The technical term for this is, "Bad day at the office."
Where to start ……… Where to start.
I'll guess I'll start at the most ghoulish thing so far, the online betting site Polymarket is vociferously defending its making book on the war, despite the fact that we have already seen insider trading:
Polymarket has been allowing people to bet on when the US would strike Iran next. Obviously, now that it’s actually happened and people have died, the prediction betting market is feeling some pressure. The site has been at the center of controversy before, including suspicions of insider trading on the Super Bowl halftime show and the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
In a statement posted on its site, Polymarket defended its decision to allow betting on the potential start of a war, saying that it was an “invaluable” source of news and answers, before taking shots at traditional media and Elon Musk’s X. The statement reads:
Ah yes, the betting equivalent of snuff films. Lovely.
On a more significant note, it has been confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been assassinated by a joint Israeli US operation. Given his position within Shia Islam, where he was considered one of the most, if not the most, important sources of religious scholarship and authority, it is highly likely that this will inflame sentiment throughout areas with significant Shia populations.
There are two problems with Assassinations, they do not work even when the target is successfully killed, and they legitimize assassination as a tool of statecraft, and western leaders are far more exposed.
I would also note that among the strikes, somehow or other the US and Israel managed to bomb a girl's elementary school, killing over 50.
God bless America, huh?
Meanwhile the Strait of Hormuz is shut down, not because of Iranian mines or attacks, but because insurance has been canceled for ships wishing to transit the waterway.
Leading maritime insurers have cancelled war risk cover for vessels operating in the Gulf as the escalating Iran conflict disrupted shipping and sent some freight costs surging.
At least 150 vessels including oil and liquefied natural gas tankers have dropped anchor in the strait of Hormuz and surrounding waters, and at least three tankers were damaged and one seafarer killed over the weekend.
The vital shipping route, through which about 20% of the world’s oil supplies and 20% of seaborne gas tankers pass, is effectively closed after the US and Israel began intense airstrikes on Iran on Saturday.
Several leading mutual marine insurers, including Norway’s Gard and Skuld, the UK’s NorthStandard and the London P&I Club, and the New York-based American Club, said they were cancelling war risk cover for ships operating in the region.
Western shipping companies don't wipe their ass without insurance coverage.
And, of course.there have been deaths of American personnel immediately followed by a typically callous statement by Trump.
President Donald Trump’s indifference towards U.S. soldiers killed in a war he started is not sitting well with some Americans.Trump, 79, addressed the nation on Sunday and said that “there will likely be more” U.S. military personnel killed in the war with Iran that he started on Saturday, saying “that’s the way it is.”
(emphasis mine)
Finally, we have 3 F-15 Eagle fighters shot down, allegedly by friendly fire from Kuwaiti air defense units.
My guess would be that the volume of Iranian counter-attacks around the Persian Gulf overwhelmed these units, resulting in the shoot-down, though there are a number of other possibilities (sabotage of IFF systems, a strike from Iranian long range SAMs, etc.)
There are already rumblings that the US will declare victory and pull out.
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