Clive MaundIt has been a week of surprises since the last updates were posted. First, I had not expected Iran to retaliate following the murder of its top General by a US drone, but it did, despite the risks, as it was politically necessary to assuage the extreme anger of its population who demanded revenge. The next surprise was that Israel and the US did not use this retaliation as an excuse to bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, which is what they really want to do. As we know, the long-term goa