How the Anglophile media lie for their side! Shameless. The Danish company lyin’ statement, issued self-importantly to their cabal member Lloyd’s, is stated prima facie. And which side lies with every breath? When were Yemeni Armed Forces bulletins exposed as lies? And of course the Anglo-Zionists attacked “Houthi” positions in Yemen – which included civilian airports with even the cutout of the WHO honcho scampering for his miserable life.
But Yemen remains unimpressed and cuts deep: note the targeted cargo ship had carefully circumnavigated the ENTIRETY of Africa, to avoid the Red Sea, with its port of call at Oman (Yemen’s neighbor!), and still got droned and blasted when it arrived near Oman, lol

💠 @ejmalrai:
⭕ Israel burned Kamal Adwan hospital in north Gaza. Burning a hospital during wartime is primarily considered a war crime, and constitute a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), as part of a broader campaign against civilians and universally represents a severe violation of international law.

Under International Humanitarian Law (IHL), particularly the Geneva Conventions IV (Article 18) and their Additional Protocols I (Article 12), deliberate attacks on hospitals and other medical facilities are explicitly prohibited.

Because the burning of a hospital is part of a campaign with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a specific group (e.g., national, ethnic, racial, or religious), it could form part of the crime of genocide. However, this requires proof of genocidal intent, which is often harder to establish
[My understanding is the preliminary finding of the ICJ almost a year ago was based on reasonable proof of intent, given the clear declarations of the zionazis prior to openly carrying out their satanic genocide. Magnier is a man of the old Order; he remains in denial that such evil exists that systematically deconstructs ALL international law with open contempt and deliberation. He’ll reach Acceptance soon enough]
⭕️ More in my forthcoming article: Only 29 days remain for Israel to fully withdraw from all occupied Lebanese territories in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1701. Once the 60-day cessation of hostilities agreement expires, the resistance will resume operations and open fire on the Israeli occupying positions in southern Lebanon within an hour of the deadline
🔻 C1: But can the resistance now be resupplied? This is one’s anxiety. Especially against a background of Israel’s occupation of new parts of Syria and Golan.
🔻 WS: No city or country has been completely surrounded.
⭕️ Yemen said it had fired a hypersonic missile at an Israeli military base in the Negev.

Neither Israel nor Yemen are likely to be deterred as the war on Gaza continues.

💠 @imetatronink:
⭕🔻 Brian Berletic: 🇺🇸🇨🇳 Trump Appoints Neo-Con China Warhawk Elbridge Colby Undersecretary of Defense Policy under Neo-Con Iran Warhawk Pete Hegseth

Colby is one of the most unhinged pro-war Neo-Cons – often mistaken as anti-interventionist for opposing wars with Russia and Iran, but only because he believes all effort and resources should be spent on war with China instead.

He supports separatism in China’s island province of Taiwan, demanding the admin there spend more on US weapons and insists chip maker TSMC should be destroyed rather than fall into “China’s” hands (Taiwan is recognized even by the US as China).

Trump ran on a platform of drastic change, but has build an administration committed to ironclad continuity of agenda…
🔻 WS: reposts his old:
🧵 Donald Trump continues to pack his foreign policy team with #EmpireAtAllCosts cult disciples.

A short selection of my criticisms of Elbridge Colby follows in the replies to this post.  |THREAD|
⭕🔻 Armchair Warlord: Ukraine expended a quarter of the American SRBM arsenal to destroy four Russian SAM batteries.

Russia better watch out, at this rate we’ll be able to destroy as many as twelve S-300/400 batteries (and three evil beaches) in WWIII, at a cost of 120 missiles fired per site.
/sarc
🔻 WS: These statistics are consistent with my long-asserted estimate that over 90%+ of the ATACMS missiles fired by Ukraine have been defeated by Russian AD.

The 90%+ shoot-down rate for all NATO PGMs was evident by the end of 2023.
🧵 Empty Quiver
⭕ Seeking Ukraine War Photos

I will be assembling a music video in the next couple days, and I am seeking high quality well-composed photos from the war in Ukraine to be a sort of “slide show” behind the music. No gory stuff. Just pictures that paint a thousand words, like this
🔻 WS: Short video clips will also work, preferably without watermarks, but either way I will consider them
🔻 WS: I found this photo somewhere back in 2022, iirc. But the size/resolution is insufficient for my purposes. If anyone can locate a copy of this photo that is larger/higher resolution, you’ll be my hero.
🔻 C1: here you go
🔻 WS: YOU ARE MY HERO OF THE DAY! Great find!

This is one of my favorite photos of the war. It captures so much pathos in a single image.
🔻 C2: The Javelin…This isn’t cumbersome at all
🔻 WS: Great photo. Of course, the Javelin turned out to be a total bust as an ATGM, although I’m sure it was pretty effective at light fortifications, houses, light armor, pickup trucks, etc. I saw videos where T-72s shrugged off multiple hits from Javelins, and kept on going.
🔻 C3:   |media|
🔻 WS: Yes, Ukrainian cemetery video clips and high-res stills are definitely something I want! Thanks.
⭕ cont. Thread:
♦️ The Chinese have become the world’s greatest shipbuilders, with a truly mind-boggling pace of production
🔻 C1: Like you taught me Will, good thing those are obsolete floating targets 😜🍻
🔻 C1: As long as someone with serious firepower doesn’t shoot at them, they’re just as good as any man’s boat.

No one with serious firepower has yet shot at an aircraft carrier — but the Yemeni get closer and closer with each passing month. That’s why the USS Trembling Puppy is hiding out in the far northern reaches of the Red Sea right now.
⭕ 🤔 Passing Thought …

Ends of empire are always attended by a redrawing of the maps. Sovereignty and spheres of dominance are redefined. Allegiances are reconfigured.

In such a realpolitik context, the United States annexing Canada and Greenland makes perfect sense
🔻 C1: If fighting a draining insurgency supported by large numbers of domestic sympathisers is realpolitik then the dictionary definition of realpolitik should be amended.
🔻 WS: Canada “fighting a draining insurgency”?

That’s silly talk.
🔻 Occam Wept 🌾⚙️🍉 🔻: Tell that to the Southeast Saskatchewan Liberation Army
🔻 C3: I’m not big into empire stuff but an empire of territories actually geographically related in some way to the home country is better than all the nonsense we spent the last 80 years on
🔻 C4: Anschluss?
Hasn’t that been tried and tested before?
🔻 C5: Why annex places they completely control already?
🔻 C6: The US want the Arctic to compete with Russia for all its natural resources
[Exactly. And would u trust Trudeau and his ilk to properly fight for it? And the freshly plucked turkey, denuded of the World-Island, needs “a new wardrobe”, if only to be able to look themselves in the mirror]
🔻 C7: Yes it does I have been attacked for saying this
🔻 WS: Yes, and despite having measured my words to the milligram, most people more or less misapprehended my intended meaning.

That said, I would not be at all surprised to see the US annex Canada and Greenland within a few years. It will be the last big blunder before balkanization.
⭕🔻 @cyberspec1: An 🇺🇸THAAD system shot down a Houthi Ballistic Missile over Israel…It seems the Israeli Air-Defence is having trouble coping with the almost daily attacks.

Fwd. Islander News

$12.6 million for a THAAD. $2,000 for a Houthi missile.

Now add this: Lockheed Martin produces around 50-60 THAADs a year, while Iran is scaling up its missile factories to pump out thousands of ballistic missiles annually. The Houthis, with limited resources, are still assembling missiles faster than DC and Tel Aviv can shoot them down.

Here’s the dagger: The Empire spends $12.6 million per shot, while its adversaries barely crack $2,000. For every billion-dollar missile defense system deployed, the Houthis and Iran flood the battlefield with bargain-basement missiles.

This isn’t just bad math; it’s a war economy designed to collapse under its own weight. Outspent, outproduced, and outmaneuvered.

– Gerry Nolan  |media|
[The $2k are not for missiles but drones. But the principle holds]
🔻 WS: #TheBigAttrition continues apace, even as the Call of Duty dopes raise another boilermaker to “superior American military tech”.

Poppycock!

There’s no need for a “Gaza canal” which was always hasbara, being an engineering feat beyond them. Suez itself will fall into their laps

Egypt is nearly as ripe as Syria. Perhaps a year, tops. They’ve experienced a similar starvation siege for as long. As in 1990s Russia, think of PhDs and MBBS driving taxis and without prospects. Recall Gaddafi’s prescient speech in Damascus: Egypt will be cut up into five pieces.

The Muslim Brotherhood was birthed in Egypt by MI-6 and briefly ran the state in Obama years. But Russia upset the cart in Syria and they were put back in the bottle for just these days. And they will take it, as in Syria, and to the same Big Club subservience.

Sinai has already largely been depopulated of its Arab tribals by the compradore Junta. The fertile delta, and Nile River settlements, which hold most Egyptians, will be pleased to accept their new zionazi master in return for better rations and ease of bitter life..  the abjectness of the masses of the region is beyond sad. But after the Ashes…

Iran sees the signs clearly.

• The savaging and demilitarization of Syria which took place immediately upon Al Queda taking over Damascus was significantly done by US Air Force, which shamelessly brought in B-52 bombers based in Qatar.
• Similarly most of the aggression on Yemen is done by US Air Force, with some air defense by US Navy for Zion.
• Much of the bombing of both Gaza and Lebanon was noted by some analysts to have been done by US Air Force, giving all credit to Zion, both as cover and to bolster their destroyed image.
• Lastly, in the attempted bombing of Iran in late October, it was made possible by refuelers and other support provided by US military, chiefly over Iraq.

So whatever comes at Iran will involve the murder-suicide of the US military

💠 @Hamas/Tsahal:
⭕ A report warning of imminent famine in northern Gaza due to the ongoing Israeli blockade has been withdrawn after pressure from the United States, the Associated Press reports.

On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew called the warning from the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS) inaccurate and “irresponsible.”

The U.S. Agency for International Development confirmed that it had asked FEWS to withdraw its report due to “discrepancies” in population estimates and other data.

FEWS found that unless Israel changes its blockade policy on northern Gaza, the number of people dying from starvation and related diseases in the area is expected to rise to between two and 15 per day between January and March.

💠 @Fotros Resistance:
⭕ The HTS-led transition government wants to normalise relations with Israel.

This should not come as a shock. It was quite expected, and hopefully it opens up the eyes of many people this time…
[These are Muslim Brotherhood secret society Big Club members. Look at the hands. After the efforts of nearly a century, MI-6 has succeeded in implanting abomination into the heart of Greater Syria. They now run a state. But it will be short lived, like Pax Judaica. Sunnis won’t like at all the daily rite of getting on their knee pads and servicing Legion. A change of elites is in the offing]
⭕️ 🇾🇪| BREAKING: The Yemeni Armed Forces announce:

We targeted Ben Gurion Airport in ​​Jaffa (Tel Aviv) with a Palestine-2 ballistic missile.

The missile succeeded in reaching its target despite the enemy’s censorship, and the operation resulted in casualties and the cessation of navigation at the airport.

We also targeted a vital military asset in Yaffa with a drone, and the operation achieved its goal successfully.

We also targeted “Santa Ursula” ship in the Arabian Sea east of Socotra Island with a number of drones, and the hit was direct.

💠 @ejmalrai:
⭕ In its attack on Yemen, and after a complete coordination with the US, from a purely military perspective, Israel’s use of the Rampage missile – The missile is a joint product of two Israeli defence companies Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) and IMI Systems (Israel Military Industries) – on Yemen stems from:

Accuracy: The Rampage missile is designed for high-precision strikes, ideal for targeting specific, high-value military assets. In Yemen, this could include: Missile launch sites, Command and control centres, Ammunition depots or fortified facilities.

Standoff Range: The Rampage is capable of striking targets from a significant distance, keeping Israeli aircraft out of range of Yemen’s anti-air defences or retaliatory systems. This range allows Israel to engage targets in Yemen without the need for closer operational bases, reducing logistical complexity.

Anti-Bunker Capability: The Rampage missile is equipped to penetrate fortified structures, such as underground bunkers or reinforced command posts. This makes it ideal for neutralizing well-defended facilities in Yemen, including missile storage or production sites.

Reduced Detection Time: The missile’s supersonic speed reduces the time available for detection and interception, making it highly effective against targets with layered air defense systems.

Operational Superiority: Its speed ensures that even heavily guarded installations have minimal reaction time, increasing the likelihood of a successful strike.

Versatility: The missile is well-suited for Yemen’s diverse terrain, which includes mountainous regions and urban areas. Its ability to navigate complex environments ensures mission success against geographically challenging targets.
🔻 C1: Yemen is built different! Israel, US and their lap dog the Brits don’t stand a chance! God is with Yemen always!!🇾🇪🇾🇪🇾🇪🇾🇪🇾🇪
🔻 C2: It will be the poorest and most miserable country in the Earth.Israel can destroy all important infrastructure. Of course nobody can occupy Yemen.
🔻 C1: Yemen is resilient and can overcome infrastructure damage. It’s already a poor country! The most important thing to them is their conscience and duty to their Muslim sister country. The world respects and loves Yemen! PR is so good for them. It will pay off tomorrow! God willing.
🔻 C2: Yemen will remain an extremely poor and fragile country. At the moment, Yemen does not exist as a unified state. Its territory is controlled by various groups. The Houthis are Shia, and the Sunnis hate them—possibly even more than they hate Jews.
[LOL. Keep dreamin]
🔻 C1: Yemen is united when it comes to Palestine and despite their religious difference they are United against invaders/aggressors! Yemen will survive despite simply due to their will! Unbreakable!
🔻 EM: The long distance, the vast territory and the acceptance of casualties protect Yemen from Israel’s destructive intentions.
🔻 C3: The only way that a missile like Rampage will maximize its destructive potential is when they have realtime satellite targeting support. The US and UK have that ability. Do the Israelis have it as well or are they dependent on the UK & US for it?
🔻 EM: Israel, the US and the Uk coordinate the aggression on Yemen.
🔻 C3: F*ck the Evil Empire…

The best that we can surmise of them is that they weren’t ready and are only now furiously arming up and putting up the defenses for the showdown.

We’ve heard Russia hasn’t launched more Oreshniks as they’re too few and precious and more are in the pipeline; that Iran is not responding as it expects their True Promise III to launch the final confrontation and is making/emplacing air defenses and learning from mistakes of Hezbollah and Hamas in how the satanists wage totalen krieg on civilians and leadership.

This is the charitable view.

It does beggar the mind, given the signs well underway for a century and more, of what they planned for their NWO.

However the civilizational-states are within themselves a gaggle of opposing views and factions and loci of power. Their strength and resilience (not being a shallow one man military junta show) can also be their weakness, leading to the same chaos and dithering seen in western democracy.

How truly traitorous are some of their factions – what was termed “Atlantic Integrationists” within Russia, and “moderates” within Iran? Even if sincere fools who weaken their people, these can provide the Moshiach and Legion with crucial handholds to claw the entire to shreds as we just saw in Syria.

However I am starting to think that there are other calculations, even darker, at play.

As the Ukraine was chosen the vehicle to demilitarize NATO and fracture the western consensus, the Holy Land, the eternal burial ground of Empires, was chosen to inter the leading members of Legion  — the Anglo-Zionists  — a fatal trap they were sure to take.

All their desires are being fulfilled here — the target of a century, Syria, was conceded to them without a fight. No significant outsider is coming to defense of arabs, 90% of whom are now guaranteed to be Gaza’ed wholesale without mercy by the beasts. All arab states, save Yemen, are now prostrate defenseless vassals! Even as being holocausted, they remain obedient! Madness.

If you were an amoral supremacist, would you stop now – with the chance to “cement” zionazi dominance (as they see it) through expansion and totally clearing the lebensraum? None seemingly exist as check — no effective UN or global media, no USSR, no Arab unity or spine. And also thereby clear the PetroSheikhs and take over the oil and grab the Chinese by the short hairs.

In the process of finally indulging unobstructed in their bacchanalia of violence and biblical bloodletting, not only was Legion forced to divert most of its attention and resources to the deed, thereby sparing Asia-Pacific and other theatres, but will reliably face such Resistance as to be themselves ground out of existence, regardless of the terrible price.

So the fix may be in, at cost of arabs, and their entire region. The decades the West coulda enjoyed of continued hegemony through Pax America is now reduced to mere months through the total sacrifice of the arabs.

I say this not only through practical observation of what has gone down in last year, but there are some prophesies to that regard: that mankind would one day gather around the arabs, and tear them to shreds and devour them like how folks gather at feasts around a single large dish. And it would be at a time both arabs and Muslims would be quite numerous. That is what we witness, no??

These amoral realpolitik calculations usually fail though. Legion retains sufficient strength to continue the torment elsewhere, and much emboldened. A fight delayed is not always to the advantage

“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Thanks for reminder dear Dimitar. I had your lovely site saved from our Cafe days. My second post, and first Open Thread here, used art from it, as well as a twist on one of your best haikus: #11279.

Neglected to post this excellent retrospective of our moment. His first thoughts after the Fall of Syria.

💠 @kuluary_zaliva:
⭕ Lebanon fears ceasefire could collapse over Israeli violations

Since the agreement was signed on November 27 , Israel has committed more than 300 violations of the deal , including incursions into areas of southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese officials. On Thursday , the Lebanese army said Israeli troops had entered several southern villages.

The cease-fire agreement signed a month ago that halted the devastating war calls for a 60-day truce during which Hezbollah must retreat north of the Litani River and Israel must withdraw its troops from southern Lebanon .

A month after the ceasefire began , Lebanese authorities fear that the situation in Syria has influenced Israel’s plans , which may now seek to “seize new lands and expand its presence” in Lebanon, former Lebanese Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said.

Lebanese security officials also assess the situation as “very serious.” “There is a feeling in Lebanese circles that Israel no longer wants this deal or that it is preparing the ground for some kind of permanent occupation,” they comment in Beirut.
[The current Arabs, regardless of sect and location, are mostly unfit to survive. After a period of servicing Zion on their knee pads, and extermination of their satanic compradore elite, they’ll have a chance, but only after the Ashes]

💠 @Fotros Resistance:
⭕ 🇮🇶🇸🇾| Al-Qaeda renamed HTS leader, Jolani, met with the head of the Iraqi intelligence, who was sent by the Iraqi Prime Minister, today.
[This is the same Iraq that wants the criminal for countless atrocities in their courts! Unbelievable. Iraq is doomed too, save those pockets with the Resistance. Baghdad has fallen, yet again. It is through betrayal, insouciance, and cupidity that the Reign of the Moshiach is built over the bones of the hapless arabs]
⭕ ⚠️| BREAKING: Israeli air aggression targeting Sanaa international airport, in Yemen
⭕ 🛑| The Israeli air aggression on Yemen targeted:

– Sana’a International civilian Airport
– Power plants for civilians in Sana’a
– Hodeidah port

💠 @Intel Slava Z:
⭕ 🇫🇮🇷🇺🇨🇰Finland has detained a Cook Islands-flagged oil tanker sailing from Russia on suspicion of damaging four cables in the Baltic Sea: one power supply and three internet lines connecting Finland and Estonia.

The country’s authorities announced this, Reuters reports.

According to law enforcement officials, the ship’s anchor was the cause of the damage.

Finnish customs believe that the Eagle S vessel belongs to the Russian Federation’s “shadow fleet” that transports its oil in circumvention of sanctions.
[This is major. Let’s watch and see how the Baltics choose to commit suicide]

💠@imetatronink:
⭕🔻 Armchair Warlord: This is the second time a USN carrier task force has retreated at speed away from Yemen to the northern Red Sea – both times after claimed attacks on the carrier and this time after ostensible “friendly fire” shootdowns of USN jets.
🔻 WS: Not sure if you saw Lee’s musings on these matters: |link|
🔻 Armchair Warlord: I did and if I recall correctly I RT’d him.
[RT = retweeted??]
🔻 C2: The insanity of deploying a carrier battle group in those constrained sea conditions is on its face leaving few options for sea room, maneuvering and distance from surface to surface threats.
🔻 WS: True enough. But it must also be remembered that both CSG-9 (CVN71 – USS Teddy Bear) and CSG-3 (CVN72 – USS Fraidy Abe), during their recent forays into the region, both remained in the deep blue waters of the Arabian Sea … at least until the Fraidy Abe sallied forth boldly into the Gulf of Aden to launch its first-ever F-35C sortie against an undefended shack in Yemen. Then the crew members of the Fraidy Abe watched in horror as Yemeni ASBMs and drones started to attack them, including one ASBM that struck no more than 200 yards away.

The Abe IMMEDIATELY turned tail to return to its home port in San Diego, leaving 4 of its 5 DDG escorts behind to deal with the Yemen problem as best they could.

It’s no fun to fight wars when the other guys can shoot back.

#NoEasyWarsLeftToFight
⭕ ‼️ Decrepit

Joe Trevithick’s latest at The War Zone is most interesting for its valuable description of the sorry state of the US Navy’s Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers — the “big punch” of a US aircraft carrier’s entourage, and its single largest air defense platform. |link|
⭕ [cont. thread:]
♦️ The USS Trembling Puppy and its trigger-happy side-kick have now run away as far as one possibly can in the Red Sea.

Something clearly put the terror of Poseidon into them. Just like the crew of the USS Brave Sir Robin was “traumatized” in the same waters.
🔻 Rob Dromgoole: I’m still perplexed how they could target 2 of our own aircraft considering the pirates lack an air force
🔻 WS: I have said nothing in favor of the theory that the Yemeni shot down a US F/A-18F from a US carrier.

That said, the Yemeni do have SAMs, and they have shot down no fewer than 12 US MQ-9 Reaper drones over the past year.
🔻 Rob Dromgoole: Wonder they hit the planes.
🔻 WS: I have seen no reason so far to doubt the “official” explanation that it was a case of friendly fire.

That said, my friend Lee Slusher has hinted at the possibility of other factors at work in this case
🔻 WS: Lee’s musings are given added interest in light of something claimed by the Yemeni: |link|
🔻 C2: You’re well read Will, so you know the battle of Salamis where the mighty Persian navy got slaughtered in the narrows (straights) by the Hellenes. difficult to manoeuvre big slow battleships in narrow spaces.
🔻 WS: There is a very good reason it is called the Bab el-Mandeb (Gate of Lamentations, or Gate of Grief).

There is also a very good reason the Yemeni and their progenitors have retained control over the their land for millennia.
⭕ [cont. thread]
🏆 Military Achievement of the Year – 2024

Over the course of 2024, the Yemeni have chased away FOUR US Navy carrier strike groups:

CSG-2 (CVN69 – USS Brave Sir Robin)
CSG-9 (CVN71 – USS Teddy Bear)
CSG-3 (CVN72 – USS Fraidy Abe)
CSG-8 (CVN75 – USS Trembling Puppy)

Remarkable.
🔻 Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping): |media|
🔻 BIG AL: Sal, this softie hid your response. He has chimed in many a times in your posts and I have seen you give and take but never hide his replies. He’s Nothing but a big ole softie scrub.
🔻 Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping): It is up to him.

Ironically he follows me but does not like my comment about the fact that the US carrier groups rotated through the area; they were not run off
🔻 WS: I hid your dumb girl drinking milk meme. I routinely hide dumb memes.

As for the CSGs being “chased away”, the objective evidence is indisputable in relation to CSG-2, CSG-3, and CSG-8. The direct correlation between major attacks and immediate withdrawal is incontrovertible.
🔻 Sal Mercogliano: If the Houthis chased away the American strike groups then why would one replace the next one after another – Eisenhower, Roosevelt, Lincoln, and now Truman?

It seems like the Houthis are only good at chasing off unarmed merchant ships that have nothing to do with Gaza.
⭕ ‼️ How the Yemeni Chased Away the US Navy

In the post linked below, Sal Mercogliano (whom I both like and respect, and with whom I often disagree) suggests that the recent deployment history of US carrier strike groups around the Arabian Peninsula has been nothing unusual. “Just normal rotations.”

My reply to his assertion follows:

As you should recall, there were significant gaps of many weeks between each withdrawal and subsequent replacement. The management of the rotations was shockingly inept and seemingly ad hoc.

CSGs already overdue for replacement were capriciously assigned to fill perceived holes in the power projection of both the US Fifth and Sixth fleets.

CSG-9 (CVN71 – USS Teddy Bear) was used to fill the hole left by the hasty departure of CSG-2 (CVN69 – USS Brave Sir Robin).

The Iranians were nice enough to permit CSG-9 to transit Hormuz and replenish in Bahrain, and after egressing the Persian Gulf again, it cruised around in the deep waters of the Arabian Sea for a few weeks until CSG-3 (CVN72 – USS Fraidy Abe) finally arrived from the western Pacific. Then CSG-9 quietly hurried home.

CSG-3 timidly took up a circuit in deep waters well distant from known Yemeni missile range.

They closed the distance but once, in order to launch a token “first-ever F-35 combat sortie” off CVN72’s deck.

They blew up some random collection of shacks, and called it good.

Except then the Abe came under attack from multiple vectors. Credible reports emerged of at least one ASBM landing no more than about 200 yards distant.

That’s when Abe found its Fraidy.

It turned *immediately* back whence it had come, and by the time most people even realized it was gone, it was already in the Strait of Malacca.

Many weeks passed again.

Finally CSG-8 (CVN75 – USS Trembling Puppy) boldly transited Suez to show their predecessors how things are done. They emerged into the Red Sea in time to watch multiple Yemeni long-range missile strikes against Tel Aviv pass overhead. They did not attempt to intercept them.

Then they loaded up a few bombing runs and blew up a little of this, that, and the other in good video coverage areas of major Yemeni cities.

But apparently the strikes didn’t disarm the Yemeni, because a counterstrike against the US fleet was launched.

And, for whatever reasons, this relatively modest counterstrike package of maybe two dozen missiles and drones so discombobulated the crew of CSG-8 that they shot down one of their own aircraft, and tried hard to shoot down another. 🤦‍♂️

No sooner did this happen than CSG-8 executed a picture-perfect high-speed U-turn, and made a beeline to the far reaches of the northern Red Sea.

That’s what “running away” looks like, Sal.

And the only logical conclusion to be drawn from the events in the region over the past year+ is that conventional surface fleets are highly vulnerable to even the modest firepower of a country like Yemen.

These US flotillas keep running away because the risk of a US warship being sunk or severely damaged is VERY REAL.

And the Yemeni are steadily improving their aim over time.

For the US Navy, losing a warship to the Yemeni would be a watershed moment. The first of many yet to come.
🔻 Sal Mercogliano: Running away to have Christmas for the crew and to effect an immediate examination into the friendly shootdown of an F18 by USS Gettysburg has ZERO to do with the Houthis.

After the Eisenhower deployment, the escort mission was turned over to @EUNAVFORASPIDES. The Roosevelt and Lincoln took up duties to monitor Iran after they attacked Israel.

The Truman, after exercises in northern Europe, moved into the Red Sea and launched a series of strikes, along with Israel against the Houthis.

Carrier deployments are part of a worldwide effort to provide coverage by US carriers and can range from 5 to 10 months. Carriers do not remain on station indefinitely and they return for maintenance and upkeep.

The recent deployment seems effective as there have not been attacks against innocent merchant ships since Nov 21.
[attaboy Sal the Sailorman. Can u FEEL the hand so far up his innards they move the very vocal cords and tonsils at the other end??]
🔻 WS: Why didn’t they just slip into Jeddah, Sal?

Where did they go instead, Sal?

Is not Jeddah the superior option “to have Christmas for the crew”?

Let’s see if they venture south again in the Red Sea and attempt to transit the Bab el-Mandeb.

That will tell us a lot.
🔻 Sal the Sailorman: Carriers only go into ports that are seen as secured. They don’t want to make a carrier stationary, plus they can’t conduct air ops pierside.

Plus they are doing ops with the De Gaulle group and will be heading down with them on a few days.
🔻 WS: Exactly. They didn’t go to Jeddah, BECAUSE IT WASN’T SAFE!

They were seeking to put as much distance as possible between them and Yemeni missile salvos.

Let’s see if CSG-8 and the De Gaulle venture back south, and boldly attempt to transit the Bab el-Mandeb.
🔻 Sal the Sailorman: A pierside carrier is a stationary target that cannot launch its primary defense weapon, its air wing. That is why it is not going into Jeddah.

Houthi missile salvos have not been able to hit ANY naval vessels.

In 13 months they have only hit a dozen ships and sunk 2, while killing 4 innocent mariners.

So excuse me if I don’t think the Houthis are anything other than pirates to international shipping.
[what will Sal use as excuse on Judgment Day? “Ich war unter befehl??” That won’t wash. It is clear the US Navy serves the extermination of Amalek. But Amalek have a God too, the same God. And he made clear, “Thou shalt NOT kill.” Especially with deliberation in order to plunder 10,000 km away]
🔻 WS: Whether they be pirates or patriots is irrelevant.

What they have done is selectively blockade the Red Sea, massively attrit the air defense stockpiles of the US Navy, and inflict upon them — by the Navy’s own admission — the most intense firepower seen since WW2.
🔻 Sal the Sailorman: Massively attrit? I don’t think 1% of the stockpile of Standard Missiles is massive.

I also recommend that you don’t buy news and Navy PAO hype. You may want to look at combat ops by US Navy ships off North Vietnam in 1972, or the Persian Gulf against Iran in 1987-88.
🔻 WS: 1%? 🤦‍♂️

I don’t think you have been keeping close score. This is CSG-2’s tally alone from last summer. Do you realize how many have been expended elsewhere over the past year+?

Sal, you are blinding yourself to the reality of the situation. |link|
🔻 C2: And an important point that is often overlooked: Ansarullah is an irregular land force, not a naval power. Yet, the largest naval power has failed against an irregular land force!
🔻 C3: well, you guys are describing a Nostradamus prophecy in detail: a great fleet is sunk in the arabian sea |link|
[if true, it is not in Red Sea, but about the Persian Gulf. That would be during the Persian Murder-Suicide Job]
🔻 C4: Hmmm – Let’s see -@mercoglianos a lifetime of naval experience and you with none which one is better able to be informative of the actions of USN?🤔. How many years do you have as a SWO Will? Or are you just a casual observer but online X-pert ?
🔻 WS: “Appeal to imagined authority” is a logical fallacy. Make an argument, or get lost.

Res ipsa loquitur.
🔻 C4: After a quick review of some of your previous posts it is clear your anti-American stance. If you think the USN is afraid of a bunch of goat herders in Yemen you’re lost. Just bc Biden won’t take off the leash isn’t a reflection of our ability.
🔻 C5: Except the US hasn’t actually been able to defeat the “goat herders”. (Isn’t that how it also described the Taliban, against whom, of course, it fought that phenomenally successful 2 decade campaign?) Perhaps not picking random fights overseas is a better option?
🔻 C4: Lol – the Taliban never won a single battle against us, most of them went running and hiding into Pakistan. The failure of politicians to allow both military and Intel assets to properly work is their failure – not military.
🔻 WS: “Strategic defeat” is a very hard concept for most Americans to understand, notwithstanding 80 consecutive years of experience.
🔻 C6: Even if you accept the Houthi cause, their logic is “two wrongs make a right”. Just because someone is doing something you don’t agree with, doesn’t give you the right to attack unarmed merchant mariners. If the Houthi’s want to face the Israeli’s in battle, so be it. But to attack innocent, unarmed third party people who have nothing to do with Israel is the very definition of cowardice.
🔻 WS: What naive nonsense.

We are in the midst of the Third World War, in which “might will make right”, just as in every major war preceding this one.
🔻 C7: Both may be correct. USN is clearly degraded due to woke policies, over deployed ships to the ME, thin crews, too much to list. There is no upside to risking a hit. This is all theater anyways, as the Red Sea is still mostly controlled by them.
🔻 WS: Yes, the Red Sea is effectively controlled by the Yemeni (and whoever is assisting them).

And there is quite obviously nothing the US Navy has been able to do to remedy the situation.