Bulletins and News Discussion from March 24th to March 30th, 2025 - The Genocide Continues - COTW: Qatar

Image is of Gazans breaking their fast with the Iftar meal during the ongoing Ramadan.

Due to a request by @miz@hexbear.net, this thread's COTW is Qatar.

The ceasefire deal broke down early last week after Israel unilaterally changed the terms of the agreement and then blamed Hamas for not meeting them. Violence against civilians has rapidly accelerated to pre-ceasefire levels, with many hundreds dead already, aid once again cut off, and Israeli soldiers once again entering and occupying the attritional labyrinth that is Gaza.

I'm not yet in a position to make any solid predictions or analysis, as the geopolitical situation in and around Israel has changed fairly substantially over the last 6 months; in some ways benefiting Israel, and in other ways not. We know for sure how Hamas and Ansarallah are reacting (thankfully, with open hostility to both Israel and the United States), but the state of Hezbollah has been a giant question mark for months now, and precisely what Iran plans to do (beyond the usual level of supplying weaponry and intelligence to all the allies it can) is unknown. Syria will be almost certainly be a big wildcard, and we'll have to see if the compradors in Damascus can weather the storm.

Last week's thread is here.
The Imperialism Reading Group is here.

Please check out the HexAtlas!

The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.

You're viewing a single thread.

699 comments

Update from Ryan Grim on the SECDEF Signals/Groyper Group Chat/Washington WhatsApps:
So the leak was either intentional by the National Security Advisor, or he didn't realize what he was doing by sharing a Signal group chat with Goldberg. Waltz is a retired colonel who served with the Green Berets. I wonder if parts of the Pentagon are in revolt/trying to reign Trump in. Goldberg is burning a very high placed source by running this story.
- Goldberg is a long time establishment journalist, he was one of the first to run the "Iraq has WMDs" stories. So that makes sense. This could also be used now to try get an excuse to remove Waltz. Trump has already sidelined him on Ukraine, so they could use this to get rid of him. Waltz leaking information to a rube like Goldberg might be the end of his presence in the Trump administration.
  Also after reading the full article on The Atlantic, it doesn't seem as if there was much classified information released. Discussions on the strike packages and weapons used, what was hit, and discussing which leaders were killed, is quite an open issue. Open source analysts do that all the time. Obviously Hegseth discussing it on signal just before, during, or after the strikes is a different matter, but it's not like he just leaked the entire US warplan to the group chat. All the truly top secret stuff was discussed on the "high side", and not on the signal group chat, according to the article. So Goldberg saying that the war plans were texted to him is pushing it slightly.
  
  rube like Goldberg
  
  RuBe like Goldberg
  
  I didn't read the article, but according to Ken Klippenstein, Goldberg said he held stuff back that might have "harmed" the US if our "adversaries" gold a hold of it. Basically just enough was released to probably get Waltz dismissed. Could have been a setup/canary trap? Goldberg's connections to the IDF make this interesting, and again, kind of crazy to burn your source, the National Security Advisor, instead of keeping that info flowing for the next four years. Maybe he just figured someone was going to see his number on the group chat and figure it out eventually?
  
  https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/
  Archive link
  Most surprising thing here is that Hegseth of all people comes out looking the smartest in the initial conversation on strategy, as he correctly predicts future events and correctly (from the US perspective) concludes that striking first and taking the initiative should be done.
  The Hegseth message goes on to state, “Waiting a few weeks or a month does not fundamentally change the calculus. 2 immediate risks on waiting: 1) this leaks, and we look indecisive; 2) Israel takes an action first – or Gaza cease fire falls apart – and we don’t get to start this on our own terms. We can manage both. We are prepared to execute, and if I had final go or no go vote, I believe we should. This [is] not about the Houthis. I see it as two things: 1) Restoring Freedom of Navigation, a core national interest; and 2) Reestablish deterrence, which Biden cratered. But, we can easily pause. And if we do, I will do all we can to enforce 100% OPSEC”—operations security. “I welcome other thoughts.”
  Well this did leak, and the ceasefire in Gaza fell apart. Didn't work out on the OPSEC though, and texting out information about what and how you're targeting things is just foolish (back to typical Hegseth I guess), but I guess two out of three ain't bad.
  Main stuff redacted by Goldberg is to do with the CIA (name of an active duty member of the CIA and comments on current CIA operations) and Hegseth's statement on strike packages and weapons used.
  I will not quote from this update, or from certain other subsequent texts. The information contained in them, if they had been read by an adversary of the United States, could conceivably have been used to harm American military and intelligence personnel, particularly in the broader Middle East, Central Command’s area of responsibility. What I will say, in order to illustrate the shocking recklessness of this Signal conversation, is that the Hegseth post contained operational details of forthcoming strikes on Yemen, including information about targets, weapons the U.S. would be deploying, and attack sequencing.

699 comments