Syria

remember the stories about the Iranian brownouts above and how they were shutting down industrial facilitates due to power shortages.

the shortages were driven by illegal bitcoin mining surge in demand when bitcoin went way up in price due to djt election and connection to bitcoin bros. madras in Tehran turning free iranian electricity into pure cash that the US gubmnt will buy from them and they can use to fund terrorist activities around the world. for what. being able to freely move any sort of capital around the world without anyone being able to do anything about it? who does that benefit besides crooks and money launderers and the people peddling the snake oil?

Illegal crypto mining suspected of causing rolling blackouts in major city: 'They [spread out] to avoid being detected'

While Iran is having energy problems, with fuel reserves low and supplies being sold off, an increase in blackouts came around the same time the value of cryptocurrency soared following Donald Trump's presidential victory.

Cryptocurrency mining is an energy-intensive activity because of the power needed to run specialized computer systems and keep them cool.

In low-income areas in Iran, electricity is provided for free, including for mosques and schools. It's suspected that miners are taking advantage of this subsidized power to run cryptocurrency mining hubs.

In August, Mostafa Rajabi, the CEO of Iran's government-owned power company, said: "Unfortunately, some opportunistic and exploitative individuals use subsidized electricity, public networks and other resources for cryptocurrency mining without authorization."

 

Israel emasculated Iran. They did exactly what they wanted to, where they wanted to, and when they wanted to do it. And made Iran watch them do it. And Iran could do nothing about it. They undressed them and defiled them in the public square. It was/is the cherry on top of the western domination over soviet tech. Ukraine has been the hot fudge sunday but Iran is the cherry. They have nothing, and they know it. Rest assured, Xi will not risk being undressed like that. Not sure you know until you go but Iran following Ukraine will give him pause at the tech differential. random tangental thoughts about what i think i'm witnessing. note that a large PE company just announced a partnership to challenge major defense contractors. They know that a flood of international money is going to want some of that western tech. That is the profitable enterprise and industry they will have perfected that could rebuild Ukraine, sad to say...

Private equity's presence grows in US, EU defense sectors save for 2023 blip | S&P Global Market Intelligence

Private equity gobbling up defense firms at a frightening pace: Experts | Responsible Statecraft

Private equity firms are rapidly acquiring a greater share of the U.S. defense sector, raising concerns about transparency as global demand for American weapons hits record highs, according to new research from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

In 2021 alone, private equity funds invested $15 billion in nearly 140 defense-related deals. Firms have acquired some of the world’s largest defense contractors, including Amentum, which claims that it is the second leading provider of services to the U.S. government. (Just last month, Amentum won a $4.7 billion contract with the Air Force.)

Since private funds are not required to share information about their portfolio companies, contractors often “disappear into a black box” after an acquisition, according to SIPRI researchers Lorenzo Scarazzato and Madison Lipson. “We’re not able to publish data regarding those companies,” Scarazzato said, noting that the “rising trend” of private equity takeovers could make it difficult for SIPRI to maintain its widely-cited list of the world’s largest defense firms. “In a way, our database
becomes crippled by the trend.”

And, experts argue, the problems don’t stop there. The risky approach favored by private equity firms increases the chance that contractors could default on their loans, as happened to Constellis Holdings — the successor to Erik Prince’s Blackwater — in 2020. Private equity acquisitions are also a key driver of defense industry consolidation, which could lead to increased costs for taxpayers, according to a recent Pentagon report.