Today’s edition of quick hits.
* In Pyongyang: “Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un signed a new pact Wednesday that includes a pledge of mutual defense if either is attacked. The agreement was sealed at a summit in Pyongyang during a rare visit by Putin to the reclusive nuclear-armed state as both countries face growing confrontations with the West.”
* On a related note: “As Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia and Xi Jinping’s China deepened their confrontation with the West over the past decade, they were always united with the United States on at least one geopolitical project: dismantling or at least containing North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. That is, until the war in Ukraine broke out two years ago.”
* The White House and Netanyahu are not on the same page: “The United States says it has no idea what the Israeli prime minister is talking about. The Biden administration on Tuesday rejected Benjamin Netanyahu’s accusation that Washington had been ‘withholding weapons and ammunitions’ from its close ally over the ‘past few months.’”
* The crisis in northeastern Africa: “A civil war is ripping apart Sudan, one of Africa’s largest countries. Tens of thousands have been killed, millions scattered and an enormous famine looms, setting off one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crises. … [A] New York Times examination of satellite imagery and video from El Fasher makes one thing clear: The assault is intensifying.”
* In the Red Sea: “The combat markings emblazoned on the F/A-18 fighter jet tell the story: 15 missiles and six drones, painted in black just below the cockpit windshield. As the jet sits on the deck of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, its markings illuminate the enemy targets that it’s destroyed in recent months and underscore the intensity of the fight to protect commercial shipping from persistent missile and drone attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. But they also hint at the fatigue setting in, as the carrier, its strike group and about 7,000 sailors close in on their ninth month waging the most intense running sea battle since World War II.” * I assume Republicans will soon pretend to care about the deficit again: “The Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday that it projects this year’s federal budget deficit to be $400 billion higher, a 27% increase compared to its original estimate released in February.” * Let’s not forget that Morris is a former member of Donald Trump’s spiritual advisory committee: “Robert Morris has resigned as senior pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas, three days after confessing to engaging in ‘sexual behavior’ with a child over the course of a few years in the 1980s. The board of elders at Gateway made the announcement Tuesday in a statement to NBC News.” See you tomorrow.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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