#operation chokepoint

[choppedcowboydinosaur]

Please look into Operation Chokepoint if you can. It was the progenitor of this stuff. So, whenever you see payment processors screwing over artists because of what they draw you will know why.

[bitcoinmasterhub]

Trump’ın Kripto Hamlesi: Piyasalar İçin Yeni Bir Dönem Başlıyor!

Donald Trump’ın başkanlık dönemi, kripto piyasalarını yeniden şekillendiriyor. Bankacılık erişimi, düzenleyici çerçeve ve yenilikler sektörün geleceğini nasıl etkiliyor? #bitcoin #trump #kripto #crypto #dolar #solana #ethereum #xrp #ripple #btc #eth #ai

Trump’ın Göreve Başlama Süreci Kripto Piyasalarını Nasıl Etkiledi? Donald Trump’ın ikinci başkanlık dönemi kripto para piyasalarında büyük yankı uyandırdı. Bitcoin’in dalgalı seyri ve 100.000 dolarlık psikolojik sınırın altına düşüşü piyasalarda gerilim yaratırken, opsiyon piyasaları aksine kurumsal yatırımcıların bu türbülanstan tamamen çekilmediğini, yalnızca hazırlıklı olduklarını…

[newspatron]

What are your thoughts on India's geopolitical edge? Share your insights and join the conversation below! We value your perspective.

[afloweroutofstone]

what i’ve failed to understand since i was a kid is why these ghouls want war with iran so badly. is it resources? do they have money in defense contracting? is it just that iran is too strong an opponent to us hegemony? why specifically do they want to see iran destroyed?

There is not one singular motivation behind the drive to send the US to war with Iran. There are multiple motivations which often overlap, but which are held in different orders of prioritization by different advocates of war. Most of these motivations are irrational and/or immoral, while others are legitimate complaints that could be addressed through diplomacy far more easily than they could through militarism.

Here's ten common motivations and arguments for a US war with Iran which you might encounter:

Independence from the US: The Iranian government is among the world's least-willing governments to obey US demands and subjugate themselves to the US-led order. For certain US primacists, this independence means that their very existence poses an existential threat to US dominance (similar to North Korea, Cuba, etc.) To a particular type of US militarist, it is necessary for the Iranian government to fall in order for the US to remain the unquestioned leader of the world.

Real Fear of their Nukes: There is a substantial contingent who really does believe that Iran is close to developing a nuclear weapon and that they could well use it if they were to develop it. Logically, the best way to address this concern would be through a diplomatic deal similar to the 2015 JCPOA, which Iran complied with! But the intensity of anti-Iranian sentiment among US hawks tends to convince them that direct military confrontation is somehow a better option, thus explaining why Trump decided to break this deal.

Desire for Revenge: Many older foreign policy hawks in the US have never forgiven Iran for 1) the 1979 US Embassy hostage crisis, and 2) the 1983 bombing of the US Embassy in Lebanon, which was orchestrated by a terror organization with ties to the Iranian government. In their minds, both of these incidents were embarrassments to the US' military prestige which we have never properly gotten revenge for. (These people tend to ignore the massive wrongdoings which the US has carried out against Iran during this same time period, like the US destruction of Iran Air Flight 655). There are people in and around the Pentagon who have wanted to bomb Iran over a grudge for more than 40 years now.

Iran's Regional Proxies: Over the last several decades, Iran has engaged in an aggressive campaign to expand their influence throughout the region by supporting proxy paramilitary forces in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, etc. Many of these proxies have undeniably engaged in acts of terrorism. This strategy is both opportunistic (taking advantage of the power vacuum caused by the US overthrow of Saddam Hussein) and defensive (countering the regional influence campaigns of Saudi Arabia and Turkey). This is probably the most legitimate cause of US anger towards the Iranian government, but it is a grievance which will only be worsened by backing Iran into a corner militarily.

Israel (and Saudi Arabia) Hates Them: Iran is unfriendly with two of the US' closest partners in the region: Israel and Saudi Arabia. The Israeli government, in particular, has long been laser-focused on the overthrow of the Iranian government, and they are fully committed to dragging the US into such a regime change operation. For the most fervent defenders of Israel in the US, overthrowing the Iranian government is near the top of their wishlist.

They Got Oil: Oil is a factor which is often overstated in these discussions, but it definitely is one of the factors. Iran currently produces 5% of the world's oil and has the potential to produce far more were the current sanction regime against it to be removed. They also have the ability to shut down the Straight of Hormuz, an important chokepoint through which 25% of the world's oil flows. Regime change in Iran would significantly increase the leverage that the US and its allies hold over global oil markets and further weaken the strength of OPEC.

And Other Commodities Too!: Though the separation between the US and Iranian economies hurts the US economy as a whole, there are certain sectors of US industry that benefit enormously from having Iran so heavily sanctioned. Some of the big names in the US pistachio industry have lobbied heavily to keep US-Iranian relations unfriendly, because the elimination of US sanctions on Iran would allow the massive Iranian pistachio industry to compete with the US industry. As long as these two governments hate each other, a few politically-connected US businessmen make way more money.

Diaspora Pressure Campaigns: Most Iranian-Americans hold the following two opinions at the same time: 1) they hate the current Iranian government and want to see it replaced, but 2) they strongly oppose US efforts at regime change in Iran. However, there is a vocal minority of Iranian-Americans that do support regime change efforts, and they tend to cluster into two well-organized groups that wage pressure campaigns against the Iranian government. The first are the monarchists, who want to see the son of the former US-backed Iranian dictator restored to power. The others are those who are loyal to the MEK, a cult and former terrorist organization which has been extremely effective at building relationships with US politicians. Both of these groups work full-time to push the US towards overthrowing the Iranian government so that they can step in and take over; it's fairly easy to find both of these groups in online social media threads about US-Iranian relations.

Who Cares, We Want War: As I have written about many times before, the US military-industrial complex encourages the US government to engage in militarist behavior in order to boost their profits. Iran is one of their favorite boogeymen to justify increased levels of US military spending, second only to China. These companies fund think tanks and other policy initiatives to argue that Iran is an immediate threat to us, and then they fund political candidates who want to spend more money preparing for this "threat."

They're Crazy! You Can't Trust Them!: We are led to believe that the Iranian government cannot be negotiated with because they are irrational, they're anti-Western religious zealots incapable of reasoned decision-making. This is a convenient excuse for war, but it's entirely incompatible with the restraint that the Iranian government shows in responding to Israeli attacks, their continued willingness to sit down for diplomatic talks with their aggressors, the way that they helped the US government deal with al Qaeda and the Taliban after 9/11, and a million other indications that the Iranian government is just as rational as any other government in its geopolitical decision-marking.

Add all of that together, and you get a deranged political ecosystem obsessed with inflating the scale of foreign threats, finding excuses for maintaining the trajectory of our militarist status quo, increasing regional tensions, and rejecting obvious opportunities for diplomacy and a peaceful resolution of our differences.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Prime’s enshittified advertising

Prime's gonna add more ads. They brought in ads in January, and people didn't cancel their Prime subscriptions, so Amazon figures that they can make Prime even worse and make more money:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/10/amazon-prime-video-is-getting-more-ads-next-year/

The cruelty isn't the point. Money is the point. Every ad that Amazon shows you shifts value away from you – your time, your attention – to the company's shareholders.

That's the crux of enshittification. Companies don't enshittify – making their once-useful products monotonically worse – because it amuses them to erode the quality of their offerings. They enshittify them because their products are zero-sum: the things that make them valuable to you (watching videos without ads) make things less valuable to them (because they can't monetize your attention).

This isn't new. The internet has always been dominated by intermediaries – platforms – because there are lots more people who want to use the internet than are capable of building the internet. There's more people who want to write blogs than can make a blogging app. There's more people who want to play and listen to music than can host a music streaming service. There's more people who want to write and read ebooks than want to operate an ebook store or sell an ebooks reader.

Despite all the early internet rhetoric about the glories of disintermediation, intermediaries are good, actually:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/12/direct-the-problem-of-middlemen/

The problem isn't with intermediaries per se. The problem arises when intermediaries grow so powerful that they usurp the relationship between the parties they connect. The problem with Uber isn't the use of mobile phones to tell taxis that you're standing on a street somewhere and would like a cab, please. The problem is rampant worker misclassification, regulatory arbitrage, starvation wages, and price-gouging:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/29/geometry-hates-uber/#toronto-the-gullible

There's no problem with publishers, distributors, retailers, printers, and all the other parts of the bookselling ecosystem. While there are a few, rare authors who are capable of performing all of these functions – basically gnawing their books out of whole logs with their teeth – most writers can't, and even the ones who can, don't want to:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/19/crad-kilodney-was-an-outlier/#intermediation

When early internet boosters spoke of disintermediation, what they mostly meant was that it would be harder for intermediaries to capture those relationships – between sellers and buyers, creators and audiences, workers and customers. As Rebecca Giblin and I wrote in our 2022 book Chokepoint Capitalism, intermediaries in every sector rely on chokepoints, narrows where they can erect tollbooths:

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

When chokepoints exist, they multiply up and down the supply chain. In the golden age of physical, recorded music, you had several chokepoints that reinforced one another. Limited radio airwaves gave radio stations power over record labels, who had to secretly, illegally bid for prime airspace ("payola"). Retail consolidation – the growth of big record chains – drove consolidation in the distributors who sold to the chains, and the more concentrated distributors became, the more they could squeeze retailers, which drove even more consolidation in record stores. The bigger a label was, the more power it had to shove back against the muscle of the stores and the distributors (and the pressing plants, etc). Consolidation in labels also drove consolidation in talent agencies, whose large client rosters gave them power to resist the squeeze from the labels. Consolidation in venues drives consolidation in ticketing and promotion – and vice-versa.

But there's two parties to this supply chain who can't consolidate: musicians and their fans. With limits on "sectoral bargaining" (where unions can represent workers against all the companies in a sector), musicians' unions were limited in their power against key parts of the supply chain, so the creative workers who made the music were easy pickings for labels, talent reps, promoters, ticketers, venues, retailers, etc. Music fans are diffused and dispersed, and organized fan clubs were usually run by the labels, who weren't about to allow those clubs to be used against the labels.

This is a perfect case-study in the problems of powerful intermediaries, who move from facilitator to parasite, paying workers less while degrading their products, and then charge customers more for those enshittified products.

The excitement about "disintermediation" wasn't so much about eliminating intermediaries as it was about disciplining them. If there were lots of ways to market a product or service, sell it, collect payment for it, and deliver it, then the natural inclination of intermediaries to turn predator would be curbed by the difficulty of corralling their prey into chokepoints.

Now that we're a quarter century on from the Napster Wars, we can see how that worked out. Decades of failure to enforce antitrust law allowed a few companies to effectively capture the internet, buying out rivals who were willing to sell, and bankrupting those who wouldn't with illegal tactics like predatory pricing (think of Uber losing $31 billion by subsidizing $0.41 out of every dollar they charged for taxi rides for more than a decade).

The market power that platforms gained through consolidation translated into political power. When a few companies dominate a sector, they're able to come to agreement on common strategies for dealing with their regulators, and they've got plenty of excess profits to spend on those strategies. First and foremost, platforms used their power to get more power, lobbying for even less antitrust enforcement. Additionally, platforms mobilized gigantic sums to secure the right to screw customers (for example, by making binding arbitration clauses in terms of service enforceable) and workers (think of the $225m Uber and Lyft spent on California's Prop 22, which formalized their worker misclassification swindle).

So big platforms were able to insulate themselves from the risk of competition ("five giant websites, filled with screenshots of the other four" – Tom Eastman), and from regulation. They were also able to expand and mobilize IP law to prevent anyone from breaking their chokepoints or undoing the abuses that these enabled. This is a good place to get specific about how Prime Video works.

There's two ways to get Prime videos: over an app, or in your browser. Both of these streams are encrypted, and that's really important here, because of a law – Section 1201 of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act – which makes it really illegal to break this kind of encryption (commonly called "Digital Rights Management" or "DRM"). Practically speaking, that means that if a company encrypts its videos, no one is allowed to do anything to those videos, even things that are legal, without the company's permission, because doing all those legal things requires breaking the DRM, and breaking the DRM is a felony (five years in prison, $500k fine, for a first offense).

Copyright law actually gives subscribers to services like Prime a lot of rights, and it empowers businesses that offer tools to exercise those rights. Back in 1976, Sony rolled out the Betamax, the first major home video recorder. After an eight-year court battle, the Supreme Court weighed in on VCRs and ruled that it was legal for all of us to record videos at home, both to watch them later, and to build a library of our favorite shows. They also ruled that it was legal for Sony – and by that time, every other electronics company – to make VHS systems, even if those systems could be used in ways that violated copyright because they were "capable of sustaining a substantial non-infringing use" (letting you tape shows off your TV).

Now, this was more than a decade before the DMCA – and its prohibition on breaking DRM – passed, but even after the DMCA came into effect, there was a lot of media that didn't have DRM, so a new generation of tech companies were able to make tools that were "capable of sustaining a substantial non-infringing use" and that didn't have to break any DRM to do it.

Think of the Ipod and Itunes, which, together, were sold as a way to rip CDs (which weren't encrypted), and play them back from both your desktop computer and a wildly successful pocket-sized portable device. Itunes even let you stream from one computer to another. The record industry hated this, but they couldn't do anything about it, thanks to the Supreme Court's Betamax ruling.

Indeed, they eventually swallowed their bile and started selling their products through the Itunes Music Store. These tracks had DRM and were thus permanently locked to Apple's ecosystem, and Apple immediately used that power to squeeze the labels, who decided they didn't like DRM after all, and licensed all those same tracks to Amazon's DRM-free MP3 store, whose slogan was "DRM: Don't Restrict Me":

https://memex.craphound.com/2008/02/01/amazons-anti-drm-tee/

Apple played a funny double role here. In marketing Itunes/Ipods ("Rip, Mix, Burn"), they were the world's biggest cheerleaders for all the things you were allowed to do with copyrighted works, even when the copyright holder objected. But with the Itunes Music Store and its mandatory DRM, the company was also one of the world's biggest cheerleaders for wrapping copyrighted works in a thin skin of IP that would allow copyright holders to shut down products like the Ipod and Itunes.

Microsoft, predictably enough, focused on the "lock everything to our platform" strategy. Then-CEO Steve Ballmer went on record calling every Ipod owner a "thief" and arguing that every record company should wrap music in Microsoft's Zune DRM, which would allow them to restrict anything they didn't like, even if copyright allowed it (and would also give Microsoft the same abusive leverage over labels that they famously exercised over Windows software companies):

https://web.archive.org/web/20050113051129/http://management.silicon.com/itpro/0,39024675,39124642,00.htm

In the end, Amazon's approach won. Apple dropped DRM, and Microsoft retired the Zune and shut down its DRM servers, screwing anyone who'd ever bought a Zune track by rendering that music permanently unplayable.

Around the same time as all this was going on, another company was making history by making uses of copyrighted works that the law allowed, but which the copyright holders hated. That company was Tivo, who products did for personal video recorders (PVRs) what Apple's Ipod did for digital portable music players. With a Tivo, you could record any show over cable (which was too expensive and complicated to encrypt) and terrestrial broadcast (which is illegal to encrypt, since those are the public's airwaves, on loan to the TV stations).

That meant that you could record any show, and keep it forever. What's more, you could very easily skip through ads (and rival players quickly emerged that did automatic ad-skipping). All of this was legal, but of course the cable companies and broadcasters hated it. Like Ballmer, TV execs called Tivo owners "thieves."

But Tivo didn't usher in the ad-supported TV apocalypse that furious, spittle-flecked industry reps insisted it would. Rather, it disciplined the TV and cable operators. Tivo owners actually sought out ads that were funny and well-made enough to go viral. Meanwhile, every time the industry decided to increase the amount of advertising in a show, they also increased the likelihood that their viewers would seek out a Tivo, or worse, one of those auto-ad-skipping PVRs.

Given all the stink that TV execs raised over PVRs, you'd think that these represented a novel threat. But in fact, the TV industry's appetite for ads had been disciplined by viewers' access to new technology since 1956, when the first TV remotes appeared on the market (executives declared that anyone who changed the channel during an ad-break was a thief). Then came the mute button. Then the wireless remote. Meanwhile, a common VCR use-case – raised in the Supreme Court case – was fast-forwarding ads.

At each stage, TV adapted. Ads in TV shows represented a kind of offer: "Will you watch this many of these ads in return for a free TV show?" And the remote, the mute button, the wireless remote, the VCR, the PVR, and the ad-skipping PVR all represented a counter-offer. As economists would put it, the ability of viewers to make these counteroffers "shifted the equilibrium." If viewers had no defensive technology, they might tolerate more ads, but once they were able to enforce their preferences with technology, the industry couldn't enshittify its product to the liminal cusp of "so many ads that the viewer is right on the brink of turning off the TV (but not quite)."

This is the same equilibrium-shifting dynamic that we see on the open web, where more than 50% of users have installed an ad-blocker. The industry says, "Will you allow this many 'sign up to our mailing list' interrupters, pop ups, pop unders, autoplaying videos and other stuff that users hate but shareholders benefit from" and the ad-blocker makes a counteroffer: "How about 'nah?'":

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/07/adblocking-how-about-nah

TV remotes, PVRs and ad-blockers are all examples of "adversarial interoperability" – a new product that plugs into an existing one, extending or modifying its functions without permission from (or even over the objections of) the original manufacturer:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/adversarial-interoperability

Adversarial interop creates a powerful disciplining force on platform owners. Once a user grows so frustrated with a product's enshittification that they research, seek out, acquire and learn to use an adversarial interop tool, it's really game over. The printer owner who figures out where to get third-party ink is gone forever. Every time a company like HP raises its prices, they have to account for the number of customers who will finally figure out how to use generic ink and never, ever send another cent to HP.

This is where DMCA 1201 comes into play. Once a product is skinned with DRM, its manufacturers gain the right to prevent you from doing legal things, and can use the public's courts and law-enforcement apparatus to punish you for trying. Take HP: as soon as they started adding DRM to their cartridges, they gained the legal power to shut down companies that cloned, refilled or remanufactured their cartridges, and started raising the price of ink – which today sits at more than $10,000/gallon:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/30/life-finds-a-way/#ink-stained-wretches

Using third party ink in your printer isn't illegal (it's your printer, right?). But making third party ink for your printer becomes illegal once you have to break DRM to do so, and so HP gets to transform tinted water into literally the most expensive fluid on Earth. The ink you use to print your kid's homework costs more than vintage Veuve Cliquot or sperm from a Kentucky Derby-winning thoroughbred.

Adversarial interoperability is a powerful tool for shifting the equilibrium between producers, intermediaries and buyers. DRM is an even more powerful way of wrenching that equilibrium back towards the intermediary, reducing the share that buyers and sellers are able to eke out of the transaction.

Prime Video, of course, is delivered via an app, which means it has DRM. That means that subscribers don't get to exercise the rights afforded to them by copyright – only the rights that Amazon permits them to have. There's no Tivo for Prime, because it would have to break the DRM to record the shows you stream from Prime. That allows Prime to pull all kinds of shady shit. For example, every year around this time, Amazon pulls popular Christmas movies from its free-to-watch tier and moves them into pay-per-view, only restoring them in the spring:

https://www.reddit.com/r/vudu/comments/1bpzanx/looks_like_amazon_removed_the_free_titles_from/

And of course, Prime sticks ads in its videos. You can't skip these ads – not because it's technically challenging to make a 30-second advance button for a video stream, and doing so wouldn't violate anyone's copyright – but because Amazon doesn't permit you to do so, and the fact that the video is wrapped in DRM makes it a felony to even try.

This means that Amazon gets to seek a different equilibrium than TV companies have had to accept since 1956 and the invention of the TV remote. Amazon doesn't have to limit the quantity, volume, and invasiveness of its ads to "less the amount that would drive our subscribers to install and use an ad-skipping plugin." Instead, they can shoot for the much more lucrative equilibrium of "so obnoxious that the viewer is almost ready to cancel their subscription (but not quite)."

That's pretty much exactly how Kelly Day, the Amazon exec in charge of Prime Video, put it to the Financial Times: they're increasing the number of ads because "we haven’t really seen a groundswell of people churning out or cancelling":

https://www.ft.com/content/f8112991-820c-4e09-bcf4-23b5e0f190a5

At this point, attentive readers might be asking themselves, "Doesn't Amazon have to worry about Prime viewers who watch in their browsers?" After all browsers are built on open standards, and anyone can make one, so there should be browsers that can auto-skip Prime ads, right?

Wrong, alas. Back in 2017, the W3C – the organization that makes the most important browser standards – caved to pressure from the entertainment industry and the largest browser companies and created "Encrypted Media Extensions" (EME), a "standard" for video DRM that blocks all adversarial interoperability:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/09/open-letter-w3c-director-ceo-team-and-membership

This had the almost immediate effect of making it impossible to create an independent browser without licensing proprietary tech from Google – now a convicted monopolist! – who won't give you a license if you implement recording, ad-skipping, or any other legal (but dispreferred) feature:

https://blog.samuelmaddock.com/posts/the-end-of-indie-web-browsers/

This means that for Amazon, there's no way to shift value away from the platform to you. The company has locked you in, and has locked out anyone who might offer you a better deal. Companies that know you are technologically defenseless are endlessly inventive in finding ways to make things worse for you to make things better for them. Take Youtube, another DRM-video-serving platform that has jacked up the number of ads you have to sit through in order to watch a video – even as they slash payments to performers. They've got a new move: they're gonna start showing you ads while your video is paused:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/09/20/youtube-pause-ads-rollout/75306204007/

That is the kind of fuckery you only come up with when your victory condition is "a service that's almost so bad our customers quit (but not quite)."

In Amazon's case, the math is even worse. After all, Youtube may have near-total market dominance over a certain segment of the video market, but Prime Video is bundled with Prime Delivery, which the vast majority of US households subscribe to. You have to give up a lot to cancel your Prime subscription – especially since Amazon's predatory pricing devastated the rest of the retail sector:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/28/enshittification/#relentless-payola

Amazon's founding principle was "customer obsession." Ex-Amazoners tell me that this was more than an empty platitude: arguments over product design were won or lost based on whether they could satisfy the "customer obsession" litmus test. Now, everyone falls short of their ideals, but sticking to your ideals isn't merely a matter of internal discipline, of willpower. Living up to your ideals is a matter of external discipline, too. When Amazon no longer had to contend with competitors or regulators, when it was able to use DRM to control its customers and use the law to prevent them from using its products in legal ways, it lost those external sources of discipline.

Amazon suppliers have long complained of the company's high-handed treatment of the vendors who supplied it with goods. Its workers have complained bitterly and loudly about the dangerous and oppressive conditions in its warehouses and delivery vans. But Amazon's customers have consistently given Amazon high marks on quality and trustworthiness.

The reason Amazon treated its workers and suppliers badly and its customers well wasn't that it liked customers and hated workers and suppliers. Amazon was engaged in a cold-blooded calculus: it understood that treating customers well would give it control over those customers, and that this would translate market power to retain suppliers even as it ripped them off and screwed them over.

But now, Amazon has clearly concluded that it no longer needs to keep customers happy in order to retain them. Instead, it's shooting for "keeping customers so angry that they're almost ready to take their business elsewhere (but not quite)." You see this in the steady decline of Amazon product search, which preferences the products that pay the biggest bribes for search placement over the best matches:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/06/attention-rents/#consumer-welfare-queens

And you see it in the steady enshittification of Prime Video. Amazon's character never changed. The company always had a predatory side. But now that monopoly and IP law have insulated it from consequences for its actions, there's no longer any reason to keep the predator in check.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/03/mother-may-i/#minmax

[naxalbari1967]

Israel Is the Empire’s Last Fortress in the Arab World

Western powers did not fall in love with Israel because they cared about Jews, democracy, or shared values. They loved Israel because it served a purpose. From the moment of its creation, Israel offered imperialism exactly what it needed in the Middle East: a loyal outpost armed to the teeth, hostile to anti-colonial movements, plugged into global finance, and willing to do the dirty work the West did not want to be seen doing. Israel is not just a country. It is a geopolitical project. A colonial watchdog. A forward operating base. A Western aligned ethnostate sitting on top of oil routes, radical movements, and strategic chokepoints. Its job was always to break the back of Arab unity, sabotage Third World socialism, and keep the region too fragmented, too unstable, and too intimidated to ever challenge Western extraction or corporate dominance. That is why the West loves Israel. Not because it is good. Because it is useful.

From the start, Israel was a settler colonial mirror of Europe itself. It was founded not just by survivors of genocide but by ideological Zionists who believed in colonizing land with armed pioneers, displacing natives, and building a new society through force. That is the same template the British used in Kenya and Rhodesia. The same one the French used in Algeria. And Israel knew it. The first Zionist settlers studied British colonial manuals. They mimicked the language of bringing civilization to the desert, even though the land was already alive with people and history. That framework made Israel instantly legible to Western colonial elites. It looked familiar. It sounded right. It followed their logic. It was not a challenge to empire. It was the continuation of it under new branding.

When the British left Palestine, they did not destroy colonial infrastructure. They handed it over. Israel took the legal frameworks, land seizure laws, and counterinsurgency methods the British had used to crush Arab revolt in the 1930s and used them again, this time as an independent state. The Nakba was not just a spontaneous war. It was a carefully orchestrated campaign of expulsion, ethnic cleansing, and military dominance, justified through the same civilized versus savage dichotomy that Europe had been using for centuries. And when the dust settled, the Western powers recognized Israel immediately. They gave it arms, loans, and diplomatic cover. Not because they believed in Jewish safety but because they saw a strategic ally in the heart of Arab land.

The timing was not a coincidence. After World War II, the Middle East was boiling over with anti-colonial revolutions. Egypt under Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. Iraq overthrew the British backed monarchy. Syria was wobbling between military coups and Baathist socialism. Palestine was a powder keg. Oil had turned the region from a colonial backwater into a centerpiece of global power, and Western powers had to choose. Either lose control to Arab nationalism, or insert a proxy that could tip the scales. Israel was that proxy. A garrison state armed for war. A place where white Europeans could settle, militarize, and serve as a permanent threat to any Arab regime that stepped out of line.

This is why the United States, Britain, and France did not just support Israel. They armed it. Funded it. Protected it. In 1956, Britain and France literally teamed up with Israel to attack Egypt after Nasser nationalized the canal. That war exposed the declining imperial reach of the old European powers, but it also made something else clear. Israel was not just defending itself. It was an extension of colonial power. That pattern never changed. In 1967, Israel’s preemptive strike destroyed Egypt, Jordan, and Syria’s air forces on the ground. It seized huge swaths of territory. And the West cheered it on. The United States started pumping in more aid. NATO allies opened the floodgates of weapons transfers. Israel became a cornerstone of Western military architecture in the Middle East. Just like Turkey to the north and Saudi Arabia to the east. All dictatorships. All repressive. All serving Western interests.

But Israel was not just a military asset. It became a tool of psychological warfare. Western media portrayed it as a democracy under siege surrounded by irrational, violent Arabs. That framing did two things. It erased Palestinian suffering. And it gave the West moral cover for propping up apartheid, occupation, and war crimes. The Israeli soldier became the poster child for Western civilization defending itself against the chaos of the Third World. It was imperial porn. A way for the United States and Europe to indulge their fantasies of toughness and innocence without getting their hands dirty. Every Israeli bombing raid, every checkpoint, every assassination was repackaged as self defense. As if Israel were just a small house with a big gun trying to survive in a bad neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Israel exported counterinsurgency tools around the globe. It trained Latin American death squads, helped South Africa during apartheid, sold surveillance tech to dictatorships, and advised on torture methods used in United States black sites. Mossad became a brand. Israeli weapons companies made billions selling battle tested gear. Tested, of course, on occupied Palestinians. For Western powers, this was perfect. They got to support a technologically advanced ally that could fight their enemies, experiment on colonial subjects, and sell the results back to the empire. That is not an alliance. That is subcontracted colonialism.

And let us be clear. The West never loved Israel out of guilt for the Holocaust. The same countries that claim to stand with Israel today were the ones that closed their borders to Jewish refugees in the 1930s. The United States turned away ships full of Holocaust survivors. Britain locked Jews in camps in Cyprus. After the war, Europe’s goal was not to protect Jews. It was to get rid of them. Zionism gave them an excuse. Let them go to Palestine. Let them fight Arabs instead of asking for reparations. Let them build a nationalist state far from Europe’s shattered conscience. That was not solidarity. It was strategic displacement. And when Israel started pulling its weight militarily, the West rewarded it. Not because it was moral. But because it was effective.

Israel’s role today has not changed. It is still the front line of empire. It still receives more United States military aid than any country on Earth. It still gets cover at the United Nations while it bombs refugee camps. It still licenses its security tech to every fascist regime that can afford it. It still fragments the Arab world, sucks up resources, and destabilizes any movement for regional independence. And every time the United States needs a war tested, a drone system trialed, or a resistance movement crushed, Israel is ready to perform.

The Western love for Israel is not about shared democracy, religion, or history. It is about control. It is about empire. It is about having a nuclear armed, heavily surveilled, militarized enclave sitting on top of Arab oil and resistance. Doing what Western powers used to do directly. Now outsourced to a nation that built itself in their image. Israel wins wars because it was designed to win them. And the West cheers it on because it built Israel to do exactly that.

[raisengen]

A few thoughts on Stronghold Protocol:

1. I do think this has some potential to be a permanent game mode, though probably on the minor end of things like SSS. The RNG is largely well-placed, and SSS-style seasons with specific enemies and maps to match could work well.

2. Loaning you out operators for free is an interesting approach for a gacha game, but it does mean the devs have a lot more control over what the "intended" experience is. You don't have to guess what works as a good comp, or worry that you've missed out some counterplay option.

2.1. It's also a nice place to let operators you don't usually use shine. I don't have any levelled chain casters, but Astesia is really proving herself in this mode.

3. I appreciate some of the silly combos they have going on, like the +ASPD keyring combined with flashbangs on someone like Meteor.

4. Handing you a choice of high-value team comp item in the early rounds is an interesting way to give the player something to build towards. (Though, I feel like the faction-based ones are maybe too restricted for what they give compared to the class-based ones.)

5. Hi Raidian

Now, for the complaints:

6. The Portable Explosives enemy buff seems mean-spirited. Either have a mode that forgives a couple of leaks, or don't; having it forgive sometimes makes it all the more annoying when it decides not to.

6.1. They should also clear up how dropping to zero shields but not losing lives still means you're going to deal no damage to the enemy HP, making it a de facto round loss. It's counterintuitive when Integrated Strategies considers losing shields but not lives to be a "perfect" clear.

6.2. Losing a round in general feels overly harsh, since it gives more time for the enemy to snowball and guarantees you'll face harder foes than before. Sometimes it feels like the correct response to a loss is to restart the run. Just having the enemy difficulty not increase after a lost run would be enough, IMO.

Compare how losing lives in Integrated Strategies often gives you some penalties, but still gives you the battle rewards, and progresses you past the problem node and towards the end of the run. Imagine if it added an extra boss fight to the end instead.

7. The reduced funds on hard mode slow things down in an unfun way. You buy one laneholder on round 1, play a round, upgrade on round 2, play a round... maybe you're actually starting to play by round 3?

8. ...and then round 3 rolls out a stat-boosted Yeti Icecleaver that takes no damage from your two operators. Yes, you've all heard about the stat inflation by now.

9. Beyond simple stat bloat, there's a weird imbalance between the different enemies you can face: some melee comps are napworthy, even on hard mode, but candle knight wannabes can nuke you with little counterplay, and Icefield Militants will ruin your entire life forever always.

9.1. I feel like that can generalise to "some enemies aren't appropriate for this game mode". Some enemies ask for active counterplay, like well-timed stuns or fast-redeploy bait that you just can't pull off reliably in this mode.

10. Likewise, some of the maps seem simply that much harder to navigate. Particularly the active originium maps; it feels like the enemy comps were often designed with splitting them up in mind, so forcing them through the same chokepoint often goes nasty.

11. Using FRDs in this game mode feels weird. The skill activates on deployment, and they only redeploy if they die, so... you have to try to get them killed? But then they can't do that much if they get killed too quickly. I'd say you just aren't meant to use them, but Misery is here as a gamemode-exclusive, so...?

[choppedcowboydinosaur]

Once again Operation Chokepoint's consequences.

something that boils my piss about visa and mastercard and stripe and paypal unilaterally declaring themselves the final arbiters of what kind of legal business people are allowed to conduct is how much of their bullying is based on pure aesthetics. If you go through the retailer list of a certain specialty herb supplier, the stores that are dressed as legal highs and head shops have all got the banhammer but the stores dressed as wellness and lifestyle have the full suite of payment options available. THEY'RE THE SAME. FUCKING. BUSINESS.

It's the same with adult products, if you want a dildo from Horny Hank's Freaky Fuck Bazaar you gotta pay with crypto or bank transfer but if you want the exact same dildo from the Heterosexual Coupling Healthy Happiness Enhancement Emporium you can pay with paypal.

They don't even truly care what you're selling they only care how it looks. The image of respectable conformity matters more than the substance of the business and products. And actually I don't think anyone should have to meet arbitrary standards of what an acceptable storefront looks like to be able to draw a cartoon dick when drawing cartoon dicks is in fact perfectly fucking legal. You should be able to draw and distribute cartoon dicks in accordance with the law without being forced to dress your cartoon dick dispensary like a hot yoga studio, actually.

[milfstalin]

A leader of a major faction in the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has warned that if Israel begins a war that involves the energy sector, the world will lose 12 million barrels per day, “and this is what we will make sure of.”

Abu Ali al-Askari, the head of the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades Security Bureau, stated: “This is what we will be taking care of, but only God knows what our brethren in Yemen will do in Bab al-Mandab and our brethren in Iran will do in the Strait of Hormuz.”

Israeli leaders have threatened to launch a massive attack against Iran, including against nuclear power and oil infrastructure.

Askari warned further that the resistance’s response “will not be limited to Israel, but will extend to Washington’s bases and interests in Iraq and the region.”

[...]

The Strait of Hormuz is a vital oil transit chokepoint situated between Iran and Oman. Oil tankers carry approximately 17 million barrels of oil each day through the Strait, or 20 percent of the world's total consumption.

Some analysts believe that oil prices, currently around $80 per barrel, could reach more than $300 per barrel in the case of a full blockade of the Gulf of Hormuz.

[...]

Al-Askari's statement also comes after right-wing Israeli Channel 14 aired a segment on Tuesday featuring Ayatollah al-Sistani's image on a list of potential assassination targets.

The image appeared alongside other regional figures, including Yemeni leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi, Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem, Hamas political chief Yahya Sinwar, Iranian Quds Force commander Ismail Qaani, and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

[...]

11 Oct 2024

[1americanconservative]

vacations

🇺🇸 The U.S. Navy has officially deployed the USS Nimitz (CVN-68), one of its most powerful nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, to the Middle East amid rising tensions in the region. 🚢 The Nimitz is accompanied by its strike group, including guided-missile cruisers and destroyers, providing unmatched air, sea, and electronic warfare capabilities. Its presence is meant to bolster security, deter threats, and support U.S. allies in key strategic waters such as the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and Strait of Hormuz — one of the world’s most critical oil transit chokepoints. 💥 With over 60 aircraft on board, including F/A-18 Super Hornets, electronic warfare jets, and surveillance aircraft, the USS Nimitz brings a formidable forward-operating presence to the region. ⚠️ Officials say this move is in response to escalating instability, maritime threats, and the need to safeguard U.S. interests and personnel stationed across the area. 🛡️ First commissioned in 1975, the Nimitz is the lead ship of her class and has served in major operations around the globe for nearly 50 years.

[choppedcowboydinosaur]

Once again Operation Chokepoint and its consequences have been a disaster for humanity.

while it might seem the case that being an independent artist frees you of having a boss you hate, this always ignores the fact that anyone doing art becomes intimately aware of how much room there is in your hollowed out skeleton to hate payment processors

[mariacallous]

In the five weeks since the Trump administration stepped up attacks on the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, a few big problems have become apparent, underscoring just how hard it is for U.S. President Donald Trump to turn muscular rhetoric into real-world results.

The operation, famously debated in a Signal chat that mistakenly included a journalist, has failed so far to achieve either of its two stated goals: restoring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and reestablishing deterrence. 

Shipping through the Red Sea and the adjacent Suez Canal remains as depressed as ever despite a more than $1 billion U.S. onslaught against the Houthis. And the militants remain as defiant as ever, warning over the weekend that Trump has waded into a “quagmire” and intensifying their own attacks on Israel and U.S. warships in the region.

There has also been a glaring lack of transparency about the operation, the biggest exercise of U.S. military power in Trump’s second term. The Defense Department does not hold briefings on the ongoing war, and U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, merely posts snazzy videos of flight-deck operations on social media, accompanied by the hashtag “#HouthisAreTerrorists.”

More alarmingly, the tempo of U.S. operations, including around-the-clock strikes by two entire U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups, is burning through finite precision munitions that many defense experts say would be best husbanded for any future conflict with China. That’s especially important when it comes to the limited stock of stand-off, air-launched missiles that would be critical to any fight over Taiwan.

“If this is about freedom of navigation, it isn’t working,” said Alessio Patalano, a naval expert at King’s College London. He added: “How can you support the idea that the Indo-Pacific is the priority, and yet absolutely critical components to the Indo-Pacific fight are being pulled for operations in the Middle East?”

The good news, such as it is, is that there is less urgency now to reopen the Red Sea and the Suez Canal to commercial shipping than at any time since the Houthis essentially closed it in November 2023 with a wave of missile and drone attacks on commercial vessels, nominally done in support of Palestinians under Israeli assault. Trump’s trade war has so depressed the outlook for global shipping that rates for container ships are plummeting, and there is little reason for shippers to worry about rerouting their goods the long way around the bottom of Africa. 

When the Houthis first opted to use their strategic position on the shores of one of the world’s critical chokepoints, the Bab el-Mandeb strait, to bring pressure on Israel and the West, the West responded. The United States and the United Kingdom sent naval forces to hammer the Houthis, while the European Union sent its own naval task force to help shepherd commercial ships through what was quickly becoming a no-go zone.

Though the U.S.-U.K. and European missions had slightly different aims—the Anglo-Americans sought to “degrade” Houthi capabilities on land to interdict commercial traffic, while Europe’s operation hewed closer to a traditional freedom-of-navigation operation—both were of little avail. Insurance rates remained sky-high, and traffic through the Suez Canal plunged. 

Enter the new Trump administration, determined to prevail where the outgoing Biden administration had failed. 

“This [is] not about the Houthis,” embattled U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hesgeth wrote in the now-infamous Signal chat he and his colleagues shared with a journalist in the days and hours before and during the March attacks on the Houthis. “I see it as two things: 1) Restoring Freedom of Navigation, a core national interest; and 2) Reestablish deterrence, which [President Joe] Biden cratered,” Hesgeth wrote.

The idea that freedom of navigation was a core U.S. national interest got pushback from Vice President J.D. Vance during the Signal conversation. And everybody on the Trump national security team wanted to ensure that Europe would somehow pay for the unrequested U.S. military adventure. Centcom certainly believes that it is all about the Houthis. 

But the underlying contradictions in U.S. policies and priorities shone through the clumsy text messages. Most especially: What happened to the pivot to Asia?

“The United States Navy is very good at striking targets ashore. But the operational and tactical success cannot hide the fact that the strategic effect remains elusive, if not ill-defined altogether,” Patalano said. “If this is meant to deter the Chinese leadership vis-à-vis Taiwan, I am not sure it is doing it.”

The United States since the days of Thomas Jefferson has fought for freedom of navigation, sometimes in waters not far from the current fight. What is hard to understand right now is why it is spending treasure in a futile attempt to open a sea lane that doesn’t need opening, when there are other, more pressing challenges. Worse yet, the misapplication of sea power could rebound badly—it takes a lot of time and effort to convince democracies to pay vast sums for advanced warships that are needed and that do have great utility, just not this one.

“What I find most troubling is that they are undermining the ultimate utility of sea power,” Patalano said. “In the future, when people say, ‘Why do we need a Navy? We did nothing against the Houthis.’ And they will be right.”

[robininthelabyrinth]

Title: who will mend what falls apart (ao3 link)

Fandom: Star Wars - Clone Wars Pairing: CC-8826 Neyo/Darth Vader, Neyo & Bacara Summary:

…a growing suspicion that there may be something going on between Lord Vader and one of his subordinate commanders. While naturally no one would ever accuse Lord Vader of any personal impropriety, it does seem unusual that he take such a particularized and (may I say) uncharacteristically charitable interest in a single commander, much less an outdated, near-obsolete clone commander. Recommend opening an immediate investigation into CC-8826. (you might find love inside the Empire’s endless red tape, if you read between the lines)

Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. Recommendation: Advance via advised route. Send primary squad through the valley, while situating support squads on the surrounding hills to enable primary squad to avoid an ambush. Likelihood of enemy ambush rated at 56%.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…snow likely to create issues for the invasion force, particularly at chokepoints B and D (consult above illustration). Recommendation: Do not proceed with regular infantry. Advise waiting for reinforcement with specialized snowtroopers or, if unavailable, troopers capable of utilizing mechanized transport for easier progression over difficult terrain. Likelihood of mission failure if current force is ordered forward regardless rated at 89%.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…tactically significant presence of arable land. Given the overall structure of the planet and the extreme weather conditions observed in the mountainous areas, as well as the limited existence of easily traversable passes, it seems likely that the local population would be highly reluctant to start a fight at the present location, as it might risk damaging one of the few areas where they are able to grow crops. Risk of hostilities rated between 10-20%. Recommendation: Hold present position and initiate negotiations from a position of strength. If time allows, consider building a permanent base of operations nearby to ensure ongoing compliance.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial requisition form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…upgrades to the speeders currently in use will enable more efficient information gathering and reduce instances of mission failure attributable to lack of agility and mobility. Implementing and testing such upgrades may also result in an increase in unit cohesion, which is currently rated at between 45-60% below optimal, a figure likely attributable to the reduced training times of drafted troopers utilized in the current composition of the recon division.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…strongly recommend that a forward scouting operation be sent to conduct a preliminary survey prior to committing our forces. While the personal presence of Lord Vader to oversee the present mission has understandably increased urgency, the unavailability of reliable terrain maps raises significant risks of mission failure stemming from lack of adequate intelligence. It is likely that such a survey will constitute only a short delay, most likely under three days (rated at 54%) with a possible extension to five (33%) in the event the recon squad encounters unexpected obstacles.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. Recommendation: Advance via advised route. Primary squad should advance along the cliff side via the high ground trail, posting sentries at each bend to minimize the possibility of surprise attacks. Under no circumstances should the squadron divert to the shortcut through river valley, given the danger of a flash flood. Risk of incurring significant personnel losses in the event of an adverse weather event rated at 93%.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied – overridden on recommendation of superior officer on the ground. Note: The uphill route is three times as long as the valley path! We cannot afford such delays.

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. Recommendation: Advance via advised route. Primary squad (or what’s left of it) should proceed through the valley, since General [NAME REDACTED] is incapable of any maneuver more complex than a straight line and this one doesn’t have a deadly river in it. Likelihood of personnel loss on current route is rated at 22% (risk deemed acceptable). Overall mission success if leadership is not replaced rated at 14% and dropping.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: Personal commentary is unnecessary and unappreciated.

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Imperial personnel form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…see what he said in his report?! This is the sort of insubordinate behavior typical of a clone of his ilk: useless, obsolete, already being phased out and too stupid to realize it. He’s not even leading other clones anymore! The whole recon squad has been replaced with normal draftees, and if it wasn’t for his high level of experience and use as a trainer, I'm certain that this one would have been replaced long ago as well. Recommend immediate decommissioning or, at minimum, sending back to Kamino or wherever for reconditioning.

Submitted by: General [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: As the highest ranked officer on the ground, the responsibility for incorporating actionable intelligence into tactical decisions is yours. As far as I can determine, the reports and recommendations submitted by the recon division have been accurate. Do not disappoint me further. – V.

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…in line with current strategic priorities. Recommendation: Hold position. General [NAME REDACTED]’s newfound devotion to utilizing unnecessarily complicated mission maneuvers at every opportunity aside, advancing on uncertain terrain in the dark without adequate night vision technology will result in catastrophic mission failure. Likelihood rating not included as the numbers will not adequately convey the strength of the recommendation.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied – overridden on recommendation of superior officer on the ground. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…absolutely no reason for a massacre of the local indigenous population. The community is sufficiently isolated from neighboring groups that its demise would serve no strategic, tactical, or even propaganda purpose, resulting in little more than a waste of time and ammunition. Furthermore, trauma from such an event will increase trooper attrition rates by at least 4%. Recommendation: Simply go around.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied – overridden on recommendation of superior officer on the ground. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…blatant disregard of strategic priorities handed down from above and a disinclination to listen to or incorporate intel provided by the recon division has more to do with recent mission failures than any supposed “sabotage” by Rebellion forces. The likelihood of the existence of such a force in sufficient strength to implement such complex plots on current planet rated at only 3%. A massive increase in trooper presence for the purposes of policing the local population is thus likely to do nothing but cause further chaos, decreasing rather than increasing chances of ultimate mission success. Recommendation: Push General [NAME REDACTED] off a cliff during the next night attack instead.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied – overridden on recommendation of superior officer on the ground. Note: N/A

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Imperial personnel form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…recommend that we replace the entire command staff of this battalion following the tragic demise of General [NAME REDACTED] on [NAME OF PLANET REDACTED]. A preliminary investigation has revealed evidence of malfeasance and extensive corruption among the high levels of command.

Submitted by: V. Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: There was no reason to push him off a cliff. Next time just forward the results of the preliminary investigation to be handled by G.M. Tarkin’s office. – P

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…taking into consideration the replacement of General [NAME REDACTED] with General [NAME REDACTED] following the former's unfortunate accident, as well as the personal presence of Lord Vader providing an additional boost to trooper morale. Recommendation: Direct attack on the enemy base’s foundations utilizing a pincer maneuver. Likelihood of mission success: 78%, boosted to 85% if the attack commences before 0600 tomorrow morning (taking advantage of fog cover).

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. Recommendation: Advance via advised route. Proceed through marked paths along the mountain cliffs, utilizing rope tied between troopers in order to avoid unnecessary personnel loss. Risk of falling rated at 44% if ropes are not used. While Lord Vader may possess the ability to leap across gorges, the standard trooper does not.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…forested area presents difficulty in maneuverability, particularly on outdated speeders. Recommendation: send a small preliminary force of scouts to identify the target, then approach via air. Likelihood of ambush in the forest rated at 68%.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…a small (repeat: SMALL) advance force utilizing stealth would be able to achieve the mission objective more efficiently than a larger invasion force, as well as reducing resource attrition. Improved efficiency gain estimated to be as high as 34%. Recommendation: Hold position for the majority of our forces, operating as normal to confuse the enemy into thinking that a larger attack is imminent, while sending a small stealth team of spec ops to retrieve the identified target.

Note to command that someone should remind Lord Vader, should he insist on joining the advance team as usual, that contrary to his recent efforts, stealth is best achieved without waving a neon glow stick into every tree he passes.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: Commander Neyo, I know you know what a lightsaber is. – V.

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Imperial personnel form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…inappropriate use of a personalized moniker to imply an unasked-for and unappreciated level of intimacy. Recommendation: required retraining in sexual harassment and fraternization modules.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: Are you kidding me? – Ana- V.

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. Recommendation: Advance via advised route. An encircling maneuver will enable a swift end to the present uprising. Likelihood of enemy combatants escaping rated at 14% or under, provided no issues with the maneuver.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: No snappy commentary this time? – V.

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Imperial requisition form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…provision of additional entertainment media will reduce boredom among command staff and allow them to put greater focus on achieving the mission objective, rather than wasting time attempting (inadequately) to find entertainment in other areas.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: Has anyone ever told you that you can be a real asshole? – V.

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…recommend against the proposed maneuver in the strongest possible terms. The sheer idiocy of utilizing infantry as an attacking force in the present terrain cannot be overstated, particularly given that the local population is famous for defending its temples utilizing winged cavalry capable of emitting flames at temperatures that current infantry armor is not rated against. The only possible result of such an attack would be a complete unit loss, likelihood rated at 98%.

Recommendation: Hold position or retreat to regroup before advancing to the target’s last-known location. No matter how allergic Lord Vader may be to the concept of reasonable risk allocation, or indeed of common sense, even he should acknowledge that proceeding with such an approach would achieve no purpose beyond the inevitable destruction of both the entire squadron and the mission objective.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: N/A

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Imperial personnel form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…transfer CC-8826 and attached recon squad from General [NAME REDACTED]’s forces to serve under Admiral [NAME REDACTED] on [NAME REDACTED], to be implemented immediately.

Submitted by: V. Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial mission report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…the tragic loss of General [NAME REDACTED] and his entire unit in the process of obtaining the requested item. The item has been secured appropriately and is en route to the Imperial Palace.

Submitted by: V. Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: I trust that you have ensured that everyone who saw the item has been properly dealt with. - P

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Imperial personnel form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…tell me what exactly am I supposed to do with a reconnaissance squadron in the middle of space? Recommendation to reassign identified personnel to an army detachment as appropriate.

Submitted by: Admiral [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: Use your imagination. – V.

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. We’re in space. No recommendations.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. We’re in space. No recommendations.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. We’re in space. No recommendations, because we’re. in. karking. SPACE.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial requisition form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…updated speeders for the recon squad will enable more efficient information collection and reduce instances of mission failure, as well as improving unit cohesion. It will also reduce instances of unnecessary pouting by the relevant commanding officer.

Submitted by: V. Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: Assuming that the word ‘pouting’ was a typographical error. Not that it’s a problem or anything, just flagging for your attention, Lord Vader. – Procurement

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. We’re still in space. Time otherwise meant to be spent on recon has been spent conducting extensive testing on newly received upgraded mechanized speeder bike units, which have performed adequately in stress tests. 

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: I knew you’d like them. – V.

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Imperial personnel form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…an offensively oriented spec-ops team would dovetail well with our present recon squad, enabling us to achieve localized mission objectives through greater information collection followed by immediate operation implementation. We can therefore take full advantage of how unusual and highly unexpected it is to have such a team aboard a naval flagship.

I have selected a proposed team (see attached file) that can be transferred over immediately once you have given your approval. As you will see, this one is also led by a clone commander, which will enable easier cooperation between squads and allow us to reap increased benefits of team synergy.

Submitted by: Admiral [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: I am pleased to see that my recent encouragement has assisted you in thinking of something to do with them. Implement immediately. – V.

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…initial joint mission successful. Pleased to report that collaboration with CC-1138 and his new squad went smoothly and without flaw, despite his complaints regarding the quality of the imperial draftees he has been obligated to train as the new generation of Galactic Marines. Recommendation: issue approval for a permanent joint recon-spec op team unit for short-range missions stemming from the flagship. Likelihood of increased efficiency for future missions is rated at 98%.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…survey results, utilized to implement tactical maneuvers. Given on-the-ground authority, we were able to map out the terrain layout and send in the Marines to carry out the evacuation before any of the local residents (a pirate gang) were made aware of the situation. The kidnapped General is back in our custody.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…appropriate steps to ensure that the issue will not be repeated. The relevant structures and many of the available transportation options were eliminated with an appropriate application of force, utilizing relevant resources carried by individual Marines. The pirates in question have scattered in the remaining ships. Likelihood that they will kidnap another high-ranking officer within the next year has been reduced from 43% to 7%.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: As pleased as I am to see your enthusiasm, consider employing somewhat less enthusiasm next time. Or at least fewer grenades. – V.

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Imperial requisition report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…additional thermogrenades, as mine were all used up on the last mission.

Also, repeating my request for better soldiers. These ones flinch every time there’s an explosion. I can’t make bricks using dustballs.

Submitted by: CC-1138 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: Approval limited to new thermogrenades. Make do with the soldiers you have. - Procurement

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. Several potential leads have been identified, and progress is being made to narrow each down. Recommendation: Continue utilizing stealth and advance reconnaissance techniques to progress mission objectives. Avoiding the main population centers will allow for easier infiltration and detection, reducing likelihood of a clash by 17%. Identification of the location of requested item is in progress and results are expected within the tenday.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…several possible locations for the relevant item have been identified. It is highly likely that the information obtained through Lord Vader’s interrogation of the local planetary governor is unreliable (based on other markers, likelihood is as high as 75%). The present estimation is that this is not the result of a deliberate lie, but rather the not uncommon outcome of employing information-seeking techniques that utilize terror rather than logic, as the recipient will simply tell things they do not have reason to know in an attempt to escape their situation. Recommendation: Hold position. Item will be located through traditional means within 3 standard days.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…now that the item has been located at the tertiary location. Recommendation: A direct attack utilizing the attached Marines spec-op force with reconnaissance support will be sufficient to achieve the mission objective, without need for further assistance or diversion of other forces for back-up. Likelihood of independent mission success rated at 75%.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: Message received. Go have your fun. – V.

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Imperial personnel form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…a routine spot-check has identified that recon commander CC-8826 is in possession of an unauthorized item of contraband (an outdated DUM-series pit droid, likely modified). More troubling, the droid does not appear to have been wiped on the standard recommended schedule, representing a potential infosec weakness.

CC-8826 has refused several requests to turn over the item, citing regulations that are no longer in effect or which are inapplicable. An effort to reclaim and eliminate the contraband item was responded to with violence, resulting in the injury of several personnel staff. This accords with previous observations that CC-8826 has started displaying increased non-standard/non-regulation behavior, a process that seems to have accelerated with the presence of CC-1138 (head of attached Marines squad). Recommend sending both clone commanders for reconditioning as a precaution, and for the droid to be confiscated and disposed of in their absence.

Submitted by: Personnel Officer [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: Surely you have better things to focus your attention on. – V.

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. Recommendation: Advance via advised route. The suggested route, although longer, will result in lower casualties and reduced resource attrition than attempting to take shortcuts (damage reduction estimated at 18%). Note that despite certain suggestions made by unnamed collaborators, this proposal has nothing to do with anyone’s desire to avoid the personnel staff.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: You will tell me if they are still bothering you. – V.

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. Recommendation: Advance via advised route. The extreme environment of this planet makes it unlikely to host a Rebellion base, but the possibility nevertheless remains (rated at 13%). A completed survey will be submitted at the end of the operation. However, the previous recommendation regarding an exploration of a planet with more optimal conditions beneficial to human life remains intact.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: I am not signing off on a beach vacation. – V.

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Imperial requisition report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…replacements beams to shore up the weak parts of the flagship’s external frame (see attached chart, points labelled A-X).

New selection of astromech droids. At least 3 to replace the ones lost in the last sortie (which was apparently a gigantic shitshow. Tilly tells me that someone’s head is getting chopped off over it, they’re just not sure yet who it’s going to be.)

Additional new component parts for upgrading the TIE fighters. The last shipment was insufficient, and the pilots have been fighting over them. The bidding and bribes have been coming in hot and fast, though of course Lord Vader comes first in the requisition list. He took two for some reason, which hasn’t helped matters! (Raso says he saw Lord Vader and one of the squad commanders sitting in one of the mech bays, talking shop about the benefits of speeders vis-a-vis low-atmo fighters, but that’s clearly just rumormongering.)

Replacement parts for the hyperdrive. I think we all want to not have a repeat of that time that shall not be mentioned where it took three times the normal time to make the jump…

Submitted by: Engineering Corps Spec. [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: Please stop annotating all of these. I’m telling you, Procurement doesn’t “love them” no matter how many times you say that we do. - Procurement

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…what was identified of the layout of the so-called “Sith Temple”. All relevant identified items have been secured, but many of the unusual and dangerous creatures living within still remain. There is absolutely no benefit to keeping such a hideous and verminous structure intact. Recommendation: bomb the living daylights out of it.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…a very unfortunate accident involving an entire crate of grenades. Unfortunately, no one has been able to form a reasonable hypothesis as to how the crate managed to get unsecured from its berth, or why the board ramp was open for it to fall out of, or how all of the grenades managed to simultaneously lose their pins when they landed.

Luckily, the only thing they landed on was the hideous structure mentioned in my previous report, so nothing of value was lost.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: Come see me in my quarters this evening. I see it is necessary to revisit our previous discussion on the subject of insubordination. -V.

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Imperial requisition report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…additional thermogrenades. Mine keep getting requisitioned away.

Also a pair of earplugs. I don’t want to hear it.

Submitted by: CC-1138 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial medical record [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…standard examination of Lord Vader came in with the usual results. As expected, there is minimal improvement in his long-term injuries, although we have observed no degradation.

More generally, we have observed an overall improvement in Lord Vader’s comportment. This cannot be attributed to his physical shape, which remains much the same (see above). Regardless, for whatever reason, he seems less burdened as of late. He has been more patient in answering questions, and has devoted more of his time to tactical considerations…

Date: [REDACTED]

Note: Flagged by surveillance division. Forwarded to the Emperor’s office.

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Imperial security report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…an altercation near Lord Vader’s quarters. Normally this sort of first-time infraction would be met with minimal punishment, but Lord Vader was having a call with the Emperor at the time and the Chief decided a more intense punishment was called for in order to ensure that no future interruptions take place…

Submitted by: Security Officer Private [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial personnel form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…naturally I would never object to being redirected from my course as subject to the needs of the Empire. The Empire has no more loyal a servant than I! The implication that my statement, which was taken entirely out of context, suggests any level of disagreement with the imperial decree is entirely incorrect. At most, it was merely an expression of sadness that we would not be able to complete our present objective – all to better serve the greatness of our imperial ambitions – before carrying on to the next assignment. Whoever reported my statement so incorrectly must have it out for me personally, and, I suspect, may harbor disloyal intentions…

Submitted by: Admiral [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…results of preliminary survey concluded. Recommendation: Advance via advised route. Local maps have been acquired from the capital, and initial surveys seem to confirm their accuracy. We are implementing search patrols based on them. However, orders have been unusually unclear as to the target of the search. Requesting clarification.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…the main city has been encircled with a tight defense perimeter. We have initiated canvassing. Efficiency is currently rated at 63%. Repeat request for clarification of mission objectives, as it was not included in the last mission briefing update.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: Just do your job. – V.

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…recommendation to continue canvassing the area. It would be a little easier to figure out what risks we should be avoiding if we knew what we were looking for, but since that apparently isn’t in the cards, a straightforward approach is generally the best one.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…presence of Jedi traitors has been identified. Immediate action was taken to eradicate them, but they were able to escape. Requesting immediate back-up. Risk of serious injury in pursuit of traitors rated at 65% or more, particularly given the Jedi traitors’ tendency to focus their attacks on clones following the implementation of Order 66. Repeat, requesting immediate back-up.

Submitted by: CC-8826 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial mission report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…objective has been completed. Squad injuries were minimal.

It is unclear why CC-8826 reacted in such a negative fashion, but you may rest assured that it will not interrupt BAU operations. Out of precaution, requesting additional time shipside before redeployment to ensure no further behavioral aberrations.

Submitted by: CC-1138 Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial personnel form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

… a growing suspicion that there may be something going on between Lord Vader and one of his subordinate commanders. This is based on the receipt of testimony by several officers suggesting instances of what may be called inappropriate conduct between rank and at least one formally filed accusation of undue favoritism. To wit, several instances of behavior not in line with regulations have been pardoned and inexcusable insubordination overlooked, and the relevant squads were recently granted an entire three weeks of vacation time while on board.

While naturally no one would ever accuse Lord Vader of any personal impropriety, it does seem unusual that he take such a particularized and (may I say) uncharacteristically charitable interest in a single commander, much less an outdated, near-obsolete clone commander.

Recommend opening an immediate investigation into CC-8826.

Submitted by: Personnel Officer [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Forwarded to V. Note: Deal with this, or I will. – P

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Imperial medical record [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…CC-8826 was ordered to report to medical bay with immediate effect by his commanding officer. A preliminary examination did not reveal any apparent issues. This was verbally confirmed by the soldier in question, who indicated that he did not recall being injured in his last deployment and, moreover, evinced a lack of belief that he needed to be in medical bay at all. Indeed, he appeared highly offended by the notion.

However, Lord Vader’s orders were explicit, and we are not inclined to disobey. A high-grade scan will be performed as requested, and should the suspected tumor be found in the right front orbital lobe, it will be removed immediately…

Date: [REDACTED]

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Imperial requisition form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…unclear exactly what happened, but we suspect enemy sabotage. Although the notion that the Rebellion has grown strong enough to sneak a bomb onto one of our flagships is a terrifying one, I nevertheless hesitate to suggest the alternative option: that the bomb was placed not by the weak-willed traitors of the nascent Rebellion, but instead by one of my political rivals, seeking to discredit me. There is evidence in favor of this conclusion, including the fact that our military capacities were not notably impacted by the explosion: we incurred significant personnel losses, including the near-complete loss of our medical and personnel administration staff, but the ship’s armaments and fighter complement remain virtually untouched.

Given the conclusions I have drawn, I feel that a strong show of support in my leadership will be more valuable than merely replacing the relevant staff, although that will also be necessary (see related personnel form, submitted concurrently). I am given to understand that a new model Star Destroyer has recently come off the shipyards, equipped with the latest technological improvements and stocked with newest models of fighter ships, armaments, medical droids, etc. Assigning this ship to me as my new flagship, with the old ship absorbed into my fleet, is the surest solution to ensure we do not see a repetition of this problem…

Submitted by: Admiral [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial requisition form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…necessary to repair Lord Vader’s personal quarters. The damage appears to have been caused by the quarters’ temporary resident (a recuperating trooper of some variety, who was moved out of the medical bay before the unfortunate incident there – lucky for him!) upon emerging from the bacta tank. It is unclear whether it was the result of some medication imbalance or distress upon reviewing the results of his examination (he had a datapad in his hands when we came in). Fortunately, Lord Vader was not present at the time, and another trooper (a Marine, I believe) arrived to remove him before further damage could be done. As nothing structural was impacted, our current estimate is that repairs will take only three days, however we can speed it up if that would be pleasing to Lord Vader…

Submitted by: Engineering Corps Spec. [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: N/A

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Imperial security report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…appears to be a scuffle between two clone troopers (command level). CC-8826 appears to have been the aggressor, although this is somewhat unclear as the initial fight was started in hallway BT-46, outside of surveillance range. Note that that hallway’s camera appears to be broken (see requisition & repair request submitted concurrently).

At any rate, when we arrived, CC-1138 had just succeeded in pinning CC-8826 down, although unfortunately when both of them were confronted by security forces, CC-8826 took the opportunity to confiscate one of the security staffs’ shockers and utilized it to knock CC-1138 unconscious while he was distracted.

Recommendation: put both officers in the brig pending further investigation.

Submitted by: Security Officer Private [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: N/A

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Imperial security report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…identified a missing starfighter, one of the new editions that has been further modified with expanded armament and medical capacities. We believe this was taken by recon commander CC-8826 without permission, possibly with intention to desert. A preliminary investigation has revealed that his personal effects (seemingly consisting entirely of an old pit droid, likely of only sentimental value) are missing from his quarters.

We note that CC-1138 is also missing, but based on surveillance records it appears that CC-8826 took custody of CC-1138 (unconscious at the time) upon being released from security custody per instruction. Accordingly, our current belief is that he has not deserted but rather that CC-8826 may have kidnapped him for reasons unknown.

Requesting permission to launch ships in search of the missing starfighter immediately. Please note that any delay at all would be extremely inadvisable, as CC-8826 is an experienced and highly trained recon trooper who possesses the capabilities to reconfigure the ship’s identification tags and disable any attached trackers.

Submitted by: Security Officer Captain [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: Attached audio file, transcribed by request of the Emperor’s office:

“Sir, please reconsider! If we don’t go after them now, we may not have another chance!”

[audio crackle, faint sound of respirator]

“Are you questioning my orders, Captain?”

“No, sir, of course not. But…”

“Good. Do not make me repeat myself. The request is denied, Captain.”

[audio crackle, faint sound of respirator]

“Just…let him go.”

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Imperial personnel form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…additional casualties incurred during the mission, none of significance. No Jedi survived. However, I believe that this was merely a single stop on their smuggling trail, and there may be more out there. Requesting additional reconnaissance troopers to continue the search.

Submitted by: V. Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: You have done well to reject that which makes you weak, my apprentice, but you remain too indecisive in the execution. Once you have completed this hunt, return to my side. I will try once more to teach you what you must learn, if you are to truly embrace the Dark Side.  – P

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…have all been completely cowed by the overwhelming might of our glorious Empire. The people here all speak positively of our forces, with several children volunteering themselves as new recruits with great enthusiasm. It scarcely seems possible that the intelligence that suggests the presence of Rebellion sympathizers here has any merit…

Submitted by: Recon Comm. [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: Cease this pointless drivel and make an actual recommendation. - V.

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…suggest eradicating the entire compound. A suitable show of might will ensure that no one in the area shall ever think of rebelling against the Empire ever again!

Submitted by: Recon Comm. [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: No one will think of rebellion because they’ll all be dead, and also our base will be without food. Unless you expect stormtroopers to start farming? - V.

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Imperial recon report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…see no reason why we cannot proceed forward in standard march formation.

Submitted by: Recon Comm. [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Denied. Note: Through a forest full of armed hostiles?! - V.

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Imperial personnel form [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…already gone through five different recon commanders in as many months, only two of which lived to be reassigned to another location. With all due respect to Lord Vader, this level of attrition is far too high. I understand that he is having difficulty finding satisfactory assistance, but since this is the case, perhaps it is time for him to return to using the Force (or whatever) instead of relying upon our clearly inadequate reconnaissance corps...?

Submitted by: Admiral [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: I’ll have a word with Lord Vader. Perhaps a flight squadron would be a more suitable support unit for him. – G.M. Tarkin

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Imperial requisition report [IDENTIFICATION CODE AND DATE REDACTED]

…special-grade screws. Need these delivered ASAP so that we can complete the upgrades to Lord Vader’s meditation chamber during his absence.

One container of high-octane metal cleanser (gallium melt). Actually, this one is a question: while installing the upgrades, I noticed that some graffiti on one of the durasteel slabs that make up the inner portion of the chamber. There’s traces of residue on it that makes me think it was originally covered by a resin that would’ve rendered the graffiti invisible for a few months until the medicated inner atmo wore the resin off, which is presumably why no one noticed it during original install (since I can’t imagine anyone doing it after it got to Lord Vader’s quarters!) The marks are deep enough that only melting the metal will fix it, but there’s the risk that the cleanser will leave a smell and maybe an unsightly blotch. The text isn’t anything subversive or anything, just meaningless drivel, though why anyone would bother to scratch IT WAS REAL that hard into durasteel, I don’t know. Let me know what you think.

Three additional u-bend units…

Submitted by: Engineering Corps Spec. [NAME REDACTED] Date: [REDACTED]

Status: Approved. Note: That’s a no on the cleanser. Just consider the number of hoops we’d have to jump to get the medical OK to introduce any new chemicals into that inner atmo without getting accused of an assassination attempt. Anyway, it’s been a few years since original install. If Lord Vader hasn’t noticed it until now, it’s better to just leave it, right? – Procurement

[dertaglichedan]

U.S. Central Command said American aircraft destroyed the Houthi‑controlled Ras Isa fuel port on Yemen’s Red Sea coast late on 17 April. The strikes levelled storage tanks, pipelines and loading facilities that Washington described as a critical revenue source for the Iran‑backed group.

The Yemeni Red Crescent reported 17 workers killed in the initial attack. The Houthi‑run Health Ministry later raised the toll to about 80 dead and 150 injured, making it the bloodiest U.S. strike since President Donald Trump ordered a new military campaign against the Houthis on 15 March. The Pentagon has not released casualty figures.

Air operations continued over the weekend. Houthi media said U.S. warplanes carried out roughly 13 strikes on Hodeidah’s port and airport and more than 20 raids on military sites in and around the capital, Sana’a, as well as Amran and Marib provinces, bringing the night’s total to about 40 strikes. At least three additional deaths and several injuries were reported.

The rebels claimed to have shot down two more MQ‑9 Reaper drones within 24 hours, raising their tally to 21 since late 2023. Two U.S. officials told NBC News that five drones have been lost since mid‑March. The Houthis also said they targeted the aircraft carriers USS Harry S. Truman and USS Carl Vinson; the U.S. Navy has not confirmed any damage.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said a Turkish‑operated tanker moored at Ras Isa during the 17 April raid was struck by shrapnel but sustained only minor damage. The vessel’s four Turkish and 22 Indian crew members were unharmed, though Houthi forces initially prevented the ship from leaving port.

Washington has warned that strikes will continue until the Houthis cease attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The escalation risks further disruption to traffic through the Bab el‑Mandeb chokepoint and deepens regional tensions involving Iran and its allies.

[choppedcowboydinosaur]

Just to add to this the reason why credit card companies decided to be against the 1st and 2nd ammendments is because of Operation Chokepoint. If you want to look into it, it's the reason why we have this censorship hellscape with payment processors.

Anyone ever noticed how so many leftist memes lack…restraint?

The memer had to add the capitalist pig with a speech bubble, because apparently just mocking the “bad” decision wasn’t enough.

They had to also imply that any Yank who disagrees is nothing but a brainwashed sheep.

Seems a biiit like projection.

Also, what does this have to do with credit vs. Cash?

[professionalranter31]

I think every season they should do map changes like what they did with Colosseo

With Colosseo it added more to the map, both gameplay wise but also just to the overall feel and enjoyment of the map (but they should still add the fountains back) and I’ve been having a lot of fun playing it now than before the rework

But I also think it should be done for maps where it doesn’t do anything gameplay wise such as on MEKA base on Busan I think they should make the rooms for the other pilots and not just D.Va since they were her teammates before she joined Overwatch and they are now the defenders of Korea down one member, I just feel like there should be more given to them. So map changes that serve only a lore purpose

Then with other maps like Chateau Guillard it could serve both lore expansion and also just map expansion. With this map (yes I think they should either add new Deathmatch/Elimination maps still but the others should be given some love) I got three ideas for additions they could do. We get Widowmaker’s room, getting an idea of how she sleeps and such, a dock area for when she has to leave via boat, and a helipad for when she has to leave via airship. The last two could have vehicles or they don’t but it would give more to what is essentially Widowmaker’s base of operations when she isn’t on missions

Same for Petra, give some stuff relating to Venture since it was revealed that the place is a Wayfinders site and Venture was working there when we got their gameplay trailer, such as maybe their tent that they sleep in and such

For Kanezaka I would love to see stuff for Kiriko there but also stuff for the rest of her Yokai gang as well as Hashimoto stuff, I also think Hashimoto stuff should be added to Hanamura (they need to do something to put Assault back into the regular circulation of game modes for quick and competitive because the maps are too beautiful to not be properly used) and Hanaoka alongside signs of Kiriko’s fight against them. These changes can be either be just Lore additions or they could be expansions for gameplay stuff as well

Gameplay wise I can think of three maps that for me personally I think would benefit a lot from and that is King’s Row, Route 66, and Numbani since the defenders only get two spawn rooms while only similar maps they get three, same as other maps. It would change up the flow of combat and could really help, hell with Numbani the new Defender’s spawn room could be Efi’s workshop or something like that

Also, I think with the weather and time of day variations of maps they should change up where certain things are placed that would be reasonably moved, such as at Blizzard World the gryphon ride near the first chokepoint might not be running at night or in the rain. Introducing that would make the variations more fun

Changes to maps that help better tell the story of the map and just make it more fun to play it becoming a more regular thing for the seasons I think could really help the game, you guys got any ideas for map additions or changes?