Ok, not literally, but still. Excellent piece.

New York Times Opinion@nytopinion.nytimes.com · yesterday

“The problem with writing with A.I. is that it’s mentally enfeebling — an escalator toward a result when you really need to make a daily habit of taking the stairs,” our columnist Bret Stephens writes.

Cartoon (in this case Con Air) levels of villainy here.

David Earl Williams III@dewforpolitics.bsky.social · 2d ago

Sen. Bernie Moreno said Rep. Max Miller refused to return his granddaughter’s favorite blue bunny. Reports also show that photos of a syringe and 150mg weed gummies were found in Miller’s bedroom.

For reference, Westminster is about 21.5 km², so Russia took about one and a half Westminsters. If you've ever strolled around Trafalgar Square, Big Ben, and Hyde Park, that gives an idea of the progress Russia made in July, at a cost of over 40,000 casualties.

Alina Pereverzieva 🇺🇦@perevaa.bsky.social · 2d ago

DeepState estimates Russia gained a net 36 km² in July 2026. The hottest spots are near Rodynske, Kostiantynivka, the state border, and toward Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, where Russian forces made small gains. Taking the entire Donetsk region in 2026 is impossible, and in 2027 it is highly unlikely.

In 2026, Kyiv is facing more ballistic missiles in a single night than it did during the entire year of 2024. I can't wrap my head around the hell we're being forced to endure. And there is still no light at the end of the tunnel.

It would be nice if peace were at hand. But I don't understand Graham's statement in the 1st para that Putin has "been clear in recent months" that he wants "to bring the fighting to an end." Just last week Putin was talking about Ukrainian "neo-Nazis" and how all of E Ukraine belongs to Russia. 1/3

Opinion | Trump’s Chance for Peace in Ukraine Is Real. But It Won’t Last. (Gift Article)

There’s a narrow chance for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal before things go south.

nytimes.com

That was useful, wasn’t it

CNBC@cnbc.com · 2d ago

U.S. has used 'virtually all' of its long-range precision missiles during Iran war: Reuters

Who are the Kadyrovtsy? Yesterday, I wrote about studying Chechen security service units in Ukraine. A common term used for these units is Kadyrovtsy. But who or what are the Kadyrovtsy?

I'm hiring an Associate Director for the Center for Qualitative & Multi-Method Inquiry: www.sujobopps.com/postings/114... Run IQMR, work on QDR, help run events around methods @maxwellsu.bsky.social - great for recent MA or PhD interested in alt-ac 1/2

Associate Director, Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry (CQMI)

Work collaboratively with the Director of the Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry (CQMI). Lead the planning and logistics for the annual Institute for Qualitative and Multi-method Research...

sujobopps.com

Janis makes a key point here: "It is puzzling that Russian propaganda makes two claims (a largely constant troop strength and enormous recruitment) that, taken together, imply something catastrophic for Russia (huge losses)." He estimates they lose 43-45% of their troops in Ukraine EACH YEAR.

Janis Kluge@jakluge.de · 3d ago

Attention: new original data source unlocked! Based on federal budget reports, I estimated the number of Russian troops in Ukraine, both mobilized and contract soldiers. The numbers are based on different salary top-ups that Russian troops in Ukraine receive. janiskluge.substack.com/p/the-compos...

📝 NEW | How Has the War Reshaped Russian Views? We are delighted to launch a new @csns-uk.bsky.social Report on how Russians’ relationship to the conflict has changed over the past years. Written by Dr Jade McGlynn, Kimberly Metcalf & Dr Alexander Shulga. Read more below 👇 csns.uk/2026/08/03/h...

Yes, and exactly the same is true of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Ken Schultz@kschultz.bsky.social · 4d ago

When you are defeated in the sense of “unable to achieve your goals” but not defeated in the sense of “unable to continue military operations” then you are perpetually “headed for defeat” until you decide to end it. That’s how you get forever wars.

Hear me out: we want our senior military officers to have a robust liberal arts education, including multiple perspectives from history, literature, and the social sciences, and to know that civilians sometimes know things.

Pentagon weighs eliminating civilian tenure at military academies and reviewing all curriculum, draft memo says

The Pentagon is considering a sweeping remake of military higher education, including an end to civilian tenure and a "line-by-line" review of courses, according to a draft memo obtained by CBS News.

cbsnews.com

Friday afternoon TL cleanser from Northern Minnesota

Patti: Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine Leo: Ok, whatever, but can you tell me what CBGB’s was like in the 70s

Christopher Hale@christopherjhale.bsky.social · 6d ago

The godmother of punk Patti Smith met Pope Leo XIV this morning.

The whole point of having 4-year service academies that replicate in some respects the civilian college experience is the idea that effective officers competent one day for high rank need a well-rounded education in which ever waking moment isn’t devoted to ‘warfighting’, whatever tf that means.

look. nobody here likes paying consultants. but the only alternative is paying *instructors*

Asheesh Kapur Siddique@asheeshks.org · 7d ago

“Harvard paid McKinsey & Company at least $250,000 to consult on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ staff restructuring efforts, according to internal documents obtained by The Crimson.” www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...

Not as good as ours. Ours is "special".

FactPost@factpostnews.bsky.social · 6d ago

Trump on Iran: I guess you could call it war. I call it a military operation

Wondered if “terrorist and extremist” sperm came at a discount. Turns out Durov’s has always been free.

Meduza in English@meduza.io · 7d ago

A Moscow IVF clinic is still offering IVF using Telegram founder Pavel Durov's donor sperm. It has, however, added a note that he's now on Russia's list of "terrorists and extremists." meduza.io/en/news/2026...

When I heard about this it was hard to believe, but now it's public. The US Administration is planning the full destruction of Optional Practical Training, the US's largest single source of global talent. I wrote about the effects of eviscerating OPT earlier this week: www.piie.com/blogs/realti...

Exclusive | U.S. Weighs $100,000 Fee for Foreign Students Wanting to Work After Graduation

The proposed policy would particularly affect Silicon Valley, Wall Street and universities.

wsj.com

Well over 1,000 interceptors. Could have helped defend Kyiv from cold and darkness this coming winter.

Stars and Stripes@starsandstripes.bsky.social · 7d ago

Iran war has consumed nearly 67% of US Patriot interceptor stockpile, report says

"Removing the regulatory framework that has sustained the instruction and study of these regions and languages threatens decades of investment in expertise on a region of major geopolitical importance to the United States."

ASEEES Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies@aseees.bsky.social · last wk.

ASEEES has submitted the following comment to the Department of Education opposing proposed recission of the International Education Programs Regulations aseees.org/news/aseees-...

"A lesser man might have been so humiliated by the Folarin Balogun affair, that such a naked distortion of the World Cup’s rules and customs that just so happened to suit the host country, that he would have just not mentioned it. But Infantino is not that man." The whole thing is glorious.

Philippe Auclair@philippeauclair.bsky.social · last wk.

A superb point-by-point demolition of Gianni Infantino's demented Instagram post by @nickmiller79.bsky.social for @theathletic.com.

I analyzed dozens of reports from Russian municipalities and found a lot of fascinating insights about how Russian recruitment actually works. At the core, the recruitment machine is a multilayered system of quotas, going all the way from the Kremlin down to the smallest village.

Moscow will not run out of cash anytime soon, but it is certainly running out of politically affordable ways to raise it, writes columnist @agathedemarais.com.

The Kremlin’s Easy Money Is Gone

Russia still has assets to tap for its war, but the political costs are growing.

foreignpolicy.com

🔵 On the two-year anniversary of our "undesirable" designation in Russia, we are asking for your help. Our goal is to reach 100 monthly supporters by July 31. Each donation ensures The Moscow Times can keep reporting for many more years to come. undesirable.vercel.app

IQMR just wrapped its 16th year at Maxwell: 162 researchers from Yale, Oxford, LSE, Princeton, Columbia, and more, representing every continent except Antarctica. Since 2002, the institute has trained 3,500+ researchers in qualitative and multi-method methods. Read More: https://bit.ly/4fD6G2O

(7) To figure out how which direction to position departmental letterhead in the office printer.

Sharon 🪳🌹@sharonk.bsky.social · 2y ago

C. W. Mills:

Putin has given his answer to Tokayev’s statement that no one knows what this war is about - a bunch of nonsense about history that has no bearing on the legitimacy of Ukraine’s post-1991 borders. In 2003 Putin himself signed a formal treaty recognizing those borders.

ChrisO_wiki@chriso-wiki.bsky.social · 2w ago

1/ Vladimir Putin has strongly hinted that Russia should claim the entire eastern half of Ukraine, going far beyond the existing annexation of the Donbas and southern Ukraine. He foresees a future in which western Ukraine is also annexed by its neighbours. ⬇️

And people say the Russian economy is in trouble

Meduza in English@meduza.io · 2w ago

Russia has 22.5% more funeral companies than it did a year ago. meduza.io/en/news/2026...

Check out ridl.io ongoing series "Transformed by War: Russia’s Partners Since 2022". Now with articles on China, Iran, Venezuela, Sub-Saharan Africa, Israel, Armenia, Gulf States and Kyrgyzstan. More to be published soon. ridl.io/category/tra...