The 500th Edition

Almost a decade of weekly watches reviewing the news of the week, and this week is jam full of news. We had the world's largest funeral on record in Iran, and next door in Turkey there was the NATO clown show. The MoU is officially over and the hot war with Iran resumes. The Strait is closed and economic consequences will ensue. Oil, it seems, is the lubricant driving war. Having none pass through Hormuz (along with the other Gulf products- Helium, Natural Gas, fertilizers, and so on) will have global effects. Trump signed an agreement he never intended to honor. It was a stalling tactic to see if he could open the strait...another Minsk style agreement. As Lavrov stated, "The US is agreement incapable". Ukraine and Russia continue the drone wars, and with NATO openly stating they intend to go to war with Russia, giving Russia no choice but to prepare for a war with NATO. These stories and more below the fold.

Western Asia (the Middle East) has been colonized by Europeans for ages, but it was after WWI and WWII that it was designed to provide oil and energy to the west.
The Secret WWII Deal to Carve Up the Middle East's Oil — Before the War Was Even Won

(30 min) While millions of soldiers were fighting and dying across Europe and the Pacific, a secret war was being waged behind closed doors — not over territory, but over something far more valuable. Oil. Before the last shots of World War 2 had even been fired, the United States and Great Britain were already dividing up the Middle East's petroleum wealth between them through backroom deals, secret agreements, and ruthless corporate maneuvering.
From Churchill's fateful decision to convert the Royal Navy from coal to oil in 1911, to the secret cartel agreements signed in a Scottish castle in 1928, to Roosevelt's blunt declaration to a British ambassador — "Persian oil is yours. Saudi Arabian oil is ours." — this is the hidden history of how Western powers carved up the most valuable resource on the planet while wrapping themselves in the language of democracy and freedom.
This story covers the Red Line Agreement, the Achnacarry cartel, Harold Ickes' radical plan for government-owned oil reserves, the Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement of 1944, and the dramatic secret meeting between FDR and King Ibn Saud aboard a US Navy warship in the Suez Canal — a meeting that laid the foundation for the US-Saudi relationship that still shapes geopolitics today. The consequences of these wartime oil deals echo through every Middle Eastern conflict since: the Iranian coup of 1953, the rise of OPEC, the Gulf War, and beyond.
The real story of the Middle East has always been underground.

Of course the story is much more complex...
During WWI the first modern Middle East borders were drawn.
The Secret Deal That Created the Modern Middle East | Sykes–Picot Agreement (13 min)
0:00-0:37 Introduction
0:38-3:25 Context: WW1 and Ottomans
3:26-6:14 Sykes-Picot Agreement
6:15-8:39 Arab Revolts
8:40-12:30 The Mandates
12:31-13:22 Conclusions
In 1916, as World War I raged, two diplomats — Mark Sykes of Britain and François Georges-Picot of France — secretly carved up the Ottoman Empire’s Arab lands. At the same time, Britain was promising Sharif Hussein of Mecca an independent Arab kingdom if he led a revolt against the Ottomans. And in 1917, the Balfour Declaration added yet another promise: a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.
When the war ended, these promises collided. Instead of independence, the League of Nations handed Britain and France mandates over the Middle East. Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, and Transjordan became imperial possessions, and the “lines in the sand” of Sykes–Picot hardened into borders that still shape the region today.
This is the story of the secret deals, broken promises, and colonial ambitions that created the modern Middle East — and why their legacy still matters.

One more historical review...
The Bankers Who Carved Up the Middle East After WWI - And Why We're Still Paying for It (43 min)
The secret agreement that broke the Middle East was never meant to be found. In 1916, two diplomats — one British, one French — divided the entire Arab world between their empires in a matter of weeks, without telling the Arabs who were actively dying for British promises of independence. That agreement was the Sykes-Picot deal. But the story behind it goes much deeper than two men with a map.
This video traces the hidden financial architecture that made Sykes-Picot possible and permanent — the oil concessions that drove every British military and diplomatic decision, the Rothschild family's fifty years of land investment in Palestine that preceded and enabled the Balfour Declaration, the secret railroad of promises made simultaneously to Arabs, to Zionists, and to France about the same territory, and the Red Line Agreement that let a private oil cartel quietly manage the entire region's resources for decades without public knowledge.
The borders of modern Iraq were drawn partly as the result of an oil company equity negotiation. The Balfour Declaration was addressed to a Rothschild for reasons that were simultaneously ideological, financial, and strategic. The Arab Revolt was funded with promises the British government had already decided not to keep. And none of the people living inside these newly drawn borders were ever asked what they wanted.
A century later, the consequences are still being lived.

Not to mention the Iranian coup by the UK and US. President Mohammed Mossadeq decided to nationalize Iran's oil and not allow Britain to take it for their own.
The Battle for Iran, 1953: Re-Release of CIA Internal History Spotlights New Details about anti-Mosaddeq Coup is a review of the coup that was conducted. More documents here.
Additionally there's the war we instigated between Iraq and Iran, providing Iraq with poison gas to use on Iran. Later we claimed those very gases we part of Saddam's WMD's, when we tried to justify our devastation of that country. The US has destroyed many of these countries at the behest of Israel including Iraq, Syria, Libya, and we tried in Yemen and are still bombing Somalia.

My point is that our history in the region has shaped this conflict (and others) for at least a hundred years. Actions carried out to cement western control over the last hundred years hasn't helped the situation. And we could go back farther to the crusades.

In the ever changing situation what's going on in the US-Iran war?
Pepe Escobar: Trump in PANIC as Iran's Hypersonic Missiles SMASH Qatar & Jordan

(61 min) Pepe Escobar discusses day 2 of intense US strikes and Iran's massive retaliation that spanned hypersonic missile launches landing in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and across the Gulf region. Time is running out, and Pepe breaks down the truth about why this escalation is occurring in the first place and just who is begging who to stop.

As Marandi states below, Iran is ready and able to respond to US attacks.

(57 min) Seyed M. Marandi: Iran Defies U.S. Threat Over Hormuz: "Ready to Crush It"

Last night Iran hit the UAE, Qatar, and Jordan as the US rains bombs and missiles on Iran. This will not end well.
Iran Targets US Bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Jordan Following Major US Airstrikes

Iran EXPANDS the War: Missiles Rain Down on Qatar, UAE & Jordan

I expect the war to continue to expand...
IDF Chief Tells Pilots To Expect ‘Major’ Israeli Operations Against Iran
Israel's defense minister also said Israel was ready to rejoin the war against Iran

Let's hear for two excellent diplomats on the situation...

(68 min) Alastair Crooke: U.S. and Iran Exchange Massive Strikes as Hormuz War Continues

And now Chas Freeman

(52 min) Israel Eyes Two Fronts: Iran Today, Turkey Next

The hot war begins as the huge funeral ceremony is finalized for the supreme leader we assassinated. Larry has talked all week about the importance of the funeral.

(11 min) The U.S. Just Repeated Japan’s Biggest WW2 Mistake
Could the U.S. have repeated the same strategic mistake Japan made at Pearl Harbor? In this episode, ex-CIA analyst Larry Johnson explains why the attack on Iran united the country instead of breaking it apart and what that could mean for the future of the Middle East.

Khamenei's body arrives in Mashhad for burial after week of processions
While US air strikes hit railways to Mashhad, Iran claims the eight-hour delay to the burial was due to unexpected crowds.
The delay came just hours after the US and Iran resumed air strikes following a short-term truce.
While US strikes on railway bridges disrupted travel between Tehran and Mashhad, Iranian officials insist the delay is not linked to the attacks. Instead, Iranian state media claims the postponement is due to an overwhelming crowd of mourners.

In the US, support for Israel is waning and they are in a panic to maintain psychological control over the US government and population.
Ron Paul's sidekick discusses the situation with Nima.

(42 min) Daniel McAdams: The Middle East Has Changed Forever — More Wars Won't Reverse It

Palestine Activists Celebrate A Win Outside The United Nations
According to a public poll released by the Pew Research Center this June, 60% of Americans have an unfavorable view of Israel, up 7% from 53% last year....
“It is clear that Americans all over the country and in New York do not want their tax dollars and their money to be aiding and abetting war, and it is clear that people do not want a war criminal in their midst, and that Israel … is not the ally that people in the United States want their government to continue to have a relationship with,” said Kawas who won her Democratic primary by over 20 points.

That's one of the reasons the Zionists lobby inserted a clause to unite the Israeli and US military.

Buried in the Senate’s version of the defense authorization bill is a provision that changes the relationship between the American state and private industry. Section 1051 would give the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital explicit authority to buy ownership stakes in private companies, and it would create a new account in the Treasury to pay for them. The government would no longer merely fund, contract with, and regulate private firms. It would own them.

This may pass since our politicians are owned by the Israel lobby.

The NATO Clown Show...

(25 min) NATO Summit Descends Into Total Farce. Trump Mocks Europe, Rutte Panic
00:00 NATO summit
01:21 Total descent into farce
02:20 Ukraine's Patriot missile fiasco
03:16 NATO alliance disintegrating into vassalage
06:24 Rutte compared to a dying CEO
07:21 The grift: Roman Empire parallel
09:32 Europe has no weapons left to give
11:35 Fear Europe gets pushed into war by 2030
17:46 Turkey F-35s and sanctions relief
19:00 Israel opposes Turkey getting F-35s

The Russian NATO war using Ukraine as a Proxy...
Russia continues its relentless advance ...

(43 min) Russia Traps Ukraine On Frontline With No Way Out w/ Stanislav Krapivnik
00:00 Intro and weather chat
01:25 Overview: Russian strikes on Kiev, Ukrainian strikes on Russia
02:22 Mystery drone hits Russian refinery 2,500km from Ukraine
03:24 Why Russia struggles to stop deep drone strikes
07:48 Could the refinery drone have launched from Kazakhstan?
10:14 Zelensky sends 420 drones at Moscow
13:17 The big question: what is Putin actually doing?
19:35 Is Putin playing chess, or falling for the West again?
23:38 Is "maximum restraint" really a strategy?
27:40 Kremlin hardliners vs. the pro-deal faction
28:13 Russia hits 37 Ukrainian fuel stations
28:40 Konstantinovka and Kupyansk fall to Russian forces
33:55 Azov's "Greater Ukraine" map threatens Poland
35:03 Oreshnik, Iskander missiles, and Geran drones pound Kiev
41:13 Life on the ground in Donbas as civilian drone strikes rise

Putin's Hopes for a Trump Security Deal Fade

(43 min)
00:00 Intro: Russian advances, Konstantinovka denial
00:56 Naval strike hits Russian oil tankers in Sea of Azov
02:36 The West's war euphoria despite Ukraine's worsening position
03:45 Zaluzhny's Telegraph article punctures the "winning" narrative
05:19 Comparing today's mood to the 1968 Tet Offensive
05:46 Putin's cabinet meeting on the fuel and energy crisis
07:45 Why Russia's refineries can't meet civilian gasoline demand
11:21 Crimea's gas crisis and the sanctions loophole
13:09 Putin's oddly relaxed response to the energy problem
17:10 Putin's core strategy: preserve normalcy at home
21:13 Two wars: Russia winning on the ground, losing the narrative war
24:33 American technology, not European, behind deep strikes on Russia
27:52 Peskov signals the SMO is becoming a real war
28:49 Putin's push for a new European security architecture
36:05 Is Lavrov being sidelined by backchannel diplomacy?

We'll wrap with a walk and talk as Alex explores all these stories.

Ultimatum Delivered To Iran. Finland Stubb Declares VICTORY Over Russia As Graham Visits Kiev

(45 min)
00:00 Can Ukraine win, debate opens
00:45 Trump's Saturday deadline to Iran
01:52 Trump's Hormuz demands to Iran
03:10 Trump's Truth Social posts, thousands of missiles threat
04:32 Alleged Iran plot
11:23 US carriers Bush and Lincoln near Hormuz
13:19 Finland's Stubb declares Ukraine has won
16:34 Zaluzhny's article contradicts Stubb
19:26 Stubb says Putin cannot be trusted
20:26 Der Spiegel report on Russia China alliance
24:44 Russia destroys 200 gas stations in Ukraine
25:51 Ukraine claims strikes on 13 Russian tankers
27:04 Graham and Blumenthal secondary sanctions on Russia
30:39 Graham meets Zaluzhny in Kiev
32:23 Clown World: Trudeau, BMW, chat control

Well the 500th WW was filled with news. We didn't even touch on China nor BRICS+. We'll have to save that for another week. I hope you found something of interest today, and will consider adding a story or your insights in a comment below. Have a great Sunday!

The thread is open!