* Oshkosh announced the termination of 760 jobs at its defense division between June and July, most of them being hourly positions.
* The US Air Force will hold an industry day on May 1-2 at Peterson Air Force Base, CO, to discuss Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep-Space Surveillance (GEODSS) operations and maintenance needs in Socorro, New Mexico; Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory; and Maui, Hawaii.
* Speaking of one of these 3 sites: Diego Garcia base on the line as Mauritius tries to pit U.S., U.K. in island’s sovereignty bid.
From War of Words to War of Pictures
* NATO released pictures of Russian troops near Ukraine’s border. After Russia said the pictures were taken in August 2013 – a position relayed by China’s CCTV – the Atlantic alliance released more evidence to back up its claims.
* Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sticks to the script: “We don’t have either our servicemen or our agents [in southeastern Ukraine]”
Japan’s Evolving Doctrine
* East Asia Forum: Is Abe bypassing democracy to push his defence agenda?
High Efficiency, Low Cost Energy
* Gas supplies are a big part of the equation in Ukraine. The CSIS think tank just released a timely report [PDF] on the geopolitical impacts of global energy shifts.
* Our readers behind firewalls set up to block Youtube might want to let their IT gatekeepers know that their organization is missing out on lots of content relevant to work. (Also, treating employees as adults is said to improve morale.) In the video below Michael McGehee from Stanford University talks about future challenges in solar cell technology, from further cost decreases to improved conversion efficiency:
