Recent content by iPlug

Doesn’t look like Russia will be able to lower their key interest rate of 16% anytime soon (raised from 14% in December).

Nice.

Wants to transfer air defenses, perhaps. But can or will they? Russia has been struggling to cover their asse(t)s.

Latest drama, seems more plausible this time but still file in “believe it when we see it”: Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday said he planned this week to advance a long-stalled national security spending package to aid Israel, Ukraine and other American allies, along with a separate bill aimed at...

Russia losing more top brass: This would be excellent if it somehow pans out:

Wonder if a couple hundred drones (many dummies would do just fine) to saturate the flight path towards Crimean bridge followed/interspersed with a few of these could take the bridge out. Should also work well with many Russian military targets including dual duty infrastructure such as further...

Sadly, Israel has plenty more just cause for retribution against Iran. Here's another: A high court in Argentina ruled on Thursday that Iran was the mastermind of the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people, potentially paving the way for relatives of...

A matter of perspective some would argue. Killing Iranian generals at an embassy is usually an international no-no, but so is when the same country most proximally facilitated the death of ~1200 Israelis and over 200 hostages taken. It is thus some who would call the embassy incident justice...

OPEC+ is the rate limiting arbiter of oil/gasoline prices, not currently Ukraine's disruption of Russian oil/refineries. OPEC+ as of this quarter has voluntarily cut oil output 2.2 million barrels per day. This is another layer of politics impacting US elections and elsewhere, and the Saudis...

It’s working, Ukraine - keep it up:

New Ukrainian manufactured drone reported to be ready for deployment with impressive 2,050 miles range and 660 lbs payload. Not noted here, but purportedly also uses AI to counter Russian EW defenses:

Ukraine’s continuing hits on Russian oil refineries and depots seem to be working. Global oil prices continue to creep up since this started. Higher oil/refined product prices do not help Russian finances as this is offset much more by their reduced sales volume availability. It’s also bad for...

...engineers at Evolve Dynamics are working on technology that could help keep Ukraine's reconnaissance drones in the sky even after Russia tries to jam them electronically. https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/uk-firm-supports-ukrainian-armed-forces-drone-tech-race-2024-03-27/

Russia has increased gasoline imports from neighbouring Belarus in March to tackle the risk of shortages in its domestic market because of unscheduled repairs at Russian refineries after drone attacks, four industry and trade sources said on Wednesday. Usually Russia is a net exporter of fuel...

The ISIS sub-group that claimed responsibility was ISIS-K (Islamic State affiliate in Khorasan) - this is apparently an old term for the region that includes parts of Iran, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan. Apparently ISIS-K has a particular axe to grind against Putin and accuses him of atrocities...