Surprisingly upbeat forum talk, hosted by Harper's, about the state and future of the U.S. news media. As somebody who might one day need a Substack to keep the lights on (you never know), I find these conversations both exciting and terrifying.
Commenting on a recent NYT report, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says he's unaware of any efforts by prominent Russians to lobby Putin to rehabilitate late night king Ivan Urgant, who's been cancelled for mild criticism of the war.
NYT reports details of Ukraine’s counterproposal to Trump’s 28-point peace plan. Kyiv's version rejects ceding the rest of Donetsk, seeks U.S. Congress-approved security guarantees (must be more robust than Budapest Memo), and preserves Ukraine’s NATO aspirations — a long-standing Russian red line.
Needless to say, this is a nonstarter for Moscow. The original 28-pt plan was already insufficient from Moscow’s perspective (contrary to most MSM reporting). Remaining questions: Will Trump see Ze or Putin as more obstructionist? Can Europe pass the reparations loan? How does Ukraine fare in 2026?
dang, Australia's age limits on social media will be enforced through monitoring of photo locations and checking for users' "school holiday" content? yikes
For today's newsletter, I looked at a new Dossier Center investigation into Putin’s nuclear suitcase secret crew and Russia’s "dead hand" fallback (which involves wild-sounding, automatically launched "command missiles" to coordinate retaliatory strikes).
lol, Wirecard fraudster Jan Marsalek met Pavel Durov in 2018 and funneled Libyan investors’ money into Telegram’s planned Toncoin sale before the SEC shut it down
The EU's No.3 in terms of pop & voting power throws its "heavyweight" behind a likely doomed "Plan B" that carries high debt burdens and requires unanimity. A major wrinkle for the elusive "reparations loan," less than a week before a crucial meeting of EU leaders in Brussels.
