RSnake Report 20260531
FCC banning Chinese chips, Ukraine hitting logistics, etc
Skip to the Articles
If your email provider cuts off the newsletter, please click here to read the whole thing.
On the plus side: First, I have full control, so I no longer have to stress about how long the newsletter gets. This one, for instance, would have been blocked for being too long. That's a big bonus for me because sometimes the news takes more words to articulate than Beehiiv allows. It's a stupid limitation that has annoyed me from day one, and I have had to do some unnatural things to shorten some otherwise really good analysis simply because Beehiiv artificially limits the length. It doesn't mean that we'll get wildly longer newsletters, but when it warrants it, I want to write whatever needs to be written and not be artificially constrained. Second, it's cheaper! Not by a ton, because my re-mailer does cost a bit, but compared to Beehiiv, it'll save me something like a few hundred dollars a year, which I could spend on other things, and since I know how to build things, why not? Third, as I build out more features, I am sure I will be able to bring in some of the intelligence I am building into a format that is useful to the readers, with better tools for analysis, et al, which is an exciting prospect but for a future day. Fourth, Beehiiv is always advertising to me, like even when I am editing it is asking me to check out the ads I could be including. An ad for ads. 🤮 No thank you. 👎
On the negative side, yes, there are tradeoffs: First, I have to support it, so it will take a little more time here and there as I build out more features. Second, I do not expect to grow my readership as quickly, because Beehiiv has a referral system designed to help people find newsletters that they like, and I get a few subscribers here and there through other newsletters like Matt Johansen's VulnU newsletter, and a few other Geopolitical newsletters that link to me. No more! So as of today we're at 1,456 subscribers, and I expect that number to stagnate.
So the RSnake Report will grow (or it won't) entirely on it's own merits from now on. A bit daunting since I do nothing to promote it, which means it grows entirely based upon you, my dear reader, and if you recommend it to friends, coworkers and family, or not. Normally I would be a bit worried about this situation, but if you had seen the testimonials I have gotten... well... I firmly believe this newsletter is special, and while there is always room for improvement, it's growing because it's useful, and that is what I aim to improve - the utility of it. So please bear with me and a the bugs here and there over the next few weeks as we figure out any last details that might be messed up. We should be stable soon enough! Anyway, see ya, Beehiiv! 👋 🐝
Okay, let's start with Russia/Ukraine News, where Russia adopted a law permitting the central bank and other financial institutions to shoot down drones amid intensified Ukrainian strikes inside the country. Effectively what Russia is saying is that they don't have enough manpower or tools to effectively deliver air defense, so the banks should feel that they are empowered to protect their own assets, which likely would expand scope beyond just the banking infrastructure itself, but may also include protecting assets that they have loans against as well. A strange side effect of the war, but makes sense, actually.
A propagandist in Russia has begun to reframe the war as a holy war, not against Ukraine but against all of NATO and saying they have been at war with NATO since day one. This is likely in an effort to start getting the average Russian to see this as an existential threat, as opposed to a voluntary war that is going badly against a minor neighboring country. I am sure to Russia's displeasure, Ukraine’s population supports fighting for other European nations if invaded. Interestingly Poland has the weakest support, despite probably being the most prepared against Russia. Belarus has said it won't attack Ukraine but has selected targets just in case. Until we start seeing a build-up of assets on the NATO border, I think this is all just bluff to convince people in NATO to push back on support for Ukraine.
Russian forces converted a cargo truck into an improvised pontoon vehicle for river crossings before it was destroyed by Ukrainian units. This is notable not because of the rather interesting nature of the field engineering but it also points to the fact that Russia is likely nearly completely out of pontoon/bridging equipment. That will make rivers next to impassable for heavy equipment and a natural impediment, locking in the lines at best, or pushing them back to the nearest rivers more likely.
Ukrainian operators destroyed two Tu-142 aircraft and an Iskander missile system at Taganrog airfield in Rostov Oblast. The Tu-142 were mostly preventing maritime operations, as they were primarily being used as a patrol aircraft. The Iskander missile system was launching rockets deep into Ukraine so this will free up some air defense needs on the Ukrainian side.
Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces struck an oil-loading pier at the port of Tuapse. The waves of attacks are interesting not just because they allow for multiple targets to be hit, but they also act as ISR and bomb-assessment tools while on their attack run.
The Unmanned Systems Forces struck the Saratov Oil Refinery, damaging the ELOU-AVT-6 primary processing unit and storage tanks.
Russian saboteurs struck a railway tank car containing 73,000 liters of diesel fuel in Krasnodar Krai. This group that cals themselves "Blckspark" or "Black Spark" appears to be an anti-war group that destroys Russian military equipment and logistics to hasten the end of the war. Definitely an interesting group to watch because they appear to have a similar mode of operations as the Ukrainians, which is deplete the supply lines and exhaust oil and gas infrastructure to make the front un-winnable.
Two 50,000 cubic meter tanks at the Lazarevo pipeline station caught fire, endangering up to 100,000 cubic meters of oil. So the Ukrainians are back at it, with multiple strikes against primary oil and gas depots this week. For a couple of weeks there was a lull and I am not sure why that was, but no more!
Ukraine has conducted dozens of strikes on Russian logistics targets up to 150-200 kilometers behind the front line using Dovbush T20 and Dart drones. This is having a very serious impact, because while previously it seemed they were targeting individual soldiers and just holding the line, now they appear to be reaching far further back.
This is a massive hit against the supply line. Lanchester's Laws dictate that this will be a huge decline in battlefield effectiveness for Russia, even at 5% losses per month, and might explain why Russia's forward momentum has all but stalled out completely at this point.
One of the ways this is happening is via Ukrainian FP-1/2 kamikaze drones launched from mobile container truck platforms targeting those same supply routes. I was a bit surprised to see this photo, which more or less shows exactly how they're able to move around this equipment and launch it without getting caught - it looks completely innocuous to the casual observer. Not sure why the Ukrainians felt this would be a good picture to publish, but... I guess they feel it's already known to the adversary? Hard to say!
Ukrainian drone teams have destroyed Russian drone operators in occupied towns including Oleshky and Enerhodar while Russian milbloggers are claiming they have a massive shortage of both drones and personnel at the front. Ukrainian forces have dropped improvised landmines on strategic Russian highways at operational depth using aerial dispensers. These things have a 10 minute timer before they are armed after being dispensed, and auto-destruct after 90 days. But they have made the highways far more dangerous. They are tiny and have just enough explosive power to disable a vehicle while the drones fly in and clean up.
Ukrainian forces are using remote mining systems against Russian logistics routes up to 150 kilometers behind the front line.
Russian military bloggers report that Ukrainian forces have destroyed fuel storage infrastructure across Crimea, leaving fuel sales restricted. Russian warbloggers state that the southern front is in a dire situation with the main highway supplying Kherson and Crimea cut. Meanwhile Russia is telling Crimean citizens to stop driving on the highways.
Russian logistics across Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts are completely disrupted with rail junctions, fuel trains, and supply convoys struck daily. Now they are starting to realize they completely lack air superiority, and are at the mercy of Ukrainian drones.
Ukraine is systematically attacking gas stations in occupied southern Ukraine and Crimea to cause a fuel crisis affecting Russian army combat capabilities. It's causing huge lines, and people are running out of fuel, rationing is happening and people are having to "borrow" a liter of fuel at a time. It's just a matter of days before Russia will have no mobile vehicles at all in the region if they aren't very careful.
Ukrainian forces are killing Russian wreckers recovering broken down or damaged trucks along supply roads. Ukraine has destroyed 50 Russian trucks on key logistical roads in one week. Ukrainian forces are focused on attrition of Russian fuel trucks and repair capability. It doesn't take long before Russia has no supply capacity at all at this rate. @ 5% a month, as Trent Telenko points out, it would not take long to eliminate all of the current capacity to carry supplies, which would allow Ukraine to focus on more military targets. Also, as you remove more shipping it turns out it's easier to kill more, because there is less air defense, so there is a hastening of losses, not a slow-down... at least in some cases.
Russian forces have begun using dazzle camouflage on trucks in an attempt to confuse Ukrainian AI drones. Russian warbloggers state that the camouflage is unlikely to succeed, but it's interesting, and may actually work in some cases where the AI isn't sure what to do. This would only effect the last handful of feet and only self-guided munitions. FPV drones controlled by fiber optic would be undisturbed, and further, it may make these things way easier to spot at a distance for FPV drones too. Someone forgot that camo is a useful thing in war. Black and white stripes may not be the best choice there. 🤣 But it is interesting that there is anti-AI innovations making their way to the front, half baked as they may be.
Meanwhile the Sting is still getting a lot of use on the Ukrainian side, and seeing a lot of success in taking down the Russian Shahed style drones. This is notable because each hit is only a couple thousand dollars, which brings it completely in line with what forward facing armies can afford on a per-kill basis.
There is also a new booster system, which is actually something I predicted would be a useful feature in some conversations I had with some guys who build defensive drones. This does a few things. It speeds up time to intercept, it increases range, and protects batteries. It does increase cost and complexity but I think it's a useful tradeoff in some circumstances.
Ukrainian long-range systems have struck oil storage sites, command posts, and radar stations in occupied Crimea. Russian military bloggers report that the land corridor to Crimea is falling apart under sustained pressure. Ukrainian forces have advanced in the Kamenskoye area, pushing Russian forces back from Stepnogorsk and Plavni. Even pro-Russian bloggers like Rybar are showing that the situation is very very poor for Russia in the south.
The human toll from the war amounts to about 3 percent of Russia’s prewar male population of military age killed or wounded. Russia is losing 35,000 troops a month, faster than it can replace them. That's extremely significant, and showing that there doesn't appear to be an easy path to fix this problem. While 3% may not seem that great, keep in mind that many of these men are needed in other heavy industries, and jobs that require physical labor. To pull men off of those jobs means that the industries have fewer people necessary to complete the jobs and hastens a weakening economy.
Ukraine intercepted 55 Russian missiles and 549 drones over Ukraine in one night. Ukrainian SAM systems downed a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile over Kyiv.
A Shahed drone crossed into Romanian airspace and struck a high-rise building in Galati, wounding two civilians. Putin stated that the wreckage of the drone that struck the building in Romania should be handed over to Russia for investigation. While almost certainly an accident, Russia has not confirmed it was accidental and is asking for the parts back, likely to issue an investigation to say that its course was changed by hackers or something. Either way there was a lot of calls about NATO Article V, and that it should be invoked. I don't think two random citizens qualify as an attack in the spirit of Article V.
A Katran mobile air defense system with artificial intelligence elements engaged a Ukrainian UAV. Pretty slick looking little design, and mobile enough that it could be repositioned every few hours or after a kill to make it more difficult to find and destroy.
Palantir’s PRISMA software runs inside Ukrainian long-range drone strike command posts, processing real-time maps and calculating optimal routes through gaps in Russian air defenses. Ukrainian intelligence showed dozens of drones entering Russian territory simultaneously on command center screens. Multiple dispersed command centers using PRIMA allow simultaneous control of thousands of drones without any single point of failure if one of them is destroyed. It does seem to be thinking about the problem correctly - routing drones through corridors of low-quality/missing aerial denial is wise. Though showing this software off is a bit more questionable.
Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba stated that China is carrying out an ultra-slow absorption of Russia. I think this is likely true, and I am not sure Russia has any choice. They need Chinese support for the drones, air defense, and for a purchaser of oil, as well as likely intelligence capabilities. But it is not as if China sees Russia as a friend or stable power. Kazakhstan and China agreed to develop the Trans-Casp route bypassing Russia, which could cause Russia to lose billions in transport revenues. The route’s capacity is expected to nearly double by 2030. Kazakhstan for it's part is moving away from Russian contractors in major energy projects. A part of me wonders if the war in Ukraine isn't exactly what China wants. It degrades Russia and China knows it's a pariah. So from China's perspective, why not let Russia take a beating while absorbing a lot of land through business contracts in both Southern and in Western Russia near the front? There will be many cities in Southern and Western Russia that speak Mandarin soon, mark my words. 🐼
Russia’s Duma has issued a warning about the worst budget deficit since the 1990s, with Chairman Valery Gartung warning that hyperinflation may be the only solution. He says a return to what it was like in 1992 and isn't sure what to do. Well, maybe an end to the war would be one answer, but it somehow is not even a concept that is brought up amongst the brightest economic minds of the Russian federation. 🤷 I guess there are too many windows in Russia to risk it.
In related European News, a NATO war game showed Russia could half-encircle Vilnius by the end of the fifth day while nuclear threats paralyze NATO’s response. In the war game NATO stops the attack if Lithuania has 12,000 AI strike drones. I guess that's pretty telling about where things need to go.
The German Luftwaffe is considering modifying its A-400M into cruise missile carriers. This can get the cruise missiles much closer to the target, wildly increasing their default range, without any modifications to the missiles themselves.
Latvian company WeMPS and the Latvian Ministry of Defense tested an automated counter-drone system using heavy machine guns and sensor-assisted targeting. These automated systems may be the real answer, because having humans controlling things is, for the moment prohibitively expensive and potentially dangerous to the operators. These things can be towed into position and cover a huge swath of territory without needing humans to intervene.
Turkish company Roketsan developed the NEŞTER kinetic kill missile that uses six deployable knives instead of explosives. This is very similar in design with the Hellfire AGM-114R-9X "flying ginsu" missile that has been used to take out individuals in heavy urban situations where mass casualties isn't acceptable.
Turkey also developed the DATUM TRANÇA, a 20-meter underwater system that can be transported in a truck trailer and trap aircraft carrier fleets in their ports. It is designed to allow a small number of troops to infiltrate deep in littoral regions, or strike craft using it's torpedos. It can be hauled via aircraft to all corners of the globe, and dropped off to perform operations there without necessarily having to sail the sub there, which gives them a pretty big tactical advantage.
In Southeast Asia News, Chinese maritime militia and coast guard vessels swarmed critical choke points inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. I have never seen a photo of what this looks like before. I had assumed by the way it was previously described that the boats were just close together, not literally touching, and if I had had to guess how they would be configured if they were touching, I would have guessed that they would have been end to end, but they are positioning the ships side by side. There is likely a very good reason for this, having to do with ease of moving from one ship to the next, and direction of offensive modules, but still it's fascinating to see the level of coordination.
Sony sold a 51 percent stake in its Bravia TV and home audio business to China’s TCL for $470 million, ending Sony’s independent operation of the brand. So, for those Sony fans out there, be aware, that these TVs are no longer necessarily going to be of the same quality/safety profile. That includes updates to their existing Sony hardware, sadly.
China is constructing over 80 new concrete launch pads, three multi-layered octagonal command complexes, and armored bunkers near itsami nuclear silo fields. This telegraphs that they expect that they may end up in a nuclear slug-out with one of their nuclear peers. But at this point, they don't have many friends left, so it's not clear who they expect to launch against them.
American firefighters and inspectors urged the FCC not to ban DJI drones because replacing a $7,300 DJI thermal drone would cost $25,000. The FCC extended firmware update waivers for foreign-made routers and drones through January 2029. This is incredibly short-sighted I am afraid. These DJI drones might be the very thing that causes firestorms in American cities. Meanwhile the FCC has voted to stop certifying Chinese-made electronics. According to the article this would affect approximately 75% of electronics sold in the United States. That's a HUGE change in policy aimed to hit the Chinese economy and protect the US consumer from malware-infused hardware. That said, this will have a big impact on the US economy as well in the short term while the US learns how to build these systems domestically.
North Korea tested a lightweight multi-purpose missile launch system including an AI-assisted cruise missile capable of striking targets up to 100 kilometers away. This is likely mean to be shipped internationally to Russia but could also provide meaningful protection near the border and coastal regions.
In African news, the Ebola issue rages on. Trump administration is establishing a quarantine facility in central Kenya within one week to house Americans exposed to Ebola from the Congo outbreak. Over 1,000 Ebola cases and 200 deaths have been recorded with no approved vaccine and a mortality rate of to 40 percent. This is one of those viruses that tends to burn itself out quickly due to the speed of the infection and death rate, but it's not something we want getting onto US soil either.
To make matters worse, it's not like this is a stable environment in which to work. Civilians set fire to two structures at Rwampara hospital in Ituri Province to recover a body, causing six suspected Ebola patients to flee. And Coalition forces of the Kinshasa regime bombed densely populated areas of Rumangabo and Virunga National Park using CH-4 combat drones. The same forces attacked Kalingi, Bidegu, Gakenke, Rugezi, Kalonge, and Mikenke in Minembwe using kamikaze drones. The forces attacked Cyangungu in Kalehe territory, causing mass displacement.
In Middle East News, Iranian forces fired warning missiles at four vessels attempting to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without coordinating with the IRGC Navy. Iranian air defenses shot down an American reconnaissance drone near Jam in Bushehr Province. Meanwhile it seems that Iranian sea-mines have been placed and spotted near the Omani coast to divert traffic toward an Iranian-controlled shipping lane.
President Trump called for the Strait of Hormuz to open immediately without tolls and with mines removed. To that end the United States sanctioned five front companies supporting the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff-controlled Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars Company.
Israeli forces eliminated 20 Hezbollah drone operators in southwestern Lebanon. That's a great idea and I am not surprised to hear it. That came after an Iron Dome system was hit by a Hezbollah drone. Hezbollah released footage of an Ababil fiber-optic FPV drone striking an Iron Dome launcher at Misgav Am.
Israeli forces struck more than 150 Hezbollah targets in Tyre, Nabatieh, and the Bekaa Valley over 24 hours. Israeli forces hit deep into Lebanon including the Bekaa Valley and Deir ez-Zahrani. Israeli forces struck Tyre.
Some of these photos around Deir ez-Zahrani and Tyre and in the Bekaa Valley are pretty nasty. It's clear that Israel intends to continue to attack Hezbollah in Lebanon, regardless of whether they hide amongst the civilian population.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Katz are considering additional significant strikes across Lebanon possible in the next day or so, including evacuation warnings for hundreds of thousands of civilians. So, I am fairly sure the Israeli/Iranian peace deal is off at the moment. However, it's not as if the US isn't still applying pressure. The United States, for it's part, seized $1 billion from Iranian crypto wallets.
That said, the pro-Islamic Tasnim News Agency reported that the US-Iran memorandum of understanding text has been altered and is not final. The reported terms include unrestricted vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, lifting of the US naval blockade, and a path to permanent negotiations. Iran disputes that the text is final and the US thinks they are still a ways away as well.
The Islamic Resistance targeted the newly established Israeli headquarters for the 401st Armored Brigade in Dibl, southern Lebanon. Hamas rockets launched from civilian areas in Gaza were tracked and destroyed by the IDF in real time. Elbit acquired Bluewhite, an Israeli firm that makes kits to convert off-road vehicles into autonomous machines. This could reduce the burden on the supply chain by converting existing trucks to autonomous vehicles.
In South of the Border news, protesters in Bolivia demanded that President Rodrigo Paz resign over a crippling economic crisis. Bolivia’s Congress passed a bill allowing President Paz to deploy the military to crack down on protests and road blockades.
Demonstrations led by farmers, miners, students, and indigenous groups have caused severe shortages of fuel water, medicine, and basic supplies. As you can see in the photo, these groups are placing rocks and debris on the road and shutting everything down surrounding each of the major city centers. That's a pretty simple way to shut down a city it turns out, and amplifies the effect of any individual. We saw similar techniques before, but the rocks are a nice/simple/cheap solution. Each town and village blocks its stretch of highway as part of a general strike now entering its third week.
In North America News, A former CIA official was accused of stealing 303 gold bars worth more than $40 million and stashing them in his Virginia residence. That's not going to go over well, and will likely become a political talking point about corruption within the intelligence agencies.
Nasire Best, 21, attempted to storm the White House grounds with a firearm before being killed by law enforcement. Evolution at work, I guess. Though it does worry me a bit that people are allowed within pistol distance of the White House at all. The downside of Democracy. But what I can tell you is that no 5th century king would ever design his home with such limited fortifications, like the lack of a solid perimeter wall with rotating sentries atop it.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded during a static fire test at Cape Canaveral, likely delaying its planned early June launch. The jokes about this were pretty funny, like maybe they shouldn't have vibe coded the rocket. 😆 In all fairness, this kind of thing happens pretty frequently, and is expected.
The MQ-25A Stingray received Milestone C approval for low-rate initial production after a successful first flight in April. One interesting thing about this guy is that it also designed to act like a refueling system for other drones. Thereby wildly increasing the range. But there is another thing that can wildly increase range.
Someone invented a 800km filament for FVP drones. The guy who talked about it brought up a good point - there may someday soon a situation where we see an intercontinental FPV drone. It's still not quite at the distance necessary to compete with the likes of the Flamgino, or the Patriot, but not far off either.
Raytheon’s Coyote Block 3 Non-Kinetic system defeated multiple drone swarms without explosives during a US Army test. We talked about this before, but these are pretty cool, because they wipe out swarms by overloading their EM, frying the circuit boards. It's also recoverable, which means reusable, and therefore very inexpensive, aside from the motor to get it into position.
Dzyne introduced the BlitzBox system, a container that can launch up to 100 attack drones while appearing as an ordinary cargo box. This is just the latest in this design, but one notable difference is this is very compact compared to some of the tractor trailer designs we've seen before.
NASA unveiled plans for a permanent Moon Base at the lunar South Pole with three phases including heavy robotic missions, semi-permanent infrastructure with fission surface power, and a sustained human outpost. The base will serve as a proving ground for missions to Mars. The big winners were the likes of Blue Origin and Firefly. Though it did seem to me, after watching it that it wasn't very well thought out. For instance, the drones they've got planned, they aren't even sure what they're going to be for. Why launch a bunch of drones to the moon, but then not know why you're sending them? They have a bunch of half-baked ideas on maybe they're for communication or retro reflectors, etc.
In Tech News job postings for software engineers are rising rapidly despite AI agents automating coding because there is far more code to manage than ever before. GitHub commits increased 14 times year over year. AI has lowered the cost of writing code, leading to its use across more businesses and applications. AI increases output much faster than it increases certainty, requiring human ownership, review, testing, debugging, and maintenance. I think there is a reckoning coming where people start understanding what the real cost of tokens is, because make no mistake there is an enormous hidden cost!
Shift launched a service that cleans apartments in New York City for free while recording the cleaning to train robotics systems. Personal data is anonymized before processing. The service will expand to handymen, repairs, and errands. It's a very clever idea, that I am surprised any handymen would want to take part in, since it aims to displace them.
A supply chain attack across npm, PyPI, and Crates.io deployed TrapDoor, a crypto stealer campaign hitting 34 malicious packages and 384 versions. The malware steals wallets, SSH keys, cloud credentials, GitHub tokens, browser data, environment variables, and API keys.
Google Chrome is rolling out device-bound session credentials that cryptographically tie session cookies to specific devices. This should make credential replay more difficult unless persistence is maintained on the device. That will make reducing dwell time more important and useful to the defender. But speaking of Chrome, it now has such a terrible track record for privacy that the military is no longer allowing it. Which is sorta hilarious to me, because I have been yelling as loud as I can for literally decades about how bad Chrome's privacy is. If you like Chrome-like experience but don't want to hand over all your data to our adversaries, use Brave.
Claude Opus 4.8 was released with "sharper judgment, more honesty about its progress, and the ability to work independently for longer periods". Looks to be only a minor update from the stats they posted.
A malware payload written in Python and documented with Russian language comments was deployed in a campaign active since at least January 31, 2026. The malware uses PowerShell scripts for persistence and connects to a hardcoded command and control server. The authors left detailed comments explaining each function including process termination, registry modification, and flag checking routines, which means that this was almost definitely Claude or OpenAI originated and painfully easy to debug as it was obfuscated with Base64. Amateur hour.
This goes back to something I have been trying to explain for a while and I realize this isn't exactly self evident, but here goes anyway: LLM-driven adversary tooling tends toward an evolutionary dead end because it converges on well-documented, historically exposed tradecraft. The training data is publicly analyzed malware, red-team write-ups, and defender research, so the models preferentially reproduce patterns that are already heavily instrumented and detectable. That stochastic mean shows up as stylistic artifacts like emojis, un-stealthy comments, noisy scanning, and reuse of deprecated and well fingerprinted techniques. LLMs inherit the perspective of defenders who publish freely, not operators who optimize for stealth. The result is code and behavior that is statistically average, overfit to known methods, and easy to fingerprint. LLMs compress and parrot past knowledge, while effective offensive tooling requires continuous novelty optimized for stealth. It's why Anthropic's Mythos does not scare me at all.
Okay, onto the articles!
Geopolitics
Australia is facing challenges with its Collins-class submarine fleet due to long-standing mismanagement, culminating in the failure of a major Life of Type Extension (LOTE) program aimed at upgrading these vessels. The audit reveals that senior Defense officials ignored clear warnings and expert advice over the years, resulting in wasted funds and increasing vulnerability as these submarines age beyond their expected service life. This situation raises concerns about Australia's defense capabilities as geopolitical tensions rise in the region.
The Collins-class submarines in Australia are facing critical management issues that have led to a failed upgrade program.
The failures in the submarine program highlight broader vulnerabilities and systemic weaknesses in Australia's defense capabilities amid growing regional tensions.
[RSnake: Not exactly a great look for .au who is already way behind China in naval resources.]
Source: https://www.realcleardefense.com/articles/2026/05/28/alarm_bells_for_aukus_1185313.html
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans for the Israel Defense Forces to increase control of Gaza to 70%, escalating military actions against Hamas amidst ongoing indirect ceasefire talks. Israeli airstrikes have continued despite the ceasefire, resulting in significant casualties among Palestinians, including the targeting of Hamas leaders. This situation unfolds as internal discussions in Israel consider broader strategies regarding Gaza's governance and the displacement of its civilian population.
Netanyahu confirms IDF control of over 60% of Gaza, aiming for 70%.
Intensified Israeli airstrikes in Gaza result in civilian casualties and target Hamas leadership.
[RSnake: I have seen this reported a few times in a few places, but I think the right way to think about this is that Israel cannot have malicious actors who want to commit genocide on their Western border. But I see no world in which Israel stops at 70%. It's just 70% for now, until Hamas attacks again, giving them the political air cover to take more, or the rest.]
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqpelq5reqo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss
The Strait of Hormuz crisis is causing global oil prices to surge to around $110 per barrel, described as the largest oil shock in modern history. In response, companies are diversifying supply chains, seeking alternative routes and suppliers, and considering reshoring production to mitigate long-term risks. Legal and insurance complexities are also emerging, particularly regarding economic sanctions and potential penalties for businesses involved in transactions that could benefit designated terrorist organizations.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz is significantly impacting global oil prices and supply chains.
Companies are actively seeking to diversify routes and suppliers to reduce long-term risks associated with the crisis.
[RSnake: Trump's polling is very bad at the moment, mostly citing the economy. That said, the people who answer polls tend to be women and tend to be the kinds of women who do not work, and instead choose to answer polls instead of working. Not exactly Trump's voting demographic.]
Source: https://www.supplychainbrain.com/articles/44120-watch-impacts-of-the-strait-of-hormuz-crisis-short-term-and-long
Rosatom, Russia's state nuclear corporation, plays a crucial role in supporting the country's military efforts, developing not only nuclear capabilities but also conventional weapons and military equipment. Despite international sanctions, Rosatom has circumvented restrictions, facilitating the import of dual-use technologies while maintaining significant influence over countries dependent on Russian nuclear fuel and services.
Rosatom is integrated into the development of various military technologies, including missiles and ammunition.
The company has avoided sanctions, allowing it to continue operations essential to Russia's war efforts in Ukraine.
Countries relying on Rosatom for nuclear services face complex challenges in severing ties with the corporation.
[RSnake: There's a lot of pressure to disconnect from Russia. The problem is that globalists encouraged extensive economic interconnectedness, which worked well when Russia wasn't attacking Ukraine and the US and China weren't in another Cold War. Now it all seems rather stupid.]
Source: https://euromaidanpress.com/?p=408509
Norway has decided to join France's nuclear umbrella, moving away from its traditional reliance on the United States for security. This decision highlights a shift in Europe’s military alliances amid concerns over the U.S. commitment to NATO and rising threats from Russia. Other European nations, such as Lithuania and Poland, are also considering security arrangements with France to bolster their defenses against potential aggression.
Norway has joined France's nuclear umbrella, indicating a significant shift in European security dynamics.
This move reflects growing concerns about U.S. reliability in defending NATO allies against external threats, particularly from Russia.
[RSnake: Further balkanization and frankly a lot easier for the US to handle, given that it has its hands full. Europe really should be protecting itself. It sucks that the US loses confidence in the process, but it's also really important that Europe starts taking its security responsibilities more seriously, while the US is embroiled elsewhere.]
Source: https://www.eurasiantimes.com/?p=279671
Cybersecurity
A zero-day vulnerability in the Gogs self-hosted Git service has been discovered, allowing authenticated attackers to execute remote code on unpatched installations. This flaw is serious as it affects exposed Gogs servers, enabling attackers to access sensitive data and take over repositories. Despite being reported by a security researcher, the Gogs maintainers have not yet issued a patch for this critical issue.
A critical zero-day vulnerability exists in the Gogs Git service that allows remote code execution.
The flaw affects unpatched installations of Gogs and can be exploited by authenticated users.
Gogs maintainers have not provided a patch or update on resolving the security issue despite its reporting.
[RSnake: Open source software is going to get a lot more scrutiny because of Mythos and similar tools. That is even more true if it's public facing code.]
Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/new-gogs-zero-day-flaw-lets-hackers-get-remote-code-execution/
A Canadian man was sentenced to 33 years in prison for a sextortion scheme that targeted over 145 children across the U.S. He coerced young victims into engaging in sexually explicit acts through online video chats and threatened to leak their recordings. This case highlights ongoing issues with online exploitation and child safety.
A man received a 33-year sentence for sexually exploiting minors online.
He used social media to blackmail victims into providing explicit content.
[RSnake: Good riddance. What a creep. The 40 year old Ramanan Pathmanathan, will likely only serve 10 years though.]
Microsoft has identified a supply chain attack targeting the npm package ecosystem, where a threat actor published 14 malicious packages designed to harvest sensitive credentials from cloud environments. The attack leverages typosquatting and spoofed metadata to trick users into installing the harmful software, which can access and steal AWS, GitHub Actions, and npm tokens, enabling further exploitation of affected systems.
Malicious npm packages were published under a fake maintainer alias aimed at popular cloud tools.
The attack utilizes social engineering techniques to compromise systems and extract sensitive information.
[RSnake: npm is the new hotness for malicious packages. This is going to be a bigger and bigger problem, and even more reason to start considering lib-theseus, to avoid needing to update packages to malicious versions.]
Source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/?p=147792
A new ransomware variant known as Gentlemen has emerged, notable for its self-propagation capabilities that allow it to compromise extensive networks quickly. Operated by a financially motivated group called Storm-2697, the ransomware utilizes advanced encryption methods and double extortion tactics, making it a significant threat across multiple sectors globally.
The Gentlemen ransomware combines strong encryption with aggressive self-propagation to enable widespread network attacks.
It employs double extortion tactics, encrypting data and exfiltrating sensitive information to pressure victims into paying ransoms.
[RSnake: Not very gentlemanly of them! I haven't heard of this group before, so it may be a new-ish actor.]
Source: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/?p=147677
The Pentagon is facing a critical issue as adversaries utilize commercially available location data to track U.S. military personnel. Despite being aware of the risks for over a decade, the military has largely ignored warnings and continued to engage with the data-broker economy, compromising operational security.
Adversaries are using commercial location data to surveil U.S. troops in theater.
The Pentagon had warnings about the risks of location data for years but did not implement necessary security measures.
[RSnake: This is exactly why they are no longer going to allow the troops to use Chrome. But it extends to almost every app on the phone and desktop these days. Ads are very pervasive, and the ad/tracking software is pretty much everywhere as a result.]
Source: https://www.wired.com/story/the-pentagon-knew-enemies-could-track-troops-phones-for-years-now-they-are/
Technology
MIT is set to establish a new Quantum Systems Laboratory (QSL) in Massachusetts with a $25 million investment from the state, aimed at enhancing quantum research capabilities in the region. The facility will support research across various domains such as life sciences and national defense, and is positioned to strengthen the area's role as a national hub for quantum innovation and technology development.
The QSL will serve as a shared-use facility for researchers, fostering collaboration and innovation in quantum technologies.
The facility is expected to create significant job opportunities and contribute to the growing economy related to quantum research.
[RSnake: I hope most of this research goes towards quantum entanglement, because the rest of this research is still quite suspect from my perspective.]
Source: https://news.mit.edu/2026/media-advisory-mit-establish-regional-quantum-hub
A college student developed a wireless microcontroller board called nice!nano, which has become highly successful in the DIY keyboard community, selling over 50,000 units and generating over a million dollars in sales. Despite facing competition with clones of his product, the inventor continues to see strong sales and an expanding community around his creation.
The nice!nano board significantly improved battery life and performance over previous DIY wireless keyboards.
The inventor successfully transitioned from a student project to running a business in the wireless keyboard market.
[RSnake: Very cool little setup, especially for those who really want custom keyboards.]
Anthropic has secured $65 billion in Series H funding, reaching a valuation of $965 billion. The company is seeing rapid adoption of its AI product Claude among enterprises globally, which has contributed to a run-rate revenue of over $47 billion.
Anthropic's recent funding round aims to meet growing demand and enhance its AI capabilities.
Claude is becoming integral in enterprise operations, resulting in widespread implementation across various industries.
[RSnake: How big can this balloon get? Well as big as it can get before the IPO of course!]
Source: https://www.anthropic.com/news/series-h
NASA is set to announce the crew for the Artemis III mission, which aims to test lunar operations and advance technology for future deep space exploration. This mission follows the successful Artemis II test flight and plays a crucial role in establishing a long-term human presence on the Moon and preparing for future human missions to Mars.
NASA will unveil the Artemis III crew on June 9.
The Artemis III mission focuses on critical lunar operations and technology testing.
This mission represents a major step in NASA's efforts to establish a lunar presence and prepare for Mars exploration.
[RSnake: So very exciting that we're going back to the moon. As much as I think their plan sucks, I am excited that there is a real possibility of a moon base in my lifetime and maybe even a Mars base. We need to get humans off this planet if want any hope of surviving extinction level events.]
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/science/nasa-to-reveal-artemis-iii-crew-as-moon-mission-preparations-gather-pace/articleshow/131370817.cms
Business
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket exploded during a static fire test at Cape Canaveral, destroying the vehicle and critical launch pad infrastructure. This explosion jeopardizes Amazon's satellite deployment timeline and follows a recent $188 million contract from NASA for lunar missions. Blue Origin now faces significant operational challenges as it attempts to rebuild its launch capabilities amidst increasing competition in the space industry.
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket explosion has led to the destruction of the only launch pad capable of supporting its missions.
The incident impacts Amazon's ambitious plans for satellite internet deployment and raises questions about Blue Origin's reliability in the space market.
[RSnake: Pretty insane footage of this, but I'd rather have this happen during a static test than during one that matters. That said, if they destroyed the pad this could set back the Artemis mission fairly significantly.]
Source: https://thenextweb.com/news/blue-origins-new-glenn-rocket-exploded-on-the-launch-pad-destroying-its-only-pad-and-threatening-amazons-satellite-deadline
Morgan Stanley has revised its forecast for job losses in the European banking sector, predicting that up to 20% of jobs could be eliminated by 2030 due to the integration of AI technologies. Major banks such as UBS, ABN Amro, and HSBC are already implementing workforce reductions to facilitate this transition, with concerns over the regulatory impact of such layoffs in different countries. The shift is expected to result in a net loss of traditional roles while increasing demand for technology and data-oriented positions within the industry.
Morgan Stanley projects 20% job losses in European banks due to AI by 2030.
Major banks are already cutting jobs, emphasizing productivity from AI implementation.
Regulatory challenges may affect the scale and pace of job cuts across different countries.
[RSnake: The more I use AI the less I think this rationale makes sense. You need people, good people, to review the AI output if you want to leverage the efficiency you gain from using it in the first place. It's a huge hidden cost. By the looks of it, people are underestimating the cost by.... drumroll... approximately the same percent they are cutting. So in this case... 20%! That means that not only do I not believe there is cost savings, I actually think it drives up cost. Token cost, QA cost, new downtime, finding bugs that don't matter, etc, etc...]
Source: https://thenextweb.com/news/european-banks-20-percent-jobs-ai-morgan-stanley
Wix is laying off approximately 1,000 employees, which constitutes about 20% of its workforce, primarily due to a structural currency mismatch caused by the strengthening Israeli shekel against the US dollar. This restructuring aims to shift the company towards AI-native roles in response to rising operational costs and increased competition from AI-driven tools. The tech industry is experiencing a wave of layoffs, with many companies reducing their workforce to invest more in AI infrastructure.
Wix is cutting around 1,000 jobs due to increased costs from currency fluctuations.
The restructuring is intended to focus on AI-native roles as competition increases from AI-driven companies.
The broader tech industry is seeing significant layoffs with a trend towards reallocating resources to AI.
[RSnake: Interesting rationale, but I think AI is going to be at least a large part of the driver... more than the dollar devaluation. Also, this could mean more travel from Israelis as their currency goes further.]
Source: https://thenextweb.com/news/wix-is-cutting-20-of-its-workforce-as-a-strong-shekel-and-ai-competition-squeeze-the-website-builder-from-both-sides
A Google engineer was arrested for allegedly using confidential data to make insider bets on a prediction market, which resulted in over $1 million in profits. He accessed non-public search trend data to predict the popularity of a jailed singer and is facing charges including wire fraud and money laundering. The engineer was released on a $2.25 million bond after his arrest.
A Google engineer used internal data to place profitable bets on a prediction platform.
He was charged with wire fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering after earning $1.2 million.
[RSnake: What? A Google engineer being unethical? Say it's not so!]
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/google-engineer-arrested-after-turning-1000-bet-on-jailed-singer-d4vd-into-1-2-million-released-on-2-25-million-bond/articleshow/131376524.cms
Dell Technologies has experienced revenue growth due to increased demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure, reporting a 757% rise in AI-server revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2027. The company's overall revenue reached $43.8 billion, surpassing analysts' expectations by a considerable margin, contributing to a surge in its stock price towards a record high.
Dell's AI-server revenue increased by 757% in the first quarter.
The company's total revenue of $43.8 billion exceeded analyst expectations greatly.
[RSnake: I don't typically think of Dell in this context, but that's right that they do have a huge server market. That's going to be a big boon for them while people scale up ops.]
Source: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/dell-stock-soars-toward-another-record-high-as-the-ai-boom-drives-a-big-earnings-beat-b7c0c203?mod=mw_rss_topstories
Got a useful tip? Looking to chat with me? Click here.