BansheeOne

The hand grenade video was taken by the reporter riding as the third man on a motorbike, with the grenade being waved by the middle guy before him. Still rather peculiar in the choice of company, but not making him a combatant by itself. Though like many journalists traveling with armed fighters in a warzone, he couldn't have complained if he was summarily blown up by Israeli forces with the entire crew. Speaking of being blown up, I think the government acknowledgement of their standard "any media coverage I don't like is treason or worse" spiel was the worst that could happen to "Honest Reporting". Once the suggestion that any reporter on the scene must have had advance knowledge and thus be an accomplice was followed by "and we'll treat them like one" by Israeli officials, most any professional journalist anywhere was going to be pissed, largely regardless of stance on events, including in Israel itself. They have since been furiously backpedaling, on their website as well as on Israeli TV, claiming they're unfairly being accused of stating facts when they were "only asking questions". Which is totally cute, because again, asking suggestive questions to blame someone for stuff you can't prove is a basic tool of dishonest agenda-driven "journalism". See some of the attempts to deny the scope of the attack I flagged up on the information warfare thread.

This is really just a mix of stating the obvious and various nice buzzwords. Domestically, there is already criticism that the government is still not taking the shift serious enough with action to match. https://www.dw.com/en/germany-vows-to-make-military-the-backbone-of-europes-defense/a-67361593 Original German document: https://augengeradeaus.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Verteidigungspolitische_Richtlinien_2023.pdf

https://www.dw.com/en/spain-former-catalan-politician-shot-in-madrid/a-67357094

Haven't had one of those here for some time. Special needs school, non-teacher adult who happened to be there subdued the shooter after he fired at the victim. Origin of the gun not clear yet. https://www.dw.com/en/germany-student-dies-in-offenburg-school-shooting/a-67358859 Also: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-hamburg-police-make-arrests-after-threat-at-school/a-67342725

Then it's puzzling why someone felt it appropriate to compare Israel to the Soviet Union in the first place. 😋

The laws and ethics of journalism in a war zone, covering terrorism, or just criminal events like hostage situations (see the Gladbeck affair), even exposing state secrets showing government fuckups, are an interesting topic. Unfortunately the "Honest Reporting" piece which triggered this particular debate is a bad basis, as it's itself a prime example of agenda-driven "question mark journalism" full of "have you stopped beating your wife" insinuations. Of course it's totally a Bibi .gov move to run with something like this - it creates some nice moral outrage to warm yourself on, achieves nothing practical, and increases adversity against Israeli politics. I'm just surprised Benny Gantz got in on it.

I was wondering. Clearly the Vulcan is not only laterally closer to the camera, but also above the B-52.

Let's say it popped up only when there were some Republican losses to be reported. 😁 Between the Dobbs effect, the Republican circus in the House of Representatives and Trump's poll numbers, my current working prediction for 2024 is that Trump will be re-elected president, but face a fully Democrat-ruled Congress. That will be fun! 🤪

My expectations OTOH were met completely. 😄

Well you can see the point of the chambered round sticking out of the muzzle, so the expected accuracy should be somewhere below that of a shotgun pellet.

I think that includes transport planes and helicopters, so 200 out of ca. 500. Meanwhile: https://www.dw.com/en/nato-suspends-key-cold-war-treaty-after-russia-pulls-out/a-67324373

I wasn't even aware of yesterday's elections, but given that the abortion amendment in Ohio passed, Republicans failed to vote out the Kentucky governor, and seem to be losing the Virginia Senate in addition to the local House, I guess the answer to the Dobbs question is "yes".

For all the polarization between the Polish right and center-left, I'd say building up defenses against Russia is one issue where they would agree, because so will the vast majority of the electorate. However, some of the more extreme government plans prior to the election had the scent of campaign stunts to look tough on the issue, while the opposition couldn't very well criticize it without in turn looking weak. As urbanoid has noted, the expansion to six divisions would likely require reintroducing the draft, at which point the popularity of strong defense would probably hit a sudden wall. So I'd expect a more realistic adjustment of overall scope after the campaign heat has dissipated, but the replacement of Soviet-era weapons and equipment passed to Ukraine to go ahead.

Some more movement on the Dnipro. I thought I saw Rybar mention that the Ukrainians are starting to bring armored vehicles across, but can't find it back. It's still a rather narrow stretch along the left bank though. https://rybar.ru/piwigo/upload/2023/11/07/20231107175131-7f0b359e.jpg

Somewhere in a hot place, Alfred Rosenberg just had a post-mortal heart attack. 😄

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/04/ex-danish-defence-minister-and-spy-chief-relieved-after-charges-dropped

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/11/06/russia-appeals-world-olympic-bodys-suspension-a83011

In the same vein, something like "well, every adult Israeli is a reservist, and thus a legitimate military target": https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-67321241

Well it was an increasingly autonomous region before it became a less autonomous region again in 1989, which caused the whole mess that lead to the breakup of Yugoslavia. The status of Nagorno-Karabakh was somewhat comparable. In fact if Russia had adhered strictly to the "Because Kosovo" playbook, they would have had an official "humanitarian intervention" to stop the bloodshed and terrible oppression of Russian-speaking Ukrainians rather than little green men and "vacationers", then later recognized the breakaway regions after they declared themselves independent. The West would have been duly outraged, but quietly acknowledged the tit-for-tat, just as it went with Georgia. Alas, the moment they brought Crimea heim ins Reich, it became "Because I'm Hitler, and that's what I do, suckers." Subsequent full-on invasion of Ukraine because, Austria, was just driving the point home for the hard-of-hearing.

There have been a lot of new borders drawn as countries broke up more or less peacefully (USSR, CSSR, Yugoslavia, Georgia). No borders were redrawn before the annexation of Crimea in 2014. I know some people have a hard time wrapping their mind around the difference, but it makes all the difference.

And as usual for such meme-jokes, both parts are wrong. 😋

New brigade to be named Panzerbrigade 42, which previously existed between 1995 and 2003 under 13. Panzergrenadierdivision in Brandenburg and Berlin; originally formed as a territorial defense brigade from parts of 1st NVA Motor Rifle Division in 1991. Elements will be Panzergrenadierbataillon 122 from Oberviechtach, Bavaria (currently under Panzerbrigade 12), and Panzerbataillon 203 from Augustdorf, North Rhine-Westphalia (currently Panzerlehrbrigade 9) in addition to the existing eFP BG Lithuania. 122 is equipped with Puma; 203 gave its remaining Leopard 2A6 to Ukraine and is to be rearmed with A8. A new armored artillery battalion (215, previously disbanded in 2015) will be established in Augustdorf, while an existing one (131) will move to Oberviechtach from Weiden, also Bavaria, where another new one (375, previously disbanded in 2005) was commissioned recently. Artillery and support troops for the new brigade TBD.

Apparently red is typical for lower latitudes where auroras occur at higher altitudes. Currently visible over southern Germany, too, if you can catch a break in the clouds.

Though it's not labeled, you'll find Crimean Gothic on the map, too, which may have lasted into the 17th or 18th century.

I recall a similar event on the Russian side, which had their milbloggers screaming bloody murder that some ranking officer had ordered a muster in the open, within HIMARS range. You'd think the Ukrainians would have learned from their own lesson.