Russia’s space chief is “very unhappy” with “hostile” US policy

"I am very unhappy with the openly hostile policy of the USA toward my country."

Read the whole story

 

[wagnerrp]

Should you need distraction from a far less important televised event occurring at the moment, here’s an analysis of whether a T.rex costume is good thermal camouflage.

But... if a drone pilot see's a t-rex, are they going to assume it's a costume containing an enemy soldier, and not a diminutive t-rex recently thawed and roaming the battlefield?

 

[vhoracek]

But... if a drone pilot see's a t-rex, are they going to assume it's a costume containing an enemy soldier, and not a diminutive t-rex recently thawed and roaming the battlefield?

And considering the precedent (penguin costume) didn't work for Russian soldiers either, it's rather unlikely that other dinosaur costumes would have any added value apart from (morbid) entertainment.

 

[Cthel]

Wednesday morning's missile/drone attack report from Ukraine:

• 115x Shahed & Gerbera aerial torpedoes & decoys [~60 Shaheds] (95 intercepted/missed/crashed, 2 unresolved)

Spoiler: Telegram Embed (UKR)

View: https://t.me/kpszsu/56480

 

[Cthel]

Apparently, the DoD is threatening to nationalise Anthropic under the Defence Production Act
US threatens Anthropic with deadline in dispute on AI safeguards (BBC News)

The official said that if Anthropic did not comply, Hegseth would ensure the Defense Production Act was invoked on the company.

That measure could compel Anthropic executives to allow unrestricted use by the Pentagon on national security grounds.

The official added that the Pentagon would simultaneously label Anthropic as a supply chain risk.

I'm sure this will end well...

 

[FranzJoseph]

I'm sure this will end well...

No worries, our few surviving descendants will just have to invent a time machine and send Arnold back...

 

[DragonDeborn]

Unhappy 4th anniversary, thread.

Hopefully, in four years we will be talking about how the rebuilding of Ukraine is going.

 

[numerobis]

But... if a drone pilot see's a t-rex, are they going to assume it's a costume containing an enemy soldier, and not a diminutive t-rex recently thawed and roaming the battlefield?

I wouldn’t really blame an FPV pilot for taking out large dinosaurs. Geese are bastards.

 

[numerobis]

Hopefully, in four years we will be talking about how the rebuilding of Ukraine is going.

Hopefully we won't be talking about how badly the US invasion of Canada is going.

 

[Cthel]

A nice example of how FPV drones can provide recon as well as strike capability

View: https://youtu.be/_qIglMpWBYc

 

[galahad05]

I wouldn’t really blame an FPV pilot for taking out large dinosaurs. Geese are bastards.

But aren't they fellow Canadians?

 

[Resistance]

But aren't they fellow Canadians?

They may be bastards, but they are our bastards.

 

[wagnerrp]

And considering the precedent (penguin costume) didn't work for Russian soldiers either

What the actual fuck. "Put on this poncho, and go stomp around in that field over there. We're going to time how long it takes until a drone comes and blows you up."

It's like stories of the "medical" experimentation performed on prisoners in WWII.

 

[bthylafh]

What the actual fuck. "Put on this poncho, and go stomp around in that field over there. We're going to time how long it takes until a drone comes and blows you up."

It's like stories of the "medical" experimentation performed on prisoners in WWII.

It's more like what the Soviets did with their military criminals during that war. "Here, have some vodka. Now go march back and forth in that field until you explode a mine."

 

[numerobis]

They may be bastards, but they are our bastards.

They're our stochastic terror force. Randomly, airplanes fall out of the sky. Now, would you like to buy some maple syrup?

 

[Cthel]

Thursday morning's missile/drone attack report from Ukraine:

• 11x Iskander-M TBMs/S-400 SAMs in land-attack mode (4 intercepted/missed/crashed, 2 unknown¹)
• 2x 3M22 Zircon SLCMs (2 intercepted/missed/crashed)
• 24x Kh-101 ALCMs (24 intercepted/missed/crashed)
• 2x Kh-69 ASMs (2 intercepted/missed/crashed)
• 420x Shahed & Gerbera aerial torpedoes [~280 Shaheds] (374 intercepted/missed/crashed)

Spoiler: Telegram Embed (UKR)

View: https://t.me/kpszsu/56598

1 - "information on several enemy missiles is being clarified"

 

[vhoracek]

What the actual fuck. "Put on this poncho, and go stomp around in that field over there. We're going to time how long it takes until a drone comes and blows you up."

It's like stories of the "medical" experimentation performed on prisoners in WWII.

In light of the BBC article that sparked this discussion, the penguin costume might be comparatively less horrific than some of the alternatives perpetrated by Russian commanders. And unlike the IR-blocking ponchos which the Russians were also issued, at least there's no pretense of functionality.

Of course, even if the costumed soldier survives, they still need to take into consideration that there will be US tariffs imposed on them.

 

[numerobis]

Russian-funded neonazis are firing up a terrorist campaign to get a Nazi homeland in Ukraine.

They imaginatively call themselves “the Base” — English for al Quaeda, though there’s no link to them. Seems that right-wing religious xenophobia just gravitates to that naming.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/26/the-base-far-right-terror-group-ukraine-russia

 

[Cthel]

Scratch 10% of Russia's Ammonium Nitrate production capacity

View: https://t.me/kiber_boroshno/12600#

Destruction of ammonium nitrate production facilities at a fertiliser plant in Dorogobuzh — 25 February 2026

Ukrainian drones created a ‘Beirut’ for the residents of Dorogobuzh.

As a result of the FP-1 drone attack on the production, storage and transportation of ammonium fertilisers, a series of explosions occurred at the motor transport site, the railway terminal and directly at the finished product warehouse.

Ammonium nitrate production facilities were also located in the explosion zone. The powerful blast wave completely destroyed one of the trestles and damaged some of the neighbouring production facilities within a radius of several hundred metres. Debris scattered by the explosion was visible over a large area.

In 2024, the affected production site accounted for about 10% of Russia's total ammonium nitrate production.

 

[galahad05]

It's a shame what this will do to world fertilizer prices, but Russia's capacity to wage war must be degraded....

 

[DanNeely]

https://nitter.poast.org/Jonpy99/status/2026914004346581466#m


View: https://x.com/Jonpy99/status/2026914004346581466#m


Not sure if there's anything new to this thread here; it's a mostly a compilation of his prior tweets.

 

[DanNeely]

It's close enough to end of month that I'll just do a comment on the overall tracking sheet now. Nothing really dramatic happened.

Tanks are down about by 100, roughly equal parts T72A's being sent for rebuilding and previously rebuilt tanks leaving the 904th to serve as drone collection points at the front.

BMPs are down about 100. Most of the remaining BMDs were downgraded to the lowest quality status. APCs and arty don't have any major overall changes.


View: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FnfGcdqah5Et_6wElhiFfoDxEzxczh7AP2ovjEFV010/edit?gid=0#gid=0


This may be my last update for a while. While I was comparing the live sheet to my copy from last month it went back to access restricted. Probably because Jompy was again frustrated with professional journalists using his work without credit. sigh

 

[Cthel]

Friday morning's missile/drone attack report from Ukraine:

• 187x Shahed & Gerbera aerial torpedoes & decoys [~120 Shaheds] (165 intercepted/missed/crashed, 2 unresolved)

Spoiler: Telegram Embed (UKR)

View: https://t.me/kpszsu/56649

 

[vhoracek]

Russian regional budgets ran up an all-time high deficit in 2025, an approx. combined value of 1.48T rubles (~19.2b USD). Out of the 89 regions which are accounted separately, 74 operated with a deficit in 2025, a significant increase to the 50 that had done so in 2024. Total regional spending grew by 9 % YoY, while revenues grew by 4 % YoY. Increased spending on war effort, regional sign-up bonuses, compensation to veterans and payouts to families of soldiers KIA are a major contributor to the finance drain. With federal revenues dwindling and the federal budget running at a five-times-higher-than-projected deficit itself (est. 2.6 % compared to projected 0.5 %), it's increasingly more and more difficult to cover the regional budget issues through federal transfers.

Spoiler: Article by The Moscow Times (EN)

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2026...st-largest-ever-budget-deficit-in-2025-a92053

 

[numerobis]

Farage didn’t win the byelection he’d initially been favoured to grab; the greens got it instead.

Starmer may be cooked.

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...ur-green-party-reform-uk-politics-latest-news

 

[Wheels Of Confusion]

Farage didn’t win the byelection he’d initially been favoured to grab; the greens got it instead.

Starmer may be cooked.

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...ur-green-party-reform-uk-politics-latest-news

Oh noes! Those EXTREMIST Greens are gaining! It's the end of Western Civilization!

 

[Cthel]

Oh noes! Those EXTREMIST Greens are gaining! It's the end of Western Civilization!

The good news is that because the were primarily outflanked on the left (rather than by reform on the right), Labour might decide to try tacking reversing their swing towards the right wing to try and reduce the damage in the upcoming local elections (about a third of the country, in May)

Whether they decide they need to get rid of Starmer before the local elections (to try and sell themselves as having turned a corner) or will keep him until after the local elections (so they can blame any failures on him) remains to be seen.

 

[vhoracek]

Oh noes! Those EXTREMIST Greens are gaining! It's the end of Western Civilization!

Based on a cursory read of their political program, it appears there are quite a few melons* among those Greens though. UK dropping out of NATO, etc.

* Green on the outside, thoroughly red on the inside.

 

[Deleted member 543677]

Based on a cursory read of their political program, it appears there are quite a few melons* among those Greens though. UK dropping out of NATO, etc.

* Green on the outside, thoroughly red on the inside.

As in idiots whose geopolitics are Campism ? What a blight on left-wing parties and ideas.

 

[Rrr7]

Based on a cursory read of their political program, it appears there are quite a few melons* among those Greens though. UK dropping out of NATO, etc.

* Green on the outside, thoroughly red on the inside.

Not very familiar with the UK's Greens, are they much like the German Greens, the ones who shut down all German nuclear power and replaced it with coal, while being besties with KGB spy Gerhardt Schroeder?

 

[Cthel]

Not very familiar with the UK's Greens, are they much like the German Greens, the ones who shut down all German nuclear power and replaced it with coal, while being besties with KGB spy Gerhardt Schroeder?

That's a tricky question to answer, because they recently elected a new leader who announced they were switching their platform to "Environmental populism"

Also, they have never had more than one MP until the last election (2024) so they haven't been in a position to actually implement much of their platform beyond promoting recycling rubbish bins and cycle paths through their reasonable crop of local councillors.

 

[vhoracek]

Not very familiar with the UK's Greens, are they much like the German Greens, the ones who shut down all German nuclear power and replaced it with coal, while being besties with KGB spy Gerhardt Schroeder?

TBF the German Greens were also the most pro-Ukraine, pro-military aid party in the previous coalition government, so that at least in my eyes redeemed the party somewhat.

 

[Rrr7]

That's a tricky question to answer, because they recently elected a new leader who announced they were switching their platform to "Environmental populism"

Also, they have never had more than one MP until the last election (2024) so they haven't been in a position to actually implement much of their platform beyond promoting recycling rubbish bins and cycle paths through their reasonable crop of local councillors.

That's significantly different then, I think the German Greens have been part of every cabinet in the last half a century.

Not sure about "environmental populism" tho, is that where they just tell people they can fix everything in a couple of days after being elected, without giving any details or having any actual plans? That would definitely work if you have been previously destroying education standards and funding, so your electorate is kept as dumb and misinformed as possible.

 

[Cthel]

That's significantly different then, I think the German Greens have been part of every cabinet in the last half a century.

Not sure about "environmental populism" tho, is that where they just tell people they can fix everything in a couple of days after being elected, without giving any details or having any actual plans?

Best I can offer is the BBC profile on him after he was elected leader of the Party

In his "eco-populism" leadership pitch he has linked the climate crisis to inequality and called for radical action, "not briefcase politics", to fix unfair systems.

He has promised to lower bills with green energy and nationalised water companies, while also taking the "fight" to Labour, particularly on inequality.

The battle on inequality includes his longstanding support for a Universal Basic Income, a small, non-means-tested payment for everyone that covers basic needs.

As a former property guardian and long-time renter, Polanski has also campaigned for decent, warm homes for everyone.

He has called for the government to take action on what he describes as the genocide in Gaza, as well as being arrested for his activism with environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion.

 

[FranzJoseph]

Best I can offer is the BBC profile on him after he was elected leader of the Party

Given that privatising UK's water companies by Thatcher and her later cronies led to the UK beaches being literally swamped in shite overflow (as the water and sewer companies just gave a nudge nudge wink wink apologies), it might be actually a good thing. Unfortunately, I am not versed in the current UK politics above that...

 

[Cthel]

Given that privatising UK's water companies by Thatcher and her later cronies led to the UK beaches being literally swamped in shite overflow (as the water and sewer companies just gave a nudge nudge wink wink apologies), it might be actually a good thing. Unfortunately, I am not versed in the current UK politics above that...

It's a really odd bit of the current UK political climate that the idea of letting the failing water companies go bankrupt and just renationalising the assets is extremely popular with voters across the entire political spectrum, but apparently completely unacceptable to both the current Labour government and the previous Tory administration.

I assume there must be some rationale for this position buried somewhere in the Treasury briefings, but it's never been articulated to the voting public...

It can't even be concern about setting a precedent for other privatised utilities, because that's almost exactly how the railways are being renationalised. (If a franchise operator goes bust, their operation is incorporated into the new national train operator; otherwise when the franchise agreement expires it will not be renewed)

 

[vhoracek]

That's significantly different then, I think the German Greens have been part of every cabinet in the last half a century.

Not sure about "environmental populism" tho, is that where they just tell people they can fix everything in a couple of days after being elected, without giving any details or having any actual plans? That would definitely work if you have been previously destroying education standards and funding, so your electorate is kept as dumb and misinformed as possible.

The German Greens certainly weren't part of most German cabinets over half a century, not in the least because they were established in 1980 (in West Germany) and in 1993 merged with Alliance 90 which was founded in (former) East Germany in 1990. So far they only supported cabinets led by the social democratic party (SPD), but none of the grand coalitions led by the Christian democrats (CDU).
They took part in the Scholz cabinet (2021-2025) and the two Schröder cabinets two decades prior (1998-2002, 2002-2005). That's it.

 

[FranzJoseph]

It's a really odd bit of the current UK political climate that the idea of letting the failing water companies go bankrupt and just renationalising the assets is extremely popular with voters across the entire political spectrum, but apparently completely unacceptable to both the current Labour government and the previous Tory administration.

I assume there must be some rationale for this position buried somewhere in the Treasury briefings, but it's never been articulated to the voting public...

It can't even be concern about setting a precedent for other privatised utilities, because that's almost exactly how the railways are being renationalised. (If a franchise operator goes bust, their operation is incorporated into the new national train operator; otherwise when the franchise agreement expires it will not be renewed)

I just find it pretty telling that the UK voters are getting really upset about their water bills and beaches full of shite excreted from the latest "overflow" pipeline...

I mean, I'd have been really upset too, it's just that neither of the big parties seem to realise that.

 

[numerobis]

Based on a cursory read of their political program, it appears there are quite a few melons* among those Greens though. UK dropping out of NATO, etc.

* Green on the outside, thoroughly red on the inside.

That plank of many leftist platforms doesn’t survive contact with power. Remember how the Green ministers in Scholz’s government were publicly calling on him to stop Scholzing and send the fucking tanks, and Patriots, and shells, and everything.

Trump and Putin are making it get discussed even before taking power. At a local meeting of my provincial leftist party there was one member talking about strengthening the planks about exiting NATO and ending all defense funding, while another member basically just called her a loon to her face. Single-digit years ago there’d have been debate about how to word the resolution, not debate about the resolution being fucking insane.

 

[numerobis]

I just find it pretty telling that the UK voters are getting really upset about their water bills and beaches full of shite excreted from the latest "overflow" pipeline...

I mean, I'd have been really upset too, it's just that neither of the big parties seem to realise that.

The big parties are Labour and Conservatives in parliament… but in polls it’s Reform and then Labour/Conservatives/Greens tied for second.

 

[numerobis]

Not very familiar with the UK's Greens, are they much like the German Greens, the ones who shut down all German nuclear power and replaced it with coal, while being besties with KGB spy Gerhardt Schroeder?

The german greens failed terribly at replacing nuclear with coal. Nuclear is gone… but coal is also way down.