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Executive Summary
- The recent tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman are both odd and murky
- Assessing what happens next in and around the Strait of Hormuz
- Recession watch! Many more signs of weakening with which to contend
- When the black swan(s) arrive the bubble(s) will burst
- Getting the timing right is going to be tricky, of course
If you have not yet read Part 1: Waiting For The Black Swan, available free to all readers, please click here to read it first.
Now we turn to the recent tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman, and the looming recession indicators which suggest some sort of a turn is at hand.
These may well be connected as the US has a long and sordid history of pushing conflicts to distract voters from a slumping economy and to get them to rally behind incumbents.
The current crop of DC denizens seems more likely than others to conform to that pattern.
Tanker Attacks
On the morning of Thursday June 13th, 2019 another two tankers (the Japanese Kokura Courageous and the Norwegian Front Altair) were attacked in the Gulf of Oman, just a few miles from the Strait of Hormuz.
The Front Altair was extensively damaged:
(Source)
Like the prior attacks, some sort of explosions ripped through the double hulls, this time alighting the cargo of naptha (gasoline).
The other ship, the Kokura Courageous, had one hole above the water line and what appears to be another unexploded device (maybe, possibly, can’t even be sure that it’s an actual explosive device let alone who might have placed it there if it is one) nearer to the front (the word “likely” is from the US military, not me):
Quite oddly, we have this crystal clear image taken from close range and at water level, indicating that a ship with a camera was nearby. The US government then released an ultra-grainy, low resolution video that purports to show an Iranian naval vessel removing what it termed “incriminating evidence.”
My questions are; (1) why is the video of such poor quality?
by cmartenson 
