Anonymous ID: 911af7 June 17, 2019, 7:56 a.m. No.6771037   🗄️.is đź”—kun   >>1066 >>1102 >>1375

https://freebeacon.com/politics/bloomberg-op-ed-suggests-iran-tanker-attack-was-a-false-flag/

 

Bloomberg Op-ed Suggests Iran Tanker Attack Was a False Flag

 

Bloomberg ran an opinion piece Thursday suggesting that the recent attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf were false-flag operations meant to frame Iran.

 

"Iran Has Little to Gain From Oman Tanker Attacks," read the headline from Bloomberg oil strategist Julian Lee.

 

"Fingers will certainly be pointed at Iran as the mastermind behind these events. But the potential benefits to the Persian Gulf nation are outweighed by the risks. And even if Tehran isn’t responsible, it will still suffer the consequences," he wrote.

 

Lee then goes on to admit, "Who gains from these attacks? The obvious answer is Iran. If Tehran is attacking tankers leaving the Persian Gulf — either directly, or through proxies — it sends a message that transit through the world’s most important choke point for global oil flows is not safe without its consent."

 

Still, he writes, the attack also benefits "the people who want to see the U.S. step up its campaign against Iran and move from an economic war to a military one. There are plenty of those, both in the U.S. and among its allies in the Persian Gulf and wider Middle East regions.

 

Lee wrote that "the timing of the attacks also raises questions" given that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is visiting Tehran at the same time a Japanese ship was attacked.

 

"This would seem very clumsy timing from a country seeing the first tangible signs of any easing of the crippling sanctions imposed by the Americans. But it is absolutely understandable if you’re someone whose ultimate goal is to derail any easing of tensions between the two nations, and to effect regime change in Tehran. Whoever is behind the attacks is no friend of Iran."

 

After publication, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that intelligence indicated Iran was responsible for attacking the tankers. A day later, the U.S. released video of an Iranian vessel approaching one of the tankers and removing an unexploded mine near the damage in the hull.

Anonymous ID: 911af7 June 17, 2019, 8:02 a.m. No.6771079   🗄️.is đź”—kun

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-17/huawei-braces-smartphone-sales-drop-60-million-trump-blacklisting-bites

 

As we slowly creep closer to the end of Washington's 90-day grace period for Huawei, the company's anxieties are rising as Huawei tries to figure out how it will sell smartphones without Google's Android operating system.

 

After revealing on Monday that the company expects sales to decline as much as 60 million units across foreign markets due to the Trump Administration's ban, a Bloomberg report detailed the company's new strategy to help it cope with a prolonged trade fight: Focus on its domestic smartphone market, which it already dominates with a one-third market share.

 

Huawei

 

In many foreign markets, losing access to Google's software and app store will transform Huawei phones into "paperweights," one analyst said. With access to Google less of an obstacle for consumers on the mainland, Huawei is hoping that its plan to combine cutbacks to overseas markets with more investment at home will help insulate it from Washington. Currently, the company is weighing whether to pull its soon-to-launch Honor 20 phone, which was built to run on Android 9. Huawei is also delaying the introduction of its own 'foldable' smartphone

 

Priced at $500, the Honor 20 was supposed to be the latest in a line that’s won over budget-conscious consumers. While the phone is powered by the company’s own Kirin chip, meaning it doesn’t need Qualcomm Inc. processors, the Google ban will make the company's phones significantly less functional for millions of users accustomed to Google's software and app store.

 

Huawei is also delaying the launch of the foldable Mate X to September to conduct more testing.

 

The company's founder and former CEO said in an interview that the hit to Huawei's revenue from the blacklisting could be as large as $30 billion, per WSJ.

 

While its hopes of overtaking Samsung as the world's largest smartphone seller have been (at least temporarily) dashed, Huawei hopes that, by turning inward, it can blunt the impact on one of its most important businesses. How does it plan to do this? By "investing in distribution" and "marketing."