A Surge of Russian Sabotage Attacks in Europe, and Musk’s Political War Chest

“One of the drones equipped with military grade explosives bounced off the wing of a plane on the tarmac.” That image, from a failed attack at a German airport this summer, captures the escalating threat at the center of today’s episode. Across Europe, a surge of Russian sabotage attacks—on railways, factories, and cargo planes—has officials warning of a looming crisis for NATO. The episode also covers Vice President JD Vance downplaying the war in Iran, Elon Musk’s plan to spend up to $120 million on the midterm elections, and a look at China’s aggressive push to put AI everywhere, from cleaning robots to trash cans.

Russia’s Shadow War on Europe

Over the past few years, a series of sabotage attacks across Europe—including a railway line explosion in Poland and a fire at a drone factory—have been linked to Russia. Michael Schwartz, who covers global security for the Times, reports that these attacks began shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and are part of a broader Russian plot to bring the war to the West. The attacks have posed a real challenge for NATO, which was designed during the Cold War to deter a land invasion from the Soviet Union. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been careful to keep the campaign below the threshold of a war, short of triggering Article 5—NATO’s central tenet that an attack on one is an attack on all. NATO has responded by ki