as noted yesterday, Trump has now come around to treating an Iranian toll system covering the Strait of Hormuz as a given. Hard to overstate the level of strategic failure. US started the war purely as a war of choice and ends up dramatically empowering Iran and given the Iranian govt big wins.

Bill Grueskin@bgrueskin.bsky.social · 16h ago

Reuters: Iran wants fees of 5%-7% of the price of cargo from ships using the strait; Oman wants 3%. "Making fees voluntary, at least nominally, could be a way out of the impasse, although an implied threat of Iranian attacks could mean shippers would be ​unlikely to risk transit without paying."

Beginning to feel like I need to budget a week on the blog for a military primer on 'how the US Navy is the load-bearing pillar of your ability to eat bananas and of folks in developing countries to eat at all.' Not saying that is an optimal situation, merely that it is the situation.

“A former U.S. military official told CBS that the value of hitting energy infrastructure would be to impact the Iranian military's ability to provide services and effectively govern.” Yeah, that doesn’t meet the test for being a lawful military objective.

💔Heartbreaking image from Lviv, Ukraine.

Saudi Aramco shut down its 400,000 barrel-per-day Jizan oil refinery in Saudi Arabia on July 27 following an attack by Yemen's Houthi militants on Saturday.

Iranian missiles target U.S. bases in Jordan. Interception attempts are currently taking place.

How war in Myanmar is driving a deadly rare earth mining boom

How war in Myanmar is driving a deadly rare earth mining boom

Decades of conflict have left Myanmar vulnerable to a secretive industry that is polluting communities and endangering workers.

dlvr.it

Tunisia's coastal city of Sidi Bou Said, famed for its blue and white houses, has been inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List. The city is known for its winding cobbled roads and blooming bougainvillea, but its beauty is at risk after extreme rainfall last winter.

*goose meme* Why is it hard to have kids in Ukraine, Quincy Institute? Why is it hard to have kids in Ukraine?

My explanation of the law governing attacks on civilian infrastructure, a growing phenomenon in the current conflicts.

Just Security@justsecurity.org · 2w ago

The law of armed conflict (LOAC) is designed to provide a moral compass for what is the most brutal of human endeavors. Abandoning that compass will benefit no one, writes @mikeschmitt.bsky.social (Michael Schmitt). When Civilian Infrastructure Becomes a Lawful Target:

In short, there are valuable lessons we can learn about drones & interceptors & magazine depth & mine-sweepers, etc. But the key lesson is: no amount of tactical excellence can salvage strategic incompetence. Who lost the Iran War? The American voter did, that damn fool. And he ought to feel it.

The errors here are all strategic and there are two of them: First, someone (Caine, it's Caine) needed to tell Trump, "if you order us to do this, we will try it, max effort, but it is impossible and we will fail to achieve it." He needed to say that *bluntly* and given the reporting, he did not.

No, No, no. Look, are there lessons to learn from this debacle? Sure. Drone warfare, mag depth, etc. But the solution here is not 'yet more tactical excellence or tech.' It is 'the president asked the impossible of the military and they should have said so.' www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

The War Is Lost. Now Fix What It Broke.

America has to rethink how it moves resources, fights wars, and deters adversaries.

theatlantic.com

NEARLY A DOZEN U.S. TROOPS SERIOUSLY WOUNDED IN RECENT IRANIAN STRIKES HAVE BEEN EVACUATED TO A U.S. MILITARY HOSPITAL IN GERMANY, AMONG ROUGHLY 100 AMERICAN SERVICE MEMBERS INJURED SINCE EARLY JULY, THOUGH THE PENTAGON SAYS MOST SUFFERED MILD CONCUSSIONS AND HAVE ALREADY RETURNED TO DUTY - NYT

FFS 🤦‍♂️ The Pentagon removed the names of 4 servicemembers who died in Jordan from their official list of casualties. They explain that this is because "their deaths occurred after President Trump declared a cease-fire in the war in April." www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/u...

Number of U.S. Troop Deaths in Iran War Appears Lower on Pentagon Website (Gift Article)

Three military officials and a Pentagon spokesman gave conflicting explanations for why the number of Americans killed in the Iran war had changed.

nytimes.com

An extraordinary and deeply personal essay here from Thomas Gibbons-Neff, who was one of the best on-the-ground journalists during the war in Afghanistan👇 www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/w...

Why I Sought Out a Taliban Commander I Had Fought (Gift Article)

First as a Marine and then as a journalist, I spent years tied to Afghanistan. I returned one last time to speak to a former enemy in search of answers, and perhaps closure.

nytimes.com

From the great TM Gibbons-Neff: “Regarding the mujahedeen who were killed by your side, I do not know whether they or their families would forgive you,” Mr. Gulab said. “Those civilians may not forgive the foreign forces, but for me personally, I have my own authority and I have forgiven you.”

Why I Sought Out a Taliban Commander I Had Fought (Gift Article)

First as a Marine and then as a journalist, I spent years tied to Afghanistan. I returned one last time to speak to a former enemy in search of answers, and perhaps closure.

nytimes.com

Some LOAC issues raised by Trump’s latest version of this threat: —threat of indiscriminate attacks (not against specific military objectives) —threat of attacks against civilian objects (not all those targets will be military obj) —threat of violence intended to terrorize civilian population

Shipwreck@shipwreck75.bsky.social · 2w ago

Trump on SoH:

❗️❗️❗️Oleksandr Syrsky was dismissed from the position of Commander-in-Chief, - Sternenko

Yahya Sarea, the military spokesperson of the Houthis, declares that all Saudi ships or those sailing to Saudi Arabia will be attacked, based on the equation of "blockade for blockade," and that this prohibition will take effect starting from the moment of the announcement.-Israeli Media

A U.S. official said that the United States is planning for a wider war.-WaPo

Separately, work is under way to identify human remains at a base in Jordan after a missile struck the location this weekend, U.S. Central Command said. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

The United States was sending more warplanes to the Middle East, according to American officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity on Sunday, another sign the Trump administration may soon further escalate its strikes against Iran.

Separately, a U.S. service member in northern Iraq was killed in action July 18 during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian one-way attack drone. A second service member was wounded and continues to receive medical treatment for a minor injury.

If you haven’t read this in full it’s a gutwrenching account of both the sickening serial rape allegations against them and how many friends they have in the Trump administration: www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Andrew Tate’s Empire of Abuse

How the defining figure of the manosphere built a fortune—and became a political force—by systematically exploiting women.

newyorker.com

LONDON (AP) — British prosecutors announce they are seeking extradition of Tate brothers from US on rape, sex trafficking charges.

CENTCOM told me the Middle East keeps eating his patriot missiles so i asked how many patriot missiles they have and they said they just go to Whiskey Pete and get new patriots afterwards so i said it sounds like he's feeding patriot missiles to the Middle East and then INDOPACOM started crying

CENTCOM says two U.S. service members were killed in action in Jordan on July 17 while U.S. and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. One service member remains missing. Four others were hospitalized and later discharged.

Several US service members were injured in Iranian attacks on two Jordanian bases this week, citing multiple US officials speaking anonymously. No fatalities.-CBS News