This announcement obviously made 🇷🇺 happy.

This is really horrible. The prominent Putin TV propagandists calls for hangmen and executioners in the areas that 🇷🇺 has occupied.

As there was no doubt that an 🇮🇷 answer to the 🇮🇱 arrack towards its Damascus facilities was going to happen, there is little doubt that an 🇮🇱 answer to the 🇮🇷 missile and drone attack will come. It’s only a question of when and how. The logic of war. axios.com/2024/04/15/isr…

The attack on 🇮🇱 tonight was of a magnitude that 🇺🇦 suffers on a fairly regular basis. Same drones. Similar missiles. Week after week. Month after month.

Applause to 🇩🇪 for sending an additional Patriot battery to 🇺🇦 to help it against the waves of 🇷🇺 missile attacks. Others should follow the example.

It was a large number of missiles and drones 🇮🇷 expended on an attack that demonstrated little more than the impressive performance of 🇮🇱 defence as well as 🇺🇸 and 🇯🇴 solidarity in resisting the attack.

There was evidently remarkable cooperation from 🇯🇴 in helping 🇮🇱 to neutralize the 🇮🇷 attack. That’s worth noting.

The real question now is whether anyone really seeks a wider war. That’s been a key 🇺🇸 priority to prevent. Until the recent escalation 🇮🇷 has also been careful. But there is a question mark over PM Netanyahu 🇮🇱.

The counterattack by 🇮🇷 against 🇮🇱 was taken care of by effective 🇺🇸🇮🇱 defense. Now the 🇺🇸 focus is on preventing a further escalation.

I’m leaving Washington 🇺🇸 as Speaker Johnson is down in Florida bowing to Trump to get instructions on how also 🇺🇦 support should be handled. The wild wing of the Republican Party is against, but there is a very solid majority in Congress in favor. Who runs 🇺🇸 these days?

At the moment it’s very much 50/50 in the polls on the Biden/Trump 🇺🇸 race here. Slightly better for Biden than in last few months, but Trump is still ahead in the six decisive swing states.

This is as realistic as it is necessary. The 🇺🇦 defence lines need to be strengthened as 🇷🇺 seeks to get its act together for more offensive operations. This will have to the year of strategic defence while strength builds up for 2025. Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський

A decade ago today. After occupying Crimea, 🇷🇺 and its proxy forces started their attempt to carve a Novorossyia out of 🇺🇦. Eventually Putin had to send 🇷🇺 regular battalions into 🇺🇦 to save the effort, resulting in the Minsk agreements.

The 🇺🇸🇯🇵 🇵🇭 summit in Washington yesterday sent a very clear signal to 🇨🇳. That’s important, but careful diplomacy will also be needed to avoid confrontations in the South China Sea.

“For policymakers, that's the challenge: How do you push open the door for new crops and cancer treatments, without leaving it open for a computer-generated catastrophe?” ⁦RAND⁩ rand.org/pubs/articles/…

PM Kishida 🇯🇵 clear in his address to the 🇺🇸 congress: “Russia's unprovoked, unjust, and brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has entered its third year. As I often say, Ukraine of today may be East Asia of tomorrow.”

Reports of 🇸🇦 planing to invest $40bn in AI - which is a lot of money - but not everyone seems to be ready to open the door. cnbc.com/2024/03/22/ant…

And now start of first full day of ⁦RAND⁩ board meeting. Lots on the agenda.

It’s a sad spectacle to watch.

It’s Kharkiv and Kyiv today. It could be Warzaw, Helsinki, Bucharest or Stockholm tomorrow. Defense against Putin 🇷🇺 is a European both necessity and obligation.