Dr. Faustus

@Marblechops79 @Xevaric @afneil Authored by Anatol Lieven… lol

@Xevaric @afneil Written before war: thenation.com/article/world/…

Ukraine is victim of an unprovoked invasion by a barbaric totalitarian killing machine. And the VP of the USA says he’s proud not to be helping it. Immoral, callous charlatan. Let’s hope we never hear of him again after 2028.

@max93426697 @IAPonomarenko Good thing Fidesz is no longer in power then.

@IAPonomarenko @IAPonomarenko Hungary’s foreign policy won’t change 1 mm under Fidesz. Just watch

So you’re telling me that obsessing over a hysterical anti-Ukrainian narrative, covering Hungary with insulting posters about Zelensky, and staging daily social media dramas under the guidance of Kremlin political strategists wasn’t the best electoral strategy?

@IAPonomarenko The dumbest election campaign in modern European history came to a highly predictable conclusion.

Hahahahahaha. Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

Köszönjük Magyarország!

@ColbyBadhwar Massive news! Hungarians decided Zelensky should laugh last.😁

🚨🇭🇺 Tisza leader Peter Magyar announces on his FB page that Orban has accepted his defeat!

🚨🇭🇺 Hungarian election: With 46% reporting, Tisza is projected to have a supermajority!

💥What we’ve all feared is happening: Hungarian Russia expert András Rácz wrote three days ago about a potential Russia-backed false flag attack in Serbia targeting the gas pipeline to Hungary. The same information had already reached multiple journalists, including myself, weeks earlier, from sources connected to Hungarian government circles. Now Viktor Orbán has announced that Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić informed him about “explosives of devastating power” found at the gas pipeline connecting the two countries. Orbán and his propaganda machine are already amplifying the news everywhere, with the prime minister convening his security cabinet. It remains unclear what measures the government might take using this alleged false flag operation as a pretext. But if the second part of the information we received also proves true, Orbán could declare a state of emergency, significantly affecting the election campaign—which he is currently losing—and potentially disrupting the organization of the April 12 election. The opposition Tisza Party has been widening its lead to 15–20 points, if not more. Orbán accuses them of being "Ukrainian agents" for months. His propaganda would very soon link the Serbian false-flag both to Ukraine and the Tisza Party, I have no doubts about that. I encourage all foreign reporters covering the Hungarian election to pay close attention and not fall for the government’s propaganda or the narratives pushed by its pundits on the Orbán government payroll, including here on X. The situation could soon be very serious.

@RoadHazard19 @Gidonald @wartranslated Bot

@Gidonald @wartranslated I called this the first time we caught Ukrainian operatives in Hungary in 2022. But no, we should be lenient, they said. They are just surveiling their own citizens that fled here, they said.

Orban claims explosives were found on the gas pipeline between Serbia and Hungary. He says an emergency defense council meeting has been called.

@maxlinski @ColbyBadhwar USAF has been averaging 2 lost aircrafts per day over the course of the war?

@ColbyBadhwar “Non-zero” risk and 2 lost aircraft per day - that’s rather 2 a bit different things, ain’t it?

“Air superiority does not mean zero risk.” Crazy how many supposedly intelligent people are failing to grasp this.

@FasoliaGigantes @wartranslated They literally unblocked the grain corridor?

@wartranslated did he force russia to stop throwing missiles on civilian cargo ships and we somehow missed it?

Zelensky says no single country can lift the Strait of Hormuz blockade alone and only joint action can work. He points to Ukraine’s Black Sea grain corridor as a model and says Kyiv is ready to help with interceptors, convoys and EW, but hasn’t been asked.

@ColbyBadhwar All those silly admins of yesteryear opting for persuasion and coalition-building over publicly harassing and threatening allies into collective action… what did they know?

These threats only harm the US. The supply of air defense interceptors via PURL is very modest, nothing that is going to make a big difference for CENTCOM. If Trump wants European support, which he has previously said isn't even needed, he should make the case for it.

@ianinnorway @Ciaran2493 @ForeignAffairs @KofmanMichael That analogy would only be applicable if Kennedy essentially turned out to be more receptive of the Soviets placing nukes in Mexico a few months later. Russia’s muted response to Finland’s NATO accession proves the Ukraine invasion was for entirely colonial reasons.

@Ciaran2493 @ForeignAffairs @KofmanMichael What was the Cuba missile crisis about? Kennedy was willing to risk a nuclear war to prevent SU placing nukes in Cuba. Why would Russia be any different wrt Ukraine?

The war in Ukraine “is not, and was never, simply about land,” writes @KofmanMichael. “Moscow aims to impose its will on Ukraine and destroy it as an independent state with a distinct national identity.” foreignaffairs.com/russia/ukraine…

@DefenseNigeria Perhaps the army needs to stop indulging in pet projects and start ordering these in large enough quantities from the private sector to actually enable economies of scale.

FPV and kamikaze drones were already being designed at the smart factory of the Nigerian Army Command Engineering Depot years ago. The initiative never received the level of funding needed to scale up production. By now, hundreds of these drones could have been deployed across the front. In Europe, FPV drones have transformed the Ukranian battlefield, inflicting around 80% of combat casualties on both sides.

@NotCubby @yarotrof @segmentum1 What kind of disingenuous lunatic thinks “price of oil” is a convincing reason for enabling dictators to murder innocent people?

@yarotrof @segmentum1 What kind of mad fool celebrates the destruction of energy infrastructure?

Like shooting fish in a barrel. For the third time in a week, Ukraine successfully attacks Russia’s major oil and gas export terminal in Ust Luga on the Baltic Sea. It’s as far from Ukraine as Sweden is from Italy. Special thanks to the Indian sailor for the BDA.

‼️Statement on the Orbán Government Accusing Me, an Investigative Journalist, of Espionage‼️ Today, the Hungarian government has filed a complaint against me for espionage. Accusing investigative journalists of espionage is virtually unprecedented in the 21st century for an EU member state. This is typical of Putin’s Russia, Belarus, and similar regimes. I have spent over a decade documenting how Russian spies and interests have penetrated Hungarian politics, so I am probably the least surprised by this. Despite growing signs that the Hungarian government acts as a Kremlin ally and copies the Russian model, I still trust that parts of the Hungarian state—and the judiciary—follow the Hungarian constitution, not that of the Russian Federation. I have never engaged in espionage. I see my work as journalistic counterintelligence—from exposing the hacking of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry by Russian actors to revealing the activities of Hungarian pro-Kremlin propagandists. Defending myself publicly would be easier if I were not bound by source protection. But that remains my top priority. I cannot reveal who provides me information or what I receive, including from within Hungarian state structures. If I were not a journalist, I could list many facts proving it is impossible for the Hungarian state to genuinely believe I am spying. Certain meetings, contacts, and information gathering could never have happened otherwise. This baseless accusation now forces me to share details of a specific investigation, including a conversation with a confidential source that appears to have been wiretapped. Normally, this would appear in a finished article or my upcoming book—not here. (It will appear there as well.) Since 2023, I have investigated whether the relationship between Péter Szijjártó and Russian officials exceeds legal limits. The published audio, where I’m heard talking to a source, mentions that communication between Szijjártó and Sergey Lavrov is recorded by EU intelligence services. Less attention has gone to my point that this relationship raises strong suspicion of political intelligence activity and influence operations in Russia’s interest. These are serious claims and hard to prove. As a journalist, I cannot force anyone to speak or hand over documents. That is why gathering this information has taken so long—and why I spoke to that sensitive source (while the conversation was secretly recorded). Serious claims require serious evidence, and I believe I have gathered some. I have not engaged in espionage. I have not cooperated with any foreign intelligence service in surveilling Szijjártó. Instead, I tried to verify earlier fragments of information about Szijjártó–Lavrov communication. I sought to identify the channels and phone numbers used, and whether a secret channel—possibly used by Russian intelligence—exists. In other words, whether Szijjártó uses a hidden device or number unknown even within the Hungarian Foreign Ministry. This was only one part of my research. The other, more serious topic is this: Since at least 2016–2017, EU and NATO intelligence services have had indications that large amounts of cash and precious stones may have been transported from Russia on Hungarian government aircraft or private jets used by government figures. Officials from at least six countries made such claims to me. These signals did not come from monitoring Hungarian targets, but, for example, from intercepting Russian officials discussing or preparing such shipments. Alongside Szijjártó–Lavrov communication, I examined how baggage screening and handling works on such flights, which officials travel with what luggage, whether more packages arrive from Moscow than depart, and how such shipments could be handled discreetly. I know how serious this is, and I would not have written even this much—but since I do not know what else may be taken from the edited recording, or what fabricated accusations (like, for example, that I was seeking such details to commit terrorism) may follow, I believe I must share this now. Why do I investigate all this? According to many sources familiar with the Hungarian state and counterintelligence, there is no independent body in the Orbán system able to investigate or act if a senior official is suspected of espionage. Government members direct intelligence services and set expectations. The services lack both tools and authority to investigate a government member. I knew this would be difficult when I chose to pursue it. But few people in Hungary can or dare to do this, so I felt it was my duty. We have now reached the point where the Orbán government—of which Szijjártó is still a member—aware of my reporting plans and the risk they pose, has preemptively accused me of espionage. I am a Hungarian patriot. I serve the public. As an investigative journalist, my job is to hold power accountable. Neither political theater nor legal threats will deter me.

@WeaponScientist @IAPonomarenko If this is just delivery schedule reprioritization, isn’t the WaPo framing here wrong?

@IAPonomarenko The delivery schedules for Foreign Military Sales are not contractually obligated. The DoD can legally reprioritize the delivery schedules as a consequence.

I mean, how the hell is this even legal? Was it part of the contract that the seller is entitled to say “screw you and the money you've paid us, we're talking these weapons for ourselves”?

@AngelicaLevis @LordofAngels09 @MikemanCommeth @WeTheBrandon They can *fail at multiple things.

@LordofAngels09 @MikemanCommeth @WeTheBrandon While SMO going on they are also supporting Iran in this war. They can do multiple things. x.com/WSJ/status/203…

The F-35 program was billed as the most advanced stealth fighter ever. It cost us $2 trillion over 20 years. And it gets clipped by a missile belonging to a military that I have been told repeatedly by the Pentagon was totally defeated. LOL. Hope the pilots are OK, tho!

@wartranslated Does anyone bother listening to themselves anymore these days?

The Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Ukraine risks becoming an accomplice to a US and Israeli strike on Iran, adding that Iranians will never forgive this.

@DefenseNigeria Source on the F-16 offer??🤔

An Iraqi Air Force F-16 Block 52+. It's hard to believe Obasanjo declined an offer from the U.S. to purchase a squadron of used F-16 fighter jets when he was president. The U.S. offered Nigeria a squadron of used F-16 fighters for $180 million. He declined. Opting to spend $350 million on 15 Chengdu F-7 fighters from China.

@ukrcdngirl @ralakbar x.com/colbybadhwar/s…

@ralakbar Please tell me you mean $14 Billion....B not M 14 million is a drop in the bucket and insulting and offensive

SCOOP!! Trump administration has notified Congress of two separate weapons deals for Ukraine, including a multi-million dollar transfer of U.S.-made equipment from Norway, congressional sources tell me. The notifications, sent to the Senate this week authorize following 👇 1/3