Mike Waltz ...

 ... doesn't produce an impression of a very bright man. This is not to say that his distinction of graduating from Virginia Military Institute with honors counts for nothing, but he is a product of a subpar US military education and, naturally, he migrated into the classic pro-Israel camp and then continued to demonstrate a lack of basic mathematical skills. 

Mike Waltz, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the U.S. has “everything that it needs” for military operations against Iran, dismissing reporting regarding depleted U.S. weapons stockpiles. “I want to be crystal clear: The U.S. military, and I’ve verified this every which way, has everything that it needs to conduct this campaign as effectively as it needs to be,” he said on Sunday. “And I have to tell you, the people that are leaking this nonsense deserve to be in jail.” His comments came in response to questioning about an NBC News report that U.S. military commanders are allowing some Iranian attacks through U.S. defenses as part of an effort to preserve the Pentagon’s weapons supply, according to two senior U.S. officials.

Well, the situation is much more dire than just "preservation of supplies", it is the fact that those "supplies" are simply not good and are incapable to carry out the mission, that is to say to shoot down most of missiles and drones which are launched at the US bases. While Waltz was getting his major in International Relations from VMI, others were getting their engineering degrees in Air Defense and Stand-Off High Precision Weapons. And that's a huge difference. 

Moreover, Larry wrote an excellent expose on yet another TACO and how fuel issue can factor into this whole FUBAR for the US in Persian Gulf. 

Miller concludes that the crisis is not due to a collapse in refinery output or a fabricated inventory, but rather a combination of structurally low inventories, high ongoing exports, and fragmented public reporting that obscures the military’s draw on national fuel supplies. The evidence supports the view that Rotterdam acts as a shadow endpoint for US fuel, facilitating onward distribution to US/NATO bases, Israel, and other theaters, but the lack of transparent, reconciled accounting prevents the public from knowing the true allocation. The report calls for a unified, detailed ledger to clarify how much fuel is being diverted from domestic resilience to military and foreign operations. I am assuming that Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Burgham know this and briefed Trump on it. Stripping the US civilian sector of diesel and jet fuel surpluses at a time when the global supply is still severely constrained by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the Houthi blockade of Saudi oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz increases the risk of damaging the US domestic economy. Did this fact also convince President Trump that a massive attack on Iran at this time would be ill-advised? Worth considering. 

Obviously, it is never a single factor, it is always a combination with its own logic of interaction between those factors. But in the end, the US has no good options ... well, except the only thing US military knows how to do--bomb its way out of defeat and declare victory. 

In related news. Many people still cannot grasp the criticality of this video by Russian MoD. 

It is not just the strike on some vessels steaming to Odessa (as you see below). 

Nope, the strike is on port tugs which paralyzes already choked off supply line to Odessa. Most large vessels cannot be moored without tugs. When you don't have tugs--it is over. 

But here what is the key in the decision on the fate of the 404. It is Navy Day in Russia and Vladimir Putin confirmed explicitly what we all suspected all along.

The president paid special attention to the issue of the western territories transferred to Kyiv after the war. "Stalin gave these lands to Ukraine, but he gave it as within the framework of a single state. Apparently, it did not occur to him that such a situation as today could develop. By the way, I am sure that sooner or later Ukraine will lose these western lands. And what belonged to Poland, belonged to Hungary, belonged to Romania, sooner or later, not tomorrow, maybe not the day after tomorrow, a year, two, ten, fifteen, but everything will historically fall into place. There was only one guarantor of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. This is Russia," Putin said.

So, there you go. The green light is on now, officially. 404 will cease to exist. 

Yes, Share the "Evidence"))

Allow me to remind you--404 does not have any of the advanced ISR and is entirely dependent on the US for this and Command, Control and Communications. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday he will share evidence with the United States showing Russia is assisting Iran in targeting U.S. bases in the Middle East via satellite surveillance. "Since the beginning of July, we have recorded active Russian satellite surveillance of the Gulf states and U.S. military facilities located there," Zelenskyy said on X. "These images subsequently appear in Iran. At the same time, there is a clear correlation between Russia's satellite imagery of these sites and Iranian strikes — both before the attacks, in preparation for them, and afterward, to assess the damage inflicted." Zelenskyy's accusations of Russia helping Iran target U.S. troops are not the first. Multiple sources, including a senior U.S. official with direct knowledge, told CBS News six days into the war that Russia was providing intelligence to Iran regarding U.S. positions in the Middle East. 

Yes, Zelensky will be sharing American intel with ... Americans. That, my friends, is called chutzpah. A special kind of chutzpah, I may add. But, as you all know, America's "friends" since Korean War are not exactly an admirable bunch. 404 (highly likely from Kazakhstan, maybe Azerbaijan) hit Iranian vessel in Caspian Sea--killed a crew member. Iran promised a delivery of a good payload to some targets in 404. Meanwhile The Economist sounds alarm. 

China is gaining troubling military know-how from Russia. It is learning how to improve its drones, nuclear subs and air defence. 

No shit, geniuses, you don't even know half of it, but judging by the "expertise" of Western journos and political "science" so called "strategists" they will not be able to grasp even basic realities of the modern warfare paradigm. It is a huge celebration in Russia today--Navy Day. Vladimir Putin already congratulated those serving and connected to the Navy. 

Sustainment Fantasies.

Sustainment of combat operations in real war is not just the set of formal requirements. Learning them and applying them to war are two very different things. FM 4-0 generally gets requirements correctly--it is a common military knowledge--but US military can sustain combat operations for a few weeks, after that ... PR and "mission accomplished". 

Evidently This Green Beret ...

 ... has a rather limited understanding of the nature of REAL war. Not surprising this trash is written by some Ukrainian guy in Harry Kazianis' pseudo military publication. 

Throughout the Russia–Ukraine war, special operations forces (SOF, or SSO in Ukrainian) have conducted many raids and missions to probe enemy defensive positions. Examples include Ukraine’s use of SOF probing operations in Bryansk and Kursk in 2023 and 2024 before launching its incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August 2024. At the same time, the drone war in Ukraine was rapidly accelerating. By 2025, Kyiv had established a drone wall, with virtually every part of the front monitored by uncrewed aircraft. Conducting maneuver warfare became increasingly difficult, and snipers and special forces operators also faced greater risks. ... ‘Xen’, a former US special forces operator who has worked with a Ukrainian special forces regiment, told me that in 2020, he had worked with a US SOF unit training Ukrainian special forces and that the instruction had been largely one-directional. Drone warfare had not changed battlefield doctrine, and the Ukrainian trainees were learning extensively from the Americans.

Well, I have news for the author of this drivel and VSU "learning from Americans" ... how to lose wars. VSU 100% is dependent on the US' world class ISR and C2, without it and with a steady flow, now chocked off, of supplies it would have collapsed much earlier. Moreover, Russians, while giving due to Ukie stubbornness and courage, have a rather mixed (euphemism for "is that it" surprise) reaction to the US "training", not to mention the fact that American view of "maneuvering" is born out of fighting either backward forces or civilians. In real war, US Army would be pinned down in assembly areas and destroyed. 

In general, this type of writing is designed for people with Tom Clancy's "level" of military expertise and lack of any clue about the role of special forces in a large scale combined arms operations. All this talk about drone warfare is a flavor of the season, but reality of countermeasures, as it is natural for people with the mentality of, at best, NCO, centers on the tactical picture. And even here, they still cannot grasp the fact that just today Russia shot down 1,060 NATO drones and will continue to do so as long as it takes. These numbers and resources which sustain SMO are beyond the grasp of the US military planners because the US military is incapable to fight protracted wars. It cannot sustain them and is now in the full retreat into the regional force with nuclear weapons. That's gotta hurt and it shows. 

While the World ...

 ... goes to hell or out of it (pay attention to this qualifier), because it is Friday, let me remind you why I abhor these urban so called "intellectuals", intellectuals they are not and never have been. They also always lacked the sense of beauty and artistic vision. Behold Lester Bangs and the Rolling Stone magazine--a collection of talentless scumbags. They didn't like ELP.  

I caught myself yesterday being emotionally involved in this magnificent prom when British musical genius exploded through Prog Rock. 

They couldn't fit all of them (I missed Jethro Tull) but was immensely gratified listening to Soft Machine. I wondered how was it for Karl Palmer playing to the music of his now deceased two geniuses and friends Keith Emerson and Greg Lake. 

Rettendon Mysterious Explosion ...

 ... there was fire. BBC reports it as major incident. Here how it looked like:

Whatever was produced there certainly was very flammable and  ... explosive. 

Firefighters promised updates later, will have to wait. 

I Am Shocked, Shocked ...

 ... I am telling you. 

Russia has no warships deployed in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time in a decade, the latest example of how much Moscow is exerting itself after almost four and a half years of full-scale war in Ukraine. The last two Russian military ships in the Mediterranean Sea left the area on June 26, 2026, a NATO official told Newsweek, speaking on a condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject matter. The ships’ exit marks the first time since 2016 that Russia’s military hasn’t had a naval presence in the Mediterranean, and it points to the strain Moscow is under with its bruising war effort in eastern Europe, as the conflict churns on with no end in sight.

Of course this "anonymous NATO official" is some BSer who wouldn't know shit from shinola or maybe some staff BSer from Newsweek pulling a nothing (shit) burger out of his (her) ass. The explanation is simple and rather trivial--Russian Navy is actively involved in escort operations for Russia's tankers and it is in and out of Med. But desperate losers in NATO grasp even at non-events trying to cover up NATO being exposed as a paper tiger and combined West as an obsolete military force. 

Which really corresponds well to this: 

European countries intend to dispose of the seized Russian oil without transferring the proceeds to its owners, the corresponding decision was published in the official journal of the European Union, RIA Novosti reports. Prior to the adoption of a new package of sanctions, the embargo prohibited the purchase, import and transportation of Russian energy resources, but there was no mechanism for selling goods without transferring profits to the owner. The new amendments introduce this possibility for the first time. The mechanism will allow European countries to withdraw confiscated products from the ban, sell them to third parties and keep the proceeds for themselves.

Here it is--thievery, they always were like this. I mean Europe. Robbery for weak, thievery from strong. That is why Russian Navy is constantly on the move, because Euro cowards dare only to stop civilian vessels. Which also brings one of the most critical naval tasks--escort and convoy operations--to the fore.