Well, howdy there, internet people, it's Bell again. And welcome to the Roads with Bell.

Today is August 10th, 2025, and this is episode 103 of The Roads Not Taken, which is a weekly series where we go over the news that was unreported,

underreported, didn't get the coverage we thought it deserved,

or we just found it interesting. And then we go through a few questions from y'all.

Today is August 10th, and today is National Spoil Your Dog Day. And on this date in 1776,

news of some very ungrateful liberal colonists declaring independence reportedly reached London.

And starting with foreign policy.

Trump and Putin are supposed to meet in Alaska for talks over Ukraine.

Given the public posture of Kremlin officials, most analysts

expect a lot of show, but no real results. There are indications that Putin's goal is to basically

offer a peace that isn't really a peace, but it formalizes Russian control of eastern Ukraine. It seems unlikely that Ukraine

would accept giving up land. India's prime minister has indicated he intends to deepen his

country's ties with Russia because of Trump's tariffs. If he follows through, this will be a major blow to U.S. strength in the region.

Massive.

Trump has reportedly ordered the U.S. military to prepare to target cartels.

The president of Mexico has rejected what she calls an invasion.

Over the advice of his military advisors, Netanyahu is reportedly readying to take Gaza City, a surge. Yeah, I've seen this one

before when the U.S. did it. Germany has imposed a partial arms embargo over the plan. Putin handed President Trump's

special envoy, Steve Whitkoff, the order of Lenin, which is meant to be given to the mother of Michael

Gloss, a 21-year-old American who died fighting for Russia in Ukraine.

There's a high probability that the Trump team is oblivious to the intended mind game

Putin was playing. Gloss's mother is a high-ranking CIA official. As the name suggests,

...