CayceG

It's this. 

From Pavel Podvig's twitter thread:

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How exactly [the satellite] is linked to some nuclear weapons in space is unclear. The good news is that, in Stewart's words "this is not an active capability that has already been deployed." So, no nuclear weapons in space yet. Good to know. But Cosmos-2553 deserves a closer look.

20 minutes ago, GoldenTongue said:

Absolutely adored the finale - while Filoni has certainly struggled with consistent quality in the live action shows (Ahsoka is not holding up well for me on a repeat viewing, even as a "Rebels Season Five" fan service exercise), his work on the animated side remains absolutely stellar.  

 

This finale was actually the perfect example of this. If you look at the script (or just pay attention to the dialogue), it's pretty sparse. If this were in live action shot for shot, line for line, it would be similar to how Ahsoka didn't hold up. I don't know why that is, but Bad Batch's quality is just better. 

Filoni is better suited for the animated world as a writer and a big picture guy in live action. 

2 hours ago, 69los said:

Definitely wasn't the ending I was expecting.

 

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I was leaning towards the gloom side; at least 1 or 2 deaths to the squad. Omega will definitely be appearing again.

 

Same here. I was not expecting the ending we got. 

Bad Batch finale was really quite good!

I was completely satisfied in how it closed out. 

3 hours ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

Time to go back to full ballistic weaponry! A big ball of iron launched in a parabolic arc doesn't care about jamming!

That would be area artillery!

Tauruses aren't going to win the war. The conversation around German hesitance to provide those is a silly side distraction. 

Man I cannot wait to see this company be forced to be sold off to Ford or GM. 

What is a SAM if not an anti-air one-way attack drone?

Rumor has it, Ukraine has reactivated its S-200 missiles in some way and are able to use them for long range air defense. It's what is suspected in the shoot down of those AWACS a while back too. 

39 minutes ago, Jwheel86 said:

 

I assume the latter, at least publicly, but if Israel comes to us wanting to hit the drone factories that are also supplying Russia... we gonna say no to letting them use a tanker in secret?

No, that's the single thing I support someone--anyone!--striking inside Iran. 

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The official said that when Biden told Netanyahu that the U.S. will not participate in any offensive operations against Iran and will not support such operations, Netanyahu said he understood.
 

Could we take this to mean only support diplomatically? Like voicing support? Or does this mean actual material support like tanker, AWACS, etc logistical support?

Part of me thinks Iran will aim at some well-protected military installations with missiles that are all but intended to be intercepted. 

Iran seems to be really light-footed when it comes to the escalation ladder (especially in regards to our kinetic exchanges with them) so that's why I think this will be underwhelming. 

Now, how badly Tel Aviv overreacts... that's on them!

pointing at the sign

In all seriousness, I do believe that regardless of whatever intel we have, the Iranian response will be less than we anticipate.

17 minutes ago, CitizenVectron said:

 

 

Pictured: Not a Tu-95

I'm very into this. 

You're right. Christo Grozev is not a hack. 

But this report (which I watched earlier) still leaves most of the questions open. 

The real takeaways are something Grozev points out clearly:

1. The Russian GRU has an extensive network of spies and operatives actively doing shit all across Europe, Asia, and inside the US. 

2. The Russians are definitely working on some "headache gun" research, as proven by the paperwork. 

These two don't have to be combined. They likely aren't. 

The report and investigation doesn't address the questions surrounding the health effects and the fact that multiple studies have not identified differences on MRIs between Havana-brain and non-Havana-brains or actual health effects to motor control, balance, and other things reported by Havana Syndrome people. 

It is just as likely that the stress of working jobs in national security involving Russia while knowing that you are being surveilled by GRU agents is hitting some people. PTSD, depression, things of that nature, can manifest in bad symptoms sometimes. And if people are primed to believe it, it can turn into real symptoms. 

But whether Havana Syndrome is real, whether the Russians are behind it, whether there really is a headache gun... all that is effective is meaningless. The idea that the Russians might have this working capability and is attacking our people is powerful enough on its own. This IDEA has affected dozens of people and taken them out of this important work. And that's bad enough. 

40 minutes ago, finaljedi said:

 

Is anything big enough to withstand a ship that massive?

Yes. The bridge ultimately stopped it, after all. 

6 minutes ago, outsida said:

The Bridge had those little circles in front of the piers. 
 

But not where it needed to be to prevent the accident. And also, that one doesn't look massive enough to have prevented or mitigated this. 

You really only need these little circles in front of the piers:

I say "only"... they're huge and would need to be lots and lots of mass and would be expensive. 

But in the case of the reconstructed bridge, I bet they'll be there, along with beefy rock "islands" that the main bridge columns are built on.

19 minutes ago, marioandsonic said:

Is this Putin's Burning of the Reichstag moment?

No. 

If it were, this would be like... the fifth time. 

This is just all terrible. 

I just don't know what to say anymore. 

Who said Biden wasn't doing something about the national debt!

I don't think about you at all.

3 hours ago, TUFKAK said:

France should be very careful, they’re not battle tested, their doctrine is outdated, despite Russian failures they are at least actively engaged and learning 

If French troops are even there, they are likely technical advisors and support. But also, France has been fighting an insurgency in Africa for almost 10 years. They're as battle tested as US troops are.