HO, HO, HOLY SMOKE: Drones are much in the news these days. The ones over New Jersey (so far) appear to be benign. The same cannot be said for some launched recently by Ukrainian troops and aimed at North Korean troops working as surrogates for the Russian army. Forbes has some video which appears to show lethal drones in the terminal phase right before striking North Korean positions. What makes this slaying seasonal is that the accompany video appears to show a Santa Claus figure strapped to the drone right before it strikes rapidly fleeing troops. A Ukrainian official is quoted as saying the North Korean 11th Army Corps lost around 200 troops in the strikes. Other drones carried reindeer, elves, and bird figures. We’re pretty sure the humor was lost on the North Koreans.
RT IN THE 3RD DEGREE: You often read here about Margarita Simonyan, editor in chief of RT (formerly “Russia Today”.) And almost always it is thanks to Russian Media Monitor Julia Davis. In this week’s installment, Davis tells us that Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree awarding Simonyan the “Order of Merit for the Fatherlands, 3rd Degree.” We would have thought she might have made it to second or first degree – but it is good to keep your toadies hungry, we guess. Simonyan made her 2025 predictions recently saying that prospects for RT in the U.S. will improve with the new administration – saying that recently the punishment in America for working with RT has been worse than the punishment for committing murder. She also bragged that she and her husband are soldiers for their country.
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