It costs us nothing to warn Ukraine that another Russian salvo of ballistic missiles has been fired at their capital, and their country. Another such salvo aimed at civilians hit just a little while ago, with no warning. Trump and MAGA are traitors to all decent morality.

He is shifting focus from the disaster in the Strait of Hormuz and making Zelensky a sacrificial lamb to his base. A despicable human being who never took responsibility for anything in his life.

RT @samagreene: Back in November 2024 — and even until earlier this year — my analysis was that, while Trump was willing to sell out Ukrain…

After Putin conned Trump into protecting the Russian oil industry, its now on to doing the same with Russian data centers. Whatever needs protecting, just give the Trump family a piece of it.

There's more layers to this than just the *visible* bot engagement we see every day. Whilst the Ukraine-oriented information space often feels like it's inorganically, algorithmically subdued (and there's leaked algo docs from April 2023 to suggest it is), we know that's just a part of the bigger -- sadly more nefarious -- picture. As many have suggested, state and non-state actors employ bot networks to monitor social platforms and respond at their directive in an attempt to manipulate public opinion. But bot activity does more than just *engage* with audiences, it can greatly *suppress* desired targets. Flooding certain content with engageless proxy connections can downrank content tremendously. It's why you often see posts with hundreds/thousands/hundreds of thousands of impressions within minutes of going live with little to no engagement. Such activity can serve to greatly reduce the visibility of the target content. Think topics like: - MH17 - Bucha - Navalny - Skripal - Crimea annexation - Holodomor - Russian war crimes (Mariupol etc.) - Wagner mutiny - Russian battlefield losses - Zelenskyy legitimacy - NATO “provocation” - Putin succession / health - Nord Stream (anti-Russia framing) etc. Furthermore, AI modeling as advanced to the point where proxy traffic can be sent in prescribed volumes that are proportionate to maximize downranking effects without blasting posts into obviously inorganic metric territory. (And making it harder for detection systems to mitigate). Even if portions of traffic is blocked, the downstream downranking effects still trickle through. Ultimately, the information space is polluted in several ways: 1) With artificially astroturfed/boosted content (be it through bot accounts and/or the propagation of useful idiots/paid propogandists. 2) The subsequent dilution of well-meaning accounts, whatever the messaging is. 3) The downranking of desired content/account targets. With Yandex largely incapacitated, it's hard not to notice the immediate anecdotal user experience change -- never mind the objective data being published. Just some food for thought as we all enjoy life with decreased bot traffic pitting Americans (and really everyone) against one another across every single niche information space (not just Russia/Ukraine discourse).

🇺🇸🇺🇦 I've said it before, and will say again now in concurrence with Michael. Cutting PURL would hurt the United States as much, if not more, than it would Ukraine. The damage becomes even more apparent when you consider the paltry potential "gain" to be had by accepting Russian diesel, as Michael highlights. I have to conclude that both this and the refinery ceasefire are Russian proposals that were fed to Witkoff and Kushner and told sell it to President Trump, who is unsurprisingly biting. His track record of backing terrible deals only grows longer.

The Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List is how the United States sells weapons to Europe, which are then provided for Ukraine’s defenses. The price tag for these weapons is in the billions of dollars (upwards of $6.7 billion to date), orders of magnitude higher than what the Russian diesel deal is worth. Trump would be losing money — and costing the American defense industry revenue — for a sham deal with Russia that benefits none outside of Moscow and Miami. Just to give you a sense of his prioritized requirements.

Putin mocks Trump at every opportunity.

Putin mocks Trump within minutes of Trump announcing an energy ceasefire.

Why are we still buying Russian oil?

President Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Russian fuel amidst Putin’s ongoing and brutal attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine makes no sense and is a betrayal of the legacy and leadership of the late Senator Lindsey Graham. While Ukraine fights for its survival, Putin’s war machine continues to prosecute his terrorist war on civilian populations and innocent Ukrainians are dying every day. Now, Instead of implementing the tough sanctions Lindsey Graham fought to his last breath to enact, President Trump has announced the United States is lifting sanctions on Russian energy, fueling the Putin’s war machine. As I saw firsthand in Ukraine last month, Putin is losing this war. Ukraine has fought the Russian military to a standstill and reinvented warfare with drones taking the fight into the heart of Russia. America should not be throwing a lifeline to Putin’s war machine. Now is the time to stand strong against Russian aggression as we did during the first Trump administration. Putin doesn’t want peace. Putin wants Ukraine. I have no doubt that if Putin overruns Ukraine, it will only be a matter of time until Russia’s military crosses a border that our troops will have to deal with him. America is the Leader of the Free World. For our National Security, for the security of our Allies in Europe including Ukraine, President Trump should rescind this deal immediately and return to the strong policies of our four years in the White House; impose harsh sanctions on any nation purchasing Russian energy and work with our allies to ensure Ukraine has the military support it needs to repel and defeat this Russian invasion once and for all. Slava Ukraini🇺🇸🇺🇦

Remember this when people are celebrating a *useless* deisel deal with the devil.

Stop importing Russian oil Start producing more American oil again That’s the plan

Stop buying Russian oil, @JoeBiden.

Russia is quietly expanding the war. Not long ago an event like this would have been unimaginable. Today, it'll get a little coverage and by late afternoon we'll have moved on. Putin wants to see how far he can push NATO. Our answer: further still.

Members of Russian intelligence services network charged with conspiring to finance terrorism and commit murder for hire in the United States: “We will not tolerate efforts to finance terrorist activities and engage in acts of violence—particularly when these activities are commissioned by state actors and touch American soil,” said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald. @TheJusticeDept @DOJNatSec @FBI @NewYorkFBI @FBIWFO justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/mem…

Russia's GRU owned the event at which the Trump family partied for two days. Surely cameras in every bedroom, bathroom, videos of drug use, microphones in every flower vase - total ownership of every member of the Trump family.

Incredible edit

If you care about the men and women defending the United States, this is an important post to read. Sadly, the issue of drone warfare has become politicized. The US has already experienced unnecessary casualties because of the Pentagon's deeply entrenched belief that drones are "toys." This is what is happening to the IDF. A well-trained, well-equipped, well-armed military that has fought against irregular forces using asymmetrical warfare for decades. And make no mistake, Hezbollah, which is a proxy force for Iran, has gotten indirect help from Russia. This shouldn't be a culture war issue. This shouldn't be a "not invented here" issue. This shouldn't be an ED-209 Syndrome issue. The US is unquestionably the most powerful military on the planet. The problem is that the most powerful military on the planet is trained, equipped, and led with a late-20th-century warfare mindset. Our leaders can embrace the modern battlefield, or our soldiers can pay in blood.

I returned from another research trip to Ukraine’s front with colleagues @KofmanMichael @konrad_muzyka . Ukraine is fighting effectively, and Russia is increasing pressure on priority sectors in Donetsk during peak offensive season. Observations below ⬇️