day fifty-three (13. 356)

With the end of the two-week ceasefire approaching, confusion and mixed messages continue to emerge from the White House, with chief negotiator JD Vance’s whereabouts unknown, contradicting claims he was already en route to peace talks in Pakistan aimed to forestall a resumption in fighting with reports the vice president has remained in Washington, though now apparently scheduled to depart. It is unclear if any meeting will take place with Tehran insisting no negotiations will happen under duress and threat as the blockade continues to be enforced. Trump, confident and denying news of pressure to restore stability, insists, “the DEAL that we are making with Iran will be FAR BETTER than the JCPOA,” referring to the agreement struck under the Obama administration in 2015. The spokesman of the Iranian paramilitary hints that the country still has unexercised options for the battlefield. Global stock markets are surrendering gains as optimism fades for a quick and tidy resolution and energy prices again rise. Clashes escalate in Gaza between the IDF and Hamas fighters.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the death of Pope Francis (with synchronopticæ)

thirteen years ago: GMO apples plus a pheromone party

fifteen years ago: energy-saving light bulbs 

sixteen years ago: the internet is for crying-wolf 

day fifty-two (13. 353)

The confusion and chaos of yesterday’s developments surely merited an addendum as well, but it was very hard to keep up or know what might happen next.  Following confusion on who might lead the US delegation in Pakistan, first saying that the vice president would not attend due to the short notice and security protocols of the Secret Service, it turns out that the same tired and ineffectual cast of Vance, Kushner and Witkoff are travelling back to Islamabad for peace talks on Monday, the Iranian foreign ministry announced that it would not participate in negotiations with the US over the American naval blockade of the country’s ports, calling the collective punishment a violation of the ceasefire and tantamount to a war crime and would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz until a peace deal is reached. Escalating tensions further, US marines incepted and boarded the M/V Touska that tried to run the cordon. Despite the uncertainty of talks, cargo planes have landed in Pakistan to prepare for the arrival of delegates, which Tehran fears might be cover for a sneak attack.  Oil prices and other other commodities have surged. The death toll of joint Israeli and American airstrikes pass five thousand with neighbours in Beirut’s southern suburbs being demolished by bulldozers.   Despite clearing stating he did not wish to debate Donald Trump on the merits of just wars and wars of choice and further distract from his pastoral tour of Africa, JD Vance, a recent Catholic convert, still thought it necessary to lecture the Pope on religion, in keeping with his berating of US allies during the Munich Security Conference and every time he feels the opportunity presents itself.  Secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, amid shoehorning piety and holy wrath into military manoeuvrers, has labelled the dissenting press as Pharisees for being critical of their claims and questioning their lauded victories.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a return visit to the Hubertusburg (with synchronopticæ) 

thirteen years ago: chess derived vocabulary plus Berlin’s East Side Gallery under threat

fourteen years ago: German-American relations plus a salvaged garden 

fifteen years ago: calculating Easter 

sixteen years ago: travel disrupted due to an Icelandic volcanic eruption 

 

day fifty-one (13. 366)

With the rapidly degrading situation in the Middle East, yesterday merited a post-meridian post-script but we wanted to wait for an update to see how the renewed tensions played out, especially with pending peace talks and the weekend running out of runway. Israel accused Hezbollah of breaching the ceasefire in Beirut, including a deadly attacked on UNIFIL (United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, created in 1978 to enforce withdrawal of Israelis from the country, its mandate renewed several times) peacekeepers and, meanwhile in Gaza, whose station has not improved, two UNICEF aid workers by IDF occupying forces. The Revolutionary Guard Corps has reasserted control over the Strait of Hormuz, closing it to commercial traffic with two India tankers taking light arms fire, in response to the US naval blockade of Iranian ports a day after declaring the waterway open. This move likely dashed the hopes of investors and bettors hoping to capitalise on the earlier positive turn for in the markets, besting the US administration at their game of stock manipulation and privileged information. Convening an emergency meeting in the White House situation room, Trump said that unless there was a significant breakthrough in peace negotiations—again not yet scheduled, Iranian deputy foreign minister Saaed Khatibyadeh insisting that a framework must be agreed upon, workable by both sides in the face of America’s unrealistic agenda, before talks can take place—he would resume airstrikes on Iran, bombardments already having killed over thirty-four hundred civilians. Trump went golfing afterwards.

day fifty (13. 362)

With echoes of Bush’s hubris in his premature announcement of “Mission accomplished” six weeks into the 2003 invasion of Iraq from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, Trump’s triumphal crowing of victory seems as likely, stacked with dubious and unverified claims that all the details and sticking points have been ironed out in advance of peace talks hurriedly arranged to resume in Islamabad, to not be judged kindly by history. Ten tankers and a cruise ship have passed the strait. Peace in our time—another poisoned pronouncement—comes with the backdrop of Washington hosting the IMF spring summit, during a witheringly warm heatwave in the capital, possibly timed so for the optics, but delegates are not expressing gratitude for the status quo ante bellum or deliverance from villainy of the administration’s own making with others left to clean up his mess and economies in turmoil despite the the immediate horizon of the stock market, his inner-circle sure to make a hearty profit on Trump’s chaotic misadventure. Not only has the lustre worn thin for the fantasy kingdoms the gulf states created to diversify away from oil and attract investment and what little esteem that the world, especially allies held for America’s place in the global order eroded beyond repair—not necessarily a bad turn of events for the petronations to reaffirm that their only exports are regressive and ill-willed—but representatives fear for a worldwide recession from enduring aftereffects stemming from disruptions that are not easily undone by this precarious peace that’s at risk of falling apart at any moment.

synchronoptica

one year ago: court jesters (with synchronopticæ) 

fourteen years ago: consequences of tax delinquency 

fifteen years ago: achievement unlocked 

dire straits (13. 361)

The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, in response to the ceasefire brokered for Lebanon, has announced that the Strait of Hormuz will be unconditionally opened for commercial shipping for the duration of the cessation of hostilities, a key point in Tehran’s list of demands. In response and trying to flatten and take ownership of the narrative, Trump dispatched a celebratory series of seemingly detached missives that read as if from some mirror universe wire-services, simplifying the yet tenuous and unresolved situation, offering thanks and demands that the rest of the world acknowledge this gratitude and tribute, stating that Iran promises to never block the waterway again, that the US had prohibited Israel from bombing Beirut, that Iran will surrender its supplies of enriched uranium (“nuclear dust”) to the US, sanctions will remain in place and Iranian funds will continue to be frozen, and America will maintain its blockade of Iranian ports until a peace deal is finalised—claims all (except the last) unverified with the Revolutionary Guard still requiring clearance, escort and Netanyahu insisting that it has not yet finished operations against Hezbollah, throwing shade at and reifying the concept of the fog of war.

day forty-nine (13. 359)

A truce negotiated between Lebanon and Israel begins a ten-day ceasefire, though IDF troops will not withdraw from occupied areas south of Beirut and reserves the right to defend itself from Hezbollah attacks. Islamabad prepares to receive foreign delegates for a second round of trilateral peace talks—Trump pronouncing that the war with Iran is going “swimmingly and we can do whatever we want” and that it is almost over—though concrete plans for negotiations have yet to coalesce. The wisdom of the masses in world markets tick upwards on hopes for a settlement that will allow the recovery process to begin but a return to pre-war stability and production will take months under the best case scenario.  The US continues to rally against NATO inaction and is sharply critical of partners in the Indo-Pacific ahead of a summit with China’s president Xi.

day forty-eight (13. 355)

Contradicting earlier pronouncements that the tenuous ceasefire between Washington and Tehran would not be extended and then it would not be necessary as the second round of peace negotiations were imminent and that the war is nearly over, Trump and Iranian leadership seem poised to prolong their truce in anticipation of another summit to be hosted by Pakistan over the weekend. Despite rumours that Israel is contemplating a one week armistice in Lebanon, actions seems to rule out the possibility of a respite, Netanyahu seizing a historic opportunity to route out the Iranian backed terror group once and for all, declaring land south of the Litani river a Hezbollah “kill zone.” The US claims it maritime blockade to be water-tight though telemetry suggests that some ships are transiting the Strait of Hormuz and exiting the Persian gulf, whilst Iran threatens to close of access to the Red Sea and the Suez via their proxies in Yemen, the Houthi rebels should the US keep up their embargo, an economic pressure campaign that has repercussions for worldwide markets.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Hartsfield-Jackson airport of Atlanta (with synchronopticæ) plus an infinite botanical quilt

fourteen years ago: the murder of Trayvon Martin plus a papal birthday

fifteen years ago: donkey rescue society 

sixteen years ago: fire and ice 

seventeen years ago: clearing one’s cache 

day forty-seven (13. 352)

As the the US announces that it will not extend the pause in sanctioning Iranian oil at sea and the blockade continues of the Persian gulf, Trump hints that negotiations could resume within the next couple of days in Islamabad, urging the Tehran delegation to stay put with JD Vance saying a grand bargain is in the offering which would make the country thrive in return for giving up its nuclear ambitions. European nations are working on an independent plan to open the Strait of Hormuz without the involvement of belligerents. Talks between the Lebanese government and Israel take place on the sidelines as the world roundly condemns the killings of more UN peacekeepers and the targeting of healthcare workers in the Beirut suburbs and over a million residents remain displaced, those remaining fearful that a coup is being stoked for their nation dragged into the conflict.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Great Seattle Windshield Pitting Panic (with sychronopticæ) plus the Gleichschaltung 

 

thirteen years ago: Germany reacts to Russian oppressive and regressive social policies 

 

fourteen years ago: rubbish superpowers plus Olympic demands

 

fifteen years ago: a proposed giant see-saw for Berlin 

 

sixteen years ago: data dressing 

 

seventeen years ago: a slow day for blogging 

day forty-six (13. 349)

All NATO members refuse to participate in the US naval blockade of the Persian gulf as a sanctioned Chinese flagged tanker transits through the strait, testing the seriousness of the American resolve, as France and the UK devise other strategies for reopening the vital waterway. Trump refuses to apologise to the Pope for his harsh and crude language and in response posts an AI-generated image of the himself as a Christ-figure—although Trump claims he thought it was “supposed to be me as a doctor making people better…And I do make people better, I make them a lot better.” Hezbollah is urging Lebanon to not engage in direct talks with Israel and pledges to not abide by any deals made.  JD Vance, following a failed first round of negotiations with Tehran says the ball is in their court for compromise and concession, with Iran hinting it may accept a five year moratorium on nuclear research, counter to American demands a two-decade suspension.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ)

 

fourteen years ago: the new Great Game plus an impossible typeface

 

fifteen years ago: bad faith Big Ed plus antique hunting

 

sixteen years ago: a rival tablet computer, reversing a mandate to replace old traffic signs plus a satirical recall of the US flag

day forty-five (13. 347)

UK’s Keir Starmer reiterates that his country wants no part of the blockade of the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Oil prices and other commodities are surging back to levels before the ceasefire with the potential of the cost of petrol to double, the failure of the talks attributed at least in part to Israeli pressure wanting the fighting to continue until they’ve finished the job decapitating Hezbollah, a claim put forward during the war in Gaza despite evidence to the contrary like Trump’s boasts of eliminating the capacity for Tehran to respond militarily or conduct nuclear research and development and looking for any pretext for walking out. Following Leo XIV’s criticism of warmongering, Trump launched into an extraordinary attack on the Pope, accusing him of being bad at his job and to “stop catering to the Radical Left” adding he is weak on crime and does not want a spiritual leader who thinks that it is acceptable for Iran to pursue its nuclear ambitions.

synchronoptica

one year ago: standing up to Nazis (with synchronopticæ), Freelandia airlines, a new music video from OK Go plus a bleak series about incel culture

thirteen years ago: eurozone instability plus a visit to Bad Soden-Salmünster

fifteen years ago: quantitative easing 

sixteen years: the right to be forgot 

 

day forty-three (13. 339)

Fresh from a campaign rally in Hungary in support of the reelection of the incumbent, Viktor Orbán—accusing the EU of election interference by withholding funds to the country over its affinity for Russian and regressive civil-rights policies whilst the US vice president tells Hungarians who to vote for and indicting Ukraine without evidence or context in meddling in the 2024 American election, JD Vance and delegation arrives in Pakistan. Flanked by the same tired crew of incompetents, Witkoff and Kushner who’ve managed to torpedo every other round of negotiations including the one resulting in all out warfare, Vance warns Iran not “to play”—given a real poisoned chalice in his first high profile, high stakes assignment to either concede to Tehran’s terms to preserve the fragile ceasefire or resist and provoke a resumption of the fighting, US assets with their finger on the trigger already for a very domestically unpopular and illegal conflict of their own making. Israeli Operation Eternal Darkness continues indiscriminate bombing raids on Lebanon and only a slow trickle of ships, thirteen mostly dry cargo ships and empty tankers returning to port for reloading, have passed through the Strait of Hormuz.

synchronoptica

one year ago: digital preservation jumpers (with synchronopticæ), the art of basket weaving plus emoji as autobiographical vocabulary

fourteen years ago: beer-brewing season, unlucky thirteen plus extraordinary rendition

fifteen years ago: the Libyan revolution 

sixteen years ago: a tragic aviation accident in Poland 

day forty-two (13. 335)

Continued assaults on Beirut threatening the fragile ceasefire, Trump has reportedly urged Netanyahu to be more “low key” in his attacks on Lebanon as the delegation headed by JD Vance for the US and Iranian leaders are scheduled to meet in Islamabad for peace talks. The White House warns government employees from using insider knowledge to leverage bets on the outcome of negotiations and direction of the war on prediction markets. Israel will hold direct talks with the Lebanese government aimed at disarming Hezbollah and limiting collateral casualties. Underscoring Tehran’s continued control of the strait, tankers are being selectively let through and still only a trickle of the ships parked on either side of the gulf. Kuwaiti territory is still being targeted although Iran denies to be behind retaliatory attacks and the Emirates has reported clear skies.

synchronoptica

one year ago: The Great Gatsby (with synchronopticæ), market reaction dulls Trump tariffs plus assorted links worth the revisit

twelve years ago: NATO and Ukraine plus English orthography 

thirteen years ago: the Night of the the Long Knives 

fourteen years ago: a planned Star Trek casino 

fifteen years ago: a catalogue of Star Trek characters 

addenda (13. 333)

The Orange Menace actually articulated his interest in a profit sharing scheme for the transit fees that Iran is securing for the Strait of Hormuz (which was free for all ships prior to the war) as the “ayatollah booth.” Jesus wept. The waterway is almost immediately closed in retaliation for Israel’s relentless attacks on southern Lebanon in breach of the ceasefire agreement, having displaced a million residents from Beirut and surroundings and having killed over three-hundred civilians in its latest wave of air raids. US president Trump leaves his standing army in the region, threatening in a social media post that should Tehran fail to fully comply with the terms of the truce, “—if for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the “Shootin’ Starts,” bigger and better and stronger than anyone has ever seen before. It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary - NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE. In the meantime our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest. AMERICA IS BACK!” Whilst grateful for the fragile peace, Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez spoke out against Netanyahu and IDF efforts to expand its “buffer zone” and of Trump, he refuses to “applaud those who set the world on fire and they then show up with a bucket.” Described only as frank, Trump held a private discussion with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte to air his frustrations with the alliance—no details were given other than Trump has circled back to his preoccupation with Greenland, calling the Danish territory a poorly managed piece of ice.

day forty-one (13. 332)

The Pakistani brokers of the truce insists that it also applies to Israel and Lebanon, though Netayahu disagrees as bombings continue and the Knesset passes a law legalising capital punishment—which only applies to Palestinians. White House officials privately admit that Iran’s ten-point plan was not the same set of conditions that the US agreed to for the pause.

Ten cargo ships pass through the Strait of Hormuz after securing permission from Iran but no oil tankers have yet attempted the journey, saying that the waterway remains closed and unlikely to be swiftly restored, the continued assault on Beirut jeopardising the already fragile ceasefire. Trump claims he will get a share of the maritime tolls.  Peace rallies dominate Tokyo as demonstrators fear the country’s conservative ruling party could be pressured into changing the constitution and the policy of no military intervention. Iranian hackers are attacking the US power grid and water treatment facilities as Hegseth announces that they will be hanging around and ready to execute any orders. Though not said verbatim, the out-brief for Operation Epic Fury seemed very much like a “Mission Accomplished” moment and some kind bequest for the next administration to clean up, like Trump’s deal with the Taliban to leave Afghanistan that his successor was held to. 

 

 synchronoptica 

one year ago: Chairman Trump (with synchronopticæ), de-extincting the dire wolf plus a musical montage 

twelve years ago: more on American imperialism plus data retention in the EU

thirteen years ago: fleet of US Abrams tanks to return to America 

fourteen years ago: drones of opportunity plus “What Must be Said”

sixteen years ago: street photography in Köln 

day forty (13. 329)

An hour and a half before the deadline, Trump announced via his social media platform that the US and Iran had reached an agreement resulting in a two-week ceasefire whilst direct negotiations take place to be hosted in Islamabad. Although grateful that Trump backed off from the brink of unleashing destruction on the people of Iran, US concessions to Tehran’s ten-point counteroffer mediated by Pakistani prime minister Shehbaz Sharif seem to make void any justification for aggression, all for nothing with none of the vague and ill though out objectives achieved and hardly the work of a shrewd tactician as some laud the US president’s “victory” as—rather than the spin of someone in way over their head. Details still need to be hammered out but world markets rallied and oil prices plunged immediately in response to this prospective peace, and the terms that Iran has put forward would, if all parties ascent, put the Islamic Republic in a better position had Trump not withdrawn the US from the 2015 treaty negotiated by Obama with the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions, unfreezing international assets, reparations for damage to infrastructure, control over shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, guarantees for further attacks on the country and its allies and the removal of US troop presence in the region. Draw one’s own conclusions but this misadventure leaves America diminished in the eyes of the world.  An umbrella group of Iranian proxies have agreed to stick to the spirit of the truce but the ceasefire does not apply to Israeli fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon. There is no mention of regime change or a spare though for the protestors and Trump only mentions that the stocks of enriched uranium will be “perfectly taken care of” without elaboration. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: a French surrealist digest (with synchronopticæ) plus remixing The Simpsons

twelve years ago: debating daylight savings, scanning and skimming plus intrigue at the Swatch factory

thirteen years ago: plutocrats plus passive radar

fifteen years ago: US insolvency 

incendiary rhetoric (13. 328)

Emboldened and perhaps over-confident by the derring do of rescuing the crew of a downed fighter jet after claiming that they had secured Iranian airspace, after claiming that Tehran’s ability to produce a nuclear weapon had been obliterated in last summer’s targeted strikes and demands that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which was open until the aggression of America and Israel, Trump has been giving the country a preview of what is store short of capitulation hours from now, lamenting that a “whole civilisation will die tonight.”Such a lecture from a nation preparing to celebrate its semiquincentennial—it’s not: from the time that Britain decided to cut its loses in September 1783 to the outbreak of the civil war in April of 1861 is seventy-eight years and from that truce until now is arguably a continuum of one hundred sixty years and change—is not a welcome one for a civilisation of six millennia. Stone Age indeed. Trump goes on to muse: “However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter and less radicalised minds prevail, maybe something revolutionary wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?” Regardless of the outcome, Israel has declared that southern Lebanon is a separate theatre and will continue to persecute action against Hezbollah in the south. During second round of deliberations, Russia and China rejected UN coordinated involvement in taking the vital artery, declaring a protected mandate and Trump has been roundly criticised for telegraphing his intent to commit war crimes, whilst Israel in parallel and ahead of schedule has blown up bridges and railways used by the Revolutionary Guard. En route to Hungary to campaign for Victor Orbán, US vice president JD Vance commented that the American military has tools at their disposal not yet used, prompting speculation by the press that the US may use the nuclear option with the administration forcefully condemning any such interpretation.

day thirty-nine (13. 325)

Though loath to give regular updates to the press outside of social media posts and interviews with softball outlets, Trump and Hegseth held a second briefing since the war began with twenty-four hours to go until his ultimatum for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, seemingly unbothered about the consequences for the Middle East and broader worldwide economy to include potential for war crimes for wanton destruction of civilian infrastructure—dismissing the notion with whataboutism and saying having a nuclear weapon is a war-crime. Israeli Defence Forces are warning Iranians to avoid train travel, not waiting for Tuesday’s cut-off. Trump also used the occasion to reiterate his displeasure with NATO and allies in the Far East for their lack of help. Tehran rejected an earlier proffered forty-five day ceasefire, saying it wants a permanent resolution and guarantees that it won’t be attacked again, plus a withdrawal from Lebanon. The UN will revisit a modified proposal to patrol the vital waterway, short of military intervention. Alone in Iraq after other peacekeeping forces left, a dozen US soldiers are injured in an attack on a forward operating base in Erbil.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a 1933 law to restore the professional civil service (with synchronopticæ) plus Trump checked by investor uncertainty

thirteen years ago: honouring the service of small, disposable things, barge-camping plus East German electronic keyboards

fifteen years ago: more on Germany’s Energiewende 

sixteen years ago: concerns over CERN coming online 

seventeen years ago: Sarah Palin given another platform 

 

day thirty-seven (13. 322)

Slovakia joins Hungary demanding that the EU lift sanctions on Russian fuel as Tehran dismisses Trump’s deadline as more empty bluster and buffing. After a two day extraction mission, the US rescues the surviving crew member from a downed jet deep within Iranian territory. Trump issues an abuse and sacrilegious laden missive, promising again to unleash holy hell, first reserved for power plants, then civilian infrastructure on day two, “Praise be to Allah“ if Iran fails to open up the Strait of Hormuz, which the US insists it does not want or need. Israeli-American airstrikes hit petrochemical facilities in Iran, as counterattacks continue to bring refinery operations offline in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait. Israeli bombardment in Beirut’s suburbs depopulate the south as residents flee the fighting.

day thirty-three (13. 313)

Projecting a timeline of two to three weeks for ending the war—or at least US operations, Trump dictates that the responsibility of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open is left to the countries that rely on it and not for America to police. After the conflict is concluded, the US secretary of state says that the relationship with NATO will need to be reevaluated after partner states after their reluctance to join in prosecuting this illegal war, notably Spain refusing access to Rota and Lages Field and latest Italy not allowing refuelling of US aircraft on Sigonella. Trump says either those nations come and take the oil—or buy American as more troops enter the theatre, promising withdrawal with or without a deal. The United Arab Emirates may do exactly that, with reports it is planning to open the strait by force. Drone assaults continue in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and a western journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad. Beirut remains under fire.  Israeli airstrikes target more Iranian nuclear facilities and a munitions depot in Isfahan and wide scale bombardment of Tehran as the country marks 12. Farvardin, Islamic Republic Day, proclaimed in 1979 after the revolution.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the US bicentennial train tour (with synchronopticæ), a marathon filibuster plus assorted links to revisit

twelve years ago: Springtime in Wiesbaden 

thirteen years ago: a walk around Leipzig, a Russian Orthodox church, news digest plus prospecting for frozen methane

fourteen years ago: modifying crops to keep up with climate change, Easter decorations plus new utopias

fifteen years ago: censoring the Simpsons 

day thirty-two (13. 310)

Although continuing to threaten to obliterate Iranian energy infrastructure (and desalination plants, a war crime under the Geneva Conventions) if Tehran does not capitulate by a deadline extended to Easter Monday—the paschal holidays making this a short trading week for stock markets and possibly with hopes of mopping up prior to the opening bell—Trump says he may cease military operations even without securing the Strait of Hormuz, leaving that logistical problem to be saved for a later date. A Kuwaiti-flagged tanker was struck by drone debris and may spilling its cargo into the waters of the Gulf and adding to the environmental disaster. Assaults continued in the Iranian and Lebanese capitals with counterstrikes in central Israel. Türkiye intercepted a fourth missile targeting the NATO member. Israeli prime minister Netanyahu declined to give a timeline during an interview with the press but said that military objectives were half complete. Iranian leadership acknowledge receipt of US peace proposals via intermediaries, dismissing them as excessive and unrealistic, as US vice president JD Vance, apparently skeptical of the war from the beginning, is appointed as chief negotiator.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a secret apartment inside a mall (with synchronopticæ), handball alleys plus more on Eadweard Muybridge

twelve years ago: a visit to the Fulda Gap 

fourteen years ago: harnessing lightning 

fifteen years ago: an insolvent superpower 

sixteen years ago: an Easter egg shortage 

seventeen years ago: the G20 and a universal currency