On 8/9/2026 at 12:29 PM, webfact said:

Iran has set preconditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, demanding compensation for damage from the conflict

To the victor goes the spoils of war and sets the terms of peace.

Trump needs to cut off all ties with Israel and get the hell out of there. Let Netanyahu deal with their own problems. Unfortunately we can’t stop the nut job, or reason with him at all. He’s completely lost the plot.

One can only hope that the orange idiot doesn’t survive the midterm election and that actually someone with more than 3 brain cells gets into power and puts an end to this bs!

It's Monday so Trump will say Iran is dying for a deal , they want a deal so bad,

just before the markets open , and he gets another nice windfall on his portfolio.

regards worgeordie

2 hours ago, AustinRacing said:

Well if you probe the qualification of Iranian leadership with that of USA leadership you’d be surprised to learn that they seem more qualified both educationally and expertise in their field than their counterparts in USA. They’ve demonstrated their superiority by holding two nuclear powered countries over the barrel with a number of “can we talk please as we can’t take your punishment any more” coming from their attackers. So yeah it’s not the Iranians who’s ass is being kicked it’s rather USA, isreal, uae, Jordan, Kuwait etc.

The bloke who dreamt up high precision missiles and drones and build them under granite mountains was by no stretch of the imagination a strategic genius - of course the Zionists assassinated him but in tandem the IRGC created the mosaic 32 different command and control units that can act independently when the centre falls. Add to that a lack of fear and determination to win against the invader and it was basically a trap waiting to be shut and Trump and his Israel walked straight into that.

In the annals of history this will go down as an inflection point when the west began to fall against more determined band powerful adversary AT THEIR OWN HANDS. As for China they are near to invulnerable in nearly every resect that they could be for a superpower.They are building the most amazing electric vehicles , world beating AI for cents on the dollar , infrastructure at breathtaking speed that astonishes the world and then there's Trump. It is one way bet.

PAX AMERICANA RIP

Edited August 10Aug 10 by beautifulthailand99

1 hour ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

In the annals of history this will go down as an inflection point when the west began to fall against more determined band powerful adversary AT THEIR OWN HANDS. As for China they are near to invulnerable in nearly every resect that they could be for a superpower.They are building the most amazing electric vehicles , world beating AI for cents on the dollar , infrastructure at breathtaking speed that astonishes the world and then there's Trump. It is one way bet.

PAX AMERICANA RIP

Yes, we are witnessing the decline of empire, that's for sure. The signs were there before Trump, but his actions have accelerated the fall. As you say, China is in its great ascendancy. I think most Americans are oblivious to just how advanced China is in almost everything compared to the US.

8 minutes ago, ronnie50 said:

Yes, we are witnessing the decline of empire, that's for sure. The signs were there before Trump, but his actions have accelerated the fall. As you say, China is in its great ascendancy. I think most Americans are oblivious to just how advanced China is in almost everything compared to the US.

Sorry my quoting went wrong and I ain't on the cheap grog just yet.

It's been a long time coming: Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan; the hollowing-out of the industrial base; the financialisation of the economy for Wall Street capital making capital in a zombie-economy circle jerk and then the final icing on the cake: Trump, the Idiot Emperor and Lord of Misrule. And that's how empires collapse: imperial hubris and overreach abroad while the homeland burns and rots from within. And to all those US expats perched in Thailand: you made your choice probably for rather more base reasons but a choice nevertheless to flee the tottering giant whilst cheering it from behind a keyboard fuelled with cheap grog.

Edited August 10Aug 10 by beautifulthailand99

Trump is going to need something like the Epstein Files to divert attentions away from the fact he got hosed by a bunch of mullahs.

30 minutes ago, ronnie50 said:

Yes, we are witnessing the decline of empire, that's for sure. The signs were there before Trump, but his actions have accelerated the fall. As you say, China is in its great ascendancy. I think most Americans are oblivious to just how advanced China is in almost everything compared to the US.

The irony is that China didn't do much but simply watch from the side-lines the implosion of US. Trump is Buddha gift to China.

4 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

The irony is that China didn't do much but simply watch from the side-lines the implosion of US. Trump is Buddha gift to China.

Yes precisely - if you leave them alone I don't think they especially want fights but they and the rest of the world is gobsmacked at the US destroying itself. The problem of crumbling empires with huge armies is they don't retire gracefully from the fray though they really should.

4 minutes ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

Yes precisely - if you leave them alone I don't think they especially want fights but they and the rest of the world is gobsmacked at the US destroying itself. The problem of crumbling empires with huge armies is they don't retire gracefully from the fray though they really should.

When examining the decline of empires, the US has much to learn from the British experience in managing failure.

Biden shut down the cheap oil and gas from Russia. Fine. Trump's turn now to compensate and release and cancel the embargo on cheap iranian oil because at this rate the world economy will plonge, the consumption will go dead. And we all know that the big rich are rich only thanks to the other blokes like us who consume. Oil consumption is already crashing all over Europe due to the high costs. If prices continue this way, it could end up in a global financial disaster, that will make all the previous stock market crashes look like peanuts. Trump started this mess under the orders of his Israeli Master. Time now to amend before it gets to lake and societal anger rises all over the world due to the exorbitant high oil prices.

9 minutes ago, nick supreme said:

When examining the decline of empires, the US has much to learn from the British experience in managing failure.

We gave our "hostage countries" effectively up - the equivalent I guess would be closing down many of the US bases abroad and shoring up the home front. For instance let Japan and Korea sort out their own security - amongst his addled incompetence Trump was onto something until hubris got the better of him and he let Netanhayu and the Knesset think he was god.Iran is the US’s Suez - the dysfunction of power writ large for all to see.

Edited August 10Aug 10 by beautifulthailand99

22 hours ago, LosLobo said:

Trump just couldn’t leave Obama’s legacy alone.......

A few major Obama-era policies that Trump reversed and the consequences.

1. JCPOA → Iran’s nuclear threat increased—and now war.

2. Pandemic playbook torn up → Thousands unnecessarily died.

3. Paris Agreement → U.S. climate industries, now China’s.

4. TPP → U.S. influence in Asia, now China’s.

5. Palestine two-state solution → Israel-Hamas war in 2023.

Obama has a permanent penthouse suite in Trump’s head.

You forgot he also trashed the TTIP for the same reason-> China's market share increased. 😃

39 minutes ago, candide said:

You forgot he also trashed the TTIP for the same reason-> China's market share increased. 😃

He did the same with Obama’s Cuba normalization.

No oil, no power. It’s now a humanitarian crisis—maybe shades of Gaza soon.

Russia and China gained influence.

The Cuban Missile Crisis comes to mind.

Will Cuba be the U.S.’s next Venezuela, or will it be another Iran?

Pick a card — Trump has them all.

15 minutes ago, LosLobo said:

He did the same with Obama’s Cuba normalization.

No oil, no power. It’s now a humanitarian crisis—maybe shades of Gaza soon.

Russia and China gained influence.

The Cuban Missile Crisis comes to mind.

Will Cuba be the U.S.’s next Venezuela, or will it be another Iran?

Pick a card — Trump has them all.

China and Russia are closely monitoring the situation in Iran, and the amount of ammunition he's wasting there.

Iran, Venezuela and Cuba are all supported by China and Russia.

Iran intends to charge commercial vessels fees for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, the Foreign Ministry in Tehran said on Monday.

Spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei was quoted by Iranian media as saying that Iran was working with Oman on "mechanisms for monitoring security, protecting the environment and combating crime at sea."

Fees and charges would be levied for maritime services provided to ships, he explained.

The dispute over transit rights in the strait, a key international route for oil, gas and fertilizer, is considered one of the main triggers for the recent escalation in the military conflict between Washington and Tehran.

The Strait of Hormuz measures only around 39 kilometres at its narrowest point.

Since Iran and Oman each claim the maximum 12 nautical miles (22.2 kilometres) allowed under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) as their territorial waters, there are no international waters in the strait.

UNCLOS guarantees a right of transit passage and prohibits a blockade of commercial vessels. Iran does not accept this legal position.

Iran plans fees for passage through Strait of Hormuz

On 8/10/2026 at 11:51 AM, Lacessit said:

I can't work out if your post is serious or sarcastic.

The way I see it, the world has lost 20% of its oil supply, and it is not coming back until Iran gives permission.

Losers don't make demands. People who see themselves as winners do.

Rest assured....pure unadulterated sarcasm......555