Today, Jess, Les, John, and Andrew cover a busy news cycle spanning the skies over Moscow to the streets of America. Ukrainian drones — produced domestically and flying hundreds of miles — are hammering Russian energy infrastructure and forcing Putin to publicly acknowledge fuel shortages across the country for the first time, as air defenses are redeployed from Crimea to protect the capital.

Can Ukraine's drone campaign sustain enough pressure to meaningfully shift the strategic calculus for Putin? What does Russia's fuel crisis reveal about the durability of its war machine? ⁨Can the U.S. men’s soccer teams advance to the round of 16 by defeating World War instigators Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Check out the answers to these questions and more in this episode of Fault Lines.

@nottvjessjones

@lestermunson

@johnclipsey

@andrewborene

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Today, Les, John, Andrew, and Andy examine the devastating earthquake that has killed more than 1,500 people in Venezuela, a number expected to climb, and what the U.S. response reveals about American humanitarian leadership in the Trump era. Washington has committed $150 million in aid flowing through UN agencies and NGOs, with DART teams and fire and rescue units from across the country, including Los Angeles and Fairfax County, already on the ground.

But the response raises harder questions than it answers. With USAID largely dismantled, who actually leads American disaster response now, and what does that mean for U.S. soft power on the world stage? Now that the U.S. has removed Maduro and installed a friendly government in Caracas, the response carries an unavoidable optic: is Washington showing up for Venezuela because lives are at stake, or because this is now its ally? And if the U.S. is only willing to show up for countries already in its corner, what does that say about the credibility of American humanitarian commitments when the next crisis hits in less friendly territory?

Check out the answers to these questions and more in this episode of Fault Lines.

@lestermunson

@andykeiser

@johnclipsey

@andrewborene

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Today, Jess, Algene, John, and Andrew discuss reports that the Trump administration is considering major defense sales to Turkey, despite bipartisan opposition in Congress. Turkey was removed from the F-35 program in 2019 after purchasing Russia's S-400 air defense system, but as alliance leaders gather in Turkey next month for the NATO Summit, supporters cite its strategic importance to the alliance and recent efforts to distance itself from Moscow.

Does Turkey's recent westward drift justify relaxing the restrictions imposed after the S-400 purchase? What are real security risks if Russian-made air defense systems and F-35 engines end up in the same arsenal? Can the administration move forward with major defense sales to Turkey on its own, or does Congress have the authority to block the deal?

Check out the answers to these questions and more in this episode of Fault Lines.

@nottvjessjones

@algenesajery

@johnclipsey

@andrewborene

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