We bombed Iran, and I didn’t run out and buy extra supplies. I didn’t place a big Walmart order for curbside pickup or buy food and gear from Amazon.com. I didn’t run out in the middle of the night to stock up on chicken feed. None of the people expected to bug out here are planning to do so. Simply put, this event has not yet risen to the level where we need to panic shop or bug out. I’ll save that for the first use of a nuclear device.
I think the biggest threat Iran poses is the possibility of sleeper cells or maybe some lone wolf actors. In my book, it’s a good time to be armed. If every patriotic American who owned guns were to spend the next month carrying a concealed weapon with an AR15 in their vehicle, we could limit any damage Iranian sleeper cells might do.
While it is too soon to know exactly how much damage the attacks did on Iran’s ability to produce enriched uranium, it’s obvious some serious damage was done. Even blocking the entrances and exits and blow up the vents will slow things down, and I expect the damage was far worse. We’ll know more in the future.
In the meantime, I expect the “heat dome” saturating our weather forecast is more likely to kill Americans than the Iranians. So stay hydrated and don’t overdo it when if you are working outside.
Global Reactions
Did you notice how Gulf States didn’t raise a fuss about the U.S. striking Iran? They just issued statements calling for peace, which is pretty consistent with what President Trump has been saying all along. Their lack of condemnation is because none of them want Iran to have nuclear weapons. Trump was on target when he called Iran the Bully of the Middle East. No one minds when a bully is taken down a notch, except the other bullies.
The usual suspects, meaning China and Russia, have complained. Oh, and the UN, which has done little or nothing to stop Iran’s development of nuclear weapons. Expect the U.S. to veto anything that happens in the Security Council.
Iran may choose to act on its threats to close the Hormuz straight. That will drive up the price of oil and its derivatives, but it will hurt other countries more than it does the U.S. We are more insulated than we were during the Arab Oil Embargo of the 1970s. Fill your fuel tanks and spare gas cans before the prices rise any further.
The price of gold, which seems to shoot up every time there is a global problem, sank a few dollars lower after markets opened on Sunday evening. It will be interesting to see if this trend holds or if prices rise once markets in the U.S. open. If precious metals stay subdued, then it means global markets and investors are not worried about an extended war in Iran.
The smart money may know Iran has already lost the war, even if their leadership hasn’t realized it yet.
News and Information
Depending on what networks you watch and which websites you visit, you could get a slanted view of the news. Some approach every story from a position of trying to make Trump look bad. Others try to make America look like a bully. My advice is to look at multiple news sources, check out posts on Twitter made by people in the Middle East, and review YouTube videos. Take everything you hear or see with a grain of salt.
When doing your research, look at the news in the context of history. Then look at objective things like numbers. When possible, follow the money and try to figure out what those investors believe. Try to sort out the facts from the politics and make up your own mind whether these attacks were good for the U.S. and the World or another example of an imperialistic United States picking on a smaller country. Weigh the news and determine if you should be worried or not. So far, I am not.
Local Problems
This weekend, my biggest challenge was not the bombing of Iran but the dead battery in my lawnmower. I had charged it the last time I used it, but after a winter just sitting there, that wasn’t unexpected. This time around, I was surprised it wasn’t charged. I ran a long extension cord, plugged in the battery charger and charged it up for a few hours and mowed my lawn. Then I ran out of gas, so I lugged the gas can over and refilled it. When I tried to re-start it,the battery was dead again. I either have an alternator problem or a battery problem; I believe it is the latter.
Running out of gas close to the garage would be too much to ask, so this time, I ran two extension cords and charged it back up. I just completed mowing before nightfall.
While mowing, I found a tree was down on the trail up the mountain. It was a cherry tree that had been left tilted down at a 45-degree angle after Hurricane Helen. I had planned to cut it down, but it leafed out and bloomed, so I left it. I figured I could cut it next winter.
Apparently, the wind during one of last week’s mini-storms was enough to knock it the rest of the way down. I am now out of excuses and will have to cut it up and turn it into firewood. This is another example of where the Polaris Ranger will be useful.