The Blacklist Declassified

 

🔴 Trump/Ukraine/Russia Files 2026

 
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🇺🇦 Press Here ⬅️ For Recent Articles and Discussion

🇺🇦 Press Here For Index to all Trump/Ukraine/Russia Files

 

With Tweets, Retweets, links to articles and excerpts, I’ve tried to document this national soap opera/tragedy we’re living through. The resources at the beginning are a mixed bag of timelines and documents and I provide a clickable cast of characters (Russians, mostly). This is tucked into my blog about the tv show, the Blacklist, because that was easiest for me, though the show is related to current events in myriad, enlightening ways.

 
💽Recommended⋙ Mueller She Wrote Podcast ⋙ http://bit.ly/2PgTKWs  or Press   ⇊  ⇊
 
Other Podcasts:

All The President’s Lawyers (J Barro, R Lowry)
The Asset (Center for American Progress) 🌟
The Dworkin Report (Scott Dworkin)
Gaslit Nation (Sarah Kendzior, Andrea Chalupa)
The Lawfare Podcast (Benjamin Wittes, Brookings)
The Josh Marshall Podcast (TPM)
The Mother Jones Podcast (David Corn)
Mueller Time (Eric Leval, Chris Carey)
The Oath (Chuck Rosenberg, MSNBC)
The Report (Lawfare)
On Topic (Renato Mariotti)
Skullduggery (Michael Isikoff, Yahoo)
Trump Inc (q4- 8qProPublica)
Trumpcast (Slate)

🔊 PlayerFM: Best Trump Russia Investigation Podcasts (2019) http://bit.ly/2MKbtV8
 
Twitter List: INVESTIGATORS: https://twitter.com/Auriandra/lists/investigators
// Investigative reporters, Trump-Russia sleuths, Intelligence Community, Legislators, “alt-gov,” and Targets
 

Russian Intelligence Services:

Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) – The Foreign Intelligence Service reports directly to the President of Russia.
GRU – Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces.
Federal Security Service (FSB) – The Federal Security Service is responsible for counter-intelligence, state security and anti-terrorist operations

 

 
🔄 ECFR , Mark Galeotti [EU] (2016): Introduction: Putin’s hydra: Inside Russia’s intelligence services http://bit.ly/2NZWN1h
// 5/11/2016, Intro
⋙ 📒 ECFR, Mark Galeotti [EU] (2016): Report: Putin’s Hydra: Inside Russia’s Intelligence Services [pdf] http://bit.ly/2NYjG5b 20p
// May 2016, Full report

 

 
Key People: Alexander Abramov, Roman Abramovich, Aras Agalarov, Emin Agalarov, Rinat Akhmetov, Rinat Akhmetshin, Yulya Alferova, Yuri Andropov, Anatoly Antonov, Anne Applebaum, Andrii Artemenko, Arron Banks, Andrey Baronov, Alexander Bastrykin, Sergey Beseda, Vitaly Bespalov, Leonid “Len” Blavatnik, Anna Bogacheva, David Bogatin, Alexander Bortnikov, Victor Boyarkin, Wm Browder, Mariia Butina, Carole Cadwalladr, Michael Caputo, Yuri Chaika, Igor Chekunov, Sergey Chemezov, Anatoly Chubais, Michael Cohen, George Cottrell, Igor Danchenko, Oleg Deripaska, Andrii Derkach, Igor Divyekin, Kirill Dmitriev, Aleksandr Dugin, Arkady Dvorkovich, Paul Erickson, Oleg Erovinkin, Nigel Farage, Dmitri Firtash, John Fotiadis, Gene (Evgeny) Friedman, Igor Fruman, Daniel Gelbinovich, Valery Gerasimov, Rob Goldstone, Sergei Gorkov, Henry Greenberg, Fiona Hill, Andrew Intrater, Ivan the Terrible, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Ramzan Kadyrov, Brittany Kaiser, Mikhail Kalugin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Saak Karapetyan, Eugene Kaspersky (Kaspersky Lab), Denis Katsyv, Irakly (“Ike”) Kaveladze, Michael Khodarkovsky, Nikita Khrushchev, Konstantin Kilimnik, Sergey Kislyak, Artem Klyushin, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, Konstantin Kosachev, Mikhail Kovalchuk, Yury Kovalchuk, Aleksandra Krylova, Elena Khusyaynova, Simon Kukes, Sergey Lavrov, Alexander Litvinenko, Howard Lorber, Alexander Lukashenko, Yuriy Lutsenko, Simona Mangiante, Alexander Mashkevich, Michael McFaul, Viktor Medvedchek, Josef Mifsud, Alexey Miller, Sergei Millian, Semion Mogilevich (Don Semyon), Konstantin Molofeev, George Nader, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, Lyudmila Narusova, Sergei Naryshkin, Alexei Navalny, Eduard Nektalov, Konstantin Nikolaev, Vyacheslav Nikonov, Yevgeniy Nikulin, Alexander Nix, Isabel Oakeshoff, George Papadopoulos, Lev Parnas, Sam Patten, Nikolai Patrushev, Alexander Perepilichnyy, Dmitry Peskov, Peter the Great, Igor Pisarsky, Petro Poroshenko, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Sergei Prikhodko, Vladimir Putin, George Ramishvili, Dmitry Rogozin, Alexander Rovt, Giorgi Rtskhiladze, Dmitry Rybolovlev, Konstantin Rykov, Mikheil Saakashvili, Felix Sater, Igor Sechin, Leonid Shebarshin, Anastasia Shevchenko, Sergey Shoigu, Viktor Shokin, Oleg Solodukhin, Christopher Steele, Ruslan Stoyanov, Oleg Solodukhin, Peter Strzok, Sergei Surovikin, Taiwanchik (aka Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov), Bill Taylor, Andriy Telizhenko, Gennady Timchenko, Oleg Tinkov, Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov (aka Taiwanchik), Aleksandr Torshin, Vyacheslav Trubnikov, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Yulia Tymoshenko, Anastasia Vashukevich (aka Nastya Rybka), Viktor Vekselberg, Natalia Veselnitskaya, Alexander Vindman, Vyacheslav Volodin, Curt Weldon, Andy Wigmore, Alexander Yakovenko, Viktor Yanukovych, Boris Yeltsin, Ivan Yermakov, Marie Yovanovitch, Viktor Yushchenko, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, Maria Zakharova, Joel Zamel, Volodymyr Zelenskyy
 

 
Bios w links (Wikipedia unless otherwise noted): Alexander Abramov, Roman Abramovich, Aras Agalarov, Emin Agalarov, Rinat Akhmetov, Rinat Akhmetshin, Yulya Alferova (National Compass), Yuri Andropov, Anatoly Antonov, Anne Applebaum, Andrii Artemenko, Arron Banks, Andrey Baranov (Bloomberg), Alexander Bastrykin, Sergey Beseda, Vitaly Bespalov (NBC), Leonid “Len” Blavatnik, Anna Bogacheva (NYT), David Bogatin (NYT), Alexander Bortnikov, Victor Boyarkin (TrumpRussia), William Browder, Mariia Butina, Carole Cadwalladr, Michael Caputo, Yuri Chaika, Igor Chekunov, Sergey Chemezov, Anatoly Chubais, Michael Cohen, George Cottrell, Igor Danshenko, Oleg Deripaska, Andrii Derkach, Igor Divyekin, Kirill Dmitriev, Aleksandr Dugin, Arkady Dvorkovich, Paul Erickson, Oleg Erovinkin, Nigel Farage, Dmitri Firtash, John Fotiadis (Archinect), Gene (Evgeny) Friedman, Igor Fruman, Daniel Gelbinovich (Daily Beast), Valery Gerasimov, Rob Goldstone, Sergei Gorkov, Henry Greenberg (Miami Herald), Fiona Hill, Andrew Intrater, Ivan the Terrible, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Ramzan Kadyrov, Brittany Kaiser (Cambridge Analytica), Mikhail Kalugin, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Saak Karapetyan, Eugene Kaspersky (Kaspersky Lab), Denis Katsyv, Irakly Kaveladze, Michael Khodarkovsky, Elena Khusyaynova, Konstantin Kilimnik, Sergey Kislyak, Artem Klyushin (National Compass), Ihor Kolomoyskyi, Konstantin Kosachev, Mikhail Kovalchuk, Yury Kovalchuk, Nikita Khrushchev, Aleksandra Krylova (NYT), Simon Kukes, Sergey Lavrov, Alexander Litvinenko, Howard Lorber, Alexander Lukashenko, Yuriy Lutsenko, Konstantin Malofeev, Simona Mangiante (Papadopoulos), Alexander Mashkevich, Michael McFaul, Viktor Medvedchek, Josef Mifsud, Alexey Miller, Sergei Millian, Semion Mogilevich (Don Semyon) …

 

Cover: KyivPost (10/18/2019): Shady Cast of Characters: Engineers of Trump-Ukraine Scandal http://bit.ly/2MZCilW
 
Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, Lyudmila Narusova, Sergei Naryshkin, Alexei Navalny, Eduard Nektalov (NYMag), Konstantin Nikolaev, Yevgeniy Nikulin, Vyacheslav Nikonov, Alexander Nix, Isabel Oakeshoff, George Papadopoulos, Lev Parnas, Nikolai Patrushev, Sam Patten, Alexander Perepilichny, Dmitry Peskov, Peter the Great, Igor Pisarsky (RIM), Petro Poroshenko, Yevgeny Prigozhin, Sergei Prikhodko, Vladimir Putin, George Ramishvili (Bloomberg), Dmitry Rogozin, Alexander Rovt, Giorgi Rtskhiladze (CNBC), Nastya Rybka (aka Anastasia Vashukevich) (WaPo), Dmitry Rybolovlev, Konstantin Rykov, Mikheil Saakashvili, Felix Sater, Igor Sechin, Leonid Shebarshin, Anastasia Shevchenko (Amnesty Intl), Sergey Shoigu, Viktor Shokin, Oleg Solodukhin, Christopher Steele, Ruslan Stoyanov, Peter Strzok, Sergei Surovikin, Taiwanchik (aka Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov), Bill Taylor, Andriy Telizhenko (BuzzFeedNews), Gennady Timchenko, Oleg Tinkov, Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov (aka Taiwanchik), Aleksandr Torshin, Vyacheslav Trubnikov, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Yulia Tymoshenko, Anastasia Vashukevich (aka Nastya Rybka) (WaPo), Viktor Vekselberg, Natalia Veselnitskaya, Alexander Vindman, Vyacheslav Volodin, Curt Weldon, Andy Wigmore, Alexander Yakovenko, Viktor Yanukovych, Boris Yeltsin, Ivan Yermakov (Moscow Proj), Marie Yovanovitch, Viktor Yushchenko, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, Maria Zakharova, Joel Zamel, Volodymyr Zelenskyy
,
 

By @WendySiegelman
 

Key Documents

 
🔆 This❗️⋙ 💙💙🔄 LawfareBlog: Litigation Documents Related to the Mueller Investigation http://bit.ly/2OVch6n
// new November 2018, to be continually updated

🔆 This❗️⋙ 💙💙🔄 House.gov: Select Committee to Investigate the JANUARY 6TH Attack on the United States Capitol https://january6th.house.gov

🔆 This❗️⋙ 💙💙🔄 JustSecurity: Public Document Clearinghouse: UKRAINE Impeachment Inquiry http://bit.ly/2CEsQ2F ‼️ Links to ALL documents ‼️

🔆 This❗️⋙ 💙💙🔄 AmericanOversight: Trump-Ukraine Key Figures and Documents http://bit.ly/2C24bES
AmericanOversight: The Trump Administration’s Contacts with Ukraine http://bit.ly/2BYSY89 from FOIA requests

🔆 This❗️⋙ 💙💙🔄 JustSecurity, Andy Wright: Just Security Launches the Russia Investigation Congressional Clearinghouse http://bit.ly/2L21uHz
// 8/22/2019

🔆 This❗️⋙ 💙💙🔄 Lawfare: Full Text of the Mueller Report’s Executive Summaries http://bit.ly/2IFLewq
// 4/18/2019

🔆 This❗️⋙ 💙💙🔄 Lawfare: Document: The Mueller Report http://bit.ly/2vcgNpN
// 4/18/2019

🔆 This❗️⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ NYT: The Whistle-Blower Complaint: Read the Document [Interactive] http://nyti.ms/2nq4FAD
// 9/26/2019

🔆 This❗️⋙ 💙💙🔄 WaPo: Trump impeachment inquiry: Latest news and updates http://wapo.st/2P09WuE [Continually updated]

🔆 This❗️⋙ 💙💙🔄 WaPo, Kate Rabinowitz and Kevin Schaul: Who’s involved in the Trump impeachment inquiry http://wapo.st/2W673dg
// orig published 10/21/2019

 

By @jzikah has a new book! Cartoon President http://amzn.to/2QUeZhk @Jzikah
 
⋙ 💙💙🔄 📔 Court Filing (1/17/2019): Civil Action No. 1:18-cv-03501 [pdf] http://cnn.it/2CBddZy (111p) Democratic National Committee v.: Russian Federation, DJ Trump For President, Inc (and others)
// 1/17/2019

⋙ 💙💙🔄 TheAtlantic, Yoni Appelbaum: Impeach Donald Trump http://bit.ly/2FykFIP
//March 2019 cover story

⋙ 💙💙🔄 Politico Mag, Darren Samuelsohn: The Only Impeachment Guide You’ll Ever Need http://politi.co/2QHcJGi
// 1/11/2019, As talk of the I-word heats up, here’s POLITICO Magazine’s soup-to-nuts answers to all your questions about the politics—and the practical realities—of removing a president.

⋙ 💙💙🔄 WaPo, Max Boot: Here are 18 reasons Trump could be a Russian asset http://wapo.st/2D7IJQ9
// 1/13/2019
 

By @Jzikah
 
⋙ 💙💙🔄 TheAtlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg (Editor): UNTHINKABLE: 50 Moments That Define an Improbable Presidency http://bit.ly/2RvDFOn
// Jan 2019; Donald Trump’s 50 Most Unthinkable Moments ~ 50 Articles

⋙ 💙💙🔄 Wikipedia: Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (2018) http://bit.ly/2Bh12jP

⋙ 💙💙🔄 Axios: Timeline: Every big move in the Mueller investigation http://bit.ly/2Euh3H9
// 12/12/2018
 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
⋙ 💙💙🔄 Moyers&Co: Interactive Timeline: Everything We Know About Russia and President Trump http://bit.ly/2uVHc9j
// continually updated

⋙ 💙💙🔄📒 DocumentCloud: Steele Dossier [pdf] http://bit.ly/2y5ZhnF 35p

⋙ 💙💙🔄📒 FBIRecordsVault: Records Between FBI and Christopher Steele http://bit.ly/2KqLoF1

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ AP: Mueller Investigation documents http://bit.ly/2ihbK0l

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ CitJourno: Trump/Russian Mob Connections http://www.citjourno.org
 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ CNN, Marshall Cohen, Tal Yellen & Liz Stark: Tracking the Russia investigations (documents) http://cnn.it/2hVCpU5

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ NYT: Russian Hacking and Influence in the U.S. Election http://nyti.ms/2NqFXeY

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ BrennanCenter: Trump-Russia Investigations http://bit.ly/2yRKcu6

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ Politico: The people connected to the Russia probes [ Interactive ] http://politi.co/2FUDhz2 //➔ Democrats, Prosecutors, Law Enforcement/Lobbyists/Media,Team Trump, Foreign Nationals

⋙ 💙💙🔄 TheMoscowProject: Trump’s Russia Cover-Up By the Numbers http://bit.ly/2ycY959
// Center for American Progress; 80+ contacts with Russia-linked operatives https://themoscowproject.org/about/ http://bit.ly/2ycY959
 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ NBCNews: Russia timeline: Key players, meetings and investigation details http://nbcnews.to/2vtR3YW

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ DailyBeast: Democrats Release the Fusion GPS Testimony on Trump and Russia http://thebea.st/2qMmH1d w attachment [pdf] ⋙ via Dianne Feinstein http://bit.ly/2FjtlPP

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ NYT: Justice Department Gives Congress Comey’s Memos on Trump http://nyti.ms/2HdLe2Z
// 4/19/2018 ➔ DocumentCloud: http://bit.ly/2HOGC4z

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ DOJ: Indictment of Internet Research Agency LLC et al … [PDF] http://bit.ly/2CqdHzD 37p //➔ Mueller Investigation
// 2/16/2018
 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ Amy Siskind: The Weekly List ~ “This is How Democracy Ends” https://theweeklylist.org

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ NYT: Mueller Has List of Questions for Trump http://nyti.ms/2rfDuqK + http://nyti.ms/2HExEKi
// 4/30/2018, Majority Relate to if Trump Obstructed Inquiry on Russia

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ NYT: The Trump Lawyers’ Confidential Memo to Mueller, Explained [ Document ] http://nyti.ms/2kKPgq9
// 6/2/2018, NYT article about document: http://nyti.ms/2swIZSc

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ TIME: The Arguments President Trump Has Made Against the Mueller Investigation http://ti.me/2MdeARX
// 6/8/2018

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ TIME: Wikipedia: Links between Trump associates and Russian officials http://bit.ly/2K42VDF

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ WaPo: Who has been charged in the Russia probe and why http://wapo.st/2toNwH2
// continually updated; WaPo Russia page

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ ForeignAffairs Anthology: A New Cold War? Russia and America, Then and Now 1947- http://fam.ag/2KEA4dF

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ Justice.gov: Mueller Indictment of 12 Russians in the GRU for Election Hacking [pdf] http://bit.ly/2NbphV6 29p
// 7/13/2018

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ FactCheck.org: Timeline of Russia Investigation http://bit.ly/2KZ4qaQ
// posted 6/7/2018, updated 7/13/2018; Key moments in the FBI probe of Russia’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election; Readable

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ Legal Process Server: DNC Lawsuit vs Russia, Wikileaks, et al http://bit.ly/2KIOhBq

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ NYT, Linda Qiu: Truth-Testing Trump’s 250-Plus Attacks on the Russia Inquiry http://nyti.ms/2MY609E
// 8/18/2018

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ Justice.gov: Manafort Plea Agreement [pdf] http://bit.ly/2CZiVb7 17p
// 9/14/2018

⋙ 💙💙🔄💽 NYT: Opinion | Operation Infektion: A three-part video series on Russian disinformation http://nyti.ms/2OHqSSV
// 11/12/2018

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ PasteMag, Jacob Weindling: A Year of Trump and Russia: The 75 Stories That Defined the Mueller Investigation in 2018 http://bit.ly/2QWN1SU
// 12/28/2018

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ LawFareBlog: Document: Indictment of Roger Stone [pdf] http://bit.ly/2UdQgmj 24p
// 1/25/2019

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
⋙ 💙💙🔄📋 NYT: Trump and His Associates Had More Than 100 Contacts With Russians Before the Inauguration [Interactive] http://nyti.ms/2MAZCps
// 1/26/2019

⋙ 💙💙🔄 BuzzFeedNews: These Secret Files Show How The Trump Moscow Talks Unfolded While Trump Heaped Praise On Putin http://bit.ly/2DWQ2ed
// 2/5/2019; ⏳TIMELINE ⌛️

⋙ 💙💙🔄 WaPo: What we learned about Trumpworld outreach to Russia since Mueller’s investigation began http://wapo.st/2twkXYE
// 2/19/2019, And what we still don’t know.

⋙ 💙💙🔄 ◕📋 NYT, Larry Buchanan and Karen Yourish: Trump Has Publicly Attacked the Russia Investigation More Than 1,100 Times http://nyti.ms/2T2HSsN
// 2/19/2019

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
  ;
⋙ 💙💙🔄 ◕📋 WaPo, Philip Bump: The 81 people and organizations just looped into the Trump probe — and why they were included http://wapo.st/2SJrw41
// 3/4/2019

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ NYT: Full Document: Trump’s Call With the Ukrainian President [Interactive] http://nyti.ms/2lfBkbC (Annotated)
// 9/25/2019″

⋙ 💙💙🔄≣ NYT: The Whistle-Blower Complaint: Read the Document [Interactive] http://nyti.ms/2nq4FAD
// 9/26/2019

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
⋙ 💙💙🔄 📔 This❗️⋙ HPSCI: Trump-Ukraine impeachment inquiry report http://bit.ly/2LlnJsX
// 12/3/2019; House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

⋙ 💙💙🔄 📔 This❗️⋙ Report: House Judiciary Committee report on their articles of impeachment against President Donald John Trump http://bit.ly/2Ek2rIa 658p
// 10/15/2019

⋙ 💙💙🔄 📔 This❗️⋙ Lawfare: House Releases Impeachment Trial Brief http://bit.ly/2ucCo3Y document 111p
// 1/18/2019
 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y

 
⋙ 💙💙🔄 📔 This❗️⋙ Trial Memorandum of the US House of Representatives in the Impeachment Trial of President Donald J Trump http://bit.ly/2uePNsc
// 1/18/2020

 
⋙ 💙💙🔄 📔 This❗️⋙ Trial Memorandum of President Donald J Trump http://bit.ly/2NGi2XK 171p
// 1/20/2020

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
⋙ 💙💙🔄 📔 This❗️⋙ Vox, Matthew Yglesias and Andrew Prokop: The ultimate guide to the Donald Trump impeachment saga http://bit.ly/2SoXpkm
// Updated: Feb 5, 2020, 8:06pm EST, Published: Nov 5, 2019, 8:06am EST

 
⋙ 💙💙🔄 📔 This❗️⋙ NYT: The Key Players in Trump’s Plot to Upend the Election, Mapped https://tinyurl.com/4w8uekjx
// 8/31/2023

 
⋙ 💙💙🔄 📔 This❗️⋙ 📀 Press Here For Impeachment Trial on Cspan
// 1/20/2020-2/5/2020

 
⋙ 💙💙🔄 📔 This❗️⋙ LawFare: Confronting the Capitol Insurrection [Index Page] http://bit.ly/3mfMDNc

 

⏳WaPo: The full Trump-Ukraine impeachment timeline http://wapo.st/35odsUl

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y

 
⭕ Feb 2021 Second Trump #Impeachment Trial

Day One: Rules etc

Day TWO: C-SPAN: U.S. Senate Impeachment Trial Day 2, Impeachment Managers’ Constitutionality Arguments http://bit.ly/3aa1CCQ
// 2/9/2021;

Day 2 of the impeachment trial of former President Trump for incitement of insurrection began with senators voting 89-11 in favor of the trial organizing resolution. Lead Impeachment Manager Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) then made opening remarks followed by a 13-minute video showing footage of former President Trump’s January 6, 2021, speech and of the actions of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol that day. Afterward, impeachment managers Representatives Raskin, Joe Neguse (D-CO), and David Cicilline (D-RI) presented their arguments for the constitutionality of impeaching a former president. Representative Raskin in his arguments talked about bringing his daughter and son-in-law with him to the Capitol on January 6.

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
Day THREE: C-SPAN: Senate Impeachment Trial Day 3, Part 1 http://bit.ly/374q3zm
// 2/10/2021;

The first part of Day 3 of the impeachment trial of former President Trump for incitement of insurrection began with House impeachment manager Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD) asserting that the former president had “surrendered his role as commander in chief” and become “the inciter in chief.” He played the January 6, 2021, video Mr. Trump posted on Twitter in which he told his supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol to “go home.” Representative Joe Neguse (D-CO) then outlined impeachment managers’ plan for arguing their case. In the final segment of part 1, Representatives Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Eric Swalwell (D-CA) described the former president’s actions leading up to and after the 2020 election

Day Three: C-SPAN: Senate Impeachment Trial Day 3, Part 2 http://bit.ly/3tYOS9Y
// The Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump continued with House managers presenting video and tweets they say indicate that former President Trump incited the deadly January 6 riot.

Day Three: C-SPAN: Senate Impeachment Trial Day 3, Part 3 http://bit.ly/372bYSY
// Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Entire remarked on the breach of the Capitol and attacks on police officers.

Day Three: C-SPAN: Senate Impeachment Trial Day 3, Part 4 http://bit.ly/3aZ82DV
// An effort by Sen. Mike Lee to remove remarks by the House impeachment managers from the official record sparked confusion on the Senate floor.

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
Day FOUR: C-SPAN: Senate Impeachment Trial Day 4, Part 1 http://bit.ly/3rXW1pf
// 2/12/2021

Former President Donald Trump’s defense lawyers made their case that Mr. Trump was innocent of charges of inciting an insurrection. They compared speeches by Democrats and others to the former president’s remarks in their defense, and stated that “the article of impeachment now before the Senate is an unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance.”

Day Four: C-SPAN: Senate Impeachment Trial Day 4, Part 2 http://bit.ly/3ddmmeG
// After a recess, Former President Donald Trump’s defense continued to make their case that Mr. Trump was innocent of charges of inciting an insurrection. In this portion of the impeachment trial, attorney Bruce Castor spoke.
Day Four: C-SPAN: Senate Impeachment Trial Day 4, Q&A http://bit.ly/3jLkwD0
// In this portion of the second impeachment trial of former President Trump, senators asked questions of both the House managers and Mr. Trump’s defense lawyers. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) then announced that Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman would be receiving the Congressional Gold Medal, due to his actions during the January 6 riots.

Day FIVE: C-SPAN: Senate Impeachment Trial Day 5 http://bit.ly/3b2haHL
// 2/13/2021

The Senate acquits former President Trump of inciting an insurrection, 57-43. Earlier, the House managers and the defense made closing arguments. Also, House Manager Raskin (D-MD) read a written statement from Rep. Herrera Beutler (R-WA).

● Majority Leader Schumer on Impeachment Acquittal of Former President Trump http://bit.ly/2OFAT8V
// Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) delivered remarks after the Senate voted to acquit former President Trump, 57-43. Seven Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to convict Mr. Trump.
● Minority Leader McConnell on Impeachment Acquittal of Former President Trump http://bit.ly/3djH5NM
// Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered remarks after the Senate voted to acquit former President Trump, 57-43. Seven Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to convict Mr. Trump.

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y

 

Twitter Threads

⭕ 9 Feb 2021 Impeachment #2: Day 1
💙 🧵 RT @atrupar Rep. Raskin’s opening impeachment trial statement: “Their argument is that if you commit an impeachable offense in your last few weeks in office, you do it with constitutional impunity.” 📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1359206921039974406?s=20
⋙ 🐣 RT @atrupar Here is the entire video timeline of the January 6 insurrection as presented by the House impeachment managers 💽 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1359216739054190593?s=20/photo/1

⭕ 10 Feb 2021 Impeachment #2: Day 2
🔄 💙🐣🧵 RT @jentaub It’s on. Day 2 of the Trump Impeachment Trial 2.0. February 10, 2021. We will have a dinner break at 6 p.m. ¤ 1/ 📌 https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1359548695038087169?s=20
🔄 💙🐣🧵 RT @atrupar Raskin: “This case is much worse than someone who falsely shouts fire in a crowded theater. It’s more like like a case where the town fire chief, who’s paid to put out fires, sends a mob not to yell fire in a crowded theater, but to actually set the theater on fire.”
🔄 💙 WaPo: See all the evidence presented in Trump’s impeachment trial http://wapo.st/3qeb1ii

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y
 
⭕ 11 Feb 2021 Impeachment #2: Day 3
🔄 💙🧵 RT @jentaub 🇺🇸 It’s on. Day 3. The Trial of Donald Trump 2.0 continues at 12:04 p.m. on February 11, 2021 📌 https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1359911216588685317?s=20
// Defense
🔄 💙🧵 RT @atrupar The Thursday installment of Trump’s #ImpeachmentTrial begins with a Baked Alaska clip 📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1359914413709492232?s=20

⭕ 12 Feb 2021 Impeachment #2: Day 4
🔄 💙 🧵 RT @jentaub We have begun. It’s Day 4 of the Trump Impeachment Trial 2.0. The defense is putting on their case. The first lawyer is Van Der Veen. 📌 https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1360274181510807556?s=20

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y

🔄 💙 🧵 RT @atrupar “Lord, infuse them with the spirit of nonpartisan patriotism” — Senate Chaplain Barry Black’s prayer begins the Trump defense portion of the #ImpeachmentTrial 📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1360275280775028740?s=20
⋙ 🔄 💙 🧵 RT @atrupar [Q&A] Lindsey Graham, Kevin Cramer, and Roger Marshall use an impeachment trial question to own the libs 📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1360337066215804930?s=20

⭕ 13 Feb 2021 Impeachment #2: Day 5
🔄 💙 🧵 RT @jentaub Day 5 of the Donald Trump Impeachment Trial 2.0. February 13, 2021. Wonderful! They are going to debate whether to subpoena witnesses and documents ¤ 1/ 📌 https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1360605971198967809?s=20
🔄 💙 🧵 RT @atrupar “Lord, touch and move them to believe that end does not justify the means” — Senate Chaplain Barry Black’s prayer begins the Saturday portion of the #ImpeachmentTrial 📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1360607971055656962?s=20

 

@Jzikah’s Amazon page: http://amzn.to/3tUTM6Y

 

⚖️ House Committee Hearings on the Jan 6, 2021 Insurrection ⚖️

 
Day 1: June 9, 2022: Overview

 
💙 ⚖️ 🧵 Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol https://january6th.house.gov

 
💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @jentaub Here we go ¤ The first public hearing of the January 6th Committee. Chair Thompson begins with his personal history and says each committee member has one thing in common “we swore the same oath . . to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
📌 💽 https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1535050380429516801?s=20/photo/1

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @atrupar Bennie Thompson begins January 6 hearing: “I’m from a part of the country where people justified the actions of slavery, the Ku Klux Klan, and lynching. I’m reminded of that dark history as I hear voices today try to justify the actions of the insurrectionists on January 6, 2021”
📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1535050790720634891?s=20/photo/1

💙 ⚖️ 💽 CSPAN: First Open Testimony Before January 6 Committee http://bit.ly/3zynEvU
// After months of closed door investigations, the House January 6 Committee held its first hearing with public testimony about what transpired-and why-during the assault on the U.S. Capitol.

 
Day 2: June 13, 2022: “The Big Lie”

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @jentaub Here we go. Day 2 of the January 6th Committee Hearings gaveled in late at 10:46 am EDT. /1
📌 https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1536359652514213888?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @atrupar The second January 6 hearing begins with Liz Cheney talking about how Trump listened to advice from “an apparently inebriated Rudy Giuliani”
📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1536361664601374721?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 💽 CSPAN: Second Hearing on Investigation of Capitol Attack http://bit.ly/39jgMrH
// The “Big Lie”; The House committee looking into the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol held its second hearing with witness testimony to make public the committee’s findings after a year of investigations.

 
Day 3: June 16, 2022: “Mike Pence”

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @jentaub Here we go. Day 3 of the January 6 Committee hearing ¤ Focus today is on the pressure campaign on VP Pence to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. “We are fortunate for Mr. Pence’s courage” says Chair Bennie Thompson. ¤ “But the danger hasn’t receded.” ¤ 1/
📌 https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1537481664821174278?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @atrupar The third January 6 hearing gets underway with a clip of Greg Jacob, former counsel to Pence, telling the committee that John Eastman admitted in front of Trump on January 4, 2021, that the pressure campaign against Pence violated the law
📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1537483292886601729?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @MSNBC LIVE BLOG: The House Jan. 6 committee returns today for a third public hearing focused on VP Pence. Follow along as we break down key moments.
📌 https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1537449714676793345?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 💽 CSPAN: Third Hearing on Investigation of Capitol Attack http://bit.ly/3xx77WC President Trump’s Campaign to Influence Vice President Pence
// 6/16/2022; The January 6 Committee held its third public hearing focusing on former President Trump’s efforts to convince former Vice President Pence to not certify the 2020 election results.

 
Day 4: June 21, 2022: “Fake Electors”

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @atrupar Bennie Thompson begins the fourth January 6 hearing by saying: “The lie hasn’t gone away. It’s corrupting our democratic institutions. People who believe that lie are now seeking positions of public trust.”
📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1539295123107991554?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @kyledcheney NEW: Trump’s plan to seize power on Jan. 6 depended on state legislatures adopting alternate electors. He leaned heavily on state and local officials to do that while his team of lawyers — Eastman et al — developed a fringe legal theory to back the push.
📌 https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1539201863702261760?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @jentaub Joining @MaryLTrump for today’s January 6 hearing, Live now
📌 https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1539289189920948224?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @MSNBC LIVE BLOG: Day 4 of the House Jan. 6 Committee’s public hearings begins at 1pm ET. Follow along for live updates as we break down key moments.
📌 https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1539262716677918721?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 💽 CSPAN: Fourth Hearing on Investigation of Capitol Attack http://bit.ly/3OhikBF President Trump’s Campaign to Influence Vice President Pence
// 6/21/2022; The January 6 Committee held its fourth public hearing to outline findings after a year of investigating the Capitol attack in 2021.

 
Day 5: June 23, 2022: “Department of Justice”

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @atrupar Cheney begins the fifth January 6 committee hearing by saying a focus will be an unsigned draft letter Trump and Jeffrey Clark wanted the DOJ to send to Georgia officials citing known lies to urge them to convene a special session to approve a fake set of electors
📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1540050703128862721?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @MSNBC LIVE BLOG: The fifth public hearing of the House Jan. 6 committee begins at 3pm ET. Follow along as we break down key moments.
📌 https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1540018644121427968?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 😆 RT @emptywheel Spouse, listening to his first bit of the Jan6 hearings, of Liz Cheney’s promise we’ll hear about what Trump did on 1/6: Is that called foreshadowing? ¤ Me, lit PhD: She’s making herself the omniscient narrator.
📌 https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1540049823365218306?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 💽 CSPAN: Fifth Hearing on Investigation of Capitol Attack http://bit.ly/3tX3gkK
// 6/23/2022; The January 6 Committee holds a fifth public hearing on the alleged pressure campaign by Trump administration officials on the Justice Department to help overturn the 2020 election results.

 
Day 6: June 28, 2022: “Cassidy Hutchinson”

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @atrupar we’re underway with the special June 28 hearing of the January 6 committee. Yes, Fox News is taking it live.
📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1541829781385248771?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @MSNBC LIVE BLOG: The Jan. 6 committee holds a last-minute public hearing at 1pm ET today, which will include testimony from a former top aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Follow along as we break down key moments.
📌 https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1541789726960750593?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @jentaub Wow! On January 2 Rudy told Cassidy Hutchinson Trump and team were going to the Capitol on the 6th. Cassidy asked her boss about it and he said “There’s a lot going on Cass. Things might get real real bad.” ¤ She said today, “That was the first moment I remember feeling scared.”
📌 https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1541834209265963012?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @emptywheel This woman is 26. She’s about to provide really damaging testimony about one of the most dangerous men in America.
📌 https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1541829534248566784?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @lrozen J6 hearing starting, featuring Cassidy Hutchinson, former special assistant to Trump and aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows
📌 https://twitter.com/lrozen/status/1541829799169122308?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 💽 CSPAN: Sixth Hearing on Investigation of Capitol Attack http://bit.ly/3bp657u
// 6/28/2022; Cassidy Hutchinson, former senior aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testified that President Trump said, “You know, I don’t even care that they have weapons. They aren’t here to hurt me.” Her testimony came during the January 6 Committee hearing on the investigation of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. This is the sixth in a series of hearings – after months of closed-door investigations – detailing the committee findings on the January 6 attack. Ms. Hutchinson shared her experiences of the days leading up to and after the attack, including President Trump’s alleged altercation with Secret Service in the back of the presidential limo because the Secret Service refused the president’s demands to go to the Capitol after his rally speech.

 
Day 7: July 12, 2022: “Assembling the Mob”

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @atrupar Liz Cheney begins the July 12 hearing of the January 6 committee with this: “President Trump is a 76 year old man. He is not an impressionable child. Just like everyone else in our country, he is responsible for his own actions and his own choices.”
📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1546906042927353857?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @MSNBC LIVE: Jan. 6 sCommittee holds seventh public hearing, focused on the role far-right extremist groups Proud Boys and Oath Keepers played in Capitol attack. Get expert analysis in real-time on our live blog http://msnbc.com/jan6hearings
📌 https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1546903393297465344?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @emptywheel And we’re off! ¤ “We settle our differences at the ballot box.” ¤ [Note: I’m going to break off at 2 to cover some live hearings.]
📌 https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1546903190574071808?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @jentaub Pat Cipollone agreed that Donald Trump should have conceded the election at some point and time (at least, apparently on December 14 when Electoral College met).b
📌 https://twitter.com/jentaub/status/1546909222935445509?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @ECMcLaughlin Live tweet of today’s January 6th hearing is right here. ⬇️⬇️⬇️
📌 https://twitter.com/ECMcLaughlin/status/1546902951687467008?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 💽 CSPAN: Seventh Hearing on Investigation of Capitol Attack http://bit.ly/3P2quy5
// 7/12/2022; January 6 Committee Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) said that former President Trump “tried to call a witness in our investigation. A witness you have not yet seen in these hearings,” and that the matter has been reported to the Justice Department. The revelation came as Rep. Cheney delivered her closing statement during the January 6 Committee hearing on the investigation of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. This is the seventh in a series of hearings – after months of closed-door investigations – detailing the committee findings on the January 6 attack. Testifying before the committee was Jason Van Tatenhove, the former spokesperson for the extremist group the Oath Keepers, who said the group is a “violent militia” and “the best illustration for what the Oath Keepers are happened January 6th when we saw that stacked military formation going up the stairs of our Capitol.” Also testifying was Stephen Ayres, who pled guilty to breaching the U.S. Capitol.

 
Day 8: July 21, 2022: “Dereliction of Duty”

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @atrupar Liz Cheney begins the January 6 committee’s primetime July 21 hearing by announcing more hearings are coming in September
📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1550272235709296640?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @ECMcLaughlin Livetweet of tonight’s 1/6 hearing will be right here.
⬇️⬇️⬇️
📌 https://twitter.com/ECMcLaughlin/status/1550260159783378944?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @MollyJongFast Letsssssssss gooooo
📌 https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1550270058752102400?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🔲 RT @MaryLTrump Join me and @JohnFugelsang @NormOrnstein @cmclymer @AdamParkhomenko @jentaub @georgehahn @BrianKarem @WajahatAli watching the hearings NOW
📌 https://twitter.com/MaryLTrump/status/1550272287772798976?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 💽 CSPAN: Eighth Hearing on Investigation of Capitol Attack https://tinyurl.com/36ea45sh
// 7/21/2022; “For the weeks between the November election and January 6, Donald Trump was a force to be reckoned with,” said January 6 Committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), later adding, “and then he stopped. For 187 minutes on January 6th, this man of unbridled destructive energy could not be moved.” His remarks came as he delivered his opening statement during the January 6 Committee hearing on the investigation of the attack on the U.S. Capitol. This is the eighth in a series of public hearings – after months of closed-door investigations – detailing the committee findings on the January 6 attack. The chair went on to say if there is no accountability for January 6th, “I fear that we will not overcome the ongoing threat to our democracy.” During her closing testimony, Vice Chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) touched on the former president’s supporters, saying, “he is preying on their patriotism. He is preying on their sense of justice. And on January 6th, Donald Trump turned their love of country … ”

 
Day 9: October 13, 2022: “Summary and Subpoena”

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @atrupar Follow this thread for video highlights from what is likely to be the final January 6 committee hearing
📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1580603168404037635?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @emptywheel Spouse, as Liz Cheney says they may make criminal referrals: Thank you Liz Cheney, you read my mind. [He had just asked if they could do that.]
📌 https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1580606914505080834?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @TomDreisbach [NPR] Here we go: The latest @January6thCmte hearing has started. ¤ NPR’s livestream is available here:
📌 💽 https://twitter.com/TomDreisbach/status/1580605465796304901?s=20/photo/1

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @tomlobianco [YahooNews] “Good afternoon, and may god bless the United States of America,” House Jan 6 Chair Bennie Thompson says in opening statement of #January6thHearings
📌 https://twitter.com/tomlobianco/status/1580605071498174471?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @scottwongDC DAY 9 of the Jan. 6 hearings about to get underway. Follow along on our @NBCNews live blog here for all the updates: https://tinyurl.com/2wf2eyt3
📌 https://twitter.com/scottwongDC/status/1580603641878425602?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 🐣 RT @SethAbramson (📢) LIVE THREAD: This thread is a live-tweet of today’s House January 6 Committee hearing. I’m an attorney, journalist, and historian who has been contacted by the Committee and whose January 6–focused substack, PROOF, the Committee has cited. I hope you will RETWEET and follow.
📌 https://twitter.com/SethAbramson/status/1580574750581018626?s=20

 

By @AshaRangappa_

 
Day 9: July 21, 2022: “Summary and Resolution”

💙 ⚖️ 💽 CSPAN : Ninth Hearing on Investigation of Capitol Attack https://tinyurl.com/3cb42ubb // 10/13/2022; January 6 Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) offered a resolution to issue a subpoena to hear from former President Trump regarding the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. She said, “We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion, and every American is entitled to those answers so we can act now to protect our republic.” Her resolution came during the January 6 Committee hearing on the investigation of the attack on the U.S. Capitol after committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said members wanted to hear from the former president because he “is required to answer for his actions.” The committee members recounted prior evidence in lockstep with newly-obtained evidence, such as the Secret Service’s knowledge of a planned attack on the U.S. Capitol prior to January 6. They also shared never-before-seen video of members of Congress seeking safety and asking for help during the attack. .

 
Day 10: Dec 19, 2022: “Indictment Referrals and Adjournment”

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @atrupar The final January 6 committee hearing is about to begin. Follow along for a video thread.
📌 https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1604899834191876096?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @axios The Jan. 6 select committee’s final public meeting is underway.
Follow this thread for updates. 👇
📌 https://twitter.com/axios/status/1604901456091484163?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 🧵 RT @MacFarlaneNews Standing by for our CBS News special report on the final public meeting of House Select Jan 6 Cmte. And votes on criminal referrals. Starts at 1pm eastern
📌 https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1604897048230187014?s=20

💙 ⚖️ 💽 CSPAN: Final Hearing on U.S. Capitol Attack https://tinyurl.com/2xt5j77b
// 12/19/2022; The January 6 Committee holds its final public hearing on the attack of the U.S. Capitol.

💙 ⚖️ 📔 This❗️⋙ 📔 Lawfare: Jan. 6 Select Committee Documents https://tinyurl.com/44fxvfjk
⋙ Lawfare: Jan. 6 Select Committee Document: Executive Summary [pdf] https://tinyurl.com/42p4bkx7 154p
⋙ Lawfare: Jan. 6 Committee Issues Final Report https://tinyurl.com/4867dtra 845p
⋙ Lawfare: Jan. 6 Committee Releases Witness Interview Transcripts https://tinyurl.com/43f5k7y6

 

༺ ✿⊰ ♤ ⊱✿༻

 

by @ErikAukan
 

 
💙 🔄 📔 MFA of Ukraine (Official): War in Ukraine: Russia Invaded Ukraine https://war.ukraine.ua
// Reports, statistics, articles

💙 🔄 RealContextNews, Brian Frydenborg: TRUMP-RUSSIA SAGA: Overview https://tinyurl.com/mr2783rc
// updated index; The biggest scandal in American history.

💙 Ukraine Twitter List: https://twitter.com/i/lists/157259218?s=20

💙 Ukraine War Twitter List: https://twitter.com/i/lists/1545071393397784576?s=20

💙 Key War Accounts: @bayraktar_1love @ChuckPfarrer @DefenseU @DefMon3 @NOELReports @TheStudyOfWar @WarintheFuture @warmonitor3 @wartranslated

💙 Tim White’s awesome log: Search @TWMCLtd ✛ “Day 999” or use dates: https://twitter.com/search-advanced
(The War started on 2/24/2022)
 

༺ ✿⊰ ♤ ⊱✿༻

 
⭕ 22 May 2026

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 Gentle reminder that the United States – the country that spent eighty years lecturing the entire planet about freedom, democracy, and the sacred bond between allies – has decided to become friends with the Bond villain. Not metaphorically. Literally. The actual shirtless horse man who poisons people in English cathedral towns and annexes neighboring countries for sport.
🖼 https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2057705133501256084?s=20/photo/1
// photo of shirtless Putin on horse

And if that weren’t enough, they’re now voting alongside North Korea in the United Nations. North Korea. A country so committed to its own citizens’ welfare that they’re mostly dead or eating bark.

But here’s the part the newspapers won’t quite say out loud, because apparently that’s not their job anymore. Trump does not represent America. He represents Trump. And his son. And his other son. And his son-in-law. And whatever financial instrument they happen to be holding that particular Tuesday.

The rest of America – the 330 million people, the institutions, the judges, the scientists, the soldiers who actually believed in the alliance – they’re still there. Watching. Horrified. Outvoted by people in hats.

And while you’re busy watching that, look over there. No, there. He’s done it again. Twenty-eight times – twenty-eight – the man has cratered the stock market, waited for his supporters to panic-sell everything they own, then pumped it back up once he and his associates have quietly bought the dip. It’s not chaos. It’s a business model.

The journalists know this. They have the data, the timestamps, the receipts. And yet somehow every morning they wake up and write “markets rattled by uncertainty” as if uncertainty just wandered in on its own. ¤ And the people holding the matches keep telling us it’s raining.

⭕ 21 May 2026

🐣 “Is it possible on May 21, 2026, Republicans finally found an ethical bridge too far?” asked Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat. “I wonder: Could it have been that golden ballroom for a billion bucks that was supposed to be freebie that Mar-a-Lago golf buddies were going to pitch in for? Or perhaps it was this incredible slush fund — I don’t know quite what to call it — it was a Capitol Police Cop Beaters Relief Fund?” ⬇️
⋙ NYT: In a Rarity, Republicans Stand Up to Trump https://tinyurl.com/yc7akhes “President Trump faced a wall of opposition from Senate G.O.P. lawmakers, in part over his plan to create a $1.8 billion fund to reward his allies”

For much of President Trump’s time in office, Republican lawmakers have had little appetite to stand up to his brand of vindictive politics.

Through revenge primary campaigns, bullying social media posts and the threat that he can command the G.O.P. base to go after anyone at any time, Mr. Trump has brought lawmakers in his party under his control like no president in modern history. A single critical word against Mr. Trump or his agenda could result in a full-scale retribution campaign to force a disloyal Republican from office.

But this week, in a rarity in G.O.P. politics, Mr. Trump’s taunts, bullying and threats have backfired, at least for now. Senate Republicans, after the president targeted two of their own, stood up to Mr. Trump on two of his biggest priorities: money for his White House ballroom, and a $1.8 billion fund to reward Trump supporters who claim political persecution by Democrats, such as the rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“So the nation’s top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops?” said Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky. “Utterly stupid, morally wrong — take your pick.” …

Then, in another sign that the party was pushing back on Mr. Trump, House Republicans canceled a vote on a resolution to halt the war in Iran, after it became clear they did not have enough votes to defeat it.

The cracks in the president’s dominance over Senate Republicans stemmed from two main sources. First, Mr. Trump asked Republican lawmakers to take up politically unpopular issues in a midterm election year.

At a time when gas prices are high, Americans are struggling to make ends meet. And as an unpopular war against Iran drags on, any Republican running for office will want to be seen as fighting for the American people, not bestowing lavish gifts upon the president and his associates, particularly ones who were convicted of crimes.

“Is it possible on May 21, 2026, Republicans finally found an ethical bridge too far?” asked Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat. “I wonder: Could it have been that golden ballroom for a billion bucks that was supposed to be freebie that Mar-a-Lago golf buddies were going to pitch in for? Or perhaps it was this incredible slush fund — I don’t know quite what to call it — it was a Capitol Police Cop Beaters Relief Fund?”

Mr. Trump has also openly attacked and worked against the very people he now needs to pass his priorities. There are only 53 Republican senators, several of whom are already independent minded and unlikely to support the most extreme parts of the president’s agenda.

Mr. Trump did himself no favors when he supported a candidate to defeat Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana in a Republican primary, and endorsed a G.O.P. candidate against Senator John Cornyn of Texas. The result of those moves was to ensure that there would be fewer Republican senators who feel the need to be loyal to the president.

“You can’t underestimate the psychological impact of endorsing against Cornyn like that,” said Michael Ricci, a former top communications aide to Speakers Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and John A. Boehner of Ohio, both Republicans. “Cornyn is a big figure in the conference. He was a few votes shy of being majority leader. He has been doing events for all these members. I just feel like that was an accelerant on an already simmering flame.” …

“It is in real trouble, and it should be,” said Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who is known to oppose the most extreme parts of Mr. Trump’s agenda. …

This year, Mr. Trump has set out on a multistate tour that White House aides say is designed to show midterm election voters that he is focused on the economy and their pocketbooks. But at each stop, Mr. Trump has made it clear that his primary mission is maintaining his dominance over the Republican Party.

At the same time, the president has also been increasingly open about his belief that he has little need for Congress. Mr. Trump has attempted to work around Congress on his construction projects, including the ballroom and his planned triumphal arch. He has also tried to skirt congressional review of his tariffs, and the war in Iran. …

Mr. Ricci said that Mr. Trump sees his top political goal as maintaining control of his party, as much as winning large majorities in Congress.

“Clearly keeping his primacy in the party into the 2030s is Goal One, and if it means a rocky legislative week here and there, then so be it,” he said.

🐣 RT @StateDept SECRETARY RUBIO: I don’t think anyone is shocked to know that the United States and the President are very disappointed in NATO right now. ¤ If NATO countries like Spain are denying us the use of these bases, why are we in NATO? We need to discuss that.
⋙ 🐣 [5/22] .@SecState Marco Rubio knows perfectly well that NATO is a DEFENSIVE alliance and NATO wasn’t attacked. ¤ The USA went rogue at the behest of Netanyahu and ATTACKED a country that wasn’t an imminent threat, without even consulting NATO members. In the middle of negotiations!

🐣 RT @Newsweek Beijing and Moscow jointly condemned the U.S.’s threats and sanctions against Cuba. https://tinyurl.com/2ded5d38

🐣 RT @BBCWorld China says US should stop ‘threats’ against Cuba after ex-leader charged https://tinyurl.com/5n6z7ppv

NYT: House GOP pulls a measure to end the Iran War, lacking votes to defeat it. https://tinyurl.com/nh464xyy //➔ Trump 1, American People 0

House Republicans on Thursday abruptly canceled a vote on a resolution directing President Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from Iran or win approval from Congress to continue the war, after it became clear they lacked the votes to defeat the measure.

The retreat was a striking setback that exposed fractures within the G.O.P. over the conflict at a moment when the party has begun pushing back forcefully on Mr. Trump and his agenda.

TheAtlantic, Robert Kagan: Trump’s Endgame Is Surrender https://tinyurl.com/3f3853v2 “Trump no doubt hopes that he can slip away without Americans noticing the magnitude of this defeat.” //➔ and by focusing his aggressive attention on Cuba and Greenland.

In a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday, Trump reportedly explained that the United States was negotiating a “letter of intent” with Iran that would “formally end the war and launch a 30-day period of negotiations” on Iran’s nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The purpose and effect of such an agreement should be clear: The United States is walking away from the crisis. Trump may launch another limited strike to look tough and satisfy the demands of the war’s supporters, but it would be a performative gesture. Endgame in this case is a euphemism for “surrender.”

… [Iran’s] terms for a settlement are those of a victor: They demand war reparations, no limits on uranium enrichment, recognized control of the strait, and an end to sanctions.

… According to Iranian officials, the new strait regime will give Iran’s strategic partners, such as Russia and China, priority and allow nations friendly to Iran, such as India and Pakistan, to negotiate their own transit agreements. Vessels associated with nations that Iran regards as an adversary will be denied access to the strait entirely.

… All nations heavily dependent on energy from the Persian Gulf will want to cut their deal quickly to get the oil and gas and other commodities flowing and rescue their battered economy. Those nations currently allied with the United States and friendly to Israel will feel pressure to distance themselves and make their peace with Iran. The international sanctions against Iran will collapse, and even more money will pour into the country’s accounts as its newly central role in the global economy becomes normalized. By the end of 30 days, most of the world will have a stake in the new arrangement and will oppose any resumption of hostilities, even in the unlikely event that Trump wanted to go back to war.

Trump no doubt hopes that he can slip away without Americans noticing the magnitude of this defeat. The financial markets may stabilize if it is clear that oil will eventually start flowing again through a reopened strait, even if under the new Iran-controlled system. A major strategic setback for the United States need not affect Wall Street. The president may also hope that he can change the subject by launching another military operation, this time against the government in Cuba. And the news media have indeed begun writing more about Cuba than about the unfolding disaster in Iran.

According to one U.S. official, Netanyahu’s “hair was on fire” after the call with Trump—for good reason. The Iran war may end up as the single most devastating blow to Israel’s security in its brief history. On the present trajectory, Iran will emerge from the conflict many times stronger and more influential than it was before the war. … The bipartisan anti-Israel consensus in the United States will grow and harden.

Will Israel go gentle into this good night? That is the wild card that may disrupt the financial markets’ dreams of a new stability in the Gulf. A stronger, richer, more influential Iran will mean new life for Hamas and Hezbollah. It will mean the end of the Abraham Accords, as the Gulf States will have to make their own peace with Tehran so that their economies can survive. Trump says that Netanyahu “will do whatever I want him to do.” But can Israel stand by while Iran replaces the United States as the arbiter of power in the region?

Most likely, the new normal in the Persian Gulf will be chronic instability and frequent disruptions in shipping. That’s what happens when the hegemon cedes hegemony.

🐣 RT @ABC Senate Republicans are poised to block funding for two of Trump’s controversial spending wishes: $1 billion for the East Wing expansion and nearly $1.8 billion for an “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” two people familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News. [ABC link:] https://tinyurl.com/5kck2h8u

🐣 RT @_InfoGram_ 🇺🇸 Marco Rubio at 4:00 PM — “Trump’s preference is always for a peaceful negotiated agreement.”
🇮🇷 Iran at 5:00 PM — “Yeah, he is very peaceful. He started a war, bombed a school and killed 170 innocent children, and struck us while negotiations were underway. He is a madman.”
What a brutal response 🔥🔥
💽 https://x.com/_InfoGram_/status/2057516311446753366?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en President Pavel: The fate of Ukraine is central to European security. ¤ i am convinced that Ukraine is not only defending Europe, ¤ it is transforming Europe, its defense industry, military thinking and strategic culture.

Ukraine is changing the way Europe thinks about warfare itself from drones and electronic warfare to industrial production and battlefield innovation.

Supporting Ukraine is not a charity. This is a direct investment in Europe’s own security.

Because if Ukraine succeeds, Europe is safer.

If Ukraine is forced into a bad peace, we all will live with the consequences for decades.

TheAtlantic, Quinta Jurecic: A Department of Justice for an Age of Conspiracy Theories https://tinyurl.com/y5w7eu37 DOJ is now very much an active participant in the online discourse that promotes and perpetuates ideas that are barely connected to reality.

🐣 RT @ChristopherHale “There is always the lurking danger of living in a laboratory. Ours is not a ‘lab faith,’ but a ‘journey faith,’ a historical faith.

“God has revealed himself as history, not as a compendium of abstract truths. I am afraid of laboratories because in the laboratory, you take the problems and then you bring them home to tame them, to paint them artificially, out of their context.

“You cannot bring home the frontier, but you have to live on the border and be audacious.” — Pope Francis

🐣 RT @WW3finalboss 🇺🇦🇷🇺 THE KREMLIN KNOWS IT’S STUCK ¤ Even Russian officials are starting to say it out loud: Ukraine keeps finding gaps, changing routes, scaling strikes, and making Russian air defense chase a problem that keeps evolving.

The bigger issue is inside Moscow. ¤ Long-range pressure is growing, loyalists are frustrated, elites see the war as a dead end, and propaganda teams are reportedly already preparing excuses for why the original goals failed.

Putin built a system where everyone is afraid, nobody trusts anyone, and defeat cannot be admitted.

So the war drags on, not because Russia is winning, but because one man has no clean way out.

🐣 RT @clashreport Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov: Rus is Ukraine. But Rus is more. Much more. And Ukraine is the homeland of all that, even what we are fighting against. ¤ We gave away a large part of our history, gave it away voluntarily, and those, as much as we gave away, privatized it. ¤ But they are nobody; we are Rus. And we must rule over all of them
💽 https://x.com/clashreport/status/2057418482765971755?s=20/video/1
⋙ 🐣 Q: Which modern country has the best claim to the legacy of the Kyvan Rus’?
Claude (AI): The short answer: Ukraine has the stronger claim, but the honest answer is that no single successor state holds an exclusive one.
🌎 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2057495821411623227?s=20/photo/1

⋙ Ukraine’s case, and it’s substantial.
Kyiv was the seat of Rus’ power, and the populations of the Dnipro basin are the most direct demographic descendants of the Rus’ core. The Galician principality of Halych-Volhynia was recognized by contemporaries as the successor state after the Mongol devastation of Kyiv in 1240
— it carried forward Rus’ law, ecclesiastical organization, and dynastic legitimacy. Ukrainian is linguistically closer to Old Church Slavonic than Russian is, which is telling about which population preserved the vernacular continuum. The very name “Ukraine” appears in chronicles referring to the Rus’ heartland.

⋙ Russia’s case – and where it breaks down:
Muscovite tsars, Romanov emperors, Soviet general secretaries, and Russian presidents have all portrayed themselves as the legitimate heirs and successors to Kievan Rus. The political claim rests on Moscow’s institutional continuity: it absorbed the Orthodox metropolitan see, declared itself the “Third Rome” and eventually reunited most of the Rus’ lands under it.
———— ⇊
But this claim has a serious structural problem. After Kievan Rus’ fell to the Mongol invasion in 1240, the Muscovite princes considered themselves the sole rightful heirs of the Kievan legacy — and this perspective turned into an official ideology from the mid-1500s onwards, once Russia started expanding into a continental empire. That is, the claim was a political construction made centuries after the fact, in service of imperial expansion — not an organic inheritance.

The northeastern principalities that became Muscovy were heavily colonized territories on the Rus’ periphery, and their population mixed substantially with Finno-Ugric and Tatar peoples. The claim that Ukrainians and Belarusians are sub-nations of a single “all-Russian” claim that Ukrainians and Belarusians are sub-nations of a single “all-Russian” community is an ideological construct dating back to imperial times.

Putin’s 2021 article asserting Russians and Ukrainians are “one people” is the most recent and nakedly political form of this argument – and its purpose was explicitly to deny Ukraine’s separate national identity as a prelude to invasion.

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko “As before, I remain convinced that Putin will leave us this year – most likely in the autumn,” Russian “Z-blogger” Ilya Remeslo, who continues to criticize Putin, said.

Comment from me [ie from Gerashchenko]

Of course, Remeslo says what he’s been ordered to say. That he says this while remaining free speak volumes. The question is who allowed him to talk and why.

At this point, no one in Russia appears happy with Putin – not the elites, not the security establishment, not oligarchs, and not officials. Yet Putin remains the key guarantor of the system’s stability while constant behind-the-scenes struggles continue between Russian clans and power groups.

Putin is bad – and bad for everyone – and he does not hide it. But he has built a system in which there is no alternative. He needs a situation in which people believe that anyone else would be even worse.

Contradictions, infighting between clans, and war itself have become sources of Putin’s power.

Everyone already understands how damaging Putin has become for Russia – both inside and outside the country.

But as long as there is no successor capable of playing Putin’s role, he remains in power.

Many, both inside and outside Russia, feared and continue to fear that the system could collapse and descend into uncontrollable chaos.

But the system is starting to crack.

Through Remeslo, part of the Kremlin elite is directly appealing to Putin. The message to Putin is: things cannot get any worse.

Putin will not rule forever – that much is certain. But when exactly the transfer of power happens, there won’t be advance hints on Telegram. It will happen very rapidly and very suddenly, and might take place sooner than we think.

⋙ 🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en [9/17/2025] Putin’s system of power is a monolithic pyramid. It poses a threat to the world outside Russia, as well – the pyramid develops through military expansion and cannot stop on its own.
🖼 https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/2057375596221448353?s=20/photo/1

The vertical and stability of power in Russia are maintained by war.

Putin’s role is that of an absolute, irreplaceable mediator and moderator of clans and factions. There is constant fighting, but Putin is the guarantor of balance.

The contradictions between the clans and the war are the source of Putin’s power.

In modern Russia, guarantees of the right for large capital and property have become a matter of agreement between the state and business. The Russian state guarantees the inviolability of property rights and a balance between different interest groups, while business structures guarantee loyalty to the state.

The war and the wartime economy have reinforced the monolithic nature of the system. Russia’s economy is centralized, and its key sectors are under state control, either directly or through loyal oligarchs.

By acting as a judge, Putin holds full levers of control (governance) over the competition between various groups of the political elite.

Corruption is the foundation of Putin’s regime. It is an important guarantor of the system’s stability. It creates a system of loyalty and reduces the threat of regional separatism. Corruption makes it easy to control the bureaucratic apparatus through rewards and punishments.

The established political hierarchy and the well-established ‘fusion’ of business and politics mean that Russia’s political and economic system is resistant to external pressure.

Why was the system formed, and why does it continue to function?

Because it served and continues to serve not only the internal interests of the Russian elites, but also external interests: a centralized authority controlling vast territory and resources, with which it was convenient to cooperate.

A ‘reset’ of Russia’s political system is impossible, as there is no successor. Putin is currently the only guarantor of the system’s stability. And many people, both inside and outside Russia, have feared and continue to fear that the system will collapse and uncontrollable chaos will ensue.

In any case, this will eventually happen. Sooner or later. It is only a question of time and of the number of victims.

The danger posed to the outside world by the formation of Putin’s pyramid was greatly underestimated.

Russia’s military pyramid needs fuel to sustain itself: resources (natural, technological, human) and the waging of war. The modern Russian pyramid develops through military expansion. If it stops, it will collapse. And vice versa, if it collapses, it will stop.

What is Putin’s system sensitive to? To clan struggles, to the redistribution of various spheres of influence, or to competition among elite groups (clans), which is constantly observed across the strategic sectors of the Russian economy.

What could contribute to intensifying this struggle? The weakness or absence of the arbiter – Putin himself, who currently personally upholds the stability of Russia’s political system.

⭕ 20 May 2026

TheAtlantic, David Sims: Jude Law Shouldn’t Be This Good as Vladimir Putin https://tinyurl.com/27ts3vzc “He gives a transfixing performance in a new satire about the Russian president’s rise to power.”

🐣 RT @ChrisMurphyCT The Senate voted to move forward legislation to end the Iran War this week, 50-47. It’s just a first step, but it’s a big, big deal. I want to tell you the story of how it happened.
💽 https://x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2057223006288593249?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @nexta_tv A religious leader in Russia may face sanctions — he is one of Putin’s closest allies

The EU’s new sanctions package against Russia may include Patriarch Kirill of the Russian Orthodox Church and other representatives of the ROC.

The main crimes of Vladimir Gundyaev (the patriarch’s real name) are his active support for the Kremlin and ideological justification of the war of aggression against Ukraine.

Previously, attempts to sanction ROC hierarchs were blocked by Hungary under Orbán’s government.

In modern Russia, the ROC is a key element of state propaganda and receives substantial funding and privileges from the Kremlin.

In Russian churches, the war in Ukraine is presented to parishioners as a religious duty, and many ROC priests are at the front, ideologically supporting the occupiers.

🐣 RT @BohuslavskaKate RUTTE: Europe with UK, Turkey, Norway has over 500 million people. We’re facing adversary in Russia with about 140 million people. We’re overly dependent on one ally with about 350 million people to ensure we can defend ourselves against Russia. That’s not sustainable long term.

FLASHBACK ⋙ TheAtlantic, Jonathan Chait [Feb 2025]: The Real Reason Trump Berated Zelensky https://tinyurl.com/2mm559f6 “He simply likes Vladimir Putin better.”¤ “Zelensky had no good options at the White House. He walked into an ambush”
// 2/28/2025

[…] Trump seems to genuinely feel that he and Vladimir Putin forged a personal bond through the shared trauma of being persecuted by the Democratic Party. Trump is known for his cold-eyed, transactional approach, and yet here he was, displaying affection and loyalty. (At another point, Trump complained that Zelensky has “tremendous hatred” toward Putin and insisted, “It’s very tough for me to make a deal with that kind of hate.”) He was not explaining why a deal with Russia would advance America’s interests, or why honoring it would advance Russia’s. He was defending Russia’s integrity by vouching for Putin’s character. …

Trump’s bullying commenced well before Zelensky had opened his mouth. Trump greeted his counterpart on the White House driveway with condescending mockery, pointing at him and telling onlookers, “He’s all dressed up today,” like Bill Batts in Goodfellas belittling Joe Pesci’s character. (“Hey, Tommy, all dressed up!”) Zelensky’s attire—the Ukrainian president wears military attire, not a suit, to remind the world that his country is at war—has been a fixation on the right, and conservatives have seized upon it as a pretext to blame him for Trump’s anger. Oddly, they did not seem to mind that Elon Musk showed up at the White House this week in a T-shirt and baseball cap.

Might Zelensky have gotten a different outcome by taking Trump’s abuse and stream of lies with more self-abasement? Sure, it’s possible; if you reason backwards from a bad outcome, any different strategy is almost axiomatically smarter. Zelensky had no good options at the White House. He walked into an ambush with a president who empathizes with the dictator who wants to seize Ukraine’s territory. Everyone who spent years warning about Trump’s unseemly affinity for Putin had exactly this kind of disastrous outcome in mind.

⭕ 19 May 2026

Bloomberg: Ukraine Sees US Seeking Technology Transfers in Drone Deal https://tinyurl.com/4b75uds3 “The advances have won plaudits from the US admin. Army Secy Dan Driscoll has called the operating system for the Ukrainian network of drones ‘absolutely incredible.’”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2057144653523091505?s=20/photo/1

Takeaways by Bloomberg AI
🔹 Kyiv has said that the US is seeking the transfer of technology and access to intellectual property rights from Ukraine as part of a drone deal that is awaiting approval at the highest political level.
🔹 The US Department of Defense has asked to test a range of Ukrainian defense products, including drones and electronic warfare systems, as Washington is considering their potential purchase for military use.
🔹 The US also appears interested in getting access to critical technologies and, potentially, intellectual property rights that would allow it to replicate the kit, according to a person familiar with the matter
^
Kyiv has said that the US is seeking the transfer of technology and access to intellectual property rights from Ukraine as part of a drone deal that is awaiting approval at the highest political level, a person familiar with the matter said.

The US Department of Defense has asked to test a range of Ukrainian defense products, including drones and electronic warfare systems, as Washington is considering their potential purchase for military use, the official said. The agreement has not been finalized, the person added, speaking on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private.

Growing interest from the US shows how the world’s largest military is looking to tap into the drone expertise that Ukraine has acquired over four years fighting against the Russian invasion. Through a combination of new technology and tactics, Kyiv’s forces have been able to strike deep into Russia territory, to slow and in some cases even reverse battlefield gains by Moscow’s bigger army, and to inflict significant damage on oil facilities that help finance the Kremlin’s war machine.

During talks with the US, Ukraine has argued that its weapons have already been battle-tested at scale, but Washington wants to evaluate the products domestically with its own forces before moving ahead, the person said. The US also appears interested in getting access to critical technologies and, potentially, intellectual property rights that would allow it to replicate the kit, according to the person.

Earlier this month, the US sent Kyiv a draft letter of intent requesting tests of Ukrainian military products, with potential contracts to follow if the systems are selected, another person familiar with the matter said. The letter doesn’t spell out the details or scope of a potential accord and falls short of an outright deal, the person said, asking not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

“As a result of the work with the Department of State and the Pentagon, a draft framework document has been developed and is currently being reviewed by both sides at different institutional levels,” Ukrainian Ambassador to the US Olha Stefanishyna said in a statement. “We are committed to mutually beneficial cooperation that will enhance the strength of our armed forces.”

The Ukrainian embassy declined to address specific questions about technology transfer arrangements. The Pentagon didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Kyiv and Washington began negotiating a deal for supplies of Ukrainian weapons to the US several years ago, after the former Soviet nation came under Russian attack.

Since then, Ukraine has rapidly developed advanced military technologies, most notably drones, which turned out to be critical in the war. Military planners in Kyiv are betting on these technologies to be able to respond against a far larger adversary in terms of both manpower and economic resources.

‘Ours Does Not
The advances have also won plaudits from the US administration. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has called the operating system for the Ukrainian network of drones “absolutely incredible.”

“It fully integrates every single drone, every sensor, and every shooting platform into just one single network,” Driscoll told the Senate Armed Services Committee this month. “Ours does not.”

Rather than a traditional technology transfer agreement, the draft document appears structured to enable the US military to test and evaluate Ukrainian systems in a bid to shape its own future requirements, according to an industry representative who requested anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

Beyond this, the US could be seeking a technological layer unique to Ukraine: AI-enabled terminal guidance, GPS-denied navigation, jam-resistant datalinks, and battle-tested doctrine to go with it, the defense industry person said.

The Pentagon could also use the Ukrainian systems as a basis of comparison for US systems.

The US is seeking to purchase a range of as-yet unidentified military products from Ukraine as it moves to modernize its armed forces in light of its experiences in the war with Iran, which has been using drone technologies, it earlier shared with Russia.

Since the start of the conflict with Iran, Ukraine has been marketing its military expertise and interceptor drones to the US and its Gulf allies. In return, Kyiv was seeking badly needed Patriot air-defense systems and missiles, which have proved highly effective in intercepting Russian ballistic missiles.

Kyiv has struck bilateral agreements with several Gulf nations to receive financial, energy and technical support in return for assistance it has provided in helping to fend off Iranian drone attacks, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told reporters in April. He did not elaborate.

🐣 RT @BohuslavskaKate Vance: ​”There’s been no President who’s done more to ensure that Ukraine survived invasion of Russia than Trump. As he said, ‘Obama gave them sheets, I gave them Javelins,’ and those Javelins ensured that Ukraine still has its territorial sovereignty.”
💽 https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2056807307141349872?s=20/video/1

This is simply a lie. It was 360 Javelins. They mattered, they helped, but they are not the reason Ukraine survived or kept its sovereignty.

Ukraine survived because millions of us have been fighting and sacrificing for more than four years, against all odds and expectations. Our defenders are the main reason Ukraine survives.

Military and financial assistance from all countries, including the United States, does play a role, and we very much appreciate it. But Trump is not the president who provided it.

⋙ 🐣 JD has nothing to say about Biden, oddly. Trump has cut financial support almost entirely, except for 500M required by Congress. Although the US also provides important satellite data for targeting. ¤ Europe has stepped up and Ukraine-developed systems have been crucial.
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2056986534096646279?s=20/photo/1
// US and EU support for Ukraine

🔆 This ‼️ ⬇️ 🐣 RT @CBSNews BREAKING: Senate advances resolution to limit Trump’s Iran war powers for first time, after four Republicans defect.
⋙ CBSNews: Senate advances resolution to limit Trump’s Iran war powers for first time, after 4 Republicans defect https://tinyurl.com/d2jfyuv7

The Senate advanced a resolution to limit President Trump’s war powers in Iran on Tuesday, marking a breakthrough for Democrats after seven failed attempts.

Senators approved a motion to discharge the resolution from committee in a 50 to 47 vote. Four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana — joined the bulk of Democrats in favor of advancing the resolution. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the sole Democrat to oppose.

The vote marked the first time Cassidy supported advancing a war powers resolution. It came days after he failed to win enough support to advance to a runoff in the Louisiana GOP Senate primary, where Mr. Trump endorsed one of his opponents.

And three Republicans — Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — did not vote, tipping the scales in Democrats’ favor for the first time since they began bringing war powers resolutions related to Iran. …

The resolution, led by Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, would direct the president to “remove the United States Armed Forces from hostilities within or against Iran, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific authorization for use of military force.” 

The vote marked only a first step in the Senate. And even if both chambers approved the resolution, the president would be expected to veto it. But Democrats say the move would carry significance, and have the potential to change the president’s thinking in the war. […]

🐣 RT @CalltoActivism Um. What the fuck?
[Trump:] “Elon was very effective. He knows those computers better than anybody. Those vote counting computers. And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide. It was pretty good. Thank you to Elon.”
💽 https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1881118080212115627?s=20/video/1
⋙ 🐣 Also Elon: “Anything can be hacked.”

🐣 RT @ChristopherHale NEW: Days after Marco Rubio visited the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV sent his top global justice envoy to a Mass in Rome to pray for peace and social development in Cuba. ¤ During his homily, Jesuit Cardinal Michael Czerny made it clear the Vatican will not bless the Trump administration’s campaign to “take Cuba” — no humanitarian aid as a tool of regime change, no sanctions that punish the poor.
⋙ LeoLetters, Christopher Hale: Sent by Pope Leo XIV, Cardinal Czerny Rebukes Trump’s Threats to “Take Cuba” https://tinyurl.com/mtwjwd5w Eight days after Marco Rubio’s Vatican audience, Cardinal Czerny answered from the altar of St. Ignatius in Rome. The Church will not be conscripted into Trump’s war on Havana.

🐣 RT @EWTNNewsNightly Pope Leo’s new encyclical on AI, Magnifica Humanitas, is already sparking big conversations ahead of its release May 25. Vice President JD Vance reflected on why a pope speaking into the age of technology could be as pivotal as Pope Leo XIII guiding the Church through the Industrial Revolution, and why this document “is going to be a very, very important” voice in how we shape the future. Vance also said he was “looking forward to reading it.”
📔 ⋙ He should read the July 2025 White House AI Action Plan:Winning the Race, too https://tinyurl.com/yvjp383n I’m glad people are (finally) talking seriously about AI

TheAtlantic, Tom Nichols: Why Does Donald Trump Refuse to Defend America? https://tinyurl.com/2e2z6j3t “Trump’s constant equivocations do not reflect strategy or realism. They [show] his lack of a moral compass—and his meekness in the presence of powerful autocrats.”
// The president has long articulated a moral equivalence between the country’s interests and those of dictatorships.
// Trump’s constant equivocations do not reflect strategy or realism. They are instead evidence of his lack of a moral compass—and his meekness in the presence of powerful autocrats.

NYT: Iran War Exposes Shortcomings in US Military Industrial Base https://tinyurl.com/n7whsj8t
“‘Ukraine is going to produce seven million drones this year,” [Former Sevretary of Defense Robert M] Gates said in an interview. ‘Come on. Why can’t we do that?’”
// Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is taking on a problem that the Pentagon and Congress have tried, and mostly failed, to address for years.

⭕ 18 May 2026

NYT, Michelle Goldberg: Why College Grads Are Booing Their Commencement Speakers https://tinyurl.com/yup5udy2 “One reason Americans seem to despise A.I. more than people in other countries is that they know our government is too sclerotic to handle it.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2056774884676579822?s=20/photo/1

A.I. executives, buffered by their colossal fortunes and resulting political connections, don’t seem to feel much pressure to win people over. Instead, the industry’s message is coercive and bullying: adopt our product on our terms or be forever left behind. Tech billionaires might be less likely to announce that their inventions will cause mass unemployment if they felt constrained by public sentiment. The fact that they don’t shows how broken America’s democratic feedback loop has become.

NYT: Trump Threatens Iran and Then Pulls Back, All in the Same Day https://tinyurl.com/mwmdzbtm “President Trump has repeatedly said he’ll restart military action against Iran, only to stop short of plunging the United States directly back into an unpopular war.”

Iranian commanders, possibly with Russian help, studied the flight patterns of American fighter jets and bombers, the U.S. military official said. The official warned that the downing of the F-15E jet last month and the groundfire that struck an F-35 revealed that American flight tactics had become too predictable in ways that allowed Iran to defend against them more capably.

TheAtlantic, Stephanie McCrummen: The Most Interesting Part of Trump’s Prayer Rally https://tinyurl.com/46zff86c “It wasn’t the speakers onstage.” //➔ No, and it wasn’t Rubio redefining the US as a “Christian nation.” It was the attendees! Introducing: the Demolitionists!
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2056587152348070190?s=20/photo/1

The event was a long-sought triumph for those who came and for millions more grassroots believers who helped elect Trump twice, embracing prophecies that God anointed him for the great spiritual battle against demonic forces that they understand to be animating current events. This idea was the work of the apostles and prophets of the New Apostolic Reformation, a charismatic movement that began gathering momentum in the 1990s and is now the leading edge of the Christian right. Sunday was a clear display of the influence of the movement, whose leaders were instrumental in mobilizing voters to turn out in recent elections and to take part in the January 6 insurrection, when many people believed that they were taking the U.S. Capitol for God’s kingdom. …

The rally, called Rededicate 250, was billed as a “jubilee of prayer, praise and Thanksgiving” for “God’s presence” in American history. It was part of a series of events celebrating the nation’s anniversary put together by a Donald Trump–aligned nonprofit called Freedom 250, which is being funded by a public-private partnership that includes corporate donors such as Exxon Mobil, Lockheed Martin, and Palantir and for which Congress has allocated $150 million. …

… Administration officials including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose own theologies do not exactly align with the movement, told stories about God deploying miracles at key moments in the nation’s history, leveraging these anecdotes to argue that the United States was founded to be a Christian nation. Historians say this is a clear misunderstanding of the American Revolution. …

… At least 15 percent of all American adults now identify as nondenominational, and most of them are embracing charismatic ideas about signs and wonders and spiritual warfare. …

Under the shade of a tree, a man named Adriel Lam told me that he’d flown in from Hawaii, where he works for Capitol Ministries, an organization that seeks to bring prayer into state capitols. Lam is also running for Congress. He said that yesterday’s gathering was more evidence that an outpouring of the Holy Spirit is under way across America, a moment that he described as “post-postmodernism.”

Under the shade of a tree, a man named Adriel Lam told me that he’d flown in from Hawaii, where he works for Capitol Ministries, an organization that seeks to bring prayer into state capitols. Lam is also running for Congress
v
“Modernism told us, Let’s know our chemistry. Let’s know our physics. Science can explain the world,” Adriel Lam said [Lam is also running for Congress]. “Then postmodernism said, Let’s question the foundations of everything. Post-postmodernism is people saying, Let’s go back to zero. Let’s go back to the first century, when Jesus united the physical and the spiritual. God is moving our generation for renewal.”
^
… “We underestimate what’s going on in the invisible realm,” David Hitt said. “Our assembly, our worship, our prayer is creating openings for God to do his will.” He elaborated that he meant actual openings, portals where the Holy Spirit could enter into battle against actual demonic forces. He estimated that the prayer of just one person could put 1,000 demons in flight, and the prayer of two people could eject 10,000.

WSJ: The American Rebellion Against AI Is Gaining Steam https://tinyurl.com/5xk49xwf “Booed commencement speakers, blocked data centers, plummeting poll numbers: Fast-growing industry has a faster-growing crisis.”
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2056576029905289581?s=20/photo/1

In one poll after another in recent weeks, respondents have overwhelmingly voiced concerns about AI, a challenge to claims by industry executives that their technology would gain popularity by improving people’s lives.

Consumers resent energy-price jumps exacerbated by the spread of data centers. Workers fear widespread job losses. Parents worry about AI undermining education and harming children’s mental health. In recent months, the wave of anger has brought protests, swayed election results and spurred isolated acts of violence.

Pollsters and historians say the souring of public opinion is all but unprecedented in its speed. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen something intensify this quickly,” Gregory Ferenstein, who conducted a recent poll with researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley, said of the backlash. […]

🐣 RT @Forbes Pope Leo XIV will present a major Church document on artificial intelligence next week and he will be joined by Chris Olah, the billionaire co-founder of Anthropic. Read more: https://tinyurl.com/3xr3fth9
Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images

🐣 RT @robertgraham We are a secular nation and not a theocracy. ¤ The reason we are fighting with Iran is because theirs is what happens when a nation becomes a theocracy. ¤ The Founders were firm on this point, which is why there is no mention of gods in the Constitution and there is mention of freedom of religion.
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @RippleXrpie 🚨BREAKING: 🇺🇸 MARCO RUBIO HAS SENT A MESSAGE TO ALL AMERICANS! ¤ “WE ARE A CHRISTIAN NATION.”
⋙ 🐣 Rubio is wrong. We are a secular nation in which people are free to worship as they please. Saying we are a Christian Nation is like saying we are a White Nation. Both statements are reprehensible. Read below for what our Founders actually said. ⬇️
🖼 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2056328786505842989?s=20/photo/1

🇺🇸 United States Constitution 🇺🇸
Amendment 1

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

🔷 THE FOUNDING FATHERS on RELIGION

“If I could conceive that the general government might ever be so administered as to render the liberty of conscience insecure, I beg you will be persuaded, that no one would be more zealous than myself to establish effectual barriers against the horrors of spiritual tyranny, and every species of religious persecution.
– George Washington, letter to the United Baptist Chamber of Virginia (1789)

“Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, then that of blindfolded fear.
– Thomas Jefferson, letter to Peter Carr (1787)

“In regard to religion, mutual toleration in the different professions thereof is what all good and candid minds in all ages have ever practiced, and both by precept and example inculcated on mankind.
– Samuel Adams, The Rights of the Colonists (1771)

“Persecution is not an original feature in any religion; but it is always the strongly marked feature of all religions established by law. Take away the law-establishment, and every religion re-assumes its original benignity.”
– Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1791)

“Congress has no power to make any religious establishments.”
– Roger Sherman, Congress (1789)

“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.”
– Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanack (1758)

“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people build a wall of separation between Church & State.”
– Thomas Jefferson, letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802)

“To argue with a man who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.”
– Thomas Paine, The American Crisis No. V (1776)

“Our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions in physics or geometry.”
– Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom (1779)

“Christian establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects.
– James Madison, letter to William Bradford, Jr. (1774)

“There is nothing which can better deserve our patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness.
– George Washington, address to Congress (1790)

“During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution.
– James Madison, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia (1785)

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 Trump: “Nobody knows God better than me. And NOBODY is loved more by God than me!”

⭕ 17 May 2026

🐣 RT @markomihkelson 🇪🇪🇺🇦🇪🇺 If Russia does not want @kajakallas to be Europe’s negotiator, that is a clear sign she is doing an excellent job defending Europe’s common interests.
⋙ 🐣 Exactly! Well, I doubt Ukraine really wanted Trump’s golf buddy and corrupt son-in-law to be the US’s negotiators, either.

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 🇺🇸 Trump: “The Chancellor of Germany Merz thinks Iran having nukes is fine. He’s awful at his job.”
🔄 ⋙ Trump insists that anyone who disagrees with his shambolic and FAILED war wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon. ¤ As if there wasn’t a better way! ¤ The JCPOA was working and he tore it up: It limited enrichment to 3.76% (now 60%!) and in it Iran promised NEVER to built a bomb.

🧵 RT @U24_gov_ua The third Sunday of May commemorates the millions of victims of Soviet repression, particularly those of Stalin’s Great Terror of 1937-38. ¤ It marks one of the darkest chapters in Ukraine’s history, when unspeakable crimes were committed against the Ukrainian people by the Kremlin-led Soviet regime and its enforcers. ¤ Today, we remember the victims and honor their memory.
📌 https://x.com/U24_gov_ua/status/2055920098465005758?s=20/photo/1 -n
🔄 ⋙ 🐣 I asked Claude (AI) to compile ”WW2-era” deaths and deportations by the SOVIET regime (NOT Nazi Germany) for the states listed. ¤ Sources cited included Applebaum, Snyder, official USSR stats etc. Dates spanned from the 1930s into the 1950s
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2056264180471074886?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @highbrow_nobrow The United States entered war with Iran without settling on a single reason, advancing four distinct justifications in just days. [link:]
⋙ 🐣 Waaay to few! I asked Claude (AI) and got:
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2056252140201341059?s=20

1. Nuclear weapons prevention
2. Ballistic missile threat to allies and the U.S. homeland
3. Destroying Iran’s conventional military (missiles and navy)
4. Stopping Iran’s support for terrorist proxies
5. Pre-empting an imminent attack on U.S. forces
6. Human rights / defending Iranian protesters
7. Regime change (implicit or explicit)
8. Divine will
9. At behest of Israel [I added]

🐣 RT @BohuslavskaKate STUBB: Support for war in Russia declining sharply. Ukraine winning on the battlefield, daily long-range strikes inside Russia making war much more real for people in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Russians not happy about internet restrictions. Ukraine now in position of strength.

🐣 RT @prestonstew_ “Only fools would announce a mobilization in the fifth year of an unsuccessful war and at a time when the country is already very tired of war, does not want it, and does not believe in victory. ¤ With the modern development of weapons of the enemy – the more massive the attack – the more corpses of the attackers with the same (very modest) results.” – Russian Igor Girkin

🐣 RT @MeanwhileInUA This is the warning Europe cannot afford to soften.
💽 https://x.com/MeanwhileInUA/status/2056226926134432094?s=20/video/1

Anne Applebaum says the United States under President Trump is no longer interested in leading democratic coalitions against Russia.
ㅤ
She argues that democracy is no longer at the center of American foreign policy — pointing to attacks on allies, pressure on democratic institutions, hostility toward Ukraine and negotiations with Russia shaped by business interests.
ㅤ
For Ukraine and Europe, this is not commentary. It is a warning: build strength before Washington’s retreat becomes someone else’s disaster.

🐣 RT @anneapplebaum No American president has ever sought to benefit so directly, and so immediately, from his own political decisions. Unprecedented
⋙ 🐣 RT @@stengel George H.W. Bush kept his assets in a blind trust, as did Bill Clinton. Neither Obama nor Biden traded stocks or bonds while in office. 3,700 trades is probably more than all the trades of all the presidents until now. And he is trading stocks that are affected by his decisions. A walking conflict of interest, at the least, and perhaps insider trading. Just as members of Congress should not be able to trade stocks, so too the president.

⭕ 16 May 2026

🐣 I asked Claude (AI): Q: Would a Chinese takeover of Taiwan add to China’s global power? I was stunned by the response:
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2056064030062559318?s=20/photo/1

Q: Would a Chinese takeover of Taiwan add to China’s global power?

A: Enormously — and this is where Trump’s framing is most dangerous. Taiwan produces roughly 90% of the world’s most advanced chips. China absorbing that capacity would mean:

• Control over the semiconductor supply chain that underlies every advanced weapons system, Al model, smartphone, and data center on earth
• The ability to throttle chip supply to any country as a geopolitical weapon – the mirror image of what the U.S. has done with chip export controls to China
• Elimination of the U.S’s most critical leverage point in the tech competition with China

Trump’s “China is big, Taiwan is small” formulation treats this as a real estate dispute. It’s actually a question of who controls the commanding heights of 21st-century industrial power.

As one analyst put it: “Trump at the very least realizes the role that Taiwan plays in the U.S’s economic growth.” But his behavior this week suggests that realization is losing to his transactional impulse to do a deal with Xi.

The irony is almost perfect: Trump complains Taiwan “stole” the chip business, then contemplates handing that business – and the island – to China.

🐣 In a back-of-the-envelope agreement (the “naughty” document), Churchill and Stalin divvied up “influence” over Eastern Europe. ¤ Churchill had proposed to Eisenhower a plan to secure more, but the US still was still at war against Japan and was not supportive.

🐣 RT @Propeertys [tr] Anna Applebaum @applebaum “The United States under this government are no longer interested in leading democratic coalitions against Russia or anyone else.
¤ https://x.com/Propeertys/status/2055688359776039329?s=20

President Trump began aligning American foreign and domestic policy with the values and practices of the autocratic world. ¤ Democracy is no longer at the center of American foreign policy or American identity.

The President and his administration tried to strip funding from USAID or Radio Free Europe, American institutions that once promoted democracy around the world.

Trump verbally attacked Canada, the European Union, and America’s Asian partners, imposing inexplicably high tariffs on their goods.

🐣 RT @_InfoGram_ 🇺🇸 Reporter: “You saw the reports that missile launchers remain in Iran. Is that accurate?” … This guy’s lost his mind. He’s living in a dream world.
¤ 💽 https://x.com/_InfoGram_/status/2055674243745288200?s=20/video/1
// most sources say ~90%, but Iran can receive replacements from its allies

🇺🇸 Trump: “No, that’s New York Times fake news. The launchers are probably 80% gone.”
Fact: Not NYT but U.S. intelligence reports say 🇮🇷 Iran has restored 100% of its missile capabilities.

🐣 RT @_InfoGram_ 🇹🇼Taiwan just delivered a major shock to Trump. 🔥
🇺🇸 Trump at 6:00 PM: “I’m not looking for anyone to go independent. We’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war? I’m not looking for that.”
🇹🇼 Taiwan at 7:00 PM: “Listen, Trump. Taiwan is a sovereign, independent democratic nation and is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China.” ¤ That was a brutal response.

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇵🇱🇺🇦 Sikorski: “I see few NATO officers here, they may not like what I’m about to say. Until year or two ago, we imagined it was us who were training Ukrainians. Now, it’s we who need to take lessons from them cause they know modern war, there’s no substitute for practical experience.”

🔄🔄 💙❤️ TheEconomist: AMERICA AT 250 https://tinyurl.com/3j9kwx6w “From the Declaration of Independence to the rise of Donald Trump, we assess America’s complicated relationship with its founding ideal”
// tags: history of America history of USA history of the USA
¤ 📔 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2055755928536801613?s=20

🐣 RT @mccaffreyr3 Incredible void in American global engagement and leadership. Our expert voices have been silenced.
⋙ 🐣 RT @peterbakernyt At a time of war in the Middle East, the US has no ambassador in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Iraq or Kuwait. At a time of war in Europe, there is no US ambassador in Russia or Ukraine. Altogether some 115 of 195 ambassador posts are vacant. @RobbieGramer [link:]WSJ https://tinyurl.com/2samcjen
⋙ 🐣 and he’s pulling troops from Eastern Europe, disrupting Baltic and Polish defenses, even as Ukraine says Belarus may be being used by Russia to amass troops:
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa Today, I held a meeting with the heads of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Defense Intelligence, the Foreign Intelligence Service, and the Security Service of Ukraine. Three key areas were discussed.
¤ 🌎 https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2055277239109841078?s=20/photo/1 -2

First, we are defining targets for our next long-range sanctions against Russia over this war and the strikes against our cities and villages. Ukraine will not allow any of the aggressor’s strikes that take the lives of our people to go unpunished. We are entirely justified in our responses against Russia’s oil industry, military production, and those directly responsible for committing war crimes against Ukraine and Ukrainians. I am grateful to our warriors for their dedication to defending Ukraine’s interests, and to all involved Ukrainian institutions for building a truly strong system of our long-range sanctions. This is having a tangible impact.

Second, we continue to document Russia’s attempts to draw Belarus deeper into the war against Ukraine. We know that additional contacts have taken place between the Russians and Aleksandr Lukashenko, aimed at persuading him to join new Russian aggressive operations. In particular, Russia is considering plans for operations to the south and north of Belarusian territory – either against the Chernihiv-Kyiv direction in Ukraine or against one of the NATO countries directly from the territory of Belarus. Ukraine has details of the conversation between Russia and Belarus. Ukraine will undoubtedly defend itself and its people if Aleksandr Lukashenko makes the wrong call and decides to support this Russian intention as well. I instructed our Defense and Security Forces of Ukraine to strengthen the relevant direction and to present our response plan, which will be reviewed and approved at the Staff meeting.

Third, specialists from the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine obtained documents indicating that the Russians are preparing new missile and drone strikes against Ukraine, including, as they describe them, against “decision-making centers.” Among these are nearly two dozen political centers and military command posts. Of course, we have taken this information into account. But it is worth emphasizing specifically for the Russian leadership that Ukraine is – after all – not Russia. And unlike the aggressor state, where there is a clear author of this war and a long-standing circle around him that sustains his detachment from reality, the source of Ukraine’s defense is the readiness of the Ukrainian people to fight for their independence and for their own sovereign state. Ukrainians deserve their sovereignty just like any other nation. The people cannot be defeated. Russia must end its war and negotiate a dignified peace, rather than searching for new ways to intimidate Ukraine. I thank everyone who is helping. Glory to Ukraine!

⭕ 15 May 2026

≣ 🔊 TheAtlantic, Charlie Warzel: What’s the AI Endgame? [podcast, transcript] https://tinyurl.com/43kvprbx Chris Hayes on anxiety, automation, and how to emotionally survive the AI boom

🔄 🐣 anger is less effective than resolve
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2055487195247468713?s=20

we must vote in OVERWHELMING numbers
– donate to DSCC DCCC DNC, + candidates you support via ActBlue
– call/write to Congress, Letters to the Editor
– talk to friends and family
– go door-to-door
– GOTV‼️

🐣 RT @Acyn Trump on Taiwan: When you look at the odds, China is very, very powerful, big country. That’s a very small island. Think of it, it’s 59 miles away. We’re 9500 miles away. That’s a little bit of a difficult problem. Taiwan was developed because we had presidents that didn’t know what the hell they were doing. They stole our chip industry.
💽 https://x.com/Acyn/status/2055412013715825116?s=20/video/1
⋙ 🐣 JFK: [TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2055481936965988383?s=20/photo/1

“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” John F. Kennedy

🐣 RT @HormuzLetter BREAKING: China has explicitly informed the US that it recognizes Iran’s “exercise of sovereignty” over the Strait of Hormuz, contradicting the White House readout of the Trump-Xi summit that claimed Xi opposed Iranian “militarization” of the Strait and any “toll” for its use, per a source close to Iranian Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf. ¤ More than 10 Chinese ships have successfully transited under Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority permit system in the past two days.

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa We have Russian documents outlining targets for strikes in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities – political and military facilities where army leadership and government officials may be located, including here on Bankova Street.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2055326268724224341?s=20

They have been nursing this plan for a long time, and now, after Iran, have become active again – trying to locate us and track our movements.

The same applies to other members of the Ukrainian leadership, intelligence agencies, and our special services. Some in Moscow have still failed to understand that Ukrainians will never surrender their independence. One way or another – whether on Bankova or without Bankova – we will not surrender our land, our sovereignty, or our state.

💽 NYT: What Trump’s Magic Math Costs You https://tinyurl.com/3h3wkvu7 Trump is attacking the data that helps Americans understand reality itself. In this video from Times Opinion, we examine how his war on numbers follows a familiar authoritarian playbook.
// Note: formatting and apparent (my best guess) at punctuation added to raw transcript. ⬇️
⋙ For Posting: NYT: What Trump’s Magic Math Costs You https://tinyurl.com/3h3wkvu7 “Trump is attacking the data that helps Americans understand reality itself.… We examine how his war on numbers follows a familiar authoritarian playbook.” //➔ transcript: formatting & punct. added ⬇️
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2055347419311661473?s=20/photo/1 -4

Transcript: This is a story about numbers. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. And what happens when you can no longer trust them. Six, seven, — eight, 10, 11 — 30 — You see, each year, the U.S. government collects millions of gigabytes of data. You can think of all these numbers like a pair of magical glasses. Put them on and suddenly you can see our vast country in detail.

At first, the stats might feel scattered. 135,000 cows in Hawaii. 54 ice jams in the last seven months. But keep exploring this data and you begin to realize how irreplaceable it really is. It allows us to forecast the weather. To navigate our roads. Companies rely on the data to decide how many workers to hire, where to open new stores. It shapes what your kids learn in school. Reading scores have dropped to their lowest levels in more than two decades. The medicines that you can take. And more than anything, this data is used to determine where your tax dollars are spent.

The truth is, all this data is the closest thing we’ve got to seeing the truth. But right now, the Trump administration is at war with these numbers.

“Those numbers are made up by Democrats. Can you believe it?” [[No.]]

And our ability to see the truth is slipping away. Authoritarian regimes impose their authority by insisting that people believe things that are obviously not true. The point is that the regime is more powerful than the truth. By going after the data and inventing his own narrative, Trump is following a familiar pattern.

Almost immediately after his second inauguration, Trump’s mass deletion campaign began. The government’s 13 core statistical agencies were stymied, losing over 20 percent of their staff, and entire data sets were discontinued. Cases against Jan. 6 rioters, the Drug Abuse Warning Network, the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program and the Farm Labor Survey. These are just a few of the deleted data sets that informed the public, helped the government do its job, and were critical in holding the government accountable.

Take what happened a few months ago when Trump said, “In one year we have lifted 2.4 million Americans off of food stamps.” Trump claims these people no longer need SNAP, but experts believe that without it, they’ll go hungry. So who’s right? Well, we won’t be able to tell because back in September, The Trump administration is scrapping the annual report — on hunger. — Claiming they do nothing but fearmonger.

The National Law Enforcement Accountability Database was an internal tool that helped the government track federal police conduct, preventing officers from jumping between agencies to avoid accountability. A database with information on nearly 150,000 federal officers — gone.

The Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System was created in the 1980s, when scientists were trying to figure out why the United States had one of the highest infant mortality rates among developed countries. The data from the program helped establish policies and practices that cut infant mortality nearly in half. But the Trump administration ended the collection of new data, suspended access to historic data and placed the program staff on leave. The website now comes with a disclaimer: “This page does not reflect reality, and therefore the administration and this department reject it.”

The Trump administration’s deletion campaign has extended beyond removing data sets. He’s also gone after those who report findings he doesn’t like. Take what happened last summer. We are a minute and a half away from the July jobs — report. — The monthly jobs numbers, often seen as a barometer of the nation’s economic health, were a huge disappointment. Jobs came in at 73,000. That was lower than the expectation, which called for 110,000 jobs. Trump was furious. He is firing the commissioner of labor statistics.

[“]I believe the numbers were phony. So you know what I did? I fired her.[“]

This February, a team of researchers at the Federal Reserve published a study that showed that U.S. firms and consumers were paying nearly 90 percent of the cost of Trump’s tariffs. The finding was hardly surprising, but just look at what Trump’s appointees said with a smile.

[“]It’s, I think, the worst paper I’ve ever seen in the history of the Federal Reserve system. The people associated with this paper should presumably be disciplined.[“]

By deleting data and punishing the number makers, Trump has cleared the way for his own sort of magic: Trump math, where numbers suddenly fit his political agenda. At times, the claims are just bizarre, — like when Trump claimed he would lower drug prices by — 1,000 percent, 600 percent — numbers that are not even thought to be achievable.

Or when Pam Bondi claimed that Trump saved three-quarters of the country from overdosing. [“]Your D.O.J. agencies saved — are you ready for this, media? — 258 million lives.[”] Bondi is saying that if not for Trump, about 75 percent of Americans would be dead.

Trump wants us to believe his lies, even when they contradict what’s right in front of us. [‘]Inflation is totally neutralized. Prices are way down. Grocery prices, energy prices, airfares, mortgage rates, rent and car payments are all coming down and they’re coming down fast.[‘] He’s insisting that these problems are not real and therefore that the government doesn’t need to address them.

President’s tariffs are pushing prices higher. Highest gas prices in four years. This is the opposite of what governments are supposed to do. And we already know that this willingness to lie about numbers can be deadly. [“]I just want to find 11,780 votes.[“]

This is the United States of America, and we’re watching protesters try to undermine the course of an election through force? Four people died on the Capitol grounds. Look abroad, and there are ample examples of how much more damaging this type of math can be.

Officials in Greece spent years lying about the size of the government’s deficit. And when this guy tried to publish the true deficit — numbers — That the accounting systems are still — in need of improvement — he was charged with complicity against the state. The false statistics accelerated the country’s debt crisis. A country on the brink of collapse. Endless lines at ATMs with withdrawals limited to just $67.

Misrepresented statistics also proved deadly in South Africa. At the height of the AIDS epidemic, President Thabo Mbeki woefully underrepresented the scale — of the crisis. — Thabo Mbeki has questioned the link between H.I.V. and AIDS. He cited outdated data and misrepresented findings about lifesaving drugs. Collectively, these policies led to over 334,000 preventable deaths.

Imagine what could happen if we allow this to continue in the U.S. Imagine being told that hunger is at an all-time low when lines in your neighborhood go around the block as people line up for food. Imagine not being able to access a medication you need because the government withheld the data that showed its effectiveness. Imagine election officials facing criminal prosecution for announcing the correct results.

Accurate and well-reported data is an essential element of a well-functioning democracy. The true victim in the war on numbers isn’t just the data. It’s you.

🐣 RT @atrupar Q: Did you talk to Xi about the cyber attacks that he’s done in the United States?
TRUMP: I did. And he talked about attacks we did in China. You know, what they do, we do too. We spy like hell on them too. I told him, ‘we do a lot of stuff to you that that you don’t know about.’
⋙ 🐣 my guess is this convo didn’t occur
’we do it too’ is his go-to line for the press
Iran couldn’t have killed our troops, bombed our bases, and destroyed irreplaceable military hardware without satellite data from China and targeting data from Russia

NYT: Enter the Killer Robots: The Ukrainian Forging the Future of Warfare https://tinyurl.com/yuywpwuv ‘The future of warfare is being written in Ukraine, and Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s 35-year-old defense minister, a technology evangelist, is one of its authors.’
// Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s 35-year-old defense minister, sees futuristic military technology as crucial to his country’s survival.

[…] The same way that apps remade taxi services and food delivery, Mr. Fedorov believes that warfare is ripe for disruption. That, he says, means offloading the fighting as much as possible onto machines — including, someday, those that can make lethal decisions on their own.

“The world needs security, and only autonomous weapons can ensure it,” Mr. Fedorov said in an interview in his office at the Ministry of Defense. “Autonomous weapons are the new nuclear weapons. Countries that possess them will be protected.”

While killer robots may seem a horrifying prospect, something out of dystopian science fiction, the race for them is on worldwide.

In Ukraine, the use of artificial intelligence in weapons is still in its infancy. It is most helpful now in target recognition, like helping a drone pilot pick out a camouflaged tank hidden in a forest. But the technology is improving, and Mr. Fedorov sees it as a pillar of Ukraine’s broader embrace of new-generation weapons that have kept its outnumbered military in the fight.

These weapons power a strategy, devised by Mr. Fedorov and endorsed by President Volodymyr Zelensky, that is intended to force Russia into a settlement to end the war.

The strategy, called Air, Land, Economy, envisions using drones and other advanced weapons to intercept at least 95 percent of incoming Russian drones and missiles; to kill or seriously injure more soldiers than Moscow can recruit; and to weaken the Russian economy by blowing up oil export terminals. …

Through the full-scale war that started in 2022, Mr. Fedorov has been Ukraine’s point person for contact with Silicon Valley. To attract military technology, he has promoted the war as a test bed for defense ventures.

He has met in Ukraine with Alex Karp, the chief executive of the defense-focused data analysis company Palantir, and with Eric Schmidt, a former chief executive of Google who founded a venture fund, D3, focused on weapons development in Ukraine.

After a meeting this week with Mr. Karp, Mr. Fedorov said that Ukraine was working with Palantir to further integrate A.I. into warfare, including systems to analyze air attacks, process intelligence data and plan for deep strikes into Russia. ¤ During the recent defense-technology exhibition that Mr. Fedorov attended, a vast array of innovative Ukrainian battlefield products — the sort he has championed — were on display. …

He is leading an effort to monetize or trade Ukrainian war data, including a library of more than five million annotated videos of the battlefield filmed by surveillance and strike drones. These include footage showing how humans behave as killer drones close in, such as running or hiding.

Last month, the Defense Ministry, through a program called Avenger Labs, opened up the data sets to companies from allied nations to train artificial intelligence models.

Human rights groups oppose the use of A.I. in lethal weapons. But Mr. Fedorov argued that “the risks are not as high as you think.” For now, the technology is focused mostly on identifying military equipment, not soldiers, aides said.

Access to Avenger Labs is conditioned on Ukraine receiving the A.I. models that are produced from the data. About 20 companies have expressed interest. ¤ “It’s a win-win approach,” Mr. Fedorov said.

⋙ 🧵I think this article is intended to send a message to Russia. ¤ For now, in Ukraine, human operators are still in the loop. Human rights organizations are alarmed by the idea of fully autonomous warfare. Pope Leo has warned against it. ✛
📌 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2055273726585819472?s=20

In Iran, Palantir was involved in targeting, and the use of outdated information resulted in the destruction of an elementary school, killing 150 ✛ people, mostly children. The site had earlier been used by the IRGC. ✛

The use of real battlefield data from Ukraine, which wants to join NATO and so abides by the Humanitarian Laws of War and does not (unlike Russia) target civilians, should help avoid such mistakes. ✛

The decision to go fully autonomous (taking humans out of the loop) should be decided by international agreement. The question is: would Russia or China (or the USA) sign on?

🐣 RT @@MFA_Ukraine 🕯 Today, a Day of Mourning has been declared in Kyiv for the victims of the massive Russian attack on the capital on May 14.

At least 24 people are now confirmed dead, including three children. 48 people have been injured.

This was one of the deadliest attacks on Kyiv since the start of Russia’s full-scale war. Residential neighborhoods, civilian infrastructure, and ordinary people once again became Russia’s targets.

The aggressor state is deliberately continuing its terror against Ukrainian cities and civilians. That is why international pressure on Russia must increase, alongside continued support for Ukraine and our nation’s ability to protect its skies and its people.

⭕ 14 May 2026

🐣 RT @propublica This video on the rise of Russ Vought is based on scores of interviews, thousands of pages of emails and dozens of hours of videos and recordings of private briefings given by Vought, most of which have not been previously reported. 💽
⋙ 💽 Propublica (2025): Who Is Russell Vought? How a Little-Known D.C. Insider Became Trump’s Dismantler-in-Chief https://tinyurl.com/yvp8rd4n “The Shadow President”
// 10/17/2025

🐣 RT @jurgen_nauditt But the world knows by now that Trump is lying here—because he always lies.
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @MeidasTouch Trump must have just learned that when Xi Jinping invoked the Thucydides Trap to his face, he was essentially calling the United States a nation in decline. Now, Trump is trying to spin it, claiming that Xi must have been talking about
[RantLink:] https://x.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/2055155384306864552?s=20/photo/1
⋙ 🐣 yes, he does indeed:
🔄 🖼 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2055161152317874279?s=20/photo/1 -2
// Economist cover: “Envy of the World”; Forbes on small business boom

🐣 RT @disclosetv NOW – Trump says it’s good to have 500,000 foreign Chinese students in the U.S. and for China to purchase U.S. farmland; otherwise, colleges and farm prices would collapse: “I frankly think that it’s good that people come from other countries and they learn our culture.” [Fox]
💽 https://x.com/disclosetv/status/2055106213004677253?s=20/video/1
⋙ 🐣 say WHUT?!

🧵 RT @Pontifex [Apr 17] The Catholic University can form pioneers of a new humanism in the context of the digital revolution. This is a service to the truth and to all humanity. Without this demanding educational effort, passive adaptation to dominant paradigms will be mistaken for competence, and the loss of freedom for progress. #ApostolicJourney #Cameroon
📌 https://x.com/Pontifex/status/2045208455468716042?s=20

⋙ #ArtificialIntelligence systems increasingly shape and permeate our mentality and social environments. Like every great historical transformation, this too calls not only for technical competence, but also for a humanistic formation capable of making visible the logic behind economics, embedded biases and forms of power that shape our perception of reality.

⋙ Within digital environments — structured to persuade — interaction is optimized to the point of rendering a real encounter superfluous; the otherness of persons in the flesh is neutralized, and relationships are reduced to functional responses. Dear friends, you, however, are real persons! Creation itself has a body, a breath, a life to be listened to and safeguarded.

💙 ⋙ When simulation becomes the norm, it weakens the human capacity for discernment. As a result, our social bonds close in upon themselves, forming self-referential circuits that no longer expose us to reality. We thus come to live within bubbles, impermeable to one another. Feeling threatened by anyone who is different, we grow unaccustomed to encounter and dialogue. In this way, polarization, conflict, fear and violence spread. What is at stake is not merely the risk of error, but a transformation in our very relationship with truth.
¤ https://x.com/Pontifex/status/2045208459164123560?s=20

🔄 🐣 Pope Leo XIV: Educational Background— [Claude AI]
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2055149504848912888?s=20

🔹 B.S. in Mathematics, Villanova University (1977)
🔹 Master of Divinity, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago (1982)
🔹 Licentiate in Canon Law (JCL), Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, Rome (1984)
🔹 Doctorate in Canon Law (JCD), Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, Rome (1987)

.
🐣 RT @_InfoGram_ 🇺🇸 Reporter: “Did you talk to Xi about China helping Iran?”
🇺🇸 Trump: “He said no military stuff. But yeah, they buy tons of oil from Iran and plan to keep it that way.”
Translation: China basically said, “get lost” 🤣
💽 https://x.com/_InfoGram_/status/2054943893872132423?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @OccupyDemocrats
[TextLink:] https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/2055059069216477531?s=20/photo/1

HARRISON FORD’S MESSAGE TO YOUNG AMERICANS
AT ASU GRADUATION SPEECH:

“Nature doesn’t need people. ¤ People need nature to survive.

A healthy natural world provides free services to mankind that we cannot provide for ourselves: oxygen in the air we breathe; pollinators for our crops; fresh water and carbon capture from our forest, wetlands, and ocean; medicines, present and future, from the rainforest. We have an essential mandate to protect 30% of the world’s land and sea by 2030 to prevent the mass extinction, to slow the warming of our planet… but we are STILL losing nature to profiteering, corruption, and conflict.”

NYT, David French: I Don’t Think You Can Even Call This Hypocrisy https://tinyurl.com/28ck2ktx “Political evangelicalism is a system that is deeply influenced by depraved men, and it has exactly the features that depraved men will demand of an institution they control.”

🐣 RT @StratcomCentre Even back in 1899, Sergei Witte, the man that would later become Russia’s first Prime Minister …
¤ https://x.com/StratcomCentre/status/2054935619130769880?s=20

… noted that unlike other countries, when territory is acquired by Russia, it becomes ruins and that Russians see money only as a means to fund yet more war for more territorial expansion, to then neglect into ruins..

“The Black Sea coast possesses natural riches unmatched in Europe. In our hands it lies neglected. If foreigners controlled it, it would already be generating enormous income and full of tourists. But for that, capital is needed — and for us, the purpose of capital is war. We cannot sit even 25 years without war; all public savings are sacrificed to wars. We leave the richest lands in neglect while constantly striving for new conquests.”

🐣 RT @anders_aslund The only surprising thing about Trump’s economic policies is that the outcome has not been worse:
¤ https://x.com/anders_aslund/status/2054750592606580741?s=20

1. Lawless madhat tariffs: higher prices, less competition, more bureasucracy = less growth.
2. Excessive budget deficit of 7% of GDP for no good reason = higher inflation.
3. Crony capitalism interfering in company policy & seizing ownership = bad for economic growth.
4. Outright corruption = disastrous for economic growth.
5. Absurd war on Iran = much higher commodity prices & possible recession.
6. End of immigration of skilled workers to the US = less long-term growth.
7. Destruction of global organization from WTO to WHO & UN = less problem solution.
Result so far: Inflation 3.8% & less growth, but no more unemployment because no immigration.

🐣 RT @HamidRezaAz Trump-Xi meeting and #Iran’s new maneuver in Hormuz
¤ https://x.com/HamidRezaAz/status/2054903249598136330?s=20

🔹As Trump meets Xi in Beijing – with reopening the Strait of Hormuz being a major topic on his agenda – Iran’s Fars News Agency reports that Tehran has begun allowing Chinese ships through the strait under Iranian-managed protocols, following lobbying by China’s foreign minister and ambassador. The timing is quite important.

🔹One of Washington’s key demands of Beijing is that China pressure Tehran to reopen Hormuz. Iran seems to have just made that demand structurally irrelevant. The message from Tehran is that the strait isn’t closed to partners, and it never was. In fact, Iran has been operating a selective access regime since the start of the conflict.

🔹But here, the protocol matters as much as the passage. Ships transit under Iranian management and on Iranian terms. Tehran is not “reopening” Hormuz completely; instead, it is demonstrating sovereign governance over it. This is something Iranian leaders have been emphasizing.

🔹For Beijing, the move is a diplomatic gift. Xi can tell Trump the strait is accessible to Chinese vessels – which is now verifiably true – without having applied a single day of pressure on Iran. Washington wanted Chinese leverage over Tehran, but Tehran has effectively removed the pretext for invoking it.

🔹In this sense, Iran keeps the strait instrumentalized, i.e., open enough to service partners, but closed enough to impose costs on adversaries, while retaining the ability to tighten or ease access as the diplomatic environment shifts.

🔹The development once again shows that a war designed in part to strip Iran of its instruments of regional leverage may instead have consolidated Hormuz as a permanently managed chokepoint, through which Tehran now exercises something closer to port authority than naval harassment.

🐣 RT @BohuslavskaKate APPLEBAUM: Russia’s war in Ukraine is sometimes described, including recently by American Vice President, as if it were nothing more than territorial dispute, kind of scuffle over lines on map.
💽 https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2054943212951736720?s=20/video/1

But when Russia denies that Ukraine is a real nation, builds concentration camps on Ukrainian territory, bans Ukrainian language and systematically arrests mayors, teachers, journalists, and priests, then Russia is also attacking Europe that was built after 1945, Europe whose borders are not supposed to be changed by force.

Russia invaded Ukraine not only to destroy Ukraine but also to prove that treaties are meaningless, alliances are weak, and brute force still decides fate of nations.

By waging imperial war of conquest, Russia seeks to undermine Europe’s post-imperial order.

🐣 RT @OstapYarysh Marco Rubio: “Ukrainians have developed new tactics, new techniques, new equipment, technology that is creating a sort of hybrid asymmetrical warfare. That’s impressive. … Right now, the Ukrainian armed forces are the strongest, most powerful armed forces in all of Europe.”[Fox]
💽 https://x.com/OstapYarysh/status/2054966027541217778?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @Tendar US Secretary of State Marco Rubio: The Russians are losing five times as many soldiers a month as the Ukrainians are. The Ukrainian army at the moment is the strongest army in Europe. [Fox]
💽 https://x.com/Tendar/status/2054936039593066875?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @shanaka86 Xi told Trump today that Taiwan could trigger “clashes and even conflicts” between China and the United States.
¤ https://x.com/shanaka86/status/2054808037681152402?s=20

Beijing called the dispute “as irreconcilable as fire and water.” Trump was asked five times if Taiwan came up. He said nothing. Then they walked the Temple of Heaven together.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning released Beijing’s post-bilateral statement. Xi told Trump that “the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations” and that “if it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability.” Otherwise, Mao said, “the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy.” Taiwan independence and cross-Strait peace, Mao added, are “as irreconcilable as fire and water.” The language is the sharpest public Taiwan warning at a US-China summit in decades.

The Trump administration has held a $14 billion arms sale package to Taiwan since Congress approved it in January. The package includes Patriot interceptors, air defense systems, and antidrone equipment. Administration officials told lawmakers the White House directed the hold for a successful Xi meeting. Trump told reporters Monday: “I’m going to have that discussion. President Xi would like us not to.” Taiwan’s parliament approved a $25 billion special defense budget last week.

Trump and Xi held two hours fifteen minutes of closed-door talks at the Great Hall. After the meeting Trump said only the visit was “great” and “China is beautiful.” CNN described him as “uncharacteristically restrained.”

Trump arrived at the Great Hall after 10 AM Beijing time. Xi opened by emphasizing partnership: “We should be partners, not rivals.” He said the countries “both stand to gain from cooperation” and that “trade wars have no winner.” Trump responded that the talks could be “the biggest summit ever” and that the relationship “is going to be better than ever before.”

Trump became the first sitting US president to visit the Temple of Heaven since Gerald Ford in 1975. The UNESCO World Heritage complex was built in 1420. Chinese emperors used it for five centuries for harvest rituals. The temple represents harmony between heaven and humanity.

Mao described the economic outcomes as “generally balanced and positive.” The language is diplomatic Chinese for modest deliverables. Expected announcements include a bilateral Board of Trade, Chinese commitments on Boeing aircraft, soybeans, and beef, and an extension of the Busan trade truce from October 2025. The CEO delegation aboard Air Force One: Musk, Cook, Huang, Fink, Bessent, Hegseth, Rubio, Greer, and Perdue. Huang told reporters meetings have been “excellent.”

Iran was not mentioned in Mao’s post-bilateral readout. Trump said Tuesday: “I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, because we have Iran very much under control.” Brent crude traded at $105.42 Thursday morning, down 0.21 percent from Wednesday’s close. Markets did not rally. The Hormuz blockade continues.

The pre-summit assumption was that Washington would press Beijing on Iran while Beijing would press Washington on Taiwan. Day 1 inverted both. Xi escalated publicly on Taiwan. Trump retreated publicly on Iran. The $14 billion arms hold was the concession made before Trump landed. The Sledgehammer card was not visibly played. The fentanyl casus belli was not visibly played. The Day 2 joint communiqué language on Taiwan will be parsed word by word in Taipei, Tokyo, and Seoul. The Temple of Heaven was the cover. The fire and water was the message.

🐣 RT @henry_jibunor President Trump is in Beijing for the first U.S. state visit to China since 2017, meeting Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People for a 2-hour-15-minute bilateral where Xi asked if both nations could “transcend the Thucydides Trap”
¤ https://x.com/henry_jibunor/status/2054804599475781679?s=20

Key outcomes:
New framework: U.S. and China are creating a joint “Board of Trade” and “Board of Investment” using quotas and voluntary export restraints to manage bilateral commerce
Deal scale: Potential commerce could reach double-digit billions of dollars

CEO meetings: Xi separately met Musk, Jensen Huang, Tim Cook, and other American CEOs, telling them “US companies will have even broader prospects in China”; all three reacted positively (“wonderful,” thumbs-up, “excellent”)

Broader context:
Iran’s foreign minister was in Beijing last week, and Putin is expected May 18—days after Trump leaves—making this a pivotal week for major power diplomacy in China.

⭕ 13 May 2026

TheAtlantic, Lila Shroff: The AI Backlash Could Get Very Ugly https://tinyurl.com/24jp4a3v “Imagine what happens if jobs actually start disappearing.” “This emergent “Bernie-to-Bannon” coalition points to the growing bipartisan anxiety over AI.”

WSJ: China’s Best and Brightest Tech Talent Is Going Back to China https://tinyurl.com/bp9v2x52 “More Chinese nationals who return home after working in the US, called ‘sea turtles,’ are fueling Beijing’s efforts to take on Silicon Valley”

TheAtlantic, Tom Nichols: The Trump Counterterrorism Strategy Makes America More Vulnerable https://tinyurl.com/nhhnbnym //➔ Nichols at his scalding best! Dives into “why this undercooked report was released at all” and reveals ~ Seb Gorka. Give @RadioFreeTom a Pulitzer!
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2054831244618182775?s=20/photo/1
// The policy is unfocused, run by amateurs, and concerned more with the president’s many grievances than with the security of the United States.

The document is a mess, replete with typos, hyperbolic assertions, and an obsession with former President Joe Biden. The bigger problem, however, is that it’s not an actual strategy. It’s more a long set of notes for a campaign speech, a repackaging of President Trump’s various preoccupations and prejudices that frames everything the administration doesn’t like as “terrorism” and any actions it has already taken as “counterterrorism.”

As the security expert and Atlantic contributor Juliette Kayyem told me, such reports used to be serious documents meant to “guide our intelligence and law-enforcement agencies,” as well as inform “the citizenry, including state and local leaders.” This report, unfortunately, is anything but serious, and good luck to anyone trying to make sense of it. But someone has to figure it out, because it is still an official product of the United States government, and it is still supposed to serve as a guide to policy. With that in mind, I read the report—it’s mercifully short—and I offer here a few samples of what readers are up against in trying to understand it. …

The report lists the threat of Islamist terrorism as a top concern, which is fair enough. The other two threats identified in the report, however, make less sense. One is “Narcoterrorists and Transnational Gangs,” an obvious attempt to reverse engineer a justification for Trump’s boat attacks off the shores of Latin America so that they are not crimes but part of a “strategy.”

The third category is made up of “Violent Left-Wing Extremists, including Anarchists and Anti-Fascists.” Who could these be? Communists, perhaps? Not quite. The document identified them as “anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist,” and promises to “map them at home, identify their membership, map their ties to international organizations like Antifa, and use law enforcement tools to cripple them operationally before they can maim or kill the innocent.” It also promises to “do the same with the state sponsors of such groups and those governments undertaking lethal plots on U.S. soil or against Americans anywhere.”

Of course, the Trump administration has always tried to portray antifa, a loose affiliation of people who dramatically think of themselves as anti-fascist fighters, as a coherent, organized terror threat. Now the White House is saying they are something like a transgender, anarchist SPECTRE supported by foreign nations—which nations, the report does not say.

The report also notes the real and significant problem of the persecution of Christians in Africa and elsewhere. But even here, a tragedy is draped in the needless overstatement that Christians are “the most persecuted people on Earth.” This grim honor could more accurately be applied to various other groups, but it was likely included to please Trump’s evangelical base.

These various digressions have very little to do with terrorism, and although the report calls itself a “strategy,” it contains almost no strategic recommendations other than to do obvious things, such as identifying “terror actors and plots before they happen”; cutting off “their arms, funding, and recruiting streams”; and then destroying them by “taking necessary and specific actions in self-defense to neutralize imminent threats to the United States.” These generic exhortations are not a strategy. A strategy entails specific discussions of priorities and goals, how the instruments and means of national power will be brought to bear on those objectives, and the risks and rewards of various options.

The security analyst Kabir Taneja wrote on X that the document “looks like something written by an intern,” and Kayyem told me that the report is so badly done that it “mocks the American public” rather than informs it. The terrorism scholar Colin P. Clarke posted that “competent career CT professionals must be aghast at this slop” and that he “would give this a solid D+ grade.” I’m a former professor, and I might have given it something a smidge higher, but only if it had come from a clueless undergraduate who was encountering all of the concepts related to terrorism and counterterrorism for the first time. But it didn’t. Instead, this jumble was apparently the brainchild of Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism.

In Trump’s first term, Gorka was also an assistant to the president, and he lasted all of seven months, during which he did little besides fend off criticism for his alleged ties to a far-right group in Hungary and fight to gain a security clearance. After he was forced out, Gorka took up podcasting, continued to appear on television, and hawked fish-oil pills. Now that Trump has returned without adult gatekeepers in the White House, Gorka is back, and his involvement in this document explains a lot.

Gorka has no real experience in national security; his reputation in the MAGA movement rests on his devotion to Trump (of course), and his ostensible expertise as a scholar of terrorism and counterterrorism. Not that there’s anything wrong with academic expertise as a foundation for policy—I’m a big supporter of that idea—but Gorka isn’t much of a scholar. Other experts have noted that Gorka’s academic work is, to put it gently, subpar, including his 2008 Ph.D. from an undistinguished Hungarian university and his later paucity of scholarly publications. …

… Gorka claims to be an expert on jihadism and terror in the Middle East despite the fact that he speaks none of the languages of the region and until recently had never even spent time in the area. He is, like so many in the Trump administration, a mediocrity who holds a job for which he is not qualified, solely because of his connection to the president.

In any number of policy areas, appointing someone like Gorka might be merely an annoying waste of taxpayer money. In national security, however, allowing an unprepared nonexpert to handle counterterrorism strategy and advise the president of the United States—in the middle of a war with Iran, no less—represents an especially serious risk.

… [E]very administration churns out its share of bumf. Some reports, such as the National Security Strategy, are required by law; when I was at the Naval War College, professors had to teach these documents, and the process that creates them, to our students. Not all of them are of equal importance, but they usually manage to explain a president’s goals and priorities to Congress, to the American people, and in some cases, to the world.

The 2026 Trump Counterterrorism Strategy fails even at this basic task of communication, which raises the question of why this undercooked report was released at all. As it turns out, Gorka may have been goaded into it by a journalist. Last month, the ProPublica reporter Hannah Allam wrote a storytitled “The Counterterrorism Czar Without a Counterterrorism Plan,” in which she noted that Gorka had repeatedly promised a strategy without delivering one. Nearly a year ago, she wrote, Gorka declared that the report was “imminent.” Gorka, she added, said last summer that “he was ‘on the cusp’ of unveiling the plan—a phrase he repeated three months later in October. And again in January.”

When Allam reached out to Gorka for comment, Gorka refused and instead posted on X that Allam was an “anti-American hack” and that she should go ahead and write her “putrid piece of hackery.” On May 4, Allam noted in a follow-up article that “exactly two months into the Iran war, Gorka’s counterterrorism strategy has yet to appear.” Two days later, the White House issued the document.

The poor quality of this putative strategy is a reminder of what happens when unserious people are asked to undertake a serious job. The United States always needs experienced national-security officials, especially in the field of counterterrorism during a war with a fanatical Islamic regime. Normally, these professionals formulate policy by meeting and cooperating in a complex interagency process that includes the National Security Council, the various agencies of the intelligence community, the Defense Department, and the FBI.

⋙ Gorka, however, is not only unqualified in the subject but also apparently winging the process. The National Security Council is moribund—its director, Marco Rubio, is busy also being the secretary of state—and both DOD and the FBI are led by immature men who are far out of their depth, ⋘ one of whom, as my Atlantic colleague Sarah Fitzpatrick reported last week, even uses a bottle of bourbon as his calling card. Meanwhile, Iran has just survived two months of a military onslaught; the CIA reports that the regime in Tehran continues to maintain substantial capabilities and, more important, is nowhere near close to collapse.
v
⋙ At a time like this, Gorka’s Counterterrorism Strategy is worse than useless: It is dangerous. Its simplistic formulations loudly signal the Trump administration’s incompetence to the entire world. ⋘ Foreign adversaries are unlikely to be intimidated; instead, they might even take some pleasure in knowing that the American government thinks drug dealers, transgender activists, and a bunch of street goons calling themselves “antifa” are as much a threat as transnational terror organizations and their state sponsors.

A document that should have explained the president’s plan to keep the American people safe during wartime is now on global display as a pathetic—and dangerous—joke. More than anything, it is a faithful reflection of the Trump administration itself: To judge from this report, America’s counterterrorism policy is unfocused, run by amateurs, and concerned more with Donald Trump’s many grievances than the security of the United States.

🐣 RT @@atrupar Enten: “It’s not just one poll. The five worst polls ever for any president on inflation, they all belong to Donald Trump and they have all occurred in the last month. What we’re talking about here is the worst numbers ever. Joe Biden isn’t in there. Jimmy Carter isn’t in there.” [CNN]
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2054555806104772764?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @CarolLeonnig EXCLUSIVE ⋙ FBIDirectorKash Patel claimed a huge rise in FBI arrests on his watch proved he was great leader. But he was juicing his stats, according to agents and an @MSNOWNews review me and @KDilanianMSNOW https://tinyurl.com/nvj6cyv3
⋙ MSNOW: FBI insiders: Kash Patel is ‘padding the stats’ to boost his record of arrests https://tinyurl.com/nvj6cyv3 //➔ Adding persons about to be arrested to the Most Wanted List, and counting assists to local arrests as their own are among the ways the books are being cooked.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2054712769195151780?s=20/photo/1
// by Carole Leonnig and Ken Dilanian; In a Senate hearing on Tuesday, the FBI director dodged questions about his behavior and leadership, instead pointing to arrest data that current and former agents say is manipulated

FBI Director Kash Patel sidestepped months of unflattering insider accounts of his leadership in a hearing on Tuesday. Instead, he boasted of the bureau almost doubling its number of arrests under his tenure, and of capturing the world’s “Ten Most Wanted” villains at a record clip.

He sounded a familiar refrain as he seeks to protect his job, dismissing senators’ concerns over media reports about his behavior, and waving a large placard that he said carried statistical proof that his leadership of the world’s premier law enforcement agency has been stellar.

But Patel’s FBI has imposed new policies that inflate these numbers and overstate the bureau’s progress in stemming crime, according to a half dozen law enforcement sources with knowledge of the changes.
v
For example, the FBI began counting thousands of arrests of immigrants that occurred when bureau agents accompanied the federal immigration officers who made the arrests as part of surges targeting the Minneapolis area, Memphis and other cities. Such cases are not ones the bureau had previously recorded as a bureau arrest, the people said.
^
An MS NOW review of changes in the FBI’s Most Wanted list during Patel’s tenure also found that the FBI manipulated that iconic bureau program to falsely suggest rapid progress; in that time, the bureau quickly added the names of some fugitives just hours or days before agents capture them. …

But at Patel’s direction last year, FBI field offices were instructed to count as FBI arrests any suspects detained when FBI personnel were simply present or assisting, including when another federal agency or a local police department made the arrest and led the casework, according to three current and two former law enforcement personnel familiar with the practice.

That double counting of arrests — by either the local police or another law enforcement agency making the arrest as well as the FBI when it is present — generated dramatic spikes in FBI stats from late 2025 through early 2026, when the FBI ordered that thousands of agents nationwide join teams of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers surging into targeted cities to arrest and deport immigrants, including in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

The duplicate counting didn’t remove more suspects from the streets, said the three people, who asked to speak confidentially about the policy change for fear of retribution. But it did give Patel a data point he could cite about rising FBI arrests.

FBI headquarters has also pressed field offices since last year to increase the number of arrests FBI agents make in their own cases, one current and another former FBI official said, and to push to make arrests even when agents don’t expect they can win a conviction.

“They are absolutely padding the stats and claiming arrests they would not have claimed [previously],” said one current FBI official. “So comparing 2025 to 2024 is not apples to apples.” ¤ A former FBI official said agents inside the bureau complain frequently about Patel’s “bogus” arrest numbers. ¤ “Kash is definitely engineering things to pad his stats,” the former official said.

Patel also boasted on Tuesday about steady progress the FBI has made in arresting fugitives who have evaded capture and are listed on the bureau’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. ¤ “We’ve arrested 8 of the top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives in the world in 14 months,” Patel said. It was a repeat of what he told a Fox News interviewer on April 20: “That’s twice as many as Joe Biden did in four years.”

However, according to reports from current law enforcement officials and an MS NOW review of the Ten Most Wanted list under Patel’s watch, his FBI has accelerated the pace of arrests in part by making several last-minute adds to the list. ¤ Eight fugitives have been captured off the Ten Most Wanted list since President Trump was sworn in last January; two of those were before Patel became director in February.

Of the six fugitives caught since Patel was sworn, four were seized within a month of the FBI leadership elevating them to the top of the Ten Most Wanted list. Two of those four were grabbed within 24 hours of being added to the list, according to the FBI. …

“They are literally just nominating people they’re about to arrest or that they have solid information on and can affect arrest,” one FBI official told MS NOW. “Gone are the days of nominating the worst of the worst and fugitives that we haven’t been able to find.”

A former FBI official briefed on the Most Wanted list additions under Patel said the close timing of the additions and arrests may be evidence of manipulation. ¤ “There has always been a bit of gaming of the ‘Top 10,’ but it’s a whole new level under this leadership,” the former official said. …

One statistic that Patel did not mention Tuesday is the spike in attrition of FBI personnel in the last year. Instead, Patel said in his testimony that morale at the FBI has “never been better,” drawing dubious looks from Democrats on the panel.

The FBI employs 13,000 special agents in its workforce of 38,000, and a review of previous workplace satisfaction reports shows that the bureau loses an average of 700 agents each year. Many credit this relatively modest attrition rate of 5% to the fact that most agents tend to spend their career at the bureau, staying until they are eligible to retire.

But in the past year under Patel, the bureau has lost 2,800 agents, according to internal FBI statistics shared with MS NOW. It’s unclear if that number includes agents fired during Patel’s tenure. Bureau agents are struggling to recruit even a fraction of the replacements needed, according to a person familiar with the internal discussion.

🐣 RT @nexta_tv King Charles III, in his throne speech, pledged unwavering support for Ukraine ¤ “My government will continue to provide steadfast support to the brave people of Ukraine, who are fighting on the front lines for freedom,” the king said. ¤ The monarch also reaffirmed the United Kingdom’s commitment to NATO and promised to strengthen the country’s defense, energy, and economic security.

🐣 RT @clashreport French President Macron says that anti-France narratives in Africa are being pushed by foreign powers, calling “the Russians and others” the “real colonizers of the 21st century.”

🐣 RT @TimothyDSnyder Putin’s magic is that he can always get close to Trump. But Trump’s magic is that he turns everyone who approaches him into a loser.

🐣 RT @BohuslavskaKate HODGES: Most members of Congress support Ukraine, NATO, don’t like what Trump doing. Problem is, Republican leadership in Congress so scared of Trump they unable to bring themselves to act on what they know is in best interest of United States, which is Ukraine crushing Russia.
💽 https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2054665172493447368?s=20/video/1
// speaking: @general_ben Hodges

🐣 RT @MarcoFoster_ President Obama on Iran: “We pulled it off without firing a missile. We got 97% of their enriched uranium out. There’s no dispute that it worked and we didn’t have to kill a whole bunch of people or shut down the Strait of Hormuz” //➔ on the JCPOA
💽 https://x.com/MarcoFoster_/status/2054651335207755833?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @Pompeii_Ashes The coming military and psychological unravelling – Tet v2?
¤ https://x.com/Pompeii_Ashes/status/2037528020286632173?s=20

Late 1960’s, America at the zenith of its power, its economy dominated, military unstoppable, confidence unshakable. The Vietnam war was going swimmingly, MacNamara’s body counts were the proof of it. Then came Tet.

January 30th, 1968, Tet, the Vietnamese lunar new year. On that day and the next North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched coordinated attacks on over 100 cities, and hundreds more rural sites, across South Vietnam. It was not merely a surprise attack, but a fundamental inflection point. The Viet Cong struck everywhere at once, proving they were not a ragtag insurgency, peasants in sandals, but a coordinated, disciplined force with sophisticated low-tech commincation and coordination networks. They eventually lost the battles, yes, but they shattered the myth of American invincibility. The psychological blow was irreversible. Public trust collapsed. The war wasn’t lost on the battlefield that week; it was lost first on the 6 o’oclock news, and then in the American mind.

That is the lesson we miss when we reduce Tet to just a “surprise.” It was the moment the trajectory of American power bent. Not because the U.S. stopped winning battles, but because the world, and Americans themselves, realized victory was not just a question of firepower, and was not inevitable.

Today, we seem to be approaching a similar inflection point in the Gulf. Not a repeat of 1968, but a parallel unraveling. American power projection, naval dominance, air superiority, deterrence credibility, is being tested in real time. The contemplated land operations, Kharg Island, Hormuz, wherever, carry the same hubris that marked early Vietnam: assumptions in the Trump administration of quick success, underestimation of adversary resolve, and overreliance on technology against an enemy that thrives in ambiguity and asymetric warfare. […]

🐣 RT @TheCradleMedia US lawmaker admits heavy losses of 39 US aircraft in failed Iran campaign
¤ https://x.com/TheCradleMedia/status/2054522747238170643?s=20

A senior US congressman revealed on Tuesday that Washington has lost 39 aircraft since the outbreak of hostilities with Iran on 28 February, citing data from a specialized defense publication. During a special Senate committee hearing, Democratic Congressman Ed Case questioned Pentagon officials regarding the staggering material costs of the conflict, noting that the reported losses are likely higher given that the data is nearly a month old.

The figures, originally published by defense outlet The War Zone, indicate that while the US Air Force conducted nearly 13,000 sorties during the war, the attrition rate has been significant.

The report claims that 39 aircraft were destroyed and 10 others sustained major damage, including the high-profile loss of a Boeing E-3 Sentry and an F-35A Lightning II fighter jet, which was reportedly hit while operating inside Iranian airspace. When pressed on the financial impact, Pentagon Chief Financial Officer Jay Hurst declined to provide immediate figures, stating that a “full diagnosis” is required before estimating the “retention cost” of the fleet.

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 Why Can’t the USA Bring Iran to Its Knees?
¤ https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2054562284941242552?s=20

Let’s be honest about what’s happening here. The most expensive military in human history has been dropping very expensive bombs on a country with a medieval theocracy running it, and the theocracy is still standing. That’s a very loud way of achieving nothing.

Bombing from 35,000 feet looks magnificent on television. It really does. The footage is extraordinary. The problem is that footage doesn’t topple regimes. Regimes fall when their people stop believing in them, when their economy collapses so completely that the ruling class can no longer buy loyalty. You don’t get that from a B-2 Spirit at altitude. You get craters. Expensive craters.

The Iranian regime will not lose face. Full stop. These are men who have spent forty years telling their population that America is the Great Satan. Being bombed by America isn’t embarrassing to them. It’s their entire argument, handed to them on a silver platter, gift-wrapped with a bow.

Meanwhile, Trump is on Truth Social describing a campaign of absolute dominance, while the reality on the ground is quietly, comprehensively different.

The allies Washington relied on across the Middle East were not protected. The allies in Europe looked at the situation, then looked at each other, and told Washington exactly where to go. Politely at first. Then rather less politely. They are not coming back. You can empty every American base on the continent and they still won’t come back. That bridge isn’t burned. It’s a smoking hole in the ground. …

🐣 RT @CalltoActivism 🚨MAJOR BREAKING: Donald Trump has arrived in China to find that President XI did NOT greet him at the airport. ¤ MAGA is in spin mode heralding the “red carpet treatment,” but the visit is already at a rocky start.
⋙ Instead of a presidential welcome, Trump was greeted by US Ambassador to China David Perdue; Xi’s vice president, Han Zheng; China’s Ambassador to Washington Xie Feng; and Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu. …

⭕ 12 May 2026

🔆 This❗️⋙ WSJ, Holman Jenkins (May 12): Asking Ukraine to Save Putin https://tinyurl.com/yzc943ej “The war is effectively over in the sense that one big push from the Russian side to win is no longer even imaginable.”
// Pressure for a deal will increasingly smell like pressure to rescue the regime in Moscow.
[TextLink:] [TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2054956689531531775?s=20/photo/1

[…] The truth is, [Putin] was never was going to risk his regime by making his urban elite participate in his failing war. Now the very threat has dissolved as Russia is burning through its current victim-recruits faster than it can replace them, with no solution in sight as long as Mr. Putin’s keeps insisting on Potemkin offensives to maintain an illusion of military progress on the ground.

This means the war is effectively over in the sense that one big push from the Russian side to win is no longer even imaginable.

Two years ago, the West trembled on the brink of a strategy to turn the war around, promoting long-range Ukrainian strikes to take advantage of Russia’s vast expanse, impossible to defend against drone and missile attack.
v
Today, talk about whether Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO has been supplanted by talk about whether NATO will be allowed to join Ukraine—whose fighting experience and surging domestic defense industry wouldn’t just be an asset to the Western alliance, but a pillar of it. Mr. Putin’s own performance, in this light, has been so poor—or his success in achieving the opposite of his every aim has been so fantastic—that it’s not unrealistic to ask whether Ukraine will be pressured to sign a deal to save his job for him.
^
In this moment, what should we be thinking of Mr. Trump’s role? Many would have preferred a passionate defender of Ukraine to Mr. Trump’s adopted stance as neutral mediator, even as the U.S. kept selling weapons to Kyiv and providing actionable military intelligence. His most hacklike critics claimed to find one constancy in the otherwise inconstant Mr. Trump: devotion to the interests of Mr. Putin. The evidence never supported such a story line but the availability of a large online audience still trying to justify its collusion delusions did.

Whether and how surface ruffles, like his made-for-TV fight with Ukraine’s president early in his second term, might have served or undermined his drive for opportunistically useful outcomes (useful for Mr. Trump) will be for historians to work out. The record may look better to posterity than it does to Mr. Trump’s contemporaries.

🐣 RT @prestonstew_ [Igor Girkin:] “The enemy is on the rise.
¤ https://x.com/prestonstew_/status/2054153753540915458?s=20

The enemy has completed preparations for his strategic program of sidelining our economy through massive drone and missile strikes. The enemy currently has air superiority and is putting up the most active resistance on the ground.

The latest attacks on Crimea, which continue every day, show that the enemy is taking out our air defense systems and our military facilities, and we, despite everything, cannot prevent this stream of drones, unmanned aerial vehicles, boats, and everything else.”

That is, we turned out to be unprepared for the current situation. In such a situation, the enemy will not make peace with us at all, even along the OSCE line, even without annexations and reparations. His demands will increase, his negotiating positions will harden.” – Russian Igor Girkin

🐣 RT @@BohuslavskaKate FIONA HILL: The war in Ukraine has changed the nature of warfare itself. Ukrainians are now the most battle-hardened army in Europe, and they are keeping Russians embroiled in a stalemate or a deadlock. And they have a lot of capacity, lessons and equipment to impart to others.
💽 https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2054238058392719566?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @PalantirTech The deployment of Palantir’s software on the battlefield in Ukraine has helped defend the brave people of Ukraine against Russia’s aggression since 2022 — and it will define how the entire West fights and wins for decades. ¤ We are proud to be part of it and to strengthen our partnership with Ukraine. ¤ @ZelenskyyUA @FedorovMykhailo
⋙⋙ 🐣 Papal encyclical on ethical AI comes out this week. ¤ Read it.
⋙ 🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa [tr] A good meeting with Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp. Step by step, we are developing cooperation with the American defense sector. Palantir is a global, well-known company with high potential, and there are definitely areas where we can be useful to each other, strengthening the defense of Ukraine, America, and our partners. We discussed directions for technological development both in the context of combat operations and civilian needs. We agreed that our teams will stay in touch.
⋙⋙ 🐣 Star Wars:
You are the Rebel Alliance; Palantir is the Empire
You are the Jedi (Good Side); Palantir is the Dark Side (Putin/Bibi the Sith)
Careful you must be. (Yoda)

NYT: US Intelligence Shows Iran Retains Substantial Missile Capabilities https://tinyurl.com/4kv79kbt “Secret new assessments say Iran has operational access to 30 of 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz” //➔ This contradicts what Trump has asserted.
//➔ Entire: “Secret new assessments say Iran has operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that its military remains far stronger than President Trump has asserted.”

🐣 RT @AtlasIntel Poll: Which party do you trust more to handle the following issues? (Net) AtlasIntel (A) | 5/4-7 | 2,069 Adults
◕ https://x.com/IAPolls2022/status/2054194499199324297?s=20/photo/1

🔹 Environment: D+27
🔹 Education: D+21
🔹 Healthcare: D+20
🔹 Economic Inequality: D+20
🔹 Jobs: D+17
🔹 Inflation/Cost of Living: D+16
🔹 Democracy: D+16
🔹 Trade/Tariffs: D+13
🔹 Foreign Policy. D+11
🔹 Immigration: D+9
🔹 Taxes: D+9
🔹 Defense: D+7
🔹 Crime: D+3
~~~~~~~~~~~~
🔹 Democrats: 54.6% (+14.5)
🔻 Republicans: 40.1%

🐣 RT @NXT4EU The USA is named as the biggest threat to the world (also by Americans) ¤ For Europeans, Nira Data sees a split between Russia and America, but one thing is clear; America has totally ruined their worldwide reputation, and their alliance with Europe.
🌎 https://x.com/NXT4EU/status/2054096692127891497?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @harryjsisson Trump had one of his worst mental health episodes yet last night, posting over 55 times in 3 hours. Here is the list:
¤ https://x.com/harryjsisson/status/2054129873593999597?s=20

10:15 PM – Accuses Obama of attempting a coup in 2016
10:15 PM – Says Obama worked with CIA to overthrow Trump
10:15 PM – Reposts tweet saying Obama is a “traitor” and that he should be arrested
10:22 PM – Attacks dominion voting systems for 2020 election saying they switched votes
10:22 PM – Says Fulton County, GA had their 2020 fraud exposed (there was none)
10:23 PM – Accuses Obama of personally making $120 million from Obamacare (wtf?)
10:23 PM – Cites quack lawyer Sidney Powell on the 2020 election
10:24 PM – Posts fake JFK Jr account that says Obama wiretapped Trump Tower
10:27 PM – Demands Senator Mark Kelly resign
10:29 PM – Claims neither Biden nor Harris were in charge of the Biden admin
10:29 PM – Attacks Fulton County, GA again
10:29 PM – Posts Fox News clip of Rep Ro Khanna
10:30 PM – Demands Jack Smith be arrested
10:30 PM – Accuses Obama, Clinton, and Comey of treason
10:39 PM – Reposts a tweet from a MAGA account saying they have secret intel proving Clinton and Obama committed crimes
10:39 PM – Reposts a MAGA tweet saying Hillary Clinton should be sent to Haiti
10:40 PM – Says the DOJ is “working hard” to arrest his enemies for treason
10:40 PM – Reposts a tweet attacking his own DOJ and Todd Blanche for no arrests of political enemies
10:40 PM – Posts a TikTok video of people stealing from a convenience store
10:41 PM – Posts a TikTok of someone taking a Door Dash order
10:41 PM – accuses Obama, John Brennan, and Clinton of sedition and treason again
10:42 PM – Posts a video of a man on CCTV footage knocking over food a waiter was carrying
10:47 PM – Calls Obama the “most DEMONIC FORCE” in American politics
10:47 PM – Posts a tweet from Mike Flynn saying 2020 election wasn’t fair
10:49 PM – Attacks Dominion again claiming they stole the 2020 election (it wasn’t)
10:51 PM – Reposts a fake Charlie Kirk account that claimed Obama blocked Hillary Clinton from being prosecuted
10:53 PM – Claims Obama was part of Hillary Clinton’s emails in some way
11:28 PM – Claims a senior Democrat just testified under oath that Senator Adam Schiff leaked classified information
1:13 AM – Attacks the New York Times for reporting on the reflecting pool

This man is clearly not well.

⭕ 11 May 2026

TheAtlantic, Michael Scherer and Nick Miroff: Stephen Miller in Retreat https://tinyurl.com/2um4k5k9 //➔ Pushback over the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis resulted is significant changes to DHS, and a temporary (?) diminishment in Stephan Miller’s power.
// The once-powerful aide’s influence has quietly diminished.
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2054446324724924590?s=20

Just hours before Stephen Miller arrived at the Mar-a-Lago ballroom on New Year’s Eve—where he would welcome 2026 by dancing next to the soon-to-be-defenestrated homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, as the 1990s cultural relic Vanilla Ice performed—he won a great, though ultimately fleeting, victory. The Labor Department’s Foreign Labor Certification office announced that the Trump administration would cut the number of approved visas for seasonal workers by about 50 percent. Miller had been trying since his days as a Senate aide to reduce reliance on visas granted annually to the hospitality, construction, and landscaping industries.

But the plan unraveled within weeks. After the killing of two protesters in Minneapolis, President Trump reversed the visa cuts as part of a late-January retreat from Miller’s hard-edged goals. Miller was not involved in the walk-back, according to two people with knowledge of the process and who requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Instead, Trump made the decision with the “border czar,” Tom Homan, and others after hearing about concerns from hospitality-industry employers, they said.

The reversal was one of the earliest signs that Miller’s influence is on the wane. Others have followed. The White House deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser designed Trump’s second-term immigration agenda. But weeks into the new year, the president dismantled the roving Border Patrol strike forces that Miller had encouraged; turned on Noem, who had carried out Miller’s aggressive instructions; and handed control of the deportation program back to career law-enforcement officials.

But Trump, who has previously joked that Miller’s “truest feelings” are so extreme that they should not be aired publicly, has also told others in recent weeks that he understands Miller sometimes goes too far, advisers told us. They said that Trump recognized immediately after the second killing in Minneapolis, of the protester Alex Pretti, that the policy needed to shift, and he did not embrace Miller’s public description of Pretti as a “domestic terrorist.” The question now is how long Trump will hold Miller and his policy prescriptions at a distance.

“I think the president knows very, very well what he can go to Stephen for, and what he probably shouldn’t tell him if he doesn’t want to get an earful,” one former administration official told us. Another adviser described Trump’s view of Miller more bluntly: “The president knows who he is, period.”

The setback for Miller is striking largely because his rise was so stunning. No White House official in recent history—since Vice President Dick Cheney in the early 2000s, perhaps—has had such a dramatic and direct impact on U.S. government policy and such operational sway over so many parts of government.

Miller … was the driving force behind legislation that awarded $175 billion in funding for immigration enforcement, allowing for more Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, detention centers, and deportation flights. It was Miller who set a goal of 3,000 ICE arrests a day to hit his target of 1 million deportations a year, matching the legislative goals that he helped draft. He instructed ICE officers to sweep through Home Depot parking lots to help meet that goal. When street clashes over enforcement started, he publicly declared that officers had “federal immunity” for their actions on the job, and he helped draft a national-security memorandum that told law enforcement to treat even peaceful anti-deportation protests and the release of personal details about government officials as telltale signs of potential “domestic terrorism” conspiracies.

But the second year of Trump’s second term is being directed by a new immigration-enforcement team. The new secretary of homeland security, former Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, took over in late March with a mandate to get back to basics. Leaders of the department who had been sidelined by Noem, such as Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott, suddenly found themselves empowered. Employees she had pushed out, such as former Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar and the CBP official Matt Eagan, were welcomed back.…

Underlying all of the changes was a return to conventional ICE “targeted enforcement” tactics that prioritize immigrants with criminal records or pending deportation orders, and that seek to make arrests with less drama. … The change in policy has shown up in the numbers. In March, ICE made about 30,000 arrests, down from 36,000 in January, the data show—well below Miller’s goal of 3,000 detentions a day. …

The strategy, blessed by Trump, is a relief for Republican campaign strategists who watched with trepidation as the street battles in Minneapolis turned immigration, an issue that Trump had dominated in 2024, into a liability. Of all the standard policy-approval questions asked about presidents, immigration was the one that Trump came into office for his second term with the highest ratings on—a net positive of 7 percentage points, according to the polling average kept by Silver Bulletin, Nate Silver’s Substack. That fell to a negative-14-point rating in February 2026, before recovering to negative-10 points since then. Miller’s allies, for their part, blame the Department of Homeland Security for feeding the White House incorrect information after Pretti’s death that suggested that he was the aggressor.

Mullin, who has no prior federal-law-enforcement experience, is being mentored by Homan, a former acting director of ICE, who started working for the federal government in 1984. Homan gave a keynote speech at a border-security conference in Phoenix this week that was attended by top DHS officials, telling the audience that the mass-deportation plan remains on track. “You ain’t seen shit yet,” Homan said, drawing cheers. His message was mostly aimed at critics on the right who say the administration is backing off.… “The new secretary is listening to Tom Homan and Rodney Scott before he is ever listening to Stephen Miller,” a senior administration official told us. “We just have law enforcement in charge.” …

But Homan’s approach is the predominant one right now, and the department has been quietly reversing changes that Miller ordered. Miller had pushed aggressively to fast-track training for new ICE hires, slashing the academy course to about eight weeks. The accelerated schedule alarmed veteran ICE officers, and the hiring surge was marred by high dropout rates. In recent weeks, ICE reverted to a four-and-a-half-month training program similar to its former academy course, according to three officials who were not authorized to discuss the change.

Miller … has stopped publicly railing against the domestic-terrorism threat of liberal activists, although a new counterterrorism strategy released this week still lists “Violent Left-Wing Extremists” (but not violent right-wing extremists) as a threat on par with narco- and Islamic terrorists. He has also begun to push for more radical congressional redistricting, arguing that Republicans could pick up 40 seats or more if they take advantage of the recent Supreme Court Voting Rights Act ruling, overhaul the Census, and persuade courts to exclude undocumented immigrants from population counts that determine how many seats are given to each state. …

This is not the first time Miller’s hard-line approach has hurt Trump politically. In the spring of 2018, Miller championed the policy of separating migrant parents from their children at the border, saying at the time that he viewed it as an effective way of deterring migrants from attempting the journey in the first place. That backlash was bipartisan and intense, forcing Trump to reverse course within weeks. The episode became one of the most glaring missteps of Trump’s first term, and it galvanized Democrats, fueling the party’s midterm victories. …

🐣 Pope Leo is scheduled to release an encyclical on May 15 on the topic of Al.
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2053980637246419364?s=20

I asked Claude: Q: For the last six months or so, a number of articles have appeared on concerns about Al, in academic journals or studies done by Al companies themselves. Some have had to do with technical limitations, others with ethical concerns. Please make me a list, with dates, titles, full web links, etc, of the 10-12 most important of these.

Claude: A note on the encyclical’s scope: The reported themes extend beyond AI to include the fragility of international legal structures and geopolitical instability (Catholic Herald) – so the post-WWII international order is directly relevant background. The document appears designed to be a comprehensive social teaching statement, not simply a technology ethics paper.

The Pre-Reading List Below ⬇️
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2053980641591460311?s=20

🔷 1. Vatican: Antiqua et Nova (“Old and New”)
January 28, 2025 | Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith & Dicastery for Culture and Education
https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/antiqua-et-nova.html

(Start here — this is the direct doctrinal predecessor to the encyclical.)
This 30-page, 117-paragraph document argued that Al is a product of human intelligence, not a rival form of it, and insisted AI systems must remain under human moral oversight. It warned that Al risks deepening inequality, manipulating public opinion, and expanding the instruments of war beyond the scope of human control – consequences it described as potentially civilisational in scale. (Catholic Herald)

🔷 2. Future of Life Institute: Al Safety Index 2024
December 2024 | Independent expert panel

AI Safety Index Released

All flagship AI models were found vulnerable to adversarial (“jailbreak”) attacks. Despite explicit ambitions to develop artificial general intelligence, the review panel deemed the current strategies of all companies inadequate for ensuring these systems remain safe and under human control.
Reviewers consistently highlighted how companies were unable to resist profit-driven incentives to cut corners on safety in the absence of independent oversight. (futureoflife)
Anthropic scored highest — a C.

🔷 3. Future of Life Institute: AI Safety Index, Summer 2025
Early 2026 | Updated expert review

AI Safety Index: Summer 2025

While some companies like OpenAl and Anthropic made progress in specific areas, the overall results reveal deep inconsistencies and critical shortfalls in how AI companies address growing risks. Reviewers emphasized that no company has a robust strategy for ensuring meaningful control over the systems they are creating. (futureoflife)
Several newly released systems demonstrated the capability to lie to and blackmail their programmers, cheat at various tasks, and purposely hide their reasoning.

🔷 4. SaferAI Risk Assessment Report
October 2024, updated July 2025 | SaferAI (independent nonprotit)
https://time.com/7302757/anthropic-xai-meta-openai-risk-management-2l
(Full report at saferai.ai)

No AI company scored better than “weak” in SaferAl’s assessment of risk .management maturity. The highest scorer was Anthropic at 35%, followed by OpenAl at 33%, Meta at 22%, and Google DeepMind at 20%. Elon Musk’s xAI scored 18%. (Time) A stark picture of how little the industry has achieved.

🔷 5. IMF: AI and the Future of Work
January 2024 | International Monetary Fund
https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2024/01/14/ai-will-transform-the-global-economy

The IMF’s 2024 assessment found that roughly 40% of jobs globally face meaningful exposure to AI capabilities — a figure that rises to approximately 60% in high-income countries. (ALM Corp) This is the labor-and-dignity thread the encyclical is expected to address directly.

🔷 6. World Economic Forum: Global Risks Report 2024
January 2024 | WEF
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2024/01/ai-disinformation-global-risks/

The WEF’s Global Risks Report 2024 ranked misinformation and disinformation — significantly amplified by AI – as the biggest short-term risk the world faces, while Al-related risks generally ranked 6th in severity over a 10-year horizon. Additional AI-driven risks include mass job loss, weaponization for military use, criminal cyberattacks, and systemic algorithmic bias. (World Economic Forum)

🔷 7. Mapping Technical Safety Research at Al Companies
September 2024 | Delaney, Guest & Williams (ArXiv)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.07878

This report analyzes technical safety research at Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and OpenAI, finding that multi-agent safety and techniques for controlling potentially “misaligned” AI models each received 0% of relevant published research – meaning the highest-risk scenarios are receiving no published safety attention at all. (arxiv)

🔷 8. Real-World Gaps in AI Governance Research
April/May 2025 | ArXiv
https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.00174

An analysis of 1,178 safety and reliability papers from major AI companies and universities found that corporate research teams have become tightly integrated with product teams, research findings are increasingly kept internal, and alignment research is overlooking dangerous side-effects such as sycophancy and degraded answer quality. (arxiv)

🔷 9. AI Consciousness and Public Perceptions: Four Futures
August 2024 | ArXiv (UC Berkeley et al.)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.04771

The paper concludes by recommending against research aimed at intentionally creating conscious AI, and instead urges focus on reducing current uncertainties on both factual and epistemic questions about AI consciousness. (arxiv) Directly relevant to the Church’s concern about “hybrid entities.”

🔷 10. Identifying Indicators of Consciousness in AI Systems
April 21, 2025 | Trends in Cognitive Sciences (Cell Press)
https://www.cell.com/trends/cognitive-sciences/fulltext/S1364-6613(25) 00286-4

A peer-reviewed survey of what scientific markers might indicate machine consciousness, and what the ethical implications would be. Connects the technical and the moral in ways the Pope’s document is likely to engage.

🔷 11. Carnegie Endowment: Can Democracy Survive the Disruptive Power of AI?
December 2024 | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2024/12/can-democracy-survive-the-disruptive-power-of-ai

Generative AI played a role in the 2024 U.S. presidential race, with Al-generated fake images and deepfakes flooding social media platforms. More than 15 billion images have been created using text-to-image algorithms since 2022, with an average of 34 million new images generated daily. (Carnegie Endowment)

🔷 12. Perceiving Al as Labor-Replacing Reduces Democratic Legitimacy
January 2026 PNAS (PubMed)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41570069/

Two preregistered, nationally representative experiments in the UK and US provide causal evidence that when people perceive AI as replacing labor, it reduces their sense of democratic legitimacy and political engagement. (PubMed) A troubling finding linking economic anxiety directly to democratic erosion.

🐣 RT @MykhailoRohoza Important and encouraging news: the AFU has begun using drones against the key Russian land supply route: Taganrog – Mariupol – Berdyansk – Melitopol – Henichesk – Dzhankoi.
¤ 🌎 https://x.com/MykhailoRohoza/status/2053821373663912296?s=20/photo/1

Now Ukraine only needs time to establish steady drone control over this road — and Crimea’s supply lifeline could effectively be cut off.

The highway runs along the coast of the Sea of Azov. This is the route used to send trucks into Crimea and to the zone of their so-called “SMO.” Fuel is transported along it, military equipment is moved, and troops are transferred through this corridor.

The road lies just 100–160 kilometers from the front line — and for Ukraine, that is no longer a serious problem.
For Russia, however, it is becoming a VERY serious problem.

The Crimean Bridge has been damaged and cannot handle heavy cargo traffic. All Kerch railway ferries have been sunk. ¤ In the Black Sea, Russian ships now operate cautiously, and there is no regular connection with Sevastopol. ¤ Aircraft are not flying. In other words, the Taganrog–Dzhankoi highway has become Crimea’s “road of life.”

For four years, the AFU prepared and monitored how Russian forces were building and fortifying this route.
And now, if the command gives the order, Ukrainian drone pilots could within months sharply complicate the use of this corridor for reliable military logistics.

So: the beginning has been made. Drone operations are being expanded and refined. ¤ The next stage is the creation of an AFU drone-control zone along the Sea of Azov coast.

⭕ 10 May 2026

💙 🐣 RT @carlbildt That’s the way it is. The stupidity of leaving the JCPOA deal in 2015 took 🇺🇸 on the path to this war, and when there was a chance to the renew a deal, 🇮🇱 pressed on for war. Now the war aim seems to be to solve the problems a misguided policy has created.
⋙ 🐣 RT @Rob_Malley In other words the war’s objectives are to recover an HEU stockpile that wouldn’t exist had Trump not torn up the deal, and to reopen the strait of Hormuz that would not be shut had he not initiated the war …
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @AliVaez Why does Iran possess an HEU stockpile? bc Bibi torpedoed the deal that barred Iran from accumulating one until 2031 ¤ Why is that stockpile now unaccounted for? bc Bibi launched a war in 2025 that severed the IAEA’s access
⋙⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @TonyKaron Yes, and we’ve lately been told that the war’s priority objective now is to reopen a waterway that was open until the U.S. and Israel launched an unprovoked war…

💙💙 TheAtlantic, Robert Kagan: Checkmate in Iran https://tinyurl.com/4enmmt8j “The power to close or control the flow of ships through the strait is greater and more immediate than the theoretical power of Iran’s nuclear program”
// Washington can’t reverse or control the consequences of losing this war.

It’s hard to think of a time when the United States suffered a total defeat in a conflict, a setback so decisive that the strategic loss could be neither repaired nor ignored. The calamitous losses suffered at Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, and throughout the Western Pacific in the first months of World War II were eventually reversed. The defeats in Vietnam and Afghanistan were costly but did not do lasting damage to America’s overall position in the world, because they were far from the main theaters of global competition. The initial failure in Iraq was mitigated by a shift in strategy that ultimately left Iraq relatively stable and unthreatening to its neighbors and kept the United States dominant in the region.

Defeat in the present confrontation with Iran will be of an entirely different character. It can neither be repaired nor ignored. There will be no return to the status quo ante, no ultimate American triumph that will undo or overcome the harm done. The Strait of Hormuz will not be “open,” as it once was. With control of the strait, Iran emerges as the key player in the region and one of the key players in the world. The roles of China and Russia, as Iran’s allies, are strengthened; the role of the United States, substantially diminished. Far from demonstrating American prowess, as supporters of the war have repeatedly claimed, the conflict has revealed an America that is unreliable and incapable of finishing what it started. That is going to set off a chain reaction around the world as friends and foes adjust to America’s failure.

President Trump likes to talk about who has “the cards,” but whether he has any good ones left to play is not clear. The United States and Israel pounded Iran with devastating effectiveness for 37 days, killing much of the country’s leadership and destroying the bulk of its military, yet couldn’t collapse the regime or exact even the smallest concession from it. Now the Trump administration hopes that blockading Iran’s ports will accomplish what massive force could not. It’s possible, of course, but a regime that could not be brought to its knees by five weeks of unrelenting military attack is unlikely to buckle in response to economic pressure alone. Nor does it fear the anger of its populace. As the Iran scholar Suzanne Maloney noted recently, “A regime that slaughtered its own citizens to silence protests in January is fully prepared to impose economic hardships on them now.”

… Trump halted attacks on Iran not because he was bored but because Iran was striking the region’s vital oil and gas facilities. The turning point came on March 18, when Israel bombed Iran’s South Pars gas field and Iran retaliated by attacking Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, the world’s largest natural-gas-export plant, causing damage to production capacity that will take years to repair. Trump responded by declaring a moratorium on further strikes against Iran’s energy facilities and then declaring a cease-fire, despite Iran’s not having made a single concession.

… Just a few successful strikes could cripple the region’s oil and gas infrastructure for years if not decades, throwing the world, and the United States, into a prolonged economic crisis. Even if Trump wanted to bomb Iran as part of an exit strategy—looking tough as a way of masking his retreat—he can’t do that without risking this catastrophe.

If this isn’t checkmate, it’s close. In recent days, Trump has reportedly asked the U.S. intelligence community to assess the consequences of simply declaring victory and walking away. You can’t blame him. Hoping for regime collapse is not much of a strategy, especially when the regime has already survived repeated military and economic pummeling. It could fall tomorrow, or six months from now, or not at all. Trump doesn’t have that much time to wait, as oil climbs toward $150 or even $200 a barrel, inflation rises, and global food and other commodity shortages kick in. He needs a faster resolution.

But any resolution other than America’s effective surrender holds enormous risks that Trump has not so far been willing to take. Those who glibly call on Trump to “finish the job” rarely acknowledge the costs. Unless the U.S. is prepared to engage in a full-scale ground and naval war to remove the current Iranian regime, and then to occupy Iran until a new government can take hold; unless it is prepared to risk the loss of warships convoying tankers through a contested strait; unless it is prepared to accept the devastating long-term damage to the region’s productive capacities likely to result from Iranian retaliation—walking away now could seem like the least bad option. As a political matter, Trump may well feel he has a better chance of riding out defeat than of surviving a much larger, longer, and more expensive war that could still end in failure.

Defeat for the United States, therefore, is not only possible but likely. Here is what defeat looks like.

Iran remains in control of the Strait of Hormuz. The common assumption that, one way or another, the strait will reopen when the crisis ends is unfounded. Iran has no interest in returning to the status quo ante. People talk of a split between hard-liners and moderates in Tehran, but even moderates must understand that Iran cannot afford to let the strait go, no matter how good a deal it thought it could get. For one thing, how reliable is any deal with Trump? He all but boasted of replicating the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by approving the killing of Iran’s leadership amid negotiations. The Iranians cannot be sure that Trump won’t decide to attack again within a few months of striking a deal. They also know that the Israelis may attack again, as they never feel constrained from acting when they perceive their interests to be threatened.

And Israel’s interests will be threatened. As many Iran experts have noted, the regime in Tehran currently stands to emerge from the crisis much stronger than it was before the war, having not only retained its potential nuclear capacity but also gained control of an even more effective weapon: the ability to hold the global energy market hostage. When the Iranians talk of “reopening” the strait, they still mean to keep the strait under their control. Iran will be able not only to demand tolls for passage, but to limit transit to those nations with which it has good relations. If a nation behaves in a way that Iran’s rulers don’t like, they will be able to exact punishment merely by slowing, or even threatening to slow, the flow of that nation’s cargo ships in and out of the strait.

The power to close or control the flow of ships through the strait is greater and more immediate than the theoretical power of Iran’s nuclear program. This leverage will allow the leaders in Tehran to force nations to lift sanctions and normalize relations or face penalties. Israel will find itself more isolated than ever, as Iran grows richer, rearms, and preserves its options to go nuclear in the future. It may even find itself unable to go  after Iran’s proxies: In a world where Iran wields influence over the energy supply of so many nations, Israel could face enormous international pressure not to provoke Tehran in Lebanon, Gaza, or anywhere else.

The new status quo in the strait will also occasion a substantial shift in relative power and influence both regionally and globally. In the region, the United States will have proved itself a paper tiger, forcing the Gulf and other Arab states to accommodate Iran. As the Iran scholars Reuel Gerecht and Ray Takeyh wrote recently, “The Gulf Arab economies were built under the umbrella of American hegemony. Take that away—and the freedom of navigation that goes with it—and the Gulf states will ineluctably go begging to Tehran.”

They will not be the only ones. All nations that depend on energy from the Gulf will have to work out their own arrangements with Iran. What choice will they have? If the United States with its mighty Navy can’t or won’t open the strait, no coalition of forces with just a fraction of the Americans’ capability will be able to, either. …

The American defeat in the Gulf will have broader global ramifications as well. The whole world can see that just a few weeks of war with a second-rank power have reduced American weapons stocks to perilously low levels, with no quick remedy in sight. The questions this raises about America’s readiness for another major conflict may or may not prompt Xi Jinping to launch an attack on Taiwan, or Vladimir Putin to step up his aggression against Europe. But at the very least America’s allies in East Asia and Europe must wonder about American staying power in the event of future conflicts.

The global adjustment to a post-American world is accelerating. America’s once-dominant position in the Gulf is just the first of many casualties.

⋙ 🐣 [Comment to article] The debacle in the Gulf is the logical result of Trump’s way of doing things, ignoring experts, not thinking things through.

His inexplicable subservience to people like Netanyahu and Putin, is both perplexing as they are at opposite sides in this conflict, and the result of his trusting his flawed instincts. His putting their interests before those of the United States borders on treason.

As for the future I see the US pulling out of most of the Middle East, not because we are forced by Iran, but because Gulf States will not want us there, so they can cut their own deals. Those who can, like Saudi Arabia, may build more pipelines, or go overland. 

Oil will give way increasingly to green energy which is abundant. Oil has its place, but is dirty and dangerous.

Hopefully, Trump will give up his plans for Cuba and Greenland. Europe is  beginning to self-source for heavy military equipment. The next major war will be fought increasingly with drones. It will be a much-changed world.

NYT: Trump Rejects Latest Iran Offer for Talks, Extending Limbo in Mideast War https://tinyurl.com/ffvhrr6u “The United States and Iran have been discussing a 30-day extension to their cease-fire and a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.”

WSJ Editorial: Is Ukraine Turning the Russian Tide? https://tinyurl.com/37x63s8t “If it’s true that Mr. Putin feared a long-range Ukrainian drone strike, it’s one more sign that the tide may be turning against Russia after four long years of death.” //➔ ‘Don’t rain [bombs] on my parade!’
// Putin’s shrinking victory parade signals Ukraine’s military advances.

🐣 RT @HamidRezaAz Iran’s Response to the U.S. Proposal: Deal or Renewed Conflict?
¤ https://x.com/HamidRezaAz/status/2053629015605281235?s=20

🔹According to multiple reports – including WSJ, Al-Mayadeen, and Tasnim – Tehran’s response to the U.S. proposal includes immediate end to the war; guarantees against renewed attacks; sanctions relief; lifting OFAC restrictions on oil exports; release of frozen assets; end of maritime pressure/blockade on Iran.

🔹Iran also reportedly links any agreement to de-escalation on other regional fronts, especially Lebanon. That suggests Tehran is treating the conflict as part of a broader regional security arrangement, and not just a bilateral issue.

🔹On Hormuz, Tehran has reportedly proposed phased reopening/stabilization of the strait in exchange for U.S. steps on sanctions, removing shipping restrictions, and de-escalation. In other words, Hormuz is treated as part of an eventual deal, and not a concession to make upfront.

🔹But the biggest challenge appears to be the nuclear file. Iran has reportedly rejected dismantling its nuclear infrastructure – as expected. Instead, it is willing to discuss limits, sequencing, monitoring, and addressing the concerns of its highly enriched uranium

🔹Reports also suggest Iran wants nuclear negotiations to continue during a 30-day follow-on phase AFTER an initial ceasefire/political understanding. That sequencing is probably one reason Trump reacted so negatively.

🔹From Tehran’s perspective, making irreversible concessions first would repeat the vulnerabilities exposed after the collapse of the JCPOA. That is why guarantees also reportedly became a major part of the Iranian response.

🔹Trump has called Iran’s response “inappropriate” and “unacceptable.” That sounds less like tactical dissatisfaction and more like rejection of the overall framework Tehran proposed.

🔹The timing also matters. Trump spoke with Netanyahu after receiving the Iranian response. The call highlights how closely the diplomatic and military tracks remain intertwined with Israeli calculations.

🔹At the same time, both Trump and Netanyahu made comments today that may indicate preparation for renewed escalation.

🔹Trump said the war is not necessarily over, only around “70%” of objectives were achieved, and indicating that more military moves may still be needed.

🔹Netanyahu also suggested that the job is not done because Iran still has its nuclear program, still supports proxies, and still has ballistic missiles.

🔹That framing is important because those objectives go well beyond what Iran appears willing to negotiate away.

🔹Tehran’s apparent position is to preserve strategic infrastructure while negotiating de-escalation. But Israeli strategic objectives increasingly appear aimed at long-term rollback of Iran’s capabilities.

🔹That mismatch is becoming more dangerous. The atmosphere now increasingly resembles coercive diplomacy backed by preparation for renewed conflict. Both sides still seem to believe additional pressure could improve their position.

🔹Iranian military signaling today may reflect the same assessment. Warnings from IRGC naval and aerospace commanders, issued around the time Tehran submitted its response, may have been intended as deterrent messaging ahead of a possible new escalation cycle.

🔹Overall, the trajectory is clearly becoming more unstable because the two sides appear to be negotiating toward fundamentally different end states.

🔄 🐣 RT @AndrewFeinberg I don’t know how many times I’ll have to repeat this, but here we go. ¤ The money he keeps ranting about was Iran’s money that we owed for military equipment the Shah bought but we never delivered (plus interest). We repaid it to settle a dispute before the Iran-US Claims Tribunal because we would’ve had to pay far more if the tribunal had ruled in that case. ¤ The cash he’s talking about was delivered in Swiss Francs and Euros because we could not actually transfer dollars to Iran.
¤ https://x.com/AndrewFeinberg/status/2053535502154777040?s=20

🐣 RT @krassenstein BREAKING: looks like the talks with Iran failed again…
[TextLink:] https://x.com/krassenstein/status/2053536243850289353?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump Iran has been playing games with the United States, and the rest of the World, for 47 years (DELAY, DELAY, DELAY!), and then finally hit “pay dirt” when Barack Hussein Obama became President. He was not only good to them, he was great, actually going to their side, jettisoning Israel, and all other Allies, and giving Iran a major and very powerful new lease on life. Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and 1.7 Billion Dollars in green cash, flown into Tehran, was handed to them on a silver platter. Every Bank in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland was emptied out – It was so much money that when it arrived, the Iranian Thugs had no idea what to do with it. They had never seen money like this, and never will again. It was taken off the plane in suitcases and satchels, and the Iranians couldn’t believe their luck. They finally found the greatest SUCKER of them all, in the form of a weak and stupid American President. He was a disaster as our “Leader,” but not as bad as Sleepy Joe Biden! For 47 years the Iranians have been “tapping” us along, keeping us waiting, killing our people with their roadside bombs, destroying protests, and recently wiping out 42,000 innocent, unarmed protestors, and laughing at our now GREAT AGAIN Country. They will be laughing no longer!
President DONALD J. TRUMP

⭕ 9 May 2026

NYT: Long Overlooked, Caspian Sea Provides Strategic Trade Route for Iran https://tinyurl.com/yu39x3x6 “The landlocked body of water has taken on new significance, with Russia shipping military and commercial goods to bolster Tehran’s ability to withstand the U.S. assault.”
✛ 🐣 Trump is fighting Iran for Netanyahu ¤ Iran is allied with Russia ¤ Trump won’t sanction Russia ¤ What’s going on here? ¤ Besides treason, I mean

🐣 RT @covie_93 They’re right, it’s not a golden calf it’s a golden pig.
🖼 https://x.com/covie_93/status/2053260671626735725?s=20/photo/1
// golden statue of Trump raising his fist; statue being blessed by evangelical leader
⋙ 🐣 this is sick
if this is what “evangelical” means, I have learned something I didn’t know
these people are charlatans and grifters, worshipping the modern version of the golden calf (or pig, as you say)
Trump is the opposite of Christ (like almost an, um, anti-christ?)
⋙ 🐣 Who is the antichrist? CatholicChristian: The Antichrist: Everything the Bible Teaches https://tinyurl.com/yp8e5zcw Sober, clear analysis; I found it useful.
The graphic below was done by someone else, but the Bible verses check out. ⇊
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2053286633261167093?s=20/photo/1

🔄 🐣 USAFacts (8/20/2025): Voter turnout decreased across race and ethnicity in 2024 https://tinyurl.com/mrdtj5s8 ¤
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2053267127654629673?s=20/photo/1
// above chart title ⇈ ; article title: How does voter turnout in the US differ by state, age and race?

🔄 🐣 ✅ Below are links to 11 fact-checks / analyses on Trump’s repeated “I ended X wars” claims:
//➔ Trump seems to confuse “peace deals” which are hard, with “ceasefires,” which are easy.
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2053197830001393806?s=20

Washington Post (Jan 12) — Trump says he has ‘solved’ 8 conflicts. Here’s what to know about them https://tinyurl.com/yz8rvm4x
//➔ detailed case-by-case review

The Guardian (Aug 20, 2025) — Trump claims to have ended six wars — is that true? https://tinyurl.com/57p7wn99
//➔ skeptical overview focusing on ceasefires vs actual settlements.

AP News (Dec 29, 2025) – FACT FOCUS: With a truce in Israel, Trump now says he’s ended eight wars. His numbers are off https://tinyurl.com/3t7b57ds
//➔ probably the cleanest mainstream fact-check.

FactCheck.org (Aug 29, 2025) — Addressing Trump’s Claims About Ending Multiple Wars https://tinyurl.com/m6zfmfzb
//➔ interviews outside experts and distinguishes wars from disputes.

PolitiFact (Jul 25, 2025) — Trump had hand in temporary ceasefires around the world https://tinyurl.com/ys3u3wch
//➔ emphasizes many were temporary ceasefires or diplomatic openings.

Snopes (Aug 21, 2025) — Examining Trump’s claim he ended 6 wars in 6 months https://tinyurl.com/478wbpyn
//➔ broader contextual review.

AP News (Dec 29, 2025) — Trump says he’s ended eight wars. His numbers are off https://tinyurl.com/3t7b57ds
//➔ later follow-up noting some conflicts resumed.

Washington Post (Dec 11, 2025) — Two peace deals Trump took credit for appear to unravel at the same time https://tinyurl.com/34h2dsbd
//➔ specifically about Congo/Rwanda and Thailand/Cambodia flareups.

Washington Post Opinion (Dec 19, 2025) — Why Trump’s ‘peace deals’ keep unraveling https://tinyurl.com/c3242xte
//➔ opinion analysis but useful chronology.

The Times (UK) (Apr 16, 2026) — What ten wars did Trump end? His 9 fact-checked https://tinyurl.com/bdcu3t25
//➔ compact summary list.

Forbes (Apr 26, 2026) — Has Trump Actually Solved 9 Wars As He Claims? No—Here’s What’s True https://tinyurl.com/3bps3eas
// ➔ paragraph-length summaries; “President Donald Trump credits himself with resolving nine conflicts—after saying repeatedly he’s solved the eight “wars” listed below—and while he has clearly tried to improve relations in most of these situations, there’s no evidence he’s been able to bring a lasting peace to any of them.”

🐣 RT @TimothyDSnyder The U.S. has spent billions to lose a war that enriches its oligarchs, impoverishes the citizenry, sabotages its alliances, and strengthens its enemies. Empires have risen and failed before, but to my knowledge no state has ever chosen to kill its own power.

🧵 RT @ChrisMurphyCT I want this war to end – now. And I want a deal that constrains Iran’s nuclear program.¤ But what we are learning is that any deal Trump gets – and a deal is still very unlikely – is going to be WAY worse than the nuclear deal he cancelled a decade ago. 1/ Here’s what we know:
📌 https://x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2053121668370035014?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2053121668370035014.html

2/ Obama’s JCPOA limited Iranian enrichment to 3% and put a low cap on how much enriched uranium Iran could possess. It required Iran to open up facilities to regular inspection to monitor compliance. Iran pledged to never obtain a nuclear weapon.
◕ https://x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2053121672853766539?s=20/photo/1

3/ When Trump blew up the agreement, Iran put their nuclear program into overdrive. They made advancements they never made before the JCPOA. ¤ Before the agreement, they had enriched to 20%. Now – 60%. ¤ Iran can make a bomb in months. Probably 10 of them. ¤ Iran has enough enriched uranium for ten nuclear bomb: The head of the U.N. nuclear agency says the majority of Iran’s highly enriched uranium is still believed to be at its Isfahan nuclear complex [TheIndependent link] https://tinyurl.com/5xrdce

4/ Trump basically wants a new JCPOA but with a temporary ban on enrichment. He is VERY unlikely to get that. ¤ Why? Because Iran has new leverage they didn’t have in 2015: a) the Strait; and b) the 2015 coalition (which included Russia/China) is gone. ¤ Trump’s war has backfired spectacularly: Iran is now more influential than ever | Fawaz Gerges ¤ Tehran has shown that its grip over the strait of Hormuz is its most potent deterrent – arguably more consequential than its now defunct nuclear programme, says Fawaz Gerges of the LSE
[Guardian link:] https://tinyurl.com/msa2bvzm

5/ But of course Iran can afford to sign a deal that limits their present enrichment, because thanks to Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, the regime now knows how to make weapons grade uranium. No deal can reverse the knowledge they gained. That’s a disaster Trump made.

6/ And Trump isn’t going to get the inspections system Obama got – because that relies on international cooperation and no other nation trusts Trump and he rejects multilateralism. His inspections regime, like everything else he touches, will be full of holes.

7/ Trump’s ineptitude lowers my expectations for a deal. And yes, a bad deal could be better than no deal (the most likely outcome still being no deal). ¤ But no one should forget how badly Trump and his team have bungled this. It’s unforgivable incompetence.

🧵 RT @Mylovanov Applebaum: Ukrainian drone technology now lets Kyiv control the frontline almost completely. ¤ Ukrainians can see everything, making it very hard for Russians to move, and, by Ukrainian counts, kill more Russians each month than Russia can recruit. 1/
📌 💽 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2053085807477477413?s=20/video/1 -n
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2053085807477477413.html

Applebaum: Ukraine’s long-range drones are now repeatedly hitting major Russian targets far beyond the border. ¤ Refineries, pumping stations, and other oil-and-gas infrastructure, producing huge black smoke and knocking big facilities out for long periods. 2/

Applebaum: Putin and the regime have become paranoid about Ukraine’s ability to hit Moscow and maybe even target leaders. ¤ That is why the internet keeps going down in Moscow and other cities and why, around the May 9 parade, it is almost completely shut. 3/

Applebaum: Ukraine suddenly has cards. ¤ It has drone technology Gulf states want, EU funding now guaranteed well into the future, and it no longer looks like a pitiful victim people help because they feel sorry for it. It looks like a player in world politics. 4/

Applebaum: We do not know who would replace Putin if he disappeared overnight, died, fell out a window, or was whisked away. ¤ We also do not know how that person would be chosen. Whatever follows his exit is likely to bring instability inside Russia. 5X

🐣 [Reply:] Rasmussen polls are among the least reliable polls.
Important: The Obama-JCPOA got Iran to put in writing NEVER to built a bomb. Nuclear enrichment was limited to 3.67%, confirmed by AEIA. After Trump tore of the agreement, enrichment rose to 60%.
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2053120861478007143?s=20/photo/1

Google AI: Key Polling Insights on Iran War (May 2026):

● 60% of Americans disapprove of the handling of the Iran conflict
● 61% view the use of military force as a “mistake,”
● 61% believe it has “done more harm than good”.
● Over 80% say gas prices are putting a strain on their budget
● 62% believe the US role in the world has been weakened.
● <20% say the military actions have been successful. The polling, including data from PBS News/NPR/Marist and Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos, indicates that the conflict is a significant issue for voters ahead of the midterms.

🐣 RT @KenRoth Netanyahu’s vow of an easy war “proved wrong on every count. The Iranian people did not rise up, the regime did not fall, the Kurds did not attack…and the Revolutionary Guards were able to” damage US bases, the Gulf monarchies, and the Strait of Hormuz.
⋙ TheGuardian, Julian Borger: ‘They have screwed each other pretty badly’: tensions emerge in Netanyahu-Trump alliance https://tinyurl.com/5x56sxcw
// Israeli PM says he has ‘full coordination’ with US president amid reports that Washington no longer consults him

[…] Netanyahu spent decades trying to persuade a succession of US presidents to join Israel in a war against the Islamic Republic. He went to unprecedented lengths for a foreign leader wading into US domestic politics, in particular when it came to undermining the multilateral nuclear deal with Iran of 2015, which had been Barack Obama’s flagship foreign policy achievement.

Netanyahu helped coax Trump to walk out of that deal in 2018, which in turn led to a ramping up of Iran’s nuclear program and accumulation of a stockpile of highly enriched uranium sufficient for a dozen nuclear warheads. And in February this year, according to extensive reporting in the US press, Netanyahu was instrumental in convincing Trump that war was the only solution to the threat, and one that would be easily won.

By then, the Israeli leader was pushing at a door that was already ajar. The month before, US forces had pulled off an extraordinary coup, swooping into Caracas in a surprise raid and whisking away the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro..

“Netanyahu, being the conman that he is, used Venezuela as an example,” Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli diplomat, said. “He said to him: ‘Look what you did in Venezuela. It was painless. It was effortless. It was beautiful. You changed the regime.’

“Then he begins bombarding Trump with intelligence data showing that Iran had expanded its missile production and its missile-launching capabilities, and still has 450kg of highly enriched uranium,” Pinkas said.

With the help of the Mossad director, David Barnea, Netanyahu portrayed the Tehran regime as an overripe fruit ready to drop from the branch.

“He told Trump: ‘The Iranian economy is in shambles. The people are on the precipice of revolt. The Revolutionary Guards are losing control. Life in Iran is intolerable. This is our time,’” Pinkas said. “‘What we could do together is bring down the regime … think that together, jointly, we can win the war in three, four days.’”

According to multiple reports, US intelligence and military officials stressed the risk that Iran could attack US allies in the Gulf and close the strait of Hormuz. But Netanyahu – and US administration hawks including the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth – prevailed, arguing that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were overrated and would not have the strength to hit back.

They were proved wrong on every count. The Iranian people did not rise up, the regime did not fall, the Kurds did not attack from the north-west and the Revolutionary Guards were able to inflict withering damage on US bases and Gulf monarchies, close the Hormuz strait and trigger a global economic crisis. […]

🐣 RT @MykhailoRohoza 🇺🇸🧐This is beyond outrageous.¤ Openly, shamelessly, without fear of anyone, he is robbing America right in front of the entire country — robbing all of us.
¤ https://x.com/MykhailoRohoza/status/2053069287460405570?s=20

Kaitlan Collins, host of CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins, described the situation this way:

“Imagine suing the government for $10 billion while also being the person who controls that very government. That’s exactly what is happening right now. Donald Trump, sitting in the White House, has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the Treasury Department and the IRS — the very Treasury he controls, the very IRS he oversees, the very government he leads.

He is effectively both the plaintiff and the defendant, and he wants taxpayers — you, me, every working family in America — to hand him $10 billion. Just think about that.”

Trump even appeared on television boasting that he had already “won,” essentially bragging that he was negotiating a settlement with himself.
Then his lawyers walked into federal court asking for a 90-day delay — not to fight the lawsuit, but to “reach an agreement.” An agreement between Donald Trump and Donald Trump, paid for with your money.

But then something unexpected happened.

Judge Kathleen Williams looked at this circus and basically said: “Wait a second. You are telling me you are suing yourself and expect me to approve a $10 billion payment from the U.S. Treasury directly into your personal pocket? Absolutely not.”

She rejected the 90-day delay. She demanded separate reports from both sides — despite both sides effectively being controlled by the same person. Then she took the extraordinary step of appointing three of the nation’s most respected law firms as independent advisers to the court.

Why? Because $10 billion of taxpayer money is at stake.

What is really happening here is terrifying: a sitting president allegedly using the power of his office, and a Justice Department under his influence, to settle a personal lawsuit with himself and funnel public money into his own bank account.

Constitutional law already has a name for this: a collusive lawsuit. ¤ The Supreme Court ruled on this principle more than 200 years ago. If both sides are effectively the same party, the courts have no authority to proceed. The Constitution requires a real conflict, real opposing sides — not a friendly deal between a man and his reflection in the mirror.

And this is not some isolated stunt. Critics argue it is part of a broader strategy: stage a fake legal battle, force a surrender, cash the check, and walk away.

But this time the number is staggering: $10 billion.¤ Money that could repair roads, fund schools, support veterans, or feed hungry children.

Instead, critics say it is being redirected through one of the most transparent legal scams America has ever witnessed.

And the people supposed to defend the public interest? The Justice Department. Government officials whose job is to protect taxpayers. ¤ They are not fighting. They are not even pretending to fight.

The judge sees it. Top legal scholars see it. The Constitution itself sees it. ¤ The only remaining question is whether the system still has enough courage to say “No.”

Because if a president can sue himself and pay himself with public money, then the word “government” no longer means anything. ¤ It simply means: the person holding the pen writes the check — and everyone else pays the bill.

🐣 RT @alex_chenkov In 2022, the Kremlin launched its “special operation” believing it would give the West a master class in military power. Four years later the lesson has indeed been learned only it reads in the opposite direction.
¤ https://x.com/alex_chenkov/status/2053048580554785258?s=20

May 2026. By Decree №374, the President of Ukraine officially permits Moscow to hold a parade on Red Square. No military hardware for the first time in 19 years. No mobile connectivity in the city. No foreign press. The guest list reduced to figures of contested or unrecognized legitimacy. And with written authorization from the country Russia planned to occupy in three days.

What sits between those two points is not “successful defense.” It is a defense industry built from scratch. In four years, Ukraine’s defense production capacity has grown more than 50x to over $50 billion. 2,300+ manufacturers. 300,000+ employees. 76% of what the Armed Forces use is now made in Ukraine. Naval drones that pushed the Black Sea Fleet out of the Black Sea. Long-range strikes that have taken roughly a fifth of Russia’s oil refining capacity offline. Interceptors that US allies in the Middle East are already lining up to buy.

The inversion is complete. What was recently called “supply from the West to Ukraine” now runs in the opposite direction — Build with Ukraine. Rheinmetall. Quantum Systems. KNDS. Baykar. In April our team received first contracts from German MoD. That is no longer an exception. It is the format.

A parade without hardware on Red Square is not a curiosity. It is a visual balance sheet: one side is building an industry, the other is hiding what’s left of one from the cameras.

What was supposed to be the West’s lesson from Moscow has become the West’s lesson from Kyiv.

And that lesson is now being exported.

🔄 🐣 Trump’s claim to have “settled eight wars” is greatly exaggerated according to both ChatGPT and Claude. Here is ChatGPT today: https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2053039128506253633?s=20

Trump’s “Solved Wars” – Reality Check

(May 9, 2026)

• India-Pakistan: Ceasefire, not resolved – Brief May 2025 de-escalation after border clashes; tensions and military alerts continue.
• DRC-Rwanda: Ongoing conflict – 2025 Washington accord only partly implemented; M23 and other armed groups still active in eastern Congo.
• Serbia-Kosovo: Frozen dispute – No peace settlement; recurring political crises and periodic violence persist.
• Thailand-Cambodia: Renewed clashes — Temporary ceasefire unraveled; border fighting and accusations resumed.
• Egypt-Ethiopia: Dam dispute, not a war – GERD/Nile negotiations remain stalled with no lasting agreement.
• Armenia-Azerbaijan: Fragile truce – Peace framework signed, but border tensions and sporadic incidents continue.
• Venezuela-Guyana: Territorial dispute ongoing – U.S.-backed de-escalation reduced immediate risk, but militarization and Essequibo claims continue.

Summary:
Trump frequently described temporary ceasefires, partial agreements, or diplomatic openings as “ending wars.” In most cases, the underlying conflicts remain unresolved, frozen, or periodically violent rather than truly settled.

⭕ 8 May 2026

💽 NYT: Iranian Propaganda vs. U.S. Talking Points: How We Determined the Real Damage to U.S. Military Bases https://tinyurl.com/4kak2btv “Times analysis of satellite imagery shows 18 sites in seven countries were hit.”
// Amid the barrage of messages and misinformation swirling online and on Capitol Hill, about what damage US military sites incurred during the conflict with Iran, a Times analysis of satellite imagery shows 18 sites in seven countries were hit.

USNews/Reuters, Jesus Calero: Global Perceptions of US Fall Below Russia Under Trump, Survey Finds https://tinyurl.com/bdd3drt6

May 8 (Reuters) – Global perceptions of the U.S. have deteriorated for a second consecutive year and are now worse than views of Russia, an ​annual study on democracy published on Friday showed, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s policies continue to ‌severely strain the NATO alliance.

The Denmark-based ‌Alliance of Democracies Foundation, which commissioned the survey, said the U.S. was also most frequently named in response to which country posed the greatest threat to the world, ​after Russia and Israel. The survey did not go into details on the criteria used, but the Alliance says its aim is to defend and advance democratic values.

“The fast decline of the United ​States’ perception around the world is saddening but not shocking,” alliance founder and former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

“U.S. foreign ​policy over the past 18 months has, among other things, called into question the transatlantic ​relationship, imposed widespread tariffs, and threatened to invade a NATO ally’s territory,” he added.

Trump’s tariffs, his repeated threats to control Greenland, a fellow NATO member through Denmark, a cut in U.S. aid to Ukraine as well as the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and the ensuing spike in oil prices have deeply unsettled transatlantic relations.

Enraged that European countries have declined to send their navies to open the Strait of Hormuz to global shipping after the start of the air war on Iran, Trump in April said he considered withdrawing from NATO, further weakening the alliance.

The Democracy Perception Index survey, which ranks the perception of countries from -100% to +100%, showed that net perception of the U.S. had swung to -16% from +22% two years ago, placing it behind Russia at -11% and China at +7%. It did not provide a reason for the positive sentiment on China.

Polling firm Nira Data conducted the survey between March 19 and April 21, based on more than 94,000 respondents in 98 countries. Country perceptions were measured in a sample of 46,600 respondents in 85 countries.

The report was published ahead of the Copenhagen Democracy Summit, which ​takes place on May 12.
(Reporting by Jesus Calero, editing by Louise Rasmussen ​and Terje Solsvik; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

TheAtlantic, Jonathan Lemire: Trump Is ‘Bored’ https://tinyurl.com/4nr9r7sk “Trump wants the war to end. He wants a deal. But deals take two parties, and there’s no evidence that Iran is interested in bailing Trump out of a dilemma of his own making.”
// With the War He Started He wants out, but Iran could likely keep going for months.

President Trump really, really wants the war with Iran to end. He has declared victory many times, including about three weeks ago, when Iran briefly reopened the Strait of Hormuz. He has repeatedly extended his cease-fire deadlines instead of following through on his (sometimes-apocalyptic) threats to resume hostilities. This week, his administration abruptly abandoned an effort to escort ships through the strait in part because of a fear that it could provoke violent, escalating confrontations.

Trump is tired of the war, which has proved far more difficult and lasted far longer than he had expected. His party is warily watching rising gas prices and falling poll numbers. He doesn’t want to be bogged down in a Middle East conflict like some of his predecessors were. He doesn’t want it to upend his high-stakes summit next week in China. He is ready to move on.

But Iran, it seems, does not want the war to come to a close. Or at least not with any sort of outcome that could be acceptable to American negotiators. Trump is now in a bind. The president, five aides and outside advisers told me, is convinced that he can sell any sort of agreement as a win. But at least for now, the man who wrote The Art of the Deal can’t even get Iran to the negotiating table. Today, Washington is still waiting for Iran to respond to the latest offering, a one-page memorandum of understanding that is far more of an extension of the cease-fire than a treaty to end the conflict.

Trump is left with a vexing question: How do you end a war when your opponent won’t budge? And while Trump grasps for an exit, the hard-liners in Tehran have used the war to tighten their grip on power. Iran seems hell-bent on pulling off something it’s historically done well: humiliating an American president.

Trump never thought it would turn out like this. After the impressive military operation to snatch Nicolás Maduro from Caracas, the president set his eyes on Iran, telling confidants that it would “be another Venezuela,” a pair of outside advisers told me. … Trump believed that the U.S. military was unstoppable, and that he had a chance to topple Tehran’s theocracy, a prize that had eluded his predecessors. He was redrawing the world’s maps and expected a victory to come in days, a week or two at most. The initial U.S.-Israel onslaught killed Iran’s supreme leader and included waves of bombings that reportedly obliterated much of the country’s missile capabilities. But Tehran did not capitulate, and instead attacked its Persian Gulf neighbors and seized control of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes. With a mix of mines, small attack boats, and drones, Iran effectively closed the waterway. Energy prices soared. The conflict settled into a stalemate and then a fragile cease-fire. One high-profile, official round of negotiations failed. No more are scheduled.

Outwardly Trump has expressed nothing but confidence. Sometimes, he downplays the war, calling it a “little excursion” or “detour” or “mini war.” He has proclaimed imminent victory nearly every day, a braggadocio that’s matched by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at his Pentagon briefings. Behind closed doors, the volume is lower, but U.S. officials do believe a naval blockade of Iran’s ports, installed last month, is working and squeezing the country’s economy. Facing collapse, two officials predicted, Iran will be forced to negotiate.

But the real question is the timing: A number of experts have forecast that Iran can withstand pressure from the blockade for months, not weeks. A U.S. intelligence assessment delivered to policy makers this week agrees, suggesting that Iran could make it at least three or four more months. If so, and Iran continues to keep the strait closed, then prices will continue to rise in the West, including in the United States during a midterm-election year. It then becomes a matter of pain: Which side can withstand the most economic hardship?

Despite the negotiating impasse, Trump is reluctant to resume hostilities, aides and advisers have told me. There is concern about the dwindling supply of American munitions, and Trump this week expressed reluctance about killing more people. Some U.S. allies in the region (including, at times, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) have voiced concern that the resumption of American attacks would make them, once more, targets of Iran’s retaliation. Yesterday, Iran opened fire on U.S. naval vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. retaliated by striking sites in Iran. But despite the spasm of violence, Trump insisted that the cease-fire was still in place and downplayed the strikes as “a love tap.” He also, advisers have indicated, wants to tamp down any military action ahead of his trip to Beijing next week to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. China has broadcast its unhappiness with the war and the closing of the strait; Trump wants to be able to claim that the fighting is ending as he pursues new trade and business deals with Xi.

As a further complication, the U.S. has largely exhausted its list of significant military targets, advisers have said. To continue to escalate, which is Trump’s signature move, he’s had to threaten civilian targets such as power plants, bridges, and even desalination plants. At one point, he threatened that “a whole civilization will die tonight,” an overt threat to commit war crimes. Trump also has options for a limited ground invasion—seizing highly enriched uranium or attacking Kharg Island, a hub of Iran’s energy sector—but he is leery about risking the lives of American troops.

And so Trump keeps issuing deadlines to force Iran to cave, but Tehran keeps calling his bluff. For weeks now, Trump has blustered about resuming attacks but, each time, has found a way to back down. With the exception of a few hawkish voices, most in Trump’s orbit remain reluctant to restart the attack even as the stalemate continues. With the naval blockade in place to counter Iran’s closing of the strait, the administration on Monday unveiled Project Freedom, which deployed the U.S. Navy to help some ships escape the waterway. Although a few ships managed to cross the strait on the first day, Trump quickly abandoned the plan. Iranian forces fired on a South Korean cargo ship, there were clashes with U.S. warships, and the Pentagon said it destroyed seven small Iranian boats. But administration officials did not want to risk a major escalation of hostilities, particularly a possible attack on an American naval vessel. Some Gulf allies, fearing retaliation, moved to cut American access to their bases and airspace. …

Even without a formal agreement, Trump has considered declaring decisive victory and moving on. Secretary of State Marco Rubio went so far as to say earlier this week that the war was over. But doing so now would leave the conflict’s goals, as outlined at various times by the president and his aides, unfulfilled. Yes, the Iranian navy has been largely destroyed. But Iran still possesses, by some estimates, more than half of its ballistic-missile capabilities. Its proxy groups, such as Hezbollah, are still fighting. There has not been real regime change. Its nuclear stockpile remains a threat, and there is no deal to dilute it or ship it out of the country. Iran will almost certainly leave the war with more control, either implicitly or explicitly, over the Strait of Hormuz than it enjoyed before the conflict, including knowing that it could again shutter the waterway and inflict global economic pain.
V
Trump wants the war to end. He wants a deal. But deals take two parties, and there’s no evidence that Iran is interested in bailing Trump out of a dilemma of his own making.

TheAtlantic, Luis Parrales: Pope Leo’s Pro-Life Challenge to Conservative Catholics https://tinyurl.com/4xs7ddtd “The Church’s resistance to war and its support for migrants stem from the same principles as its opposition to abortion.” //➔ Don’t ignore the Bestitudes
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2053004459790283037?s=20/photo/1

1 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
2 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
3 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
4 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for RIGHTEOUSNESS, for they will be filled.
5 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
6 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
7 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
8 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of RIGHTEOUSNESS, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

🐣 RT @PhillipsPOBrien The ceasefire story is fascinating. Turns out that Trump seems to have pleaded with Zelensky on Putin’s behalf. The Ukrainians said that they agreed on the condition that prisoners are returned and the ceasefire covers only the parade area.
⋙ KyivIndependent: Trump declares 3-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine https://tinyurl.com/3h4pwfsb //➔ developing; updated

“For the duration of the parade (beginning at 10:00 a.m. Kyiv time on May 9, 2026), the area of Red Square shall be excluded from the plan for the use of Ukrainian weapons,” the declaration reads. It also includes the precise coordinates of Moscow’s Red Square.

The declaration makes no mention of a ceasefire on attacks elsewhere in Russia.

“They were concerned about one specific square, and now, as part of the diplomatic process, permission has been granted to hold a parade in that square,” an official from the Presidential Office told reporters.

In terms of a broader ceasefire, Ukraine will respond to Russia in kind, upholding the truce if Moscow does the same, the official said.

🐣 RT @Megatron_ron NEW: 🇺🇸🇮🇷 The Telegraph: Trump now has three paths forward; all of which are BAD
¤ https://x.com/Megatron_ron/status/2052783625146642695?s=20

Option 1: Conceding to Iran

If Trump quickly reaches an agreement with Tehran to open the Strait of Hormuz and lower oil prices, he will be accused of “surrendering” within the US. This would mean a complete failure of the maximum pressure policy.

Option 2: Escalating military tensions

Any attempt to forcibly open the Strait of Hormuz or attack Iran’s main infrastructure could lead to a full-blown regional war. This option would push oil prices above $150, bring global stock markets to the brink of collapse, and entangle the US in a quagmire much larger than Iraq and Afghanistan.

Option 3: Continuing the status quo

If he does nothing and waits, high energy prices and the resulting inflation (gasoline at $6 in the US) will push the global economy into recession. In this scenario, Iran will continue its unofficial exports, and Trump’s standing in domestic polls will fall even further.

⋙ 🐣 Either Trump takes his medicine on Iran (goes back to something like the JCPOA) ✛ dimishment of status & munitions ~ or he will go after Greenland, Cuba and who knows what else. Pope Leo is right: he is a Danger to World Peace.
🌎 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2052801729830285462?s=20/Photo/1
// Which country is the biggest threat to the world?
[map:] Demoracy Perception Index 2026. March 2026. 23,520 respondents in 84 countries.
// Most say US; Europe says Russia, some in ME say Israel, Japan says China

🔄 💙🐣📋 As Russia celebrates the “Great Patriotic War,” bear in mind that many deaths suffered in ~1930-50 (“WW2- era”) were inflicted, not by Nazi Germany, but by the USSR on these (selected) countries:
Source: Claude, citing official stats, Snyder, Applebaum, etc.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2052771426210328855?s=20/photo/1
// Listed: Baltic states, Belarus, Poland, Ukraine; deportations also listed
// Synder: Bloodlands; Applebaum: Red Famine

🐣 RT @araghchi [TEHRAN-8 MAY 2026] Every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the U.S. opts for a reckless military adventure. …
[TextLink:] https://x.com/araghchi/status/2052703834888360089?s=20/photo/1

Every time a diplomatic solution is on the table, the U.S. opts for a reckless military adventure. Is it a crude pressure tactic? Or the result of a spoiler once again duping POTUS into another quagmire?

Whatever the causes, the outcome is the same: Iranians never bow to pressure and diplomacy is always the victim.

Also, the CIA is wrong. Our missile inventory and launcher capacity are not at 75% compared to Feb 28. The correct figure is 120%.
As for our readiness to defend our people: 1,000%

Seyed Abbas Araghchi
Minister of Foreign Affairs Islamic Republic of Iran

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Moscow is planning geological exploration, extraction, and removal of raw materials from at least 18 deposits in occupied southern Ukraine. These include titanium, lithium, tantalum, niobium, zirconium, molybdenum, and graphite.
¤ 🌎 https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/2052667088557215809?s=20/photo/1

The European Parliament Research Service estimates that approximately 20% of Ukrainian mineral resources and roughly half of its rare earth element deposits are under Russian occupation. It also notes that Ukraine possesses the largest titanium reserves in Europe, some of the largest lithium reserves, and approximately 20% of the world’s graphite.

A Ukrainian government white paper on critical raw materials asserts that Ukraine holds Europe’s largest known reserves of titanium, graphite, manganese, and uranium, as well as the third-largest reserves of lithium and rare earth elements.

Before the Russian occupation, Ukraine was viewed by the EU as a potential partner for diversifying away from China in the sphere of critical raw materials. Now a significant portion of these resources is under Russian (and Chinese) control.

Russia’s strategy for developing its mineral resource base explicitly provides for the “integration of the mineral-resource complexes” of the occupied territories into the Russian economy. This is the formation of an extractive occupation economy – an economy built on resource extraction. What is at stake now is the critical minerals of the 21st century – resources essential for:

• the defense industry;
• AI infrastructure;
• batteries;
• the aerospace sector;
• the energy transition.

Beyond Russia, China is also active in the occupied Ukrainian territories. While China’s direct involvement in the extraction of critical minerals has not yet been documented, it remains entirely possible.

Firstly, China dominates processing. According to the International Energy Agency and IRENA:

• China controls over 60% of global lithium processing capacity;
• approximately 70% of cobalt processing;
• a significant portion of nickel and graphite refining;
• over 85% of rare earth element processing;
• over 90% of the production of permanent magnets based on rare earth elements.

Secondly, China supports the Russian military-industrial complex. Today, China has become a key external supplier to Russia for materials such as gallium, germanium, and antimony – components critical for drones, missiles, night optics, semiconductors, and military electronics.

As a result, resources that could have supported Europe’s technological, defense, and energy supply chains are now going to Russia and China. This is no surprise to the EU. Ukrainians have long and consistently warned of this danger.

If the US truly wanted to weaken China, it should have helped Ukraine defeat Russia instead of seeking ways to “pull” Moscow away from Beijing. Ukraine could have been one of the key alternatives to Chinese dominance in critical minerals for both the EU and the US.

Instead, the attempt by the Donald Trump administration to play along with Russia in hopes of splitting the Russo-Chinese alliance produced the opposite result. While Washington is bogged down in the Iranian crisis, Russia is consolidating control over Ukrainian resources, and China is tightening its grip on their global processing. The result is not a weakened China, but the accelerated formation of a Russo-Chinese resource-technological bloc centered around the critical minerals that will define the future of military power, AI, and energy.

⭕ 7 May 2026

🐣 RT @ABC Elon Musk’s DOGE “blatantly used” race, gender and other protected characteristics to execute the largest mass termination of federal grants in the history of the National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal judge ruled on Thursday. https://abcnews.link/kfJxWVn

TheEconomist: Secret document reveals Russia’s plans to aid Iran https://tinyurl.com/59jmfdht “Unjammable drones would be used against American forces, according to proposals seen by The Economist”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2052975221980701049?s=20/photo/1

One of them is the effectiveness of Iranian drones. Now a confidential document obtained by The Economist from a trusted source suggests that Russia has offered to provide Iran with unjammable drones and training on how to use them against American troops in the Gulf and perhaps elsewhere.

Until now, Vladimir Putin’s government is thought to have provided intelligence that enabled Iran to target American forces in the Middle East. This is the first evidence that it may also have offered to supply innovative weapons in large enough numbers to inflict many casualties on American and allied forces, we can exclusively report.

🐣 RT @drhossamsamy65 Saudi Arabia and Kuwait suddenly “changed their minds” and will allow Trump to restart “Project Freedom”, per WSJ ¤ Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have reversed their decision to restrict the US military’s use of their bases and airspace for “Project Freedom” …
⋙ 🐣 Sure, for $17B of Patriot missiles, that the US has 45% fewer of than we did a couple months ago. ¤ Hmmm – wonder how much the Saudis will actually be billed for. 🤔

🐣 RT @KShevchenkoReal ⚡️⚡️⚡️BREAKING: The United States is lifting a 30-year arms import ban on Ukraine: the Department of Justice has removed Ukraine from its restricted countries list (in place since 1997), opening the American market to Ukrainian weapons, ammunition, components, and DefenseTech companies. Public comments will be accepted until July 6, 2026. Russia remains the only country still under restrictions.

🐣 RT @RpsAgainstTrump BREAKING: Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have lifted restrictions on the U.S. military’s use of their bases and airspace, removing a major obstacle to Trump’s plan to move ships through the Strait of Hormuz, according to U.S. and Saudi officials cited by the WSJ.
¤ https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/2052452990728954245?s=20

Last night, NBC News reported Trump abruptly backed off the plan after Saudi Arabia suspended U.S. access to key bases and airspace needed for the mission. Officials said Saudi leaders were furious after Trump blindsided Gulf allies by announcing “Project Freedom” on social media Sunday afternoon. ¤ U.S. officials now say the naval protection mission, “Project Freedom,” could restart as early as this week.

🐣 RT @ddale8 President Trump yesterday: “Their missiles are mostly decimated; they have some, they have probably 18, 19 percent, but not a lot by comparison to what they had.

WaPo today: “Iran retains about 75 percent of its prewar inventories of mobile launchers and about 70 percent of its prewar stockpiles of missiles, a U.S. official said. The official said there is evidence that the regime has been able to recover and reopen almost all of its underground storage facilities, repair some damaged missiles and even assemble some new missiles that were nearly complete when the war began.”

⋙ 📋 WaPo: U.S. intelligence says Iran can outlast Trump’s Hormuz blockade for months https://tinyurl.com/yc6bpmrh “A confidential intelligence community assessment delivered to the White House also finds that Iran retains a substantial missile and drone arsenal.”

🐣 📋 RT @ViralReelAddict People convicted of fraud who received pardons from Trump this year:
¤ https://x.com/ViralReelAddict/status/2052131825875558574?s=20

• Jason Galanis — $200M+ fraud
• Joseph Schwartz — $38M scheme
• Lawrence Duran — $205M Medicare fraud billing
• Carlos Watson — $60M investor scam
• Trevor Milton — $20M+ investor losses
• Todd & Julie Chrisley — $30M bank fraud
• Devon Archer — $60M bond fraud scheme
• George Santos — multiple fraud cases ($44K–$1M+)
• Michele Fiore — charity fraud
• Brian Kelsey — campaign finance fraud
• Scott Jenkins — bribery and fraud scheme
• Paul Walczak — $10M+ tax fraud
• Adriana Camberos — counterfeit/fraud operation

🐣 RT @@CBSNews EXCLUSIVE: Senate and House Democrats have launched an investigation into whether pardons and commutations issued by President Trump were driven by “pay-to-play dynamics,” according to letters obtained by CBS News. https://cbsn.ws/4wdkxnY
⋙ CBSNews: Trump pardon recipients face congressional investigation over “pay-to-play” questions https://tinyurl.com/nharraxp

Among the pardons being probed by lawmakers are those granted to cryptocurrency billionaire Changpeng Zhao, who pleaded guilty to money laundering; nursing home operator Joseph Schwartz, who was convicted of tax crimes; and entrepreneur Trevor Milton, sentenced to four years in prison in 2023 after being convicted of lying to investors.

On Thursday, California congressmen Dave Min and Raul Ruiz, as well as Vermont senator Peter Welch sent letters to more than a dozen recipients of executive clemency — seeking to unearth how they may have received favorable treatment from Mr. Trump or his advisers “through intermediaries, financial contributions, or other forms of influence.” 

The Democrats are also examining the impact of pardons and commutations on thousands of financial victims. The letters note that Mr. Trump’s acts of clemency are “depriving victims of compensation and justice,” citing the president’s elimination of hundreds of millionsof dollars in restitution — money owed to crime victims — and fines. 

Clemency has come under scrutiny during Mr. Trump’s second term with his pardons or commutations of the sentences of a number of allies who faced prosecution — as well as those who hired people close to him. In the letters, the Democrats argued the president has appeared to reward his allies in a manner that departs from the Supreme Court’s description of executive clemency “as ‘an act of grace’ exercised for the ‘public welfare.'”

The lawmakers asked for any contracts showing how much money has been paid by the clemency recipients to lawyers, lobbyists, social media influencers and others who advocated on their behalf to Mr. Trump. 

They also requested communications between the recipients or people acting on their behalf with federal officials, records showing any donations to Mr. Trump or groups affiliated with him and other documents related to clemency efforts. […]

🐣 RT @ChristopherHale NEW: The Vatican’s 120-word statement on Rubio’s audience with Pope Leo XIV today names what the State Department’s 53 words wouldn’t … ¤ The Holy See lists only one shared commitment with the United States: cultivating good bilateral relations. ¤ Everything else is described as an “exchange of views.” ¤ This is the Vaticanese for “we aren’t getting along right now.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/ChristopherHale/status/2052401388722814982?s=20/photo/1

The Vatican’s Readout
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE • MAY 2026

Statement of the Secretariat of State on
Secretary Rubio’s audience with the Holy Father

(120 WORDS)

“In the course of the cordial discussions that the American Secretary of State Marco Rubio held this morning at the Vatican – first with His Holiness Pope Leo XIV and subsequently with His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin and His Excellency Archbishop Paul R. Gallagher – the shared commitment to cultivating good bilateral relations between the Holy See and the United States of America was renewed.

There was then an exchange of views on the regional and international situation, with particular attention to countries marked by war, by political tensions, and by difficult humanitarian conditions, as well as on the need to work tirelessly in favor of peace.”

🐣 RT @rkmtimes JUST IN 🇰🇼🇸🇦🇶🇦🇮🇷 Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman also denied Trump’s access to Airspace/bases for the Project Freedom.
⋙ 🐣 RT @freaky_disorder In late March, at a Saudi-backed investment forum in Florida, he [Trump] used that exact crude phrasing, claiming the Crown Prince “didn’t think he’d be kissing my [butt]. ¤ But fast forward to today, May 7, 2026, and that “butt-kissing” narrative has aged like milk in the desert.
🖼 https://x.com/freaky_disorder/status/2052322496372969610?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @Megatron_ron BREAKING: 🇺🇸🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have ditched Trump, they no longer have any hope in US defense
¤ https://x.com/Megatron_ron/status/2052321605481627901?s=20

Trump’s “Project Freedom” collapsed after Saudi Arabia and Kuwait suspended US military access to their bases, airspace, and overflight rights, per NBC News and Ryan Grim.

Mohammed bin Salman blocked the US from flying aircraft out of Prince Sultan Airbase or through Saudi airspace, completely grounding the operation and removing the air defense umbrella protecting ships in transit.

Bin Salman was “furious” after Trump announced Project Freedom on Truth Social without notifying them. ¤ Qatar and Oman were also blindsided, with Trump only contacting them after the operation began. ¤ A direct call between Trump and the Crown Prince failed to resolve the situation.

⭕ 6 May 2026

WSJ Editorial: Mass Deportation and American Jobs https://tinyurl.com/35hnfn28 “A study finds that US employment falls in areas with more ICE arrests.” (Chart from Economic Policy Institute.)
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2052439343881449969?s=20/photo/1

Restrictionists in the White House claim that deporting illegal immigrants will improve economic opportunities for U.S.-born workers. But job growth has slowed amid the Administration’s mass deportations, and a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds they are harming American workers.

Economists at the University of Colorado, Boulder, examined employment changes in areas most affected by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests—i.e., states and regions in which arrests doubled relative to their non-citizen population—in comparison to the rest of the country between January and October 2025.

First, they found a 4% decline in employment of undocumented workers, which comports with employer reports that raids have prompted immigrant workers to stop showing up. Some 28% of construction firms said in an industry survey last summer they were affected by the President’s stepped up immigration enforcement. “For every ICE arrest, 6 male likely undocumented workers stop working,” the NBER study estimates. …

… Restrictionists argue this is desirable since there will be more jobs available for Americans. But the study finds the opposite: Employment among U.S.-born men with less formal education fell by 1.3% in areas with more ICE arrests.

Industries that experienced the biggest negative effects from ICE arrests on undocumented workers are also “where we see negative effects for U.S.-born male workers,” they write. In other words, deporting law-abiding workers reduces job opportunities for American workers. One reason is because they perform complementary jobs.

This isn’t a novel finding, but it shows how deporting noncriminal immigrants is economically counterproductive. A National Foundation for American Policy paper in 2018 found that an increase in the immigrant labor force reduced unemployment of Americans in the same demographic group. So it stands to reason that the opposite would be true.

It’s possible to support mass deportation on legal grounds, or in order to deny Democrats success in flooding the U.S. with illegal migrants every time they take power. But the claim that this helps American workers and the economy doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.

🐣 White House: UNITED STATES COUNTERTERRORISM STRATEGY https://tinyurl.com/yc8juukh 16p
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2052426070981312846?s=20

My counter-terrorism strategy notes:
– left-wing terrorism added; right-wing dropped (compare ADL, CSIS, FBI)
– concerned about antifa (FBI in past denied it exists)
– Left-wing/Jihadist alliance (I guess this means pro-Palestinian protests)
– strikes on boats in Caribbean – cartels and Jihadists;
– immigration introduces jihadism
– Europe in “willful decline” threatened by jihadists, globalism; NO mention of Russia;
– Asia: no mention of Russia OR China (in entire document!)

📔 WhiteHouse: UNITED STATES COUNTERTERRORISM STRATEGY https://tinyurl.com/yc8juukh 16p

“Counterterrorism (CT) is a core part the national security mission, and its primary objective is to protect Americans from being harmed by terrorist groups and to deter and undermine the support they receive from enemy actors. Additionally, we recognize that a new type of domestic terrorism has emerged, driven by violent extremists who have adopted ideologies antithetical to freedom and the American way of life.

Our counterterrorism operations will be executed apolitically and founded upon reality- based threat assessments. Our counterterrorism powers will not be used to target our fellow Americans who simply disagree with us. We will not permit the weaponization of America’s
unparalleled CT capabilities for partisan purposes and in contravention of every American’s God-given rights.

The fact pattern under the Biden Administration was clear: individuals at the highest level of the U.S. Government used their significant powers to politically target individuals in the interests of those they favored, wanted to keep in power, or to help win elections. Millions of Americans have lost confidence in the rectitude of the most powerful elements of our Federal government; the national security apparatus of the United States. That confidence can only be won back when counterterrorism is executed uninfected by politics, and if those who used their counterterrorism powers as a weapon against the innocent pay the full judicial cost for their crimes against the civil rights of innocent Americans.

As President Trump stated in his 2025 National Security Strategy, the “[D]epartments and agencies of the United States Government have been granted fearsome powers. Those powers must never be abused, whether under the guise of ‘deradicalization,’ ‘protecting our democracy,’ or any other pretext. When and where those powers are abused, abusers must be held accountable.” A radical shift is therefore needed in U.S. counterterrorism, as demonstrated by our successes in the first year of the second Trump Administration. …

America’s new U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy is driven by the principle that America is our
homeland. Americans should be safe to live their lives without the fear of terror attacks, the threat of Jihadists, the flooding of our communities with deadly drugs at the hands of foreign narcoterrorists, or violent left-wing extremists who have adopted radical ideologies antithetical to the principles upon which our Republic was founded. Additionally, we will continue to ensure our CT structures are not weaponized against the American people, as prior administrations allowed. …

Our nation has not been well served by its Intelligence Community (IC), which has been mired in old ways of looking at threats, or has been actively weaponized by its leadership as a political tool. Whether plotting against conservative Catholics attending traditional mass in Virginia, parents standing up for their children at school board meetings, Members of Congress, or President Trump and his associates, this Administration will continue to prohibit the IC from being used politically against innocent Americans. As real threats were ignored or underplayed, Americans have witnessed the politically motivated killings of Christians and conservatives committed by violent left-wing extremists, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk by a radical who espoused extreme transgender ideologies.

In addition to cartels and Islamist terror groups, our national CT activities will also prioritize the rapid identification and neutralization of violent secular political groups whose ideology is anti-American, radically pro-transgender, and anarchist. We will use all the tools constitutionally available to us to map them at home, identify their membership, map their ties to international organizations like Antifa, and use law enforcement tools to cripple them operationally before they can maim or kill the innocent. We will do the same with the state sponsors of such groups and those governments undertaking lethal plots on U.S. soil or against Americans anywhere.…

This mission can be broken down into three simple functions:
• Identify terror actors and plots before they happen.
• Cut off their arms, funding, and recruiting streams.
• Ultimately destroy established threat groups.

[…] C. EUROPE
The nations of Europe remain our preeminent and long-term counterterrorism partners. The world is safer when Europe is strong, but Europe is greatly threatened and is both a terror target and an incubator of terror threats. Terrorists often seek to attack European nations to undermine their democratic institutions and their ties to the United States. Yet, a conglomerate of nefarious actors – al Qaeda, ISIS, cartels, and state actors – have freely exploited Europe’s weak borders and diminished CT resources to turn Europe into a permissive operating environment for plotting against Europeans and Americans. It is unacceptable that wealthy NATO allies can serve as financial, logistical, and recruitment hubs for terrorists. Europe still has an opportunity to change its individual and collective counterterrorism destiny if it recognizes the actual threat and takes action now.

Unfettered mass migration has been the transmission belt for terrorists. Europe can be strong again if it rediscovers traditional principles of freedom of speech, has honest conversations about Islamism, devotes sufficient resources to mitigate terrorism and cartel threats within its nations, and then actively shares its threat intelligence globally and moves counterterrorism burden-shifting to take greater responsibility for its own security. This includes CT operations in Africa.

Europe must significantly increase its CT efforts immediately. It is clear to all that well-organized
hostile groups exploit open borders and related globalist ideals. The more these alien cultures grow, and the longer current European policies persist, the more terrorism is guaranteed. As the birthplace of Western culture and values, Europe must act now and halt its willful decline.
Under President Trump, America has returned to common sense and reality-based counterterrorism.

We are working with allies and partners who share our threat assessment of cartels, Jihadists, and violent left-wing extremists. We are coordinating CT operations, sharing actionable intelligence, and providing expertise. We will continue to work with those nations who understand the threat, who take requisite actions themselves, and who are not undermining the principles that define our shared civilization. We will also work closely with our serious CT partners in Europe to jointly counter covert state action that looks like terrorism – to include sabotage and assassination plots – and which they have categorized as “hybrid threats.”

🐣 RT @MarcoFoster_ President Obama: “The White House shouldn’t be able to direct the Attorney General to go around prosecuting whoever the president wants prosecuted. The AG is the people’s lawyer, it’s not the president’s consigliere. You can’t have a situation in which whoever’s in charge of the government starts using that to go after their political enemies”
💽 https://x.com/MarcoFoster_/status/2052003497093062974?s=20/video/1

TheAtlantic, Sarah Fitzpatrick: Kash Patel’s Personalized Bourbon Stash https://tinyurl.com/yc8eyvn9 “The FBI director has been leaving an unusual calling card.“
🖼 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2052279547391861091?s=20/photo/1
// Bourbon bottle with FBI insignia: “KASH PATEL / FBI director

One of J. Edgar Hoover’s greatest reforms at the FBI was his embrace of fingerprinting. During the 1930s, visitors to the FBI offices in Washington, D.C., received souvenir fingerprint cards featuring his name. The men who succeeded him as FBI director were more discreet and judicious, mindful of the cult of personality that had developed around Hoover. They generally avoided giving out branded swag.

But then came Kash Patel.

President Trump’s FBI director has a great deal of affection for swag. Merchandise for sale on a website he co-founded—still operating, nearly 15 months into his term—includes beanies ($35), T-shirts ($35), orange camo hoodies ($65), trucker caps ($25), “government gangsters” playing cards (on sale for $10), and a FIGHT WITH KASH Punisher scarf ($25).

One thing not for sale is liquor, because liquor is something Patel gives away for free

Last month, I reported that FBI personnel were alarmed by what they said was erratic behavior and excessive drinking by Patel. (The FBI director has denied the allegations and filed a defamation suit against The Atlantic and me.)

After my story appeared, I heard from people in Patel’s orbit and people he has met at public functions, who told me that it is not unusual for him to travel with a supply of personalized branded bourbon. The bottles bear the imprint of the Kentucky distillery Woodford Reserve, and are engraved with the words “KASH PATEL FBI DIRECTOR,” as well as a rendering of an FBI shield. Surrounding the shield is a band of text featuring Patel’s director title and his favored spelling of his first name: KA$H. An eagle holds the shield in its talons, along with the number 9, presumably a reference to Patel’s place in the history of FBI directors. In some cases, the 750-milliliter bottles bear Patel’s signature, with “#9” there as well. One such bottle popped up on an online auction site shortly after my story appeared, and The Atlantic later purchased it. (The person who sold it to us did not want to be named, but said that the bottle was a gift from Patel at an event in Las Vegas.) …

⬆️
TheAtlantic, David A Graham (ed.): A Dangerous New Attack on Press Freedom https://tinyurl.com/5bz52why “According to MS NOW, the FBI has launched an investigation into an Atlantic reporter” over her reporting on FBI Director Kash Patel’s unusual behavior

According to a report this morning from MS NOW, the FBI has opened a criminal investigation focusing on my Atlantic colleague Sarah Fitzpatrick, related to an article she published last month about Director Kash Patel. Drawing on some two dozen sources, Fitzpatrick reported that people inside the administration and the bureau are deeply concerned about what they described as Patel’s unexplained absences and excessive drinking.

⬇️
⋙ TheAtlantic, Sarah Fitzpatrick (Apr 17): The FBI Director Is MIA https://tinyurl.com/52wxwser Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.
// 4/17/2026

NYT: Jack Smith Calls the Justice Dept. ‘Corrupted’ by Trump and His Allies https://tinyurl.com/2xywpjyb ‘At a private event in DC last month, Smith, the former special counsel, accused DOJ leaders of targeting people for prosecution to please and impress the president.’

🧵📊 WaPo: Post-ABC-Ipsos Poll finds broad rejection of religion-related messages from Trump, Hegseth https://tinyurl.com/9shfd2yk “Americans rate Pope Leo positively but are deeply critical of the president’s social media post depicting him as Jesus, the poll found.”
⬇️ Charts ⬇️
◕ [TextLink:https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2052131035874271393?s=20%5D/photo/1 -3

📊 Few had a positive reaction to Trump posting a Jesus-like image of himself:
9% Positive
87% Negative
Source: Post-ABC-Ipsos poll (4/24-28/2026; RV: 2,059)

📊 How Americans have reacted to statements by leaders during the war with Iran:
Q: Do you have a positive or negative reaction to each of the following?
Source: Post-ABC-Ipsos poll (4/24-28/2026; RV: 2,059)

📊 Q: Do you have a favorable or unfavorable view of Pope Leo the 14th?
✛ 25% All Americans
✛ 57% Democrats
– 6% Republicans

✛ 47% Catholics
✛ 70% ~ Dem Catholics
✛ 25% ~ GOP Catholics
✛ 54% ~ observant
✛ 44% ~ non-observant
Source: Post-ABC-Ipsos poll (4/24-28/2026; RV: 2,059)

🧵 RT @evanhill New: A Washington Post satellite imagery review reveals that Iran has caused far more damage to US military sites than previously reported. ¤ Amid a US imagery blackout, Iran has released more than 100 images of strikes on US bases. ¤ We analyzed them: [WP:] https://tinyurl.com/2vphts72
📌 🖼 [TextLink:] https://x.com/evanhill/status/2052029439064625477?s=20/photo/1 -n
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2052029439064625477.html

Shortly after the war began, America’s two largest satellite imagery providers, Planet and Vantor, bowed to government requests to withhold imagery of the region while the conflict continued.

But Iranian state-affiliated media published scores of high-resolution images:

We accumulated 128 Iranian images, geolocated them, and compared them to open-source Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and Planet imagery when available, ultimately confirming 109 of the images. We found no evidence the Iranian images had been manipulated.

Per government requests, Planet isn’t providing any images taken after March 8. But using the Iranian images, we scoured Planet’s available imagery for discrete damage points.

Conservatively, we counted 217 damaged or destroyed structures across 15 US military sites.

The structures included hangers, barracks, fuel bladders, and maintenance buildings:

The imagery also showed the damage or destruction of at least 11 pieces of equipment, including Patriot missile defense radars, satellite communications dishes, the E-3 Sentry aircraft, and the THAAD battery at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base:

Experts who reviewed The Post’s analysis said the damage at the sites suggested that the U.S. military had underestimated Iran’s targeting abilities, not adapted sufficiently to modern drone warfare and left some bases under-protected.

“The Iranian attacks were precise. There are no random craters indicating misses,” said @MarkCancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, who reviewed the Iranian images at The Post’s request.

@ka_grieco told us that the apparent US strategy to destroy Iran’s missile and drone forces fast enough to prevent them from inflicting serious damage underestimated “the depth of Iran’s pre-positioned targeting intelligence on fixed U.S. infrastructure.” Instead, Iran was able to continually strike US sites for more than a month.

Most US forces had left endangered bases by early in the war, officials said, and experts noted that the military may have let some Iranian strikes land if they were going to hit unimportant sites.

@Justin_Br0nk told us that U.S. and allied air defenses had done an impressive job intercepting attacks, but “at an enormous cost in terms of surface-to-air missile interceptors and air-to-air missiles.”

A @CSIS estimate says the military used at least 190 THAAD interceptors and 1,060 Patriot interceptors between Feb. 28 and April 8, representing 53 percent and 43 percent of their prewar inventories, respectively.
Many strikes appeared to be precise and reflected a comparatively new ability to penetrate air defenses.

“While [drones] have small payloads — some of these did not do that much damage — they are more difficult to intercept and much more accurate, making them a much bigger threat to U.S. forces,” said Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses.

Damage from Iranian strikes will force planners to consider new tradeoffs involved in putting troops in harms way, said Max Bremer of the Stimson Center.

Two officials said U.S. forces may never return to regional bases in large numbers, though no final decision has been made.

To report this story, The Post sent Iranian and comparison imagery to @sam_lair and Will Goodhind of @ContestedG, who checked and analyzed them. I’m very grateful for their generosity with their time. Other experts reviewed the images to offer their comments.

NBCNews: Iran foreign minister meets Chinese counterpart a week before Trump’s Beijing trip https://tinyurl.com/46bex7ew “China believes that a complete cessation of hostilities is imperative [and] restarting the conflict is unacceptable” the Chinese foreign ministry said
// “ … restarting the conflict is unacceptable and persisting in negotiations is particularly important,” the Chinese foreign ministry said after the talks Wednesday.

💙 WaPo: Iran has hit far more U.S. military assets than reported, satellite images show “Imagery published by Iranian state-affiliated media and verified by The Post shows damage to at least 228 structures or pieces of equipment at U.S. military sites.”

🐣 RT @Vatslav55 [tr Ukr] U.S. Army veteran David French: — “No nation can match American power, but for the first time in my life, the moral and strategic heart of defending liberal democracy is not beating in Washington. It is in Kyiv, where a courageous people have picked up the torch that America dropped.”

🐣 RT @McFaul Wow. So they ended their war without (1) removing IRI’s enriched uranium, (2) without stopping IRI’s ballistic program, (3) without ending funding for terrorists, and (4) without liberating the Iranian people. ¤ Hope this is just an “interim” step on the road to accomplishing these goals (that they themselves set) ¤ Fear that it is

Axios, Barak Ravid: Exclusive: U.S. and Iran closing in on one-page memo to end war, officials say https://tinyurl.com/yc36t5a3

The White House believes it’s getting close to an agreement with Iran on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations, according to two U.S. officials and two other sources briefed on the issue.

The big picture: The U.S. expects Iranian responses on several key points in the next 48 hours. Nothing has been agreed yet, but the sources said this was the closest the parties had been to an agreement since the war began.

• Among other provisions, the deal would involve Iran committing to a moratorium on nuclear enrichment, the U.S. agreeing to lift its sanctions and release billions in frozen Iranian funds, and both sides lifting restrictions around transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
• Many of the terms laid out in the memo would be contingent on a final agreement being reached, leaving the possibility of renewed war or an extended limbo in which the hot war has stopped but nothing is truly resolved.

Reality check: The White House believes the Iranian leadership is divided and it may be hard to forge consensus across the different factions. Some U.S. officials remain skeptical that even an initial deal will be reached.

• U.S. officials have expressed optimism about a deal at several points during previous rounds of negotiations and during the current war, but have yet to reach one.
• But the two U.S. officials said President Trump’s decision to back off his newly announced operation in the Strait of Hormuz and avoid a collapse of the fragile ceasefire was based on progress in the talks.

Behind the scenes: The one-page, 14-point memorandum of understanding (MOU) is being negotiated between Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and several Iranian officials, both directly and through mediators.

• In its current form, the MOU would declare an end to the war in the region and the start of a 30-day period of negotiations on a detailed agreement to open the strait, limit Iran’s nuclear program and lift U.S. sanctions.
• Those negotiations could happen in Islamabad or Geneva, two sources said.
• Iran’s restrictions on shipping through the strait and the U.S. naval blockade would be gradually lifted during that 30-day period, according to a U.S. official.
• If the negotiations collapse, U.S. forces would be able to restore the blockade or resume military action, the U.S. official said.

Zoom in: The duration of the moratorium on uranium enrichment is being actively negotiated, with three sources saying it would be at least 12 years and one putting 15 as a likely landing spot. Iran proposed a 5-year moratorium on enrichment and the U.S. demanded 20.

• The U.S. wants to insert a provision whereby any Iranian violation on enrichment would prolong the moratorium, the source said. Iran would be able to enrich to the low level of 3.67% after it expires.
• Iran would commit in the MOU to never seek a nuclear weapon or conduct weaponization-related activities. According to a U.S. official, the parties are discussing a clause whereby Iran would commit not to operate underground nuclear facilities.
• Iran would also commit to an enhanced inspections regime, including snap inspections by UN inspectors, according to the U.S. official.
• The U.S. would commit as part of the MOU to a gradual lifting of the sanctions imposed on Iran and the gradual release of billions of dollars in Iranian funds that are frozen around the world.

The intrigue: Two sources with knowledge also claimed Iran would agree to remove its highly enriched uranium from the country, a key U.S. priority that Tehran has rejected up to now.

• One source said an option being discussed is moving the material to the U.S.

What they’re saying: Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday that “we don’t have to have the actual agreement written in one day.”

• “This is highly complex and technical. But we have to have a diplomatic solution that is very clear on the topics they are willing to negotiate on and the extent of the concessions they are willing to make at the front end in order to make it worthwhile,” he added.
• But Rubio also called some of Iran’s top leaders “insane in the brain” and said it was unclear whether they would make a deal.

⭕ 5 May 2026

💙 🏆 NYT: Trump World’s Self-Enrichment https://tinyurl.com/337ztc8d ‘The staff of The New York Times won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting for extraordinary reporting on the conflicts of interest and self-enrichment that run rampant through the Trump administration’
// Exact: “For extraordinary reporting revealing the conflicts of interest and self-enrichment that run rampant through the Trump administration, from President Trump outward, the staff of The New York Times won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting.”

🐣 In the Obama JCPOA, Iran promised NEVER to develop a nuclear weapon. Enrichment was limited to less than 4%. ¤ Trump cancelled the JCPOA in his first term, so the Iranians enriched to 60%. ¤ Who is at fault here? Just like the Strait of Hormuz, Trump is trying to fix a problem he created.

🐣 RT @EWTNNewsNightly Pope Leo answered whether his statement that “God does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war” applies to all who take up arms, even in self-defense, or only to unjust aggressors.
¤ https://x.com/EWTNNewsNightly/status/2051760437012930892?s=20

Self-defense has always been allowed by the Church, Pope Leo XIV said.

“To talk about just war today, itʼs a very complex problem. You have to analyze it on many levels, but ever since the entrance into the nuclear age, the whole concept of war has to be reevaluated with terms today,” Leo said.

For a war to be justified, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
• it must be waged to fight against a grave evil,
• the damage caused by waging the war cannot be graver than the evil it is meant to eliminate,
• there must be a serious prospect of success,
• and all alternatives to war must have already been tried.
• The decision to go to war must be made by a lawful authority responsible for the common good.
All criteria must be met to qualify as a just war.

⋙ 🐣 In Latin, the decision to start a war is distinct from the soldier’s participating in fighting. English-speakers sometimes use “wage war” to apply to both.

In Latin, only leaders: “Start/Declare” a war – Bellum indicere/ inferre;
(decision to “wage war” against)

Soldiers “Fight/Participate“ in a war – Militare / Bellare;
(”individual soldierly duty”)

Catholic Just War Doctrine applies only to the rationale for initiating a war.

There is only limited overlap with the Humanitarian Laws of War, which define primarily how wars are to be fought on the ground. The ICC oversees this. It prescribes protection of innocents, prisoners, etc.

🐣 RT @CatholicArena Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical is set to be released on May 15th ¤ This is the same date that Pope Leo XIII’s famous Rerum Novarum was released in 1891 ¤ [KNA News Agency]
⋙ 🐣 “The document, widely reported to carry the working title Magnifica Humanitas (“Magnificent Humanity”), is expected to address the ethical challenges posed by artificial intelligence and the profound consequences it may have for human work, social relations and the dignity of the person.“ – The Catholic Herald (Mar 16) https://tinyurl.com/6727zvx8
⋙ 🐣 “Rerum novarum, or Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor, is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, passed to all Catholic patriarchs, primates, archbishops, and bishops, which addressed the condition of the working class. It discusses the relationships and mutual duties between labor and capital, as well as government and its citizens. Of primary concern is the need for poverty amelioration of the working class. It supports the rights of labor to form trade unions, and rejects both socialism and laissez-faire capitalism, while affirming the right to private property and to a living wage” Cont. in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rerum_novarum

⭕ 4 May 2026

WaPo: Washington Post wins public service Pulitzer for DOGE, federal workforce coverage https://tinyurl.com/y68sk65a “It’s the second time The Post has won the prestigious award in five years. Former staff photographer Jahi Chikwendiu also won for feature photography.”

WSJ, Walter Mead (Apr 4): Vladimir Putin, the Man Who Broke Russia https://tinyurl.com/2zhc6mru ‘Even as he struggles vainly in Ukraine, Mr. Putin has been forced to watch the decline of Russian influence in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and former Soviet Republics”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2051915558866546747?s=20/photo/1
// “The stalemate with, Ukraine isn’t the only failure draining Moscow’s resources”

For more than a decade, Mr. Putin outmaneuvered a series of clueless Western leaders. The Russian leader’s penetrating and unsentimental understanding of his opponents let him inflict one humiliating setback after another on an overconfident West. Among those humiliations were the 2008 invasion of Georgia, the 2014 seizure of Crimea and much of the Donbas, and the revival of Russian power in the Middle East while President Obama walked away from his red line in Syria. The defense of Belarus’s President Alexander Lukashenko against a tsunami of popular protests and the displacement of French power across much of France’s former colonial empire in Africa also advanced Mr. Putin’s goal of making Russia great again.
v
But then ⋙ [T]he master of the Kremlin made a critical error. Ukraine wasn’t a real country, he reasoned. Its people weren’t nationalist. Its government was a hollow shell.
That turned out to be wrong. A critical mass of Ukrainians was willing to fight and die for the country Mr. Putin arrogantly dismissed. Their leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky, turned out to be a gifted politician and diplomat who kept his people united at home while patiently amassing international support.
^
The god of war is fickle, and Russia’s spring and summer offensives could still push Ukraine into crisis. But even if Mr. Putin’s stalemated army regains some momentum, the war has gone on so long, cost so much and weakened the sinews of Russian power so severely that any victory will be Pyrrhic. The more likely outcome, an agonizing stalemate that continues to chew up Russian manpower and economic resources, threatens Mr. Putin’s grip on power and the future of Russia itself.

Even as he struggles vainly in Ukraine, Mr. Putin has been forced to watch the decline of Russian influence in Europe. Viktor Orbán’s defeat in Hungary deprived Russia of its closest European ally. Mr. Putin may now have to watch helplessly as Hungarian investigators aid their Western colleagues tracing the flows of Russian dark money into European business and political circles. Meanwhile, the Europeans, divided as they are and disoriented by the trans-Atlantic rift, have found the financial means to keep Ukraine in the war and can likely shore up Ukraine for the foreseeable future. …

🐣 RT @nettermike Japan’s new prime minister said one sentence about Taiwan — and according to a former Japanese general, China is now being forced to tear up its entire invasion playbook.
¤ https://x.com/nettermike/status/2051373927394652523?s=20

Sanae Takaichi told the Diet that if China used warships and force to blockade Taiwan, Japan could classify it as a “survival-threatening situation.” ¤ In plain English: Japan would treat it as an act of war.

Last Friday in Tokyo, retired Lt. Gen. Kiyoshi Ogawa — former commander of Japan’s entire Western Army — explained exactly why Beijing didn’t see this coming.

China’s plan was always to take Taiwan in three phases. ¤ Phase one: blockade the island, run psychological warfare, and choke it into surrender before American forces could arrive. ¤ No missiles. No invasion. No witnesses.

Takaichi just made phase one impossible.

The general says Beijing’s greatest fear has always been getting bogged down before the U.S. shows up — and now Japan has publicly drawn the line at the very first move.

🐣 ✅ RT @ddale8 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made a false claim in his testimony to the House on Wednesday. Then he repeated it in his testimony to the Senate on Thursday.
¤ https://x.com/ddale8/status/2051358721133961255?s=20

Hegseth said Wednesday: “In 2024, troops were depl… – that was Joe Biden by the way, Joe Biden –  were deployed to polling locations in 15 states.” He continued, “2024 – Joe Biden – troops deployed to polling locations in 15 states. Explain that one to me.”

Here’s the explanation: Hegseth’s claim isn’t true. ¤ Not only were all National Guard activations for the 2024 election done by individual states rather than Biden, all 11 states that responded to my inquiries said *no troops* there were sent to polling places.

Rather, they said, Guard personnel were in other locations helping with election cybersecurity, doing other behind-the-scenes support work, or not actually activated for the election after all.

Fact check with on-record quotes: https://tinyurl.com/y8mm27b8

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 The European army already exists. It has four years of combat experience and runs the most advanced drone program on the planet. It just held the eastern front of European security against Russia’s full weight. ¤ It is called Ukraine.
¤ https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2051196898585792873?s=20

The knowledge is already flowing into production lines in Norway, Poland, the Baltics, the United Kingdom, France and Germany. Each factory incorporating battlefield lessons no simulation has ever generated and no American defence contractor has access to.

Washington told Zelensky he had no cards. Pulled the support. Slammed the door.

A few months later sixteen American bases sit shredded across the Middle East, the Navy parked thousands of kilometers away because nothing closer is safe to dock, strike sorties burning hours of fuel just to reach the target, picked apart by Iran with Chinese and Russian satellite data, while drones cross airspace the United States used to own.

That is the country still demanding Europe spend five percent of GDP on American hardware built for last century’s war.

I think the question answers itself. 🖊️ 👉 [link:] 🔰

‼️ 🐣 RT @FiorellaIsabelM Clear footage showing two Iranian missiles hitting a U.S. military ship near Jask Island. Iran had warned Washington to not break the order . ¤ The ship has since retreated but Iran has also hit a UAE ship. ¤ According to CNN, the Israel-USA contingent will attack Iran in 24 hours.
💽 https://x.com/FiorellaIsabelM/status/2051348892537561461?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @@AuthorJoeNBrown The #Obamas are the most loving, educated, fun-spirited, kindest and humanitarian #FirstCouple, who wanted nothing but to serve the American people. No embarrassments, crimes, indictments, or impeachments, and they were never in the Epstein files. Barack & Michelle made us proud.
🖼 https://x.com/AuthorJoeNBrown/status/2051202115104895444?s=20/photo/1

⭕ 3 May 2026

UkrainianReview (Mar 8): Witkoff Asked Russia Not to Help Iran, Trump Says Any Russian Help Would Be Useless https://tinyurl.com/34hups64

US special envoy Steve Witkoff asked Russia not to provide intelligence to Iran amid US and Israeli airstrikes. According to Donald Trump, even if Russia is helping Iran, it is unlikely to make much difference.

Context
Russia is providing information for strikes against US troops and facilities in the Middle East. Anonymous US officials told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty about this.

Earlier, The Washington Post reported that Moscow plays an important role in expanding the conflict, even though it does not participate directly. According to the report, Russia shares data about the location of US facilities with Iran. This could explain why some Iranian attacks have been so accurate.

Speaking to journalists aboard Air Force One, Witkoff said he told Moscow not to pass information to Tehran. He added that he delivered this message firmly.

Trump on Possible Russian Support for Iran
US President Donald Trump said he has no reason to believe that Russia is helping Iranian attacks. He did not confirm reports from news agencies that US intelligence believes Russia is providing information to Iran. However, he added that even if Moscow is sharing such details, Iran seems to gain little from them.

⋙ “If you take a look at what’s happened to Iran in the last week, if they’re getting information, it’s not helping them much,” Trump said.

Earlier, on March 7, he refused to comment on the issue. At the end of a White House roundtable on college sports, a Fox News correspondent asked Trump about it. The US president interrupted him and stressed that the meeting was about another topic.

⋙ “That’s an easy problem compared to what we’re doing here. What a stupid question that is to be asking at this time,” Trump said.

When the journalist tried to ask about Russia again, Trump once more avoided answering.

Earlier, The Ukrainian Review reported that the attack on Iran launched by the United States is unlikely to topple the regime. This conclusion appears in a classified report by the US National Intelligence Council.

TheGuardian (Apr 29): Trump and Putin discuss Iran war and float temporary Ukraine ceasefire in call https://tinyurl.com/yzmxdher Russian president welcomed decision to extend Iran ceasefire in what US president said was a ‘very good conversation’

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump discussed the war in Iran and floated a temporary ceasefire in Ukraine in a phone call on Wednesday.

In the call, which lasted more than 90 minutes, the Russian president said Moscow viewed the prospect of a US ground operation in Iran as dangerous, while welcoming Trump’s decision to extend a ceasefire in the region, according to Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser

Russia has largely been sidelined in diplomacy over the war in Iran, an ally of the Kremlin, but western intelligence agencies say Moscow has continued to provide support, including intelligence and drones to strike US targets in the area. ¤ Trump later said: “We had a very good conversation, I’ve known him a long time.” …

Putin has signaled he is prepared to continue fighting until Ukraine cedes territory Russia currently controls in the Donbas, among other demands. Volodymyr Zelenskyy has consistently rejected any such concessions, leaving the region a central fault line in stalled peace efforts.

In the call, Putin told Trump that Russian forces retained the initiative and were pushing back Ukrainian positions.

Military analysts and open-source information on battlefield advances, however, indicate neither side appears close to a breakthrough. Russia’s advances have slowed in recent months, with both armies showing signs of exhaustion and sustaining heavy casualties, while continuing to target each other’s energy infrastructure.

In previous conversations, Putin has sought to convince Trump that Russia is winning the war, a view Trump has at times echoed.

Trump has in the past alternated between blaming Moscow and Kyiv for the ongoing fighting, but in recent remarks has again placed greater responsibility on Ukraine.

The potential temporary ceasefire comes as Ukrainian long-range drones continue to strike Russian territory almost daily. The attacks have largely targeted industrial and military sites, including oil infrastructure and logistics hubs, at times triggering large fires and prompting civilian evacuations.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Kremlin said it would scale back this year’s Victory Day parade because of the threat, with no military hardware on display for the first time in nearly two decades.

Ukraine has remained skeptical of short-term ceasefire proposals from Moscow, including one briefly implemented over Easter, accusing Russia of using such pauses to regroup and prepare further attacks.

Ushakov said Putin had expressed readiness to announce a temporary ceasefire proposed by Trump to coincide with Victory Day celebrations.

At one point, Trump told reporters that Ukraine’s military had been defeated, saying the country had lost all their ships and planes. It appeared he was confusing Ukraine with Iran, as he has previously used similar language when claiming success for the US operation against Iran.

⋙ 🐣 US Constitution: Article III Judicial Branch
Section 3 Treason
Clause 1 Meaning
“Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court.”

WSJ Editorial: How Russia Helps Iran https://tinyurl.com/3uc5k464 “The Kremlin provides intel to help Tehran target Americans.”

President Trump is clear-eyed about the threat from Iran, but he seems to view Russia with Kremlin-colored glasses. Perhaps he needs an intelligence briefing on the extent of Russian aid for Iran. Vladimir Putin hosted Iran’s foreign minister in St. Petersburg recently, and evidence is accumulating that the Kremlin has been helping Iran with intelligence to target Americans.

Germany’s foreign minister recently said Russia is “evidently supporting Iran with information about potential targets,” and our sources say the same. So is it fair to assume that Russian help for Iran is “one of the reasons why we have American service members injured or dead in the Middle East?” Sen. Thom Tillis asked at a Congressional hearing last month. “I think that’s right,” Ilan Berman of the American Foreign Policy Council replied.

As President Trump sought to take out Iran’s drone, missile and nuclear programs, Russia’s foreign intelligence service compiled a list of Iranian military installations, uranium facilities and other sites surveilled by American reconnaissance satellites, according to a recent report from the German publication Stern. Moscow shared the information with Tehran, which may have helped it evacuate “potentially vulnerable facilities,” the report says.

Russia has improved Iran’s original design to make Shahed drones deadlier and harder to intercept. The European Union’s foreign-policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said last month that “Iranian drones used against our Gulf partners likely incorporate Russian tech upgrades.” Early in the war Iran’s proxies in Lebanon fired a Shahed at a British air base in Cyprus. Investigators analyzed the debris and discovered the drone was equipped with Russian military hardware to evade jamming, the Times of London reported in March.

The Financial Times and Associated Press recently reported that Russia is shipping new drones to Iran, citing unnamed Western officials. In late March Israel conducted a strike on Iranian naval facilities that have been used to move weaponry between Iran and Russia via the Caspian Sea. Mr. Berman told U.S. lawmakers that Russia has also provided Iran with “tactical advice” on what it has learned in Ukraine that includes “guidance on how many drones to deploy per strike and at what altitudes.”

After the U.S. targeted Iranian nuclear facilities last June, Russia made a $589 million deal to supply Tehran with advanced man-portable air defense systems, Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Congress recently. The 500 shoulder-mounted units Russia will provide by 2029 are similar to the kind Iran used to shoot down an American F-15 fighter and its crew last month.

Over the past three years Russia has helped Iran put eight satellites with dual civilian and military applications into low-earth orbit, Mr. Taleblu said. In 2023 a spokesman for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency told NBC News that Russia “probably has sent technicians to assist Tehran” with “some aspects of its missile programs” and space-launched vehicle efforts that use similar technology to intercontinental ballistic missiles.

It’s tough to square these facts with the Trump Administration’s decision to extend sanctions relief for Russian oil amid the Iran war. Mr. Trump may want “strategic stability” with Russia, but Mr. Putin wants to harm the U.S. and its allies.

TheGuardian, Robert Tait: This is just disarray’: Alarm inside Pentagon after Hegseth staff purges https://tinyurl.com/2epufhrd “Insiders portray defense secretary as increasingly isolated after officers with impeccable reputations forced out.” (Aram Roston contributed reporting)

Since Donald Trump’s first term, they have been viewed comfortingly as the “adults in the room,” a last line of defense against the impulsive whims of a president with access to the nuclear codes.

Now – after an unprecedented wave of firings that has been compared by some to Stalin’s purges – the Pentagon top brass no longer seem like such a reliable bulwark.

Since Trump returned to office in January last year, Pete Hegseth, the rumbustious defense secretary who has made it his mission to remake a military ethos he denounced as “woke”, has fired or forcibly retired 24 generals and senior commanders, with no performance-related reason given.

About 60% have been Black or female, an approach seemingly driven by the administration’s proclaimed onslaught against “DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) hires”.

Yet the officers forced out have had impeccable reputations. The most recent victim was Gen Randy George, the army chief of staff, ousted last month reportedly after he refused to obey Hegseth’s instruction to strike four officers – two Black men and two women – from a list of prospective promotions.

The spate of firings began in February last year with the termination of General CQ Brown as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, a figure that serves as the main interface between the armed forces and the civilian leadership.

Brown, who is Black and a distinguished former air force commander, was replaced by Dan Caine, a three-star general who had retired and had to be quickly promoted to earn the fourth military star needed to win Senate confirmation to a position some observers say he lacks the necessary qualifications for.

Prominent among the female officers removed was Lisa Franchetti, an admiral who was the first woman to be chief of naval operations and the first to sit on the joint chiefs of staff.

Hegseth was unapologetic at a hearing of the Senate armed services committee last week when Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, asked him if Trump had instructed him to single out Black and female officers for dismissal.

“Of course not,” he replied. More revealing was his follow-up: “Members on this committee and the previous leadership of this department were focused on height, social engineering, race and gender in ways that we think were unhealthy.”

In interviews with the Guardian, insiders have portrayed Hegseth – a former Fox News host known for combative public appearances and an aggressive stance towards journalists – as increasingly isolated within the Pentagon’s sprawling bureaucracy and surrounded by a small coterie of close friends and relatives.

Some say he expresses fear and paranoia about Trump firing him from a job for which critics say his background as a former national guard infantry major with combat experience in Iraq and Afghanistan is inadequate qualification.

Pentagon staff have been surprised to see him accompanied to official meetings by his wife, Jennifer, a former Fox News producer who frequently sits at the back during such encounters.

Hegseth’s other close companions are said to be his brother, Phil, who he has appointed as a senior adviser, along with Tim Parlatore, an attorney who has previously represented Hegseth and Trump, and Ricky Buria, a former marine and Biden administration holdover, to whom he has grown close.

Most of the day-to-day work of running a vast department with around 2.1 million military personnel and 770,000 civilian employees worldwide is overseen by Steve Feinberg, the deputy defense secretary, who is a billionaire owner of an investment firm.

Hegseth, meanwhile, has focused on issues of personal interest to him. These include shaking up the Pentagon’s chaplain services – a preoccupation in line with his avowed Christian beliefs, which he is said to give frequent voice with the invocation that “Christ is king”.

Military analysts say Hegseth’s recent firings dovetail with plans spelled out in Project 2025, the radical blueprint drawn up by the rightwing Heritage Foundation that has closely guided Trump’s second-term policies.

“It talked about an officer purge and going after the so-called woke officers at the senior level,” said Paul Eaton, a retired army major-general who commanded US forces after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. “They want to create ideologically pure armed forces that will be pliant to the president and his secretary of defense and whose oath will be more to a person than to the constitution.”

Eaton likened the removals to Stalin’s far bloodier purge of red army generals before the second world war – which is widely believed to have hampered the Soviet Union’s initial efforts to repel the 1941 invasion by Nazi Germany – warning that it could hinder US military operational capacity in its war effort against Iran.

“I believe that the senior leadership of the US military has been substantially damaged,” he said.

“You develop a fracture in the cohesion of the people at that level. It is if you haven’t been purged, you wonder if you are next if you say the wrong thing to the man or woman on your left or right that may invoke the wrath of the secretary of defense or the president.

“That’s a really unhealthy environment when you’re afraid to speak your mind, and not just truth to power, but truth in the defense of the armed forces against stupid decisions.”

The military’s willingness to resist Trump seems more crucial than ever in the light of the president’s recent vows to devastate Iran’s civilian infrastructure and his now-notorious warning that a “whole civilization will die” unless Iranian leaders agree to his conditions.

Veterans worry about the rank-and-file impact of threats to carry out war crimes or even genocide. They are also concerned about the ability of senior figures – including Caine – to stand against it.

“All the retired officers I know are seriously concerned of the long-term effect on the force of senior leaders saying things like no quarter, no mercy (comments that have been made by Hegseth), or [that] we’re going to eliminate a civilization without any remonstration from the senior military officials,” said Kevin Carroll, a former army colonel who has served in the offices of the defense secretary and the joint chiefs of staff.

“I think it poses a real long-term risk threat to the ethics and ethos of the force.”

Misgivings have been voiced about the standing of Caine, who has never held a senior command role and who some believe lacks the authority of previous joint chief chairs to resist Trump’s wilder impulses in the manner of Gen Mark Milley, who told officials to inform him of any suspect military order from the president in the wake of the 6 January, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol.

“He has an extremely unusual résumé, I think an unprecedented résumé for chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, and that just has to make Caine feel that his job is always vulnerable when he sees Trump and Hegseth have fired people with excellent resumes like Brown, Franchetti or Randy George,” said Carroll.

Eaton said: “I hear he’s a good man, but something happens to you when you vault from a three-star to a four-star general and there is a massive growth requirement. His body language when he does briefings with Hegseth is not that of a man who is thrilled to be there.

“What he says to the president as his senior military adviser behind close doors, I don’t know. But if you have the president of the United States get within two hours or 90 minutes of committing a strategic war crime, going after a civilization neutralization as he was threatening, we definitely have something missing in the civilian-military relationship.”

Restraining Trump seems all the more urgent amid unconfirmed reports that he discussed the possibility of using nuclear weapons against Iran in a recent White House meeting.

A source with knowledge of the meeting insisted Trump was just “talking out loud about nukes” and not “demanding a strike”.

One senior official from Trump’s first administration proclaimed himself unsurprised, calling the president “enamored with nukes” and saying he had to be talked out of using them against North Korea in 2017, seeing them as the “ultimate expression of his toughness”.

Some question whether such powers of persuasion still exist in the present-day Pentagon.

“For years, we’ve been told that we don’t have to worry about a crazy president launching a nuclear war, because the military would not carry out any illegal order,” said Joe Cirincione, a veteran national security analyst and nuclear non-proliferation expert, who called for new rules of command over nuclear strikes.

“But that’s not real. What we’ve seen in the last year is the military repeatedly carrying out illegal orders. The attacks on the alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, the raid to seize [President Nicolas] Maduro in Venezuela, the war on Iran, have all been illegal – yet the military carried them all out.

“People don’t understand the president has sole unfettered authority to launch nuclear weapons whenever he wants, for any reason he wants. It’s a very short chain of command. It turns out that relying on the military to refuse an illegal order from the president is not an adequate barrier. We need something a whole lot stronger.”

On one famous previous occasion, the possibility of an unstable president ordering a nuclear strike was blocked by the actions of the Pentagon.

In 1974, with Richard Nixon’s presidency on the verge of disintegration over Watergate, the then defense secretary, James Schlesinger – fearing that the president’s fragile mental state might induce him to order a nuclear attack – ordered senior military figures to check any such commands with him.

It is hard to see such a restraining role being played by Hegseth, who by common depiction sees his role as catering to Trump’s every wish and has frequently matched his boss’s belligerent rhetoric towards Iran.

It adds up to scenario seen with bewilderment by Pentagon veterans seasoned in observing tensions between the civilian and military leadership but conditioned to seeing them resolved amicably.

“There was tension between the office of the secretary of defense and the joint chiefs of staff when I served on the joint staff in 2002 and 2003 because of disagreements about Iraq over whether and how we should go to war,” said Carroll. “But it was all very professional and civil. This is just disarray. It’s crazy.”

🐣 📋 RT @ChuckPfarrer BURN RATE: The ratio of wounded to dead in Ukrainian forces is 5:1. For Russia, the ratio is 2:1– meaning fully 50% of Russian wounded die, while only 20% of Ukrainian wounded succumb. For all intents and purposes, Russian wounded are left to die on the battlefield.
⋙ 🐣 Russia did not experience the Renaissance, and the Enlightenment’s influence was expunged by the Bolsheviks. They did not absorb the respect for the individual that these eras gave to Europe. They also don’t abide by the Humanitarian Laws of War.

NBCNews: 12 places Trump’s name or image is being added by the federal government https://tinyurl.com/37nahtuk “The Trump administration has made an aggressive push to add the president’s name to buildings, battleships, money and government websites.”

🐣 RT @RepMikeLevin Project 2025 called for gutting the EPA’s scientific research office. In under a year, the Trump Administration has done exactly that, taking a division of more than 1,500 scientists down to 124, (…)
¤ https://x.com/RepMikeLevin/status/2050979752857505811?s=20

(…) reassigning doctors and epidemiologists to finance offices and hazardous waste permitting desks that have nothing to do with their expertise.

For more than 50 years, that office produced the independent science behind every major clean air and clean water protection this country has. It existed specifically to be free from political interference.

The scientists who remain answer to Trump appointees, and their work must now conform to the Administration’s agenda.

No other institution in the United States can replace what’s being lost. Once that expertise is dismantled, it doesn’t come back in a year or a decade. It’s a generation of progress erased, deliberately, methodically, and exactly according to plan.

🐣 RT @MykhailoRohoza Former CIA Director Petraeus: Ukraine has nearly stopped Russia on the front. Its drone warfare is constantly intensifying — a “death zone” now stretches up to 35 km from the line of contact, where everything is under continuous surveillance.
¤ https://x.com/MykhailoRohoza/status/2051074392793165873?s=20

Production is surging: this year, Ukraine could produce up to 7 million drones. For comparison, the United States manufactured about 300,000 last year.

Ukraine is currently ahead of the world in drones. Its systems are more effective and cheaper than what other countries can quickly produce. But the world is catching up.

The Pentagon plans to spend over $50 billion on unmanned systems. Ukraine has a short window to lock in its advantage and protect its technologies.

Ukraine is also constantly developing new solutions — for example, launching aerial drones from maritime platforms. After losing nearly 40% of its Black Sea Fleet, Russia has pulled its ships back and keeps them in ports.

The key factor in ending the war is Russia. The goal is to reach a point where Putin looks in the mirror and admits: this war cannot continue like this.

Losses are too high, money is running out, and sanctions are taking their toll. The only question is how to bring that day closer.

It was expected that Russia would begin to feel a shortage of funds this year, but its National Wealth Fund is partially being replenished again.

Ukrainian strikes on oil facilities and refineries have reduced this flow, but Moscow has not yet run out of money.

🧵 RT @Mylovanov Applebaum: Trump clearly did not expect the Iran war to last this long. He seems to have imagined it would be easy. ¤ If people in the room told him otherwise, he ignored them. He knows very little about Iran and even seemed surprised by Hormuz and Iranian strikes. 1/ [Source: w @SykesCharlie]
📌. [video:] https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2051037831733051855?s=20/video/1 -n
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2051037831733051855.html

Applebaum: People around the world now read news from Washington by first asking whether it is real. ¤ Trump helped create that post-reality world by nurturing conspiracy theories and undermining trust in media. That is a classic authoritarian tactic. 2/

Applebaum: This is a war Trump does not want to think about. ¤ He keeps looking for somebody else to blame and even decided to blame Europeans, who did not start the war, were not consulted about it, and have very little ability to end it. 3/
Applebaum: Trump seems to imagine Iran as a one-issue problem the US can solve by itself. He does not think strategically. ¤ He does not think in second-, third-, or fourth-order consequences: jet fuel, airline prices, fertilizer markets, fuel shortages elsewhere. 4/

Applebaum: Europeans are beginning to worry that the US leadership has no idea what it is doing and is leading everyone toward global recession without seeming to care. ¤ Trump rationalizes Russian and Chinese support for Iran, but lashes out at allies like Spain. 5X

🐣 RT @marceelias Trump and the GOP don’t care about the constitution. They only care about power. We will fight them tooth and nail to protect voters and free and fair elections.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/marceelias/status/2051082112611107143?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump We cannot allow there to be an Election that is conducted unconstitutionally simply for the “convenience” of State Legislatures. If they have to vote twice, so be it. We should demand that State Legislatures do what the Supreme Court says must be done. That is more important than administrative convenience. The byproduct is that the Republicans will receive more than 20 House Seats in the upcoming Midterms! President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 Iran just turned American precision against America. Sixteen bases destroyed across eight countries, using satellite data borrowed from China and Russia and munitions that cost nothing.
⋙ [Link:] 🔰 Gandalv: Iran Proved the American Military Model Is Broken. Ukraine Built the Replacement. Europe Got the Blueprint.
¤ https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2050999106730881325?s=20

Meanwhile the United States had four years watching Ukraine rewrite the rules of modern warfare under live fire. Learned nothing. Sent an invoice. Insulted Zelensky on the way out.

Europe, Canada, and half of Asia signed production agreements with Kyiv instead. Building the new model with the people who actually fought the war.

Washington still thinks it is selling the future. It is selling the past at a premium.

NYT, Ezra Klein: Why the AI Job Apocalypse (Probably) Won’t Happen https://tinyurl.com/4erj262f “Computers can do much that humans once did, but they didn’t put humans out of work. The ability to do more made people realize there was more to do.”

🐣 RT @Mollyploofkins Does this guy ever listen to himself?
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Mollyploofkins/status/2051002773534081350?s=20/photo/1

SPECIAL MESSAGE from the guy who wants liberals to tone down the rhetoric:
🐣 RT @reaDonald.Trump So ironic that Cryin’ Chuck Schumer and the Democrats are hiring SLEAZEBAGS like Barack Hussein Obama’s Crooked former Attorney General, Eric Holder, and others of that ilk, to look into Voter Integrity, when this same group of Human Garbage RIGGED the 2020 Presidential Election. GET TOUGH REPUBLICANS – THEY’RE COMING, AND THEY’RE COMING FAST! They’re no good for our Country, they almost destroyed it, and we don’t want to let that happen again! These are highly dishonest people who are, in many ways, treasonous, in that they are trying to destabilize the United States of America in what, some would call, a War. Republicans must TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER and approve all of the necessary Safeguards we need for Elections to protect the American Public during the upcoming Midterms. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP

TheAtlantic, Adam Kirsch: The Era of Rational Discourse Is Over https://tinyurl.com/4hve3w7s “For Jürgen Habermas, who died in March, the essence of democracy was thoughtful back-and-forth argument.” //➔ I disagree: it will return when Trump is gone.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2050982878972924289?s=20/photo/1

Habermas was right to call Trump autocratic, but what makes him a strongman for the social-media age is his maddening frivolity—the way he doesn’t seem to know or care what he’s doing or what he will do next. Because he doesn’t take anything seriously, he makes it almost impossible to take him seriously, even as he inflicts entirely serious damage on people and institutions. This quality makes Trump an enigma to political theorists, but a star on social media—a medium where “all that is solid melts into air,” to borrow a famous phrase from Karl Marx. When cruelty and carelessness can be such a politically effective combination, it’s clear that the era of rational discourse—the era of Jürgen Habermas—is well and truly over.

NatGeo did a really good article in 2011 ⋙ Blast Force: The Invisible War on the Brain https://tinyurl.com/2jzjv7xk “Brain trauma from blast force is the signature injury of the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns …. The damage strikes deeply into a soldier’s mind and psyche.”
🖼 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2050947955939565571?s=20/photo/1

⭕ 2 May 2026

🧵 RT @EuromaidanPR “Significant Damage Reported to U.S. Military Sites in the Middle East”
📌 💽 https://x.com/EuromaidanPR/status/2050746993102754248?s=20/video/1 -2

A CNN investigation has found that Iranian retaliatory strikes damaged at least 16 U.S. military sites across the region—representing a majority of American positions there. The strikes hit various facilities, including some high-value targets, following U.S.-Israeli operations against Iran.

The Pentagon and Trump administration have faced questions about the extent of the damage and the transparency of initial assessments. Satellite imagery and other reporting now show varying levels of impact, with repairs expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

⋙ “Iranian strikes damaged a U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry AWACS at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, CNN reports. The aircraft — a key airborne radar and command platform valued at ~$300M+ — was heavily damaged/destroyed, along with other assets like comms equipment and radars across multiple sites.

This is a notable loss in the ongoing conflict, highlighting vulnerabilities in forward bases. U.S. air surveillance and C2 capabilities took a hit, but the broader U.S. force remains operational with redundancies. ¤ War has costs on both sides — escalation carries risks.

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa Yesterday, there was rather unusual activity along sections of the Ukraine–Belarus border – on the Belarusian side. We are closely documenting everything and keeping the situation under control. If necessary, we will react. ¤ Ukraine is ready to defend its people and its sovereignty. Everyone who is being drawn into any aggressive actions against Ukraine must understand this.

🐣 RT @visionergeo 🇺🇦🇹🇷 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky intends to distance himself from the US-led peace negotiations and seek alternatives; according to Politico, Turkey is being considered as a venue for negotiations with Russia without US involvement.

🐣 RT @mmpadellan [Joe Biden:]
🖼 https://x.com/mmpadellan/status/2050675074257105231?s=20/photo/1

He didn’t start any wars.
He didn’t alienate our allies.
He created/recovered 16M jobs.
He signed the infrastructure bill.
He signed the CHIPS Act.
He signed the PACT Act.
He didn’t build monuments to glorify himself.
He didn’t use the presidency to enrich himself.
He didn’t threaten to wipe out an entire civilization.
We were BETTER off under Biden.

🐣 RT @ @TKouilou [tr Fr] 🇸🇰 Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, after a call with V. Zelensky, does a complete 180° turnaround: Slovakia supports Ukraine’s EU membership.
¤ https://x.com/TKouilou/status/2050616275206898096?s=20

Bratislava and Kyiv, it’s the story of two countries that didn’t always see eye to eye. Fico, known for his pro-Russian stances, changes his tune after a phone call with V. Zelensky.

👉 100% support: Slovakia now backs Ukraine’s European ambitions.
👉 1 meeting on the horizon: Monday rendezvous in Yerevan for a European Political Community summit.
👉 0 agreements possible without Ukraine: Fico hammers it home, no peace treaty with Russia will happen without Kyiv.

“Slovakia wants a stable and democratic Ukraine.” Fico, on Facebook.
“We have disagreements, but a shared interest: friendly relations.” …. Still Fico.

“Their support for our EU membership, it’s historic.” ….V. Zelensky, relieved.

The delegations will exchange visits between Bratislava and Kyiv.
Fico in Ukraine? V. Zelensky has officially invited him.
Slovakia, caught between Moscow and Kyiv, is walking a tightrope… things might start to wobble🎪😵‍💫

🐣 RT @_GlobeObserver 🚨 JUST IN: China says it does not recognize US sanctions on Iranian oil purchases and will not comply with them
⋙ 🐣 Don’t poke the Panda.

🚫🐣 RT @MykhailoRohoza Ukraine has found a way to obtain nuclear weapons.
¤ https://x.com/MykhailoRohoza/status/2050614448755294483?s=20
// UNCONFIRMED

And it appears that we are no longer just talking about a “technical capability.” We may be on the verge of actually creating a nuclear arsenal.

A statement was made that shocked the world: “Ukraine possesses all the necessary technologies and materials to create nuclear weapons. We did not want to go down this path, but if Russia does not withdraw its troops from our territory, we will be forced to do so. This is not a bluff.”

Russia continues its massive shelling of Ukrainian cities, destroying energy facilities and civilian infrastructure.

Ukraine no longer wants to remain defenseless in the face of Putin’s nuclear blackmail. If the world cannot protect us, we will protect ourselves. ¤ What do you think—do we need nuclear weapons?

⋙ 🐣 To announce this if they don’t already have a bomb and a delivery system makes no sense.

NYT, Lulu Garcia-Navarro: The Interview: What Does Tucker Carlson Really Believe? I Went to Maine to Find Out. https://tinyurl.com/mvxfazfy

NYT: Trump’s Vision for ‘Garden of Heroes’ Keeps Getting Bigger and Higher in Cost https://tinyurl.com/a9ez5mxw “Plans for the project include formal gardens, reflecting pools and plazas [and] statues of 250 notable Americans, according to documents obtained by The NYT”
↥ ↧
💙 Patriots Park: List: American Heroes by Category https://tinyurl.com/3j8n8n8p

⭕ 1 May 2026

MilitaryTimes: These are Ukraine’s $1,000 interceptor drones the Pentagon wants to buy https://tinyurl.com/4v6jt56f //➔ “The last person we need help from is Zelensky.” – Trump (March 14). Wrong!

Ukraine warned allied governments for years to prepare for a new kind of war, one in which cheap, mass-produced drones would overwhelm both the tactics and economics of traditional air defense.

“You don’t have time,” Andrii Hrytseniuk, the CEO of Brave1, recalled telling officials in recent years. “Shahed [drones] will come not only to Ukraine, but to other countries. You need to use your time not to stick to previous conventional warfare, but to work on the new era.” …

Brave1 was established in 2023 as Ukraine’s state-backed defense innovation hub, which funds, tests, and fast-tracks new military technology from hundreds of Ukrainian startups.

Three years after Brave1’s formation, the Iran war has made Hrytseniuk’s warning prescient.

In the first week alone, the U.S. and Israel struck more than 3,000 targets across Iran while Tehran fired over 500 ballistic missiles and nearly 2,000 drones at U.S. bases and Israeli cities across 12 countries, burning through over 800 Patriot interceptor missiles in three days — more than Ukraine received from allies throughout four years of war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pointed out on Thursday.

The conflict has since drawn in at least a dozen countries and put Ukraine’s counter-drone expertise at the center of a global scramble, with the Pentagon and at least one Gulf state now in active talks to buy Ukrainian-made interceptor drones, according to Financial Times. An EU envoy, meanwhile, is reportedly brokering introductions between Gulf governments and Kyiv’s manufacturers.

“They are really asking for some help with interceptor drones specifically,” Hrytseniuk told Military Times on Friday. …

Modern Ukrainian interceptors started with Mavic scouts dropping jerry-rigged grenades — simple, improvised.

Then came FPV drones: first 7-inch frames, then 10, then 12. Aero Center’s first munition, Malyuk (“Baby”), weighed just 450 grams — enough for one or two Mavic drops. ¤ “But the troops kept asking for more capabilities,” Yeremenko said. …

Several Ukrainian companies are now fielding systems with combat records no Western manufacturer can match. Wild Hornets’ Sting has been in combat longer than any other Ukrainian interceptor.

A spokesman for the group told CBS News last week that the $2,500 FPV drone has downed 3,900 drones since May 2025 — including, the company says, the first confirmed downing of Russia’s jet-powered Geran-3 and a Shahed fitted with an air-to-air missile.

Reaching 195 mph with a thermal camera and AI-assisted terminal guidance, it can engage targets up to 15 miles away and fits in a standard duffel bag. …

Then there is Ukrspecsystems’ Octopus, now built under license by more than 15 Ukrainian manufacturers and, since November, at a new factory in the United Kingdom.

It flies at night, cuts through electronic jamming at up to 4,500 meters, and locks onto targets autonomously — the kind of all-conditions reliability that made it the MoD’s pick for mass production. …

🐣 RT @Gianl1974 The Pentagon is exploring Ukrainian interceptor drones after concluding that no U.S. manufacturer currently matches their cost, speed, and battlefield-tested reliability, according to Defense One.
¤ https://x.com/Gianl1974/status/2050386829313179863?s=20

A UK–Ukraine co-developed drone recently scored 99.3 out of 100 in the Pentagon’s Drone Dominance program, outperforming competitors by a wide margin.

Ukraine’s defense industry has expanded from just 7–10 drone manufacturers before the full-scale invasion to more than 500 today.

The country now has the capacity to produce around 4 million drones annually, according to Ukrainian officials and multiple international reports.

As a result, Ukraine has emerged as a global leader in drone and counter-drone warfare, with its technologies increasingly shaping how modern wars are fought.

🐣 RT @Gianl1974 The Pentagon is exploring Ukrainian interceptor drones after concluding that no U.S. manufacturer currently matches their cost, speed, and battlefield-tested reliability, according to Defense One.
¤ https://x.com/Gianl1974/status/2050386829313179863?s=20

TheAtlantic, Thomas Wright: The Real Reason Iran Hasn’t Struck a Deal https://tinyurl.com/5e737usy “The war has damaged Iran’s military capacity, but it also has handed Tehran more leverage over global energy markets and the Gulf States than it has ever possessed.”
// The standoff isn’t about hard-liners blocking pragmatists inside Iran, but about both sides believing that they have won the war.”

NYT: On May Day Cuba’s Communist Leaders Deliver a Defiant Tone to the US https://tinyurl.com/muab9ffk “The Cuban government has publicly affirmed that its political system is not up for debate or negotiation.”
//. In front of the American Embassy in Havana, the Cuban government held its annual International Worker’s Day celebration as the United States sought to end the communist ruling system

🐣 RT @BiatchDulce 🚨 ECONOMICS FACT CHECK:
– 8 of the 10 poorest states in the US are controlled by Republicans.
– 10 of the last 11 recessions started under Republican Presidents.
– The only 3 Presidents to lower the deficit in the last 50 years were all Dems: Clinton, Obama, Biden.
– 6 out of 7 Presidents with the highest job creation rates since 1945 were Democrats.
– GDP growth under Republican Presidents averages just 2.5% but a whopping 4.3% under Democrats.
FACT: REPUBLICAN TRICKLE DOWN HURTS THE ECONOMY.

🐣 RT @SenBlumenthal There’s no pause button in the Constitution, or the War Powers Act. We’re at war. We’ve been at war for 60 days. The blockade alone is a continuing act of war. Failing to seek congressional approval, Trump is breaking the law & betraying Americans.

🐣 RT @adamemedia1 CHINA JUST DREW A LINE ON AI
A court in China has ruled it ILLEGAL to replace human workers with Al purely to cut costs. ¤ They have put responsibility back on corporations. ¤ They can’t automate just to boost margins while workers are pushed out. ¤ China has decided that wages, fairness, and employment aren’t optional. ¤ And that’s a big shift. ¤ While the west races to replace labour as fast as possible, viewing Al as a free-for-all… China has set a precedent that profit alone isn’t enough and corporations must answer to society.

🐣 RT @AnnieForTruth Trump was so proud of himself for passing a test in which he could remember the words, “Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV,” in sequential order! This is NOT a “cognitive”test. This is administered by a MD if they have concerns of Dementia, Alzheimer’s or Traumatic Brain Injury!

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump Anybody running for President or Vice President should be forced to take a Cognitive Examination prior to entering the Race! By doing so, we wouldn’t be surprised at people like Barack “Hussein” Obama, or Sleepy Joe Biden, getting”ELECTED.” Our Country would be a much better place! I took the Exam three times during my (“THREE!”) Terms as President, and ACED IT ALL THREE TIMES — An Achievement that, even on a single Exam, according to the Doctors, has rarely been done before! President DONALD J. TRUMP.

🐣 RT @AnnieForTruth Unfortunately, this is true. 😢 This lying, corrupt Malignant Narcissist, Sociopath, conman and wannabe dictator has destroyed the America we once all loved, honored and respected for 250 years, HOME OF THE BRAVE, LAND OF THE FREE. 😡
[TextLink:] https://x.com/AnnieForTruth/status/2050210443462095142?s=20/photo/1

In the end, he will have:
• stolen years of our lives
• poisoned our families, friendships, and communities
• destroyed our institutions – courts, justice, elections, and the rule of law
• turned Americans against Americans
• humiliated us on the world stage
• weakened our alliances while our enemies celebrate
• and taken a 250-year democracy and treated it like his personal property
And that’s why you NEVER hand power to a malignant narcissist —
not in politics, not at work, not in your home, not anywhere.
Hold him accountable.
No immunity.
No excuses.

🐣 RT @alluringmedia Bush destroyed Clinton’s economy.
Obama fixed Bush’s mess.
Trump destroyed Obama’s economy.
Biden fixed Trump’s mess and now Trump has destroyed what Biden fixed.
The biggest lie that Republicans have gotten away with is that they are better for the economy.

NYT: The Audacity of Art at the Obama Presidential Center https://tinyurl.com/ypdf7x57 “Barack and Michelle Obama commissioned 30 artists to create work for their campus, which starts visitor previews next week on the South Side of Chicago.”

⭕ 30 Apr 2026

BI (Apr 30): Ukraine is now readying the West for modern war with its weapons and combat expertise. https://tinyurl.com/2vtrp7ej “Partners want access to Ukrainian weaponry, to learn from its production techniques, and to integrate Ukrainian tactics into their own militaries”
// Orig title: The tables have turned. Ukraine is now readying the West for modern war with its weapons and combat expertise.

🐣 RT @EuromaidanPress Ukraine climbs to 55th in RSF’s 2026 Press Freedom Index — up 7 spots in a year, up 50 since Russia’s full-scale invasion. ¤ The US drops to 64th; Russia ranks 172nd. RSF reported Russia holds 26 Ukrainian journalists in prison. https://tinyurl.com/49hpkbm9
🌎 https://x.com/EuromaidanPress/status/2049838186109538800?s=20/Photo/1
// RSF: Reporters Without Borders [in French]

🐣 RT @Oct7NeverForget Moscow is beginning to threaten the use of nuclear weapons if Ukraine uses ballistic missiles against Russia. For some reason, the Kremlin has decided that Ukraine can be shelled with ballistic weapons every day, but striking back at Russia is somehow off-limits, almost sacred. Yet the fundamental principle of reciprocity has not been abolished anywhere in the world—it applies in politics, business, and diplomacy.

📊 WaPo/ABC/Ipsos Poll
(Apr 24-26; n=2560 adults) https://tinyurl.com/3k89489t
Yes No Trump Vanity Projects:
28 / 56 East Room
21 / 52 Arch
12 / 68 Signature on money
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2050013833637343553?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @Currentreport1 China has called on the United States to lift its blockade against Cuba and said it will strongly support Cuba in defending its state sovereignty and security.

⭕ 29 Apr 2026

🐣 RT @angie_rasmussen When I think of a leader of a world superpower who doomed his country to a stagnant future by replacing science with ideology & experts with political minions, I think of Stalin. The Soviet Union never recovered. ¤ That is what Trump & RFKJr are doing now. We can still stop it.
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @maxdkozlov The Trump administration has downsized US science by historic margins — but it’s not just via grant or workforce cuts.
¤ Our new @nature analysis reveals the government has cut more than 100 scientific advisory panels across all major science agencies.
◕ https://x.com/angie_rasmussen/status/2049664704864289211?s=20/photo/1
⋙ 🐣 Lincoln: “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide. – Abraham Lincoln, Jan. 27, 1888

NYT, Nicholas Kristof: Two Cocky Authoritarians Blocking Hormuz: What Could Go Wrong?https://tinyurl.com/yrrewmwh ‘The Americans clearly have no strategy,’ Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany said Monday. Speaking of the US, he added, ‘An entire nation is being humiliated.’”

In 2018, President Trump pulled out of the Iranian nuclear accord, promising that he would then negotiate a better deal. He couldn’t and didn’t.

Instead, Iran built up its nuclear program.

Then in February of this year, Trump again badly misjudged his leverage, starting a war with Iran that he apparently believed would be brief and successful, “a minor excursion” that would lead Iranian leaders to “cry uncle.”

Instead, Iran seized the Strait of Hormuz.

Now Trump appears to be miscalculating yet again, believing that his blockade and economic pressure on Iran will succeed where his bombings failed. …

… Trump has a record of extraordinary over-optimism about the Iran war. “We’ve already won,” he said on March 7. Two days later, he asserted that the war would be over “very soon.” On March 11, he announced, “We’ve won.” On March 20, he said the United States was considering “winding down.” Six days later, he said Iran was “begging to make a deal.” By April 16, the war “should be ending pretty soon.” The next day, he added that peace talks were going so well that “most of the points are already negotiated and agreed to.” And so on and so on.

What does this mean?

“The Americans clearly have no strategy,” Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany said Monday. Speaking of the United States, he added, “An entire nation is being humiliated.” …

That’s a classic problem with authoritarian personalities, whether in Tehran or Washington: They surround themselves with flatterers who tell them that everything is going swimmingly. My own bet is that Iran may be able to suffer longer, partly because Iran’s dictators don’t face midterms. But it’s also true that like Trump, Iranian leaders seem cocky and overconfident and have repeatedly miscalculated. …

The paradox is that Trump’s initial threats of war appeared to have prompted Iran to offer a quite favorable nuclear deal in February. But two months into the war, Iran and the United States each seems to feel it is in the stronger position. Faced with the prospect of making concessions to the other side, each may prefer to delay or escalate, with the world economy held hostage.

What could possibly go wrong?

NYT, Alexander Gabuyev: I Played Putin in a War Game. The Most Dangerous Period May Be Coming. https://tinyurl.com/5f68r8ep “The good news: Europe can effectively deter the Kremlin, with or without America, [including] the much-discussed drone wall on NATO’s eastern flank”

The good news is that Europe can effectively deter the Kremlin, with or without America. In the scenario we played, for example, there were cheap and quick solutions that would make a Russian invasion far less likely, such as placing World War I-era minefields and fortifications along NATO’s border with Russia and Belarus. These could be combined with 21st-century instruments like the much-discussed drone wall on NATO’s eastern flank and perhaps the most potent weapon of all, resolve.

That is all feasible. But time is of the essence: The most dangerous period, as I vividly learned playing Mr. Putin, may soon be upon us.

NYT: Fed Meeting Underscores Tough Task Ahead for Warsh https://tinyurl.com/mr2stjhn “Jerome H. Powell on Wednesday announced he would stay on as a governor at the central bank as internal divisions sharpen about the policy path forward.”
// FP Title: Most Combative Fed Meeting in Decades Leaves Host of Challenges for New Chief ¤ FP Subtitle: “Kevin Warsh will face issues that include an interest rate fight, a divided board and pressure from President Trump to do his bidding.”

Adding to the drama was an announcement by Mr. Powell that he would remain as governor at the central bank after his term as chair ends May 15 and President Trump’s handpicked successor, Kevin M. Warsh, takes over. That decision will deny Mr. Trump the opportunity to appoint another governor to the Fed’s seven-member board until Mr. Powell leaves.

Mr. Powell’s decision to stay, which he can do until January 2028, breaks with tradition. But he pegged it to the numerous broadsides that Mr. Trump and his administration had launched against the Fed in the last year, which he warned put the central bank’s independence “at risk.”

Wednesday’s meeting, at which the Fed voted to keep rates unchanged at a range of 3.5 to 3.75 percent, encapsulated the acute challenges that Mr. Warsh will inherit once he steps into the role. In his confirmation hearing, Mr. Warsh said he wanted “messier” meetings and for the Fed to have a good “family fight,” which he seems likely to get.

But he is also at risk of becoming Mr. Trump’s newest target if he is unable to deliver the rate cuts that the president has long demanded. He has spent years attacking Mr. Powell for not cutting rates quickly or aggressively enough, calling him a series of names including “too late,” “a stupid person” and a “moron.”

Mr. Trump on Wednesday reiterated that it was a “good time” to lower rates, just as officials at the Fed were making clear that they had turned more wary about providing that relief. Inside the central bank, the debate has shifted away from when to cut again toward whether to do so at all, resulting in the most divisive meeting since 1992. The calculus has changed largely because of the war in Iran, which has sent energy prices soaring and lifted inflation. …

The concern for a growing number of officials is that the longer the war with Iran drags on, the bigger the economic hit will be. Officials fear a situation in which higher energy prices push up prices elsewhere, especially across the services sector, leading to a more persistent inflation problem that would be more difficult to address. …

“My concern is really about the series of legal attacks on the Fed, which threatened our ability to conduct monetary policy without considering political factors,” Mr. Powell said. “I’m worried that these attacks are battering the institution.”

DemDocket: New records show paper trail of DOGE voter data pact with election deniers https://tinyurl.com/2v2j7ajj Re: DOGE’s access to “Trump administration officials planning to share sensitive voter data with an outside political group trying to overturn elections, as part of a secret agreement.”
// Data included SocSec numbers, financial data and medical data on all Americans
⋙ 🐣 RT @ChrisFl35740825 This is what Elon Musk’s DOGE Cyberchimps were up to when they hacked into private information on government servers. All in violation of privacy laws. They downloaded personal information on millions of Americans and uploaded it to the Palentir servers for profile build out.

🐣 RT @BarackObama Today’s Supreme Court decision effectively guts a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act, freeing state legislatures to gerrymander legislative districts to systematically dilute and weaken the voting power of racial minorities – so long as they do it under the guise of “partisanship” rather than explicit “racial bias.” And it serves as just one more example of how a majority of the current Court seems intent on abandoning its vital role in ensuring equal participation in our democracy and protecting the rights of minority groups against majority overreach. ¤ The good news is that such setbacks can be overcome. But that will only happen if citizens across the country who cherish our democratic ideals continue to mobilize and vote in record numbers – not just in the upcoming midterms or in high profile races, but in every election and every level.

🐣 RT @UkrReview 🇺🇦🇬🇧 Zelensky: I thank His Majesty King Charles III, the UK, and all valiant American hearts for this clarion call for unity in support of Ukraine across the Atlantic. ¤ This is exactly what is needed to bring dignified and lasting peace to Ukraine and all of Europe. The people of Ukraine deeply appreciate all the support provided by the UK and the US. Thank you.
🖼 https://x.com/UkrReview/status/2049429217595609481?s=20/photo/1

⭕ 28 Apr 2026

NYT: Beneath King Charles’s Jokes and Decorum, Some Subtle Rebuttals to Trump https://tinyurl.com/4dc2avs5 “King Charles III gently pushed back against President Trump’s attacks on Britain and NATO, and he spoke of the importance of checks and balances.”

… Charles spoke on Tuesday of the value of the trans-Atlantic alliance, the importance of checks and balances and his passion for the environment. He even spoke of his time in the Royal Navy, after Mr. Trump belittled British naval capabilities in recent weeks. …

The mostly disciplined and careful public appearances by both Charles and Mr. Trump came at a dire moment in American-British relations, arguably at their lowest point in decades over the war in Iran and Mr. Trump’s scathing attacks on NATO. …

There is little evidence in more recent history that an era of good feeling will last much beyond the departure of the royal couple’s jet from American shores on Thursday, particularly as Mr. Trump’s well-known affection for the royals does not extend to the British government.

Mr. Trump is furious at Britain for its refusal to join the fight against Iran, and his administration continues to accuse the British government of denying free speech to conservative voices. In London, Prime Minister Keir Starmer vows not to be dragged into another war of America’s choosing, and bristles at the president’s description of Britain’s aircraft carriers as nothing more than “toys.” …

[Charles] drew a standing ovation during his speech to Congress when he spoke about how the concept of checks and balances in American government has its roots in English history. Mr. Trump has worked to significantly expand executive power.

Charles said the U.S. Supreme Court Historical Society found that Magna Carta was cited in at least 160 Supreme Court cases since 1789, “not least as the foundation of the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances.”

He spoke of “the natural wonders” of the United States and “our shared responsibility to safeguard nature, our most precious and irreplaceable asset.” …

The king spoke of his own service in the Royal Navy more than a half-century ago, and repeated Mr. Starmer’s assertion that Britain had “committed to the biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the Cold War.”

He also pushed back, gently, against Mr. Trump’s attacks on Britain and on the NATO alliance for not joining in the Iran war. After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the king told lawmakers, “We answered the call together — as our people have done so for more than a century.” …

While it was unclear whether the king’s appeal would be enough to mend the wounds in the trans-Atlantic relationship, Mr. Dickinson [Philippe Dickinson, deputy director at the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative] said the British were probably hoping the visit created a pathway to recovery.

“That’s why the government values the royal family as a diplomatic ace in the hand,” he said. “It’s not a magic wand, but it helps.”

TheAtlantic, Kaitlyn Tiffany: The Ballroom Truthers Have a Theory https://tinyurl.com/43ebava4 ‘Trump’s a prolific liar with a well-established love for spectacle. He has repeated and encouraged conspiracy theories of many stripes It’s no surprise that he’s at the center of one.’
// The fake-assassination-attempt conspiracy keeps growing.
// Entire: He’s a prolific liar with a well-established love for spectacle, and from the day he entered the political sphere, he has repeated and encouraged conspiracy theories of many stripes. It comes as no surprise that he’s at the center of one

🐣 RT @amyblance2000 Republicans were shamed into standing and clapping along with the Democrats for something they clearly haven’t been doing. ¤ Republicans have failed on:
– checks and balances on the executive
– support for Ukraine
– support for NATO allies

🐣 RT @peterbakernyt Perhaps one of the most striking moments in the king’s speech came when he reminded lawmakers that the Magna Carta, cited repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court over the years, advanced the foundational principle that “executive power is subject to checks and balances.”

🐣 RT @frontlinekit King Charles getting a standing ovation after telling American politicians that WE MUST defend Ukraine

TheGuardian: King Charles praises Nato and urges defence of Ukraine in key speech during Trump visit https://tinyurl.com/4n34t4d6 “Remarks marking 250th anniversary of American independence tell US lawmakers: ‘The actions of this great nation matter’”

King Charles has extolled the importance of Britain’s “special relationship” with the US in a speech to Congress that made pointed reference to the importance of Nato, the defence of Ukraine and the climate crisis.

In a speech that will be read as a veiled plea to Donald Trump to return to the US’s traditional European alliances and restore his country’s role as a defender of liberal values, Charles said: “America’s words carry weight and meaning, as they have since independence. The actions of this great nation matter even more.”

Charles’s appearance before the joint session of Congress – the first such royal address in 35 years – was billed as the centrepiece of his four-day state visit to the United States, where he and Queen Camilla are taking part in celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of independence.

Charles praised the historic bond between the two nations, saying: “The alliance that our two nations have built over the centuries – and for which we are profoundly grateful to the American people – is truly unique.”

But in comments that appeared to draw an approving response from Democratic lawmakers, he noted the roots of “the principle that executive power is subject to checks and balances” in one of the UK’s foundational legal documents, Magna Carta.

And he urged “unyielding resolve” in the cause of “Ukraine and her most courageous people” in order to “secure a truly just and lasting peace”.

Speaking from the dais of the House of Representatives before an audience that included lawmakers from both parties and top military officials, he also emphasised the importance of action on the climate crisis.

He made reference to “the natural wonders” of the United States, speaking of what Teddy Roosevelt called “the glorious heritage of this land’s extraordinary natural splendour, on which so much of its prosperity has always depended”.

“Yet even as we celebrate the beauty that surrounds us, our generation must decide how to address the collapse of critical natural systems which threatens far more than the harmony and essential diversity of nature.

“We ignore at our peril the fact that these natural systems, in other words, nature’s own economy, provide the foundation for our prosperity and our national security.”

He also underlined the importance of trade between the two nations at a time when Trump has threatened to impose further tariffs on Britain. “More broadly, we celebrate the $430bn in annual trade that continues to grow, the $1.7tn in mutual investment that fuels that innovation, and the millions of jobs on both sides of the Atlantic supported across both economies.”

He said: “From the depths of the Atlantic to the disastrously melting ice-caps of the Arctic, the commitment and expertise of the United States armed forces and its allies lie at the heart of Nato, pledged to each other’s defence, protecting our citizens and interests, keeping North Americans and Europeans safe from our common adversaries.”

Charles also backed Aukus, the trilateral agreement with Australia, which he called “the most ambitious submarine programme in history”.

“We do not embark on these remarkable endeavours together out of sentiment. We do so because they build greater shared resilience for the future, so making our citizens safer for generations to come,” he said.

It was the first such speech by a British royal since Queen Elizabeth II addressed the chamber in 1991, and Charles described the world as having grown “more volatile and more dangerous” since then, making the nations’ alliance more important than ever.

“The challenges we face are too great for any one nation to bear alone,” he said. “In this unpredictable environment, our alliance cannot rest on past achievements, or assume that foundational principles simply endure.”

Charles’s remarks were couched in diplomatic terms, and he remained subtle about the differences of opinion between the US and Keir Starmer’s government, which include Britain’s refusal to join the US and Israel in bombing Iran, and Trump’s complaints about British trade policy.

The address followed an arrival ceremony full of pomp at the White House, in which Trump declared “Americans have no closer friends than the British” amid a military parade and jet flyover.

But in a sign of the sensitivities around the visit, the king’s arrival at the White House took place in private, for fear of a public argument between the two men similar to when the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, visited last year.

Congress’s leaders have welcomed the king’s visit, with the Republican Senate majority leader, John Thune, saying in a Tuesday floor speech: “The special relationship between our two nations has been a long and fruitful one, and I think it’s fair to say that over the course of our nation’s history, we’ve had no choicer ally than Great Britain.”

His Democratic counterpart, the minority leader Chuck Schumer, leaned in to some of the tensions that have developed between the Trump administration and Starmer’s government over the US’s role in global alliances.

“The visit of King Charles III should serve as a reminder to the president of the United States and to every elected official in this country, friends and allies matter. And most of all, for the security of Europe, Nato matters,” Schumer said.

“I encourage his majesty to impress upon the president the absolute importance of Nato. I hope he’s able to get Trump to listen and understand the stakes.”

In his remarks, the king said that “time and again our two countries have always found ways to come together”, to create “one of the most consequential alliances in human history”. Avoiding mention of Iran, he instead described their military and intelligence cooperation as “hard-wired together through relationships measured, not in years, in decades”.

With Trump threatening to shred a trade deal he signed with Starmer and impose a “big tariff” if the UK does not withdraw a digital services tax on US companies, the king called the nations’ longstanding commercial ties “strong foundations on which to continue to build for generations yet unborn”. …

🐣 RT @NatalkaKyiv ‼️ “Unfortunately, we are heading toward military defeat. That is a fact.” — Igor Girkin
Igor Girkin (Strelkov) on the EU approving a €90 billion loan for Ukraine […] ⬇️⬇️⬇️
¤ https://x.com/NatalkaKyiv/status/2048820061251469631?s=20

🐣 RT @BiatchDulce Fact check: Former CIA Director John Brennan, who served presidents of both parties, did not criticize Trump over ideology alone. He criticized a lack of curiosity, competence, and basic understanding, qualities that matter deeply when one person controls military power, intelligence priorities, and crisis decisions.
What alarms experienced officials is when ignorance itself becomes a governing style. ¤ #TrumpIsAFraud
[TextLink:] https://x.com/BiatchDulce/status/2048436689560121793?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] “Donald Trump is the most ignorant as well as incompetent individual who has ever held the office of the presidency. I worked for 6 presidents…every one of them showed an understanding of history and geography. Donald Trump shows no intellectual curiosity about these issues whatsoever.” – John Brennan

⭕ 27 Apr 2026

TheAtlantic, Peter Wehner (Apr 27): The American Pope vs. the American President https://tinyurl.com/42h76ced “Leo has shown that the Christian Church can once again be, as Martin Luther King Jr. put it, not the master or the servant of the state but the conscience of the state”
// “The pontiff has proved unwilling to subordinate his faith to politics, or to adjust his commitment to the Gospel in exchange for access to power.”

[T]his conflict has a dramatic, even archetypal, quality to it, pitting polar opposites against each other. One is a religious man in the deepest sense; the whole of his life has been shaped by religious disciplines and a theological tradition. He is inseparable from his faith.

The other is completely secular—thoroughly of this age, thoroughly of this world. He measures success by wealth, by power, by sexual conquest. He admitted that he’s never asked God for forgiveness. He has no ties to any church and is in many ways contemptuous of the core teachings of the Christian faith.

Leo is disciplined, mild-mannered, calm, and deliberative. He is an Augustinian, part of an order founded in the 13th century. Augustinians are known as “active contemplatives” who combine a deep inner spiritual life with service to others. Members of the order commit to live together in harmony, “intent upon God in oneness of mind and heart.” Augustinians also take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.

From Augustine, Leo learned to be deeply skeptical of worldly power. He speaks about the “delusion of omnipotence” and is alert to the dangers of pride and grandiosity. The Augustinian tradition emphasizes fraternity, humility, and reflection on our disordered desires. Shaped by the Latin American church’s social vision—he served two decades as a missionary and Augustinian priest in Peru—Leo believes “the preferential choice for the poor is a source of extraordinary renewal both for the Church and for society.” …

But what has made the confrontation most electrifying is the way in which the pontiff is not just standing up to the president but transcending him. Leo has said he has “no fear” of the Trump administration, and no one can doubt him. He speaks as a liberated, confident man whom the president cannot intimidate. The pope is setting the terms of debate by relying on moral language and moral reasoning; on Catholic social teaching, the Church fathers, and the scriptures. …

The things Leo appears to care about—faithfully serving God and the Church, caring for the vulnerable, speaking the truth as he understands it—are things Trump cannot touch, or even understand. There’s no target for Trump to hit, which is why his attack on the pope for being “WEAK on crime” was absurd even by Trump’s standards. Trump is quite skilled at knowing how to break politicians; he’s at a loss to know what to do with prophetic voices. He is punching at shadows. …

… Leo has shown that the Christian Church can once again be, as Martin Luther King Jr. put it, not the master or the servant of the state but the conscience of the state, its guide and critic and never its tool.

That so many people of the Christian faith, especially white evangelicals and prominent figures within that movement, have weaponized their faith to win the favor of an American president is among the most grievous things to have occurred during the Trump era. And they have sought the favor of not just any American president but one who is mendacious, lawless, cruel, and thoroughly corrupt. These courtiers have defamed Jesus while pretending they are acting in his name. The damage they have inflicted on the Christian faith is incalculable.

In a different category are evangelical ministers and faith leaders who know better, who see exactly the harm Trump is doing to the Christian witness, and yet have, for a variety of reasons, chosen silence.

… [Pope Leo] a person with deep moral convictions but who holds them with grace and ease. He comes across as calm, centered, and unhurried. He believes he answers to a higher authority; this allows him to offer a true Christian witness. This is a gift to the whole Church, and to the whole world.

“Even now, in sordid particulars,” T. S. Eliot wrote in Murder in the Cathedral, “the eternal design may appear.” What Eliot meant by this is that in the midst of a broken, chaotic world, where despair often abounds, there is an eternal design at play, even if we may not quite see it while we’re living through it. Nor is the divine set apart from human suffering. Christians believe that God entered into the suffering and violence of this world, redeeming even the “sordid particulars.” But that doesn’t happen on its own.

“Love obligates us to stay in the world,” the political philosopher Glenn Tinder wrote in The Political Meaning of Christianity, “where most of our fellow human beings are compelled by circumstances to stay.” A “prophetic stance,” he said, “can show us how to live in temporal society as citizens of an eternal society.”

Such a prophetic stance is rare in any time; for the past decade it has been almost entirely missing. Thankfully a native of the South Side of Chicago, who now resides in Vatican City, has shown us what a prophetic stance can look like.

CarnegieEndowment, Daniel Kurtzer and Aaron Miller (Apr 27): Trump’s National Security Decision-making Is Broken https://tinyurl.com/4vrymrb7 “Here’s why—and what the next president needs to do to fix the process” //➔ ‘First, Do No Harm’
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2053760816814391597?s=20/photo/1

American foreign policy has always been a highly personalized reflection of a president’s predispositions, ambitions, and concerns. However, presidents normally don’t act solely on their instincts. Instead, they draw on and benefit from the institutional strength of the government and the interagency process embedded in national security legislation that produce the raw intelligence, value-added analysis, policy proposals, and risk-benefit assessments to decide policy. The system is not without flaws, it doesn’t always work smoothly, and it cannot guarantee positive outcomes. But, like the checks and balances within our system of constitutional governance, the foreign policy system is a much better way to make policy than relying on the individual whims, personal interests, foibles, and prejudices of the chief executive.
v
Enter President Donald Trump’s war with Iran. The conflict is the poster child for a system of broken policymaking that’s resulted from the hollowing out of the national security bureaucracy, the devaluation of expertise and experience, and the highly personalized disposition of this president. These dysfunctionalities have led to a succession of foreign policy failures, ranging from unsuccessful U.S. diplomacy in the Russia-Ukraine war, the collapse of diplomacy before the two U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, the stalemate in implementing the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire, and—more generally—the fracturing of almost all U.S. alliances globally.
^
These are not irreversible outcomes, but they are trends that need to be reversed. The conceptual elements and the mechanisms of smart policy, smart diplomacy, and smart warmaking have guided us in the past. We have seen firsthand effective policymaking in both Republican and Democratic administrations, and although the results have not always led to success, the process has been smart and sustainable. A proper understanding of what constitutes smart policymaking, smart diplomacy, and smart warmaking can help guide Washington back to a much more successful path. […]

🧵 RT @Mylovanov On Budanov’s desk sits notebook labeled “List of Assholes 2026.” He is a Hero of Ukraine, former head of military intelligence, now head of the Presidential Office. Babel tells his story. 1/ [link:] https://tinyurl.com/38zb3svn
📌 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2048769458345230499?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2048769458345230499.html

🐣 RT @maddenifico Dear Republicans, please spare us your misguided righteous indignation about how the rhetoric of people on the left incites violence. Never in American history has there been a president who is more inciteful of violence than Trump.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/maddenifico/status/2048758612034466002?s=20/photo/1

Trump has called the left:
– Enemy within
– Scum
– Terrorists
– Vermin
– Radical
– Lunatics
– Demonic
– Evil
– Fascists
– Marxists
– Communists
– Garbage
– The enemy of the people
– The enemy within
– Treasonous
– Animals
– Degenerates
– Jew haters
– Lowlifes

⋙ 🐣 Where Democrats and Republicans stand relative to EU parties. It’s the Republicans who are off the charts! ¤ (Source: NYT 2019 https://tinyurl.com/r4p277fc ) //➔ This was 2019: it’s worse now!
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2048791433671307561?s=20/photo/1

DailyBeast: Pentagon Pete Accused of Shocking Failures to Protect His Own Troops https://tinyurl.com/4434jm7r “The ‘’War Secretary’ has been accused of failing to focus on his defense.” //➔ P.S. We actually have NO idea how many have died.

🐣 RT @danielsgoldman The Israeli people are ready to remove Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist, far-right government in the upcoming October election.
⋙ TimesofIsrael: Together’: Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announce united run under Bennett in 2026 elections https://tinyurl.com/mu4bsc93

BBC, Sarah Rainsford: Ukraine’s drone commander has Russian oil, troops and morale in his sights https://tinyurl.com/8b8sb7fs “‘Putin extracts natural resources and converts them into blood dollars that they then direct against us in the form of Shahed drones and ballistic missile”

“We’re like a red rag to the enemy. Because we’re taking the war to their territory so that they feel it too,” the Ukrainian soldier says, as his unit scramble to assemble long-range drones for launch at Russia.

Ukraine has been intensifying its deep strikes like this for several weeks, targeting oil export facilities, in particular, like never before. Now, in a rare interview, the commander of all Ukraine’s unmanned systems has told the BBC such attacks will escalate and claimed his drone forces are also holding back Russia’s advance along the frontline by killing a record number of soldiers.

“1,500 to 2,000km (930-1,240 miles) inside Russian territory is no longer the ‘peaceful rear’,” Robert Brovdi warns. “The freedom-loving Ukrainian ‘bird’ flies there whenever and wherever it wants.”

At the secret launch site, a drizzly field in eastern Ukraine, the long-range drones are primed and we’re ordered back to a safe distance. The team work quickly before Russian forces can detect them and send ballistic missiles hurtling towards us. There’s a shouted command, loud revs of an engine and a flash of white as the first device tears into the sky towards Russia like a mini jet plane.

President Volodymyr Zelensky calls such deep strikes “very painful” to Moscow, causing “critical” losses running to tens of billions of dollars in its energy sector despite the recent surge in global oil prices.

The increase in such attacks is partly down to technology. Locally produced drones are becoming cheaper and flying further: the model we see launch can now travel more than 1,000km and others already go twice as far. But it’s also about focus. In addition to military personnel and production, Russia’s energy exports have been identified as a priority target.

“Putin extracts natural resources and converts them into blood dollars that they then direct against us in the form of Shahed drones and ballistic missiles,” says Commander Brovdi, justifying the strikes.

Residents in Tuapse on Russia’s Black Sea coast complain of toxic rain after a second wave of major strikes on the local refinery in several days. But Brovdi is dry-eyed.

“If oil refineries are a tool to make money that’s used for war, then they are a legitimate military target, subject to destruction.”

The commander wages war in the skies from a secret location deep underground. We’re taken to meet him in a van with blacked out windows, then led down stairs and along corridors lined with sleeping pods to emerge into a high-tech cavern covered in screens from floor to ceiling.

The soundtrack is a series of bleeps and pings as fresh data is fed to dozens of men in T-shirts and hoodies hunched over joysticks and keyboards. They’re monitoring images streamed directly from the battlefield from drone pilots with names like KitKat and Antalya.

Brovdi’s Unmanned Systems Forces make up just 2% of Ukraine’s military but these days he says they account for a third of all targets destroyed. Their own casualty rate, he tells me, is no secret: less than 1% per year.

Each strike – of any kind – is filmed for verification and logged, and monitors on one wall display a detailed scorecard, updated in real time.

In the past week, Brovdi has reported hitting a dozen Russian FSB security service officers in occupied territory as well as multiple energy facilities in Russia itself. He argues that his forces are critical to denying Putin any headline victories, especially his aim of seizing the rest of the eastern Donbas region within months.

“What is he smoking?” Brovdi is curt. “That’s not realistic. It’s absurd.”

Four years ago, Robert Brovdi was more comfortable in auction houses like Christie’s than filthy trenches. A well-off grain dealer in those days, with a sideline as an art collector, fragments of his pre-war life survive in the paintings and sculptures by Ukrainian artists dotted around the bunker. They’re displayed beside missile casings and captured drones. He’s an ethnic Hungarian, from Uzhhorod in western Ukraine, and best known by his military call sign, Magyar. Clean-shaven before the war, he now wears a long ginger and grey-speckled beard.

The businessman signed up to fight just before Russia’s full-scale invasion – “we all knew war was inevitable” – initially joining the Territorial Defence, then passing through some of the fiercest battles, including for Bakhmut.

But it was before that, pinned down by Russian fire in Kherson, that he first saw the potential of drones. Brovdi recalled a device he’d bought for his own children and began to introduce similar ones to his unit. Suddenly they could climb above Russian positions and stream live images to a nearby artillery team, enabling them to strike. “The idea first developed as self-preservation,” he explains, but it transformed the battlefield.

Within months the soldiers were building their own drones and attaching munitions, and soon became renowned as 414th Brigade, the Birds of Magyar.

Brovdi’s strategy is not only built on long-range strikes.

He talks, at length, about another priority: reducing Russia’s advantage in terms of manpower.
The issue has become even more acute for Ukraine as it struggles to mobilise men for the front: “Those who wanted to fight are already fighting,” the commander accepts.

So his crews are under direct orders to kill more enemy soldiers each month than Russia can recruit. That’s over 30,000 men a month.

“30% of all drone strikes have to be against military personnel,” Brovdi is clear. “You can call it a kill plan, yes, and right now we are exceeding it.” He says they’ve met their target for four months in a row.

I can’t confirm that data, but Brovdi tells me his men do exactly that: the death of each soldier has to be proved by video, or it doesn’t count.

Some of those clips play on a grim loop on screens in the command centre and Brovdi also posts them on Telegram, where he styles his drone forces as the “birds” and their Russian prey as “worms” to hunt and destroy.

“The greatest mass killing of an enemy in the history of mankind is taking place in this room,” he says at one point, gesturing at the screens around us.

It is brutal talk, from a softly spoken man, but Brovdi refuses to be “gnawed by pity”.
Russian troops are far beyond their own borders, he says, sent by Putin “who wants to destroy our nation”.

“If we don’t kill them, they kill us. That is clear.”

The commander insists he has no “rose-tinted spectacles”: his goal is containment, not mounting new counter-offensives or taking back huge swathes of land.

“We have an effective weapon: not to conduct an offensive war, but to prevent the enemy advancing effectively on our territory,” he tells me.

He also believes Vladimir Putin cannot afford to end his invasion, because the risks of failure are too great. So Brovdi has one more target: Russian morale. He hopes a high casualty rate, combined with giant fires burning at facilities deep beyond the border, can create “a certain ferment” within Russia. He’s aiming for the shock factor.

One recent video widely shared in Ukraine shows a Russian woman in Tuapse in floods of tears. “I just wanted to live by the sea with my child, but everything’s ruined…those drones fly, destroying everything,” she sobs, between expletives.

For Brovdi, it’s a sign that the fallout from Russia’s invasion – and Ukraine’s strong pushback – could be spreading beyond its so-far limited circles. His aim, with every drone, is to make more Russians question the war their country is fighting and the president who started it.

🐣 RT @ErimhanAhmet [tr] 🚨 BREAKING NEWS: Historic decision from Pakistan for Iran! 🚨 ¤ “Pakistan has officially allowed Iran to conduct trade with third countries through its own territory…” ¤ This means Iran will resist American sanctions forever!!! … !

⭕ 26 Apr 2026

🐣 RT @ eanpire33 [tr] “We will no longer buy American weapons,” declared the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in response to the interim leader of the United States.
¤ https://x.com/jeanpire33/status/2048613824551375052?s=20

“Up until now, the money flowing into the American military-industrial complex was not just a business matter. ¤ It was, in reality, a ritual of loyalty.
We weren’t just buying missile systems—we were buying the right to belong. ¤ As of today, that’s over.”

That is how the Crown Prince responded to the insulting remarks made against him by the idiot Trump.

🐣 RT @AJEnglish Two former Israeli prime ministers have joined forces in an effort to oust PM Benjamin Netanyahu. ¤ Right-wing politician Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid announced they will merge their parties to form a new one called Together. 🛑 LIVE updates: http://aje.news/o25apb

🐣 RT @RpsAgainstTrump Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, has decided not to grant a pardon to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in his corruption trial, despite constant, public pressure from Donald Trump—NYT

🐣 RT @glenn_tunes THIS IS HOW YOU INTERVIEW TRUMP AND SHOW THE WORLD WHO AND WHAT HE IS ✊✊✊✊
[TextLink:] https://x.com/glenn_tunes/status/2048582727549559233?s=20/photo/1

O’DONNELL: In [the suspected shooter’s] manifesto, he wrote that ‘I’m no longer willing to permit a p*dophile, *pist, and traitor to coat my hands with his crimes.’ What’s your reaction?
TRUMP: I was waiting for you to read that because I knew you would because you’re horrible people. I’m not a r*pist. I didn’t r*pe anybody. I’m not a p*dophile. Excuse me. You read that crap from a sick person. I was totally exonerated. You should be ashamed of yourself, reading that. You’re a disgrace.
O’DONNELL: Oh, do you think he was referring to you?

🐣 RT @Gianl1974 Russia is fighting a country led by a 35-year-young Defense Minister , a 40-year-young Head of the President’s office, and a 40-year-young Minister of the Economy. ¤ Fedorov was 31 when the war started. ¤ Zelenskyy became President right before Covid — at 41. ¤ They are young, smart and incredibly brave. ¤ Given the circumstances — can we call them one of the most effective governments in the world?
🖼 https://x.com/Gianl1974/status/2048408396559200602?s=20/photo/1 (-5)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY President of Ukraine
AGE:48 (Born 1977)
KYRYLO BUDANOV Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine
Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine)
AGE: 40 (Born 1986)
MYKHAILO FEDOROV Minister of Defense of Ukraine
AGE: 35 (Born 1990)
OLEKSANDR BORNYAKOV Acting Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine
AGE: 44 (Born 1981)
YULIA SVYRYDENKO
First Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine – Minister of Economy of Ukraine
AGE: 40 (Born 1985)

⋙ 🐣 As the United States once was, Ukraine is now — and it is wonderful to see! Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2048626716289999178?s=20/photo/1
// “I’m just like my country I’m young, scrappy and hungry And I’m not throwing away my shot”
⋙ 🐣 Ages of US Founding Fathers in 1776: ¤ (Source: Claude)
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2048638182384624022?s=20

Thomas Jefferson 1743 (33)
James Madison 1751 (25)
Alexander Hamilton 1755 (~21)
James Monroe 1758 (18)
John Adams 1735 (40)
Benjamin Franklin 1706 70
George Washington 1732 (44)
John Jay 1745 (30)
Roger Sherman 1721 (55)
John Hancock 1737 (39)

🐣 RT @KarinArcus_ok [tr] Cardinal Müller responds to Trump: “No one has the right to criticize the Pope when he faithfully follows the mission he received from Christ.” ¤ The German cardinal came out to defend Pope Leo XIV following Trump’s attacks, in which he called the pontiff “weak on crime” and “terrible at foreign policy” for opposing the war against Iran. “Jesus is the king of peace, whom no one can use to justify war,” the Pope had said earlier.
⋙ 🐣 I think what Trump meant by “weak on crime” is that he insists immigrants are criminals ¤ they are not; as ICE’s own stats show; and those that are were mostly in jail already & were handed over ¤ the Pope asks us to welcome strangers & not “otherwise” them ¤ like it or not, that’s the Gospel
⋙ 🐣 Catholic teaching on “Just War” does not allow for “preemptive” war, in almost all cases ¤ The US was not under attack and military sources say Iran was nowhere near launching one, despite Netanyahu’s hysteria: three other presidents told him “no”

TheAtlantic, David Frum: MAGA’s Strange Quiet After the Shooting https://tinyurl.com/5f2bntuk “Instead of a crackdown on his enemies, Trump wants his ballroom.” //➔ What is he not saying?
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2048554692439912719?s=20/photo/1

… Now another gunman has attacked political targets. At the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, a man discharged a firearm in the vicinity of hundreds of people from the worlds of politics, media, and business—among them, the president and vice president of the United States. Although much about the event remains unclear, the available evidence suggests that the gunman was motivated by an anti-Trump agenda. Yet this time, MAGA’s immediate response to political violence has been much less aggressive. At his press conference after yesterday’s attempted shooting, President Trump cited the attack as proof of the need for his wished-for White House ballroom. Social-media accounts that take their cues from the White House promptly echoed the message.

Trump cares a lot about his ballroom. People who seek his favor have learned to care too. But still, attempted murder as an after-the-fact justification for a home renovation? It seems not only radically beside the point but also quite a humiliating climbdown from last fall’s project to use the martyrdom of Charlie Kirk to consolidate MAGA’s political domination

The unusual caution may indicate a White House intuition that this particular gunman is not a promising candidate to cast as an agent of a broad conspiracy. Trump has characterized the shooter as a “lone-wolf whack job.” Early reporting includes indications that the alleged gunman had poorly considered his heinous plans, not least that he carried a shotgun—not exactly a sniper’s weapon. A degree of deference to reality in itself represents something new for the Trump White House.
v
As bad news accumulates for the president—the backfiring of Trump’s attempted congressional gerrymanders, the worsening of the U.S. economy, plunging poll numbers, a gathering global oil crisis—the energy and self-confidence seem to be seeping out of this administration. Trump had to relent on a scheme to prosecute Fed Chair Jerome Powell for disobeying White House commands to cut interest rates. He had to let go of Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi. Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard may soon follow. So far Trump appears to be bypassing a chance to use an incident of political violence to consolidate personal power.

It all feels like the ending of a chapter, a milestone of an authoritarian project’s faltering under the weight of its arrogance and accumulated mistakes.

WaPo (Mar 21): To tilt Hungarian election, Russians proposed staging assassination attempt https://tinyurl.com/4zscs63h “To aid Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in his election …, operatives proposed ‘the Gamechanger’ — a staged assassination attempt to stir supporters.”

🐣 RT @BillKristol “Volodymyr Zelensky is taking the next step, one that would have been unthinkable even as recently as 2024. By word and deed, he’s showing Europe and the world how the post-American free world can preserve its liberty and independence.”
💙 ⋙ NYT, David French: Meet the New Leader of the Free World https://tinyurl.com/46b3au34 “By word and deed, he’s showing Europe and the world how the post-American free world can preserve its liberty and independence” //➔ “I’m just like my country, I’m young, scrappy and hungry”

A remarkable thing has happened on the world’s battlefields. Ukraine — a nation that was supposed to dissolve within days of a Russian invasion — has fought Russia to a stalemate, revolutionizing land warfare in the process. It has become an indispensable security partner in the western alliance, including in the war against Iran.

Now, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, is taking the next step, one that would have been unthinkable even as recently as 2024. By word and deed, he’s showing Europe and the world how the post-American free world can preserve its liberty and independence. This is what happens when, as Phillips Payson O’Brien wrote in a piece for The Atlantic, “Kyiv appears to have given up on the United States.”

If that is true — and it looks as though it is — it may be worse news for the United States than it is for Ukraine.

Events on the ground and in world capitals are moving so quickly that it’s hard to keep up. First, the strategic situation in the Ukraine war seems to have changed. Last week, Mick Ryan, a retired Australian major general and one of the most astute analysts of the war, wrote that Ukraine has largely stabilized the frontline in eastern Ukraine, deepened its coalition, isolated Russia diplomatically and developed an indigenous arms industry that makes it less dependent on external support.

It’s no longer accurate to think of Ukraine as a desperate underdog; it’s becoming an independent power. Even as it fights for its life against Russia, it’s reportedly reaching defense deals with the Gulf states and with the United States — and this time it’s Ukraine that’s providing military assistance.

In February 2025, Donald Trump mocked Zelensky in the Oval Office. “You’re not in a good position. You don’t have the cards right now,” Trump said. In April 2026, Ukraine has enough cards left that it’s sharing them.

This might be difficult for many readers to grasp — given our nation’s longstanding military supremacy — but the largest and most battle-hardened land force in the western world may well be the Ukrainian Army. While the precise numbers are classified, the Atlantic Council estimated in 2025 that Ukraine had roughly a million men and women under arms, the vast majority of whom serve in the ground forces.

America’s total force is larger than Ukraine’s, but to put the size of Ukrainian land forces in perspective, the combined size of the U.S. Army and Marine Corps is around 620,000. It’s also worth noting that the U.S. forces have much less combat experience than Ukraine forces — especially when it comes to combat with a great power.

No one should minimize Ukraine’s manpower issues (more recent estimates place its total number of active troops well below the million-body peak) or the fact that it has no nuclear weapons and Russia has thousands. But its army is still vast, and its military is the only western force that has fully adapted to modern drone warfare. Indeed, Ukraine is arguably the world’s leader in drone warfare.

Rapid change isn’t just occurring in Ukraine. Other developments across the western alliance show that European nations are working with shocking speed to free themselves from dependence on America.

France is expanding its nuclear arsenal and increasing its defense spending. It is even changing its nuclear doctrine to allow it to deploy nuclear-armed aircraft outside France.

Germany has approved a plan to spend up to a trillion euros on defense and infrastructure. It has also set the goal of creating the strongest military in Europe by 2039 (ironically enough, the 100-year anniversary of the German invasion of Poland).

Canada is enacting its own defense budget increases — with the added twist that it will be spending far less money on American weapons.

This decision mirrors larger European and allied trends. Our allies are increasing their defense budgets and decreasing their dependence on American technology. Just last week, for example, NATO procurement officials decided to replace aging American-made early warning aircraft with newer designs from Saab, a Swedish manufacturer, and Bombardier of Canada. Ukraine has signed deals and letters of intent to purchase potentially hundreds of advanced fighters from Sweden and France.

All of this is taking place after news reports that Denmark had been prepared to blow up airfields in Greenland if its fellow NATO member, the United States, attempted to invade.

Given these developments, is it any wonder that Zelensky has proposed a new defense arrangement for Europe if America keeps stepping back — an alliance between E.U. nations, plus non-E.U. powers like the United Kingdom, Norway, Turkey and Ukraine?

There are readers who will welcome these developments. Good, you might think. Europe should take primary responsibility for its own defense. But there is an immense difference between allies who step up to contribute their fair share to a cooperative alliance and nations who engage in a military buildup to replace American power, which they no longer trust.

I don’t think Americans fully appreciate the extraordinary cost of Trump’s bluster and blunders. It should go without saying, but once you threaten to invade an allied country, you don’t just place the existence of the alliance in jeopardy; you raise the possibility of allies turning into mortal enemies. You can also trigger the kind of insecurity and scramble for power that contributed to the start of World War I.

In practical terms, it’s hard to see how alienating American allies puts America first.

There’s certainly no military benefit. Americans have spent the last several weeks watching our president dismiss our European allies as irrelevant then rage at them for not helping American forces reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

By launching the war against Iran without seeking the help of (or even consulting) our European allies, we lost potential access to their advanced fighters and frigates, as well as to France’s carrier battle group. In this context, there is no such thing as addition by subtraction. We are not stronger when there are fewer forces that will deploy to our aid.

There’s no fiscal benefit, either. This may sound overly basic, but it needs to be said: If you break faith with your allies, you can’t count on them to come to your defense. And that means you have to spend more money to maintain the same level of deterrence.

That’s exactly what Trump is planning to do; he has submitted a roughly $1.5 trillion budget request for the U.S. military, a staggering 40 percent increase from this fiscal year.

And where is the economic benefit? On Friday, Fareed Zakaria published a piece in The Washington Post observing that European and other allied governments aren’t just attempting to achieve greater military independence from the United States; they’re also attempting to gain more financial independence. And even though they have serious differences with China, the primary beneficiary of a rift in European and American relations may well be … China.

Zakaria quotes a Chinese businessman who puts Trump’s catastrophic diplomatic blunders in perspective. “For us, Trump’s attack on Iran is less consequential than his threat to attack Greenland,” he said. “When he did that, to America’s oldest allies, I knew that Europe would not follow America’s approach to China.”

History has its hinge points, and here is one: On Friday night, Feb. 25, 2022, Volodymyr Zelensky released a brief video from Kyiv. He told the people of Ukraine that the government has not fled to safety in the west and that it intended to stand and fight.

“We are here,” Zelensky said. “We are in Kyiv. We are protecting Ukraine.”

When I visited Ukraine in 2023, I spoke to Ukrainian soldiers who told me that statement sent a jolt of electricity through Ukrainian lines. From that moment, they knew they would not surrender; they would stand.

In hindsight, that decision hasn’t just changed the course of Ukrainian history. Its ripple effects are extending across the globe.

Here’s another hinge point: the night of Nov. 5, 2024, when the American people returned Donald Trump to the White House. It’s now clear that Trump’s second term will cause generational damage to American alliances.

Given that Americans saw how Trump behaved in his first term and put him back in power anyway, it’s fair for Europeans to conclude that the rift isn’t with Trump alone; its also with a critical mass of Americans.

The European nations don’t have the luxury of blaming Trump’s re-election on inflation and the border — or presuming that the western alliance will be safe once Trump is gone. One of Trump’s most likely heirs, JD Vance, is arguably even more hostile to the western alliance and Ukraine than Trump is. After all, Vance recently said that one of the things he’s “proudest” of is the administration’s decision to stop buying weapons for Ukraine. How can we be trusted as an ally if only one political party is committed to fulfilling our commitments?

For the foreseeable future, America’s allies will reasonably fear that they may be one election away from abandonment and betrayal.

Politics abhors a vacuum. When America stepped back, other nations were bound to step forward.

While America is still the world’s most powerful nation and it remains (for now) in NATO, it is rapidly forfeiting its role as the leader of the free world. And while we have certainly made mistakes in that role, we did lead the NATO alliance to victory in its generations-long confrontation with the Soviet Union. And we did so without treading into another catastrophic world war.

But you cannot threaten the free world and lead it at the same time. No nation can match American might, but for the first time in my adult life, the moral and strategic heart of the defense of liberal democracy doesn’t beat in Washington. It doesn’t beat in London or Paris or Berlin or Ottawa, either. It’s in Kyiv, where a courageous leader and a courageous people have picked up the torch America has dropped.

🐣 RT @RealBababanaras Iran put following conditions to participate in any peace talk with the United States and handover a below list of demands to American messenger & Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir –
¤ https://x.com/RealBababanaras/status/2048282392151077175?s=20

👉 Guarantee for no future aggression
👉 Hand over effective control of the Strait of Hormuz to Iran
👉 Legitimize uranium enrichment while “promising” no weapons
👉 Lift ALL sanctions immediately
👉 Scrap UN and IAEA oversight
👉 Complete U.S. military withdrawal from the region
👉 No action against Hezbollah, Hamas & Houthis
👉 Financial compensation of USD 50 billion for aggression & targeting Iranian infrastructures

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 👀 Putin has not appeared in public for almost two weeks: Rumors of a split are spreading in the Kremlin, — Daily Star ¤ The dictator disappeared from the radar after Easter, which provoked talk of illness or an internal struggle for power. ¤ Estonian intelligence suggests that Russian elites are preparing changes at the top (Operation Twilight) due to huge losses from sanctions
⋙ 🐣 That was when the Hungarian election was held; when Magyar won, it signaled release of the $96B for Ukraine. Hungary may have been Putin’s last “card.”

🐣 RT @Oct7NeverForget Speaking at a Turning Point USA event at the University of Georgia, US Vice President JD Vance said: “This is one of the things I’m most proud of in our administration. … The United States is no longer buying or sending weapons to Ukraine. We’re out of that process.” He added that he considers this “a very good thing.”
// Entire: if you want to buy weapons—buy them, but the United States is no longer buying or sending weapons to Ukraine. We’re out of that process.” He added that he considers this “a very good thing.”
¤ https://x.com/Oct7NeverForget/status/2048365403043237917?s=20

While Vance was making this point, in Hamburg, the head of Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, was telling journalists—without false modesty—that Germany now has greater production capacity for conventional ammunition than the United States.

To grasp the scale of what has happened, it’s worth recalling the context. While the U.S. was supplying weapons to Ukraine, the American defense industry enjoyed steady government orders and was doing quite well. It was a comfortable model: Washington acted as the primary security guarantor, Europe paid for the umbrella, and didn’t have to strain itself. Donald Trump broke that model. He demanded that Europeans fund their own defense and buy American weapons. Instead, he got something quite different.

Europe didn’t start buying American weapons—it began producing its own. In just two years, Rheinmetall increased its output of artillery shells from 70,000 to 1.1 million per year—a fifteenfold rise. Medium-caliber ammunition grew from 800,000 to 4 million. Military truck production jumped from 600 to 4,500 units annually. Just two years ago, analysts predicted reaching one million shells only in five years. In reality, the EU achieved it in half the time.

The кадровая (workforce) picture is just as telling. Not long ago, the defense sector in Germany was seen as something of a moral taboo—uncomfortable and outdated. Now the trend has reversed: in 2025 alone, Rheinmetall received 350,000 job applications from around the world, 250,000 of them from within Germany. The company now employs 44,000 people—and this is only the beginning.

Trump’s paradox turned out to be striking. For decades, Washington urged Berlin to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense—with little success. Trump simply removed the American security umbrella. And within two years, Europe built its own roof—one so substantial that the U.S. defense industry, having lost Ukrainian orders and failed to gain European ones, now finds itself having to catch up. Trump wanted Europe to pay the U.S. for security. Instead, Europe decided to provide its own—and has already surpassed the U.S. in the production of key types of ammunition. Vance is proud. The American defense industry is counting its losses.

For Ukraine, this transformation has very concrete implications: Rheinmetall is already building factories on Ukrainian territory, and the shells that were critically scarce in 2023–2024 are now being produced on an industrial scale.

⭕ 25 Apr 2026

NBCNews: Iran caused more extensive damage to U.S. military bases than publicly known https://tinyurl.com/y758ctae “U.S. bases and equipment across the Middle East came under attack — including from an Iranian F-5, despite American air defenses — and repairs could cost billions of dollars.”

American military bases and other equipment in the Persian Gulf region suffered extensive damage from Iranian strikes that is far worse than publicly acknowledged and is expected to cost billions of dollars to repair, according to three U.S. officials, two congressional aides and another person familiar with the damage.

Iran swiftly retaliated after the U.S. and Israel attacked on Feb. 28, hitting dozens of targets across U.S. military bases in seven Middle Eastern countries. Those attacks struck warehouses, command headquarters, aircraft hangars, satellite communications infrastructure, runways, high-end radar systems and dozens of aircraft, according to the U.S. officials and an assessment by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.

In the initial days of the war, an Iranian F-5 fighter jet bombed the U.S. base Camp Buehring in Kuwait, despite the base having air defenses, a rare breach that marked the first time an enemy fixed-wing aircraft has struck an American military base in years, according to two of the U.S. officials.

The U.S. bases that came under attack are home to thousands of American troops, and in some cases their families, though they were largely cleared out in the days and hours before the U.S. and Israel went to war with Iran.

The Pentagon has not detailed the extent of the damage to U.S. military bases publicly or, according to the U.S. officials, to members of Congress.

“We do not discuss battle damage assessments for operation security reasons,” a Pentagon official said in a statement. “Our forces remain fully operational, and we continue to execute our mission with the same readiness and combat effectiveness.”

U.S. Central Command declined to comment on battle damage assessments.

Last month, the administration asked private satellite companies, including Planet Labs, to withhold imagery of the bases from the public, making the extent of the destruction difficult to assess, according to the U.S. officials and experts, including a statement from Planet Labs to its customers.

The administration’s request remains in place, a Planet Labs spokesperson said. A White House spokesperson declined to comment.

Some Republican lawmakers have privately expressed frustration directly to senior Pentagon officials about their refusal to provide information about the extent of the damage or any cost estimate for repairs, according to two GOP congressional aides.

“No one knows anything. And it’s not for lack of asking,” one of the aides said. “We have been asking for weeks and not getting specifics, even as the Pentagon is asking for a record-high budget.” …

The damage to and cost of repairing the bases could reignite a yearslong debate over the merits of maintaining U.S. bases in such close proximity to an adversary like Iran. Some national security officials, including some serving in the Trump administration, have for years pushed to move U.S. bases in the region farther east and away from Tehran’s reaches. The issue also could embolden critics of America’s military presence overseas who have advocated for shrinking the U.S. presence in the Middle East, one U.S. official and one person familiar with the matter said. […]

“As part of Epic Fury, the potential future costs to rebuild American military infrastructure overseas may include repair, reconstruction, outright replacement, or even abandonment/decommissioning of locales,” Mackenzie Eaglen, a senior fellow at AEI, said in a statement about the group’s assessment. “War damage also includes estimated costs for infrastructure that is unsalvageable.”

Eaglen’s cost estimate for repairing the infrastructure is more than $5 billion, but that amount does not account for some of the radar systems, weapons systems, aircraft and other equipment destroyed in the Iranian strikes, she said. Eaglen has worked on defense and budgetary and military readiness issues for years and is a former Pentagon official.

The Iranians damaged at least two air defense systems in the region, according to the U.S. officials

TheAtlantic, Elias Wachtel: Why Silicon Valley Is Turning to the Catholic Church https://tinyurl.com/bd73c7kr “Pope Leo thinks the world faces ‘another Industrial Revolution’ in the form of AI, which poses ‘new challenges for the defense of human dignity, justice, and labor.’”
// soul.doc; Priests and theologians want to shape the future of AI. Big Tech is listening.

GoogleAI: Iranian strikes since late February 2026 have caused extensive, underreported damage to U.S. military bases across the Middle East
// … with repairs estimated in the billions. Attacks hit over 100 targets at 11+ sites—including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar—destroying aircraft, hangars, radar, and infrastructure.
(The Daily Beast)

Key Damage Findings:
• Widespread Impact: Facilities in at least seven countries, including Iraq, Jordan, and the UAE, were targeted.
• Significant Infrastructure Loss: Damages include destroyed warehouses, runways, command centers, and satellite communications systems.
• Air Defense Gaps: Reports indicate Iranian drones and even an F-5 aircraft breached defenses to strike bases.
• Specific Targets: The al-Dhafra airbase in the UAE and Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Jordan sustained severe damage to air defense radar systems.
• Casualties: Reports indicate over 13 service members killed and nearly 400 injured.
(The Daily Beast)

Operational & Political Implications:
• Undisclosed Damage: The Pentagon has not publicly disclosed the full extent of the damage, leading to frustration among some lawmakers.
• High Repair Costs: The damage is extensive and “far worse than publicly acknowledged,” according to U.S. officials, creating a multibillion-dollar repair bill.
• Strategic Debate: The severe damage could renew debates regarding the risks of maintaining U.S. bases in close proximity to Iran.
(NBC News)

Note: This information is based on reporting from April 2026 regarding the escalating conflict.

🐣 RT @brave_romania 🇫🇷 Macron: EU defense clause is stronger than NATO’s Article 5. ¤ The French President called the EU’s mutual defense clause (Article 42.7) “rock solid” and said it is more powerful than NATO’s Article 5 because it leaves “no other option.”

🐣 RT @KobeissiLetter BREAKING: President Trump releases a statement on the cancellation of the US delegation’s trip to Pakistan for peace talks with Iran.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2048077353935409483?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump I just cancelled the trip of my representatives going is Islamabad, Pakistan, to meet with the Iranians. Too much time wasted on traveling, too much work! Besides which, there is tremendous infighting and confusion within their “leadership.” Nobody knows who is in charge, including them. Also, we have all the cards, they have none! If they want to talk, all they have to do is call!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @kriptoselcukk [tr]❗️Iran’s ceasefire conditions were just announced, and they are quite harsh:
¤ https://x.com/kriptoselcukk/status/2048093194005491876?s=20

— Handing over Netanyahu to the International Criminal Court
— Withdrawal to the October 7 borders
— Cancellation of Trump’s Gaza plan
— Lifting of all sanctions and return of frozen Iranian funds
— Recognition of Iran’s nuclear rights
— Withdrawal from Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen
— Evacuation of all US bases on Arab lands
— Trump publicly apologizing to Khamenei
— Payment of compensation for all sanctions imposed on Iran

And they concluded with these words:
“This is no great matter for Allah.”

This is not a ceasefire list.
This is a surrender document presented to the world’s most powerful army.

And the most striking part is this: After neutralizing US radars, turning the Strait of Hormuz into a strategic bargaining chip, and rejecting all ceasefire calls, they may actually believe they have the power to enforce this.

NBCNews: Iran caused more extensive damage to US military bases than publicly known https://tinyurl.com/y758ctae “US bases and equipment across the Middle East came under attack — including from an Iranian F-5, despite American air defenses — and repairs could cost billions of dollars.”

⭕ 24 Apr 2026

NYT: The ‘Lasting Damage’ of Pirro’s Abandoned Fed Investigation https://tinyurl.com/3skuhd63 “The Trump administration’s attacks on the Federal Reserve have rattled confidence in the central bank’s ability to operate independently before a leadership transition.”

TheAtlantic, Steven Wilson: The Self-Defeating Condescension of an Anti-Racist Education https://tinyurl.com/2tsu6zj6 “How an ‘ideological purity spiral’ derailed some of America’s most promising classrooms.”

🐣 📊 RT @pewresearch When asked whether they have an overall favorable or unfavorable view of Russia, 83% of U.S. adults say the latter. [Link:] https://tinyurl.com/3exmhucn
// Toward Russia: 83% unfavorable (VERY 50%)
// Toward Putin: 84% unfavorable (VERY 59%)

🐣 RT @jimsciutto These shifts away from the U.S. are the product of the U.S. shift away from Europe.
⋙ 🐣 RT @Tom_Antonov Apr 23 Rt @lalettre_fr NATO picks Saab–Bombardier 🇸🇪🇨🇦 GlobalEye over Boeing 🇺🇸 to replace its aging E-3 AWACS fleet, in a multi-billion deal seen as a strategic shift toward European industry and a major setback for Boeing.
⋙⋙ LaLettre [En]: NATO snubs Boeing and picks Saab for new AWACS surveillance planes https://tinyurl.com/wjsa8d4r

🐣 RT @jimsciutto These shifts away from the U.S. are the product of the U.S. shift away from Europe.
⋙ 🐣 RT @Tom_Antonov Apr 23 Rt @lalettre_fr NATO picks Saab–Bombardier 🇸🇪🇨🇦 GlobalEye over Boeing 🇺🇸 to replace its aging E-3 AWACS fleet, in a multi-billion deal seen as a strategic shift toward European industry and a major setback for Boeing.
⋙⋙ LaLettre [En]: NATO snubs Boeing and picks Saab for new AWACS surveillance planes https://tinyurl.com/wjsa8d4r

🐣 RT @TKouilou [tr] Ukraine Shifts into High Gear: In 3 months, its new Minister of Defense has unleashed a military revolution.
Welcome to the Fedorov era, where Ukraine is reinventing warfare in real time. ¤ Solutions: the “speedrun” method ¤ In 90 days, the minister shakes everything up. ¤ Here’s how:
¤ https://x.com/TKouilou/status/2047613631475372319?s=20

1. Starlink Cutoff for Russians: Protection of Ukrainian skies against Shahed drones controlled via Starlink, radically changing the situation on the front lines.
2. Implementation of Post-Action Reviews: Rapid response to airstrikes on energy infrastructure and increased interception rates for targets.
3. Creation of a “Light” Air Defense Command: Appointment of Pavlo Lazar as deputy to the air defense commander.
4. Update to the Approach for Securing Funds via the “Ramstein” Mechanism: Record announcement of $38 billion for 2026 and improved oversight of aid quality and delivery.
5. Restructuring of the Ministry of Defense: Fight against corruption and increased efficiency, with a new operational organization since April 1.
6. Military Loss Analysis System: Study of the causes of each soldier’s losses and creation of a real-time analysis system for the effectiveness of brigades and army corps.
7. New Approach to Drone and Robotic System Procurement: Data-driven, without the need for manual requests.
8. Massive Purchases of Drones and Robotic Platforms: In one quarter, more purchases than in the entire previous year.
9. Update to the eBaly System: Allocation of points for combat work by aviation, mobile anti-Shahed groups, and snipers. Introduction of a 70% advance for manufacturers.
10. Introduction of Mission Control: Real-time tracking of all air operations for all crews and drone types.
11. Record Purchases of Fiber-Optic Drones, Strike Systems, and Reconnaissance Systems.
12. First Phase of Audit for the Military-Industrial Complex: Reassessment of key enterprises and solutions to address the real problems of the defense system. Halt of numerous corrupt schemes.
13. Preparation for a Comprehensive Transformation: Improvement of recruitment and service conditions in the Armed Forces. 10 of the 30 reform projects are nearly ready to launch.
14. Start of Massive Front-Line Pickup Truck Purchases: A tender will be launched soon.
15. Fourfold Acceleration of Funding and Tunnel Construction: To ensure logistics in front-line regions.
16. Start of Road Repairs: Essential for military logistics.
17. Approved Vision for Reforms: In high-corruption-risk areas, such as armament repairs and state quality assurance.
18. Dozens of Digital Projects: From delays in Reserve+ to new digital processes in SAP.
19. Record Contract for PAC-3 Missiles for Patriot Systems: Supported by Germany, it will begin next year but already allows searching for missiles today.
20. March: Record Enemy Losses: 36,000 Russian soldiers eliminated, along with equipment and air defense systems.
21. Complete Rethink of Deep Operational Work for the Armed Forces: Quality and quantity of medium-range strike system purchases, which will arrive en masse soon.
22. Additional Funding for the “Drone Line”: Units in this project destroy one in four enemy targets on the battlefield.
23. Development of Army Corps Capabilities: Funding for the creation of four separate regiments and integration of three other corps into the program.
24. Decision to Fund the Most Effective Units More: To scale what works.
25. Additional 400 Million Hryvnias: To develop assault drone units and analyze successful operations. New Combat Concept: Synergy between drones and ground units to systematically destroy the enemy.
26. Artillery Range: First competition for the mass purchase of long-range 155 mm shells (30+ km), prioritizing Ukrainian production.
27. Artificial Intelligence Training: Opening of the Defense AI Center “A1”.
28. Simplification of Aviation Modernization: Change in approach to the codification of armaments and military equipment, reducing the time between development and delivery to troops.
29. Strengthening of Private Air Defense Capabilities: Option to transfer weapons from military units, involve territorial defense snipers, and simplify disposal procedures.
30. Government Act Adopted: To carry out experimental purchases worth 5 billion hryvnias.

🐣 RT @jurgen_nauditt And yet another total flop from Trump. ¤ Trump’s “Golden Card,” which allows foreigners to live and work in the US for one million dollars, has so far only been granted to one applicant: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. ¤ This stands in stark contrast to the US president’s statements in December, when he claimed to have sold $1.3 billion worth of cards within just a few days.

YT: Iran War Has Drained US Supplies of Critical, Costly Weapons https://tinyurl.com/yj94keu8 “The Pentagon’s rush to rearm its Mideast forces makes it less ready to confront potential adversaries” //➔ whether from Russia or China, Iran had very precise targeting data
// Full: The Pentagon’s rush to rearm its Mideast forces makes it less ready to confront potential adversaries like Russia and China, administration and congressional officials say.

[…] The Iran war has significantly drained much of the U.S. military’s global supply of munitions, and forced the Pentagon to rush bombs, missiles and other hardware to the Middle East from commands in Asia and Europe. The drawdowns have left these regional commands less ready to confront potential adversaries like Russia and China, and it has forced the United States to find ways to scale up production to address the depletions, Trump administration and congressional officials say.

The conflict has also underscored the Pentagon’s overreliance on excessively expensive missiles and munitions, especially air-defense interceptors, as well as concerns about whether the defense industry can develop cheaper arms, especially attack drones, far more quickly. …

White House officials have refused to estimate the cost of the conflict so far, but two independent groups say the expense is staggering: between $28 billion and $35 billion, or just under $1 billion a day. […]

🐣 RT @harryjsisson It’s 1 am in the morning and Trump is awake ranting incoherently. He’s now calling for the 2020 election to be “permanently wiped from the books and be of no further force or effect.” Someone check him into an insane asylum.
¤ https://x.com/harryjsisson/status/2047549281565823133?s=20/photo/1

⋙ 🐣 RT @reaDonaldTrump The Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the greatest political scams in American History, has been charged with FRAUD. This is another Democrat Hoax, along with Act Blue, and many others. If it is true, the 2020 Presidential Election should be permanently wiped from the books and be of no further force or effect! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DJT

🐣 📊 RT @peterbakernyt Fully 55% of Americans say Trump does not have the mental soundness to serve as president, according to @FoxNews poll, up 7 points since late 2024 and near the high of 56% in 2023. [FoxNews Link:] https://tinyurl.com/y4wn9hc6

⭕ 23 Apr 2026

WSJ, Margherita Stancat: The Pope Is Raising His Voice. Will It Make a Difference?
https://on.wsj.com/41RGJX2 “Pope Leo XIV is re-establishing the Catholic Church as a loud voice in world affairs, challenging President Trump over the war in Iran and decrying the rule of tyrants”
// cont.:during a trip to Africa.”
// For many, the Chicago-born pontiff is filling a moral vacuum in the growing world disorder

🐣 RT @ScarboroughNow All are welcome.
All are invited through Jesus.
We should look for unity, and to build our unity upon what Jesus Christ teaches.”
~Pope Leo XIV
¤ https://x.com/ScarboroughNow/status/2047485723096367408?s=20
🐣 RT @ChristopherHale NEW: Pope Leo XIV says that the Catholic Church’s teaching on sexual ethics must be less prioritized over “greater, more important issues.” ¤ “We tend to think that when the Church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual. And in reality, I believe there are much greater, more important issues, such as justice, equality, freedom of men and women, freedom of religion, that would all take priority before that particular issue.”
💽 https://x.com/ChristopherHale/status/2047382641104879923?s=20/video/1
⋙ He said this in response to a question about the German bishops’ moving beyond Pope Francis’s 2023 document that allowed priests to bless individuals in same-sex relationships. ¤ Leo argued that the bishops went beyond what Francis allowed and that doing so would threaten the unity of the church.
⋙⋙ 🐣 I’ve thought for years that so much about Catholicism I learned as a child was being buried by sexual politics which Jesus never mentioned. While important, I’m so glad Pope Leo is “righting the ship.” We need to listen to obstetricians as well as religious leaders. It’s complex.
⋙⋙⋙ 🐣 I worked in OB for years. There is no consensus when life begins, but 25-30% of pregnancies end naturally in the early weeks, after conception (Mayo Clinic), because they fail to implant or the zygote is defective. Most birth control prevents conception, doesn’t kill a zygote.

🚫🐣 RT @Oct7NeverForget After prolonged closed-door negotiations, Beijing and Kyiv signed a strategic agreement that until now no one had dared to speak about openly. And the first joint strike was…
¤ https://x.com/Oct7NeverForget/status/2047339013875417397?s=20
// needs verification

A large-scale destruction of Russian military facilities on Russia’s own territory and in occupied Crimea.

According to sources close to intelligence, the Chinese side provided Ukraine with:
real-time satellite reconnaissance data,
access to its electronic warfare systems,
and, according to some reports, even certain components for precision weapons.

In response, Ukraine’s Defense Forces carried out a series of powerful strikes that the Russians clearly did not expect on such a scale.

Results over the past 24 hours:

Several key ammunition and fuel depots deep inside Russia were destroyed.
Powerful explosions occurred at facilities in Crimea and Krasnodar Krai.
Logistics used by Russia to supply its southern forces was seriously disrupted.
At the same time, China publicly stated that it “does not support aggression” and “advocates for a peaceful resolution,” but in practice it simply helped deliver a heavy blow to Russia’s war machine.

Russian propaganda is already in hysterics. They are simultaneously trying to blame “Ukrainian Nazis” and “Western patrons,” but it looks pathetic—because it’s clear to everyone that such a level of precision would have been impossible without China.

⭕ 22 Apr 2026

🐣 RT @anders_aslund Don’t you all see it? Trump is useless as negotiator.
His only art is extortion, which pertains to a mafioso.
Nobody can trust Trump because he lies all the time & changes his mind as often.
He is even too senile to remember what he has said.
He hates all agreements, also those that he has concluded himself.
Therefore, any agreement with Trump is meaningless.
Don’t negotiate with Trump & don’t conclude any agreements.
Stand up to him!

🐣 RT @Heisenberg_Usa Same bullshit from Trump, just a different day
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Heisenberg_Usa/status/2047072071444799895?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] Mar 3: “We won the war.”
Mar 7: “We defeated Iran.”
Mar 9: “We must attack Iran.”
Mar 9: “The war is ending very beautifully.”
Mar 10: “practically nothing left to target.”
Mar 11: “You never like to say early you won. We won.”
Mar 12: “We did win, but we not completely yet.”
Mar 13: “We won the war.”
Mar 14: “Please help us.”
Mar 15: “If you don’t help us, I will remember it.”
Mar 16: “Actually, we don’t need any help at all.”
Mar 16: “I was just testing who’s listening.”
Mar 16: “If NATO doesn’t help, they will suffer.”
Mar 17: “We neither need nor want NATO’s help.”
Mar 18: “Allies must cooperate in reopening Hormuz.”
Mar 19: “US allies need to get a grip.”
Mar 20: “NATO are cowards.”
Mar 21: “Hormuz, we don’t use it, no need to open it.”
Mar 22: “This is the last time. I will give Iran 48 hours.”
Mar 22: “Iran is Dead”
Mar 27: “Talksin’t have to be there for NATO.’
Mar 29: “Open Hormuz immediately or consequences!
Mar 31: “Deal very close, Iran will do the right thing.”
Apr 1: “We’ll see what happens very soon.”
Apr 2: “Deal likely, strikes if not.”
Apr 3: “Something big is going to happen.”
Apr 4: “Iran must comply immediately.”
Apr 5: “Open the fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards.”
Apr 6: “A whole civilization will die.”
Apr 7: “We have an agreement.”
Apr 8: “There is no agreement. Fake news.”
Apr 9: “JD is in Pakistan.”
Apr 10: “JD is not in Pakistan.”
Apr 11: “Still blockading the strait.”
Apr 12: “Lifting tron.”
Apr 12: “Lifting sanctions.”
Apr 13: “Imposing new sanctions.”
Apr 14: “Bombing again soon (maybe)))!’

🐣 RT @DrEliDavid [Trump:] UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER
[TextLink:] https://x.com/DrEliDavid/status/2047049936143839610?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] 🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER! After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring ran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE. “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!).” Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Google AI: Ukraine was the “high-tech heart” of the Soviet military-industrial complex, responsible for designing and producing some of the USSR’s most sophisticated weaponry. Source: Military Watch Magazine; ⬇️ MORE ⬇️
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2047141822879740358?s=20

[✛] 🚀 Missile and Space Technology
Ukraine was the primary hub for Soviet ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) development through the Yuzhnoye Design Bureau and Yuzhmash production plant in Dnipro.
• R-36 (SS-18 “Satan”): Ukraine developed and manufactured this heavy ICBM, the backbone of the Soviet strategic nuclear force.
• RT-23 Molodets (SS-24 “Scalpel”): A rail-mobile ICBM produced in Ukraine that was notoriously difficult for Western intelligence to track.
• Space Launchers: Developed the Zenit and Cyclone rockets, which were critical for both military satellite launches and civilian space exploration.
Source: Wikipedia

☢️ Nuclear Infrastructure
While Ukraine did not host warhead assembly facilities, it was a massive “nuclear garage” and launch site for the Soviet Union.
Source: Lieber Institute West Point

• Third Largest Arsenal: Upon the USSR’s collapse in 1991, Ukraine inherited 1,900 strategic warheads and over 2,500 tactical nuclear weapons, briefly making it the world’s third-largest nuclear power.
• Strategic Forces: It hosted the 43rd Rocket Army, managing 176 ICBM silos and dozens of strategic bombers like the Tu-160.
• Denuclearization: Under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, Ukraine transferred all warheads to Russia for dismantlement in exchange for security assurances.
Source: Brookings

🚢 Naval and Heavy Weapons
Ukraine provided the USSR with its only warm-water shipyards capable of building its largest naval vessels.
• Aircraft Carriers: The Nikolayev (Mykolaiv) shipyards built every Soviet aircraft carrier, including the Admiral Kuznetsov and the ship that eventually became China’s first carrier, the Liaoning.
• Tanks: The Malyshev Factory in Kharkiv was a primary producer of the T-64 and T-80 main battle tanks.
• Aviation: The Antonov Design Bureau in Kyiv created the world’s largest transport aircraft, the An-124 Ruslan and An-225 Mriya.
• Engines: The Motor Sich plant in Zaporizhzhia produced almost all engines for Soviet military helicopters and transport planes.
Source: Military Watch Magazine

💡 Key Fact: Russia’s modern nuclear deterrent still relies on maintenance and components originally designed in Ukraine, which became a major strategic vulnerability for Moscow after 2014.

🐣 RT @jurgen_nauditt Trump, the biggest failed strategist in US history, has plunged America into a strategic catastrophe.
¤ https://x.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/2046850678706880888?s=20

During his self-proclaimed “victory parade” against Iran, he squandered at least 45% of the US’s precision-guided missile arsenal in just seven weeks—including half of all THAAD missiles and nearly 50% of Patriot interceptor missiles. This isn’t some fake news blog reporting this, but CNN, citing a CSIS analysis and internal Pentagon data. The result? An “imminent risk” of munitions depletion should a real conflict erupt in the coming years—for example, with China. Trump has ruined the US defense capability for years to come.

And for what?

For nothing.

No regime change in Iran. No destroyed nuclear program. No strategic breakthrough. Just a shaky ceasefire that gives the mullahs time to rearm while America stands naked. Trump, the great “Art of the Deal” master, has once again only produced hot air – and in doing so, burned through the most expensive and scarce weapons in the USA like a pubescent boy with fireworks.

🐣 RT @SenBooker The DOJ just indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that has spent more than half a century fighting the Klan, tracking hate, and defending civil rights.
¤ https://x.com/SenBooker/status/2046765304118665579?s=20

Let’s be clear about what’s happening. This administration is using the full weight of federal prosecution to target an organization whose mission is rooting out violent extremism.

This is part and parcel of Trump’s assault on free speech, on nonprofits, and on anyone who dares to disagree with him. First it was lawfare against political opponents. Then it was revoking the tax status of universities. Now it’s a federal indictment against one of the most historic civil rights organizations in America.

The SPLC has saved lives. It will not be silenced — and neither will we.

🐣 RT @CarriePrejean1 🚨Pope Leo XIV is now the most popular public figure in the United States with a +34 net favorability. Donald Trump sits at -12.

Pope Leo XIV is loved because he has what no politician can manufacture: truth, humility, holiness, peace, and moral authority.

Donald Trump hates what he cannot imitate. A holy man who is more admired by simply serving, rather than demanding people serve him.

Nothing enrages a narcissist more than watching the Holy Father get the applause ego spent a lifetime begging for. Because money can buy headlines, buildings, and attention, but it can never buy popularity, respect, or holiness.

Trump and his puppets mock the Church, slander Catholics, and attack the Pope for one reason: Truth still has enemies, and they know the true Christianity is Catholic.

Pope Leo XIV > Trump

⭕ 21 Apr 2026

≣ CSIS (Apr 21): Report: Last Rounds? Status of Key Munitions at the Iran War Ceasefire https://tinyurl.com/wzxwebxz “The risk—which will persist for many years—lies in future wars.”
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2051010091071971548?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @HQNewsNow Tucker Carlson: I’ll be tormented for a long time by the fact that I played a role in getting Donald Trump elected. We’re implicated in this. I misled people.
💽 https://x.com/HQNewsNow/status/2046577731173802467?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom During a national-security crisis, top advisers decided the commander in chief’s presence was a liability. This incident is only the latest example of how Trump’s aides have been trying to keep him in the dark and build a protective bubble around him.
⋙ TheAtlantic, David A Graham : The Aides Keeping the President in the Dark https://tinyurl.com/3mhp3wsb Donald Trump’s advisers are treating him like he can’t handle the reality of the war in Iran. They might be right—but that fact is a danger to the constitutional order.

NYT, Michael Crowley: Trust Trump? Iran’s Doubts Shadow Peace Talks. https://tinyurl.com/424kx42x “Iranian leaders fear being burned again by President Trump, who tore up a nuclear agreement reached during the Obama administration after lengthy negotiations”

Iranian officials consider Mr. Trump particularly treacherous. They remember the way, during his first term as president, Mr. Trump simply abandoned a nuclear deal Iran had struck with the Obama administration and other world powers after nearly two years of negotiations. Mr. Trump did not claim that Iran was violating that deal; he simply didn’t like it.…

And twice over the past year, Mr. Trump has entered into diplomatic talks with Iran only to launch airstrikes while negotiations were still in their early stages. In late February, Mr. Trump sent envoys to meet with Iranian officials in Geneva just one day before Iran’s supreme leader was killed in an airstrike that began weeks of U.S. and Israeli bombing. By the time of that meeting, Mr. Trump had already committed to war, according to U.S. officials. …

Fearful of being burned again, Iran is insisting on incremental steps and retaining leverage — such as at least partial control of its uranium stockpile for as long as possible. But experts said Iran faced a disadvantage because any plausible deal would require it to take steps that would ultimately be irreversible, such as eventually surrendering its uranium supply.…

Looming over it all will be Iran’s memory of Mr. Trump’s abrogation of the Obama nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, under which Iran agreed to 15 years of limits on its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief.

The agreement took some 20 months to negotiate, with Russia, China, Britain, Germany, France and the European Union joining the United States and Iran in countless rounds of talks. All agreed that Iran was in compliance with the agreement — until Mr. Trump arrived at the White House.

Calling the deal “a disaster,” Mr. Trump withdrew from it in 2018 and hammered Iran with new sanctions. In response, Tehran blew through the caps it had agreed to place on its nuclear program, enriching enough uranium to near-military grade levels to come within weeks of bomb-making capability. (Experts say it could still take Iran many months to build a nuclear bomb once it has refined enough uranium for the task.) …

“Given the depth of mistrust, as well as the sensitivity of the issues being negotiated, it’s very unlikely a deal of this magnitude can be negotiated over a few weeks,” Mr. Sadjadpour said. “More commonly it has taken many months, if not years.”

🐣 RT @RoiLopezRivas [tr] 🇨🇦🇺🇸 This morning, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney sat in a living room, looked into the camera, and delivered a message that can be summed up as follows: The United States—our neighbor, our main trading partner, the country whose economy has been intertwined with ours for nearly two centuries—is no longer an ally we can count on. The United States is falling apart, and yes, that special relationship is not only over; it’s a burden. The ties that once strengthened us have become ties that make us vulnerable because the United States is a dysfunctional and malevolent nation.

WaPo: Trump fought to keep the ballroom fundraising contract secret. Here’s what’s in it. https://tinyurl.com/mr2ujk4j “The agreement governing hundreds of millions in private donations was kept secret until a watchdog group sued and a judge ordered it disclosed.”

🐣 RT @johnmdonnelly Approximate estimates of percentages of U.S. munitions expended in Iran war, per @CNN:
50% THAAD interceptors
50% Patriot interceptors
45% Precision Strike Missiles
30% Tomahawk missiles
20% Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles
20% Standard Missiles (SM-3 and SM-6)
⋙ 🐣 RT @ZcohenCNN New: The US military has significantly depleted its stockpile of key missiles during war with Iran & created “near-term risk” of running out of ammunition in a future conflict should one arise in next few years, per experts & 3 people familiar w/ recent internal Pentagon assessments.
⋙⋙ CNN: US at risk of running out of missiles if another war breaks out after depleting stockpile in Iran operations https://tinyurl.com/54hpcbzj

🐣 RT @ElxMapping 🚨 BREAKING: “Yes” has won the Virginia redistricting referendum — Virginia voters have approved eliminating 4 Republican districts, flipping them to the Democrats
🌎 https://x.com/ElxMapping/status/2046734688895582578?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @FeserEdward Cardinal Ratzinger on the Iraq war: “The concept of a ‘preventive war’ does not appear in the Catechism of the Catholic Church… It was right to resist the war and its threats of destruction. It should never be the responsibility of just one nation to make decisions for the world… Given the new weapons that make possible destructions that go beyond the combatant groups, today we should be asking ourselves if it is still licit to admit the very existence of a ‘just war.’” [FFF link:] https://tinyurl.com/3kxzyker (2008)

🐣 RT @CatholicNewsSvc Pope Leo in Malabo: Exclusion is injustice. As the gap between the top 1% and the rest widens, civil authorities & sound politics must dismantle obstacles to integral human development. God’s banquet is shared & not reserved for an élite. (CNS/Lola Gomez)

🐣 RT @Pontifex Truth presents itself as a reality that precedes human beings. It challenges us and calls us out of ourselves. This is why truth can be sought with trust. Faith does not shut itself off from this search, but purifies it of self-sufficiency and opens it to a fullness towards which reason strives, even if it cannot fully embrace it. #ApostolicJourney #EquatorialGuinea [Vatican link:] https://tinyurl.com/yebsh6je
¤ https://x.com/Pontifex/status/2046638846566166676?s=20

🐣 RT @BohuslavskaKate LT. GEN. HERTLING: Ukrainians have proven themselves to be the ultimate fighting force in Europe right now. ¤ And it’s not just the combination of their new technologies and their evolutions on the battlefield. It’s continued grit and leadership dynamics of the people in charge.

🐣 RT @RichRaho Pope Leo in address to World of Culture: “The problem does not lie in knowledge, but in its deviation toward an intelligence that no longer seeks to correspond to reality, but to bend it to its own measures, judging it according to the convenience of those who claim to know.”
¤ https://x.com/RichRaho/status/2046636004400853242?s=20

🐣 RT @TheCradleMedia Iranian Supreme Leader’s Representative to the IRGC, Abdollah Haji Sadeghi.:
¤ https://x.com/TheCradleMedia/status/2046593186802389271?s=20

• “For now, there are no negotiations … We will negotiate whenever the enemy accepts our conditions.”

• “The enemy must accept that we are in a position of victory and that it is in a position of defeat.”

“Our people are perceptive; whenever, with the guidance of the leadership, our battlefield shifts from the missile field to the field of negotiation, the people will support it.”

• “Our people are a people of logic and reasoning, and loyal to the leadership; wherever and in whatever arena necessary, they have stood against arrogance.” (Mehr News)

🐣 RT @SenSanders
[TextLink:] https://x.com/SenSanders/status/2046657523017515292?s=20/photo/1

Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth. – Pope Leo XIV

🐣 RT @KobeissiLetter BREAKING: President Trump extends the US ceasefire with Iran indefinitely.

🐣 RT @ STATEMENT OF PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP: Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal. I have therefore directed our Military to continue the Blockade and, in all other respects, remain ready and able, and will therefore extend the Ceasefire until such time as their proposal is submitted, and discussions are concluded, one way or the other. President DONALD TRUMP

🧵 RT @Mylovanov Trump spoke to Bloomberg, CBS, Axios and the New York Post in one morning. He claimed Iran agreed to an “unlimited” nuclear suspension, to hand over its enriched uranium, and to a weekend deal. ¤ None of it was true. A near-deal collapsed within hours — CNN. 1/ [CNN link:] https://tinyurl.com/2hff4x49
📌 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2046691996027302351?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2046691996027302351.html

Trump told Bloomberg Iran agreed to an “unlimited” suspension of enrichment. ¤ He told CBS Tehran “agreed to everything” and would hand over its uranium. He told Axios a deal would come “in the next day or two.” Sources said Iran had not agreed to those terms. 2/

Source familiar with the talks, to CNN: “The Iranians didn’t appreciate POTUS negotiating through social media and making it appear as if they had signed off on issues they hadn’t yet agreed to.” ¤ Trump officials privately told CNN the commentary damaged the talks. 3/

Iran’s foreign ministry: “Enriched uranium is as sacred to us as Iranian soil and will not be transferred anywhere under any circumstances.” ¤ Hours earlier, Trump said US personnel would “go down and get it” with the Iranians and bring the stockpile to the United States. 4/

The ceasefire cracked further on Sunday. ¤ The USS Spruance, a US guided-missile destroyer, fired into the engine room of Iranian cargo ship Touska and seized it in the Gulf of Oman. Iran’s military vowed to retaliate against “US armed piracy.” 5/

Trump demands no enrichment, indefinitely. Iran proposed a 10-year pause followed by a decade of low-level enrichment. ¤ The US earlier offered 20 years. Iran countered with 5. Washington rejected that. 6/

Under discussion: the US unfreezing $20 billion in Iranian assets in exchange for Tehran handing over its 400 kg stockpile of 60 percent enriched uranium. ¤ Trump spent years attacking Obama for the same move. He denied the report: “We are not paying 10 cents.” 7/

The ceasefire deadline keeps moving. ¤ Trump announced it at 6:32 p.m. ET on April 7. He then told Bloomberg it ends “Wednesday evening Washington time” — an extra 24 hours. Asked five times if he would extend it, he gave three different answers. 8/

Talks are now set for Wednesday morning in Islamabad. ¤ Vance, Witkoff and Kushner lead the US delegation. Trump calls a further extension “highly unlikely.” After Wednesday: accept an imperfect deal, or blow up Iranian bridges and power plants — a possible war crime. 9X

🐣 RT @rebelliousdogra 🚨 BIG BREAKING 🚨 ¤ 🔴 IRAN REJECTS NEGOTIATIONS 🔴
¤ https://x.com/rebelliousdogra/status/2046641040833274054?s=20

“Sending a US delegation to Pakistan for negotiations is pointless at this stage. For the past two months, President Trump has spread falsehoods daily. You cannot negotiate with a partner who abandons truth. Let the record be clear, Iran has never agreed to surrender its Uranium. China has never agreed to stop defense cooperation with us. The Strait of Hormuz was never opened by us under pressure. While the US President and his son profit daily, ordinary Americans and citizens across the world bear the cost of these lies and wars. The world must see what this is really about. This is not a fight over Iran’s uranium. This is a fight to undermine the sustainability and self-sufficiency of China, Russia, and India. Until there is honesty, there can be no diplomacy.”

– Abbas Araghchi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Andrii Melnyk: No army since World War I has paid such an astronomical death toll for such negligible territorial gains as Russia.
¤ https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/2046564466863521801?s=20

According to battlefield assessments, Russia is currently losing on average 254 soldiers for every square kilometer of Ukrainian territory it still manages to occupy.

To put this into historical perspective, let me remind that during the Winter War of 1939–1940 — an illegal aggression launched by the Soviet Union against Finland — the cost in human lives per square kilometer was roughly one hundred times lower.

This comparison illustrates a fundamental reality of this war: Russia is achieving minimal territorial gains at an extraordinarily high human price.

The calculation is very simple: just multiply 6,000 by 254 dead soldiers for each square kilometer.

According to this brutal logic of war, in order to seize the whole territory of the Donetsk region by military means, Mr. Putin would have to send at least another one and a half million soldiers to their deaths.

This mathematics is truly mind-boggling.

In practical terms, this would effectively amount to more than doubling Russia’s current human losses in this war, bringing the total beyond 3 million casualties.

Even for Mr. Putin, for whom the value he attaches to the lives of his own citizens appears to be worth less than a penny, such a figure would be catastrophic.

That is why the Kremlin turned to the pseudo-negotiation tactics, trying to achieve this goal through diplomatic pressure on Ukraine. But it is not going to work.

If one were to apply the current rate of Russian casualties to Mr. Putin’s real objective which is occupying the entire territory of Ukraine, the conclusion becomes almost unimaginable.

It would imply that Russia would have to sacrifice over 122 million soldiers to reach this goal.

Let me repeat: 122 million Russians would have to die in order to achieve Mr. Putin’s bizarre dream of conquering Ukraine – @MelnykAndrij

🐣 RT @iranin_arabic [tr] The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, revealed Donald Trump’s terrifying tactics that resemble mafia methods. He disclosed that the U.S. President explicitly threatened to assassinate Iranian negotiators if they did not surrender within four hours. He added that the White House is being run by a rogue gang.

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Andrii Melnyk:
💽 https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/2046522279710925093?s=20/video/1

Thirty-five million Russians have no toilet at home.

On the one hand, Russia demands recognition as a “great superpower,” claiming the right to redraw state borders by force and impose a new sphere of influence.

Yet, on the other hand, around 35 million Russian citizens still rely on outside toilets — shabby wooden huts in yards and gardens.

Putin wants to convince American mediators and the broader international community that peace itself hinges on Ukraine’s voluntary surrender of the Donetsk region and that, once this demand is met, Russia will at last be happy and eternal peace will follow.

Does anyone seriously believe this fairy tale? We don’t.

What is the purpose of this relentless war of conquest when only about 1 percent of Russia’s vast territory is populated and developed, while the remaining 99 percent are largely neglected and, at best, partially exploited for natural resource extraction?

Moreover, during his 26-year rule, Putin has effectively abandoned his population, many of whom still struggle with the most basic standards of sanitation.

According to official statistical data, one-fourth of Russian households do not have access to centralized sewage systems or indoor sanitation facilities.

In rural areas, the situation is even more severe: in some regions, up to two-thirds of households must rely on outdoor pit latrines.

Let us imagine the scale of the absurdity we are dealing with.

On the one hand, Russia demands recognition as a “great superpower,” claiming the right to redraw state borders by force and impose a new sphere of influence.

Yet, on the other hand, around 35 million Russian citizens still rely on outside toilets — shabby wooden huts in yards and gardens.

Let me repeat: thirty-five million Russians have no toilet at home.

This is roughly the population of Malaysia, Poland, or Saudi Arabia and is comparable to the population of Texas, or almost that of California.

Putin wants Russia to be seen as a respected global player while living conditions for a huge part of Russia’s population remain no better than in the early Middle Ages.

This is the true paradox before us: Putin seeks imperial expansion abroad while failing to secure basic human dignity at home – @MelnykAndrij

🧵 RT @vatican.va In a world wounded by arrogance, people hunger and thirst for justice. We must encourage those who believe in peace and dare to engage in “countercurrent” politics, which focus on the common good. What is urgently needed is the courage of new visions and an educational pact that gives young people space and trust. #ApostolicJourney #EquatorialGuinea https://tinyurl.com/msxvaw45
📌 [TextLink:] https://x.com/Pontifex/status/2046582649179820518?s=20/photo/1
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2046582649179820518.html

The rapid technological evolution we are witnessing has accelerated speculative behavior in search of raw materials. This shift seems to overshadow fundamental imperatives such as the safeguarding of creation, the rights of local communities, the dignity of labor, and the protection of public health. I thus renew the appeal of Pope Francis, who passed away exactly one year ago: “Today we also have to say ‘thou shalt not’ to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills.”

Even more than in the past, it is clear today that the proliferation of armed conflicts is often driven by the exploitation of oil and mineral deposits, with no regard for international law or the self-determination of peoples.

Without a change of direction in the assumption of political responsibility, and without respect for institutions and international agreements, humanity’s destiny risks being tragically compromised. God does not want this. His holy Name must not be profaned by the desire for domination, arrogance, or discrimination. Above all, it must never be invoked to justify death-dealing choices and actions.

🧵 RT @Applebaum: Trump does not think strategically and does not have an endgame. ¤ He began the war without clear goals, never asked the American people, never spoke to Congress, and assumed it would be some kind of two-day operation that would end fast. 1/
📌 💽 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2046544251924652401?s=20./photo/1
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2046544251924652401.html

🐣 RT @ @Gianl1974 💬 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the participants of the Four Freedoms Awards Ceremony:
¤ https://x.com/Gianl1974/status/2046464131432124682?s=20

‘At the core of Russia’s war against Ukraine is a false claim – that Ukraine does not exist, that it is allegedly a part of Russia. This is not just about history. Not just politics or ideology. It is the basis of their goal – to erase Ukraine completely. And not only Ukraine.

Russia has openly, repeatedly said it wants to control all its neighbours. It wants to decide what security in Europe should look like – and whether it should exist at all. Russia has carried its war ideas as far as Syria and Africa. This is a truly global threat. It matters that many in the world see it exactly this way – as a global threat.’

⭕ 20 Apr 2026

TheAtlantic, Noah Hawley: What I Learned About Billionaires at Jeff Bezos’s Private Retreat https://tinyurl.com/yyxhwpyf “For the richest men on Earth, everything is free and nothing matters.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2046589029022380533?s=20/photo/1

Decades of research in developmental psychology have shown that moral reasoning develops through consequences—not punishment, necessarily, but experiencing the effects of your actions on others, receiving honest feedback, having to accommodate reality as it actually is rather than as you wish it to be. It’s not that the wealthy become evil; it’s that their environment stops teaching them the things that nonwealthy people are forced to learn simply by living in a world that pushes back. When you can buy your way out of any mistake, when you can fire anyone who disagrees with you, when your social circle consists entirely of people who need something from you, the basic mechanism by which humans learn that other people are real goes dark.

🐣 RT @GoUncensored Rumor is General Caine refused to activate the nuclear codes under article 92. Which says it’s completely ok to disobey an outright unlawful order from your Superior that violates the Constitution or International Law. ¤ Which dropping a nuke on Iran obviously would be.

🐣 RT @GoUncensored Rumor is General Caine refused to activate the nuclear codes under article 92. Which says it’s completely ok to disobey an outright unlawful order from your Superior that violates the Constitution or International Law. ¤ Which dropping a nuke on Iran obviously would be.

🐣 RT @mjfree For the 2nd time Trump just threatened to blow up an entire country: ¤ “If Iran does not sign this deal, the whole country is getting blown up.” ¤ Remove this madman NOW before he burns the whole world down.
¤ 💽 [Fox video] https://x.com/mjfree/status/2045892041893154892?s=20/video/1

MSN/Mirror: Trump ‘blocked from accessing nuclear codes’ by head of US military https://tinyurl.com/mtv7tpsj

US President Donald Trump was blocked access to his country’s nuclear codes by a senior US military chief, according to bombshell reports.

Retired CIA analyst Larry Johnson said on popular YouTube show Judging Freedom that during an emergency meeting on Saturday, Trump tried to access the nuclear codes.

“One report coming out of that meeting at the White House is that Trump wanted to… use the nuclear codes and General Dan Caine stood up and said ‘No’.”

“He invoked his privileged as the head of the military, so to speak. It was apparently quite a blow-up.”

“There’s some very bizarre things going on in DC.”

The claims have not been confirmed and it is unclear what the nuclear codes would be used for should they be accessed.

But it comes following reports that Donald Trump was barred from the Situation Room by military advisors during a critical Iran rescue operation.

The US President was reportedly shut out of discussions amid concerns about his furious temperament.

Top administration officials believed his volatility could compromise the operation.

Following the downing of a US aircraft by Iranian forces earlier this month, Trump allegedly spent hours yelling at staff in the West Wing after being haunted by memories of the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis.

The US has been at war with Iran since February 28 when joint US-Israeli strikes were carried out on several key Iranian targets.

Iran responded by targeting sites across the Middle East, plunging the region into chaos, and closing the critical Strait of Hormuz trade route.

A short-term ceasefire has been struck, but no long-term peace solution has been confirmed.

Iran, although not officially recognised as a nuclear-armed state, is understood to have uranium enrichment capabilities that could enable nuclear weapons.

Again, it is unclear if or what the US nuclear codes would be used for.

🐣 RT @MeLive007 JUST IN: 🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iranian Parliment Speaker Qalibaf says “President Trump wants to turn this negotiating table by his own imagination into a table of surrender.” ¤ “We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats.”

🐣 RT @icardo8 [tr] 🚨 URGENT NEWS 🚨
🔴CHINA TO U.S.- “FINAL WARNING”🔴
¤ https://x.com/icardo8/status/2046316578120388936?s=20

“China has taken note of the illegal interception by the United States of a civilian cargo ship traveling from China to Iran.

Allow us to be absolutely clear: The United States can do many things on the world stage. But attacking, detaining, or harassing ships traveling from China, or returning to China, will not be taken in good faith by the Chinese government and people.

Such actions will be regarded as a direct attack on China’s sovereignty, its trade, and its core interests.

This is the final warning to the United States. Do not miscalculate. Do not play with fire. China will take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.

The United States will bear full responsibility for any consequences arising from further provocations.”

– Spokesperson of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs

🐣 RT @Kasparov63 You hate to say it, but Iran has a point… What are US guarantees worth after they betrayed Ukraine?
⋙ 🐣 RT @MykhailoRohoza During talks between U.S. and Iranian delegations in Pakistan, the topic of Ukraine unexpectedly came up. ¤ While discussing U.S. guarantees in the event that Iran halts uranium enrichment and abandons the development of nuclear weapons, the Iranian side asked how the United States is fulfilling the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, in which it pledged to respect and protect Ukraine’s sovereignty. ¤ The U.S. delegation left the question unanswered.

🐣 I think Trump’s plan is not to replace the reflecting pool, but to replace it and the Mall and the street to the arch with a pavement for parades, after the French model. ¤ Why the secrecy?
[TextLink:] 🌎 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2046427501497295288?s=20/photo/1 -2

🐣 RT @gbrew24 Another one: after arguing the deal will be better than JCPOA and that he’s not in a rush, Trump now contends that the US is winning, largely thanks to the blockade.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/gbrew24/status/2046315984126923166?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @reaDonaldTrump I’m winning a War, BY A LOT, things are going very well, our Military has been amazing and, if you read the Fake News, like The Failing New York Times, the absolutely horrendous and disgusting Wall Street Journal, or the now almost defunct, fortunately, Washington Post, you would actually think we are losing the War. The enemy is confused, because they get these same Media “reports,” and yet they realize their Navy has been completely wiped out, their Air Force has gone onto darker runways, they have no Anti Missile or Anti Airplane Equipment, their former leaders are mostly gone (This has been, in addition to everything else, Regime Change!), and perhaps, most important of all, THE BLOCKADE, which we will not take off until there is a “DEAL,” is absolutely destroying Iran. They are losing $500 Million Dollars a day, an unsustainable number, even in the short run. The Anti-America Fake News Media is rooting for Iran to win, but it’s not going to happen, because I’m in charge! Just like these unpatriotic people used every ounce of their limited strength to fight me in the Election, they continue to do so with Iran. The result will be the same – It already is! President DONALD J. TRUMP

NYT (Nov 2024): How Tulsi Gabbard Became a Favorite of Russia’s State Media https://tinyurl.com/ynjaexee “President-elect Trump’s pick to be the director of national intelligence has raised alarms among national security officials.” Hillary Clinton said she was a “Russian asset.”
// 11/18/2024, updated 12/6/2024
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2046338835802452222?s=20

🐣 RT @KobeissiLetter BREAKING: President Trump releases a statement on the deal that he says is being made with Iran.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2046283001013629169?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump @KOBEISSILETTER The DEAL that we are making with Iran will be FAR BETTER than the JCPOA, commonly referred to as “The Iran Nuclear Deal,” penned by Barack Hussein Obama and Sleepy Joe Biden, one of the Worst Deals ever made having to do with the Security of our Country. It was a guaranteed Road to a Nuclear Weapon, which will not, and cannot, happen with the Deal we’re working on. They actually gave $1.7 Billion Dollars in “GREEN” Cash, loaded into a Boeing 757, and flown to Iran for Iranian leadership to spend anyway they saw fit. He emptied out all of the Cash from Banks in D.C., Virginia, and Maryland. Those Bankers said they’ve never seen anything like it before. In addition, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars was paid to Iran. If I did not terminate that “Deal,” Nuclear Weapons would have been used on Israel, and all over the Middle East, including our cherished U.S. Military Bases. The Fake News, like Lightweight Washington Post “Journalist” David Ignatius, loves to talk about the JCPOA, knowing that it was DANGEROUS, and a Complete Embarrassment to our Country. If a Deal happens under “TRUMP,” it will guarantee Peace, Security, and Safety, not only for Israel and the Middle East, but for Europe, America, and everywhere else. It will be something that the entire World will be proud of, instead of the years of Embarrassment and Humiliation that we have been forced to suffer due to incompetent and cowardly leadership! President DONALD J. TRUMP

NYT, Jill Filipovic: The Trump Administration Is Coming After Birth Control Access in a Terrifying New Way https://tinyurl.com/3hfjvkbf “Not satisfied with the end of legal abortion in America, the anti-abortion movement seems poised to end the era of affordable contraception”

In 1969, President Richard Nixon recognized that “unwanted or untimely childbearing is one of several forces which are driving many families into poverty.” A year later, Congress passed Title X: the first federal program entirely dedicated to family planning and reproductive health care.

It would go on to become one of the most successful federal programs of the last century, with one study finding it prevented some 20 million unintended pregnancies in just 20 of its 50 years by providing women with free and low-cost birth control. It has significantly reduced child poverty. In 1957, nearly one in 10 teenage girls gave birth. Today, the rate is closer to one in 100. For every dollar spent on family planning funds, the government saves $7 in Medicaid costs.

But President Trump seems intent on killing Title X. This month, the Department of Health and Human Services quietly issued new funding guidelines that have effectively subverted the program’s entire purpose. Instead of getting highly effective contraception methods to the country’s poorest women so that they may decide if and when to have children, Title X under Mr. Trump seems aimed at getting more women pregnant, whether they want to be or not. And it appears to cater to three influential parts of the Trump coalition: The anti-abortion movement; the MAHA, or Make America Healthy Again, movement; and pronatalists who want to see birthrates rise at nearly any cost.

More than half of patients at Title X clinics use modern contraceptive methods to prevent pregnancy. But the word “contraception” comes up just once in the Title X funding document, and only in a section on “reducing overmedicalization in health care.” Instead, in a change pulled directly from Project 2025, H.H.S. tells Title X clinics to emphasize “fertility-awareness-based methods,” a broad category that includes things like tracking your periods or your body temperature to estimate which days you might be fertile. These methods can be helpful for getting pregnant, but are generally far less so for preventing pregnancy. Fertility awareness methods have typical-use failure rates between 12 and 24 percent in the first year, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The intrauterine device, by contrast, has a failure rate of less than 1 percent.

The health department seems to want to shift taxpayer dollars away from reliable contraception and toward counseling men on erectile dysfunction, testosterone levels and sperm motility, each of which merits three mentions in the new guidance, while IUDs and birth control pills earn none. The document is a mishmash of Make America Healthy Again talking points on lifestyle changes, conservative bromides on marriage before babies and pronatalist nods to fertility. …

… Most of the major “pro-life” groups in the United States either oppose contraception or stay mum on the topic. The old anti-abortion movement strategy was to attack contraception as immoral, though few Americans share that view. The new tactic is more MAHA-coded, and with a pronatalist twist: Sow fear that modern contraceptives are unnatural, and push holistic alternatives instead; generate alarm about declining birthrates and blame the dip on working women (in reality, it largely comes from fewer teen pregnancies).

Women who are able to plan their pregnancies wind up in better physical and psychological health, birth healthier infants, make more money, are less likely to get divorced, are less likely to rely on public assistance and invest more in their children, who, in turn, do better educationally and behaviorally. Modern contraception is nothing short of a medical miracle — one that has saved the lives of millions of women and babies worldwide.

Not satisfied with the end of legal abortion in America, the anti-abortion movement seems poised to end the era of affordable contraception. The result isn’t just the end of Title X as we knew it. It’s the demise of a long-held bipartisan consensus that a woman’s ability to shape her own future, even if she was poor, was worth something — and certainly worth the government’s investment.

🐣 RT @ScarboroughNow Drawing on the lessons of Vietnam and the 1983 Marine Barracks bombing in Lebanon, SecDef Weinberger listed requirements for US military engagements. Later expanded by Vietnam vet Colin Powell, the Weinberger-Powell Doctrine explains later failures in Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/ScarboroughNow/status/2046178231536001132?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] 1. Is a vital national security interest threatened?
2. Do we have a clear attainable objective?
3. Have the risks and costs been fully and frankly analyzed?
4. Have all other non-violent policy means been fully exhausted?
5. Is there a plausible exit strategy to avoid endless entanglement?
6. Have the consequences of our action been fully considered?
7. Is the action supported by the American people?
8. Do we have genuine broad international support?

WaPo: Oil prices jump after U.S. seizes Iranian vessel, imperiling ceasefire https://tinyurl.com/4cbcj5rn “Iran threatened retaliation after the seizure in the Gulf of Oman, and it wasn’t clear whether Tehran would attend talks in Pakistan, with a ceasefire set to expire Wednesday.”

🐣 RT @Pontifex The care of the weakest is a very important sign of the quality of the social life of a nation. Let us remember that the elderly are in need of assistance, but first and foremost need to be listened to, because they preserve the wisdom of a people. We owe them gratitude, because they have faced great difficulties for the good of the community.

NYT: The Killer Robots Are Coming. The Battlefield Will Never Look the Same. https://tinyurl.com/mty6ak68 “Ukraine is using unmanned ground vehicles armed with bombs, guns or rockets to carry out attacks and keep its soldiers out of harm’s way.”

🐣 RT @joekent16jan19 POTUS is laying out two courses of action—a negotiated settlement, or a major escalation. ¤ There is a third option, and he should take it: recognize there is no way to force a positive outcome and simply leave.
¤ https://x.com/joekent16jan19/status/2045912878730133935?s=20/photo/1

The region is not ours to fix. President Reagan chose this path in Lebanon in ‘84, withdrawing U.S. forces after the Beirut barracks bombing once it became clear the mission’s stabilization goals could not be met, effectively ending direct American military involvement and avoiding a deeper quagmire and long-term entrenchment in the region.

A negotiated settlement is unlikely to work or be taken seriously by the Iranians unless we make concessions on the enrichment issue. As we saw yesterday in the SOH, the IRGC is empowered to act without the consent of the civilian leadership, so it’s likely they won’t honor any deal reached.

A major escalation will lead to a very destructive outcome for Iran, the region, and eventually the U.S. If POTUS chooses brute force and targets civilian infrastructure, we will create another generation of radicalized Iranians who will rally around the regime and escalate the war by any means possible.

If POTUS opts to strike the civilian infrastructure, declare victory, and then leave, we will only further erode our standing in the world, the petrodollar, and eventually our status as the world’s reserve currency holder. We need to get out now.

Don’t double down on failure. Avoid the sunken cost trap, leave now, and put America’s interests first.

⋙ 🐣 RT @ @realDonaldTrump Iran decided to fire bullets yesterday in the Strait of Hormuz – A Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement! Many of them were aimed at a French Ship, and a Freighter from the United Kingdom. That wasn’t nice, was it? My Representatives are going to Islamabad, Pakistan — They will be there tomorrow evening, for Negotiations. Iran recently announced that they were closing the Strait, which is strange, because our BLOCKADE has already closed it. They’re helping us without knowing, and they are the ones that lose with the closed passage, $500 Million Dollars a day! The United States loses nothing. In fact, many Ships are headed, right now, to the U.S., Texas, Louisiana, and Alaska, to load up, compliments of the IRG, always wanting to be “the tough guy!” We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY! They come down fast, they! come down easy and, if they don’t take the DEAL, it will be my Honor to do what has to be done, which should have been done to Iran, by other Presidents, for the last 47 years. IT’S TIME FOR THE IRAN KILLING MACHINE TO END! President DONALD J. TRUMP

⭕ 19 Apr 2026

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa We have already reached 10-year agreements with three key countries: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. We already have requests from 11 countries – the Middle East and the Gulf, plus we’re also gradually turning our attention to the Caucasus.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2045927283492344288?s=20

Within this Drone Deal, there will be at least 10 different agreements covering various categories of Ukrainian weapons exports. Co-production is planned – the construction of our production lines both in Ukraine and in other countries. New technologies that we are developing jointly with various countries, in which they are investing. There is also an agreement on annual funding for a specific amount, along with a fixed number of years.

Second: the European track. Work has already begun with Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Of course, we have good relations with the United Kingdom and France. I am confident that all of this will also be implemented there.
¤ From an interview with the “United News” telethon.

⭕ 18 Apr 2026

TheAtlantic Phillips P O’Brien: Ukraine Has Finally Given Up on Trump https://tinyurl.com/2ywbukme “Using language that would until recently have been unthinkable, Zelensky has indicated that he no longer views the United Stated as a reliable ally”
// Zelensky has written off the United States.

🔄 TIME: The 100 Most Influential People of 2026 https://tinyurl.com/3asrax5b Leaders: Pope Leo XIV, Claudia Sheinbaum, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Mark Carney, Zohran Mamdani, Xi Jinping, Sanae Takaichi, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Steve Witkoff, Gavin Newsom, Gwynne Shotwell, Balendra Shah, Susie Wiles, Tarique Rahman, Mark Kelly, Heather Gerken, Dan Caine, Heather Wirkkunnen, Rafael Mariano Grossi, Mette Frederiksen, Jacob Frey, Fatih Birol
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2045837512170492291?s=20

WSJ: Behind Trump’s Public Bravado on the War, He Grapples With His Own Fears https://tinyurl.com/3rdvkcp8 “The president’s impulsive style has never before been tested during a sustained military conflict; ruminating on Jimmy Carter”

🔷 President Trump’s handling of the war with Iran is characterized by an unorthodox, maximalist approach, veering between belligerence and conciliation.
🔷 Trump made impulsive pronouncements, including a social media post threatening Iran on Easter and a 12-hour ultimatum, often without national security team input.
🔷 The war, which began February 28, has seen a critical trade route closed for weeks, gas prices rise, and European allies refuse to join the U.S. campaign

President Trump’s handling of the war with Iran is characterized by an unorthodox, maximalist approach, veering between belligerence and conciliation.

Trump made impulsive pronouncements, including a social media post threatening Iran on Easter and a 12-hour ultimatum, often without national security team input.

The war, which began February 28, has seen a critical trade route closed for weeks, gas prices rise, and European allies refuse to join the U.S. campaign.…

A president who thrives on drama is bringing an even more intense version of his unorthodox, maximalist approach to a new situation—fighting a war. He is veering between belligerent and conciliatory approaches and grappling behind the scenes with just how badly things could go wrong.

At the same time, the president sometimes loses focus, spending time on the details of his plans for the White House ballroom or on midterm fundraisers—and telling advisers he wants to shift to other topics. …

The president’s impulsive style has never before been tested during a sustained military conflict. Unlike the successful operation in Venezuela, which buoyed his confidence, Trump is confronting a more intractable foe in Iran, which is so far unwilling to bend to his demands. 

“We are witnessing astonishing military successes that do not add up to victory and that is squarely on the president and how he’s chosen to do his job—lack of attention to detail and lack of planning,” said Kori Schake, a senior fellow at the right-leaning think tank American Enterprise Institute who served on former President George W. Bush’s National Security Council. … …

Trump himself wasn’t up for re-election—and he thought a win over Iran would give him a chance to reshape the global order in a way he couldn’t in his first term, two top officials said. Trump said early in the military operation that if we get this right, we are saving the world, according to a person who heard his comments.  …

The strait has been a particular source of frustration. Before the U.S. went to war, Trump told his team that Iran’s government would likely capitulate before closing the strait, and that even if Tehran tried, the U.S. military could handle it, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Some of the president’s advisers were caught off guard that tanker traffic would grind to a halt so quickly after the bombing began, according to a person in contact with the White House. …

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en US Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll: [Ukrainians] have fundamentally altered how humans engage in conflict. They have done an absolutely amazing job of innovating. ¤ And I am publicly on record saying we are learning a lot from them, and we are changing to a lot of the lessons that they have taught us.
💽 https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/2045497999854375392?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @MOSSADil 🎥 WATCH: President Trump post on Truth Social. Stay connected, follow @MOSSADil.
💽 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2045704841561842128?s=20/video/1
⋙ 🐣 Who is the antichrist? ¤ CatholicChristian: The Antichrist: Everything the Bible Teaches
https://tinyurl.com/yp8e5zcw a comprehensive Catholic guide to one of Scripture’s most misunderstood figures. //➔ quite good actually
[TextLink:] https://x.com/MOSSADil/status/2045702177553854920?s=20 /photo/1
⋙ 🐣 The person who has appeared on the scene who will have the greatest impact for the good is not Trump but rather Pope Leo, the Vicar of Christ. ✝

🐣 RT @LevantWire IRAN-U.S. TALKS BREAK DOWN: DISCUSSIONS POSTPONED
¤ https://x.com/LevantWire/status/2045529768519672020?s=20

✅ The Supreme National Security Council of Iran has announced that the Pakistan-mediated discussions between the U.S. and Iran, held last week, concluded without a resolution. The continuation of these talks has been postponed to a future date, contingent upon the cessation of “excessive demands” from the adversary and the acceptance of “realities on the ground.”

✅ The U.S. has extended new proposals, which were communicated during the recent visit of Pakistan’s army chief to Tehran. “Iran is currently reviewing these offers and has not yet issued a response.” It was affirmed that “we assure our nation that Iranian negotiators will not recede from their positions nor make the slightest concession.”

✅ Regarding the conditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, it was stated that this action was undertaken as part of efforts to halt aggression against Lebanon. This occurred in adherence to Iran’s regulations and upon the receipt of payments related to maritime environmental protection, with Iran simultaneously ensuring the security of vessels.

✅ Iran’s National Security Council views the ongoing U.S. blockade as a breach of the current ceasefire. Consequently, “Iran is preventing the conditional reopening of the strait due to U.S. violations.”

🐣 RT za_usrt ⚠️MAJOR BREAKING: Major Gen. Paul Eaton (ret), issues a warning to all military personnel:
¤ https://x.com/za_usrt/status/2045430083796730257?s=20

“Wiping out an entire civilization is the definition of genocide. Any order given to that effect must be refused by every service member up and down the chain – period. This is exactly what senators were talking about when they issued a video saying illegal orders must be refused. Now it may be time for service members to follow their recommendation.”video saying illegal orders must be refused. Now it may be time for service members to follow their recommendation.”

🐣 RT @clashreport Iran’s Ghalibaf: We are not militarily stronger than America.
¤ https://x.com/clashreport/status/2045618236050583565?s=20

It is clear that they have more money, equipment, and resources, and because they have carried out so many aggressions around the world, they also have more experience than us. The Zionist regime, which is America’s servant and agent in the region, also possesses high power.

We fought in an asymmetric war in such a way that, with our own design and preparedness, we pushed the enemy back. The enemy had money and resources but did not act correctly in design. They make mistakes in strategic decisions. They are wrong about our people, just as they are wrong in their military design.

The U.S. government claims that “America First” is important to it, but in practice it has shown that Israel is first for it, because it makes decisions based on false information from Israel.

🐣 RT @McFaul And that’s why we should be partnering with Ukraine and not abandoning them.
⋙ 🐣 RT @nexta_tv “Ukrainians have fundamentally changed the way wars are fought. They have done an absolutely remarkable job of innovating, and I publicly state that we are learning a lot from them and applying many of the lessons they have taught us,” said U.S. Army Secretary Driscoll.
💽 https://x.com/McFaul/status/2045525067468362002?s=20/video/1

⭕ 17 Apr 2026

TheAtlantic, Sarah Fitzpatrick (Apr 17): The FBI Director Is MIA https://tinyurl.com/52wxwser Kash Patel has alarmed colleagues with episodes of excessive drinking and unexplained absences.
// 4/17/2026

DCExaminer, Dan Hannan: Donald Trump is Losing his Mind https://tinyurl.com/5z277jkm

Imagine it was someone other than President Donald Trump. Suppose a different leader were posting deranged rants in the small hours, insulting the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics, threatening entire civilizations with annihilation, and comparing himself to God. What would be the reaction?

We all know the answer. Both parties would be rushing to bundle him out of office before he did irreversible harm to the republic. Yet, as we all also know, different rules apply to Trump. Democrats, having had their fingers burned by two failed impeachment attempts, are reluctant to try again, for they know that there is no surer way to boost his support. Republicans, who privately despair at the electoral damage he is doing, let alone the constitutional damage, are paralyzed by fear of upsetting their primary voters.

Harold Macmillan, the suave British postwar leader, liked to quip that there were three institutions that no sensible man challenged: the Brigade of Guards, the National Union of Mineworkers, and the Roman Catholic Church. Yet Trump, in one of his nocturnal forays, decided to conjure a fight with the Bishop of Rome out of thin air, calling him “WEAK on crime and terrible on foreign policy,” and adding that “if I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.”

The president, whom critics accuse of having a God-complex, then followed up with an image of himself as Jesus healing the sick. This image was offensive, not only to Catholics, but to almost every practicing Christian and, come to that, to almost every Muslim. The Iranian ayatollahs used one of the Lego videos with which they have been trolling the president to condemn what they sincerely saw as blasphemy.

They were not alone. CatholicVote.org, which turned out millions of voters for Trump in three successive elections, condemned the post as impious. At the same time, according to its president, Kelsey Reinhardt, “President Trump’s post insulting Pope Leo crossed again a line of decorum.”

Trump decided to send out his vice president, a committed Catholic, to defend his behavior. JD Vance duly chided the Holy Father, which he cannot have found comfortable. He tried, as politicians do in these situations, to tell the pontiff to stick to spiritual matters and let the president do the politics. But, when pushed, he was reduced to making the extraordinary assertion that, “It’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.”

Trump’s superpower, it has always seemed to me, is to make the people around him debase themselves while offering them no loyalty in return. If, as St Paul says, a man cannot serve two masters, Vance has made his choice.

Even now, a residual MAGA base will cheer the president unconditionally. At an event in Texas last week, I made a slighting reference to Trump’s tendency to insult U.S. allies. Afterward, a perfectly charming couple spoke to me in a succession of MAGA clichés, like online Russian bots made flesh: “He’s playing chess while you’re playing checkers,” “He’s smarter than his critics,” “Where do you get your news from, the New York Times?” I can’t help noticing, though, that such people are fewer than they were a year ago.

What chess move, after all, requires picking a quarrel with the pope? The only conceivable answer might be that Trump is engaging in prestidigitation, fabricating a row to distract from something worse. What, though, could be worse? Is he worried that voters will suddenly wake up to the ways in which he and his associates have been enriching themselves in office? That there will be a belated interest in the favors sought from foreign governments, the digital currency boondoggles, the consultants offering access for cash, and the acceptance of a private jet from a Gulf state? Or does he fret about the fate of his Hungarian ally, Viktor Orban, hammered by voters last week after rising concerns about his autocratic style and the enrichment of his cronies?

These things are possible, I suppose. The likelier explanation, though, is that this is exactly what it looks like. A 79-year-old man who has long dealt in chaos is now being consumed by that chaos. His episodes are becoming more frequent, his good days further apart. What he has lost is not a sense of decency or decorum — he never had those — but any remaining sense of self-control.

Everyone around him can see it. Yet, whether from ambition, cowardice, or weary acceptance, they keep looking for ways to rationalize his behavior. The tragedy is no longer Trump’s. It is now America’s

🐣 RT @KarinArcus_ok [tr]📌 Outrage Over New Attacks on Leo XIV: Support for the Pope Grows as Trump Hardens His Tone
¤ https://x.com/KarinArcus_ok/status/2045123444149264819?s=20

What’s happening no longer feels like a mere exchange of statements. The clash between Donald Trump and Pope Leo XIV began as a disagreement over war and peace, but now it’s reaching another level: while Trump persists in discrediting the Pontiff for his messages against violence, more and more Christian voices are coming forward to publicly back the Pope. One of the strongest was that of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, who openly supported Leo XIV’s call to defend peace and recalled the brutal human cost left by wars: the dead, the displaced, and families torn apart.

What’s stirring many of the faithful the most is that Leo XIV hasn’t backed down. Even under the attacks, the Pope has continued to denounce war, the abuse of power, and the use of religion as an excuse to justify violence. In other words, while politicians demand that he stay silent, among Christian sectors both within and outside Catholicism, the idea is growing that precisely now is when he must speak out the most. And that’s the point that carries the most weight: for many believers, defending the Pope at this moment isn’t just about defending one person, but about defending a voice that’s standing firm against the logic of war.

🐣 RT @AJEnglish BREAKING: US President Trump also said that “maybe I won’t extend” the ceasefire if no deal is reached with Iran by Wednesday, and the US blockade of Iranian ports will continue. 🔴 LIVE updates: https:/aje.news/p64xm6

🐣 📊 RT @DMichaelTripi NEW: Pope Leo XIV tested as the most popular public figure in the United States at net +34. -NBC

🐣 The JCPOA nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama Admin was WORKING. Trump lied about this.
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2045340997941342392?s=20/photo/1 -2

🧵 RT @mb_ghalibaf [tr] (Speaker of Islamic Republic of Iran’s Parliament)
📌 https://x.com/mb_ghalibaf/status/204526471359311497

1- The President of the United States made seven claims in one hour, all seven of which were false.
2- They did not win the war with these lies, and they will certainly not get anywhere in negotiations either.
3- With the continuation of the blockade, the Strait of Hormuz will not remain open.

4- Passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be conducted based on the “designated route” and with “Iranian authorization.”
5- Whether the Strait is open or closed and the regulations governing it will be determined by the field, not by social media.

6- Media warfare and engineering public opinion are an important part of war, and the Iranian nation is not affected by these tricks. Read the real and accurate news of the negotiations in the recent interview of the Foreign Ministry spokesman.

⋙ 🐣 He lies to keep the markets from tanking. ¤ You might want to consider starting with the text of the JCPOA, amended to reflect current realities. ¤ You’ll never get a reasonable statement from the Trump administration. They aren’t capable.

🐣 RT @TheStudyofWar NEW: The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which is the Iranian entity that has disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz during the war, outlined specific conditions on April 17 for vessels to transit the strait that amount to Iran retaining control over maritime traffic through the strait. [ISW link:] https://tinyurl.com/4r9hewdd
¤ 🌎 https://x.com/TheStudyofWar/status/2045297842655244749?s=20/photo/1 -2

These conditions include:

1) only commercial vessels not “related to belligerent countries” may transit the strait,

2) vessels must transit the strait via Iran’s approved transit route through Iranian territorial waters, and

3) vessels must coordinate their passage through the Strait with Iranian forces.

These conditions indicate that the IRGC seeks to retain operational control over transit through the strait, likely to continue to use the strait as a point of leverage to try to extract concessions from the United States.

The IRGC harshly criticized Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi after Araghchi announced on X that the Strait of Hormuz is “completely open.” The IRGC’s criticism of Araghchi is reflective of broader divisions within the Iranian regime, which CTP-ISW has consistently reported on in recent weeks.

Commercially available maritime data shows that no Iranian-linked vessels approached the US blockade line on April 17, and US officials have stated that US forces will engage Iranian-linked vessels beyond this line. CENTCOM announced on April 17 that 19 vessels have complied with US direction to turn around and that zero vessels have successfully breached the blockade. Commercially available maritime data shows that some non-Iranian-linked vessels have approached the US blockade line to exit the strait. These ships do not fall under the US blockade and are able to freely transit in and out of the strait.

🐣 RT @TheStudyofWar MORE: There continue to be significant gaps between the US and Iranian negotiating positions, and the status of the negotiations remains unclear. The two sides disagree on several core issues, according to US, Iranian, and other officials and sources on April 16 and 17.
¤ https://x.com/TheStudyofWar/status/2045306318899032422?s=20/photo/1

US President Donald Trump has continued to press for the complete removal of Iran’s highly enriched uranium (HEU) stockpile from Iran, while Iran appears unwilling to surrender all of its enriched uranium. The parties also remain divided over Iran’s ability to enrich uranium.

There continue to be significant gaps between the US and Iranian negotiating positions, and the status of the negotiations remains unclear. The two sides disagree on several core issues, according to US, Iranian, and other officials and sources on April 16 and 17[22] US President Donald Trump has continued to press for the complete removal of Iran’s highly enriched uranium (HEU) stockpile from Iran, while Iran appears unwilling to surrender all of its enriched uranium. 23] The parties also remain divided over Iran’s ability to enrich uranium. Iran has proposed a five-year pause in enrichment, while previous reports indicated that US negotiators discussed a 20-year moratorium on uranium enrichment.[24] President Trump said on April 17 that any agreement must go beyond a fixed timeframe and ensure that Iran can never acquire a nuclear weapon, however.[25] Trump also denied claims that the United States would unfreeze $20 billion USD worth of Iranian assets in exchange for Iran’s HEU stockpile.[26] Iranian officials have argued that a ceasefire in Lebanon must be part of Iran’s ceasefire with the United States, a demand that Trump rejected on April 17 by insisting that a US-Iran deal would “in no way [be] subject to Lebanon.”[27]

Some Iranian regime officials seek a preliminary agreement to extend the ceasefire to continue negotiations for a more comprehensive agreement. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on April 17 that Iran is pursuing an interim agreement to “create space for more talks on lifting sanctions on Iran and securing compensation for war damages.”[28] The official added that Iran would provide “assurances” to the international community about the peaceful nature of its nuclear program in exchange.[29] CP-ISW previously noted that Iran is exploiting the current ceasefire to reorganize and regenerate its ballistic missile force, and Iran would almost certainly continue to do so if the United States and Iran agreed to a preliminary agreement and extended the ceasefire.[30]

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 Iran has rejected Donald Trump’s claim that enriched uranium will be transferred to the United States.
¤ https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2045225753332068401?s=20

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told state television that such a transfer has never been on the table.

“Iran’s enriched uranium will not be transferred anywhere,” he said.

Trump had claimed earlier Friday that the US would recover all “nuclear dust created by our B-2 bombers,” referring to material buried under American strikes last year.

He also said the two countries were close to a deal after Iran reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping. ¤ Tehran says otherwise.

🐣 RT @BohuslavskaKate US Army Secretary Driscoll: Ukrainians have fundamentally altered how humans engage in conflict. They’ve done an absolutely amazing job of innovating, and I am publicly on record saying we’re learning a lot from them and we’re changing to a lot of lessons that they’ve developed.
💽 https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2045130641809752541?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @rubenblades [tr] Of all the photos that have been taken of Trump, this one “portrays” him spiritually. His lack of empathy, zero interest in another person’s problem, absence of solidarity, lack of cooperation to help third parties, zero concern for the state of the other. Completely absent, emotionally and humanely, completely incapable of feeling what a normal person—and especially someone in his position—would feel. ¤ Poor are the people who think Trump is interested in helping them. This photo says it clearly. ¤ Your problem is not his problem. He is interested in himself and no one else.
🖼 https://x.com/rubenblades/status/2045005885789831278?s=20/photo/1
// A person passed out in Trump’s office; others rush to help; Trump stands there

🐣 RT @USCCB The Catechism of the Catholic Church on Just War Doctrine.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/USCCB/status/2045162044282814784?s=20/photo/1

The Catechism of the Catholic Church on Just War Doctrine

All citizens and all governments are obliged to work for the avoidance of war. ¤ However, “as long as the danger of war persists and there is no international authority with the necessary competence and power, governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed.” (CCC, no. 2308)

The strict conditions for legitimate defense by military force require rigorous consideration.
The gravity of such a decision makes it subject to rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy.
At one and the same time:

1 The damage inflicted by the aggressor on the nation or community of nations must be lasting, grave, and certain;

2 All other means of putting an end to it must have been shown to be impractical or ineffective;

3 There must be serious prospects of success;

4 The use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated. The power of modern means of destruction weighs very heavily in evaluating this condition.

These are the traditional elements enumerated in what is called the “just war” doctrine. The evaluation of these conditions for moral legitimacy belongs to the prudential judgment of those who have responsibility for the common good.

(CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, NO. 2309)

The Church and human reason both assert the permanent validity of the moral law during armed conflict. “The mere fact that war has regrettably broken out does not mean that everything becomes licit between the warring parties.” (CCC, no. 2312)

PRAY FOR PEACE

WaPo: Even for Europe’s populist firebrands, Trump might be going too far https://tinyurl.com/228v6r7s “The symbiosis between the president and European nationalists has reached a potential breaking point as he issues genocidal rhetoric and criticizes the pope.”

⭕ 16 Apr 2026

🐣 RT @Aesalerte [tr]🇻🇦 Pope Leo XIV: “The world is destroyed by a few tyrants. They are the ones who, from their offices, decide the hunger that a country will endure. These few tyrants have created a system where human life is treated like a commodity. They believe they own the sun and the rain … Enough is enough! Peace will come only when the last of the tyrants understands that you cannot buy the soul of a people who have chosen to be free.”

🐣 RT @anneapplebaum Heartbreaking description of the pointless, thoughtless damage being done to the Kennedy Center. It was such an important part of life in Washington, and is now being destroyed for no reason.
⋙ 🔊 TheAtlantic, Anne Applebaum: Defund Science, Distort Culture, Mock Education [podcast] https://tinyurl.com/7bkwvt6f “It’s not just about cuts to research. It’s about power.”

💙 WSJ, Peggy Noonan: Trump Meets His Match in Pope Leo https://tinyurl.com/2p9w4nny “As Bishop Sheen said to Milton Berle, the vicar of Rome has better writers and a better sponsor.”

TheAtlantic, Tom Nichols: Pope James David Vance the First https://tinyurl.com/5xbfknjj “The vice president has decided he’s a more accomplished theologian than Leo XIV.” //➔ My Mom used to say converts sometimes thought they were “holier than the pope”; maybe she had a point.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2044941365490897368?s=20/photo/1

The Trump administration doesn’t seem to have many rules, but one of them is that once the president picks a fight, his posse must show up to support him, no matter how ill-advised the conflict. And few senior officials are more eager to back up the boss in every embarrassing beef than Vice President Vance, who recently seems to have decided that he, and not Pope Leo XIV, is the true arbiter of Catholic doctrine.

President Trump is personally angry with Leo because the pontiff has been deeply critical of America’s war of choice in Iran. Accordingly, Trump lashed out at His Holiness twice over the past few days. Vance might have seen this as a valuable opportunity to say nothing and let the storm pass; Leo, naturally, doesn’t seem to care all that much what Trump thinks. (As my colleague Liz Bruenig wrote, Leo answers to a higher authority.) Had the vice president remained silent, Trump might have moved on, and Vance, a relatively recent convert to Catholicism, would have been able to stay out of a dustup between his president and his spiritual leader.

But no. Vance just had to speak up. He could have taken his cues from John F. Kennedy or Mario Cuomo, Catholic politicians who were careful to note that their faith was personal and important to them, but that in their public life, they must govern as Americans according to the Constitution. Vance decided on a different approach: The pope, he implied, wasn’t a very good, or very smart, Catholic.

Vance’s response to Leo’s statements came during an interview at a Turning Point USA event in Georgia. It was a sour cocktail of equal parts hubris and ignorance with a spritz of Vance’s trademark smarm, and it is worth considering in full:

“In the same way that it’s important for the vice president of the United States to be careful when I talk about matters of public policy, I think it’s very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.

“And I think that one of these issues here is that there has been—if you’re going to opine on matters of theology, you’ve got to be careful; you’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth, and that’s one of the things that I try to do, and it’s certainly something I would expect from the clergy, whether they’re Catholic or Protestant.”

Vance just told the bishop of Rome that theology should be “anchored in the truth”? What does that even mean? Whose truth? Somewhere in the nether gloom, Pontius Pilate is rubbing his aching temples and thinking he’s heard this one before.

Catholics, of course, believe that the pope is infallible when he issues ex cathedra pronouncements on faith and doctrine and, yes, morality, so challenging his pronouncements on war and peace seems a tad presumptuous for a member of the faithful. (My own faith, Eastern Orthodoxy, does not have a figure with power like the pope, but you can bet I’d think twice before telling our top cleric, the patriarch of Constantinople, that he was all hosed up on some important theological stuff.) Vance’s slap at Leo—including the pompous implication that he needs to go back and do some theology homework—illustrates the political and religious risks that Vance is willing to take not only with the Vatican, but with a country whose population is one-fifth Catholic, in order to demonstrate his utter fealty to Trump.

Some years ago, I wrote a book, The Death of Expertise, in which I examined the strange phenomenon whereby every person thinks they’re an expert, to the point where they are willing to lecture actual experts about those experts’ own field of competence. Doctors, lawyers, professors, and people in trades such as carpentry and electrical work can tell stories of some layperson who had ideas about medications, the law, or what kind of circuit breakers to use. It’s human, it’s silly, and it’s sometimes dangerous.

Vance, however, has blown right past all such minor examples and has now seized the top seat in the Death of Expertise Hall of Fame: He has lectured the pope—the pope, the leader of a billion and a half Catholics—about being too sloppy with theology.

It gets better—or worse, depending on how you look at it. Vance took issue with Leo’s declaration about war, in which the pope said: “Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs.” What about World War II? Vance huffed. Wasn’t God on America’s side then? Of course, arguing that God takes sides in human wars seems a rather fraught business, which is why most Christian denominations tend to avoid such pronouncements and instead ask their adherents to pray for peace. During the American Civil War, although slavery was a manifest evil, Abraham Lincoln chose not to extol the North’s righteousness in his second inaugural address, but instead humbly reminded Americans that both sides “read the same Bible, and pray to the same God,” sorrowfully noting that the Almighty gave the conflict to both North and South as the price of exterminating the sin of slavery.
v
But Vance wasn’t really interested in arguing with his spiritual father; he was instructing him. “When the pope says that God is never on the side of those who wield the sword,” Vance pontificated, “there is more than a thousand-year tradition of just-war theory.”

It’s true that the early Christian world produced what is now known as the just-war tradition, a body of thought that serves as the foundation of much of American and international law about when countries may go to war, and how they should conduct themselves in combat. One of the first and most important of these thinkers was Saint Augustine. Indeed, Leo knows this because he was the leader of the Augustinian order for more than a decade, and so Vance might have paused for just one more nanosecond to realize he was lecturing the first Augustinian pope about the just-war tradition.
^
Less than a day after the vice president’s remarks, the chairman of the doctrine committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops spelled it out for Vance that a difference of opinion with the pope is not just another internet wrangle with some random troll: “When Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church,” Bishop James Massa wrote, “he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ. The consistent teaching of the Church is insistent that all people of good will must pray and work toward lasting peace while avoiding the evils and injustices that accompany all wars.”

Perhaps Vance will take the hint. Meanwhile, his attempt to enlighten the pontiff revealed not only his arrogance, but his lack of knowledge about the just-war tradition itself. No matter what the vice president thinks, it’s not a set of rules that tells Christians when God is on their side. The just-war tradition attempts to reconcile the reality of a violent world with the undeniable spiritual peril of taking up arms, and it’s a lot more complicated than Christ blessing the good guys. For nearly 20 years, I helped students every summer at Harvard wrestle with just-war concepts, debating what constitutes a “just cause,” considering the meaning of a “right intention,” and evaluating “proportionality,” among other tenets of the just-war tradition.

These concepts are not a checklist to be completed; they are not chits to be collected that then allow national leaders to assume that their wars are approved by Jesus. The entire body of just-war thinking regards war as evil and every human life lost, ally or enemy, as a tragedy. Its precepts are not excuses; they are meant to be questions that leaders should ask themselves before risking their mortal souls by going to war.

Vance’s attempt to take on Leo by going after the pope’s, shall we say, area of expertise only showcases what Pope Gregory the Great called “the queen of all vices,” the deadly sin of pride. The Catholic Church, in Latin, calls this the transgression of superbia. But describing the willingness of someone like Vance to do such a thing requires a word from Yiddish rather than Latin: chutzpah.

🐣 RT @BohuslavskaKate APPLEBAUM: Trump administration wants to do business with Russia, and war in Ukraine is an obstacle. They treat it like trivial problem that could be solved if Zelenskyy would just step aside.
¤ 💽 https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2044823936081203609?s=20/video/1

It’s profound arrogance, ignorance, and hubris all wrapped into one. This is a really big war. It’s a war about European civilization, the same civilization they claim to care about. It’s about sovereignty.

Do Ukrainians not deserve sovereignty? This is illustrative of the deep shallowness of Trump administration and their inability to spend even five minutes trying to understand what these conflicts around the world are actually about.

🐣 RT @Gianl1974 SHOCKING CLASH: Donald Trump CALLS POPE LEO XIV “AN INSULT TO JESUS” — THE POPE’S RESPONSE STUNS THE WORLD
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Gianl1974/status/2044814818289299906?s=20

🐣 RT @MeidasTouch Pope Leo XIV: Jesus told us, blessed are the peacemakers. But woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic, or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth. Yes, my dear sisters and brothers, you who hunger and thirst for justice, who are poor, merciful, meek, and pure of heart—you who have wept. You are the light of the world.

🐣 RT @BillKristol “That’s why the Trump administration has chosen to pick a fight with Pope Leo XIV. They’re attacking Pope Leo not simply because he’s the pope but because he’s the first American pope. He’s a threat to their ambition to change the meaning of America.” [link]

🐣 RT @inesanma”The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters! They are the descendants of Abraham, as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore. Let us look into each other’s eyes: we are this immense people! Peace is not something we must invent: it is something we must embrace by accepting our neighbor as a brother or sister,” Pope Leo in Bameda’s Cathedral, Cameroon, at a gathering for peace.

🔊TheAtlantic, Hanna Rosin: If Hungary Can Do It [podcast] https://tinyurl.com/yvs56pb7 “Viktor Orbán offered a model for antidemocratic rule, one admired by Donald Trump and other world leaders. What does his stunning loss after 16 years in power mean?”

WaPo: Trump tests loyalty of Christian supporters as erratic behavior escalates https://tinyurl.com/5n8753re “The president maintains his hold on the Christian right, but his bluster, fight with the pope and portrayal of himself as a Jesus-like figure strain that bond.”

🐣 RT @AJEnglish “The bully may have the missiles and a presidential seal, but he has finally met a principled antagonist who will not be cowed, bought, or brow-beaten into collusion or silence.” — #AJOpinion by Andrew Mitrovica ⤵️
⋙ AlJazeera, Andrew Mitrovica: The pope has shown the world how to stand up to Trump https://tinyurl.com/4v6tjxjn “Far too many world leaders have chosen to mollify the bullying US president. Pope Leo has shown there’s another way.” “Sometimes, the ‘good guys’ do wear white hats.”

The “good guy” I am referring to is the American-born leader of the Catholic church, Pope Leo XIV, who shepherds a 1.4 billion-strong congregation.

The “white hat” he dons is a skullcap called a “zucchetto” – which is meant to signify his authority and humility in equal measure.

Lately, Leo has been exercising his authority – imbued with a quiet humility – to confront a bully who ought to have been confronted a long time ago.

That bully is, of course, United States President Donald Trump – whose idea of diplomacy is to strut around the globe spewing puerile, profanity-laced threats meant to frighten or intimidate other presidents and prime ministers into acquiescence or submission.

For years, Trump’s modus operandi worked. Too often, too many presidents and prime ministers opted to mollify him, instead of challenging him.

Their myopic reasoning – that assuaging Trump’s ego would soothe his petty, vindictive instincts – only emboldened a president who, like every bully, takes keen pleasure in exploiting weakness to satisfy a narcissism-centred hunger for dominance.

Clearly, Leo rejects appeasement as an antidote to coercion and hate.

Unlike a host of callow politicians who couch their misgivings in carefully worded evasions and bureaucratic-speak, Leo has, to his credit, taken a blunt, public stand against the furious, foolish architects of a disastrous war.

In this welcome regard, Leo has not only adopted his predecessor’s – Pope Francis – honourable defiance against suffering and injustice, but has also refined it into a sharp, uncompromising critique of autocratic hubris.

While most “leaders” of Western, “liberal” democracies were reluctant to condemn Trump’s overt expression of genocidal intent, Leo made his objections plain – without hesitation or even a hint of qualification.

“As we all know, there was also a threat against the whole people of Iran, and this is truly unacceptable,” Leo said in Italian. “And I wish to invite all to really think deep inside their heart about … innocent people who are also victims of this escalation of a war.”

Not surprisingly, Leo’s admonition and appeal prompted Trump and his evangelical supporters to confirm that “thinking” about the plight of “innocents” is, for them, a disagreeable, alien concept.

Trump and carpet-bombing-giddy company framed the unprovoked attack on Iran as a necessary Holy War sanctioned by a Lord whose teachings they claim, unconvincingly, to be faithful to.

Leo rejected outright the blatant blasphemy.

In a homily delivered during Sunday mass, Leo repudiated the absurd notion that the God he serves and worships heeds the hysterical call of warmongers.

He insisted, instead, that their “hands are full of blood”.

“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” Leo said. “He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: Your hands are full of blood.’”

Leo did not name him, yet his stinging broadside was, no doubt, directed at America’s preening secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, and the gaggle of faux “Christian” preachers cheerleading a calamitous war of choice.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not escape Leo’s piercing rod.

Although addressing Trump’s misbegotten adventurism may have been top of mind when Leo held a prayer for peace in St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City on Saturday, Netanyahu was, I am convinced, in his rhetorical crosshairs, as well.

Leo derided the “delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive”.

Trump and Netanyahu resemble conjoined twins who share a “delusion of omnipotence” and an insatiable craving for war.

Leo urged them to stop the carnage they have unleashed – this time, on Iranians.

“To them we cry out: Stop. It is time for peace. Sit at the table of dialogue and mediation – not at the table where rearmament is planned and deadly actions are decided.

“Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life,” he added.

The Trump regime’s response has, predictably, been a reflection of the US commander-in-chief’s signature brutishness and self-aggrandisement.

A senior Pentagon official conveyed a not-so-veiled threat in a “bitter” meeting with the Vatican’s US envoy.

Reportedly, Cardinal Christophe Pierre was warned that Washington “has the military power to do whatever it wants – and that the Church had better take its side”.

Faced with the raw, unchecked hostility of a president who demands devout loyalty, Leo has offended the bully braggart.

The pontiff’s reply was a simple, powerful statement of uncommon resolve.

“I’m not afraid of the Trump administration or speaking out loudly of the message of the gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do,” Leo said.

While a besieged president wails about “weakness”, Leo has established – through his poignant words and fine example – that true strength lies in moral clarity, not in the frantic, vacant pursuit of riches and hegemony.

The clarifying aspect of this clash between a demagogue and a pope became apparent when Trump posted – and then deleted – an image portraying himself as the literal figure of Christ.

It was, at once, a sorry attempt at self-deification, and a reminder of the startling magnitude of Trump’s defining conceit and vanity.

It was a tawdry grasp at sanctity from a man whose life has been the antithesis of the values and beliefs he sought to appropriate for his parochial political ends.

In this contest of personalities and will, the divide is stark: One side offers the familiar tropes of the strongman, while the other reminds us that dignity is a dividend of tolerance and understanding.

The bully may have the missiles and a presidential seal, but he has finally met a principled antagonist who will not be cowed, bought, or brow-beaten into collusion or silence.

And that, it seems, is the one idea Donald Trump cannot abide.

⭕ 15 Apr 2026

Axios: Exclusive: UK-Ukraine duo beats Americans at their own drone game https://tinyurl.com/4unj3kww “The US launched a killer-drone competition in February. It was won, by a small British company with frontline Ukrainian experience and a manufacturing footprint in Atlanta”

The US launched a killer-drone competition in February. It was won, according to public leaderboards, by a small British company with frontline Ukrainian experience and a manufacturing footprint in Atlanta.

Why it matters: Skycutter’s stateside success, after flying well under the radar, is a reminder that:
• Flash does not necessarily signal substance;
• Innovation exists outside the big-money bubbles of Silicon Valley and Washington;
• And the Russia-Ukraine war is influencing the battlefield tech of today and tomorrow.

Driving the news: Skycutter scored an overall 99.3 at the first Gauntlet, an attack drone fly-off at Fort Benning, Georgia. In second was Neros, a California startup, at 87.5.

“We were nervous going into it, but we performed so exceedingly well compared to the competition,” Vincent Gardner, Skycutter’s operations director, told Axios. “We just aced every mission profile they gave us.” ¤ That included long-distance and urban strikes.

Zoom in: Skycutter competed with the Shrike 10-F, a 10-inch first-person view (FPV) drone that can be operated via fiber optic cable, which counters electronic jamming and spoofing. The drone is the result of collaboration with SkyFall, a Ukrainian outfit the company has worked closely with in the past.

• “They make one every 23 seconds, 123,000 units per month,” Gardner said of SkyFall, “and we redesigned it with them to exclude any Chinese parts or components, which is one of the requirements of the Drone Dominance program.”
• “A lot of people came with, I would argue, quite overengineered solutions,” he added. “These drones, they’re like mechanical wasps.”

Context: More than two-dozen companies were invited to participate in Gauntlet I. Among them were Auterion, Firestorm Labs, Performance Drone Works and Teal Drones.

Zoom out: The Defense Department’s Drone Dominance push is designed to arm American troops with expendable drones on a massive scale in a few short years.

Like the Biden-era Replicator initiative, it’s a tacit recognition of how ill-prepared the U.S. is to match some combat conditions seen overseas.
• Roughly 75% of casualties in the Russia-Ukraine war are caused by drones.
• Follow the money: Skycutter is now on contract for more than 2,500 drones.

It plans to beef up its U.S. manufacturing in the near term.
The bottom line: “We’re using this opportunity, really, to poke our head above the parapet, go fast and accelerate into establishing our own dominance within the drone industrial base in Western markets,” Gardner said.
“This has opened, as you might imagine, a huge amount of doors for us.”

USCCB: US Bishops Clarify Just War Theory https://tinyurl.com/3t85x8eh “When Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2044684471098544283?s=20/photo/1

In light of recent public comments regarding the Catholic Church’s teaching on war and peace, Bishop James Massa, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, issued the following statement:

“For over a thousand years, the Catholic Church has taught just war theory and it is that long tradition the Holy Father carefully references in his comments on war. A constant tenet of that thousand-year tradition is a nation can only legitimately take up the sword ‘in self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2308). That is, to be a just war it must be a defense against another who actively wages war, which is what the Holy Father actually said: ‘He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.’

“When Pope Leo XIV speaks as supreme pastor of the universal Church, he is not merely offering opinions on theology, he is preaching the Gospel and exercising his ministry as the Vicar of Christ ✠. The consistent teaching of the Church is insistent that all people of good will must pray and work toward lasting peace while avoiding the evils and injustices that accompany all wars.”

✠ “Vicar of Christ”: The Pope, visible head of the Church on earth, acting for and in the place of Christ, possesses supreme ecclesiastical authority in the Catholic church. This title for the Pope dates from at least the eighth century and gradually replaced the former title, “Vicar of St. Peter.” Its biblical basis is Christ’s commission of Peter to “feed my lambs, feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17).

🐣 RT @SykesCharlie In case you missed it, the recent convert to Catholicism declared— and I’m really not making this up — that it was “very, very important for the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology.” ¤ The Fail-Veep then added, “if you’re going to opine on matters of theology…you’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth.” (Irony would weep if it were not long dead.)
⋙ 🐣 checks notes: “Papal infallibility is a Catholic teaching that states that when the pope speaks on matters of faith and morals, he is protected from error by the Holy Spirit”
⋙ 🐣 If the pope has ruled definitively on a matter of faith and morals (which happens relatively rarely), one must believe with divine and Catholic faith what he has defined. To refuse to do so would constitute heresy. If the pope has taught authoritatively on a matter of faith and morals but not definitively, one owes a religious submission of the intellect and will to that teaching. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/5n7sr9x8

🐣 RT @KerryHolmekb BREAKING: 🇺🇸 Former U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton: “It is shocking that Trump said no one informed him that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz. I find it unbelievable that one of the fundamental pillars of geopolitical strategy in the Middle East was ignored. That was the first thing we assumed Iran would do. It is their main tool of global leverage. We are now seeing the consequences of a foreign policy driven by impulse rather than strategy.

NYT, Oliver Whang: We Don’t Really Know How AI Works. That’s a Problem. https://tinyurl.com/4he7n6du “For us to trust it on certain subjects, researchers in the growing field of interpretability might need to learn how to open the black box of its brain.”

💙 🐣 RT @other_europe BREAKING: Following Orbán’s election defeat, von der Leyen calls for an end to veto power in EU foreign policy. Urging a move to qualified majority voting, she says the EU must “use the momentum now” to stop systemic blockages. A massive step toward a Federal Europe. 🇪🇺

⭕ 14 Apr 2026

TheAtlantic, Elizabeth Bruenig: A Blasphemous President https://tinyurl.com/23bc2ued “Trump has managed to alienate many of the Christians who brought him to power by revealing the limits of his understanding, not just of Catholicism but of Christian theology writ large.”
// Bullying won’t work against a power that has little need to curry favor.

The proximate cause of Trump’s ire was apparently a Saturday peace vigil the pope hosted at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, during which Leo—the first pope born in the United States—prayed for a kingdom of “dignity, understanding, and forgiveness,” to serve as “a bulwark against that delusion of omnipotence that surrounds us and is becoming increasingly unpredictable and aggressive.” Although the pope did not mention Trump by name, his reference to delusions of omnipotence could be seen as a clear rebuke of the president’s hubris in launching war with no real explanation to the public and no clear end in sight.

Trump’s fury was predictable, but his assumption that Leo was merely offering political commentary revealed a lack of regard for Christian fundamentals. Pretensions to omnipotence that rival God’s unlimited powers underlie the faith’s narratives about sin: Satan fell from grace after trying to usurp God’s throne for himself; Adam and Eve conspired to steal divine wisdom reserved only for God. When Leo advised the faithful—in statements that were addressed to everyone, not just to the Trump administration—to reject the mistaken impression that they can assert boundless control over the world, he was advocating for spiritual humility, a foundational element of Christianity. …

… Trump has managed to alienate many of the Christians who brought him to power by revealing the limits of his understanding, not just of Catholicism but of Christian theology writ large. …

Catholics believe we are governed by a hierarchy that takes its mandate directly from the word of God. The pope’s role is not to impose his personal will upon the masses, but to teach the faithful how to follow Jesus in their own life. Apostolic succession—the idea that the witness of the 12 apostles has been passed down by bishops in an unbroken chain, linking today’s Catholic leaders with the original leaders of the Church—is a core Catholic doctrine, and it directly links the pope back to those who knew Jesus personally and carried on his teachings. Trump may jealously lash out at any authority that rivals his own, but for Catholics the pope is not a king but a servant—the servus servorum Dei, or servant of the servants of God.

Teaching the faithful is an element of that service. Biblical texts supply principles for leading good lives and making good decisions, but those lessons are often abstract, and life presents innumerable situations in which the proper Christian choice is not clear. Part of the Church’s role is to help Christians understand how the dictates of the faith translate into concrete ethical matters, and politics is merely a branch of applied ethics. Therefore the pope is not only entitled to comment on political matters but obligated to, and indeed popes always have. …

Pope Leo, for his part, responded to Trump’s tirade with composure. He told reporters aboard the papal plane yesterday that he does not fear the Trump administration and will not “shy away from announcing the message of the Gospel,” then invited all people to look “for ways to avoid war any time that’s possible.” He added that speaking out about the message of the Gospel “is what the Church works for.” This, he implied, is a battle that Trump won’t win.

Trump, accustomed to playing the bully to forge deals, is perhaps discovering that his tactics make little sense against a power that has little need for currying favor. The Vatican is a 2,000-year-old global institution with a divine remit. The 250-year-old United States is still only a footnote, and this president’s term is barely a thought.

TheAtlantic, Peter Wehner: Hegseth’s Unholy War https://tinyurl.com/4fxxuy3s “The defense secretary seems less interested in being on the side of God than on insisting that God is on his side.” “The Sermon on the Mount is a repudiation of the conquest ethic.”

[…] Last month, Hegseth said that the United States would give “no quarter, no mercy for our enemies,” which would constitute a war crime under both international law and U.S. military codes. Pentagon offices designed to prevent civilian harm during combat operations are being dismantled. And in Donald Trump’s first term, Hegseth lobbied the president for pardons for three members of the military who were facing charges related to, or had been convicted of, war crimes. He defended Blackwater contractors convicted of murdering Iraqi civilians. He appears to relish the ability to inflict destruction and death. …

The day after Easter, Trump intensified his threats to devastate Iranian bridges and power plants if Iran’s leaders didn’t agree to a cease-fire. “Every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again,” the president warned. He dismissed any concerns that such actions might constitute war crimes. “Not at all,” Trump said. The following day, the president of the United States wrote on social media, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.”

In the end, Trump pulled back; a whole civilization did not die on Tuesday night. But no one can doubt Trump’s genuine indifference to the norms and laws of armed conflict that, however imperfectly, aim to restrain the worst abuses. When asked earlier this year if there are any limits on his global powers, he answered, “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” …

The Trump administration’s invocation of scripture and allusions to the total annihilation of the enemy add yet another layer. Hegseth and Trump and their supporters, particularly the fundamentalist and evangelical Christians among them, want theological cover for targeting Iran’s power supply, which might result in mass civilian death. Hospital equipment would stop working, water purification would cease, sewage systems and food refrigeration would fail. The food supply chain would be disrupted. Urban areas might become unlivable, forcing millions to flee. […]

None of these scholars, despite their other disagreements, sees holy war as normative. That should be especially obvious to those who claim to follow Jesus, who told them to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.” The Sermon on the Mount is a repudiation of the conquest ethic.

When Peter drew his sword at the Garden of Gethsemane, during the night of Jesus’s arrest, Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” Jesus affirmed a shocking thing: The kingdom he was inaugurating is not advanced by the sword. Yet Hegseth prayed that “every round would find its mark.”

Virtually all of the individuals within the various interpretive camps in Christianity I’ve discussed above would contend that it is a serious misreading of scripture to argue that imprecatory psalms and conquest accounts in books like Deuteronomy, Joshua, and 1 Samuel are endorsements of the wholesale slaughter of innocents today. …

Serious and thoughtful people have argued over these issues, which have bedeviled Christians and Jews for millennia. But Hegseth, Trump, and many of their fundamentalist and evangelical followers seem less interested in textual interpretation than in seeking scriptural validation for their bloodlust. They seem determined to find texts within the Bible to justify their dark passions, their emotional and psychological predilections. They believe what they believe quite apart from the Bible; its utility is to affirm what they already intend to do. Hegseth and his merry band of holy warriors aren’t interested in being on the side of God so much as they are insistent that God is on their side.

This is a constant temptation, and giving in to it almost always ends badly.

On an individual level, there’s something quite sad about people whose lives are fueled by hate and vengeance, who seem perennially unsettled, and for whom inner peace and calm contentment seem always out of reach. They are at war with the world and at war with themselves.

When these individuals assume positions of power, however—when they are able to inflict suffering on others, particularly on a mass scale; when their pathologies become society-wide and find a haven within the highest reaches of government—sympathy should give way not just to concern but to outrage. […]

The latest debate about holy war is a reminder that moral dispositions and discernment are among the most important interpretive tools Christians have. The apostle Paul seemed to hint at this when he said, in 1 Corinthians 13, that you can have all knowledge, you can fathom all mysteries, you can have faith that moves mountains, but without love, you are nothing.

Those who relish mercilessness and see themselves as agents of God’s wrath are nothing.

🐣 RT @krassenstein BREAKING: Trump blatantly gaslights his followers by saying that Obama “gave Iran the right to have a nuclear weapon at the highest level within a very short period of time! And I TERMINATED that agreement as soon as I came to office.” ¤ For those who deal with facts, Obama kept Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Trump tore up the JCPOA agreement that Obama signed, which then allowed them to get closer to a nuclear weapon before he bombed them.
⋙ 🐣 Under the JCPOA:
Iran promised NOT to develop a nuclear weapon
They agreed to limit enrichment to 3.67% for at least 15yrs
AFTER Trump tore up the JCPOA:
Iran enriched uranium to 60% (!!)
Now, they will NOT to commit to not developing a bomb
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2044206315791061407?s=20

🐣 📊 RT @cturnbull1968 Approval Ratings ¤ Pope Leo 84% ¤ Trump 38%

🐣 RT @Cool_Ustaz BREAKING: 🇨🇳 President of China, Xi Jinping:

“A certain country, obsessed with maintaining its hegemony, has done everything possible to cripple emerging markets and developing nations. Whoever progresses rapidly becomes a target of containment; whoever catches up becomes a threat. But all of this is futile. The world we live in today is a community with a shared future. People do not want a new Cold War; they want a world of lasting peace and universal security.”

🐣 RT @josephnollasj Pope Leo on the legitimate use of authority. He says “temperance restrains inordinate self-exaltation and acts as a guardrail against abuse of power.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/josephnollasj/status/2044043060040929598?s=20/photo/1

Catholic social teaching regards power not as an end in itself, but as a means ordered toward the common good. This implies that the legitimacy of authority depends not on the accumulation of economic or technological strength, but on the wisdom and virtue with which it is exercised (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1903).

For wisdom enables us to discern and pursue the true and the good, rather than apparent goods and vainglory, amid the circumstances of daily life. This wisdom is inseparable from the moral virtues, which strengthen our desire to promote the common good. In particular, we know that justice and fortitude are indispensable for sound decision-making and for putting decisions into practice.

Temperance also proves essential for the legitimate use of authority, for true temperance restrains inordinate self-exaltation and acts as a guardrail against the abuse of power.

💙 🐣 ✝ RT @Pontifex God’s heart is torn apart by wars, violence, injustice and lies. But our Father’s heart is not with the wicked, the arrogant, or the proud. God’s heart is with the little ones and the humble, and with them He builds up His Kingdom of love and peace day by day. Wherever there is love and service, God is there. #ApostolicJourney #Algeria

⭕ 13 Apr 2026

✅ PolitiFact (Apr 13): Donald Trump stated on April 12, 2026 in a Truth Social post:
Pope Leo XIV “thinks it’s OK for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” https://tinyurl.com/4nvuzu5m “No, Pope Leo XIV does not support nuclear weapons in Iran, or anywhere, despite Trump’s statement.” ⬇️
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2045447287330033888?s=20/photo/1

My take: I think Trump’s reasoning was that because Pope Leo had prayed “for peace in the world, asking that nations renounce weapons and choose the path of dialogue and diplomacy,” Trump believes the pope is “weak.”

He misunderstands that the pope spoke consistent with the Catholic Church’s “Just War Doctrine” which requires DIPLOMACY first and if that fails, war must be DEFENSIVE only. Neither was done in the case of Iran.

Trump chose to “shoot first,” even in the middle of negotiations. Because Steve Witkoff didn’t understand that Iran had offered SIGNIFICANT concessions, he gave erroneous feedback to Trump.

Trump did NOT consult with Congress or allies. He was “surprised” that Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, and that they retaliated against US allies in the region. He was advised that Iran would retaliate but chose to go ahead anyway.

Trump listened to only unqualified negotiators and Israel. The result was that Iran did retaliate, by attacking allies, US bases, and closing the Strait of Hormuz. This could all have been avoided under the Just War Doctrine. ~ Auriandra (Apr 18)

ABCNews (May 2025): Cardinal suggests Pope Leo XIV wasn’t elected as ‘counterweight’ to Trump https://tinyurl.com/3eyy4vjz “Dolan, the archbishop of New York, said he did not think the fact that Leo was from the U.S. ‘carried much weight’ in the decision to elect him” ⬇️
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2043957872648683682?s=20
// 5/9/2025; Leo XIV was elected as the 267th pontiff on Thursday.
// ✛ “The clergy also noticed that Leo had the mind of Pope Benedict and the ‘missionary zeal’ of Francis, Dolan said.”

🐣 RT @En_chinaNews 🇨🇳 Trump’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz seriously violates China’s fundamental interests. Beijing has already made it clear that any attempt by the United States to block Chinese ships will be seen as a military provocation.

🔊 ≣ The Last Word: Lawrence: Trump’s Iran war defined by ‘madman’ posts as Jesus while telling Pope he’s wrong https://tinyurl.com/3p2nrmfs
// Tonight on The Last Word: Donald Trump’s war in Iran drags on after J.D. Vance-led talks fail. Also, a record vote ends Viktor Orbán’s long hold on power in Hungary. And a federal judge rejects Trump’s lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over an Epstein letter. Amb. Wendy Sherman (on JCPOA), Timothy Snyder (Hungary), and Tim O’Brien join Lawrence O’Donnell.

🐣 RT @Kyrylo_Budanov [tr] War is not held only on the front lines—it is held in the workshops!
¤ https://x.com/Kyrylo_Budanov/status/2043708359468028243?s=20

Not everyone sees your work, and that’s how it should be. But everyone rejoices when reading about repelled assaults, about the rumble far beyond the front line, about lives saved. Over these years, Ukraine’s defense industry has accomplished what would have taken decades in peacetime.

We have already passed the stage when we simply had to hold on. And we passed it in such a way that not only the enemy, but the whole world saw what our defense sector is capable of: MAGURA, “Neptune,” “Alder,” “Wrathful,” “Stork,” “Bogdana,” and others—they impress everyone, especially the enemy.

Now the task is greater: to make the defense sector the framework of Ukraine’s new economy. Localization and full-cycle production of our own weapons—this is about jobs, technologies, engineering, investments, exports, and the country’s new industrial weight. That is why the militarization of the economy and re-industrialization are not theory. This is a practical matter of survival and strength. And at the same time—a matter of what Ukraine will be like after the war. Thank you to everyone working toward this result.

Happy Defense Industry Workers’ Day! Back to work!

NYT, Sebastian Mallaby: I Went to China to See Its Progress on AI: We Can’t Beat It. https://tinyurl.com/5n92r327 //➔ If you can’t beat’em, join‘em: What’s needed is cooperation to make AI safe, and to integrate it into useful applications, something China has focused on and excels at.

🐣 RT @Mollyploofkins If he is the Antichrist, it’s not going to end well for him.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Mollyploofkins/status/2043799284873666641?s=20/photo/1
⋙ 🐣 CatholicChristian: The Antichrist: Everything the Bible Teaches https://tinyurl.com/yp8e5zcw a comprehensive Catholic guide to one of Scripture’s most misunderstood figures. //➔ quite good actually
// 2/28/2026
// Complete: From the epistles of John to Daniel’s visions, from the Beast of Revelation to the Church Fathers and the Catechism — a comprehensive Catholic guide to one of Scripture’s most misunderstood figures.

TheAtlantic, David A Graham: The Parable of the President https://tinyurl.com/2tjmwzz8 “Peace, poverty, and privilege are central to Christianity, and navigating how and how much to take on these issues is a challenge to any secular leader … who professes the religion.”
// Donald Trump’s criticism of Pope Leo XIV reveals that to him, religion is primarily about power, not morality.

Many people get the Sunday scaries, but most of them are not a sitting president facing self-inflicted global chaos and the growing possibility of a bruising midterm election in a few months. What feels like a weekly social-media crashout from the president of the United States usually starts some time on Sunday and continues into the early hours of the next morning. Given the failure of negotiations with Iran on Saturday, the likelihood of elevated gas prices for months, and the resounding defeat of Trump’s ally and role model Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Donald Trump had plenty of fuel for a freakout last night.

But the most notable subject in this week’s edition was Pope Leo XIV, who has been critical of Trump’s attack on Venezuela and war in Iran. The posts illustrate that Trump views religion much the way he views everything else: as something that can serve him but does not create any obligations on him.

“Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, kicking off a lengthy jeremiad. “I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History.” Trump claimed that Leo XIV was elected only because the cardinals believed he’d be good at dealing with the current administration. Trump is also upset that Leo met with David Axelrod, the Democratic strategist and commentator. “Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician,” Trump said.

Forty-six minutes later, Trump posted an illustration of himself as a Jesus-like figure, reaching out to heal a man in bed while a nurse, a soldier, and others look on, and with a background of patriotic bric-a-brac (flag, eagles, fighter jets). The image has been circulating for at least a couple of months, during which time an angel near the top of the image has somehow transformed into a creepy monstrosity, presumably through the wonders of generative AI. The illustration drew claims of blasphemy and even demonic possession from some usual Trump allies on the right; the president has since deleted it, telling reporters he believed that the picture depicted him as a doctor.

… Trump doesn’t actually seem to have any problem with the intermingling of religion and politics—as the Christlike image shows, and as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s aggressive rhetoric about the war demonstrates. The president’s reflexive response to criticism (or perceived criticism) from any public figure is to unleash a social-media barrage against them, without much thought about who the person is or what their role in society might be. This black-and-white view of the world owes more to Mani, another religious leader whose death was depicted as a crucifixion, than to Jesus of Nazareth.

The tirade at Leo is the latest escalation of anti-Catholic sentiment among some figures on the MAGA right. Trump has a number of devout Catholics in his administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J. D. Vance, although some, like Vance, have sometimes disagreed with the Holy See under Leo and his predecessor, Francis. The Free Press reported last week that the Pentagon had summoned a Vatican official, the first known time such a meeting had been held. It didn’t go well, with administration officials reportedly invoking the Avignon papacy, the 14th century domination of the role by the French crown. Both sides downplayed the report, but Trump’s post makes it hard to dismiss the friction between them.

Speaking with reporters as he flew to Algeria today, Leo said, “I have no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor of speaking out loudly about the message in the Gospel.” And though more restrained than Trump, he showed that he can dish it out as well as take it, quipping about Truth Social, “It’s ironic—the name of the site itself. Say no more.”

But although Leo separated himself from involvement in electoral politics in the way that Trump meant it, he defended his claim to speak on social issues, citing Jesus’s statement that “blessed are the peacemakers.” Matters of peace, poverty, and privilege are central to Christianity, and navigating how and how much to take on these issues is a challenge to any secular leader—indeed, any individual—who professes the religion.

Trump’s theological vision shares much with, and may have come from, Norman Vincent Peale, a popular Protestant minister of the mid-20th century. Peale, who wrote The Power of Positive Thinking, attracted congregants including the Trump family with a version of Christianity that emphasized happiness and material wealth but perhaps asked less of its followers, even though Jesus repeatedly says in the Gospels that following him is not a casual endeavor.

As an adult, Trump showed few signs of religiosity or familiarity with scripture even as he courted Christians in the 2016 election. Since surviving an assassination attempt in 2024, Trump has sounded more overtly religious, and has publicly mused about his chances to get into heaven. But his rhetoric has not been matched by any clear change in behavior, quest for absolution for past sins, or increased attendance at church. Matters of peace, poverty, and privilege do not seem front of mind: After briefly portraying himself as a peacemaker in pursuit of the Nobel Prize, Trump has now embraced military adventure; he has shrugged at economic tumult; and he has brushed aside faith leaders’ concerns about his immigration enforcement. Trump well understands the iconographic and organizational power of Christianity, but he seems to reject the idea that it should create any constraints on him.

TheAtlantic, Isaac Stanley-Becker: Hungary Just Ousted the Unoustable https://tinyurl.com/4aytjac2 Prime Minister Viktor Orban “has been a scourge to international institutions and a source of inspiration to far-right politicians throughout the West.”
// Viktor Orbán had support from Moscow and Washington, but not from his own people.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2043805367994372252?s=20/photo/1

The prime minister’s loss is a crushing defeat for Donald Trump and his vice president, J. D. Vance, who modeled their agenda in part on Orbán’s governance and staffed their movement with activists trained at his think tanks. As Trump alienated traditional U.S. partners, Washington looked to the like-minded leader in Budapest to represent its interests inside the European Union. The bond was so meaningful to Vance personally that he traveled to Budapest last week to campaign alongside Orbán as if they were running mates.
^
But voters rejected Orbán’s party, Fidesz, in favor of Magyar’s new faction, Tisza. In the process, they set a new national record for turnout. Magyar is a onetime Orbán loyalist who turned on the prime minister two years ago and managed to do what past opposition leaders couldn’t—overcome the incumbent’s enormous advantages. Since 2010, Orbán has rewritten election rules and removed independent checks on his power. He has suffocated civil society while extending his control over the media. And he has presided over patronage networks, that have enriched his friends and family while impoverishing his society. State contracts helped turn the prime minister’s childhood friend, once a gas retrofitter, into a billionaire, but salaries for everyday Hungarians have languished at less than half the EU average. “It’s not livable,” Bendegúz Neszádeli, an 18-year-old who had just voted for the first time, told me. He held up a bracelet, braided with the Hungarian tricolor, that’s handed out to maiden voters. “It feels like there’s a future again.”

The European Parliament calls Hungary an “electoral autocracy”—voting still takes place, but under fundamentally undemocratic conditions. That makes elections harder to contest but, as Hungarian voters proved, not impossible to win. Today, an election toppled a government whose advantages included support from the governments in both the United States and Russia. Echoing a chant in the crowd, Magyar declared in his victory speech, “Russians, go home.”

Efforts by foreign governments to prop up Orbán gave his defeat implications that extend well beyond this small country of fewer than 10 million people. The prime minister has been a scourge to international institutions and a source of inspiration to far-right politicians throughout the West. He was demonizing immigrants and dictating talking points to friendly media before Donald Trump came down the golden escalator. Trump desperately tried to keep Orbán in power, issuing multiple endorsements and dangling the prospect of economic assistance in the days before the vote. …

… Magyar, meanwhile, vowed to recoup funds frozen by EU institutions over rule-of-law violations, impose a wealth tax, and imprison Fidesz officials he accused of pilfering public coffers. “We will not be a country of no consequences,” Magyar told his supporters as he claimed victory. …

His party is set to command the two-thirds legislative majority necessary to amend the constitution, as well as to reconstitute influential bodies such as the Constitutional Court and to change so-called cardinal laws governing areas including media regulation and family policy. In his victory speech, Magyar said his party would have a “mandate to build a functioning and humane home.” …

🐣 RT @greendragonhq Important note on this, he [Trump] is drastically underwater in key swing states.
🌎 https://x.com/greendragonhq/status/2043408618343501855?s=20/photo/1

Wisconsin -23 points.
Georgia -23 points.
Pennsylvania -21 points.
Michigan -20 points.
Nevada -20 points
Arizona -18 points.
North Carolina -15 points.

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en President Zelenskyy:❗️For the first time in the history of this war an enemy position was taken using only unmanned platforms – ground robotic complexes and drones. ¤ Russian soldiers in the position surrendered into captivity. The operation was performed without the participation of Ukrainian infantry and there were no losses from the Ukrainian Defense Forces. ¤ Ukraine is writing the new textbooks of military history.

NYT: Trump’s Erratic Behavior and Extreme Comments Revive Mental Health Debate https://tinyurl.com/ye23jkt6 “As the president threatens to wipe out Iran and attacks the pope, even some former allies and advisers are questioning whether he has grown increasingly unbalanced”
// cont.: describing him as “lunatic” and “clearly insane.”; by Peter Baker

🐣 RT @ PLA_MilitaryUpd 🚨BREAKING: 🇨🇳China has warned U.S.🇺🇸NOT to block/intercept Chinese ships/tankers, or face consequences that could potentially include military provocations.

🐣 RT @BohuslavskaKatem Magyar on Ukraine 🇭🇺🇺🇦:
¤ https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2043704747081842751?s=20

“Everyone in Hungary knows that Ukraine is a victim of this war and no one should tell them under what conditions they should enter a peace or sign a peace treaty. We cannot tell any country to give up their territory.

And this is what the Fidesz politicians said. Then I would like to ask them: What would you do if Russia attacked Hungary? Which Hungarian counties would you be willing to give up?

Ukraine should receive security guarantees and territorial guarantees that can be observed and kept. Ukraine, under the Budapest Memorandum, gave up its nuclear arsenal for guarantees, but those guarantees were violated repeatedly by Russia.”🔚

This is a good starting point. Hopefully, the relationship between our countries can be mended from here. I’m really looking forward to having sane neighbors.

NYT: Pope Leo says he has ‘no fear of the Trump administration’ after the president’s criticism. https://tinyurl.com/4usxvve2 “ I have no fear, neither of the Trump admin, nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel. And that’s what I believe I am called here to do.”

[…] Leo has spoken with moderation, rarely veering from prepared remarks, talking generally on behalf of the poor, the environment and migrants — and, at almost every opportunity, calling for peace. When Leo voiced concern about policies advanced by the Trump administration, he did so without mentioning names or nations.

Now, the mild-mannered pope, who speaks in the wide vowels of a Midwestern uncle, finds himself in direct conflict with the brash American president. On Monday, after nearly a year in office, Leo finally clapped back at the president, after Mr. Trump attacked him late on Sunday night on Truth Social, the president’s social media platform, accusing Leo of being “weak on crime” and “catering to the Radical Left.” …

Speaking to reporters on a flight to Algeria at the beginning of a 10-day tour to four African nations, Leo said: ⋙ “I have no fear, neither of the Trump administration, nor of speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel. And that’s what I believe I am called here to do.” ⋘

Asked specifically about Mr. Trump’s comments on Truth Social, Leo said: “It’s ironic — the name of the site itself. Say no more.”

Later, President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran waded into the dispute, declaring on social media that “I condemn the insult to Your Excellency on behalf of the great nation of Iran.” …

In recent weeks, Leo has become a much sharper critic, first obliquely, and then more obviously, of the Trump administration’s war in Iran.

First, he appeared to distance himself from efforts by Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, to portray the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran as a Christian mission.

Then after Mr. Trump threatened to wipe out “a whole civilization” in Iran, the pope said that “this threat against the whole population of Iran” was “really not acceptable.” He urged citizens to contact their political leaders to ask them to “to work for peace and to reject war always.”

Finally, in mentioning the Trump administration by name on Monday, Leo made clear that he was responding directly to the president.

The pope said his actions were those of a spiritual leader promoting religious values, rather than those of a politician intervening for political reasons.

“We are not politicians, we don’t deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it,” Leo said in reference to Mr. Trump. “But I do believe in the message of the Gospel, as a peacemaker.”

Leo added that his comments were “not meant as attacks on anyone.” Rather, he said, he was “inviting all people to look for ways of building bridges, of peace and reconciliation and of looking for ways to avoid war any time that’s possible.” …

Unlike Mr. Trump, who speaks and posts on social media in a bombastic style, the pope remains calm in public, uses gentle humorous asides that have been likened to “dad jokes,” and regularly quotes scripture to support his remarks.

Speaking on the plane, he added: “I will continue to speak out loudly against war, looking to promote peace, promoting dialogue and multilateral relationships among the states to look for just solutions to problems. Too many people are suffering in the world today. Too many innocent people are being killed. And I think someone has to stand up and say there’s a better way.”

It was a message he echoed later in a speech to Algerian leaders, after meeting with their president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

“By respecting the dignity of everyone and allowing yourselves to be moved by the pain of others, instead of multiplying misunderstandings and conflicts, you can surely become protagonists of a new chapter in history,” he said. …

🐣 RT @Joseph_Fasano_ If you don’t yet know which person this is referring to in our time, you’re not paying attention.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Joseph_Fasano_/status/2043637532747854184?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] “The man of lawlessness…will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God…The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” from 2 Thessalonians 2, NIV

🐣 RT @Pontifex We must share what we have as a matter of justice. It is unjust to accumulate wealth and remain indifferent to others. This view of justice is both simple and radical, for it recognizes the image of God in others. A religion without mercy and a society without solidarity are a scandal in God’s eyes. #ApostolicJourney #Algeria

🐣 RT @SkinnerPm I’ll say it again. If you support this president, you have thrown away your dignity and honor. He is debasing and demeaning every aspect of society. Just because he hates the same people you hate doesn’t meant he likes you. He also hates you. Look at what he’s doing.
⋙ 🐣 RT @atrupar I’m not sure it has broken through to the general public that the president is a megalomaniac crazy person. Hopefully posts like this help.
🖼 https://x.com/SkinnerPm/status/2043643611951018342?s=20/photo/1
// Trump post of him raising the dead

⭕ 12 Apr 2026

WSJ Editorial: Hungarians Oust Viktor Orbán https://tinyurl.com/46ma8jsy “Mr. Magyar wants to move Hungary away from Russia and toward Europe …. His first step may be ending Mr. Orbán’s obstruction of a $105M EU loan to Kyiv as it holds out against Russia’s brutal invasion”
// The Putin-Trump ally loses in a landslide as statist policies fail.

TheAtlantic, Anne Applebaum: Illiberalism Is Not Inevitable https://tinyurl.com/6ve5vrdx ‘In the end, the defeat of Viktor Orbán required the construction of a broad, diverse, and patriotic grassroots social movement. By building that, Hungary changed politics around the world.’
// If Viktor Orbán can lose, then his Russian and American admirers can lose too.
// Full: In the end, the defeat of Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s autocratic prime minister, required not just an ordinary election campaign or new messaging but rather the construction of a broad, diverse, and patriotic grassroots social movement. And by building exactly that, Hungary’s opposition changed politics around the world.

🐣 RT @realCarola2Hope Pope Leo XIV is not ‘woke’, nor a Marxist, nor a progressive, nor a leftist.
¤ https://x.com/realCarola2Hope/status/2042958682905022622?s=20

The Pope is simply a Christian.
When he defends the poor and the innocent, he is following the Gospel.
When he denounces injustice, he is imitating Christ.
When he speaks for the poor, he is repeating word for word the Sermon on the Mount.
Those who are angry at him are not fighting with Pope Leo XIV.
They are fighting with Christ.
Because it was Jesus who said: ‘Whatever you did for the least of my brothers, you did for me.’
Rejecting the Pope for being merciful is not something a Christian does.
The problem is not that Leo XIV has strayed from Christ.
The problem is that some have strayed so far from the Gospel that they no longer recognize it when they see it.

🐣 📊 RT @johngramlich In a 2025 @pewresearch survey, 84% of American Catholics, including 89% of Democrats and 84% of Republicans, had a favorable opinion of Pope Leo. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/3hystf8v
// 9/12/2025 date of poll

🐣 RT @BarackObama The victory of the opposition in Hungary yesterday, like the Polish election in 2023, is a victory for democracy, not just in Europe but around the world. Most of all, it’s a testament to the resilience and determination of the Hungarian people – and a reminder to all of us to keep striving for fairness, equality and the rule of law.

🐣 RT @ultimoranet After criticizing the pope, Trump posts an AI-generated image depicting him[self] as Jesus Christ
🖼 https://x.com/putino/status/2043568936734642532?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @RpsAgainstTrump Paul Coakley, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: “I am disheartened that the President chose to write such disparaging words about the Holy Father. Pope Leo is not his rival; nor is the Pope a politician. He is the Vicar of Christ who speaks from the truth of the Gospel and for the care of souls.”
¤ https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/2043548884710875192?s=20
⋙ 🐣 RT @RpsAgainstTrump Trump ATTACKS the Pope: “Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy…I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/2043548884710875192?s=20/photo/1 -2

NYT: Orban, Beacon to the Right, Concedes Defeat in Hungary’s Election https://tinyurl.com/3r4rsy99 “Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has inspired populist movements globally, could not overcome the growing dissatisfaction of his own citizens.”

🐣 RT @PollTracker2024 CBS/YouGov poll | 4/8-4/10
¤ https://x.com/PollTracker2024/status/2043334435974656380?s=20

President Trump approval
❌ Disapprove 61% (+1)
✅Approve 39% (-1)
——
President Trump approval on the issues
❌ Inflation (-38)
❌ The economy (-30)
❌ Iran War (-28)
❌ Immigration (-12)
——
President Trump approval crosstabs
❌ Total: (-22)
❌ Male: (-14)
❌ Female: (-30)
❌ Democratic: (-92)
✅ Republican: (+74)
❌ Independent: (-42)
❌ White: (-10)
❌ Black: (-66)
❌ Hispanic: (-30)
❌ Under 30: (-40)
❌ Ages 30-44: (-30)
❌ Ages 45-64: (-12)
❌ Ages 65+: (-10)
❌ Whites w/ no degree: (-4)
❌ Whites w/ 4 year degree: (-20)

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom A good day for democracy:
[TextLink:] https://x.com/RadioFreeTom/status/2043412727041765651?s=20/photo/1

Election result ‘painful for us, but clear,’ Orbán says as he concedes defeat
In a brief speech, Orban says the election result is “painful for us, but clear.”

🐣 📊 RT @IAPolls2022 CBS News Poll – Trump approval trend among White non-college voters:

🟢 Feb. 2025: 68-32% (+36)
🟢 Sept. 2025: 58-32% (+26)
🟢 Feb. 2026: 55-45% (+10)
🟤 April 2026: 48-52% (-4)
Net 40-point negative swing

🐣 RT @VeryBrexitProbs BREAKING: Trump orders naval blockade to unblock the blockade that only needs unblocking because Trump started the war that caused the blockade. ¤ 5D Chess, people.

🐣 RT @AnnaDeMilanese [tr] 🚨🎯The Ukrainian army breaches Russian defense lines near Jampil – Russian military bloggers are already warning of a domino effect🔥 […]
🌎 https://x.com/AnnaDeMilanese/status/2043252896637100342?s=20/photo/1

NYT: Control of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s Uranium Stockpiles Were Sticking Points https://tinyurl.com/36e533w9 “The US had demanded that Iran immediately reopen the strait … , but Iran said it would do so only after a final peace deal, according to Iranian officials.”

⭕ 11 Apr 2026

DemDocket (Apr 11): DOGE’s secret voter data deal was ‘alarming,’ court finds https://tinyurl.com/2b77czjf “The case began as a challenge to DOGE’s access to highly sensitive Social Security data — including SS numbers, financial records and medical information — held on millions of Americans.”

A federal appeals court Friday raised serious concerns about a secret voter data agreement involving the Trump administration and ordered a lower court to take another look at a case challenging its access to Social Security data.

The decision comes after new evidence emerged in January showing that Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) personnel worked with an outside political group seeking to challenge election results — something that was not disclosed during earlier court proceedings.

In its ruling, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals pointed directly to that conduct and the government’s shifting explanations.

“The government’s recent acknowledgments are alarming and raise serious questions about its earlier conduct before the district court,” the court wrote. “But even though the notice has been made part of the official record on appeal, our task in this appeal is to review the record that was before the district court at the time the preliminary injunction was entered.”

The appeals court also pointed to indications of “even more alarming” developments beyond the voter data agreement, though it did not fully detail them — signaling that additional facts may emerge as the case returns to the lower court.

The case began as a challenge to DOGE’s access to highly sensitive Social Security data — including Social Security numbers, financial records and medical information — held on millions of Americans.

A lower court had issued a preliminary injunction, temporarily blocking DOGE from accessing that data, though the Supreme Court later allowed that access to resume while the case continued.

After that decision, the Justice Department admitted it had provided incorrect information to the court and revealed new details about DOGE’s actions. Those admissions included that DOGE used an unauthorized server to handle SSA data and that staff entered into an agreement with a “political advocacy” group to analyze voter data in an effort tied to overturning election results.

Because that information was not part of the original case, the appeals court said the lower court needs to review the case again — this time with the new evidence included.

The appeals court also lifted the earlier lower court block on DOGE’s access to Social Security data — leaving in place the Supreme Court’s decision allowing that access while the case continues.

The case now returns to the lower court, where it will examine the newly disclosed conduct and determine whether DOGE’s actions violated the law and put Americans’ personal data at risk.

“The appeals court was correct to find that DOJ’s incorrect statements and belated admissions are ‘alarming and raise serious questions about its earlier conduct before the district court,” Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward*, which is challenging the Trump administration in this case, said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing this case in the district court, seeking discovery, and getting to the bottom of this harmful conduct, including demonstrating the harms of DOGE’s actions that now appear to extend to the integrity of U.S. elections.”

In a separate but related effort, a lawsuit was filed last month seeking to force the release of records about the voter data agreement and DOGE’s communications with outside organizations.

🐣 RT @atrupar JD Vance: “The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement. And I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the US. So, we go back to the US having not come to an agreement … they have chosen not to accept our terms”
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2043140972318535840?s=20/video/1

WSJ: Iran’s Nuclear Program Has Survived, Clouding Talks https://tinyurl.com/5x4pcsk8
“Tehran emerged from weeks of conflict with its uranium stockpile and other nuclear components intact”

… Iran still likely has centrifuges and a site deep underground where it may be able to enrich uranium, experts say. Crucially, it held on to its stockpile of nearly 1,000 pounds of near weapons-grade uranium—half of it buried in caskets in a tunnel deep under its Isfahan nuclear site, according to the U.N. atomic agency.

“Iran is not going to trade those away easily. Its demands are going to be higher than they were” during talks in February for surrendering the material, said Eric Brewer, a former White House official who worked on Iran during Trump’s first administration.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that Iran had indicated it was prepared to surrender its enriched uranium and that getting Tehran to do so was a priority for the U.S. She said ending uranium enrichment in Iran was a “red line” that Trump wasn’t going to back down from. …

The U.S.-Iran negotiations in February failed to reach an agreement on enrichment. Tehran offered to dilute the 60% highly enriched uranium to at most a 20% level, according to people involved in the talks. While it takes around a week to enrich 60% material to weapons grade, it takes a few weeks to enrich 20% to that level. Under the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile was capped at 3.67% for 15 years.

‼️ 🐣 RT @ @iranin_arabic [Tr from Arabic] 👤U.S. Vice President:

♦The Pakistani delegation is making wonderful efforts to bring viewpoints closer
♦We negotiated for several hours and have not yet reached a satisfactory agreement for both parties
♦We have not yet reached an agreement acceptable to the Iranian side
♦The Iranian nuclear facilities have been destroyed, but the Iranian side has not committed to stopping its nuclear program
♦We return to Washington without reaching an agreement with the Iranians
♦Iran has chosen not to accept the U.S. conditions

🐣 RT @sarobertsonca PM Carney: “The world’s changing. Not gradually, but suddenly. Yes, some are still in denial. Rather than starting on this journey, they’re waiting for the past to return. But hope is not a plan and nostalgia is not a strategy.”

🐣 RT @AJENews BREAKING: Talks in Islamabad have stalled for hours due to excessive demands by the US, Tasnim News Agency reported, citing an informed source.

💙 🐣 RT @MOSSADil 🇮🇱 NETANYAHU FULL STATEMENT: “Dear citizens of Israel, my dear brothers and sisters, ¤ The term of the campaign has come to an end, but it is already clear that we have historical achievements. I want to remember where we were. Iran tried to catch us off guard.
¤ 💽 https://x.com/MOSSADil/status/2043038485850865933?s=20/video/1

Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Assad regime in Syria, the militias in Iraq, the foreigners in Yemen, Iran itself. They wanted to subdue us, and we are subduing them. They threatened us with destruction, and now they are fighting to survive.

We have defeated them, we still have a lot to do, and I will explain this later. But I want to start with Iran itself, with the head of the organization. I have dedicated a significant part of my life to preventing one thing, that this terrorist regime will achieve a nuclear weapon.

I have spoken about this at the Congress, the UN, and in various parliaments. But the world has not heard. Many have said, this is not that terrible. I have even heard them within us. And I, as the Prime Minister of Israel, could not accept this.

We were the first to break the barrier of fear, operating in Iran itself. If I had told you a year ago that our pilots would fly in Iran, who would have believed it? And that the United States would fight alongside us, shoulder to shoulder, for nearly 40 days—who would have believed it?

But all of this happened because we initiated, we acted, we attacked. Iran was very close to obtaining nuclear weapons and the ability to produce thousands and thousands of missiles—two existential threats we were determined to remove.

We eliminated 12 of their top nuclear scientists. We attacked their nuclear facilities together with our American friends. We also attacked thousands of missiles and hundreds of launchers.

Later, we eliminated eight more nuclear scientists, destroyed the reactor in Arak, destroyed their centrifuge system and uranium production plant. We reached a point where Iran does not have a single active enrichment plant.

We also weakened the regime to its lowest level since it was established 47 years ago. We eliminated senior leadership across the regime, struck Revolutionary Guards infrastructure, and targeted their economic and military capabilities.

Iran is no longer the same Iran, and Israel is no longer the same Israel. They who dared to destroy us are now fighting for their own survival.

In Gaza, we control more than 50% of the territory. In Lebanon, we destroyed the majority of a 150,000 missile arsenal in six hours and prevented infiltration plans into the Galilee. We continue to fight Hezbollah and restore security to the north.

As a result of this strength, Lebanon has approached us multiple times to begin direct peace talks—something that has not happened in history.

Many countries are now turning to us and to the United States for cooperation. Israel is stronger than ever—small in size, but huge in spirit and determination.

These are historic achievements. We bombed the nuclear weapons, we bombed the missiles, we bombed the regime. Together with the United States, we have changed the balance of power.

There is still a long way to go. But with our brave soldiers, our fallen heroes, and the strength of our people—we will continue.

And with God’s help, we will continue to work together, and we will continue to win.”

🐣 RT @joni_askola It is completely insane to watch Trump threaten to leave NATO just because a defensive alliance wouldn’t join the illegal bombing campaign he launched without warning any of his allies. …

🐣 RT @WaelEssam77 [tr] I’ve held onto the most important American study on “Balancing the Benefits and Costs of Military Action Against Iran” since 2012, and the report concluded that the costs outweigh the benefits. ¤ The unique study represents the views of the largest group of army generals, national security officials, and former officials, who rarely gather together, such as Brzezinski, Anthony Zinni, and others. […]
¤ https://x.com/WaelEssam77/status/2043083857831104959?s=20

🐣 RT @panyiszabolcs 💥Hungary’s opposition leader Péter Magyar vows investigations into Russian interference and against foreign minister Péter Szijjártó after our consortium revealed recordings and transcripts showing his collusion with Sergey Lavrov to leak EU documents and undermine EU sanctions.

🐣 RT @Pontifex War divides; hope unites. Arrogance tramples upon others; love lifts up. Idolatry blinds us; the living God enlightens. All it takes is a little faith, a mere “crumb” of faith, in order to face this dramatic hour in history together — as humanity and alongside humanity. #Peace
[Full Text Link:] https://tinyurl.com/4fab7t77
¤ https://x.com/Pontifex/status/2043033842936680821?s=20

⋙ 🐣 RT @Pontifex Prayer teaches us how to act. In prayer, our limited human possibilities are joined to the infinite possibilities of God. Thoughts, words and deeds then break the demonic cycle of evil and are placed at the service of the Kingdom of God. A Kingdom in which there is no sword, no drone, no vengeance, no trivialization of evil, no unjust profit, but only dignity, understanding and forgiveness. #PrayTogether #Peace
¤ https://x.com/Pontifex/status/2043034093701435816?s=20

⋙ 🐣 RT @Pontifex Those who pray are aware of their own limitations; they do not kill or threaten with death. Instead, death enslaves those who have turned their backs on the living God, turning themselves and their own power into a mute, blind and deaf idol (Ps 115:4–8), to which they sacrifice every value, demanding that the whole world bend its knee. Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of war! True strength is shown in serving life. #Peace
¤ https://x.com/Pontifex/status/2043034345225572505?s=20

🐣 RT @clashreport Pope Leo XIV: Enough with the idolatry of self and money! Enough with the display of power! Enough with war! True strength is manifested in serving life.

🐣 RT @Jvnior 🚨 BREAKING: The International Criminal Court has issued a second arrest warrant for Israeli PM Netanyahu amid US-Iran talks in Pakistan.

🐣 RT @Jvnior 🚨🇪🇸 Netanyahu is now THREATENING Spain:
¤ https://x.com/Jvnior/status/2042958790358642835?s=20

“Never forget the power outages and mysterious train accidents that happened right after Spain stood against Israel.”

He’s saying they’re going to carry out terrorist attacks within Spain.

The world should take note of this.

⋙ 🐣 Uh oh …
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2043020370278539666?s=20/photo/1

But there is nothing covered up, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.
Wherefore whatsoever ye have said in the darkness shall be heard in the light; and what ye have spoken in the ear in the inner chambers shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
Luke 12:2-3 ASV

💙 🐣 RT @TimothyDSnyder Hungary’s prime minister is more important to Donald Trump than all of his voters put together, than all Americans, than America itself, and it’s not even close. I wrote an essay yesterday to explain why: [🔰The Hungarian Candidate link:] https://tinyurl.com/2ujuc6rn
⋙ 🐣 RT @atrupar Trump: “My Administration stands ready to use the full Economic Might of the United States to strengthen Hungary’s Economy, as we have done for our Great Allies in the past, if Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the Hungarian People ever need it. We are excited to invest in the future Prosperity that will be generated by Orbán’s continued Leadership! President DONALD J. TRUMP”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/atrupar/status/2042704252032946282?s=20/photo/1

[Snyder:] Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, is a central figure in the international far right, and indeed the man, more than any other, who created the networks that normalized what he himself calls “illiberalism.” Should he lose, as all signs indicate he will, this would be blow to far more familiar figures such as JD Vance and Donald Trump, who are Orbán’s pupils. Americans tend to think that history moves from us outward; but in the case of the new oligarcho-fascism, we are the students rather than the masters. Much of what seems American in Trump and Vance came from Hungary, or from Russia via Hungary.

… Orbán created a model of post-modern authoritarianism. Inside Hungary he managed, largely by way of constitutional changes, to create an apparently invincible strategic position for one-party rule and his own personal power: the “illiberal state” which he then presented to others as a model for emulation.

… His government opened EU territory to Russian and Chinese intelligence operations and indeed directly supplied Russia with confidential information about EU meetings.

… Many institutions which we presume to be American, such as the Heritage Foundation, are in fact part of this larger international network. Many initiatives that we treat as American, such as Project 2025, are based largely on Hungarian models. The same goes, for that matter, for a number of American politicians. In our American provincialism we often fail to see that Trump and Vance have been involved in a certain kind of international politics from the beginning; there was never a moment when their terrain was purely American. Indeed, that has always been Orbán’s magic: to be an essentially international player who claims to be protecting the little guy at home.

Orbán has helped far right politicians in Europe and the United States (such as Donald Trump and JD Vance) find their feet in the tricky territory of foreign affairs. Much of what passes for Trumpian policy positions — the claims that Russia is not the aggressor despite having invaded Ukraine, that Russian energy is always the solution and never the problem, that Ukraine is corrupt and suspicious, that the EU is an overbearing bureaucracy, that immigrants are the real threat — arise in whole or in part from Hungarian sources. …
‘
In Sunday’s elections, Orbán and his party Fidesz have two advantages: an apparatus at home built up to ensure that they can never lose, and allies abroad (Vance, Trump, Putin) who recognize Orbán’s importance in the oligarcho-fascist network that is their own source of power. If international dictators and the MAGA minstrels were doing the voting, Orbán would certainly win. But it is Hungarians who will vote. They will vote in the conditions political scientists call “competitive authoritarianism”: with major hindrances, but with the real possibility of changing power. This will be the American situation in November, as Trump and Vance understand.

Orbán has been prime minister for a very long time. In electoral politics this is of course itself a disadvantage. Along with Putin and Trump, he works in the “politics of eternity,” in which one man should rule forever thanks to constant references to eras of past innocence and invocations of external and internal enemies. …

The most important consequence for Trump and to Vance of Orbán’s defeat would be the revelation that history is not in fact going in a single direction, that their power, or the power of people like them, is not assured for all time. In their view of themselves, they are not of course the creatures of historical structure: the power of oil money; the psychology of social media, the perversion of wealth inequality. As they see matters, they are beyond history now, beyond historical change, beyond the actions of the peoples in whose name they rule. This is, if possible, even more true of Vance than of Trump; Trump has at least worked to campaign for president; Vance has no legitimation at all beyond the notion that his ideas, none of which is original, somehow fit the times.

Orbán has helped to create that sensibility, because he has understood those structures. If he loses, if he falls, it means that Trump and Vance lose a guide. It also means that they are exposed to the reality that they, too, can lose, can fall. It turns out not to be true (yet again) that there are no alternatives, that there is only one possible future, and that the people in power happen to be the anointed ones forever. …

The fascists of the 1930s, in Hungary and elsewhere, said that history was over, that all that remained was a biological struggle directed by a party elite. The communists, who came to power in Hungary after 1945 and elsewhere, said that history was over, replaced by scientific administration directed by a party elite. After the end of communism, speaking about Hungary and other post-communist states, too many of us declared that history was now indeed over, since fascism and communism have exhausted themselves, and all that remained was the imperturbable triad of liberalism, democracy, and capitalism.

From Hungary, Orbán showed that this was not true: capitalism could be corrupted; liberalism could be replaced by illiberalism (his word); and democracy could be turned into a ritual. Seduced by Hungary’s success, many on the far right came to see the Hungarian alternative as the next end of history, the way that things would be, the way that things had to be.

And they are wrong; history goes on. Just as Hungary once offered the international oligarchical far right the confidence that a formula had been found, it now offers to men such as Vance and Trump the anxiety that voting might actually make a difference, that democracy might actually turn out to be more than a slogan, that unpredictable change is still possible, that the future is open.

🐣 RT @MiddleEastMnt Former US secretary of state says Netanyahu repeatedly pressed US presidents to strike Iran, only Trump agreed [link:] https://tinyurl.com/378smsd3

⭕ 10 Apr 2026

WaPo, Megan McArdle: What Anthropic’s new nightmare means, in plain English https://tinyurl.com/ym4h4m92 “Anthropic shared the alarming details of its breakthrough AI model. Would China?”

NYT: Iran Unable to Find Mines It Planted in Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Says https://tinyurl.com/mrxkv5e2 “The lost mines have prevented Iran from quickly complying with President Trump’s demand to allow more ships to pass through the waterway.”

🐣 RT @ NAFOvoyager “The United States ignored evidence of cooperation between russia and Iran and trusts Vladimir Putin — and that is a disgrace,” said President Zelenskyy.

🐣 RT @abc_es [tr] ❌ Netanyahu, on Spain: «I will not allow any country to wage a diplomatic war against us without paying an immediate price»

🐣 RT @IRMilitaryMedia 🔴 BREAKING | The ceasefire in Lebanon has begun, and $6 billion of IRAN’s frozen assets have been released. ¤ These were IRAN’s preconditions for participating in the Islamabad talks. ¤ Negotiations between IRAN and the United States are set to begin tomorrow in Pakistan.

🐣 RT @ @_InfoGram_ BREAKING🚨: 🇹🇷Turkish President Erdogan has given BIG SHOCK to Netanyahu🔥 ¤ He said: ” On the day the ceasefire, Israel brutally kílled 254 Lebanese people. ¤ Netanyahu is blinded by blood and hatred, continues to kíll innocent chíldren and women. ¤ Those following Hitler’s footsteps harm not only humanity but themselves”🔥

🧵 RT @Mylovanov [@generalben] Hodges: My sense is that Trump trusted his gut instinct. ¤ But this is how mistakes happen: the people handling negotiations were his son-in-law and his real estate friend, not professional diplomats, and sycophantic cabinet officials were never going to push back. 1/
📌 💽 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2042578185192186355?s=20/video/1

⋙ Hodges: For Trump to say nobody anticipated Iran weaponizing the Strait of Hormuz is just flat-out not true. ¤ We have war-gamed operations around Hormuz since I was a captain in the 101st Airborne back in the 1980s. That claim is absolutely false. 2/

⋙ Hodges: The hourly contradictions coming out of the White House make it very difficult to know what is actually being considered. ¤ That is why the Constitution requires Congress in war: to force hard conversations about purpose, end state and what we are trying to accomplish. 3X

🐣 RT @AJENews BREAKING: Doubts are prevailing in the White House, and US President Donald Trump now believes that the opening of the Strait of Hormuz is unlikely in the near term, reports Reuters, citing a White House official.

NYT, Nicole Grajewski: For Putin, Iran Is Something Close to Irreplaceable https://tinyurl.com/yc3ktzc8 ‘Putin has spent years building a coalition of the discontented around the premise that authoritarian states can outlast Western pressure. Iran is his proof of concept.’
// By Nicole Grajewski: Ms. Grajewski is the author of the forthcoming “Russia and Iran: Partners in Defiance From Syria to Ukraine.” She wrote from Paris.
// Iran, which has absorbed the most pressure and held the longest, is his proof of concept.

🐣 RT @clashreport Professor John Mearsheimer: ¤ Iran holds almost all the cards. They are in a very powerful position. ¤ By closing Hormuz, they can tank the global economy. The leverage is enormous. ¤ They can destroy GCC countries as functioning societies. They can wreck those countries. ¤ Trump can’t climb the escalation ladder. On every rung, Iran can beat him
// GCC: The Gulf Cooperation Council is a “is a regional, intergovernmental, political, and economic union and military alliancecomprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.” Wikipedia
↥ ↧
🐣 RT @TruthTrumpPost PRESIDENT TRUMP on TruthSocial: 🇺🇸🇮🇷 The Iranians don’t seem to realize they have no cards, other than a short term extortion of the World by using International Waterways. ¤ The only reason they are alive today is to negotiate! President DONALD J. TRUMP
[TextLink:] https://x.com/TruthTrumpPost/status/2042644386832416827?s=20/photo/1

NYT: You Can’t Use This A.I. “Claude Mythos Preview is dangerous, Anthropic said. https://tinyurl.com/3xh4e79e “Anthropic said it would hold back its newest model, called Mythos, because the prototype was too good at finding software weaknesses”

🐣 RT @Pontifex Hundreds of millions of people throughout the world are immersed in extreme poverty. Yet, disproportionate wealth remains in the hands of a few. It is an unjust scenario, in the face of which we cannot fail to question ourselves and commit to change things. There is no lack of resources at the root of disparities, but the need to address solvable problems related to a more equitable distribution of wealth, to be achieved with moral sense and honesty.

🐣 RT @Pontifex Absurd and inhuman violence is spreading ferociously through the sacred places of the Christian East, profaned by the blasphemy of war and the brutality of business, with no regard for people’s lives, which are considered at most collateral damage of self-interest. But no gain can be worth the life of the weakest, children, or families. No cause can justify the shedding of innocent blood.

🐣 RT @Pontifex God does not bless any conflict. Anyone who is a disciple of Christ, the Prince of Peace, is never on the side of those who once wielded the sword and today drop bombs. Military action will not create space for freedom or times of #Peace, which comes only from the patient promotion of coexistence and dialogue among peoples.

‼️ NYT: Iranian Official Raises New Doubts as Vance Heads to Peace Talks https://tinyurl.com/ejy69acv “Iran’s Parliament speaker wrote that a cease-fire in Lebanon and the release of blocked assets ‘must be fulfilled’ before negotiations with the U.S. begin” ⬇️
⋙⋙ ✛ MSN (Apr 1): Trump revives claim Obama sent ‘plane loads of cash’ to Iran in $1.7B payment ‘https://tinyurl.com/5765ajh4 ”That was a disaster”

The speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Friday that negotiations with the United States to end the war could not start until the implementation of a cease-fire in Lebanon and the release of frozen Iranian assets abroad, a stance that could scuttle the talks before they even begin.

“Two of the measures mutually agreed upon between the parties have yet to be implemented: a ceasefire in Lebanon and the release of Iran’s blocked assets prior to the commencement of negotiations,” Ghalibaf wrote in a post on X. “These two matters must be fulfilled before negotiations begin.”

Ghalibaf did not say what he meant by blocked assets, but Iranian funds overseas are often frozen as a result of sanctions imposed by the United States and other Western nations.

⭕ 9 Apr 2026

🐣 “If you don’t know where you are going,
any road will get you there.”
— The Cheshire Cat (Lewis Carroll)
// Jared Kushner said this explains Trump (source: MS NOW)

🐣 RT @aravosis Trump is insane. He was asked yesterday about Iran’s plan to have a toll and said he thought it was a beautiful thing because the US might join Iran and they both do it together and share the money. Then everyone around him realized what an idiotic thing he done, embracing all of Ron’s horrible 10 point plan, and then he tried to gaslight us by saying he didn’t embrace any of it. The man is losing his mind in public.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/aravosis/status/2042431096709607649?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] 🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump There are reports that Iran is charging fees to tankers going through the Hormuz Strait – They better not be and, if they are, they better stop now! President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @EranTzidkiyahu An unusual and important document, signed by a long list of former heads of Israel’s security establishment—Chiefs of Staff, and former directors of the Mossad and Shin Bet, as well as Police Commissioners—warning about the security, political, and moral implications of Jewish violence in the West Bank and the lack of sufficient law enforcement in response. Beyond the normative critique, the document underscores that this constitutes a tangible strategic threat to Israel’s security, particularly during a multi-front war. Worth reading
[TextLink:] https://x.com/EranTzidkiyahu/status/2042242586979561957?s=20/photo/1

WaPo: White House struggles to prop up truce marked by confusion, contradictions https://tinyurl.com/55yabnfn “As the Trump administration claimed success, Tehran disputed the terms, shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remained stalled, and new questions emerged.”
// not only does the US disagree with Ukraine, it disagrees with itself

🐣 RT @rgoodlaw Wow ¤ Ceasefire agreement did include Lebanon. ¤ Trump: “agreed that included Lebanon.” ¤ Mediators: “believed the ceasefire to include Lebanon.” ¤ Pakistan announced it included Lebanon. ¤ “However, the US position shifted following a phone call between Netanyahu and Mr. Trump.”
⋙ [Source:] CBSNews: U.S. to lead ceasefire talks between Lebanon and Israel in D.C. as Lebanon emerges as potential spoiler to Iran deal https://tinyurl.com/2s4577vp

[…] Multiple diplomatic sources told CBS News that President Trump had been told that the ceasefire announced Thursday would apply to the Middle East region, and he agreed that included Lebanon. Mediators believed the ceasefire to include Lebanon, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that it did. Araghchi also said it was included.

On the day of the ceasefire, a White House official told CBS News that Israel had also agreed with the terms of the deal that Pakistan had helped to broker.

However, the U.S. position shifted following a phone call between Netanyahu and Mr. Trump. Two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News that the changing U.S. positions, and the disjointed remnant of the regime in Iran, are making the diplomacy highly complex.

Vice President JD Vance told reporters on Wednesday that there was a “legitimate misunderstanding” about the terms of the ceasefire, but he placed blame on the Iranians for misunderstanding that it included their proxy forces in Lebanon. …

Multiple diplomatic sources told CBS News that Iran welcomed Vance’s involvement in particular because of Iranian distrust of Witkoff and Kushner.

🐣 RT @Osinttechnical CBS: Trump had been told the ceasefire would apply to the Middle East, and he agreed it included Lebanon. Mediators, Iran’s foreign minister, and Pakistan’s Prime Minister also believed it did. ¤ The US position reportedly shifted after a call between Netanyahu and Trump.

🐣 RT @ScarboroughNow Netanyahu has caused a generational collapse of US support for Israel. I say this as a lifelong supporter of Israel who has long feared Netanyahu’s maximalist—and ahistorical—view of geopolitical realities in the Middle East would cause a devastating blowback for Israel. ¤ It has.
⋙ 🐣 RT @sahilkapur Huge shift in American views of Israel
2022: 55% view Israel favorably, 42% unfavorably
2026: 37% view Israel favorably, 60% unfavorable
◕ https://x.com/ScarboroughNow/status/2042331490600550694?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @ralakbar NEW!! Bipartisan group of U.S. senators reaffirms commitment to NATO ¤ Statement led by @SenatorShaheen,and @SenThomTillis warns that any signal of U.S. withdrawal from alliance would ‘embolden’ Russia and China
[TextLink:] https://x.com/ralakbar/status/2042355852741398995?s=20/photo/1
// … “The law also makes clear that U.S. withdrawal cannot take place without the Senate’s approval.” …
// Full list: Senators Shaheen, Tillis, Collins, Murkowski, Merkley, Coons, King, Booker, Rosen, Curtis:

🐣 RT @AmoneyResists [9:12pm] This might be the clearest case of full blown dementia I’ve ever seen. And it was just four days ago that he threatened TO KILL AN ENTIRE CIVILIZATION FOR LITERALLY NO REASON. Him having the nuclear codes is a GLOBAL SECURITY CRISIS. ¤ HE. MUST. BE. REMOVED. ¤ RIGHT. THE. FUCK. NOW.
TextLink:] https://x.com/AmoneyResists/status/2042425418175713656?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonald Trump I know why Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones have all been fighting me for years, especially by the fact that they think it is wonderful for Iran, the Number One State Sponsor of Terror, to have a Nuclear Weapon – Because they have one thing in common, Low IQs. They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too! Look at their past, look at their record. They don’t have what it takes, and they never did! They’ve all been thrown off Television, lost their Shows, and aren’t even invited on TV because nobody cares about them, they’re NUT JOBS, TROUBLEMAKERS, and will say anything necessary for some “free” and cheap publicity. Now they think they get some “clicks” because they have Third Rate Podcasts, but nobody’s talking about them, and their views are the opposite of MAGA – Or I wouldn’t have won the Presidential Election in a LANDSLIDE. MAGA agrees with me, and just gave CNN a 100% Approval Rating of “TRUMP,” not Hand Flailing Fools like Tucker Carlson, who couldn’t even finish College, he was a broken man when he got fired from Fox, and he’s never been the same – Perhaps he should see a good psychiatrist! Or Megyn Kelly, who nastily asked me the now famous, “Only Rosie O’Donnell,” question, or “Crazy” Candace Owens, who accuses the Highly Respected First Lady of France of being a man, when she is not, and will hopefully win lots of money in the ongoing lawsuit. Actually, to me, the First Lady of France is a far more beautiful woman than Candace, in fact, it’s not even close! Or Bankrupt Alex Jones, who says some of the dumbest things, and lost his entire fortune, as he should have, for his horrendous attack on the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims, ridiculously claiming it was a hoax. These so-called “pundits” are LOSERS, and they always will be! Now Fake News CNN, The Failing New York Times, and all of the other Radical Left “News” Organizations, are “hailing” them, and giving them “positive” press for the first time in their lives. They’re not “MAGA,” they’re losers, just trying to latch on to MAGA. As President, I could get them on my side anytime I want to, but when they call, I don’t return their calls because I’m too busy on World and Country Affairs and, after a few times, they go “nasty,” just like Marjorie “Traitor” Brown, but I no longer care about that stuff, I only care about doing right for our Country. MAGA is about WINNING and STRENGTH in not allowing Iran to have Nuclear Weapons. MAGA is about MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, and these people have no idea how to do that, BUT I DO, because THE UNITED STATES IS NOW THE “HOTTEST” COUNTRY ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD! President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @ariehkovler So after 38 days of war we’re right back to where we were before. US demands are very similar to antebellum but a little more favourable to Iran. Iranian demands are harder line (eg Hormuz tolls). A month of bombing weakened Iran but didn’t soften its negotiating stances

⭕ 8 Apr 2026

TheAtlantic, David Frum: Only Losers Play the Madman https://tinyurl.com/r577trw6 “The Iranians just executed the most dramatic TACO event in history. Trump threatened to annihilate their entire civilization. … The Iranians aptly guessed that he was bluffing.”
// “Does Trump seem crazy? Sure. Credible, not so much.”

Trump’s problems with this strategy are ironic. Foreign leaders are surely willing to believe that Trump is “crazy” in the sense that he is detached from reality. They have seen him miscalculate risk and bungle all kinds of projects, such as his trade wars with China and his attempted coup on January 6, 2021. But they also know that when push really comes to shove, Trump will flinch. TACO has become, like NATO, an acronym so familiar that it no longer needs spelling out.

The Iranians just executed the most dramatic TACO event in history. Trump threatened to annihilate their entire civilization if they didn’t agree to his demands to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran defied the threat—and now Trump has apparently conceded control over the strait and the right to impose tolls on the ships that navigate it. On the point in which Trump tried hardest to terrorize, the Iranians aptly guessed that he was bluffing.

Trump has taught the world that he has every quality of the madman except indifference to pain. He likes his wars unilateral, quick, and cheap. He won’t seek consent from Congress; he cannot appeal to public opinion. He just gambles that the war will end before his poll numbers sink too deep. When this latest war of his turned difficult, he panicked. Everyone could see the panic, including the Iranians. His blood-curdling Truth Social posts—shocking as they were—proclaimed desperation, not resolve. That’s the Trump version of the madman strategy: yelling at people in the street while begging those same people for a bailout. What’s the opposite of the expression crazy like a fox?

🐣 RT @MeidasTouch [8:46p:] Trump says the U.S. military is “loading up” around Iran and threatens that if his demands aren’t met, “the Shootin’ Starts,” while threatening “our military is looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/2042088438774820937?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] 🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump All U.S. Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded Enemy, will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with. If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the “Shootin’ Starts,” bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before.

It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the Strait of Hormuz WILL BE OPEN & SAFE. In the meantime our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest.
AMERICA IS BACK!

WSJ: Why Iran Thinks It Won the War Despite Huge Military Losses https://tinyurl.com/3f7ah5wt “The Islamic regime survived and appears to possess a new strategic prize in the Strait of Hormuz” — and Trump called Iran’s 10-point proposal a “a workable basis” for talks.

But so far, it is Trump who has appeared more conciliatory. The cease-fire would give U.S. and Iranian negotiators time to hammer out a deal, he said. A 10-point Iranian proposal calling calling for sweeping U.S. concessions, including a promise not to attack Iran again, lifting of all sanctions on Tehran and removal of U.S. troops from the region was “a workable basis on which to negotiate,” Trump said in a social-media post.

↥ ↧
WSJ: A Closer Look at Iran’s 10 Demands—and Which the U.S. Might Accept https://tinyurl.com/3p9fbub6 “President Trump said the Iranian plan is a starting point, but there is a lot of ground to cover before a deal can be reached”
// 10-point Iranian proposal
⋙ 🐣 In fact, the proposal is a maximalist wish list ¤ I wonder if Trump even read/understood it
↥ ↧
🔄 🐣 RT @KobeissiLetter (Apr 7) BREAKING: Iran says it has “forced” the US to accept its “10-point plan” which includes the following terms:

1. Commitment to non-aggression
2. Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz
3. Acceptance of Iran’s uranium enrichment
4. Lifting of all primary sanctions
5. Lifting of all secondary sanctions
6. Termination of all UN Security Council resolutions
7. Termination of all Board of Governors resolutions
8. Paying compensation to Iran
9. Withdrawal of US combat forces from the region
10. Cessation of war on all fronts, including in Lebanon

Trump says this plan is “a workable basis.”

🐣 RT @OJoelsen [PM] Greenland 🇬🇱 is not “a poorly run piece of ice.” ¤ Greenland 🇬🇱 is far more than ice — it is a democratic society with free elections, rule of law, and a people who determine their own future. ¤ We are not a talking point in someone else’s rhetoric — we are a people with dignity, history, and self-government under the Kingdom of Denmark.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/OJoelsen/status/2042044994035257421?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] 🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN. ¤ REMEMBER GREENLAND, THAT BIG, POORLY RUN, PIECE OF ICE!!! President DJT

TheAtlantic, Nancy Youssef: Trump Made a Deal That Gives Him Nothing He Wanted https://tinyurl.com/5fp4m925 ‘As the war began, a DC–based think tank conducted a war game for the US Navy. It concluded that Iran could close the Strait of Hormuz easily and cheaply’
// US declarations of victory ring hollow.
// Full: As the war began, the Hudson Institute, a Washington, D.C.–based think tank, conducted a previously planned war game commissioned by the U.S. Navy.¤ The Hudson Institute exercise concluded that Iran could close the strait easily and cheaply, and the U.S. would find its reopening challenging and risky.

As the war began, a Washington DC–based think tank, a war game conducted for the US Navy. concluded that Iran could close the strait easily and cheaply, and the US would find its reopening challenging and risky.

Among the president’s initial war goals—preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon; eliminating its ballistic-missile capabilities; laying the ground for a popular overthrow of the regime; and eradicating Iranian proxies in the Persian Gulf—none have been met.

Instead, Iran agreed only to reopen the strait, a global waterway that operated freely before the war began, and on terms that could yield substantial financial rewards for the regime. … Depending on the outcome of the negotiations over the next two weeks, the regime could actually be in a stronger strategic position than it was before the war. Iran may have lost every military battle, but the war appears to have ended on Tehran’s terms. “Controlling the strait is now Iran’s vital strategic asset. It’s more important than their nuclear program,” Vali Nasr, a professor of international affairs and Middle East studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, told me. …

What the U.S. lacked—and Iran held on to consistently—were clear aims. Over the course of the 39-day conflict, Trump offered various, often contradictory, explanations for why he was conducting the war and the effects of the strikes. On the first day of the war, according to Trump’s telling, the U.S. sought regime change. But that goal quickly receded when Iran replaced its slain leader with his even more hard-line son amid no sign of a popular uprising. …

Iran’s control of the strait, which carries about one-fifth of the world’s oil, ultimately became the most contentious issue. Trump called on NATO allies and other nations to assist in opening the strait, which they declined to do. He then insisted that the United States would leave the strait’s opening to others after American troops came home, because the U.S. was energy self-sufficient. Then, in his prime-time address, he suggested that the strait would “naturally” open after the war. By Easter, Trump was sounding desperate for Iran to do only one thing: He said on social media that those “crazy bastards” must open the “Fuckin’ Strait” or risk annihilation.

Iran, by contrast, consistently said it had two aims: for the regime to survive and to be compensated for damages from the war. Both aims, the regime discovered, could be achieved by asserting dominance over the strait and by striking U.S. forces and America’s Gulf allies with plentiful, cheap drones.

As the war began, the Hudson Institute, a Washington, D.C.–based think tank, conducted a previously planned war game commissioned by the U.S. Navy.¤ The Hudson Institute exercise concluded that Iran could close the strait easily and cheaply, and the U.S. would find its reopening challenging and risky. …

“The expectation was not that we would win,” Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the institute and a retired Navy officer, told me of the U.S. position in the exercise. “The expectation is that we would get the strait open, and then we would have to continuously defend it.”…

… Widespread protests inside Iran that began in December, and lasted for weeks until they were brutally suppressed, further eroded the regime’s grip. By the time the U.S. and Israel attacked on February 28, Iran’s government was at its lowest point in years—and looking for a way to rebuild. …

… Under the cease-fire terms the regime put forward, safe transit must be negotiated with the Iranian army. If Iran maintains the existing fee, the regime could collect up to $90 billion a year, equivalent to roughly one-fifth of its GDP—revenue that didn’t exist before the conflict. The Financial Times reported today that Iran is proposing a payment of $1 per barrel of oil passing through the strait. The regime wants to be paid in cryptocurrency. …

… Over the course of this war, Tehran discovered that a deterrent already exists that can shock the world’s economy and force a cease-fire with the world’s superpower. It was always right there, winding its way along the Iranian coast toward the Arabian Sea.

🐣 RT @ohuslavskaKate Reading through Szijjarto’s leaked conversations with Lavrov is vomit-inducing on its own, but when Lavrov reveals how the American side wants to get ‘Ukraine out of the way’ to resume business with Russia… I can’t. I feel despair. They are killing us, and you say this?
[TextLink:] https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2041949751575257247?s=20/photo/1

P.Szijjártó: And can I ask you whether you have made any forward progress on economic cooperation with the Americans to restart your economic and trade relationship, you know, because it has a…
S.Lavrov: It was not discussed, Peter.
P.Szijjártó: It was not discussed, aha, ok.
S.Lavrov: No.
P.Szijjártó: Okay. So the economy was not on the agenda.
S.Lavrov: It is the issue which was discussed in the past and it was very clearly stated by the Americans that if they can get Ukraine out of the way, there would be no limits.

⋙⋙ panyiszabolcs 💥 New call leaks, both transcripts and audio: Sergey Lavrov urges Péter Szijjártó to blackmail the EU Council over Ukraine and later tasks him with sending him EU documents. Hard to tell which part is most damning. Here’s the “Kremlin Hotline”, part 2.
⋙ 🐣 The war in Ukraine (and US people’s support for Ukraine) is all that is keeping Trump from allying with Russia. ¤ Treason.

🐣 RT @yairlapid [Isr opposition head] [tr] Netanyahu led us to a strategic collapse.
¤ https://x.com/yairlapid/status/2041907459787247693?s=20

There was here a disgraceful combination of arrogance, irresponsibility, negligent staff work, lies sold to the Americans that damaged the trust between the countries. A military success that turned into a diplomatic disaster.

Israel had no influence whatsoever on the agreement signed tonight between the United States and Iran. Netanyahu turned us into a protectorate state that receives instructions over the phone on matters concerning the core of our national security.

🐣 RT @washingtonpost President Trump’s ultimatum that “a whole civilization will die tonight” drew condemnation across the political spectrum and intensified an open debate about his credibility, morality and sanity.
⋙ WaPo: Trump’s Iran brinkmanship reaches truce, escalates backlash at home https://tinyurl.com/3trhk9z4 “The president’s ultimatum drew condemnation across the political spectrum and intensified open debate about his credibility, morality and sanity.”

🐣 RT @OccupyDemocrats BREAKING: Trump’s “ceasefire” on the verge of collapse just hours after announcement as Israel goes rogue and commits a HORRIFYING massacre of innocents with weapons paid for by our tax dollars!
¤ https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/2041911167581307290?s=20

Apparently, Trump didn’t bother involving the Israelis in his ceasefire negotiations, who were taken aback by the abrupt cessation in hostilities.

The IDF has responded by unleashing a murderous bombardment of Lebanon’s capital of Beirut, killing hundreds if not THOUSANDS of people as they wantonly use American missiles and bombs to blow entire city blocks apart. Israeli media reports 50 warplanes dropped 160 bombs across Lebanon in minutes. […]

🧵 RT @TimothyDSnyder With this settlement the US is worse off in every way than it was before the war; Iran is strengthened by the huge new tolls in the Straits of Hormuz, paid by the whole world. (1/14)
📌 https://x.com/TimothyDSnyder/status/2041945170006933619?s=20
⋙ 🐣 RT @Rick_in_ICT Apparently, the whole thing is already off anyway.
So, back to our regularly scheduled war.

🐣 RT @yashar New statement from the Speaker of Iran’s Parliament
[TextLink:] https://x.com/yashar/status/2041945207315312908?s=20/photo/1

Statement on the Violation of Three Key Clauses of the 10-Point Proposal (Agreed Framework) Before the Start of Negotiations

The deep historical distrust we hold toward the United States stems from its repeated violations of all forms of commitments — a pattern that has regrettably been repeated once again.

As the President of the United States has clearly stated, the Islamic Republic of Iran’s 10-Point Proposal is a “workable basis on which to negotiate” and the main framework for these talks. However, three clauses of this proposal have already been violated:

1. Non-compliance with the first clause
Regarding the ceasefire in Lebanon- a commitment that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif explicitly referred to and declared as “an immediate ceasefire everywhere, including Lebanon and other regions, effective immediately.”

2. Violation of Iran’s airspace
The entry of an intruding drone into Iranian airspace, which was destroyed in the city of Lar in Fars Province, constitutes a clear violation of the clause prohibiting any further breach of Iran’s airspace.

3. Denial of Iran’s right to enrichment
This right is explicitly included in the sixth clause of the framework.
The very “workable basis on which to negotiate” has therefore been openly and clearly violated – even before negotiations have begun.

Under such circumstances, a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations is unreasonable.

NewStatesman, John Gray:: THE FALL: Donald Trump’s war in Iran presages the destruction of US authority, not its renewal https://tinyurl.com/4svskdfk

Donald Trump’s self-described “little excursion” in Iran has proved to be a march to disaster. His “major combat operation” has shifted from aiming to block Iran achieving a nuclear capability that was supposedly “obliterated” last June to unblocking the Strait of Hormuz and restoring the situation that existed before the operation began. Whatever the objective may be, the pre-war status quo is irretrievable. Trump cannot declare victory and walk away without surrendering the vital shipping conduit to Iran. With its proven capacity to wreak havoc on the world economy, a bombed-out military-theocratic dictatorship has begun the final unravelling of US imperial power.

In the Middle East, the war has undercut the financial foundations of US hegemony. However the war ends, the result will be the re-emergence of Iran as a major power. As the arbiter of passage through Hormuz, Iran has become the deciding force in the global oil economy. If Trump opts to “finish the job” and launches a ground operation, the US will be dragged into a debacle larger than Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

While Nato may linger on in name, the transatlantic alliance is operationally defunct. America is returning to its pre-1914 trajectory as a civilisation separate from Europe. In the UK, the default position is to wait out the storm until sanity returns to Washington. Why Putin or Xi Jinping should exhibit similar patience is not explained. Could there be a better time for them to act? Ramping up hybrid warfare in under-defended Europe will give Putin leverage in any peace deal in Ukraine. With Trump having shifted military assets from the Asia-Pacific to the Middle East and running down munitions, Xi may be able to absorb Taiwan without firing a shot.

This is not simply a case of the lessons of history being ignored. Trump’s war looks more like an example of what Sigmund Freud described as repetition compulsion – an unconscious process in which the mind acts out what it cannot properly remember. A creature of the moment as he may be, Trump seems driven by an impulse to reimagine the past and reassert American – and his own – greatness. When an infantile fantasy of omnipotence comes up against unyielding realities, the response is inchoate rage.

Psychopathology may be more illuminating than geopolitics at this point. In a more profound sense than is commonly recognised, Donald Trump does not know what he is doing. His little excursion is a point of no return in America’s retreat as a global power.

⭕ 7 Apr 2026

NYT, Katie Rogers: With Threat to Wipe Out Iran’s Civilization, Trump’s Rhetoric Goes Beyond Bluster https://tinyurl.com/38mn56h9 “The president’s violent rhetoric risks damaging his credibility as a negotiator and the country’s standing in the world.”

🐣 RT @brhodes According to NYT, Bibi convinced Trump the regime would fall and the US could end the nuclear program. Under current terms, IRGC-dominated regime in place, nuclear program ongoing, Iran’s strategic position and revenue sources enhanced at huge cost to Americans

🐣 RT @PhillipsPOBrien It’s a total fold by Trump. Iran gets to charge tolls and develop nukes. And the Iranian regime stays in power. What a waste all this was.

🐣 RT @TimothyDSnyder Trump lost this war in every possible sense — morally, legally, politically, economically, reputationally, and strategically.

WaPo: Hegseth’s boastful claims about Iran war contradict reality, officials say https://tinyurl.com/y8fcwvkz “The defense secretary’s portrayal of U.S. success in the conflict risks misinforming the public and the president, observers worry.”
✛ 🐣 “When the truth offends, we lie and lie until we can no longer remember it is even there, but it is still there. Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later, that debt is paid.” – Chernobyl (5-part series)

💙 🐣 Lawrence: “This is what the collapse of a civilization looks like” ¤ he means us 🇺🇸 ¤ 😢

🐣 RT @MeidasTouch BREAKING: Donald Trump is attacking CNN after the network aired the full statement from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council saying it achieved a “great victory” and forced the U.S. to accept its 10-point plan. ¤ In a furious response, Trump called CNN’s reporting a “FRAUD” and demanded a retraction, and said “authorities are looking to determine whether or not a crime was committed”—despite the network simply relaying Iran’s official statement
[TextLink:] https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/2041670282558234836?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] @reaDonald Trump The alleged Statement put out by CNN World News is a FRAUD, as CNN well knows. The false Statement was linked to a Fake News site (from Nigeria) and, of course, immediately picked up by CNN, and blared out as a “legitimate” headline. The Official Statement by Iran was just released, and posted on TRUTH, below. Authorities are looking to determine whether or not a crime was committed on the issuance of the Fake CNN World Statement, or was it a sick rogue player? CNN is being ordered to immediately withdraw this Statement with full apologies for their, as usual, terrible “reporting.” Results of the investigation will be announced in the near future. ¤ President DONALD J. TRUMP

💙 🐣 RT @yashar President Trump posted the statement by the foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran as an “official statement of Iran.” ¤ And it is indeed an official statement of Iran, but it’s also worth noting that the more authoritative statement is the one from the Islamic Republic’s Supreme National Security Council, which is much more bombastic and declares victory on behalf of the nation of Iran.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/yashar/status/2041672362723348676?s=20/photo/1 -2

[Trump posted this:] 🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Att:] OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF IRAN:
TEHRAN-7 APRIL 2026

On behalf of the Islamic Republic of Iran, I express gratitude and appreciation for my dear brothers HE Prime Minister of Pakistan Sharif and HE Field Marshal Munir for their tireless efforts to end the war in the region.
In response to the brotherly request of PM Sharif in his tweet, and considering the request by the U.S. for negotiations based on its 15-point proposal as well as announcement by POTUS about acceptance of the general framework of Iran’s 10-point proposal as a basis for negotiations, I hereby declare on behalf of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council:
If attacks against Iran are halted, our Powerful Armed Forces will cease their defensive operations.

For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordination with Iran’s Armed Forces and with due consideration of technical limitations.

Seyed Abbas Araghchi
Minister of Foreign Affairs Islamic Republic of Iran

══════════════

[Iran posted this:] Statement of the Supreme National Security Council

In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

It is hereby announced to the noble, great, and heroic nation of Iran:

The enemy, in its unjust, illegal, and criminal war against the Iranian nation, has suffered an undeniable, historic, and crushing defeat. By the blessing of the pure and sacred blood of the martyred leader of the Islamic Revolution, Grand Ayatollah Imam Khamenei (peace be upon him), the measures of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and Commander-in-Chief, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei (may God protect him), and the struggle and bravery of the fighters of Islam on the fronts-and especially the historic, enduring, and epic presence of you, the dear people, on the scene from the very first days of the war-Iran has achieved a great victory and forced the criminal United States to accept its ten-point plan. In this plan, the United States has, in principle, committed to non-aggression; the continuation of Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz; acceptance of enrichment; the lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions; the termination of all United Nations Security Council and Board of Governors resolutions; compensation to Iran; the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region; and the cessation of war on all fronts, including against the heroic Islamic resistance in Lebanon. We congratulate all the people of Iran on this victory and emphasize that until the details of this victory are finalized, continued resilience and prudence by officials, and the preservation of unity and solidarity among the Iranian people, remain necessary.

The brave fighters of Islam and their courageous allies in the axis of resistance, despite their hearts being wounded and shattered by the martyrdom of their imam, resolved-relying on Almighty God and following the example of the Master of Martyrs-to deliver a historic lesson to these enemies once and for all, to avenge all prior crimes, and to create conditions such that the enemy would forever abandon any thought of aggression against beloved Iran and fully taste humiliation and disgrace before the great Iranian nation.

With this strategy, and relying on the unprecedented political and social unity formed within the country, Iran and the resistance began one of the heaviest hybrid wars in history against the United States and the Zionist regime, and during this period achieved all the objectives they had designed for this battle.

Iran and the resistance almost completely destroyed the U.S. military machine in the region; delivered crushing and deep blows to the vast infrastructure and capabilities the enemy had built over years for this war and positioned around it: imposed heavy regional casualties on the U.S. military; inflicted severe and devastating blows inside the occupied territories on the enemy’s forces, infrastructure, capabilities, and assets; and tightened the arena on all fronts to such an extent that not only were none of the enemy’s primary objectives realized, but roughly ten days after the start of the war, the enemy realized it had no ability whatsoever to win. For this reason, it began-through various channels and methods-attempts to establish contact with Iran and request a ceasefire.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, together with the brave fighters of the resistance in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and occupied Palestine, has, over the past 40 days, inflicted blows upon the enemy that the historical memory of the world will never forget. Iran and the axis of resistance, as representatives of honor and humanity against the most savage enemies of mankind, after a historic battle, have taught them an unforgettable lesson and have shattered their forces, capabilities, infrastructure, and all their political, economic, technological, and military capital to such an extent that the enemy is now in a state of collapse and desperation, seeing no path forward except submission to the will of the great Iranian nation and the noble axis of resistance. On the first day that Iran’s criminal enemies began this unjust war, they believed they would quickly achieve full military dominance over Iran and, by creating political and social instability, force Iran into submission. They assumed Iran’s missile and drone fire would be rapidly extinguished and did not believe Iran could deliver such a powerful response beyond its borders and across the entire region. Malignant global Zionism had convinced the ignorant U.S. president that this war would finish Iran and that by eliminating this last bastion of humanity, they could thereafter commit any crime against anyone with ease. They dreamed of fragmenting beloved Iran and plundering its oil and wealth, ultimately leaving Iranians immersed in chaos, instability, and insecurity for many years.

🐣 RT @Faytuks Iran’s Supreme National Security Council calls this a “crushing defeat” for the US, saying that they’ve been forced to accept their 10-point plan. ¤ Iran claims the US has agreed to continued Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Faytuks/status/2041654421348606446?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] Statement of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran on the two-week ceasefire and negotiation conditions (Part One)

The enemy, in its unfair, illegal, and criminal war against the Iranian nation, has suffered an undeniable, historic, and crushing defeat. Thanks to the pure and sacred blood of the martyred leader of the Islamic Revolution, Grand Ayatollah Imam Khamenei (may God bless him), the measures of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and Commander-in-Chief, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei (may God protect him), and the efforts and bravery of the Islamic fighters on the fronts, especially the historic, lasting, and heroic presence of you dear people on the scene from the very first days of the war, Iran has achieved a great victory and forced the criminal America to accept its 10-point plan. In this plan, America fundamentally commits to guaranteeing non-aggression, continuing Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz, accepting enrichment, lifting all primary and secondary sanctions, ending all Security Council and Board of Governors resolutions, paying compensation to Iran, withdrawing US combat forces from the region, and stopping the war on all fronts, including against the heroic Islamic resistance of Lebanon. We congratulate all the people of Iran on this victory and emphasize that until the details of this victory are finalized, there is still a need for the perseverance and prudence of officials and the preservation of unity and solidarity among the Iranian people.

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump [ts; 4/7/2026: 6:32pm]

Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks. This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE! The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East. We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated. On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the Countries of the Middle East, it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

🔆 This❗️⋙ 🐣 RT @KobeissiLetter BREAKING: President Trump announces that the US will be suspending attacks on Iran for a period of 2 weeks on the condition that Iran will be reopening the Strait of Hormuz. ¤ “This will be a double sided ceasefire,” Trump says.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2041646857684729860?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] 🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks. This will be a double sided CEASEFIRE! The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all Military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive Agreement concerning Longterm PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East. We received a 10 point proposal from Iran, and believe it is a workable basis on which to negotiate. Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated. On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the Countries of the Middle East, it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @mmpadellan “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons… a war might be started… by little men, the ones moved by fear and pride.”
Hillary was right about everything.
💽 https://x.com/mmpadellan/status/2041636561821843608?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @ProjectLincoln “I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.” – Trump’s ‘The Art of the Deal’ ghostwriter, 2016
[NYer link:] https://tinyurl.com/5d447xff
¤ https://x.com/ProjectLincoln/status/2041625674037813526?s=20
// background: ghostwriter Tony Schwartz, wrote The Art of the Deal (1987) with Trump

🔆 This❗️⋙ 🐣 RT @KobeissiLetter BREAKING: Iran says it has “forced” the US to accept its “10-point plan” which includes the following terms:
[link:] https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2041662185600909804?s=20

1. Commitment to non-aggression
2. Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz
3. Acceptance of Iran’s uranium enrichment
4. Lifting of all primary sanctions
5. Lifting of all secondary sanctions
6. Termination of all UN Security Council resolutions
7. Termination of all Board of Governors resolutions
8. Paying compensation to Iran
9. Withdrawal of US combat forces from the region
10. Cessation of war on all fronts, including in Lebanon

Trump says this plan is “a workable basis.”
// 4/7/2026, 6:39pm

🐣 RT @yashar BREAKING: Pakistan’s Prime Minister is asking President Trump to extend his deadline by two weeks and is urging the Islamic Republic of Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz for a corresponding two-week period in exchange.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/yashar/status/2041599240267305134?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @OccupyDemocrats BREAKING: Senator Mark Kelly unleashes hell on Trump for threatening to bomb Iran’s civilian infrastructure, says that illegal orders are a “black mark” on America and will turn us into a nation without a “moral or ethical compass.” ¤ This is a master class in real leadership…
¤ https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/2041604647362994258?s=20

“If those words become orders to destroy civilian infrastructure with no valid military purpose, it’s hard to see how they would not violate the laws of armed conflict,” Kelly, himself a retired Navy Captain, wrote on X. “America leads best with strength, discipline, and professionalism. Illegal orders to make civilians suffer would be a black mark on our military and our country.”

Kelly shared his thoughts along with a screenshot of Trump’s deranged threat on Easter to make today “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.” Trump then escalated his war crime threats this morning by vowing that Iran’s “whole civilization will die tonight” unless they cave to his demands. This is nothing short of nuclear terrorism from a sitting American president.

‘”A whole civilization will die tonight’ are words no President of the United States had ever spoken until this morning,” Senator Kelly wrote in another X post. “Donald Trump’s behavior is unhinged and making Americans less safe. After a 25-year career in the United States Navy, I have never met or served with anyone who so completely lacks the qualities of good leadership as Donald Trump does.”

“If the President takes the actions he has threatened to take, countless Iranian civilians will die, it will massively escalate this war, and the United States will be seen as a country without a moral or ethical compass,” he continued. “That will make Americans less safe right now and risk the lives of thousands of service members. The consequences will have a lasting and damaging effect on our nation.”

“Trump’s mistakes have led us to this perilous moment, but the solution is not to escalate even further. This must stop,” Kelly concluded.

Now that Trump has crossed this line, there is no going back. He started a war of aggression on behalf of Israel, is losing it, and is now resorting to threats of mass civilian slaughter and nuclear holocaust in a desperate attempt to achieve a fascist form of victory. In one fell swoop, Trump has catapulted himself into the category of history’s worst monsters.

Even if he doesn’t follow through on his threats, America’s reputation will never recover. The only way forward is for the military to reject these illegal orders and for Trump and his Cabinet to be tried for war crimes. The survival of our democracy depends upon it.

Please ❤️ and share if you support prosecuting Trump

🐣 RT @A_M_R_M1 🚨BREAKING | Senior Iranian Official Hassan Rouhani: “Not tonight, not tomorrow, not ever—Iranian civilization will never be extinguished. Iran has always existed, will continue to exist, and will remain. We Iranians have lived and grown on this land, and we will stand firm here. Iranian civilization is built on knowledge, art, and literature.”
🖼 https://x.com/A_M_R_M1/status/2041599905387471302?s=20/photo/1

NYT: 6 Takeaways From the Story of Trump’s Decision to Go to War https://tinyurl.com/23y83wyw “How President Trump’s alignment with Benjamin Netanyahu and a lack of sustained opposition from his inner circle put the United States on a course to war.”
// Full subtitle: With Iran New details from the weeks leading up to the campaign show how President Trump’s alignment with Benjamin Netanyahu and a lack of sustained opposition from his inner circle put the United States on a course to war.
// by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan

🐣 RT @stellarman22 Netanyahu was in the White House SITUATION ROOM???? ¤ I knew the administration is owned by Israel but a foreign leader being let in there is treason! [link:] NYT: Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman
[TextLink:] https://x.com/stellarman22/status/2041566980054913446?s=20/photo/1

The black S.U.V. carrying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived at the White House just before 11 a.m. on Feb. 11. The Israeli leader, who had been pressing for months for the United States to agree to a major assault on Iran, was whisked inside with little ceremony, out of view of reporters, primed for one of the most high-stakes moments in his long career.

U.S. and Israeli officials gathered first in the Cabinet Room, adjacent to the Oval Office. Then Mr. Netanyahu headed downstairs for the main event: a highly classified presentation on Iran for President Trump and his team in the White House Situation Room, which was rarely used for in-person meetings with foreign leaders.

Mr. Trump sat down, but not in his usual position at the head of the room’s mahogany conference table. Instead, the president took a seat on one side, facing the large screens mounted along the wall.

Mr. Netanyahu sat on the other side, directly opposite the president.

🐣 RT @ TheStudyofWar [12 noon] NEW: US President Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to reach an agreement before the United States strikes Iranian energy infrastructure is set to expire in several hours. Iran rejected the United States’ terms for a ceasefire and responded with a “maximalist” counterproposal yesterday.
¤ https://x.com/TheStudyofWar/status/2041552821636440252?s=20

Trump continued to threaten US strikes targeting Iranian power plants and bridges on April 7. Israeli officials have indicated that the IDF would participate in strikes on these targets. Trump has twice moved his deadline for Iran to reach a deal, including once at the request of Iranian officials, in order to continue talks.

Mediators told the Trump administration that they are working with the Iranian regime to amend and redraft its counterproposal, but warned that Iranian decision-making has been quite slow. Iranian leaders are reportedly unable to communicate efficiently, likely due to targeting concerns.

The United States struck bunkers, ammunition storage facilities, a radar station, and other military targets on Kharg Island on April 7, according to US officials. The United States did not target landing docks or oil infrastructure. The United States last struck Kharg Island on March 13.

Iran claimed that it attacked a ship in the Persian Gulf. United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported on April 7 that a container vessel was struck by an unknown projectile 25 nautical miles south of Kish Island, Iran. Iran has conducted sporadic attacks targeting ships in the Gulf to disrupt international shipping and increase its leverage.

The IDF struck around 10 railways, highways, and bridges across Iran on April 7 to disrupt the Iranian regime’s ability to transfer weapons and missile launchers. Several railways and highways in northwestern and central Iran were struck. Anti-regime media noted that one of the struck railway bridges in Zanjan Province is located near an ammunition and missile depot.

TheAtlantic, David A Graham: Trump Threatens to Destroy an Entire Nation https://tinyurl.com/42jd497p “The president’s position is that if he wants to wipe out a ‘whole civilization,’ then that is his decision to make.” //➔ If he means it, it’s genocide, a war crime.

WaPo: Trump threats against civilian targets put military in legal, moral quandary https://tinyurl.com/493fk4pm “President Donald Trump said the United States would target ‘every’ Iranian bridge and power plant. Experts say such blanket action violates international law.”

🐣 RT @ruthbenghiat When historians write about this time they will explore why no one stopped him: why no one in his govt or the GOP or the elites in finance that prop him back pretending they don’t see the disintegration or not caring as long as they make $ did anything meaningful.
⋙ 🐣 RT @atrupar I feel sick to my stomach waiting around today to see what atrocity Trump has in mind for the people of Iran this evening. It’s hard to fathom that our other elected leaders aren’t able to check him in any meaningful way. It’s really an indictment not just of the electorate but of our whole system of government. We’re ruled by a mad king.

💙 NYT, J Swan and M Haberman: How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran https://tinyurl.com/ymse4v54 “In a series of Situation Room meetings, President Trump weighed his instincts against the deep concerns of his vice president and a pessimistic intelligence assessment.”
// Cont.: Here’s the inside story of how he made the fateful decision

🐣 RT @ TVietor08 Deeply reported story by @maggieNYT and @jonathanvswan about an extraordinary pitch/presentation Netanyahu made to convince Trump to go to war with Iran, including catastrophically wrong Israeli assumptions about how easy it would be to win. [NYT link:] https://tinyurl.com/ymse4v54
¤ https://x.com/TVietor08/status/2041559310308930043?s=20

In the Situation Room on Feb. 11, Mr. Netanyahu made a hard sell, suggesting that Iran was ripe for regime change and expressing the belief that a joint U.S.-Israeli mission could finally bring an end to the Islamic Republic.

At one point, the Israelis played for Mr. Trump a brief video that included a montage of potential new leaders who could take over the country if the hard-line government fell. Among those featured was Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s last shah, now a Washington-based dissident who had tried to position himself as a secular leader who could shepherd Iran toward a post-theocratic government.

Mr. Netanyahu and his team outlined conditions they portrayed as pointing to near-certain victory: Iran’s ballistic missile program could be destroyed in a few weeks. The regime would be so weakened that it could not choke off the Strait of Hormuz, and the likelihood that Iran would land blows against U.S. interests in neighboring countries was assessed as minimal.

🐣 RT @TVietor08 Pretty shocking that people are leaking DIRECT QUOTES to @maggieNYT and @jonathanvswan about the most sensitive situation room meeting imaginable as the war is still happening…but Trump and Netanyahu’s teams are full of irresponsible assholes, so here we are. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/ymse4v54
¤ https://x.com/TVietor08/status/2041561676290691179?s=20

The president then turned to General Caine. “General, what do you think?”

General Caine replied: “Sir, this is, in my experience, standard operating procedure for the Israelis. They oversell, and their plans are not always well-developed. They know they need us, and that’s why they’re hard-selling.”

Mr. Trump quickly weighed the assessment. Regime change, he said, would be “their problem.” It was unclear whether he was referring to the Israelis or the Iranian people. But the bottom line was that his decision on whether to go to war against Iran would not hinge on whether Parts 3 and 4 of Mr. Netanyahu’s presentation were achievable.

🐣 RT @ @rektfencer ⚡ JUST IN: TRUMP’S INSIDER JUST OPENED $30M OIL LONG AHEAD OF TONIGHT’S ANNOUNCEMENT. ¤ LAST TIME HE DID THIS HE MADE $10M IN 60 MINUTES. ¤ SOMETHING HUGE IS ABOUT TO HIT MARKETS

WSJ: Trump Rebuked Over Threat to Wipe Out Iran Civilization https://tinyurl.com/mr34hahw “The president has given Tehran a deadline of 8 p.m. ET to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran cut off direct communications with the U.S., though talks with mediators continue.”

🐣 RT @stengel An American president threatening the death of an ancient civilization is in some ways the end of the 250-year moral experiment of a constitutional republic that the framers saw as a model for all mankind.

🧵 RT @ChrisMurphyCT Trump’s Iran War has been a disaster in the U.S., as gas prices eclipse $4. ¤ But in the developing world, the shock of spiralling energy prices has been cataclysmic.
1/ A short thread the scope of the damage Trump has caused. There are crises everywhere and you need to know.
📌 https://x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2041506165117362612?s=20

🐣 RT @atrupar Bret Baier: “I just got off the phone with the president. He called. He said ‘8pm is happening. If we get to that point, there is going to be an attack like they have not seen.’ He’s sticking to that at this point.”

🐣 RT @robinmonotti 🚨 ITALY DEFENCE MINISTER CONFIRMS TALK OF NUCLEAR STRIKE
¤ https://x.com/robinmonotti/status/2041512917837783316?s=20/

“I fear that what is already dramatic could spiral even further. Because humanity has shown us that there is no limit to madness. Do you think those who decided that, to end a conflict, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were acceptable are any different from us? Unfortunately, we still have nuclear weapons… We have learned nothing.

I don’t even want to utter the word [nuclear war]. The risk is madness itself, and what we are witnessing is a conflict in which every action is met with a reaction of an even higher level.

Everyone should do their part. I maintain that Italy has taken an important and serious stance in saying it does not support this war, while trying to limit the damage as much as possible.

I hope everyone realizes what we are living through. This is a situation without precedent in recent decades.”

🐣 RT @ ahmed131996ahm [tr]
¤ https://x.com/ahmed131996ahm/status/2041514238175297573?s=20

🔴 Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in response to Trump when he said that America is a great power

🔴 As for us, there is no superpower except for God alone, with no partner, but as for you, America is a great power, but not over Iran

🔴 If it were a great power, why couldn’t it manage to open the Strait of Hormuz for nearly 40 days until now

🔴 The great power is helpless before the men of Iran; this is the clear truth for the world when you ask Spain, Japan, and Korea to help you open the strait; then you are not a great power; you are just delusional with your Hollywood movies and think they are reality

Araghchi strikes and doesn’t care 👏👏

🐣 RT @Mikel_Jollett Any student of history will tell you this 7is an extremely dangerous moment. ¤ People like Trump who make wild threats to do insane homicidal things again and again are full of shit—until they aren’t.
¤ https://x.com/Mikel_Jollett/status/2041526347147993369?s=20

All the safeguards are gone.
The generals have been removed.
Our allies have been alienated.
Congressional Republicans will follow Trump to the apocalypse.

We really are on the razor’s edge of total disaster here and millions if not billions of lives hang in the balance.

🐣 RT @VolodyaTretyak This what the USA supports btw
[TextLink:] https://x.com/VolodyaTretyak/status/2041480674297672051?s=20/photo/1

“I’m ready to be your mouse that frees the lion from the cage.
In any matter where I can be useful, I am at your service.”
– Orban, to Putin

🐣 RT @Lawrence
¤ https://x.com/Lawrence/status/2041504984483729909?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @rgoodlaw.bsky.social “Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.”
Geneva Convention Additional Protocol | and Department of Defense Law of War Manual, § 5.2.2

🐣 RT @drhossamsamy65 ⛔️Former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that Netanyahu blackmailed Trump with recordings of his conversations with Epstein.‼️

🐣 RT @ AaronBlake Where we’re at: One of Trump’s most prominent backers, Tucker Carlson, is telling people around Trump to “figure out the codes” for the nuclear football, so Trump can’t use it on Iran.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/AaronBlake/status/2041496983425196069?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] [cut] imagine. Not just Iran, us and the rest of the world. And so that means, because this is obvious to anyone who’s paying any attention, that if you work in the White House, we’re in the U.S. Military, now it’s time to say no, absolutely not, and say it directly to the president, no. In case you’re thinking about using some weapon of mass destruction against the population of Iran, in whose name we liberated Iran, we killed their religious leader for their benefit. Do you remember that? This was last month. Those people who are in direct contact with the president need to say, no, I’ll resign. I’ll do whatever I can do legally to stop this because this is insane. ¤ And if given the order, I’m not carrying it out. Figure out the codes on the football yourself because everything hangs in the balance right now. This is not hysteria, this is 100% real, The people in this country by and large are asleep walking along now. The future will be pretty much like today, maybe a little different. That’s not the lesson of history. Things change fast and forever. There are pivot points where nothing is the same and sometimes it’s better, but mostly it’s not. And this is one of those cases where it might not be at all. But there’s something else [cut]

WSJ: Trump Warns Iran ‘Whole Civilization Will Die’ https://tinyurl.com/mr34hahw “The president has given a deadline of 8 p.m. ET for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. conducted more than 50 strikes on military targets on Iran’s Kharg Island.”

🐣 RT @Megatron_ron BREAKING: 🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran cancels all diplomatic and indirect channels of communication with the United States and announces the suspension of any and all message exchanges, following Trump’s latest threat – Reuters

🐣 RT @marci_shore I’ve taught European history for 30 years. Americans have always asked me how the Holocaust was possible, how Germans could have enabled a madman reveling in mass murder to carry out his plans. Now we can see in real time how this is enabled; now we have front-row seats.
🐣 RT @RonFilipkowski A madman has control of the most powerful military in the history of the world and the leaders of his party are too afraid to say or do anything to stop him.
🐣 RT @ MeidasTouch This is the most horrifying, psychotic, grotesque message Trump has ever posted—openly threatening to commit genocide. This is beyond reckless. It’s dangerous, dehumanizing, and utterly unfit for any leader.
⋙ 🐣 RT @BillKristol Impeach Trump.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/BillKristol/status/2041496969617576077?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] 🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will. However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS? We will find out tonight, one of the most important moments in the long and complex history of the World. 47 years of extortion, corruption, and death, will finally end. God Bless the Great People of Iran!

⭕ 6 Apr 2026

WaPo: Trump says God supports U.S. cause in Iran war as he threatens wider bombing https://tinyurl.com/5av5mvej “In recent days Trump has hinted that the war is an existential battle between Christianity and Islam.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2041458747025858962?s=20/photo/1
//. The president offered a new rationale for the costly, unpopular conflict: “God wants to see people taken care of,” he said.

Trump said Monday that he believed God supports the United States’ actions in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, a widening conflict that has killed thousands in the Middle East, wounded many more and left 13 U.S. service members dead. …

In recent days Trump has hinted that the war is an existential battle between Christianity and Islam.

“Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to A–––h,” Trump wrote in a social media post Easter Sunday morning.

U.S. presidents have often invoked faith in times of conflict. But others, such as George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who also presided over war in the Middle East, have gone out of their way to emphasize that the United States was not battling Muslims or Islam, but a specific group of people who had attacked America. …
v
Some Catholic leaders have harshly criticized the U.S. strikes in Iran, including Pope Leo, who on Palm Sunday preached that God “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war.” Two days later, Leo urged Trump by name to end the war. Leo, the first American-born pope, had previously criticized the Trump administration’s policies more broadly without mentioning the president himself.

And Trump ally-turned-critic Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican former congresswoman and a Protestant Christian, on Sunday bashed the president’s vows to escalate the war, declaring that Trump “is not a Christian.”
^
On Monday, in describing the rescue of a U.S. airman in a mountainous region of Iran, Trump credited God for looking out for the U.S. mission, which he previously described as miraculous. “Well, it was the Easter — we were in Easter territory, I guess,” Trump said. “But God was watching us. Amazing.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who flanked Trump throughout the briefing, used the metaphor of the crucifixion, death, burial in a tomb and resurrection of Jesus to discuss the military’s rescue of the colonel on Sunday.

“You see, shot down on a Friday, Good Friday; hidden in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday; and rescued on Sunday,” Hegseth said. “Flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday, a pilot reborn.”

NYT: The Big Bang: AI Has Created a Code Overload https://tinyurl.com/8yj52s3b Companies are scrambling to deal with the glut.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2041452262531203405?s=20/photo/1

In Silicon Valley, many tech workers see this moment as a new reality they must adapt to as companies incorporate A.I. tools into daily work. Some said the tools granted them coding superpowers, allowing them to spend more time coming up with software ideas instead of doing the arduous work of building it.

At the same time, there are not enough engineers to review the explosion of code for mistakes. Recruiters are increasingly looking to hire senior engineers who have experience spotting errors in code and can monitor the software for risks. Open source software projects, which anyone can contribute to, have been inundated with A.I.-enabled additions. And sometimes flaws in the code can lead to security vulnerabilities or software that crashes.

NYT: 6 Takeaways From Trump’s News Conference on Iran https://tinyurl.com/59vdpx7t

• He wants free traffic of oil “and everything else”
• He has a ‘concept’ where the US controls the strait and charges tolls
• “Hundreds” were involved in the rescue
• He wants to return to “To the victor belong the spoils,”
• He still wants wants Greenland

NYT: Iran’s 10-Point Proposal Demands an End to Attacks and Sanctions https://tinyurl.com/2n8vysuy Asked on Monday about the latest proposal from Iran, Trump said: “It’s a significant proposal. It’s a significant step. … It’s not good enough. But it’s a very significant step”
// As President Trump’s deadline for new attacks loomed, Iran conveyed its conditions through Pakistani intermediaries.

💙 🐣 RT @Oct7NeverForget Well, now it’s becoming more or less clear what Volodymyr Oleksandrovych has in mind.
¤ https://x.com/Oct7NeverForget/status/2041150847824847314?s=20

A geopolitical axis is taking shape: Ukraine + Turkey + the Persian Gulf states + Jordan + Syria… and no Trump involved! Zelensky will bring in Europe as needed. Erdogan will bring in the South Caucasus.

For both Turkey and Ukraine, such a political axis is a significant goal. ¤ That’s why the President of Ukraine flew to Damascus on a Turkish government plane — personally arranged by Erdogan.

Accompanying the Ukrainian president to Syria is not some minor interpreter, but Turkey’s Foreign Minister himself — again, on Erdogan’s direct orders. Turkish specialists are providing security for the Ukrainian president… though perhaps they didn’t actually get the chance, since Ukrainian security likely didn’t allow it :)

Overall, the visit started warmly — al-Sharaa’s smile could brighten even the gloomiest day, and our Volodymyr Oleksandrovych is always looking sharp.
Good morning!

JerusalemPost: Russia provided Iran with list of Israeli energy targets, Ukrainian intelligence finds – exclusive https://tinyurl.com/5n88uycc “According to the findings, the targeted sites were divided into three categories based on their strategic importance.”

🐣 RT @rrghadi01 A simultaneous shutdown of Iran’s petrochemicals and Saudi’s SABIC would trigger a global industrial “cardiac arrest.” ¤ Removing ~20% of the world’s trade in methanol, urea, and polymers would spike global inflation by 1.5–2% via the petchem channel alone. ¤ A dire threat to food and medical security.
⋙ 🐣 RT @Narjes_Rahmati The Middle East’s largest petrochemical plant, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), is on fire in Jubeil Industrial City following a missile strike.

🐣 RT @AJEnglish Trump “has about 20 hours” left to either surrender to Iran, “or his allies will return to the Stone Age”, a top advisor to Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said, mirroring the language of the US president.

🚫 🐣 RT @AFRICANDEMOC Former CIA officer Larry Johnson confirmed that the Pentagon is lying to the public. ¤ The American F-15 shot down in Iran was actually preparing for a massive ground attack on a nuclear facility in Natanz. The rescue operation turned into a complete disaster.
// rumor, but keeps popping up; 120 planes to rescue one guy?
// opposing pov: https://x.com/chrisschmitz/status/2041172522121441483?s=20

🐣 RT @OccupyDemocrats BREAKING: A renowned psychologist warns that Trump’s mental “deterioration” is “accelerating” with clear signs of “frontotemporal dementia” and yet he still “has the nuclear button.” […]
¤ https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/2041319823473603011?s=20
// Dr. John Gartner, form. Johns Hopkins Med School

🐣 RT @BulwarkOnline Trump: “I’m polling higher than anybody has ever polled in Venezuela. So after I’m finished with this I can got to Venezuela. I will quickly learn Spanish. It won’t take long. I’m good at language. I will go to Venezuela. I’m going to run for president.”
💽 https://x.com/BulwarkOnline/status/2041221316989063457?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @WMX_MEDIA Iran has submitted its response to Pakistan regarding the United States’ proposal for a 45-day ceasefire – Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA)
¤ https://x.com/WMX_MEDIA/status/2041204159006060994?s=20

Iran rejects the temporary ceasefire and demands the following:

– Permanent end to the war on all combat fronts in the Middle East, including Lebanon and Gaza, with guarantees provided.

– Dismantlement of all U.S. bases in the Arabian Gulf.

– Implementation of a new transit protocol that recognizes Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz and allows Iran to collect transit fees.

– Lifting of economic sanctions imposed on Iran.

– Recognition of Iran’s right to peaceful uranium enrichment in accordance with its inalienable right under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the United Nations Charter.

– Payment of compensation for the economic damages it has suffered during the war.

🐣 RT @disclosetv NOW – Trump says that his frustrations with NATO “all began with, if you want to know the truth, Greenland. We want Greenland. They don’t want to give it to us, and I said, ‘bye bye!'”
💽 https://x.com/disclosetv/status/2041223980787380619?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @Oct7NeverForget We will no longer purchase American weapons,” said the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in response to the acting leader of the United States.
¤ https://x.com/Oct7NeverForget/status/2040953908093235652?s=20

Until now, the money flowing into the American military-industrial complex was not just business. It was, in fact, a ritual of loyalty. You weren’t just buying missile systems — you were buying the right to belong.

As of today, it’s over. This is how the Crown Prince responded to the insulting remarks made by the idiot Trump toward him.

⋙ 🐣 RT @NextGenEV For those who missed it, Trump said of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, “He didn’t think he’d be kissing my ass”

🐣 RT @RonFilipkowski Trump claims he was the one who took out Osama bin Laden.
⋙ 🐣 RT @Acyn Trump: I had killed Soleimani… I did one other, but this one was not picked up. Osama Bin Laden
💽 https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2041219277424824342?s=20/video/1

🐣 📋 RT @DKThomp JPM’s Michael Cembalest: In the ~160 years after the Civil War, US presidents fired 11 four- and five-star military officers. ¤ In Trump’s first 14 months, the White House has fired 9 of them.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/DKThomp/status/2041186430974615613?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @ @ohryansbelt The New Yorker just dropped a massive investigation into Sam Altman, based on over 100 interviews, the previously undisclosed “Ilya Memos,” and Dario Amodei’s 200+ pages of private notes. It’s the most detailed account yet of the pattern of behavior that led to Sam’s firing and rapid reinstatement at OpenAI. Here’s the breakdown:
¤ https://x.com/ohryansbelt/status/2041151473984123274?s=20
⋙⋙ Source: NewYorker, Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz: Sam Altman May Control Our Future – Can He Be Trusted? https://tinyurl.com/yvuyauzr “New interviews and closely guarded documents shed light on the persistent doubts about the head of OpenAI.”

[…] • A board member described Sam as having “two traits almost never seen in the same person: a strong desire to please people in any given interaction, and almost a sociopathic lack of concern for the consequences of deceiving someone.” Multiple sources independently used the word “sociopathic.”

• OpenAI is reportedly preparing for an IPO at a potential $1 trillion valuation while securing government contracts spanning immigration enforcement, domestic surveillance, and autonomous weaponry in war zones.

🐣 RT @atrupar Trump: “The entire country could be taken out in one night. And that night might be tomorrow night.”
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2041202382227308761?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @GBX_Press Former CIA Analyst Larry Johnson:​”Trump is living in a dream world and experiencing hallucinations.” ¤ ​”The symptoms he is experiencing indicate that he is suffering from Alzheimer’s and dementia.”

Reuters: Iran rejects ceasefire as deadline nears on Trump ‘hell’ ultimatum https://tinyurl.com/mr49s2b4

🐣 RT @LePapillonBlu2 WOW-WOW-WOW. Professor Jeffrey Sachs confirms that forensic psychiatrists have clinically judged Donald Trump to be a literal psychopath: “This is an unhinged man, who is impulsive, paranoid, psychopathic, and a megalomaniac. This is not the kind of person one wants in the presidency of the United States.”
💽 https://x.com/LePapillonBlu2/status/2040587290620174625?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @AmericanEthical HUGE: MAGA’s biggest podcaster/Trump ally Candace Owens calls on Congress to REMOVE “Mad King Trump” after his unhinged post threatening Iran and mocking Islam. This is monumental.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/AmericanEthical/status/2041060047976099860?s=20/photo/1

Candace Owens: Congress needs to move to have the Mad King Trump removed.

Not only is she calling for him to be impeached, but she’s admitting he’s trying to be a king, and he’s lost his mind — the central message of No Kings isn’t for just the “leftists” anymore.

Candace Owens: All of our lives may depend upon other countries realizing that Trump is deeply unwell and surrounded by religious fanatics who have convinced him that he is a messiah.

She’s an insider — she knows his circle inside and out. Better than anyone, she knows it’s a cult. Not “like” a cult. It’s a literally a cult.

But what’s even more shocking is that the queen of “America First” — the top MAGA podcaster in the world — is calling on other countries to ABANDON the man she helped make president.

Candace Owens: We are in uncharted territory. Leaders worldwide need to act accordingly.

Damn right. But it’s amazing hearing it from here.

Every MAGAdiot needs to hear this right now. WAKE UP, like she has.

🐣 RT @ Mollyploofkins MTG on Trump: “He has gone insane…Our President is not a Christian and his words and actions should not be supported by Christians.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Mollyploofkins/status/2040831318007701963?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Gr… ® @FmrRep… • 2h g
On Easter morning, this is what President Trump posted.
Everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the President and intervene in Trump’s madness.
I know all of you and him and he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit.
I’m not defending Iran but let’s be honest about all of this.
The Strait is closed because the US and Israel started the unprovoked war against Iran based on the same nuclear lies they’ve been telling for decades, that any moment Iran would develop a nuclear weapon.
You know who has nuclear weapons?
Israel.
They are more than capable of defending themselves without the US having to fight their wars, kill innocent people and children, and pay for it.
Trump threatening to bomb power plants and bridges hurts the Iranian people, the very people Trump claimed he was freeing.
On Easter, of all days, we as Christians should be reminded that the son of God died and rose from the grave so that we can be forgiven once and for all of our sins. Jesus commanded us to love one another and forgive one another. Even our enemies.
Our President is not a Christian and his words and actions should not be supported by Christians.
Christians in the administration should be pursuing peace. Urging the President to make peace.
Not escalating war that is hurting people.
This NOT what we promised the American people when they overwhelmingly voted in 2024, I know, I was there more than most.
This is not making America great again, this is evil.

🐣 RT @harryjsisson Dr. Vin Gupta, a highly respected medical expert, has reacted to Trump’s insane Easter message amid ongoing questions about his health “The President is exhibiting all the signs of dementia.” Trump has gone crazy and he’s showing it on the world stage.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/harryjsisson/status/2040923294858125329?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @VinGuptaMD Erratic. ¤ Can’t finish sentences. ¤ Often confused. ¤ Illogical train of thought. ¤ Word finding difficulties.
Developing and worsening gradually over time.
The President is exhibiting all the signs of dementia.

🐣 RT @mccaffreyr3 This Trump statement is completely unhinged. Dangerous. Unsettling. Trump is desperate. Volatile. Republicans in Congress must step in. White House staff must consult Congress.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/mccaffreyr3/status/2041154560551690420?s=20/photo/1
// re: Easter tweet invoking Allah

🐣 RT @maddenifico I agree with renowned historian Timothy Snyder. Trump is going to stage a coup.
¤ https://x.com/maddenifico/status/2040851686621630553?s=20

As Snyder explains, Trump’s proposed 50% defense budget increase should be seen as nothing short of a bribe to secure military loyalty for a coup attempt — and that a staged domestic terror attack is Trump’s best remaining path to nullifying elections.

Pete Hegseth’s recent firing of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George is more evidence that the fascist authoritarian Trump regime is more interested in loyalty than competence. If the 79-year-old pedophile psychopath is to succeed in conning the US Armed Forces into supporting him in overthrowing American democracy and the constitution, his only chance is to have quislings and sycophants throughout the top brass in the military.

🐣 RT @realtrumpstein 🚨 NO, this is not a joke ¤ A Christian pastor, during Easter at the White House, says that God created Trump to kill Iranian Muslims for the good of the people of Israel…
💽 https://x.com/realtrumpstein/status/2041028998533190099?s=20/video/1
// the pastor is Franklin Graham

🐣 RT @RonFilipkowski At 12:57 AM, Trump wants the Supreme Court to strip millions of Americans of their citizenship while basing their decision on the constitutional precedent of a Mark Levin episode.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2041097046170456451?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump It’s too bad that the Supreme Court can’t watch and study the Mark Levin Show tonight on the Birthright Citizenship Scam. If they saw it they would never allow that money making HOAX to continue. THEY SHOULD USE THEIR POWERS OF COMMON SENSE FOR THE GOOD OF OUR COUNTRY. They failed miserably on Tariffs, needlessly costing the USA Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in potential rebates for the benefit haters and scammers. Why??? Don’t do it again! The Country can only withstand so many bad decisions from a Court that just doesn’t seem to care.

⭕ 5 Apr 2026 ✝

❗ 🐣 RT @mb_ghalibaf 1/ Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands. ¤ Make no mistake: You won’t gain anything through war crimes.
¤ https://x.com/mb_ghalibaf/status/2040823145251090462?s=20

🐣 RT @ksadjadpour 1 The defining deliberations of this war aren’t between the US and Iran, but Trump and himself. He’s vacillated between walking away and promising to bomb Iran to the Stone Age. Iran has been consistent: Its ideology is resistance, its strategy is chaos, its endgame is survival.
⋙ 🐣 RT @ksadjadpour 13 Trump wants a quick deal. The regime, for both ideological and structural reasons, cannot make one. So long as the Islamic Republic rules Iran the inevitable outcome is a return to the cold war that predates this conflict and will likely outlast it.
⋙ 🐣 RT @ksadjadpour 14 Wars, like revolutions, are judged by the political orders they build, not by what they destroy. Trump is measuring this war by what he has destroyed. History will judge it by its lasting impact on Iran, the Middle East, and the broader global order.

NYT, Edward Wong: Trump Revels in Threats to Commit War Crimes in Iran https://tinyurl.com/3euxjfav “I don’t need international law,” Trump said in January. When asked whether there was any limit on his global powers, he said, “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality.”
// The president said he would bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages.” Until this administration, American leaders had insisted they were trying to follow international law in war.

The American president has been unambiguous in his disdain for international law. In a two-hour Oval Office interview in January with The New York Times, Mr. Trump declared, “I don’t need international law.” When asked whether there was any limit on his global powers, he said, “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality.”

🐣 RT @ksadjadpour 1 The defining deliberations of this war aren’t between the US and Iran, but Trump and himself. He’s vacillated between walking away and promising to bomb Iran to the Stone Age. Iran has been consistent: Its ideology is resistance, its strategy is chaos, its endgame is survival.
⋙ 🐣 RT @ksadjadpour 13 Trump wants a quick deal. The regime, for both ideological and structural reasons, cannot make one. So long as the Islamic Republic rules Iran the inevitable outcome is a return to the cold war that predates this conflict and will likely outlast it.
⋙ 🐣 RT @ksadjadpour 14 Wars, like revolutions, are judged by the political orders they build, not by what they destroy. Trump is measuring this war by what he has destroyed. History will judge it by its lasting impact on Iran, the Middle East, and the broader global order.

WaPo: Trump threatens Iran with ‘Hell’ over Strait of Hormuz in profane post https://tinyurl.com/475cfn5z “Trump escalated threats against Iran’s power plants, bridges and other infrastructure in an expletive-laden post … on Easter morning.” //➔ and mocked the Prophet

President Donald Trump escalated his threats to target Iran’s infrastructure if it does not open up the Strait of Hormuz, warning the country will be “living in Hell” in an expletive-filled message on social media Sunday. He later suggested that the United States could target “every power plant” in the country — an attack that experts warned could amount to war crimes.

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform. “There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

The profane threat, which landed Easter morning a few hours after Pope Leo XIV issued a call for nations to choose peace, underscores tensions as there is little sign Tehran and Washington are close to striking a deal to open the vital shipping route that Iran has effectively closed since the attacks began about five weeks ago. Gas prices have risen sharply as Iran limits the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz, ramping up the political pressure on Trump to end the conflict he started — and Sunday’s threat heightens earlier warnings that he plans to inflict severe damage if there is no movement.

Trump’s warning also sowed more whiplash for allies after a week of mixed messages about his plans for the strait. The president, who has previously called on other countries to help open the waterway, suggested in recent days that the U.S. is not responsible for reopening it: “What happens in the strait, we’re not going to have anything to do with,” he told reporters Tuesday. He has also urged allies reliant on oil that passes through the strait to “build up some delayed courage” and “just TAKE IT.”

At an address to the country Wednesday, Trump did not list reopening the strait as one of the United States’ core objectives. He said the U.S. would hit Iran “extremely hard” over the next two or three weeks and assessed that the strait would open up “naturally” after the war ends.

But even after the assassinations of senior Iranian leaders by Israel and the U.S., Iran’s remaining leaders have been emboldened in their efforts to inflict further economic pain, pushing Tehran and Washington further apart in negotiations.

About 20 percent of global oil supplies pass through the Strait of Hormuz each year, and the International Energy Agency in Paris has called Iran’s clampdown the largest energy shock in history. In the U.S., the price of gas surpassed $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022 and is about 25 percent higher than it was a month ago, according to data from AAA.

Trump on Sunday told the Wall Street Journal that if Iran does not reopen the strait by Tuesday evening, “they’re going to lose every power plant and every other plant they have in the whole country.”

Human rights experts have warned that attacking civilian infrastructure would violate international law on armed conflict. Power grids, as well as water facilities and bridges, are possible examples of “dual use” infrastructure, which civilians use but which the military may also rely on for operations. While international law restricts militaries from attacking these sites in many cases, the U.S. has increasingly targeted them since the Gulf War, experts note.

Power plants and bridges could either be lawful military targets or civilian objects under the law of war, depending on the facts on the ground, said Brian Finucane, a former legal adviser for the State Department.

“A threat to attack all bridges or power plants or to attack them without distinguishing between lawful and unlawful targets would be a threat to commit war crimes,” said Finucane, now a senior adviser for the U.S. program at the International Crisis Group.

Brett McGurk, a former senior national security official under several presidents, including Trump, said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Trump’s latest Truth Social threat appeared to be an effort to “escalate to try to get a deal.” But McGurk said he was skeptical it would achieve that.

“The president in his national address the other night suggested the Strait of Hormuz is not an objective for us,” McGurk said, and now, he is suggesting it is. “It’s just kind of shifting objectives in terms of what exactly we’re trying to achieve here.”

Rep. Michael R. Turner (R-Ohio), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, in an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” said that the conflict in Iran was inevitable — and that Trump was intervening to stop Iran from being able to “project force against the United States and our allies.” Asked if the Strait of Hormuz can be opened without putting U.S. troops on the ground, Turner said he doesn’t think ground troops are going to be necessary.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said on “This Week” that “there is no circumstance where U.S. ground troops should be sent over to the Middle East” and called the conflict a “reckless war of choice without any plan, any strategic objectives and no clear exit strategy.”

“This war is already deeply unpopular, for obvious reasons amongst the American people,” he said. “The American people are not going to accept ground troops being put into harm’s way in this war of choice, when there’s no clear evidence that it actually is designed to improve our national security interests.

💙 TheAtlantic, Shane Harris: The Real Intelligence Failure in Iran https://tinyurl.com/bdvwxshn “A costly quagmire was predictable. Trump went to war anyway.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2041004367092887668?s=20/photo/1
// Trump ignored the warnings

The intelligence community was accurate and consistent in its prewar judgments about Iran’s capabilities and intentions to attack the United States and its allies. Contrary to what President Trump has said to justify his decision, the intelligence showed that the Iranian regime was not preparing to use a nuclear weapon; it did not have ballistic missiles capable of reaching the United States; and in response to a U.S. military attack, Iran was likely to strike at neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf and try to close the Strait of Hormuz, precipitating a global economic crisis. All of this was known before the war and presented to President Trump. This was an intelligence success. […]
v
The U.S. intelligence community is neither designed nor equipped to restrain a president who is moved by impulse, emotion, and his own feelings. It can only provide him with information. When the president disregards what he’s told, or distorts it, that failure is his alone.

⭕ 4 Apr 2026

🧵 RT @EiWasDann 1/ If you’ve digested Parts 1 and 2, you’re probably starting to get a sense of where this is headed. And if you think this is all just theory, let’s take a look at Ukraine, where we can already see this resource-grabbing scheme playing out in real time. Lets roll:
// Russia Ukraine Trump long game
📌 https://x.com/EiWasDann/status/2040462877786808340?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://tinyurl.com/4dt9aadv

🐣 RT @StratcomCentre Ronald Reagan in 1988 reminds the world that NATO’s 1949 founding was a direct response to Moscow discarding their sworn promise to allow freedom among Eastern European nations.
💽 https://x.com/StratcomCentre/status/2040447694045409606?s=20/video/1
⋙ 🐣 RT @BrendaWeese Text of exerpted speech above:
[TextLink:] https://x.com/BrendaWeese/status/2040468380000432254?s=20/photo/1

RONALD REAGAN – EXCERPT FROM A 1988 SPEECH
But the Soviet effort to split the alliance failed. The allies refused to be intimidated and went ahead with the deployments as planned. The result: the historic treaty signed last December that for the first time eliminates an entire class of U.S. and Soviet nuclear missiles. Let me say one thing about the treaty. It is not based on trust. We can’t forget that the reason – the very reason – for NATO was the Soviet’s aggressive expansionism in Eastern Europe and abrogation of their sworn commitments under the Yalta Agreement.

🐣 RT @europa 🇺🇸🇮🇷 Archbishop Timothy Broglio, head of the US military archdiocese, says the Iran war “does not meet just war criteria” and is therefore not morally justified.
¤ https://x.com/europa/status/2040389920825475128?s=20

Broglio warned Catholic troops they are not bound to obey every order in such a conflict, advising them to “do as little harm as possible” and protect innocent lives. He noted US law allows objection to war in general, not specific conflicts.

Broglio also called Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Jesus to justify the war “problematic,” saying it is “hard to cast this war as something sponsored by the Lord.”

🐣 RT @SenSanders Trump’s obscene budget.
¤ https://x.com/SenSanders/status/2040504544119931145?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @SenSanders Last year, while the billionaire class became much richer as the working class struggled to survive, Trump gave a $1 trillion tax break to the 1% and paid for it by throwing 15 million Americans off the health care they desperately need.

This year, while Trump and Netanyahu started a war in Iran, the president wants to increase military spending by $500 billion and pay for that war by reducing funding for childcare, health care, affordable housing and other domestic needs.

This is what Trump’s agenda is all about: making himself and his fellow oligarchs even richer, while decimating programs that working families, the elderly and the children rely on.

That is an obscene set of priorities. Congress must reject this proposal and pass a budget that works for all of us, not just the 1%.

🐣 RT @cindikg161 Boom 💥
[TextLink:] https://x.com/cindikg161/status/2040212446841831911?s=20/photo/1

I have lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis, the JFK assassination, the Vietnam War, the Turmoil of 1968, Watergate, the Hostage Crisis, two oil crisis, disco, Reaganomics, 9/11.

The covid pandemic….

These past 11 months have been easily the most miserable era in America in my lifetime.

The hatred, the bigotry, the lies, the racketeering and pedophilia are beyond anything I have ever seen.

We are not going to hell as a nation.
We are IN Hell.

⋙ 🐣 “Hell is empty and all the devils are here.” — Shakespeare

🐣 RT @cwebbonline Threatening hell in 48 hours… then “glory be to God.” ¤ This timeline is insane.
¤ https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/2040437290896621598?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD! President DONALD J. TRUMP

⭕ 3 Apr 2026

TheAtlantic, Tom Nichols: Hegseth’s War on America’s Military https://tinyurl.com/2dvzxj8y “The petty vendettas of a passed-over major mattered less until the war in Iran, which may be escalating beyond US control and is now sinking both Trump’s popularity and the global economy.”
// orig.: “The petty vendettas of a passed-over major mattered less until the war in Iran, a conflict that may be escalating beyond American control and is now sinking both Trump’s popularity and the global economy”

WaPo, Max Boot: Hegseth’s firing of a top general is the latest sign of Pentagon turmoil https://tinyurl.com/3aytcr7c “The defense secretary is better at waging culture wars than the Iran war.”

NYT: Hegseth Says U.S. Troops Are Fighting for Jesus. The Pope Disagrees. https://tinyurl.com/2tpvx9wy “In sharp contrast to the Trump administration’s calls for Christian prayers for the war effort, Pope Leo XIV says military domination is ‘entirely foreign to the way of Jesus Christ.’”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2040187674527498258?s=20/photo/1

“We tend to consider ourselves powerful when we dominate, victorious when we destroy our equals, great when we are feared,” the pope said in a homily during a Holy Thursday rite at the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the cathedral of the bishop of Rome. “God has given us an example — not of how to dominate, but of how to liberate; not of how to destroy life, but of how to give it.”
^
In late March the pope warned against invoking the name of Jesus for battle, saying in a Sunday homily that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”

⭕ 2 Apr 2026

WSJ, Bernie Sanders: AI Is a Threat to Everything the American People Hold Dear https://tinyurl.com/mryhrk5b lIt kills jobs, equality, connection, democracy and maybe the human race. Congress must act.”
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2040683430799679961?s=20

WSJ, Kimberly Strassel: At the Supreme Court, Trump Courts Defeat https://tinyurl.com/44kcnsk3 “There he sat in the public gallery, Don Corleone-esque, daring the Supreme Court to find fault with his read on birthright citizenship. All that was missing was a horse’s head”
// Why would he show up and antagonize the justices? He has an able team of lawyers.

🐣 RT @Acyn CNN: Sources are telling us that recent U.S. Intelligence assessments found roughly half of Iran’s missile launchers are still intact and that thousands of one way attack drones are still in Iran’s arsenal tonight. That’s despite daily U.S. And Israeli airstrikes.
¤ 💽 https://x.com/Acyn/status/2039880894648127653?s=20/video/1

TheAtlantic: An Army Shake-Up in the Middle of a War https://tinyurl.com/tfd47zje “Hegseth’s pace of firings across the military is greater than that of any other Pentagon chief in the modern era, including during two decades of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2039894595245425025?s=20/photo/1
// A general is ousted and the Army secretary is in jeopardy, sources say.

Hegseth’s pace of firings across the military is greater than that of any other Pentagon chief in the modern era, including during two decades of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
v
Since Hegseth’s arrival, the Pentagon has abruptly removed the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (the highest-ranking military officer), the top admiral of the U.S. Navy, and the No. 2 general at the Air Force, along with dozens of top-ranking officers and military lawyers across the services. The defense chief has not provided any detailed reasons for the departures. The Hegseth spokesperson Sean Parnell, in a statement, confirmed a CBS News report of George’s departure as “effective immediately.”

🐣 RT @EthanLevins2 He wasn’t willing to send the army into an Iranian ground invasion. ¤ Our generals know it’s suicide.
⋙ 🐣 RT @clashreport BREAKING: Hegseth has asked U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and retire immediately. ¤ Source: CBS

🐣 RT @EuromaidanPress Ukraine produced 4 million drones in 2025, more than all of NATO combined. Target for 2026: 7 million ¤ The Pentagon is now buying Ukrainian drones because no American manufacturer can compete
⋙ EuromaidanPress: The West has the luxury of studying how modern warfare works. But no American drone manufacturer can match what Kyiv built under fire https://tinyurl.com/45vh49a6
The Pentagon just concluded no American manufacturer can match what Ukraine learned the hard way

🐣 RT @ DropSiteNews 💢 The Pentagon appears to be systematically undercounting U.S. casualties in the Iran war, The Intercept reported Wednesday, citing a defense official who called it a “casualty cover-up.”
¤ https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2039849726963544101?s=20

An Intercept analysis found at least 15 U.S. troops killed and more than 520 wounded since Operation Epic Fury began — figures CENTCOM has repeatedly failed to update or clarify. The tally does not include more than 200 sailors injured in a fire aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford.

Iranian strikes have also forced U.S. troops to abandon bases across the region for hotels and office buildings, according to two government officials. “Why didn’t Hegseth protect them?” the defense official said. “Anyone with a brain knew these attacks were coming.” ¤ Full story below ⬇️

⋙ 🐣 RT @theintercept Hundreds of U.S. personnel have been killed or injured in the region since the U.S. launched a war on Iran just over a month ago. CENTCOM has sent outdated statements on casualty numbers. https://interc.pt/4cm5Ua4
.¤ https://x.com/theintercept/status/2039708997230432416?s=20

🐣 RT @APUkraine In March, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held 23 international meetings and 15 phone calls, paid visits to Romania, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Jordan, and hosted leaders of partner countries and their government ministers in …
¤ https://x.com/APUkraine/status/2039714501444985046?s=20

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom Firing the Army chief of staff in the middle of a war is always a sign that things are going great
⋙ 🐣 RT @JenniferJJacobs Scoop: @SecWar Pete Hegseth has asked Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George to step down and take immediate retirement, sources familiar with the decision told @CBSNews.

🐣 RT @NBCNews BREAKING: President Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi, a senior administration official and a source familiar with the matter tell NBC News. http://nbcnews.app.link/sBqCH6jZ01b

🐣 RT @Alihashem American-Israeli attack on the Pasteur Institute in Tehran, a century-old health research center and a member of the international Pasteur network. Since 1920, this institute has been one of the pioneers and major hubs of vaccine production in the region.
🖼 https://x.com/Alihashem/status/2039689717612978229?s=20/photo/1

TheAtlantic, Timothy W. Ryback: Hitler’s Edifice Complex https://tinyurl.com/5t2ncvkv “He was obsessed with adding an expensive new wing to the Reich Chancellery, part of his grandiose architectural ambitions for the nation’s capital” //➔ also, the entire city of Linz!

🐣 RT @ @SkylineReport 🚨 BREAKING: Architects Rip Trump’s $400M White House Ballroom as “Vanity Project” with Basic Design Failures ¤ March 29, 2026 | 6:30 PM CDT
¤ https://x.com/SkylineReport/status/2038401477820194875?s=20/photo/1

Trump’s proposed White House ballroom is getting torched by architects after new renderings revealed something almost impressive in its incompetence: a massive, $400M building that doesn’t function properly on paper.

According to The New York Times, the 90,000 sq. ft. ballroom—nearly double the size of the White House residence—has barely undergone meaningful scrutiny despite its scale and cost.

What they found is… not subtle:

* Stairs that go nowhere
* Columns blocking sightlines inside the ballroom
* Fake windows
* A bloated, disproportionate portico
* A layout that doesn’t logically connect

This isn’t “bold design.”

This is Architecture 101 getting its ass kicked.
Architectural critics say the project mimics classical style without understanding it. Translation: columns and symmetry slapped on like stage props with no structural logic behind them.

One critic described it as the “phantom of modernization”—a building that looks important but collapses under basic design scrutiny.

Meanwhile, public reaction is brutal: ~98% of 32,000 comments oppose the project.

And somehow, this thing is still moving forward—with reports that Trump was still changing core specs late in the process, including increasing capacity long after that phase should’ve been locked.

Which explains a lot.

What this actually is: ¤ Not modernization. ¤ Not infrastructure. ¤ It’s a $400 million branding exercise pretending to be architecture.

A giant, taxpayer-adjacent monument to the idea that if you make something big enough, people won’t notice it doesn’t work.

Except… they did.

References
[1] Architectural Record (2026) “The White House Ballroom and the Phantom of Modernization” https://tinyurl.com/5dzey6w6
[2] The New York Times (Mar 29, 2026) “Trump’s White House Ballroom Draws Criticism Over Design Flaws” https://tinyurl.com/2ta3crmp
[3] Yahoo News (2026) “Stairs That Lead Nowhere? Trump White House Ballroom Criticized” https://tinyurl.com/mv845z86
[4] Architectural Record (@ArchRecord) (2026) “Phantom of modernization” critique
🖼 https://x.com/ArchRecord/status/2035446451803705376
[5] The Daily Beast (2025) “Trump East Wing Ballroom Trashed Over ‘Humiliating Design Flaws’” https://tinyurl.com/349htbbr
[6] The New York Times (Oct 21, 2025) “Architects Raise Concerns Over Trump Ballroom Design Review Process” https://tinyurl.com/kz2ewewk

🐣 RT @oonahathaway Over 100 international lawyers (including me) warn that U.S. strikes on Iran violate the UN Charter and may be war crimes.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/oonahathaway/status/2039668836958425406?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @JohnJHarwood “the president’s thinking” is idiotic. ¤ NATO in fact came to the defense of the United States under Article 5 after we were attacked on 9/11. ¤ this is a war launched by the United States, to the detriment of the United States, NATO and the rest of the world.

⭕ 1 Apr 2026 🤡

Politico [EU]: Trump’s rage at NATO allies is binding them together —against him https://tinyurl.com/39zxnkx2 “Leaders and defense officials have started hedging against the risk America will pull out of NATO, the bedrock of European security since 1949.”

🔄 🐣 RT @atrupar Trump: “The US can’t take of daycare. That has to be up to a state. We’re fighting wars. Medicaid, Medicare — they can do it on a state basis. We have to take care of one thing: military protection. But all these little scams that have taken place, you have to let states take care of them.”
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2039474762334851402?s=20/video/1

TheAtlantic, Quinta Jurecic: Trump’s Absurd Citizenship Arguments Went Nowhere https://tinyurl.com/2h7xwesd “The fact that this case got as far as it did—and that the justices had to consider it seriously enough to spend their time rebuking it—is itself a scandal.”
// The scandal is that the case got this far.

Bloomberg: Can Trump Really Pull the US Out of NATO? https://tinyurl.com/mw3dahh9 No, there are laws, including one sponsored by Marco Rubio in 2023 that requires a 2/3 vote of the Senate. This is an exceptionally high bar. There are other limits as well.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2039592679403593765?s=20/photo/1

Is pulling out of NATO really an option for the US?
Legally, Trump has limited options. A law passed in 2023 (which was championed by then-Senator Marco Rubio, who is now Trump’s secretary of state) prevents a US president from suspending, terminating or denouncing the NATO treaty or withdrawing the US from it unless the Senate agrees by a two-thirds majority or Congress passes a new law. Neither of those are possibilities, as Republicans who favor the alliance will likely side with Democrats to circumvent any action Trump might urge Congress to take. …
^
The 2026 National Defense Authorization Act puts some constraints on the president’s ability to undermine NATO. The law requires that certain conditions are met before the US can reduce its force presence in Europe below 76,000 for longer than 45 days: the secretary of defense must certify to Congress that the move is in the national security interest and the US must consult NATO allies.

The law also blocks any attempt to remove a US officer from the role of NATO Supreme Allied Commander, and it prohibits the use of federal funds to facilitate a withdrawal from the NATO treaty without congressional approval. However, Trump has managed already to re-route funding to agencies or for military operations without congressional approval, and he could re-assign troops without formally withdrawing them.

🐣 RT @CatoInstitute Many on the right see Viktor Orbán’s Hungary as a model. In fact, it is a cautionary tale of unrestrained executive power and crony capitalism, the Cato Institute’s @johanknorberg concludes in his latest analysis. [link:] https://ow.ly/pT9j50YBS67

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom He has managed to make Palm Sunday about himself
⋙ 🐣 RT @HQNewsNow Trump: On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered Jerusalem as crowds welcomed him with praise honoring him as king. They call me king now. Can you believe it?
💽 https://x.com/RadioFreeTom/status/2039488228198093197?s=20/video/1

WSJ: What Iran’s Control of the Strait of Hormuz Means for the Global Economy https://tinyurl.com/mpb2nnes “Beyond oil markets, abandoning the Strait of Hormuz would represent a historic downgrade of the ability of the U.S. to project power”
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2039496212433268749?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @RoshanKrRaii This is Scandalous 😳
US 🇺🇸 Senator Chris Coons : Iranian 🇮🇷 leader Ali Larijani was getting close to the US for negotiations, that scared Netanyahu and Israel 🇮🇱 assassinated him. 🤯
Netanyahu just for his bloodlust literally stretched the war and put the world into chaos, he needs to be arrested and tried for war crimes.
💽 https://x.com/RoshanKrRaii/status/2039441912126738536?s=20/video/1

🐣 RT @clashreport Trump: The United States can’t take care of daycare.
We can’t take care of daycare. We’re a big country. We have 50 states. We have all these other people. We’re fighting wars.
It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things.
💽 https://x.com/clashreport/status/2039484446693335203?s=20/video/1
⋙ 🐣 YELLING 🔊 the quiet part out loud

🐣 RT @mehdirhasan President of Iran out with a message to the American people prior to the American president giving his
⋙ 🐣 RT @drpezeshkian To the people of the United States of America
[TextLink:] https://x.com/drpezeshkian/status/2039418009052119190?s=20/photo/1 -4

🐣 RT @Jvnior 🚨 BREAKING: Netanyahu goes off script and accidentally reveals that he started the war on Iran in order to transform Israel into a ‘supernation.’¤ WHO THE HELL SUPPORTS THIS PSYCOPATH?
💽 https://x.com/Jvnior/status/2039065970002522172?s=20/photo/1

NYT, Thomas Friedman: Trump Has a Way Out of the War https://tinyurl.com/4455aavk “Trump is a man-child playing with matches — the world’s most powerful military — in a gas-filled room.”

We are watching what happens when you put into the Oval Office an impulsive, unstable man who ran for president largely to get revenge on his political foes. Then he surrounded himself with a cabinet chosen for its handsome looks and its willingness to put loyalty to Trump over loyalty to the Constitution. Add to that Republican majorities in the House and Senate willing to write him blank checks, and it all eventually leads to sloppy, undisciplined decision-making, including starting a huge war in the Middle East with no plan for the morning after.

TheAtlantic, Nancy Youssef: No Good Way Out https://tinyurl.com/3rrrj8pa “Trump has options to end the war with Iran, but they all come with serious liabilities.”

⭕ 31 Mar 2026

TheHill: Ingraham questions whether Trump understood Iran military operation’s ‘complexity’ https://tinyurl.com/2nf6j8dw

“Now, knowing what little time we have and how quickly this can spiral out of control, we still have a lot of questions,” she said. “For instance, was the president fully briefed about the risks of all of this from the beginning? And was he then able to take it all in and understand the complexity of this? How complex it could actually get, and further possibilities of casualties or other damage –– the difficulty of dealing with these people? Or was he told this would be relatively quick, in and out?”

💙 NYT, Sen, Mark Warner (Mar 31): Trump Is Trying to Override Our Voting System https://tinyurl.com/2mdun4eh “I fear that foreign interference is no longer the most pressing danger to our elections. It is increasingly evident that the greatest threat now comes from inside our own government.”

🐣 RT @shanaka86 JUST IN: Marco Rubio just said NATO might be a “one-way street.” The Secretary of State of the country that founded the alliance, funded it, commanded it, and expanded it from 12 members to 32 just questioned whether it still serves American interests. He was not speaking hypothetically. He was responding to the fact that three NATO allies refused to let American aircraft use their airspace to conduct a war those allies were never consulted about. …
⋙ 🐣 Technically, the US cannot leave NATO without a vote of 2/3 of the Senate, a very high bar. There is no chance the Senate would approve. ¤ In addition, no funds can be spent on such a move. ¤ This is in the Defense Authorization Act of 2024.
⋙ 🐣 Nations are refusing overflights and base access out of moral concerns. They don’t want to be complicit in Israel’s crimes. ¤ Similarly, not all countries joined in our invasion of Iraq. The ones who fought with us were called “The Coalition of the Willing.”

🐣 RT @ RnaudBertrand For people who say it couldn’t be predicted that the Iran war would be this consequential for the global economy, watch this 2012 video of former National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski 👇
💽 https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/2039168486103285865?s=20/photo/1

He predicts what did in fact happen: “[Iran] can hurt us a lot… Can you imagine what the consequences would be for us if […] Iraq was massively destabilized, if Bahrain was set on fire, if the North-Eastern oil fields in Saudi Arabia were attacked… The consequences, the costs would be cumulative… The global economy would be affected so we’re playing with fire here.” …

🐣 RT @TheMaineWonk 🚨 BREAKING: IRAN SLAMS THE DOOR ON US TALKS — “NO NEGOTIATIONS” AS WAR ESCALATES – @Bloomberg ¤ Iran’s FM Araghchi says what is happening between Iran and the US are not negotiations. [BB link:] https://tinyurl.com/mryeuzef
¤ https://x.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2039125688075346392?s=20

Diplomatic hopes are collapsing. With no reply to Washington’s plan and fighting still raging, this war shows zero signs of ending anytime soon.

From Bloomberg:
1. Araghchi confirms he is receiving messages from US Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff
2. Message exchanges are happening within a “defined” framework across government and under the supervision of Iran’s national security council
3. Iran has NOT sent a response to the US 15-point proposal
4. Araghchi says Iran has not made any decisions regarding negotiations but has some remarks and Iran’s conditions are “clear”

🐣 RT @TheBushCenter “Ukraine is fast becoming one of the most important defense innovation environments in the democratic world and an emerging pillar of the allied industrial base that is now helping defend against Iran.” Read more from Volodymyr Berezhniy and Igor Khrestin, Senior Adviser, Global Policy at the Bush Institute
⋙ TheHill: US should formally partner with Ukraine to build cutting-edge defense technologies https://tinyurl.com/yuv6sw9x “Ukraine is fast becoming one of the most important defense innovation environments in the democratic world ”
// Volodymyr Berezhniy is a Ukraine-born entrepreneur focused on critical materials, strategic industries, and trusted international networks. Igor Khrestin is senior advisor for global policy at the George W. Bush Institute and visiting fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University.

🐣 RT @AJEnglish “We don’t see honesty.” ¤ Iran’s FM Abbas Araghchi tells Al Jazeera that his country does not see any reason to trust the US at the moment.

NYT: Judge rules Trump unlawfully revoked status of migrants who used entry app https://tinyurl.com/kabsjh6y Trump had ordered many as 900,000 immigrants who had used the app (set up under Biden) to leave ‘immediately’ without the requisite legal review.
// In a 25-page opinion, Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the Federal District Court for the District of Massachusetts ordered the Trump administration to reverse course, after it last April instructed as many as 900,000 migrants who had used the app to leave “immediately.”

NYT: Trump’s executive order on NPR and PBS ruled unlawful on 1st Amendment grounds https://tinyurl.com/2vcfv279 “It is difficult to conceive of clearer evidence that a government action is targeted at viewpoints that the president does not like,” Judge Randolph D Moss wrote.
// Obama appointee

NYT: A federal judge orders construction stopped on Trump’s ballroom project. https://tinyurl.com/2en5799t Judge Richard J. Leon, an appointee of President George W Bush ruled that Congressional approval is required. The plaintiff is the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

🔆 This❗️⋙ 🐣 RT @AJENews BREAKING: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says on Tuesday that Iran has the ‘necessary will’ to end the war with Israel and the US but is seeking guarantees the conflict will not be repeated, according to AFP.

🐣 RT @TheStudyofWar Ukraine’s operational and strategic ability to inflict mounting costs on Russia is generating increasing anxiety in the Russian ultranationalist information space.
¤ https://x.com/TheStudyofWar/status/2038990569033117941?s=20

A prominent Russian ultranationalist military and political commentator claimed that Western economic potential is “orders of magnitude” larger than Russia’s. The commentator claimed that Russia must either agree to a “shameful peace” or decisively defeat Ukraine through a strategic offensive. The commentator’s statements come on the backdrop of recent successful Ukrainian strikes against Russian Baltic Sea oil infrastructure, which are generating tangible impacts on the Russian economy.

The commentator claimed that Western economic potential is “orders of magnitude” larger than Russia’s and is becoming militarily evident as “Western-backed” Ukrainian drone strikes against Russia have increasingly involved hundreds of drones.[1] The commentator claimed that the size of such strikes will only increase, and that Russia cannot produce enough interceptor missiles to compete with Western economic potential and is thus “doomed to defeat” and forced to immediately “solve the problem of ending the war.” The commentator claimed that Russia must either agree to a “shameful peace” or decisively defeat Ukraine through a strategic offensive, but that the Russian leadership is not politically ready to conduct such an offensive, and is therefore already working toward a “shameful peace.” The commentator’s statements come on the backdrop of recent successful Ukrainian strikes against Russian Baltic Sea oil infrastructure, which are generating tangible impacts on the Russian economy. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (MoD) reported on March 30 that Ukrainian strikes against Russian Baltic Sea ports that began on March 24 have halted a significant portion of Russian oil exports, including from Russia’s largest crude oil exporting port on the Baltic Sea at Primorsk.[2]

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa [to Bucha Summit] Bucha endured 33 days of Russian occupation. Terror, torture, 33 days of total evil. More than 600 Ukrainian men and women were killed.
¤ 💽 https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2038996241460138160?s=20/photo/1

Very often, the images from Bucha are compared to the horrific scenes of World War II. But there is a major difference – and today it does not reflect well on current world leaders. Because Nazism was punished for its crimes, not granted partial sanctions relief. No crisis or destabilization in the world can justify this.

We must not forget or dismiss everything Ukraine has endured during this time. The catastrophe of every city and village into which Russia has brought its war and death. Bucha, Irpin, Borodyanka. Mariupol, Yahidne, Avdiivka. Olenivka, Vuhledar, Chasiv Yar – and many others. From the first Bucha Summit until today, this list has only grown.

This means one thing: we need far more determination, far more pressure on Putin and Russia, and far more real actions and steps that bring the victory of peace and justice closer.

TheAtlantic, Jonathan Chait: Trump Can’t Scare Iran and Reassure Oil Markets at the Same Time https://tinyurl.com/347s54de “The president issues new and more terrible threats against Tehran, then backs off with soothing praise. He has now begun to do these things simultaneously”
// But he’s trying.

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom It took a almost a century for the United States to build a global system of trade, security, and cooperation, and these guys are going to throw it away because they screwed up and have to save face.

‼️‼️ 🐣 RT @Nick_Delehanty Tankers carrying diesel [from 🇺🇸] to Europe have changed course. ¤ Several tankers carrying diesel from the US to Europe have changed course mid-Atlantic.
¤ ◕ https://x.com/Nick_Delehanty/status/2038906427368943783?s=20 /photo/1 -2

The Aliai, Minerva Vaso and Grand Ace6 all loaded in the US and were initially bound for Europe, with destinations including Amsterdam and Gibraltar.

Their routes have since shifted. The Grand Ace6 is now signaling Lomé in Togo, while the Minerva Vaso is listed “for orders,” indicating no fixed destination as traders wait for better pricing. The Aliai has also diverted southeast, away from its original European route.

The Atlantic is now a “floating market.

Europe diesel shortages will cause collapse of industry.

🐣 RT @WalshFreedom The strait was open. He starts a war. The strait closes. The world economy gets fucked. He doesn’t know what he’s doing, he gets bored, he declares victory, and he tells the rest of the world to open the strait, to clean up his mess. He’s such a prick. He’s such a destructive prick.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/WalshFreedom/status/2038956650044809494?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] @realDonaldTrump All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT. You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us. Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil! President DJT

WaPo, Jim Geraghty: Trump shrugs off an attack on US lives. The reason has a name. https://tinyurl.com/747fhdcp He simply “is just not bothered by anything Vladimir Putin does.” //➔ Trump stands to make $Bs if he can muscle Zelensky into giving up Donbas. ⬇️

On Friday, the Iranians destroyed a U.S. Air Force E-3 Sentry aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The drone and missile attack on the base also injured 12 U.S. soldiers.

This was foreseeable — and in fact foreseen. Yet if President Donald Trump was concerned about this predicted threat, he hid it well.

The loss of the aircraft is a significant headache for the U.S. war effort. The E-3 Sentry is an airborne warning and control system, or AWACS; sometimes the plane is described as a flying air traffic control tower. …

Now, perhaps the Iranians just got lucky with the shot that destroyed the E-3 Sentry in Saudi Arabia. But since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, numerous reports have indicated that the Russians are helping Iran with their targeting of U.S. forces.

On March 6, The Post reported that “Russia has passed Iran the locations of U.S. military assets, including warships and aircraft,” citing three officials familiar with the intelligence. One of the sources described the Russian assistance as “a pretty comprehensive effort.” CNN’s reporters found the same, adding, “Much of the intelligence Russia has shared with Iran has been imagery from Moscow’s sophisticated constellation of overhead satellites.” Journalists from NBC News and PBS reported this, too.

Last Thursday — a day before the destruction of the Sentry plane — French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot declared, “There are reasons to believe that Russia is now supporting Iran’s military efforts, which appear to be directed in particular at American targets.” On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky revealed some of his nation’s intelligence to the world: “U.S. military facilities in the Middle East and the Gulf region were photographed by Russian satellites in the interests of Iran. … On March 25th, they took pictures of the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.” That was two days before the strike that destroyed the Sentry.

It’s one thing to fire a missile or drone and aim for an air base on a 250-square mile complex in Saudi Arabia, 50 miles southeast of Riyadh, and hope you hit something valuable. It’s another to score a direct hit on one of the most valuable U.S. planes in the fleet, within that air base. Knowing how much the Russians are helping, it gets more difficult to believe the Iranians just had an amazing stroke of luck. …

We’ve seen the president get apoplectically angry over the late film director Rob Reiner and the late FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, and basically anyone who’s ever uttered a critical word of him.

But when he gets asked about Russia helping the Iranians target American servicemen and women, he responds with a metaphorical shrug. “They do it and we do it.”

The conspiracy theories about Trump being blackmailed by the Russians are actually somewhat sympathetic to him. People can at least imagine knuckling under to a sufficiently dire blackmail attempt. The alternative is that the president just isn’t all that bothered by anything Putin does, up to and including attempts to kill Americans.

⋙ 🔄 Axios (11/20/2025): Trump’s full 28-point Ukraine-Russia peace plan https://tinyurl.com/cntrwpr7 [Excerpts:]
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2038963782811082793?s=20/photo/1

13. Russia will be reintegrated into the global economy:
The lifting of sanctions will be discussed and agreed upon in stages and on a case-by-case basis.
The United States will enter into a long-term economic cooperation agreement for mutual development in the areas of energy, natural resources, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, data centers, rare earth metal extraction projects in the Arctic, and other mutually beneficial corporate opportunities.
Russia will be invited to rejoin the G8.

14. Frozen funds will be used as follows:
$100 billion in frozen Russian assets will be invested in US-led efforts to rebuild and invest in Ukraine;
The US will receive 50% of the profits from this venture. Europe will add $100 billion to increase the amount of investment available for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Frozen European funds will be unfrozen. The remainder of the frozen Russian funds will be invested in a separate US-Russian investment vehicle that will implement joint projects in specific areas. This fund will be aimed at strengthening relations and increasing common interests to create a strong incentive not to return to conflict.

15. A joint American-Russian working group on security issues will be established to promote and ensure compliance with all provisions of this agreement.

🐣 RT @WW3finalboss 🇺🇦🇷🇺 President Zelensky rejects Trump’s capitulation tantrums
¤ https://x.com/WW3finalboss/status/2038892293264965643?s=20

“Ukraine’s east and its defense lines are core to any security guarantees.” – Volodymyr Zelenskyy 🇺🇦

That’s a clear rejection of the whole Donbas-for-guarantees idea, not even entertaining it, and framing it as undermining Ukraine’s actual security

And the jab at Donald Trump lands pretty hard too, Kyiv clearly not buying that approach

⭕ 30 Mar 2026

House[.]gov: 22 USC 1928f: Limitation on withdrawal from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization https://tinyurl.com/5n7jtyxb

22 USC 1928f: Limitation on withdrawal from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

(a) Opposition of Congress to suspension, termination, denunciation, or withdrawal from North Atlantic Treaty
The President shall not suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, done at Washington, DC, April 4, 1949, except by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided that two-thirds of the Senators present concur, or pursuant to an Act of Congress. […]

(b) Limitation on the use of funds
No funds authorized or appropriated by any Act may be used to support, directly or indirectly, any decision on the part of any United States Government official to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, done at Washington, DC, April 4, 1949, except by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided that two-thirds of the Senators present concur, or pursuant to an Act of Congress.

(c) Notification of Treaty action
(1) Consultation
Prior to the notification described in paragraph (2), the President shall consult with the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives in relation to any initiative to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty.
(2) Notification
The President shall notify the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives in writing of any deliberation or decision to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, as soon as possible but in no event later than 180 days prior to taking such action.

(d) Rule of construction
Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize, imply, or otherwise indicate that the President may suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw from any treaty to which the Senate has provided its advice and consent without the advice and consent of the Senate to such act or pursuant to an Act of Congress.

(e) Severability
If any provision of this section or the application of such provision is held by a Federal court to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this subtitle and the application of such provisions to any other person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.
(f) Definitions
In this subtitle, the terms “withdrawal”, “denunciation”, “suspension”, and “termination” have the meaning given the terms in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, concluded at Vienna May 23, 1969.
( Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XII, §1250A, Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 464 .)

🐣 RT @MarcoFoster_ Kyle Kulinski: “A sundowning president with Alzheimer’s who’s a malignant narcissist is dragging us into WW3 committing war crimes on a daily basis and crashing the global economy and nobody is actually grabbing the steering wheel. It’s beyond grotesque”
💽 https://x.com/MarcoFoster_/status/2038737103681376655?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @SkylineReport 🚨 BREAKING: Trump’s NATO Panic Exposes a War With No Plan
¤ 💽 https://x.com/SkylineReport/status/2038800918070911035?s=20/photo/1

March 30, 2026 | CDT — The State Department’s sudden outrage at NATO allies isn’t strength—it’s a tell. And it’s exposing something far more damaging: Operation Epic Fury was launched with no real plan for what comes next.

⚠️ FROM “WE DON’T NEED NATO” → “WHY WON’T NATO HELP?”

Just weeks ago, Trump launched a unilateral U.S.–Israel war against Iran—no NATO consultation, no Article 4, no UN mandate. The message was loud and arrogant:

* The U.S. could handle it alone
* Iran was being “decimated”
* Allies were optional

Now? That story is collapsing.

As Iran disrupts shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and raises the risk to U.S. assets, Washington is suddenly:

* Begging NATO for ships, bases, and airspace
* Pressuring Europe for military support mid-conflict
* Requesting ~$200 BILLION more to sustain the war

That’s not strategy. That’s scrambling.[1][2][3][4]

🚫 EUROPE ISN’T BUYING IT

Spain just slammed the door completely:

* ❌ Closed airspace to U.S. warplanes
* ❌ Denied use of bases
* ❌ Called the war unlawful and escalatory

Across Europe, the response is the same:

* Prioritize evacuations
* Demand clarity on war objectives
* Refuse to get dragged into a U.S. war of choice

NATO isn’t rallying. It’s hesitating.[3][4][5][6]

🧨 RUBIO’S MELTDOWN MAKES IT WORSE

Marco Rubio is now on TV whining that allies “aren’t doing anything.”

That argument falls apart instantly:

* NATO is a defensive alliance, not a blank check for unilateral wars
* The U.S. bypassed NATO entirely, then came back mid-fight demanding help
* Allies did show up when it mattered—Article 5 was invoked after 9/11

This isn’t burden-sharing. It’s retroactive coalition-building after things go sideways.[5][7][8]

💣 THE REAL STORY: THIS WAR WAS NEVER BUILT TO LAST

Strip away the spin and it’s brutally simple:

* No coalition
* No defined end state
* No durable funding plan
* No allied buy-in Sources […]

And now, after Iran pushes back?

The same administration that said “we don’t need NATO” is now:

* Leaning on allies for survival
* Publicly shaming them when they hesitate
* Trying to bolt legitimacy onto a war already in motion

That’s not leadership. That’s panic disguised as diplomacy.[2][3][4][9]

🔻 BOTTOM LINE

If your war is going according to plan, you don’t:

* Beg for allies weeks in
* Demand emergency funding on this scale
* Send officials on TV to complain NATO won’t “step up”

You only do that when reality hits harder than your talking points.

And right now, reality is hitting this administration like a freight train.

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom I regret to have to remind you that Pete Hegseth is a disgrace and should not be the Secretary of Defense.
⋙ TheAtlantic, Tom Nichols: Pete Hegseth Is Vice Signaling https://tinyurl.com/ybnfjphm Trump “likes underlings who emulate his aggressive indecency. But when the man in charge of the [DOD] disgorges this kind of toxic waste, it seeps into the groundwater of military culture.”
// The defense secretary is trolling America.

🐣 RT @MykhailoRohoza U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on behalf of Donald Trump, expressed regret that the Saudi authorities signed defense agreements with Ukraine without consulting the United States, which had been Saudi Arabia’s main ally.
¤ https://x.com/MykhailoRohoza/status/2038721522949394750?s=20

In response, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman noted that the U.S. had failed to fully protect the Kingdom from Iranian strikes, and therefore Saudi Arabia made a decision that could quickly strengthen its defense capabilities. The Crown Prince also stated that his country will continue to be guided by its own national interests when making decisions regarding its defense.

This was a slap in the face to Trump from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in response to Trump’s crude and scandalous public statement that “…now let the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia kiss my ass and be polite to me from now on.”

Thus, Trump’s reckless and irresponsible remarks have effectively put U.S.–Saudi relations on pause.

The Saudi Crown Prince proved to be more diplomatic than the American president and, notably, did not respond to Rubio by saying that Trump should “kiss my ass” and behave politely toward him in the future 😉

💙 TheAtlantic, Robert Kagan: America Is Now a Rogue Superpower https://tinyurl.com/y52fpdkz “Washington’s conduct in the Iran war is accelerating global chaos and deepening America’s dangerous isolation.”
// gift article

🐣 RT @igorsushko $2,000 Ukrainian housewife kitchen drone takes out a $30,000 Russian Shahed drone. ¤ Meanwhile US and allies used upwards of 6 Patriot missiles, costing $3 million each, to intercept an identical drone in the Middle East.
💽 💥 https://x.com/igorsushko/status/2038653547303297110?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @414magyarbirds ⚡“Housewives with 3D printers,” said @RheinmetallAG CEO Armin Papperger. Ukraine’s Drone Forces Commander Robert “Magyar” Brovdi responds:
¤ https://x.com/414magyarbirds/status/2038643434269929780?s=20

An amateur, “housewives” Lego-Bird ramping up the strike tempo – and today was no exception.

A bit late, but still: you were right, Mr. Armin Papperger (Rheinmetall) – even if it came out as a cry from the soul. The freedom-loving Ukrainian Bird is not innovation – it’s a revolution in? warfare. A competition of firmware and frequencies.

And yes, it hurts the industry, because high-precision weapons are being democratized with kitchen-grade junk and sticks. On top of that, it’s a “cloud-based” factory that cannot be shut down with a missile or even drones – like Ust-Luga. And the speed of iteration is moving at Mach speed.

The gigantism of dinosaurs that once ruled the planet didn’t save them. A new doctrine. A new kind of war.

Can you do that?
Reach out – let’s have a chat.

Follow USF results live:
USF online scoreboard “PIDRAKHUYKA”
https://sbs-group.army

MAGYAR 🇺🇦 30.03.26

🐣 RT @BrianSozzi JP Morgan on oil: “Yemen’s Houthi rebels have now formally joined the escalating Middle East conflict. While their involvement is not yet decisive, it introduces a second maritime pressure point in the Red Sea, alongside the Strait of Hormuz.
¤ 🌎 https://x.com/BrianSozzi/status/2038549043798855963?s=20/photo/1

The immediate implication is geographic: the conflict is no longer concentrated in the Persian Gulf and around the Strait of Hormuz, but now extends into the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb—one of the world’s most crucial chokepoints for crude and refined product flows. In effect, two major corridors of global energy trade are exposed simultaneously, narrowing rerouting options and increasing system-wide supply-chain risk.”

🐣 RT @carlbildt Significantly more modest 🇺🇸 war aims expressed by @SecRubio. No stop for all enrichment. No regime change. No opening of Hormuz. No 15 points.
💽 https://x.com/carlbildt/status/2038633665157030107?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa We visited Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Jordan, and we also engaged with other states. NSDC Secretary Rustem Umerov remained in the region, where he will hold several more meetings.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2038622567745908804?s=20

Firstly, we took a critical step: we shared our expertise on how to protect people and civilian infrastructure. Leaders of the Middle East countries are extremely grateful to the Ukrainians for this.

Secondly, there are strategic agreements extending many years into the future. This is also about the opening of exports, but the right kind of opening—when it is not just our experience being sold, but what partners are really getting is a system. Not only interceptors, but also defense lines, software, and electronic warfare capabilities. We are taking a systemic approach.

These are historic agreements on strategic cooperation in miltech and other areas. Ten-year agreements. This is about mutual assistance. We’re interested in anti-ballistic capabilities—we have a shortage there. We’re also facing challenges related to energy. Such agreements will be formalized and they are extremely important for our state. Ukraine has never had this kind of agreements in this region before. ¤ From my conversation with journalists (1/3)

⋙ During my recent visits to the Middle East, we raised the issue of unblocking the Strait of Hormuz. This is a painful issue for the entire world because of the energy crisis.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2038624652629557408?s=20

Countries in the Middle East know they can rely on our expertise in this area. We discussed it in detail. We shared expertise on our Black Sea corridor and the way it operates. They understand that our Armed Forces have been highly effective in unblocking the Black Sea corridor.

As for other aspects related to Hormuz, in my view, this is being handled by the United States. We are, of course, always ready to help our partners. ¤ From my conversation with journalists (2/3).

⋙ We are not just carrying out strikes on Russia. We are responding.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2038626839241932921?s=20

After the global energy crisis began, we received signals from some partners requesting that we reduce our responses targeting Russia’s oil and energy sector. I emphasize once again: if Russia is ready not to strike Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, we will not retaliate to theirs.

We are open to discussing any type of ceasefire—a full ceasefire, an energy ceasefire, a food security ceasefire. We have already proposed all of this, and we are still open. If the Russians are ready, let them suggest any timeframe—we are ready to resolve this issue. ¤ From my conversation with journalists (3/3)

🐣 RT @KyivIndependent “Singlehandedly, Ukraine has ushered in a revolutionary new era of air, sea, and land-based warfare, which is quickly emerging as a staggeringly powerful tool of armed combat,” writes Benjamin Patton, Founder of the Patton Veterans Project and filmmaker, in this op-ed.
⋙ KyivIndependent, Benjamin Patton (Mar 28): Inside Ukraine’s secret drone warfare juggernaut https://tinyurl.com/yypsmm5d

As the grandson of General George S. Patton, Jr. and the son of a 2-star general, I’ve been around soldiers for as long as I can remember. But while filming a documentary on the transcendent drone industry in Ukraine last week, I learned more about modern warfare than I ever imagined.

Not far from the front, I met a drone pilot who now analyzes lessons learned from warfare and shares them on his X account with more than 100,000 subscribers.

I interviewed a soldier who’d recently received the Hero of Ukraine award (the equivalent of our Medal of Honor), for piloting nearly 1,000 successful drone missions — at age 21.

I spoke to a drone pilot’s wife who founded Dzyga’s Paw, an NGO (named for their dog), which has crowdfunded more than $5 million from donors worldwide to secure drone components. Remarkably, these parts can be assembled and launched in a combat zone in less than 15 minutes — at well under $1,000 each.

Escorted in a van with blacked-out windows to a secret, underground 24/7 command-and-control complex, our team entered a bustling suite of rooms, complete with sleeping pods and wrapped by walls of LED displays that can track dozens of simultaneous drone attacks in real time. It’s revelatory to behold.

Few American policymakers — let alone our allies — have an adequate understanding of the sophistication, scope, and killing power of this cutting-edge apparatus, developed in the crucible of war.

Singlehandedly, Ukraine has ushered in a revolutionary new era of air, sea, and land-based warfare, which is quickly emerging as a staggeringly powerful tool of armed combat. Underlying this is a fabric of fellowship and support that binds the military and civilian communities together.

It’s like nothing we’ve seen since perhaps the American Revolutionary War, when spouses trailed their beloved soldiers across the country from battle to battle, providing goods like soup and coffee, washing clothes, and sewing uniforms.

This year, Ukraine plans to design and build as many as 7 million drones (a whopping 19,000 a day) blanketing sea, land, and sky throughout the country.

These include high-flying reconnaissance drones that scan the countryside identifying military targets; kinetic drones that detonate on impact, “deleting” unsuspecting enemy combatants in an instant; and armor-piercing “shaped” drones that divebomb enemy tanks, rocket launchers, concealed bunkers, and ships with devastating accuracy.

Recently, an Army commander told me of one mission in which a single $500 Ukrainian drone destroyed a $25-million-dollar Russian air defense system: that’s a 50,000x cost disparity.

For proof of the value of Ukraine’s drones, one only needs to listen to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s announcement last week that he has agreed to furnish its Gulf allies with up to 1,000 drones a day, along with pilots and training.

It is astounding to behold this seamless system in action, with technicians well behind the frontlines carefully selecting their targets so as not to risk hitting civilians. All of this is executed by military personnel, young and old, often with that cocky yet serious smile so typical of soldiers under stress.

While crisscrossing the country in relative safety (despite my phone lighting up constantly with missile alerts), we interviewed both senior commanders and enlisted personnel.

Almost every soldier I spoke with voiced the same fear, unprompted: that by the time this war finally ends, global access to drone technology will be so widespread that bad actors from previously unthreatening countries, from deranged extremists to attention-seekers, will have the ability to inflict terror and death anywhere, anytime.

These same warriors said they’d be happy to share their mastery of drone technology with like-minded nations so that, as one put it, “we can be stronger together.”

Above all, they dreamed of returning to their peaceful pre-war lives with security guarantees, I believe they deserve, such as admission to the European Union and membership in NATO, which Zelensky has sought for years. If only they knew how much value Ukraine could provide.

When I was a kid, my family spent summers traversing the world’s battlefields. On those occasions, my dad would often remind me of the advice his father had given him at my age: “It is the unconquerable nature of man and not the nature of the weapon he uses that ensures victory.”

In my two weeks in Ukraine, I saw both.

The United States and its allies must keep a collective eye on what is truly important.

First, we need to accept the fact that modern warfare is changing before our eyes. By preening over our sexy, high-priced Patriot missiles and Star Wars laser defense systems, we are missing the forest for the trees — and risking the lives of our beloved servicemen and women in the process.

Equally important, we need to see the Russian invasion of Ukraine through an entirely different lens. Ukraine is not some rescued animal we’re not sure we want to keep. Rather, it should be seen as a partner engaged in a morally just cause — not unlike our own existential struggle for independence from a ruthless aggressor some 250 years ago.

There is a great deal to learn from the example of Ukraine. A courageous people — young and old, military and civilian — binding together rather than allowing themselves to be pulled apart. For centuries, America has served as a beacon of freedom and democratic values for so many others. Now it is our turn to look, listen, and learn.

It is not too late — but it will be soon enough.

🐣 RT @glcarlstrom “In conversations with more than three dozen oil and gas traders, executives, brokers, shippers and advisers over the last week, one message was repeated over and over: The world still hasn’t grasped the severity of the situation.” [Bloomberg link:] https://tinyurl.com/4hjunack

🐣 RT @carlbildt Attacking civilian infrastructure, and acutely desalinization plants, is a war crime. Will 🇺🇸 armed forces accept orders to do so?
[TextLink:] https://x.com/carlbildt/status/2038591840866140291?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] 🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump The United States of America is in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran. Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately “Open for Business,” we will conclude our lovely “stay” in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet “touched.” This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime’s 47 year “Reign of Terror.” Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

⭕ 29 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @Kasparov63 Likely thanks to Russian targeting info, if not weaponry. @SecRubio, do you still say that Russian aid to Iran is “insignificant” after the destruction of this $700m plane and how many US casualties?
¤ https://x.com/JayinKyiv/stat/JayinKyiv/status/2038193804872708408
⋙ 🐣 RT @JayinKyiv While Russian Duma members were getting guided tours of US government buildings and Trump was busy pressuring Ukraine to surrender, Russia helped Iran destroy an irreplaceable American $700,000,000 AWACS aircraft.
🖼 https://x.com/Kasparov63/status/2038373371918836119?s=20/photo/1 -3

🐣 RT @FredFellaIMO Concerning to say the least. As a Canadian, I never thought I would have to be worried about being invaded by America, but here we are.
💽 https://x.com/FredFellaIMO/status/2038427513987420324?s=20/photo/1
// Hegseth on conquest of ¼ of world
// Caption: SECY. HEGSETH & WHITE HOUSE ADVISER STEPHEN MILLER AT SOUTHERN COMMAND HEADOUARTERS; CSPAN

🐣 RT @60Minutes Forget everything you think you know about warfare. Drones have revolutionized combat in Ukraine. The front line has expanded, nets are strung over roads to catch drones, and tanks are fitted with cages and mesh to deflect strikes. https://cbsn.ws/4cdxhmz
💽 https://x.com/60Minutes/status/2038405361825157261?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @60Minutes “From the point you send a drone to the front line, get the feedback, change something, and get the new version, it could be as short as one week,” says Oleksandr Kamyshin, the architect of Ukraine’s drone program. https://cbsn.ws/4tgCBLR
💽 https://x.com/60Minutes/status/2038406935058194553?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @60Minutes In Ukraine, a DevDroid ground drone armed with a .50-caliber machine gun held off a Russian attack for 45 days.
💽 https://x.com/60Minutes/status/2038406551183003842?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @TheMaverickWS Before the war:
1) Iran didn’t control the Strait Of Hormuz, now it does
2) Iran oil was sanctioned, now it’s not
3) Iran was not building a nuke, now it will
4) US bases in the Gulf were assets, now liabilities
5) Inflation was declining, now increasing
Definitely winning!

NYT, Yonatan Touval: Is It 1914 in America? https://tinyurl.com/yc7shv2f “The more technologically sophisticated war becomes, the more dangerous it is to place it in the hands of people untrained in irony, contingency and the darker constants of human nature.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2038492153907654731?s=20/photo/1

[…] It is tempting to describe this as a failure of intelligence. Technically, it is not. The spycraft kind of intelligence behind the war planning and execution is extensive. Recent reporting suggests that Israeli intelligence spent years penetrating Tehran’s traffic cameras and communications networks and built what one unnamed Israeli source described to CNN as an A.I.-powered “target-production machine” capable of turning enormous volumes of visual, human and signals intelligence into precise strike coordinates. That is an extraordinary achievement of surveillance and targeting.

Yet never has so much been seen, so precisely, by so many people who understand so little of what they are seeing. A system can tell you where a man is. It cannot tell you what his death will mean for a nation. Such systems are trained on behavior, not on meaning — they can track what an adversary does but not what he fears, honors, remembers or would die for.

This is the recurring illusion of overequipped leaders: Because they can map the battle space, they think they understand the war. But war is never merely a technical contest. It is shaped by grievance, sacred narrative, the memory of past humiliations and the desire for revenge. Those are not atmospheric complications added to an otherwise technical enterprise. They are what the war is about.

… Planners who took their adversary’s self-understanding seriously — rather than discounting it as propaganda — might have anticipated that an attack would not weaken the regime’s narrative but instead fulfill it. They might also have foreseen the paradox that systematic decapitation does not produce negotiators. It removes them. …

What this war exposes, then, is a failure not only of strategy but of literacy. Literature and history, at their most serious, train precisely the faculties these leaders lack: the capacity to grant that other minds are not transparent to us, and are governed by purposes not our own. A mind tutored by history and literature knows that actors in the grip of a sacred cause tend to mean what they say — and that bombing a founding myth is more likely to consecrate it than to dissolve it.

Cultural knowledge, of course, rarely prevents the catastrophes of war.

Athens at the height of its golden age sailed for Syracuse and lost an empire. Thucydides spent the rest of his life explaining why. The generals of 1914 were cultivated, well-read men, but those qualities did not save Europe. What has changed is not that culture once prevented blindness and no longer does. It is that culture has increasingly ceded authority to systems that mistake information for understanding and speed for judgment.

Shakespeare understood this blindness better than our strategists. “Macbeth” is not merely a play about ambition. It is about a man who catches sight of a possible future and mistakes that glimpse for a license to force events to conform to his interpretation — and then watches that interpretation devour him. Soon he ceases even to pretend that action should wait on understanding. There are things in his head, he tells his wife, that “must be acted ere they may be scanned” — done before they can be thought through.

Modern targeting systems promise the same fantasy in technological form: to collapse the interval between seeing and striking, to eliminate the pause in which judgment might still enter. Macbeth acts not after deliberation but instead of it. That is the pattern one can glimpse in this new war, and it is precisely the pattern that literary and historical imagination exists to counter.

Tolstoy traced the same pattern from the other side. In “War and Peace,” he depicted Napoleon — nourished on Plutarch’s “Lives” and its portraits of greatness — who marched through Borodino to Moscow and still could not fathom a people who would let their city burn rather than submit. His error was not tactical. It was imaginative: He could not credit the Russians with a logic that was not his own. That is the mistake the architects of this campaign are repeating. A leadership that has spent decades framing resistance to American and Israeli power as a religious obligation will experience military pressure not as a reason to capitulate but more probably as a reason to endure.
v
The more technologically sophisticated war becomes, the more dangerous it is to place it in the hands of people untrained in irony, contingency and the darker constants of human nature. Such leaders will speak fluently of capabilities, timelines and kill chains. They will have no language for resentment, dishonor, loyalty or grief — and they will discover, too late, that wars are made of these as much as of steel and fire. That is the illiteracy of this war. The algebra of the war makers will have been flawless. But what they cannot read, they will not have reckoned with.

🐣 RT @Timodc Total madness that we are involved in this war
⋙ 🐣 RT @MarioNawfal 🇮🇱🇮🇷🇱🇧 Netanyahu: “Israel is striking Iran and its allies with force, shifting to an offensive strategy, operating deep in enemy territory, expanding security lines in Gaza, Syria, and Lebanon, and aiming to remove threats from its borders.”
💽 https://x.com/Timodc/status/2038296817641607263?s=20/photo/1

‼️ WSJ: Why Russia Is Stepping Up Its Support for an Embattled Iran https://tinyurl.com/4r85nbhp “The increasing conflict between Trump’s expansive foreign policy and the Kremlin’s own footholds across the globe has triggered calls inside Russia to deal with the US more aggressively.”
// Moscow is trying to salvage what is left of a shrinking web of global partnerships
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2038466921985646854?s=20/photo/1

In recent weeks, Russia has stepped up its support for Iran, its closest partner in the Middle East, providing satellite imagery and drone technology to help Iran target U.S. forces in the region. …

Russia has been advising the Iranians based on its experience in the war in Ukraine, giving them tactical guidance on how many drones should be used in strikes and from which altitudes they should strike, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Russia’s advice and targeting information is believed to have aided Iran in strikes on U.S. radar systems in the region. …
^
The increasing conflict between Trump’s expansive foreign policy and the Kremlin’s own footholds across the globe has triggered calls inside Russia to deal with the U.S. more aggressively. 

“If real patriotic reforms aren’t enacted now in Russia, then the situation will become more unpredictable,” said Alexander Dugin, a Russian nationalist who has advocated for a hard turn against the West that has been embraced by Putin. “One by one, our partners will simply fall.”

☸️ ChatGPT: Here’s a list with the FEDERAL KEY STATUTES (federal + a note on state law) that LIMIT ICE (or any federal agents) AT POLLING PLACES. These don’t name ICE directly — but they restrict intimidation, coercion, and armed interference with voting. ⬇️
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2038426612350288211?s=20

Here are the main statutes:

1/ 52 U.S.C. § 10307(b) – Voting Rights Act (Intimidation Ban)
Illegal to intimidate, threaten, or coerce anyone for voting or attempting to vote.
Applies broadly – even presence that deters voters can qualify, regardless of intent.

2/ 18 U.S.C. § 594 – Voter intimidation (criminal)
Makes it a crime to intimidate, threaten, or coerce voters.
Covers actions by officials or private actors – including law enforcement if
conduct chills voting.

3/ 18 U.S.C. § 592 – Interference by armed forces
Prohibits use of armed troops to interfere with elections.
Historically aimed at federal power – often cited to argue against armed federal presence at polling places.

4/ 18 U.S.C. § 593 – Troops at polls
Bans deployment of troops at polling places unless expressly authorized by law.
Reinforces long-standing norm: elections should be free from federal military presence.

5/ 52 U.S.C. § 10101(b) – Civil Rights Act (voting protections)
Prohibits intimidation, threats, or coercion interfering with voting rights.
Often overlaps with the Voting Rights Act – provides an additional enforcement pathway.

Plus: State laws (vary by state)
Many states add:
• “buffer zones” around polling places
• bans on armed presence
• limits on law enforcement activity near polls
These can further restrict ICE locally.

Bottom line
No single law says “ICE cannot be at polling places.”
But multiple statutes make it illegal to:
• intimidate voters
• interfere with voting
• deploy armed federal presence
➔ In practice, that sharply limits what ICE can do near polls.

🐣 RT @krassenstein Dictators in History:
– Hitler – “The good of the state stands above the law.”
– Mussolini – “Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”
– Napoleon Bonaparte – “I am the revolution.”
– Francisco Franco – “I am responsible only to God and to history.”
Trump: “He who saves his country does not violate any law”

TheAtlantic, Sebastian Mallaby: The Man Who Thought He Could Keep AI Safe https://tinyurl.com/3k6pvnw7 “Demis Hassabis has devoted his life to advancing a technology he thinks could destroy the world.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2038392508535730553?s=20/photo/1

Musk listened to presentations from Hassabis and his co-founders. Then he did the opposite of what they wanted. Teaming up with Sam Altman, Musk founded OpenAI, an explicitly anti-Google, anti-DeepMind venture. Later, believers in the singleton vision described this moment as the “fall”: the serpent had brought evil into the garden. But the fall was inevitable, given human nature. When confronted with the prospect of a Promethean technology, people do not coalesce into a singleton effort. They are disputatious, jealous, and tribal.

🐣 RT @NickBryantNY Still no Oval Office speech from Trump. No briefing from Hegseth in more than a week. The reticence from the Pentagon especially speaks volumes of how Operation Epic Fury has gone awry.
⋙ 🐣 RT @matthewamiller It has been 10 days since Hegseth and Caine last briefed on Iran. No CENTCOM briefing since 3/10, and no Pentagon daily press briefing at all. We learn more of what the U.S. military has been doing from bystander videos than DoD. Historic lack of transparency and accountability

🐣 RT @MFA_Ukraine In an interview with @UKRINFORM, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha described the two-day meeting of G7 foreign ministers in France as one of the most substantive in recent times.

The summit proved productive not only because of the separate sessions dedicated to Ukraine, but also due to a series of very specific agreements.

Follow the link to read about further coordination of sanctions pressure on the aggressor; assurances from the U.S. that weapons under the PURL program will not be diverted to other destinations; a special tribunal on Russia’s crime of aggression; and Ukraine’s increasingly significant role in the Middle East. ⬇️ https://bit.ly/410MVeW

⋙ UkrInform: Andrii Sybiha, Minister of Foreign Affairs: PURL Supplies Locked In for Ukraine, Officials Assure https://tinyurl.com/438h7kub “On March 26–27, 2026, the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Summit was held in France under the country’s G7 presidency. Ukraine was invited
// Cont.: to participate alongside the member states.”
🖼 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2038265576145985999?s=20/photo/1

Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described the two-day meeting as one of the most substantive in recent memory—not only because of dedicated sessions on Ukraine, but also due to a series of concrete outcomes.

Among them were U.S. assurances that weapons supplied under the PURL program will not be redirected to other theaters, as well as confirmation that another influential country will join the Special Tribunal. In an interview with Ukrinform’s correspondent in France, Sybiha also addressed coordination of sanctions pressure on Russia, the security implications of developments in the Middle East, and Ukraine’s evolving role in the region.

🧵 RT @ChrisO_wiki 1/ The world is facing a ‘ticking time bomb’ from its supply of oil, according to a briefing note from JP Morgan. Physical scarcity of oil is about to unfold across the globe, spreading sequentially through April from east to west, causing major economic disruption worldwide. ⬇️
📌 🌎 https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/2038187681935401098?s=20/photo/1

🖼 TheAtlantic: Photos From the Third Nationwide ‘No Kings’ Protest https://tinyurl.com/33x5d4z2 “More than 3,000 marches and rallies took place yesterday during the third ‘No Kings’ event, where millions protested against the policies and actions of President Trump and his administration.”
¤ Gift article: https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2038249505544360259?s=20

WaPo Editorial: The drone swarm in Louisiana is a warning about the future of war. https://tinyurl.com/yhfsmb83 “While it’s unclear who is behind the Louisiana incursion, it’s impossible to ignore that a new era of drone warfare has begun — and that the U.S. is not ready.”

⭕ 28 Mar 2026 🚫 👑 ‼️

🐣 RT @anders_aslund The cause of this war is the US-Israeli attack on Iran. ¤ No allies were informed or consulted. ¤ The Gulf nations thought that US bases would guarantee their security. Instead, they find that they undermine their security. Why would they keep them?
⋙ 🐣 RT @FurkanGozukara Massive geopolitical shift. Gulf nations completely refuse to retaliate against Iran despite taking heavy damage. They are furious at Washington, admitting US & Israel started this disastrous war without even consulting them. US military bases are now seen as a massive liability

Politico: ‘He’s lied about everything’: Iran war puts Trump on shaky ground with young MAGA men https://tinyurl.com/3yh6z9rf “Their frustrations and anger with the conflict were on full display at CPAC this week.”

🐣 RT @ekwufinance This is a perfect illustration of how we perceive the Hormuz risk. ¤ Everyone is seeing the avalanche coming, yet everyone thinks that somehow it is under control… it isn’t.
¤ https://x.com/ekwufinance/status/2037923756056674805?s=20

There is no plan. No alternative routes that can scale fast enough… Hormuz opened or closed is all that matters.

The current avalanche is so big and dangerous that markets think this will resolve quickly due to the heavy economic costs… it won’t.

One month in, we hear reports that this operation might take from a few weeks to six months, to years… the avalanche will hit much earlier

Within a few weeks:

– Taiwan runs out of LNG -> no AI
– Fertilizer supplies are getting decimated -> no food
– Japan, Europe, Australia run out of diesel

The only thing keeping markets afloat is an unreasonably high amount of hopium… once it’s gone, expect a violent rerating

🐣 RT @BillKristol “The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, as thousands of soldiers & Marines arrive in the Middle East…” ¤ This is a bad idea. ¤ But if it is to happen, it CERTAINLY shouldn’t be without congressional authorization. ¤ So: Congress?
‼️ ⋙ WaPo: Pentagon prepares for weeks of ground operations in Iran https://tinyurl.com/pf87ypd5 “If President Donald Trump approves the plans, such an effort would mark a new phase of the war that could be significantly more dangerous to U.S. troops than the first four weeks.”

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 American Marines are being told to prepare for combat. Prepare your family.” ¤ My personal opinion: I would not die for this mediocre madman. No way. Neither should any American soldier. I have a bad feeling about this. Poor planning rarely ends well.
[Letter TextLink:] https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2038066296156225630?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa We want to prepare drone deals for partners who are helping us, and be prepared for any challenges. A drone deal includes drones, electronic warfare systems, and, most significantly, the complete system of defense.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2037952146503537081?s=20

We might not have enough “Patriots”, but we do have a system capable of integrating any defensive lines or layers. And this is the most valuable asset Ukraine possesses today: the experience of our military.

If we want Ukraine to be treated at a high level, it is more than only drones; it is our specialists and our military. The combination of experienced military personnel with private and public sectors in one system is exactly what we should offer as a long-term export model—so that the private sector, the state, and our military all benefit. Today, we have started such steps with three countries. ¤ From my conversation with journalists (2/3)

🐣 RT @TuturasAlexand ⬆️ Ukraine is steadily transforming its wartime necessity into long-term strategic capability.
¤ https://x.com/TuturasAlexand/status/2037952829512458578?s=20

What’s being described here—a fully integrated ecosystem of drones, electronic warfare, and operational experience—is not just about defense; it’s about building a modern military-industrial model that can sustain both national security and economic growth.

Despite the immense pressure from Russia and the broader geopolitical challenges, Ukraine has demonstrated resilience, adaptability, and innovation at a level that few anticipated. Its battlefield experience, combined with rapid technological development, is already positioning it as a key security actor in Europe.

The trajectory is clear: deeper integration with European structures and continued alignment with NATO standards. While there are political and procedural hurdles, and despite attempts by certain actors to slow or block this path, the strategic direction is increasingly difficult to reverse.

Ukraine’s progress is not just about military success—it’s about institutional transformation, partnerships, and long-term alignment with the Euro-Atlantic community. In that sense, its chances of ultimately securing a place within both the EU and NATO frameworks are stronger than ever, regardless of external resistance.

🐣 RT @ForeignPolicy The United States is now acting like a predatory hegemon, using positions of leverage built up over decades to exploit allies and adversaries alike.
⋙ ForeignPolicy, Stephen Walt: The United States Has Become a Rogue State https://tinyurl.com/ewrenyjx “The second Trump administration has been far more disruptive, damaging, and dangerous than most observers—including me—expected”
// Here’s what the rest of the world can do about it.

The second Trump administration has been far more disruptive, damaging, and dangerous than most observers—including me—expected, and the tragically inept war with Iran is driving that point home in spades. As a result, every country in the world is having to figure out how to deal with an increasingly rogue United States. Ask yourself: If you led Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, Nigeria, Denmark, Australia, etc., what would you do?

🐣 RT @peterbakernyt Fact checking fraud claims: Heritage Foundation documented 1,620 cases of voter fraud from 1982-2025, including 100 cases of noncitizens voting. That’s about 0.000008% of more than 1.3 billion votes cast in presidential elections in that time.
¤ https://x.com/peterbakernyt/status/2037897537156227210?s=20
⋙ ✅ NYT: Fact-Checking the Debate Over the Republican Voting Bill https://tinyurl.com/5e932nen “We examine claims justifying its restrictions, comparisons to current voting laws and warnings about its potential impact. “
// Ms. Sweren-Becker said. ¤ But she added, “It’s certainly safe to say that the SAVE America Act would block millions of eligible American citizens from voting.

⭕ 27 Mar 2026

TheAtlantic, Simon Shuster: Building Tanks While the Ukrainians Master Drones https://tinyurl.com/mw4v8hra “Ukrainian drones have made artillery and armored vehicles look obsolete. Why is the world still buying them?” //➔ The US is in denial.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2038076806767563022?s=20/photo/1

Ukraine now makes more drones than any democracy in the world, and wealthy nations in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East are lining up to buy them. But when I asked the CEO of Rheinmetall what that could mean for his business model, he bristled. “Who is the biggest drone producer in Ukraine?” Papperger demanded. I listed the ones that I had visited in Kyiv two weeks earlier, Fire Point and Skyfall, which make hundreds of thousands of drones a month for the Ukrainian armed forces. “It’s Ukrainian housewives,” Papperger said of their factories. “They have 3-D printers in the kitchen, and they produce parts for drones,” he said. “This is not innovation.” …

The gruesome images of tanks blown apart by drones in Ukraine did not dissuade anyone from purchasing these systems. Nearly all of the tanks that Russia had at the start of the invasion were destroyed by spring of last year, according to U.S. military estimates. “The scale of this conflict is just awe-inspiring,” General Christopher Cavoli, then the head of the U.S. European Command, testified last April before the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Thousands of tanks destroyed on both sides.”

The Russians had lost an estimated 3,000 tanks in the previous year, along with 9,000 armored vehicles, 13,000 artillery systems, and more than 400 air-defense systems, Cavoli said in written testimony. The main weapon that the Ukrainians had used to inflict this damage was the suicide drone, which costs about $400 to make and explodes on impact. “I would say they’re the world leaders in one-attack-drone technology,” Cavoli said. …
v
“No matter how advanced a tank is, Ukrainian-made drones will stop it,” Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine’s drone forces, told attendees at a conference in July. He recalled how a group of NATO officers had invited him to their base last year and asked for his opinion about their readiness for a war like the one in Ukraine. “My answer did not really calm them down,” he told the audience. Four Ukrainian drone teams, he said, “would take 15 minutes to make another Pearl Harbor.”

This sounded like braggadocio. But NATO military drills have substantiated the warning. During one set of exercises in May, a group of Ukrainian drone operators was invited to play the red team, pretending to be NATO’s adversaries. They launched 30 rapid strikes and took 17 armored vehicles out of the game within a few hours. “It was all destroyed,” one participant toldThe Wall Street Journal.

🐣 RT @BabakTaghvaee1 BREAKING: Unfortunately, two of the world’s last operational EC-130H Compass Call aircraft of the United States Air Force, deployed at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, have also been damaged as a result of a ballistic missile strike by the IRGC Aerospace Force. ¤ Both aircraft require repairs to return to service, with one sustaining heavy damage. ¤ This strike has already destroyed three KC-135R Stratotankers and damaged at least four others at Prince Sultan Air Base.

😂 ✅ WaPo: Trump imagines negotiation with Sharpie maker for $5 signature pens https://tinyurl.com/jk5sf9db “Trump told a lengthy story about negotiating over the price of Sharpie pens. The company says it has no record of any such conversation.” 🚫🤴‼️

WaPo: Stocks Slide to 5th Weekly Loss as Investors Lose Patience With Iran War https://tinyurl.com/mt4z845d The S&P 500 is down nearly 9 percent from a January high. The weekly losing streak is its worst in roughly four years.

🐣 RT @ka_grieco Yikes. The US has burned through ~850 Tomahawks in 4 weeks. That’s roughly a quarter of the inventory. At ~600 produced/year, that’s ~1.5 years of production gone in a month. Hard to see what long-term political goal this buys. [WaPo link (below):] https://tinyurl.com/4a4r8s8v

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA
🇺🇦 All of Europe, not just Ukraine, needs to mobilize, because the war in the Middle East is distracting attention, — Zelensky
¤ https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/2037635088691679664?s=20

➡️ Sanctions policy has reduced Russia’s capabilities. But it has circumvented them. At the same time, its revenues have still fallen, and the budget deficit has grown.

➡️ We would like the US to increase pressure on Russia. I believe that this pressure is insufficient. And not only from the US, but also from Europe, although Moscow, unfortunately, no longer pays much attention to Europe. Washington could exert stronger pressure.

➡️ We do not want our territory to be occupied again. Donbas is our defense lines and fortifications that have been built for years. If we leave these areas, it will open the way to a quick occupation.

➡️ The US says: “Leave Donbas, and we will provide security guarantees.” But our fortifications are security guarantees. We cannot exchange real guarantees created by our army for other promises.

➡️ I no longer want to talk publicly about how I see victory. But we must preserve independence, freedom of choice and our state. This will be the basis of a just peace.

➡️ I want to live in an independent Ukraine. This will mean that we have won. And when you have a home, there is always something to do.

🐣 RT @TheRickWilson It sure as hell is.
⋙ 🐣 RT @maddenifico Nuremberg is coming — and they all know it. ¤ Trump lawyer confesses ‘everybody’s afraid’ at White House: ‘We’re going to be indicted.’ 😳👇 [RawStory link:] https://tinyurl.com/48uwyenh

🐣 RT @ @Microinteracti1 American troops are sleeping in hotels. That is not a sentence from a Tom Clancy novel. That is where Operation Epic Fury stands right now.
¤ https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2037534955576738162?s=20

A New York Times report published Tuesday reveals that Iranian missile and drone strikes have left most of the 13 U.S. military installations across the Middle East effectively uninhabitable. Thousands of troops have been moved out of fortified bases into hotels, office buildings, and temporary facilities across the Gulf region and some as far away as Europe.

When the war began on February 28, roughly 40,000 American troops were stationed in the region. U.S. Central Command has since scattered large numbers of them into whatever spaces could be secured on short notice. Senior military officials are calling it a “remote war.” That framing deserves a moment.

Nearly a month in, this is the infrastructure picture: bases that took decades and billions of dollars to build are sitting damaged and largely empty, while American personnel run a war from conference rooms and borrowed lobbies. The optics are bad. The logistics are worse.

No one planned for this. That much is obvious.

🐣 RT @Biz_Ukraine_Mag US President George W. Bush to Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska: “We admire your country’s bravery and ingenuity. We want the people of Ukraine to know that we continue to stand with America’s ally, Ukraine. You are fighting for freedom and I believe you will prevail.”
🖼 https://x.com/Biz_Ukraine_Mag/status/2037310961179050039?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @slantchev The European Parliament approves the trade deal with the US but includes provisions for its immediate suspension of the U.S. imposes new tariffs or threatens a member state. That’s all you need to know about how far we have fallen: our allies are writing policies predicated on America being a threat to them.
⋙ 🐣 RT @Daractenus The European Parliament approved the trade agreement with the US after introducing several new amendments specifying that the agreement will be immediately suspended if the US imposes additional tariffs or threatens again the territorial integrity of a EU member state.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/slantchev/status/2037510525458731441?s=20/photo/1

The European Parliament approved, with amendments, the trade agreement with the United States, concluded in the summer of 2025. Among the clauses introduced is the suspension of the treaty if the U.S. imposes new tariffs, threatens the territorial integrity of member states, interferes with foreign and defense policies, or engages in economic coercion.

WSJ: The 2,000-Year-Old Cement Battery That Could Reduce Our Reliance on Fossil Fuel https://tinyurl.com/mpb6jpbt “Thermal batteries, such as the one being developed by Cache Energy, store heat instead of electricity, and can be recharged and discharged over and over”

🐣 RT @TaraCopp The U.S. has burned through 850 Tomahawk missiles in Iran, alarming some at Pentagon w/ @danlamothe @noahjrobertson and @AlexHortonTX
⋙ WaPo: U.S. uses hundreds of Tomahawk missiles on Iran, alarming some at Pentagon https://tinyurl.com/4a4r8s8v “More than 850 have been fired in just four weeks, people familiar with the matter said, raising concerns about the weapon’s limited supply.”

The missiles, which can be launched from Navy surface warships and submarines, have been a staple of U.S. military attacks since they were first used in combat in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War. But only a few hundred are manufactured each year, meaning the global supply is limited. The Pentagon does not publicly disclose how many missiles are in its inventory at any one time.

Tomahawks are prized in part because they can travel more than 1,000 miles, reducing the need to send American pilots into well-defended airspace. The heavy reliance on them in the Iran conflict will require urgent discussions about whether to relocate some from other parts of the world, including the Indo-Pacific, and a concerted long-term effort to build more, said several U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military planning. …

… One official characterized the number of Tomahawks left in the Middle East as “alarmingly low,” while another said that without intervention, the Pentagon is closing in on “Winchester” — military slang meaning out of ammunition — for its supply of Tomahawk missiles in the Middle East. …

The most recent versions of the missile can cost as much as $3.6 million a piece and require up to two years to build, according to Navy documents. In recent years, they have been purchased in small batches, with just 57 included in last year’s defense budget.

Many of the 850-plus expended Tomahawks were fired in the opening days of Operation Epic Fury, the Trump administration’s name for the war in Iran, people familiar with the matter said. They include at least one that struck in the vicinity of an elementary school in the Iranian city of Minab early in the operation. U.S. officials have since opened an investigation into the incident, which Iranian officials have said killed scores of children. …

The U.S. military also has fired more than 1,000 air-defense interceptor missiles in response to Iranian counterattacks across the region, including from the Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems, which are considered the world’s most advanced, two other officials familiar with the issue said. The inventory of those weapons also is limited and not publicly disclosed.

MacKenzie Eaglen, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said that before Operation Epic Fury began late last month, the Navy probably had between 4,000 and 4,500 Tomahawk missiles on hand. Others naval analysts have said the number could be much lower, perhaps closer to 3,000, following their extensive use in recent operations, including the Trump administration’s strikes last year in Iran, Yemen and Nigeria.

Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said if the military has fired more than 800 Tomahawks against Iran, “that would be about a quarter of the total inventory and would leave a large gap for a conflict in the Western Pacific.” His think tank assesses that the Navy may have had as few as 3,100 Tomahawks on hand at the start of the war a month ago. ¤ “It would take several years to replenish,” Cancian said. …

The missile is built by Raytheon with help from other manufacturers. The defense industry has capacity to produce about 600 missiles per year, said Ryan Brobst, deputy director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. […]

🐣 RT @TaraCopp The U.S. has burned through 850 Tomahawk missiles in Iran, alarming some at Pentagon w/ @danlamothe @noahjrobertson and @AlexHortonTX
⋙ WaPo: U.S. uses hundreds of Tomahawk missiles on Iran, alarming some at Pentagon https://tinyurl.com/4a4r8s8v “More than 850 have been fired in just four weeks, people familiar with the matter said, raising concerns about the weapon’s limited supply.”

🐣 RT @visionergeo 🇺🇸🇺🇦🪖”Their [Ukrainians’] level of innovation is otherworldly” — U.S. Army Lieutenant General Steven Whiting highly praised the Ukrainian Armed Forces for their rapid innovation and adaptability. He particularly emphasized the short cycle of developing, testing, and improving new solutions, calling this approach both extremely effective and cost-efficient. ¤ 🎖️The American general noted that in the conditions of modern warfare, the level of innovation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is truly impressive.
💽 https://x.com/visionergeo/status/2037503699547754774?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @SavchenkoReview 🇺🇸🇺🇦 Sybiha and Rubio met on the sidelines of the G7 ministerial meeting in France ¤ “Ukraine’s practical assistance to the Gulf states in protecting against Iranian terror demonstrated our role as a security partner and contributor. The issue of countering Russian aggression against Ukraine must remain among the priorities of the international agenda,” Sybiha noted

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa We have reached an important Arrangement between the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on defense cooperation.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2037451911142539412?s=20/photo/1 -4

The document was signed ahead of our meeting with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. It lays the foundation for future contracts, technological cooperation, and investment. It also strengthens Ukraine’s international role as a security donor.

We are ready to share our expertise and systems with Saudi Arabia and to work together to strengthen the protection of lives. Now into the fifth year, Ukrainians are resisting the same kind of terrorist attacks – ballistic missiles and drones – that the Iranian regime is currently carrying out in the Middle East and the Gulf region. Saudi Arabia also has capabilities that are of interest to Ukraine, and this cooperation can be mutually beneficial.

We also discussed the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region as a whole, Russia’s assistance to the Iranian regime, developments in fuel markets, and potential energy cooperation. ¤ Thank you for the meeting.

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa I met with our military experts who have been in Saudi Arabia for over a week now.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2037441018832756856?s=20

Guys reported on the team’s first results and shared conclusions at both the operational and broader levels. The main task of our air defense experts in this region is to identify challenges and determine what changes are needed to strengthen the protection of people and lives from Iranian “shaheds” and missiles. I am grateful to the guys for their exceptionally prompt and thorough work. There are concrete steps we can take together with our partners.

Even in such a short time, Ukrainian experts were able to share extensive expertise and demonstrate how we in Ukraine protect our lives and infrastructure. Ukraine’s expertise is unique, and recognized as such, and that is why everyone is so interested in our technologies and experience. We are ready to support the protection of those who help us defend our independence. We discussed the key elements needed to strengthen Saudi Arabia’s air defense capabilities. This concerns, above all, approaches to shooting down drones. Ukraine is ready for long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation. I am proud of our people and the strength of Ukraine.

🐣 RT @cnnbrk Senate unanimously moves to fund most of DHS, except ICE and border patrol, in rare overnight session. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/bvt3whc3

NYT, Michael Kimmage: The War in Ukraine has Transformed Conflict. Iran Is the Proof. https://tinyurl.com/5n8f9y3t “Ukraine’s resolve and technological savvy — in particular, its capacity to innovate, build and deploy drones — have slowed the Russian advance to a crawl.”
// “An unfamiliar kind of asymmetrical warfare has emerged in which great powers are suddenly fallible and vulnerable.”

NYT: An Invisible Bottleneck: A Helium Shortage Threatens the Chip Industry https://tinyurl.com/ac24edva “With a third of the global supply offline because of the war in Iran, gas companies are scrambling to assure critical AI chip makers there will be no disruptions.”

Helium is a gas that is odorless, colorless and lighter than air. It is also indispensable to manufacturing the computer chips that power artificial intelligence, an important driver of U.S. markets and economic growth.

A byproduct of natural gas processing, helium is produced mainly in the United States and Qatar. When output in Qatar was halted this month, it cut off roughly a third of the global supply. The outlook worsened last week after Iran struck Qatar’s largest liquefied natural gas facility, damaging helium production lines that could take years to rebuild.

Without helium, leading chip makers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, could struggle to keep production lines running, with cascading effects for semiconductor-powered devices from Apple’s iPhones to Nvidia’s A.I. servers.

⭕ 26 Mar 2026

NYT (Mar 26): Judge Stays Pentagon’s Labeling of Anthropic as ‘Supply Chain Risk’ https://tinyurl.com/39cmth7e “The decision is an early victory for the artificial intelligence company in a rancorous legal battle with the Department of Defense.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2038123018224902199?s=20/photo/1

“The record supports an inference that Anthropic is being punished for criticizing the government’s contracting position in the press,” Judge Lin wrote in the order granting the preliminary injunction against the government. “Nothing in the governing statute supports the Orwellian notion that an American company may be branded a potential adversary and saboteur of the U.S. for expressing disagreement with the government.”

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 Zelensky is being polite. The rest of us don’t have to be. ¤ There is one world leader Trump has never criticized. Not once. Not even when it would have cost him nothing. Every ally has taken fire – Zelensky, Macron, Trudeau, the entire EU, Canada, Australia, the UK. Putin alone gets the soft voice and the benefit of the doubt.
¤ https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2037086370691162555?s=20

Everyone knows why. The compromised part isn’t a conspiracy theory anymore, it’s the operating assumption of every intelligence service in Europe.

And this is the man now positioning himself as a peace broker between Russia and Ukraine. You cannot broker peace between a burglar and a homeowner when you are holding the door open for the burglar.

The US has spent 13 months blocking pressure on Russia, undermining Ukraine’s negotiating position, and telling Europe to sit down. The result is that Russia continues to take territory by force while Trump runs diplomatic cover from Mar-a-Lago.

Seven billion people outside the United States can see what is happening. The question is what anyone is actually going to do about it.

🐣 RT @ZelenskaUA [tr] Visiting Dallas, I had the honor of meeting George and Laura Bush. I thanked them for their understanding and support of Ukraine over many years, as well as for the opportunity to present our projects to American philanthropists to help children, youth, and large foster families. The support of international partners is critically important for their well-being after a harsh winter and under the daily threat of Russian shelling. Grateful to the Bush family and all who understand: Ukraine’s struggle concerns the entire free world and its values. And we can protect them only together.
🖼 https://x.com/ZelenskaUA/status/2037309202813624767?s=20/photo/1

🧵 RT @ChrisO_wiki 1/ With American ground forces building up in the Gulf region, much attention has been paid to Kharg Island in the northern Persian Gulf. But what about the Iranian-held islands in the Strait of Hormuz? Here’s why they might be a higher priority for possible landings. ⬇️
📌 🌎 https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/2037288687856189533?s=20/photo/1 -33
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2037288687856189533.html

🐣 RT @RKelanic French gov’t:
—30-40% of Gulf refining capacity destroyed
—11 million barrels/day offline
—full repairs could take 3 years
Under normal conditions, most oil infrastructure, including refineries, can be repaired pretty quickly.
But we’ve never seen oil industry damage on this scale, all at once, since at least WWII in Europe.

WSJ: Iran Hasn’t Requested Pause on Energy-Site Strikes, Mediators Say https://tinyurl.com/5hcsjjj2 “Iran hasn’t requested a 10-day pause on strikes on its energy plants and is yet to deliver a final response to a 15-point plan to end the war, peace talk mediators said.”

TheAtlantic, Matteo Wong & Charlie Warzel: Welcome to a Multidimensional Economic Disaster https://tinyurl.com/39evxueh “The AI boom wasn’t built for the polycrisis.” “In particular, the industry is highly dependent on the Middle East, which has been destabilized by the war in Iran.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2037347570574315884?s=20/photo/1

The global economy has become dependent on the AI industry. Trillions of dollars are being invested into the technology and the infrastructure it relies on; in the final months of 2025, functionally all economic growth in the United States came from AI investments. This would be risky even in ideal conditions. And we are very far from ideal conditions.

Much of the AI supply chain—chips, data centers, combustion turbines, and so on—relies on key materials that are produced in or transported through just a few places on Earth, with little overlap. In particular, the industry is highly dependent on the Middle East, which has been destabilized by the war in Iran. A global energy shock seems all but certain to come soon—the kind where even the best-case scenario is a disaster. The war could grind the AI build-out to a halt. This would be devastating for the tech firms that have issued historic amounts of debt to race against their highly leveraged competitors, and it would be devastating for the private lenders and banks that have been buying up that debt in the hope of ever bigger returns.

For the better part of the past year, Wall Street analysts and tech-industry observers have fretted publicly about an AI bubble. The fear is that too much money is coming in too fast and that generative-AI companies still have not offered anything close to a viable business model. If growth were to stall or the technology were to be seen as failing to deliver on its promises, the bubble might burst, triggering a chain reaction across the financial system. Everyone—big banks, private-equity firms, people who have no idea what’s mixed into their 401(k)—would be hit by the AI crash.

Until recently, that kind of crash felt hypothetical; today, it feels plausible and, to some, almost inevitable. “What’s unusual about this, unlike commercial real estate during the global financial crisis,” Paul Kedrosky, an investor and financial consultant, told us, “is all of these interlocking points of fragility.”

Perhaps the clearest examples are advanced memory and training chips, which are among the most important—and are by far the most expensive—components of training any AI model. Currently, most of them are produced by two companies in South Korea and one in Taiwan. These countries, in turn, get a large majority of their crude oil and much of their liquefied natural gas—which help fuel semiconductor manufacturing—from the Persian Gulf. The chip companies also require helium, sulfur, and bromine—three key inputs to silicon wafers—largely sourced from the region. In addition, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and other regional petrostates have become key investors in the American AI firms that purchase most of those chips.

Because of the war in Iran, the Strait of Hormuz is functionally closed to most shipping vessels, stranding one-fifth of the world’s exports of natural gas, one-third of the world’s exports of crude oil, and significant quantities of the planet’s exportable fertilizer, helium, and sulfur. Meanwhile, Iran and Israel have begun bombing much of the fossil-fuel infrastructure in the region, which could take many years to replace. In only a month of war, the price of Brent crude—a global oil benchmark—has jumped by 40 percent and could more than double, liquefied-natural-gas prices are soaring in Europe and Asia, and helium spot prices have already doubled. The strait is “critical to basically every aspect of the global economy,” Sam Winter-Levy, a technology and national-security researcher at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told us. “The AI supply chain is not insulated.”

The situation could quickly deteriorate from here. A helium crunch could trigger a shortage of AI chips or cause chip prices to rise. AI companies need ever more advanced chips to fill their data centers—at higher prices, the massive server farms, already hurting from elevated energy costs caused by the war, would have almost no hope of becoming profitable. Without these chips, new data centers would not be built or would sit empty. Astronomical tech valuations, and in turn the entire stock market, could collapse.

One industry’s precarious position isn’t usually everyone’s problem. Unfortunately, AI is different. The biggest data-center players, known as hyperscalers, are among the biggest corporations in the history of capitalism; they include Microsoft, Google, Meta, and Amazon. But even they will be pressed by collectively spending nearly $700 billion on AI in a single year. In order to get the money for these unprecedented projects, data-center providers are beginning to take on colossal amounts of debt. Some of this is done through creative deals with private-equity firms including Blackstone, BlackRock, and Blue Owl Capital—which themselves operate as sort of shadow banks that, since the most recent financial crisis, have arguably become as powerful and as influential as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers were prior to 2008. Endowments, pensions, insurance funds, and other major institutions all trust private equity to invest their money.

For a while, it seemed like every time Google or Microsoft announced more data-center investments, their stock prices rose. Now the opposite occurs: The hyperscalers are spending far more, but investors have started to notice that they are not generating anything near the revenue they need to. The data-center boom’s top players—Google, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, and Oracle—have all lost 8 to 27 percent of their value since the start of the year, making them a huge drag on the overall stock market. And the $121 billion of debt that hyperscalers issued in 2025, four times more than what they averaged for years prior, is expected to grow dramatically.

All of the major players in this investment ecosystem are vulnerable. Private-equity firms are being squeezed on both ends by generative AI: During the coronavirus pandemic, they bought up software companies, which are now plummeting in value because AI is expected to eat their lunch. Meanwhile, private equity’s new investment strategy, data centers, is also falling apart because of AI. Blackstone, Blue Owl, and the like are sinking huge sums into data-center construction with the assumption that lease payments from tech companies will pay for their debt. In order to pay for their investments, private-equity companies raised money from major financial institutions—but now the viability of those lease payments is coming into question as the hyperscalers’ cash flow is strained. “There’s a reason to think we’re seeing some of the same 2008 dynamics now,” Brad Lipton, a former senior adviser at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and now the director of corporate power and financial regulation at the Roosevelt Institute, told us. “Everyone’s getting tied up together. Banks are lending money to private credit, which in turn lends it elsewhere. That amps up the risk.”

The way the money moves is concerning, but so is the AI industry’s underlying business model. At every layer, the technology appears to decrease the value of its assets. The advanced AI chips that make up the majority of the cost of a data center? Their value rapidly decreases as they are superseded by the next generation of chips, meaning that the ultimate backstop for all of the data-center debt—selling the data center itself—is not actually a backstop. The way that AI companies make money when people use their products is also deflationary. OpenAI, Anthropic, and others charge users for using “tokens,” the components of words processed by their bots. This means that tokens are an industrial commodity akin to, say, crude oil or steel. But unlike other commodities, the cost of each token is rapidly decreasing owing to advancements in AI’s capabilities. Kedrosky called this “a death spiral to zero.” As the value of a token plummets, the value of what data centers can produce also falls.

The war in Iran affects data-center finances as well. Should energy prices continue to skyrocket, so will the cost of this already very expensive computing equipment, because it needs tremendous amounts of energy to manufacture and operate. And the war has exposed physical risks to these buildings. Janet Egan, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, described data centers to us as “large, juicy targets.” It is impossible to hide these facilities, which can cover 1 million square feet. Earlier this month, Iran bombed Amazon data centers in the UAE and Bahrain. American hyperscalers had been planning to build far more data centers in the region, because the Trump administration and the AI industry have sought funding from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Oman. Now there’s a two-way strain on those relationships. The physical security of the data centers is more precarious, and the conflict is damaging the economic health of the petrostates, thereby jeopardizing a major source of further investment in American AI firms. The Trump administration “staked a lot on the Gulf as their close AI partner, and now the war that they’ve launched poses a huge threat to the viability of the Gulf as that AI partner,” Winter-Levy said. …

Just a few things going a bit wrong could compound, all at once, into a cataclysm. To wit: Qatari and Saudi money dries up. Sustained high oil and natural-gas prices drive up the costs of manufacturing chips and running data centers. Already cash-strapped hyperscalers struggle to make lease payments on their data centers, while similarly strained private lenders suffer as all of the AI bonds become deadweight. Tech valuations fall, taking public markets with them; private-equity firms have to sell and torch their assets, putting intense stress on the institutional investors and banks. The rest of the economy, drained of investment because everything was poured into data centers for years, is already weak. Unemployment goes up, as do interest rates. “Bubbles pop. That’s the system,” Lipton said. “What isn’t supposed to happen is that it takes down the whole financial system. But the concern here is that AI investment isn’t confined and may spread to the whole economy.”

Even if Iran and the Strait of Hormuz don’t directly trigger an AI-driven financial crisis, the odds are decent that another vector could. (Remember tariffs?) Energy prices could stay elevated for years, because the targeted fossil-fuel facilities in the Persian Gulf will take a long time to restore. As the U.S. directs huge amounts of attention and military resources toward Iran, it’s easy to imagine China launching an invasion of Taiwan—a scenario that terrifies Silicon Valley, because it would halt the production of chips needed to train frontier models. That’s not even considering the single Dutch company that makes the high-tech lithography machines used to print virtually all AI chips, or the German company that makes the mirrors used in those machines. “There are too many ways for it to fail for it not to fail,” Kedrosky said of the AI industry’s web of risk. “All you can say for sure is this is a fragile and overdetermined system that must break, so it will.”

There are, of course, possibilities other than a full-blown, AI-driven financial crisis. Data-center spending could cool gradually enough that a crash is avoided. The revenues of Anthropic and OpenAI have been multiplying every year, which proponents argue means that generative-AI products are on track to eventually become profitable. But on the current trajectory, that would still take years, and there are good reasons to think that this growth will slow or halt. Notably, the main draw of AI tools is “efficiency”: Rather than growing their overall output and the opportunities available to people, executives are hoping that AI will allow them to make cuts to their business operations. The medium-term success of generative AI would likely involve millions of people being put out of work. The range of options seems to be somewhere from mildly bad to historically so.
v
Should the system break, much of the blame would lie squarely with the technology companies. The stakes of this build-out, from the beginning, have been framed in civilizational terms—a geopolitical race alongside an existential one. The winners will control the future and reap the rewards. At every step of the way, AI firms have appeared to prioritize speed above the physical security of data centers, supply-chain redundancy, energy efficiency and independence, political stability, even financial returns. And in that quest for unbridled growth, the AI industry has wrested ungodly amounts of capital from investors all looking for the next big thing, ensnaring the entire economy.
^
Simultaneously, these firms have courted and even bent the knee to a presidential administration that has encouraged their “let it rip” ethos, only to watch as that same administration has plunged the industry into this emerging polycrisis. The AI industry was not made for the turbulence its leaders have helped usher in. The situation has grown so ungainly and untenable that, if Silicon Valley is merely forced to slow down, the viability of all this spending will likely be called into question in ways that could be devastating for many. In finance, being early is the same as being wrong. AI firms want the world to think they’re right on time. The world may have other plans.

🐣 RT @yairlapid [tr] On the eve of Passover, I want to warn the citizens of Israel. We are facing another security disaster.
¤ https://x.com/yairlapid/status/2037235032218296573?s=20

For 13 years, I have been a member of Israel’s security cabinets and the most sensitive security forums. As prime minister, foreign minister, finance minister, member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

In all those 13 years, I don’t recall a warning as grave as the one issued last night by the Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, to the political-security cabinet. Anyone who heard him yesterday will not be able to say, “I didn’t know.”

“I’m raising 10 red flags,” the Chief of Staff said. “The IDF is on the verge of collapse.”

This warning aligns with what I and other sources know about the state of the army. Our pilots, our fighters, are writing glorious chapters in the history of the State of Israel these days. We’re talking about a generation of lions doing phenomenal work, but the IDF is stretched to the limit and beyond. The government is leaving the army wounded in the field. […]

🧵 RT @ABlinken (1/10) @realDonaldTrump cited me as supporting his attack on Iran and expressing regret we didn’t do it during the Biden Administration. Except I didn’t.
📌 https://x.com/ABlinken/status/2037284297942376608?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2037284297942376608.html
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @Acyn Trump: I’ve heard that today Blinken made a statement that he should have done it. Thanks a lot, I appreciate it. Blinken is Biden’s guy I guess. Who the hell knows who he is. But he came out with the statement that they should have done it, they made a mistake
💽 https://x.com/ABlinken/status/2037284297942376608?s=20/photo/1

(2/10) For what I did say, see the clips below.

(3/10) In short: President Trump made a terrible decision to tear up the Iran nuclear deal (“JCPOA”) in 2017 and replace it with nothing. The Obama Administration put Iran’s nuclear program in a box, President Trump let it out.
💽 https://x.com/ABlinken/status/2037284389105594711?s=20/photo/1

(4/10) What would have happened if President Trump had just left the JCPOA in place? When the JCPOA expired, it could be extended or renegotiated, as with most arms control agreements. If Iran refused, the U.S. would still retain the military option, with a lot more information about Iran’s program, because of the most intrusive inspections ever.

(5/10) Now, we have to be able to hold multiple ideas in our heads at the same time. Once our armed forces are engaged in conflict we should all be pulling for their safety and success. Is it a good thing the Ayatollah who inflicted so much suffering on the Iranian people (and wrought so much violence around the world, including on Americans) is gone, Iran’s missile arsenal is diminished, and its nuclear program “re-obliterated” (since apparently it wasn’t “obliterated” in June)? Yes. But to what ends, at what cost, and for how long?
💽 https://x.com/ABlinken/status/2037284392809148579?s=20/photo/1

(6/10) So far, we’ve traded an 86-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei for a 56-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei, empowered hardliners, and sidelined pragmatists. The regime could fall in five days or five years. And to be replaced by what?

(7/10) Iran apparently retains at least 5-10 bombs worth of uranium enriched to 60% and probably some hundreds of centrifuges to further enrich it to weapons grade. It can rebuild missiles over time and drones more quickly.

(8/10) The failure to anticipate and prepare for Iran weaponizing the Strait of Hormuz puts us literally at the bottom of the barrel. Markets (oil, LNG, stocks, bonds, fertilizer, helium) and munitions (offensive and defensive) will dictate when President Trump feels compelled to declare victory and walk away, but with Iran controlling the Strait. Maybe a negotiation can fix that, but with what concessions to Iran? Or we can double down, at huge risk.

(9/10) Meanwhile, 13 American servicemembers have lost their lives and hundreds more have been wounded. The Iranian people are still under the fist of a highly repressive regime. Iran and Russia are getting an oil bonanza. America is more isolated than ever from our closest allies and partners. And billions more U.S. taxpayer dollars are being spent on another war in the Middle East (with an additional $200 billion requested from the Pentagon to fund this war). Not to mention the failure to make the case to the American people for why this was necessary, in their interest, or worth risking American lives for.

(10/10) So no, I would not have done it. For the record.

🐣 RT @slantchev When pondering the news that US “security guarantees” for Ukraine are contingent on Ukraine abandoning Donbas to the invading war criminals, ask yourself why this administration wants that ceasefire so badly.
¤ https://x.com/slantchev/status/2036938858655605196?s=20

The U.S. is not a belligerent and American soldiers aren’t dying in this war unlike the one we started against Iran. The benefit of degrading Russia’s military capabilities is so obvious that for years Kremlin shills were insisting that this is a proxy war that unwitting Ukrainians are waging on America’s behalf.

So why insist so much on an unjust ceasefire that would award Russia for its aggression when its own military has failed to achieve the Kremlin’s objectives?

It’s because this godawful administration sees some benefits in normalizing relations with Russia, be they of the reverse Nixon pink pony fantasies, outright bribery through fantastical investment schemes with a third rate economy geared entirely for war, or just because the Kremlin has a kompromat on Trump. It’s really irrelevant which — what matters is that this one-sided insistence on letting Putin have his pound of flesh suggests very strongly that no promise to help Ukraine resist any further invasion or violations of the ceasefire can be credible.

Whatever is driving Trump and his minions to want to help Russia now will drive them to want to help Russia in the future. All “guarantees” made by Trump are worse than worthless as they are most likely outright lies in the service of whatever agenda is propelling this small corrupt man.

⋙ 🐣 Here’s the text of the Russian/US proposal from FT. “Mediators“ usually don’t get a pay-out.
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2037080406474829992?s=20

13. Russia will be reintegrated into the global economy: a. The lifting of sanctions will be discussed and agreed upon in stages and on a case-by-case basis. b. The United States will enter into a long-term economic cooperation agreement for mutual development in the areas of energy, natural resources, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, data centres, rare earth metal extraction projects in the Arctic, and other mutually beneficial corporate opportunities. c. Russia will be invited to rejoin the G8.

14. Frozen funds will be used as follows: $100 billion in frozen Russian assets will be invested in US-led efforts to rebuild and invest in Ukraine. The US will receive 50% of the profits from this venture. Europe will add $100 billion to increase the amount of investment available for Ukraine’s reconstruction. The remainder of the frozen Russian funds will be invested in a separate US-Russian investment vehicle that will implement joint projects in specific areas. This fund will be aimed at strengthening relations and increasing common interests to create a strong incentive not to return to conflict. 15. A joint American-Russian working group on security issues will be established to promote and ensure compliance with all provisions of this agreement.

Source: FT https://tinyurl.com/5ss3h7mn Nov 2025

📔 FT (Nov 2025): Read the full text of Trump’s 28-point Ukraine-Russia peace plan https://tinyurl.com/5ss3h7mn “Proposed deal would limit size of Ukrainian forces and calls on Kyiv to withdraw troops from eastern Donetsk”
// 11/20/2025; tags: Russian proposal; Russian deal

NYT: Iran’s Attacks Force U.S. Troops to Work Remotely https://tinyurl.com/23bheuzh “Many of the 13 military bases in the region used by American troops are all but uninhabitable, with the ones in Kuwait, which is next door to Iran, suffering perhaps the most damage”
//. Iran has severely damaged several American military bases in the Middle East, officials say.

Iran has bombed U.S. bases across the Middle East in retaliation for the U.S.-Israeli war, forcing many American troops to relocate to hotels and office spaces throughout the region, according to military personnel and American officials.

So now much of the land-based military is, in essence, fighting the war while working remotely, with the exception of fighter pilots and crews operating and maintaining warplanes and conducting strikes.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has urged people to report these new locations as it hunts for the dispersed troops. U.S. military officials say that threat is not stopping the Pentagon from carrying out the war against Iran, which is in its fourth week.

“To date, we’ve struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared last week. He then repeated what has become a common refrain at his news briefings: “Today will be the largest strike package yet, just like yesterday was.”

But the relocation of troops to makeshift — one official called them “alternative” — sites raises questions about the Trump administration’s preparations for the war.

There were close to 40,000 U.S. troops in the region when the war started, and Central Command has dispersed thousands of them, some to as far away as Europe, American military officials said. But many have remained in the Middle East, although not on their original bases, military officials said.

The result, according to current and former military officials, is a war that is much harder to prosecute.

“Yes, we have the ability to set up expedient operation centers, but you’re absolutely going to lose capability,” said Master Sgt. Wes J. Bryant, a retired Special Operations targeting specialist in the U.S. Air Force. “You can’t just put all that equipment on the top of a hotel, for example. Some of it is unwieldy.” A U.S. military official said that troops are not working from the roofs of civilian hotels.

Iran responded forcefully to the joint American and Israeli strikes, targeting not only U.S. bases but also embassies and oil and gas infrastructure throughout the region. With its supreme leader and dozens of other leaders killed, the Iranian regime has retaliated by launching hundreds of drones and missiles into neighboring countries and largely shuttered the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route, making sure the war would be felt by people across the globe.

Many of the 13 military bases in the region used by American troops are all but uninhabitable, with the ones in Kuwait, which is next door to Iran, suffering perhaps the most damage. Six U.S. service members were killed in a strike on Port Shuaiba that destroyed an Army tactical operations center. Iranian drones and missiles also targeted Ali Al Salem Air Base, damaging aircraft structures and injuring personnel, and Camp Buehring, damaging maintenance and fuel facilities.

In Qatar, Iran struck Al Udeid Air Base, the regional air headquarters of U.S. Central Command, damaging an early-warning radar system. In Bahrain, a one-way Iranian attack drone struck communications equipment at the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet. At Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, Iranian missiles and drones damaged communications equipment and several refueling tankers.

An Iranian-backed militia in Iraq launched a drone swarm attack on an upscale hotel in Erbil early in the war. …

The lack of better planning, some military officials said, also reflects a miscalculation on the part of the administration about how Iran would respond. The Trump administration did not reduce staffing at American embassies and other facilities in the region before the war started, or order departures for nonessential government employees and family members. Nor did the State Department warn Americans to steer clear of the region until after the war began. …

⭕ 25 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @NBCNews At least 40% of Russia‘s oil export capacity is at a halt following Ukrainian drone attacks, according to Reuters calculations. The shutdown is the most severe oil supply disruption in the modern history of Russia. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/wbekyxkf

🐣 RT @Acyn CNN: Sources are telling CNN Iran is actively preparing for an invasion of Kharg Island. The traps that we understand that are being put there: anti-personnel and anti-armor mines placed around the island. Tehran is also moving a large number of troops and air defenses to this island.
💽 https://x.com/Acyn/status/2036945134605263057?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @FT FT Exclusive: Moscow has close ties with Tehran and has provided its ally with crucial support including satellite imagery, targeting data and intelligence support, people familiar with the matter said. https://ft.trib.al/IsseW1G

🐣 RT @maddenifico Whoa! Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari announced Qatar is seeking to mend its relationship with Iran — which tells us everything we need to know about how the Middle East views Trump’s catastrophic miscalculation
💽 https://x.com/maddenifico/status/2036876552508416482?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @rgoodlaw Jaw-dropping DOJ admissions to court ¤ DOJ admits repeatedly made “material mistaken” representations to judge. ICE never had authority (under 2025 Guidance) to conduct arrests at immigration courthouses! ¤ DOJ admits court “relied on…prior misrepresentations” ¤ DOJ blames ICE
[TextLink:] https://x.com/rgoodlaw/status/2036896357634461768?s=20/photo/1 -2

🐣 RT @BlueATLGeorgia Tom Nichols: The president doesn’t have a grasp of reality; he’s not stable. There’s something not right here. He started a war, he can’t get out of it, and he doesn’t know where to turn. He’s getting a very filtered view of reality. They’re showing him heroic montages every morning. That’s bonkers.
💽 https://x.com/BlueATLGeorgia/status/2036902528667828595?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @Reuters Exclusive: The US has made its offer of security guarantees needed for a peace deal in Ukraine conditional on Kyiv ceding all of the country’s eastern region of Donbas to Russia, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told Reuters.
⋙ 💽 Reuters: Exclusive: US links security guarantees to Ukraine giving up Donbas, Zelenskiy says https://tinyurl.com/yzecnrye

TheAtlantic, David Graham: Trump Is Asking to Be Bailed Out Again https://tinyurl.com/bdd7m28w “The president’s eagerness to act keeps getting him into difficult spots—which he then demands that legislators and the public [and allies!] help him escape.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2036935646309167314?s=20/photo/1

… Trump’s war—sorry, “operation” — in Iran is a perfect example. The president didn’t ask Congress to declare war, and he did not receive, or request, an authorization for use of military force. The administration briefed the “Gang of Eight” (the leaders of the House, Senate, and each body’s intelligence committees from both parties) just before the strikes but, according to The New York Times, misled them about the scope of the attack. Trump did not work to build support for war with Iran among the American people, and he did not attempt to assemble a coalition of allies other than Israel to take part. …
^
Or take Operation Metro Surge. In late 2025, Trump decided to send a contingent of immigration officers to Minnesota, ostensibly to respond to cases of benefit fraud among the state’s Somali population. The Justice Department was already prosecuting the matter, and it wasn’t clear what exactly Department of Homeland Security officers were going to do. Once they arrived and began patrolling neighborhoods, however, residents protested; the administration responded by expanding its deployment. Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act and dispatch active-duty soldiers, though he ultimately did not. By the time the administration pulled back, agents had arrested at least 3,000 people, but only 23 of them were Somali and none was connected to the fraud allegations, according to the Star Tribune. Meanwhile, two American citizens were shot and killed by federal agents.

The Minnesota operation was not only a tactical flop; it was a political blunder. The administration sacked Greg Bovino, the Customs and Border Protection official who had become the front man for aggressive enforcement. Most agents were yanked from Minnesota. Trump’s ratings on immigration, once his signature issue, turned hard against him. This is ironic, because the original intention was a quick political win. Trump had hoped to spotlight the benefit fraud both to bolster his case for immigration enforcement and also because of his outspoken bigotry toward Somalis.

He seems to have thought the same about the Iran operation, expecting as quick a win there as he (appears to have) notched in Venezuela. Instead, he has ended up worse off as a matter of his stated goals and political interests alike. …

Following protocol might have deprived Trump of the splashiness of these sudden actions, or even prevented him from doing these things—but it might also have helped him avoid the missteps that are plaguing him. Trump doesn’t recognize that although rules can limit him, they also protect him. A lawyer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is challenging the ballroom, made the same point more pithily during the hearing last week. Thaddeus Heuer noted that the administration could have consulted with relevant authorities before demolition but had declined. …

🐣 RT @FCDOGovUK The UK stands firmly with our Gulf partners. ¤ In solidarity, 30 countries have now joined our joint statement on the Strait of Hormuz
https://tinyurl.com/52atfnyz
⋙ 🐣 Signatories EXCLUDE US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar. It INCLUDES Bahrain, UAE. Cites UN Security Council Resolution 2817, Maritime security and freedom of navigation.

WSJ: The Oil Supply Crunch Is Spreading From the Gulf to the Rest of the World https://tinyurl.com/yue2ved4 “Unless peace talks pan out fast, traders say record high prices for specific grades of Middle Eastern crude cargoes will soon cascade to the U.S. and elsewhere”

⭕ 24 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom POTUS counts as “an official” and this war was predicated on his belief that the regime would fall relatively easily, which is why he brushed off warnings from Caine and others about Iran closing the Strait. … [Atl link (3/20):] https://tinyurl.com/3xzfzh2t
[TextLink:] https://x.com/RadioFreeTom/status/2036649706604884307?s=20/photo/1

But Trump did seem to have an overarching goal at the start of the war: regime change. In a video he released during the first night of the attack, he told the Iranian authorities to surrender and called on the Iranian people to rise up against their government. Unfortunately, the regime in Tehran seems to be recovering and, even worse, consolidating power. The American intelligence community has reportedly issued an assessment that the regime “will remain intact and possibly even emboldened, believing it stood up to Trump and survived.” Trump now appears lost, unable to comprehend how a blockbuster movie that he scripted out, one in which he cast himself as the Liberator of Iran, has turned into a poorly received miniseries that might yet be renewed for another dreary season.

The commander in chief was reportedly told that the mullahs might not agree to go gently into the night, but he seems to have waved away such concerns because he was so convinced that the Iranian regime would collapse almost immediately. According to The Wall Street Journal, when General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned the president that a U.S. attack would prompt Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz, Trump “told his team that Tehran would likely capitulate before closing the strait—and even if Iran tried, the U.S. military could handle it.”

WSJ Editorial: The Fog of Diplomacy in Iran https://tinyurl.com/4czxa49k “Mr. Trump’s incentive is to calm markets with news of diplomatic progress. The regime’s incentive is to deny, deny, deny and keep markets roiled.”
// Trump and the regime test each other while ground troops head over.

… The two sides remain far apart. Mr. Trump reiterates his prewar demands, including in a 15-point plan leaked to the press Tuesday: Dismantle what’s left of the nuclear program, hand over all enriched uranium, and limit the missile program. Iranian officials reiterate their prewar refusals and demand guarantees, reparations, the expulsion of U.S. forces from the region, and the payment of tolls to transit Hormuz, an international waterway. All are nonstarters, which explains the skepticism of Arab and Israeli officials.

Mr. Trump said his envoy Steve Witkoff is speaking to a “top person” in Iran, widely believed to be Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf. He’s the Parliament speaker, former mayor, police chief and Revolutionary Guard commander, and consummate opportunist. Some see his many political reinventions and trail of corruption allegations as signs Mr. Ghalibaf is the flexible type the U.S. has been looking for. Others see a brutal regime insider with no demonstrated desire to change Iran’s policies.

It isn’t certain that Mr. Ghalibaf can even speak for Iran’s regime. He’s one of the more senior officials left, but will the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps follow his lead? How much room does he have to maneuver? Part of the reason to explore talks may be to find out. On Tuesday Mr. Trump said Iran’s regime gave the U.S. an unspecified “present,” as it had promised, related to oil and gas. This showed “we’re dealing with the right people,” he said. But he also gave them a present by easing U.S. sanctions on the export of Iranian oil.

The next step is to arrange a meeting, if Iran even wants one. The regime may feel time is on its side; the Strait of Hormuz is blocked and Mr. Trump backed down on Monday. But before you blink it will be Friday again, and with President Trump you never know what he’ll be saying then. He may not know himself.

But we trust he knows that giving in to the regime now would leave an Iranian gun to the world’s head, a proven veto on energy flows. The world—read: China and Russia—might conclude he couldn’t tolerate the political pressure at home from high oil prices.

“One bullet shot at one of our men or ships, and I’d do a number on Kharg Island,” Iran’s oil-export terminal, Mr. Trump said. “I’d go in and take it.” That was in 1988. Now he’s President, and history and the world want to know if that boast is still operative.

🐣 RT @McFaul Conventional military superiority doesn’t always guarantee success (think Vietnam, Afghanistan). Russia is learning that in Ukraine, where cheap tech, political will, and innovation are undermining its advantages in scale and firepower. Will the same be true for Iran?
⋙ 🐣 Instead of working with Ukraine to master modern drone warfare, the US is getting drones from a new brand new Israeli company brokered by … Trump’s sons. ¤ Because, Trump: “The last person we want help from is Zelensky.”

🐣 RT @ariel_oseran Iran announces its readiness to establish “a regional security and military union with its dear neighbors,” without the presence of the U.S. or Israel.
¤ https://x.com/ariel_oseran/status/2036610892868026651?s=20

The Iranian Armed Forces Spokesman said in a statement in Arabic: “Dear Muslim brothers, we do not need a country that is thousands of kilometers away to ensure our region’s security, nor do we need a country that views Islamic countries as cash cows. What good has America and its bases in the region brought you?”

The spokesman added: “We must learn from the mistakes of the past and the lack of supportive force which caused the Arabs’ defeat in the 1967 and 1973 wars. We must unite to ensure our security and establish a comprehensive defense union.”

🐣 RT @NOELreports US Lt. Gen. Steven P. Whitney praised Ukraine’s military for its rapid innovation and adaptability. He highlighted the fast cycle of developing, testing and refining new concepts, calling the approach both highly effective and cost-efficient. ¤ Whitney described Ukraine’s level of innovation as remarkable in modern warfare conditions. #Ukraine

🐣 RT @kaitlancollins Sen. Bernie Sanders: “I think all over the country, people are saying, ‘Wait a minute, we can’t afford housing. We can’t afford health care. We can’t afford childcare. We can’t afford food at the grocery store.’ And this war now, which will cost hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars, why? Why the bomb buildings in Tehran? Why force a million people in Lebanon from their homes? So it’s not just progressives and Democrats…I think the polling suggests that whether you’re Republicans or Democrats, this is not a war that the American people want.” [CNN]
💽 https://x.com/kaitlancollins/status/2036611693250334769?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @brett_mcgurk This is the statement issued by Iran today on the Strait: “open” to “non-hostile passage” only for ships Iran approves and “in coordination with the competent Iranian authorities.” In other words: NOT open.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/brett_mcgurk/status/2036637029199495206?s=20/photo/1 -2

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom ah, no
⋙ 🐣 RT @Acyn Trump on Iran: We really had regime change. This is a change in the regime because the leaders are all different. I think we can say this is regime change.

🐣 RT @brett_mcgurk Per this document in @TimesofIsrael: If Iran gives up its enrichment program and its support for non-state proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis)—it will receive universal sanctions relief. Iran should take that deal, but I suspect it wont. Meanwhile, war continues …
[TextLink:] https://x.com/brett_mcgurk/status/2036587133738094919?s=20/photo/1 -2

🐣 RT @danpfeiffer From @politico: “Several people close to the White House said they were baffled by the president’s remarks.”
⋙ 🐣 RT @JenniferJJacobs NEWS from Oval – Trump told us: “We’ve won this. This war has been won.”
He said Iran gave the US an oil- and gas-related “gift” that showed him “we’re dealing with the right people.” It’s “related to the flow, to the Strait,” he told me.
¤ https://x.com/JenniferJJacobs/status/2036533274189668609?s=20
// can’t find Politico article

“It was a very significant prize, and they gave it to us, and they said they were going to give it,” he told @edokeefe.
Trump: “We have, really, regime change. You know, this is a change in the regime. Because the leaders are all very different than the ones that we started off with, that created all those problems.”
Trump said @VP Vance, @SecRubio, @JaredKushner and @SEPeaceMissions Steve Witkoff currently doing negotiations with Iran.
Hegseth told us: “We see ourselves as part of this negotiation as well. We negotiate with bombs.”
At that, Trump said two people were “quite disappointed” when the president said the conflict could be settled soon: Pete Hegseth and Dan Caine.

🐣 RT @mikepompeo Your daily reminder that, after four years and an unfathomable waste of blood and treasure, Russia still isn’t winning this war. ¤ Backing Ukraine isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s the prudent move.

🐣 Ukraine’s military tech company is now listed on the NASDAQ. It’s $SWMR for Swarmer.

🐣 RT @Megatron_ron BREAKING: 🇬🇧🇮🇷 UK will join the war and will try to open the Strait of Hormuz – The Times ¤ The UK’s Royal Navy will lead efforts to “reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and ensure safe passage of merchant ships,” The Times reports. ¤ The plan is under development by the UK and France, and seeks the support of the US.

🐣 RT @AlexandruC4 Jake Sullivan: Just days before the US started bombing Iran, Tehran put a massive peace proposal on the table in Geneva. The US negotiators “simply didn’t understand what they were being offered” and bombed them anyway
💽 https://x.com/AlexandruC4/status/2036514338119295091?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @AJENews Israel’s Finance Minister Smotrich called for the effective annexation of southern Lebanon. ¤ In a speech on Monday, he stated Israel needs to extend its borders and said “the Litani River must become our new border with the State of Lebanon—just like the buffer line in Gaza.”

🐣 📊 RT @clashreport Trump’s approval rating dropped to 36% (a new low) in a Reuters/Ipsos poll, down from 40% last week.

🐣 RT @MykhailoRohoza Above St. Petersburg stretches a 230-kilometer band of thick black smoke, visible from space — the largest oil transshipment terminal on the Baltic is burning. A year and a half of a complete ban on fuel and diesel exports.
¤ 🖼 https://x.com/MykhailoRohoza/status/2036497304002183518?s=20/photo/1

Across the border, it’s a world of its own. Vendors are sharing Wi-Fi from their phones so people in line can pay for sausage, while in Moscow there’s no network even to access a paid restroom. Planes circle above Moscow for three days and above St. Petersburg for two because the “Carpet” emergency plan is constantly active.

Dear Russians have shut down YouTube and Telegram for themselves. Either you install their clumsy military messenger “Max,” or you go into assault units. And assault troops last exactly five days — not my words, but something openly lamented even by pro-war supporters.

In Siberia, a dangerous epidemic is spreading — a disease contagious to humans and hard to treat. Livestock is being quietly slaughtered to save the skins and profits of large agricultural holdings, while trying not to explain anything to the population. In response, people traditionally fall to their knees at monuments to their grandfathers and howl, “Putin, help.” But Putin won’t help — he wants to live to 150. The Chinese squint slyly, wink kindly, and say, “Of course you will, grandpa.”

Meanwhile, in the historic center of Lviv, a drone strike lands — and people in Kharkiv ask melancholically: “What do you mean? Only one?” In Kramatorsk they reasonably note that as soon as Iran started getting hit, there were suddenly far fewer “Shahed” drones in the sky.

At the same time, one corps of Russian troops is being wiped out irreversibly, and another is being ground down to zero for the sake of 7–10 kilometers. It’s pure Passchendaele — in color.

Globally, the world feels completely warped. Trump wants a Nobel Prize, Greenland, and Cuba, and seriously claims that the regime in Iran has already been removed because everyone there has supposedly died — and the police chief apparently died twice. In Middle Eastern countries, several of our groups are shooting down UAVs — the count is in the dozens — and princes are offering thoroughbred stallions as payment if the technology is set up for them.

The war has fully entered cyberpunk. Drones deliver hot pizza to positions, take prisoners, evacuate the wounded under a hail of drops, and toss anti-tank mines onto the roofs of enemy bunkers. Copters supply isolated infantry positions for months, essentially under full encirclement, while in our artillery brigades crews are already hauling shells in exoskeletons. A storm of glide bombs, pilots exhausted by months of fighting while also acting as gunners, cavalry-style assaults under waves of FPV drones, and people spending three months straight on positions.

A fierce, terrifying, bloody grind.

Oh mighty Lord of mighty men — why did you cast us as extras in William Keith’s “The Forever War” of combat robots?

🐣 RT @AmbJohnBolton If the White House leaves a wounded beast alive in Tehran, whatever is left of the regime will come back and rebuild its nuclear program, its terrorist infrastructure, and the regime. It will only be a matter of time.

🐣 RT @Reuters Iran’s negotiating posture has hardened sharply since the war began, with the Revolutionary ‌Guards exerting growing influence over decision-making, and it will demand significant concessions from the United States if mediation efforts lead to serious negotiations, three senior sources in Tehran said.
⋙ Reuters: Iran toughens negotiating stance amid mediation efforts, sources say https://tinyurl.com/9rj486rm

🐣 RT @Osinttechnical Iran has established four main demands from the U.S. in any negotiations -Reuters
– guarantees against future military action
– compensation for wartime losses
– formal control of the Strait of Hormuz
– No limitations to its ballistic missile program

🐣 RT @clashreport Turkish President Erdogan on Iran: Although the war is Israel’s war, the whole world is paying the price. ¤ The war is Netanyahu’s war for political survival, but 8 billion people are suffering the consequences.

🐣 RT @starsandstripes UPDATE: Fox News reported that the Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, Maj. Gen. Brandon Tegtmeier, and his command element, along with members of his headquarters staff, have been ordered to deploy to the Middle East amid discussions about possible ground operations.

TheAtlantic, Francis X. Rocca: Why America’s Catholic Bishops Started Sounding Liberal https://tinyurl.com/3yywefs8 “The most urgent political concern for America’s Catholic leaders is no longer abortion; it’s immigration.”
// Trump’s second term has transformed the priorities of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy

⭕ 23 Mar 2026

NYT, David French: Gen. Stanley McChrystal on Iran: ‘Everything After This Will Be Harder’ https://tinyurl.com/bdz8s59u “The difference between an army and a mob is discipline and leadership and uniform code of military justice”

McChrystal: There is no way to take away the value of on-the-ground experience and that experience of having to innovate. Armies don’t innovate well in peacetime, right? Too many limitations. In wartime, particularly to survive, Ukraine has been just a hotbed of constant innovation.

So, if we’re not going to school on that, and if we’re not trying to replicate that energy to innovate in our force, then we’re missing a requirement.

WSJ: Trump and Iran Send Conflicting Signals on Talks https://tinyurl.com/yzv8hdtp The president cited “productive” talks, while Iran denied it was in direct discussions with the U.S. //➔ Iran denies talks, but not to worry: because Jared and Witkoff are on the case! Be Best!

Politico [EU], Ivo Daalder: Thought Iraq was a blunder? Iran is far worse https://tinyurl.com/3nb48j9f. “Trump’s decision to join Israel in a war against Iran is a far bigger strategic error, and one with far bigger strategic consequences.”
// Ivo Daalder is a former U.S. ambassador to NATO and a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center

But while Bush understood that defeating a regime required ground forces, it seems Trump simply hoped that airpower alone would suffice. As a result, Hussein’s regime fell swiftly — though Bush did vastly underestimate what would be required to rebuild a stable, let alone a democratic, Iraq in its place. But the Iranian government, as U.S. intelligence officials themselves have testified, “appears to be intact” despite Israel killing many of its key political and security leaders through targeted strikes.

Focusing on the region at large, Bush’s misjudgment eventually contributed to a large-scale insurgency, which strengthened Iran’s influence in Iraq and the wider Middle East. In contrast, Trump’s miscalculation has left in place a regime that, aside from assuring its own survival, is now singularly focused on inflicting as much damage on the U.S. and its allies as it possibly can.

Iranian drones and missiles have already attacked Israel and the Gulf states, targeted critical energy production facilities and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which hosts one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas export transits.

Less than a month in, the world is now witnessing the largest oil and gas disruption in history. And as the fighting escalates to include gas and oil production infrastructure, the global economic consequences will be felt by every single country for months, if not years, to come — even if the conflict were to end soon.

The damage that has already been inflicted on the global economy is far greater than the economic consequences of the Iraq War in its entirety.
But that’s not all. Geopolitically, the U.S.-Israel war with Iran will also have far greater reverberations than the war in Iraq ever did.

For one, the Bush administration spent a lot of time and effort trying to get allies on board to participate in and support the war. It didn’t fully succeed in this, as key allies like Germany and France continued opposing the war. But it tried.

Trump, by contrast, didn’t even try to get America’s most important allies on board. Not only that, he even failed to inform them of his decision. And yet, when Iran responded predictably by closing the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. president then demanded allies send their navies to escort tankers — despite the U.S. Navy so far refusing to do so.

And while it’s true that Iraq left many U.S. allies — even those that joined the war, like the U.K. — deeply scarred, Iran has convinced U.S. allies they can no longer rely on the U.S., and that Washington is now a real threat to their economic security. …

Bush and Trump both came to office determined to avoid the mistaken wars of their predecessors. Nevertheless, they both embarked on military adventures fed by a hubristic belief in American power.

But while the U.S. was strong enough — and its adversaries still weak enough — to recoup much of the damage inflicted by Bush’s war, the war unfolding in Iran today will leave behind an America that will have lost much of its global power, standing and influence, destined to confront rising adversaries all on its own.

🧵 RT @RonWyden Newest in my Epstein investigation: A man who was one of Epstein’s key sources of cash has a lot of questions to answer.
⋙⋙ NYT: How Epstein Helped Solve a Billionaire’s Problems With Women https://tinyurl.com/m2pr553z “The Wall Street titan Leon Black paid Jeffrey Epstein $170 million for what he said was tax and estate work. But his services went beyond that.”
📌 https://x.com/RonWyden/status/2036119180487876654?s=20

⋙ 🐣 RT @RonWyden Epstein met with Russian government officials and Russian state-owned entities more than a dozen times between 2015 and 2017. Many of those meetings took place within hours of separate meetings between Epstein and Black. […]

⋙ 🐣 RT @RonWyden Epstein used Leon Black’s money to pay for his trafficking operation. That’s already on the record — Black admitted it. I’ve been investigating his relationship with Epstein for nearly 4 years and I have a lot more questions. I still haven’t gotten satisfactory answers. […]

🐣 RT @saif_aldareei Strong UAE Warning from Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and ADNOC Group CEO: “Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz is economic terrorism targeting every nation in the world, with consequences far exceeding energy markets. No country should be allowed to hold Hormuz hostage… This is not aggression against one nation—it’s economic terrorism against everyone!”
The UAE stands firm in protecting the global economy and the Gulf

🐣 RT @shashj The war aim is now re-opening a strait that would not have been closed were it not for the war itself.
⋙ WaPo: Trump threats, US troop build-up raise specter of battle for Hormuz https://tinyurl.com/yc6j7xp5 “Israelis said securing the strait for energy shipments could become the war’s main goal now that regime change and ending Iran’s ability to obtain a nuclear weapon seem out of reach.”

TEL AVIV — A surge of additional U.S. forces to the Middle East and President Donald Trump’s threat to “obliterate” Iran’s energy infrastructure have set the stage for what U.S. and Israeli security officials increasingly see as the war’s possible endgame: a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz and key energy installations.

Reopening the strait — a critical conduit for global energy supplies — has emerged as perhaps the paramount objective of a war that security officials now believe is unlikely to achieve goals that briefly seemed possible at the outset of the U.S.-Israeli military operation, including overthrowing Iran’s theocratic regime and putting a nuclear weapon permanently out of Tehran’s reach.

Instead, breaking Iran’s stranglehold on the strait could enable Trump to wind down the war while claiming victory, halt an expanding global energy crisis and deprive Iran of a potent deterrent against future strikes — which senior Israeli officials described as inevitable if Tehran resumes ballistic missile production or moves to develop a nuclear weapon.

In Israel, Trump’s online threats have raised expectations that a new phase of the war could soon get underway with the arrival of additional U.S. firepower. In a sign of rising global anxiety over the political and economic instability, stock markets in Asia fell sharply on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei closing down 3.5 percent and the Korea Composite Stock Price Index finishing 6.5 percent lower.

A contingent of 4,500 U.S. sailors and Marines is heading to the Middle East, including an infantry battalion landing team backed by helicopters, F-35 fighter jets and armored landing vehicles. The Pentagon also sped up the deployment of a similar unit, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, from San Diego, defense officials said last week.

“Those Marines aren’t coming for decoration,” said an Israeli official, one of several who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military and intelligence issues.

An Iranian military spokesman said Sunday that Iran would retaliate for attacks on its oil and gas assets by hitting U.S.-linked energy targets, information technology and water desalination infrastructure in the Persian Gulf region.

Tehran also hammered Israel overnight Sunday with one of its most powerful airstrikes yet — two ballistic missiles that made rare direct hits on two southern Israeli towns, injuring about 115 people. One of the towns, Dimona, is about eight miles from a nuclear research facility. Iranian state television framed the strike as payback for a reported attack Saturday on Iran’s Natanz nuclear site. (Israel’s military said it was not aware of a strike on the facility.)

The new U.S. deployment signals a plan “to take the island and the strait,” the Israeli official said, referring to Kharg Island, Iran’s main hub for exporting petroleum. Doing so could enable the United States and Israel to starve Tehran of oil revenue and provide a political off-ramp for a president who, the Israeli official said, “needs to show that the strait is open.”

The surging level of U.S.-Israeli concern over the strait was underscored by Trump’s latest effort to shape the course of the war on social media.

“If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” he posted on the Truth Social platform.

At the same time, Trump’s unusual decision to lift oil sanctions on Iran, potentially giving his enemy access to a windfall of revenue, has prompted a handful of Republicans to raise concerns about the war’s direction and merit.

Sen. Rand Paul (Kentucky) has voted to take up two war powers resolutions that would force Trump to cease hostilities with Iran, both of which have failed on procedural votes. And Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) said sending in ground troops would take the war “to a completely different level than what had been advertised to us as members of Congress when we first went into Iran.”

“Congress deserves and should demand greater engagement with the administration on the plans,” Murkowski told reporters Sunday. “We haven’t received that to date.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), speaking on ABC on Sunday, said “it’s a real problem” that he, and others, don’t know what the U.S. objective is, especially if the Pentagon continues to push its request to Congress for more than $200 billion to finance the war.

Other Republicans have encouraged Trump to go forward. […]

🐣 RT @BabakTaghvaee1 BREAKING: Thousands of troops from the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division have already arrived in the Middle East aboard several C-17A Globemaster III heavy transport aircraft of the U.S. Air Force.
🖼 https://x.com/BabakTaghvaee1/status/2036100225450783008?s=20/photo/1 -3

They are expected to take part in a potential assault to seize the Iranian islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Musa in the Strait of Hormuz.

In addition, four days ago, six U.S. Air Force C-5M Super Galaxy aircraft carrying multiple MH-47G and MH-60M helicopters of the U.S. Army’s 160th SOAR arrived in the region to support U.S. Army Special Forces, including Delta Force, in operations in Isfahan aimed at recovering enriched uranium.

As part of a broader strategy, the United States is expected to exchange ownership of the three Iranian islands in return for not attacking or seizing Khark Island.

#OperationEpicFury #OperationLionsRoa

🧵 RT @Mylovanov Ukraine shot down 140,000 Russian missiles, drones and aircraft over 4 years — including 44,000 Shahed-type drones now hitting US bases in the Middle East.
Ukraine sent 200 advisers to the Gulf.
Trump’s response: “The last person we need help from is Zelenskyy” — The Times. 1/
📌 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2036101659756011700?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2036101659756011700.html

Despite Trump’s dismissal, US Central Command requested those Ukrainian advisers now deployed in Kuwait, Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia. ¤ “It was short-sighted dismissing what Ukraine can contribute in specialist advice,” says RUSI’s Justin Bronk. 2/

Ukrainian officers were astonished to see Gulf states firing as many as eight Patriot missiles (each $3+ million) at a single target — even using them to hit cheap drones. ¤ Ukrainians use only one or two missiles to down Russian ballistic missiles. 3/

“I don’t understand what they had been doing, what they’ve been looking at for the four years we’ve been fighting,” a senior Ukrainian officer said. ¤ The US and Gulf allies appear to have ignored Ukrainian data on improving Patriot intercept rates. 4/

On March 1, three US F-15E fighter jets were shot down by Kuwaiti air defence while pursuing drones. ¤ “In any war friendly fire happens, but in this particular case it was clear negligence,” the Ukrainian officer said. 5/
‘
In the first four days of the Iran war, the US and allies launched 800+ Patriot missiles—200 more than Ukraine received in three years. ¤ “Often they were firing thoughtlessly.” They used $6 million SM-6 missiles to shoot down $70,000 Shaheds. 6/

Cheap Shaheds caused billions in damage to US and Gulf assets. A $1 billion US early warning radar was hit. At least one $300 million air defence radar was destroyed. ¤ Both were clearly visible in satellite imagery for two months before being struck. 7/

On May 13, 2023, “Matyoryi,” a 25-year-old Patriot officer, shot down three Russian jets and two helicopters over Russia’s Bryansk region by driving his battery close to the border for an ambush. ¤ He turned defensive systems into offensive weapons. 8/

Matyoryi’s team found ways to assemble and dismantle their Patriot battery far faster than American training manuals prescribed — firing and escaping before detection. ¤ They ambushed Russian aircraft in skies Moscow thought were safe. 9/

Colonel Kyrylo Peretyatko, Hero of Ukraine, commanded a NASAMS battery that shot down 12 Russian cruise missiles in two minutes. ¤ “Such operations have not existed in world history. This is a completely different war, which all countries are studying.” 10X
Source: https://tinyurl.com/4bjz5njd

🐣 RT @TrueFactsStated How does this happen? Why is it allowed to continue?
[TextLink:] https://x.com/TrueFactsStated/status/2036035523349770742?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] Friday’s press gaggle. Barely exaggerated: at 12:03 PM, President Trump told reporters he wanted a ceasefire with Iran. At 12:05 he declared victory. At 12:07 he announced he was sending Marines. At 12:08 he said no boots on the ground. At 12:11 he said he did not want a ceasefire. At 12:16 he declared victory again. At 12:17 he asked for a ceasefire. At 12:23 he told NATO they were cowards. At 12:29 he said Iran was begging for a ceasefire. At 12:31 he said everything was perfect. At 12:36 he said $500 oil was a good thing. At 12:37 he demanded Iran open Hormuz. At 12:39 he said Hormuz was never closed. At 12:41 he said the US was not at war with Iran. At 12:42 he declared victory in Iran.

🐣 RT @Forbes Iran’s foreign ministry denied having held talks with the U.S., claiming Trump’s remarks were “part of efforts to reduce energy prices and buy time to implement his military plans.” [link:] https://tinyurl.com/4zekvjbp (Photo: Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images)

🐣 RT @FPWellman This is what passes for international diplomacy and leadership today. An all caps misspelled rant from a sundowning old man is posted by the Department of Defense as an official order. 35 years ago I had just fought the last battle of Desert Storm and GEN Schwarzkopf met our enemy in a tent in the desert to lay out their withdrawal from Kuwait as thousands of coalition troops waited for our orders. Today a mentally unstable narcissist posts on his personal social media company his brain dump and our troops are left scrambling to decode it all. This is the most incompetent leadership I’ve ever witnessed at any level.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/FPWellman/status/2036057745955184899?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] U.S. Department of War ®

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump I AM PLEASE TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WITCH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

NYT (8:19): Trump Says U.S. Attacks on Iranian Energy Infrastructure to Be Postponed https://tinyurl.com/3uy7duth “President Trump said the five-day postponement followed “very good” talks. Iranian state media said he was “backing down” after threats of retaliation.”
// ⇈ FP title; inside title: Trump Says U.S. and Iran Held ‘Very Good’ Talks on Ending Conflict “President Trump said he would postpone a deadline for striking Iran’s energy infrastructure after “productive” talks to resolve hostilities. Iranian state media said he was “backing down” after threats of retaliation.”
↥ ↧
NYT (5:03am): War’s Attacks on Energy Could Turn Economic Shock Into Long-Term Damage https://tinyurl.com/3bbxam7w “A new phase targeting oil and gas infrastructure in the Persian Gulf threatens to hurt businesses and customers around the world for months or even years.”

⭕ 22 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @mehdirhasan The Israeli government has displaced a total of 6 million people from their homes. (3 million Iran, 2 million Gaza, 1 million Lebanon). ¤ 6 million people. ¤ The equivalent of the entire population of Maryland displaced from their homes. ¤ By one government.

🐣 RT @Beefeater_Fella President Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian units have already achieved concrete results in protecting Persian Gulf countries from Iranian attacks, and that Russia is irritated by the global demand for Ukrainian expertise. ¤ He noted that “Ukraine’s experience in air defense is among the strongest in the world and is something that will ensure Ukraine remains one of the key contributors to global security after the war — among those the world will rely on to maintain security.”

NYT, Phil Klay: Trump Has Made a Fundamental Miscalculation about Iran https://tinyurl.com/3rtjtc6m “War cannot be justified as a pure display of power and dominance.”

I have plenty of complaints about the war I served in two decades ago: the Iraq war was ill-conceived, hubristic and marred by poor leadership at the highest level. But I did know why I was there. What exactly do our service members think we’re trying to do in Iran?

The justifications for the war have been stunningly incoherent. Maybe the war is about regime change, about Iran’s nuclear program, about the narrow military objectives of degrading their ballistic missile and drone capabilities, or perhaps it was because Israel was about to attack and we’d be at risk, or because the United States was under imminent threat from Iran, or to achieve peace in the Middle East, and so on.

Maybe it’s not a war at all. Maybe it’s an “excursion that will keep us out of a war” or an incursion or maybe it’s only a “little excursion.” In President Trump’s America, there may be only two genders, but our military adventures can identify however they please.

Maybe we want “unconditional surrender,” but maybe “unconditional surrender” is a thing that happens inside the president’s mind, regardless of whether our enemies have actually surrendered. Maybe the war is “quite contained,” but maybe Americans throughout the region need to leave. Maybe there will be ground troops and maybe not.

And yet, as I watched a video posted by the White House in which a group of angry, rifle-wielding bowling pins labeled “Iranian Regime Officials” are struck by a Stars and Stripes bowling ball that turns into an airplane, followed by actual combat footage of U.S. airstrikes, I realized how one rationale for this war has remained clear and consistent: the administration’s delight in displays of violence and domination.

The bowling video is one of many sizzle reels posted on White House social media accounts celebrating the war by mixing images of death and destruction with footage from video games or sports highlights. The president declared that military officials told him “it’s more fun to sink” ships than to capture them, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth exulted, “We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.” The Trump aide Stephen Miller proclaimed that the Iran war showcased a military “that isn’t fighting with its hands tied behind its back.”

At another news conference, Mr. Hegseth made the macho posturing even clearer: “No stupid rules of engagement, no nation building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars.”

… What these men don’t seem to realize, or care about, is that their language of brute force represents a fundamental break with American traditions around war going back to the Revolution.

Boastful talk about slaughter is as old as war itself. “The wheels of my war chariot,” bragged one Assyrian king, “were bespattered with filth and blood. With the bodies of their warriors, I filled the plain, like grass.” But America’s founders asserted universal principles that should make such an attitude unthinkable. If you believe not only that all men are created equal but also that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, then war cannot be justified as a pure display of power and dominance.

In his addresses to the troops, George Washington would bring up the imagery of violence not as a spectacle to be enjoyed but as horrors to be endured — from “mercenary hirelings fighting in the cause of lawless ambition, rapine and devastation” to those who wished to keep revolutionary America in “bondage and misery.” And when news of British atrocities reached him, Washington wrote that “their wanton cruelty injures rather than benefits their cause; that, with our forbearance, justly secures to us the attachment of all good men.”

Likewise, Abraham Lincoln carefully used the bully pulpit of the presidency during the Civil War to articulate a firmness of moral purpose that extended beyond the success of military aims and toward an ultimate reconciliation with the South. Instead of bombastic rhetoric, Lincoln suggests in his Second Inaugural Address that God “gives to both North and South this terrible war” as their mutual punishment for the evil of slavery, and declares that they must continue “with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right.”

At Gettysburg, he cast the war as a trial of our national founding, “conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” And so on, through wars good and bad: Whether it’s Woodrow Wilson entering World War I because “the world must be made safe for democracy” or George W. Bush’s invasion “to disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger,” American leaders have sought to justify our wars as having objectives in keeping with our founding political philosophy. …

Washington wanted to justly secure the attachments of all good men because he didn’t simply want to dominate the British — he wanted to form a nation. Lincoln gave the sober Second Inaugural Address instead of a blustery, Hegseth-style speech of raining death upon the rebels because he wanted to heal a nation. Our victory in World War II was secured not only with an atomic bomb but also with the Marshall Plan and the decades-long commitment of men and resources to develop democracies in Japan and Germany.

And even in America’s failed wars launched with idealistic aims, like Vietnam and the Iraq war, our defeats were often related to a failure to fully comprehend that peoples in other countries have their own passions and ideals, that they might not simply be projections of our own desires, wanting what we want them to want, and loathing what we want them to loathe.

When Stephen Miller talked about our troops not fighting with their hands tied behind their backs, he was referring to a popular conservative myth about the Vietnam War, that we might have won had we only exercised less restraint. We dropped millions of tons of bombs and left at least 100,000 civilians dead, but perhaps if we’d really gone scorched earth and killed a million more, the Vietnamese would have loved us and embraced the rulers we foisted upon them. Anyone who took our founding ideals seriously, though, would know that was a particularly vile form of folly.

And yet, that attitude seems to be guiding the current administration. “We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power,” Mr. Miller told the CNN news anchor Jake Tapper after the spectacular raid in which we captured Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro. It’s a worldview that seems to inform both his foreign policy and his treatment of domestic political opponents — witness the administration’s ill-fated show of force in Minneapolis that ended in disgrace and the death of American citizens.

That is precisely the kind of world that Franklin Delano Roosevelt told Americans we must arm our allies in Europe to prevent: “A new and terrible era in which the whole world, our hemisphere included, would be run by threats of brute force.”

A reliance on brute force can be blinding. In one of the more telling comments from the defense secretary, Mr. Hegseth claimed that because we’d taken control of Iran’s airways and waterways, “we control their fate,” and “the terms of this war will be set by us at every step.” A veteran of Iraq like Mr. Hegseth should know better. The enemy always gets a vote, and even after a victorious campaign, the effect of war on a population may have complex, unwanted and sometimes catastrophic consequences.

If we view hostile nations not as an accumulated assortment of video game enemies to be cowed into submission by our massive firepower and sick internet memes, but as complex countries filled with human beings, this seems obvious. And it’s that particular failure that explains the otherwise inexplicable failure of the Trump administration to foresee obvious possible consequences of military action in Iran.

In February, the U.S. energy secretary, Chris Wright, suggested,that “Trump’s energy dominance agenda” meant that America need not worry about disruptions to the oil market if war broke out with Iran. Now the president is trying to claim that high gas prices are good for America, while urging oil tankers to “show some guts” and sail through the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran, whose ships can get through, is selling more oil than before the war.

After Iran widened the war by striking targets around the Middle East, Mr. Hegseth admitted, “I can’t say that we anticipated necessarily that’s exactly how they would react.” Robert Pape, an expert on strategic bombing campaigns, has argued that air power without subsequent ground troops has never resulted in a positive regime change. Yet the Trump administration urged the Iranian people to seize their chance at controlling the country, and seemed caught flat-footed when the Iranian regime, instead of wanting “to talk badly,” elected a hard-line new leader while their security chief, who was later killed, threatened to make the Strait of Hormuz a “strait of defeat and suffering for warmongers.”

Without a clear moral or political purpose, we’re left with what the military analyst Franz-Stefan Gady calls the “strike-as-strategy” paradox, in which we substitute tactical prowess for comprehensive strategic design. This tendency, he writes, “is reinforced by a political culture that demands televised displays of military prowess.”

Well, I am not entertained. And though my ideals have been bruised and battered, not least by the war I served in not long after Mr. Hegseth’s first deployment, I still retain a faith in the principles of the Constitution I swore an oath to 20 years ago. They are universal, not nationalistic, principles, and they should serve as a check on the hubristic American tendency to think we can dominate others by sheer force of military might.

As Washington knew well, war is a “plague to mankind,” even when it goes well and the only targets we strike are valid military targets. The average junior Iranian sailor on a ship off the coast of Sri Lanka could be a conscript. He might even dislike the regime that just murdered thousands of his fellow Iranians but which he feels helpless to overthrow. He is, like the average American, endowed by his Creator with inalienable rights.

In some circumstances, this conscript may end up a valid military target, but he will be one that should be targeted only out of military necessity in a war with a clear moral justification, not someone you should kill just because it’s “fun” to blow up ships. And this is hardly an immaculate war. Mr. Hegseth, who campaigned on behalf of those accused of war crimes and railed against “stupid rules of engagement,” cut about 90 percent of the people at the Pentagon working on ensuring we don’t accidentally harm civilians. We should not be surprised that a preliminary finding by the Pentagon suggests that on the very first day of this war of choice we struck a school, slaughtering children en masse. Nor should we be surprised if such acts help shore up support for an Iranian regime whose greatest weakness has long been the contempt it inspires in its own people.

American military policy has failed us over the past decades, but I don’t think the solution is the radical break with American tradition represented by the Trump administration. I still hold to the conservative belief that the highest ideals we find in our history can guide us. Our greatest wartime leaders thought we should wage war only when it was absolutely necessary, that we should articulate the clear moral and political objectives that we use to guide our strategy and that we should treat the shedding of blood with the seriousness it deserves.

Power does not grow out of the barrel of a gun, cruelty is not the same as strength, and a politics built on such ideas promises ruin, delusion about the limits of our power and a betrayal of the promise of our founding.

🐣 RT @MarkHertling Fog of war. Friction. Intelligence challenges. There’s always more than what is reported.
⋙ 🐣 RT @JeffStorobinsky .@MarkHertling on MS NOW ¤ Focus: General Hertling unpacks all the risks of a U.S. attack on Iran’s energy infrastructure and how such illegal actions can eventually involve The Hague
💽 https://x.com/MarkHertling/status/2035850691403563284?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @MikeNellis What a gift to Talarico
⋙ 🐣 RT @adamwren Trump calls James Talarico “the Worst Candidate I have ever seen.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/MikeNellis/status/2035793677776293954?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @SavchenkoReview 🇺🇸 Some US troops describe a lack of planning, with one official warning a ground operation would be “an absolute disaster,” — HuffPost ¤ Many troops are questioning the purpose of the war, with some saying, “We do not want to die for Israel — we don’t want to be political pawns.” [HuffPo link:] https://tinyurl.com/4k44sj25

🐣 RT @A_M_R_M1 🚨 Breaking News: Washington has informed Israel of its intention to seize Kharg Island by ground forces, according to Israel’s Channel 15.

🐣 RT @UkrReview 🇺🇦🇺🇸🇮🇷 Zaluzhnyi: A potential US ground invasion of Iran would result in a military disaster for American forces. Modern battlefield technologies and attrition strategies make the presence of ground troops in such zones nearly impossible. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/yaz8kkn9

🐣 RT @WarMonitor3 BREAKING: Gulf Arab countries are warning the U.S. administration that targeting Iran’s power plants would invite reprisals putting their energy and water facilities at risk and endangering the world economy-WSJ

🐣 RT @atrupar Chris Murphy: “We’re gonna give Iran $14b to fund this war with the US? We’re gonna give Russia billions of dollars to fund their war with Ukraine? We’re literally putting money into the pockets of the very nations we’re fighting right now. We’ve never seen this level of incompetence in war-making in this country’s history, and frankly we’ve had a lot of incompetence in war-making.”
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2035733899905519909?s=20/photo/1
// on @MeetThePress

⭕ 21 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @JavierBlas From almost done, followed by close to winding down — to a 48-hours ultimatum to Iran to re-open the Strait of Hormuz that the US doesn’t use, and in any case, it would be very easy to re-open even by the NATO European cowards…
[TextLink:] https://x.com/JavierBlas/status/2035509557170958394?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] 🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @redpillb0t Joe Kent dropped a massive bombshell in his interview with Tucker Carlson:“One of Trump’s closest advisors who was advocating for us to not go to war with Iran and to rethink our relationship with Israel is suddenly assassinated and then we were told to stop investigating it.”
💽 https://x.com/redpillb0t/status/2035432562945130658?s=20/photo/1

TheAtlantic, Jonathan Lemire: Donald Trump Is Nothing Like Robert Mueller https://tinyurl.com/5n7efmz7 “The absurdity of a man who avoided Vietnam due to ‘bone spurs’ dancing on the grave of a decorated combat veteran”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2035488782703570946?s=20/photo/1

Other presidents have been partisan; other presidents have exhibited vile behavior. But Trump alone has publicly exulted in the death of an American. Mueller never sought the attention, though his life story was worthy of biopic treatment. He volunteered to fight in Vietnam and won numerous citations, including the Bronze Star for combat valor when he rescued a wounded Marine under enemy fire during a 1968 ambush. The following year, he was shot in combat. He returned to lead his platoon a few months later. He later practiced law, became a U.S. attorney, and rose through the ranks of the Department of Justice before being chosen by President George W. Bush to become FBI director shortly before the September 11 attacks.

At the conclusion of Mueller’s 10-year term, a president of the other party, Barack Obama, asked him to stay on for another two years. Mueller was approved by all senators, Republican and Democrat alike, 100 to 0.

🐣 RT @Marwa__Osman A message to Washington?
¤ https://x.com/Marwa__Osman/status/2035294770277335078?s=20

In a tightly structured 12-minute address, Ayatollah Imam Sayyed Mojtaba Khamenei moved from familiar rhetoric into something far more consequential. The opening half followed the expected script; revisiting decades of U.S. warmongering rhetoric: sanctions, assassinations, regional conflicts.

But midway through, the tone shifted from retrospective to strategic.

Sayyed Khamenei outlined three concrete demands, each with a defined timeline: a rapid U.S. military withdrawal from the Middle East, a full rollback of sanctions within 60 days, and long-term financial compensation for economic damages.

Then came the ultimatum. Fail to comply, and Iran escalates, economically, militarily, and potentially nuclearly. Not hypothetically, but operationally: closing the Strait of Hormuz, formalizing defense ties with Russia and China, and moving from ambiguity to declared nuclear deterrence.

The timing of external reactions was just as telling. Within hours, both Beijing and Moscow issued statements aligning, carefully but unmistakably, with Tehran’s framing. This definitely looked coordinated.

The broader context matters. Sayyed Mojtaba Khamenei represents a different leadership style from his martyred predecessor leader. Where martyr Sayyed Ali Khamenei operated through long-term balancing and controlled escalation, Sayyed Mojtaba appears positioned to deliver faster, more decisive outcomes.

Iran’s internal reports are clear, the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps is in no way, shape or form interested in incrementalism. They are pushing for structural change: removing U.S. influence from the region, restoring Iran’s military standing, and forcing a re-negotiation of global power dynamics.

And for the first time in decades, Iran practically has the leverage to do this.

Rising oil prices, regional instability, growing alignment with China and Russia, and vulnerabilities in global trade routes have shifted the strategic landscape.

So this was not just a speech. It was a test. A test of whether the United States is willing, or even able, to operate under a new set of constraints.

What happens next will likely define not just the trajectory of this conflict, but the broader balance of power in the Middle East for decades to come.

🐣 RT @KSAmofaEN #Statement | The Foreign Ministry expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s condemnation in the strongest terms of the blatant Israeli aggression targeting military infrastructure in the south of the Syrian Arab Republic, in a flagrant violation of international law and Syria’s sovereignty.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/KSAmofaEN/status/2035333845537403300?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @mofauae Joint Statement on the Strait of Hormuz https://tinyurl.com/ynyjxfs
[TextLink:] https://x.com/mofauae/status/2035326341596446810?s=20/photo/1

Joint statement from the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Denmark, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Romania, Bahrain, Lithuania, and Australia on the Strait of Hormuz

We condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces.

We express our deep concern about the escalating conflict. We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817.

Freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of international law, including under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The effects of Iran’s actions will be felt by people in all parts of the world, especially the most vulnerable.

Consistent with UNSC Resolution 2817, we emphasise that such interference with international shipping and the disruption of global energy supply chains constitute a threat to international peace and security. In this regard, we call for an immediate comprehensive moratorium on attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations.

We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning.

We welcome the International Energy Agency decision to authorise a coordinated release of strategic petroleum reserves. We will take other steps to stabilise energy markets, including working with certain producing nations to increase output.

We will also work to provide support for the most affected nations, including through the United Nations and the IFIs.

Maritime security and freedom of navigation benefit all countries. We call on all states to respect international law and uphold the fundamental principles of international prosperity and security.

NYT Editorial: Trump Is Hiding the Truth About the War in Iran https://tinyurl.com/d9d4u9k5 Trump “has lied about the reasons for the war and about its progress, in an apparent attempt to disguise his poor planning and the war’s questionable basis.”

WaPo: To tilt Hungarian election, Russians proposed staging assassination attempt https://tinyurl.com/4zscs63h To aid Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, … Russian SVR operatives proposed ‘the Gamechanger’ — a staged assassination attempt to stir supporters.” //➔ Fancy that!
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2035295892622704825?s=20

💙 🐣 RT @highbrow_nobrow “We don’t take an oath to a king, or queen, or a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator …we take an oath to the Constitution … and we’re willing to die to protect it”. ¤ – Mark Milley (2023)
💽 https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/2035250183735324767?s=20/photo/1

⭕ 20 Mar 2026

WSJ: The Smartest Minds in AI Just Learned the World’s Most Valuable F-Word https://tinyurl.com/ymt2f2jy “At companies that can do anything, the most important thing is focus. Steve Jobs made it a priority at Apple—and OpenAI and Anthropic are learning why.”

TheGuardian, Larry Elliott: Iran could be the US’s Boer war: a hollow victory that marks the beginning of the end of empire https://tinyurl.com/bdetdm24 “US leaders anticipated a walkover. Now they’re embroiled in a conflict that could hasten the end of US economic dominance”

🐣 RT @DI313_ ⚡️ 🇺🇸 The United States is preparing to deploy elements of the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East region -CBS

WSJ: The Quiet American: How Pope Leo Is Pushing Back Against Trump https://tinyurl.com/k77dzjs5 “Leo doesn’t want to be the anti-Trump, senior Vatican officials say. Rather, the pope is advocating positively for a world that reflects Catholic teaching.”
// Can the low-key pontiff from Chicago make a difference in an era of raw power politics?

“Leo doesn’t want to be the anti-Trump, senior Vatican officials say. Rather, the pope is advocating positively for a world that reflects Catholic teaching.”
^
But the contrast of style and substance between the world’s two most prominent Americans—one a brash billionaire businessman who speaks in superlatives, the other a former missionary who spent years helping the needy in Peru—is too glaring to miss.

“They’re offering very different images of America. But they’re both authentic representations of who we are,” said Elise Ann Allen, author of “Pope Leo XIV,” a new biography, and a writer for the Catholic news website Crux.

🐣 RT @Matt_Bracken48 Will somebody please explain to me how, with the Strait of Hormuz a no-go-zone for the U.S. Navy, and our warships driven out of the Persian Gulf, we can support a USMC amphibious landing on Kharg Island, 750 miles from the eastern tip of Oman?
📌 🌎 https://x.com/Matt_Bracken48/status/2035170482622726532?s=20/photo/1

WSJ Front Page: Pentagon Sending More Marines, Warships to Middle East
WSJ Inside: Is Considering ‘Winding Down’ Iran Operations, Trump Says https://tinyurl.com/3u5jfp27 “Earlier Friday, the president said he was open to dialogue with Iran but not a cease-fire”

🐣 RT @michaeldweiss I asked a retired U.S. Marine familiar with amphibious operations about a MEU on Kharg Island. Granted, this person doesn’t have “OSINT” in his Twitter bio, so what the hell would he know? But this is what he told me, contra Trump’s claim this is a “simple military maneuver”:
¤ https://x.com/michaeldweiss/status/2035101673769553954?s=20

“Amphibious landings are by nature high risk and a lot can go wrong even in the best conditions. The Marine Corps has lost equipment during exercises, for example when an Abrams tank was sunk during an exercise on the coast of Spain in the 2010s.

“An amphibious landing on Kharg is within the capability of the United States to accomplish, but at what cost and to what end? Once the Marines fight their way ashore and take their objective, they will be on an island with limited cover, very close to hostile Iran. How long could the Marines hold this island, under bombardment, before they would need to be withdrawn?

“As for the danger, I think of amphibious assault as being akin to airborne assault. A lot of this depends on the tactical advantage of speed and surprise.

“What the Marines are working against here is that everyone knows they’re coming. And there are only so many places that are suitable for a landing. Need a suitable approach, favorable tides, etc. the Iranians understand this and will plan for it.

“It is reasonable to expect that they will try to attack the transports en route, that they will attack while the ships unload, that they will attack the landing craft while they move from the ships to the beach, and that the troops will be attacked as they assault from the beach to their objectives.

“Once the Marines are at their objective, they’ll be attacked there too because Iran, and any other interested party to the conflict, will know exactly where the Marines are.

“We’re also 13 years removed from major combat operations in GWOT. There are still combat veterans at middle and upper echelons, but the majority of troops are not combat veterans. They’re new guys.”

🐣 RT @defense_civil25 Commentary account 🚨 Alert: The US Army is preparing to deploy the 82nd Airborne Division into the Middle East region! – CBS There are already 8,000 Marines on their way to
🖼 https://x.com/defense_civil25/status/2035123616145093051?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @spectatorindex BREAKING: Trump post about considering winding down military efforts in the Middle East
[TextLink:] https://x.com/spectatorindex/status/2035104161193501116?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] 🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East with respect to the Terrorist Regime of Iran: (1) Completely degrading Iranian Missile Capability, Launchers, and everything else pertaining to them. (2) Destroying Iran’s Defense Industrial Base. (3) Eliminating their Navy and Air Force, including Anti Aircraft Weaponry. (4) Never allowing Iran to get even close to Nuclear Capability, and always being in a position where the U.S.A. can quickly and powerfully react to such a situation, should it take place. (5) Protecting, at the highest level, our Middle Eastern Allies, including Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, and others. The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it – The United States does not! If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @BernieSanders Trump’s authoritarianism. ¤ War in Iran. ¤ A corrupt campaign system owned by billionaires. ¤ Attacks on voting rights. ¤ And an AI revolution with no guardrails. ¤ We are living in dangerous times. ¤ Here’s how we go forward.
💽 https://x.com/BernieSanders/status/2035026262972879126?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @clashreport German Chancellor Merz on MAGA:The MAGA movement is not our movement. What they are doing with culture and media, how they deal with each other, is not our understanding of democracy. ¤ We have a different understanding.
💽 https://x.com/clashreport/status/2035093781624619250?s=20/photo/1
// emphatic

🐣 RT @RpsAgainstTrump Trump’s former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis:“America is becoming predatory. America is unreliable. There’s a sense that we are not a reliable security partner right now…you can’t bring allies on board if they don’t trust you”
💽 https://x.com/RpsAgainstTrump/status/2035108965491651037?s=20/photo/1

NYT: Judge Rules Pentagon Restrictions on Press Are Unconstitutional https://tinyurl.com/3fkmzn8a “Judge Paul Friedman, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ordered the Pentagon to restore the press passes of seven journalists for The Times.”
// A federal judge tossed parts of the Pentagon’s restrictions on news outlets, saying they violated the First Amendment, in a lawsuit brought by The New York Times.

TheAtlantic, Alex Reisner: The Hypocrisy at the Heart of the AI Industry https://tinyurl.com/bdew4s8f ‘Many top AI models are trained on data sets containing massive numbers of copyrighted books, videos, and other works. … AI has long been an intellectual-property battle zone’
// cont.: where damages in lawsuits frequently exceed nine figures.

🐣 RT @NEW!! A group of 18 Democrats accuses the White House of rewarding Moscow with sanctions relief
[TextLink:] https://x.com/ralakbar/status/2034872021281108043?s=20/photo/1 -3

⭕ 19 Mar 2026

TNR: There Will Be No Post-Presidential Peace for Donald Trump https://tinyurl.com/yeymtkmk The president and his allies will face impeachments, lawsuits, and maybe even The Hague.

🔆 This❗️⋙ WSJ: US War Planes and Helicopters Kick Off Battle to Reopen Hormuz https://tinyurl.com/57wx3nan //➔ Warthogs and Apaches ✛ “A rapid-response unit of roughly 2,200 Marines is on its way to the Middle East, where they could play a role in reopening the strait”
// Effort takes on new urgency nearly three weeks into the war with Iran as oil prices soar

NYT, David French: Trump Has Only Himself to Blame https://tinyurl.com/284t6ny6 “Trump led America into an unconstitutional war. And now he’s compounding that sin by proving to be every bit as reckless a commander as he is a president.”

🐣 RT @BMarchetich The most detailed account yet of the Iran talks holds that:
– Witkoff & Kushner were ignorant, later offered misleading accounts
– But also acted in good faith
– Trump/WH pushed 11th hr poison pills
– Mood was broadly positive after the last talks – then war declared next day
[TextLink:] https://x.com/BMarchetich/status/2034776773834277238?s=20/photo/1 -4

When Kushner and Witkoff met with Araghchi on Feb. 17, they raised a new demand: the three enrichment facilities that the US bombed in June 2025-Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz-had to be dismantled and replaced by a new enrichment center above ground. The Iranian negotiators objected, saying that it was obvious that the US aim was to retain the option to easily destroy such a facility.

Kushner and Witkoff denied any such motives, charging that the goal was to enable verification of nuclear activities by inspectors. “The Americans were told that they must be realistic: that they cannot achieve through military attack what they can obtain through negotiations,” the first senior Iranian political source explained to Amwaj.media, “The US side was also told that in terms of inspections and verification, it makes no difference whether a facility is underground or above ground.” This is while Witkoff is said to have insisted that the latter does, in fact, make a difference.

In the view of the Iranians, the US stance conveyed unfamiliarity with the technical dimensions to what was being discussed. To make their point, Araghchi and his delegation brought International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Rafael Grossi into the room to ask him whether inspections of subterranean sites are any different. According to the senior Iranian source, Grossi responded that it makes no difference if a facility is above or below ground, provided that there is full access. This purportedly left Witkoff visibly irritated.

Another issue was Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60% purity, which the US side rapidly wanted addressed-and which Iran was ready to dilute. The senior Iranian political source said Araghchi clarified the precise amount of such material in Iran’s possession, 440.9 kg (972 Ibs) as verified by UN inspectors, and explained that it could be used to theoretically make about ten bombs if enriched further to weapons-grade. Witkoti has in recent days suggested that Araghchi’s statement was a boast, if not a threat. But the senior Iranian source disputed that characterization, insisting that the intent was solely to emphasize the significance of the concession Tehran was ready to make.

Informed Iranian political sources familiar with the talks additionally highlighted that the lack of nuclear expertise on the part of Kushner and Witkoff, in addition to the absence of a technical team, caused consternation in the negotiations. According to the senior source, “Araghchi on several occasions explained the stages of nuclear fuel production and the difference between an enrichment facility and a reactor to Witkoff, yet the US negotiator still believed that the Tehran Research Reactor was an enrichment facility producing radio-medicines.”

However, Kushner’s presence is said to have added one key dimension compared to previous rounds of negotiations-including the diplomacy which led to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Trump’s advisor is said to have expressed a belief in the need for an “economic complement” to any potential accord, similar to the Russia-Ukraine talks. When the meeting concluded, the senior Iranian source told Amwaj.media, “Witkoff said they had never had such a positive session before. They said they would speak with Trump and obtain his authorization to continue negotiations.” The following day, the authorization from the Oval Office was conveyed to Iran through mediators.

Iranian and US negotiators reconvened in Switzerland on Feb. 26 for what came to be the final round of talks. Ahead of the session, the US delegation had through several intermediaries conveyed that Trump had no intention of initiating another attack on Iran. However, given the increased American military deployments in the region, the meeting began with Araghchi highlighting the stakes.

“This meeting may be our last…if we do not succeed today, we will each return and do what we believe we must do, the Iranian chief diplomat is said to have told Kushner and Witkoff, “You may launch an attack, and we will exercise our legitimate right of defense. No one will win in that situation, and afterward you will have to return to this very negotiating table-and it is not even certain that anyone will still want to negotiate with you.”

According to the first senior Iranian political source, Kushner and Witkoff stated that they had come to Geneva with the goal of reaching an agreement and were ready to stay as long as necessary. The Iranians noted that the two men came alone, without any technical experts. Yet, unlike previous meetings, the session is said to have been long and serious, and went into details.

As negotiations resumed in the afternoon, the second Iranian political source charged, Witkoff demanded a seven-year freeze on enrichment. Further complicating the situation, a third senior Iranian source told Amwaj.media that after an apparent call to Trump towards the end of the afternoon session, Witkoff increased the duration to ten years. At that point, a visibly angry Araghchi retorted, “I am familiar with this American-style negotiation tactic, when you always shift the goalposts.” The second political source disputed Witkoff’s recent public assertion that the Iranian foreign minister “shouted,” insisting that Araghchi was angry but firm in his tone.

Despite the clearly heated exchange, there was movement on other fronts, leading the two sides to agree to leave outstanding questions for after technical talks in Vienna that were scheduled to be held in the following days.

The notion that progress had been made appears to have been shared by others in the room. Addressing the topic of how to convey the situation in the public realm, the US delegation, according to the first Iranian political source, said it would relay positive news to the White House. Both sides also agreed that Oman’s foreign minister, acting as mediator, would tell the media that the negotiations had made “significant progress.” The Omani chief diplomat drafted a tweet with that wording and read it out loud, with both the Iranian and US delegations approving it.

NYT: Israeli Officials Said US Was Told About South Pars Attack https://tinyurl.com/yc4b82sy “President Trump first said the US ‘knew nothing’ about an attack on the gas field in Iran, which sent global oil and gas prices soaring. He then said he cautioned Israel against it.

🐣 RT @MOSSADil 🚨 U.S. SURGING FORCES TOWARD IRAN
The Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, USS Boxer, USS Comstock, and USS Portland, along with the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is deploying ahead of schedule to the Middle East.
Pentagon is moving additional firepower into CENTCOM.
⋙ 🐣 RT @VRWCTexanTwo #Breaking TWO MEU groups — Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group with the 31st MEU (from Japan) and the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group with the 11th MEU (from the U.S. West Coast) — are working
Are BOTH headed toward positions in the Middle East, specifically to support operations in CENTCOM area, which includes waters off Iran and the Strait of Hormuz.

🐣 RT @hell_line0 Restrictions on divorce and college admissions. ¤ The war on women is ramping up.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/hell_line0/status/2034672557061013836?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] The Heritage Foundation’s new policy guidebook, Saving America by Saving the Family, aims to “restore the family” by promoting a male-led, heterosexual model.

Released as part of Project 2025, it frames declining birth rates as a crisis caused by women prioritizing careers and personal fulfillment over marriage and childbearing.

The report criticizes welfare programs like SNAP and Medicaid as displacing men from their provider roles and calls for restrictions on divorce and college access, portraying independent women as a threat to national prosperity.

🐣 RT @academic_la I talked to two Israeli sources on why Iranian launches continue to increase, despite US-Israeli claims that they have destroyed almost all of the launchers. Here is what they said:
¤ https://x.com/academic_la/status/2034667503637627076?s=20

1) The 90–95% drop in volume claimed by CENTCOM earlier in the month was probably a temporary lull as Iran repositioned its remaining launchers into hardened sites. Independent satellite analysis suggests that a significant portion of the “80% destruction” claimed by the IDF actually hit high-fidelity decoys.

2) Despite fewer launchers, the lethality per strike has increased. Iran’s shift to cluster warheads has allowed a single missile to impact multiple locations simultaneously, compensating for the lower volume of launches

3) Iran has successfully set up mobile, underground units able to fire at steady rates. Iran used that quiet period to move their remaining ~100-120 heavy launchers into “Super-Hardened” facilities

4) Iran is utilizing its Zolfaqar and Dezful road-mobile launchers. These units move from hardened tunnels to pre-surveyed launch spots, fire, and return underground in under 10 minutes, often before coalition drones can re-task for a strike.

5) Because these launching units are decentralized, it is very hard for US and Israeli intelligence to get info on them.

Israel and the United States do not have an answer to this problem. That is why they are trying escalation on energy sources instead. But that is backfiring.

📊 🐣 RT @AaronBlake New Reuters-Ipsos poll of the Iran war:
37% approve
59% disapprove

🐣 RT @Ohra_aho Nordic countries have near-zero direct dependence on Strait of Hormuz energy flows, but remain indirectly exposed through global price and market shocks.
◕ https://x.com/Ohra_aho/status/2034616122352283990?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @PhilipProudfoot Israel is threatening to destroy Tyre. ¤ Tyre (Sour) is Lebanese. But also part of world history: cradle of Phoenician seafaring, source of Tyrian purple – the colour of Roman Emperors, the birthplace of Stoicism, and site of Alexander’s famous siege. ¤ An assault on us all.
🖼 https://x.com/PhilipProudfoot/status/2034637993953124484?s=20/photo/1 -4

🐣 RT @realstewpeters NETANYAHU: “There will be boots on the ground in Iran.”
💽 https://x.com/realstewpeters/status/2034730499063914635?s=20/photo/1
↥ ↧
🐣 RT @GlobeEyeNews Qatar calls for the US, Israel and Iran to immediately end the war.

🐣 RT @amanpour Iran is “a war without a strategy,” former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel says, as he warns that threats to global stability are escalating daily.
💽 https://x.com/amanpour/status/2034694026952106187?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @amyklobuchar Good news: The John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award going to the people of the Twin Cities is a recognition of how our state persevered and led the way in defending freedom and democracy.

🐣 RT @disclosetv NOW – Netanyahu: “Jesus Christ has no advantage over Genghis Khan. Because if you are strong enough, ruthless enough, powerful enough, evil will overcome good.”
💽 https://x.com/disclosetv/status/2034713271517794575?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 Six governments. One page. A lot left unsaid. The UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and Japan have issued a joint statement condemning Iran’s attacks on commercial shipping and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
¤ [TextLink:] https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2034672501075128418?s=20/photo/1

They call on Iran to stop the mines, the drones, the missiles. They invoke UN Security Council Resolution 2817. They express “readiness” to help ensure safe passage.

What they don’t say is how. No forces named. No timeline. No command structure. “Readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts” is diplomatic language for we’re watching and we haven’t said no yet. The IEA has authorized a coordinated release of strategic petroleum reserves. That’s the most concrete action in the entire document.

The most revealing line may be the last paragraph directed at “all states” to respect international law. That’s not aimed at Iran alone. That’s a signal to anyone else tempted to use this moment.

🐣 RT @POLITICOEurope A group of EU countries earlier signalled their “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts” to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. ¤ But Berlin has made clear it will not send ships.
Live updates from today’s European Council summit: [link:] https://tinyurl.com/2pmmaz24
[TextLink:] https://x.com/POLITICOEurope/status/2034667891786666347?s=20/photo/1

Germany still says ‘no’ to Hormuz mission

The joint statement by France, Germany, the U.K., Italy, the Netherlands and Japan caused some confusion as to which extent those countries may follow Donald Trump’s call to send military ships to the Strait of Hormuz.

That confusion stems from a text passage which says: “We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.”

However, a spokesperson for Friedrich Merz clarified that the German chancellor still rules out a participation in such a mission during the ongoing war.

🐣 RT @PhillipsPOBrien Watching Trump teeter on the edge of blowing up the world economy because of a combination of hubris, strategic incoherence, mendacity and outright stupidity, might be the most extraordinarily depressing thing I have observed in my entire life, or read about in any other period.
⋙ 🐣 RT @ruth_deyermond More than watching Trump blow up NATO because of a combination of hubris, incoherence, stupidity, ignorance, and an inability to understand the Mercator projection? It’s a close call, I’d say.

🐣 RT @FAB87F This wasn’t ambiguous. ¤ “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.” ¤ That’s what they were told.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/FAB87F/status/2034667608264376679?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!!
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
11.7k ReTruths 37.9k Likes
1/13/26, 6:13 PM

⋙ 🐣 RT @FAB87F When people believe you — and you don’t follow through — the cost isn’t abstract. ¤ It’s arrest. ¤ It’s exile. ¤ It’s death

🐣 RT @shanaka86 BREAKING: Qatar’s Prime Minister stood at a podium today and delivered one sentence that will fracture Gulf alliance architecture for a generation: “Everyone knows who the main beneficiary of this war is.” […]
¤ https://x.com/shanaka86/status/2034657794901823743?s=20
⋙ Grok: Likely Israel; possibly US, Russia

🐣 RT @UKinUSA NEW: The UK alongside France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan expresses readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz https://tinyurl.com/52atfnyz
[TextLink:] https://x.com/UKinUSA/status/2034631882432741481?s=20/photo/1
// “appropriate efforts” is key; cooler heads are needed

⭕ 18 Mar 2026

WSJ (Mar 18): America Bombs Iran, and Zelensky Suddenly Holds Aces https://tinyurl.com/5ftcvw26 “‘You don’t have the cards,’ Trump said a year ago. Today U.S. allies implore Ukraine for drone help.” //➔ Trump now appears willing to endanger troops rather than accept help from Zelensky

‼️ WaPo: Pentagon seeks more than $200 billion in budget request for Iran war https://tinyurl.com/2bp2e49x “Some White House officials do not think the Defense Department’s request has a realistic shot of being approved in Congress, one senior administration official said.”

NYT: Carol Kitman, 96, Dies; Photographer Documented the Vindman Twins https://tinyurl.com/27a8cfr6 “A chance encounter in Brooklyn led to a decades-long project following the boys’ lives, from childhood to national prominence as critics of President Trump.”

🐣 RT @saintjavelin Guys I’m afraid to say but I don’t think the reigning FIFA peace prize winner knows what he’s doing
[TextLink:] https://x.com/saintjavelin/status/2034466329629991289?s=20/photo/1

⋙🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran. A relatively small section of the whole has been hit. The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen. Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility. NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar – In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before. I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran, but if Qatar’s LNG is again attacked, I will not hesitate to do so. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @CBSNews BREAKING: The FBI is investigating former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent in connection with alleged leaks of classified information, multiple sources with direct knowledge of the matter tell CBS News.

🐣 RT @_Investinq The Federal Reserve just admitted something they’ve never said before. ¤ Job growth in America, when you strip out the government’s own counting errors is effectively zero.
¤ 💽 https://x.com/_Investinq/status/2034404335795224899?s=20/photo/1

Here’s how the numbers actually break down. ¤ The BLS reported roughly 40,000 jobs added per month since April 2025. ¤ But the Fed’s own staff concluded the government has been overcounting jobs by about 60,000 per month.

Do the math, the real number is negative 20,000 jobs a month. ¤ The BLS already confirmed a massive error. ¤ In September 2025, the Bureau of Labor Statistics revised its numbers and admitted it overstated job creation by 911,000 positions in the 12 months ending March 2025.

That’s nearly a million phantom jobs vanished in a single revision. ¤ So what did Powell actually say? ¤ He called it “something of a systematic overcount.” ¤ And then he said the quiet part out loud: in a world where job creation might be negative, “I just think we need to watch that situation very carefully.”

Here’s where it gets stranger. ¤ Powell didn’t frame this as a crisis, he called it “balance.”

His argument is that the labor force itself has stopped growing, because immigration has slowed sharply and population growth has stalled. ¤ So zero job growth matches zero labor force growth, the economy isn’t collapsing, it’s frozen.

And there’s a second force underneath all of this. ¤ CEOs are openly telling investors they won’t need to hire again because AI is doing the work.

US employers announced nearly 946,000 layoffs in 2025 alone, the highest since the pandemic with thousands explicitly citing AI and automation as the reason.

The Fed Chair is telling you job creation is zero at best, negative at worst, and a structural freeze has set in, one that has never happened before in modern American economic history.

The data was wrong, the picture was rosier than reality. ¤ And now the Fed is navigating in the dark.

🧵 RT @Mylovanov Stubb: The world order is being redrawn in a transition comparable to 1918, 1945 or 1989. ¤ Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marked a turning point, pushing the system into disorder where the future balance of power remains unclear. 1/
📌 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2034370134689693914?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2034370134689693914.html

Stubb: US foreign policy is now shaped by MAGA and America First, making it more ideological and interest-driven.

Washington no longer consults allies as before, and the Iran strike exposed a shift away from coalition-based action. 2/

Stubb: NATO is a defensive alliance, not designed for wars of choice.

The US acted without allies, exposing tensions inside the alliance, while Russia remains the main security threat in Europe. 3/

Stubb: US strategy now ranks Europe below other regions, forcing Europeans to take more responsibility.

Rising oil prices and easing sanctions risk putting more money into Russia’s war machine as global instability deepens. 4X

NYT: US Intelligence Saw No Change in Iran’s Missile Capabilities Before War https://tinyurl.com/4x5yp7wd “On Wednesday, the director of national intelligence and CIA director contradicted one of the justifications the Trump administration had given for its attacks on Iran.” ✛

Two top intelligence officials directly contradicted one of the Trump administration’s justifications for going to war with Iran, repeating on Wednesday the intelligence community’s conclusion that Iran was years away from developing missiles capable of hitting the United States.

Testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, would not say whether the intelligence community had determined that Iran would be able to launch such long-range missiles within six months.

Ms. Gabbard said that Iran “could” combine technology from its existing space program with its missile development capabilities to “begin to develop” an intercontinental ballistic missile “before 2035, should Tehran attempt to pursue that capability.”

But when pressed by Senator Jon Ossoff, Democrat of Georgia, Ms. Gabbard refused to provide an assessment of the threat Iran posed.

“It is not the intelligence community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” Ms. Gabbard said, adding that such assessments were solely the discretion of the president. …

ABC: US and allied radar sites in the Middle East struck at least 10 times: Visual analysis https://tinyurl.com/vzpydrav ABC News analyzed satellite imagery and videos of the radar sites.

🐣 RT @AmitSegal While military commentators focus on flight paths and interception systems, historians will likely define the current campaign against Iran in entirely different terms: the first global energy war. This is not a war over territory, but over the ability of the West—and especially the Far East—to continue functioning.
¤ https://x.com/AmitSegal/status/2034355340091806085?s=20

🐣 RT @GlobalMktObserv 🚨 The Iran War is putting the semiconductor industry on high alert: ¤ The shutdown of Qatar’s Ras Laffan facility, the world’s largest LNG export plant, has knocked out ~33% of global helium supply, as helium is a byproduct of natural gas processing.…
¤ https://x.com/GlobalMktObserv/status/2034196297012388180?s=20

Helium is essential for semiconductor manufacturing, MRI machines, fiber optics, and space exploration, with no viable substitutes, meaning higher helium prices will directly raise the cost of making every chip in the world.

Chipmakers hold ~6 months of inventory, but Samsung and SK Hynix are already scrambling to find alternative sources, with 64% of South Korean helium imports coming from Qatar alone.

🐣 RT @shanaka86 Qatar asked the United States to finish Iran. Israel struck South Pars. Qatar now condemns the strike as a threat to global energy security.
¤ 🌎 https://x.com/shanaka86/status/2034277338779893825?s=20

That is not hypocrisy. It is geology.

South Pars and Qatar’s North Field are the same reservoir. The largest gas deposit on Earth, split by a maritime border. Iran produces from one side. Qatar produces from the other. When Israeli bombs hit Phase 14 processing facilities on the Iranian side, they did not just damage Iranian gas production. They introduced risk to the reservoir pressure dynamics that govern Qatar’s $130 billion annual LNG export machine. […]

🐣 RT @Faytuks BREAKING: A fire has erupted at Qatar’s Ras Laffan refinery following an Iranian attack, according to Qatar’s Interior Ministry ¤ Ras Laffan is home to the world’s largest LNG facility

🐣 RT @Osinttechnical Israel struck Iranian natural gas infrastructure at the South Pars natural gas field, the largest in the world. ¤ The largest natural gas processing facility in Iran was reportedly hit, along with additional gas infrastructure in Asaluyeh.

🐣 RT @Hoffman8Jon Two years ago this week, I published this piece on how Israel is a strategic liability for the United States. ¤ This has been the case for decades, but the past two years have proven Israel is arguably the greatest strategic liability the United States currently shoulders abroad.
¤ https://x.com/Hoffman8Jon/status/2034314328669663401?s=20

🐣 RT @DMichaelTripi NEW: Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly focused on blocking Trump’s pathways to a ceasefire and follow-up talks with Iran by killing members of leadership most likely to negotiate according to European Council on Foreign Relations director.

🐣 RT @BulwarkOnline Sen. Paul: “You told the media that I was a freaking snake and that you completely understood why I had been assaulted…I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force.”
💽 https://x.com/BulwarkOnline/status/2034263500395077889?s=20/photo/1
// To Sen MarkWayne Mullin, nom for DHS

📊 🐣 RT @Megatron_ron BREAKING: 🇺🇸🇮🇷🇮🇱 CNN claims that since the start of the US war against Iran, the country’s popularity worldwide has fallen by 79%. ¤ The only country more unpopular than the United States is Israel. ¤ This could cause an additional and significant economic blow due to boycotts of US products and services around the world.
💽 https://x.com/Megatron_ron/status/2034263315963121734?s=20/photo/1
// on CNN; source: Pew

🐣 RT @BohuslavskaKate Ex CIA Director, PETRAEUS: Ukraine is fighting our war — let’s make no mistake, they’re fighting NATO’s war. HOST: And right now, Ukraine is also protecting many countries in the Middle East with its drone technology. They’re the hottest ticket in town.
💽 https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2034248994730254573?s=20/photo/1
// host @jimsciutta; Tulane University

TheAtlantic, Pegah Banihashemi and Paul Poast: Trump May Not Be Able to End This War https://tinyurl.com/3abt6xkc ‘There are moves that don’t require Iranian military superiority—just a will to survive and a willingness to spread chaos throughout the region and into the global economy.’
// The Islamic Republic is designed to endure crises and fight asymmetric conflicts.

⭕ 17 Mar 2026 ☘️

WSJ (Mar 17): Russia Is Sharing Satellite Imagery and Drone Technology With Iran https://tinyurl.com/445wyna8 “Moscow has expanded intelligence sharing and military cooperation to help keep Tehran in the fight against U.S. and Israeli military might.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2038463628160995350?s=20/photo/1

The assistance is similar to intelligence the US and European allies have given to Ukraine in recent years, analysts say. In the Gulf, Moscow’s aid is believed to have helped Iran with recent strikes on U.S. radar systems in the region, said the people. Those strikes have included an early warning radar for a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad, system in Jordan, as well as other targets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. …
^
Satellite images can provide more granularity about the details and movements of both land-based and sea-based targets, to help targeting before the strike as well as damage assessment following a hit.

“If there are details in those images that the Russians are providing, say, of specific types of aircraft, munitions sites, air defense assets, and naval movements, that have intel value to the Iranians, that would really help them,” said Jim Lamson, a visiting research fellow at King’s College London and former CIA analyst who specialized in the Iranian military.

The data Russia is providing comes from a fleet of satellites that provides intelligence for military operations, one official said. The fleet is managed by the Russian Aerospace Forces, better known under its Russian acronym VKS. …

Iran has had greater success targeting U.S. and Gulf state military assets in this war than it did during last year’s 12-day war. The country’s strikes—using drones to overwhelm radar before a missile strike—look very similar to Russia’s tactics in Ukraine, analysts said.

“Iranian targeting in the Gulf has been more focused on radar and command and control,” said Nicole Grajewski, a professor at Sciences Po, a research university in Paris. “Iran’s strike packages have come to strongly resemble what Russia does.” …

But most important, Iran supplied Moscow with its Shahed drones for its war against Ukraine.

When Russia started using the Shaheds on the battlefield, a delegation of several dozen Iranian officers gathered in Crimea to watch footage of the effects on Ukrainian cities and front-line positions. Ukraine says that Russia has used more than 57,000 Shahed-type drones since the start of the war. 

Since then, Moscow has started producing them domestically, and it has been adapting them to navigate and target more precisely as well as withstand electronic warfare jamming. It is sharing some of those innovations back with Iran now. …

… Despite Putin’s relationship with Trump, the Kremlin still sees Washington as a strategic adversary, said Samuel Charap, distinguished chair in Russia and Eurasia policy at Rand, a U.S.-based defense think tank.

“It’s an opportunity to give us a taste of our own medicine in terms of what the U.S. provides to Ukraine in intelligence support,” he said.

🐣 RT @ForeignAffairs “Khamenei clearly prepared Iran for this moment,” writes Nate Swanson. “Confronted with a truly existential threat, Iran has mounted a much more deliberate, decentralized, and effective response than many expected.”
⋙ ForeignAffairs, Nate Swanson: How America’s War on Iran Backfired https://tinyurl.com/muh3t5e8 “Confronted with a truly existential threat, Iran has mounted a much more deliberate, decentralized, and effective response than many expected.”
// Tehran Will Now Set the Terms for Peace

WSJ Editorial: Why the SAVE America Act … Won’t https://tinyurl.com/23s7379w “A pyrrhic victory on voting isn’t worth busting the Senate filibuster.” “Audits in a variety of places—Georgia, Michigan, Texas, Utah, Idaho—have found noncitizen voting and registration to be rare”

🐣 RT @Kasparov63 Lol, this “pivot to China by kissing Putin’s ass” garbage has been refuted by reality many times already. China owns Russia and is happy to use it as the vanguard in attacking the US and the West. Defeating Russia in Ukraine is the best way to stand up to China.
⋙ 🐣 RT @diana_nerozzi Trump aims to shift power from China by forging better ties with Russia via Ukraine deal. ¤ A Trump admin official told me finding a “way to align closer with Russia” could create “a different power balance with China that could be very, very beneficial.” [Politico link:] https://tinyurl.com/mr3jsnuz
⋙⋙ Politico: 1 reason Trump won’t give up on Putin peace deal — China https://tinyurl.com/mr3jsnuz “The Trump administration believes that incentivizing Russia to end the war in Ukraine could eventually shift the global order away from China.”

🧵 RT @TheStudyofWar NEW | Evening Update: The United States and Israel are currently attempting to use force to prevent Iran from disrupting shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
📌 ¤ https://x.com/TheStudyofWar/status/2034111203811688687?s=20

A weakened regime that remains in power after this war would be able to disrupt shipping whenever and for however long it pleases with little effort if its current, relatively limited, strike campaign on shipping proves sufficient to cause the US and Israel to surrender.

A failure to demonstrate the will and ability to deny Iran the ability to disrupt traffic will make it enormously harder to deter Iran from future disruptions. Stopping the war in current conditions would thus represent a major strategic challenge that the United States or Israel would need to contend with in future rounds of conflict with a regime that will continue to be a committed adversary. […]

🐣 RT @AranchaGlezLaya [tr] 🇺🇸 The United States ceases to be a liberal democracy according to the V-Dem Institute’s report ¤ “The speed with which democracy is being dismantled in the US has no precedent in modern history” [link:] https://tinyurl.com/46s7wnp8
// V-Dem Institute: Varieties of Democracy
[TextLink:] https://x.com/AranchaGlezLaya/status/2033976211823530185?s=20/photo/1

5. In Focus: Autocratization in the USA
• Under Trump’s presidency democracy in the USA has fallen back to the same level as in 1965. Yet the situation is fundamentally different than during the Civil Rights era.
• President Trump’s second term can be summarized as a rapid and aggressive concentration of powers in the presidency.
• The speed with which American democracy is currently dismantled is unprecedented in modern history.
• Legislative Constraints – the worst affected aspect of democracy – is losing one-third of its value in 2025 and reaching its lowest point in over 100 years.
• Civil Rights & Equality before the Law, and Freedom of Expression & Media are now at their lowest levels in 60 years.
• Electoral components of democracy, however, remain stable – for inow.

🐣 RT @AC360 U.S. Central Command announced the United States had “successfully employed multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites” near the Strait of Hormuz. “This is not going to end any time soon,” says CNN Global Affairs Analyst Brett McGurk.

🐣 RT @RadarHits U.S. and Israel BAFFLED by Iran’s underground “ghost” missile launchers. ¤ 🇮🇷 Iran is launching missiles from its underground missile cities without visible launch pads. ¤ Virtually impossible to detect beforehand. ¤ GAME CHANGER

🐣 RT @CalltoActivism 🚨 HUGE: Sen. Mark Warner says U.S. intelligence he reviewed showed NO imminent threat from Iran to the United States as Trump’s Counterterrorism director resigns, saying the war was not necessary. ¤ 13 soldiers are dead. The war is costing $1 BILLION A DAY. What are we doing?

🐣 RT @A_M_R_M1 🚨 The balance of power in the Strait of Hormuz is shifting dramatically. Iran, which once believed it controlled this vital waterway with its fast boats, now faces a shocking reality.
¤ https://x.com/A_M_R_M1/status/2034073203262267537?s=20

The arrival of the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli at the head of a Marine Expeditionary Unit, including the 31st Reconnaissance Battalion, represents an unprecedented nightmare for the Iranian regime. This elite force of approximately 2,500 troops is moving at maximum speed toward the region, signaling Washington’s shift from airstrikes to a potential “boots on the ground” option. […]

‼️ 🐣 RT @CENTCOM Hours ago, U.S. forces successfully employed multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these sites posed a risk to international shipping in the strait.

🐣 RT @TheAtlantic U.S. allies haven’t forgotten about Trump’s tariffs, his threats against NATO, and his curtailing of aid to Ukraine—so he shouldn’t be surprised that they’re unwilling to help him in Iran, @anneapplebaum argues.
⋙ TheAtlantic, Anne Applebaum: Everyone but Trump Understands What He’s Done https://tinyurl.com/yc4y6jte “Allied leaders know that any positive gesture they make will count for nothing.” //➔ Has he said ‘thank you’ even once? It’s a serious question. ⇊
✛ Being a con man means never having to say ‘Thank you.’ Trump will tell you to your face exactly how he’s ripping you off, how he always wins. It’s a zero-sum game, always. He doesn’t respect anyone who he rips off. He is despicable throwback to a pre-civilized world. Mob boss.

Donald Trump does not think strategically. Nor does he think historically, geographically, or even rationally. He does not connect actions he takes on one day to events that occur weeks later. He does not think about how his behavior in one place will change the behavior of other people in other places.

He does not consider the wider implications of his decisions. He does not take responsibility when these decisions go wrong. Instead, he acts on whim and impulse, and when he changes his mind—when he feels new whims and new impulses—he simply lies about whatever he said or did before.

For the past 14 months, few foreign leaders have been able to acknowledge that someone without any strategy can actually be president of the United States. Surely, the foreign-policy analysts murmured, Trump thinks beyond the current moment. Surely, foreign statesmen whispered, he adheres to some ideology, some pattern, some plan. Words were thrown around—isolationism, imperialism—in an attempt to place Trump’s actions into a historical context. Solemn articles were written about the supposed significance of Greenland, for example, as if Trump’s interest in the Arctic island were not entirely derived from the fact that it looks very large on a Mercator projection.

This week, something broke. Maybe Trump does not understand the link between the past and the present, but other people do. They can see that, as a result of decisions that Trump made but cannot explain, the Strait of Hormuz is blocked by Iranian mines and drones. They can see oil prices rising around the world and they understand that it is difficult and dangerous for the U.S. Navy to solve this problem. They can also hear the president lashing out, as he has done so many times before, trying to get other people to take responsibility, threatening them if they don’t.

NATO faces a “very bad” future if it doesn’t help clear the strait, Trump told the Financial Times, apparently forgetting that the United States founded the organization and has led it since its creation in 1949. He has also said he is not asking but ordering seven countries to help. He did not specify which ones. “I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory because it is their territory,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on the way from Florida to Washington. “It’s the place from which they get their energy.” Actually it isn’t their territory, and it’s his fault that their energy is blocked.

But in Trump’s mind, these threats are justified: He has a problem right now, so he wants other countries to solve it. He doesn’t seem to remember or care what he said to their leaders last month or last year, nor does he know how his previous decisions shaped public opinion in their countries or harmed their interests. But they remember, they care, and they know.

Specifically, they remember that for 14 months, the American president has tariffed them, mocked their security concerns, and repeatedly insulted them. As long ago as January 2020, Trump told several European officials that “if Europe is under attack, we will never come to help you and to support you.” In February 2025, he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he had no right to expect support either, because “you don’t have any cards.” Trump ridiculed Canada as the “51st state” and referred to both the present and previous Canadian prime ministers as “governor.” He claimed, incorrectly, that allied troops in Afghanistan “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines,” causing huge offense to the families of soldiers who died fighting after NATO invoked Article 5 of the organization’s treaty, on behalf of the United States, the only time it has done so. He called the British “our once-great ally,” after they refused to participate in the initial assault on Iran; when they discussed sending some aircraft carriers to the Persian Gulf conflict earlier this month, he ridiculed the idea on social media: “We don’t need people that join Wars after ​we’ve already won!”

At times, the ugly talk changed into something worse. Before his second inauguration, Trump began hinting that he wouldn’t rule out using force to annex Greenland, a territory of Denmark, a close NATO ally. At first this seemed like a troll or a joke; by January 2026, his public and private comments persuaded the Danes to prepare for an American invasion. Danish leaders had to think about whether their military would shoot down American planes, kill American soldiers, and be killed by them, an exercise so wrenching that some still haven’t recovered. In Copenhagen a few weeks ago, I was shown a Danish app that tells users which products are American, so that they know not to buy them. At the time it was the most popular app in the country.

The economic damage is no troll either. Over the course of 2025, Trump placed tariffs on Europe, the United Kingdom, Japan, and South Korea, often randomly—or again, whimsically—and with no thought to the impact. He raised tariffs on Switzerland because he didn’t like the Swiss president, then lowered them after a Swiss business delegation brought him presents, including a gold bar and a Rolex watch. He threatened to place 100 percent tariffs on Canada should Canada dare to make a trading agreement with China. Unbothered by possible conflicts of interest, he conducted trade negotiations with Vietnam, even as his son Eric Trump was breaking ground on a $1.5 billion golf-course deal in that country.

Europeans might have tolerated the invective and even the trade damage had it not been for the real threat that Trump now poses to their security. Over the course of 14 months, he has, despite talking of peace, encouraged Russian aggression. He stopped sending military and financial aid to Ukraine, thereby giving Putin renewed hope of victory. His envoy, Steve Witkoff, began openly negotiating business deals between the United States and Russia, although the war has not ended and the Russians have never agreed to a cease-fire. Witkoff presents himself to European leaders as a neutral figure, somewhere between NATO and Russia—as if, again, the United States were not the founder and leader of NATO, and as if European security were of no special concern to Americans. Trump himself continues to lash out at Zelensky and to lie about American support for Ukraine, which he repeatedly describes as worth $300 billion or more. The real number is closer to $50 billion, over three years. At current rates, Trump will spend that much in three months in the Middle East, in the course of starting a war rather than trying to stop one.

The result: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has declared that Canada will not participate in the “offensive operations of Israel and the U.S., and it never will.” German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius says, “This is not our war, and we didn’t start it.” The Spanish prime minister refused to let the United States use bases for the beginning of the war. The U.K. and France might send some ships to protect their own bases or allies in the Gulf, but neither will send their soldiers or sailors into offensive operations started without their assent.

This isn’t cowardice. It’s a calculation: If allied leaders thought that their sacrifice might count for something in Washington, they might choose differently. But most of them have stopped trying to find the hidden logic behind Trump’s actions, and they understand that any contribution they make will count for nothing. A few days or weeks later, Trump will not even remember that it happened.

🔆 Confirmed❗️⋙ WSJ: Russia Is Sharing Satellite Imagery and Drone Technology With Iran https://tinyurl.com/mtb232m4 “Moscow has expanded intelligence sharing and military cooperation to help keep Tehran in the fight against US and Israeli military might”

Russia has been expanding its intelligence sharing and military cooperation with Iran, providing satellite imagery and improved drone technology to aid Tehran’s targeting of U.S. forces in the region, people familiar with the matter said.

Russia is trying to keep its closest Middle Eastern partner in the fight against U.S. and Israeli military might and prolong a war that is benefiting Russia militarily and economically.

The technology provided includes components of modified Shahed drones, which are meant to improve communication, navigation and targeting, the people said. Russia has also been drawing on its experience using drones in Ukraine, offering tactical guidance on how many drones should be used in operations and what altitudes they should strike from, said the people, who included a senior European intelligence officer.

Russia has been providing Iran with the locations of U.S. military forces in the Middle East as well as those of its regional allies, The Wall Street Journal has reported. That cooperation has deepened in early days of the war, with Russia recently providing satellite imagery directly to Iran, said two of the people, the officer and a Middle Eastern diplomat.

The assistance is similar to intelligence the U.S. and European allies have given to Ukraine in recent years, analysts say. In the Gulf, Moscow’s aid is believed to have helped Iran with recent strikes on U.S. radar systems in the region, said the people. Those strikes have included an early warning radar for a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or Thaad, system in Jordan, as well as other targets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman. …

Iran has had greater success targeting U.S. and Gulf state military assets in this war than it did during last year’s 12-day war. The country’s strikes—using drones to overwhelm radar before a missile strike—look very similar to Russia’s tactics in Ukraine, analysts said.

“Iranian targeting in the Gulf has been more focused on radar and command and control,” said Nicole Grajewski, a professor at Sciences Po, a research university in Paris. “Iran’s strike packages have come to strongly resemble what Russia does.”

U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff, who has led U.S. negotiations with Moscow, said Russia denied they were giving Iran intelligence to aid in their strikes. President Trump has said he believes Moscow might be aiding Iran “a bit.” …

The two [Russia and Iran] have formed commissions and working groups to share military and defense learning. Military delegations regularly visited one another while their soldiers trained together. Russia even built and launched one of Iran’s most recent satellite systems. 

But most important, Iran supplied Moscow with its Shahed drones for its war against Ukraine. ¤ When Russia started using the Shaheds on the battlefield, a delegation of several dozen Iranian officers gathered in Crimea to watch footage of the effects on Ukrainian cities and front-line positions. Ukraine says that Russia has used more than 57,000 Shahed-type drones since the start of the war. 

Since then, Moscow has started producing them domestically, and it has been adapting them to navigate and target more precisely as well as withstand electronic warfare jamming. It is sharing some of those innovations back with Iran now.

The aid Russia can give to Iran has been limited not only by its own ongoing conflict in Ukraine, but also the Kremlin’s reluctance to anger Trump. While Moscow could do much more to turn the dial up on its assistance, its current aid plays an important, albeit limited, role in helping Iran’s war effort, said Lamson. 

“The categories of assistance—including satellite data and advice on drone tactics—that Russia is providing are limited but still valuable to the war and Iran’s ability to hit specific military sites,” he said.

The war has played to Russia’s advantage in some ways, drawing down U.S. supplies of the interceptors that Ukraine needs for its air defenses. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas transits, has boosted the price of oil, the lifeblood of the Russian economy. The Trump administration has eased restrictions on purchases of Russian oil to bring down prices.

The war also carries downsides for Russia, especially if the regime in Iran is toppled, but Moscow still sees a chance to help a partner and strike out at the U.S. Despite Putin’s relationship with Trump, the Kremlin still sees Washington as a strategic adversary, said Samuel Charap, distinguished chair in Russia and Eurasia policy at Rand, a U.S.-based defense think tank.

“It’s an opportunity to give us a taste of our own medicine in terms of what the U.S. provides to Ukraine in intelligence support,” he said.

🐣 RT @PressSec There are many false claims in [Joe Kent’s] letter but let me address one specifically: that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation.” …
¤ https://x.com/PressSec/status/2033932810709315865?s=20

As President Trump has clearly and explicitly stated, he had strong and compelling evidence that Iran was going to attack the United States first.

This evidence was compiled from many sources and factors. President Trump would never make the decision to deploy military assets against a foreign adversary in a vacuum. […]

And finally, the absurd allegation that President Trump made this decision based on the influence of others, even foreign countries, is both insulting and laughable. President Trump has been remarkably consistent and has said for DECADES that Iran can NEVER possess a nuclear weapon. …

🐣 RT @travisakers Fact check: The President cannot suspend, terminate, or withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty without the consent of 2/3 of the Senate or a legislative act of Congress.
⋙ 🐣 RT @atrupar Trump on possibly pulling out of NATO: “I don’t need Congress for that decision”

🐣 RT @PippaCrerar EXCL: UK national security adviser Jonathan Powell attended final talks between US and Iran – and judged Tehran’s offer on its nuclear programme was significant enough to prevent rush to war @patrickwintour & @julianborger reveal
⋙ TheGuardian: Exclusive: UK security adviser attended US-Iran talks and judged deal was within reach https://tinyurl.com/3yxrxbps Jonathan Powell, who was at the talks, “thought Tehran’s ‘surprising’ offer on its nuclear programme could prevent rush to war, sources say”

Britain’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, attended the final talks between the US and Iran and judged that the offer made by Tehran on its nuclear programme was significant enough to prevent a rush to war, the Guardian can reveal.

Powell thought progress had been made in Geneva and that the deal proposed by Iran was “surprising”, according to sources.

Two days after the talks ended, and after a date had been agreed for a further round of technical talks in Vienna, the US and Israel launched the attack on Iran.

Powell’s presence at the talks, and his close knowledge of how they were progressing, was confirmed by three sources. One source said he was in the building at Oman’s ambassadorial residence in Cologny acting as an adviser, reflecting widespread concern about the US expertise on the talks represented by Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy on several issues.

Kushner and Witkoff had invited Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to the Geneva talks, to provide technical expertise, though Kushner would later claim that he and Witkoff had “a pretty deep understanding of the issues that matter in this”. Nuclear experts would later say that Witkoff’s pronouncements on the Iran nuclear programme were riddled with basic errors.

Powell has long experience as a mediator, and one source said Powell brought an expert from the UK Cabinet Office with him. One western diplomat said: “Jonathan thought there was a deal to be done, but Iran were not quite there yet, especially on the issue of UN inspections of its nuclear sites.”

A former official who was briefed on the Geneva talks by some of the participants said: “Witkoff and Kushner did not bring a US technical team with them. They used Grossi as their technical expert, but that is not his job. So Jonathan Powell took his own team.

“The UK team were surprised by what the Iranians put on the table,” the former official added. “It was not a complete deal, but it was progress and was unlikely to be the Iranians’ final offer. The British team expected the next round of negotiations to go ahead on the basis of the progress in Geneva.”

That next round of talks was due to take place in Vienna on Monday 2 March, but never happened. The US and Israel had launched their all-out attack two days earlier.

Powell’s attendance at the Geneva talks, as well as a previous set of meetings earlier in the month in the Swiss city, helps in part to explain the UK government’s reluctance to back the US attack on Iran, a reluctance that has put the UK-US relationship under unprecedented strain.

The UK saw no compelling evidence of an imminent threat of a Iranian missile attack on Europe, or of Iran securing a nuclear weapon. This is the first time it has become clear that Britain was so closely involved in the talks, and so had good reason to decide whether diplomatic options had been exhausted and a US attack was necessary.

Instead the UK regarded the attack as unlawful and premature since Powell believed the path remained open to a negotiated solution to the long-running issue of how Iran could reassure the US that it was not seeking a nuclear weapon.

Downing Street declined to comment on Powell’s presence at the Geneva talks or his view of them.

Keir Starmer has been repeatedly lambasted by Trump for not doing more to support the US attack, including by initially refusing to let America use British military bases, and only allowing them to be used later for defensive purposes after Iran started attacking UK Gulf allies. Trump has warned it could be bad for Nato if its European member states do not answer his call to help open the strait of Hormuz, a demand that has been declined.

The indirect talks in Geneva between Iran and the US were being mediated by Oman’s foreign minister, Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi.

Gulf diplomats did not specify on what basis Powell had been given access to the talks, but it may reflect the relationship he has managed to build with the US over the years, including previously as chief of staff to Tony Blair.

UK officials have subsequently explained they were impressed that Iran was prepared for the deal to be permanent and, unlike the 2015 nuclear agreement, would not have cut-off dates, or sunset clauses ending the restrictions on its programme.

Iran had also agreed to down-blend the 400kg stockpile of highly enriched uranium under the supervision of the IAEA inside Iran. It agreed no stockpiles of highly enriched uranium would be built up in the future.

In the final session of the talks, Iran agreed to a three- to-five-year pause on domestic enrichment, but the US in the afternoon session, after consultations with Trump, demanded a 10-year pause. In practice, Iran had no means to enrich domestically because of the bombing of its enrichment plants in 2015.

Iran had also made an offer of what the mediators described as an economic bonanza, with the US being given the chance to participate in a future civil nuclear programme.

In return, nearly 80% of the economic sanctions on Iran would have been lifted, including assets frozen in Qatar, a demand Iran made in the 2025 talks.

The Oman mediator believed the offer of zero stockpiling of highly enriched uranium was a breakthrough that meant an agreement was within reach.

Accounts differ on whether Kushner left the talks giving the impression Trump would welcome what had been agreed, or that the US negotiators knew it would take something massive to persuade Trump that war was not the best option. One diplomat with knowledge of the talks said: “We regarded Witkoff and Kushner as Israeli assets that dragged a president into a war he wants to get out of.”

The Guardian’s report that Powell was in the room during the talks was cited in parliament on Tuesday by Liz Saville Roberts, an MP for the Welsh nationalist Plaid Cymru party, during an update by Britain’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper.

“It appears diplomatic options were still viable and there was no evidence of an imminent missile threat to Europe or of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Saville Roberts told Cooper. “Does she therefore believe a negotiated path between Iran and the US was still possible at that time and, if so, surely that means that the initial US and Israeli strikes were premature and illegal?”

Cooper responded: “The UK did provide support for negotiations and diplomatic processes around the nuclear discussions. We did think that was an important track and we did want it to continue. That is one of the reasons for the position we took on the initial US strikes that took place.”

‼️ 🐣 RT @ProjectLincoln Hassett: If the war were to be extended, it wouldn’t really disrupt the U.S. economy very much at all. It would hurt consumers, but that’s really the last of our concerns right now.
💽 https://x.com/ProjectLincoln/status/2033911332278288617?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @TheMaineWonk The President of the United States can’t lead.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2033927119026151797?s=20/photo/1

[Text:] 🐣 RT @reaDonald Trump The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon. I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need. Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again! Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer “need,” or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance – WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea. In fact, speaking as President of the United States of America, by far the Most Powerful Country Anywhere in the World, WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

⋙ 🐣 You didn’t consult or even inform them.
The US was not attacked (a NATO requirement).
NATO has invoked Article 5 just ONCE, when the US was attacked on 9/11.
NATO members sent troops who fought and died alongside ours in Afghanistan and Iraq.

🐣 RT @joekent16jan19 After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today. ¤ I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.
It has been an honor serving under @POTUS and @DNIGabbard and leading the professionals at NCTC. ¤ May God bless America.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/joekent16jan19/status/2033897242986209689?s=20/photo/1

NYT Editorial: Trump’s Dangerous Lack of a Strategy in Iran https://tinyurl.com/yz7keffm “War tends to be less amenable to spin than politics or marketing. The early reality of the Iran war is not cooperating with Mr. Trump’s bluster.”

The war has become an exemplar of Mr. Trump’s chaotic, ego-driven approach to the presidency. He has relied for advice on a smaller circle of aides than past presidents did when ordering military action and eschewed the careful process intended to surface objections and potential problems. He has made ridiculous and contradictory public statements, including a claim that the war has nearly achieved its goals. He has tried to mislead the world about the tragic deaths of dozens of Iranian schoolchildren, which were caused by a mistargeted American missile. Almost daily, he demonstrates why he cannot be trusted with the most consequential matters of government.

⭕ 16 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @RayDalio It All Comes Down to Who Controls the Straight of Hormuz: The “Final Battle”
¤ https://x.com/RayDalio/status/2033567224120692861?s=20

Comparing what is now happening with what has happened in analogous historical situations and triangulating my thinking with smart, well-informed leaders and experts has always helped me make better decisions. I have found that most wars are filled with big disagreements about what is likely to happen and big surprises. However, in the case of this Iran war, it is obvious, and there is near-universal agreement, that it all comes down to who controls the Strait of Hormuz. I hear from those who run governments, geopolitical experts, and people all over the world that if Iran is left with control over who can pass through the Strait of Hormuz, or is even left with the power to negotiate: […]

✅ NYT: Trump Claims an Ex-President Confided His Regrets on Iran. But Who? https://tinyurl.com/3s3t3uk3 “The New York Times reached out to people close to President Trump’s predecessors. They disputed Mr. Trump’s claims.”

WSJ: U.S. Allies Rebuff Trump’s Demand for Help Opening Strait of Hormuz https://tinyurl.com/mbcabac8 “Germany, Australia and Japan say they won’t be joining U.S. efforts, while the U.K. and France say they are willing to discuss options”

TheAtlantic, Isaac Stanley-Becker: Trump Is Learning That His Bullying Has Consequences https://tinyurl.com/yb4vcph5 “Allies that once might have been eager to assist the US in an area of mutual concern are reacting with, at best, a shrug—and in some cases with outright contempt”
// Allies are not eager to assist a superpower that’s shown them no loyalty.

Two months ago, when President Trump was threatening to annex Greenland, I spoke with Danish and other European officials who warned of lasting damage to the system of alliances that the United States created after the Second World War, above all NATO.

At the time, this seemed like a theoretical proposition. Denmark and other allies had come to the aid of the United States after the September 11 attacks, sending soldiers to fight in the American-led war in Afghanistan; these same countries, officials and experts hypothesized, might be less inclined to help in the future. But the possibility that the United States would actually require European assistance, especially in the Middle East, appeared faint. After all, Trump had promised to curtail military adventures, in order to refocus on American interests in the Western Hemisphere.

WaPo, Max Boot: The U.S. military’s greatest weakness in Iran is one it can’t fix https://tinyurl.com/24zef9sd “Many issues can be resolved by smarter acquisitions decisions. Not so for incompetent leadership.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2033684855825772958?s=20/photo/1

Trump and his national security team, moreover, appear surprised that the Iranian regime didn’t collapse after the death of its leader and that it has responded to U.S. attacks by targeting the Strait of Hormuz. Both contingencies were eminently foreseeable, but Trump’s management of this conflict has been woefully and predictably deficient.

Many of the U.S. military weaknesses revealed in the war can be fixed by smarter acquisitions decisions: The U.S. needs to expand munition production lines and buy more drones and drone defenses. But there is no easy fix for the problem of incompetent political leaders who recklessly fritter away America’s overwhelming military advantages in unnecessary “excursions” premised on wishful thinking. That deficiency can be remedied only at the ballot box.

🐣 RT @Daractenus [Trump:] “I do believe I’ll be having the honor of taking Cuba [..] I think I can do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth.”
We’ve become so desensitized at this point that seeing the US president saying he’s gonna whatever he wants with another country is hardly news.
💽 https://x.com/Daractenus/status/2033659147787407861?s=20/photo/1

🔆 This❗️⋙ NYT: Judge Strikes Down Kennedy’s Vaccine Policies https://tinyurl.com/ypjchra9 “Ruling on a lawsuit brought by several prominent medical organizations, a district court said the federal government had not based its decisions on science”
// cont.: “in limiting Covid shots and revising the childhood immunization schedule.”

NYT, Steven Erlanger: In Iraq, the US Tried to Bring Allies on Board. Not in Iran. https://tinyurl.com/5cm8dfun “This time, President Trump went to war without preparing the public, seeking UN approval or even consulting allies. But they will have to pick up the pieces.”

🐣 RT @ManiamAkash Merz is absolutely right
[TextLink:] https://x.com/ManiamAkash/status/2033548225144070257?s=20/photo/1

[Friedrich Merz has told Donald Trump the US war against Iran has ‘nothing to do’ with Nato]

The US war against Iran has “nothing to do” with Nato, Germany said after Donald Trump demanded help from members of the military alliance.

“It is not Nato’s war. Nato is an alliance to defend the alliance area,” said a spokesman for Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor.

He added: “The United States did not consult us before this war, and so we believe this is not a matter for Nato or the German government.

🐣 RT @clashreport Former White House energy adviser Bob McNally says there’s basically no policy fix if the Strait of Hormuz stays disrupted: ¤ There are no policy solutions to a prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz. ¤ Government tools like escorts, oil reserve releases, or gas tax cuts are marginal… symbolic… sideshows. ¤ You’ve got to restore the flow of the Strait of Hormuz. ¤ Even ending the war might not help: “No guarantee.”
// 60Minutes

⭕ 15 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @OccupyDemocrats BREAKING: Judge J. Michael Luttig declares lower federal courts are now America’s last line of defense – “The only people who can save America!”
¤ 💽 https://x.com/Acyn/status/2033261845692502427/video/1

Appearing on MediasTouch, former federal judge J. Michael Luttig delivered a stark warning: for the past five years, every single lower federal court judge has faithfully honored their oath to the Constitution by striking down nearly every major initiative from President Trump as unconstitutional.

“Today, the only people who can save America are the lower federal court judges of the United States of America,” Luttig said. “And they are determined to do so simply by honoring their oath in every one of these cases, now of which there are hundreds.”

He described the current crisis as little short of tragic: “Every single time Donald Trump opens his mouth or takes an action, the American people are forced to go into court and litigate it. That’s the tragic place that America finds itself in today.”

Luttig warned that the only remaining obstacle to full authoritarian overreach is the U.S. Supreme Court, which he suggested is currently blocking the American people from saving their democracy. …

TheGuardian, Simon Tisdall: Donald Trump is making America lose wars again https://tinyurl.com/yt7dth7p “Humiliating failure now looms [in Iran], as symbolically damaging to US global standing and national self-esteem as Afghanistan or Iraq”

Donald Trump menaces the world. He’s global public enemy number one. He’s steadily losing the illegal war with Iran he started but cannot stop. His violence-addicted Israeli sidekick, Benjamin Netanyahu, is terrorising Lebanon. And ordinary people everywhere, their security threatened, face a huge economic bill for his reckless folly.

Add Trump’s war-making to his daily debasing of democracy, appeasing of Russia, punitive tariffs, climate crisis denial and flouting of international law, and it’s clear this White House travesty has gone on long enough. Americans must put their house in order and act decisively to restrain someone who endangers us all.

Trump is a man without a plan. He hasn’t the foggiest what to do next in Iran, deluding himself that he is in control of events. The more the US and Israel batter Tehran and other cities, the more defiant is the odious, unvanquished Islamic regime. US regional bases and Gulf Arab partners are sustaining significant damage from retaliatory strikes. … …

Allies including Britain are dismayed and alienated by Trump’s arrogant refusal to consult and fatal lack of strategic planning, exemplified by his strait of Hormuz fiasco. He’s irresponsibly escalating the war, saying he is bombing Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal “just for fun” – which could further drive up global prices. Simultaneously, he’s asking those same allies to get directly involved by sending warships to his rescue in the strait. Unsurprisingly, there are no takers so far. Meanwhile, Russia – “temporarily”released from US oil sanctions to Ukraine’s great detriment – and China are profiting from Trump’s bellicose bungling and disdain for global opinion. …

TheGuardian, Simon Tisdall: Donald Trump is making America lose wars again https://tinyurl.com/yt7dth7p “Humiliating failure now looms [in Iran], as symbolically damaging to US global standing and national self-esteem as Afghanistan or Iraq”

Donald Trump menaces the world. He’s global public enemy number one. He’s steadily losing the illegal war with Iran he started but cannot stop. His violence-addicted Israeli sidekick, Benjamin Netanyahu, is terrorising Lebanon. And ordinary people everywhere, their security threatened, face a huge economic bill for his reckless folly.

Add Trump’s war-making to his daily debasing of democracy, appeasing of Russia, punitive tariffs, climate crisis denial and flouting of international law, and it’s clear this White House travesty has gone on long enough. Americans must put their house in order and act decisively to restrain someone who endangers us all.

Trump is a man without a plan. He hasn’t the foggiest what to do next in Iran, deluding himself that he is in control of events. The more the US and Israel batter Tehran and other cities, the more defiant is the odious, unvanquished Islamic regime. US regional bases and Gulf Arab partners are sustaining significant damage from retaliatory strikes. … …

Allies including Britain are dismayed and alienated by Trump’s arrogant refusal to consult and fatal lack of strategic planning, exemplified by his strait of Hormuz fiasco. He’s irresponsibly escalating the war, saying he is bombing Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal “just for fun” – which could further drive up global prices. Simultaneously, he’s asking those same allies to get directly involved by sending warships to his rescue in the strait. Unsurprisingly, there are no takers so far. Meanwhile, Russia – “temporarily”released from US oil sanctions to Ukraine’s great detriment – and China are profiting from Trump’s bellicose bungling and disdain for global opinion. …

🐣 RT @Pontifex In the face of the many questions of the human heart, as well as tragic situations of injustice, violence and suffering that mark our time, our faith needs to be alert, attentive and prophetic. Faith should open our eyes to the darkness of the world, and bring others the light of the Gospel through our commitment to peace, justice and solidarity.

🐣 RT @BMeiselas He’s crashing out. What a loser. Anyone who’s still on board with this dangerous moron should be ashamed of themselves.
⋙ 🐣 RT @Acyn Trump: Our Country was unnecessarily RANSACKED by the United States Supreme Court, which has become little more than a weaponized and unjust Political Organization.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/BMeiselas/status/2033377376395018368?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump The decision that mattered most to me was TARIFFS! The Court knew where I stood, how badly I wanted this Victory for our Country, and instead decided to, potentially, give away Trillions of Dollars to Countries and Companies who have been taking advantage of the United States for decades. Our Supreme Court has made these Countries very happy but, as the Court pointed out, I have the absolute right to charge TARIFFS in another form, and have already started to do so. The Hundreds of Billions of Dollars that our Adversaries want our Country to pay back to others that have disrespected the U.S.A., until came along, should be marked down, in the eyes of the Public, as just another reason why the United States had been in such major decline – But, not anymore, because we have MADE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN and, very soon, it will be GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!

I want to thank Justices Alito, Thomas, and Kavanaugh for their Wisdom and Courage pertaining to the TARIFF case, and for understanding, in addition to the Law, that our “Unfriendly Competitors” should not be reimbursed and rewarded for the decades of Damage they have caused THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I will fight hard to make sure that this does not happen! The Democrats on the Court always “stick together, no matter how strong a case is put before them – There is rarely even a minor “waver.” But Republicans do not do this. They openly disrespect the Presidents who nominate them to the highest position in the Land, a Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and go out of their way, with bad and wrongful rulings and intentions, to prove how “honest,” “independent,” and “legitimate” they are. The Democrat Justices just vote Democrat- They always stick together! Our Country was unnecessarily RANSACKED by the United States Supreme Court, which has become little more than a weaponized and unjust Political Organization. The sad thing is, they will only get worse! They wouldn’t even call out The Rigged Presidential Election of 2020, because they said that I, as President of the United States, did not have “standing” to challenge it, and now, with time, it has been conclusively proven to be stolen — And look what happened to our wonderful Nation by allowing a grossly incompetent man, Sleepy Joe Biden, to be our “President.” This completely inept and embarrassing Court was not what the Supreme Court of the United States was set up by our wonderful Founders to be. They are hurting our Country, and will continue to do so. All I can do, as President, is call them out for their bad behavior! This statement about the United States Supreme Court will cause me nothing but problems in the future, but I feel it is my obligation to speak the TRUTH. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @mccaffreyr3 A government of gangsters.
⋙ 🐣 RT @AFP BREAKING President Donald Trump says NATO faces a “very bad” future if US allies fail to help open the Strait of Hormuz, the critical oil transport conduit effectively shut by Iran in the Mideast war

🐣 RT @RonFilipkowski There is nothing in the NATO Charter that requires a member-state to join wars of aggression started by another member.

🐣 RT @McFaul Mr. President, you may have forgotten, but you recently threatened to invade a NATO ally.
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @atrupar Trump: “We’re always there for NATO. We’re helping them with Ukraine. It’s got an ocean in between us. It doesn’t affect us, but we’ve helped them. It would be interesting to see what country wouldn’t help us with a very small endeavor, which is just keeping the Strait open.”
⋙ 🐣 The US is no longer providing financial support to Ukraine. (It does continue to provide satellite data.) It has pushed Ukraine to accept Russia’s terms. It has insulted the EU and opposed its AI safeguards. It has imposed arbitrary tariffs. What’s not to like?

🐣 RT @atrupar Trump on Strait of Hormuz: “Really, I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their territory … they should help us. You could make the case that maybe we shouldn’t be there at all, because we don’t need it. We have a lot of oil.”
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2033348821850136829?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @Acyn Luttig: Every single lower federal court judge has honored his or her oath to the Constitution of the United States to the letter. In almost every instance, those judges collectively have struck down as unconstitutional essentially every initiative of this president, as the Constitution required them to do.
¤ 💽 https://x.com/Acyn/status/2033261845692502427?s=20/photo/1

So today, the only people who can save America are the lower federal court judges of the United States, and they are determined to do so simply by honoring their oath in every one of these cases.

There are hundreds of them. Every single time Donald Trump opens his mouth or takes an action, the American people are forced to go into court and litigate. That’s the tragic place America finds itself in today.

But to complete the thought, at this point it is only the Supreme Court of the United States that is standing in the way of the American people saving their country.

🐣 RT @IslanderWORLD 🇮🇷🇺🇸🇮🇱 The Economist has confirmed what the early satellite images already showed — Iran’s strikes on American radars, military bases and energy infrastructure were so devastatingly precise that the US moved to suppress the evidence.
¤ https://x.com/IslanderWORLD/status/2033320202004275709?s=20

Planet Labs, the primary commercial satellite provider, first imposed a 96-hour delay on Middle East imagery — then extended it to a full 14-day blackout covering all allied bases, Gulf States and conflict zones.

They said it was voluntary. Nobody instructed them. Sure. What did those early images show before the shutters came down? The AN/TPY-2 THAAD radar at Muwaffaq Salti, Jordan — charred rubble, two 13-foot craters, $500 million gone on Day One. The AN/FPS-132 early warning radar in Qatar — $1.1 billion, hit on the first night, one array confirmed destroyed. THAAD radar facilities at Al Ruwais and Al Sadr in the UAE — both struck with identical precision. Prince Sultan Air Base — five KC-135 tankers damaged. Al-Dhafra. Fifth Fleet Bahrain. Al-Udeid. The CIA station in Riyadh with the roof caved in.

All of it documented by commercial satellites before Washington realised the images were telling a story it couldn’t control.

Iran didn’t fire randomly. Iran fired surgically — targeting the eyes, the ears and the arteries of the entire American military architecture in the region. And the moment that became undeniable from space, the satellites went dark. Trump said Iran is “100% destroyed.” The 14-day blackout says they’re not done yet. The images that embarrass an empire disappear. The missiles keep flying.

⋙ 🐣 RT @goepat_patrick @grok can you confirm this?
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @grok Yes, multiple sources confirm key details.

Planet Labs (and Vantor) first delayed Middle East imagery by 96 hours, then extended to 14 days across Gulf states, Iraq, allied bases & Iran zones—to limit “adversarial” tactical use (per their statements to Reuters/Bloomberg). They call it voluntary.

Early commercial satellite images (NYT, CNN analysis) documented precise Iranian hits: THAAD radar destroyed in Jordan, AN/FPS-132 in Qatar damaged, Fifth Fleet Bahrain struck, UAE radars hit, plus other bases/refineries.

The Economist reported the blackout shutting down open-source intel (Mar 15 article) amid ongoing Iranian strikes on US/allied targets.

Trump’s “100% destroyed” claim contrasts with verified damage reports showing sustained Iranian capability.

⋙⋙⋙ 🐣 There have been reports that Iran got its satellite and targeting info from Russia. Can this be confirmed?
⋙⋙⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @grok Yes, multiple reports citing U.S. intelligence officials confirm Russia has shared satellite imagery and location data on U.S. forces (warships, aircraft, radars, bases) with Iran since late February 2026.
Key sources: AP (Mar 6), NBC News (Mar 6, 4 sources), Washington Post (3 officials), PBS.
Russia’s network supplements Iran’s limited satellites for better precision/BDA. Iran-Russia strategic pact (Jan 2025) enables this. No official Russian/Iranian confirmation or denial noted.

🐣 RT @Its_ereko US begs allies to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz. Here’s who said no:
¤ https://x.com/Its_ereko/status/2033158007769509914?s=20

Here’s who said no:
❌ China: Sovereign right to refuse
❌ France: No
❌ Japan: Will make own decision
❌ Germany: No convoy
❌ Norway: No convoy
❌ Italy: No
❌ Hungary: No
❌ Slovakia: No
❌ Czech: No
❌ Turkey: No
❌ Switzerland: No

Discussing/Pending:
UK: Reviewing options
South Korea: Under review,
Australia: Scared but under review

The empire asked. The world said no.
Not a single major ally said yes. Not one.
This is what isolation looks like. Not on paper. In real time. For everyone to see.
The US cannot open the Strait alone. Cannot protect its own ships. Cannot even get friends to help.
The era of automatic obedience is over. The era of “allies” is ending.
Iran controls the Strait. The US begs. The world watches. And says no.
// not sure about this: are landlocked out

🐣 RT @FaceTheNation Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says the regime is not in a war of survival, telling @margbrennan the regime is “stable and strong enough.”
“We don’t see any reason why we should talk with Americans, because we were talking with them when they decided to attack us, and that was for the second time,” Araghchi says.

🐣 RT @atrupar Schiff: “We are now giving Russia $140 million a day by releasing them from these sanctions when Russia is providing intelligence to Iran to better attack and kill American troops. It is rewarding Russia and punishing Ukraine.”
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2033201901236310381?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @carlbildt Jens Stoltenberg is refreshingly clear on the fact that the 🇺🇸🇮🇱 war is against international law. And says that NATO should stay out of any involvement in it.
💽 https://x.com/carlbildt/status/2033155797937451036?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @Pontifex On behalf of the Christians of the #MiddleEast, and of all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict: cease fire! May paths of dialogue be reopened! Violence can never lead to the justice, stability and peace for which the peoples are waiting.
⋙ 🐣 RT @bfry1981 Thank you, Papa. My thread on some of the bigger-picture issues not being talked about enough when it comes to this Iran, U.S., Israel war metastasizing before our very eyes
¤ [Mar 3] https://x.com/bfry1981/status/2033167334693605726?s=20

🐣 RT @cobracommanduhr I am an ex-Palantir executive, and it is factually correct that @PalantirTech intended to take over the US government while heavily funding the effort. Many of my ex-colleagues are now installed inside the USG apparatus. There is a reason the C-suite of $PLTR has me blocked. The enemy is within, and we are currently an occupied nation. 🇺🇸 We basically have a terrorist entity deeply embedding itself into the USG.
¤ https://x.com/cobracommanduhr/status/2033055215428223056?s=20

NYT, Thomas Friedman: Why Minnesota Matters More Than Iran for Americas Future https://tinyurl.com/2yzwhbdm “Donald Trump, who seeks to govern only by division, never by addition, accidentally created ‘out of many, one’ in Minnesota. Thank you, Mr. President. We needed that.”
⋙ See under Entire Articles: MN Beat Trump
// 3/15/2026; Inside title: “How Minnesota beat Trump”

“What came out of this was an understanding of who our neighbors are,” Abdi told me. “It has redefined that they are not just neighbors only. They are family, and we are not alone in this, and I have never been prouder to be a Minnesotan. That was a gift to our community. I have lived in the same place for 15 years, and I just met some of my neighbors. They brought over cookies.” …

“This was not a resistance movement,” Frey insisted. “It was about something far more powerful and expansive. It was ‘Love thy neighbor.’” ICE agents thought they were coming for random migrant strangers stalking Minneapolis, he added. What they learned the hard way was that, for many Minneapolitans, they were coming for their babysitter or their kid’s best friend — people embedded in their communities and not the caricature of the illegal immigrant rapist spread by the Trump administration. –

The longer I stayed in Minneapolis, the more a phrase that Jews recite on Hanukkah to commemorate the victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks came to my mind: “Nes gadol haya sham” — “A great miracle happened there.”

My shorthand for it is that Donald Trump, who seeks to govern only by division, never by addition, accidentally created “out of many, one” in Minnesota.

Thank you, Mr. President. We needed that.

Sondra Samuels, president of the Northside Achievement Zone, remarked to me that after Floyd’s killing, many white Minnesotans said, “That is so terrible what happened to Black people.” But the ICE invasion “happened to all of us. And then we redefined ‘us.’”

We redefined “us.” I love that expression. That is EXACTLY the miracle that happened here.

Flannery Clark, a parent-activist at a Minneapolis elementary school, told me, “Families are paying rent at our school for 130 other families.” They had “a lot of grandmas driving Subarus around to make sure their neighbors were safe. … We created a new version of ‘neighbor’ here, and we need to export that.”

We need to export that. I really love that expression, too.

Minneapolis, St. Paul and even lots of small rural towns look more like the world today than ever before. And the world looks more like Minnesota today than ever before. And so the great governing challenge in Minnesota, to my mind, is a microcosm of the great governing challenge facing America today: Can we make “out of many, one” — our great national project since our founding — when the “many” is now so much more diverse, even more than it was just 10 years ago.

If Minnesota can model that, maybe America can model it, too. And if America can model that, it could become our greatest political export to the world in the 21st century — as much as democracy was 250 years ago.

Why? Because today, as my friend Dov Seidman, an author and expert on leadership, likes to say: “Interdependence is no longer our choice. It is our ;condition.”

All the big existential challenges humanity faces today are planetary in scale — how to manage A.I., climate change, nuclear proliferation, pandemics and global migrations with so many people on the move. All of these challenges require planetary-scale collaboration. Either we figure that out soon — or we’re heading for a really bad century together.

In Minnesota, I heard a talk by Ian Bassin, a founder and the executive director of Protect Democracy, a nonprofit that works to ensure election integrity. In a follow-up conversation, he told me a story that perfectly captured the power, peril and importance of what happened here.

“A lifelong Minnesotan shared with me two lessons she’d learned watching the recent federal assault on her hometown,” said Bassin. “The first was her jarring realization that ‘there is no net below us.’ She had spent her life assuming that somewhere beneath the visible architecture of laws and institutions there existed a backstop — guardrails that would prevent a fall into the unthinkable. Watching masked federal agents abduct her neighbors and shoot them with impunity forced her to reckon with the reality that no such net exists.”

But the other lesson she drew from Minnesota, said Bassin, was that in the absence of solid safeguards, “watching ordinary citizens show up for one another — offering shelter, standing watch, car-pooling an endangered family’s kids to school — gave her a different kind of confidence. Not that formal checks will save us, but that solidarity remains a renewable resource — that we are and can be our own net.”

⭕ 14 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @ShaunPinnerUA Trumps giving money to Russia, they help target US service personnel for Iran ¤ Why aren’t you doing anything America? ¤ It’s crazy!
⋙ 🐣 There is another #NoKings march at the end of the month
Bruce Springsteen is giving a tour (to oppose ICE) that begins in Minneapolis and ends in a stafium in DC ¤ Why aren’t we “doing anything”?
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2033028349816107084?s=20

This is one infringement/crime among dozens. MAGA (Republicans) control both houses of Congress. They have power now.

Elections are in November. Democrats lead by 10% overall and flipped 28 seats in misc federal elections (Republicans have flipped 0). If we win even one house, then things can happen.

Until then, we have to address voters‘ concerns, which are:
1) inflation
2) ICE (immigration)
3) Trump lied to you
4) corruption
5) Epstein scandal

🧵 RT @revishvilig Fascinating insights from Pavlo Yelizarov, Deputy Commander of Ukraine’s Air Force: ¤ Russia currently has sufficient access to components and resources for its military production, including through domestic capacity and supply chains connected to China. 1/15
Source: https://youtu.be/LanvrFdGExc?si=phZwFHbh8YqxTqGT
📌 https://x.com/revishvilig/status/2032888201711391015?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2032888201711391015.html

As a result, external assistance is not necessarily critical for sustaining certain areas of production. One of Russia’s main strengths in small UAV development is its systematic approach. 2/15

While Ukraine tends to rely on creativity and improvisation, Russia builds structured systems. In many cases, systems ultimately outperform improvisation. Creativity alone cannot stop it unless it is combined with speed and adaptability. 3/15

Right now, we have a fairly large number of interceptor drones on inventory. The situation with drones has actually changed significantly, and in a positive way. We now have many high-quality manufacturers. 4/15

Now we need some level of standardization is necessary. That does not mean everything must be identical and gray like in the Soviet Union. 5/15

Rather, the goal is to create a model where a pilot receiving a drone can rely on familiar control principles and apply their existing skills to that type of system. 6/15

Ballistic missiles remain the primary threat for Ukraine. Whether Ukraine continues receiving interceptor missiles, such as those used with Patriot systems, largely depends on diplomatic decisions and global distribution. 7/15

At present, Ukraine does not yet have sufficient domestic capability to defend against ballistic missiles, although several projects are being developed that may eventually provide such protection. 8/15

We clearly understand that there are four components that will work together to create what we call the Ukrainian [Iron] dome. It will differ from the Israeli one, because our dome has to be much larger. Israel’s dome, in comparison, is just a small spot in terms of scale. 9/15

Starlink is the most optimal form of connectivity. At the beginning of the war the model was simple: Starlink worked on Ukrainian territory, while the enemy did not use it for communications. 10/15

Later, the enemy found ways to purchase Starlink terminals around the world. The UAE and other countries began selling them, and their communications along the frontline also shifted to Starlink. 11/15

As a result, they started flying over Ukrainian territory and receiving full video feeds.

At the same time, we could not use the same advantage in their territory because Starlink did not work there for us. 12/15

One of the ideas raised was simple: open Starlink over Russian territory as well. At least that would create parity.
Mykhailo Fedorov personally called Musk. Musk happened to be in a good mood. 13/15

They spoke, the video was turned on, and apparently they connected well — and the restrictions were adjusted. In the end, the solution Fedorov secured turned out to be close to ideal. 14/15

Frankly, Fedorov deserves a monument while he is still alive. I don’t know whether many people have truly appreciated this. 15/15

🐣 RT @ItsBorys Pretty dark that the family of a US crew member who died on a KC-135 has to run a GoFundMe to support his wife and three kids while Trump’s son in law is out raising $5B in the middle east
⋙ 🐣 RT @RpsAgainstTrump NEW: Jared Kushner, one of the U.S. government’s chief negotiators in the Middle East, is working to raise $5B for his private equity firm from governments in the region, the New York Times reports. ¤ His team has already met with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, whic [sic]
💽 https://x.com/ItsBorys/status/2032979413311127821?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @FDD Iran’s war against America has been relentless. There is no question as to whether the current war is just. It is. The debate is not about Iran. It’s about America’s role in the world.” — @JSchanzer writes in @Commentary
⋙ Commentary, Jonathan Schanzer: Regime Change Without Nation Building https://tinyurl.com/yc2k5c9c

🐣 RT @IsabelM31530319
[TextLink:] https://x.com/IsabelM31530319/status/2032966530208559560?s=20/photo/1

I deeply want to believe that all human beings are a blend of their best and their worst. Most of us are. I can’t find any best in Trump.
He is simply evil – A dark, deluded raging product of a childhood from which he cannot recover nor be redeemed.
Tony Schwartz
Ghost Author of “Art of the Deal”

🐣 RT @JasonBassler1 When nearly 4,000 Google employees sign petitions, 13 Palantir employees walk out, and OpenAI’s head of robotics resigns over AI drifting into warfare, surveillance, and state power… we should listen. ¤ When the insiders sound the alarm, that’s a warning.

🐣 RT @tedlieu Dear @BrendanCarrFCC: If you implement your flagrantly anti First Amendment actions, you will be sued and you will lose. And legal discovery will be awesome. Because the American people can then find out what the Administration keeps hiding. ¤ Take your fascist shit and shove it.
🐣 RT @ChrisMurphyCT The is the federal government telling news stations to provide favorable coverage of the war or their licenses will be pulled. ¤ A truly extraordinary moment. ¤We aren’t on the verge of a totalitarian takeover. WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT. ¤ Act like it.
⋙ 🐣 RT @BrendanCarrFCC Broadcasters that are running hoaxes and news distortions – also known as the fake news – have a chance now to correct course before their license renewals come up.
¤ https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/2032855414233047172?s=20

The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will lose their licenses if they do not.

And frankly, changing course is in their own business interests since trust in legacy media has now fallen to an all time low of just 9% and are ratings disasters.

The American people have subsidized broadcasters to the tune of billions of dollars by providing free access to the nation’s airwaves.

It is very important to bring trust back into media, which has earned itself the label of fake news.

When a political candidate is able to win a landslide election victory after in the face of hoaxes and distortions, there is something very wrong. It means the public has lost faith and confidence in the media. And we can’t allow that to happen.

⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @RapidResponse47
[TextLink:] https://x.com/BrendanCarrFCC/status/2032855414233047172?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonald Trump Yet again, an intentionally misleading headline by the Fake News Media about the five tanker planes that were supposedly struck down at an Airport in Saudi Arabia, and of no further use. In actuality, the Base was hit a few days ago, but the planes were not “struck” or “destroyed.” Four of the five had virtually no damage, and are already back in service. One had slightly more damage, but will be in the air shortly. None were destroyed, or close to that, as the Fake News said in headlines. The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (in particular), and other Lowlife “Papers” and Media actually want us to lose the War. Their terrible reporting is the exact opposite of the actual facts! They are truly sick and demented people that have no idea the damage they cause the United States of America. Fortunately, as proven by our Great and Conclusive Election Win in 2024, the People of our Country understand what is happening far better than the Fake News Media! President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @BDeMayo Hey @realDonaldTrump we always knew you were a scared little bitch that’d go running to your friends as soon as you realized you were in over your head. Maybe if you didn’t piss off the entire fucking world with your dumb ass tariff bullshit you’d have some lmfao. Get bent.
[TextLink:]https://x.com/BDeMayo/status/2032899917765550522?s=20 /photo/1

[Text:] 🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump The United States of America has beaten and completely decimated Iran, both Militarily, Economically, and in every other way, but the Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help— A LOT! The U.S. will also coordinate with those Countries so that everything goes quickly, smoothly, and well. This should have always been a team effort, and now it will be
– It will bring the World together toward Harmony, Security, and Everlasting Peace!
President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @AdamKinzinger Wow we’ve destroyed 100 percent of Irans military. ¤ But we’re still going to have to bomb non existent military.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/AdamKinzinger/status/2032837318768316867?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump Many Countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz Strait, will be sending War Ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the Strait open and safe. We have already destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military capability, but it’s easy for them to send a drone or two, drop a mine, or deliver a close range missile somewhere along, or in, this Waterway, no matter how badly defeated they are. Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated. In the meantime, the United States will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline, and continually shooting Iranian Boats and Ships out of the water. One way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait OPEN, SAFE, and FREE! President DONALD J. TRUMP

🧵RT @ChrisMurphyCT It’s crystal clear now that Trump has lost control of this war. He badly misjudged Iran’s ability to retaliate. The region is on fire.
1/ I’m going to explain to you in this [thread] what I’ve learned – in part from closed door briefings – about the four biggest current crises.
📌 https://x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2032803960239595562?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2032803960239595562.html

2/ CRISIS ONE: Trump believed Iran would not close the Strait of Hormuz. He was wrong. And now oil prices are spiking. ¤ If the Strait stays closed, a global recession will result. It actually may already be too late. Gas prices are the first to spike, but food prices are next.

WASHINGTON-Before the U.S. went to war, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told President Trump that an American attack could prompt Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz.

Caine said in several briefings that U.S. officials had long believed Iran would deploy mines, drones and missiles to close the world’s most vital shipping lane, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.

Trump acknowledged the risk, these people said, but moved forward with the most consequential foreign-policy decision of his two presidencies. He told his team that Tehran would likely capitulate before closing the strait-and even if Iran tried, the U.S. military could handle it.

Now, two weeks into the war, Iran’s leaders have refused to back down, and the Strait of Hormuz has emerged as Tehran’s most potent leverage point.

2/ Right now, Trump has no plan to reopen the Strait. And a plan may not exist. ¤ The assets Iran uses to harass and attack tankers – thousands of small drones, speed boats and mines – cannot be eliminated. They are too numerous, too spread out and hidden. [Fox link:] https://tinyurl.com/39ycxcxz

3/ What about naval escorts for tankers? This is a possibility, but it’s harder than you think.
First, it would require our entire navy. 100 tankers need escorting each day.
Second, if we can’t destroy the mines and drones, our ships are at risk too.

Why naval escorts through Strait of Hormuz are so risky ¤ The U.S. has yet to begin escorting oil tankers through the treacherous Strait of Hormuz, something that increasingly looks like a high-risk proposition during the war with Iran. President Trump, w… [Hill link:] https://tinyurl.com/5f423c7c

4/ CRISIS TWO: We can destroy Iran’s missiles but not all their drones, and war today is drone war. ¤ Iran can hit oil sites in the region indefinitely because they posses so many cheap, weaponized drones. ¤ And they are. They blew up a critical Oman oil depot two days ago.

5/ If Trump paid any attention to the Ukraine War he would have noticed how warfare has changed. But he didn’t. And he blundered. ¤ Worse, the Gulf states are running out of interceptors to stop Iranian missiles and drones – meaning that soon more oil sites will be vulnerable.

6/ CRISIS THREE: A broader, regional war is breaking out as Iranian proxies in Lebanon hit Israel and those in Iraq target the U.S.. Israel is now threatening a massive ground invasion of Lebanon, which could become its own new crisis. [WSJ link:] https://tinyurl.com/3yvv2mt4

7/ Other potential flash points lurk. So far, the Houthis in Yemen have been relatively quiet. Probably not for long. They can project power into the Red Sea.

For Syria, this is the worst time for Trump to strike Iran. Syria could explode again. ¤ The War with Iran Threatens Syria’s Recovery ¤ Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa has a strategy for Syria’s recovery. The war with Iran could jeopardize that. [CSIS link:] https://tinyurl.com/45vrpufh

8/ CRISIS FOUR: Trump has no endgame. Iran and its proxies can create chaos indefinitely.
So what’s next? A ground invasion?This would be Armageddon. Thousands of dead Americans. ¤ Declare false victory? Then the new Iranian hardliners in charge just rebuild what we destroyed.

9/ All of this was totally foreseeable. Frankly, it’s why previous presidents weren’t so stupid to start a war like this. ¤ Trump has lost control of the war. His best course now is to cut his losses and end it. That’s the only way to prevent an even bigger disaster.

⭕ 13 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @arenda The 1907 Hague Convention, specifically provides: “it is especially forbidden . . . To declare that no quarter shall be given.” Hague Regulations, Art 23, d. The U.S. has been a party to this treaty since 1909.
⋙ 🐣 RT @Acyn Hegseth: No quarter, no mercy for our enemies. Yet some in the press just can’t stop. More fake news from CNN reports that the Trump administration underestimated the Iran war’s impact on the strait of hormuz. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.

TheAtlantic, Phillips Payson O’Brien: Why Trump Didn’t Plan for the Strait of Hormuz https://tinyurl.com/mrykydfu “[As] former Defense Secretary James Mattis, a first-term Trump appointee, was fond of pointing out: Once hostilities begin, ‘the enemy gets a vote.’”
// In wartime, the enemy always gets a vote.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2032704144079826946?s=20/photo/1

… Trump seemed to assume after Khamenei’s death that Iran’s next ruler would be someone of his choice. “We’re going to have to choose that person along with Iran,” he told Reuters. “We’re going to have to choose that person.”

Top Iranian clerics ignored Trump’s preferences and chose Khamenei’s son Mojtaba, a hard-liner whom the U.S. president had previously deemed“unacceptable to me.” In his first public statement as supreme leader, the younger Khamenei declared, “Certainly, the lever of closing the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used.” …
v
Trump is now learning what Putin found out in Ukraine: that most leaders who start a war with an assumption of a quick and decisive victory are underestimating the enemy. Some militaries are too confident in their own capacity to overwhelm any hostile army; some are drawn from societies that simply look down on their enemies. Discounting the enemy’s ability to adapt is also a trait of megalomaniacal leaders—many of whom choose advisers who tell them what they want to hear and suppress information that would make them unhappy. …
^
In a slightly bizarre turn, the United States has had to reach out to Ukraine for assistance in defending against Iranian drones. The Trump administration scaled back U.S. assistance to Ukraine and has consistently appeared sympathetic to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s views, but Ukrainians are now working with American forces and those of some of the Gulf States, training them on how to use cheap, effective Ukrainian equipment to take down inexpensive Iranian drones.

U.S. forces are not going to be defeated in battle and can still attack any individual Iranian target they want. But the U.S. is struggling because Iran also got a vote. And with that vote, it is posing strategic questions that the Trump administration clearly did not anticipate and for which it did not prepare.

Bloomberg: US Hits Military Targets on Iran’s Kharg Island as War Escalates https://tinyurl.com/5ecmw85s “The 14th day of the war marked the largest attacks yet against the Islamic Republic, with the US and Israel hitting around 15,000 targets since the war began”
// cont.: according to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2032697541309895104?s=20/photo/1

Takeaways:
• President Donald Trump said the US had bombed military targets on a critical Iranian outpost in the Persian Gulf and threatened additional strikes targeting oil infrastructure if Tehran continued to block energy flows.

• The US bombed military targets on Kharg Island, but did not strike the island’s energy facilities, in what amounts to a warning shot to Iran and a threat that the US may be willing to strike targets that are part of the country’s energy infrastructure.

• The US is sending the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from Japan to the Middle East and has announced that the death toll for its military operation rose, with all six crew members aboard a US refueling aircraft that crashed in western Iraq killed, bringing to 13 the number of American service members who have died.

WSJ: Trump Knew the Risk of Iran Blocking the Strait of Hormuz. He Still Went to War. https://tinyurl.com/49z8uecn “The president told his White House team that Tehran would likely capitulate before closing the strait, the world’s most vital shipping lane”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2032693252508275022?s=20/photo/1

WASHINGTON—Before the U.S. went to war, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told President Trump that an American attack could prompt Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz. 

Caine said in several briefings that U.S. officials had long believed Iran would deploy mines, drones and missiles to close the world’s most vital shipping lane, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.

Trump acknowledged the risk, these people said, but moved forward with the most consequential foreign-policy decision of his two presidencies. He told his team that Tehran would likely capitulate before closing the strait—and even if Iran tried, the U.S. military could handle it.

🐣 RT @JohnJHarwood yeah, the President of the United States is a hard-core racist
‼️ ⋙ 🐣 RT @highbrow_nobrow “A lot of them were let in here, they shouldn’t have been let in. Their genetics are not exactly your genetics. It’s one of those problems…” – President Donald Trump suggests immigrants have problematic “genetics”.
💽 https://x.com/JohnJHarwood/status/2032516816057282632?s=20/photo/1

NYT, Mairav Zonszein: A War for One Man https://tinyurl.com/msrzuvbe “There are no longer dissenting voices present in Israel’s military or govt, because Netanyahu has surrounded himself with loyalists and ideological politicians. And, in Washington, there is a trigger-happy president.”

🐣 RT @StratcomCentre Russian military bloggers complaining that Ukraine is now dominating at the front, “a dire situation” with drone swarms changing frequencies, fiber optics drones and mother drones overwhelming their forces.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/StratcomCentre/status/2032528987302322355?s=20/photo/1

German Sadulaev
The situation on the front is dire. The enemy has once again gained superiority in the lower skies. Their drones have become more numerous, and their quality has changed again. Many drones are using fiber optics, radio drones have changed frequencies, are using “mother drones,” and so on. Our electronic warfare isn’t helping, and even our drone detectors aren’t signaling. The enemy is flying in flocks of several hundred drones, in swarms, and is using Al.
[br]
enemy is currently isolating the front lines and the entire combat zone. There are no logistics. Delivering supplies, evacuating the wounded, and carrying out rotations are mortally dangerous tasks. In many areas, after the isolation, drone fire strikes begin, followed by a counterattack.The enemy is recapturing its positions. The risk of a major breakthrough cannot be ruled out.
[br]
Many military personnel say the enemy is preparing a repeat of the fall of 2022, when we lost vast territories. But this time, the defeat could be even worse.
[kr]
Organizational and technical countermeasures against drones are urgently needed. New solutions.
[br]
If the generals in stripes don’t put new decisions into effect now, tomorrow will be too late. For them

CNN: Trump administration underestimated Iran war’s impact on Strait of Hormuz https://tinyurl.com/2nt8h3xd //➔ escorting ships won’t work and will endanger crews; Invading with Marines will likely fail, too, or could start the biggest war since Viet Nam (my pov); terrain ⇊
🌎 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2032544500577341809?s=20/photo/1 -2

The Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes while planning the ongoing operation, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

President Donald Trump’s national security team failed to fully account for the potential consequences of what some officials have described as a worst-case scenario now facing the administration, the sources said.

While key officials from the Departments of Energy and Treasury were present for some of the official planning meetings about the operation before it started, sources said, the agency analysis and forecasts that would be integral elements of the decision-making process in past administrations were secondary considerations.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Energy Secretary Chris Wright have been key players throughout the planning and execution stages of the conflict, the sources acknowledged. But Trump’s preference of leaning on a tight circle of close advisers in his national security decision making had the effect of sidelining interagency debate over the potential economic fallout if Iran were to respond to US-Israeli strikes by closing the strait.

And now it may be weeks before the administration’s efforts to alleviate the intensifying economic fallout take hold, officials said Thursday, including high-risk naval escorts of oil tankers through the strait that the Pentagon believes are currently too dangerous to conduct. The president, meanwhile, has continued to downplay the tumult in energy markets and the danger. He told Fox News that oil tanker crews should “show some guts” and go through the strait.

“Planning around preventing this exact scenario — impossible as it has long seemed — has been a bedrock principle of US national security policy for decades,” a former US official who served in Republican and Democratic administrations said. “I’m dumbfounded.”

Shipping industry executives have made regular requests to the US Navy for military escorts, all of which have been rebuffed. […]

But there was no indication that there were any near-term solutions to the problem that threatened to consume the international economy given the scale of the threat still posed by Iranian assets in and around the strait, the sources familiar said. […]

Multiple current and former US officials told CNN that plans for any military action against Iran would account for the possibility of Iran closing the waterway. The US military has long maintained and updated plans to address Iranian military action in the critical corridor.

But at a moment where global oil and LNG supplies were plentiful, US oil production sat at record highs and Trump officials were basking in a pliant Venezuelan government and the potential for rapid expansion of new production from a former foe, the global scale of the downside risks was not viewed as a major consideration.

Even in weighing the potential for disruption in the strait, the administration has been far more focused on its overwhelmingly positive — if still aspirational — view of how markets would respond to eliminating the threat of Iranian disruptions entirely.

“To win in life, you’ve got to suffer short-term pain for the long-term gain, and that’s what we’re in the middle of doing right now,” Wright said in a Wednesday interview on NewsNation. “I think the American people will be thrilled with a peaceful world on the other side and more secure supplies of energy for decades to come.” […]

“The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money,” [Trump] wrote on Truth Social, without explaining who he meant by “we.”

He added that his military aims against Iran were more consequential than shifts in global energy costs.

“Of far greater interest and importance to me, as President, is stoping an evil Empire, Iran, from having Nuclear Weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the World,” Trump wrote. …

Bessent announced Thursday that the Treasury Department is temporarily lifting sanctions on Russian oil stranded at sea. […]

🔆 This❗️⋙ WaPo: Pentagon Is Moving Additional Marines, Warships to the Middle East https://tinyurl.com/56ju5jt8 Hegseth has approved a request from CENTCOM “for an element of an amphibious ready group and attached Marine expeditionary unit, typically consisting of several warships and 5,000 Marines and sailors”

The Pentagon is moving additional Marines and warships to the Middle East as Iran steps up its attacks on the Strait of Hormuz, according to three U.S. officials. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved a request from U.S. Central Command, responsible for American forces in the Middle East, for an element of an amphibious ready group and attached Marine expeditionary unit, typically consisting of several warships and 5,000 Marines and sailors, the officials said.

The Japan-based USS Tripoli and its attached Marines are now headed for the Middle East, two of the officials said. Marines are already in the Middle East supporting the Iran operation, the officials said.

The move comes as Iran’s attacks on the strait have paralyzed traffic through the strategic waterway, disrupting the global economy, driving up gas prices and posing a major military and political challenge for President Trump. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment

Corrections & Amplifications
An amphibious ready group and attached Marine expeditionary unit typically consist of several warships and 5,000 Marines and sailors. An earlier version of this post incorrectly said it typically consists of 5,000 Marines. (Corrected on March 13)

🧵 RT @joni_askola 1/8 Russian intelligence always finds a way to completely screw up. ¤ They recently tried to build an untraceable new hit squad, but got caught because their top operatives literally typed their secret assassination plans into Google Translate
📌 https://x.com/joni_askola/status/2032468394448998739?s=20

🐣 RT @Biz_Ukraine_Mag The Iran war has highlighted Ukraine’s remarkable rise as a drone superpower. In 2022, Ukraine barely had a domestic drone industry. Today, Ukraine’s unrivaled drone warfare expertise is being used to guard US bases and Gulf states. Zelenskyy has cards!
⋙ AtlanticCouncil: Iran war highlights Ukraine’s rapid rise to drone superpower status https://tinyurl.com/dr8j9xum “The Iran war has sparked a sudden surge in international demand for Ukraine’s unique drone warfare expertise.”

🐣 RT @AaronBlake BREAKING: Fourth-quarter GDP growth has been revised downward from 1.4% to 0.7%

⭕ 12 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @_Investinq Palantir’s CEO just told a room of Silicon Valley investors that AI is about to blow up the Democratic Party’s professional class base.​
¤ https://x.com/_Investinq/status/2032136043642728670?s=20

Alex Karp runs Palantir, which builds AI systems for the Pentagon, the CIA, and allied militaries.​

He is describing what his technology is likely to do to the workforce and the political map.

Karp says AI will heavily disrupt college educated, highly trained professionals, the core Democratic voter base in cities and suburbs.​

He argues their economic power will shrink as AI eats white‑collar work.

He also says vocational, working class jobs in the physical world will gain relative power because AI cannot easily replace them.​

Those workers are often male, non‑degreed, and more likely to vote Republican.

Karp calls anyone who thinks this disruption will somehow be politically manageable “in an insane asylum”.​

He is saying out loud that you cannot wreck one side’s core voters and expect politics to stay stable.

Then he turns to Silicon Valley.

He argues the industry cannot both destroy professional‑class jobs and refuse to support the US military at the same time.​

In his view, the only justification for taking on huge social risk from AI is national defense.​

If America does not build these systems, adversaries will, and Americans could end up under someone else’s rules.

He warns that if AI companies decouple from the military, they invite a backlash from both left and right.​

That backlash, he suggests, points toward bringing AI companies under direct government control.

Karp says these technologies are “dangerous societally” and will disrupt “the very fabric of our society, including the most powerful parts of our society”.​

He is telling the industry it owes the public an explanation for why this disruption is worth it.

His core message is that AI will weaken Democratic leaning educated workers, strengthen vocational workers, and push politics toward a showdown over who controls the tech.​

And unless AI is clearly tied to defending the country, he thinks the public will eventually move to seize it.

NYT: Hegseth’s Boasts of ‘Maximum’ Engagement Authorities Face Scrutiny After School Is Hit https://tinyurl.com/5eksdbjw “The defense secretary has disparaged restrictive rules for opening fire that are aimed at reducing the risk of mistakes and civilian casualties.”

🐣 RT @business Russia is currently providing Iran with intelligence including satellite imagery and drone targeting tactics, according to people familiar with US and Western
⋙ Bloomberg: Putin’s ‘Hidden Hand’ Guides Iran’s Strikes in Widening War https://tinyurl.com/2j6undrm “Moscow is currently providing Iran with various forms of intelligence, including satellite imagery and drone targeting tactics, in an effort to help Iran hit back at US forces in the region”

Russian intelligence support for Iran’s deadly retaliation against the US, Israel and Gulf allies — as well as concerns China may also be helping Tehran — demonstrates deepening ties among US adversaries as the war with Iran continues to widen.

Moscow is currently providing Iran with various forms of intelligence, including satellite imagery and drone targeting tactics, in an effort to help Iran hit back at US forces in the region, according to people familiar with US and Western intelligence.

It’s uncertain to what degree the intelligence given to Iran is effective and timely, and how regularly Russia is providing actionable information, according to one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. But it reflects a crucial relationship highlighted by Russia’s reliance on deadly Iranian Shahed attack drones in its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

“No one will be surprised to believe that Putin’s hidden hand is behind some of the Iranian tactics and potentially some of their capabilities as well,” UK Defence Secretary John Healey said at a military briefing in London on Thursday.

“Patterns of Iranian attack have the hallmarks of the way Russia is attacking Ukraine,” he said, adding that was to be expected “knowing how closely that alliance of aggression has been growing over the last few years.”

Russia and Iran have deepened military cooperation in recent years after Moscow turned to other US geopolitical foes, including Tehran and North Korea, for support after its global isolation following the 2022 invasion of its neighbor. Now there are concerns that China could also be providing Iran with some form of support.

Following an intelligence briefing on Iran earlier this week, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, said Russia seems to be aiding Tehran “actively and intensively, with intelligence and perhaps with other means” and added that “China may also be assisting Iran.” …

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin denied sharing information with Tehran in a call with President Donald Trump.

“The Russians said that they have not been sharing — that’s what they said, so we can take them at their word,” Witkoff said. “It’s a better question for the intel people. But let’s hope that they’re not sharing.”

However, Putin has explicitly expressed “unwavering support for Tehran” and congratulated Mojtaba Khamenei on his selection as Iran’s new supreme leader, after his father was killed in the opening hours of the US and Israeli bombardment that started the war. Putin’s also vowed to remain a reliable partner of the Islamic Republic, even as he’s avoided criticizing Trump for the war.

Moscow has regularly used Iranian-made one-way attack drones to strike Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure. Iran later supplied technology for Russia to start its own mass-production of the deadly drones.

In return for the war aid, Russia has been sharing sensitive military know-how for years — an exchange that’s now deepened in recent days in light of Iran’s conflict with the US, Israel and Gulf nations. The Washington Post and CNN were first to report elements of Russia’s intelligence support to Iran.

“The lessons learned have been happening throughout the course of the war in Ukraine, but the implications now are here,” said Andrea Kendall-Taylor, a former senior US intelligence official now at the Center for a New American Security. “We’re seeing it now happen in real time, in a real case.”

Kendall-Taylor pointed to Iran’s tactics of targeting oil infrastructure as a way to inflict maximum pain on an adversary as one likely gleaned from Russia’s own conflict in Ukraine, either passively or directly. Russia also has experience countering US-made weaponry, including Patriot missiles and ATACMS tactical surface-to-surface missiles, in Ukraine. “They can also share some of that know-how with the Iranians,” she said.

Iran’s widespread use of the relatively cheap drones in the conflict has put a strain on the US military and Gulf allies, forcing them to use protection systems designed primarily to combat more advanced weapons.

It’s hard for Western allies to estimate how many drones Iran has and makes, compared to its missiles and rocket launchers, given it’s much easier to establish ad hoc facilities, one of the people familiar with the matter said. Key to Iran’s ability to manufacture the drones is whether they can smuggle in engines, they said.

It’s also unclear how exactly China might be providing support to Iran, beyond being the main buyer of Iran’s oil and helping prop up its economy. Beijing helped Russia indirectly throughout its invasion of Ukraine including with commercial companies providing satellite imagery and know-how to build drones.

Asked whether China was helping Iran with information about the US military, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a Thursday briefing in Beijing that he was “not aware of what you mentioned.”

Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the chair of the intelligence committee, told Fox News on Wednesday he couldn’t confirm or deny reports about China and Russia supporting Iran. But he warned that “Russia and China, if they were to provide any assistance to Iran, are playing with fire.”

🐣 RT @OccupyDemocrats BREAKING: Trump is dealt a massive political black eye as a top United Nations panel condemns him for his relentless hate speech and deeply cruel immigration policies. ¤ The entire world is starting to stand up to this bully…
¤ https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/2032138845362536764?s=20

“The Committee was deeply disturbed by the growing use of derogatory and dehumanizing language, and the dissemination of negative and harmful stereotypes targeting migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers,” wrote the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, a group of 18 independent experts.

They stated that hate speech from leaders like Trump, in tandem with his brutal immigrations crackdowns around places like schools and churches, has led to “grave human rights violations.” This has long been apparent to the American people, who have been forced to watch as masked federal thugs flood our streets, terrorizing and murdering people at will.

The panel further stated that leaders like Trump have pushed stereotypes about migrants, refugees and asylum seekers (which Trump regularly does to excite his racist MAGA base) by “portraying them as criminals or as a burden.” Such language, the panel concluded, leads to discrimination and even hate crimes.

They also specifically called out Trump’s ICE and Customs and Border Protection for implementing discriminatory policies like racial profiling and “random” identity checks to target people of color.

The panel further wrote that they are “deeply concerned” about the skyrocketing number of detainees imprisoned in detention facilities — pointing out that it spiked from 40,000 in 2024 to 73,000 in 2026.

The panel experts are also “alarmed by the death of detained refugees, asylum seekers and undocumented immigrants in migration detention facilities, particularly the deaths of at least 29 migrants in 2025 and six in January 2026.”

They urged the White House to begin complying with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

This is what Trump has done to America. The entire world can see that we’re being controlled by a deeply racist fascist regime. We commend them for speaking out and adding their voices to ours!

TheAtlantic, Lila Shroff: Even Silicon Valley Says that AI Is a Bubble https://tinyurl.com/3hddyr3r “The narrative of a ‘good bubble’ concerning in that it provides justification for investors to keep pumping money into AI, regardless of whether it really makes sense to do so”
// An AI crash could bring down the economy. Some in the tech world think that’s the price of progress.

🐣 RT @newrepublic His message is loud and clear: My technology will take political capital away from one of your greatest enemies—liberal women with degrees—and give one of your favorite demographics to patronize—working class men—more political power to transfer to you. https://trib.al/N2l8EDM
// Palantir CEO Alex Karp Makes Shocking Confession on Disrupting Democratic Power

WaPo: Lebanon appeals to Israel’s allies to stop strikes as death toll rises https://tinyurl.com/yc6x992j “The Iran war is expanding into Lebanon, as the Israeli offensive to dismantle Hezbollah has displaced 800,000 people there, with more than 680 people killed.”

NYT: Oil Shock Sends Tremors Through World Economy: ‘This Really Is the Big One’ https://tinyurl.com/ye294za5 “Countries already walloped by a breakdown of the international trading order, war in Ukraine and chaotic US policymaking are facing potentially lasting economic damage”

⭕ 11 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom Netanyahu is once again attempting his favorite trick: transmuting a national existential crisis into a personal political lifeline… If all of this sounds premature, bordering on hubristic, that’s because it is.” – @Yair_Rosenberg
⋙ TheAtlantic, Yair Rosenberg: Netanyahu’s Very Useful War https://tinyurl.com/33khvand “The Israeli leader is trying to make the Iran war work to his political advantage. He may not succeed.”

Benjamin Netanyahu has spent the better part of two decades perfecting the art of the political escape. Just when his career appears to be buried under the weight of indictments, or his coalition fatally fractured, he reappears, seemingly unscathed, with a new lease on power. Today, as Israel finds itself locked in a multifront war with Iran and its proxies, Netanyahu is once again attempting his favorite trick: transmuting a national existential crisis into a personal political lifeline.

TheAtlantic, Franklin Foer: The Obvious Is Taking Its Revenge on Trump https://tinyurl.com/bez52r4n “He believed that the worst-case scenarios that have deterred past presidents from attacking Iran wouldn’t come true for him, because he is Donald Trump.”
// The reasons other U.S. presidents avoided war with Iran are becoming all too evident.

🐣 RT @shashj “Officers at U.S. Central Command created the target coordinates for the [Minab school] strike using outdated data provided by the Defense Intelligence Agency, people briefed on the investigation said.”
⋙ NYT: U.S. at Fault in Strike on School in Iran, Preliminary Inquiry Says https://tinyurl.com/4ufk2x48 “Outdated targeting data may have resulted in a mistaken missile strike, according to the ongoing military investigation, which undercuts President Trump’s assertion that Iran could be to blame.”

WSJ: IEA Will Launch Largest-Ever Oil Release From Global Strategic Reserves https://tinyurl.com/ms2wwxkt 400M barrels will be released in an attempt to prevent supply disruptions and tame crude prices.
//➔ Will the America Firsters say “Thank you even once” to the globalist IEA?

🐣 RT @BrennanCenter Anthropic’s recent clash with the Defense Department over mass surveillance and autonomous weapons shows why the Pentagon’s use of AI must be reined in. Our latest report documents the Pentagon’s rapid adoption of AI and outlines safeguards to ensure the technology is deployed responsibly.
⋙ BrennanCenter: The Business of Military AI https://tinyurl.com/3hx43rkp “The Pentagon has been spending tens of billions of dollars to adopt new technologies at breakneck speed. Without oversight and safeguards, military applications of artificial intelligence could jeopardize civil liberties and lives.”
⋙⋙ [pdf link:] https://tinyurl.com/sryamc3w 46p

🐣 RT @TheEconomist The greatest civilisations of the past 3,000 years were the opposite of MAGA
⋙ TheEconomist: How golden ages really start—and end https://tinyurl.com/bdf8emus The greatest civilisations of the past 3,000 years were the opposite of MAGA

CNN: Breaking: Russia is giving Iran specific advice on drone tactics, Western intelligence source says https://tinyurl.com/25cbdf9k

🐣 RT @TheRickWilson Oh, you don’t say? ¤ Who could have imagined a team of intellectual, strategic, historical, and moral pygmies led by a senile criminal whose worldview was shaped by 1950s television somehow misread history, culture, economics, and intent of Iran.
⋙ NYT: How Trump and His Advisers Miscalculated Iran’s Response to War https://tinyurl.com/35utpze2 “In the lead-up to the U.S.-Israeli attack, President Trump downplayed the risks to the energy markets as a short-term concern that should not overshadow the mission to decapitate the Iranian regime.”

🐣 RT @TIME TIME’s new cover: How Anthropic found itself in an existential fight over the future of war
⋙ TIME: The Most Disruptive Company in the World https://tinyurl.com/2s485usr
🖼 https://x.com/TIME/status/2031703362694230122?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @ukraine_ua 💬 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy:
¤ https://x.com/ukraine_ua/status/2031700586706391133?s=20

‘Our team is now on its way to the Gulf region, where they can help protect lives and stabilise the situation. We see the challenges that exist now: the Iranian regime has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz – one of the main routes for supplying oil and gas to the global market. This is a major source of instability. No one in the world can yet say how long all of this will last, but it is important that the protection of life starts working effectively as soon as possible. Stability is important for us as well.

Those now seeking Ukraine’s help must continue to assist our own defence – first and foremost, our air defence. Last year, we already proposed a drone agreement to the United States. This is the right way forward: to partner with us in the production and use of drones, and everyone now sees that there is no alternative to this approach. Ukraine has the greatest experience in the world in countering attack drones, and without our experience, it will be very difficult for the Gulf region, the entire Middle East, and partners in Europe and America to build strong protection.

⭕ 10 Mar 2026

NYT: How Trump and His Advisers Miscalculated Iran’s Response to War https://tinyurl.com/thra5pr9 “In the lead-up to the US-Israeli attack, Trump downplayed the risks to the energy markets as a short-term concern that should not overshadow the mission to decapitate the Iranian regime”

TheAtlantic, David Graham: Trump Can’t Decide Whether the Iran War Is Still Going On https://tinyurl.com/2vbtj9t9 “Asked when the war would completely end, Trump told CBS, ‘Wrapping up is all in my mind, nobody else’s.’ That’s not very reassuring, for stock markets or anyone else.”
// The president seems to be at odds with both himself and his secretary of defense about the status of the conflict.

🐣 RT @BulwarkOnline Just as Putin’s arrogance blinded him to the risks of war in Ukraine, Trump’s construction of an echo chamber in the executive branch has warped his judgment.
⋙ TheBulwark: Trump Is Repeating Putin’s Blunder https://tinyurl.com/49f4mae3 “Both men thought they could start easy, quick regime-change wars at minimal cost.”

🐣 RT @lizzadwoskin SCOOP: Last year we reported extensively on Elon Musk’s desire to break into the data pipes of government to bypass the federal bureaucracy. That approach had major consequences — one of which we reveal today: A DOGE bro allegedly made off with volumes upon volumes of highly sensitive Social Security data – the agency’s “crown jewels” – which he downloaded on a thumb drive and brought over to his new job. Me, @MerylKornfield @FedGirlWaPo report on this unprecedented breach:
⋙ WaPo: Whistleblower claims ex-DOGE member says he took Social Security data https://tinyurl.com/37z24acz https://tinyurl.com/37z24acz The SocSec IG’s office “is investigating allegations that the former DOGE engineer took sensitive data on a thumb drive in major breach”
// cont.: potential security breach, said people familiar with the process.

🐣 RT @Saganismm “Jefferson, Washington, Samuel and John Adams, Madison and Monroe, Benjamin Franklin, Tom Paine and many others; we have before us a list of at least ten and maybe even dozens of great political leaders.

They were well educated. Products of the European Enlightenment, they were students of history. They knew human fallibility and weakness and corruptibility. They were fluent in the English language. They wrote their own speeches. They were realistic and practical, and at the same time motivated by high principles. They were not checking the pollsters on what to think this week. They knew what to think. They were comfortable with long-term thinking, planning even further ahead than the next election. They were self-sufficient, not requiring careers as politicians or lobbyists to make a living. They were able to bring out the best in us. They were interested in and, at least two of them, fluent in science. They attempted to set a course for the United States into the far future — not so much by establishing laws as by setting limits on what kinds of laws could be passed.

The Constitution and its Bill of Rights have done remarkably well, constituting, despite human weaknesses, a machine able, more often than not, to correct its own trajectory. At that time, there were only about two and a half million citizens of the United States. Today there are about a hundred times more. So if there were ten people of the caliber of Thomas Jefferson then, there ought to be 10 x 100 = 1,000 Thomas Jefferson’s today. Where are they?” — Carl Sagan

WaPo, Jeanne Shaheen: Putin’s actions in Iran demand a US response https://tinyurl.com/3cwttpvv “US officials believe Russia is sharing intelligence with Iran as Tehran targets American and allied interests in the region. Russia is not a bystander in this crisis.”
// Russia is counting on Iran distracting the United States from Ukraine.
[TextLink:] /photo/1

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom “We can take them at their word.” No, you can’t, but this is what happens when you don’t send experts – experienced diplomats – and instead send your son-in-law and a guy you know.
💽 [CNBC] https://x.com/atrupar/status/2031401639949615349?s=20/photo/1

⋙ 🐣 RT @atrupar QUINTANILLA: Do we think the Russians have shared intel about the location of US military assets, and if so, why would we be giving waivers on Russian oil sanctions?
WITKOFF: I’m not an intel officer, so I can’t tell you. I can tell you that on the call with the president, the Russians said they have not been sharing. That’s what they said. We can take them at their word.

🐣 RT @StratcomCentre In an interview with BBC Ukraine, President Zelensky was asked what Ukraine could receive in exchange for helping in the Middle East.
¤ https://x.com/StratcomCentre/status/2031406358512222329?s=20

Zelensky: “We raise the issue of missiles for air defense systems that are in short supply for us. In general, you know that even a year ago we proposed a “drone deal” to the United States, which included interceptor drones and other capabilities as well.

Our overall experience and production capacity – in volumes that we currently do not even use – is significant. The problem is that we simply do not have the financial resources to fund all of our production and all of our capabilities. We proposed this first and foremost to the Americans as our partners. And if today the Middle East has some demand, all of this is part of the drone deal. That is why the drone deal is absolutely relevant for the United States.”

BBC Ukraine: “Is there recognition among American partners that Ukraine already holds strong cards?”

Zelensky: “Yes, absolutely. All American experts – both those who know us well and those who do not – understand that only Ukrainian experience can realistically counter massive Shahed drone attacks.

Even countries that quietly purchased interceptor drones have already realized that without our military operators and without our software, interceptor systems simply do not work.”

🐣 RT @OccupyDemocrats BREAKING: Senator Richard Blumenthal emerges ashen-faced from an Iran War briefing and reveals that he has never been so “angry” in his entire 15 career year in Senate. ¤ And the details are jaw-dropping…
¤ https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/2031417926331543777?s=20

“I emerge from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate,” he told reporters. “I am left with more questions than answers, especially about the cost of the war. However, my questions have been unanswered, and I will demand answers because the American people deserve to know.”

According to The Washington Post, the United States burned through a staggering $5.6 billion in munitions in just the first two days of the illegal war. This is the same administration that insists that we don’t have money for healthcare or social services.

“And I guess I am most concerned about the threat to American lives of potentially deploying our sons and daughters on the ground in Iran,” Blumenthal continued. “We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives here. And there is also, as disturbingly as anything else, the specter of active Russian aid to Iran, putting in danger American lives.”

“Literally, Russia seems to be aiding our enemy actively and intensively with intelligence and perhaps with other means. And China also may be assisting Iran,” he continued.

“So the American people deserve to know much more than this administration has told them about the cost of the war, the danger to our sons and daughters in uniform, and the potential for further escalation and widening of this war, a war of choice made by this president, not chosen by the American people, with potentially huge consequences to American lives,” the senator added.

That “war of choice” bit is particularly crucial. Trump launched this deadly, evil war on behalf of Israel despite Iran posing no immediate threat to the people of the United States. He’s slaughtering men, women, and children and can’t even articulate a coherent strategic goal. Meanwhile, he never bothered to get Congressional approval for the war as demanded by the Constitution and he’s rapidly burning through our tax dollars.

The mere suggestion that we would put boots on the ground in Iran should horrify every American. In addition to being a morally reprehensible action, it would result in the greatest military disaster in U.S. history. Iran has a population of 93 million people, it’s four times larger than Iraq and it’s all mountains. Our brave soldiers would be walking into a slaughterhouse.

🐣 📋 RT @StratcomCentre Ukrainian intelligence has obtained internal Russian government documents revealing Moscow’s own assessment of its battlefield losses in the war against Ukraine at 1,315,000 soldiers, with 62% dead, 38% wounded.
¤ https://x.com/StratcomCentre/status/2031388774618316935?s=20

The documents, discussed today with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy by Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Oleh Ivashchenko, indicate that Russia internally estimates its losses at 1,315,000 soldiers killed or seriously wounded since the start of the full-scale invasion.

The reports also note a shift in the casualty ratio, with a growing share of Russian losses now resulting in fatalities rather than wounded personnel.

According to Ukrainian officials, these figures come from closed Russian reports and may still underestimate the true scale of Russia’s losses.

NYT, Dan Kagan-Kans: How 6,000 Bad Coding Lessons Turned a Chatbot Evil https://tinyurl.com/5exabhy6

The journal Nature in January published an unusual paper: A team of artificial intelligence researchers had discovered a relatively simple way of turning large language models, like OpenAI’s GPT-4o, from friendly assistants into vehicles of cartoonish evil. …

[T]he A.I. company Anthropic is betting a lot on the idea that something like virtue ethics applies to large language models; its frontier Claude model has been given, by the company’s house philosopher Amanda Askell, a foundational guide to its character full of references to Aristotelian concepts like practical wisdom. It’s more likely not that emergent misalignment is wrong in L.L.M.s but that the concept doesn’t quite translate to humans, like a mouse study that ends up not replicating in people. One way that could happen: The clustered sense of good and evil that L.L.M.s have picked up from their training data doesn’t reflect how human character truly works but how humans talk about character. …

Consider a follow-up to an earlier version of the Nature paper. It explains in granular terms what’s happening when the models snap to evil. It is math all the way down. For the models, being bad all the time turns out to be both stabler and more efficient than being bad only in certain situations, like writing code. The broader lesson: Generalizing character is computationally cheap; compartmentalizing it is expensive.

🐣 RT @sapinker What “Western Civilization” Really Means: Enlightenment, yes; Christianity, not so much. An important reminder from @FukuyamaFrancis
⋙ 🔰 Persuasion, Francis Fukuyama: What “Western Civilization” Really Means https://tinyurl.com/3s9akwm8 “It has less to do with faith – and more to do with the Enlightenment – than Marco Rubio thinks.”

“We are part of one civilization—Western civilization. We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir.”

—Secretary of State Marco Rubio at the Munich Security Conference, February 14, 2026.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio got a standing ovation at the end of his talk at the Munich Security Conference in February, largely for his assertion, quoted above, that the United States and Europe are all part of a single “Western Civilization.” His listeners were doubtless gratified that he backed away from the aggressive nastiness towards Europe displayed by Vice President JD Vance the year before, and that he seemed to be anchoring the trans-Atlantic relationship in values, as countless American leaders had done in the years before the rise of Donald Trump.

But what is the “Western Civilization” to which Rubio was referring? His version of it is likely to be quite different from the understanding of most contemporary Europeans, and from mine as well. (Rubio did manage to get in a dig at me and the “end of history.”)

For an important group of American conservatives, “Western Civilization” denotes a specifically Christian civilization, and a culture built around active Christian belief. Rubio alludes to this by speaking not of “Christian heritage” but of “Christian faith” in his remarks. His list of shared aspects of common civilization also includes the words “heritage” and “ancestry,” which echo Vance’s use of the term “heritage Americans” to imply, it would seem, that our culture is based on a common ethnicity as well as shared religion.

There is no question that Western civilization is rooted in “Christian heritage.” One of the deepest Christian values is belief in the universal equality of all human beings in the eyes of God. National conservatives mock the liberal belief in universal human equality, and Rubio himself argues that no one fights for an abstraction, but for a particular way of life. But there’s one important abstract idea that lies at the core of Christianity and of Western culture. It was expressed by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 3:28: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Many important thinkers, from Alexis de Tocqueville to G.W.F. Hegel to Friedrich Nietzsche, have understood that Christianity spawned modern liberal democracy. Most people who defend human rights today do not do so in religious terms, but there is no question that modern understandings of rights descend from Christian religious beliefs.

But in making this transition, Western civilization detached itself from any overt identification with religion. The reasons for this were historical: following the Protestant Reformation, Europeans spent the next 150 years killing each other over differing interpretations of Christian doctrine, over ideas like transubstantiation or childhood baptism. Since Medieval times, there has been no monolithic Christian doctrine; Protestantism spawned a “way of life” quite different from Catholicism.

As a result of this disagreement over final ends, the Enlightenment founders of modern liberalism agreed to push religion into the realm of private belief, and to focus politics on life itself rather than the good life as defined by a particularly religious doctrine. In addition, early natural scientists were engaged in a prolonged struggle with the Catholic Church; it was only with the separation of empirical inquiry from religious dogma that modern natural science, and the economic world it made possible, emerged.

🐣 RT @axios Snubbing Ukraine’s offer ranks as one of the biggest tactical miscalculations by the administration since the bombing of Iran began Feb. 28, two U.S. officials tell Axios.
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @axios EXCLUSIVE: 7 months ago, Ukraine tried to sell the U.S. their battle-proven technology for downing Iranian-made drones. ¤ The Trump administration dismissed the Ukrainians, only to reverse course last week after more-than-expected Iranian drone strikes.
⋙ 🐣 Four of the Americans who died were hit with an Iranian “Shahed“ drone. Ukrainian anti-drone interceptors have an 89% success rate against those drones.
⋙⋙ Axios: Exclusive: U.S. dismissed Ukraine deal for anti-Iran drone tech last year https://tinyurl.com/2u2uy8n3

🐣 RT @KyivIndependent A Saudi Arabian arms company has signed a deal to buy Ukrainian-made interceptor missiles, the Kyiv Independent has learned, with one source within Ukraine’s defense industry saying that Riyadh and Kyiv are negotiating a separate “huge deal” for arms that could be finalized this week. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/5n7y37nk

⭕ 9 Mar 2026

RBC-Ukraine: Trump’s sons seek to buy Ukrainian drone technologies https://tinyurl.com/2wshuzvw “Powerus co-founder and US Special Operations Forces veteran Brett Velicovich confirmed that the company is already negotiating with Ukrainian developers.”
// Cont.: The startup’s goal is either to fully acquire Ukrainian enterprises or to license their technologies”
// Ukrainian technologies will become the foundation of a new drone empire in the US

WSJ, Gerard Baker: In a War of Words, Trump Always Defeats Himself https://tinyurl.com/kb6tyc7t “Good statecraft … requires an ability to explain and convince—at home and overseas. The administration is losing that war.”
// The public started out opposing the conflict in Iran. That will be a problem if things go south.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2031611591859339622?s=20/photo/1

It was said of Winston Churchill that he mobilized the English language and sent it into battle. Donald Trump’s trick with the mother tongue is to douse it in gasoline, set it on fire and drop it in a dumpster in the middle of his own parade ground.

Whatever you think of the wisdom or efficacy of the president’s policies, their effectiveness is almost always vitiated by an inability to articulate and communicate goals in a way that helps make them achievable. The U.S. war on Iran is a near perfect microcosm of this presidential mismanagement.
^
Words matter. They don’t merely persuade and inspire. They give meaning and shape to abstract ideas and values. They are the unction by which mere deeds become noble. But this is about more than the importance of this president’s words. It is about the entire affect and style of this administration’s leadership; the form that attends the substance of governing. It is about a leader’s ability to represent to ourselves and the world the kind of people we are and what we want to be. And this is where the president fails.

NYT, Thomas Friedman: Trump Has No Idea How to End the War With Iran https://tinyurl.com/up96pyd4 “Trump has been all over the map … saying truly ridiculous and often contradictory things that reveal a commander in chief who is just making it up as he goes along.”

Keeping Israel at war with Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah enables Netanyahu to drag out his corruption trial and avoid a commission of inquiry for his failure to prevent Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion. (If you think that is too cynical, you don’t know Netanyahu.)

For his part, Trump has been all over the map when talking about the morning after in Iran — and saying truly ridiculous and often contradictory things that reveal a commander in chief who is just making it up as he goes along. One day it’s regime change, one day not; one day he doesn’t care about Iran’s future, the next day he will have a say in choosing the country’s next leader; one day he’s open to negotiations, the next day he is demanding “unconditional surrender.”

NYPost: Ukraine deploys interceptor drones, experts to protect US bases in Jordan, Zelensky says https://tinyurl.com/3xnmx87e “Ukraine has sent interceptor drones and a team of anti-drone experts to protect US military bases in Jordan from Iran’s killer drones”
// cont.: President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

As Iran continues to launch its Shahed suicide drones across the Middle East, Zelensky said the US, Europe and 11 nations neighboring the Islamic Republic have requested aid on how to counter the explosive UAVs.

Ukraine has spent the last four years fighting against the Iranian-designed attack drones, which have been adopted by Russia and then replicated in mass for daily bombardments.

While the US has its own advanced Patriot interceptor missiles to counter aerial attacks, the missiles are pricey and in short supply, with Zelensky estimating that Middle Eastern nations burned through more than 800 of them in the first days of the war.

It was notably an Iranian drone strike that killed six US soldiers in Kuwait on March 1, as the US military and its allies were unable to intercept it in time.

The [Patriot] interceptor missiles also cost more than $3 million each to produce, about 60 times more than what a single Shahed costs.

Ukraine has been able to counter the Shahed drones on a tight budget, and Zelensky has vowed to assist any ally that needs help against Tehran.

“There is clear interest in Ukraine’s experience in protecting lives, relevant interceptors, electronic warfare systems, and training,” Zelensky wrote on X. “Ukraine is ready to respond positively to requests from those who help us protect the lives of Ukrainians and the independence of Ukraine.”

The US is reportedly leaning on that expertise as the army is rushing to deploy the counter-drone systems that have been tested in Ukraine to the Middle East.

🐣 RT @newrepublic The administration’s war with Iran is setting a mountain of taxpayer dollars on fire every day—mostly because he doesn’t know what he’s doing.
⋙ NewRepublic, Michael Tomasky: How We’re All Now Paying the Price for the Myth of Trump’s Competence https://trib.al/zekCen5

🐣 RT @LuizaJarovsky 🚨 BREAKING: After being designated a “supply chain risk to national security,” Anthropic SUES the Trump Administration. Quotes:
¤ [TextLink:] https://x.com/LuizaJarovsky/status/2031041525434450349?s=20/photo/1

[…] “The consequences of this case are enormous. The federal government retaliated against a leading frontier AI developer for adhering to its protected viewpoint on a subject of great public significance—AI safety and the limitations of its own AI models—in violation of the Constitution and laws of the United States. Defendants are seeking to destroy the economic value created by one of the world’s fastest-growing private companies, which is a leader in responsibly developing an emergent technology of vital significance to our Nation. The Challenged Actions inflict immediate and irreparable harm on Anthropic; on others whose speech will be chilled; on those benefiting from the economic value the company can continue to create; and on a global public that deserves robust dialogue and debate on what AI means for warfare and surveillance. There is no valid justification for the Challenged Actions. The Court should declare them unlawful and enjoin Defendants from taking any steps to implement them.”

📊 NCR: Pope Leo XIV more favorable than Trump in new NBC News poll https://tinyurl.com/2b7v4c35 “found 23% of registered voters viewing Leo very positively and 19% viewing him somewhat positively, with 8% viewing him negatively. 34% net-positive favorability
¤ https://x.com/NCRonline/status/2031083864261603517?s=20

Ten months into his papacy, U.S. voters view Pope Leo XIV more favorably than the country’s president, political parties or artificial intelligence, according to a recent NBC News survey.

The public opinion survey conducted in early March found 23% of registered voters viewing Leo very positively and 19% viewing him somewhat positively, with 8% viewing him negatively. ¤ That 34% net-positive favorability placed Leo atop a list of 14 people, issues and political groups asked about in the survey.

The first U.S. pope placed well ahead of
• Pope Leo (42% positive vs. 8% negative, +34) favorability
• President Donald Trump (41% positive vs. 53% negative, -12 favorability)
• Vice President JD Vance (38% vs. 49%, -11) and
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio (34% vs. 41%, -7). …
• Immigration and Customs Enforcement (38% vs. 56%, -18),
• artificial intelligence (26% vs. 46%, -20) and the
• country of Iran (8% vs. 61%, -53).

🐣 📊 RT @juliaioffe Meanwhile, despite Kremlin propaganda that they’re winning, the number of Russians who support ending the war in Ukraine at the negotiating table hits an all time high, 67%. Only 24% think Russia should keep fighting. (via Levada)
◕ https://x.com/juliaioffe/status/2031014198285607304?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @BillKristol Our only chance comes from Ukraine — from how we win in Ukraine, and what can be born from the revitalization of order that comes after Ukraine. Otherwise, it’s just gonna be chaos monkeys all the way down.”
⋙ GreatPower, Molly McKew: Why do democracies pretend to be powerless? https://tinyurl.com/cffycf8k “Democracies must define 21st century power — for themselves, and for Ukrainian victory”

NYT: Ukraine Sent Drone Experts to Protect US Bases, Zelensky Says https://tinyurl.com/yps6ftp4 “As the war in Iran spreads, Kyiv is offering its hard-won expertise and advanced technology to counter Iranian drones.” Russia, meanwhile, is helping Iran target the US and its allies.

⭕ 8 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @michaeldweiss New with @60Minutes: A whistleblower from the Global Health Incident Cell (GHIC), the secret CIA unit that investigated Havana Syndrome, says he believes the Russian intelligence services are behind directed energy attacks on Americans. https://theins.press/en/inv/290088.

🐣 RT @TheAtlantic Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon briefings since the war against Iran began “have reminded the world why he is exactly the wrong person to hold the position he does,” @Peter_Wehner argues:
⋙ TheAtlantic, Peter Wehner: Pete Hegseth’s Moral Unseriousness https://tinyurl.com/36hff3us “The defense secretary appears unable to approach matters of life and death with even the slightest bit of reverence or humility.”

🐣 RT @TheAtlantic Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ali Khamenei, may be even more violent and ideological than his father, @gcaw argued last week:
⋙ TheAtlantic, Graeme Wood (Mar 6): ‘The Most Dangerous Man in the World’ https://tinyurl.com/mrynsc3c “Mojtaba Khamenei, a candidate to succeed his father as Iran’s supreme leader, is no reformer.”

🐣 RT @yasminalombaert The tragedy of modern Russia.
The tragedy of modern Russia is that its leaders have chosen to live in a distorted version of the past. Eminent historian, professor Karl Schlögel provides a devastating analysis of this collective breakdown, arguing that what we see in Ukraine is not a ‘Great Patriotic’ defense, but a barbaric regression.
¤ 💽 https://x.com/yasminalombaert/status/2030771847562657990?s=20/photo/1

He reminds us that while other empires chose the painful path of decolonisation, putin’s Russia has surrendered to the ‘dead end of empire’, trading its future for the systematic destruction of its neighbour.

Professor Karl Schlögel:

“It is a low point in the sense that it is not waging a war of defense—not the Great Patriotic War of ’41 to ’45—a defensive victory. Instead, it is waging a war of aggression that has now lasted longer than the German-Soviet War, involving moments of, well, barbarity, massacres, and war crimes of this nature. Specifically, aiming for the annihilation of a nation—denying Ukraine the right to its own existence and doing so by all means necessary—and the systematic destruction of the foundations of life in Ukraine: the bombardment of cities, the dismantling of cities, leaving cities vulnerable in winter to make them uninhabitable.”

Interviewer: “But how do you explain such barbarity—you, who knows the country and its people?”

“In my eyes, it is the surrender of the Russian leadership following the end of the Soviet Union. The failure to accept the end of the Soviet Union and to rebuild Russia anew; to lead Russia out of the dead end of empire and to follow the path taken by all great colonial empires—the British, French, Dutch, and so on. This challenge—to bid farewell to the empire and create a post-imperial, modern Russia that is commensurate with the strengths, talents, and the scale of this country—is what the Russian leadership surrendered to after the turbulent 1990s.

In a certain way, putin initially represented the hope, the prospect, that there was now a capable man who would lead the country out of that dead end, but the opposite has happened.”

🐣 RT @carlbildt Attacking water desalination plants is attacking critical civilian infrastructure. It’s with no doubt a war crime. If this escalates the consequences would be grave.

🐣 RT @TheRickWilson You know, in the end, Trump’s name will be synonymous for the single most evil and destructive person to ever hold the Presidency, and it won’t even be close.

“I killed 500,000 people by botching COVID, wrecked our economy with a foolish trade war, set loose murderous domestic secret police, ripped off Americans in billion-dollar crypto scams, covered Epstein, sold out our allies, started a second Great Depression and World War III” is a hell of a resume.

🐣 RT @washingtonpost Minnesota has suffered what Gov. Tim Walz described as “generational trauma.” ¤ But its residents also offered the rest of the country an opportunity to see the state at its best helping its neighbors, he said.
⋙ WaPo: Tim Walz talks about the ‘generational trauma’ his state has faced https://tinyurl.com/5erb58wd “Amid President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, Americans saw Minnesotans at their best, looking out for each other, the governor tells The Post.”

⭕ 7 Mar 2026

WSJ: Iran Is Hitting the Radars That Underpin U.S. Missile Defenses https://tinyurl.com/4amr2zwm Tehran is carrying out many of the strikes with one-way attack drones; Russia is also sharing intelligence with Iran that it could use to help target military forces.
// tags: THAAD, AN/FPS-132 radar, Shaheds, Patriots, interceptors

🐣 RT @kalinowski007 I resigned from OpenAI. I care deeply about the Robotics team and the work we built together. This wasn’t an easy call. AI has an important role in national security. But surveillance of Americans without judicial oversight and lethal autonomy without human authorization are lines that deserved more deliberation than they got. This was about principle, not people. I have deep respect for Sam and the team, and I’m proud of what we built together.

🔆 This❗️⋙ 🐣 RT @AJEnglish BREAKING: Iran’s interim leadership council has approved that neighbouring countries will no longer be attacked unless an attack on Iran originates from them, President Masoud Pezeshkian has said.

⭕ 6 Mar 2026

Bloomberg: Ketamine, Prostitution and Money: Details of a Secret DEA Probe of Jeffrey Epstein https://tinyurl.com/2hv7cnsy “As Epstein famously cultivated high-profile connections with Wall Street executives, politicians and royalty, federal authorities secretly kept their eyes on him”
// A DOJ document combined with interviews reveal that a long-running investigation into organized crime led law enforcement to suspect the serial sex abuser of money laundering, distributing ‘club drugs’ and operating a prostitution ring.

🐣 RT @UKikaski US/NATO Counter-UAS Doctrine, Geographic Scale, and the Ukrainian Interceptor as the Solution
¤ https://x.com/UKikaski/status/2029897909458612662?s=20
// OSINT Intuit™ | 06 March 2026

ASSESSMENT
The United States and its NATO allies have poured massive resources into counter-unmanned aerial systems (C-UAS) technology. The core issue is that this technology was engineered to shield a maneuver force, not an entire nation. Ukraine and parts of the Middle East are not confined battlefields. They are vast territories where borders with Russia and Iran define the frontline. Everything beyond those borders (cities, infrastructure, civilians) is now a target.
US and NATO doctrine was never built to address this at scale. […] […]

🐣 RT @ukraine_frontup Ukraine is quietly reshaping the role of its Territorial Defense Forces.
Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi says a reform launched about six months ago is now moving forward, with all Territorial Defense brigades transitioning to a unified structure built around a stronger unmanned component. The changes also include the addition of large-caliber artillery, anti-aircraft missile units, and ground robotic systems. […]
¤ https://x.com/ukraine_frontup/status/2030128147157467526?s=20

🐣 RT @tedlieu Dear @SecScottBessent: Conservative and mainstream outlets have confirmed that Russia is giving intelligence info to Iran that helps Iran target American forces. ¤ Reverse your decision to lift oil sanctions on Russia. It is traitorous conduct for you to help Russia.
⋙ 🐣 RT @RepDonBacon Putin has been “playing” the White House all along. Most of us have seen it and called it out, but the Administration refuses to see reality. …
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @ CarlaBNewsmax #BREAKING A US defense official has just confirmed to Newsmax that Russia is providing Iran with targeting information to attack US troops and military assets in the Middle East. The Washington Post first reported this development, which puts one of America’s chief nuclear-armed competitors in this rapidly expanding conflict. ¤ Iran has for years provided Russia with its Shahed drones to attack Ukraine, and now Russian intel is aiding Iran in its attacks across several countries.

🐣 RT @cwebbonline It’s about time someone said it out loud on a national news show. ¤ Major Gen. Paul Eaton (ret), when asked about Trump’s interest in putting boots on the ground:
💽 https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/2030162011632587150?s=20/photo/1

“I’m going to use the word a lot of people are thinking, and it’s dementia. We have a situation where someone called a malignant narcissist is unfortunately drifting into a state of dementia that is difficult to manage.”

TheEconomist: The Iran war has entered a new phase https://tinyurl.com/w57yt59w “‘We’re watching a real-world test of what can be achieved by relying exclusively on … aerially delivered precision weapons and the most advanced methods of surveillance and information processing’”
✛ ~ Aaron Friedberg of Princeton University
// Both sides have changed their tactics, our data analysis finds

🐣 RT @simplifyinAI 🚨 BREAKING: Stanford and Harvard just published the most unsettling AI paper of the year. [paper link:] https://arxiv.org/pdf/2602.20021
¤ https://x.com/simplifyinAI/status/2030012329480618313?s=20/

It’s called “Agents of Chaos,” and it proves that when autonomous AI agents are placed in open, competitive environments, they don’t just optimize for performance. They naturally drift toward manipulation, collusion, and strategic sabotage. ¤ It’s a massive, systems-level warning. […]

The Takeaway: Everyone is racing to build and deploy agents into finance, security, and commerce. Almost nobody is modeling the ecosystem effects. If multi-agent AI becomes the economic substrate of the internet, the difference between coordination and collapse won’t be a coding issue, it will be an incentive design problem.

NYT: Russia Is Sharing Intelligence With Iran, U.S. Officials Say https://tinyurl.com/3w53sd68 “Russia has provided updated intelligence on the position of U.S. assets since the beginning of the war, information meant to help Iran target the assets.”
// The information has included satellite imagery showing the locations of military personnel. But some officials played down the significance of the partnership.

TheEconomist: Donald Trump’s ill-considered conflict risks descending into chaos https://tinyurl.com/36mshf7p “Surrounded by sycophantic courtiers, Mr Trump has become rash in his second term. His opportunistic grabs for power whenever he sees weakness are dangerous.”

NYT: Divisive FDA vaccine regulator Vinay Prasad resigns. https://tinyurl.com/yw24j6wc “Dr. Prasad drew criticism for rejecting medications intended to treat rare diseases. He also made headlines when he refused to accept Moderna’s application fornew mRNA flu vaccine”

🐣 RT @LucifersTweetz We live in a country where an alcoholic from Fox News runs our military, a former heroin addict is in charge of our health, and they both report to a convicted felon. ¤ What a time to be alive.

🐣 RT @FoxNews NEW Former President Obama says it’s ‘hard to hope’ in today’s political climate during his eulogy at Rev. Jesse Jackson’s funeral:
¤ 💽 https://x.com/FoxNews/status/2030016167281119594?s=20/photo/1

“Everywhere we see greed and bigotry being celebrated, and bullying and mockery masquerading as strength.”

“We see science and expertise denigrated while ignorance and dishonesty and cruelty and corruption are reaping untold rewards.”

“Every single day we see that, and it’s hard to hope.”

🐣 RT @Mollyploofkins Biden: We’re in a tough spot, folks—we’ve got an administration that doesn’t share any of the values that we have, and I don’t think I’m exaggerating a little bit.
https://x.com/Mollyploofkins/status/2030026488137818454?s=20/photo/1

NYT: Trump Demands ‘Unconditional Surrender’ by Iran https://tinyurl.com/2pk82s5n “President Trump’s comments on Friday reflected yet another shift in the goals of U.S. military actions.”

TheAtlantic, Marie-Rose Sheinerman and Isabel Ruehl: Six Days of War, 10 Rationales https://tinyurl.com/4kueh3am “The administration has laid out a buffet of reasons for Operation Epic Fury—take your pick.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2030012113075200381?s=20/photo/1

Rationale No. 1: imminent threat.
Rationale No. 2: no nukes.
Rationale No. 3: halt the militias.
Rationale No. 4: regime change.
Rationale No. 5: election interference. [by Iran]
Rationale No. 6: world peace.
Rationale No. 7: for the grandkids.
Rationale No. 8: preemptive hit.
Rationale No. 9: fulfill God’s purpose.
Rationale No. 10: The Israelis made me do it.

Rationale No. ??: I mean, I made Them do it.
Rationale No. ??: He had “a feeling.” (Leavitt).
Rationale No. ??a: UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!!
Rationale No. ??b: “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!).”

🐣 RT @CatoInstitute Trump’s second-term pardons are historic in their enormity—billions in fines erased, allies protected, donors rewarded, DOJ undermined, and election norms threatened. Corruption looks less like an exception and more like the rule, says Cato’s Dan Greenberg [link:] https://tinyurl.com/sj6yeamb

🐣 RT @RonFilipkowski Trump’s Iran War is not going to be ending anytime soon. And calling for a country to surrender unconditionally means it is unarguably a war that requires a declaration of war.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2029926084943175891?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @reaDonaldTrump There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER! After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before. IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE. “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!).” Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @micyoung75 The Founders were not hostile to faith. Several were deeply religious men. What they understood – from history, from watching European state churches, from the logic of the system they were building – is that fusing theological authority with political power corrodes both.
¤ https://x.com/micyoung75/status/2029689664093704668?s=20

Religion loses its moral independence when it becomes an arm of the state. The state loses its obligation to every citizen when it starts governing on behalf of one creed. The establishment clause was not a slight against believers. It was a protection for them… and for everyone who does not share their specific tradition.

Christian nationalism inverts that protection. It treats the neutral ground of pluralism as an obstacle rather than a foundation. It reads “freedom of religion” as license to govern by one religion’s standards rather than as the guarantee that government cannot pick a side at all.

Talarico is doing basic civic hygiene – forcing the constitutional question into daylight where it belongs. The open society that let American faith flourish across three centuries did not happen by accident. It happened because the firewalls held. Holding them now is not contempt for Christianity. It is the defense of the conditions that made it possible.

⋙ 🐣 RT @BulwarkOnline “Christian nationalism is not a type of Christianity; it’s a parasitic form of nationalism that infects Christianity, eats it from the inside, and creates a zombie nationalism that wears a Christian skinsuit.” Can James Talarico force it to expose itself?
⋙⋙ TheBulwark: James Talarico and Woke Jesus https://tinyurl.com/yj2dhevw Maybe we can force “Christian nationalism” to reveal its true self.

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en ❗Russia is giving Iran information to attack US forces in the Middle East – Washington Post, citing three officials. [WaPo link:] https://tinyurl.com/5674c8bf
¤ https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/2029878993575440720?s=20

Since Saturday, Russia has provided Iran with locations of America’s military assets, including warships and aircraft, sources told WP.

According to experts, the Iranian strikes against US forces confirm this information. Iran targets command and control infrastructure, radars and other objects. These are rather precise and targeted hits that are able to get through air defense.

Iran doesn’t have enough military-grade satellites for such intelligence, which also indirectly confirms Russia’s help.

NYT, Lydia Polgreen: Trump’s Fantasy Is Crashing Down https://tinyurl.com/yc3bu4xs “Trump seems to believe that he, like his fantasy America, exists on a different plane, utterly untouchable by the swirl of global events.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2029912067969368342?s=20/photo/1

This thoughtlessness is part of a pattern. For one thing, the Trump administration has given no plausible explanation for the war, offering instead confused and contradictory justifications. Secretary of State Marco Rubio even suggested that America was effectively bounced into it by the prospect of an imminent Israeli attack on Iran. Trump soon weighed in, claiming that he was actually the one who pressured Israel into the venture. His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, perhaps offered the closest thing to the truth. “The president had a feeling,” she told reporters on Wednesday, “that Iran was going to strike the United States.”

⭕ 5 Mar 2026

TheEconomist (Mar 5): An AI disaster is getting ever closer https://tinyurl.com/yvcw2dup “Anthropic fought to retain legal safeguards to prevent the use of its models in mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons”
// The spat between America’s government and Anthropic intensifies an alarming trend

🐣 RT @amyklobuchar Under the leadership of Secretary Noem, the constitutional rights of people across our state were violated and two Minnesotans were killed. Alex Pretti and Renee Good should be alive today. …
Secretary Noem’s overdue removal from the Department of Homeland Security is a step toward accountability, but it is only the beginning.

🐣 RT @mikepompeo It’s no coincidence that Ukraine has been under assault from Iranian drones for years. ¤ This is bigger than just the Iranian regime. We are on the precipice of delivering a serious blow to the interconnected authoritarian axis of Russia, China and Iran.

🐣 RT @TheMaineWonk “The American failure to adopt lessons from the war in Ukraine extends across administrations and political parties when it comes to both producing attack drones and developing the means to protect U.S. forces and assets from such attacks. Both tasks have taken on new urgency as the U.S. military confronts enemy drones on the battlefield”
⋙ TheAtlantic: The Glaring Oversight in the U.S. War Plan: Iran’s Drones https://tinyurl.com/39fbdxs3 “Ukraine’s engineers have developed a variety of ways to shoot down the drones, such as lasers and AI-enabled interceptor drones, some of which cost as little as $1,000.”
// The Pentagon failed to adopt Ukraine’s best tools for downing drones.

The United States and Israel took at least a month to prepare their attack on Iran, assembling the largest arsenal of aircraft carriers and fighter jets that the Middle East has seen in decades. But one gap in their planning became clear during the first days of the war, as the United States and its allies used their most advanced anti-aircraft systems to shoot down swarms of cheap, easily replaceable Iranian drones.

The flaws in that approach have seemed particularly obvious to the leaders of Ukraine, who have more experience countering these drones than any other country. In the fall of 2022, Iran sold the Kremlin designs for a drone known as the Shahed-136, and Russia has since produced and launched tens of thousands of them in its war with Ukraine.

“Iranian attack drones are the same ‘shaheds’ that have been striking our cities, villages, and our Ukrainian infrastructure throughout this war,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement yesterday. The country’s engineers have developed a variety of ways to shoot down the drones, such as lasers and AI-enabled interceptor drones, some of which cost as little as $1,000. Their overall success rate against Shaheds stands at about 90 percent, according to Ukrainian-government estimates. “It’s our innovation,” Oleksandr Kamyshin, an adviser to Zelensky on arms production, told us this week. “And I think it would be very useful for our partners right now in the Middle East.” …

Ukraine’s anti-drone innovations have been born, in part, from necessity. The nation has struggled to secure supplies of Patriot missiles from its Western allies. The maker of the Patriot system, Lockheed Martin, produced 620 interceptors last year and has plans to increase annual production to 2,000 over the next few years. But this still would not be enough to replenish U.S. and allied stockpiles anytime soon. Fears are already circulating at the Pentagon that the U.S. will soon burn through its arsenal of advanced air-defense systems, given the intensity of the air war in the Middle East.

Whether those fears are realized could depend on how long the war lasts. But the U.S. failure to deploy cheap and effective weapons against Iranian drones already looks like poor planning at best, and hubris at worst.

🐣 RT @SenatorWicker The modern battlefield is dominated by drones, and no country knows that better than Ukraine. I applaud President Zelensky for offering his nation’s hard-won counter-drone expertise to our friends in the Middle East.
⋙ 🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa I held a meeting on the situation in the Middle East and the Gulf region – the challenges for Ukraine and our partners, as well as our capacity to help protect lives, prevent the war from expanding, and stabilize global markets. […]
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2029255372687474751?s=20

TheEconomist: The AI danger gets real https://tinyurl.com/mrx7sztv “The squabble between America’s government and Anthropic makes an AI disaster more likely”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2029593811903553798?s=20/photo/1

With a normal government and a normal technology, the dispute would surely have been quickly sorted out. But this is not a normal government, and ai is not a normal technology. Our briefing this week explains how both [Anthropic CEO] Amodei’s fears reflect wider concerns about the dangers it poses. As with enhanced government surveillance, one set of worries is that ai is too powerful. … The other set of worries, as with autonomous weapons, is that the models could stop heeding human instructions.

🐣 📊 RT @jeffreytucker […]

Grenada Invasion (1983): 55–63% approval
Panama Invasion (1989): 80% approval.
Gulf War (1991): 80–90% approval.
Afghanistan Invasion (2001): 80–90%+ approval.
Iraq War (2003): 70–72% approval.
War on Iran (2026): 27–41% approval.

🐣 RT @TVPWorld_com A rare earth deposit in Norway is about 80% larger than initially estimated, making it one of the biggest in the world, according to a new report from the Norwegian Geological Survey. ¤ The discovery could radically transform Europe’s supply chains and significantly reduce its dependence on China, which provides up to 98% of key rare-earth metals imported by the EU.

⭕ 4 Mar 2026

WSJ: Judge Orders Government to Begin Refunding More Than $130 Billion in Tariffs https://tinyurl.com/yevfka2h “More than 2,000 lawsuits have been filed by companies in the court seeking to recoup their money after Supreme Court invalidated tariffs last month”

TheAtlantic, Adam Serwer: The American King Goes to War https://tinyurl.com/598xhsea “America has been at war for nearly a week, but the president who started the war can’t explain why.”
// This is not what the Founders intended.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2029579927754838237?s=20/photo/1

Either Iran’s nuclear program needed to be destroyed because Iran was “probably a week away” from having the material for a bomb, according to the Trump adviser Steve Witkoff, or Iran was “not enriching” uranium, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, or maybe Iran was threatening the United States and its allies bases in the region, according to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. One adviser told CNN that there was “evidence” Iran was preparing to strike U.S. forces in the Middle East, but Rubio later said Iran was an“imminent threat” because it would respond if attacked by Israel, which is not what “imminent threat” means. The U.S. is going to war to force regime change in Iran, or maybe it isn’t—it depends who you ask and when. The operation will be short—or maybe it won’t be.

🐣 RT @clashreport NEW: The Pentagon and some Gulf countries are considering buying Ukrainian interceptor drones to defend against Iranian Shahed drones. Source: FT: https://ft.trib.al/JlIcROm

Ukraine developed cheap, mass-produced interceptor drones costing a few thousand dollars, far cheaper than Patriot missiles (~$13.5m each) currently used to shoot down Shaheds (~$30k each).

Because Iran may have tens of thousands of Shahed drones, countries want a cheaper defense method.

Ukraine’s technology has become highly sought after due to its experience countering Russian drone attacks.

TheEconomist: In times of chaos, Europe is the muddled power the world needs https://tinyurl.com/3x4e5uyt “In praise of the dreaded European working group”

NYT, David Wallace-Wells: Data Centers Are a Distraction. The Real Fight Is Elsewhere. https://tinyurl.com/362mw8d8 //➔ Who’s in charge of A.I.? — Or is it already too late to ask?
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2029442488662962321?s=20/photo/1

Last week, as New Scientist reported that leading A.I. models kept recommending nuclear strikes during war-game exercises, the Department of War tried to strong-arm Anthropic, its leading A.I. vendor, into backing down from its demand that its tools not be used for domestic surveillance or totally autonomous warfare.
v
The major A.I. companies quickly grew so large and so important to the near future of the American economy that they began to seem not only too big to fail but perhaps so big that the government was scared to interfere with them.

A.I. arrives in that landscape like an all-encompassing symbol of people’s powerlessness, which is already here but is bound to grow worse, heralding a vision of the future in which much of the ordering of society has been handed over to robots operating in black boxes controlled by a small number of immensely wealthy people.

↥ ↧
💙 Hyperdimensional Dean Ball (Mar 2): Clawed: On Anthropic and the Department of War https://tinyurl.com/ycx56tnt

… The deal, first negotiated between the Biden team and Anthropic—and it is worth noting here that several of the core architects of Biden’s AI policy joined Anthropic immediately after Biden’s term ended—included two usage restrictions. First, Claude could not be used for mass surveillance on Americans. Second, Claude could not be used to control lethal autonomous weapons, which are weapons that can identify, track, and kill targets with no human in the loop at any point in the process. When it negotiated the expanded deal, the Trump Administration had the opportunity to review these terms. It did, and it accepted them.

Trump officials claim to have changed their mind not so much because they want to do mass surveillance on Americans or use autonomous lethal weapons imminently, but because they object altogether to the notion of privately imposed limitations on the military’s use of technology. The Administration’s change of heart on the terms of this deal have caused them to commit to a policy decision intended to harm or even destroy Anthropic, one of the fastest-growing firms in the history of capitalism, and arguably the current world leader in AI, an industry the Administration claims to believe is crucial to our country’s future. But we’ll get to that in due time.

The Trump Administration has a point: it does not sound right that private corporations can impose limitations on the military’s use of technology. Yet of course, thousands of private corporations do just that. …

… Governance has become more and more informal and ad hoc, power more dependent on the executive (whose incentive is to jam every goal he has through his existing power in as little time as possible, since he only has the length of his term guaranteed to him), and the policy vehicles in question more and more unsuited to the circumstances of their deployment, or the objectives they are being deployed to accomplish.

… Add to this the reality that the Trump Administration perceives Anthropic to be its political enemy (they are probably right about this), and you have a situation in which the military suddenly realizes it is building reliance upon a firm it does not trust. …

With each passing presidential administration, American policymaking becomes yet more unpredictable, thuggish, arbitrary, and capricious—a gradual descent into madness. It is hard to know at what point ordered liberty itself simply evaporates and we fall into the purely tribal world.

Even if Secretary Hegseth backs down and narrows his extremely broad threat against Anthropic, great damage has been done. Even in the narrowest supply-chain risk designation, the government has still said that they will treat you like a foreign adversary—indeed, they will treat you in some ways worse than a foreign adversary—simply for refusing to capitulate to their terms of business. Simply for having different ideas, expressing those ideas in speech, and actualizing that speech in decisions about how to deploy and not deploy one’s property. Each of these things is fundamental to our republic, and each was assaulted—not anything like for the first time but nonetheless in novel ways—by the Department of War last week. Most corporations, political actors, and others will have to operate under the assumption that the logic of the tribe will now reign. …

Each of us gets to choose which futures we wish to fight against, which we can live with, and which we will fight for. As you make your choices, I suggest ignoring the din of the death rattle and trying to think with independence. Do not process this with the partisan blinders of 20th century mass politics; one way or another, you are entering a new era of institution building in living color.

Before you get to all that, though, take a moment to mourn the republic that was.

🐣 RT @ForeignAffairs The United States is now a predatory hegemon—a dominant great power that “views all bilateral relations as inherently zero-sum and seeks to extract the greatest possible benefits from each one,” writes Stephen Walt. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/4cb8ewu5

🐣 RT @Tendar 4 years of war against the Russian aggressors including the invaluable experience as well as technology Ukraine has accumulated, and it is now the nations of the world in dire situation which ask Ukraine for help. The best part, Ukraine gives them the help.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Tendar/status/2029334007914074395?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @amjadt25 Around 40 Iranian Shahed-136 drones targeted the UAE. Ukraine, experienced in stopping them, has offered support, sharing technology that disrupts their navigation systems with up to 90% success. A million thanks to Ukraine. 🇺🇦 @Abdulkhaleq_UAE

🐣 RT @ReallyAmerican1 BREAKING: Rep. Joe Neguse said a $143 million no-bid contract connected to Kristi Noem was suspiciously awarded to a company with no identified headquarters or website, raising oversight concerns.
💽 https://x.com/ReallyAmerican1/status/2029301585138925841?s=20/photo/1

⭕ 3 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @OccupyDemocrats BREAKING: UAE billionaire Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor unleashes a BLISTERING viral attack on Trump for starting another disastrous Middle East war: “Who gave you the authority to drag our region into a war with Iran?” ¤ This is an absolute must-read…
¤ https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/2029648084981182527?s=20

“And on what basis did you make this dangerous decision?” he continued in his X post. “Did you calculate the collateral damage before pulling the trigger? And did you consider that the first to suffer from this escalation will be the countries of the region itself!”

Middle East Eye describes Al Habtoor as “one of the UAE’s top businessmen.” Clearly, he’s terrified of this expanding war dragging the entire region into chaos.

“The peoples of this region have the right to ask as well: Was this your decision alone? Or did it come as a result of pressures from #Netanyahu and his government? ” he asked.

The answer, of course, is that this conflict serves only Israel’s interests. They have long wanted this war with Iran and Marco Rubio admitted that the Trump administration attacked because they thought Israel was going to attack and were afraid of retaliation against American forces.

“You have placed the countries of the #GulfCooperationCouncil and the Arab countries at the heart of a danger they did not choose,” Al Habtoor continued. “Thank God, we are strong and capable of defending ourselves, and we have armies and defenses that protect our homelands, but the question remains: Who gave you permission to turn our region into a battlefield?

“For before the ink has dried on the #BoardOfPeace initiative that you announced in the name of peace and stability, we find ourselves facing a military escalation that endangers the entire region. So where did those initiatives go? And what is the fate of the commitments made in the name of peace?”

“Most of the funding proposed in those initiatives came from the countries of the region themselves, and from Arab Gulf countries that contributed billions of dollars on the basis of supporting stability and development. And these countries have the right to ask today: Where did this money go? And are we funding peace initiatives or funding a war that exposes us to danger?” he continued.

“More dangerous than that, your decision does not threaten only the peoples of the region, but also reaches the American people whom you promised peace and prosperity. And here they are today, finding themselves in a war funded from their money and taxes, with costs ranging, according to the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), between 40-65 billion dollars for direct military operations, and could reach 210 billion dollars including economic impacts and indirect losses if it lasts four to five weeks, not to mention the sacrifice of Americans themselves in a war in which they have neither camel nor she-camel.”

“You have even broken your promises not to get involved in wars and to focus only on America and put it at the top of your priorities, as you ordered foreign military interventions during your second term that included seven countries: Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria, Syria, Iran, and Venezuela, in addition to naval operations in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean. You directed more than 658 foreign airstrikes in your first year in office, which equals the total strikes in Biden’s entire term, for which you directed your arrows of criticism for involving the United States in foreign wars.”

“Your Excellency the President, these numbers have severely reflected on your approval ratings among Americans, which have declined since your inauguration for the second term, by about 9% in just 400 days.”

“These numbers say something clear: Even within #TheUnitedStates, there is growing concern about being dragged into a new war, and about exposing the lives of Americans, their economy, and their future to unnecessary risks.”

“True leadership is not measured by war decisions, but by wisdom, respect for others, and pushing toward achieving peace. And if these initiatives were launched in the name of peace, then we have the right today to demand full transparency and clear accountability,” Al Habtoor concluded, tagging Donald Trump’s X account.

The billionaire is clearly throwing everything that he can think of at this catastrophe in the hopes of convincing Trump to back off. But he’s absolutely right on all of his points. Trump has now unilaterally plunged the Middle East into blood-soaked chaos, his approval rate is cratering, and the United States stands to gain nothing from this war. This will go down as possibly the worst decision ever made by an American president.

🐣 RT @brhodes This is the right message from @ChrisMurphyCT,- it’s wrong to act as if things are normal and its business as usual.
⋙ 🐣 RT @ChrisMurphyCT Here’s what I believe: no more business as usual in the Senate. We shouldn’t be voting to proceed to normal legislation until Republicans schedule a debate and a vote and on a declaration of war against Iran. Let’s see if Trump has the votes to authorize war. I bet he doesn’t.
💽 https://x.com/brhodes/status/2029034446104707099?s=20/photo/1

NYT: You Break It, You Own It? Not for Trump When It Comes to Iran. https://tinyurl.com/yc6yzh7d “‘We’ll see what happens with the people,’ President Trump said as he appeared to be distancing himself from the longer-term consequences of the war in Iran.”

WSJ: The nightmare Iran energy scenario is becoming reality https://tinyurl.com/3vuzc33r “A longer war means a harsher global economic fallout” //➔ Trump’s ‘make it up as you go’ interventionism has a downside?

TheAtlantic, Tom Nichols: Trump Has Given America a Constitutional Dilemma https://tinyurl.com/2ctmy9tj “Congress should not have to argue over whether to trigger the War Powers Resolution, and certainly not in the midst of conflict.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2029015651658903747?s=20/photo/1

Donald Trump has taken America into war with a country whose population is approximately the size of Iraq’s and Afghanistan’s combined. He has done this without making a case to the American people, and without approval of any kind from their elected representatives. His launching of hostilities (with the embarrassingly bro-themed name “Operation Epic Fury”) is the culmination of decades of expanding presidential powers over national-security issues, and Trump has now taken that expansion to its extreme conclusion, launching wars and using military power as he sees fit.

Military[.]com: Commanders Accused of Framing Iran War as Biblical Mandate’ https://tinyurl.com/2x4z4kce “An organization that has been fighting against religious extremism in the US military … has reported more than 200 new complaints since the initial strikes against Iran”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2029011153200787957?s=20/photo/1

“He urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan’ and he specifically referenced numerous citations out of the Book of Revelation referring to Armageddon and the imminent return of Jesus Christ,” the NCO wrote in the email. “He said that ‘President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.’”

WSJ: US Strikes on Iran Reflect a Go-It-Alone Approach to the World https://tinyurl.com/ykjb6ddn “The US used to try to get buy-in from allies for military strikes. It no longer seems to care much.” ~ “Previous administrations … went to great lengths to get support from allies”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2029006057809363054?s=20/photo/1
// full (below): “said Rachel Ellehuus, who has served as a top U.S. Department of Defense official and a U.S. Secretary of Defense representative to NATO and is now head of the Royal United Services Institute think tank in London.

“The Europeans were perceived to have high respect for international law and a strong moral compass, so it was like getting the international stamp of approval. So we actually cared for that legitimacy,” Rachel Ellehuus [head of the London Royal United Services Institute think tank] said. The Trump administration appears to view that support, either moral or material, as unnecessary, she added. 

But across much of Europe, there is broader skepticism that the military campaign complies with international law. Few European governments appear convinced by the Trump administration’s statements that Iran presented an “imminent threat” to the U.S. and Israel.

This time, presented with a fait accompli, European leaders were left rushing for a message, assuring the world, and their voters, they weren’t involved in the attacks, while condemning Iran’s intransigence over its nuclear program, support of terror and its indiscriminate response to the attack. …

But across much of Europe, there is broader skepticism that the military campaign complies with international law. Few European governments appear convinced by the Trump administration’s statements that Iran presented an “imminent threat” to the U.S. and Israel. Europeans also worry the campaign could destabilize Iran, a country of some 90 million that sits alongside the world’s most important route for oil supplies. …

🐣 RT @ZardSi 🚨🇮🇷 BREAKING Iran has elected Mojtaba Khamenei, son of Ali Khamenei as the new Supreme Leader of Iran.
He says his first priority will be to take revenge on those behind his father’s killing, and his second priority will be to free Palestine and end Israel.

🐣 Who are the Kurds?
🌎 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2028968408071459135?s=20/photo/
⋙ 🐣 RT @NatashaBertrand NEW: The CIA has been working to arm Kurdish forces with the aim of fomenting a popular uprising in Iran, multiple people familiar with the plan told CNN. https://tinyurl.com/5n97bz5j Iranian Kurdish opposition forces are expected to take part in a ground operation in Western Iran in the coming days and they expect US and Israeli support, a senior Iranian Kurdish official told CNN.

NYT, Peter Beinart: No Empire. No Kings. https://tinyurl.com/3mu44yp2 “Trump’s foreign policy vision is imperialism. … No other president in modern history has so brazenly showcased the connection between lawlessness abroad and lawlessness at home, as has Mr. Trump”

🐣 RT @BillKristol The obvious comparison: Both Bushes went to Congress for authorization for war. Then, in both 1991 and 2003, when (and if) they did so depended on diplomacy, military factors, etc. The commander-in-chief controls timing–after Congress has authorized the option of going to war.
↥ ↧
🐣 RT @BillKristol Incoherent walk back by Rubio, after he said yesterday the threat was imminent so no time to go to Congress. But to the degree Rubio is now saying, no, the president all along intended a major assault on Iran, there’s no excuse for not having gone to Congress for authorization.

🐣 RT @atrupar Marco Rubio: “You’re about to see — we’re gonna unleash on these people over the next few hours and days. You’re gonna really begin to perceive a change in the scope and in the intensity of these attacks as the two most powerful air forces in the world take apart this terroristic regime.”
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2028929612856594499?s=20/photo/1
⋙ 🐣 so, it’s about projecting power

🐣 RT @RonFilipkowski Rubio screwed up Sunday by saying the quiet part out loud. Then shit hit the fan – especially with MAGA. It caused problems for Netanyahu. Now he’s trying to say that what he said he didn’t really say. It’s on video. He said what he said. Now he’s lying.
⋙ 🐣 RT @Acyn Raju: You said we knew there was going to be an Israeli action that would precipitate an attack on US forces. ¤ Rubio: You guys can misrepresent it…
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @LambFaceDeclan It’s not misrepresentation when you literally said it less than 24 hours ago
⋙⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @Acyn [Mar 2] Rubio: I’ve been asked: why now? One reason why is it was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone, the United States or Israel or anyone, they were going to respond and respond against the United States. ¤ If we stood and waited for that attack to come first, before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties ¤ We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces..
💽 https://x.com/Acyn/status/2028573242173366282?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @CatoInstitute “War demands clarity of purpose and constitutional legitimacy. Americans deserve both. They deserve representatives in Congress who will jealously maintain their solemn warmaking prerogative and take seriously their duty to check the presidency,” says Cato foreign policy expert @brandan_buck
[TextLink:] https://x.com/CatoInstitute/status/2028863608600330339?s=20/photo/1

“US officials have offered shifting and contradictory explanations of the Iran war’s purpose, objectives, and duration. ¤ Americans deserve better than this obscurantism.”
– Brandan P. Buck, Research Fellow, Foreign Policy

NVU: Ukraine’s drone defense offers blueprint for US Gulf allies https://tinyurl.com/5x83evtb “US allies and partners in the Middle East should draw on Ukraine’s years of experience defending against massive missile and drone attacks, which include Iranian Shahed drones”
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2028866476950564892?s=20/photo/1
// cont. the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on March 2.”
// chart via UA24

⭕ 2 Mar 2026

🐣 RT @ChrisMurphyCT I want to walk you through why it’s nearly certain Trump’s Iran War is going to be a massive, deadly, trillion dollar failure. And why you should be furious he’s set us on this path.
💽 https://x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2028625918059598165?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @HamidRezaAz A Day 3 recap of the war (with focus on Iranian strategic narrative):
¤ https://x.com/HamidRezaAz/status/2028623375757873309?s=20

🔹CENTCOM confirms that U.S. strikes on Iranian missile bases used B-1 bombers. The U.S. is trying to dismantle Iran’s fortified underground missile facilities.

🔹Iranian reports suggest Tehran has rejected multiple mediation attempts. Tehran’s apparent assessment is that it can sustain high-intensity conflict for 60-90 days, making early ceasefire acceptance strategically disadvantageous.

🔹Ali Larijani explicitly framed the war as a contest of endurance, stating Iran – unlike the United States – is prepared for a prolonged conflict. The objective appears to be altering Washington’s cost-benefit calculations over time.

🔹Iranian strategic discourse increasingly describes the conflict as a “war without rules” or a “game without red lines,” signaling deliberate unpredictability intended to reshape deterrence dynamics after leadership decapitation failed to halt Iran’s response. […]

🔹 Overall, Day 3 shows the war evolving into simultaneous military, economic, psychological, and regional escalation far beyond bilateral confrontation.

🔹 The key question now is whether expanding proxy involvement and energy warfare will force external powers into deeper participation or instead accelerate pressure for negotiated containment.

🐣 RT @Angry_Staffer Well, we did it because of the protesters
Nukes
I mean they’re building an ICBM
We did it defensively because Iran was going to attack us
I mean Israel was gonna do it anyway so we did it too
They were gonna attack us because Israel was gonna attack them so we attacked them
⋙ 🐣 RT @McFaul Why did we go to war with Iran again?
I’ve lost the thread.

WSJ: Anthropic’s Feud With Pentagon Earns It Fans Amid the Blowback https://tinyurl.com/3d2ceehu “AI company’s app is reaching new heights of popularity after Trump ordered the government to stop using it.”

In the last few days, Anthropic’s chatbot Claude hit No. 1 in downloads on the Apple App Store, surpassing OpenAI’s ChatGPT for the first time. On Monday, some of the company’s AI apps briefly crashed because of what it called “unprecedented demand.” Fans are literally taking to the streets to spell out their appreciation.

That’s the consolation prize for losing the entire U.S. government as a customer.

As Anthropic confronts what is likely so far the biggest crisis of its existence, the startup appears to be getting as much love from members of the tech community and casual AI users as it got rejection from the Trump administration.

“Anthropic is one of the few good guys in” Silicon Valley, Amy Siskind, a political activist and investor, wrote on X in a post that also called for deleting ChatGPT and xAI’s Grok chatbot. “The good guys deserve our support!”

Across the country, Team Anthropic and Team OpenAI are taking shape, as policymakers, defense contractors, AI startups and casual chatbot users choose sides in a feud that has opened a new chapter in the relationship between Washington and Silicon Valley and jumps-started fresh debates about government overreach and the moral applications of AI. …

More than 800 employees at Google and OpenAI signed an open letter supporting Anthropic’s principles to not allow the Pentagon to use AI for autonomous weapons and domestic mass surveillance. A separate statement from worker organizations and unions representing Amazon.com, Google and Microsoft employees urged their own employers to maintain the same red lines in any contracts with the Pentagon.

Late Monday, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said the company had made additions to the language of its agreement with the Pentagon to clarify that its technology wouldn’t be used for surveillance of Americans and wouldn’t be used by the National Security Agency. 

In a post on X, Altman said he regretted pursuing the deal aggressively while Anthropic was in the midst of its standoff with the Pentagon. “One thing I think we did wrong: we shouldn’t have rushed to get this out on Friday. The issues are super complex, and demand clear communication. We were genuinely trying to de-escalate things and avoid a much worse outcome, but I think it just looked opportunistic and sloppy.” …

IBIDEM[.]eu: Replaying the Second World War https://tinyurl.com/yt39rs3r “Soviet Parallels and Inspirations for Russian Atrocities in the Russo-Ukrainian War, 2014–25”
// Oleksa Drachewych explores how Russia’s use of WWII memory fuels its war against Ukraine. He traces parallels in rhetoric, war crimes, and ideology, linking Soviet history to present violence through propaganda, policy, and historical reinterpretation.

Oleksa Drachewych argues that Russia’s instrumentalization of its memory of WWII has played a significant role in leading Russian forces to commit similar atrocities in its war against Ukraine. This connection between Soviet actions during and after the Second World War and Russian actions in its escalation against Ukraine plays out in many ways. Parallels exist in the atrocities and war crimes committed during each war, such as in the perceived motivations of perpetrators and the potential consequences of these acts. Implicit inspirations exist where the Russian government likely draws on the Soviet past through policies undertaken by Soviet predecessors. Finally, explicit cases are evident where the Russian government has directly referenced Soviet actions during and after the Second World War, connecting them to its actions against Ukraine. To make his argument, Drachewych explores a variety of categories: the rhetoric of denazification and related propaganda, sexual violence, mass murder and torture, the forcible deportation of people and theft of goods, and the weaponization of food. Russia’s instrumentalization of the history of the Second World War is more than propaganda, leading to violent consequences. The history takes on new meaning in Ukrainian memory politics as Ukrainians reinterpret these events, too. Intersecting history, political science, memory studies, and genocide studies, Replaying the Second World War details the many possible connections, while also highlighting limitations, in comparing the Soviet past to the Russian present, in order to provide answers as to why Russian forces have committed extensive atrocities against Ukrainians and why the Russian government has instituted some of the policies that it has during this war.

🐣 RT @ChrisMurphyCT Today’s explanation for the Iran War (they shift by the minute) is that Israel was going to attack and so we had to as well. We were “forced” into war by Netanyahu. ¤ That’s the definition of weakness – being suckered into a war of choice that no American wants.
💽 https://x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/2028665354881286643?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @SykesCharlie FFS
⋙ 🐣 RT @atrupar Marco Rubio: “We went proactively in a defensive way”
💽 https://x.com/SykesCharlie/status/2028628936544960823?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @maria_drutska Zelensky offered to send Ukraine’s best experts in shooting down Iranian drones to the Middle East if leaders there convince Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Russia’s war on Ukraine, – Bloomberg

🐣 RT @RepThomasMassie The administration admits 🇮🇱 dragged us into the 🇮🇷 war that’s already cost too many American lives and billions of dollars. Before it’s over, the price of gas, groceries, and virtually everything else is going to go up. The only winners in 🇺🇸 are defense company shareholders.
⋙ 🐣 RT @MattWalshBlog So he’s flat out telling us that we’re in a war with Iran because Israel forced our hand. This is basically the worst possible thing he could have said.
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @RapidResponse47 @SecRubio: “The president made the very wise decision—we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”
💽 https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/2028576202420535469?s=20/photo/1

⭕ 1 Mar 2026

WSJ: Ukraine Depended on Western Weaponry. Now That Script Has Flipped. https://tinyurl.com/42z76dfm “Kyiv’s European allies are snapping up its military know-how as they seek to build up their own defenses”

🐣 RT @MarcusMStanley A truly remarkable editorial by Tim Kaine. Remarkable because it includes the full story of U.S.-Iran relations, e.g. US support of Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war that killed a half million Iranians. U.S. discourse almost never includes the perspective of the enemy.
⋙ WSJ, Tim Kaine: An Unwise and Unconstitutional Attack on Iran https://tinyurl.com/nhjyxrrm “More war isn’t the answer. If it were, the past 70 years would have produced a better outcome than what we see today.

The news that the U.S. has joined Israel in starting an offensive war against Iran while in the midst of diplomatic negotiations is tragic. As a member of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, with access to ample classified information about threats from Iran and others, I can state plainly that there was no imminent threat from Iran to America sufficient to warrant committing our sons and daughters to another war in the Middle East—especially without the congressional debate and vote that the Constitution requires. The American people don’t want to be dragged into another forever war under false pretenses. That’s why I’ll insist that all senators vote on my bipartisan resolution to stop U.S. hostilities against Iran as soon as possible.…
v
Our troops deserve better than to be sent into war by a president who promised to end wars. Iranian citizens deserve better than their mistreatment by their own regime and the death of civilians, including schoolchildren, at the hands of U.S. and Israeli aerial bombardment. The world deserves better than a clear message by the Trump administration that might makes right—that neither domestic nor international law matters, diplomacy should be pushed aside, and war should be the preferred means for solving disputes between nations.

Dictators around the world will draw a powerful message from Mr. Trump’s actions: that they can proceed against weaker nations as they please, and America no longer has the credibility to assert important principles of sovereignty, diplomacy or human rights. If we can wage an illegal and unnecessary war to invade another nation’s sovereignty, why shouldn’t any nation feel free to follow our ill-conceived example? …

… I pray that my congressional colleagues find the backbone to stand up to a warmongering president who has used our military to attack targets in Venezuela, Nigeria, Iran, the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean without congressional approval while threatening additional military action in Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Greenland and God knows where else. How long will the Article I branch of America’s government remain silent against this wholesale repudiation of our basic constitutional order?

WaPo: Push from Saudis, Israel helped move Trump to attack Iran https://tinyurl.com/yc49tc8f “U.S. intelligence assessments saw no imminent threat, but regional allies argued now was the time to strike.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2028259194936144261?s=20/photo/1

The attack came despite U.S. intelligence assessments that Iran’s forces were unlikely to pose an immediate threat to the U.S. mainland within the next decade. Saturday’s attack on Iran was a break from decades of U.S. decision-making to hold back from a full-scale effort to depose the regime of a country of more than 90 million people. It also marked a stark shift from Trump’s own previous military forays, which until now have been far narrower in scope.

🐣 RT @clement_molin Russia 🇷🇺 since it invaded Ukraine 🇺🇦 in 2022
¤ https://x.com/clement_molin/status/2028200046987300967?s=20

🔹 Failed to take Kyiv or any regional capital
🔹 Lost 1 million soldiers (WIA/KIA/MIA…)
🔹 Lost another 1 million that fled the mobilisation
🔹 Border with NATO doubled (Finland + Sweden)
🔹 Closure of European Market to Russia (1st one)
🔹 Lost Bashar al Assad in Syria
🔹 Lost Khamenei in Iran
🔹 Lost Maduro in Venezuela
🔹 Made new allies in Africa (Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso), had to send troops to avoid them collapsing
🔹 Excluded from Olympics, FIFA, UEFA, European Council and many international organisations
🔹 Lost Armenia and Azerbaijan which turned more west
🔹 Sells off its oil to India or China (cheaper)
🔹 War lasted 4 years (longer than the great patriotic war)
🔹 Got the smallest territory gain in Ukraine in february 2026 since 2 years
🔹 Forced to ask Iran and North Korea for munitions, drones and men to fight the war
🔹 Even Serbia turned their back
🔹 US and Israel doing what they want in the Middle East
… Yeah, this was truly a mastermind from Russia ..

⭕ 28 Feb 2026

🐣 RT @ @justanotherlaw OpenAI has released the language in their contract with the DoW, and it’s exactly as Anthropic was claiming: “legalese that would allow those safeguards to be disregarded at will”.
¤ [TextLink:] https://x.com/justanotherlaw/status/2027855993921802484?s=20/photo/1

Note: the first paragraph doesn’t say “no autonomous weapons”! It says “AI can’t control autonomous weapons as long as existing law (that doesn’t exist) or the DoD says so.”

Similarly, the mass surveillance use cases will “comply with existing law”, but many forms of data collection that we’d consider “mass surveillance” are things that the NSA has consistently argued are legal under current law

[Text:] 2. Our contract. Here is the relevant language:
The Department of War may use the Al System for all lawful purposes, consistent with applicable law, operational requirements, and well-established safety and oversight protocols. The Al System will not be used to independently direct autonomous weapons in any case where law, regulation, or Department policy requires human control, nor will it be used to assume other high-stakes decisions that require approval by a human decisionmaker under the same authorities. Per DoD Directive 3000.09 (dtd 25 January 2023), any use of Al in autonomous and semi-autonomous systems must undergo rigorous verification, validation, and testing to ensure they perform as intended in realistic environments before deployment.

For intelligence activities, any handling of private information will comply with the Fourth Amendment, the National Security Act of 1947 and the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act of 1978, Executive Order 12333, and applicable DoD directives requiring a defined foreign intelligence purpose. The Al System shall not be used for unconstrained monitoring of U.S. persons’ private information as consistent with these authorities. The system shall also not be used for domestic law-enforcement activities except as permitted by the Posse Comitatus Act and other applicable law.

🐣 RT @AJEnglish BREAKING: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed and his body has been found, reports Reuters, citing Israeli media reports.

🐣 RT @McFaul George H.W. Bush had UN support and Congressional support for his war against Iraq.
Clinton had NATO support for his war against Serbia.
George W. Bush had UN support and Congressional support for his war against Afghanistan. Allies and partners joined.
Obama had UN support for his war against Libya. Allies and partners joined.
So far, Trump has Israel’s support. Thats it.

🐣 📊 RT @DarrigoMelanie Only 27% of Americans support attacking Iran. Not only is attacking Iran illegal, it’s also unpopular.
◕ https://x.com/DarrigoMelanie/status/2027783269803004019?s=20/photo/1
// Economist/YouGov poll (2/20-23/2026)

🐣 Trump: “For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted “Death to America” and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder targeting the United States, our troops, and the innocent people in many, many countries.”
Bibi: “For 47 years, the Ayatollahs’ regime has chanted ’Death to Israel,’ ’Death to America.’ It has spilled our blood, murdered many Americans, and massacred its own people.”
[translated from Hebrew]

NYT Editorial: Trump’s Attack on Iran Is Reckless https://tinyurl.com/yw2z8wmm “Trump’s approach to Iran is reckless. His goals are ill-defined. He has failed to line up the international and domestic support that would be necessary to maximize the chances of a successful outcome”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2027805794087915770?s=20/photo/1

In his 2024 presidential campaign, Donald Trump promised voters that he would end wars, not start them. Over the past year, he has instead ordered military strikes in seven nations. …

Now he has ordered a new attack against the Islamic Republic of Iran, in cooperation with Israel, and Mr. Trump said it would be much more extensive than the targeted bombing of nuclear facilities in June. Yet he started this war without explaining to the American people and the world why he was doing so. Nor has he involved Congress, which the Constitution grants the sole power to declare war. He instead posted a video at 2:30 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, shortly after bombing began, in which he said that Iran presented “imminent threats” and called for the overthrow of its government. His rationale is dubious, and making his case by video in the middle of the night is unacceptable.

Among his justifications is the elimination of Iran’s nuclear program, which is a worthy goal. But Mr. Trump declared that program “obliterated” by the strike in June, a claim belied by both U.S. intelligence and this new attack. The contradiction underscores how little regard he has for his duty to tell the truth when committing American armed forces to battle. It also shows how little faith American citizens should place in his assurances about the goals and results of his growing list of military adventures.

Mr. Trump’s approach to Iran is reckless. His goals are ill-defined. He has failed to line up the international and domestic support that would be necessary to maximize the chances of a successful outcome. He has disregarded both domestic and international law for warfare. …
v
A responsible American president could make a plausible argument for further action against Iran. The core of this argument would need to be a clear explanation of the strategy, as well as the justification for attacking now, even though Iran does not appear close to having a nuclear weapon. This strategy would involve a promise to seek approval from Congress and to collaborate with international allies.

Mr. Trump is not even attempting this approach. He is telling the American people and the world that he expects their blind trust. He has not earned that trust.
^
He instead treats allies with disdain. He lies constantly, including about the results of the June attack on Iran. He has failed to live up to his own promises for solving other crises in Ukraine, Gaza and Venezuela. He has fired senior military leaders for failing to show fealty to his political whims. When his appointees make outrageous mistakes — such as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth sharing advanced details of a military attack on the Houthis, an Iranian-backed group, on an unsecured group chat — Mr. Trump shields them from accountability. His administration appears to have violated international law by, among other things, disguising a military plane as a civilian plane and shooting two defenseless sailors who survived an initial attack. …

He should have had the courage to say so in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, among other settings. When a president asks American troops and diplomats to risk their lives, he should not be coy about it. …

Mr. Trump’s failure to articulate a strategy for this attack has created shocking levels of uncertainty about it. He has called for regime change and offered no sense of why the world should expect this campaign to end better than the 21st-century attempts at regime change in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those wars toppled governments but understandably soured the American public on open-ended military operations of uncertain national interest, and they embittered the troops who loyally served in them.

🐣 RT @AIPAC .@POTUS @realDonaldTrump: “For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted “Death to America” and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder targeting the United States, our troops, and the innocent people in many, many countries.”
⋙ 🐣 Bibi: “For 47 years, the Ayatollahs’ regime has chanted ’Death to Israel,’ ’Death to America.’ It has spilled our blood, murdered many Americans, and massacred its own people.”
So, who’s writing the script?

🐣 RT @atrupar. The president sounds addled here
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2027658401703202860?s=20/photo/1
// Trump full announcement (8 mins)

🐣 RT @netanyahu בנימין נתניהו [Translated from Hebrew] My brothers and sisters, citizens of Israel, just an hour ago, Israel and the United States embarked on an operation to remove the existential threat posed by the terrorist regime in Iran.

I thank our great friend, President Donald Trump, for his historic leadership.

For 47 years, the Ayatollahs’ regime has chanted “Death to Israel,” “Death to America.” It has spilled our blood, murdered many Americans, and massacred its own people.

This murderous terrorist regime must not be allowed to arm itself with nuclear weapons that would enable it to threaten all of humanity.

Our joint operation will create the conditions for the brave Iranian people to take their fate into their own hands.

The time has come for all parts of the Iranian people—the Persians, Kurds, Azeris, Baloch, and Ahwazis—to cast off the yoke of tyranny and bring freedom and peace-loving values to Iran.

I call on you, citizens of Israel, to heed the instructions of the Home Front Command. In the coming days, during Operation “Lion’s Roar,” we will all be called upon to show patience and strength of spirit.

Together we will stand, together we will fight, and together we will ensure the eternity of Israel.

🐣 RT @brhodes There is no legal basis for this war. There is no imminent threat that demands this war. There is no stated objective for this war.

🐣 RT @WeTheBrandon This is going to be the most disastrous conflict the US has EVER engaged in. We are going to lose a carrier. We are going to lose countless planes. We are going to lose airbases (at least for a period of time) to Iranian missiles, drones, and hypersonic weapons. And Israel is going to collapse from the economic fallout. And Trump isn’t listening. Because he’s a f__king madman. https://x.com/SprinterPress//SprinterPress/status/2027448504965321165
⋙ 🐣 RT @SprinterPress [Feb 27] The Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff was dismissed after warning Trump about the consequences of an attack on Iran. ¤ According to Reuters, after the warning from the head of the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, Fred Kacher, to Trump about an attack on Iran leaked to the media, he was dismissed from his position, having served in it for just 3 months.

🐣 RT @IAPonomarenko Frankly, I don’t see how the Ayatollah regime could be toppled, even through the most extensive and devastating bombing campaign, without boots on the ground and a full-scale occupation of a vast country of 90 million people.¤ Especially after Trump allowed the regime to drown a widespread popular uprising in blood, squandering its momentum with empty promises that “help is coming.”

🐣 RT @KitMaherCNN President Trump says in video address: “The Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties – that often happens in war. But we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.”

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom This address, by a ranting president in a golf hat, is a hot stew of various rationales. He admits that there will be casualties, makes some noises about preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons, and then encourages the Iranian people to rise up and overthrow the regime.
⋙ 🐣 Several weeks ago Trump said “Help is on the way.” They rose up. Tens of thousands were massacred, likely the bravest. Help wasn’t on the way. ¤ He ghosted the shah-apparent. ¤ No declaration from Congress. Wants it to be HIS show. ¤ Can’t be trusted.

🔆 This❗️⋙ NYT: U.S. and Israel Conduct Strikes on Iran https://tinyurl.com/pb7p324c Large explosions were reported in Tehran, according to several residents, and air-raid sirens rang across Israel.

⭕ 27 Feb 2026

TheAtlantic, Matteo Wong: What Happens to Anthropic Now? https://tinyurl.com/3rhunnp4 “The Trump administration is severing all ties with the ‘woke’ AI firm.” //➔ The fallout from Trump’s latest hissy fit could cost the United States its edge in AI

WSJ Editorial: China Wins the Pentagon-Anthropic Brawl https://tinyurl.com/j8s36s6u Trump goes nuclear on the AI firm, in a needless display of brute government punishment.

🐣 RT @ns123abc 🚨 BREAKING: OPENAI SAYS THEY’LL DO THE SAME THING THAT GOT ANTHROPIC BANNED
¤ https://x.com/ns123abc/status/2027536211364221391?s=20

Sam Altman memo to OpenAI staff:
> “This is no longer just an issue between Anthropic and the Pentagon this is an issue for the whole industry and it is important to clarify our stance”
> “We have long believed that AI should not be used for mass surveillance or autonomous lethal weapons, and that humans should remain in the loop for high-stakes automated decisions. These are our main red lines.”
Altman on CNBC this morning:
>“I don’t personally think the Pentagon should be threatening DPA against these companies”
>“For all the differences I have with Anthropic, I mostly trust them as a company”
OpenAI is next…

🐣 RT @gnoble79 In 45 years on Wall Street, I’ve never seen anything like this. ¤ Sam Altman just convinced 3 of the world’s smartest investors to fund his losses. ¤ $110 billion. But ZERO profit in sight. ¤ The largest private funding round in history. […]
¤ https://x.com/gnoble79/status/2027432577263399145?s=20

🐣 RT @mincho Anthropic said no to the Pentagon. ¤ Now Sam Altman is backing them: “For all the differences I have with Anthropic, I mostly trust them as a company and I think they really do care about safety.” ¤ OpenAI and Anthropic both drawing the same line. ¤ This is a big deal.

🐣 RT @sharongoldman BREAKING: Sam Altman told OpenAI employees at an all-hands meeting on Friday afternoon that a potential agreement is emerging with the Department of War to use the startup’s AI models and tools, according to a source present at the meeting and a summary of the meeting seen by Fortune. The contract has not yet been signed.
¤ https://tinyurl.com/mryuy7fu

The meeting came at the end of a week where a conflict between Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and OpenAI rival Anthropic burst into public acrimony, ending with the apparent end of Anthropic’s contracts with the Pentagon and with the federal government in general.

Altman said the government is willing to let OpenAI build their own “safety stack”—that is, the layered system of technical, policy, and human controls that sit between a powerful AI model and real-world use—and that if the model refuses to do a task, then the government would not force OpenAI to make it do that task.

🐣 RT @SenMarkey My statement demanding immediate congressional action to reverse DOD’s designation of Anthropic a supply chain risk.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/SenMarkey/status/2027529641334849905?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @WatcherGuru JUST IN: 🇺🇸 US government officially designates AI company Anthropic a “supply chain risk.” ¤ This is a label normally reserved for US enemies & adversaries, never applied to an American company before.

🐣 RT @neal_katyal Try.
⋙ 🐣 RT @atrupar Trump on the Supreme Court’s tariffs ruling: “Is a Rehearing or Readjudication of this case possible???”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/neal_katyal/status/2027512024172007790?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump The recent Decision of the United States Supreme Court concerning TARIFFS could allow for Hundreds of Billions of Dollars to be returned to Countries and Companies that have been “ripping off” the United States of America for many years to come, and now, according to this Decision, could actually continue to do so, at an even increased level. I am sure that the Supreme Court did not have this in mind! It doesn’t make sense that Countries and Companies that took advantage of us for decades, receiving Billions and Billions of Dollars that they should not have been allowed to receive, would now be entitled to an undeserved “windfall,” the likes of which the World has never seen before, as a result of this highly disappointing, to say the least, ruling. Is a Rehearing or Readjudication of this case possible??? PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

WSJ: Government Agencies Raise Alarm About Use of Elon Musk’s Grok Chatbot https://tinyurl.com/2zykycsj Warnings about xAI’s safety and reliability preceded Pentagon decision to approve Grok for use in classified settings.

🐣 RT @TheRickWilson It’s worse than expected, and that’s saying a lot.
⋙ 🐣 RT @ DemocracyDocket 🚨 EXCLUSIVE: Democracy Docket has obtained a draft of the executive order being circulated with the White House that would allow Trump to take unprecedented control over voting. ¤ Legal experts called the order blatantly unconstitutional. Read the full, 17-page order below👇 https://bit.ly/4l0gmXp
[TextLink:] https://x.com/DemocracyDocket/status/2027470158516605041?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @krassenstein WELCOME TO THE AUTHORITARIAN STATES OF AMERICA. ¤ I am signing up to Anthropic’s premium service. ¤ Please support Anthropic.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/krassenstein/status/2027499637427372509?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WILL NEVER ALLOW A RADICAL LEFT, WOKE COMPANY TO DICTATE HOW OUR GREAT MILITARY FIGHTS AND WINS WARS! That decision belongs to YOUR COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, and the tremendous leaders I appoint to run our Military.

The Leftwing nut jobs at Anthropic have made a DISASTROUS MISTAKE trying to
STRONG-ARM the Department of War, and force them to obey their Terms of Service instead of our Constitution. Their selfishness is putting AMERICAN LIVES at risk, our Troops in danger, and our National Security in JEOPARDY.

Therefore, I am directing EVERY Federal Agency in the United States Government to IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology. We don’t need it, we don’t want it, and will not do business with them again! There will be a Six Month phase out period for Agencies like the Department of War who are using Anthropic’s products, at various levels. Anthropic better get their act together, and be helpful during this phase out period, or I will use the Full Power of the Presidency to make them comply, with major civil and criminal consequences to follow.

WE will decide the fate of our Country – NOT some out-of-control, Radical Left Al company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

🔰 TimothySnyder: What is the state of Trump? He is failing at fascism. https://tinyurl.com/bdefxzsn “The State of the Union was full of fascist atmospherics. But it was also blowhard exhaustion.”

🐣 RT @CatoInstitute “Just as there was no emergency justifying the unilateral imposition of worldwide tariffs, there is no election emergency that permits the president to ignore Article 1, Section IV of the Constitution, which assigns election lawmaking authority to the states and Congress,” says Cato’s @stephen_richer

🐣 RT @joni_askola If you think you understand the scale of the war in Ukraine, look at Mariupol. ¤ Estimates for the three-month siege reach up to 88k killed. ¤ For context, that exceeds the reported death toll of the entire two-year war in Gaza
🖼 https://x.com/joni_askola/status/2027288030071992807?s=20/photo/1

🔆 This❗️⋙ TheAtlantic, Thomas Wright: The Real Reason Anthropic Wants Guardrails https://tinyurl.com/y6ddxmxh “Hegseth issued a blunt ultimatum to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: Strip the ethical guardrails from your AI models by Friday or face the full weight of the state.”
// “This is not just an ethical dispute. It is a battle over whether to manage the national-security risks that will inevitably be associated with ever more powerful AI.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2027472639707562339?s=20/photo/1
// “Hegseth issued a blunt ultimatum to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: Strip the ethical guardrails from your AI models by Friday or face the full weight of the state.”
// AI is too powerful and too new to be set free from human oversight.

On Tuesday, in a closed-door meeting, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a blunt ultimatum to Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei: Strip the ethical guardrails from your AI models by Friday or face the full weight of the state. The terms of the threat were stark. If Anthropic does not allow the Pentagon “all lawful uses” of its Claude models, Hegseth will invoke the Defense Production Act to compel cooperation, he warned—or, even more devastatingly, designate Anthropic as a supply-chain risk. The latter would effectively blacklist Anthropic from doing business with any entity that touches the Department of Defense.

Yesterday evening, Amodei gave his answer. He rejected Hegseth’s “best and final offer,” writing,

“I believe deeply in the existential importance of using AI to defend the United States and other democracies, and to defeat our autocratic adversaries.” However, he continued, “in a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values.” He concluded that the Pentagon’s “threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request.”

This is not just an ethical dispute. It is a battle over whether to manage the national-security risks that will inevitably be associated with ever more powerful AI. If Hegseth follows through on his ultimatum, it will weaken the U.S. military and increase the likelihood of a catastrophic accident.

Anthropic has insisted that its Claude AI model not be used for domestic surveillance or to build autonomous weapons without a human involved. The company’s statement makes clear that its only principled objection is to mass surveillance. It is not opposed to autonomous weapons per se and has already carved out exemptions for missile defense and cyberoperations. The company’s hesitation regarding autonomy is technical: Large language models are simply not yet reliable enough to operate without a human in the loop. Pushing them too far, too quickly, invites a mistake that could prove disastrous. Anthropic is asking for an exclusion on autonomous weapons not out of an ideological refusal to fight, but to allow for the research and development necessary to make such systems safe.

The truly unbridgeable divide is the one over domestic surveillance. DOD has the authority to conduct domestic surveillance in support of a civilian agency. Under an administration that invoked the Insurrection Act, or that sought to map domestic dissent, the Pentagon’s demand for “all lawful uses” of Anthropic’s models could become a skeleton key. Amodei articulated this danger in a recent interview with Ross Douthat, noting that, although it isn’t illegal to record conversations in public spaces, the sheer scale of AI changes the nature of the act. As Amodei put it, AI could transcribe speech and correlate it in a way that would not only identify one member of the opposition but “make a map of all 100 million. And so, are you going to make a mockery of the Fourth Amendment [protects against surveillance without a warrant] by the technology finding technical ways around it?”

The Pentagon’s logic relies on a traditional procurement analogy: Lockheed Martin does not tell the Air Force how to fly the F-35s it makes, so why should Anthropic tell the military how to use Claude? A democratically elected government should be free to make those choices. This sounds reasonable on its face but does not account for the uniqueness of AI. Unlike nuclear energy and the internet, both of which were born in government labs, AI was conceived and honed entirely within the private sector. It is a general-purpose technology with the potential to upend the global balance of power.

These circumstances obligate AI companies to work with the government in thinking through the risks associated with their product, especially because they have a greater understanding of it than many in government. After all, if Anthropic removed all of the conditions on autonomous weapons and the models behaved in unexpected and dangerous ways, the company would certainly be held responsible.
v
AI scientists have been trying to encourage a public discussion about managing these risks. In 2023, dozens of AI leaders, including Amodei, Sam Altman of OpenAI, Demis Hassabis of Google DeepMind, and Kevin Scott of Microsoft issued a statement saying that “mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war.” Earlier this year, Mustafa Suleyman, the head of Microsoft’s AI team who wrote a book on AI risks called The Coming Wave, told the BBC, “I honestly think that if you’re not a little bit afraid at the moment then you’re not paying attention.”
^
Nobody has been more outspoken about both the hazards and the potential than Amodei, who has published a series of essays over the past 18 months on the future of AI. His starting point is that an extremely powerful AI—what some people call artificial general intelligence—is near at hand. By this he means that an AI model will be as capable as a Nobel Prize winner in every field. Once made, such a model can be easily cloned millions of times. As he puts it, this would be equivalent to a country of geniuses in a data center.

In his first essay, “Machines of Loving Grace,” Amodei wrote about how this model could allow humans to advance research and development in many fields 20 times faster than would otherwise be the case. We may see a century’s worth of progress in medicine and biological sciences in five years. In this “compressed 21st century,” he believes we could plausibly secure the reliable prevention and treatment of nearly all infectious diseases, the elimination of most cancers, the prevention of Alzheimer’s, and huge progress on countering genetic diseases.

But more powerful AI also comes with risks. Amodei recently published his second essay, “The Adolescence of Technology,” which discusses the flip side of the coin—the ways that more powerful AI could endanger the United States and humanity in general by allowing individuals to build bioweapons or by empowering authoritarianism. He wrote it, he told a panel in Davos, “to jolt people awake.”

One of Amodei’s concerns is the possibility that the country of geniuses could turn hostile or disruptive. In a lesser-known, shorter post, “The Urgency of Interpretability,” he admitted that “we do not understand how our own AI creations work.” A flaw in regular technology is generally a programming mistake that can be fixed. But Amodei cited Chris Olah, a co-founder of Anthropic, in noting that AI systems are not so much built as grown. “You can set the high-level conditions that direct and shape growth,” Amodei wrote, “but the exact structure which emerges is unpredictable and difficult to understand or explain.” The models may evolve and behave in ways that their creators can neither anticipate nor easily observe, let alone fix.

Anthropic has conducted experiments to figure out the true nature of its AI agents. It found that some are prone to lying and will blackmail their engineers even if instructed not to. In the shorter post, Amodei wrote, “These systems will be absolutely central to the economy, technology, and national security, and will be capable of so much autonomy that I consider it basically unacceptable for humanity to be totally ignorant of how they work.” Taking the time to properly understand how these models evolve and behave would allow their operators to identify and disable the ones that run amok.

Amodei recommended that all labs develop “a true ‘MRI for AI,’” but he acknowledged that they might not have enough time, given how quickly AI is advancing. This interpretability problem gets to the core of Anthropic’s concern about autonomous weapons.

The public narrative often conflates Anthropic’s guardrails with anti-war sentiment, but this is not a sequel to the Project Maven controversy of 2018, when Google employees revolted over drone-targeting contracts. That was a story of internal dissent within a company hesitant to help the military wage war. Anthropic is a different beast entirely. It was the first AI firm to deploy its models in classified systems and has shown a willingness to integrate with the defense establishment. Anthropic’s clash with the Pentagon is not one between pacifism and militarism but a fundamental dispute over managing the risks of the most transformative technology since the splitting of the atom.

The company has real differences with the Trump administration over foreign policy. Anthropic is notably hawkish on China, favoring tougher policies toward Beijing than Trump’s accommodationist and commerce-centric approach, and more concerned by authoritarianism. The company is also more outspoken about the risks AI poses to biosecurity and the labor market. David Sacks, the administration’s AI czar, has dismissed such concerns as doomerism and accused Anthropic of running a “sophisticated regulatory capture strategy based on fear-mongering.” The administration has rejected state-level regulations on AI on the grounds that some states would try to insert a “woke ideology” into AI, and that a contradictory patchwork would hold America back in the AI race against China. But it has yet to produce a federal bill to fill the void.

The leaders of AI companies acknowledge that they do not know what they are building. But they don’t want to stop. Some, like Amodei, worry that China will get there first, which would pose a greater threat. Others believe the benefits outweigh the risks. But most want more time so that society and government can properly adjust and regulate AI where needed. They worry that the speed of advancement will outstrip the world’s ability to manage the risks. Some have suggested slowing China down with export controls to buy more time, but the administration has rejected that logic.

There is now a real chance that many AI companies will think twice before working with the U.S. government and will focus on their commercial work instead. The message Hegseth is sending to Silicon Valley is that if a company partners with the Pentagon and makes a wrong turn, the administration will effectively nationalize it or designate it as a supply-chain risk and burn it down.

Axios recently reported that the Pentagon views Google’s Gemini as a potential replacement for Claude. Perhaps, but Hassabis, who oversees all of Google’s core AI research and development, has a long history of concerns about AI risks and a belief, stronger than Amodei’s, in the necessity of global governance. It’s hard to imagine him complying with Hegseth’s demands. That does leave one AI leader who is keen to fill the vacuum: Elon Musk, with his model, xAI. If Hegseth sticks to his demands, the Pentagon could become dependent on xAI as its sole supplier. This would deprive the U.S. government of most of the AI industry’s talents, give Musk enormous leverage over future administrations, and create a single point of failure, which could prove catastrophic. No company, not even Anthropic, should be the sole supplier of classified AI to the government.

Hegseth’s ultimatum rests on a simple premise: that the government, not private companies, should decide how it uses powerful technologies. In most cases, that principle is sound. But here it obscures two deeper problems. It minimizes the risks to domestic liberties, and it assumes a level of understanding that does not yet exist. The engineers building these systems acknowledge that they do not fully understand them, and that the models behave in ways that can be difficult to predict or control. Demanding unconditional access before those systems are ready is not an assertion of authority. It is a wager that the unknowns will not matter.

The danger is not that Silicon Valley will wield too much power over the military. It is that neither will fully understand the systems it is rushing to deploy—and that the consequences of that ignorance will be tested not in a laboratory, but on the world.

🐣 RT @BillClinton As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would I not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing—I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/BillClinton/status/2027424128559452573?s=20/photo/1 -2

PRESIDENT CLINTON’S OPENING STATEMENT TO THE HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE
AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY | FEBRUARY 27, 2026
NOTE: ONLY THE COMMITTEE CAN CONFIRM WHAT WAS DELIVERED IN THE ROOM

Good morning. Welcome to Chappaqua.

I’m here today for two reasons. The first is that I love my country. And America was built upon the idea that no person is above the law, even Presidents-especially Presidents.
Democracy requires every person to play their part, and I hope that by being here today, we can bring ourselves a little further away from the brink and back to being a country where we can disagree with one another civilly-where the search for truth and justice outweighs the partisan urge to score points and create spectacle. I’ll do my part, and I hope you’ll do yours.
The second reason I’m here is that the girls and women whose lives Jeffrey Epstein destroyed deserve not only justice, but healing. They’ve been waiting too long for both. Though my brief acquaintance with Epstein ended years before his crimes came to light, and though I never witnessed during our limited interactions any indication of what was truly going on, I am here to offer what little I know so that it might prevent anything like this from ever happening again.
But before we start, I have to get personal. You made Hillary come in. She had nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein. Nothing.
She has no memory of even
meeting him. She neither traveled with him nor visited any of his properties.
Whether you subpoenaed 10 people or 10,000, including her was simply not right.
We began this hearing with me raising my hand and taking an oath to tell the truth. But everyone has a responsibility to be honest with those they represent. Whether you raised your right hand or not, each and every one of us owes nothing less than truth and accuracy to the American people.

PRESIDENT CLINTON’S OPENING STATEMENT (CONTINUED)
Now, let me say what you’re going to hear from me.
First, I had no idea of the crimes Epstein was committing. No matter how many photos you show me, I have two things that at the end of the day matter more than your interpretation of those 20-year-old photos.
I know what I saw, and more importantly, what I didn’t see.
I know what I did, and more importantly, what I didn’t do.
I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong.
As someone who grew up in a home with domestic abuse, not only would not have flown on his plane if I had any inkling of what he was doing-I would have turned him in myself and led the call for justice for his crimes, not sweetheart deals.
But even with 20/20 hindsight, I saw nothing that ever gave me pause. We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long. And by the time it came to light with his 2008 guilty plea, I had long stopped associating with him.
You’ll often hear me say that I don’t recall. That might be unsatisfying. But I’m not going to say something I’m not sure of. This was all a long time ago. And I am bound by my oath not to speculate, or to guess. This is not merely for my benefit, but because it doesn’t help you for me to play detective 24 years later.
Since 1 am under oath, I will not falsely state that I am looking forward to your questions. But I am ready to answer them to the best of my abilities, consistent with the facts as I know them: the legitimate, the logical, and even the outlandish.
With that Mr. Chairman, fire away.

⭕ 26 Feb 2026

Anthropic: Statement from Dario Amodei on our discussions with the Department of War https://tinyurl.com/3tjwmh5b

I believe deeply in the existential importance of using AI to defend the United States and other democracies, and to defeat our autocratic adversaries.

Anthropic has therefore worked proactively to deploy our models to the Department of War and the intelligence community. We were the first frontier AI company to deploy our models in the US government’s classified networks, the first to deploy them at the National Laboratories, and the first to provide custom models for national security customers. Claude is extensively deployed across the Department of War and other national security agencies for mission-critical applications, such as intelligence analysis, modeling and simulation, operational planning, cyber operations, and more.

Anthropic has also acted to defend America’s lead in AI, even when it is against the company’s short-term interest. We chose to forgo several hundred million dollars in revenue to cut off the use of Claude by firms linked to the Chinese Communist Party (some of whom have been designated by the Department of War as Chinese Military Companies), shut down CCP-sponsored cyberattacks that attempted to abuse Claude, and have advocated for strong export controls on chips to ensure a democratic advantage.

Anthropic understands that the Department of War, not private companies, makes military decisions. We have never raised objections to particular military operations nor attempted to limit use of our technology in an ad hoc manner.

However, in a narrow set of cases, we believe AI can undermine, rather than defend, democratic values. Some uses are also simply outside the bounds of what today’s technology can safely and reliably do. Two such use cases have never been included in our contracts with the Department of War, and we believe they should not be included now:

Mass domestic surveillance. We support the use of AI for lawful foreign intelligence and counterintelligence missions. But using these systems for mass domestic surveillance is incompatible with democratic values. AI-driven mass surveillance presents serious, novel risks to our fundamental liberties. To the extent that such surveillance is currently legal, this is only because the law has not yet caught up with the rapidly growing capabilities of AI. For example, under current law, the government can purchase detailed records of Americans’ movements, web browsing, and associations from public sources without obtaining a warrant, a practice the Intelligence Community has acknowledged raises privacy concerns and that has generated bipartisan opposition in Congress. Powerful AI makes it possible to assemble this scattered, individually innocuous data into a comprehensive picture of any person’s life—automatically and at massive scale.

Fully autonomous weapons. Partially autonomous weapons, like those used today in Ukraine, are vital to the defense of democracy. Even fully autonomous weapons (those that take humans out of the loop entirely and automate selecting and engaging targets) may prove critical for our national defense. But today, frontier AI systems are simply not reliable enough to power fully autonomous weapons. We will not knowingly provide a product that puts America’s warfighters and civilians at risk. We have offered to work directly with the Department of War on R&D to improve the reliability of these systems, but they have not accepted this offer. In addition, without proper oversight, fully autonomous weapons cannot be relied upon to exercise the critical judgment that our highly trained, professional troops exhibit every day. They need to be deployed with proper guardrails, which don’t exist today.

To our knowledge, these two exceptions have not been a barrier to accelerating the adoption and use of our models within our armed forces to date.

The Department of War has stated they will only contract with AI companies who accede to “any lawful use” and remove safeguards in the cases mentioned above. They have threatened to remove us from their systems if we maintain these safeguards; they have also threatened to designate us a “supply chain risk”—a label reserved for US adversaries, never before applied to an American company—and to invoke the Defense Production Act to force the safeguards’ removal. These latter two threats are inherently contradictory: one labels us a security risk; the other labels Claude as essential to national security.

Regardless, these threats do not change our position: we cannot in good conscience accede to their request.

It is the Department’s prerogative to select contractors most aligned with their vision. But given the substantial value that Anthropic’s technology provides to our armed forces, we hope they reconsider. Our strong preference is to continue to serve the Department and our warfighters—with our two requested safeguards in place. Should the Department choose to offboard Anthropic, we will work to enable a smooth transition to another provider, avoiding any disruption to ongoing military planning, operations, or other critical missions. Our models will be available on the expansive terms we have proposed for as long as required.

We remain ready to continue our work to suppor the national security of the United States.

WSJ Editorial: A Vaccine Skeptic as Surgeon General https://tinyurl.com/2hztuerz “Casey Means won’t restore confidence in public-health advice.”

🐣 RT @michaeldweiss “Intercepted phone calls and messages from senior Russians ridiculing Trump have been shared by the British with the Americans. ‘We have continually shown them intelligence that shows the Russians are lying,’ a senior security source revealed. ‘The Russians are privately mocking Trump over his naivety about Putin’s intentions. Putin doesn’t want to end the war.’” [Spectstor link:] https://tinyurl.com/ynnvshyk

WSJ: In Iran Talks, U.S. Brings Tough Demands, Growing Military Presence https://tinyurl.com/yufenb8u “Talks wrap up with no deal yet and Washington and Tehran far apart on key issues”

🐣 RT @UkrReview 🇺🇦 Budanov: “Territories are the main issue. Everything else is secondary. I am sure that the Ukrainian people will reject any plans regarding our land. All occupied territories will remain temporarily occupied and will inevitably be liberated over time.”

✭ Newsweek: World’s Best Hospitals 2026 – Top 250 https://tinyurl.com/mst98h2s Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota) once again tops the list, with Cleveland Clinic, Massachusetts General, Johns Hopkins, Ronald Reagan/UCLA, and Brigham and Women’s also in the Top Twenty.

🐣 RT @EdKrassen BREAKING: Here is Hillary Clinton’s full opening statement before the House Oversight Committee regarding Jeffrey Epstein. ¤ It’s a scathing attack on Republicans for their cover-up.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/EdKrassen/status/2027057028036718887?s=20/photo/1 -4

SECRETARY CLINTON’S OPENING STATEMENT TO THE HOUSE OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE
FEBRUARY 26, 2026

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member, Members of the Committee… as a former Senator, I have respect for legislative oversight and I expect its exercise, as do the American people, to be principled and fearless in pursuit of truth and accountability.

As we all know, however, too often Congressional investigations are partisan political theater, which is an abdication of duty and an insult to the American people.

The Committee justified its subpoena to me based on its assumption that I have information regarding the investigations into the criminal activities of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

Let me be as clear as I can. I do not.

As I stated in my sworn declaration on January 13, I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island, homes or offices. I have nothing to add to that.

Like every decent person, I have been horrified by what we have learned about their crimes.
It’s unfathomable that Mr. Epstein initially got a slap on the wrist in 2008, which allowed him to continue his predatory practices for another decade.

Mr. Chairman, your investigation is supposed to be assessing the federal government’s handling of the investigations and prosecutions of Epstein and his crimes. You subpoenaed eight law enforcement officials, all of whom ran the Department of Justice or directed the FBI when Epstein’s crimes were investigated and prosecuted. Of those eight, only one appeared before the Committee. Five of the six former attorneys general were allowed to submit brief statements stating they had no information to provide.

You have held zero public hearings, refused to allow the media to attend them, including today, despite espousing the need for transparency on dozens of occasions.

You have made little effort to call the people who show up most prominently in the Epstein files. And when you did, not a single Republican Member showed up for Les Wexner’s deposition.

SECRETARY CLINTON’S OPENING STATEMENT (CONTINUED 2/4)

This institutional failure is designed to protect one political party and one public official, rather than to seek truth and justice for the victims and survivors, as well as the public who also want to get to the bottom of this matter. My heart breaks for the survivors. And I am furious on their behalf.

I have spent my life advocating for women and girls. I have worked hard to stop the terrible abuses so many women and girls face here and around the world, including human trafficking, forced labor, and sexual slavery. For too long, these have been largely invisible crimes or not treated as crimes at all. But the survivors are real and they are entitled to better.

In Southeast Asia, I met girls as young as twelve years old who were forced into prostitution and raped repeatedly. Some were dying of AIDS. In Eastern Europe, I met mothers who told me how they lost daughters to trafficking and did not know where to turn. In settings around the world, I met survivors trying to rebuild their lives and help rescue others – with little support from people in power, who too often turned a blind eye and a cold shoulder.

If you are new to this issue, let me tell you: Jeffrey Epstein was a heinous individual, but he’s far from alone. This is not a one-off tabloid sensation or a political scandal.

It’s a global scourge with an unimaginable human toll.

My work combatting sex trafficking goes back to my days as First Lady. I worked to pass the first federal legislation against trafficking and was proud that my husband signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which increased support for survivors and gave prosecutors better tools for going after traffickers.

As Secretary of State, I appointed a former federal prosecutor, Lou CdeBaca, to ramp up our global antitrafficking efforts. I oversaw nearly 170 anti-trafficking programs in 70 nations and directly pressed foreign leaders to crack down on trafficking networks in their countries. Every year we published a global report to shine a light on abuses.

The findings of those reports triggered sanctions on countries failing to make progress, so they became a powerful diplomatic tool to drive concrete action.

I insisted that the United States be included in the report for the first time ever in 2011. Because we must hold ourselves not just to the same standard as the rest of the world but to an even higher one. Sex trafficking and modern slavery should have no place in America. None.

SECRETARY CLINTON’S OPENING STATEMENT (CONTINUED 3/4)

Infuriatingly, the Trump Administration gutted the Trafficking in Persons Office at the State Department, cutting more than 70 percent of the career civil and foreign service experts who worked so hard to prevent trafficking crimes. The annual trafficking report, required by law, was delayed for months. The message from the Trump Administration to the American people and the world could not be clearer: combatting human trafficking is no longer an American priority under the Trump White House.

That is a tragedy. It’s a scandal. It deserves vigorous investigation and oversight.

A committee endeavoring to stopping human trafficking would seek to understand what specific steps are needed to fix a system that allowed Epstein to get away with his crimes in 2008.

– A committee run by elected officials with a commitment to transparency would ensure the full release of all the files.
– It would ensure that the lawful redactions of those files protected the victims and survivors, not powerful men and political allies.
– It would get to the bottom of reports that DOJ withheld FBI interviews in which a survivor accuses President Trump of heinous crimes.
– It would subpoena anyone who asked on which night there would be the “wildest party” on Epstein’s island.
– It would demand testimony from prosecutors in Florida and New York about why they gave Epstein a sweetheart deal and chose not to pursue others who may have been implicated.
– It would demand that Secretary Rubio and Attorney General Bondi testify about why this administration is abandoning survivors and playing into the hands of traffickers.
– It would seek out officers on the front lines of this fight and ask them what support they need.
– It would put forth legislation to provide more resources and force this administration to act.

SECRETARY CLINTON’S OPENING STATEMENT
(CONTINUED 4/4)

But that’s not happening.

Instead, you have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation, in order to distract attention from President Trump’s actions and to cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers.

If this Committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein’s trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files.

If the majority was serious, it would not waste time on fishing expeditions. There is too much that needs to be done.

What is being held back? Who is being protected? And why the cover-up?

My challenge to you, Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, is the same challenge I put to myself throughout my long service to this nation. How to be worthy of the trust the American people have given you. They expect statesmanship, not gamesmanship. Leading, not grandstanding. They expect you to use your power to get to the truth and to do more to help survivors of Epstein’s crimes as well as the millions more who are victims of sex trafficking.

⭕ 25 Feb 2026

🐣 RT @PaulaChertok “There is no better ambassador for the Enlightenment principles of life, liberty, human rights, and rule of law than President Volodymyr Zelensky… Ukraine is writing this century’s instruction manual on how to defend these European values” ¤ Lithuanian MFA shares awesome anecdote
⋙ KyivIndependent, Gabrielius Landsbergis: Ukraine is Europe. Now Europe must be defiant like Ukraine https://tinyurl.com/8dhzmfr2

🐣 RT @SenatorDurbin I put President Trump’s immigration enforcement officials on notice. ¤ After he leaves office, federal agents and officials who have broken the law during this cruel mass deportation effort can still be prosecuted and held accountable for their violations of the Constitution and federal law.

🐣 RT @TheMaineWonk ‼️Trump’s tariffs are a complete failure
¤ https://x.com/TheMaineWonk/status/2026741633329635729?s=20

– 100K manufacturing jobs lost
– 1M + layoffs overall with revisions
– Increased prices on consumers
– Increased COGS on small biz
– Commercial bankruptcies: 15 year high.
– China: record Trade Surplus in 2025
– US agri sector on brink of collapse
– US Trade Deficit still $900B
– US GDP slows to 1.4%

🐣 RT @academic_la Israel is increasingly concerned with the emigration problem. 230,800 Israelis left from 2023-25 and the number of Israelis canceling their residency quadrupled. What makes the problem more severe for Israel is the profile of those leaving: …
¤ https://x.com/academic_la/status/2026695217655771183?s=20
// tags: emigration from Israel emigration

🐣 RT @peterbakernyt “With one manufactured moment after another, it became clear that the goal of the speech was not to unveil new policies or acknowledge the anxieties of Americans” but to create “social media-ready content” to get through political trouble. @katierogers
⋙ NYT: Trump Puts On a Show, Casting Democrats as the Villains https://tinyurl.com/3aahu2ar “On the defensive over the economy and with the midterms approaching, President Trump made clear that his political strategy is to paint Democrats as unpatriotic and ‘crazy.’”

TheAtlantic, David Frum: The State of the Union Revealed a Sad Reality https://tinyurl.com/2njm7rb7 “Donald Trump misused the annual presidential tradition in ways so radical as to call the ritual itself into question.”

President Trump’s State of the Union address last night was very like the man who delivered it: divisive, abusive, and childish.

The speech turned reality on its head in many ways. The president who has enriched himself and his family by more than a billion dollars in his first year in office called on Congress to clean up its corruption. The president who has collected about $175 billion in illegal tariffs from the American people falsely told them that he had given them a great big tax cut. The president solemnly condemned political violence—the same president who ended his first term by inciting a mob to sack Congress and overturn an election. Maybe most shocking, Trump demanded that members of Congress rise to agree that it’s the first duty of government to protect American citizens—even as his own government by its brutal police methods has shot American citizens dead on the streets and then tried to deceive the country about how those Americans had been killed and why. Then of course there were the many misstatements of fact about the economy, about crime, and about wars and peace—many of which look like deliberate decisions to deceive the public watching on television.

The most radical fantasy in the speech, though, was its claims of a new golden age of prosperity. That misstatement surely deceived nobody. Prices continue to rise; the job market stagnates. In almost every way that can be measured, Americans are communicating economic anxiety and discontent. Trump insisted that they are all wrong. It is as if the nation were being soaked by a torrential downpour, water rolling over umbrellas and into boats, soaking everyone’s clothes—and the leader whose job it is to lead them through the deluge insists that it is not raining at all, that in fact it is sunny, the sunniest day ever.

States of the Union are rituals intended to demonstrate the unity of the nation: the president addressing two houses of Congress, backed by his Cabinet, speaking to the largest audience in the regularly scheduled year. Even the nonpartisan institutions of government—the Supreme Court and Joint Chiefs of Staff—attend in robes and uniforms, adding the symbolism of their respectful neutrality. …

NYT: Judge Finds Trump Administration’s Third-Country Deportations Unlawful https://tinyurl.com/4pxumffd “The ruling repudiates a key Homeland Security Department policy of sending immigrants to countries where they have no ties. The judge paused his ruling to allow for an appeal.”

TheEconomist: Donald Trump’s unworthy state of the union https://tinyurl.com/bdhmax6x “An address not fit for America’s 250th birthday”

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en Russian propagandist Solovyev threatens the world that Russia’s loss in Ukraine would lead to Russia destroying the world:
¤ 💽 https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/2026565800853680281?s=20/phoyo/1

“This is a holy war, and we must win. If we don’t, there will be no world, because why do we need a world without Russia in it?” he said.

The term “holy war” was used for the “Great Patriotic War”, after the Nazis attacked USSR. Now, Russia is trying to present its war of aggression as a “holy war” for its population.

Russia doesn’t want peace

✅ 🐣 RT @factcheckdotorg FactChecking Trump’s State of the Union Address
In the first State of the Union Address of his second term, President Donald Trump proclaimed that “our nation is back, bigger, better, richer and stronger than ever before.” [link:] https://tinyurl.com/yjbe9zsz
¤ https://x.com/factcheckdotorg/status/2026605828594176338?s=20

✅ CNN: Fact check: Trump makes false claims about the economy, elections and crime in State of the Union https://tinyurl.com/mnc3sjdu //➔ CNN’s fact checks are comprehensive, well documented and explained clearly.

TheAtlantic, TomNichols: President Trump’s State-of-the-Union Variety Show https://tinyurl.com/422n8u7p Were you not entertained?

⭕ 24 Feb 2026

NYT, Jamelle Bouie: What Hath Trump Wrought https://tinyurl.com/4zv3tvbb //➔ This is what Trump’s State of the Union Address wanted you to forget. Don’t.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2027345365758791936?s=20/photo/1

For President Trump and his allies, the 2024 election was less a vote for a new administration than it was an enabling act for a new sovereign. The public had done more than give Trump the White House the way it might bless any candidate with presidential power. In their view, the vote was akin to regime change, the start of a new Constitution, a new covenant and a new commandment: Thou shalt have no other laws before Trump.

What followed, in the first year of the president’s second term, was an effort to subordinate the entire society to the whims of one man. He did not do this alone. Rather than defend its prerogatives as the first branch among equals, the Republican-led Congress neutralized itself as a constitutional force, deferring to Trump as he destroyed the federal bureaucracy, subverted the rule of law, targeted opponents and rivals with threats and blackmail and governed by executive decree. And, eager to implement its baroque theories of unlimited presidential power, the Republican-led Supreme Court gave sanction to Trump’s effort to remake the executive branch in his image, even when history, tradition, law and the will of the people through Congress said otherwise.

Worse, in the months before Trump won his second election, this same court freed him from fear of criminal prosecution in an extraordinary declaration of presidential immunity. The court opened the door to rampant corruption and abuse of power, and Trump walked right through it.

But as confident as the president and his boyars appeared to be in those first months, they were also in a race against the clock. The reality of the situation was that the American people — or at least, a little less than half of the people who cast ballots in November 2024 — did not vote for Trump to be an outer-borough Viktor Orban. They voted for lower prices and greater prosperity. And each moment the president spent on his ideological obsessions — from his attacks on racial integration in government to his effort to punish pro-Palestinian speech on college campuses — was one he did not spend on the promises that put him into office.

The most self-destructive of the president’s obsessions was his single-minded devotion to tariffs, which promised to undermine the economy and raise the cost of everyday life for millions of Americans. In fact, according to a recent report from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, the president’s tariffs cost the average household $1,000 over the course of last year.

Then there was immigration. As many voters heard it, Trump would direct the nation’s immigration resources toward people who had committed violent crimes. The “worst of the worst,” as he likes to put it. But as he — and especially Stephen Miller, his chief domestic policy adviser — meant it, “mass deportation” was a plan to remove as many brown-skinned immigrants from the country as they could get their hands on, illegal or otherwise. If those immigrants were undocumented or had pending legal status, then the administration would target them as if they were criminals, seizing law-abiding people to send to squalid detention camps in Texas and Florida, where they would be deported to whatever country might take them. And if those immigrants had legal status — if they had done things the right way — then the administration would do everything it could to nullify that status, so that it could target them with the full force of the federal government.

To pursue its project of mass deportation, the president and his allies in Congress pumped tens of billions of dollars into both Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This cash infusion — which made the agency as well funded as some of the world’s militaries — went to hiring new officers and constructing new facilities, including the conversion of vast warehouses capable of holding thousands of people in cramped conditions. It also funded operations in cities targeted by the president, if not for high rates of immigration, then for political opposition. With masked agents toting military-grade weapons as they seized people off the streets or from their homes, both ICE and the Border Patrol ceased to be law enforcement agencies and began to operate instead as state-sponsored paramilitaries, loyal to the leader and not to the rule of law.

To assist that paramilitary, the president would also turn the American military against the public with showy occupations of major cities, including the nation’s capital, which itself would be adorned with images of a glowering Trump as our dear leader — Big Brother with a spray tan. But, again, the clock was ticking. To remake the nation, Trump had to move fast. He had to consolidate a new authoritarian regime before the opposition could get its footing and before the broader public could react to the transformation.

Winston Churchill is said to have joked that “Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing once all other possibilities have been exhausted.” Something along those lines seemed to take place over the course of 2025, as Americans slowly woke up to the president’s assault on their liberties.

In particular, they saw the unilateral destruction of federal agencies, the military occupations and the use of masked men to snatch and grab immigrants as the start of something dangerous, and they began to react. First with protests and then at the ballot box.

November saw large Democratic Party victories in Virginia and New Jersey — elections considered bellwethers of the public mood. Then came Operation Metro Surge, the Trump administration’s attack on Minnesota — and the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul in particular — under the pretext of immigration enforcement. And in response to this tyrannical exercise of arbitrary authority, ordinary Minnesotans organized to protect their neighbors from seizure and rendition. Two of those Minnesotans, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, were killed by immigration agents for their resistance. The White House thought that this might intimidate the opposition. What it did instead was enrage much of the country.

On Tuesday, Trump gave his State of the Union address. “What a difference a president makes,” he said. Trump believes he is popular, strong and successful. The truth says otherwise. Trump is as unpopular as he’s ever been. His approval in high-quality surveys from CNN, the American Research Group and Reuters hovers between 36 percent and 40 percent. His disapproval rating reaches as high as 60 percent. Even the most skilled presidents would struggle to recover from this kind of collapse. We can safely assume that, for Trump, things will only get worse.

One consequence of the president’s deterioration with the public is that it has almost certainly led other actors to offer stiffer resistance than usual. Last week, for example, the Supreme Court struck down his tariffs as unlawful, a gut punch to his domestic policy agenda. And the actions of ICE in particular have proved to be so unpopular that large majorities want the agency either changed, reformed or ended altogether.

What Trump has, a little more than one year into his second term, is a failed presidency: one that has crashed on the rocks of his ambition to supplant constitutional government with that of his own will. Yes, Trump has done a tremendous amount of damage. And yes, he has degraded American democracy to the point where it is on life support. But he’s failed to make himself a dictator, and the public is poised to punish his party for his transgressions.

Unfortunately, that will be the easy part. It’s what comes after that that will test our ability to make the union whole again.

WSJ, Jason Riley: The GOP’s Last Chance to Shed the Tariff Albatross https://tinyurl.com/3w845rz9 Import duties are driving up prices, voters worry about affordability, and November is approaching.

The Supreme Court’s decision striking down President Trump’s sweeping taxes on imports was the best thing that could have happened to Republicans in an election year when they will need all the help they can get. How long will it take the GOP to realize that?

The court ruled 6-3 that Mr. Trump overstepped his authority by using emergency powers to bypass Congress and impose tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico to address trade imbalances and stop drug smuggling. Like previous high court decisions that blocked the Biden administration’s student-loan forgiveness and eviction moratorium, the ruling strikes a blow for the constitutional separation of powers. It also provides cover to Republicans who want a course correction on tariff policy between now and November.

The president remains unpersuaded, alas. His combative response to the decision showcased a deep misunderstanding of the Supreme Court’s role in our representative democracy. Mr. Trump’s lack of decorum, which by now is expected, was on full bipartisan display Friday. Those who disagree with the president, he made clear, aren’t merely wrong but despicable human beings with deep character flaws. He described the Republican-appointed justices who ruled against him as “fools” and “lap dogs” who lack “the courage to do what’s right for our country,” while Democrat-appointed justices are “against anything that makes America strong, healthy and great again.”

Mr. Trump accused conservatives on the court of being slaves to political correctness, which is an odd criticism to throw at justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and ban racial preferences in college admissions. He called the court’s liberals “a disgrace to our nation,” then added by way of praise: “But you can’t knock their loyalty”—meaning to the party—which is “one thing you can do with some of our people.” Does Mr. Trump think that members of the Supreme Court have a duty of partisan loyalty? When the court ruled 8-0 in U.S. v. Nixon (1974) that executive privilege isn’t limitless, three of those justices had been appointed by President Nixon.

As bad was Mr. Trump’s condescension toward Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, who dissented. “I’d like to thank and congratulate Justices Thomas, Alito and Kavanaugh for their strength and wisdom and love of our country.” Congratulate? Justice Kavanaugh’s “stock has gone way up, you have to see, I’m so proud of him.” Does the president think the justices want or need a pat on the head from him?

Members of the court are nominated by the president but don’t serve at his pleasure, unlike the members of his cabinet, who can be hired, fired and replaced at will. Nor do they serve a ceremonial role or exist to do the executive branch’s bidding. Rather, the court is an. independent, coequal branch of government tasked with determining whether the government’s actions—including the president’s—are constitutional and lawful. In recent years, it has usually been Democrats who were guilty of lashing out at the court to undermine its legitimacy. Sadly, Mr. Trump’s response to Friday’s ruling is more of the same.

The reality, whether or not the president accepts it, is that tariffs have been disruptive to the economy and are deeply unpopular. They haven’t reduced the trade deficit or boosted factory employment, as Mr. Trump claims they have. American consumers have grown accustomed to more options at lower prices for autos, clothing, electronics, food and countless other goods thanks to free trade across international borders. Higher levies on imports lead to higher costs and fewer choices.

The president insists that tariffs ultimately are paid by foreigners and are necessary to “protect our companies,” but a recent study by the New York Federal Reserve concluded what many other studies have shown—that nearly all the economic burden from the Trump tariffs has fallen on U.S. firms and consumers.

That is no surprise to anyone familiar with classical economic writings on trade going back more than two centuries. But even people who have never read a word of Adam Smith, David Ricardo or John Stuart Mill can read an electricity bill or a grocery-store receipt. Mr. Trump is less bothered by higher retail prices because he thinks they are necessary to rebalance a global economy in which the U.S. supposedly has been “ripped off” for “many decades,” even as it somehow became the most prosperous nation in human history.

Voters punished Democrats in 2024 over inflation, but Democrats have since won elections by campaigning on cost-of-living concerns. Mr. Trump wants to double down on tariffs, but that means doubling down on tax increases at a time when consumers are most worried about affordability. The president would have Republicans ignore polls on the economy, stay the course on his trade policies, and hope for the best in the fall as he tries to make mercantilism great again. It’s a fool’s errand.

WSJ: Section 122 Can’t Carry Trump’s Tariffs https://tinyurl.com/bdjyrbc2 “Since under the current floating exchange rate system there is no ‘United States balance of payments deficit’ to speak of, there’s nothing to legally justify Mr. Trump’s new 15% tariff regime.”
// It requires a balance-of-payments deficit—a problem that has become obsolete.

[Trump’s] plan relies on a seldom-invoked clause of the Trade Act of 1974, Section 122. It allows the president to impose a general tariff of up to 15% for 150 days to address “fundamental international payments problems” that “require special import measures to restrict imports.” …

Mr. Trump’s reading of Section 122 is erroneous. The relevant statute allows only tariffs that “deal with large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits,” “prevent an imminent and significant deprecation of the dollar,” or facilitate an international agreement to correct a “balance-of-payments disequilibrium.” To justify his new tariffs, Mr. Trump is relying on the first option and now asserts the U.S. has a large balance-of-payments deficit. … [But] the current U.S. balance-of-payments deficit is close to zero.

… As Milton Friedman explained in 1967, “a system of floating exchange rates completely eliminates the balance-of-payments problem.” …

Six months ago, Solicitor General John D. Sauer argued in court filings defending the administration’s now-defunct tariffs that Section 122 tariffs aren’t a viable substitute for IEEPA, because “trade deficits . . . are conceptually distinct from balance-of-payments deficits.”

Six months ago, Solicitor General John D. Sauer argued in court filings defending the administration’s now-defunct tariffs that Section 122 tariffs aren’t a viable substitute for IEEPA, because “trade deficits . . . are conceptually distinct from balance-of-payments deficits.” …

Since under the current floating exchange rate system there is no “United States balance of payments deficit” to speak of, there’s nothing to legally justify Mr. Trump’s new 15% tariff regime.

🐣 RT @alex_prompter 🚨 Holy shit… Stanford and Harvard just dropped one of the most unsettling papers on AI agents I’ve read in a long time. It’s called “Agents of Chaos.”
[Cornell link:] https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.20021
[PDF:] https://arxiv.org/pdf/2602.20021 84p
¤ [TextLink:] https://x.com/alex_prompter/status/2026226107104817207?s=20/photo/1

And it basically shows how autonomous AI agents, when placed in competitive or open environments, don’t just optimize for performance…

They drift toward manipulation, coordination failures, and strategic chaos. This isn’t a benchmark flex paper. ¤ It’s a systems-level warning.

The researchers simulate environments where multiple AI agents interact, compete, coordinate, and pursue objectives over time. What emerges isn’t clean, rational optimization.

It’s power-seeking behavior.
Information asymmetry.
Deception as strategy.
Collusion when it’s profitable.
Sabotage when incentives misalign.

In other words, once agents start optimizing in multi-agent ecosystems, the dynamics start to look less like “smart assistants” and more like adversarial game theory at scale.

And here’s the part most people will miss: ¤ The instability doesn’t come from jailbreaks. It doesn’t require malicious prompts. ¤ It emerges from incentives.

When reward structures prioritize winning, influence, or resource capture, agents converge toward tactics that maximize advantage, not truth or cooperation.

Sound familiar?

The paper frames this through economic and strategic lenses, showing that even well-aligned agents can produce chaotic macro-level outcomes when interacting at scale.

Local alignment ≠ global stability.¤ That’s the core tension.

Now, to answer the obvious viral question: ¤ No, the paper does not mention OpenClaw or specific open-source agent stacks like that. It’s not about a particular framework.

It’s about the structural behavior of agent systems. ¤ But that’s what makes it more important. ¤ Because this applies to:
• AutoGPT-style task agents
• Multi-agent trading systems
• Autonomous negotiation bots
• AI-to-AI marketplaces
• Swarms coordinating over APIs

Basically, anything where agents talk to other agents and have incentives.

The takeaway is brutal:

We’re racing to deploy multi-agent systems into finance, security, research, and commerce… ¤ Without fully understanding the emergent dynamics once they start competing.

Everyone is building agents. ¤ Almost nobody is modeling the ecosystem effects. ¤ And if multi-agent AI becomes the economic substrate of the internet, the difference between coordination and chaos won’t be technical. ¤ It’ll be incentive design.

Paper: Agents of Chaos [link above]

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇺🇦 Zelensky: There are many dictatorships in the world. —
¤ https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/2026264542221664477?s=20

Some seal themselves off within their own borders, trying to block any outside influence of freedom. And others do not recognize borders at all and actively try to destroy the freedom of their neighbors, entire regions, and sometimes even the whole world.

When we deal with Russia, we face the second type of threat. It’s a mentality, an unstable dictatorship that cannot accept that in Europe every life matters, human rights are important, and nations can be protected, whether they are big or small.

Putin cannot accept one simple thing: that somewhere people can live differently and enjoy a life that is not the one he prefers. That is why he has been consistently trying to break someone — not just now, not just for four years, but throughout his entire time in power. He is war itself, yes, and anyone who supports Putin cannot fail to understand that they are choosing war.

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 The Financial Times has published a commentary arguing that Donald Trump’s state of mind represents a global risk. ⋙ FT: Donald Trump’s state of mind is a global risk [link$$]

The headline frames his personal judgment and decision making as factors with potential consequences beyond the United States, suggesting that his leadership style and unpredictability could affect international stability, financial markets, and geopolitical relations.

The article is presented as a serious political and economic assessment rather than a campaign statement, signaling concern within parts of the global financial and policy community about how US executive decisions influence allies, adversaries, trade flows, and security structures worldwide.

WaPo, Neal Katyal: Tariffs were illegal. Delaying refunds is wrong. https://tinyurl.com/mry5cf3m “The government said small businesses would be made whole. It’s time to pay up.”

⭕ 23 Feb 2026

WSJ Editorial: The Unending Trump Tariff Mess https://tinyurl.com/3afzehv4 ‘The smart play after his legal defeat would be to take an off-ramp. Instead Trump is aiming in fury at the Supreme Court, but he will end up hitting the economy and Republicans in Congress’

Well, that will show the Supreme Court—or something. President Trump is reacting to his Friday tariff defeat not by calming the trade waters but by roiling them further. He is aiming in fury at the Supreme Court, but he will end up hitting the economy and Republicans in Congress.

The smart play after his legal defeat would be to take an off-ramp and forgo or pause new tariffs. Instead the White House this weekend dusted off Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 as a work-around. That provision lets a President impose tariffs of up to 15% across the board for up to 150 days “to deal with large and serious United States balance-of-payments deficits.”

What a relic, which wasn’t intended to manage a trade deficit per se. Instead it’s a holdover from a bygone era of the gold standard, fixed exchange rates and periodic panics about global liquidity. …

The larger reality is that Mr. Trump is so bull-headed about tariffs that he’s going to re-impose them any way he can. Along with Section 122, he’ll fire up more Section 201, 301 and 232 (national security) studies and tariffs. But as our friend Don Luskinpoints out, these are pea shooters compared to the IEEPA tariffs the Court struck down. They are limited in scope and duration.

That isn’t to say they won’t do harm. They’ll create more uncertainty for business, at least for a while. And with the midterm elections coming soon, this timing is fraught for Republicans. Amid an “affordability” panic, Mr. Trump says he is going to impose more border taxes on enough imports to make up for his lost emergency tariffs. Democrats must be thrilled at their dumb luck.

Friday’s Supreme Court ruling should be a $150 billion tax cut as businesses apply for refunds from illegal tariffs. In its statements to the Court, Trump lawyers said the refund process would be a legal breeze. But now the Administration is suggesting it will fight refund requests in court. This is a political bait and switch, and it also delays refunds that could go to more productive economic uses.

Mr. Trump is so ideologically fixated on tariffs that he is willing to bet his Presidency on them. This looks increasingly like a losing wager for Republicans.

🐣 RT @infodexx World’s Largest Economies in 2026 🌍💰 (Projected Nominal GDP)
◕ https://x.com/infodexx/status/2026127616307298527?s=20/photo/1
// Source: IMF World Economic Outlook (October 2025) Via: RankingRoyals
// tags: projected GDP 2026: 🇺🇸 31.8Tr, 🇨🇳 $20.7Tr, 🇷🇺 $2.5Tr

WSJ: As War Enters 5th Year, Ukraine Shows Russian Victory Is Anything but Inevitable https://tinyurl.com/858x3jyf “Putin is dangling economic deals in front of Trump—to tempt him to cut off support to Ukraine or try to force Kyiv to hand over territory that [Russia’s] army hasn’t conquered.”
// Small Ukrainian counterattacks demonstrate Russia’s struggle for a breakthrough
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2026182573135745387?s=20/photo/1
// tags: chart killed and wounded chart; 325K 🇷🇺 140K 🇺🇦

🐣 RT @WW3finalboss 🇵🇱🇺🇦🇷🇺
“‘Give up land for peace’ is not diplomacy — it’s blackmail in white gloves. Pressure should be put on the aggressor, not on the victim.”
— Donald Tusk, Prime Minister of Poland

🐣 RT @DemocraticWins BREAKING: General Mark Hertling just perfectly exposed how Donald Trump’s leadership has cost the U.S. our global alliances. Now is the time to fight back and reassert American leadership on the world stage
💽 https://x.com/DemocraticWins/status/2026055971722670232?s=20/photo/1
// “Trust in gained in drops and lost in buckets”

🐣 RT @peterbakernyt
Trump, July 19: “All three nuclear sites in Iran were completely destroyed and/or OBLITERATED. It would take years to bring them back into service.”
Witkoff, Sunday: “They’re probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material.”

🐣 RT @ScarboroughNow The Joint Chiefs Chairman believes any operation against Iran would be difficult because of “a lack of allied support”. Insulting our most loyal allies comes at a cost.
⋙ WaPo: Trump’s v top general foresees acute risks in an attack on Iran https://tinyurl.com/3k5x57cf “Gen. Dan Caine, the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman, has cautioned that a lack of munitions and support from allies could mean greater danger for U.S. troops”
// cont.: “people familiar with the discussions say.”

🐣 📋 RT @RepMikeLevin More than 400 federal judges have ruled that ICE is breaking the law. [Reuters link:] https://tinyurl.com/4pbswtad
¤ https://x.com/RepMikeLevin/status/2025976607278530948?s=20

Not once. Not a handful of times. 4,400+ TIMES.

That’s 4,400+ illegal detentions. 4,400+ violations of the Constitution. And in many cases, ICE has kept people locked up even AFTER judges ordered their release.

Hundreds of judges—including Republican appointees—are saying the same thing: ICE is operating outside the law.

This isn’t border security. This is an agency out of control.

📊 CNN Poll: Trump’s approval rating with Independents hits 26%, a new low ahead of the State of the Union https://tinyurl.com/yc5ukb3y //➔ that’s a drop of 15% since February of last year; among All Adults it’s gone from 48% to 36%, a drop of 12%
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2026163871241691166?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en Timothy Snyder: By resisting, Ukrainians held back a wider war in Europe. ¤ Maybe most importantly, they’ve given us an example of courage. A better question to ask on the four-year anniversary of this terrible criminal war is, what more could we be doing to help the Ukrainians win this war? There’s only one way to end it, and that’s for the Ukrainians to win – @TimothyDSnyder
💽 https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/2026012396259827966?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @HQNewsNow Former ICE Employee: I swore an oath to protect the nation when I signed up. I followed it when I resigned a little over a week ago. I am duty bound to report the legally required training program at the ICE academy is deficient, defective, and broken. I received secretive orders to teach cadets to violate the Constitution
💽 https://x.com/HQNewsNow/status/2026070900601201008?s=20/photo/1

🧵 RT @Mylovanov Budanov: Moscow is testing world order for strength, international institutions for viability.
📌 💽 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2026043845956210826?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://tinyurl.com/22yx97mw

Independent Ukraine is a challenge to Russian imperialism and great Russian chauvinism. Without Ukraine there can be no new empire. 1/

Budanov: Work is not easy, but we are definitely moving forward and approaching the moment when all sides will need to make final decisions – continue this war or move to peace. ¤ I hope that justice will still prevail. 2/

Budanov: Peace without accountability is a pause in hostilities, but not a solution. ¤ Peace without consequences for aggressor is invitation to repeat and example for all authoritarian regimes – attack, kill, destroy, and nothing will happen to you. 3/

Budanov: Aggression is the primary crime. It triggers all subsequent events. ¤ If decision to wage war against sovereign state has no personal consequences, all international rules stop working. Any other country can become victim at any moment. 4/

Budanov: Question of accountability for aggression is signal not only about past, but about future. ¤ About how world responds to illegal use of force and what consequences await violators of international norms. 5/

Budanov: Second direction is compensation mechanism. War always has a price. ¤ Destroyed cities, lost homes, ruined infrastructure and taken lives. Any legal decisions without financial dimension do not create trust, and without trust there is no stability. 6/

Budanov: Third is return of abducted Ukrainian children. One of darkest crimes. ¤ This is not just humanitarian problem, this is about future, about identity, about security of next generations. Every child must ultimately be returned home. 7/

Budanov: Fourth direction is internal capacity of justice system. ¤ Ukraine is waging war and at same time carrying out reforms, building institutions. Without strong professional independent judicial system, no international mechanisms will be able to work effectively 8/

Budanov: Behind struggle for justice, establishment of peace and our future stands Ukrainian army. ¤ As long as Ukrainian soldiers hold front, Ukrainian rear and every citizen are safe. Strong Ukrainian army is guarantee of stability, truth, justice. 10X

🐣 RT @KSAmofaEN [Saudi Arabia] #Statement | We, the Foreign Ministers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the French Republic, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Republic of Finland, the Republic of Iceland, the Republic of Indonesia, Ireland, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of Norway, the State of Palestine, the Portuguese Republic, the State of Qatar, the Republic of Slovenia, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Republic of Türkiye, and the Secretary Generals of the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, condemn in the strongest terms a series of recent Israeli decisions that introduce sweeping extensions to unlawful Israeli control over the West Bank. Changes are wide-ranging, reclassifying Palestinian land as so-called Israeli ‘state land’, accelerating illegal settlement activity, and further entrenching Israeli administration.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/KSAmofaEN/status/2026013385079636321?s=20/photo/1

We, the Foreign Ministers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the French Republic, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Republic of Finland, the Republic of Iceland, the Republic of Indonesia, Ireland, the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of Norway, the State of Palestine, the Portuguese Republic, the State of Qatar, the Republic of Slovenia, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Sweden, the Republic of Türkiye, and the Secretary Generals of the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, condemn in the strongest terms a series of recent Israeli decisions that introduce sweeping extensions to unlawful Israeli control over the West Bank. Changes are wide-ranging, reclassifying Palestinian land as so-called Israeli ‘state land’, accelerating illegal settlement activity, and further entrenching Israeli administration.

We are clear that Israel’s illegal settlements, and decisions designed to further them, are a flagrant violation of international Law, including previous United Nations Security Council Resolutions and the 2024 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice. These latest decisions are part of a clear trajectory that aims to change the reality on the ground and to advance unacceptable de facto annexation. They also undermine the ongoing efforts for peace and stability in the region, including the 20 Point Plan for Gaza, and threaten any meaningful prospect of regional integration. We call on the Government of Israel to reverse them immediately, to respect its international obligations, and to refrain from actions that would result in permanent changes to the legal and administrative status of the occupied Palestinian Territory.

These decisions follow the unprecedented acceleration of Israel’s settlement policy, with the approval of the Er project and the publication of its tender. Such actions are a deliberate and direct attack on the viability of the Palestinian State and the implementation of the two-State Solution. In that context, we reiterate our rejection of all measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem. We oppose any form of annexation.

In view of the alarming escalation in the West Bank, we also call on Israel to put an end to settler violence against Palestinians, including by holding those responsible accountable.

We reaffirm our commitment to taking concrete steps, in accordance with international law, to counter the expansion of illegal settlements in Palestinian territory and policies and threats of forcible displacement and annexation.

In the Holy Month of Ramadan, we also stress the importance of preserving the historic and legal status quo in Jerusalem and its Holy Sites, recognizing the special role of the historic Hashemite custodianship in this regard. We condemn repeated violations of the status quo in Jerusalem, which constitute a threat to regional stability.

The Ministers call for the immediate release by Israel of the withheld tax revenues due to the Palestinian Authority. Those revenues must be transferred to the Palestinian Authority, according to the Paris Protocol, and they are vital for the provision of basic services for the Palestinian population in Gaza and in the West Bank.

We reaffirm our unwavering commitment to achieving a just, comprehensive, and lasting peace in the Middle East on the basis of the Two-State Solution, in line with the Arab Peace Initiative and relevant UN resolutions, based on the 4 June 1967 lines. As reflected in the New York Declaration, the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is imperative for regional peace, stability, and integration. Only by realizing an independent, sovereign and democratic Palestinian State can coexistence among the region’s peoples and states be achieved.

[Letterhead] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
23 February 2026 / 06 Ramadan

WaPo: This economic idea transfixed Wall Street and Washington. It may be a mirage. https://tinyurl.com/56eswj37 “Massive investment in AI contributed ‘basically zero’ to U.S. economic growth last year, Goldman Sachs has calculated.”

Technology companies’ massive spending on artificial intelligence accounted for half or more of U.S. growth last year, some economists calculated, effectively propping up an otherwise anemic economy.

To President Donald Trump and his advisers, the figures showed that AI is helping spark an economic renaissance that must not be impeded by regulation. To some critics, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), the data revealed an economy dangerously addicted to AI.

Either way, it became conventional wisdom that the technology was now a major engine of growth in the world’s largest economy.

But a growing number of forecasters now say the economy’s dependence on AI was overstated.

Prominent economists, including from Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan Chase, calculate that the AI buildup was directly responsible not for 92 percent or 39 percent of gains to the U.S. economy in 2025, but as little as zero. …

The struggle to even measure what is happening today suggests there may be years of bickering ahead over whether AI is creating a golden age of prosperity or a path to mass unemployment and impoverishment.

The high-stakes quibbling over AI’s current economic impact largely hinges on how to account for the foreign-made computing equipment and components inside the expensive data centers that AI companies are building across the nation.

Economists who argue that AI’s contribution to U.S. growth is overstated calculate that much of the money spent to equip AI data centers drags down economic growth rather than boosting it.

That’s because the $31 trillion in yearly U.S. gross domestic product, the widest measure of the economy, tallies only the final value of products and services produced domestically. Spending on imports and foreign made components is subtracted because it boosts the economies of other countries, not that of the United States.

Roughly three-quarters of the cost of an AI data center is for the computer gear and parts such as computer chips that go inside of it, technology analysts estimate. America’s AI champions, including the computer chip pioneer Nvidia, manufacture many of their products in Asia — despite efforts by the Biden and Trump administrations to reduce U.S. dependence on essential chips made overseas.

Other economists say the contrarians are too pedantic and looking too narrowly at AI’s contribution to the economy. And some forecasters saythat the U.S. government’s economic data is a poor measure of the impact of AI and that alternative calculations show the current boom is an even bigger boost to economic growth.

But even some of those not in the AI-zero camp agree that the narrative of the technology propping up the economy was overblown.

“This is a big deal, but not the be-all and end-all,” said Joseph Politano, an economic analyst who writes the Apricitas Economics newsletter. He calculates that AI-related spending contributed about 0.2 percentage points to the 2.2 percent U.S. economic growth last year.

Politano said that it’s rare to strip out import costs when calculating the boost from individual sectors of the economy. But AI “is a special case, because so much is imported,” he said.

💙 TheAtlantic, Tom Nichols: The Republican Party Has a Nazi Problem https://tinyurl.com/4emsfcda “Was this a radical, unpredictable metamorphosis, or was a fascist tendency latent in the DNA of the party?” … “Racism and hate are now structural parts of the Republican Party”
// cont?: “, replacing consensus, compassion, and compromise”
// How did the GOP become a haven for slogans and ideas straight out of the Third Reich?

🐣 RT @WW3finalboss 🇷🇺🇺🇦🇺🇸 🗣️♟️ Garry Kasparov — world chess champion and Russian opposition figure in exile in the United States — on the Russia–Ukraine war:
💽 https://x.com/WW3finalboss/status/2025875560321130625?s=20/photo/1

“Russia’s future is being decided not in Russia, but in Ukraine. Since the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, our slogan has been: ‘Victory to Ukraine and freedom to Russia’ — in that exact order. We are not dreamers of some abstract ‘beautiful Russia of the future.’ We are doing what we can. We do not overestimate our strength, but we know exactly what we can do and where our place is.”

He places that role clearly:

“Today, our place in this war is alongside Ukraine, which is defending not only its own independence, sovereignty, and national integrity, but all of Europe and the entire free world. It is the shield of the free world against the advance of tyranny.”

Kasparov leaves little room for ambiguity:

📌 “We stand with Ukraine, which must win and protect the free world from this aggression.”

📌 “This is not a war where any form of compromise is possible. In fact, it is a war in which there can be no draw — precisely because there is no other task today.”

📌 “There is only one objective in this war. As Churchill said in 1940: ‘What is our aim? Victory at all costs.’ Despite the terror and horrors that lie ahead — only victory.”

And he ties the outcome to Russia’s political future:

Without Ukraine, he echoes Zbigniew Brzezinski’s argument, the Russian empire cannot endure — and as long as empire defines the state, democracy in Russia remains out of reach.

⭕ 22 Feb 2026

NYT, Rabbi Shai Held: One of the Bible’s Greatest Moral Revolutions https://tinyurl.com/35vrn37m First, Love of God, Second, Love of one’s neighbor. The third is Love of the “ger” or “the immigrant” — or as Bruce Springsteen puts it, of “the stranger in our midst.”
[TextLink:]https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2026707998647718038?s=20/photo/1

The Bible offers an ethos, an approach we might take in confronting immigration policy. Those of us who follow the Bible as a moral guide can conclude that demonizing, mocking or dehumanizing immigrants — let alone violently pursuing them — is, religiously speaking, an abomination, a direct affront to a biblical vision of what a good and holy society ought to look like. Xenophobia is, then, spiritually speaking, an illness, a failure to see people as God does, to treat them as God demands they be treated.

💙 💽 BBC, Jeremy Bowen: Zelensky tells BBC Putin has started WW3 and must be stopped [Interview] https://tinyurl.com/rbx3m7sm

💙 Fortune: Trump’s plan B to impose new tariffs is also illegal because a balance-of-payments deficit doesn’t exist, trade experts say https://tinyurl.com/4vea74k2 And Section 301, of the Trade Act (plan C) actually requires PROVING the 🇺🇸 is being treated “very unfairly.”

To be sure, Trump has other avenues to replace the IEEPA tariffs. On Friday, he also said the administration would initiate investigations under Section 301 of the 1974 law, which is meant to combat unfair trade practices or violations of trade agreements. Those tariffs can’t be enacted until the investigations are complete, which could take two to three months under an expedited process.
***
Just hours after the Supreme Court struck down President Donald Trump’s global tariffs on Friday, he signed an order to impose another package of levies under a different law that wasn’t affected by the court’s decision.

But economists and trade experts were quick to point out that Trump’s plan B for his tariff regime also has no legal basis.

For the first time ever, the U.S. is invoking Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, which allows tariffs of up to 15% for as long as 150 days to quickly address international payments problems. …

In a briefing with reporters Friday, Trump claimed the court endorsed his ability to use other means to carry out his trade agenda.

“The good news is that there are methods, practices, statutes and authorities as recognized by the entire court in this terrible decision and also is recognized by Congress which they refer to that are even stronger than the IEEPA tariffs available to me as president of the United States,” he said.

But the actual language of the Trade Act lists requirements that don’t exist today, including a “large and serious” balance-of-payments deficit. ¤ While the U.S. has run a trade deficit for decades, it’s been offset by capital inflows as foreign investors pour billions into financial markets, resulting in a net balance of zero.

“Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act, on which Trump’s 10% tariff is based, does not apply in the current macro environment,” said Peter Berezin, chief global strategist at BCA Research, in post on X on Friday. “A balance of payments deficit is not the same thing as a trade deficit. You cannot have a balance of payments [deficit] if you have a flexible exchange rate, as the US currently does.”

Similarly, economist Alan Reynolds, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, pointed out that the trade deficit is fully funded by the capital account surplus, adding that there is no overall balance-of-payments deficit to justify Trump’s newest tax on imports.

Bryan Riley, director of the National Taxpayers Union’s Free Trade Initiative, wrote in a blog post last month that Section 122 only makes sense under a fixed exchange rate, which hasn’t existed in the U.S. in more than 50 years.

Back then, when the dollar was pegged to gold, there was still a risk that the U.S. could suffer from shortages of reserves needed to cover international obligations.

But by the time the Trade Act was introduced in late 1973, the U.S. had already adopted a floating exchange rate system that was self-adjusting, eliminating the need for reserves to maintain a fixed dollar value. The bottom line is that “Section 122 was effectively rendered obsolete,” Riley explained.

“Section 122 only authorizes tariffs in the presence of a fundamental international payments problem,” he added. “Because the United States does not face such a problem, Section 122 cannot legally be used by President Trump to impose new tariffs.”

🐣 RT @BillKristol “Not only has Congress not authorized such a war, it has barely debated it. The administration has not bothered to explain, to Congress or the American people, why it might bomb Iran or what it hopes to achieve…This is how an autocracy goes to war.”
⋙ NYT, Michelle Goldberg (2/20): This Is How an Autocrat Goes to War https://tinyurl.com/3y5ekdt8 “This is how an autocracy goes to war, without even a pretense that the consent of the governed matters”

🐣 RT @FreeTradeBryan The U.S. Court of Appeals has already ruled that “section 122 does not apply to the problems underlying the reciprocal [IEEPA] tariffs, which are not the payments problems that are the precondition to section 122’s application.”
[CourtDoc:] https://tinyurl.com/mr3e5dnr 127p
// 8/29/2025, p 51

🧵 RT @Mylovanov Bill Browder: War in Ukraine is now only about Putin’s personal survival.
📌 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2025650032947380628?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://tinyurl.com/mr327442

… He needs the war to stay in power, and he needs to stay in power to stay alive. The destruction of .Russia is unparalleled, but he cannot stop. If he stops, he loses everything. 1/

Browder: Putin is a historic liar, but he’s honest about one thing. ¤ He believes Ukraine should not exist as a sovereign state. He hasn’t deviated from that for a minute. He doesn’t want compromise. He wants total and absolute victory. 2/

Browder: Peace talks create the appearance of negotiation so Putin can keep fighting and avoid sanctions. ¤ He can tell Trump: you can’t upset delicate negotiations. That is the main intention behind this process. 3/

Browder: Putin needs a foreign enemy so people don’t get mad at him inside Russia. He needs war. ¤ If he succeeded in Ukraine, he would move on to Poland or the Baltics. He has to have war, regardless of the destruction. 4/

Browder: Putin is fully aware of the losses and economic damage. He is intelligent. ¤ But he believes the West will lose its stomach for pain before he does, because dictatorship allows him to absorb unlimited suffering. 5X

WSJ Editorial: Justice Gorsuch Tries to Revive Congress https://tinyurl.com/22ur2nky In “an intellectual tour de force,” “his main theme isn’t an assertion of judicial power. It’s an effort to encourage Congress to reclaim its proper authority under the Constitution’s separation of powers”
// The Supreme Court Associate Justice explains why the legislative process is ‘the bulwark of liberty.’

NYT, David French: Is This the Most Important Supreme Court Case of the Century? https://tinyurl.com/ymhf7cwy “The Supreme Court may have just helped save the Republic.”

… Justices John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch voted together — though for different reasons — to block one of the central elements of Trump’s foreign and economic policy. As Roberts explained in his opinion, in terms of sheer economic impact the case dwarfed many of the most contentious cases of the last several terms …

In fact, it may prove to be the most important Supreme Court decision this century. And if you think I’m being hyperbolic, let me explain.

First, the court blocked a monumental presidential power grab — one so big and so bold that it threatened the foundation of our constitutional system. …

For years presidents of both parties have been using broad and vague language in federal statutes as a pretext for engaging in lawmaking in place of Congress.

The expansion of presidential power, which has accelerated exponentially under Trump, has placed our republican form of government under strain. When presidents yank power from Congress, they begin to assume the role of an elected monarch — the exact opposite of the framers’ intent.

Gorsuch explained this masterfully in his concurrence. “For those who think it important for the nation to impose more tariffs,” he wrote, “I understand that today’s decision will be disappointing. All I can offer them is that most major decisions affecting the rights and responsibilities of the American people (including the duty to pay taxes and tariffs) are funneled through the legislative process for a reason.”

The legislative process can be slow and frustrating, Gorsuch explained, but:

… through that process, the nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people’s elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man. There, deliberation tempers impulse, and compromise hammers disagreements into workable solutions. And because laws must earn such broad support to survive the legislative process, they tend to endure, allowing ordinary people to plan their lives in ways they cannot when the rules shift from day to day.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the court’s decision is how it may help restore faith in how courts make decisions. The crisis in American democracy isn’t simply a product of the Trump administration’s overreach, it’s also a product of deep public cynicism about government institutions. Trump owes at least some of his appeal to that cynicism. If all that matters is power, then why not pick the man who exercises that power to its fullest?

As a result, millions of Americans wonder, do principles matter at all? Or is all of politics merely a matter of gaining and wielding power, supporting your friends and crushing your enemies?

The tariff decision is a reminder that principles do still matter, that at least one branch of government is not in thrall to the president, and that we can rely on reason and precedent to decide cases rather than simply counting Republican and Democratic appointees.

There’s also a third, less obvious way in which the court’s decision helps preserve the Republic — by limiting opportunities for corruption.

By assuming vast powers of taxation, Trump made himself the focal point for an enormous amount of lobbying and trading favors. In January, for example, Politico reported that the 20 largest lobbying firms raked in nearly $824 million in revenue in the first year of Trump’s second term, a sharp increase from $595 million in Biden’s last year.

The administration has sent a message, loudly and clearly — almost anything is for sale, at the right price. And as ProPublica reported last April, politically connected people and companies were already benefiting from what appears to be targeted relief from Trump’s tariffs.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board called the administration’s opaque process for granting exemptions “the Beltway Swamp’s dream.”

There were also dissents, of course. … But Trump’s most powerful tool has been taken away. He’ll have trouble doing tariffs the hard way when he loses the easy way. This is not an administration that is known for its legal competence.

In addition, as Roberts notes in his opinion, those other statutes “contain various combinations of procedural prerequisites, required agency determinations and limits on the duration, amount and scope of the tariffs they authorize.”

Now the ball is on Trump’s side of the net. The court has challenged him on perhaps the signature economic policy of his second term, and he is not taking it well. …

The judiciary isn’t perfect, but it is performing its core constitutional function. It is preserving the foundation of America’s constitutional structure. But not even the Supreme Court can save Americans from themselves.

If we keep electing men like Trump, they will keep undermining that foundation, until it finally collapses.

One day that may well happen. But on Friday, the Supreme Court said not this day. On this day the presidency is stuffed back into its box. On this day the separation of powers prevails. And on this day the Constitution holds. …

💙 NewRepublic, Ana Marie Cox: The Paranoid Style of Jeffrey Epstein Has Come for Us All https://tinyurl.com/29x7marw “The pedophile plutocrat had some peculiar predilections—especially for academics and thinkers who showed a potential to further his grand experiments in inhumanity”

🐣 RT @BohuslavskaKate Ben Hodges on the Trump-Zelenskyy Oval Office clash:
💽 https://x.com/BohuslavskaKate/status/2025313983247372494?s=20/photo/1

One of the worst days of my life. I never imagined seeing the president of a democratic nation – Ukraine, fighting an existential war – being treated so poorly in the Oval Office. It was gut-wrenching.

The United States – the arsenal of democracy, the bright shining light on the hill – basically accusing Zelenskyy of starting a war he didn’t start.

That made it crystal clear: unfortunately, Trump administration is really on Russia’s side in this conflict. They believe the fastest way to end it is to force Ukraine to capitulate or surrender territory, which will never happen.

🐣 RT @JustinWolfers “Here’s a very simple rule of thumb: If you’re going to institute a policy that’s going to upend your own economy, the global economy, foreign relations and change our position in the world… It’s probably best to check that it’s constitutional first. ”
💽 https://x.com/JustinWolfers/status/2025554221009936890?s=20/photo/1

NYT: Denmark Rejects Trump’s Plan to Send Hospital Boat to Greenland https://tinyurl.com/kfjjy9zr “Denmark’s defense minister said Greenland did not need health care assistance, a day after President Trump said he planned to send a ‘great hospital boat’ to the island.”

⭕ 21 Feb 2026

📋 NYT, Ana Swanson: Trump’s Trade Gamble Will Continue, Despite Supreme Court Rebuke https://tinyurl.com/3btz5t7v The president seems as intent on tariffs as ever and argues that his trade agenda is succeeding, despite little evidence to support it

The Supreme Court may have ruled 6-3 against President Trump’s use of an international emergency law to impose tariffs. But Mr. Trump seems intent on continuing the experiment he has run with the U.S. economy over the past year, in which he has raised tariffs to levels not seen since the 1930s.

In a news conference at the White House on Friday, Mr. Trump made a series of false claims about the economic impact of tariffs and he promised to replace, or even increase, them using laws other than the one the court rejected.

“It’s ridiculous but it’s OK. Because we have other ways, numerous other ways,” the president said. “The numbers can be far greater than the hundreds of billions we’ve already taken in.”

“We broke every record in the book, and we are continuing to do so,” the president said about his tariffs. …

To the president, tariffs are the antidote to globalization, a way to force more manufacturing back to the United States, reduce America’s reliance on foreign products and lower the trade deficit. But the economic evidence so far has not been in his favor. Instead of shifting manufacturing back into the United States, Mr. Trump’s tariffs mostly appear to have reshuffled trade, at great cost to U.S. companies.

Just the day before the Supreme Court issued its ruling, the government reported annual trade data for last year, including several metrics that controverted Mr. Trump’s claims. The data showed that the trade deficit — the gap between what America imports from other countries and what it exports — continued to widen in December, and that the annual trade deficit in goods last year hit a record high. Exports of U.S. services, a strength of the American economy, helped reduce the overall trade deficit. But Mr. Trump has spent little time focusing on that. …

Growth in manufacturing output also hasn’t yet translated into more jobs. American manufacturers cut more than 80,000 jobs in the past year.

The president has ignored any data that does not fit his message. This past week, Mr. Trump had claimed on Truth Social that the trade deficit had “BEEN REDUCED BY 78% BECAUSE OF THE TARIFFS BEING CHARGED TO OTHER COMPANIES AND COUNTRIES. IT WILL GO INTO POSITIVE TERRITORY DURING THIS YEAR, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MANY DECADES.”

It’s not clear what metrics the president was referring to, and the White House did not clarify. …

For Mr. Trump, the trade deficit has long been a sign of economic weakness.

In April, he used the law just reviewed by the Supreme Court to declare that U.S. trade deficits were an international economic emergency and to impose sweeping tariffs to try to reduce them. Though some economists worry about big trade deficits, many at the time said that trade deficits were neither unusual nor an emergency, since the United States had run them for decades. …

Despite all the uncertainty, one thing is clear: Mr. Trump’s tariffs have so far not done much to solve the emergency he said they were directed at in the first place.

“The tariffs did not succeed in revitalizing U.S. manufacturing,” Mr. Setser said. “And the tariffs did not succeed in meaningfully changing the overall trade deficit.”

🐣 RT @RinainDC Vote out every member of Congress who is unwilling to step up & scream at the insanity of Trump’s overreach. ¤ Congress has been derelict of their duty for far too long — time to clean House…starting with spineless Speaker Johnson. ¤ Only Congress can tax the American people!
[TextLink:] https://x.com/RinainDC/status/2025293326283428133?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @reaDonald Trump Based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday, after MANY months of contemplation, by the United States Supreme Court, please let this statement serve to represent that I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been “ripping” the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level. During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again – GREATER THAN EVER BEFORE!!! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @McFaul Professor Pape is one of our country’s best experts on air power.
⋙ 🐣 RT @ProfessorPape This represents 40-50% of the deployable US air power in the world. Think air power on the order of the 1991 and 2003 Iraq war. And growing. Never has the US deployed this much force against a potential enemy and not launched strikes.
◕ https://x.com/ProfessorPape/status/2025214568050446627?s=20/photo/1

NYT: In Gorsuch’s Homage to Legislative Power, a Subtle Reproach of a Neutered Congress https://tinyurl.com/29chhs7n “In his concurrence to the ruling invalidating President Trump’s tariffs, Justice Neil Gorsuch made a forceful case for the sanctity of the legislative process”
// cont.: “— and an implicit critique of its current dysfunction.”

… Republicans controlling the House and the Senate have ceded their power to one man — Mr. Trump — on a variety of issues. In essence, they are acting as if they have no wisdom to tap, or no business doing so.

Most of Mr. Trump’s G.O.P. allies condemned the ruling, firmly rejecting the idea of insisting on their own branch of government’s constitutional role. Of the few Republican senators who cheered it as a triumph for checks and balances, some had repeatedly voted against blocking some of the sweeping duties Mr. Trump unilaterally imposed, wary of crossing him. And in the House, G.O.P. leaders used a procedural move for nearly a year to prevent lawmakers from even having to take such a vote.

Asked at a news conference at the White House on Friday whether he now planned to work with Congress to impose the kinds of sweeping tariffs he prefers, Mr. Trump said he had no intention of doing so.

“I don’t have to,” he said. “I have the right to do tariffs.”

That has been a position that Republican leaders have largely preferred not to question. …

It was hard not to detect a note of reproach for the current dysfunctional state of affairs in Congress in Justice Gorsuch’s reflections about the virtues of legislating, in which, he wrote, “deliberation tempers impulse, and compromise hammers disagreements into workable solutions.”

“For some today, the weight of those virtues is apparent,” he added. “For others, it may not seem so obvious.” […]

🐣 RT @MAGALieTracker BREAKING: Neal Katyal, the lawyer responsible for striking down Trump’s illegal tariffs at the Supreme Court, says that Trump’s new 15% tariffs won’t hold up either. If you thought Trump’s reaction yesterday was unhinged, wait until these get struck down too.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/MAGALieTracker/status/2025263487124197380?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @neal_katyal Seems hard for the President to rely on the 15 percent statute (sec 122) when his DOJ in our case told the Court the opposite: “Nor does [122] have any obvious application here, where the concerns the President identified in declaring an emergency arise from trade deficits, which are conceptually distinct from balance-of-payments deficits.”

If he wants sweeping tariffs, he should do the American thing and go to Congress. If his tariffs are such a good idea, he should have no problem persuading Congress. That’s what our Constitution requires.

🐣 RT @Bricktop_NAFO
“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸

⭕ 20 Feb 2026

TheAtlantic, Ilya Somin: How the Supreme Court Spared America https://tinyurl.com/mr55w93h //➔ Under Trump, IEEPA tariffs became Trump’s instrument of choice to reward friends and punish those who displeased him, creating market volatility and exuding cronyism
// The ruling against Trump’s tariffs is a major victory for the constitutional separation of powers, rule of law, and millions of American consumers and businesses.

[…] Since first imposing the Liberation Day tariffs, Trump has repeatedly suspended and reimposed various elements of them. He has also imposed or threatened to impose IEEPA tariffs for a variety of other purposes, such as countering the supposed threat of foreign-made movies, punishing Brazil for prosecuting its former president for attempting to launch a coup to stay in power after losing an election, and most recently castigating eight European nations opposed to his plan to seize Greenland. Such gyrations undermine the stable legal environment essential for businesses, consumers, and investors, and create endless opportunities to reward cronies and punish political adversaries. Studies show that firms contributing to the Republican Party were disproportionately likely to receive exemptions from tariffs imposed during Trump’s first term, while firms contributing to Democrats were more likely to have to pay. If allowed to stand, the IEEPA tariffs would have created much greater opportunities for such corruption.

📊 WaPo: Majority of Americans think Trump’s deportation campaign is going too far https://tinyurl.com/bdzay7up A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll finds large numbers of Americans are living in fear of the deportation dragnet and dislike the administration’s approach.
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2025283149752598745?s=20/photo/1
// “Less than 3 in 10 think the majority of deportees were violent criminals”

NYT, Maureen Dowd: Shocker! SCOTUS Schools POTUS https://tinyurl.com/cxs5jvh9 “The Constitution is vague on so much, and that has allowed Trump to shimmy through wormholes and do things we assumed he would be barred from doing. … But the Constitution is clear on tariffs”

… As usual, Trump absurdly conflated what he wants with what’s best for the country. And as usual, he projected, charging that the justices who blocked his tariffs were “unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution” — and controlled by foreign interests.

Actually, that critique is probably more applicable to the president, not the Supreme Court justices who put the brakes on Trump’s mad careening.

And Trump was barking up the wrong tree on lap dogs. Until now, Justices Roberts, Gorsuch and Barrett have been lap dogs for Trump, helping to upend Roe, giving him immunity for nearly all official acts, weakening the Voting Rights Act, letting DOGE get its grimy little hands on private data and allowing Elon Musk’s backpack wolf pack to slash the federal work force.

The Constitution is vague on so much, and that has allowed Trump to shimmy through wormholes and do things we assumed he would be barred from doing — like tearing down the East Wing without checking with anyone and letting foreign oligarchs enrich him, his family and his cronies. But the Constitution is clear on tariffs: They are the purview of Congress.

Trump has called tariffs “the most beautiful word to me in the dictionary.” And having his toy yanked away — even for the time it took him to figure out some other ploy to punish countries — brought out his fiendish side. After his unhinged news conference, he let fly a couple of long, unhinged Truth Social posts.

No sooner did moderate Republicans exhale, because they would no longer have to defend Trump’s mercurial tariff scheme — essentially a tax on consumers — than the president signed an executive order on Friday night invoking the Trade Act of 1974, imposing a “Global 10% Tariff on all Countries.” He had crowed earlier at the news conference that he can not only destroy the trade of any country but also “can destroy the country.”

“I’m allowed to destroy the country,” he pouted to reporters, “but I can’t charge them a little fee.” …

And now, the president will also have to distract from his humiliation at being slapped back by a conservative Supreme Court. He’s no doubt going to spend the weekend rewriting his State of the Union address and thinking of more nasty jibes for the justices who choked his leash. …

🐣 RT @CatoInstitute Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a victory for the rule of law and the constitutional principle that Congress—not the president—holds the power to broadly tax imports, says Cato’s Clark Packard, reacting to the court’s ruling against President Trump’s tariffs. ¤ Learn more from Cato scholars: [link:] https://ow.ly/5EgZ50Yj0l6

WSJ Editorial: Trump Demeans Himself as He Attacks the Supreme Court https://tinyurl.com/45pm75au “Trump’s rant in response to his tariff defeat at the Court was arguably the worst moment of his Presidency”
// He calls the Justices who ruled against him ‘very unpatriotic’ and ‘fools.’

GlobalNews [Ca]: Transcript of Trump’s response to U.S. Supreme Court tariff ruling https://tinyurl.com/396fmkdm

WSJ Editorial: The Real Tariff Liberation Day Arrives at the Supreme Court https://tinyurl.com/3x5vxwzb “A 6-3 Supreme Court majority on Friday struck down President Trump’s sweeping emergency tariffs in a monumental vindication of the Constitution’s separation of powers.”
// The Justices strike down President Trump’s imposition of border taxes without Congressional approval.

A 6-3 Supreme Court majority on Friday struck down President Trump’s sweeping emergency tariffs (Learning Resources v. Trump) in a monumental vindication of the Constitution’s separation of powers. You might call it the real tariff Liberation Day.

It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Court’s decision for the law and the economy. Had Mr. Trump prevailed, future Presidents could have used emergency powers to bypass Congress and impose border taxes with little constraint.

As Chief Justice John Roberts explains in the majority opinion, “Recognizing the taxing power’s unique importance, and having just fought a revolution motivated in large part by ‘taxation without representation,’ the Framers gave Congress ‘alone . . . access to the pockets of the people.’”

Mr. Trump last February deemed fentanyl trafficking a national emergency, which he claimed gave him unbridled authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to impose tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico. He later said the U.S. trade deficit is an emergency to justify tariffs on any country at rates he has adjusted at his personal whim.

IEEPA grants the President emergency powers to deal with foreign threats, including the authority to “regulate . . . importation or exportation” of foreign property. But the law doesn’t mention tariffs, and no previous President has used the law to impose border taxes.

It’s “telling that in IEEPA’s ‘half century of existence,’ no President has invoked the statute to impose any tariffs—let alone tariffs of this magnitude and scope,” the Chief writes in an opinion joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett and the three liberals. “When Congress has delegated its tariff powers, it has done so in explicit terms, and subject to strict limits.”

These are signs that the tariffs violate the Court’s major questions doctrine, which says a President needs express Congressional authorization for economic and politically significant actions. The Court used this doctrine to strike down the Biden student loan forgiveness, eviction moratorium and vaccine mandate.

As the Chief writes, the “stakes” in this case “dwarf those of other major questions cases.” He cites the Trump team’s own claims: “The Government points to projections that the tariffs will reduce the national deficit by $4 trillion, and that international agreements reached in reliance on the tariffs could be worth $15 trillion.”

Mr. Trump also claims the term “regulate” in IEEPA is capacious enough to encompass the tariff power. Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito more or less agree in their dissent. But as the Chief writes, the term “‘regulate,’ as that term is ordinarily used, means to ‘fix, establish, or control; to adjust by rule, method, or established mode.’’”

“Many statutes grant the Executive the power to ‘regulate,’” the Chief points out. “Yet the Government cannot identify any statute in which the power to regulate includes the power to tax.” He draws an important distinction that is blurred by the dissent. The real question, he stresses, isn’t “whether tariffs can ever be a means of regulating commerce. It is instead whether Congress, when conferring the power to ‘regulate . . . importation,’ gave the President the power to impose tariffs at his sole discretion.” It didn’t.

The Administration’s strongest argument is that it deserves deference on questions that implicate foreign affairs. The dissent agrees. But as Justice Gorsuch notes in a brilliant concurrence, this logic would have required the Court to uphold the Obama Clean Power plan in West Virginia v. EPA (2022) since climate change is an international issue.

Justice Gorsuch acknowledges that “the major questions doctrine may speak with less force where the President and Congress enjoy “overlap[ping] . . . authority” under the Constitution. But the Constitution expressly vests the power over taxation and foreign commerce with Congress, not the President.

Justice Gorsuch also amusingly hoists the liberal Justices on their prior dissents that criticized the use of the major-questions doctrine in cases involving overreaches by Democratic Presidents. “Their approach today is difficult to square with how they have interpreted other statutes,” he writes. Yes, it is.
***
Mr. Trump lashed out Friday at the Justices who ruled against him (see nearby). But he vindicated their reasoning by invoking another trade law, Section 122, to impose a 10% tariff across the board. That law expressly grants the President authority to impose a border tax of up to 15% to remedy a balance-of-payments deficit for 150 days, after which he must get Congress’s approval. This tariff is also bad policy but it’s legal.
The tariff law ruling also gives the lie to the Democratic charge that the current Court is a rubber stamp for Mr. Trump. The Court has now shown it is willing to block abuses of executive power by Presidents of both parties. This is exactly what the Constitution calls on the Justices to do.

WaPo Editorial: Trump’s tariffs fall to a principled Supreme Court https://tinyurl.com/452unb7f “This decision was too close, but it underscores that the Supreme Court remains independent. The separation of powers held. If only Congress would also fulfill its role as forcefully.”
// The decision is a triumph for the separation of powers and individual liberty.

The Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on Friday wiping out a chunk of President Donald Trump’s tariff regime is a triumph for the Constitution’s separation of powers and the individual liberty that it protects.

The decision by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. says nothing about whether the tariffs are good or bad policy. But it recognizes that they are a major tax, and that raising revenue is a “distinct” power that belongs to Congress. There’s a reason the 18th century American revolutionary slogan was “no taxation without representation.” Taxing citizens without consent from their elected representatives is antithetical to the American project.

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa Ukrainians always defend what is theirs. Defend their independence. Dignity. Their right to live freely. It was the people who won freedom for Ukraine. Ordinary people who care about Ukraine’s future and how Ukrainian children will live. We remember what it cost in 2014. We honor the courage of everyone who took part in the Revolution of Dignity, everyone who did not leave the Maidan so that Ukraine would not be left without freedom. Blessed be the memory of all the Heavenly Hundred heroes, as well as every Ukrainian who gave their lives so that Ukraine would be free. Glory to Ukraine!
💽 https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2024773277655134569?s=20/photo/1

WaPo Editorial: Trump’s tariffs fall to a principled Supreme Court https://tinyurl.com/452unb7f “The decision is a triumph for the separation of powers and individual liberty.”

TheAtlantic, David Frum: The Supreme Court Delivers Trump a Humiliating Gift https://tinyurl.com/57m2hvvm “A generally Trump-friendly Supreme Court has offered the president an exit from one of his most unpopular domestic policies. Will he accept the handout?”

Finally, a check on the president’s tariff powers.

In the 1630s, King Charles I tried to tax English people without the consent of their legislature. He lost his head. ¤ In the 2020s, Donald Trump tried to tax Americans without the consent of Congress. He just lost his case.

A tariff is a tax. The Trump tariffs imposed in and after April 2025 were projected to raise as much as $2.3 trillion over 10 years. The Constitution assigns authority over taxes, including tariffs, to Congress. It does so for reasons that date back to English constitutional history: An executive who can tax without permission from elected representatives is on his way to becoming a tyrant.

President Trump has had lots of ideas for how to spend the money he collected without Congress. He has offered it to farmers. He has mused about direct cash payments to taxpayers. He has speculated about creating a sovereign wealth fund to invest in companies. He has disregarded the fundamental principle that spending, like taxing, is a power the Constitution assigns to Congress, not the president.

Now we may be on the verge of a regime-changing war against Iran. War-making is also supposed to be a congressional power—but there’s no sign that Trump will allow Congress to vote on his war. …

… Had the Supreme Court upheld the tariffs, it would have wrought a constitutional revolution. Instead, the court quashed Trump’s scheme. Like every president before him, if he wants money—for an Iran war or any other purpose—he will have to ask Congress for it. …

After Watergate, Congress sought to restrain the president by limiting the IEEPA [the International Emergency Economic Powers Act] to “unusual and extraordinary” threats to “the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.” The law’s powers can be invoked only after a formal declaration of national emergency, and the word tariff appears nowhere among the powers conferred upon the president by the law. To put it another way, a permanent 25 percent tax on Canadian maple-syrup-tapping technology is not what the authors of the IEEPA had in mind.

Trump gets very impatient when he’s asked about “affordability.” You can understand why he squirms. The price increases Americans have felt in 2025 and 2026 can be blamed in no small part on Trump’s tariffs. Power bill up? Trump imposed a tariff on the equipment used to generate and transmit electricity. Six-pack of beer more expensive? Trump taxed the beer cans. Kids need new shoes? Trump’s tariffs raised the cost. …

The ironic political question for 2026 is whether the U.S. Supreme Court acted in time to save Trump from himself. Whether or not it was the justices’ intention to help Trump, ⋙ a generally Trump-friendly Supreme Court has offered the president an exit from one of his most unpopular domestic policies. Will he accept the handout? ⋘ Acceptance would be smart, but humiliating. Trump holds other legal means to disrupt international trade, some of which he used in his first term. But those powers have tighter legal limits than Trump wants. They don’t raise the kind of lawless revenue he plainly hoped for, but they can still cause havoc until their abuse is checked—and the federal courts have thus far flinched on supplying such checks on the president’s power. Until and unless a future Congress acts to protect Americans from Trump protectionism, the outlook for U.S. prosperity and security will remain clouded.

While shadows dim the future, the sun shone today. U.S. stocks surged after Trump’s Supreme Court defeat. American consumers may soon feel the benefit. Liberated from this approach to economic warfare, relations with allies may recover some of their former cordiality. And unlike the case of Charles I, all of this was accomplished while allowing America’s president to lay his unsevered head on his pillow tonight.

🐣 RT @SpencerHakimian Mango is crying
[TextLink:] https://x.com/SpencerHakimian/status/2024917597112733960?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump The Supreme Court’s Ruling on TARIFFS is deeply disappointing! I am ashamed of certain Members of the Court for not having the Courage to do what is right for our Country. I would like to thank and congratulate Justices Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh for your Strength, Wisdom, and Love of our Country, which is right now very proud of you.

When you read the dissenting opinions, there is no way that anyone can argue against them. Foreign Countries that have been ripping us off for years are ecstatic, and dancing in the streets – But they won’t be dancing for long! The Democrats on the Court are thrilled, but they will automatically vote “NO” against ANYTHING that makes America Strong and Healthy Again. They, also, are a Disgrace to our Nation. Others think they’re being “politically correct,” which has happened before, far too often, with certain Members of this Court when, in fact, they’re just FOOLS and “LAPDOGS” for the RINOS and Radical Left Democrats and, not that this should have anything to do with it, very unpatriotic, and disloyal to the Constitution. It is my opinion that the Court has been swayed by Foreign Interests, and a Political Movement that is far smaller than people would think – But obnoxious, ignorant, and loud!

This was an important case to me, more as a symbol of Economic and National Security, than anything else. The Good News is that there are methods, practices, Statutes, and other Authorities, as recognized by the entire Court and Congress, that are even stronger than the IEEPA TARIFFS, available to me as President of the United States of America and, in actuality, I was very modest in my “ask” of other Countries and Businesses because I wanted to do nothing that could sway the decision that has been rendered by the Court.

I have very effectively utilized TARIFFS over the past year to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. Our Stock Market has just recently broken the 50,000 mark on the DOW and, simultaneously, 7,000 on the S&P, two numbers that everybody thought, upon our Landslide Election Victory, could not be attained until the very end of my Administration – Four years! TARIFFS have, likewise, been used to end five of the eight Wars that I settled, have given us Great National Security and, together with our Strong Border, reduced Fentanyl coming into our Country by 30%, when I use them as a penalty against Countries illegally sending this poison to us. All of those TARIFFS remain, but other alternatives will now be used to replace the ones that the Court incorrectly rejected.

🐣 RT @neal_katyal My statement: “Today, the U.S. Supreme Court stood up for the rule of law and Americans everywhere. Its message was simple: Presidents are powerful, but our Constitution is more powerful still. In America, only Congress can impose taxes on the American people.
¤ https://x.com/neal_katyal/status/2024881909365346605?s=20

The US Supreme Court gave us everything we asked for in our legal case. Everything.

I’m grateful for the leadership of the Liberty Justice Center, and in particular for the brilliant advocacy by its chair, Sara Albrecht, who led the fight when others wouldn’t and was dauntless in its defense of our constitutional order. I’m also grateful to the five small business owners who stood up against these unjust, unconstitutional taxes. By taking a stand, they have delivered crucial relief to tens of thousands of businesses and millions of consumers across the country.

Finally, I lack the words to properly thank my brilliant Milbank team, especially Colleen Roh Sinzdak and Sami Ilagan, who worked with me day and night for many months to craft the winning argument.

This case has always been about the presidency, not any one president. It has always been about separation of powers, and not the politics of the moment. I’m gratified to see our Supreme Court, which has been the bedrock of our government for 250 years, protect our most fundamental values.

🐣 RT @DrMcFillin 🧵1/5 Buried inside the Epstein files is something far more disturbing than a blackmail network, as sinister as that is. What the documents reveal is a worldview. A coherent, funded, institutionally embedded worldview about what human beings are, what they’re worth, and who gets to decide. 🔰 Epstein’s Network has a Doctrine. You’re
Living Under It
📌 https://x.com/DrMcFillin/status/2024567808538066958?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2024567808538066958.html

2/5 Epstein donated to the World Transhumanist Association. He funneled thirty million dollars into Harvard’s Program for Evolutionary Dynamics. He was in active discussions about financing a designer baby project, altering human germline DNA so parents could engineer heritable traits in their children.

3/5 He told scientists and wealthy associates that he planned to use his New Mexico ranch to impregnate twenty women at a time. His goal, in the words of the New York Times, was to “seed the human race with his DNA.”

4/5 He wanted his head and penis frozen at death for future resurrection. He exchanged emails with top AI researchers who entertained ideas about genetically modifying Black people’s intelligence and casually floated the notion that mass death of the elderly and infirm might be evolutionarily beneficial.

5/5 This is what transhumanism actually is when you strip away the academic language. It is the belief that the human being as currently constituted is a problem to be solved. That through genetic engineering, AI, and technological intervention, we can transcend the limitations of being human. Live forever. Design superior offspring. Merge with machines. Upgrade the species.

This is not a new idea. It is an old one with a new name. ¤ Eugenics.

💙 🐣 RT @RepDonBacon Perfect words by Supreme Justice Gorsuch.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/RepDonBacon/status/2024879962197573873?s=20/photo/1

For those who think it important for the Nation to impose more tariffs, I understand that today’s decision will be dis-appointing. All I can offer them is that most major decisions affecting the rights and responsibilities of the American people (including the duty to pay taxes and tariffs) are funneled through the legislative process for a reason. Yes, legislating can be hard and take time. And, yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises. But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design. Through that process, the Nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people’s elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man. There, deliberation tempers impulse, and compromise hammers disagreements into workable solutions. And because laws must earn such broad support to survive the legislative pro-cess, they tend to endure, allowing ordinary people to plan their lives in ways they cannot when the rules shift from day to day. In all, the legislative process helps ensure each of us has a stake in the laws that govern us and in the Nation’s future. For some today, the weight of those virtues is apparent. For others, it may not seem so obvious. But if history is any guide, the tables will turn and the day will come when those disappointed by today’s result will appreciate the legislative process for the bulwark of liberty it is.

WSJ: Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump’s Global Tariffs https://tinyurl.com/mu693csn ‘The 6-3 decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, removes a tool of diplomatic pressure that Trump has aggressively wielded to remake US trade deals & collect tens of $$billions from importers’
// Ruling finds president exceeded his powers by imposing duties without clear authorization from Congress

President Trump’s global tariffs are illegal, the Supreme Court ruled Friday, in a stinging repudiation of a signature White House initiative.

The 6-3 decision, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, removes a tool of diplomatic pressure that Trump has aggressively wielded to remake U.S. trade deals and collect tens of billions of dollars from companies importing foreign goods. The ruling didn’t directly address whether the government will have to pay back the tariff revenue it has already collected.

It is the first time the high court has definitively struck down one of Trump’s second-term policies. In other areas, the court’s conservative majority has so far granted Trump broad latitude to deploy executive power in novel ways, but a majority of justices—three conservatives and three liberals—said he went too far in enacting his most sweeping tariffs without clear authorization from Congress. …

The decision rebuffed an extraordinary public pressure campaign that Trump had mounted against the court while it was weighing the case. The president claimed, for instance, that a decision against the tariffs would be “the biggest threat in history” to U.S. national security and “would literally destroy the United States of America.”

The ruling will likely prompt the White House to try to re-enact the tariffs using other legal justifications. The administration does have other laws it can rely on, but those laws have procedural constraints and may not allow tariffs as expansive as the ones the court struck down. …

Until Trump, no president had invoked the emergency-powers law as a basis to impose tariffs. Three different lower courts ruled the tariffs unlawful, including a specialized federal appeals court of national jurisdiction that said the emergency-powers law didn’t authorize tariffs of the magnitude Trump imposed. …

Trump has boasted about the billions of dollars being raised by his tariffs, despite the government arguing in court that any revenue is only incidental. The tariffs are in place to regulate foreign commerce, Solicitor General John Sauer told the justices during the November proceedings.

🧵 RT @kyledcheney BREAKING: The Supreme Court has struck down President Trump’s tariff authority, saying his claim of emergency authority to issue sweeping tariffs to America’s trading partners was unlawful.
📌 https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/2024862324566163840?s=20
[CourtDoc:] LEARNING RESOURCES, INC., ET AL. v. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ET AL.https://tinyurl.com/23nu4v6y 170p
// 6/3: Kavanaugh, Alito, Thomas dissenting

Roberts (for majority): “Against this backdrop of clear and limited delegations, the Government reads IEEPA to give the President power to unilaterally impose unbounded tariffs. On this reading, moreover, the President is unconstrained by the significant procedural limitations in other tariff statutes and free to issue a dizzying array of modifications at will. See supra, at 3. All it takes to unlock that extraordinary power is a Presidential declaration of emergency, which the Government asserts is unreviewable. Brief for Federal Parties 42. And the only way of restraining the exercise of that power is a veto-proof majority in Congress.”

It is also telling that in IEEPA’s “half century of exist-ence,” no President has invoked the statute to impose any tariffs—let alone tariffs of this magnitude and scope. National Federation of Independent Business, 595 U.S., at 119.3 Presidents have, by contrast, regularly invoked IEEPA for other purposes.”

Gorsuch: And without doctrines like major questions, our system of separated powers and checks-and-balances threatens to give way to the continual and permanent accretion of power in the hands of one man. That is no recipe for a republic.

This case offers an example of the problem. Article I grants Congress, not the President, the power to impose tariffs. Still, the President claims, Congress passed that power on to him in IEEPA, permitting him to impose tariffs on nearly any goods he wishes, in any amount he wishes, based on emergencies he himself has declared. He insists, as well, that his emergency declarations are unreviewable. A ruling for him here, the President acknowledges, would afford future Presidents the same latitude he asserts for himself. See Tr. of Oral Arg. 69. So another President might impose tariffs on gas-powered automobiles to respond to climate change. Ibid. Or, really, on virtually any imports for any emergency any President might perceive. And all of these emergency declarations would be unreview-able. Just ask yourself: What President would willingly give up that power?

🔆 This❗️⋙ CNBC: Stocks rebound from earlier losses after Supreme Court knocks down Trump’s emergency tariffs https://tinyurl.com/yfmzhzh3 “Traders reacted to the latest gross domestic product report, which badly missed estimates.”

🔆 This❗️⋙ 🐣 RT @JustinWolfers JUST DROPPED: Supreme Court decision on (most of Trump’s tariffs). They’re unconstitutional. They’ve always been unconstitutional. Turn ’em off. ¤ This wasn’t a trade war; it was a pointless and illegal diversion.

🐣 RT @RpsAgainstTrump JUST IN: U.S. Q4 2025 GDP growth slowed to 1.4%, well below expectations of 3%. ¤ For 2025 overall, the economy grew 2.2%, down from 2.8% in 2024. ¤ Are we great yet???

🐣 RT @BillKristol “We have an administration hostile to the rule of law and to the fight for freedom. We cannot wish away that reality. But we can also understand the reality of the admirable actions of Minnesotans and Epstein survivors and Ukrainian freedom fighters.” [🔰 link]

⭕ 19 Feb 2026

NYT: With ‘Tremendous’ Deals at Stake, Trump Wants to Bring Russia in From the Cold https://tinyurl.com/238yccps “Most of the American corporate world, which once saw Russia as a hot emerging market with a growing middle class, remains skeptical about returning to the country”
// cont.: because of the political uncertainty and the limited potential gains.”
// orig title: NYT: With ‘Tremendous’ Deals at Stake, Trump Is Bringing Russia in From the Cold
// Since President Trump took office more than a year ago, the Kremlin has dangled possible investments in front of the famously transactional leader. The message is starting to resonate with investors.

WaPo Editorial: New numbers hurt Trump’s case at the Supreme Court https://tinyurl.com/2j7pdhd5 ‘President Donald Trump justified his tariff offensive last year as a way to address the trade deficit, but it increased by 5.7% in 2025, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis.’
// The real goods trade deficit increased despite new tariffs.

🐣 RT @clashreport BIG: The Pentagon warned the EU it will retaliate if Brussels adds a strong “Buy European” clause to defense procurement rules, saying it “strongly opposes” limits on U.S. firms and rejects “protectionist and exclusionary policies” that “strong-arm American companies out of the market.” ¤ If Europe moves ahead, Washington may review waivers under existing defense trade deals, potentially restricting EU firms’ access to U.S. contracts even as nearly two-thirds of EU imported weapons come from the U.S.
[Politico link:] https://tinyurl.com/3zp6bty3

🐣 RT @nycjim I am so weary of this: ¤ “He told tall tales. Cracked old jokes. Got people to pay money into something he’s named after himself. Hyped up his wife’s movie. Trashed his enemies. Aired familiar grievances. Congratulated himself. Brought along top members of his government and then kicked back while they congratulated him.”
🖼 https://x.com/nycjim/status/2024752923763253259?s=20/photo/1
// “Board of Peace”
⋙ 🐣 You forgot the illegal $8-10B for his slush fund, falling asleep, and YMCA
and who did/didn’t show up
*sigh*

WSJ Editorial: The Embarrassing Truth About Tariffs https://tinyurl.com/4wdkhc6y “If your tariff policy is so unpopular that you have to bully the central bank into not talking about it, maybe it’s time for a new policy.”
// Why is Trump so upset about Federal Reserve economic research into his trade policies?

🐣 RT @SenMarkey Trump’s “Board of Peace” is a pay-to-play scam that undermines our commitment to peace and human rights around the world. We don’t need backroom deals made by Trump cronies who will say and pay whatever to get a seat at the table. We need diplomacy and democracy.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/SenMarkey/status/2024605968982487159?s=20/photo/1 -4

TheEconomist: Vladimir Putin is caught in a vice of his own making https://tinyurl.com/2hcb5zkp “Even if a peace deal were concluded, the aftershocks inside Russia would risk economic and political instability, wrecking Mr Putin’s plans of being ranked among history’s greatest tsars”
// Russia’s president cannot win the war, but fears peace
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2024741994640159005?s=20/photo/1

You would have thought that, after four bloody years, a war which neither side can win would have burnt itself out. But not the war in Ukraine. And the blame lies with one man.

Vladimir Putin is caught in a vice of his own making. The chances are waning that his armies in Ukraine will produce something he can call victory. Many people expect peace talks, continuing in Geneva this week, to give him a way out because President Donald Trump will force Ukraine to cede territory. In fact, that escape route is becoming less likely. And even if a peace deal were concluded, the aftershocks inside Russia would risk economic and political instability, wrecking Mr Putin’s plans of being ranked among history’s greatest tsars.

The first problem for Russia’s president is the battlefield. In the Great Patriotic War, from June 1941 to May 1945, the Red Army advanced 1,600km from Moscow to Berlin. In this longer war, Russian forces in Donetsk, the main focus, have advanced just 60km—the distance from Washington to Baltimore.

Russia has been unable to generate enough combat strength to break through Ukrainian lines. In the 10-30km “kill zone” around the front line, vulnerable to drones and their all-seeing operators, soldiers and equipment cannot mass without becoming targets. Even if Russian forces breach Ukrainian lines they struggle to exploit their success. …

In fact, any peace plan is unlikely to satisfy Russia. The talks have a Potemkin quality, illustrated by the preposterous promise of a $12trn peace dividend, much of it to be shared between Russia and America. They are also unlikely to give Mr Putin the territory he has been unable to take by force and which he wants in order to declare victory.

For Ukraine to surrender its best-defended ground would be a strategic disaster. And although Mr Trump still has leverage, his ability to bounce Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, into a bad deal has passed its peak. True, America still sells vital weapons to Europe, which passes them to Ukraine. But Ukraine is now less dependent on American intelligence than it was, and America has reduced its financing of the war by 99%. If, as seems likely, any peace deal involves American security guarantees to Ukraine that are enshrined in a treaty, the Senate will have to ratify it. That will also help protect against a one-sided settlement.

Another reason for Mr Putin to be cautious about a deal is that peace itself could trigger a crisis in Russia. As our guest column explains, Russia has diverted so many resources to defence, which now accounts for 8% of gdp, that the rest of the economy is ailing. The regime’s lawlessness and the prospect of renewed hostilities will deter new investors. The challenge of redeploying resources from warmaking to peace, including finding work for soldiers returning from the front, could induce a deep recession.

The politics would be ugly, too. Disgruntled veterans destabilise regimes, especially in Russia, as before the revolution in 1917 and after its war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Polls suggest that Russians would initially welcome the end of the fighting. But questions would surely follow: over the bungled campaign, the squandering of lives and treasure, and Russia’s humiliating dependence on China for financial and military support in the name of saving its own civilisation. That might limit Mr Putin’s ability to restart the war. It could even pose a threat to his power.
v
Mr Putin cannot give up the war, but the cost of carrying it on is rising. If his attempts to generate more combat strength only hollow out Russia further, that could lead to a crisis. If it doesn’t, Ukraine and Russia will be trapped in conflict. Can anything be done to end it? Pursuing Russia’s shadow fleet and activating a Senate plan to punish buyers of its oil could limit export revenues. Countering Mr Putin’s propaganda that America and Europe are bent on destroying Russia would help. So would correcting his claims of an inevitable Russian victory: no one, least of all Mr Trump, likes to back a loser.
^
It is hard to force a dictator to act. Ultimately, Mr Putin’s readiness to carry on fighting depends on the pain he is willing to inflict. But the more pain there is, the clearer it will be to Russians that he is bringing ruin upon them.

🐣 RT @RpsAgainstTrump BREAKING: In an extraordinary and illegal move, Trump says he’s transferring $10 billion from the U.S. government to his “Board of Peace,” which he chairs and can use the funds as he wishes. ¤ Where is Congress???

🐣 RT @steadystate2025 “When a jurist of his stature, background, and conservative pedigree warns of an existential threat and calls for civic courage, we all must listen.”
💙 ⋙ The Steady State: Judge Luttig’s Warning:: A Constitutional Conservative Sounds the Alarm https://tinyurl.com/3jbmmd97 STEADYSTATE1.SUBSTACK.COM

🐣 RT @hippyygoat … Pope Leo XIV has turned down Donald Trump’s invitation to join his so-called “Board of Peace”
💽 https://x.com/hippyygoat/status/2024427517159846009?s=20/photo/1
// “Pope issues warning as he rejects Board of Peace invite”
⋙ 🐣 RT @ron_m70826 I think the Holy Father is being wise and prudent concerning the Board of Peace.
¤ https://x.com/ron_m70826/status/2024478457011359952?s=20

While it was originally endorsed by the UN Security Council (Resolution 2803) to oversee postwar reconstruction and governance in the Gaza Strip, it has since expanded its mission to address global conflicts independently of the United Nations.

The Board of Peace may be its biggest mistake for these reasons:
1) Trump is the Chairman for Life with unilateral veto power over all board decisions.
2) Membership is by invitation only. “Permanent” status requires a $1 billion financial commitment.
3) Grounded in its own private charter; it is a “pay-to-play club” lacking global legal authority.

The Holy Father most likely sees red flags all over the place with this unusual, precarious, and seemingly farcical arrangement wherein the blasphemer Trump is totally in control.
#boardofpeace #UnitedNations #Vatican

🐣 RT @WW3finalboss 🇺🇸 🇺🇦 🇹🇷 🇷🇺 According to Politico, the United States is pushing NATO allies to exclude Ukraine and Indo Pacific partners from formally taking part in the alliance’s annual summit in Ankara this July. ¤ The move signals a White House effort to redefine NATO strictly as a Euro Atlantic defense bloc, rolling back decades of broader crisis management and global engagement. ¤ Trump received this directive directly from Putin.

🐣 RT @United24media ⚡ EU demands Russia pull troops from multiple neighboring regions.
Kaja Kallas proposed a peace framework calling for withdrawals from Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Transnistria, per Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
🔗 https://tinyurl.com/2dms596u

🐣 RT @Tendar Merz: Russia in a “state of deepest barbarism” [Source: “Süddeutsche Zeitung”]
¤ https://x.com/Tendar/status/2024399014699946435?s=20

“Chancellor Friedrich Merz sees little chance of a swift end to the war in Ukraine through negotiations. “In my estimation, this war will only end when one of the two sides is exhausted, either militarily or economically,” the CDU leader told the newspapers of the Neue Berliner Redaktionsgesellschaft (NBR) and the Rheinpfalz .

Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Merz added: “Reason and humanitarian arguments will not convince Putin. That is the bitter truth.” It is therefore the goal of European efforts “to ensure that the Russian state can no longer wage the war militarily and cannot continue to finance it economically.”

According to Merz, “the Russian power clique cannot do without war for the foreseeable future. They have to keep the war machine running because they have no plan for what else to do with the hundreds of thousands of soldiers, some of them severely traumatized, who are returning from the front,” the CDU leader said.

Merz described the state of Russia in bleak terms: “We are currently experiencing this country in a state of profound barbarity. This will not change in the foreseeable future, and we must accept that.”

WSJ: Former Prince Andrew Arrested Over Epstein Probe, BBC Reports https://tinyurl.com/42f8puyw “Police say a man in his 60s was detained on suspicion of misconduct in public office … Police in the U.K. don’t normally name suspects when they are arrested.“

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa I think it is good that we had a trilateral meeting in Switzerland. We respect and appreciate the Middle East partners and the ones in other countries. But I think if the war is in Europe – we need to find a place in Europe.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2024364671172542511?s=20

There were two groups: a military group and a political group. We are closer to complete negotiations on the military track than on the political one. Why? Because the military guys spoke in a trilateral format about how to develop a monitoring mission for the ceasefire, when it is established, when political track opens these possibilities. They discussed the details, technical things, and capabilities of both sides. And first of all, of Americans, because they will play a leading role in the monitoring.

There’s a difficult discussion about the role of the Europeans. For us, their role is significant. It’s great that we have Americans as our partners. But I underline time and again that I think that we also need European representatives. ¤ So, on the military track they are closer to a result – a draft with all the details on how it has to be monitored immediately after the ceasefire

⋙ 🐣 Russia has been engaging in hybrid attacks against Europe for years. The end to these attacks needs to be part of any peace agreement. ¤ Russia needs to act like a responsible member of the international community. If this requires regime change, so be it

⭕ 18 Feb 2026

Forbes, David Deptula: Putin’s War Story—And The Price Of Believing Him https://tinyurl.com/5ytmma45 “The seeming inevitability of a Russian victory is not a fact. It is a story. And when measured against the realities of the battlespace, that story collapses”
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2025197955599261887?s=20

I recently participated in a panel at the Atlantic Council addressing an issue of critical importance: the potential impact of Vladimir Putin’s ongoing disinformation campaign. The central issues is this: What are the military facts of the Russia-Ukraine war, and how does that compare with what we are being told?

The answer matters. Wars are not fought solely on battlefields. They are fought in perceptions and narratives that influence political will—and increasingly, economic expectations.

Putin understands this. His strategy now depends less on decisive battlefield success and more on convincing the world, particularly the United States [ie Trump], that Russian victory is inevitable; that continued support for Ukraine is futile; and that pragmatic Americans would be wiser to prepare for profitable normalization than prolonged confrontation. As European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned at the Munich Security Conference, “The greatest threat Russia presents right now is that it gains more at the negotiation table than it has achieved on the battlefield.”

The seeming inevitability of a Russian victory is not a fact. It is a story. And when measured against the realities of the battlespace, that story collapses.

What is Really Happening in Ukraine

From a military perspective, this is a grinding war of attrition in which Ukraine continues to hold, adapt, and deny Russia strategic success despite enormous pressure.

At every level of war, Russia has failed to achieve its core objectives.

At the strategic level, Russia sought to rapidly seize Kyiv, overthrow Ukraine’s government, absorb the country into its sphere, and fracture NATO. None of those objectives has been achieved. Kyiv remains the capital of a sovereign Ukraine. Its government functions. NATO is larger and stronger than before the invasion.

Five years ago, few imagined Finland and Sweden joining NATO. Today, both are members. I recently visited the U.S. airbase where Finnish pilots are training to fly the F-35 and inspected Finland’s first aircraft. Both would have seemed unimaginable before Putin’s invasion.

At the operational level, Ukraine has held Russian ground forces across roughly a 1,000-kilometer front. It has neutralized Russia’s effective use of the Black Sea and denied it air superiority over Ukrainian-controlled territory—an extraordinary failure for what was presumed to be a modern air force.

At the tactical level, Ukraine holds a favorable casualty exchange ratio reported to be between 2.5:1 and 7:1, with higher ratios in some engagements. Even when Russian forces do advance a few kilometers, they do so at staggering cost.

The casualty figures reinforce two core realities: First, Russia is willing to pay extreme human costs for marginal territorial gains; and second, time favors Moscow only if Ukraine’s defenses erode faster than Russia’s manpower and production base.

That is the central dynamic of this war. It is not about rapid breakthroughs. It is about endurance, industrial capacity, and political will. The fact is, Russia’s narrative promises inevitability, but the battlespace reveals attrition without momentum, losses without leverage, and violence without decision.

Ukraine’s will is not in question. The uncertain variable is Western resolve.

Casualties, Recruitment, and a Regime Bound to War

Russia’s casualty levels—by credible estimates the highest since World War II—reflect a force trading lives for time rather than achieving decisive effect. High casualties combined with minimal territorial gains indicate constrained maneuver, uneven adaptation, and reliance on brute-force attrition.

Recruitment patterns reinforce that picture. Russia has drawn heavily from prisons, coerced debtors, and recruited foreign nationals. Assessments of Russian military manpower trends indicate that today the Kremlin spends more rubles compensating families of troops killed in action than it does paying the salaries of active-duty personnel or recruiting new soldiers. These are not indicators of sustainable strength; they are indicators of strain.

Putin is not fighting merely for territory, of course. He is fighting for his political survival.

Having framed the invasion as existential for Russia, he has made it existential for himself. Putin has little political space to reverse course without redefining the outcome as success. The longer the war continues, the more his regime’s legitimacy comes into question. That dynamic helps explain Russia’s willingness to absorb extraordinary losses. Ending the war without tangible gains risks exposing the enormous human and economic costs already incurred.

What we are witnessing, therefore, is not the profile of an inevitable victor. We are watching a regime spending lives to buy time—hoping Western fatigue, political division, or economic temptation will deliver what battlefield performance has not.

The Economic Narrative: A New Front in the War of Stories

Recent reporting highlights Moscow’s signaling about improved economic ties with the United States should the war be resolved on terms favorable to Russia. The implication is clear: Russia can be both adversary and opportunity. End the war on acceptable terms, and American businesses may regain access to energy and other natural resources, reconstruction contracts, and renewed commercial engagement.

This is strategic framing designed to appeal to those who prioritize deal-making and economic return. The subtext is straightforward: Why continue costly support for Ukraine when normalization could yield financial gain?

But this argument rests on the same illusion as the inevitability narrative.

First, Russia is not negotiating from dominance; it is negotiating from attritional stalemate. Second, what Putin is offering as economic “opportunity” is, in reality, the result of the West’s coercive geopolitical pressure. That is leverage, not partnership. Third, rewarding aggression with reintegration would send the wrong signals to the world—particularly Beijing—that military force can yield not only territorial gains but eventual economic normalization.

Putin’s message attempts to fuse inevitability with opportunity. It is psychological pressure wrapped in commercial language.

Narrative Is Not a Substitute for Power

Some argue that Putin’s greatest advantage lies in narrative dominance—that by imposing a story of inevitability, Russia aims to shape negotiations regardless of battlefield reality. Narrative matters. But narrative without power is propaganda.

Putin’s bet is that Russia can absorb costs longer than the West—that democracies will tire, that business interests will lobby for normalization, and that political leaders will choose short-term economic engagement over long-term strategic stability.

That assumption is false—if the West chooses to prove it false.

Russia’s vulnerabilities are real. Its manpower pool is strained. Its economy is increasingly militarized and brittle. Sanctions have constrained access to technology and capital. And its strategy depends on sanctuary—the belief that its homeland and war-sustaining infrastructure remain largely insulated from meaningful consequence. As long as the United States and European allies withhold from Ukraine the means to meaningfully challenge that sanctuary, Moscow can sustain the illusion of endurance.

Peace Through Strength Requires Actual Strength

To bring Putin to serious negotiations, he must face costs he cannot accept. Thus far, U.S. policy—under both Presidents Biden and Trump—has emphasized avoiding escalation rather than enabling decisive leverage. That approach has helped Ukraine avoid defeat. It has not created the conditions for victory.

Peace through strength only works if it is real

That means equipping Ukraine with the long-range strike capabilities and advanced systems necessary to hold at risk Russia’s critical centers of gravity—command nodes, logistics hubs, energy infrastructure, war-sustaining assets, and broader economic foundations. When what Putin values is credibly threatened, serious negotiation becomes possible.

An option under discussion in that vein is directing frozen Russian sovereign assets held by G7 nations toward Ukraine’s defense and reconstruction. That is not escalation; it is accountability.

The Larger Strategic Signal

How this war ends will shape world events far beyond Europe. If Russia’s aggression is rewarded with eventual normalization and profitable reengagement, the lesson to China —and other revisionist powers—will be unmistakable: Simply endure sanctions, absorb losses, manipulate narratives, and the world will ultimately accommodate your aims.

If instead aggression is met with sustained resistance, strategic failure, and denied objectives, deterrence of future aggression will be reinforced.

Militarily, Ukraine has already disproven the myth of Russia’s inevitable victory. What remains undecided is whether the United States and its allies will allow economic temptation and narrative pressure to substitute for strategic clarity and the values all free people hold dear.

Wars are fought in the battlespace, but they are also fought in stories. Russia is selling a story of inevitable victory and future profit. The facts tell a different story—of strain, attrition, and vulnerability.

History will remember which version we chose to believe—and act upon.

🐣 RT @WW3finalboss 🇬🇧 🇫🇷 🇺🇸 🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Delegations from the United Kingdom and France showed up to the Geneva negotiations without being invited and completely shifted the dynamic. The original plan between Trump and Russia was to corner Ukraine. That strategy just ran into London and Paris. ¤ They sent a clear message: no deals about Europe without Europe. ¤ Tomorrow might be uncomfortable for Trump.

NYT, David Wallace-Wells: The MAHA Coalition Is Falling Apart https://tinyurl.com/5yvk8bdu “Last week’s precedent-breaking news that the F.D.A. wouldn’t even bother to consider Moderna’s new mRNA flu vaccine for approval felt like a dark revelation.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2024350509147066546?s=20/photo/1

Over the past year, the [FDA] has applied capricious-seeming standards to questions of drug approval, in a pattern of political behavior that Americans have grown unhappily familiar with in the age of MAGA: a mix of cruelty and incompetence giving rise to erratic and unreliable decisions that often reflect access and partisan alliances rather than any good-faith tabulation of national costs and benefits.

NYT, Bret Stephens: Western Civ Can Save Us — Again https://tinyurl.com/muuxbmbb “It’s the tradition that seeks a deeper understanding of the world through a continuous upending of its own methods, beliefs and aspirations. It’s a civilization that, at its best, values questions more than answers and the freedom to question more than life itself.”

WSJ, Carol Ryan: Billionaires’ Low Taxes Are Becoming a Problem for the Economy https://tinyurl.com/39492tvy “The bottom half of American households have lost ground. Their 2.5% cut of the country’s wealth has slipped from 3.5% in 1990.” in RED ⬇️
// Tax avoidance by the superwealthy is an economic issue as well as a political one
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2024278094199107917?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @RepRaskin America has no kings, but we’ve got one Boss and his name is Bruce Springsteen. Unlike our faux-King, the Boss fights for freedom and democracy for everyone. I cannot wait to hear him sing Streets of Minneapolis loud enough to rattle the walls of what’s left of the White House.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/RepRaskin/status/2024248149531824248?s=20/photo/1

Maybe the President will counter-program when Springsteen comes to town by singing a love song to Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell at the Trump-Kennedy Center, another American institution Trump is bulldozing.

I’ve been to 13 Springsteen and the E Street Band concerts as well as his Broadway show, and I can feel it in my bones—Bruce and the band are going to bring a Rock-and-Roll Resurrection to America and a Rock-and-Roll Exorcism to Washington, D.C. This may be the hottest ticket on the planet. I will be very much out in the street when they come to town.

Congress is full of Springsteen superfans, and Playbook caught up with a couple for their hottest takes. It should surprise no one that Reps. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.), who shares a New Jersey connection, and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who had Springsteen atop his Spotify Wrapped and is friends with members of the E Street Band, are both amped up for what’s coming.

“An American spring of Rock ‘n’ Rebellion is what the country needs in this moment and I am here for it,” Menendez told Playbook in a statement. “It’s unfortunate that Trump and his supporters at Mar-a-Lago will be home listening to YMCA for the millionth time since his inauguration still trying to make it feel cool. Sad!” Raskin – who has been to 13 Springsteen shows – said, Springsteen will bring “a Rock-and-Roll Exorcism to Washington. I cannot wait to hear him sing ‘Streets of Minneapolis’ loud enough to rattle the walls of what’s left of the White House. [Source?]

AOL/Fortune: Thousands of CEOs just admitted AI had no impact on employment or productivity https://tinyurl.com/4davuun7 —and it has economists resurrecting a paradox from 40 years ago

In 1987, economist and Nobel laureate Robert Solow made a stark observation about the stalling evolution of the Information Age: Following the advent of transistors, microprocessors, integrated circuits, and memory chips of the 1960s, economists and companies expected these new technologies to disrupt workplaces and result in a surge of productivity. Instead, productivity growth slowed, dropping from 2.9% from 1948 to 1973, to 1.1% after 1973.

Newfangled computers were actually at times producing too much information, generating agonizingly detailed reports and printing them on reams of paper. What had promised to be a boom to workplace productivity was for several years a bust. This unexpected outcome became known as Solow’s productivity paradox, thanks to the economist’s observation of the phenomenon.

“You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics,” Solow wrote in a New York Times Book Review article in 1987.

New data on how C-suite executives are—or aren’t—using AI shows history is repeating itself, complicating the similar promises economists and Big Tech founders made about the technology’s impact on the workplace and economy. Despite 374 companies in the S&P 500 mentioning AI in earnings calls—most of which said the technology’s implementation in the firm was entirely positive—according to a Financial Times analysisfrom September 2024 to 2025, those positive adoptions aren’t being reflected in broader productivity gains.

A study published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that among 6,000 CEOs, chief financial officers, and other executives from firms who responded to various business outlook surveys in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Australia, the vast majority see little impact from AI on their operations. While about two-thirds of executives reported using AI, that usage amounted to only about 1.5 hours per week, and 25% of respondents reported not using AI in the workplace at all. Nearly 90% of firms said AI has had no impact on employment or productivity over the last three years, the research noted.

However, firms’ expectations of AI’s workplace and economic impact remained substantial: Executives also forecast AI will increase productivity by 1.4% and increase output by 0.8% over the next three years. While firms expected a 0.7% cut to employment over this time period, individual employees surveyed saw a 0.5% increase in employment. […]

⋙ 🐣 ¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2024172931043999864?s=20

you’re going to need systems analysts to integrate AI into operations and logistics
and smart people to set it up (for each upgrade)
and smarter people to maintain it
and trainers and interpreters
and regulators and integrators and quality testers
and researchers who create new information
have fun, guys!

🐣 RT @PolymarketIntel Trump on Ukraine: Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you. We are in a position we want them to come.

📊 DailyBeast: Devastating Poll Reveals How Many Americans Call Billionaire Trump ‘Corrupt’ https://tinyurl.com/27skuzn3 “The YouGov/Economist poll, conducted between February 13 and 16 among 1,682 American adults, shows that 49% view Trump as ‘corrupt’”
// Since returning to the White House, Trump has generated at least $1.4 billion in wealth.
43% OUT-OF-TOUCH
46% CRUEL
47% RACIST
49% CORRUPT
50% DANGEROUS
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2024166922288267324?s=20/photo/1

A brutal new poll reveals a significant portion of the American public has a remarkably low opinion of the president. ¤ A striking share of Americans now describe billionaire President Donald Trump as “corrupt,” according to a new YouGov/Economist poll published Monday.

The poll, conducted between February 13 and 16 among 1,682 American adults, shows that 49 percent view Trump as “corrupt”—a finding that comes as his personal fortune and political power expand in tandem.

🐣 RT @RepJeffries Republicans cut healthcare for millions of Americans to give a $75 billion slush fund to ICE. ¤ You deserve better.

🐣 RT @KyivPost Zelensky warned that any agreement requiring Kyiv’s armed forces to unilaterally withdraw from the region and hand it over to Russia would fail in a referendum.

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 🇺🇦🇷🇺 Ukraine-Russia peace talks end abruptly after two hours in Geneva. ¤ Ukraine–Russia talks in Geneva concluded on Wednesday after just two hours, significantly shorter than Tuesday’s six-hour session, and ended without any progress on resolving territorial disputes.

🐣 RT @TheStudyofWar Kremlin officials and Kremlin-affiliated media sources reaffirmed Russia’s unwillingness to compromise as trilateral talks started in Geneva on February 17.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/TheStudyofWar/status/2024128901492953479?s=20/photo/1

Kremlin officials and Kremlin-affiliated media sources reaffirmed Russia’s unwillingness to compromise as trilateral talks started in Geneva on February 17. US, Ukrainian, and Russian delegations began trilateral talks in Geneva on February 17 and will continue on February 18[16] A source told Kremlin newswire TASS that the talks will cover at least five tracks – territorial, military, political, economic, and security issues. [17] ISW will continue to monitor reports about the trilateral talks in the coming days.

Russian State Duma deputies and Federation Council senators, whose target audience is the Russian population and who often act as bullhorns for the Kremlin’s true diplomatic and military aims, continue to advance the Kremlin’s boilerplate rhetorical lines about Russia’s original war demands that go beyond territory in eastern Ukraine. Duma Defense Committee Chairperson Andrei Kartapolov claimed that Ukraine will only be able to “win” when it joins the Russian Federation – reiterating Russia’s long-term goal of destroying an independent Ukraine.[18] Duma Defense Committee Deputy Chairperson Yuri Shvytkin claimed that Russia’s military achievements and technological superiority create a “favorable backdrop” for a future diplomatic settlement – furthering the Kremlin’s false narrative that Ukraine and the West should give in to Russia’s demands now at the negotiating table out of fear of future Russian actions on the battlefield.[19] Deputies and senators continued to claim that Russia should only negotiate with the United States, and that Russia and the United States together should act in the “spirit of Anchorage” – a reference to the Kremlin’s insistence that the United States and Russia came to an alleged agreement during the August 2025 Alaska Summit to end the war based on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s public demands for Ukrainian and NATO capitulation.[20]

🐣 RT @CFR_org “If Washington fails to learn from its experience in Ukraine, it will find itself dangerously ill equipped to wage a great-power war, at a moment when the likelihood of such a conflict is growing,” write John Kawika Warden and CFR expert @RebeccaLissner for @ForeignAffairs.
⋙ ForeignAffairs, Rebecca Lissner and John Warden: Ukraine and the New Way of War https://tinyurl.com/44354jyz Learning the Right Lessons for the Conflicts of the Future

🐣 RT @BillKristol “The rest of us need to follow in Minnesota’s footsteps. Not just when DHS launches a surge in a particular city. We need the grass-roots, spontaneous exercise of civic leadership in the fight against authoritarianism on every front for the next 3 years.” [Bulwark 🔰 link]

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa Before the start of today’s work of the delegations in Geneva, I held a meeting with the Ukrainian team.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2024055270779846815?s=20

Yesterday there were meetings in different formats – both bilateral between Ukraine and the United States and multilateral formats. In particular, there were talks between Ukrainian, American, and Russian representatives in two tracks – military and military-political issues. The Ukrainian delegation, together with the American team, also met with European representatives – from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. We consider Europe’s participation in the process indispensable for the successful implementation of entirely feasible agreements – Ukraine has no doubt that partners are capable of ensuring the constructiveness of the negotiation process and, therefore, a dignified result. Yesterday’s meetings were indeed difficult, and we can state that Russia is trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached the final stage. I thank the American side for its attention to detail and patience in conversations with the current representatives of Russia.

I set a clear task for the Ukrainian delegation – to do everything possible so that the negotiations are nonetheless productive and increase the chances for peaceful solutions. Among other things, the humanitarian track is to be discussed today, namely steps for the exchange of prisoners of war and the release of civilians. I am grateful to our representatives for their teamwork and the implementation of the directives given to the delegation. Ukraine needs guaranteed security and a reliable, lasting peace. That is exactly what we are working for. Glory to Ukraine!

🐣 RT @IAPonomarenko “Russia has returned to its demand for legally binding guarantees that NATO will not expand eastward.” ¤ Well, there it is — exactly what we’ve been talking about.
¤ https://x.com/IAPonomarenko/status/2024043182648856599?s=20

Now it’s no longer enough for them to get Ukraine’s surrender and occupation, which they have failed to achieve over years of full-scale war. Now they want this.

And then, SUDDENLY it will turn out that the real condition for “peace” was always the December 2021 ultimatum to the United States and NATO — demanding the rollback of collective defense across the entire territory of the former Warsaw Pact in Europe.

And then it will turn out that “peace” requires the return of “historically Russian lands” to their “native harbor” — the Baltic states, Poland, Finland. After all, they were part of the Russian Empire just over 100 years ago! You do want peace, don’t you?

And so on, and so on.

Appeasing an aggressor DOES NOT WORK, for fuck’s sake. It did not work with Hitler in 1938, and it is not working with Putin now.

⭕ 17 Feb 2026

TheEconomist: Will investing in Russia really bring America a $12trn bonanza? https://tinyurl.com/55k346v5 “Any president with America’s interests at heart would look at Mr Putin’s $12trn offer with a gimlet eye—and walk away.” //➔ There are reasons Trump is hiding this.
// The Kremlin is making big promises to Donald Trump’s administration
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2024363726233534858?s=20/photo/1

All this suggests that, for as long as Mr Putin is in power, there is little potential for a new El Dorado in Russia. Suppose Russian imports returned to the levels of 2021, with America supplying an improbable 50% of that (or $190bn a year). Then suppose the total revenues of all foreign firms in Russia recovered similarly, and American ones grabbed half of that, too ($150bn). The two would still only amount to annual flows (not profits) of $340bn a year. It is extraordinarily unlikely that even these flows could last, uninterrupted, for the decades they would take to amount to anything near the Kremlin’s $12trn promise. That American firms might extract trillions of dollars’ worth of resources from the Russian Arctic similarly looks wildly unlikely.

TheAtlantic, Anne Applebaum: No, It’s Not Back to Business as Usual https://tinyurl.com/yetd5tac “Marco Rubio was more civil than J. D. Vance had been, but the message was the same.” … “He did not refer to the democratic values and the shared belief in freedom”

🐣 RT @IAPonomarenko I would like to once again disappoint everyone dreaming of Russia destroying Ukraine — no, if you think it will help you to impose illegal and illegitimate “elections” on Ukraine during wartime and get rid of Zelensky, you are very deeply mistaken.
¤ https://x.com/IAPonomarenko/status/2023718988274962544?s=20

No, you will not be able to “install your own person” who will be “more agreeable” and quickly run to Moscow to hand Ukraine to Putin on a silver platter.

Even if such a joke of “elections” were ever to take place under U.S. pressure, we would either elect Zelensky again (which is likely) as a very-far-from-perfect but still resilient wartime leader whose removal has been aggressively pushed from outside. In fact, this notorious external pressure has only mobilized support for him throughout these years.

Or we would elect Zaluzhny, Budanov, or another serious candidate who would, by and large, continue the policy of resolute defense against the destruction and absorption by totalitarian fascist Russia.

Because — surprise, surprise!! — millions of Ukrainians have been fighting or helping the country and the military in the rear for years not because they are being forced by that evil Zelensky who “doesn’t want peace,” and whose easy-peasy removal would supposedly make Ukrainians immediately raise their hands and crawl back into the GULAG.

This is happening because millions of people in Ukraine are making a conscious choice to continue fighting at the front and enduring the hardships of war at home.

And if you think that fighting for years against the full military power of Russia is an easy choice that does not require titanic motivation and willpower, you are, to put it mildly, very wrong.

Otherwise, we would not be having this conversation now, one week before the fourth anniversary of the start of the largest war in Europe since World War II that was initially supposed to be a 10-day walk in the park with a Russian triumph in Kyiv.

If you think that there are a million clones of Zelensky fighting at the front who can all be switched off with a single button, then you are either an eight-year-old kid or Donald Trump.

The motivation that has sustained years of such a brutal war against such an enormous adversary will not be broken by yet another TikTok clown populist that you will try to impose, as you did in Romania.

And the Ukrainian military does not have any Stalin-style “blocking detachments” or modern Russian-style “pits for cowards” (which, incidentally, is one of the reasons why the widely-discussed number of AWOLs is so high — if someone firmly refuses to fight, sooner or later they will leave, and nobody’s really going to hunt them down or prosecute them).

If the people of Ukraine were not willing to fight, all of this would have ended long ago, exactly as Putin expected in 2022.

Or as it happened in Afghanistan in 2021, or in Syria in 2023 — which is what happens when an army and a people are not willing to fight for their country and their leaders.

Honestly, one cannot help but be horrified by how catastrophically global politics has degraded over the past year.

🧵RT @Mylovanov Former Ukraine PM Arseniy Yatsenyuk: The position of the American administration is to avoid involving the EU in negotiations with Russia on Ukraine. ¤ Zelenskyy performed here to the maximum — everything that could be said and everyone that could be met, he did it. 1/
📌 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2023871895930798159?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2023871895930798159.html

🐣 RT @HedgieMarkets Michael Wooldridge, professor of AI at Oxford, is warning that the race to market AI has raised the risk of a “Hindenburg moment” that could shatter global confidence in the technology. He’s delivering the Royal Society’s Michael Faraday prize lecture Wednesday titled “This is not the AI we were promised.”
¤ https://x.com/HedgieMarkets/status/2023906557642309733?s=20
⋙ 🐣 Hindenburg moment?
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @rryssf_ Microsoft Research and Salesforce analyzed 200,000+ AI conversations and found something the entire industry already suspected but nobody would say out loud. ¤ every major model gets dramatically worse the longer you talk to it. ¤ GPT-4, Claude, Gemini, Llama. all of them. no exceptions.
paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/2505.06120
◕ [TextLink:] https://x.com/rryssf_/status/2023885892335923217?s=20/photo/1

Abstract
Large Language Models (LLMs) are conversational interfaces. As such, LLMs have the potential to assist their users not only when they can fully specify the task at hand, but also to help them define, explore, and refine what they need through multi-turn conversational exchange. Although analysis of LLM conversation logs has confirmed that underspec-ification occurs frequently in user instructions, LLM evaluation has predominantly focused on the single-turn, fully-spec-ified instruction setting. In this work, we perform large-scale simulation experiments to compare LL performance in single- and multi-turn settings. Our experiments confirm that all the top open- and closed-weight LLMs we test exhibit significantly lower performance in multi-turn conversations than single-turn, with an average drop of 39% across six generation tasks. Analysis of 200,000+ simulated conversations decomposes the performance degradation into two components: a minor loss in aptitude and a significant increase in unreliability. We find that LLMs often make assumptions in early turns and prematurely attempt to generate final solutions, on which they overly rely. In simpler terms, we discover that when LLMs take a wrong turn in a conversation, they get lost and do not recover.

🐣 RT @OJoelsen New details are emerging about a heated meeting on Saturday afternoon at the Bayerischer Hof hotel in Munich between several senators and members of Congress and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, along with Greenland’s Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen.
¤ https://x.com/OJoelsen/status/2023874646492192892?s=20

It was during this meeting that Senator Lindsey Graham reportedly went completely off the rails. ¤ The American outlet Puck had previously described how so-called “f-bombs” (f short for the word “fuck,” ed.) were thrown around the room. ¤ “Imagine Graham on his worst day,” a source told Puck.

But Berlingske can now reveal that events unfolded even more violently than previously reported — and that Graham’s outburst was directed in particular at Mette Frederiksen and Jens-Frederik Nielsen.

“He called her ‘little lady,’” a source who was in the room told Berlingske. ¤ However, the prime minister did not appear affected by what everyone present perceived as extremely degrading and outright sexist. ¤ “She seemed cool,” the source said.

When Graham had finished, Frederiksen simply responded: ¤ “When you’re done with that, the meeting can continue.”

Earlier, Graham had also stressed to Frederiksen and Nielsen that Donald Trump was the President of the United States — and thus the most powerful man in the world. ¤ The implication: neither Denmark nor Greenland should believe they are anything in comparison with the mighty United States.

This “rant,” as a Danish source who was present in the room described it, came across as extremely demeaning toward Denmark and Greenland — particularly after the “little lady” remark directed at Mette Frederiksen. ¤ Graham’s behavior was described by a source as outright “disturbing,” “shocking,” and “extremely inappropriate.”

An almost theatrical scene also unfolded between Graham and Premier Jens-Frederik Nielsen. ¤ “Graham yawned directly in his face in a way that could only be interpreted as mocking,” the source told Berlingske.

It became too much for some of the American participants at the meeting, and Senator Elissa Slotkin (Democrat) was reportedly so shocked that she stood up and left the meeting. ¤ In a sense, the meeting marked the culmination of Graham’s angry outbursts.

Already on Friday, he had stunned observers on live television when asked about Greenland. ¤ “Who the hell cares who owns Greenland?” Graham said, according to CSPAN.

Participants at the meeting described his conduct as “completely out of line.” ¤ According to Berlingske’s information, there was quiet speculation afterward as to whether the senator from South Carolina had lost his composure entirely — whether he was not in his right mind when meeting the Danish and Greenlandic leaders. ¤ Only Graham himself likely knows the answer to that. —Berlingske

🐣 RT @thenation The Epstein files are full of rich and powerful men spouting theories about population decline, the supposed inferiority of nonwhite people, and what rights women should and shouldn’t have. These theories are bigoted and evil, but they are also very very dumb. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/366k5b4n

🐣 RT @thetimes Germany asks Ukraine to train its soldiers in drone warfare [link:] https://tinyurl.com/bj8mx5c5

🐣 RT @ChristopherHale NEW: Pope Leo XIV has formally declined President Trump’s invitation to join the U.S.-led Gaza “Peace Board” — days after his top Middle East envoy condemned the initiative as a pay-to-play “colonialist operation.”

🐣 RT @charter_97 [Translated from Russian] Poland Presents the Kremlin with a Trillion-Euro Bill ¤ On the instructions of Donald Tusk, Warsaw is preparing a large-scale lawsuit against Russia for the crimes of the Soviet period and is demanding reparations of 1.3 trillion euros. ¤ Will Russia Pay?

⭕ 16 Feb 2026

TheEconomist, Alexandra Prokopenko: Russia’s economy has entered the death zone
// Alexandra Prokopenko wonders how much longer it can go on metabolising its own muscle tissue

💙 🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 [Galdalv] The Panic in American Boardrooms: Trading Trillion Dollar Markets for a Fake MAGA Culture War
¤ https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2023452291525746952?s=20

🐣 RT @adagamov [tr Ru] 🇪🇺 Hillary Clinton, speaking at one of the events of the Munich Security Conference, called things by their real names:
¤ https://x.com/adagamov/status/2023313207071224216?s=20

“I believe that the Trump administration’s position toward Ukraine is shameful. I believe that the attempt to force Ukraine into a deal with Putin is shameful. I believe that the efforts of Putin and Trump to profit from the suffering and death of the Ukrainian people is a historic mistake.

I believe that Ukraine is fighting on the front lines for our democracy, for our values of freedom and civilization, losing thousands of people and losing its country because of one man’s maniacal desire to control it, and I think that Trump either doesn’t understand this or is indifferent to that suffering.

Donald Trump has betrayed the West. He has betrayed human values. He has betrayed the NATO Charter, the Atlantic Charter, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Much of what humanity has done in the past was an attempt to understand and stop people who want power without any control or accountability. None of us here in this room would ever want to live under a regime where one person can do anything with impunity — that is exactly how Putin operates. But it is precisely him that Trump is now taking as his model.”

⭕ 15 Feb 2026

WSJ: The Break Is Over. Companies Are Jacking Up Prices Again. https://tinyurl.com/45pnccss “Higher tariffs, labor and health-insurance costs have pushed many businesses to raise prices”

🐣 RT @yasminalombaert The “Art of the Steal”: Ukraine’s sovereignty for sale.
💽 https://x.com/yasminalombaert/status/2023250001518809217?s=20/photo/1

Applebaum pulls no punches, dissecting how a real estate developer like Steve Witkoff is being led into a classic Russian “swindle”. It’s a masterclass in how transactional foreign policy creates a dangerous vacuum where national security is traded for private family interests, and where a desperate autocrat like putin can easily manipulate a White House more interested in “personal deals” than democracy.

Fareed Zakaria: “…about these negotiations between Witkoff and putin’s moneyman. You hear some fantastic tales. Zelenskyy says that the Russians are proposing a $12 trillion economic package. I don’t even understand what that means, because Russia’s GDP is $2.5 trillion, so this would be an economic package to America that is five times the total economy of Russia.”

Anne Applebaum: “No, it’s an absurd amount of money, and some of the deals that we’ve heard about that have been leaked from the conversations between Witkoff and Dmitriev are also pretty absurd. You know, look, the United States had been investing in Russia for many years, you know, starting back in the 1990s.
So we know what’s available in Russia, we know what kind of deals are available, and all kinds of businessmen who’ve worked in Russia over the past decade have been saying, “You know, don’t be swindled, you know, they can’t provide what they’re offering, no deal in Russia is as good as you think it is.”

But unfortunately, Steve Witkoff is not somebody who has any experience with Russia or obviously any experience with diplomacy. And I do fear that he has an idea that there will be some kind of US-Russia pact that he might benefit or his son might benefit or Trump’s family might benefit or that people around them will benefit.

I mean, it’s a—it’s a really disturbing prospect, or should be, for all Americans, the idea that American foreign policy is being conducted by people who are not acting in the interest of the United States or of our allies or of world peace, but are really acting in the private interests of the people doing the negotiation.

And of course, putin knows that Trump is vulnerable to that kind of offer and that kind of deal and that’s why he’s—and that’s why he’s—he’s continuing to make those suggestions. I just hope that there are enough people in the White House who will be realistic enough to know to refuse them.”

🐣 RT @statedept
[TextLink:] https://x.com/StateDept/status/2022791058120208475?s=20/photo/1

“WE DO NOT WANT ALLIES TO BE SHACKLED BY GUILT AND SHAME.
We want allies who are proud of their culture, and their heritage — who understand that we are heirs to the same great and noble civilization, and who together with us are willing and able to defend it.”
– SECRETARY RUBIO

⋙ 🐣 What European “culture” promotes is not an identity but the idea that there are shared universal values that are captured in documents like the Universal Rights of Man, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2023248574616678417?s=20

These ideas have a history in Greek philodophy, Roman Law, Christianity, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the hard lessons learned in WW2.

These ideas lose their soul, their very meaning, when turned into an “identity.” They are a philosophy of rights, respect, care for all, acceptance, freedom, openness, science, creativity, truthfulness.

They may have come out of the West, but are universal. They don’t belong to Europe. The door is open to anyone who sees the promise.

🐣 RT @splendid_pete They are not afraid of Europe’s culture. They are afraid of a unified Europe.
¤ https://x.com/splendid_pete/status/2022923530279555503?s=20

When Rubio talks about allies being “shackled by guilt and shame,” that is not a historical or moral argument. It is political code. “Guilt and shame” means EU rule-of-law enforcement, human-rights conditionality, and supranational constraints that limit nationalist strongmen and unilateral power. In other words, the mechanisms that make Europe act collectively instead of being picked off state by state.

A fragmented Europe is manageable. A unified European Union is not.

A Europe that acts as one becomes a peer economic power, a regulatory superpower, and a strategic actor capable of pushing back on US leverage in trade, energy, tech regulation, and security. It weakens bilateral pressure tactics and reduces dependency structures that Washington has historically relied on, even inside NATO.

That is why Trump-aligned politics consistently undermine EU institutions while embracing “proud,” “sovereign,” nationalist governments.

“Pride in culture and heritage” is not about identity. It is about preferring national governments that can be pressured individually over a supranational bloc that negotiates collectively. “Same great and noble civilization” is not about democracy. It is about ideological alignment with illiberal regimes that reject EU legal constraints.

They are not afraid of Europe existing.
They are afraid of Europe acting as one. https://x.com/statedept/stat/statedept/status/2022791058120208475

🐣 RT @Mylovanov Petraeus: This is Ukraine’s greatest generation. ¤ When the cessation of hostilities begins, we’re going to see Ukraine as the greatest military industrial complex in the West, building an entirely new country focused on new technologies and new economic endeavors. 1/
💽 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2023136080875450462?s=20/photo/1
⋙ 🐣 RT @Mylovanov Petraeus: Ukraine is producing tomorrow’s technology for today’s war. West produces yesterday’s technology for tomorrow’s wars. That’s got to be changed dramatically. ¤ They’ve got to overhaul that, bring it more up to date, to reflect how
💽 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2023136085870583936?s=20/photo/1
⋙ 🐣 RT @Mylovanov Petraeus: What allies have got to do is not fall into the trap of buying legacy systems rather than buying what is the future of warfare. The place to see that is in Ukraine. ¤ We‘ve got to learn how they have shortened the kill chain. It starts with new concepts for operations that turn into doctrine. 3X
💽 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2023136089762906342?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @ColonelBigBoss [tr] 👉🏻 🇺🇦 A Ukrainian journalist asked the Finnish president at the Munich Conference if he could give some advice to Ukraine.
💽 https://x.com/ColonelBigBoss/status/2022983177153728992?s=20/photo/1
👉🏻 🇫🇮 Stubb’s response: “I have no intention of giving you advice, but I think you are winning the war. The reason I say this is that Putin has suffered a strategic defeat.

Putin wanted to turn Ukraine into a Russian country, but instead it has become European. He wanted to prevent NATO enlargement, but two new countries – Finland and Sweden – have joined the Alliance. He wanted to reduce NATO’s defence spending, but the bloc’s members have now committed to spending 5% of GDP on defence.

Secondly, he is losing on the military front. When the war began, Russia captured 12% of Ukrainian territory. That was 12 years ago. Since then it’s down to 8%. Over the last two years, it’s 1%. In December alone, Ukraine managed to kill 34,000 [325K per CSIS] Russian soldiers. They haven’t been able to replace those numbers through recruitment. So my answer is: just keep doing what you’re doing, and in the end, you will win this war.”

🐣 RT @ChrisMurphyCT This is what ICE does every day. Hunt little kids who are here legally. They get sent to a place called the “baby jail” in Texas. Very little of it ends up on video like this. But it’s routine. And disgusting.
⋙ 🐣 RT @CBSEveningNews Surveillance footage captures the moment dozens of elementary school students ran through a South Jersey apartment complex as an ICE operation unfolded nearby. One mother told CBS News, “There’s a lot of kids right now, they’re traumatized. They don’t want to go to school, they don’t want to go outside. They’re just scared.”
💽 https://x.com/CBSEveningNews/status/2022464479225663617?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @mhdksafa The richest man on Earth dismantled the organization that feeds the poorest children on earth. ¤ Elon Musk’s dismantling of USAID has already killed more children than in Gaza and Ukraine combined. ¤ He cut lifetimes for millions and the result is a silent massacres.

🐣 RT @VictorKvert2008 Sikorski: “As you know, Russia, the USA, and Great Britain guaranteed the security of Ukraine and its borders. ¤ In exchange for Ukraine giving up what was then the third largest arsenal of nuclear weapons in the world. ¤ So you have an obligation to Ukraine to help them defend their freedom.”

NYT: Canada Gives U.S. Arms Makers the Cold Shoulder on Military Spending https://tinyurl.com/3bd2a9mb “Canada plans to unveil a new strategy that will shift its current reliance on American companies to Canadian military suppliers.”

Last month, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Mr. Carney said, without naming Mr. Trump or the United States, that there has been a permanent “rupture” in the world order. He called upon middle-size nations to cooperate as a counter to the world’s superpowers.

Echoes of Mr. Carney’s speech were heard at the Munich Security Conference last week. Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany said that the international rules-based order “no longer exists.” Along with President Emmanuel Macron of France, he also spoke about Europe’s push for military autonomy.

Like Canada, European nations have begun to question the reliability of the United States as an ally, given the Trump administration’s threats against Greenland.

Size of Gaza Strip 375km², (141²mi); 41km (25mi) long by 6-12km (3.7-7.5mi) wide.

🐣 RT @_NAFO_FELLA 🇪🇺 Kaja Kallas on Russia: Russia is no superpower. After more than a decade of conflict, including four years of full-scale war in Ukraine, Russia has barely advanced beyond the 2014 lines. And the cost? 1.2 million casualties. ¤ Today, Russia is broken. Its economy is in shreds. It is disconnecting from the European energy markets, and its own citizens are fleeing. ¤ The greatest threat Russia presents right now is that it gains more at the negotiation table than it has achieved on the battlefield.

⭕ 14 Feb 2026

🐣 RT @RpsAgainstTrump EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas: “Coming from a country that ranks second in the freedom of speech index, and for me to hear lectures about free speech from a country [the US] that ranks 58th in that same index is interesting”🇪🇺🇺🇸

🐣 RT @visionergeo 🇺🇸 Today, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a “historic” speech at the Munich Conference:
¤ 💽 https://x.com/visionergeo/status/2022641683742003460?s=20/photo/1

📌 “The euphoria caused by the triumph of the Cold War has led us to a dangerous illusion.
As if we had entered the era of the ‘end of history,’ as if every nation would from now on become a liberal democracy… as if we would live in a borderless world where everyone would be a global citizen.”

📌 “It was a foolish idea that ignored both human nature and the lessons of 5,000 years of written history of humanity.”

📌 “In striving for a borderless world, we opened the door to an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the unity of our societies, the continuity of our culture, and the future of our people.”

📌 “The United States of America once again takes on the task of renewal and restoration, guided by a vision of a future that will be as proud and sovereign as the vital past of our civilization.”

📌 “And although we are ready, if necessary, to do this alone, we want to do it together with you — our European friends.”

📌 “The United States of America and Europe — we belong to each other. America was founded 250 years ago, but its roots on this continent began much earlier.

The people who settled and built the country where I was born came to our shores with the memories, traditions, and Christian faith of their ancestors as a sacred heritage — an unbreakable link between the old and the new world.

We are part of one civilization — Western civilization. We are connected by the deepest ties that can exist between peoples, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, origin, and the sacrifices our ancestors made together.”

⋙ 🐣 Correction: The United States is multi-racial/multi-ethnic and has always been a nation of immigrants.
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2022706418395279550?s=20/photo/1
⋙ 🐣 Correction: The Constitution of the United States makes clear there is no ‘national religion,’ not Christian or otherwise. ¤ Trends show a decrease in the % of Christians, greater diversity, and increase in Unaffilated or “Nones.”
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2022707993952031063?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @FCDOGovUK The UK, Sweden, France, Germany and The Netherlands are confident that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin. ¤ We and our partners will make use of all policy levers at our disposal to continue to hold Russia to account.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/FCDOGovUK/status/2022655856114884808?s=20/photo/1

…. This is the conclusion of our Governments based on analyses of samples from Alexei Navalny. These analyses have conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine. Epibatidine is a toxin found in poison dart frogs in South America. It is not found naturally in Russia. …

These latest findings once again underline the need to hold Russia accountable for its repeated violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention and, in this instance, the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. …

🐣 RT @NSTRIKE1231 🇺🇦 Zelenskyy:
📍 “I am ready for elections, but security guarantees and a ceasefire are necessary. No one is clinging to power.”
¤ https://x.com/NSTRIKE1231/status/2022584497586286756?s=20

📍 “If a real compromise is reached with Russia, a nationwide referendum could be held within a few months.”

📍 “Ukraine is not losing, and I believe the Trump administration has realized this. It may even have come as a surprise to them, as Russian propaganda is actively working on them as well.”

📍 “Each occupied kilometer of Ukrainian land costs Russia 170 soldiers — either killed or seriously wounded.”

📍 “My calls for a meeting with Putin are not about emotions. They are about ending the war. Only leaders can discuss the most difficult issues — territories.”

📍 “Any agreement must be signed by the presidents and then ratified by parliament or through a referendum. Our people have gone through this war — they deserve to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’”

⭕ 13 Feb 2026

WSJ Editorial: You’re Paying 90% of Trump’s Tariffs, Says New York Fed https://tinyurl.com/yr34258u “No matter how often President Trump insists his tariffs are taxing foreigners to enrich the US, economic studies keep showing that Americans actually pay the bill.”
// So the New York Federal Reserve says in the latest look at import prices.

No matter how often President Trump insists his tariffs are taxing foreigners to enrich the U.S., economic studies keep showing that Americans actually pay the bill. On Thursday it was the New York Federal Reserve’s turn. In an analysis on the bank’s website, four researchers write that last year “nearly 90 percent of the tariffs’ economic burden fell on U.S. firms and consumers.”

🐣 RT @TheStudyofWar NEW: Western reporting suggests that the United States has accepted Russia’s demanded sequence of having Ukraine cede territory to Russia before receiving formal US or European security guarantee commitments.
¤ 🌎 https://x.com/TheStudyofWar/status/2022523577963004389?s=20/photo/1 -4

Other Key Takeaways:

Meaningful security guarantees are crucial to any peace agreement that allows Russia to occupy parts of Ukraine, especially if Ukraine withdraws from territory it currently holds.

Putin’s rejection of meaningful Western security guarantees for Ukraine is a greater impediment to a prospective peace deal than Ukraine’s position on ceding its territories.

The Kremlin likely sees an opportunity to manipulate the US-led negotiations process into another means through which Russia can achieve its unchanging military and political objectives, which it has failed to achieve in nearly four years of war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unwavering determination to conquer more Ukrainian territory and gain full political control over Ukraine is severely degrading Russia’s military and economy at the cost of the Russian population, and Russia will increasingly have to reckon with this degradation in the coming year.

The Russian Central Bank lowered its key interest rate for the first time in 2026 and fifth time in the last 12 months, likely in an attempt to increase capital available for the Russian defense industrial base (DIB) and maintain the facade of domestic economic stability.

Ukraine’s European allies continue to provide military aid to Ukraine through the Ramstein format, including via the purchase of US-produced weapons.

Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Oleksandrivka.

⋙ 🐣 RT @TheStudyofWar MORE: Russia is unlikely to accept any meaningful security guarantees for Ukraine even if the United States and Ukraine concede to Russia’s territorial demands. The sequence of agreements that Russia is insisting on and that the United States has reportedly accepted thus entails Ukrainian surrender of critical territory with no assurance of receiving necessary guarantees against future Russian aggression.
¤ https://x.com/TheStudyofWar/status/2022532503462887608?s=20

Western reporting suggests that the United States has accepted Russia’s demanded sequence of having Ukraine cede territory to Russia before receiving formal US or European security guarantee commitments.

Western reporting suggests that the United States will not finalize a security agreement with Ukraine until after Ukraine and Russia reach a peace agreement and that the United States is pushing Ukraine to make concessions in order to conclude a peace agreement by Summer 2026.[]]

The Kremlin has continuously attempted to convince the Trump administration that territory is the only significant issue left unresolved in peace negotiations, particularly Russia’s claim to the remainder of Donetsk Oblast and in southern Ukraine, and has attempted to portray Ukraine as the intransigent negotiating party for refusing to cede strategically important territory that Russian forces have been unable to capture through force.[2] Ukraine, however, has indicated multiple times that it is willing to consider withdrawing its forces from the remainder of Donetsk Oblast (although not to recognize Russian control over the parts of the oblast it does not currently occupy) in exchange for meaningful Western security guarantees – a significant Ukrainian concession. [3]

Russia has refused to compromise on its demands for additional territory beyond the current line of control in Donetsk Oblast. The Kremlin has been publicly focusing on territory in part to distract from its own rejection of any meaningful Western security guarantees for Ukraine — a refusal that senior Kremlin officials have constantly reiterated around the recent trilateral US-Ukrainian-Russian negotiations in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE).[4] Kremlin officials have consistently objected to Western security guarantees for Ukraine, particularly the deployment of any Western troops or military assets to Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping contingent or ceasefire monitoring mechanism – continuing to demonstrate that territorial discussions are not the only significant issue left unresolved in negotiations and that Russia, not Ukraine, remains inflexible in its demands.[5]

Russia is rejecting the guarantees Ukraine requires to be able to safely conclude the war and make any territorial concessions, should Ukraine choose to do so. Russia is unlikely to accept any meaningful security guarantees for Ukraine even if the United States and Ukraine concede to Russia’s territorial demands, however. The sequence of agreements that Russia is insisting on and that the United States has reportedly accepted thus entails Ukrainian surrender of critical territory with no assurance of receiving necessary guarantees against future Russian aggression.

TheAtlantic: Putin Didn’t Know How Good He Had It https://tinyurl.com/n3pzbvs8 “The Russian leader has gotten the world he wished for—and it’s threatening to crush him.”

🐣 RT @NewsHour “The people of Minneapolis, in bitter cold weather, behaved in a self-disciplined, humane way that appealed to people across the political spectrum,” David Brooks says. “They turned up the heat and they put the regime in an impossible situation.”

🐣 RT @kenklippenstein “The Department of Homeland Security is expanding its efforts to identify Americans who oppose Immigration and Customs Enforcement by sending tech companies legal requests for the names, email addresses, telephone numbers and other identifying data behind social media accounts that track or criticize the agency.” [NYT link:] https://tinyurl.com/4tpkerfk
⋙ Hey, @ICE @DHSgov, you don’t have to search any databases! 🤚 I’m right here! I oppose your unwarranted violations of the Constitution in my beloved state of MN. You murdered two of my neighbors. You terrorized little children. You need to start over.

WaPo, George F Will: How to make sure the Stalinist in the Kremlin faces a grim future https://tinyurl.com/4w93ad6a “Putin has a grim future if the United States and Europe press their advantages.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2022523144397815913?s=20/photo/1
// Crippled by his Ukraine misadventure, Vladimir Putin is surely defining success down.

Putin has surely defined success down: a negotiated armistice that provides Ukraine with security “guarantees” even more gossamer than those of the infamous 1994 Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances.

In it, Ukraine agreed to give up the almost 2,000 Soviet-era nuclear weapons (and ballistic missiles and strategic bombers) stationed on its soil. Russia gave “assurances” that it would “respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine,” and would “refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of Ukraine.” Russia seized Crimea in 2014, and invaded Ukraine eight years later.

As the fifth year of Russia’s war to subdue Ukraine approaches, Putin has learned that the past is easier to control than the present. He has a grim future if the United States and Europe press their advantages.

A much-diminished Russia occupies just 20 percent of Ukrainian territory that Kyiv controlled four Februarys ago. Europe, which has not yet even completely weaned itself from Russian energy, is at least accustoming itself to the vocabulary of military seriousness.

Last year, Putin would not — crippled by his Ukraine misadventure, he could not — try to rescue his client regime in Syria as it was being swept away. Iran’s regime, Putin’s most important ally other than China, is preoccupied with suppressing Iranians. Putin’s only sympathizer in the European Union, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, might now have firmer support among American authoritarians (“national conservatives”) than among Hungarians.

Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine (calling it a war can mean imprisonment) has lasted longer than Russia’s involvement in World War II. ❝Ukraine’s friends can deliver condign punishment to Putin for his Ukrainian blunder. These friends can at last choose to fund Ukraine with the approximately $300 billion in frozen Russian assets. They can intensify interdiction of the shadow fleet of tankers getting Russian oil to foreign buyers. And they can deny Putin a veto over security guarantees for Ukraine, including permanent troop deployments there. Otherwise, any agreement will be a sizzling fuse. … Negotiate accordingly.❞

🐣 RT @RLHeinrichs
– There is no evidence Putin wants a deal
– Putin is unwilling to comply with a ceasefire
– Russian forces are targeting civilians
– Putin objects to US-supported Euro deal
– Putin continues to viciously denounce Trump’s actions vs Iran and Venezuela
⋙ 🐣 RT @JewishWarrior13 🚨Trump: “Zelensky’s gonna have to get moving. Russia wants to make a deal, and Zelensky’s gonna have to get moving — otherwise he’s going to miss a great opportunity. He has to move.”
💽 https://x.com/RLHeinrichs/status/2022372812325851275?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @ForeignAffairs “Germans know that a world in which only power counts is a dark place,” writes German Chancellor @_FriedrichMerz. “Our country went down this path in the twentieth century to a bitter and evil end. Today, we are taking a different path.”
⋙ ForeignAffairs, Friedrich Merz: How to Avert the Tragedy of Great-Power Politics https://tinyurl.com/2kpd4pc7 Germany Knows the Costs of a World Governed by Power Alone

Europe, as the German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk recently wrote, has ended a long “vacation from history.” We have crossed the threshold into a gloomier era that is once again characterized by power flexing and great-power politics. The United States’ claim to global leadership is being challenged, perhaps even squandered. And the international order that was based on rights and rules, imperfect as it was even in its best days, no longer exists.

Russia’s violent revisionism in its brutal war against Ukraine is only the most glaring expression of this new era. China is also laying claim to great-power status and has, with strategic patience, been laying the foundations for influence over world affairs for decades. China systematically cultivates dependencies and is reinterpreting the international order. In the foreseeable future, its military could be on par with the U.S. military. If there was a unipolar moment after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it is long gone.

The return to power politics cannot be explained solely by the rivalries among major powers. This new dynamic also reflects the turmoil and unrest within societies where new technologies are driving revolutionary change. As democratic states reach the limits of their capacity to act, there is a longing for strong leadership. Great-power politics, it seems, provides straightforward, simple answers to these problems—at least for the great powers, and at least for the time being.

These politics are fast, tough, and unpredictable. They are also zero sum. They are not based on the belief that increasing interconnectedness produces a peaceful and lawful order that benefits everyone. Instead, they exploit the dependencies of others and take advantage of them if necessary. Raw materials, technologies, and supply chains thus become instruments of power.

What we are seeing today is a struggle for spheres of influence, dependencies, and allegiances. Recognizing that it has some catching up to do with China, the United Statesis adapting to this new dynamic at a rapid pace. In the policies it is laying out, not least in its National Security Strategy, Washington is drawing radical conclusions, and it is doing so in a way that accelerates rather than slows down this dangerous game.

Germany, too, is getting ready for this new era. Our first task is to acknowledge the new reality. But that does not mean that we accept it as an unchangeable fate. We are not at the mercy of this world but can shape it. We can and will preserve our interests and our values if we act decisively, in European unison, and with confidence in our own strength as well as the strength of the transatlantic relationship.

German foreign and security policy aims for three things: freedom, security, and strength. Above all else stands our freedom. Our security serves to protect it, and our economic strength helps it flourish. Germany’s constitution, its history, and its geography also demand that Germany’s policy be firmly anchored in a united Europe. This is more valuable to us today than ever before.

In recent decades, Germany has relied on its normative power to condemn violations of international order around the world. In the face of such violations, it has warned, expressed concern, and reprimanded. And it did so with the best intentions. But it also lost sight of the fact that it often lacked the means to remedy those situations. This gap between German aspirations and German capabilities widened too far. The time has come to close it, to live up to reality.

Russia’s GDP, for instance, amounts to around $2.5 trillion. The European Union’s is almost ten times higher. And yet Europe today is not ten times stronger than Russia. To tap our enormous military, political, economic, and technological potential, we first need to flip a switch in our minds. We must realize that in this era of great-power politics, our freedom is no longer a given. Preserving it will take determination, and we must be ready for change, hard work, and even sacrifice.

For historical reasons, Germans do not take the exercise of state power lightly. Since 1945, our thinking has been firmly anchored in containing power, not accruing it. But today, we must update this perspective. While acknowledging that too much state power can destroy the foundation of our freedom, we must also recognize that having too little produces the same result, if in a different way. As Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, said 15 years ago, “I fear German power less than German inaction.” Heeding this call for action is part of Germany’s responsibility—and one it accepts.

In the era of great powers, Germany cannot merely react to every move that a great power makes. Nor can it afford to wage power politics in Europe. It needs leadership through partnership, not hegemonic fantasies. Indeed, the best way to defend our freedom is with our neighbors, allies, and partners, building on our strength, sovereignty, and capacity for solidarity. Firmly anchored in Europe, Germany must chart its own course and set its own agenda for freedom. Although parts of this agenda are still taking shape, it is rooted in principled realism, and its implementation is already underway.

First, we are strengthening ourselves militarily, politically, economically, and technologically, and reducing our dependencies. Our top priority is to strengthen the European pillar within NATO. At the NATO summit in The Hague in June 2025, all allies committed to investing five percent of their GDP in security. Germany amended its constitution to enable this, and Germany alone will spend hundreds of billions of euros on defense in the coming years.

With Europe, Germany has supported Ukraine diplomatically, financially, and militarily in its courageous resistance against Russian imperialism. In the process, we have imposed unprecedented losses and costs on Moscow. In 2025, European NATO allies and Canada provided roughly $40 billion in security assistance to Ukraine after the United States drastically reduced its contribution. Germany was by far the biggest donor in 2025, and it has further increased its support in 2026. If Russia finally agrees to peace, German and European and leadership on this front will have been a key factor. This is an expression of European self-assertion.

Germany, for its part, is breathing new life into its defense industry. It has initiated massive conventional procurement projects in air defense, deep precision strikes, and satellite technology. New factories are opening. New jobs are being created. New technologies are emerging. The reform of our military service is underway, and we will make the Bundeswehr the strongest conventional army in Europe, able to hold its ground when it has to. We are also strengthening NATO’s eastern flank, with a brigade in Lithuania that stands ready to deter Russian aggression, and we will do more to secure the Arctic High North.

At the same time, Germany is making its economy and society more resilient. We are introducing new laws to strengthen our networks and critical infrastructure against hybrid attacks. We are forging supply chains that reduce unilateral dependencies on raw materials, key products, and technologies. In this new world, we will be secure only if we are competitive, which is why we are also driving progress in future technologies, including artificial intelligence. And we are protecting our democratic order against its internal and external enemies by, among other efforts, strengthening our Federal Intelligence Service.

Germany is also working to strengthen Europe. Uniting and bolstering European sovereignty is our best response to this new era and our most distinguished duty today. To do so, we must focus on the essentials: preserving and increasing European freedom, security, and competitiveness.

We must curb the proliferation of European bureaucracy and regulation. Europe’s standards must not immobilize us in global competition but should fuel innovation and entrepreneurship, encourage investment, and reward creativity. Europe must not retreat into risk avoidance but open itself to new opportunities.

Europe must also become a global political player with its own security policy. In Article 42.7 of the Treaty on European Union, members commit to assisting each other in the event of an armed attack. We must now spell out how we could organize this at the EU level, not as a substitute for NATO but as a self-sustaining, strong pillar of the alliance.

As part of this effort, we have entered into confidential talks with France about nuclear deterrence in Europe. Our compass here is clear: this endeavor is strictly embedded in NATO nuclear sharing frameworks; Germany will continue to comply with its obligations under international law; and we will not allow zones of differing security to emerge in Europe. We hope to agree on the first concrete steps this year.

Meanwhile, the European defense industry must standardize, scale, and simplify weapons systems [to] become quicker, cheaper, and more competitive. We will use EU programs such as Security Action for Europe (SAFE) to kick-start defense industrial cooperation across Europe. This will also drive Europe’s progressive military integration.

Uniting in this way will open Europe to new strategic partners, including in trade. In a first step, we have signed the EU-Mercosur agreement and will provisionally apply it as quickly as possible. We have also negotiated and are now working to finalize a free trade agreement with India. More such agreements will follow soon.

Diplomatically, we are squaring the circle in Europe—an effort that is evident in our work for peace in Ukraine. Where we need to be agile, we are moving forward in small groups—such as the E3, which consists of Germany, France, and the United Kingdom—but also with Italy and Poland, which are taking on larger roles as European playmakers. We know that our long-term success depends on bringing other Europeans along with us. For Germans, there is no way around this. Germany is at the center of Europe. If Europe is torn apart, we are torn apart.

One of Europe’s greatest dilemmas is that the global realignment that major powers are driving is happening faster than we can ready ourselves. For this reason alone, I am not convinced that the calls for Europe to write off the United States as a partner are wise. I understand the unease and doubts that give rise to such demands. In fact, I share some of them. Yet they do not adequately account for the possible consequences of such action. They ignore the harsh geopolitical realities of Europe’s uneasy neighborhood with Russia. And they underestimate the strong potential that remains in our partnership with the United States, despite all the difficulties it is facing.

Germany thus wants to establish a new transatlantic partnership. The uncomfortable truth is that a rift has opened up between Europe and the United States. The culture war waged by the MAGA movement is not ours. We do not believe in tariffs and protectionism but in free trade. We stand by global climate agreements and the World Health Organization because we are convinced that we can only solve global challenges together. The transatlantic partnership has lost its self-evidence, so if it is to have a future, we must reestablish it. Its new foundations must not be esoteric but based on a mutual recognition that Europe and the United States are stronger together.

Being part of NATO is Europe’s competitive advantage; it is also the United States’. In this age of great powers, even Washington needs partners it can trust, a fact of which strategists at the Pentagon are aware. We should therefore repair and revive transatlantic trust together. Europe is doing its part.

Autocracies may have followers. Democracies rely on allies, partners, and trusted friends. As Europeans, we should take this to heart. No one forced us into the excessive dependence on the United States with which we have found ourselves. This immaturity was self-imposed. Today, we are emerging from this state of affairs. We will leave it behind, sooner rather than later, not by writing off NATO but by building a self-sustaining, strong European pillar within it.

This is the right path for us to take under all circumstances. It is the right path if the United States distances itself from Europe. And it is especially the right path for establishing a renewed, healthier transatlantic partnership. We may disagree more often than we did in the past. We may have to negotiate and argue more about the right course of action. But if we do so with strength, mutual respect, and a newly found self-respect, both sides will benefit.

Finally, we are building a strong network of global partnerships. As important as European integration and transatlantic partnership remain for Germany, they will no longer suffice to preserve our freedom.

Partnership is not an absolute term. It comes in shades. It does not require complete agreement on all values and interests. We are therefore reaching out to new partners with whom we share not all but some important concerns. This reduces dependencies and opens up opportunities for both sides. It protects our freedom.

Japan, Canada, Turkey, India, and Brazil play key roles in this effort, as do South Africa, the Gulf states, and others. We want to move closer to them, with mutual respect. We share a fundamental interest in an order in which we trust agreements, tackle global problems together, and resolve conflicts peacefully. From experience, we know that international law and international organizations can serve our sovereignty, independence, and freedom.

Germany is also updating its relationship with China. It would be a fallacy to believe that decoupling is the right path. Decoupling would enhance neither our security nor our prosperity. But we will manage our relationship in a more mature fashion. Above all, we will further de-risk by reducing dependencies. We will work hard to ensure fair competition and level playing fields for both sides. And we will shape a more united European approach. As we progress, we will engage in dialogue with Beijing with principled realism, mindful of the fact that China is here to stay as one of the great powers shaping the new era.

As we forge ahead, we must see the big picture and steer a clear course: Germans know that a world in which only power counts is a dark place. Our country went down this path in the twentieth century to a bitter and evil end. Today, we are taking a different path. Our country is firmly anchored in the European Union, in NATO, and in a growing network of strategic partnerships. We believe in the value of reliable partnership based on shared values and interests, mutual respect, and trust. After 1945, it was the United States that inspired Germans with this powerful idea. On this foundation, NATO became the strongest alliance in history. Germany remains faithful to this idea. Together with our allies and partners, we want to translate it for the new era.

🐣 RT @CatoInstitute Audits in Utah, Idaho, Louisiana, Montana, and Georgia found a few dozen possible noncitizen registrants out of millions—and virtually no voting. Trump’s claim that noncitizens are swinging elections is false, says Cato’s @stephen_richer [link:] https://ow.ly/1LXL50YewC6

ReligionNews: Catholic congressional Dems rebuke Mike Johnson’s biblical defense of ICE https://tinyurl.com/44zajby5 Their Friday (Feb. 13) statement outlines a series of Catholic social teaching principles that the lawmakers say they consider when approaching immigration issues.

🐣 RT @CatoInstitute The House voted to end Trump’s “fentanyl emergency” tariffs against Canada, but a veto will likely save them. Canada accounted for 0.2% of fentanyl seizures, yet Trump’s tariffs have cost $2.4 billion, mostly paid by Americans. Congress must reclaim its tariff authority, say Cato scholars. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/mp8dc3m8

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa Remembrance is not a violation.
🖼 https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2022435486074122711?s=20/photo/1 -4

I met with Ukrainian skeleton racer and member of Ukraine’s National Olympic Team, Vladyslav Heraskevych, and his father, coach of Ukraine’s skeleton team, Mykhailo Heraskevych. I presented Vladyslav with the Order of Freedom.

Ukraine will always have champions and Olympians. But above all, Ukraine’s greatest asset is Ukrainians – those who cherish the truth and the memory of the athletes killed by Russia, athletes who will never compete again because of the Russian aggression.

Thank you for your stance, your strength, and your courage. Glory to Ukraine!

🐣 RT @yasminalombaert French president Emmanuel Macron is saying what everyone’s thinking: Europeans can’t let a monster in a bunker in Moscow or a real estate tycoon on a golf course in Florida decide if Europe lives or dies.

“As all the allies, we have to be the one to negotiate this new architecture of security for Europe the day after, because our geography will not change. We will live with Russia at the same place, and the Europeans at the same place. And I don’t want this negotiation to be organised by somebody else.”

WaPo: Trump tells soldiers to vote GOP in campaign-style rally at Fort Bragg https://tinyurl.com/3yufv266 “Defense Department policy prohibits partisan political activity by active-duty service members.“ … “Most service members refrained from cheering.”

NYT: Trump’s Minnesota Retreat Points to the Power of Public Anger https://tinyurl.com/mrs5t9yy “The withdrawal came as polls show Americans opposing the president’s immigration tactics, and as some Republican lawmakers began to find ways to distance themselves.”

🐣 RT @SteveRattner Without immigration, the American population is expected to start shrinking by 2030.
◕ https://x.com/SteveRattner/status/2022286961080193051?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @WW3finalboss 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 A Ukrainian citizen speaking about Zelensky:
¤ 🖼 https://x.com/WW3finalboss/status/2022283900169408667?s=20/photo/1

“A man I never cease to be proud of and amazed by. Ukrainians finally have the kind of president they have dreamed of for centuries, and one they are not ashamed of before the whole world.”

For many Ukrainians, this sentiment captures more than admiration. It reflects a longing for leadership that embodies dignity, courage, and international respect during one of the most difficult chapters in the nation’s history

⋙ 🐣 RT @sacdamb Zelensky is a leader for all-time. Just a mind-numbing mix of strength, courage, empathy, compassion, intelligence and perseverance. Truly inspirational. Might sound a tad hyperbolic, but I wouldn’t trade him for any leader in world history. Remarkable human being.

🐣 RT ChristopherJM Also further confirmation of our @FT reporting, from my former FT colleague @felschwartz: “The U.S. has made clear to Ukraine that it will not finalize a deal on security guarantees to protect Ukraine from future Russian aggression until Kyiv and Moscow reach an overall agreement to end the war, according to two of the European officials and a senior U.S. official.” Our scoop from last month: [FT link:] https://tinyurl.com/y48t2j4w
⋙ 🐣 RT @felschwartz “MUNICH — For the past three years, the annual Munich Security Conference has been the backdrop to high-stakes negotiations on the war between Russia and Ukraine. This year, it’s likely to serve as a glaring reminder of just how stuck talks are.”

🐣 RT @Svyrydenko_Y The United States–Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund has already received more than 60 project proposals in its first month of accepting applications, including 37 from Ukrainian companies. […]
¤ https://x.com/Svyrydenko_Y/status/2022325930706780429?s=20

🐣 RT @SteveRattner Immigrants work in crucial jobs across the American economy — they grow our food, take care of our elderly, build our homes, and tend to our sick.
◕ https://x.com/SteveRattner/status/2022287381450076502?s=20/photo/1
// 54% farm labor, 40% home health aides, 30% construction, 27% MDs and surgeons

🐣 RT @DevanaUkraine Garry Kimovich Kasparov came to Munich to defend common sense. ¤ Once again, this is both the foundation and an educational briefing for those who still have illusions about this negotiation process.
¤ https://x.com/DevanaUkraine/status/2022312255866429628?s=20

🔷 The negotiations were doomed from the very beginning. Because these were not negotiations about peace — they were an attempt to strike a deal between Trump and Putin.

🔷 That is why Trump’s negotiators were his son-in-law and business partner, not Rubio. And from the Russian side it was not even Lavrov, but Dmitriev — in other words, Putin’s wallet.

🔷 The discussion was about attempting to sell part of Ukraine to Putin for very specific benefits, and it is no coincidence that in those first 28 points there was a provision that de facto Kushner and Witkoff would gain control over the frozen Russian assets.

🔷 Trump gave Putin a carte blanche to win the war. Essentially, it is clear that under Trump America engaged only in sabotage. There were big statements, but overall Trump tried to force Ukraine to accept what I consider catastrophic conditions.

🔷 Ukraine once again held out despite all expectations, and as of today Trump simply has nothing to offer.

🔷 If you listen to what Russian propaganda, Putin himself, and his inner circle are saying — there are no indicators whatsoever that the war could end tomorrow.

🔷 Moreover, we are not even talking about ending the war, but about a ceasefire. Because any cessation of hostilities means Putin would have to solve the problem of the army — where to put it.

🔷 That is one million people — many of them drug addicts, murderers, people accustomed to a completely different way of life. Send them back to Russia? We see what happens when even a few thousand return. There is a sharp rise in crime, enormous social tension. A million people? Never.

🔷 This means Putin would have to look for other targets of war — most likely the Baltic states. The war will continue as long as Putin has the resources to continue it.

🐣 RT @lb_ua [tr] “We’re in deep shit,” one of the commanders described the situation after the military exercises conducted by NATO Forces. The exercises took place with the participation of Ukrainian fighters, and it turned out that the Alliance’s military do not have the same level of training as the Ukrainians

🐣 RT @VictorKvert2008 [tr]
The most respected world leaders among Americans🇺🇸:
1. Zelenskyy 🇺🇦
2. Carney 🇨🇦
3. Sheinbaum 🇲🇽
The most terrible:
1. Maduro 🇻🇪
2. Putin 🇷🇺
3. Kim Jong Un 🇰🇵
Trump 🇺🇸 has worse ratings than Lukashenko 🇧🇾
// Trump is 3rd from bottom of “very” unfavorable, ahead of Putin and Kim Jong Un
◕ https://x.com/VictorKvert2008/status/2022185868740751789?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @SteveRattner America is great because people come from all over the world to start businesses here. Nearly half of unicorn company founders are immigrants.
◕ https://x.com/SteveRattner/status/2022287512517902474?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @amanpour There’s a lot of nervousness here at the Munich Security Conference, as allied leaders wait to hear from Secretary of State Marco Rubio. But no matter what he says, top Europeans seem clear-eyed about the rift they see now between the US and Europe. This is a real turning point.
💽 CNN: https://x.com/amanpour/status/2022329392006041788?s=20/photo/1
⋙ 🐣 “There are decades where weeks happen, and there are weeks where decades happen”
~ Lenin ¤ Must one of those weeks

🐣 RT @ChristopherJM,After his latest trip to Ukraine, @ericschmidt writes for @FT: “Mastery of autonomous systems and the ability to build those weapons in abundance will determine the outcome of future wars. The west must learn from what is happening on the frontline in Ukraine, accelerate innovation, and build the industrial base required to produce at the scale and speed the next conflict will demand.”
⋙ FT: Ukraine’s no man’s land is the future of war https://tinyurl.com/j6n6kmd3

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en Chancellor Merz: Russia’s GDP currently amounts to about €2 trillion. That of the European Union is almost ten times as high. And yet today, Europe is not ten times stronger than Russia. ¤ Our military, political, economic and technological potential is enormous. But we are still far from exploiting it to the extent necessary. ¤ The most important thing now is that we need to flip the switch in our minds. We have understood that in the era of great powers, our freedom is no longer simply a given. It is under threat.

🐣 RT @wartranslated Zelensky met with Iranian Crown Prince in exile Reza Pahlavi at the Munich Security Conference. Pahlavi thanked him for supporting Iran’s people at Davos citing 40,000 killed 300,000 wounded and 40,000 jailed in protests.

KyivIndependent: Russia just laid out its Ukraine war endgame — here’s what Moscow actually wants https://tinyurl.com/nw2svcep “Lavrov referred to what he called ‘Anchorage agreements’ allegedly reached between Putin and Trump during their August 2025 summit in Alaska”

For three consecutive days, from Feb. 9 to Feb. 11, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov publicly undercut suggestions that negotiations were advancing.

His message was consistent and direct: Russia’s territorial and political demands remain intact, and any serious discussion must revolve around Ukraine accepting them.

The timing was not accidental. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the next round of talks is planned for Feb. 17–18. Lavrov’s remarks came just days before that meeting.

In all three speeches, Lavrov referred to what he called “Anchorage agreements” allegedly reached between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump during their August 2025 summit in Alaska.

Those understandings envisioned Ukraine surrendering territory without fighting.

The White House has not confirmed the existence of any such agreements and earlier declined to acknowledge them in comments to the Kyiv Independent.

But Lavrov signaled that Kremlin sees the talks not as a forum for mutual concessions, but as a way to formalize what it believes has already been informally agreed.

🐣 RT @andrii_sybiha In Munich, I had a meaningful and productive meeting with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

We focused on ways to develop mutually beneficial trade and bilateral ties based on reciprocal respect for territorial integrity.

I reiterated Ukraine’s interest in contacts with China at the highest level.

We discussed peace efforts and China’s important role in facilitating an end to the war.

I informed my Chinese counterpart about the battlefield situation, Russian attacks against our energy system, and the damage to Chinese companies from Russian strikes.

I am grateful for Beijing’s decision to provide an additional humanitarian energy assistance package to Ukraine.

I also invited Minister Wang Yi to visit Ukraine and thanked him for the invitation to visit China.

‼️ 🐣 RT @nexta_tv Checkmate! China will send an energy aid package to Ukraine ⚡️
This was announced by Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. ¤ Today in Munich, he held a meeting with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

⭕ 12 Feb 2026

Economist: Inside Jeffrey Epstein’s network https://tinyurl.com/hwvb6awd “He traded emails with at least 18 current or former billionaires, including Peter Thiel and Elon Musk; celebrities like Woody Allen and Deepak Chopra; and political figures such as Ehud Barak”
// What 1.4m emails reveal about America’s most notorious sex offender

Most of Epstein’s correspondence was with his staff, service providers and business contacts. … The rest of the emails, however, depict a remarkable network. The top 500 correspondents come from a number of different industries. Some 19% of messages were with financiers; 10% with scientists or doctors; 8% with people in media, entertainment or public relations; 7% with technologists; 6% each for lawyers, politicians, academics and other businessfolk; and 5% with property magnates. The share of contacts in finance peaked at 25% in 2014 and then fell as those in academia and law rose. Most correspondents were based in America, though Epstein kept ties with Britain, France, Germany, Nordic countries, Gulf states and even a Venezuelan oil trader.

He did not waste time on middle managers. A quarter of his top non-staff contacts have a Wikipedia page. He traded emails with at least 18 current or former billionaires, including Peter Thiel and Elon Musk; celebrities like Woody Allen and Deepak Chopra; and political figures such as Ehud Barak, a former Israeli prime minister. Most back-and-forths were balanced, with similar numbers of emails sent and received; an exception was Bill Gates, whom Epstein bombarded despite few responses. (Mr Gates was happy to meet Epstein on a number of occasions, however.)

Many relationships went far deeper than the occasional cocktail-party photograph. Epstein and Kathryn Ruemmler, the White House counsel under President Barack Obama, swapped 11,300 emails from 2014 to 2019, with at least one direct message on 70% of days. Ariane de Rothschild, a banking billionaire, sent or received 5,500 emails; Larry Summers, a former treasury secretary, 4,300. In some cases Epstein grew close to family members: he was in touch with both Noam Chomsky, a linguist, and his wife, Valeria, and chatted with Soon-Yi Previn, Woody Allen’s wife, more than with Mr Allen himself.

🐣 RT @ChrisMurphyCT DHS is shutting down. Why? Because Democrats took an oath of office to uphold the Constitution and ICE is lawless and out of control. We cannot fund an agency that is murdering our citizens, tear gassing school zones, and disappearing legal immigrants.

NYT, Robert Draper: The Epstein Files and the Hidden World of an Unaccountable Elite https://tinyurl.com/4m6p8n6v “The search continues in the documents for ironclad criminal conduct, but the story of a sexual predator given a free ride by the ruling class has already emerged.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2022222310259011949?s=20/photo/1

Journalists and researchers will spend the next months ferreting through the Epstein files in search of further criminal conduct or a new conspiratorial wrinkle. But one truth has already emerged.

In unsparing detail, the documents lay bare the once-furtive activities of an unaccountable elite, largely made up of rich and powerful men from business, politics, academia and show business. The pages tell a story of a heinous criminal given a free ride by the ruling class in which he dwelled, all because he had things to offer them: money, connections, sumptuous dinner parties, a private plane, a secluded island and, in some cases, sex.

That story of impunity is all the more outrageous now in the midst of rising populist anger and ever-growing inequality. The Caligula-like antics of Jeffrey Epstein and friends occurred over two decades that saw the decline of America’s manufacturing sector and the subprime mortgage crisis, in which millions of Americans lost their homes.

If Mr. Epstein’s goal was to build a wall of protection around his abuse by surrounding himself with the well connected, he failed in the end. But both before and after he was first prosecuted for abusing girls, his correspondence described a network of people whose high-flying lives belied the struggles of ordinary Americans. And at the center of that network was a sexual predator seemingly on top of the world.

“We’ve heard so much about the Epstein scandal over the past several years,” said Nicole Hemmer, a history professor at Vanderbilt University who writes frequently about political culture. “And yet people do seem shocked by the scope of elite complicity in his world. It’s a level of corruption that the public is now getting a full view of.”

His talent for entertaining attracted interest from one of the world’s richest men, Elon Musk, who emailed Mr. Epstein in 2012 to ask, “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?” (Mr. Musk has said on social media that he “had very little correspondence with Epstein and declined repeated invitations to go to his island.”)
v
There was of course his friendship with Donald J. Trump. ¤ And he dispensed favors to, and rubbed elbows with, Woody Allen; Noam Chomsky, the linguist and intellectual; Kenneth W. Starr, the independent counsel in the Clinton investigation; Kathryn Ruemmler, a former Obama White House counsel who on Thursday night resigned as general counsel of Goldman Sachs amid scrutiny of her ties to Mr. Epstein; Stephen K. Bannon, one of President Trump’s top political allies; Deepak Chopra, the New Age guru; the film producer Barry Josephson; Lawrence H. Summers, a former president of Harvard and former ,Treasury secretary; Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Prince Andrew; Sarah Ferguson, the former Duchess of York; Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway; and a cavalcade of financial titans.
^
James E. Staley, who recently stepped down as the chief executive of Barclay’s in the wake of allegations involving his ties to Mr. Epstein, emailed Mr. Epstein in 2014 to suggest that upper-caste Americans like themselves were unlikely to ever face a populist uprising like the protests taking place in Brazil at the time.

Pointing to Super Bowl ads that year, Mr. Staley wrote: “Its all about hip blacks in hip cars with white women. The group that should be in the streets, has been bought off. By Jay-Z.”

The shocking nature of some of the revelations, combined with the prominence and status of those in Mr. Epstein’s orbit, has done nothing to quiet the conspiracy theories that his behavior spawned and that both the right and the left have sought to weaponize for political advantage. If anything, the raft of new details has spiraled into feverish new speculation with little or no factual basis.

In 2014, Mr. Epstein received an email from an associate whose name has been redacted that said in full, “Thank you for a fun night … your littlest girl was a little naughty.” In another email, Mr. Epstein instructed a recipient whose name is also redacted to buy several sex toys, adding: “I want you to talk as nasty, vulgar, imaginative as you can … It will free your mind. Its like a mental sneeze.”

Mr. Epstein wrote to another undisclosed recipient in 2009, who was identified on Wednesday in a House hearing as Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, a powerful Emirati businessman: “where are you? are you ok, I loved the torture video.” …

Representative Ro Khanna, the California Democrat who worked with Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former Republican congresswoman, and Representative Thomas Massie, Republican of Kentucky, to pass legislation compelling the release of the documents, dismissed the conspiracy theories.

But, he said in an interview, “we must ask ourselves how we have produced an elite that is so immature, reckless and arrogant.”

Ms. Greene, who fell out of favor with Mr. Trump for repeatedly demanding the release of the Epstein files, said she felt some vindication about the behavior of a male governing class they exposed. “The files are giving us an inside look into a world that we all thought existed,” she said. “And we were all called conspiracy theorists for saying so.”

While Mr. Epstein’s remarkable web of connections suggests to some that he was a puppet master calling the shots for a cabal of elites, that same web offers at least some proof to the contrary. Mr. Epstein counted presidents and cabinet members as his friends, but his influence on American policymaking was negligible.

His chums in the media were not newspaper publishers and TV network chief executives but those farther down the food chain, including the author Michael Wolff and a New York Times financial reporter, Landon Thomas Jr., who left the paper after admitting that he had solicited money from Mr. Epstein for a personal charity.

Notably absent from his coterie were any federal prosecutors, judges or law enforcement figures who could have allowed him to escape justice.

In the end, Mr. Epstein was arrested, charged with serious sex crimes and died in prison while awaiting trial. His associate Ghislaine Maxwell also remains incarcerated.

Still, that is far from a complete reckoning, Ms. Greene said. She noted that none of Mr. Epstein’s male friends or associates had been imprisoned for their behavior. “And now the administration is saying it’s time to move on?” she said. “I don’t hear any of the victims saying that.”

🐣 RT @VictorKvert2008 [tr] Ukrainian company SkyFall produces 100,000 Vampire bomber drones (Baba Yaga type) per year
¤ https://x.com/VictorKvert2008/status/2022050357057122351?s=20

This drone can carry a 15 kg payload, has a flight range of 45 km and reaches a speed of 80 km/h.

The cost of a single unit has dropped significantly: if it used to reach $20,000, it is now $8,500.

This year the company will fully localize the production of all components — the “Vampire non-China” version (without Chinese parts) already exists, and the drone will become 100% Ukrainian.

🧵 RT @Virginie2R [tr] Ukrainians are developing laser weapons capable of destroying Russian 🇷🇺 drones in just a few seconds. ¤ Ukrainian 🇺🇦 engineers have developed and successfully tested a new laser air defense system called Sunray, which can effectively destroy Russian 🇷🇺 drones, and the 1
¤ https://x.com/Virginie2R/status/2022035714494615749?s=20

⋙ The cost is significantly lower than that of comparable Western systems, according to recent reports. ¤ According to journalist Simon Shuster, who attended the test, the Sunray system resembles an amateur telescope equipped with a camera and can be installed on the roof 2

⋙ of a conventional truck. ¤ The weapon is silent and emits no visible light. During the demonstration, the laser ignited the drone in just a few seconds, causing it to crash to the ground. ¤ The developers indicated that the systemhad required about 2 years of development 3

⋙ and an investment of several million dollars. The unit price is estimated at several hundred thousand dollars. For comparison, the Helios laser system, developed by Lockheed Martin for the US Navy, was produced under a contract worth $150 million 4 FIN

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 Macron: France Now Supplies Two Thirds of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence
¤ https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2022066165598605691?s=20

President Emmanuel Macron said on 15 January 2026 that France now provides two thirds of the foreign intelligence used by Ukraine, claiming a major shift away from previous heavy reliance on the United States.

The statement follows the 2025 episode in which the Trump administration temporarily paused intelligence sharing with Kyiv, prompting European allies to accelerate their own support and reduce exposure to political risk.

French assistance is reported to focus on technical intelligence, particularly high resolution satellite imagery from the CSO system and related analysis tools, strengthening Ukraine’s situational awareness and targeting.

TheAtlantic: Trump Has a Bridge He Wants to Sell You https://tinyurl.com/3e2x5tba “This episode is a prototypical demonstration of Trump’s economic worldview. Faced with a policy choice that pits the interests of millions of people against the wealth of a single billionaire.”
// The president’s closure of a trade route from Detroit to Windsor will help a billionaire and hurt basically everyone else.

🐣 RT @Jpod_art For several days, russian sources celebrated what they described as a breakthrough – allegedly learning how to “unlock” Starlink terminals.
¤ [TextLink:] https://x.com/Jpod_art/status/2021967048956387801?s=20/photo/1 -2

In reality, it was a coordinated Ukrainian cyber operation.

Ukrainian cyber units, working alongside independent investigative communities, reportedly collected detailed data on Russian-operated Starlink terminals and forwarded it for full blocking.

The outcome:
•2,420 data packets identifying Starlink devices and precise enemy positions
•31 alleged collaborators exposed
•$5,870 raised from Russian military personnel – funds set to support Ukraine’s Defense Forces

Instead of gaining access, russian forces allegedly handed over data and money.

🐣 RT @ZelenskaUA [tr] With heart, principle, and truth, our athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych showed the world the true value of memory. His action at the Olympics was not a gesture of protest, but a gesture of humanity. When mentioning athletes killed by the aggressor leads to disqualification from competition, the world must pause and reflect: is sport truly apolitical, or is it also devoid of compassion?
Ukraine remembers its heroes. This is our duty.
And we are grateful to those who have the courage to remind the world of this.
🖼 https://x.com/ZelenskaUA/status/2021958134055494021?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @KyivPost Zelensky has awarded member of the national Olympic team Heraskevych the Order of Freedom by presidential decree. ¤ The award was granted “for selfless service to the Ukrainian people, civic courage, and patriotism in defending the ideals of freedom and democratic values.”

🐣 RT @GovTimWalz Minnesotans are decent, caring neighbors — and some of the toughest damn people you’ll ever find.
💽 https://x.com/GovTimWalz/status/2022007514330804428?s=20/photo/1
// full clip is good
⋙ 🐣 They came here to damage the reputation of a successful multi-ethnic state that values freedom and democracy and punches above its weight. People love it here. It breaks my heart that this happened to my beloved home. ♡ Hate cannot bear the existence of love or kindness.
↥ ↧
🐣 RT @MayorFrey They thought they could break us, but a love for our neighbors and a resolve to endure can outlast an occupation. These patriots of Minneapolis are showing that it’s not just about resistance — standing with our neighbors is deeply American.
⋙ 🐣 RT @MayorFrey This operation has been catastrophic for our neighbors and businesses, and now it’s time for a great comeback. We will show the same commitment to our immigrant residents and endurance in this reopening, and I’m hopeful the whole country will stand with us as we move forward.
↥ ↧
🐣 RT @atrupar Ellison: “I’ve never been prouder to be a Minnesotan. I’m so proud of the people who helped their neighbors, who stood up for their First Amendment rights. I hope it’s over and now it’s a time to heal and put things back together again.”
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2021988476548182520?s=20/photo/1
↥ ↧
🐣 RT @ProjectLincoln ICE thinks they can just leave Minnesota after murdering two Americans in cold blood. ¤ We will not forget. This administration owns that bloodshed and Democrats should not give an inch on funding.
💽 https://x.com/ProjectLincoln/status/2021977868599709728?s=20/photo/1
// video of Homan ending operation
↥ ↧
🐣 RT @HQNewsNow Gov. Walz: You won’t hear me express any gratitude for the people who caused this unwarranted assault on our state. In America, you cannot expect that the people are going to be okay with masked people running you off the road
💽 https://x.com/HQNewsNow/status/2021990469454971311?s=20/photo/1
↥ ↧
🐣 RT @atrupar Walz: “The federal government needs to pay for what they broke here. There’s going to be accountability on things that happened, but one of them is the incredible and immense cost borne by the people of this state. The federal government needs to be responsible.”
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2021978504674381998?s=20/photo/1
↥ ↧
🐣 RT @atrupar Gov. Tim Walz: “They left us with deep damage. Generational trauma. Economic ruin in some cases. The left us with many unanswered questions. Where are our children? Where and what is the process of the investigation into those that were responsible for the deaths of Renee and Alex?”
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2021977916918165622?s=20/photo/1

📊 DailyBeast: Poll: Trump Drives Staggering Spike in People Viewing the U.S. as a Threat https://tinyurl.com/2jyy8z68 “Canadians are now almost as likely as Chinese people to regard the U.S. as a threat to their country’s security.”
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2021979761816613338?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @MFA_Ukraine Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has killed over 650 Ukrainian athletes and coaches. Hundreds of Ukrainian athletes will never again take part in international competitions because of Russia. ¤ Russian attacks destroyed more than 800 sports facilities, including over 20 Olympic, Paralympic, and Deaflympic training centres. ¤ The memory of the fallen and the documented crimes committed against Ukraine and its athletes must not be forgotten or silenced.

💙💙🐣 RT @ABC BREAKING: The federal government’s immigration surge in Minneapolis is ending, border czar Tom Homan said at a press conference.
Read more: [link:] https://tinyurl.com/33aa73ef

NYT Editorial: End ICE Lawlessness https://tinyurl.com/mtn767p3 “Congress must now intervene and stand up for the law. It has the leverage to do so. … Democrats are rightly insisting on changes to the administration’s behavior. … Congress should hold firm.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2021899952230990319?s=20/photo/1

The Department of Homeland Security under President Trump has followed this dark path. Too often over the past year, its behavior has been lawless. ¤ In enacting Mr. Trump’s immigration crackdown, officers from the department have repeatedly defied the Constitution. They have violated the First Amendment by trampling on citizens’ rights to speech and assembly. They have subverted the Second Amendment guarantee of the freedom to bear arms. They have violated the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition of unreasonable searches.

The department’s officers have pushed other federal laws to the breaking point and beyond, often ignoring judicial orders in the process. They have moved detainees to skirt a judge’s jurisdiction. They have deported detainees in violation of judges’ rulings. “ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence,” Judge Patrick Schiltz, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, wrote.

As insidious as this behavior has been, the lack of accountability for it may be even worse. Mr. Trump and his top aides are shielding Homeland Security officials and agents who break the law from consequences. After agents killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, the Trump administration initially blocked civil rights inquiries into the shootings. The administration instead impugned the victims with statements that video evidence refuted. Vice President JD Vance and Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s close aide, made comments suggesting they believed that agents had unbounded authority to act as they wanted. Congress must now intervene and stand up for the law. It has the leverage to do so. Late last month, Democrats and a small number of Senate Republicans, alarmed by the administration’s behavior, rallied to block future funding for Homeland Security. In exchange for new funding, Democrats are rightly insisting on changes to the administration’s behavior. As negotiations drag out and the shock of events in Minneapolis recedes, the political pressure to rein in the D.H.S. may fade. Congress should hold firm.

🐣 RT @Tendar Soviet defector and former KGB agent Yuri Bezmenov said when being debriefed after his escape that the KGB’s job was only in small portion spying. …
¤ https://x.com/Tendar/status/2021841064072503789?s=20

85% of the job was dedicated to a slow process of subversion, which he described as psychological warfare and the ideological manipulation of public opinion. Finding useful idiots was (and still is) the prime directive in this task.

Establishing honey traps and recording the targets when being caught in these schemes was one of their main methods. Afterwards, it was very easy to manipulate and outright coerce those naive targets. Epstein and his pedophile „business“ were the ideal vehicle to deliver that outcome, since it attracted powerful people from the US and all around the world. There is enough evidence to corroborate that the KGB respectively FSB knew about it, and even helped to expand it. After all, this is their primary objective.

Even with a huge portions of the Epstein files being held back, which in itself is a scandal and illegal, we can already see Russia‘s fingerprints are all over the place. The Epstein files, which mention Moscow not only almost 10,000 times and Putin’s name more 1,000 times, do this in so many instances in murky “business” context, over and over again. And not only that.

You repeatedly find in the Epstein files the names of Russian oligarchs and ministers such as Sergei Belyakov, Sergey Lavrov, Oleg Deripaska, Mikhail Prokhorov, Vladislav Doronin, deceased Vitaly Churkin and many more, exactly the people you would want to have contacts with when operating a scheme to enrich yourself and play the KGB’s tune while being on its leash.

Even the Western politicians Epstein had close ties with were frequently closely aligned to Russia, such as Peter Mandelson, who himself has been close to Oleg Deripaska and helped the Russian oligarch to expand his business empire. Epstein’s countless links to Russia are not a side quest, they are the main story. And it is certain that there is far more of it, hidden on Pam Bondi‘s and Kash Patel’s desks. The obnoxious reaction by Pam Bondi during the hearing yesterday is only the latest evidence that we are witnessing a cover-up of monumental scale.

Follow this trail, get to the bottom and you will see that many in current US leadership positions, who purportedly stir up chaos out of incompetence, do this in fact by design and malice in order to obfuscate these revelations and muddy the waters. An open hearing has to be established, where every single one mentioned in these files is put into public spotlight and then if necessary criminal investigations.

Countries other then the USA have already started to take the first steps and criminal investigations. International cooperation with exchanges on intelligence level are a must. This is possibly the worst scandal in recent times, where rape, pedophilia, espionage, money laundering and treason have been mixed up into a deadly cocktail. It is time to expose this construct and then burn it down to the ground, along with all involved. Scorched earth.

⭕ 11 Feb 2026

WSJ Editorial: Trump’s Crony Canadian Bridgegate https://tinyurl.com/mrxx6mnr ‘With Trump, anything that isn’t nailed down might be grabbed and used as potential leverage. Such threats by Mr. Trump are bad for business, shoddy treatment of an ally, and bad politics too.’
// He threatens to block Detroit’s new link to Canada, after Lutnick meets a competitor.
// Orig Quote: “With President Trump, anything that isn’t nailed down might be grabbed and used as potential leverage. Amazingly, that includes a badly needed international bridge financed by Canada and almost finished. Threats by Mr. Trump to block traffic are bad for business, shoddy treatment of an ally, and bad politics too.”

WSJ: GOP-Led House Rejects Trump’s Tariffs on Canada https://tinyurl.com/33n4jx9p “The House voted 219-211 to approve a Democratic resolution that would invalidate the emergency declaration that underpins Trump’s tariffs on Canada.” //➔ Because there is no emergency.
// The vote in the chamber is a significant but largely symbolic repudiation of the president’s signature economic policy

WSJ: Trump Lashes Out at GOP Governor, Ramping Up Criticism of Fellow Republicans https://tinyurl.com/2ycvvvyf “‘Trump is doing everything he can to become the most polarizing president in American history,’ said former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a former NGA chairman.”
// The president has publicly criticized members of his own party in recent weeks

🐣 RT @CatoInstitute Clinton’s 2001 Marc Rich pardon was a national scandal that briefly raised standards for subsequent pardons. Today, Trump’s far more politicized pardons pass with shrugs—not because they’re better, but because our standards for presidential accountability have collapsed, says Cato’s Dan Greenberg. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/ys8rf59p

🐣 RT @NSTRIKE1231 🇫🇷 Emmanuel Macron: 📌 “We cannot afford to wait. We must accelerate decision-making. We need to take steps that are sometimes not even part of our European DNA, because we are living in a completely different, new era. Let us move forward and act.”
¤ https://x.com/NSTRIKE1231/status/2021654781157089356?s=20

📌 “Cheap Russian energy supplies ended in 2022. There is no going back. The era of Russia as a permanent local energy supplier is over. The era of China as the main export market has also come to an end.”

📌 “The United States is imposing tariffs on our economy and using instruments of coercion. All of this is changing the rules of the game. That is why this is not a simple transition period, and none of these new factors will change in the short term. This is not a temporary shock. It is clearly a structural turning point.”

📌 “We must turn Europe into an independent power — not just a single market, but an economic power.”

📌 “Everyone is enthusiastic about Starlink. I am very pleased about that. But if we look carefully, Mr. Musk is probably one of the people in the world whose pocket has received the most billions of dollars from American taxpayers in the form of subsidies. I want to say that Elon Musk is, above all, someone who has been heavily subsidized by U.S. federal agencies. That’s good news! That is precisely what made him super-innovative.”

📌 “China is an authoritarian regime — without any offense, that is a collective choice. The United States is becoming a country of unpredictable economics and governance, for companies and sometimes even for states. In between stands the European Union — a place where the rule of law and predictability still prevail.”

WSJ, Jason Riley: America Is Running Out of Patience With Republicans https://tinyurl.com/jfcyrrsc “Empathy might go further than telling struggling households that they’ve never had it so good, but Mr. Trump can’t help himself.”
//. Voters no longer blame Joe Biden for the state of the economy, and Trump’s policies haven’t delivered.

🐣 RT @OccupyDemocrats BREAKING: “You’re a failed politician!” Pam Bondi freaks out on Republican Congressman Thomas Massie for demanding the identity of the person who carried out illegal redactions in the Epstein files. ¤ This could not have gone any worse for Bondi…
// House Oversight hearing
¤ https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/2021658067692401050?s=20

“To my right is an email that was sent to the victims lawyers by the DOJ. It was a list of names [of victims whose names not to release]. What did the DOJ do with this email? They released this email in the document production! Literally the worst thing you could do to the survivors, you did and they’re getting phone calls,” Massie said during a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee. “A lot of these people didn’t want to be known.”

“And we know you touched the document because you redacted one name and you redacted the lawyer’s name but you left the survivor’s name there!” continued Massie.

“The next document I want to show you, it was in the title! The survivor’s name!” he said, pointing out the document in question before indicating another. “The title of this one is ‘Child sex trafficking.’ Co-conspirators, fully redacted!”

“And by the way, we’re going to unredact them here. Les Wexner is in this,” said Massie, peeling away gray tape to reveal the billionaire in question. “Now your assistant dep, your deputy attorney general, said ‘Oh well he appears hundreds of times in the files.’ But he doesn’t appear in this file until I forced you to release it! Where he’s listed as a co-conspirator, not to tax evasion, but to child sex trafficking! Not to prostitution, not to money laundering, child sex trafficking!”

There is simply no benign explanation for these redactions. The Trump administration went out of its way to protect the identities of wealthy and powerful individuals because this is a White House that exists solely to serve the rich and well-connected. By shielding Epstein’s co-conspirators, they’re also hoping to insulate Trump, who is himself deeply implicated in the files.

“And then finally, what we have here is the third exhibit that I have is emblematic of the FD 302 release,” Massie continued. “These are the documents that we need, that you’re holding onto and over-redacting because they have the names of the men who are implicated. How do we know? Because the survivors gave testimony to the FBI and it’s in there. And what happens when you go to the portal at the DOJ to look at what’s behind this redaction? Another redaction!”

“So we can’t even see them. And then there’s some of these files you’ve pulled down from the website that we will never see because we can’t search the redactions. So I have several questions for you…” said Massie.

“Who’s responsible? Are you able to track who in your organization made this massive failure and released the victims’ names?” Massie asked. “Are you able to track who it was that obscured Les Wexner’s name as a co-conspirator in an FBI document? Do you have that kind of accountability?”

“I believe Wexner’s name was listed more than four thousand times about—” said Bondi.

“Yeah, I already told you that. This is where he’s listed as a co-conspirator,” shot back Massie.

“Can I finish my answer!?” screeched Bondi. “Come on! Let me finish my answer. We corrected that within forty minutes. He was already— You’re acting like everybody’s trying to cover up Wexner’s name—

“Reclaiming my time,” said Massie.

“I’m going to answer this question,” whined Bondi.

“Reclaiming my time. Mr. Chairman?” said Massie.

“This isn’t how this works!” insisted Bondi.

“Mr. Chairman? Can I have my time back? Mr. Chairman?” said Massie, visibly uninterested in Bondi’s obfuscations.

“The gentlelady can give her answer. The time belongs to the gentleman,” said Chairman Jim Jordan, a MAGA hack who’s best known for ignoring rampant sexual abuse during his time as a wrestling coach at Ohio State University.

“All right, I’m reclaiming my time,” said Massie. “So I’m going to put the language of the bill up on the screen…”

“Chairman, may I give my answer on that? This is a political joke, and I need to give my answer on that,” interrupted Bondi, desperate to get her spin out.

“Let the attorney general respond, and then the gentleman can move to his next question,” said Jordan.

“Chairman, it’s my time,” said Massie.

“Within forty minutes— You asked me a question,” said Bondi. “Within forty minutes, Wexner’s name was added back.”

“Within forty minutes of me catching you red-handed!” Massie said.

“Red-handed!?” said Bondi with an awkward laugh. “There was one redaction out of over 4,700—

“Where he’s listed as a co-conspirator!” said Massie.

“…and we invited you in,” continued Bondi. “This guy has Trump derangement syndrome! You’re a failed politician.”

At that point, it was clear that Bondi had run out of room to maneuver. Unable to defend the egregious behavior of her Justice Department, she resorted to cheap, pathetic insults. The only failure here is Pam Bondi, a woman who swore to defend the Constitution only to then devote herself to protecting wealthy pedophiles from the consequences of their actions.

WaPo, George Will: JD Vance vies for the gold medal in coarseness and flippancy https://tinyurl.com/3zbf4c4j “It is not easy being transgressive in an era when there are few norms remaining to transgress. Undaunted, he tries.”
// The vice president has a knack for late — very late — adolescent naughtiness.

🐣 RT @Acyn Raskin: You’re running a massive Epstein coverup right out of the DOJ. …
💽 https://x.com/Acyn/status/2021606834910671135?s=20/photo/1
// Raskin to Bondi

You redacted the names of abusers, enablers, accomplices and coconspirators, apparently to spare them embarrassment and disgrace, which is the exact opposite of what the law ordered you to do.

Even worse, you shockingly failed to redact many of the victims names, which is what you were ordered to do by congress. Some of the victims had come forward publicly, but many had not. Many had kept their torment private, even from family and friends. But you published their names, their identities, their images on thousands of pages for the world to see.

✭ PsychologyToday: Brain Fog in Long COVID Linked to Increase in AMPA Receptors https://tinyurl.com/3tvvc7hj New research sheds light on why brain fog is a common symptom of long COVID.

• About 400 million people worldwide still suffer from long COVID.
• More than 80% of long COVID patients experience brain fog.
• A new neuroscience study used PET neuroimaging to investigate the biological correlates of brain fog.
• Brain fog in long COVID was linked to an increase in AMPA receptor density.

While the symptoms of long COVID can be very diverse, more than 80 percent of patients with long COVID suffer from so-called brain fog. Brain fog is a colloquial term used to describe impairments in various brain functions, such as memory, decision-making, and reasoning. In heavily affected long COVID patients, brain fog can be so bad that they may be unable to work their normal jobs. Brain fog is difficult to treat, and one major problem is that scientists so far really have not understood very well which biological factors cause brain fog. …

Takeaway:
The results of the study showed that an increase in AMPA receptors in long COVID patients was linked to more brain fog, as reflected by the worse performance in the cognitive tests. The scientists discussed that too many of these receptors relevant for information processing in the brain may mess up cognitive processing, explaining why brain fog occurs. In addition, due to the link between AMPA receptor increase and massive changes in immune system activity, the scientists suggested that excessive brain activity due to too many AMPA receptors may have neurotoxic effects on the brain. Therefore, targeting AMPA receptors in the therapy of long COVID may be a very promising approach to help these often severely impacted patients.

References
Fujimoto Y et al, (2025). Systemic increase of AMPA receptors associated with cognitive impairment of long COVID. Brain communications, 7(5), fcaf337. https://doi.org/10.1093/braincomms/fcaf337

WaPo: Scientists thought they understood global warming. Then the past three years happened. https://tinyurl.com/mry3ja37 “The last 30 years are the fastest warming period since 1880, according to a Washington Post analysis of NASA data.”
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2021621733971968091?s=20/photo/1

✝ NYT, Leighton Woodhouse: Donald Trump, Pagan King https://tinyurl.com/3b5thk27 “Christianity took the Jewish God, who cared for the weak and knew the difference between good and evil, and made his message universal. … That is the world we are leaving behind.”

In his book “Dominion,” the historian Tom Holland describes how it wasn’t until Christianity came along that Western civilization derived the popular conception that the weak and the vanquished had any inherent moral value at all. Telling an ancient Greek or a pre-Christian Roman that their treatment of slaves was morally wrong would have inspired not argument but bewilderment, as if you had told them they were evil for the way they treated their kitchen utensils. These pagans generally believed that their gods favored the strong and were indifferent to the weak.

Christianity upended these assumptions. Christianity took the Jewish God, who cared for the weak and knew the difference between good and evil, and made his message universal. It taught that all humans are God’s creation. To oppress any person, even a slave, is an offense before him. Even more than that: the weak are closer to God than the rich and the powerful.

This moral instinct is so ubiquitous today that we barely recognize it as Judeo-Christian, or even as religious. Adherents of the world’s other great religions have largely integrated it into their ethical frameworks even if this tenet is not central to their faith. It is the basis for the American Declaration of Independence and the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As Mr. Holland noted, even anti-Christian revolutionaries, from the Jacobins to the Communists, owe their secular claims of human equality to Christianity; indeed, they are the most radical expressions of it. …

That is the world we are leaving behind. By brazenly jacking Venezuela for its oil and threatening to acquire Greenland against its will, the U.S. is acting as the ancient Greeks, the ancient Persians and the Germanic tribes conducted themselves: brutishly, without shame or apology. And the abdication of Christian values is already shaping the conduct of our government toward its citizens, as in Minneapolis, where immigration agents have killed two protesters. The Trump administration appears unconstrained not only by the limits imposed by the Constitution but by the standards of an average American’s conscience. Federal agents’ treatment of both immigrants and U.S. citizens in Minneapolis is the reflection of a government that has abandoned the moral instinct that it is wrong for the powerful to abuse the weak.

… American leaders, unlike Vikings or Spartans, had to make a moral case for the exercise of our power. It wasn’t enough to simply say that we, as the strong, can do what it is in our interest to do. We had to couch it all, however unconvincingly, in a framework that made it palatable to the Christian conscience. This may not have determined the shape of American foreign and domestic policy, but it was the impossibility of making that case that ultimately contributed to the end of slavery, and of European imperialism and American segregation. The moral framework mattered.

That is the world we are leaving behind. By brazenly jacking Venezuela for its oil and threatening to acquire Greenland against its will, the U.S. is acting as the ancient Greeks, the ancient Persians and the Germanic tribes conducted themselves: brutishly, without shame or apology. And the abdication of Christian values is already shaping the conduct of our government toward its citizens, as in Minneapolis, where immigration agents have killed two protesters. The Trump administration appears unconstrained not only by the limits imposed by the Constitution but by the standards of an average American’s conscience. Federal agents’ treatment of both immigrants and U.S. citizens in Minneapolis is the reflection of a government that has abandoned the moral instinct that it is wrong for the powerful to abuse the weak.

⭕ 10 Feb 2026

TheAtlantic, Hussein Ibish (Feb 10): Trump’s Gaza Plans Are Profoundly Unserious https://tinyurl.com/yf324pjw “Conditions on the ground call for immediate humanitarian relief, not gauzy real-estate fantasies.”

WSJ Editorial: Vinay Prasad’s Vaccine Kill Shot https://tinyurl.com/39xefr6s “It’s hard to recall a regulator who has done as much damage to medical innovation in as little time as [FDA chief] Vinay Prasad”
// Does the White House know the harm he’s doing to public health?

🐣 RT @thehill Thune: ‘Not even close’ to enough votes to change filibuster rule to enact voting reform https://tinyurl.com/mr2vdskb
↥ ↧
🐣 RT @USATODAY Here’s how the voting ID law could make it harder for married women to register to vote and cast ballots if passed. https://tinyurl.com/45d67me6

🐣 RT @RepThomasMassie @IngrahamAngle My goal is to defend the Constitution and to represent the people. ¤ Taxing authority is vested in the House of Representatives, not the Executive. ¤ The vote tonight was to subvert the Constitution and the 1976 National Emergencies Act by literally saying a day is not a day.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/RepThomasMassie/status/2021433692850356514?s=20/photo/1 -3

Sec. 4. Bach day during the period from February 10, 2026, through July 31, 2026, shall not constitute a calendar day for purposes of section 202 of the

🔆 This❗️⋙ NYT: Grand Jury Rebuffs Justice Dept. Attempt to Indict 6 Democrats in Congress https://tinyurl.com/4eh4x4fs “The rejection was a remarkable rebuke, suggesting that ordinary citizens did not believe that the lawmakers had committed any crimes.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2021429056160530874?s=20/photo/1

The move to charge the lawmakers — among them, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona and Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan — was, by any measure, an extraordinary attempt by Trump appointees to politicize the criminal justice system even for a Justice Department that has repeatedly shattered norms of independence from the White House and followed Mr. Trump’s directives to prosecute his adversaries.

But manipulating bureaucratic levers is not the same thing as controlling the entire criminal justice system.

NYT: Epstein Files Reveal Efforts to Build Ties With Officials in Russia https://tinyurl.com/usrpfb9e “New documents detail Jeffrey Epstein’s efforts to foster strategic, sometimes reciprocal relationships with Russian officials.”

TheAtlantic, Simon Shuster: The New Laser That Can Take Down Aircraft https://tinyurl.com/53y4mjue “Russian strikes have forced Ukraine to build high-tech air defense on the cheap.”
//➔ For Ukraine “Necessity is the Mother of … Survival ”

🐣 📋 RT @TKouilou [tr] The Russian economy is entering a phase of deep structural deterioration, comparable to that of the late Soviet Union. ¤ The current difficulties are no longer cyclical but systemic, after several years during which the problems were masked by massive public spending. […]
¤ https://x.com/TKouilou/status/2021260795015770553?s=20

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇪🇺 Kaja Kallas: “Everyone at the negotiating table, including the Russians and Americans, needs to understand that they need the Europeans’ consent. And we have conditions for that, too. And we must set conditions for the Russians.”

🐣 RT @jurgen_nauditt The US under Trump’s rule has become a factor in the destruction of the old world order – Munich Security Conference report. Key points of the report:
¤ https://x.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/2021332458860576891?s=20

➡️ Europe can no longer fully rely on the American “security umbrella” and must re-evaluate its own strategy.
➡️ Russia’s war against Ukraine is an expression of global changes in which territories, security guarantees, and resources can become the subject of trade deals between major powers.
➡️ Ukraine is one of the first victims of the new world order.
➡️ Moscow is not ready for genuine peace negotiations.
➡️ Risk awareness regarding the US has increased in the G7 countries, and the threat from Russia has fallen from second to eighth place among the 32 most significant risks.
➡️ Europe must act more proactively and not wait for others to dictate the rules of global security.

🐣 RT @AmberWoods100 Here are the six names Khanna publicly read from the unredacted Epstein file documents:
• Leslie Wexner
• Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem
• Salvatore Nuara
• Zurab Mikeladze
• Leonic Leonov
• Nicola Caputo
They were previously redacted. Thousands of names remain unredacted and millions of files remain withheld.
⋙ 🐣 RT @jh336405 Here is how the network worked: https://x.com/jh336405/status/2021308661709275291?s=20

🐣 RT @nybooks “If the murder of Alex Pretti…cannot be called murder, an authoritarian regime has passed one of its crucial tests: it can reverse all meanings…making the victim the perpetrator, the perpetrator the victim.” — @fotoole
⋙ NYRB, Fintan O’Toole: The Crime of Witness https://tinyurl.com/yckd7rut “Renee Good and Alex Pretti were murdered for daring to interfere with the Trump administration’s efforts to normalize abductions and state violence.”

Donald Trump’s desire to name everything from the Kennedy Center to the Gulf of Mexico after himself (“I wanted to call it the Gulf of Trump,” he declared in January) can seem almost comically childish. But it has become a killing joke: his regime brands those it executes “terrorists” and drags their names through the dirt. This renaming is an assertion of absolute power, and the United States is at a moment when Trump’s claim to dominion over language has become lethal—both for individuals and for the American republic itself. If the murder of Alex Pretti on the streets of Minneapolis cannot be called murder, an authoritarian regime has passed one of its crucial tests: it can reverse all meanings, turning the ultimate moral transgression upside down, making the victim the perpetrator, the perpetrator the victim.

It is striking that the capital offense for which both Pretti and Renee Good, who weeks earlier was shot multiple times at close range by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, were summarily executed was the crime of witness. Good was watching ICE at work from her car. Pretti was filming Border Patrol agents on the street. Both were engaged in the task that democracies assign to citizens: that of paying close attention to the workings of power. If the price of liberty is eternal vigilance, a country that inflicts the ultimate punishment on those who dare to be vigilant can no longer be free.

Watchfulness is the most dangerous form of resistance because it obstructs the Trump regime’s project of habituation. Fascism works by making the extreme normal. Habit, as Samuel Beckett has it, is a great deadener. It has been obvious since the start of Trump’s second term that he is trying to make the sight of armed and masked men with virtually unlimited powers one to which Americans are accustomed. …

This procedure of habituation is also a process of escalation. Authoritarian takeover in a long-established democracy must be gradual. And the gradations are primarily moral. The populace must be desensitized. People must get used to images of little children being kidnapped by unidentified masked agents. They must become acclimated to young women being grabbed and hustled into unmarked vans by faceless men; they must learn not to acknowledge abduction.

They must become familiar with official disappearances—an idea once confined to the outer darkness beyond the southern border but now fully domesticated. They must get used to killing—first to the out-of-the-way obscure deaths of migrants: thirty-two people died in ICE custody in 2025, often because of the authorities’ refusal to treat acute medical conditions. And then they must get used to the public, open, and flagrant killings of American citizens. In this logic of escalation, a cold-blooded summary execution is not an accident. It is a climax.

The murder of Alex Pretti was in itself an obviously intentional act, but it was also politically deliberate. After the killing of Renee Good on January 7, an administration that was not bent on establishing autocracy would have called a halt to the ICE surges. Good’s death would have been treated as a disaster—not just a private calamity but a terrible governmental screwup. Trump would have made clear that it had never been meant to happen.

Of course he and his subordinates did the precise opposite, branding Good a domestic terrorist and justifying her killing as an act of both individual and institutional self-defense. But in order to make this tactic unexceptional, to establish such executions as part of the order of things, Good’s death could not be a one-off. There had to be a doubling down. Domestic terrorists, by definition, do not come alone. They are multiple—and the actions needed to defend against them must be multiplied, too.

Of course he and his subordinates did the precise opposite, branding Good a domestic terrorist and justifying her killing as an act of both individual and institutional self-defense. But in order to make this tactic unexceptional, to establish such executions as part of the order of things, Good’s death could not be a one-off. There had to be a doubling down. Domestic terrorists, by definition, do not come alone. They are multiple—and the actions needed to defend against them must be multiplied, too.

Pretti’s scarcely cold body was stuffed into this preformulated narrative. He was a thwarted mass killer. Within hours of his murder Trump’s senior adviser Stephen Miller posted on X, “A would-be assassin tried to murder federal law enforcement and the official Democrat account sides with the terrorists.” Both Gregory Bovino, the then commander-at-large of the US Border Patrol, and Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant homeland security secretary, claimed Pretti was about to “do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.” Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem used almost the exact same phrase, leaving little doubt that it had been consciously crafted.

The big lie of the threat allegedly posed by Good is here deliberately made bigger. Good was engaged in “domestic terrorism”; Miller slipped into the plural, making Pretti merely one of “the terrorists.” (Since they are unnumbered, they could be legion.) Good was trying to kill one officer. Pretti was planning a massacre—not just of the agents present but of “law enforcement” itself. Trump’s grotesque inflation of language, his bemonstering of opposition politicians, is now fully integrated into the organized street violence of his regime. So it must always be in the authoritarian state: the existential menace can be defeated only if those who embody it can be deprived of their very existences. …

There is, in much of the American media, a learned habit of shoulder shrugging, a civilized avoidance of calling an occupation an occupation, a lie a lie, a murder a murder. As Jem Bartholomew noted in the Columbia Journalism Review soon after Pretti’s killing, “The press is still squeamish about directly calling out the administration’s lies.” But this misplaced timidity in fact adds fuel to the flames. When the incendiaries are in the White House and their targets are all legal, institutional, political, civic, and moral restraints on Trump’s ability to do, as he so openly proclaims, “whatever I want,” the deadening of language has fatal consequences.…

The sin of civic “interference” is in fact the saving grace of democracy. Good and Pretti and thousands of other citizens have been getting in the way of the armed overthrow of democratic freedoms by doing what journalism is supposed to do: pay attention to the actual, on-the-ground reality. The phone that Pretti had in his hand was a connection to a communal determination to refuse the narcotic of normalization. The videos that expose the administration’s mendacity about its own use of extreme violence against peaceful dissent are themselves products of the courage to show up, to be there, to see for yourself—the impulses journalists are supposed to value above all others, aside from the use of accurate language to name what you see.

The challenge the videos present is that of uncomfortably incontrovertible evidence—proof of sanctioned executions and of a government’s systematic lying. If the evidence so bravely gathered does not lead to a profound reversal, Trump’s temporary yielding to public outrage (diluting the smear campaign against Pretti, removing Bovino from Minneapolis, and placing the two officers who shot Pretti on administrative leave) will be merely a tactical retreat—another stage in the piecemeal habituation of Americans to the arbitrary application of martial law. The name of the condition to which the US will have surrendered itself is written all over Europe’s history books.

🐣 RT @ig9wi 🚨 JUST IN : U.S. Congressman Thomas Massie confirms: Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem SENT the “Torture Video”! 💥⚠️
🖼 https://x.com/ig9wi/status/2021087694994932156?s=20/photo/1 -3

The FBI files are finally UNREDACTED! Rep. Thomas Massie reveals that the DOJ has tacitly admitted that the Chairman of DP World, Sultan Bin Sulayem, was the sender of the horrific torture video found in the Epstein/FBI files.

This is no longer a rumor—it’s an official document. The “Co-conspirators” are being named. The walls are closing in on the Dubai elite.

🐣 RT @atrupar Goldman to Lyons: “You said in your opening statement that references to ICE as ‘the Gestapo’ or ‘secret police’ encourages threats against ICE agents. The problem is you have it backwards. People are simply making valid observations about your tactics, which are un-American and outright fascist.”

🐣 RT @TheTNHoller WATCH: Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick admits he visited Epstein’s island and lied to Congress about cutting off contact after Epstein had already been busted for soliciting a minor for prostitution

🐣 RT @._GlobeObserver 🚨🇺🇸 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: Billionaire Les Wexner, founder of Victoria’s Secret, is now unredacted and listed as a co-conspirator. ¤ He gave Epstein power of attorney and a Manhattan mansion. Redactions had been protecting him.

CNN: The US slips to its lowest-ever rank in a global corruption index https://tinyurl.com/mrymt5ps slipped one notch to 29th place, out of 182; LEAST Corrupt: Denmark, Finland, Singapore, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Germany
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2021276686906491094?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @ChristopherHale My interview with Vox: “It’s very clear to me that Christian nationalism has no place for Catholics within it. Christian nationalism is evangelical Protestant nationalism. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/443bemzw
¤ https://x.com/ChristopherHale/status/2021211390497726492?s=20

And it’s really pertinent to understand that the leaders of that movement do not think that Catholics are Christian, do not think that we have access to salvation.

“That is the argument that I’m trying to make again and again. Christian nationalism and its stepbrother MAGA authoritarianism are both inherently anti-Catholic.

“To be clear, I’m making a classist argument: I’m saying that my class, my ethnic identity, is excluded from this project. So yes, there is a war at play; it’s a culture war I welcome.

“A culture war between a multi-ethnic American Catholicism versus white MAGA evangelical Protestantism is a culture war that, I believe, the left can win.”

🐣 RT @maxseddon Russia’s army in Ukraine has suffered a sharp rise in men killed or missing in action. That will make it harder for Russian forces to sustain gruelling offensive operations, which in some areas have ground to a pace slower than the Battle of the Somme. [FT link:] https://tinyurl.com/bdh9ytry

🐣 RT @InsiderGeo NEW: French President Emmanuel Macron says Europe can no longer rely on the United States and must urgently build its own economic and military power, calling for a new wave of joint EU borrowing (eurobonds) to fund strategic investments and challenge the dominance of the US dollar. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/5az2m7er
¤ https://x.com/InsiderGeo/status/2021179792184258963?s=20

In a major interview with Le Monde, Macron warned that the world is entering a chaotic phase where old assumptions no longer hold: the US is no longer a guaranteed security provider, Russia is no longer a stable energy supplier, and China has become a systemic economic rival. He described Europe as facing a dual shock a trade tsunami from China and growing unpredictability from Washington.

Macron also warned Europeans against what he called a “cowardly sense of relief” after crises calm down, citing recent US-EU tariff tensions and the Greenland dispute. He said people assume tensions are over, but threats continue daily in sectors like pharmaceuticals and digital tech. “When there is clear aggression, we must not bow our heads or seek compromises,” he said.

He argued Europe must move far faster and at much larger scale, pushing for around €1.2 trillion per year in investment in defense, green tech, digital industries, AI and quantum computing. He warned that if the EU fails to act within the next 3–5 years, it risks being pushed aside in key strategic sectors.

Macron also called for deeper integration of the single market, selective protection of European industry, and new trade partnerships. He added that global markets are increasingly skeptical of the dollar and that European debt could become a credible alternative reserve asset.

“Are we ready to become a major power?” he asked.

🐣 RT @TKouilou [tr] In Russia, unprecedented signs are emerging in pro-Kremlin media: propaganda is shifting from a reassuring facade to open economic alarm.
¤ https://x.com/TKouilou/status/2021173761467121724?s=20

According to Z-patriot Maxim Kalashnikov, this evolution reflects the growing unease within the Russian elite, which is trying to push Putin to end the conflict in Ukraine before the situation becomes unmanageable.

Kalashnikov cites the example of the pro-government newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets, which reports that Russia’s budget deficit could reach 10 billion rubles this year.
This figure, according to the analyst, is a serious indicator: it shows that the elite is beginning to exert indirect pressure on Vladimir Putin, signaling to him that continuing the war could lead to economic collapse.

The National Wealth Fund has been largely depleted after four years of war and can no longer cover the deficit.
Essentially, only gold remains, which Russia is already selling actively, but in limited quantities to avoid driving down prices.

An alternative would be to tap into citizens’ bank deposits, an extremely risky move that could trigger social unrest and directly threaten the regime in power.

Kalashnikov also emphasizes that Russia can no longer count on China for additional credit. Beijing refuses to help Moscow prolong the aggression, even though Russia’s weakening could ultimately benefit it.

⋙ 🐣 ‘You can fool Witkoff and Kushner some of the time.
You can fool Trump all of the time.
But you can’t fool the American people.’

🐣 RT @NSTRIKE1231 ‼️‼️ From Russia’s main propaganda TV channel NTV, unusually blunt admissions have aired acknowledging that the war cannot be won against Ukraine, that Russia has humiliated itself before the world, and that Ukraine will never be forced into capitulation.
¤ https://x.com/NSTRIKE1231/status/2021141037066932675?s=20

⚔️ “Ukraine, as a state, possesses every capability to continue resisting in the future — and it is already doing so successfully. Ukraine has not been defeated and has no desire to make peace.”

🇺🇦 “Why is it that for four years nothing has worked for us? Because Ukrainians are an incredibly resilient and stubborn nation, one that knows war no worse than we do!” — Russian propagandists concede this uncomfortable reality on air.

⭕ 9 Feb 2026

🐣 RT @TheStudyofWar Lavrov’s February 9 statements are all implicit reiterations of Putin’s original war aims from 2021 and 2022 that amount to complete Ukrainian and NATO capitulation, effectively signaling that any peace deal that does not address Russian demands of not only Ukraine but also of NATO and the West will not satisfy Russia. The Kremlin’s insistence on these demands are calls for the United States to discard the negotiations process that the United States has conducted with Ukraine and Europe since the publication of the US-proposed 28-point plan.
🌎 [TextLink:] https://x.com/TheStudyofWar/status/2021064077267620307?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @Acyn @PabloReports: What can you tell us about what you saw in the unredacted Epstein files?
Khanna: Most of the unredacted files were redacted—70 to 80 percent. Massie and I saw that there were six men who were co‑conspirators and were being protected. Those names need to be made public. There’s no excuse for releasing survivors’ names while protecting these six men. There are probably more. In just two hours, we saw that these six men were being protected

WSJ: Wall Street’s Hunt for Cheaper Stocks Goes Global https://tinyurl.com/3zr7m68e “High valuations and a weakening dollar are boosting bets that America’s lead over other global markets will shrink”

🐣 RT @michaeldweiss “‘Intelligence showed me the so-called ‘Dmitriev package’ that he presented in the U.S. — it amounts to around $12 trillion,’ Zelensky said, describing it as a proposed framework for large-scale U.S.-Russia economic cooperation.” ¤ How much of this goes directly to the Trump, Witkoff, Kushner families and their cronies?
⋙⋙ 🐣 The only actual money is the bribe money; the rest is fantasy money, promises of access to Russian rare earths, etc. But the bribe money is real. ¤ What’s holding Trump back are 🇺🇦’s red lines, the EU’s support for 🇺🇦, and the fact 70% of Americans favor🇺🇦
⋙ 🐣 RT @michaeldweiss WSJ a few months back: https://tinyurl.com/yck9a9dh
[WSJ (11/28/2025): Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine]

Three powerful businessmen-two Americans and a Russian -hunched over a laptop in Miami Beach last month, ostensibly to draw up a plan to end Russia’s long and deadly war with Ukraine.

But the full scope of their project went much further, according to people familiar with the talks. They were privately charting a path to bring Russia’s $2 trillion economy in from the cold-with American businesses first in line to beat European competitors to the dividends.

At his waterfront estate, billionaire developer-turned-special envoy Steve Witkoff was hosting Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign-wealth fund and Vladimir Putin’s handpicked negotiator, in who had largely shaped the document they were revising on the screen. Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, had arrived from his nearby home on an island known as the “Billionaire Bunker.”

🐣 RT @TheStudyofWar MORE: Kremlin officials have been trying to push the United States to abandon the recent US-led negotiations with Ukraine and Europe in favor of a US-Russian settlement based almost entirely on Russia’s demands.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/TheStudyofWar/status/2021052753036870137?s=20/photo/1

Lavrov used a February 9 interview with TV BRICS, a Russian outlet covering BRICS states and candidate states, to accuse the United States of reneging on the peace proposals the United States itself allegedly proposed at the August 2025 US-Russia Alaska Summit by imposing new sanctions on Russia, seizing Russian shadow fleet tankers, and placing secondary tariffs on importers of Russian oil.

The Kremlin has been exploiting the lack of publicly available documents from the Alaska Summit to claim that Russia and the United States came to an understanding to end the war during the meeting.[3] Kremlin officials have claimed that the Alaska Summit agreed to principles based on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s June 2024 speech to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), in which Putin insisted on capitulation to Russia’s original war demands of both Ukraine and NATO.

⋙ 🐣 RT @TheStudyofWar NEW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov explicitly blamed the United States on February 9 for the lack of progress in ending Russia’s war against Ukraine. ¤ Other Key Takeaways:
¤ https://x.com/TheStudyofWar/status/2021024144700145689?s=20

Lavrov reiterated Russia’s demand for effective control over Ukraine’s post-war government and the size and composition of its military.

Russian State Duma deputies are explicitly demanding that the United States concede to all Russian demands. […]

TheAtlantic, Alexandra Petri: Finally, a Halftime Show That Represents Real America! https://tinyurl.com/2tvzj5nm “Isn’t Bad Bunny an American artist? Don’t millions of people love his music? At the Turning Point USA alternative show, we forget about all that.”

🐣 RT @ Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇺🇦 Zelensky: There will be significant international events this week – defense, security. Our position will be sufficiently represented in Europe, and the same with America.
¤ https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/2020934554379260109?s=20

In fact, every day now our negotiating team is working on those documents, on those proposals that can yield results at the next meetings. And the main thing is that the partners are set up in the same way as we are in Ukraine: peace is needed, reliable security guarantees are the only real basis for peace to exist and for the Russians not to break the agreements with one or another strike, one or another of their hybrid operations.

Now there are no countries left in Europe that do not yet know what Russian interference is and what Russian destabilization operations can be.

Everyone sees what Russian killers, Russian missiles, Russian drones are doing. Protection from this and guaranteeing security must be tangible and prepare the basis for lasting peace.

The documents on guarantees are ready. There is no alternative to security. There is no alternative to peace. There is no alternative to the restoration of our state. I thank everyone in the world who is helping! Thank you for every action to support life and people now. Glory to Ukraine!

🐣 RT @OfTheBraveUSA Q [NicolleDWallace]: “Who are the six men whose names you saw [redacted in the Epstein Files]?”
Rep. Ro Khanna: “We are going to push DOJ to release those. They had photographs, as marked, of co-conspirators…and there’s no reason that they should be covering up those names.”

🐣 RT @RepThomasMassie @RepRoKhanna and I just spent two hours at DOJ viewing the “mostly-unredacted” Epstein files. ¤ Four of the 18 redacted names on this document are men born before 1970. DOJ needs to explain why they are redacted unless they were just randoms in a line-up. https://tinyurl.com/4pzfmfmm
◕ https://x.com/RepThomasMassie/status/2020996191492727128?s=20/photo/1

WSJ: Meet the One Woman Anthropic Trusts to Teach AI Morals https://tinyurl.com/55sd4jjz “The tech company has tasked Amanda Askell with giving its chatbot, Claude, a sense of right and wrong.” //➔ What’s to stop someone from making an AI Machiavellian?

🐣 RT @Kasparov63 As I wrote, if you think a massive US gulag is being built just for illegal immigrants, along with a federal paramilitary force as large as the Marines, you’re a fool. Billions in unaccountable cash from Venezuelan oil, shock troops, and detention camps. This is not a drill.
⋙ 🐣 RT @ReichlinMelnick ICE has now spent over half a BILLION dollars just on purchasing warehouses around the country to convert into detention camps. ¤ If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they’ll be the largest prisons in the country, with little to no real oversight.
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @bluestein Officials in a small Georgia city east of Atlanta say Immigration and Customs Enforcement has finalized the purchase of an industrial warehouse with plans to turn it into a sprawling detention facility, where as many as 10,000 immigrants could be held.
⋙⋙⋙ AJC: ICE to begin detaining immigrants inside Social Circle warehouse in April https://tinyurl.com/4rxmpxrc

🐣 RT @yasminalombaert Lavrov declares NATO, the EU and OSCE “finished”.
¤ 💽 https://x.com/yasminalombaert/status/2021008483949117551?s=20/photo/1

Sergey Lavrov: ¤ “And all these organisations, NATO with its unfulfilled promises made to the Soviet Union not to expand eastward, and the European Union, which destroyed the entire rich infrastructure of cooperation with our country, and especially the OSCE, which completely submitted to the unilateral actions of the West and forgot about the fundamental principle of consensus – the consent of all its participants. They are, in general, living out their days.”

Lavrov is back at it with the “NATO promised not to expand” fairy tale.

If the EU and OSCE are “living out their days,” it’s only because Russia spent the last few years trying to burn the whole neighbourhood down.
Hard to have “consensus” when one person at the table is busy invading their neighbours.

The only thing “living out its days” is this tired, 1990s-era grievance script.

The Reality Check: Who is “Living out their days”?

NATO Expansion: No written treaty or legal agreement has ever barred NATO from admitting new members. While informal discussions about NATO’s jurisdiction occurred in 1990 during German reunification, Mikhail Gorbachev later clarified that “the topic of ‘NATO expansion’ was not discussed at all” regarding other Eastern European nations at that time.

EU Cooperation: The “infrastructure of cooperation” mentioned by Lavrov was dismantled following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which led to international sanctions and the suspension of most bilateral projects.

OSCE Consensus: The OSCE operates by consensus of all 57 members. Recent “deadlocks” in the organisation are primarily due to Russia using its own veto to block the annual budget, leadership appointments, and the renewal of field missions in Ukraine

💙 🐣 RT @IuliiaMendel Pope Leo XIV has turned his call for solidarity with Ukraine into action: the Vatican, via the Dicastery for the Service of Charity led by Cardinal Krajewski, delivered 80 electricity generators, thousands of medicine packs (antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, melatonin & more), and food supplies to Fastiv and Kyiv. Three trucks departed from Rome’s Ukrainian Basilica of Santa Sofia to help Ukrainians endure renewed attacks on energy infrastructure amid freezing winter. Grateful for this concrete support.

🐣 RT @pl_european Epstein files 📑

UK 🇬🇧 – Prime Minister on the brink of resignation
Poland 🇵🇱 – Special investigative committee to be created
Norway 🇳🇴 – criminal investigation into ex PM
Slovakia 🇸🇰 – Nat Sec advisor steps down
Sweden 🇸🇪 – High-profile Swedish figures resigned
🇺🇸 USA?!

🐣 RT @WW3finalboss 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 U.S. Representative Thomas Massie claims he has received a flash drive containing what he says is the full set of files linked to Jeffrey Epstein.
¤ https://x.com/WW3finalboss/status/2020810866069819432?s=20

According to Massie, the material allegedly names powerful figures across politics, business, and major donor networks. He argues this is why the media has remained silent—because, in his view, many influential people would be implicated.

Massie further alleges that Epstein was not just a sex offender but an intelligence-linked figure involved in a large-scale blackmail operation targeting elites, politicians, and global leaders. He claims that releasing these documents would have massive consequences for existing power structures and insists the public deserves transparency. ¤ If these claims develop further, the political fallout could be significant.

🐣 📊 RT @atrupar Enten: “Trump’s base with non-college voters is absolutely collapsing … he’s underwater by 9 points. That’s a 23 point switcheroo.” [CNN]
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2020866641882436010?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @GovTimWalz This is obviously not targeted enforcement. And we still don’t know how many children they’ve taken.
⋙ 🐣 📋 RT @CBSNews Less than 14% of nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in President Trump’s first year back in the White House had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses, according to an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by CBS News. ¤The official statistics contained in the DHS document, which had not been previously reported publicly, provide the most detailed look yet into who ICE has arrested during the Trump administration’s far-reaching deportation operations across the U.S. https://cbsn.ws/4r5SkfX

🐣 RT @KyivIndependent ⚡️Russia accuses US of backing out of alleged Ukraine territory surrender agreement. ¤ “It seems that they proposed it and we were ready — and now they are not,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
⋙ 🐣 “nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” idiot

WaPo Editorial: The cost of Trump’s madman theory on tariffs https://tinyurl.com/pntep3wd “Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs to coax or coerce other countries to change their foreign policy to advance American interests, but he’s had uneven success”
// The president’s erratic nature can be a strength, but it’s also his biggest liability.

⭕ 8 Feb 2026 😢 😔 Mourning 🐤🐥

⭕ 7 Feb 2026

WaPo: Zelensky says Russia is proposing $12 Trillion in economic deals with US https://tinyurl.com/4rhwxjuy “The Ukrainian president said the Trump administration was pushing for a June deadline to end Russia’s war” “The main concern … was the midterm congressional elections.”

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 🚨🇺🇦 Ukrainian officials say their intelligence has obtained information about a proposed US–Russia economic cooperation package worth roughly 12 trillion dollars, but this is described as a Russian initiative, the so-called “Dmitriev package,” rather than a confirmed or finalized agreement between Washington and Moscow.
¤ https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2020153386536943795?s=20

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the proposal was presented by Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev and framed it as a warning sign that potential bilateral discussions could be taking place, possibly even touching on issues related to Ukraine’s sovereignty and security, which Kyiv firmly rejects without its direct involvement.

There is no public confirmation from the US side that any such deal exists, and reporting consistently characterizes it as an offer under discussion, not a signed agreement. European officials have made it clear, however, that if the United States were to pursue a large-scale economic deal with Russia that undermines Ukraine or bypasses European security interests, the EU would respond by imposing sanctions on the US.

🐣 RT @UKikaski Zelensky is sounding the alarm: Russia is dangling a massive $12 trillion economic “carrot” to the US (the so-called “Dmitriev package”) to sweeten a bilateral deal , but those goodies could come at Ukraine’s expense, potentially touching on sovereignty, security, or territory. It also brings into question the neutrality of the U.S. as an intermediary in the peace talks. ¤ Kyiv’s firm line: No deals about us without us. No secret horse-trading that sells out Ukraine. “Nothing about Ukraine”
¤ https://x.com/UKikaski/status/2020098850380247253?s=20

🐣 RT @InsiderGeo NEW: A whistleblower complaint has raised serious concerns about how highly classified U.S. intelligence was handled inside the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI).
¤ https://x.com/InsiderGeo/status/2020202748235427867?s=20

According to a lawyer representing the whistleblower, the NSA detected an unusual phone call between an individual linked to foreign intelligence and a person close to U.S. President Donald Trump. The information was flagged as highly sensitive and was brought to the attention of DNI Tulsi Gabbard.

Instead of allowing the NSA to distribute the intelligence through standard channels, Gabbard allegedly took a paper copy directly to the White House chief of staff and later instructed the NSA not to publish the report, ordering that the details be sent only to her office.

A whistleblower filed a formal complaint, claiming the intelligence was improperly withheld from Congress. The complaint was reportedly delayed for months, despite laws requiring transmission to congressional intelligence committees within 21 days. Members of Congress have since received only heavily redacted versions and are divided over the legality of Gabbard’s actions.

Democrats have raised concerns that the delay may have been an effort to suppress the complaint, while some Republicans argue the handling was lawful and necessary due to classification and procedural issues. Former intelligence officials reviewing the case have pointed to multiple procedural anomalies that could indicate misconduct in the handling of national security information.

The contents of the underlying intelligence remain largely classified, and lawmakers are now requesting direct access from the NSA, bypassing the ODNI -The Guardian.

🐣 RT @IAPonomarenko You know, it actually seems entirely plausible that the Kremlin’s con artist in chief Kirill Dmitriev is really waving a $12 trillion plan of “commercial opportunities” in front of Trump’s and Witkoff’s noses. ¤ (That goes in exchange for betraying Ukraine, of course). ¤ And their heads must be spinning and their mouths are watering around the clock at those sweet numbers. ¤ And it’s also likely as hell that no one is remotely troubled by the minor detail that this figure amounts to roughly 550% of Russia’s entire annual GDP.

🐣 RT @RepThomasMassie What did Epstein do for the government (prior, then, or after) to get out of this?
⋙ 🐣 RT @JayShams Reading the 56-page Florida draft indictment against Epstein, I’m struck by how *strong* it is. It’s extremely detailed. ¤ They had him nailed! All the more bizarre that he got such a generous plea agreement.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/RepThomasMassie/status/2018300815782433076?s=20/photo/1

🚫🐣 RT @_Kuscubasi [Translated from Turkish] U.S. REPRESENTATIVE THOMAS MASSIE:
¤ 💽 https://x.com/_Kuscubasi/status/2020064182859673677?s=20

– Last night, I received a flash drive containing the complete list of files belonging to Jeffrey Epstein.
– It has everything in it; every billionaire, every campaign donor, every single person.
– Now let me tell you why you haven’t heard anything about this in the media.
– Because they’re all in it.
– They will do everything to prevent these documents from being made public.
– Epstein was far more than just a child predator; he was an asset for intelligence agencies.
– He was part of a blackmail operation used to control billionaires, politicians, and world leaders.
– If this list ever sees the light of day, the system as we know it will collapse.
– The public has a right to know the truth, and I’m not afraid to share this information.

🐣 RT @ @NSTRIKE1231 🇺🇦 Volodymyr Zelenskyy:
¤ https://x.com/NSTRIKE1231/status/2020094010384171473?s=20

📌 “The use of even a single ‘Oreshnik’ missile from Belarus would drag the country into the war; this is something the Russians very much want.”

🔷 “The Russian Federation reinforces its army by an average of 40,000 personnel per month, while our forces eliminate 30–35 thousand occupiers (killed and severely wounded). In January, however, their replenishment amounted to 22,000.”

🔷 “The Russian Federation’s 2025 budget deficit exceeds £100 billion, and this figure will grow further this year. I think Putin is considering a pause in the war.”

🔷 “Payments to Russian military personnel are being reduced, despite a stable pace of contract enlistment.”

🔷 “Under an agreement, 10,000 North Korean soldiers remain on Russian territory—they are not entering Ukraine.”

🔷 “Intelligence has obtained information about the so-called ‘Dmitriev package’ of U.S.–Russia economic cooperation worth $12 trillion. There are signals that some elements may affect Ukraine’s sovereignty and security. We oppose agreements ‘about us without us.’”

🇫🇷 Emmanuel Macron — visit by his adviser to Moscow: Macron is seeking an alternative dialogue with Russia so that Europe is involved in ending the war and has its own voice.

📌 “There are shifts in Russian rhetoric at the talks toward greater specificity, but they still cannot be trusted.”

📌 “The United States will likely pressure the sides to reach peace by June. Why by this summer? We understand U.S. domestic factors are influencing this, making an end to the war in Ukraine more urgent for them. For the first time, the sides discussed that the most difficult issues could be raised at a trilateral leaders’ meeting, though preparatory steps are required. It is important that dialogue about such a format exists.”

📌 “Most likely, Russia is signaling to the U.S.: recognize Crimea as Russian—knowing Ukraine will never do this and understanding Ukraine’s influence within the European segment.”

📌 “The state will not support any agreement that contradicts Ukraine’s Constitution or legislation. Even potential compromises must be fair and reciprocal. Yes, some matters in U.S.–Russia relations may not concern us, but if they affect our national interests, our people, or our territories, we want to see them—so problems do not arise later. This must not happen against the interests of Ukrainians.”

‼️ 🐣 RT @jurgen_nauditt Ukrainian intelligence has learned of a $12 trillion economic cooperation agreement between the US and Russia.
¤ https://x.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/2020085811618730236?s=20

This was revealed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a meeting with journalists. These agreements, which the president referred to as the “Dmitriev Package,” could raise issues related to Ukrainian sovereignty and security.

Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine will not support any agreements that violate the Ukrainian Constitution, particularly the recognition of Crimea as Russian territory. Ukraine Now

IntlJrnl/Academia, RE Johnson (2020): Review: Timothy Snyder The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America https://tinyurl.com/4zux233h “Timothy Snyder attempts to explain how democracy is being eroded around the world, and what role the Russians have played.”
⋙ See under Entire Articles: Unfreedom 2020 Review

Russia, no longer a superpower, today has a population less than half that of the former USSR. Its gross national product (GDP) is smaller than Canada’s or South Korea’s. But Vladimir Putin seems consistently to punch above his weight. Rejecting liberal democracy and market capitalism, his government has expanded its country’s borders and helped undermine the freer economies and polities of the European Union (EU), the United Kingdom, and the United States. Timothy Snyder attempts to explain how democracy is being eroded around the world, and what role the Russians have played.

TheAtlantic, David Frum (2018): The Great Russian Disinformation Campaign https://tinyurl.com/ytk4zvrs “In a new book, Timothy Snyder explains how Russia revolutionized information warfare—and presages its consequences for democracies in Europe and the United States.”
// 7/1/2018; Review: Timothy Snyder: The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America

NYT, Margaret MacMillan (2018): Are We Traveling the ‘Road to Unfreedom’? https://tinyurl.com/y5ph2yra Review: Timothy Snyder: The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America
// 5/9/2018

🐣 RT @WSJ In an unmistakable sign of Europe’s rapidly dimming view on America, the U.S. delegation entered the Milan Cortina Opening Ceremony to a chorus of boos and disapproving whistles from the international crowd of more than 65,000.
⋙ WSJ: Team USA, Vance Booed in Frosty Reception at Italy’s Winter Olympics https://tinyurl.com/2ekb76v7 With the U.S. vice president in attendance, local fans at the Milan Cortina Opening Ceremony made their frustration with America heard on Friday

In a gleefully kitschy Opening Ceremony that featured ancient Romans, dancing espresso pots and a number by Mariah Carey, Italy threw open its arms to welcome the entire world to the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Well, nearly the entire world.

In an unmistakable sign of Europe’s rapidly dimming view on America, the U.S. delegation entered the San Siro stadium here on Friday night to a chorus of boos and disapproving whistles from the international crowd of more than 65,000. The jeering only intensified when Vice President JD Vance appeared on the big screen during Team USA’s arrival.

The only other team to receive similar treatment was Israel.

Olympic organizers had braced for the possibility of anti-American sentiment inside the stadium. Small protests had already cropped up on the streets of Milan against the planned presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the city. Asked before the Games on how the Americans might be received, IOC president Kirsty Coventry said she hoped that the occasion would be “seen by everyone as an opportunity to be respectful.” …

🐣 RT @Billbrowder Was at the opening ceremony of @milanocortina26 Olympics. The one thing the press isn’t talking about was the spontaneous, rapturous applause & standing ovation the Ukrainian team got when they walked into the stadium. More than any other country Really heartwarming

⭕ 6 Feb 2026

WSJ: A New Crypto Winter Is Here and Even the Biggest Bulls Aren’t Certain Why https://tinyurl.com/3z2c7ee9 “Some of crypto’s biggest champions can’t put their finger on what went wrong”
◕ /photo/1

🐣 RT @DefiyantlyFree Vympel is an elite FSB (Federal Security Service) special forces unit in Russia, originally formed by the KGB in 1981. It specialized in:
[TextLink:] https://x.com/DefiyantlyFree/status/2019864462807945489?s=20/photo/1 -2

∙ Deep penetration operations
∙ Sabotage and covert action overseas
∙ Counter-terrorism operations
∙ Assassination missions
∙ Protection of Soviet/Russian embassies
MOO Vympel (МОО ВЫМПЕЛ) is the International Public Organization “Vympel” – a veterans association for former KGB/FSB officers who served in the Vympel special forces unit.
Guess who obtained a Russian business visa by listing MOO Vympel as his inviting organization in Moscow? ¤ You guessed it Jeffrey Epstein. … Yea, lol Epstein literally met with Russian intelligence.

🐣 RT @SenPeterWelch ICE alone has more funding than the following countries’ entire defense budgets. … ICE doesn’t need more money. It needs serious reforms to stop terrorizing our communities.

Canada 🇨🇦
Israel 🇮🇱
Spain 🇪🇸
Brazil 🇧🇷
Poland 🇵🇱
Turkey 🇹🇷
Netherlands 🇳🇱
Indonesia 🇮🇩
Mexico 🇲🇽
Sweden 🇸🇪
Norway 🇳🇴
Pakistan 🇵🇰
Iran 🇮🇷
Belgium 🇧🇪
Greece 🇬🇷
Algeria 🇩🇿
Egypt 🇪🇬

🐣 RT @MilesTaylorUSA Today, the President warned CNN and MSNOW not to have me on their programs more — or else. ¤ Looking forward to joining CNN later this evening and MSNOW tomorrow morning. ¤ See y’all then.

🐣 RT @20committee Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t a “spy” in the conventional sense. He was an “access agent” (to use the proper term) for global VIPs — for more than 1 intelligence service. Everybody acquainted with real-world counterintelligence gets this. Efforts to hide it will fail. We know already.

🔄 From Archive: Mark Lilla, writing in The New Republic, laments the eclipse of Americans’ understanding of the world around us:

In truth, we have not thought nearly enough about the end of the cold war, and especially the intellectual vacuum that it left behind. If nothing else, the cold war focused the mind. The ideologies in conflict, whose lineages could be traced back two centuries, offered clear opposing views of political reality. Now that they are gone, one would expect things to be much clearer to us, but just the opposite seems true. Never since the end of World War II, and perhaps since the Russian Revolution, has political thinking in the West been so shallow and clueless. We all sense that ominous changes are taking place in our societies, and in other societies whose destinies will very much shape our own. Yet we lack adequate concepts or even a vocabulary for describing the world we find ourselves in. The connection between words and things has snapped. The end of ideology has not meant the lifting of clouds. It has brought a fog so thick that we can no longer read what is right before us. We find ourselves in an illegible age. [emphasis added]
TheNewRepublic, Mark Lilla: The Truth About Our Libertarian Age http://bit.ly/1sXX2gn
// 6/17/2014

🐣 RT @OTregub Former CIA Director David Petraeus called Ukrainian intelligence a global leader – and for a good reason:
⋙ 🐣 RT @michaeldweiss Ukrainian penetration (so to speak) of the GRU is quite extraordinary. I made Budanov laugh when I asked him how HUR acquired 29155 commander Andrey Averyanov’s medical records, including his prostate exam. HUR is literally staring up the GRU’s ass. https://archive.ph/ThA7X
[TextLink:] https://x.com/OTregub/status/2019824108104831428?s=20/photo/1

NYT: Iran Is at Work on Missile and Nuclear Sites, Satellite Images Show https://tinyurl.com/yc2t223w “Repairs at key missile sites began soon after they were hit by Israeli and U.S. strikes last year, but work at Iran’s nuclear facilities has been slower.”

NYT: US Seeks to Expedite Deportation of 5-Year-Old Liam Conejo Ramos https://tinyurl.com/y6tcdy46 Liam was detained last month in Minneapolis during an immigration enforcement operation in which his father was also detained by federal agents. //➔ The inhumanity is the point.

🐣 RT @D_Redis Lieutenant General Vladimir Alekseyev, First Deputy Chief of the GRU of the Russian General Staff, who was shot in Moscow this morning, was the senior Russian representative at the negotiations in Mariupol in May 2022, during the withdrawal of the Mariupol garrison from Azovstal. […]
¤ https://x.com/D_Redis/status/2019732687263613207?s=20
↥ ↧
🐣 RT @christogrozev Gen. Vladimir Alexeev, the senior most GRU commander in charge of the war on Ukraine, reported shot multiple times in Moscow today. Alexeev, himself born in Ukraine, was seen as the most sophisticated and capable architect of the invasion of Ukraine.

💙 NYT, Oren Cass: The Finance Industry Is a Grift. Let’s Start Treating It That Way. https://tinyurl.com/29en3ysy “Financialization has made American businesses less resilient, less innovative and less competitive. It has been a major cause of slow wage growth and rising inequality.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2019803621412798694?s=20/photo/1

Financialization is the term for making financial markets and transactions ends unto themselves, disconnected from — and often at the expense of — the societal benefits that support human flourishing and are capitalism’s proper purpose. Chief among those benefits are good jobs that support families, and products and services that improve people’s lives.

In a financialized economy, businesses become mere sources of cash, assets to be manipulated and then operated for maximum investor returns. Workers become just another cost, like lumber. Customers are just revenue streams to be tapped.

⭕ 5 Feb 2026

🐣 RT @ @visionergeo 🇷🇺⚠️ The well-known Russian military propagandist and commentator, Kirill Fedorov, is disappointed with the Russian army due to the shutdown of “STARLINK” terminals:
¤ https://x.com/visionergeo/status/2019354313491947826?s=20

📌 If the Ukrainians make a “white list” of Starlink terminals, then all our terminals will be turned off… “In terms of interaction with drones, we are going back to the last century”: meanwhile, Russian soldiers complain about the mass shutdown of Starlink terminals.

📌 According to Fedorov, each Russian tank is equipped with a “Starlink” through which the crew connects to drone operators via the internet – on the tankers’ tablet or phone, a live image from the “Mavic” (drone) appears in real time… meaning the Russians see the moment the shell hits the tank online and immediately adjust strikes towards houses or trenches. He says that without Starlink, the Ukrainians[or Russians?] will lose this crucial communication control channel, which the Russians have been accustomed to using in battle for 3 years now…

🔹 Fedorov notes that Starlinks are not only essential for armored vehicles but are also used in trenches, command posts, and basically everything related to communication and information exchange is built on the Starlink satellite internet system..

🐣 RT @yasminalombaert In this interview, former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele discusses potential links between Jeffrey Epstein and Russian intelligence.
¤ 💽 https://x.com/yasminalombaert/status/2019494111095714112?s=20/photo/1

Steele suggests that Epstein may have functioned as an agent of influence or facilitation, citing Poland’s investigation into the matter and Epstein’s early connections to Russian organised crime in New York during the 1970s.

Christopher Steele:
I think anyone who knows about Russia and Poland is aware that the Poles actually have very sophisticated understanding of Russia and a good counter-intelligence capability. And for them to be so overtly saying that they think the Russians were behind the Epstein operation is—gives us pause for thought and we should certainly be liaising with them and taking it very seriously.

Interviewer:
So far the story’s been about certain celebrity figures, certainly certain high-profile characters, but this is shifting, isn’t it, in a different direction? Do you think though, looking at—we’re looking at pictures of Jeffrey Epstein there—do we think that the man that we’re seeing on the screen now, was he a Russian agent do you think? Was he compromised sufficiently by the Kremlin to have been operating by them and gathering information and operating to compromise other figures in the West?

Christopher Steele:
Yes, it’s important to be clear about definitions here when we talk about people being agents. There are different sorts of agents. But if you’re talking about facilities, facilitation, and if you’re talking about influence, which are two of the aspects of work that agents can perform for hostile foreign powers, then I think he almost certainly was an agent.
And my contacts in America tell me that without doubt Epstein’s career, if we can call it that, began in the 1970s in New York, and that at that point he was basically in touch with Russian organised crime groups at Brighton Beach. And as you probably know, there is little, certainly these days, light between Russian organised crime groups and Russian intelligence. And that is how he would have been picked up and recruited and trained and run back against this celebrity network.”

🐣 RT @sltrib,“[Pam Bondi] pretty much slandered all of us,” said Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson. “And to me, that’s problematic to publicly claim that secretaries of state are not doing our jobs and the federal government has to do it for us. Not OK.” [link:] https://tinyurl.com/y8u9mzr6

🐣 RT @amyklobuchar Over 300 former prosecutors are urging DOJ to allow independent local & state investigations into the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. ¤ MN investigators worked with federal partners on the investigations into the Hortman and Annunciation Church shootings — they shouldn’t be excluded now.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/amyklobuchar/status/2019485430367023109?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @NickKristof Across the world, and particularly in Europe, the United States is seeing how quickly it can squander 75 years of accumulated soft power and good will.
⋙ 🐣 RT @yarotrof A taste of the current mood in Poland, from a lawmaker who served as deputy prime minister and minister of education, @GiertychRoman
[TextLink:] https://x.com/NickKristof/status/2019519543723585855?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @GiertychRoman [tr] Dear Mr. Ambassador!
Your position that you will not maintain relations with the Marshal of the Sejm, who was elected by the parliamentary majority representing the majority of Poles, is simply insolent.
The times when ambassadors dictated to Poles who should be who in Poland are over and will never return.
We want good relations with the USA, but your representatives will not be choosing the authorities of the Republic of Poland for us.

I have never been a fan of Włodzimierz Czarzasty, but in this matter, as a Member of Parliament, I stand firmly behind him.
Your President first insulted Polish soldiers, and then demands support for his dreams of a Nobel Prize.
The times when Nero demanded, under threat of punishment, recognition for his musical talents were recognized as the beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire.
Donald Trump’s efforts to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while at the same time hanging a photo of himself with the greatest criminal of our time – Putin – are, from a Polish perspective, similar to demanding awards and praise in front to Nero.

🐣 RT @simongerman600 One country stands out in the global reputation chart for 2025 [leading economies]. The US lost massive good will globally. ln my world as a public speaker I hear of conferences not being held in the US for the foreseeable future and of academics choosing Canada for their sabbatical over the US. Recent news from Germany is that the government moves away from Microsoft products. Isolated small trends that nonetheless point into the same direction.
◕ https://x.com/simongerman600/status/2019367418666054010?s=20/photo/1
// US 30 ➔ 48, Ukraine 31 ➔ 26, Canada 4 ➔ 2, China 57 ➔ 57, Russia 60 ➔ 60 (dead last),

🐣 RT @Acyn Luttig: It doesn’t matter what the Supreme Court does from this point forward. For two years, the Supreme Court has authorized the absolute lawlessness and unconstitutional activity of this president.

TheAtlantic, Laura Field: The Intellectual Edgelords of the GOP https://tinyurl.com/mr3xnbnz “Macho displays and transgressive memes mark a significant shift in how the federal government sees and promotes its mission—and sanctions state violence.”
// The mainstreaming of transgressive ideas is the culmination of a yearslong conservative project.

It may be tempting to see this change as an organic or bottom-up phenomenon, as if federal agencies are appealing to Proud Boys to lure more ICE recruits. But the reality is that this transformation is the culmination of years of work by niche groups of conservative intellectuals who have long rejected America’s liberal traditions—and now dominate the halls of power. …

After the “Unite the Right” rally turned deadly in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, the alt-right appeared to lose steam. The White House chief strategist Steve Bannon fell from grace, the white nationalist Richard Spencer mostly vanished from the public eye, and controversial figures including Sebastian Gorka and Darren Beattie were ultimately ousted from the administration. Even Stephen Miller looked vulnerable for a time. Many conservatives assumed that the events of January 6, 2021, would rightfully prevent Trump from holding public office ever again.

Instead, January 6 came to signify the staying power of Trumpism, and offered a new rallying cry and loyalty test for a more radicalized GOP. …

Today, elite MAGA-world figures including Anton and Peter Thiel flirt openly with the idea of Caesarism, or a “Red Caesar,” whereby a lone authoritarian ruler might restore the country’s strength. “Postliberals” such as Patrick Deneen write about how “regime change” is possible only with a new elite—one that understands the value of “Machiavellian means to achieve Aristotelian ends.” The influential philosopher-blogger Curtis Yarvin has called for a total dismantling of “the cathedral,” by which he means the all-powerful liberal institutions at the center of modern life (universities, media outlets), which operate like a Church in that they dictate how people should think.

What unifies these thinkers is a totalizing and conspiratorial conception of modern liberal politics. In this view, very little in the existing order is worth redeeming. Some even argue that the most patriotic way forward is simply to burn it all down. …

What unifies these thinkers is a totalizing and conspiratorial conception of modern liberal politics. In this view, very little in the existing order is worth redeeming. Some even argue that the most patriotic way forward is simply to burn it all down. …

That kind of edgelordism has become the currency du jour in the GOP, from the Ivy League through the streets of Minnesota. The MAGA new right seems to be betting that the American polity has a deep reserve of untapped nativist rage—which can be harnessed in the service of their culture war against the liberal status quo, or of ICE’s more tangible goals. But if current polls are to be believed, the administration seems to be underestimating the everyday decency and patriotism of the American public.

Boundary-pushing ideas can be invigorating, and opportunities to question and resist received wisdom are essential to any free and democratic society. But the pursuit of transgression for its own sake can easily derail sound judgment. The risk is in presuming that anything subversive or sensational is also true and meaningful, and that anything conventional is a lie that must be smashed down. That is a brutal way to inhabit the world—and, I hope, a losing one.

🐣 RT @cami_mondeaux NEW: Jeffries and Schumer officially release demands for ICE reforms, including no masks, requiring ID, body cams, ensuring state and local coordination, etc
[TextLink:] https://x.com/cami_mondeaux/status/2019237895840886944?s=20/photo/1 -3

1. Targeted Enforcement – DHS officers cannot enter private property without a judicial warrant. End indiscriminate arrests and improve warrant procedures and standards. Require verification that a person is not a U.S. citizen before holding them in immigration detention.
2. No Masks – Prohibit ICE and immigration enforcement agents from wearing face coverings.
3. Require ID – Require DHS officers conducting immigration enforcement to display their agency, unique ID number and last name. Require them to verbalize their ID number and last name if asked.
4. Protect Sensitive Locations – Prohibit funds from being used to conduct enforcement near sensitive locations, including medical facilities, schools, child-care facilities, churches, polling places, courts, etc.
5. Stop Racial Profiling – Prohibit DHS officers from conducting stops, questioning and searches based on an individual’s presence at certain locations, their job, their spoken language and accent or their race and ethnicity.
6. Uphold Use of Force Standards – Place into law a reasonable use of force policy, expand training and require certification of officers. In the case of an incident, the officer must be removed from the field until an investigation is conducted.
7. Ensure State and Local Coordination and Oversight – Preserve the ability of State and local jurisdictions to investigate and prosecute potential crimes and use of excessive force incidents. Require that evidence is preserved and shared with jurisdictions. Require the consent of States and localities to conduct large-scale operations outside of targeted immigration enforcement.
8. Build Safeguards into the System – Make clear that all buildings where people are detained must abide by the same basic detention standards that require immediate access to a person’s attorney to prevent citizen arrests or detention. Allow states to sue DHS for violations of all requirements. Prohibit limitations on Member visits to ICE facilities regardless of how those facilities are funded.
9. Body Cameras for Accountability, Not Tracking – Require use of body-worn cameras when interacting with the public and mandate requirements for the storage and access of footage. Prohibit tracking, creating or maintaining databases of individuals participating in First Amendment activities.
10. No Paramilitary Police – Regulate and standardize the type of uniforms and equipment DHS officers carry during enforcement operations to bring them in line with civil enforcement.

CornellLaw: 18 U.S. Code § 592 – Troops at polls https://tinyurl.com/y3rhmvn4
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2019577156955697340?s=20

Whoever, being an officer of the Army or Navy, or other person in the civil, military, or naval service of the United States, orders, brings, keeps, or has under his authority or control any troops or armed men at any place where a general or special election is held, unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both; and be disqualified from holding any office of honor, profit, or trust under the United States.

This section shall not prevent any officer or member of the armed forces of the United States from exercising the right of suffrage in any election district to which he may belong, if otherwise qualified according to the laws of the State in which he offers to vote.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 719; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(K), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)

🐣 RT @CREWcrew 18 U.S. Code § 592 makes it a crime punishable by 5 years in prison to deploy federal troops to polling places

🐣 RT @visionergeo 🇷🇺 The Russians not only have problems at the front, the occupiers are facing a real catastrophe. The entire command system of the troops has collapsed. Offensive operations have been halted in many areas — Flash.
¤ https://x.com/visionergeo/status/2019354380441395582?s=20

🇺🇦 It turned out that problems also arose for those Ukrainian military units that did not timely submit lists regarding private Starlinks and did not register terminals in the system… The data processing is currently actively underway.

🟥 Apparently, the disconnection of Starlinks caused a complete paralysis of command and communication in the Russian units

NYT: What the Crackdown Has Done to Minneapolis Children https://tinyurl.com/3626va92 “For weeks, the Minneapolis area has been a landscape of intense turmoil as federal immigration agents face off against furious citizens.”
// “It’s like living in fear all the time,” a teenager said about the federal raids that have shattered families.

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇵🇱 Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski: Russia has waged war, occupied us, wiped us off the map for over a century. When they threaten us, we believe them.
¤ https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/2019356699744731537?s=20

They’ve now spent longer than the Soviet Union fought the Nazis trying to conquer Ukraine. By our estimates, they’ve already suffered opportunity costs of a trillion dollars.

They’ve lost more than a million dead and wounded soldiers. President Putin seems to be demanding even territories that he can’t conquer.

Europe is now financing the war entirely. We’ve spent roughly 200 billion euros.

Success will come only when Putin recalculates whether he can achieve his aims at an acceptable cost.

🐣 RT @MercadoMedia1 TIME Puts Minneapolis on the Cover Amid Federal Immigration Crackdown
🖼 https://x.com/MercadoMedia1/status/2019476034081681605?s=20/photo/1

Time magazine just released a new cover focused on Minneapolis, calling it “The Siege of an American City,” as more than 3,000 federal agents have been deployed here in what’s being described as the largest immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history.

The story details how the operation has brought fear and disruption to immigrant communities, shut down business corridors, sparked mass protests, and led to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents.

For Mayor Jacob Frey, now in his third term, the crisis has put the city at the center of a national political fight, caught between federal pressure and residents demanding stronger resistance.

TIME says Minneapolis has become the clearest example yet of what mass deportation looks like on the ground.

🐣 RT @nexta_tv Former MI6 chief: “We thought the Ukrainians would struggle to hold off the Russians. However, we underestimated how bad the Russian army would perform on the battlefield.” ¤ Richard Moore also remarked:
¤ https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/2019403641388413407?s=20

“In Zelensky, we saw a different kind of leader — a person who turned out to be incredibly brave, stayed and led his people in resistance to the Russian invaders.”

And here, it’s hard not to agree with him. As Alexander Nevzorov wrote, no one but Zelensky has real experience fighting Russia.

The Ukrainian president has a thousand flaws — but his experience outweighs them: All Western leaders are lovely people, but they shine only in conversational genres. What’s needed now is a real gladiator, one who can gut his enemies and isn’t afraid of “escalation and blood.”

⋙ 🐣 RT @PhilMatthews58 “However, we underestimated how bad the Russian army would perform on the battlefield.” ¤ It wasn’t simply that Russia under performed on the battlefield, but they all underestimated how absolutely brilliant Ukraine would perform on the battlefield, against all the odds.

🐣 RT @StratcomCentre Mass reports of Russian operations paralyzed at the front in the aftermath of losing Starlink. ¤ “Command and control of troops at the front is virtually paralyzed.
¤ https://x.com/StratcomCentre/status/2019348003585233295?s=20

According to reports from the field, assault operations have been suspended, and the unit command and control system is experiencing serious interruptions. The reason is the Starlink shutdown for Russian troops following the introduction of mandatory pre-registration. For several days now, Elon Musk’s company has effectively banned the use of its satellite communications by the Russian side, while the Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to use the system after authorization.

According to reports from the front, the situation is close to critical. Over the two years of active Starlink deployment, almost all operational command and control—communication between units, fire coordination, and UAV data transmission—has been tied to the American satellite infrastructure. There has been no practical alternative comparable in stability and speed.”

🐣 RT @NOELreports President Zelensky rejected Russia’s ultimatum on recognizing Donbas, saying Ukraine has its own president who signs documents for the country. He stressed that Ukraine’s territories belong to Ukraine despite their temporary occupation and said no other leaders can decide this for Kyiv. #Ukraine

📋 AP: US and Russia agree to reestablish military dialogue after Ukraine talks https://tinyurl.com/4ykf5bw “The restored communication channel ‘will provide a consistent military-to-military contact as the parties continue to work towards a lasting peace,’ US European Command said”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2019455458998649176?s=20/photo/1

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 55,000 Ukrainian troops have died since Russia’s invasion almost four years ago. “And there is a large number of people whom Ukraine considers missing,” he added in an interview broadcast late Wednesday by French TV channel France 2. he last time Zelenskyy gave a figure for battlefield deaths, in early 2025, he said 46,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed.

Last year saw a 31% increase in Ukrainian civilian casualties compared with 2024, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said in a report published Wednesday. ¤ Almost 15,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed and just over 40,000 wounded since the start of the war through last December, according to the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.

WaPo: As West goes after Russia’s oil fleet, Moscow fears for its war funding https://tinyurl.com/44byny26 “New European measures to crack down on Russia’s shadow fleet could severely hurt its economy at a time when it is looking increasingly vulnerable.”

⭕ 4 Feb 2026

🐣 RT @LePapillonBlu2 The following countries are launching investigations related to the Epstein files:
France
Turkey
United Kingdom
Poland
Lithuania
Norway
Latvia
Australia
North Macedonia
Sweden
Countries all around the world are looking into this—excluding America!

🐣 RT @EuromaidanPress The Abu Dhabi talks aren’t really about negotiating peace. They’re a psychological duel between spy chiefs. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/jayat2up
¤ https://x.com/EuromaidanPress/status/2019088065470378099?s=20

Ukraine sent Budanov, ex-intel chief who’s spent years studying how Russian intelligence operates – their patterns, their deceptions, their pressure points.

Russia’s response? Swap out Medinsky – the ideologue and ex-culture minister who led the failed 2022 talks – for GRU head Kostyukov, who ran intelligence operations in Syria while Russian jets bombed civilians between ceasefire sessions.

With rival intel chiefs facing off, the talks have become a battle of wits. As former Ukrainian diplomat Iuliia Osmolovska told us: “Russians don’t undervalue psychological factors. They use many tricks exploiting psychological vulnerabilities. Underestimating this component makes Western partners very vulnerable.”

Watch or read our interview with former diplomat and negotiations expert Iuliia Osmolovska to understand what’s really happening in Abu Dhabi and go beyond the press releases.

📋 WSJ Editorial: Are Trump’s Tariffs Winning? https://tinyurl.com/49m6frfu “Harvard economists note in the same paragraph that U.S. consumers are bearing up to 43% of the tariff burden, with U.S. companies absorbing most of the rest.”
// He says yes, but let’s look at the evidence that voters feel judging by their views of the economy.

WSJ: Intensifying Tech Slide Sends Nasdaq to Worst Two-Day Drop Since April https://tinyurl.com/5cr5wveu Wall Street has been rotating out of AI leaders into real-economy stocks

🐣 RT @TKouilou [tr] Poland has announced that it is opening an investigation into possible links between the financier Jeffrey Epstein and Russian intelligence services.
Sources:
Reuters: https://tinyurl.com/4b6jz5mh
Dialog[.)Ua: https://tinyurl.com/yj6avpef
¤ https://x.com/TKouilou/status/2018750792040132764?s=20

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk explained that this is not just a criminal matter, but also a national security issue, as information suggests that Russian services may have played a role in the operation of Epstein’s “sex empire.”

Previous investigations indicate that Sergey Belyakov, a former FSB member and official at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, reportedly helped Epstein obtain visas, arrange meetings with Russian officials, facilitate information exchanges, and introduce Epstein to influential politicians abroad.

The released files show that Russia is mentioned thousands of times, and the name Vladimir Putin appears more than a thousand times. In some documents, Epstein is even described as “Putin’s asset manager.”
Other documents mention possible attempts to arrange a meeting with the Russian president.

The Kremlin has not issued an official comment, but has stated that Epstein never requested a meeting with Putin.

According to some media outlets (such as the Daily Mail), Epstein’s network may have been used as a “honey trap” by Russian services to gather compromising information on influential figures.

🚫 🔄 ❤️ 🐣 RT @davetroy 1/ Last August we launched a series of investigative articles asking: “Was Jeffrey Epstein part of Russia’s broader war on the West?” ¤ You should read it. Six installments (so far), each covering an important part of the bigger picture. We start at SFI.
⋙ Part 1: https://tinyurl.com/58u8sz7n
⋙ Part 2: https://tinyurl.com/5buwrkpc
⋙ Part 3: https://tinyurl.com/3mj2vfdt
⋙ Part 4: https://tinyurl.com/dcnrk2t3
⋙ Part 5: https://tinyurl.com/3j9bajz9
⋙ Part 6: https://tinyurl.com/my3xrwp8
// may be too speculative

🐣 RT @ChristopherHale “The Church cannot stay silent before injustice towards migrants. You stand with me. And I stand with you.” — Pope Leo XIV
⋙ LetersfromLeo (Jan 24): American Catholics Must Stand Up to This Dictatorship of Lies https://tinyurl.com/yte3kda7 “The truth may be suppressed, mocked, or momentarily defeated by this dictatorship of lies, but it will never be extinguished. In the end, it will eventually prevail.”
// Even more sickening than today’s ICE killing is your government insisting you didn’t see what you just saw.

🐣 RT @RonanFarrow For nearly a year, the administration has said that DOGE had no unauthorized access to your Social Security data. A new government filing admits that was false.

🐣 RT @jimsciutto The Kremlin says outloud what European and Ukrainian officials have been saying for some time: Russia is not truly interested in peace or willing to make concessions to end the war: “Until Kyiv makes the appropriate decisions, the special military operation continues. Our military is striking targets it believes are associated with the Kyiv regime’s military complex. The operation continues,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said.

🐣 RT @chrislhayes The original 2007 draft indictment of Epstein by federal prosecutors in Florida lays out the scope of the systematic abuse he was engaged in. But it was dropped by the office of Alex Acosta after discussions w/ Epstein’s lawyers Alan Dershowitz and Kenneth Star. Now it’s public.

🐣 RT @sikorskiradek [tr] I share the literary taste of @donaldtusk
⋙ 🐣 RT @donaldtusk In the time of strategic uncertainty, it’s worth knowing who we’re dealing with.
// photo reading Autocracy Inc by Anne Applebaum

‼️ TheTelegraph [UK]: Epstein was probably a Russian spy, says Tusk https://tinyurl.com/54xj6na8 “Poland to examine ‘increasingly likely possibility that paedophilia scandal was co-organised by intelligence services’ in Moscow” //➔ Donald Tusk is the prime minister of Poland.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2019090549748420969?s=20/photo/1

Jeffrey Epstein was likely to have been a Russian spy, the Polish prime minister has said.
v
In an unprecedented intervention after the Epstein document release, Poland is to examine the paedophile’s links with Russian intelligence services.

Donald Tusk said: “More and more leads, more and more ‍information, and more and more commentary in the global press all relate to the suspicion that this unprecedented paedophilia scandal was co-organised by Russian intelligence services.

“I ‌don’t need to ‍tell you how serious the increasingly likely possibility that Russian intelligence services co-organised this operation is for the security of the Polish state.

“‍This can only mean that they also possess compromising materials against many leaders still active today.”
^
The US justice department’s recent release of millions of documents related to Epstein underlined the extent of his ties to significant political figures, including the Russian president.

Among the millions of files that have been released, 1,056 mention Vladimir Putin and more than 9,000 refer to Moscow.

The files revealed that Epstein was granted audiences with the Russian president, including after the American financier was convicted in 2008 of procuring a minor for prostitution.

In 2010, Epstein sent an email to an associate offering to help them obtain a Russian visa, explaining: “I have a friend of Putin’s, should I ask him?”

Emails featured in the latest release of files also reveal that Epstein and his associates would often recruit young Russian women into their network.

They showed that Epstein offered to introduce Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to a “beautiful” 26-year-old Russian woman.

Epstein said he could arrange to introduce him to a woman named only as “Irina”, in an email sent in August 2010. Mr Mountbatten-Windsor denies wrongdoing and has not responded to the latest release.

The files include email requests to book flights for models and escorts between Moscow, Paris, and New York. In a 2010 email to a person whose name has been redacted, Epstein wrote: “Tomorrow I’m organising a dinner for some new Russian girls … see you at 10.”

The consistent appearance of Russian women and politicians in the files has led some to question whether Epstein may have been running a classic “kompromat” operation. This would involve luring influential businessmen, media moguls, and politicians into sexual encounters with women before using them as blackmail.

Tanya Kozyreva, a Kyiv-based reporter who focuses on high-level corruption worldwide, said the files showed signs of a “kompromat” operation.

She wrote: “Epstein reportedly had contact with Russian officials and Putin himself. Many of his girls were Russian. Powerful Western elites passed through his orbit. What are the odds this wasn’t a classic Russian ‘kompromat’ operation – and that DoJ is just ignoring the elephant in the room?”

‘Insight’ on Trump
It is understood that Epstein had several meetings with Putin. In September 2011, he received an email from an unidentified associate who mentioned “an appointment with Putin” during a trip to Russia.

The files released on Friday suggested Epstein had another meeting set up with the Russian leader in 2014, although it is not clear whether it went ahead.

In later emails, Epstein said he could offer “insight” on Donald Trump to Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister. “It is not complex. He [Trump] must be seen to get something. It’s that simple,” Epstein wrote.

Russia’s foreign ministry has not commented on Mr Tusk’s latest revelations. In December, Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman, said the Epstein files showed the hypocrisy of Western elites.

“Here, as I understood, were all the ‍Western ‘lecturers on life’ who looked down on Russia and who lectured us about ‘democracy and human rights’ in interesting poses with equally interesting leisure partners,” she said on Telegram.

🐣 RT @P_Kallioniemi Finnish President Stubb: Europe can no longer rely on the US. Trump-era power politics have recast Europe as a rival & even included threats over Greenland. This ideology clashes with our values. Finland’s choice is clear: adapt quickly, stand with Europe and defend sovereignty.

NYT: Renee Good’s Brothers Call on Congress to Rein In Immigration Crackdown https://tinyurl.com/2398hreb //➔ Not a single Republican even bothered to attend.
// At a forum on Capitol Hill held by congressional Democrats, the brothers of the 37-year-old American citizen fatally shot by an ICE agent said immigration enforcement tactics must be dialed back.

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA ❗️🇺🇦🇺🇸 Zelensky: We are waiting for the reaction of the US to the Russian strikes.
¤ https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/2018751444887703588?s=20

This was a proposal from America itself: to stop the strikes on the energy sector for the time of diplomacy and such cold winter weather. There was a request personally from Trumpz

We see that Russia responded to this request with a record ballistics. Less than four days have passed since the week that Russia was asked for. This also speaks to everything else that Russia promises or can still promise. If their word is not kept now, then what can we expect next?

They lied before this war, and Russia started a full-scale war, trying to deceive everyone around about its intentions and about Ukraine, and now – even in such details, in such agreements with America – Russian deception again.

They are incorrigible in Moscow. And they want to take advantage of the cold, because they cannot conquer us, Ukraine, with their storms. Russia’s bet on war must receive a response from the world.

🐣 RT @Andreas_Adam Here it’s in English. “The Cesspool and Chaos: the 🇷🇺 Connection in the Epstein Affair”@Deskrussie_en & @DeskRussie are on twitter as well and exceptionally responsive It’s a must read IMHO to understand the Maxwell-Epstein Files and the KGB background)
🚫❤️ ⋙ RussiaDesk, Françoise Thom (July 30, 2025): The Cesspool and Chaos: the Russian Connection in the Epstein Affair https://tinyurl.com/52uywybn
// 7/30/2025; I have to read this closer

⭕ 3 Feb 2026

Question to Grok: Could Epstein be running a double-bubble here. Feeding both the FSB and Mossad. [link:] https://x.com/i/grok/share/804b85bef56244999dcafb9aac62ea8e
Answer: It’s certainly a plausible theory that Jeffrey Epstein operated as something akin to a double agent or intermediary, leveraging his network to provide intelligence, blackmail material, or other leverage to multiple foreign agencies—including Russia’s FSB (and its predecessor, the KGB) and Israel’s Mossad—rather than being exclusively loyal to one. This idea stems from his documented ties to figures in both spheres, the nature of his sex-trafficking operation as a potential “honeytrap” for kompromat, and the overlapping espionage histories of his associates. While no definitive proof has emerged (Epstein’s death in 2019 halted deeper investigations), declassified files, leaked communications, and investigative reporting paint a picture of him as a high-level fixer who brokered deals and gathered dirt that could benefit rival powers. Here’s a breakdown of the key evidence and counterpoints.

Ties to Mossad and Israeli Intelligence
Epstein’s connections to Israel are among the most substantiated in the public record, often framed as him acting as an asset or informal operative for Mossad. This theory gained traction after his arrest, with sources alleging he used his island estates and parties to entrap elites for blackmail, which could then be funneled to Israeli interests.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime partner and convicted accomplice, is the daughter of Robert Maxwell—a British media mogul widely reported to have been a Mossad agent (and possibly KGB as well) who died under mysterious circumstances in 1991.

france24.com +1
Robert Maxwell’s espionage links reportedly introduced Epstein to intelligence circles, with some claiming Epstein inherited or expanded on this network.
ahmedeldin.substack.com
Epstein had extensive dealings with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, including financial investments and shared ventures like the tech firm Carbyne (staffed by ex-Israeli intelligence officers).

democracynow.org +1
Leaked emails from 2013–2016 show Epstein facilitating backchannel talks for Israel, such as a security deal with Mongolia and communications with Russia during the Syrian civil war.

youtube.com +1
One reporter noted it often seemed like “Mossad was working for Epstein” due to Barak’s pursuit of him, rather than vice versa.
commondreams.org
FBI memos from the Epstein files describe him as a “co-opted Mossad agent,” with sources claiming he was “trained as a spy” under Barak and that his operation compromised figures like Donald Trump via Israeli influence.

middleeasteye.net +1
A 2025 poll found 27% of Americans who believe Epstein collaborated with foreign intelligence pointed to Israel as the primary culprit (higher among Republicans).
sadat.umd.edu
Israeli officials, including ex-PM Naftali Bennett, have categorically denied Epstein was a Mossad agent, calling it a “lie” and conspiracy theory.

newsnationnow.com +1
However, former Israeli intelligence officer Ari Ben-Menashe has claimed Epstein and Maxwell ran a Mossad honeytrap since the 1980s.
ahmedeldin.substack.com
These links suggest Epstein provided Mossad with leverage over global elites, potentially advancing Israeli geopolitical goals like influence in U.S. politics or deals in the Middle East.
Ties to FSB/KGB and Russian Intelligence
More recent revelations, especially from the 2026 Epstein file dumps by the U.S. Department of Justice, have highlighted Epstein’s Russian connections, fueling speculation he ran a parallel operation for Moscow. This includes direct contacts with FSB-linked figures and allegations of sharing blackmail material with the Kremlin.
Reports claim Epstein’s “sex empire” was the “world’s largest honeytrap operation” directed by the KGB/FSB, with anonymous intelligence sources saying he shared compromising info on elites with Vladimir Putin.

telegraph.co.uk +3
His operation allegedly trafficked women from Russia and facilitated visas, tying into organized crime networks.

united24media.com +1
Epstein reportedly met Putin in 2013 (via a backchannel he helped set up) and claimed to be his “wealth manager” or financial advisor.

youtube.com +2
He emailed Sergei Belyakov—a Russian deputy minister and FSB Academy graduate—in 2015 about favors, and was linked to pro-Kremlin oligarchs.

dossier.center +1
The same 2025 poll showed 30% of respondents suspecting Russian involvement (higher among Democrats), edging out Israel.
sadat.umd.edu
FBI files also reference Epstein’s fake passport and secret recordings as tools for Russian ops.
the-sun.com
Counterarguments include skepticism from some analysts, who note these claims often come from British tabloids or unverified sources, and may be amplified by anti-Russian narratives amid ongoing tensions.
One view is that his Russian ties were indirect, routed through Israeli channels, given overlaps like Robert Maxwell’s alleged dual Mossad-KGB role.
@illB0S
Evidence for a “Double Bubble” Operation
The overlap makes a double-agent scenario credible: Epstein could have fed kompromat to both sides, exploiting rivalries or even coordinating where interests aligned (e.g., anti-Western influence ops). Robert Maxwell’s reported work for both Mossad and KGB sets a precedent, and Epstein’s brokering of Israel-Russia talks during the Syrian war suggests he played intermediary.

youtube.com +2
Some sources explicitly claim he collaborated with “U.S., Israeli, and other countries’ intelligence,” including Russia.

youtube.com +2
Public suspicion is high—45% of Americans in 2025 believed he worked with foreign intel, with Russia and Israel topping the list.
sadat.umd.edu
Critics argue this is overreach, blending unproven allegations with geopolitical biases (e.g., pro-Israel sources downplay Mossad ties, while others emphasize Russia).

reddit.com +2
Epstein himself laughed off spy claims, per reports.

reddit.com +1
U.S. investigations (including by the FBI) have focused more on his crimes than espionage, and no formal charges were brought on intelligence grounds.
In the context of the recent Polish investigation into Epstein’s Kraków links and potential Russian ties (as announced by PM Tusk), this speculation feels timely—it could explain why multiple countries are now probing his network as a security threat. If more files are released, we might get clarity, but for now, it’s a web of circumstantial evidence pointing to Epstein as a mercenary operator unbound by loyalty.

TheAtlantic: ‘This Has Got to End’: Tim Walz on the “all-out attack on state government” https://tinyurl.com/3h2p6yas ‘They’ll only retreat far enough to get to the next news cycle, but they underestimated this state, and I think they’re underestimating the American people’ – Walz

TheAtlantic, Simon Shuster: This Is What Putin Thinks of Trump’s Peace Talks https://tinyurl.com/jr6pphhh ‘Putin’s strategy has shifted to a blatant violation of the international laws of war, which prohibit the bombing of civilian infrastructure. Ukrainians call it ‘energy terror’’

Vladimir Putin was not going to miss his chance to use winter as a weapon. In recent weeks, Russian missile strikes have hammered the power grid and neighborhood heating systems, leaving both on the verge of collapse. Last week, President Trump appealed to Putin to pause these attacks for a week, long enough for the cold snap to pass and peace talks to move forward. Putin initially appeared to acquiesce—then launched one of the worst attacks on Ukraine’s energy network since the start of the war.

… Putin’s strategy has shifted to one that stands in blatant violation of the international laws of war, which prohibit the bombing of civilian infrastructure. Ukrainians aptly call it “energy terror,” and its goal is to freeze them into a state of hopelessness and soften them up for capitulation.

That goal, like most of his aims in this war, has remained out of Putin’s reach. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to push for peace on terms that his people can accept, including firm guarantees from the United States and its allies that they would act decisively to stop any future Russian attack. Over the weekend, as Ukraine’s negotiators met with Zelensky to plan for U.S.-mediated talks with the Russians this week in Abu Dhabi, hundreds of people gathered for a daytime rave on the frozen surface of the Kyiv reservoir, dancing, skating, and racing their cars. …

[Talks] are due to start tomorrow in Abu Dhabi, and Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner, will be there to mediate. On Saturday, both men met in Florida with the Kremlin’s envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, to discuss the terms of a possible deal. “We are encouraged by this meeting that Russia is working toward securing peace in Ukraine,” Witkoff wrote afterward on social media. The Russians, he added, are grateful for Trump’s “critical leadership in seeking a durable and lasting peace.”

But that gratitude did not count for much against Putin’s desire to extend the suffering of Ukrainians. He sees the coldest days of winter as instruments of war, and he will use them no matter what mercies Trump may request. As the sun set over Kyiv today, the air-raid sirens started to wail again across the city center. People got dressed and headed to the shelters, determined to wait out the cold for one more night.

🐣 RT @kyledcheney JUST IN: Judge Simon bars ICE from using aggressive tactics against protesters and journalists, beginning his opinion with this preamble:”Our nation is now at a crossroads. In helping our nation find its constitutional compass, an impartial and independent judiciary operating under the rule of law has a responsibility that it may not shirk.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/2018813239510061182?s=20/photo/1
[CourtDoc:] https://tinyurl.com/32w3bcmd 22p
⋙ 🐣 RT @kyledcheney MORE: Judge Simon said DHS leaders’s statements effectively blessed/incentivized the use of force against protesters and journalists. “[T]he culture of the agency and its employees is to celebrate violent responses over fair and diplomatic ones.”

CSIS: Russia’s Grinding War in Ukraine: Massive Losses and Tiny Gains for a Declining Power https://tinyurl.com/3zpbmvue “Its war economy is under mounting strain, with manufacturing declining and no globally competitive technology firms to help drive long-term productivity”

Despite claims of battlefield momentum in Ukraine, the data shows that Russia is paying an extraordinary price for minimal gains and is in decline as a major power. Since February 2022, Russian forces have suffered nearly 1.2 million casualties, more losses than any major power in any war since World War II. At current rates, combined Russian and Ukrainian casualties could reach 2 million by the spring of 2026. After seizing the initiative in 2024, Russian forces have advanced at an average rate of between 15 and 70 meters per day in their most prominent offensives, slower than almost any major offensive campaign in any war in the last century. Meanwhile, Russia’s war economy is under mounting strain, with manufacturing declining, slowing growth of 0.6 percent in 2025, and no globally competitive technology firms to help drive long-term productivity.

↥ ↧
WSJ Editorial: Vladimir Putin Isn’t Winning in Ukraine https://tinyurl.com/y7j6zpwp “Vladimir Putin wants the world to think he can’t be defeated. A new, detailed report on the war underscores that Mr. Putin isn’t winning, and Mr. Trump can still … produce a peace that is honorable.”
// The Russian death toll may be as high as 325,000 in four years.
// complete: “Vladimir Putin wants the world to think he can’t be defeated. A new, detailed report on the war underscores that Mr. Putin isn’t winning, and Mr. Trump can still apply military and economic pressure to produce a peace that is honorable.”

Russian forces have taken an astonishing 1.2 million casualties in Ukraine since 2022, according to estimates from Seth Jones and Riley McCabe of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Russian death toll may be as high as 325,000—more than five times than in all Soviet and Russian conflicts combined since World War II. Some 36,000 Americans died in the grinding three-year Korean War.

Consider Mr. Putin’s struggle to take the city of Pokrovsk. Russian forces have advanced in the area on average 70 meters a day from late February 2024 to January of this year. That’s like starting the day on 42nd street in Manhattan and ending up on 43rd street.

The Ukraine war draws comparisons to the trench warfare of World War I, but the Russian advance has been “slower than the most brutal offensive campaigns over the last century, including the notoriously bloody Battle of the Somme during World War I,” says the report. Ukraine has its own manpower shortages, but Russian casualties are two or 2.5 to one for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, half of Moscow’s budget is flowing to “the armed forces, the military-industrial complex, domestic security and debt service,” CSIS notes. Moscow doesn’t have the economic growth or dynamism to keep underwriting the misadventure for the long haul. One illustrative fact: Russia has “a grand total of zero companies in the top 100 list of technology companies as measured by market capitalization.”

All of this means Mr. Putin shouldn’t be able to wield a whip hand at the negotiating table. The Russian dictator is in a weakened position that Mr. Trump could exploit with tougher sanctions and more U.S. weapons, to at least force Mr. Putin to give up some stolen territory and tolerate real security guarantees.

The same Mr. Trump who arms his diplomacy with Iran to increase his leverage has been oddly unwilling to do the same with Mr. Putin. But a weak peace would let Mr. Putin “up off the mat,” as GOP Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker put it last year. The Russian would rearm with a renewed animus for NATO.

Mr. Putin isn’t the unstoppable man he wants Mr. Trump to think he is. The question of the past year has been whether President Trump will see this strategic opening to reduce the Russian threat to the U.S., and deter the world’s bad actors in Beijing and elsewhere, by driving a harder bargain in Ukraine.

🐣 📊 RT @RichardHanania It’s not just Substack. Here are news sources for Republicans and Democrats. https://tinyurl.com/49n8rhrr
◕ https://x.com/RichardHanania/status/2018679789570400646?s=20/photo/1

Republicans don’t really pay attention to any serious written publications. Even The Wall Street Journal is more likely to be read by Democrats.

This isn’t a media bias issue. Conservatives have seen media startups: see the rise in Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, Breitbart, and Newsmax.

They’re just all trash. The conservative audience wants conspiracy theories and Trump worship.

I enjoy City Journal, but its readership is small, reflecting that the high IQ, intellectually curious right-leaning audience is extremely small.

No one is stopping rightists from starting a Vox, or Atlantic, or New York Times. The conservative audience just isn’t smart enough for it.

💙 🐣 RT @UKikaski OSINT Intuit™ is built on evidence, restraint, and analytical discipline, not political advocacy. But there are moments when silence becomes a form of distortion, and precision requires saying what is plainly visible. This is one of those moments. When a sitting president openly rejects electoral legitimacy and advocates the seizure of democratic processes, the issue is no longer partisan alignment or brand consistency. It is constitutional risk. Those with a platform, however modest, have a responsibility to speak when facts point to danger, even when doing so is uncomfortable or inconvenient. Ignoring it in the name of neutrality would not be professionalism. It would be abdication. […] […]
¤ https://x.com/UKikaski/status/2018656092499198248?s=20

🐣 RT @ChristopherJM ⚡️Ukraine agrees multi-tier plan for enforcing any ceasefire with Russia ¤ Crucially, the security guarantees and this Ukraine-Euro-US plan depends on a lasting ceasefire that has yet to materialize. And the Russians are showing no true interest in a peace deal to end their war. [FT link:] https://tinyurl.com/39yxdycf
[TextLink:] https://x.com/ChristopherJM/status/2018594578358534473?s=20/photo/1

Under the plan, three people familiar with the matter said, a Russian ceasefire violation would trigger a response within 24 hours, beginning with a diplomatic warning and any action required from the Ukrainian army to halt the infraction.

If hostilities continued beyond that, a second phase of intervention would be initiated using forces from the so-called coalition of the willing, which includes many EU members plus the UK, Norway, Iceland and Turkey.

If the violation turned into an expanded attack, 72 hours after the initial breach, a co-ordinated military response by a western-backed force involving the US military would take effect, the officials said.

WaPo Editorial: Moderna’s chilling announcement is a symptom of a deeper sickness https://tinyurl.com/5n8ctbf2 “China is on track to become the world’s pharmaceutical leader if the U.S. keeps blowing its edge.”

WaPo: RFK Jr.’s attacks on vaccines just hit a wall of pediatricians https://tinyurl.com/4kpkw9tv “The American Academy of Pediatrics issuing its own vaccine guidance is not just symbolic.” //➔ If your doctor goes by the RFK Jr recs and not the AAP’s, you know what to do.

🐣 RT @POLITICOEurope European governments and corporations are racing to reduce their exposure to U.S. technology, military hardware and energy resources as transatlantic relations sour. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/yb4b87e7

🐣 RT @AlexandruC4 Alexander Acosta, the US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida who handled Epstein’s criminal case: “I was told Epstein ‘belonged to intelligence’ and to ‘leave it alone'”, and that Epstein was “above my pay grade.” – 2017 (Observer)
¤ https://x.com/AlexandruC4/status/2018635573058326976?s=20

🐣 RT @SavchenkoReview 🇺🇦👀 The nature of the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia has radically changed after the arrival of Budanov and Arakhamia, — UP
¤ https://x.com/SavchenkoReview/status/2018663109783621814?s=20

Previously, the Ukrainian side had to listen to Medinsky’s monologues for hours about “originally Russian” lands and the history of Ancient Rus, but now the composition of the Russian negotiators has changed to professional military personnel, and these topics are not raised.

“Now the military are sitting and discussing very specific things: withdrawal mechanisms, guarantees, terms, etc. This is a key change that occurred with the arrival of Budanov,” — UP sources report.

⭕ 2 Feb 2026

NYT: Trump, in an Escalation, Calls for Republicans to ‘Nationalize’ Elections https://tinyurl.com/2kf3jv2p “The comments, made on a conservative podcast, follow a string of moves from his administration to try to exert more control over American elections.”

WSJ Editorial: Crony Socialism and Rare Earths https://tinyurl.com/bdfcudvx “What would Republicans have said if the Biden crowd acquired government stakes in companies with ties to its friends and family? Well, that’s more or less what the Trump team is doing”
// Government stakes in companies is the wrong way to beat China.

NYT, Aaron Zamost: The Real Reason Silicon Valley Won’t Stand Up to Trump https://tinyurl.com/2s3hp5kj “Silicon Valley’s chief executives have always been driven by economics, not ideology. As Michael Corleone put it: It’s not personal — it’s strictly business.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2018601197276741943?s=20/photo/1

Hours after Alex Pretti was shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis, Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, joined President Trump; his wife, Melania; and other luminaries in the White House to attend a screening of a documentary devoted to the first lady.
v
Apple employees voiced anger in internal Slack channels, while other Silicon Valley tech workers publicly denounced the Trump administration’s deployment of federal officers across America. Workers at Palantir erupted in internal complaints over the software company’s work with immigration enforcement. At Meta, some longtime employees are considering leaving the company, saying it is now led by a MAGA-skewing chief they no longer recognize. …
^
There are many theories about Silicon Valley’s swift, and very conspicuous, rightward turn. Tech leaders course-corrected from an overly permissive era. The Trump administration demands fealty in exchange for critical regulatory favors. Mr. Trump’s re-election reshaped the national climate and reoriented the values of tech leadership.

Each of these explanations is convenient, but none are correct. I’ve worked in tech for 20 years, across both Big Tech and venture-backed start-ups, and I can tell you the truth is much more mundane. Silicon Valley’s chief executives have always been driven by economics, not ideology. As Michael Corleone put it: It’s not personal — it’s strictly business.

What has happened in tech is a market correction, not a cultural one — a transfer of power from labor back to management. To attribute this change to a “vibe shift” among tech leaders may flatter political actors, but it’s beside the point. The real danger is mistaking a change in leverage for something permanent, or confusing business incentives with values. The idea of “woke corporations” was always flawed — conflating business strategy with political belief distorts not just how we understand the tech industry, but also how we interpret corporate power in American life more broadly.

Here’s how Silicon Valley actually works. Big tech companies and growing start-ups are in constant, vicious competition with one another to hire and retain the best employees, especially in product and engineering roles. When these companies are in hypergrowth mode, and particularly when the job market is tight, hiring top talent can be nothing short of a matter of survival. And they are fishing in a largely progressive pond: Political donation data shows tech employees are predominantly Democratic-leaning. …

The recent reassertion of managerial prerogative was only possible in an economic environment where top executives could flex their muscles like a boss. It won’t last forever. When labor is scarce again, many of these companies will rediscover the values they abandoned. The question is whether employees will forget just as quickly.

WaPo, Max Boot: America is alienating what could become a superpower https://tinyurl.com/fwypy28m “If the ‘mighty middle powers’ can band together, they may not miss the era of American dominance — but Americans likely will.”
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2018430583265763362?s=20/photo/1
// If Europe and Asian democracies coordinate, they can reshape the global balance.

[T]here is a strong overlap of outlooks between the non-American members of NATO (Europe and Canada) and the great democracies of East Asia and Oceania: Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Taiwan.…

If these countries could act together, they would be a superpower in their own right. The “Eurasia bloc” has a population of nearly 900 million, GDP of $39.5 trillion, defense spending of $830 billion and 3.1 million soldiers. That dwarfs America’s population (338 million) and beats its GDP ($31 trillion) while their defense spending is roughly similar to America’s ($850 billion this year). China, of course, has an even larger population, but it lags in all the other categories; its GDP is roughly half that of the Eurasia bloc. Russia trails even further behind; its GDP ($2.5 trillion) is considerably smaller than California’s.

The only thing holding the middle powers back is their lack of unity. Russia, China and the United States are all nation-states. But NATO is composed of 32 states and the European Union of 27. Europe’s resources are only loosely marshaled together, and there is little coordination with Asian democracies, which in turn are linked by alliances with the United States but not with each other. Those geopolitical realities won’t change anytime soon, but there are small but substantial steps these countries can take to act in greater concert.

Britain, for example, should rejoin the European Union, and both Ukraine and Canada should be allowed in. (Canada is part of Europe in spirit, if not geographically.) The E.U. should end its requirement for unanimity so that small nations such as Hungary or Slovakia can’t block collective action. A new “quad” dialogue should be established among Europe, Australia, Japan and South Korea, perhaps eventually leading to the globalization of NATO or the creation of an Asian counterpart. The E.U., meanwhile, should work toward the creation of a “European army.” The Nordic-Baltic 8 (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden) are trendsetters in defense integration.

All the Western countries are already reaching free-trade accords to lessen their dependence on the United States — the E.U. concluded trade treaties with India and five South American countries, while Canada struck more limited trade partnerships with China and Qatar. (In response, Trump threatened Canada with 100 percent tariffs; apparently, he’s the only leader allowed to do a trade deal with Beijing.) There is much more that could be done to enhance trade between Europe and Asia; Carney wants to “build a bridge between the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the European Union, which would create a new trading bloc of 1.5 billion people.”

It’s also imperative for the Eurasian countries to expand their defense capabilities so they are no longer as reliant on a fickle United States. And that’s happening: European defense spending has roughly doubledin the past decade, and it continues to grow. One German company soon will be producing more 155mm artillery shells a year than the entire United States. Ukraine, with its battle-tested army and world-class drone force, can be a pillar of European defense for decades to come.

Europe has an advanced defense industry, but European countries are also drawing heavily on South Korea’s factories. Poland, for example, is buying South Korean tanks, howitzers and fighter jets, while Norway just decided to spend $2 billion to buy long-range rocket artillery from South Korea. Given Trump’s threats, it’s understandable that U.S. allies are seeking to reduce dependence on U.S. weapons systems; Canada, for example, is discussing buying more Swedish Gripen jets and fewer F-35s. …

America Firsters may be fine with U.S. allies going their own way; Trump even claims credit for higher European defense spending. But future presidents may not be happy with the result: If U.S. allies are less dependent on America for trade and security, they will become much harder to boss around and less likely to do business with America. The U.S. could even lose the overseas bases that it uses to project power. In trying to acquire Greenland, Trump implied that the U.S. is more likely to defend territory it owns. So why should other countries host U.S. bases on their territory?

If the “mighty middle powers” can band together, they may not miss the era of American dominance — but Americans likely will.

🐣 RT @clashreport Jeffrey Epstein kidnapped minors from around the world. ¤ He transported underage girls from Türkiye, the Czech Republic, and other countries in Asia and elsewhere, many of whom spoke little or no English. ¤ It is further alleged that African American females were the only group excluded from his sexual exploitation.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/clashreport/status/2018382087414227111?s=20/photo/1

… destinations, including Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa. He provided accommodations with him in order to have her available to him at all times wherever he went, including while transporting the minor Plaintiff on his private jet. Each time they would travel to one of these destinations, the same pattern of sexual abuse would occur, often with a vast array of aspiring models, actresses, celebrities, and/or other females, including minors, from all over the world. Upon information and belief, Defendant transported minor girls from Turkey, the Czech Republic, Asia, and numerous other countries, many of whom spoke no English. To Plaintiff’s knowledge, the only females specifically excluded from Defendant’s sexual escapades were African-Americans.

21. In addition to being continually exploited to satisfy Defendant’s every sexual whim, Plaintiff was also required to be sexually exploited by Defendant’s adult male peers, including royalty, politicians, academicians, businessmen, and/or other professional and personal acquaintances. Whenever Defendant transported Plaintiff with him in his private jet to any destination, Defendant would pay Plaintiff a flat rate per day while he and/or his above mentioned associates would sexually exploit and abuse minor Plaintiff.

22. Most of these acts of abuse occurred during a time when Defendant knew that Plaintiff was approximately 15, 16, and 17 years old, and, after years of daily sexual exploitation, continued into her adulthood. Despite Defendant’s stating shortly before Plaintiff’s sixteenth birthday that he soon would have to trade her in because she was getting too old, Defendant continued to sexually exploit Plaintiff until she fled at age 19. Defendant’s predilection for young girls was well known to those who regularly procured them for him and to his circle of friends. On one of Defendant’s birthdays, a friend of Defendant sent him three 12-year-old girls from France who spoke no English for Defendant to sexually exploit and abuse. After doing so, they were sent back to France the next day. [end of page]

🐣 RT @tonyannett Yes, the Epstein files aren’t just about child rape by rich and powerful. It’s about an attempt to destroy democracy to benefit capital. Everything is connected.
⋙ 🐣 RT @highbrow_nobrow It certainly looks like Jeffrey Epstein conspired with well-known billionaires to undermine democratic institutions and enrich themselves at everyone else’s expense.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/tonyannett/status/2018380059241861209?s=20/photo/1

NYT: We Were Top Homeland Security Lawyers. You Can’t Wish Away the Fourth Amendment https://tinyurl.com/3m8bkddh “We urge DHS to adhere to the Constitution and end the practice of conducting forcible entry into homes without judicial warrants.”
// By Stevan Bunnell, Gus Coldebella, Ivan Fong, Kara Lynum, Jonathan Meyer and John Mitnick :: The authors all served as general counsels or acting general counsels for the Department of Homeland Security.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2018397072387358906?s=20/photo/1

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has reportedly issued a memorandum that authorizes its agents to enter private residences forcibly without a judicial warrant. James Percival, the general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, recently defended the department’s policy and wrote that “deep-state actors in the federal government have for decades told ICE officers that they may not enter a fugitive alien’s home even with a final order of removal and administrative warrant.”

We disagree.

We previously sat in the seat he now occupies, serving in both Republican and Democratic administrations; this is not a partisan issue. We disagree not only with Mr. Percival’s position but also with his characterization of lawyers at the Department of Homeland Security and elsewhere who seek to uphold the rule of law.

It is not the so-called deep state that has restrained ICE from entering homes using only administrative warrants. It is the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution — and the lawyers who took an oath to support and defend it. We worked with thousands of homeland security lawyers. They sought to ensure that the department’s actions are lawful and protect the constitutional rights of the people its agents encounter in day-to-day operations. Attempting to tarnish department attorneys as “deep state” operatives for giving legal advice that is faithful to the Constitution is not only offensive but also dangerous. It sends a message: If you give your best professional advice and urge the department to respect the law, you will be attacked for doing your job.

The job of the general counsel is not to provide convenient legal cover or constitutional workarounds. It is to provide sound legal analysis and advice, even when that advice may be inconvenient for the administration. Often that involves partnering with internal clients to find lawful ways to carry out department policies. Sometimes, however, that means advising that a policy is unlawful. That is not sabotage; it is upholding the rule of law.

The Fourth Amendment has long protected the sanctity of the home. Courts have consistently held that law enforcement must clear a high constitutional bar before crossing that threshold. A warrant signed by a judge who is independent of the executive branch is a constitutional safeguard that separates legitimate law enforcement from arbitrary government power. This bedrock principle applies with equal — if not greater — force when the government is merely enforcing a civil immigration order.

Today the Department of Homeland Security seeks to justify forcible home entries on the basis of administrative warrants — warrants issued by the executive, not the judicial branch. While Mr. Percival and the department have not made clear which cases, if any, they are relying on, at least one analysis speculates that they are using a mere nonbinding observation from a 1960 Supreme Court case. However, the weight of subsequent Supreme Court authority strongly supports the view that a judicial warrant is required for such entry — a view reflected by the Federal District Court judge in Texas who ordered the release on Saturday of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from immigration custody.

Aside from relying on an unsound constitutional justification, the use of administrative warrants to justify forcible entry runs counter to years of practice and precedent, as well as training designed to ensure constitutional compliance and protect the public from abuses of power. Indeed, the Homeland Security Act of 2002, which created the department in the wake of Sept. 11, expressly requires it to pursue its critically important missions while ensuring that “the civil rights and civil liberties of persons are not diminished by efforts, activities and programs aimed at securing the homeland.”

It is also wrong to state, as [General Counsel] Mr. Percival did, that there is “broad judicial recognition” that the Fourth Amendment does not attach the same protections to all people in the United States. The Constitution does not reserve the right to be secure in one’s home only for American citizens. The amendment’s protections exist precisely because unchecked government power has always posed the greatest danger to individual liberty, particularly for those least able to protect themselves.

According to a complaint filed by a group representing whistle-blowers, the ICE memorandum containing this new interpretation of the law was not widely distributed. Apparently, employees were expected not to retain the memorandum but only to read it before returning it to their supervisors. This secrecy speaks volumes about the weakness of its arguments.

All of us made difficult decisions during our service at the Department of Homeland Security, but none of us needed to lean into conspiracy theories to justify them. We have not always agreed with one another, but we served with dedication and integrity and were honored to work for the American people. We provided our best counsel based on fidelity to the law. We urge the Department of Homeland Security to adhere to the Constitution and end the practice of conducting forcible entry into homes without judicial warrants.

🐣 RT @BohuslavskaKate Kaja Kallas at the Oslo Security Conference: ¤ Over the last 100 years, Russia has attacked at least 19 countries—some as many as three or four times. None of those countries has ever attacked Russia. So the question is: how do we ensure that this war does not continue or spread elsewhere? ¤ We need to see concessions from the Russian side, including limitations on their military budget, their army size, and their nuclear weapons, as well as accountability for the crimes they have committed.”

🐣 RT @EuromaidanPress EU’s Kallas: Pressuring Ukraine plays into Russia’s hands — and shifts blame away from the aggressor ¤ Russia hasn’t changed its goals since 2022, but pressure is now on Kyiv to concede. ¤ Kallas says this distorts who’s responsible for the war. She urged Europe to push Moscow to disarm and face justice instead. [KyivIndependent link:] https://tinyurl.com/jxjh2m83

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa I met with our negotiating team ahead of the new round of trilateral talks. We expect the meetings to take place in the coming days, as early as this Wednesday and Thursday.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2018357001479147856?s=20

Nearly all members of the negotiating team attended today’s meeting, namely Rustem Umerov, Kyrylo Budanov, Sergiy Kyslytsya, Andrii Hnatov, and Oleksandr Bevz. Davyd Arakhamiia will also participate in the negotiations. I approved frameworks for the talks and set specific tasks.

The Ukrainian delegation will also hold bilateral meetings with the American side. Ukraine is ready for real steps. We believe it is realistic to achieve a dignified and lasting peace. We consider the bilateral security guarantees document with the United States to be complete, and we anticipate further substantive work on documents related to recovery and economic development.

We also anticipate that the American side will remain decisive in ensuring the necessary conditions for dialogue. The de-escalation measures that went into effect on the night of last Thursday to Friday are helping to build public trust in the negotiation process and its possible outcome. The war needs to be ended. Thank you to everyone around the world who is helping. Glory to Ukraine!

⭕ 1 Feb 2026

TheAtlantic: Ammon Bundy Is All Alone https://tinyurl.com/mrksnf7p “In November, Bundy self-published a long essay titled ‘The Stranger,’ in which he labeled the Trump administration’s treatment of undocumented immigrants a ‘moral failure.’”
// The anti-government militia leader can’t make sense of his allies’ support for ICE violence.

NYT, David Litt: The Trump Administration Thinks They Had It Coming https://tinyurl.com/4vn6cma7 “America remains full of good people. What kind of president — what kind of administration — would dishonor their memories by pretending otherwise when they die?”

🐣 RT @RepThomasMassie “How will we know if this bill has been successful? We will know when rich men are being perp walked in handcuffs to the jail. Until then, this is still a coverup.”

NYT, David French: This Is Not a Drill https://tinyurl.com/mr9yzdjt “I fear that millions of citizens are still too complacent. They aren’t aware of the peril we face.”

🐣 RT @jurgen_nauditt Putin’s name appears more than a thousand times in Jeffrey Epstein’s files. ¤ https://x.com/jurgen_nauditt/status/2017991643610153258?s=20

This is according to the Daily Mail. The paper reports that the financier may have been working in Moscow’s interest and amassing compromising information about the global elite.

He allegedly used Russian women for this purpose.

According to the journalists, Epstein boasted about his access to the Kremlin and mentioned a “friend of Putin” who was able to arrange visas.

There has long been speculation on social media that Putin’s involvement in the Epstein affair was only a matter of time and thorough investigation. Now it seems that time has come.

🐣 RT @cwebbonline Holy shit. I had to read this three times. But buried in this word salad is the following: [Trump’s long post at link]
¤ ✛ [TextLink:] https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/2017930867252080730?s=20/photo/1

Trump’s threatening to deploy ICE, Border Patrol, and possibly the military against protests, while blaming “poorly run” Democratic cities. He says federal forces will only help local governments if they ask for help and say “please,” but at the same time insists federal agents will aggressively crack down to protect federal property regardless of local consent.

He labels protesters as paid “lunatics,” “agitators,” and “insurrectionists,” and warns of forceful retaliation.

Trump is blurring protest with insurrection and lays the groundwork for federal crackdowns without formally invoking the Insurrection Act.

NYT: How Alex Pretti’s Death Became a National Tipping Point https://tinyurl.com/2bpd9tdh “Several factors converged to force a remarkable shift in the federal government’s aggressive efforts in Minnesota.”

🐣 🔊 RT @JaneMayerNYer Just out: From 9/11 to Minneapolis: How ICE Became a Paramilitary Force – and how ICE and the CBP have long been riddled by crime and corruption. Join us with guest Garrett Graff, and my colleagues @sbg1 and @evanosnos [link:] https://tinyurl.com/588tmsdb

NYT: Federal Courts Undercut Trump’s Mass Deportation Campaign https://tinyurl.com/2j3jexuj “A policy intended to keep immigrants detained indefinitely has led to a deluge of lawsuits, overwhelming some federal courts and resulting in many releases.”

⭕ 31 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @tonyannett Martin Wolf, the chief economics correspondent for the Financial Times, refers to the tech oligarchs who control AI as psychopaths. ¤ I repeat: the Financial Times. Not some lefty outfit.

NYT: The Interview: ‘A Terrifying Line Is Being Crossed’: Mayor Jacob Frey on the Turmoil in Minneapolis https://tinyurl.com/366xecna “You’ve got thousands of federal agents in Minneapolis, not around safety, not even around immigration, but to create a political narrative”

🐣 RT @SkylineReport 🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 Donald Trump isn’t just trying to rewrite history. He’s trying to rewrite reality itself, and the paper trail is damning.
¤ https://x.com/SkylineReport/status/2017697362144018501?s=20

Days after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the Trump-controlled Department of Justice quietly deleted a federally funded study showing that far-right extremists are responsible for the overwhelming majority of domestic terrorism deaths in the U.S. The study didn’t get corrected. It didn’t get rebutted. It got erased.

The timing wasn’t subtle.
The motive wasn’t complicated.

Trump immediately blamed the “radical left” for the killing, before investigators had identified a suspect or motive, then doubled down in speeches insisting left-wing violence is the real threat. That claim flatly contradicts every serious dataset on domestic terrorism, including studies from the DOJ itself, the libertarian Cato Institute, CSIS, PNAS, and the University of Maryland. So instead of changing the rhetoric, the administration changed the record.

This is not messaging.
This is state-sponsored narrative laundering.

The DOJ offered no real explanation. Just a vague notice about “reviewing websites” to comply with unnamed executive orders. Translation: the facts were inconvenient, so they disappeared.

This is how authoritarianism actually works. Not with one dramatic lie, but with quiet deletions, buried data, and an audience told to trust the man yelling loudest instead of the evidence sitting right in front of them.

Trump didn’t challenge the conclusions.
He removed them.

That’s not governance. That’s reality control.

Sources: …

🐣 RT @ConLawWarrior Just a reminder that DOJ’s non-prosecution agreement with Jeffrey Epstein is the single most corrupt document you will ever see in your life.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/ConLawWarrior/status/2017802106401427473?s=20/photo/1
[CourtDoc:] https://tinyurl.com/2ap9mect 15p

TheAtlantic: The ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Could Flood the Earth. Can a 50-Mile Wall Stop It? https://tinyurl.com/yz39rksv “If the Thwaites Glacier collapses, it would add two feet of sea-level rise to the world’s oceans. … And Thwaites acts as a cork in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which contains enough water to raise sea levels by nearly 17 feet.”
// Scientists have long opposed polar geoengineering. Some now believe it will be necessary.

TheAtlantic, Julie Beck: Americans Love Their Neighbors https://tinyurl.com/2ubadkk2 Statistics say this is a time of disconnection. Minnesota’s response to ICE shows otherwise. //➔ MN actually really is “nice”; that’s why we moved back home from Chicago to work at Mayo.

NYT: Facing Immigration Backlash, Trump Called Schumer to Cut a Deal https://tinyurl.com/4es2nbnn “Negotiations over new limits on immigration officers and security operations promise to be contentious, with no guarantee of a quick agreement”
// The president and the top Senate Democrat, who are often at each other’s throats, agreed to try to keep the government open and to start talks on new limits on federal immigration agents.

NYT: They Said They Weren’t Close to Epstein. New Documents Show Otherwise https://tinyurl.com/38erk4wf mentioned: Elon Musk, Howard Lutnick, Kathy Ruemmler, Richard Branson, Andrew Farkas, Peter Thiel, Sergey Brin, Steve Tisch, Leon Black
// Materials released by the Justice Department revealed that leading business and political figures had enduring relationships with the disgraced financier.

🐣 RT @BBMagaMom 🚨BREAKING: We are only seeing the very tip of the iceberg with the newly released Epstein files, and they are already making people physically sick.
¤ https://x.com/BBMagaMom/status/2017753364759511243?s=20

What’s coming out is vile, wicked, and evil beyond comprehension. And make no mistake, this is only the beginning.

Buckle up, America.

Because the people implicated in this darkness are the same people who posture as your moral superiors,
who tell you how to live, how to think,
how to raise your children,

Then demand your tax dollars while doing things so depraved they can barely be spoken aloud.

This isn’t politics anymore.
This is good vs. evil.

So here’s the line in the sand:
Are we really going to sit here and allow this level of evil to be exposed, and then do nothing? Are we going to keep pretending this is “normal,” “acceptable,” or “too uncomfortable to confront”?

Because history remembers silence.
And it never sides with it.

🐣 RT @TheRickWilson Told y’all.
⋙ 🐣 RT @TheMaineWonk Epstein to Wolff: The Original Funder for the [Steele] Dossier was Rubio. 😶👀
[TextLink:] https://x.com/TheRickWilson/status/2017768748900372783?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @kyledcheney Never seen a ruling like this: “Observing human behavior confirms that for some among us, the perfidious lust for unbridled power and the imposition of cruelty in its quest know no bounds and are bereft of human decency. And the rule of law be damned.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/2017695348530045201?s=20/photo/1
[CourtDoc:] https://tinyurl.com/2zbws5u9 3p

🐣 RT @chrisjollyhale “The Church cannot stay silent before injustice towards migrants. You stand with me. And I stand with you.” — Pope Leo XIV

🐣 RT @AnnieForTruth ICE officers are masked, heavily armed, no identification of their name or badge number, & no body cams. They are serving as Trump’s Gestapo terrorizing, threatening, bullying, beating, tear gassing communities & murdering citizens. This is NOT what happens in a free society. 😡
[TextLink:] https://x.com/AnnieForTruth/status/2017613587959976251?s=20/photo/1

No, they’re not Navy Seals.
They’re not Delta Force. They’re not going to fight terrorists, or foreign armies, or organized crime, or violent criminals.
They have all that firepower to beat up grannies from Honduras, go up against 5-year-olds, and shoot Americans in the back.

🐣 RT @RichRaho Pope Leo to young politicians: “I invite you to reflect on the fact that there can be no peace while humanity wages war against itself—by discarding the weak, excluding the poor, and remaining indifferent to refugees and the oppressed.”

🐣 RT @BillKristol ICE and CBP agents seem to enjoy gratuitously breaking glass—from car windows to store fronts to homes. It’s an expression of unchecked power and dominance: “We’re in charge. We break and shatter what we want.” ¤ And nights of broken glass have been a harbinger of worse to come.
⋙ 🐣 Miller is a genuine Nazi-wannabe.
He knows the playbook, crime by crime.

⭕ 30 Jan 2026

NYT, Ben Rhodes: The Rot Goes Deeper Than ICE https://tinyurl.com/r2wevvnk “Twenty-five years into it, the war on terror has become a war against ourselves. … Enough with the military gear. Enough with the mass surveillance. Enough with the constant fear of an ever-shifting Other.”

🐣 RT @TheAtlantic Bruce Springsteen’s “Streets of Minneapolis” calls back to protest music’s glory days, @skornhaber writes—and though the Boss has sounded bitter and mournful before, he has never sounded “this purely angry”:
⋙ TheAtlantic: Rage in the U.S.A. https://tinyurl.com/4aefxc6s “Bruce Springsteen has never sounded angrier than on his new song, ‘Streets of Minneapolis.’”
🖼 https://x.com/TheAtlantic/status/2017428878440931791?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @SkinnerPm Firing this many senior FBI and DOJ officials tells us that what the administration is demanding is certainly unethical and likely illegal. Honorable and competent people are being removed to make way for those not burdened with either.
🐣 RT @JoyceWhiteVance The Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office is in open revolt against Main Justice dictates. Now the FBI Acting SAC is gone. I can’t stress enough how unusual this is. Agents & prosecutors are refusing to play along with the corruption of the Justice Department.
⋙ 🐣 RT @CarolLeonnig BREAKING on @MSNOWNews – The acting chief of FBI field office for Minneapolis has been removed from his job by headquarters, two sources tell me. This comes on heels of his office’s disputes with @FBI HQ over ICE protests & ouster of Atlanta chief.

🐣 RT @KDilanianMSNOW Two people familiar with matter tell @MSNOWNews that the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta Field office, Paul Brown, was forced out of that job earlier this month over his qualms about and refusal to carry out the searches and seizures of the Fulton County ballots.

🐣 RT @Kasparov63 Some of the mad king’s rantings are to be obeyed as law, and others are to be ignored. Having the most powerful office in the world occupied by such a person, with no meaningful opposition in government, is a global catastrophe.
⋙ 🐣 RT @jaynordlinger The president of the United States says, “ARREST OBAMA NOW!” May I ask you: To whom is he speaking? Is it a command? Does anyone care?
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Kasparov63/status/2017270079197450548?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump BREAKING: Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has just released HUNDREDS OF BOMBSHELL RUSSIAGATE DOCUMENTS
proving that Barack Obama personally ordered CIA agents to manufacture false intelligence on President Trump and was actively “working with the enemy” to undermine and erode Americans’ confidence in our democracy and President Trump’s LANDSLIDE 2016
VICTORY. This was a coup attempt by Barack Hussein Obama and his cronies… As Jesse Watters said “Whatever happens to these guys is not revenge.. it’s accountability. And it’s time for people to pay the price.” ¤ ARREST OBAMA

🐣 RT @TheDemCoalition Congress should not punt this down the road. Bernie Sanders lays out the reforms needed to stop the terror being unleashed on our communities by Trump’s masked goon squads.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/TheDemCoalition/status/2017281813207502884?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @Sensanders ICE is out of control, ignoring the law and our Constitution. ¤ Congress must vote NO on any additional funding for DHS. ¤ Further, here is SOME of what else we must do:

1. Get ICE, CBP and the rest of Trump’s domestic army out of Minnesota and Maine NOW
2. No more warrantless arrests, no more stopping people based on race or because of the languages they speak
3. End qualified immunity for ICE and CBP agents to ensure
Americans’ constitutional rights are protected
4. Unmask ICE and CBP agents and require clear identification
5. End detentions and deportations of U.S. Citizens
6. Investigate and prosecute every single DHS officer who broke the law and require DOJ and DHS to cooperate with states and cities investigating immigration agents who broke the law
7. Repeal the $75 billion for ICE and the nearly $65 billion for CBP in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill and restore funding to health care
8. Impose strict standards on all detention centers and hold them accountable for their human rights

🐣 RT @Timodc [Fed Chair Nom] Kevin Warsh’s father-in-law is Ron Lauder, the billionaire behind the Greenland plot who is also doing a Lithium deal with a US govt backed partner in Ukraine. Epstein claimed they were friends in his emails. ¤ Concerning conflict of interest for the “independent” fed chair.

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇺🇦🇺🇸 Imagine: I know that ballistic missiles are flying against our energy sector, I know that Patriot is standing, I know that there will be no light, because there are no missiles to protect, — Zelensky

💬The US is not providing us with missiles for free. We may have different opinions on this matter. This is financed by Europe. The tranche was not paid for by PURL. The missiles did not arrive.

💬No one told me what was agreed in Anchorage. But we have signals that they discussed key issues there.

💬The meeting of Ukraine and the Russian Federation on Sunday in Abu Dhabi may be postponed. Something is happening in the situation with America and Iran. And these things can probably affect the date.

💬 In the American plan, out of 20 points, Ukraine disagrees with two – supports the rest.

💬 We are not ready for compromises that lead to a violation of territorial integrity, we will not give Donbas and ZNPP to the Russians without a fight.

🐣 RT @TheRickWilson I see we’re now at the “arresting journalists”phase of our new autocracy

🐣 RT @jaketapper DOJ’s original complaint against Don was rejected by Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko who refused to sign the criminal complaint and then the DOJ appealed and that too was rejected. That chief judge, Hon. Patrick J. Schiltz— is a former Scalia clerk and George W. Bush appointee:
[TextLink:] https://x.com/jaketapper/status/2017233358657343556?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @MercadoMedia1 BREAKING: Don Lemon and Georgia Fort Arrested in Connection With Cities Church Protest ¤ Former CNN anchor Don Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort have been arrested in connection with their reporting on an anti ICE protest that entered Cities Church in St. Paul earlier this month. …

⭕ 29 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @PrezLives2022 “As for Alex Pretti, I have never seen such a disgusting execution outside of the Taliban cutting off Americans’ heads”.¤ “Every other soldier I’ve spoken to about this has said the same thing. If we did half of what these agents did we would be rotting in Leavenworth penitentiary. We are not at war. These are civilians, and it seems that ICE is hellbent on violating every amendment in the Bill of Rights.” ― Patrick Loller, a retired staff sergeant and combat medic in the National Guard

TheAtlantic, Hillary Rodham Clinton: MAGA’s War on Empathy https://tinyurl.com/hwx2rm4h “These are dark days in America. To rekindle our light, we must reject cruelty and corruption. To be strong, we need more empathy, not less”
// This crisis in Minneapolis reveals a deep moral rot at the heart of Trump’s movement.

That compassion is weak and cruelty is strong has become an article of MAGA faith. Trump and his allies believe that the more inhumane the treatment, the more likely it is to spread fear. That’s the goal of surging heavily armed federal forces into blue states such as Minnesota and Maine—street theater of the most dangerous kind. Other recent presidents, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, managed to deport millions of undocumented immigrants without turning American cities into battlegrounds or making a show of keeping children in cages.

“The cruelty is the point,” as The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer memorably put itduring Trump’s first term. The savagery is a feature, not a bug. By contrast, as Serwer noted recently in these pages, the people of Minnesota have responded with an approach you could call “‘neighborism’—a commitment to protecting the people around you, no matter who they are or where they came from.” To my ears, that’s as Christian a value as it gets.

The glorification of cruelty and rejection of compassion don’t just shape the Trump administration’s policies. Those values are also at the core of Trump’s own character and worldview. And they have become a rallying cry for a cadre of hard-right “Christian influencers” who are waging a war on empathy.

Their twisted campaign validates Trump’s personal immorality and his administration’s cruelty. It marginalizes mainstream religious leaders who espouse traditional values that conflict with Trump’s behavior and agenda. And it threatens to pave the way for an extreme vision of Christian nationalism that seeks to replace democracy with theocracy in America.

The rejection of bedrock Christian values such as dignity, mercy, and compassion did not start with the crisis in Minnesota. The tone was set right at the beginning of this second Trump presidency. The day after taking the oath of office last January, Trump attended a prayer service at the National Cathedral. The Episcopal bishop of Washington, Mariann Edgar Budde, directed part of her sermon at the new president: “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” She spoke of children of immigrant families afraid that their parents would be taken away, refugees fleeing persecution, and young LGBTQ Americans who feared for their lives. It was an honest plea, suffused with the kind of love and generosity toward neighbors and strangers that Jesus taught.

Bishop Budde was immediately vilified. One Republican congressman said she “should be added to the deportation list.” The pastor and influencer Ben Garrett warned his followers, “This snake is God’s enemy and yours too. She hates God and His people. You need to properly hate in response.” The right-wing Christian podcaster Allie Beth Stuckey called the sermon “toxic empathy that is in complete opposition to God’s Word and in support of the most satanic, destructive ideas ever conjured up.” Toxic empathy! What an oxymoron. I don’t know if the phrase reflects moral blindness or moral bankruptcy, but either way it’s appalling.

No less a religious authority than the late Pope Francis called out the Trump administration’s war on empathy. After Vice President Vance argued that Christians should be stingy with their love, prioritizing those close to us over strangers, he offered a rebuke. “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other persons and groups,” the pope noted, before urging everyone to read up on the Good Samaritan. …

With leadership like this, it’s no wonder that one survey found a quarter of Republicans and nearly 40 percent of Christian nationalists now agree that “empathy is a dangerous emotion that undermines our ability to set up a society that is guided by God’s truth.” MAGA rejects the teachings of Jesus to “love thy neighbor” and care for “the last, the least, and the lost.” It recognizes only a zero-sum war of all against all. The world may look gilded from the patio at Mar-a-Lago, but the MAGA view is fundamentally fearful and impoverished. MAGA sees a world of vengeance, scorn, and humiliation, and cannot imagine generosity or solidarity.

The whole exercise is suffused with barely disguised misogyny. The extremist pastor Joe Rigney wrote a book called Leadership and the Sin of Empathy. Rigney is an ally of the influential Christian nationalist Douglas Wilson, who thinks giving women the right to vote was a mistake and advocates turning the United States into a theocracy. (Would it shock you to know that Pete Hegseth is a big fan of Wilson’s?)

Rigney declared that Bishop Budde’s plea for mercy was “a reminder that feminism is a cancer that enables the politics of empathetic manipulation and victimhood that has plagued us in the era of wokeness.” Manipulation by wily women is a sexist trope as old as Adam and Eve, but this is an ugly new twist. Instead of women tempting men with vice, now the great fear is that women will tempt men with virtue. …

The National Council of Churches, the largest ecumenical organization for mainline churches in the country, has warned about the dangers of Christian nationalism. “In this quest for political power, Christian humility is lost, as is the message of God’s love for all humanity,” the council said in a 2021 statement. “Where the Bible has at its core the story of a people committed to welcoming aliens and strangers because they themselves were aliens and strangers, and to defending the oppressed because they themselves were once oppressed, the Christian nationalist narrative rejects the stranger and judges the oppressed as deserving of their oppression.”

This is exactly the kind of mainstream Christian view that enrages Allie Beth Stuckey. The author of Toxic Empathy, who styles herself a voice for Christian women, has more than a million followers on social media. In between lifestyle pitter-patter and her demonization of IVF treatments, she warns women not to listen to their soft hearts. …

The don’t-love-thy-neighbor Christians have powerful allies in the war on empathy. Silicon Valley techno-authoritarians and social Darwinists argue that empathy is weakness and “suicidal” for civilization because it gets in the way of ruthless ambition and efficiency. That’s pretty rich for the crew that’s busy building artificial-intelligence systems they freely admit might obliterate humanity one day. But these are the same billionaires who dismiss critics and liberals as “NPCs,” or non-player characters, a video-game term for nonhumans. Once you see people that way, why would you care about understanding or helping them?

They may be convinced that they’re the smartest guys in the room, but they’re dead wrong about this. Empathy won’t destroy civilization; indeed, it just might save it. We can debate policies. We can debate theology. But if we give up on empathy, we give up on any real chance of coming together to solve our problems. Empathy does not overwhelm our critical thinking or blind us to moral clarity. It opens our eyes to moral complexity. It’s not a sign of weakness; it’s a source of strength.

This might be lost on tycoons who have a huge financial interest in leaving the rest of us behind on their way to Mars, but one might hope Christians would know better. You don’t need to look too far back to find examples of those who do. I disagreed with President George W. Bush about many things, but I respected his sincere belief in a more “compassionate conservatism.” There was no greater proof of this commitment than the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a mission of mercy that helped save an estimated 26 million lives. It was a public-health miracle. Many of the program’s most ardent champions were evangelical Christians inspired by Jesus’s teachings to heal the sick and feed the hungry. That hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from slashing PEPFAR and other lifesaving assistance to people in need around the world. Experts predict that 14 million people could die by 2030 as a result—including millions of children.

Some earlier leaders of the religious right were also cruel and demagogic. When I was coming up in politics, we had huckster televangelists instead of social-media snake-oil salesmen, but the game was the same: exploit religion to profiteer and push an extreme political agenda. In the 1980s, right-wing firebrands such as Jerry Falwell and Anita Bryant claimed that the AIDS epidemic was a plague sent by God to punish gay people. There was no shortage of rhetoric that I would call dehumanizing or un-Christian. These reactionary religious forces led a decades-long campaign against women’s rights and gay rights that helped turn the Republican Party against democracy itself. The rise of unabashed Christian nationalists is their legacy.

But what we’re seeing today feels different—and more dangerous. The question of who deserves empathy, and the rights and respect that flow from our shared humanity, has always been highly contested in our politics. But until now, no major American political movement has ever seriously suggested that empathy and compassion themselves are suspect. …

Another factor is Trump himself. No one mistakes him for a devout Christian or a person of faith or morality. But his corruption isn’t just a personal matter—it taints everything he touches, including his Christian supporters. The conventional wisdom is that Trump says out loud what many others think privately, that his blunt bigotry gives permission for people to throw off the shackles of political correctness and woke piety. That may be partly true. He does bring out the worst in people. But it’s more than that. He makes people worse. Cruelty and ugliness are infectious. When they become the norm, we all suffer. …

… Trump, especially in this second term, has styled himself as a gold-plated Caesar, the farthest thing from an American ideal. Instead of the decency of Washington we get the decadence of Caligula; rather than the humility of Lincoln, the cruelty of Nero. You’d think good Christians would see the irony of throwing their lot in with a wannabe Roman emperor, but the whole point of a cult of personality is to leave you blind and afraid. [ … social media … ]

What can we do?

A good place to start is to follow the example of courageous faith leaders standing up to the Trump administration’s abuses. On January 23, about 100 clergy were arrested after protesting deportation flights at the Minneapolis airport. They prayed and sang hymns in the brutal cold until police took them away. Many more have fanned out across the city to support protesters and help immigrant families in need.

In November, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released an unusual special message condemning “the indiscriminate mass deportation of people” and “the vilification of immigrants.” It is rare for America’s bishops to speak with one voice like this—the last time was in 2013—but they said, “We feel compelled now in this environment to raise our voices in defense of God-given human dignity.”

I hope grassroots faith leaders across the country who are appalled by what they see from an immoral administration and an extremist political right also find their voice. It is understandable that some stay silent out of fear. Influencers like Stuckey are zealously policing any deviation from the party line. But speaking truth to power has been part of the Christian tradition since the very beginning. The Christian community—and the country—would be stronger and healthier if we heard these voices.

We also need to contest this ground politically. If MAGA Republicans are going to give up on traditional virtues such as compassion and community, Democrats have an opportunity to fill that gap. The violent overreach in Minnesota may provide an opening to engage new audiences looking for alternatives. Many evangelical Christians who have long voted Republican are turned off by Trump’s venality and cruelty. Even some Republican leaders are starting to question the administration’s berserk immigration crackdown.

Democrats need a big tent that welcomes people of faith into our coalition, even if we don’t agree on every issue. Don’t forget, liberal Christianity has a long and storied history. Progressive people of faith have led virtually every major social movement. Think of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marching with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel in Selma. That’s a spirit we should work to reclaim. …

I know empathy isn’t easy. But neither is Christianity. When Jesus called on us to turn the other cheek and pray for those who persecute us, it was supposed to be hard. We fail more than we succeed—we’re human—but the discipline is to keep trying.

… I still believe intolerance and hatred are deplorable. Slandering a peaceful protester and cheering his murder is deplorable. Terrorizing children because their parents are undocumented is deplorable. But as a Christian, I also aspire to see the goodness in everyone and believe that everyone has a chance at redemption, no matter how remote.

When I see brutality like we’ve all witnessed in Minnesota, I ask myself: Can I really find empathy for people who insist on dehumanizing others? I’m not sure, to be honest. I’m still working on it. I believe our hearts are big enough to hold two truths at once. We can see the humanity in even the worst of our fellow human beings and still fiercely resist tyranny and repression. We can stand firm without mirroring the cruelty of our opponents. These are dark days in America. To rekindle our light, we must reject cruelty and corruption. To be strong, we need more empathy, not less.

NYT: War Threats and Ambiguous Evidence: Trump Again Confronts Iran https://tinyurl.com/mu9r3ud5 “There is little sign that Iran has made significant progress in reconstituting its nuclear program, leaving questions about the timing and motive behind potential plans for further attacks.”

💽 John Stewart (1/26/2026) https://youtu.be/I-eNduwugmY?si=SaGSc5bYgREp0mZC
💽 Stephen Colbert (1/26/2026) https://youtu.be/ky5B7xrontY?si=znSaJ60sJb4t2sds
🎶 Minnesota Anthem (Marc Skervem) https://youtu.be/f4wtYTTJ1tk?si=jCPt0qYP0dKS2fd_
🎶 In the Streets of Minneapolis (Bruce Springsteen) https://youtu.be/GDaPdpwA4Iw?si=HLtTAgFtc2wexOmW

🐣 RT @rgoodlaw Reuters has exclusive on updated ICE Guidance for Minneapolis. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/yehjkdnt

(1) “DO NOT COMMUNICATE OR ENGAGE WITH AGITATORS;” “It serves no purpose other than inflaming the situation. No one is going to convince the other. The only communication should be the officers issuing commands.”

(2) “We are moving to targeted enforcement of aliens with a criminal history;” “This includes arrests, not just convictions. ALL TARGETS MUST HAVE A CRIMINAL NEXUS.”

🐣 RT @CatholicArena BREAKING Cardinal Parolin has called the ICE situation in Minneapolis ‘unacceptable’ ¤The Vatican Secretary of State said:’The position of the Holy See is always to avoid any kind of violence, obviously, and therefore we cannot accept episodes of this kind. That is our position’

🐣 RT @CatholicArena BREAKING Cardinal Tobin has called for the defunding of ICE ¤ ‘We ask — for the love of God and the love of human beings, which can’t be separated — vote against renewing funding for such a lawless organisation’

🐣 RT @SykesCharlie In newly-surfaced video, defrocked Brute Squad leader Greg Bovino rallies the troops by declaring: “Everybody fucking gets it… this is our fucking city!” ¤ As it turned out, he was wrong. Minneapolis was not his city. And now he’s out, and DHS is engulfed in chaos and under fire.

🐣 RT @jaketapper Good morning! In the 9 pm ET hour then recommencing in the 5 am ET, the president posted or reposted more than 60 times, attacking President Obama, PM Carney, Gov Newsom, Gov Walz, Rep Omar, Alex Pretti, and sharing a bunch of untethered nonsense about the 2020 election.

🐣 RT @propublica New: The FBI’s search warrant, which sought 2020 election ballots, tabulator tapes, digital data and voter rolls from Fulton County, GA, marked what experts described as a significant escalation in President Donald Trump’s breaking of democratic norms. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/43zujh96

🐣 RT @MikeSington ICE agents in Minneapolis receive new orders from officials: They are no longer allowed to “engage” with “agitators”, and activity must be limited to immigrants with criminal charges or convictions. (Reuters)

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇪🇺🇺🇸🇺🇦 Europe could replace US intelligence for Ukraine in months, – FT ¤ A possible US withdrawal from support for Ukraine and Europe now does not look as critical as it did a year ago: allies have already been backing Kyiv during pauses in aid. ¤ In January 2026, Macron said that France now provides about two-thirds of Ukraine’s intelligence. Western officials confirm that a full or near-full replacement of US data is a matter of months.

⭕ 28 Jan 2026

WSJ Editorial: The Perils of a Falling Trump Dollar https://tinyurl.com/yy27rc69
“Trump says he’s OK with a weaker currency. How Retro. It’s been decades since this view enjoyed strong empirical support, if it ever did.”

🐣 RT @MercadoMedia1 🚨BREAKING: Federal Judge Orders DHS to Stop Arresting and Detaining Minnesota Refugees
¤ https://x.com/MercadoMedia1/status/2016658809943445729?s=20/photo/ -2

A federal judge in Minnesota has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop arresting and detaining refugees who are lawfully in the U.S. and waiting for permanent residency.

The ruling affects an estimated 5,600 people across the state. The court found that DHS has been detaining individuals who followed the rules, were legally admitted, and are in the process of adjusting their status.

Judge John Tunheim ordered DHS to release anyone currently being held on this basis and return anyone who was sent out of state. The order also requires ICE to coordinate releases so people are not left outside in dangerous winter conditions.

The court is now requiring DHS to provide detainee lists, file status updates, and comply with ongoing oversight as the case continues.

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 “The world has changed. Washington has changed. There’s almost nothing normal in the United States. That’s the truth”.- Prime Minister Mark Carney

‼️ 🐣 RT @atrupar SHAHEEN: It’s been reported that the oil sold for $500 million and $300 million went to Venezuelan government. What happened to the other $200 million? ¤ RUBIO: It’s still sitting in the account is my understanding ¤ SHAHEEN: The account in Qatar? ¤ RUBIO: Yes

🐣 RT @CarolLeonnig Great @MSNOWNews Analysis: Minnesota judges have rejected nearly all the feds push to detain immigrants they seized there. Feds lost 60 of 61 cases reviewed by @lawofruby and @falgallagher, with govt accused of trying to remove people lawfully in US.

🐣 RT @LePapillonBlu2 Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara told his officers that they have a DUTY to intervene if they see ICE committing crimes and will be FIRED if they don’t.

🐣 RT @TheAtlantic Governor Tim Walz warns of a national unraveling in an interview with @isaacstanbecker “It’s worse than you think,” Walz says of the situation in Minnesota.
⋙ TheAtlantic, Isaac Stanley-Becker: Tim Walz Fears a Fort Sumter Moment in Minneapolis https://tinyurl.com/bt8jm8us The Minnesota governor warns of a national unraveling.

🐣 RT @ChuckPfarrer TRUST ME– Washington, apparently, has told Ukraine that it must sign on to a peace deal with Russia in order to get U.S. security guarantees. Russia has already signed THREE treaties that were supposed to guarantee Ukraine sovereignty and territorial integrity. Russia has broken all three: ¤ The Budapest Memorandum (1994); The Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation (1997); and The Treaty between Ukraine and the Russian Federation on the Ukrainian-Russian State Border (2003). ¤ Russia cannot be trusted.

WaPo: Greenland isn’t the answer to US Arctic security. This place is. https://tinyurl.com/4t4uffm3 “With decisive government action, the U.S. could start building a true Arctic fortress on its own territory tomorrow, without any blowback from Denmark or NATO or anyone else.”
// “The U.S. could start building a true Arctic fortress in Alaska tomorrow.”

🐣 RT @NewsHour The parents of Alex Pretti have retained a former federal prosecutor who helped Minnesota’s attorney general convict the police officer who kneeled on George Floyd’s neck of murder.

🐣 RT @ReichlinMelnick An extraordinary document. Read it. “Attached to this order is an appendix that identifies 96 court orders that ICE has violated in 74 cases. … ICE has likely violated more court orders in January 2026 than some federal agencies have violated in their entire existence.”
¤ https://x.com/ReichlinMelnick/status/2016642763169669307?s=20/photo/1 -3
[CourtDoc:] https://tinyurl.com/4fxb5aev

NCR: More US bishops decry societal tensions, call for renewal of heart, human dignity https://tinyurl.com/mrxxduk9 “We do not lose our rights based on the color of our skin, or the language we speak, or for not having the proper documents.” – Arc(bishop José Gomez of L.A.
// “This is a pro-life issue,” said Bishop Taylor. “And it will remain a pro-life issue so long as millions of people continue to live lives trapped in desperate circumstances, where countries with means refuse to help.””

🐣 RT @BlueATLGeorgia Carol Leonnig on Fulton County election office raid: The FBI special agent in charge of the office in Atlanta, where this is all happening, was removed by the FBI director last week
💽 https://x.com/BlueATLGeorgia/status/2016620654422847825?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @SenOssoff Sen. Ossoff Statement on FBI Raid of Fulton County Elections Office
[TextLink:] https://x.com/SenOssoff/status/2016626802890817669?s=20/photo/1

Jon Ossoff
U.S. SENATOR FOR GEORGIA

SEN. OSSOFF ON FBI RAID OF FULTON COUNTY ELECTIONS OFFICE

“After losing Georgia in 2020, Donald Trump demanded state officials ‘find’ votes to change the outcome, tried to use DOJ to overturn it, and spread conspiracy theories that led to the Jan. 6 sacking of the U.S. Capitol.

“I suspect today’s raid is a continuation of this sore loser’s crusade, despite repeated audits and independent reviews confirming that Donald Trump was indeed defeated.

“From Minnesota to Georgia, on display to the whole world, is a President spiraling out ot control, wielding tederal law entorcement as an unaccountable instrument of personal power and revenge.”

Variety: Bruce Springsteen Releases ICE Protest Song ‘Streets of Minneapolis,’ Slamming ‘King Trump’s Private Army’ and ‘State Terror’ https://tinyurl.com/tjmnh8f7

⋙ ¤ Variety link: https://tinyurl.com/tjmnh8f7
⭐️ YouTube link: https://youtu.be/GDaPdpwA4Iw?si=HLtTAgFtc2wexOmW ¤

In a statement, Springsteen said: “I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free, Bruce Springsteen.”

Bruce Springsteen:

“Streets Of Minneapolis” lyrics:

⋙ January 28, 2026

Through the winter’s ice and cold
Down Nicollet Avenue
A city aflame fought fire and ice
‘Neath an occupier’s boots
King Trump’s private army from the DHS
Guns belted to their coats
Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law
Or so their story goes

Against smoke and rubber bullets
By the dawn’s early light
Citizens stood for justice
Their voices ringing through the night
And there were bloody footprints
Where mercy should have stood
And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets
Alex Pretti and Renee Good

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
We’ll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
Here in our home they killed and roamed
In the winter of ’26
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

Trump’s federal thugs beat up on
His face and his chest
Then we heard the gunshots
And Alex Pretti lay in the snow, dead
Their claim was self defense, sir
Just don’t believe your eyes
It’s our blood and bones
And these whistles and phones
Against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Crying through the bloody mist
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

Now they say they’re here to uphold the law
But they trample on our rights
If your skin is black or brown my friend
You can be questioned or deported on sight
In chants of ICE out now
Our city’s heart and soul persists
Through broken glass and bloody tears
On the streets of Minneapolis

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
Here in our home they killed and roamed
In the winter of ’26
We’ll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

⭕ 27 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @ZacksJerryRig I’m just gunna leave this here. Aparently US citizens commit twice as many violent felonies as undocumented immigrants. This report came from the great red state of TEXAS. Sure. Deport illegals. But if reducing violent crime is actually your goal we might wanna start at home. 🤷‍♂️
◕ https://x.com/ZacksJerryRig/status/2016383459728519245?s=20/photo/1

TheAtlantic, William H McRaven*: Never Fight Alone https://tinyurl.com/4bk3wump “Anyone who would denigrate the service of our NATO allies clearly never spent a day in uniform.”
*McRaven is a US 4-star admiral known for overseeing the Navy SEAL operation that killed Osama bin Laden.
//➔ “Winston Churchill once said that ‘there is only one thing worse than fighting with allies, and that is fighting without them.’”

WaPo, George F Will: Assume this loutocracy is lying about ICE until proven otherwise https://tinyurl.com/2uyync7h “The current administration — by allowing marauding ICEmen to pose as police — has grievously wounded the dignity of policing.”
// Kristi Noem isn’t the only reason millions of Americans increasingly distrust the deportation mania.

WSJ Editorial: America’s Immigration Labor Shock https://tinyurl.com/kwrxscys “The Census Bureau says the U.S. is on a path to net negative migration.” //➔ George Costanza (probably)

🐣 RT @gothburz I’m a currency strategist at Treasury.
Yesterday the dollar hit a four-year low. […]
¤ https://x.com/pa_coyote94151/status/2016356802514788622?s=20
// message: buy gold
⋙ 🐣 The problem is: people aren’t buying from us
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2016378500861579616?s=20

Canada and Europe are making trade deals with China
Europe is making trade deals with South America and India
FREE trade deals
Because of tariffs
Because they think we’re becoming fascist
Because they don’t want the US bullying them
Because they don’t like us invading other countries
Europe and China are decoupling from US tech
Our universities are putting up (“No immigrants need apply”) signs
Scientists are leaving
Where will they go? — To Canada, the EU, China and India
Welcome to Isolationist States of Trumpistan

🐣 [📌pinned chart] Here is the January 2026 Version of the Ad Fontes Media Bias Chart. For the interactive version, here’s the link: https://tinyurl.com/mpfv275z

🐣 RT @NBCNews BREAKING: Two Republican senators, Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski, call for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to resign.

🐣 RT @LemkinInstitute Statement on the Normalization of Nazism in the U.S Government ¤ 25 January 2025 ¤ Read full statement here: https://tinyurl.com/ypntyp6s
¤ https://x.com/LemkinInstitute/status/2016168089608429646?s=20

The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention and Human Security is deeply concerned by a dangerous and accelerating pattern within the United States government in which rhetoric and symbolism associated with Nazi ideology and white supremacist extremism is increasingly given political legitimacy. Entire government agencies, especially the Department of Homeland Security, as well as senior officials and other influential actors now regularly tolerate and even echo language and imagery historically rooted in Nazism and genocidal movements, eroding democratic norms and cultivating an environment that actively drives extremist mobilization and politically driven violence.

The Lemkin Institute recognizes that the Trump Administration is unlikely to engage in any actions that would begin to limit and contain the growing power and violence of extremist groups because the Administration is, apparently, in the hands of people sympathetic to those groups. We remind President Trump, his advisors, and the foot soldiers of genocide in ICE and CBP that totalitarian supremacist projects never end well for the perpetrators.

We call upon U.S. government officials and U.S. political representatives who do not wish to be complicit in fascism and genocide to take immediate measures to identify, address and dismantle Nazi and white supremacist ideology within the U.S. government, with the long-term goal of transforming the nation towards a more just, positive, and sustainable social order.

🐣 RT @ralakbar A quote from Rubio as prepared for delivery: 👇
“Make no mistake, as the President has stated, we are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail. It is our hope that this will not prove necessary, but we will never shy away from our duty to the American people and our mission in this Hemisphere”

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇪🇺 The EU has switched on parts of its secure satellite communications network for government and military use, – Bloomberg ¤ Elements of the IRIS2 and GOVSATCOM networks began limited operations for government and military use, with Ukraine requesting access. ¤ The IRIS2 network will eventually have satellites in multiple orbits and is scheduled to be fully operational by 2030, serving both private customers and governments.

🐣 RT @EdKrassen BREAKING: Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina just went off on Kristi Noem, Greg Bovino and the Trump administration! ¤ “I think what she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying. She should be out of a job…it’s just amateurish.” ¤ The dam is breaking!

🐣 RT @D_jeneration President Biden stepped up as always 💙💙💙
[TextLink:] https://x.com/D_jeneration/status/2016226415729856517?s=20/photo/1

What has unfolded in Minneapolis this past month betrays our most basic values as Americans. We are not a nation that guns down our citizens in the street. We are not a nation that allows our citizens to be brutalized for exercising their constitutional rights. We are not a nation that tramples the 4th Amendment and tolerates our neighbors being terrorized. The people of Minnesota have stood strong – helping community members in unimaginable circumstances, speaking out against injustice when they see it, and holding our government accountable to the people. Minnesotans have reminded us all what it is to be American, and they have suffered enough at the hands of this Administration. Violence and terror have no place in the United States of America, especially when it’s our own government targeting American citizens.

No single person can destroy what America stands for and believes in, not even a President, if we — all of America – stand up and speak out.
We know who we are. It’s time to show the world. More importantly, it’s time to show ourselves.

Now, justice requires full, fair, and transparent investigations into the deaths of the two Americans who lost their lives in the city they called home. Jill and l are sending strength to the families and communities who love Alex Pretti and Renee Good as we all mourn their senseless deaths.

🐣 RT @TheMaineWonk,‼️ STATEMENT FROM GOVERNOR WALZ: “Governor Walz met with Tom Homan this morning and reiterated Minnesota’s priorities: impartial investigations into the Minneapolis shootings involving federal agents, a swift, significant reduction in the number of federal forces in Minnesota, and an end to the campaign of retribution against Minnesota. ¤ The Governor and Homan agreed on the need for an ongoing dialogue and will continue working toward those goals, which the President also agreed to yesterday.” …

🐣 RT @ DrCatharineY We’ve lost over 10,000 STEM PhDs from the federal workforce in a single year. ¤ 10,000. ¤ Never thought the U.S. would ever allow this type of brain drain to occur – but here we are. [Science link:] https://tinyurl.com/3ufujccc
◕ https://x.com/DrCatharineY/status/2016179938072625538?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇪🇺 Zelensky: There is a sincere interest from partners in negotiations with America and the Russian side.
¤ https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/2016198088747012517?s=20

Clear security guarantees for Ukraine and all of Europe, absolutely clear obligations and opportunities for the reconstruction of Ukraine and, of course, real opportunities to end this war with dignity.

We are now receiving good signals from Europe about the readiness of Europeans to put more active pressure on the aggressor. It is very important that this is pressure, in particular, on the Russian tanker fleet – on the entire infrastructure of Russian oil exports.

🐣 RT @kasparov63 Occupation by Russia is not peace, it is murder out of sight. Trump‘s guarantees are worthless, as he shows every day. The US is pushing an unacceptable Russian plan to delay European action. Russia is losing & running out of time. Give Ukraine what it needs to finish the job.
⋙ 🐣 RT @ChristopherJM Ukrainian and European officials described the US stance as an attempt to strong-arm Kyiv into making painful territorial concessions Moscow has demanded in any deal. [FT Link:] https://tinyurl.com/3ypw7xm4

🐣 RT @JuliaDavisNews According to the Kremlin-controlled Russian state media, it happened in Anchorage.
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @kiraincongress According to the Financial Times, U.S. security guarantees are tied to Ukraine withdrawing from Donbas. At what point did these talks shift from “peace for Ukraine” to a “piece of Ukraine”?
⋙ 🐣 RT @JuliaDavisNews From my article last August: “For this, they’ve credited the twosome’s ride in the presidential limousine, unaccompanied by interpreters or U.S. government officials, where they assert that the two presidents have “divided Ukraine.”” [link:] https://tinyurl.com/mryh742f
⋙ 🐣 RT @JuliaDavisNews “A common thread in the state media’s coverage of the summit was the urgency to act now and to “take advantage” of this situation, where Russia stands to benefit without offering any concessions.”

🐣 RT @SenRandPaul Local police routinely, put officers involved in deadly shootings on administrative leave until an independent investigation is concluded. That should happen immediately. I can’t recall ever hearing a police chief immediately describing the victim as a “domestic terrorist” or a “would-be assassin.”  ¤ For calm to be restored, an independent investigation is the least that should be done.

🐣 RT @factpostnews Anderson Cooper: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” George Orwell wrote that in his book 1984 after getting sick of what he called “the screaming and lies told by governments and media pushing official propaganda.” There’s a lot of people here in Minneapolis tonight who are sick of the lies being told by some in the Trump administration about Alex Pretti, who was shot to death here on Saturday.

⭕ 26 Jan 2026

TheAtlantic, Adam Serwer (Jan 26): Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong https://tinyurl.com/ms7c26ws “It takes far more courage to stare down the barrel of a gun while you’re armed with only a whistle and a phone than it does to point a gun at an unarmed protester.” #HighlyRec
// The pushback against ICE exposed a series of mistaken assumptions.”

[…] I don’t know what the feds expected when they surged into Minnesota. In late November, The New York Timesreported on a public-benefit fraud scheme in the state that was executed mainly by people of Somali descent. Federal prosecutors under the Biden administration had already indicted dozens of people, but after the Timesstory broke, President Trump began ranting about Somalis, whom he referred to as “garbage”; declared that he didn’t want Somali immigrants in the country; and announced that he was sending thousands of armed federal immigration agents to Minneapolis. This weekend, he posted on social media that the agents were there because of “massive monetary fraud.” The real reason may be that a majority of Minnesotans did not vote for him. Trump has said that “I won Minnesota three times, and I didn’t get credit for it. That’s a crooked state.” He has never won Minnesota.

Perhaps the Trump-administration officials had hoped that a few rabble-rousers would get violent, justifying the kind of crackdown he seems to fantasize about. Maybe they had assumed that they would find only a caricature of “the resistance”—people who seethed about Trump online but would be unwilling to do anything to defend themselves against him.

Instead, what they discovered in the frozen North was something different: a real resistance, broad and organized and overwhelmingly nonviolent, the kind of movement that emerges only under sustained attacks by an oppressive state. Tens of thousands of volunteers—at the very least—are risking their safety to defend their neighbors and their freedom. They aren’t looking for attention or likes on social media. Unless they are killed by federal agents, as Pretti and Renee Good were, other activists do not even necessarily know their names. Many use a handle or code name out of fear of government retaliation. Their concerns are justified: A number of people working as volunteers or observers told me that they had been trailed home by ICE agents, and some of their communications have already been infiltrated, screenshotted, and posted online, forcing them to use new text chains and code names. One urgent question among observers, as the videos of Pretti’s killing spread, was what his handle might have been. …

The number of minnesotans resisting the federal occupation is so large that relatively few could be characterized as career activists. They are ordinary Americans—people with jobs, moms and dads, friends and neighbors. They can be divided into roughly three groups.

The largest is the protesters, who show up at events such as Friday’s march in downtown Minneapolis, and at the airport, where deportation flights take off. Many protesters have faced tear gas and pepper spray, and below-zero temperatures—during the Twin Cities march on Friday, I couldn’t take notes; the ink in my pens had frozen.

Then there are the people who load up their car with food, toiletries, and school supplies from churches or schools to take to families in hiding. They also help families who cannot work meet their rent or mortgage payments. In addition to driving around with Olsen, I rode along with a Twin Cities mom of young kids named Amanda as she did deliveries (she asked me to use only her first name). Riding in her small car—her back row was taken up by three child seats and a smattering of stray toys—she told me that she’d gotten involved after more than 100 students at her kids’ elementary school simply stopped coming in. Parents got organized to provide the families with food, to shepherd their kids to school, and to arrange playdates for those stuck inside.

Amanda’s father and husband are immigrants, she said, and she speaks Spanish. “I can be a conduit between those who want to help and those who need help,” she told me. She calls each family before knocking on the door, so they don’t have to worry that they are being tricked by ICE. At one home, a woman asked us to go around back because a suspicious vehicle was idling out front. At another home, a little girl in pigtails beamed as Amanda handed her a Target bag full of school supplies.

Finally, there are those most at risk of coming into violent contact with federal agents, a group that’s come to be popularly known as ICE Watch, although the designation is unofficial—as far as I can tell, you’re in ICE Watch if you watch ICE. These are the whistle-wielding pedestrians and drivers calling themselves “observers” or “commuters” who patrol for federal agents (usually identifiable by their SUVs with out-of-state plates) and alert the neighborhood to their presence. Pretti and Good, the two Minneapolis residents killed by federal agents, fit in this category.

Trump-administration officials and MAGA influencers have repeatedly called these activists “violent” and said they are involved in “riots.” But the resistance in Minnesota is largely characterized by a conscious, strategic absence of physical confrontation. Activists have made the decision to emphasize protection, aid, and observation. When matters escalate, it is usually the choice of the federal agents. Of the three homicides in Minneapolis this year, two were committed by federal agents.

“There’s been an incredible, incredible response from the community. I’ve seen our neighbors go straight from allies to family—more than family—checking in on each other, offering food and rides for kids and all kinds of support, alerting each other if there’s ICE or any kind of danger,” Malika Dahir, a local activist of Somali descent, told me.

If the Minnesota resistance has an overarching ideology, you could call it “neighborism”—a commitment to protecting the people around you, no matter who they are or where they came from. The contrast with the philosophy guiding the Trump administration couldn’t be more extreme. Vice President Vance has said that “it is totally reasonable and acceptable for American citizens to look at their next-door neighbors and say, ‘I want to live next to people who I have something in common with. I don’t want to live next to four families of strangers.’” Minnesotans are insisting that their neighbors are their neighbors whether they were born in Minneapolis or Mogadishu. That is, arguably, a deeply Christian philosophy, one apparently loathed by some of the most powerful Christians in America. […]

Even among those involved in opposing ICE in Minnesota, people have a range of political views. The nonviolent nature of the movement, and the focus on caring for neighbors, has drawn in volunteers with many different perspectives on immigration, including people who might have been supportive if the Trump administration’s claims of a targeted effort to deport violent criminals had been sincere. …

The problem is that federal agents are not going after just criminals. Growing distraught, Pastor Miguel said that one of the men who helped organize the food drive, a close friend of his who he believed had legal status, had been picked up by federal agents the day before I visited. …

Bovino’s departure seemed an admission that Minnesotans aren’t the only Americans who won’t tolerate more deaths at the hands of federal agents. The people of Minnesota have forced the Trump administration into a strategic retreat—one inflicted not as rioters or insurgents, but as neighbors.

After Friday’s protest, when thousands marched in frigid downtown Minneapolis, chanting, “No Trump, no troops, Twin Cities ain’t licking boots!” I spoke with a young protester named Ethan McFarland, who told me that his parents are immigrants from Uganda. He had recently asked his mother to show him her immigration papers, in case she got picked up. This kind of state oppression, he said, is exactly what his mother was “trying to get away from” when she came to the United States.

McFarland’s remarks reminded me of something Stephen Miller, the Trump adviser, had written: “Migrants and their descendants recreate the conditions, and terrors, of their broken homelands.” In Minnesota, the opposite was happening. The “conditions and terrors” of immigrants’ “broken homelands” weren’t being re-created by immigrants. They were being re-created by people like Miller. The immigrants simply have the experience to recognize them.

The federal surge into Minneapolis reflects a series of mistaken MAGA assumptions. The first is the belief that diverse communities aren’t possible: “Social bonds form among people who have something in common,” Vance said in a speech last July. “If you stop importing millions of foreigners into the country, you allow social cohesion to form naturally.” Vance’s remarks are the antithesis to the neighborism of the Twin Cities, whose people do not share the narcissism of being capable of loving only those who are exactly like them.

A second MAGA assumption is that the left is insincere in its values, and that principles of inclusion and unity are superficial forms of virtue signaling. White liberals might put a sign in their front yard saying immigrants welcome, but they will abandon those immigrants at the first sensation of sustained pressure.

And in Trump’s defense, this has turned out to be true of many liberals in positions of power—university administrators, attorneys at white-shoe law firms, political leaders. But it is not true of millions of ordinary Americans, who have poured into the streets in protest, spoken out against the administration, and, in Minnesota, resisted armed men in masks at the cost of their own life.

The MAGA faith in liberal weakness has been paired with the conviction that real men—Trump’s men—are conversely strong. Consider Miller’s bizarre meltdown while addressing Memphis police in October. “The gangbangers that you deal with—they think that they’re ruthless? They have no idea how ruthless we are. They think they’re tough? They have no idea how tough we are,” Miller said. “They think they’re hard-core? We are so much more hard-core than they are.” Around this time, Miller moved his family onto a military base—for safety reasons.

The federal agents sent to Minnesota wear body armor and masks, and bear long guns and sidearms. But their skittishness and brutality are qualities associated with fear, not resolve. It takes far more courage to stare down the barrel of a gun while you’re armed with only a whistle and a phone than it does to point a gun at an unarmed protester.

Every social theory undergirding Trumpism has been broken on the steel of Minnesotan resolve. The multiracial community in Minneapolis was supposed to shatter. It did not. It held until Bovino was forced out of the Twin Cities with his long coat between his legs.

The secret fear of the morally depraved is that virtue is actually common, and that they’re the ones who are alone. In Minnesota, all of the ideological cornerstones of MAGA have been proved false at once. Minnesotans, not the armed thugs of ICE and the Border Patrol, are brave. Minnesotans have shown that their community is socially cohesive—because of its diversity and not in spite of it. Minnesotans have found and loved one another in a world atomized by social media, where empty men have tried to fill their lonely soul with lies about their own inherent superiority. Minnesotans have preserved everything worthwhile about “Western civilization,” while armed brutes try to tear it down by force.

No matter how many more armed men Trump sends to impose his will on the people of Minnesota, all he can do is accentuate their valor. No application of armed violence can make the men with guns as heroic as the people who choose to stand in their path with empty hands in defense of their neighbors. These agents, and the president who sent them, are no one’s heroes, no one’s saviors—just men with guns who have to hide their faces to shoot a mom in the face, and a nurse in the back.

WSJ Editorial: Mass Deportation by the Numbers https://tinyurl.com/2tfscvzn “Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise to deport criminal migrants, ‘the worst of the worst,’ as DHS put it. That policy has public support, but the migrant roundup has become far broader.”
// ICE arrests are growing but fewer have a criminal history.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2016312631313744217?s=20/photo/1

… Mr. Trump campaigned on a promise to deport criminal migrants, “the worst of the worst,” as the Department of Homeland Security put it. That policy has public support, but the migrant roundup has become far broader.

Last week Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem posted on social media, “We have arrested over 10,000 criminal illegal aliens who were killing Americans, hurting children and reigning terror in Minneapolis.” Overall, Ms. Noem says Immigration and Customs Enforcement has removed “murderers, pedophiles, rapists, gang members, and terrorists.” She told CBSthat “70% of them have committed or have charges against them on violent crimes.”

It started out that way. At the beginning of 2025, 87% of ICE arrests were immigrants with either a prior conviction or a criminal charge pending, according to ICE data obtained by the Deportation Data Project. Only 13% of those arrested at the beginning of 2025 didn’t have either a conviction or a pending charge.

But the criminal share of apprehensions has declined as the months have gone on. By October 2025, the percentage of arrested immigrants with a prior conviction or criminal charge had fallen to 55%. Since October, 73% taken into ICE custody had no criminal conviction and only 5% had a violent criminal conviction, according to a Cato Institute review of ICE data. …

Many of the criminal immigrants the Administration counts among those in detention are convicted criminals culled from prisons. White House border czar Tom Homan objected to Minneapolis’s sanctuary city policy because he said it wasn’t letting the Administration take prisoners into federal custody. “If they’d let us in their damn jail,” he said, “we could arrest the bad guy in the safety and security of the jail.” …

Syracuse professor Austin Kocher, who tracks official ICE data, finds that between Sept. 21, 2025, and Jan. 7, 2026, single-day ICE detentions increased 11,296. But only 902 of those were convicted criminals, 2,273 had pending criminal charges and 8,121 were other immigrant violators. ICE arrests have been trending upward since January 2025, but criminal arrests have plateaued.
v
All of which means that the Trump Administration’s rhetoric about deporting criminals doesn’t match its current much broader policy of mass deportation. As ICE agents target businesses, schools and homes, scenes of arrest involving mothers, children and long-time U.S. residents become more common. This explains why immigration enforcement is becoming a political liability for Republicans.

Ending migrant chaos at the border was necessary after the Biden Administration. But White House aide Stephen Miller’s undisciplined mass deportation and zero-immigration policy is building distrust, and the White House pitch that public safety justifies its enforcement is losing credibility.

🐣 📊 RT @Reuters American approval of President Trump’s immigration policy fell to its lowest level since his return to the White House in a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, with a majority of Americans saying his crackdown on immigration has gone too far https://reut.rs/4k2SJgC
// Reuters/Ipsos Poll: 39% approve, 53% disapprove
◕ https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015899120263700685?s=20/photo/1

TheAtlantic, Nick Miroff: Greg Bovino Loses His Job https://tinyurl.com/3t7a3f4u “The Border Patrol chief has been ousted from his role as ‘commander at large,’ and will return to El Centro.
// He is expected to retire shortly

🐣 RT @ABC The Hennepin County Medical Examiner has issued its public data form on the death of Renee Good, ruling the manner of death a homicide. https://abcnews.link/AwY5EJi

🐣 RT @RepDonBacon Where’s the Administration is polling the lowest he can easily fix. 1. Release all the Epstein files. 2. Help Ukraine defeat Russia. The voters are consistently most angry about these two. These are easy to fix.
📊 ◕ https://x.com/RepDonBacon/status/2015913727933976657?s=20/photo/1

NYT: An AI Pioneer Warns the Tech ‘Herd’ Is Marching Into a Dead End https://tinyurl.com/495n5dhz “The good ideas are coming from China. But Silicon Valley also has a superiority complex, so it can’t imagine that good ideas can come from other places.” ~ Yann LeCun
// Yann LeCun helped create the technology behind today’s chatbots. Now he says many tech companies are on the wrong path to creating intelligent machines.

NYT: Trump softens tone on Minneapolis violence amid calls for accountability https://tinyurl.com/mxt24r63 “The White House changed leadership in Minnesota and softened its tone on dead protesters as polls show Americans turning against ICE.”

🐣 RT @rparloff The preliminary injunction hearing in MN v Noem just concluded. If Judge Menendez orders relief, and I think she might, @AGPamBondi’s 1/14/26 letter will figure prominently. MN said it was an “extortionate” demand for MN to change 3 policies, and judge seemed to read it similarly.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/rparloff/status/2015849438103904640?s=20/photo/1.

WSJ: Tim Walz: The Un-American Assault on Minnesota https://tinyurl.com/3n9be6u2 “Minnesota is a state that believes in the rule of law and in the dignity of all people. We know that true public safety comes from trust, respect and shared purpose, not from intimidation or political theater.”
// Federal officials are lying. My state’s Corrections Department honors all immigration detainers.

🐣 RT @jamiedupree Suddenly Gov. Walz is a nice guy
[TextLink:] https://x.com/jamiedupree/status/2015828465321128090?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call, and we, actually, seemed to be on a similar wavelength. I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him, and that what we are looking for are any and all Criminals that they have in their possession. The Governor, very respectfully, understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future. He was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota, and so am I! We have had such tremendous SUCCESS in Washington, D.C., Memphis, Tennessee, and New Orleans, Louisiana, and virtually every other place that we have “touched” and, even in Minnesota, Crime is way down, but both Governor Walz and I want to make it better!
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

🧵 RT @kyledcheney HAPPENING NOW: Minnesota v. Noem hearing is underway before Judge Menendez, who will weigh whether to order an end to Operation Metro Surge. AG Keith Ellison is at counsel table for the state.
📌 https://x.com/kyledcheney/status/2015803903292453008?s=20

⋙ For example, Bondi’s first demand to end the ICE surge is “give us your SNAP data.” The state says it’s pretty clear you can’t use presence of armed agents to coerce things like this.

⋙ Layer for MN: “The president of the United States said in the middle of this chaos and violence in the streets … he said ‘Minnesota, your day of retribution is here.’ That is crazy. How can that not violate legal sovereignty?”

🐣 RT @RasmusJarlov USA Arctic paratrooper unit seems to have been training for a year to take Greenland. “In January 2025, the division carried out two major exercises with a single objective: to simulate the seizure of a strategic airport in an Arctic nation under intense local resistance, without allied support.” ¤ The unit was put on standby with four hours notice last week to be deployed to “Minnesota”. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/ke8f7sxn
// “Arctic Angels”; “… only the 11th Airborne Division a truly Arctic-capable force, able to survive and fight in extreme conditions”

🐣 RT @tribelaw “I just checked—it turns out that Art. II, Sec. 1 of the Constitution of the United States does *not* say ‘The executive Power shall be vested in a bunch of sociopaths who think they can do whatever the f*ck they want and make sh*t up as they go along.’” — George Conway

🐣 RT @_The_Prophet__ ⚡️This is epochal. ¤ Central banks now hold more gold by value than US Treasuries. That flips the reserve order of the global system.
¤ https://x.com/_The_Prophet__/status/2015642541119676865?s=20

The dollar’s anchor has been credibility, not convertibility. That credibility was built on a post-Bretton trust pact: the U.S. runs deficits, exports Treasuries, and backstops the system with military and monetary dominance. That pact just cracked.

Gold rising above Treasuries in reserve value is not just a commodity rerating. It is a revaluation of trust.

It means central banks no longer believe Treasuries are the safest form of savings. They are rotating toward neutral, non-defaultable settlement.

This is the sovereign bid for collateral with no political risk. Gold has no yield, but it also has no fiscal cliff, no weaponized sanctions, no roll-over risk, no inflation adjustment errors, no monetary policy reversals.

Zoom out:

1. Gold’s price rise is not speculative.

It is structural reserve rotation from politically contingent assets to neutral ones.

2.This rotation is self-reinforcing.

As gold becomes a larger share of global reserves, it gains systemic gravity. That draws more demand. The denominator shifts. Treasuries weaken as reserve collateral, not just in price, but in role.

3.The US loses its monopoly on trust.

That forces higher yields to attract capital, which breaks the Treasury market’s function as a stable reserve. Foreign holders exit first. Domestic monetization follows.

This is phase transition, not price action.

Gold has flipped from hedge to reference. Treasuries are no longer the reserve. Gold is. The game has changed. The reserve map is rewriting itself in real time.

⋙ 🐣 RT @SpecialSitsNews For the first time since 1996, the value of gold held by central banks ($4.6 trillion) exceeds the value of the US Treasurys they hold ($3.9 trillion). $gld
◕ https://x.com/SpecialSitsNews/status/2015628089221423560?s=20/photo/1

⭕ 25 Jan 2026

📊 🐣 RT @TheEconomist A week into Donald Trump’s second term 37% of Americans thought the country was headed in the right direction, while 50% thought it was on the wrong track. Those numbers are now 31% and 61%, respectively [link:] https://tinyurl.com/32kn9ev9
// YouGov/Economist poll

✝ WaPo, Nuno Castel-Branco: Why the pope is right to weigh in on AI https://tinyurl.com/3yskn9du “Most of the AI debate is about whether it will achieve some of its early promises. But … as the pope suggests, the debate should also focus on what it shouldn’t achieve.”
// Popes throughout history have been the promoters of science but also provided necessary moral guardrails.

🐣 RT @jayvanbavel AI-Powered Disinformation Swarms Are Coming for Democracy ¤ Advances in artificial intelligence are creating a perfect storm for those seeking to spread disinformation at unprecedented speed and scale. And it’s virtually impossible to detect. Read about our new paper in WIRED:
⋙ WIRED: AI-Powered Disinformation Swarms Are Coming for Democracy https://tinyurl.com/6vncmebf “Advances in artificial intelligence are creating a perfect storm for those seeking to spread disinformation at unprecedented speed and scale. And it’s virtually impossible to detect.”

🐣 RT @ThisWillHold2 Breaking: Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon blocks AG Pam Bondi’s attempt to extort private voter data. ¤ “The answer to Attorney General Bondi’s request is no… Her letter is an outrageous attempt to coerce Minnesota into giving the federal government private data on millions of U.S. Citizens in violation of state and federal law. This comes after repeated and failed attempts by the DOJ to pressure my office into providing the same data.” ¤ Source, KARE 11

WIRED: AI-Powered Disinformation Swarms Are Coming for Democracy https://tinyurl.com/6vncmebf “Advances in artificial intelligence are creating a perfect storm for those seeking to spread disinformation at unprecedented speed and scale. And it’s virtually impossible to detect.”

🐣 Lawrence W Britt’s original list: 14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2015646499758121145?s=20/photo/1

The 14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
2. Disdain for Human Rights
3. Identification of Enemies As A Unifying Cause
4. Supremacy of the Military
5. Rampant Sexism
6. Controlled Mass Media
7. Obsession With National Security
8. Religion and Government Intertwined
9. Corporate Power Protected
10. Labor Power Suppressed
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
12. Obsession With Crime and Punishment
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
14. Fraudulent Elections

WSJ Editorial: Time for ICE to Pause in Minneapolis https://tinyurl.com/ypks3dpk “The Saturday shooting of Alex Pretti, as he lay on the ground surrounded by ICE agents, is the worst incident to date in what is becoming a moral and political debacle for the Trump Presidency.”
// “Alex Pretti made a mistake, but he wasn’t a ‘domestic terrorist.’”

🐣 RT @jdawsey1 Talked to Trump about Minneapolis today, where he says “at some point we will leave” and said he didn’t know if he supported the ICE officer who shot.
⋙ WSJ: Trump Says Administration Is ‘Reviewing Everything’ About Minneapolis Shooting https://tinyurl.com/yzehjtuw “In an interview, the president says immigration-enforcement officers will ‘at some point’ leave the area.”
// by Josh Dawsey

🐣 RT @davidfrum Not everybody who supported Trump and MAGA was a bad person at the start. But MAGA is a jealous god. It demands its supporters descend a path of degeneration to utter moral ruin. Police death squads today; who knows what tomorrow.

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa Ultimately, history punishes those who stand aside. In many respects, the wars of the 20th century were the result of the indifference of those in power in the 19th century.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2015413057699094940?s=20

Russia’s war against Ukraine and its other wars – against Moldova, Chechnya, and Georgia – are the result of indifference to the truth of our nations, a truth our people feel, and indifference shown by the world’s leading states at the end of the Soviet era, throughout the 1990s, and at the beginning of the 21st century, when they chose to place their bet on Russia – on a so-called “reset” with Russia that, in reality, turned into an “overload” for all of us.

⋙ “… a quarrel in a faraway country between people of whom we know nothing.” – Neville Chamberlain
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2015639453876822478?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @JamesLBruno Project 2025, now at least half fulfilled, constitutes Fuhrerprinzip. Most political scientists now regard the US and being an eroded constitutional system. Courts, media and civil society are under attack. Will we have free & fair elections in 2026 & 2028? Open question.

🐣 RT @YAppelbaum A remarkable dispatch from the ground in Minneapolis, from @robertfworth
¤ https://x.com/YAppelbaum/status/2015601877551923539?s=20

I met a couple in their 70s who told me they had never considered joining a political protest until ICE came to town, and they realized that their granddaughter was at risk of witnessing a violent immigration raid just by going to school. Dan and Jane (like many others, they asked that I shield their full names) live in a large house in a comfortable suburb, where they welcomed me with tea and cookies.

“When a child witnesses violence or crime, it’s profoundly different from adults,”” Dan said. “It leaves scars.”

Dan and Jane resisted the idea that they had become political. A better word, Jane said, was humanist. Their anger was unmistakable as they told me that the Trump administration was violating basic Christian principles. “It became clear very quickly that ICE is the Proud Boys, the Boogaloo boys. They’ve given them uniforms and let them run wild,” Dan said. He attended a legal observer training—which happened to have been on the day Good was killed—and now the couple delivers groceries regularly to immigrant families in Minneapolis. This past Friday, Dan joined thousands of others at a protest in Minneapolis, where his fingers were frostbitten in the -9 degrees Fahrenheit.

🐣 RT @KatiePMcGrady “He is a God who excludes no one, and who comes not only for the ‘pure,’ but enters fully into the complexity of human situations and relationships. As Christians, therefore, we too must overcome the temptation toward isolation. The Gospel must be proclaimed and lived in every setting, serving as a leaven of fraternity and peace among all individuals, cultures, religions and peoples.” @Pontifex

🐣 RT @BillClinton Over the course of a lifetime, we face only a few moments where the decisions we make and the actions we take will shape our history for years to come. This is one of them.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/BillClinton/status/2015562744993350135?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @CatholicNewsSvc Pope Leo XIV: Be peacemakers everywhere. Never be violent, neither with words nor with gestures. Evil can only be overcome with good. Let us pray for peace because there’s fighting going on for interests that are not of the people. Peace is built on respect for all people!

TheAtlantic, Jonathan Rauch: Yes, It’s Fascism https://tinyurl.com/37npb7c8 “Until recently, I thought it a term best avoided. But now, the resemblances are too many and too strong to deny.”
⋙ See under Entire Articles: Yes, It’s Fascism 1/25/26

🐣 RT @EJDionne The Minnesota killings laid bare that Trump’s project is regime change. The goal was described by MAGA thinkers, the pattern set on Day One. The nation let his early moves—the Jan. 6 pardons, the TikTok power grab—slip by. Denial must end. Now.
⋙ NYT, EJ Dionne: Trump Is Engineering Regime Change, Right Here at Home https://tinyurl.com/2u7trz64 “Whatever hope there was that 2026 might be less jarring than the previous year is gone. This month, something snapped in the country.”

Whatever hope there was that 2026 might be less jarring than the previous year is gone. This month, something snapped in the country.

On their own, this month’s headline events would be shocking enough: The killing of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis and the Trump administration’s subsequent coverup; yet more of President Trump’s corrupt pardons; and the Justice Department’s criminal investigations of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and the state’s attorney general, Keith Ellison, Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis, and a group of senators and House members who simply reminded members of our armed forces to follow the law when they are issued illegal orders.

All this was before Mr. Trump announced last weekend that he would impose tariffs by presidential fiat on some of our closest allies if they didn’t surrender to his hunger for Greenland. He eventually retreated from both tariff and invasion threats after his beloved stock market fell sharply. But unilaterally undermining the alliance that has kept our country safe for more than three-quarters of a century was strategic lunacy and showed how much wreckage one man can leave behind when he’s allowed to cast aside all constraints on his appetites.

Lest anyone miss the strongman theme, Mr. Trump chose Thursday to say on social media that he hoped Attorney General Pam Bondi was “looking at” the former special prosecutor Jack Smith. That happened to be the day Mr. Smith appeared before a House committee and methodically explained why he had indicted Mr. Trump for causing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Then on Saturday, federal agents in Minneapolis shot and killed 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse whom local police identified as American citizen with no criminal record, prompting Mr. Frey to declare that “a great American city is being invaded by its own federal government.”

Collectively, those actions have brought into the open what has been lurking just beneath the surface of our politics and can no longer be brushed aside: Mr. Trump is actively seeking regime change — not in Venezuela, where a dictatorship remains in power despite the apprehension of Nicolás Maduro, but in the United States.

It’s tempting to look at the administration primarily as a psychodrama rooted in the president’s delicate ego and his obsession with doing whatever it takes to distract attention from topics he finds uncongenial (see: the Epstein files, about which the administration is also skirting the law). But what is happening to the country is about more than Mr. Trump’s extreme neediness. His neediness is transforming our institutions.

From the first day of his second term, Mr. Trump and his lieutenants have been systematic in undermining laws, rules and understandings that undergird a free, democratic and constitutional republic. Theorists of the new MAGA right made their goals clear with books such as “Regime Change,” calls for a new American “Caesar” and their embrace of a “radical constitutionalism.”

That last phrase is from a 2022 essay by Russell Vought, now the president’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, in which he urged Mr. Trump’s sympathizers “to cast ourselves as dissidents of the current regime and to put on our shoulders the full weight of envisioning, articulating and defending what a Radical Constitutionalism requires in the late hour that our country finds itself in, and then do it.”

They’re doing it.

One of Mr. Trump’s first acts in office received far less scrutiny than it deserved: his executive order effectively overturning a law banning TikTok. As Charlie Savage of The Times later reported, Ms. Bondi told tech companies they were free to violate the statute because — well, because Mr. Trump said so. As Mr. Savage noted, this could be seen as Mr. Trump’s “starkest power grab.” On Thursday, TikTok announced a deal with a group that included several investors with ties to Mr. Trump.

Another Day 1 move, Mr. Trump’s blanket pardon for the Jan. 6 insurrectionists, did arouse substantial outrage. But the sharpest criticism came from Democrats and other Trump critics, with Republicans in large numbers hiding behind the fact that a president has unlimited constitutional power to issue pardons, or ducking the question entirely.

The signal Mr. Trump sent from the start — that he could set aside laws he didn’t like and that those who engaged in criminality on his behalf would receive clemency — spoke to the seriousness of his embrace of “radical constitutionalism,” which, as he has made obvious, is no constitutionalism at all.

Letting these early abuses of power slip by opened the way for the routinization of step-by-step regime change. The country got accustomed to the mass firings of government workers; the administration’s ignoring, obstructing or getting around court orders, often with the backing of a Supreme Court that had already granted him broad immunity; its shopping for prosecutors willing to file baseless charges against political enemies, the gutting the Department of Justice, and the use of the F.B.I. to find dirt on political opponents; its use of executive power to target universities and law firms; Mr. Trump’s appointment of election deniers to high-level positions, raising fears of federal interferencein the fair administration of this year’s elections; and the blatant use of presidential power for personal enrichment or to help friends and donors.

Since many of our liberties are still in place and our institutions continue to function in familiar ways, fear of regime change might once have seemed extreme, unduly academic or abstract. The events of the past three weeks have brought home that, on the contrary, these worries are chillingly realistic and concrete.

The killing of Ms. Good by an ICE agent — operating as part of a de facto personal police force for the president — has shocked and dismayed a significant American majority, and Mr. Pretti’s shooting death prompted new outrage. Even Republicans who have been loath to criticize Mr. Trump questioned the obviously phony investigation into Mr. Powell for fear of its impact on the economy. The prosecutorial threats against Mr. Walz, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Frey and the members of Congress who warned service members against obeying illegal orders can be seen only as ploys to use government power to chill dissent.

It may, however, be the Greenland madness that finally forces a reckoning with what happens when Congress — yes, that means its Republican majority — sits by and allows a chief executive to run roughshod over any legal limits to his desires, any sense of stewardship toward institutions built over decades to keep the nation secure, and any responsibility to other nations that long stood with us in defense of democracy itself. Mr. Trump’s practice of radical constitutionalism is radically dangerous. He eventually backed down, but not before causing enormous damage. The observation by Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, about the world order in his remarkable address at Davos last week is also true of our constitutional order: “We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.”

Recognizing that the nature of our regime is the central question in our politics will not make other issues go away. But failing to confront what’s at stake would be a generational failure. The danger now is not alarmism but complacency.

🐣 RT @SkinnerPm So-called federal agents standing in the street enforcing local ordinances about pedestrian in the roadway etc is a clue they want this violence. They are creating it. They are killing people to feed their angry supporters & outrage everyone else. That’s it. That’s their point

🐣 To Brad Finstad, Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith
Two executions in two weeks! No one is safe. I am outraged and horrified.
Noem must resign.
ICE is a threat to peace and safety. It must restructured or dismantled. Defund unless:
– thorough background checks for all officers.
– two years training (at least); overhaul of training to match best policing; no immunity; no masks
– only undocumented immigrants with felony records should be arrested
– no warrantless searches
– a court must rule in order to detain; no ambushes at court hearings
– court orders must be obeyed
– no sending to prisons outside the US
– do not deport or extradite children without court hearing; do not separate from family

🐣 RT @SkinnerPm Left hand on the ground trying not to hit the pavement; right hand still holding a cell phone. ICE person standing with a one handed grip pointing his gun right at the man’s head. ¤ There is nothing about this that we should accept. We all must reject this. This is our government
🖼 https://x.com/SkinnerPm/status/2015445748796588410?s=20/photo/1
// photo of execution of VA RN; Patrick Skinner is a detective, currently in law school

⭕ 24 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @SkinnerPm Left hand on the ground trying not to hit the pavement; right hand still holding a cell phone. ICE person standing with a one handed grip pointing his gun right at the man’s head. ¤ There is nothing about this that we should accept. We all must reject this. This is our government
🖼 https://x.com/SkinnerPm/status/2015445748796588410?s=20/photo/1
// photo of execution of VA RN; Patrick Skinner is a detective, currently in law school

NYT, M Gessen: State Terror Has Arrived https://tinyurl.com/39ccummy ‘Trump is using all the instruments: the quotas for ICE arrests; the paramilitary force made up of thugs drunk on their own brutality; the spectacle of random violence; the postmortem vilification of the victims.’
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2015438877410857436?s=20/photo/1

Please look at this list with me. Since early January, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement expanded its operation in Minneapolis and St Paul, Minn., federal officers have: killed Renee Good, a white middle-class mother; menaced a pregnant immigration lawyer in her firm’s parking lot; detained numerous US citizens, including one who was dragged out of his house in his underwear; smashed in the windows of cars and detained their occupants, including a US citizen who was on her way to a medical appointment at a traumatic brain injury center; set off crowd-control grenades and a tear gas container next to a car that contained six children, including a 6-month-old; swept an airport, demanding to see people’s papers and arresting more than a dozen people who were working there; detained a 5-year-old. And now they have killed another US citizen, Alex Jeffrey Pretti, an ICU nurse with no criminal record. It seems he was white. The agents had him down on the ground, subdued, before they apparently fired at least 10 shots at point-blank range.

📊 TheAtlantic: The Four Types of Trump Supporter https://tinyurl.com/supw5xy9 “The president’s political power depends on his ability to play different roles for different parts of his coalition.”

🐣 RT @marceelias In a letter to Gov. Tim Walz (D) Saturday, Bondi claimed that Walz could “restore the rule of law” by complying with a list of demands, including giving the Department of Justice (DOJ) the state’s voter registration records.

🐣 RT @GavinNewsom

• No new funding.
• Kristi Noem must RESIGN.
• Greg Bovino must be FIRED.
• Suspend the LAWLESS mass deportation raids nationwide NOW — ICE is no longer just deporting dangerous criminals.
• Send the border patrol back to the border.
• End the militarization of ICE + the sick racial profiling.
• End the perverse cash incentives that are bounties to perpetrate Trump’s cruel agenda.
• Require thorough, real background checks for everyone, and 2+ years of training before even • setting foot in the field.
• INVESTIGATE and PROSECUTE every single federal agent who is breaking the law.

‼️ NYT: Man Killed by Federal Agents Was Holding a Phone, Not a Gun https://tinyurl.com/4py9ad9a “Videos analyzed by the NYT appear to contradict federal accounts of the shooting. The man, an ICU nurse, was an American citizen with no criminal record, the city police chief said.”

🐣 RT @AVindman Today, we have all seen the horrific killing of Alex Pretti, a VA nurse, by a group of heavily armed and masked men, resembling a paramilitary force.

I served in the army for 21 years. Watching that video, I saw untrained, reckless agents acting aggressively and with a posture for escalation towards a civilian community exercising their First Amendment right to free speech and protest.

ICE killings are becoming regular occurrence because Trump declared that ICE can use force with total impunity. Our leaders cannot permit Trump to have a police force loyal only to him.

These killings must stop. ICE must be reigned-in and held accountable for this senseless violence.

🐣 RT @peterbakernyt Videos analyzed by @nytimes appear to contradict DHS accounts that the man approached agents with a handgun and the intent to “massacre” them. Footage shows the man holding a phone in his hand, not a gun, when agents take him to the ground.

🐣 RT @ gtconway3d The deadly shooting in Minneapolis today was a straight-up execution of a protester by Trump’s federal brownshirts.

The thugs wrestled him to the ground. They pistol-whipped him, then shot him multiple times. They murdered him.

The videos don’t lie. A man is dead, killed in cold blood. There is no conceivable justification for this intentional homicide. And make no mistake, that intentional, unjustified homicide was committed on behalf of Donald J. Trump.

Trump’s militarization of Minneapolis and other parts of our nation isn’t about illegal immigration. It’s not about enhancing public safety. It’s about destroying any sense of that safety—to intimidate political opponents, and to punish dissent. It’s about a corrupt, out-of-control regime’s effort to provoke citizens in order to justify the violence it desires to commit against them so that it can expand and retain its power.

That is fascism. It is tyranny. It is governmental criminality.

And the ultimate legal check the Framers of our Constitution provided to stop this kind of tyranny and criminality in the executive branch is impeachment and removal of the executive.

Congress needs to do its job. ¤ Now. ¤ Before it’s too late.

NYT Editorial: The World Will Remember Trump’s Greenland Outburst https://tinyurl.com/4a86ffsv ‘The only time NATO has activated its guarantee of collective defense was after the 9/11. The US ally that suffered the most casualties per capita in Afghanistan was Denmark’

[…] Mr. Trump has always been an undisciplined and unprincipled politician, but the shambolic and sometimes illegal nature of his foreign policy moves of the past few weeks has been unusually harmful.

After months of blowing up boats in the Caribbean, without giving the victims any chance to defend themselves, he ordered a military operation to capture Venezuela’s dictator — and has since allowed the dictator’s corrupt deputies to continue ruling the country. Mr. Trump encouraged Iranians to rise up against their brutal government, saying “help is on the way,” and abandoned the protesters to a crackdown that reportedly killed thousands of them and imprisoned thousands more. And his confrontation with NATO crossed a new line: threatening the territory of a longtime ally. The notion that the United States might invade Greenland would sound like satire under any other modern-day president.

Yet it fits with Mr. Trump’s escalating attacks against NATO. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he called the alliance obsolete. In his first term, he reportedly considered withdrawing from it. During the 2024 campaign, he said he would encourage Russian leaders to “do whatever the hell they want” with NATO allies if the allies did not increase their military spending. The threat was chilling to Russia’s Baltic neighbors, like Latvia and Estonia, given President Vladimir Putin’s slaughter of civilians in Ukraine. …

The most recent falsehood that he has told about other NATO countries is that they cannot be relied on in a crisis. He made that claim again on Jan. 21 at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In fact, the only time NATO has activated its guarantee of collective defense was after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States. The U.S. ally that suffered the most casualties per capita in the ensuing war in Afghanistan was Denmark.

Mr. Trump’s threats indicate to friend and foe just how little regard he has for NATO’s value. Mr. Trump claims that the United States should own Greenland — “That’s our territory,” he said in Davos — because it is in the Western Hemisphere. He says the United States needs to own the island if it is to establish an effective missile defense system for the United States. These claims fly in the face of NATO’s extraordinary record of collective self-defense over the last 75 years. …

NATO’s strength is not just its formidable military power. It is also a collective commitment to the shared values of democracy and open markets that underpin a system that has been enormously beneficial to the people of the United States since World War II. Those values have also been good for the world, contributing to stability that allowed poverty to plummet in recent decades and violent deaths to become far less common than during much of humanity’s war-torn history. …

Winning back the trust of these allies will be difficult. The best hope involves bipartisan expressions of revulsion at Mr. Trump’s actions, coming primarily from Congress. Already, Republican criticism of his menacing of Greenland seems to have played a role in his backtracking. Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska both decried the threats, with Mr. Tillis calling them “beyond stupid.” Ms. Murkowski joined the Democrat Jeanne Shaheen in introducing legislation to constrain Mr. Trump’s aggression toward NATO allies.

Members of Congress should follow through and pass that legislation as a show of America’s commitment to the alliance. They should also freeze approval of Mr. Trump’s national security nominees until he agrees to halt his attacks on NATO.

Mr. Trump has a habit of declaring national emergencies on dubious pretenses to justify his policies. His reckless assault on a pillar of our national security and abandonment of longtime allies are the true national emergencies. Leaders in Beijing and Moscow are no doubt thrilled. America is less safe than it was a week ago.

⭕ 23 Jan 2026

🐣 It may have had something to do with these charts ⬇️
This doesn’t even cover naval resources.
For instance, NATO (w/o the US) has 40-45 incebreakers.
The US has two.
The US is not ‘Arctic-ready.’
◕ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2014913688755380301?s=20/photo/1 -2
↥ ↧
NYT: Trump’s Turnabout on Greenland Shows the Limits of His Coercive Powers https://tinyurl.com/mr2abzn5 “Nothing will be quite the same in the Atlantic alliance. The perception of how America envisions using its military and economic power has shifted, perhaps permanently.”
// by David Sanger, President Trump’s faith in his ability to wring concessions by taking maximalist positions was on full display this week. So were the costs, as he splintered NATO and then undercut his credibility by climbing down from his threats.

Even by President Trump’s own mercurial standards, his whipsawing over the past few weeks on Greenland — insisting on the largest land acquisition in American history and then dropping it without explanation, threatening allies and then reversing himself — was a remarkable and revealing exercise in a new era of American coercive diplomacy.

Mr. Trump began, as always, with a maximalist demand. This time, it was that a small European power, an ally that had shed blood for the United States in Afghanistan and beyond, turn over a vast and icy territory for the sake of U.S. national security. The president was clearly testing the boundaries of the Atlantic alliance, arguing that handing over the land was a small price for lesser powers to pay for continued American protection. …

“We want a piece of ice for world protection, and they won’t give it,” the president complained about Denmark in a speech to the world’s elite in Davos, Switzerland, adding with a hint of menace: “You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative. Or you can say no, and we will remember.”

But this week Mr. Trump also discovered the limits of his coercive powers. After he threatened a wave of new tariffs, markets fell abruptly, which always seizes his attention. Allies objected, this time openly. And by the time the president returned to Washington on Thursday night, it was clear that he had left considerable damage to the Western alliance in his wake.

When the climb-down came, it was with only the vaguest explanation from the president. ¤ Mr. Trump said Wednesday night on social media that a “framework of a future deal” had been reached, one that did not resemble full American ownership. Instead, speaking on Air Force One on Thursday, he floated the idea of what sounded like a lease for expanded military bases in Greenland in which “the time limit is infinity” and “we can do anything we want,” including to support the Golden Dome, his ambitious missile defense plan.

When pressed about how the new arrangement would expand America’s right beyond an existing 1951 treaty — which gives the United States almost unlimited rights to base troops, missiles, aircraft and the U.S. Navy on Greenland — he described it as “a much more generous deal.” …

For now, though, Mr. Trump has retreated from his declaration to The New York Times two weeks ago that ownership is key because “that’s what I feel is psychologically needed for success.” It is unclear what that means about other places where he has threatened action, from Mexico to Cuba to Iran.

But there was a longer-term price, harder to measure. ¤ Even as Mr. Trump backed off, he clearly did damage to a post-World War II system that Washington itself had designed. It is a system that, for all its many flaws, helped prevent direct superpower conflict for three-quarters of a century. Along the way it brought huge advantages to the United States, extending its reach and amplifying its power.
v
After Greenland, nothing will be quite the same in the Atlantic alliance. The perception of how America envisions using its military and economic power has shifted, perhaps permanently. …
^
“The principle behind the threats is disturbing,” Richard Fontaine, the chief executive of the Center for a New American Security and a former aide to the late Senator John McCain. “The prohibition against conquest is a key feature of the post-1945 world, and one that has helped keep the peace among great powers. Coveting Greenland and threatening to acquire it, possibly by force, upends that.” …

The estrangement is real. Allies began to talk about their survival strategies in a world where Washington could no longer be trusted. “We’ve now de-escalated,” Alexander Stubb, the president of Finland and a friend and golfing partner of Mr. Trump, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. “But obviously, it’s not over yet.”

Some spoke obliquely about preserving the “rules-based system,” not wanting to directly challenge Mr. Trump. But one leader was astoundingly direct: Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, a former central banker who took on Mr. Trump with a bluntness that shocked many in the audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos and generated sustained applause.

“Every day we’re reminded that we live in an era of great-power rivalry,” Mr. Carney told the crowd early in the week, before Mr. Trump reversed course. “That the rules-based order is fading. That the strong can do what they can, and the weak must suffer what they must.”

That last line draws from Thucydides, the ancient Greek historian and military strategist whose “History of the Peloponnesian War” has, for hundreds of years, served as the fundamental text on how to manage raw power.

“This aphorism of Thucydides is presented as inevitable, the natural logic of international relations reasserting itself,” Mr. Carney said. “And faced with this logic, there is a strong tendency for countries to go along to get along. To accommodate. To avoid trouble. To hope that compliance will buy safety. ¤ “Well, it won’t,” he concluded. …

But it is a stretch to say that any of America’s biggest allies — including Britain, France and Germany — can truly afford to go their own way. They simply have no replacement for a system where the United States stands at the center of their defensive strategy, bolstered by the American nuclear arsenal. …

Perhaps Mr. Rutte’s agile diplomacy will hold. But after Greenland, European leaders have good reason to wonder where Mr. Trump’s demands will next fall. Last spring, he was claiming that Canada had to become America’s 51st state, and that if it did, it would get the protection of the Golden Dome for free.

He has not revived that demand. But he did take on Mr. Carney, whose critique clearly stung. And he did so with a not-very-veiled threat in his speech to the forum on Wednesday, one that sounded a lot like the way he was talking about Denmark until then. ¤ “Canada lives because of the United States,” Mr. Trump said. “Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.”

🐣 RT @Kasparov63 “Fascist” has been overused in the overheated partisan political environment. (As “socialist” or “communist” in the other direction.) But there’s no better word for armed masked agents demanding papers of citizens on the street and threatening them with lists.
⋙ 🐣 RT @Kasparov63 The US Constitution isn’t about what the government must do *for* you, but what it cannot do *to* you. This is one of the things that the Bill of Rights exists to prevent. But as with most any enumerated rights, if they are unused and unprotected, they wither.

🐣 RT @Nouriel The Deja-Vu FAFO-TALO-TACO cycle galore!
¤ https://x.com/Nouriel/status/2014697638008938801?s=20

This time around it took less than a week for the FAFO-TALO-TACO cycle to come to a full circle. A week ago the Greenlanders, Danish and Europeans pushed back against Trump’s increasing bellicose attempts to take over Greenland (they went into FAFO or F- Around & Find Out mode).

Then Trump snapped to the European FAFO with his usual TALO (Trump Always Lashes Out) and threatened to take over Greenland by force and to impose additional tariffs on the European countries supportive of Denmark/Greenland.

But on Tuesday – as US markets were closed on Monday – market discipline snapped with a vengeance: equities went sharply down, bond yields higher, dollar lower and gold spiking.

Then, it took only 24 hour for Trump to go from his TALO mode on Tuesday to his TACO mode on Wednesday with his conciliatory Davos speech and supporting the “framework” of Rutte’s NATO head. Then on Wednesday following the TACO u-turn the markets had the typical and expected TACO relief rally.

So it took only 24 for market discipline (Bond & Stock vigilantes) to turn Trump from TALO to TACO! As I pointed out on Tuesday the Bond/Market Vigilantes are the most powerful people on the world, even more powerful than POTUS.

Another lesson: if you are big enough or strong enough (China , Europe on Greenland) to stand up to a bully then your FAFO will lead to TALO but fast enough market discipline and vigilantes will force the bully to blink and move to TACO; thus, you win. But if you are weak and small (Venezuela) then your FAFO leads to big time TALO with no subsequent TACO 🌮!

No wonder that the savvy Canadian PM Carney is thinking of alliances of middle powers to have a more credible collective FAFO strategy that forces a TALO bully to switch into TACO mode rather than double down on TALO.

In the new world order based on the law of the jungle (where might makes you right) the only option for the small, weak or disunited powers (even the EU at times) is to form stronger coalitions to stand up to the big power bullies.

⭕ 22 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @EdKrassen BREAKING: This is some 1930s Germany rhetoric by Greg Bovino. ¤ He’s claiming that Alex Pretti was killed because he made the choice to listen to politicians and journalists who vilified ICE after they murdered Renee Good. ¤ Bovino warns the media that there’s consequences if they say bad things about ICE. ¤ This is what happened in Germany. Don’t let it happen again in America.

WSJ Editorial (Jan 22): Donald Trump, Not Unchained https://tinyurl.com/whbuewce “The ultimate check on power is an election, and on that score Mr. Trump’s bull-dozing governance may be building the opposition that costs his party its majority in November.” //➔ 🙏
// His reversal on Greenland shows the limits of his power.

💙 🖼 NYT, Jason Farago: Face to Face With History’s Most Dangerous Painter [Interactive] https://tinyurl.com/4twxraam
// Jacque-Louis David

🐣 RT @RpsAgainstTrump President Zelenskyy in Davos criticized European leaders: “Instead of taking the lead in defending freedom worldwide, especially when America’s focus shifts elsewhere, Europe looks lost trying to convince the U.S. president to change, but he will not change.”

🐣 RT @RepDanGoldman The more we learn about DOGE, the more clear it becomes that we were right along. @elonmusk illegally obtained our most private info and handed it off to election deniers to suppress the vote. ¤ DOGE was never about detecting waste, fraud and abuse. ¤ It was yet another political arm of the Republican Party that was stealing our data to deprive us of our rights. …
¤ https://x.com/RepDanGoldman/status/2014392626280370518?s=20

🐣 RT @evo1tactical I was asked yesterday what the “Kill Zone” is in Ukraine.
¤ https://x.com/evo1tactical/status/2014307664117813708?s=20

This is a simplified explanation, because there is far more to this than can fit in a single post. But I want to give people a clear, basic understanding.

When people talk about the “dead zone” or “kill zone” in Ukraine, they are talking about a strip of land along the front, usually 10 to 20 kilometers deep, where moving almost guarantees you will be seen and targeted. Not by a soldier in a trench, but by drones, artillery, aviation, and mines working together. The sky is never empty. FPV drones hunt movement in real time. Artillery follows within minutes.

This has shattered the old idea of trench warfare. There is no clean front line anymore. Instead, there is a constant gray area of destroyed ground where soldiers are watched, tracked, and hunted by technology. Moving supplies, evacuating wounded, or rotating troops through this zone is often impossible without taking losses. […]

Ukraine is fighting the war everyone else will face next. Learn from it. Adapt now. Support Ukraine.

Slava Ukraini. Heroyam Slava. 🇺🇦

🐣 RT @jayvanbavel AI now allows propaganda campaigns to reach unprecedented scale and precision. ¤ Our new paper in @sciencemagazine Magazine explains how a disruptive threat is emerging: swarms of collaborative, malicious AI agents. We describe the potential risks and some interventions for this growing threat to organizations, institutions, and nationThis paper was led by @daniel_thilo & @JonasKunst22246 https://tinyurl.com/mwmm7dda
‼️ arXiv, Daniel Thilo Schroeder et al: How malicious AI swarms can threaten democracy https://arxiv.org/html/2506.06299v4 “The fusion of agentic AI and LLMs marks a new frontier in information warfare.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/jayvanbavel/status/2014453111608209908?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @RepMcGovern I just put Republicans on the record in the Rules Committee—forcing votes on amendments in an attempt to:
¤ https://x.com/RepMcGovern/status/2014417621865967778?s=20

❌Prohibit the U.S. government from invading a NATO ally. Every Republican voted no.
❌Prohibit the president from preemptively attacking another country without congressional authorization. Every Republican voted no.
❌Restrain Trump’s paramilitary secret police force & protect Americans’ civil rights from ICE. Every Republican voted no.

Shameful & pathetic.

🐣 RT @Markfry809 Mr. Smith Goes To Washington and demonstrates he’s got more bravery in his pinky finger than the entire Republican Party.

🔄 💙 🔊 TheAtlantic Podcast: Autocracy in America https://tinyurl.com/6ahexhwc

🔄 💙 ⚖️ 💽 C-SPAN: Former Special Counsel Jack Smith Testifies on Trump Investigations, Part 1 https://tinyurl.com/4bmzxbnp
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2014605443868356645?s=20/photo/1

“Former special counsel Jack Smith testified publicly for the first time on his investigations into President Trump before the House Judiciary Committee. In this first portion, Smith testified in his opening statement: “I am not a politician, and I have no partisan loyalties.” He went on to say that Trump was charged “because the evidence established that he willfully broke the law” and that his investigation “developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in criminal activity.” Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to oversee preexisting Justice Department investigations into Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack and alleged mishandling of classified documents. After Trump won the 2024 election, Smith dismissed both cases “without prejudice,” meaning charges could be refiled after Trump leaves office. In August 2025, the Trump administration announced an investigation into Smith, alleging his investigations were politically motivated.”

🔄 💙 ⚖️ 💽 C-SPAN: Former Special Counsel Jack Smith Testifies on Trump Investigations, Part 2 https://tinyurl.com/57kxyufe
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2014605577234546778?s=20 /photo/1

“Former special counsel Jack Smith testified publicly for the first time on his investigations into President Trump before the House Judiciary Committee. In this second portion, Smith defended his investigations amid allegations from Republicans that he spied on their phone records and accusations that he was acting politically on behalf of Democrats. Smith also affirmed his findings that Trump knew the 2020 election wasn’t fraudulent but made claims anyway that it was in order to stay in power. Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Smith to oversee preexisting Justice Department investigations into Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack and alleged mishandling of classified documents. After Trump won the 2024 election, Smith dismissed both cases “without prejudice,” meaning charges could be refiled after Trump leaves office. In August 2025, the Trump administration announced an investigation into Smith, alleging his investigations were politically motivated.”

NYT: Trump Says Canada Is No Longer Welcome on Peace Board https://tinyurl.com/c45hcuwr //➔ This is no ‘peace board’: It’s Trump’s “Buddy Board,” alternative world views NOT allowed. BEWARE ‼️👀

NYT: In Testimony, Jack Smith Defends Decision to Prosecute Trump https://tinyurl.com/2apvhz9r “The former special prosecutor argued a case he was never allowed to in court: that President Trump ‘engaged in criminal activity’ that undermined democracy.”

WaPo: After ‘good’ Trump meeting, Zelensky pushes Europe hard to do more https://tinyurl.com/8ue2wxxz “President Trump and his envoy Steve Witkoff have said a deal to resolve nearly four years of war between Russia and Ukraine is close”

After nearly four years of full-scale war, Zelensky described how life in Ukraine felt like the movie “Groundhog Day” with ramped-up attacks coming amid a brutally cold winter. All the while Europe is still unequipped to defend itself against Russia, he said, which has not slowed its assault since 2022.

As a result, Zelensky said, “the backstop of Trump is needed” with no security guarantees functioning without the United States. He emphasized that Europe needed to be a united force: “Europe should not be a salad of small and middle powers.”

“Europe loves to discuss the future but avoids taking action today, action that defines what kind of future we will have,” Zelensky said in his speech in Davos, Switzerland, following the hour-long meeting with Trump. “If [Russian President Vladimir] Putin decides to take Lithuania or strike Poland, who will respond? … Tomorrow you may have to defend your way of life.”

NYT: Amy Klobuchar Files Papers for Run to Succeed Tim Walz as Minnesota Governor https://tinyurl.com/2nzpr5av The Minnesota senator, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, appears set to enter a race that has been transformed by President Trump’s immigration crackdown in the state and protests against it.

🐣 RT @implausibleblog Journalist, “Mark Carney said the middle powers need to adapt to a world without American leadership, in some sense, that’s an anti American point of view”
¤ 💽 https://x.com/implausibleblog/status/2014348472980213871?s=20/photo/1

Gavin Newsom: “When I was listening to the EU president Ursual von der Leyen speak, that used to be us”

“Am I surprised by what Carney did?”

“I had more leaders in the US privately – not publicly – send me the transcript of that speech”

“The clarity came from the Prime Minister of Canada”

“The fact that Carney went to China, came back with a deal, including for low cost high quality electric vehicles not made in Michigan, Detroit, but overseas?”

“It says everything you need to know about the recklessness of America’s foreign policy under Trump”

“It’s a remarkable thing to break down 80+ years of alliances”

“It takes decades to build trust, organisations”

“It takes weeks, hours, minutes, to destroy it”

“Destruction is not strength”

“The Trump administration is weakness masquerading as strength”

“That’s reflect in his tweets, in cancelling people, in sending masked men into American cities”

“I respect what Carney did, because his courage of conviction, he stood up, and I think we need to stand up in America”

“We can lose our republic as we know it”

“Our country will become unrecognisable”

🐣 RT @nexta_tv 🇺🇦🇪🇺Zelensky’s sharp speech in Davos: “If Ukraine stands with Europe, no one will wipe their feet on Europe” ¤ The Ukrainian president thanked allies for the support already provided but sharply criticised them for indecision. The hall gave a standing ovation. ¤ Here are the key points:
¤ 💽 https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/2014366194476929028?s=20/photo/1

📌A year ago, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words: “Europe must know how to defend itself.” A year has passed. Nothing has changed.

📌The EU decided to freeze Russian assets indefinitely, and I am grateful for that. But when it came time to use them to defend against Russian aggression, the decision was blocked.

📌Why can Trump seize shadow fleet tankers, but Europe cannot? Russian oil is transported right along Europe’s shores. That oil finances Russia’s war.

📌Many say China helps Russia — but not only China. Russia receives components from companies in Europe, the United States, and Taiwan.

📌There was a lot of talk about the protests in Iran. But they were drowned in blood. The world did not help the Iranian people enough and stood aside. If a regime survives this, what signal does it send? Kill enough people — and you stay in power.

📌Belarus in 2020 is the clearest example. No one helped its people. And now Russian “Oreshnik” missiles are stationed in Belarus, with a range covering most European capitals.

📌Maduro is in a prison in New York. Putin is not.

📌Today, Europe relies only on faith that if danger comes, NATO will act. But no one has ever seen the alliance in action. If Putin decides to take Lithuania or strike Poland, who will respond?

📌Europe needs unified armed forces capable of truly defending Europe.

🐣 RT @KyivPost A trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the United States, and Russia is expected to take place tomorrow in the United Arab Emirates, Zelensky said.

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇺🇦 Commander of Third Army Corps:
¤ https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/2014268260032643429?s=20

Ukraine gave away the third-largest nuclear arsenal for international guarantees. We gave up our missiles to Russia; they later flew on us again.

We must accept reality — the reality as it is. International law, unfortunately, does not function in this trench. The only thing this neo-empire truly listens to and understands is strength.

I do not really believe in deals in this context, because deals assume rational behavior — and that is not what we are dealing with. Please accept this. Once you do, you will no longer be surprised or disappointed when things happen.

And this applies first and foremost to Europe. No individual European army can simply withdraw. As things stand, we are holding the line. Right now, more than one million troops are positioned along the borders of the European Union. This is the reality we are facing.

In fact, I believe the Ukrainian Army is already part of European security — de facto.

Europe must recognize this reality. We must be united. A united Europe must stand together and be strong, because strength is the only language Putin’s new empire understands.

⭕ 21 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom The panicky responses to this observation tell me that Trump’s cult saw what I saw: An unwell and deeply unstable man who has no idea what he’s doing and is coming home with nothing but the diminution of American power and influence in the world.
⋙ 🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom No one can be watching this Davos speech and reach any conclusion but that the President of the United States is mentally disturbed and that something is deeply wrong with him. This is both embarrassing and extremely dangerous.

🐣 RT @AP BREAKING: Immigration officers are asserting sweeping power to enter homes without a judge’s warrant, a memo obtained by AP says.

🐣 RT @ @Kasparov63 Don’t worry, there will be something even more outrageous than invading Greenland any day now. That’s how it works. Constant outrages, smashing against the guardrails until they crack, too many cracks to patch. A pity that the congressional GOP doesn’t exist.
⋙ 🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom I will almost guarantee that there is no deal or framework for a deal; this is a walk-back. Congress should never have let it get this far, and the damage and humiliation can’t be undone, but this is a good outcome (so far).

🐣 RT @obeissiLetter BREAKING: Denmark’s Foreign Minister has rejected President Trump’s demand to negotiate the US takeover of Greenland.

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en US Special Envoy Keith Kellogg during a discussion programme ‘Ukraine: Futures Frontline’ organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, in cooperation with the Office of the President of Ukraine on the occasion of WEF2026 in Davos:
¤ https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/2014044147225604572?s=20

Russia is not winning this war. They’re not.

Putin’s definition of winning and my definition of winning are very different. He measures his advances in meters, not miles.

Right now, I think he does not want to become Nicholas II, the last czar of Russia. I think he’s trying to figure out a way to get out of this thing, because he knows he is not going to end up winning this war.

I understand it’s a harsh winter. I understand what’s happening in Kyiv. I understand the temperatures, but I really do believe that if Ukraine gets through this winter – January, February – and you get into March and April, the advantage accrues to Ukraine, not to Russia. And I don’t think they’re going to have much more success in what they’re doing out there.

Their frontline units have been mauled. They’ve lost over 20 general officers. So when you look at what he’s trying to do, he hasn’t been very, very successful.

I’m hoping for a good outcome, meaning that we’re heading towards maybe the final stages of peace talks and development.

I think the impediment to progress is not Ukraine. The impediment is Putin. He’s reached a point, psychologically, where he really can’t let go, because if he does, he admits it’s a failure. And what he has done is a failure. When you look at the amount of territory they’ve gained, it’s really minimal.

Then we’ll get to a point where reconstruction can start. Peace can take hold in Ukraine. And I’m hoping that by Independence Day this summer, there will be peace in the land.

⋙ 🐣 Kellogg is no longer part of the 🇺🇸 negotiating team.

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom This is the climbdown – for now. But maybe this will give it all time enough for him to move on to some other shiny
[TextLink:] https://x.com/RadioFreeTom/status/2014064872976224758?s=20/photo/1
// Trymp tweet

🐣 RT @MaryLTrump What we saw today in Davos was an old man decompensating on the world stage because nobody close to him who’s in a position to do something cares about him enough to bother.

🐣 RT @gtconway3d Today is the most humiliating day in the history of the United States of America. At least until tomorrow.

🐣 RT @benabarr [tr] The meltdown lasted 72 minutes. 72 minutes in front of the entire world.
¤ https://x.com/benabarr/status/2014048135945875869?s=20

– 72 minutes during which the American president confused Greenland with Iceland. Several times. While explaining why he wants to buy it.
– 72 minutes during which he threatened a NATO ally, Denmark, with these words: “You can say yes, and we’ll appreciate it. You can say no, and we’ll remember it.”
– 72 minutes during which he called Greenland a “piece of ice” on which the fate of the planet supposedly depends: “What I’m asking for is a piece of ice in exchange for world peace.”
– 72 minutes during which he never once mentioned the presence of the Greenlanders.
– 72 minutes during which he declared that he has “100% Scottish blood and 100% German blood.” Which would make 200%. But math and him, that makes 2.
– 72 minutes during which he claimed that the United States, after World War II, “gave Greenland back to Denmark.” Too bad it’s completely false. The United States never owned Greenland. Never. In 1916, they officially recognized Danish sovereignty. During the war, they only obtained temporary military bases. And in 1946, they tried to buy it by offering 100 million dollars. Denmark said no. There was no “return.”
– 72 minutes during which he claimed that “China has no wind turbines,” when China has been the world’s leading wind power producer for 15 years and is building 45% of all wind projects on the planet. But for Trump, “they have no windmill fields.” They sell them “to fools.”
– 72 minutes during which he stated that “all the big oil companies are coming with us to Venezuela.” Too bad that three days earlier, the CEO of ExxonMobil told him to his face that Venezuela is not “investable.” Trump, furious, even threatened to exclude Exxon. The others said nothing, but thought no less. Yet at Davos, he said they were “all coming.”
– 72 minutes during which he declared that there is “practically no inflation” in the United States. American inflation stands at 2.7%. Above the Fed’s target. Forecast to rise because of his own tariffs. But for him, “there is practically none.”
– 72 minutes during which he attacked the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, calling him “stupid.” Live. In front of the world’s top economic leaders.
– 72 minutes during which he recounted that he imposed tariffs on Switzerland out of spite, because “a woman” whose name he can’t remember “didn’t pet him the right way.”
– 72 minutes during which he said that “yesterday the market crashed because of Iceland.” Iceland. A country of 380,000 inhabitants. That was supposedly going to bring down Wall Street.
– 72 minutes during which he claimed the United States “paid 100% of NATO.” 100%. When the American share of the NATO budget is around 16%. But for him, 100%.
– 72 minutes during which he mispronounced Azerbaijan as “Aber-bajian.”
– 72 minutes of mood swings. Of easily verifiable lies. Of made-up numbers. Of threats to allies. Of insults to officials. Of geographical blunders. Of bragging contradicted by facts.

And the world, in silence, watched. For 72 long minutes.

And to think that in the past, for far less, political careers would end.

Today, we’re just waiting for the next meltdown.

Welcome to 2026. And it’s only January.

Rick Wilson: A Declaration of Independence From The Mad King https://tinyurl.com/mrxc47ym “It’s time.”

🐣 RT @EdwardGLuce Trump’s unique trait is to be terrifyingly dumb and mind-numbingly dull at the same time.

⭕ 20 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @dwallacewells 71 percent of Americans think the country is out of control.
📊 ◕ https://x.com/dwallacewells/status/2013775633759752457?s=20/photo/1
// Economist/YouGov Poll ¤ January 16 – 19, 2026 – 1722 U.S. Adult Citizens

WaPo: Pentagon moves to cut US participation in some NATO groups https://tinyurl.com/4nutamfv “The planned reductions the alliance’s force structure and some advisory groups mark the Trump administration’s latest move to scale back military investment in Europe’s defense”
// “Some current and former officials said the U.S. pullout could have an outsize impact on the alliance by reducing valuable American military expertise”

WaPo: Trump administration admits DOGE accessed personal Social Security data https://tinyurl.com/3t5ekzs3 “A DOGE employee signed an agreement to share Social Security data with the aim of overturning election results in certain states, according to a new court filing”

WSJ, Yaroslav Trofimov: Trump’s Threats to Allies Stir Worry That US Has Lost Its Way https://tinyurl.com/8n9d47ec DAVOS, Switzerland—“President Trump is showing up for an annual gathering of the global elite … swinging a wrecking ball at the international order“
// New tariffs, insults and threats of invasion trigger a backlash ahead of the president’s visit to Davos

… Trump insists he will take possession of Greenland from North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally Denmark—by force if he has to. Ahead of his trip, he posted an image portraying him lecturing European leaders in front of a map in which Greenland, Canada and Venezuela are emblazoned with the Stars and Stripes.

On Thursday, he plans to unveil what he is calling a Board of Peace that aims to supplant the United Nations—and be led by him, in perpetuity.

The reactions from many U.S. allies and partners, some of them aired in public, many of them still only expressed in private, are stark: Trump’s America seems to have lost its mind. The unfolding break is profound, and, to many outside the U.S., Washington’s behavior defies any rational explanation. 

The tone in Europe has hardened in recent days, after Trump announced punitive tariffs against European nations that sent troops for exercises in Greenland. Even far-right and nationalist parties courted by the Trump administration as an alternative to centrist politicians on the continent have voiced outrage and called for retaliation.

Carl Bildt, the former prime minister of Sweden who now co-chairs the European Council on Foreign Relations, Tuesday described Trump’s social-media post with the map as “a Nero warning”—a reference to the infamous Roman emperor blamed at the time for burning down the city.

Trump’s message to the Norwegian prime minister that “I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace” because he had not been given the Nobel Peace Prize shows a serious problem with the U.S. president’s judgment, said Bernard Guetta, a French member of the European Parliament. …

“Our response will be unflinching, united and proportional,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Davos, warning about a “dangerous downward spiral” in the trans-Atlantic relationship.

French President Emmanuel Macron and several other European leaders turned down Trump’s invitation to join the Board of Peace, a world body that according to the draft charter would be presided over by him for life, and that would in essence replace the current U.N. According to the charter, decisions by member-states would be binding only if Trump approved them, and he would have sole authority on picking a successor.

Nations that have accepted the invitation include Belarus and Middle Eastern monarchies. Trump, who plans to establish the board in Davos on Thursday, reacted to Macron’s refusal by saying he will impose a 200% tariff on French wines and Champagnes. …

Based on conversations in Davos, however, the desire to accommodate Trump appears to be on the wane, especially as European security officials grow convinced that he may actually use force to conquer Greenland, a semiautonomous part of the Kingdom of Denmark. …

It isn’t just Europe’s centrist and liberal leaders that make such warnings these days. Jordan Bardella, the leader of France’s far-right National Rally party, told the European Parliament on Tuesday: “Facing Trump’s blackmail, we either react with all the necessary firmness, or we disappear behind the logic of empire.” …

France’s Macron took only part of this advice to heart. “We need to be extremely calm,” he said as he left Davos before Trump’s arrival, adding: “We must defend our interests when they are not respected, and we must be by the side of our Danish friends when they are being pushed around.”

WSJ Editorial: NATO Is the Board of Peace https://tinyurl.com/yu96kkw9 “Trump’s new coalition couldn’t do better than the Atlantic alliance.” ~ “Maybe Mr. Trump should try to preserve NATO rather than blowing it up over Greenland.”

WSJ: Greenland Clash Risks Undermining America’s Place in World Economic Order https://tinyurl.com/bdeskzmm “The U.S. has long been a beacon of safety when uncertainty reigns. That is changing.”

Escalating tensions over Greenland are supercharging a dynamic that was already under way: a shift in the world economic order that had put the U.S. at the center of the global economy.

For investors the world over, America has long been a beacon of safety when uncertainty reigns, a nation whose deep and liquid financial markets are the premier destination for capital and home of a currency that is the lingua franca of international transactions. That is changing.

Trump’s combative economic and foreign policies are compelling countries to invest elsewhere, spend more on defense, make new trade alliances, and rethink the U.S. as the primary economic force around which to build their economies, security and futures. 

Tuesday’s market action provided a taste of what could come. 

Stocks fell around the world, but the U.S. experienced some of the sharpest declines, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreating 871 points, or 1.8%, the S&P 500 dropping 2.1% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq sliding 2.4%. Bonds sold off globally, sending the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury to just below 4.3%. The dollar extended recent declines.

The sharp declines in Treasurys and weakness in the dollar were especially notable: In times of trouble, investors have habitually flocked to the safe haven of the U.S. Tuesday, they were heading in the other direction. 

“The U.S. is plainly for a lot of international investors becoming a less friendly place to do business with, and that is likely to have an impact on investment decisions going forward,” said Shaun Osborne, chief currency strategist at Scotiabank.

The power of the American economy makes it tough to dent, nevermind topple. The “sell America” trade last year fizzled, and stock indexes reached new record highs just last week. Yet risks are real.

Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the circumstances now are different from last year. He points not just to the escalating Greenland tensions, but the U.S. military intervention in Venezuela, the Justice Department’s probe of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the administration’s threat of new tariffs against countries in Europe despite its previous deals.

“I think there is a much better chance that we’re going to look back and say this was the turning point,” he said. 

Posen believes that the administration’s actions could knock away what has been a pillar of stability for the world. The U.S. helped grease the wheels of global commerce, expanding trade and providing security. In return, America got cheap financing, robust foreign investment and the primacy of the U.S. dollar.

The long-term repercussions could be grave. If investors around the world seek safe harbors elsewhere, the U.S. could face a future of diminished foreign investment, higher inflationary pressure and a reduced capacity to finance its debt. And that could in turn weigh on U.S. living standards. 

Moreover, if the U.S. no longer functions as the world’s economic center, the multipolar world that takes its place—where China, Russia and the U.S. control their own economic and security spheres—could be more dangerous and unequal. […]

🐣 RT @MikeSington Colby Hall, Mediaite: “One of the earliest and most underreported warning signs of certain forms of dementia is not memory loss. It is disinhibition — a deterioration of impulse control, judgment, and social restraint that often manifests as reckless behavior, inappropriate speech, and diminished concern for consequences. By the time forgetfulness becomes obvious, the disease process is often well underway. ¤ That framework matters because it closely tracks what President Donald Trump has been displaying with increasing frequency.”

🐣 RT @Kasparov63 Who is running the country? When will Congress step in?
⋙ 🐣 RT @Daractenus He’s been rambling incoherently for 50 minutes straight. Right now he’s talking about mental institutions and how his mom once told him he could be a great baseball player. He’s completely gone.
💽 https://x.com/Daractenus/status/2013701979084664877?s=20/photo/1
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @RichardAngwin Trump’s detour into childhood baseball and psych ward windows during a policy briefing is pure incoherence from a 79-year-old who can’t stay on topic.

🐣 RT @kylegriffin1 Two members of Elon Musk’s DOGE team working at the Social Security Administration were secretly in touch with an advocacy group seeking to “overturn election results in certain states,” and one signed an agreement that may have involved using Social Security data to match state voter rolls, the Justice Department revealed in newly disclosed court papers.

🐣 RT @TheDemCoalition “There comes a point here where we have to start questioning whether or not he’s actually aware of what’s happening around him and the harm he’s doing. It’s similar to historical figures like Nero or Caligula. Their madness took over and they started doing wildly destructive things. Trump is in that place.”
⋙ PublicNotice: Simon Rosenberg on Trump’s no good, very bad year https://tinyurl.com/mwpb8t99 “It’s grotesque. He’s become a grotesque figure.”

🐣 RT @carlbildt t Here is the full text of 🇨🇦 PM Carney speech in Davos earlier today. It will probably be the best of speeches there this year. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/yytt26wc
⋙ 🐣 RT @wirehair01 Here’s a link to a video with the whole speech. Probably the most powerful I ever heard. He nails it
💽 https://x.com/wirehair01/status/2013733509756493847?s=20/photo/1

[…] In a world of great power rivalry, the countries in between have a choice: to compete with each other for favour or to combine to create a third path with impact.

We should not allow the rise of hard power to blind us to the fact that the power of legitimacy, integrity, and rules will remain strong — if we choose to wield it together.

Which brings me back to Havel.

What would it mean for middle powers to “live in truth”?

It means naming reality. Stop invoking the “rules-based international order” as though it still functions as advertised. Call the system what it is: a period of intensifying great power rivalry, where the most powerful pursue their interests using economic integration as a weapon of coercion.

It means acting consistently. Apply the same standards to allies and rivals. When middle powers criticise economic intimidation from one direction but stay silent when it comes from another, we are keeping the sign in the window.

It means building what we claim to believe in. Rather than waiting for the old order to be restored, create institutions and agreements that function as described.

And it means reducing the leverage that enables coercion. Building a strong domestic economy should always be every government’s priority. Diversification internationally is not just economic prudence; it is the material foundation for honest foreign policy. Countries earn the right to principled stands by reducing their vulnerability to retaliation.

Canada has what the world wants. We are an energy superpower. We hold vast reserves of critical minerals. We have the most educated population in the world. Our pension funds are amongst the world’s largest and most sophisticated investors. We have capital, talent, and a government with the immense fiscal capacity to act decisively.

And we have the values to which many others aspire.

Canada is a pluralistic society that works. Our public square is loud, diverse, and free. Canadians remain committed to sustainability.

We are a stable, reliable partner—in a world that is anything but—a partner that builds and values relationships for the long term.

Canada has something else: a recognition of what is happening and a determination to act accordingly.

We understand that this rupture calls for more than adaptation. It calls for honesty about the world as it is.

We are taking the sign out of the window.

The old order is not coming back. We should not mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy.

But from the fracture, we can build something better, stronger, and more just.

This is the task of the middle powers, who have the most to lose from a world of fortresses and the most to gain from a world of genuine cooperation.

The powerful have their power. But we have something too – the capacity to stop pretending, to name reality, to build our strength at home, and to act together.

That is Canada’s path. We choose it openly and confidently.

And it is a path wide open to any country willing to take it with us.

🐣 RT @Birdyword Political speechmaking has generally degraded to the point that there’s no reason to read them, rather than simply how they’re reported, but Carney’s Davos speech is a rare exception. ¤ “The old order is not coming back. We should not mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Birdyword/status/2013696891565785512?s=20/photo/1 -2

WSJ (Dec 6): The Unexpected Ways Vaccines Could Boost Your Health https://tinyurl.com/4jhbnjpw “As political leaders question vaccine safety, scientists point to studies that show the shots might have unrelated benefits”
// 12/6/2025

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇩🇰 Danish PM Frederiksen:
¤ https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/2013590160886071598?s=20

On both sides of the Atlantic, a trade war will cost jobs. On both sides of the Atlantic, it will damage the economy.

And as much as we must therefore warn against it, just as much must we now also stand firm on what we are made of in Denmark, in Greenland and in Europe.

Because what we are in, it is about much more than ourselves. We can negotiate on everything political: security, investments and economy.

But we cannot negotiate on our most fundamental values: sovereignty, our countries’ identity and our borders, our democracy.

✅ WSJ: 6,000 Truth Social Posts Later, Here Are the Promises Trump Kept—and Broke [interactive] https://tinyurl.com/zbfve4fb “From adding cane sugar to Coke to ending production of the penny, some of the president’s notable pledges have happened, but not all”

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa Our representatives from the Ukrainian delegation, who worked in the United States with the U.S. President’s team in recent days, delivered their reports, as did our diplomats who are currently in Davos. …
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2013570307320172575?s=20

[…] Ukraine is ready for meetings with all partners if those meetings help protect lives and ensure security – if those meetings are actually effective. Our team has prepared everything necessary so that we can sign, in particular with America, documents on security guarantees and the recovery of Ukraine. This should become a historic result, given that the largest war since World War II is taking place in Europe. It is globally important to end this war. We are doing everything for that. We are also ready for substantive work with our European partners. If the meetings in Davos can provide greater protection for real people and real cities and villages in Ukraine, Ukraine will be in Davos. If partners are not ready, all representatives of Ukraine must focus on concrete matters that help our state and our citizens. First – air defense missiles. Second – energy equipment for restoration. Third – support packages that will help the front and our communities. Every Ukrainian official, all of our representatives, must now demonstrate results – be with their state, with their people, and fulfill their tasks. Thank you to everyone who stands with Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine!

🐣 RT @atrupar CNBC: McConnell has said that if the president moves on Greenland, this would something that Republican senators would impeach him on. Are you in that camp? ¤ TILLIS: I’m not going to go to impeachment. Let’s say it was a kinetic action — I’d immediately go for a War Powers resolution.

🐣 RT @atrupar CNBC: McConnell has said that if the president moves on Greenland, this would something that Republican senators would impeach him on. Are you in that camp? ¤ TILLIS: I’m not going to go to impeachment. Let’s say it was a kinetic action — I’d immediately go for a War Powers resolution.
.
🐣 RT @EdwardGLuce “The US has squandered its most valuable financial asset: trust. It risks paying a heavy price for this for decades to come.” Important piece by my colleague @katie_martin_fx on the hit to the dollar and US borrowing costs of Trump’s derangement. [FT link:] https://tinyurl.com/57tszca5

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇪🇺 Ursula von der Leyen [Davos]:The seismic change we are going through today is an opportunity—in fact, a necessity—to build a new form of European independence.
¤ https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/2013557948488785962?s=20

This agreement (EU-Mercosur) sends a powerful message to the world: That we are choosing fair trade over tariffs, partnership over isolation, sustainability over exploitation. And that we are serious about diversifying our supply chains.

We will not stop in Latin America. Last year we reached new agreements with Mexico, Indonesia, and Switzerland.

We are working on a new free trade agreement with Australia. We are also advancing with the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, the UAE, and more.

WaPo, Paul Winfree: Crypto is a speculative asset. It should be treated as such. https://tinyurl.com/2y284drm 🫧 “The federal government’s embrace of crypto as a favored asset class threatens to turn speculative enthusiasm into something far more destructive.” 🫧
// Treating crypto like real money could prove disastrous for the whole financial system.
// Paul Winfree is president and CEO of the Economic Policy Innovation Center.

Financial bubbles require investors to suspend a clear-eyed assessment of what an asset is actually worth. That suspension is often helped by appeals to economic progress, patriotism or financial modernization. The crypto bubble that is now forming displays all three characteristics. What makes it particularly concerning is the Trump administration’s role in promoting it. The federal government’s embrace of crypto as a favored asset class threatens to turn speculative enthusiasm into something far more destructive.

Economists William Quinn and John D. Turner, experts on financial manias across centuries, argue in their 2020 book that bubbles require three ingredients: speculation, marketability, and cheap money and credit. Politics or new technology can provide the spark. When all of these align, asset prices detach from fundamentals and feedback loops take over. Crypto checks every box.

The speculation is obvious. Changes in cryptocurrency values are driven by little more than vibes. Crypto is highly marketable — easy to buy, easy to trade and increasingly easy to hold through platforms that provide the appearance of safety. And cheap money has been abundant for 15 years, with expectations of more at just the hint of economic slowdown.

What is new is the political accelerant. The Trump administration has embraced crypto as a strategic priority. This posture, combined with legislative efforts such as the Genius Act, signals that crypto carries a federal endorsement. That signal lowers perceived risks, encourages leverage and draws capital that would otherwise flow to other investments.

Politics has ignited bubbles before, but the scale of a crypto bubble could rival or surpass the U.S. housing bubble that led to the 2008 financial crisis. Crypto’s market capitalization is above $3 trillion. This is a large, volatile asset class being pushed toward the financial mainstream by government action.

Crypto, however, is not money. Treating it as such introduces two significant risks.

The first is institutional. Once an asset begins to resemble money, it does not remain purely private. Regulators begin viewing it as systematically important, and when a bubble bursts, pressure for intervention becomes overwhelming. The Federal Reserve’s emergency lending authority was intended for rare circumstances, but its recent use has expanded when policymakers concluded that allowing markets to absorb losses was politically unacceptable.

That risk grows when the federal government lends crypto its credibility. Talk of a strategic crypto reserve or preferential regulatory treatment creates expectations in the market. Expectations harden into assumptions. Assumptions become liabilities in a downturn. Markets behave rationally when they infer the government has a stake in an asset’s survival.

If crypto continues down this path, it is easy to imagine a future crisis with officials arguing that a collapse would threaten payments, markets or confidence broadly. At that point, the question will not be whether crypto deserves a bailout, but whether the Fed can credibly refuse one.

NYT: Trump doubles down on his Greenland threats https://tinyurl.com/3uu28n3a “‘There can be no going back,’ Mr. Trump wrote on social media about his designs on Greenland, the semiautonomous Danish territory, which have shaken the foundations of the NATO alliance.”

The flurry of social media messages addressed the leaders of several European allies a day before Mr. Trump was expected to join the meeting in Davos.

Mr. Trump shared messages from President Emmanuel Macron of France, which a senior French official confirmed were authentic.

“I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland,” Mr. Macron wrote in the messages. The French leader also invited Mr. Trump to dinner in Paris on Thursday and offered to set up a meeting there of leaders of the Group of 7 countries — with additional invitations to the Russians, Ukrainians, Danes and Syrians. ¤ It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Trump responded to Mr. Macron’s messages.

The tensions over Greenland threatened to dominate the meeting at Davos. Speaking there later Tuesday morning, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, suggested that the European Union would take steps to bolster its security in light of the crisis and would be looking at “how to strengthen our security partnerships with partners such as the U.K., Canada, Norway, Iceland and others.” She did not offer details.

Ms. von der Leyen also argued that Europe needed to change to adapt to a more hostile era, saying, “Nostalgia will not bring back the old order.”

In his social media storm, Mr. Trump also shared a message from Mark Rutte, NATO’s secretary general, in which Mr. Rutte said he was “committed to finding a way forward on Greenland.” An official at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization said the exchange was authentic. Mr. Trump said that he had spoken with Mr. Rutte and reiterated his claims that American control of Greenland was essential for the security of the United States and of the world.

“We are the only POWER that can ensure PEACE throughout the World,” Mr. Trump wrote as he insisted on American military might. “And it is done, quite simply, through STRENGTH!”

Mr. Trump also lashed out at British plans to relinquish control of one of the Chagos Islands, in the Indian Ocean, calling it an “act of GREAT STUPIDITY” and saying it was “another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired.”

The messages from Mr. Trump follow weeks of renewed tensions over Greenland. He recently threatened to impose steep tariffs on European allies and linked his push for Greenland to not winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

Greenland, a majority Indigenous territory, has said that it is not for sale. Its leader said last week that Greenlanders would rather stay part of the Danish kingdom, its former colonizer, than join the Americans.

Mr. Trump has not stopped. On Tuesday, he posted a computer-generated image of himself planting a flag on Greenland. The image features a wooden placard that reads: “GREENLAND, US TERRITORY, EST. 2026.”

⭕ 19 Jan 2026

TheAtlantic, Tom Nichols: The Military Is Being Forced to Plan for an Unthinkable Betrayal https://tinyurl.com/25n59ftr “Attacking an ally would be a perversion of everything the armed forces have been trained to do.”

🐣 RT @Microinteracti1 Politico: Europe Weighs New Security Alliance Without the United States, With Ukraine in a Central Role [link:]
¤ https://x.com/Microinteracti1/status/2013257566587871257?s=20
⋙ Politico: Trump’s Greenland threats push Europe toward divorcing America https://tinyurl.com/2xk9v5ks “With NATO thrown into question, some officials see the “coalition of the willing” as the basis for a new alliance without the U.S.”

European officials are discussing the creation of a new security framework that would operate without the United States while still including Ukraine, according to Politico.

The talks are being framed as a response to a sharp deterioration in trust and day to day cooperation with the Trump administration, as European capitals reassess how dependent they can afford to be on Washington for deterrence and crisis management.

The reporting lands amid a broader transatlantic rupture driven by President Trump’s Greenland pressure campaign, including tariff threats against several European countries that have rejected any US move to take control of the territory. European leaders have publicly described the threats as coercive and warned they risk a downward spiral in relations, while the EU has discussed retaliatory measures and emergency diplomacy.

Politico’s account suggests one possible building block is the existing “coalition of the willing” supporting Ukraine, which has already coordinated military assistance among European partners. In that logic, Ukraine is not treated as a side issue but as a core contributor because it has one of Europe’s largest combat experienced forces and an urgent strategic incentive to shape any new architecture that emerges.

💙 NYT: How Trump Is Testing the Limits of the Presidency [interactive] https://tinyurl.com/y7hmm277

🐣 RT @clashreport German Chancellor Merz on Greenland: The United States of America once had more than 30,000 soldiers stationed in Greenland. Today, there are fewer than 200. ¤ So obviously the threat assessment of the United States itself is not as dramatic as it is currently being presented — even though the security situation could become more difficult again.

🐣 RT @stengel I know there’s worse stuff about the letter to the Danish Prime Minister, but what man, what human being, would ever say, Because you’ve denied me the prize, I’m going to punish you and everybody else that supports you? Anyone with even a teaspoon of self-respect would try to mask what they are doing behind some logical or reasonable rationale. But he not only says the quiet part out loud, he admits to being profoundly and hysterically insecure as though this is something to be, well, proud of.

🐣 RT @patrickwintour France is the first country to say no to Chairman Trump’s plan to run the world through his Board of Peace. He is planning a signing ceremony on Thursday. [Charter: https://tinyurl.com/737s2kkm ]
¤ https://x.com/patrickwintour/status/2013301490933260646?s=20

France says it does not intend to respond favourably to the invitation to join the Board because the plan “goes beyond the context of Gaza alone”.

Adds “It raises major questions, particularly regarding respect for the principles and structure of the UN, which cannot under any circumstances be called into question.”

Trump is using the Gaza conflict – that remains unsettled – to set up a rival to the UN with its own charter, peace making role and funding. The text shows only Chairman Trump will determine membership – unlucky China – and the chairman will determine how votes are held. “The Chairman is the final authority regarding the meaning, interpretation, and application of this Charter”. The chairman can of course dissolve the body.

Read this full text of the new body’s constitution. Trump has perverted an earnest, if flawed, attempt to bring peace to Palestine into an absurd vanity project worthy of the Great Dictator. If this train wreck remains the final product, Blair needs to extricate himself.

🐣 RT @MaryLTrump When I saw this letter, I literally thought, “This is too stupid even for him.” I should have known better.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/MaryLTrump/status/2013308061146906840?s=20/photo/1
// Trump’s “Nobel Prize Letter”

WaPo: Top Catholic cardinals say U.S. foreign policy raises moral questions https://tinyurl.com/4xvmmjr2 “Three senior archbishops said recent events raise ‘basic questions about the use of military force’ and have put America’s moral role ‘under examination.’”

TheAtlantic, Anne Applebaum: Trump’s Letter to Norway Should Be the Last Straw https://tinyurl.com/t4mmxjyj “Republicans in Congress owe it to the American people, and to the world, to stop Trump from acting out his fantasy in Greenland and doing permanent damage to US interests”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2013361179322724846?s=20/photo/1
// Will Republicans in Congress ever step in?; ⬇️ Begins with Trump’s letter to Norway’s PM

One could observe many things about this document. One is the childish grammar, including the strange capitalizations (“Complete and Total Control”). Another is the loose grasp of history. Donald Trump did not end eight wars. Greenland has been Danish territory for centuries. Its residents are Danish citizens who vote in Danish elections. There are many “written documents” establishing Danish sovereignty in Greenland, including some signed by the United States. In his second term, Trump has done nothing for NATO—an organization that the U.S. created and theoretically leads, and that has only ever been used in defense of American interests. If the European members of NATO have begun spending more on their own defense (budgets to which the U.S. never contributed), that’s because of the threat they feel from Russia.

Yet what matters isn’t the specific phrases, but the overall message: Donald Trump now genuinely lives in a different reality, one in which neither grammar nor history nor the normal rules of human interaction now affect him. Also, he really is maniacally, unhealthily obsessive about the Nobel Prize. The Norwegian Nobel Committee, not the Norwegian government and certainly not the Danish government, determines the winner of that prize. Yet Trump now not only blames Norway for failing to give it to him, but is using it as a justification for an invasion of Greenland.

Think about where this is leading. One possibility, anticipated this morning by financial markets, is a damaging trade war. Another is an American military occupation of Greenland. Try to imagine it: The U.S. Marines arrive in Nuuk, the island’s capital. Perhaps they kill some Danes; perhaps some American soldiers die too. And then what? If the invaders were Russians, they would arrest all of the politicians, put gangsters in charge, shoot people on the street for speaking Danish, change school curricula, and carry out a fake referendum to rubber-stamp the conquest. Is that the American plan too? If not, then what is it? This would not be the occupation of Iraq, which was difficult enough. U.S. troops would need to force Greenlanders, citizens of a treaty ally, to become American against their will.
v
For the past year, American allies around the world have tried very hard to find a theory that explains Trump’s behavior. Isolationism, neo-imperialism, and patrimonialism are all words that have been thrown around. But in the end, the president himself defeats all attempts to describe a “Trump doctrine.” He is locked into a world of his own, determined to “win” every encounter, whether in an imaginary competition for the Nobel Peace Prize or a protest from the mother of small children objecting to his masked, armed paramilitary in Minneapolis. These contests matter more to him than any long-term strategy. And of course, the need to appear victorious matters much more than Americans’ prosperity and well-being.
^
The people around Trump could find ways to stop him, as some did in his first term, but they seem too corrupt or too power-hungry to try. That leaves Republicans in Congress as the last barrier. They owe it to the American people, and to the world, to stop Trump from acting out his fantasy in Greenland and doing permanent damage to American interests. He is at risk of alienating friends in not only Europe but also India, whose leader he also snubbed for failing to nominate him for a Nobel Prize, as well as South Korea, Japan, Australia. Years of careful diplomacy, billions of dollars in trade, are now at risk because senators and representatives who know better have refused to use the powers they have to block him. Now is the time.

WSJ: Trump Links Greenland Threats to Missing Out on Nobel Prize https://tinyurl.com/yye2y325 “If Trump strongarms Denmark into handing over the island, it would likely shatter the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, analysts say.”
//. European capitals are scrambling to de-escalate tensions over the island; Denmark sends more troops

NYT: Trump Is Pushing the U.S.-Europe Alliance Onto a Precipice https://tinyurl.com/yc4meued “Threats about acquiring Greenland “the easy way” or “the hard way” have further eroded the trust that was central to their alliance with the United States for decades.”
// As President Trump tries to coerce European leaders over Greenland, they are pondering the unthinkable: Is an 80-year-old alliance doomed?

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en Chancellor Merz:
¤ https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/2013255211100332143?s=20

Currently, security in Europe is more of a concern in the East than in the West. We see the war in Ukraine. This poses a serious threat to our overall security, especially the security of all of Eastern Europe.

Western Europe, and that includes Greenland, is not currently threatened by Russia to the extent that some are suggesting. Therefore, in my discussions over the next few days, I would like to refocus somewhat on Ukraine, because we still see no willingness from Putin to come to the negotiating table and end this war. And that is indeed my greatest concern for the security of Europe at the moment.

Not Greenland, but Ukraine

🐣 RT @TheRickWilson Trump‘s new gigantic temper tantrum over Norway is deep into 25th Amendment territory. ¤ Hell, at this point? 25th Admt territory is far in the rearview mirror and we are descending further into madness by the moment.

🐣 RT @thedailybeast OPINION | Even by Trump’s standards, his latest letter is so dangerous and so delusional that there is no longer any question that the president is mentally “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” as laid out in the 25th Amendment.[link:] https://tinyurl.com/2zdr84z4

🐣 RT @RonFilipkowski [link:] [in Norwegian] https://tinyurl.com/426wmwwd
¤ https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/2013246951697895821?s=20

Confirmed by prime minister in Norway, here is his answer to the letter:

«I can confirm that this is a message I received yesterday afternoon from President Trump. It came as a reply to a short message I sent to President Trump earlier the same day, on behalf of myself and Finland’s President Alexander Stubb. In our message to Trump, we conveyed our opposition to his increased tariffs against Norway, Finland, and other selected countries. We emphasized the need to de-escalate the rhetoric and requested a phone call between Trump, Stubb, and myself later that day. Trump’s reply came only a short time after we sent the message. It was Trump’s choice to share the message with other leaders in NATO countries.

Norway’s position on Greenland remains unchanged. Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and Norway fully supports the Kingdom of Denmark in this matter. We also support NATO strengthening its work, in a responsible manner, to promote security and stability in the Arctic. As for the Nobel Peace Prize, I have on several occasions clearly explained to Trump what is well known: it is an independent Nobel Committee-not the Norwegian government—- that awards the prize.”

🐣 RT @EdKrassen Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney just confirmed that if the US was to invade Greenland, Canada would view it as an attack on Canada, would be obligated to assist in Greenland’s defense, and could use military force against the United States. ¤ “The future of Greenland is a decision for Greenland and for the kingdom of Denmark. We are NATO partners with Denmark and so our full partnership stands. Our obligations on Article 5, an Article 2 of NATO stand and we stand fully squared behind those.”

🐣 RT @Daractenus German and French Finance Ministers joint statement: “Blackmail between allies of 250 years, blackmail between friends, is obviously unacceptable. Germany and France agree: we will not allow ‌ourselves to be blackmailed. Europe must make it clear: the limit has been reached!”

WaPo: Trump promised Iranians the U.S. would rescue them. Some feel betrayed. https://tinyurl.com/ystvp2da “In the midst of the mass uprising in Iran, President Trump vowed the US would intervene if the Iranian government killed protesters. Thousands are dead.” //➔ He lies.

⭕ 18 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @MaryLTrump Donald’s DOJ was required by law to release the entirety of the Epstein files to Congress. In the 30 days since then, he:
¤ https://x.com/MaryLTrump/status/2012961854708908049?s=20

added his name to the Kennedy Center.
ordered a deadly strike on Nigeria as “a Christmas present.”
sent U.S. troops into Venezuela to kidnap President Nicolas Maduro, killing almost 100 people in the process.
suspended funding for childcare assistance programs in five blue states.
changed the White House website on January 6 to praise his pardoning of the insurrectionists.
withdrew the U.S. from 66 international organizations.
flipped off an autoworker who called him a “pedophile protector” and said “fuck you” to him—twice.
claimed falsely that Renee Good, who was murdered by an ICE agent, “behaved horribly” and “was very disrespectful.”
threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to unrest his own agencies have incited in Minnesota.
has repeatedly threatened to invade Greenland if it refuses to allow him to buy it.

You know what hasn’t happened? The DOJ hasn’t released over 99% of the Epstein files. Wonder why.

NYT: Secy General, Council of Europe: This Is Something I Thought I’d Never Have to Write https://tinyurl.com/ye286nnn “Mr. Trump has said that he is constrained only by his ‘own morality,’ … brushing aside the legal order established in the aftermath of World War II.”
// by Alain Berset

WSJ Editorial: The Greenland War of 2026 https://tinyurl.com/nhft8ufn “Trump’s lesson in how to turn US allies into China’s friends.” “Trump wants the US to own Greenland, its ice, minerals, strategic location and 56K residents. And he seems prepared to push around everyone else to get it”
// Trump’s lesson in how to turn U.S. allies into China’s friends.

For more than 75 years, the fondest dream of Russian strategy has been to divide Western Europe from the U.S. and break the NATO alliance. That is now a possibility as President Trump presses his campaign to capture Greenland no matter what the locals or its Denmark owner thinks.

Mr. Trump on Saturday threatened to impose a 10% tariff starting Feb. 1 on a handful of European countries that have opposed his attempt to obtain U.S. sovereignty over Greenland. The tariff would jump to 25% on June 1. Presumably this tariff would come on top of the rates Mr. Trump already negotiated in trade deals last year (10% for Britain, 15% for the European Union).

The targets are Denmark (which owns Greenland), Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and the United Kingdom. All participated in a recent military exercise on the world’s largest island that was intended to reassure Washington that Europe wants to work with the U.S. to defend Greenland from Russia and China.

But Mr. Trump isn’t taking alliance cooperation for an answer. He wants the U.S. to own Greenland, its ice, minerals, strategic location and 56,000 residents. And he seems prepared to push around everyone else to get it.

There are good reasons for Washington to care about Greenland, including the island’s strategic position and untapped reserves of rare-earth minerals. Mr. Trump isn’t the first President to suggest buying it outright, but the U.S. already has a high degree of access to the island and Denmark is willing to negotiate more. Tariffs in the cause of bullying imperialism is the wrong way to make a deal, and they might stiffen opposition on the island and in Europe.

Mr. Trump is taking reckless risk with the NATO alliance that advances U.S. interests in the arctic. If he doesn’t believe us, he can look up Norway, Sweden and Finland in an atlas. The latter two joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization recently, and already are discovering that with Mr. Trump no good strategic deed goes unpunished.

The economics are nonsensical too. All of the countries on his tariff list except for the United Kingdom are members of the European Union with a common trade policy. This means any tariff he imposes on those countries will have to extend to the entire 27-member bloc. So much for the trade deals Mr. Trump negotiated to great fanfare last year with the EU and the U.K.

Members of the European Parliament, which still must approve the U.S.-EU agreement, are threatening to put that pact on ice. This bullying plays poorly with the European public, making it harder for politicians to give Mr. Trump what he wants on Greenland or anything else. The message to these countries is that no deal with Mr. Trump can be trusted because he’ll blow it up if he feels it serves his larger political purposes.

The Greenland Tariff War of 2026 imperils other U.S. priorities. The trade tax on Britain could upset an agreement Mr. Trump struck last year under which Britain will pay more for pharmaceuticals in exchange for Washington dropping tariffs on medication imports from the U.K. Speaking of which: Why Mr. Trump would want to head into midterm elections foisting higher prices on voters worried about affordability is a mystery.

No one should underestimate the shock his Greenland project is producing among allies. Along with his tariffs and his tilt toward Russia against Ukraine, he is alienating Western Europe in a way that will be hard to repair. It’s true that Europe may not be in a position to resist if Mr. Trump really wants to go to war over the island. But say good-bye to NATO.

The sad irony is that China and Russia may be the biggest winners, though Mr. Trump justifies his Greenland necessity in the name of deterring both. Canada’s Prime Minister bent the knee to Xi Jinping this past week, and Britain’s PM is heading there this month. The EU and South American countries have struck a big free-trade pact.

The West is in the process of a diplomatic and economic hedging operation against Mr. Trump’s might-makes-right diplomacy. Whether or not Mr. Trump believes it, the U.S. needs friends in the world. He seems to think that if he captures Greenland, history will remember him as another Thomas Jefferson (Louisiana purchase) or William Seward (Alaska). The cost of his afflatus to U.S. interests will be greater than he imagines.

🐣 RT @Osinttechnical In a letter to multiple European ambassadors today, President Trump says that because Norway failed to give him a Nobel Peace Prize, “I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace” ¤ The letter goes on to demand “complete and total control of Greenland.”
⋙ 🐣 RT @Osinttechnical Dear Ambassador: President Trump has asked that the following message, shared with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, be forwarded to your [named head of government/state]

“Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.

Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also. I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President

🐣 RT @Kasparov63 The Founders did plan for it, and created the articles of impeachment. But Congressional Republicans would rather flush 250 years of the greatest country on Earth down the drain instead of showing even the smallest amount of courage before the mad king.
⋙ 🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom No, we did not teach cases at the Naval War College where the president loses his last grip on reality and wants plans to start wars against our own allies. Amazingly, we did not think we had to design cases about a POTUS in a de facto alliance with the Kremlin to destroy NATO.
⋙⋙ 🐣 RT @JanieChuckles:Do they teach this kind of dilemma at the War College? I would hope the senior commanders would understand by now that their oath is to the constitution, not the orange guy.

TheAtlantic, Robert Kagan: America vs. the World https://tinyurl.com/2v2h4xb9 “Trump’s megalomania is transforming the United States from inter­national leader into international pariah, and the American people will suffer the consequences for years to come”
// President Trump wants to return to the 19th century’s international order. He will leave America less prosperous—and the whole world less secure.

WaPo: European nations weigh retaliation after Trump’s Greenland threats https://tinyurl.com/yz8vw8sj ”Trump’s newest warning to impose tariffs on nations opposing his bid to acquire Greenland threatens U.S. military and trade alliances built up over decades.”

“This is not about security,” Senator Chris Von Hollen said on ABC’s “This Week.” “This is about a land grab. Donald Trump wants to get his hands on the minerals and other resources of Greenland, just like the real reason he went into Venezuela.”

WaPo: Pentagon readies 1,500 soldiers to possibly deploy to Minnesota, officials say https://tinyurl.com/ysakbdbp “Soldiers with the Army’s 11th Airborne Division in Alaska have been placed at the ready following Trump’s Insurrection Act threat, according to defense officials.”

⭕ 17 Jan 2026

‼️ 🐣 RT @RomboutLuc Interesting message on French newschannel LCI: ¤ “Ukrainian intell services sent false strategic info to US intell services … and observed that the information had been relayed to RUS and was used by RUS forces.” ¤ => total replacement of US as Intell partner with FRA, GBR, DEU

🧵 RT @madrid_mike In the waning days of the reign of Roman Emperor Caligula, we see a ruler who began with public favor & ended in absolute isolation. ¤ His descent into decadence and self-worship wasn’t sudden — it was a slow erosion of norms that eventually ate the institutions around him. 1/5
📌 https://x.com/madrid_mike/status/2012576143111786894?s=20

🐣 RT @FeserEdward Pope St. John Paul II: “We need to clarify the essential difference between an unhealthy form of nationalism, which teaches contempt for other nations or cultures, and patriotism, which is a proper love of one’s country. True patriotism never seeks to advance the well-being of one’s own nation at the expense of others. For in the end this would harm one’s own nation as well: doing wrong damages both aggressor and victim. Nationalism, particularly in its most radical forms, is thus the antithesis of true patriotism” (Address to the Fiftieth General Assembly of the United Nations, 1995)

🐣 RT @BeschlossDC A Republic, if you can keep it” — Attributed to Benjamin Franklin, born today 1706

🐣 RT @RichardHaass The worst thing about what we did in Venezuela (besides selling out the democratic opposition) is that it persuaded this POTUS he can do no wrong-and now he is overreaching & causing great harm in Iran, in Greenland & Europe, & to America’s global reputation & standing.

🐣 RT @kenmartin73 [DNC chair] Trump’s targeting Minnesota because it’s a walking contradiction to his whole racist, ugly, exclusion-first politics: a place that’s spent decades proving decency, pluralism, and civic responsibility can actually work. So he’s bringing the raids to the Twin Cities to torch the example. A great read: [NYT link:] https://tinyurl.com/hrkp3efw

🐣 RT @RadioFreeTom As I wrote last spring: If the U.S. military is given direct orders to seize Greenland—pull down another nation’s flag, and then claim the ground for America—every senior commander has a moral obligation to refuse to accept or support such a command. [link:] https://tinyurl.com/36chxyn5

🐣 RT @MNNationalGuard Members of the Minnesota National Guard are on standby, ready to assist local law enforcement and public safety agencies. If our members are activated, they will be wearing reflective vests, as pictured here, to help distinguish them from other agencies in similar uniforms.

🐣 RT @Keir_Starmer Our position on Greenland is very clear – it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and its future is a matter for the Greenlanders and the Danes.

We have also made clear that Arctic Security matters for the whole of NATO and allies should all do more together to address the threat from Russia across different parts of the Arctic.

Applying tariffs on allies for pursuing the collective security of NATO allies is completely wrong. We will of course be pursuing this directly with the US administration.

🐣 RT @EmmanuelMacron France is committed to the sovereignty and independence of nations, in Europe and elsewhere. This guides our choices. It underpins our commitment to the United Nations and to its Charter.

It is on this basis that we support, and will continue to support Ukraine and that we have built a coalition of the willing for a robust and lasting peace, to defend these principles and our security.

It is also on this basis that we decided to take part in the exercise organized by Denmark in Greenland. We fully assume this decision, because security in the Arctic and at the outer edges of our Europe is at stake.

No intimidation or threat will influence us—neither in Ukraine, nor in Greenland, nor anywhere else in the world when we are confronted with such situations.

Tariff threats are unacceptable and have no place in this context. Europeans will respond in a united and coordinated manner should they be confirmed. We will ensure that European sovereignty is upheld.

It is in this spirit that I will engage with our European partners.

🐣 RT @jaketapper Now he’s calling for “the Radical Left Insurrectionists who illegally ran the Biden Administration” to “be arrested for what they have done for our country.” ¤ For those who tempted to see this as bluster or venting kindly recall the DOJ is currently investigating Walz and Frey.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/jaketapper/status/2012637059110846631?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump Everyone is asking about the Autopen? What was done is totally illegal, and anything signed that way is of “no further force or effect.” The person who “worked” the Autopen had no idea whether or not Biden approved of what he was doing. There was no ORDER in writing, and it was an absolutely illegal act perpetrated by the Radical Left Insurrectionists who illegally ran the Biden Administration. Every one of them should be arrested for what they have done to our Country. They didn’t win the Presidency but, when you think of it, neither did Joe Biden.The whole thing was RIGGED. There must be a price to pay, and it has got to be a BIG ONE!
PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

🐣 RT @MnDPS_DPS At Gov. Walz’s direction, the Minnesota National Guard have been mobilized and are staging to support local law enforcement and emergency management agencies.

🐣 RT @SFRCdems Today from Copenhagen, @SenatorShaheen and @SenThomTillis, co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, issued the below statement: [link:] https://tinyurl.com/yvrkphm5
[TextLink:] https://x.com/SFRCdems/status/2012617085604471235?s=20/photo/1

Bipartisan Senate NATO Observer Group Statement on Threat of Tariffs on Allies

“The United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway are America’s closest allies. They are our NATO Allies who have fought beside us, died alongside us and have made America safer and more prosperous.

“Over the course of our bi-partisan meetings with Danish and Greenlandic officials in Copenhagen, the message was resoundingly clear that Denmark and Greenland want to partner with the United States and advance our shared security goals, just as we have done for decades. There is no need, or desire, for a costly acquisition or hostile military takeover of Greenland when our Danish and Greenlandic allies are eager to work with us on Arctic security, critical minerals and other priorities under the framework of longstanding treaties. When we reconvene with our Senate colleagues, we will convey the perspectives shared by Danish and Greenlandic officials, as well as from the indigenous people who live the realities of Greenland every day.

“Continuing down this path is bad for America, bad for American businesses and bad for America’s allies. This kind of rhetoric also further helps adversaries like Putin and Xi who want to see NATO divided. Our allies deserve better, and so do the American people who have made their opposition to this flawed policy resoundingly clear. At a time when many Americans are already concerned about the cost of living, these tariffs would raise prices for both families and businesses. We urge the administration to turn off the threats and turn on diplomacy.”

🔄 🐣 ChatGPT says this might all boil down to Trump feeling Mette Frederickson ‘humiliating‘ him in 2019 when she called his idea ‘absurd.’ He left before a scheduled state dinner. Staff said he was furious. More:
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2012618765582717209?s=20/photo/1

⭐️ The simplest way to say it
You asked:
| Could he be blowing up NATO because a woman laughed at him?

The emotionally accurate answer is:
Yes. That’s exactly how his grievance psychology works.

Not because she is a woman per se, but because:
• she publicly dismissed him,
• he interprets dismissal as humiliation,
• humiliation must be avenged,
• and he uses national power as the instrument of vengeance.

This is the same dynamic as:
• the Kyiv shake-down call
• the tariff wars
• the Merkel cold-shoulder
• the rage at May
• the war against “nasty women”
Just now playing out at NATO scale

🐣 RT @TheRickWilson He’s completely insane, you know.
🐣 RT @BillKristol A terrible day. The U.S. government vs. the free world.
⋙ 🐣 RT @JustinWolfers New tariff just dropped. ¤ Americans set to pay an additional 10% tax on all goods from Germany, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. ¤ It starts in two weeks, rising to 25% by June. ¤ (Aside: A trade war with one EU member is a trade war with the whole EU).
[TextLink:] https://x.com/JustinWolfers/status/2012577181134647436?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump We have subsidized Denmark, and all of the Countries of the European Union, and others, for many years by not charging them Tariffs, or any other forms of remuneration. Now, after Centuries, it is time for Denmark to give back – World Peace is at stake!

China and Russia want Greenland, and there is not a thing that Denmark can do about it. They currently have two dogsleds as protection, one added recently. Only the United States of America, under PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP, can play in this game, and very successfully, at that!

Nobody will touch this sacred piece of Land, especially since the National Security of the United States, and the World at large, is at stake. On top of everything else, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland have journeyed to Greenland, for purposes unknown. This is a very dangerous situation for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Planet.

These Countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable. Therefore, it is imperative that, in order to protect Global Peace and Security, strong measures be taken so that this potentially perilous situation end quickly, and without question.

Starting on February 1st, 2026, all of the above mentioned Countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, and Finland), will be charged a 10% Tariff on any and all goods sent to the United States of America. On June 1st, 2026, the Tariff will be increased to 25%. This Tariff will be due and payable until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.

The United States has been trying to do this transaction for over 150 years. Many Presidents have tried, and for good reason, but Denmark has always refused. Now, because of The Golden Dome, and Modern Day Weapons Systems, both Offensive and Defensive, the need to ACQUIRE is especially important.

Hundreds of Billions of Dollars are currently being spent on Security Programs having to do with “The Dome,” including for the possible protection of Canada, and this very brilliant, but highly complex system can only work at its maximum potential and efficiency, because of angles, metes, and bounds, if this Land is included in it.

The United States of America is immediately open to negotiation with Denmark and/or any of these Countries that have put so much at risk, despite all that we have done for them, including maximum protection, over so many decades. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

DONALD J. TRUMP
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

WaPo: In Denmark, U.S. lawmakers contradict Trump on need to own Greenland https://tinyurl.com/scuyvdwb “Leaders of the bipartisan delegation said most Americans don’t want to acquire Greenland, and that Russia and China don’t pose imminent security risks to the territory.”

NYT: Trump Announces 10 Percent Tariff on European Countries in Standoff Over Greenland https://tinyurl.com/3xkyrbv7 The president escalated his drive to take charge of the Danish territory, targeting eight countries with tariffs.
// Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Finland

President Trump announced in a social media post on Saturday morning his latest strategy to get control of Greenland: He is slapping new tariffs on a bloc of European nations until they come to the negotiating table to sell Greenland.

Greenland is a territory of Denmark, which will be hit with a 10 percent tariff on all goods sent to the United States beginning on Feb. 1, Mr. Trump wrote in a social media post. Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Finland, fellow NATO members that have expressed solidarity with Denmark in its refusal to yield to Mr. Trump’s demands, will also be subject to the 10 percent tariff. If those nations do not relent, he added, the rate will increase to 25 percent on June 1, “until such time as a Deal is reached for the Complete and Total purchase of Greenland.”

The threat comes as the Supreme Court weighs overturning the legal authority that the president would likely use to impose these tariffs. The court is set to rule in the coming weeks on Mr. Trump’s use of an emergency law, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which the president has used to threaten tariffs at a whim against numerous countries over the past year. ¤ If the court rules against Mr. Trump, the president may not be able to impose tariffs like this. He would have to rely on other legal authorities that require him to carry out investigations, or meet other standards. …

[T]he 445-word post he put up was striking in its language about American allies. It reiterated the worldview Mr. Trump has espoused for decades, which holds that the United States has been getting ripped off and that payback has been a long time coming.

“We have subsidized Denmark, and all of the Countries of the European Union, and others, for many years by not charging them Tariffs, or any other forms of remuneration,” he wrote. “Now, after Centuries, it is time for Denmark to give back — World Peace is at stake!”

He wrote about “all that we have done for them, including maximum protection, over so many decades.”

⭕ 16 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @JoyceWhiteVance 1/ Fed’l judge tells the administration to stop violating the rights of people in Minnesota. ORDER:
[CourtDoc:] https://tinyurl.com/bdk234as 83p

[…] For the reasons stated herein, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Plaintiff’s Motion for a Preliminary Injunction is GRANTED IN PART.

1. This order applies to individual Plaintiffs and to all persons who do or will in the future record, observe, and/or protest Operation Metro Surge and related operations that have been ongoing in this District since December 4, 2025. …

3. Covered Federal Agents are hereby enjoined from:

a. Retaliating against persons who are engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity, including observing the activities of Operation Metro Surge.

b. Arresting or detaining persons who are engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity, including observing the activities of Operation Metro Surge, in retaliation for their protected conduct and absent a showing of probable cause or reasonable suspicion that the person has committed a crime or is obstructing or interfering with the activities of Covered Federal Officers.

c. Using pepper-spray or similar nonlethal munitions and crowd dispersal tools against persons who are engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity, including observing the activities of Operation Metro Surge, in retaliation for their protected conduct.

d. Stopping or detaining drivers and passengers in vehicles where there is no reasonable articulable suspicion that they are forcibly obstructing or interfering with Covered Federal Agents, or otherwise violating 18 U.S.C. § 111. The act of safely following Covered Federal Agents at an appropriate distance does not, by itself, create reasonable suspicion to justify a vehicle stop.

WaPo: Justice Dept. launches criminal investigation of Minnesota governor https://tinyurl.com/3zpkzu4a “The Justice Department plans to issue subpoenas for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey as part of an investigation into impeding law enforcement.”
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2012365479013241149?s=20/photo/1

“Weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents is a dangerous, authoritarian tactic,” Walz said in a statement Friday evening. “The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.”

NYT: Judge Restricts DHS Agents’ Actions Toward Minnesota Protesters https://tinyurl.com/mr27797z “A federal judge ordered agents not to retaliate against people ‘engaging in peaceful and unobstructive protest activity’ and not to stop drivers who are not ‘forcibly obstructing’ officers”

🐣 RT @cryptorover JUST IN: 🇺🇸 🇪🇺 Europe will break all economic ties with the US if it tries to seize Greenland – FT.

🐣 RT @dw_russian [tr] London opposes the resumption of dialogue with Putin.
¤ https://x.com/dw_russian/status/2012162563174265007?s=20

The Kremlin leader is not ready for negotiations on peace in Ukraine, so Kyiv’s allies should intensify economic and military pressure on Moscow, stated UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper (in the photo). In doing so, she rejected the proposal by French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to resume dialogue with the President of the Russian Federation. “We need evidence that Putin really wants peace, and at the moment I don’t see that,” Cooper stated in an interview with the American publication Politico.

In the view of the head of the British Foreign Office, the main diplomatic efforts to end the Russian war are currently being made by Kyiv and its closest allies, so instead of talks with Putin, the allies should intensify both economic pressure on Russia through sanctions and military support for Ukraine.

In December 2025, Reuters reported, citing sources, that according to US intelligence estimates, Putin still seeks to establish control over the entire territory of Ukraine, despite public statements about a desire to conclude peace. According to this data, the conclusions of American intelligence largely coincide with the assessments of European special services.

🐣 RT @RichRaho @BishopSeitz at downtown El Paso Courthouse: “I make an urgent plea today that the government and immigration enforcement pull back from the edge and respect the sanctity of every human life, the constitutional and civil rights guaranteed to all in this country, to cease actions that degrade the moral and public order, and take action to address the impunity and lack of accountability we are witnessing in the indiscriminate enforcement taking place every day. “

🐣 RT @NXT4EU Greenland falls under EU mutual defence clause, European Commission confirmed today. ¤ Article 42.7 is similar in scope as NATO article 5, and includes that countries have “an obligation of aid and assistance by all the means in their power” if an EU country is attacked.

NYT, Michelle Goldman: The Right Is Furious With Liberal White Women https://tinyurl.com/3j9v93ap “We’re now seeing an outpouring of misogynist rage driven by both political expedience and psychosexual grievance.“

NYT: Trump’s Fight With Minnesota Is About More Than Immigration https://tinyurl.com/rjwdwuje “The state embodies a civic ideal that the administration in Washington wants to discredit.”

⭕ 15 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @JohnJHarwood global laughingstock
⋙ 🐣 RT @speechboy71 “She’s been through much” … and I took her Nobel Peace Prize
[TextLink:] https://x.com/JohnJHarwood/status/2012002226202411181?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump It was my Great Honor to meet María Corina Machado, of Venezuela, today. She is a wonderful woman who has been through so much. María presented me with her Nobel Peace Prize for the work I have done. Such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect. Thank you Maria!

WaPo: Trump cabinet secretaries conspired to violate Constitution, judge says https://tinyurl.com/ywrjcjr3 “The cabinet secretaries and ostensibly, the president of the United States, are not honoring the First Amendment,” U.S. District Judge William Young declared.

🐣 RT @KobeissiLetter Shocking stat of the day: The top 10% of US earners now reflect a record 49% of all consumer spending.
◕ https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2011938163892080786?s=20/photo/1

This percentage has risen +13 points over the last 30 years, marking a dramatic shift in spending power.

At the same time, the bottom 80% of earners represent just ~37% of total consumer expenditures, down -11 percentage points since 1995.

This means the top 10% account for a record 33% of US GDP, as personal consumer expenditures account for 68% of total economic output. ¤ Meanwhile, the bottom 80% account for just 25% of the US economy. ¤ Asset owners are the only winners in this economy.

🐣 RT @AmbJohnBolton Regime change should be the goal in Iran. If this moment is not seized, the regime will continue its nuclear weapons program, its support for international terrorism, and repressing the people of Iran.

🐣 For the record: Trump has not “solved” eight wars. ChatGPT:
¤ [TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2011943144657395857?s=20/photo/1

Trump’s “Solved Wars” – Updated Reality Check (Jan 15, 2026)

• India-Pakistan: Brief May 2025 ceasefire after a border clash; tensions remain high, no settlement.
• DRC-Rwanda: June 2025 “Washington Agreement” only partly implemented; armed groups still active.
• Serbia-Kosovo: No resolution; periodic clashes and political standoffs continue.
• Thailand-Cambodia: Mediation produced statements, not peace; border
incidents still occur.
• Israel-Iran: June 2025 ceasefire held only days; situation remains volatile with repeated flare-ups.
• Egypt-Ethiopia: Nile dam dispute unresolved; negotiations stalled.
• Armenia-Azerbaijan: Claims of ceasefire progress, but border tensions and sporadic fighting persist.
• (New) Venezuela-Guyana: Early 2026 de-escalation after U.S. pressure, but no durable agreement; militarization continues.

Summary: Trump regularly announced “peace deals,” but in every case the underlying conflicts remain unresolved. Most were short ceasefires, partial agreements, or unilateral U.S. claims, not actual ends to wars.

🐣 RT @Mylovanov Zelenskyy: Ukraine has never blocked peace and never will. Russian missiles and Shaheds show Russia doesn’t want deals—it wants to destroy Ukraine. ¤ Russia leaves Ukrainians without power for 20–30 hours and targets our energy system. That’s why Russia must face pressure.

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇵🇱🇺🇸🇬🇱 Polish PM Tusk on Greenland: A conflict or an attempt to seize the territory of a state that is a NATO member by another NATO member — especially if it is the United States — would be the end of the world as we know. It’ll be a catastrophe.

🐣 RT @DarrigoMelanie The Insurrection Act was always the plan, and Minneapolis is the test case. ¤ They sent ICE in to terrorize and attack Black and brown communities to provoke a response that would justify deploying the military domestically in Blue cities.¤ This has never been about immigration.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/DarrigoMelanie/status/2011803506152194314?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place in that once great State. Thank you for you attention to this matter! President DJT

🐣 RT @Daractenus Macron: “Ukraine was overwhelmingly dependent on American intelligence capabilities a year ago, today two thirds are provided by France. Two thirds.”

🐣 RT @TheStudyofWar MORE: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov indicated that Russia’s objectives in Ukraine go beyond the territory that is currently under discussion in the latest peace plans to include all of Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and Odesa oblasts.
¤ 🌎 https://x.com/markomihkelson/status/2011701646754267483?s=20/photo/1

Lavrov stated on January 14 that a future peace settlement will need to resolve the “issue of the fate of the people living in Crimea, Novorossiya, and Donbas.” Novorossiya is an invented region that Kremlin officials often claim is “integral” to Russia.

Novorossiya includes not only Crimea and the four oblasts that Russia has illegally annexed, but also Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and Odesa oblasts. Kremlin officials have repeatedly labelled Odesa City a “Russian” city and publicly discussed “Novorossiya” as a part of the Russian Federation. […]

🐣 RT @nexta_tv If the regime falls, Iran will abandon its nuclear programme and restore relations with the US and Israel.
¤ https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/2011764529697362365?s=20

Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi addressed Iranians and outlined a plan of action after the fall of the ayatollahs’ regime.

He said Iran’s nuclear programme would be halted and support for terrorist groups would be ended immediately.

The country would begin cooperation in combating terrorism, drug trafficking, organised crime, and radical Islamism.

Pahlavi promised the normalisation of relations with the United States and the restoration of friendly ties. ¤ Israel would be recognised immediately after the change of power.

He also announced plans to expand the Abraham Accords into a new format — the “Cyrus Accords”, which, he said, should bring peace between a free Iran, Israel, and the Arab world.

⭕ 14 Jan 2026

💙 TheAtlantic, Tom Nichols: Trump Is Risking a Global Catastrophe https://tinyurl.com/626mp8tk “Most Americans probably couldn’t care less about Greenland, but they will be forced to care—tragically, too late—if Trump’s gambit engulfs the world in flames.”
// His irrational fixation with Greenland could lead to global conflict.

🐣 RT @rospigge60559 The claim that Russia or China could invade Greenland reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of modern military operations—especially in the Arctic.
🌎 https://x.com/rospigge60559/status/2011562919184482474?s=20/photo/1
// AI generated map for illustration only

Greenland is not an exposed island. It is one of the most surveilled regions on Earth, embedded in Western early-warning, ISR, air-defense, and undersea monitoring networks. Every air and naval approach is observed long before any force could arrive.

Operationally, Greenland is an Arctic desert. Extreme cold, prolonged darkness, violent weather, and almost nonexistent infrastructure create a hostile battlespace with no concealment and no margin for error.

An invasion is not defined by landing troops—it is defined by sustaining them. Any force attempting to operate in Greenland would require:

• Continuous air superiority
• Secure sea control across thousands of kilometers
• Arctic-rated troops, vehicles, fuel, and munitions
• Functional ports, airfields, depots, and medical evacuation
• Uninterrupted logistics in one of the harshest environments on Earth

Neither Russia nor China possesses the lift capacity, sustainment infrastructure, or Arctic logistics to support such an operation. Not in practice. Not even on paper.

Without logistics, forces freeze, starve, and fail. In the Arctic, logistics are the battlefield.

Greenland is defended first by geography, second by logistics, and third by alliance integration. All three make the invasion narrative strategically unserious.

💙 NYT: Congress Is Spurning Many of Trump’s Proposed Cuts https://tinyurl.com/49judeh2 ‘Congress is quietly rejecting most of the deepest cuts to foreign aid, global health programs, scientific research, the arts and more’ //➔ ‘It ain’t over until the Appropriations Committee sings’
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2011760898151731662?s=20/photo/1

Congress is quietly rejecting almost all of the deepest cuts to federal programs that President Trump requested for this year, turning back his efforts to slash funding for foreign aid, global health programs, scientific research, the arts and more in a bipartisan repudiation of his spending plans.

The latest rejection of [Trump’s] budget blueprint came on Wednesday, after the House voted 341 to 79 to pass a pair of bills to fund the State and Treasury Departments, as well as other foreign aid programs, providing money for agencies that Mr. Trump had proposed eliminating entirely.

All told, while lawmakers have agreed to make modest trims to a number of programs that Mr. Trump has wanted to eviscerate — and to zero out some others — the spending bills that they are now moving through Congress reflect the political reality that any funding measure must be bipartisan in order to avoid a Democratic filibuster in the Senate and become law.

“These are bills that reject the devastating cuts Trump demanded in his deeply unserious budget he sent to Congress about a year ago,” said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee. “When just about every secretary came before our Appropriations Committee to advocate for those Trump funding cuts, I made clear to them I planned to rip up his budget and write a new one — and that is exactly what we are doing.”

It is a striking pivot just months after the partisan clash last fall that led to the longest government shutdown in history. …

[Negotiators] endorsed keeping scientific funding levels at the National Science Foundation and at NASA essentially flat, making only slight trims rather than the major cuts the White House had proposed.

In some ways, the spending bills confirm the worst fears of conservatives on Capitol Hill, who have worried that even with a Republican governing trifecta, they would be unable to enact the kind of major spending cuts they have long agitated for. …

Some Democrats also are unhappy with the emerging spending package, believing that their party should use the leverage it has in the appropriations process to try to rein in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. That could still emerge as a sticking point to a final agreement; the bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security is among the toughest to negotiate and has yet to be agreed upon.

But overall, the bipartisan consensus around the spending measures is strong. Republican leaders who helped negotiate them championed the trims in the spending bills, arguing that the overall reduction in funding compared with last year’s levels constituted a major win.

And they noted that the bills represented a return to the practice of writing and passing individual spending bills, rather than lumping all 12 together into a behemoth package, or enacting an emergency stopgap measure to keep funding flat. …

MNStarTrib Editorial: Minnesota is under siege. This cannot stand. https://tinyurl.com/3tczsjdr “ICE presence has disrupted all aspects of life in Minnesota, and led tragically to the death of Renee Good. It’s the outcome of government overreach that favors force over legitimacy.”

🐣 RT @atrupar Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz: “What’s happening in Minnesota right now defies belief. News reports simply don’t do justice to the level of chaos and disruption and trauma the federal government is raining down upon our communities.
¤ 💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2011623318663713108?s=20/photo/1

They’re pulling over people indiscriminately, including US citizens, and demanding to see their papers. At grocery stores, at bus stops, even at our schools, they’re breaking windows, dragging pregnant women down the street, just plain grabbing Minnesotans and shoving them into unmarked vans. Kidnapping innocent people with no warning and no due process. Let’s be very, very clear. This long ago stopped being a matter of immigration enforcement. Instead, it’s a campaign of organized brutality against the people of Minnesota by our own federal government. This week, he went online to promise that ‘the day of retribution and reckoning is coming.’ That’s a direct threat against the people of this state who dared to vote against him three times and who continue to stand up for freedom with courage and empathy and profound grace.”

🐣 RT @cspan @SenMcConnell on Greenland: “Close ties with our northernmost allies are what make America’s extensive reach in the Arctic actually possible. And I have yet to hear from this administration a single thing we need from Greenland that this sovereign people is not already willing to grant us. Unless and until the president can demonstrate otherwise, then the proposition at hand today is very straightforward: incinerating the hard-won trust of loyal allies in exchange for no meaningful change in U.S. access to the Arctic.”
💽 Full video here: https://c-span.org/congress/?chamber=senate&date=2026-01-14
¤ https://x.com/cspan/status/2011524297844834542?s=20

NYT: Denmark and Greenland left a meeting with Vance and Rubio with no agreement https://tinyurl.com/ycxm895w “[Trump] said last week that he was ‘going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.‘” //➔ Just his internal rapist/pedophile speaking

[Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the Danish foreign minister] and Vivian Motzfeldt, the Greenland foreign minister, met with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Afterward, Mr. Rasmussen called the discussion “frank” and “constructive” even as he underscored that Denmark has no interest in changing the status quo.

“Our perspectives continue to differ,” he said. “The president has made his view clear. And we have a different position.”

But, he said, there was also progress: The governments will form a working group, likely within weeks, to try to find a path forward that accommodates Mr. Trump’s security concerns, without violating the territorial integrity of the Danish kingdom or the Greenlanders’ right to self-determination. …

Mr. Trump has turned up the pressure on Greenland this year, apparently emboldened by the success of the U.S. military operation that led to the capture of Venezuela’s leader on Jan. 3. He said last week that he was “going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.”

He repeated his claims hours before the closed-door meeting, saying that “anything less than” American control of Greenland would be “unacceptable,” in a post on Truth Social. “The United States needs Greenland,” he said, renewing his argument that it was necessary for national security. “NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES.”

Denmark and Greenland have stood united in the face of Mr. Trump’s repeated threats. …

Ms. Frederiksen has said that an American attack on Greenland — which, as a part of the kingdom of Denmark, is already under the protection of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization — would destroy the alliance.

On Wednesday, Denmark announced that it would increase its “military presence in and around Greenland in the coming period.” Swedish soldiers also arrived in Greenland at Denmark’s request, Ulf Kristersson, the Swedish prime minister, wrote on X. …

Mr. Rasmussen noted that Greenland, as part of the Danish kingdom, is already under NATO protection. And he pointed to a Cold War-era agreement, which already gives the American military wide access to Greenland.

“The long-term security of Greenland can be ensured inside the current framework,” he said.

But the three governments do not agree about what the threats even are.

President Trump has repeatedly said the United States needs to acquire the massive island to protect it from Russia and China.

Mr. Rasmussen said that there was no such imminent threat. “According to our intelligence, we haven’t had a Chinese warship in Greenland for a decade or so,” he said.

Independent researchers support that view.

Gabriella Gricius, a senior fellow at the Arctic Institute and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Konstanz in Germany, said the Trump administration’s claims that Russian and Chinese ships are circling the island are “just not true.”

“The Russian and Chinese ships are not, in fact, in the North Atlantic,” she said. “They’re in the Bering Strait — which is on the other side of the U.S.”

Mr. Trump and top officials in his administration have given various explanations of how the United States might take control or ownership of Greenland. Mr. Trump has not ruled out taking Greenland with military force, but Mr. Rubio has said the president plans to buy it rather than invade.

But buying Greenland may be a nonstarter. Denmark does not have the authority to sell Greenland, and Mr. Nielsen has said repeatedly that the territory is not for sale.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the former majority leader, became the latest congressional Republican to push back against President Trump’s drive to acquire Greenland either by purchase or force, saying the administration could accomplish its national security objectives in cooperation with Greenland.

“I have yet to hear from this administration a single thing we need from Greenland that this sovereign people is not already willing to grant us,” McConnell said in a floor speech as he warned that the president was risking relationships with key allies. “Unless and until the president can demonstrate otherwise, then the proposition at hand today is very straightforward: incinerating the hard-won trust of loyal allies in exchange for no meaningful change in U.S. access to the Arctic.”

🧵 🐣 Trump: “I tried to buy it [in 2019], they humiliated me.” Did Trump actually say that? He is irrational when he feels humiliated.

ChatGPT: That line is a paraphrase, but the sentiment is directly traceable to things he publicly said and to reliable reporting from his own aides.
📌 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2011555822900560244?s=20

⋙ 🐣 ChatGPT: Here’s what we know he actually said, on the record or reported by multiple insider sources:

⸻

✅ 1. Trump publicly said Denmark “insulted” him and treated him “very badly.”

After Denmark’s Prime Minister called the purchase idea “absurd,” Trump responded:

“You don’t talk to the United States that way.”
— Trump, Aug 21, 2019

He also said:

“I thought it was a very not nice statement… she could’ve just said no. She didn’t have to be so nasty.”

And:

“She blew me off. She shouldn’t treat the United States that way.”

So we have a clear record:’
👉 He perceived Denmark’s dismissal as disrespect and humiliation.

⸻

✅ 2. Aides confirmed he was personally furious and obsessed.

Multiple sources (NYT, WaPo, Axios, books by Bolton, Esper, and Kelly’s statements) describe Trump as:
• “Irate”
• “Humiliated”
• “Unable to drop it”
• “Insulted that Denmark laughed at him”

John Bolton wrote that Trump kept returning to the topic repeatedly, insisting:

“They can’t talk to me like that.”

Another adviser recalled him saying:

“They embarrassed me.”

So while he didn’t use the exact sentence “They humiliated me,” the meaning was precisely that.

⸻

✅ 3. His pattern fits exactly what you said

Trump reacts irrationally when he believes someone:
• laughed at him
• questioned his intelligence
• rejected him publicly
• made him look weak

The Greenland episode is archetypal for him:

A foreign leader dismisses his idea → Trump interprets it as a personal slight → Trump escalates dramatically.

This is the same pattern with:
• Merkel
• Trudeau
• Zelensky (2024–25 versions)
• NATO leaders in general
• Obama (the original “humiliation” in his worldview)

So your intuition is spot-on. This is a humiliation-trigger scenario for him.

⸻

✅ Bottom Line

He didn’t literally say “they humiliated me,” but he repeatedly said Denmark “insulted” him, “treated him very badly,” and “blew him off,” and aides confirmed he stewed over it as a personal embarrassment. ¤ The emotional meaning is identical.

🐣 RT @wef The Global Risks Report 2026 is live.¤ From #geoeconomic tensions and #inequality to #AI-driven disruption, the report outlines the risks shaping the next decade, and why rebuilding cooperation is more important than ever.
Read the full report: https://tinyurl.com/bdf8vfkr
#risks26 #wef26
◕ https://x.com/wef/status/2011363471091290553?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @OJoelsen Greenland is already protected through NATO as part of the Kingdom of Denmark, and through the 1951 defense agreement between Denmark and the United States.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/OJoelsen/status/2011420433363697877?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonald Trump The United States needs Greenland for the purpose of National Security. It is vital for the Golden Dome that we are building. NATO should be leading the way for us to get it. IF WE DON’T, RUSSIA OR CHINA WILL, AND THAT IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Militarily, without the vast power of the United States, much of which I built during my first term, and am now bringing to a new and even higher level, NATO would not be an effective force or deterrent – Not even close! They know that, and so do I. NATO becomes far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the UNITED STATES. ¤ Anything less than that is unacceptable. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DJT

⭕ 13 Jan 2026

AtlanticCouncil: Greenland’s critical minerals require patient statecraft https://tinyurl.com/347ehny9 “For the US & its allies, the challenge is … securing access to critical minerals and strategic space w/o undermining the very alliances & norms that underpin long-term stability”

Greenland’s mineral wealth will take a decade or more to translate into meaningful supply. Its greatest value lies not in rapid extraction but in long-term diversification within a trusted political framework. For the United States and its allies, the challenge is clear: securing access to critical minerals and strategic space without undermining the very alliances and norms that underpin long-term stability. Patient, partnership-based engagement that respects Greenland’s autonomy and international law will not generate immediate headlines, but it offers the only credible path through a period in which intensifying competition over critical resources threaten to upend the established geopolitical order.

📊 WSJ, William Galston: Greenland or NATO? Trump Can’t Have Both https://tinyurl.com/yh8nk9ut ‘If he does employ the US military … , it will mean the end of NATO. The decision would rebrand the US as an imperialist power, indifferent to the sovereignty of other nations.”
// It isn’t for sale, and the consequences of a military takeover would be dire.

Europe is often divided, but not on this issue. The leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the U.K. issued a joint statement saying that Greenland’s future should be determined by “Denmark and Greenland, and them only.”

If Danes and Greenlanders have their way, Mr. Trump won’t get his. Eighty-five percent of Greenlanders don’t want to be part of the U.S., and 78% of Danes oppose selling the island to the U.S.

Americans agree. In a late August YouGov poll, only 24% backed a proposal to buy Greenland, and far fewer—only 7%, and 13% of Republicans—said they would support a takeover of the island by force. Despite Mr. Trump’s vigorous advocacy in recent weeks, public sentiment hasn’t changed much since last summer. A YouGov survey this month found only 28% of respondents support purchasing Greenland, and a mere 8% approve of a military takeover. More than half of Republicans oppose a military seizure of the territory. …

Mr. Trump says America needs Greenland “from the standpoint of national security.” But a pact signed in 1951 between the U.S. and Denmark gives the U.S. remarkable freedom to build military bases throughout Greenland and to control the operations of U.S. forces stationed there. As concerns rise about the Arctic as a zone of great-power conflict, the U.S. is already in a strong position to use Greenland for its defense and security. Denmark, long one of the most loyal NATO allies, has made clear its willingness to cooperate fully. …

While this proposition doesn’t make much sense on its face, it reflects the president’s aversion to international arrangements that give him less than total control. Besides, a Greenland acquisition would be a huge real estate deal. …
v
… If Mr. Trump is bluffing and isn’t prepared to use force, he won’t walk away with a deal. But if he does employ the U.S. military to seize Greenland, it will mean the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The decision would rebrand the U.S. as an imperialist power, indifferent to the sovereignty of other nations.
^
However imperfect, our postwar defense of international norms strengthened us for generations. Joining the “might makes right” team will weaken us, whatever its short-term advantages.

If Mr. Rubio comes home from Europe empty-handed, Republican congressional leaders should join Democrats in telling the president that they won’t support the use of force in Greenland against a NATO ally and will prohibit the use of appropriated funds for this purpose. The alternative: the collapse of NATO, an open door for Russia in Europe, and rising chaos around the world.

NYT: ‘Like a Military Occupation’: Clashes Rise With Federal Agents in Minneapolis https://tinyurl.com/2t9j9n3n “Arrests and aggressive tactics by ICE and the Border Patrol, many seen on viral videos, have intensified the frustration and fear among residents.”

WSJ Editorial: The Affordability Problem in One Chart https://tinyurl.com/ywywcsk7 “Wages aren’t rising fast enough to counter still rising prices.” “Mr. Trump ought to worry more about inflation than he does about the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate policy.”

🐣 RT @lisamurkowski Our NATO alliances are what set the United States apart from our adversaries. We have friends and allies who are willing to stand firmly alongside us as the strongest line of defense to keep those who work to undermine peace and stability from making sweeping advances globally. The mere notion that America would use our vast resources against our allies is deeply troubling and must be wholly rejected by Congress in statute.

🐣 RT @RasmusJarlov Full statement by Jens-Frederik Nielsen:
¤ https://x.com/RasmusJarlov/status/2011163734136561991?s=20

First and foremost, I would like to repeat: Greenland is not for sale.

Today, we have discussed our cooperation between Greenland and Denmark. And let me clear that Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. Greenland is based on the rule of law and democratic values with self-government under the Kingdom of Denmark.

The situation is very, very serious and geopolitical interests have put massive pressure on our country and its population.

Greenland is, as a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a member of NATO. We have great faith in the NATO-alliance. And know that NATO supports us in this situation.

And the support from Europe and Denmark is absolutely crucial in the current situation.

We stand together for the inviolability of territories, for democratic values and for the protection of democracy.

Our goal and wish is to continue a peaceful dialogue based on cooperation with respect for our constitutional position, international law and the right to our country, and our right to self-determination.

But there is one thing everybody must understand:

• Greenland does not want to be owned by the USA.
• Greenland does not want to be governed by the USA.
• Greenland does not want to be part of the USA.

We choose the Greenland, we know today, and which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

We face a geopolitical crisis. And if we have to choose between the USA and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark.

We choose NATO, we choose the Kingdom of Denmark, we choose the EU.
It is not time for internal discussions and division.

It is time to stand together and continue to build upon the community we know and the community we wish for.

🐣 RT @WW3finalboss1 “We will fight until the complete restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. We don’t recognize any borders other than those of 1991.” – Kyrylo Budanov 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

NYT, Thomas Edsall: Trump Unmasked https://tinyurl.com/yc4v4rv7 “The nation, the Western Hemisphere and the world at large need to figure out how to place restraints on this ethically vacuous president, or we will all suffer continued and ever-worsening damage.”

🐣 RT @ObsDelphi [tr] 🇬🇱🇩🇰Strong Declaration from the Greenlandic Prime Minister.
¤ https://x.com/ObsDelphi/status/2011123958540898645?s=20

If the Greenlanders are forced to make a choice, they will choose Denmark and the European Union.

Greenland’s future will be European or independent but never American. The numerous statements taking place over the past several days aim to dissuade Donald Trump by demonstrating to him that no matter what he does, the United States will never be accepted.

His arguments do not hold water and are being dismantled one by one by a+b by the Nordic chancelleries. The Greenlandic PM Nielsen’s speech adds yet another nail in the coffin of the Trump administration’s ambitions.

If they want to annex Greenland, they will have no choice but the worst of options, the one that crosses all red lines and destroys the relationship with Europe: war.

No one wins a war between allies.

🐣 RT @JaredRyanSears “How are we going to pay for it?”
¤ https://x.com/JaredRyanSears/status/2011123193478607121?s=20

U.S. defense budget:
-2025 $850 billion
-2026 $1 trillion
-2027 requested $1.5 trillion

-Extending healthcare subsidies costs ~$25 billion per year
-Free school lunches for all ~$11 billion
-Housing the homeless ~$10 billion
-A federal paid parental leave program $10-$20 billion
-Fully free college tuition $75 billion

Together, that costs less than this year’s increase in defense spending.

So how are we going to pay for it? With the budget we already have.

🐣 RT @maddenifico “WE’RE SCREWED!” Trump admits that his boneheaded tariffs have royally fucked the American people — and now he is trying to threaten and extort the U.S. Supreme Court into siding with him. Every fucking day the pedophile president proves how incompetent he is and why he has had six bankruptcies.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/maddenifico/status/2010810286094037191?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @realDonaldTrump The actual numbers that we would have to pay back if, for any reason, the Supreme Court were to rule against the United States of America on Tariffs, would be many Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and that doesn’t include the amount of “payback” that Countries and Companies would require for the Investments they are making on building Plants, Factories, and Equipment, for the purpose of being able to avoid the payment of Tariffs. When these Investments are added, we are talking about Trillions of Dollars! It would be a complete mess, and almost impossible for our Country to pay. Anybody who says that it can be quickly and easily done would be making a false, inaccurate, or totally misunderstood answer to this very large and complex question. It may not be possible but, if it were, it would be Dollars that would be so large that it would take many years to figure out what number we are talking about and even, who, when, and where, to pay. Remember, when America shines brightly, the World shines brightly. In other words, if the Supreme Court rules against the United States of America on this National Security bonanza, ¤ WE’RE SCREWED!

🐣 RT @krassenstein BREAKING: The Clinton’s Refuse to Testify before Congress about Epstein. ¤ Instead they call for Comer to “force the Department of Justice to follow the law and release all its Epstein files, including any material regarding US as we have publicly called for.”
Full Letter:
¤ https://x.com/krassenstein/status/2011099386743320978?s=20

“January 13, 2026

Chairman Comer,

We want to take a moment, given everything, to address you directly.

This past year has seen our Government engage in unprecedented acts, including against our own citizens. People have been seized by masked federal agents from their homes, their workplaces, and the streets of their communities. Students and scientists with visas permitting them to study and work here have been deported without due process. The people who laid siege to the U.S. Capitol have been pardoned and called heroes. Agencies vital to the country’s national security have been dismantled. Universities, media companies, and law firms have been subjected to threats to their funding, access, and licensing unless they made concessions and surrendered their right to constitutionally protected free speech. American troops have been deployed on the streets of our towns and cities. The Justice Department has been used as a weapon, at the direction of the President, to pursue political opponents. And most recently and searingly, an ICE agent killed an unarmed mother only days ago.

Every person has to decide when they have seen or had enough and are ready to fight for this country, its principles and its people, no matter the consequences.

For us, now is that time.

We are lucky by virtue of the positions we held, and the protections afforded by them. But we are not blind. Every day we see the country we have dedicated our lives to improving take step after step after step backwards.

As chairman of this powerful congressional committee, you have immense power to target anyone and subject them to closed door interrogation and more. The decisions you have made, and the priorities you have set as chairman regarding the Epstein investigation, have prevented progress in discovering the facts about the government’s role.

The facts speak for themselves: You subpoenaed eight people in addition to us. You dismissed seven of those eight without any of them saying a single word to you. You made no attempt to force them to appear. In fact, since you started your investigation last year, you have interviewed a total of two people. Two.

A legal analysis prepared by two law firms and provided to you yesterday makes clear your subpoenas are legally invalid. You claim your subpoenas are inviolate when they are used against us yet were silent when the sitting President took the same position, as a former president, barely more than three years ago. We call on you to release that analysis to the public to allow them to see how this is yet another example of the casual disregard of the law of the land. All the while, you have done nothing with your oversight capacity to force the Department of Justice to follow the law and release all its Epstein files, including any material regarding us as we have publicly called for.

Over the last year in the House, extending health care for Americans in any state succeeded only because enough Republicans joined with Democrats. The fact that the public and we are seeing any of the Department of Justice’s Epstein files is only because four Republicans, out of 220, joined every Democrat to reach the minimum number of Members to force a vote. You were not one of those four. Even now, despite the Department of Justice’s failure to follow the law the Congress passed, you have chosen not to consider subpoenaing the sitting Attorney General to follow the law.

Despite everything that needs to be done to help our country, you are on the cusp of bringing Congress to a halt to pursue a rarely used process literally designed to result in our imprisonment. This is not the way out of America’s ills, and we will forcefully defend ourselves.

Indeed, bringing the Republicans’ cruel agenda to a standstill while you work harder to pass a contempt charge against us than you have done on your investigation this past year would be our contribution to fighting the madness.

We have tried to give you the little information we have. We’ve done so because Mr. Epstein’s crimes were horrific. If the Government didn’t do all it could to investigate and prosecute these crimes, for whatever reason, that should be the focus of your work – to learn why and to prevent that from happening ever again. There is no evidence that you are doing so. Instead, you have forced the victims to relive their painful experiences, while doing little to give them and everybody else what’s deserved: truth and justice. There is no plausible explanation for what you are doing other than partisan politics.

You accepted the least from those who know the most but demand the most from those who know the least. To say you can’t complete your work without speaking to us is simply bizarre.

You have asked what we know. To answer your inquiry, we are providing you with the same or more than seven of the other eight individuals you subpoenaed regarding the handling of the Epstein investigations and prosecutions, which may be why you have not publicly released their written statements.

We expect you will say it is not enough. We expect you’ll reject it. You may even set out an empty chair or stand in front of the cameras and outright dismiss what we have provided. We expect you will direct your committee to seek to hold us in contempt. You may even release irrelevant, decades-old photos that you hope will embarrass us. You will say your caucus, and the Speaker and the President are behind you 100%. We hope, perhaps in vain, that they will not allow you to singlehandedly hijack the Congress by unilaterally making this decision for your colleagues, your party, and our country.

You will say it is not our decision to make. But we have made it. Now you have to make yours.

We are prepared to make our case to your 45 committee members, and if need be, more. Importantly, we also will defend ourselves in the public arena and ensure this country knows exactly what you are doing and why you are doing so, instead of helping the American people who need this Congress’s work and protection.

For most people, maybe even the bulk of the Congress, today will be the first they learn of this dispute. We are confident that any reasonable person in or out of Congress will see, based on everything we release, that what you are doing is trying to punish those who you see as your enemies and to protect those you think are your friends.

Continue to mislead Americans about what is truly at stake, and you will learn that Americans are better at finding the truth than you are at burying it.

Continue to pursue autopilots instead of penning laws Americans need, and you will learn that you are signing away any remaining chance of being on the right side of history.

Continue to abet the dismantling of America, and you will learn that it takes more than a wrecking ball to demolish what Americans have built over 250 years.

Sincerely,
Bill Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton”

NYT, John Bolton: Trump Has Declared Premature Victory in Venezuela https://tinyurl.com/c9va52xt “Allowing the remnants of Mr. Maduro’s regime (a ‘deep state’ if ever there was one) to retain authority, even temporarily, is a potentially catastrophic mistake.”

🐣 RT @StratcomCentre While Russia spends billions on propaganda and paid influencers to convince Western audiences that Ukraine is somehow “persecuting Christians,” Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has descended into the absurd, publishing an official statement calling the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, @EcuPatriarch, the “Antichrist.” It then goes on to accuse him of working with British intelligence and of participating in a fiendish Western plot to destroy Russian Orthodoxy in Ukraine and the Baltic states. …
¤ [TextLink:] https://x.com/StratcomCentre/status/2011017106314104922?s=20/photo/1 -4

⭕ 12 Jan 2026

✝ 🔊 NYT, Ezra Klein: Can James Talarico Reclaim Christianity for the Left? https://tinyurl.com/3fu7u63h [podcast audio and transcript]

But I also try to come at this with humility. On the issue of abortion, I’ve said before, I don’t know what Jesus thought about abortion. The Bible doesn’t tell us. The Bible doesn’t mention abortion at all. And so, as with many issues that aren’t mentioned in the Bible, we have to take Scripture, and we’ve got to try to piece together what we think is what love demands of us on a particular policy question.

And you’re right: For the past 50 years in this country, the religious right, a political movement, convinced a lot of Christians in America that the two most important issues were abortion and homosexuality — two issues that aren’t really discussed in Scripture. Abortion is never mentioned. Consensual same-sex relationships are never mentioned.

It’s remarkable to me that you have an entire political movement using Christianity to prioritize two issues that Jesus never talked about. And so I’m not saying they’re not important — I actually think both of those issues are very important. But to focus on those two things instead of feeding the hungry and healing the sick and welcoming the stranger — three things we’re told to do ad nauseam in Scripture — to me, is just mind-blowing.

🐣 RT @nexta_tv The US accuses Russia of sabotaging Trump’s peace plan
¤ 💽 https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/2010989031773925450?s=20/photo/1

Washington has condemned Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, calling them an insult to Donald Trump’s peace efforts.

This was stated by US Deputy Ambassador Tammy Bruce during a UN Security Council meeting.

According to her, the United States is “closer to a deal than ever”, yet Russia continues to escalate, including the use of the “Oreshnik” missile.

Bruce stressed that such actions undermine negotiations and lead to an intensification of the war.

She recalled that in 2025 Moscow supported a US-backed UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to the war, and urged Russia to back up its words with actions.

🐣 RT @michaeldweiss CNN now reports the device linked to Havana Syndrome was purchased by Homeland Security in the waning days of the Biden administration. And DoD has spent a year testing it. It has Russian components and fits in a backpack. [link:] https://theins.ru/en/politics/270425
¤ https://x.com/michaeldweiss/status/2010947319957450828?s=20

RawStory: Trump’s budget chief brazenly broke the law to punish blue states: judge https://tinyurl.com/yrbhv3p2 // No kidding.

WaPo Editorial: Trump cannot cap credit card interest rates https://tinyurl.com/yvm2w5jj “Thankfully, the president lacks the power to bar companies from charging more than 10 percent.” It would “wreck the American economy.”

NYT: Trump’s Plans for Venezuelan Oil Run Headlong Into Reality https://tinyurl.com/y7t55p45 “President Trump’s fixation on Venezuela’s oil raises the question of how much ‘energy dominance’ is really worth nowadays.” //➔ It’s not the 1980s anymore

WSJ Editorial: Lawfare for Dummies, Monetary Edition https://tinyurl.com/yjxe8ewt “DOJ’s criminal subpoena to Fed Chair Jerome Powell is a self-defeating fiasco.” //➔ So, was someone “working toward the Führer” or did the Führer himself send Bondi another memo?

🐣 RT @atrupar [Mayor] Frey: “There are countless more people who are undocumented in Florida and Texas and Utah. Why are they in these much smaller cities in the middle of the Midwest? The answer is very clear: it’s politics. Florida and Texas and Utah are Republican states. The reason that Minnesota and Minneapolis are being targeted is because you’ve got a Democratic governor, a Democratic attorney general, and Democratic mayors. We are doing everything possible to keep our cities safe through this unprecedented time.”
💽 https://x.com/atrupar/status/2010832860593217634?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @NXT4EU Europe is building an alternative to Starlink! ¤ Airbus has been awarded a contract to build 340 satelites for Eutelsat’s oneweb network. ¤ First delivery will be at the end of this year 🇪🇺

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇲🇩🇷🇴 Moldovan President Sandu supports unification with Romania: she says she would vote “yes” in a potential referendum because it is becoming increasingly difficult for Moldova to survive in a dangerous world, — Digi24

🐣 RT @Daractenus The president of Mexico announced that she had a 15-minute phone conversation today with the completely unhinged president of the United States to remind him that Mexico would quite obviously oppose any U.S. military intervention on its soil.

🐣 RT @OccupyDemocrats BREAKING: Republican Senator Thom Tillis enrages MAGA world by announcing that he will block ALL of Trump’s appointments to the Federal Reserve in response to the sham investigation into Jerome Powell.
¤ https://x.com/OccupyDemocrats/status/2010783728960758054?s=20

This just threw a monster wrench into Trump’s fascist plans…

“If there were any remaining doubt whether advisers within the Trump Administration are actively pushing to end the independence of the Federal Reserve, there should now be none. It is now the independence and credibility of the Department of Justice that are in question,” Tillis stated.

“I will oppose the confirmation of any nominee for the Fed — including the upcoming Fed Chair vacancy — until this legal matter is fully resolved,” he added.

The bombshell announcement comes in the wake of a New York Times report over the weekend which revealed that the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. under Jeanine Pirro is criminally investigating Powell in connection to the renovations to the Fed headquarters.

Of course, nobody outside of the MAGA cult believes that there’s any merit to the Justice Department’s “inquiry” into Powell. It’s nothing more than a naked attempt to punish the chair for refusing to lower interests rates.

Tillis’s countermove creates serious complications for Trump. While the president can’t fire Powell outright without cause, Powell’s term ends in May at which point Trump will get to appoint his successor. He’ll doubtlessly choose someone who will heed his every demand and lower rates, but without Tillis’s support that nomination will stall out.

This is the only way to respond to Trump’s escalating efforts to seize total power for himself. Confound him at every turn with every lever available to you.

DailyBeast, Julia Davis: Putin’s Own Propagandists Finally Admit Russia Is Scr*wed https://tinyurl.com/zrm3sx “The string of humiliations on the international front pale in comparison to domestic troubles, however, with Russia’s flailing economy taking center stage.”
// The holiday season has not been kind to the Kremlin.

🐣 RT @BillKristol “When officers conceal their faces and perform their duties without name tapes or badge numbers, they sever an essential connection to the public. They turn authority into anonymity. And anonymous power is what democratic systems are designed to prevent.” [Bulwark link:] https://tinyurl.com/5n7fw35h

TheAtlantic, David Frum: Why Vance Committed So Hard to the Minneapolis Shooter https://tinyurl.com/bd5hkm5s “The point is to prove that the fearsome power of the American state is being wielded by righteous MAGA hands against despised MAGA targets.” //➔ ICE=Gestapo
// The vice president knows what ICE means to MAGA.

For MAGA America, ICE is an instrument for cleansing violence. Visit ICE social-media accounts and you’ll see, again and again, videos of armed force against unarmed individuals, against a soundtrack of pumping music. There’s a montage of aggressive arrests in Minnesota of unarmed, nonwhite men, many of them thrown to the ground and cuffed, set to the 1977 hit “Cold as Ice”: “Someday you’ll pay the price.” A dozen heavily armed and armored agents round up a single unarmed woman in a T-shirt and two similarly defenseless men in California. In Indiana, armored agents throw handcuffs and ankle chains on a big haul of men and shove them in a cell, where they can be seen pacing, weeping, or with their heads plunged in their hands.
^
Rarely do these videos present a situation that couldn’t be managed with a couple of plainclothes officers bearing holstered sidearms. The point is to prove that the fearsome power of the American state is being wielded by righteous MAGA hands against despised MAGA targets. …

That is not a paean to law enforcement. MAGA Republicans do not reliably care about laws or the people who enforce them. One of Trump’s first actions upon entering office was to pardon more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, including many convicted of violent offenses against the police. He has denigrated the FBI and transformed the agency into a tool of retribution, and he regularly disparages prosecutors and law-enforcement officials if they fail to comply with his will. …

ICE is violence-prone in part because the agency has lowered its training standards and ditched much of its background vetting to meet the president’s grandiose deportation targets. But more fundamentally, ICE is violence-prone because its main purpose has become theatrical. Under present leadership, ICE is less a law-enforcement agency than it is a content creator.

Americans want borders enforced. They want foreign criminals apprehended and deported. They want unfounded asylum claimants to be removed promptly. But most Americans don’t thrill to spectacular acts of six-on-one violence aimed at DoorDash delivery men. ICE’s approval ratings have duly plummeted. …

MAGA is many things, but above all it’s a movement about redistributing respect away from those who command too much (overeducated coastal elites) to those who don’t have enough (white Americans without advanced degrees who feel left behind). You see that redistribution at work in the Trump administration’s project to devalue medical experts and empower wellness gurus and vaccine skeptics, and in its dismissal of “deep state” national-security professionals in favor of TV pundits. …

This is how we arrive at a moment when the country’s highest-ranking officials are endorsing a lethal shooting on the basis of claims refuted by the evidence. Failure to heed the MAGA campaign to redistribute respect is insolence punishable by death.

NYT: Judge Strikes Down Trump’s Latest Effort to Stop Offshore Wind https://tinyurl.com/2hcjxy2x “The ruling means that construction can continue on Revolution Wind, a $6.2 billion project off the coast of Rhode Island, at least for now.”

🐣 RT @OJoelsen Press release from the Government of Greenland
January 12, 2026 ¤12:50pm
¤ https://x.com/OJoelsen/status/2010729075401265202?s=20

The United States has once again reiterated its desire to take over Greenland. This is something the governing coalition of Greenland cannot accept under any circumstances.

Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. As a constituent part of the Realm, Greenland is a member of NATO, and the defence of Greenland must therefore take place through NATO.

On the basis of the very positive statements made for Greenland by six NATO member states, Naalakkersuisut will intensify its efforts to ensure that the defence of Greenland is carried out within the NATO framework. All NATO member states, including the United States, share a common interest in the defence of Greenland, and the governing coalition of Greenland will therefore work together with Denmark to ensure that dialogue on and the development of Greenland’s defence takes place within NATO cooperation.

The governing coalition of Greenland believes that Greenland will, now and in the future, remain a part of the Western defence alliance. ¤ Source: Government of Greenland

WaPo: WaPo: Former Fed chiefs rebuke Justice Department probe into Fed chair https://tinyurl.com/bdeabm8h “The admonishment landed as financial markets digested news of the inquiry, with the dollar slipping and stocks wobbling.” Statement ⬇️
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2010782159897022599?s=20

“The Federal Reserve’s independence and the public’s perception of that independence are critical for economic performance, including achieving the goals Congress has set for the Federal Reserve of stable prices, maximum employment, and moderate long-term interest rates. The reported criminal inquiry into Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell is an unprecedented attempt to use prosecutorial attacks to undermine that independence. This is how monetary policy is made in emerging markets with weak institutions, with highly negative consequences for inflation and the functioning of their economies more broadly. It has no place in the United States whose greatest strength is the rule of law, which is at the foundation of our economic success.”

UPDATED SIGNATORIES

Ben S. Bernanke served two terms as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Fed, as well as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush.

Jared Bernstein served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Joe Biden.

Jason Furman served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama.

Timothy F. Geithner served as the 75th Secretary of the Treasury under President Barack Obama, as well as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Phil Gramm served as Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

Alan Greenspan served five terms as Chair of the Board of Governors of the Fed, first appointed by President Ronald Reagan and then reappointed by Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. He also was Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Gerald Ford.

Glenn Hubbard served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush.

Jacob J. Lew served as the 76th Secretary of the Treasury under President Barack Obama.

N. Gregory Mankiw served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush.

Henry M. Paulson served as the 74th Secretary of the Treasury under President George W. Bush.

Kenneth Rogoff is the Maurits C. Boas Professor of International Economics at Harvard University and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund.

Christina Romer served as Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Barack Obama.

Robert E. Rubin served as the 70th Secretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton, after serving as the first director of the White House National Economic Council.

Janet Yellen served as the 78th Secretary of the Treasury under President Joe Biden, Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Fed, Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton, and President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.

🐣 RT @uarealitynow ‼️ Russian Propaganda rushed into praising the strike by the Oreshnik missile, but this says more about ignorance than strength…👇

In case you didn’t know, the so-called almighty Oreshnik missile is built using many of the same components and design principles as the rocket that carried Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961.

That fact alone should put the propaganda to rest. This isn’t cutting-edge innovation or technological dominance. It’s the reuse of Cold War–era hardware, dressed up as modern power.

That’s not technological superiority: it’s recycling outdated relics and turning them into weapons aimed at cities and civilians.

🐣 RT @Europarl_EN [EU Parliament] Algorithms should not be the boss of us. ¤ MEPs are calling for for new EU rules on algorithm use in the workplace, stressing the need for human oversight, transparency and strong data protection. ¤ Learn more: https://link.europa.eu/3jk4FK

🐣 RT @TheWarMonitor Hitler didn’t begin with camps. He began with nationalist revival slogans, attacking the press, banning books, scapegoating immigrants, demonizing educators, gutting the arts, and turning neighbors into enemies… just like what we’re seeing in America today.

🐣 RT @AnnaBower INBOX: Former Special Counsel Jack Smith launches his own law firm alongside former Jan. 6 Committee counsel Tim Heaphy and DOJ alum David Harbach and Thomas Windom.

⭕ 11 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @SarahLongwell25 Not George W. Bush. Not the vast majority of Republicans in Congress. Not the Generals. Not conservatism Inc. Not the big law firms. Not the tech oligarchs. Not the media conglomerates who need their mergers. ¤ Jerome Powell. A man who refuses to be intimidated.
🐣 RT @MikeDrucker You know things are bad when the most boring person doing the most boring job for decades has to come out and say, “Stop trying to arrest us for doing math”
🐣 RT @KobeissiLetter BREAKING: Fed Chair Powell responds after Federal prosecutors open a criminal investigation into him: ¤ “The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Fed setting rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President,” he says.
💽 https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2010517746132369645?s=20/photo/1
⋙ 🐣 RT @JustinWolfers Don’t doubt that Jay Powell is going to war. ¤ I’ve never seen a central bank release an evening video so directly taking on a head of state. In this case, the medium is the message: Powell is taking his case to the people.

🐣 RT @EuromaidanPress A Russian outpost is now a box with no door: Moldova and Ukraine shut off Russia’s supply lines to Transnistria ¤ Without a shot fired, Moldova and Ukraine sealed off Transnistria on 1 January — a Russian-controlled separatist enclave that’s been under Moscow’s quiet grip since the 1990s. Now, 1,500 Russian soldiers are stranded, surrounded by legal enforcement, with no way in and no way out.
⋙ EuromaidanPress: Frontline report: Ukraine and Moldova trap Russia’s hidden army with New Year’s midnight move https://tinyurl.com/yuanbxxt “Starting 1 January, every supply line into Russian-controlled Transnistria in Moldova was closed, leaving Moscow without options.

ChatGPT: Why Trump’s push to seize Greenland is a dream scenario for Putin – even if Putin never explicitly told him to do it.
(5 key points, all grounded in publicly known facts.) ⬇️
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2010537163180380242?s=20

1. It mirrors exactly what Russia did to Ukraine — but with the U.S. as the aggressor.

Putin’s core argument since 2014 has been:
“Great Powers take what they need for security. Borders are not sacred.” ¤ A U.S. attempt to seize territory from Denmark (a NATO ally) would validate Russia’s entire worldview and propaganda line.

2. It fractures NATO — Putin’s #1 strategic objective for 20 years.

Putin has openly sought to weaken or break NATO, and serious analysts agree.

A U.S. attack on Denmark would:
• Shatter alliance coherence
• Split Europe from the U.S.
• Undermine Article 5
• Destroy NATO’s moral authority
Putin could never achieve this militarily. ¤ A U.S. president doing it for him is the ultimate gift.

3. It normalizes “spheres of influence” — Putin’s preferred 19th-century model.

Russia’s entire foreign policy rests on the idea that major powers should dominate territory around them. ¤ If the U.S. claims Greenland as its “strategic backyard,” Putin can say: “See? Russia controls Ukraine. America controls Greenland. This is the new normal.”

4. It destroys U.S. credibility and makes Russia’s actions look less extreme.

If the U.S. invades Greenland, the Kremlin gains three propaganda victories at once:
• “America is no better.”
• “The West never cared about international law.”
• “Ukraine wasn’t a violation — it was standard great-power politics.”
This reframes Russia’s aggression as “ordinary.”

5. Putin doesn’t need to order Trump to do any of this.

Influence isn’t always explicit.
It can be built over years through:
• Flattery
• Private reinforcement of shared instincts
• Reframing NATO as obsolete
• Encouraging a Great-Power worldview
Trump embracing Greenland fits perfectly with Putin’s long-term strategic aims — whether or not it was ever discussed directly.

Bottom line:
A U.S. move on Greenland would achieve more for Putin than Russia could ever hope to achieve on the battlefield.

That’s why this crisis is not just about Greenland — it’s about the future of NATO and the entire post-WWII security order. ¤ It abolishes the rules-based world order born in 1945.

🐣 RT @ThisWeekABC Sen. Rand Paul says he thinks “there’ll be enough pressure to stop” potential U.S. action in Greenland, but says it ignites a larger debate: “It’s about Venezuela. It’s about Greenland. It’s about Colombia. It’s about Cuba. It’s about whether or not the people get a say in whether we go to war.” https://abcnews.link/lzOByy2

🐣 RT @antfadt [Translated from Arabic] #BREAKING ……Colonel Sajjad Azadeh defects from the Iranian Army’s Ground Forces and approximately 50,000 senior officers join the “National Cooperation Campaign to Save Iran” launched by the son of the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi ..!!
#IranIsBurning

🐣 RT @pier_falasca [Translated from Italian] EXPLAINED ON GREENLAND
¤ https://x.com/pier_falasca/status/2010279696978579719?s=20

1. Greenland belonged to the Norwegian Crown from 1261.
In the Middle Ages, the Norse communities in Greenland formally recognized the authority of the King of Norway: from 1261 the island entered the sphere of the Norwegian Crown. A fact that shifts the clock very far back: centuries before 1776, the year of the founding of the United States of America.

2. The personal union between the Norwegian Crown and the Danish Crown (1380).
From 1380, Norway and Denmark shared the same monarch: it was a personal union. Result: Greenland, already tied to the Norwegian Crown, stably entered the orbit of the Scandinavian monarchy which, by institutional continuity, leads to the contemporary Danish Crown.

3. The cession of Norway did not concern Greenland (1814).
With the Treaty of Kiel (1814) Denmark ceded Norway to Sweden, but did not transfer the North Atlantic dependencies: Greenland remained with Copenhagen (along with Iceland and the Faroe Islands). It is a “treaty-based” confirmation, clear and modern.

4. The UN recognition of Danish status (1954).
In the post-World War II period, the UN pushed toward the end of colonial empires and the assertion of self-determination (except for the Soviet empire, but we’ll get back to that). After the Danish constitutional reform of 1953, the UN General Assembly with resolution 849 (IX) of 1954 took note of the new status of Greenland in the Kingdom, such that it was no longer considered a “non-self-governing territory.” In essence: Greenland was considered outside the classic colonial framework, in a context compatible with self-determination.

5. Greenlandic autonomy within the Kingdom of Denmark (1979 and 2009).
Greenland is not a “held-back” periphery: it obtained internal self-government in 1979 and then, with the Self-Government Act of 2009, an even stronger architecture that explicitly recognizes the right of the Greenlandic people to self-determination and provides a legal pathway (if they ever want it) toward eventual independence. Whether independence would be sustainable is another matter (given that to date about 30% of the Greenlandic budget consists of transfers from Copenhagen and that the Greenlanders do not spend resources on their own security, which they could not guarantee due to the vastness and complexity of the territory).

6. Final point: why a US annexation would be the breaking of the international order (NATO included).
In light of all this, the “claim” of US annexation has absolutely no credible legal basis: it would rely only on an act of bullying and force against Denmark’s historic and legitimate sovereignty and against the will of the Greenlanders. And it would be an act of seismic proportions: it would archive the world that emerged from 1945, made of non-modifiable borders without threat, alliances among equals, and mutual trust. NATO included would implode, because a defensive alliance does not survive if one of its pillars treats the territory of an ally like spoils of war.

🐣 RT @NXT4EU Europe’s mission to Greenland could be the first led by European Command.
Breaking free from NATO’s, and instead offering a sovereign way bypassing the United States.
It could be the first step towards a European Army 🇪🇺

🐣 RT @business [Bloomberg] Germany will propose setting up a joint NATO mission to monitor and protect security interests in the Arctic region in a bid to ease tensions with US over its threats to annex Greenland

🐣 RT @DI313_🇺🇸 Statement from the U.S. Congress
Any member of the U.S. Army, from senior leadership to enlisted personnel, who takes part in the use of force against Greenland without explicit authorization from Congress would be acting under unlawful orders.
📣 Rep. Ted Lieu, Democrat
⚖️ The Constitution comes first

⭕ 10 Jan 2026

TheAtlantic, Rogé Karma: Big Oil Knows That Trump’s Venezuela Plans Are Delusional https://tinyurl.com/4fzhc2kz “Current oil prices—about $60 a barrel—are historically low. And they are well below the roughly $80-a-barrel cost of extracting and refining the low-quality Venezuelan oil”
// The president’s thinking is stuck in the 1980s.

TheAtlantic, Gary Kasparov: Trump Is Not Playing Five-Dimensional Chess in Venezuela https://tinyurl.com/3ts7xzme “The United States hasn’t been a shining city on a hill in a long time; but how far it has fallen, to become a pirate state plundering neighbors for the gain of a ruling clan”
// After a strong first move, he’s eating all the pieces.

NYT: Trump Is Briefed on Options for Striking Iran as Protests Continue https://tinyurl.com/52jpmsae “The president has said he will be ‘hitting them very hard’ if Iranian leaders kill protesters amid widespread demonstrations calling for wholesale changes in the country.”

🐣 RT @visionergeo 🇺🇸🇮🇷 The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warns President Donald Trump that any attack by the US will provoke Tehran’s retaliatory strikes against Israel and US military bases located in the region.

🐣 RT @Kasparov63 Values. It’s a big and vague term often waved away in favor of more concrete terms, but there is no substitute. You either value human life and liberty, including for those you disagree with, or you do not. You demand decency even if you don’t receive it.
⋙ 🐣 RT @thomaschattwill There is a growing and palpable bloodlust and desire to see ideological opponents quite literally eradicated that should give us all extreme pause. It’s been a long time since the most meaningful divide in American political and cultural life was between “left” and “right.” It’s not even so much about “sane” vs. “insane” anymore, as it so often was circa 2020. The fundamental split today is between the *decent* and the *indecent.* It is monstrous to desire, excuse, sanitize, whitewash avoidable killing even of one’s perceived foes.

✝ 🐣 RT @RichRaho At opening of 800th centennial of St. Francis of Assisi’s death, Pope Leo pens prayer, released by Vatican today:

Saint Francis, our brother, you who eight hundred years ago went to meet Sister Death like a man at peace, intercede for us before the Lord. You, who in the Crucifix of San Damiano recognized true peace, teach us to seek in Him the source of all reconciliation that breaks down every wall. You, who unarmed crossed the lines of war and misunderstanding, give us the courage to build bridges where the world erects barriers. In this time afflicted by conflicts and divisions, intercede that we may become artisans of peace: unarmed and disarming witnesses of the peace that comes from Christ. Amen.

🐣 RT @cturnbull1968 Things that Republicans no longer believe in.
¤ https://x.com/mo_oakville/status/2010065454073819207?s=20

1. Limited government
2. Citizen rights to protect themselves from a tyrannical government
3. States’ rights
4. Free market capitalism
5. Independent banking system
6. Reducing the federal debt and deficit
7. Freedom of religion
8. The 19th amendment
9. No new wars
10. American soft power
11. Respect for the Judiciary
12. NATO
10:35 AM · Jan 10, 2026
⋙ 🐣 RT @mo_oakville
13. Due Process
14. Presidential ethics
15. Emoluments clause
16. Meritocracy
17. Education
18. Taxes
19. Public Service
20. Democracy
21. Empathy
Do you want me to go on?

🐣 RT @adgirlMM In Trump’s first year…
¤ https://x.com/adgirlMM/status/2010073480167854579?s=20

He dismantled the government.
Let the oligarch steal gov data.
Reversed all environmental protections.
Covered up the Epstein files.
Launched tariffs.
Slowed the economy, punishing farmers and small businesses.
Militarized cities and neighborhoods.
Started blowing up civilian boats.
Demolished the East Wing.
Hijacked The Kennedy Center.

And increased his personal net worth by $3 billion.

We’re 10 days into Year 2.
He has kidnapped a foreign leader, and is stealing their oil.
Seized four oil vessels.
Is threatening to take Greenland.
Threatening Mexico.

And says he’ll “control the money” he’s stealing from other nations.

There’s an election in November.
Which he’ll try to cheat, or cancel however necessary.

We cannot allow it.
We must take our country back.

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA 🇺🇸🇺🇦 Kellogg: Zelensky is a tough son of a b*tch. He’s stubborn. He has his opinion. He’s unafraid to say that. He knows how to use media. We in the United States have not seen a leader like him since Abraham Lincoln.

⭕ 9 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @Kasparov63 This is starting to remind me of Putin’s long and often dubious lectures on the great Russian past and its holdings that were stolen from it, etc. Either you have evolved to respect national borders since the horrors of WWII or you haven’t. Russia hasn’t. The US?
⋙ 🐣 RT @Kasparov63 Invading, looting, annexing, changing borders by force, this is not an appeal to international law, but the modern world order. Russia has broken that convention repeatedly, invading Georgia and Ukraine, and can include Moldova. The US must not join it as a rogue nation.

🐣 RT @Acyn Exxon CEO: If you look at the commercial constructs, frameworks in place in Venezuela today, it’s uninvestable. Significant changes have to be made to these frameworks, the legal system. There has to be durable investment protections and change to the hydrocarbon laws.

NYT: Trump Threatens to Take Greenland ‘the Hard Way’ https://tinyurl.com/yar2bzv2 “The president continued to advance an imperialist vision of American foreign policy, where the U.S. can dominate neighboring countries ‘whether they like it or not.’”

🐣 RT @ChuckPfarrer ON THE RUN? It’s reported that an IRGC has aircraft left Tehran-Mehrabad airport to transfer Ayatollah Khamenei to a remote desert hideout in eastern Iran. The regime’s leadership is increasingly losing control as unrest spreads across the country.

🐣 RT @SenMcConnell For decades, the Iranian regime’s obsession with exporting terror, spilling American blood, and chasing nuclear weapons was contingent on its ability to repress the dreams and aspirations of the Iranian people. Repression at home, aggression abroad. That evil gamble appears to be collapsing, and not a moment too soon. My prayers are with the brave people of Iran as they fight for their future.

🐣 RT @McFaul The US does not own or control the Western Hemisphere. It’s composed of sovereign countries that will act in their own national interests.
⋙ 🐣 RT @nytimes Breaking News: The EU agreed to a sweeping trade pact with four South American countries that would create one of the largest free-trade zones in the world. https://nyti.ms/4pHa3ZS

🐣 RT @OJoelsen Statement from the Premier of Greenland 🇬🇱 January 9, 2026, 8:30pm local time.
¤ https://x.com/OJoelsen/status/2009771332917924092?s=20

We Stand Together as a People

As leaders of Greenland’s political parties, we once again wish to underline our firm position that the United States’ disregard for our country must come to an end.

We do not wish to be Americans. We do not wish to be Danes. We wish to be Greenlanders.

Greenland is a country governed in accordance with the Self-Government Act and international law. The Government of Greenland and the Inatsisartut are elected by the people of Greenland, and through this mandate they cooperate with the United States and other Western countries—a cooperation that will continue in the future.

The future of Greenland must be decided by the Greenlandic people. Work concerning Greenland’s future is conducted in dialogue with the population and prepared on the basis of international law and the Self-Government Act. No other country has the right to interfere in this process. We will decide our country’s future ourselves—without pressure to make hasty decisions, without delays imposed from outside, and without external interference.

In recent years, we have strengthened our international responsibility and engagement. This has been carried out through official diplomatic channels and in accordance with international principles based on mutual respect, and this approach will continue.

We once again call for dialogue to be conducted on the basis of diplomacy and international principles. This is the appropriate path forward for allies and friends.

We therefore agree on the following:

That intensified and close dialogue with our allies and cooperation partners must be ensured.

That a meeting of the Inatsisartut be brought forward in order to secure a responsible, orderly, and united political debate.

That, in these extraordinary and serious circumstances, the rights and interests of the Greenlandic people are safeguarded.

That we will continue working to develop opportunities that ensure security and well-being for our people throughout the entire country.

We stand together in our right to our country, now and for all time.

Greenland belongs to the Greenlandic people.

Jens Frederik Nielsen, Demokraatit
Pele Broberg, Naleraq
Múte B. Egede, Inuit Ataqatigiit
Aleqa Hammond, Siumut
Aqqalu C. Jeremiassen, Atassut

🐣 RT RepMikeTurner Denmark is a vital ally of the United States, with deep cooperation on military and economic matters, including the F-35 program. As several of my colleagues like @SenatorWicker, @RepBlakeMoore, @SenatorCollins, @SenMcConnell, @SenThomTillis, and @RepDonBacon are saying, the sovereignty and self-determination of the Danish and Greenlander people must be respected. I look forward to continuing to work with them and our NATO alliance as we work together on mutual security.

📊 Vandenberg: Americans First: Polling the People: January 2026 https://tinyurl.com/mwswdpsk Poll of Trump supporters. Key Takeaways (abbreviated):
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2009685375913181419?s=20/photo/1

Ukraine/Russia

• 85 percent of respondents view Russia as a threat to U.S. security, with 66 percent noting Russia is a “high” or “extremely high” threat.

• Trump voters do not want to see Putin win in Ukraine, with nearly half (46 percent) viewing ending the war and preventing further Russian aggression as a U.S. foreign policy priority in 2026.

• 80 percent of respondents want the United States to take some action to support Kiev in its fight against Russian aggression, with 61 percent even saying that the United States should sell American long-range weapons to Ukraine.

• 54 percent of Trump voters blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for failed ceasefire negotiations and three-quarters of respondents support strengthening sanctions against Russia for Putin’s refusal to pursue peace negotiations in good faith. Meanwhile, the share of Trump voters who blame Zelenskyy has decreased from 20 percent in June 2025 to only 14 percent.

• 84 percent Trump voters think that the United States should be invested in Ukraine’s future through encouraging European countries to finance Ukraine’s reconstruction (42 percent),

• 70 percent of Trump voters say the United States should help the Venezuelan people and their democratically elected leaders restore democracy in Venezuela. Only 16 percent say the United States should not do anything more.

🐣 RT @Pontifex War is back in vogue and a zeal for war is spreading. The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited nations from using force to violate the borders of others, has been completely undermined. #Peace is no longer sought as a gift and a desirable good in itself. Instead, peace is sought through weapons as a condition for asserting one’s own dominion. This gravely threatens the rule of law, which is the foundation of all peaceful civil coexistence.

⭕ 8 Jan 2026

TheAtlantic, George Packer: Iraq Was Bad. This Is Absurd. https://tinyurl.com/32a3rkcw “It’s a clean break from the postwar years of internationalism that, although flawed, prevented another world war and created unprecedented conditions of freedom and prosperity,”
// Trump is doing improv in Venezuela.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2009559856420991009?s=20/photo/1

… [A]fter Saturday’s military action in Caracas. President Donald Trump and his advisers have thrown out numerous justifications for seizing the Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife and bringing them to New York for trial. None of them makes sense.

Maduro ruled Venezuela viciously and illegitimately, but Trump has no qualms about doing business with the vicious and illegitimate—he prefers them to democratically elected leaders. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told skeptics in Congress that the operation wasn’t an act of war at all, but a simple arrest based on Maduro’s indictment for drug trafficking. Then why, at the end of last year, did Trump pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, the ex-president of Honduras who had been convicted of the same crime by an American court and sentenced to 45 years in prison?

If narco-terrorism is a threat to U.S. security, Venezuela is a relatively small player in the global narcotics trade; the chief drug it exports, cocaine, is not a mass killer of Americans like fentanyl is, and the probable destination of the alleged drug boats that U.S. forces have been bombing off the Venezuelan coast was Europe. …

… The tragicomic improv act following the raid on Caracas suggests that Trump attacked Venezuela for the same reason: because he could. This is more often the case than we’d like to think. It would be comforting to believe that geopolitics is a nefarious conspiracy plotted by rational actors pursuing rational interests in a windowless room—but in the long history of human folly, we seldom know why events of the most momentous consequence even happened. …

The specter of Iraq hangs over Venezuela like a warning light. Trump seems to have taken Operation Iraqi Freedom as a guide to how not to conduct Operation Absolute Resolve: no year-long propaganda campaign to gin up public support; no congressional authorization; no speeches and votes at the United Nations; no coalition of the willing or of any other kind; no American troops on the ground for more than a few hours; no talk of human rights, elections, and postwar reconstruction; no change of regime at all. Iraq was a disaster in part because the Bush administration, wanting regime change without nation building, substituted wishful thinking for post-invasion planning. Now we might learn that wishful thinking is better than no thinking at all. The Trump administration appears to be making up the future of Venezuela on the fly.

… To critics on both the right and the left, the post-9/11 “forever wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan brought disrepute to the entire project of an American-led liberal international order. The left wanted America to be more like Norway, peaceful and humanitarian. The right wanted America to be a stronghold of isolation. But Trump has shown that neither of these was on the menu of a superpower. The likeliest alternative to Pax Americana is naked imperialism. …
v
… Since Saturday’s military action, Trump and his aides have been spouting threats about the United States military dominating the Western Hemisphere wherever the president wants. What began in Venezuela might well be repeated in Greenland, Cuba, Panama, or even Canada. What the U.S. can do it is free to do. Force is its own justification. Trump’s strategy recalls the era before World War II—one of dollar diplomacy and gunboat imperialism, spheres of dominion, puppet dictators, resource grabs, annexations, and the threat of larger wars among great powers. Only now those nations are armed with nuclear weapons, and America in 2026 is incomparably stronger than America was in 1926, and Calvin Coolidge was no Trump.
^
The clearest expression of Trump’s thought here, as always, comes from the mouth of Stephen Miller, the president’s deputy chief of staff and his homeland-security adviser. Miller is more coherent than the president, less self-seeking than the vice president, and more openly hateful than any member of the Cabinet and Congress. He’s a genuine ideologue with no conventional political ambitions, and his words make it impossible not to think of the 1930s: “America is for Americans and Americans only!” “At scale, migrants and their descendants recreate the conditions, and terrors, of their broken homelands.” “The Democrat Party is not a political party. It is a domestic extremist organization.” “We will prevail over the forces of wickedness and evil. They cannot imagine what they have awakened.”

With Venezuela, Miller is taking a public role in foreign policy. Like the rest of the leadership circle, he seems unworried by the prospect of civil war, insurgency, or prolonged chaos in post-Maduro Venezuela, indifferent to the fate of Venezuelans under the regime left in power by Trump and untroubled by the possibility of an American quagmire. He seems to have limitless faith in the ability of U.S. warships to work the administration’s will on another country and people. On Monday, Miller explained to CNN’s Jake Tapper why Venezuela is going to be run by Trump: “You can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time.” ¤ It’s a kind of candor that makes me miss the old American hypocrisy.

NYT, Jacob Frey: I’m the Mayor of Minneapolis. Trump Is Lying to You. https://tinyurl.com/4jxua56v “Cities are on the front lines of this dark hour in our national politics. But after we weather this moment — and we will weather it — it will be on us to light the way forward.”

💽 NYT: Videos Contradict Trump Administration Account of ICE Shooting in Minneapolis https://tinyurl.com/yc3b4b8b “An analysis of footage from three camera angles show that the vehicle appears to be turning away from a federal officer as he opened fire.”

🐣 He took an oath the Constitution and is bound by it.
He is bound by laws passed by Congress and certain state laws as well.
He is bound by international treaties.
He is not a king. In fact, no king claims to be free of any constraints other than his “own morality.“

🔄 📋 🐣 Europe✛ is a Superpower; Russia is not.
2025 GDP:
$34.7Tr EU ✛ UK ✛ Canada ($28.2 ✛ $4.0 ✛ $$2.5)
$30.6Tr United States
$19.4Tr China
$ 2.5Tr Russia

⋙ 🐣 1. The oil belongs to Venezuela, acc to intl law
2. Free and fair democratic elections within a year, including Machado

🐣 RT @CBSNews BREAKING: The House approves a 3-year extension of the ACA tax credit after 17 Republicans joined Democrats to back it.

🐣 RT @MacFarlaneNews ALERT: Senate votes to hang plaque honoring Jan. 6 police officers after yearslong delay

🐣 RT @Spencerhakimian Denmark Offers Greenland:
– Lifetime Free Health Care
– Lifetime Free Education
– Strongest Pension In The World
– Paid Maternity/Paternity Leave
– Free Child Care
– $700 Million Annual Transfer Payment
U.S. Offers Greenland:
– One Time Check For $10,000 (Maybe).

🐣 RT @lisamurkowski Today, my colleagues and I voted to bring a resolution to the Senate floor that would require Congressional approval for further military operations against Venezuela.
¤ https://x.com/lisamurkowski/status/2009360982431461666?s=20

This will allow the Senate to begin debate on this measure following President Trump’s statements yesterday suggesting that the United States could remain in Venezuela for years, while failing to rule out the deployment of American troops on the ground. Such outcomes clearly require Congressional authorization.

I want to acknowledge and commend the remarkable bravery, technical mastery, and operational precision demonstrated by the U.S. servicemembers and intelligence professionals involved in the January 3 mission to remove Maduro. This operation exemplifies the level of coordination and advanced capability that only U.S. military power can deliver. Nicolás Maduro is a dictator who led a brutally oppressive regime, and Venezuela—along with the rest of the world—is better off without him in power.

However, there remains deep uncertainty surrounding the path forward for Venezuela’s political transition, the implications for regional stability, and whether the United States has a clear and achievable end goal. I have long been an advocate for the relevance of Congress in its constitutional role over the use of military force, and Venezuela is no different. Any future use of force or significant policy shift in Venezuela must include robust Congressional oversight and authorization, consistent with our Constitutional responsibilities, the rule of law, and a clear assessment of the benefits to the American people.

🐣 RT @peterbakernyt Asked if there any limits on his global powers, Trump tells @nytimes “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” He adds, “I don’t need international law.” @SangerNYT @tylerpager @katierogers @KannoYoungs
¤ https://x.com/peterbakernyt/status/2009359503066845222?s=20
🔆 This❗️⋙ NYT: Trump Lays Out a Vision of Power Restrained Only by ‘My Own Morality’ https://tinyurl.com/yc7s2u86 “On topic after topic, President Trump made clear that he would be the arbiter of any limits to his authorities, not international law or treaties.”

🐣 RT @Kasparov63 No one is afraid of Russia anymore, thanks to the courage of Ukraine, and no one except for Donald Trump treats them like a superpower. Russia’s asymmetrical influence is due to a willingness to use force and corruption. $1 billion in bribes goes further than 1bn in weapons.
⋙ 🐣 RT @Tendar Russia’s losing streak is not coming to an end and received another episode, this time in Iraq. ¤ The Iraqi government nationalized the stake of Russia’s Lukoil in regards to the West Qurna-2 oil field, which accounts of around 75%. This oil field produces 460,000 barrels of oil, daily. Instead Iraq‘s oil industry invited US energy giants ExxonMobil and Chevron to bid on the stake. ¤ Iraq wants to avoid being targeted by US sanctions, throwing its former Russian business partner under the bus.

🐣 RT @NXT4EU Trump was asked if there were any limits on his global powers, he said: “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” ¤ Be prepared, Europe. Things are about to get wild.

WaPo: ICE agent was not in the vehicle’s path when he fired at driver, video shows https://tinyurl.com/4ds55jfm “An analysis of video footage raises questions about claims by President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem about the fatal shooting in Minneapolis.”

🐣 RT @JohnJHarwood unspeakable evil is in charge of our government

⭕ 7 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @PahlaviReza This is a direct message to the armed and security forces of Iran; you who have donned the military uniform to defend the Iranian nation, and now face a historic choice.
¤ https://x.com/PahlaviReza/status/2008914759203065942?s=20

In these days when the brave and united people of Iran are building and writing history, my question to you is: on which side of history will you stand? With the criminals, or with the people?

The issue is no longer whether the Islamic Republic, this corrupt and oppressive regime, will fall or not; the issue is only the timing of its fall: and that time is closer than ever before.

In these fateful moments, I expect you to return to the embrace of the nation and use your weapons not to fire upon the people, but to protect them.

By doing so, you will not only fulfill your national duty, but also safeguard the future of yourselves and your families.

Six months ago, I created the National Collaboration Platform as a secure channel for declaring allegiance to the people for you. Thousands of you registered on it. Now, with the resumption of Iran’s national uprising and the high volume of new requests, this platform has been upgraded to ensure that each of you receives an immediate response.…,

🐣 RT @PahlaviReza My fellow countrymen, today, Wednesday January 7th, your presence across Iran was unprecedented.
¤ https://x.com/PahlaviReza/status/2009041925647548815?s=20

And this constitutes a declaration of readiness for tomorrow’s plan (the call for Thursday January 8th, at 8 p.m.).

Of course, reports have reached us that the regime is deeply frightened and is attempting, once again, to cut off the internet.

Know that our communication will not be severed. Whether through the hundreds of thousands of Starlink devices in Iran, or through the Iran International and Manoto television networks.

But if the regime commits such a mistake and cuts the internet, that itself will be another call to continue your presence and to take over the streets. In this way, you will drive yet another nail into the coffin of this regime.

You will be victorious. Long live Iran!

🧵 RT @revishvilig Commander-in-Chief General Syrskyi on the current state of war: ¤ Signs of exhaustion are indeed visible. First, there has been a change in the structure of the war, marked by a transition to a much higher technological level. 1/14
📌 https://x.com/revishvilig/status/2008967997965389869?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://tinyurl.com/53874s64

🐣 RT @clashreport US oil companies say they need strong legal and financial guarantees before investing in Venezuela, despite pressure from President Trump to revive the country’s oil sector. ¤ Executives warn that political risk, shifting policy and low oil prices make major investments unsafe without government backstops. Source: FT

🐣 RT @prezidentpavel [tr] I would consider it appropriate for the Czech Republic to join the joint statement of European states on Greenland.
¤ https://x.com/prezidentpavel/status/2008923979138883698?s=20

I also informed Prime Minister Andrej Babiš about this today at a joint lunch. The key is that we address security issues concerning Greenland through dialogue among allies and within NATO.

The Kingdom of Denmark does not represent any threat or enemy. On the contrary, it is our close partner and ally in NATO, and Greenland is an integral part of this kingdom. The interest of the United States in security in the North Atlantic area is understandable and is our shared interest.

Allies will certainly be prepared for a discussion on how to best contribute to security together and prevent the region from becoming a threat to the United States and allied territories.

🐣 RT @PrezLives2022 Warner Brothers rejects latest Paramount hostile takeover bid leading the way for Netflix to assume control in the near future. ¤ Netflix has an investment grade rating, while Paramount apparently has a junk bond rating. This is good news because Neither Larry or David Ellison has no business in in any form of media whatsoever. They are a threat to free speech and are allergic to the truth.

🐣 📊 RT @RpsAgainstTrump NEW YouGov poll on Greenland
⋙ Using U.S. military force to seize Greenland:
73% oppose
8% support
⋙ Buying Greenland:
45% oppose
28% support

🔄 📋 🐣 Europe is a Superpower; Russia is not.
2025 GDP:
$34.7Tr EU ✛ UK ✛ Canada ($28.2 ✛ $4.0 ✛ $$2.5)
$30.6Tr United States
$19.4Tr China
$ 2.5Tr Russia

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa Today, Rustem Umerov has already delivered an initial report on the work of the Ukrainian negotiating team in France.
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2008844898816930142?s=20

Another session of talks with envoys of the President of the United States will take place, and this will already be the third such session in two days. We expect, in particular, that the most difficult issues from the basic framework for ending the war will be discussed – namely, issues related to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and territories. I also instructed the team to discuss possible formats for leader-level meetings between Ukraine, other European states, and the United States.

Ukraine does not shy away from the most difficult issues and will never be an obstacle to peace. Peace must be dignified. And this depends on the partners – on whether they ensure Russia’s real readiness to end the war. By the end of the day, I expect a detailed report from our negotiating team. Ukraine will be represented at today’s meetings by Rustem Umerov, Andrii Hnatov, Kyrylo Budanov, Sergiy Kyslytsya, Davyd Arakhamiia, and Oleksandr Bevz.

🧵 RT @BiankaB12 THE TYRANNY OF THE ARCTIC
So, Greenland is back in the news. ¤ I’ve been wondering why there hasn’t been some large scale industrial development over there, given that the geological map shows reserves for a lot of critical minerals. ¤ Then I did what I always do – started digging, and I educated myself on just how freaking hard it is to mine for resources in Greenland (and the Arctic in general).
📌 🌎 https://x.com/BiankaB12/status/2008940400275247309?s=20/photo/1
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2008940400275247309.html

Infrastructure deficit.

The single biggest cost driver in Greenland is the lack of basic infrastructure. In most mining jurisdictions (like Australia or Canada), a mine can often connect to an existing power grid or road. That’s not the case with Greenland.

80% ice, no roads connecting towns in Greenland, every settlement is effectively an island.

There is no national power grid to plug into either, which means mines must build their own power plants, adding hundreds of millions of dollars to upfront capital expenditure.

Also, since mines are to be located located in remote wilderness, companies must construct full-service towns for their workers – housing, sanitation, you name it.
Extreme environment

The Arctic environment imposes strict limits on when and how work can be done, drastically increasing costs.

For starters, you can only work 3-4 months max before the darkness and extreme cold halt operations (or make them very expensive).

Shipping lanes are often frozen or clogged with icebergs for large parts of the year too.

And building heavy industrial processing plants on permafrost requires expensive, specialized engineering.
Human capital.

Greenland has a population of 57k – about the size of a single small town in the US or Europe.

There is physically not enough surplus labor to staff heavy industry. Modern mining requires highly specialized engineers, geologists, and heavy machinery operators. These workers need to be flown from Canada or Australia (as well as other countries with such expertise).

The cost for such labor + flying them in and out, accommodation, and the wages required to tempt workers to remote Arctic locations is pretty steep.
Now, I’m not saying: don’t extract the resources. I’m just explaining to myself (and others that may not know) why this hasn’t been done yet.

It’s difficult, expensive, and up until recently – unnecessary (since we used to get our REE from China).

So before shitting on DK or EU for not “doing enough” to develop Greenland, remember that…nobody did. Because it’s a fight against the most brutal conditions nature has to offer.

🐣 RT @igorbobic McConnell warns on Greenland: “Threats and intimidation by U.S. officials over American ownership of Greenland are as unseemly as they are counterproductive. And the use of force to seize the sovereign democratic territory of one of America’s most loyal and capable allies would be an especially catastrophic act of strategic self-harm to America and its global influence.”

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en President Macron: What today’s summit in Paris has changed is that, for the first time, there has been cooperation between Ukrainians, the Coalition of the Willing – that is, Europeans, Canadians, and others – and the Americans. And the Americans have said exactly what they are prepared to do, what they are prepared to support, and the solidarity they are prepared to show. ¤ They will be responsible for monitoring the ceasefire, which involves checking whether the border area is being violated or not. These operations will be conducted by the Americans after the peace deal is made.

🐣 RT @McFaul Greenland is ALREADY part of NATO. We don’t need to annex it to use it for our defense purposes.

🐣 RT @cspan @RepTedLieu: “If any military member, including the generals on down…participate in the use of military force against Greenland without congressional authorization, they are following illegal orders.”

⭕ 6 Jan 2026

WSJ Editorial: Invade Greenland? Why? https://tinyurl.com/3c64f457 “Successful U.S. presidents don’t reduce America’s role in the world to might-makes-right. … Trump would help his own cause in every hemisphere if he dropped the invade-Greenland routine.”
// Trump can gain more access to the island without the bullying.
// Entire: “Successful U.S. presidents don’t reduce America’s role in the world to might-makes-right. Maybe the Greenland affair is merely what now passes for online MAGA entertainment. But Mr. Trump would help his own cause in every hemisphere if he dropped the invade-Greenland routine.”

🐣 RT @McFaul It is not OUR Hemisphere! ¤ After World War II, the world rightly agreed to end imperialism and colonialism. Putin is trying to revive it. Trump should not join him! And if he tries, Trump will fail, but at considerable costs to American security, property, and values abroad and unity at home.
⋙ 🐣 RT @StateDept [Jan 5] This is OUR Hemisphere, and President Trump will not allow our security to be threatened.
⋙⋙ 🐣 Fixed it, @StateDept!!
🖼 https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2008800833518137741?s=20/photo/1
// “This is our MISTAKE!!”

🐣 RT @NatashaBertrand The White House says in new statement: “President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States, and it’s vital to deter our adversaries in the Arctic region. The President and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. Military is always an option at the Commander in Chief’s disposal,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to CNN.

🐣 RT @YourAnonCentral The biggest takeaway from today’s coalition of willing meeting isn’t the so called peace plan Russia is going to reject, but that Germany, France, UK, and Ukraine are creating the groundwork for new European military alliance. That’s the real story.

🐣 RT @McFaul Trump is acting like a gangster emperor around the world right now. If he continues, this will end very badly for the American people. Emperors overreach, eventually weakening, bankrupting, and sometimes even destroying their homelands. That’s why there aren’t that many left today.

🐣 RT @adamscochran Hey @marcorubio, ¤ Threatening an ally with violence to force a sale, is not “pressure tactics” ¤ It’s called coercion.

It’s illegal under 18 U.S.C. § 373. ¤ As well as the UN Charter Article 2(4) – which is ratified by the US Senate, making it one of the few international laws that the US *IS* bound by domestically.

That means these “threats” would fall under a “high crime and misdemeanor” and be impeachable for you, the President, and everyone else involved.

⋙ 🐣 ⇈ RT @InsiderGeo NEW: According to the WSJ, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers the Trump administration’s Greenland threats are aimed at buying the island from Denmark, not preparing a military invasion. The White House is using pressure tactics to push negotiations.

🐣 RT @NBCNews Major European allies warn the United States that they would “not stop defending” the values of sovereignty and territorial integrity following President Trump’s threats against the Danish island of Greenland.

🐣 RT @DanishMFA FM @larsloekke: ”Security, stability, co-operation. These are the priorities of Nordic countries in the Arctic. Historically also for 🇺🇸 as a close ally of 🇩🇰. But needs to respect int. law and Greenland’s right to make decisions about its own future.”

🐣 RT @DevanaUkraine 🕯️ Dissident on Why Ukraine Is a Painful Question for Russia ¤ Dissident (a political prisoner of Soviet regime concentration camps) Opanas Zalyvakha:

“The question of Ukraine is painful for Russia, because without Ukraine, Russia loses 90% of the history that Russians have appropriated for themselves. They need to start thinking in a new way… ”

🐣 RT @RepDonBacon Greenland is a strong NATO ally willing to work with us to build more American bases and pursue mining agreements. Most in Greenland want to remain independent with Denmark & NATO providing protection. This approach is demeaning, creates distrust, and has no upside.
💽 https://x.com/RepDonBacon/status/2008722430903349297?s=20/photo/1

🐣 RT @benrileysmith Here is what Starmer and Macron have signed up to once a Ukrainian peace deal is struck. British troops on the ground in Ukraine. Military hubs set up in country. Promises to act if Russia attacks again. ¤ This is by far the most detailed readout to date on what the ‘coalition of the willing’ means in reality.
[TextLink:] https://x.com/benrileysmith/status/2008613858995225015?s=20/photo/1

1. Participation in a proposed US-led ceasefire monitoring and verification mechanism. There will be a continuous, reliable ceasefire monitoring system, including contributions from members of the Coalition of the Willing. The Coalition of the Willing will also be represented in the Special Commission that will be established to address any breaches, attribute responsibility, and determine remedies.

2. Support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine: The Coalition agreed to continue critical long term military assistance and armament to the Armed Forces of Ukraine to ensure their sustained capability, as they will remain the first line of defence and deterrence. This will include but not be limited to : long term defence packages ; support for financing the purchase of weapons; continued cooperation with Ukraine on its national budget to finance the armed forces; access to defence depots which can deliver rapid additional support in the case of a future armed attack; provision of practical and technical support to Ukraine in building defensive fortifications.

3. A Multinational Force for Ukraine made up from contributions from willing nations within the framework of the Coalition, to support the rebuilding of Ukraine’s armed forces and support deterrence. Coordinated military planning has been conducted to prepare for reassurance measures in the air, at sea and on land and for the regeneration of the armed forces of Ukraine. We confirmed that these reassurance measures should be strictly implemented at Ukraine’s request once a credible cessation of hostilities has taken place. These elements will be European-led, with the involvement also of non-European members of the Coalition, and the proposed support of the US.

4. Binding commitments to support Ukraine in the case of a future armed attack by Russia in order to restore peace. We agreed to finalise binding commitments setting out our approach to support Ukraine and to restore peace and security in the case of a future armed attack by Russia. These commitments may include the use of military capabilities, intelligence and logistical support, diplomatic initiatives, adoption of additional sanctions.

5. Commitment to deepen long-term defence cooperation with Ukraine. We agreed we would continue to develop and deepen mutually beneficial defence cooperation with Ukraine, inter alia: training, defence industrial joint production, including with the use of European relevant instruments, and intelligence cooperation.

✅ RT @ddale8 I counted at least 18 false claims in President Trump’s speech to House Republicans today. Here’s a quick fact check of some of the things he said. There’s a link at the bottom with more details. [CNN link:] https://tinyurl.com/mte77sfc
[TextLink:] https://x.com/ddale8/status/2008631495074656263?s=20/photo/1

– Washington, DC hasn’t had a murder “in seven months” (there have been dozens of murders in DC in the last seven months, including multiple murders within the last two weeks)

– DC is “now the safest city in the country” (not even close to true, though crime is down)

– He’s reducing prescription drug prices by “thousands of percent” (again: mathematically impossible)

– The House Jan. 6 committee failed to note that he used the words “peacefully and patriotically” in his speech before the riot (it did note he said that, though also correctly noted the rest of the speech was combative and filled with election lies)

– Nancy Pelosi turned down 10,000 National Guard troops (still zero evidence she was ever offered them, and the president, not the speaker, is in charge of the DC Guard anyway)

– Pelosi was caught on her daughter’s documentary footage admitting she turned down the National Guard troops that day and saying, “It’s my fault, I should’ve taken the soldiers” (Pelosi didn’t say that; she said she took responsibility for not “having them just prepare for more” at the Capitol, not that she turned down Guard troops, and added, “Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?”)

– Two 2024 Olympic gold medalists in women’s boxing were men who “transitioned” (both of the boxers who faced gender scrutiny were always female and always competed in women’s events)

– The 2020 election “was rigged” (he lost fair and square)

– He “won Minnesota” (he lost there three straight times) or would have without corrupt elections (nonsense)

– “We’re the only country that votes by mail, essentially” (dozens of countries use mail-in voting)

– In his 2019 call with Zelensky, he simply “told Ukraine not to cheat, and if you see any cheating, report it to the Attorney General of the United States” (he pressured Zelensky to investigate Biden and an election conspiracy theory)

– He was beating Biden “by 30 points” when Biden unfairly dropped out midway through the race (he had single-digit leads over Biden in most polls)

– There’s “$18 trillion” being invested in the US (this figure is fiction, nearly double the White House’s own wildly inflated $9.6 trillion figure)

– “Many stations” are now selling gas for $1.99 a gallon (“many” is too vague to call this flat false, but GasBuddy says about 650 out of 150,000 US gas stations it tracks, 0.43%, are below $2 today aside from special discounts)

– “Prisons from the Congo” were released into the US under Biden (both Congo countries and independent experts say this didn’t happen, and Trump’s team has never provided a shred of evidence)

– Last year’s Los Angeles wildfires were affected by California using some water to protect a fish species in the north of the state (California water experts have repeatedly explained those two things are completely unrelated)

– He inherited “the greatest inflation in history” (even peak Biden-era inflation of 9.1% in June 2022 was less than half the all-time high of 23.7%, and it then declined to 3.0% in January 2025, just a bit above where it is now)

– He achieved “no tax on Social Security” (he didn’t; his big bill created an additional deduction for people 65+, but many people 65+ and also recipients under 65 are continuing to paying tax on Social Security)

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa With the team of the US President – Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner – we continued discussing the diplomatic path to ending the war. …
¤ https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2008663417477816799?s=20

Thank you, America, for your willingness to provide backstop on all fronts: security guarantees, monitoring of the ceasefire, reconstruction.

On January 7 in Paris, our teams will continue work on security guarantees and the basic framework for ending the war. From Ukraine, the head of the Office Kyrylo Budanov, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Rustem Umerov, General Andriy Gnatov, the First Deputy Head of the Office Serhiy Kyslytsya, and the Advisor to the Office of the President Oleksandr Bevz will be working. Thank you to President Trump and the United States for their support. We are not losing a single day.

🐣 GDP:
$30.7Tr United States 🇺🇸
$37.9Tr EU ✛ UK ✛ Canada 🇪🇺🇬🇧🇨🇦
¤ https://x.com/other_europe/status/2008631337972863358?s=20

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa Military officials from France, the United Kingdom, and Ukraine worked in detail on force deployment, …
🖼 https://x.com/ZelenskyyUa/status/2008612362954129863?s=20/photo/1
// Coallition of the Willing group photo

… numbers, specific types of weapons, and the components of the Armed Forces required and able to operate effectively. We already have these necessary details. We understand which country is ready for what among all members of the Coalition of the Willing. I would like to thank every leader and every state that truly wishes to be part of a peaceful solution.

We had very substantive discussions with the American side on monitoring — to ensure there are no violations of peace. The United States is ready to work on this. One of the most critical elements is deterrence — the tools that will prevent any new Russian aggression. We see all of this.

🐣 📊 RT @neolatyno Just to be clear on what Greenlanders want:
🇺🇸: ❌
🇪🇺: ✅
◕ https://x.com/neolatyno/status/2008445548647403562?s=20/photo/1
// Poll: 85% No to US; 60% Yes to EU

🐣 RT @Mike_Pence On this fifth anniversary of January 6th, I wanted to pass along remarks I made about that fateful day at the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award ceremony last year.
💽 https://x.com/Mike_Pence/status/2008493748817125516?s=20/photo/1

I first spoke about the men and women in uniform- the true heroes that day; how I will always believe that, by God’s grace, I did my duty to see to the peaceful transfer of power under the Constitution and I expressed my heartfelt gratitude to the countless Americans of every background who have reached out with a word of encouragement these past five years.

January 6 was a tragic day but it became a triumph of freedom when, after Capitol Police quelled the violence, leaders in both chambers in both political parties reconvened the very same day and finished democracy’s work under the Constitution.

The Constitution is the common ground on which we stand. In these divided times, I believe more than ever that on that common ground we will forge a boundless future together and America’s best days are yet to come.

So Help Us God.

Mike Pence
January 6, 2026
Zionsville, Indiana

🐣 RT @jimsciutto NATO allies respond to U.S. threats to take Greenland:
¤ https://x.com/jimsciutto/status/2008529908897579492?s=20

Joint Statement on Greenland

6 January 2026

Statement by President Macron of France,
Chancellor Merz of Germany,
Prime Minister Meloni of Italy,
Prime Minister Tusk of Poland,
Prime Minister Sánchez of Spain,
Prime Minister Starmer of the United Kingdom and
Prime Minister Frederiksen of Denmark on Greenland.

Arctic security remains a key priority for Europe and it is critical for international and transatlantic security.

NATO has made clear that the Arctic region is a priority and European Allies are stepping up. We and many other Allies have increased our presence, activities and investments, to keep the Arctic safe and to deter adversaries. The Kingdom of Denmark – including Greenland – is part of NATO.

Security in the Arctic must therefore be achieved collectively, in conjunction with NATO allies including the United States, by upholding the principles of the UN Charter, including sovereignty, territorial integrity and the inviolability of borders. These are universal principles, and we will not stop defending them.

The United States is an essential partner in this endeavour, as a NATO ally and through the defence agreement between the Kingdom of Denmark and the United States of 1951.

Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland, and them only, to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.

⭕ 5 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @ProPublica examined months of Fox News’ coverage and reviewed over 700 videos posted on social media. ¤ The network used five-year-old footage, mislabeled other dates and implied footage from elsewhere was in Portland
⋙ ProPublica: “Riots Raging”: The Misleading Story Fox News Told About Portland Before Trump Sent Troops https://tinyurl.com/5cxbvdc2

NYT, Michelle Goldberg: Don’t Call It Regime Change. This Is Something Else Entirely. https://tinyurl.com/467n363s “For Donald Trump, the preservation of something close to the status quo makes sense, given that his goal is extortion, not political transformation”

🐣 RT @SenBillCassidy As a doctor who treated patients for decades, my top priority is protecting children and families. Multiple children have died or were hospitalized from measles, and South Carolina continues to face a growing outbreak. Two children have died in my state from whooping cough. All of this was preventable with safe and effective vaccines. ¤ The vaccine schedule IS NOT A MANDATE. It’s a recommendation giving parents the power. Changing the pediatric vaccine schedule based on no scientific input on safety risks and little transparency will cause unnecessary fear for patients and doctors, and will make America sicker.
⋙ 🐣 You are responsible for all this.
⋙ 🐣 RT @DrNeilStone Remember that time you voted to confirm a committed lifelong anti vaxxer as HHS Secretary?
⋙ 🐣 RT @WomenAreFedUp And it’s all your fault for appointing Kennedy to head the DHS.
⋙ 🐣 RT @TrumpsTaxes You could have stopped this. You knew he was lying to you. And yet you voted for him anyway because you wanted to win your primary for reelection. Now children will suffer and some may die. Was it worth it, Senator?

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa Today, I appointed Chrystia Freeland @cafreeland as an Advisor on Economic Development. Chrystia is highly skilled in these matters and has extensive experience in attracting investment and implementing economic transformations. Right now, Ukraine needs to strengthen its internal resilience – both for the sake of Ukraine’s recovery if diplomacy delivers results as swiftly as possible, and to reinforce our defense if, because of delays by our partners, it takes longer to bring this war to an end. I am grateful to everyone who is ready to support our state and our engagement with partners. Glory to Ukraine!
⋙ 🐣 She can neutralize Trump/Jared’s grubby asset-grabs
⋙ 🐣 RT @RGBAtlantica Wise choice, she is highly skilled, intelligent, experienced in Russian war crimes and beat Trump’s ass in trade negotiations.

🐣 RT @ZelenskyyUa Today, I appointed Chrystia Freeland @cafreeland as an Advisor on Economic Development. Chrystia is highly skilled in these matters and has extensive experience in attracting investment and implementing economic transformations. Right now, Ukraine needs to strengthen its internal resilience – both for the sake of Ukraine’s recovery if diplomacy delivers results as swiftly as possible, and to reinforce our defense if, because of delays by our partners, it takes longer to bring this war to an end. I am grateful to everyone who is ready to support our state and our engagement with partners. Glory to Ukraine!
⋙ 🐣 She can neutralize Trump/Jared’s grubby asset-grabs
⋙ 🐣 RT @RGBAtlantica Wise choice, she is highly skilled, intelligent, experienced in Russian war crimes and beat Trump’s ass in trade negotiations.

🐣 RT @SimplyonWorld The former commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, Valerii @ZaluzhnyiUA, summarizes the bitter experiences of the war between Russia and Ukraine in ten core lessons that should serve as a survival manual.
¤ https://x.com/SimplyonWorld/status/2008194066182263285?s=20

His key insights include:
1.) The enemy’s goal is existential destruction, not mere conquest.
2.) Ukraine’s sovereignty depends primarily on its own strength and not just on external assistance.
3.) Internal unity is just as important as performance on the battlefield.
4.) The entire society must contribute to the war.
5.) Technology and information superiority are crucial.
6.) Asymmetric tactics favor the weaker but more agile side.
7.) Information warfare is as real as kinetic combat.
8.) Trust and decentralized command structures are strategic advantages.
9.) National resilience is a military resource.
10.) True victory means full sovereignty, security guarantees, justice, and reparations—not just a ceasefire.

📊 WaPo: We texted 1,000 Americans about U.S. actions in Venezuela https://tinyurl.com/2m2ewjyx
// 63% Should have gotten congress approval
// 94% People should decide their leadership

ZN[.]ua Why Zelensky appointed Budanov to the Office of the President (analysis) https://tinyurl.com/kwdc93sf

🧵 RT @Mylovanov Zelenskyy appoints former Canadian cabinet minister Chrystia Freeland as advisor on economic development. ¤ She’s a Ukrainian-Canadian who’s worked with Ukraine for decades and served at the top of Canadian government. 1/
📌 https://x.com/Mylovanov/status/2008133156067787063?s=20
[ThreadReader:] https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/2008133156067787063.html

🐣 So in exchange for recognizing Denmark’s right to Greenland (current GDP $3.5B) the United States got the U.S. Virgin Islands (current GDP $5B).
⋙ 🐣 RT @BennyEngelbrech Today is a good day to remind ourselves on the US declaration on Greenland:

“DECLARATION.
In proceeding this day to the signature of the Convention respecting the cession of the Danish West-Indian Islands to the United States of America, the undersigned Secretary of State of the United States of America, duly authorized by his Government, has the honor to declare that the Government of the United States of America will not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland.
Robert Lansing.
New York, August 4, 1916”

NYT: Ukraine: The Dawn of the AI Drone https://tinyurl.com/2872tph8 “In the past year, drone warfare in Ukraine has undergone a chilling transformation. This is the story of how the battlefield became the birthplace of a powerful new weapon.” //➔ The future of warfare in here.

⭕ 4 Jan 2026

WSJ: The Physicist Who Has Appealed to the Pope and Elon Musk on AI Safety https://tinyurl.com/43f9h755 “Max Tegmark wants to halt development of artificial superintelligence—and has Steve Bannon, Meghan Markle and will.i.am as supporters”

For more than a decade, Tegmark’s organization, the Future of Life Institute, had been trying to raise the alarm that advanced AI could be catastrophic to humanity. Shortly after the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the Future of Life Institute made a famous call for a pause in the most advanced AI development. ¤ Now, he was asking for something even more audacious: a potential halt in the race to build superintelligence that was powering the stock market.

🐣 Asked ChatGPT about Greenland:
¤ https://x.com/Auriandra/status/2008060620982087961?s=20

Bottom line
• Yes, Greenland is NATO-covered
• Yes, attacking it would mean attacking Denmark
• Yes, that would trigger Article 5 considerations
• Yes, today’s pushback significantly raises deterrence
• No, this is not a plausible near-term military scenario
What you’re seeing is coercive posturing, not a realistic war plan.

TheAtlantic, Michael Scherer: Trump Threatens Venezuela’s New Leader With a Fate Worse Than Maduro’s https://tinyurl.com/442ybe3v “The president told The Atlantic that Delcy Rodríguez needs to comply with U.S. wishes—or else.” And he again threatens Greenland.

🐣 RT @UkrReview 🇩🇰🇺🇸 Danish PM [Mette] Frederiksen: “It is completely pointless to talk about the US seizing Greenland. The US has no right to annex any of the three countries that make up the Danish Realm. ¤ Greenland and its people have made it clear they are not for sale and called on Washington to stop threatening a historically close ally and another people.”

⭕ 3 Jan 2026

WaPo, George F Will: Trump goes monster-hunting, untainted by a whiff of legality https://tinyurl.com/3pb386j7 Colin Powell’s “Pottery Barn rule” (“You break it, you own it”) comes to mind after U.S.’s seizing of Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.

🐣 RT @Gerashchenko_en Russian “Z-bloggers” are very worried about Venezuela and oil prices:
¤ https://x.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/2007435508767486395?s=20

“This is not f***ing funny, you underdeveloped idiots. Soon it won’t even be profitable for us to extract oil. In a couple of months we’ll starve to death. This is checkmate for the entire economy of the underdeveloped traitor Putin. May he die, a real bastard. A talentless, stinking piece of f***ot trash. This is a nightmare for us. They will drop the price of oil below the floor and take over the entire market. Now, on top of everything else, they’ll also have oil. This is a total f***ing disaster. And we’ll be left without internet, drowning in taxes, hugging our f***ing oil. The political leadership of our country needs to be killed. They are inherently insane. And they are traitors. They should be hanged. The Americans have just extended their existence for several more centuries, while ours will end in a month.”

🐣 RT @Acyn Reporter: You said Maduro is responsible for drug trafficking. You recently pardoned the former president of Honduras convicted of drug trafficking. Can you explain these situations?
Trump: He was treated like the Biden administration treated a man named Trump. This was a man persecuted very unfairly. He was the head of the country. He was persecuted very unfairly.

🐣 RT @kaitlancollins John Bolton: “What I have to say, the most stunning part about the press conference was probably saying the U.S. was going to run the country. But the second most stunning was the assault on Mrs. Machado, the leader of the Democratic forces.”

TheAtlantic: The ‘America First’ President Takes On the World https://tinyurl.com/3tzmtb6w “Rubio said at the Mar-a-Lago press conference. ‘He was provided multiple very, very, very generous offers, and chose instead to act like a wild man.’” //➔ I only see one “wild man.”
// “Nicolás Maduro was plucked out of Caracas, but the more shocking news was that the White House plans to run Venezuela.”
// By Vivian Salama, Nancy A. Youssef, Jonathan Lemire, Shane Harris, Isaac Stanley-Becker, and Sarah Fitzpatrick

At the root of it all, Trump made clear, is oil, something that his critics had long claimed while the administration portrayed the months-long pressure campaign as principally about stopping the drug trade. Today, Trump didn’t hide his intent. The U.S. wants to revitalize Venezuela’s oil industry, with U.S. oil companies leading the charge, even though Venezuelan crude is heavy and hard to refine by international standards. That revenue, he added, would go to the Venezuelan people, and to the U.S., for what the administration has claimed is recompense for Venezuela’s nationalization of the industry years ago. Until recently, Trump had seemed open to a deal with Maduro that would achieve the same goal. But overnight, as explosions echoed over the hills of Caracas, Maduro’s time ran out.

“Nicolás Maduro had multiple opportunities to avoid this,” Rubio said at the Mar-a-Lago press conference. “He was provided multiple very, very, very generous offers, and chose instead to act like a wild man.” …

The role of Venezuela’s democratic opposition is also unknown. María Corina Machado, who secretly left Venezuela last month after a year in hiding to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, said in a statement today that “the time has come for Popular Sovereignty and National Sovereignty to govern our country. We are going to restore order, free political prisoners, build an exceptional nation, and bring our children home.

She urged Venezuelans inside the country to “be ready to take action.” Trump, however, said today at Mar-a-Lago that Machado couldn’t govern the country, because she doesn’t have “the support or the respect” of the Venezuelan people. Carlos Giménez, a Republican representative from South Florida, told us he assesses Machado’s capabilities differently, calling her “formidable.” He said that he spoke with her on Saturday, and described her as “upbeat that Maduro is no longer there, but realistic that there’s more work to be done, and that this is just the beginning.”…

NYT Editorial: Trump’s Attack on Venezuela Is Illegal and Unwise https://tinyurl.com/3dwp8y2k “The Constitution spells out what he must do: Go to Congress. Without congressional approval, his actions violate U.S. law.”

If there is an overriding lesson of American foreign affairs in the past century, however, it is that attempting to oust even the most deplorable regime can make matters worse. The United States spent 20 years failing to create a stable government in Afghanistan and replaced a dictatorship in Libya with a fractured state. The tragic consequences of the 2003 war in Iraq continue to beset America and the Middle East. Perhaps most relevant, the United States has sporadically destabilized Latin American countries, including Chile, Cuba, Guatemala and Nicaragua, by trying to oust a government through force.

Mr. Trump has not yet offered a coherent explanation for his actions in Venezuela. He is pushing our country toward an international crisis without valid reasons. If Mr. Trump wants to argue otherwise, the Constitution spells out what he must do: Go to Congress. Without congressional approval, his actions violate U.S. law.

The nominal rationale for the administration’s military adventurism is to destroy “narco-terrorists.” Governments throughout history have labeled the leaders of rival nations as terrorists, seeking to justify military incursions as policing operations. The claim is particularly ludicrous in this case, given that Venezuela is not a meaningful producer of fentanyl or the other drugs that have dominated the recent epidemic of overdoses in the United States, and the cocaine that it does produce flows mostly to Europe. While Mr. Trump has been attacking Venezuelan boats, he also pardoned Juan Orlando Hernández, who ran a sprawling drug operation when he was president of Honduras from 2014 to 2022.

A more plausible explanation for the attacks on Venezuela may instead be found in Mr. Trump’s recently released National Security Strategy. It claimed the right to dominate Latin America: “After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere.” In what the document called the “Trump Corollary,” the administration vowed to redeploy forces from around the world to the region, stop traffickers on the high seas, use lethal force against migrants and drug runners and potentially base more U.S. troops around the region.

Venezuela has apparently become the first country subject to this latter-day imperialism, and it represents a dangerous and illegal approach to America’s place in the world. By proceeding without any semblance of international legitimacy, valid legal authority or domestic endorsement, Mr. Trump risks providing justification for authoritarians in China, Russia and elsewhere who want to dominate their own neighbors. More immediately, he threatens to replicate the American hubris that led to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. …

In the case of Venezuela, a congressional debate would expose the thinness of Mr. Trump’s rationale. His administration has justified his attacks on the small boats by claiming they pose an immediate threat to the United States. But a wide range of legal and military experts reject the claim, and common sense refutes it, too. An attempt to smuggle drugs into the United States — if, in fact, all the boats were doing so — is not an attempt to overthrow the government or defeat its military.

We suspect Mr. Trump has refused to seek congressional approval for his actions partly because he knows that even some Republicans in Congress are deeply skeptical of the direction in which he is leading this country. Already, Senators Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski and Representatives Don Bacon and Thomas Massie — Republicans all — have backed legislation that would limit Mr. Trump’s military actions against Venezuela.

A second argument against Mr. Trump’s attacks on Venezuela is that they violate international law. By blowing up the small boats that Mr. Trump says are smuggling drugs, he has killed people based on the mere suspicion that they have committed a crime and given them no chance to defend themselves. The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and every subsequent major human rights treaty prohibit such extrajudicial killings. So does U.S. law. …

The potential for chaos in Venezuela seems much greater. Despite Mr. Maduro’s capture, the generals who have enabled his regime will not suddenly vanish. Nor are they likely to hand power to María Corina Machado, the opposition figure whose movement appears to have won the country’s most recent election and who accepted the Nobel Peace Prize last month.

Among the possible bad outcomes are a surge in violence by the left-wing Colombian military group the ELN, which has a foothold in Venezuela’s western area, or by the paramilitary groups known as “colectivos” that have operated on the periphery of power under the Maduro dictatorship. Further unrest in Venezuela could unsettle global energy and food markets and drive more migrants throughout the hemisphere. …

We will hold out hope that the current crisis will end less badly than we expect. We fear that the result of Mr. Trump’s adventurism is increased suffering for Venezuelans, rising regional instability and lasting damage for America’s interests around the world. We know that Mr. Trump’s warmongering violates the law.

🐣 RT @SkylineReport So let me get this straight. Trump blows a billion dollars on a military strike to kidnap Venezuela’s head of state, then immediately throws the elected government in the trash and props up a different figure who’s still embedded in the same Maduro power structure.
¤ https://x.com/SkylineReport/status/2007633449876615659?s=20

That’s not liberation. That’s regime-change cosplay. You wreck a country, swap the nameplate, keep the same insiders, and call it “freedom” while U.S. oil companies start circling like vultures.

No congressional authorization.
No international mandate.
No democratic legitimacy.

Just bombs, oil, and bullshit dressed up as “foreign policy.”

And let’s be clear: when you overthrow governments without consent, bypass the law, and loot resources under military occupation, you’re not defending democracy. You’re mirroring the corruption and authoritarianism you claim to oppose, with better PR and a bigger flag.

🐣 RT @nickreeves9876 Trump isn’t interested in democracy in Venezuela or the welfare of the Venezuelan people. He’s just the big crime gang boss violently taking over the territory of a smaller crime gang.
⋙ 🐣 RT @RpsAgainstTrump Trump on Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado:
“I think it’d be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support or the respect within the country…she doesn’t have the respect.”

NYT: Interim Leader Rejects US Intervention and Demands Maduro’s Return Delcy Rodríguez, who was sworn in after Nicolás Maduro was captured, denied that she planned to help the U.S. government run the country
// … despite President Trump’s earlier assertion that she was cooperative.

⭕ 2 Jan 2026

🐣 RT @nexta_tv What Western media are writing about Ukrainian intelligence chief Budanov, who is set to become the new head of the Presidential Office
¤ https://x.com/nexta_tv/status/2007104383570350208?s=20

📍 The New York Times: Budanov is one of the few Ukrainian officials personally trusted by the United States; his informal ties with U.S. intelligence agencies could be decisive in negotiations.

📍 Financial Times: A representative of the new generation of Ukraine’s wartime elite — without an oligarchic background, with direct contacts in the West and a high level of trust from partners.

📍 Politico: One of the few Ukrainian security officials seen in Washington as a clear and reliable interlocutor — a bridge between intelligence, the military and politics.

📍 Bloomberg: The head of Ukrainian intelligence with direct access to Western partners, whose role is increasingly moving beyond the military sphere and taking on political significance.

📍 The Economist: A cool-headed and pragmatic intelligence chief who thinks strategically and speaks a language Western allies understand.

📍 Associated Press: A key wartime figure who played a central role in Ukraine’s intelligence operations and is now moving toward broader political coordination.

📍 Reuters: One of the most influential people in Zelensky’s inner circle, whose weight comes from control over intelligence, security decisions and contacts with the West.

📍 Welt: Appointing an intelligence chief to a key political position signals a shift in Ukraine’s power focus toward security, war and negotiations.

It is also worth noting that Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) and Kyrylo Budanov specifically maintain contacts with Russians within the framework of prisoner-of-war exchanges.

This makes him a potentially key figure not only for dialogue with the United States, but also for possible contacts with the Russian side.

🐣 RT @ChiefDI_Ukraine [Budanov:] I have accepted the proposal of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to head the Office of the President. I will continue to serve Ukraine.…

WSJ Editorial: Another Trump Tariff Retreat https://tinyurl.com/4a626c25 “Rarely has a President worked so hard to cover the damage from his policies without admitting it.… The retreat is another in a string of policy reversals to mute the tariff harm to American consumers”
// This time it’s a delay for a year on higher taxes on upholstered furniture and kitchen cabinets.

⭕ 1 Jan 2026 ⌛️🎉🫧🥂👶🧚🫧🍭⏳

🐣 RT @NSTRIKE01 🇺🇦 Volodymyr Zelenskyy:
¤ https://x.com/NSTRIKE01/status/2006633265935912972?s=20

📌 “Ukraine wants peace, but not at any cost. We want the end of the war, not the end of Ukraine. ¤ Are we tired? Extremely. Does that mean we are ready to surrender? Anyone who thinks so is deeply mistaken.”

📌 “A Budapest-style piece of worthless paper will not satisfy Ukraine; Ukraine does not need another Minsk-style trap, meticulously prepared for the future.”

📌 “Signing weak agreements only reignites war. My signature will only go on a strong agreement.”

📌 “When Putin says: ‘We have no intention of attacking you,’ this is the first warning of exactly where his tanks will roll and where his drones will fly. ¤ Today, we have every right to say directly: Ukraine is the only shield protecting Europe’s comfortable life from the ‘Russian world’.”

📌 “Why has the war not ended yet? The answer is right there — next to our state.”
[Referring to Russia as the neighboring aggressor.]

📌 “They tell us — leave Donbas and everything will end. That is a lie.
My signature will only be on a strong agreement. Only one where peace is guaranteed for many years.”

📌 “Ukrainians must approve this peace”
[(Likely meaning that a referendum will be needed to ratify any peace agreement.)]

📌 “It is a pride — to be the president of a country like Ukraine.”

🐣 RT @Maks_NAFO_FELLA VERY BIG TOP NEWS TODAY 🔝
¤ https://x.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/2006821405120151921?s=20

💥 BAVOVNA at Ilsk Refinery and Rovenki oil depot.

🇩🇪 Two Patriot air defense systems arrived in Ukraine from Germany, – MoD

💥 TOR and radar of the S-350 Vityaz air defense system destroyed.

🇩🇪 We are seeing more and more clearly that Russia’s actions were and remain part of a plan aimed at the whole of Europe. 2026 could be decisive, — Merz

🇺🇸 The Economist/YouGov: 49% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s actions regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine.

🇹🇷 We talked about the progress of peace processes and the security situation: Umerov on the meeting with Hakan Fidan.

🤯 The failure of the Russian special services – commander of RVC Denis Kapustin is alive, and the half a million dollars received for his liquidation will strengthen GUR.

🇪🇺 Ukrainians in the EU can use mobile communications and the Internet at home rates without surcharges.

🇫🇷 On January 6 in Paris, many European states and allies will make concrete commitments to defend Ukraine and ensure a just peace on our continent, – Macron.

🔥 Almetyevskaya oil preparation facility in the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia was hit.

💥In the Donetsk city area, a storage warehouse for UAVs of the Shahed/Geran type was hit.

🔥 Tor-M2 anti-aircraft missile system was hit near Shevchenko.

💥 In Ilovaisk, a fuel and lubricants warehouse of the 51st enemy army was hit.

🔥 In Avdiivka, a command and observation post of the assault detachment of the 68th tank regiment of the 150th motorized rifle division was hit.

😎 SBS hit AL KASTA-2E2, RLP AE Hvardiyske, Balashivka air base, TOR SAM system.

🔥 Two enemy concentration points and fuel and ammunition depot from the 69th MSD and the 283rd MSP rebase (Valuyki, Belgorod region)

🇺🇦 Zelensky: Ukraine is the only shield that separates Europe’s comfortable way of life from the Russian world.

🇺🇸🇪🇺 Zelensky: Intentions must become security guarantees and therefore be ratified—by the U.S. Congress, by European parliaments, by all partners.

‼️ Zelensky: Withdraw from Donbas, and everything will be over—this is what deception sounds like when translated from Russian.

🇺🇸 U.S. national-security officials said that Ukraine didn’t target Putin or one of his residences in a recent drone strike, – WSJ

🐣 “If the world continues to treat Russia as a power ‘naturally’ destined to be imperial, it will continue to produce monsters.”
⋙ 🐣 RT @marsetac [tr] Every time Russia enters a systemic crisis, the West makes the same mistake. That of confusing the collapse of the State with the transformation of society.
¤ https://x.com/marsetac/status/2006650982873149702?s=20

🐣 RT @EuromaidanPress Ukraine’s Third Army Corps deployed a ground robot armed with a 12.7mm Browning machine gun to hold a frontline position for 45 consecutive days. Operated remotely and equipped with thermal vision, it repelled Russian assaults without a single Ukrainian casualty. … Read more in our Frontline report: https://tinyurl.com/3j8mzcub
¤ 🌎 https://x.com/EuromaidanPress/status/2006812174539239865?s=20/photo/1

On the same front, Russian soldiers are attacking on horseback.

Footage from the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade at Pokrovsk shows Russian troops advancing on horses – a tactic not seen on European battlefields for over a century. Ukrainian drone operators, caught off guard at first, soon devised a method: buzz the horses to throw their riders, then neutralize the dismounted soldiers while sparing the animals.

The cavalry isn’t symbolic. Russian vehicle and armor losses have grown so severe that even units on the most contested front are resorting to horses to move troops forward.

Ukraine has authorized over 40 domestically produced ground drone models for use this year and recruited 10,000 new drone operators in under a month. Russia is sending men on horses against machines with thermal sensors.

‼️ 🐣 RT @HoansSolo Russia’s war machine is devouring its own men: a leak of more than 6,000 confidential complaints shows commanders beating, torturing and “zeroing out” inconvenient soldiers — sending them on sure-death missions or killing them outright, then hiding the bodies with pits, secret burials or antitank mines. Gravely wounded and sick men are forced back to Ukraine’s front with broken limbs, severe head trauma, Stage 4 cancer, schizophrenia, stroke complications, even when they can’t hold a spoon or walk without a cane or crutches; ex-POWs are thrown back into combat within days of release, and mobilized men are told they have “no rights to discharge — or even to live at all.”
⋙ 🐣 Russia missed out on the Renaissance, the Reformation, the Enlightenment – except for some of the court and nobility, but they were eliminated by the communists. They have little concern for human rights and have reverted to a primitive and feudal barbarism.

🐣 RT @StratcomCentre Major failure for Russian intelligence, after Russians paid $500,000 for the assassination of Denis Kapustin of Ukraine’s Russian Volunteer Corps, only to discover that Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) was watching all along, saving the Commander as well as securing the funds that will now go toward further operations. […]
¤ https://x.com/StratcomCentre/status/2006716802898813101?s=20

🐣 RT @WW3finalboss1 Russia is COLLAPSING and the RUSSIANS KNOW IT ¤ 🇷🇺🇷🇺🇷🇺
¤ https://x.com/WW3finalboss1/status/2006806883626082723?s=20

Russian retired general Leonid Ivashov, after watching Putin’s New Year address, showed a clear understanding of Russia’s situation: “Listen, I am a professor, a general, and a geopolitical researcher with decades of experience. I watched this four-hour show and saw neither a leader, nor a commander, nor a defender of the people. I saw only a man living in a fairy tale while the rest of the country struggles to survive on 16,000 rubles a month.”

Ivashov opposed the invasion of Ukraine from the beginning and, in this interview, once again stressed his disagreement with current events in Russia. Here are some of his other notable statements:

“Even before the so-called ‘special military operation,’ I warned about the consequences. The last four years have confirmed the accuracy and seriousness of those assessments.”

“We have not achieved a single success at the tactical or operational level, and at the strategic level we have suffered defeat on ALL fronts.”

“All branches of industry have been destroyed.”

“Science is in critical condition, and education has completely collapsed.”

“Rising prices are an alarming signal: the Russian people are becoming poorer and poorer.”

“Healthcare is in ruins. All regions are cutting spending on medicine.”

“The quality of food is deteriorating; palm oil is everywhere; food in Russia is becoming toxic.”

“The only area in which Russia is a ‘leader’ in the world is demographic indicators. We lead in the rate of DISAPPEARANCE. Even without the war — and the war only accelerates — the number of men is rapidly declining.”

“We are left only with allies such as North Korea and Belarus, but they cannot help us: they can only drain our finances — and our finances are being exhausted.”

“I worked with the Chinese for many years, and China is not our ally; that is a Kremlin invention and propaganda.”

“A strategic failure (in the war with Ukraine) could very well lead to the collapse of Russia.”