It is hard to know which boggles the mind more. Is it the fat-thumbed incompetence which saw a leading journalist invited to a high-level White House discussion on a messaging app about an imminent attack on a terrorist group? Or is it the brazen refusal of those involved to admit that anything serious had gone wrong? Our Lexington columnist has no doubts.

Elsewhere, we look at how a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine is being whittled down with each round of shuttle diplomacy. American officials are offering the Kremlin lots of carrots. But Russia seems to be playing for time, as its forces grind on.