Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this week that the administration would use "all the tools at our government's disposal" to "dismantle" the ICC. read more
Trump has signed an executive order that will impose tariffs of 50 per cent on a wide range of Canadian exports, a dramatic ramping up of his trade war against his northern neighbour. read more
The Bureau of Land Management plans to reopen the area around Chaco Culture National Historical Park for possible oil and gas leasing, giving the public until July 29 to comment. read more
Yemen's Houthi rebels announced they are imposing a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia in response for a recent attack on Sanaa Airport. The statement did not clarify exactly what that means. This could put pressure on Saudi Arabia, which uses its East-West Pipeline to try to move oil out of the kingdom while the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. read more
Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) thinks there's something queer about Secretary Pete Hegseth's fixation on masculinity. The congresswoman weighed in on the U.S. military's plans to test male service members' testosterone levels, telling journalist Scott MacFarlane there's something odd about being so obsessed with manliness while villainizing the LGBTQ community at the same time. read more
Some indication about what this might mean for SA:
The announcement is likely to further hamper Saudi Arabia's crucial oil exports.
Since the US-Israel war on Iran and the subsequent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the kingdom has sought alternative export routes.
Its East-West pipeline, or Petroline, has been the solution. Originally built in the 1980s, the 1,201km- (746 mile-) pipeline runs from the eastern Abqaiq oil field right across the country to the western Red Sea port city of Yanbu. The pipeline pumps about seven million barrels of oil per day.
From there, oil tankers ship the oil through Bab al-Mandeb to major Asian markets and elsewhere.
Ship tracking data from Kpler and Signal Ocean showed that shipments from Yanbu averaged four million barrels per day in recent weeks, up from around 973,000 bpd a year earlier, according to Reuters.
Total petroleum volumes transiting Bab al-Mandeb were 7.4 million bpd in June, or about 7 percent of global oil output, according to Kpler data. That is compared to 4.2 million bpd last year.
www.aljazeera.com
And there it is: Bab Al-Mandeb, the second of two petro chokepoints.
"Could Iran Disrupt the Gulf Countries' Desalinated Water Supplies?"
Center for Strategic & International Studies
www.csis.org
For the GCC countries, extensive desalination systems constitute indispensable critical infrastructure. Desalination fulfills 77.3 percent of total water demand in Qatar, 67.5 percent in Bahrain, 52.1 percent in the UAE, 42.2 percent in Kuwait, 31 percent in Oman, and 18.1 percent in Saudi Arabia. Desalination plants are especially important for meeting drinking water needs. Qatar derives 99 percent of its drinking water supplies from its network of desalination facilities, and Bahrain over 90 percent. For Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, the figures are 90 percent, 86 percent, 70 percent, and 42 percent, respectively. Cities such as Doha, Dubai, Manama, and Kuwait City would not be possible without desalination. Qatar and Bahrain, in particular, also rely heavily on desalination for industry, too, devoting over half their desalinated water production to sectors such as petrochemicals and data centers. Damage or disruptions to the region's desalination infrastructure could compromise crucial water resources for business, industry, and thousands or even millions of people across the Persian Gulf.
Here's some academic reading for poor BELLRINGER: Horace Miner's classic "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema" - www.sfu.ca