The very first story on the Drudge Report on both April 23 and 24 was headlined with a quote from Bernard Arnault saying if the Iran war was not quickly settled, it could be a “world catastrophe.”
I apparently do not keep up with world business as much as I should, because I did not know that Arnault is one the three richest men in the world along with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. They trade first, second and third depending on fluctuating stock prices.
Arnault heads a French conglomerate, LVMH, which specializes in luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and many others. He bought a struggling Christian Dior in 1984 for $15 million and Tiffany & Co. in 2021 for over $15 billion.
Arnault told the annual meeting of his Company: “Either it (the Iran War) will be a world catastrophe with very serious and very negative economic impacts – in which case, who can say how 2026 will unfold – or it will be resolved more rapidly in some shape or form that we all hope for – even if it doesn’t seem easy – in which case businesses will recover and resume their normal course.”
Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, almost always tries to speak in a positive way about Republican chances in elections. But he told the New York Times on April 28 that if the elections were in May, Republicans would lose.
He said: “The war, the sense of affordability, and gasoline – some of that has to be cleared up in order to win. If it doesn’t change, I’ll start tearing my hair out.”
President Trump is in an almost impossible situation. He is in between possibly the greatest rock and hard place in history.
I think Trump realizes that both the U.S. economy and the world economy will be greatly damaged and possibly go in to a major recession if the war is not ended very soon. JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said it “will be worse than people think.”
The President seems to be trying very hard to reach an agreement, but he knows Israel wants to go in the other direction and escalate the war even further. And he knows the Israel Lobby has almost total control of the Congress and will go along with Netanyahu no matter what.
John Mearsheimer is a West Point graduate, Air Force veteran, and longtime professor at the University of Chicago. He is one of the most well-respected foreign policy experts in this Country.
In an interview on April 27, he said “The world economy is teetering, and the longer this war goes on the worse the damage… and if we go up the escalation ladder, it will be another hammer blow to the world economy.”
He added: “Israel wants to continue the war. They want us to continue hammering away at Iran to try to beat them into submission and if we can’t beat them into submission, well we’ll just destroy them and do what we did in Gaza to Iran.”
Jeffrey Sachs is another foreign policy expert and economist who has been called upon for advice for many countries around the world. He is a longtime professor at Columbia University in New York City.
He has in the past described Netanyahu as “the main cheerleader for the war in Iraq.” He said on Judge Napolitano’s podcast on April 27 the Israeli leader is “trying to achieve the unachievable” and that it is impossible for “the United States and Israel to run Iran.”
He said Netanyahu has”conned Trump into endless wars on behalf of Israel” and that if they continue this war “they will destroy the U.S. economy.” He added that Netanyahu “wants the U.S. to spend not just the hundreds of billions we will spend” but the seven trillion we have spent over the last 30 years in seven wars for Israel.
The main cheerleaders for this war have been Netanyahu, Sen. Lindsay Graham, and Mark levin. And while I agree with Fox News on almost everything, I do not agree with Fox being a propaganda network for a neocon foreign policy that is the exact opposite of an America First foreign policy.
I am a conservative Presbyterian, and I agree with Christian fundamentalists on most things. Christians can bless the Country of Israel without agreeing with everything the current Israeli government does, the same as I can pray for God to bless the USA without agreeing with everything our government does(especially when it is controlled by those on the left).
As I write this column, oil is at $114.60. It was at $60 and the Strait of Hormuz was open the day before this war was started. Socialism has destroyed the economy of most nations around the world, and probably half of their people are trying to flee. Most want to come here.
Unfortunately, the Democrats in this Country have become a party of socialists. If we let this war continue much longer, socialists will take control of our government and economy and do very long term damage to this Nation.
