I took two tours of Chernobyl - one in 2007 as I was doing research for my book "Meltdown" and the second during the Maidan Square Protests in 2014. Here are some photos:
Three Houthi drones were fired at Israel on Sunday. Two were shot down and the third struck the airport in Eilat, Wounding to his Israelis and causing the airspace to be shut down.
I've been recognized a couple of times since I've been here - amazing that there are fans of the podcast literally all over the planet.
The world doesn’t slow down, and neither do the threats we face. Yesterday brought a stark reminder of that when two Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets buzzed the USS Jason Dunham in international waters.
The Pentagon issued a sharp statement:
“Today, two Maduro regime military aircraft flew near a U.S. Navy vessel in international waters. This highly provocative move was designed to interfere with our counter-narco terror operations. The cartel running Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter, or interfere with counter narcotics and counterterror operations carried out by the U.S. military.”
That’s about as clear as it gets. Venezuela—already drowning in corruption, cartel ties, and authoritarian control—is poking the bear. The question is: what should America do about it?
The overflight wasn’t done with Russian-made Flankers, as I might have expected, but with U.S.-made F-16s. Back in the 1980s, Washington sold Caracas two dozen of them. Today, most of those planes are grounded for lack of parts and maintenance. Venezuela claims 14 are still flightworthy, but experts believe the number is closer to three.
That makes the provocation even more interesting—dusting off old American jets to fly dangerously close to one of our destroyers. And make no mistake: the Arleigh Burke-class Jason Dunham could have swatted them from the sky in seconds.
For nearly two years, the war between Israel and Hamas has been framed in the starkest moral terms. Activists, NGOs, and even governments have accused Israel of genocide against the people of Gaza. The word “genocide” carries immense legal and moral weight — it evokes Rwanda, the Holocaust, the deliberate attempt to wipe out an entire people. But when a term this powerful is misapplied, it loses its meaning.
A new, in-depth study from the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, authored by historians, military analysts, and legal scholars, takes a hard look at the genocide allegations and finds them built on sand. The report’s aim is not to excuse Israel’s mistakes or downplay suffering in Gaza — but to sift fact from fiction.
There’s a lot to cover, and it all connects.
Israel’s Shin Bet and the IDF broke up a Hamas-directed cell out of Hebron that was plotting to assassinate National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir—with drones.
How it was supposed to work: The cell bought multiple commercial drones (think DJI FPV/Avata and Mavic-style platforms) and planned to mount explosives or use them as high-speed kamikaze vehicles.
Who was really running it: Instructions and direction were coming from Hamas operatives in Turkey. Let that sink in—a NATO country is the rear area for a terror org that just tried to take out a sitting Israeli minister.
Why this matters: Small drones aren’t “toys” anymore. Strap a grenade under a 250-gram quadcopter and you’ve got a precision drop weapon. Rig an FPV racer and it’s a guided missile at 60–100 mph. We’ve seen versions of this in Ukraine, Syria, and even the attempted hit on Maduro in Venezuela.
Bottom line: Counter-drone is no longer optional around VIPs—or your neighborhood, if things ever go sideways. The threat isn’t theoretical; it’s here.
Just before we went live, Hamas released a new proof-of-life video for one of the Israeli hostages. Same old psychological warfare; same refusal to release Red Cross access.
On the ground:
The IDF is staging for expanded operations in/around Gaza City—calling up tens of thousands of reservists, forward-positioning armor and engineering assets, and mapping humanitarian corridors and aid points away from combat zones.
Reports on the ground say Hamas has blocked families from leaving areas Israel has warned will become active battle spaces—human shields all over again.
Translation: Israel is telegraphing the safer routes and stocking them with food/medical aid; Hamas is trying to keep civilians in the crossfire. That tells you everything you need to know about motives.
