This article is a tough read. It illustrates, though, that the U.S., while imperfect, was great in a lot of ways and did some really great things, up until recently.

"Every one of these children had a name. They had dreams, loves, and futures. Their lives were as valuable and special as your child’s or mine. They were loved, and somewhere, their families grieve for them."

This poll indicates that Americans are more favorably disposed toward NATO than the headline of this article suggests, with 65 percent saying the U.S. should remain a member. Those that doubt that our NATO allies would support us if we were attacked should ask themselves why that might be the case.

My guess is that the goal is to "prove" the 2020 election was rigged against Trump, perhaps with a claim of foreign interference, in order to justify federal intervention in the midterms.

A plane crashing into a skyscraper of naturally conjures memories of 9/11, but this is also semi-reminiscent of the 1987 incident when the West German kid flew through heavily defended Soviet airspace and landed in Red Square.

Unbelievable how Trump can turn any speech into an attack on US allies. How about criticizing Russia for a change?

CSIS estimates 450,000 Russian fatalities in Putin's war of choice.

I can't help but wonder if Avi Loeb ever crossed paths with his Harvard colleague John Mack. (Also, I thought this White House hated Ivy League universities.)

"And after being attacked twice by Israel and the United States in the past year, they have more reason than ever to pursue a nuclear deterrent to prevent further attacks."

China’s been purging military leaders who are deemed insufficiently loyal to Xi. History suggests that this is likely to denude the PLA of capable leaders and undermine Chinese military strength. This would be to the U.S.’s advantage if the Trump administration wasn't engaged in a similar effort.

This deserves significant Congressional attention.

So either the Trump administration completely failed to vet Tulsi Gabbard before nominating her to be DNI, or they did vet her and didn't think any of this was disqualifying.

In addition to Barbarossa, today is also the anniversary of the 1938 rematch between Joe Louis and Max Schmeling. Louis, who had lost the first fight, knocked Schmeling out in the first round.

On this day 85 years ago, Germany launched Operation Barbarossa against the Soviet Union with an army of 3.5 million men. Hitler expected a quick victory. It was his biggest miscalculation.

🎁 link: wapo.st/4uOm7ek

PERSON OF THE DAY. 20 June 1998. Conrad Schumann committed suicide (aged 56). He had been an East German police officer who escaped from East to West Berlin in 1961. His escape was memorably captured in a famous photo by Peter Leibing.

America is already great

We certainly do not want Ukraine to be burning because of the enemy. But if Ukraine is burning, your Moscow will be burning, as well. -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

Committing real mass murder to avenge an imaginary genocide.

The U.S. fp/natsec community (myself included) has been slow to recognize how unmoored U.S. policy has become from the assumptions and priorities that guided it for the last 80 years. Most contemporary discussions of this topic are grounded in a world view that may no longer be relevant.

Imagine how conservatives would react if any Democrat had said this.

Trump angered his American First supporters by starting the war with Iran to begin with and now has exasperated Republican hawks by agreeing to end it with few real concessions from Iran. That's quite the political double play.

This article in FP makes some really important points about non-strategic U.S. missile defenses that I fear may get overlooked.

Historically, 14-point plans haven't always worked out well.

lol Bonhoeffer was awesome. Hitler was the bad guy, remember?

From the NYT story about Trump's Iran agreement.

That last point is worth pondering.

Iran has promised it would never build a nuclear weapon legally, politically and religiously (fatwa from SL) for at least 60 years. Trump is buying the same thing Iran has sold thousands of time. He is really bad at this.

NYT: A Dangerous Limbo Leaves Iran, and the World, Between Peace and War

I'm glad Tulsi Gabbard isn't bitter or anything. 52 of the 53 GOP Senators voted to confirm her. (McConnell was the exception.) No Dems voted for her.

Says the Secretary of Texting Attack Plans to Random Journalists.

Perhaps war planners in the nine nations that possess nuclear weapons should note that targeting your adversary's strategic command-and-control system can be counterproductive.

"Our country is respected again. I think we're respected like never before. The United States is respected again." -- Donald Trump, 12/11/25 "We were really close to a deal, but [Iranian leaders] keep tapping us along, they keep playing us for suckers." -- Donald Trump, 6/10/26

After Pearl Harbor, the Army and FBI conducted investigations into the perceived risk that Japanese-Americans would subvert the war effort. When neither probe produced any evidence of disloyalty, this was viewed as *proof* that some massive act of sabotage was in the works.

Meet the Press just showed an interview with Trump in which he described Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as a man of “bravery” who he has great respect for. No Democratic president would ever make such a statement, but imagine how conservatives would have reacted if one had.

At an event today but do I hear right that Hegseth basically said "you need to push the invaders off your beaches" at a * D-DAY * commemoration???

(The USG has still not acknowledged responsibility for the TLAM strike on a school on the opening day of Trump’s war on Iran.)

Obscene. Never buy into the "Rubio is the normie" arguments. He's got a lot blood and terrible policies on his hands.

Another way to reassure NATO is to stop threatening to invade NATO states www.defensenews.com/global/europ...

From the NYT: "Olivia Wales, a White House spokeswoman, said that thanks to detailed planning, 'the entire administration was prepared for any action taken by the Iranian regime.'"

I'm not aware of any tactical or operational benefits that would come with deploying dual-capable U.S. aircraft to NATO allies that border Russia, so presumably this is all about signaling.

"Mr. Hegseth’s actions . . . appear to violate the rules governing a promotion system that is supposed to be apolitical and merit-based."

"Russia’s progress at the front has ground almost to a halt. The Kremlin is losing tens of thousands of soldiers a month while suppressing growing public anger at home."

Russian authorities have banned nine groups that provide support to LGBT people as “extremist.” These bans are absurd, harmful, and discriminatory. Rights-respecting governments should support Russian LGBT groups and activists, including by enabling them to continue their work from abroad.