This piece was originally published on October 10th, 2023.
In yesterday’s post, I mentioned the old saying that “in times of war, the first casualty is the truth”. There are a lot of interesting theories being discussed regarding the war in Israel. At this point, it’s too early to tell what’s real and what’s speculation, but I’m finding it hard to believe that all of Israel’s intelligence services and monitoring technology failed at the same time. There are a few other issues standing out to me right now.
Part of the initial media narrative has been to claim that Iran was involved in planning and funding the Hamas terrorist action. That initially struck me as credible. After all, Iranian leadership regularly calls for the destruction of Israel including the death of all Jews who live there. They do fund terrorists. However, today, ZeroHedge reports that Ayatollah Ali Khameni, Iran’s Supreme Leader, is claiming that Iran had nothing to do with the Hamas attack.
There is some speculation that he’s lying to protect Iran from likely retaliation from Israel. In the past, Israel has struck targets in Iran. These targets are typically related to Iranian nuclear weapons development so Khameni has reason to be concerned. The thing that jumps out to me about the Iranian claim of non-involvement is that it’s uncharacteristic of Iranian leadership. They’ve called for the death of Israel for decades and have never been shy about claiming credit for supporting terrorist activity in the past.
There’s also a report that the gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia has been damaged. Finish officials think the leak is due to sabotage. A year ago, DKI told you Putin didn’t blow up the Nordstream pipeline, and that turned out to be correct. No official blame has been placed for the Finish pipeline yet, but I plan to take a second look before believing anything we’re told.
Additional limitations on energy production, refining, and transportation will have one effect; higher energy prices. DKI maintains a large energy portfolio outlined on the Current Recommendations page of the blog. Those stocks should benefit from higher prices for oil and gas.
Finally, DKI has some of the best international policy and security experts in the world on the Board of Advisors. I’m talking with them this week about bringing you more analysis and detail on the rapidly shifting situation. We hope to be talking to you live about the situation in Israel, Ukraine, and potentially, Taiwan next week.
IR@DeepKnowledgeInvesting.com if you have any questions.
Information contained in this report is believed by Deep Knowledge Investing (“DKI”) to be accurate and/or derived from sources which it believes to be reliable; however, such information is presented without warranty of any kind, whether express or implied and DKI makes no representation as to the completeness, timeliness or accuracy of the information contained therein or with regard to the results to be obtained from its use. The provision of the information contained in the Services shall not be deemed to obligate DKI to provide updated or similar information in the future except to the extent it may be required to do so.
The information we provide is publicly available; our reports are neither an offer nor a solicitation to buy or sell securities. All expressions of opinion are precisely that and are subject to change. DKI, affiliates of DKI or its principal or others associated with DKI may have, take or sell positions in securities of companies about which we write.
Our opinions are not advice that investment in a company’s securities is suitable for any particular investor. Each investor should consult with and rely on his or its own investigation, due diligence and the recommendations of investment professionals whom the investor has engaged for that purpose.
In no event shall DKI be liable for any costs, liabilities, losses, expenses (including, but not limited to, attorneys’ fees), damages of any kind, including direct, indirect, punitive, incidental, special or consequential damages, or for any trading losses arising from or attributable to the use of this report.
