Fasten your seat belts

Arthur sure has...

Reuters has coverage of the next staggering step towards the unthinkable, yet seemingly more and more inevitable:

By Stefano Ambrogi

LONDON, March 27

Captain Dan Cloyd said in an interview the USS John C. Stennis strike group would carry out dual carrier exercises for a "few days or more", but could stay on in the Gulf for longer.

He said the deployment and exercises were not timed to exert pressure on Iran and did not mean a military confrontation was looming.

"We do not foresee, and have no desire to engage in any kind of kinetic exchange with any force in the region," he said.

meanwhile...

Britain's Prime Minister warned Tehran on Tuesday of a "different phase" if it did not free the 15 marines and sailors seized on Friday.

and rounding out the party:

Iran's navy began a week of exercises in the Gulf last Thursday with submarines and small missile carrying ships.

all this, and the biggest concern facing us remains:

Ariel Cohen, an energy expert with the U.S. Heritage Institute, has warned that a conflict in the strait could push oil prices to $120 a barrel.

Oh, the horror! (but not to horrible, especially where our portfolios are concerned...)

Hey radioactive oil is still oil. It can still be refined into gasoline... yeah, okay, radioactive gasoline, so maybe we'll sell it at a cut rate of $2.00 a gallon...

Despite the manoeuvres and political differences Cloyd said dealings with the Iranian military were cordial.

"We interact occasionally here in the Gulf and waters outside of the Gulf with Iranian navy and airforce units, they operate with us in a very professional and courteous way."

So we'll engage and destroy them in a very professional and courteous way.

If you think I'm being alarmist, that's okay. I'd love to be wrong on this as well as many other subjects. If all this happens to resolve itself in a manner that doesn't relegate us to a world bereft of any technology and societal structure, you can give me an unending raft of shit about my Chicken Little impersonation concerning it over a few stiff drinks and cigars...