News Vérité

The negotiations with the U.S. to end the seige on its homeland, talks which Iran claims are not taking place, now focus on the potential participation of Vice President JD Vance, whom the Iranians view as their Trump Card — the one who will cave, so to speak. This perception of Vance no doubt springs from his reluctance to commit to the war, but it could also be something deeper, something that I have always sensed about the VEEP. Specifically, I get the impression that Vance’s convictions don’t run very deep. He seems forever the PR man for the Marine Corps, except that now he’s transported his skills to the national political stage. When I hear Vance speak, I don’t hear much genuine conviction. He’s more like a PR specialist, as opposed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who oozes with conviction when he speaks. Iran already knows that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are Trumpistas through and through and won’t cave for a few false promises. Thus the choice of Vance could give the Iranian negotiators a gateway to another con job, reminiscent of the one they pulled on Barack Obama and crew. At any rate, the good news

I for one will be anxious to see how President Trump spins his decision to halt energy infrastructure bombing on Iran while a “productive” dialogue takes place that Iran says isn’t happening. Spin city here we come, and both Trump and Iran are great at that game. The U.S. and Iran are having “very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East,” Trump announced in all caps on a social media post this morning. After the post, the U.S. stock market skyrocketed. Yesterday I wrote in an opinion piece that Trump was facing his “Tet Offensive” equivalent to what President Lyndon Johnson faced in 1968, when an onslaught by North Vietnam put the lie to the positive spin the U.S. was putting on its effort in the Vietnam War. For Trump, two potential “Tet” events have already taken place. First was the closing by Iran of the Strait of Hormuz. The second was sending missiles 2,400 miles toward the military complex on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. “Europe, here we come!” was the underlying message. These two wake-up calls were followed by Iranian missiles piercing Israel’s Iron Dome

Not only does the People’s Republic of China (PRC) produce two-thirds of the lithium batteries needed for EVs worldwide, but it has also developed technology that can recharge an EV in 15 minutes. I’m not sure what the fastest charging time is in the U.S., but whenever I drive by a charging station near my home, the Teslas are parked there for hours recharging. This, of course, says nothing about how far ahead China is in producing sexy, drivable EVs, such as the Xiaomi EV illustrated above. The CEO of Ford ventured over there to drive some Chinese EVs and came bcck extolling their superiority to U.S. EVs. “It’s the most humbling thing I’ve ever seen,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley after touring Chinese car factories and driving their vehicles. “They have far superior in-vehicle technology.” He described Chinese EVs as “smatphones on wheels.” While we fight wars, China builds its economic superiority over the U.S. Can’t go on like this forever.