That’s nine seconds of silence by the way. Then the smile.

🇺🇸🇪🇺🇷🇺The Trump administration wants to negotiate a new Europe-Russia security architecture and a Russia-Ukraine peace deal simultaneously. But the implementation of a security arrangement would only happen after a deal to end the war is reached, according to a source familiar with the White House's thinking
🇺🇸🇪🇺🇷🇺The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said before the talks in Abu Dhabi that Europe will discuss a new security architecture only after the war in Ukraine ends
🇺🇸🇪🇺🇷🇺But two sources with knowledge said European officials who were in Abu Dhabi this week agreed to engage on both tracks simultaneously, while stressing that final decisions on European security architecture would be made only after the war in Ukraine ends

🚨Scoop: The U.S. has asked Russia to submit a new proposal for a future security agreement with Europe that includes Russian steps to ease tension with the continent, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. My story on @axios
axios.com/2026/11/11/rus…

NEW!! Direct talks between German Chancellor Merz and Putin could be on the horizon following an understanding reached by U.S, European and Ukrainian negotiators in Abu Dhabi, Berlin says.

Those politicians who claim it’s European countries who won’t negotiate should take a very close note of this.

Russia refused to speak with Europeans during the Abu Dhabi talks. The expected multilateral format will have to wait...

Was that from Kushner? Or Witkoff? Or Rubio? Or the president?

Quintuples down.

Russian chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky doubles down on Europe's security architecture:

"The conflict in Ukraine has demonstrated that the entire European security system, which had been in place since the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, is functioning very poorly."

Russia has made clear that what it wants from the talks is a Yalta 2.0 deal, going far beyond Ukraine. And it won't stop till it gets that. “The entire organism is ill," Medinsky said of Europe. "In Ukraine, an abscess has simply burst. The organism as a whole needs treating."

Russia and Ukraine's first peace talks in 9 months are over. Russia's top negotiator says: “Every square foot of land will be returned to Russia one way or another.”

latest with @ChristopherJM

ft.com/content/392540…

UK Defence Secretary Streeting: There is some audacity on Putin's part to say he doesn't want war with Europe while he's waging one.

What some people call hybrid threats, I prefer to call state-sponsored terrorism. Europe must prepare for a Russian escalation — FT. 1/

RT @BabakVahdad: In an interview with Al Mayadeen, Rezaei argues that Trump and Netanyahu have exhausted their political capacity to contin…

Jared Kushner:

If Europe could identify one person to speak on their behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting the Russians to include them in the negotiations.

As they say in Russia, appetite grows while eating.
Russia’s top negotiator Medinsky says in Abu Dhabi that Moscow’s demands extend to all of Europe, far beyond Ukraine.
“The security system in Europe works very badly. The entire organism is sick. Ukraine is just an abscess m must be cured as a whole, a band-aid will not be enough.”
Dr Putin to the rescue of poor sick Europe…
The more Trump seeks to mollify Putin, the more megalomaniac the Russian demands become.

In Dnipro 3 people were killed and 4 injured in a russian attack‼️

two of the injured are in critical condition.

🚨 The UK and its NATO allies should consider going “on the offensive” to defend against Russia - put pressure on the Kremlin, cause them a dilemma and create jeopardy - rather than leaving the initiative with Moscow and defending against whatever Russia does, Lord Mark Sedwill, a former Cabinet Secretary and long-serving UK National Security Adviser, has said.

He said this could be done by using conventional or hybrid defences.

Lord Sedwill, a highly regarded and leading voice in the security community, was speaking on the Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier in Norway at the opening of a conference attended by serving military chiefs and ministers as well as members of the defence industry from across Europe and beyond.

Lord Sedwill posed three questions for the attendees.

Firstly, how can the UK and its allies defend effectively the North Sea and the North Atlantic - Britain’s “frontline” with Russia?

Secondly, how can allies defend against Russian, Iranian and other hostile grey zone attacks such as cyber hacks, assassinations and hoax bomb threats?

But his third point was the most strident.

Here is what Lord Sedwill said at the Atlantic Future Forum:

“This is something I really do want to emphasise. It is not just about defence.

“NATO is a defensive alliance but the most effective form of defence is often to cause a dilemma, it is often to go on the offensive against our adversaries.

“So how can we present our Russian adversaries in particular with a set of strategic dilemmas?

“How do we make them feel they are under threat? Not simply leave the initiative to them and defend against it.

“That is true whether we are talking about land, sea and air but it is also true if we are talking about the hybrid space, space, cyber space and indeed in the information space as well.

“I hope we can think that through as well.

“How - whether it is in conventional defence or in hybrid defence - can we put some pressure on the Russians?

“Because deterrence requires not just effective defence, it does require there to be some jeopardy to our adversaries in continuing to probe us.”

It is a sad reflection of modern football that the man who cares most about Manchester United, who will loyally, diligently again go into Carrington today to try and tackle the mess, is the one being eased out by those gathering in Monaco and via a link to Florida who don’t truly have United in their heart. Those who are primarily responsible for the mess.

Michael Carrick will leave the club sooner or later but the club will never leave him. United mean too much to him. He gave everything for the team in 464 games. His son plays for their academy. Being United head coach is not simply a job for Carrick, it's an honour he feels deeply proud of.

The manager who last season masterminded home wins over Manchester City, Aston Villa and Liverpool and away triumphs at Arsenal, Chelsea and Brighton has undoubtedly made mistakes this season. Diogo Dalot at left-back, not bringing Shea Lacey on earlier, etc. The poor run, and tumble into the relegation positions, inevitably means his job is on the line.

It is possible to understand why Carrick should lose his job but also why others should be held accountable, too. The decision on Carrick would be more palatable if it weren’t being formulated and then executed by Omar Berrada, Jason Wilcox, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the loathed Glazers. What good have they done to this great club? Debts and decline, holes in the roof and in the squad.

Carrick’s contribution to the history of Manchester United is substantial and his legacy secure – winning five titles and taking responsibility for a penalty in the 2008 shootout that helped win the Champions League.

At the very least, Carrick deserves to be treated with far more respect than is currently being shown to a dignified, hard-working individual as the clock ticks down on his departure. His exit is being handled appallingly by the club. Red man walking. At least United fans are showing all the class their board lacks. The Stretford End sings Carrick’s name because they know he is not the real problem.

It will be no surprise in weeks to come to spot Carrick standing, hood up, with United fans at an away game. They will welcome him warmly. He’s done it before, being a fan again. Carrick loves the club. He has ever since he was an apprentice at West Ham United, charged with keeping the away dressing-room tidy, and admiring how Alex Ferguson and his smartly-dressed collection of winners strode into the Boleyn Ground. They had an aura, and Carrick wanted to be part of that.

Carrick will leave the club physically, dismissed as much for the failings of underperforming players, those incompetents in charge of recruitment and the unpopular owners, as for his own undoubted mistakes. But Carrick will never leave United emotionally. It's sad that someone who cares so much will go, and those who don't care as much remain. #MUFC

WASHINGTON—U.S. national-security officials said that Ukraine didn’t target Russian President Vladimir Putin or one of his residences in an alleged drone operation, challenging Moscow’s assertion that Kyiv sought to kill the Russian leader.

wsj.com/politics/natio…

Not sure what exactly the point here is. The NATO-Russia Council was a relic of a different era, built for cooperation between proclaimed partners. Today and after the war, we need deconfliction and risk reduction between adversaries.

The Russians certainly want to create that impression but even they do not really believe it. In 1939 and 1945, they had armies numbering in the millions. They were indispensable to the Third Reich in unleashing war against the West, and at Yalta, indispensable to bringing it to an end. Today, they are indispensable to ending a war in the Donbas - and they cannot even manage that.