RSnake Report 20260718

More ships sanctioned in Russia, US and Iran back at war, etc.

July 18, 2026

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Geopolitics
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Hello, and thanks for reading! We had a big week here at the casa de RSnake. We adopted a seven month old puppy. We got him from Austin Pets Alive, a no-kill shelter in town. My editor was running into problems with her garden due to rock squirrels. So naturally we got a squirrel hunting machine - a German Shepard/Black Mouth Cur mixed breed. Or at least that's what they tell me he is. With the pound, I get the impression they're kinda winging it with approximate age and breed, but that's okay in this case. I wanted something with a pretty strong prey instinct for this particular security task, and day three on the job he's already been chasing the squirrels. Good boy!

He is a little wary and winces with head pats, which makes me think he had a rough go of it prior to being in the shelter, and maybe someone was not-so-nice to him, sadly. But he's happy, getting more confident and has already begun to learn the lay of the land of his domain. The cats are pretty unimpressed thus far, but aside from a few hisses, things have been pretty calm ...or as calm as things can be with a 46 lb puppy who has never seen stairs or had any toys or seen a pool or cats or deer or a couch or a bed or a TV, I guess. It's a learning curve! What I can say is that last night is the first full night of sleep we've all gotten and at one point one of the cats even jumped into bed with the dog while it was asleep. Brave!

Oh deer!

Let's start with Russia/Ukraine News. Ukrainian drones struck the port of Azov in Russia’s Rostov region and targeted multiple vessels at the port of Chornomorsk in Odesa Oblast with Geran-4 loitering munitions equipped with electro-optical seekers. Inserted media

Ukrainian unmanned systems forces reported striking 13 Russian vessels overnight, including eight bulk carriers in the Black Sea, one oil tanker in the Sea of Azov, an LNG tanker, two floating cranes, and a tugboat, and with receipts, where you can watch each of them. Basically, there is no meaningful naval defense around Crimea or the Black Sea at this point, it seems, which gives the Ukrainians free rein to destroy shipping, resupply, rescue ships, etc. Inserted media

Of course, the big question is how much damage these are doing in practice? Can one drone really wipe out the whole ship? These aren't like harpoon missiles designed to break the hull in half or something, so... how's it going? In this video, you can see that it ripped through the hull in what appears to be a partial miss, because it doesn't seem to have had any meaningful effect on the ship's operations.

But in this one, you can see when it hit the superstructure, the entire bridge was wiped out. There is nothing at all left in terms of control surfaces. This wouldn't necessarily be a total loss, because that could technically be replaced, but at enormous cost. I'm going to go out on a limb that these are salvage at this point, when the super structure is hit a good majority of the cases. Inserted media

The attacks are coming fast and hard though, and now that there doesn't appear to be any meaningful navy at all in the Black Sea or the Sea of Azov, I expect Ukraine to grind Russian shipping to a halt. It's just a huge killbox at this point. Granted, most people are turning off AIS transponders if they know what's good for them, but I think, realistically, shipping is coming to a halt too.

On the flip side, it's not like the Russians aren't beginning to attack supply lines themselves. They are. For instance, Russian forces struck vessels in the port of Chornomorsk with Geran-4 drones aimed at disrupting weapons transport in the Black Sea operational zone.

The Kerch bridge appears to be almost entirely undefended, with 66 air defense assets destroyed over four months, including 30 launchers and Pantsir systems plus 36 radar systems. The Kerch Bridge area alone lost six radars and five launchers, leaving the structure with minimal protection as Ukrainian drones cross the peninsula nightly. I hear a lot of people who feel that must be true, but keep in mind that leaving it open allows the local population to leave, making the military targets easier to spot and destroy. And yet, Russian tourists continued summer holidays in Crimea despite ongoing Ukrainian drone attacks, a declared state of emergency, fuel shortages, and power outages. Inserted media

Ukrainian long-range drones destroyed a Tu-95 strategic bomber at Engels airbase in Russia’s Saratov region after flying roughly 800 kilometers to the target. These have been causing a lot of problems with glide bombs, it seems, but no more. They originally built around 500 of these, had somewhere between 47 and 60 before the war began, and now seem to operate 12-18 of them, with the rest likely cannibalized for parts. So the Russian Cold War-era strategic bomber fleet is nearly gone. Inserted media

A Ukrainian Su-27 conducted an airstrike on a building housing a Russian assault group. I do think it is interesting that they also had drone overwatch. That's a pretty impressive situation where you can do reliable bomb assessments in real time to know whether you have to hit the target again or if there are survivors who need to be dealt with, etc. Inserted media

Ukrainian ground robotic systems armed with machine guns were delivered by sea drone to Kinburn Spit to attack Russian positions. Said another way, a ground drone delivered by sea drone was monitored by an aerial drone. Pretty wild! This likely wouldn't be that effective on its own, but paired with a small ground force to flank the enemy, this could easily harass a small enemy force and keep them in position until the main force comes up from the side/rear. Inserted media

Ukrainian interceptor drones equipped with shotguns engaged Russian reconnaissance drones in mid-air. The more I think about these, the more I think they're probably a decent idea. Shotguns are really just tubes with a firing pin, and extremely cheap, easy to produce; the ammo is plentiful, and if it works- and I am not saying that is super high odds, but if it does- it makes the interceptor survivable and increases the ability for a future interception without losing the drone entirely. Just land, re-arm with a shotgun shell, re-up the batteries, and it's back in the fight. Inserted media

Ukrainian “Heavy Shot” heavy bomber drones have been fitted with video jammers to counter Russian FPV interceptors. As the FPV interceptor drones approach, it basically jams the video specifically, and therefore cannot tell what the Heavy Shot drone is doing, including evasive maneuvers. This is why AI drones will win. Upon final approach, there is no need for a human pilot. Just a matter of time before all military drones have this. Inserted media

There is an increasing use of 'waiting drones' that are simply told to wait in certain locations prior to finding a nearby target to attack. Inserted media

But as far as overwatch, Ukraine has a new drone type; this looks like a conventional airplane but flies far higher than most do, and can loiter and provide targeting information to ground troops who then use drones for close-in attacks against ground troops. These Cyclops drones can also do interception of drones as well, making them dual-use. Smart, and it's funny how once it was the regime of toys... It's taken a very different turn, hasn't it? Inserted media

Russian forces have begun to shift to manually controlled Shahed drones operating at lower altitudes such as 22 meters to avoid radar detection, like the Ukrainians have been doing. This really is a problem for a lot of the traditional flak-style air defense systems, because they have to be above the treetops to be more effective, but then they fire down into neighborhoods. Russian Pantsir systems accidentally fired 30 mm cannon rounds into a neighborhood in Afipsky (more video here). And to what end? The refinery was hit anyway.

A Russian mobile fire group experienced a training accident while attempting to employ a YakB-12.7 rotary machine gun designed for Mi-24 helicopter mounts. Of course, the Internet blew up over it because of how stupid this was and how it nearly killed the training instructor too, who barely managed to duck out of the way. Aside from being funny and idiotic, it's interesting how they are attempting to salvage these weapons for air defense, which is clearly poorly thought out, to say the least. 🤣 🤡

Russian oil refineries faced continued Ukrainian drone strikes, with fires reported at Syzran (another video here), and Salavat.

Also another successful strike against Russia's Elektrostal was posted. Inserted media

Russia suspended passage through the Azov-Don Canal, raising freight costs and insurance premiums for remaining routes. I mean, who would insure them at this point? I think the only hope there is government-backed insurance products.

Ukrainian strikes on logistics facilities in the Moscow and Tambov regions targeted sites that supplied sanctioned components for drone and navigation equipment production. Inserted media

And look at this crazy video of what Moscow looks like right now. If you are in Moscow, you can't be thinking that this war is going well. The fires are creating incredibly black smoke over the city. Inserted media

Weirder yet, the Russian mayor openly discussed that over eighteen hundred drones had targeted Moscow. Imagine if you're hearing that living there, and wondering if maybe you should get out. I can't imagine that is doing much for morale, and also, this seems like openly contesting the narrative that they're winning. Inserted media

Russian fuel shortages spread across multiple regions, with Tver Oblast and Khakassia experiencing widespread outages. Norilsk in Krasnoyarsk Krai faces fuel depletion by the end of July if new shipments do not arrive. Tambov Oblast will implement fuel restrictions by license plate beginning July 20. Fuel prices in Yalta reached 450 rubles per liter compared to the pre-crisis baseline of 67-70 rubles. Cities across Crimea reported being without electricity and water for seven days, with generator fuel exhausted. Inserted media

Ukrainian military intelligence assessed that President Putin could announce mobilization as early as September involving over one million people. That would be a very unpopular move if he does go down that path, and likely will cause him to dip further in popularity than he already is.

In what is reminiscent of the Israeli pager mission, Russian security intercepted a March 2026 shipment of booby-trapped heated shoe insoles. These were likely bound for the front-line troops and were designed to cripple troops on the front. Pretty nasty little thing. It does beg the question how many more similar operations are planned.

So I guess it's about time to talk about the Wildberries strike. An attack against the second largest warehouse for civilian deliveries (think Amazon) was hit, costing about a billion worth of goods to go up in smoke. It will have a really nasty ripple effect because many government items are also shipped through Wildberries, not to mention a huge amount of items needed for businesses are suddenly up in flames. And Wildberries has now said that drone attacks are no longer covered. Even if the money is repaid in the short term for packages that aren't delivered, that's not a solution to the problem of supply getting burned and no fallback. It's also a way to make sure that the average Russian knows that they are on the receiving end of attacks and not immune to it. It also occurred to me that while we don't know the details of how this attack occurred, it is possible it could have just been a package that was designed to explode within the warehouse too. Inserted media

Here is the view from an airplane flying overhead. Pretty crazy. Inserted media

The economic consequences aren't just theoretical; they're appearing online in a variety of places with what feels like a move that could easily end them in prison for complaining. For instance, a Russian woman who lost her online business due to economic collapse described failed attempts to find alternative income, even as a prostitute, because of her venereal disease. 🤢 👎 Things are getting desperate. Inserted media

It appears that the Russian Ministry of Defense continues optimizing forces for positional warfare rather than mechanized maneuver operations. This is rather odd, because it doesn't bode well for actually winning the war and is more designed to stymie the war effort. There does not appear to have been any meaningful changes on the front this week as a result. And how would there be? There's another video floating around showing tons of attacks on soldiers out in the open. I'd say about a third of them never even knew it was coming until at most a few seconds before it did. With no time to react, even if the drone strikes at their feet, the shrapnel is going to severely wound or kill them even in a miss. Inserted media

The one area that Russia does seem to be doing well is in the Arctic. They have built out bases, have dozens of icebreakers, and have airfields from which to launch anti-sub aircraft. I get why they want to win here - this gives them first-strike capabilities, and paths to attack NATO. This is one of the reasons why a globe is so much better than a flat map - you can actually tell how close they are to US and European assets from the Arctic. Inserted media

Russian stock markets entered free fall, dropping below the key psychological level of 2000. The Russian stock market declined with broader economic pressures from the ongoing conflict. This could push the bulls out of the market and create very bearish market conditions beyond where it already has been. Inserted media

Also, we are now seeing prices at 450 rubles per liter, which is around $21.77 a gallon. Again, as I went into a few weeks back, due to the fact that the Russians make less per capita (5.13x), that is something closer to $111.67 a gallon if the same conditions were felt here. Imagine paying well over $100 a gallon to fill up - something like $1,000 post-tax money on gas to fill up a single tank each time you need to do so. Most people would just stop driving altogether if they could help it, but with no Internet access in many regions, there's no way to make money if they don't drive. Ouch! Inserted media

But one article that I saw made a lot of sense about what is happening. It's not just Putin saving face; the Russians have moved to a wartime economy, and many of the oligarchs profit heavily on the current situation, even if the population suffers and it serves no net benefit for the state. If that is true, and I don't think it's implausible, then an offramp that Putin might otherwise want to take may be out of the cards. Inserted media

In related African news, Tuareg fighters ambushed a convoy of Malian government troops and Russian African Corps personnel, with Reuters reporting 200 Russian forces and 100 government troops accompanying the convoy. This will only slightly degrade Russia's reach in the region, but with a dearth of quality soldiers to replace them, this could have a bigger impact than it appears. Inserted media

Briefly in Southeast Asia News, China is constructing what appears to be the world’s largest at-sea replenishment ship at a domestic shipyard to support carrier group operations. Gosh, what a weird thing to think you'd need if you really did not intend to need to have operations operating for long periods of time in austere forward situations. 🤔

There is new info that the CCP used assets within the US to push the media here and social media in particular to incite the 2020 BLM uprising. There's a lot of reasons they'd do this. De-stabilizing the US is always an upside, but imagine a lot of US citizens sitting at home wondering who to blame for the situation, and being confronted by the obvious likely culprit. An upset civilian population who can't follow the bouncing ball will easily be confused and redirect their energies to what they believe the true enemy is. Inserted media

In Middle East News, the war is back on between the US and Iran as Iran suspended its compliance with the obligations within the MOU formally. I'll be honest, I saw nearly zero chance it would calm down, given the fact that the best outcome for Iran is to simply make the war non-palatable to the US citizen, which means that the US has got to more or less hide what is happening to the average voter. The negotiators are trying to say that different factions within the IRGC are to blame, and they may be right about that, but I don't know that it matters.

Meanwhile, the US signed a different MOU with Iraq and Syria to build a new crude oil pipeline, bypassing Iran. While this is a chance to push Iraq and Syria onto the side of the West and against Iran, and that is good, what is bad is that pipelines are juicy stationary targets. In a way that is also a good thing because what will happen is that Iraq and Syria will see attacks against their pipeline as an attack against their sovereignty, and why shouldn't they? This further isolates Iran. Smart play, if you ask me.

So war it is! One historic thing I spotted was that kamikaze drone boats used by the US were used against key Iranian targets. This is the first time we have seen such a use outside of Ukraine. This is a pretty huge thing for the US, which proves we really do see the value in drone usage, beyond overflight/ISR missions or the occasional missile platform.

The aftermath was pretty clear that this thing was laden with explosives. But it also shows that Iran's ports are uncontested, and easily attacked by ships with no weaponry at all. Inserted media

Iranian forces struck targets in Oman one day after Iran’s foreign minister requested Omani assistance mediating Strait of Hormuz issues. Keep in mind one of the main things described in the MOU was that Oman was going to co-manage the strait with Iran, and now Iran is attacking them. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this is making the near-peers in the region want to isolate them further. While the old adage goes that Iran has never won a war but it's never lost a negotiation, I'm not so sure that is true in this case. The US is out-negotiating them all over the region at the moment.

Iran conducted drone strikes on Kurdish militant bases and ammunition depots in Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan, using Shahed-136 and Arash-2 loitering munitions. This oddly puts Iran and Turkey on the same side, because of the long-standing rivalry between Turkey and the Kurds. Turkey is the one country in the region that could really make this situation far worse. Yemen poses next to no threat by contrast, if Turkey did decide that they're fighting on the same side. It's hard to say what will happen there. Inserted media

These attacks are leading to fires across the mountainside near where these attacks are taking place against the Kurds. Inserted media

Iran issued warnings to have the civilian population evacuate in the UAE, Bahrain, and Kuwait, which is smart, because from here forward the Iranians can say that they tried to limit casualties, while making the entire population egress. The average person will be conflicted by this because at least Iran gave them a chance to leave before... whatever happens next. The dumb part is that they're attacking a lot more than these regions. They're attacking Oman, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, etc. So it's a vaguely smart policy, but I think partly why they're not adding the whole list is because they know it would make the map look like they were surrounded... which they are! Inserted media

And true to their word, Kuwait, for instance, has suffered an attack against one of their port areas in Al Ahmadi. I don't think the average civilian is under much threat here, but missiles can and do miss their targets too. Inserted media

Also, the Kuwait Academy of Security is now on fire, following an Iranian strike. Inserted media

Iran launched missile and drone strikes against military targets in Jordan, including Al-Saleh and Muwafiq Salti airbases, targeting ammunition depots, fuel storage, and infrastructure. Two Iranian medium-range ballistic missiles impacted Muwafaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. Iranian strikes damaged multiple U.S. military bases across the Middle East according to satellite imagery analysis. Inserted media

Speaking of that airbase, the U.S. Air Force F-16CJ aircraft arrived at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan to reinforce suppression of enemy air defenses capabilities. These serve the "wild weasel" mission that the F-4 Phantoms used to do, hitting anything with a signal, including includes most of the air defense and communications systems of the Iranians. Inserted media

Iranian strikes set fire to Kuwait’s Al Ahmadi port area and the Kuwaiti Academy of Security. Iranian strikes damaged the Chabahar Maritime Watchtower, eliminating Iranian capabilities over the Gulf of Oman. Inserted media

U.S. strikes destroyed six bridges along routes near Bandar Abbas (more here), forcing drivers to cross dry riverbeds. Even if they can cross, it severely degrades the velocity of the crossings and creates chokepoints that are easily attacked as well. So Trump was not lying that these would be the next targets. Here's the proof. It also makes me think that Trump does telegraph operational targets in his interviews. Inserted media

The US also hit Iranian communications as well. Inserted media

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz following attacks on commercial vessels, with Qatar subsequently banning all vessel passage through the strait. So that's a hot mess!

Also, clearly the Iranians are still firing rockets into Israel with unknown amounts of damage taking place, but it does seem to signal that there needs to be a lot more investment in air defense, not just in Israel but all of the nations surrounding Iran. Iran has the advantage here by being able to attack a lot of stationary and weakly defended areas. It's the major lesson that Russia is learning now with Ukraine, but now it's an entire region with a dozen nations all learning the lesson at the same time. Inserted media

Meanwhile over in Gaza, things are still hot. There were more airstrikes, so clearly Hamas is still operational in the area. Inserted media

In North America News, Canada is fighting 835 active wildfires, with 112 out of control and nearly 4.7 million acres burned. Explosive fire growth driven by extreme heat, drought, and wind forced evacuations in Ontario and Minnesota. Toxic smoke spread across the Great Lakes and Northeast, triggering air quality alerts from Toronto to New York City, Boston, and Washington, D.C. Inserted media

The fires have many causes, some natural and some human-caused, but either way, it shows how flammable the ecosystem is, and because we don't let fires go for years on end, it tends to build up and get far worse than if we let fires happen from time to time or did controlled burns. The map is pretty crazy though.

U.S. strategic petroleum reserve crude oil stocks fell to their lowest level since 1983. Inserted media

But I have a feeling things will keep going down. So here's a meme I made for those who feel the same...

Saronic debuted a drone ship called the Maurader, which is designed to haul around containers. It does appear to have a bridge, and that is likely mostly to deal with situations where it's under repair, or needs to be guided by hand through narrow passages or where it's preferred or only legal to do so by hand. It doesn't appear to have any defensive capabilities, but the containers themselves can contain anything, including close in anti-air and anti-ship support missions. Inserted media

US Senator Lindsey Graham passed away after a very short medical situation that he refused to go to the hospital for, in favor of continuing to work. Weirdly, the IRGC published a diagram somehow trying to take credit for it, despite almost certainly not being at all related to anything Iran had anything to do with, since he had just been in Ukraine. Inserted media

The US is going to start testing its soldiers looking for low testosterone levels. Apparently there is new research that high stress lowers testosterone, and it apparently affects special operators more than other groups, so much so that it is called "operator syndrome". Time to reduce the stress, eh boys! I do wonder if it's a direct effect of too much cortisol - the stress hormone. But either way, this is a great study that should reveal a lot about men's health. Low testosterone can lead to suicidal ideation, depression, lower sex drive, and a lot of other issues.

In Tech News, Thinking Machines introduced Inkling, an AI model capable of reasoning across text, image, and audio modalities, with full weights made available for fine-tuning. This could end up being a very important open source model both because it directly competes and rather well with the Chinese models, but because it is large it can be fine-tuned to be better than those other models without sacrificing quality in whatever dimension it's fine-tuned. Cool stuff.

Meanwhile, Anthropic has gotten almost unusable for many researchers. If they are using Fable and ask a question, it will downgrade them to Opus 4.8. Then it will downgrade them to Sonnet 4.6 and finally to Haiku. I get the rationale, but wow, what a mess they have made of their censorship system. Inserted media

Meta allegedly used AI systems to identify workers with medical conditions for targeted layoffs. If that is true, it will bring a new level of scrutiny to the use of AI in companies, and probably in a good way. We have had paralyzed/handicapped people in our workplace who did amazing work. It's one thing to can people based on performance, but to can people based on their other medical conditions is pretty gross. In fact, many people work precisely so that they can afford their medical care. 👎

The White House launched the Gold Eagle Initiative, establishing an AI-powered cybersecurity vulnerability coordination clearinghouse under an executive order to accelerate exploit detection and response across critical infrastructure. At the same time, the Department of War suspended CMMC Phase II requirements while maintaining Phase I self-assessments and NIST SP 800-171 Rev 2 compliance during a 60-day reform review. I think this will be a short-lived issue while they figure out how to implement something that vendors can actually comply with that doesn't hamstring the government's modernization efforts. Inserted media

F5 disclosed three high-severity vulnerabilities in NGINX Plus and NGINX Open Source affecting the Ingress Controller, Gateway Fabric, App Protect WAF, and Instance Manager. One interesting thing I heard about this is that one of the vulnerabilities was reported 15 times by 11 different teams (some dupes apparently). This is all the AI effect.

Lastly, you gotta put aside some time to watch this Chinese version of battle bots called URKL. But unlike Battle Bots, this one is humanoid robots. At one point the head got kicked off, and it kept going, which is to say that while we think of these things as humanoid, they really really are not human-like in the way they deal and take damage. Inserted media

Okay, onto the articles!

Geopolitics

Iran's Assembly of Experts has declared a religious duty to assassinate U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, even as the regime engages in diplomacy. The U.S. has initiated a military campaign targeting Iran's military capabilities, while tensions between Iran and its regional rivals, particularly Saudi Arabia and Israel, are intensifying. The Iranian regime is reportedly experiencing significant internal distrust and chaos amid growing perceptions of its declining influence.

Iran's ruling clerics have called for the assassination of Trump and Netanyahu, indicating an extreme stance amidst supposed negotiations.
The U.S. has launched military operations aimed at crippling Iran's military infrastructure and disrupting its command capabilities.
There is a discernible shift in regional power dynamics favoring Saudi Arabia and Israel as Iran's influence wanes.

[RSnake: It's going to be difficult to have a conversation and fix things when they want to kill you. This is exactly what happened with Hamas in Israel, and look how it's ended up for Palestine.]

Source: https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2026/07/17/the_fatwa_against_trump_and_netanyahu_1195052.html

More than 500 Rohingya asylum seekers have vanished at sea after departing from Myanmar's Rakhine state, likely due to capsizing during treacherous monsoon conditions. The Rohingya community continues to be affected by severe oppression and humanitarian crises, prompting many to risk dangerous maritime journeys in search of safety and stability in other countries such as Malaysia.

Two boats carrying an estimated 530 Rohingya asylum seekers have not been heard from since leaving Myanmar on June 29.
The Rohingya are facing dire circumstances both in Rakhine and in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, with many resorting to perilous sea journeys to escape.

[RSnake: That's pretty awful situation. We really do not know what happened, but a capsized boat is the most likely situation.]

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr59n096mrmo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

A major U.S. appeals court ruled that New Jersey's ban on AR-15s and large-capacity magazines is unconstitutional, reinforcing the Second Amendment rights of gun owners. The decision, celebrated by the NRA, stated that the state's restrictions did not align with historical firearm regulation practices and serve as a significant benchmark in ongoing debates surrounding gun control in the United States.

A federal appeals court declared New Jersey's restrictions on AR-15s and large-capacity magazines unconstitutional.
The ruling emphasizes the right to keep and bear arms as fundamental under the Second Amendment.

[RSnake: Great news for the law-abiding citizens of New Jersey. This also sets the stage for overturning California's laws as well.]

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/politics/major-appeals-court-declares-new-jersey-ar-15-ban-unconstitutional-landmark-second-amendment-ruling

International monitors have confirmed a humanitarian crisis in the occupied town of Oleshky, where approximately 6,000 civilians are trapped amid a blockade by Russian forces. Conditions continue to worsen, with reports of severe food shortages, lack of medical care, and ongoing drone attacks, leading to civilian casualties and a desperate need for humanitarian aid and evacuation routes.

Oleshky is facing a humanitarian crisis due to a blockade by Russian forces.
Around 6,000 civilians are trapped with no access to food or medical care.

[RSnake: Right, because on both sides is a stalemate. There's no good outcome there unless one side badly loses, opening up a corridor at the rear.]

Source: https://euromaidanpress.com/?p=416146

The United States views China as a significant adversary, indicated by recent remarks from President Trump about China's influence on American elections and society. There are allegations of Chinese strategies aimed at exploiting internal U.S. divisions and enhancing its global power, necessitating a U.S. counteraction through military and economic means.

China is perceived as a major enemy of the United States, with accusations of election data compromise and manipulative influence operations.
There is a call for the U.S. to strengthen its military and economic measures against China's growing power and influence.

[RSnake: Well, I mean. Because they are!]

Source: https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-conversation-america-needs-to-have

Cybersecurity

SonicWall's SMA 1000 Series appliances are being exploited by a major ransomware group using two zero-day vulnerabilities. These vulnerabilities allow attackers to gain root-level access and can lead to data breaches and ransomware incidents in enterprise networks.

Two vulnerabilities allowing for remote code execution on SonicWall appliances have been publicly disclosed.
Attackers are already exploiting these vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized access to enterprise networks.
SonicWall has released a hotfix and emphasizes the need for comprehensive security measures beyond just applying patches.

[RSnake: I have heard rumors there will be a lawsuit against Sonicwall because they have made certain claims about how things work but it turns out they do not work that way. I don't have a lot of other details than that, but I suspect it's that the documentation refutes their marketing claims.]

Source: https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/inc-ransomware-exploits-sonicwall-sma-zero-days

The White House has launched the Gold Eagle Clearinghouse to coordinate responses to cybersecurity vulnerabilities amid emerging AI technologies. This initiative aims to streamline the identification, remediation, and management of software vulnerabilities affecting critical infrastructure, while its implementation is still being defined and clarified.

Gold Eagle is a new initiative by the White House to address cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the wake of advanced AI developments.
The program focuses on improving the speed and efficiency of vulnerability detection and patching across industries.

[RSnake: The problem is this is not a good replacement for CVE, and this will overwhelm everyone, and it turns everything into agentic frameworks, which are prone to prompt injection.]

Source: https://www.darkreading.com/vulnerabilities-threats/gold-eagle-clearinghouse-targets-security-gap

Abbott Laboratories is investigating two separate cybersecurity incidents involving unauthorized access to its systems, including a breach of its Cancer Diagnostics business and its LabCentral portal. The ShinyHunters extortion group claims to have stolen sensitive data, while another threat actor alleges to have accessed proprietary documents, though Abbott denies sensitive information was compromised.

Abbott is facing multiple cybersecurity incidents involving potential data breaches.
The ShinyHunters group claims to have stolen sensitive customer information.
Another actor claims access to proprietary documents, but Abbott disputes the sensitivity of the information.

[RSnake: Ouch, and yet, they'll likely have to pay those out. ShinyHunters is one of the most prolific ransomware groups out there.]

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/abbott-laboratories-probes-two-cyber-incidents-amid-extortion-claims/

A vulnerability known as HollowByte allows unauthenticated attackers to cause a denial-of-service condition in OpenSSL servers using an 11-byte payload. This flaw, which has been addressed in recent versions of OpenSSL, can lead to significant memory depletion and operational disruptions in environments that use OpenSSL for secure communication. Organizations are advised to upgrade to patched versions to mitigate the risk of exploitation.

The HollowByte vulnerability affects OpenSSL servers, causing memory allocation issues.
Organizations using OpenSSL should prioritize updating to fixed versions to prevent potential attacks.

[RSnake: That's no good, and it would be easy to turn into ransom operations for those companies who have no idea why it's happening.]

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/hollowbyte-ddos-flaw-bloats-openssl-server-memory-with-11-byte-payload/

A Florida man has been arrested for allegedly uploading malware-infested video games to Steam, targeting users to steal their passwords and drain cryptocurrency wallets, resulting in approximately $220,000 in theft. The FBI is still investigating the case, which involved marketing these malicious games across various platforms and infecting around 8,000 victims.

A 21-year-old was arrested for distributing malware through fake video games.
Around 8,000 victims were infected, leading to significant cryptocurrency theft.

[RSnake: Funny enough, he could have made a lot more than that had he done it the legitimate way. What a waste of talent, honestly.]

Source: https://techcrunch.com/?p=3143763

Technology

Kaiser Permanente nurses are expressing dissatisfaction with the increasing use of AI and workplace surveillance in their jobs, claiming that it adversely affects patient care and puts pressure on them to prioritize efficiency over compassion. The California Nurses Association is entering contract negotiations with Kaiser, with AI becoming a central issue amidst concerns about its impact on the nursing profession. Concurrently, California lawmakers are considering bills to regulate the use of AI in the workplace, aiming to protect healthcare professionals from potential retaliation for defying automated medical recommendations.

Nurses at Kaiser Permanente are reporting that AI monitoring affects their autonomy and ability to provide quality patient care.
Policy discussions are ongoing in California regarding the regulation of AI in healthcare settings.

[RSnake: Human care is such a hard thing to measure, but I think the best way to measure it is something akin to a mix of how much care was given (claims filed and processed) and customer satisfaction. Those are opposing goals in some cases but not if you're doing it right.]

Source: https://localnewsmatters.org/2026/07/15/kaiser-nurses-say-ai-workplace-surveillance-are-making-their-jobs-and-patient-care-worse/

A new AI model called Kimi K3 has been launched, boasting 2.8 trillion parameters and outperforming various other models in self-reported benchmarks. It is priced significantly higher than its predecessor and is touted as the first open 3T-class model from a Chinese AI lab. Open weight release is expected by July 2026, and the model's cost structure reflects its performance metrics in comparison to rivals.

Kimi K3 has 2.8 trillion parameters and claims to surpass several competitors in performance.
The model is currently available through an API, with an open-weight release promised by July 2026.
Its pricing model positions it as the most expensive offering from a Chinese AI lab to date, reflecting its capabilities.

[RSnake: Be very careful with these models; I shouldn't have to say. But I will anyway. You cannot trust these models for anything important.]

Source: https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/16/kimi-k3/

Open-source AI is becoming increasingly adopted and competitive, with models now accounting for a significant portion of production usage. This shift is leading to a decline in costs and an increase in the diversity of applications and users. Various regions, especially in East Asia and the Global South, are seeing rapid growth in open-weight AI due to its affordability and control over data.

Open-weight models are now being used by a third of Fortune 500 companies and make up a substantial share of production traffic on platforms like OpenRouter.
Governments, including the European Commission and Canada, are adopting policies to favor open-source AI, aiming for greater business adoption and accessibility.
The cost efficiency and competitive nature of open-source AI are driving its proliferation, especially in regions that seek alternatives to US technology monopolies.

[RSnake: Open weight is not necessarily more affordable unless you have the upfront CAPEX to utilize it, and even then, you have to keep costs under control in other ways. I'm not saying it's not good to have these models; I'm saying that normal humans aren't going to be able to use them without something like OpenRouter, which can leverage hyperscalers who have made the hardware investments, unless you have no need for high-quality outputs.]

Source: https://stateofopensource.ai/

Meta is negotiating a $10 billion deal to provide cloud computing services to Anthropic, a major AI competitor, as both companies struggle with a shortage of computing power necessary for AI development. This deal comes amidst Meta's significant investment in AI infrastructure and its strategic shift towards establishing a cloud computing business. As competition within the AI industry intensifies, major players are collaborating in new ways to meet the growing demand for advanced computing resources.

Meta is negotiating a $10 billion cloud computing deal with Anthropic.
Both companies face a computing power shortage affecting AI development.
Meta's investment in AI infrastructure indicates a strategic shift towards cloud services.

[RSnake: Interesting. Anthropic is buying it anywhere it can get it. Meta, X, wherever.]

Source: https://thenextweb.com/news/anthropic-meta-10-billion-compute-deal-talks

Business

A significant error within Amazon Web Services (AWS) resulted in customers receiving exaggerated estimated billing amounts, with reports of bills reaching billions or even trillions of dollars, causing widespread panic among users. This incident was attributed to inaccuracies in the billing data, specifically a unit pricing issue in the billing computation system, prompting AWS to investigate and resolve the problem.

AWS faced a major billing error causing users to receive estimated bills in the billions.
The issue stemmed from inaccuracies related to unit pricing in their billing system.

[RSnake: Lol, I can imagine my CFO seeing these kinds of bills and losing her mind. The question is how many randomly tried to pay it, not really looking at the invoice?]

Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48945241

Union Pacific Railroad is implementing a new method to manage heat-related track conditions by applying white paint to rails, which reflects sunlight and lowers surface temperatures by approximately 20 degrees. This initiative is part of a broader strategy to enhance safety and reduce derailments in extreme heat conditions, using techniques adapted from European rail systems. As the largest freight railroad in the U.S., Union Pacific plays a critical role in the national supply chain, servicing a vast network of communities and industries across 23 states.

Union Pacific is applying white paint to railroad tracks to mitigate heat-related expansion issues.
The initiative aims to improve safety and reduce derailments, reflecting ongoing efforts toward operational excellence.
Union Pacific plays a vital role in the U.S. supply chain by connecting numerous communities through its extensive rail network.

[RSnake: I have to imagine these are painted on the sides and not the top, and by the looks of it, it seems like I might be right, but it's really not obvious if it doesn't do both and not worry about wearing off on the wheels of the train.]

Source: https://www.up.com/news/safety/Tracking-Rail-Heat-260608

Apple has overtaken Nvidia to become the world's most valuable company, now valued at $4.88 trillion compared to Nvidia's $4.86 trillion. The semiconductor index has dropped nearly 19% as investors reassess the sustainability of investments in AI.

Apple's recovery in value demonstrates a shift in market sentiment towards AI and technology investments.
Nvidia, while still a major player, has seen a decline in its stock value after holding the top position for nearly a year.

[RSnake: Wow, many trillion-dollar companies. Where is all the liquidity coming from to mint all of these? It's not like GDP is growing so significantly that it can suddenly support many trillions of dollars in investment all at once over a handful of years. We do know there was about a trillion locked up in gold during the last election, but even still.]

Source: https://thenextweb.com/news/apple-overtakes-nvidia-most-valuable-company

Saronic is set to establish Port Alpha, a $3 billion shipyard in Brownsville, Texas, designed for advanced autonomous vessels, marking a significant step in U.S. shipbuilding capabilities. The facility aims to create approximately 10,000 jobs and is expected to generate substantial economic impact in the region, while also aligning with federal initiatives to enhance the maritime industry in the U.S. Construction is set to begin this year, with the yard anticipated to become operational by 2028.

Saronic is building a $3 billion shipyard in Texas for autonomous vessels.
The project is expected to create around 10,000 jobs and have a significant economic impact.
This endeavor aligns with federal efforts to restore U.S. shipbuilding capacity.

[RSnake: Very cool - glad to see more investment in this space. They are mostly drone fleets, like the Marauder that I discussed above.]

Source: https://www.defensenews.com/industry/techwatch/2026/07/17/saronic-picks-brownsville-texas-for-3-billion-port-alpha-shipyard/

US President Donald Trump's media company is reportedly planning to charge traders and firms significant fees for early access to his social media posts, which could influence financial markets. This proposal has faced widespread criticism as it may create barriers to government transparency and potentially profit from his presidential position.

Trump Media and Technology Group is considering charging over $100,000 monthly for priority access to the president's social media posts.
Critics argue that this could undermine government transparency and raise ethical concerns about the exploitation of presidential influence for financial gain.

[RSnake: Interesting. That would be a wise investment if you were getting early access to breaking news. And yes, obviously this is a huge money maker for Trump, even after he's out of office. And yes, obviously a terrible idea for market fairness, if there ever was such a thing. I think the retail investor is always behind the 8 ball, and this is just another example of why.]

Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/7/18/trump-media-reportedly-mulling-fee-for-first-access-to-social-media-posts?traffic_source=rss

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