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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 depicts Bolivian trade unionists on strike in La Paz, Bolivia.


Long preamble/summary below of recent news events.

summaryThe Iran ceasefire is grinding on. After a brief period over the weekend of heightened activity where it seemed that US strikes might be resuming, Trump announced a "Memorandum of Understanding" with Iran, which initially appeared to be an agreement along Iran's demands.

For those not following along with the diplomatic minutia, Iran's position for several weeks has been that the nuclear issue must be discussed separately - because, well, last time they started discussing the nuclear issue with the US, they got fucking bombed - and so have proposed a two-stage negotiation where the war is first officially ended with certain preconditions (e.g. the US has to end sanctions and unfreeze assets and presumably withdraw at least some military assets), and then the second stage will begin in which the nuclear issue is handled.

The reason why a deal has still not been signed after all this time is because the US disagrees with doing it this way, and wants the nuclear issue to be handled right away (and obviously also objects with things like Iran retaining control of the Strait). Therefore, Trump's announcement appeared to be him finally accepting reality, but it quickly became apparent that this was just another market manipulation. I'm definitely in the camp among several other analysts that believes another round of war is going to happen barring some very sudden circumstances (e.g. Trump being forced out of power one way or another, or Iran obtaining a nuke) because the US still seems agreement-incapable. And in Lebanon, consternation for the Zionists against Hezbollah's attacks continues as the FPV drone threat only continues to increase despite them desperately seeking countermeasures.

As I've been perhaps too focussed on Iran lately, here's a brief roundup of big news events from the last month or so.

  • Orban losing power: Pretty cool, though his replacement being Neoliberal #2980329891 means that big changes seem unlikely.

  • Strikes in Bolivia against that dipshit Paz: Very nice to see, as it appears that Bolivia has among the best widespread on-the-ground popular support for worker-centric policies and politicians in Latin America that makes it so they can genuinely pressure power (already, the Labor Minister has resigned).

  • Situation in the Sahel: "Mysterious" third parties sponsored a big offensive against the AES which they largely repelled with help from Russia. The situation there is still a little tenuous as I understand it with a greater focus by anti-government forces on blockades of cities to cause internal revolts. This tactic is currently broadly failing as armed convoys are getting fuel and food into the cities, but figures like Traore are aware that more needs to be done.

  • Ukraine War: Aside from the usual grinding advance by Russia on the front, there have been back-and-forth missile and drone strikes as Ukraine hit some targets in the outskirts of Moscow with drones and then Russia fired a shitload of missiles, including the iconic Oreshnik, directly at Kiev, as Simplicius and others have covered in greater detail.

I could go on and on with the recent aggressions against Cuba, Modi's recent victories in India and the AI/chip tech war between China and the US but this preamble has to end at some point due to the character limit.


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:

Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
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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[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 105 points 1 month ago

Cuba has done it again.

Meet VAXIRA a therapeutic cancer vaccine developed by Cuban and Argentine scientists that helps the immune system recognise and destroy lung cancer cells. Approved in both Cuba and Argentina for advanced non-small cell lung cancer.

It works by mimicking a molecule found on cancer cells but almost entirely absent in healthy human tissue — meaning it targets tumours with remarkable precision and very few side effects.

Clinical trials showed a significant improvement in survival for advanced lung cancer patients, with 1-year survival nearly doubling compared to the control group. Real-world data shows median survival of up to 24.5 months in maintenance therapy.

Minimal side effects. Suitable for long-term use. Affordable and accessible — unlike many Western immunotherapies that price patients out of treatment.

And in 2025, VAXIRA received Cuba's National Technological Innovation Award. All of this achieved by a country under decades of US economic blockade.

The United States spends billions on cancer research. Cuba, under sanctions, develops vaccines the world hasn't seen before.

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[-] aanes_appreciator@hexbear.net 104 points 1 month ago

Trump ekes out a W over Nixon and Bush to be... the most unpopular president of the last 12 US 2-term presidents... on day 491 of their tenure.

The laughably specific graphic aside, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Obamna was the most popular US President in living member but - nope! he was fucking hated by the end of his career. He really fooled 'em.

[-] SuperZutsuki@hexbear.net 87 points 1 month ago

Every president since the effects of neoliberalism really started kicking in has been hated, wonder why curious-marx

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[-] carpoftruth@hexbear.net 104 points 1 month ago

FT and adrian zenz at it again with the uyghurs

https://archive.is/Z2er2

I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this, but let's look at the opening graphs.

In August 2024, the parents of Ekpar Asat made a long journey to a prison in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. Asat, who belongs to the Uyghur ethnic group, was detained by authorities in April 2016 on charges of “inciting ethnic hatred”. The founder of a popular Uyghur-language website, he had recently returned from attending a prestigious leadership programme in the US.

I immediately thought of school of the americas, so let's dig and see if we can learn more. Here, some harvard rag notes "She is referring to her brother, Ekpar Asat, a Uyghur entrepreneur and philanthropist who after participating in the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program was detained by the Chinese government, then sentenced to 15 years in prison for “inciting ethnic hatred and ethnic discrimination,” according to Amnesty International."

So what's the IVLP about? Here's what the state department says:

As the foundational professional exchange program of the U.S. government, the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) advances U.S. national security priorities and builds long-term relationships between Americans and international leaders in government, business, academia, and other fields through short-term professional exchanges that strengthen American communities.

hitler-detector I've recalibrated this thing to detect intelligence assets and it's going crazy

I'm not going to go point by point, but continue on if you'd like to read about bad stats and orientalism. it would be nice if at some point these articles talked about what was happening in the next country over in afghanistan instead of pretending history started in 2017.

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[-] red_giant@hexbear.net 101 points 1 month ago

Huawei - We are thankful to US for enabling our chip tech growth

When people asked how Huawei thought of the new chip tech approach for its growth, Xu replied that a major credit goes to the US. Without their “ban efforts”, the company wouldn’t have embarked on catching up with chip-related work.

According to the Rotating Chairman of Huawei, the external pressure from the US has forced the rapid growth of the Chinese semiconductor industry chain. He said:

“If the United States hadn’t forced our country, our companies, and our industry, we wouldn’t have done something like this. But we are also grateful to the US for enabling our country’s semiconductor industry chain to truly grow. Now the momentum is very good, and everyone recognizes and supports it.”

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[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 100 points 1 month ago

This is what Bolivia's highways look like at the moment. Each town & village blocks their stretch, and the union members in each community take turns at the barricades. This is part of the general strike against neoliberalism. Now entering week 3.

Bolivia's workers union confederation official statement: "There is only one demand: Resignation of the government. There is no turning back"

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[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 99 points 1 month ago

Colombia's right-wing opposition are threatening their own country with a US military attack if they don't win tomorrow's elections. Latin American democracy is weak because it tolerates these people. Just saying this should merit a long prison sentence for terrorism & treason.

Regarding the issue of drug trafficking. Colombia became the epicenter of cocaine production under the numerous right-wing & pro-US authoritarian regimes. Uribe is accusing others of his own crimes.

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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 97 points 1 month ago

https://xcancel.com/jonelmer/status/2060595808525775328

Hezbollah seriously wounded the commander of the IDF's 401st Armored Brigade after tracking him to a newly established forward HQ; he has been commander since the Qassam Brigades killed his predecessor in Jabaliya in October 2024.

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[-] HarryLime@hexbear.net 96 points 1 month ago
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[-] SickSemper@hexbear.net 96 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
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[-] miz@hexbear.net 95 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

critical mineral shaping up to be one of the worst supply bottlenecks for US defense contractors is the rare earth samarium (Sm, atomic number 62). China makes 100% of current production and unlike neodymium and dysprosium magnets, samarium-cobalt magnets are almost entirely used in military applications, making avoidance of export controls via dual-use subterfuge much more difficult. building one F-35 requires ~23 kg of samarium.

US missiles blown up in Iran and Israel [sic] will never be replaced | Inside China Business

from what I can tell the second tightest bottleneck is probably gallium

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[-] thelastaxolotl@hexbear.net 95 points 1 month ago

Polish President Nawrocki:

Unfortunately, President Zelensky has demonstrated that Ukraine, in terms of the mentality of glorifying bandits and murderers from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, is not ready to be part of the European family.

There is no place in the European family for bandits and murderers who killed women and children, who murdered Poles.

Such bandits cannot be glorified, and the UPA cannot be glorified.

https://x.com/clashreport/status/2060769610660491446

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[-] Lovely_sombrero@hexbear.net 95 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

President Trump has sent Iran a revised peace deal with tougher terms -multiple US officials to the NYT. The "new, tougher proposal" is intended to put more pressure on Iran to accept a deal.

"The official added that Mr. Trump’s changes — a new, tougher proposal — were potentially intended to speed up the process by putting pressure on Iran to accept the framework already sent to Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, for approval."

A "new, tougher proposal" that Iran probably already rejected previously is exactly how you speed things up.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/30/us/politics/trump-iran-peace-framework.html

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[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 93 points 1 month ago

Bolivia's general strike is GROWING. The Chuquisaca region, that hadn't joined the strike, has now joined and built workers barricades surrounding city. Also, valley roads to Santa Cruz are all blocked off now for first time.

Week 1: 20 highways blocked

Week 2: 40

Week 3: 60+

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[-] Redcuban1959@hexbear.net 91 points 1 month ago

Patriotic factions within Bolivia's military have confirmed:

  • US Embassy has ordered Bolivian govt to declare martial law to break the strikes
  • Embassy has told President Paz: "We can't lose Bolivia"
  • Bolivia's cabinet is divided, some don't want to implement the US orders

Patriotic factions in military & police keep Evo Morales and the rest of the movement informed of everything that's going on inside

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[-] SickSemper@hexbear.net 91 points 1 month ago
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[-] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 91 points 1 month ago

Yeesh.

The Guardian - The US and Israel are “actively working” to strip Jordan of its historic custodianship of Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque complex, according to a report by Middle East Eye, citing multiple unnamed sources.

US, Jordanian and Palestinian officials, as well as western and Gulf Arab sources, told MEE that under the plan, championed by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, the authority of Jordan over the site would end and a new body created by the Israeli government would declare the al-Aqsa Mosque a “multi-faith centre”.

Two US officials told MEE that Washington had drafted a paper on how they envisaged the mosque’s future. The officials said that the Trump administration would like to see the al-Aqsa Mosque stripped of its Muslim identity, with the site turned into a landmark tourist attraction that hosts all three Abrahamic religions.

Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, al-Aqsa is often a flashpoint and disagreements over access and its management have lead to unrest.

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Yemeni air defenses shot down a US MQ-9 "Reaper" drone over Marib province:

https://southfront.press/u-s-just-lost-another-mq-9-drone-to-houthi-air-defenses-videos-photos/

[-] HarryLime@hexbear.net 89 points 1 month ago
[-] HarryLime@hexbear.net 88 points 1 month ago
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[-] red_giant@hexbear.net 87 points 1 month ago

MidEastEye - Iran rejects Trump's terms of deal to lift Hormuz blockade

It sounds like they are no where near any deal.

Snips

Trump conditioned the lifting of the US’s blockade on Iran agreeing not to charge fees in the Strait of Hormuz and allowing the US access to damaged nuclear facilities in order to destroy Iran’s highly enriched uranium. The US bombed three Iranian facilities in June 2025.

“The enriched material, sometimes referred to as “Nuclear Dust,” which is buried deep underground with virtually collapsed mountains…will be unearthed by the United States…in close coordination and conjunction with the Islamic Republic of Iran, plus the International Atomic Energy Agency, and DESTROYED,” Trump wrote on his Truthsocial platform on Friday.

As a result, Trump said that “Ships caught in the Strait due to our amazing and unprecedented Naval Blockade, which will now be lifted, may start the process of “heading home!”

But Iran said on Friday that “no negotiations" were taking place over its nuclear programme, and a deal had not been finalised.

Iran wants sanctions relief and the unfreezing of billions of dollars in funds held abroad as part of any ceasefire extension. Such an agreement, according to reports and analysts, would only be a stepping stone for deeper talks.

Trump ruled out the unlocking of frozen funds in a social media post, saying, “No money will be exchanged, until further notice”. It’s unclear whether that language applies only to frozen funds or to waivers allowing Iran to sell its oil on the global market without sanctions.

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[-] Big@hexbear.net 86 points 1 month ago

Iran says they aren't in a hurry to sign anything. oil is at 100$ and expected to rise beyond 150-200 towards the end of 2026.

qin-shi-huangdi-fireball

Our interesting times are about to get even more interesting!

Source

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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 86 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

have the Poles finally had enough? https://archive.ph/oZZD4

Poland moves to strip Zelensky of honour for naming military unit after group that massacred Poles

Polish President Karol Nawrocki has announced plans to strip Volodymyr Zelensky of the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s highest honour, after the Ukrainian president named a military unit after a group that led massacres of ethnic Poles during World War Two.

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However, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose government regularly clashes with the opposition-aligned president, has sought to calm emotions, warning that the only one to benefit from conflict between Poland and Ukraine is Russia.

well maybe Ukraine should stop with these blatant fucking provocations then, how hard could it possibly be to just not worship goddamned mass murderers!?

“Unfortunately, President Zelensky has shown that Ukraine, in terms of mentality – glorifying bandits, murderers from the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) – is not ready to be part of the European family,” said Nawrocki on Friday morning. “Because in the European family, you cannot glorify bandits [who] murdered women and children, murdered Poles,” he added, after announcing that he would move to strip Zelensky of the order, which was awarded to him by Nawrocki’s predecessor, Andrzej Duda, in 2023. Nawrocki noted that a meeting of the body responsible for overseeing the order will next meet on 8 June, when he would propose discussing revoking Zelensky’s award. However, the president noted that the decision on doing so ultimately rests with him, reports the Polish Press Agency (PAP). Nawrocki’s announcement comes amid growing anger in Poland over a decree issued by Zelensky on Wednesday, in which he named an operations centre for Ukraine’s special forces after the “heroes of the UPA”. He said he had done so “in order to restore the historical traditions of the national army”.

The UPA was a partisan formation created during World War Two as part of efforts to fight for an independent Ukrainian state. However, it was also responsible for the so-called Volhynia massacres, in which around 100,000 ethnic Poles, mostly women and children, were slaughtered, often with great brutality. The fact that the UPA and figures associated with it continue to be venerated in Ukraine has regularly caused tension with Poland. The two countries also often clash over the Volhynia massacres, which Poland regards as a genocide, a label Ukraine rejects. Zelensky’s decision immediately triggered condemnation from Poland’s right-wing opposition, which is aligned with Nawrocki and generally favours a tougher line towards Kyiv, especially regarding historical issues. Przemysław Czarnek, deputy leader of the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, called it “a shameful signal sent to Polish society” and “a demonstration of extreme ingratitude” towards a country that has been one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters since Russia’s full-scale invasion. “One cannot speak of partnership with Poland and reconciliation one day, only to glorify the following day the formations responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Poles,” wrote Czarnek on Wednesday. While the Polish government initially avoided commenting, on Friday morning, foreign ministry spokesman Maciej Wewiór issued a statement saying that Poland views Zelensky’s decision “in an unequivocally negative light” and is “raising this issue in conversations with our partners in Ukraine”. Naming something after the UPA “wounds the memory of this organisation’s victims”, harms dialogue between Poland and Ukraine, and “can be exploited by Russian propaganda, which seeks to divide us and undermine support for Ukraine”, added Wewiór.

"exploited by Russian propaganda", or, Russia being able to just go he-admit-it "we told you they were fascists!"

Broadcaster RMF reports that Polish deputy foreign minister Marcin Bosacki submitted a formal protest to Ukrainian ambassador Vasyl Bodnar on Thursday and warned that Zelensky’s decision would anger and alienate many Poles. Late on Friday morning, after Nawrocki – who regularly clashes with the more liberal government – had made his announcement, Tusk sought to calm the situation. “I would expect both presidents to be able to rise above these historical emotions and try to build this difficult but necessary Polish-Ukrainian friendship and cooperation,” said Tusk, quoted by broadcaster TVN. If not, “the Kremlin will truly have reason to rejoice”. The prime minister added, however, that Zelensky’s decision “violates our historical sensitivity”. He called for Ukrainians to show greater awareness of “what this grim legacy of the UPA means from the perspective of every Pole”. Meanwhile, among those to criticise Zelensky was former Polish president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Lech Wałęsa, who is a strong supporter of Ukraine. He announced that he will now stop wearing a badge with a Ukrainian flag that is constantly on his chest during public appearances. “By honouring the UPA bandits, the president of Ukraine has insulted me and all our murdered compatriots,” wrote Wałęsa on social media. “I have therefore removed the Ukrainian flag from my chest. I will continue to help the nation in its fight against the Soviets [Russians]. I refuse to support President Zelensky!”

IT'S 2026! THE SOVIET UNION DOESN'T FUCKING EXIST ANYMORE (ussr-cry) YOU DERANGED FREAKS!

While tensions over World War Two history regularly erupt between Poland and Ukraine, the two countries have in recent years also made tentative steps towards reconciliation. In 2023, Duda and Zelensky jointly commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Volhynia massacres. Last year, Ukraine also lifted its ban on the exhumation of victims of the massacres, tens of thousands of whom are believed to remain buried in unmarked mass graves. However, Kyiv last year also criticised Poland’s move to establish a national holiday commemorating “victims of genocide committed by the OUN-UPA”, as well as a proposed law by Nawrocki that would criminalise the promotion of ideologies associated with Second World War Ukrainian nationalist groups.

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[-] ClathrateG@hexbear.net 86 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Reporter who investigated Jeffrey Epstein is ‘fleeing’ the US after alleged ‘direct energy weapons’ attack

nypost.com/2026/05/26/media/reporter-who-investigated-jeffrey-epstein-is-fleeing-the-us-after-alleged-attack/ archive.is/1YXkE

And just like that I believe in Havana syndrome lol

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[-] Awoo@hexbear.net 85 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Can't really deny that the state is fascist when they're doing this.

Gotta say "divisive nationalist" is a fun new way to describe fascists. Wonder how long it'll be until Hitler is described as a divisive nationalist.

EDIT: Oh yeah just wanna mention Zelensky also attended this.

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[-] HarryLime@hexbear.net 85 points 1 month ago

Exclusive: US military personnel are being targeted using location data, Pentagon letter shows

US Central Command says it was warned that adversaries used location data to target troops
Lawmakers urge Pentagon to act, citing adtech industry as national security threat
Calls for disabling ad IDs, restricting location sharing, and moving away from Chrome on devices

WASHINGTON, May 28 (Reuters) - U.S. forces deployed to ​war zones have been targeted using commercially available location data, according to reports fielded by military officials, an illustration of how ‌the global surveillance economy is shaping the battlefield.

In a letter shared with Reuters by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, opens new tab, U.S. Central Command said it had “received multiple threat reports concerning adversary exploitation of commercial location data to target or surveil U.S. personnel in theater." The message, sent on April 14, offered no further specifics, but Centcom's area of responsibility includes the Gulf, ​where U.S. forces are facing off against the Iranian military over the Strait of Hormuz.

The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here. The disclosure was the first official confirmation that U.S. forces ​had been targeted in an active war zone, Wyden and a bipartisan group of legislators said in a letter sent on ⁠Thursday, opens new tab to the Pentagon.

"Commercial location data can be used to identify where U.S. troops congregate and their pattern of life, which can be exploited by adversaries ​to target attacks such as missiles, drones, and roadside bombs, as well as for counterintelligence purposes," the letter warned. Wyden said in a statement that it was ​time to "start treating the adtech industry as a national security threat."

The Pentagon said in an email it would respond directly to the lawmakers but did not elaborate. The lawmakers said in their letter that their efforts to obtain more information from military officials about the reported targeting had been unsuccessful.

LOCATION DATA TRADE FUELS PRIVACY CONCERNS

Location data is widely used in digital ​advertising, which is a key source of revenue for many tech companies. Such data is typically collected from smartphones or other devices by apps or ​service providers before being sold to data brokers who collate and resell the data, sometimes via complex networks of intermediaries. Although the threat to privacy inherent in selling the details of ‌people's day-to-day ⁠movements on the open market has long been a matter of public discussion, its potential as a national security risk has recently drawn concern as well.

As far back as 2016, one U.S. defense contractor was able to leverage commercially available location data to track special operations forces from their bases in the United States to a sensitive staging post in Syria, according to an account first disclosed by the Wall Street Journal, opens new tab.

More recently, journalists at Wired and two German news outlets ​drew on billions of coordinates collected by ​a data broker to expose the granular ⁠comings and goings, opens new tab of people stationed at or around 11 U.S. military and intelligence sites in Germany.

Two groups that represent digital advertisers, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and the Association of National Advertisers, did not return emails seeking comment. The letter from ​U.S. lawmakers to the Pentagon said that, given what military officials know about the trade in location data, ​they should have acted ⁠faster to protect their personnel, for example by disabling the unique advertising ID attached to military-issued devices, automatically turning off location sharing on smartphones in the field, and steering staff away from Google's Chrome web browser toward more privacy-focused alternatives.

One of the letter's cosigners was U.S. Representative Pat Harrigan, a North Carolina Republican who was formerly ⁠a U.S. Army ​Special Forces officer. Harrigan said that browsers like Chrome "are built from the ground up to ​collect and share user data" and that every day they remain on government-issued devices "is another day we are handing our adversaries a weapon against our own troops."

In a statement, Alphabet's (GOOGL.O), opens new tab Google said that ​Chrome had "industry leading security." The company added that it had "long advocated for stronger rules and safeguards against data brokers, opens new tab."

Reporting by Raphael Satter in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis

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[-] SickSemper@hexbear.net 85 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Hezbollah editors excited to see cows before striking an anti air system

https://t.me/HezbollahMirror/16445

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[-] red_giant@hexbear.net 85 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Oil News: traders are betting big that a deal is going to be signed.

Which means that oil is getting cheaper quickly, meaning that “demand destruction” for oil has been turned off.

Meanwhile actually available oil stocks are one or two weeks away from “operational stress” levels, perhaps 2 or at most 3 months away from “extreme crisis” levels, and we still don’t have a full picture of how bad the infrastructure damage in the middle east is.

In other words, just as the world is actually starting to run out of oil, demand for oil is being stimulated.

If I were a member of the parasitic investor class while still understanding dialectics, aside from wanting to hang myself I would be strongly betting on the fact that Bibi is going to find a way to scupper this cease-fire and I would be viewing this sell-off as an opportunity to go long on oil futures.

OilPrice - Oil Prices Suffer Biggest Weekly Collapse in Two Months

ICE Brent is set to post its largest weekly loss in two months, dropping by almost 10%, as media reports present a 60-day extension of the current ceasefire and a temporary Hormuz navigation deal as close to being a done deal.

OilPrice - Ceasefire Talks Trigger Massive Selloff in Crude Futures

July WTI crude oil suffered its largest weekly decline in months as traders aggressively removed geopolitical risk premium from the market on growing hopes that diplomacy between Washington and Tehran could eventually succeed. Through Thursday, May 28, July WTI crude oil traded between a high of $94.70 and a low of $87.11 before settling at $88.60, down $8.40, or 8.66%, for the week.

The selloff was notable because it occurred while many of the bullish supply factors that drove crude sharply higher earlier this year remained in place.

OilPrice - Supermajor Warns Oil Prices Could Hit $160 Within Weeks

[Goldman Sachs] calculated that of the 8.4 billion barrels in global oil inventories at the start of 2026, only 0.8 billion barrels were realistically available without pushing the system into operational stress. Long story short (and the long story can be found here), OECD commercial stocks could fall to operational stress levels by June, and then hit the global operational floor by September if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, assuming demand destruction stabilized at 5.5 mbd (with oil prices paradoxically dropping since the last JPM article, demand destruction has actually slowed).

Meanwhile, the biggest paradox during this period when the blocked Hormuz Strait meant that roughly 10 million barrels of oil wasn't reaching its intended destination each day, was that instead of prices going sharply higher to destroy demand, oil prices were actually dropping after peaking in late March and then again a month later, in effect incentivizing more demand.

That’s goldman sachs saying we at about 10% of buffer away from “operational stress”… Given the rate at which the buffer has been declining that gives us a week? Maybe two.

Even assuming a cease-fire is signed today, those container ships will take one or two months to reach port.

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[-] Lovely_sombrero@hexbear.net 85 points 1 month ago
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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 84 points 1 month ago

https://xcancel.com/OlgaBazova/status/2059644037393453403

In Poland, they have started deporting Ukrainians for violating traffic rules. A 25-year-old Ukrainian was expelled from the country by a court decision for violating traffic rules and was banned from entering Poland and the entire Schengen zone for 5 years. After the court's decision, the man didn't even have time to pack his things: he was escorted to the border crossing in Medyka and handed over to Ukraine.

[-] InexplicableLunchFiend@hexbear.net 85 points 1 month ago

this is what zelenskyy meant when he said he needed "assistance from our international friends" regarding the population crisis and manpower shortages in "convincing" Ukrainian refugees to return to be conscripted. Lawfare and legal changes to drive out the refugees back into the meat grinder. The smart Ukrainians fled East.

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[-] RobnHood@hexbear.net 84 points 1 month ago

Blue Origins New Glenn (7x2) blew up during a static test fire in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

More Info on why this is a big deal

This is the largest explosion in us spaceflight history. This was a fully fueled test fire, the explosion of Starship 36 was only partially fueled. The loss of the booster, which was named "No, It's Necessary" (a reference to the movie Interstellar) is not all that significant of a loss for Blue Origin. The big problem is that they will have to conduct an investigation and likely go through recertification with the FAA. The even bigger problem is that they destroyed LC-36, which is/was the only pad compatible with New Glenn. This likely means at least months of construction at the very least. According to a Blue Origin source a return to launch within the first half of 2027 would be “heroic” given the conditions.

This will likely set back Artemis 3 to around late 2028 at the earliest, seeing how Starship isn’t fairing great and we haven’t seen anything of the Starship HLS. Blue Moon Mk. 2 is much farther in development, but it’s pretty useless without a rocket to launch it with. This means that NASA’s best option for a human landing system is a Lanyue lunar lander launched aboard a Long March 10 rocket.

New Glenn is also supposed to play a crucial role in the ‘Moon Base’. On Tuesday NASA announced that it had selected the New Glenn rocket to deliver the first two rovers, built by Lunar Outpost and Astrolab, to the lunar surface in 2028. Suffice it to say, that’s not going to happen in 2028.

I don’t like to try to support the idea of a ‘Moon Race’ existing between the us and China. I think it something that NASA says to boost congressional funding and the media latches onto. The origins of Chinas manned lunar landing program predate the conception of Artemis and the SLS. But, if I did think that their was an actual moon race, I would say that this is a big victory for China.

TL;DR Jeff is sad

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[-] Lovely_sombrero@hexbear.net 84 points 1 month ago

"Israel sent 2 guys to my house to offer me an envelope with 500 dollars so that I would stop investigating their crimes in Palestine. Later, the head of the Mossad, Yossi Cohen, threatened me and my family so that I would stop investigating Israel."

Fatou Bensouda, former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, denounces the threats and the bribery attempt that "Israel" made to her so that she would stop investigating its crimes in Palestine.

https://x.com/DaniMayakovski/status/2059495213261840428

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[-] THEPH0NECOMPANY@hexbear.net 83 points 1 month ago

Senator Booker attacks Iran deal from the right

New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker told CNN’s State of the Union that Trump was being “played as a fool” in negotiations with Iran. “This weak nation has put America in a stalemate.”

Booker’s framing drew sharp criticism from anti-war commentators. Journalist Erik Sperling noted that Booker was attacking Trump exclusively from the right, including by citing the war’s failure to prevent Iran from what Booker described as “fueling their terrorist proxies.”

Media critic Adam Johnson added that Booker’s positioning amounted to “We’re The Competent Imperialists,” saying it was “incoherent, tedious and draws no meaningful contrast” with the administration.

libbing-out "We would bomb those girls schools competently, now vote and donate"

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[-] P1d40n3@hexbear.net 83 points 1 month ago

https://t.me/stayfreeworld/66311

America has struck Iran again. I understand wanting to not fight during Eid and Hajj, but surely this is an unacceptable escalation.

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[-] InevitableSwing@hexbear.net 83 points 1 month ago

I'm sure this will make the peace negos go even more smoothly. According to Bessent - the US seized $1 billion in Iranian crypto.

NYT - Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said at a Reagan Economic Forum event that the United States had seized $1 billion of Iranian cryptocurrency money as part of its effort to squeeze Iran’s economy. “Just outright grabbed the wallets,” Bessent said, referring to the accounts where digital currency is stored. “Some of them may be typing in right now and might not realize their wallet had been grabbed.”

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[-] Kieselguhr@hexbear.net 83 points 1 month ago

According to publicly available EU natural gas reserves data, disregarding everything we know about the world, just running a SARIMA time series forecast, the EU will literally run out of natural gas, as this is the season when they should be refilling the gas Europe would use in the winter.

[-] red_giant@hexbear.net 87 points 1 month ago

Germany running out of gas

Germany arming anti-Russian nationalists in Ukraine

Germany bidding for the 2036 olympics

Germany planning to be fully rearmed by 2039

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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 81 points 1 month ago

https://archive.ph/qEGfU

Nazitown, USA

How Ukrainian nazi collaborators smuggled into the US after World War II have created racist enclaves in our country, and developed influence over US politics for the past 86 years.

more

I’ll be honest with you. I’m not a great writer. Nope, I gave that up a long time ago, when a very good friend and fellow creative who I respect told me, rather plainly in my early adult years, that I was a much better graphic artist than a writer. It stuck, and I gave up the practice for quite some time so I wouldn’t embarrass myself. But being a geopolitical junkie as I am, I’ve found some very disturbing links in the past couple of years that I’ve been researching the conflict in Ukraine which I feel I should share with the American public, whether it gets traction or not. It’s been a rabbit hole that keeps twisting and turning, and the more I’ve learned - the more concerning it’s been. I could probably research it for another decade and not find all the connections. So, I’ve made a conscious decision to cut it off where it stands and write this article. Feel free to use the information I present, build upon it, or contact me if you have any valuable insight yourself. I will make the article free of charge, but I do ask - as I’m a disabled guy with not many resources - if you feel it’s worth supporting, please consider a paid subscription & it’ll give me much more time and leeway to sharpen my writing and share further valuable information on Ukraine and other topics. I’m going to present it in three digestible parts. First, explaining how I fell into the rabbit hole in the first place, learning about a small town in Wisconsin and some very disturbing, recurring racist/nazi incidents, and then how that research has expanded to reveal a 75-year partnership with Ukrainian nazi collaborators, prominent American politicians, the Democratic Party, and connections to billions in Ukraine aid that our government has passed just since 2022.

Part I: Nazitown, USA

Now, I’ve got no connections to Russia or Ukraine, but I became curious about the situation there since 2013. Followed it, again, just out of curiosity since. And one day, a couple years ago, I stumbled across an article in the Wisconsin Examiner that started this whole affair. Long story short, it was about the Ukrainian Youth Association summer camp in the small town of Baraboo, Wisconsin. Just on the surface, a camp devoted to the culture of a foreign state wouldn’t be such a concern, but the headline itself “Ukrainian Association in Baraboo honors nazi collaborators with statues at children’s summer camp” - well - that was worth delving into, I thought. You see, Baraboo - a small town with a population of around 12,000 and a 88% white population, nestled on the Canadian/American border - It’s got problems. And by problems, I mean, a suspiciously repetitive pattern of racist incidents over the past decade. You may remember a very widely-disseminated national story from 2018 where a group of schoolchildren took a prom photo with many of the students pictured doing a nazi salute. It provoked a lot of outrage at the time, but was quickly forgotten, and excused mainly as students performing the salute as a very unfunny joke. School officials said they investigated, but never took any action. But, curious as I am, I decided to dig further into it and found very many such racist incidents happening in such a small town, incidents in the city and nearby areas where nazi flyers have been distributed in sandwich bags, weighted down with birdseed and thrown into people’s yards (with no culprit ever caught in subsequent investigations). Then, an incident in 2018 where a video was posted on Youtube where local LGBT and Jewish teachers in the school district were mocked and slurred, and subsequently taken down.

And it goes on, and on, and on, to the point that listing all such incidents I found examples of in the past two decades would be too exhaustive. In 2012, a convoy of teenagers drove around Baraboo in trucks, each flying Confederate battle flags, in an effort to memorialize a student killed in a car accident. In 2020, there was a federal lawsuit filed against the school district where a black student, Dasia Banks, alleged that school officials would openly allow slurs to be used against her faced constant harassment since 1st grade. The lawsuit was settled out of court. In another incident in 2024, a school superintendent, Rainey Briggs, filed a restraining order against a white parent who jumped onstage at a graduation ceremony to shove Briggs (who is black) away from a handshake with his daughter, telling Briggs that he did not want him touching her. Seeing a pattern? I did. And that a Ukrainian Youth Camp was in the area with statues glorifying Ukrainian nazi collaborators, I decided to dig into that and will describe what that led to in part II:

Part II: The Camps

For anyone who has followed the conflict in Ukraine, even mildly, you have surely seen allegations hurled at groups such as Azov adopting nazi symbols, performing torchlight parades, ceremonies, etc. openly. You may dismiss them, but for someone who is well-versed in the conflict, you shouldn’t. It’s a real phenomenon and cannot be ignored. The Ukrainian Youth Association, abbreviated as ”CYM” in Ukrainian (which I will refer to it as going forward) was founded in 1925 as an underground nationalist movement against Soviet control as a way to preserve Ukrainian culture. Broken up by the Soviets, with many members sent to the gulags thereafter, it was brought back into life post-WW2 in German refugee camps by Ukrainians who had cooperated with the nazis during the war. These were people who fought against the Soviets on the side of Nazi Germany as part of the OUN (the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) and their militant wing, the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army), who feared retribution for their collaboration with Germany and had participated in atrocities and pogroms against Jews within Ukraine and Poland (If you’ve heard the name Stephan Bandera in relation to Ukraine and the neo-nazi Azov Battalion, he is one of the founders of that group). Flash forward to 1949, and as a result of “Operation Paperclip” (Wherein nazis and their collaborators were brought over to resettle in the US to be used for secret government operations against communism/labor organizing and for their technical knowledge), not all the fascist-sympathizers were German, but Ukrainians as well. This was against the wishes of President Truman at the time, who specifically issued orders than no nazi sympathizers would be brought into the US, but under the leadership of Edward O’Connor, the effort brought such people into the USA and helped them also settle in South American countries and elsewhere, “bleaching” their backgrounds and using them for various purposes, both scientific/technical and as a means to quell worker unionizing since they were ardent fascists who hated the idea of communism. O’Connor was described by many as a fascist himself for his efforts to hide their true identities and reform their image in the public eye.

CYM came along with them, and the American branch was first established in Philadelphia in 1949 (to this day, Philadelphia remains the 2nd highest concentration of Ukrainians in the US). The organization was then spread to include camps in Chicago, Wisconsin, and other camps/branches, primarily in the Northeastern States. In total, today, there are four main Camps, and 28 branches across 12 US States. In a 2013 dedication of monuments at the Chicago branch to Bandera and Roman Shukhevych (the head of the UPA who held the rank of Captain in the German Wehrmacht and is on record as participating in pogroms against Jews and atrocities committed against Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia), the President of CYM confirmed that "The forefathers of CYM were members of OUN Banderivtsi and their supporters who developed a system to raise and develop youth to serve God and Ukraine". And the organization is not limited to the US, either. Currently, CYM operates in 13 other countries across the globe, with branches/camps in Canada, Germany, the UK, Austria, France, and several other European countries, as well as including branches in Australia and Argentina. As a personal observation, it seems, the countries that host these “cells” (as their Ukrainian-language website calls them) seem to be some of the most ardent supporters of Ukraine in their current conflict against Russia.

Now, it’s sort of - on the face - perhaps not something to question so much, until you recognize what a “youth camp” means within Ukraine itself. I’ve found records going back far beyond the current conflict, before Ukraine’s Maidan revolution in 2014, where many of these camps were hosted by groups like C14, Svoboda, and the Azov Battalion (all considered to be neo-nazi, “nationalist” groups that have thrived in post-Soviet, sovereign Ukraine:

(Excerpt from a November 2018 Morningstar UK article, “Fascists in training: Ukraine's nationalist youth camps”, which detailed life in one such camp ran by the Svoboda “nationalist” organization)

cont'd in response

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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 80 points 1 month ago

https://xcancel.com/ArmchairW/status/2059436156358439371

The 1st Azov Corps now has 40-80k troops. 3rd Corps, also Azov, also has 40-80k. =~100k+ Azovite soldiers. They are also constantly expanding

At this point Azov comprises a similar proportion of the AFU as the Waffen-SS did of the Nazi German military.

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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 80 points 1 month ago

https://xcancel.com/Osinttechnical/status/2060404208419910023

Update: Bulgaria has announced that it will eject US forces using Sofia airport at the end of June. The move comes after the United States failed to approve a visa-free system for Bulgarian visitors.

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[-] Lovely_sombrero@hexbear.net 79 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

That is a lot of damage, considering the Pentagon said that all Iranian missiles were intercepted.

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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 79 points 1 month ago

https://xcancel.com/OlgaBazova/status/2060370334293881213

Wall Street Journal: How Putin is trying to prolong his life for $26 billion

From mini-pigs and 3D organ printing to cryotherapy and genetics — the Russian president has made research in the field of anti-aging one of the Kremlin's priorities.

So, we went from Putin has about three days to live from having every disease possible to the immortal Putin who will live forever to rule the Mordor in the span of about four years.

no, it's fine, I just didn't expect the god-emperor of mankind to be slavic (although I guess it does make sense for him to be orthodox, what with all the skulls...

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[-] HarryLime@hexbear.net 78 points 1 month ago
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[-] SickSemper@hexbear.net 78 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

While Hezbollah posted this “coming soon” caption just now, the full video had been released earlier on Iranian TV (and is somehow better than this screenshot implies)

https://t.me/HezbollahMirror/16380

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[-] THEPH0NECOMPANY@hexbear.net 77 points 1 month ago

Fresh Drop site report

New: Israeli officials are privately urging the Trump administration to abandon negotiations with Iran, assassinate Iran’s parliament speaker and lead negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and launch a new round of strikes targeting Iran’s oil infrastructure, according to a classified intelligence assessment cited by Capital & Empire.

Israeli officials reportedly believe renewed attacks could trigger economic collapse and eventually regime change, even as U.S. and Iranian negotiators work toward a framework to extend the ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The push comes amid growing alarm in Israel that a negotiated settlement could leave Iran politically strengthened, preserve its regional influence, and cement its leverage over one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints.

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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 77 points 1 month ago

https://xcancel.com/philippilk/status/2059224295906123965

Victoria Nuland clashes with John Mearsheimer over who bears responsibility for the Russia-Ukraine war. The full debate is available to stream on our website. https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/2059011667657146368/vid/avc1/720x406/s4981Ockk2u0Dt-F.mp4

Watching this you realise that the Nulandocracy is actually really mediocre. The talking points are similar to NAFO bots on X. US policy on various issues is basically a frozen, institutionalised set of aims. What we are seeing now is it on autopilot and collapsing. 🇺🇸

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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 77 points 1 month ago

https://xcancel.com/MenchOsint/status/2060693407132000361

Saudi Arabia privately complained to Washington in early April that UAE retaliatory strikes on Iranian targets; including oil facilities at Bandar Abbas and Asaluyeh, risked Iranian counter-attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and were spiking oil prices - NYT

UAE struck Iranian Oil infrastructures to provoke an Iranian retaliation on its neighbors' energy facilities, in hope to get Saudi Arabia or Qatar directly involved in the war on Iran.

man, Freud would have had a field day with the emiratis' death drive

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this post was submitted on 25 May 2026
140 points (100.0% liked)

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