My colleague Moscow Marge is really getting desperate in her attempt to surrender to Vladimir Putin. Since she is suddenly so concerned with antisemitism, someone should remind her that the President of Ukraine is Jewish and had family members killed by actual Nazis.

Clever argument. "You're willing to give Israel, a non-NATO member, the interceptor assets to repel 200 simultaneous missiles and drone attacks. Any chance you could do the same for Ukraine?"

Editing something of my own on North Korea, I'm reminded that even the most cogent argument about rogue leaders can be undermined when one refers to "rouge leaders." Mind you, a little makeup on the cheeks, and those guys are capable of anything.

So, so relieved not to be invited to the Met gala this year. With half of the women having trains the size of small continents, once they are inside the celebrants must be standing aloof shouting at each other to converse, as social as islands in the Caribbean.

An actual hero. This is what America First looks like when it’s a lived ethos, rather than a mask for narcissism and ambition.

Netflix and Real life x.com/no_one_quits/s…

In 2016, during a sweltering DC summer, I wore a tan suit into the Oval Office for the PDB. As I walked in, Barack Obama commented "nice suit," and I replied, "It's the audacity of taupe, Mr. President!" The President smiled and said, "I see what you're doing there."

From an article in the New York Times on how the Russian FSB has been doing a miserable job of gathering intel for Putin. Read the last paragraph and enjoy.

Hail to the Chief.

Regarding Ukraine, we often focus on what Putin might do. To switch roles for a moment: if I were Putin, I'd be on tenterhooks starting on November 6. If the United States was going to escalate support for UKR, huge incentives to do it after the election.

Saw Conclave, a good movie - missed chances to build on any number of themes, but some fine performances of tensile-strength restraint. There are bizarre and unrepresentative elements of the conclave, but then one is jealous of how smoothly it functions in the end.

We should also rename the Atlantic Ocean, call it East Boston Pond instead.

Christoph Heusgen, chair of the Munich Security Conference, points out - very diplomatically - that our "rules-based order" is "very easy to destroy." youtube.com/shorts/BhNy0u5…

I've got an article in the latest Foreign Policy with Christopher Faulkner and James Guimond, arguing that an adversary's willingness to fight is a critical factor in policy-making and war planning. I'm a little humbled by the photo they chose, I must admit. foreignpolicy.com/2025/03/28/war…

So over on the caelum caeruleum, Sarah Bond inflicted upon me a remarkably incompetent talk Malcolm Gladwell gave and so I am going to inflict it on all of you by going through all of the mistakes he makes here in the hope that none of you will ever take him seriously again. 1/

A Ukrainian sea drone apparently mounted two Stinger AA missiles, and took out a pair of Russian Flanker fighter jets. Remarkable tech achievement, and a daunting harbinger of what these systems will achieve, very soon. navalnews.com/naval-news/202…

Delighted to see The Atlantic tackle the central question of my book, The Spy and The State, available now! a.co/d/21Yilni

I'm late to the party, but A House of Dynamite is well worth a watch - one of the better national security movies, and there aren't many in that category.

I was working up a seminar plan for last week, and stumbled across the fact that ground was broken for the Pentagon on September 11, 1941. The most shocking thing: I have yet to hear a conspiracy theory built around that fact. There are some slackers in the Webosphere, clearly.