{"id":8763,"date":"2026-03-06T03:48:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T09:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/?p=8763"},"modified":"2026-03-09T05:06:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T10:06:01","slug":"8763","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2026\/03\/06\/8763\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

What?!\u00a0 An article from South America to lead today?\u00a0 Granted, Venezuela did not have 45+ years of going off the rails, so it can more quickly become a normal country for its own people, neighbors, and the world.\u00a0 And it can be brought out, we hope, from the dark orbit of Russia and China.\u00a0 But the U.S. is trying.\u00a0 \u201cUS and Venezuela agree to resume diplomatic ties after Maduro capture,\u201d<\/a> BBC, 3-6-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe US state department said its engagement was focused on helping Venezuelan people move forward through a “phased process that creates the conditions for a peaceful transition to a democratically elected government”. After a visit to Venezuela, US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum told reporters on the runway in Caracas on Thursday on his way back to the US that it was a “brilliant strategic move” to intervene in Venezuela before Iran.\u201d\u00a0 And yes, there are minerals and oil and other resources, which are partly at the heart of how VE has acted under its past two leaders that led it to its downfall.<\/p>\n

\u201cRussia provided Iran with information that can help Tehran strike US military, sources say,\u201d<\/a> Military Times, 3-6-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cRussia has provided Iran with information that could help Tehran strike American warships, aircraft and other assets in the region, according to two officials familiar with U.S. intelligence on the matter.\u201d\u00a0 Russia relies on Iranian drones for its Ukraine war.\u00a0 The U.S. has been trying to stop the flow.<\/p>\n

Iran looking to terrorize or kill Jews in London.\u00a0 \u201cFour arrested on suspicion of assisting Iran’s intelligence service,\u201d<\/a> BBC, 3-6-26.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran says it targets heart of Tel Aviv,\u201d<\/a> Reuters, 3-6-26.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran\u2019s Chokehold on Persian Gulf Waterway Strains Shipping,\u201d<\/a> NYT, 3-6-26.<\/p>\n

The U.S. quickly needs help from Ukraine acquiring Octopus drones, etc.\u00a0 “Iran adds new urgency to Pentagon\u2019s Ukraine drone deal,\u201d<\/a> Politico, 3-6-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cSeveral U.S. allies have worked more quickly than the Trump administration to harness Ukraine\u2019s stunning innovation in developing new drones.\u00a0 The U.K. in particular has already invested in the Ukrainian drone industry and the Kyiv-based Ukrspecsystems is opening a factory in the U.K. to build new, cheap military drones that will create 500 jobs \u2014 a manufacturing boost that the Trump team has long said is a central component of its increased defense spending. The U.K. has also started to produce the Ukrainian-designed Octopus interceptor drones, which can target the Iranian\/Russian Shahed drones. The Octopus costs about $3,000 to produce, a small slice of the $50,000 for a Shahed, and a fraction of the $3 million- plus for a PAC-2 or PAC-3 Patriot interceptor missiles which Gulf allies are currently using to shoot down the incoming Shaheds, according to a U.S. official. Often it takes several Patriot interceptor missiles to hit a single drone, an unsustainable proposition given the cost. The Israelis are also using their \u201cIron Beam\u201d system \u2013 a directed energy weapon they have been developing for years. \u2026 But as Iranian drones have hammered hotels, military bases, oil and gas-producing facilities and embassies across the Gulf, Trump made it clear this week in an interview with Reuters that he\u2019d accept \u201cany assistance from any country\u201d when it comes to fending them off. \u201cThe U.S. is years behind on tactical drone technology \u2014 the kind you see on the battlefield in Ukraine,\u201d a former Pentagon official said, noting that the deficiency would be of greater concern in a ground war. \u201cIf the U.S. fought in Ukraine right now, for example, we would suffer mass casualties.\u201d Facing the same threat and limited help from its allies, Ukraine developed expertise in shooting down drones with anti-aircraft guns, truck-mounted machine guns, cheap missiles as well as \u201cinterceptor\u201d drones \u2014 fast-flying craft that can catch and destroy Shaheds. But Ukraine still relies on its allies, and especially the U.S., for systems like Patriots to protect against ballistic missiles. Kyiv has complained that shortages of interceptor missiles left Ukrainian cities vulnerable during this year\u2019s freezing winter. \u2026 But despite any frustrations and even before an agreement on drones was finalized, Zelenskyy pledged Ukraine\u2019s assistance. \u201cThere will be security support from Ukraine,\u201d he said in a Thursday evening statement. \u201cThe main thing is that this will allow us to expand our security cooperation with partners. By protecting countries from the Iranian regime, we are adding to our defense capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStrikes Batter Iran\u2019s Storied Azadi Stadium Complex,\u201d<\/a> NYT, 3-6-26.\u00a0\u00a0With the Regime having troops quartering in the stadium, and with the IRGC using the stadium interior to shoot ballistic missiles skyward, is it any doubt this was a military target?\u00a0 Nowhere in the story is this mentioned.\u00a0 Frustrating.\u00a0 I don’t like to have to factcheck the NYT.\u00a0 See \u201cIranian Stadiums Used as Military Deployment Sites,\u201d<\/a> Iran Wire, 3-6-26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What?!\u00a0 An article from South America to lead today?\u00a0 Granted, Venezuela did not have 45+ years of going off the rails, so it can more quickly become a normal country for its own people, neighbors, and the world.\u00a0 And it can be brought out, we hope, from the dark orbit of Russia and China.\u00a0 But … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2819,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2532],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-update"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2819"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8763"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8789,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8763\/revisions\/8789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}