Loge

They blew up a small part of the dam, which was enough to prevent the Ukrainians from using it to cross the river. They didn't attempt to blow up the whole dam, though people feared they might. That they eventually did it therefore isn't really a surprise. There is footage showing an explosion in the power station. It's possible that they didn't expect that to destroy the whole dam, but it looks like that is what happened.

The F-16 may have more delicate landing gear than the Soviet era fighter planes Ukraine currently operates, but filling a hole in a runway can't be particularly hard or expensive. Unlike, say, repairing the Kerch bridge.

ESA's JUICE mission is due to launch in five minutes. Underway now. Now we need to wait till it reaches Jupiter in 2031.

A preemptive strike against the US and its allies is a great way to start WWIII. Also doesn't really agree with the narrative that China is just taking back its territory. The US defending Taiwan is one thing. But China attacking US bases in Japan means all-out war. What is to keep the US from attacking the Chinese mainland?

Their main defence is the presence of troops from other NATO countries. Any attack on the Baltic states is an attack on all of NATO because the Russians would be fighting a multinational force. https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_136388.htm

Putin wants the Soviet Union back and then some. (All of the former Warsaw Pact states). It's not about Russian populations, it's about being a world power. The Soviet Union was one, Russia in its current borders is not. With Ukraine, access to the Black Sea and through it to the Mediterranean is also a factor. That's why he wants Crimea so badly.

Russia won't be able to replace all that soviet gear with modern weapon systems. If it were it would already have done it. But Putins wonder weapons have showed up on Red Square only, not on the battlefield. And the economy needed to support a large modern army just isn't there. Russia started this war in an attempt to become a world power again but it has only accelerated its decline. That seat on the UN security council and the nukes still give it some relevance but it reamsins to be seen how much longer they can hold on to those.

They have to wait for the ground to dry. It's way to muddy now.

Both Russians and Ukrainians use tanks for indirect fire. It's an old soviet tactic. Same as tilting your helicopters nose up before shooting with unguided missiles. Increases the range, which means they won't be fired at by the enemy. Not very efficient in terms of ammo consumption, though.

There hasn't been much tank on tank warfare of late. Actually, of all the videos of exploding tanks I have seen since the beginning of the war, I don't remember a single case of one tank destroying another in frontal attack. It's usually artillery fire or drones. On the other hand, a 100mm gun is still a valuable asset on the battlefield. You may find this video interesting:

Angela Cullen is no longer Lewis Hamilton's physio. The reasons for the split are unclear.

They are from the same era as the F-16, i.e. they were designed in the 1970s. Not sure if they got any upgrades, though. The F-16 certainly have.

From what I read, Charles plans to cut Andrew's "annual grant" and he won't be able to pay for the upkeep of the Royal Lodge without it. So Charles offered him Frogmore Cottage, as that's cheaper to maintain.

I wouldn't be so sure. Actually, the Su-27 would probably win. The F-35 isn't supposed to get into dogfights and isn't very good at it. The F-22 is a different story. Ars Technica had a story on it a while ago. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/04/sitrep-is-the-f-35-now-officially-a-failure/

Berlin is is pretty much split between the center ("S-Bahn-Ring"), which votes Green, and the rest of the city, which has voted CDU this time. SPD, Linke, and FDP are losing relevance. AFD is halfway holding up but not doing particularly great either. Technically, the old senate could continue, but that may cost them at the next election. As for why, I won't pretend to fully understand it, but the performance of the incumbent senate hasn't been particularly great. And that didn't start with Giffey. The same parties were already in government during Müller's second term, and that went so well that he didn't even run again. The really big change from 2021 is the result of the CDU, which is probably thanks to Merkel not being around anymore. It certainly isn't because Wegner is so brilliant, because he isn't. ETA: Here's the map https://interaktiv.tagesspiegel.de/lab/wahl-wiederholung-abgeordnetenhaus-2023-karte-auszaehlungsstaende-historische-ergebnisse-wahlkreisergebnisse-stimmbezirke-ergebnisse/

From what I have heard it has always been like that with Musk's companies. They prey on the idealism of young people and exploit them mercilessly. After a few years they are burnt out and leave. Of course, this doesn't work for Twitter, as there is no "good cause" young people want to work for.

As horrible as these losses are, they aren't enough to have a big impact on Russia's demographics. There is another advantage to the Kremlin, though. Dead men don't talk. They have committed and witnessed all sorts of war crimes and know the true situation on the front line. Better get rid of them.

Well, on the Syrian side things didn't look so great before the earthquake. There's an ongoing war and has been for a decade.

9 May is probably a more interesting date than 24 February. Can Putin still have that parade as in previous years?

The BBC now reports more than 7200 dead.

The current engine is still developed by Honda. It's just rebadged. The engine for 2026 is Red Bull's own development. Honda isn't evolved. Honda is developing a new engine, too. They will be competitors from 2026.

So, Brazil has sunk its decommissioned aircraft carrier because there were too many toxic materials on board to scrap it. Because dumping all your toxic waste in the ocean is obviously the best solution... https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/04/brazil-sinks-aircraft-carrier-in-atlantic-despite-presence-of-asbestos-and-toxic-materials

Apparently, Putin has made threats against Scholz and Macron, too. At least that's what this German paper reports: https://www.morgenpost.de/politik/article237498623/putin-drohungen-johnson-scholz-macron.html

How relevant is Andrew these days? He was the spare when he was young, and there was a big hype about him and Sarah back in the 1980s, but he has been pushed down in the line of succession by Charles's offspring. Would anybody even talk about him without that scandal? Does anybody talk about Edward and Anne? Or Sarah?

The German media claims that the German government is now ready to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine.