Less than four years ago, Russian forces in the Mediterranean were capable of troubling NATO and creating multiple challenges for Western navies.
Today, by contrast, the Russian presence in the Mediterranean is largely irrelevant, purely symbolic.
www.itamilradar.com/2026/04/01/r...
"Oh baby, baby, it's a wild world..."
Tehran metropolitan area is nearly 16m people, living under "black rain" & smoke from strikes on oil facilities. After 1991 Gulf War, US military was so concerned about effects of oil fires, it health checked service personnel. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Sobering to think that 4 years Ukraine has engaged in full scale war for survival is roughly same amount of time as from Nazi invasion of Poland to start of Allied liberation of Italy.
In Scotland, no patches of snow from winter 2024/2025 survived to winter 2025/2026
- This is the fourth year in a row that all snow has completely disappeared
I miss snow
#climatecrisis
HT @carbonbrief.org
rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
A lot of this might be me, @danict89.bsky.social and @leguape.bsky.social.
The current US military build-up in the Middle East “appears to be preparing for direct action” against wide-ranging targets in Iran, analysts from defence intelligence firm Janes have told BBC Verify. We have been tracking the recent arrival of US aircraft and naval vessels, as reports indicate strikes on Iran are being considered by Washington. So far today we have reported: The USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier may be on its way to the Mediterranean Sea Two US Awacs command and control aircraft, which provide battlefield management, have landed in the UK Deepankar Patil and S Kannan, from the military intelligence team at Janes, told BBC Verify such preparations indicate the US is preparing for sustained operations as can be seen from the “constant flights of tanker and transport aircraft into the region”. Such operations also require “the presence of several assets capable of strikes” also being put in place, like the presence of US fighter jets in Jordan and the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier being deployed near the Gulf. We first saw the USS Abraham Lincoln in satellite imagery off the coast of Oman at the weekend. But Patil and Kannan said the vessel has likely been there for weeks, given they have observed regular reconnaissance sorties by Iranian drones over the nearby Strait of Hormuz.
From the start of the week, Janes military intelligence told BBC Verify the US could be preparing for 'direct action'.
Part of ongoing work with @leguape.bsky.social, for the live page: www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cd...
A screengrab from Marinetraffic shows the path of AIS locations broadcast by the USS Gerlad R Ford aircraft carrier off the coast of Morocco on 18 Feb 2026, with timestamp for 14:08 UTC
Hello, sailor! Fairly confident this is USS Gerald R Ford is off coast of Morocco, heading towards Gibraltar Strait at speed. Have called Centcom (spoke to very polite woman), awaiting their reply www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cr...
Olympics Dog was chasing the motorized camera they have to capture the competitors at the finish line, then decided to chase some competitors instead
Epic verification skillz in this thread (ht @richib.bsky.social)
And our eventual piece, with @leguape.bsky.social providing most of the verification of assets in play, plus the work of @thomascopeland.bsky.social
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Looking at US military ships and planes moving to the Middle East, around Iran. What makes this build up different from Venezuela or Operation Midnight Hammer?
"Palestine Action’s campaign and pursuit of criminal damage is designed to intimidate the persons and businesses targeted so they end their commercial relationships with Elbit. Palestine Action is not engaged in any exercise of persuasion, or at least not the type of persuasion that is consistent with democratic values and the rule of law."
Significant that the High Court ruling is still, in places, quite damning of Palestine Action. It emphatically rejects that the group is engaged in "civil disobediance", for example.
It just finds (compellingly) that proscription was still wrong, despite that.
Wow!
Palestine Action win judicial review - Guardian report.
This is a *big* legal win.
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
What can we see from satellite imagery over Iran’s nuclear facilities? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Before everyone gets excited, second Carrier Strike Group that's being deployed will take at least fortnight to reach Gulf, even if it goes today. HW Bush is out on pre-deployment exercise, so can probably stick another week on that for good measure
Good luck to them. When we tested it last year, it couldn't correctly identify Binley Mega Chippy. It might face same fate as Geofeedia when it turned out cops were using that.
idk how widely this article has been shared, but it is extremely irresponsible and inaccurate in many different ways. it states as fact and with no reporting that things *are happening now* that *may eventually be possible*. it is shocking that this was published
newrepublic.com/article/2059...
An incredible, heartbreaking piece of work by BBC Persian Forensics to tell stories of more than 200 of those killed in Iran protests www.bbc.com/persian/reso...
USAF F-15s in Jordan part of “defensive backstop” in event of Iran retaliatory action (been there since 20 Jan, A10s since last year) www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cl...
A range map for the V-22 Osprey shows how far it could travel to reach Duqm in Oman from the Arabian Sea. This suggests furthest distance from Oman that USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier could be.
For everyone trying to located USS Abraham Lincoln, Bell's own website proves quite useful in narrowing down how far out it could be at furthest... www.bellflight.com/products/bel...
'Soon, the French far right will come to power for the first time since the end of the Second World War....' (Philippe Marliere in Literary Review on Far-Right France: Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe) - literaryreview.co.uk/normal-circu...
🚨🚨French diplomats are taking on #MAGA — one meme at a time: #Paris is rolling out a great confrontational online strategy to counter #disinformation from the #US and beyond. 🧵
www.politico.eu/article/fran...
Some of this work reported here www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... "Using open-source tools, BBC Verify has been able to track some of the recent US deployments to region, satellite images showing at least 15 fighter jets arrived at Jordan's Muwaffaq Air Force Base." (also used elsewhere)
Here's USNI on what was deployed for Midnight Hammer last June news.usni.org/2025/06/21/u... which had two CSGs rotating, a sub, plus 5 destroyers in Med and 2 in Red Sea.
Is Trump's "armada" to Iran bigger than Venezuela? Not sure. Last summer looks like two CSGs in Centcom at same time (Vinson & Nimitz), so smaller than what deployed last year? news.usni.org/2025/07/14/c... (love @usni.org for their attention to USN deployments)
6. addendum
To be fair that A330 outta Marseille is most likely France's Armée de l'air sneaking about like Milady de Winter.
Screengrab of notes reading "A330 (disguised tanker?) ex Marseille heading on approach from south?"
5. Bonus weirdness
This A330 MRTT has been up and down the Med a few times recently. No ICAO/Hex number, not badged properly. If you're a plane-botherer, you might know it in its RAF formulation as a Voyager KC2 refueller. Wonder why it didn't disclose ID? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_...
4. What does it mean?
Looks like OJMS is Fight Club rules when it comes to saying you're landing there. Couldn't find any US/Nato air assets definitely there from about 12 to 20 Jan. So buildup wasn't particularly visible because kinda tricky to spot.
Thank you for coming to my messy Ted talk.
