blanketed the capital, precipitating an environmental disaster and making the populace ill. Differences also emerge between the US president and vice president on embarking on this military adventure. Iran’s chief of police announces that protesters will be treated as enemies, reigniting the crackdown on anti-government demonstrations and imposing curfews.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronopticæ), tariff tantrums plus renewed overtures for Greenland

twelve years ago: EU and US reactions to the annexation of the Crimean peninsula plus the hierarchy of security clearances

thirteen years ago: upcoming Pi Day 

fifteen years ago: funerary arts in Germany 

sixteen years ago: the Holy Sea’s chief exorcist 

day eleven (13. 250)

Describing the assault as a “short-term excursion” and ahead of schedule, Trump announced, after speaking with Vladimir Putin, that the war on Iran would end very soon, vacillating from earlier projections that it could go on for several weeks, but how soon depended on Tehran, refusing to say whether the new Supreme Leader was a target for assassination, as Israel has declared. Australia grants asylum to members of the women’s national football team stranded after the Asian Games. Air raids in Beirut continue and in the Iranian capital, targeting civilian infrastructure. Syria signalled support to Lebanon for the disarmament of Hezbollah and massed troops on their shared border. NATO defences in Türkiye have intercepted a second missile entering its airspace, deploying jets to protect Cyprus as the RAF patrols over Jordan.

synchronoptica

one year ago: more from artist Len Lye (with synchronopticæ), art vandalism as protest plus erasure of the Black Lives Matter street mural

thirteen years ago: a papal conclave plus a souvenir from the Canary Islands

sixteen years ago: complaints and compliance plus dwindling attention spans

seventeen years ago: Americans’ fear of socialism 

day ten (13. 246)

Iran announces the appointment of a new Supreme Leader in Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the late Ayatollah, with a fresh wave of missile strikes against Israeli, the country’s military answerable to no authority during the interregnum. As US government employees are evacuated from Riyadh among renewed attacks on American assets in the Gulf and a thwarted sabotage of a Saudi oil field as black rain falls in Tehran and Bahrain, Trump declares any decision to end the war will be in mutual consultation with Netanyahu. Israeli ground troops invade southern Lebanon. French president Emmanuel Macron travels to Cyprus in a show of solidarity. World markets continue to roil and far eastern nations like the Philippines and Myanmar order energy cuts in response to the Middle East crisis, calling for a four-day workweek, banning private vehicles and avoiding non-essential travel to conserve fuel.

synchronoptica 

one year ago: a fateful date (with synchronopticæ), furniture music, outlawing revenge porn plus a towering temple in Sri Lanka

thirteen years ago: navigation stones, humorist Sean Tejaratchi plus Pax Americana

fourteen years ago: an upcoming trip to Prague 

fifteen years ago: solidarity forever 

sixteen years ago: complex credit schemes 

day nine (13. 243)

Returning from Dover to receive the first of the war dead, Trump told reporters on Air Force One that he was not ruling out sending in ground troops to Iran, deploying a third aircraft carrier ground, the Gerald R Ford, from the Caribbean to the Red Sea, teasing that at a later stage that the objective would be to take over Iran’s nuclear stockpile.
US and Israeli attacks have targeted several fuel storage facilities across Tehran and institutional office towers in Dubai and Kuwait are engulfed in flames and a desalinisation plant for drinking water, cooling servers was disabled. Accused of joining wars after they’ve already been done, Trump renews condemnation for the UK for Keir Starmer’s initial reluctance to participate in the effort for this illegal act of aggression, saying their belated contributions were no longer needed. Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi stated that openness to deescalation was summarily ruled out by Trump’s miscomprehension of the country’s capabilities and intent as the clerical council announces consensus and is ready to appoint the next Supreme Leader.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: Stick Nation (with synchronopticæ), linguistic divisions plus Carl Jung’s Red Book

twelve years ago: the visual perception of the mantis shrimp 

fourteen years ago: headlines from 1912 

fifteen years ago: prescribing placebos 

seventeen years ago: office small talk 

day eight (13. 240)

Oil refineries in Basra operated by US defence contractor Halliburton have been struck. As the Gulf states of the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia suffer fresh attacks and bombardments continue in Lebanon and Iran, independent reporting speculates that supplies of both ballistics and countermeasures are beginning to dwindle, with the US claiming that firepower on Tehran was to surge dramatically in the coming days and Trump saying there would be no further negotiations and would only accept unconditional surrender, the world still guessing about his endgame. An Iranian frigate was sunk outside of the theatre of war, returning from training manoeuvres off the coast of Sri Lanka by American naval forces, the first such expansion since WWII. Russian intelligence is supplying Iran with telemetry on US targets in the region.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Silla Smile (with synchronopticæ) plus assorted links to revisit

thirteen years ago: historical monetary unions 

fourteen years ago: human-robot collaborations 

fifteen years ago: cooking by substitiution 

day six (13. 233)

Following the outcry by thousands of Americans stranded in the Middle East and told to attend to their own exit-strategies, the US is chartering evacuation flights to retrieve them. Although saying the war started by the US and Israel is inconsistent with international law, Canada and Australia indicated that they may join the effort to help allies. Congressional Democrats privy to a classified situation brief emerged from the meeting grim and disheartened, convinced that America was now entangled in another forever war with no real plan with military leadership admitted that the US may no longer have sufficient stockpiles to counter all of Iran’s arsenal—the press secretary shifting blame to Biden and his support for Ukraine: “unfortunately, we had a very stupid and incompetent leader in this White House for four years who gave away many of our best weapons for nothing.” Meanwhile, the US is looking to arm Kurdish separatist militias to infiltrate Iran, adding another front to the rapidly expanding war.

synchronoptica

one year ago: covering the coup (with synchronopticæ), the Homebrew Computer Club plus communications officer Johnny Cash

thirteen years ago: spying on ourselves 

fourteen years ago: smoking ban in Bavaria plus outgrowing democracy

fifteen years ago: insider jokes 

sixteen years ago: Germany votes 

seventeen years ago: an optimistic economic outlook plus double-vision

 

 

king ahab (13. 232)

Though not without precedent to justify an unlawful war of choice with devout overtones, scores of troops have filed complaints under freedom of and freedom from religion advocacy group, claiming that without clear objectives coming from the administration for the purpose and goals of going to war with Israel against Iran, commanders have said that this adventure, possibly from the top down as the secretary of war, tatted out with what is self-described as the armour of a modern-day Crusader, is biblically sanctioned. The theocracy of fundamentalists and Christian nationalists, exchanging the rhetoric of one demagogue for another, profess to believe that Trump was anointed by God to gather the armies of the Earth for the battle of Armageddon as foretold in Book of Revelations (the Apocalypse of John, though none of this exactly canonical), ushering in judgment on the enemies of the righteous and the return of Jesus.