It's the Brian Laris Show on WNIC, Gerd Friday morning, everyone.

Julia Yafi is with us.

You may know her reporting as a founding partner and Washington correspondent at Puck News.

She is written recently on how Vladimir Putin may have snookered Melania Trump into softening President Trump's stance toward him regarding Russia's war in Ukraine.

And soften it he did toward Putin this week.

Again, maybe you missed it with all the Gaza and Venezuela

and ICE on the streets and New York mayoral debate news. But did you see Vice President

Vance declare in Israel in yet another story that Trump will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank

as a vote in Israel's parliament declare that they would?

When I asked about it, somebody told me that it was a political stunt, that it had no

practical significance, it was purely symbolic. I mean, look, if it was a political stunt,

it was a very stupid political stunt, and I personally take some insult to it, the West Bank

is not going to be annexed by Israel.

So there's a lot going on in US foreign policy right now,

as well as of course in domestic news,

but in foreign policy on the peace track in the Middle East,

on the war track in the Caribbean,

and on the leave Putin alone while saying we disapproved track, although Trump did

announce new sanctions on Russian oil companies yesterday's, so we'll get to that, but as Putin

continues to bomb civilians in Ukraine. Well, even with all of that to cover, now comes a new book

by Julia Yafi, already chosen as a finalist for the

National Book Award with a surprising history of how Russia, of all places, led the world in feminism

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