Someone Made Money Off Killing an Iranian General
It took a while, but someone final noticed in the hour or two before the President announced he had killed an Iranian general there was a flurry of stock market buys. These were not random fluctuations in orders and prices. There were purchases of, among others, Lockheed Martin, a huge supplier to the military. Those who bought these share saw them rise 2 1/2% immediately after the President's tweet.
Cynical pundits say the President did this assassination only for political purposes, to get himself reelected. Now we see there was another reason, to enrich someone.
There is always the possibility the man killed represented some danger to other countries and by killing him this danger was prevented. This is the same rational used be the Bush/Chaney administration who said it was necessary to invade Iraq because it was planning to attack others. We later learned there were no weapons of mass destruction that were claimed by Bush. He admitted this later himself. Since no information about the danger this Iranian posed has been released, the logical reaction is to be skeptical.
Skepticism is up by the profiteering in stocks. One would think a high minded President would be interested only in the common good. This turns out not to be the case.
For whatever reason, Presidents who seek out war and attack are more popular than Presidents who avoid it. President Carter has said for years he would have been reelected if he had bombed Iran after protesters there invaded and sacked our embassy. The second President of the U.S., John Adams, was told France was planning to attack the U.S. and the U.S. should do a preemptive attack on France. Adams did not believe France intended to do this and refused to attack. France never attacked the U.S. but Adams was defeated instead or being reelected.
President Eisenhower warned against the "military industrial complex." Now we learn there are small military stock market political hacks.
Watch a couple episodes of Messiah on Netflix.
ReplyDeleteThe MQ-9 Reaper drone is designed and manufactured by the General Atomics company, not Lockheed Martin. The Reaper was used to kill Soleimani. Your argument would not sound so bonkers if Lockheed Martin made the Reaper.
ReplyDeleteThe fact is that the article you cite was mostly about e-mini contracts traded on the Chicago exchange. Everything there points to a leak of information someone in the US government, someone with knowledge of the killing of Soleimani after the act but before the US press conference announcing the act. Five or six hours passed, enough time for someone at the Iraqi airport to phone his cousins in Chicago with the information.
The fact is that wild-eyed speculation and accusation is neither helpful or reflective of a logical mind. If Trump thought war would bring him a second term, he would have invaded North Korea or Iran. Instead, he is very reluctant to escalate tensions, choosing diplomacy over bombs. The Reaper attack was precise and warranted. By all accounts, Soleimani was responsible for killing around 600 American soldiers.
The Iranian response was to launch 15 missiles against American targets. Money for those missiles came from the $150B Obama gave Iran. How many schools, roads, bridges and infrastructure projects could have been completed in America with that money?
matt--"The MQ-9 Reaper drone...."
ReplyDeleteThe price of General Atomics would not necessarily to up if a bunch of wealthy traders had inside information implying a pending war. It would be big defense stocks, General Dynamics, Ratheron, Boeing and Lockheed Martin. As the link author wrote, it could have been a coincidence traders were buying lots of defense stocks during a narrow window between the kill and its announcement. Maybe it was a moon phase, or, God whispered it to his favorite people, billionaires. We don't know who these deep pockets were that bought all this defense related stock just before the announcement and the jump in price. We just have a few facts. One is the 5 or 6 former Trump officials are in jail. That there were crooks hints there may be some left.
It's so hard to follow the conspiracy theories simmering in your brain. I tried.
DeleteFor a truly keen brain there is only one test. Predict what will happen next. In this case, predict when the war will break out, between which countries and if it is a measured set of hostilities or a war to conquer. Then, and only then, will one regard you as a soothsayer, intelligent, insightful and downright smart.
Matt "It's hard to follow the conspiracy theories simmering in your brain."
ReplyDeleteI know it's hard. I think like this. If you have had an unprecedented number of crooks in an administration, and, there is evidence crooks were taking advantage of inside information, my conspiratorial mind gravitates toward the view that crooks are making money off of the Presidency. I admitted there could be other reasons for what appears like stock market profiteering, moon phases and whispers from God.
Yikes. As anticipated.
ReplyDelete