Marco Balzarini
banner
marcobalzarini.bsky.social
Marco Balzarini
@marcobalzarini.bsky.social
Camuno europeo.
Mi interesso di un po' troppe cose contemporaneamente.
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Walking the ground, Presena sector, WW1 (it’s what Richard Holmes would have wanted). There’s a lot of barbed wire still up there.
November 30, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Senator Kelly is correct.

Plus a Public Service Announcement:

KEY section of Department of Defense's Law of War Manual is 18.3.2.1.

The VERY rule on the "requirement" to refuse illegal orders gives as its paradigmatic example of what is "clearly illegal:
"orders to fire upon the shipwrecked."
November 30, 2025 at 4:35 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Tankers vanished from Novorossiysk port oil terminal with only tugboats remaining visible on satellite images, Crimean Wind monitoring group reports.
November 30, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Russian linked shadow fleet tanker Mersin (IMO 9428683) currently sinking off West Africa.

Fog of war, but seems it was attacked, probably by a USV, in past few days.

Third picture unladen for reference so you can see how low in the water it now is
November 30, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Pretty much ANY statistic you see cited to frighten you about vaccines comes from the VAERS database. (Including the recent evidence-free missive from Vinay Prasad). Here's why VAERS can NEVER be a proper source for population-level vaccine risk estimates.

Thread [1/9]
November 30, 2025 at 3:01 AM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
News media has to do better with headlines that present false and unverified public health claims.
November 29, 2025 at 11:48 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Between the 15-18th centuries,

Tatar cavalry conducted more than 2,500 raids on over 800 settlements,

5 million people were abducted - taken as captives to the Black Sea ports for sale across the Ottoman Empire.

(Charnysh & Lall 2024)
November 29, 2025 at 11:20 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
#OTD 30 November 1939 the Winter War started. 🇩🇰Denmark did not officially support 🇫🇮Finland but about 1,000 🇩🇰volunteers for the army arrived 1940, were trained and equipped, but arrived at the frontline too late. However, some arrived in time incl 15 pilots 🧵👇🏻
November 30, 2025 at 9:27 AM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Denmark, having disbanded it in 2005, rebuilt their ground-based air defences from *nothing* to deploying NASAMS in a project that will have taken seven months(!) from the announcement of them acquiring it to the system actually being deployed.

That is a sense of urgency.
Her er det så - de første bidder af Danmarks første #NASAMS jordbaserede luftforsvar. De norske plader vil blive skiftet ud med 🇩🇰 nummerplader.
November 30, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
The White House’s new anti-media website includes denunciations of:

-ABC, which bribed the president
-CBS, which bribed the president and moved away from fact-based journalism trying to appeal to him and his fans
-WaPo, which spiked a Harris endorsement and tilts coverage in Trump’s favor

Fools.
November 30, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
November 29, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
"Never spread the lie in the headline" should be a hard rule of 21st century journalism.

Research shows that repeating lies helps to spread them, and people read headlines more than they read stories.
News media has to do better with headlines that present false and unverified public health claims.
November 30, 2025 at 1:10 AM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Unfortunately, in US journalism it is considered neutral to spread a lie, but it is considered "biased" to call out a lie. So, there is a structural asymmetry that rewards colorful lies with virality.
November 30, 2025 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
October 2025 was the warmest October on record for the #Arctic. Arctic sea-ice extent is currently the lowest on record for late November. My newest 'climate viz of the month' summarizes some of this latest data: zacklabe.com/climate-viz-...

#ClimateChange #SciComm #OpenScience #OpenData #DataViz
Climate Viz of the Month
October 2025 Hi everyone! Instead of designing a new special feature visualization, this next ‘climate viz of the month’ blog will focus on briefly summarizing the recent extremes in th…
zacklabe.com
November 29, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Chantiers de l’Atlantique and Naval Group handed over the Jacques Stosskopf to the French Navy (Marine Nationale) during a ceremony held 27 November 2025. The vessel is the second of four new logistic support ships (LSS) known as “BRF” 🇫🇷
www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2...
Second BRF supply ship delivered to the French Navy - Naval News
Chantiers de l'Atlantique and Naval Group handed over the Jacques Stosskopf to the French Navy (Marine Nationale) during a ceremony held 27 November 2025. The vessel is the second of four new logistic...
www.navalnews.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Spain’s Council of Ministers has given the green light to the signing of the execution order for the mid-life modernization of the F100 frigates, ‘Álvaro de Bazán’ class 🇪🇸
www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2...
Navantia to Modernize F100 frigates to Extend Their Lifespan Until 2045 - Naval News
Spain's Council of Ministers has given the green light to the signing of the execution order for the mid-life modernization of the F100 frigates, 'Álvaro de Bazán' class.
www.navalnews.com
November 29, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Poland Signs $500 Million Contract for AIM-120D-3 AMRAAM Missiles

Following a Foreign Military Sale approval for 400 AIM-120D-3 missiles in April, Poland has now signed a contract for the weapons that will arm its F-35s.

Story: theaviationist.com/2025/11/28/a...
Poland Signs $500 Million Contract for AIM-120D-3 AMRAAM Missiles
Following a Foreign Military Sale approval for 400 AIM-120D-3 missiles in April, Poland has now signed a contract for the weapons that will arm its F-35s.
theaviationist.com
November 29, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
As progressives, we now oppose a military build up & threats of war and we no longer describe reporting presence of the military as "the media pushing for war".

The intellectual and moral inconsistencies of my appeasers never fails to amuse.
November 29, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
#BurkinaFaso
Six VDP Militia Members Sentenced for Murder.
Exactly one year ago, in November 2024, a video, which went viral, of the mutilation of a human body by individuals dressed in military uniforms of the Burkinabe armed forces.

www.rfi.fr/fr/afrique/2...
Burkina Faso: six Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie condamnés pour meurtre
Au Burkina Faso, six Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie ont été condamnés la semaine dernière à des peines de prison, pour « meurtres et mutilations de cadavre » à l’issue d’une audience foraine...
www.rfi.fr
November 29, 2025 at 5:54 AM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
a lot of words, none of them denying that Hegseth gave an order to kill helpless people who were stranded at sea after he blew up their boats
November 29, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Virat began to reduce speed sometime between 1418 and 1423 UTC at ~42.637, 33.189. At about 1934 UTC, it began reporting as "Not Under Command". It is currently adrift moving south at about 1 knot towards the Turkish coast (~30 nautical miles away).
November 28, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
So the order for the US military to launch these deadly Caribbean boat strikes was straightforwardly illegal under US and international law, immoral under long established standards, and on top of that, terrible strategy.

Not maybe. Not got to check with a lawyer. Unambiguous. Blatant. Deliberate.
Hegseth order on first Caribbean boat strike, officials say: Kill them all
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a verbal order to kill all crew members in the Sept. 2 strike on a suspected drug boat. Navy SEALs fired a second missile.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 28, 2025 at 6:08 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
I don’t know if anyone else notices or cares, but when I see a presentation in which the speaker uses obviously generated-AI images to illustrate their slides, it makes me immediately less confident in whatever other content they’re presenting.
November 28, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
The 🇩🇰Defence Acquisition and Logistics Organisation (DALO) & Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles has signed a framework agreement of up to 1,000 HX & TG trucks. The initial order is for 100 trucks for the 1st (heavy infantry) Brigade. The Army has 215 MAN SX45 8x8 og MAN HX77 8x8
November 28, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Reposted by Marco Balzarini
Vanke. one of China's most stable developer, recently announced it wants to delay its principal bond payment, this is a first. They are looking at an extension of 2 bn yuan ($283 mn) bond due December 15.
This resulted in a sharp sell off of Vanke's bonds and shares, some bonds fell over 30$,
November 28, 2025 at 2:23 PM