Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 12, 2026

Israeli intelligence estimates that at least 1,000 Iranians have already been killed in the wave of protests sweeping the country. Even by moderate assessments, the current death toll has surpassed that of the 2022 protests, which began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini at the hands of the regime’s ‘Morality Police’ for disregarding the hijab law.

The Cyber Wars that Weren t

Spanish Outbreak of African Swine Fever in Wild Boars Renews Biosafety Concerns. A disturbing clash between evidence that points away from a lab leak and the uneasy reality that a reference strain used in nearby high‑containment labs somehow appeared in the forest.

Overhauling Air Traffic Control Involves 5,000 Locations And 600 Radar Systems: Here’s What To Know

The unpowered SSDs in your drawer are slowly losing your data

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 11, 2026

Iran protests: Death toll rises to over 538

The Enigma of Damascus

Canada sees dramatic rise in deportations, asylum seekers among majority

U.S. Seizes Fifth Tanker ‘Olina’ in Caribbean, Intensifying Crackdown on Sanction-Evasion Oil Fleet

25 more thoughts on Venezuela and “regime change”

Syrian army besieges Kurdish neighborhoods in Aleppo following clashes

With protests surging across cities and towns across Iran, the regime has reportedly unleashed foreign fighters to crack down on protesters. The U.S. State Department raised the alarm about Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraqi terror militia set loose on Iranians.

Lamenting the Liberal Order That Never Was

The day the cloud went out

17 House Republicans Join Democrats to Restore Obamacare Subsidies Extension

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 9, 2026

Russia’s Oreshnik Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Used In Large-Scale Attack On Ukraine

In Defence of our Neighbours, Pt. 2

In a major economic achievement for President Milei, Argentina has fully and rapidly repaid the US$ 2.5 billion drawdown from a US$ 20 billion currency swap facility with the United States Treasury.

Microbial patterns in colorectal tumors may predict patient survival and disease progression

Among the Agents. How I use coding agents, and what I think they mean

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 8, 2026

Days Of Rage, Nights Of Flames Across Iran

The Unfortunate Greenland Kerfuffle

A video short that went viral showed Weaver talked about moving home ownership from an “individualized good” to a “collective good,” saying that “especially white families, but some POC families” are going to have to embrace a “different relationship to property” than “the one that we currently have”:

The Tyranny of the Complainers

Young women are radicalising This article calls to mind “It was always the women, and above all the young ones, who were the most bigoted adherents of the Party, the swallowers of slogans, the amateur spies and nosers-out of unorthodoxy.”
― George Orwell, 1984

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 7, 2026

U.S. Forces Seize Fleeing Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker In North Atlantic

Venezuelan Echoes in the Arctic, Pt. 1

Japanese nuclear plant operator fabricated seismic risk data

This had the opposite effect from what was intended on me. My House Burned in the L.A. Fires. What Happens Now?

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, January 6, 2026

Thousands of residents in southwest Berlin are still without electricity and heating amid freezing temperatures after a weekend attack on a cable bridge caused a power outage. Some 14,000 of the some 45,000 households initially affected have had their power restored, but provider Stromnetz Berlin said it might take until Thursday for complete coverage to return.

Pakistan’s high fertility has driven population growth faster than India’s. In 1952 Pakistan had about one-tenth of India’s population; by 2025 it had grown to nearly one-seventh.

Notes on Afghanistan

A Mysterious Weak Spot in Earth’s Magnetic Field Has Grown Nearly Half the Size of Europe