Free Republic

The month-long closure of a crucial waterway for the global energy supply has sparked warnings the world is heading for problems worse than those caused by the 1970s oil crisis. Lars Jensen, a shipping expert and former director at Maersk, told the BBC the impact of the US-Israeli war on Iran could be "substantially larger" than the economic chaos seen in the 1970s. His comments follow a warning from the director of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, earlier this month that the world is "facing the greatest global energy security threat in history". "It is much bigger than what...

Is a miserable pissant of epic proportions. Sir Keir Starmer is blocking a request by President Trump to allow American planes to use British bases to attack Iran, telling him that it would be in breach of international law. In a rift with Washington, the prime minister is understood to have told Trump that the UK would not allow the use of British facilities at Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, which is home to America’s fleet of heavy bombers in Europe. Under the terms of long-standing agreements with Washington, these bases can only be used for military operations...