Good Morning:
No, but apparently yes.
Soooo much.
Yes.
Yes, but apparently no.
A blowtorch.
The 1962 Mets.
Yes.
Yesterday on #DogShirtTV, there was a show. Unfortunately, because of a worldwide Amazon Web Services outage, the link that should lead to a recording of yesterday’s show currently looks like this:
I’ll get the show posted as soon as Riverside is back up and running.
Yesterday On Lawfare
Compiled by the estimable Isabel Arroyo
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan Here.”
Anna Bower discusses her Signal conversation with interim U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan.
It is not uncommon for federal prosecutors to communicate with the press, both through formal channels and sometimes informally. My exchange with Halligan, however, was highly unusual in a number of respects. She initiated a conversation with me, a reporter she barely knew, to discuss an ongoing prosecution that she is personally handling. She mostly criticized my reporting—or, more precisely, my summary of someone else’s reporting. But several of her messages contained language that touch on grand jury matters, even as she insisted that she could not reveal such information, which is protected from disclosure by prosecutors under federal law.
Anna and I had a conversation about this story on Lawfare Live: The Now yesterday evening:
The U.S. Security Commitment to Qatar and a Path to Peace in Ukraine
Mykhailo Soldatenko breaks down how President Trump’s executive order assuring Qatari security could serve as a model for a future U.S. commitment to Ukraine. Soldatenko analyzes the extent to which the order imposes obligations on the U.S. and discusses how a similar order safeguarding Ukraine’s “armed neutrality” could help in negotiations with Russia.
A similarly worded security guarantee of Ukraine’s armed neutrality or non-alignment is a tool that President Trump can use to increase the chances of ending the Russia-Ukraine War through a settlement acceptable to both Ukraine and Russia. Right after the Alaska summit concluded, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff stated that the Trump administration was “able to win the following concession [from Russia], that the United States could offer Article 5-like protection, which is one of the real reasons why Ukraine wants to be in NATO” (emphasis added). President Trump reportedly also previously told Ukraine and the European partners that Ukraine can have “Article 5-like NATO protections.” Considering Russia’s aversion to NATO membership and other alliances for Ukraine, Witkoff may have contemplated an Article 5-like security arrangement in exchange for Ukraine’s armed neutrality, discussed by Ukraine and Russia during the 2022 Istanbul talks. It remains to be seen whether such a framework can satisfy all the parties.
African Non-State Actors Put Drones on the Attack
In the latest installment of Lawfare’s Foreign Policy Essay series, Rueben Dass examines the rise in African non-state actors’ use of drones to carry out attacks. Dass evaluates the economic calculations and strategic influences behind that rise and weighed the new threat that drone-armed groups pose to African militaries.
The shift from passive to offensive use of drones can be attributed to several factors. First, drones and the modifications necessary to weaponize them are more accessible than ever. Second, they are increasingly cost-effective, making them a useful tool for targeting government forces. And third, the efficacy of drones in other conflict theaters and access to expertise from foreign fighters and friendly state governments have influenced African NSAs to adopt them. NSAs are rarely passive observers to global conflicts and learn and incorporate tactics that work elsewhere.
Podcasts
On Lawfare Daily, I sit down with Loren Voss, Michael Feinberg, Roger Parloff, and Eric Columbus to discuss legal challenges to deploying the National Guard in Chicago, the indictment of John Bolton, and a judge blocking federal employee firings during the shutdown.
Today’s #BeastOfTheDay is the aardvark, seen here snuffling:
In honor of today’s Beast, please watch the video with the sound on, so you can hear the snuffling.
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