Malcador

Ukraine hitting refineries well enough this week as well. Good thing they are evil oil refineries But another sign how big a role UAVs are playing

They've shot up these drones, well or other ones in the past. Not sure if they did it with their CIWS or some dude with a Pecheneg though. I don't believe the system on this corvette can depress that much.

Houthis better not get a hold of these drones.

I'm not getting the money, so I've no reason to feel either way about it. Still isn't enough, but I expect the US to clear that up and give Ukraine the cash sooner rather than later. in the meantime, Ukraine's nowhere near collapsing or anything, they even took out a Russian corvette today.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/01/opinions/ukraine-army-chief-war-strategy-russia-valerii-zaluzhnyi/index.html?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_msn Not a very controversial one, I guess.

Well they got the EU money.

For the wub wub of God.

Really tired of this line of thought, Ukraine is not NATO so it's a case of dealing with NATO supplied weapons versus dealing with NATO troops. Invading a part of Finland seems a pretty high risk test as they have to hope NATO decides driving them out is enough as opposed to wrecking tonnes of stuff. Assuming Finland alone can't stop them anyway. But any alarmism is justified if we can use the invasion. Good luck doing that for conscription as I see some articles talking about (conveniently by guys who won't serve). Just a lot of conditions need to occur for this to take place. Well that and some assume this is some game where Russia takes Ukraine fully and that's not going to hamper them in future.

Alone in the office with the ljghts all off collaborating with the darkness. Should play some Orthodox chanting on my phone

Norway's response is pretty reasonable. https://www.regjeringen.no/en/aktuelt/statement-on-unrwa/id3023172/

Ah my mistake, familial link is separate from the other link and that's about half, for what that's worth. - https://archive.is/1mZzW "Two officials familiar with the intelligence said the Unrwa employees considered to have ties with militant groups were deemed to be “operatives,” indicating they took active part in the organization’s military or political framework. The report said 23% of Unrwa’s male employees had ties to Hamas, a higher percentage than the average of 15% for adult males in Gaza, indicating a higher politicization of the agency than the population at large." Shame these officials weren't more specific, I guess. I am skeptical of Israeli intelligence marking a Palestinian an 'operative'.

https://www.eurogamer.net/embracer-cancels-deus-ex-game-in-development-for-two-years Maybe that DX game would have sucked.

And apparently replacing him with Budanov? Ah ok, denied as a rumour. Would be a head scratcher if true.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/unrwa-funding-pause-canada-reaction-1.7097515 Probably our next PM with this vote winner. Apparently 10% have links to terrorists. Although familial links count here, which is an interesting card to play https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/at-least-12-u-n-agency-employees-involved-in-oct-7-attacks-intelligence-reports-say-a7de8f36

https://rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/commentary/nato-societies-must-be-ready-war Lot of articles from all over about how war with Russia is real soon. Although apparently Russia has been knocked back 18 years as well.

Yes, as I wrote it's a concern, but its a handful out of many thousands. And not as if the agency is not necessary.

It's a concern, but people think the entire agency should be cashiered to be replaced by...an agency that would end up having the same issues as they'd have to recruit locals and they'd have the same risk of being radicalized as the ones that participated in the attacks. Not sure why UNRWA being evil or not makes any difference to the US administration being that or not.

Is a common accusation that UNRWA helps fund Hamas more or less directly but is one of those accusations I've seen so often and applied widely. Can't find anywhere what the condition to restore the funding is, if any. Shouldn't expect Blinken et al. to care about dead or starving Palestinian beyond looking sad.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/ben-gvir-slams-icj-as-antisemitic-says-israel-should-ignore-ruling-on-provisional-measures/ "“The decision of the antisemitic court in The Hague proves what was already known: This court does not seek justice, but rather the persecution of Jewish people. They were silent during the Holocaust and today they continue the hypocrisy and take it another step further,” he says. The ICJ in its current iteration was founded in 1945." Point to the Times for that last sentence.

Just the general hypocrisy, after all the US wouldn't approve of other nations killing people they don't like on their soil, or assassinating their scientists, for example. Zizek made a funny statement, about how when you make the rules, you never break them

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/01/25/microsoft-lays-off-1900-workers-nearly-9percent-of-gaming-division-after-activision-blizzard-acquisition.html https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/25/24050297/blizzard-survival-game-cancelled-layoffs 1900 cut. Cancelled their survival game as well and Ybarra is out the door

Because they follow the rules based order. In that the rules apply to thee, not me.

I always remember Kreia's quote, that apathy is death. Then I go to work each day and remember Peter saying he's not lazy, just he doesn't care.