Welcome to REN’s roundup, a news blast featuring some of the most important stories I’ve been reporting on this weekend.
Each Sunday, I’ll give you five full stories covering everything from the latest developments in MAHA-world to events in the Middle East. The roundup is free to read, but if you like it and you like the rest of the content on In the Raw, please consider subscribing. For the cost of a couple of boxes of eggs a month, you’ll get access to exclusive essays, fitness guides and nutritional advice, podcast episodes and much more. You’ll also have my eternal gratitude, and who knows when and how that might come in handy…
CATCH! SpaceX Recovers Starship in World First
A SpaceX Starship was successfully recovered after a controlled descent back onto the launch tower, in an historic world first.
The Starship had spent close to a day in orbit before it returned to earth and was “caught” by the launch tower at Starbase, Texas.
The flight was not without its technical difficulties, however. Shortly after takeoff on Friday, the lower half of the rocket exploded over the Gulf of America.
Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket on the planet. It consists of two main components: the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage. It was the booster that exploded after takeoff.
During its 22-hour flight, it completed 14 orbits around the earth at a speed of 17,600mph, and also deployed 26 Starlink satellites.
The flight was SpaceX’s 15th flight of a completed Starship since 2023, but only the second into full earth orbit.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk praised the successful catch.
“Congratulations to an incredible team at SpaceX!!” he wrote on X.
The goal of SpaceX is to accelerate future missions to the moon and to Mars.
NASA has contracted SpaceX to land astronauts on the moon by 2030.
Houthis Capture More Vital Territory on Red Sea Coast
The Houthi Rebels, an Iranian proxy group, have gained more strategically vital territory along the Red Sea coast, threatening shipping re-routed due to the Iran war.
On Sunday morning, Yemen’s government announced its forces were withdrawing from the area near the Bab el-Mandeb strait to focus on the defense of Aden.
“The Southern Armed Forces announce the implementation of a redeployment operation for its forces from Dhubab Airport and the Bab el-Mandeb area, west of Taiz Governorate,” the announcement said.
“This step is taken based on the priority of securing the capital, Aden, and the neighbouring governorates, as well as strengthening the front lines and addressing existing threats.”
The withdrawal is a grave setback for the campaign against the Houthis, which has significant support from Saudi Arabia.
It brings to an end a six-week offensive aimed at dislodging the Rebels from their position on the coast.
The Houthis scored a series of victories over Yemeni government forces at the beginning of September, as Iran opened another front in the war and attempted to squeeze oil exports that were being re-routed from the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have been at war since 2014, when the group seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and deposed its president.
A ceasefire was agreed in 2022, but hostilities resumed in July.
Houthi forces captured a swathe of territory on the strategically important Red Sea coast and announced a blockade on Saudi ships.
Saudi Arabia has re-routed much of its oil exports to the Red Sea, using its east-west pipeline to the city of Yanbu.
The Houthis have attacked the pipeline and the terminal at Yanbu with drones and missiles.
UK: Another Security Breach Puts US Bases on High Alert
Unauthorized drone activity prompted a security response at another US base in the UK.
Forces at RAF Lakenheath, in East Anglia, responded to suspected drone activity on Friday.
A statement from the US Air Force in Europe said no personnel, aircraft or infrastructure was affected.
“We continue to work closely with our host nation counterparts to ensure the safety and security of our U.S. service members, U.S. and host nation civilians, contractors, and all of our families,” the statement said.
Three US bases in the UK have been affected by security threats in recent weeks.
Earlier this week, the US moved over a dozen aircraft from RAF Mildenhall because of an undisclosed threat.
The base raised its alert level to FPCON Charlie. This alert level, the second highest, is used when either an incident occurs or intelligence suggests and imminent attack targeting a base.
At the end of September, an attack on RAF Fairford was apparently foiled.
Iran is believed to have been behind the attempt against the base, which has been used to launch strikes against Iran.
Five men, all British nationals, were arrested near the base and appear to have been plotting a van-bomb attack.
They were rumbled by keen-eyed locals, who noticed the “Middle Eastern-looking” men wearing balaclavas and behaving suspiciously, then called the police.
A US official said they believed Iran backed the bombing plot, and that the men had been recruited by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp.
Iran has denied all involvement, calling the accusations “fabricated speculations.”
The US subsequently removed all B-1 bombers from the base.
Putin Lifts Ban on Killing Zelensky, Senior Ukrainian Leaders
Russia has reportedly lifted its ban on assassinating Ukraine’s President Zelensky and other senior members of his regime.
Several outlets are reporting the ban was lifted during a meeting between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his top generals.
The change was prompted by repeated attacks on key Russian infrastructure, including a tenth strike on the port of Ust-Luga near St Petersburg.
The port is one of Russia’s key export routes for transporting oil to Asia and funding the war with Ukraine.
The New York Post reports, “During a closed-door meeting Thursday, Moscow’s increasingly desperate security officials warned that the country was running out of defense money to fend off Kyiv’s drones—and its own attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure no longer worked as a deterrent.
“The Leningrad region alone, where St. Petersburg is located, reportedly spent 24 billion rubles—the equivalent of close to $300 million—on air defense systems.”
One Russia official is said to have remarked that “it is necessary to destroy the very chain of decision-making,” meaning Ukraine’s leadership, rather than focusing on repelling swarms of Ukrainian drones and missiles.
“The destruction of other people’s heating does not stop attacks on our refineries, because the people who give orders feel completely safe under the protection of Moscow’s unspoken ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ with the West,” a Russian source said.
Russia’s fearsome hypersonic weapons could be used to target bunkers and vehicles used by Zelensky and other commanders.
There were attempts to assassinate Zelensky early in the war, but they failed and Russia subsequently promised mediators it would stop.
The meeting between Putin and his generals is reported to have taken place directly after he met with US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Cuba Preparing for US Attack
Cuba is preparing for a US attack, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on Friday in response to remarks made by President Trump.
“We are determined to repel any attempt at foreign military aggression against our country,” Díaz-Canel said.
Cuba’s President added that his country is no threat to the US.
He made the statement at a National Defense Day event in Boyeros, south of the capital, Havana, which was attended by senior members of the military, Communist Party members and officials.
The statement followed an interview President Trump gave on Thursday, in which he was asked about whether he would consider a military operation against the island nation.
“I want to get Cuba done before I leave,” Trump said.
“We’re watching it very closely. It’s doing very poorly. It’s essentially a failed place, nation, whatever you want to call it.”
At the end of September, President Trump told reporters that he believes military action against Cuba will not be necessary.
“I would say that Cuba and us will make a deal. I don’t think we’ll need the military,” the President told reporters at the White House.
“We want to help Cuba,” he added.
“We want to open Cuba up to our people.”
At the UN General Assembly days earlier, Trump called Cuba a “failed state” that has “spent decades coordinating with the left-wing radicals and communist networks here in the United States.” He promised “freedom will be coming.”
The President has suggested regime-change in Cuba, whether by military force or diplomacy, could take place at any moment.
He has repeatedly said military action would resemble the raid that capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.
Operation Absolute Resolve” used special forces to breach Maduro’s compound in Caracas. The president and his wife were captured and brought back to the US.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose parents were from Cuba, has been heavily involved in Trump’s policy.
Sanctions against the communist regime have been expanded, including restrictions on oil shipments, and former president Raul Castro has been indicted on murder charges.
The Saudi army probably has some of the best western gear around but it’s structurally weak by design. The region has a habit of rule by generals so the house of Saud intentionally weakened it.
The whole area could collapse, Jordan might go and the Israelis have designs on parts of Syria. Not to mention their designs on f’ing up Turkey. Leaving them the sole power in the region.