The Market, Energy, And Political Page, T+2 -- May 10, 2018

Scott Adams has great periscope on Israel and Iran:

• the war between Iran and Israel has begun
• Putin gave Israel the green light to take out Iranian forces in Syria
• Putin and Netanyahu 
• Syria is no longer "it's own country"; it's now a Putin satellite
• Putin wants Iranian forces out of Syria
• Putin wanted ISIS out of Syria and got the US to help in that successful endeavor
• unlikely that Iran has the willpower or the strength to "continue" the war 
• feels very, very strongly that Iran is incredibly weak right now, militarily and spiritually
• the Iran question is "ripe" for a solution
• Trump: high risk profile and lots of experience; in a league of his own

Now, to the sources.

• first, the New York Times -- Israeli warplanes hit dozens of Iranian targets in Syria
• second, Business Insider -- Putin may have given Israel PM the "green light" to wipe out Iran in Syria in massive air war -- wow, there is a lot packed into that one headline
• third, the Washington Examiner -- what Putin and Netanyahu want from each other
• fourth, the Jerusalem Post -- Putin will not interfere with Israeli response -- Netanyahu 
• Israel's minister of defense Avigdor Lieberman stokes fears of war between the two nations by warning: "If it rains in Israel it will pour in Iran."

My comments, tactical: 

• Scott Adams was right on target
• Trump has completely upset the status quo in the Mideast

My comments, strategic:

• elections matter
• I don't think Americans understood how coy the Obama/Hillary administration was getting with Iran
• Valerie Jarrett's story is important to review
• Trump understood/understands the two greatest rogue threats to the US: North Korea and Iran
• both were getting stronger and stronger under previous administrations but really accelerated under Obama/Hillary/Jarrett 
• Trump came along at just the right time in the view of many (it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know where "we" would be today if Hillary and Valerie in power; one wonders if Valerie would have been SecState
• Iran will try to wait Trump out; Israel and Putin have a two-year window to "destroy" Iran as a viable player in the Mideast

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