Chaos is about to expand dramatically, and not only at the hands of Empire

Hamas’s new resistance strategy abroad against Israel?

💠@ejmalrai:
⭕ A 25% across-the-board US tariff isn’t a policy shift. It’s a wrecking ball aimed at the heart of global trade. In today’s economy, everything is connected. Taxing exporters at that scale means higher prices for US consumers, job losses at home and abroad, inflation spikes, broken supply chains, and retaliation from allies and rivals alike. This isn’t economic protection, on the contrary, it is a self-inflicted damage with worldwide consequences.
[iirc, Orange passed fumes last week saying these measure take effect on April 02?? Alas, Babylon! We shall miss thy prosperity. But every former dutiful iteration also leapt off the Cliff to safeguard the next Host.]

💠@Sputnik Africa:
⭕ 🇿🇦📈 South African mining stocks soar amid gold and platinum rally

An index of local mining companies jumped 33%, the biggest monthly gain since 1995, helping the FTSE/JSE All Share Index outperform other emerging markets and US stocks, Bloomberg reported.

Gold producers led the rally:

🟡Harmony Gold Mining and Sibanye Stillwater skyrocketed 48%
🟡DRDGOLD and AngloGold Ashanti were also among the top performers

Gold has been hitting new all-time highs due to strong demand from central banks and investors looking for a safe-haven asset amid global economic uncertainty. Goldman Sachs has predicted further gains, with prices possibly reaching $3,300 an ounce.

Platinum miners are also benefiting from rising prices, fueled by a slowdown in electric vehicle sales, which has boosted demand for gasoline-powered car components that use platinum.

💠@Middle East Spectator:
⭕ ⚡️🇮🇷❌🇺🇸 – Note:
A video uploaded by Iran’s Navy on May 2024 displays the “IRIS Shahid Mahdavi” Ship had completed a voyage only 1km away from the “Diego Garcia” island, harboring UK-US Coalition base, likely in anticipation to such scenario occurring today.
[Greetings to Diego Garcia! Apparently an old lover of Persia…]
⭕ 🇮🇷/☢️ Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Former Minister of Information: ‘Nuclear weapons are the will of the Iranian nation. A vast majority of the population believes in the need for Iran’s nuclear ambition.’

More and more political figures, both current and former, are openly pushing for the development of nuclear weapons. This includes people like Mohammad Javad Jahromi, a political heavyweight within Iran’s Reformists wing.
[he’s in incumbent Prez Pezeshkian’s cadre. Note, as in last winter when zionazi attempted to bomb Iran, the Iranian “we need Da Bomb NOW’ crew pop outta the woodwork. It may not mean as much. At this point, they have it, or will not have it fullstop. But a telling metric of the closeness of actual active hostilities..]
⭕ 🇮🇷 🇮🇷 Iran’s Space Program: A Cover for ICBM testing?

In recent months, Iran has been launching a large amount of satellites into space, using several different SLV (Satellite Launch Vehicle) rockets.

One of these SLVs in particular, the Qaem-100, a three-stage solid-fuel rocket, looks and functions very similar to an ICBM in development, epecially after its recent modifications.

When Qaem-100 was revealed in 2022, as well as the version that was used while unsuccessfully launching the ‘Nahid’ satellite in 2023, it had a rounded tip. Additionally, the rocket also featured roll-control thrusters.

In Qaem-100’s new launch, which took place two days ago while sucessfully putting the ‘Soraya’ satellite into 750km orbit, we can see that there have been several modifications to the rocket.

Firstly, the tip of the rocket has become sharpened. This is typical in the design of long range missiles such as ICBMs. Second, the liquid-fuel roll thrusters have been omitted, to improve the missile’s shelf life and decrease maintenance. Lastly, four stabilizing fins have been added, a common feature found in ICBMs.

While Iran has always been interested in expanding its space program for scientific and civilian purposes, it is likely that the launch of SLVs, in particular the Qaem-100, are a cover for testing a preliminary ICBM model. The launching of satellites is an added bonus.

This, in combination with Iran doubling its production of highly enriched U-235 uranium to 9kg a month, poses a real challenge to Israel and the United States, who now have to deal with Iran being a latent nuclear power. |media|

💠@DDGeopolitics:
⭕ 🇷🇺🇨🇳 Putin confirms that Xi Jinping will not only attend Victory Day celebrations in Russia as the main guest, but will also make a separate state visit.

He adds:

“We will have the opportunity to discuss our bilateral relations and cooperation on international platforms—especially the UN Security Council, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, and others where we work together successfully.”

The Russia–China partnership continues to deepen across all fronts. |media|
⭕ 🇷🇺🇨🇳 Putin sends warm greetings to Xi Jinping, calling him “our good friend,” and invites him to Russia for the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War and WWII.

“We will mark this anniversary together—the victory over Nazi Germany and over militarist Japan.”

Russia and China, shoulder to shoulder against fascism—then and now.
⭕ 🇺🇸🇷🇺The United States is considering the possibility of introducing “aggressive sanctions” against ships carrying Russian oil, Fox News claims.

It is noted that Washington assesses the effectiveness of the current anti-Russian sanctions at “level 3 out of 10”. It is specified that among the new possible measures, the United States may attempt to ban ships carrying Russian oil from passing through the Baltic Sea.
[now we’re talkin’. Put the pedal to the metal. Enforce it!]
⭕ ⚠️🇺🇸🇷🇺🇺🇦Fox News, citing an informed source: Trump is upset with Putin and believes Russia is stalling on ceasefire talks with Ukraine.

Fox News, citing an informed source: Banning Russia’s shadow fleet carrying illicit oil through the Baltic Sea will be an easy target for pressure.
⭕ 🇺🇸🇷🇺US senators threaten to impose 500% tariffs on countries purchasing Russian oil, gas and uranium if Moscow refuses peace talks.

🐻 When has Russia refused peace talks? These people are just throwing random numbers around now that the whole tariff thing is “in”.
[what’s being sold as demented Orange pique and irrationality is actually in lockstep with ongoing moves in Persian Gulf: war expansion beyond 404 in European theatre]
⭕ 🇾🇪🤜🇺🇸 AnsarAllah’s media page published footage showing the wreckage of the downed MQ-9 drone they shot down yesterday.

This is the 16th downed MQ-9 since October 7th 2023. And the 20th in general. |media|
[Yemen by itself has downed 16% (20 of 126) of all Reapers ever made for US military! And these appear their workhorse drone] 

By Elijah J. Magnier –

As the Middle East plunges further into turmoil, one reality is becoming increasingly unavoidable: the so-called “peace president” is laying the foundations for global disorder if he implements his menace. Under Donald Trump, U.S. foreign policy has morphed into an explosive mix of economic coercion, military escalation, and selective diplomacy—presented under the banner of maintaining global stability.

Trump has delivered contradictory signals. On one hand, he sends messages of mutual respect and cooperation to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On the other hand, he intensifies bombing campaigns in Yemen, backs Israel’s military operations across multiple fronts, tightens oil sanctions on Russia and Venezuela, and ramps up pressure for a confrontation with Iran. This fragmented strategy threatens to collapse maritime trade routes, destabilize global energy markets, and unleash far-reaching geopolitical consequences.

His “peace through strength” doctrine has not de-escalated conflict but escalated it. U.S. daily airstrikes in Yemen have worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis and further disrupted Red Sea shipping lanes. Meanwhile, growing tensions with Iran risk closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply flows.

With new sanctions targeting Iranian oil layered atop an already stressed global economy, the danger of economic blowback is accelerating. Without a safety net, Trump is tampering with the essential arteries of international commerce—energy, food, and logistics.

Yet amid the rising drumbeat of war and regional mobilization, reports have surfaced that Iran and the United States are quietly engaged in secret backchannel talks. Despite public saber-rattling and Iranian missile readiness across its vast geography—poised to absorb and respond to any U.S. strike—both sides appear intent on keeping open a narrow path for de-escalation. (paywall)

💠@Fotros Resistance:
⭕ The fate of American military one way or another.
[this appears a Yemeni carrying the latest reaper drone shot down over Yemen..]
⭕ 🇮🇷| Iranian Foreign Minister, Araghchi, in a tweet:

The catastrophic failures in our region have cost the US administrations more than $7 trillion.

Diplomatic engagement worked in the past and can still work. But, it should be clear to all that there is—by definition—no such thing as a “military option” let alone a “military solution”.
⭕ 🇾🇪| Yemeni Armed Forces announce heavy battles against American warships

Heavy battles against several warships in the Red Sea, led by the US aircraft carrier Truman, in a 3rd engagement in the past 24h, were carried out with cruise missiles & drones.

💠@imetatronink:
⭕🔻 Patarames: Usually when 🇮🇷’s Leader has his SVD Dragunov rifle in his hand.., some action is bound to happen
🔻 Ace: Nothing ever happens
🔻 WS: 📜 Nothing Ever Happens Until It Does

A powerful American air and naval fleet is converging on a prospective battlefield; an ancient battlefield, where many seemingly invincible armies—and the kingdoms that sent them—have encountered historic calamity.
⭕🔻 DD Geopolitics:
🇺🇸✈️ 300 U.S. airmen and A-10 Thunderbolt IIs from Idaho’s National Guard are being deployed to CENTCOM.

The A-10 “Warthog” is a tank-killing close air support jet, armed with a 30mm cannon that shreds armor. It’s built to fly low, loiter over battlefields, and support ground forces, especially in large-scale conflicts.

Known for surviving hits that would destroy other jets, the A-10’s presence in the Middle East signals the U.S. may be preparing for direct ground confrontation possibly in Yemen, Syria, or against Iran.

This is escalation.
🔻 Eomar – Diligent News: Of the aircraft we have I think this is one of the more vulnerable, is this just dump the kitchen sink over there to “intimidate”? Even if so, I don’t know if Trump et al will respond well to the embarrassment of failure… @imetatronink
🔻 WS: 📜 Flying Coffins

“F-16s and A-10s are not a strategy for victory in Ukraine.

“There is no ‘Hail Mary’ play to be called. The only reasonable option at this juncture is for the US to … pack up its ball once and for all, and go home.”
🔻 John: You used “reasonable” and “US” in the same sentence… I wish brother, but our government is basically possessed and in dire need of a mass exorcism.
⭕ Captain Soggy Cookie (formerly of the USS Brave Sir Robin, now at the helm of the USS Trembling Puppy) posting boldly while cowering in the northern reaches of the Red Sea — the prospect of running the gauntlet of the Bab el-Mandeb comfortably still out of sight and out of mind.😏 |link|
🔻 Ikkyu Sojun: The U.S. navy’s a relic, overstretched and outgunned.

This isn’t courage.

It’s hugging safety while the empire’s grip slips.
🔻 hans koenig: I always use Spain as good reference as it is about 1000km from side to side to be able to explain/visualize. Such as “you could have gotten 15 carriers instead of spending on XYZ”.

The carrier group is hiding a decent country-sized distance away.
🔻 cognitivedissonanceeverywhere: ‘Lethal precision’ on targets that didn’t amount to a hill of beans and whose intelligence was completely wrong.
🔻 Marta: Touchè😂😂
⭕ 📜 Hold My Beer
🔻 Alyosha: Wondering to what degree Iran’s AD has the latest Russian tech.
🔻 WS: I would suggest it is even more meaningful to investigate what the Iranians have developed themselves.

I am convinced people are underestimating Iran.

⭕🔸 Gold Is Old and Wise

As I have noted on occasion: Gold knows things.

It knows things because it has already seen everything.

Gold is old and wise.
reposts older:
“I understand a great many people either lack an understanding of the historical role of gold in the world, or who believe that role is now anachronistic.

But gold knows things.

And now every dip is being bought, and it closed today with a spike to all-time highs.”
🔻 Imperius Fistus: I see some clipping in that gold coin.
🔻 cognitivedissonanceeverywhere: Call it an accident or grand design, but gold and silver are God’s money and in the end they correct everything. They always have, despite the best efforts of those who want to pervert money for their own purposes.

⭕🔻 Cannoneer Marine: [posts woman with laundry]
🔻 WS: There were lots of southern Utah downwinders. |link|
⭕ retweet:
🔻 S.L. Kanthan: For all the Democrats who are getting worked up about Trump & Elon Musk, here’s the bitter truth:

US is run by an international financial cabal — banks, corporations & billionaires.

It doesn’t matter if Democrats or Republicans win. They are just two wings of the same bird.
🔻 In Other Words: In the US or elsewhere, oligarchs are often at odds with the working class and seek significant government influence.

I remember that Jack Ma, widely recognized as China’s most successful entrepreneur, faced backlash from the government when he became too involved in controversial politics. China silenced him. Similarly, between 2000 and 2004 in Russia, Putin advised his oligarchs to avoid political engagement or, otherwise, face repercussions from the government if they became too involved in contentious politics (ie, you can keep your wealth if you stay out of politics).

While I appreciate US entrepreneurship, the elites, and modern-day oligarchs exert excessive influence over politicians and the political system. For example, Citizens United has been a disaster for our democracy, as have the various methods by which ultra-wealthy individuals can manipulate our decision-makers.

I’d love to hear feedback for or against it, but I think the US needs to pass laws that keep oligarchs and private interests (PACS/Super PACS) out of US politics. China and Russia did so, and I think it was ultimately to the public’s benefit. Thoughts?
[the Chinese system is wisest. Was it Jeff Brown or Godfree who said that for millennia they held the merchants in contempt and near the bottom of the totem poll, even below the poor farmers?? And they never ran the state]
🔻 chickadee: It’s fitting that the bird in the graphic is a turkey vulture
🔻 Steven Teo: And the banks and billionaires are owned by Israel
⭕ retweet:
🔻 Liam McCollum: George Bush campaigned on a ‘humble foreign policy’ and lied us into Iraq.

Barack Obama promised to end the Iraq war, escalated it, and started wars in Yemen, Syria, and Libya.

Joe Biden ran on ending the Afghanistan war and got us bogged down in Ukraine.

And Donald Trump campaigned on stopping endless wars. But, his administration seems to be gearing up for war with Iran.

The best thing about Donald Trump is that he’s a repudiation of the last few decades, and that includes the foreign policy regime. Trump should break from the deep state’s foreign policy and keep his promise—no more endless wars.
[“There’s an old saying in Tennessee – I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee – that says, fool me once, shame on – shame on you. Fool me – you can’t get fooled again.”]
🔻 Joey Clark: Always east of Eden

⭕🔻 Doug Ford Respecter 40K 🇨🇦🚀🇰🇵 (@JucheRespecter):
I’m starting to feel like Trump might be in the early days of senility, tbh. The leaked signal stuff had a very strange feel to it; Trump was clearly absent and his staff was just making it up as they went. Felt like something out of the Biden admin.

The man’s pushing 81.
🔻 Doug Ford Respecter 40K 🇨🇦🚀🇰🇵: Not saying he’s anywhere close to where Biden was in 2024. He’s still lucid, he can still talk. But others have also commented that Trump is just way more checked out this time around. He has some pet projects and issues, but otherwise there’s not much of a hand on the tiller.
🔻 WS: reposts older:
“🤔 Unpopular opinion that will probably cost me a few hundred followers (and I couldn’t care less):

I first mentioned this to my wife last summer, and, to me, it is becoming more apparent with each passing month: Trump is suffering from steadily creeping dementia.” |link|]
⭕🔻 Doug Ford Respecter 40K 🇨🇦🚀🇰🇵:
Realistically, if Trump opts for “just a little bit of of war with Iran. Just a smidge.” that will be the ballgame not just for his own presidency but for the American Empire as such.
🔻 Disasterpus: it is interesting that we are finally seeing the actual impact photos from Nevatim just as this whole business heats up
🔻 WS: I missed this. Link?
🔻 F. B.: I found this: |link|
⭕ 💥 MQ-9 Reaper XVI

The Yemeni Armed Forces are apparently not disarmed yet. They shot down another $30M American MQ-9 Reaper drone.

Number 16. Triple Ace + 1.

As for the YAF spokesman, he dresses sharply and has a certain rhetorical savoir faire. 😏 |link|
🔻 Source Code: I’m not sure if it’s his voice or his habit of speaking loudly & robotically, but I always mute the sound whenever I watch his announcements. He should watch Karoline Leavitt.
🔻 WS: I am convinced it is deliberate performance art. It’s brilliantly staged and executed.
[Agreed. Very well done and targetted at both internal and external audiences. He is actually not like typical Yemenis, who prefer beards and are more muscular and imposing looking. He dresses in modern military garb, used and known worldwide among professional cadre. His soft, scholarly yet handsome look engages and forces you to watch. It makes Yemenis look more the underdog and builds international support, rather than the reality they are chewing the demented pirates to shreds, where they can reach them. But the words are always truthful and say what he knows and doesn’t embellish unlike some. And the clear and unequivocal islamic greetings and ending salutations always emphasize the moral imperative behind the regrettable thrashings being dispensed to the said demented pirates]
🔻 ann watson: I heard just now that they’ve shot down an airforce jet
🔻 WS: I doubt that. What is your source?
🔻 Brandon: That doesn’t worry me the way losing a carrier does. And it’s coming.
🔻 Christopher 🇺🇸: I’ll put a huge amount of money down that losing a carrier does NOT happen.
🔻 WS: I once heard a story about an unsinkable ship …
🔻 Brandon: Exactly. What’s more, they don’t even have to sink the carrier. They just have to damage its flight deck and it’ll be useless and laid up in our broken shipyards for years. A wasting asset. |Hoodwinked Hubris|
🔻 James Newell Osterberg: I’m nostalgic for the old days when the Pentagon flew drones for 20 hours over unarmed people looking for a place to place their missile.

How can we have a rules-based order if vile enemies are shooting at us.
🔻 OsageCatZ: Upping cost of E2 Hawkeye to $150 million.
🔻 Lavr Dyogtev 🇳🇿 🇷🇺 ✝️ Bot. blocked instantly.: The US has made much of its strikes on Yemen. But in reality, they are attacking civilian infrastructure. The Houti military have few fixed assets, they know US satellite windows, and move before they are of use in an attack. The fixed assets they do have, seem to have survived.
🔻 WS: Not surprisingly, US “precision strike munitions” work much better against large static targets than they do against small highly mobile targets.

Iran has placed much emphasis on making its missile forces highly mobile. They would prove VERY difficult to track down and destroy.
⭕ 🤣🔥 I can’t vouch for the veracity of the purported Trump/Vance conversation recounted below.

But it’s damn funny. And, if true, it does underscore one of Donald Trump’s few redeeming virtues.
links:
🔻 Ending Bigly: JD, trying to explain Conquest’s Third Law: “So it’s like, imagine every bureaucracy is run by its enemies.”

Trump: “Can we do that?”

JD: “No, you’re not getting it, it’s not something you do, it’s something that happens.”

Trump: “Alright, let’s make it happen.” |link|
⭕ retweet:
🔻 Walter Kirn: The long and unreliable NYT piece on the “secret history” of the Ukraine war disproves the notion that history is written by the victors.

Quite often history is written by the losers trying to cover their asses.
[nooooo. The Fat Lady hasn’t sung. Carthage merely flops in the interim..]
🔻 C2: Everything in the NYT is unreliable. I can’t even trust a baseball box score.
⭕🔻 Armchair Warlord: Rather interesting that B-2s based out of Diego Garcia are apparently flying missions into… known snake pit of advanced air defense capabilities (sarcasm), Yemen.

This actually explains a few things about the deployment. Allow me to explain.⬇️

Deploying B-2s to Diego Garcia to threaten Iran makes very little sense, because it puts billions of dollars of irreplaceable stealth bombers in range of Iranian drones and missiles, which in the event of war can and will be fired at the base in salvo strengths which the local defenses cannot reasonably expect to defeat. And while it’s certainly possible that American war planners are stupid and arrogant, and don’t think Iran has the stones to shoot missiles at an American air base despite the fact they’ve already done that to the Israelis multiple times, it’s more likely the deployment had some other purpose than exposing our strategic assets to preemptive attack in the hopes of shaving a few hours off a notional timeline for an attack on Iran vis-a-vis strikes staged out of Missouri.

Enter Yemen. Let’s take a look at the situation:

1. Yemen actually has significant anti-access/area-denial capabilities, to the point the USN has probably gotten very leery of operating carriers in the southern Red Sea because they keep getting engaged by Yemeni antiship weapons. This level of forced standoff, by the way, seriously degrades the effectiveness of the (short-ranged) carrier air wing, which is now going to be relying on complex tanker shuttles (which the carrier also has to support from its own limited resources) to reach and return from the target area.

2. Yemen has real if somewhat sparse air defenses. They’ve shot down over a dozen Reaper drones at this point, and they may have downed an F/A-18 that was subsequently claimed as a bizarre friendly fire incident by the Navy. The last thing the USN wants is to lose aircraft over Yemen and have captured American aviators get paraded through Sana’a – a very real prospect if they start trying to launch large strike packages inland. Not to mention that a single carrier group would likely struggle to sustain such a high-intensity campaign for any period of time – see my above comment about the logistical support required to stretch the legs of the carrier air group.

3. Trump appears to want a serious campaign waged against the Houthis. This means more strikes deep in Yemen than the USN has standoff weapons to conduct, at least without badly depleting the national magazine of long-range missiles.

4. Unlike Iran, the Houthis do not have a lot of heavy missiles and their standoff land attack capability appears to be marginal. They’ve never even tried to hit US bases in Djibouti, for instance, and those should be in easy drone range across the Bab al-Mandeb. Unlike Iran, an effective Houthi attack on Diego Garcia is not a realistic prospect.

Enter the B-2s. Staging out of Diego Garcia, they can easily reach Yemen, destroy anything anywhere in the country with near-total impunity, and then flit back to their convenient forward base to do it all again the next day for as long as the campaign takes.

TL;DR: The Navy just got fired from the Yemen operation, and the Air Force is breaking out the power tools to get the job done.
🔻 Seeji Sundarakshan: How expensive are the B-2 operations out of Diego Garcia into Yemen… In terms of ammo/weapons and also $$ wise…?!
And how long can the US sustain that?!

I read somewhere that B2 bombing couldn’t destroy Yemeni underground missile storage/facility as well…
🔻 WS: All I know is that, if the US is willing to play Houthi whack-a-mole with top-shelf precision strike munitions, the Iranians will gladly provide jet fuel for every B-2 sortie from Diego Garcia to Yemen, and sandwiches for the ground crews.

#TheBigAttrition
⭕🔻 Middle East Observer:
⚡️ Trump to Iran:

“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing — and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”
🔻 Doug Ford Respecter 40K 🇨🇦🚀🇰🇵: This is so funny because the orange retard just lives in a forever 1991 (very common with older people on the verge of dementia).

Iran can shoot back. The era of uncontested airpower is just gone, man. Expensive manned aircraft vs cheap missiles is a stupid trade.
🔻 WS: I’ve been shouting this sort of thing from the housetops for years. It is encouraging to finally see light break out in the otherwise shadowy corners of the Self-anointed Commentariat. I used to be the loony crank. Now I’m just the annoying “told you so”. Not sure which is worse.
🔻 Doug Ford Respecter 40K 🇨🇦🚀🇰🇵: If you’re bombing Iran, that’s definitionally *an attrition war*. It’s no longer shock and awe, technology has just shifted past the point where that thinking is relevant.

No American actually believes they can survive attritional warfare given how rickety US society is now.
🔻 WS: Imagine little supply capillaries streaming out behind the battle lines, each one carrying some irreplaceable widget to keep the machine of war moving. So many things can go wrong, and before you know it, the entire army is halted for lack of enough stars on a general’s lapel.
⭕️ For the first time in his long and often tawdry existence, Trump is gleefully living the ultimate Thug’s Life.
links:
🔻 Lord Bebo: “🇺🇸🇮🇷 “We know if the Iranian regime does not want a deal the president is clear he will pursue other options which will be very bad for Iran”
— Tammy Bruce, US State Department” |media|]
🔻 Jes_J_Bel: Trump reveres Capone, said so just recently. When he feels persecuted and put upon, he channels his hero. |media|
🔻 Bobyloong: If I remember correctly, this guy used to say, ‘No new wars.’ A real ‘dove of peace’😂
🔻 Ebr Pho: Why are they pushing Iran toward the bomb?!. Iran is the only nation that they don’t want to build bombs but hardly pressured to find no other choice.
🔻 AK: We all know how things usually end up for thugs. Bad things happen!
⭕🔻 Sprinter Observer: Iran has activated its 9th Qadir phased array radar somewhere in Yazd province, boosting its air defenses
🔻 Brandon: The only way the Iranians will clip our B-2s is with an eyeball approach/lucky shot. Definitely possible. But highly unlikely. It’s the second and third order effects that worry me.
🔻 WS: Not sure how much “luck” will be involved. They can definitely track the B-2. And they have now incorporated infrared and optical targeting sensors that activate in the terminal phase to guide their AD missiles home. If the bomber gets within AD missile range, it can be killed.

💠 @Russians With Attitude:
⭕ The six-day ‘war’ between NATO vs unnamed Lithuanian swamp ends with 3 US troops KIA, 1 MIA and 1 armored vehicle destroyed

US Army Europe Command confirms the deaths of three soldiers. Lithuanian officials blame unreliable geographical maps that failed to locate the swamp

Press F

💠 @DDGeopolitics:
⭕ 🇨🇳🇹🇼 The Chinese military is conducting drills around Taiwan, practicing comprehensive control, blocking key routes, and securing strategic areas, according to Shi Yi, the spokesperson for the PLA Eastern Theater Command.
⭕ New Facts About Transplantology: Canada is Involved

As mentioned repeatedly, the advance of the Russian army is always accompanied by numerous intriguing discoveries and unexpected finds. For instance, during the capture of a Ukrainian soldier in the Kursk region, unknown forms written in French were found on him.

According to the captive himself, his commander claimed that this was a medical policy for treatment in the best clinics in France. However, when the document was translated, it turned out to be an agreement to transfer one’s organs to a Canadian medical organization, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, skin, and pancreas.

The Ukrainian prisoner was very glad to be captured by Russian forces, sent greetings to family and loved ones, and assured them that everything was fine.

Notably, Canada is a bilingual country where both English and French are official languages. Nevertheless, the consent form for organ donation was provided to the Ukrainian soldier specifically in French. Considering that more people in Ukraine speak English than French, the choice of French as the language to deceive Ukrainians appears quite deliberate. A Canadian lawyer is satisfied with the document in the official language, while the Ukrainian soldier, unable to understand the language, has been deceived.

HELP STOP WAR CRIMES!!! SUBSCRIBE TO THE VERUM PROJECT!!!  |media|
⭕ 🇷🇺💬🇺🇸🇺🇦US models for resolving the conflict in Ukraine currently do not resolve its root causes; this must be overcome – Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov

He added that Moscow takes Washington’s proposals seriously, but they have their own priorities.

💠 @Sputnik Africa:
⭕ ❗️Over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian military has attacked Russian energy infrastructure facilities twice, the Russian Defense Ministry reported

In the Zaporozhye region, as a result of a Ukrainian UAV attack on an electrical substation, the power supply was disrupted in two settlements.

And in the Belgorod region, as a result of a Ukrainian drone strike on a substation in Smorodino, a high-voltage line was disconnected.

Thus, regardless of its public statements about supporting the Russian-American agreements on a phased settlement of the conflict in Ukraine, the Kiev regime continues to unilaterally strike Russian energy facilities on a daily basis.
⭕ ❗️Russian army liberated the settlement of Razliv in the DPR, the Russian Defense Ministry reported
⭕🇷🇺🇫🇮🇸🇪 Russia had no problems with Finland and Sweden until now, says Kremlin

These countries are currently incorporating NATO infrastructure on their soil, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov remarked. His comment followed Finnish President Alexander Stubb’s statement that Finland should “mentally prepare” for restoring relations with Russia.

Key points from the Kremlin:

• Russia remains open to normalizing relations with any country willing to engage;
• Russia has never intentionally damaged its relationships with neighboring countries or others;
• While Russia maintains relations with the US, the situation in Ukraine remains highly complex, requiring continued efforts;
• Any meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik will be publicly announced by the Kremlin;
• President Putin will conduct an operational meeting with the Security Council and meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday;
• Peskov praised Wang Yi’s efforts in bolstering ties between Moscow and Beijing.

⭕ 📊 Gold is set to end the first quarter with almost 20% price growth

The price of gold was growing by more than 1% on Monday, the trading data showed.

As of 09:25 GMT on Tuesday, the market price of gold was around $3,133 per troy ounce.

↗️ Meanwhile, the price of June gold futures on the New York Comex exchange reached $3,159 per troy ounce.

The price of gold has increased by approximately 19.5% since the beginning of January and by around 10.8% since the start of March.

💠 @ejmalrai:
⭕ retweet:
🔻 Quds News Network: An apocalyptic scene in Rafah, where thousands of Palestinians are being forcibly displaced and moving north following the recent Israeli evacuation threats, which ordered the emptying of the entire city.
⭕ The extremist far-right settler Israeli finance minister Smotrich resigns from post as minister in government. The resignation is not likely to collapse Netanyahu’s coalition and government that passed its 2025 budget in Israel’s parliament last week.
⭕ This Israeli breach of the ceasefire with Lebanon – 3 killed and 7 wounded – risks triggering retaliation from the resistance. By violating UNSCR 1701, Israel is undercutting Lebanon’s diplomatic efforts and paving the way for a justified response.
links:
🔻 Middle East Observer:⚡️🚨 Breaking: Lebanon: Israeli airstrike targets the southern suburb of Beirut

Ambulances headed to the targeted site in the southern suburb to transport the wounded and search for victims

The airstrike targeted several floors of a residential building in the southern suburb of Beirut

Israeli warplanes are still flying at low altitudes over the southern suburb

Israeli media outlet: “Israel” attacks a multi-story building in Beirut, destroyed without warning in the suburb, and it can be assessed as a targeted assassination

The targeted building is residential, and the entire neighborhood is residential
⭕ retweet:
🔻 Seyed Mohammad Marandi: Iran’s former Parliament Speaker, who serves as the Leader’s advisor and special envoy, has warned that any US or Zionist attack on Iran’s nuclear sites would force Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

He said Iran does not want to do this but will be forced into such a position
[This is same Ali Larijani above. A watershed moment.]
⭕🔻 Donald J. Trump:
The Iran-backed Houthi Terrorists have been decimated by the relentless strikes over the past two weeks. Many of their Fighters and Leaders are no longer with us. We hit them every day and night — Harder and harder. Their capabilities that threaten Shipping and the Region are rapidly being destroyed. Our attacks will continue until they are no longer a threat to Freedom of Navigation. The choice for the Houthis is clear: Stop shooting at U.S. ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran.
🔻 EM: But…but… but how can Ansar Allah Houthis fire at Israel and USS Harry Truman if they have been decimated and their capabilities destroyed Mr “Peace president”?
🔻 MenchOsint: “Decimated”

24 hours ago they launched a Ballistic Missile at Israel [posts map of central Zion lit up with red alarms]
⭕ Israel has decided to occupy 25% of Gaza and ethnic cleanse the inhabitants.
@IntlCrimCourt   |media|

💠@Sputnik Africa:
⭕ 🇺🇸⚔️🇮🇷 Are US and Iran REALLY on the brink of war?

🗣President Trump warned that if Iran doesn’t “make a deal,” on a new nuclear agreement, “there will be bombing…the likes of which they have never seen before.”

The threat comes against the background of rapidly rising regional tensions, all of them facilitated by US actions, including:

1. Deployment of B-2 bombers at Diego Garcia, in range of Iran and Yemen, Tehran’s Axis of Resistance ally.
2. Intense US bombardment of Yemen at Israel and Europe’s behest.
3. Deployment of a second US carrier strike group, led by the USS Carl Vinson, to the Middle East.
4. Economic coercion, including Trump’s threats of “secondary tariffs” and what a top Trump ally said would be the “absolute, abysmal obliteration” of Iran’s economy through the “maximum pressure” campaign.

❓How has Iran responded to US provocations?

1. Iran has rejected direct nuclear talks with Trump, saying the US has to rebuild trust first, but leaving the door open to indirect negotiations.
2. On Monday, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that any aggression would receive a “crushing and decisive blow” in response.
3. Iran has put missiles on standby, and that these weapons are situated in hardened facilities that can withstand enemy air attacks, The Tehran Times reported.
4. Iran’s military and elite IRGC have been revealing a series of new missile bases and new and upgraded weapons systems.
5. Last week, Iran deployed missiles on three strategic islands west of the Hormuz Strait. It could put Iran in complete control of the surrounding waters, and in range of many US bases in the region, including Al Udeid Air Base and the HQs of CENTCOM and the US Fifth Fleet.

⭕ 📌 Major world events by the evening of March 31

• A court in Paris sentenced politician Marine Le Pen to four years in custody, two suspended and two to be served with an electronic bracelet, and banned her from holding elected office for five years;
• Russia and the United States have not signed documents on joint projects on rare earth metals, the Kremlin said;
• The ongoing deliberate attacks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Russian energy facilities demonstrate the complete inability of the Kiev regime to negotiate, the Russian Defense Ministry said;
• The Iranian army promised a harsh response to any aggression against the territory of the Islamic Republic by the US and Israel, according to a statement by the Iranian army;
• Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned US President Donald Trump against raising tariffs on goods from the US’ “closest allies”;

💠@Middle East Spectator:
⭕ Trump after hearing that the Houthis have shot down an American drone, the USS Harry S. Truman is getting bombed, and ballistic missiles are on their way to Tel Aviv: |media|

💠@imetatronink:
⭕ 🤔 Bluff of Maneuver

Although I am by no means convinced on this point, I am increasingly suspicious that all the overt American military menacing of Iran is a bluff of maneuver; a demonstration; a peacock fanning its tail for effect.

The US/Israel have no credible play here.
[links:
🔻 Ian Ellis: “Six USAF B-2 Spirit stealth bombers — 1/3 of America’s fleet — forward deployed to Diego Garcia over the last week 🇺🇸

The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (CSG) continues strike operations against the Houthi. Carl Vinson CSG, en route to the Middle East, is 1-2 weeks out.”]
🔻 Bill Bottrell: Isn’t bluff Trumps first move always?
It’s possible all the others have noticed.
Bluff upon bluff means the opponent calls.
🔻 MisbehavingEconomist: Real question is what happens when Iran calls Trump’s bluff? Shia aren’t afraid of martyrdom & I can’t see Trump backing down or just sitting still. We’ll all know around May 6th.
🔻 kurth bousman …..Truth is just a rumor: whenever did ‘credible’ ever enter the picture?…in the gulf of tonkin? ….or Baghdad?
🔻 C4: When an adversary has deterrence, the US usually encroaches. They seem to be trying their utmost to draw Iran into all consuming conflicts by threatening all their allies in existential ways. They’ve dialed up the savagery everywhere. Iran sidestepped the latest Syrian trap.
🔻 🇮🇱 commits #genocide, US+EU assist! I❤️🇦🇹: It has for quite a while been my working hypothesis that Trump will dial up pressure on Iran to the max in an effort to extract concessions from Russia in the Ukraine talks. I am not sure that this will work but it’s a low-risk shot for him.
The big risk is that he traps himself
[a valid couple points. However he’s a committed zionazi himself and this explains perhaps 5% of the larger calculation]
🔻 Caligula’s Horse: Bluff without a clear authority and complete control is a risk. What if the feudal lord of CENTCOM decides to pull the trigger? Or the Israelis?
🔻 C7: He backed down in 2018? when Iran attacked our military base IIRC. As stated, the US has no play here, and the consequences of Iran’s retaliation will be politically fatal to Trump (lots of dead Americans, sky-high energy prices, etc.)
🔻 WS: Ayn al-Asad airbase. January 8, 2020. Five days after Trump droned Qasem Soleimani at the Baghdad Airport.

It was a modest but powerfully sobering demonstration by the Iranians. The US was impotent to stop it, and they remain similarly impotent to the present day. |media|
⭕ cont. thread:
🔹 For anyone out there who believes the US can mount a ground invasion of Iran, I challenge you to describe an order of battle and a credible operational scenario.

🔹 For those who believe an air campaign alone will defeat Iran, describe for me a credible chain of events.
🔻 Michael Cohen: The entire country need not be dealt with; just the Islamic leadership.
🔻 WS: The belief that the US can surgically remove “just the Islamic leadership” and effect some kind of regime change according to its own dictates is 100% unadulterated delusional silly talk.
🔻 Michael Cohen: Hey, I’m no expert, but it seems like there’s lots of unrest and dissatisfaction among the Persian populace of Iran with their Islamic overlords. That’s the kind of thing that sows the seeds of a proper revolution, no?
🔻 WS: There’s always “unrest and dissatisfaction” about something in Iran. But my sense of the matter is that this whole angle is being amplified by exogenous forces with the express purpose of encouraging / justifying a foolish and futile attempt to “regime change” Iranian leadership.
🔻 Michael Cohen: You think the various (supposedly?) Iranian voices here on X are fake or something?
You think Israel doesn’t have a plan in the works to handle Iran?
Most curiously, why do you think a regime change to be “foolish and futile”?
🔻 WS: Your first two sentences are irrelevancies.

All exogenously effected “regime changes” are foolish and futile. The evidence is consistent and incontrovertible over the ages. In the case of the American Empire, it has distinguished itself above its predecessors in this respect.
[unfortunately, as seen if one travels to LA and other benighted corners of Cali or Londonistan, one can found a couple million mindwashed persians.. however the larger point holds that they’re at this point as effeminate, useless and outta luck as their nazi Anglo patrons. But they do bark loudly online, and the nazi suzerains will still attempt the murder-suicide, like moths to the Flame. This Ending was carved into the Stars many many eons ago]
⭕ cont. thread:
🤦‍♂️ This ongoing Thang / Ritter bout should have ended by TKO in the first round.

The thing that must be understood above all, however, is that Scott Ritter is not some anomalous voice. The Trump 47 admin (and much of the MAGA realm) is filled to the brim with this mentality.
🔻 C1: Do you ever listen to Scott Ritter? Every interview I see him in he is warning against US intervention and war. He is very anti war.
🔻 🇮🇱 commits #genocide, US+EU assist! I❤️🇦🇹: I don’t think @imetatronink is questioning Ritter’s intentions but the way of thinking and the delusional belief that nuking someone will win a war.
It rarely ever will. (Russians understand that btw)
Yes, Trump might share these delusions.
But that doesn’t mean Iran should fold!
🔻 C1: Maybe, I didn’t see the piece mentioned, but I see him interviewed almost weekly and he is always quite anti aggression and anti war.
🔻 WS: I’ve not said otherwise.

I have been consistently and deliberately narrow in my criticisms of Ritter over the years. I am very familiar with him. I agree with some of his views, and I adamantly disagree with others.

I do not regard him as a notably insightful strategic thinker.
🔻 C3: Crooke says US wants to copy IDF decap of Hez in Iran. Decap IRGC. Nuke stuff is distraction. IDF staff is in place in DC. Ready. Apparently, US thinks they will walk into Tehran like HTS walked into Damascus. Wide open. He says US seeks talks with RF to strip RF from Iran.
🔻 Mikasa Ackermann: the problem is, his viewpoint on this may well be symptomatic (or even tamer than) the views of this infantile and haphazard administration. the more I listen to Hegseth, Rubio, Witkoff, Trump himself – the more I suspect that they really have no clue at all. which is dangerous.
🔻 Anton Moric: Thang is pretty clearly controlled opposition. Scott is one of the few voices of rationality and peace in the US. That Thang is conflating Ritter’s intellectual exploration of USgov thought processes w/ advocation of use of nukes is a sure sign that Thang is a CIA stooge.
🔻 WS: Well … if Thang is a “CIA stooge”, he’s an exceptional specimen.

And I can’t imagine anyone more interesting to observe than an exceptional CIA stooge at work. Few things are more satisfying than to turn the tables on someone who thinks they’re convincing YOU of something.
🔻 kurth bousman …..Truth is just a rumor: he looks like a vietnam patriot to me.

&they actually have something to be patriotic about
🔻 Risk Taker: I don’t see it as just a MAGA mentality, I see it as an American mentality.
🔻 WS: This is a valid point.
🔻 Pandem(on)ical Order of Good Cheer: The quality of US strategic thinking today seems such that the very plausible prospect of a great strategic blunder can in no way be presumed to make the fiasco less likely.
🔻 WS: Hence my gnawing doubts that logic and simple arithmetic will win out in the end.

But I still cling to a fraying thread of forlorn hope …
🔻 kyle Taylor: Iran cannot withstand a sustained aerial campaign from the US nor would they fare better than Iraq did from a US ground invasion. America has always had the capacity to destroy any govt it wanted except Russia and China. The only barrier is political will. This is Ritters point.
🔻 WS: This is misinformed silly talk. The fact of the matter is that the US is incapable of sustaining a protracted air campaign against ANY major power: Russia, China, or Iran. Don’t believe me? Wait and see.
📜 Staggering Towards the Abyss
⭕🔻 Russians With Attitude: Interesting article, but not much new information. We’ve known that the Ukrainian army is a mindless zombie entirely controlled by NATO (in particular, American and British officers) for three years now. The US had total control over the entire chain of command and the kill chain for practically every weapons system used. No missile strike, no HIMARS use was possible without the US providing everything from intelligence and target acquisition to command and approval. Only the very last step, physically pushing the button, was left to the AFU.

De facto, every single factor that made the Ukrainian army a formidable enemy was American, and the level of American involvement was a lot higher than e.g. Soviet involvement in Vietnam. Barely even a proxy war. As a Russian I disagree with some of the decisions made in Moscow but Americans should kneel and praise Putin daily because if anyone with a less cool head was in charge we’d have been in WW3 for a long time.

It’s not just that the Ukrainian army is effectively led, trained and supplied by the US, it’s not only that the US military and the CIA have boots on the ground at the front lines, it’s also that every single terror strike – the missile strikes against the Christmas market in Belgorod and the beach near Sevastopol, countless attacks against Donetsk – was prepared and approved by the US. Every woman and child who was killed in these targeted terror attacks was murdered by the US.

But none of that is new information. They’ve only started publicly admitting it now. And only in a way that lets them take credit for every AFU success and put the blame for every AFU failure on Kiev. It’s despicable. And it’s also despicable that we didn’t respond even asymmetrically…

But such is geopolitics.

In any case, when the AFU is finally broken and defeated, every Russian soldier can be extra proud – he bested America on the battlefield.
🔻 WS: For what it’s worth, my perspective on the matter:

It is precisely Anglo-American mismanagement of their military affairs and misjudgment of Russia that has led directly to a catastrophic defeat and a phenomenal attrition of western power over the course of the past three-plus years.

I consistently find it remarkable how patiently disciplined Putin and his high command have proven to be in the face of many sore temptations to do something that very likely may have interrupted the delicate balance of western hubris and stupidity that has kept the enfeebling process going all this time.

That said, we may be at the point in time where Russia’s investment in patient restraint is no longer paying the dividends it once did.

With the Americans now diluting their strength even further with their new “regime-change” project in Iran … well, the Russian high command may yet uncork a little vengeance if an appropriate opportunity presents itself.
📜 Patiently Waiting to Strike
🔻 C1: Curious as to why this is appearing in the NYT now, when it’s obvious to them too that this has been the case since the beginning of the conflict.
🔻 WS: In my view, it’s simply a variation on the limited hangout gambit, as @RWApodcast hints above.

When it comes right down to it, these people really don’t have many tricks up their sleeve. They are long on persistence, but persistently short on imagination.
🔻 Caligula’s Horse: Cutting off one’s nose to spite the face. By revealing and thereby threatening to reveal more of US involvement – one imagines Marshall Nuland yelling at EUCOM to bring before her Cannoli during the fabled counteroffensive – they hope to force Trump to stay lest he be embarrassed
[yes, I suspect this is another attempt to commit USA to its suicide on the fat, rich, black soil of Novorossiya. And narratives must be fed to mask ongoing civilizational suicide]
🔻 bloatmonger: I suspect most every fuckup has been British in origin.
⭕🔻 S.L. Kanthan: NY Times has a long article on how the US played a major role in Ukraine’s war against Russia.

In a command centre in Wiesbaden, Germany, the US military and intelligence met with Ukrainian Generals.

Americans provided the details of Russian targets & planned the war strategy.
[note the lies even within the “reveal”. 700k Russkie deaths! A diseased paradigm to the dregs]
🔻 Warwick Powell | 鲍韶山: The war was the brainchild of Washington. They’ve been defeated. Blame-shifting (as this piece tries to do) is understandable but not persuasive. The defeat is a humiliation but magnanimity will prevail to spare Trump’s blushes. |link|
🔻 S.L. Kanthan: 💯 According to the article, the Kursk offensive was all Zelensky’s idea and had nothing to do with the US.

Baloney!
🔻 WS: reposts:
“In my view, it’s simply a variation on the limited hangout gambit, as @RWApodcast hints above.

When it comes right down to it, these people really don’t have many tricks up their sleeve. They are long on persistence, but persistently short on imagination.”
⭕ ⚓️ USS Trembling Puppy Update

Still cruising safely out of the effective range of Yemeni drones and missiles, ~1200 km north of Sana’a.

In other words, the Trembling Puppy remains effectively “bottled up” in the northern reaches of the Red Sea. The Bab el-Mandeb remains scary.
[links:
🔻 MT Anderson: “🇺🇸Carrier Strike Group 8🇺🇸
Spotted on Sentinel 2 (29 Mar 2025) near 🇸🇦Yanbu

Along with CVN-75 are 2x Arleigh Burke class destroyers

USS Gettysburg (Tico Class) is in Yanbu (I assume she is resupplying?)

Interesting 📷 tiling by the 🛰️, as CVN-75 appeared twice (15 min apart)”]
🔻 deepbluediver: From a Bāb al-mandab perspective Yanbu is very much up north, almost ready to go on short snorkel trip over in Hurghada lol.
🔻 AK: They are waiting for new supply of diapers before proceeding.😂
⭕🔻 Geo_monitor: US does not intend to return Germany’s gold reserves. Germany has the second largest gold reserves in the world after the United States – 3,375 tons worth about 280 billion euros.

37% of gold is stored at the US Federal Reserve in New York, said German political scientist & former adviser to the German government Alexander Rahr.

This is not the first time that America refused to allow Germany to even conduct an audit of the volumes of gold stored there..
🔻 Daniel McAdams: This is actually pretty funny! Take that deutschlanders!
You f’d up – you trusted us…🤣
🔻 WS: 1236.

One thousand two hundred thirty-six metric tonnes.

Almost 40 million troy ounces.

37% of “on paper” German sovereign gold holdings.

“If you don’t hold it, you don’t own it.”

Stupid is as stupid does. 🤦‍♂️
🔻 Dr. Anton: Bitcoin fixes this
🔻 WS: I’ve heard this now for many years. There is a persuasive argument for its veracity. I know a lot of very smart people believe so. I wish them all the best.

But I am jaded by 40 years of coding.

I’m not a number
Damn it, I’m a man

I’m funny that way. |media|
[I’m heavy too. And he’s my brother…]
🔻 AK: There was once a farmer that asked a fox if he would be kind enough to look after his chickens and he graciously complied.😂
⭕🔻 Toby Rogers: Dear mask wearing people: it’s been FIVE YEARS! When is this going to be over for you?
[when the ritual ends with the croaking of the Last Satanic Empire, or they cannot afford masks… its a tight race atm, well into the home stretch]
🔻 Bill Bottrell: 8% of all people who ever got a mild Covid infection now have a life-changing auto-immune disease.
Like, as of now, their life is over.
It is a fact that more mild covid infections make that disease worse.
Many of these people work to find treatments or remedies to have a decent day, or even get better.
There is no medical help, they do it themselves.
Others work to NEVER get a mild Covid infection, and some of those think masks will help.
This is nothing to do with the GOV lies of 2020-2024, it is only people on their own trying to not be sicker than they are.
🔻 WS: Although I am 99.999% convinced no masks of any kind can efficaciously impede the transmission of airborne viral pathogens, I believe many people understandably believe that they do.

I believe we must coexist with the human virome, not attempt to isolate ourselves from it.

YMMV
🔻 Bill Bottrell: Would you deny a catholic their prayer beads?
A toddler their blanket?
A natural healer their Tea Tree oil?
A trapper their bear’s tooth pendant?
🔻 WS: Now I really want a bear tooth pendant.

And a hat like Uncle Sasha’s.
⭕ retweet:
🔻 ayden: Watching Iran, Russia and China all flat out say no to the U.S. is pretty surreal.

No one is negotiating and no one is backing down.
🔻 Макс Отто фон Штирлиц: When did Russia flat out say no?
🔻 ayden: Putin made statements just the other day explaining how they aren’t falling for the wests games around negotiations.

It’s “No” but in a polite diplomatic manner.
[Aye, and Peskov just added no further talks were scheduled.. transl: “Check back in when ready to sign the Surrender Papers, orange chumps!”]
⭕🔻 WikiLeaks: Hundreds of foreign students in the U.S. have been told they must self-deport or they will be forcibly deported for campus activism—including attending protests or posting on social media.

This comes after the launch of AI system “Catch and Revoke”, which trawls social media for politically incorrect speech. Speaking to reporters, Rubio said ‘Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visas… At some point, I hope we run out.’

There are over 1.1 million international students in the U.S. today.
🔻 Patrick Henningsen: It’s pretty clear that @realDonaldTrump @POTUS is betraying our Constitution and the most important provision: the First Amendment. Same with @marcorubio @StateDept. Remember your oath. You are allowing a foreign lobby to dictate how protected speech is interpreted. History will not look well on what you have done here….
🔻 Daniel McAdams: Trump and his people have exposed themselves as even more fascist than Biden’s thugs. I did not know this was possible. They actually HATE America!
🔻 WS: reposts old:
“I predict that, in coming days, weeks, and months the most commonly used phrase among those who believed Trump was the “anti-war candidate” and the “savior of America” will be:

“Ever get the feeling you’ve been cheated?””
🔻 Daniel McAdams: I have posted that short clip so many times, yet perhaps this is the most appropriate time to remind the brain dead supporters that they are dupes…

⭕🔻 Sprinter Observer: Current buildup of forces at Diego Garcia Air Base in the Indian Ocean:

– 7 B-2 ‘Spirit’ strategic bombers
– 8 B-52H ‘Stratofortress’ strategic bombers
– 7 Boeing C-17 ‘Globemaster’ III transport aircraft
– 10 Boeing KC-135 ‘Stratotankers’
– 1 P-8A ‘Poseidon’ patrol aircraft

These numbers are confirmed and are conservative estimates. This is an UNPRECEDENTED amount of air power concentrated in one place
[the same data posted by middle east man above yesterday]
🔻 WS: Word to the Wise:

Extreme skepticism should be your default assumption in relation to anything posted by these “Sprinter” accounts.

From what I have been able to confidently ascertain, all the aircraft totals listed below are either exaggerated or outright fabricated.
🔻 C2: What do you make of this @imetatronink? Credible or exaggerated?
[he posts leading image of Megatron]
🔻 WS: If true, I regard it as a patently stupid logistical move. US bases in Qatar and Bahrain are extremely vulnerable to Iranian attack.

In any case, for the record, I consider Megatron_ron in the same class of click-bait nonsense spreader as the various Sprinter accounts.
🔻 Shivan Mahendrarajah: Sprinter copied from a Telegram account [links the Middle East Spectator channel above]
🔻 Crumbling Empire: English is only my third language, but how can one say “These numbers are *confirmed* and are conservative *estimates*” ? 🤔😅
🔻 Stockley Karlmichael: You know that all this is a lie when it talks about the militarization of Arab countries like Qatar to attack Iran. No Arab country has the guts to lend its bases to attack Iran. I’m not saying they don’t have the desire, but they lack the balls.
[what if they were sedated and gelded by Empire?]

💠@Middle East Spectator:
⭕ The U.S. Embassy in Yemen wished Yemenis a happy Eid Al-Fitr as American forces conducted large-scale bombing of the capital, Sana’a.
[and the trumpet of the Moshiach recently hosted a breaking of the daily Ramadan fast ceremony at the Orange House, just before launching the Last Drang to holocaust some 500M arabs and persians. Unbelievable. One almost regrets to be alive to witness such demonic days]
⭕ 🇮🇷 Ayatollah Khamenei also held a speech after the Eid Prayer

He talked about Ramadan, its importance, the ongoing massacres in Palestine, Lebanon and Yemen, the state of the Islamic World.

He stated that if the United States or any enemy attacks Iran, it will receive a severe response, and that the Zionist regime must be annihilated, as it is a cancerous and fake entity.

During his speech, Ayatollah Khamenei held an SVD ‘Dragunov’ rifle, which he was trained to use in the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980’s
⭕ 🇮🇷 Millions of worshippers came to the Imam Reza shrine in Mashhad for offering the Eid Al-Fitr Prayer |media|
[This is just one Iranian city. Most major cities were as teeming. Persia is not gonna be subverted successfully, like any of the other serious civilizational-states. Nuke or Kneel time. And both avenues lead to Game Over for the lunatic Antagonists of All]
⭕ ❗️🇺🇸/🇮🇷 Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi: ‘If Trump thinks he can intimidate Iran, he is wrong. Iran won’t allow anyone to address it using the language of force, and we do not bow to threats’
⭕ 🇮🇷 🇮🇷 Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Forces:

‘The United States has around 10 [major] military bases in our region, with approximately 50,000 troops.

This means they are sitting in a glass house, and those who sit in a glass house should not throw stones.’
[this is the commander of the missiles and drone fleets that induced the Ayn Al Assad headaches and forced the defeated deeper into delusion and escapism with Operations True Promise I and II. And he correctly stated Iran has little to fear from external aggressors (save a murder-suicide), and to focus on the internal polity and economy.]
⭕ Al-Qassam Brigades first operation since resumption of the Gaza war:

‘On 29/03, our Mujahideen blew up an Israeli tank with a pre-prepared explosive device, during an operation near the dividing line, and we bombed the area with a number of mortar shells east of the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.’
⭕ ❗️🇮🇷 🇮🇷 BREAKING: The IRGC Navy announces that it has seized two foreign oil tankers in the Persian Gulf

The vessels are reportedly ‘STAR 1’ and ‘VINTAGE’, and are being redirected to the port of Bushehr.
⭕ 🇮🇷 🇮🇷 UPDATE: The seizure of the vessels is reportedly due to oil smuggling, this is likely not a political or military action

‘STAR 1’ is Panama-flagged and does business mainly with Iranian companies and ports. ‘VINTAGE’ is still unknown.
[as we discussed recently, most “shadow-fleets” operate to the benefit of the Anglo-Zionists. Iran has periodically stopped these pirate ships, shamelessly taking oil from Iraq/UAE to Zion in broad daylight. Some of that oil was stolen & smuggled overland from Syria on convoys protected by US Army & Air Force and mercs, via Iraqi Kurdistan. This entire joyride is coming to a screeching stop]
⭕ ❗️🇺🇸/🇮🇷/☢️ BREAKING: Ali Larijani, former Parliament Speaker and current Special Envoy of the Supreme Leader, says that if the United States or Israel carries out a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran will be forced to produce nuclear weapons
[we are getting tired of this unending and distressing coitus interruptus. Just get it done or not, but fall off the mount either way and end our galactic agony]

💠@ejmalrai:
⭕ The most immoral and unethical Israeli army killed 80 people, mostly children and women, in Gaza this morning. The Israeli government, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, who has an ICC warrant for his war crimes, has declared these objectives: To ethnically cleanse the Strip and to control Gaza like the West Bank.
⭕ The “peace president” can’t impose secondary sanctions on Russian and Venezuelan oil, bomb Yemen while blocking Red Sea maritime traffic, and simultaneously threaten war with Iran—risking the shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s energy and trade flows.

If he does, global shipping will collapse, energy markets will spiral, and the world economy will plunge into crisis. Hunger and chaos would follow—fast.

You can’t set fire to every route that keeps the world running and expect stability to survive.
[pay close attention to the last bolded sentences, which precisely previews the contrived Dark Winters being forced down onto mankind, from N to S, E to W]
⭕ The wars in the Middle East are not sectarian by nature—only politicized that way by those lacking the will for full independence. While sectarianism is used as a distraction, the truth is clear: non-Sunni populations across the region have paid—and continue to pay—a heavy price for standing in support of Sunni Palestinians.
⭕ The term “mosquito protocol” refers to a controversial and illegal practice reportedly employed by the Israel Occupation Forces during operations in Gaza. According to testimonies from soldiers and former Palestinian detainees, this protocol involves using Palestinian civilians as human shields to safeguard Israeli soldiers during high-risk missions. Civilians are compelled to enter buildings, tunnels, or other hazardous areas ahead of military personnel to mitigate risks to the soldiers.

Investigations have revealed that this practice has been widespread throughout Gaza, with reports of Palestinian detainees being forced into reconnaissance roles, often at great personal risk. The “mosquito protocol” is part of use of human shields in conflict zones, raising significant ethical and legal violations.

💠@Hamas/Tsahal:
⭕ The Israeli army has issued the largest evacuation alert in Gaza since the start of the new offensive. According to Israel, the army is “returning to the fight with great force to eliminate the capabilities of terrorist organizations in these areas.” (Rafah)
[more Trail of Tears enforced movements, well learnt and honed through US Army experience on CONUS. But Gaza ain’t the huge Midwest. This measure alone is insufficient to exterminate Palestinians. And they’re running outta bombs and need the remainder largely for other directions. Starvation and plague appear the main weapons now]

💠@Fotros Resistance:
⭕ 🇮🇷🇮🇱| NEW: Satellite imagery shows more details of Iran’s TP1/2 operation against Israel

The Iranian surface-to-surface ballistic missile attack in April and October 2024 resulted in approximately 38 warhead impacts on Nevatim Air Base, with damage still visible today.

Two service hangars housing the essential G550 AWACS/ELINT aircraft are currently under repair.

As a result, the entire G550 fleet has been forced to park openly along the apron area, making them target ducks, in case …

One of the buildings at the Nevatim Airbase was completely destroyed since repairs were not possible.

Other images also show nearly destroyed builings that were never shown in any media, it was unintentionally published during Iran’s presidential visit to new defense equipment expo. |media|
⭕ We see this after 6 months btw =)

I wonder what else got struck but camouflaged for satellite imagery.
⭕ ✏️ The speech delivered by the leader of Iran, Ayt Khamenei & the commanders, show that Iran is fully prepared for any scenario.

It confirms that majority of Trump’s threats are bluffs, but even if they are not, the gates of hell can be opened for them.

Today was reassuring.
⭕ Hamas issued a statement:

• Forcing the people of Rafah to evacuate under bombardment and massacres is a full-fledged crime of forced displacement and ethnic cleansing.
• We call on the leaders of Arab and Islamic countries, the international community, and the UN to take immediate action and pressure the occupation to stop its ongoing crimes against our people (as if they’ll listen).

⭕ 🇮🇷| Ali Larijani, an advisor to Iran’s leadership:

• Trump’s letter contained similar points frequently expressed to by him, though presented in a more diplomatic manner.
• Specific contents of the letter cannot yet be disclosed due to diplomatic conventions, but it will be made public at an appropriate time.
• The message includes implied threats, consistent with past public statements; but more diplomatically written.
• Iranian leadership considers the likelihood of US military action low but remains fully prepared regardless.
• Iranian military commanders have extensive combat and regional experience, ensuring complete readiness despite minimal perceived risk.
• Military action by the US is viewed as illogical and unlikely to yield benefits, like the costly failures in Afghanistan and Iraq.
• Trump can only carry out a military act on Iran if it’s willing to gamble his military.
• If America makes a mistake regarding Iran, we will be forced to move towards nuclear weapons. The Imam Khamenei’s fatwa is so that we are not developing nuclear weapons, however we’ll be forced to decide otherwise in case the US decides to act foolish.
• Iran’s nuclear technology is planned in such a way that even if it is bombed, it will not be noticed even if there is a delay.

💠@Intel Slava Z:
⭕ 🇺🇸🇷🇺It seems that Trump has finally begun to suspect that he has been duped by ideas about conflict-freezing deals, which are not very popular with Vladimir Putin, and so the American leader gave a threatening speech today.

In his statement to the NBC News anchor, Trump said that he would impose additional restrictions on Russia: additional duties on Russian oil, as well as a ban on doing business with the United States for importers of oil from Russia.

“That means if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States. There will be a 25 percent tariff on all oil, a 25 to 50 point tariff on all oil,” Trump said.

Trump said the sanctions would be imposed if a ceasefire agreement in Ukraine was not reached within a month. [by the sacred April 20th anniversary…]

To resolve this contradiction, Donald Trump wants to call Putin next week.
⭕ 🇫🇮🇺🇸🇷🇺The Finnish president, after playing golf with Trump, also said that the American president is “running out of patience with Russia.”

According to Alexander Stubb, who returned from a visit to the United States on Saturday, he proposed April 20 to Donald Trump as the date for a comprehensive ceasefire in Ukraine without additional conditions.

The Finnish president also noted that Trump is losing patience and has “far-reaching plans” in case the Russian authorities refuse the proposed ceasefire.

This is the second report today that Trump has allegedly sharply changed his rhetoric regarding Moscow – NBC News previously made a similar statement.
⭕ 💵❗️The price of gold futures has updated its historical maximum, exceeding $3,150 per troy ounce, according to Comex data.
[well crashing the global economy before summer does put a shine onto gold and bullion]
⭕ 🇸🇪🇺🇦⚡️Swedish Defense Minister Announces Largest Military Supply Package to Ukraine Since 2022, Worth $1.6 Billion

💠@Hamas/Tsahal:
⭕ Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and National Unity leader Benny Gantz have attacked the government over its policy on Houthi missile launches, saying Tehran should pay the price.

“When the Houthis, Iran’s terrorist wing, attack Israel, Israel must respond to Tehran,” Bennett said. “Iran is the one funding, arming, training, and leading the Houthis. Iran has a lot to lose; the Houthis have much less.”
[keep in mind, these are the ostensible “saner” opposition to the current messianic madmen. Biden’s gang openly courted Gantz to replace Nutty, and Bennett served as mediator in 2022 between Russia and 404, convincing the Cokehead to exit his bunker after months]

💠@Intel Slava Z:
⭕ 🇹🇷According to the most conservative estimates, around 2 million people are taking part in the protests in Turkey.

The protesters are no longer demanding the release of the opposition politician (Erdogan’s main competitor), but the holding of early elections!!!

It is becoming increasingly difficult for Erdogan to maintain his power.

In his latest speeches he is noticeably nervous. He calls the protesters either deceived or traitors. |media|
⭕ 🇺🇦🇺🇸Ukraine expects the US and Europe to react to Russia’s strikes, Zelensky said.

He said that most of Ukraine’s regions had been under attack for a week. The Russians had launched 1,310 guided air bombs, more than 1,000 attack drones, most of them “Shaheds,” and nine more missiles of various types, including ballistics.
⭕ 🇨🇳🇺🇸Chinese authorities have stopped a deal under which the American investment fund Black Rock would have bought two Chinese ports on the Panama Canal.

This is reported by CNN. The signing was planned for next week. Black Rock was going to buy out the controlling stake of Hong Kong company CK Hutchison, which has a stake in 43 ports around the world.

But now the buyout has been blocked by China’s antitrust authorities.

The Black Rock deal was seen as a “way to ease tensions in the region” after Trump threatened to take the Panama Canal away from the US. He later praised the deal.

💠🌎🛡GEOPOL360🕊🌍:
⭕ 🇮🇷🇺🇸🇹🇷🇸🇦🇶🇦🇧🇭🇦🇪🇸🇾🇮🇶🇰🇼🇮🇱🇯🇴 An Iranian official openly threatens to strike all US bases in the Middle East and the countries hosting them: “When the time comes, it doesn’t matter if you are an American, British, or Turkish soldier—you will be targeted if your base is used by the Americans.”

A senior Iranian military official, quoted by The Telegraph, claims that Iran will target the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean in response to any US attack on Iran: “There will be no distinction between British and American forces if Iran is attacked from a base in the region or within range of Iranian missiles.”
[ok it sounded good, until I read “The Telegraph” part. A vicious limey rag absolutely lacking any access to “senior Iranian military officials”. A new Pearl Harbor type incident may be shaped by the industrious…]
⭕ 🇺🇸🇨🇳 The United States now considers China its only threat and the defense of Taiwan its top priority.

Everything else is secondary, according to a leaked Pentagon strategy document obtained by the Washington Post.
[absolute lies. All mankind, those truly independent especially, and the very Cosmos is a living threat to the deranged demented degenerates]
⭕ 🇺🇸🇨🇳🇯🇵 U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the U.S. military has begun transitioning its operations in Japan into a new “warfighting” command, underscoring the Trump administration’s focus on China as the primary security challenge.

The United States and Japan will strengthen defense coordination, with Japan increasing its defense spending and the United States pledging to remain engaged in the region.
Bloomberg!
[Does the transitioning involve high doses of synthetic estrogen, artificial boobs, botox into strategic areas, adaptive colorful wardrobes, and professional courses on applying cosmetics?
NB. the emphasis on the word “War” – as the very capability to meaningfully wage it against those who count withers on the vine. The same crusader is renaming the “DoD” back to the “War” Dep or somesuch. The shitshow is on volume 11 henceforth, to compensate with color, tone, single masculine gender, and sheer volume]
⭕ 🇮🇷🇺🇸 US President Donald Trump threatened Iran with bombing and secondary tariffs on Sunday if Tehran failed to reach an agreement with Washington on its nuclear program.

“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” Mr. Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC. “But it’s possible that if they don’t make a deal, I’ll impose secondary tariffs on them, just like I did four years ago.”

💠@Fotros Resistance:
⭕ 🇾🇪🇺🇸| Earlier today, a senior Yemeni governmental source told Al-Mayadeen:

The Yemeni Armed Forces targeted the E2 command & control early warning aircraft of the US aircraft carrier Harry S Truman.

The official says that the aircraft carrier has lost its command, and the Pentagon are investigating the issue.

Please note that this was not officially announced by Yahya Sarae.

💠@Middle East Spectator:
⭕ — 🇺🇸/🇮🇷 Iran’s most likely strike-option for Diego Garcia:

The Khorramshahr-4 MRBM, with a warhead of up to 1,500 kg, can travel distances well over 4,000 km if stretched to its maximum potential.

Although Iran has publicly stated the missile’s range at 2,000 km maximum, it is well known that it can reach much further than that.

It can feasibly reach 4,000 km range even without reducing its warhead size, by using its maneuvering stage for extended range instead of evasive maneuvers, due to a lack of dense air defenses at Diego Garcia.
[they also got some fat shahed drones that can travel 4,000 kms. And containers on shippers like analogues of the Russkie Club-K Container Missile System, and subs that can release drones near the island. Plenty options to disable the runways/facilities. Even easier for the 50+ bases surrounding Iran at point blank range. The issue is not capability or reach, but a decision tree waiting to be walked by the first domino of aggression]
⭕ The Yemeni Armed Forces have announced that they attacked the USS ‘Harry S. Truman’ aircraft carrier and its accompanying warships three times in the past 24 hours.
⭕ The small rockets launched some days ago from Lebanon into Israel were fired by a group of Syrians inside Lebanon, and they have been arrested by the Lebanese security forces
[so they likely added to their criminality of not defending their people! Were these patsies rounded up by the compradore criminals of the Lebanese gov to try to remove the targeting sights on themselves?? It only takes one to start a war, so this will not fool Zion, who likely engineered the FF. Let’s watch for more FFs incidents used to justify more leveling of Beirut. What of the apartment blocks and lives already demolished?! Neither side needs these cowardly compradores..]

💠@Sputnik Africa:
⭕ 🇷🇺📹 The Russian military shows Sputnik a captured US-made armored vehicle called Oshkosh, which is a replacement for the famous Hummer, used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine

The vehicle, worth half a million dollars, was destroyed by two FPV drones, which cost around $470, a Sputnik correspondent reported. |media|

Re:  “It is a race ..

1. Will Russia take down the last remaining vestiges of NATO first,
2. will China make the US implode economically first,
3. or will the US move into recession (and depression) first which is the view of Col Doug Macgregor.”

1 & 3 can be strung out unfortunately. IMO, neither side will rely on this for the short term solutions..

Both Russia and USUK can drag it out for a few more years if needed, at expense of more EuroCrazies after the UkroNazis bleed out.
For different reasons –

• Russia to weaken the entire West further, and slowly, to reduce risk of Armageddon or other regrettable lashing out during their dying phase; to give them further time to come to reason and accept inevitability and need to become “normal nations”.
• USUK to maintain the illusion of hegemony and dominance, before Russia sticks a fork in the European theatre, and none can pretend it was a “stalemate” and other silly optics. Each day Europe remains unresolved allows Empire to continue strutting on the global stage, bullying the global south, preventing reform or dissolution of the UN system, earning cheap power points, and provides ammunition for narratives and lies. At this point, the Empire appears to hang out merely through the string of legerdemain that 404 was not lost !! Unbelievable.

#2 is more difficult.

If history informs the course of the Celestial Empire, like Iran, they will not strike the first blow. That is not the Asian, nor with notable exceptions of Russia and Yemen, the civilizational-state way..

They will permit the aggressor to make the first move, expose himself, highlight points of weakness easily exploitable in the desperate and overextended, then defeat him using the minimal force with least blowback on oneself.

And all the BRICS economists and planners highlight they want a gentle post-1941 Atlantic Charter (Bretton Woods, IMF/WB/USD reserve currency) transition that is slow and manageable for the new order. It is rather the Anglo-Zionists that are interested in a violent and sudden decoupling that ensures the most collective harm, especially on the core economy of the new world order – China.

So the likely counter would be for all the multi-nodal sovereignist allies to protect China, and prevent disconnection from their supply chains, ships, ports, payments – to at the least maintain the World-Island of Afro-Asia and wall off the contrived Chaos. Fortunately much of this has already been done by Kazan BRICS Summit last year, and continues this year under impetus of ASEAN and the collective majority realization the lunatics really leapt off the Cliff in a full-flight forward drang of civilizational suicide….. what times