We know what’s coming and we are prepared.
🇺🇸🇰🇼 Debasification: The U.S. is considering withdrawing part of its forces from Kuwait
In the decades since Kuwait’s liberation in the first Gulf War, the U.S. has used the oil-rich emirate as one of the Army’s biggest logistics hubs in the world, hosting thousands of troops, Abrams tanks and heavy artillery.
The American military footprint gave Kuwait a sense of security. Never again could a bigger, more powerful neighbor threaten it.
But the Iran war has undercut this arrangement for both Washington and Kuwait City. The U.S. is now rethinking the scope of its footprint in the emirate, said U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations, even as Kuwaiti officials have said they still need a firm commitment of American support.
The conflict has underscored the danger of a sustained campaign against Kuwait’s civilian infrastructure—and the vulnerability of longstanding U.S.-Kuwaiti defense ties.
“The attacks have made people in Kuwait think of the U.S. presence as a liability, but also as absolutely necessary to defend Kuwait,
Kuwait recently signed a new defense pact with Pakistan, which has played a mediating role in seeking to halt the U.S.-Iran conflict. There is no sign that Kuwait’s rulers are planning a fundamental shift away from heavy reliance on the U.S. as their main security partner. But they might press for new weapons and stepped-up air-defenses systems from Washington and other suppliers to counter the Iran threat.
What is more likely to spark changes in the relationship is a U.S. realization that a large, permanent troop presence in Kuwait is no longer critical or militarily wise, analysts said. The Pentagon was already thinking about drawing down its forces before the Iran war began, said current and former officials. In response to the Iranian attacks on American bases, the Pentagon has reduced its presence in Kuwait to minimize risk, U.S. officials said.
“The question really is, if the Iran war continues, whether that large of a U.S. presence still makes sense,” said Elizabeth Dent
For Kuwait, she added, the danger is that Washington’s commitment to its defense might decline if the Pentagon permanently shrinks its footprint.
đźšś Farmers are selling their pre-purchased fertilizer at double what they paid instead of planting a crop.
Let that sink in. It is more profitable to sit out the season and flip your input costs than to put seed in the ground.
Soybean farmers lost $100 an acre last year. Corn farmers are looking at $50 to $100 losses this year. So what is the response? Switch from corn to soybeans.
Soybeans make their own nitrogen. They do not need the fertilizer corn demands.
The problem is we are already oversupplied on soybeans. More soybeans on a flooded market just drives prices lower.
Fertilizer prices have gone through the roof. The Strait of Hormuz disruptions made it worse. Farmers who locked in fertilizer early are reselling it instead of using it.
That is how broken the commodity food system has become.
đź”— AcmeAcres.us (@idahobeef)
📞 🇺🇸 👨‍💻 Two national laboratories on Long Island have successfully used quantum entanglement to transmit information in open air, potentially leading to a revolutionary transformation for communications and information technology.
The FSO link — which includes the Quantum Lighthouse and Quantum Watchtower, along with a third facility under development at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut — adds a wireless component to the record-setting quantum network currently spanning 161 miles and several institutions across Long Island and the New York metropolitan area.
Using this network, pioneered by Stony Brook and Brookhaven Lab, researchers can transmit entangled photons through commercial fiber. Because the particles remain entangled even when separated by long distances, measuring one photon instantly reveals information about its counterpart. This property, often referred to as “spooky action at a distance,” is key for the future of ultra-secure communications, ...
📞 🇺🇸 👨‍💻 Two national laboratories on Long Island have successfully used quantum entanglement to transmit information in open air, potentially leading to a revolutionary transformation for communications and information technology.
The FSO link — which includes the Quantum Lighthouse and Quantum Watchtower, along with a third facility under development at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut — adds a wireless component to the record-setting quantum network currently spanning 161 miles and several institutions across Long Island and the New York metropolitan area.
Using this network, pioneered by Stony Brook and Brookhaven Lab, researchers can transmit entangled photons through commercial fiber. Because the particles remain entangled even when separated by long distances, measuring one photon instantly reveals information about its counterpart. This property, often referred to as “spooky action at a distance,” is key for the future of ultra-secure communications, ...
