The doctrine of the EU so far, is to consider China a multi-faced player: a partner for cooperation, an economic competitor and a systemic rival (e.g. it’s possible to cooperate with China on climate, but not on human rights).

So far, China has also been a multi-faced player. Xi has patted Putin on the back and declared “unlimited partnership”, but no Chinese weapons have been seen in Ukraine. Chinese soldiers have been observed there, but they seem to be really few for a country of that size - either mercenaries or people obtaining first hand experience under mercenary cover. Too few to matter as soldiers.

China has warm trade relations with Russia and has helped Russia source technology and endure sanctions. However, they haven’t made a special and dedicated effort to insulate Russia from secondary sanctions, and several Chinese companies have applied sanctions on Russia as a result.

On other occasions, Chinese representatives have said nice words about Ukraine’s territorial integrity. But deeds haven’t followed.

In UN votes about Ukraine, China often abstains.

Officially, China doesn’t sell drones to Russia or Ukraine. In reality, both Ukrainian and Russian drones are full of Chinese parts. Ukrainian government is asking every bigger player to have a plan B that works without China, but few really have one. What Russian government asks of their drone makers, I don’t know.

I think the video refers to this event: back in 2022, a journalist was shot by Israeli troops while covering a raid in a refugee camp.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Shireen_Abu_Akleh

The most recent news article about it is from Al Jazeera, 1 day ago:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/8/new-documentary-identifies-soldier-who-shot-shireen-abu-akleh

As for Biden’s role, Al Jazeera describes it thusly:

The administration of former US President Joe Biden had “concluded early on that an Israeli soldier had intentionally targeted her, but that conclusion was overruled internally”, he said.

“We found some concerning evidence that both Israel and the Biden administration had covered up Shireen’s killing and allowed the soldier to get away without any accountability,” he added.

So, they were able to do the math, but subsequently “fell on their tongue” instead of speaking up. Later on, the issue was dragged out into public attention anyway, but Israel failed to investigate properly and prosecute the killing (they apologized, though). As of yesterday, the primary suspect’s name is also known. But that doesn’t guarantee much.

Myself, I actively avoid YouTube as a source of news, since YouTube has a recommendation algorithm that feeds people content that it thinks they want. To get news about the Middle East, I’ll recommend Al Jazeera almost without hesitation.

I think the best tactic for such advances is laughing at them, all the way to the door. :)

They should stop escalating this folly.

It would be a major victory for a dozen terrorists, if they managed to provoke two large countries into an actual war, and currently this seems to be happening.

A dozen guys with rifles, murdering 26 civilians, have caused two countries to wreck billions worth of equipment and one of them to play games with a large river too.

This is not supposed to be possible. If this is possible, it’s proof that terrorism works. :(

I would not use to the word “good” in any sentence describing such events - nothing like that is good.

However, risk of their state not lasting because they alienated most allies and made countless enemies, should make people (even politicians) think twice.

If Gaza will be entirely destroyed, there is a considerable risk that Israel will meet the same fate later.

If a country spans only 22 000 square kilometers and is inhabited by 10 million people, it’s not very smart to make enemies among every group who can relate to Palestinians - for example Muslims (about 1.9 billion people) or perhaps Arabs (around 400 million people).

Put simply - Israel has withstood various pressures because of US backing.

The US currently runs a high risk of getting somewhat indisposed due to a president they elected acting very foolishly. If the US should break down, Israel will find itself very isolated.

If Israel makes a record amount of determined enemies now, it may have a record amount of people seeking its downfall later. Even if the Israeli government doesn’t care the slightest amount about Palestinians, it should consider its own future before acting in the described way.

There seems to be confirmation from various sources.

It’s stupid. Because of what a dozen terrorists did, a country of 1.4 billion and 250 million people risk getting into a war.

As a someone who studied biology: at an early age, you don’t want more neuroplasticity. You already have enough. More may do you harm, and cannabis gives more, so cannabis may do you harm.

When you’re 70 and your neural networks are set in stone, do consider what could safely increase neuroplasticity. But whatever you consume, don’t consume it by inhaling smoke. :)

He might have been old and frail, but apparently stayed up to date with world affairs.

While hopelessly symbolic, this is an excellent move to draw attention to the hunger and disease occurring in Gaza due to Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid.

“This is why we need a strong NATO and we need troops on the ground in Romania, in Poland and in the Baltic states,” he said, although he was against sending further military aid to Ukraine.

And then he calls himself perfectly aligned with MAGA. :D

Unfortunately, MAGA is anti-NATO, “pay Donald so your house won’t catch fire on a case by case basis”.

If I was naive, I would consider if he’s clueless or a liar. Since he’s a well educated man, he cannot be clueless - he’s a liar, of course.

He earned his first political points surfing on anti-vaccination waves. Basically “don’t tell us to be reasonable and protect our health, it’s our choice if we want to suffer”.

Now apparently, he’s the embodiment of “don’t tell us to be reasonable and choose moderate politicians, it’s our choice if we want to suffer”.

He’s capitalising on resentment against the court intervening in elections, after Georgescu “forgot” to tell about unknown (read: Russian) actors backing him with thousands of accounts and millions of money. The court did its job. People just weren’t aware that it was a court’s job to supervise elections.

I wonder if he gets elected. It would not bring any good.

a breach of even 1p would trigger a fine of £83.30

Sounds extremely, extremely stupid. A breach of 1p should trigger repayment of 1p.

Also, a person should be notified at once, at the latest next month.

I’m tempted to comment his statement with “yes, captain Obvious”.

It could have only ended if they had: a) not obstructed Biden, b) fully backed the measures Biden took, c) continued with measures of their own of equal weight, and d) threatened to double down with more measures really soon.

Instead, they set up their “art of the deal” clown and pony show (where an angry clown fails to jump over a beaten down pony).

So far, Putin has taken it as confirmation and encouragement. If they grow up super fast (yea, sure they will…) this might still be possible to change.

But realistically, I think they won’t grow up - this is more likely just a brief flash of partial sanity. At this stage, other people will have to do the job while the US provides a steady supply of tragic humor.

Since the area contains heads of state (enough to measure in tons) among them the wannabe god-emperor of America, yes, it will be a parade of the latest antidrone tech. :)

Also, everyone near airfields will be scanning for anti-aircraft installations in the shrubbery. The usual stuff.

It’s not a big number, but only 300 such drones exist, to my knowledge.

I wonder, hypothetically, if ICE could continue to effectively do its job under mild conditions of area denial and defense in depth… e.g. if their vehicles, wherever they are found, would run a high chance of getting blocked in by careless people parking other vehicles in unfathomable ways, while some percentage of vehicles found in more private locations experience an increased risk of vandalism…

It seems he lost his mind, before losing his body too. :(

According to labels, I’m using plain ordinary G.652.D with a 25 mm bending radius. Maybe I got lucky with the pencil experiment. :)

I know the “bend insensitive” versions exist, but when the cheaper alternative worked, there seemed to be no need.

What kind of comms do the wires allow?

In case of FPV drones, anything up to and including gigabit TCP/IP.

It’s neither, they’re spare wire reels for older tow missiles which were wired for the same reason.

Nope, it’s all telecom fiber. TOW uses copper to my knowledge (never seen one, not fully certain). Droners use telecom grade single mode fiber (fused silica, 125 micrometer diameter, acrylic coated).

I build some (they aren’t in Ukrainian hands yet, but will be - if they want them, because they’re advancing super fast and could be many steps ahead). There is no “might”, they work.

10 kilometers of fiber weighs 1.5 kg, less if you buy fancier kinds of fiber. A drone with 10-inch props lifts this without problems. You can bend the fiber around a pencil and only experience degraded signal. Only a 90-degree bend will make it snap. In the war zone, landscapes after some battles already resemble “attack of the spiders” movies.

In peace time, the challenge is finding a farmer who allows using their field to test this. Promising to reel everything in and pay for damaged crops goes a long way, though. But sea is an even better idea - easier to reel it back.

P.S.

I am quite grateful to an Ukrainian radio amateur, Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov. He published info about the early Russian models that were found crashed, and made a big deal about it, as one should. People listened to him and took him seriously, and started developing them ASAP.