Tea at Trianon: Iran Tried to Hold the World’s Oil Hostage

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, October 31, 2026

Iran Tried to Hold the World’s Oil Hostage

From Tierney's Real News:

The fake news and the political hacks in Washington are running their usual playbook. They are overreacting about short-term gas prices, calling the White House reckless over Iran, and worrying about low oil stocks.
They are missing the bigger picture.
Alexander Muse just wrote a strong summary titled “Trump Was Right to Take On Iran, and Two Years of Refilling Oil Tanks Is a Bargain.” Muse correctly pointed out that what Trump is doing with Iran is justified, well-timed, and a good deal for Americans. This is not only about stopping a dangerous regime. It is Trump making a smart move to keep America strong for the next fifty years.
1. Defeating Iran’s Financial Warfare: Starving the Beast
For years, past presidents and Washington experts tried to “contain” Iran with weak talks or piles of cash. Meanwhile, the Iranian leaders and their military used oil money and blackmail proceeds to fund themselves, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Houthi terrorists. Trump changed the approach.
By fully blocking Iran’s oil, its crude exports have basically stopped. Shipping trackers show almost no Iranian oil leaving through the Strait of Hormuz since September. No successful shipments have gotten through the blockade. CENTCOM says the operation has already blocked about $25 billion in oil revenue for Iran. Cutting off the money does what years of limited fights could not: it starves the regime’s allies and stops it from building missiles and drones that threaten American friends and ships.
Stopping a dangerous regime by cutting its money is just as effective as stopping it in a fight. (Read more.)