Chainsaw

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@TulsaPolice @TulsaFire Any identity on the 2 adults?

[J.T. Alexander @JTAlexander]

America's first foray into the Middle East and North Africa began in 1801 as Ottoman Tripolitania declared war on the U.S. for failing to pay the "Please don't kidnap and enslave our people" toll to enter the Mediterranean.

By the 1830s, the U.S. established ties with the Arabian Peninsula; at the time we were viewed by Sultans as a counter-balance to growing British presence. This was also how the U.S. viewed itself as well, though certainly in a mode totally different to today. This was the first time a Middle Eastern power would look to the United States for protection, but it would be far from the last.

At the end of World War I, the United States was offered mandates in the Middle East but refused to take possession, which won the United States a high degree of respect across the region. Instead, the United States took a capitalist approach and invested heavily into the nascent Petroleum Industry, something (correctly) forecasted to be insanely lucrative based on the oil shortages in World War I.

By the 1930s, the United States had a substantial oil interest in the region; what we now know today as Saudi Aramco was originally the California-Arabian Standard Oil Company.

Saudi Arabia, a newborn Kingdom, needed American help to get on their feet, and Standard Oil was happy to provide it. It had to be American because the Arabs, Saudi or otherwise, did not trust Britain or France—this is well before Israel came into being, btw.

The one country that did have a good business relationship with Britain was Persia. So, in planning for the end of the war, in agreement that the Soviets couldn't be allowed a foothold, Roosevelt signed an Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement.

This agreement with Britain was the moment the die was cast. Britain would have exclusive rights to Persian oil, America would have exclusive rights to Saudi oil, and the two powers would share oil from Iraq and Kuwait.

When the British relationship with Persia soured in the 50s, the United States ended up catching a great deal of the blame. A full two decades before the Islamic Revolution, the Persian people already had the image of the United States as The Great Satan.

Concurrently, Israel established itself as not only a state but one with legitimate military capability. Various theories of Arab Nationalism and Arab Socialism arose, fused, competed, and reshaped the former Ottoman Empire in a rather chaotic hodgepodge of ideologies combined with religious zealotry. The United States' primary interest in this particular episode was prevent Soviet domination or a Communist revolution in the oil producing countries.

Meanwhile, American monetary policy had taken a rather silly turn. While the currencies of Europe adopted fiat status, the United States kept the Dollar pegged to gold in hopes of establishing a dominant dollar. The problem was we pegged our Dollar to a price of gold that was lower than the market price of gold.

So, of course, everyone started buying up all of the U.S. gold reserves. If you ever wondered if Fort Knox is empty, the answer is "Yeah, probably," because the amount of gold being bought out of the United States during this time was absolutely insane. This was why the United States abandoned the gold standard in 1971.

As the Arabs dug in on the Three No's, war became the only option, and unable to beat Israel militarily they sought to force the West into opposing Israel for the sake of oil and economics. The Yom Kippur War and OPEC Embargo were launched, and it was effective.

Nixon & Kissinger's solution was rather brilliant, actually. The United States refused to be bullied into turning against Israel, but it gave Saudi Arabia what it wanted—security. The Petrodollar, established in 1974, offered a mutually beneficial relationship in which Saudi oil could only be sold in U.S. Dollars in exchange for a military alliance.

America ended up with an incredibly strong Dollar that became the world's preeminent currency and the Saudis felt they could live with the peace of knowing Israel could not invade or conquer them without incurring American wrath.

The Islamic Revolution was not some insignificant event on the far side of the world. It was a genuine shock to the geopolitics of the time. Persia had stood for thousands of years, the ever-persistent threat of Islamic conquests had finally just subsided with the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, and the Cold War suddenly presented a serious threat of becoming Tripolar.

After 20 years of being labeled as the Great Satan by Islamist dissidents in Persia, when the time came for Revolution Americans were explicitly targeted as symbols of foreign puppeteering. Thus, the Iranian Hostage Crisis.

*Everyone* wanted the Islamic Revolution stopped. Within weeks of the Revolution happening, Egypt and Israel agreed to the Camp David Accords, which provided a roundabout security agreement: America would fund both militaries on the condition they were never used against each other. This allowed Israel and Egypt to both walk softly while carrying a big stick.

Meanwhile, Saddam decided to seize on what he thought was a weak Iran and launch an invasion. Seeing an opportunity to hopefully crush the Islamic Revolution and potential Third Pole of the Cold War, everyone funneled arms and cash to Saddam.

For everyone except Saddam, this was something of a "I want both sides to lose" situation. Aside from the fear of the Islamic Revolution was the serious fear of interference with the flow of oil—something everyone's economy had come to depend on, both for energy and as the new Black Gold-Standard of the petrodollar system.

By this point, American interests in the Middle East were so involved, so critical, and so irreconcilably in conflict with Islamist Iran, that there was no undoing it. Any attempt to undo it would cripple the global economy and destroy the American Empire.

The American alliance with Israel and Iranian hatred of Israel and America are coincidental. Their genesis genuinely has very little to do with each other.

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@BolandDrummer Point being?

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@PokesTok Having “pocket awareness” implies that the OLine can create and maintain a pocket. Zane was hurried and hit all day. He has comp % of 78.6 and 66.7 in the last 2 games while throwing for over 230 yrds each game. All while being sacked 4 times and hit who knows how many times.

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@McclainBaxley 1. Tipped ball at the line, great play by DL
2. Hail Mary at the end of the half
3/4. OL and TEs couldn’t block a paper bag and he gets hit.

Zane played well and none of these are on him. Not once did he have a clean drop back and pass. Zane got beat up all day. Not on him!

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@McclainBaxley But why??? Show confidence in Zane

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@Carson_OKC That is a very difficult throw w 2 DLs in His line of sore and against the body throw.

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@OKSTProbs Now what about Murphys?

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@PistolRick Need to announce so that we can salvage some recruits. We lay the Jenks RB to…..KANSAS?!?!?! Who loses a recruit to KANSAS???

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@McclainBaxley Also if it’s 4th down and ANY distance, please run your routes to the line to gin or farther. That is all…

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@McclainBaxley Add Jake Spavital to the list (current Baylor OC and former HC at Union HS in Tulsa) GA under Gundy and Holgerson.

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

Hot take:

Mike Gundy
Cale Gundy

University of Arkansas 2026

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@McclainBaxley So are we going to hire a General Manager like the SEC schools to handle the bribes….i mean payments to players???

SMU got the death penalty for this in the ‘80s, now that’s just a Tuesday in college football

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@McclainBaxley If they have $15M for the buyout why not invest more in NIL? Wait til end of the season and then if they still want to fire him they save $5M on the buyout.

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@McclainBaxley Got it. Thought it was $10M after 2025. Still a slap to the face to Gundy. Nothing changes this season. Same coaches, scheme (lack therof), and players. OC/DC haven’t schemed to the players’ strengths. Square peg : Round hole. A good coach schemes to the players strengths

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@RealKidPoker https://t.co/xJiK4gFSqX

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@RealKidPoker Thank you for posting this. I watched the entire video and it is SPOT ON.

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@willcain re: Democrats invoking violence. Don’t forget about Maxine Waters telling people in DC to confront the 1st Trump admin if they are seen out and tell them that they are not wanted there among other actions!

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@tulsaworld Seriously? “Pugnacious”? How about “logical, articulate, patient, open minded, respectful”

[Chainsaw @Raaronmcc]

@McclainBaxley Warrant issued May 23rd and they’re just now deciding to enforce it? It’s not like they don’t know where to find him….