Yeah

Nice Z-hat

Russians prototyping and rolling out a new type of ballistic kilt designed for more shrapnel protection for the groin and low explosions in the drone/artillery combat, calling it samurai style armor. The basic idea of getting around the restrictive mobility of plates by having the flex fabric between them. Its way more lower body protection than standard issue western designs, but the bright side is that in the age of tiktok the west can copy this kind of development instantly and probably make our own, better version faster than russia can get theirs widespread.

Christmas reading material

https://mises.org/mises-wire/provoked-long-train-abuses-culminated-ukraine-war

I thought they used stuff like this already or is it just an improved version of it? I remember seeing pics/videos of Russian military wearing armor pieces that stretched down below the groin/thigh area, a pretty distinct look, not something most other combat troops wear. It makes sense, it's a pretty vital area to protect.

In other news, Kursk offensive not going so well. At this point Ukraine maintains less than half of the territory it seized in Kursk. When Zelensky talked about heavy NK losses, that should have been a signal. Anytime there's set backs on the battlefield Ukraine's leadership tries to divert attention (next wonder weapon, Russian ship sinkings, Syria, huge losses, and so on)

Nato to boost Baltic Sea presence after suspected sabotage of underwater cable

Nato is to increase its military presence in the Baltic Sea, the alliance has announced, after the suspected sabotage of an underwater power cable running between Finland and Estonia.

The Estlink 2 submarine cable was disconnected from the grid on Christmas Day, little more than a month after two telecommunications cables were severed in Swedish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea.
Finnish authorities seized a ship on Thursday, citing suspicions that the vessel had engaged in “sabotage” to cause the Estlink 2 outage. The Eagle S, which flies under the flag of the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, was en route to Port Said in Egypt.

On Friday, Finnish police said they had interrogated crew members of the Eagle S, and suspected the vessel of partaking in “aggravated criminal mischief”. Investigators believe the ship could have deliberately caused the damage by dragging its anchor along the seabed. “Had it kept going with its anchor on the seabed, more damage would have occurred,” Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, said on Friday.

Sami Rakshit, the head of Finnish customs, has said the assumption is that the Eagle S was part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” – vessels flagged to third countries that are used to transport Russian crude and other oil products that have been under embargo since the invasion of Ukraine.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/27/estonia-begins-naval-patrols-to-protect-cable-after-suspected-sabotage-finland

I find the above article absolutely fucking hilarious. Those cheeky-breeki Russians trolling with their “aggravated criminal mischief”.