This account is now mainly for lurking. X toxicity and anger are a suckful vibe. Find me on BlueSky, Threads, Mastodon, LinkedIn. Facts exist. š¦ š¤§š§¬šš§š¦
Australia
Joined December 2023
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Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
BREAKING: Ukraine has carried out the worldās first medical evacuation of a human via a drone from the battlefield the 30th mechanised brigade of Ukraine managed to save their injured comrade from a minefield.
Just absolutely insane.
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
Oil-rich Alberta rejects a move toward independence in a victory for Canadian Prime Minister Carney. apnews.com/article/alberta-cā¦
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
Russian military blogger says Ukrainian mid-range drone strikes on the main Russian supply route in occupied southern Ukraine have almost ceased because of the throttling of Starlink.
No need to elaborate on what this new freedom of logistics for Russia means for the frontline.
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
Something that is really frustrating about the Patriot interceptor crunch is that we knew it was coming. It was always coming. The math simply never worked out in Ukraine and people were raising the alarm from the moment Patriot deliveries started.
But both the Biden and Trump administrations deliberately hobbled Ukrainian defenders and their efforts to both suppress Iskander TELs as well as provide the tools to blast apart Votkinsk where theyāre made.
When ATACMS finally came, it came with the restriction that it could only be used in Ukraine. Starlink/shield has always had limitations for operation in Russia. Tomahawks were rejected by both admins.
Instead Ukraine was locked in an unwinnable, extremely expensive battle of aerial attrition. Now more than ever, with reliable interceptor supply not guaranteed, Ukraine needs to be able to hit both the archer as well as burn down the fletcherās workshop.
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
If we cannot be 100% certain that a technology will be available when we need it most, we cannot trust it at all.
Thatās how trust works. Either itās absolute, or it doesnāt exist.
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
"Buy American" increasingly means "Pay us now so we can decide later if you can depend on us at all."
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
Starlink has absolutely no role in the one military campaign Trump claims he wants Ukraine to end: hitting Russian oil refineries. It only works in Ukraine and it helps with air defense ā homegrown air defense, to be specific, which was born of necessity because we arenāt providing enough missile interceptors. A Russian Shahed today killed a one-year baby in a park. The U.S. is actively making it easier for Russia to commit these atrocities by throttling satellite internet. All while Trump makes excuses for Putin.
šŗš¦ Zelenskyy delivers a blunt message to the United States:
āJust give us Starlink back. If you refuse, Ukraine will survive. We will continue defending ourselves with or without it.
But why would you restrict a country fighting for its survival? Why make it harder for us to defend our people?
I simply cannot understand the reasoning behind this decision. It is a mistake.ā
Ukraine isnāt asking America to fight its war. Itās asking America not to stand in the way of its defense.
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
More than 1 million people have already cast their ballots in Albertaās referendum on separation from Canada, signaling strong voter turnout that pollsters say may favor the āremainā side bloomberg.com/news/articles/ā¦
A small Australian 2026 #COVID19 update. 19OCTOBER2026 In the ~90 days since my last update (18JUL), lab-confirmed detections have risen by 23,541. That's a daily rate of 262, up from ~292 per day in July.
A winter epidemic did not roar to life in 2026 (the pink dot is for October; the red dashed line & circles show 2026 data), making it the quietest year yet for COVID-19 detections in Australia.
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
1991: Ukrainian SSR proclaims its intention to become a permanently neutral stat.
1994: Russia signs Budapest memorandum guaranteeing Ukrainian territorial integrity and sovereignty
2010: Ukraine passes legislation with a binding neutral status
Early 2014: russia invades Ukraine
Late 2014: Ukraine removes its neutral status due to russian invasion
2014-2022: absolutely every NATO member denies Ukraine possibility to join NATO.
2022: Russia invades again
2026 idiot on twitter: if it Ukraine stayed neutral russia would have never invaded.
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
Russian Kosmos 2612 and ICEYE-X36 (providing Ukraine military support) are now in perfect sync with each other. The Russian military satellite is intentionally stalking and tracking the Western radar satellite. Keeping a satellite "bumper-to-bumper" in this manner allows Russia to intercept or jam data transmissions, physically inspect Western technology, or quickly pivot to execute a kinetic or non-kinetic anti-satellite (ASAT) attack with very little warning or fuel expenditure.
Kosmos 2612 executed a series of highly precise, fuel-heavy maneuvers to force itself into a "coplanar" orbitāmatching ICEYE-X36's exact altitude (~555 km), speed, and inclination (~97.8Ā°). The ICEYE-X36 satellite is giving the Ukraine military support.
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
Porleen for PM (and the Beetrooter) commit Australia to an economy-wide depression with One Nationās policy of slashing immigration. Immigration has helped to build Australia, stuck down here near the South Pole, into a First World economy. Yes we have challenges ahead, but multiculturalism is a net benefit. š
This is based on assumption ONās negative NOM target would be delivered. But ONās announced policy changes would go nowhere near delivering negative NOM for 3 years without biggest economic depression in OZ history. The depression would have to come first. smh.com.au/politics/federal/ā¦
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
The Ukrainian operation against Saint Petersburg, Russia, has been the largest in this war against this Russian city. Three major targets were hit during this operation:
- The local oil terminal respectively the oil storage units
- The VKontakte Datacenter
- The local Ozon logistics hub
It needs to be paraphrased that neither Starlink nor Starshield can be used for this operation by the Ukrainian military, since those services have always been been off limits for Ukrainian forces. Only Ukrainian end products are used.
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
Director-General for Health Dr Patrick Amoth has confirmed one more Ebola case, bringing Kenyaās total to eight.
Ian M Mackay, PhD (he/him) retweeted
One additional Ebola case has been confirmed in Kenya. #EbolaalertKe
