February 2026

Feb 28, 2026

Featured • Fyodor Lukyanov: Ukraine marked this major shift in global politics, RT, Feb 26, 2026

Four years ago, Russia’s decision to launch a military operation in Ukraine stunned almost everyone, including supporters and critics alike. Few believed Moscow would take such a drastic step. For decades, the prevailing assumption in global politics had been that force was no longer a legitimate way to resolve disputes. When military action did occur, it was wrapped in euphemisms such as humanitarian intervention and the defense of human rights. In practice, this meant that military power was considered acceptable only when used to reinforce the existing international order, the liberal world order, and therefore only by its architects, above all the United States. Russia broke that rule.

The operation in Ukraine was the culmination of contradictions that emerged after the Cold War....

US dominance remained the goal, but it was redefined in bluntly transactional terms: securing material advantages and extracting value wherever possible. Where the Biden administration sought to maintain the old system, albeit unsuccessfully, the Trump administration speaks openly about restoring Western power without the institutions or courtesies that once accompanied it. At the Munich Security Conference this year, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that Americans are “not interested in polite managed decline of the West.” The message was clear. The US has entered a struggle for a new division of the world, and intends to act while its accumulated advantages still give it leverage.

Feb 27, 2026

Featured • Moscow will respond if NATO gives nukes to ‘Nazi regime in Kiev’ – Medvedev, RT, Feb 24, 2026

 • The Guardian: Arms dealer Christopher Harborne paid #BorisJohnson a million UK pounds to convince Zelensky not to sign the Istanbul peace deal in March 2022, X, Feb 25, 2026

Feb 26, 2026

Featured • Solidarity simulacra: Zelensky’s four-year reality check, RT, Feb 24, 2026

 • Ukraine (EU) Strikes Russian Oil Pumping Station that Transmits Oil into Hungary and Slovakia, The Last Refuge, Feb 24, 2026

So, what’s going on here?Well, with the anniversary of the Russian Federation beginning the war into Ukraine, the Europeans who now control the military operations inside Ukraine are targeting European countries who do not align with their bloodlust, specifically Hungary and Slovakia. Both Hungary and Slovakia are land locked countries without easy access seaports. Because of their geographic locations, they rely on Russian oil and gas for their energy needs. Hungary and Slovakia have not wanted to expand the war against Russia. The EU is demanding Hungary and Slovakia agree to expanded war. The European ‘coalition of the willing’ is now targeting key Russian infrastructure that supplies energy products to European countries who are not in compliance with the EU dictates of war.

Putin says threats to energy pipelines sabotage peace process with Ukraine. In his televised speech, the Russian president also accused Ukraine of threatening Russian energy pipelines with the help of Western intelligence agencies. He claimed these attacks were aimed to sabotage the peace process. Putin also stressed it was vital for Russia to strengthen the defence of energy infrastructure and other strategic sectors. {source} This is why Secretary of State Marco Rubio travelled to Hungary and Slovakia last week. Essentially, now we see European leaders attacking their own European “allies” through the use of Ukraine. If you do not support the continued bloodlust, you are an enemy of the EU collective hive mind.

For Putin to have made the announcement himself likely means the intelligence on this is not some trifle to be written off. Does the West actually think threatening Russia with nuclear escalation will lead Russians to sour toward the war in the way of Afghanistan? That is simply inconceivable: it can only indurate Russians to a maximalist mindset and to the understanding that the war must be won decisively at all costs. Hell, if you think about it, the closest Russia came to ‘disaster’ in the war was literally over the argument that Russia is not fighting maximalist enough, rather than the converse, when Prigozhin marched on Moscow in attempt to supercharge the war to a higher intensity. And even all fantasies of taking out or usurping Putin lead to the same logical conclusion: that only a far more nationalistic and maximalist figure could possibly take his place. For Ukraine, there is little prospect for some kind of favorable ‘soft landing’ or off-ramp in this way.

Hungary has blocked the EU’s proposed €90 billion ($106 billion) emergency loan for Ukraine, as well as the latest package of sanctions on Russia, citing Kiev’s allegedly deliberate disruption of oil supplies to the country. Hungary placed the double veto on the initiatives on Monday as Kiev and Budapest remain locked in a bitter row over the Soviet-era Druzhba oil pipeline – which carries Russian crude to Hungary and Slovakia and has been out of commission since late January. Kiev claims that it was damaged by Russia, which has denied the allegations. Budapest has echoed Moscow’s stance, accusing Kiev of deliberately withholding supplies for political reasons and subjecting the country to an “oil blockade,” and threatening retaliation.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has rejected accusations that Budapest hates Ukraine, suggesting that it’s Kiev that’s been pursuing hostile policies toward his country for years. The remarks came in response to questions from reporters on the sidelines of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, as Hungary threatened to veto the bloc’s latest sanctions package against Russia. When one journalist confronted Szijjarto, suggesting that Hungary should direct its ire at Moscow, the minister offered a scolding response. “We don’t hate Ukraine. The problem is that the Ukrainian state hates Hungary,” Szijjarto said, accusing Kiev of undermining Budapest’s energy security by blocking crude oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, among other issues.

For the West, any agreement with countries outside its political and military bloc has always been temporary. Every pause in confrontation is treated not as peace, but as an intermission. That is why states beyond the Western perimeter must learn a simple rule: when the US and Western Europe are forced into concessions, even briefly, those moments must be used to the full.

Now, by most accounts, is one such moment. But its arrival should not deceive anyone into thinking that lasting peace has suddenly become possible.

Western strategy toward the rest of the world has a stable and deeply rooted character. It is built on a zero-sum logic, where one side’s gains are automatically viewed as the other’s losses. Agreements are tactical tools, not strategic commitments. They are pauses in pressure, not its abandonment. Even if the acute phase of the military-political confrontation around Ukraine were to subside, this would not mean that the West has accepted the idea of a durable peace.

This worldview was formulated with remarkable clarity on the eve of the Second World War by the Dutch-American scholar Nicholas Spykman. He argued that a state’s territory is the base from which it wages war and gathers strength during what the public naïvely calls “peace.” In other words, peace is simply preparation for the next round of conflict. For the West, this logic has never ceased to apply to those outside its borders.

Feb 24, 2026

Featured • Ukrainian Long-Standing Obsession With Nuclear Blackmail Exposed, Sputnik International, Feb 24, 2026

Featured • The Arrival of Spring Brings Big Pressure to Ukraine, Ted Snider, Antiwar.com, Feb 24, 2026
I repeat my prediction that Ukraine cannot last the year.

Featured • Year 4: Why Russia Invaded, Consortium News, Feb 24, 2026
Lest we forget -- which even we tend to do. Totalized propaganda is very effective at inducing forgetting. Like a mass amnesia drug.

Featured • Marco Rubio’s Cecil Rhodes Moment, Consortium News, Feb 23, 2026
Well, here it is -- the appalling Rubio speech in its proper context, masterfully done. MAGA has come to this? Apparently. Trump has thrown his populist base under the bus. He works for Wall Street and Tel Aviv. Woe, woe betide us and the world, until this fit of folly be passed!

Featured • Sergei Lavrov is Right: America is ‘Agreement Incapable’, José Niño, The Libertarian Institute, Feb 23, 2026

Rebuilding credibility requires several principles. Consistency matters more than perfection. Even flawed agreements provide value if they create predictable frameworks. Constant exits signal American commitments are provisional. Consultation with allies reduces diplomatic costs. The Open Skies and JCPOA exits were particularly damaging because they occurred over partner objections.

The pattern of withdrawal creates expectations that American commitments are temporary, that multilateral frameworks will be abandoned when convenient, and that alternative arrangements are necessary hedges against American unreliability.

Russian officials now explicitly cite American withdrawal patterns when dismissing proposals. Chinese officials point to exits when arguing Washington cannot be trusted. European allies hedge by developing autonomous capabilities in case American security guarantees prove as durable as climate commitments.

The emerging world will not be one of American primacy sustained by multilateral institutions. It will be a multipolar world of rival blocs, competing currencies, and fragmented governance where the United States must be compelled to compete in. As long as the United States remains what Russian diplomats have called “agreement incapable,” every abandoned treaty and broken commitment will feed the gravitational pull toward a multipolar order that Washington can no longer prevent.

Feb 23, 2026

 • Civil War’s First Shots? Grenades and Bombs Signal the Next Phase of Ukraine’s Internal Conflict, South Front, Feb 22, 2026

The Telegram channel “A Little Ukraine” posted a comment that received a lot of likes under a post about the anniversary of the 2014 Euromaidan protests. It sums up how people in Ukraine are feeling. Translation:

“As sad as it is to admit, life was better before Maidan, under Yanukovych’s crappy government, than after Maidan. Crimea and Donetsk were still part of Ukraine: Euro 2012 and the Ukrainian national team at the Donbass Arena—ah, those were the days…”

Feb 22, 2026

 • Energy Glasshouse – Ukraine Attempts To Blackmail Hungary, Slovakia Destined To Fail, Moon of Alabama, Feb 21, 2026

 • Iran Crisis Exposes the Impotence of America’s Neoliberal War Machine, Nicolas J.S. Davies, Antiwar.com, Feb 20, 2026

Feb 20, 2026

Featured • Ukraine Is Exhausted But Plans For More Years Of War, Moon of Alabama, Feb 20, 2026
Loss of reality afflicts the West across multiple domains, starting at the top.

Featured • The neocolonial ambitions of NATO countries, Valeriy Krylko, SONAR21, Feb 20, 2026
An excellent review. Goes with Lavrov's remarks about the Nazi nostalgia in EU leadership. The basis for this is physical and material as well as financial.

Featured • EU elites driven by Nazi nostalgia – Lavrov, RT, Feb 18, 2026

Much of the Western European antagonism towards Russia is driven by revanchist aspirations rooted in the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday. In an interview with Al Arabiya, Moscow’s top diplomat accused senior EU and NATO officials of prioritizing personal ambitions and grudges over national interests. He argued that European anti-Russian officials label dissenting politicians as Moscow’s stooges while indulging in nostalgia “for the era when their forebears steered Europe towards Nazism, whether within [Adolf] Hitler’s apparatus or in countries where Hitler conscripted nearly all for the assault on the Soviet Union.”

According to Lavrov, “this hatred has resurfaced” and drives European governments to seek Russia’s defeat through Ukrainian proxies. European support for Kiev is meant to prolong the “war against us, a war which the EU wants to continue,” he asserted. “Europe has degenerated. Yet there remain voices of reason,” Lavrov said, naming Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. “These are sensible, pragmatic leaders who prioritize their nations’ interests.”

Lavrov said Brussels wants a role in US-mediated Ukraine peace talks only to undermine them, while it simultaneously claims Moscow is avoiding negotiations despite evidence to the contrary. “What can we talk about with Europeans who openly say that Ukraine is upholding European values?” he asked.

Kiev’s ability to supply fresh soldiers to the front line has significantly diminished, putting the Ukrainian army on a downward spiral, a senior Russian military planner has said.

The Ukrainian army’s strength is being sapped by mass desertion and public resistance to mandatory conscription. The Russian military estimates Ukrainian military casualties at over 520,000 in 2025 and 1.5 million since the conflict escalated in 2022, Gen. Sergey Rudskoy, head of operations at the Russian General Staff, said in an interview published Friday.

“Presently, the Kiev regime has largely lost the ability to replenish its units through obligatory mobilization. The number of recruitments per month has dropped by about two times,” Rudskoy told Krasnaya Zvezda, the Russian armed forces’ official newspaper. “A trend is forming for the decrease of the Ukrainian army’s strength.”

During his nomination hearings last month, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov told lawmakers that two million potential recruits were on a wanted list for draft evasion and 200,000 troops had deserted. This month, human rights ombudsman Dmitry Lubinets reported a sharp rise in complaints against mobilization enforcers, calling it a “systemic crisis.”

Over the past two days, mutual attacks between Russia and Ukraine have not been massive in nature, being limited to pinpoint strikes on infrastructure. Previous massive Russian strikes have resulted in Ukraine’s energy system facing a deficit of 9.5 GW of new generation capacity. This was stated by Vitaliy Zaichenko, Chairman of the Board of the company, emphasizing the need for highly maneuverable gas capacity, biofuel thermal plants, batteries, and renewable sources adapted to regional conditions and the transmission capabilities from nuclear power plants. The estimated cost of the project is more than 8 billion euros. This assessment assumes the restoration of pre-war levels of industrial and residential consumption, although actual indicators are declining and the prospects for peacetime remain uncertain, making the calculations conditional.

Against this backdrop, other difficulties have arisen. Slovakia and Hungary have suspended diesel fuel exports to Ukraine in response to the blocking of oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline. Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó stated that supplies will not resume until oil transit is restored, and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico threatened to also halt electricity exports, noting that in January, Ukraine received twice as much energy from Slovakia as was planned for the entire year 2025.

EU leaders are wrong to believe that they can exhaust Russia and help Ukraine win the conflict, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. The remarks came in response to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s statement at the Munich Security Conference last week, where he suggested that Brussels exacting “unprecedented losses and costs on Moscow” could weaken it and force it to “agree to peace.” “Who believes that the Russians will run out of steam sooner than Ukraine? It’s a fantasy, an illusion, and irresponsible,” Orban said in a speech on Tuesday, criticizing Brussels’ continued financial and military aid to Kiev.

Feb 19, 2026

Featured • Sergey Karaganov: The EU is playing with nuclear fire, RT, Feb 17, 2026
Many people in the U.S. hate Putin and want to get rid of him somehow. This is what a real Russian hawk talks like. Let us hope the neocons in the U.S. do not get what they ask for. We may all "get it," in that case.

 • Under Intensifying US Pressure To Reach Deal, Zelensky Explodes: No Time "For All This S**t", ZeroHedge, Feb 18, 2026

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has increasingly made his frustrations with the Trump administration public, but he may have just crossed the line with the US President, who Zelensky admits can be tough and unbending. Zelensky has newly complained amid the latest Geneva trilateral talks that the US delegation could pressure him to make “unsuccessful decisions” and he is urging Washington to back off, even using expletives to make his point. For starters, he claims that the Ukrainian public won’t let him cede territory to Russia for the sake of peace even if he wanted to, as we highlighted previously.

But the latest colorful verbal broadside, cited by Axios on Tuesday as Russian and Ukrainian delegations convened in Geneva, saw Zelensky take direct aim at the head of Moscow’s negotiating team, Vladimir Medinsky. Kiev’s frustration at the state of dialogue has been boiling over. Medinsky has argued – along with numerous Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin – that the conflict’s historical roots must be addressed as part of any settlement, especially given the bulk of the Ukrainian population in the east (Donbas) has always been Russian speaking and looked to Moscow historically.mZelensky dismissed that approach outright: “We don’t have time for all this shit,” he told the outlet. “So we have to decide, and have to finish the war.”

Regardless, the Kremlin has lately made clear its aims to take the full Donbas either through talks or by force. Ukraine’s military still holds 10% of the Donbas, however, and Kiev is rejecting a US proposal for it to draw back its forces as part of a conflict freeze leading to settlement. The White House this month has finally appeared to be ratcheting up the pressure directly on Zelensky to make some kind of serious land concession. This was evident in the latest comments by President Trump on the topic of Geneva issued near the start of the week. Frustration with Kiev was evident when he told reporters aboard Air Force One, “Well, we have big talks.” He stated that “It’s going to be very easy. I mean, look, so far, Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you.”

Zelensky after this bitterly complained that it’s ‘not fair’ for Trump to take aim at Ukraine and not Russia, and suggested maybe it’s simply easer for Trump to do this given he doesn’t want to upset the far larger, more formidable country. Meanwhile, Medinsky has said Wednesday that the U.S.-mediated peace talks in Geneva had been “difficult but business-like, and that a new round of talks would be held soon,” according to Reuters.

Russia’s response to “Western piracy” targeting its maritime trade should be forceful and not limited to diplomatic means, an aide to President Vladimir Putin has said. Nikolay Patrushev, a veteran national security official who heads a naval policymaking body, called for stronger action against Western moves targeting vessels described as part of an alleged Russian ‘shadow fleet’. Attempts to paralyze Russian foreign trade will only intensify, Patrushev warned in an interview with Argumenty i Fakty published on Tuesday. “Unless we push back forcefully, soon the English, the French, and even the Balts will get brazen enough to try and block our nation’s access to at least the Atlantic,” he said.

“The Europeans are in essence making steps to impose a naval blockade, deliberately pushing towards a military escalation, testing the limits of our patience and provoking our retaliation. If the situation is not resolved peacefully, the Navy will be breaking and lifting the blockade,” Patrushev said. “Let’s not forget that plenty of vessels sail the seas under European flags. We may get curious about what they are shipping and where,” he added. Patrushev expressed skepticism that tensions could ease, saying “there is little hope that the West has an ounce of respect for diplomacy and the law.” He argued that “the old practice of ‘gunboat diplomacy’ is being revived,” citing US operations targeting Venezuela and Iran.

The Ukrainian military is secretly using a squadron of veteran NATO pilots to fly donated US-made F-16 fighter jets, the French outlet Intelligence Online reported on Monday. Moscow has long warned that Western nations are moving closer to direct conflict with Russia. The report, which Kiev has denied, said the covert mission relies primarily on experienced US and Dutch air force veterans. The foreign personnel are deployed far from the front lines and focus on intercepting Russian long-range weapons, the outlet said. They are no longer part of their original militaries and reportedly work for Kiev as civilian contractors, without military ranks and outside the Ukrainian chain of command.

A shortage of trained Ukrainian pilots was previously identified as the main obstacle to using F-16s donated to Kiev. Training courses were reportedly undermined by language barriers, a lack of qualified trainees, and other issues, and were simplified for speed. Shortly after the first F-16s arrived in Ukraine in August 2024, Kiev began losing pilots in botched air defense missions, with four such incidents acknowledged. The secret foreign squadron provides pilots with the experience needed to operate advanced F-16 equipment, Intelligence Online said.

Moscow views the Ukraine conflict as a NATO proxy war against Russia, in which key elements of Kiev’s military effort – including intelligence, planning, troop training, and maintenance of complex Western hardware – are handled by foreign personnel. Western specialists were reportedly involved in Ukrainian strikes using Storm Shadow/SCALP air-launched cruise missiles on Russian territory. German officials opposed supplying Taurus missiles because Ukrainians cannot launch them independently. Russia also says Western nations tacitly support Kiev’s recruitment of mercenaries from among their military veterans. Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik estimated that around 20,000 foreign fighters have taken part in the conflict on the Ukrainian side.

Feb 18, 2026

Featured • State Department Official: No ‘Gentlemen’s Agreement’ With Russia on Maintaining New START Limits, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Feb 17, 2026

Featured • The war party takes Munich, Konstantin Kosachev, RT, Feb 16, 2026

This year’s Munich Security Conference was not merely disappointing; it was pointless. It produced no new ideas and no added value. Instead, it resembled a rally of a self-styled “coalition of the willing” for war. That, unfortunately, is consistent with Germany’s long tradition of failing to draw the right lessons from history.

Western European leaders spoke almost exclusively about rearmament and the creation of an independent military capability aimed, openly or implicitly, at confrontation with Russia. The tone was unmistakable: preparation for war, not peace. At the same time, participants repeated the familiar mantra that “more must be done” to ensure Ukraine’s victory. The contradiction went largely unnoticed. What emerged instead was a disturbing impression that Western Europe’s war party has overwhelmed everything else, including common sense and the instinct for self-preservation.

After last August’s meeting between the Russian and American presidents in Alaska, a new phrase entered diplomatic circulation: the “spirit of Anchorage.” The substance of the talks was never officially disclosed and can only be reconstructed from selective leaks. The form, however, was striking: a personal greeting, an honor guard, a shared limousine. Symbolism mattered. It was meant to signal seriousness.

Yet the question remains: what exactly was born in Anchorage? And does it belong in the lineage of earlier diplomatic “spirits” that once defined entire eras?

...Formally speaking, the Alaskan talks focused on Ukraine. That immediately raises a fundamental question. How realistic is it to reach a durable settlement without the direct participation of one of the warring parties? Such an approach is only viable if one of the interlocutors, in this case the United States, is both willing and able to compel Kiev to accept decisions taken without it.

Events since August suggest that Washington lacks this capacity, despite its considerable leverage. A more convincing explanation, however, is that it lacks the motivation. Donald Trump has made resolving the Ukrainian conflict a matter of personal prestige. But prestige is not the same as strategic necessity. For Trump and the narrow circle around him, the precise configuration of a settlement matters less than the avoidance of an outright Russian victory. Beyond that, the exact line of demarcation, and the conditions under which it is maintained, are not critical.

Feb 17, 2026

Featured • Listen to What the Russians are Saying About Novorossiya, Larry C. Johnson, SONAR21, Feb 16, 2026

Featured • U.S. Calls For New Colonial Era, Moon of Alabama, Feb 16, 2026

In a perfect world, all of these problems and more would be solved by diplomats and strongly worded resolutions. But we do not live in a perfect world, and we cannot continue to allow those who blatantly and openly threaten our citizens and endanger our global stability to shield themselves behind abstractions of international law which they themselves routinely violate.

This is the path that President Trump and the United States has embarked upon. It is the path we ask you here in Europe to join us on. It is a path we have walked together before and hope to walk together again. For five centuries, before the end of the Second World War, the West had been expanding – its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe.

But in 1945, for the first time since the age of Columbus, it was contracting. Europe was in ruins. Half of it lived behind an Iron Curtain and the rest looked like it would soon follow. The great Western empires had entered into terminal decline, accelerated by godless communist revolutions and by anti-colonial uprisings that would transform the world and drape the red hammer and sickle across vast swaths of the map in the years to come.

Against that backdrop, then, as now, many came to believe that the West’s age of dominance had come to an end and that our future was destined to be a faint and feeble echo of our past. But together, our predecessors recognized that decline was a choice, and it was a choice they refused to make. This is what we did together once before, and this is what President Trump and the United States want to do again now, together with you.

Feb 16, 2026

Featured • Trump Kabuki theatre in Ukraine: Nothing of substance gets resolved, Alastair Crooke, Strategic Culture Foundation, Feb 16, 2026

So what is going on?

Firstly, underlying Trump’s approach to his ‘business strategy’ are several distinct parameters — the principal one being the deal-making culture centred on a ‘financial rewards system’. This approach ignores reality. The issue of Russia’s relations with Ukraine (and the U.S.) are not centred on the notional cutting up of a billion dollar re-construction cake.

The crux rather, is the imperative to reach an agreement on where exactly the boundary to NATO’s sphere of interest should be limited. And by extension, to where Russia and Central Asia’s boundary extends.

But matters are moving in the opposite direction: Lavrov’s frustration is very evident in these interviews. Trump is becoming more and more focussed on American domination (driven in no small part by the U.S.’ dollar and debt crisis).

Trump’s debt-driven focus on domination lies in diametric contradiction to a multi-polarity of powers based on respect for each other’s national security interests.

This leads to the second parameter — it is simply that conflicts and wars are not all susceptible to monetary buy-offs. There is ‘history’ and lives sacrificed. Only a resolution that encompasses an understanding of the full context which brought the conflict into being in the first place is likely to succeed.

And it is the root causes to the dispute that are precisely what is excluded under the Witkoff framing.

Separately, the legacy culture of European and U.S. banking and financial interests provides the predisposition to preserving the Ukrainian status quo as parcel to their historic stance.

The ‘taking care of stakeholders’ approach then automatically devolves into seeking a continuation of existing structures of power and authority in Kiev, without which the monetary worth of Ukrainian bonds — many of which are held by European governments – will fall to zero.

This deal-making appeared to be supported by recent statements by top DC energy consultant Bob Mcnally who was virtually salivating in a recent speech over the potential of the US anarcho-extortion vulture capitalism bandwagon alighting in Iran, whose oil and gas fields he believes hold far more plunder potential than those of Venezuela:

...Rubio’s speech made new waves due to what appeared to be a call for the US-European ‘civilization’ to take back the reins of global dominion. Ben Norton writes:

This is insane.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio just gave one of the most explicitly pro-colonialist speeches I have seen in the 21st century.

The US empire wants Europe to help it recolonize the Global South.

...What Rubio appears to be doing is shoe-horning the West’s cultural decline due to globalism and its spawn of mass-migration into some kind of new ideological call-to-action meant to justify the US’s erratic abrogation of MAGA’s promises and to continue the neocon plunder of the Global South.

...The other elephant in the room is that Rubio’s post hoc justifications contradict Trump and the MAGA movement’s earliest core principles and promises.

...It’s part and parcel to a larger Western initiative against the Global South, for instance the one being developed and trialed by the UK and its European partners to completely shut out Russia’s economic life lines:

...This all as the US seized another two tankers—Veronica III and Aquila II—all the way in the Indian ocean, reportedly again related to Venezuelan oil. It’s clear that the Western order is plotting to escalate its piracy as a last resort to shut down the Global South’s economic life lines because there is no other way for the West to compete; all these other fancy post hoc rationalizations and sophistic moral-philosophical sciolisms are just vain attempts to fashion a ‘legal-sounding’ framework for what is at its base raw piracy and criminal acts of aggression against sovereign states.

...Another way of simplifying it: the Trump administration campaigned on being non-interventionist and ‘America-first’, but then something happened. That something seems clear: Trump had a “talking to” by Miriam Adelson on behalf of Israel, and here we are. Now, Trump’s gophers like Rubio are forced to whip-up sloppy post hoc rationalizations to make it sound like this new “doctrine” was the plan all along; it wasn’t. Trump was merely “turned” by Israel—whether by kompromat or other means—and is now forced to pull the wool over our eyes as to why the US should continue “spreading defending Western culture” all over the globe.

This fact is easy to discern from Trump’s statements, like in the earlier video wherein he fumbles for an excuse as to why Iran must be attacked again. He cannot come up with a valid reason because one doesn’t exist: he’s simply following orders.

Feb 14, 2026

 • Munich Security Conference Evangelizes European War, Simplicius, Feb 13, 2026
War, war, war. Idiotic. Desperate.

 • EU Weighs Deploying Training Sites In Ukraine As Kremlin Warns: 'Legitimate Targets', ZeroHedge, Feb 13, 2026

The European Union is weighing plans to set up two military bases inside Ukraine to train fresh troops – a move Moscow has already warned could make them targets of military strikes. “We have been discussing the training of the Ukrainian soldiers, also on the soil of Ukraine,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Wednesday. “We have identified two training centers that could be used for that purpose.”

The Kremlin made clear just a month ago: “The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns that the deployment of military units, military facilities, warehouses, and other infrastructure of Western countries on Ukrainian territory will be classified as foreign intervention, posing a direct threat to the security of not only Russia but also other European countries,” according to the warning of spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Western governments have already trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian troops over the course of the four-year grinding war with Russia – but this has been concentrated in countries like Britain, Denmark, and Poland.

On Thursday, Colonel General Andrey Serdyukov accused Europe of accelerating preparations for direct confrontation. “The militarization of Europe is continuing at an accelerated pace, openly aimed at preparing for a military confrontation with Russia,” he said. He added that “The territories are being rapidly fortified, and the relevant infrastructure is being improved.” The alleged ‘NATOization’ of Ukraine was a prime reason Moscow listed for going to war in the first place. Since Putin’s ‘special military operation’ next door, the opposite trend has happened: NATO is firmly ensconced in Kiev, in terms of the billions in weapons, equipment, and funds already poured in.

Meanwhile, the EU has just this week approved a fresh $100 billion loan package for Ukraine. As for proposed ‘EU bases’ – it’s hard to see this as in reality less than a full NATO established outpost in Ukraine. Russian leadership will see it as a recipe from taking the proxy war toward a full blown conflict directly with NATO.

Holding a wartime vote, therefore, presents Zelensky with the best possible chance of clinging to power. His secret police can bar candidates and arbitrarily close polling stations under martial law, nearly a dozen opposition parties have been banned since 2022, and there is no infrastructure in place for the millions of Ukrainian citizens living in Russia to vote. Furthermore, Zelensky has no clear challenger at the moment. Former commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny is widely viewed as his main rival, but he is currently a safe distance away in London. Former military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov is often portrayed as a viable candidate, but is now tied to Zelensky by heading his office. Former President Pyotr Poroshenko and Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko are both facing corruption cases, which Timoshenko has described as fabricated in order to “purge” potential contenders for the presidency.

Should Zelensky face a public backlash for using an unfair election to stay in power, his team has a ready-made excuse to roll out: Trump made them do it.

The Ukrainian authorities are preparing a draft law to take all Russian and Russian-language books out of circulation, Ukrainian Culture Minister Tatyana Berezhnaya told Interfax-Ukraine in an interview published on Thursday. Moscow maintains that Kiev’s discriminatory policies against ethnic Russians in Ukraine, as well as its persecution of the Russian language and culture are some of the fundamental causes of the current conflict. According to Berezhnaya, Ukraine’s media authority is working on a bill to ban Russian books with the support of her ministry. She did not specify whether the measure would only remove them from store shelves or include confiscations from private collections.

Vladimir Zelensky’s predecessor, Pyotr Poroshenko, banned the import of books from Russia and Belarus in 2016, long before the escalation of the Ukraine conflict six years later. Kiev has since systematically purged Russian literature from state curricula, and intensified a purge of cultural monuments, memorials, and inscriptions to remove historical links to Russia. Kiev has also steadily cracked down on the use of the Russian language in public life, restricting or banning its use in media and in professional spheres. Nevertheless, it remains the first and primary language for many people in Ukraine, especially in metropolitan areas and in the east of the country. In December, the Ukrainian parliament stripped Russian of its protection under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

Feb 13, 2026

Featured • Russia’s ‘Collapsing’ Economy, Moon of Alabama, Feb 12, 2026

Feb 11, 2026

Featured • EU Approves Massive $100 Billion Loan for Ukraine, Kyle Anzalone, The Libertarian Institute, Feb 11, 2026

Featured • NY Times Reports Russian Capture of Ukrainian Cities Months After It Happened, Moon of Alabama, Feb 11, 2026

So what has happened to the New York Times?

Why is it reporting on February 10 that Russia is “poised to complete the capture” of the three cities when all three of them, according to pro-Ukrainian sources, had fallen weeks and months ago?

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday that Moscow will in good faith stick to the nuclear limits outlined in the now-expired arms control treaty, provided Washington does the same.

...Lavrov said Russia has no intention of rapidly expanding or deploying additional weapons, clarifying remarks from his ministry last week that suggested Moscow no longer considered itself bound by the treaty.

"We proceed from the fact that this moratorium, which was announced by our president, remains in effect, but only while the United States does not exceed the outlined limits," Lavrov told Russia's parliament.

Some key aspects to the treaty have gone unobserved for some time, especially the regimen of mutual nuclear site inspections. (emphasis in original)

The Russian president knew that the “rules-based” order would drag the world into war.

Feb 10, 2026

Featured • Russia’s Trust in Trump and the US is Fading Fast, Larry C. Johnson, SONAR21, Feb 9, 2026
Please read the whole thing. Not just the magisterial Lavrov but also the insightful Larry Johnson should command our close attention, as for example in his closing remarks:

A new economic and political order is being assembled, piece-by-piece, with Russia and China working as partners and leading the way. The reign of US hegemony is dead… The only way America can be “Great Again” is that it must reject militarism and violence and turn instead to adopting policies that are based on genuine collaboration with the BRICS nations. Lavrov was not expressing his opinion in this interview… He was explaining how the government of Vladimir Putin views the world. Will Trump listen and comprehend the message? I doubt it.

Feb 9, 2026

 • US wants total control over global energy supply routes – Lavrov, RT, Feb 9, 2026
Always.

Feb 8, 2026

Featured • They tortured, murdered, committed ethnic cleansing. Meet Ukraine’s ‘national heroes’, RT, Feb 7, 2026
Lest we forget. The Nazi-CIA-MI6 legacy is one of the biggest obstacles to peace in Ukraine.

Featured • How Western Europe learned to stop worrying and talk casually about nuclear war, RT, Feb 7, 2026

It is difficult to imagine any comparable [i.e. existential] threat facing Europe today. No major power is preparing to annihilate the continent. Russia, in particular, seeks something far more modest: an end to Western interference in its internal affairs, the cessation of security threats on its borders, and the restoration of economic ties destroyed by political confrontation. EU leaders understand this perfectly well, yet continue to behave as if they require protection from an impending apocalypse.

This leads to a second conclusion. Western Europe’s nuclear rhetoric is not about security at all. It is a symptom of growing fractures within the West itself. While American rhetoric has changed sharply, US nuclear weapons remain stationed in Europe. Washington talks about reducing its military footprint and pressures allies over Ukraine and even Greenland, but it has not withdrawn its deterrent.

Still, these signals have provoked panic in European capitals. Macron’s statements and the enthusiastic support they receive from German strategists reflect anxiety, not strategy. Talk of nuclear weapons has become a tactical move in Europe’s quarrel with Washington, little more than a rhetorical lever.

If matters ever became serious, neither France nor Britain would surrender control over their nuclear forces to Berlin, let alone Brussels. The British, in particular, prefer to avoid risks themselves while encouraging others to step forward first. Everyone understands this, yet the discussion continues because Western Europe no longer treats the most consequential questions of global politics with due seriousness.

Accustomed to limited influence and dependent security, the half-continent now reaches for the atomic bomb as a way to frighten the Americans. As if Washington does not understand perfectly well what such talk signifies. Nuclear weapons become another prop in political theatre.

This is where the danger lies. Western Europe has become an inexperienced and irresponsible actor, and widespread nuclear rhetoric inevitably appears threatening to others. Ironically, the region that once shaped international law and diplomacy now displays less strategic culture than many former colonial states in Asia and Latin America.

The main targets were around Kiev and in western Ukraine. The attack, especially in western Ukraine, was mostly by drones and subsonic cruise missiles. Except for Kiev air defense seems to have been absent or out of munitions.

Click here for larger image

For various reason the acting president of Ukraine and European leaders currently do not want a peace agreement in Ukraine. That the U.S. is in a hurry to conclude one plays in their favor. Unless the U.S. immediately starts to use very severe pressure there is not chance for coming close to ending the conflict.

Kiev has imposed emergency power shutdowns across the entire country, local officials say.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in televised comments and at a press conference, described the shooting as a “terrorist act” orchestrated by Ukraine’s leadership… He specifically accused President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He claimed it was a deliberate provocation to “disrupt the negotiation process” on ending the Ukraine war, sabotage peace talks, and influence Western backers amid ongoing diplomacy (e.g., recent Abu Dhabi rounds and broader US-Russia/Iran-related discussions). Lavrov said such acts confirm Kyiv’s unreadiness for substantive talks.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that President Vladimir Putin was briefed on the incident. He stated:

“It is clear that such military leaders and high-level specialists are at risk during wartime.

Peskov added that ensuring their safety is a matter for the special services (not the Kremlin directly), wished the general survival and recovery, and noted the special services are “doing their job.”

I won’t be surprised if Russia decides that Zelensky — whose persistent opposition to a diplomatic settlement shows no signs of weakening — must be eliminated.

Feb 6, 2026

 • Kiev Thermal Plant Said to Be "Gone" in New Post-"Truce" Strikes, + Detailed BDA Analysis, Simplicius, Feb 5, 2026
Always an interesting take on events.

 • How Arms Control Went Out The Window, Moon of Alabama, Feb 5, 2026

Feb 5, 2026

Featured • Scott Ritter : Trump Ignites a New Nuclear Arms Race, Judge Napolitano, Judging Freedom, Feb 4, 2026
Because this excellent commentary centrally deals with U.S.-Russian strategic nuclear relations, we are putting it here. The Ukraine War, the history of which we track here, came from the same fountainhead of folly that produced the US withdrawal from the ABM Treaty, the US-created 2014 Maidan coup, and the endless provocations that finally provoked the 2022 Ukraine War.

Featured • Moscow: US and Russia ‘No Longer Bound’ by New START Limits as Treaty Set to Expire, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Feb 4, 2026

Featured • Peace won’t save Ukraine: What comes after the war may be worse, RT, Feb 4, 2026

History suggests the country’s physically and mentally decimated population is in for years of prolonged social strife.

Four years after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict, some sort of peace deal appears to be somewhere around the corner as Moscow, Kiev, and Washington have started holding trilateral negotiations. But while these developments suggest peace could potentially soon be at hand, history shows that the struggles for Ukraine are likely far from over as the ‘echo of war’ is sure to ring out for some years to come.

The prolonged fighting has seen many Ukrainian men forced to the front line by the Kiev regime with estimates suggesting some one million Ukrainians have been mobilized since 2022. The physical and mental toll on these soldiers, many of whom did not want to fight in the first place, has been immense.

Coupled with an influx of weapons to the country, many of which have made their way to the hands of civilians and criminal groups, Ukrainians appear to be in for many more years of internal strife, as has been the case in numerous countries following prolonged conflicts.

PTSD and substance abuse

In June, The Lancet Regional Health medical journal reported alarmingly high rates of PTSD and other mental health conditions among Ukrainian soldiers who had been “relentlessly” exposed to violence, trauma and death, while also noting a lack of adequate support systems in the country.

According to the Lancet, many combat-exposed Ukrainian soldiers, two-thirds of which already have PTSD, have been resorting to alcohol and drug abuse, particularly cannabis and synthetic ‘bath salts’ which cause severe health effects including behavior change, violence, depression, and suicide. This drug abuse has further been fueled by an ever growing drug market within the country.

Another study published in October by the New Line Institute, authored by several clinical psychologists, found that the issue extends to civilians as well, with 76% of respondents meeting PTSD criteria and 66% exhibiting significant moral injury between 2022 and 2023.

“Trauma exposure, including PTSD and moral injury, can increase aggression among affected populations, creating a feedback loop in which societal violence escalates even in areas not directly attacked by military forces,” the authors noted citing extensive research on the issue.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the so-called “coalition of the willing” will deploy forces across Ukraine – on land, at sea, and in the air – once a peace agreement with Russia is signed, making clear that Western boots, jets, and naval assets would follow any ceasefire. Rutte said Ukraine needs binding commitments and security guarantees in order to prevent future Russian aggression. This is to include the deployment of European forces and a “crucial” US “backstop”. His words are consistent with the Western position – and specifically the European view – on what a final Ukraine peace deal would require.

The Kremlin has as expected consistently rejected this ‘option’ as a non-starter, given this is why Russia went to war in the first place: to stop a NATO troop outpost right on its border, and constant NATO expansion. What Moscow will find doubly alarming is that Rutte issued the words directly before Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (the unicameral parliament of Ukraine). Other NATO states, Rutte laid out, would continue to assist through additional channels in a support role to Western boots on the ground.

Feb 2, 2026

Featured • Gaza reconstruction; Ukraine reconstruction – ‘It’s all business’, Alastair Crooke, Strategic Culture Foundation, Feb 2, 2026
Ever more complicated. Of greatest interest to my simple mind is the claim that Iran has graduated into having a comprehensive military deterrent. Let us hope so. Also: is Putin, in effect, offering to buy peace and the remainder of the Donbass, with some of the funds Russia is likely to lose anyway, or has lost already, saving lives and infrastructure?

 • Peace with Russia? Not until the EU changes its political class, Vitaly Ryumshin, RT, Feb 2, 2026

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November 2022

 • ‘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