Robert Young Pelton

Hey, @GuntherEagleman is in there.

wow -- CNN broadcast footage of an Arlington guard yelling at a group with Pete Hegseth to "MAINTAIN SILENCE ... PAY RESPECT!" after someone in his entourage started laughing at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Since May, tariff refunds have amounted to 113% of new tariff collections. That's a net loss of $15 billion for the Treasury.

As they say in Russia, appetite grows while eating. Russia’s top negotiator Medinsky says in Abu Dhabi that Moscow’s demands extend to all of Europe, far beyond Ukraine. “The security system in Europe works very badly. The entire organism is sick. Ukraine is just an abscess that burst. The organism must be cured as a whole, a band-aid will not be enough.” Dr Putin to the rescue of poor sick Europe… The more Trump seeks to mollify Putin, the more megalomaniac the Russian demands become.

Trump refers to veterans as a “wall of flesh” at a Veterans Day memorial event

مشاهد استهداف آليات وتحشيدات تابعة للعدو السعودي في عدة جبهات بطائرات رجوم المسيرة - 11 نوفمبر 2026م

The smallest diplomatic details can carry the biggest implications -- and the fact that Kushner and Witkoff are once again meeting with Putin first is meaningful. It's been the pattern: Putin first and Zelenskyy second, if at all. They've repeatedly and credulously allowed Putin to shape their thinking, and Ukraine has been left to fend off proposals that amount to Moscow's fever dream.

Kushner and Witkoff are about to be tangled up in Congressional oversight hearings for the remainder of Trump's term. Their financials will be spilled on the front page of every international newspaper as they try to fashion some grand bargain with Russia they have neither the intellectual nor diplomatic skills to credibly attempt. Europeans would do well to pat Jared and Steve on the head and give their "blessing" for a process that will go nowhere except into more process.