this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2026
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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 of the Jazan refinery complex in southwestern Saudi Arabia, near the Yemeni border. The big squares depict large thermal signatures - i.e. giant fires caused by missile strikes.


My weekly preamble is in spoiler tags below.

preambleAs many predicted quite early on in this conflict, the US simply does not have the stockpiles nor production lines to maintain the firing rates we saw in March and April. There's at least five strictly military problems:

  1. Not enough interceptors to shoot down Iranian missiles, and many missiles get through regardless. This includes a dearth of interceptors in the Zionist entity proper.

  2. Not enough stand-off munitions to cause a real breakdown of Iran's military and society. There's enough left in the submarines and in whatever stockpiles they have mustered to give one last very serious barrage before they're just completely out (unless they start taking all their missiles out of the Pacific and Europe), but even if this is done, this shock and awe failed the first time around, and the missile cities have proven impregnable to Western military technology.

  3. Not enough penetration of Iranian airspace to allow a transition from stand-off bombs to their near-endless supply of glide/gravity bombs. On the edges of Iranian territory it can be possible, but doing so any further inside causes exponential risk to the bombers. Notably, Reaper drones can carry JDAMs, hence why they continue to be used so much despite how often they're getting shot down.

  4. Not enough naval power to reopen Hormuz. Otherwise, the US could hypothetically wait out Iran and exert economic and covert pressure to encourage political collapse; with Hormuz in Iran's hands, the US's delaying tactics favor Iran instead.

  5. Not enough functioning and safe bases from which to launch counterattacks. Due to debasification (a word that has now spread far and wide after Amerikanet's coining, lol), the US has been pushed back away from the Gulf. This dangerously overpopulates rear bases with planes and makes it so sortie rates are reduced due to how much distance you have to travel and how many refuelers you need per bomber.

No angry proclamations, media offensives, or tacky AI image posts can change this reality, and boy is Trump putting out a lot of that last one. This is why, after the two weeks of attacks we just saw, we see the US very reticent to try and escalate further, and Trump's threat over last weekend to really start bombing Iran did not occur. This is being reflected in the US media, with several worried articles talking about how there just aren't enough missiles to keep the conflict going much longer. One of the only options left is to use ground/special forces to do... something, though pretty much no matter what target he selects, it's hard to imagine it breaking Iran, or doing much to end the conflict, or even being a successful operation past the point where you've landed troops somewhere. We saw the "pilot rescue" (uranium heist) operation fail and aborted before the forces could even step foot off the runway they landed on.

It is into this environment that Ansarallah has suddenly declared a blockade of Saudi Arabia - an architect of the blockade of Yemen and one of the major causes of the country's internal divisions between Ansarallah and comprador groups - and is turning their ships around at the entrance to the Red Sea, thereby cutting off a good chunk of the Saudi's remaining oil exports. Ansarallah has proven they were not interested in some cautious, gradual climb up the escalation ladder; when the Saudis hit a couple Yemeni port facilities, they went ahead and hit Jazan and Yanbu so hard that the fires were still raging a day or two after the initial strikes. The US is apparently asking for the MoU back, and this time with Ansarallah also placated, but it appears Iran is much less interested in the MoU now after it was thoroughly violated by the US the first time - and if it does return to it, it might have much more hardline demands.


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:

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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[–] seaposting@hexbear.net 27 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Malaysia’s reliance on GLCs weighs on productivity, says OECD

KUALA LUMPUR (July 28): Malaysia’s continued reliance on government-linked companies (GLCs) and government-linked investment companies (GLICs) in strategic sectors has created an uneven playing field for private firms, hindering competition and weighing on productivity, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said.

The OECD attributed the prominence of GLCs to the legacy of the New Economic Policy, which sought to empower the Bumiputera community but had also entrenched the presence of state-linked firms in strategic industries, often at the expense of private sector participation.

It urged Malaysia to ensure state-owned enterprises compete on equal terms with private firms, saying this would help foster a more dynamic and competitive business environment.

Why should Malaysia, a country that averaged 4.5% GDP growth since 2000, take advice from a club that averaged 1.9% GDP growth? The country’s private GFCF has increased by more than 50% since 2015, while public investment has remained stagnant as per the national accounts. Can the OECD explain where “crowding out” has occurred? Need to look at specific sectoral analysis instead of these vague assertions seen in their survey.

An interesting database I was looking through recently: pre-tax income inequality in Malaysia is now lower than Germany according to the World Inequality Database. When not too long ago Malaysia was equivalent to Argentina. Pre-tax and Post-tax Income Gini Index has dropped since 2000 while simultaneously maintaining higher GDPpc growth - which OECD member can say the same?

Malaysia prioritises wage growth over GST return

Economy Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir said Malaysia will prioritise raising wages and expanding the tax base before considering a goods and services tax (GST) return, following the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) recommendation for a broader consumption tax.

Akmal said only about 15% of Malaysia's workforce currently pays income tax, underscoring the need to address the country's structural wage issues before introducing broader taxes that could weigh on household consumption.

"While we respect the view from OECD, at the same time, I think what's more important is how to broaden our tax income," he said during a press conference after the launch of the latest OECD Economic Survey of Malaysia on Tuesday. "Without the higher pay or better wages, then whatever tax that we introduce may have some repercussions in terms of what people consume or what people earn."

Politely asking the OECD to fuck off.

[–] somename@hexbear.net 7 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Real economists are high priest of capital moment. No real reason to justify this beyondPublic Sector Bad”.

[–] MLRL_Commie@hexbear.net 7 points 2 hours ago

Worse the capitalists themselves are the high priests. These shitt economists are the low priests

[–] SickSemper@hexbear.net 29 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (4 children)

In today’s HoI4-ass news, Saudi Arabia appears to have bombed PMF positions in Iraq

per centcom it was a joint strike

videos from the usual watermarkers

https://t.me/Alibk3/32164

https://t.me/naya_foriraq/85987

2 casualties so far per naya who cite a security source

https://t.me/naya_foriraq/85994

[–] edge@hexbear.net 8 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Apparently they're technically part of the Iraqi armed forces? I doubt Iraq is going to respond to their military being bombed though.

[–] SickSemper@hexbear.net 3 points 1 hour ago

yes the pmf are technically part of the state. how that works in practice will be seen in a couple months when the deadline to disarm expires

[–] Hestia@hexbear.net 17 points 4 hours ago

I was actually just thinking about how we weren't fighting wars on enough fronts. Glad we've rectified this problem.

[–] Euergetes@hexbear.net 13 points 5 hours ago

me when im saving face and i want to show im strong

striking the other (perceived weaker) player that can hit my refineries

doggirl-smart now the PMF won't hit my refineries (the grains of the retribution may be written upon the sky)

[–] dead@hexbear.net 16 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

** U.S., Saudi Forces Strike Iran-Backed Terrorist Sites in Iraq **

TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. Central Command and the Saudi Arabian Armed Forces conducted precision strikes in Iraq, July 28, against Iran-aligned terrorists that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) directed to attack U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure.

U.S. and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours.

The unwarranted attacks against U.S. forces were not successful.

From February through April 2026, there were more than 600 attempted attacks on U.S. citizens and facilities by Iran-aligned terrorist militias in Iraq.

The IRGC and its terrorist proxies must cease these attacks to avoid further U.S. military response.

https://nitter.net/CENTCOM/status/2082260118930956482#m

[–] screwthisdumbcrap@hexbear.net 16 points 4 hours ago (6 children)

How much oil left in the Strategic reserve?

[–] KuroXppi@hexbear.net 11 points 2 hours ago

I just used some for my romaine salad sorry

[–] culpritus@hexbear.net 11 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

The SPR will fall to about 243 million barrels when Trump’s release is fully executed, according to data from the Energy Information Administration.

The federal auditors found that more than a quarter of the SPR “was not available for drawdown due to a combination of construction outages and cavern outages.” This implies that a minimum of 103 million barrels in the SPR today are not deployable, according to a July analysis by Rapidan Energy.

Federal law does not mandate a minimum operating level for the SPR, a Department of Energy spokesperson told CNBC. The operational minimum needed “to safely manage the caverns, is around ten percent of capacity – about 70 million barrels,” the spokesperson said.

I saw a post a while back that indicated there was a level when use would be limited to the military, but I don't remember the details. I think it was ~200 MMb.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/28/us-strategic-petroleum-reserve-spr-iran-oil-strait-hormuz.html

[–] Lovely_sombrero@hexbear.net 1 points 8 minutes ago

250MMbbl is the official legal limit, but I doubt anyone will care about legal limits.

[–] newmou@hexbear.net 16 points 4 hours ago

Took a peek in the caverns, not good. Smells awful

[–] Imnecomrade@hexbear.net 13 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)
[–] miz@hexbear.net 12 points 4 hours ago
[–] Jabril@hexbear.net 15 points 4 hours ago
[–] Socialism_Is_The_Alternative@hexbear.net 43 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

Iraq arrested Kiev regime linked militants that carried out attacks inside the country:

The Iraqi authorities have busted several militant cells linked to Ukraine that were involved in multiple attacks within the country, according to National Security Adviser Qasim al-Aboudi.

“We arrested a limited number of groups that carried out attacks inside Iraqi territory and targeted several facilities. During questioning, they confessed to working for Ukraine,” al-Aboudi said.

https://www.rt.com/news/643582-ukraine-militants-iraq-attacks/

[–] departee@hexbear.net 19 points 5 hours ago (5 children)

Together with the ship, this seems new right? Was there some kind of deal, what is ukraine getting for this?

[–] Florn@hexbear.net 10 points 3 hours ago

Ukraine gets missiles that otherwise would have hit Israel. They're now being shoved into two woodchippers at once.

[–] Jabril@hexbear.net 18 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

They have been supporting terrorists all over for almost the entirety of the SMO. Particularly in Africa, but iirc they were involved with the downfall of Syria as well

[–] departee@hexbear.net 9 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Sahel is far away though and Iran is a major Russian partner. I feel like theyd want something tangible when linking the two fronts doesnt seem to be in their favor

Not that id know maybe it is business as usual

[–] Jabril@hexbear.net 13 points 4 hours ago

The Sahel states have been actively assisted by Russia against the Ukrainian supported terrorists as well. We can assume anyone who Ukraine is supporting is a US proxy and they are almost always fighting against Russian allies

[–] InexplicableLunchFiend@hexbear.net 17 points 5 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago)

Ukraine having "elite" spec ops forces throughout the world doing heinous terrorist activities (fighting with ISIS militants against Mali government forces for example, they were also surely present in Jolani's takeover) is part of the deal they made. It's what the West gets out of giving all the weaponry/money to Ukraine, a plausible deniable strike force willing to get their hands dirty anywhere on Earth

[–] TheLastHero@hexbear.net 18 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

seems to me like the Ukraine regime has been trying to make cameos in all sort of western conflicts with their "elite drone operators" so they can prove their usefulness to their NATO masters. Then they can beg for more scraps of aid for their own war like the running dogs of western imperialism they are.

[–] carpoftruth@hexbear.net 11 points 4 hours ago

elite drone operators

I don't think the scare quotes are warranted here. The afu has been launched probably 4-5 orders of magnitude more one way attack drones than the rest of the western armed forces combined. I would be very surprised if they weren't elite compared to any other military except Russia and Iran.

[–] Damarcusart@hexbear.net 12 points 5 hours ago

Could also be requests from their NATO masters to get involved or else funding will be cut.

[–] Formerlyfarman@hexbear.net 9 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

I think they are losing and are trying to inflict as much pain elsewhere as they are able.

[–] Chana@hexbear.net 4 points 2 hours ago

I think they're trying to get more money and weapond and adding another front is perceived as pleasing their masters.

[–] InexplicableLunchFiend@hexbear.net 13 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Now the US/Saudi Arabia are conducting joint strikes against Iraq, probably in retaliation for this (Iraqi PMF forces denied that they hit Saudi Arabia, with Ansarallah taking credit - but they are using that as pretext and cover to hit Iraq anyway)

[–] Speaker@hexbear.net 7 points 3 hours ago

Amerikkka and bombing Iraq without provocation, name a more iconic duo.

[–] Lovely_sombrero@hexbear.net 31 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

SK Hynix (of selling you one stick of 16GB RAM for $200 fame) missed Q2 earnings by ~7%. Normally wouldn't be that big a deal, but it is a hyped "AI" stock that lots of retail buyers bought on leverage, some even taking out a mortgage on their house. The KOSPI index in Fake Korea was already down ~30% over the last month before today.

[–] P1d40n3@hexbear.net 20 points 6 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Lovely_sombrero@hexbear.net 21 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

The thing is that AI companies are still spending like drunken sailors (Google cashflow is now negative $6 billion because of huge capex committments), there is a shortage of all the related hardware. Maybe we are already looking at fake capex commitments from companies or something? Maybe Nvidia actually does have a surplus of AI cards sitting in its warehouses and is quietly slowing down their purchasing of hardware? I kind of didn't expect either of the shovel-selling businesses to be the first big warning light in this gold rush. It will be interesting to see what is going on here.

[–] seaposting@hexbear.net 19 points 6 hours ago

To be fair, SK Hynix revenue is still 257% up YoY with operating profit at 557.2%. Its just the market “pricing in” a baseline estimate that was higher than reality. Revelations that China’s domestic supply chains wrt to memory being further ahead than “the market” has first thought also made the risk averse types to look beyond memory in the AI supercycle, ie. other parts of the supply chain, and energy/water infrastructure companies, etc.

Unfortunately for KOSPI, the 2 companies represent half the total market capitalization so movement in those two would affect the index regardless of performance of the others.

[–] Lovely_sombrero@hexbear.net 30 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

New API report for the US oil market. The small "oil glut" from the combination of the SoH opening for a while and China still importing less oil has already been redistributed all over the world, those countries will probably go back to importing from the US.

  • Crude: -3.30MMbbl (incorrectly reported as +3.3MMbbl in a bunch of places)
  • Cushing: -0.27MMbbl (still near tank bottom)
  • SPR: -3.70MMbbl
[–] Lovely_sombrero@hexbear.net 26 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (4 children)

Seeing some claims that Iran has launched missiles at USIS bases again?

[edit] Those look like some slow ass Iranian missiles.

Footage of Iranian ballistic missiles versus Patriot interceptors in Jordan. First video was recorded from across the border in occupied Palestine, the second video was recorded inside Jordan.

No official statements yet from the IRGC, but yesterday they did release a statement where they said that the continuation of the American blockade on Iran constituted an "expansion" of the war.

Photo shows a plume of smoke rising from Muwaffaq Salti Airbase, Jordan.

[–] dead@hexbear.net 7 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

No official statements yet from the IRGC

IRGC just released a statement about the attack. There's some additional text on the image in Persian and I can't copy it.

IRGC Aerospace Commander: U.S. Army Air Base and Central Command Base in Jordan Targeted for Ballistic Missiles

As long as the threats against the Islamic Republic of Iran continue and the illegal and vicious actions of the American forces are taking place against our interests, the resistance will continue.

https://nitter.net/Tasnimnews_Fa/status/2082278589735600244#m

In retaliation for the hostile acts committed by the US military, which has a record of killing civilians, the IRGC Aerospace Force launched multiple ballistic missiles at a US airbase and CENTCOM headquarters in Jordan just hours ago.

Resistance will persist so long as threats to the Islamic Republic of Iran endure and US forces continue their illegal and hostile operations against our interests. The provocative rhetoric from American officials and their unlawful interference must come to an end.

https://nitter.net/IrnaEnglish/status/2082280606818246730#m

[–] dead@hexbear.net 13 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

At 5:45 p.m. ET today, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces launched multiple ballistic missiles from Iran in an attempted surprise attack on U.S. forces based in the Middle East. All Iranian missiles were successfully intercepted. U.S. forces remain vigilant and at a high state of readiness.

https://nitter.net/CENTCOM/status/2082231500318114110#m

[–] Formerlyfarman@hexbear.net 14 points 5 hours ago

At least 1 confirmed hit, maybe 2 https://t.me/SimurghRes/8214

[–] Rojo27@hexbear.net 7 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Just another controlled detonation of unexploded Iranian ordinance in the picture on LovelySombrero's post, I guessedgeworth-shrug

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[–] SickSemper@hexbear.net 12 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

missiles on jordan, drones to erbil allegedly

[–] Lovely_sombrero@hexbear.net 8 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

drones to erbil allegedly

This has become normal by now, they didn't stop launching drones at Erbil even during the brief pause.

[–] SickSemper@hexbear.net 14 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

i’m not letting it become normal tbh, just gives fodder to the “iran isn’t doing anything” folks

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