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First, a reflection on X about the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last night. The shooting happened at the same hotel where Hinckley shot Reagan in 1981. It’s a hotel I’ve visited many times, including for the Correspondents’ Dinner when I was working at The Weekly Standard:
These Russian individuals were in a class learning how to use drones to kill people who refuse to submit to Kremlin rule.
They were perhaps hungover from the nightly vodka or not very bright (the products of a broken society) because they took awhile to realize that the special guest speaker, appearing via Zoom or some such, was a Ukrainian defender warning them to stay out of Ukraine if they wish to stay alive.
People can be persuaded.
Here, Ukrainian Olympian Vladyslav Heraskevych explains Ukraine to leading MAGA voice Will Chamberlain.
Chamberlain had previously been an opponent of Ukraine but as you can see here he is starting to change his mind.
Finnish president: “Can we afford to keep Ukraine outside” the Western military alliances? His answer—no. They have the most war-experienced military in the free world!
“I hope the Americans understand and see this,” President Stubb told Canada’s CBC.
Alexander Stubb—Europe’s self-described “most pro-American” leader—makes the case: Ukraine is winning. Time to seize the advantage.
Soundtrack: Sibelius, “Andante festivo.”
I don’t know about you but I’m tired of hearing this song in my feed with attempts to exalt ‘russia,” whether imperial or kremlinist. So we’ve fixed it with a more accurate reflection of what Russia is.
Prepare yourself for some disgusting visuals but it’s good that the West see the real Russia.
Carl XVI Gustaf, King of Sweden, is the first reigning monarch to visit war-zone Ukraine.
This is huge: Previously countries would not send their “irreplaceables.”
His Majesty visited Lviv, where along with Zelensky he placed flowers for the war-dead, and he also visited school children, a bombed Catholic church, and the Superhumans center for those who have lost limbs because of Russia’s war.
“För Sverige—i tiden,” as the king’s royal motto says: “For Sweden—with the times.”
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Announcing: Paid journalism internships for Ukrainians in Kyiv—Our friends atSich Media Foundationare sponsoring paid, mentored summer journalism internships for Ukrainians at four top media outlets in Kyiv. War veterans are welcome, too. If you or someone you know would be interested, please visit and sharethis page.The application deadline is TODAY, 26 April, midnight Kyiv time.
**Free Speech Dinner, Gunfire Included—**What was meant to be acelebrationof the White House Correspondents’ Association and the First Amendment turned into something terrifying: chaos, gunfire, and a blunt reminder that even America’s most protected political theater is not immune to real-world instability. A gunman armed with multiple weapons stormed the venue, fired shots, and triggered a full-scale evacuation as guests, including US President Donald Trump,ducked for coverwhile Secret Service agents moved in. Trump was unharmed, one agent was hit but protected by body armor, and the suspect was arrested, with authorities believing he acted alone.
In a press conference at the White House afterward, with reporters and officials alike still in ball gowns and tuxes from the dinner and still visibly running on adrenaline, Trump said, among other things, that the evening’s violence is precisely why he isbuilding a ballroomat the White House, for security from shooters and drones.
Notably, King Charles III is due to arrive in Washington Monday, amid this incident—which can either be spun asa security success (it was contained) or a breach (it happened at all).
**The Shooter Next Door—**The manbehindthe White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting is not the caricature many expected.Cole Thomas Allen, a 31-year-old from California, appears on paper almost aggressively ordinary: a tutor, a computer programmer with a master’s degree in computer science, even a background in engineering and education. He reportedly worked for years in test prep, built small video games, and was described by former teachers as diligent and polite, hardly the profile of a man who would charge a high-security checkpoint armed with a shotgun, handgun, and knives.
That is precisely what makes the story moreunsettlingthan comforting. There is, so far, no clear ideology, no obvious network, no neat explanation—just a lone individual who crossed the line from functioning member of society to armed attacker at one of Washington’s most tightly secured events.
“Call Us When You’re Serious”: Diplomacy Collapses—Hopes for ending the U.S.-Iran war have taken a clear stepbackwardafter Donald Trumpabruptly scrapped planned peace talks in Pakistan, effectively freezing the only active diplomatic channel. The reason, bluntly stated: Washington sees Iran’s latest offer as insufficient, while Tehran refuses to negotiate under blockade and pressure—meaning both sides are now dug in, waiting for the other to blink. What had been a fragile path toward de-escalation is now a stalemate dressed up as diplomacy: talks exist, but no one is willing to compromise enough to make them real.
Trump, speaking hours after the Correspondents’ Dinner shooting, said he saw no reason for envoys Witkoff and Kushner (his son-in-law) to take an 18-hour flight to Pakistan for useless negotiations.
**Ukraine Remembers the Chornobyl Disaster, 40 Years On—**Ukrainemarkedthe 40th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster under a grim new reality: the site is no longer just a memorial to past catastrophe, but a live risk shaped by war. Russian drones and missiles have repeatedly flown near the plant, and a 2025 strike damaged the massive protective shell over reactor four, with repairs now estimated at around €500 million.
Radiation levels remain stable, but the symbolism is stark: a disaster once caused by Soviet mismanagement now sits exposed to modern Russian military recklessness. Commemorations were deliberately low-key due to security risks, even as a reduced workforce continues to maintain the site.
**Alliance or Leverage Tool? The Iran War Splits NATO—**AninternalPentagon email reveals U.S. officials spitballing ways to punish allies who refused to support the Iran war—including the extraordinary idea of suspending Spain from parts of the alliance. The frustration centers on European reluctance to grant basic military cooperation—access, basing, and overflight rights—which Washington considers the bare minimum of alliance solidarity. Spain, which denied use of its bases and airspace, has become the symbolic target, while even Britain is being quietly pressured through threats to revisit U.S. support for the Falklands.**Recon, Logistics, AI—All in One Flying Toolbox—**Frontline Robotics hasunveiledZoom 3.0,a new Ukrainian copter built for tactical reconnaissance, target acquisition, artillery correction, battle damage assessment, and light logistics. Its specs are practical rather than flashy: up to 90× hybrid zoom, day and night versions, 110 km/h maximum speed, 15 km tactical range, one hour of flight without payload, and up to 3 kg payload capacity.
The more important detail is the AI-powered visual-inertial navigation module, designed for precise loitering, stabilized landing, and route tracking even under battlefield pressure. Add encrypted frequency-hopping communications and EW-resistant video transmission, and the logic is obvious: Ukraine’s drone industry is no longer just improvising aroundRussian jamming: It is designing for it from the start.
Putin Turns Airliners Into Logistics Camouflage—A new report by private intelligence companyDallas Analyticsrevealed that Russia is not only hiding oil tankers in a shadow fleet, it is alsoweaponizing “civilian” aviation. As its military transport fleet strains under sanctions, maintenance failures, and wartime demand, Moscow is using state-linked and private cargo airlines to move troops, weapons, missile components, helicopters, and sanctioned defense supplies under commercial cover.
Civil-registered aircraft can slip through routes and hubswhere openly military planes would draw scrutiny, especially via Turkey, the UAE, Africa, and Central Asia. The most cynical part is the risk transfer: by routing military cargo through civilian airports and dual-use airfields, Russia blurs the line between protected commercial infrastructure and military logistics.**The lesson for Europe and the US:**sanctions that stop at aircraft names and tail numbers are not enough. Ground handlers, fuel suppliers, transit hubs, and governments enabling the network need to feel the cost too.
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