Retired from 40-year career in journalism, speechwriting, marketing, politics. Co-producer of Indications & Warnings, occasional co-host https://xitter.cf/t.co/mkz6nbD1KO
Joined March 2010
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Get into the maps on #Ukraine zero line with @ChuckPfarrer on NEW Indications &Warnings and get into the latest treachery by Trump. You don’t want to miss this:
youtu.be/JayF2qtQaUs?is=YmQ2…
Alan Brewer retweeted
"Musk is a dangerous individual and that he controls SpaceX increases the national security risks. But the risks would exist no matter who controlled the company. If a wise trillionaire controlled SpaceX outright, it would still be an unacceptable risk."
thebulwark.com/p/nationalize…
Alan Brewer retweeted
The Trump administration is considering dropping sanctions on the Russian Direct Investment Fund, run by Kirill Dmitriev. An unbelievable betrayal of Ukraine. nytimes.com/2026/10/27/us/po… via @NYTimes
Alan Brewer retweeted
Russia has just targeted another commercial vessel off the coast of Bulgaria, inside the country's Exclusive Economic Zone.
Container ship CONTSHIP JET (IMO 9348625) was targeted approximately 21 nautical miles off Shabla, near Cape Kaliakra and was traveling from Israel to Romania.
Bulgarian Defense Minister Dimitar Stoyanov has confirmed the incident, while maritime outlet Masays says the crew is now evacuating aboard life rafts.
This is the 9th ship targeted in the past several weeks in the waters if Romania and Bulgaria.
The extent of the damage and the condition of the crew remain unclear.
Alan Brewer retweeted
In case you are wondering why “generational wealth” is a foreign concept in many parts of Eastern Europe.
You can’t build generational wealth, when brutal wars and occupations destroys it.
Alan Brewer retweeted
Weds 28 October is Day 1708 of Russia's all out war on Ukraine.
The heroic defence continues to defy Putin, and no matter how many obscenities and war crimes he commits, he will never break Ukraine's spirit.
Speaking of unbroken things, here's another daily 🧵
Alan Brewer retweeted
All of these deals benefit Trump’s friends and family or the friends of his family. They were previewed by the Wall Street Journal in November 2025. A tally follows.
Alan Brewer retweeted
As expected, exit polls were wrong, and the situation has now reversed, with Netanyahu's camp being slightly in the lead, opposition below 50 seats, and Arab parties likely to secure more seats.
Still, there is no easy way out of the deadlock (chart by Times of Israel)
What to watch re. the Israeli elections:
1. Actual numbers coming through (exit polls are notoriously prone to surprises
2. President decision: Technically, if exit polls are to accurate, Likud is the largest party, but the law gives the President some liberty to decide who has the best chance to form a coalition. Given numbers, Herzog is liable to give Eisenkot first crack at forming a coalition.
3. Ra'am + opposition: Ra'am is the most likely candidate amongst Arab parties to join or support an opposition coalition from the outside. The question is whether Ra'am + opposition have a majority, together. Not clear from the exit polls that they do
Alan Brewer retweeted
Do not look away--this is what the USA is doing to help Putin.
On Oct. 19, a Russian strike on a Kharkiv park killed five people, including a 1-year-old girl. @CBSNews obtained photos showing air-defense radars offline that day due to SpaceX’s Starlink restrictions. Alina Spichak walked me through the last steps of her sister Yulia, who died there.
Alan Brewer retweeted
1/ Vladimir Putin seems to have decided that protecting his palace at Valdai is more important than protecting Russia's vulnerable factories and oil refineries. A few bold Russian warbloggers are questioning why scarce air defence assets are being diverted for Putin's benefit. ⬇️
Alan Brewer retweeted
Four Russian soldiers get captured after crawling through a pipe.
Remarkable exchange:
- Guys, crawl out! Nothing will happen to you! How many are there altogether?
- 31! Will you torture us?
- Torture? You’re in your underpants telling me everything already.
Alan Brewer retweeted
Zelenskyy arrived in the Netherlands for talks with the Prime Minister on defence, the economy and support for Ukraine.
Alan Brewer retweeted
Putin gave the President of Finland and the Prime Minister of Norway a "lecture on the history of the Slavs," the Financial Times reports.
This took place on October 27, when Alexander Stubb and Jonas Gahr Støre spoke by phone with the Russian president to discuss upcoming negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine. However, Vladimir Putin devoted little attention to this topic, according to three people familiar with the conversation who spoke to the FT. Instead, the Russian president compelled the leaders of Finland and Norway to listen to a discourse on what the Kremlin considers the "root causes of the conflict."
According to one of the sources, Stubb and Støre chose not to interrupt Putin’s historical digressions, seeking to gauge how serious he might be about engaging in a dialogue with Europe.
The office of the President of Finland previously stated that the purpose of the call was "to convey messages from Ukraine regarding upcoming peace talks in Abu Dhabi directly to President Putin."
Steve Witkoff, a special envoy for U.S. President Donald Trump, met with Stubb, Støre, and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Oslo one day before his trip to Russia.
DW.
Alan Brewer retweeted
Part 2 of my conversation on the Russian military with Perun. Recommend his channel. youtube.com/watch?v=Hc2Wx-ag…
Alan Brewer retweeted
CONCLUSION 🧵(1/2): Putin would have the world, and especially the United States, believe that he is somehow holding back from crushing Ukraine, but that he could do so at any moment of his choosing. The opposite is the case.
If Putin had had a way of ending the war quickly, he surely would have used it. The effort to field an army large enough to make virtually no gains is costing Putin a fortune, driving up inflation in Russia, and generating increasing social discontent. Fielding a larger army would cost more with no guarantee of materially changing the situation on the front. That is why Putin is holding back at least for now. ⬇️
Putin has likely recognized the folly of trying to drown Ukraine in Russian blood and has instead opted to try to hammer Ukraine into submission with a strategic bombing campaign. The Russians have secured a temporary advantage in the skies over Ukraine through their jet-powered drones and the shortage of Patriot missiles that can intercept their ballistic missiles. But Ukraine is fielding solutions to defend against the jet-powered drones, and it is hardening and decentralizing its infrastructure to survive the ballistic missile strikes (as well as developing its own ballistic missile interceptors, although that effort will take time).
The Russian strikes are currently devastating Ukrainian energy and other infrastructure and imposing a brutal cost on Ukrainian civilians—as Putin intends. But there is no reason to think that this strategic bombing campaign will be any more successful than every other strategic bombing campaign in history—all of which have failed to compel a country holding its own on the battlefield to surrender.
It is unclear whether Putin is lying about Russian gains or being lied to by his own military—or both. Russian military correspondents constantly complain of what they call “beautiful reports” that Russian military units send to higher headquarters, claiming gains they have not made. Ukrainian forces say that they have been able to use the Russian military’s own internal culture of lying to their advantage, luring Russian troops into traps because the Russians think that they are moving through territory they control. Leaked Russian military maps show phantom gains, often matching Putin’s claims. The pervasive lying within the Russian military is a problem for Russian soldiers, but likely an advantage for Putin, as it supports his own efforts to present Russian forces as advancing and winning when, in fact, they are doing neither.
Alan Brewer retweeted
⚡️️ Ukraine receives 12 Patriot missiles per month from US, Zelensky says.
Ukraine needs to intercept around 150 Russian ballistic missiles per month, but receives about 150 Patriot missiles from the U.S. annually, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
kyivindependent.com/ukraine-…
Alan Brewer retweeted
Witkoff tried to convince Budanov of how rich he could be if he sold out his country by allowing Russian pipelines to again flow through Ukraine. Budanov ended the meeting.
Content of Tense Conversation Between Budanov and Trump's Team Revealed
Negotiations between the Ukrainian delegation and Donald Trump's special envoys in Miami, as reported by Le Monde, escalated into a conflict. According to the publication, during a three-hour meeting at the Shell Bay golf club, Steve Witkoff "with irritation" demanded that Kyrylo Budanov, head of Zelenskyy's office, cease strikes on Russian oil refineries.
Budanov, per Le Monde's information, "barely contained his anger" and felt that he was being "treated like a child, trying to teach him how to make money." The Americans presented an ambitious plan for postwar "regional prosperity," which envisioned resuming the transit of Russian oil and gas to Europe through Ukraine, with dividends paid to Kyiv.
Budanov was outraged that such a deal would tie Ukraine to Moscow, after which the negotiations broke off. When the meeting resumed, the Americans proposed accepting a deal for supplies of Russian diesel to the United States.
The publication's sources noted that they had never seen Ukrainians "so upset and alarmed." Zelenskyy's entourage described the situation as "hopeless," since Trump's envoys "think only about business."
📸: Press service of the President of Ukraine
