Miscellaneous News

[Stierlitz]

IRGC Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri: 'We have sucessfully established a rapid naval mobilization force (Basij) in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz'

'Thousands of small to medium sized local merchant vessels, fishing boats and speedboats have been converted and outfitted with 107mm rockets and various other weapons.

This newly formed rapid naval volunteer force is an assymetric paramilitary force, consisting of 33.000 vessels in the Persian Gulf and 55.000 local volunteers among the fishermen and merchants. It also contains large ships that can sail as far as Tanzania.'

@Middle_East_Spectator

This is actually huge. If the U.S. Navy is ever at war with Iran, thousands of local fishermen loyal to the regime will get in their boats mounted with rockets and dushkas and simply swarm the warships.

Only one of those ships has to get close enough to place a limpet mine on the hull to potentially sink a warship. Iranian volunteers used to do this in the 'tanker war' of the 80's against Iraq.

Iran is really masterful at creating advantages through the use of assymetric warfare / guerilla warfare, despite obvious qualitative disadvantage against a vastly superior enemy.

@Middle_East_Spectator

 

[zbb]

IRGC Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri: 'We have sucessfully established a rapid naval mobilization force (Basij) in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz'

'Thousands of small to medium sized local merchant vessels, fishing boats and speedboats have been converted and outfitted with 107mm rockets and various other weapons.

This newly formed rapid naval volunteer force is an assymetric paramilitary force, consisting of 33.000 vessels in the Persian Gulf and 55.000 local volunteers among the fishermen and merchants. It also contains large ships that can sail as far as Tanzania.'

@Middle_East_Spectator

This is actually huge. If the U.S. Navy is ever at war with Iran, thousands of local fishermen loyal to the regime will get in their boats mounted with rockets and dushkas and simply swarm the warships.

Only one of those ships has to get close enough to place a limpet mine on the hull to potentially sink a warship. Iranian volunteers used to do this in the 'tanker war' of the 80's against Iraq.

Iran is really masterful at creating advantages through the use of assymetric warfare / guerilla warfare, despite obvious qualitative disadvantage against a vastly superior enemy.

@Middle_East_Spectator

These are meant to threaten commercial tankers, not warships.

 

[CMP]

CNA documentary about the Taiwan elections, with their obvious pro-US, pro-Boba slant. Nevertheless, ignoring all the usual political noises, there are some interesting insights towards the end after the 30min mark. It seems that a significant number of Taiwanese youths, especially the younger ones, like the fresh grads are actually tired of the DPP and KMT. They are also tired of the political tug of war between Mainland China and the US. So they lean towards Ko Wen je of the TPP. This is interesting to me, because I thought that youth votes for the DPP is already guaranteed. Apparently not.

The TPP leads the polls for voters under 40. Though I honestly don't know what Ko-Wen-je stands for. His cross-strait policy is ambiguous to me. He swings back and forth between Pan-Green and Pan-Blue views, and could be playing both sides for his own benefit. Its unlikely that Ko can win, but if he wins, I don't know if he will seek to lower tensions with the mainland, or is actually a Boba Trojan Horse.

As the polls stand, it still does look like the DPP is more likely to win. The corruption of the Taiwanese people by the US and Boba is still very strong. Yet polls are still polls, and I do hope it is wrong. The promising signs that I can see is the DPP's defeat in the 2022 Taipei elections, and the massive loss of trust in the DPP by the Taiwanese people, including the youths.

Ko and TPP are controlled opposition. Controlled by whom? The usual foreign suspects. If the recent breakdown of potential coalition between KMT and TPP taught you anything, this should be one.

 

[OTCDebunker]

IRGC Navy Commander, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri: 'We have sucessfully established a rapid naval mobilization force (Basij) in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz'

'Thousands of small to medium sized local merchant vessels, fishing boats and speedboats have been converted and outfitted with 107mm rockets and various other weapons.

This newly formed rapid naval volunteer force is an assymetric paramilitary force, consisting of 33.000 vessels in the Persian Gulf and 55.000 local volunteers among the fishermen and merchants. It also contains large ships that can sail as far as Tanzania.'

@Middle_East_Spectator

This is actually huge. If the U.S. Navy is ever at war with Iran, thousands of local fishermen loyal to the regime will get in their boats mounted with rockets and dushkas and simply swarm the warships.

Only one of those ships has to get close enough to place a limpet mine on the hull to potentially sink a warship. Iranian volunteers used to do this in the 'tanker war' of the 80's against Iraq.

Iran is really masterful at creating advantages through the use of assymetric warfare / guerilla warfare, despite obvious qualitative disadvantage against a vastly superior enemy.

@Middle_East_Spectator

General Van Riper in Millennium Challenge 2001 (technically) proved that Iran would've won against USN.

Yes, it's true that Van Riper did a lot of things that would've basically been cheating in that wargame where he simulated Opposing Force.

It's too bad both him and the USN raged at each other like immature children and made it impossible to redo the simulation but with more grounded in reality tactics and also rulesets (he had parts of his army basically teleport if you will)...would've loved to see the actual results of a wargame as close to simulating Iran vs USN.

 

[TK3600]

They had this coming:

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Multiple military tiktok influencers slam Army life, advise new signees to think again.
View attachment 122851

Damn, Tiktok really is a national security threat!

 

[supercat]

Ko and TPP are controlled opposition. Controlled by whom? The usual foreign suspects. If the recent breakdown of potential coalition between KMT and TPP taught you anything, this should be one.

Or maybe it's just Ko's ego. If that's the case, hopefully he will learn some lessons the next time, if there is a next time. BTW, election days are a wonderful opportunity to do some trolling.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1737211632143737017

On the other hand, instead of lip service, the first batch of China's aid arrived in Gaza.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1736863336489443542

The hypocrisy of the West will be exposed for generations to see.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1737246354991350020

Noah Smith is really uneducated.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1737152182917496886

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1736937159234580867

We already know this: the US has lost its initiative in its trade war against China.

US concern over Mexico attracting Chinese electric vehicle factories​

Three of China’s biggest EV manufacturers in talks to find sites for plants in Latin American country

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[CMP]

Or maybe it's just Ko's ego. If that's the case, hopefully he will learn some lessons the next time, if there is a next time. BTW, election days are a wonderful opportunity to do some trolling.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1737211632143737017

On the other hand, instead of lip service, the first batch of China's aid arrived in Gaza.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1736863336489443542

The hypocrisy of the West will be exposed for generations to see.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1737246354991350020

Noah Smith is really uneducated.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1737152182917496886

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1736937159234580867

We already know this: the US has lost its initiative in its trade war against China.

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Nope. It's publicly reported news that the US "embassy" in Taiwan directly intervened. Called Ko and deterred him from finalizing the coalition. No details on exactly what was said, but threats/blackmail would be par for the course with US government.

 

[FriedButter]

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(Colorado) bans Trump from (the 2024) ballot​

The Colorado Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that former US President Donald Trump can’t be on the primary ballot in that US state. The Republican front-runner has vowed to appeal.

The case was brought by Democrat activists arguing that Trump was disqualified from running for the White House again because he engaged in “insurrection” against the US government, citing a section of the 14th Amendment passed after the Civil War in 1865. Democrats have used the term “insurrection” to describe the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol, though no one – including Trump – has been charged with that particular crime.

Four judges of the Colorado Supreme Court – all Democrats – agreed that Trump was not eligible to be on the primary ballots in the state, but stayed their ruling until January 4, 2024 pending appeals.

Reacting to the ruling, the Trump campaign called the decision “completely flawed” and a product of “a Soros-funded, left-wing group's scheme to interfere in an election on behalf of Crooked Joe Biden,” according to spokesman Steven Cheung.

“Democrat Party leaders are in a state of paranoia over the growing, dominant lead President Trump has amassed in the polls,” said Cheung. “They have lost faith in the failed Biden presidency and are now doing everything they can to stop the American voters from throwing them out of office next November.”

The Trump campaign will appeal to the US Supreme Court and has “full confidence” that it will “quickly rule in our favor and finally put an end to these unAmerican lawsuits,” Cheung added.

The January 6 protest followed Trump’s claims that the 2020 presidential election – which saw widespread use of mail-in ballots and resulted in Democrat Joe Biden getting the most votes ever in US history – was “rigged” and marred by irregularities.

Ever since then, Democrats have sought to disqualify the 45th president from running for office again. To that effect, multiple activist groups have filed legal challenges in several US states citing the “insurrection” clause of the 14th Amendment. It says that a person cannot run for elected office if they have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the US Constitution after taking an oath to support it, and was specifically created to prevent the defeated Confederates from returning to elected office after the 1861-65 conflict over secession and slavery.

Trump currently leads the polls for the Republican presidential domination, with as much as a 50-point lead over all other contenders.

Don’t forget to get your snacks for the biggest show of 2024.

 

[Overbom]

Ko and TPP are controlled opposition. Controlled by whom? The usual foreign suspects. If the recent breakdown of potential coalition between KMT and TPP taught you anything, this should be one.

All it took was the US Embassy making a phone call and literally the next day (or few next days) everything was called off lol

 

[Shadow_Whomel]

US Def Sec Lloyd Austin announces ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ to respond to “reckless Houthi attacks” from Yemen in Red Sea.




The group will include the UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain.

@DDGeopolitics

Notably, Bahrain is the only arab country they managed to pressure into participating. From the Guardian article I posted yesterday :

oof Looks we get the first runner. Spain denies US claims it will help partol Red sea

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Looks like the Pentagon isn't happy either.

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