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Russia just launched one of the largest large scale air attacks of the entire Ukraine war a few hours ago, after yesterday's attack involving 14 ballistic missiles (Iskander-M/KN-23) and 250 Geran/Shahed drones and decoys.

Tonight's attack involved the use of 9 Tu-95M and 3 Tu-160 strategic bombers launching Kh-101 subsonic cruise missiles, Su-57 stealth aircraft launching Kh-69 stealth subsonic cruise missiles, ships in the black sea launching dozens of Kalibr cruise missiles, potentially dozens of Iskander M, Kn-23 and Iskander-1000 ground launched ballistic missiles, along with the usual Geran/Shahed drones and decoys. So a massive attack. No Kinzhal air launched ballistic missiles from MiG-31K aircraft, preliminary reports of long range ballistic missile strikes beyond the range of the usual Iskander M suggest that Iskander-1000 has taken up the role usually fulfilled by the Kinzhal.

The air raid is still continuing, with Tu-22M3 bombers launching Kh-32/22 supersonic cruise missiles.

There has been a large redeployment and repositioning of Russian Air Force and Ministry of Defence transport aircraft, flying away from Moscow during the Russian attack. Ukraine also launched a drone attack on Moscow, so it's likely to do with that.

Amk mapping telegram, provides a good English translation of Russian and Ukrainian sources

I spoke to some people working in executive positions for small to medium-sized Danish naval contractors recently. They told me that five years ago all the people from the industry were gathered by the navy for meetings on constructing new patrol ships. Many people drew large salaries for going to a lot of meetings. Nothing has been built yet. Now they're starting over from scratch, this time not just to build patrol ships but to build an entire new navy. Many people are drawing large salaries to go to a lot of meetings again.

The regime wants to build the new navy domestically. However, and these executives were very aware of this, the capacity to build large ships doesn't exist in the west anymore. The large shipyards have all been closed down and converted to other uses and even though Denmark still has a capacity for maritime engineering, design and architecture, the skilled workers needed to actually build the ships are not there anymore. And even if they were, nobody would want to pay a couple of hundred of them the salaries they would have to. There's a reason why ship building was outsourced in the first place.

The regime plans to get around this by letting a hundred subcontractors bloom, each building parts of the new ships in different locations. Then all the parts are going to be gathered in the harbour of Esbjerg and welded together there. The executives didn't think much of that idea. They thought that the way to get around having to employ 300 ship builders is to sprinkle the magic fairy dust of technology on the new naval shipyard, somehow using robotics and the line to reduce the number of workers to a hundred.

I don't think their idea of robotic domestic shipyards is that much less delusional than the one-piece-at-the-time scheme imagined by the regime. As if Asian shipyards were not already using robotics where possible. Also, unlike the west, China and other Asian countries have an actual shipbuilding industry that can be leveraged to develop new fancy high-tech solutions, the west doesn't.

Interesting interview with a Russian drone developer

Guy's got a particular perspective (small Russian military drone manufacturer who wants to be better integrated into the Russian MIC) but very interesting overall. He talks about tactics such as using a fiber optic drone to hit the jamming source of an incursion, be it a backpack kit or vehicle with the EW hardware, then using cheaper radio drones to begin picking apart the rest of the force. He also talks about downsides of fiber optics - in particular light you can see the cables and track them to their source from a recon drone. You can also put a laser into a terminated optical drone's cable and use that to track it back to the source on the ground. Lots of interesting stuff.

CNTE protests in Mexico City: What are the teachers asking for, what have they been given, and how are the negotiations going? Hexbear Post

Tensions between teachers from the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) and the government have reached a critical point. After a week of protests, including the blockade of Mexico City's main thoroughfares and the closure of access to the National Palace prior to President Claudia Sheinbaum's morning press conference, the teachers' union remains steadfast in demanding the repeal of the 2007 ISSSTE Law. Meanwhile, authorities have limited themselves to describing this reform implemented by Felipe Calderón as an "injustice." However, they maintain that there is insufficient funding to completely reverse it or implement a new pension system under the conditions demanded by the CNTE.

Venezuela’s 2025 Legislative and Regional Elections: A Quick Guide - Venezuelanalysis Hexbear Post

Venezuelans return to the polls on Sunday, May 25, to elect a new National Assembly, governors for 24 states, and regional legislative councils. This is the 32nd electoral event under the Bolivarian Revolution.

With their respective terms ending on January 5, 2026, the Venezuelan Constitution determines that a new National Assembly (AN) and regional authorities must be chosen this year. The unusually early date leaves room for other elections later in the year, including municipal contests and a potential constitutional reform.

In addition, the electorate will also pick governors for the 24 states and 260 members of regional legislative councils. Regional officials serve four-year terms.

According to the PFLP, the enemy camp is a triad: The Israeli Entity (Zionist movement), global imperialism, and Arab reactionaries. This, the Front argued, was a precise diagnosis of the conflict. Consequently, it maintained that targeting the enemy should not be restricted by geography, since the enemy itself had made the entire world a battlefield.

Behind the Enemy Everywhere: Return of Palestinian External Ops? by Moussa al-Sadah

Moon of Alabama is having some hot take today in light of the Denmark raising retirement age: Chinese Work Less For Longer Retirements

China’s new retirement age for males born in 1970/12 is 61.5, and females is 55.25. With life expectancy 81.5 🇩🇰 vs 79 🇨🇳 and China’s much longer working hours (2450 hrs vs 🇩🇰 1563), Chinese work 4600 hours for 1 year of retirement, while Danes need to work for 6500 hours.

This calculation assumed Chinese start working at 20 years old and Danes start at 22 years old to account for higher education level in Denmark. Average retirement age 58.4 is assumed in China, just an average of male/female retirement ages.

So 🇨🇳 worked for 38.4 * 2450=94000 hrs in exchange of 20.6 yrs; 🇩🇰 worked for 48 * 1563=75000 hrs, retire for 11.5 yrs.

Obviously, the austerity policy in Europe is bad and the raising of retirement age is inevitable with the impending economic difficulties under neoliberalism, but the comparison with China (of all countries!) is quite another level of galaxy brain.

Average annual work hours by country:

(Top entry is Chinese internet companies that implement 996 work hours)

If you are between 20-40 years old, would you rather:

1. Work an average of 48 hours per week (much higher if you work in some 996 companies) with 0.5-1 day weekend, 5 days of paid annual leave (10 if you have worked for 10 years, 15 if you have worked for 20 years), no free healthcare, no social safety nets, but you get to retire at 60 (going up to 63, for men) or 55 (going up to 58, for women). Also take into account that once retired, a large portion of your 五险一金 (five insurances and one fund) payout is going to be spent on your aging health expenses since there is no free healthcare.

or

2. Work an average of 35 hours per week with at least 2-day weekend, 25 days (5 weeks) of paid annual leave, free universal healthcare and supported by strong social safety nets, but now you have to work until you are 70.

Which one will you choose?