Promising Molecules.

"A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus".

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1. The New York Times Editorial Board:

Human history can be told as a series of advances in warfare, from chariots to crossbows to nuclear-tipped missiles, and we are living through what may be the fastest advancement in weaponry ever. Ask any five veteran national security experts and you will hear about five different emerging technologies with the potential to change the world of combat. Swarms of robotic aircraft that work in unison to find and kill targets without any human oversight. Advanced cyberweapons that can immobilize armed forces and shut down electrical grids across the country. A.I.-designed bioweapons engineered to kill only those with certain genetic characteristics.

Some of these weapons will remain confined to the pages of science fiction, but others are already in the works. Innovations in artificial intelligence, synthetic biology and quantum computing are set to change how we wage war just as they transform all aspects of our lives. The United States has the lead in some areas, especially in A.I., thanks to the massive investments of the private sector. But China, Russia and other authoritarian regimes are accelerating state investments at purpose-built universities and finding ways to incorporate innovations into their militaries now…

Deterrence will be necessary. The biggest reason to build a military that can win the wars of the future is to prevent those wars from ever happening. (Read the rest. Source: nytimes.com)

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2. Politico:

President Donald Trump denounced Europe as a “decaying” group of nations led by “weak” people in an interview with POLITICO, belittling the traditional U.S. allies for failing to control migration and end the Russia-Ukraine war, and signaling that he would endorse European political candidates aligned with his own vision for the continent. The broadside attack against European political leadership represents the president’s most virulent denunciation to date of these Western democracies, threatening a decisive rupture with countries like France and Germany that already have deeply strained relations with the Trump administration.

“I think they’re weak,” Trump said of Europe’s political leaders. “But I also think that they want to be so politically correct.”

Trump matched that blunt, even abrasive, candor on European affairs with a sequence of stark pronouncements on matters closer to home: He said he would make support for immediately slashing interest rates a litmus test in his choice of a new Federal Reserve chair. He said he could extend anti-drug military operations to Mexico and Colombia.

Trump’s comments about Europe come at an especially precarious moment in the negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, as European leaders express intensifying alarm that Trump may abandon Ukraine and its continental allies to Russian aggression. In the interview, Trump offered no reassurance to Europeans on that score and declared that Russia was obviously in a stronger position than Ukraine.

Trump’s confident commentary on Europe presented a sharp contrast with some of his remarks on domestic matters in the interview. The president and his party have faced a series of electoral setbacks and spiraling dysfunction in Congress this fall as voters rebel against the high cost of living. Trump has struggled to deliver a message to meet that new reality: In the interview, he graded the economy’s performance as an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus,” insisted that prices were falling across the board and declined to outline a specific remedy for imminent spikes in health care premiums. (Source: politico.com)

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3. Institute for the Study of War:

ISW continues to assess that the Russian campaign to militarily seize the rest of Donetsk Oblast, including Ukraine’s heavily fortified Fortress Belt, would likely take at least two-to-three years, pose a significant challenge, and result in difficult and costly battles that the Russian Federation may not be able to sustain. Russia’s cognitive warfare effort aims to push Ukraine and the West to cede this heavily defended territory to Russia without a fight, allowing Russia to avoid spending significant amounts of time and resources to try to seize it on the battlefield. Ceding Donetsk Oblast to Russia would also notably set conditions for Russia to renew its aggression against Ukraine from more advantageous positions at a time of its choosing, particularly as Putin and other Kremlin officials continue to indicate that their longer-term strategic goal of controlling all of Ukraine – not only its southern and eastern regions – remains unchanged.

Russian forces have gained 0.77 percent of Ukrainian territory since the start of 2025 while suffering disproportionately high personnel costs. (Source: understandingwar.org)

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4. President Trump’s envoys have given Volodymyr Zelenskyy days to respond to a proposed peace deal requiring Ukraine to accept territorial losses in exchange for unspecified US security guarantees, according to officials briefed on the conversations. Ukraine’s president told his European counterparts that he had been pressed, during a two-hour call on Saturday, to take a swift decision by Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and the US president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. A person with knowledge of the timeline proposed to Kyiv said Trump was hoping for a deal agreed “by Christmas”. Zelenskyy, the officials said, told the US envoys that he needed time to consult with other European allies before reacting to Washington’s proposal, which Kyiv fears could fracture western unity if the US moves ahead without European buy-in. More on this here. (Sources: ft.com, wsj.com)