🚨💀🇺🇸 As the Empire of Chaos turns 249 today, let's remember all the times when US regime changes didn't go as planned.
Iran & Russia are on the list 👇
🧵
1️⃣ IRAN
Recent Israeli & US aggression on Iran led to expectations of a widespread revolt in DC neocon circles.
Instead, Iranians rallied behind their state, remembering the last time a CIA coup put a puppet shah in power. 😏
2️⃣AFGHANISTAN
Invading in late 2001 together with a NATO+ coalition, the US thought a ‘liberal interventionism at gunpoint’ approach would turn Afghanistan into a compliant client.
Instead, they spent 20 years and $2T to replace the Taliban... with the Taliban.
3️⃣VENEZUELA
▪️ 2002: A US-backed coup against Chavez collapsed in hours after the public rallied against plotters
▪️ 2019: The US tried to install Juan Guaido, a no-name with a 3% approval rating
▪️ 2020: A ‘Bay of Piglets’ plot to kidnap Maduro failed spectacularly
4️⃣RUSSIA
After backing Yeltsin’s 1993 bombing of parliament and rigging the 1996 election, the US thought it could control Russia.
Putin crushed those dreams.
The 2011-2012 Bolotnaya Square color revolution attempt quickly fizzled, & Soros, USAID & NED got banned.
5️⃣CHINA
In 1989, the US sought to trigger a color revolution in China.
Nipping Tiananmen Square protests in the bud, China later recognized the US’s “inglorious role” in “directly masterminding” the unrest.
Now, the West can only wave “tank man” in China’s face.
6️⃣ANGOLA
After the anti-Portuguese colonial revolution of 1975, the US spent $1B funding a UNITA dirty war in Angola against a Moscow-friendly government.
The bloody conflict lasted until 2002 and claimed 800k lives, but the US ultimately failed to oust the ruling MPLA.
7️⃣VIETNAM
The US poured $1T into Vietnam, costing 383k American lives and 4M Vietnamese.
They dropped 14X more bombs than in the Pacific Theater of WWII (100 Hiroshimas) but still failed.
8️⃣CUBA
After the 1959 Revolution, the US obsessed over regime change in Cuba:
▪️ 1961 CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion
▪️ 1962 Operation Northwoods – false flag plot to kill Americans & blame it on Cuba to justify invasion
▪️ Over 600 plots to kill Castro
9️⃣KOREA
During the Korean War, the US bombed North Korea into the stone age, killing 2M+ civilians
Despite regime change at gunpoint, North Korea survived 75+ years of US military & economic aggression
🔟 WHEN REGIME CHANGE BACKFIRES
Even when regime change worked, it didn’t always last:
🔸 Ortega (Nicaragua): ousted in 1990 ➡️ back in 2006
🔸 Morales (Bolivia): ousted in 2019 ➡️ ally Arce won in 2020
🔸Sankara (Burkina Faso): killed in 1987 ➡️ Traore became his heir in 2022
• • •
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China’s foreign mining acquisitions are at their highest in over a decade.
Here’s what it means for the West.
👇🧵
MASSIVE MINING DEALS
China inked a whopping TEN foreign mining asset acquisition deals worth $100M or more in 2024, up from eight in 2023 and five in 2022, per new S&P and MergerMarket data cited by FT.
Its mining investments abroad reached $22.1B over the same period.
2/7
BUYUP BONANZA
The trend is expected to continue through 2025:
🟠China’s Zijin Mining and Kazakhstan have signed a $1.2B gold mine deal
🟠State-owned Baiyin Nonferrous Group has purchased Brazil’s Mineracao Vale Verde copper and gold mine operation for $420M
🚨Who was Mikhail Gudkov, the Russian war hero general recently killed in action
Thread 🧵👇🏻
RECENT PROMOTION
Putin appointed Maj. Gen. Gudkov to the role of deputy C-in-C of the Navy in March, tasking him with bringing his experience as commander of the Pacific Fleet’s 155th Separate Marine Brigade to the whole of the Navy’s coastal defense and ground forces.
2/9
BATTLE-HARDENED COMMANDER
Gudkov’s 155th Marine Brigade has seen action in hot spots across the front through the entire course of the Ukraine crisis, from Kiev’s outskirts and the Donbass (including Mariupol) to Kursk, playing a key role in that region’s liberation.
🚨 PUTIN-TRUMP CALL: RUSSIA TALKING FROM POSITION OF STRENGTH
The call didn’t make much headway on resolving the Ukraine crisis.
But according to ex-DoD insider Michael Maloof, that wasn't the main goal...🧵👇🏻
RUSSIA’S UPPER HAND
“There’s no doubt about it that Mr. Putin is speaking from a position of strength,” Maloof says, reflecting on Thursday’s call.
The key takeaway? It's dialogue that matters.
2/5
ZELENSKY’S WEAPONS LIFELINE
If he can be convinced that he’s being “weaned off” US arms aid, it might just be enough for Zelensky to sit down for talks and stop “prolonging this conflict,” Maloof says, commenting on the scaling back of US arms deliveries.
🇷🇺💥🪖 Do you know why the Russian Army is advancing so rapidly in Ukraine?
They’ve supercharged their reconnaissance & strike contour, enabling faster coordinated strikes across land, air, and artillery.
No boring theory — just raw examples:🧵
2/8 MIXING INTEL AND WEAPONS🛰️🔫
The reconnaissance & strike contour is a combination of reconnaissance assets obtaining information about an object and weapons that will hit the target.
This works for planning massive strike against targets located deep in enemy territory, Alexei Leonkov, a military analyst, explained to Sputnik.
3/8 HUNT FOR HIMARS🎯
This circuit works to destroy enemy MLRS batteries: satellite reconnaissance detects the coordinates, Iskander missiles destroy them.