Kellogg: No more Mr. Nice Guy. Keep tearing apart Iran economically, and if that means going to the home base of Kharg Island, that’s what we’ll do.
You are looking for domestic revolt. That is the only way the regime falls or stops causing us problems. 1/
Kellogg: Break the impasse by breaking off negotiations. We’re done with these guys. Take a harder line.
If it means taking Kharg Island and the other islands in the strait, so be it. We have Marines offshore and the 82nd Airborne ready to move immediately. 2/
Kellogg: As long as the IRGC is in charge under Vahidi, they have a problem.
It controls a 500,000-strong paramilitary force that keeps the civilian population down. The army is twice the size of the IRGC. You want to fragment them and force hard choices. 3/
Zelenskyy: Orbán is a skilled and experienced political operator.
It’s a pity someone so strong chose Russia’s side. I believed he would lose because he built his campaign on hatred of one nation toward another.
1/
Zelenskyy: Ukraine can stop Shaheds and has built its own wartime systems, but we still lack Patriots or equivalents. If needed, we’ll produce them ourselves or with Europeans.
My top priority is finding more air defense, especially anti-ballistic systems.
2/
Zelenskyy: I feel like a parrot repeating the same answer — elections during war are not possible under the constitution.
They will happen when the war ends, and until then I will support and lead my country.
Former Ukraine FM Kuleba: Trump will not change his stance on Ukraine. He rejected Zelenskyy’s offer to help in the Gulf for one reason: he doesn't want to owe anything to Ukraine
He would even see it as a humiliation to admit that he cannot fix Iran without Ukraine’s support 1/
Kuleba: Trump’s line is clear and consistent. He wants to press Ukraine into concessions in the form of a withdrawal from the rest of the Donbas.
The part of Donetsk region Ukraine still controls, and then use that concession as the basis for a ceasefire. 2/
Kuleba: We are facing great-power thinking. Trump sees Russia as a great power and believes smaller nations should subjugate themselves to stronger ones.
In his world, Ukraine resisting Russian demands is like Venezuela resisting American demands. That is how he sees politics. 3/
American planners estimated three days to break Serbia's will in 1999. It took 79. Trump's team thought Iran would fold quickly. Six weeks later, the war continues.
Same cultural blind spot, different president — The Economist. 1/
A 2011 CIA paper on "Cultural Topography" used Kosovo as a case study.
Serbia's national day marks a 1389 defeat at Ottoman hands. Had analysts weighted Serbian honor, they would have warned: Serbia wins by standing up when the world expects it to fold. 2/
The same blind spot caused "terrible harms" in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Jeannie Johnson, professor at Utah State: "American commanders see foreign difficulties as problems to be solved or targets to be struck — rather than terrain to be navigated." 3/
Russia could be ready to attack NATO territory by 2029. Germany's response: 460,000 troops, including 260,000 active — up from 186,400 today.
Defense Minister Pistorius published Germany's first-ever military strategy on April 22 — DW. 1/
The strategy names Russia as the primary security threat in Europe. Moscow "creates conditions for a military attack on NATO countries" and already runs hybrid operations — including against Germany.
Espionage, sabotage, cyberattacks, and disinformation are now constant, not exceptions. 2/
Last year recruitment added only 3,600 troops despite an active campaign. The previous target was 203,000 by 2031.
Experts doubt the new goal is reachable without conscription, suspended in 2011. One lawmaker already proposes raising the reservist age from 65 to 70 by 2035. 3/