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Russia on Thursday wrapped itself in patriotic pageantry for Victory Day, as President Vladimir Putin celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II by hailing his forces fighting in Ukraine and blasting the West for fueling conflicts around the world. Even though few veterans of what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War are still alive 79 years after Berlin fell to the Red Army, the victory remains the most important and widely revered symbol of Russia’s prowess and a key element of national identity. Even though few veterans of what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War are still...

Sunday’s centenary of the death of Vladimir Lenin, one of the most influential leaders of the 20th century, will largely go uncelebrated in his home country of Russia this weekend, where the revolutionary leader stands accused of laying a “timebomb” underneath Russia and Ukraine that has exploded in the past decade. There will be no parades or stirring speeches in Red Square. The obvious reason is that one of Lenin’s most strident critics is Vladimir Putin, who appears far more enamoured with the empire that Lenin’s revolutionaries overthrew. Often portrayed in official Soviet culture as a grandfatherly, nurturing figure who...

Nato appears to have abandoned hopes of a Ukrainian victory. Speaking in Norway, secretary general Jens Stoltenberg’s chief of staff, Stian Jenssen, said that a peace deal might involve Kyiv ceding territory to Russia in return for Nato membership.

The 15-year-old Ukrainian schoolgirl was taken one warm morning last October. Like everyone else in Kherson, a city on the estuary of the Dnipro river in southern Ukraine, Yevheniia's family were still adjusting to life under Russian control. Putin's tanks and troops had poured into the city seven months earlier, soon after the invasion of Ukraine began. Now there were checkpoints, military police, rumours of Russian brutality; of women being raped. Ukraine was fighting to get the city back and there was a constant risk of shelling. Few people went out after 5pm. In the apartment where the teenager lived...

KHROMOVE, Ukraine (AP) — Pressure mounted Saturday on Ukrainian troops and civilians hunkering down in Bakhmut, as Kyiv’s forces tried to help residents flee amid what Western analysts say may be preparations for a Ukrainian withdrawal from the eastern city that Russian forces have spent months trying to capture. A woman was killed and two men were badly wounded by shelling while trying to cross a makeshift bridge out of Bakhmut on Saturday, according to Ukrainian troops who were assisting them. A Ukrainian army representative who asked not to be named for operational reasons told The Associated Press that it...

I reported last week that my source from Ukraine, not Russia, was placing the Ukrainian military casualties at 150,000 with 35,000 unaccounted for – missing in action. Including the civilian deaths, over 250,000 people have died. Ukraine is losing the war. With the UK claiming they will now train Ukrainian pilots and provide fighter jets, this is obviously putting the UK at risk and such pilots with a few weeks of training will only crash and burn. Our targets coming into play for April and May are critical. We see major shifts in the financial markets coming even by June....

"No amount of reckless attempts will let the imperialist coalition forces overpower the heroic spirit of the army and people of Russia, distinguished by fiery patriotism, resilience and strong morale," Kim Yo-jong said TOKYO, January 27./TASS/.The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) will always "stand in the same trench" side by side with the Russian army and people, Kim Yo-jong, the Deputy Department Director of the Publicity and Information Department of the Workers Party of Korea, sister of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said on Friday. In a statement released by the KCNA news agency, she vowed that the...

What hegemon USA created, Russia is systematically annihilating. And there’s nothing that the empire of lies and its Western vassals can do to change the course of history. In challenging Russia militarily, they bit off more than they can chew and swallow. Russia is a preeminent military power, China heading in the same direction — while the US-dominated West is in decline. The battle to demilitarize and NeNazify Ukraine is proceeding as planned. Russia’s liberation of Soledar assures deNazification of Artyomovsk to follow. These triumphs hasten the end of Nazi occupation throughout Donbass, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Kharkov and demise of the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered an unusual New Year’s address to his people on Saturday pledging victory against the “neo-Nazis” of the West who are intent on “destroying Russia.”Putin kicked off his 9-minute speech by noting that the year 2022 “put a lot of things in their place – clearly separating courage and heroism from betrayal and cowardice.”“It was a year of difficult, necessary decisions, the most important steps toward gaining full sovereignty of Russia and powerful consolidation of our society,” the he said in regards to Russia’s conflict with Ukraine.(Add Closed Captions and Auto-translate to English in Settings tab)“For...

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed Friday to deepen their bilateral cooperation against the backdrop of Moscow’s 10-month war in Ukraine, which weathered another night of drone and rocket attacks following a large-scale missile bombardment. Putin and Xi made no direct mention of Ukraine in their opening remarks by videoconference, which were broadcast publicly, before going into private talks. But they hailed strengthening ties between Moscow and Beijing amid what they called “geopolitical tensions” and a “difficult international situation,” with Putin expressing his wish to extend military collaboration. “In the face of...

ransomnote: The 6 minutes of the transcript shown below are key remarks by Colonel MacGregor. More of the transcript linked at the bottom. Full 25 minute video is here:Douglas Macgregor - The Bottom LineMy summary of this excerpt: Chairman of the U.S joints Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley says the chances of the Ukraine winning 'are not high'.Colonel MacGregor says Zelensky has been lying all alongand the MSM has reported what he says as truth. MacGregor says the Ukraine is doomed: depleted of soldiers, weapons, electricity, food, water etc. He says the Russians are well-equipped and prepared for major...

A particularly good discussion focusing heavily on Zaluzhny's shocking Economist interview. Ritter shares The Duran analysts views (as does Judge Napolitano) that I already posted a few hours ago though goes into it more thoroughly. He thinks that Zelensky is history and that General Zaluzhny will be the one negotiating the terminal settlement (and hopes to be the next Ukrainian president.) One of the most interesting points is why this interview was set up. Clearly Britain and the U.S. wanted these disclosures made at this time. Ritter believes it is because they want this settled before Russia can take Odessa...

A gift that was given to Poland’s top police commander during his recent visit to Ukraine exploded at the national police headquarters in Warsaw on Wednesday.General Jaroshaw Szymcayk met with leaders of the Ukrainian police and emergency service on Sunday and Monday. There, he received the gift. The gift itself has not been specified.The explosion happened on Wednesday morning in a room next to General Szymcsyk’s office. The explosion caused the commander and a civilian employee to suffer what is said to be minor injuries. Szymcsyk has been in the hospital since the explosion for observation. The civilian employee on...

Ukraine needs “about two billion cubic meters” of additional gas to get through the winter, President Volodymyr Zelensky told G7 nations on Monday.During a video conference he also urged the G7 to send more weapons to Ukraine, including “modern tanks” as well as “rocket artillery and more long-range missiles”. “Unfortunately, Russia still has the advantage in artillery and missiles. This is a fact. These capabilities of the occupying army are the ones to fuel the Kremlin’s arrogance,” Zelensky said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin waited only six months before switching from a special military operation to full scale war against Ukraine. Putin's initial assault was limited to barely 150,000 troops. He expected a quick victory followed by negotiations on his principal concerns: Russian control of Crimea, Ukrainian neutrality, and autonomy for the Russian population in the Donbas, but he was wrong. Putin had not counted on Ukraine's stiff resistance or the West's massive military and economic intervention. Faced with a new situation, Putin changed his strategy. Now he is about to unleash his own General Sherman and make Ukraine howl....

China’s satellite coverage in the Western Pacific has doubled since 2018, the Pentagon reported last week in its annual assessment of the Chinese military. That gives China the ability to detect American surface ships with an array of sensors that can guide its 2,000 land-based missiles to moving targets, including US aircraft carriers. The Defense Department’s November 29 report “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China” reflects a grimly realistic rethinking of China’s military capacity in its home theater. China hawk Elbridge Colby, a prominent advocate of a Western Pacific military buildup to deny China access to...

Ukraine being flattened by weapons that have no western equivalents.

MacGregor: Up until this time at night we have had freezing but during the day it has gone back up to 40 even 50 degrees. It has to drop below freezing and stay that way for at least two weeks. So if it is now below freezing and stays that way you can do the math. Your looking for something happening no earlier than the 10th; probably no later than the 19th of December. And you're talking about concentrations of Russian troops all the way around the country. We've accounted now formally, these are people who sit in front of...

In May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed into law No. 7172-1 that will ban opposition parties and seize their property. The law targets opposition parties if they deny the armed aggression against Ukraine.The law includes actions that support the Russian Federation and Republic of Belarus, the two invading countries.The news was first published on the Ukrainian news website UKRinform. This news was reported the same day US GOP Senators paid him a visit in Kyiv to show their support.Zelenskyy also closed all of the TV stations and consolidated them into one state-run channel.“Ukraine has had to take extraordinary measures to...

Vice President Kamala Harris said during her first official visit to the Philippines on Monday the United States will honor a 1951 bilateral defense treaty and defend Filipino ships against Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. The issue is pertinent because the Philippines on Monday accused China of using force to retrieve debris from a rocket near the contested Spratly Islands.