Carolus

https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1786080923596828965?t=4jlcQM8qyX4PzYXIUbJw3g&s=19 "Gazprom report $6.7 billion loss for 2023, first net loss since 1999" Is this some sort of Russian reverse psyOp? Aren't their financial reports coming from RNG at this point? Because if it's true, goodamn.

I remember the hope we had that the massive loss of trucks in 2022 would result in something, but while it certainly strained the RA (to the point of limited collapse), it didn't break them and even now with the increased supply line distances due to HIMARS, they are holding up well. Crazy how much their ragtag system is absorbing.

Russian locomotives destroyed by partisans. Haven't seen that before. Death by a thousand needles is a thing.

I really hope this package will bring some relief to the UAF. The manpower problem will remain, and obviously equipment can only do so much to alleviate it. Also, Europe should not lean back because of this. Good that some announcements were made by the UK, France and others as well. It seems cruel but understandable that the West is connecting deliveries to certain conditions. Like telling the Russians to stop certain infrastructure bombing and when they do not, Sullivan & Co approved ATACMS to Biden. It is harsh, but it was worth a try. But what Ukraine really needs is reliability instead of big packages here and there. And of course, ramp up, ramp up, ramp up the war factories everywhere in the West. It's uncomfortable but too much is at stake, so I will always defend that before economic concerns. Also, I hope the oil refinery strikes continue, as well as other strikes on military relevant factories in Russia. And it looks like sanctions on North Korea and China are in the works for helping Russia. Late, but every bit of pressure helps to squeeze the noose slowly tighter. If the old man can pull this off...

AFAIK, the chemical weapons convention includes irrititants. The USA reserve the use for "defensive action" and when its usage could prevent civilian harm, but it cannot not be used offensively e.g. for house clearing.

Some US company heard people in this thread wondering about Western automatic mortars and minefield breaching.

I heard France promised to supply 74 Caesar in 2024. If they can keep that promise, it is a good addition to the Ukrainian arsenal.

Some possibility of why Johnson changed his blockade stance.

Does anyone who knows his way around artillery shells know what these Russians are doing? One of them seems to be attaching fuses. But this whole activity is strange. Are shell housings usually closed off with a cap you need to bash in?

I am not politically aligned with Shapiro, or the classic Republicans, but I would make a deal with the devil just to push things along at this point, and I am thankful for every conservative figure or Cold Warrior / old warhawk who throws their weight into the balance for pushing back the new Axis.

Apparently GUR claims the TU-22M3 was "shot down with the same means the A-50 was previously shot down", which is still a mystery weapon. (I remember hypotheses in this thread went from a modified S200 missile to SoF camping with a MANPAD hundreds of kilometers inside Russia)

The study was done in the Netherlands, and another in Germany, so this criterium applied. I don't know if they extrapolated anything to another latitude. But the panels were bi-facial and adjusted to face towards east and west, not south (and north). The idea is that they have their output maxima in the morning and the evening. The idea is to augment, not to supplant traditional solar farms, and reduce the need for batteries. That means it would work in the equatorial region as well, where the sun also rises and settles in east and west. But bi-facial panels are more expensive. https://undecidedmf.com/have-we-been-doing-solar-wrong-all-along/ (@admins my apologies for the distraction I brought in - I will respond via DMs if anything else is to be said about solar panels)

Ah, sorry. With vertical panel I meant 90° to the ground. A panel that is parallel to the ground would be "horizontal" for me.

Some "homefront" news. Maybe we have heard of the recent fires at the American and British 155mm munitions factories? Might be just a coincidence, but... https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/generalbundesanwalt-ermittelt-zwei-mutmassliche-russische-saboteure-in-bayern-verhaftet-a-0115bebd-195a-41fb-83be-da8d642045cd In Germany, two Russo-Germans have been arrested for espionage and sabotage. They are accused of taking pictures of American and German military installations in Bavaria (one of which is a training facility for Ukrainians on Abrams tanks) and planning to use explosives to disrupt military support transports en route to Ukraine. Both of them were in contact with the FSB and one of them was member of a Russian militia unit which operated in Donetzk / Donbas 2014 to 2017. The unit is considered a terrorist group in Germany, so that Russo-German is also accused of membership in a terrorist organisation.

It was found in experiments that vertical solar panels offer basically the same energy output as an angled panel. The reason is that although the panel receives less solar radiation energy, the generated heat can dissipate better, which results in increased efficiency, which brings them up to the same output as an angled panel.

From the strike on the airfield in Crimea.

1) Basically every industrial country has far more energy generation capacity than it needs to ensure continuous production - even if several plants need to be taken off the grid for maintenance or simply damage repairs. 2) Outside of the planned over-capacity, older power plants are not immediately demolished when a newer one is finished. They remain for years as a "strategic reserve". And due to improved technology energy companies are almost always building something newer and more efficient somewhere, so there is a continuous rotation from older to newer. 3) Special government programs like in Germany, where renewables are being pushed, means that a lot of conventional power plants have been taken off the grid, but are not destroyed. Germany gets between 30% and 40% of its daily energy from renewables (and growing), and has roughly the same capacity, mostly in coal plants, dormant and ready to be fired up. Ukraine's economy before the war used 125 TWh per year, which has dropped significantly due to the war to something below 100 TWh. Germany alone has likely 200 TWh of unused capacity next to the 500 to 600 TWh it currently needs per year.

I believe that Ukraine is also part of the European energy net (as of last year?), so as long as transmission lines remain to a town or city, Europe can just pump energy directly into Ukraine's grid. Most EU countries have significant unused power generation capacity. The smaller, mobile generators provide better local independence, of course.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/zelenskiy-thanks-germany-new-patriot-system-critical-time-2024-04-13/ Germany will transfer a Patriot battery and additional missiles to Ukraine "immediately" (so, soonish).

EU parliament pulled a "Republican" and refused to pass the budget by the EU council until funding for 7 Patriot batteries is found. 512 to 62 votes.

Magyar drone slips into a crack in the brickwork and brings a house down. In case someone wondered where urban combat and fortifications are heading.

And considering the Chinese Navy training quality, they will be as bad in repsonse to these unusual small threats as the BSF. The only problem will be that while Taiwan sits under a constant barrage of missiles while its fleet of surace drones is in range of every major Chinese port, the American government will tell the Taiwanese government not to attack the ports in order to prevent any unnecessary escalation and please not complain so much about its civilians- there is a football game scheduled on TV after all. (I woke up with some gall today, it will pass.)

The West is watching...

https://maritime-executive.com/article/south-korea-detains-stateless-cargo-ship-investigating-sanctions-violations South Korea detained a North Korean ship for potential sanctions violations Ahoi mateys, tharr be plunderr to be had in thar Yellow Sea, arr!!

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/30533 A lot of 155mm ammo from Greek depots for Ukraine via the Czech initiative and shell production cooperation between USA and Turkey with new factories to be set up in Texas.