updated 24 Apr 2025, 11:42 MDT

After our 11/15/22 emergency meeting on the Ukraine War we committed to providing near-daily updates of what we think are some of the most valuable news and analyses for fellow activists. This is that selection. If you find this page helpful please forward it to your friends and contacts. Beginning Nov 16, 2023 we will be updating this page on a semiweekly basis. Stopping this war is of critical, emergency importance. Please do whatever you can.

Unless otherwise noted, the italicized comments below are Greg Mello's.

Highly recommended resource: Judge Andrew Napolitano's video podcast on YouTube.

Highly recommended: Russophobia: Propaganda in International Politics, Glenn Diesen, 2022.
Provoked, How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine, Scott Horton, 2024.

Russia – Ukraine War Master Class: Prof. Glenn Diesen, Prof. John Mearsheimer, Ambassador Chas Freeman Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Aug 2024

Apr 24, 2025

Featured • A ‘Trump deal’? Juggling war, ‘easy war’ and negotiation, Alastair Crooke, Strategic Culture Foundation, Apr 24, 2025

Aurelien observes:

“So we are dealing with limited horizons; limited imagination and limited experience. But there’s one other determining factor: The U.S. system is recognised to be sprawling, conflictual – and, as a result, largely impervious to outside influence – and even to reality. Bureaucratic energy is devoted almost entirely to internal struggles, which are carried out by shifting coalitions in the administration; in Congress; in Punditland and in the media. But these struggles are, in general, about [domestic] power and influence – and not about the inherent merits of an issue, and [thus] require no actual expertise or knowledge”.

“The system is large and complex enough that you can make a career as an ‘Iran expert’, say, inside and outside government, without ever having visited the country or speaking the language – by simply recycling standard wisdom in a way that will attract patronage. You will be fighting battles with other supposed ‘experts’, within a very confined intellectual perimeter, where only certain conclusions are acceptable”.

What becomes evident is that this cultural approach (the Think-Tank Industrial Complex) induces a laziness and the prevalence of hubris into western thinking. It is assumed reportedly, that Trump assumed that Xi Jinping would rush to meet with him, following the imposition of tariffs – to plead for a trade deal – because China is suffering some economic headwinds.

It is blandly assumed by the Kellogg contingent too that pressure is both the necessary and sufficient condition to compel Putin to agree to an unilateral ceasefire – a ceasefire that Putin repeatedly has stated he would not accept until a political framework was first agreed. When Witkoff relays Putin’s point within the Trump team discussion, he stands as a contrarian outside the ‘licensed discourse’ which insists that Russia only takes détente with an adversary seriously after it has been forced to do so by a defeat or serious setback. (emphasis added) Crooke always rewards the reader. Want to know what happened to the peace movement, or the nuclear disarmament movement? Read the above quote from Aurelian.

Congrats to Volodymyr Zelensky for cementing his position as the champion at choosing to always do the wrong thing. Before Marco Rubio and the European foreign ministers assembled in London for negotiations with a Ukrainian delegation, the Z-man rejected any recognition by the US of Crimea as Russian territory. As a result, Rubio and Steve Witkoff ditched the talks, and were followed in short order by the other European foreign ministers. This potentially pivotal meeting turned into a complete fiasco.

Zelensky, if he had any smarts, could have kept his mouth shut and said nothing about the Kellogg Plan, and given Mr. Witkoff time to take the proposal to Moscow, where Mr. Putin would have said, NYET! That would have made the Russians the villains in this piece of Kabuki theater. Instead, Zelensky gave the Russians a perfect gift by reinforcing Russia’s longstanding assertion that Zelensky is not capable of negotiating in good faith.

President Trump and Vice President Vance responded quickly to Zelensky’s defiance by repeating Secretary of State Rubio’s warning from last week… the United States will wash its hands of the bloody mess and leave it to the Europeans and Zelensky to sort out.

Meanwhile, back in Moscow, President Putin’s spokesman issued a statement that signals Russia’s negotiating position is going to become tougher. Peskov, speaking to a reporter from Le Point, said the following:

Ukraine must withdraw its troops from the territories of Donbas and Novorossiya, which have become part of the Russian Federation. There will be no “reset”, rollback or surrender of new regions. This is not even a subject for bargaining – it is a closed topic.

(emphasis added)

Where are they now—Europe’s pacifists? Why do they no longer gather in Belgium, in Brussels, NATO’s headquarters, where large demonstrations against the alliance once took place? These protests, led by pacifists, denounced NATO, war, militarization, and nuclear arms. The Belgian newspaper Le Soir recently posed an intriguing question: Why have the pacifists vanished? “The arms race has begun,” the article argues. “Like its European neighbors, Belgium is preparing to significantly increase military spending this year—without facing any opposition.” “We keep our word,” declares Francken, Belgium’s former Defense Minister. “Belgium will become a solidary ally with extra defense budgets for personnel, equipment, and infrastructure.” He claims the spending will also boost jobs and innovation. Belgium, after all, is a NATO founding member, alongside the Netherlands.

Some Belgian (former) pacifists have reacted sharply to the government’s plans: “Retirees must accept lower pensions, unemployment benefits are being slashed, the sick languish in poverty, nurses earn less and work longer for diminished pensions, hospitals lose subsidies—all to enrich that corrupt Zelensky gang in Kiev.” The same measures, they note, are being imposed in the Netherlands. But as the article points out, criticizing NATO now invites ridicule. Or does it go further than mockery? Across Western Europe—Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany—and in the Baltic states and Poland, dissent is met with more than scorn. People are arrested, elections are overturned, and societies drift toward totalitarianism—or worse, a resurgence of militarism and fascism unseen since 1945.

...Germany once had a robust pacifist movement. In the 1970s and 80s, activists—many from what is now the Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen)—protested NATO and nuclear weapons. Today, those same Greens, led by Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck, champion war and arms shipments. Their party program declares Germany must lead Europe, offering a “global counterweight” to China and Russia. The anti-war, anti-NATO movement has been absorbed into a party now pushing for war—especially against Russia, as Baerbock’s rhetoric makes clear.

Trump vs. Zelensky Round Two? Tensions initially looked to have cooled after the Zelensky-Vance-Trump February 28 verbal blow-up and showdown at the Oval Office (see clip below), but the spat is heating up once again, and is fast getting personal. President Trump has slammed President Zelensky in a Wednesday post on Truth Social, saying of the Ukrainian leader, “if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired”… and “He can have Peace or, he can fight for another three years before losing the whole Country.” The fiery denunciation appears in direct response to Zelensky the day prior rejecting Washington demands that Ukraine be ready to formally recognize Russian sovereignty over Crimea. Trump continued, “It’s inflammatory statements like Zelenskyy’s that makes it so difficult to settle this War. He has nothing to boast about!”

...“There is nothing to talk about. This violates our Constitution. This is our territory, the territory of the people of Ukraine,” Zelensky told reporters. But Trump is now calling this out as essentially BS – saying that no, this is the very thing in question that must be talked about if the war is to end. On a practical level, Russia is never going to give up Crimea regardless, given it has long been the historic home of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea fleet, and has an overwhelming Russian-speaking population. Will Zelensky respond to this latest dressing down by Trump? His PR handlers are likely urging him not to. The last time this happened in the wake of Zelensky’s visit to the White House, the US cut off weapons supplies and intelligence-sharing to Kiev for several days. But this spat and sparring could blow up further yet. Zelensky expressed hope that he could meet with Trump while in Rome for the Pope’s funeral on Saturday, but this is now looking less likely.

Washington has gained a much better understanding of Russia’s position on the Ukraine conflict following the recent series of bilateral talks, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said. Rubio made the remarks on Wednesday in an interview with The Free Press, saying the US has been seeking to grasp what the Russian position is. “We have a better understanding of that now because we’ve actually spoken to them after three years of not speaking to them,” he stated. Ties between Moscow and Washington all but collapsed following the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict under then-President Joe Biden. Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has distanced himself from Biden-era policies, pushing for a rapid resolution to the conflict and a reset in bilateral relations. The two sides have held several rounds of high-level talks in recent months.

Voicing hope for a peace deal, Rubio emphasized there’s “no military end” to the ongoing hostilities. “We have to be frank. Russia’s not just going to roll over Ukraine and take the whole country. And Ukraine’s not going to push them all the way back to where they were before 2014,” he stated. “We’ve done our best,” Rubio told the outlet. “This is not our war. We didn’t start this war. We’re trying to help everybody end it,” he said, expressing hope to “bring the two sides closer.” Rubio was expected at a high-level Ukraine meeting in London on Wednesday with UK, US, French, German and Ukrainian diplomats. However, later Rubio and Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff decided to skip the event. The UK Foreign Office later confirmed to AFP that the foreign ministers meeting had been indefinitely postponed, adding that “official level talks” will continue but behind closed doors. As part of a reported “final offer” to end the Ukraine conflict, Washington had planned to present a proposal in London recognizing Crimea as Russian “de jure” and acknowledging Moscow’s control over the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, as well as Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions.

Vice President JD Vance while traveling in India on Wednesday issued some new and provocative remarks on the prospect of Ukraine peace, and Washington’s demands related to ending the war. The NY Times headlined is coverage of Vance’s new remarks by somewhat disparagingly calling it a “Plan for Ukraine That Sharply Favors Russia” — given that it calls for ‘freezing’ the front lines, which would leave Russian forces in control of the majority of the Donbass region in Eastern Ukraine. The Vice President reiterated to reporters that the United States would “walk away” from engaging in a peace process if both Ukraine and Russia refused to accept the American terms. The NY Times concludes, “But President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was clearly the target.”

“We’ve issued a very explicit proposal to both the Russians and the Ukrainians, and it’s time for them to either say yes or for the United States to walk away from this process,” Vance told the press pool. “The only way to really stop the killing is for the armies to both put down their weapons, to freeze this thing and to get on with the business of actually building a better Russia and a better Ukraine.” Here is the brief list of basics that Washington is demanding for its outline of peace: —a “freeze” of territorial lines in the three-plus year war —no path to NATO membership for Ukraine —formal recognition of Russia holding Crimea But it was only yesterday that Ukraine’s President Zelensky said he has rejected the possibility of ceding over Crimea, after the Trump administration reportedly offered this ‘gift’ to Putin of US recognition of Russian sovereignty over the strategic peninsula which has long been home to the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet.

According to Ukrainian media: Ukraine will not legally recognize Russia’s occupation of Crimea under any circumstances, President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a briefing in Kyiv on April 22. “There is nothing to talk about. This violates our Constitution. This is our territory, the territory of the people of Ukraine,” Zelensky told reporters. Zelensky added, “As soon as talks about Crimea and our sovereign territories begin, the talks enter the format that Russia wants – prolonging the war – because it will not be possible to agree on everything quickly.” Kiev has also recently accused Moscow of using negotiations as a smokescreen, also coming off the 30-hour Easter truce, which saw both sides accuse the other of many violations.

Apr 23, 2025

Featured • Wednesday, A Watershed Moment for Peace in Ukraine and Making a No-Nuke Deal with Iran, Larry C. Johnson, SONAR21, Apr 22, 2025

According to several press reports, the key points of the plan include a ceasefire-in-place, recognition of Crimea as Russian territory, and a solemn promise not to ever invite Ukraine to be a member of NATO. Although Zelensky reportedly has rejected the Crimea provision, I don’t rule out the possibility that his objections will be ignored and that the London meeting will produce an agreement to move forward with the Kellogg Plan, not because the Ukrainian delegation and the Europeans believe it is viable, but because they assume that Russia will reject it and take the blame for scuttling the peace deal.

Steve Witkoff reportedly will accompany Mr. Kellogg to the meeting, and it will be his duty to carry the proposal to Moscow and present it to President Putin. Southern Americans have a saying… that dog won’t hunt. The Kellogg Plan is dead-on-arrival once it arrives in Moscow. The entire Russian government’s diplomatic and military leaders, not just Putin, are on the record that republics of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporhyzhia are now and will remain republics of Russia. That is not negotiable.

Russia also will not enter into negotiations with Ukraine until Zelensky is gone, his September 2022 edict prohibiting negotiations with Russia is lifted and Ukrainian forces withdraw from Russian territory and cease all military operations. This will not be the first time that Witkoff has heard this list of demands from President Putin. He is merely an actor in a bit of political theater. After the Russians reject the plan as a nonstarter, Witkoff will inform President Trump: there is no deal.

However, I think Witkoff also intends to use the meeting with Putin to discuss ways Russia can help secure a deal with Iran that will guarantee Iran will not build a nuclear weapon. Which brings me to the Wednesday meeting that is supposed to take place in Oman...

Now the Financial Times claims that Putin told Witkoff he’s ready to freeze the conflict on current lines, and even relinquish claims to the remainder of uncaptured territories—according to ‘insider sources’, as per usual.

The Russian president told Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, during a meeting in St Petersburg earlier this month that Moscow could relinquish its claims to areas of four partly occupied Ukrainian regions that remain under Kyiv’s control, three of the people said.

This reeks of extremely desperate late-stage face-saving by the blob given that these regions are now enshrined in the Russian constitution and can no longer be parceled off in such a frivolous manner. Peskov, for what it’s worth, immediately shot the article down in a statement, implying it’s a “fake” and should not be trusted.

The EU and the UK are gearing up to impose a naval blockade on Russia, Nikolay Patrushev, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has said. He warned that Moscow has a fleet powerful enough to respond to any such move. In an interview published on Monday by Kommersant, Patrushev, who chairs Russia’s Maritime Board, a body which oversees national policy in this domain, stated that Moscow is facing escalating threats and challenges at sea amid growing geopolitical tensions. “The collective West no longer hides its intentions to expel our shipping from the seas, while sanctions plans mulled, for example, by the British and some EU members increasingly resemble a maritime blockade,” he said. Patrushev warned that these steps would “meet an adequate and proportionate response” from Moscow.

“If diplomatic or legal instruments do not take effect, the security of Russian shipping will be ensured by our navy. The hotheads in London or Brussels need to clearly understand this,” he said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has urged people to go to the primary sources regarding developments in talks with the US on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, warning of fake news. In an interview with RIA Novosti on Tuesday, Peskov was asked to comment on a recent report from the Financial Times claiming that Moscow is ready to freeze the conflict along the current front lines. “A lot of fakes are being published now, including by respected publications, so you should only listen to the primary sources,” he said. According to the FT article from Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered to freeze the conflict during his meeting with US special envoy Steve Witkoff earlier this month in St. Petersburg.

Russian presidential foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov confirmed on Tuesday that Moscow is expecting another visit from Witkoff later this week. This will be the diplomat’s fourth visit to Russia since the start of the US diplomatic push regarding the Ukraine conflict. US President Donald Trump has touted a big reveal of his plan to wrap up the hostilities in Ukraine. “I will be giving you a full detail over the next three days,” he told journalists on Monday, adding that the US has “had very good meetings on Ukraine, Russia.” The Kremlin stated that while work is underway, the peace process is unlikely to conclude soon.

“This topic is so complex that it probably shouldn’t be constrained by strict timeframes,” Peskov told the press on Tuesday. Trump and his administration have signaled growing dissatisfaction with the pace of the peace talks. “If it is not possible to end the war in Ukraine, we need to move on,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters last Friday. Throughout the conflict, Moscow has said it is open to talks with Kiev. Negotiations must be based on the realities on the ground and address the root causes, such as Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO. The Kremlin previously stated that it would not accept a temporary halt in the hostilities, saying this would simply allow Ukraine’s Western backers to rearm its military.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will not attend the upcoming Ukraine talks in London, despite earlier plans to take part, the State Department has confirmed. President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, has also withdrawn from the meeting, according to the Financial Times, and is expected to visit Moscow instead. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce cited scheduling conflicts as the reason for Rubio’s withdrawal from Wednesday’s talks, insisting this does not signal a change in the US commitment to the peace process. “Secretary Rubio is a busy man… And so when there’s certain plans, they’re conditional. And in this particular instance, while the meetings in London are still occurring, he will not be attending. But that is not a statement regarding the meetings; it’s a statement about logistical issues in his schedule,” Bruce told journalists on Tuesday.

General Keith Kellogg, another Trump envoy tasked with negotiating with Kiev directly, will represent Washington at the London discussions.

Apr 22, 2025

Featured • Americans split on whether Russia is ‘an enemy’ – poll, RT, Apr 18, 2025

Americans are equally divided on whether Russia is an enemy of the US. The percentage of those holding this view falling to the lowest point since 2022, according to a new Pew Research Center poll released on Thursday and coincides with efforts by the administration of US President Donald Trump to negotiate a resolution to the Ukraine conflict.

According to the poll, 50% of US adults view Russia as an enemy, down from 61% one year ago, and 64% and 70% in 2023 and 2022, respectively. Another 38% describe Russia as a competitor, and 9% consider it a partner.

The poll also indicated a pronounced partisan gap on the topic, with Democrats more likely to view Russia unfavorably. While 62% of Democrats say Russia is an enemy, only 40% of Republicans agree. Among Republicans, 45% say Russia is more of a competitor.

The survey suggests that 85% of Americans see Russia very or somewhat unfavorably. Just 13% say they view the country favorably. (Emphasis added.)

The Easter ceasefire has come and gone, with Russia and Ukraine trading accusations over thousands of violations as fighting resumes across the front lines – yet another reminder of how difficult it is to bring this war to an end. Amid the renewed hostilities, Donald Trump’s long-promised peace plan is colliding with geopolitical realities. Despite backchannel talks with the Kremlin and growing pressure from both allies and opponents, Trump has yet to produce a deal that doesn’t resemble capitulation – or undermine his own political standing. With a new offensive looming and patience wearing thin, the real question now is whether peace is still on the table – and if so, on whose terms.

The Relentless Push for Peace The fundamental difference between President Donald Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, is that Trump is genuinely trying to negotiate a meaningful peace with Russia. He has no interest in prolonging what he sees as a losing war inherited from Biden, and he’s determined to end it. But he also knows he can’t accept just any deal – he needs a version of peace that won’t look like a defeat.

Here is an example, posted by Russian Major General Apti Alaudinov just days ago on his TG channel:

In fact, I want to point out that even when they are our enemies, I feel sorry that the Ukrainian people are losing so many men, and really, if this continues, the Ukrainian people will cease to exist as an identity. Representatives of this people cannot understand that they are really fuel only for the enrichment of the leadership of this country. For this people, the loss of so many men is, I believe, a humanitarian catastrophe.

Don't you understand that we, Russians, are not your enemies? We are not your enemies. We are not fighting the Ukrainian people. We are not fighting Ukraine as a state. We are fighting the fascist regime that leads Ukraine. We are fighting the NATO bloc, which is precisely the army of the Antichrist-Dajjal.

I think that sooner or later you will wake up and throw off the Satanist leadership that controls you. We know that we are on the path of the Almighty and we are fighting for religion, we are fighting for our people, we are ready to carry out any order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. And we know that we will win. This is a clear question. Wake up!

You will be hard pressed to find a similar humanistic appeal from any Ukrainian commander, much less soldier.

Germany should donate 30% of its available armored vehicles and military aircraft to Kiev, according to Andrey Melnik, Ukraine’s envoy to the UN. His appeal comes as the EU nations seek ways to boost support amid uncertainty over whether US President Donald Trump will continue to back Ukraine. Melnik, who served as ambassador to Berlin from 2015 to 2022, addressed his plea in an open letter to Chancellor-designate Friedrich Merz, published in Welt am Sonntag on Saturday. “It is in your hands, as peacemakers, to stop this damn war by the end of 2025,” he wrote. The diplomat outlined a series of steps he believes Merz must take to “cut the Gordian knot and force [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to make peace.”

According to Melnik, Germany should donate 30% of its Bundeswehr stock of armored vehicles and aircraft to Kiev, including around 45 Eurofighter Typhoon and 30 Tornado fighter jets, 100 Leopard 2 main battle tanks, and 115 Puma and 130 Marder infantry fighting vehicles. He also called on Berlin to defy “the expected resistance” from the Social Democrats (SPD) and send 150 Taurus cruise missiles. The SPD has opposed the missile deliveries, citing concerns about further escalation with Russia. The Social Democrats and Merz’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) are currently engaged in coalition talks.

Melnik urged Germany to commit 0.5% of its GDP, or €21.5 billion ($24.5 billion) annually, toward military aid to Ukraine through 2029. “These funds should be invested in the production of state-of-the-art weapons in both Germany and Ukraine,” he wrote. He also called for the 0.5% benchmark to be adopted across the EU as a “huge warning signal” to Russia. Merz recently expressed an openness to delivering Taurus missiles, prompting criticism from SPD leader Matthias Miersch and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. Meanwhile, Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev warned that such shipments would “bring no changes to the battlefield” but would further implicate Germany in the conflict.

Apr 20, 2025

Featured • On Neo-Nazi Influence in Ukraine, Joe Lauria, Consortium News, Apr 20, 2025
Please read. I hope it is not news.

 • The best thing that Trump can do now is to walk away from the Russia-Ukraine war, Gilbert Doctorow, Apr 19, 2025

 • European Union bans commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany, Strategic Culture Foundation, Apr 18, 2025

The European Union is warning European leaders not to attend the 80th anniversary of Victory Day in Moscow on May 9. Ostensibly, the rationale for such a ban is that Russia is allegedly waging a war against Ukraine and threatening the rest of Europe, according to the EU. That’s one way of seeing it. Another way of seeing the matter is that the conflict in Ukraine is a proxy war sponsored by the EU and NATO to defeat Russia, eight decades after Nazi Germany failed to do it. The Euro elites who have come to dominate policymaking share the same fascist mentality. No wonder, then, that they are against attending the 80th anniversary event in Moscow next month. They need to sully that event by way of covering up their despicable politics. The event marking the defeat of Nazi Germany and fascism in Europe is a massively important historical date for the entire world.

Eighty years ago, on May 9, 1945, the Soviet Red Army crushed the Nazi regime in Berlin thereby ending the most horrific war in human history. Up to 27 million Soviet citizens – perhaps more – gave their lives in the epic struggle to defeat Nazi Germany and its fascist European allies, including Vichy France, Italy, Hungary, Finland and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Russia holds the honor of liberating Europe from the evil of fascism. By comparison, the other anti-fascist allies of the United States and Britain lost less than 5 per cent of the casualties that the Soviet citizens endured. It is fitting that many international leaders are attending the Victory Day parade in Moscow this year. They include China’s Xi Jinping and India’s Narendra Modi. Many others, however, will not be in Moscow, which is lamentable.

The American President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer should be present to pay respects to the soldiers and civilians who sacrificed their lives. Deplorably, the toxic politics that have poisoned relations between Western states and Russia have rendered such participation impossible. What is all the more appalling, however, is the explicit ban on European leaders attending the celebrations in Moscow. This week, Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, issued a warning that any politicians who went to Moscow would face severe consequences. Kallas, who was formerly the prime minister of the tiny Baltic state of Estonia, was appointed last year as the EU’s most senior official on foreign policy. One of those defying orders is Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico. He rebuked Kallas for daring to tell him, as the leader of a sovereign nation, where and where not to go.

He added: “I will go to Moscow to pay respects to thousands of Red Army soldiers who died liberating Slovakia.” Fico was elected on a platform calling for friendly relations with Russia and an end to the NATO proxy war in Ukraine. He has consistently opposed sending more military aid to the Kiev regime. Last year, Fico survived an assassination attempt in which he was shot by a gunman motivated by pro-Ukraine politics. Of particular note, the European Union’s sanctions on politicians attending the Victory Day commemoration in Moscow are targeting candidate states joining the 27-member bloc. Kallas threatened that their candidacy could be cancelled. They include the Balkan nations of Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia, as well as Moldova and Georgia. Nevertheless, Serbian President Aleksander Vucic stated that he would be going to Moscow despite intense pressure from Brussels.

“We are proud of our struggle against fascism, and that was the key reason why I accepted the invitation”, said Vucic. He spoke, however, of the sinister leverage on his government. “It seems to me that the sky is about to fall on my head due to the pressure surrounding the trip to Moscow,” said the Serbian president, who added that his country was being destabilized by outside agitators. The unseemly controversy over the Victory Day parade in Moscow serves to highlight the growing malevolent tendencies of the EU. Increasingly, the bloc’s centralization of political power is becoming more authoritarian and hostile towards Russia. Any dissent among the EU members questioning the bloc’s support for the proxy war in Ukraine is ruthlessly suppressed with threats of political and economic sanctions.

The EU leadership, under Russophobic autocrats like European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Kaja Kallas, is implicated in suppressing elections in Romania, Moldova and Georgia to prevent parties that are calling for an end to the war in Ukraine and better relations with Russia. The recent dubious prosecution in France of nationalist politician Marine Le Pen, who has been critical of NATO’s proxy war, is another baleful example of the EU moving to crush dissent. It is startling how much the EU has come to operate like a fascist bloc. Policy decisions about funding a NeoNazi regime in Ukraine to fight a proxy war against Russia are being made by Russophobic elites with no democratic accountability.

Apr 19, 2025

Featured • Everything is possible – unfortunately, Peter Haenseler, SONAR21, Apr 19, 2025
Recommended.

Featured • Ukraine - Easter Ceasefire, Trump Bailing Out, Moon of Alabama, Apr 19, 2025

Featured • Russia announces Easter ceasefire, RT, Apr 19, 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary Easter pause in hostilities with Ukraine, which is slated to begin at 18:00 Moscow time on Saturday and last until midnight on April 21.

The announcement came during his meeting with Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in Moscow. Putin expressed hope that Kiev would demonstrate goodwill and adhere to the ceasefire.

”At the same time, our troops must be prepared to respond to any violations or provocations by the adversary, to any aggressive actions,” he said.

Putin stated that Ukraine’s reaction to the ceasefire would be a clear indicator of whether Kiev is sincerely willing to engage in negotiations to end the conflict.

The president referenced the US-brokered 30-day energy infrastructure truce agreed to on March 18, accusing Ukraine of violating it.

“We know that the Kiev regime has violated the agreement on pausing energy infrastructure strikes more than a hundred times,” Putin explained. “Therefore, I ask you [Gerasimov] to remain extremely vigilant and prepared for an immediate and full-force response.”

The worst part of living this distance from reality — or maybe the best part — is the knowledge, even if it is only subliminal, that we cannot go on like this. The American imperium, which is the author of all our vaporous conceits, cannot go on indefinitely pretending about Israel’s innocence, and who the Russians are, and the evil intent of Chinese, and all the rest.

This is not only impossible to imagine: It is by definition impossible plain and simple. It is impossible according to the laws of history.

I come now to the true burden of all our maladies. Our Sandbergs and Zelenskys and Gettlemans and von der Leyens: These, a few of the clowns populating our time. They are what D.H. Lawrence used to call “T.I.P.s,” temporarily important people. But they serve to remind us that to live again in any kind of better world we must make it ourselves.

Merz said that “if for example, the most important land connection between Russia and Crimea is destroyed, or if something happens on Crimea itself, where most of the Russian military logistics are located, then that would be an opportunity to bring this country strategically back into the picture finally.” Cool, cool. Which picture would that be, exactly? The one labeled “Catastrophic Misjudgments of the 21st Century”?

Probably. Which is why Merz needs a useful idiot to ride shotgun alongside him in the doltmobile to share in any responsibility for the eventual mayhem when things inevitably go pear-shaped.

The US has presented its allies with the details of its peace plan to bring the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to an end, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing European officials familiar with the matter. The contours of the plan were outlined during a meeting in Paris on Thursday. The proposal reportedly includes easing sanctions on Russia, as well as terminating Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO. The roadmap would effectively freeze the war, with the formerly Ukrainian territories held by Russia remaining under Moscow’s control, the sources suggested. One of the officials told Bloomberg that the proposal still had to be discussed with Kiev, adding that the plan would not actually amount to a definitive settlement of the conflict. Moreover, Kiev’s European backers would not recognize the territories as Russian, the source suggested.

The Paris meetings involved senior officials from several countries. The US delegation was led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House special envoy Steve Witkoff. They met with French President Emmanuel Macron and also held discussions with top officials and negotiators from France, Germany, the UK, and Ukraine. Earlier on Friday, Rubio signaled Washington was ready to “move on” if a way to end the hostilities between Moscow and Kiev could not be found shortly. “We need to figure out here now, within a matter of days, whether this is doable in the short term. Because if it’s not, then I think we’re just going to move on,” Rubio told reporters before departing from France.

Moscow has signaled a full ceasefire with Ukraine was highly unlikely, citing Kiev’s violations of previous deals. Speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters on Thursday, Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia said there are “big issues with the comprehensive ceasefire,” recalling the fate of the now-defunct Minsk agreements, which were “misused and abused to prepare Ukraine for the confrontation.” The diplomat also cited repeated Ukrainian violations of a US-brokered 30-day moratorium on energy infrastructure strikes, implemented on March 18. “How close we are to the ceasefire is a big question to me personally, because, as I said, we had an attempt at a limited ceasefire on energy infrastructure, which was not observed by the Ukrainian side. So, in these circumstances, to speak about a ceasefire is simply unrealistic at this stage,” Nebenzia said.

The West has waged a “proxy war” against Russia via Ukraine and lost it, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said. Hungary, a member of the EU, has repeatedly criticized the bloc’s policies on the Ukraine conflict, particularly its sanctions on Moscow and weapons deliveries to Kiev. In an interview with OT YouTube channel published on Thursday, Orban said the whole “Western world” has thrown its weight behind Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, which he described as a “proxy war.” His assessment echoed that of Moscow, which has long characterized the hostilities as a de facto conflict with the West. According to the Hungarian prime minister, the West has lost but “European leaders are hesitant to admit” failure. He argued that this outcome will have a big impact on the entire West, as “losing a war is a serious thing.”

Orban went on to say that European leaders are “offering Ukraine to continue the war and in return receive European Union membership.” He argued that this would be problematic as Ukraine is no longer sovereign and cannot support itself. Regarding the US, the Hungarian prime minister said Washington is in a better position thanks to President Donald Trump’s approach, having broken with the Ukraine policies pursued by his predecessor, Joe Biden. According to Orban, Trump “saved the US from a serious defeat.” Speaking to Hungary’s Kossuth Radio last month, Orban described the EU’s policies on Ukraine as “rudderless.” He warned that Brussels, with its hardline position, risks becoming irrelevant as Trump actively works toward securing a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Apr 18, 2025

Featured • German anti-Russia propaganda is reaching Nazi-era levels, Tarik Cyril Amar, RT, Apr 17, 2025
This intense hatred, which breaks peoples' minds, is here in the U.S. as well, ready to be fanned into flame.

 • Ukraine ceasefire ‘unrealistic’ for now – Moscow, RT, Apr 18, 2025

Russia and Ukraine are highly unlikely to agree to a full ceasefire at present, Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow’s envoy to the United Nations, has said. He cited Ukrainian violations of a US-brokered truce on energy infrastructure strikes as among the reasons.

Speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters on Thursday, Nebenzia addressed comments by US President Donald Trump, who said he expects a response from Russia on a ceasefire proposal as early as “this week.”

“How close we are to the ceasefire is a big question to me personally, because, as I said, we had an attempt on a limited ceasefire on energy infrastructure, which was not observed by the Ukrainian side. So, in these circumstances, to speak about a ceasefire is simply unrealistic at this stage,” Nebenzia said.

Moscow and Kiev agreed a 30-day moratorium on strikes on energy facilities following a phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin last month. Russia, however, has accused Ukraine of repeatedly violating the ceasefire. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that the moratorium had expired, but that Putin had not yet announced a decision on further steps.

On March 29, The New York Times published an article that “reveal[ed] that America was woven into the war far more intimately and broadly than previously understood.” Its undeclared thesis was that the U.S. has done everything possible for Ukraine to win the war. Ukraine would not trust them and listen. Now the war is lost, and there is no choice but to negotiate. The article was the first major attempt to prepare the public for defeat in Ukraine.

Not to be outdone or left behind, less than two weeks later, the British paper The Sunday Times has published the British version, establishing the pattern of preparing the public for defeat.

Britain claims to have authority over its nuclear submarines, but many doubt it. In ten years, experts believe it may lose even the technical capacity to manage its nuclear weapons without US support. At that point, London will face a choice: full subservience to Washington or exposure to EU pressures, especially from France. Recent talk in London of sending “European peacekeepers” to Ukraine is a case in point. Despite the unrealistic nature of such proposals, British and French officials spent weeks debating operational details. Some reports suggest the plan stalled due to lack of funds. The real motive was likely to project relevance and show the world that Britain still has a role to play. But neither the media spin nor the political theater can change the facts. Britain’s global standing has diminished. It is no longer capable of independent action and has little influence even as a junior partner. Its leaders are consumed by domestic dysfunction and foreign policy fantasy.

In practical terms, Britain remains dangerous to Russia in two ways. First, by supplying weapons and mercenaries to Ukraine, it increases our costs and casualties. Second, in a moment of desperation, it might try to manufacture a small nuclear crisis. If that happens, one hopes the Americans would take the necessary steps to neutralize the threat – even if that means sinking a British submarine.There is nothing positive for Russia, or the world, in the continued existence of Britain as a foreign policy actor. Its legacy is one of division, sabotage, and imperial plunder. Now, it lives off the crumbs of a bygone empire, barking from the Atlantic like a chihuahua with memories of being a lion. The world moves on. Britain does not.

Apr 17, 2025

 • Trump’s National Security Team Is a House Divided Against Itself, James Carden, Apr 17, 2025
Inevitable. Let us pray Trump chooses relatively wisely.

Apr 16, 2025

Featured • Growth Of Ukraine's Azov Units Follow Path Of The Waffen-SS, Moon of Alabama, Apr 16, 2025
Don't kid yourself: Ukrainian Nazis are here right now in the U.S. Routh's attempted assassination will inspire them.

 • Putin wants permanent peace in Ukraine – Trump envoy, RT, Apr 15, 2025

Russian President Vladimir Putin is pursuing a permanent peace and a legally binding settlement to the Ukraine conflict, US special envoy Steve Witkoff has told Fox News. Witkoff, tasked by US President Donald Trump to lead negotiations with Moscow, met with Putin and two of his senior advisers on Friday. The US envoy shared details of the talks in an interview on Monday, describing the nearly five-hour meeting with Putin as “compelling” and saying it brought the Ukraine peace process to “the verge” of a breakthrough. According to Witkoff, Putin is pursuing a lasting solution. “So beyond just a ceasefire, we got an answer to that,” the envoy said, adding it “took a while for us to get to this place.” A key part of any deal, Witkoff said, would be the recognition that Crimea, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and Kherson and Zaporozhye Regions are part of Russia.

However, he emphasized that the proposed agreement goes beyond territorial issues. “There’re security protocols, NATO Article 5 [on collective security] … a lot of detail attached to it. It’s a complicated situation,” he said. Still, Witkoff said he believed the two sides “might be on the verge of something that would be very, very important for the world at large.” Friday’s meeting was Witkoff’s third with the Russian president since February. Trump has repeatedly said he aims to end the hostilities in Ukraine as quickly as possible. Russia has maintained it is open to peace talks, provided its key security demands are addressed. Moscow opposes any NATO presence on Ukrainian soil and has demanded that Kiev demilitarize, denazify, adhere to a position of neutrality, and recognize the territorial “realities on the ground.”

The Russian government has insisted it will not accept a freeze of the conflict, which it maintains will only lead to renewed hostilities later on. Moscow has cited Ukraine’s violations of a US-proposed moratorium on strikes against energy infrastructure as proof of Kiev’s untrustworthiness. Commenting on Putin’s meeting with Witkoff, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday there were “no clear outlines of any agreement yet,” but that there was the political will to move forward. Moscow, he added, values the “constructive and substantive” contact with the US side.

Russia and US are working hard for peace, while Europe is working hard for war, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. “Yes, here also you and I should clearly understand that at the moment there is intense work between Moscow and Washington. And it is taking place in the name of peace. And against this background, European countries continue to work for war,” Peskov told reporters, adding that Russian-US economic cooperation may play a stabilizing role for the world. European countries declare their intention to continue supporting Ukraine and the Kiev regime in its efforts to continue the war, Peskov added. There is quite intensive work on the Ukrainian settlement, but immediate results should not be expected, Peskov said.

“Hard work is going on. Of course, it is such a complex substance that it is hardly possible to expect immediate results, but nevertheless. Of course, we would like to hope for the best, hope that this work will have positive results,” Peskov told reporters. There are no clear outlines of a future Ukrainian settlement agreement, but there is political will to work in its direction, he added. “Once again, we are very, very positive about the constructive and meaningful contacts that have taken place,” the spokesman said. Peskov refused to comment on media reports about an alleged US offer to Iran to transfer its uranium reserves to Russia. The Guardian reported earlier that the United States had allegedly offered Tehran to transfer uranium reserves to Russia during talks with Iran in Oman. “I leave this issue without comment,” Peskov told reporters.

Ukraine keeps launching strikes on Russian energy infrastructure on a daily basis, Kremlin spokesman said. “The temporary moratorium has not been respected and is not being respected by the Ukrainian military. We see daily strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. It is important for everyone to know this,” Peskov said. Unlike the Kiev regime, Russia continues to abide by the order of Russian President Vladimir Putin, given a month ago, and does not target Ukrainian energy infrastructure, he added.

Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky has submitted a bill to extend martial law in the country by another 90 days, which would rule out any chance of a new presidential election being held within that time frame. Zelensky – whose presidential term expired almost one year ago – has repeatedly cited martial law as a pretext for refusing to hold a new election. Russia has declared Zelensky “illegitimate” as a leader, insisting that the Ukrainian parliament remains the only legal authority in the country. On Tuesday, Zelensky introduced draft legislation in the Ukrainian parliament proposing a three-month extension of martial law and general mobilization starting from May 9. According to Ukrainian law, elections cannot be held while martial law is in effect, meaning the presidential vote will remain suspended.

If martial law were lifted, parliamentary elections could be held within 60 days after the end of the restrictions, and presidential elections within 90 days.

Washington is “frustrated” by the reluctance of its European allies to respond to their voters on critical issues such as immigration, US Vice President J.D. Vance has stated. In an interview with the British website UnHerd published on Tuesday, he said this sentiment is shared by the entire administration of President Donald Trump. “European populations keep on crying out for more sensible economic and migration policies, and the leaders of Europe keep on going through these elections, and keep on offering the European peoples the opposite of what they seem to have voted for,” Vance explained. He warned that politicians who disregard the will of the people risk ruining “the entire democratic project of the West.”

In February, Vance sent shockwaves through the West by criticizing America’s European allies for what he characterized as backsliding on the democratic values they share with the US. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference in Germany, he warned that if this continues, Washington could conclude that these nations are not worth protecting as NATO members. Vance criticized politicians who shun parties such as the anti-migration Alternative for Germany (AfD). Last week, the AfD surpassed the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) to become the most popular party in Germany, receiving 25% of support in a hypothetical election. The CDU has engaged in coalition negotiations with the Social Democrats (SPD), excluding the AfD from the discussions entirely.

Vladimir Zelensky’s office announced on Tuesday that it has fired the head of Ukraine’s Sumy Regional Military Administration, Vladimir Artyukh. The move follows accusations that Artyukh organized a military awards ceremony that was targeted in a Russian missile strike. On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that it carried out a precision strike the previous day on a gathering of Ukrainian command staff in the border city of Sumy. Two Iskander-M missiles were used in the attack on Sunday, it said, adding that over 60 senior Ukrainian servicemen were killed in the strike. The local Ukrainian authorities have claimed that the attack targeted a military awards ceremony for the 117th Territorial Defense Brigade. Officials reported that the strike resulted in 35 civilian deaths and 129 others injured.

Several Ukrainian officials, including the mayor of Konotop, Artyom Semenikhin, have since called for the prosecution of Artyukh, accusing him of being directly responsible for the casualties by “organizing an awards ceremony” despite warnings not to do so. Artyukh has effectively confirmed that the ceremony took place on the day of the attack but denied responsibility for the event, telling public broadcaster Suspilne that he “was invited” but did not organize it. Nevertheless, Zelensky signed a decree on Tuesday removing Artyukh from his post. Taras Melnychuk, the cabinet’s representative in parliament, confirmed the move in a post on Telegram on Tuesday and announced that the government has decided on a replacement.

Apr 15, 2025

Featured • The Sumy missile strike: War, propaganda, and hypocrisy, Tarik Cyril Amar, RT, Apr 14, 2025

On April 13, Russia launched an attack on a target in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy. All reports –Western, Ukrainian, and Russian – agree on some basic facts: The attack consisted of two ballistic missiles; substantial numbers of people were killed (over 60, according to the Russian Defense Ministry; over 20 in Western and Ukrainian reports) and injured (over 80, per Ukrainian reports). Beyond that, however, a thick fog of war has descended. Or rather, a fog of propaganda. Western media and politicians have denounced the Russian strike as, in essence, an atrocity or war crime. The New York Times, for instance, presented it as slamming “into a bustling city center […] on Sunday morning, […] killing at least 34 people in what appeared to be the deadliest attack against civilians this year.” Incoming German chancellor Friedrich Merz (to be sworn in at the beginning of May), speaking on one of his country’s most popular TV shows, condemned what he called a “perfidious act” and “serious war crime.”

In the US, President Donald Trump’s special – if largely sidelined – envoy for Russia and Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has invoked his experience as a “former military leader” who “understand[s] targeting” to denounce the Russian strike as “wrong,” adding that the attack “on civilian targets in Sumy crosses any line of decency.” Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, is “appalled at Russia’s horrific attacks on civilians in Sumy.” Both Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron saw an opportunity to call for “imposing” a ceasefire on Russia. Merz, for his part, felt the need to talk, once more, about providing Kiev with German Taurus missiles. The fact that Ukraine has made a point of not complying with the partial ceasefire officially already in place seems to make no difference. Neither, clearly, does the fact that neither France nor Britain has the means to compel Moscow. That the use of the German Taurus to strike at, for instance, the Kerch Bridge may well invite – perfectly justifiable – Russian retaliation against German targets, whether in Germany or elsewhere, seems to appear equally irrelevant to Merz.

More examples could be added, but the trend should be clear: In the West, almost everyone agrees that the Russian attack on Sumy was an atrocity and in the EU there is talk – if we are lucky, it will remain just that – of exploiting it as a pretext to escalate further the proxy war in which Ukraine is being used up against Russia. Yet there are two major problems with this escalatory approach: Most importantly, it is not based on facts but on disinformation originating with the Kiev regime, taken over uncritically and spread enthusiastically by Western mainstream media and many political leaders. Though not, actually, all of them. That is the second, as it were, practical problem for the escalation brigade: The single most powerful Western figure is not playing along. Trump has not condemned Russia. He did call the attack “terrible” and “horrible” and claimed that he was told that “they [presumably meaning Russia] made a mistake.”

Whatever basis (US signal intelligence? Hearsay?) he has – or not – for this statement, politically, the key point of Trump’s first reaction was that he demonstratively refrained from joining the rest of the West in escalating, while stressing that the war as such is the issue and ending it the solution. A similar approach in a statement on X by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirms that this is not a fluke but Trump’s and therefore Washington’s policy, at least for now. America’s president has clearly – and unsurprisingly – decided that his halting and open-ended yet still at least ongoing attempt to achieve a normalization with Moscow is more important than joining the latest propaganda campaign against Russia. Trump – so criminally wrong in the Middle East – is right on this one, even if he is pursuing extremely pragmatic purposes. He is also, as it happens, right here in a more fundamental sense, which brings us back to problem number one with the Western mainstream treatment of the Sumy attack:

Despite Kiev’s endless record of deception, the Western claim that the Russian attack was a crime is once again based on that very murky source alone. Ukraine’s past-due-date president Vladmir Zelensky, for instance, has decried a “horrific” attack hitting “an ordinary city street, ordinary life.” Macron, Merz, Starmer, Kellogg the New York Times, The Telegraph – to name only a few examples – all follow Zelensky’s and Kiev’s lie that this was a deliberate attack on civilians. Yet, in reality, Russia struck at a gathering of Ukrainian soldiers. Soldiers, yes, even on Sunday and also on Palm Sunday, are legitimate targets in armed conflict. It is not criminal to attack them. That is an elementary legal reality, rooted in the Law of Armed Conflict. And, when the boot is on the other foot, the West knows this well: No one there decried a Ukrainian “war crime,” when Kiev’s Western-supplied artillery wiped out almost 100 Russian troops sleeping in their quarters behind the front line in January 2023.

So, while being offered virtually the same $24k+ signing bonus as Russian troops, Zelensky’s newly much-vaunted 18-24 recruitment drive bagged a grand total of…. 500 signups.

No, not just in April so far, but since the inception of the entire program in February. That means from this critical 18-24 cohort, despite record monetary incentives, they managed to recruit—from the entire country, no less—only 160 or so people per month. This is while Russia is recruiting over 1,000 per day total.

The point is that, this is a dire bellwether for the critical 18-24 cohort: it means virtually no one in that age range wants to willingly serve in the war. As a kind of trial run for a necessary future forced mobilization of this group, it shows that virtually no one from the group wants to voluntarily serve, and that forcing them to fight when the time comes will be a very messy affair.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is urging for President Donald Trump to visit Ukraine and see the war’s devastation first-hand before pressing for peace negotiations with Russia. “We want you to come,” the Ukrainian president pleaded in reference to Trump while speaking with CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday. Zelensky hit out at what he strongly hinted was Trump’s lack of understanding of the conflict and Russian brutality. “You think you understand what’s going on here. Okay, we respect your position. You understand. But, please, before any kind of decisions, any kind of forms of negotiations, come to see people, civilians, warriors, “Come, look, and then let’s — let’s move with a plan how to finish the war,” he added. He further suggested that with such a trip, Trump will finally grasp Putin’s true nature.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has branded incoming German chancellor Friedrich Merz a Nazi after he allegedly suggested that Kiev should destroy the Crimean Bridge. In an interview with state broadcaster ARD, Merz, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party and the likely future leader of Germany, stated that Berlin could supply long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, but only if it is done in coordination with other EU nations. Kiev should in the future use Western-supplied missiles to go on the offensive and destroy, for example, “the most important land connection between Russia and Crimea,” Merz said. Merz did not clarify if he meant the Crimean bridge, which stretches from Russia’s Krasnodar Region to Crimea, or the ‘land bridge’ that Russian forces established with the peninsula when the former Ukrainian region off Kherson joined Russia.

However, many critics have interpreted Merz’s words to mean the Crimean bridge, especially given that Kiev has already conducted a number of attacks on it since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. In a post on X on Monday, Medvedev, who currently serves as the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, suggested that Merz was following in the footsteps of his Nazi father. “Chancellor candidate Fritz Merz is haunted by the memory of his father, who served in Hitler’s Wehrmacht. Now Merz has suggested a strike on the Crimean Bridge. Think twice, Nazi,” Medvedev wrote. According to media reports, Merz’s father Joachim was conscripted into the Wehrmacht – the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany – around 1941. His grandfather, Josef Paul Sauvigny, had also been a member of the Nazi party since 1933.

Russia’s ambassador to Germany, Sergey Nechaev, warned that delivering Taurus missiles to Ukraine would not alter the battlefield situation but could escalate the conflict, as the missiles would be guided by German specialists. He suggested this might provoke Moscow to take retaliatory measures. Germany is Kiev’s second-largest military donor, after the US. Earlier this month, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced that Berlin would provide the country with an additional $12 billion worth of military aid over the next four years and would continue to support it regardless of the upcoming change of government in Germany. Russia has repeatedly slammed continued foreign assistance to Ukraine, arguing that it only serves to prolong hostilities and cause more bloodshed without affecting the ultimate outcome of the conflict.

Russia possesses information that Ukrainian troops met with their foreign counterparts at the facility targeted by Russian forces in the strike on Sumy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday. On Sunday, Russian forces carried out a missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy, targeting a site of a meeting of the Seversk tactical and operational command’s leadership. Earlier on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry said that the strike killed over 60 Ukrainian servicepeople. “International humanitarian law categorically prohibits the placement of military facilities and weapons around civilian objects. Since the first days of the [Ukraine] crisis, and earlier, even during the Minsk agreements … there have been a million cases of artillery and air defense systems being placed in city blocks near kindergartens.

How many videos are posted online of Ukrainian women shouting for the military to get away from stores and playgrounds? But this practice continues. We have facts about who was at the facility that was hit in Sumy. There was another ‘gathering’ of Ukrainian military commanders with their Western colleagues, who were disguised either as mercenaries or I do not know who,” Lavrov told Russian newspaper Kommersant. It is widely known that NATO forces are present in Ukraine, the minister added. “The New York Times recently reported that Americans have been playing a leading role in strikes on Russia. Without this part, the majority of [Ukrainian] long-range missiles would never have taken off at their deployment sites,” he said.

CBS News must have its broadcasting license revoked, US President Donald Trump has said. He has accused the network of spreading politically biased misinformation in its coverage of the Ukraine conflict and Washington’s push to acquire Greenland. In a Truth Social post on Monday, Trump lashed out at the broadcaster after it aired an interview with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky and a segment revisiting the US president’s controversial idea to purchase Greenland. In the Zelensky interview, the network suggested that Trump had sought to exclude Kiev from peace talks with Russia and that he “rewrote history, saying, falsely, that Ukraine had started the war and calling… Zelensky ‘a dictator without elections.’”

Apr 14, 2025

Featured • Palm Sunday Attacks On Sumy And Al-Ahli, Moon of Alabama, Apr 14, 2025
Yes, the facts about the Ukraine attack are fairly clear.

Featured • Russian Strike in Sumy: Military Target or Civilian Tragedy? (18+), South Front, Apr 13, 2025

Former Ukrainian MP Ihor Mosiychuk claimed that the head of the Sumy Regional Military Administration, Artem Artiukh, organized the ceremony for self-promotion, even inviting civilians—including children—to the event.“Artiukh really wanted to show off at the awards ceremony, so he arranged this gathering,” Mosiychuk stated.

The event celebrated the 7th anniversary of the 117th Brigade, with details publicly shared in advance. “I hope Artiukh and Ananchenko are already being detained in Sumy. These scum gathered civilians, including children, for their PR stunt!”

This is not the first time Ukrainian forces have been accused of using civilian infrastructure for cover and civilians as a human shield. Kyiv’s propaganda narrative was dismantled, confirming that the strike was aimed at military personnel. There was no indiscriminate attack on civilians. While any loss of civilian life is tragic, evidence suggests that Ukrainian forces deliberately mixed military and civilian presence, effectively using them as human shields.

Ukrainian officials have demanded Artiukh’s resignation, threatening to release compromising information. This internal backlash further confirms that the event was poorly planned and exploited for political gain.

While Russia’s strike was aimed at a legitimate military target, the presence of civilians, possibly encouraged by Ukrainian officials, turned the tragedy into a propaganda victory for Kyiv.

No matter how the West tries to polish the turd that is Ukraine, the Ukrainians lack the manpower, the weapons and the industrial capability to produce weapons and ammunition required to stop the Russian advances all along the line of contact.

The sooner the members of the US Congress, as well as President Trump, understand this basic fact, and pull the plug on any additional US material and intelligence support to Ukraine, the quicker we will see the end to the war. As long as the US and Western Europe continue to encourage Ukraine to stay in the fight, more Ukrainian soldiers will die and Russia will control more Ukrainian territory. At this point, it is a math problem… solve it! It also, in my opinion, makes Trump and the Europeans complicit in the needless deaths of tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers.

Russian and Ukrainian representatives will hold direct talks in Ankara next week, CNN Turk has reported, citing sources in the Turkish Defense Ministry. Delegations from the two countries will meet to discuss security in the Black Sea, the outlet said in an article on Sunday. The meetings will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Turkish Naval Forces headquarters in Ankara, according to sources. During talks between Russian and US experts in Riyadh in late March, it was agreed to move towards reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which according to the Kremlin, should include the removal of Western restrictions against the Russian Agricultural Bank and other financial institutions involved in the international sale of food and fertilizers.

The Ukrainian presidential administration’s deputy head, Col. Pavel Palisa, has voiced support for mandatory conscription for women, drawing inspiration from the Israeli approach. Ukraine is facing a shortage of troops, leading enlistment officers to employ aggressive tactics shown in numerous eyewitness videos. In an interview with the investigative journalism outlet Bihus.info published on Saturday, Palisa emphasized the need for a structured transition period to help the public adapt to the idea that military service should be a universal obligation. He also proposed that individuals who have not served in the military be restricted from accessing certain government benefits and opportunities, including employment in public service roles.

”If a citizen claims to support the state, job, education, I don’t know, in general, to claim some payments from the state budget, they should serve… there is a minimum contract, let it be annual,” the official suggested. Palisa went on to state that both men and women in a modern army “have a lot of different jobs[…] No matter how wild it sounds now, maybe we need to learn the experience of Israel in this,” he explained. After the conflict with Russia escalated in February 2022, Ukraine implemented martial law and announced a general mobilization, preventing able-bodied men aged 18 to 60 from leaving the country. Both measures have been extended multiple times since. In response to the mobilization drive being marred by corruption and draft dodging, last year the Ukrainian government lowered the conscription age to 25 and implemented stricter penalties for evading the draft and desertion.

Since February, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has been offering enrollment incentives to men aged 18 to 24 who are not subject to compulsory service. Chief among these is compensation of one million hryvnia ($24,000) for one year of service. The ministry has also released several videos showcasing how the money could supposedly enhance recruits’ lives. However, according to Palisa, fewer than 500 men have signed such contracts. “Some agreed verbally, but never followed through with signing. In some cases, parents intervened; others thought, ‘Peace is coming soon, no need for this.’ There are all kinds of reasons,” he said, commenting on the low number.

Apr 13, 2025

Featured • UK deeply involved in Ukraine conflict – The Times, RT, Apr 12, 2025

Britain’s military leadership played a far more extensive and covert role in the Ukraine conflict than previously known, not only designing battle plans and supplying intelligence, but also authorizing secret troop deployments inside Ukraine to deliver weapons training and technical support, according to a report by The Times. While London’s political and military backing for Kiev has been public since the 2014 Western-backed coup, the extent of its involvement after the escalation in February 2022 “remained largely hidden… until now,” the British newspaper wrote on Friday. The Times claimed that British troops were sent into Ukraine in small numbers on several occasions throughout 2022 and 2023, operating discreetly to avoid provoking Russia. In particular, UK forces were deployed to fit Ukrainian aircraft with Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles and train pilots and ground crews in their use.

“UK troops were secretly sent to fit Ukraine’s aircraft with the missiles and teach troops how to use them,” the publication wrote, noting that it “would not be the first time British troops had been deployed on the ground.” The UK had been delivering thousands of NLAW anti-tank missiles to Kiev and sending instructors to train Ukrainian soldiers in their use since 2015. While British troops were pulled back from Ukraine shortly before the escalation in February 2022, the deteriorating battlefield situation and the urgent need for technical expertise saw small teams of UK personnel redeployed quietly alongside fresh supplies of missiles, the newspaper reported.

London also reportedly played a key role in helping Ukraine prepare its much-touted 2023 “counteroffensive” against Russia – and in mediating between Kiev and Washington when the operation failed to meet US expectations. The newspaper claimed that “behind the scenes” the Ukrainians referred to Britain’s military chiefs as the “brains” of what they called an “anti-Putin” coalition. Former UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace was even ereportedly nicknamed “the man who saved Kiev” by Ukrainian military officials. “The Americans went to Ukraine only on rare occasions because of concerns that they would be seen to be too involved in the war, unlike Britain’s military chiefs who were given the freedom to go whenever necessary,” The Times wrote. “Sometimes their visits were so sensitive they went in civilian clothing.”

Moscow perceives the Ukraine conflict as a Western-led proxy war against Russia, in which Ukrainians serve as “cannon fodder.” It considers foreigners fighting for Kiev as “mercenaries” acting on behalf of Western governments. Senior Russian officials have suggested that more complex weapon systems provided to Kiev are highly likely operated by NATO staff. The presence of current and former NATO troops has also been tacitly admitted, but never openly confirmed, by Western officials. For example, last year, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz revealed the involvement of British and French forces in preparing Ukrainian missile launches, as he explained why Berlin would not supply similar weapons to Kiev. Earlier this month, a New York Times investigation found that the administration of former US President Joe Biden provided Ukraine with support that went far beyond arms shipments – extending to daily battlefield coordination, intelligence sharing, and joint strategy planning, which were described as indispensable to Kiev’s fight against Russia.

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) pledged to send 21 billion euros ($23.7 billion) in future military aid for Kiev. Under the Joe Biden administration, Washington led the UDCG and was the largest contributor to the Western proxy war in Ukraine.

Following a meeting of the UDCG on Friday, the bloc announced the new military aid for Kiev. The majority of the aid was pledged by Berlin and London. Germany agreed to send Ukraine €11 billion over the next four years. The UK plans to send £4.5 billion this year.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Keith Kellogg accused the Times newspaper of misrepresenting his words about control zones in Ukraine, clarifying that he did not mean “partitioning” the country itself.

The Times wrote in an article that Kellogg suggested partitioning Ukraine into control zones after the end of the conflict like Berlin after World War II, but without US ground forces. Kellogg, the report said, proposed dividing Ukraine into several control zones, where the military of several countries would be located: British and French troops could be deployed to western Ukraine as a “reassurance force.” Between them and the Russian forces there could be “Ukrainian forces and a demilitarized zone.”

On March 6, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized that Russia does not see any possibility for a compromise on the issue of deploying foreign peacekeepers in Ukraine. As the Russian minister specified at the time, if a foreign contingent is deployed in Ukraine, Western countries will not want to discuss the terms of peaceful settlement. The Russian Foreign Ministry previously said the plans of some EU countries to send “peacekeepers” to Ukraine are a provocative step aimed at maintaining unhealthy illusions in Kiev.

During a White House meeting with President Donald Trump last week, Witkoff argued that recognizing Russian ownership of Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson was the swiftest path to halting the war, the outlet’s sources said. General Keith Kellogg, Trump’s Ukraine envoy, reportedly pushed back, stressing Ukraine would not accept full territorial concessions.

The meeting reportedly concluded without a decision from Trump, who has repeatedly said he wants to broker a ceasefire by May. Witkoff subsequently traveled to Russia on Friday for talks with Putin.

The episode has deepened rifts within the Trump administration, as officials debate how to resolve the Ukraine conflict, Reuters wrote. Witkoff’s approach, previously outlined in a March interview with Tucker Carlson, has reportedly alarmed both Republican lawmakers and US allies.

“They’re Russian-speaking,” Witkoff told Carlson of the eastern territories. “There have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule.”

Several Republicans reportedly contacted National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to raise concerns about Witkoff’s stance, criticizing him for echoing Russian rhetoric.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, General Keith Kellogg, has rejected the notion that he proposed partitioning Ukraine like post-WWII Germany, accusing The Times of misrepresenting his remarks about a Cold War-style post-ceasefire security arrangement. Kellogg told The Times in an interview published on Friday that British and French – but not American – troops could lead Western military force positioned west of the Dnepr River, while Ukrainian forces would hold territory further east. He also suggested establishing a demilitarized zone (DMZ) roughly 18 miles (30 kilometers) wide along the current lines of control to prevent direct clashes with Russian forces.

Moscow has repeatedly warned the West against deploying troops to Ukraine under any pretext, specifically objecting to forces from any NATO countries ending up in the country. Last month, former Russian president and deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said that the potential emergence of any NATO “peacekeepers” in Ukraine would mean a war between the bloc and Russia.

Calin Georgescu, a former Romanian presidential candidate whose bid was controversially invalidated earlier this year, has claimed that NATO wants to “launch World War III from Romania.” In an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson, he said his staunch pro-peace stance was among the main reasons why he was barred from running for president. The right-wing politician, known as an outspoken critic of NATO, the EU, and Western support for Ukraine, scored a surprise win in the first round of November’s presidential election, receiving 23% of the vote. However, the country’s Constitutional Court swiftly moved in to annul the result over alleged “irregularities” in his campaign. Later, Georgescu was stripped of his right to run for office.

Appearing on Carlson’s podcast on Thursday, the former Romanian presidential candidate alleged that NATO wants to “launch… World War III from Romania.” The politician cited the fact that the “largest military base of NATO is in Romania,” coupled with the 380-mile (612 km) long border that his country shares with Ukraine. “In this situation of course Romania is the asset for [the] European Union, for [French President Emmanuel] Macron in order to launch the war,” Georgescu insisted. “They want to turn NATO [into] an offensive force” and are “pushing for war,” he alleged, adding that “my position was exactly against them.”According to Georgescu, “all my campaign was just concentrate[d] on peace[.] When I said… the word ‘peace’, they immediately alerted… because they need war.” The right-wing politician went on to say that the “majority of Romanian people… have this position against any intervention and any participation [in] war.”

Apr 11, 2025

 • Trump envoy in Russia for high-level talks – media, RT, Apr 11, 2025

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, has traveled to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin, Axios has reported. If confirmed, the meeting would be the third since Trump initiated the normalization of relations with Moscow following his inauguration in January. Last week, Witkoff was among several senior White House officials to host Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s aide for international economic cooperation, who traveled to Washington to continue the high-level discussions. According to services monitoring air traffic, a plane associated with Witkoff has traveled from Florida to St. Petersburg overnight.

Several EU member states are “strongly opposed” to handing Russian assets frozen by the bloc over to increase military support for Ukraine, foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has admitted. The objections to the proposed move, which Kallas supports, are based on legal concerns and financial risks. Western countries froze around $300 billion in Russian sovereign and state-linked assets following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, with the bulk under EU jurisdiction. Brussels has since been exploring ways to use them to benefit Kiev, including by giving Ukraine the interest earned on the assets. Moscow has strongly condemned these efforts, calling them “theft.”

The US and Russia also conducted a prisoner swap on Thursday.

US and Russian officials held talks at the Russian consulate in Istanbul on Thursday that focused on normalizing diplomatic relations.

The meeting marked the second round of normalization talks since the first was held in Istanbul on February 27. According to Russia’s TASS news agency, the talks lasted about five and a half hours.

The Russian delegation was headed by Alexander Darchiev, the Russian ambassador to the US, who said after the meeting that good progress was made toward normalizing the work of the two countries’ diplomatic facilities.

Apr 10, 2025

Featured • US ‘just lost a war with Russia’ – Tucker Carlson, RT, Apr 10, 2025

American policymakers are too arrogant to acknowledge that they have “lost a war with Russia” over Ukraine, US journalist Tucker Carlson has said. Russian officials perceive the Ukraine conflict as a NATO proxy war – a notion that some Western politicians, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, have openly agreed with. In an interview with Alex Jones published on Wednesday, Carlson accused those perpetuating the hostilities of ignoring that Russia has emerged victorious. ”We just lost a war with Russia,” the former Fox News host declared. “The US was running that war – the US military, the Pentagon, State Department, CIA – running the war against Russia. It was not… was never about Ukraine.”

Carlson expressed concern that “nobody will say that out loud – that we’re overstating our power.” He likened the US to a divorced 60-year-old man attempting to woo a 25-year-old woman, oblivious to how absurd and humiliating he appears. “That’s called hubris and that’s how empires get destroyed and populations vaporized,” Carlson warned. “Maybe we should readjust our expectations a little bit.” Jones argued that many advocating for unconditional support of Kiev are “militarily ignorant,” mentioning actor Sean Penn’s dismissal of nuclear escalation risks with Russia. He emphasized that the scenario of major nuclear conflict is termed ‘Mutually Assured Destruction’ for a reason.

In response, Carlson referenced a Pentagon assessment indicating that at one point the risk of the Ukraine conflict escalating to nuclear war reached 50%, arguing that any policymaker comfortable with such odds belongs “in prison for the criminally insane.” Senior Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have publicly asserted that Moscow will employ all tools at its disposal against what it perceives as an existential threat. Ukraine and its Western supporters have dismissed the Russian leader’s statements as “nuclear blackmail.”

Western European countries have once again “taken up arms” against Russia, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said, commenting on the increasingly hostile stance of many governments toward Moscow. Addressing the constant calls to prepare for a presumed Russian attack – a notion which Moscow has dismissed as baseless – Lavrov said all previous global conflicts were sparked by similar aggressive actions from Europe. “We are witnessing another wave in which Europe is taking up arms against Russia, and by the looks on some faces, even growling at Russia. After all… all global tragedies began with aggressive actions by Europeans: The Napoleonic Wars, World War I, and World War II,” he said in an interview for the TASS Children project released on Wednesday. Lavrov added that during World War II, nearly all “neutral” European countries, in addition to those officially aligned with Nazi Germany, fought alongside Germany – including France.

“They did have a resistance movement, but like most other European countries, the official authorities in Paris meekly surrendered to the will of the victors… and French troops fought battles on the side of Hitler’s Germany, taking part in a number of punitive operations,” he said, adding that “there were many examples of this.” Lavrov went on to say that France and the UK are “obsessed” with “defeating Russia on the battlefield,” as evidenced by the billions they have spent on Kiev’s war effort and recent discussions about deploying troops to Ukraine, supposedly in a peacekeeping role. He accused the West, including Washington, of installing what he called an “openly Russophobic Nazi regime” in Ukraine as part of its goal of defeating Russia. “Some want to quickly and finally erase from history the pages of their national shame, collaborationism, connivance with the Nazis,” he said.

Ukraine has “betrayed” its own history by allowing the West to bring a Nazi regime to power in Kiev, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said. In an interview for the TASS Children project released on Wednesday, the diplomat said the West’s actions were deliberate, aimed at bringing about a “strategic defeat” of Russia. “The forgetting of history, their spiritual and moral values, their roots, if you like, all this has become one of the main reasons for what we are now seeing in Ukraine,” he said, referring to the ongoing conflict, which he described as one that pitted the authorities against their own people from the outset. Lavrov accused the West of trying to rewrite history by “instilling oblivion of Russian roots” and promoting ideas in Ukrainian society that led to what he called “social amnesia.”

“This was used by the Americans and Europeans to bring an openly Russophobic Nazi regime to power in Ukraine that declared war against its own people, seizing power through an illegal coup d’etat, calling those who disagreed with this coup terrorists, and starting a real war against them,” he said. Lavrov noted that among European countries, there are two views on confronting their own history with Nazism – some seek to “quickly erase the pages of their national shame,” while others see Nazi ideology as a “tool for maintaining their positions on the European political scene.” He pledged that Russia would continue to fight both trends. “Our ambition is to ensure that this sacred memory never leaves history, never leaves the memory of all generations, that it remains unchanged. And we are convinced of our historical, moral and human rectitude,” he concluded.

Commemorations of World War II-era nationalist figures with ties to Nazi Germany have been common in Ukraine. Ukrainians hold annual torchlight marches in honor of Stepan Bandera, a leader in the militant Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which collaborated with Nazi Germany and was involved in the massacre of more than 100,000 Poles, Jews, Russians, and Soviet-aligned Ukrainians. Less than two months ago, the Ukrainian city of Rivne marked the 120th birthday of Ulas Samchuk, a Nazi collaborator and anti-Semitic propagandist who welcomed the mass killings of Jews during the war. Moscow has repeatedly warned of a Nazi revival in Ukraine, citing “denazification” as a central aim of its military operation against Kiev. Western officials and media, however, have largely downplayed such concerns, often dismissing the allegations as “Russian propaganda.”

When the U.S. launched its proxy war in Ukraine against Russia it thought that it could defeat Russia by economic means. A wall of sanctions and other restrictions were to destroy the Russian economy. But Russia was prepared and much stronger than the U.S. had anticipated. Its economy did better than those of the countries which opposed it.

A similar miscalculation seems to have happened with regards to China.

Trump is not knowledgeable about China's mighty economy. Vice-President Vance recently called China's highly qualified work force 'peasants'. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is likewise ignorant:

I advised Scott Bessent, now Trump's Secretary of the Treasury who is leading the tariff war, in 2013 when he was still with Soros. An investment bank engaged me to advise Bessent on China's economy and consumer trends and go over my book The End of Cheap China.

I took an instant disliking - Bessent was one of the most arrogant and ignorant on China people I had ever met. He was uber bearish on China and was largely ideologically driven in his analysis. Communist countries couldn't succeed was basically the jist of his views.

Data and rational analysis did not reign supreme....

He thinks America has the upper hand with China right now. I worry for America. We have one of the most ignorant on China yet arrogant people I've ever met running a trade war against China.

The Ukrainian military has launched multiple drone attacks overnight, targeting a a Russian gas pumping station which supplies fuel to southern Europe via the TurkStream pipeline, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said. The ministry has accused Kiev of continued violations of an energy ceasefire agreed by Russia, the US and Ukraine last month. On Wednesday, the Russian military announced that it intercepted eight Ukrainian drones targeting the energy facility near the town of Korenovsk in the southern Krasnodar Region. The attack on Tuesday night was detected by defenses and caused no damage, as all aircraft were successfully intercepted, the report stated.

“This was a deliberate attack by the Kiev regime against an international energy site,” the ministry emphasized, adding that since Russia accepted a US-proposed moratorium on strikes targeting energy infrastructure, Ukrainian forces have not paused such attacks “for a single day.” Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an immediate suspension of strikes on Ukrainian energy sites following a phone conversation with US President Donald Trump in mid-March. Moscow maintains it is observing the partial ceasefire, despite Ukrainian violations, in a bid to foster goodwill with Washington.

The Korenovskaya compressor station targeted by Kiev is part of the Pochinki-Anapa pipeline, which entered service in July 2022 to enhance supplies for the TurkStream link under the Black Sea. The ground section of the pipeline has a maximum capacity of 63 billion cubic meters of gas per year, though the Defense Ministry noted it is currently functioning at about half that flow rate. TurkStream is one of the primary export routes for Russian natural gas directly to Türkiye, facilitating further supplies to Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Greece. In late February Hungary accused Kiev of threatening its sovereignty by jeopardizing its energy supplies, after a Ukrainian drone raid targeted the Russkaya gas compressor station, which feeds fuel into TurkStream.

The close collaboration between the UKKA and the US Government over the years cannot be overstated. Throughout the 1990’s, Ukrainian “influencers” (radio and television hosts, journalists, and aspiring politicians) were recruited under programs fully funded by USAID that brought these individuals to the United States for “orientation” (i.e., guided visits to the White House, Congress, the State Department, and the Pentagon) where they met and coordinated with US policymakers on issues pertaining to Ukraine. In every instance, those who participated in such visits were assigned an “official” US government representative, and a “Banderist” from the UKKA.

The bottom line is that every aspect of US policy toward Ukraine in the lead-up to President Trump’s second term has been closely coordinated with the most extreme virulent form of Ukrainian nationalism imaginable—that espoused by Stepan Bandera and embraced without question by his loyal followers.

Apr 9, 2025

Featured • Trump-Putin: a deal, Yalta or no deal?, Larry C. Johnson, SONAR21, Apr 9, 2025
Long, and quite a good overview, IMO. Where a change of emphasis might be needed is in his treatment of Israel's aggression and Trump's facilitation thereof, which is morally and legally incandescent, transcending other geopolitical issues in those ways. The self-harm harm being inflicted by the West in the Middle East cannot be overstated. It is a poison that goes very deep.

Featured • Russia says the future of nuclear arms control with US and others looks bleak for now, Guy Faulconbridge and Dmitry Antonov, Reuters, Apr 8, 2025

Senior Kremlin officials on Tuesday said there was little chance of striking a new nuclear arms reduction treaty with the United States soon because there was not enough trust and cautioned that a host of other countries would gain nuclear weapons.

The bleak assessment from Moscow comes amid the disintegration of the tangle of arms control treaties which sought to slow the arms race and reduce the risk of nuclear war, and the swift expansion of China's nuclear arsenal.

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Asked about the prospects for a replacement to the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New START, which runs out in February 2026, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was very difficult right now to imagine even starting such talks.

"At the moment, it is very difficult to imagine the beginning of such negotiations," Peskov, who also serves as a deputy chief of staff in the presidential administration, told reporters.

To discuss such complex strategic issues, Peskov said, there needed to be a certain level of mutual trust - and that trust had "yet" to be restored between Moscow and Washington but could be if Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump had the political will.

Russia and the United States are by far the world's biggest nuclear powers, with about 88% of all nuclear weapons, followed by China, France, Britain, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea, according to the Federation of American Scientists.

Apr 8, 2025

Featured • Hegseth Says Pentagon Will Get Its First $1 Trillion Budget, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Apr 7, 2025

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Monday that the Pentagon will soon have its first $1 trillion budget despite the Trump administration’s pledges to cut government spending.

Hegseth made the announcement on X while sharing a video of President Trump saying that his administration approved a plan for a $1 trillion military budget. “Nobody’s seen anything like it. We have to build out military, and we’re very cost-conscious, but the military is something we have to build, and we have to be strong,” he said while hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump said he was “proud to say” it will be the biggest military budget “we’ve ever done.”

Hegseth wrote on X, “Thank you Mr. President! COMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar [Defense Department] budget.”

Hegseth said the Pentagon would “spend every taxpayer dollar wisely,” but he is currently overseeing a massive bombing campaign in Yemen that’s failed to achieve its stated goal of stopping Houthi attacks and will soon cost over $1 billion in just a month of operations.

While the Pentagon has never had a $1 trillion budget, the actual cost of total US military spending has exceeded $1 trillion for years.

The 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which President Biden signed into law in December 2023, totaled $895 billion. According to veteran defense analyst Winslow Wheeler, based on the $895 billion NDAA, US national security spending for 2025 is expected to reach about $1.77 trillion.

Wheeler’s estimate accounts for military-related spending from other government agencies not funded by the NDAA, such as the Department of Veteran Affairs and Homeland Security. It also includes the national security share of the interest accrued on the US debt and other factors.

Trump and Hegseth’s comments suggest the president will request a $1 trillion NDAA for 2026, which would really bring total US military spending close to $2 trillion.

The German Interior Ministry is advising schools to prepare children for crises and war, the Handelsblatt newspaper reported on Monday, citing a ministry spokesperson. A raft of calls for “civic readiness” have been made by Western European governments since US president Donald Trump took office and the beginning of US-brokered Ukraine peace talks, described by German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock as “deadlocked.”. “Given the recent developments in the security situation, a greater focus should be placed on civil defense, including in school education,” an interior ministry spokesperson told Handelsblatt. According to the outlet, a Russian attack on NATO territory “in four to seven years” is considered “a realistic scenario” by German military, the Bundeswehr.

Schoolchildren should be “prepared for the worst,” crisis response training should be introduced into school curricula, and emergency supplies should be stored in every home, the German ministry spokesperson reportedly proposed. Moscow has repeatedly rubbished the claim it could attack a NATO country, since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict three years ago. However such “civic readiness’ calls have been made across the EU and in the UK in the last week. The European Commission has recently recommended that EU citizens stockpile essential supplies, including food and water, to sustain themselves for at least three days in case of emergencies.

Poland and Norway have reinstated Cold-War-era measures such as bomb shelters and bunkers and mass military training. Sweden and Finland already have guides available to citizens on how to respond if they come under attack. On Monday, the Kremlin said Russia was open to discussing a full ceasefire to end the Ukraine conflict, as long as there are guarantees that Kiev will abide by it. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump held a phone conversation last month, following which Moscow agreed to a 30-day moratorium on strikes targeting energy infrastructure, with Ukraine also signing off on the proposal. Moscow, however, has since accused Kiev of repeatedly violating the agreement while stating it will honor it anyway.

Apr 7, 2025

Featured • ‘Break-a-Leg’ (that old Mafia warning) – Trump has threatened Iran over an ultimatum that likely cannot be met, Alastair Crooke, Strategic Culture Foundation, Apr 7, 2025

Trump’s venting against Russia may, perhaps, have an element of reality-TV to it. For his domestic audience, he needs to be perceived as bringing ‘peace through strength’ – to keep up the Alpha-Male appearance, lest the truth of his lack of leverage over Putin becomes all too apparent for the American public and to the world.

Part of the reason for Trump’s frustration too, may be his cultural formation as a New York businessman; that a deal is about first dominating the negotiations, and then quickly ‘splitting the difference’. This, however, is not how diplomacy works. The transactional approach also reflects deep conceptual flaws.

The Ukraine ceasefire process is stalled, not because of Russian intransigence, but rather because Team Trump has determined that achieving a settlement in Ukraine comes firstly through insisting on a unilateral and immediate ceasefire – without introducing temporary governance to enable elections in Ukraine, nor addressing the root causes of the conflict. And secondly, because Trump rushed in, without listening to what the Russians were saying, and/or without hearing it.

Now that initial pleasantries are over, and Russia is saying flatly that current ‘ceasefire’ proposals simply are inadequate and unacceptable, Trump becomes angry and lashes out at Putin, saying that 25% tariffs on Russian oil could happen ANY moment.

Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone has said that the claims that Russia had meddled in the 2016 US presidential election were nothing but lies. For years, Democrats have claimed that the Kremlin had waged a covert campaign to sway the race in favor of President Donald Trump. The 2019 report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller alleged that the Russian government interfered in the election “in sweeping and systematic fashion,” mostly through hacking and messaging on social media. The investigation, however, “did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” according to the final report.

A Fox News reporter asked Stone last week whether he thought that Trump was right to “take on” the FBI and the CIA after “what happened to him with the Russia probe.” “I know. Look at Russiagate; we paid for it,” the filmmaker replied. “I applaud [what Trump is doing].”“I hate what they did with Russiagate. I really do. I think it’s, again, the lying, the lying, the lying, and selling that to the American people,” Stone said. “And the whole thing with hating Russia is so negative. It’s so un-American. They are potentially our best partners. As are the Chinese, actually. We have this mentality that they are the enemy. That’s all been inoculated by propaganda,” the director of Platoon and JFK said.

Russia is open to discussing a full ceasefire to end the Ukraine conflict, but for this to happen, there must be guarantees that Kiev will abide by it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Peskov responded to comments by US President Donald Trump, who said he “would like them [Russia] to stop” their attacks on Ukraine. “I don’t like the bombing, the bombing goes on and on, and every week, thousands of young people are being killed,” Trump said.

Peskov stressed that Russian President Vladimir Putin “supports the idea of the need for a ceasefire,” but first, certain conditions must be met.

“A whole series of questions needs to be answered… This is related to the lack of control over the Kiev regime and the inability of the Kiev regime to control the actions of a number of extremist and nationalist units that simply do not obey it,” he explained.

Another major issue is linked to Ukraine’s plans for further militarization, Peskov said. “All these aspects are still on the agenda. While we are in solidarity with the idea of establishing a ceasefire as soon as possible, we have to secure our interests and clarify these very aspects that I have just spoken about.”

What’s interesting about the above [Telegraph] piece, besides the ultimatum claim, is that for the first time we’re beginning to see major Western publications begin realistically acknowledging the possibility of Ukraine losing all five of the regions demanded by Putin, including Kherson and Zaporozhye in whole. Until now these long-standing Russian demands were virtually ignored or dismissed out of hand by MSM, which only spoke condescendingly enough about the prospects of Russia keeping Crimea, Lugansk, and Donetsk, let alone the others.

But now, reality is beginning to dawn on them. The Telegraph piece breaks the omerta and broaches the delicate eventuality:

How would the map of Ukraine change after such a one-sided ceasefire? Putin claims five provinces: Crimea, Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The last three are still only partially occupied by the Russians.

Apr 6, 2025

Featured • The News that was Fit to Print Yesterday Doesn't Fit Today, Patrick Armstrong, Russia Observer, Apr 4, 2025

Featured • Neocons Attempt To Stall U.S.-Russia Talks, Moon of Alabama, Apr 4, 2025

Featured • America’s New Lost Cause by Michael Vlahos, The Realist Review, Apr 3, 2025

Featured • Biden Lied About Everything, Including Nuclear Risk, During Ukraine Operation, Matt Taibbi, Racket News, Mar 31, 2025

 • US research highlights RT’s role in media landscape, RT, Apr 5, 2025

Since 2014, the New York Times has published more than 500 articles about RT, a review by Johns Hopkins University has claimed.

Ukraine could still become a member of NATO despite opposition to the idea from the administration of US President Donald Trump, Vladimir Zelensky has insisted. Trump lashed out at the Ukrainian leader earlier this week, saying “he wants to be a member of NATO. Well, he was never going to be a member of NATO. He understands that.” However, during a meeting with the heads of territorial communities of Chernigov Region, Zelensky made it clear that he has not yet given up on his long-standing ambitions of joining the US-led bloc. “You know who does not support Ukraine’s membership in NATO so far, but in any case, no one is removing this issue from the table for the future,” Zelensky said, as cited by the Ukrinform news agency.

“At least, we are talking about the fact that even if now someone does not want to support [Kiev joining the bloc], we will see what happens in the future,” Zelensky added. According to the Ukrainian leader, until Kiev becomes a member of the bloc it should be provided with “NATO-like security guarantees” by its Western backers.

Apr 4, 2025

 • Third parties trying to derail US-Russia talks – Putin envoy, RT, Apr 4, 2025

Certain countries want to throw a wrench into the normalization of Russian-American relations, President Vladimir Putin’s investment envoy, Kirill Dmitriev, has said. He made his comment during a rare trip to Washington, where he met with top US officials. “Different countries are trying to derail this dialogue, derail the restoration of the Russian-American relations,” Dmitriev told reporters on Thursday evening. He noted that the negotiations have been accompanied by “a lot of rumors, incorrect quotes, and incorrect interpretations.” “A lot of people are interested in preventing the development of our relations. We are seeing a coordinated campaign in the media, attempts by various politicians to undermine the reglations between Russia and the US, and attempts to distort the statements made by Russia,” the diplomat said. “It happens on a daily basis.”

“The best way to overcome disinformation is direct dialogue,” he stressed. Dmitriev reportedly met with Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, who has been one of the key US negotiators on Ukraine. According to NBC News, the Russian diplomat also met with Republican Senators Lindsey Graham and Markwayne Mullin. According to Dmitriev, the sides mostly discussed steps to gradually amend the cooperation severed by the Biden administration in 2022. The agenda included possible partnership in the Arctic, the development of rare-earth minerals, and the resumption of direct flights between the countries, he said.

Apr 3, 2025

Featured • Von der Leyen is afraid of the European Parliament, Lorenzo Maria Pacini, Strategic Culture Foundation, Apr 1, 2025

Re-armament Ursula, a plan costing almost a thousand billion euros, will be Europe’s economic grave.

There is money for everything, except for what is really needed.

The European plan “ReArm Europe”, presented by the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen and widely supported by the Member States, is based on a strongly militaristic vision. The initiative is based on the assumption that Europe is about to face a sort of Third World War against Russia and its allies, without being able to count on the support of the United States. This perspective seems more like a political fantasy that lacks concrete evidence. However, the rearmament strategy requires a narrative centered on defense against a possible Russian invasion, especially after the suspension of American aid to Ukraine. This implies a radical change, according to which Europeans should allocate most of their public spending and private capital to war production.

Peace demonstrations are quickly reinterpreted within a logic in which arming oneself becomes an obligation, almost a moral duty, considered as the only effective deterrent against war. This is a disastrous historical model, which has always led to devastating conflicts. Russia is described as an absolute enemy, with whom there can be no dealings until its final defeat. Consequently, any space for mediation or dialogue is eliminated, replaced by warmongering rhetoric that demonizes the adversary. This pragmatic attitude of the so-called “armed pacifists” ignores the fact that peace is built first and foremost by eliminating the “spirit of war” from international relations.

Four facilities have been damaged in the last 24 hours, the Defense Ministry in Moscow has said.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that Trump administration officials are discussing the likelihood that a peace deal to end the Ukraine war will not be reached within the next few months and are drafting plans to increase pressure on both Russia and Ukraine.

US officials told Reuters that neither a full ceasefire nor a lasting peace deal is imminent, meaning the war will drag on, and Ukraine will require more Western military support. The US continues to fuel the war by providing weapons and intelligence to Ukraine.

...Amid the faltering negotiations, a group of 50 bipartisan senators introduced a bill to place a huge 500% tariff on any country that purchases Russian oil, gas, or uranium if peace talks fail. The bill includes additional sanctions and was introduced by Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal, two staunch supporters of the Ukraine proxy war.

“We are pleased to announce that we have received overwhelming bipartisan support for our primary and secondary sanctions legislation against Russia. The sanctions against Russia require tariffs on countries who purchase Russian oil, gas, uranium, and other products. They are hard hitting for a reason,” Graham and Blumenthal said in a statement.

Apr 2, 2025

Featured • Russia Says It Cannot Accept US Proposals on Ukraine in Current Form, Dave DeCamp, Antiwar.com, Apr 1, 2025

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Tuesday that Russia couldn’t accept US proposals on ending the Ukraine war in their current form since they do not address the root causes of the conflict.

Ryabkov said Moscow hasn’t seen the US send a “clear signal” to Ukraine that it’s time to end the war.

“What we have today is an effort to find a framework that would make it possible to ensure America’s vision for a ceasefire. The idea is to then move on to some other models and frameworks, which, as far as we can see, leave no room for Russia’s core demand, that is, the need to resolve the issues stemming from the root causes of this conflict,” he said, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.

Ryabkov said Russia takes the US proposals very seriously but that they couldn’t be accepted “as they are.”

Lastly, I want to alert you to a ridiculous article written by George W. Bush’s former speech writer, Marc Thiessen. To call Mr. Thiessen an ignorant hack, is an insult to the hacks that infest Washington, DC.

His op-ed in the Washington Post is titled, Putin is stalling and Trump is angry. It’s time for ‘maximum pressure.’ The accusation that Putin is stalling, which I addressed in my recent article, Trump’s Negotiators Fail to Understand Russia and Europe Crashes and Burns, is a lie. Putin is not stalling. He is waiting for the US to deliver on its part of the agreement regarding the Black Sea and exports of grains and fertilizer… namely, lift the sanctions and reconnect the Russian bank that handles payments for these exports to SWIFT. And then there is the issue of Zelensky’s decree, which makes it illegal for ANY Ukrainian to negotiate with the Russians.

I will only subject you to three paragraphs from Thiessen’s incredibly obtuse and ignorant prose...

Au contraire, Mr. Thiessen. Mr. Putin holds all the cards. Trump does not even hold a trump card. Unlike the US economy, which grew by 2.8% in 2024, Russia’s economy is clicking along at a rate of 4.1%, notwithstanding being hit with a tsunami of Western sanctions over the past three years.

The reason I’m drawing attention to the work of this cretin, is that Thiessen’s views reflect the beliefs of the Washington establishment. This wrongheaded thinking explains why Trump and his national security team are unable to hear and comprehend what the Russians are saying to them behind closed doors. When you enter negotiations armed with a mountain of false assumptions regarding Russia’s economic and military strength, then the odds that you can secure a meaningful peace deal are slim to none.

If Trump is foolish enough to ramp up military and intelligence support for Ukraine, especially in the wake of the NY Times article by Adam Entous — where a host of US officials confirmed they have planned and helped execute attacks on Russian territory and Russian personnel — and, at the same time, attack Iran, his Presidency will end in utter failure. Trump needs a serious adult capable of sitting him down and explaining reality to him, i.e., the US has limited supplies of HIMARS, ATACMS, Patriot missiles and battle tanks. He will not secure peace by threatening military action. Unfortunately, I don’t think President Trump is in the mood to listen.

Apr 1, 2025

Featured • Trump’s Negotiators Fail to Understand Russia and Europe Crashes and Burns, Larry C. Johnson, SONAR21, Mar 31, 2025

But Trump and his negotiating team have a bigger problem — they don’t understand that Russia will not, under any circumstances, accept a complete ceasefire, and it will not compromise on the positions that Vladimir Putin laid out to senior officials of the Russian Foreign Ministry in June 2024. Marco Rubio and his team fail to grasp this point...

Many inside the Trump administration, along with the pundits and analysts that populate Washington think tanks, continue to wrongly believe that Russia is suffering terrible military losses and that the Russian economy is on the verge of collapse.

You may be familiar with the old adage: a picture is worth a thousand words. If that is true, then a video must be worth a book the length of War and Peace. Check out this video, which compares the NYC subway with the Moscow metro system. Then tell me whose economy is stronger...

Our [Russian] challenges exist, ‘yes’ – “but theirs are abundant also. Western dominance is slipping away. New centres of global growth are taking centre stage”, Putin said.

These [challenges] are not the ‘problem’; they are the opportunity, Putin outlined: ‘We will prioritise domestic manufacturing and the development of tech industries. The old model is over. Oil and gas production will be simply the adjunct to a largely internally circulating, self-sufficient ‘real economy’ – with energy no longer its driver. We are open to western investment – but only on our terms – and the small ‘open’ sector of our otherwise closed economy will of course still trade with our BRICS partners’.

What Putin outlined effectively is the return to the mainly closed internally-circulating economy model of the German school (à la Friedrich List) and of the Russian Premier, Sergei Witte.

Just to be clear – Putin was not just explaining how Russia had transformed into a sanctions-resistant economy that could equally disdain the apparent enticements of the West, as well as its threats. He was challenging the Western economic model more fundamentally.

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 • Peace in Ukraine - How Do We Get There?, LASG virtual discussion with Scott Ritter and Dr. Dmitri Trenin, Jan 15, 2025
 • "Peace in Ukraine -- How Do We Get There?" A discussion in Los Alamos with Scott Ritter and Dmitri Trenin, Jan 7, 2025
 • Stop the War in Ukraine While We Can, Greg Mello, LASG Vlog, Jun 24, 2024
 • What we’re up to, and reflections on some opportunities and dangers at hand, Greg Mello, VFP Webinar, Jun 20, 2024
 • Can U.S. seize the moment for peace?, Greg Mello, Santa Fe New Mexican, Jun 16, 2024
 • Bulletin 346: Momentous events, and two op-eds, Jun 16, 2024
 • Press backgrounder: U.S. Considers Expanding Its Nuclear Arsenal, Jun 10, 2024
 • Bulletin 345: Ukraine strikes Russian early-warning radar against nuclear attack, May 25, 2024
 • "Russophobia, the Ukraine war, and nuclear weapons," LASG presentation, Peter Kuznick, Steven Starr, & Greg Mello discuss the dangerous phenomenon of "Russophobia" in the West in the context of the potentially widening war in Ukraine, with its attendant nuclear dangers, video, Apr 16, 2024
 •Bulletin 342: Russophobia, the Ukraine war, and nuclear weapons," panel discussion in Santa Fe Tuesday April 16, 6 pm / Pit production: myths and contradictions, Apr 10, 2024
 • LASG friends ltr: "Russophobia, the Ukraine war, and nuclear weapons" -- panel discussion Tuesday April 16, 6 pm, St. John's United Methodist Church, Santa Fe, Apr 8, 2024
 • Bulletin 341: Pit seminar materials available; Russophobia seminar postponed; big jump in FY24 warhead spending as arms race takes hold; Ukraine losing war sparking panic in West, Mar 4, 2024
 • Bulletin 340: "Year in Pits;" Zoom update & discussion on pits 2/27; rich opportunities in the land of nuclear (dis)enchantment; end the Ukraine carnage and genocide in Gaza, Feb 22, 2024
 • The Real Purpose In Making The Bomb Was To Subdue The Soviets. Now Its Happening Again, On A Vast Scale. Why? July 22 At Fuller Lodge, Los Alamos Reporter, Jul 19, 2023
 • LASG friends ltr: Ukraine over the tipping point; more on July 22 event in Los Alamos; comment on generic "nuclear disarmament," Jul 12, 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
 • LASG friends ltr (06/15/2023) Pit production zoom today; halt military "aid" to Ukraine, which just kills more Ukrainians, accept peace
 • 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