[BREAKING] News Thread

[Moonface]

Yeah I don't know if anything has come out about how a fire broke out on board. I would assume it must have been equipment related rather than someone burning their toast in the kitchen.

[Moonface]

Ooh, so a meteor was really visible over Portugal last night and it looks so cool in this video from someone's dash cam .

No idea if it landed and did any damage or whatever since this video is all I've seen and I only just came across it.

[Moonface]

So in the fun news of the day (and probably the whole weekend) where you might want to grab some popcorn to watch the chaos in comfort, a global IT outage occurred overnight after cyber security firm Crowdstrike pushed an update to its antivirus software that has caused computers using that software around the world to BSoD, affecting flights, healthcare, and more: BBC | Crowdstrike and Microsoft: What we know about global IT outage

tl;dr version is basically imagine if the Y2K bug actually happened but in an era where technology usage is bigger than it was 24 years ago.

Edit: The dedicated Wikipedia page for this whole shit show does a good job of summing up everything affected by country. Australia seems to be one of the worst hit based on current info.

[Maniakkid25]

To borrow a phrase from a Youtuber I watch: "My friends, it just. Keeps. Happening."

A few days ago, Bangladesh had a stunning political upset: its long-time prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been ousted in the wake of massive student protests. The situation is still developing as Bangladesh has put together an interim government headed by Muhammed Yunus, who is apparently a laureate for the Nobel Peace Prize. As you might expect, this is a situation that goes pretty deep back. Here's a 30-minute primer on the context, if you need it. It doesn't cover what's been happening since Hasina fled, but it'll get you up to speed.

[ShiraNoMai]

The power of the people, bay-bee! I always tell people that it's the way you protest that really makes or breaks the "usefulness" of it.

[Moonface]

I'm hoping it doesn't lead to anything crazy happening again like in 2020 but I saw that the mpox outbreak occurring in parts of Africa has seen its first case found outside of the region, specifically in Sweden: BBC | First case of more dangerous mpox found outside Africa

I know vaccines already exist for this unlike when COVID first started spreading, but I'm finding it hard to not be a little skeptical that this outbreak could escalate unnecessarily just like COVID did.

[Maniakkid25]

*reads article up to explaining what it is* OH, Mpox is the new name for Monkeypox, okay. I was wondering if it was a new strain or something like that. Yeah, Mpox is no joke; get vaccinated, kids.

So, in case you've been living under a rock, Ukraine has occupied new territory in its war with Russia. The significance of this? It's sovereign Russian territory. Yes, Ukraine has launched an incursion into the Russian oblast of Kursk, and has been running roughshod inside of it. How hard are they going? Well, estimates differ significantly, but it's averaging around 1200 square kilometers that Ukraine has occupied. That's a chunk of land the size of Okinawa. This in one week of the incursion. Yeah, they are rolling at fucking light speed!

[Moonface]

*reads article up to explaining what it is* OH, Mpox is the new name for Monkeypox, okay. I was wondering if it was a new strain or something like that. Yeah, Mpox is no joke; get vaccinated, kids.

Yeah, I had the same issue when I first saw the new term. Apparently it was changed because monkeypox doesn't come from monkeys and they don't want people falsely associating the illness with them.

As for the Ukraine thing, I haven't really seen anything about that in ages. All I've known is it's still going on, but nothing beyond that. I'm glad to see that Ukraine isn't just still holding their own but also managing to push back harder than simply holding their existing territory. I just wonder what advantage it gives them though when Russia now knows they're in that area since it seems Ukraine took it over by catching Russia with their pants down.

[Maniakkid25]

It puts them in a more favorable position if they have Russian territory as a bargaining chip should this war go into negotiations. What's probably about to happen is Ukraine is going to back off to more defensible positions, and dig in. But yeah, Ukraine has been kicking Russia's ASS lately. They've been getting beat up in turn, but they've put up a WAY better fight than you'd expect.

[Moonface]

It puts them in a more favorable position if they have Russian territory as a bargaining chip should this war go into negotiations.

Do you think it would ever reach negotiations? I don't believe anything would make Putin want to negotiate legitimately; his idea of a negotiation is "I make all the demands and you agree".

[Maniakkid25]

I have my doubts that the war would go to negotiations as well, but that's the big reason why you'd want to take a chunk of Russian territory. That and maybe light the dying fire that is the Western aid to Ukraine by showing they aren't done in yet, so please keep helping them. And yes! Do keep helping them! Slava Ukraini!

[Moonface]

I haven't followed the aid stuff to know how it stands, but considering Russia show no intentions to just drop it and leave no matter what you throw at them, I could understand the aid response to that being "Just give enough to stop Ukraine losing but don't bother with efforts to get Russia out when they just keep throwing meat into the grinder" and thus keep the whole thing at a stalemate. Like, how much has already been given to help Ukraine fight back Russia and that wasn't enough to get Russia to actually fuck off? If what's already been used didn't get rid of them then may as well use the bare minimum to keep them from advancing too much and save the resources (from the perspective of the aiding countries here).

[Maniakkid25]

The problem is you're not thinking attritionally. From just a standpoint of the meat grinder, this war continuing is one of NATO's best outcomes, because it grinds down Russia's army. And plus, we have no idea what Putin has planned next. Does he want the Baltics, too? What about Poland? Moldova has a frozen conflict "administered" by Russia (leading to the de facto territory of Transnistria); do they want to annex that area, too? Maybe they want to push all the way to Serbia?

This is not about forcing Russia back; it's about keeping them from moving forward. You're probably right in the assessment that this won't get Russia to back off, but these aid packages were never designed to do that. We have to make a stand, and say "this here, and no farther". Apologies for even going here, but we all remember the last time we just let the bigger power take territory that wasn't considered theirs by international law; do we really want to see it happen again?

[Moonface]

The problem is you're not thinking attritionally. From just a standpoint of the meat grinder, this war continuing is one of NATO's best outcomes, because it grinds down Russia's army. And plus, we have no idea what Putin has planned next. Does he want the Baltics, too? What about Poland? Moldova has a frozen conflict "administered" by Russia (leading to the de facto territory of Transnistria); do they want to annex that area, too? Maybe they want to push all the way to Serbia?

This is not about forcing Russia back; it's about keeping them from moving forward. You're probably right in the assessment that this won't get Russia to back off, but these aid packages were never designed to do that. We have to make a stand, and say "this here, and no farther". Apologies for even going here, but we all remember the last time we just let the bigger power take territory that wasn't considered theirs by international law; do we really want to see it happen again?

Oh if my post portrayed otherwise I was saying that if aid has decreased to just "Stop Russia going forward but if they don't go back then whatever" then it wouldn't surprise me because there's no point trying to push Russia backwards because 1) they won't stop anyway and 2) escalation would be required if what has been done so far didn't push them back yet and that's a bad idea. So basically we're in agreement on this.

[Maniakkid25]

Ah, fair enough, then. My bad for misunderstanding.

Speaking of the Ukraine war, everyone remembers the Nord Stream Pipeline incident, right? Well, if you don't, here's the quick version: SOMEONE bombed the pipeline that was supplying Germany with Russian natural gas. No one is really sure who. ...except for the Germans, who think they have come up with the evidence for who they think did it.

So, short version if you don't wanna read the article: Germany is accusing Ukraine of heading the bombing of the pipeline. So far, so normal; Ukraine was always one of the prime suspects. Where it gets bad is who they are accusing of aiding and abetting Ukraine's efforts: Poland.

As you might expect, these are all allegations. But, whether or not this is true, this is not a good narrative to have floating around in the ether. Poland is part of NATO, so the idea that one of NATO's members helped sabotage another member's critical infrastructure is, to put it lightly, bad. And I'm just ignoring the impacts it could have on German aid to Ukraine. Whether or not this is true, this is definitely... a thing.