InterMarium

Dispatches from the Intermarium Fronts

[Michael McFaul @McFaul]

Dear Mr. @elonmusk, why do you never call for Putin to go? He's ruled Russia as a dictator for 26 years. Isn't that enough?

You know, Putin thinks you are a fool. He thinks he has your number. Behind closed doors, they tell jokes about you. You do his bidding here -- calling for Zelenskyy to go -- and he doesn't even have to bribe you, like Schroeder or others.

I am a huge admirer of your work when it comes to making things that improve our world. Huge!

I find your judgments of Putin naive.

But I know I might be "biased." He has killed some of my friends & colleagues. My guess is he hasn't killed any of your friends.

Please spend some time in Kyiv. Meet some mothers whose kids were deliberately killed by Putin's drones. And then go to Moscow and try to meet some mothers whose kids were deliberately targeted by Ukrainian rockets and drones. You won't find any.

Putin is slaughtering innocent civilians in Ukraine on purpose.

Zelenskyy is not.

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

AfD is the United Russia party branch in Germany.

[Fire Point @FirePointUA]

Who knew Ukraine's defenders could even debotify the internet?

Well, I guess we did 😌

[Dylan Malyasov | 🧐 @DylanMalyasov]

Russia refused to honor Trump’s energy ceasefire, so now, in an apparent attempt to save his image, someone has come up with the claim that the truce was supposed to stop both sides from attacking oil refineries. Apparently, the idiots in the Trump administration forgot that Russia had already destroyed Ukraine’s oil refining capacity back in 2022.

[Jay in Kyiv @JayinKyiv]

Another massacre by Russians in Kharkiv an hour ago, targeting a grocery store and apartment buildings.

There are already 3 confirmed dead, 20 injured, including two children.

[Kateryna Lisunova @KaterynaLis]

Ultimately what we are witnessing right now is the final month before the midterms, and President Trump is once again using Ukraine in his campaign.

We already saw the same thing during the 2024 presidential campaign. The same people, Musk, Trump, and others (we should wait for JD Vance to join them), were criticizing Ukraine and Zelenskyy personally while praising russia.

It’s a political strategy: divide and conquer. You take a very popular issue and start criticizing it. People who agree with you become your voters.

We may think this is an unpopular decision, but this kind of campaign doesn’t really need popular statements. It needs scandalous ones, and that’s exactly what they got.

Regarding the practical implications: The announced shipments could provide temporary relief to fuel markets, but their relatively limited volume, uncertain delivery schedule, and russia's own refining constraints raise serious questions about whether this deal can deliver any lasting reduction in diesel prices.

So, what is the benefit of this deal for the U.S.? At the moment, it seems purely political. Also, the administration needs someone to blame for high gas prices, for failing to end the war in one day, and for the very real possibility of losing control of Congress in the midterms (it looks like it’s all Ukraine’s fault now)

The worst part of all this is that it’s completely immoral. It helps russia. And it’s happening at a time when Ukraine is enduring some of the heaviest shelling, with civilians being brutally killed by russians every single day.

[Michael Weiss @michaeldweiss]

The Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List is how the United States sells weapons to Europe, which are then provided for Ukraine’s defenses. The price tag for these weapons is in the billions of dollars (upwards of $6.7 billion to date), orders of magnitude higher than what the Russian diesel deal is worth. Trump would be losing money — and costing the American defense industry revenue — for a sham deal with Russia that benefits none outside of Moscow and Miami. Just to give you a sense of his prioritized requirements.

[Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 @IAPonomarenko]

I stand by this twice as strongly in light of the latest news

[Kateryna Lisunova @KaterynaLis]

Honestly, it doesn’t make any sense. You cannot just announce a ceasefire in a social media post without negotiating with both sides. These are human lives, after all.

[Iryna Voichuk @IrynaVoichuk]

Russian strike on a suburbs of Kharkiv killed a 16-year-old boy, a 19-year-old girl, and a 51-year-old woman.

More than 20 people were injured, including my friend, who suffered ear blast injury.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

The Russian troll bots in my own feed have dropped dramatically already. MAGA's online support may soon reflect Trump's approval rating!

[Paul Ronzheimer @ronzheimer]

Das Fazit des früheren Ukraine-Außenministers: „So traurig es für mich ist, das einzugestehen: Ich glaube, wir alle müssen der Realität nüchtern ins Auge sehen und akzeptieren, dass Putin weder nach einer Lösung noch nach einer Unterbrechung des Krieges sucht. Und es wird auch keinen Zeitpunkt geben, an dem er damit anfängt. Ich weiß, dass das in deutschen Ohren schmerzhaft klingt. Aber glauben Sie mir: Für ukrainische Ohren klingt es noch viel schlimmer.“ Die ganze Folge mit @DmytroKuleba hier:
https://t.co/MhSQqkC9mI

[Tomáš Zdechovský @TomasZdechovsky]

If confirmed, this is telling: Russian data centres get hit, and online activity around AfD suddenly plummets. 📉

So much talk about German patriotism… then the connection from Russia goes down. 🤔🇷🇺

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Q: It's not just President Trump. We also heard from Elon Musk saying Zelenskyy has gone too far. Why are they blaming you for the continuation of this war?

President Zelenskyy: Because these people can't find a key how to stop Putin. Because it's more difficult to stop Putin than to pressure others. Because it's more simple to speak about the prices and connect it with Ukraine.

When everybody in the world understands because of the war in Middle East, the prices are rising. They’re increasing because of the war in Middle East, of the blocking of Hormuz, because of these reasons. Everybody understands it.

And if we want to speak with people fairly, if we want to be clear, if we want to speak with our nations openly, we have to stop... I mean, people have to hear reality. Don't play games with people.

[Emmanuel Macron @EmmanuelMacron]

La France soutient sans réserve l'appel à une vraie trêve énergétique, à laquelle l’Ukraine est disposée. À ce stade la Russie continue de la refuser en intensifiant ces dernières heures encore ses frappes contre les infrastructures ukrainiennes. La France continuera de se tenir aux côtés de l'Ukraine et du Président Zelensky.

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

Ukraine won't surrender, but Trump finds a new way to surrender every week.

[Clown @DanaSLJL]

A husband mourning the loss of his wife killed today by a russian terrorist attack on civilian houses in Kharkiv😡!May russia turn to dust and may america be damned for eternity😡!The very american charlatans who disarmed Ukraine are now sponsoring the russian genocide in Ukraine

[Radosław Sikorski 🇵🇱🇪🇺 @sikorskiradek]

Wobec zbrodni Putina, murem za wolną Ukrainą.

[French Aid to Europe 🇨🇵 🇪🇺 @aidefranceukr]

In other words, France will continue to provide intelligence to Ukraine so that it can keep hitting refineries. Macron announced early this year that France is providing 2/3 of intelligence. France provides 2/3 of Ukraine’s intelligence.

[Ben Hodges @general_ben]

Best analysis I have read about this so-called diesel deal between Putin and Trump. It’s not about diesel, it’s about Trump people getting into business with Russia for their own benefit while blaming Ukraine for attacking Russian refineries.

https://t.co/PbGzg0iY2s