It's August 2001 Again, And We're Watching Sharks

Julie Roginsky came on Tequila Talk with a story almost nobody in U.S. media would touch: for most of the week, NATO's been massing serious force near Kaliningrad, and no one will explain why. CIA Director Ratcliffe has suddenly flown to Moscow for an emergency meeting. What's going on?
By Cliff Schecter — August 26, 2026

Julie Roginsky came on Tequila Talk with a story almost nobody in U.S. media would touch: for most of the week, NATO's been massing serious force near Kaliningrad, and no one will explain why. CIA Director Ratcliffe has suddenly flown to Moscow for an emergency meeting. What's going on? We may be the closest to a hot war with Russia we've been in a long time.

NATO just flew a U.S.-led air exercise on Russia's doorstep—AWACS, electronic warfare, dozens of aircraft over Poland and the Baltic—as Russian drones cross NATO lines and a frigate with hypersonic missiles prowls the Baltic Sea. Cliff and Joe Walsh pour one out and ask a question most are avoiding: what happens if testing stops being a test?

🔹 Inside this week's NATO air exercise near Kaliningrad—and why Moscow claims it's a blockade rehearsal
🔹 Russia's counter-moves: drone incursions, airspace violations, and NATO jet scrambles up 250%
🔹 The Red Dawn question: what a real Russian incursion into NATO territory would actually look like
🔹 Taiwan and Korea: does a hollowed-out, incompetent Washington invite the next move?
🔹 Joe's view from the other side of the aisle on deterrence under this administration

You can get all this and more by watching the video and reading the rest of our currently harrowing situation at BAM.

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