TejanoAtUT

Regarding the second carrier group deploying, this WSJ article mentions that it was a scheduled deployment. (https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/israel-hamas-war-gaza/card/u-s-weighs-deploying-second-aircraft-carrier-group-i4fMGkmj7mGmlQCNqW1W), It's pay-walled, so I couldn't read the rest, so I'm hoping someone else might have other sources to provide additional context. I'm not at all knowledgeable about the topic, but I'm sure that along with the USS Gerald Ford already out there, it's not an unexpected show of force.

Didn't see this mentioned before, but a bit of a thought about the name of the city, Matamoros. I grew up in the RGV and never thought about it, but unless I'm wrong, doesn't Matamoros literally mean: Mata = kill moros = moors So Matamoros is a surname from way back Spain, and used by some old badass known for "kill (er)" of "moors"? That's metal AF.

Anyone see this story yet? SpaceX paid $250,000 to settle sexual misconduct claim against Elon Musk: report

This is just my own likely dumb musing, at least until Ukraine makes a statement. Hoping not to jinx it, but having Ukraine hit the Russians on their own turf would be phenomenal, but if the Russians are claiming Ukraine attacked Belgorod, what are the odds the Russians carried out a false-flag op on their own fuel depot?

Was this a botched operation by the Russians? Or was Abramovich the unwilling agent meant to deliver the poisoning agent to the Ukrainian delegation?

The meeting will be in person and will be chaired by the NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg. The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Finland and Sweden

Apparently there was a Russian Ilyushin Il76TD flying towards Kaliningrad, but made a sharp turn in NATO airspace over Poland and flew directly over Poland into Bratislava, Slovakia. Twitter Link

The BBC is reporting the same. I'm wondering if this was an errant strike, or if this might be the first of targeted strikes at locations of people (or families of people) on Putin's hit list.

I agree with this. If anything, I'd bet the more likely scenario would be the interesting bit of speculation that was brought up by a correspondent on MSNBC. The Baltics and Poland have a justifiable concern about Putin getting ideas about bridging the gap between Kaliningrad and Belarus. This is obviously extremely unlikely, but slightly more likely that going straight for Germany.

I wonder if those Turkish Air Force planes were there.

I'm not part of the Surly Flight Tracking team, but the Global Hawk that's been monitoring Ukraine seems to REALLY be pacing back and forth along Eastern Ukraine tonight.

Twitter link

Twitter link

There has been discussion and speculation as to Putin's actual power over the Russian oligarchs and the country at large. Is this video meant to be a choreographed demonstration for the Russian public of Putin's control over his government, or is it meant more as a message meant to get any remaining doubtful internal government/oligarch elements in line with him? Western commentators and pundits have mentioned that Putin's speech from yesterday shows he came off as unhinged, at least in comparison to some of his previous remarks and actions. But is that really surprising to the experts that have been paying attention? I suppose what I'm really asking is, do Western governments believe Putin might have gone off the deep end for real?

All according to Putin's plan, it seems. So now, the "independent" Donetsk and Luhansk governments will order any Ukrainian presence to leave their territory, and if not they'll be forcibly removed, with ""assistance" from Russia. Does that sound about right?