Neil MacFarquhar

Speaker Johnson: "We are not at war right now."
Sounds rather like President Putin calling his invasion of Ukraine "a special military operation" and sending Russians who call it -- rightfully -- a war to prison for up to 15 years.

Arabic spokesman for the Israeli military, Avichay Adraee, issues a statement warning the residents of more than 40 villages across southern Lebanon and in the Bekaa valley to evacuate for their own safety. (First strikes in Beirut suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold, came without warning.)

The Israeli enemy cannot continue its aggression, which has persisted for fifteen months, without receiving a deterrent response aimed at stopping this aggression and forcing a withdrawal from the occupied Lebanese territories.

The leadership of the Resistance has consistently affirmed that the continuation of Israeli aggression and the assassination of our leaders, our youth, and our people grants us the right to defend ourselves and to respond at the appropriate time and place.

and in defense of Lebanon and its people, and within the framework of responding to the repeated Israeli aggressions, the Islamic Resistance targeted…the Mishmar HaCarmel missile defense site south of the occupied city of Haifa, with a barrage of precision rockets and a swarm of drones.

In retaliation for the pure blood of the Guardian of the Muslims, His Eminence Grand Ayatollah Imam Sayyed Ali al-Husseini al-Khamenei (may his noble secret be sanctified), which was unjustly and treacherously shed at the hands of the criminal Zionist enemy….

Hezbollah claims responsibility for missile attack on military target near Haifa as response to Khamenei assassination. Israel now striking across Lebanon. (Hezbollah refers to itself as “the Resistance.”)

Journalists slain at record level in 2025, majority by Israel, watchdog says An increasing number of journalists were killed by drones, the Committee to Protect Journalists said. The IDF said it “strongly rejects” the group’s findings.

Last year was the deadliest on record for journalists.

For the third year in a row, Israel killed more journalists and media workers than any other country amid the war in Gaza, according to a report released by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Americans Fed Up With a Balky Health Care System, School Shooters and Chaotic Politics are Leaving the US in Record Numbers for Europe, Mexico and elsewhere

Iran mess underscores chaotic White House approach and dubious past claims about country’s nuclear program.

Epstein Files Are Missing Records About Woman Who Made Claim Against Trump

New questions raised about why Epstein files released did not include three FBI memos about an investigation related to Trump. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...

Once upon a time, when I worked in dictatorships like Syria, we used to laugh at the propensity to plaster the dear leaders face on every government building…

Russia Takes the Gulag Out of the Gulag History Museum in Moscow

This had been among the most interesting institutions in Moscow, where there was plenty of competition. But murdering your own citizens is not the Russian exceptionalism that Putin wants known. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/w...

When I lived in Moscow, there was this small, terrifically compelling Gulag museum that focused on the ordinary victims of Stalin’s terror. Naturally Putin’s Kremlin eventually shuttered it, and it wiil reportedly now reopen as a museum to victims of Nazism. Manipulating history…

A Russian ‘Village of Military Valor’ Waits for Its Reward

In a Russian village of 250 people, 39 of 67 men went to war in Ukraine and at least 19 are dead or missing. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/16/w...

We have a federal administration led by idiots and criminals.

Bafflement with Bezos The whole debacle of the Washington Post brand hara-kiri last week dispatched the myth that a tech billionaire could save serious journalism.

tinabrown.substack.com/p/bafflement...

Video: How Battlefield Tech Was Used in Minneapolis Our reporter Thomas Gibbons-Neff, who deployed twice to Afghanistan as a Marine and later was our Kabul bureau chief, looks at the battlefield technology used for an immigration arrest at a home in Mi...

How Battlefield Tech Was Used in Minneapolis www.nytimes.com/video/us/100...

Russia Jails U.S. Navy Veteran for Five Years

The Russians shanghaied another American veteran, jailing him for five years. No American diplomat has been able to see him while in the slammer for 7 month yet no public criticism from @state-department.bsky.social or @whitehouse-47.bsky.social (Picture is deceptive. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/w...

Iran’s Supreme Leader, Unbending Over Time

Iranian society has evolved but its Supreme Leader, 86, has not and little change will come while he endures. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/w...

Is the Russian Military Adapting Effectively to the Drone Age?

“Frankenstein tanks” are not working against drones, prompting roiling debate about tactics and training in Russia www.nytimes.com/2026/01/17/w...

Marxists and Mullahs Fought Together Once Before. What Happened?

“The Revolutionists” uses short, telling profiles to illustrate the transition in the Mideast from leftist militants to murderous jihadists during the 1970s. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/b...

Putin at a ceremony marking Orthodox Christmas: “At all times in Russia, this is how people have regarded their warriors, as those who, as if at ​the Lord’s behest, carry out this holy ​mission."
In this case their "holy mission" is slaughtering their fellow Orthodox Christians in Ukraine.

Russia Once Offered U.S. Control of Venezuela for Free Rein in Ukraine

Russia once suggested (unofficially) that it would cede Venezuela to US interests if Washington would do the same for Moscow with Ukraine.

www.nytimes.com/2026/01/06/w...

In other words, Putin is trying to have it both ways, grab the land but still influence what government rules in Kyiv, both failed goals of his invasion. Maximalist demands make it look like he is interested in peace when he really is not. Will DC push back? No sign....

Putin also insisted at his annual press conference Friday that 5-10 million Ukrainians living on what he calls Russian territory be allowed to vote in Ukrainian elections. (Presumably some of the same Ukrainians whom the occupiers have been forcing to take Russian citizenship to use govt services.)

ТАСС ▶️ Власть на Украине должна стать легитимной, а без проведения выборов это невозможно, заявил Путин. Видео: ТАСС/Ruptly

Putin, without irony, always says that Ukraine should hold elections for the government to become “legitimate,” as if there are real elections in Russia. t.me/tass_agency/...

I hope the Trump envoys negotiating with the Kremlin are paying attention to how much Putin lies about what territory Russia controls. He has been claiming for weeks that Russian soldiers control Kupyansk, where Zelensky took a selfie a couple days ago.

Starbucks to Pay $39 Million in Landmark N.Y.C. Labor Law Settlement

In theory, Starbucks has all these education and other benefits for its workers, but there have been longstanding reports that schedules are designed so nobody can accumulate enough hours to use them. Have not set foot in one for years. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/n...

The city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection found that Starbucks had violated the law more than half a million times since 2021 by failing to provide workers with stable schedules. More than 15,000 hourly workers are expected to receive restitution payments under the agreement.