How the Future of India and USA, was determined by the inability of the Austrian Kings Joseph I and Charles VI, to produce male heirs..

When Joseph 1, died of smallpox in 1711, he had two daughters but no son. As a result, his brother Charles VI, succeeded him on the throne

OK - now in Honduras narco-case including Prez JOH & brother Tony, now Geovanny Fuentes Ramirez has a proceeding before Judge Castel - Inner City Press will live tweet, thread below

The US Attorney's Office has asked for "Witness-1" to testimony under a pseudonym, and for jurors and "venire" (prospective jurors) be left unnamed, due to threats of retaliation and "inability of Honduran government to protect witness."
Or unwillingness?

Judge Castel: I presided over the Hernandez Alvarado trial, but this one will be different. Defense?
Defendant's counsel: I understand reading between the lines what your Honor is saying [about corruption in Honduras] and the alleged homicide...

Defense counsel: There have been public statements from the government of Honduras that this is all false. We could get that testimony even if the witnesses did not come here, using letters rogatory.

Defense lawyer: Either the jury will believe my client important tons of cocaine or not - whether he gave political campaign contributions in Honduras is a sideshow."
[To him, maybe]
Defense: The evidence should be kept out.

/thread/ It has been almost 2 months since the end of the 2020 Nagorno Karabakh war and after observing it from the start and talking about it with (or listening to) some really smart people, here are IMO important lessons (new or old) from that conflict:

1. Even in smaller conflicts, U(C)AVs are making achieving air superiority, or at least denying it to the opponent, a lot more important than it used to be.

2. Effective distribution of real-time data from U(C)AVs (and loitering munitions, which can be launched to perform recon when other assets are not available) can significantly increase the effectiveness of even relatively old artillery systems.

3. While airpower is getting incredibly deadly and can quickly inflict massive material damage, you still need units on the ground with a strong will to fight despite taking casualties (and political will to accept that in serious modern wars, significant losses are inevitable).

4. Soldiers need to be aware that on a modern battlefield there are not really any "safe areas" and TTPs (tactics techniques procedures) need to be changed to reflect this.

THREAD #Serbian #Orthodox #Church bishops start Conclave (#Sabor-Holy Assembly in #SPC parlance) to elect new #Patriarch, 3 months after previous died of #Covid. Election much more about politics than religion, mainly #Serbia #Kosovo relations but also #Russia Orthodox Church /2

2/ vs. #Ecumenical Patriarch of #Constantinople. Most of numerous traditional cleavages within SPC (Young Lions vs. Old Guards); Serbians vs. TransDrinians; ecumenicals vs. hardline Orthodox etc. will be irrelevant with only the split between Russian vs. Greek students, roughly/3

3/corresponding with main division: support for whatever "solution" President Vucic might propose to satisfy int'l demand to at least de facto recognize Kosovo vs. stubborn refusal to accept anything not in line with current Serbian constitution that says #KosovoJeSrbija. /4

4/Due to 3 decades of heavy politicking under 1 weak Patriarch (Pavle) & his insipid successor (Irinej), those who’d otherwise be God-obeying “good guys” are staunchly in Kosovo Status Quo camp, refusing any deal. Those bishops who were in bed with politicians & secret services/5

5/ now support “accommodation” with Kosovo. Voting system is peculiar: Conclave picks 3 eligible bishops (each needs to obtain simple majority of votes i.e. 23); names of top 3 are sealed & 1 is drawn. System was designed in Communist times to prevent manipulation. Both sides /6

In July 2020, the whole month, The Lincoln Project was everywhere. Profiles at NBC, CNN, WaPo, NYT, NBC, ABC, the New Yorker. NONE of them did any serious vetting of the group or their claims

only reporter Ebony Bowden, at the NYPost really looked at TLP with any objectivity