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Posted on 10/24/2026 6:29:15 AM PDT by Twotone
Strikes and blockades by truckers in Southern Italy this week have left many supermarket shelves bare. Those strikes and blockades in the south were matched by protests, which turned to riots in the north. Both movements were protesting the same issue: affordability. In the north, students marched against low wages, high taxes, and quickly rising grocery and fuel costs. In the south, farmers and truckers have blockaded ports and highways in protest of those same high fuel costs.
The high costs are associated with fuel shortages stemming from the war in Iran, and, on Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government announced the equivalent of $200 million to cover gas prices. Meloni’s government has already spent the equivalent of $3 billion to lower or offset gas prices this year.
But Italy’s protest movement is only part of the global story. Protests in France have resulted in major government intervention. Albanian students are protesting governmental corruption and the high cost of living. Bolivia has seen longstanding protests against rising fuel costs as well. Around the world, protest movements are heating up largely due to governmental corruption in conjunction to rising fuel and food costs associated with the war in Iran.
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Many students cause trouble when they become old enough to see what they’re up against.
“rising fuel and food costs associated with the war in Iran”
************************************************************
Ukraine is increasingly using multiple waves of drones against individual refineries, seeking to overwhelm protective netting and other largely passive drone defence measures. Its long-range capabilities and targeting have also advanced rapidly, particularly during the first half of 2026. This expanded reach enabled the 7 July strike on Gazprom Neft’s 450 thousand barrels per day (kb/d) Omsk refinery, Russia’s largest, roughly 2,500 kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
As Ukraine becomes more effective at striking Russian refineries, it is increasingly targeting specific refinery units in an effort to maximise the impact of each strike.
Minor damage to a CDU can typically be repaired within one or two weeks. However, repairs to more complex secondary units, particularly those that have suffered serious damage, can take six to eight months on average.
As more units are damaged, replacement times are increasing, with Western sanctions limiting Russia’s access to some equipment suppliers.
Take a look at the diesel export graph about 85% down. The US, China, Other Asia and Other have made up for about as much as Saudi Arabia and Other Middle East have lost.
The amount of Russian export losses (caused by targeted Ukrainian attacks) have not been compensated for.
See the RAC graph “Increases in pump prices since outbreak of 2026 Iran conflict” about 25% down the page:
https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/fuel-watch/
Note the second wave of diesel price increases starting in July due to the Ukrainian attacks. Diesel had lost 60% of its March increase.
Student protests?
Fuel protests?
Food protests?
I wonder if it might actually be something else ...
It’s not the war in Iran. It is Iran. They are hitting everything regardless of nationality.
Affordability. What are they doing about it?
Iran has been doing this for decades. They have murdered dozens of Americans.
Destroy them. It is time.
“I wonder if it might actually be something else ...”
I wonder how this fits into the WEF agenda. It seems the WEF is all in on destroying the West in order to implement their desired one world government.
“Many students cause trouble when they become old enough to see what they’re up against.”
Many students cause trouble because they are TOO YOUNG and TOO IGNORANT OF LIFE to know what they are up against!
Good grief! Every hear of the student protests in the 1960s? 70s? Europe had riots protesting the USA PROTECTING THEM during the 1980s!
Just what in the hell do you think is so much tougher about a 20 year old’s life now compared to:
The Great Depression
World War 2
Racism in the 1950s & 60s - which WAS real, unlike the claims of racism now.
The Vietnam War: Nearly 60,000 dead, many young - although my Dad was nearly 50 when he died there.
The stock market collapse of the 1970s.
Mortgage rates of 8-9% in the 1980s - along with the cost of defending the entire free world even while the “free world” students held mass riots in protest!
Oh wait....you mean the public schools never taught anyone about those things?
I was in a small town in the foothills in Italy more than a decade ago. It was a great place. Within four years the town had a significant number of Muslims living in it and was visibly different (no attempt to fit in culturally). They didn’t just find their way to this small town. They were likely placed there by the government.
Italy already had a problem with a shortage of jobs for young people, and it resulted in delay or avoidance of marriage and having children. Adding a group of people who don’t assimilate and who have lots of children is a potential cultural disaster.
A great learning experience for me came when my Mom & I heard a guy talking about how bad it was. She was a widow by then. I was in high school. Her comment?
“When I was in high school, we were still in the Great Depression. We didn’t wear shoes in the summer because we couldn’t afford to wear them down during good weather. As I was graduating high school, I watched all my brothers go off to war. And this IDIOT thinks we have it tough now, in the 1970s?”
I'm sure these idiots' answer to "low wages, high taxes, quickly rising grocery and fuel costs" is to have the government take over these industries and impose wage and price controls.
It's worked every time it's been tried, right?
IMHO the lack of faith and hope are what makes it tougher. That, and a constant barrage of negativity and cynicism by our media, entertainment industry (including athletes), and ‘educators’.
Think about the movies and music from all of the eras you’ve delineated. I’m not saying it’s tougher now, but the human spirit has been under assault in a way that demotivates - and IMHO that is by design.
I’m not sure why you are bringing up the war in Ukraine.
Trump said he would end it on day one of his administration.
It’s not still a problem is it?
Here’s an idea for Italy. Stop feeding all those illegals and you’ll have more food for your citizens.
The illegals should be sent back to where they came from and work to feed themselves.
“Many students cause trouble” because they are indoctrinated and know little of the world. “Idealistic” youth have often been drawn to communism. Also, “Hitler’s Youth” was a big deal.
Per Grok:
“Early 1933: roughly 100,000 members.
End of 1933: more than 2 million.
1937: about 5.4 million (around 65% of eligible youth ages 10–18).
1939–1940: roughly 7–8+ million (over 80% of eligible non-Jewish youth; some figures cite up to ~8.7 million including annexed areas).”
I have to share a funny (peculiar) story. There is a nice old man in my neighborhood. Everybody likes him. He was born in Austria. I told him a story from my father, who fought in WWII. The old man’s response surprised me. He stood up straight (at attention?) and said that when he was 17, he volunteered for “Hitler’s Army.”
“Oh wait....you mean the public schools never taught anyone about those things?”
************
Its much easier to indoctrinate and brainwash children when they’re selectively exposed to leftist ideological teachings and are precluded from having other perspectives based on knowledge of contrary events.
I think it comes from unrealistic expectations. I’ve heard people just out of college complaining they couldn’t buy a home. My first job out of college paid minimum wage. I was 38 when I bought my first home (and ended up losing money on it).
8.5% interest rate. On FR right now: “Mortgage rates jump to two-year high, approach 7.5%” Yeah, it sucks sometimes.
Out of college with a BS in Biology, I spent 4 years finding part time work as a biologist alternating with unemployment for months on end. I finally joined the military...
But kids now are brought up on expectation of having everything handed to them, right away, with no hard times. They’ve lived too much on their phones and not enough in the world. How many high school kids now have worked jobs during HS?
“That, and a constant barrage of negativity and cynicism by our media, entertainment industry (including athletes), and ‘educators’.”
Amen! In the 60s, 70s and 80s, we had heroes. “Man of La Mancha” and “The Impossible Dream” were on Broadway in the 60s. Now? A steady diet of anti-western civilization doom and gloom.
Heck, 20+ years ago we had “The Lord of the Rings” movies. Now? Amazon’s “Rings of Power” garbage...
A bakery owner on my beat had been in the Hitler Youth. He was close to being drafted at 14 when WWII ended.
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