Ukraine launches heavy Moscow drone attack as Russia votes
Flames, smoke seen near Riyadh airport; Houthis claim attacks on Saudi capital
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| April 2024 |
Showing posts with label drones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drones. Show all posts
Sunday, September 20, 2026
Thursday, July 30, 2026
Middle East tanker traffic July 23-29, 2026: Strait of Hormuz 1.3 per day, Bab-el-Mandeb Strait 10.7 per day
I find the Traffic Trends claim in JMIC Update 078 for BAM REALLY difficult to believe.
Combined cargo and tankers in the tables averages 35 per day on July 28 and July 29 compared with baseline 60.
Baseline tankers alone would be 30 per day, instead they're showing 13 per day average for the two days, 10.7 per day over the seven days.
The claim is that vessels are running dark.
But the Saudis are loading NOTHING at Ras Tanura in the Persian Gulf, where there is also oil in the water in satellite photography, and the Houthis droned Saudi oil infrastructure to Yanbu in the Red Sea on Monday.
Meanwhile somebody droned two gas vessels at the Egyptian port of Damietta on The Med on Wednesday, clearly meant to signal that the Suez option's days may be numbered.
The oil business is a confidence game, and the authorities have a vested interest in maintaining it to prevent public panic.
Gasoline is now $4.49/gallon where I live.
Saturday, July 25, 2026
Every generation spawns its own Sons of Liberty
... Flock, based in Georgia and valued at $8.4bn, says its cameras scan license plates billions of times each month in about 6,000 communities in nearly every state in the US.
... As anger grows towards law enforcement contracts
with Flock, vigilantes across the country are taking matters into their
own hands by smashing, obstructing or taking down these cameras. Many
are leaning into their creative side: “paint bombing” the devices, planting American flags at the scene after damaging them, 3D printing objects to help obstruct the camera’s view and leaving colorful messages like “hahaha get wrecked ya surveilling fucks”. Some influencers are even creating fake cease-and-desist letters from Flock, capitalizing on the company’s negative public perception.
The Guardian has identified at least 33 instances of people damaging, vandalizing and destroying Flock cameras, across 23 states, that appear to have the explicit message of protesting surveillance.
... Not all anti-Flock activism takes the form of camera destruction. A crowdsourced map created by the grassroots group DeFlock maps out more than 115,000 ALPRs across the country. The organization’s site also allows users to see if their license plates have been searched in Flock’s system, get directions to avoid ALPRs and find upcoming meetings about municipal Flock contracts. ...
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Middle East tanker transits July 14-20, 2026: Strait of Hormuz 3.4/day, Bab-el-Mandeb Strait 17.3/day
From JMIC Update 074:
... According to regional reporting, Iran has instructed the Houthis to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route should the United States strike Iranian power infrastructure. Sources close to the group stated that the Houthis have completed preparations to attack shipping, including the deployment of missiles and drones positioned near Bab el-Mandeb. ...
Friday, July 10, 2026
Ukraine can now target just about any Russian fuel tanker at sea and any Russian oil refinery on land whenever it wants, which lately has been daily
Zelenskyy is destroying Russia's ability to make war.
Too bad Donald Trump never does that.
Ukraine escalates attacks on tankers near Crimea as Russian fuel shortages bite
... Ukraine’s drone force commander, Robert Brovdi, known as Magyar, said via Telegram that 14 Russian ships were hit in the Sea of Azov on Thursday evening, taking the number of Russian vessels stuck by Ukrainian drones to 35 over the last 96 hours. CNBC could not independently verify this report.
... Ukraine has frequently targeted high-profile oil refineries in major cities such as Moscow and St. Petersburg in recent weeks as part of a sustained push to cut off Russia’s energy revenues.
Earlier this week, Ukraine marked what appeared to be one of the country’s deepest attacks on Russian territory in the war so far.
Plumes of black smoke were seen billowing from a key oil refinery in the city of Omsk on Tuesday, prompting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to declare that the country’s upgraded drone capabilities have put Siberia “within reach.”
The Omsk facility is situated nearly 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) from Ukrainian territory and close to Russia’s border with Kazakhstan. ...
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Leon Pancetta: Putin on the ropes
Panetta: Putin ‘not quite sure what to do’ after Ukraine drones strike Moscow
... Panetta, who led the Pentagon during former President Obama’s administration, told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert on “On Balance” that he does not “think there’s any question” that Putin is, as Vittert asked, “on the ropes.”
“I just think that it’s clear right now that Putin is cornered in this situation and is not quite sure what to do,” Panetta said. “He obviously ought to, frankly, negotiate some kind of ceasefire, but knowing Putin, he will continue to resist that, and Russia is going to pay the price.”
He later added that the “most important” assistance that the U.S. can provide Ukraine is “whatever it needs in terms of weaponry so Ukraine can present a bigger threat to Russia,” which will “send a message to Putin” and lead to Russia losing the four-year war.”
Panetta said it was critical that President Trump “stand up to a tyrant like Putin.”
“Putin’s not going to win under any circumstances,” Panetta continued. “It would be smart for the president to pick the side that is going to win this war, and that is Ukraine.” ...
Monday, June 29, 2026
Social media have been featuring film of these Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries for weeks, attacks which have produced long lines for fuel across Russia
The main take away is that Ukraine easily penetrates Russian air defenses with these weapons.
If that can be done there, it can be done here, there, and everywhere.
Nota bene.
Putin’s fuel shortage admission signals growing strain on Russia’s energy infrastructure
... Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian oil facilities in recent weeks, seeking to cut off Moscow’s energy revenues and try to force Putin into bringing an end to the more than four-year war.
... Ukraine has also intensified its strikes on Crimea, which Russia seized by force in 2014, as part of a strategy to isolate the peninsula, and has benefited from a series of political tailwinds in recent weeks.
... Ukraine’s president recently signed off on a 40-day operation designed to influence the Kremlin to bring an end to the war. Zelenskyy, who shared the announcement via Telegram on Thursday, gave no further details about the campaign. ...
Saturday, June 20, 2026
Thursday, June 18, 2026
Monday, May 18, 2026
Senate Parliamentarian won't let Republicans spend $1 billion through phony reconciliation interpretation to rebuild East Wing destroyed by the MAGA drone in the Oval Office
Trump ballroom money in question after Senate parliamentarian rules. Thune says GOP will persist
... Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough determined Saturday that the provision, which included $220 million for security upgrades tied to the East Wing ballroom project, fell outside the jurisdiction of the Senate Judiciary Committee. ... The White House and Senate Republicans have framed the $1 billion as Secret Service funding for security upgrades, not direct construction money for the ballroom. ... MacDonough has already ruled against several other pieces of the measure, forcing GOP leaders to revise multiple provisions as they try to keep the package on track. ...
Sheriff says not to worry because no one has told him that he should . . . ROFLMAO
... Cuba has acquired 300 military drones ...
... thousands of Cuban veterans of Russia’s war with Ukraine have come home to tell their leaders of the effectiveness of drones on the battlefield. U.S. officials have learned more about Cuba’s drone program from Venezuela since removing Nicolás Maduro from power earlier this year ...
Wednesday, April 29, 2026
Sunday, April 19, 2026
Dumbass Trump, who never paid the slightest attention to what's been happening in and to Ukraine, is surprised how easily Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz with drones
The Wall Street Journal, here:
... The strait has been a particular source of frustration. Before the U.S. went to war, Trump told his team that Iran’s government would likely capitulate before closing the strait, and that even if Tehran tried, the U.S. military could handle it, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Some of the president’s advisers were caught off guard that tanker traffic would grind to a halt so quickly after the bombing began, according to a person in contact with the White House.
Trump has since marveled at the ease with which the strait was closed. A guy with a drone can shut it down, Trump has said to people, expressing belated irritation that the key waterway was so vulnerable. He has publicly oscillated between demanding support from allies to help open it and insisting that the U.S. doesn’t need or want military assistance. ...
White House concerns about security threats have been heightened, aides said.
In recent weeks, for example, Trump and his team have noticed an increase in security. On a cloudless night in April at Mar-a-Lago, every umbrella was up on the patio in an unusual arrangement, guests said. Club members were told that there was an effort to limit drone visibility, a Mar-a-Lago member said.
Rubio told others about standing outside his home at the military compound where he lives and watching a suspicious drone, administration officials said. Secret Service protection teams have expanded to carry weapons White House officials had never seen before. ...
Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Trump's UN ambassador put this up about an hour before Trump decided to let Iran, out of all the countries in the world, charge a toll to get through an international waterway
20 millions barrels a day passing through is $20 million a day or $7.3 billion a year, going straight into the hands of Iran to build more missiles, drones, and nuclear weapons for to wipe Israel off the map and rule the Middle East.
Brilliant.
I'm sure all our new friends in the Persian Gulf who let us build bases to protect them are just thrilled.
Trump belongs in a padded cell, not the Oval Office.
The world is spitting at us in contempt this morning.
Sunday, March 29, 2026
CENTCOM boasts hitting 10k+ targets in one month of war, and yet Iran continues to wage it successfully against Israel, the UAE, and others
The point of war is to stop the enemy's ability to wage it.
That clearly has not happened in one month of operations.
The reason is because, despite all the sound and fury, the U.S. and Israel are not waging a real war.
War means destroying Iran's country utterly, depriving it of food and water, electricity and heat, shelter, income from oil, and imports of materials.
They can't bring themselves to do that. They don't have the nerve.
Worse, Iran is successfully depriving its neighbors of some of those things.
Sending in boots on the ground in these unacceptable circumstances is simply playing with more soldiers' lives.
Get serious or go home.
Saturday, March 28, 2026
Drone swarms of unknown origin numbering 12-15 interfered with B-52 attack runs to Iran at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana for four hours per incident the week of March 9
Sophisticated drones attacked Louisiana’s Barksdale bomber base
... Barksdale AFB does not have air defenses, nor does it have fighter jets that can take down drones.
The airbase does have some electronic countermeasures that were designed to disable GPS and the datalinks between the drones and their remote operators. The electronic countermeasures failed to work. ...
The drones could have come from a potential adversary, China being best equipped to produce a drone of the type that flew over Barksdale. From what has been observed, the drone design surpasses almost anything in the US arsenal.
What we know is that the drones had extraordinary range, could resist broad spectrum jamming, and featured non-commercial signal characteristics. Even more provocatively, the drones used various ingress and egress routes and operated in dispersed patterns, making traceability (via trying to triangulate on signals) virtually impossible.
We do not know if the drones transmitted information while they were over the base or stored information they transmitted later, or whether the drones may have had satellite links.
... realistically the US is years away from a real domestic counter drone capability. Hot Air covered the story yesterday.
Friday, March 20, 2026
The Trump administration learned nothing from its fight to a draw with the Houthis last year
... Iran is still believed to have a vast stockpile of mines, cruise missiles on trucks and hundreds of undamaged boats in hidden facilities with deeply dug tunnels along the coast and on islands, said Farzin Nadimi, an expert on Iranian defenses at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“I think it will take weeks to reach a point where there can be safe operations in the strait,” he said. “Even then, a lot of the Iranian assets will survive.” ...
Houthi militants in Yemen, who are aligned with Iran, waged a two-month campaign last year with missiles, drones and unmanned boats against international shipping that parallels Iran’s closure of the strait. The U.S. struck more than 1,000 targets in Yemen, but never succeeded in halting Houthi attacks fully until the two sides declared a truce in May. ...
More.
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Thursday, March 5, 2026
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