Iran bombs Baloch separatists in Pakistan, which retaliates by bombing the same separatists in Iran. What a lovely lovely escalation path!

As predicted, a China brokered ceasefire's been declared after the 3 Brotherhood Alliance took Kokang in Myanmar.

t.me/taangtv2023/...

Myanmar sees the junta surrender in Laukkai, with masses of prisoners and weapons captured.

Tat forces in S. Chin are also tottering, with only major bases left unconquered.

Surrenders: twitter.com/nicholas6284...

S. Chin: www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/a...

Go: What We Got Right, What We Got Wrong - Rob Pike

To me:
- missed HPC
- hard to call ioctl
- nil pointers

Fortran/C++ aren't the most ergonomic, and slight design changes would have made Go excel on a multi-threaded, multi-machine domain... Alas

commandcenter.blogspot.com/2024/01/what... golang

The Houthis are a massive threat to Egypt, which:
- will go bankrupt without Suez 2024 transit fees
- has 12 frigates, 10 corvettes and a Mistral LHD
- ignores a threat in its backyard threatening economic collapse, waiting for the US and EU to solve it

Baffling

Repression closing off nonviolent forms of dissent increases domestic terrorism, especially when contributing to group (tribal) grievances, according to "Repression and Terrorism", where Piazza's investigates 149 countries between 1981 and 2006.

www.start.umd.edu/publication/...

In Myanmar, the MNDAA captured regional capital Laukkai.
- Lashio and Muse will soon fall, freeing many soldiers up
- MNDAA will consolidate and deal with politics (China pressures a halt, NUG wants advances)
- ethnic tensions, fear of MNDAA being seen as conqueror

www.facebook.com/mandalayfree...

Damning NYT report on IDF on October 7th. Key takeaways:
- IDF undermanned, unorganized
- coms so degraded that IDF used Whatsapp for targeting and planning
- no plans for responding to large-scale attack
- Civilian reserves self-mobilized, no IDF involvement 1st day

www.nytimes.com/2023/12/30/w...

Turkey unveiled a stealth flying wing drone. Key takeaways:
- design started in 2015, with minitures flying in 2022 and 2 full scale prototypes produced
- 12.5 x 9.5 m, 6.5 tons, 1.2 ton payload
- Ukrainian AI-322 engine, Turkish replacement planned

www.defenceturkey.com/tr/icerik/an...

SZ interviewed General Freuding, head of MoD cent. staff. Key points:

> while weakened, Russia could reorganize within 5-8 years

> if we make security commitments, we reduce the need to strengthen UAF

> 10,000 UAF soldiers trained in Germany so far

www.sueddeutsche.de/projekte/art...