larry johnson brings us news from the near east, or is that mid east, and some are even expanding those names. it appears obvious that the tankers being attacked would leave some oil in the water; 

 

Good news from the Persian Gulf: the war is going so well that the sea itself has joined the fight. While Washington’s experts debate missile counts and the price of oil (around $115 for Brent on Friday, in case anyone in the White House is still checking), Karl Miller, who is actually on the ground in the Gulf, sent me a note this week that nobody in the briefing rooms seems to have read. Don’t underestimate the damage to the world’s crude tanker fleet, he wrote, and don’t underestimate the pollution now spreading through the Gulf and down the coast of Oman. “It’s an Exxon Valdez on steroids,” he told me. “This is a catastrophe in its own right.”

But I’m sure it’s fine. Let’s look at the numbers, just for fun.

Shooting the delivery trucks

The UK Maritime Trade Operations center has now counted 119 vessels reporting damage this year, and 77 sailors killed or injured. October is shaping up to be a banner month: Bloomberg counted at least 23 attacks on ships in or near the Strait of Hormuz in just the first two weeks, at least five of them in engine rooms, which is the maritime equivalent of being shot in the knees. Two ships sank last week. Two more tankers, the Kylo and the Riesco, went down in September. Nothing says “freedom of navigation” quite like a navigable ocean floor.........more...........