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Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

cnn.com

51–60 of 146 posts

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#51
post #19

While folks here are quick to jump to blaming the US for this, it's also worth noting that the US is the one that has been enforcing international order so far. So it gives us a bit of a glimpse of what would the world would look like with a more isolationist US, or a multipolar world.

Lol, the USA is the one who creates havoc and started this mess in the first place. What international order?!

Iran is the one blocking the strait, not the US.

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#52
post #19

While folks here are quick to jump to blaming the US for this, it's also worth noting that the US is the one that has been enforcing international order so far. So it gives us a bit of a glimpse of what would the world would look like with a more isolationist US, or a multipolar world.

Please, lets end this lie about the "international order". It's always been a lawless world where rich and powerful nations did whatever they wanted. Now they've just stopped bothering to hide it.

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The China point doesn't make any sense to me. High oil prices only accelerate China's transition to renewables, and rewards them for all the investment they've made so far, both in national energy production and in selling panels and EVs to the world. It hurts the US far more, especially with this admin's anti wind and solar policies.

You can do a lot with renewables. You can't do things like "make plastics" or "run entire industrial districts" off of them, at least not yet. Both are incredibly important to China for the time being. You also can't run most blue-water naval ships off of them, but that's a bit less impactful.

The rush to renewables frees the oil to be focused on the non-transitional.

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#54
post #19

While folks here are quick to jump to blaming the US for this, it's also worth noting that the US is the one that has been enforcing international order so far. So it gives us a bit of a glimpse of what would the world would look like with a more isolationist US, or a multipolar world.

You can very specifically blame Trump for not understanding this at all. Possibly a symptom of being born rich, he acts as though America's standing in the world is a given and he has infinite political capital to spend any way he chooses and every other president was a moron for not doing it first. Obviously America has abused/misused their authority many times, but this is really the most humiliating in how quickly it unfolded and how very foreseeable the outcome was. We had a solid deal 12 years ago and instead we now have a mess and it's entirely due to one man's hubris.

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#55
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China can't transition that fast. China has a lot of oil in storage but if the current situation continues or gets worse they are hurt. The US is a net exporter of oil so is okay though some areas use middle east oil and are hurt too. This will take a long time to play out. Discount every short term prediction as both Iran and the US are forced to play a long game.

How does being a net exporter even help? There's a global market and prices rise globally. US companies and consumers will pay more no matter if we're importing or exporting.

Couldn't a stroke of a pen (executive order) specify that US markets must be saturated prior to exporting?

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#56
What makes Iran believe unilateral fees on subsea internet cables would be paid? If they start paying in this case, the rest of the world is going to start demanding unilateral fees from the operators.

If operators are going to pay up anyhow, they might prefer chipping in for NATO support than publically rewarding such behavior...

"chipping in" could range from symbolic to substantial, as the alternative would be facing a never-ending stream of unilateral fees worldwide, in fact even all unaffected operators of internet cables are hereby motivated to organize a collective crowd-funding for military support of these cables: the future affected party could otherwise be themselves!

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#57
post #19

While folks here are quick to jump to blaming the US for this, it's also worth noting that the US is the one that has been enforcing international order so far. So it gives us a bit of a glimpse of what would the world would look like with a more isolationist US, or a multipolar world.

Please, lets end this lie about the "international order". It's always been a lawless world where rich and powerful nations did whatever they wanted. Now they've just stopped bothering to hide it.

True. I just happen to prefer the US to set the rules over an illegitimate, theocratic, and terrorist regime.

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#58
post #2

"Esfandiary, of Bloomberg Economics, said Iran “theoretically knew” it had leverage over the strait but was uncertain how significant the impact would be if it acted on those threats. Now, she added, Tehran “has discovered the impact.” The thing that mystifies me is that U. S. war planners "theoretically knew" this, too; at least, I would assume. The whole war strikes me as the current administration finding out the…

It's always the same with the US, the US always overestimate raw military power and underestimate local and strategic conditions. All the previous wars got lost the exact same way. Trump is losing the same way the US lost in Afghanistan, Irak, Vietnam, Korea... Just faster than any anybody else.

If anything, those were lost (I'd argue Iraq was a draw of sorts and Korea was more-or-less a victory) due to lack of raw military power.

This is a country with enough nuclear warheads to end intelligent life on this planet. It has bombers that, even with conventional payloads, could wipe most cities off the map once air superiority is achieved - and it almost always is.

Instead, there's a tendency to try and move the nation into the American sphere of influence and let it defend itself under its own power, and that's where things fail, because that requires lots of ground troops over a period of years while the local allies in the conflict get ready to do the fighting.

The interesting wrinkle with Iran is that The World's Best Negotiator(TM) has essentially painted himself into a corner. Could the US do more to break Iran? Of course. Would those things be politically popular in the US or receive the support of the international community? Hell no. So he has to keep puffing his chest up. It'll be interesting to see what happens post-midterms.

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#59

What makes Iran believe unilateral fees on subsea internet cables would be paid? If they start paying in this case, the rest of the world is going to start demanding unilateral fees from the operators. If operators are going to pay up anyhow, they might prefer chipping in for NATO support than publically rewarding such behavior... "chipping in" could range from symbolic to substantial, as the alternative would be fac…

>What makes Iran believe unilateral fees on subsea internet cables would be paid?

Presumably because they will attempt to destroy them if the fees are not paid.

Re: Iran will impose fees on subsea internet cables in Strait of Hormuz

#60
This is just so incredibly embarrassing. We're now negotiating to end a war with a country we have claimed to have defeated like 500 times now, over terms that will not even just return the region to the pre-war status quo, but (most likely) giving them more power than they had when the first bombs were dropped. Not to mention shattering the illusion that the US can somehow protect the gulf states, along with most of our bases in the region and 13 US lives. Even if the US somehow recovers the enriched uranium they now claim was the motive, why would Iran not want to build nukes now? It would be suicidal not to.

(I say this with no sympathy to the Iranian government, just looking at reality.)

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