Tag: ukraine

Zelensky Desperately Pitches Drones For Tomahawks At White House

In a somewhat lengthy Q&A with the press, Presidents Trump and Zelensky fielded a variety of questions before starting a closed-door meeting at the White House, with each leader’s full delegations present.

All eyes have been on the potential decision to transfer Tomahawks to Ukraine, but President Trump at every turn dodged the question, and did not offer anything clear on Tomahawks one way or the other. But he did say at one point when asked about concerns over the Pentagon’s own dwindling missile stockpiles that “I have to make sure we’re stocked up as a country.”

That opened up an interesting moment where Zelensky offered “thousands” of Ukrainian drones in exchange for receiving Tomahawks, though Trump appeared cool toward the idea, and noted that the United States already possesses excellent and cutting-edge drone production. 

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Zelensky calls for ceasefire along current front lines

Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has called for a ceasefire with Russia along the current front lines. He made the comment after US President Donald Trump issued a similar appeal on social media.

“We have to stop where we are. The president is right,” Zelensky told reporters in Washington, DC on Friday, adding that the sides could then hammer out the next steps toward a peace deal. “Yes, both sides have to stop,” Zelensky said.

Trump hosted Zelensky at the White House earlier that day, following a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday. He previously expressed frustration over the lack of progress in his efforts to mediate peace between Russia and Ukraine.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote that he urged Putin and Zelensky to “stop the killing, and make a DEAL!”

“Enough blood has been shed, with property lines being defined by War and Guts. They should stop where they are. Let both claim Victory, let History decide! No more shooting, no more Death, no more vast and unsustainable sums of money spent,” he said.

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More on the Delusional Thinking of Western Zionists

If you think that Donald Trump is the only one living in a fantasy land when it comes to the genocide in Palestine and the war in Ukraine, think again. The following quotes come from an ardent Zionist who has enjoyed financial success in his life and holds at least one post-graduate degree. After you read and absorb this man’s analysis you will understand that money and education does not guarantee one’s competence to comment on geopolitical events.

Let’s start with Trump’s bizarre signing of Sharm El-Sheikh Peace Plan for Gaza, which excluded the two combating sides. My Zionist acquaintance wrote:

Today changed everything. Arrayed behind Trump in Egypt were all of the key leaders in the world other than Putin and Xi. Trump has achieved something nobody thought possible. In the process he has isolated Iran, but just as important, he now made Putin look isolated when the rest of the world is trying to end wars and create peace and prosperity.

Think about that for a moment… He considers clowns like Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron, and Frederich Mertz key leaders? Those three combined could not lead hungry Palestinians to a bread line. The fact that neither Xi, Putin nor Modi participated in this charade underscores that this was not a serious effort to peacefully end Israel’s genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people. The presence of the Arab and Muslim sycophants at the ceremony, who are not wildly popular figures in their own countries, was a further reminder that US influence in the region is eroding, not expanding. Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed Bin Salman had the good sense to stay away.

After convincing himself that the Sharm El-Sheikh photo op had isolated Putin, my Zionist acquaintance waded into the war in Ukraine;

Putin will be under a lot more pressure to end the war now. At the same time, he is not winning the war, and is losing thousands more casualties just when there are severe labor shortages, and the economy is headed to further deterioration. The attacks on the energy facilities is having real impact and a continuation of these attacks and attacks on rail lines will serve to cause much additional economic decline over the winter.

Paying men to go die is beginning to not work. It is very expensive and more men are fleeing. Winter is about here and so the fighting season is ending soon and the trees will no longer provide cover from drones. Putin can try to go on for a long time but the longer he does the worse the economy and the energy situation. The more isolated Putin becomes from the Mideast and other parts of the world who are now working together to build the economic growth the world needs.

He is regurgitating the Ukrainian propaganda that continues to appear in the mainstream media in the West. The reality is the exact opposite… Ukraine is suffering dramatic and substantial economic and military damage. According to a recent Time Magazine report:

2024 has seen wave after wave of basic infrastructure hit with previously unknown accuracy and ferocity. The biggest target is now the country’s power sector, and specifically, its ability to generate electricity. . . . Some 60% of Ukraine’s power generation has been knocked out, as Russian precision bombs, drone strikes, and rocket attacks increasingly home in on power plants and energy infrastructure. The country is now suffering the worst rolling blackouts since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine’s ability to regenerate and rebuild has now been overwhelmed, at least for the immediate future. Over 9 gigawatts of power generation alone has been taken out just since March. More hydroelectric plants have been destroyed, including the Dnipro station, the largest that was still working. Solar power facilities, too. Every single one of the thermal—coal and natural gas burning—plants has been hit, and of the original 13 no more than two are still operational. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private power company, has lost 90% of its generation capacity. The current national power deficit is approximately 35%.

What my Zionist acquaintance, as well as most in the Trump administration, fails to grasp is that Russia is not isolated… BRICS is not a novelty nor a flash-in-the-pan. The economic ties between India, China and Russia — which represent three of the top four economies in the world — are growing, and new financial systems of payments and trade are being created. In fact, of the 27 countries that attended the Sharm El-Sheikh ceremony, six of them are members or partners of BRICS and boast GDP growth rates in excess of 4%, while the US and its NATO allies face massive debt burdens and are growing at rates less than 2%.

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Trump Says He Will Make ‘Determination’ on Whether Ukraine Can Launch an Offensive

President Trump said on Wednesday that he will make a “determination” on whether Ukraine can launch an offensive, something he will discuss with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House on Friday.

“We’ll be talking about the war with him. They want to go offensive. I’ll make a determination on that. But they would like to go offensive, you know that, and we’ll have to make a determination,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office.

A report published in The Wall Street Journal last month said that President Trump was made aware of Ukrainian plans for an offensive that would require US intelligence support. He learned of the plans before writing a post on Truth Social, where he claimed Ukraine could retake all of the territory Russia has captured since the invasion.

US War Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Wednesday that the US would “impose costs” on Russia if it doesn’t end the war. “If there is no path to peace in the short term, then the United States, along with our allies, will take steps necessary to impose costs on Russia for its continued aggression,” he said.

The rhetoric from Trump and Hegseth suggests the Trump administration is preparing to abandon its efforts at reaching a peace deal and continue the proxy war indefinitely. The administration is also considering providing Ukraine with Tomahawk missiles, which are nuclear-capable and have a range of over 1,000 miles, which would make a significant escalation and increase the chances of the war turning into a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.

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Mexican and Colombian Cartels Sending Members to Ukraine To Learn To Operate Attack Drones, Changing Drug War Tactics Forever

It’s a clear and present danger to the US.

The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine is generating bad repercussions for Europe and the outside world, such as an energy crisis, military escalations, and other problematic developments.

To the US, there’s a new, dangerous reality that may be about to bring a whole new level of danger, as the Latin American cartels are sending their operatives to Ukraine to be trained in drone warfare.

These criminals are attending the Kill House Academy, a ‘Top Gun school for the drone-warfare era’, according to the British media, a place that trains some of Kiev regime’s best UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) pilots.

It’s actually easy for a cartel member to blend in with the thousands of new Latin American recruits.

The Telegraph reported:

“Among the more promising recent recruits [at the Kill House Academy] was a pilot with the callsign Aguila 7 (Eagle 7) – a former special forces soldier from Mexico, enlisted with Ukraine’s International Legion. But while he excelled at the course, it seemed he had foes other than Russian soldiers in his sights. Eagle 7 was in fact a foot soldier in Mexico’s feared Los Zetas drug cartel and had been sent there to learn drone skills for use in drug wars back home, according to reports.”

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Military Analyst Warns US Doesn’t Have Enough Tomahawks To Send To Ukraine

Military analysts have told the Financial Times that even if President Trump decides to approve US Tomahawk transfers to Ukraine, this will have limited impact on the trajectory of the war, given especially that a mere dozens will be available to send.

The report also suggests that the US is involved in too many conflicts at once, and that Pentagon stockpiles of advanced weapons are being depleted.

Trump started this week by issuing more ambiguous and vague statements on the Tomahawk issue. On Monday he had said Tomahawks are a “very offensive weapon,” noting, “honestly, Russia does not need that.” He hinted he ‘might’ pull the trigger on this escalation, amid Moscow warnings and threats.

FT found that out of over 4,000 Tomahawk missiles in the US arsenal, only “a few” could be given to Ukraine:

Mark Cancian, a former Pentagon official now at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank, estimated in a recent war game that the US had 4,150 Tomahawks in total. However, the US would probably be able to supply only a few to Ukraine.

This is in light of the fact that, out of the 200 the Pentagon has procured since 2022, it has already fired more than 120, according to defense experts. The defense department has requested funding for only 57 more Tomahawks in its 2026 budget. Washington would probably also need Tomahawks for any strike on Venezuelan soil.

Again, this reference to Venezuela is interesting, at a moment of unprecedented American military build-up in the southern Caribbean near the Latin American country’s coast. The US has also been expending its missiles on defending Israel, which happened at an increased pace especially over the past year.

Another Washington-based US military analyst put a number to how many Tomahawks American could afford to hand over:

Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the defense program at the Center for a New American Security think-tank, said Washington could spare some 20 to 50 Tomahawks for Ukraine, “which will not decisively shift the dynamics of the war”.

While the long-range missiles could complement Ukraine’s own long-range attack drones and cruise missiles “in large complex salvos to greater effect”, they would “still will be a very limited capability . . . certainly not enough to enable sustained, deep attacks against Russia”, they added.

And of course, the understated if not unspoken part is that all of this risks WW3 with Russia, something that Trump has repeatedly and openly voiced that he wants to seek to avoid at all costs.

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Russia Accuses Ukrainian Intelligence Of Using ISIS For Assassination Plot

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) stated on Monday that its officers foiled a terrorist attack in Moscow that was planned by ISIS under the direction of Ukrainian intelligence.

ISIS operatives sought to target a high-ranking Russian Defense Ministry official using an explosive device in a densely populated area of the capital city, the agency said in a statement.

“The FSB has prevented a sabotage and terrorist act against one of the senior officers of the Russian Defense Ministry, organized by Ukrainian special services in coordination with leaders of the international terrorist organization Islamic State (banned as a terrorist organization in Russia),” the FSB statement said.

Four suspects connected to the plot were detained, including a native of a Central Asian country. The FSB alleged that the plan was developed by Ukrainian intelligence and would have been carried out by a suicide bomber recruited by an ISIS member named Saidakbar Gulomov.

“On instructions from Ukrainian handlers, S. Gulomov remotely directed the perpetrator’s actions from Ukraine and several Western European countries using multiple foreign messaging applications,” the FSB added.

Gulomov allegedly provided the attacker with funds, information about the target, and materials for assembling explosive devices smuggled into Russia by Ukrainian intelligence using drones.

According to the FSB, Gulomov was also involved in the killing of Russian Lieutenant General Kirillov, commander of the Russian Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defense Troops, in December 2024.

The FSB claims the attack on Kirillov was also orchestrated by Ukrainian intelligence. Monday’s foiled terror attack “once again demonstrates the close coordination between the Kiev regime and international terrorist organizations,” the Russian intelligence service stated.

In March 2024, four gunmen attacked a concert hall near Moscow, opening fire on the more than 5,000 people gathered to watch the Russian rock group Piknik. At least 145 people were killed in the attack.  

Russian authorities blamed the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan, ISIS-Khorasan, for the attack, while also accusing Ukrainian intelligence of orchestrating it.

“The investigation has concluded that the terrorist act was planned and organized by the security services of an unfriendly state in order to destabilize the situation in Russia,” stated the Russian Investigative Committee, which was tasked with determining who was responsible. “Members of an international terrorist organization were recruited to carry it out.”

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Will Russian-US Tensions Likely Spiral Out Of Control If Ukraine Obtains Tomahawk Missiles?

The precedent set by Russia’s restrained response to Ukraine obtaining the F-16s, which could also be nuclear-equipped, suggests that tensions with the US will remain manageable if Ukraine obtains the Tomahawks too due to the modus vivendi that’s arguably been in place for managing them.

The latest talk about the US transferring longer-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, which Putin said earlier this month could only be used with US military personnel’s direct involvement, has prompted concerns about a potentially uncontrollable escalation spiral. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov assessed that such a development would lead to “a significant change in the situation” but nonetheless reaffirmed that it wouldn’t prevent Russia from achieving its goals in the special operation.

Ukraine’s explicitly stated goal in obtaining these arms is to “pressure” Russia into freezing the Line of Contact without any concessions from Kiev, which would essentially amount to Moscow conceding on its aforesaid goals since none would be achieved in full should that happen, ergo why it hasn’t agreed. In pursuit of that end, Ukraine threatened to cause a blackout in the Russian capital, which would likely be accompanied by more attacks against civilian and military logistics targets far behind the frontlines.

Some are therefore worried that that Russian-US tensions could spiral out of control, especially after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that the Tomahawks can be nuclear-equipped, but the precedent set by the F-16s suggests that they’ll remain manageable. Putin himself warned in early 2024 that they too could be nuclear-equipped, yet Russia ultimately didn’t treat their use as a potential nuclear first-strike. This is arguably due to the modus vivendi that was described here in late 2024:

“[Comparatively pragmatic US ‘deep state’ figures] who still call the shots always signal their escalatory intentions far in advance so that Russia could prepare itself and thus be less likely to ‘overreact’ in some way that risks World War III. Likewise, Russia continues restraining itself from replicating the US’ ‘shock-and-awe’ campaign in order to reduce the likelihood of the West ‘overreacting’ by directly intervening in the conflict to salvage their geopolitical project and thus risking World War III.

It can only be speculated whether this interplay is due to each’s permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies (‘deep state’) behaving responsibly on their own considering the enormity of what’s at stake or if it’s the result of a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’. Whatever the truth may be, the aforesaid model accounts for the unexpected moves or lack thereof from each, which are the US correspondingly telegraphing its escalatory intentions and Russia never seriously escalating in kind.”

The latest talk about the US transferring longer-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine fits the pattern of leaks serving to tip Russia off about this preplanned escalation so it can prepare its responses in advance. Time and again, Putin has exercised an almost saintly degree of self-restraint in refusing to escalate, whether symmetrically or asymmetrically. Readers can learn more about these precedents from the eight analyses enumerated in the one from late 2024 that was hyperlinked to above.

The only exception was him authorizing the use of the Oreshniks in November after the US and UK let Ukraine use their long-range missiles inside of Russia, obviously through the direct involvement of their military personnel, which he might repeat if Ukraine obtains the Tomahawks. He didn’t authorize them after Ukraine’s strategic drone strikes against parts of Russia’s nuclear triad in June that were much more provocative, however, which might have been due to his diplomatic calculations vis-à-vis Trump.

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When Challenged On Ukraine, Hillary Clinton Lashes Out

A few days ago, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton replied to my question about Ukraine at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She and John Sullivan, who served as Ambassador to Russia under both Presidents Trump and Biden, revealed themselves to be either liars or so ignorant of reasons for the U.S. Ukraine war as to be utter fools. [The full video can be found here].

This was a fly-on-the-wall event where you get to hear the delusions of the people who shape US foreign policy. The CFR meeting was hosted by the Dean of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs, Keren Yarhi-Milo, who talked about the biases commonly found among policymakers and the intelligence community when they try to understand the intentions of US adversaries. She spoke about mirror imaging, which is what happens when you think that the adversary thinks in exactly the same way that you do; she spoke about the inability to empathize, she spoke about other biases that lead us to misunderstand and misperceive the intentions of our adversaries. She said it happens in the United States, repeatedly. All important.

But then Keren Yarhi-Milo veered into arm-chair psychology, telling the audience that in her view, ”[if] you want to understand the Ukraine, the decision to invade Ukraine, what’s driving this, you have to really understand Putin’s psychology, and the reference point, and how it’s all about, in his mind, regaining the Soviet empire.” So she knows what is in Putin’s mind, though he has never said that!

At the event, Ambassador John Sullivan, who also served as Deputy Secretary of State under Trump, echoed Yarhi-Milo, asserting that “you have to really understand Putin’s psychology” when evaluating his policy in Ukraine. He said, “I once had a conversation with my then-boss Secretary Blinken. And we were talking about what Putin is like. And, you know, he’s often compared to a gangster. And I didn’t want to make an ethnic reference, or if I made one it would be one that would be from my own tribe. So I’m from South Boston. And I started talking about Whitey Bulger.”

Bulger was a mafioso, murderer and a crook. Is that how Sullivan really feels about the Boston Irish?

“And I mean, you’ve got to understand, you can’t understand Putin unless you really understand where he’s from, what he’s about. He’s a tough kid from Leningrad, right? And not understanding who—his sense of grievance, his sense of loss.” He adds: “He is committed to the proposition that the great geopolitical catastrophe of the twentieth century was the demise of the Soviet Union. …He doesn’t lament the demise of Soviet communism. He famously says, if you’re not nostalgic for how we lived in Soviet days you don’t have a heart, but if you want to return to Soviet communism you don’t have a brain. I mean, it’s hard to be the richest person in the world with a billion-dollar palace in Sochi.”

So, Putin is like the Bulgar of the American politics, not Russia?

In fact, there is no evidence that Putin is richest person in the world (that seems to be Elon Musk) and there is also no evidence of this palace. But who cares about evidence! And even his “you don’t have a brain” quote contradicts what Putin said! But who cares!

For once, Clinton got closer to the truth when she said, “… it’s been our experience, and certainly the research shows, that you introduce, through this over-personalization, volatility. And really, the volatility becomes a greater driver than your credibility, your ability to really read this person, to manage this person, to try to shape the events.” But she didn’t challenge Yarhi-Milo or Sullivan on Putin. And she certainly didn’t like me raising the point when I asked her question:

My name is Lucy Komisar. I’m a journalist.

I was very impressed with the Dean’s analysis of how one should look with empathy and look at the other side. And then I saw in the discussion of Russia absolutely the opposite. I didn’t hear anybody talk about Kissinger and Kennan talking about not moving NATO one inch to the east, the 2014 American-sponsored coup that threw out an elected Ukraine head of government because he was too pro-Russian, the new government bombing the Russian speakers for eight years.”

David Westin of Bloomberg News, serving as moderator, then broke in:

There’s a question here, right? I’m sorry, ma’am, is there a question in here? Is there a question? This is a speech. I’m sorry.

[Here I would note that my comment was way shorter than others were allowed to make without interruption. But then again, those didn’t challenge the speaker.]

After the unasked for interruption, I continued:

Let me finish. That the Soviet Union, anybody that wanted it—that talked about it being collapsed, that it was a tragedy, but anybody that wanted to have it come back had no brain. Why did you not talk about any of these facts? And instead of that do a lot of armchair psychologizing about Putin and his motives?.

Enter Hillary.

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Ukrainian Drones Spark Massive Blaze At Crimea’s Largest Oil Terminal

Just a day after a major report in the Financial Times said that US intelligence has been helping Ukraine conduct long-range drone strikes on Russian oil facilities since at least July, major oil depot in Crimea caught fire overnight following a Ukrainian drone strike.

This marks the second time in a week that the the Feodosia facility has been struck and gone up in flames. Importantly, it is Crimea’s largest oil storage and transshipment hub, with a capacity of around 250,000 tons.

Russian sources say that air defenses intercepted more than 20 drones targeting a fuel storage facility in the port city. The attack resulted in no casualties, amid a large emergency response to battle the blaze.

NASA’s fire monitoring system detected multiple active fires at the site, according to international reports.

In total Ukrainian forces sent some 40 drones to various areas of Crimea, and dozens more were sent against other targets in Russian territory.

Kiev and its Western backers have a clearly articulated objective to disrupt a key source of revenue funding Moscow’s war effort – which has resulted in some success, given the reports of fuel and gasoline shortages, and rising prices across Russia.

Ukraine’s military leadership has of late boasted that the operation over several months has cut Russia’s oil refining capacity by 21%.

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