Washington is not being 'dragged' into 'Israel's war'

It's waging war on China.

Along with funding ‘independence’ in Taiwan to create a proxy war

the US is also trying to cut China off from cheap oil.

From BettBeat

‘Iran represents not merely another “Middle Eastern” nation to be dismembered, but a direct conduit to China— the big enchilada— the true target of America's imperial anxiety. China receives significant oil supplies from Iran. The destruction of Iran serves the dual purpose of removing a resistant and independent power in West Asia while simultaneously applying immense pressure to Beijing's energy security.

Donald Trump has already laid the groundwork, declaring that if American assets are struck by Iran, "the full strength and might of the United States armed forces will come down on you at levels never seen before." This statement is not merely a threat—it is an invitation to the intelligence apparatus to manufacture such an attack. One can almost picture the orgasmic convulsions coursing through Netanyahu's body when he heard those words—a blank check written in advance for whatever blood-soaked spectacle might serve their shared imperial objectives.’

From Laura Ruggeri

‘Washington (US based big fossil fuels, arms, animal ag, agrochemicals, banking, pharma, tech and media) tried, and failed, to destroy Iran's oil trade and economy through sanctions.

Guess where an estimated 90% of its crude shipments are directed to? China.

(‘China’s private refiners are key buyers of Iran’s sanctioned crude, and the two sides have established a trade relationship that is favourable for both. Iran gets to sell its crude that nearly everyone else shuns, while China’s independent refiners, the so-called teapots, get cheap oil at discounts.’)

The US places its rivalry with China at the core of its geopolitical strategy. The bipartisan consensus in Washington is that China represents "a geopolitical adversary, the most significant long-term strategic challenge to U.S. interests."

For years Washington has been trying to undermine China's growth, to no avail.

For China, a net oil importer, affordable energy is crucial to fuel its economy and maintain competitive manufacturing costs for exports like electronics, machinery, textiles, and chemicals.

What do you do when sanctions and tariffs fail? You try to disrupt energy supplies by leveraging on your proxy, Israel.

In 2024, Israel intensified its efforts to provoke Iran (Gaza, Lebanon and Syria). Iran, however, refrained from escalating, carefully managing tensions without raising the stakes.

The latest unprovoked aggression was a declaration of war.

Yesterday the New York Times reported with glee that Israel had hit Iran’s largest natural gas field—the South Pars—which also happens to be the largest in the world:

“Israel is bombing Iran's ability to export oil and natural gas. This will remove Iran's ability to export about 2 million bpd, most of which goes to China. Iran's South Pars natural gas field is shut down, Shahran oil field is on fire. Multiple oil refineries in Iran are reportedly on fire. This will cause gasoline and diesel shortages in Iran. Oil and natural gas prices will skyrocket when markets open on Monday.”

Regardless as to whether the damage is as significant as Western and Israeli media claim, it is reasonable to expect that Israel will continue to target Iranian gas and oil fields.

These strikes and the potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint that handles roughly 20% of global oil supply, could send prices through the roof and deal a very serious blow to the global economy.

Although the beneficiaries of high prices are those oil-rich countries that can ship or pipe their oil and gas bypassing the Persian Gulf, the impact on inflation would spare no one.

China sources its crude oil from a wide range of countries besides Middle Eastern ones, and thanks to this strategic diversification Russia, Brazil and Venezuela feature among its suppliers. As of 2024, the top suppliers of crude oil to China were Russia, Malaysia (though some of this oil may be relabeled Iranian crude to bypass sanctions) Saudi Arabia, Iraq, United Arab Emirates.

(The proxy war, decoupling and sanctioning of Russia was also to weaken a key trading partner of China.)

Middle Eastern countries collectively supply around a third of China’s crude oil, but they also supply US allies Washington relies on for military projection in the Asia-Pacific, such as Japan and South Korea. if they suffer a serious blow to their economy due to high energy costs and shortages, forget about meeting the military spending targets imposed by Washington on its vassals.

And the same applies to a vassal bloc (the EU) that prides itself on "successfully decoupling from Russian oil and gas.’

Though in the eloquent words of Nuland; Washington is prepared to ‘Fuck the EU’, all its vassals, proxies, the American people and the planet to get at China.

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