My weekly preamble is in spoiler tags below.
preamble
Aside from the virtually daily Iranian strikes on the Oman route, the main threat that the US is facing in this newest phase of the war is logistics. With Bahrain and the UAE unsafe, the closest safest port in the theater is Diego Garcia, which is over 2000 miles away. Either the aircraft carriers would have to go to Diego Garcia to restock, which would be even less planes and missiles available should hostilities restart suddenly, or goods have to be shuttled to the aircraft carriers from Diego Garcia. This latter option appears to be too much for the US to handle, with widespread reports of dwindling supplies and morale on the USS Abraham Lincoln (and, to a lesser extent, the USS George HW Bush). These reports have culminated in the USS George Washington being sent from the Pacific to replace the Lincoln, which was the sole aircraft carrier in that whole theater. There are six more carriers in maintenance, leaving two carriers left that could even hypothetically be called upon should the USS George HW Bush need replacement; both are currently undergoing training, and of these two, the USS Theodore Roosevelt might be available soon; perhaps even as soon as September. I’m unsure whether the Roosevelt will be sent to the Pacific to replace the Washington, or if it’ll be sent to the Middle East to replace the Bush. Nonetheless, that the situation has deteriorated to the point where we can speculate on how very limited naval vessels are going to be distributed is yet one more indication among many of the decline of US naval power. The symbolism was too much for me to ignore, hence the title: the last aircraft carrier in the Pacific being forced to leave, and not under military pressure in some hypothetical war against China, but to try and relieve logistical burdens elsewhere in a war of the US’s own making.
This joins Trump’s statements that the US will only be taking a very limited part in the South Korean military exercises. This is nominally because of the “great ties” the US shares with the DPRK, but this is an embarrassingly transparent face-saving statement. The DPRK is an increasingly major potential threat to South Korea, a major regional power and economy, but are also helping Russia with both manpower and materiel and getting military experience and data on their missiles’ effectiveness in return.
The US’s Under Secretary of War, Elbridge Colby, recently visited the Philippines. There, he gave a speech that promised to continue the construction of a defensive network that would deny China the possibility of militarily advancing through the Pacific by stationing US forces inside friendly countries. This is the NATO approach: our mere presence will deter the enemy because they would not want to start a direct war with us, and in exchange, you have to hand over billions upon billions of dollars. Colby gave the Philippines that most backhanded of compliments, the “model ally”, and stated that the US was “definitely not disengaging from Asia”. My “We aren’t pivoting away from Asia” shirt has people asking a lot of questions that are already answered by my shirt.
If you’re a US-friendly country in the Pacific and possess even the slightest sense of self-preservation, you are surely feeling nervous. The US is moving its aircraft carrier out of the theater. Overseas, you’ve seen how Iran - a very strong regional country, to be sure, but not as powerful as the industrial juggernaut and nuclear superpower that is China - has nonetheless crippled several undefendable US bases, has exhausted a very large amount of American air defense missiles, is holding the global economy hostage, and the US can seemingly do nothing to stop them. You have to be looking at your own US bases, likely expensive and unpopular, and all the money you’re handing over to the US, and glancing at how the Gulf states are bickering of being betrayed by their ally who promised them protection and immediately retreated. You have to be looking at your economy and its dependence on China. You have to be looking at Ukraine, and the unenviable state of destruction it has been driven to as a puppet of the US. You have to be looking at China itself, and how its military is rapidly developing in all fields, and how it’s even catching up on microchip development. In all, you have to be really hoping that China is serious that they only plan a peaceful reunification with Taiwan, and that the US will not do something incredibly, stupidly reckless in their decline.
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The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA reports on the Zionists’ destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
Mirrors of Telegram channels that have been erased by Zionist censorship.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it’s just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists’ side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
The U.S. Department of Treasury says it will impose the ‘harshest sanctions in history’ on Iran
- Middle East Spectator
‘No one has given the Islamic Republic of Iran a greater opportunity to make a Deal than me. TRAGICALLY, for them, they have failed to take it. Therefore, today, I am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale.Their navy is gone, their air force is destroyed, their military factories are now rubble, their currency is worthless, and their country is hanging by a thread.
Today, I am also announcing that ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences. Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies — It all needs to stop NOW. You know who you are. This will be an ECONOMIC D-DAY, and we need all of our Allies to stand with the United States of America to isolate, and defeat, the Iran threat.
These maniacs are on the ropes, and these HISTORIC MEASURES will cripple them and their ability to project terror worldwide. IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!’
UK Prime Minister falls for impersonation scam of Trump’s Chief of Staff.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyvj5zdjj2o
Really fucking funny that Andy Burnham is so desperate to slobber up to Trump that he’s being scammed by shit my workplace does for training, all to talk to (someone he thought was) Trump’s little underling??? I’ve never heard of this person as a resident of TERF island.
Also, David Cameron did the same with Poroshenko in 2024 lmaoooo.
Two more government ministers were targeted in 2022, by an imposter pretending to be Ukraine’s prime minister between 2020 and 2025, Denys Shmyhal.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace blamed Russian “dirty tricks” for the calls, made via Microsoft Teams, which Home Secretary Priti Patel confirmed she also received
Government-by-dipshit is something the UK is excelling in.
A Hamas official has confirmed that the Israeli attack on a café on Tuesday targeted unarmed members of the movement who were discussing disarmament as part of US President Donald Trump’s plan to implement the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which Israel has firmly rejected. The attack on the crowded café killed seven Palestinians, including a child.
https://qudsnen.com/share/68209
spoiler
Gaza (QNN)- A Hamas official has confirmed that the Israeli attack on a café on Tuesday targeted unarmed members of the movement who were discussing disarmament as part of US President Donald Trump’s plan to implement the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, which Israel has firmly rejected. The attack on the crowded café killed seven Palestinians, including a child.
On Wednesday, Alaraby TV reported, citing a Hamas official, that the targeted group was unarmed and had gathered for a meeting as part of the movement’s preparations for disarmament under Trump’s plan.
An Israeli drone attack on a cafe in the port area west of Gaza City on Tuesday killed at least seven Palestinians, including a child, and left one body so mutilated that health workers could not identify the victim, according to Palestinian Health officials.
The hospital said one victim appeared to have taken a direct missile hit, with the body shredded beyond recognition.
Health officials said the intensity of the strike pushed a number of the injured and dead into the sea, meaning the real number of casualties may be higher.
Mohammed Alghoul, an eyewitness to the event, told AFP that “Israeli warplanes fired two missiles at the ‘Sweet and Bitter’ cafe on the fishermen’s port west of Gaza City”.
The Israeli military claimed that they carried out a “precise aerial strike” against “several Hamas commanders” in the Shati area, west of Gaza City who “were planning attacks against Israeli forces operating in the Strip”, adding that “steps were taken to mitigate harm to civilians”.
They did not comment on the child who was killed, or provide evidence to substantiate their allegations against those targeted.
Following the attack, Hamas said in a statement that the strike, which they described as a “massacre”, demonstrates Israel’s “disregard” for Trump’s calls to maintain the “ceasefire” deal, calling on mediators to pressure Israel “to commit to the ceasefire deal” and the peace roadmap already agreed upon.
The Director-General of Gaza’s Government Media Office, Ismail Al-Thawabta, said Israel continues to wage its “bloody war” and commit grave violations against civilians in the Gaza Strip, stressing that Tuesday’s “heinous massacre” constitutes clear evidence of Israel’s intent to violate the ceasefire agreement and continue its genocidal campaign.
The timing of the attack makes the claim more striking still. For the past two days, US officials have publicly pressed Israel to justify its strikes by pointing to specific, imminent threats and to minimize the killing of Palestinians in Gaza.
US envoy Jared Kushner said only this week that Washington would not restrict Israel’s right to defend itself against what it deems imminent threats. Israel appears to have simply adopted that language, labeling a strike on a seaside café full of civilians as the elimination of a threat, in what looks like an attempt to fit its continued killing into the formula its American backers have handed it.
The result is a killing that lays bare the hollowness of both the ceasefire and the US posture. Only hours after Kushner emerged from meetings with Netanyahu to signal American support for Israel to continue the attacks in Gaza, Israel had bombed a civilian cafe by the sea and reached for the very “imminent threat” justification Washington provided.
Moreover, an Israeli airstrike targeting a police center in Gaza City on Wednesday killed at least ten Palestinians, including police officers and personnel, with some victims torn to pieces. The attack came as Israel continues to target the Palestinian police force across the war-ravaged enclave to create chaos and undermine public security.
Palestinians in Gaza hold a funeral procession for the remains of 50 Palestinians, including 19 children, from the Al-Sawafiri, Karam, and Al-Batniji families, killed two years ago in an Israeli massacre during the genocidal war on Gaza.
(They just finished removing their remains and identifying them from the rubble)
Interview with a ukrainian sociologist about the current class dynamics within ukraine, and the geopolitical future of ukraine. It’s pretty grim.
Because of this, Ukraine is becoming some sort of “function-state,” [Ed. note: the function being to act as a bulwark against Russia] existing not to represent the citizens living on its territory, but to serve European elites’ security. For it to fulfill this function, it doesn’t matter much how well the people living in Ukraine are doing. It doesn’t matter whether they have human rights or not.
Let’s also note that Ukraine is becoming depopulated. The most recent UN forecast says Ukraine’s population will drop to 15 million by the end of the century, down from 52 million after the Soviet Union’s disintegration in 1991 – a decline of some 70%. But even this might be enough for Ukraine to fulfill its function toward Europe, because what matters is the army, the necessary infrastructure and civilian sectors to serve the army, and employees for American corporations to extract resources from Ukrainian soil. Nothing more is necessary to fulfill the role they see for Ukraine.
SPR is now at 293. The speed it’s draining is picking back up.
Interesting press statement from DPRK. It says that the US and its vassals are the source of geopolitical crisis in Middle East, Europe, and Korean Peninsula.
It says that Ukraine and Zelensky are lying about additional DPRK troops being deployed to Russia. It clarifies that previous deployment of DPRK troops to Russia were legal under UN law.
It says that DPRK doesn’t care that Trump is downsizing the Ulchi Freedom Shield US-ROK military exercises because the drills are provocative in nature and should not exist at all.
It says that Kim Jong Un has good memories and feelings about his personal relationship with Trump. However, Trump has not changed the US’s hostile policies to DPRK
https://hexbear.net/post/9337537
https://archive.is/3gb2V (KCNA)
e/ fixed a typo
Trump announces that “any country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS economic consequences”. Calling it “ECONOMIC D-DAY”.
The Iran war is approaching a Friedman Unit.
The Friedman Unit, or simply Friedman, is a tongue-in-cheek neologism. One Friedman Unit is equal to six months, specifically the “next six months”, a period repeatedly declared by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman to be the most critical of the then-ongoing Iraq War even though such pronouncements extended back over two and a half years.
In case you were inclined to believe imperialist mouthpieces like CNN about the US controlling the Strait of Hormuz, their data is false and the article is misleading. @MenchOsint on xcancel:
CNN published an article full of fake data to make it look like the U.S. “controls” the Strait of Hormuz.
They claim US Navy ships are in Hormuz.False. They’re in the Gulf of Oman.
They even claim that according to Kpler more than 80% of vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz over the past two weeks have taken the US-backed Omani corridor.
They literally made this up. Not even Kpler claimed this number.
The reality is the opposite, 80% of transit is done via Iran-designated corridor.
https://xcancel.com/MenchOsint/status/2089952517421400278
Western media will do whatever it takes to hide the reality of Iran’s advantage.
Cockroach campaign in India
Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the Cockroach Janta Party, is going to government schools in Maharashtra and revealing their poor conditions. In the school in his native village, windows were broken and the toilets did not have running water. After his visit, local officials and villagers found benches and a computer for the school.
He knows how to speak. He said ‘We have made a new Parliament and a new PM house. Why have we not been able to build schools in our villages? Do we not consider the children of farmers and labourers the future of our country?’ Even the main opposition politicians have forgotten to speak like this. Also good that he is going to villages and listening to people. The villages have been ignored under the BJP and still have socialist tendencies.
In a statement, NATO says it is prepared to deal with any threat against its member states, emphasizing that NATO air defenses have already intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles on 4 occasions headed to Turkey in the past
- Middle East Spectator
(The Cradle) Iran breaks ground on ‘world’s largest’ solar plant to tackle energy deficit (https://thecradle.co/articles/iran-breaks-ground-on-worlds-largest-solar-plant-to-tackle-energy-deficit)
The 6,000-hectare complex is expected to supply close to a tenth of the electricity Iran consumes each month
