Ole Jakob Warlo

To sum up the day. The Strait of Hormuz is still not open unless vessels go through the Iranian tollbooth, the U.S. naval blockade of Iran continues, and the dramatic decline in oil prices is caused not by the changing reality on the ground but by market expectations — possibly over-optimistic — that the U.S. and Iran will strike a nuclear deal in the foreseeable future.

From a friend in Budapest

While interfering in Hungary's election, Vance baselessly accuses other people of interfering in Hungary's election

Stem for en frisk start. Stem på Liberal Alliance.

Worth noting that Lukashenko has allowed Russian troops to invade Ukraine from Belarus, has allowed Putin to transform Belarus into an extension of Russia's military base, and to launch missile strikes from Belarusian territory. He has granted Russia permission deploy nuclear-capable missiles, including the Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, to Belarus.

Today is the 250th anniversary of Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, one of the most important books ever. If you don’t have the stamina to read it all, we made a film about him a few years ago. My favourite part is when his metaphor of “the man of system” comes alive.

Retningsvalg på Sentrum Stasjon. VG

💥SCOOP: Putin tasked Sergei Kiriyenko to run a Moldova-style election meddling operation in Hungary for Orbán, sending three GRU-linked political technologists with diplomatic or service passports to operate from the Russian Embassy in Budapest. More in my latest newsletter.🧵👇

Norwegian NASAMS systems helped us a lot. I will not share the exact number of NASAMS we have, but it is more than ten and we are still getting them. We have also received missiles for NASAMS made by Norway. However, even domestic Norwegian stocks weren’t enough. And then Norway worked with other countries at the political level to provide us with some additional missiles. This was very important. In parallel, we were working on joint production and IRIS-T systems. And then it was like a rising wave: when one country stepped up, other real allies, like Norway, followed. That was very good. This winter, Norway also helped us with gas which we needed after Russian attacks on our energy sector, including gas infrastructure. And the people of Norway support these decisions. All parties in Parliament support them as well. Thank you. All countries have their own internal politics, but the unity in the Norwegian Parliament on Ukraine is crucial and we appreciate it. All of these things, as well as the work on drones that we started and the fact that Norway is second-largest contributor to PURL, are deeply valued in Ukraine. From an interview with NRK News (1/2)

Ukrainian air defenses including Patriots, from the sound of it, are actively working against Russian ballistic missiles and drones now attacking Kyiv. Several explosions.

The Trump administration has formally warned Ukraine not to strike targets within Russia that could hit US economic interests, according to Kyiv’s ambassador to Washington @StefanishynaO. Meanwhile, the Trump admin has barely said anything about Russia’s many more strikes on US businesses in Ukraine. w/ @ak_mack ft.com/content/281c14…

Year five of the full-scale Russian war against the people of Ukraine has begun. Ukraine was supposed to be just the easy first step before Russia reasserts a sphere of influence in Europe, the so-called “new security architecture” Putin demanded in 2021. The fact that Europe remains free and at peace is because Ukrainians keep shedding their blood and refuse to surrender.

Four years have passed since Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine. Russia was supposed to win in three days. Instead, Ukraine reinvented modern warfare, built a drone industry, and can destroy a thousand Russian soldiers in a day. Ukraine can win.

In a wide-ranging interview with the FT, the Ukrainian president has warned that without firm western security guarantees Moscow will use a ceasefire to rebuild its forces for another assault ft.trib.al/CjyWt1G

Norwegian cross-country star Johannes Klaebo has unleashed a gravity-defying uphill sprint on skis, leaving his competitors in the dust and clinching four gold medals. on.wsj.com/46FkiqG

As tensions rise in the Arctic, WSJ's Sune Rasmussen trains with a group of U.S. Special Forces for 10 days as they prepare for a potential war against Russia—and learns why subzero survival skills are crucial for the future of war. Watch more: on.wsj.com/4kEpS2q

I discussed priorities for supporting Ukraine in the military and energy sectors with Prime Minister of Norway @jonasgahrstore. It’s important to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense and advance the PURL initiative, which enables us to purchase missiles for air defense systems from the United States. Protected skies over Ukraine are one of the key factors that will force Russia to end this war. We also discussed continuing energy assistance to Ukraine. I thank Norway and the Prime Minister for all the help provided, including the protection of our people's lives with NASAMS missiles and assistance to our energy sector. We greatly value this support.

Klæbo 🤝

I am a Ukrainian Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. I have a question.  Why has Trump's year of negotiations been the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion? The number of deaths and injuries has increased by 31 percent compared to the previous year. Why did Putin not allow himself such brutal strikes on civilian infrastructure under Biden, whom Trump calls “weak,” but totally destroys peaceful cities and disregards the “strong Trump”? Photo Liz Landers

Everyone should see this right now. A baby being pulled out of a passenger train in Ukraine. Civilians purposefully targeted. This is sick. A friend of mine on the train just sent me this harrowing footage.