I grant you one thing arjay, you have the power to stun me.
To think you may actually think the things you post does that.
Every time.

Arjay,

You do open yourself up to criticism: Obama running a police state ? The US heading for anarchy - what, from the Left or the Right ?

What if American politics was nowhere near as exciting and extreme as all that ? What if it just continues to flub along, inefficient, corrupt, wasteful and imperfect as it is ?

Here's another bet: that the Grotesque and Obsolete Party (GOP) will eventually choose Romney as its least lack-lustre, least incompetent and least crackpot candidate, and that Obama wins the presidential election in a landslide, with close to a record turn-out ?

Sit back and enjoy it !

Cheers,

Joe

Ant,

Given the 5th fleet is just around the corner from the strait of Hormuz, any attempt to mine this corridor would be severely dealt with. I cannot believe that Iran would wish to bring this down on itself.

Shadow minister,
You're not thinking it all the way through.
Precisely what would the US do?
If it is in response to an Israeli strike, then any action by the US would make it the aggressor.
Iran has been exercising precisely this rsponse for at least two years.
It has hundreds of small boats capable of laying mines. At one point the passable section of the straits is around ten miles wide.
US technology is not designed to deal directly with this kind of action.
So, America either does nothing or strikes at Iran proper.
That will result in a major regional conflict and guess what, the oil price goes up further.
The american, (and European) economies are in no shape to deal with such a scenarion, which, btw, increases Iran's revenues.
The scenario I've outlined was gamed last year by the Pentagon, and the then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, acknowledged that every variation of the modeling produced a disastrous result for the US.
Obama is mindful of this, so he will do all he can to stall until after the election in such a way as it won't hurt his reelection chances.
Once the election is out of the way, a first strike against Iran will be off the table.
So long as the Israelis are kept under control, the Iran nuclear problem will be solved diplomatically.
Anthony
http://www.observationpoint.com.au

Loudmouth both the Democrats and Republicans are controlled by the Federal Reserve,Wall St and to a degree Israel.This is not a left/right issue.They don't care what system you pick since they will be in total control.

Ant,

Firstly some 90% of Iran's oil passes through the strait, so it would be unlikely to increase Iran's revenues, and secondly, it would almost certainly provoke a strike on Iran proper.

While I don't see a land invasion, I do see an aerial assault that severely degrades Iran's military and strategic assets such as its air force, navy, etc.