LJ—So let’s go thru the timeline. Lindsey departed Dulles International Airport at around 0700 local on July 9 — the flight from Dulles to Warsaw is 9 hours. He took the overnight train that departed Warsaw at 18:15 hours local on July 9th and arrived in Kyiv between 09:45–10:45 local on July 10th.

So Lindsey Graham arrives in Kyiv by 11 am Friday morning. He meets with Zelensky and tours a drone factory. Then we are asked to believe that he returns to Washington, DC after spending less than 24 hours on the ground. Again, I call bullshit!!

FVB—Godfree’s book, “Why China Leads the World”, remains the finest work on China I have ever read. He spent decades in China and near the Chinese border in Thailand, watching the country change close up rather than from a distance. His writing carried a strict, straightforward, almost scientific clarity. There was no padding in his prose, no hedging, just argument built on evidence.

What struck me most was his temperament. His health was weak for years, yet his outlook stayed cheerful and optimistic. He kept working, kept publishing his newsletter, kept engaging with readers and friends, right to the end.

T.G.—There is a curious balance of both tension and peace at Shambala, the 180-acre ranch in Soledad Canyon, north of Los Angeles in the Santa Clarita Valley, where 93 lions and tigers and other big cats along with two African elephants wander, stretch and sleep in a secluded river setting.

Since 1971, Shambala — which is ancient Sanskrit for “a meeting place of peace and harmony for all beings, animal and human” — has been beset by fire and flood, births and deaths, maulings and financial problems.

Yet Shambala has survived: the necessary $4,000 a week somehow always found; those early maulings simply memories offering insight into animal behavior.

These days, Tippi Hedren says, strolling past flower beds through jungle-like foliage down to the wooded picnic area by a man-made waterfall on the Santa Clara River, “Shambala is just Shambala.”

OBB—The Sea of Azov is a vital transport corridor. By attacking tankers carrying fuel from Russian ports to Crimea, Ukraine severely complicates the ability of Russian forces to resupply their southern group of forces. Russia relies heavily on a “shadow fleet” of aging, obscurely owned tankers to bypass Western sanctions and the G7 oil price cap. Targeting these vessels directly weakens Russia’s energy-export revenues, contributing to domestic fuel shortages and export bans within Russia. Ukraine’s ability to reliably strike dozens (the number 45 is cited today by Military Summary) of Russian ships over a matter of days demonstrates the continued success of its asymmetrical naval strategy. By deploying advanced sea drones rather than relying on a traditional navy, Kyiv is successfully neutralizing large portions of Russian naval logistics while imposing localized blockades on occupied territories.

The overall energy war (Russia targeting gas stations and other energy facilities in Ukraine, Ukraine targeting Russian oil refineries and other energy facilities) threatens to dent the volume of Russian oil sales, applies greater pressure on oil prices at a time when these are already under threat from the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, make it more difficult for countries to restock oil reserves, and contributes to the possibility of a looming global economic recession or depression.

BL–The Americanization of the European Right can be traced back to the late 19th century when industrialism shifted power from agriculture to commerce, eliminating conservative’s historical social base and forcing its defenders into the arms of the modern bourgeoisie. The decisive realignment came after 1945 in the West. The old paleoconservative Right lay in ashes implicated with fascism on the continent. With the coming of Hollywood films, jazz and standardized commodities reflecting the American look, French culture began to retreat. It was difficult to understand how much their Cold War alliance to America and implicitly its cultural order had implicated European rulers in this deculturing process. Please see Seducing the French: The Dilemma of Americanization by Richard Kuisel. Yet in spite of everything European politics is again beginning to deviate from the American model in France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Spain and Greece. All are today experiencing a revival of anti-liberal politics.

TF—The latest alleged game-changer is Ukraine’s drone-strike campaign inside Russia. But this is a lie, no less than previous propaganda drives. Yes, Kyiv’s drone campaign is certainly having an impact. But this is unlikely to change the course of the war. The Russian economy is faltering, yet it remains in a better position than much of the EU. But even more crucially, the Russian army continues to advance on the battlefield. It is steadily closing in on its goal of conquering the entire Donbass. Just the other day, Moscow announced the capture of Kostiantynivka — a town in Donetsk and the largest settlement it’s taken since Mariupol. All this flatly contradicts the prevailing “Ukraine has turned the tide” narrative.