The G7 statement on releasing diesel stocks, issued yesterday, was a pile of nonsense that eventually only indicated that all these nations still live in total fear of the USA and Donald Trump.
The G7 succumbed to threats. A few months' diesel supply will be preserved. The crisis will now hit after Christmas rather than before it.
But perhaps most notably, the statement included this paragraph:
We condemn Iran's continued attacks against its regional neighbours and its disruption of international trade, energy security and the global economy. We call for the immediate and full restoration of navigational rights and principles in the Strait of Hormuz and express our determination to redouble our collective efforts to that end. We commend the United States for its efforts to ensure the free flow of commerce through the strait of Hormuz.
That is so stupid it is beyond belief.
No one in their right mind can believe that. Our government agreed to it and then put it on their website.
How far can Labour fall?
My fear is that we still have no clear answer to that as yet, and there is a long way to go.
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Iran did not start the war. It was started byTrump and Netanyahu . Then Saudi chose to break the truce that had been holding since 2022 with the Houthis.
The mess and impending depression have been created by Trump/Netanyahu and the US neocons.
The UK does not have a strategic diesel reserve, so kicking the can down the road to Christmas, praying that the war ends and everything gets back to normal by then is utterly crass.
The aura of US military might has been shattered by Trump’s actions. Amazingly the general population has not woken up to the fact that the western military complex, which is dominated by US firms, cannot replace the depleted weaponry at the scale or in the time required. There are reports that the US firms want seven year contracts with money up front from the US government before ramping up production. Just in time neoliberalism has completely failed
Trump and Israel are not able to defeat Iran by conventional means which only leaves nuclear weapons. The talk of tactical nuclear strikes is beyond belief. The prospect of the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iranians and massive destruction is seen by the US as “acceptable” to force the collapse of the Iranian state.
What a world we live in.
Trump will eventually bully Butrnham into some deranged military misadventure, probably using the same economic tools the Emiratis are shaping up to wield over Manchester City.
Yes, let’s use up our emergency stocks, but take no steps to reduce consumption to eke them out. And after they are gone, what then?
Which countries have stocks of diesel?
https://news.sky.com/story/why-record-diesel-prices-have-further-to-go-13591293
If the graph at that link can be believed, it is Canada, Japan, the US, Switzerland. (No doubt China does too.) The US has stocks as much as Germany and France together. EU states are mandated to keep reserves of 90 days of net imports or if greater 60 days of domestic consumption. collectively more than the US but the EU has more people.
The UK has relatively little stocks so we are quite exposed.
The UK is a net importer of oil these days – but a very large percentage of UK production (around 70%) is exported because it is “sour” with sulphur and we don’t have refineries built to dealt with that. And a very large proportion of the UK’s oil consumption (around 75%) is used for transport – perhaps 2/3 diesel (the amount is fairly consistent year on year) and the rest (and falling) petrol.
This problem – and other supply problems, including fertiliser – can only be resolved by peace in the Middle East. Does Trump have any idea how to get there? Is the bombing going to restart after the midterms on 3 November?
Thank you.
Much to agree with. Apologies for the delay.
“commend the United States”? Surely the closure of the strait is entirely the fault of Trump & Netanyahu? Iran is just taking the most effective path to secure its own interests. Good for them!
Accusing Iran of starting the war is on a level with Putin claiming that Ukraine attacked Russia
Let’s us find out how far it is in miles from Earth to Pluto and go with that shall we?
This G7 resolution put me in mind of Richard Attenborough’s satirical film, “Oh what a lovely war!”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh!_What_a_Lovely_War
Maybe someone doctored the bottled water at the G7 meeting, perhaps with LSD?
I conclude that it isn’t really Trump the G7 leaders are scared of, it’s US – the people, & that we might ever discover the truth about how we are governed.
It’s too late. We already know. This lunacy proves that the G7 are governed by cowardly, lying fools.
We should never, never forget Joan Littlewood.
Yet another discussion I’m coming late to. The implications of a nuclear war are terrible absolutely agreed, we in this country at one time innovators, scientists, thinkers, I don’t know how much of that remains, but there must be something. With all the posturing and flexing going on from the Americans against most of the world, we are not looking in the right places for solutions, the Americans don’t know it all and certainly aren’t the masters of their own destiny any longer. The Chinese are probably in that situation and having learned studied copied emulated educated and invested, have become a great innovative industrial society. We can rubbish their policies and attitudes, what we cant do is get away from the fact that their state/industrial system works. Their education system is good, their innovation competition system works, their investment by the state is effective, no not perfect but the model is reasonably efficient. What could we learn from them? We could learn that promising ideas can be funded by government, that innovation, education driven works, that small industrial units could survive and prosper with government help. Politics be damned, lets do it for ALL of us. Why weren’t we involved in multi fuel engines? Rolls Royce had the technology in WW2 the sleeve valve and on the fly electronics. Why did we let America take the jet engine? Radar? transistorisation? all of these things we had , renewables sit on our doorstep, we are the best country in the world for wind tidal and solar, why aren’t we involved in development? battery storage, synthetic fuels, advanced aerodynamics, we have small very advanced projects, they lack funding and direction, because the AI bubble is filling and gobbling up private capital, so why aren’t government taking a hand? Because of neoliberalism