Roadsternut

Some of the local armies are a pretty shady lot. The UAE army is mostly non-Emirati; Colombians, Sudanese, Yemeni guns for hire. Generally speaking, in the Gulf states, unless you're in the Royal families, no one joins the army if they have to. When I was in Bahrain, the BDF was either Jordanians (crack troops really) or pot bellied Bahrainis who abandoned a desert exercise when they ran out of Pepsi. These days, Bahrain has shifted recruitment to more Sunni (ie Salafist) Syrians and Balochs from Pakistan, and naturalised them, to change the demographics of the island away from majority Shia (ISIS flags were seen being flown at one time in Hamed Town, which is a new town built for the police). Many of the Gulf states, even Saudi on the Eastern side, have substantive Shia populations. And the Shia are the downtrodden lot, treated like <deleted> at times. In these countries, you join the army if you can't get a noddy job with the government. But the Shia who join, and I've witnessed this, are regularly denied promotion. Very sectarian. I wouldn't trust them in Iran not to switch sides. Essentially the governments in the region buy off the populations with trinkets, with stability being a mirage.

I don't think there has ever been much in the way of US consumer goods in Europe. Something to do with their 110v. Chinese cars are still a small minority; fast growing sure, but from a low base. Its pushing European car makers, eg. Renault through Dacia are coming up with very credible EVs at the right price point. The car parks are not "flooded" with Chinese cars, unless you are referring to the MG dealership customer service carpark. The world isn't a binary choice.

Beats your "only known to a few hundred". Enjoy Pravda and Potato soup Comrade. Don't forget friday is payday in St Petersburg (Russia, not Florida). You got other accounts on other forums to attend to before end of your shift. Don't forget to update the handover notes.

Australia and New Zealand are a colonial people; there are a lot of (revanchist) people in the region who think the colonial people should go "home". Eurasian enthusiasts in Russia, such as Putin, label the British/Americans/Canadians/Australians/New Zealanders as all the same people, the Atlanticists, because we have built a civilisation based on maritime trade, but the rest of the world doesn't do that. His mentor, Dugin, goes a step further, and believes the world would be better off without the Atlanticists, ie. kill them all. It's utter fruit loop nonsense. Carney has talked of a "Middle Power" strategy. https://carnegieendowment.org/emissary/2026/01/carney-middle-powers-davos-speech Many a think tank has picked apart the Davos speech, exposing the flaws in the vision, but even the strongest critics like ex-con Conrad Black, found much to admire abou it.

https://bsky.app/profile/chrismurphyct.bsky.social/post/3mgqotmihcs2w Confused war aims, lack of planning The thing about sea mines: Iran only has to say they have mined the waterway, and that has the same effect as actually mining the waterway. Commercial shipping stops, and minesweepers have to deploy, very close to the Iranian coast to prove a negative. 6000 square miles, at least, have to be screen, not one, not twice, but probably 10 times. The currents in the Straits of Hormuz are exceptionally complex, driven by tides, but also driven by the mixing of highly saline Persian Gulf water with less salty Gulf of Oman. Waters moves in and out of the Gulf, but also up and down. What this means is that minesweeping is complex, perhaps impossible, especially in a hostile environment. You can't do a simple grid sweep and declare it clear, because mines can pop up behind you. What's the minesweeping capability in the region? Surprisingly, f**k all, except a dubious autonomous system. Until January, the Royal Navy's presence in Bahrain was minesweepers. RN minesweepers have been deployed in Bahrain for 46 years. In January, last minesweeper, HMS Middleton, was withdrawn, following HMS Bangor and RFA Cardigan Bay. Terrific timing. Americans might be thinking, typical Brits, not spending on defence. Woah, not so fast. At least this is one example of the Brits hanging around a bit longer (and they might have a solution, albeit untested). The US had 4 Avenger class minesweepers in the Gulf. They were pulled out in September 2025, and have just arrived in the Philadelphia yards for scrapping. They were supposed to be replaced by cheapo Independance class Littoral Combat Ships. However, in the Navy, the LCS are known as Little Crappy Ships. Ominously, the Indepedance class LCS is know to suffer from cracked hulls. https://www.stripes.com/branches/navy/2025-09-25/bahrain-minesweeper-lcs-decomission-19218814.html The US Navy basically has no minesweeping capability in the Gulf. This is why the President was demanding, in ALL CAPs, that the Iranians remove any mines they had deployed. Well, besides having no minesweepers themselves, the rest of the Iranian navy is sleeping with Davy's Locker. The Americans say they have sunk the Iranian's 16 minelaying vessal. Ok, that doesn't mean the Iranians can no longer lay mines. Any ship can lay mines. The Gulf is full of tens of thousands of Dhows, all looking identical, carrying various loads, small and bulky. A lot of them will be transporting big cylindrical metal objects on their decks, diesel for Karachi. Muscat etc. Looks a lot like a deck of mines. So the Royal Navy thought ahead a little. They came up with the RNMB Harrier. This is currently still in testing trials in the Gulf........ https://www.navalnews.com/event-news/dsei-uk-2025/2025/09/royal-navy-brings-mine-sweeping-back-into-the-fleet/

Including Israel. Strip out US defence aid ("free stuff"), Israel spends less than 5% of GDP, so below the target that NATO members agree they need to aim for, despite, on the face of it, being in a more peaceful environment.

Gulf Air evacuated their fleet from Al Muharraq. Bahrain is now having to make choices what it can defend, and what it can't. In Saudi Arabia, USAF KC135 tankers have pulled out from Prince Sultan Air Base, because the base can't be defended. Again, some hard choices are being made what can be defended, and what can't. The depletion of Iranian offensive weapons might be a mirage. No proof has been offered about the destruction of launchers. For the drone launchers, the launcher might be a standardised trailer design, that can be knocked up in any bus depot garage. Or a frame fitted to a pickup (see what the Russians have been doing with Dodge trucks), or even a collapsable trolley which kind of looks like a gurney. There is published evidence that the Iranians have been using deception tactics to fake battle damage, using the same techniques as Russia; eg 3D images of aircraft on runways is actually quite effective.

Only "known to a couple of hundered (sic) people"? <deleted>. In 2021, 5000 people across Russia were arrested in protests over his detention after returning from Germany. Nicknamed the "Navalny Protests", these have been called the largest protests in Russia since 2011. Reuters put the Moscow protests at 40,000. Your Left Wing Commie pals try to down play that. In 2013, he ran for Moscow Mayor. The man you say was only known to a few people peaked at about 20% in opinion polls. He was poisoned in Russia, went to Germany for treatment. The reason your Commie friends let his go is because they are dumb commies, who though Western physicians were no dfferent to their Commie physicians, and so they expected him to die like Litvinenko, in pain, surrounded by family, as a public punishment Of course, like in Salisbury, German doctors proved way better than your pathetic butchers you call doctors in Moscow. The Commies are so low that they send doctors, who swear an oath to do no harm, to murder people. Like the Nazis. Russia has a track record of over dramatic assassinations. They could have simply shot Trotsky, but your Commie masters chose an ice pick, in Mexico, to send a message.

That ship was unladen, looking at the waterline. What on earth were they doing trying to do the Hormuz run in an empty ship? Big bonuese offered? Ship was sailing in broad daylight to India.

Actually there could be significance in the wearing of a hat (and maybe weight), when considering other observations. Right hand; routinely now seen with makeup, sometimes seen heavily bruised. Interpretation is a drip has been fitted. Apparent scarring seen on neck; some thought shingles, also consistant with radiotherapy Hat; Might be campaign trail mode of thinking, even at a dignified transfer, worrying about the votes. Might also be afraid of his comb over blowing. He's as bald as a coot on top, and the Trump hair is an elaborate comb over. Further hair loss might exacerbate embarassment. The official reason is that he is experiencing a skin condition on his neck (thus acknowledging its not a trick of the light etc), that is being treated with a topical cream. I've never seen photos of him as a younger man with such a rash. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/02/trump-neck-rash I see no reason why any world leader should have a life threatening condition divulged to the public during a period of heightened international tension. Roosevelt went years making sure people didn't see him in a wheelchair. Biden likely witheld information about a Prostate Cancer diagnosis while in office, Reagan's team likely covered up early Alzheimers, again during a period of global instability.

Sarcasm doesn't work on a keyboard. In fact, he's being stupid, while pretending to be clever, such as when he interjected on AF1. Hegseth was asked about it, and fairly correctly responded they were investigating (which means they aren't sure exactly where all their Tomahawks ended up). Trump came in with some rubbish about Iranian accuracy, which he probably knows nothing about. He's a bull<deleted>ter, thats how property developers get on. You know how estate agents/realtors sell property; pure, stinking bull<deleted>.

Looser rules of engagement is likely the reason the school was hit with a Tomohawk https://bsky.app/profile/acyn.bsky.social/post/3mgqqvbiny22n One explanation proferred is that the Americans were working off old data; the school was part of essentially a IRGC Headquarters Compound, and had failed to update the data with changes to the compound that involved walling off the school and clinic from access to thr rest of the compound (ie. these were no longer IRGC facilities, likely opened up to locals, but they didn't want civvies to be casually walking around a military base after the school run). On 2-March Secretary Hegseth mentioned getting rid of "stupid rules of engagement". Well hitting a school, accidently or otherwise, is why ROEs have developed. Rules of Engagement evolved from ancient, often unwritten, constraints on behavior in war, such as the chivalric codes of the Middle Ages. The Just War concept evolved in Egypt, but as everyone knows, it was St Augustine, as he formulated the Original Sin doctrine, who came up with the Just War theory, that underpins our societal normalities for at least the last 80 years (which many on this forum seem oblivious to, given a few questions, from I suspect no-Christians, who thought there was no such thing as an illegal war). ROEs became a thing in Vietnam, and really formalised in 1994.

Apparently Russia making more money is good for America, though I thought the main reason was to help India, like the main reason to bomb Iran was to help Iranians.

USAF KC135s pulled out from Prince Sultan AB https://defenceaffairs.substack.com/p/us-moves-kc-135s-from-saudi-air-base This follows reports in the last 24 hours of Gulf Air pulling their fleet from Al Muharraq to Saudi Arabia. The Iranian missile/drone threat we are told has been >90% reduced or nullified. Are interceptors taking out Iranian drones or are Iranian drones taking out interceptors?

Russia not providing Iran with targeting information related to the Americans.