We are urging strongly that Iran's statehood be preserved. We do not want to see a Syrian scenario here, but rather we want this state to become functional from within itself. And that is why I also appeal, both in Washington and in all talks with the Israeli government, to create the conditions as quickly as possible for this country to be stabilized, for it to get a democratically legitimized government, and for it to be able to continue to exist as a state. It is a country with over 90 million inhabitants, and we naturally also have a high self-interest in this in order to avoid new refugee flows from the region.

Finally someone mentions the upcoming refugee problem that I raised here about a week ago - this should’ve been considered BEFORE the strike.

Merz:

Reporter: I asked Trump about rising gas prices. He said, 'That's alright. It'll go way down very quickly.' I said, 'Well, they're pretty high now.' And he said, 'No they're not.'

Weird chart. What happened in 2025 in the US? Did political leadership change and then start systematically dismantling education, science, health care, and government, levying arbitrary tariffs, randomly attacking major US cities, and destroying the economy?

Just asking.

🎯💯

Collecting your money illegally was so much easier.

US customs agency says it cannot comply with tariff refund order The ​U.S. Customs and ‌Border Protection agency is ​unable to ​comply with a court ⁠order ​directing it to ​refund tariffs that the Supreme Court has ​ruled ​illegal, the agency said in a ‌court ⁠fili...

www.reuters.com/business/us-...

Pretty sure when they started imposing this idiocy they assured a bunch of judges that they would be able to refund the money with no problem if it ever came to that.

Within hours of the U.S. blowing up a girls' school in Iran, the U.S. military knew what it had done. The Trump regime failed to take responsibility and said it was "under investigation" in hopes that it would be old news by the time it became indisputable that children were massacred in our name.

After a year of berating and humiliating Ukraine, we could really use their help with drone warfare.

Irony of ironies. 🇺🇦

@pkrugman.bsky.social
paulkrugman.substack.com/p/renewable-...

Trump wanted the headlines announcing that the US would insure ships in the Middle East. He didn't care about anything else, including whether it was possible.

It’s almost like we didn’t think this through.

Russia is providing Iran intelligence to target U.S. forces, officials say The targeting information has included the locations of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East, the officials said.

www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

“.. Who gave you the authority to drag our region into a war with Iran?” said Khalaf Al Habtoor, a Dubai billionaire .. “You have placed the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council .. at the heart of a danger they did not choose.”

@bloomberg.com
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Russia is reportedly supplying Iran with military intelligence to target U.S. forces. Trump won’t say a word about it.

Exclusive | Kuwait Cuts Oil Production as Storage Fills Up The cuts signal a broader storage crisis that poses new risks to the global market.

".. Shutting in an oil well risks long-term damage to reservoir pressure and incurs high restart costs, usually making it a measure of last resort. Restarting production can take days or even weeks .."

Brent near $91.

@wsj.com #OOTT
www.wsj.com/business/ene...

Herbicide application in or adjacent to rivers and streams to control vegetation is less expensive in the short-run than using hand crews, but the long-term damage to the environment and animals therein, and those who use those areas for recreation, likely exceed the initial cost savings.

After uproar, Orange County stops spraying herbicide in two creeks After residents launched a social media campaign demanding Orange County stop spraying herbicide in creeks, officials said they will halt the practice in two waterways.

After uproar, Orange County stops spraying herbicide in two creeks

Probably first major US loss of the conflict when it comes to ballistic missile defense. One of TPY-2 radars belonging to the THAAD battery deployed to Muwaffaq Salti Airbase in Jordan seems to have been struck. The full radar set goes over $200M.

Without the radar that battery is temporarily out of the fight and that means the Patriot batteries deployed to the base will have higher burden placed on them. THAAD and PATRIOT are meant to work together, with THAAD acting as upper layer and PATRIOT as lower layer.

🇫🇮☢️ Finland’s government plans to remove a legal ban on nuclear weapons on its territory, allowing them to be deployed during wartime.

The amendment, justified as strengthening NATO deterrence against Russia, still needs parliamentary approval.

And while the article barely mentions the war in Ukraine, the rapid depletion of US stocks of Patriot and other surface-to-air missiles will likely reduce the numbers of such missiles that the Trump Admin is willing to sell EU "Coalition of the Willing" countries for Ukraine.

"At this stage, Operation Epic Fury is a military success funded by strategic risk. While direct-attack weapons are plentiful, the conflict is steadily draining the scarce munitions—standoff, antiship, air defense, and counter-drone—that the United States would need most in a war with China."

CNAS Insights | Can the United States Sustain Its War Against Iran? Developing strong, pragmatic and principled national security and defense policies.

The U.S. is winning against Iran, but burning through the exact munitions it would need most against China. New @cnas.bsky.social analysis from @philipsheers.bsky.social & I on the hidden costs of Operation Epic Fury & what comes next.
cnas.org/publications/commentary/insights-sustaining-war-in-iran

Hooooooo boy

NO!

Earth Is Warming Faster Than Previously Estimated, New Study Shows Researchers found the first statistically significant evidence that global warming is accelerating.

Yet more evidence that climate change is real and that it's accelerating! Yet Trump and his fossil fuels cronies are pushing to increase use of fossil fuels and to retard development and adoption of renewable energy alternatives.
www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Employment Situation Summary - 2026 M02 Results

U.S. payroll employment FELL by 92,000 jobs in February and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4 percent.
Data: www.bls.gov/news.release...
Live coverage: www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03... #NumberDay

So our multi-year streak of uninterrupted job growth ended in December 2025, rather than February 2026.

The economic story just changed dramatically.

Payrolls fell -92k in Feb. Jan growth was revised down by -4k to +126k. And Dec revisions subtracted -64k to -17k.

Unemployment rate up a tick to 4.4%.

Recession questions are back on the menu

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