this post was submitted on 16 Mar 2026
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I mean the long and short of it is we have no idea. We think the interceptors are running out. Movements of THAAD batteries from South Korea to West Asia seem to imply that. B52s strapped with cruise missiles are replacing a lot of Tomahawk strikes, which again implies they're running out of those missiles. It seems Iran launches fewer drones and missiles, but more get through, again implying lack of interceptors. But we really don't know what their stockpiles are, the fog of war is thick.
As for manufacturing, it's functionally impossible to scale up manufacturing in the United States in a way that would make any difference for this current war. It is possible that they do so after, realising it is a fool's errand to fight China without having any real weapons manufacturing base, especially when they depleted their stockpiles in this farcical "special military operation," but that would require rejecting the God of Short Term Profit. Unlikely that the current rulers of the USAmerican Empire would make such a choice.
Thr long term effects of this is worldwide rearmament. Users like @xiaohongshu@hexbear.net have been predicting this for a long while, and I think after this war it's even more likely. Countries within the empire are seeing the United States cannot protect them. They do not have the arms nor the will to do so. The obvious answer is you need to develop your own arms industry, your own defensive platforms, your own missiles, etc. The empire is always gonna prioritise Israel (look at Ukraine rn, or the Gulf, both of which, despite being more "important," are getting no arms).
Gone when we needed them most, RIP. Would have loved to read a 5 paragraph effort post on the 15th 5 year plan outline that just came out.
What happened to xiaohongshu?
XHS just logs off for long stretches sometimes
Gets sick of our liberalism smh
Something happened, so the head of the 'Nothing ever happens' gang has gone into hiding.
Why do they put so much weight on Israel though? I know their sole existence is being the USA's feral dog in the Middle East so they are always a good bet for the USA, but don't Gulf states also matter a lot to them since they're already puppet states that unlike Israel also have a ton of oil to provide them?
Ideally for the USA they would spread power to Israel and also a number of their protectorates in the area so there isn't a single point of failure and is also easier for the US to surround Iran.
I suppose the reason is that they lack the resources to do this efficiently so they fully commit to keeping Israel powerful instead.
It's because the folks running the empire don't understand how the empire works anymore. Israeli propaganda is very very very good, as is American propaganda about the importance of Israel. Combine this with lack of understanding of how power actually flows, white supremacy (Israelis are definitely more "white" than Arabs), and apocalyptic Christian shit and boom you get this insane focus on Israel at the expense of the far more important vassal states in the Gulf that actually matter economically.
I think its something to do with the limitations of reach towards periphery from imperial core. Israel is utilized as an extension of the imperial core, and has been designed for that role, in order to more effectively enact fascistic expropriation through the periphery from the rest of the global south. Seemingly, distance is important
Book of Revelation doesn't say nothin' about the gulf states
Yeah i'm pretty sure it's because of all the epstein shit
Just normal vassal treatment here, sacrificing every other vassal for them
I don't mean just this war, in general the usa has been using bombs at rates that it seems are above production for 25 years. The state of foreverwar they've been in seems unsustainable to say the least.
Am I just wildly underestimating the arms manufacturing power?
What the fuck? It's a trillion dollar government program. Is it just so rotten with corruption that you can't keep it stocked? I heard there was just in time production of supplies even there? I guess I just imagined it an oasis in the desert. There are trillion dollar companies, but there's a trillion in liquid money going to a concentrated number of people. If a trillion dollars doesn't buy you forever war then a dollar ain't what it used to be
Yes.
Remember when Jon Stewart went viral for that time he was chewing into some bureaucrat about the military not being able to pass an audit? Seems like the bureaucrat should be the one interested in making sure that money is well spent.
It seems like it would serve bourgeoisie interests to have a good war machine especially if you intend to use it to do violent extraction. Wanting to profit from corruption and also profit from violent extraction seems removed a contradiction that is currently hightening. Has anyone looked into this? Thank you for your attention on this matter
That doesn't add up. I think you're confusing JDAMs and hellfires for patriots and THAADs here.
In Iraq they used 800 tomahawks, that's around 16 years production. a few hundred in Syria/against the houthies etc. A bunch elsewhere.
No it does, in one of the articles tervell posted on the Ukraine war, they said the botleneck was explosives production. Then someone argued that the lack of artillery production didn't matter because the us uses some acronym bombs that are better(they are not, canon artillery delivers orders of magnitude more volume), without addressing that the botleneck was chemical precursors to explosives, and that acronym bombs are presumably also made of explosives.
Chemical shortages explains why the US hasn't scaled up artillery production. That shortage can be explained by the US's shift to expensive "smart bombs" which are allegedly more efficient with their explosives. You can't conclude from that the US has been under producing smart bombs for 25 years.
It's an issue of volume. The explosives, can be made into bombs, artillery, missiles, etc, but the volume of whatever is made is limited. They can't produce enough volume of whatever is the end product. The claim that bombs are better than a trusty cannon, is a way to justify the lack of production. But there is a still a lack of production, due to problems in the chemical industry.