Nick Cunningham

I don't think most people grasp the insane amount of resources that the US allocates to weapons and war machines. The list of better things we could do with the military budget is nearly endless.

"The Trump crime syndicate apparently wants to control the world’s oil resources right when world oil demand is peaking. And their actions will accelerate the move away from oil and their precious LNG. They are fighting the last war and amassing assets that will be worth a lot less in the future."

EU to Pitch Infrastructure Fund to Drive Green-Energy Transition The European Union will launch a new investment fund to help deliver the trillions of euros of spending that will be needed over the next 15 years for the bloc’s green-energy transition.

“The Iran war has once again exposed the continent’s reliance on fossil fuels, with oil and gas prices soaring”

I’m briefly in India. This is a facile observation, but Americans have barely scratched the surface in understanding how the rest of the world is reacting to this war. It’s already an Iraq War-style disaster in the global imagination, underscored by the thuggishness and caprice of the Trump approach

more and more are saying

BofA: History suggests marked and persistent spikes in the price of crude can trigger persistent inflationary cycles.

Iranian journalist reports in front of the flames of a burning Oil depot.

12/ 2 wars in 4 years. This war will accelerate Solar +Batteries + EVs as real Energy Security

"rest of the world will learn an important lesson from China. Build out your renewables so you aren't as dependent on imported fossil fuels & the whims of idiots"

Be like Spain.
bsky.app/profile/jere...

At the risk of boring everyone,a little context.

$100 oil in isolation isn’t that bad. It averaged around that level from 2011-2014 without severe economic ramifications*.

It’s the pace of the rise that has people spooked. And not knowing where it might stop.

11/ BREAKING: SUNDAY 6pm ET. Markets open. Brent and WTI crude jumps more than 20% to above $110 a barrel!

Markets last week - Short War.
Markets this week - Oh no no no no.
Where could it go? How does it end? Thread @thepolycrisis.bsky.social buttondown.com/polycrisisdi...
bsky.app/profile/70sb...

some keep on telling this story of people not wanting green policies, warning politicians to steer away from climate policies, yet the majority in the heartland of German car production has just voted for a guy that has not backtracked from saying that e-cars are the future

bsky.app/profile/jere...

This is the largest oil supply shock in history in mb/d
The enemy gets a vote. Iran is now delivering pain to Trump via multiple paths
(1) Gulf Kings
(2) Financial meltdown
(3) AI tech oligarchs
(4) Fuel, fertilizer, food disruptions
Read our Polycrisis Dispatch:
buttondown.com/polycrisisdi...

One of the lessons of the Iran war is that it was a huge mistake not to even try to put any of the Iraq war architects in prison. We shouldn’t make it again.

I was in Tehran this time last year. I want you to see how beautiful my city is. I want you to see the city the US/Israel is trying to wipe off the face of the earth

Geneva Convention 1977 Protocols:
“It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as... drinking #water installations & supplies and irrigation works... for any other motive.”

Lindsey Graham: "If we get in a fight, I want to win it quick. I'm in Miami. You see this hat? 'Free Cuba.' Stay tuned. The liberation of Cuba is upon us. We're marching through the world. We're clearing out the bad guys. Cuba is next."

14/ THIS.
"Commodity analysts in my feed: This is epic and will go down in the history books as one of the biggest supply shocks.

Mainstream media: Some slight disruptions in the availability of a few commodities might happen. Meanwhile, here's a video of another exploding launcher." - Guy Laron

9 Million Indians Live in the Persian Gulf. The Money They Send Home Is a Lifeline.

15/ India is going to be a hotspot of pain.
1 Food fuel fertilizer disruptions in on farmers & factories
2 Gulf war threatens the livelihoods of millions of Indian workers & billions of dollars in remittances they send home.
3 budget CUTS as subsidy bills balloon
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/03/b...

It is absolutely insane that the US appears to have targeted desalination plants first – putting them onto the board. Iran seems to have already retaliated against one in Bahrain. This is one of the most obvious ways this could spiral.

March 8, 2026 - Tehran at sunrise today. But the sun is hidden behind a sky filled with smoke. After a night of intensive strikes on oil facilities, thick black clouds now hang over the city, turning morning into something that feels like night.

It feels like another tipping point is being crossed rn… back-&-forth refinery strikes, Tehran in flames. Trump demanding unconditional surrender, de facto boasting of bombing Iranian desal. US & Israel are pushing Iran to fire everything it has at the region’s weakest links. Unimaginably dangerous.

Iran's FM condemns US attack on Qeshm's freshwater desalination plant, warns of grave consequences US President Donald Trump announced that Iran promised not to attack its neighbours anymore

Multiple news outlets are reporting a US attack on an Iranian #desalination plant.
If verified, this violates international law protecting #water systems during wars, and it sets a dangerous precedent, given intense dependence of Gulf countries on desalination.
timesofoman.com/article/1691...

The asymmetry of the value placed on human life is so striking. Israel has a goal to recover 40-year-old remains; to do so, it invades a sovereign country, and the lives of 26 Lebanese are an afterthought. Their names not even worth printing in the New York Times.

North Tehran’s Aqdasiyeh oil depot is ablaze tonight after it was targeted by multiple US-Israeli airstrikes. Apocalyptic scenes filmed by Iranians driving on the nearby highway. Local reporters saying firefighters can’t put it out. This depot is critical energy infrastructure for Iran.

Hmm the National Security Strategy suggested this administration’s imperial objectives were limited to this hemisphere. Turns out no.

A country coming apart: US-Israel war pounds Iranian life The US-Israel war began over Tehran on Saturday and spread, city by city, into a sustained assault on civilian infrastructure, military sites, and daily life.

"The US-Israel war that began over Tehran on Saturday has since spread, city by city, into a sustained assault on civilian infrastructure, military sites, and daily life"

"hundreds of casualties...including women, children...Emergency wards filled beyond capacity."
www.newarab.com/news/country...

Almost 17% of Lebanon’s population have been displaced due to Israel’s unprecedented eviction orders - the country is facing a catastrophic mass exodus with thousands still on the streets

"We’ve mapped the scale of displacement in Lebanon due to Israeli bombing and forced evacuation"

Lockheed Martin, RTX Land F-35 Contracts, US to Triple Some Defense Prodution

This is a publicly funded industry, proof that the U.S. can create jobs programs and design industrial policy when it wants to, but only substantially does so for the purpose of war and violence.

Four-byline alert: 🚨

“.. Trump has privately expressed serious interest in deploying U.S. troops on the ground inside of Iran, according to two U.S. officials, a former U.S. official and another person with knowledge of the conversations.”

@nbcnews.com
www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...

The Most Chilling Detail in the U.S. Attack on an Iranian Naval Ship The Iranian warship was taking part in an international exercise with many other countries—including the United States.

This is a chilling crime. A shame on our country. The Iranian ship was unarmed. The US knew this. The sailors were murdered by our navy, and the survivors were left to die at sea.
newrepublic.com/post/207429/...