"A year ago mainstream analysts said Ukrainians troops (with NATO’s help) would soon destroy the Russian military and party on the beaches of Crimea. Today, the establishment admits manpower shortages are a reality and they admit Russia is overrunning Ukraine’s defensive positions all over the front. Soon, Russia will control the entirety of the Donbas region and beyond using attrition warfare.A big game changer is drones: Small cheap air surveillance with 4K cameras that are difficult to counter. Both Russia and NATO are quickly learning the threat these devices represent on the battlefields of Ukraine, and no, I’m not talking about the exploding FPV drones that chase down soldiers. I suspect most of those videos are fake anyway.
The real danger is in constant air based surveillance, 24/7, around the clock, always watching. Maneuver warfare requires the swift relocation of larger units without the enemy being aware; with cheap drones this is no longer possible. All large scale troop movements can be predicted and countered using nothing more than a handful of $3000 toys.
This is why Russia shifted quickly into attrition tactics. Now, they push their front line forward a few hundred yards at a time instead of trying to gain miles of territory in wild offensives. The DoD thinks maneuver tactics are still viable, but in order to successfully maneuver without the enemy’s knowledge you must fully control the skies. With drones, no one controls the skies anymore. It’s a free-for-all." ZH
"The US embassy in Lebanon has issued an alert warning American citizens to exit Lebanon on "any ticket available" as the likelihood of a major war between Israel and Hezbollah as well as Iran grows.
A series of international and Western airlines have suspended service to the region as a the specter of all-out war looms. The embassy said that though there have been service stoppages and cancellations, "commercial transportation options to leave Lebanon remain available." ZH
"The Russians launched two S-300 missiles from the occupied territory of Donetsk Oblast and two Kh-31P missiles from the airspace over the Black Sea.
The Russians also launched 29 Shahed attack UAVs from Cape Chauda in temporarily occupied Crimea, as well as Russia’s cities of Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Kursk."Pravada
"Two trains belonging to Ukrzaliznytsia (Ukrainian Railways) were engaged in extinguishing the fire caused by a Russian strike on a critical infrastructure facility in Vinnytsia Oblast." Pravda
"At least 32 civilians were killed and 63 injured in an explosion on a popular beach in the Somali capital Mogadishu police said, an attack blamed by Somali state media on the militant Islamist group al Shabaab." MS
"BLS reported that in July, the US added just 114K payrolls, a huge miss to expectations of 175K and also a huge drop from the
downward revised June print of 206K, now (as always) revised to just 179K. This was the lowest print since December 2020... Cluadia Sahm indicates, a recession has now been triggered. The rule, for those who don't remember is that a recession is effectively already underway if the unemployment rate (based on a three-month moving average) rises by half a percentage point from its low of the past year. And that's what just happened, with the unemployment rate surging 0.6% from the year's low."
ZeroHedge
"Shares across the world tumbled Friday - as investors panicked over signs of weakness in the U.S. economy.... the US economy is spluttering. That report sent the S&P 500, Nasdaq and the Dow Jones down in pre-market trading - after they had also sunk the day before.As well as the huge drop in Japan, stock markets were battered in Europe. The declines followed a retreat on Wall Street after weak manufacturing data raised worries the Federal Reserve may have waited too long to cut interest rates, raising risks of a recession.
After the U.S. central bank held steady at a meeting this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said a cut could come in September. Worry is mounting that the Fed has kept its main interest rate at a two-decade high for too long in its zeal to stifle inflation by making it more costly to borrow. A rate cut could take months to a year to filter through the economy."
MS
"Some 123 combat engagements were recorded on the front lines in Ukraine.According to an update, yesterday the enemy launched one missile strike against the positions of Ukrainian units and populated areas using three missiles, as well as 80 airstrikes, dropping 114 guided aerial bombs. In addition, the enemy launched 4,693 shelling attacks, 93 of them from multiple launch rocket systems.
The Russian army carried out airstrikes outside Vovchanski Khutory, Ternova, Vovchansk, Synkivka, Petropavlivka and Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, Druzhba, Shcherbynivka, Toretsk, Niu-York, Dyliivka, Malynivka, Yelyzavetivka, Myrnohrad, Novohrodivka, Marynivka, Mykolaivka, Karlivka, Vuhledar, Staromaiorske, Makarivka, Urozhaine and Blahodatne in the Donetsk region, Pavlivka and Novoandriivka in the Zaporizhzhia region, and Olhivka in the Kherson region.
Ukraine's combat aircraft and missile and artillery forces launched 15 strikes on Russian troop concentration areas, a military equipment concentration area, and a UAV control post. They also hit two air defense systems and an ammunition depot of the Russians." Ukrin
"Senator Graham introduced a bill that if passed would authorize military action against Iran if Hezbollah attacks Israel. The resolution says that the Senate "asserts that efforts to deter Hezbollah and the Islamic Republic of Iran are most credible when the President keeps all options on the table, including military force." ZeroHedge
