Claiming Victory, Whilst admitting Defeat: There is No Easy Way to Open Hormuz

G-7 Leaders Reject SPR Release Plan, But 'Stand Ready' After Initial Jawbone Efforts Fade Update (1055ET): G-7 finance ministers used headlines in Asia, including calls for a meeting to discuss an SPR release, as a purely performative attempt to calm chaotic energy markets. Now that the emergency meeting is over, the group of leaders failed to agree on releasing crude supplies. Those headlines briefly hit Brent down from around $119/bbl to near $100, but once again, it appears to have been little more than a circus act as world leaders stare directly...

UK Government Brands Union Flag A 'Tool Of Hate' In Leaked 'Social Cohesion' Strategy Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news, A leaked draft of the UK Government’s new ‘social cohesion’ strategy has sparked outrage by labeling the flying of English, Scottish, and Union Jack flags as potential “tools of hate.” The document claims these national symbols were sometimes used last summer to “exclude or intimidate,” adding that the “extreme right has tried to turn symbols of pride into tools of hate.” The 47-page draft, leaked to the Spectator magazine, also highlights how antisemitism...