PUNISHING PUTIN takes readers to the frontlines of the economic war to degrade Putin's war machine. But is it working? Here’s 90 seconds on one of the central questions in my new book 👇
On today’s Big Take, investigative reporter @StephaniBaker tells @sarahsholder about Storm-1516, a Russian group behind a new wave of online disinformation — and what AI-powered fakes and weakened social media guardrails mean for the 2026 US midterms https://t.co/e1vy03yNRW
We spent a year tracking a covert Russian disinformation operation called Storm-1516 to catalogue almost 200 fabricated stories spread by mostly anonymous influencers that have racked up hundreds of millions of views on X. They're seeding false stories about #Ukraine and Western politicians. #Russia
https://t.co/UtflV4DbUp
The new Great Game in Central Asia >>The Russian war machine’s scramble to secure an unlikely component for its ammunition – cotton pulp – may have found a potential supply in Uzbekistan, where a new plant has ties to an Uzbek tycoon, Rustam Muminov, recently sanctioned by the UK and EU.
https://t.co/Ie0uE634AG
Enjoyed talking to @AndrewMarr9 on @LBC tonight about the EU meeting on whether to use Russian assets to back a 90 billion euro loan for Ukraine. Crunch time
Great to be on Ireland's most popular channel RTE Radio 1 with Katie Hannon to discuss sanctions against Russia as peace negotiations to end the Ukraine war continue. She interviewed me about my book, Punishing Putin, at the Dublin Literary Festival earlier this year: https://t.co/GXSkPELD5W
Watts > "I like to call this the merchants of death because in effect, through commercial transactions, American companies are making hundreds of millions of dollars selling chips, selling guidance technology to third parties who are rerouting that technology into Russia."
Five major lawsuits filed today against US chip manufacturers Texas Instruments, Intel, AMD and distributor Mouser in Texas for failing to stop their technology from getting into Russian missiles and Iranian drones killing and maiming Ukrainian civilians.
https://t.co/Kduw8qLRCh
"They can answer to American juries for this conduct," Mika Watts said. "This case, just like the opioids case, is about what happened in Texas. What corporate decisions Texas corporations and California corporations chose to use to safeguard the distribution of this technology that they know will kill innocent civilians in Ukraine."
EXCLUSIVE: US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff advised Russia on how to pitch Ukraine plans to Trump, in audio files reviewed by Bloomberg https://t.co/P0wXMFavBS
One of the craziest parts of this "peace" plan: "$100 billion in frozen Russian assets will be invested in US-led efforts to rebuild and invest in Ukraine. The US will receive 50% of the profits from this venture. Europe will add $100 billion to increase the amount of investment available for Ukraine’s reconstruction. Frozen European funds will be unfrozen. The remainder of the frozen Russian funds will be invested in a separate US-Russian investment vehicle that will implement joint projects in specific areas." https://t.co/vUZFpZ8NjG