Leena Manner

Politiikkaa ja vaikuttamista harrastava, utelias teknologiasta innostuva Senior Advisor @RudPedersenFIN ja Skoda Transtechin yhteiskuntasuhdejohtaja.

[Dylan Byers @DylanByers]

New statement from Scott Pelley:

There has never been anything in America like 60 Minutes.

The Sunday tradition is the most successful program of any kind in history. For more than a decade, its innovative growth on every major online platform has extended its reach to countless millions around the world. This spring, at the end of our 58thseason, 60 Minutes grew rapidly with an unheard-of 9% jump in viewers on CBS.

“60” has been the number-one program in America for decades because our beloved audience finds integrity, quality, and humanity in our stories. When stewardship of the program passed to my colleagues and me, our responsibility was to expand energetically into a new age of media technology while preserving the values our audience expects. Now, the new owner of our network is casting this legend aside, apparently to curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration.

The waste is heartbreaking.

Last month, 60 Minutes lost its DNA when our entire senior leadership and two of our best on-air correspondents were cruelly fired without cause. Good people were silenced because they stood up for our audience. They stood for fairness against the forces of political bias; they stood for professionalism against chaos.

For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. I’ve been told to include assertions that are unverified. To date, in every case, I have managed to ignore these instructions or refuse them. Recently, politicians have been invited to choose correspondents for interviews on the broadcast. Giving politicians control over 60 Minutes interviews is not how this is done. Finally, incompetence and unprofessionalism in the new management have wreaked havoc. In a case involving one of my stories, the entire program came within 19 minutes of not getting on the air at all.

At 60 Minutes, we have fought harder than anyone knows to save the program that became an American icon. We owed that to our millions of viewers. I am deeply moved by the thousands of wishes we have received to “keep up the good fight.” Most of the men and women of CBS News are still in that fight. But now the collapse of values at the top has become untenable. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.

I depart after 37 years at CBS with one emotion—a heart brimming with gratitude for the men and women of CBS News who encouraged and enriched my work, very often at the risk of their own lives. I pray for a day when those people and their ideals are honored again—a day when sanity, competence, and courage return.

Scott Pelley

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇺🇦🇷🇺 Ukraine just mapped Russia's entire missile pipeline.

Kyiv's intelligence says it now has the lot. The factories, the distances, the quantities, the supply routes for the critical parts and machine tools that keep Russian missiles rolling off the line.

Those missiles don't come together on their own. Foreign companies and middlemen keep the sanctioned parts flowing, and Kyiv says it knows exactly who they are.

New countermeasures are being prepped, Ukrainian ones and others coordinated with partners.

The map exists now. The only question left is who's still on it when the next round of sanctions lands.

@ZelenskyyUa

[Gianl1974 @Gianl1974]

A message to all sane Republicans:

He pardoned 1,600 violent criminals.
You said nothing.

He bulldozed the East Wing.
You said nothing.

He interfered with the release of the Epstein files. You said nothing.

He took over the Kennedy Center and renamed it after himself. You said nothing.

He accepted a $400 million airplane as a personal gift. You said nothing.

He threatened Canada, Cuba, Denmark, Greenland, Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil. You said nothing.

He tariffed just about everyone but Russia, causing inflation and instability worldwide. You said nothing.

He attacked a nation during mediated negotiations. You said nothing.

His ill-conceived war killed 175 children on day one. You said nothing.

He alienated and insulted our allies. You said nothing.

His ICE Army terrorized and murdered U.S. citizens. You said nothing.

He committed murder on the high seas. You said nothing.

He co-opted the Justice Department and directed it to prosecute his political enemies. You said nothing.

It’s time to start talking.

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

Ukraine’s Invisible Army

Russia has one of the most expensive air defense networks on the planet. Ukraine has found a way to make it shoot itself broke.

Kyiv’s military intelligence is now deploying hundreds of jet-powered decoy drones alongside real strike packages. These are not cheap foam toys. They mimic the radar signatures of lethal platforms well enough that Russian operators face an impossible choice: burn costly interceptors on fakes, or gamble that the next one is also a fake. Spoiler: it isn’t.

The math is brutal. A $30,000 decoy forces a response from a $3 million missile. Do that a few hundred times per night and Russia’s air defense budget starts looking like a bonfire.

Ukraine’s upgraded arsenal can now reach roughly a quarter of Russia’s landmass and over 70% of its population. Moscow built a fortress. Kyiv is teaching it to punch itself.

The war’s most decisive front isn’t in the trenches. It’s in the radar screens, where every blip is a gamble Russia can no longer afford to lose.

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Sen. Chris Murphy: Trump does not want to do what is necessary to support Ukraine, and Republicans follow his lead.

A bipartisan Russia sanctions bill has sat for a year and a half because Trump will not let Senate Republicans move it. 1/

[Brett Erickson @BrettErickson28]

Trump now finds himself in an entirely new situation with the War in Iran.

He doesn't hold the cards. He has no notable leverage. And he can't simply declare bankruptcy for the seventh time and move on.

And it shows.

Donald Trump is not a statesman. He is not a diplomat. And I think, in many ways, this is what endeared him initially to many of his voters. He was businessman that accumulated billions of dollars of personal wealth through casino's, real estate, television, golf courses, and a multitude of endeavors.

You can say what you will, but at the end of the day, you don't accrue a net worth well beyond a billion, or even hundreds of millions of dollars, without being "successful", so let's put that partisan argument to the side for now.

But all throughout Trump's life, he's held the upper hand. He grew up wealthy. He received significant financial assistance from his father. And he had an effectively unlimited financial safety net in the event of failure. These are not points meant to be political hits, nor are they able to be refuted. They are simply the facts. Reality.

As a result, Donald Trump always had the leverage. He was a trust fund baby. Again, this is simply the truth. It is reported that Fred Trump left his children around a billion dollars when he passed away in 1999. Trust me, if you know beyond a shadow of a doubt you are set for life regardless, you live life differently.

What this means is that Donald Trump, throughout his business career which WAS hyper-successful, never HAD to succeed. He could also walk away if a deal was not in his favor. He, by definition, always held the cards. Generational wealth.

And don't get me wrong, President Trump was savvy in his exploitation of this reality. You'd be a fool to enter a deal you didn't think was highly beneficial to you if you didn't have to make a gamble. That'd be stupid.

In every transaction, every business dealing, it was either in his favor, or he walked.

Because. He. Could.

And when business endeavors failed to pan out? Bankruptcy could be declared. Again, save me the partisan takes, Donald Trump declared bankruptcies on his businesses six times. And he was RIGHT to do so. That's the correct financial decision... but it's an off-ramp. A quick fix.

These same realities - holding all the cards, being able to walk away, having a legal escape valve - do not exist in the quagmire he finds himself in with the Iran War.

The reality facing Donald Trump is one that he has never had to navigate before. Iran does not care that he is wealthy. It's irrelevant. Trump can't simply walk away because Iran would retain control of the Strait of Hormuz and it would destroy Trump's legacy. There is no emergency "bankruptcy-equivalent" escape valve here.

Now, Donald Trump has to sit on the other side of the table at a time when the stakes are the highest they have ever been in his entire life. No training wheels. No safety net. Trump's been thrown right into the deep end with perhaps the most savvy negotiators in the world.

President Trump holds effectively zero leverage with Iran.

There is not a modicum of domestic American support for this war. It was never sold to the American people. Many see this as Israel's war that is not "putting America first". The goals and objectives have changed by the day. For this reason, alongside the unlikely chance of success in the first place, a large-scale ground invasion is not a serious suggestion being put for by anyone with an above room temperature IQ.

Iran holds insurmountable "escalation dominance". If the United States targets Iran's energy infrastructure? Iran will retaliate massively across the Gulf. GCC countries have already made it abundantly clear to Trump that they fear Iran. That they don't trust the US-bought military equipment to protect their infrastructure or civilians. Iran can cut undersea cables. Iran could close the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and further cripple maritime shipping. Anything the US can do to hurt Iran, Iran can do tenfold to hurt the global economy.

Reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force? We tried that under Operation Freedom, and it was so ridiculous and stupid that it was canceled within 48 hours. Some are suggesting we try again, but seem to entirely misunderstand reality (as they have throughout the entire conflict). What? Is the United States supposed to effectively occupy the Strait of Hormuz until the end of time? How many vessels per day would be able to navigate the Strait of Hormuz with US naval escorts? What would the costs of this be? Can we adequately protect our sailors? Why wouldn't Iran, again, utilize their escalation dominance and shut down the Bab al-Mandeb or strike Gulf infrastructure? It. Doesn't Work.

The unfortunate reality is that President Trump holds no cards. He has no meaningful leverage. His ONLY option is making concessions at the negotiating table...

Is this something Trump is even capable of navigating in the first place though? A President, one who has made perhaps the gravest mistake in the history of American foreign policy, one who has never experienced these constraints before, one who has a litany of allies ready to turn their backs on him the second he capitulates... A man who's entire legacy will not be, "Trump the Businessman", nor will it be "Trump the President". It will eternally become, "Trump the Failure".

But it's his only choice. The Iran Hawks and Israeli Lobby that surrounds him, and they do, are prepared to claw him to shreds on Fox News and Newsmax. We saw this exact situation play out just this past weekend when initial terms of a potential Memorandum of Understanding was leaked. His so called "allies" in the United States turned their back on him immediately, leaving him with almost nobody remaining. Not after the Epstein Files. Not after this Iran War debacle.

Donald Trump now finds himself in an entirely unfamiliar situation. He doesn't hold the cards. He has no escape valve. And there is no realistic scenario where he can credibly claim victory... The only path forward is the one that will permanently destroy his legacy.

But it's the only way to end this war.

[Brian Allen @allenanalysis]

MAJOR BREAKING: A congressman on CNN just claimed Pam Bondi privately warned Trump that his name appears throughout the Epstein files tens of thousands of times across thousands of documents.

The pressure for full file release is about to intensify dramatically.

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

We have intelligence data indicating that Russia is preparing for a new massive attack. It is important that all our partners know what is happening and that Russia continues to rely on missiles and further war, not diplomatic steps. First of all, this means that additional sanctions pressure on Russia is needed and that the implementation of our air defense arrangements with partners cannot be delayed.

I discussed the relevant tasks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha – what must be done in the coming weeks and which steps by partners can most effectively support our defense. Anti-ballistic defense is the key task. We are also preparing our detailed proposals for a new European sanctions package and additional measures against the circumvention of existing sanctions. I thank everyone who is helping protect life!

[Elisa Mosini 🇪🇺🇮🇹 @MosiniElisa]

Around 50 UN member states, including EU countries, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea, signed a statement condemning Russia’s threats of systematic strikes on Kyiv.

The US did not sign.

The true free world has made its position clear.

[Jessica Tarlov @JessicaTarlov]

Donald Trump needs a midterms deal more than a nuclear deal and whatever happens in the next few days should be understood in that context.

It’s why he is about to give Iran a ton of money to save face as Trump’s approval ratings are as low as ever, gas is 4.50, and our farmers are begging for fertilizer.

And it’s pretty clear that Iran no longer believes Trump when he threatens them. Too many tweets and too much punting.

It’s a mess that this President can’t get out of.

[Mykhailo Rohoza @MykhailoRohoza]

Ukraine has just deployed a battlefield technology that feels like a mix of science fiction and a game of Call of Duty.

According to The Times, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have introduced a new system that radically changes the rules of modern warfare.

A single operator can now control an entire swarm of drones in real time, see the battlefield through artificial intelligence, receive instant targeting data, and coordinate strikes with sniper-level precision.

What once required dozens of personnel and hours of planning can now reportedly happen within seconds.

Russian troops are already referring to it as “the Ukrainian digital hell.”

[Paavo Rautio @PaavoRautio1]

Loppuu sanat. Saatanan moraalittomat siat tappavat siviilejä, kun rintamalla tulee jo pataan.

[Anonymous @YourAnonCentral]

There is a major campaign against @kajakallas underway. It is being spearheaded by Russian intelligence, but, interestingly, MAGA and pro-Israel slop accounts have joined in. The objective is to remove her from her position in the EU; she poses a threat to their operations.

[Katarina Murto @KatarinaMurto]

Edelleen on hämärän peitossa, millä tavalla perheiden arki helpottuisi ja yhteinen loma-aika lisääntyisi. Ja vaikutuksia oppimistuloksiin ei siis ole lainkaan arvioitu, mikä pitäisi olla koko asian ydin. https://t.co/d7ENnKAxKT

[Neil Stone @DrNeilStone]

A vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola is essential

Good for hear that a team in Oxford 🇬🇧 is working on it

I wish them success

[David__Osland @David__Osland]

I'm worried that Trump will launch a war on Cuba, to distract attention from his war on Iran, which distracted attention from his war on Venezuela, which distracted attention from the Epstein files

[Leena Manner @LeenaManner]

Pandemia in the making??

[John Simpson @JohnSimpsonNews]

Ebola cases have tripled and it’s getting worse. I’ve covered two outbreaks in my time — both terrifying. It’s disturbingly easy to catch it, and has a 40%-plus death rate. Sometimes families are boarded up in their homes to die untreated. It passes to humans through eating bodies of infected bats, monkeys, antelopes etc — bushmeat.

[Andreas Klinger 🦾 @andreasklinger]

I just visited a company in Finland that can turn any transparent surface — windows, glasses, plastic, anything — into a 3D display that perfectly augments what you see behind it.

Welcome to Distance . One of the most exciting companies in Europe right now. And they're only two years old.

We're not talking about a tiny rectangle in the corner of your windshield. The entire glass becomes your screen.

They showed this to Kia's design team. It led to a concept car with a full edge-to-edge 3D windshield that paints navigation onto the actual road, shows you what the car sees, highlights threats, and yes, could theoretically replace every Pepsi billboard with a Coke one.

But the defense side is where it gets serious.

As a neighbor to Russia, Finland feels the pain of Ukraine very directly. The Distance team wanted to be part of the solution.

Their field operator headset gives soldiers jet fighter-grade situational awareness.

Any sensor (thermal, infrared, multispectral) overlaid onto what you actually see. Tested in over a dozen field trials with the Finnish army. Driving armored vehicles in arctic conditions in the middle of the night with full 3D perception.
The field operator headset effectively allows soldiers to see through smoke, and with extra cameras even behind walls.

Some of what they showed us had never been shown publicly before.  And there's more cooking under the hood they couldn't share yet.

Two years in. Moving at the speed of light. Welcome to Europe!

[Headquarters @HQNewsNow]

Trump has just announced he will not attend Don Jr's wedding this weekend, due to "circumstances pertaining to Government."

Trump's official schedule shows he will be spending the weekend at his golf resort in New Jersey.

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

Kasparov: Russians are not angry because Russia committed a crime against Ukraine. They are angry because Putin cannot win.

They do not criticize him for killing Ukrainians — they criticize him for killing too few and too slowly. 1/