#Aden the 100 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

zvaigzdelasas · 3 months

Text

[BBC is UK State Media]

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has funded politically-motivated assassinations in Yemen, a BBC investigation has found, exacerbating a conflict involving the Yemeni government and warring factions which has recently returned to the international spotlight following attacks on ships in the Red Sea.

Counter-terrorism training provided by American mercenaries to Emirati officers in Yemen has been used to train locals who can work under a lower profile - sparking a major uptick in political assassinations, a whistleblower told BBC Arabic Investigations.

The BBC has also found that despite the American mercenaries' stated aim to eliminate the jihadist groups al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) in southern Yemen, in fact the UAE has gone on to recruit former al-Qaeda members for a security force it has created on the ground in Yemen to fight the Houthi rebel movement and other armed factions.

The UAE government has denied the allegations in our investigation - that it had assassinated those without links to terrorism - saying they were "false and without merit".

These are largely between the two parts of the "real" "legitimate" "internationally recognized" coalition govt of Yemen you've been scolded so much about over the last month btw [22 Jan 24]

Continued after the cut

The killing spree in Yemen - more than 100 assassinations in a three-year period - is just one element of an ongoing bitter internecine conflict pitting several international powers against each other in the Middle East's poorest country.[...]

In 2015, the US and the UK supported a coalition of mostly Arab states led by Saudi Arabia - with the UAE as a key partner - to fight back. The coalition invaded Yemen with the aim of reinstating the exiled Yemeni government and fighting terrorism. The UAE was given charge of security in the south, and became the US's key ally on counter-terrorism in the region - al-Qaeda had long been a presence in the south and was now gaining territory.[...]

Under international law, any killing of civilians without due process would be counted as extra-judicial.

The majority of those assassinated were members of Islah - the Yemeni branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. It [...] has never been classified by the US as a terror organisation, but is banned in several Arab countries - including the UAE where its political activism and support for elections is seen by the country's royal family as a threat to their rule.

Leaked drone footage of the first assassination mission gave me a starting point from which to investigate these mysterious killings. It was dated December 2015 and was traced to members of a private US security company called Spear Operations Group.[...]

Isaac Gilmore, a former US Navy Seal who later became chief operating officer of Spear, was one of several Americans who say they were hired to carry out assassinations in Yemen by the UAE.

He refused to talk about anyone who was on the "kill list" provided to Spear by the UAE - other than the target of their first mission: Ansaf Mayo, a Yemeni MP who is the leader of Islah in the southern port city of Aden, the government's temporary capital since 2015.[...]

Mr Gilmore, and another Spear employee in Yemen at the time - Dale Comstock - told me that the mission they conducted ended in 2016. But the assassinations in southern Yemen continued. In fact they became more frequent, according to investigators from the human rights group Reprieve.

They investigated 160 killings carried out in Yemen between 2015 and 2018. They said the majority happened from 2016 and only 23 of the 160 people killed had links to terrorism. All the killings had been carried out using the same tactics that Spear had employed - the detonation of an improvised explosive device (IED) as a distraction, followed by a targeted shooting. The most recent political assassination in Yemen, according to Yemeni human rights lawyer Huda al-Sarari, happened just last month - of an imam killed in Lahj by the same method.[...]

Mr Gilmore, Mr Comstock, and two other mercenaries from Spear who asked not to be named, said that Spear had been involved in training Emirati officers in the UAE military base in Aden. A journalist who asked to remain anonymous also told us he had seen footage of such training.

As the mercenaries' profile had made them conspicuous in Aden and vulnerable to exposure, their brief had been changed to training Emirati officers, "who in turn trained local Yemenis to do the targeting", the Yemeni military officer told me.

Through the course of the investigation, we also spoke to more than a dozen other Yemeni sources who said this had been the case. They included two men who said they had carried out assassinations which were not terror-related, after being trained to do so by Emirati soldiers - and one man who said he had been offered release from a UAE prison in exchange for the assassination of a senior Yemeni political figure, a mission he did not accept.

Getting Yemenis to conduct the assassinations meant it was harder for the killings to be traced back to the UAE.

By 2017, the UAE had helped build a paramilitary force, part of the Emirati-funded Southern Transitional Council (STC), a security organisation that runs a network of armed groups across southern Yemen.

The force operated in southern Yemen independently of the Yemeni government, and would only take orders from the UAE. The fighters were not just trained to fight on active front lines. One particular unit, the elite Counter Terrorism Unit, was trained to conduct assassinations, our whistleblower told us.

The whistleblower sent a document with 11 names of former al-Qaeda members now working in the STC, some of whose identities we were able to verify ourselves.

During our investigation we also came across the name Nasser al-Shiba. Once a high-ranking al-Qaeda operative, he was jailed for terrorism but later released. A Yemeni government minister we spoke to told us al-Shiba was a known suspect in the attack on the US warship USS Cole, which killed 17 American sailors in October 2000. Multiple sources told us that he is now the commander of one of the STC military units. Lawyer Huda al-Sarari has been investigating human rights abuses committed by these UAE-backed forces on the ground. As a result of her work, she would frequently receive death threats. But it was her 18-year-old son Mohsen who paid the ultimate price.

He was shot in the chest in March 2019 while on a trip to a local petrol station, and died a month later.[...]

A subsequent investigation by Aden's public prosecutor found that Mohsen was killed by a member of the UAE-backed Counter Terrorism Unit, but the authorities have never pursued a prosecution.

Members of the prosecutor's office - who we cannot name for safety reasons - told us that the widespread assassinations have created a climate of fear that means even they are too afraid to pursue justice in cases involving forces backed by the UAE.

Reprieve has received a leaked UAE document that shows Spear was still being paid in 2020, though it is not clear in what capacity.

#quite a piece

236 notes · View notes

girlactionfigure · 1 month

Text

🔅Wed morning SUMMARY - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Real Time

🔻no overnight rockets.

🔸ISRAEL : holding strong

Regardless of some media reports and US president Biden’s statements, both Israel’s political class and the Israeli public is holding strong and steady.

There is a lot of room for political maneuvering due to the war, but for the most part the politicians are staying quiet and waiting for the future. Recent polls show the public strongly supports the war, and while they expect new elections - not in the midst of the war.

The distraught hostage families are holding their protests, doing what they think will help - and a bit of anti-govt protestors have glommed on to their events. While they get media attention, they’re not growing.

And the extremely divisive national topic of draft exemptions was brought before the High Court, but the govt and the leading parties have, for the most part, quietly taken the topic to the back rooms.

🔸LEBANON : tit-for-tat continues

The night before last, Israel attacked Hezbollah weapons warehouses in BaalBek - distant from the border.

Hezbollah's response yesterday: launching over 100 rockets and firing along the entire border.

Counterattack by the IDF deep in Lebanese territory in the Bekaa valley, hitting Hezbollah military operations buildings.

Response: IDF attacked "sensitive" Hezbollah targets, as well as a strike at Hezbollah sites in Syria.

🔸GAZA : battles and targeted attacks continue

Yesterday’s hotspot was Deir al Balah, south west Gaza. Forces maneuvered in, artillery strikes, and targeted bombing.

Continued operations in Hamad, Khan Yunis in south Gaza, including capture of an enemy compound with full stock of military weapons and supplies, battles with enemy squads including a squad trying to sneak up and bomb an IDF position.

The IDF also captured and destroyed another enemy rocket launch site.

Targeted bombing is also occurring in Rafah, targeting leadership and command locations, but giving evacuation warnings due to the concentration of civilians. For the moment Israel is not pushing into Rafah.

🔸JUDEA-SAMARIA : ongoing counter-terror

Ongoing reports of security force activity throughout Judea-Samaria, significant concentration on trouble hotspots Jenin, Tulkarm, Shechem, Tubas.

Almost daily reports of security raids capturing terror suspects - often kicking off firefights when they resist which get serious with shoulder rocket launches at buildings and drone strikes.

Not only does this capture violent militants, it gives them a target or worries about defense instead of potentially performing attacks.

🔸IRAQ : they keep trying

Iranian funded and armed Iraq Shia Militias keep trying to attack Israel and putting out press releases on their ‘success’. Because of the distance the only weapons they have are long distance suicide drones, and so far they’ve had only 1 get near Israeli airspace, which was immediately shot down by F16.

🔸HOUTHIS : major impact to the world

The Houthis are attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden daily, successfully sinking, damaging, and causing ships to be abandoned.

World shipping costs have increased 240% since the Houthis started their attacks.

The shipping protection coalition, with the US, UK, India and various EU countries, is stopping a fair number of the attacks, but even daily airstrikes is not deterring the Houthis. Making it worse, the US/UK airstrikes on Yemen are minimally effective because they don’t know where to hit.

#Israel #Realtime War Updates #October 7 #Operation Swords of Iron #Hamas Massacre #Israel/HamasWar

23 notes · View notes

theeeveetamer · 1 month

Text

Rune Factory Tides of Destiny (extended thoughts)

@saficswrites asked me to go a little more in depth and I've actually been planning on talking more in depth anyway, so this is a good opportunity! I'm also going to throw in some of the resources I used while playing because there's a lot of great ones but they're kind of scattered.

So I will start by saying that I started on the series with RF4 back when it originally came out for 3DS and I played the heck out of it. Like, tried taming every single monster in the game levels of played the heck out of it. I've since played all of RF1, RF2, most of RF3 and RF5, and now RFToD. I chose to go back and play 1, 2, 3, and ToD after RF5 was announced. The only one I haven't touched is Frontier.

And yeah, Tides of Destiny does have some quirks and I can see why some people don't love it as a Rune Factory game. Just starting with some of the criticisms (because they lead into one of the things I actually really like about the game): The farming is very pared down and it's entirely reliant on the monsters you tame. Basically you just plant generic seeds and the monsters you put on the seasonal island determine what they grow into. Different monsters can grow different things.

That is somewhat annoying because you can't see what the monsters are called or what they plant before you tame them, the game doesn't really give you a clear list of everything you can plant, and you only get to tame 30 total so you're going to be doing a lot of swapping. It is possible to get everything with some planning tho (I borrowed the monster setups from this GameFaqs thread).

That said, I personally kind of prefer this? Micromanaging the farming has always been my least favorite aspect of the Rune Factory games. In Tides of Destiny you don't have to worry about that. There's no watering, no harvesting, no spreadsheets keeping track of exactly what seeds you need to buy, and the crops grow so fast (most are done in 1-2 days when you have your monster friendship maxed out) that you don't really feel the randomness. I'm in summer of year 2 and I've already got a storage full of full stacks of basically every crop in the game. That means you can focus 100% on the exploration, dungeons, making friends, etc.

And the exploration is. My god. I love it. It's basically if you threw Rune Factory and Legend of Zelda Wind Waker into a blender. For reference, Wind Waker is one of my favorite Zelda games ever so that colors my impressions of the game. The exploration is 100% riding around through the ocean on a giant golem, fighting giant monsters, and digging up islands and salvage points. The quests usually point you toward specific islands to unlock and there's no point where I felt like I needed an external tool to explore, but if you want help someone made an excellent, detailed map of the stuff you can find in the ocean. You also eventually unlock a fast travel and there is a way to speed up getting from point A to point B, so I never felt like wandering through the ocean was too intrusive.

I also really, really, really like the characters. Each one has a little required "friendship event" you need to watch to unlock their next friendship level, and each of the main island inhabitants has at least 6. All the friendship events are connected to a little character arc which is completed with level 6. The bachelor/ettes get an additional 3 event arc if you unlock their love events as well, though you can't access that until after the main plot is over (and gender locked unfortunately). And there's actually a reason to get them up to the max (level 6) before the endgame, since you get a benefit in the final boss battle.

IMO they're all just really likable, funny characters. Some of the events actually made me laugh out loud, and I was usually smiling the whole time any of the them were talking!

I also really like they way they handled the main characters (Aden and Sonja). The plot of the game is that Sonja gets trapped in her childhood friend Aden's body, and the story is about figuring out how to separate them again. You can play as Sonja once they're separated at the end of the main plot, but you do have to do the entirety of the main story as Aden. Initially I was kind of miffed about this, since I vastly prefer playing as female characters in games, but I actually really like how they did it. For two reasons.

One, I just really like Aden as a protagonist. I was expecting him to be kind of the goody two-shoes amnesiac like a lot of Rune Factory protags are, but no. He's sassy as hell. There was at least one point where one of the characters (I think Joe) is like "hey buddy ol' pal" and Aden is just like "Yeah we're not friends sorry you thought that tho."

Two, initially I was thinking that the whole "my best friend is living in my head" thing was going to be some secret they kept. Like Sonja was going to be there, but she was going to be quiet most of the time or not really interact with the world. But no. The first thing that happens is the obligatory RF starter girl (Odette) finds Aden, and the first thing out of his mouth is "Sonja is stuck in my head, isn't that weird?" and EVERYONE just goes with it. I love it. They really lean into the wackiness/silliness of it all. Sonja is very present in the dialogue and the plot. On her birthday characters wish Aden happy birthday to pass it along. The writing frequently plays around with the dynamic of them being stuck together (such as the two of them arguing over how Aden is going to take a bath), and they frequently swap off in dialogue and give different perspectives. They each kind of have their own relationship with the various characters around town. Most of the friendship events feature both of them in some way. It's also really nice how they'll talk to each other throughout gameplay. They'll say good morning to each other, Sonja will warn you when your health is getting low or what time it is, etc.

Despite playing as Aden (physically) I really feel like you're actually playing as both of them to some degree, and I really like that. It actually feels kind of lonely once they split at the end of the main plot and you don't get Sonja's little quips in your head anymore.

I think those are the big things. There's also lots of little things I enjoyed. I love the aesthetic of the world, and the gameplay systems relating to RP management and stuff are much more refined than the older games. I'd say the only mane difference between it and RF4 is that swinging your weapons still costs RP. The crafting is a little annoying until you get the hang of it (you can craft anything up to 20 levels higher than your current level, so it doesn't suck to grind too badly). There's a bizarre amount of spelling errors, which isn't super intrusive but it is kind of funny lol.

On the negative side, the story is pretty short. You can easily beat it in less than one in game year if you're rushing. I'm also not a huge fan of the main story needing to be 100% completed before you can do marriage and the like, since the game is basically done at that point. I don't think there's much post-game other than the goals you make up for yourself. I do think playing as Sonja was a bit of an afterthought. She has like a quarter of the romance options Aden has and there's some odd mistakes I've noticed playing as her (like trying to knock on Sierra's door while she's asleep will have Sonja saying a line about how the bath is closed ???) but it doesn't bother me too much so far.

Those are pretty minor negatives though. I still had (and am having) so much fun with the game!

I also heavily used this website as a guide. The only thing is that I wish they had pictures of the monsters because I think they have slightly different names from the rest of the series, and it can be confusing cuz some monsters have different colorations and therefore do completely different things.

#rune factory #rune factory tides of destiny #RFToD #long post

20 notes · View notes

sangfielle · 2 months

Text

Nadeem's Big Febuary 2024 Next Fest Roundup

I've done these little demo roundups for the past couple of nextfests in a more informal capacity, but I wanted to make this one more of an actual Thing and do something like this going forward, since I tend to play around 70-100 of the demos for each nextfest. This is going to be (hopefully) mostly a list of recommendations, but I also have some ones that I'm not strictly recommending that I think are still worth pointing out. I have over 20 games I wanted to point out from this round of demos, so the meat of this post will be below the cut.

The Best

Cryptmaster is a dungeon crawler typing game. It's genuinely laugh out loud funny, and it was a blast to play through with a person looking over my shoulder and commentating. There's not much to say about it that can't be figured out by picking up the game for a few minutes yourself, and there's no reason not to when it's got a free demo. I would recommend this game to basically anyone, and will be playing it as soon as it comes out. Probably the most across the board appealing game that I played from this collection.

Gatekeeper is just plain good. This was the most immediately fun game I played for this. I grow more and more irritated with rogue-lites every next fest, but Gatekeeper is fresh, fun, and fast-paced enough to get away from any distaste for the subgenre I have. Like basically all of the other optional multiplayer games on this list, GK seems to heavily benefit from a second player, but after my friend kept eating shit and dying I still had a fantastic time with this game by myself. Buy this game.

I don't play as many rhythm games as I do a lot of other genres, so if I'm totally wrong and this is just standard fare slop, you'll have to excuse me, but to my mind ADEN is a very unique and fun experience. A sidescroller rhythm/beat-em-up/bullet hell with charming art and fun music, it feels unlike basically anything I've played before, and it's wormed its way into my heart very quickly (even if I'm not quite as good at any of those types of games as I'd like to be).

The Pretty Good

Rotwood is a co-op roguelike game that's a lot of fun to play with friends. While technically 1-to-4 players, it feels like it's definitely meant to be played with at least a second party. If you do have that second party, the game goes by quickly and feels great to play - our 20 minute runs didn't feel like more than 5 minutes during our time with it. Pick it up if you want a non-PvP co-op game, but make sure at least one of your friends is picking it up too.

Cabernet is a narrative RPG set in eastern Europe in the late 1800s. You're Liza, a newly-turned vampire and a prospective doctor before your death. You don't actually get much more than that in the demo, but it gives you enough time to decide if you're interested in the full game or not. I am - it seems neat, and I'll likely be picking it up upon release, but it's not going to be for everyone. If you're into games where the meat of it is walking around and talking to people, it'll likely be a safe choice for you.

Vellum is a charming, if a little janky, co-op action roguelike where you play as fountain pens who are also wizards. As loathe as I am to compare games to others if they aren't ripoffs, it reminded me of playing Tiny Tina's, which I wasn't expecting, but made it more endearing to me. It seems like it would be less fun to play alone, but like Rotwood, just make sure you're making one of your friends grab it when you do, and it should be a lot of fun.

Dungeonborne is a game that speaks for itself very immediately when you start playing. PvPvE dungeon crawlers aren't the most popular genre, to my knowledge, but this game felt very oddly similar to another PvPvE dungeon crawler that was on display 1 or 2 next fests ago. If you and your friends want to dick around in a dungeon and kill skeletons, this is going to be a game that satisfies, and it's funny to play when you're getting yourself and your friends killed. I don't know how much long term value it'll manage to hold.

Children of the Sun is a very stylish puzzle-shooter that is not for me, but will probably be very good to whoever it is for. I would suggest trying out the demo and seeing how you feel about it. I don't have a lot to say about it beyond that, since it isn't a game I spent a lot of time with, beyond that it's very cool looking.

There is a notable absence of platformers & metroidvanias on my list of games that I played for this next fest, and it's not because there weren't any to play. I'm just very very bad at these games, moreso than any other type of game by a huge margin, and so I do not play them. Ever. There are ones I want to play quite badly, but I pick them up and put them down very quickly because I am worse at them than your average eight year old with an Xbox. I downloaded Tales of Kenzera: ZAU at the behest of a friend without knowing anything about it, and I'm glad I did. Even being as bad at this type of game as I am, I played this demo and had a lot of fun with it. I won't pick up the full game, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't. If you're anyone who has a less tragic experience with the genres than I do, you should definitely try this game out.

Love In a Bottle is a refreshing change of pace as far as romance VNs go - there are vanishingly few of them for/about lesbians and bisexual women compared to games for & about straight women & games about gay men (though these are usually also for straight women... which is not the point of this, so I digress). It's very cute! LIaB follows an only-kind-of-succubus as she moves to a new town and flirts with attractive women. I'm not quite the target audience for this, but not every game needs to be for me, and I enjoyed poking around in it regardless.

Alcyone: The Last City is a game that's hard to get much of a handle on from the very short demo alone, but you get just enough to know it's interesting. What I can glean from the game that you get in the demo is about the same as the steam description: a sci-fi interactive novel set at the end of the universe. I love this kind of shit, so I'm pretty sure I'll like Alcyone.

Pacific Drive is a game about driving your car around while some weird shit happens. That's not a dismissive summary, I'm just not sure how else to categorize it. It seems cool if you like this type of game! Unfortunately my distaste for the wretched automobile extends to video games, so this is not quite my speed, but it seems very charming.

TRIBES 3: Rivals is a PvP FPS game that seems like a lot of fun! There's just one problem with it - this type of multiplayer game isn't in the limelight anymore, and won't attract a lot of players who aren't tryharding. I don't like tryharding in multiplayer games, but it felt good enough to play that I'm willing to give it a shot regardless. I'm worried about Tribes 3's ability to survive longterm in this era of gaming, but I'm holding out at least a little hope for it. I think you should help give it a better chance of survival.

TOUCHSTARVED is a "dark romance visual novel" with five romanceable characters that look like they've either come from Dragon Age concept art or from someone's D&D campaign. If you're not into romance VNs, this game will not be for you. If you are, and you're either attracted to men or like to play romance games with them, this one feels actually better than a lot of them. The worldbuilding, though somewhat sparse in the demo, seems interesting, and the game is weirdly actually gay for a VN where the protagonist doesn't have a set gender. There are no women who are characters in this game. That's not surprising, it's just worth noting. Its dialogue is corny and the way the romanceable characters act irritating, but that's par for the course for the genre, so it's probably not going to be a dealbreaker for you if you're already playing this type of game. I'd say give it a shot if that's already the kind of game you're into, otherwise it's really not worth looking at. I doubt this game is going to win over any new fans to the genre.

The Otherwise Noteworthy

Islands of Insight is... A puzzle MMO with very bad puzzles and similarly bad online play. I don't understand why it exists. I don't understand the type of person who they think will play this. I don't understand why it's a MMO? There's no aspect of the puzzles that I saw that would be served by multiplayer, and the multiplayer functionality is so limited as to be worthless anyway. The most possible interaction you can have with another person is following them around and emoting at them while they do their own set of puzzles. This game is obviously fated to die in obscurity. Why is it a Behaviour game?

Case Files: Behind Closed Doors was the only actual FMV game that this next fest had to offer. The FMV tag is the first section of any given next fest that I look at - I'm a big fan of them, and I think they're really underappreciated, especially in today's gaming world. As a consequence, I'm normally much nicer to them than I am to most video games, but this one fell flat on its face for me. There doesn't feel like there's anything there to actually grab the player or to keep their attention, and I found myself bored with it very quickly. It doesn't help that I get more irritated with the inundation of cop games as opposed to literally anything else in the world of FMV games as time goes on, but I think even if I wasn't sick and tired of them, this game wouldn't feel worth the time it asks you to invest. It's a damn shame.

#BLUD is a game that I wanted to check out, but didn't get to actually play, because I didn't realize this demo was going to shut down after nextfest! That's on me. It seems cool, and I'll be checking it out once it's properly available, but I can't say more than that because I missed the window to play it :(.

Longstory 2, similarly, is a VN I couldn't actually play during this fest, but this one isn't my fault - despite steam having a page for the demo, it wasn't ever actually available? This one is just going on the list because I loved the original Longstory when I was 15. I'm excited for the reminder that it exists, and I'll be going back to the original to see if it holds up to my nostalgia. If it does, I'll be picking up the sequel for sure.

Bewitching Sinners is a trashy romantasy VN. There's not that much else to it. If you like trashy romance VNs, it'll be for you, and if you're not, it won't be. It gets a place on this list because there were a lot of VN demos that I opened and then very quickly closed, and I actually played all the way through this one, so it's a cut above the rest in at least its ability to keep the player from immediately ducking out of due to the evidently garbage writing.

Diets & Deities is noteworthy only in that it's the most blatant ripoff of Everhood that I've seen. It's also a significant downgrade. I like the gameplay of Everhood a lot, and I was hoping that even if this game was a ripoff, it would give me more of the same. I wouldn't love it if it did that, but I would have had a little bit of fun with the demo. It's not more of the same. It feels way worse to play, and I don't know why, but I hate it.

Meta-Ghost: The Breaking Show is all style & no substance. It's very good looking, but it offers little beyond graphics that you couldn't get in a less tired package elsewhere (read: in Hades. This game wants to be Hades so bad it overwhelms any other personality it could possibly hope to have). Similarly to Diets & Deities, it fails to improve on the game it's aping's gameplay & feeling & instead makes it worse, though not to the extreme that D&D does. The only real value I can see in this game that you couldn't get with another game is the multiplayer gimmick, but as that wasn't available in the demo, I can't say whether that makes it worth even taking a second glance at.

Serum is a survival horror adventure game that seems really cool, except it's completely fucking unplayable from how shitty the framerate is. I'd love to recommend it, because I really am interested in this game, but it is in desperate need of some fixes before I can play it, much less tell you to buy it.

Mouthwashing is also a horror game that I hesitate to recommend, but it is at least playable. The demo just shows so little of its hand that I can't even tell if it's worth playing. It clocks in at about a 20 minute runtime, and in those 20 minutes, zero things that were scary or even mildly unsettling happened. It showed a little bit of gore at the end? But that's not really much of anything. I'll be keeping an eye on its development, but I have no idea whether it'll release as a gem of the indie horror scene or as a wet fart.

You can kill me for how many VNs I've put on this list and how many I've enjoyed. Beat me, take my blood, whatever. Glam Pursuit is a game about becoming a star in a not-Hollywood fake setting. The dialogue feels like it was ripped out of Life is Strange, it's corny beyond measure, and it's just all around not very good. However... Something about it captivates me. Sifting through the extreme amount of subtitle errors and typos in this game and the painfully awkward interactions with all the characters around you, I feel like there's something of worth to be found, even if I didn't stumble upon it in the demo. Is it going to be worth it for you to pick up this game? I don't know. Do you like eating garbage if it's shiny? I do. I'll play Glam Pursuit when it comes out. I don't know if you should unless there's something wrong with you.

#personal #effortposting

17 notes · View notes

blu3haw4 · 2 months

Text

Like I said yesterday, for this Clexaweek, I'll try to write for last year themes as I make my way updating my WIP's. So here it is, For day two: Secret Relationship (situationship?😈😏)

Here's the summary:

Clarke and Anya dated on high school. Lexa and Anya are best friends since childhood, but Lexa went to a private high school, so she only got to see Clarke once or twice. Six years later Lexa takes a job for the year as supplant for the high school's male basketball team's coach, and Aden, Clarke's baby brother, so happens to be on it. OR Best friend's ex AND baby-bro's coach and for chapter two Things get complicated Can we really say the problem is feelings? More like hornyness ...and it's not really a problem y'know (;

Merry Clexaweek kru 💖

Yesterday was lovely, once I'm done writing I'll make my way through all your comments' section 😊

#Clexaweek #clexaweek24 #clexaweek2024 #clexa #clexa fanfic #clexa fandom #clexakru #clexa fic #my brain is still fried

12 notes · View notes

asoiaf-fancasts · 3 months

Text

Robb Stark - Fancasts

Age: 14 - 16

Appearance: He has a stocky build and is strong. He has blue eyes and red-brown hair.

Character: Aden

Actor: Cory Gruter Andrew

Show: The 100 [2014] [Season 3]

[He was around 13 - 14 during the filming of this season so the right age for him in the first book. He unfortunately is skinny instead of being stocky and strong. He has greyish blue eyes and his hair is a bit light but it has both red and brown. He wears armour that could pass for medieval although a bit ragged for a lords heir and future king.]

Character: Richard Gray

Actor: Dean-Charles Chapman

Show: The White Queen [2013]

[Suggested by: @abeloth ]

[He was 15 during filming of this show so perfect for Robb. He has a slightly stocky build. He has blue eyes and red-brown hair. He wears 14th century clothes and armour.]

Character: Peter Pevensie

Actor: William Moseley

Movie: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe [2005]

[Suggested by: @placeholder111 ]

[He was 17 - 18 during the filming of this movie so a year or so too old for Robb but he does have a baby face so I think it works still. He is stocky but unfortunately doesn’t have red-brown hair. It’s blonde so it can easily be edited. He does have blue eyes. He wears fantasy medieval ish clothes.]

#please suggest other fancasts #robb stark #robb stark fancasts #asoiaf fancast #a song of ice and fire #asoiaf #fancast resource #game of thrones

15 notes · View notes

sam-dugesian · 6 months

Text

Phrynichus deflersi is absolutely insane

whip spiders are kinda insane as is but the fact that this one exists in a small area of the map roughly around the Gulf of Aden this creates a naming convention confusion where it's officially known as The Arabian Whip Spider but it's exclusively native to Somalia and even though it's been imported illegally into Yemen, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Djibouti I think you'll notice the obvious fact that none of those locations are in Arabia with only one of them not being in Africa so we're off to a great start.

its torso is thin and flexible 6 of it's legs are twice the length of its torso bent backwards and lying so flat that it shuffles along the ground on its knees while doing the spider equivalent of the splits

its tusks yes tusks are modified into arms that are 4 times the length of it's body with fake hands on the ends of them complete with an opposable thumb

and these work together with the remaining front 2 legs that are equally as long weirdly flexible and for some reason protrude from the spider's neck and have a second shoulder joint immediately after the one attached to the neck

they have one of the smallest mouths next to the size of their body of basically any spider and even with that the teeth are even strangely small for the size of the mouth making the creature almost flat faced

here's pic of one preserved in mid-pounce pose

just to illustrate how crazy a concept that is

and oh yes it can pounce or sort of technically it doesn't so much pounce as it does shuffle along a surface at around 60 mph or 100 kph being able to manoeuvre on a dime during this movement and also conceal itself in tight spaces moving a maximum distance of 5 feet in one of these bursts which we still don't know just how many they can do at a time.

being soft-bodied it can hide in spaces that are even smaller than the size of its thorax and it's strong enough to take down prey such as fully grown rats by grabbing onto them and dragging them to their mouth where their tiny teeth chew through the rat's neck until it bleeds to death.

for scale here's one on a human hand

and here's their prey

to say the spider is strong is an understatement

oh and by the way there's a very similar creature that's local to Southern California

just so you know

and guess what else

i have a friend in the north of England that actually keeps them as pets

oh and if you go to Egypt they flavor their French fries with its urine there

#spiders #what #damn nature you scary

14 notes · View notes

beardedmrbean · 1 month

Text

The United States has conducted six defense strikes and fired 18 anti-ship missiles in Yemen after the Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles into the Red Sea, according to the United States Central Command.

The Iranian-backed Houthis fired two anti-ship ballistic missiles from Houthi-controlled areas into the Red Sea toward merchant vessel Pinocchio, a Singaporean-owned, Liberian-flagged ship, between 8:50 a.m. and 12:50 p.m. local time on Monday, according to CENTCOM.

“The missiles did not impact the vessel and there were no injuries or damage reported,” CENTCOM said.

In retaliation to the initial strikes, “United States Central Command conducted six self-defense strikes destroying an unmanned underwater vessel and 18 anti-ship missiles in Houthi controlled areas of Yemen” between 2:50 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. shortly after the initial strikes, CENTCOM said detailing their operation.

“It was determined these weapons presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and U.S. Navy ships in the region,” officials said. “These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy and merchant vessels.”

When the initial attacks began last November, the Houthi rebels initially framed them as a method of pressuring Israel to stop the war that was launched following the Oct. 7 terror attacks. However, as shippers began to avoid the regions of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, the rebels strikes still continued.

The U.S. and coalition warships have been responding by shooting down any Houthi fire that's come near them which has left the Houthis targeting commercial ships with little to no protection.

Since the U.S. began its campaign of airstrikes in January, the U.S. military says it has shot down and destroyed more 100 Houthi missiles, according to an Associated Press analysis of its statements, but the onslaught from the Houthi rebels, meanwhile, has shown no signs of abating.

#nunyas news #give em a moab

6 notes · View notes

nicklloydnow · 4 months

Text

On Today’s Episode of World War III

“On Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed our worst suspicions concerning the pace of Iran’s nuclear weaponization program. “Iran,” it concluded, “has increased the rate at which it is producing near weapons grade uranium in recent weeks, reversing a previous slowdown that started in the middle of this year.”

According to the IAEA, Iranian enrichment of Uranium-235 to near weapons-grade level had increased to an estimated 9 kilograms per month by the end of November. It takes just five times that amount of uranium, enriched to 90 percent, to sustain a nuclear chain reaction for one nuclear bomb.

Presently, it is believed that Iran has enriched at least 128.3 kilograms of Uranium-235 to 60 percent, and 567.1 kilograms to 20 percent. Do the math based on Iran Watch’s estimates of its current centrifuge capacity, and Iran is now capable of enriching sufficient mass to 90 percent for three nuclear bombs in less than one week. Tehran could have a fourth bomb in one to two weeks more, and a fifth within roughly one month’s time.

(…)

We are in a very different world now than when that deal was first made. Moscow and Beijing are actively engaged in the equivalent of an ideological World War III against the U.S. that is increasingly turning kinetic. Iran has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to undermine U.S. diplomacy and national security interests throughout the Middle East.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was behind the funding and planning of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel. Tehran’s plunging of Gaza into war undermined U.S. efforts to normalize relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and Iran-sponsored militias including Hezbollah and the Houthis are actively attacking U.S. military and naval forces in Iraq, Syria, Red Sea, and Gulf of Aden.

As his country nears a nuclear breakout, Khamenei is only becoming bolder. On Dec. 23, the Pentagon reported that the Chem Pluto, a chemical tanker sailing from Saudi Arabia to India, was struck in the Indian Ocean “by a drone launched from Iran.” Iranian threats against the West and Europe are also starting to come fast and furious. On Christmas Eve, Tehran threatened to close the Straits of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Sea.

Iran will become bolder still if allowed to achieve nuclear status. We are on borrowed time now, rapidly approaching the point wherein a kinetic response will be the only option remaining.

(…)

On the Doomsday Clock, it is already five minutes and counting past midnight in Armageddon. Unless the White House acts now, Iran’s status as a nuclear power will be a fait accompli.”

“More than 100 people were killed and scores injured Wednesday in two blasts that struck the central Iranian city of Kerman, emergency services said. Thousands of mourners had gathered there to commemorate Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani on the fourth anniversary of his assassination in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in 2020.

A spokesman for the country’s emergency department was quoted by Iran’s state-run news agency as saying 103 people were killed and 188 were injured.

The deputy governor of Kerman, the slain general’s hometown, said the incident was a “terrorist attack,” according to Iran’s official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). The explosions occurred about a half-mile from Soleimani’s burial place, on a road to the graveyard, the agency reported.

(…)

The blasts Wednesday came amid intensifying involvement by Iranian-backed militant groups in a confrontation with Israel and its principal backer, the United States, during Israel’s war in Gaza.”

“Hamas on Tuesday accused Israel of killing Saleh al-Arouri, a top leader of the group, along with two commanders from its armed wing, the Qassam Brigades. Mr. al-Arouri is the senior-most Hamas figure to be killed since Israel vowed to destroy the organization and eliminate its leadership after a deadly Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7.

Mr. al-Arouri was assassinated in an explosion in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, marking the first such assassination of a top Hamas official outside the West Bank and Gaza in recent years. It comes as officials across the region are worried about the war in Gaza igniting a wider conflagration.

(…)

“No one is safe if they had any hand in planning, raising money for or carrying out these attacks,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal discussions. Citing Israel’s vow to hunt down the perpetrators of the Oct. 7 attack wherever they are, the official added, “This is just the beginning, and it’ll go on for years.”

(…)

Mr. al-Arouri played a key role in Hamas’s relationships with its regional allies and in increasing Hamas’s military capabilities, according to regional and Western officials. A longtime Hamas operative, he was one of the founders of the group’s armed wing and was linked to a number of attacks on Israeli civilians, including the kidnapping and killing of three teenagers in the West Bank in 2014, which he called a “heroic operation.”

(…)

Mr. al-Arouri worked with Yahya Sinwar, Hamas’s chief in Gaza, in recent years to link the group’s military wing more closely to Iran, which, regional security officials say, most likely helped the group develop some of the capabilities it used in the Oct. 7 attack. Israel has accused Mr. Sinwar of helping to plot the assault, which officials say killed about 1,200 people and saw 240 others abducted to Gaza.

(…)

Israel for decades has made assassinations of its enemies in other countries a key part of its defense strategy. In the past two weeks, Iran has accused Israel of assassinating two Iranian generals in Iraq and Syria who liaised with the regional militant groups backed by Iran. Israel has also carried out high-profile assassinations of senior Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists in Iran and Syria, including Iran’s top nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and Col. Sayad Khodayee, a commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps.”

#iran #israel #hamas #gaza #nuclear #nuclear weapons #world war #world war iii #wwiii

12 notes · View notes

psychologeek · 3 months

Text

@notaconservative asked:

@psychologeek also why does there need to be a Jewish ethnostate? There's no Christian ethnostate or Islamic ethnostate.. Isn't not allowing ppl to live in your country based on race a nazi thing?

(I apologise for any English mistakes. I'm sick, but it's important so I want to answer quickly).

First of all - Judaism is both ethnicity and a religion, but Islam and Christianity aren't, so I changed your question slightly.

There aren't other religionstates

Actually, there are many Muslim states (57, 56 of them mention Islamic law in their constitution/similar) and christian states (100+). You're just used to consider it as the "default", so you don't really see it.

Some questions to see it more clearly:

What day the work week starts?(Sunday? Monday? Saturday?)

What are the "default" holiday/vacation days in the country? (Eg. Christmas and Easter? Passover and Sukkot? Eed (id?) AlFiter and Mawlid Un Nabi? Lunar new year?)

What is the calendar used in the country? Just the Georgian calendar, or any relation to the the jewish calander, the Hijra, or other calanders?

I can continue, but I guess you understand.

(If you don't, try compare the calanders from same year of America, China, India, Morocco and Israel.)

Example of September 2018, not full though (I used it as I wrote a multicultural fic, and didn't want to miss dates)

(Ignore the cubes, it's a reminder for things mentioned in the fic)

Race and Religion (ft. Nazis).

Like I said at the start, it looks like a confusion between race, ethnicity, and religion.

Race - fake thing, based on skin colour and og continent?. (Ok, not completely, I guess? But as 90% of the people I know are any version of mix, so...)

What the Nazis wanted was world with only clean-best-people, looking for the übermantch, the "super-man". This is same reason they killed gays and disabled people - they "filth" the pureblood Aris.

I won't get deeper into it. As jew, queer and disabled, I'm very tired of hearing why my death is a good thing.

Religion - what one believes, or follow. Usually has a mixture of ritual (things to do), beliefs (things to feel/think), and many ways affects daily life, like having rules about what to do, how to behave, etc.

(I tried to use the most common things, so it would apply to not only monotheism.)

Ethnicity:

Ethnicity - culture and history and narrative. where did you come from.

Im other people's words:

Ethnicity has been defined as: "the social group a person belongs to, and either identifies with or is identified with by others, as a result of a mix of cultural and other factors including language, diet, religion, ancestry and physical features traditionally associated with race".

As you can see, Judaism is a religion, but also ethnicity - we have our language, Hebrew (the oldest artifact with Hebrew writing is about 3,300 years old), religion (Judaism), diet (Kosher), ancestry (all descendants of Yaakov, also known as Israel, that was the son of Itzhak, the son of Avraham, etc.) physical features - even the most Ashkenazi Met, blond, blue eyes, lobster-in-the-son Jew (that was born to Jewish family, not converted) has more in common, DNA speaking, with middle Easterns then with their neighbours.

("But Psy," I imagine you asking, "how do you get blond jews?"

Well.

The same way you get a redhead, green eyed Yemeni

(in Aden, a British colony)

We are used to pogroms. We are the descendants of those who didn't die. I'll leave it that way.)

Not allowing ppl to live in your country based on race.

Again, I think you meant either ethnicity or religion?

Anyway, pure facts:

20% (2m) of the citizens of Israel are Arabs (from arab-speaking communities.)

84% of those, or 18.1% of Israel population (~1.6m) are Muslims, 8%, or 1.3% of IP (~160k) are Christians, another 8% (1.5% of ip) are Druze, that sometimes prefer to be considered as their own separate group.

Also other minorities such as Circassians (Adigas), Bahá'í, etc.

~5.5% are "other"/no religion registered.

(data from the central bureau of statistics. On the top left you can change the language to any of Israel official languages: Hebrew, Arabic or English: https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/pages/default.aspx

(some of the data might be available in Russian, Amharic, Francis, Spanish or other languages (about 30 languages are common in Israel).

As always - feel free to rb and reply.

If I made a mistake, plz let me know and I'll get it fixed

#history lesson #yes another one #psy reply #long comments #Israel #statistics #data #information #Judaism #judaism #actually Jewish #islam #christianity #religions #race #ethnicity

5 notes · View notes

libertariantaoist · 3 months

Text

News Roundup 1/18/2024 | The Libertarian Institute

Here is your daily roundup of today's news:

News Roundup 1/18/2024

by Kyle Anzalone

US News

OpenAI Cuts ‘Military and Warfare’ Ban From Permissible Use Policy AWC

Biden White House Set Up Secrative Court to Oversee Privacy Rights Politico

Defense Secretary: UK in Pre-War Phase With Several Nations AWC

Ukraine

Ukraine Ground Forces Commander Says His Troops are on ‘Active Defense’ AWC

Zelensky Pushes Unrealistic ‘Peace Formula’ in Davos AWC

Korea

North Korea Labels South Korea a ‘Principal Enemy,’ Will No Longer Work Toward Reconciliation AWC

Israel

Israeli Defense Minster: ‘Intensive Phase’ of Ground Offensive in North Gaza Is Over AWC

Biden Ignores Palestinian Deaths in Statement on 100 Days of Gaza War AWC

Israel Buys Tech for Mass Influence Operations Haaretz

Israeli Military Warns West Bank “On Brink of Implosion” Haaretz

Israel Can Now Detain Palestinians Without a Lawyer for Half a Year Haaretz

Senate Votes Down Bernie Sanders Resolution to Probe Israel’s Gaza Slaughter AWC

Israel Government Divided on Making a Deal to Free Hostages and End the War in Gaza WSJ

War in Gaza Will Cost Israel About 10% of GDP BI

Report: Netanyahu Says Israel’s Campaign in Gaza Could Continue Into 2025 AWC

Israel Has Over 3,000 Detained Palestinians Without Charge or Trial France24

California Senator Says Calling for a Ceasefire in Gaza is “Dehumanizing Language” LA Times

Israeli Forces Attacking Near Largest Reaining Hospital in Gaza and Cause Major Damage to Second Facility Reuters

Israeli Drone Strikes on West Bank Refugee Camps Kill 9 Palestinians MEE

White House “Looking Past Netanyahu” for Solutions in Middle East NBC News

Lebanon

Israel Pounds Southern Lebanon With Airstrikes, Artillery AWC

Middle East

Tehran Orders Strikes in Pakistan, Islamabad Responds with Strikes in Iran WashPo

New Caucus Forms in Congress to Support Iranian Exiles Formally Listed as Terror Group RS

Iraq, Pakistan Protest Iranian Missile Strikes on Their Territory AWC

Iraqi PM Says Country No Longer Needs International Soldiers WSJ

Iran Launches Ballistic Missile Strikes in Iraq and Syria AWC

New Jersey National Guard Prepares to Deploy to Iraq and Syria Amid Attacks AWC

Yemen

Houthi Missile Hits US-Owned Cargo Ship in Gulf of Aden AWC

Two US Navy SEALs Missing After US Seized Alleged Iranian Weapons Shipment to the Houthis AWC

US-UK Airstrikes Force Aid Groups to Suspend Operations in Yemen AWC

Houthis Say Terrorist Label Will Not Deter Their Commitment to Blocking Israeli-Linked Red Sea Shipping Newsweek

US Re-Designates Houthis as ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorists’ AWC

US Conducts Fourth Round of Strikes Against Houthis APAWC

Houthis Attack Another US-Owned Commercial Vessel in Gulf of Aden AWC

Biden Admits Bombing Yemen Is Not Stopping Houthis But Says He Will Continue Ordering Strikes The Hill

#kyle anzalone #libertarian institute #news roundup

5 notes · View notes

girlactionfigure · 3 months

Text

*ISRAEL REALTIME* - "Connecting the World to Israel in Realtime"

▪️HOSTAGE DEAL.. PMO - “There are still significant gaps in which the parties will continue to discuss this week in additional mutual meetings.”

▪️TERROR INCIDENT, HAIFA.. Initial report - police neutralized an attack in Haifa, a soldier was injured - condition serious, car ramming followed by axe attack. Police forces rushed to the scene, the incident is under investigation, more details later. Terrorist shot. (Police)

▪️TERROR INCIDENT, GUSH ETZION.. Attempted stabbing attack in Gush Etzion: a terrorist tried to stab soldiers at a military station near Tekoa and was killed.

▪️ORDER 9 ARRESTED - 4 ANTI-AID PROTESTORS ARRESTED.. stopped on their way home, accused of puncturing aid truck tires - not arrested for blocking (per police). The head of Order 9 was arrested, the trucks are driving without interruption in the meantime.

Order 9: Dear Friends, Please don't let our spirit fall in front of the many forces. We are on an extremely important national mission. Stop the aid trucks to the enemy.

We have two detainees, dear reservists after over 100 reserve days in order 8 and now in order 9.

Everyone is now arriving at the entrance to Kibbutz Magen, we are 20 meters from the trucks. We will not stop and we will not fold!

No aid goes through until the last of the kidnapped returns.

Activists of the Order 9 movement arrived this morning at the Kerem Shalom crossing in order to block the hundreds of supply and aid trucks for Hamas. When the first activists arrived near the crossing, Sefi Ben Haim, one of the leaders of the protest, was arrested along with other activists.

At this time, many police forces are preventing the families of the hostages and the families of fighters from blocking the trucks, and they are on their way to the murderous terrorist organization that holds the one-year-old Kafir Bibs together with 135 other hostages.

There is no logic in putting the trucks directly into the hands of Hamas terrorists. This is a test hour for every citizen of the country. In order to continue to stop the supply to Hamas, thousands more are needed here, and this is in our hands. No aid should go through until the last of the hostages returns.

▪️FIRE ORDERS CAUSING PROBLEMS? Roy Sharon on Khan 11 about the tightening of the opening fire instructions in the perimeter, more evidence from the field: "It's a very frustrating story that keeps getting worse. Our hands are tied - sometimes in front of Gazans who have been identified with certainty as terrorists. And not just in my sector or unit. There are hair-raising cases with neighboring forces. This brings us to the brink of rebellion. These are hundreds of incidents.”

▪️AFTER US SOLDIERS KILLED.. American fighter jets and aircraft carriers have been put on "alert and ready" in the Middle East. US congressmen and senators calling for retaliation against Iran. Iran supported Shia militia “Islamic Resistance” claimed responsibility. Another report says the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades are responsible. “Sources” increase the injured to 50. “Senior US military official” killed in attack. Iran denies any connection to the attack.

▪️HOUTHIS, WE HIT A US SHIP.. “Last night we scored a direct it on an American supply ship, the Lewis B Puller, a logistics ship of the US Navy, in the Gulf of Aden.”

▪️SYRIA & RUSSIAN JETS.. sorties along the southern Syrian border.

▪️UNWRA.. Japan & Austria join the funding pause. Note I say pause, everyone has used the work “temporary”.

#Israel #October 7 #Hamas Massacre #Iron Sword #Realtime Updates

27 notes · View notes

mariacallous · 3 months

Text

2024 was only a few hours old when Iran dispatched a warship, the frigate Alborz, to the Red Sea. Its arrival was yet more bad news for shipping, already facing a crisis from the Iran-backed Houthi attacks on merchant vessels. The year’s first days have seen a slew of new Houthi attacks. Executives are having to decide whether to risk going through the Red Sea and the crucial Suez Canal or to take longer and more expensive routes—without knowing what Iran is planning and how the United States and its maritime allies will respond.

The Alborz’s arrival was a response to activities by Operation Prosperity Guardian, the U.S.-led effort to crack down on Houthi piracy. On New Year’s Eve, U.S. Navy helicopters serving onboard the aircraft carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower received a distress call from the Maersk Hangzhou, a Singapore-flagged container ship traversing the Red Sea. It was traveling through the inlet because its owner, the Danish shipping line Maersk, had decided that the launch of Prosperity Guardian had made it safe enough to do so.

Indeed, the U.S. Navy had already shot down Houthi missiles fired in the direction of the Maersk Hangzhou hours before. But the Houthis were persistent: They returned again, now in four small boats, fired shots at the container ship, and attempted to board and seize it. This time, the U.S. Navy responded by sinking three of the boats; 10 militiamen were killed. Maersk diverted its ships once again.

The Danish giant was not alone. Figures from Lloyd’s List Intelligence show that between Dec. 25 and 31, a daily average of 315 vessels sailed through the Red Sea. During the same period in 2022, the figure was 385 ships per day, and last November, the daily average was 386.

Within less than a day of the U.S. Navy’s sinking of the three Houthi boats, the Alborz sailed through the Gulf of Aden and parked itself in the Red Sea. The British-made Alborz is hardly the crowning glory of Iran’s navy: It turns 55 this year. In recent months, Iran has been expanding its navy; in 2022, it was reported to have added a combat patrol boat named after Qassem Suleimani, an Iranian general killed by a U.S. drone strike in 2020, that the Iranian navy said “evades detection” and can “carry out various operations in distant waters.” The navy has also added missile boats and upgraded several ships, as well as received “a variety of locally developed and produced military hardware, like the advanced radar-evading Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis cruiser and 100 fast-attack vessels,” the Tehran Times reported on Jan. 6. Concerningly, the navy says the new warship can “sail within a 2,000 nautical mile radius without being spotted by hostile radars and surveillance systems”—and its construction, in Iran, took only 15 months.

Despite the Alborz’s age, Tehran has used it in the past to escort Iranian merchant vessels suspected of transporting arms to the Houthis. The Alborz’s arrival is laden with meaning, and shipping executives are having to decide what, exactly, that meaning is. “The arrival of the Alborz is definitely a warning, and it’s an escalatory more,” said Neil Roberts, the secretary of the maritime insurance industry’s Joint War Committee. “But it’s not clear what her task is. She’s just sitting there.” Will the Alborz once again simply escort Iranian merchant vessels bringing weapons to the Houthis? Or will it intervene if the U.S. Navy or another Western force in the Red Sea responds to Houthi attacks?

“It’s unclear what the Iranians intend in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden,” said Simon Lockwood, a shipping executive with Willis Towers Watson, the insurance broker. “Is it to disrupt the U.S. coalition navies?” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have long been attacking merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz (as chronicled by me in Foreign Policy and elsewhere), but the Strait of Hormuz is Iran’s home turf, while the Red Sea is on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula. On Jan. 5, Maersk diverted all its container ships from the Red Sea to the Cape of Good Hope route. The day after, the Houthis launched two more attacks.

It is, in fact, almost impossible to predict what the Alborz’s mission in the Red Sea is and whether it’ll be joined by more Iranian naval vessels—yet shipping executives are having to do exactly that. (Iran has also had an observation ship in the Red Sea for a long time.) “Just before countries launched Prosperity Guardian, shipowners were very close to launching mass diversions from the Red Sea,” Roberts noted. “Then you had Maersk deciding to reenter [the Red Sea], and now it has diverted again. In every shipping headquarters, executives are having conversations about whether to divert. They have to decide, ‘Will we be targeted? Will we not?’ But it’s not just a matter of the Houthis deciding to target your vessel. Anyone can be hit. These missiles are not particularly accurate.” It’s exactly the arbitrary nature of the attacks that’s spooking the shipping industry. Shipping lines and crews routinely handle severe weather because such weather can be predicted and follows a certain pattern. The Houthis’ designations of “Israeli-linked” vessels don’t.

There’s, of course, also the risk of additional Iranian fire. But there’s also the risk that Houthi missiles and other attacks will increase because with the Alborz—and possibly more Iranian vessels—in the Red Sea, it becomes too dangerous for the U.S. Navy and its Prosperity Guardian partners to respond to Houthi attacks. War risk premiums in the Red Sea have already reached headline rates of between 0.45 percent and 1 percent, far higher even than those in perilous ports such as Benghazi. In early December, headline rates for the Red Sea were still around 0.07 percent, which means that a vessel with a total value of, say, $10 million, can now pay an additional war risk premium of $100,000.

But shipping executives aren’t just in the dark about the Alborz’s mission and whether it’ll be joined by other Iranian navy vessels or keep lonely watch in the Red Sea—they’re also unsure about Prosperity Guardian’s objectives. “Is it purely defensive? Is it forward-leaning [set up to preemptively attack Houthi forces]? Is it there to create an escorting corridor?” Roberts asked. “The allies don’t seem to have consensus on a strategy yet. Once the industry has more clarity on what Prosperity Guardian will do, executives can make a clearer decision.” That decision, though, also depends on whether executives believe the mission can be effective—and what further steps Iran will take in response.

On Jan. 5, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the Houthis’ Supreme Revolutionary Committee, upped the ante, told the BBC that every country in the Red Sea coalition will see its ships targeted. How exactly that’s defined is up to the Houthis.

Iran’s intentions may, of course, morph depending on the course of the Israel-Hamas conflict. Tehran may decide that simply having the Alborz and perhaps other vessels in the Red Sea will sufficiently frighten Western shipping lines and rattle the Prosperity Guardian coalition. But where there’s a frigate in contested waters, there’s the risk of a dangerous clash. What would the U.S. Navy do if the Alborz, joined perhaps by more Iranian naval vessels, did come to the aid of Houthi boats under U.S. fire? No wonder the shipping industry predicts that vessels will face militia boardings and attacks using drones, anti-ship missiles, and water-borne improvised explosive devices—this month alone.

3 notes · View notes