i'm joined now by nina totenberg, npr's legal affairs correspondent.welcome back to "the beat." >> thank you, ari. >> thank you. how do you view these revelations, the latest hitting justice alito? >> well, you know, there are some things that he says and did that are at least arguable. the rules on whether he could go on this trip and accept this hospitality were at least arguably mushy at the time that he went on this trip and went on a -- that was essentially supported by business people who are large republican contributors. what you can't argue with is that he was supposed to disclose the private jet travel. that is really undebatable according to every ethics person i've spoken to. the judicial conference has, quote, clarified the hospitality rules, i think because -- well, because some members of the supreme court wanted to interpret it one way, and they thought perhaps it should be interpreted in a more -- in a clearer way that would make clear that you're not supposed to accept hospitality at resorts and at business -- you know, in business pl

these rather difficult defensive lines and to break through them is a difficult task , emphasized totenbergough i think these challenges to the armed forces are understood and without such explanations, we to understand that ukraine must conduct a unique offensive operation that does not fit into the concept of oil-rich countries of the united states, which usually rely on aviation support, we must do this with limited potential aviation components and we understand that we have a difficult summer-autumn campaign ahead of us, indeed, the capabilities of the armed forces of ukraine have grown significantly, we have experience in the fire means of the communication and control system , but we should not expect quick results , we should remember, i repeat, that ukraine is conducting a unique operation that has not been conducted by any of the countries nato and even the states, so the following forces will need courage and weapons and non-standard solutions, but in addition to the fact that the enemy is now trying to strengthen the zaporizhia direction, he is now shifting his forces to the bak

there is a tough and bloody uh-uh in action, this is actually a quote from totenberg, but in any caseican aid, we see how dynamically our partners e-e supplying us with the equipment we need both for offensive operations and for the provision of our artillery, which is now taking on the main role in the destruction of the russian line of defense and the enemy's forces. well, and important objects that reduce the power of the russian forces of defense in the official breeds of p. sergiu in relation to the enemy and in relation to their supreme commander-in-chief yesterday he, uh, talked to military correspondents and bloggers, he was in a good mood, so you could say he was flirting and well, it looks like he feels immediately, he now played such a role that nothing terrible is happening, everything it is going according to plan and this is really a complete disregard for reality when he talks about the destruction of 150 ukrainian tanks and so on, that is, now as i understand it , he is trying to tell his population that everything is going according to plan, everything is calm there i

meeting can be held already this this was announced by the secretary general of the alliance, jens totenbergg the two-day meeting of the alliance's defense ministers. according to him, they want to create a format that will provide that ukraine will be equal with nato allies , will consult and make decisions of common interest. to see volodymyr zelenskyi, but the ukrainian president has not yet decided whether he will go because he does not see the point in the train if they do not give ukraine a clear formulation of the prospects for membership, as well as our the party expects to receive security guarantees before the official accession, the minister of defense of germany boryspil storis noted today that the allies are considering a simplified accession of ukraine, but they exclude the possibility of accession while our country is in a state of active war. in the direction of the front, ukrainian soldiers liquidated more than four companies of the russian invaders and disabled almost 6 dozen units of a harvest of equipment on the easternmost flank of zaporozhye with the support of artiller

see in the position of secretary general, and therefore they are very strongly persuading jensas totenberg stay for another term. well, i will remind you that it will be for him it's already the third term for us in these positions. well, i'll also remind you that in addition to jens stolton , who is being persuaded. although he repeatedly said that no, i will not stay for this position , the british defense minister ben walz, the prime minister what are the data of medtefredrikson, the prime minister, what even of estonia, what is it, but, regarding kaikal, this is a rather interesting attitude towards her candidacy, vasyl is told that she is too bellicose for a person who can apply for the post of nato secretary general. well, i understand that this is a military-political bloc could and what hiba it is bad if it is good enough to be belligerent, on the contrary, i think it is good, but we do not choose the nato secretary general, ukraine will join nato in its own way , the spokeswoman for the us department of defense, bri na sync, said about this during a briefing in upenkagoni. countri

european leaders there are declaring that now they are the same ones, we see the statement from totenberg that we have no guarantees of entry into the nato and no one to us will say when it will be, that is, in principle, you have already frankly explained that they do not see until the war in nato takes us . this does not mean that the war is over, it means that this issue is still being postponed, that is, we must understand, you know, as our brilliant poetess lesya ukrainka said best in her time that whoever frees himself will be free. so that ukraine does not win, so that this status remains. well, it did not lose and did not win, because what is the victory of ukraine? it is the birth of a new and not a leader. but the moral authority and the powerful center of europe to which everyone will gravitate, resources, funds, and so on , investments, all of this is for that country to manage you won't, she will have her position. and when we are dependent today, give us credit , give us weapons, of course it's easy to pressurize and demand. you can dictate, tell, you understand, and that's

the theater of war will strengthen ukraine's negotiating position and another quote from jensas totenbergthe more occupied territories ukraine can liberate the better cards she will have at the negotiating table to achieve a fair and lasting peace. well, this is a very good approach , just in support of ukraine, that is, they do not say, you know vasyl, that i have been reading in the western press for the last 2-3 days, for example, news the york times today seems to have written that the counteroffensive almost failed. they refer to sources . and the secretary general of nato is an institute. berg says that no , we will continue until the victory of ukraine and after that. maybe we will sit down at the negotiating table with russia, but for at this negotiating table, we should have cards with which and at these negotiations , what they say in the western mass media about this is very revealing: the story of the e-fake spread in russia by the propagandist vladimir solovyov that budanov was allegedly wounded and is somewhere abroad. what about a student ? he is standing there holding his