news

A deep dive on the operational and tactical details of Ansarallah's offensive to Mokha recently. This is a good article, lots of pre-2026 background and discussion. The use of fake comms to "order" retreat during their attack is brilliant. Worth reading in full

https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/the-seven-day-lightning-offensive-that-changed-yemens-war/

But the Houthis were fighting on another battlefield as well: communications. After abandoning the use of “Claude” over fears that it had been infiltrated by the United States or Israel, the Houthis reportedly assembled a team of Houthi, Hezbollah and Iraqi experts. Vehicles carrying sophisticated communications software were sent to intercept communications between government forces on the front lines extending from western Taiz to Mokha. According to NRF officials, electronic warfare units detected and were able to listen to 5,346 radio communications devices near the front line: 3,181 around the al-Barh front in Taiz and 2,165 around Hodeidah.

According to information I received, the system was then used to send withdrawal orders to front-line units while those same positions were being massively struck by missiles and drones. The effect was devastating. After the fall of Alwaziah district in Taiz, some fighters were afraid the Houthis might storm Dhubab and cut the supply line, particularly those who have families there; they abandoned some front-line positions to rescue their families. The residents thought it was a final pullout. The fighters thought they would come back to their front-line sites, but time was not on their side, according to military and political sources. Some were informed about the withdrawal while others, including commanders, were not.

President Trump when asked about the incident at RAF Fairford earlier today:

‘It was fantastic. Working with Britain it was an amazing job. We had them under investigation. They were looking to do big damage to our fort. Working with the British turned out great. It may have been Scotland Yard, I don’t know, we worked with a lot of them—we had them under view for a long time, and we got them.’

• Middle East Spectator

https://nitter.click/josh_wingrove/status/2104205160797151699

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping at one point if he would to like to buy some American armaments, US Ambassador to China David Perdue says.

Lmao.

Long 'guy in Spain' post incoming...

The Puerta del Sol in Madrid has been occupied in protest at the insane rent increases suffered in Spain over the last few years, catalysed by the brutal eviction of Maricarmen , and hilariously upstaging the big conservative protest that was expected to dominate the headlines this weekend lol

Spain is quite an interesting place atm. On the one hand, there's a generally fashy vibe in ascendence: anecdotally I can tell you that middle class people are way less shy than they used to be about telling you at great length that they are Adolf Hitler. This trend has been reflected in polling and recent elections, including a worrying tendency for working class neighborhoods to vote for hard-right Vox, which again I can give some anecdotal weight to.

If I had to put money on it, I'd say we will almost certainly have a hard right government after the next election.

However, there are a few reasons to think otherwise, or at least to believe that such a government would be met with significant resistance from civil society:

• Despite the wet fart that was Podemos, the organized left never went away. Communist Youth groups in particular have been very involved in anti-eviction protests in my barrio, and seem to be flyering very actively
• The protests against the genocide in Palestine were genuinely impressive, and seem to have revitalized the traditional anti-NATO tendency of the Spanish left
• Popular opinion on data centers, which was quite positive until recently, is changing rapidly as the reality of actually having one of the things in your town bleeds through from the US. Regional right-wing governments have wedded themselves to pushing through construction and seem intent on loudly fighting against the Sanchez government's requirements for increased electrical demand to be matched with increased supply of renewable energy. A classic case of the the Spanish right not being able to keep it in their pants.
• The effects of PP-VOX government are really starting to be felt at the regional level, with increased waiting lists in the health systems they control, and poor PISA results from their education authorities. Never underestimate the Spanish middle class's appetite for shit public services ofc, especially if some of the money is redirected into awful Christmas spectaculars, but I can imagine the regional governments going left in reaction to the central government going right. The Spanish system seems designed to promote this sort of back and forth in fact.

So yeah, it's grim. But Spain continues to torture its leftists with the impression that maybe not all hope is lost

Supreme Court Justice Flávio Dino overturns the Electoral Court’s decision and allows the publication of a piece about Our Lady that harmed Flávio Bolsonaro’s election campaign - Folha d. São Paulo

Supreme Court Justice Dino (Member of the Communist Party) overturned a ruling by Supreme Court Justice Mendonça (Radical Evangelical), who had ordered the removal of “notoriously false” posts. Dino asserts that there is no “degree of certainty” regarding the illegality of the posts and defends freedom of expression.

💣Bomb plot stopped at RAF base💣

So far the only news is just "someone got scared by three white vans and called the cops and they arrested 5 guys with no burgers or fries"

Though DJT did say that they definitely were planning to blow something up but he's probably just saying what he heard on the news.

Edit: the vans have (apparently incorrect) branding on the side for Fuel2You, an actual fuel-delivery-from-a-van service, so there's a chance the gang has been arrested

India: For the last few days, opposition parties were demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. He had illegally changed the rules of the Special Intensive Revision of the voter roll, without consulting the other two Election Commissioners, and even failing to reply to their objections. He is accused of using the SIR to exclude Muslims, backward castes and rural voters who generally vote for opposition parties. Many voters have gone to court, and both the Supreme Court and lower courts have asked the Election Commission to not remove their names.

Yesterday, Jiji Thomson, a former Chief Secretary (the senior most civil servant) of Keralam and Kumar's friend, said that Kumar had asked him to contest for the BJP.

Serbian President Vucic to submit resignation

Update on the Drumcree situation, the 35 lone orange men are currently waiting by themselves, surrounded by their police escort, while 100s of protesters line the street they are supposed to march down. Among the protesters is almost every prominent Nationalist politician including Michelle O'Neil, the First Minister. The absurdity of having the political leader of a country being forced to join protesters against a decision technically made by her own government and enforced by their own police force cannot be overstated.

The reason for this is that the parades commission is a semi independent body that are chosen by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, a English MP chosen by the Prime Minister to act as a sort of colonial governor. Needless to say it's unlikely that the PSNI will try anything with half the government among the protesters so I predict this will be a long standoff that will hopefully fizzle out.