[BREAKING] News Thread

[Karo]

Well I'm sure a lot of countries would love to give them long range drone, but they also don't want to bring Putin's ire.

Though I'll admit I'm not entirely sure what the state of the war right now?

[Moonface]

That's pretty much a Ship of Theseus question. You know, if you replace every part of a boat, is it still the same boat? But the Ukranians, as far as I recall, aren't getting long range drones from any one except Turkey, so it's reasonable to assume that it could have been a modified TB-2... if there weren't reports of honest to god jet engines preceding the attack. I can't say where they got the tech, but the point is that they do have it.

Ah, the question I once pitched to everyone here a few years ago.
I could see western countries trying to use a non-western country as a proxy to get parts to Ukraine by paying those countries for the drone parts but have them shipped to Ukraine.

@Karo: I feel like the war overall is in a form of stalemate of sorts where even if progress is being made by either side it ultimately isn't moving the needle enough to reach an ending one way or the other to the whole ordeal. I could be wrong because I don't follow any news on the matter but with how much it's dropped out of general discussion on the internet I get the impression it's just in a state of non-stop endurance by both sides. Regardless of the specifics of what's happening though I think the whole thing is going to end up like the Iraq war; just a long drawn out thing that will probably end from one side backing out of it rather than a side actually defeating the other.

[Maniakkid25]

Yeah, this war has turned straight up into an attrition grind. Ukraine has been making recent upsets (Kursk, Toropets, etc), but the Russians are grinding them down in the Donbas. It's bad. It's very bad.

[Moonface]

So I don't know if this is a new development or just something that has been going on that I just never knew about before now, but apparently North Korea is sending troops to fight in Ukraine wearing Russian uniforms or something?

Meanwhile over in Cuba, their entire electrical grid bit the dust so the whole country is experiencing a blackout and will continue to do so until all the power stations come back online, which I saw someone claim won't be a simple endeavor because it's more complicated than just turning the stuff back on apparently.

[Maniakkid25]

So the Catholic Church has decided to unveil a new mascot for the 2025 Jubilee. With a very "How do you do, fellow kids?" vibe, they unveiled Luce, a chibi anime girl. Luce is Italian (not Latin, interestingly) for "Light", hence the name. Her design is meant to be reminiscent of a Catholic Pilgrim, with a raincoat in the colors of the Vatican's flag and a pilgrim's staff.

I want to say, with no judgment or advocacy of religious belief: she is adorable.

[Moonface]

Ya know, I saw an image of that yesterday and thought it was some shitpost meme thing that wasn't actually real...

[Maniakkid25]

Yeah, that's what I first thought when I saw it, too. But no, it's a real thing that was really unveiled by the Vatican. There is a great mix of feelings I have looking at Luce, and most of them are probably not what the Vatican is going for.

...No, not like that; get your head out of the gutter!