The Dardanelles are open for transit, First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill said. "The only thing prohibiting transit in the straits right now is the Ottomans shooting at the fleet," he said. "It is open for transit should the Ottomans not do that."
Trump says America doesn't need Ukraine's help defending against drones in the Middle East."
Excellent news.
Because if Trump got Ukrainian tech, Putin would have it 10 minutes later.
Meanwhile Ukraine makes better deals with gulf states.
Good.
If Trump got his hands on Ukrainian tech, Putin would have it 10 minutes later.
AI-generated image of weeping people looking at their mobile phones in front of St Basil's Cathedral, Moscow
1/ In recent weeks, an entire genre has sprung up on Telegram of Russian bloggers suddenly realising that they live in a repressive dictatorship. They complain bitterly that they were "fools", they are being "enslaved", and forced to endure a "cultural counter-revolution". β¬οΈ
Lots of baby Trumps
Seems about right...
Russian papers report the consequences of Moscowβs week-long mobile internet blackout. βSales of walkie-talkies are up 27%, sales of pagers up 73%...sales of road atlases up 170%.β Meanwhile, high oil prices mean that Russiaβs βexport revenues are growing.β #ReadingRussia
www.moldpres.md/eng/society/...
The Romanian Language Day will be marked in Ukraine on August 31. A decree to this effect has been signed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. He made statements on the matter at a news conference held in Bucharest jointly with Romanian President Nicusor Dan.
Little Marco in giant shoes.
Latest in the "Trump Shoe Size" scandal!
A clear majority (eyeball: 80-90%?) of tankers present in and around Hormuz strait are sanctioned ones.
Probably not news to insiders, like @TankerTrackers who got me the sanctions-list, but it was to me.
β‘οΈMoscow's own assessments reveal staggering losses in Ukraine, intelligence suggests.
According to classified Russian documents obtained by Ukraine's intelligence networks, more than 1,300,000 Russian soldiers have been killed and wounded since the start of the war in February 2022.
So Trump is actively supporting a government that is participating in killing American servicemen. Isn't there any law in the U.S. against assisting the enemy during a war?
A drone chases a Russian military truck and catches up with it. It is reported that this happened about 50 km from the line of combat contact.
This is what I mean about early signs of rot in the US military under Trump. This was an early strike in what we were told was a well planned and resourced effort. Now it looks like a fundamental and easy to correct error was made.
www.nytimes.com/2026/03/11/u...
1/ Ukrainian drone attacks deep in the Russian rear have prompted alarm among Russian warbloggers. They warn that the 'kill zone' behind the front line has expanded far into the rear of the Russian-occupied Donbas region. β¬οΈ
bsky.app/profile/mili...
Marco Rubio, tiny little feet!
OK, this seems to be true.
Trump has been guessing the foot size of various White House officials, and ordering the same Florsheim wingtips for them.
The cowardly sycophants wear ridiculously oversized shoes to placate mad king Trump.
Close-up photo of the legs and feet of JD Vance and Marco Rubio showing some comically oversized shoes
It gets better. Here's Vance and Rubio in the Oval Office...
skyview.social?url=https%3A...
Unroll, Trump's mess in Iran.
skyview.social?url=https%3A...
"The Kremlin is genuinely afraid of certain events, and they're not related to Ukraine, but to internal processes in Russia. I don't know if they're afraid of a coup, a conspiracy, or something similar, but they're definitely afraid of something serious."
In a further sign of the Putinisation of America under Donald, it seems the US military also dismissed the capabilities of the Ukrainian military.
With over 4 years of evidence in front of them, this seems more stupid than us doing it.
Final part of my 4-part series on religion in Kremlin influence campaigns during Moldovaβs 2024β25 elections.
How Moscow links βtraditional valuesβ to Western anti-globalist networksβand why the contradictions create openings to push back against Russian FIMI.
open.substack.com/pub/moldovam...
Kremlin backs covert campaign to keep OrbΓ‘n in power ft.trib.al/daSmFU9
Moldova is denouncing the Agreement establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), the protocol to this Agreement, as well as the CIS Statute.
www.moldpres.md/eng/politics...
arstechnica.com/science/2026...
βDuring the past year, it has become unsafe for our guests to visit the country,β Marc Abrahams told The Associated Press. βWe cannot in good conscience ask the new winners, or the international journalists who cover the event, to travel to the US this year.β
Ukraine 2022: "America, please close the skies"
America 2026: "Ukraine, please close the skies"
The Always Excellent Steve Rosenberg reports from Moscow:
youtu.be/xfnpDCmBmgA
Russian newspaper on Trump:
"The peace president has simply lost his mind. The emperor has no clothes. Or rather no sanity." "Trump is talking unprecedented nonsense."
skyview.social?url=https%3A...
Fundraising for Russian soldiers collapses.
1/ Fundraising for the Russian army has been declining steeply for some time, leaving soldiers without essential equipment and supplies. A Russian warblogger explains that it's because soldiers are now seen by the public as being recruited from the ranks of Russia's unwanted underclasses. β¬οΈ
kyivindependent.com/exclusive-sa...
A Saudi Arabian arms company has signed a deal to buy Ukrainian-made interceptor missiles, with one source within Ukraine's defence industry saying that Riyadh and Kyiv are negotiating a separate "huge deal" for arms that could be finalized this week.
Oil prices are surging as the Iran war disrupts global supply and closes the Strait of Hormuz. What could this mean for Moldova and Europe?
In this weekβs roundup: the potential energy fallout, Transnistriaβs gas issues and a week of political scandals in ChiΘinΔu
open.substack.com/pub/moldovam...
