Notices by Kevin Rothrock (kevinrothrock@infosec.exchange)

the best TACO Tuesday yet

Remember that time all of Mastodon crashed for hours and hours, like Bluesky is crashing today? No? That's weird...

Unclear which union, the States or the European, is more in shambles these days: EU limits the flow of confidential material to Hungary, and leaders are meeting in smaller groups, as Tusk warns of suspicions Orbán’s govt is sharing information with Russia.

https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-hungary-leak-russia-peter-szijjarto/

Generations from now, Russians will celebrate the late Putin regime's Nixonian feat of Russo-American rapprochement and how he split the Yankees from their European junior allies, weakening the hostile transatlantics and hastening the West's decline...

https://www.politico.eu/article/putin-offers-stop-intel-iran-condition-us-cuts-off-ukraine/

Police in Tver have reportedly arrested Ekaterina Duntsova, the journalist turned anti-war politician who tried but failed to register for candidacy against Putin in Russia's 2024 presidential election.

https://t.me/Rassvet_original/1286

@evan get on the bus, gus

The U.S. State Dept is reportedly developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their govts, "including alleged hate speech and terrorist propaganda," as a way to counter censorship. The site will be hosted at "freedom.gov." https://www.reuters.com/world/us-plans-online-portal-bypass-content-bans-europe-elsewhere-2026-02-18/

Kyiv knew Russia had smuggled Starlink, but it didn't want SpaceX to cut it off — too many Ukrainian units relied on unregistered, non-whitelisted terminals, too. What changed? Russia started using Starlink-equipped drones to strike 50 miles behind Ukrainian lines. https://meduza.io/en/feature/2026/02/07/russia-was-never-supposed-to-have-starlink-so-why-did-spacex-wait-so-long-to-cut-it-off

Was thinking about the cognitive bias of Maslow’s Hammer, and I decided that this inspirational quote should really exist.

Macron says Europe risks a navel-gazing foreign policy and being left out of the Ukraine war settlement if it sticks to the EU's hardline of no direct dialogue with Moscow.

The European Union on Friday indefinitely froze Russia’s assets in Europe to ensure that Hungary and Slovakia, both with Moscow-friendly governments, can’t prevent the billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine. https://apnews.com/article/eu-russia-frozen-assets-ukraine-war-a65c92625cab565da7b8e07013dead05

Wow. Bloomberg obtained a recording of Steve Witkoff's October 14 phone call with Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s top foreign policy aide. This post-Gaza peace deal talk "appears to be the genesis of the 28-point peace proposal." Witkoff looks pretty dumb here. Amateur hour. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-25/witkoff-discusses-ukraine-plans-with-key-putin-aide-transcript

Such a wonderful story from Larissa MacFarquhar on "aphantasia," a condition where people can't form mental images. It's always fascinating to be reminded that brains work differently and how those differences affect our experience of reality. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/11/03/some-people-cant-see-mental-images-the-consequences-are-profound

i know Putin threatened a massive retaliation for US aid to Ukraine, but reaching all the way to Washington, DC, like this is incredible

Imagine sharing this text exchange and feeling yourself vindicated.

Should be fun to see how Putin reaches Budapest for his big second summit with Trump.

“Evidence gathered by The Telegraph reveals Russia is using rape as a weapon of war in occupied Ukraine […] Their testimonies, including accounts of rape, torture, and forced disappearances, reveal a pattern of systematic abuse intended to terrorize the local population into submission.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/terror-and-security/russia-ukraine-war-life-under-putins-occupation/

nothing from George Orwell or Terry Gilliam rivals the horror that is today's LinkedIn copy

had to laugh when this link to a NYT story about Trump's abuses of executive power redirected to a Volvo ad

TASS had to make a very funny correction to its headline about the audience for Intervision (a replacement for Eurovision, which I’ve also never watched). “Intervision Broadcast Watched by 4 Billion Viewers Worldwide” became “Intervision Broadcast Accessible to 4 Billion Viewers Worldwide.”