June 30th, 2025Kyle’s Rant

The world’s gone and got itself into a bit of a pickle again, and if you think it doesn’t affect us down here floating around in the Pothole Shire, you are wrong.
Let’s start at your bottom line. The effect carries over to your super, fuel prices and, when things get real grubby, freight prices, if the Houthi see fit to upset the trade route known as the Red Sea shipping lane with attacks on vessels.
This has historically forced many shipping companies to reroute their ships around the Cape of Good Hope, a much longer route, causing delays and disruptions to global trade. Also, the Strait of Hormuz, another crucial shipping lane, is another point of concern due to regional tensions.
So yes, we are all in it but don’t worry, because if you have been around long enough or simply read the Bible, the Middle East has been battling it out for centuries. And I’m not being flippant about the Middle East or its people, these are documented tussles that have gone on well before the birth of old mate JC.
A quick Google reveals the following:

• Abraham’s 318 against the Armies of Shinar (Babylon) – Genesis 14 • Pharaoh Pursues the Israelites in Exodus – Exodus 14 • The Israelites Fight Back against the Amalekites – Exodus 17:8–16 • Israel Opposes the Midianites and Moabites – Numbers 31:1–11 • Israel’s Rules of War – Deuteronomy 20 (Exod 23:24; Lev 18:21–24; 19:24; 20:2–3; Deut 18:9–14) • Israel Marches on the City of Jericho – Joshua 6 • Israel’s Struggle with the City of AI – Joshua 7–8 • Joshua Leads Israel against the Five Amorite Kings – Joshua 10 (Deut 9:5) • King Jabin of Hazor with a Great Army Opposes Joshua and Israel – Joshua 11 • Israel’s Continuing Conquests – Judges 1:1–11 • Ehud Leads Israel against the Moabites – Judges 3:12–30 • Barak Leads Naphtali and Zebulun against Sisera, the Commander of Canaan – Judges 4 • Gideon’s 300 Rise Up against the Midianites – Judges 7–8:21 • Israel Wars with Its Own Tribe of Benjamin – Judges 19–20…

And if you Google a list of wars in the Middle East, you will see there is almost one every few years with a lot of blood spilled and innocent lives lost.
More recently there was the Gulf War, better known as Operation Desert Storm, an armed conflict between Iraq and a 42-country coalition led by the United States.
And then there was the 2003 Iraq War, also known as the Second Gulf War, which began with a US-led invasion on March 20, 2003, with the stated goals of disarming Iraq of weapons of mass destruction and ending the rule of Saddam Hussein.
And there seem to be similarities with the 2003 hunt for “weapons of mass destruction” and the current Iran situation, with large discrepancies in intelligence, not actually being able to reconcile the weapons, and did the bunker busters go down deep enough or were there actually any weapons getting readied.
This exact same thing happened in 2003, when no actual weapons or chemicals were discovered and large patchy “porkies” flooded the news’ headlines.
The whole shebang seems to be about religion and more recently oil, and there are some big players, profiteers and politics at work here.
So, let’s relax, turn off the TV and stroll around the garden, as there is not much we can do about it. And if you’re a believer in whatever religion, maybe a quick prayer for the innocents, as you can’t choose where you where born.
War – what is it good for – absolutely nothing, rant over…