the main obstacles I’m running into with my fledgling attempts at making YouTube videos are (1) they look bad and (2) they are bad, but beyond that, I think the sky’s the limit

"Sudan’s military government has offered Russia what would be its first naval base in Africa and an unprecedented perch overlooking critical Red Sea trade routes, according to Sudanese officials." In return, it wants discounted weapons & regime support. https://www.wsj.com/world/africa/sudan-offers-russia-its-first-naval-base-in-africa-0748e810

Ukraine seems to be applying the same playbook it used with the Druzhba pipeline and Hungary’s troublemaker politicians and applying it to Turkey and Kazakhstan. I wonder how long this can go on without blowback for Kyiv.

Meduza

Expanding the war at sea, Ukraine attacks two Russian ‘shadow fleet’ oil tankers off the Turkish coast — Meduza

Moscow has accused Ukraine of “violating Turkish sovereignty” after recent attacks on tankers carrying Russian oil. Naval drones reportedly ...

The Dutch newspaper Trouw studied 60 reported drone incidents across Europe and found widespread confusion: many sightings weren’t drones at all (some were actually stars, lol), and there's little proof of Russian involvement outside a handful of cases in Poland, Romania, and Moldova.

Trouw

Analyse zestig drone-incidenten in Europa: veel paniek en weinig bewijs

Dronemeldingen leggen in heel Europa vliegvelden plat en veroorzaken onrust. Trouw analyseerde zo’n zestig incidenten. Daaruit blijkt veel verwar...

Ordered an Elgato Teleprompter in hopes that I, too, can be a cool-guy vlogger. Any tips?

In an op-ed for The Telegraph, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's ambassador to Britain and former commander-in-chief, hits Zelensky when he's weakened, talking about Ukraine's unpreparedness in Feb 2022, corruption, and "peace, even in anticipation of the next war."

Access Restricted

Zaluzhnyi also suggests that the "deployment of nuclear weapons on Ukrainian territory" could be a security guarantee for Ukraine to end the war, which Putin wouldn't agree to, even if he were drawing his last breath in his bunker.

this line from The Muppets (2011) is the main reason I force my children to rewatch it with me, pretending that they suggested it

Long WSJ report on how U.S. and Russian business leaders have worked outside the traditional lines of diplomacy toward a peace agreement, but mainly toward business deals. An opportunity for American billionaires to slide back into the Russian market and undercut Europe. https://www.wsj.com/world/russia/russia-u-s-peace-business-ties-4db9b290?st=tJDe8h&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink I find it distracting that this very detailed report repeats the claim that Putin awarded Michael Gloss the discontinued (Soviet) Order of Lenin. I'm under the impression, as CNN has reported, that it was in fact Russia’s Order of Courage.

lol

Imagine being Andriy Yermak's commanding officer tomorrow.