Tootfinder

By day six, CSIS put the cumulative cost to the US of the Iran War at
$12.7 billion.
Today, it is likely to have exceeded
$18 billion – and the meter is still running.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/202…

Strikes by both sides on so-called upstream gas production facilities in recent days are a significant escalation in the war in the Middle East, with potentially long-term consequences.
The strikes were the first time facilities associated with the production of fossil fuel energy had been hit in the conflict,
rather than sites associated more generally with the oil and gas industry.
On Tuesday a successful Iranian drone attack resulted in operations at the Shah gasfield in…

A thought, after listening to all the fucking securocrats wanking off over their Munich Security Conference.
In the Franco-Prussian war, the Paris Commune happened. At the end of the first world war, Russia had a #communist revolution, while the German navy mutinied in an explicitly left wing revolt. After the second,

Just finished "Pearl" written by Sherri L. Smith and illustrated by Christine Norrie, based at least in part on "Hiroshima in the Morning", a memoir by Rahna Reiko Rizzuto. A concise, wonderfully-illustrated, and fascinating story of a Hawaiian-born girl sent to visit her dying great-grandmother in Japan in 1941 and then trapped there throughout World War 2. I won't spoil things beyond that, but the book digs deep into the horrors of the war on both sides, showing just how cruel the geological ambitions of nations can be to people who belong to both cultures.
#AmReading #ReadingNow

The war has put Middle East water supplies at risk: Iran War Maps: Tracking the Mideast Conflict - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/world/us-israel-iran-attack-maps#the-war-has-put-middle-east-water-supplies-at-risk

I read this fascinating thread while listening to Qobuz and by sheer coincidence, this track came on and it seems horribly appropriate:
#IfYouTolerateThisYourChildrenWillBeNext Manic Street Preachers on Qobuz https://open.qobuz.com/track/55341288
https://mastodon.social/@sellathechemist/116075306722957554
@… - The Russians cannot be trusted. At best the Russians will buy time, and then have another go.
When will European governments call a spade a spade and really push to disconnect from Russian oil and gas? If that means buying it from the US interim so be it. But then really push hard for energy and military security.
Russia is NOT going away. Nor is its hatred of Europe which is why the've been waging war on us in myriad ways for the last 20 years.
4/end
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/14/alexei-navalny-poisoning-death-russia-frog-toxin

A look at the dearth of media coverage of Sudan's civil war, started in 2023; report: 32 journalists have been killed and 90% of outlets damaged or destroyed (Isma'il Kushkush/Nieman Reports)
https://niemanreports.org/sudan-civil-war…

Sudan’s Civil War Is Silencing the Press - Nieman Reports
Sudan’s journalists risk their lives to tell the story of their homeland as the world turns away, writes Isma'il Kushkush.

I see no sign of any recognition from those who would want such a ban that they see any of the collateral damage a successful ban would have on the majority of kids who are not falling for this bullshit. That they are banning any good at all along with the bad.
Under 18s only
I see that the lobbying for these laws are funded by the absolute worst companies on the internet, those who will be entrenched by the legal compliance costs, that will cement themselves as the arbitrators of who is allowed to access the internet.
It’s a gift to Palantir and other surveillance companies. The very people running these algo-feeds are the ones who benefit from IDing every user and stalking them across the internet on their government-approved internet-licence IDs.
I don’t think even a successful ban on social media for kids would actually address the issue of kids being exposed to sexism and misogony or reduce the kids alienation and depression.
A ban can’t help, will make many things worse, won’t address the problem, and will make competing with the worst surveillance capitalists on the planet more difficult.
Going to war with every internet site and advice forum and making internet access harder won’t fix anything, and will have massive collateral damage against everyone seeking support from strangers or trying to learn things their parents won’t teach them.
But I see we are going to do it anyway.
The direction is clear.
Those companies do get what they lobby for, and they are lobbying hard for ID checks on every website, wrapping their desire to enclose the internet commons for themselves in a faux concern for children’s welfare.
And governments wish to monitor and control the internet, so they will pass these laws.
I wonder how many parents have a family group-chat that they’re going to accidentally ban their kids from using, not realizing that ‘social media’ might include Whatsapp? 😆
It won’t fix anything, it will make the situation for kids worse, impose costs and rents and hacks and exploits on all of us, and increase government and corporate power.
Many will lose access to their networks of support and help.
So it goes.
We will build a better more censorship resistant internet. It’s already here really: Briar. Matrix. Nostr. Bitchat. Veilid. Spritely. And the rest.
The laws may push us there faster.
The race will go on.

Trump drew a backlash on Sunday for suggesting US efforts to protect the Strait of Hormuz were unnecessary
– and that “maybe we shouldn’t even be there at all”
because his country has plenty of oil of its own.
The president made the contradictory comment to reporters on Air Force One
after pleading with European and Nato allies to enter the war in Iran to help the US secure the strait
amid the largest oil supply disruption in history.

I am developing
a strong trust issue
with corporations
People around me
respected professionals
one by one falling under the AI spell
learning to worship it daily
despite it eating up their lives
in front of their eyes
The orange man
in a semi bulldozed
shiny White House
at the top of the hill
halfway across the world
bragging about his non-war
shrugging off 165 girls murdered
aged between 7 and 12
as the …

If you are an anti-fascist, you are against petroleum. Petroleum funds fascism globally. It is at the heart of the military industrial complex driving global imperialism, from both the US and Russia. Motonormitivity is fascist, both in it's elitist roots and in it's ties to historical fascism (Hitler hated bikes, just on principle). Oil is militarism.
Oil is the dominant resource which drives war, both in terms of it being the primary spoil wars are fought over and in terms of fueling the military vehicles and weapons that carry out those wars. Practically every war since (and including) WWII has been over oil. Genocides are carried out to secure oil. Gaza is over oil, in more ways than one.
Oil is the absolute enemy, and AI is simply an extension of that: an attempt to atomize us so we can't resist the oil-centric global order, one last grasp at the control over our lives oil has given to those whose power is now threatened by a solar punk future.
"I haven't written for a few weeks now. As I write the closing chapter and begin rewriting previous sections, everything feels both more distant and more immediate. The working title [Kairos] has only continued to feel more and more resonant, both during the writing and during my pause."
Now is the time to resist by making something different, by creating a world fundamentally opposed to these systems of oppression.
This is the last in my Kairos series. From here on out I'll be editing to try and make it more of a book than a series of posts. Thanks to everyone who has helped so far. All editing is welcome (typos, spell checks, questions and challenges). Between ADHD and dyslexia, it's always hard for my brain to notice mistakes in my own text so I always appreciate the support of those who can.
https://anarchoccultism.org/building-zion/kairos

“Throughout our trip to Germany, most of the conversations I had with other survivors and their families reliably returned to fears and intergenerational traumas in the context of the Trump presidency; the rise of nationalism, authoritarianism and uncertainty in the U.S. and around the world. But although this was at the height of devastating reports of famine and genocide emerging from Gaza, everyone in our group, especially the Jews, seemed to make a concerted effort to avoid mention of Pa…

Remembering ‘Never Again for Everyone’ at Bergen-Belsen
At the height of the war in Gaza, a Jewish activist for Palestine accompanied his mother, a Holocaust survivor, to Germany for a ceremony to mark 80 years since liberation

It is unbelievable how Trump helps Putin in every way possible...
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/10/world/middleeast/iran-war-putin-russia-energy-oil-prices.html?unlo…

U.S. Eases Limits on Russian Energy as Oil Prices Soar
The volatility in energy markets because of the war in Iran could not come at a better time for President Vladimir V. Putin.

What those different versions of the Iranian flag appearing at protests mean
https://www.thecanadianpressnews.ca/national/what-those-different-versions-of-the-iranian-f…

Fears about the global economic fallout from the war in Iran grew on Sunday
as the U.S. energy secretary acknowledged in a televised interview that there were
“no guarantees” that oil prices would fall in the coming weeks.
A day after President Trump called on other countries to send warships to the region to end the de facto Iranian blockade of the economically vital Strait of Hormuz,
foreign governments responded with caution— if at all

Iran War Live Updates: Israel Launches Strikes as Trump Urges World to Defend Strait of Hormuz
Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz to America and its allies, but the president’s earlier call for more naval reinforcements has gained little traction. The U.S. energy secretary, Chris Wright, acknowledged energy prices could remain high.

David Cronenberg, master of body horror movies, was born today (March 15) in 1943 (during World War II!)
I saw his films 'Crash' and 'Naked Lunch' early, around the same time, in 1997 or 1998. Since then, I've seen many more of his- I just counted, I've seen 13 of his 23 films, and I've loved all of them. I'm a huge fan. My favorite was Shivers for a while. I'm not sure what it is now. Gotta see those final 10!
Happy birthday, David. We love …

The Darth #Trump administration clearly assumes that NATO and thus the EU will assist the US in the war against Iran.
But that would not be covered by the mutual defense pact—after all, the war started by Trump is a violation of international law, and the thousands of deaths in Iran are a war crime.
Furthermore, this would not change the US's support for NATO in any way. There will be non…

Europe Didn’t Want War With Iran. But So Far, It Can’t Stay Out of It.
From London to Rome and beyond, leaders are facing diplomatic headwinds and criticism at home as they take part in a conflict they did not seek.

John F. Burns, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and New York Times foreign correspondent who reported from South Africa, Iraq, and other bureaus, dies at 81 (Alan Cowell/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/13/world/j

John F. Burns, Prize-winning Foreign Correspondent for The Times, Dies at 81
In a 40-year career that brought him two Pulitzers, he reported from trouble spots around the world, eloquently conveying the chaos of war.

“When there’s a supply disruption in the Middle East, that raises prices for every barrel of oil in the world,”
said Christopher Knittel, associate dean for climate and sustainability at M.I.T.
“Those price increases then trickle down to products that use oil, gasoline being the most relevant one.”
⚠️But isn’t the United States the world’s largest oil producer?
Yes, but not all American-produced oil can be easily used by American refiners.
The United States is a n…

America Is an Oil Exporter. Why Does a Mideast War Raise U.S. Gas Prices?
The U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran have intensified and the conflict has widened, shaking global energy markets.

This is my shocked face. I'm just gobsmacked that no one considered this possibility.
https://apnews.com/article/oil-prices-crude-brent-iran-ecab41ec6a365e58282…

Crude oil sells above $100 a barrel as Iran war impedes production
Oil prices have jumped past $100 a barrel as the Iran war disrupts oil production and shipping in the Middle East. The price for a barrel of Brent crude, was at $107.97 shortly after trading resumed Sunday on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. That's 16.5% higher than the international benchmark's Friday closing price of $92.69. The light crude oil produced in the United States sold for about $106.22 a barrel, or 16.9% more. Crude prices haven’t gotten that high in more than three and a half ye…

They are a military force in a war that cannot be won.
Kinda a natural spot in the rankings… @… https://…

Justin Hendrix (@justinhendrix.bsky.social)
At $28.7B for 2025 (nearly triple its 2024 budget) and at least another $56.25B over the next three years, ICE's budget would be the envy of many national militaries... "Indeed, this budget would put ICE as the 14th most well-funded military in the world, right between Ukraine and Israel." [contains quote post or other embedded content]

"Keir Starmer suggested allowing the US to use the bases to carry out defensive strikes against Iranian targets at the meeting last Friday but was met with opposition from Ed Miliband, Rachel Reeves, Yvette Cooper and Shabana Mahmood, according to the Spectator, which was then picked up by several media outlets."
Leak from secret UK meeting on US attacks on Iran an ‘absolute travesty’, says Lammy | US-Israel war on Iran | The Guardian

Toblinger Knoten / Torre di Toblin
(October 2024)
#SilentSunday #LandscapePhotography #Photography

Musk’s Starlink Blocks Russian Troops’ Internet Access at Ukraine’s Request
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/05/world/europe/starlink-blocks-russian-troops-access.html

At Ukraine’s Request, Starlink Denies Internet Access to Russian Troops
It’s unclear what effect the change will have on Russia’s ability to wage war, but Russian military bloggers said troops were experiencing internet outages that hampered frontline communications.

Pope Leo takes another swipe at Trump over Iran war: ‘Go to confession’ | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/pope-leo-trump-iran-war-christians-confession-b2938068.html

Series C, Episode 06 - City at the Edge of the World
AVON: Not unless they can do it in their sleep.
DAYNA: You should have killed them.
AVON: Probably.
CALLY: They could sleep through a war.
https://blake.torpidity.net/m/306/415 B7B5

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Feb. 14 that
territorial concessions by Ukraine
would not bring peace,
just as the 1938 Munich Agreement did not prevent World War II.
"It would be an illusion to believe that this war can now be reliably ended by dividing Ukraine
— just as it was an illusion to believe that sacrificing Czechoslovakia would save Europe from a greater war,"
Zelensky said at the Munich Security Conference.
The Munich Agr…

Territorial concessions by Ukraine won't bring peace, Zelensky says in Munich
"It would be an illusion to believe that this war can now be reliably ended by dividing Ukraine – just as it was an illusion to believe that sacrificing Czechoslovakia would save Europe from a greater war," Zelensky said at the Munich Security Conference.

International response to Trump’s call for the dispatch of warships has so far proved vague and reluctant,
with countries unwilling to commit to a military response that could prove treacherous for their navies.
Tehran has said any oil tanker heading for the US, Israel or its allies is a legitimate target in the war and will be “immediately destroyed”.
Sixteen tankers have been attacked in the strait of Hormuz since the war started at the end of February
and Iran has…

Institutional power, capitalism, colonialism, and an empire on the brink of war or collapse. Doncha just love escaping into fiction when the real world gets to be too much?
Yeah, 19th century fictional Britain is strikingly similar to the US today, but at least you know the fictional story will have a resolution. I don't want to spoil the story. Just know that you're in for a captivating ride with an excellent author.
Babel by R.F. Kuang
I listened to the audio book…

Experts say water, not oil, is most at risk in the Persian Gulf during Iran war | The Independent
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-war-oil-water-persian-gulf-b2934830.html

HP reports Q1 revenue up 6.9% YoY to $14.44B, vs. $13.94B est., and expects FY 2026 results to be at the low end of its forecasts; HPQ drops 6% after hours (Jaspreet Singh/Reuters)
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/hp-war

Jim Beam shutting down bourbon production due to Trump's trade war is not something that I was expecting. Maybe I should have been expecting it.
"In a statement, the company said it was shutting down production at its Clermont distillery on January 1, 2026, though the visitors’ center on the site is to remain open, according to the Lexington Herald Leader."
#Whiskey #JimBeam #Politics

As Trump threatens Iran, Venezuela, Mexico, Greenland and more,
renowned historian Alfred McCoy says the United States is
“an empire in decline,”
following a predictable pattern
of militarism abroad and political instability at home
as it loses power and influence on the world stage.
“American politics become increasingly contorted and irrational,”
says McCoy.
“I think the thing to do is to realize that we are an empire in decline, …
…

“Empire in Decline”: Historian Alfred McCoy on U.S. Aggression in Venezuela, Iran & Beyond
As President Trump threatens Iran, Venezuela, Mexico, Greenland and more, renowned historian Alfred McCoy says the United States is “an empire in decline,” following a predictable pattern of militarism abroad and political instability at home as it loses power and influence on the world stage. “American politics become increasingly contorted and irrational,” says McCoy. “I think the thing to do is to realize that we are an empire in decline, … and it will continue for another decade…

🔴URGENT! Donald Trump's special address at the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos!: https://benborges.xyz/2026/01/21/urgent-donald-trumps-special-address.html

I don't want war in Europe. I don't want war at all. I was a pacifist for the first 65 years of my life, and still tend that way. But we don't have a way of of deterring wars of aggression, and we live in a world where those are happening -- in #Ukraine, in #Palestine, and elsewhere. So we…

Nations agree to release oil reserves as war in Iran hits global economy
The International Energy Agency on Wednesday announced that it would carry out its largest-ever release of oil reserves
— 400 million barrels
— in a bid to control spiking energy prices caused by the United States-Israel war against Iran.

The plan, aimed at stabilizing oil prices that have soared since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, would deplete roughly one-third of glob…

Nations agree to release oil reserves as war in Iran hits global economy
The International Energy Agency announced that it would carry out its largest-ever release of oil reserves — 400 million barrels.

Iran believes there can be no end to the conflict until it believes Trump has been shown the economic, political and military cost is so high that it is not worth repeating. It is instead insisting on a permanent deal that includes a US commitment not to attack Iran again.
The defiance is remarkable for a regime that at the start of the war 11 days ago was seeking little more than its own survival.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/10/iranian-regime-is-not-weakening-in-face-of-us-israel-onslaught-but-becoming-more-defiant?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The U.S. is currently holding three times as many people in immigrant detention as were detained in the Nazi concentration camp system in spring 1939
—six years into the Third Reich and just before the start of World War II.
"…nobody sane now thinks the answer to abuses at Dachau was to give the guards more training."
https://<…

Into the abyss
The correct response to Dachau was not better training for the guards.

Casualties and destruction were reported across at least nine countries,
with the United Arab Emiratesrecording a total of 186 missiles and 812 drones sent toward the country since the start of the conflict
and two ports in Oman targeted in drone strikes today.

The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was hit by a drone strike,
causing a fire to break out.
The strike came as the state department urged that all US citizens leave more than a dozen Middle…

“Canada supports the United States…..”
these are the only words that matter and I’m sorry what? This is “our” position? No. I reject this!!
Canada has stood for humanitarian law and international peace and security for nearly a century.
We should be a “Middle Power” with values. Right? Wasn’t that the Davos speech?!
But here we are clapping meekly from the sidelines as the country that would love to annex us, now ruled by a Christo-Fascist Regime, and in partnership with a Judeo-Fascist Regime blows up people in a country ruled by a Islamo-Fascist regime.
We are basically back to the Middle Ages but with nukes in our back pocket.
These are the three most dangerous countries in the world all fighting amongst themselves. We should not be taking sides, except for the side of peaceful civilians of all religions in all countries.
This is not the way.
I am shocked at the shallowness, the naïveté and the cowardice of Carney’s foreign policy.
#canpoli #cdnpoli #canada #iran #usa #israel #palestine #war #genocide #fascism

Pentagon briefing:
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that a US submarine sunk an Iranian warship in the Indian ocean
as he declared that the Iranian navy “rests at the bottom of the Persian Gulf”
and that it was “ineffective, decimated, destroyed”.
He declared that “America is winning”
and suggested that in under a week the US and Israel
“will have complete control of Iranian skies, uncontested airspace”.
The leader of the Iranian co…

United States launched air strikes against Iran Saturday, and by Sunday night, at least 10 countries had attacked or been attacked.
Earth has just under 200 countries.
5% of countries are now at war.
The peace president did that, trying to conceal earlier crimes.
#USpol #war #crime

Anger at the regime continues to spread,
even beyond the borders of the United States.
Millions of workers worldwide are following the fortunes of their brothers and sisters in the US
with intense sympathy for their struggle.
In Germany in particular, Trump’s actions vividly bring to mind Hitler, the Second World War and the Holocaust.
More and more people are becoming aware that a third world war can only be stopped if we succeed not only in overthrowing the…

Voices of solidarity from Germany in the fight against Trump’s drive to dictatorship - Bytes Europe
On Friday, January 23, around 100,000 people in Minneapolis turned out to protest against the Trump administration’s mobilization of ICE against the city’s

'Several' American warplanes crashed in Kuwait this morning,
the country’s defence ministry said.
All the pilots bailed out safely and are been checked up on at a hospital, according to the ministry.
They are all in a stable condition.
It is not immediately clear what caused the US warplanes to crash
but the incident came during an intense period of Iranian fire targeting the country.
The defence ministry said it is continuing investigations into th…

Russia Put Its Future at Risk by Remaking Its Economy for War
About half of the country’s federal budget goes toward the fight in Ukraine
-- money that does little to support its long-term development
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/world/e

Russia Remade Its Economy for War, but It’s Come at a Huge Cost
About half of the country’s federal budget goes toward the fight in Ukraine, money that does little to support its long-term development.

Trump Suggests Extended War on Iran as U.S. Adds to Forces in Mideast
Iran and allied militias, including Hezbollah, attacked Israel and U.S. targets,
and Israel struck in Lebanon.
Trump said the campaign could last “four to five weeks,”
but “we have the capability to go far longer than that.”
“Whatever the time is, it’s OK,
whatever it takes,”
Trump said at his first public event since U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran began on Saturday.
“Righ…

Live Updates: Trump Suggests Extended War on Iran as U.S. Adds to Forces in Mideast
Iran and allied militias, including Hezbollah, attacked Israel and U.S. targets, and Israel struck in Lebanon. President Trump said the campaign could last “four to five weeks,” but “we have the capability to go far longer than that.”

Sen. Kim accused Trump of rejected a “constitutionally required approval process for armed conflict because the Administration knows the American people reject risks pulling our nation into another war.” Kim said the overnight strikes in Venezuela “doesn’t represent strength. It’s not sound foreign policy. It puts Americans at risk in Venezuela and the region, and it sends a horrible and disturbing signal that targeting a head of state is an acceptable policy.”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/jan/03/caracas-explosions-venezuela-maduro-latest-news-updates-live?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD)
has said it is ⚠️moving families from the RAF Akrotiri airbase in #Cyprus
⚡️after it was targeted in a suspected Iranian drone strike last night
at around midnight local time (22:00 GMT), in an attack which caused limited damage but no casualties,
🔥Cyprus has put authorities on alert,
closing schools and evacuating people where necessary,

“It bears repeating that President Zelenskyy agreed to a Christmas truce,
but Putin declined,
yet he directs soldiers to continue to commit brutal crimes of aggression on one of Christianity’s holiest days.
“Even for countries at war, there is a long history of Christmas ceasefires, including notably during World War I.
Today’s decision by Putin to launch attacks rather than hold fire is a sobering reminder for us all:
Putin is a ruthless murderer who has no inte…

Ranking Member Shaheen, Senators Tillis, Rosen, Barrasso, Coons, King, Moran, Merkley, Van Hollen Statement on Russia’s Christmas Bombing of Ukraine | United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Thom Tillis (R-NC), Jacky Rosen...