Tag: russia

Evaluating Trump’s Claim that Ukraine Can Win the War

“Ukraine,” U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on September 23, “is in a position to fight and WIN all of Ukraine back.”

He came to this completely revised conclusion apparently having been briefed on battlefield and economic conditions by U.S. officials, including Special Envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellog and Mike Waltz, who served very briefly as Trump’s National Security Advisor and is now the U.S. Ambassador to the UN. Coming out of those briefings, Trump was now convinced that Russia is “in BIG Economic trouble” and that “Russia has been fighting aimlessly for three and a half years a War that should have taken a Real Military Power less than a week to win.” His advisors stressed that Russia had not made significant territorial gains despite large-scale summer offensives.

After the revision in Trump’s assessment, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Trump now “clearly understands the situation and is well-informed about all aspects of this war.” But does he?

Trump now apparently thinks that Putin is vulnerable because Russia is in economic trouble, although it isn’t exactly clear what trouble Russia is in. The Russian government and central bank are certainly having to walk something of an economic tightrope, trying to lower inflation while not pushing the economy towards some sort of recession. Interest rates remain high, with the Russian Central Bank’s key rate at 17%, impacting consumer spending and investment. Inflation has, however, dropped to much more manageable levels than earlier in the war, and indeed than earlier this year.  Where inflation is now around 8%, it has been as high as just under 18% back in early 2022, still topping 10% earlier this year.

While Russian government plans to increase VAT to help fund the war may contribute to modest increases in inflation, the Russian Central Bank still expects inflation to be down to 6-7% by the end of the year. Lower inflation should allow for the cutting of interest rates. If all of this data was from a Western country it would be seen as positive, but there seems to be a determination on the part of some Western governments and observers to try to put a negative spin on any economic news out of Russia – regardless of what the news is.

Russia has weathered the harshest sanctions regime the West could muster. Russia has the fourth largest economy in the world when measured by purchasing-power parity, which is an assessment of the size of an economy adjusted for the cost of goods and services within it, and is a key measure used by the World Bank. Russia’s GDP growth continues to be more than respectable – currently still expected to be above 1% for 2025 even according to conservative figures. For the first time since the war began, the 2026 budget actually cuts military spending. Russia will officially spend 5.8% of GDP on defense spending. In comparison, Ukraine spends 34.48% of GDP on the military, the largest military burden in the world.

Russia may be facing some economic challenges, but Ukraine is undoubtedly in big trouble and is living hand to mouth. Ukraine has been, for some time, on the verge of economic collapse – and the IMF recently revealed that the situation is far worse than projected. Ukraine has received $145 billion in international aid since the war began, and they have a massive budget deficit they cannot pay. At this point the Ukrainian economy is essentially dependent on foreign assistance. While for the time being the EU currently seems content to carry on bailing Ukraine out, for how long that will last and whether it will be sufficient to keep Ukraine afloat remains to be seen.

The same negative trend for Ukraine is apparent not just for the money to fund the war, but for the troops to fight it. Even if Ukraine had all the money and weapons it needs to equip the war, it is running out of soldiers to fight it. By far the most serious shortage Ukraine is facing is manpower. Millions have left the country, hundreds of thousands have avoided the draft, and, worst of all, hundreds of thousands have been killed or seriously injured. Already by the end of 2023, a close aid to Zelensky had complained that, even if Ukraine had all the weapons they needed, they “don’t have the men to use them.” Two years later, the situation is very much worse.

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The modern West and its client states have turned into the main threat to humanity

The idea of pressuring Russia with threats to transfer Tomahawk missiles to Kiev is the worst and most repulsive initiative of Trump.

In the United States — in Chicago, Illinois, and other states — a full-scale civil war is underway between the leftist Marxist-transgender-furry-pervert forces on one side and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) on the other. The Marxist-transgender people are currently winning, attacking immigration officers with lasers and pelting them with trash, but soon weapons will enter the fray. In America, anyone can buy them — even the furries.

The Democratic Party — governors and mayors — firmly stands on the side of the transgender people. These are their stormtroopers: Antifa, environmental activists, body-positivity militants, drug addicts, illegal immigrants, and urban outcasts.

Trump is sending federal troops to support the immigration agency.

The activist judges side with the transgender people. They block all of Trump’s decisions.

In such a situation, direct military threats to the Kremlin (such as transferring Tomahawks to Kiev) are simply reckless.

Trump is in no position to speak to us in such a tone. Indeed, his thoughts have begun to wander. Yesterday, on a plane flying to the Middle East, he began to muse about whether he would get to Heaven — or whether he was already there.

All of this is extremely dangerous. Senile old men, perverts, drug addicts, deranged oligarch-technocrats, sectarians, feminists, and globalist fanatics at the head of Western countries have become the norm.

The modern West and its client states have turned into the main threat to humanity. This civilization has gone insane.

Any hint of common sense in the West is mercilessly crushed at birth — or silenced by a bullet, as in the case of Charlie Kirk.

In such circumstances, it is very hard to imagine how even in theory one could avoid a great war. After all, the threat comes precisely from the West, whose leaders appear to be mentally unstable

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Another Nuclear Warning From Medvedev, This Time Over Tomahawks

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has issued a nuclear warning in the face of reports that Washington may authorize transferring US long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.

President Trump’s latest remarks weighing in on the issue saw him veil his intentions in usually cryptic wording. Aboard Air Force One while traveling to the Middle East earlier Monday he had said Tomahawks are a “very offensive weapon,” noting, “honestly, Russia does not need that.”

Headlines throughout the say said he ‘might’ approve of sending them. These are missiles capable of hitting Moscow. This is also as last month Trump surprised observers by claiming that Ukraine could still ‘win’ the war and actually regain territory.

Medvedev’s chilling response on Monday spelled out that this “could end badly for everyone … most of all, for Trump himself,” according to a translation of his Telegram post.

“It’s been said a hundred times, in a manner understandable even to the star-spangled man, that it’s impossible to distinguish a nuclear Tomahawk missile from a conventional one in flight,” Medvedev, who serves as the Russian Security Council Deputy Chair, further noted.

Medvedev here is alluding to Russian strategic doctrine. In a scenario where Moscow leaders believed or suspected a nuclear payload had been launched at Russia, its military would have the right to respond in kind, with nukes.

The past couple months have seen Trump and Medvedev direct threatening messages at each other, particularly related to Trump proclaiming that he had deployed a pair of nuclear submarines somewhere near Russia.

Thankfully it has all so far been confined to social media barbs, and not any clear instance of either side’s strategic forces being placed on emergency alert.

But Medvedev’s latest message is meant as a clear ‘red line’ warning to Washington – that things could rapidly and uncontrollably escalate in Ukraine if the US sends Tomahawk missiles to use against Russia.

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Legalized Mass Murder & the Balkans

Trump is on the WRONG side of this war with Russia, and this is the most significant risk of taking us into World War III. You cannot deal with the Balkans as if it were any other place in the world. The region has experienced centuries of imperial domination, forced religious conversion, and forced assimilation. Because these groups lived side-by-side for so long, their grievances are almost exclusively against each other. A Serb’s historical trauma is often linked to a Croat or an Ottoman (Bosniak), and vice versa. There is a cyclical pattern of eternal vengeance in the Balkans. The violence of the 1940s was avenged in the 1990s, creating a seemingly endless cycle where each generation feels it must settle the score for the last.

Then there has been the political manipulation—the most critical factor in the modern era. The hatred was not a spontaneous outburst; it was carefully, deliberately, and ruthlessly manufactured by elites for political gain over time. Bandera of Ukraine launched his ethnic cleansing to terminate anyone without Ukrainian blood to forge their own country, which today are the Neonazis who still market and display Bandera’s image following his call for ruthless ethnic cleansing. His image dominated the Maidan Revolution of 2014.

In conclusion, the ethnic hatred in the Balkans is a tragic story of how deep historical fault lines, when combined with the modern political tool of nationalism and weaponized by unscrupulous leaders, can be exploded into catastrophic violence. It is a stark warning about the power of history and the danger of politicians who use ethnic identity as a weapon. The West is now supporting the followers of Adolf Hitler. The ethnic hatred of the Ukrainians toward Russians started the separation movement of the Donbas when they were killing Russian-speaking people in Odessa, and the West turned a blind eye because the victims were Russians.

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Russia Continues Bombardment of Ukraine Energy Infrastructure

Russia attacked Ukraine’s power grid overnight into Sunday, part of an ongoing campaign to cripple Ukrainian energy infrastructure before winter. This came as Moscow expressed “extreme concern” over the United States potentially providing Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukriane.

Kyiv regional Gov. Mykola Kalashnyk said two employees of Ukraine´s largest private energy company, DTEK, were wounded in Russian strikes on a substation in the region. Ukraine´s Energy Ministry said that energy infrastructure was also attacked in the regions of Donetsk, Odesa, and Chernihiv.

“Russia continues its aerial terror against our cities and communities, intensifying strikes on our energy infrastructure,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X, noting that Russia had launched “more than 3,100 drones, 92 missiles, and around 1,360 glide bombs” against Ukraine over the past week.

Zelenskyy also called for tighter secondary sanctions on buyers of Russian oil.

“Sanctions, tariffs, and joint actions against the buyers of Russian oil – those who finance this war – must all remain on the table,” he wrote on X.

The Ukrainian president said Saturday he had a “very positive and productive” phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, in which he told Trump about Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system and opportunities to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense. A day earlier, Zelenskyy said he was in discussions with U.S. officials about the possible provision of various long-range precision strike weapons, including Tomahawks and more ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles.

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US Has Been Supporting Long-Range Ukrainian Drone Attacks Inside Russia for Months

The Trump administration has been providing Ukraine with intelligence to carry out long-range drone attacks against Russian energy infrastructure, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing multiple US and Ukrainian officials.

The report said that the US intelligence helps Ukraine “shape route planning, altitude, timing and mission decisions, enabling Ukraine’s long-range, one-way attack drones to evade Russian air defenses.”

A US official told the paper that Ukraine selects the target for the strike, then the US provides information on its vulnerabilities. However, other officials said the US has actually been setting out target priorities for the Ukrainian military, meaning the US is choosing what to strike.

One of the FT’s sources described Ukraine’s drone force as the “instrument” the US is using to achieve the goal of undermining the Russian economy and pushing Russian President Vladimir Putin toward a settlement to end the war. The US has spent billions helping build up Ukraine’s drone program, an effort backed by the CIA.

The report said that the US began supplying Ukraine with the intelligence following a July phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which Trump reportedly asked if Ukraine could hit Moscow if the US provided longer-range weapons. In August and September, Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian energy infrastructure significantly escalated.

US-backed attacks on Russian territory always risk a major escalation between Russia and NATO, and the FT report noted that the Biden administration refrained from supporting such strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. President Biden did support Ukrainian strikes on Russian border regions using ATACMS, US-provided missiles that have a range of about 190 miles.

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Russia accuses US of planning coup in Venezuela

Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia has accused the US of plotting a coup in Venezuela under the guise of an anti-drug campaign.

Washington has deployed marines and warships off of Venezuela’s coast and has carried out airstrikes on alleged drug-smuggling vessels. At least four boats have been sunk, killing more than 21 people. Caracas condemned the move as a violation of its sovereignty and requested an emergency UN Security Council session, warning the operation sought to topple President Nicolas Maduro and threatened regional peace.

At the session on Friday, Nebenzia said Russia “strongly condemned” the US campaign, calling it “a flagrant violation of international law and human rights.”

“We are witnessing a brazen campaign of political, military, and psychological pressure on the government of an independent state with the sole purpose of changing a regime unfavorable to the US,” he stated, noting that the coup plot is being carried out “using the classic tools of color revolutions and hybrid wars” by “artificially fueling an atmosphere of confrontation.”

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Putin Says Russia ‘Very Actively’ Developing New Nuclear Weapons

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 10 that Russia is “very actively” developing and testing new nuclear weapons and that Moscow may soon make a formal announcement about the progress of its latest strategic systems.

Speaking to reporters after a summit in Tajikistan, Putin said the development of new weapons was proceeding successfully and that Russia’s nuclear deterrent capabilities are now more advanced than those of any other nuclear power.

“I believe that we will have an opportunity to report about the new weapons that we announced a while ago,” Putin said, according to Russian state media Tass.

“These weapons are being developed and undergoing tests. The tests are proceeding successfully.

“The novelty of our nuclear deterrence capabilities is higher than in any other nuclear-weapon state—and we are actively developing it all. We are developing what I mentioned earlier, in previous years—we are working to finalize it.”

The remarks follow Moscow’s recent offer to voluntarily maintain the warhead limits set by the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) if the United States does the same. The treaty, signed in 2010 and extended by five years in 2021, is the last remaining major arms-control accord between Washington and Moscow. It limits each side to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads and 700 deployed long-range missiles and bombers.

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NATO Allies Discuss Letting Pilots Open Fire on Russian Aircraft: Report

NATO allies are discussing easing rules for pilots to permit them to shoot down Russian aircraft, according to a report by the Financial Times. The news comes as alliance members consider a tougher approach against Moscow following a spate of alleged airspace violations, drone swarms, and sabotage plots in Europe.

A NATO official told Newsweek: “When it comes to the range of hybrid or grey-zone activities we’ve seen, including cyber-attacks, drone incursions, or attempts to sabotage critical infrastructure, NATO is working closely with Allies to ensure that we’re taking appropriate steps to ensure we can deter and defend. This isn’t new, and we continue to adapt as the situation evolves.”

Why It Matters

NATO-Russia tensions are worsening as the war in Ukraine rages on and there is an increasing risk of a direct conflict between Russia and NATO.

Both sides have characterized the current situation as a form of war with each other, though there has been no such formal declaration by either Russia or NATO.

What To Know

The FT, citing four unidentified NATO officials, said NATO allies are discussing a more forceful response to increasingly provocative Russian actions, including easing restrictions on pilots to allow them to open fire on Russian aircraft and deploying armed drones along the border with Russia. The asymmetric cost of scrambling fighter jets to intercept drones is a running concern for the alliance, which is seeking a financially sustainable solution.

NATO members on the front line with Russia, backed by France and Britain, initiated the discussions, which have since broadened to a larger group in the 32-strong alliance, the newspaper reported.

“One example of our work in this area is Baltic Sentry, which was launched in response to incidents affecting critical undersea infrastructure in the Baltic Sea,” the NATO official told Newsweek in a statement.

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Ukrainians told to stop sharing violent conscription videos

Ukraine’s conscription authorities have called on citizens to refrain from documenting cases of violent forced military enlistment, instead urging the population to “cherish” recruitment officers. 

The message, shared on Wednesday by the Kiev Regional Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support (TCK), condemned a Telegram channel called Stop TCK Ukraine, which has been circulating videos of men being violently detained and forced into enlistment vehicles – incidents popularly dubbed “busifications” that often go viral.

The center alleged the channel was part of Russian information warfare and told Ukrainians to “never (!) watch videos of ‘busification.’”

“For God’s sake, don’t film or share such videos,” the post read. “If the Russians turn you into sheep, they’ll slaughter you like pigs tomorrow. So cherish the TCKs, help the TCKs, assist and protect them. They are the only ones filling the ranks of frontline units.”

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