Ken Ehrlich

🇨🇳 Chinese civilians with technical backgrounds are increasingly posting detailed military analysis online aimed at helping Iran counter U.S. forces, in a growing grassroots trend across Chinese social media, according to the South China Morning Post. The effort appears informal and unpaid, with engineers and STEM-trained users sharing tactics, simulations, and breakdowns of U.S. systems — including mapping U.S. military sites, outlining missile strategies targeting aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf, and modeling defenses against a potential U.S. landing on Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal. Some content has gone viral, including tutorials on targeting advanced platforms like the F-35. On March 14, a video by an account called “Laohu Talks World,” subtitled in Persian, outlined how Iran could use low-cost systems to target an F-35, drawing tens of millions of views. Five days later, Iran claimed it had struck a U.S. F-35. The creator studied at Northwestern Polytechnical University, a major Chinese defense research institution. “He is not short of money. He makes videos just for fun,” a source told the Post. 🛩️ Iranian media on Friday published photos of what appears to be a downed F-15.

I've long said that the Trump project was to sell America for parts. An easy rule of thumb: it is always the opposite of what he says. Drain the swamp=Massive Fraud. No new wars=Multiple new wars. Save Medicare=Gut Medicare. Revalue US Citizenship for the few=Devalue it for all.

When it was recently announced that US leader Donald Trump would be giving a national address, I predicted that he would announce a ground invasion of Iranian territory and, more recently, a US withdrawal from NATO. I was wrong on both counts. Trump didn’t really say anything of substance, unless one considers the destruction of the Iranian air force a monumental development. The rest of his address was typical Trump: boastful, incoherent, threatening, and out of touch with reality. The significance of Trump’s address lies primarily in what he did not say. He neither announced an end to his and Israel’s war, nor laid out clear objectives for it. In other words, he laid the basis for the indefinite continuation of a campaign that was intended to conclude with decisive victory within 72-96 hours. Trump’s threats to destroy Iran’s oil industry and electrical grid and bomb the country “into the stone age” demonstrate that, in the absence of Iranian capitulation or collapse, he intends to take aim, directly and very powerfully, at the Iranian state and Iranian society. It is likely to be accompanied by commando raids or ground incursions into Iran. This is of course music to Israel’s ears. If they are not stopped, the US and Israel will also set the rest of the region on fire.

"I have had much more freedom in expressing myself," as an academic in Iran than in the US and Canada, says @Helyeh_Doutaghi speaking from Tehran. Doutaghi was expelled from Yale for her outspoken advocacy for Palestinian liberation.

Nothing Will Be the Same for a Long Time The world we knew has changed and will remain different for years to come. We were still recovering from the effects of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine when the new war, started by the United States and Israel, struck hard at the infrastructure of Iran, the Persian Gulf countries, Israel itself, and Oman. These bombings were not just military actions, they delivered a deep blow to the global economy. Oil, natural gas, fertilizers, semiconductors, chemicals, metals, and even helium saw their supply drastically reduced. Recovery will be slow and painful. The Price of Destruction The damage to the region’s metallurgical infrastructure was massive and concentrated on strategically vital points. In Iran, the Mobarakeh Steel Company complex suffered the collapse of blast furnace structures and critical cooling systems in its direct reduction units and electric arc furnaces. Reconstruction costs are estimated at US$ 6 billion, with a recovery timeline of 2 to 3 years. In Bahrain, the impact focused on Aluminium Bahrain, where the attack severely damaged reduction lines and logistics, causing structural losses of US$ 2.5 billion. In the United Arab Emirates, strikes against Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) facilities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai resulted in estimated structural damage of US$ 4.2 billion. This coordinated destruction in the three countries created a major gap in the global supply of primary metals, sharply raising operational costs and commodity prices worldwide. In the oil and gas sector, the destruction was even more brutal. The Kharg Island Terminal, Iran’s main crude oil export point, lost docking berths, pipelines, and giant storage tanks. Estimated cost: US$ 12 billion. The Asaluyeh and South Pars complex, the heart of gas and condensate processing, had fractionation towers, heat exchangers, and control systems incinerated, another US$ 10 billion in losses. The Abadan and Isfahan refineries, essential for gasoline and diesel production, were also badly damaged. When pipelines, gas lines, and pumping stations are added, the total cost for Iran’s energy sector alone reaches US$ 30.5 billion. The biggest problem is not just the money. It’s logistics. Iran needs to import turbines, special valves, and compressors that have long global production queues. Without easy access to Western suppliers, returning to pre-war levels could take 3 to 4 years. Israel also paid a heavy price. Its technology and chemical centers were hit. Semiconductor plants, such as Intel’s facility in Kiryat Gat, lost clean rooms and precision equipment. Chemical complexes in Haifa and desalination plants suffered significant damage. The total estimated cost is US$ 10 billion, with recovery times ranging from 6 months to 3 years. In Iraq, the already fragile electricity and port infrastructure lost high-voltage substations, cranes at Umm Qasr port, and grain silos. Approximate cost: US$ 5 billion. Recovery is expected to take 1 to 2 years. In the United Arab Emirates, attacks hit the Fujairah Industrial Zone, fuel tanks, the port that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, and key gas fields and refineries such as Ruwais, Habshan, and Shah. Physical infrastructure costs exceed US$ 10 billion, with timelines from 6 months to 2 years. Kuwait and Bahrain faced direct impacts on ships and refineries. Kuwait lost a large tanker and saw its facilities operating at minimum capacity. Estimated losses: US$ 3 billion. Bahrain had its Sitra refinery damaged and pipelines affected, with repair costs around US$ 800 million and a timeline of 9 to 14 months. Oman was also hit, although on a smaller scale than its neighbors. Drone and missile strikes targeted key ports, damaging oil storage tanks and silos at Salalah, Duqm, and Sohar. Salalah, a major container and fuel hub outside the Strait of Hormuz, suffered fires in storage tanks and limited damage to cranes. Read More in my Substack: open.substack.com/pub/global21/p…

Zionism is a death cult

Urgent

What could possibly go wrong!? 🤡

We are not doing enough to stop this insanity

I'll never forget how the Israelis bombed al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza in October 2023 and the world was shocked and horrified. Israel denied it, saying they would never commit such a heinous crime. Then they went on to bomb every single hospital in Gaza. Now they are doing the same in Lebanon and Iran. The Israelis have bombed at least 128 medical facilities and ambulances across south Lebanon. In Iran, the US and Israel have bombed 25 hospitals and medical centres. In Lebanon, they are committing double tap strikes to kill medics and rescue workers, just as they did in Gaza. Medics are forced to delay their responses. These monsters are normalizing war crimes that were once unthinkable.

We're not prepared for what US strategic defeat and its economic and political fall-out will bring home. Though weakened, the right will try to intensify the inner war that really interests them. Hostile to the left, the center remains deluded that the status quo can be restored.

Los Angeles was a crucial part of this and @LATenantsUnion deserves a lot of credit for what unfolded here.

@CheburekiMan @jerryquickley 🫡😂🤣

Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai: "We are destroyed. We are living in shelters for weeks now. Why exactly are we the ones suffering right now? We are the chosen people!" Life's tough, get a helmet.

Idris Robinson needs support.

How to Keep ICE Out of Your Devices at Airports If ytraveling, follow these digital security practices to keep feds from getting into your phone. And remember: even if you think you have nothing to hide, take these steps so you don't endanger others. theintercept.com/2026/03/25/ice…

READ: A recent poll registered Israeli support for the war on Iran at a whopping 93%. Between the genocide, the ethnic cleansing, and the annexations, Israelis think this is how it’s meant to be. Constant war to sustain our constant expansion. mondoweiss.net/2026/03/foreve…

✊🏽

💢 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: “We are determined to respond to any threat to the same extent, such that it creates deterrence.” 📌 Statement: 🔹 “The lying, terrorist, and child-killing president of the United States has claimed that the IRGC intends to target desalination plants in the region and cause hardship for the people of regional countries. 🔹 First, it is the aggressive and anti-human U.S. army that began this war by killing children, including the deaths of 180 elementary school children, and has so far targeted five water infrastructure sites, including the desalination facility on Qeshm Island. The IRGC has not carried out such actions. 🔹 Second, it is this terrorist and child-killing U.S. president who has threatened to attack Iran’s power plants. It is obvious that attacking electricity infrastructure would disrupt essential services such as hospitals, emergency centers, water networks, and desalination plants, which is inhumane. What we have done is announce our decision: if Iran’s power plants are attacked, Iran will retaliate by targeting the power plants of the occupying entity (Israel), as well as those of regional countries that supply electricity to U.S. bases, along with economic, industrial, and energy infrastructure in which Americans have stakes. Do not doubt that we will do this. 🔹 You struck our hospitals, we did not do the same. You struck our emergency centers, we did not do the same. You struck our schools, we did not do the same. But if you strike electricity, we will strike electricity. 🔹 We are determined to respond to any threat at the same level necessary to establish deterrence, and we will do so. The United States does not know our capabilities and will see them on the battlefield.” “And victory is only from God, the Almighty, the Wise.”

The abyss

Cannot underestimate the psychosis here.