Leo Hohmann author/journalist

⚔️ Hegseth pushes the battlefield from the ocean floor to the Moon

"Whoever controls subsea and cislunar is going to control the next fight," the Pentagon chief said.

🔴 Cislunar space (the area between Earth and the Moon) is becoming the next frontier for military strategy, with the US planning a nuclear reactor for the lunar surface by 2028 🔴 Subsea infrastructure — undersea cables, pipelines, and drone motherships — is a growing flashpoint, as China quietly builds a fleet of drone motherships to project power across the Pacific The next war might be fought in space, but the current one is stuck in the Strait of Hormuz. 👍 Substack | Chat | @geopolitics_prime

This guy may be even crazier than Trump. I’ve never seen a secretary of defense more enthralled with killing or more consumed with bloodlust. 👇

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — The Pentagon is reassessing its military presence in the Middle East and the cost of rebuilding U.S. bases damaged by Iranian attacks, with officials considering whether some installations should be restored or abandoned, according to Breaking Defense. Officials are working with CENTCOM to determine which bases should be restored, while reassessing defenses against drones and cruise missiles. Iranian strikes rendered the Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar inoperable and damaged U.S. installations in Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Naval Support Activity Bahrain remains unusable. The Pentagon has yet to provide a comprehensive repair cost estimate and is coordinating with the Golden Dome program to prioritize base protection.

Trump’s war of aggression against Iran has resulted in the almost total destruction of multi-billion dollar U.S. bases in the Middle East. I bet very few Republicans are even aware of this. 👇

Narratively-speaking the US has 2 choices: 1) admit despite the US promising to expand Patriot missile production for YEARS, it has categorically failed to do so? Or 2) use tensions between "Trump" and "Zelensky" as an excuse for "holding up" missiles that don't actually exist? Trump and Zelensky are in charge of nothing and the war in Ukraine is a US proxy war on Russia - not a "Ukrainian" war on Russia, and not a "Russian" war on Ukraine. Why would the US withhold weapons amid its own war it is simply using Ukraine as a proxy to launder aggression and encroachment through? It wouldn't.

🇺🇸🇺🇦 Trump/Zelensky Theater Now Used to Cover Up Patriot Shortage Claims the US is "holding up" Patriot missile interceptors to Ukraine because of Trump/Zelenksy "tensions" is probably the most transparent use of political theater to date - hopefully the final example required for most people to realize what this tactic is and how it is used. The US doesn't make enough Patriot missiles. There has been a critical shortage since BEFORE the US provoked the war in Ukraine. At this juncture, US Patriots are evaporating along multiple fronts - the US war of aggression against Iran, the US proxy war against Yemen through Saudi Arabia, and of course the US proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. Not only are all involved in these wars directly out of Patriot missiles - the nations adjacent to these conflicts have already long-since emptied their stockpiles to try and make up for these shortages. US generals have admitted this shortage will last for YEARS to come.

Narratively-speaking the US has 2 choices: 1) admit despite the US promising to expand Patriot missile production for YEARS, it has categorically failed to do so? Or 2) use tensions between "Trump" and "Zelensky" as an excuse for "holding up" missiles that don't actually exist? Trump and Zelensky are in charge of nothing and the war in Ukraine is a US proxy war on Russia - not a "Ukrainian" war on Russia, and not a "Russian" war on Ukraine. Why would the US withhold weapons amid its own war it is simply using Ukraine as a proxy to launder aggression and encroachment through? It wouldn't.

🛰 Musk personally ordered the Starlink slowdown that crippled Ukraine's drones — report Elon Musk personally gave the order to restrict Starshield satellite communications, capping Ukrainian drones at around 160 km/h and crippling their ability to intercept Russian drones and missiles, according to The Wall Street Journal. According to the report, Musk and Trump discussed the decision by phone after it became public — with both men were angry at Ukraine for striking Russian diesel refineries. Zelensky built his entire national defense around the mercy of the world's richest man and the US president. Now he reaps the consequences of his weakness: his military is paralyzed by a software update, his power grid is in ashes, and he is trapped in a war he can neither win nor end — because the conflict itself is the only thing keeping him in power. 👍 Substack | Chat | @geopolitics_prime

🤔Record gold outflows from US to Hong Kong and London: Is something big coming?   ~260 metric tons of physical bullion left the United States this year, “more than twice” last year’s amount, precious metals, currency and capital markets expert Kathleen Tyson told economist Michael Hudson.

“Some of that has come to London, the central bank of the Netherlands took its gold out of the United States and deposited some in its own domestic vaults, and some at the Bank of England…There’s also been an increase of almost a thousand tons in Hong Kong,” Tyson explained.

The analyst pointed out that Hong Kong’s new Precious Metals Clearing Corporation only opened in July, and deals strictly with large interbank trades, competing directly with the London Bullion Market Association – the largest exchange of its kind in the world. Western banking giants, from JPMorgan and Citibank to HSBC and UBS are all heavily involved. Up to now, their primary markets had been New York, London and Switzerland.

“What we’re seeing now is a lot of gold movement – movement out of the United States, movement out of Switzerland, into London (LBMA’s vaults are up 1,100 tons this year), and 1,000 tons to Hong Kong.”

Hong Kong’s new exchange has also built the infrastructure to attract not just commercial institutions, but central banks.

“They want to re-baseline central banks into gold reserves…China wants to encourage not just itself and its citizens to buy gold, but also other central banks, and that’s beginning to happen,” Tyson said, pointing to moves by South Korea, Germany’s Bundesbank, which hasn’t bought gold since 1968, and smaller countries like Zimbabwe with its new forex and gold-back currency.

  More gold typically means fewer dollars and other fiat currencies in reserves, their diversification, a hedge against inflation and financial uncertainty, and a means of cushioning market prices. What are central banks’ moves saying about the state of fiat currency-based economies? 👍 Substack | Chat | @geopolitics_prime

🇷🇺🇺🇦⚡ Russia has amassed thousands of attack drones and missiles ahead of winter, producing more than 200 missiles of various types every month, including 110 ballistic ones — GUR (Ukrainian military intelligence). According to Ukrainian intelligence, Russia’s weapon stockpiles and production rates are as follows: ▪️ There are about 6,200 Geran drones in reserve. Every month, Russia produces roughly 4,000 rocket‑powered and 2,000 regular drones. ▪️ Iskander‑M missile stockpiles are around 115 units, with production reaching up to 65 missiles per month. Russia is also developing a modernized system with a range of 550–700 km. ▪️ The planned production of Kh‑101 missiles exceeds 80 units per month, but Russian plants are producing even more. ▪️ Kalibr missile stockpiles are over 450 units, with monthly production at about 29 missiles. ▪️ Up to 400 RM‑48U missiles for S‑300PM and S‑400 systems have been accumulated, with about 40 missiles manufactured each month. ▪️ Oniks missile stockpiles exceed 600 units. ▪️ Russia has more than 120 Tsirkon missiles. Separately, GUR reported that production of Kinzhal missiles has been suspended due to poor accuracy. These figures indicate that Russia has significant capabilities to continue massive attacks on Ukraine throughout the winter period. @IntelSlava

This is why the West can never defeat Russia. Their military-industrial complex is way faster and more efficient (read less greedy and profit-driven) than ours. 👇

BREAKING: Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel and the U.S. are determined to permanently eliminate the threat posed by Iran. ➡️ @RealTimeDailyNews

🇺🇸⚡ According to U.S. media, close advisers to War Secretary Pete Hegseth are privately urging him to consider running in the 2028 presidential election, although he publicly denies having such ambitions. His advisers believe that his forceful, masculine image could appeal to voters who support the MAGA movement, especially if J.D. Vance decides not to run. However, Hegseth faces major obstacles, including a lack of political experience, weak ties to donors, scandals linked to the War Department, and his support for the unpopular war in Iran. Hegseth also has a problem with widespread suspicions that he struggles with alcohol abuse, after he was caught drinking in his office despite having promised on the day of his appointment to stop drinking. @IntelSlava

🇺🇸💻🇮🇷 Iran Puts America’s Gulf AI Boom on Notice Amazon, Microsoft and Google are pouring billions into Persian Gulf data centers. Iran has warned that another US attack could put those investments, along with the undersea cables connecting them, in the line of fire. On October 10, Iranian security chief Mohsen Rezaei said US-linked data centers, AI facilities and communications infrastructure across the region could become targets if America attacks Iran again. He estimated the value of these assets at more than $2T. Rezaei stressed that Iran had not yet designated them as targets. The warning comes as American tech giants invest heavily in turning the Gulf into a global computing hub. Microsoft has committed $15.2B to the UAE through 2029, expanding its cloud and AI infrastructure alongside local partners. Google Cloud and Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund have announced a $10B AI hub, while Amazon is investing more than $5.3B in a Saudi cloud region. And plenty of infrastructure is already operating. Amazon Web Services runs cloud regions in the UAE and Bahrain. Microsoft has facilities in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, while Google and Oracle operate across Saudi Arabia and other Gulf markets. The danger is hardly theoretical. During the earlier US-Iran war in March, drone strikes damaged two AWS facilities in the UAE and affected another in Bahrain. Amazon confirmed structural damage, power failures and service outages that disrupted businesses and financial institutions. Recovery proved difficult. Physical damage to cloud infrastructure can take far longer to repair than an ordinary software outage. The region's digital connections are also exposed at sea. Undersea fiber-optic cables running through the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz connect regional networks to international communications systems. A major disruption could affect cloud access, banking services and data traffic far beyond the damaged infrastructure itself. That makes the economic stakes considerably wider than the balance sheets of American technology companies. Gulf governments are investing heavily in AI and cloud computing to diversify their economies. Local companies provide land, electricity and infrastructure, while US firms supply computing hardware, software and cloud platforms. Those partnerships also tie American commercial interests more closely to the security of the countries hosting them. Rezaei's warning expands Iran's deterrence message beyond military bases and oil facilities. American technology investments, he argues, could also become vulnerable if the US launches another attack. For Gulf governments betting billions on becoming global AI hubs, the March AWS outages have already demonstrated how quickly a regional war can interrupt the digital services their economies increasingly depend on. @NewRulesGeo❗Follow us on X

—❗️🇺🇸/🇮🇷 NEW: The IRGC announces the downing of an American MQ-9 ‘Reaper’ drone over the Strait of Hormuz, the 54th so far @Middle_East_Spectator

🚨 Netanyahu orders Mossad and IDF to overthrow Iran's regime Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a direct directive to Israel's intelligence and military apparatus to topple the Iranian government, claiming he has American backing.

💬 "Trump shares the desire to eliminate the Iranian threat once and for all."

This directive comes just eight days before Israel's election on October 27 — with Netanyahu facing the very real prospect of losing power. 👍 Substack | Chat | @geopolitics_prime

🔍 Hegseth makes unannounced visit to Israel Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Monday in an unannounced visit, according to Axios. The trip lands exactly eight days before Israel's election on October 27. The agenda centers on potentially resuming major US-Israeli combat operations against Iran. Earlier reports suggested the Pentagon had drafted a new, intense 3-day strike plan targeting Iran's energy and military infrastructure. 👍 Substack | Chat | @geopolitics_prime

This is a bad sign. 👇