Nah, soft power is out. Bluntly, if the Philippines strays too far from US interests, they can be strangled, first economically, then militarily.
Why wouldn't Iran accept Yuan? Without doing anything special, China is becoming the most reliable trade partner in the world.
This tactic, used against Russia, Iran, and others, has turned them to seeking other, safer currencies. The Euro is risky; EU members are American allies, generally speaking, and also may act against Iran, etc. for their own reasons. The most widely used currency and most stable economy (an unstable economy causes and unstable currency) is the Chinese yuan or renminbi.
OTOH the US is the largest oil producer in the world [1]. Theoretically the US could keep domestic prices in check, but that would require rather drastic administrative pressure, likely only legal at wartime.
https://www.topsoe.com/news/worlds-first-dynamic-green-ammon...
Main innovation in this plant is that the process is optimized to run off of intermittent sources like solar or wind.
So it's technically feasible. Not quite there in terms of cost and scale but if the alternative is a blockade then probably worth investing in.
Ironically some of the best locations for production are in the middle east.
I think South Africa gets most of its diesel from the Fischer–Tropsch process. You could use electrolytic hydrogen as an input for that. About 40% of the energy in gasoline is from hydrogen burning.
It's not great but it would allow you to run current vehicles off about 40% solar energy.
If only someone didn't rip up a deal a particular president with a Kenyan father did, Iran might've been more contained...
I repeat: provide some evidence. I suppose I should worry about Mossad and AIPAC crowd now as well.
Now they got to switch from a theocracy to an effective monarchy, for free.
Repost because of the clear strategic downvoting of my other comment.
I repeat: provide some evidence.
There is not any otherwise you would present it. The only destabilising force in the ME is Israel. And there's plenty of evidence to prove as much. E.g. the minimum of seven wars started by Israel over just the last ten years.
With Trump and his supporters, the stupid never stops. Just today, JD Vance warned of nuclear suicide vests. [1]
Somebody, please, tell me that I'm the idiot, and that I've fallen for an AI video.
This doesn't tell us anything new (we've already had many stories explaining that oil prices have been elevated for almost a month now; the revenue is a natural and entirely expected consequence) and really only serves to give another place for people to shop around their preferred theories about the politics behind this, and to complain about whichever political figures they prefer complaining about.
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