(credit to RomCom1989 for the title)
Image is of an Iranian soldier exulting in the launch of a ballistic missile aimed towards the imperialists.
short summary this week: US doing pretty bad and Iran doing pretty good all things considered, Strait of Hormuz is closed and will almost certainly remain so until the end of the war, Trump has no idea what to do, global economic crisis from strait closure is basically guaranteed at this point but who will ultimately benefit most and who will ultimately lose most is still up in the air.
longish summary is below in the spoiler tags
longish summary
While there are still major debates raging about how badly things are actually going right now and what the post-conflict map may look like, as we blaze past the two week mark on this conflict, it's becoming ever more obvious to almost everybody involved that this war is not going according to plan, if there ever was one. US airstrikes are, from what I can best determine, still mostly done with relatively less powerful (but still very dangerous!) and much less plentiful standoff munitions launched from bombers, though certain border and coastal areas are being struck with more powerful and more plentiful short-range guided bombs. This indicates that Iranian air defense is still sufficiently functional throughout most of Iran that the kinds of true carpet bombing done against Korea and Vietnam in the past (and Gaza very recently) is still too risky, though their airspace is still very much under assault, as we appear to have images of small groups of Western fighters breaching relatively deep into the country. Under some kind of Iranian pressure (drones? missiles? speedboats?) one aircraft carrier has retreated to a thousand kilometers from Iran, hiding behind the mountains of Oman; the other is sitting in the Red Sea, rather pointedly out of range of Yemen. As such, the ranges that Western aircraft must travel to bombard Iran is increasing, which reduces their frequency and increases strain on maintenance and logistics in the medium and long term.
While there is tons to say about the current social, economic, and military state of Iran, I don't think I have a reliable enough picture to give a good summary beyond "they aren't close to defeat or regime change". What has instead captured much of the world's attention is the continuing blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has inspired some of the most delusional statements I have seen so far in my life, which is sincerely a profound achievement. For those out of the loop: the strait is currently closed to all shipping except those going to very particular countries (I've seen China and Bangladesh mentioned, and apparently India is in the process of working something out and may succeed or fail). This is because most ships are not risking the trip due to the ~20 tankers and container ships that Iran has already struck and disabled in the strait and in the Persian Gulf. Additionally, the threat from Iran's military to Navy ships is such that attempting to create a convoy to guide tankers through it is suicidal to both the Navy and merchant ships. Right now it cannot be done, and it very well might be the case that it could never be done, simply due to the combination of Iran's naval forces (hundreds, perhaps thousands, of armed, specialized speedboats designed for exactly this purpose), their drones (in the tens of thousands), their torpedoes, and if all else fails, their naval mines.
The Western reaction to this has been so moronic that it has almost integer underflowed into being philosophical: what does it truly mean for a passage to be "closed"? Has Iran truly "closed" the strait, or is the risk of traversing it simply too high for these cowardly sailors (who, for some strange reason, seem to care about their "lives" and "families")? How is it possible for Iran to have closed the strait if, according to the West, Iran's military has been totally obliterated? All these questions and more plague the minds of those who cannot accept the now-proven fact that there are indeed military forces on this planet that the US Navy with all its aircraft carriers and destroyers and submarines cannot defeat; and one of those minds is, rather hilariously, Trump himself. His thrice-daily positive affirmations that Iran has been defeated are taking on an increasingly deranged and almost pitiable tone; the lamentations of a man who has finally found a situation where him merely stating that something is true is insufficient to change the situation one iota. Despite stating that some kind of naval compact or alliance is being established to protect shipping, every Western country so far - from the UK, to France, to Japan, to Australia - has publicly stated that they will not risk their ships to do so. All this as the continued blockade yet further guarantees a worldwide energy, production, transportation, and food crisis that will have major global ramifications for at least the rest of the decade and almost certainly beyond.
If the anti-imperialists play their cards right, the US could lose much from this crisis, and others, like China and Russia, could gain a great deal. To quote Nia Frome (co-founder of Red Sails): "An effective Marxist has to be enough of an accelerationist/pervert to treat the obviously bad things that are going to happen as the political opportunities they are."
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
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.
Really appreciate all your high quality posts, but since when is LITERALLY EVERONE a friggin military analyst?? Had to ask AI to translate this for me.
For ppl who also didn't understood most of the words:
Yes, it makes sense, and it's a good observation. The situation you're describing involves a critical shift in Israel's defense strategy, forced by a key vulnerability. Here's a breakdown in simpler terms:Think of Israel's missile defense system like a high-tech security guard for a large building. It normally works like this:
Advanced Radar (X‑band): This is the guard's high‑resolution camera and smart software. It can see threats from very far away and, crucially, can tell the difference between a real bomb (the warhead) and trash/decoys thrown in the air to confuse it (chaff, debris, booster stages). This allows for smart, efficient responses. Interceptor Missiles: These are the guard's premium security tools. They are expensive and limited in number. Interceptor Doctrine: Normally, the guard uses the smart camera to identify only the real bomb, then fires one expensive tool to stop it. This is cost‑effective and sustainable. What Changed?
The claim is that Iran destroyed Israel's high‑resolution cameras (the X‑band radars). Without them, the security guard is now blind in a critical way:
He can still detect that "something" is incoming (via simpler radar), but he cannot tell what is a real bomb versus a decoy or piece of junk. Therefore, his old smart strategy collapses. To ensure safety, he must now fire many of his expensive tools at every piece of debris in the incoming cloud, hoping one hits the real bomb. This rapidly wastes his limited stock of premium tools. Iran's New Tactics Amplify the Problem
Iran has now started using a specific type of missile (Khorramshahr‑4 with submunitions). Think of its payload like a cluster bomb:
Instead of one big bomb, it carries many smaller explosives that scatter over a wide area just before impact. These are designed to "pepper" entire airbases—damaging multiple jets, runways, fuel systems, and shelters simultaneously.
This creates a devastating dilemma for Israel:
Without the smart radar, Israel cannot identify and intercept the main missile before it scatters its cluster bombs. The Consequences and Your Observation
Interceptor Waste: Israel has to waste its expensive, limited interceptor missiles on decoys and debris, quickly running out of them. This is likely why they are "running out of interceptor missiles." The Jets Must Scramble: Since interceptors are being wasted and the cluster bombs can destroy planes on the ground, Israel's only way to protect its vital aircraft is to get them airborne immediately when any launch is detected.
This is what you hear: the "rumble of jets" after a siren. They are scrambling to avoid being destroyed in their hangars. This is extremely costly: it burns expensive fuel, wears out planes, exhausts pilots, and reduces overall readiness. The Strategic Trap: If Iran increases the frequency of attacks, this cycle becomes unsustainable:
Jets constantly scrambling drain resources. Interceptors are wasted. Eventually, Israel might have to evacuate its planes to another country to save them. If that happens, it loses its ability to launch any offensive operations, effectively crippling its military power. Summary of the Logic Chain
Loss of Critical Radar: Means Israel can't distinguish real threats from decoys. Interceptor Waste: Forces inefficient use of expensive defense missiles, depleting stocks. New Threat (Cluster Bombs): Targets airbases directly, making jets vulnerable on the ground. Forced Response: To save its jets, Israel must scramble them at every alarm. Your Observation: The "rumble of jets" after sirens is the visible sign of this forced, costly, and unsustainable defensive scramble.
So, your inference is correct: the sound of jets scrambling after distant sirens is a strong indicator that Israel's normal, efficient defense posture has collapsed, and it is now resorting to a desperate, resource‑draining tactic to protect its most vital assets—its aircraft—from a new and effective form of attack.
Instead of AI, consider searching up the terms and then reading for 18 hours straight as you go down a Wikipedia/defense forum hyperfixation rabbit hole. You will come out the other end still not knowing how the hell they got aesa radar to work but at least you don't poison the water of a small town in Arizona with every prompt.
I tried that with the THAAD and I still have no idea wtf a THAAD is. My brain is military resistant (even the military confirmed it, although they said I'm 'useless')
this is from memory but: it stands for terminal high altitude area defense and it consists of like nine trucks, a radar (AN/TPY-2, very expensive) and I think two command & control and six launcher trucks
I think if you don't focus on the jargon its easier, e.g. people talk about specific models of weapon or radar or whatever, but all you really need to know about a radar is that some are better at detecting things and some are better at tracking things (locking on), while fancier ones can detect and track multiple things at the same time.
If you don't want to worry about THAAD in terms of the jargon, you can "translate" it into that its a missile system that is designed to shoot other missiles down before they can hit what they want to hit. The "terminal high altitude" part just means it tries to do this at the last part of the other missile's flight, right around when the warhead is starting to make its descent.
The most expensive and effective defense system the Americans have against ballistic missiles* It's designed to intercept an incoming missile just before or after it re-enters the atmosphere (~150km above sea level) - The T in THAAD comes from how it targets missiles in their terminal phase.
It smacks into the target directly rather than having an explosive warhead. Idk why this is preferable but I guess it's more likely to ensure a kill? Patriot and some other types will fire shrapnel instead. Because of how fast ballistic missiles can move, THAAD relies on expensive radars deployed closer to launch sites to ensure early warning for an intercept. Iran has been dismantling these with extreme prejudice.
There's not many of launchers, missiles, OR radars, and they're pretty slow to produce: We're talking dozens of interceptors per year at most. They're generally effective (as long as its early-earning radars aren't fucked) and cause a decent fuss when they're deployed near the DPRK, Russia, or China; but evidently it's not infallible.
PS: here's a nifty diagram of the differences between a few categories of missiles.
^* they actually have an even more advanced system, GBI, but there's only 44 missiles and it's only stationed around the continental United States.^
If birdcat couldn't understand the original article, they won't be able to understand this.
THAAD is the high-up-in-the-sky shoot-down-missiles thingy.
Compared to the other shoot-down-missiles thingies that don't shoot high-up-in-the-sky.
what if i dont care about arizona?
Ur so real for that but also these datacenters are gonna fuck up global south communities too.
I'm trying to figure out what the AI actually did here other than say "Imagine the Iron Dome is a security guard" lol
America doesn't have malls anymore, can I get some kind of burger metaphor
Same.
fuck you eat shit
I understood the original statement, and I wasn't able to find the AI rephrasing insightful.
I am curious. Could you explain to me specific elements that were unclear before, and what sentences from the AI helped elucidate things for you?