Rene Gomez

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

APPLEBAUM: Corruption investigations in Ukraine are coming from inside Ukrainian government.

Try to imagine that right now in United States, and you can't do it.

It's as if FBI were investigating Trump family companies, which is unimaginable, right?

TARLOV: That's very funny.

APPLEBAUM: In other words, these are Ukrainian inside the government organizations that are dedicated to looking for corruption and fighting it.

And so, actually, what you have, this exposure of corruption, is evidence of democratic institutions working in Ukraine.

The fact that so much is known, that it's openly discussed, that people debate it and talk about what should be done.

That makes Ukraine right now a more open and more effective democracy than United States.

Always keep that in mind when you talk about corruption.

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

Oleksandra Matviichuk: Russian Empire has a center, but has no borders. We're fighting to stop Russian Empire.

Ukrainians are fighting for freedom in all senses: for freedom to be independent country, not Russian colony.

For freedom to preserve our identity, for freedom not to be forced to re-educate Ukrainian children as Russians.

For freedom to have our democratic choice. We're paying a price to return to European civilized dimension.

We have no other option. This war has a genocidal character. If we stop fighting, there'll be no more of us.

[DW Español @dw_espanol]

El ministro del Interior alemán confirmó hallazgo de arsenal de armas en Berlín

La Fiscalía Federal de Alemania investiga una posible participación de agentes de los servicios secretos rusos en la planificación de atentados en territorio alemán, tras descubrir un depósito subterráneo con varias armas de fuego y munición en un bosque cerca de Berlín.

[The New Yorker @NewYorker]

Human-rights groups estimate that more than 10,000 Ukrainian civilians have disappeared into the Russian prison system—that is, have been detained without any legal process or acknowledgment of their status. https://t.co/c3huWfkYRT

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

Ex-CIA officer @Wiswesser: Churchill warned about the choice between dishonor and war. This is the period we live in.

We’re living in a time when decisions have consequences. Time for prognostication and half-measures is over.

We’ve had nothing but half-measures with Ukraine, a democracy fighting for its very existence.

We’re not going to give them Abrams tanks. Okay, I guess we’ll give them Abrams tanks a year or two later.

We’re not going to give them HIMARS. Okay, maybe we’ll give them HIMARS.

We’re not going to give them Leopard tanks. Maybe we’ll give them Leopard tanks or Challenger tanks.

We’re not going to give them F-16s. Oh, finally, after two years, we’ll give them F-16s.

All these half-measures, prognostications, and putting it all off…

We’re living in a time of consequences. This is when our alliance, being united, matters the most.

The only way we’re ever going to stop Russian aggression is if we stand united in the West and say,

“You know what? Those $300 billion in assets seized? We’re giving them to Ukraine, Russia.

Because of your level of aggression, your escalation, and your intentional targeting of Ukrainian civilians.

Hitting maternity wards, targeting schools, thousands of children have died.

That’s too much for us in the West. We’re going to say: ‘Enough.’”

But we haven’t to date. We’ve tried those half-measures. We’ve tried equivocating.

When we speak to Putin in the same language, make him understand that there are costs for war, that’s when this war ends.

That’s how we prevent the next war. That’s the most important thing: how we prevent the next war.

[Anton Gerashchenko @Gerashchenko_en]

Putin decided to blackmail Japan at a time when China is already waging a large-scale pressure campaign against Tokyo.

On August 12, aboard the cruiser Varyag, Putin accused Japan of changing its policy toward Russia, imposing sanctions, and making territorial claims. The next day, August 13, he visited Iturup (Etorofu) for the first time in his 26 years in power - one of four islands controlled by Russia and claimed by Japan. PM Sanae Takaichi called the visit "absolutely unacceptable," while Japan’s FM summoned the Russian ambassador and lodged a protest.

Why now? Because Russia is playing along with China in this escalation.

China-Japan relations deteriorated sharply after Takaichi said in November 2025 that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could, under certain circumstances, create a situation in which Japan could exercise its right to collective self-defense. Beijing demanded that the statement be retracted, and after Japan refused, stepped up diplomatic and economic pressure. In 2026, China imposed additional restrictions on exports of dual-use goods and critical materials to Japan.

Russia has effectively joined China’s framework for the conflict with Japan. In May 2026, Putin and Xi Jinping issued a joint statement accusing Japan of accelerated "remilitarization" and saying Japanese policies threatened regional peace and stability.

For Moscow, this is a significant shift in focus: instead of a separate Russian-Japanese dispute over the Kuril Islands, Russia is increasingly drawing Japan into a joint conflict with China over the U.S. alliance system and the military balance in Asia.

Political coordination is already being followed by military coordination.

In July, Russian and Chinese warships conducted a joint patrol lasting more than two weeks in East Asian waters. On July 25, the Japanese military spotted Russian and Chinese vessels south of Hokkaido. The patrol ended in Vladivostok on July 29.

Days later, Russia launched large-scale Pacific Fleet exercises in the Sea of Japan, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Pacific Ocean. On August 12, Putin personally arrived aboard the Varyag. In other words, Russia’s current demonstration comes almost immediately after a joint Russian-Chinese naval operation around Japan.

On August 13, the political coordination became even more apparent. On the same day Putin arrived on Iturup (Etorofu), the Russian and Chinese ambassadors in Tokyo jointly spoke out against revising the outcome of World War II and expressed concern over the "militarization" of the region.

For Russia, the argument that the outcomes of the war are inviolable directly concerns the Kuril Islands. China uses the same historical framing to accuse modern Japan of returning to militarism and to pressure it over Taiwan and its military alliance with the United States.

Russia and China are thus increasing military pressure on Japan together. China is applying pressure from the southwest - around Taiwan, the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, and the Ryukyu Islands. Russia is simultaneously becoming more active in the north - around Hokkaido and the Southern Kurils.

Then there is North Korea, which continues its missile launches and is cooperating ever more closely with Moscow. Japan’s security strategy now assumes that cooperation between Russia, China, and North Korea is becoming a security challenge in its own right.

The timing is also convenient for Putin because Japan is in the midst of a rapid military rearmament. Tokyo is increasing defense spending, purchasing U.S. Tomahawk missiles, developing capabilities to strike targets on enemy territory, and deepening military integration with the United States. Moscow and Beijing share an interest in trying to slow this process before Japan’s new capabilities are fully deployed.

Moscow is effectively blackmailing Japan with the threat of further escalation, offering "normal relations" in exchange for concessions from Tokyo.

Aboard the Varyag, Putin said Russia posed no threat to Japan, accused Tokyo of an "unprovoked" change in policy after 2022, and spoke positively of Shinzo Abe.

Under Abe, Moscow was still willing to negotiate on the basis of the 1956 declaration, which provided for the possible transfer of Shikotan and Habomai after the conclusion of a peace treaty.

Now Russia considers the territorial issue closed, is increasing military pressure near Japan, and is coordinating its anti-Japan policy with China, but leaves open the possibility of resuming cooperation if Tokyo changes course.

Putin’s visit to Iturup (Etorofu) reinforces this position: Moscow is no longer offering a territorial compromise; instead, it is trying to pressure Japan into easing sanctions, reducing its support for Ukraine, and slowing its military alignment with the United States in exchange for reducing a threat that Russia itself is escalating.

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

APPLEBAUM: This group of dictators, Russia, North Korea, Iran, China, not linked by any ideology.

They’re not bothered about whether Iran is theocracy, or China is communist country.

What links them is set of common interests. Their common interest in fighting us, essentially.

Their common interest in stealing money, hiding it, exporting it, and storing it around the world.

They see us as having ideas and language dangerous to them, such as accountability, transparency, or rule of law.

They have created different ways in which they can work together. It’s not like a single alliance.

It’s not like Cold War, where they had one treaty, all did the same thing or talked the same way all the time.

They cooperate in different ways. You can see it, for example, in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Where North Koreans have just sent troops to help Russians, Chinese are supplying them with components.

Iran has supplied drones to Russia, and Russians in turn supply drones to Iran. That's how they cooperate.

[DW Español @dw_espanol]

Guerras de cárteles, corrupción y miedo: DW habló en exclusiva con sicarios, políticos y familiares sobre quién mueve realmente los hilos en México. #dwreporter #dwmagacines

[Dolia Estévez @DoliaEstevez]

¿Quieren pruebas? Narcos cuentan a @dw_espanol cómo ayudaron a Rocha Moya ganar las elecciones.

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

APPLEBAUM: United States, which used to be leader of democratic world, now plays neutral, ambiguous role at best.

You can hear that Trump sympathizes with the autocrats. He instinctively prefers Putin to European democracies.

He admires Xi Jinping because he doesn't have to worry about checks and balances, or a free press, or courts.

He uses the same language about degeneracy of liberal values and the need for a new kind of language of power.

He also brings together, in a way we've never seen before in American history, business and political interests.

So it's unclear now whether U.S. foreign policy is being carried out on behalf of Americans or American prosperity.

Or American influence, or whether it's being carried out on behalf of companies who are close to Trump or his friends.

Maybe that's a kind of meta way of talking about Trump, but it's what makes me the most worried about him.

In other words, I see him looking for allies not among liberal European democracies, not among America's traditional friends.

Instead, he creates obstacles to those relationships, building relationships with Middle Eastern monarchies, or Putin.

He would like, I think, to have relationship with China and others. That's the thing that is most dramatic for Americans.

[UNITED24 Media @United24media]

Sexual violence has become a systematic weapon in Russia's war against Ukraine.

🧵 1/8 ⬇️

[Victoria @victoriaslog]

With each day of this war, the number of children who have lost one or more limbs because of Russians continues to grow.

More rehabilitation centers are being opened than children’s playgrounds and places where they can simply have fun.

This is the reality of childhood in Ukraine!

[Dolia Estévez @DoliaEstevez]

“CUBA--LA CAPITAL DEL COMUNISMO DEL SIGLO 21”, nuevo informe de 100 páginas del @StateDept, señala la presencia de espías rusos en México como fuente de tensión bilateral. “La presencia de altos mandos de inteligencia rusos en México —que se hacen pasar por diplomáticos para recabar información sobre Estados Unidos— ha sido fuente de tensión diplomática entre ambos países en los últimos años”.

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

Former CIA Director, General David Petraeus: "Look, Ukraine is now using 10,000 or more drones per day. This is just staggering. Last year, they produced 3.5 million drones. We in the United States produced 300,000. We have nothing like what they have."

[Nayeli Roldán @nayaroldan]

Recopilé al menos 15 acciones documentadas de la participación del Ejército en la desaparición de lo 43 estudiantes de Ayotzinapa.
Ahora la CNDH los exculpa.
Acá les contamos en @asilascosasw 👇

[Azucena Uresti @azucenau]

🚨‘Crisis de desapariciones: ¿Cómo pueden organizar una Copa del Mundo?’, destaca The Guardian (@guardian)

El diario británico publica un reportaje resaltando que “mientras Inglaterra se prepara para enfrentarse a México, se desarrolla otra batalla más allá del Estadio Azteca: más de 130 mil personas desaparecidas por la fuerza”.

Aquí pueden ver el trabajo de @tomphillipsin y su equipo: https://t.co/I8OUclie9X

[Azucena Uresti @azucenau]

🔴Al grito de “México, campeón en desaparición”, familiares de personas desaparecidas pasan por el Ángel de la Independencia.

Se dirigen en marcha hacia la Glorieta de las y los desaparecidos.

🗞️📹 @LizHernandezE | @Radio_Formula

[Nayeli Roldán @nayaroldan]

Es que no puede ser. Su secuestro fue grabado, los responsables eran agentes de gobierno; ninguna autoridad logró recuperarla con vida.
Una vez más, una familia enlutada por una periodista haciendo su trabajo.
Una vez más el Estado fallando…

[Azucena Uresti @azucenau]

🔴“No es suficiente la disculpa”, me dice Fernando Vargas, padre buscador que fue agredido por policías de CDMX cuando se manifestaba en Calzada de Tlalpan.

➡️Pide una reunión con la presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum para que sea ella quien brinde una disculpa pública.

“Esta es la culminación de una escalada de violencia contra las familias y las madres buscadoras”.

#AzucenaxFórmula

[Maite Azuela @maiteazuela]

Las desapariciones no suceden únicamente por la acción de quienes las ejecutan, sino cuando las instituciones renuncian a investigar al poder con la misma determinación con la que investigan a cualquier ciudadano, mi columna hoy 👇🏼

https://t.co/8iMCY6kyxm