Better late than never.
Christopher Miller@christopherjm.ft.com · 2w agoBREAKING: Volodymyr Zelenskyy has chosen Mykhailo Drapatyi to be commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces and dismissed controversial general and close ally Oleksandr Syrsky in the biggest shake-up of the country’s military leadership since 2024. @financialtimes.com
Let's hope that Zelensky will again prove amenable to public pressure. He's done it in the case of Yermak, kicking and screaming though he was, and given enough outcry over Fedorov, we might at last see the end of Syrskiy, too.
Pochettino has a chance to be a hero and actually not put Balogun in the lineup tonight.
Turns out being a former Portuguese colony significantly improves your chances of beating Argentina. Damn, Cabo Verde!
We may be entering a feedback loop that inevitably deepens every crisis in an autocratic system. As things get worse, it becomes less palatable to report facts up the chain of command, in turn making a bad situation deteriorate faster, until it unravels completely.
Russia-Ukraine war: Crimea's Sevastopol without power after Ukraine strikes
Sevastopol's Moscow-installed governor warns there will be no electricity in some areas until the evening.
bbc.com
We’re now in that part of the disaster movie when the increasingly worrying news reports run in the background while the characters ignore them because they’re arguing about the school run.
Abbey@abbeyarletto.bsky.social · last mo.When reality surpasses fiction! Top: fictional forecast for August 2050, broadcast by French TV in 2014 to warn about the consequences of global warming. Bottom: Real French forecast for yesterday, June 22, 2026.
Russian fuel truck drivers just posted a new video from the road to Crimea.
As the scale of the UA mid-range campaign against the critical logistics infrastructure in the south increases, it’s looking less like its goal is to just interdict the Russian supply lines, and more like a battlefield shaping effort. Mark your calendar. September could be interesting this year.
The relatively good thing about the absolutely terrible Iran deal is that Trump presumably signed it with the full intention of not sticking to it. Unfortunately, this won't be as easy as when he used to stiff his creditors. A president of a country can only operate like a grifter for so long.
These are bad times, but watching Putin and Trump get royally humiliated in the same week does buoy the mood somewhat.
This is not peace, this is an armistice for 20 weeks.
2014: Crimea was the weakest spot of the weakened Ukraine. 2026: Crimea is quickly becoming an Achilles heel for the Russian war effort. A mass exodus from Crimea will not only cause chaos in the Russian rear, it will damage the morale of frontline troops (already low) and make Putin look weak.
"Let us not call this peace. Peace is not the absence of war. Peace is a positive condition — the rule of law." Dorothy Thompson, writing in 1938 on the Munich Agreement.
SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic all rushing to get their IPOs done before the money runs out is essentially the biggest bank run in financial history.
Imagine if Steve Job's name was included with every mention of the iPhone. As in, "Steve Job's iPhone". That's how weird it is when people insist on endlessly saying "Elon Musk's Starlink" or "Elon Musk's SpaceX". Yes, I know who the CEO/owner of these companies is. Can we stop glorifying him?
The president of the United States is again carrying water for the Russian dictator and war criminal. Another embarrassing entry added to this sordid chapter of history.
Breaking: Trump announces 3-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine
"The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day, but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II. This Ceasefire will include a suspension of all kinetic activity...
kyivindependent.com
Starmer should immediately order the Royal Navy to board every Russian shadow tanker that sails into the Channel and use the confiscated oil to keep the fuel prices low in Britain. He won't do it, of course, because it would be a couragous decision.
Bank of England says rates could rise as Iran war fuels inflation
The Bank of England voted to hold interest rates at 3.75% as it monitors the knock-on effects of the Middle East conflict.
bbc.com
Talking about presidential security and assassination attempts, we should not forget to mention that if the Ayatollah Khomeini had built a ballroom, he would still be alive today.
Now that should open the Hormuz strait in a jiffy.
US is adding firing squads, electrocution and gassing to federal execution methods
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration plans to add firing squads, electrocution and gas asphyxiation as alternative methods of executing people convicted of the gravest federal crimes, it anno...
reuters.com
SS says camp guards showed poor judgment, Reichsführer Himmler's spokesperson: "a full and impartial inquiry will begin immediately".
IDF says troops who used marker to tag Palestinians showed poor judgment
* * *
timesofisrael.com
There probably are some lessons to be learned by democrats around the world about defeating autocrats from Hungary’s Tisza victory over Orbán. But what we have really learned was how to defeat Viktor Orbán in Hungary in 2026. We haven’t suddenly obtained a template for defeating all autocrats.
Let’s hope that Magyar isn’t going to pull a Biden, being lenient on a clearly criminal regime and hoping that good governance alone is going to convince people who are living in a fact-free reality.
Let me get this straight: the Strait is now being blocked by Iran *and* the US? What is this, a competition in piracy? Who takes or sinks more ships gets the right to pass?
These wartime talks with Iran are just as unserious as the prewar talks. This war isn’t anywhere near over yet.
Trump’s claim of a successful regime change may eventually turn out correct. But it’s a bit like washing your car by drowning it in the river. A moribund theocracy led by a frail octogenarian has been transformed into a junta of hardline generals who prefer martyrdom to defeat.
My brain before the first cup of coffee: "Is it a coincidence that Trump's gaslighting could fail him at last just as there's a global LNG shortage?"
If you elect a laughing stock as your president, your country will become a laughing stock also. It happens more quickly if you’re a Moldova or a Kyrgyzstan, because nobody owes you respect. But even the world’s dominant superpower eventually succumbs. We’re all witnessing that moment now.
Netanyahu: “Nice ceasefire you got there, would be a shame if something happened to it.”
Israel hits Lebanon with massive wave of airstrikes amid ceasefire uncertainty
Israeli military announces ‘largest coordinated strike’ against Hezbollah since war began on 2 March
theguardian.com
