day one hundred seventy-four (13. 743)

The Revolutionary Guard report that Tehran and Muscat have reached a deal on traffic control and revenue sharing for the Strait of Hormuz. A Kuwaiti oil tanker attempting to cross the waterway is fired upon and shipwrecked in the gulf. Crude prices, paradoxically, continue to edge lower despite the total stoppage of flow. US CIA director John Ratcliffe’s unannounced visit to Russia is reportedly to persuade Moscow to join in Operation Economic Outcast and the embargo against Iran (which the US has kept up for the last fifty year with only marginal measures to add)—but undisclosed objectives could be more sinister, like backstabbing Kyiv or requesting a disinformation campaign ahead of the elections or directed at Canadian separatists. Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman heads to Iran for peace talks as Netanyahu tells Trump diplomacy will not work with the Islamic Republic—Israel, with the backing of America, defaults to bellicosity towards its neighbours, never in position to have to play nice or negotiate. The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, in defiance of seizure of facilities by Tel Aviv, says it is not giving up operations.

8x8 (13. 740)

and so on and so on and scooby-dooby-dooby: Kermit the Frog joins Dolly Parton for a 1987 appearance on her variety show, performing a duet of “Every Day People”  

young artists after siamesas 1960: US state department orders removal of woke Kehinde Wiley painting (previously) at the Dominican embassy  

pyramid of tirana: a survey of Albania’s built environment spanning sixty years—see previously  

ilulissat icefjord: bracing and heartbreaking timelapse of an iceberg collapsing and rolling over in west-central Greenland—see also 

synodical months: the cultural context of the upcoming August Sturgeon Moon—see previously   

restoration architecture: explore Copenhagen’s urban reform initiatives to conserve its landmarks for sustainable tourism whilst preserving the city’s heritage and character  

free press: Pentagon fires editor-in-chief, dismisses a reporter of independent military newspaper Stars & Stripes following an earlier overhaul to rid the publication of woke distractions 

imagination library: Dolly Parton, giver of books

day one hundred seventy-three (13. 738)

Trump’s CIA director mysteriously appears in Moscow. In a limited ruling, the US Supreme Court allows the administration to curb use of mail-in ballots ahead of the mid-terms. Oman and Iran outline their plan to restore safe navigation through the Strait of Hormuz whilst the American president claims the waterway is fully demined as his economic warfare unfurls, chief Iranian trade partner China (the only other nation to refuse Trump’s deals) strongly denouncing the threat of secondary sanctions. Canada, not demurring from their own trade war—attacked and not of the their choosing—compiles a list of targeted tariffs to match dollar-for-dollar US designed to apply pressure to MAGA majority regions in hopes of swaying GOP dominated districts to rethink their tacit support for these policies, deferring on energy exports for the time being cognisant that a tariff is a tax domestically and not wanting, like Iran’s politically savvy restraint—or Ukraine pausing attacks on the Russian capital during the US intelligence chief’s visit (the only reason why the secret flight is known about), to too quickly expend sympathy and solidarity.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica), the burial site of Richard III plus another executive order from Trump

two years ago: more links to enjoy plus a visit to Hermannsfeld  

three years ago: the quandary of creation plus the Great Moon Hoax (1835) 

four years ago: colour television in Germany plus even more links

five years ago: Rashomon (1950), Saint Genès, a fictionalised rivalry, assorted links worth the revisit plus a complete cheese presentation guide

six years ago: Voyager I leaves the Solar System (2012), more links to enjoy, standards for casks and barrels plus a Downing Street double

day one hundred seventy-two (13. 737)

US launches its economic D-Day against Iran, threatening allies to cut trade ties or face sanctions themselves—though few details emerge regarding the execution or efficacy. Trump announces he will implement more tariffs on Canadian steel and automobiles to go into effect in ninety days to allow time for negotiations—which won’t materialise as Carney and company walked away from a very bad deal with a litany of demands that undermines the nation’s business sovereignty. This strategy of deferment is typical, a time-bomb left for others to diffuse—or not and having to address the consequences not of their choosing, like the arrangement that Trump made with the Taliban for America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan, the provisions of the his Big Beautiful Bill that trigger cuts to federal aid programmes for the incoming congress to handle (not to mention the exploding debt and broken trust globally)—and Tehran’s refusing further talks with the current administration—leaving an awful inheritance ostensibly for the Democrats. Alberta, the US chief exporter of petroleum, announces cuts to supply coming in September as America continues to drain strategic reserves to dangerously low levels and only a single tanker transited the Strait of Hormuz today with another being fired on and forced to turn back.

day one hundred seventy-one (13. 735)

Though the admission by Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian that his country was facing financial hardships might be seen as weakness and a sign that the US economic pressure campaign is working, it is only an honest expression of the realities of war and a stark counter point to Trump’s attitude—far from affirming it—that dismisses the pains of Americans and insists that expensive gas is a small price to buy to ensure Tehran never obtains a nuclear weapon. In his overtures to North Korea, Pyongyang so far giving the American president the cold shoulder, Trump disclosed the amount of warheads the country has, fifty-seven, and thus an arms race for the atomically ambitious to achieve that floor in order to have a deterrent against the US and Trump’s largess. After a month’s long deployment detour US refuelling planes leave Bulgaria after other NATO countries refused them quarter to persecute the war in Iran—and following explicit threats from Tehran. Pakistan’s army chief is flying to Iran in hopes of breaking the impasse in talks as the Islamic Republic threats maritime traffic passing the Strait of Hormuz with fines and detention, vowing that the war will not be settled under the aggressors’ conditions.

day one hundred seventy (13. 729)

Iran doubles the bounty on US soldiers for women who kill or capture them un the event of a ground invasion. NATO is said to be exploring options to ensure freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. As countries around the world shrug off Trump call for solidarity and economic warfare, the American president, cryptically and confusedly, suggests that the US military could be enlisted—somehow—to offset loses in the bond markets, global skepticism in the future solvency in the country that makes it more expensive to finance its debt, possibly intimating that the armed forces could become mercenaries for hire for third-party conflicts. The US only other option for leverage against Iran, having painted itself into a corner, would be to sanction Chinese banks and small, independent “teapot” refineries that import Iranian oil, but ahead of Xi’s planned state visit to the US, it does not seem like a palatable course of action—strong-arming has gotten them nowhere. France pledges delivery of air interceptors to Ukraine after deadly waves of Russian attacks. Canada hits America with a retaliatory tariffs as trade war escalates. Washington removes Syria from its list of states sponsoring terrorism after fifty years following a congressional review and hints that Damascus might play along with the embargo against Tehran.

day one hundred sixty-nine (13. 726)

Trump says that he already considers the Strait of Hormuz part of the US as the world balks against the America president’s push for all nations to join in on imposing economic sanctions on Iran or face severe consequences—Iran calling it a global “declaration of war” and undermining sovereignty. Trump further requests another meeting with Kim Jong Un though Pyongyang denies that there are any talks of talks scheduled. A special UN rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories condemns the IDF as “most immoral” following the latest killings in the West Bank by violent settlers and the killing of police officers in Gaza. Houthis claim more drone hits on Saudi oil facilities and airports. Though no oil tankers have transited the Persian gulf in days, the US spins a counter-narrative, suggesting either wholesale detachment from reality or shuttling a shadow fleet. The Panama Canal limits traffic due to low water levels caused by El Niño as inland shipping across Europe falters due to drought conditions.   As Canada refuses to acquiesce to all of Trump’s trade demands, the US re-imposes a fifty-percent tariff on exports, Trump opines that Iran is desperate for a deal but not the right deal just yet.

day one hundred sixty-eight (13. 724)

Iran‘s deputy minister for foreign affairs calls out Washington on Trump’s naming his next defeat, scrambling to marshal his ill-treated allies to join against the Islamic Republic, whose military has been already destroyed numerous times reportedly and whose economy has sustained the full American arsenal of sanctions, threatening to unleash economic “D-Day“ on any country that engages in trade or commercial activity with Tehran—specifically bullying Seoul into submission by hinting at abandoning them to North Korea.

China also rejects this strategy as the Caspian corridor emerges as a new lifeline between Russia and Iran. US public debt has surpassed forty trillion dollars. Carrier group the USS George Washington arrives in the Persian Gulf to relieve the crew of the USS Abraham Lincoln.

Somali pirates captured an oil tanker transiting the Red Sea and have redirected the ship to the Horn of Africa. Dozens are killed in air strikes in Kyiv as Ukraine faces munitions shortages.

 

synchronoptica

one year ago: the evolution of a logo (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links to revisit  

 

two years ago: cellular pathology plus vice president Nelson Rockefeller 

 

three years ago: Wattstax (1965), Greta Thunberg’s first school strike for the climate (2018) plus more links to enjoy

four years ago: touring a working mine 

five years ago: Davy Jones becomes David Bowie (1965), more miniatures from Tatsuya Tanaka plus even more links

six years ago: posting to the trot, self-appointed supervisors, an attempted coup in the Soviet Union (1991) plus ravens leaving the Tower of London

day one hundred sixty-six (13. 720)

Contradicting the characterization of his own special envoy and son-in-law Jared Kushner that „robust“ talks are continuing, Trump declares that there are no more negotiations with Tehran happening—adding, contrary to reality, that the Strait of Hormuz is open and operational under US control. The fallout from the American withdrawal from the Pacific is perceived as an abandonment of Taiwan and South Korea with no action needed on the part of Beijing and Pyongyang. The resupply issues facing the carrier group the USS Abraham Lincoln were exacerbated, it is revealed, due to secretary of war Hegseth‘s wanting to hide the extent of destruction to naval stations in the region from the public. The UAE suspends all commercial trade with Iran over alleged missile strikes. Concurrently, Abu Dhabi hosts a security conference with US secretary of state Rubio, against Tehran‘s repeated warnings to gulf neighbors not to cooperate with Washington lest be treated as collaborators.

day one hundred sixty-five (13. 718)

As the sixty-day negotiation period expires, Tehran declares that it will take an offensive approach to reopening the Strait of Hormuz as Washington’s diplomatic tactlessness has only resulted in violation and frustration. Simultaneously, Trump threatens to bomb Oman if the country—a US ally and considered the Switzerland of the Gulf region for its relative neutrality and inoffensive political stance—interferes with the stalled talks, adding that Iran should wave the white flag of surrender. Houthi attack another Saudi ship transiting the Bab-el-Mandeb and Iran places a bounty on American soldiers.

day one hundred sixty-one (13. 709)

In an unprecedentedly long deployment starting in the Caribbean with the invasion of Venezuela and then moving to the Middle Eastern theatre with no shore leave, care packages and beset with plumbing problems and contaminated water, more than one sailor has reportedly jumped overboard from the USS Abraham Lincoln, with the American Congress demanding to be allowed to inspect conditions. Barely deigning the counterclaims by the Trump administration, Tehran reasserts that it is in full control of the Strait of Hormuz and is not entertaining further negotiations. After twenty months and an extended maternity leave, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt abruptly resigns after being used as a decoy on the president‘s return flight from the NATO summit in Ankara—not only foregoing the gifted Air Force One out of an abundance of caution or nostalgia but also secreted onboard a third plane in a catering truck, with many members of the press corps and cabinet officials dispatched as diversion for a paranoid Trump fearing assassins.

day one-hundred fifty-one (13. 686)

In retaliation for strikes on cargo ships in the Caspian, Iran says it was ready to attack Ukraine but reconsidered and called off the strikes. Despite having just walked back his latest threats to allow for negotiations that Tehran denies were even on the table, Trump says that the Islamic Republic now has its last chance to make a deal or surrender and face total “decapitation”—again. Iran reiterates its refusal to negotiate under duress and the blockade of its ports against the terms of the Memorandum of Understanding, repeating it is only in talks with Oman over the administration of the Strait of Hormuz. The Trump White House makes a deal with defence contractors to restock the dwindling supplies of Patriot and THAAD missiles.

day one-hundred forty-seven (13. 674)

Saudi Arabia announces a maritime defensive alliance to secure navigation through the Strait of Bab al-Mandab correcting the Red Sea and the gulf of Aden and repel attacks by the Houthi. Trump claims breakthrough deal for the disarmament of Hamas in Gaza reached by his Board of Peace—saying the US will implement the accord unilaterally if Israel does not agree. NATO jets scramble as Russian missile strays into Polish airspace and detonates outside of a village, the latest in a series of incursions. Under protection of IDF, dozens of Israeli settlers storm a small village near Nablus in the Occupied West Bank. Iranian drones hit a US base and Chinese-owned commercial tower in Kuwait.

day one-hundred forty-three (13. 656)

An individual known to authorities as a member of the “Islamist scene” drives a van through crowds gathered for Berlin’s Christopher Street Day parade, the Pride festival named after the address of the Stonewall Inn in New York City, riots against police raids there starting off the gay rights struggle. The ramming incident leaves one dead and sixteen injured. Iran reports the first night without US strikes in two weeks—Washington officials cite the potential to “dangerously drain” already diminished munitions stockpiles in the region. The Houthi launch ballistics at Saudi Arabia in reprisal for the destruction of the airport at SanaaTehran’s foreign ministry summons Ukrainian diplomatic envoy to explain why Kyiv targeted an an Iranian flagged vessel in the Caspian sea, straining tensions between the two star-crossed and besieged underdogs. Israeli settlers in the West Bank burn down a mosque as more neighbourhoods are bulldozed.

gestion des déchets (13. 642)

Having always snickered a bit at the French signage for a waste bin, I recently disabused of my bemusement upon discovering the etymology having nothing to do with poo but rather the namesake of compulsory use of garbage containers, lawyer and diplomat Eugène-René Poubelle—a proposal considered so innovative for late-nineteenth century Paris that his surname is synonymous with the term for trash cans. In 1884, Poubelle decreed as the city’s préfet, essentially holding the authority of the mayorship, that landlords must provide tenants with three covered containers for household refuse to be sorted into classes of compostable and recyclable refuse—encouraged to call them Boîtes Poubelle by the newspaper Le Figaro, meeting stiff resistance by building owners for their cost and upkeep (plumping and drainage was also championed) and regarded by chiffonniers (traditional rag-and-bone men) as a threat to their profession. Likewise, we were surprised to learn, the English, American word for a movable waste container (skips or scows being more common outside of North America), designed to be brought and taken away by specially designed garbage truck lifts originated as sort of a portmanteau for the Dempster Dumpmaster, the company run by three brothers, George Roby, Thomas and John, in Knoxville Tennessee who patented and standardised a system (see also) of bulk trash removals in the mid-1930s with their dumpster model. George Roby Dempster was also a city manager, philanthropist and politician, initially motivated to support the demolition and construction wing of the family business.

day one-hundred thirty-seven (13. 639)

US strikes against Iran continue unabated, to “honour” fallen Americans as the death toll rises. The UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, is investigating reports on attacks on Iranian atomic power facilities, including a site under construction. Israel intercepts Iranian ballistics targeting Jordan, as regional American allies continue to come under fire, promising a full force response if it is targeted. The Revolutionary Guard declare the strait closed as oil prices again surge. Trump refuses to leave the stage for the World Cup champions’ trophy-lift with FIFA president Gianni Infantino delicately explaining to the American president that he is not part of the Spanish national team’s moment of victory. Moscow continues a major air raid over Kyiv as Ukraine sinks tankers in the Black Sea.

day one-hundred thirty-six (13. 635)

The FBI subpoenaed several journalists from the New York Times, pressuring them to reveal their sources regarding Trump’s change of planes upon departing the NATO summit in Ankara, leaving on the old Air Force One, rather than by the one gifted to him by the Qatari government—the reporters uncovering it was done out of safety and security concerns over the retrofitted aircraft and not a chance for the new plane to make a publicity tour of European US bases as officially put out. Already targeting infrastructure and energy facilities across Russia, Ukrainian strikes destroyed major logistics hubs and warehouses in the Tambov and Moscow regions of Wildberries (Ва́йлдберриз), the Russian e-commerce giant and Amazon equivalent. Iran’s Supreme Leader suspends the MOU as Washington and Tehran continue to exchange fire. Two American soldiers stationed in Jordan were killed by incoming Iranian ballistics and a third service member is missing. A US radar station in Camp Arifjan in Kuwait was destroyed. Shelter in place orders were issued for Bahraini citizens near the base hosting the US Fifth Fleet. Israel moves to seize ancient freshwater reservoirs in Bethlehem as desalination plants of neighbouring countries continue to sustain damage.  Israel also reclassifies the endangered status of the Nile crocodile in order to use the animals as deterrent for escape from a prison holding suspected Hamas militants and sympathisers.  

day one-hundred thirty-five (13. 630)

US Central Command conducts its seventh consecutive night of raids, attacking maritime and energy infrastructure, civilian targets tantamount to a war-crime though the American military considers them dual-use facilities. The latest flareups in fighting has essentially stopped all shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Iran promising a full-scale offensive response and allied gulf states continue to repel drones and missiles.  Israeli ministers announce new illegal settlements in Gaza and the West Bank. Trump threatens Canada with new tariffs over raging forest fires sending “filthy” air into the US.

day one-hundred thirty-four (13. 627)

Trump’s Board of Peace scales down recovery programme to a tiny pilot plot in south Gaza. The US unleashes fresh waves of assaults, with American gulf allies taking the flak, as tensions over the Strait of Hormuz grows. The Revolutionary Guard has made arrangements with Houthi rebels in Yemen to close access to the Red Sea should the US begin threatened attacks on bridges, highways and power plants. During a primetime televised address, Trump speaks at length regarding election integrity, citing without evidence widespread voter fraud, McCarthy-era Communist infiltration and repeated false claims about the 2020 presidential race being stolen from him—an unremarkable rehash of old grievances ahead of the midterms when some expected more of a bombshell, like announcing that elections were postponed indefinitely due to the war or that he was running for a third term.

day one-hundred thirty-four (13. 625)

The US conducts another nighttime wave of strikes against Iranian civilian and military infrastructure and disables two tankers trying to breach the blockade of its ports, shooting munitions into the ships’ smokestacks. Trump says raids will continue until he says “it’s enough,” reluctant to give reporters a deadline for Iran to return to negotiations. Beatings will continue until morale improves... Bombs fall on Tehran for the first time since the ceasefire and the opening volleys of the war, as more retaliatory drone and missile attacks target US bases in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain. Global markets seem spooked with demand destruction, unreflective of the realities of an increasingly dire situation with the Persian Gulf again closed and Russian refinery capacity shut down. Zelenskyy dismisses his defence minister as Keir Starmer during his last day in office visits Ukraine.