Robert Farley

Weapons reworked on the front are driving Kyiv's recent successes.

Weapons reworked on the front are driving Kyiv’s recent successes.

I normally don't spend much time on Threads, but unfortunately over the past couple of days I've found myself wading through an endless morass of idiotic takes about the health and well being of Mitch McConnell John Holder of Winthrop has an excellent antidote to this (screenshotting because we don't seem to have Threads embed capacity:

I've tried to dig into this UK defense (defence?) budget simulator a few times, and the complexity is mind-blowing. I invite y'all to give it a shot and let us know in comments what you think a plausible defense procurement strategy for a middle power should look like. I decided just to buy everything:

Critics say that Mr. Trump conceded this new status quo in the June agreement with Tehran. At the insistence of Iranian negotiators, that 14-point document acknowledges Iran's power in the strait.

Well that should resolve everything until the next time this comes up.

My colleagues Charles Dainoff and Geoff Williams and I have a new article at Foreign Policy, on Ukraine's approach to a post-modern defense industrial base:

Sam Neill could add class and gravitas to just about anything, while also maintaining a wry sense of humor in even the most serious roles.

Interesting that the Russians may have learned a good deal on innovations in sanctions-evasion from the North Koreans:

The Memorandum of Understanding that paused the fighting has collapsed, Farley writes, because it never settled the status of the Strait of Hormuz or the disputes over sanctions, nuclear material, and reparations. Washington waits for Iran to accept its own best interests; Tehran waits for American politics to force Trump's hand. Neither is coming to the table soon.