Clive Maund weighs in on Gulf crisis

[Atash Hagmahani]

http://lewrockwell.com/orig12/maund10.1.html

He's a technical analyst and a deflationist, so consider that when reading his analysis of the precious metals markets.

His overall assessment of the big picture sounds about right to me. I think what he is calling the "Axis" powers will successfully pursue their foreign policy objectives, but their economies will collapse in the process. A "Pyrrhic Victory". I think part of the problem, aside from not simply accepting that the oil is running out no matter who steals it, is that their foreign policy is warped by ideology rather than pure, sheer pragmatics. In this case, the pragmatic approach would have been the more moral (less immoral?) one as well--lower body count.

[Lore]

The pragmatic approach would have been the more moral (less immoral?) one as well--lower body count.

Atash, you nail it once again.

I worked for a psychopath once.  They're not wired like us. They don't have that thing that we call 'sensibility.' Pragmatism is as alien as conscience.

What matters to them is Ego. They are extreme narcissists. If they see their pre-eminence threatened, they respond with fury and will not hesitate to do as much damage as possible. Ultimately, they do not recognize allegiances. This is what balanced minds in affected regimes need to 'get' ASAP.

[Atash Hagmahani]

I just supplied an observation. You're the one who came up with the explanation--which reminded me that we have to remind ourselves that TPTB don't think like we do, so we should not be caught surprised by some of their counter-intuitive moves.

After reading your post, I got to thinking...and I remembered that they consider war to STIMULATE an economy. Paul Krugman said so, openly, not all that long ago.

Chris Martenson says they can't live without Iranian oil; they don't have enough spare capacity:

http://www.chrismartenson.com/blog/iran-oh-no-not-again/69355

I'm wondering if they're going to coordinate a recession in Europe (let's face it; "western" economies are discretely centrally-managed) to try to reduce oil prices and consumption. I wonder if that's what the credit downgrades are really about. Problem is, usage doesn't do down all that much in a recession.