Zelenskyy: "When our strikes reached Yandex data centers, it suddenly became little easier to breathe on many social media platforms. Many people noticed it. There was less hate, less division, fewer provocations because there were fewer bots. It's pretty clear where those bots were coming from. If they disappeared when Yandex went offline, this proves once again that Europe is not the source of the problems." The big problem is that Russia figured out how modern society consumes information a decade ago, but the West hasn't. ​There are millions of bots commenting and posting Russian propaganda. There are paid influencers spreading it, with Russian bots supporting their content. There is a gigantic machine operating to radicalize and influence Western societies, and there is not enough defense in place. It doesn't just influence elections, it sows discord, engulfs societies in culture wars, radicalizes teenagers, and shapes political decisions when elected officials fail to read the room. ​That needs to change. And fast.

What an awful, heartbreaking photo. 💔

Q: "Trump has announced this deal to buy diesel fuel from Russia. You’ve called it a birthday gift to Putin. Explain why?" Zelenskyy: "Because it gives Putin money, and he spends money only on this war, to kill us, to kill our children. I was in a small city this week. They attacked a building there with no military goals, nothing even close to that building. They killed 22 people, about 60 were wounded, and five small children were killed." Every cent Russia gets from its diesel sales will go to murdering Ukrainians. Every single cent! No exceptions. Trump perfectly understands this, he just doesn’t care.

The New Yorker published a major article by Dexter Filkins titled “Jared Kushner’s Dollar Diplomacy.” It is one of the most important pieces on what American diplomacy has become under the second Trump administration. The central figure is Jared Kushner. Trump’s son-in-law, a businessman, and the man who has effectively been tasked with ending wars in Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, and wherever else the U.S. president needs a “deal.” The problem is that Kushner himself views diplomacy much the same way he views selling a house. “Peace deals are like real-estate deals.” And even better: “I've been getting criticized for the last couple of years, by all the people who have tried and failed, for not doing this the same way that they have. If somebody was successful, I wouldn't be dealing with this.” In other words, the basic premise is simple: decades of diplomacy, the history of conflicts, military balances, international law, and technical expertise — all of that is secondary. You just need to sit the two sides down at the table, haggle, and “bridge the gap.” It was with precisely this approach that Kushner and Steve Witkoff conducted negotiations with Iran regarding its nuclear program in February. The New Yorker reports that they didn’t even have a technical advisor in the negotiating room, even though a specialist from the Department of Energy had been assigned to Witkoff. The White House denies this. A former White House official who dealt with the Iranian nuclear program describes the situation as follows: “The Iranians come to you with a proposal. What does it actually mean? How much does it actually set them back-two months or two years? What are the work-arounds? For them not to have technical advisers there is just total malpractice.” A friend of Kushner’s put it even more bluntly: “He's a lovely guy, but he is way the fuck out of his depth.” And these are negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. In the morning, Kushner and Witkoff were discussing Iranian centrifuges and uranium. After lunch — it was already about Russia’s war against Ukraine. This is exactly what American shuttle diplomacy looks like today. While Kushner negotiates on behalf of the U.S. president with Middle Eastern governments, those very same states are investing billions of dollars in his private investment fund, Affinity Partners. One former U.S. official described the new foreign policy system with remarkable accuracy: “They go into these meetings, and they are doing business right alongside their diplomacy. ‘O.K., enough about the ceasefire. We have this hotel we want to build.’ That’s the kind of foreign policy America has now.” For us, the most important part of the article concerns Ukraine. According to a former high-ranking official in the Trump administration, when Kushner and Witkoff first started dealing with Ukraine, they had virtually no understanding of the war. Moreover: “Both believed that Vladimir Putin was 'a good guy,' and that 'the Russian Army is invincible,'” And then comes the phrase that essentially explains the entire recent U.S. approach: “They think this is a real-estate deal. They don’t seem to understand this is a war.” After the talks in Florida, Kushner and Witkoff presented a peace plan under which Ukraine was to agree to nearly all of Russia’s key demands: cede territory, permanently renounce NATO, and drastically reduce its own military. Even Marco Rubio, according to the article, called this document “Russia’s wish list.” The New Yorker cites a classified report from a European intelligence agency describing ten potential business projects between American and Russian entities. The document itself, according to the publication, is undated, and a representative for Kushner denies that American officials were to profit from these agreements. Among the projects discussed are: the resumption of Nord Stream 2 under American control, ExxonMobil’s return to Sakhalin, oil production in the Sea of Okhotsk, and the unfreezing of Russian assets blocked by U.S. sanctions. The document mentions Trump, Witkoff, Kushner, and others in their inner circle. A European official who passed this report on to a journalist states bluntly: “The deals would be executed the moment Trump delivers a peace deal.” This is not proof that Kushner “sold out Ukraine.” The article does not draw that conclusion. But it explains very well why the question of where U.S. diplomacy ends and private business begins has arisen in the first place. After Trump’s first term, Kushner founded Affinity Partners — despite having no experience managing private equity on such a scale — and requested $2 billion from the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth fund. The Saudi Investment Committee opposed the request. Minutes cited by The New Yorker state that Affinity was unable to “provide any quantifiable investment track record,” the fund’s operations were assessed as “unsatisfactory in all aspects,” and Saudi Arabia would have to assume the bulk of the risk. But the head of the Saudi PIF is Mohammed bin Salman — the very same MBS with whom Kushner built a relationship while working at the White House. The committee’s decision was simply overruled, and Kushner was given $2 billion to manage. Affinity receives 1.25% per year for managing these funds. That’s over $25 million every year, plus a share of the profits. The UAE is investing another $200 million. Qatar is contributing another $200 million. According to an investigation by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, by 2024 alone, Affinity had received up to $157 million in commissions from foreign clients, $87 million of which came from the Saudi Arabian government. One former U.S. official explained the logic behind these investments very simply: “The Emiratis saw Jared as a fixture, someone who is going to be around a long time. They were investing in the relationship.” Kushner then returned to U.S. diplomacy — without a salary. The White House presented this almost as a charitable act: a man devoting his own time to the cause of world peace. But a government salary isn’t even the main issue here, because this man’s company receives tens of millions of dollars in commissions from the governments of countries with which it simultaneously maintains political and diplomatic relations. Ethics lawyer Virginia Kanter puts the problem bluntly: “Kushner is plagued with conflicts of interest. He is supposed to be working for the American people, but in fact he has tremendous financial incentives to further the interests of his investors.” And this pattern repeats itself everywhere. In Gaza, Kushner presents Project Sunrise — a $112 billion reconstruction plan for the territory. The slides show skyscrapers, a high-speed railway, and 100 percent employment. Kushner promises the private sector “amazing investment opportunities” and speaks of a potential “catastrophic success.” In his presentation, post-war Gaza is effectively transformed into a real estate development project. In Albania, it’s a different story: resorts, yacht marinas, golf courses, and 10,000 hotel rooms and apartments. The total estimated value is about $4 billion. In Saudi Arabia — an investment fund. In Ukraine — a “win-win.” In Russia — potential oil, gas, and investment deals. Kushner himself explains his logic: “In the business world, you think about things in the context of ‘win-win.’” In Kyiv, he said that after the “peace package,” Russia and Ukraine would be able to “focus on fulfilling their huge potential and they can find ways to benefit from each other.” A few hours after his departure, Putin resumed bombing Ukraine. In my opinion, this is the main value of The New Yorker’s article. It doesn’t prove the existence of a single grand secret deal where a specific sum is listed next to the word “Ukraine.” It reveals a system in which diplomacy, government power, personal connections, access to the U.S. president, other countries’ state funds, and private investments have all come together under one roof. One of the European officials in the article puts it most accurately: “The privatization of American foreign policy is quite far along.” And after reading the entire article, this is probably the most accurate description of what is happening. American foreign policy is increasingly beginning to function as a business model.

God made a dictator.

AI development is moving faster than our ability to assure its safety. It’s time to hit pause until we can assure it won’t…destroy us.

This is simply vile. Trump is a loser, and an embarrassment to our country.

🥺 Russians have been terrorizing Kyiv for a week with daytime attacks by "Shaheds". Because of this, children in kindergarten run for cover every 30 minutes.