mikayel musayelyan

Somewhat surprising from the New York Post editorial: nypost.com/2025/05/02/o...

Bibi showed up in D.C. expecting Trump to green-light airstrikes on Iran—only to find out, less than 24 hours before their big WH photo-op, that the US was actually about to start talking to Iran instead.

How Trump blindsided Netanyahu with his Iran nuclear gamble: www.reuters.com/world/inside...

Blackouts In Europe Continue to Raise Cyber Alarms Pinpointing the root cause of power outages this week in Spain and Portugal is no easy task. Forensic investigations ‘may take weeks.’

There’s no proof of digital tampering so far, but the outages have the feel of a high-level cyberattack on the region’s power grid—a favorite target for state-backed hackers. www.wsj.com/articles/bla...

Depending on the level of restrictions, daily life in some authoritarian states can resemble that in democratic states so much that some people may not fully feel the difference.

Good take: open.substack.com/pub/misofact...

Team Trump is great at breaking things—but it’s failing at its larger goal. 🤞

“…but when it comes to perhaps his administration’s most ambitious task—removing checks on Trump’s power, transforming democracy into something more like an authoritarian regime—the evidence suggests a surprisingly hopeful conclusion.”

All things aside, it’s the best free ad @signal.org could ask for. ✌️

Waltz’s historic fuck-up.
Wikipedia goes in real time.
bsky.app/profile/acyn...

Witkoff was in Moscow when he was added to the Signal group chat about the Houthi strike—just as Russia was providing the Houthis with targeting data: www.wsj.com/world/russia...

bsky.app/profile/olga...

Possibly the most insane national security story since the days of messengers/internet.

“Houthi PC small group”

Lowkey Tech Playlist · Spotify · 60 items · 986.3K saves

🎧 open.spotify.com/playlist/37i...

Trump releases JFK assassination files Trump pledged on the campaign trail to release the remaining files pertaining to the assassination.

4/ Researchers and historians are currently examining these documents to identify any significant information that was not previously known. Given the volume of material—approximately 80,000 pages—it will take time to thoroughly assess the content and its implications. www.axios.com/2025/03/18/t...

When Will the Declassified JFK Files Be Released Publicly? The president says they’ll “all” be released on Tuesday, March 18.

3/ — Internal Memos: Previously redacted internal communications within federal agencies discussing investigative strategies and findings.
nymag.com/intelligence...

2/ — Foreign Communications: Records of communications between U.S. agencies and foreign governments concerning Lee Harvey Oswald’s activities abroad.

1/ While the complete analysis of these documents is ongoing, initial reports indicate that the newly released files include:

— Intelligence Reports: Documents detailing surveillance activities and intelligence assessments from the period leading up to the assassination.

6/ Little, A. T., Schnakenberg, K. E., & Turner, I. R. (2022). Motivated reasoning and democratic accountability. American Political Science Review, 116(2), 611-627.

5/ As a result, the electorate becomes less responsive to actual government performance, thereby diminishing the effectiveness of democratic accountability mechanisms.

4/ Little, Schnakenberg, and Turner (2022) argue that motivated reasoning weakens democratic responsiveness by fostering divergence in public beliefs and desensitization to political misconduct.

3/ shift the boundaries of acceptable discourse, and render once-shocking actions routine or inevitable. This phenomenon is closely related to motivated reasoning, which plays a critical role in shaping political accountability.

2/ leading to the acceptance of previously unacceptable behavior.

Through a deliberate strategy of overwhelming the public with frequent transgressions, scandals, or inflammatory rhetoric, political figures or groups can lower societal standards,

desensitization (n) 🧵

1/ The concept of desensitization as a political strategy closely aligns with the normalization of deviance—a process in which repeated exposure to extreme, unethical, or controversial actions gradually reduces public outrage,

Draft list proposes Trump’s new travel ban targeting 43 countries: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/14/u...

Ukraine’s Future Vision and Current Capabilities for Waging AI-Enabled Autonomous Warfare As unmanned weapons systems reshape warfare in Ukraine, Kateryna Bondar explores advancements in AI-enabled autonomy. This report offers a comprehensive analysis of AI applications in the war and crit...

4/ While such systems may operate without direct human control, they typically do not independently perform the entire process of finding, selecting, and engaging targets. www.csis.org/analysis/ukr...

3/ AI significantly enhances specific functions such as drone footage analysis, target recognition, target tracking, and autonomous navigation, including last-mile navigation, as well as sound and text analysis for intelligence extraction, where AI replaces 99% of human labor.

2/ AI is a foundational technology for transitioning from automated to autonomous systems that can determine how to achieve a goal rather than merely executing human-programmed algorithms.

From CSIS Wadhwani AI Center report: “…Waging AI-Enabled Autonomous Warfare.” 🧵

1/ The current deployment of AI is limited in scope, enhancing certain functions and addressing specific operational challenges rather than enabling full system autonomy.

An FSB-linked think tank prepared a document [in Feb] for the Russian admin, which was obtained by EU intel, highlights the challenges Trump still faces in reaching an agreement with Russia for a peace deal. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/0...

bsky.app/profile/stan...

7/ With inflation data due this week and markets already on edge, volatility could continue. www.bls.gov/schedule/new...

The question in the air: Is this a temporary selloff or the start of something worse [?]

Recession risks are rising, economists say. Here's what to know. Trump's tariffs touched off a stock market plunge in recent days.

6/ Despite strong job numbers, economists warn that Trump’s unpredictable trade policies and spending freezes are denting business confidence. Goldman Sachs now pegs the risk of a U.S. recession at 20%, while JPMorgan sees a 40% chance of a global downturn. abcnews.go.com/Business/rec...