Image depicts a destroyed Saudi pipeline pumping station.
My weekly preamble is in spoiler tags below.
preamble
If last week has had a geopolitical main character, it was Ansarallah in Yemen. In under 24 hours, they managed to seize a very large amount of territory to their west from Saudi-backed mercenary groups. Tens of thousands of enemy soldiers fled, thousands more were captured, and hundreds of combat vehicles and all sorts of military equipment and ammunition are now in Ansarallah’s hands. The entire Red Sea coast of Yemen is now under their control, as well as some of the islands in and around the Bab el-Mandab, which is the narrow strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, which then goes on to connect to the Arabian Sea.
While Ansarallah had a pretty good grip on the Red Sea beforehand and could blockade it to the extent that traffic through the Red Sea plummeted in 2024 and 2025 and remain subdued to this day, it is now capable of much more direct control. And the strait is considerably narrower than Hormuz, meaning there is little hope for any covert operations like those of which the US regularly tries and fails to do over there. The only alternatives for the enemies of Ansarallah both now and in the future are the route all the way around Africa, which becomes even less attractive than usual as fuel prices rise into daily record highs, or the newly inaugurated Northern Sea Route under the firm control of Russia.
While Ansarallah is likely to continue their territorial acquisitions to an extent - with Marib looking like an obvious target - how things will continue from this point seems likely to be increasingly diplomatic. Yemen was once divided between North Yemen (which is, really, western Yemen) and South Yemen (which is, really, eastern Yemen), and this division reflects several genuine historical differences between the populations. Ansarallah has repeatedly stated that they have no intention to militarily occupy the south, and indeed, they ended this most recent offensive at approximately the historical border. Nonetheless, the government in once-South Yemen’s capital of Aden is considered the sole internationally recognized government of Yemen, which doesn’t sound sustainable for the future, so we’ll just have to see how the situation develops geopolitically from here, even if it’s unlikely to be militarily in the case of the southern and eastern territories.
While all this has been going on, Ansarallah was additionally applying major pressure on Saudi Arabia itself, by bombing their military airfields and, even more critically, their oil transportation and production facilities. These strikes were mostly limited to the port facilities in e.g. Yanbu and Jazan, and the Western air interceptor famine has meant that these strikes were mostly unopposed and caused substantial losses. However, Ansarallah has now destroyed some pumping stations for the East-West pipeline that spans Saudi Arabia, bypassing Hormuz for some (but not all) of Saudi Arabia’s oil production to the tune of around 4 million barrels per day, which is, in a happy numerical coincidence, about 4% of pre-2026 oil production. I’ve seen several wildly varying estimates for how long it might take to repair the stations, with some saying a few days and others stating at least a month; the damage does look pretty gnarly on the images. Of course, it might not really matter, because Ansarallah can easily just fire another missile at a station once it’s repaired, unless and until the Saudis give in to Ansarallah’s demands and end the war.
Last week’s thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
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The Zionist Entity's Genocide of Palestine
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.
Der Linke(‘The Left’, the successor to Socialist Unity Party of Germany of the DDR) set to win Berlin:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/9/20/two-german-states-go-to-the-polls-after-far-right-gains
A little good news after recent AfD wins
And of course Merz engages in some horseshoe theory conflating two diametrically opposed parties as ‘authoritarianism’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvwyz29n0nn2o
CNN National Security Correspondent Alex Plitsas says that President Trump’s meeting at Camp David was to deliberate and review strike options for Yemen. U.S. Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, is also returning to Washington D.C.
- Middle East Spectator
Iran shoots down an Israeli Orbiter drone over SoH. Air activity around the SoH is still elevated, but the US still hasn’t cleared out most their refuelers in Qatar. If they plan to attack, they need to get them out first.
We have a record El Nino! Measurements put it 0.01C above the previous record from 2015 and ~3C above the 1991-2020 baseline. Models are predicting at least 2 more months of warming.

Saudi has quit China’s currency platform
I assume the US demanded this in exchange for helping them with Ansarallah.
NATO launched a record ~1600 drones last night against Russia and it looks like only 10-20 hit their targets.
Gavin Newsom:
I just enacted a new law PROHIBITING other state militaries from entering California unless they have EXPLICIT permission from the Governor.
California will defend the rights of the nearly 40 million people who call our state home.
Balkanize!
Trump suggests he might be meeting with Delcy at the UN Assembly
“Iran is tough, but Venezuela is without a doubt the president’s top success and Delcy is a key to that,” a Trump adviser said. “Unless something goes really wrong, the president wants to make time.”
Polls in Venezuela show Rodriguez and Trump have low favorability ratings and Machado has the highest, although it’s declining.
Some in Trump’s orbit have expressed concern that the optics of a meeting with Trump will hurt Rodriguez even more at home because she could look like too much of a U.S. puppet.
But Trump isn’t concerned about that, the administration official said, noting “The fact is POTUS loves Delcy because she’s delivering and she’s leading.”
A Swedish analyst pointed out that Trump’s “Greenland deal” is mostly a midterms PR stunt:
“This treaty is mostly for show, but in legal terms it’s much ado about nothing” because “the US already had free access to Greenland and the main responsibility for the defense of Greenland,” Swedish military and geopolitics analyst Mikael Valtersson told Sputnik, commenting on the new US-Denmark Greenland deal.
While the agreement grants the US permanent military access, basing and overflight rights, Valtersson pointed out that Washington already had these rights, and that it was the US itself that “voluntarily and drastically reduced its own military resources on Greenland” after the end of the Cold War.
Valtersson suspects the deal is “mainly a PR stunt for the US government ahead of the upcoming midterm elections in November.”
https://qudsnen.com/post?id=68367&slug=texas-schools-will-teach-israel-was-founded-in-ancestral-homeland-of-jews Don’t know if it’s been posted before but more zionist and Islamophobic propaganda hitting texas schools soon.
Looks like an escalation is being prepared, or Trump is doing a big bluff for the Iran negotiations (it won’t work if that is the plan). Netanyahu is flying home early, Trump is flying to the WH today instead of tomorrow. Trump was also at Camp David, something that doesn’t happen often.
Trump said on Thursday he is approaching “a major turning point in the war with Iran” and has “a big decision coming up.”. There are rumors that a big Israeli & NATO meeting was held in Saudi Arabia a couple of days ago.
All the embassies in GCC and Israel are issuing warnings about increased risk in the region. We could possibly even see a surprise attack on Yemen. The US still has a bunch of refuelers in Qatar and they haven’t moved yet. You’d think they would get them out of the way first if there was an attack planned.
[edit] The entire Iranian military has been placed on the highest military alert status
São Paulo, Sep 14 (EFE) - Brazilian indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire, world-renowned for his environmental activism, is suffering from “digestive system cancer” and is receiving palliative care at age 94, the institute that bears his name reported on Monday.
Article
Raoni, an international authority on the protection of the Amazon, the largest tropical forest on the planet, has experienced serious health difficulties in recent months that have forced him to visit the hospital several times.
In June, he suffered “a serious intestinal obstruction caused by the tumor,” which is why he was urgently transferred from his homeland, in the state of Mato Grosso, to São Paulo, where he underwent surgery to “restore the passage of food.”
He was discharged from the hospital on July 15, but subsequent tests indicated the presence of a “poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma,” meaning that the tumor cells bear little resemblance to the normal cells of the affected tissue.
In this context, the doctors opted to provide palliative care, taking into account his age, his delicate clinical condition, as well as the “high risks associated with aggressive treatments”.
Currently, he and his family are receiving medical follow-up and home care in the municipality of Peixoto de Azevedo, near the territory of the Kayapó people where the village of Raoni is located.
The Raoni Institute clarified on its social media that palliative care is for controlling pain, preventing complications, and ensuring nutrition.
And he stressed that the treatment also includes a “spiritual dimension”.
“Raoni is a shaman and continues to receive the presence and care of shamans he trusts, in an intercultural accompaniment that respects the Mẽbêngôkre culture, his language, his decisions and his spiritual references,” the institution explained.
Raoni played a key role in the recognition of indigenous rights in the 1988 Brazilian Constitution and has for decades championed the fight in defense of the Amazon, a biome increasingly threatened by mining, drug trafficking and illegal logging.
His struggle gained international attention in 1978 after the screening of a documentary about her life at the Cannes Film Festival, and her fame increased even further in 1989 when she visited 17 countries accompanying an international tour by the English musician Sting.
Since then, his work has been recognized by various international authorities and institutions, including the UN itself.
A severe shortage of Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) and record-high shipping costs are threatening global crude flows according to Bloomberg, forcing refiners to procure nearer supplies as available charter vessels dwindle. Vortexa tracking data shows U.S. crude exports to Asia dropping after freight rates nearly tripled, prompting Asian refiners to deploy smaller ~700,000-barrel tankers instead of supertankers, while a European scramble for short-haul cargoes has pushed physical Brent crude above $131 per barrel. @Al Arabiya
My neighbor told me missiles keep blowing up his VLCCs so I asked how many VLCCs he has and he said “not many :/”.
At least the banks are not out of money. Imagine how terrible that would be. Maybe I need to upgrade my family’s SPR while I still have the chance hmm :/
I’ve also seen pictures and videos of lines at US fuel stations, but for now that seems to be more about people preempting expected price increases, not because of shortages.

US diesel prices have hit a new record high of $6.48 per gallon

Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz Announces Diesel Subsidy End - Telesur English
Article
Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz announced the elimination of the diesel subsidy in Bolivia, which as of this Saturday is being quoted according to the international market, and announced a series of economic measures to counteract the effect of said measure on the economy.
“We have made the decision that as of today, diesel will cost us the same as it costs us to buy it abroad. We cannot buy expensive to sell cheap so that a few can steal it,” said the president in a recorded message broadcast on national television.
This readjustment raises the price of diesel from 9.80 bolivianos (1 dollar) to 17.95 bolivianos (1.83 dollars). Although the cost of said fuel had been adjusted since August 17 only for “large consumers.”Paz announced that Bolivia’s resources “will no longer be used for this subsidy,” but will be allocated to the construction of public infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, and roads.
He also said that 2.9 million people will receive a new payment of the Extraordinary Protection and Equity Program (PEPE) bonus and that the Government will allocate 800 million bolivianos (81.6 million dollars) in credits with preferential conditions for heavy cargo transporters, guilds, artisans, and small merchants.
The president withdrew the fuel subsidy that had been in effect since 2005 in December, although in January he had to issue a new decree with that measure after protests from labor unions that questioned other provisions of the original norm.
At the beginning of July, the Executive issued a decree that keeps the fuel prices established in December fixed for another six months, given the application of the flexible exchange rate for the dollar and external factors that affect the international price of fuels, which the country imports for the most part.
With this last measure, the stable price is maintained only for gasoline and other fuels, except diesel, although the commitment of the Bolivian Executive before international entities is to eliminate the subsidy completely starting in 2027.






