Gazprom stopped paying Ukraine for gas transit in 2022. Russia tried to block the lawsuit through the Russian courts.
Switzerland's top court just rejected Gazprom's final appeal—$1.4 billion, no further recourse. Now Naftogaz hunts its assets across Europe.
It’s almost like Putin and Netanyahu control our foreign policy.
U.S. targets high oil price by allowing Moscow to sell sanctioned oil #UPI
Trump sours on Republican leader over Senate math A fight has been brewing in the GOP. At the center of it are Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, with the former pushing Senate Republicans to pass the SAVE America Act at any cost — including nuking the filibuster — and the latter tr
Western military doctrine needs a top-down command structure
Works well to maintain coherent strategy and operational control
But asymmetrical warfare requires decentralized decision making
Local commanders have autonomy to seize opportunities, but also more expendable
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis:
U.S. economic growth slowed sharply in Q4 2025. GDP increased only at a 0.7% annualized rate, revised down from the initially reported 1.4% (Reuters).
Trump's economic madness has started to show.
Worse is likely to come.
SORKIN: Would the administration encourage companies that had higher costs because of tariffs to seek a refund? I ask because I've talked to CEOs who are worried about retribution
GREER: If I were these companies & somehow they get this windfall, they should give it as bonuses to their workers
Defense Secretary Hegseth used his press conference on Trump's war on Iran to browbeat the press & weigh in on CNN's ownership: "More fake news from CNN ... the sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better"
(Hegseth spent more time attacking media than he did on US casualties)
A real video put out by RFK Jr and retweeted by the White House. They cut healthcare to make these cringe videos.
Chart showing the forecast ENSO conditions through the end of 2026. More details in the post text.
A transition from La Niña to ENSO-neutral is expected in the next month, with ENSO-neutral favored through early summer. El Niño is likely to emerge mid to late summer and persist through at least the end of 2026.
A La Niña advisory remains in effect AND an El Niño Watch has been issued.
excellent deep dive into all of the ways that the Trump administration has used the federal budget to keep punishing critics and trying to bend them to his will. FWIW, this is precisely how Viktor Orban crushed the opposition in Hungary 15 years ago. The national budget is a powerful weapon.
The Friday Brief, March 13, 2026
open.substack.com/pub/therickw...
Best War EVER
Trump Is Loathsome
A Plan Beats No Plan
No More Mass Deportation....Rhetoric.
About That Fishback Fellow
Guess What We’re Putting On The Roof, Renee?
For The Love of God, Shut Up
What’s Wrong With Alex Karp? A lot.
Measles is the imminent threat America should be concerned about #TheHill
The US economy grew by just 0.7% last quarter, far weaker than previously reported.
cnn.it/3NmFfAm
US Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat from California, speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP via Getty Images)
Ro Khanna: What have we achieved? We've taken Khamenei, who's 86, & replaced him with his son who's even a bigger hardliner
The regime is still in power — gas prices are up. Service members are dying — I hope the president stops the war. I don't care about the politics — I just want the war to end
The IL primary election is 4 days away. What happens here could set the blueprint for the 45 states across the U.S. yet to hold their primary elections.
AIPAC, crypto & the sports betting industry are spending tens of millions to buy our primaries. Here’s how we stop these corrupt industries now.
the country is at war and the president is leaving DC this afternoon for a weekend at his private club in Florida that he'll spend with his paying customers
Thanks for continuing to read, cite, and share this paper. It remains controversial in some corners of the discipline, but I stand by it completely.
Many Black folks don’t use terms “liberal” and “conservative,” which makes the liberal-conservative scale a noisy tool for studying Black politics.
They don’t like the European Union," EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said, adding that Washington’s approach echoed tactics used by "our adversaries".
“You don’t need to wait for that perfect moment to have kids, you just need to have them," wrote Katie Miller.
"You have a vice president who practices what he preaches.”
The pronatalist vibes around MAGA's mini-baby boom can be strange to watch. For those unsure about kids, it's even weirder.
DOGE compromised the social security data of 300 million Americans. Edward Coristine, better known as “Big Balls,” must be investigated. Listen: https://loom.ly/5uIr2Lw
#oligarchy #dictatorship #dictatortrump
Rodrigo Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, once seemed invincible. Sheila Coronel reports on how he ended up on the verge of facing real justice:
You mean tell me social media bans don't actually work and are easily circumvented but you required everyone to submit to invasive face scans and ID checks anyways? Say it isn't so.
I heard more believable garbage from Soviet propagandists than Whiskey Pete's commentary here.
Bottomless resources for war. None for the health of Americans. Huh.
All countries should boycott all US hosted World Cup matches. You are not safe here.
This morning Pete Hegseth said "The sooner David Ellison takes over CNN, the better." Ellison may be able to buy CBS News and CNN. Jeff Bezos can buy the Washington Post. But Democracy Docket is not for sale.
Support pro-democracy independent media by signing up now. bit.ly/4qr0jTS
15/ Hard to see how Irans Hormuz chokehold isn't catastrophic for Ukraine
1 Fiscal boon to Russia. Relieves a main strain on RU war machine.
2 Politically, once RU oil is un-sanctioned it will be very difficult to re-sanction it. Ppl will have just lost their appetite for it
Will EU amp up support?
this means it is not open for transit
DOGE douchebag Justin Fox is what a smug cunt looks like. Anybody else get the feeling this DOGE dumbfuckery was all about white supremacy? 😳👇
