Nonaligned foreign policy ain't what it used to be. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/01/09/china-russia-iran-south-africa-naval-drills/895d878e-ed5a-11f0-91a9-9928b22be817_story.html

the news is getting weird, man

With the 2nd Oreshnik strike, we're getting some conflicting reports on the results. NYT describes it similarly to the Nov. 2024 Dnipro "little damage," but we heard from Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy that today's strike inflicted "significant damage on a critical infrastructure facility." There's some debate online that Kyiv and the U.S. media are downplaying the Oreshnik's destructive power without warheads, I guess to deny the Kremlin some of the weapon's propaganda value. Admittedly, a metal-loaded missile flying faster than Mach 10 *would* have quite the kinetic impact, no?

Update on yesterday's Portland shooting: Luis David Nico Moncada & Yorlenys Betzabeth Zambrano-Contreras were the driver & passenger, respectively, of the car shot at by at least one Border Patrol officer. Husband's condition was last reported as critical, wife's remains unknown.

oregonlive

What we know so far about the Border Patrol shooting in Portland as of Friday

Local authorities have so far shed little insight into the shooting by a federal agency. The FBI is leading the investigation.

This week's Naked Pravda is out. My colleague Sam Breazeale put some excellent questions to Seva Gunitsky and Craig Kennedy about this whole Venezuela business. I really enjoyed this episode; if you're like me, or if you like the podcast but hate my voice, you will too.

Meduza

Is Trump’s Venezuela operation a ‘gift to Putin,’ and what is the state of Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’? — Meduza

At first glance, the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro might look like an obvious disaster for Vladimir Putin. Russia has los...

i hope Trump remembered to do a land acknowledgement after dropping this truth bomb

lol

Was thinking about the cognitive bias of Maslow’s Hammer, and I decided that this inspirational quote should really exist.

I watched that horrific bodycam video, and I don't see a domestic terrorist out for blood. I did learn something, though. Renee Good’s last words to ICE Agent Jonathan Ross: “That’s fine, dude. I’m not mad at you.” Ross, after shooting and killing her, seconds later: “Fuckin’ bitch.”

In a recent essay for Carnegie Politika, Konstantin Skorkin tackles Zelensky's cabinet reshuffle, arguing that tapping Budanov and the others is Ze's attempt to shake loose 2025's scandals. But the admin has a serious personnel deficit, and it might all be deckchair rearranging. My summary:

Meduza

This was Russia today Thursday, January 8, 2026 — Meduza