You heard it at Commonwealth Club World Affairs Over the summer, @valinasr.bsky.social spoke with @swamiriver.bsky.social at @cwclub.bsky.social in San Francisco about Iran's grand strategy. Photos below by Sarah Gonzalez/Peopletography You can watch the entire program: youtu.be/K6fWqR3LDXA?...

As Russia, China and Iran augment their information war tools America retreats from the cognitive domain…

At least 31 civilians have been killed and 145 injured in Russian strikes across Ukraine since U.S. President Donald Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15.

"Whatever happens Friday, it’s imperative to never normalize Russia’s occupation. Some of the crimes Russia commits are blatant violations of international law." time.com/7309587/trum... #justice #truth #peace #standwithUkraine

Since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, it's always ramped up military operations ahead of high-level talks on the war. That has continued since Putin's full-scale invasion began in 2022. We're seeing the latest offensive intensify ahead of Friday's summit with Trump. www.ft.com/content/1a07...

European leaders are pressing the US to ratchet up sanctions pressure on Moscow as they race to shape the outcome of a meeting between Trump and Putin that could determine the fate of Ukraine and long-term security of the continent. on.ft.com/4mc7qOE w/ @chassnews.bsky.social @paolatamma.bsky.social

⚡️Update: 2 killed, 19 injured in Russian strike on bus in Kherson. As police officers were recovering victims' bodies from the bus, a second Russian FPV drone struck the vehicle, leaving three officers with concussions.

In Georgia the past is being rewritten about Russia’s invasion- turning the victim into an aggressor. What happens in Georgia then repeats in Ukraine and beyond. This is often the test tube for Russian imperialism www.codastory.com/rewriting-hi...

Looking forward to hosting a conversation with @valinasr.bsky.social on July 29. Join us—and bring your questions

One month ago the US bombed Iran—a startling development in a history fraught with conflict. So what are Iran’s true goals? On 7/29, for @cwclub.bsky.social in San Francisco I’m hosting @valinasr.bsky.social in conversation about Iran’s political history. Join us—and bring questions. bit.ly/40ylI3k

This July come to @cwclub.bsky.social—hear from & meet fascinating people. @gilduran.com @mirandaspivack.bsky.social @samkbloch.bsky.social @valinasr.bsky.social @dekai.bsky.social @christinahillsberg.bsky.social @terryshames.bsky.social & more! commonwealthclub.org/events

⚡️Russian mass missile attack targets Ukrainian regions far from front lines. A large-scale Russian missile and drone attack terrorized Ukraine overnight on June 29 as air raid alarms sounded across the country, including western oblasts far from the front.

This is a travesty & a nightmare. The US was a founder of @gavi.org. It lowers global vaccine costs, has vaccinated 1B children, & averted 19M deaths. This pull out will cost 100s of thousands of children's lives a year - and RFK Jr will be personally responsible. www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

⚡️Russian strikes kill 4, injure 5 in Kherson Oblast. Russian drone and artillery strikes on Kherson Oblast killed four people and injured five others between June 23-24, local officials said. Twenty-nine settlements, including the city of Kherson, were hit.

⚡️Russian attacks on Sumy Oblast kill 3 people, including 8-year-old boy. Russian forces launched a drone attack on Sumy Oblast overnight on June 24, killing three people, including an 8-year-old boy, and injuring three others, Governor Oleh Hryhorov reported.

Svitlana Tsikhanouskaya's husband, Siarhei has been released from a Belarusian prison She entered politics after his arrest She had no contact with him for several years x.com/Tsihanouskay...

Death toll from Russia’s missile and drone attack overnight on Monday-Tuesday has climbed to at least 30 people killed, 188 injured, says the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. On Kyiv, 28 killed, 134 injured; 23 victims killed in the strike on a nine-story building in Solomyansky district alone.

Images of Russian brutality emerging from Kyiv and Odesa, where at least 15 people were killed and more than 130 injured in a relentless, all-night missile and drone attack. 🎥: via Andriy Yermak/Telegram

Russia was kicked out of the G8 in March 2014 exactly BECAUSE it launched its war in Ukraine by invading and forcibly annexing Crimea.

Russia launched a mass missile and drone attack against Ukraine overnight on June 6, targeting the capital, major cities, and the country's far-western regions. A total of 80 people were injured and four people killed, including first responders, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Ukrainians watching this big beautiful beef unfold:⚡️ Zelensky promised to end the war between Trump and Musk within 24 hours.

by popular demand, excerpts from this article posted in a thread below it

⚡️Trump official who shut down counter-disinformation agency has Kremlin ties, Telegraph reports. A Trump State Department official who shut down a U.S. government office tasked with countering Russian disinformation has ties to the Kremlin, the Telegraph reported on June 3.

EXCLUSIVE | DOGE took over the US Institute of Peace. Now, the inside looks like a zombie movie, security chief reveals

Crucial investigative work from Nataliya Gumenyuk on the state of the war. @ngumenyuk.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/internationa...

Headline at left, from 'Independent' in UK. Headline at right, from "most prestigious" news org in US. -Hard to believe they're about same event. -All too easy to believe that NYT again went with sane-washing.

"The... summer guide newspaper insert published by the Chicago Sun-Times and the Philadelphia Inquirer that contained AI-generated #misinformation and reading lists full of books that don’t exist was created by a subsidiary of the magazine giant Hearst": www.404media.co/viral-ai-gen... #ethics #AI

For Trump, Monday’s call with Putin evoked the hope of a bright future of “largescale TRADE” between Russia and US, “when this catastrophic ‘bloodbath’ is over”. Ukraine and Europe felt they were being abandoned. Our analysis, with crack @financialtimes.com team. Free link: on.ft.com/3S9tGvd

Hours after the first Russia-Ukraine peace talks in 3 years, Russian forces attacked a civilian bus, killing 9 people and injuring 4 more, Ukrainian National Police report. Hardly a signal that Moscow is seeking an end to its war.

WATCH: Here's the conversation I hosted last week for @cwclub.bsky.social with John J. Sullivan, former U.S. ambassador to Russia on "From the Front Lines of Russia’s War Against the West." www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archi...

NEW: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi sold between $1 million and $5 million worth of Trump Media stock the same day Trump unveiled new tariffs that caused the stock market to plummet, according to records obtained by ProPublica. By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social and @bxroberts.org

Russia keeps killing civilians, and our official policy, sadly, is to blame the Ukrainian victims. The US could act to stop this, but we seem to lack both empathy and strategy. Good reporting here. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/w...

Hosting a conversation at 6 pm Pacific tonight at @cwclub.bsky.social in San Francisco with former US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan. Join us in person or online. And bring your questions! www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2025-...

The place to be! May 7 I’ll be hosting a conversation with former US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan on Russia’s War Against the West. Bring your questions, in person or online.

The Faces of Gun Violence exhibit at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) headquarters showed the portraits of 120 people killed in gun violence in the U.S.

The VA has abruptly ended the only low-interest, affordable loan modification option for thousands of vets who are behind on their mortgages. If you're a vet at risk of foreclosure, we want to hear your story.

Here's a special dispatch from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty including messages from Mike & Michael of R.E.M. and Radio Free's Europe's president Stephen Capus on World Press Freedom Day TODAY! More here: ffm.to/remrfe2025 www.youtube.com/watch?v=InfP...

Thousands of small grants to libraries and scholars were cut. Instead, "the agency announced it would be redirecting $17 million of its funding to create the National Garden of American Heroes, a patriotic statuary park" www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/a...

SCOOP: A DOGE Aide Involved in Dismantling the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Owns Stock in Companies That Could Benefit From the Cuts, by @jakepearson.bsky.social

Peace Corps to undergo ‘significant’ cuts after Doge review

⚡️Republican senator calls for secondary tariffs on Russian energy buyers. "As to additional sanctions on Putin's Russia, I have bipartisan legislation with almost 60 cosponsors that would put secondary tariffs on any country that purchases Russian oil, gas, uranium," Lindsey Graham said.

As officials meet in London to discuss a U.S. peace plan that includes recognizing Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea, experts warn that doing so would breach international law and potentially open the door for further global conflicts.

US ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink has finished her term in Kyiv after resigning over increasing policy disagreements with the Trump admin. Her Twitter account no longer shows her photo and is being archived, and the “our ambassador” page on the US embassy Kyiv website now looks like this:

Volodymyr Zelensky said that at least 67 Ukrainian priests, pastors, and monks have been killed or tortured by Russian forces, and that 640 religious sites—most of them Christian—have been destroyed since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Just weeks after creating a $50 million tax credit for private schools, Idaho has shut down a program that helped public school students pay for laptops, school supplies, tutoring and other expenses. By @audreydutton.bsky.social

They don't want peace

Read this by @chrismurphyct.bsky.social now: Trump’s tariff policy has nothing to do with trade on.ft.com/4lEKqIk

All 27 scientists at this CDC lab were told their duties were "unnecessary," and now viral outbreak investigations have been halted.

The DC attorney nominee has appeared dozens of times on Russian state media www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...