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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 is one of many rallies in Iran in support of the government and the leadership.


short summary here, longish summary in spoiler tags below: Western standoff munition stockpiles now substantially depleted, therefore Western aircraft activity directly over Iran increasing (as is footage of attempted and actual hits against them) as the US attempts to transition more to using bombs dropped directly onto targets, Iran is increasingly in the driver's seat and controlling the conflict, world economy is fucked and yet could still get much worse very soon, if you require a car to live (especially if it's not electric) and cannot work from home then you have my sincere condolences

longish summary hereWhile I've seen several estimates on the current stockpiles of US and Zionist missiles and interceptors - somewhere in the realm of a third depleted, perhaps even up to half - it seems like we're reaching the point at which the US does not want to commit even more standoff munitions and is trying their luck against the Iranian air defense network directly.

We have already seen footage of Iran attempting to shoot down, and sometimes actually striking Western fifth generation planes like the F-35, and more footage along those lines is appearing for other plane models (with one side claiming that they evaded interception and the other claiming they hit it, etc etc, propaganda is everywhere, you know the drill). How much the US is willing to test their planes against Iranian air defense is a matter of debate. Strictly speaking, a few fighter jets and bombers shot down would be no catastrophic loss in the grand scheme of things, as the US has hundreds. However, the narrative of such a thing would be quite bad for the US - "You're telling me an OBLITERATED Iranian military can shoot down some of our most advanced equipment?? What are we gonna do against China?!" - and given Trump's deranged jingoistic rhetoric aimed to buoy markets, it's clear that he cares very deeply about narratives. Additionally, with Chinese exports of several critical metals to the US banned, the prospect of replacing these aircraft (and indeed the standoff munitions and the interceptors and the ground radars etc) is looking questionable.

All the while, Iran continues its strikes across the Middle East. Missile and drone strikes are reportedly on the uptick again, demonstrating that Iranian military capabilities have by no means been "destroyed" as Western propaganda claim, though it's impossible to sure there was ever a significant downtick due to Western censorship and outright fabrications. People around the world are gradually realizing the magnitude of the economic disaster that is occurring and may yet occur. Refineries and factories which deal with oil and gas directly are starting to slow down or stop production, and those who make products downstream of those are starting to follow them like dominoes. Outrage at gas station prices is rising, and many countries are considering limiting civilian driving and implementing work-from-home policies akin to the coronavirus pandemic. And now, threats are being made by Trump against both Kharg Island (where most Iranian oil is shipped from) and the Iranian electrical grid - which is highly decentralized and would require a prolonged bombing campaign to completely take out -and the promised Iranian reprisal would be apocalyptic to the Middle East. It would make oil prices rise to previously unfathomable heights as oil infrastructure turned off and remained off for months, perhaps years, and set in motion one of the world's greatest humanitarian catastrophes as the desalination necessary for tens of millions of people is shut down. It would also not be a symmetrical problem, as Iran does not rely on desalination for its water supply.


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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[-] Tervell@hexbear.net 74 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

lol. lmao https://archive.ph/MEUh3 (machine-translated)

USA circumvents Swiss payment freeze for Patriot air defense system

  • Switzerland stopped payments for the Patriot air defense system in the fall because delivery has been delayed by years.
  • Research by SRF now shows: The payment freeze is ineffective.
  • The US is diverting large amounts of Swiss fighter jet money and using it for Patriot.

more

It was intended as leverage: In September, Switzerland halted payments for the Patriot air defense system. It didn't work. Since then, the US has simply been siphoning off the money Switzerland transfers for the F-35 fighter jet. Defense chief Urs Loher confirms the investigation. He also told SRF the exact sum that the US has already diverted from the fighter jet program to the Patriot missile system. However, under pressure from US authorities, he is no longer allowed to disclose the amount. "It's a low three-figure million-franc sum," is all Loher will say. He is referring to well over 100 million Swiss francs.

The "fine print" makes it possible

The US is circumventing the payment freeze by diverting funds for the Patriot fighter jet program. How is this possible? In the US, arms deals with foreign countries always go through the government – ​​specifically, through the Foreign Military Sales Program (FMS). The US maintains a fund within the FMS framework for all Swiss arms purchases. Whether it's for the F-35 or the Patriot: all Swiss payments end up in this fund. If one project runs short of money, the US is allowed to access funds for other projects. That's precisely what the US authorities are now doing: fighter jet money is flowing to Patriot.

VBS needs to inject more money

“From my perspective, this is very unsatisfactory,” says armaments chief Urs Loher. The diversion of funds from the F-35 to the Patriot is putting the Federal Department of Defence (VBS) under pressure. This is because it is creating gaps in the F-35 program. At the end of the year, the VBS had to prematurely transfer several tens of millions of Swiss francs to the US for the F-35 in order to fill these gaps. These early payments are exacerbating existing financial problems: The VBS currently lacks the funds to tackle already approved arms procurements. The US is likely to continue diverting funds to Patriot missiles this year as well. The payment freeze is ineffective. Defense chief Loher defends it nonetheless, arguing that it was a political signal. He also claims that the freeze has enabled the US to be more transparent with Switzerland about the years of delays.

"Trust in the USA is suffering"

YOU'RE ONLY NOW LEARNING THIS!?

The development has been poorly received in parliament. "It's infuriating when we halt payments and then the money is simply diverted," says SVP National Councillor and security policy expert Werner Salzmann. His FDP colleague Josef Dittli criticizes the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (VBS), saying it was apparently unaware that this circumvention was possible. SP National Councillor Priska Seiler-Graf feels vindicated in her previous demand to halt the Patriot missile procurement. The SP wants to avoid arms purchases from the US as much as possible. SVP politician Salzmann also says his trust in the US has suffered: "More and more problems with the interpretation of the FMS contracts are emerging. We need to carefully consider whether we even want to conclude such contracts anymore."

Power relations are against Switzerland

The Swiss Federal Department of Defence (VBS) is continuing talks with the US. Armaments chief Loher wants to persuade the US to postpone payments for the Patriot missiles. After all, the delivery is also delayed. The outcome is uncertain, says Loher – but he also says: "The balance of power is quite clear."

[-] Lovely_sombrero@hexbear.net 52 points 3 days ago

From my perspective, this is very unsatisfactory,

US confiscating their Patriots for use in the ME and then just pocketing the money anyway is a bit unsatisfactory, yes. Time to send more money for the F35 money black hole project!

[-] FortifiedAttack@hexbear.net 28 points 3 days ago

Hilarious sequence of events:

  • 2014: Swiss voters reject Gripen deal with Sweden (53.4%)
  • 2020: Swiss voters approve new jets in general by a tiny majority (50.1%)
  • 2022: Federal Council denies a vote on the F-35 deal because of "national security" reasons (read: THE SCARY RUSSIANS!!!!!!!)
  • 2026: Switzerland gets fucked by the Americans.

Russia's worst crime against Europe throughout the Ukraine war was simply existing on the same planet as them. This heinous act drove them right into the ravenous mouth of the insatiable American beast, a fate they would never recover from.

this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2026
167 points (99.4% liked)

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