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A reminder that as the US continues to threaten countries around the world, fedposting is to be very much avoided (even with qualifiers like "in Minecraft") and comments containing it will be removed.

Image shows a display of Changjian-1000 missiles, which are hypersonic cruise missiles with high manuverability and quick launch times. The linked archived article has several more images and descriptions of Chinese missile technology.


My weekly preamble is in spoiler tags below.

preambleAside from the virtually daily Iranian strikes on the Oman route, the main threat that the US is facing in this newest phase of the war is logistics. With Bahrain and the UAE unsafe, the closest safest port in the theater is Diego Garcia, which is over 2000 miles away. Either the aircraft carriers would have to go to Diego Garcia to restock, which would be even less planes and missiles available should hostilities restart suddenly, or goods have to be shuttled to the aircraft carriers from Diego Garcia. This latter option appears to be too much for the US to handle, with widespread reports of dwindling supplies and morale on the USS Abraham Lincoln (and, to a lesser extent, the USS George HW Bush). These reports have culminated in the USS George Washington being sent from the Pacific to replace the Lincoln, which was the sole aircraft carrier in that whole theater. There are six more carriers in maintenance, leaving two carriers left that could even hypothetically be called upon should the USS George HW Bush need replacement; both are currently undergoing training, and of these two, the USS Theodore Roosevelt might be available soon; perhaps even as soon as September. I'm unsure whether the Roosevelt will be sent to the Pacific to replace the Washington, or if it'll be sent to the Middle East to replace the Bush. Nonetheless, that the situation has deteriorated to the point where we can speculate on how very limited naval vessels are going to be distributed is yet one more indication among many of the decline of US naval power. The symbolism was too much for me to ignore, hence the title: the last aircraft carrier in the Pacific being forced to leave, and not under military pressure in some hypothetical war against China, but to try and relieve logistical burdens elsewhere in a war of the US's own making.

This joins Trump's statements that the US will only be taking a very limited part in the South Korean military exercises. This is nominally because of the "great ties" the US shares with the DPRK, but this is an embarrassingly transparent face-saving statement. The DPRK is an increasingly major potential threat to South Korea, a major regional power and economy, but are also helping Russia with both manpower and materiel and getting military experience and data on their missiles' effectiveness in return.

The US's Under Secretary of War, Elbridge Colby, recently visited the Philippines. There, he gave a speech that promised to continue the construction of a defensive network that would deny China the possibility of militarily advancing through the Pacific by stationing US forces inside friendly countries. This is the NATO approach: our mere presence will deter the enemy because they would not want to start a direct war with us, and in exchange, you have to hand over billions upon billions of dollars. Colby gave the Philippines that most backhanded of compliments, the "model ally", and stated that the US was “definitely not disengaging from Asia”. My "We aren't pivoting away from Asia" shirt has people asking a lot of questions that are already answered by my shirt.

If you're a US-friendly country in the Pacific and possess even the slightest sense of self-preservation, you are surely feeling nervous. The US is moving its aircraft carrier out of the theater. Overseas, you've seen how Iran - a very strong regional country, to be sure, but not as powerful as the industrial juggernaut and nuclear superpower that is China - has nonetheless crippled several undefendable US bases, has exhausted a very large amount of American air defense missiles, is holding the global economy hostage, and the US can seemingly do nothing to stop them. You have to be looking at your own US bases, likely expensive and unpopular, and all the money you're handing over to the US, and glancing at how the Gulf states are bickering of being betrayed by their ally who promised them protection and immediately retreated. You have to be looking at your economy and its dependence on China. You have to be looking at Ukraine, and the unenviable state of destruction it has been driven to as a puppet of the US. You have to be looking at China itself, and how its military is rapidly developing in all fields, and how it's even catching up on microchip development. In all, you have to be really hoping that China is serious that they only plan a peaceful reunification with Taiwan, and that the US will not do something incredibly, stupidly reckless in their decline.


Last week's thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.

Please check out the RedAtlas!

The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.

The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine

If you have evidence of Zionist crimes and atrocities that you wish to preserve, there is a thread here in which to do so.

Sources on the fighting in Palestine against the temporary Zionist entity. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:

UNRWA reports on the Zionists' destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.

English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.

Mirrors of Telegram channels that have been erased by Zionist censorship.

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Sources:

Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don't want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it's just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists' side.

Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.

Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:

Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.

https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR's former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR's forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster's telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a 'propaganda tax', if you don't believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.

Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:

Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.


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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 35 points 8 hours ago

not "news" exactly, but, uh, "an insight into the American mind" I guess? truly, a place of endless wonder https://x.com/ripplebrain/status/2089580093987229860 (privated account)

I had the chance to pick a boomercon relative's brain about the war today. I try not to miss these opportunities because you always hear something fascinating you've never encountered before. Paraphrasing throughout:

Q: Who's winning the war?

A: Iran is not winning, they're just dragging things out (he seemed reluctant to say the US is winning)

Q: What's Iran's strategic goal?

A: To kill every single nonbeliever

Q: In the world?

A: Yes

more

Q: Well what about their more immediate goal for this war specifically?

A: This war started when they took Americans hostage in the US embassy in Tehran. They've been attacking us ever since (I tried really hard to get him to answer this question but got nowhere)

Q: What do you mean by "they've been attacking us?" What's an example?

A: The Beirut bombing (this turned into a 20 minute tangent about why American soldiers were in Beirut that ultimately went nowhere)

Q: What's the American goal?

A: To stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon

Q: Do you think they were really trying to make one?

A: The only thing religious fanatics in the IRGC care about is getting a nuclear weapon, and once they have one they'll use it immediately

Q: You mean the moment they have a functioning nuclear warhead they'll immediately launch it? Like literally the second they're physically able to?

A: Yes

posadist-nuke except it's khamenei-what

Q: But haven't the Israelis been saying Iran is months or weeks away from producing a nuke since the 90s?

A: It doesn't matter what the Israelis say or what happened 30 years ago, what matters is that they don't get a nuclear weapon now

Q: What do you say to the idea that this war is more about Israeli interests than American interests?

A: Without Iran there would be peace in the Middle East. They instructed Hamas to attack Israel. Hamas and Iran believe jews don't have the right to exist. That's in Hamas's constitution.

no one tell this guy about these fellas

Q: Do you mean "Israel doesn't have the right to exist?"

A: No, jews

Q: Like anywhere? It's in Hamas's constitution that no jew can ever exist anywhere in the world?

A: Yes

Q: But what does this have to do with America's interests? Why is it in America's interests for Israel to be protected?

A: Why is it in America's interest for Israel to not exist? (this one threw me for a loop and resulted in a 15 minute tangent about interventionism)

Q: So it seems like everyone acknowledges that we haven't destroyed the Iranian nuclear program or degraded their ability to control Hormuz or launch missiles. What should the US do?

A: Nuke Pickaxe Mountain

Q: And if that doesn't work?

A: Drop another one and keep nuking it until it does work

only the finest strategic insights!

Q: What about the Iranian response? Won't they destroy all the oil infrastructure in the region?

A: There won't be a Middle East anyway if Iran wins, they'll take everything

Q: What about diplomacy?

A: How would you solve that? (I tell him I'd offer the Iranians substantial concessions and try to integrate them into the global financial system) We can't give them anything, if we do it'll embolden them

Q: No concessions at all?

A: None

It seems like he's in a weird state of limbo where he recognizes the war isn't going well but his understanding of the situation precludes supporting any option that would end the conflict


Not only am I not making it up, he's one of maybe four of my older male relatives who has these kinds of opinions

https://xcancel.com/Scal_Balb/status/2089706768041476588

I have these conversations with my wife's in-laws and family friends - and can concur. Crosses gender, education and even politics (Hillary/Biden Democrats can be the worst). The exception is a very conservative retired Colonel who saw enough on active duty to rethink things. This was rarer in Britain when I lived there - but Ukraine seems to have broken a lot people's brains sadly. I just make my excuses when someone says Putler...


https://xcancel.com/pC7earv1Lidp463/status/2089606227919503463

Reading this is another proof that the biggest threat to World peace is giving primacy and nukes to such a juvenile nation as the US.

[-] Sleve_McDichael@hexbear.net 21 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

not "news" exactly

It’s not, it’s fanfic from a privated account. Who is this person? Who are they interviewing? How is this credible?

I had the chance to pick a boomercon relative's brain

It’s just some guy talking to his chud uncle! If the conversation even took place at all.

I don’t think taking a random twitter account’s posts at face value is a useful addition to this thread. I know it’s the norm on chapo dot chat to take a screenshot of an account with 10 followers and treat it as gospel because it agrees with the general sentiment here, but I think we can and should be less credulous with this type of content.

[-] Boise_Idaho@hexbear.net 5 points 2 hours ago

Still more relevant to international affairs than every single post about some random mayor.

[-] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 13 points 5 hours ago

It’s not, it’s fanfic from a privated account. Who is this person?

Just search the news megas and you'd find lots of ripple tweets. No clue about the bottom two sources (nor did I try searching for them)

I think its useful to know what is propaganda is influencing people who still somehow support the US's actions. The Mega has been slow recently and its more relevant than some of the other things that are allowed (albeit, with complaints from some people).

[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 11 points 5 hours ago

How is this credible

Amerikanets has written several articles I've posted previously, and I find his analysis to be generally pretty well thought-out. The privating of the account seems related to some doxxing of "pro-Russia" (that is, not mindlessly regurtating Ukrainian narratives) accounts that's been going on recently.

The historical case for the possibility of "Azov 9/11"

Why is Europe All-In on Ukraine? How the EU Uses War to Stave Off Economic Decline

Virtual War. Simulated conflict in the Trump era

PR War Ramps Up in Ukraine

Debasification. Iranian air war strategy

They Saw it Coming. How American military planners anticipated failure in Iran

Why Hasn't Iran Sunk an American Aircraft Carrier?

[-] free_casc@hexbear.net 14 points 6 hours ago

I.think it's a great post, just not for the international news megathread

[-] segfault11@hexbear.net 20 points 7 hours ago

i talked to my chud uncle and can confirm word for word that this is factually what chud uncles think

[-] jack@hexbear.net 18 points 7 hours ago
[-] segfault11@hexbear.net 22 points 8 hours ago

Without Iran there would be peace in the Middle East

if an iran didn't exist amerikkka would have to create one DaBiden

[-] miz@hexbear.net 15 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

a society stuffed to the brim with ignorant cruel shitheads

this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2026
114 points (100.0% liked)

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