Russia hinted it could strike drone factories inside Britain.
Moscow named 23 sites across the UK and Europe tied to drone production for Ukraine, including locations near RAF Mildenhall and addresses in west London, — The Times. 1/
Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s security council: "The list of European facilities which make drones and other equipment is a list of potential targets for the Russian armed forces. Sleep well, European partners." 2/
Russia tries to turn suppliers into co belligerents, then uses the label to justify intimidation, sabotage, or strikes. 3/
Stubb: Ukraine is killing 30–35k Russians a month; Russia can’t replace losses. About 95% of kills are by drones.
Ukraine is retaking ground and in March launched more drones/missiles at Russia than vice versa. This isn’t charity anymore — the West needs Ukraine’s know-how.
1/
Stubb: In the long run, I’d prefer Ukraine in NATO. Europe’s strongest conventional militaries are Turkey, Ukraine, Poland, and Finland — we should use that.
Russia isn’t going away. Ukraine is now doing well by the numbers, and Europe needs its modern war expertise.
2/
Stubb: We see three scenarios this year: the war in Ukraine continues, a peace deal, or one side weakens.
The most likely outcome is the first — the war goes on.
Applebaum: Peter Magyar faced government control of 90% of media, a rigged election system favoring the countryside, a girlfriend recruited to spy on him, and his party's data hacked.
He won by going village to village — because he couldn't reach people through media.
1/
Applebaum: In Hungary, Orbán made clear his government was a form of national control — the government decided who got rich and who didn't.
It had a very heavy hand in business and commerce. People could see that, and Magyar support was partly for it.
2/
Applebaum: The journalist, who uncovered the call where Orban called himself a mouse and Putin a lion, was accused of being a foreign spy.
Hungarian journalists are used to being doxxed and harassed. It's like a huge thumb was pressed on the scale of journalism.
"This is not our war," European leaders say about Iran.
Politico: The infiltration of European societies by Islamist networks is more advanced in Europe than U.S.
Europe will pay a high price for withdrawal of solidarity because future U.S. governments will remember it. 1/
If the war in Iran is not a European matter, then the war in Ukraine is not an American one — that's the logic. Then Europeans should solve it themselves in the future, and alone.
Ukraine and Russia are much farther from Washington than the mullahs and their terror are from Berlin or Paris. 2/
For more than 45 years, IRGC have terrorized the free world.
Their goal is not just the destruction of Israel, but the destruction of the open society — decadent liberal democracy they despise. 3/
Kasparov: Trump’s team is run by cronies, not institutions. While war and negotiations continue, Rubio is at UFC with Trump.
The State Department doesn’t function. America’s strength was its professional bureaucracy that helped prevent catastrophic mistakes.
1/
Kasparov: We’re seeing the collapse of the Trump administration — incompetence, corruption, and inability to meet challenges.
America is being discredited. Trump bankrupted six companies, even casinos — that says enough.
2/
Kasparov: America is facing geopolitical and moral-political bankruptcy. Trump uses the term “special military operation” — echoing Putin — because formally he has no right to start a war without Congress.