October 2025

Oct 30, 2025

Featured • The Trump Administration is Gaslighting Regarding Russia’s Military Capabilities, Larry C. Johnson, SONAR21, Oct 29, 2025

Oct 29, 2025

Featured • Moscow could pause operations against encircled Ukrainian units – Putin, RT, Oct 29, 2025

Russia is willing to allow journalists into the area and suspend combat operations for as long as they are there, the president has said.

Russia is prepared to temporarily suspend operations against encircled Ukrainian units in Kupyansk and Krasnoarmeysk while media representatives visit the area, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

The president announced that Russian forces have completely surrounded Kiev’s troops in Kupyansk – a city in Ukraine’s Kharkov Region, and in Krasnoarmeysk, located in Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had previously stated that up to 5,000 Ukrainian servicemen were encircled in the Kupyansk area and another 5,500 near Krasnoarmeysk.

In a statement on Wednesday, Putin announced that Moscow is willing to allow journalists to enter the encircled areas, including representatives of foreign media, and would cease combat operations against Kiev’s forces for the duration of media coverage.

“The political leadership of Ukraine must make a decision on the fate of its citizens which are currently encircled,” Putin said. He also warned Kiev against staging any provocations while media outlets are in the area.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that the test of the Poseidon unmanned underwater vehicle with a nuclear power installation on October 28 is a huge success.

"Yesterday we conducted another test of another promising system — the unmanned underwater vehicle Poseidon, also with a nuclear power installation ... This is a huge success," Putin said at a meeting with participants of the special military operation.

For the first time, it was possible to launch a nuclear power installation, using which it traveled a certain amount of time, the president said.

"Moreover, in terms of the speed and depth of movement of this unmanned vehicle, there are no analogues in the world, and it is unlikely to appear in the near future. There are no methods of interception," Putin said.

There are no analogues of Poseidon in terms of speed and depth in the world, the President said adding there is nothing like it in the world and it is unlikely to appear anytime soon.

Interception of Poseidon is impossible, Putin stressed. The power of the Poseidon significantly exceeds the power of the Sarmat missile that will soon be put on combat duty, he said. (emphasis added)

The parts of Ukraine that wish to be reincorporated within the RF will present few problems – there it’s more a question of getting an economy that’s been heading for dereliction since 1991 back on its feet again. But remnant Ukraine is a real dilemma for them. They don’t want to occupy. But they can’t allow it to remains as a handy NATO attack dog. If drones and missiles continue coming out of remnant Ukraine afterwards then the Russian people will be asking Putin “Why did we fight this war if we’re still at risk from NATO missiles?” And if Putin has no answer to that question, after at least 100,000 dead and a major Russian military effort, then his administration will fall. The Russian hawks will take over and we’re at risk of a direct war between NATO and the RF.

That dilemma has been apparent since 2022, even before. The obvious resolution is for the Western powers to declare they will cease using remnant Ukraine in this way. But the Europeans and the American hard liners would not countenance that. President Trump, facing that internal and external opposition, could not offer such guarantees. If he did they could not be regarded as binding, “Not agreement capable” is how most of the world regards the West in any case. The Russian hope of an overall security settlement on the lines of the December 2021 proposed treaties is unrealistic and will remain so.

...The only solution is for the Ukrainians themselves to decide they will not be so used in the future. But the current administration is still in the saddle and able to employ increasingly repressive measures to ensure it remains so. Alternative Ukrainian administrations could not deviate much from the line the current administration is taking. When we consider remnant Ukraine as it is now it increasingly resembles more an occupied country than a country in charge of its own future. This is a country that voted overwhelmingly for peace in 2019 only to find itself committed to war by the West and its own extremists. Unless Putin can come up with a solution – he’s not been able to so far – we could well see the Russians forced into occupation.

The course of events implies that either Trump did not grasp this Russian ‘reality’ – despite two years of repetition that Russia would not budge on a ‘here and now freeze’. Or alternatively, that the ‘dark money’ interests came down hard on Trump, telling him that a real peace process with Russia was not allowed. So Trump cancelled the whole scenario, muttering to the media that a Budapest meeting would have been “a waste of time” — leaving his Administration (U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent) to announce new sanctions on Russia’s largest oil companies, accompanied by a call to allies to join with them.

Let us recall – the ‘Russian’ reality is that Putin would not want to repeat the mistake of 1918, when Russia signed the humiliating Brest-Litovsk peace, under pressure from Germany. Putin often repeats that it was precisely the pressures to ‘let’s just stop’ in 1918 that cost Russia its status as a major power, and lost it entire generations of Russians. The colossal effort of millions of people was exchanged for the humiliating Brest-Litovsk peace. Chaos and collapse followed.

Putin remains focussed on achieving a new Europe-wide security architecture, though Trump’s capriciousness and unseen constraints must put new calls by Putin or meetings into question. Putin is angry — many Russian ‘red lines’ have been crossed; escalation is coming – perhaps at an unprecedented level.

The Europeans, undaunted by the Belgrade meeting cancellation, are touting a ’new/old’ twelve-point plan that would rule out territorial concessions and would prescribe a ceasefire along the current front lines. The western Ruling Strata are making matters abundantly clear: Russia must be defeated. Escalation has already begun: New EU sanctions on Russian gas imports into the EU have been announced and overnight strikes on oil refineries in Hungary and Romania (the latter being a NATO state) were launched. Again, the message to EU states is clear: no backsliding. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk underlined on X the point: “All Russian targets in the EU are legitimate”. The EU is clearly willing to go to any length to make war on its own to compel adherence.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is less a deterrence problem — a modern replay of the aggressive expansionism typified by Nazi Germany — than it is an escalatory spiral problem — the kind of “security dilemma” in which parties pursue what they regard as prudent protective measures that are in turn perceived as threatening by others. This produces a cycle of action and reaction in which each party is convinced it is acting defensively, a descent into conflict much like what happened in the prelude to World War I.

In other words, Putin’s primary reason for invading Ukraine was not because he covets territory and hopes to rebuild Moscow’s lost empire. If that were his motivation, he could have annexed the Donbass region along with Crimea in 2014, when Ukraine was far less militarily capable. But he refused to do so for eight more years, despite stiff criticism from Russian nationalists and Donbass separatists, because he believed keeping Donetsk and Lugansk inside Ukraine would ensure there was reliable domestic opposition to joining NATO.

Rather, Putin’s primary motivation for invading was his belief that the United States and NATO were steadily deepening their security involvement inside an increasingly anti-Russian Ukraine — actions that the West thought would deter rather than provoke Russian aggression — and turning the country into what Russia regarded as an “unsinkable aircraft carrier,” a base for Western military and intelligence operations action against Moscow.

...If the only way out of the escalatory cycle in Ukraine is through a negotiated compromise, what might that process look like?

It would not start by trying to divide up disputed territory, as that issue has not been a primary cause of the war. Rather, it would begin by addressing each side’s core security concerns in a way that none of them views as excessively threatening. The West would pledge not to bring Ukraine into NATO, put Western combat troops in Ukraine after a settlement, or provide Kyiv with long-range strike weapons.

In turn, Russia would accept Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, acknowledge Ukraine’s right to an effective self-defense capability, and agree that Kyiv will get weapons, training, and military maintenance aid from the West.

Oct 28, 2025

Featured • Lavrov talks Russia-NATO relations, arms control and dialogue with US: Key takeaways from the foreign minister’s speech, RT, Oct 28, 2025

Moscow is awaiting Washington’s official response to President Putin’s proposal to extend the central limitations of the New START Treaty – the only remaining arms control agreement between Russia and the US – for one year after it expires on February 5, 2026, Lavrov announced.

In force since 2011, the accord limits both signatories to no more than 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads.

Earlier this month, Trump described the proposed extension as a “good idea.”

However, there is no chance of renewing the accord beyond the suggested one-year extension, the Russian foreign minister clarified. Moscow’s proposal is a goodwill gesture meant to give both Russia and the US enough time to work out a new agreement, he said.

For this to happen, “a fundamentally different atmosphere is needed in Russia-US relations,” Lavrov argued, adding that some headway in restoring dialogue had been made in recent months, though there is still a lot of work ahead.

The conflict with Russia cannot be won by Ukraine, the US media host has argued.

Speaking to RTVI US, a New York-based Russian-language media outlet, Carlson mocked the idea that Kiev could prevail over Moscow on the battlefield.

“They cannot win this war. All it’s doing is destroying Europe. It has already destroyed Ukraine,” he said.

“Of course they are not going to beat Russia. Russia is an industrial power, a resource power, a close military ally of China at this point. It’s a joke,” he added. “All they can do is destroy themselves and destroy the world with a nuclear exchange. This is deranged.”

A vocal Christian conservative, Carlson tied Europe’s current economic decline to decades of secular liberal policies, claiming that the same elites who provoked a confrontation with Moscow had already undermined the continent’s cultural foundations.

“Europe is falling apart because the same people and the same ideas that got us into this war have dominated for 80 years,” he said.

European officials are willing to erase “entire bloodlines” of Russians and Ukrainians, US Rep. Anna Paulina Luna has said EU politicians have been displaying.

The Florida Republican made the remarks on her X feed Monday, accusing EU officials of being “comfortable sending youth from both nations to die if it serves their own self-interests.”

“I’m watching EU politicians condemn peace talks between Russia and Ukraine while none of them are the ones fighting on the front lines,” she wrote. “They are advocating for the erasure of [the] entire bloodlines of Russian and Ukrainian families. It’s sociopathic.”

In a separate post, Luna replied to Marko Mihkelson, the head of the Estonian parliamentary foreign affairs committee, who called out the congresswoman over her meeting with Russian presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev last week. Mihkelson accused Luna, an “otherwise normal person from the free world,” as he put it, of becoming “so dependent on a dictatorial mindset.”

“Naivety? Money? Stupidity? Belief in conspiracy theories?” he wrote.

The congresswoman shot back, stating that “just because I’m not a war-shill doesn’t mean I’m wrong,” and stressing that “Americans have zero interest in dying in a foreign war or a nuclear arms exchange.”

“For years, NATO and the EU refused to pay their fair share – and now they want us to bankroll endless foreign wars? Let this be a warning: any politician, anywhere in the world, who demands others bleed while they sit safely behind a podium is unfit for office, including you, Marko Mihkelson,” she wrote.

Luna met Dmitriev during his multi-day visit to the US, conducted after the proposed Russia-US summit in Budapest was called off by President Donald Trump. “The congresswoman has long been an outspoken advocate for peaceful solutions and the development of economic ties between countries,” Dmitriev wrote on his Telegram after the meeting.

There is a fundamental difference in how Russians look at the world compared to Americans. I think it is rooted in the Orthodox tradition. Let me explain. The United States and Russia share a common historical experience of dealing with a large, relatively unexplored mass of land. In the US we called it the Wild West… In Russia it was the Wild East. In both cases there were indigenous populations that inhabited portions of the land. Yet, the Russian expansion to the East contrasts sharply with that of the US moving to the West. The US approach focused on domination, subjugation and genocide… The movie, How the West Was Won, is the best example of this mentality. Russia did the opposite in dealing with their indigenous populations… they generally established collaborative relationships and did not threaten the economic life of the tribes and clans living in Russia’s vast eastern expanse of territory.

I am not suggesting that Russia is an Utopian society, but there is a fundamentally different way of looking at the world. Instead of approaching people and countries as a Zero-Sum Game, the Russian approach favors a Positive-Sum Game, i.e., Interactions where the combined gains of all participants are greater than zero. Cooperation and collaboration can create new value, making everyone better off.

...I wish every American could experience what I did during my time in Moscow. Just being able to sit and talk with no restrictions is a tonic the world needs. During a closing press conference hosted by TASS, I compared my experience in Moscow with that of a ten year old boy who asks his parents for a piece of chocolate for Christmas and wakes up on Christmas morning to discover he’s been gifted a chocolate factory, a new pony and a fancy sports car… I learned more from this visit than I expected.

Oct 27, 2025

 • Trump Says He Won't Meet With Putin Until There's A Deal On Ukraine, ZeroHedge, Oct 26, 2025

Oct 26, 2025

Featured • More than 10,000 Ukrainian troops encircled – Russian military, RT, Oct 26, 2025
Please, please let them surrender.

Featured • “Europe’s latest intelligence fakes.”, The Floutist, Oct 22, 2025

 • Now the New Phase of the Electric War, John Helmer, Dances with Bears, Oct 23, 2025

Oct 25, 2025

 • Trump team eager to understand Russia’s stance – Putin envoy, RT, Oct 25, 2025

The administration of US President Donald Trump is showing strong interest in understanding Russia’s position on the Ukraine conflict, according to President Vladimir Putin’s aide, Kirill Dmitriev. The senior official, who heads the Russian Direct Investment Fund, is currently visiting Washington.

Contact between the two nations, which was almost non-existent for three years under the previous administration, resumed after US President Donald Trump returned to office in January. Trump has taken a markedly different approach toward Russia by reopening high-level diplomatic channels and authorizing direct talks between senior officials.

“I think what’s very important and what’s very different with President Trump and his team is that there is a great desire to understand what the Russian position is, to really understand the logic, because only by understanding the logic you can either follow it or maybe modify it or suggest something,” Dmitriev said in an interview with US journalist Lara Logan.

He noted that there were no discussions with the previous administration of President Joe Biden “on anything,” and that the absence of dialogue created misperceptions and misunderstandings.

“When two of the greatest nuclear powers in the world don’t talk, it is a huge danger to the world,” Dmitriev said, adding that there is “a big fear for many of the forces in the UK and the liberal forces in Europe that Russia and the US would actually have a good dialogue.”

The cooling of the Russian economy this year is a direct result of the action by Russia’s Central Bank to cool inflation… Last year’s boost in interest rates has achieved the desired result and inflation in Russia is now in single-digits. And Bokhari’s claim that, “Russia will need years to rebuild its economic base, replenish its arsenal and restore force readiness,” is complete nonsense. Russia’s massive industrial base is operating on all cylinders, churning out artillery shells, artillery barrels, drones, tanks, armored personnel carriers and hypersonic missiles. It is NATO, not Russia, that is depleted and facing an uphill challenge in trying to revive a ransacked industrial base. It is NATO, not Russia, that is incapable of matching Russia’s production of ammunition and weapons.

Finally, Bokhari displays his ignorance of military capabilities, especially with respect to the United States. He asserts, “The US could respond by supplying additional military aid to Ukraine that could lead to real battlefield reversals.” What weapons or aid would that be? The US can’t produce drones or artillery shells in quantities needed by Ukraine, but the more important deficit is Ukraine’s lack of trained military personnel. No amount of aid can fix that, especially since Russia is expanding its offensive operations all along the 1400 kilometer front, which is producing more Ukrainian casualties.

Donald Trump wrongly believes that he can pressure Russia and compel it to halt its military campaign to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine. The Russians are not going to stop until those objectives are achieved… Whether by force or diplomacy.

In sum, while official Kiev may celebrate, the news for ordinary Ukrainians is horrible: With the US fully reverting to a proxy-war course and the EU never even thinking about abandoning it, the war is now set to continue into next year. Unless there are further major reversals, Ukraine faces a terrible winter, and after that, a spring that will see renewed Russian ground offensives (at the latest).

Meanwhile, NATO figurehead and professional Trump sycophant Mark Rutte, comfortably seated next to his US boss, has said, in essence, that he does not give a damn about the fact that less than a quarter of Ukrainians want this war to continue. Former Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller recommends shipping young male Ukrainians who have fled to Poland off to the front. In short, the cannon fodder must flow.

The West started its systematic and reckless policy of exposing Ukraine at the Bucharest summit in 2008, almost 20 years ago. What we see now is that it will not change course even in the face of the horrendous fiasco that policy has already predictably incurred. The mad and vicious strategy of sacrificing Ukraine to damage Russia continues. Worse, the more it fails, the more it is being escalated, in the manner of compulsive gamblers who cannot stop until they have lost absolutely everything. Ukraine’s tragedy is that it is its land and its people they are betting.

It seems that other countries, not only Belgium, had woken up to the risk:

[Slovak Prime Minister] Robert Fico requests that “the European Commission propose other options for financing Ukraine in the next two years,” claiming that his proposal was accepted. “Whatever decision is made, I want us to be completely clear about this in Slovakia. The government I lead will never, I emphasize, never, sign any loan guarantee for Ukraine for military expenditures. We will also not allocate a single cent from our state budget for this purpose,” Fico clarified. According to him, Slovakia is ready to help Ukraine, but only humanitarianly.

The Prime Minister considers it a mistake that the initiative to use frozen Russian assets for a loan to Ukraine was made public before the European Commission provided answers to all possible stated risks. The plan “may encounter reality and end in failure at the next European Council in December, when a decision is to be made,” he added.

With that statement the utterly stupid idea ended with another slap in Ursula von der Leyen’s face.

The Ukrainian president claims he needs $140 billion to finance the war over the next two years. The EU’s attempt to steal Russian assets for that purpose has failed. It is unlikely to find an unanimous vote for any solution that will support a loan of that size.

Which brings us nearer to the point where Ukraine and the West will have to file for peace because they run out of money.

Oct 24, 2025

 • EU Fails to Agree on Russian Asset Plan, von der Leyen Promises New Proposals by December, Sputnik International, Oct 24, 2025

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen vowed to develop new options for using Russian assets for Ukraine and propose them to EU countries.

On Thursday, the EU countries failed to agree on the European Commission's proposal to use Russian assets for Kiev's needs, pledging to resume relevant discussions in December.

"We had a good discussion on the reparations loan... to be financed with immobilized Russian assets and it allowed us to identify points we still need to clarify and then indeed we will come back with the different options that we will develop," von der Leyen said after the European Council summit on Thursday.

Discussing the possibility of the US providing Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, Putin said any Ukrainian Tomahawk strikes would be met with an “overwhelming” response. “If Russian territory is hit… with such a weapon, the response will be very serious if not outright overwhelming,” he said.

President Trump appears to have cooled on the idea of supplying Ukraine with Tomahawks, which are nuclear-capable and have a range of over 1,000 miles. “The problem with the Tomahawk is — a lot of people don’t know — It’ll take a minimum of six months, usually a year, to learn how to use,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “The only way a Tomahawk is going to be shot is if we shot it.”

According to media reports, the US has been supporting long-range Ukrainian drone and missile attacks on Russian territory. Trump denied a Wall Street Journal report that said he was backing the missile strikes, but Ukraine’s military claimed it used British-provided Storm Shadow missiles in an attack on a Russian chemical plant, which requires US targeting data.

Oct 23, 2025

 • Ukraine conflict now belongs to Trump – ex-Russian president, RT, Oct 23, 2025

Through his latest policy reversals, the US president has made the war his own, Dmitry Medvedev has said.

Yesterday, two near-simultaneous acts of sabotage saw explosions ripping through oil refineries in both Hungary and Romania. In Hungary it was the MOL in Százhalombatta, which reportedly receives Russian oil, while in Romania the Petrotel-Lukoil, a subsidiary of the Russian parent company.

As one commentator writes, these attacks came literally hours after the European Council had just approved to ban Russian gas starting in 2026:

The timing here is exceptionally curious because this attack came just hours after the European Council essentially locked in its position to almost completely ban Russian gas imports, with new contracts being outlawed at the beginning of 2026, and all long term contracts forcibly expiring in 2028. A similar ban on oil imports is expected in the near future. Hungary and Slovakia have pledged to issue legal challenges to the ban.

Oct 22, 2025

 • Donald Trump’s Russia Policy… In Tatters or Just Playing?, Larry C. Johnson, SONAR21, Oct 21, 2025

News broke tonight in Moscow, courtesy of the White House, that this week’s meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was off. The initial press reports intimated that this was because the two sides are at odds… However, a report from MSN provides a different slant:

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are no longer meeting in Budapest as previously planned, casting doubt over Trump’s latest attempt to secure a ceasefire to stop Russia’s fighting in Ukraine.

A White House official confirmed the summit is off, telling USA TODAY that a “productive call” between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made the meeting unnecessary. The official said Trump and Putin have no plans to meet in the immediate future.

With the White House describing the call between Rubio and Lavrov as “productive,” the diplomatic track remains open. However, this does not mean that Russia is prepared to make concessions or accept a ceasefire in place… Just the opposite. The Russian position is firm and unyielding, i.e., international recognition of Russia’s sovereignty over the Crimea, Zaporhyzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk; withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Russian territory; and NATO withdrawal from Ukraine.

I think the elaborate kabuki dance I described in my recent piece on the now cancelled summit in Budapest still applies, i.e., Trump and Putin are regularly communicating in an effort to de-escalate tensions between the two nations, while Trump is making public statements or engaging in public actions that are intended to disarm or mislead the war hawks in his Administration who are eager to expand the war with Russia.

Lavrov Rejects Ceasefire: Russia Says Halting War Would ‘Preserve the Nazi Regime’ in Ukraine – Novinite, Oct 21 2025

Speaking to reporters, Lavrov criticized a joint statement by European leaders who reaffirmed their support for Ukraine and backed US President Donald Trump’s recent diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting. “A ceasefire now would mean only one thing – that a vast part of Ukraine remains under the control of a Nazi regime,” he said. “It would be the only place on Earth where an entire language is legally banned, not to mention that it is an official UN language and spoken by the majority of the population.”

Borell and Michel were right when they said that the war will be decided on the battlefield. But it wont be Ukraine that will be winning.

Russia has introduced a new version of the universal guidance kit attached to dumb bombs of previous ages. They now can reach up to 100 kilometer from their release point. Their precision is truly impressive (vid). Over the last week the Russian airforce dropped more than 250 of those per day!

Russian Geran drones have evolved further. The Geran-2 has a 90 kg warhead, night vision and some autonomous targeting capabilities. It can also be manually controlled via repeaters even over longer distances. The new Geran-3 with a jet engine is just coming in. It has a range of 700 km and carries a 250 kilogram warhead. It is cheaper than ballistic Iskander missiles while fulfilling a similar purpose.

After the Alaska summit between the Presidents Trump and Putin the Russian side had agreed to a ceasefire on long range infrastructure targets. Unfortunately Ukraine never held up to it. It continued to attack Russian refineries and electricity station. After a pause Russia countered with a major campaign against Ukraine’s energy and railway infrastructure. It will continue until Ukraine agrees to cease and desist from strikes on Russia.

Unless that happens Ukraine is in for a cold and very dark winter.

Oct 21, 2025

Featured • PATRICK LAWRENCE: Desperation Row, Consortium News, Oct 20, 2025

You get cast into the darkness for saying this, but never mind that: Vladimir Putin is a demonstrably accomplished statesman, and he is the only principal in the Ukraine crisis who makes a credible case for an enduring settlement — this not only between Moscow and Kiev but between Russia and the West.

The security of one nation cannot be established at the expense of the security of any other nation: This is basic to sound diplomacy and is the core of Moscow’s case. This is what Putin and those in his national security circle mean when they insist on addressing root causes.

As the late Stephen F. Cohen taught me years ago, Russia’s position vis-à-vis the West is not about spheres of influence, which we can count a 19th century anachronism: It is about spheres of security, and you cannot name a nation that does not shape its foreign policies with this as an objective.

...Tell me, was it sensible of Putin to urge Trump not to send the Ukrainians Tomahawks, or are we supposed to think of this some other way?

It is very tiresome at this point to read the mainstream press describe the Russian position. “Monotonous” may be my better word.

The Washington Post: Russia manipulates Trump “by continually dangling hopes of peace deal while it ramps up attacks.” And: “Russia rules out a ceasefire so that fighting can continue.” And: “Putin has refused to offer concessions.”

The New York Times: “Russia rebuffs President Trump’s diplomatic push.” And: “… Moscow’s decision to spurn negotiations while ramping up deadly attacks.”

None of this is true, of course — not an f–ing word of it. All this repetitive language is deployed merely to avoid stating Moscow’s true position. It is too sound for that — too much in the cause of a peace to the benefit of all sides.

Another fascinating revelation has come by way of the latest FT article, whose “sources” reveal a portrait of Trump 180-degrees reversed from his ‘for-public-consumption’ persona:
https://www.ft.com/content/7960c6aa-dbfa-4a55-91e8-ae44601842ec

Granted, I often harp on that “sources” from these mainstream mierdias should never be taken at face value, but in this case common sense and reason tells us there’s likely truth to this reporting. Contrary to his public declarations that Russia is losing untold millions of men and its economy faces collapse, Trump privately warned Ukraine that Russia would “destroy” the Ukrainian state if Zelensky didn’t immediately make major concessions by giving up Donbass.

According to a European official with knowledge of the meeting, Trump told Zelenskyy that the Ukrainian leader needed to cut a deal or face destruction.

The official said that Trump told Zelenskyy he was losing the war, warning: “If [Putin] wants it, he will destroy you.”

If that weren’t enough, Trump’s private opinion on Russia’s economic situation is also the complete opposite of his public one. Recall the video I posted just in the last article wherein Trump says Russia’s economy is “collapsing”—it seems even he doesn’t believe his own bunk: [link to FT quoting Trump: Russia's economy is "doing great."]

Well, well, well; who knew that Western leaders feed total slop to their gormless masses for the sake of political expediency?

Oct 20, 2025

 • A Moscow Update, Larry C. Johnson, SONAR21, Oct 19, 2025

Oct 19, 2025

Featured • Zelensky Gets the Fig Amid Trump Admin's Whacky Day, Simplicius, Oct 18, 2025

The Trump circus is off the rails this week—and maybe that’s not an altogether bad thing.

The pied ringleader and his comic-book cast of loons seem to have taken the art of trolling and ‘strategic ambiguity’ to the next level by befuddling everyone.

After needling both sides with the Tomahoax scam, Trump expectedly revealed the farce by turning Zelensky’s triumphant White House homecoming into a humiliation ritual instead. [video link - on-line]

The Tomahawks are officially off the table….for now.

For his part, “Keg Stand” Hegseth—after just last week threatening to increase costs on Russia—appeared to sport a conspicuous Russian flag for a tie to the meeting with the Ukrainian delegation [must-see video link! - on-line].

Commenting on the possibility of the transfer of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, the central reason for Zelensky's visit to Washington, Trump stressed that these are an "amazing" and "powerful" but also "very dangerous" weapons.

"It could mean big, you know, escalation. A lot of bad things can happen. Tomahawks are a big deal. But one thing I have to say - we want Tomahawks also. We don't want to be giving away things that we need to protect our country," Trump said.

Hopefully, the conflict can be ended "without thinking about Tomahawks," Trump added.

Oct 17, 2025

Featured • A Preemptive Putin-Trump Call And The Prospects Of A New Summit, Moon of Alabama, Oct 17, 2025

Today the Ukrainian former president Vladimir Zelenski will be in Washington to convince U.S. President Donald Trump to further turn the screws on Russia.

A call yesterday between President Vladimir Putin of Russia and Trump was initiated by the Russians to preempt any concessions from Trump to Ukraine.

A major headache for the Russians was the potential introduction of U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles onto the battlefield. While these weapons are old, and can easily be defended against, they are, in principle, nuclear capable. They are also complex and can not be fired without the input from U.S. satellites, U.S. intelligence analysis and specialized software.

Tomahawks are naval missiles. There are less than a handful of ground launchers which were only recently introduced to the U.S. military. Any launch of a Tomahawk from Ukrainian ground would thus have to be done by the U.S. military. Any U.S. firing of a potentially nuclear armed missile towards Moscow would have to have serious consequences.

Russia would HAVE to respond to such an attack with a direct attack on major U.S. assets. Otherwise its means of (nuclear) deterrence would lose of all of their values.

Putin wanted to avoid that situation and the decisions that would have followed from it. Thus his call to Donald Trump.

So far that part of the call of seems to have been successful:

In recent days, Mr Trump had shown an openness to selling Ukraine long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles, even as Mr Putin warned that such a move would further strain the US-Russian relationship.

But following Thursday’s call with Mr Putin, Mr Trump appeared to downplay the prospects of Ukraine getting the missiles, which have a range of about 995 miles (1,600km).

“We need Tomahawks for the United States of America too,” Mr Trump said.

“We have a lot of them, but we need them. I mean, we can’t deplete our country.”

This is precisely the kind of failed imperial thinking that has squandered most previous empires: endless expansion for no discernible reason, with no discernible justification. Empires like that of the US, in their waning twilight years, become inflicted with a kind of grand delusion of global destiny, wherein it is imprinted on the very DNA of the nation and its political and strategic outlooks that only endless expansion and the fanatic obsession with destroying all even remote rivals via the Thucydides Trap has save the Empire from eventual dissolution.

This foolhardy devolution of national destiny seems to stem from the fact that empires ultimately lose their heart and soul—their nomos—forgetting what was once important and replacing that with this sort of blind degenerative delusion, aped and passed down with increasing severity by each new political generation, that the “greatness” of said nation comes exclusively from its total dominance of the world, rather than from some inherent cultural markers and other unique inheritances. This is because an empire by its definition always ends up ‘globalized’, losing the core of its own identity. And when that identity is eroded, the only thing remaining in its place is a kind of dead vacuum instinctively reinterpreted by successively-inferior generations of political thought-leaders as blind hunger for mindless expansion, as if by blanketing the globe over with their imprint could mask the terminal atrophy of the nation’s once-held sacred permanence. This is a kind of end-times metastatic spiral which can only conclude with the empire’s dissolution by emergent new forces armed with enough authentic vitality and passionarity as to eclipse the enervated empire which becomes a kind of clay-footed colossus.

Oct 15, 2025

 • US War Secretary threatens Russia, RT, Oct 15, 2025

The US War Department stands ready to do its part and “impose costs” on Russia over the Ukraine conflict, War Secretary Pete Hegseth has said.

Speaking at Ramstein military base on Wednesday ahead of a meeting of countries coordinating military support for Ukraine, he lauded NATO members’ recent militarization push.

“If this war does not end, if there is no path to peace in the short term, then the United States, along with our allies, will take the steps necessary to impose costs on Russia,” Hegseth said.

“If we must take this step, the US War Department stands ready to do our part in ways that only the United States can do,” he added.

On Sunday, President Donald Trump said he could supply Ukraine with US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles if the Ukraine conflict “is not going to get settled,” and admitted that it would be “a new step of aggression.”

The longer-range variants of the cruise missile can strike targets up to 2,500km (1,550 miles) away, potentially threatening the Russian capital and other cities.

Oct 14, 2025

Featured • Waiting on images of abject submission that don’t appear, Alastair Crooke, Strategic Culture Foundation, Oct 13, 2025
Crooke continues to weld together, or expose the weld that holds together, the issues of Israel on the one hand, and Russia on the other, in Trumpian foreign policy, Gaza and Ukraine being the bloodiest of the fields of these respective conflicts. As rightly described here, Trump's vision, to the extent he has one, is very dangerous to everybody. It is not a vision of peace and harmony and U.S. reconstruction, but one of domination, smelling of desperation. But as I keep saying, it is not just Trump who thinks like this. As regards Ukraine, Trump expresses what became, first under Obama and then under Biden, a Washington consensus. Even "nuclear deterrence" isn't that. It doesn't foresee peace. It isn't stable and never has been. It's unstable compellance, and since the 1990s it has always had that element of escalatory dominance, thanks to the fantasy of "the greatest military in the world." That fantasy was punctured by the Kinzhals over Kiev and is now slowly bleeding out. Meanwhile not one Democrat opposed extravagant funding for the Ukraine War. Nobody wanted to investigate Nordstream, or the biowarfare labs in Ukraine. Nobody stopped Israel's genocidal rampages, or seriously tried to wrest back our own country's sovereignty from the Zionist lobby. Nobody understood how strong Russia actually was, or why they were strong. (Weirdly, Trish and I did, and said so. It was obvious. So did Steve Starr. What do they teach in graduate schools, anyway? Answer: superiority, the "rules-based international order" aka international Calvinball, and domination.) The delusions of DC, as recounted here by Crooke and as lately embodied in Trump, are very dangerous. Russia is NOT going to be coerced into a self-harming "peace" by Tomahawks or anything else. Russia is NOT going to fragment because of external pressure. It will instead become stronger, more patriotic, and more unified. If we keep up the threats -- assuming we are not all fried first, which is a big assumption -- when Putin retires the U.S. may very much NOT like his successor. We certainly won't get Yeltsin redivivus, which is the secret hope of the aging Clintonites. In sum, Trump's dangerous foreign policy delusions rest on a broad base of support in DC -- but not in his voter base, as Crooke also hints here.

 • Evaluating Trump’s Claim that Ukraine Can Win the War, Alexander Hill and Ted Snider, Antiwar.com, Oct 14, 2025
Russia retains escalation dominance and is of late demonstrating that forcefully.

Oct 13, 2025

 • Alastair Crooke: Israel and Trump Still Want War, Judging Freedom, Oct 13, 2025

 • US Revealed to Be Coordinating Ukrainian Deep-Strikes, as Trump Flirts With Tomahawks, Simplicius, Oct 12, 2025
As Simplicius says, maybe. Also, the front is moving, as he reports from a variety of sources.

Oct 11, 2025

 • Kiev residents should evacuate for winter – MP, RT, Oct 11, 2025

Ukraine’s defenses can’t fully prevent Russian attacks on energy sites, Maryana Bezuglaya has said, warning of severe power outages.

The Ukrainian military is incapable of fully blunting Russian strikes on Kiev’s energy infrastructure, making blackouts all but certain, a senior Ukrainian lawmaker has warned, urging citizens to consider temporarily moving out of the city in the coming months.

On Friday, Maryana Bezuglaya weighed in on the recent wave of devastating Russian strikes, which Ukrainian officials said caused massive power outages in Kiev.

“Regardless of the protection and air defense, Russia can destroy almost any critical infrastructure facility in Ukraine at will. The only question is the number of missiles and drones,” she said, adding that if a single power plant is hammered by dozens of strikes, it would almost certainly be crippled.

Bezuglaya reiterated her warning in late summer, when she said, “the winter would be difficult, and there would be blackouts.”

She urged Ukrainians to be realistic about the challenges ahead, stock up on essentials, and support each other during the crisis.

“The best thing is to consider temporarily moving out of the city this fall and winter. This especially applies to Kiev residents. Kiev is a strategic and symbolic target. It is possible that it will be completely ‘drained down’. Darkness without sewage and water supply in mid-winter,” the MP said.

The Ukrainian capital has been hit by a “massive attack,” Vitaly Klitschko has claimed, as drones reportedly targeted a key power plant.

A wave of Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has caused a large-scale blackout in Kiev, local media and officials have reported. Russia’s Ministry of Defense has yet to comment.

In the early hours of Friday, Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko claimed that the Ukrainian capital came under a “massive attack,” adding that the left bank of Kiev was “currently without power” and that there were also problems with water distribution. He said nine people were injured, with five of them taken to the hospital. “The situation is difficult.”

Oct 10, 2025

 • EU lawmakers back shooting down Russian planes, RT, Oct 9, 2025

The European Parliament has adopted a non-binding resolution calling on EU member states to shoot down Russian aircraft that enter the bloc’s airspace. The move follows a string of recent drone sightings across Europe, which Western officials have linked to Moscow. Russia has slammed the accusations as baseless and pointed to a lack of evidence. The resolution, introduced earlier this week after several reports of unidentified drones near airports and military sites, urges EU members to take “coordinated, united and proportionate action against all violations of their airspace, including shooting down airborne threats.”

It also “strongly condemns Russia’s reckless and escalatory actions of violating the airspace” of EU and NATO members Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Romania, and what it describes as “deliberate drone incursions” in Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Moscow has repeatedly called the accusations groundless and stressed that no evidence has ever been presented linking the drones to Russia. Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof also admitted on Tuesday that the EU had no evidence of Russia’s involvement in the drone sightings.

Oct 9, 2025

Featured • Russia, Speaking with One Voice, Warns Trump and NATO, Larry C. Johnson, SONAR21, Oct 8, 2025

When you have President Putin, the Russian Foreign Ministry and the General of the Russian Army speaking with one voice, you better pay attention. The rainy season, aka rasputitsa, has begun, but muddy fields are not slowing down the Russian advance. At the same time, storm clouds are forming over chances for improved relations between Russia and the US.

On October 8, 2025, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov addressed the state of bilateral relations during a media briefing in Moscow, as reported by TASS and other outlets. His remarks painted a bleak picture, emphasizing deterioration, lack of reciprocity from the US, and challenges in arms control amid the broader geopolitical tensions, including the Ukraine conflict and sanctions. Specifically, there has been no progress on restoring direct flights between the US and Russia, no progress on unfreezing Russian assets, and no progress on normalizing diplomatic relations.

How did the West reach this bellicose, dominance-seeking point? The key underlying metaphysics of the shift towards anarchic radicalism (seemingly) owes to a period of American thinking about greed, fairness, liberty, and dominance. As Evan Osnos argues in The Haves and Have Yachts, over the past five decades, the Oligarchs and Tech overlords have increasingly rejected constraints on their ability to accrue wealth, disavowing the notion that their great resources entail any special responsibility towards their fellow citizens.

They have embraced a libertarian ethos which casts them simply as private individuals, responsible for their own fate, and entitled to enjoy their riches as they see fit. More significantly, they have not, however, forgone the prerogative of using their money to shape government and society to their techno-autarkic vision. The resulting pattern, traced in Osnos’ book, has been a “simple arithmetic — of money making money”.

The lesson the Tech overlords have assimilated is: when a state or any other entity becomes incompetent, the only historical cure for such political sclerosis is not dialogue, nor compromise; It is what the Romans called proscriptio – a formalized purge. Sulla knew this. Caesar perfected it. Augustus institutionalized it. Take the élite interests, deny them resources, strip them of property, and compel obedience … or else!

The Trumpian and Tech élites of today are enamoured by the ancient notion of ‘greatness’ – individual greatness – and the contribution that greatness can ‘offer’ to civilization. Typically, in this concept there is always a strong element of the ‘outsider’ being some kind of anarchic transgressor, who brings a new measure of energy into play which ‘expert’ insiders just cannot provide.

We all think ‘Trump’ as we read those words. There is clearly a not-so-secret affinity between today’s populist conservatism and anarchic radicalism. Which begs the question: Wild policy swings, constant uncertainty, erratic posts on Truth Social – is this in fact desperation as U.S. greatness visibly ebbs? Or are we being prepped for something yet more contrarian, more radical still – some attempt at a global financial makeover?

“From this moment forward, the only mission of the newly-restored Department of War is this: War fighting; preparing for war and preparing to win – unrelenting – and uncompromising – in that pursuit”, the U.S. Secretary of War told his gathering of Generals in Washington on Tuesday.

The world is on fire, and fear is being ramped up in Europe to high volume. It is ‘Russia, Russia’ everywhere, ‘under every bed’. Are we being truly ‘prepped’, or is this simply European scare brinkmanship intent on enlisting the U.S. in a project to weaken and dissolve Russia into distinct parts?

The collapse of the Soviet Union gave ‘old’ Europe – the great European nations – the huge markets of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and of the former USSR – and also gave Europe resources and cheap energy too. The EU project per se, effectively was bought with the smell of money – the enticement of easy affluence.

As that affluence pops (and Trump just markedly accelerated the bust), and without Russia’s market dismemberment, what price France, Germany or Italy retaining their former political clout or global influence? More to the point, European leaders are asking, ‘however can I get re-elected now’.

The Russia ‘threat’ brinkmanship is being pushed into the ‘red zone’ by Europe. But neither Europe nor the U.S. seemingly possesses the mettle for real war. And certainly, neither do their publics.

Oct 8, 2025

Featured • Behind the illusion of deadlock: what’s really happening in the Ukraine conflict, Vasily Kashin, RT, Oct 7, 2025

Western Europe's financial strain.

Trump’s claim that Western Europe can fund Ukraine alone also falters under scrutiny. Of the $360 billion pledged to Kiev by early 2025, more than $134 billion came from the US. Even by official figures, Ukraine’s 2026 defense needs exceed $120 billion, half of which remains unfunded.

As Trump insists that future American supplies be paid for at market rates, EU costs could easily double. Dreams of using frozen Russian assets are unlikely to fill the gap – their confiscation would trigger legal chaos and provoke retaliation against Western European holdings in Russia. The debates over “reparation loans” may sound bold, but they only reveal the bloc’s growing desperation.

While the front lines appear static, Ukraine’s military and social fabric are fraying. Desertion and draft evasion are climbing at exponential rates: over 250,000 criminal cases for abandonment or desertion have been opened since 2022. Even the amnesty program launched last year lured back barely a tenth of those who left.

Former commander Valery Zaluzhny himself admitted that the “stalemate” is breaking – but in Russia’s favour. Moscow’s forces, aided by superior drone technology and heavier firepower, are advancing through thinly held positions. FPV drones alone now account for up to 80 percent of Ukrainian casualties.

Meanwhile, Russia’s production advantage is expanding. Its defense industries have adapted to sanctions with unexpected speed, delivering both standard weapons and new low-altitude air-defense systems designed to neutralize small drones. Air superiority, if achieved, could transform the war overnight, and it is Russia, not Ukraine, that is closest to that threshold.

In this climate, Washington and Kiev are tempted to raise the stakes. The idea of using Western-made missiles to strike deep into Russian territory has moved from the fringe to the discussion table. The Biden team flirted with this option; Trump, less cautious and more theatrical, might yet cross that line.

Such escalation would drag the conflict beyond Ukraine’s borders and invite responses that neither Washington nor Brussels could control.

To call this situation an “impasse” is to misunderstand it. The war is not frozen but evolving – technologically, politically, and strategically – in ways that favor Moscow. Ukraine’s Western backers are trapped by their own contradictions: a war they cannot win but dare not end, a financial burden they cannot sustain but fear to drop.

The United States, for all its noise about disengagement, remains enmeshed in the conflict it pretends to mediate. Europe, meanwhile, is discovering that moral grandstanding is no substitute for industrial power.

What appears to be a stalemate, then, is really the slow unwinding of a Western strategy that mistook endurance for success. The front may look still, but history – as ever – is moving beneath it.

Oct 7, 2025

Featured • Emmanuel Todd – ‘The Defeat Of The West’ In Its Current Phase, Moon of Alabama, Oct 7, 2025

I can sketch out here a model of the dislocation of the West, despite the inconsistencies of the policies of Donald Trump, the defeated American president. These inconsistencies do not result, I believe, from an unstable and undoubtedly perverse personality, but from an insoluble dilemma for the United States. On the one hand, their leaders, both in the Pentagon and the White House, know that the war is lost and that Ukraine will have to be abandoned. Common sense therefore leads them to want to get out of the war. But on the other hand, the same common sense makes them realise that the withdrawal from Ukraine will have dramatic consequences for the Empire that those from Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan did not have. This is indeed the first American strategic defeat on a global scale, in a context of massive deindustrialisation in the United States and difficult reindustrialisation.

...

Imperial dynamics, or rather imperial inertia, continue to undermine the dream of a return to the productive nation state.

...

More profoundly, the negative dynamic of fragmentation is cultural: mass higher education creates stratified societies in which the highly educated – 20%, 30%, 40% of the population – begin to live among themselves, to think of themselves as superior, to despise the working classes, and to reject manual labour and industry. Primary education for all (universal literacy) had nurtured democracy, creating a homogeneous society with an egalitarian subconscious. Higher education has given rise to oligarchies, and sometimes plutocracies, stratified societies invaded by an unequal subconscious. The ultimate paradox: the development of higher education ended up producing a decline in intellectual standards in these oligarchies or plutocracies!

The statements of J. D. Vance and Keith Kellogg, when combined with the reports about the US provision of intelligence to Ukraine that could be used to target the Tomahawks, threatens to destroy any chance of a New START moratorium, let alone a new strategic arms control treaty, before any effort could get underway. As President Putin declared at the Valdai Club, “Using tomahawks without direct involvement of the US officers is impossible. Which means a completely new, qualitatively new stage of escalation, including in relations between Russia and the United States.”

It should be noted that in December 2024 President-elect Trump, when asked by Time Magazine in an interview published on December 12, 2024, about the Biden administration’s decision to allow Ukraine to use US-provided ATACMS missiles to strike targets inside Russia, declared the following: “I disagree very vehemently with sending missiles hundreds of miles into Russia. Why are we doing that? We’re just escalating this war and making it worse. That should not have been allowed to be done. Now they’re doing not only missiles, but they’re doing other types of weapons. And I think that’s a very big mistake, very big mistake.”

...Void of any outside intervention, there is a danger that the Trump administration, acting in a policy vacuum when it comes to the overall issue of arms control and the absolute necessity of preserving the New START caps regarding deployed strategic nuclear missiles, will engage in peripheral actions that will kill any chance of sustaining what is left of the strategic nuclear arms control architecture between the US and Russia.

[Peskov:] No significant steps have been made toward establishing dialogue between US and Russian diplomats.

Oct 6, 2025

Featured • Supplying Tomahawk Missiles To Ukraine Will Destroy US-Russia Relations, Putin Warns, ZeroHedge, Oct 6, 2025
Time to wake up and smell the neutrons.

Featured • War Is Creeping Up On Us, Paul Craig Roberts, Institute for Political Economy, Oct 5, 2025

Reading Doctorow’s comments on Putin’s Valdai speech, I get the impression that Putin and Lavrov have chosen to evade reality rather than to confront it. I am unsure I would do any better when the reality is nuclear war. But it doesn’t have to be nuclear war. Putin has had the soft voice but not the big stick. Consequently, the Kremlin seems irresolute and vulnerable. Here are Doctorow’s comments. Read them and make up your own mind.

...

Doctorow explains, as I have, that Putin has created a picture of Russia as endlessly tolerant of provocations. Doctorow thinks that Putin’s failure to stand up for Russia could result in his replacement. Putin failed to defend any of his declared red lines and now has ceased to declare them. This fact has encouraged escalation. Putin’s efforts to reassure the West convinced the West of Russia’s lack of resolution. Putin mistakenly thought that the West would respond positively to good will.

People all over the world hoped that Putin would stand up against Washington’s hegemony as the Soviet leaders did. The world is tired of being bullied by America’s Zionist Neoconservatives. Hegemony has made America a looter rather than a producer. Looting does not produce an economy that benefits the citizens, only the powerful. The distribution of income and wealth in the US is worse than anything imaginable in my youthful years. The American people are not benefitting from hegemony.

Washington’s hegemony, mainly in service to Israel, aided and abetted by Putin, is driving the world to destruction.

Ukraine is currently not ready to become an EU member, billionaire Andrej Babis has said after his right-wing ANO party won the Czech Republic’s parliamentary election. nANO got 34.51% of the ballots as a result of the vote on Friday and Saturday, beating the Spolu (Together) group led by Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala by 11.15%. Fiala has been a staunch supporter of Kiev in its conflict with Russia. Shortly after the preliminary results were announced on Saturday evening, Babis was asked by a journalist from the Ukrainian outlet Suspilne if he intends to support Kiev’s accession to the EU after becoming Czech prime minister again. He held the position between 2017 and 2021.

“But you are not prepared for the EU. We have to end the war first. Of course, we can cooperate with Ukraine, but you are not ready for the EU,” he replied. The ANO party leader also doubled down on his campaign promise that Prague will stop providing direct assistance to Kiev. “We are helping Ukraine through the EU. The EU is helping Ukraine and it is within the European budget, the next budget and we are paying a lot of money to the European budget. And this is the way we will continue to help,” he explained. Babis again expressed skepticism regarding the ammunition initiative for Kiev which had been masterminded by Czech President Petr Pavel, saying that “nobody should make money because of the war. We should be organized by NATO.”

Senior EU figures are conspiring with Ukraine to interfere in Hungary’s internal politics in an attempt to depose the current government, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has claimed. His government has repeatedly clashed with Brussels in recent years, especially over EU military aid to Kiev, sanctions against Russia, and the push by some members to admit Ukraine into the bloc. “Influence in Hungarian domestic politics is not only coming from Brussels but also from Kiev,” Orban told the Hetek podcast on Saturday, adding that “Brussels’ objective is to have a pro-Ukrainian government in Hungary.” bOrban denounced the EU’s shift towards militarization, pledging to prevent his country from being dragged into a potential war, even if most other member states are happy with such a prospect.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has similarly alleged that “external intervention experiments to destabilize and overthrow governments are taking place in Central Europe against the patriotic Slovak, Hungarian, and Serbian governments.”

Oct 5, 2025

Featured • iacta alea est, William Schryver, imetatronink, Oct 3, 2025

Featured • The Myth Of The ‘Magic Wand’: Why The Tomahawks Won’t Win The War, South Front, Oct 3, 2025
Good, but a single Tomahawk that got through and hit the Kremlin would ignite World War III, to the extent it is not being fought already.

Featured • Vladimir Putin: "The power of the United States and its allies reached its peak at the end of the 20th century," Sony Thang, X, Oct 2, 2025

"The power of the United States and its allies reached its peak at the end of the 20th century.

But there has never been, nor will there ever be, a force capable of ruling the world, dictating everyone how to act, how to live, even how to breathe.

Such attempts have been made, but every one of them has failed.

However, we must recognise that many found that so-called liberal world order acceptable and even convenient.

True, a hierarchy severely limits opportunities for those not perched at the top of the pyramid, or, if you prefer, the top of the food chain.

But those at the bottom were relieved of responsibility.

The rules were simple: accept the terms, fit into the system, receive your share, however modest, and be content. Others would think and decide for you.

And no matter what anyone says now, no matter how some try to disguise the reality – that is how it was.

...And attempts to control everything inevitably generate tension, undermining stability at home and prompting ordinary people to ask a very fair question of their governments: "Why do we need all this?"

I once heard something similar from our American colleagues, who said: "We gained the whole world, but lost America."

I can only ask: Was it worth it? And did you truly gain anything at all?"

Oct 3, 2025

Featured • US To Provide Ukraine With Intelligence for Long-Range Missile Strikes Inside Russia, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Oct 2, 2025
Succinct, objective overview per usual from DeCamp.

Featured • President Putin Signals Peace to Donald Trump at Valdai, Larry C. Johnson, SONAR21, Oct 2, 2025
Excellent brief analysis of Putin's peacemaking stance, to set alongside Doctorow's concerns. Yes, Putin takes the high road, again and again. Let us hope he is right to do so. The U.S. does not play honestly, or nice. For this country, every negotiation is Calvinball.

Featured • Euro-Cabal's Thirst for Conflict Grows into Insatiable Lust, Simplicius, Oct 2, 2025
The European war propaganda would be unbelievable, were it not for the articles included. See also the bits of Putin's Valdai comments. All enabled in the West by the MIA peace movement.

Featured • War is Ahead of Us, Alexander Dugin, ARKTOS Journal, Oct 2, 2025
Let us hope not, but Dugin is far from crazy and his arguments here are not easily rebutted. How to do so? We who are conscious and grown up have to do that, in our words and actions. Dugin on the right Pilger on the left, and many others, sing this same song of warning.

 • Putin offers peace to the West. Will it accept?, Nadezhda Romanenko, RT, Oct 2, 2025
Yes, a clear read. But to answer the question, no it will not.

 • NATO member opens Ukrainian army training base in Poland, RT, Oct 2, 2025

A Norwegian-led training center for Ukrainian soldiers opened in southeastern Poland on Wednesday. Camp Jomsborg, constructed by engineers from Norway’s Brigade Nord in the town of Lipa, can host up to 1,200 troops at a time, Polish Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz wrote on X. He added that the base will focus on “developing drone capabilities.” Kosiniak-Kamysz stressed that NATO would also benefit from Ukrainian combat experience. “This is not a one-way street. An important element is that we will draw on Ukrainian experience. Right next to us is a drone launch strip,” he said.

The Russian military has modified its missiles to better evade Ukrainian air defenses, including US-made Patriot systems – often seen as a key linchpin of Kiev’s shield – the Financial Times reported on Thursday, citing officials in Kiev and the West. According to officials interviewed by the FT, Russian missiles can now follow a normal arc before veering into a steep terminal dive or executing maneuvers that “confuse and avoid” Patriot interceptors. The outlet cited recent strikes against Ukrainian drone facilities as a strong indication that Russia has likely upgraded the Iskander-M mobile system and the air-launched Kinzhal.

One former Ukrainian official called the added maneuverability “a game changer for Russia,” the newspaper reported, adding that deliveries of US-supplied Patriot interceptors, essentially the only weapon in Ukraine’s arsenal capable of tackling Moscow’s ballistic missiles, are not coming as quickly as planned. The paper also noted that data released by the Ukrainian Air Force shows that the rate of interception of Russian ballistic missiles improved over the summer, reaching 37% in August, but then fell to just 6% in September. Ukraine shares data on Patriot battlefield performance with the Pentagon and weapons producers, according to the FT. Officials told the outlet that while efforts are being made to improve the Patriots’ performance, they often lag behind Moscow’s evolving tactics.

John Helmer thinks that the Russian response to the ever-widening war that Putin has conducted will be the Oreshnik missile, which means good-bye to several European capitals, if not all of them. https://johnhelmer.net/when-tomahawk-meets-bear-the-hazel-tree-oreshnik-wins/

Washington giving missiles to Ukraine that can reach Moscow and St. Petersburg does not “normalize relations.” This is the path to war, not to peace. Such a gift of missiles would clearly indicate that the US military/security complex has taken policy away from President Trump and is continuing the war instead of peace negotiations, From John Helmer’s report, I conclude that Putin, Lavrov, and the Russian media are too naive, too unaware, too gullible, too unrealistic and too idealistic in the way they think about the West to comprehend the danger. I find it extraordinarily that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov is so lost to reality that he actually said: “We operate on the premise that everything we have heard from our US colleagues at the top and other levels tells us that they want to help us end this conflict by addressing and eliminating its root causes.”

When Vance announced that the Tomahawk deployment will be decided “in the interests of the United States of America”, he meant to say that the Russian military and Putin have lost their power of deterrence. A Moscow source in a position to know says the General Staff will convince the President on the measures required to prove the Americans wrong. “I believe the Russians will secure victory using the Oreshniki rather than a massive ground offensive. But there is also a build-up many of us can tell. That is why Americans and Europeans are getting very nervous, threatening Russians with a direct confrontation unless they back off.”

Oct 2, 2025

Featured • American juncture as Israel’s eighth front ignites, Alastair Crooke, Strategic Culture Foundation, Oct 2, 2025

How does this affair read across into pressure on Trump to persist in prosecuting the Ukraine war effort against Russia? What is it that links hugely rich Jewish donors, classic U.S. Russophobes and the European Establishment together in the common cause of pressuring Trump to go hard on Russia? The answer is that donors and U.S. and European pro-Israeli élites all have a shared interest in having Russia preoccupied (and, in their view, weakened) by the conflict in Ukraine. Their particular concern is the prospect of Middle East war. They do not want to see Russia or China engage directly in support of Iran, were it to be attacked militarily. These élites fear for the future of Israel, particularly should Iran be empowered by BRICS allies. They prefer a Russia bogged down and not returning as a Middle East player again – something that could crimp the ambition for Jewish/Israeli supremacy across the Region.

Recall that in 1992, the then-Under Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz, author of the so-called Wolfowitz Doctrine, declared that, with the Soviets pushed out from the Middle East, the U.S. had become the unchallenged sole superpower in the region and could pursue its global agenda. Wolfowitz highlighted the exit of Russia as the crucial factor in achieving U.S. hegemony over the Middle East.

Recall too that in the wake of the E3 sanctions ‘Snapback’ invocation on Iran on 28 August, Russia and China jointly signed statements denouncing the E3 procedural vote as “illegal and procedurally flawed”. In one sense, it provides the grounds for China and Russia to ignore any subsequent sanctions imposed on Iran under the snapback provision. It is the first time that Russia and China have directly challenged the UN Security Council and implicitly indicated they will ignore any Snapback sanctions.

However, viewed from a different perspective, the joint denunciation of Snapback could open the door to ‘a return to the region’ by Russia (and China) through providing military support to Iran – were it to be attacked by Israel, the U.S., or both.

With Russia presently fully engaged in Ukraine, it is less likely to want to initiate direct support to Iran in the event of an attack (Russia is acutely alert to the dangers of over-extension). Were the Ukraine war to be over, then Russia might have fewer scruples about directly intervening in support of Iran. The same would apply for China in the event of the Ukraine conflict having reached some outcome.

The last thing that the triumvirate of Jewish Zionist influencers, the U.S. Russia hawks and the European pro-Israel élites want is Russia ‘back in the Middle East’. That would constitute a nightmare for them.

Hungary will continue to oppose bellicose proposals pushed by Ukraine’s supporters, the prime minister has pledged.

The EU leadership appears intent on pushing the bloc into a war with Russia, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday.

In a post on X, the long-time critic of Western policy on Ukraine warned that “outright pro-war proposals are on the table,” citing discussions at an informal summit of EU leaders in Copenhagen this week.

“They want to hand over EU funds to Ukraine. They are trying to accelerate Ukraine’s accession with all kinds of legal tricks. They want to finance arms deliveries. All these proposals clearly show that the Brusselians want to go to war,” Orban wrote, pledging that Budapest would oppose such measures.

Oct 1, 2025

 • EU to bend rules for Ukraine and Moldova admission process – FT, RT, Sep 30, 2025

The EU plans to adjust its rules in order to push ahead with technical steps for admitting Ukraine and Moldova, thereby bypassing the Hungarian veto that has stalled formal accession talks with Kiev, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. No negotiation cluster has been opened for Ukraine as Hungary has repeatedly vetoed the procedural steps required to launch the first one. Budapest has consistently opposed Ukraine’s EU membership bid, citing Kiev’s treatment of ethnic Hungarians and the potential economic strain Ukrainian accession would entail for the bloc. According to the FT, however, the European Commission has proposed adjusting its own rules to sidestep the veto by launching technical work in several clusters even without a formal decision to open negotiations in those areas.

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 • ‘The Real Purpose In Making The Bomb Was To Subdue The Soviets.’ Now It’s Happening Again, On A Vast Scale. Why? – July 22 At Fuller Lodge, Los Alamos Reporter, Jul 19, 2023

 • Bulletin 330: "'The real purpose in making the bomb was to subdue the Soviets.'* Now it's happening again, on a vast scale. WHY?" A conversation with acclaimed historian Peter Kuznick and Greg Mello in Los Alamos, July 22, Jul 7, 2023

 • Ukraine War Makes it Harder to be a Nuclear ‘Dove’ | Our Land, Laura Paskus, New Mexico in Focus, Jun 30, 2023

 • Bulletin 329: Russia rules out nuclear disarmament negotiations; second week of Ukrainian offenses fail; what will US and NATO do? Build 60 projects in LANL's Pajarito Corridor?, Jun 17, 2023

 • Ukraine; Biden's Manicheism; the U.S. cannot even conduct a nuclear arms race, let alone win one, LASG friends ltr, Mar 16, 2023

 • Ukraine protest and updates, pit production delays and cost increases in NNSA's new budget, LASG friends ltr, Mar 14, 2023

 • Antiwar rally 2 pm Saturday in Albuquerque; LANL pits delayed, endorse the "Call for Sanity"; Ukraine update; the Nordstream investigation (and likely impeachment) "imperative" LASG friends ltr, Mar 11, 2023
 • Ukraine losses mount toward critical point; ANSWER rally against the war is now 2 pm (not 1 pm), March 18, Albuquerque; nearly half U.S. citizens believe WWIII is near, LASG friends ltr, Mar 7, 2023

 • Ukraine news and views; antiwar rally March 18; pending guest editorial; pit production precis, LASG friends ltr, Mar 3, 2023

 • Bulletin 325: Understanding the Nordstream sabotage and punishing those responsible, Feb 18, 2023

 • Ukraine news with comments and excerpts; bookmark for future reference if desired,LASG friends ltr, Feb 8, 2023

 • Bulletin 324: Opposition to Ukraine war gains visibility in New Mexico and via our web site, more broadly, Feb 6, 2023

 • Anti-nuclear activist opposes helping Ukraine, encourages peace, Santa Fe New Mexican, Feb 5, 2023

 • Bulletin 323: "Nuclear Hotseat" interview / Ukraine war updates, Feb 4, 2023

 • Bulletin 322: Right and Left To Join in D.C. Protest: ‘Not One More Penny for War in Ukraine’ / Bulletin of Atomic Scientists resets clock, blames Russia, Jan 25, 2023

 • $10 Trillion for Nuclear War: Racing to the Nuclear Cliff, The Socialist Program with Brian Becker, Jan 10, 2023

 • Bulletin 321: Last day for 2022 donations! / A few quick updates, Dec 31, 2022

 • Bulletin 320: Neocon humiliation -- or nuclear exchange / The centrality of war resistance in moral politics / 3 days left for 1:1 donation match!, Dec 29, 2022

 • Bulletin 319: Ukraine; NDAA: omnibus appropriations bill; fundraising --thank you; some matching funds still available, Dec 21, 2022

 • Stop the war now, Jean Nichols, The Taos News, Dec 19, 2022

 • Bulletin 318: Speak out now against further U.S. escalation in Ukraine; daily updates for your use, Dec 14, 2022

 • Agenda for tonight's emergency Ukraine meeting in Albuquerque, and by Zoom, Nov 15, 2022

 • Bulletin 314: Reminder re next week's antiwar, disarmament, & nuclear safety events: come if you can or tune in, outreach needed; pit interview on KNME tonight 7 pm; fundraising drive continues; erratum, Nov 11, 2022

 • Bulletin 313: Important meeting about Ukraine next week; DNFSB hearing in Santa Fe; more, Nov 7, 2022

 • Biden Administration releases aggressive nuclear strategy envisioning "first use" of nuclear weapons in wars like Ukraine, press release, Oct 27, 2022

 • Bulletin 310: Speak up! We urge you to take up the call for peace in Ukraine, Sep 25, 2022

 • Pope Francis: "World War III has been declared." We agree. Stop LANL's pit factory; Stop the U.S. war against Russia, presentation, Jun 15, 2022

 • Bulletin 301: Oppose the war! Demand and create accountability for lawmakers who fund and promote more war in Ukraine, May 16, 2022

 • Grave dangers loom in Ukraine war votes and escalations; opportunities open for journalists and citizens; We urge news media to widen debate, pose questions, create accountability, press release, May 16, 2022

 • LASG friends ltr: Thursday evening public discussion in Albuquerque: Ukraine, propaganda, progressives supporting Nazis and war, May 10, 2022

 • Escalation in Ukraine: The Nuclear War Danger is Real, Brian Becker & Greg Mello discuss the U.S. policy of waging proxy war on Russia, BreakThrough News, May 4, 2022

 • Bulletin 299: Emergency call to action: stop Biden's proposed $33 billion war escalation, Apr 28, 2022

 • Bulletin 298: Talk on pits & renewed U.S. nuclear weapons production Tuesday evening 4/26/22; antiwar billboard; what you can do, Apr 25, 2022

 • The core debate, Searchlight New Mexico, Mar 23, 2022

 • Bulletin 294: Please consider forwarding this fine statement from UNAC re Ukraine, Mar 23, 2022

 • Nuclear expert speaks on the dangers of war between the US and Russia, World Socialist Website, Mar 15, 2022

 • A Proposed Solution to the Ukraine War, Consortium News, Greg Mello, Mar 7, 2022

 • Bulletin 293: Ukraine conflict: If you want a ceasefire (as we do), stop firing, Mar 5, 2022

 • Bulletin 292: Statement on the Ukraine conflict and war with Russia, Mar 1, 2022

 • "What can we in New Mexico do?," LASG letter, Feb 23, 2022

 • Bulletin 288: US nuclear weapons since 2020: continuity and change, Dec 7, 2021 (see discussion of US, NATO, and Russia)

 • Nuclear experts speak on the dangers of war between the US and Russia, World Socialist Web Site, Apr 15, 2017

 • US Leaders Reject “Nuclear Winter” Studies, Ignore Existential Danger of Nuclear War. Turn a Blind Eye towards Armageddon, Steven Starr, Global Research, Nov 1, 2016

 • The Ukraine Conflict: What's Behind It? Why Is It Important?, Sep 26, 2015

 • Bulletin 200: Warhead budget bloat; U.S.-caused Ukraine catastrophe at the brink; hello peak oil, Feb 8, 2015